BALIOL, JotiN, king of Scotland, is remark able only from his being the successful competitor for the throne of that kingdom, and from his having brought his country to the lowest degree of humilia tion. On the death of the Maid of Norway, the na tion was distracted by the claims of various compe titors for the crown. Bruce and Baliol stood fore most on the list ; and, to prevent the civil discord and bloodshed, which must of necessity have ensued from a protracted dispute, they agreed to refer their claims to the arbitration of the king of England. Edward, disappointed in his design upon Scotland, by the pre mature death of the Maid of Norway, who had been betrothed to his son Edward prince of Wales, had determined, at every hazard, to gain an ascendancy in that kingdom. A favourable opportunity now of fered itself; and his ambition was equalled by his in justice. He summoned the competitors to meet him at Norham, where he had assembled his parliament, and where lie proposed to determine their respective rights. But what was the astonishment of the Scot tish chiefs, when, instead of deciding their claims with the disinterested integrity of an umpire, he demanded, as a preliminary, that they should acknowledge him as the superior and liege lord of the kingdom. To procure proof, that this superiority had always be longed to the kings of England, he had ransacked the musty chronicles of every abbey in his dominions ; and all he could produce consisted of mere fiction and unsupported allegation. But to supply the place of argument, he had assembled a numerous army on the borders, and seemed determined to support the weak ness of his proof, by the strength of his power. The love of dominion, and the fear of weakening their cause by offending their umpire, seems to have quench ed every spark of patriotism in the breasts of the com petitors. None were found daring enough to resist such usurpation ; and to the dishonour of our coun try it is recorded, that they all to a man signed a re cognition of Edward's paramount power in Scotland —acknowledging the subjection, and sacrificing the independence of their country. Baliol was chosen by Edward, as the fittest person for assisting him in the prosecution of his ambitious designs. He was crowned at Scone, in.1292, and immediately recogni zed by the nobility. He then returned to Newcastle, to profess himself a vassal of England, and to do ho mage for his kingdom. But this was the least part of his humiliation. Edward soon discovered the extent of his ambition. Instead of being contented with the homage of the sovereign, lie began to interfere with the internal regulations of the kingdom ; and even cited Baliol, upon several trivial occasions, to appear at the bar of an English parliament, to answer as a private delinquent. The king of Scotland bore tamely for a while these grievous indignities ; but a train of injuries and insults roused to resistance even the meek spirit of Baliol, who now seemed determined to wash out, by his future conduct, the ignominy of his former meanness and degradation, and to atone to his country for the injustice which he had done her. He openly
renounced his allegiance to the king of England, and entered into a treaty with France to make common cause against Edward. But the resolution of the ti mid Baliol soon vanished in the midst of dangers. An invasion of his dominions compelled him to implore the clemency of Edward, who demanded from him the most abject and mortifying submission. Stripped of his regal ornaments, and mounted on a sorry horse, with a white rod in his hand, he was carried before his conqueror, to whom he acknowledged his deep penitence for the disloyalty of his conduct, and made a solemn and irrevocable resignation of his crown into the hands of Edward. Baliol was sent in chains to remain a prisoner in the Tower of London ; but being soon after allowed to retire to France, he resided there, as a private gentleman, on his own estates.- During his absence, a band of patriots arose to assert the hide. pendence of their country ; and though they admit ted the name of Baliol into their public acts and ma nifestoes, they proceeded as if no such person had ex isted. Some attempts were afterwards made to re store him to his throne, but in vain. He died in 1314., in the 55th year of his age.
In the character of Baliol there is little either to praise or to blame. His conduct was the effect of a weak rather than of a wicked mind ; and he yielded to the-circumstances of the times, and to the example of others, rather than to his own ideas of rectitude and honour. He was ashamed of the part he had acted ; and his short and unavailing struggle to extricate his country from the power of Edward, entitles him to our commendation and pity. When stripped of his kingdom, he regretted not the power which he had lost, but was contented to live in privacy and retirement in a foreign land. It has been asserted, much to his disadvantage, but upon what authority we know not, that Bruce, his competitor, was offered the crown upon the same terms, and that he generously refused to hold it as depending upon England. From the most au thentic records we can affirm, that Bruce was the first who acknowledged the superiority of Edward ; that he preferred a petition to him as liege lord of Scot land ; and that his son and party were afterwards found under the banners of England, fighting against their country. In contrasting the characters of Bruce and Baliol, with regard to patriotism and integrity of conduct, our preference, however contrary to vulgar opinion, must rest with the latter. See Bloc.. Brit. Dalrymple's Annals. Robertson's Hist. of Scotland, vol. i. p. 10. Guthrie's Hist. of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 43-9•. Hume's Hist. of England, vol. ii. p. 232. () BA See ARMS and ARTILLERY: