English interest among the Scotch nobles. Angus and the Douglases played a part which, although it has found advocates, cannot be altogether defended. Their restoration was due to Henry VIII, and their original disposition, grounded upon sound policy, was to favour the English alliance; but when Henry VIII began to treat the Scottish nation as enemies, they gradually turned round and joined, at first doubtingly but in the end firmly, the patriotic side. In June 1543 Angus attended a general council of the nobles at Stirling, where Arran the regent was deposed in favour of the queen-dowager, and a privy council appointed of three earls, of whom he was one, three lords, three bishops, and three abbots. Shortly after Angus was appointed lieutenant-general. This change in the government did not last, indeed Arran never surrendered his authority. When Angus marched to the borders as if to oppose the English, he did nothing effectual, and was distrusted by the Scots borderers as still in the English interest. On 9 Sept. the infant Mary Stuart was crowned by Cardinal Beaton at Stirling, and in November the queen-dowager held a parliament at that town, while Arran held another in Edinburgh. Cardinal Beaton succeeded in reconciling the queen and the regent. Angus continued to oppose Arran, and entered into a bond for mutual aid with his kin and friends at Douglas. The regent now took up arms against the Douglases. He issued a warrant commanding Angus to send away Sadler, the English envoy, who was then at Tantallon, but was saved from expulsion by his recall. Angus also prepared for war. In January 1544 he took possession of Leith, while his brother George lay at Musselburgh threatening the capital with a considerable force, but George was driven off by the Earl of Bothwell, and Angus was forced to submit. At a conference at Greenside Chapel, near Edinburgh, it was agreed that Angus should assist the regent against the English, and give sureties for his conduct. Notwithstanding, Angus wrote shortly after this to Henry VIII assuring him he was still faithful to his interests, and begging for an army. In April Arran reduced Glasgow, which had been fortified by Lennox, and Angus having gone thither to intercede for his brother George, whose life as one of the hostages was in danger, was seized and sent as a prisoner first to Hamilton and afterwards to Blackness Castle. He was released on the approach of Hertford's first expedition in spring along with his brother and Lord Maxwell on a promise to raise them followers against the English. The savageness of this expedition, which burnt Leith and part of Edinburgh, and on its return wasted the coast of Fife and the Lothians, Merse, and Teviotdale, not excepting the lands of Angus, which Henry VIII is said to have specially desired to be laid waste, was the turning-point in the shifting conduct of Angus. He now embraced heartily the patriotic cause, and on 13 July 1544 was appointed lieutenant of Scotland south of the Forth. In this capacity he proved himself a valiant commander, more than once inciting by his example and stirring up by his words the faint-hearted regent. When besieging Coldingham Priory, Arran, alarmed at the approach of an English army, was ready to abandon his siege guns. Angus saved them at great personal risk, declaring that his honour and life should go together. When Arran hesitated to revenge the incursion of Sir Ralph Evers and Sir Bryan Latoun in the Merse, complaining of want of support from the nobles, Angus told him it was his own fault, and exhorted him to wipe out the accusation of cowardice as he himself would that of treachery, not by words but by deeds. This was not a mere boast, and when the English knights, after desecrating Melrose Abbey, came with their forces to Ancrum Moor they were met and signally defeated by the regent. The honours of the field were by all awarded to Angus. He had commenced the battle gaily by wishing he had his goshawk on his wrist when a heron flew across the field. After the victory it was reported that Henry reproached him for deserting his benefactor, when he exclaimed, ‘What! is our brother-in-law offended because I am a good Scottish man, because I have revenged the defacing of the limbs of my ancestors at Melrose upon Ralph Evers? Little knows King Henry the skirts of Kirnstable [a mountain in Douglasdale]. I can keep myself there from all his English host.’
Francis I sent him in acknowledgment of his bravery the order of St. Michael, a gold collar, and four thousand crowns. At a parliament held in Stirling in the following June, Angus and his brother, along with other nobles, signed a bond pledging themselves to invade England. A raid was made across the border in July, but without any important action. Strange as it may seem, Angus and the Douglases were still corresponding with Henry VIII, assuring him of their desire for the marriage of Mary to Edward and for peace; but as little heed was given to their assurances as they deserved. Angus, now an active member of the Scottish privy council, signed in 1546 the act of parliament which dissolved the treaty of peace and marriage
