Fluctuating Policy of Edward 2
In less than a year Edward appointed six different governors in Scotland; and to none of these persons, however high their talents, was there afforded sufficient time to organize, or carry into effect, any regular plan of military operations. His enemy, on the other hand, betrayed no want of activity, and about this time laid siege to Rutherglen, in Clydesdale—a castle considered of such importance by Edward, that he despatched Gilbert de Clare earl of Gloucester, with a strong force, to raise the siege; but either the expedition never departed, or it was too late in its arrival; for Rutherglen, in the beginning of the next year, appears to have been one of the castles in the hands of the Scots. Indeed, Edward's measures seem to have mostly evaporated in orders and preparations, whilst he himself, occupied with the pleasures of the court, and engrossed by his infatuated fondness for his favourite Piers Gaveston, dreamt little of taking the field. Alarmed at last by the near approach of the Scottish army to the English border, he consented to accept the mediation of Philip king of France, who despatched Oliver de Roches to treat with Bruce, and Lamberton bishop of St Andrews, upon measures preparatory to a reconciliation, This able and intriguing prelate, on renewing his homage to the English king, had been liberated from his imprisonment, and permitted to return to Scotland; but his fellow prisoner, Wishart the bishop of Glasgow, considered too devoted to his country, was still kept in close confinement. De Roches' negotiation was soon followed by the arrival of the king's brother, Lewis count of Evreux, and Guy bishop of Soissons, as ambassadors, earnestly persuading to peace; commissioners from both countries were in consequence appointed, and a truce was concluded, which, if we may believe Edward, was ill observed by the Scots. A trifling discovery of an intercepted letter clearly showed that the King of France secretly favoured the Scottish king. The Sieur de Varrennes, Philip's ambassador at the English court, openly sent a letter to Bruce under the title of the Earl of Carrick; but he intrusted to the same bearer secret despatches, which were addressed to the King of Scots. Edward dissembled his indignation, and contented himself with a complaint against the duplicity of such conduct.
Nearly a whole year after this appears to have been spent by this monarch in a vacillating and contradictory policy with regard to Scotland, which was calculated to give every advantage to so able an adversary as Bruce. Orders for the muster of his army, which were disobeyed by some of his most powerful barons— commissions to his generals to proceed against his enemies, which were countermanded, or never acted upon—promises to take the field in person, which were broken almost as soon as made—directions, at one time, to his lieutenant in Scotland, to prosecute the war with the greatest vigour, and these in a few days succeeded by a command to conclude, and even, if required, to purchase a truce; such is the picture of the imbecility of the English king, as presented by the public records of the time.