The English army lost no time in following the tract of the Scots, who retired towards those districts where the cause of national liberty had gained the greatest ascendancy. On reaching the neighbourhood of Irvine, the English commander found Wallace and the insurgent barons encamped on a well chosen position, and able, from their numbers, to have given battle, had they not been wofully enfeebled by dissension. The feuds among them ran so high, that Sir Richard Lundin, whose services had lately proved so useful, went over in disgust to the enemy, declaring that “he would no longer remain with a party at variance with itself.” His example was speedily followed by others, most of whom, as they were the cause of the dissension, could not assign the same reason for their conduct. Pride of birth, and reluctance on the part of the higher barons to submit to the only man among them who had talents[107] to meet the emergency, have been assigned, with great probability, as the cause of this unfortunate disagreement. The Steward of Scotland; his brother, the Knight of Bonkill; Robert Bruce; William Douglas; Alexander de Lindsay; and Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, with their followers, were among those who submitted to the enemy. The Bishop negociated the terms on which they were to be admitted to the peace of their “Lord Paramount:”--an acknowledgment of their errors, and hostages for their future obedience, were the basis of the treaty; and a copy of the deed, to which their seals were appended, was sent to Wallace, in expectation of his following their example. The high-minded patriot, however, entertaining views of a more elevated nature, treated this record of their desertion of the liberties of their country with merited disdain.