ELIZABETH.
{1590.} After a state of great anxiety and many difficulties, Elizabeth
had at length reached a situation where, though her affairs still
required attention, and found employment for her active spirit, she was
removed from all danger of any immediate revolution, and might regard
the efforts of her enemies with some degree of confidence and security.
Her successful and prudent administration had gained her, together with
the admiration of foreigners, the affections of her own subjects; and,
after the death of the queen of Scots, even the Catholics, however
discontented, pretended not to dispute her title, or adhere to any other
person as her competitor. James, curbed by his factious nobility
and ecclesiastics, possessed at home very little authority; and was
solicitous to remain on good terms with Elizabeth and the English
nation, in hopes that time, aided by his patient tranquillity, would
secure him that rich succession to which his birth entitled him. The
Hollanders, though overmatched in their contest with Spain, still made
an obstinate resistance; and such was their unconquerable antipathy to
their old masters, and such the prudent conduct of young Maurice, their
governor, that the subduing of that small territory, if at all possible,
must be the work of years, and the result of many and great successes.
Philip, who, in his powerful effort against England, had been
transported by resentment and ambition beyond his usual cautious maxims,
was now disabled, and still more discouraged, from adventuring again
on such hazardous enterprises. The situation also of affairs in France
began chiefly to employ his attention; but notwithstanding all his
artifice, and force, and expense, the events in that kingdom proved
every day more contrary to his expectations, and more favorable to the
friends and confederates of England.
The violence of the league having constrained Henry to declare war
against the Hugonots, these religionists seemed exposed to the utmost
danger; and Elizabeth sensible of the intimate connection between her
own interests and those of that party, had supported the king of Navarre
by her negotiations in Germany, and by large sums of money, which she
remitted for levying forces in that country. This great prince, not
discouraged by the superiority of his enemies, took the field; and in
the year 1587 gained at Coutras a complete victory over the army of
the French king; but as his allies, the Germans were at the same time
discomfited by the army of the league, under the duke of Guise, his
situation, notwithstanding his victory, seemed still as desperate as
ever. The chief advantage which he reaped by this diversity of success,
arose from the dissensions which by that means took place among his
enemies. The inhabitants of Paris, intoxicated with admiration of Guise,
and strongly prejudiced against their king, whose intentions had become
suspicious to them, took to arms and obliged Henry to fly for his
safety. That prince, dissembling his resentment, entered into a
negotiation with the league; and having conferred many high offices on
Guise and his partisans, summoned an assembly of the states at Blois, on
pretence of finding expedients to support the intended war against
the Hugonots. The various scenes of perfidy and cruelty which had been
exhibited in France, had justly begotten a mutual diffidence among all
parties; yet Guise, trusting more to the timidity than honor of the
king, rashly put himself into the hands of that monarch, and expected,
by the ascendant of his own genius, to make him submit to all his
exorbitant pretensions. Henry, though of an easy disposition, not steady
to his resolutions, or even to his promises, wanted neither courage nor
capacity; and finding all his subtleties eluded by the vigor of Guise,
and even his throne exposed to the most imminent danger, he embraced
more violent counsels than were natural to him, and ordered that prince
and his brother, the cardinal of Guise, to be assassinated in his
palace.
This cruel execution, which the necessity of it alone could excuse, had
nearly proved fatal to the author, and seemed at first to plunge him
into greater dangers than those which he sought to avoid by taking
vengeance on his enemy. The partisans of the league were inflamed with
the utmost rage against him: the populace every where, particularly at
Paris, renounced allegiance to him: the ecclesiastics and the preachers
filled all places with execrations against his name: and the most
powerful cities and most opulent provinces appeared to combine in a
resolution, either of renouncing monarchy, or of changing their monarch.
Henry, finding slender resource among his Catholic subjects, was
constrained to enter into a confederacy with the Hugonots and the
king of Navarre: he enlisted large bodies of Swiss infantry and German
cavalry: and being still supported by his chief nobility, he assembled,
by all these means, an army of near forty thousand men, and advanced
to the gates of Paris, ready to crush the league, and subdue all his
enemies. The desperate resolution of one man diverted the course of
these great events. Jaques Clement, a Dominican friar, inflamed by that
bloody spirit of bigotry which distinguishes this century and a great
part of the following beyond all ages of the world, embraced the
resolution of sacrificing his own life, in order to save the church from
the persecutions of an heretical tyrant; and being admitted, under some
pretext, to the king’s presence, he gave that prince a mortal wound, and
was immediately put to death by the courtiers, who hastily revenged the
murder of their sovereign. This memorable incident happened on the first
of August, 1589.
The king of Navarre, next heir to the crown, assumed the government, by
the title of Henry IV.; but succeeded to much greater difficulties
than those which surrounded his predecessor. The prejudices entertained
against his religion, made a great part of the nobility immediately
desert him; and it was only by his promise of hearkening to conferences
and instruction, that he could engage any of the Catholics to adhere
to his undoubted title. The league, governed by the duke of Mayenne,
brother to Guise, gathered new force; and the king of Spain entertained
views, either of dismembering the French monarchy, or of annexing the
whole to his own dominions, In these distressful circumstances,
Henry addressed himself to Elizabeth, and found her well disposed to
contribute to his assistance, and to oppose the progress of the Catholic
league, and of Philip, her inveterate and dangerous enemies. To prevent
the desertion of his Swiss and German auxiliaries she made him a present
of twenty-two thousand pounds: a greater sum than, as he declared, he
had ever seen before: and she sent him a reënforcement of four thousand
men, under Lord Willoughby, an officer of reputation, who joined the
French at Dieppe. Strengthened by these supplies, Henry marched directly
to Paris; and having taken the suburbs sword in hand, he abandoned them
to be pillaged by his soldiers. He employed this body of English in many
other enterprises; and still found reason to praise their courage and
fidelity. The time of their service being elapsed, he dismissed them
with many high commendations. Sir William Drury, Sir Thomas Baskerville,
and Sir John Boroughs acquired reputation this campaign, and revived in
France the ancient fame of English valor.
The army which Henry, next campaign, led into the field, was much
inferior to that of the league; but as it was composed of the chief
nobility of France, he feared not to encounter his enemies in a pitched
battle at Yvrée, and he gained a complete victory over them. This
success enabled him to blockade Paris, and he reduced that capital to
the last extremity of famine; when the duke of Parma, in consequence
of orders from Philip, marched to the relief of the league, and obliged
Henry to raise the blockade. Having performed this important service, he
retreated to the Low Countries; and, by his consummate skill in the art
of war, performed these long marches in the face of the enemy, without
affording the French monarch that opportunity which he sought, of giving
him battle, or so much as once putting his army in disorder. The only
loss which he sustained was in the Low Countries, where Prince Maurice
took advantage of his absence, and recovered some places which the duke
of Parma had formerly conquered from the states.[*] [32]
* See note FF, at the end of the volume.
{1591.} The situation of Henry’s affairs, though promising, was not
so well advanced or established as to make the queen discontinue
her succors; and she was still more confirmed in the resolution of
supporting him, by some advantages gained by the king of Spain. The duke
of Mercoeur, governor of Brittany, a prince of the house of Lorraine,
had declared for the league; and finding himself hard pressed by Henry’s
forces, he had been obliged, in order to secure himself, to introduce
some Spanish troops into the seaport towns of that province. Elizabeth
was alarmed at the danger; and foresaw that the Spaniards, besides
infesting the English commerce by privateers, might employ these harbors
as the seat of their naval preparations, and might more easily, from
that vicinity, than from Spain or Portugal, project an invasion of
England. She concluded, therefore, a new treaty with Henry, in which she
engaged to send over three thousand men to be employed in the
reduction of Brittany; and she stipulated that her charges should, in a
twelvemonth, or as soon as the enemy was expelled, be refunded her.[*]
These forces were commanded by Sir John Norris, and under him by his
brother Henry, and by Anthony Shirley. Sir Roger Williams was at the
head of a small body which garrisoned Dieppe: and a squadron of ships,
under the command of Sir Henry Palmer, lay upon the coast of France, and
intercepted all the vessels belonging to the Spaniards or the leaguers.
