<89>Seldom has there been a stranger position than that occupied by Olivares in the July of this extraordinary year. Like a dishonest jockey, July.Position of Olivares.he had ridden the race with the settled purpose of losing it; but, do what he would, he had won every heat in spite of all his efforts. It was in vain that he had trusted to the obduracy of the Pope. It was equally in vain that he had strained his demands upon Charles to the uttermost. There had been hesitation and distrust, but in the end neither the Pope nor Charles had ventured to deny him anything.
Even the secret articles sworn to in England had not contained the whole of Fresh secret articles presented to Charles.the demands of the Spanish minister. As the treaty was now drawn up at Madrid it included four additional engagements, which Olivares had taken care to bring before Charles’s notice some weeks before.
“Moreover,” the Prince was required to declare, “I Charles, Prince of Wales, engage myself, and promise that the most illustrious King of Great Britain, my most honoured lord and father, shall do the same both by word and writing, that all those things which are contained in the foregoing articles, and concern as well the suspension as the abrogation of all laws made against the Roman Catholics, shall within three years infallibly take effect, and sooner if it be possible, which we will have to lie upon our conscience and Royal honour.
“That I will intercede with the most illustrious King of <90>Great Britain, my father, that the ten years of the education of the children which shall be born of this marriage with the most illustrious Lady Infanta, their mother, accorded in the twenty-second article, which term the Roman Pontiff desires to have prorogued to twelve years, may be lengthened to the said term; and I promise freely and of my own accord to swear that, if it so happen that the entire power of disposing of the matter be devolved to me, I will also grant and approve the said term.
“Furthermore I, Prince of Wales, oblige myself upon my faith to the Catholic King that, as often as the most illustrious Lady Infanta shall require that I should give ear to divines or other whom her Highness shall be pleased to employ in matters of the Roman Catholic religion, I will hearken to them willingly, without all difficulty, and laying aside all excuse.
“And for further caution in point of the free exercise of the Catholic religion and the suspension of the laws above named, I Charles, Prince of Wales, promise and take upon me in the word of a king, that the things above promised and treated concerning those matters shall take effect and be put in execution as well in the Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland as of England.”[169]
Of the articles thus offered to Charles, the first three were such as no man of honour could accept. In the first he promised that which, They are accepted by Charles.as he well knew, he would never be able to perform. In the second he gave a secret engagement which converted the public one into a mere deception. In the third he not only sacrificed his own self-respect in his domestic relations, but he held out hopes of future conversion which he had no intention of justifying. But Charles was deeply in love, and forgot for the time what was due to his honour. At first, indeed, if it is to the formal presentation of these articles that we must refer a rather vague account which has reached us, he shuffled, and asked leave to refer the question to his father. When this was refused, he said that he would return an answer in a few hours. Before the day was over he sent Gondomar to Olivares to tell him that <91>he would give way once more. So astonished was Olivares when he heard it, that it was some time before he could speak. “Is it possible?” he cried out at last; “I should as soon have expected my death.”[170]
From that moment Olivares changed his tactics. He had at last discovered, what he ought to have known long ago, that a man Olivares changes his plans.who could bear such treatment was not to be easily shaken off. The idea of marrying the Infanta to the son of the Emperor must be definitely abandoned. The English marriage must in some way or other be made palatable to her, and the six months which had been gained by the refusal of the Theologians to allow her to leave Spain at once, must be made use of to come to a definite understanding upon the terms which the King of England was willing to impose upon his German son-in-law.
