Wallace now saw that the state of the country required a different remedy from that which had hitherto been applied. Baliol, whom he had acknowledged as his righteous sovereign, though detained a prisoner in England, had, through the menaces of Edward, made over to that monarch his right to the crown and kingdom of Scotland. This act, in the opinion of Wallace, released him from his allegiance to one who had all along acted a part unworthy of his attachment; for, though he admitted his right to _resign_ the crown, yet he could not recognise a right to _transfer_ it to a stranger, to the exclusion of the lawful heir; and as Edward, the son of Baliol, was also the prisoner and tool of the King of England, he naturally fixed his attention on Bruce, as the person best fitted, from his birth and talents, to infuse that confidence in the people which necessarily arises from the presence of a person invested with lawful authority. Having found no difficulty in impressing Sir Simon Frazer, and those other chiefs who adhered to him, with the same sentiments, a negociation was entered into with Edward Bruce, for inviting his brother from England to assume the crown; and it is also said, that a special herald[65] from Wallace and his confederates found his way to Bruce in disguise, who appointed to meet with our hero on a certain night on the burrow-muir of Glasgow. 1305. In the meantime, Wallace and his friends were active in organizing the insurrection, which was to burst forth as soon as Bruce appeared among them, and who was at the same time to have been proclaimed king. How far Cumyn was consulted on the occasion, by Wallace and his associates, does not appear. From the very little intercourse which seems to have subsisted between them since the fatal battle of Falkirk, it is highly probable that the accession of our patriot and his party, to the proposal for placing Bruce on the throne, was communicated to Cumyn through the medium of Edward Bruce--the fiery temperament of whose mind, was not always in unison with those maxims of sound policy necessary for conducting affairs of such moment. Whether Cumyn had ever been sincere in the agreement entered into with the Earl of Carrick, or whether he afterwards repented of the bargain he had made, is a point not easily to be ascertained; but with a duplicity worthy of his conduct on a former occasion, he is said to have despatched the bond between himself and Bruce to Edward; urging, at the same time, the arrestment of his rival, as necessary to prevent the disturbance that was on the eve of breaking out in Scotland. It might be considered by our readers an omission, were we to bring our labours to a close, without embodying in our pages a more particular account of this subtile and talented baron, than what has hitherto appeared in the course of the narrative. To obviate this objection, perhaps the following brief outline, in addition to what has already been stated, may suffice.