The operations of war can very little be regulated beforehand by any
treaty or agreement; and Henry, who found it necessary to lay aside the
projected enterprise against Brittany, persuaded the English commanders
to join his army, and to take a share in the hostilities which he
carried into Picardy.[**] Notwithstanding the disgust which Elizabeth
received from this disappointment, he laid before her a plan for
expelling the leaguers from Normandy, and persuaded her to send over
a new body of four thousand men, to assist him in that enterprise. The
earl of Essex was appointed general of these forces; a young nobleman,
who, by many exterior accomplishments, and still more real merit, was
daily advancing in favor with Elizabeth, and seemed to occupy that place
in her affections, which Leicester, now deceased, had so long enjoyed.
Essex, impatient for military fame, was extremely uneasy to lie some
time at Dieppe unemployed; and had not the orders which he received from
his mistress been so positive, he would gladly have accepted of Henry’s
invitation, and have marched to join the French army now in Champagne.
This plan of operations was also proposed to Elizabeth by the French
ambassador, but she rejected it with great displeasure; and she
threatened immediately to recall her troops, if Henry should persevere
any longer in his present practice of breaking all concert with her, and
attending to nothing but his own interests.[***]
* Camden, p. 561.
** Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 116.
*** Birch’s Negotiations, p. 5. Rymer, tom. xiv. p. 123,
140.
Urged by these motives, the French king at last led his army
into Normandy, and laid siege to Rouen, which he reduced to great
difficulties. But the league, unable of themselves to take the field
against him, had again recourse to the duke of Parma, who received
orders to march to their relief. He executed this enterprise with his
usual abilities and success; and for the present frustrated all the
projects of Henry and Elizabeth. This princess, who kept still in view
the interests of her own kingdom in all her foreign transactions, was
impatient under these disappointments, blamed Henry for his negligence
in the execution of treaties, and complained that the English forces
were thrust foremost in every hazardous enterprise.[*] It is
probable, however, that their own ardent courage, and their desire of
distinguishing themselves in so celebrated a theatre of war, were the
causes why they so often enjoyed this perilous honor.
Notwithstanding the indifferent success of former enterprises, the queen
was sensible how necessary it was to support Henry against the league
and the Spaniards; and she formed a new treaty with him, in which
they agreed never to make peace with Philip but by common consent;
she promised to send him a new supply of four thousand men; and he
stipulated to repay her charges in a twelvemonth, to employ these
forces, joined to a body of French troops, in an expedition against
Brittany, and to consign into her hands a seaport town of that province,
for a retreat to the English.[**] Henry knew the impossibility of
executing some of these articles, and the imprudence of fulfilling
others; but finding them rigidly insisted on by Elizabeth, he accepted
of her succors, and trusted that he might easily, on some pretence, be
able to excuse his failure in executing his part of the treaty. This
campaign was the least successful of all those which he had yet carried
on against the league.
During these military operations in France, Elizabeth employed her
naval power against Philip, and endeavored to intercept his West Indian
treasures, the source of that greatness which rendered him so formidable
to all his neighbors. She sent a squadron of seven ships, under the
command of Lord Thomas Howard, for this service; but the king of Spain,
informed of her purpose, fitted out a great force of fifty-five sail,
and despatched them to escort the Indian fleet. They fell in with
the English squadron; and, by the courageous obstinacy of Sir Richard
Greenville, the vice-admiral, who refused to make his escape by flight,
they took one vessel, the first English ship of war that had yet fallen
into the hands of the Spaniards.[***] [33]The rest of the squadron
returned safely into England frustrated of their expectations, but
pleasing themselves with the idea that their attempt had not been
altogether fruitless in hurting the enemy.
* Camden, p. 562.
** Rymer, vol. xvi. p. 151, 168, 171, 173
*** See note GG, at the end of the volume.
The Indian fleet had been so long detained in the Havana from the
fear of the English, that they were obliged at last to set sail in an
improper season, and most of them perished by shipwreck ere they reached
the Spanish harbors.[*] The earl of Cumberland made a like unsuccessful
enterprise against the Spanish trade. He carried out one ship of the
queen’s, and seven others equipped at his own expense; but the prizes
which he made did not compensate the charges.[**]
[Illustration: 1-527-raleigh.jpg SIR WALTER RALEIGH]
The spirit of these expensive and hazardous adventures was very
prevalent in England. Sir Walter Raleigh, who had enjoyed great favor
with the queen, finding his interest to decline, determined to recover
her good graces by some important undertaking; and as his reputation was
high among his countrymen, he persuaded great numbers to engage with him
as volunteers in an attempt on the West Indies.
{1592.} The fleet was detained so long in the Channel by contrary winds,
that the season was lost: Raleigh was recalled by the queen: Sir Martin
Frobisher succeeded to the command, and made a privateering voyage
against the Spaniards. He took one rich carrack near the Island of
Flores, and destroyed another.[***] About the same time, Thomas White, a
Londoner, took two Spanish ships, which, besides fourteen hundred chests
of quicksilver, contained above two millions of bulls for indulgences;
a commodity useless to the English, but which had cost the king of Spain
three hundred thousand florins, and would have been sold by him in the
Indies for five millions.
{1593.} This war did great damage to Spain; but it was attended with
considerable expense to England; and Elizabeth’s ministers computed,
that since the commencement of it, she had spent in Flanders and France,
and on her naval expeditions, above one million two hundred thousand
pounds;[****] a charge which, notwithstanding her extreme frugality, was
too burthensome for her narrow revenues to support.
* Monson, p. 163.
** Monson, p. 169.
*** Monson, p. 165. Camden, p 569.
**** Strype, vol. iii.
She summoned, therefore, a parliament, in order to obtain supply: but
she either thought her authority so established that she needed to make
them no concessions in return, or she rated her power and prerogative
above money: for there never was any parliament whom she treated in a
more haughty manner, whom she made more sensible of their own weakness,
or whose privileges she more openly violated. When the speaker, Sir
Edward Coke, made the three usual requests, of freedom from arrests, of
access to her person, and of liberty of speech, she replied to him by
the mouth of Puckering, lord keeper, that liberty of speech was granted
to the commons, but they must know what liberty they were entitled to;
not a liberty for every one to speak what he listeth, or what cometh in
his brain to utter; their privilege extended no further than a liberty
of “aye” or “no:” that she enjoined the speaker, if he perceived any
idle heads so negligent of their own safety as to attempt reforming the
church, or innovating in the commonwealth, that he should refuse the
bills exhibited for that purpose, till they were examined by such as
were fitter to consider of these things, and could better judge of them:
that she would not impeach the freedom of their persons; but they must
beware lest, under color of this privilege, they imagined that any
neglect of their duty could be covered or protected: and that she would
not refuse them access to her person, provided it were upon urgent and
weighty causes, and at times convenient, and when she might have leisure
from other important affairs of the realm.[*]
Notwithstanding the menacing and contemptuous air of this speech, the
intrepid and indefatigable Peter Wentworth, not discouraged by his
former ill success, ventured to transgress the imperial orders of
Elizabeth. He presented to the lord keeper a petition, in which he
desired the upper house to join with the lower in a supplication to her
majesty for entailing the succession of the crown; and he declared that
he had a bill ready prepared for that purpose. This method of proceeding
was sufficiently respectful and cautious; but the subject was always
extremely disagreeable to the queen, and what she had expressly
prohibited any one from meddling with: she sent Wentworth immediately
to the Tower; committed Sir Thomas Bromley, who had seconded him, to the
Fleet prison, together with Stevens and Welsh, two members, to whom Sir
Thomas had communicated his intention.[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 460, 469. Townsend, p.37.
