{291} In a letter to Sir James Croft, Knox represented the great importance of their being speedily assisted with troops, without which they would be in much hazard of miscarrying in an attack upon the fortifications of Leith. The court of England, he said, ought not to hesitate at offending France, of whose hostile intentions against them they had the most satisfactory evidence. But “if ye list to craft with thame,” continued he, “the sending of a thousand or mo men to us can breake no league nor point of peace contracted betwixt you and France: for it is free for your subjects to serve in warr anie prince or nation for their wages; and if ye fear that such excuses will not prevail, ye may declare thame rebelles to your realme when ye shall be assured that thei be in our companye.” No doubt such things have been often done; and such “political casuistry” (as Keith not improperly styles it) is not unknown at courts. But it must be confessed, that the measure recommended by Knox (the morality of which must stand on the same grounds with the assistance which the English were at that time affording) was too glaring to be concealed by the excuses which he suggested. Croft laid hold of this opportunity to check the impetuosity of his correspondent, and wrote him, that he wondered how he, “being a wise man,” would require from them such aid as they could not give “without breach of treaty, and dishonour;” and that “the world was not so blind but that it could soon espy” the “devices” by which he proposed “to colour their doings.” Knox, in his reply, apologized for his {292} “unreasonable request;” but, at the same time, reminded Croft of the common practice of courts in such matters, and the conduct of the French court towards the English in a recent instance.[443] He was not ignorant, he said, of the inconveniences which might attend an open declaration in their favour, but feared that they would have cause to “repent the drift of time, when the remedy would not be so easy.”[444]