[88] The control of taxation was maintained by Parliament, and the king was informed that the grants were to be used for special purposes. No general statement was made which could be construed into a definite claim of the right of appropriation of supplies. The "Parliament" merely used for a particular purpose the power which at that moment it chanced to possess. It is the absence of any assertion of or struggle for constitutional principle that is ultimately decisive against the "constitutional" theory. When, as here, the nobles had the power, they said they would do certain things, and they did them. But there is no conscious effort, traceable from generation to generation, such as we find in English history. [89] Cf. John Riddell, _Stewartiana_, Edinburgh, 1843. [90] Tytler, _History of Scotland_, iii. 26. [91] Burton, _History of Scotland_, ii. 351. [92] Burton, _History of Scotland_, ii. 373. [93] A declaration was made to Parliament regarding Rothesay's death, in answer to rumours against Albany. But this was merely a formal protest of innocence made to a semi-judicial body. [94] It may be remarked that the Act does not say that "in all time coming" a king or a regent is to be responsible, although it endows Rothesay with all the powers of a king. It was passed solely with reference to the immediate circumstances. [95] Acts against "baratry"--_i.e._ the purchase of benefices at Rome. [96] The king's interest in the maintenance of justice is illustrated by Fordun's well-known story that, on his return to Scotland, when he found the misery caused by the incompetence and negligence of the second Albany, he vowed to devote his life to the restoration of order: "Si Deus mihi vitam dederit, ipso auxiliante, et vitam saltem mihi caninam praestante, faciam per universum regnum clavem castrum, et dumetum vaccam, absque possessoris ambiguo ad modum custodire" (_Scotichronicon_, xv. 34). [97] King James VI, _Basilikon Doron_, Book ii. [98] The picture of Graham, the king's murderer, as an outraged exponent of constitutionalism is a pious imagination. [99] This has been viewed as a serious constitutional claim (_e.g._ Ridpath, _op. cit._, p. 4), and it illustrates the type of error on which the "constitutional" theory has thriven. [100] Edition of 1778, p. 24. [101] _Basilikon Doron_, Book ii. [102] There is no evidence that the Estates knew anything about this war.