Matheson Collection > Clan Donald > Volume 1

364 THE CLAN DONALD.
testant party, under the leadership of the Earl of
Arraii, favouring the attitude of the English monarch,
and encouraging his interference in the affairs of the
Scottish State,
Whatever estimate may be formed of the private
character of Cardinal Beaton, a question that we are
not called upon to discuss here, he was undoubtedly
a man of great political talent, and his maintenance
of a national and independent policy for Scotland is,
from a patriotic standpoint, worthy of commendation.
A determined foe of the Reformation, he was a
devoted upholder of the Roman See, as well as of
the alliance with France, all of which implied enmity
to England and hostility to Henry VII I. , the political
head and mainspring of the Protestant cause in that
country. Beaton had failed in his design upon the
Regency, but down to the day of his death he
exercised the largest measure of influence in the still
powerful party with which he was so closely allied.
The Earl of Arran, who, on account of his close
relationship to the Throne, was appointed Regent,
had embraced the principles of the Reformation,
but neither his political nor religious convictions
were sufficiently steadfast or i^rofound, to cause him
to take a resolute or consistent attitude, in his
handling of the reins of his exalted office.
The interference of Henry VIII. in the affairs of
Scotland took the form of an attempt to negotiate a
marriage between the Prince of Wales and the
infant Queen of Scots. Facilities for promoting this
match lay to his hand in the return of the Earl of
Angus and the exiled Douglasses, as well as of
numerous prisoners of rank taken at the disgraceful
raid of Solway in 1542, all of whom were strictly
enjoined by Henry to use their endeavours for the