made his plans to meet Edward with his
100,000. On the morning of the 23d of June, 1314, he exhorted his
Scots to fight for their liberty. How they did it, the world will
never forget! And while Scotland endures, and as long as there are
Scotsmen with warm blood coursing in their veins, they will never cease
to exult at the name Bannockburn! Thirty thousand English fell upon
the field. Twenty-seven barons and two hundred knights, and seven
hundred squires were lying in the dust, and twenty-two barons and sixty
knights were prisoners. Never was there a more crushing defeat.

{269}

Still England refused to acknowledge the independence of the kingdom,
and Bruce crossed the border with his army. The Pope was appealed to
by Edward, and issued a pacifying bull in 1317, addressed to "Edward,
King of England," and "the noble Robert de Bruis, conducting himself as
King of Scotland." Bruce declined to accept it until he was addressed
as King of Scotland, and then proceeded to capture Berwick. The
Scottish Parliament sent an address to the Pope, from which a few
interesting extracts are here made:

"It has pleased God to restore us to liberty, by one most valiant
Prince and King, Lord Robert, who has undergone all manner of toil,
fatigue, hardship, and hazard. To him we are resolved to adhere in all
things, both on account of his merit, and for what he has done for us.
But, if this Prince should leave those principles he has so nobly
pursued, and consent that we be subjected to the King of England, we
will immediately expel him as our enemy, and will choose another king,
for as long as one hundred of us remain alive, we will never be subject
to the English. For it is not glory, nor riches, {270} nor honor, but
it is liberty alone, that we contend for, which no honest man will lose
but with his life."

The spirit manifested in this had its effect, and the Pope consented to
address Bruce by his title, "King of Scotland." After delaying the
evil day as long as possible, England at last, in 1328, concluded a
treaty recognizing Scotland as an independent kingdom, in which
occurred these words: "And we renounce whatever claims we or our
ancestors in bygone times have laid in any way over the kingdom of
Scotland."

Concerning the character of Robert Bruce, historians are not agreed.
To fathom his motives would have been difficult at the time; how much
more so then after six centuries. We only know that he leaped into