CHAP XXII 'with which in refusing to allow the succession to be 'settled, she exposed her subjects to the chances of civil 'war at her death. Should the Queen of England be 1572 deposed and killed, she had no heirs to avenge her quarrel, while the Queen of Scots was pitied and loved, and had a son to inherit her rights. The mer'chants were furious at the ruin of their commerce; 'Ireland was disaffected; and in England there was not 'a fortified port or an experienced soldier. They had 'but to land with the King of Spain's authority for the 'whole people to flock to them. The Queen's own troops would desert her: one victory, and all was 'their own. An army of priests would go back with 'them to feed their starving flocks; and as Elizabeth 'had made Flanders serve her turn, so Philip might 'make use of England. There was needed but a little money and a little courage, and the King might pro'vide Don John of Austria with a kingdom, and Spain 'with better neighbours. He might crush the Flanders ' rebels, reconcile half Europe to the Church, save his ' own credit, and restore God to His honour.'1 1 Reasons to persuade the King of Spain to invade England, Feb. 1572.-MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS. Don Guerau supported the petition with a memoir which he had ineffectually submitted to the Duke of Alva. Flanders,' said Don Guerau, 'can never be at peace till the Government of England is changed. Cecil would have had open war with us had not others on the Council prevented him. He seized the treasure to drive our army into mutiny for want of their pay -'para incommodar quanto fuese posible el pagamento del ejercito á Flandes.' He encourages the pirates in plundering our commerce. He has turned the restitution treaty to January CHAP XXII 1572 January So the poor Catholics pleaded, to little purpose. Philip was willing to help them, but allowed himself to be guided by Alva; and Alva had not the slightest confidence in men who talked as if England was at their devotion, yet were unable to set foot upon its soil unless escorted by an army of strangers. It was universally believed that the Queen of Scots would now be executed; and Spain would not move to save her. The appeals of the Archbishop of Glasgow to Charles and Catherine were equally in vain. Mary Stuart's head would be a cheap price for the English alliance,1 and Walsingham prayed that Elizabeth would see her opportunity and relieve herself and her country of that danger for ever. Once again Mary Stuart's life depended on the resolution of Elizabeth; and if the opinion of Don Guerau was correct, that Elizabeth was a cipher in the hands of Burghley, the best grace she had to look for was a priest to make her ready for her end. Norfolk's turn came first, however; and with him if possible, in Catholic hands; for the 1 'En estos' (the King and his guna, aunque le dan mil esperanzas, pero todo son mentiras, dandole á entender no solamente que proveeran esto y otro, pero que lo han ya proveydo y halla ser todo falso, y ya no sabe que hacerse.'-Secretario Aguilon á Felipe IId, Dec. 5. TEULET, vol. v. 'Surely so long as that devilish woman liveth, neither her Majesty must make account to continue in quiet possession of her crown, nor her faithful servants assure themselves of safety of their lives. God open her Majesty's eyes to see that which may be for her best safety.'— Walsingham to Cecil, Jan. 30. MSS. France. XXII 1572 Burghley could write that 'the Queen would deal more CHAP substantially than many did imagine.' Among the Peers by whom the Duke would have to be tried, many would inevitably have to take their seats as his judges who were in heart as guilty as himself; but care was taken that there should be at least a majority on whose loyalty Elizabeth could depend. Lord Shrewsbury was named High Steward for the same reason for which he was chosen to be the Queen of Scots' guardian. Twenty-six noblemen formed the Court over which Shrewsbury presided; and in the list almost every Peer was included who had been created by the Queen, or owed his station to her father and the Reformation. Hertford, who for two years had been in disgrace and forbidden to sit in Parliament, was restored to his honours. Reginald Grey, the representative of the ruined family of Grey de Ruthyn, was made Earl of Kent for the occasion; 2 and of the Queen's own relations, Lord Hunsdon alone was absent, being unable to leave Berwick.3 The occasion was extremely critical. With a shaking throne, an uncertain people, and in the midst of the great Catholic reaction which was threatening all over Europe to overwhelm the work of the Reformers, it was no light matter to erect again a court of treason, to re-open the chapter of political trials and executions, 1 Burghley to Walsingham, Dec. ley, Mountjoy, Wentworth, Mor7.