** D’Ewes, p. 470. Townsend, p. 54.
About a fortnight after, a motion was made in the house to petition the
queen for the release of these members; but it was answered by all the
privy counsellors there present, that her majesty had committed them for
causes best known to herself, and that to press her on that head would
only tend to the prejudice of the gentlemen whom they meant to serve:
she would release them whenever she thought proper, and would be
better pleased to do it of her own proper motion, than from their
suggestion.[*] The house willingly acquiesced in this reasoning.
So arbitrary an act, at the commencement of the session, might well
repress all further attempts for freedom: but the religious zeal of the
puritans was not so easily restrained; and it inspired a courage which
no human motive was able to surmount. Morrice, chancellor of the duchy,
and attorney, of the court of wards, made a motion for redressing the
abuses in the bishops’ courts, but above all, in the high commission;
where subscriptions, he said, were exacted to articles at the pleasure
of the prelates; where oaths were imposed, obliging persons to answer to
all questions without distinction, even though they should tend to their
own condemnation; and where every one who refused entire satisfaction to
the commissioners was imprisoned, without relief or remedy.[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 497.
** D’Ewes, p. 474. Townsend, p. 60.
This motion was seconded by some members; but the ministers and privy
counsellors opposed it, and foretold the consequences which ensued. The
queen sent for the speaker, and after requiring him to deliver to
her Morrice’s bill, she told him, that it was in her power to call
parliaments, in her power to dissolve them, in her power to give assent
or dissent to any determination which they should form: that her purpose
in summoning this parliament was twofold, to have laws enacted for the
further enforcement of uniformity in religion, and to provide for the
defence of the nation against the exorbitant power of Spain: that these
two points ought, therefore, to be the object of their deliberations:
she had enjoined them already, by the mouth of the lord keeper, to
meddle neither with matters of state nor of religion; and she wondered
how any one could be so assuming, as to attempt a subject so expressly
contrary to her prohibition: that she was highly offended with this
presumption; and took the present opportunity to reiterate the commands
given by the keeper, and to require that no bill, regarding either state
affairs or reformation in causes ecclesiastical, be exhibited in
the house: and that in particular she charged the speaker upon his
allegiance, if any such bills were offered, absolutely to refuse them a
reading, and not so much as permit them to be debated by the members.[*]
This command from the queen was submitted to without further question.
Morrice was seized in the house itself by a serjeant-at-arms, discharged
from his office of chancellor of the duchy, incapacitated from any
practice in his profession as a common lawyer, and kept some years
prisoner in Tilbury Castle.[**]
The queen having thus expressly pointed out both what the house should
and should not do, the commons were as obsequious to the one as to the
other of her injunctions. They passed a law against recusants; such
a law as was suited to the severe character of Elizabeth, and to the
persecuting spirit of the age. It was entitled, “An act to retain
her majesty’s subjects in their due obedience;” and was meant, as the
preamble declares, to obviate such inconveniencies and perils as might
grow from the wicked practices of seditious sectaries and disloyal
persons: for these two species of criminals were always, at that time,
confounded together, as equally dangerous to the peace of society.
It was enacted, that any person, above sixteen years of age, who
obstinately refused during the space of a month to attend public
worship, should be committed to prison; that if, after being condemned
for this offence, he persist three months in his refusal, he must abjure
the realm; and that, if he either refuse this condition, or return after
banishment, he should suffer capitally as a felon, without benefit of
clergy.[***] This law bore equally hard upon the Puritans and upon the
Catholics; and had it not been imposed by the queen’s authority, was
certainly, in that respect, much contrary to the private sentiments
and inclinations of the majority in the house of commons. Very little
opposition, however, appears there to have been openly made to it.[****]
* D’Ewes, p. 474, 478. Townsend, p. 68.
** Heylin’s History of the Presbyterians, p. 320.
*** 35 Eliz. c. 1.
**** After enacting this statute, the clergy, in order to
remove the odium from themselves, often took care that
recusants should be tried by the civil judges at the
assizes, rather than by the ecclesiastical commissioners.
Strype’s Ann. vol. iv p. 264.
The expenses of the war with Spain having reduced the queen to great
difficulties, the grant of subsidies seems to have been the most
important business of this parliament; and it was a signal proof of the
high spirit of Elizabeth, that, while conscious of a present dependence
on the commons, she opened the session with the most haughty treatment
of them and covered her weakness under such a lofty appearance
of superiority. The commons readily voted two subsidies and four
fifteenths; but this sum not appearing sufficient to the court, an
unusual expedient was fallen upon to induce them to make an enlargement
in their concessions. The peers informed the commons in a conference,
that they could not give their assent to the supply voted, thinking it
too small for the queen’s occasions: they therefore proposed a grant of
three subsidies and six fifteenths; and desired a further conference, in
order to persuade the commons to agree to this measure. The commons, who
had acquired the privilege of beginning bills of subsidy, took offence
at this procedure of the lords, and at first absolutely rejected the
proposal: but being afraid, on reflection, that they had by this refusal
given offence to their superiors, they both agreed to the conference,
and afterwards voted the additional subsidy.[*]
The queen, notwithstanding this unusual concession of the commons, ended
the session with a speech, containing some reprimands to them, and full
of the same high pretensions which she had assumed at the opening of the
parliament. She took notice, by the mouth of the keeper, that certain
members spent more time than was necessary by indulging themselves in
harangues and reasonings: and she expressed her displeasure on account
of their not paying due reverence to privy counsellors, “who,” she told
them, “were not to be accounted as common knights and burgesses of the
house, who are counsellors but during the parliament; whereas the others
are standing counsellors, and for their wisdom and great service are
called to the council of the state.”[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 483, 487, 488. Townsend, p. 66.
** D’Ewes, p. 466. Townsend, p. 17
The queen also, in her own person, made the parliament a spirited
harangue; in which she spoke of the justice and moderation of her
government, expressed the small ambition she had ever entertained of
making conquests, displayed the just grounds of her quarrel with the
king of Spain, and discovered how little she apprehended the power of
that monarch, even though he should make a greater effort against her
than that of his Invincible Armada. “But I am informed,” added she,
“that when he attempted this last invasion, some upon the sea-coast
forsook their towns, fled up higher into the country, and left all naked
and exposed to his entrance: but I swear unto you by God, if I knew
those persons, or may know of any that shall do so hereafter, I will
make them feel what it is to be so fearful in so urgent a cause.”[*] By
this menace, she probably gave the people to understand, that she would
execute martial law upon such cowards; for there was no statute by which
a man could be punished for changing his place of abode.
* D’Ewes, p. 466. Townsend, p. 48.
