RAID OF RUTHVEN, a mysterious event in Scottish history, which took place in August 1600. John Ruthven, Earl of Gowrie, and his brother, Alexander, then resided on the former's estate at Perth. The earl was bitter against James VI (later James I of England) who had put the earl's father to death for treason and who was in Ruthven's debt for a large sum. On 5 Aug. 1600, the king with a few attendants visited Ruthven's residence in order as Alex ander alleged, to confer with the earl in regard to the debt. After dinner the Ruthvens con trived to separate the king and his attendants, bringing the former into a private study and. taking the latter into the garden. The guests were soon informed that the king had ridden off and the earl left them for a moment and soon returned and confirmed the report. While the guests were puzzling over the circumstance, they heard the king shouting c(Treason!* from the study window. Suspecting a plot four of them rushed to the study where they found Alexander Ruthven struggling with the king. They killed Alexander, after which the earl and his servant, Cranston, rushed upon them and fought desperately to avenge his brother. How ever, he was overpowered and killed. In the study the king had found a man in armor, who, it was later said, was Henderson, chamberlain of the earl. As Henderson had offered no violence to the king he was pardoned. Three of the servants were hanged for their part in the conspiracy, the Ruthven estates were con fiscated and the castle, in which the attack took place, was destroyed. Considerable 'mystery surrounds the strange event. The suggestion been made that Queen: Elizabeth, who may have wished to secure the king's person and to rule Scotland in his name, used the Ruthvens as tools, to accomplish this end. Others have sug gested that there may have been no merely a quarrel over the debt which led to the death of the Ruthvens, after which the king concocted the story of the plot to hide his own guilt. Consult 'R.egister of the Privy. Council
of (VI);, Barbi, 'Tragedy of Gowrie House) (Paisley 1887); Lang, 'James VI and the Gowrie Mystery) (London 1902) ; 'History of Scotland' (Vol. II, Edinburgh 1902) ; Burton, 'History of Scotland> (ib. 1867-70) ; brown, Hume, 'History of (Vol:II, Cambridge 1909).
in international law, an unauthor ized invasion by an armed force of the ter ritory -of a state not at war. A raid must be carefully distinguished from•an invasion, for in the latter either regular forces of k foreign state or regular forces of a body exercising its powers by delegation of that state must be guilty of the overt act. If so, it constitutes an act of war, whereas a raid, being unauthorized and unrecognized by any state, is not an act of war. The punishment of the offenders, if cap tured, is, therefore, very different. In case of invasion, they are treated as prisoner's of war, bat iii case of a raid the offenders, if captured, are subject to the local law. The state invaded may compel compensation from the offending state or may -retaliate by similar acts or by declaring war, but this is not true in the event of a raid.
Among the most famous of raids was that of Dr. Jameson (q.v.) who forcibly entered the Transvaal in 1895 at the head of an armed force of 600 men, and was one of the causes of the war that followed between the republic and Great Britain. Dr. Jameson's force was cap tured by the Boers and turned over to the 13ritish for punishment.
Among other raids may be mentioned those claimed to have been instigated by General Villa, head of the Mexican rebel forces, in the spring and summer of 1916, into territory in the southwestern part of the United States.