1565 June CHAP IX matter,' said Sir Thomas Smith, 'was not so suddenly done as suddenly it did break out; the practice was of an elder time. It was finely handled to make the Queen's Majesty a labourer for the restitution of the father and a sender in of the son." Elizabeth had been outmanœuvred and had placed herself in a perilous dilemma. Half the Council had advised her to demand the extradition of Darnley and Lennox and declare war if it was refused. She had rejected the bolder part of the advice; but she had allowed Throgmorton to promise Murray and his friends that if they interfered by force to prevent the marriage they should be supported by England; and if they rose in arms and failed, and if they called upon her to fulfil her engagements, she would have to comply and run all hazards, or she would justify the worst suspicions which the Scotch Protestants already entertained of her sincerity, and convert into enemies the only friends that she possessed among Mary Stuart's subjects. In the first outburst of her anger she seemed prepared to dare everything. After the departure of Throgmorton from Scotland the Queen of Scots sent Hay of Balmerinoch with a letter, in which she protested with the most innocent simplicity that in all which she had done she had been actuated only by the purest desire to meet her dear sister's wishes; that she was alike astonished and grieved to hear that she had done wrong; but that as Elizabeth was dissatisfied, she would refer the question once more to a commission; and on her own side she proposed the unsuspicious names of Murray, Maitland, Morton, and Glencairn.2 Had Elizabeth complied with this suggestion she 1 Smith to Cecil, July 3.-French MSS. Rolls House. The Queen of Scots to the Queen of England, June 14.-KELTH. 1565 June requires would have committed herself to an admission that a CHAP IX question existed, and that the Darnley marriage was not wholly intolerable. She had no intention of admitting anything of the kind. She replied with requiring Lennox Elizabeth and Darnley on their allegiance immediately to return Lennox and to England; and the Queen of Scots' letter she answered only with a request that they might be sent home England. without delay. 1 Neither Lennox nor Mary expected such peremptory dealing. The order of return was short of a declaration of war, and some of those who knew Elizabeth best did not believe that war was coming; but Mary Stuart knew too well her own intentions to escape misgivings that the Queen of England might be as resolute as herself. When Randolph presented the letter, with the message which accompanied it, she burst into tears; Lennox was silent with dismay; Darnley alone-too foolish to comprehend the danger-remained careless and defiant,2 and said shortly he had no mind to return.' Mary Stuart as soon as she could collect herself said she trusted that her good sister did not mean what she had written. Randolph replied that she most certainly did mean it; and speaking plainly as his habit was, he added that if they refused to return, and her Grace comforted them in so doing, the Queen his mistress had both 1 Paul de Foix to Catherine de Medici, June 18.-TEULET, vol ii. 2 A sad and singular horoscope had already been cast for Darnley. 'His behaviour,' Randolph wrote to Cecil, is such that he is come in open contempt of all men that were his chief friends. What shall become of him I know not; but it is greatly to be feared he can have no long life amongst this people. The Queen being of better understanding, seeketh B. 10. Darnley to return to CHAP IX power and will to be revenged on them, being her 1565 June Elizabeth's name en Protestant rebel. subjects.' From the Court Randolph went to Argyle and Randolph in Murray, who had ascertained meanwhile that there was no time to lose; the Bishop of Dunblane had been sent courages the to the Pope; Mary Stuart had obtained money from noblemen to Flanders; she had again sent for Bothwell, and she meant immediate mischief. The two earls expressed their belief that the time was come to put to a remedy.' They saw their sovereign determined to overthrow religion received, and sore bent against those that desired the amity with England to be continued, which two points they were bound in conscience to maintain and defend.' They had resolved therefore to withstand such attempts with all their power, and to provide for their sovereign's estate better than she could at that time consider for herself.' They intended to do nothing which was not for their mistress's real advantage; Sir Nicholas Throgmorton had assured them of the Queen of England's 'godly and friendly offer to concur with and assist them;' the Queen of England's interest was as much concerned as their own; and they 'humbly desired the performance of her Majesty's promises; they did not ask for an English army; if her Majesty would give them three thousand pounds they could hold their followers together, and would undertake the rest for themselves; Lennox and Darnley could be seized and delivered into Berwick,' if her Majesty would receive them. To these communications Randolph replied with renewed assurances that Elizabeth would send them whatever assistance they required. He gave them the warmest encouragement to persevere; and as to the father and son, whom they proposed to kidnap, the English Government, he said, 'could not and would not refuse CHAP IX their own in what sort soever they came." The Queen of Scots was not long in receiving intelligence of what the lords intended against her. She sent a message to her brother requesting that he would meet her at Perth. As he was mounting his horse a hint was given him that if he went he would not return alive, and that Darnley and Ritzio had formed a plan to kill him. He withdrew to his mother's castle at Lochleven, and published the occasion of his disobedience. Mary Stuart replied with a countercharge that the Earl of Murray had purposed to take her prisoner and carry off Darnley to England. Both stories were probably true: Murray's offer to Randolph is sufficient evidence against himself. Lord Darnley's conspiracy against the Earl was no more than legitimate retaliation. Civil war was fast approaching; and it is impossible to acquit Elizabeth of having done her best to foster it. Afraid to take an open part lest she should have an insurrection on her own hands at home, she was ready to employ to the uttermost the assistance of the Queen of Scots' own subjects, and she trusted to diplomacy or accident to extricate herself from the consequences. On receiving Randolph's letter, which explained with sufficient clearness the intentions of the Protestant noblemen, she not only did not find fault with the engagements to which he had committed her, but she directed him under her own hand to assure them of her perfect satisfaction with the course which they were preparing to pursue. She could have entertained no sort of doubt that they would use violence; yet she did 1565 July 1 Randolph to Cecil, July 2 and July 4.-COTTON MSS., CALIG, B. 10. Printed in KEITH. 1565 July CHAP IX not even conceal her approbation under ambiguous or uncertain phrases. She said that they should find her in all their just and honourable causes regard their state and continuance;' if by malice or practice they were forced to any inconveniency they should find no lack in her;' she desired merely that in carrying out their enterprise they would spend no more money than their security made necessary, nor less which might bring danger." Assembly. The Measures of As the collision drew near both parties prepared for the General it by endeavouring to put themselves right with the country. No sooner was it generally known in Scotland that the Queen intended to marry a Catholic than the General Assembly met in haste at Edinburgh. extreme Protestants were able to appeal to the fulfilment of their predictions of evil when Mary Stuart was permitted the free exercise of her own religion. Like the children of Israel on their entrance into Canaan, they had made terms with wickedness: they had sown the wind of a carnal policy and were now reaping the whirlwind. A resolution was passed-to which Murray though he was present no longer raised his voice in opposition-that the sovereign was not exempt from obedience to the law of the land, that the mass should be put utterly away, and the reformed service take the place of it in the royal chapel. Mary Stuart had been described by Randolph as so much changed that those who had known her when she was under Murray's and Maitland's tutelage were astonished at the alteration. Manner, words, features, all were different. In mind and body she was swollen and disfigured by the tumultuous working of her passions. 1 Elizabeth to Randolph, July 10. Printed in KEITH. |