Leicester in England--Trial of the Queen of Scots--Fearful
Perplexity at the English Court--Infatuation and Obstinacy of the
Queen--Netherland Envoys in England--Queen's bitter Invective
against them--Amazement of the Envoys--They consult with her chief
Councillors--Remarks of Burghley and Davison--Fourth of February
Letter from the States--Its severe Language towards Leicester--
Painful Position of the Envoys at Court--Queen's Parsimony towards
Leicester.
The scene shifts, for a brief interval, to England. Leicester had reached
the court late in November. Those "blessed beams," under whose shade he
was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again fallen
with full radiance upon him. "Never since I was born," said he, "did I
receive a more gracious welcome."--[Leicester to 'Wilkes, 4 Dec. 1587.
(S. P. Office MS)]--Alas, there was not so much benignity for the
starving English soldiers, nor for the Provinces, which were fast growing
desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the
"great cause," which then occupied Elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of
other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that
for a time the Netherlands should be neglected.
The "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed,
within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of
hypocrisy on the part of Elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more
melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and
followed--which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of
the Queen.
It is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion
to the condemnation and death of the Queen of Scots. Who doubts her
participation in the Babington conspiracy? Who doubts that she was the
centre of one endless conspiracy by Spain and Rome against the throne and
life of Elizabeth? Who doubts that her long imprisonment in England was a
violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? Who doubts that the
fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and
children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith,
had assisted the Pope and Philip, and their band of English, Scotch, and
Irish conspirators, to shake Elizabeth's throne and endanger her life?
Who doubts that; had the English sovereign been capable of conceiving the
great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more
glorious than, it was, the cause of Protestantism and freedom more
triumphant, the name of Elizabeth Tudor dearer to human hearts? Who
doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her
Protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in
parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised
upon their innocent Catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal
Englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? Yet who
doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the
midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be
predicated of any individual, for Elizabeth in 1587 to pardon Mary, or to
relax in the severity of her legislation towards English Papists?
Yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely
seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and
royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with
a great event. The "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward blow.
It was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst of the
tragedy and the comedy, for the Netherland business to come fairly before
her Majesty. "Touching the Low Country causes," said Leicester; "very
little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had about
the Queen of Scots' matters. All the speech I have had with her Majesty
hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."--[Leicester to
Wilkes, 4 Des 1586. (S. P. Office MS.)]--Walsingham, longing for
retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the death of
Sir Philip Sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that I have
ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from public
affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty manifested
in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully served, sent
information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of the States'
deputies, Leicester was persuading her Majesty to proceed first in the
great cause. "Certain principal persons, chosen as committees," he said,
"of both Houses are sent as humble suitors, to her Majesty to desire that
she would be pleased to give order for the execution of the Scottish
Queen. Her Majesty made answer that she was loath to proceed in so
violent a course against the said Queen; as the taking away of her life,
and therefore prayed them to think of some other way which might be for
her own and their safety. They replied, no other way but her execution.
Her Majesty, though she yielded no answer to this their latter reply, is
contented to give order that the proclamation be published, and so also
it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their earnest instance to
proceed to the thorough ending of the cause."
And so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. And when "no
other way" could be thought of but to take Mary's life, and when "no
other way of taking that life could be devised," at Elizabeth's
suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen "of
the association," nor Paulet, nor Drury--how skilfully soever their
"pulses had been felt" by Elizabeth's command--would commit assassination
to serve a Queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the
murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and Mary
Stuart was executed by command of Elizabeth Tudor. The world may continue
to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long since
pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of royal
dignity by the two Queens upon that great occasion.
During this interval the Netherland matter, almost as vital to England as
the execution of Mary, was comparatively neglected. It was not absolutely
in abeyance, but the condition of the Queen's mind coloured every
state-affair with its tragic hues. Elizabeth, harassed, anxious, dreaming
dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst possible
temper to be approached by the envoys. She was furious with the
Netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. She was still more
furious because their war was costing so much money. Her disposition
became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her
counsellors to their wit's ends. Burghley confessed himself "weary of his
miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the world
was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which her
Majesty laid upon him so very heavily." Walsingham wished himself "well
established in Basle." The Queen set them all together by the ears. She
wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the Netherlands; she worried
Leicester, she scolded Burghley for defending Leicester, and Leicester
abused Burghley for taking part against him.
