self; France would not help her and would not permit the interference of Spain; so that she would bring herself 'to a hard end.' Cockburn 'spoke his mind freely to her to the same effect' and 'told her she was in great danger.' 1 Mary Stuart' wept wondrous sore;' but, construing Elizabeth's unwillingness to declare war into an admission of her own strength, she was deaf to advice as she had been to menace. She disbelieved de Mauvissière and trusted soon to hear from Yaxlee that the Spanish fleet was on its way to the English Channel; at least she would not lose the chance of revenge upon her brother: 'she said she would hear of peace till she had Murray's or Chatelherault's head.' 2 A few hundred men from Berwick would probably have ended her power of so gratifying herself; yet on the other hand it might have been a spark to explode an insurrection in England; and Elizabeth preferred to hold aloof with her arm half raised-wishing yet fearing to strike and waiting for some act of direct hostility against herself. As far as the peace of her own country was concerned her policy was no doubt a prudent one; but it was pursued at the expense of her honour; it ruined for the time her party in Scotland; and it was an occasion of fresh injury to the fugitives at Dumfries. As soon as Murray with his few dispirited friends had reached the Border, he despatched Sir Robert Mel 1 Cockburn to Cecil, October 2: MS. Rolls House. 6 ville to London to explain his situation and to request in form the assistance which had been promised him. Elizabeth assured Melville that she was sorry for their condition. She bade him return and tell Murray that she would do her very best for himself and his cause; but she could not support him by arms without declaring war against the Queen of Scots, and she could not declare war without just cause.' If the Queen of Scots therefore were to offer him any tolerable conditions' she would not have him refuse; if on the other hand the indignation of the Queen was so cruelly intended as he and his companions could obtain no end with preserv ation of their lives, her Majesty, both for her private love towards those that were noblemen and of her princely honour and clemency towards such as were tyrannically persecuted, would receive them into her protection, save their persons and their lives from ruin, and so far would give them aid and succour;' she would send a commissioner to Scotland to intercede with the Queen, and with him also an army to be used as her Majesty should see just occasion given to her.'1 The lords had become 'desperate of hope and as men dismayed;' they had repented bitterly of 'having trusted so much to England:'2 Chatelherault, Glencairn, Kirkaldy-all in fact save Murray-desired to make terms with Mary, and were feeling their way towards recovering her favour at the expense of the Queen of England, whom they accused of betraying them. 1 Answer to Robert Melville, October 1: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. 2 Bedford to Cecil, October 5: MS. Ibid. When Melville returned with Elizabeth's answer it was interpreted into a fresh promise of interference in their behalf, not only by the lords, whom anxiety might have made sanguine, but by the bearer of the message to whom Elizabeth had herself spoken. They immediately recovered their courage, broke off their communications with the Queen of Scots, and prepared to continue their resistance. 1 Elizabeth would have done better if she had spoken less ambiguously. Mary Stuart, who had paused to ascertain what they would do, set out at once for the Border with Athol, Bothwell, and a motley force of 18,000 men. She rode in person at their head in steel bonnet and corselet, 'with a dagg at her saddlebow,' declaring that 'all who held intercourse with England should be treated as enemies to the realm;' while Darnley boasted that he was about 'to be made the greatest that ever reigned in the isle of Britain.' 2 Rizzio was still the presiding spirit in Mary's council chamber. You may think,' wrote Randolph, 'what the matter meaneth that a stranger and a varlet should have the whole guiding of the Queen and country.' 3 The army was but a confused crowd: of loyal friends the Queen could really count on none but Bothwell, young Athol, and perhaps Huntly; 'the rest were as like to turn against her as stand by her.' She perhaps trusted to some demonstration from Berwick to kindle 1 Randolph to Cecil, October 13: | 18: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. Scotch MSS. Rolls House. 2 Randolph to Leicester, October VOL. VII. 3 MS. Ibid. 22 3 them into enthusiasm through their patriotism; but Elizabeth disappointed equally both her enemies and her friends; she would give no excuse to the Queen of Scots to complain that England had broken the peace. The 'few hundreds' with whose assistance the lords undertook to drive their sovereign back to Edinburgh were not forthcoming; the army more than half promised to Melville was a mere illusion; and Bedford was confined by his orders to Carlisle, where he was allowed only to receive Murray and his party as fugitives: they had now therefore no resource except to retreat into England; the Queen of Scots following in hot pursuit, glared across the frontier at her escaping prey, half tempted to follow them and annihilate the petty guard of the English commander: but prudence for once prevailed; she halted and drew back. So ended the insurrection which had been undertaken at Elizabeth's instigation and mainly in Elizabeth's interests. Having failed to prevent the catastrophe she would gladly now have heard no more of it ; but she was not to escape so easily. Even among her own subjects there were some who dared to speak unpalatable truths to her. Bedford, who had been sent to the north with an army which he believed that he was to lead to Edinburgh, wrote in plain, stern terms to the Queen herself that the lords, in reliance upon her Majesty's promise, had stood out against their sovereign, and now A few hundred men would | she had used, and we are all unprohave kept all right. I fear they vided.'-Bedford to Cecil, October will break with us from words which 13: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. knew not what to do;1 while to Cecil, not knowing how deeply Cecil was responsible for the Queen's conduct, he wrote in serious sorrow. In a previous letter he had spoken of the Lords of the Congregation,' and Elizabeth had taken offence at a term which savoured of too advanced a Protestantism. 'The poor noblemen,' he now said, 'rest so amazed and in so great perplexity they know not what to say, do, or imagine. My terming them Lords of the Congregation was but used by me because I saw it received by others; for that it is not plausible, I shall omit it henceforth, wishing from my heart the cause was plausibly received, and then for terms and names it should be no matter. The Earl of Murray I find constant and honourable, though otherwise sore perplexed, poor gentleman, the more the pity. As her Majesty means peace we must use the necessary means to maintain peace; albeit I know that the Queen useth against the Queen's Majesty our sovereign all such reproachful and despiteful words as she can; besides her practices with foreign realms, which her Majesty's father I am sure would have thought much of. Yet as her Majesty winketh at the same, I must know what I am to do, whether in dealing with the wardens on the Border I am to recognize commissions signed by the Lord Darnley as King of Scotland.' 2 Randolph, ashamed and indignant at the deception of which he and Throgmorton had been the instru 1 Bedford to the Queen, October 13: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. |