Erskine,
the neutral commander of the Castle, asked for a plebiscite, as provided
in the treaty of July 24, the Truth, said the brethren, was not a matter
of human votes, and, as the brethren held St. Giles's Church before the
treaty, under Article 7 they could not be dispossessed. {142a} The
Regent, to avoid shadow of offence, yielded the point as to Article 6,
and was accused of breach of treaty because, occupying Holyrood, she had
her Mass there. Had Edinburgh been polled, the brethren knew that they
would have been outvoted. {142b}

Now, Knox's object, in that part of Book II. of his "History," which was
written in September-October 1559 as a tract for contemporary reading, is
to prove that the Regent was the breaker of treaty. His method is first
to give "the heads drawn by us, which we desired to be granted." The
heads are--

1. No member of the Congregation shall be troubled in any respect by any
authority for the recent "innovation" before the Parliament of January
10, 1560, decides the controversies.

2. Idolatry shall not be restored where, on the day of treaty, it has
been suppressed.

3. Preachers may preach wherever they have preached and wherever they
may chance to come.

4. No soldiers shall be in garrison in Edinburgh.

5. The French shall be sent away on "a reasonable day" and no more
brought in without assent of the whole Nobility and Parliament. {143a}

These articles make no provision for the safety of Catholic priests and
churches, and insist on suppression of idolatry where it has been put
down, and the entire withdrawal of French forces. Knox's party could not
possibly denounce these terms which they demanded as "things unreasonable
and ungodly," for they were the very terms which they had been asking
for, ever since the Regent went to Dunbar. Yet, when the treaty was
made, the preachers did say "our case is not yet so desperate that we
need to grant to things unreasonable and ungodly." {143b} Manifestly,
therefore, the terms actually obtained, as being "unreasonable and
ungodly," were _not_ those for which the Reformers asked, and which,
_they publicly proclaimed_, had been conceded.

Knox writes, "These our articles were altered, and another form
disposeth." And here he translates the terms as given in the French,
terms which provide for the safety of Catholics, the surrender of
Holyrood and the Mint, but say nothing about the withdrawal of the French
troops or the non-re