The Lord-Treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and
his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of
dangers which beset the path of England in that great crisis. It was most
obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time--when
the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of Philip and Sixtus and
all Catholicism, by the condemnation of Mary--to leave the Netherland
cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom
insufficiently protected.
"Your Majesty will hear," wrote Parma to Philip, "of the disastrous,
lamentable, and pitiful end of the poor Queen of Scots. Although for her
it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of the
many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of England, and be
crowned in Heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on
earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. I believe
firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many
which that Englishwoman has committed, and that our Lord will be pleased
that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many
long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her
greater ruin and confusion."--[Parma to Philip IL, 22 March. 1587. (Arch.
de Simancas, MS.)]--And with this, the Duke proceeded to discuss the all
important and rapidly-preparing invasion of England. Farnese was not the
man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of Elizabeth before Mary's
scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a master in
the science of grimace. For Elizabeth--more than ever disposed to be
friends with Spain and Rome, now that war to the knife was made
inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against
which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. She was more
ill-natured than ever to the Provinces, she turned her back upon the
Warnese, she affronted Henry III. by affecting to believe in the fable of
his envoy's complicity in the Stafford conspiracy against her life.
"I pray God to open her eyes," said Walsingham, "to see the evident peril
of the course she now holdeth . . . . If it had pleased her to have
followed the advice given her touching the French ambassador, our ships
had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by
writing a very sharp letter unto the French King, which I fear will cause
him to give ear to those of the League, and make himself a party with
them, seeing so little regard had to him here. Your Lordship may see that
our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to fall
out with all the world . . . . I never saw her worse affected to the
poor King of Navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield
contentment to the French King. If to offend all the world;" repeated the
Secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not do
amiss . . . . I never found her less disposed to take a course of
prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this
present. And to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either
credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great
causes."
Thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with
herself, and with all-the world, was Elizabeth during the dark days and
months which, preceded and followed the execution of the Scottish Queen.
If the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was
obvious that England was to depend upon Englishmen of all ranks and
classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and
her adventurers, on her Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman blood ever mounting
against, oppression, on Howard and Essex, Drake and Williams, Norris, and
Willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, London merchants,
upon yeomen whose limbs were made in England, and upon Hollanders and
Zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her
coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the
great Queen herself. Unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her
more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the
danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that
England's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate.
As to the Provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their
defence. "When I lay before her the peril," said Walsingham, "she
scorneth at it. The hope of a peace with Spain has put her into a most
dangerous security." Nor would any man now assume responsibility. The
fate of Davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner
been made the scape-goat for Leicester's sins in the Netherlands, and who
had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully
obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all
courtiers and counsellors for the time. "The late severe, dealing used by
her Highness towards Mr. Secretary Davison," said Walsingham to Wilkes,
"maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in anything but
wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore you must not
find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore hath been
accustomed."
Such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such the
stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the
interviews of the Netherland envoys with her Majesty during this period
were not likely to be genial. Exactly at the most gloomy moment--thirteen
days before the execution of Mary--they came first into Elizabeth's
presence at Greenwich.
The envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able
statesmen--Zuylen van Nyvelt, Joos de Menyn, Nicasius de Silla, Jacob
Valck, and Vitus van Kammings. The Queen was in the privy
council-chamber, attended by the admiral of England, Lord Thomas Howard,
Lord Hunsdon, great-chamberlain, Sir Christopher Hatton,
vice-chamberlain, Secretary Davison, and many other persons of
distinction.
The letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the
beginning of the interview that the Queen was ill-disposed toward the
deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as
to the state of feeling of the Netherlanders and of the States-General
towards herself.
Menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of
Dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech,
to which the Queen listened attentively, although, with frequent
indications of anger and impatience. He commenced by observing that the
United Provinces still entertained the hope that her Majesty would
conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them,
with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his
address were those relating to the cost of the war. "Besides our
stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of 200,000 florins the
month, we have furnished 500,000 as an extraordinary grant; making for
the year 2,900,000 florins, and this over and above the particular and
special expenditures of the Provinces, and other sums for military
purposes. We confess, Madam, that the succour of your Majesty is a truly
royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given
such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. It is certain
that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the United
Provinces, the Earl of Leicester has been able to arrest the course of
the Duke of Parma's victories and to counteract his designs.
