Never in the history of this island, except afterwards during the reign of Anne, was the Scottish question so troublesome to England as during the second half of the sixteenth century. The immense additions which, of late years, have been made to our sources of information have not changed, to any great extent, the aspect of the long familiar picture, nor caused us to relinquish the old opinions regarding the characters and motives of those who held in their hands the tangled threads of international policy during the fifty years which preceded the Union of the Crowns. To use the Scots for the purpose of weakening England had long been the policy of France; and when war between Spain and France broke out in 1555, and an English army was to be sent to the assistance of Spain, the French Court hoped that an army from Scotland would march across the Tweed. Mary of Guise assembled the Scottish nobles, and proposed that they should seize the opportunity of taking vengeance for all the wrongs which their country had suffered since the fatal day of Flodden. But the proposals of the Queen Regent were not received with favour. She had been so foolish as to confer several important offices of State on Frenchmen; and these appointments had given great offence. During the late war the Scots had resented the manner in which their allies had behaved on several occasions, and had seen them depart with feelings of intense relief.[9] Moreover, the spread of the Protestant opinions in Scotland had naturally led many of the people to suspect the motives of a Catholic power. The Queen Regent, indeed, succeeded in bringing England and Scotland to the verge of another contest; but, in the long-run, the Scots refused to encounter the risks of war for the purpose of assisting the ambition of France. The marriage of Mary and the Dauphin involved the renewal of friendly intercourse with France; but the terms on which the Scottish Parliament agreed to this alliance provided for the complete independence of Scotland.[10] The crown matrimonial of Scotland was conferred upon the Dauphin; but the oath of fidelity which the Scottish ambassadors took to the heir of France, as King of Scotland, was framed so as to exclude any allegiance beyond that which the subjects of Scotland had hitherto acknowledged as due to their native princes.[11]