The king of France, though he had hitherto made war on the league
with great bravery and reputation, though he had this campaign gained
considerable advantages over them, and though he was assisted by a
considerable body of English under Norris, who carried hostilities into
the heart of Brittany, was become sensible that he never could, by
force of arms alone, render himself master of his kingdom. The nearer he
seemed by his military successes to approach to a full possession of the
throne, the more discontent and jealousy arose among those Romanists who
adhered to him; and a party was formed in his own court to elect some
Catholic monarch of the royal blood, if Henry should any longer refuse
to satisfy them by declaring his conversion. This excellent prince was
far from being a bigot to his sect; and as he deemed these theological
disputes entirely subordinate to the public good, he had secretly
determined, from the beginning, to come some time or other to
the resolution required of him. He had found, on the death of his
predecessor, that the Hugonots, who formed the bravest and most faithful
part of his army, were such determined zealots, that if he had at that
time abjured their faith, they would instantly have abandoned him to
the pretensions and usurpations of the Catholics. The more bigoted
Catholics, he knew, particularly those of the league, had entertained
such an unsurmountable prejudice against his person, and diffidence of
his sincerity, that even his abjuration would not reconcile them to
his title; and he must either expect to be entirely excluded from the
throne, or be admitted to it on such terms as would leave him little
more than the mere shadow of royalty. In this delicate situation, he
had resolved to temporize; to retain the Hugonots by continuing in the
profession of their religion; to gain the moderate Catholics by giving
them hopes of his conversion; to attach both to his person by conduct
and success; and he hoped, either that the animosity arising from
war against the league would make them drop gradually the question
of religion, or that he might in time, after some victories over his
enemies, and some conferences with divines, make finally, with more
decency and dignity, that abjuration which must have appeared at first
mean, as well as suspicious, to both parties.
When the people are attached to any theological tenets merely from a
general persuasion or prepossession, they are easily induced, by any
motive or authority, to change their faith in these mysterious subjects;
as appears from the example of the English, who, during some reigns,
usually embraced, without scruple, the still varying religion of their
sovereigns. But the French nation, where principles had so long been
displayed as the badges of faction, and where each party had fortified
its belief by an animosity against the other, were not found so pliable
or inconstant; and Henry was at last convinced that the Catholics of
his party would entirely abandon him, if he gave them not immediate
satisfaction in this particular. The Hugonots also, taught by
experience, clearly saw that his desertion of them was become absolutely
necessary for the public settlement; and so general was this persuasion
among them, that, as the duke of Sully pretends, even the divines of
that party purposely allowed themselves to be worsted in the disputes
and conferences, that the king might more readily be convinced of the
weakness of their cause, and might more cordially and sincerely, at
least more decently, embrace the religion which it was so much his
interest to believe. If this self-denial, in so tender a point, should
appear incredible and supernatural in theologians, it will, at least,
be thought very natural, that a prince so little instructed in these
matters as Henry, and desirous to preserve his sincerity, should
insensibly bend his opinion to the necessity of his affairs, and should
believe that party to have the best arguments, who could alone put him
in possession of a kingdom. All circumstances, therefore, being prepared
for this great event, that monarch renounced the Protestant religion,
and was solemnly received by the French prelates of his party into the
bosom of the church.
Elizabeth, who was herself attached to the Protestants chiefly by her
interests and the circumstances of her birth, and who seems to have
entertained some propensity during her whole life to the Catholic
superstition, at least to the ancient ceremonies, yet pretended to be
extremely displeased with this abjuration of Henry; and she wrote him
an angry letter, reproaching him with this interested change of his
religion. Sensible however, that the league and the king of Spain were
still their common enemies, she hearkened to his apologies; continued
her succors both of men and money; and formed a new treaty, in which
they mutually stipulated never to make peace but by common agreement.
The intrigues of Spain were not limited to France and England: by means
of the never-failing pretence of religion, joined to the influence of
money, Philip excited new disorders in Scotland, and gave fresh alarms
to Elizabeth. George Ker, brother to Lord Newbottle, had been taken
while he was passing secretly into Spain; and papers were found about
him, by which a dangerous conspiracy of some Catholic noblemen with
Philip was discovered. The earls of Angus, Errol, and Huntley, the
heads of three potent families, had entered into a confederacy with the
Spanish monarch; and had stipulated to raise all their forces; to join
them to a body of Spanish troops which Philip promised to send into
Scotland; and after reëstablishing the Catholic religion in that
kingdom, to march with their united power in order to effect the same
purpose in England.[*] Graham of Fintry, who had also entered into this
conspiracy, was taken, and arraigned, and executed. Elizabeth sent Lord
Borough ambassador into Scotland, and exhorted the king to exercise the
same severity on the three earls, to confiscate their estates, and by
annexing them to the crown, both increase his own demesnes, and set
an example to all his subjects of the dangers attending treason and
rebellion. The advice was certainly rational, but not easy to be
executed by the small revenue and limited authority of James. He
desired, therefore, some supply from her of men and money; but though
she had reason to deem the prosecution of the three Popish earls a
common cause, she never could be prevailed on to grant him the least
assistance. The tenth part of the expense which she bestowed in
supporting the French king and the states, would have sufficed to
execute this purpose, more immediately essential to her security;[**]
but she seems ever to have borne some degree of malignity to James, whom
she hated, both as her heir, and as the son of Mary, her hated rival and
competitor.
* Spotswood, p. 391. Rymer, tom. xvi. p. 190.
** Spotswood, p. 393. Rymer, tom. xvi. p. 235
So far from giving James assistance to prosecute the Catholic
conspirators, the queen rather contributed to increase his inquietude,
by countenancing the turbulent disposition of the earl of Bothwell,[*]
a nobleman descended from a natural son of James V. Both well more than
once attempted to render himself master of the king’s person; and being
expelled the kingdom for these traitorous enterprises, he took shelter
in England, was secretly protected, by the queen, and lurked near the
borders, where his power lay, with a view of still committing some new
violence. He succeeded at last in an attempt on the king; and by the
mediation of the English ambassador, imposed dishonorable terms upon
that prince: but James, by the authority of the convention of states,
annulled this agreement as extorted by violence, again expelled
Bothwell, and obliged him to take shelter in England. Elizabeth,
pretending ignorance of the place of his retreat, never executed the
treaties, by which she was bound to deliver up all rebels and fugitives
to the king of Scotland.
* Spotswood, p. 257, 258.
{1594.} During these disorders, increased by the refractory disposition
of the ecclesiastics, the prosecution of the Catholic earls remained in
suspense; but at last the parliament passed an act of attainder against
them, and the king prepared himself to execute it by force of arms. The
noblemen, though they obtained a victory over the earl of Argyle, who
acted by the king’s commission found themselves hard pressed by James
himself, and agreed on certain terms to leave the kingdom. Bothwell,
being defected in a confederacy with them, forfeited the favor of
Elizabeth, and was obliged to take shelter, first in France, then in
Italy, where he died some years after in great poverty.
The established authority of the queen secured her from all such
attempts as James was exposed to from the mutinous disposition of his
subjects; and her enemies found no other means of giving her domestic
disturbance, than by such traitorous and perfidious machinations
as ended in their own disgrace, and in the ruin of their criminal
instruments. Roderigo Lopez, a Jew, domestic physician to the queen,
being imprisoned on suspicion, confessed that he had received a bribe
to poison her from Fuentes and Ibarra, who had succeeded Parma, lately
deceased, in the government of the Netherlands; but he maintained, that
he had no other intention than to cheat Philip of his money, and never
meant to fulfil his engagement. He was, however, executed for the
conspiracy; and the queen complained to Philip of these dishonorable
attempts of his ministers, but could obtain no satisfaction.[*] York
and Williams, two English traitors, were afterwards executed for a
conspiracy with Ibarra, equally atrocious.[**]
Instead of avenging herself by retaliating in a like manner, Elizabeth
sought a more honorable vengeance, by supporting the king of France, and
assisting him in finally breaking the force of the league, which, after
the conversion of that monarch, went daily to decay, and was threatened
with speedy ruin and dissolution. Norris commanded the English forces
in Brittany, and assisted at the taking of Morlaix, Quimpercorentin, and
Brest, towns garrisoned by Spanish forces. In every action, the English,
though they had so long enjoyed domestic peace, discovered a strong
military disposition; and the queen, though herself a heroine, found
more frequent occasion to reprove her generals for encouraging their
temerity, than for countenancing their fear or caution:[***] Sir Martin
Frobisher, her brave admiral, perished, with many others, before Brest.