Nevertheless, it appears, Madam, that these forces have not been
sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. We are obliged, for
regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at
least 27,000 foot and 3500 horse. Of this number your Majesty pays 5000
foot and 1000 horse, and we are now commissioned, Madam, humbly to
request an increase of your regular succour during the war to 10,000 foot
and 2000 horse. We also implore the loan of L60,000 sterling, in order to
assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in the
field."
Such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary Menyn, delivered in the
French language. He had scarcely concluded, when the Queen--evidently in
a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in
a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue.
"Now I am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which I have been
fearing has occurred. Our common adage, which we have in England, is a
very good one. When one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it
arrives the better. Here is a quarter of a year that I have been
expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit I have conferred on
you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and I consider myself very
ill treated by you. 'Tis very strange that you should begin by soliciting
still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction for your past
actions, which have been so extraordinary, that I swear by the living God
I think it impossible to find peoples or states more ungrateful or
ill-advised than yourselves.
"I have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen
thousand men. You have left them without payment, you have let some of
them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have
deserted to the enemy. Is it not mortifying for the English nation and a
great shame for you that Englishmen should say that they have found more
courtesy from Spaniards than from Netherlanders? Truly, I tell you
frankly that I will never endure such indignities. Rather will I act
according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best.
"If I chose, I could do something very good without you, although some
persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the Queen
of England to do what she does for her own protection. No, no! Disabuse
yourselves of that impression. These are but false persuasions. Believe
boldly that I can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a
better one than I ever did with it! Nevertheless, I do not choose to do
that, nor do I wish you so much harm. But likewise do I not choose that
you should hold such language to me. It is true that I should not wish
the Spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. But why should I not
live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? At the
commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the King of Spain
and I, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a
long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against
my life. If we both choose, we can continue so to do.
"On the other hand, I sent you the Earl of Leicester, as lieutenant of my
forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of your
finances and contributions. But, on the contrary, he has never known
anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner and
amongst yourselves. You have given him the title of governor, in order,
under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. That title he
accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his
life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his Princess, which
was more important to him than all. But he did it in order to maintain
your tottering state. And what authority, I pray you, have you given him?
A shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. This is but mockery. He is,
at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. You had no
right to treat him thus. If I had accepted the title which you wished to
give me, by the living God, I would not have suffered you so to treat me.
"But you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who
discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him;
and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope
of bribes, have been favouring the Spaniard, and doing very wicked work.
No, believe me that God will punish those who for so great a benefit wish
to return me so much evil. Believe, boldly too, that the King of Spain
will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged,
and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never
believe a word of what they promise him. Yet, in order to cover up their
filth, they spread the story that the Queen of England is thinking of
treating for peace without their knowledge. No, I would rather be dead
than that any one should have occasion to say that I had not kept my
promise. But princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done
without breach of faith. For they transact business in a certain way, and
with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate.
"You are States, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to
princes. Certainly, I would never choose to do anything without your
knowledge, and I would never allow the authority which you have among
yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. Nor
will I allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. What then would you
more of me? You have issued a proclamation in your country that no one is
to talk of peace. Very well, very good. But permit princes likewise to do
as they shall think best for the security of their state, provided it
does you no injury. Among us princes we are not wont to make such long
orations as you do, but you ought to be content with the few words that
we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby.
"If I ever do anything for you again, I choose to be treated more
honourably. I shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to
communicate with you. And in the first place I choose to hear and see for
myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about that,
before I make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater
assistance. And so I will leave you to-day, without troubling you
further."
With this her Majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies
somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables
had for a moment been turned upon them.
It was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the States having
left the English soldiers--whose numbers the Queen had so suddenly
multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. Those Englishmen who, as
individuals, had entered the States' service, had been--like all the
other troops regularly paid. This distinctly appeared from the statements
of her own counsellors and generals. On the other hand, the Queen's
contingent, now dwindled to about half their original number, had been
notoriously unpaid for nearly six months.
This has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters of
most responsible persons. That these soldiers were starving, deserting;
and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the States hardly
expected to be censured by her Majesty, because she had neglected to pay
her own troops. It was one of the points concerning which they had been
especially enjoined to complain, that the English cavalry, converted into
highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering the peasantry, and we have
seen that Thomas Wilkes had "pawned his carcase" to provide for their
temporary relief.
With regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country
had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished
by such an attack. The great Deventer treason had not yet been heard of
in England for it had occurred only a week before this first
interview--but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery
dealings of York and Stanley with Tassis and Parma, had long been causing
painful anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on
the part of the 'States' to Leicester and to the Queen. The deputies were
hardly, prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing
privately with the King of Spain. The only man suspected of such
practices was Leicester's own favourite and financier, Jacques Ringault,
whom the Earl had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances
of the States, who believed him to be a Spanish spy; and the man was now
in prison, and threatened with capital punishment.
To suppose that Buys or Barneveld, Roorda, Meetkerk, or any other leading
statesman in the Netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement
with Philip II., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine Walsingham a
pensioner of the Pope, or Cecil in league with the Duke of Guise. The end
and aim of the States' party was war. In war they not only saw the safety
of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the
commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. The whole correspondence of
the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace,
either by public or secret negotiation. On the other hand--as will be
made still clearer than ever--the Queen was longing for peace, and was
treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without
the knowledge of the States, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in
her speech to the envoys.
Yet if Elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are
about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent King of Spain,
with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her
hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should
not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this
subject. Certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of
papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond
the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the
scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer.
Perhaps, had she known how the subtle Farnese was about to express
himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of Mary, and the as
inevitably impending destruction of "that Englishwoman" through the
schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the
sentiments couched in most exquisite Italian which Alexander was at the
same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the
blunt language of the States-General.
Nevertheless, for the present, Elizabeth would give no better answer than
the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies.
Two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several
members of her Majesty's council, in the private apartment of the
Lord-Treasurer in Greenwich Palace. Burghley, being indisposed, was lying
upon his bed. Leicester, Admiral Lord Howard, Lord Hunsden, Sir
Christopher Hatton, Lord Buckhurst, and Secretary Davison, were present,
and the Lord-Treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in Latin,
that being the common language most familiar to them all. Then, turning
over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked
the envoys, whether, in case her Majesty had not sent over the assistance
which she had done under the Earl of Leicester, their country would not
have been utterly ruined.
"To all appearance, yes," replied Menyn.
"But," continued Burghley, still running through the pages of the
document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure
passage or two, "you are now proposing to her Majesty to send 10,000 foot
and 2000 horse, and to lend L60,000. This is altogether monstrous and
excessive. Nobody will ever dare even to speak to her Majesty on the
subject. When you first came in 1585, you asked for 12,000 men, but you
were fully authorized to accept 6000. No doubt that is the case now."
"On that occasion," answered Menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her
Majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection
of our country. Failing in that we broached the third point, and not
being able to get 12,000 soldiers we compounded for 5000, the agreement
being subject to ratification by our principals. We gave ample security
in shape of the mortgaged cities. But experience has shown us that these
forces and this succour are insufficient. We have therefore been sent to
beg her Majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally
requested."
"But we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns,"
said one of the English councillors, "as 800 men in a city like Flushing
are very little."
"Pardon me," replied Valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to
her Majesty and to the English nation. They are her dutiful subjects like
all the inhabitants of the Netherlands."
"It is quite true," said Burghley, after having made some critical
remarks upon the military system of the Provinces, "and a very common
adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but,
nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. Therefore you are bound
to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much
as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and
timber himself. But the States have not done their best. They have not at
the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions
for the last campaign. How many men," he asked, "are required for
garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?"
"But," interposed Lord Hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the
garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities.
Moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be
continued and doubled and even tripled."
"And on the whole," observed the Lord Admiral, "don't you think that the
putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? Her
Majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels
against the King of Spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth,
besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours."
"Yes, indeed," said Secretary Davison, "it would be difficult to
exaggerate the enormous expense which her Majesty must encounter this
year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the King of
Spain. That monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating
all Englishmen in the most hostile manner. We are on the brink of
declared war with Spain, with the French King, who is arresting all
English persons and property within his kingdom, and with Scotland, all
which countries are understood to have made a league together on account
of the Queen of Scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to
death in order to preserve the life of her Majesty, and are about to make
war upon England. This matter then will cost us, the current year, at
least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. Nevertheless her Majesty is
sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and I, for my part, will do
my best to keep her Majesty well disposed to your cause, even as I have
ever done, as you well know."
