Mary's Commissioners, on the other hand, though doubting much the impartiality of the party which was to arbitrate between them, felt strong in the justice of their cause; and after protesting that their appearance was not to be construed as implying any surrender of her independence on the part of their mistress, or of feudal inferiority to the Crown of England, they proceeded to give in their complaint. It contained a short review of the injuries the Queen of Scots had suffered since her marriage with Bothwell;--of the rebellion of Morton and others,--of her voluntary surrender at Carberry Hill,--of her imprisonment in Loch-Leven,--of the abdication that had been forced from her,--of the coronation of her infant son, and the assumed regency of the Earl of Murray,--of her defeat at Langside,--and of the undutiful conduct in which the Regent had since persevered.[159] To this complaint it was answered, at great length, by Murray, that the Earl of Bothwell having forcibly carried off the person of the Queen to the Castle of Dunbar, and kept her there a prisoner for some time, had, in the end, suddenly accomplished "a pretended marriage," which, confirming the nobility in the belief that the Earl was the chief author of the murder of the King, made them determine to take up arms to relieve those who were unjustly calumniated, and to rescue the Queen from the bondage of a tyrant, who had presumptuously attempted to ravish and marry her, though he could neither be her lawful husband, nor she his lawful wife;--that Bothwell came against these nobility, "leading the Queen in his company, as a defence and cloak to his wickedness;" but that, as the quarrel was intended only against him, the Queen was received by the nobles, and led by them into Edinburgh, as soon as she consented to part from the Earl;--that she was then requested to agree that the murderers should be punished, and that the pretended marriage into which she had been led, should be dissolved;--that to this request she only answered, by rigorously menacing all who had taken up arms in her cause, and declaring she would surrender her realm altogether, "so she might be suffered to possess the murderer of her husband;"--that, perceiving the inflexibility of her mind, they had been compelled to "sequestrate her person" for a season;--that, during this time, she had voluntarily renounced the Government, finding herself wearied by its fatigues, and perceiving that she and her people could not well agree; and that she had appointed, during the minority of her son, the Earl of Murray Regent of the realm, and that every thing he had done since had been in accordance with the legal authority with which she had thus invested him;--and that he therefore required, in behalf of his Sovereign Lord the King, to be allowed peaceably to enjoy and govern the country.[160]