Morlaix had been promised to the English for a place of retreat; but the
duke d’Aumont, the French general, eluded this promise, by making it be
inserted in the capitulation that none but Catholics should be admitted
into that city.
* Camden, p. 577. Birch’s Negot. p. 15. Bacon, vol. iv. p.
381.
** Camden, p. 582.
*** Camden, p. 578.
Next campaign, the French king, who had long carried on hostilities with
Philip, was at last provoked, by the taking of Chatelet and Dourlens,
and the attack of Cambray, to declare war against that monarch.
Elizabeth, being threatened with a new invasion in England, and with an
insurrection in Ireland, recalled most of her forces, and sent Norris to
command in this latter kingdom. Finding also that the French league was
almost entirely dissolved, and that the most considerable leaders had
made an accommodation with their prince, she thought that he could well
support himself by his own force and valor; and she began to be more
sparing in his cause of the blood and treasure of her subjects.
Some disgusts which she had received from the states, joined to the
remonstrances of her frugal minister, Burleigh, made her also inclined
to diminish her charges on that side, and she even demanded by her
ambassador, Sir Thomas Bodley, to be reimbursed all the money which
she had expended in supporting them. The states, besides alleging the
conditions of the treaty, by which they were not bound to repay her till
the conclusion of a peace, pleaded their present poverty and distress,
the great superiority of the Spaniards, and the difficulty in supporting
the war; much more in saving money to discharge their encumbrances.
{1595.} After much negotiation, a new treaty was formed, by which the
states engaged to free the queen immediately from the charge of the
English auxiliaries, computed at forty thousand pounds a year; to pay
her annually twenty thousand pounds for some years; to assist her with a
certain number of ships; and to conclude no peace or treaty without her
consent. They also bound themselves, on finishing a peace with Spain,
to pay her annually the sum of a hundred thousand pounds for four
years; but on this condition, that the payment should be in lieu of all
demands, and that they should be supplied, though at their own charge,
with a body of four thousand auxiliaries from England.[*]
Camden, p. 586.
{1596.} The queen still retained in her hands the cautionary towns,
which were a great check on the rising power of the states; and she
committed the important trust of Flushing to Sir Francis Vere, a
brave officer, who had distinguished himself by his valor in the
Low Countries. She gave him the preference to Essex, who expected so
honorable a command; and though this nobleman was daily rising, both in
reputation with the people, and favor with herself, the queen, who was
commonly reserved in the advancement of her courtiers, thought proper
on this occasion to give him a refusal. Sir Thomas Baskerville was
sent over to France at the head of two thousand English, with which
Elizabeth, by a new treaty concluded with Henry, engaged to supply
that prince. Some stipulations for mutual assistance were formed by the
treaty; and all former engagements were renewed.
{1597.} This body of English were maintained at the expense of the
French king; yet did Henry esteem the supply of considerable advantage,
on account of the great reputation acquired by the English, in so many
fortunate enterprises undertaken against the common enemy. In the great
battle of Tournholt, gained this campaign by Prince Maurice, the English
auxiliaries under Sir Francis Vere and Sir Robert Sidney had acquired
honor; and the success of that day was universally ascribed to their
discipline and valor.
Though Elizabeth, at a considerable expense of blood and treasure, made
war against Philip in France and the Low Countries, the most severe
blows which she gave him, were by those naval enterprises which either
she or her subjects scarcely ever intermitted during one season. In
1594, Richard Hawkins, son of Sir John, the famous navigator, procured
the queen’s commission, and sailed with three ships to the South Sea
by the Straits of Magellan; but his voyage proved unfortunate, and he
himself was taken prisoner on the coast of Chili. James Lancaster was
supplied the same year with three ships and a pinnace by the merchants
of London, and was more fortunate in his adventure. He took thirty-nine
ships of the enemy; and not content with this success, he made an attack
on Fernambouc, in Brazil, where he knew great treasures were at that
time lodged. As he approached the shore, he saw it lined with great
numbers of the enemy; but nowise daunted at this appearance, he placed
the stoutest of his men in boats, and ordered them to row with such
violence on the landing-place as to split them in pieces. By this bold
action he both deprived his men of all resource but in victory, and
terrified the enemy, who fled after a short resistance. He returned home
with the treasure which he had so bravely acquired. In 1595, Sir Walter
Raleigh, who had anew forfeited the queen’s friendship by an intrigue
with a maid of honor, and who had been thrown into prison for this
misdemeanor, no sooner recovered his liberty, than he was pushed by his
active and enterprising genius to attempt some great action. The success
of the first Spanish adventurers against Mexico and Peru had begotten an
extreme avidity in Europe; and a prepossession universally took place,
that in the inland parts of South America, called Guiana, a country as
yet undiscovered, there were mines and treasures far exceeding any which
Cortes or Pizarro had met with. Raleigh, whose turn of mind was somewhat
romantic and extravagant, undertook at his own charge the discovery of
this wonderful country. Having taken the small town of St. Joseph, in
the Isle of Trinidado, where he found no riches, he left his ship, and
sailed up the River Oroonoko in pinnaces, but without meeting any thing
to answer his expectations. On his return, he published an account of
the country, full of the grossest and most palpable lies that were ever
attempted to be imposed on the credulity of mankind.[*]
The same year, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins undertook a more
important expedition against the Spanish settlements in America; and
they carried with them six ships of the queen’s and twenty more, which
either were fitted out at their own charge, or were furnished them by
private adventurers. Sir Thomas Baskerville was appointed commander of
the land forces which they carried on board. Their first design was to
attempt Porto Rico, where, they knew, a rich carrack was at that time
stationed; but as they had not preserved the requisite secrecy, a
pinnace, having strayed from the fleet, was taken by the Spaniards, and
betrayed the intentions of the English. Preparations were made in that
island for their reception; and the English fleet, notwithstanding the
brave assault which they made on the enemy, was repulsed with loss.
Hawkins soon after died, and Drake pursued his voyage to Nombre di Dios,
on the Isthmus of Darien; where, having landed his men, he attempted to
pass forward to Panama, with a view of plundering that place, or, if he
found such a scheme practicable, of keeping and fortifying it. But he
met not with the same facility which had attended his first enterprises
in those parts. The Spaniards, taught by experience, had every where
fortified the passes, and had stationed troops in the woods, who so
infested the English by continual alarms and skirmishes, that they
were obliged to return, without being able to effect any thing. Drake
himself, from the intemperance of the climate, the fatigues of his
journey, and the vexation of his disappointment, was seized with a
distemper of which he soon after died. Sir Thomas Baskerville took the
command of the fleet, which was in a weak condition; and after having
fought a battle near Cuba with a Spanish fleet, of which the event was
not decisive, he returned to England. The Spaniards suffered some loss
from this enterprise but the English reaped no profit.[**]
* Camden, p. 584
** Monson, p, 167.
The bad success of this enterprise in the Indies made the English rather
attempt the Spanish dominions in Europe, where they heard Philip was
making great preparations for a new invasion of England. A powerful
fleet was equipped at Plymouth, consisting of a hundred and seventy
vessels, seventeen of which were capital ships of war, the rest tenders
and small vessels: twenty ships were added by the Hollanders. In this
fleet there were computed to be embarked six thousand three hundred and
sixty soldiers, a thousand volunteers, and six thousand seven hundred
and seventy-two seamen besides the Dutch. The land forces were commanded
by the earl of Essex; the navy by Lord Effingham, high admiral. Both
these commanders had expended great sums of their own in the armament;
for such was the spirit of Elizabeth’s reign. Lord Thomas Howard, Sir
Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers
Clifford had commands in this expedition, and were appointed council to
the general and admiral.[*]
The fleet set sail on the first of June, 1596; and meeting with a
fair wind, bent its course to Cadiz, at which place, by sealed orders
delivered to all the captains, the general rendezvous was appointed.