Thus spoke poor Davison, but a few days before the fatal 8th of February,
little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her
Majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for
ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive Queen. The
political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly
as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the Netherlands,
and Leicester, and the Queen of England, were to lose an honest,
diligent, and faithful friend.
"Well, gentlemen," said the Lord-Treasurer, after a few more questions
concerning the financial abilities of the States had been asked and
answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to
get back to London. Let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up
some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately."
Menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the
urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with
which they had perceived, by her Majesty's answer two days before, that
she was so highly offended with them and with the States-General. He
then, notwithstanding Burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the
hour, took up the Queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its
statements, appealing frequently to Lord Leicester for confirmation of
what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the
cause of the Netherlands to her Majesty, Burghley requested them to make
an excuse or reply to the Queen in writing, and send it to him to
present. Thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to
London. They were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, as
they told their constituents, that her Majesty, by false statements and
reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of the
commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as to
the condition of the Provinces, and of the great efforts made by the
States-General to defend their country against the enemy: It was obvious,
they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive
the Queen and her council.
And thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles,
were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher
and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were
growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by
the news of the Deventer and Zutphen treason. The intelligence was
accompanied by the famous 4th of February letter, which descended, like a
bombshell, in the midst of the decorous council-chamber. Such language
had rarely been addressed to the Earl of Leicester, and; through him; to
the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which
Barneveld, speaking with the voice of the States-General, now smote the
delinquent governor.
"My Lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever,
with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your
Excellency in our land; the States-General, the States-Provincial, the
magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the United
Provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene Majesty of England and
to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. And
although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the
authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own
honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be
alike preserved, yet finding your Excellency not satisfied with those
limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves to
your pleasure. Yet; before coming to that decision, we had well
considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious,
avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from
other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private
profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your
Excellency.
"And, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to
inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in
the Provinces, against the Estates General and Provincial, magistrates,
and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive at
their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional
authorities of the country. And precisely upon the distrust; thus created
as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means of which
they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and seditious
practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances of the
council of state, and the States General and Provincial."
He proceeded to handle the subjects of the English rose-noble; put in
circulation by Leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins
above its value, to the manifest detriment of the Provinces, to the
detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed
upon them by God himself to defend their country, to the squandering and
embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the Province; and entrusted
to the Earl's administration; to the starving condition of the soldiers;
maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the
inhabitants--so that troops in the States' service had never been so
abused during the whole war, although the States had never before voted
such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in
posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even
Spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom
it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and
unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens,
to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful
attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the States, and to usurp a
control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the
perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the
inhabitants. Having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally
against the Earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the Earl
himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all.
"The principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in
hands of men suspected by the States on legitimate grounds, men who had
been convicted of treason against these Provinces, and who continued to
be suspected, notwithstanding that your Excellency had pledged your own
honour for their fidelity. Finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was
brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your
Excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document,
was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial
matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were
withdrawn from the disposition of that council. And now, alas, we see the
effects of these practices!
"Sir William Stanley, by you appointed governor of Deventer, and Rowland
York, governor of Fort Zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret
document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. And
notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have
been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay
from the States, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the
city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by Stanley
that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the King of
Spain the city which of right was belonging to him. And this is a crime
so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during
this, whole war, we have never seen the like. And we are now, in daily
fear lest the English commanders in Bergen-op-Zoom, Ostend, and other
cities, should commit the same crime. And although we fully suspected the
designs of Stanley and York, yet your Excellency's secret document had
deprived us of the power to act.
"We doubt not that her Majesty and your Excellency will think this
strange language. But we can assure you, that we too think it strange and
grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, against
our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very Stanley should
have been recommended by your Excellency for general of all the forces.
And although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing your
administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise against the
sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently suffered for
a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which we deemed so
important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at last be moved
by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to the artifices
of your advisers.
"But at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be
preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full
of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the
States-General, as well as the States-Provincial, have felt constrained
to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. And of
this we think proper to apprize your Excellency."
He then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been
accomplished against the intentions of the Earl and the English
government, and requested his Excellency so to deal with her Majesty that
the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be
maintained in good order, and in better pay."