-DIGGES. 2 La Reyna ha creado un nuevo Conde de Kent para tener su voto seguro.'-Don Guerau to Philip, Jan. 7. MSS. Simancas. 3 The Peers who tried Norfolk were the Earls of Shrewsbury, Kent, Sussex, Warwick, Pembroke, Worcester, Huntingdon, Bedford, Hertford, Leicester, Lords Clinton, Burgh daunt, Chandos, St. John of Bledsoe, CHAP XXII 1572 January which it had been Elizabeth's honourable distinction to have hitherto held closed. However great and however evident were Norfolk's offences, he was the highest English subject, and the crime for which he was to be brought to the bar was no crime at all in the eyes of half the nation. To leave him unpunished, or to try him and to fail in obtaining a verdict, would be equally fatal. To prepare the way with the public, a compendious account of the conspiracy and its discovery was drawn up and published; and another step was taken of far more importance, which, though too long delayed, was still in time to be of use. As careful of the Queen of Scots' honour as she had been careful of her life, Elizabeth had been contented to endure the misconstruction of Europe, to allow a vague belief to spread that the evidence produced against her at Westminster was incomplete, and to give her a chance of recovering the fair fame which she had so foully blotted. Elizabeth had not only refused, against the advice of her wisest ministers, to publish the story in her own. defence, when it would have silenced the murmurs of the Catholic world, but she had forced the Scots to suffer also the disadvantage of a doubtful cause. Now, at length, she withdrew her prohibition. A narrative of the events which had led to the Queen of Scots' deposition was drawn up by George Buchanan.1 1 The vituperative eloquence which has been poured upon Buchanan's 'Detectio' has failed to expose a single serious error in it, and in the few trifling points where a question can be fairly raised upon Buchanan's accuracy, is it clear that the fault does not lie after all in the inadequate information of his critics? The book has been called slanderous from the completeness of the case which it establishes. The sentimentalism which cannot tolerate the notion of the Queen of Scots' guilt denounces the evidence against her as forged. But to denounce is not to prove. The account which was now published was the deliberate plea of Versions of the casket letters in French and Latin were attached to the narrative, and the whole was printed under the title of The Detection of the Doings of Mary Queen of Scots, touching the Murder of her Husband, and her Conspiracy, Adultery, and Pretended Marriage with the Earl Bothwell.' Copies were circulated in Scotland, England, and the European Courts. La Mothe complained to Elizabeth, but the Queen declined. to interfere. She had shielded the Queen of Scots too long for her own safety, and Mary Stuart's mode of recognising the obligation was not calculated to encourage her to persist further. Sir Thomas Smith, who had gone to Paris to assist Walsingham in the negotiation of the league, explained to the French Council, that the time for forbearance was passed; that the English Government was now resolute; and that if the Queen of Scots gave any more trouble, the difficulties. about her would be promptly ended." Protestant Scotland at the bar of Europe; and as the passionate aspect of the story gives place to calmer consideration, it will receive at last the authoritative position which it deserves. 1 Among the copies sent to France one was given to 'one Montaigne of Montpellier,' supposed then to be writing 'The Universal History of the Times.'-Killegrew to Cecil, Jan. 10. Montaigne had been a pupil of Buchanan. The Universal Story' was perhaps merged in the work of his friend De Thou. 2 I was fain to declare unto them all her behaviour, her adulteries, the killing of her husband twice (if it might be) with poison, and as some say strangling, besides fire and gunELIZ. IV. Y powder, the shameful marrying of CHAP XXII 1572 January |