1570 May CHAP XIX Promises lightly made could be lightly broken,1 and the Duke, once out and among his own people, could do what he pleased. The pamphlets were then to have appeared, and with them, or immediately after, the Bull of Deposition. A Nuncio had come from Rome to Paris with a hat and sword for the King, and the Pope had hoped and desired that it should be formally published in the Nuncio's presence there. But France, like Spain, had refused the necessary permission. A copy had been smuggled over to England in cipher by Ridolfi; and Ridolfi, and La Mothe, and the Bishop of Ross were watching for the moment at which to launch it.2 The Bull once out, Spain or France was expected to strike in. The Catholics, with their misgivings about Mary Stuart dispelled by the pamphlets, were to rise simultaneously in all parts of England. Norfolk would march on Tutbury, and Elizabeth would fall in a few weeks at most. This was the programme, and this was the meaning of the Bishop's complacency in the treaty. The Defence' was unfortunately inconsistent with the humility of his attitude. It was the first indication to the English Government that the plea of innocence would seriously be set forward in the Queen of Scots' behalf. 1 'Los deste consejo blandian mas con el Duque de Norfolk, y me han avisado que mañana han de venir Cecil Ꭹ otro del Consejo á hablarles en la Torre, y ver que seguridad podra dar á la Reyna de su fidelidad de no casarse con la Reyna de Escocia, y de no ayudar á rimover esta religion que acá tienen. El esta advertido de ofrecerles mucho... Seria possible que salga presto; en lo cual puede considerar Va Excelencia que salido puede con gran facilidad librar la de Escocia y alterar todo el reyno Si es bien que haga mas con el amparo del Rey nro Señor que de Franceses, y estando Va Ex resuelto en esto general, escribire en lo particular algunas cosas que me parece se podran hacer convenientes á esta fin.'-Descifrada. Don Guerau de Espes al Duque de Alva, Mayo 1570. MSS. Simancas. 2 Don Guerau to Alva, May 10. -MSS. Simancas. 1570 May He was sent for to Bacon's house and required to ex- CHAP XIX plain what he meant by saying that the nobility disbelieved her guilt. He said that she had offered to defend herself in the Queen of England's presence: the Queen of England had refused to hear her, and she was therefore held acquitted of the charge. Bacon carried 'the books' to the Queen, and the yielding humour which would have allowed the scheme to ripen was instantly hardened. Arundel, to counteract the effect, brought forward La Mothe, and the Queen was told that France could not and would not allow Mary Stuart to be kept in England. Elizabeth fired up in her proudest style. 'She was astonished,' she said, 'that the King of France should think so lightly of the Queen of Scots' enormities. Her friends had given shelter to the English rebels, and with her aid and connivance they had levied war against her with fire and sword. No Sovereign in Europe would sit down under such a provocation, and she would count herself unworthy of realm, crown, and name of Queen if she endured it.' La Mothe replied that the King of France could not desert his sister-in-law; Elizabeth might name her own conditions, and his master would undertake that they should be observed; but if she continued to palter, he would be forced, however unwillingly, to interfere, and would hold himself acquitted before God and the world for any consequences which might follow. 'It was easy to speak of conditions,' the Queen answered, but she must have better security than words for their fulfilment. The Bishop of Ross had said that the abdication of Lochleven went for nothing. Francis I. had disowned the engagements with which he had bound himself in Spain; and even Maitland had 1570 CHAP XIX been heard to say that promises given under restraint were nothing. The Earl of Westmoreland, notwithstanding the harrying of the Borders, was still the guest of the Hamiltons.' May Bacon caught the opportunity, while the indignation at the Bishop's book was fresh, to urge her to strike another blow in Scotland, and show France that she was not to be frightened by La Mothe's threats. Lennox had gone down to Berwick, and couriers followed him with orders to Sussex again to set his troops in motion. Sussex himself had caught a cold by sleeping in the air at Hawick; the cold had been followed by fever, and he could not leave his bed. But Sir William Drury, the marshal of the army, would be as useful in the field as himself. The Borders had suffered sufficiently; the Hamiltons were the centre of the anti-English Confederacy, and no heavier blow could be dealt to Mary Stuart, no material support short of the recognition of the King could be given more effectively to Morton, than a direct attack on Chatelherault himself. On the 10th of May the army was again in Scottish territory on its mission of destruction, with the Earl of Lennox in Drury's company as the representative of James, and Morton, taking courage at last, gave them a formal and friendly reception at Edinburgh. The news of their coming flew swiftly to Chatelherault, and the Duke and his sons, unable to defend themselves at home, made a dash on Glasgow Castle, surprised the gates, and forced their way into the inner court; but they were repulsed with loss and 1 The words which Maitland was said to have used were-Quæ in vinculis aguntur rata non habebo et frangenti fidem, fides frangatureidem.' -Dépêches de La Mothe Fénelon, May . 1570 April retired with Westmoreland into the Highlands, while CHAP XIX Drury, Morton, and Lennox advanced leisurely upon Hamilton. They carried guns with them, and after a few shots the garrison left by the Duke capitulated. The plunder was given to the soldiers. The castle itself, the town, half a score of villages,' and all the houses of the Hamilton family in the neighbourhood, were burnt and blown up. Dumbarton ought to have followed, for Dumbarton was an open port through which the French at any time could have access into Scotland. But Drury was tied by his orders and would not meddle with it. While his troops halted at Glasgow, he went down with a party of horse to survey the fortress for future contingencies. He was shot at from the ditches, but no harm was done, and after taking the necessary notes he rejoined his men. From Glasgow he went to Linlithgow, where a ' palace' belonging to Chatelherault shared the fate of Hamilton. The house from which the Regent had been shot was destroyed, with every building or homestead belonging to any of the Hamiltons' name or lineage; and with this emphatic act of justice the English at the end of the month returned to Edinburgh. Meanwhile a remarkable event had taken place in London. Desperate at this second invasion and the failure of La Mothe's threats, the Bishop of Ross had played the card which he had reserved in his hand. On the morning of the 15th of May the Bull declaring Elizabeth deposed and her subjects absolved from their allegiance was found nailed against the Bishop of London's door, and whatever the Catholic Powers might do or not do, the Catholic Church had formally declared war. The experiment had been tried before against Henry VIII. and had effected 1570 May CHAP XIX nothing. The superstitious terrors once attaching to the Vatican thunders had long disappeared. But Elizabeth was not Henry, and the England and the Europe of 1570 were not the England and the Europe of 1539. In some respects the advantage was with the Queen. The Catholic Church had no longer the prestige of ancient sovereignty, for the first time disturbed and broken. It no longer counted among its friends men of noble intelligence like Sir Thomas More. It was disgraced by the cruelties which had attended its restoration under Mary, and its strength lay now among the meaner elements of secret conspiracy and disaffection. On the other hand, as the doctrinal tendencies of the Reformation had developed themselves, the division line of the two creeds had become more strongly marked. The instinctive dislike of English gentlemen for revolutionary changes, the uncertainty of the succession, the sense of insecurity from the political isolation of the country, had created a vague but general discontent among the masses of the population. The old-fashioned piety was superseded by a less respectable but more dangerous fanaticism; a fanaticism which no longer showed itself in open and organised political opposition, but was not afraid of treason, rebellion, or murder, which fraternised with foreign invaders, and was ready to sacrifice the interests of England to the interests of the Church. On the Continent, too, the Council of Trent had closed the prospect of ecclesiastical reconciliation. The Catholics, wherever they could have their way, showed a desperate and uncompromising determination to trample out the Reformers with fire and sword; and although France and Spain were still political antagonists and neutralized each other's influence by their |