Here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking
as her Majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient
cause. Here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward
vigorous thrusts. It was no wonder that poor Wilkes should have thought
the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that
he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. He
would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her
Majesty and of Leicester was wounded by it to the quick. Her list of
grievances against the States seem to vanish into air. Who had been
tampering with the Spaniards now? Had that "shadowy and imaginary
authority" granted to Leicester not proved substantial enough? Was it the
States-General, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor"--who
had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his
pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by Englishmen who had
scorned all "authority" but his own?
The States, in another blunt letter to the Queen herself, declared the
loss of Deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of
Antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its
most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. Nevertheless they were
not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to
maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the Spanish tyrant. And
again they demanded of, rather than implored; her Majesty to be true to
her engagements with them.
The interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "I had
intended that my Lord of Leicester should return to you," she said to the
envoys. "But that shall never be. He has been treated with gross
ingratitude, he has served the Provinces with ability, he has consumed
his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near
kinsman, Sir Philip Sidney, whose life I should be glad to purchase with
many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous
letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him
with her." She had been advising him to return, she added, but she was
now resolved that he should "never set foot in the Provinces again."
Here the Earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the
breast--"a tali officio libera nos, Domine!"
But the States, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it
had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded,
to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress
of their grievances, as became free men.
During that whole spring the Queen was at daggers drawn with all her
leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of
questions--the relations of England with the Netherlands and Spain.
Walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it
the soundest policy to deal with Parma and his veterans upon the soil of
Flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to
await his arrival in London--was driven almost to frenzy by what he
deemed the Queen's perverseness.
"Our sharp words continue," said the Secretary, "which doth greatly
disquiet her Majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her.
The Lord-Treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, her
Majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which I the rather
credit, for that I find, in dealing with her, I am nothing gracious; and
if her Majesty could be otherwise served, I know I should not be used . .
. . . Her Majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some further means
to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she neglecteth all other
causes . . . . The discord between her Majesty and her council
hindereth the necessary consultations that were to be destined for the
preventing of the manifold perils that hang over this realm. . . .
Sir Christopher Hatton hath dealt very plainly and dutifully with her,
which hath been accepted in so evil part as he is resolved to retire for
a time. I assure you I find every man weary of attendance here. . . .
I would to God I could find as good resolution in her Majesty to
proceed in a princely course in relieving the United Provinces, as I find
an honorable disposition in your Lordship to employ yourself in their
service."
The Lord-Treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically
resigned. "Why her Majesty useth me thus strangely, I know not," he
observed. "To some she saith that she meant not I should have gone from
the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me
contentment. I shall dispose myself to enjoy God's favour, and shall do
nothing to deserve her disfavour. And if I be suffered to be a stranger
to her affairs, I shall have a quieter life."
Leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to
return to the Provinces. He protested that he had a greater affection for
the Netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he felt
for the people of England.--"There is nothing sticks in my stomach," he
said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for whom, I take
God to record, I could be content to lose any limb I have to do them
good." But he was crippled with debt, and the Queen resolutely refused to
lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not stir.
Walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how
urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all
her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own
safety and service. But she was obdurate. "She would rather," he said
bitterly to Leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may
put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. The like course
she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself
from the helm." At last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds,
but on so severe conditions, that the Earl declared himself heart-broken
again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set
foot in the Netherlands. "Let Norris stay there," he said in a fury; "he
will do admirably, no doubt. Only let it not be supposed that I can be
there also. Not for one hundred thousand pounds would I be in that
country with him."
Meantime it was agreed that Lord Buckhurst should be sent forth on what
Wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. This
new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his
best to remove them: as if any man in England or in Holland doubted as to
the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were
not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could
be adopted--delay--which the Netherland statesmen, as well as the Queen's
wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which Alexander and Philip most
desired, and by indulging in which her Majesty was most directly playing
into her adversary's hand. Elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the
table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was
always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then
considered diplomatic sleight of hand. So Lord Buckhurst was to go forth
to expostulate at the Hague, while transports were loading in Cadiz and
Lisbon, reiters levying in Germany, pikemen and musketeers in Spain and
Italy, for a purpose concerning which Walsingham and Barneveld had for a
long time felt little doubt.
Meantime Lord Leicester went to Bath to drink the waters, and after he
had drunk the waters, the Queen, ever anxious for his health, was
resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts
by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of
bitterness which flowed perennially in the Netherlands.