His first difficulty was with the Infanta herself. Fortunately for his object, he would now have a warm ally in his own wife, who was Persuades the Infanta to accept the marriage.constantly in attendance on the Princess, and who had always wished well to the match as a means for the conversion of the Prince. Whatever opposition there was, he took immediate steps to quell. Sending for one of the Infanta’s ladies who had encouraged her in resistance, he charged her in the King’s name to be more discreet for the future. One morning, as the Infanta was preparing for confession, the Countess of Olivares had a long interview with her, and it was observed that she left her in tears. At the same time her confessor[171] was closeted with Olivares himself. As far as it is possible to judge, all this was not without effect. She may have been in some degree impressed by the assiduous attention shown to her, and though the marriage was still personally distasteful to her, it was easy to impress her with the <92>idea that she would find, in the handsome youth who loved her so well, a fit instrument for bringing back the whole of England to the bosom of the Church.[172]
On July 25 the marriage contract, with its additional clauses, was duly signed by Charles and Philip. It now included a special July 25.Signature of the marriage contract.acknowledgment by the Prince that he was willing that the Infanta should not commence her journey till the following spring, though the marriage was to take place as soon as news arrived that James had sworn to the articles and that the Pope had given his consent to the celebration of the rite. With regard to the last condition some slight delay was expected, as the death of Gregory XV. had been Death of Gregory XV.known at Madrid for some days; but it was considered probable that the Dean of the College of Cardinals would think himself justified in giving his approbation, and that even if it were necessary to wait for the approbation of the new Pope, no serious delay was to be apprehended.[173]
On the 28th a messenger arrived with the intelligence that the English Council had consented to take the required oath. July 28.Charles is astonished at his father’s scruples.The next day Charles and Buckingham returned answer to the King’s letter. That James should have entertained any conscientious objections to his oath was perfectly unintelligible to his favourite and son. “We are sorry,” they wrote, “that there arose in your conscience any scruples; but we are confident, when we see your Majesty, to give you very good satisfaction for all we have done.” They then proceeded to speak of their hopes and designs. “Sir,” they wrote, “we have not been idle in this interim, for we can now tell you certainly that, by the 29th of <93>your August, we shall begin our journey, and hope to bring her with us. … Marriage July 29.Hopes to bring the Infanta with him.there shall be none without her coming with us; and in the meantime, comfort yourself with this, that we have already convinced the Conde of Olivares in this point, that it is fit the Infanta come with us before winter. He is working underhand with the divines, and, under colour of the King’s and Prince’s journey, makes preparations for hers also. Her household is a-settling, and all other things for her journey; and the Conde’s own words are, he will throw us all out of Spain as soon as he can. There remains no more for you to do, but to send us peremptory commands to come away, and with all possible speed. We desire this, not that we fear that we shall have need of it, but in case we have, that your son, who hath expressed much affection to the person of the Infanta, may press his coming away, under colour of your command, without appearing an ill lover.”[174]
The letter, indeed, was in Buckingham’s handwriting; but the thoughts which it contained, the little contrivances and the Charles and Buckingham.empty hopes with which it is full, came straight from the brain of Charles. After his return to England, it suited the favourite to declare that both he and the Prince had stood together in manful resistance to the trickery of Olivares; and, as a natural result, those who have been unable to reconcile his narrative with admitted facts, have thrown the whole blame of the breach upon Buckingham’s insolence. “If the Prince,” said the Spaniards, when all was over, “had come alone, he would not have returned alone.” Yet, natural as the explanation was, it was not in accordance with the truth. The real cause of Charles’s failure lay partly in the exorbitant pretensions of the Spaniards to religious supremacy in England, but still more in the belief which Olivares had always consistently held, that he would be able to bring the negotiation to an end without difficulty, because the terms which he himself regarded as indispensable would never be accepted in England. Annoyed as he was at being unable to <94>relinquish a negotiation which he disliked, the Spanish minister was likely to look with especial disfavour upon Buckingham’s insolence. Different as they were in every other respect, Bristol and Buckingham had been of one mind in objecting to the fresh terms imposed upon the Prince in consequence of his presence at Madrid; but what Bristol had said gravely and respectfully, Buckingham had said petulantly and rudely. Ill at ease in the part which he was playing, he had vented his displeasure Who caused the failure of the match?upon all towards whom he dared to show his real feelings. He had quarrelled with Bristol, and he had quarrelled with Olivares; but even he, utterly void of self-restraint as he was, dared not quarrel with Charles. In all ordinary matters he could impose his will upon him by sheer force of audacity. The rude familiarity with which he treated the Prince caused the greatest astonishment to the Spaniards. Accustomed as they were to the most rigid etiquette, it was with the deepest disgust that they saw a subject sitting without breeches in his dressing-gown at the Prince’s table, or standing in public with his back towards him, or rudely leaning forward to stare at the Infanta.[175] All this Buckingham allowed himself to do. But he knew that he could not thwart Charles in the one object upon which he had set his heart; that he must carry his messages, and make himself the instrument of all those petty compliances so dear to the heart of the youth whom he served, knowing all the while that he was regarded at home as the author of concessions which, in reality, he detested.
