restore them to their liberty, till
he had exacted a fine of one thousand marks from Hereford, and one of
ten thousand from his son-in-law.

{1292.} During this interval, the titles of John Baliol and of
Robert Bruce, whose claims appeared to be the best founded among the
competitors for the crown of Scotland, were the subject of general
disquisition, as well as of debate among the commissioners. Edward, in
order to give greater authority to his intended decision, proposed this
general question both to the commissioners and to all the celebrated
lawyers in Europe, "Whether a person descended from the elder sister,
but farther removed by one degree, were preferable, in the succession
of kingdoms, fiefs, and other indivisible inheritances, to one descended
from the younger sister, but one degree nearer to the common stock?"
This was the true state of the case; and the principle of representation
had now gained such ground every where, that a uniform answer was
returned to the king in the affirmative. He therefore pronounced
sentence in favor of Balioi; and when Bruce, upon this disappointment,
joined afterwards Lord Hastings, and claimed a third of the kingdom,
which he now pretended to be divisible, Edward, though his interests
seemed more to require the partition of Scotland, again pronounced
sentence in favor of Baliol. That competitor, upon renewing his oath
of fealty to England, was put in possession of the kingdom;[*] all his
fortresses were restored to him;[**] and the conduct of Edward, both in
the deliberate solemnity of the proceedings, and in the justice of the
award, was so far unexceptionable.

{1293.} Had the king entertained no other view than that of establishing
his superiority over Scotland, though the iniquity of that claim was
apparent, and was aggravated by the most egregious breach of trust,
he might have fixed his pretensions, and have left that important
acquisition to his posterity: but he immediately proceeded in such a
manner as made it evident that, not content with this usurpation, he
aimed also at the absolute sovereignty and dominion of the kingdom.
Instead of gradually inuring the Scots to the yoke, and exerting his
rights of superiority with moderation, he encouraged all appeals to
England; required King John himself, by six different summons on
trivial occasions, to come to London;[***] refused him the privilege of
defending his cause by a procurator; and obliged him to appear at the
b