They sent before them some armed tenders, which intercepted every ship
that could carry intelligence to the enemy; and they themselves were
so fortunate, when they came near Cadiz, as to take an Irish vessel, by
which they learned that that port was full of merchant ships of great
value, and that the Spaniards lived in perfect security without any
apprehensions of an enemy. This intelligence much encouraged the
English fleet, and gave them the prospect of a fortunate issue to the
enterprise.
After a fruitless attempt to land at St. Sebastian’s, on the western
side of the Island of Cadiz, it was, upon deliberation, resolved by the
council of war to attack the ships and galleys in the bay. This attempt
was deemed rash; and the admiral himself, who was cautious in his
temper, had entertained great scruples with regard to it: but Essex
strenuously recommended the enterprise; and when he found the resolution
at last taken, he threw his hat into the sea, and gave symptoms of the
most extravagant joy. He felt, however, a great mortification, when
Effingham informed him, that the queen, anxious for his safety, and
dreading the effects of his youthful ardor, had secretly given orders
that he should not be permitted to command the van in the attack.[**]
* Camden, p. 591.
** Monson, p. 196
That duty was performed by Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Thomas Howard;
but Essex no sooner came within reach of the enemy, than he forgot the
promise which the admiral had exacted from him, to keep in the midst of
the fleet; he broke through and pressed forward into the thickest of
the fire. Emulation for glory, avidity of plunder, animosity against
the Spaniards, proved incentives to every one; and the enemy was soon
obliged to slip anchor, and retreat farther into the bay, where they ran
many of their ships aground. Essex then landed his men at the fort
of Puntal, and immediately marched to the attack of Cadiz, which
the impetuous valor of the English soon carried sword in hand. The
generosity of Essex, not inferior to his valor, made him stop the
slaughter, and treat his prisoners with the greatest humanity, and even
affability and kindness. The English made rich plunder in the city; but
missed of a much richer by the resolution which the duke of Medina, the
Spanish admiral, took of setting fire to the ships, in order to prevent
their falling into the hands of the enemy. It was computed, that the
loss which the Spaniards sustained in this enterprise amounted to
twenty millions of ducats;[*] besides the indignity which that proud and
ambitious people suffered from the sacking of one of their chief cities,
and destroying in their harbor a fleet of such force and value.
Essex, all on fire for glory, regarded this great success only as a step
to future achievements: he insisted on keeping possession of Cadiz; and
he undertook, with four hundred men and three months’ provisions, to
defend the place, till succors should arrive from England; but all the
other seamen and soldiers were satisfied with the honor which they had
acquired; and were impatient to return home, in order to secure their
plunder. Every other proposal of Essex to annoy the enemy met with a
like reception; his scheme for intercepting the carracks at the Azores,
for assaulting the Groine, for taking St. Andero and St. Sebastian; and
the English, finding it so difficult to drag this impatient warrior from
the enemy, at last left him on the Spanish coast, attended by very few
ships[**] He complained much to the queen of their want of spirit in
this enterprise; nor was she pleased, that they had returned without
attempting to intercept the Indian fleet;[**] but the great success, in
the enterprise on Cadiz, had covered all their miscarriages: and that
princess, though she admired the lofty genius of Essex, could not
forbear expressing an esteem for the other officers.[***] The admiral
was created earl of Nottingham; and his promotion gave great disgust to
Essex.[****]
* Birch’s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 97.
** Birch’s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 121.
*** Camden, p. 593.
**** Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 77.
In the preamble of the patent it was said, that the new dignity was
conferred on him on account of his good services in taking Cadiz, and
destroying the Spanish ships; a merit which Essex pretended to belong
solely to himself: and he offered to maintain this plea by single combat
against the earl of Nottingham, or his sons, or any of his kindred.
The achievements in the subsequent year proved not so fortunate; but
as the Indian fleet very narrowly escaped the English, Philip had still
reason to see the great hazard and disadvantage of that war in which he
was engaged, and the superiority which the English, by their naval power
and their situation, had acquired over him. The queen, having received
intelligence that the Spaniards, though their fleets were so much
shattered and destroyed by the expedition to Cadiz, were preparing a
squadron at Ferrol and the Groine, and were marching troops thither,
with a view of making a descent in Ireland, was resolved to prevent
their enterprise, and to destroy the shipping in these harbors. She
prepared a large fleet of a hundred and twenty sail, of which seventeen
were her own ships, forty-three were smaller vessels, and the rest
tenders and victuallers: she embarked on board this fleet five thousand
new-levied soldiers, and added a thousand veteran troops, whom
Sir Francis Vere brought from the Netherlands. The earl of Essex,
commander-in-chief both of the land and sea forces, was at the head of
one squadron; Lord Thomas Howard was appointed vice-admiral of another;
Sir Walter Raleigh of the third: Lord Mouatjoy commanded the land forces
under Essex: Vere was appointed marshal: Sir George Carew lieutenant
of the ordnance, and Sir Christopher Blount first colonel. The earls
of Rutland and Southampton, the Lords Grey, Cromwell, and Rich, with
several other persona of distinction, embarked as volunteers. Essex
declared his resolution either to destroy the new armada which
threatened England, or to perish in the attempt.
This powerful fleet set sail from Plymouth; but were no sooner out of
harbor than they met with a furious storm, which shattered and dispersed
them; and before they could be refitted, Essex found that their
provisions were so far spent, that it would not be safe to carry so
numerous an army along with him. He dismissed, therefore, all the
soldiers, except the thousand veterans under Vere; and laying aside all
thoughts of attacking Ferrol or the Groine, he confined the object of
his expedition to the intercepting of the Indian fleet which had at
first been considered only as the second enterprise which he was to
attempt.
The Indian fleet in that age, by reason of the imperfection of
navigation, had a stated course, as well as season, both in their going
out and in their return; and there were certain islands at which, as
at fixed stages, they always touched, and where they took in water and
provisions. The Azores being one of these places where about this time
the fleet was expected, Essex bent his course thither; and he informed
Raleigh, that he, on his arrival, intended to attack Fayal, one of these
islands. By some accident, the squadrons were separated; and Raleigh,
arriving first before Fayal, thought it more prudent, after waiting
some time for the general, to begin the attack alone, lest the
inhabitants should, by further delay, have leisure to make preparations
for their defence. He succeeded in the enterprise; but Essex, jealous of
Raleigh, expressed great displeasure at his conduct, and construed it
as an intention of robbing the general of the glory which attended that
action: he cashiered, therefore, Sidney, Bret, Berry, and others, who
had concurred in the attempt: and would have proceeded to inflict
the same punishment on Raleigh himself, had not Lord Thomas Howard
interposed with his good offices, and persuaded Raleigh, though
high-spirited, to make submissions to the general. Essex, who was
placable, as well as hasty and passionate, was soon appeased, and both
received Raleigh into favor, and restored the other officers to then
commands.[*] This incident, however, though the quarrel was seemingly
accommodated, laid the first foundation of that violent animosity which
afterwards took place between these two gallant commanders.
