Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

x>:xiv JuTIX JOllN.-TtiNK, I'lU.ST WACDl'.N, 1524-] 5r;7. .
doings, nnd gave lii;n iiuill/or ri.s:^^!;!^^ iiov ;idvice. It v,-a% furilKT doclaieil
tliat " tliu tiiilli; tliat fcllljct-wix the Lord :M;ix\vell ami tiie lai.l of Julni-
htounc" was not the crime of^trcason^ Lut a jiciglibour's war; each of Iheui
huriied the ollier's laiid^. and slew iiien and servants for his ow)i private
cjuarrel. ^\s regarded the particular charge again-st the earl, it was pleaded
that as neither of the priuci]ials (ilaxwell and Johiistonv) had been convicted
of treason, no one could be eon\icled for assisting theui.'
The affair was in fact treated as a mere episode in a p!i\Lde feud, and a
few months later, in Angr,,,t loL'S, w(' find I'dwavd Maxwell, brotlier of
Lord Maxwell, and Johnstone acting togttlier when they " burned the mote,
of Liddale," part of the English king's land in " Niehol forest," apparently
on tl)0 Euglisli bo]-Jer.2
In iJeeember i:i2S and January l."i29, John Johnstone was summoned
to l^diidiurgh to consult v.iih the king, first as to the state of the borders,
and secondly as to the government of the country. The Earl of Angus and
the lieads of the Douglas paity had been bunisiied from Scotland, and a peace
concluded with England, by which provision M'as made for subduing tlic
lawless inhabitants of the borders, of whoni the Armstrongs -were specially
obnoxious. It was to advise as to carrying this provision into effect that
Johnstone, together v.ith the Earl of IJotliwell, Lord Maxwell, the laird of
Buccleuch, and other border barons, %\ ere summoned to Edinburgh. In June
of. 1529 King James proceeded to the east marches, where better order had
been kept since the truce, and at Peebles, on 25th June, the Earl of Lotliwell,
as warden, bound himself to secure tranquillity and good rule in Liddesdale.'^
The king then directed his altenlion to the west marches, and on his
i-etuni to Edinburgh, a number of those responsible for tlmt district appeared
before him to ansv.'cr for tlieir duties of wardein-y. They first procured a re-
1 Acts of tlie Parliameuts of .Scotl.-iiul, vol. ii. pp. 323-3-J5.
2 Stite Vupirs of Henry vni., vol. iv. p. 507 ; Dacie to Wolsoy, 13tli Septemlxr }'''2S.
3 Act.i iJoisiinoruin C'oucilii, Cotli -June 15-0.