Essex made next a disposition proper for intercepting the Indian
galleons; and Sir William Monson, whose station was the most remote of
the fleet, having fallen in with them, made the signals which had been
agreed on. That able officer, in his Memoirs, ascribes Essex’s failure,
when he was so near attaining so mighty an advantage, to his want of
experience in seamanship; and the account which he gives of the
errors committed by that nobleman, appears very reasonable as well as
candid.[**]
* Monson, p. 173.
** Monson, p. 174.
The Spanish fleet, finding that the enemy was upon them, made all the
sail possible to the Terceras, and got into the safe and well-fortified
harbor of Angra, before the English fleet could overtake them. Essex
intercepted only three ships; which, however, were so rich, as to repay
all the charges of the expedition.
The causes of the miscarriage in this enterprise were much canvassed
in England, upon the return of the fleet; and though the courtiers took
part differently, as they affected either Essex or Raleigh, the people
in general, who bore an extreme regard to the gallantry, spirit, and
generosity of ihe former, were inclined to justify every circumstance
of his conduct. The queen, who loved the one as much as she esteemed
the other, maintained a kind of neutrality, and endeavored to share her
favors with an impartial hand between the parties. Sir Robert Cecil,
second son of Lord Burleigh, was a courtier of promising hopes, much
connected with Raleigh; and she made him secretary of state, preferably
to Sir Thomas Bodley, whom Essex recommended for that office. But not
to disgust Essex, she promoted him to the dignity of earl marshal of
England; an office which had been vacant since the death of the earl
of Shrewsbury. Essex might perceive from this conduct, that she never
intended to give him the entire ascendant over his rivals, and might
thence learn the necessity of moderation and caution. But his temper was
too high for submission; his behavior too open and candid to practise
the arts of a court; and his free sallies, while they rendered him
but more amiable in the eyes of good judges, gave his enemies many
advantages against him.
The war with Spain, though successful, having exhausted the queen’s
exchequer, she was obliged to assemble a parliament; where Yelverton, a
lawyer, was chosen speaker of the house of commons.[*] [34]
* See note HH, at the end of the volume.
Elizabeth took care, by the mouth of Sir Thomas Egerton, lord keeper,
to inform this assembly of the necessity of a supply. She said, that the
wars formerly waged in Europe had commonly been conducted by the parties
without further view than to gain a few towns, or at most a province,
from each other; but the object of the present hostilities, on the part
of Spain, was no other than utterly to bereave England of her religion,
her liberty, and her independence: that these blessings, however, she
herself had hitherto been able to preserve, in spite of the devil, the
pope, and the Spanish tyrant, and all the mischievous designs of all her
enemies; that in this contest she had disbursed a sum triple to all the
parliamentary supplies granted her; and, besides expending her ordinary
revenues, had been obliged to sell many of the crown lands: and that she
could not doubt but her subjects, in a cause where their own honor and
interests were so deeply concerned, would willingly contribute to
such moderate taxations as should be found necessary for the common
defence.[*] The parliament granted her three subsidies and six
fifteenths; the same supply which had been given four years before, but
which had then appeared so unusual, that they had voted it should never
afterwards be regarded as a precedent.
The commons, this session, ventured to engage in two controversies about
forms with the house of peers; a prelude to those encroachments which,
as they assumed more courage, they afterwards made upon the prerogatives
of the crown. They complained, that the lords failed in civility to
them, by receiving their messages sitting with their hats on; and that
the keeper returned an answer in the same negligent posture: but the
upper house proved, to their full satisfaction, that they were
not entitled, by custom and the usage of parliament, to any more
respect.[**] Some amendments had been made by the lords to a bill sent
up by the commons; and these amendments were written on parchment, and
returned with the bill to the commons. The lower house took umbrage at
the novelty: they pretended that these amendments ought to have
been written on paper, not on parchment; and they complained of this
innovation to the peers. The peers replied that they expected not such
a frivolous objection from the gravity of the house; and that it was not
material, whether the amendments were written on parchment or on paper,
nor whether the paper were white, black, or brown. The commons were
offended at this reply, which seemed to contain a mockery of them; and
they complained of it, though without obtaining any satisfaction.[***]
An application was made, by way of petition, to the queen from the
lower house, against monopolies; an abuse which had risen to an enormous
height; and they received a gracious though a general answer; for which
they returned their thankful acknowledgments.[****]
* D’Ewes, p. 525, 527. Townsend, p. 79.
** D’Ewes, p. 539, 540, 580, 585. Townsend, p. 93, 94, 95.
*** D’Ewes. p, 576, 577.
**** D’Ewes, p, 570, 573.
But not to give them too much encouragement in such applications, she
told them, in the speech which she delivered at their dissolution, “that
with regard to these patents, she hoped that her dutiful and loving
subjects would not take away her prerogative, which is the chief flower
in her garden, and the principal and head pearl in her crown and diadem;
but that they would rather leave these matters to her disposal.” [*]
The commons also took notice, this session, of some transactions in
the court of high commission; but not till they had previously obtained
permission from her majesty to that purpose.[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 547.
** D’Ewes, p. 557, 558.
{1598.} Elizabeth had reason to foresee, that parliamentary supplies
would now become more necessary to her than ever; and that the chief
burden of the war with Spain would thenceforth lie upon England. Henry
had received an overture for peace with Philip; but before he would
proceed to a negotiation, he gave intelligence of it to his allies, the
queen and the states; that, if possible, a general pacification might be
made by common agreement. These two powers sent ambassadors to France,
in order to remonstrate against peace; the queen, Sir Robert Cecil and
Henry Herbert; the states, Justin Nassau and John Barnevelt. Henry said
to these ministers, that his early education had been amidst war and
danger, and he had passed the whole course of his life either in arms
or in military preparations: that after the proofs which he had given
of his alacrity in the field, no one could doubt but he would willingly,
for his part, have continued in a course of life to which he was now
habituated, till the common enemy were reduced to such a condition as no
longer to give umbrage either to him or to his allies: that no private
interests of his own, not even those of his people, nothing but the
most invincible necessity, could ever induce him to think of a separate
peace with Philip, or make him embrace measures not entirely conformable
to the wishes of all his confederates: that his kingdom, torn with
the convulsions and civil wars of near half a century, required some
interval of repose, ere it could reach a condition in which it might
sustain itself, much more support its allies: that after the minds of
his subjects were composed to tranquillity and accustomed to obedience,
after his finances were brought into order, and after agriculture
and the arts were restored, France, instead of being a burden, as at
present, to her confederates, would be able to lend them effectual
succor, and amply to repay them all the assistance which she had
received during her calamities: and that, if the ambition of Spain would
not at present grant them such terms as they should think reasonable, he
hoped that, in a little time, he should attain such a situation as
would enable him to mediate more effectually, and with more decisive
authority, in their behalf.
The ambassadors were sensible that these reasons were no feigned; and
they therefore remonstrated with the less vehemence against the measures
which, they saw, Henry was determined to pursue. The states knew that
that monarch was interested never to permit their final ruin; and having
received private assurances that he would still, notwithstanding the
peace, give them assistance both of men and money, they were well
pleased to remain on terms of amity with him. His greatest concern was
to give satisfaction to Elizabeth for this breach of treaty. He had a
cordial esteem for that princess, a sympathy of manners, and a gratitude
for the extraordinary favors which he had received from her during his
greatest difficulties: and he used every expedient to apologize and
atone for that measure which necessity extorted from him. But as Spain
refused to treat with the Dutch as a free state, and Elizabeth would not
negotiate without her ally, Henry found himself obliged to conclude at
Vervins a separate peace, by which he recovered possession of all the
places seized by Spain during the course of the civil wars, and procured
to himself leisure to pursue the domestic settlement of his kingdom. His
capacity for the arts of peace was not inferior to his military talents;
and in a little time, by his frugality, order, and wise government, he
raised France from the desolation and misery in which she was involved,
to a more flourishing condition than she had ever before enjoyed.
The queen knew that she could also, whenever she pleased, finish the war
on equitable terms; and that Philip, having no claims upon her, would be
glad to free himself from an enemy who had foiled him in every contest,
and who still had it so much in her power to make him feel the weight
of her arms. Some of her wisest counsellors, particularly the treasurer,
advised her to embrace pacific measures; and set before her the
advantages of tranquillity, security, and frugality, as more
considerable than any success which could attend the greatest victories.
But this high-spirited princess, though at first averse to war, seemed
now to have attained such an ascendant over the enemy, that she was
unwilling to stop the course of her prosperous fortune. She considered,
that her situation and her past victories had given her entire security
against any dangerous invasion; and the war must thenceforth be
conducted by sudden enterprises and naval expeditions, in which she
possessed an undoubted superiority: that the weak condition of Philip
in the Indies opened to her the view of the most durable advantages; and
the yearly return of his treasure by sea afforded a continual prospect
of important, though more temporary successes: that after his peace with
France, if she also should consent to an accommodation, he would be
able to turn his whole force against the revolted provinces of the
Netherlands, which, though they had surprisingly increased their power
by commerce and good government, were still unable, if not supported
by their confederates, to maintain war against so potent a monarch: and
that as her defence of that commonwealth was the original ground of the
quarrel, it was unsafe, as well as dishonorable, to abandon its cause
till she had placed it in a state of greater security.
These reasons were frequently inculcated on her by the earl of Essex,
whose passion for glory, as well as his military talents, made him
earnestly desire the continuance of war, from which he expected to reap
so much advantage and distinction. The rivalship between this nobleman
and Lord Burleigh made each of them insist the more strenuously on his
own counsel; but as Essex’s person was agreeable to the queen, as well
as his advice conformable to her inclinations, the favorite seemed daily
to acquire an ascendant over the minister. Had he beer endowed with
caution and self-command equal to his shining qualities, he would have
so rivetted himself in the queen’s confidence, that none of his enemies
had ever been able to impeach his credit: but his lofty spirit could ill
submit to that implicit deference which her temper required, and which
she had ever been accustomed to receive from all her subjects. Being
once engaged in a dispute with her about the choice of a governor for
Ireland, he was so heated in the argument, that he entirely forgot
the rules both of duty and civility, and turned his back upon her in a
contemptuous manner. Her anger, naturally prompt and violent, rose at
this provocation; and she instantly gave him a box on the ear, adding
a passionate expression suited to his impertinence. Instead of
recollecting himself, and making the submissions due to her sex and
station, he clapped his hand to his sword, and swore, that he would not
bear such usage, were it from Henry VIII. himself, and he immediately
withdrew from court. Egerton, the chancellor, who loved Essex, exhorted
him to repair his indiscretion by proper acknowledgments; and entreated
him not to give that triumph to his enemies, that affliction to his
friends, which must ensue from his supporting a contest with his
sovereign, and deserting the service of his country: but Essex was
deeply stung with the dishonor which he had received; and seemed to
think, that an insult which might be pardoned in a woman was become a
mortal affront when it came from his sovereign. “If the vilest of all
indignities,” said he, “is done me, does religion enforce me to sue for
pardon? Doth God require it? Is it impiety not to do it? Why? Cannot
princes err? Cannot subjects receive wrong? Is an earthly power
infinite? Pardon me, my lord; I can never subscribe to these principles.
Let Solomon’s fool laugh when he is stricken; let those that mean to
make their profit of princes, show no sense of princes’ injuries: let
them acknowledge an infinite absoluteness on earth, that do not believe
an absolute infiniteness in heaven:” (alluding, probably, to the
character and conduct of Sir Walter Raleigh, who lay under the reproach
of impiety.) “As for me,” continued he, “I have received wrong, I feel
it: my cause is good, I know it; and whatsoever happens, all the powers
on earth can never exert more strength and constancy in oppressing, than
I can show in suffering every thing that can or shall be imposed upon
me. Your lordship, in the beginning of your letter, makes me a player,
and yourself a looker on: and me a player of my own game, so you may see
more than I: but give me leave to tell you, that since you do but see,
and I do suffer, I must of necessity feel more than you.” [*] [35]
* See note II, at the end of the volume.
This spirited letter was shown by Essex to his friends, and they were
so imprudent as to disperse copies of it; yet, notwithstanding this
additional provocation, the queen’s partiality was so prevalent, that
she reinstated him in his former favor; and her kindness to him appeared
rather to have acquired new force from this short interval of anger and
resentment, The death of Burleigh, his antagonist, which happened about
the same time, seemed to insure him constant possession of the
queen’s confidence; and nothing indeed but his own indiscretion could
thenceforth have shaken his well-established credit. Lord Burleigh died
in an advanced age; and, by a rare fortune was equally regretted by his
sovereign and the people. He rad risen gradually from small beginnings
by the mere force of merit; and though his authority was never entirely
absolute or uncontrolled with the queen, he was still, during the course
of near forty years, regarded as her principal minister. None of her
other inclinations or affections could ever overcome her confidence in
so useful a counsellor; and as he had had the generosity or good sense
to pay assiduous court to her during her sister’s reign, when it was
dangerous to appear her friend, she thought herself bound in gratitude,
when she mounted the throne, to persevere in her attachments to him. He
seems not to have possessed any shining talents of address, eloquence,
or imagination; and was chiefly distinguished by solidity of
understanding, probity of manners, and indefatigable application in
business; virtues which, if they do not always enable a man to attain
high stations, do certainly qualify him best for filling them. Of
all the queen’s ministers he alone left a considerable fortune to his
posterity; a fortune not acquired by rapine or oppression, but gained by
the regular profits of his offices, and preserved by frugality.
The last act of this able minister was the concluding of a new treaty
with the Dutch; who, after being in some measure deserted by the king of
France, were glad to preserve the queen’s alliance, by submitting to any
terms which she pleased to require of them. The debt which they owed
her was now settled at eight hundred thousand pounds: of this sum they
agreed to pay, during the war, thirty thousand pounds a year; and these
payments were to continue till four hundred thousand pounds of the debt
should be extinguished. They engaged also, during the time that
England should continue the war with Spain, to pay the garrisons of the
cautionary towns. They stipulated, that if Spain should invade England,
or the Isle of Wight, or Jersey, or Scilly, they should assist her with
a body of five thousand foot and five hundred horse; and that in case
she undertook any naval armament against Spain, they should join an
equal number of ships to hers.[*] By this treaty, the queen was eased of
an annual charge of a hundred and twenty thousand pounds.
* Rymer, vol. xvi. p. 340.
Soon after the death of Burleigh, the queen, who regretted extremely the
loss of so wise and faithful a minister, was informed of the death
of her capital enemy, Philip II., who, after languishing under many
infirmities, expired in an advanced age at Madrid. This haughty
prince, desirous of an accommodation with his revolted subjects in the
Netherlands, but disdaining to make in his own name the concessions
necessary for that purpose, had transferred to his daughter, married to
Archduke Albert, the title to the Low Country provinces; but as it
was not expected that this princess could have posterity, and as the
reversion, on failure of her issue, was still reserved to the crown of
Spain, the states considered this deed only as the change of a name, and
they persisted with equal obstinacy in their resistance to the Spanish
arms. The other powers also of Europe made no distinction between the
courts of Brussels and Madrid; and the secret opposition of France, as
well as the avowed efforts of England, continued to operate against the
progress of Albert, as it had done against that of Philip.