Sometimes, indeed, Buckingham’s feelings were too strong for him. Once, on receiving a visit from Khevenhüller, he showed Buckingham and Khevenhüller.his consciousness of being duped. “The affairs of our masters,” he said, “appear to clash at present. I hope that this marriage will accommodate them. If not, before a year is over, an army will be sent into Germany strong enough to set everything right by force.” The Imperial Ambassador replied, that the door of grace had been opened to Frederick, but that he had refused to walk in; and Buckingham, who probably could not trust himself to pursue <95>the conversation further, changed the subject to an inquiry about Khevenhüller’s horses.[176]
Even when Buckingham was writing to James this feeling of doubt as to the ultimate issue of the business pierces through the surface. July 30.Buckingham’s account of the state of the negotiation.It was thus that, on July 30, he allowed adverse details which had been absolutely banished from the joint composition of the day before, to find a place in his private letter to the King. “In the meantime, sir,” he wrote, “know that, upon the King’s Council’s and Court’s expression of joy that the Prince had come into and accepted of their own offers here to be contracted and stay for the Infanta’s following him at the beginning of the spring, we thought it a fit time, in the heat of their expressions, to try their good natures, and press the Infanta’s present going. He is sent to urge Olivares to give way;Whereupon the Prince sent me to the Conde of Olivares with these reasons for it: that, first, it would lengthen much your days, who best deserved of them in this and many other businesses; it would add much to the honour of the Prince, which otherwise must needs suffer; the Infanta would thereby gain the sooner the hearts of the people, and so consequently make her desires and their ends sooner and easier to be effected in favour of the Catholics; that otherwise we should compass but one of those ends for which we came, for marriage, and not friendship, and so it would prove but like the French alliance;[177] that the affairs of Christendom would easilier and sooner be compounded; that if he had any reason of state in it which he hoped to gain at the spring, I would show him how he would better compass it now than when distrust would beget the same in us; how your Majesty had been this year at a great charge already, and how this delay would but be of more to both kingdoms. With this I entreated him to think of my poor particular, who had waited upon the Prince hither, and in that distasted all the people in general; how he laid me open to their malice and revenge, when I had brought from them their Prince a free man, and should return <96>him bound by a contract, and so locked from all posterity till they pleased here; how that I could not think of this obligation, if he would not[178] relieve me in it, without horror or fear, if I were not his faithful friend and servant, and intended thankfulness. He interrupted this with many grumblings, but at last said I had bewitched him; but if there was a witch in the company, I am sure there was a devil too.
“From him I repaired to his lady, who, I must tell you by the way, is as good a woman as lives, which makes me think and to the Countess.all favourites must have good wives; whom I told what I had done. She liked of it very well, and promised her best assistance. Some three or four days after, the Prince Day fixed for the Prince’s departure.sent to entreat him to settle her house, and to give order in other things for their journey. He asked what day he should go away; but himself named the 29th of your August, which the Prince accepted of.
“Some two days after, the Countess sent for me, the most afflicted woman in the world, and told me the Infanta had told her Message from the Infanta.the Prince meant to go away without her; and, for her part, she took it so ill, to see him so careless of her, that she would not be contracted till the day he was to take his leave. The Countess told me, the way to mend this was to go to the Conde, and put the whole business in the King’s hands, with this protestation, that he would rather stay seven years than go without his mistress, he so much esteemed her; and if I saw after that this did not work good effects, that the Prince might come off upon your Majesty’s command at pleasure.
“With this offer I went to the Conde. He received it but doggedly. The next day I desired audience of the Infanta. To taste her, Buckingham’s interview with the Infanta.I framed this errand from your Majesty, that you had commanded me to give her a particular account of what you had done, and that you had overcome many difficulties to persuade the Council to come into these articles, and that you yourself was come into them merely in contemplation of her; and that you had given order <97>for present execution, and since you had done thus much to get her, you made no question but her virtues would persuade you to do much more for her sake. When I had done this, I told her of the Prince’s resolution, and assured her that he never spake of going but with this end, to get her the sooner away; but that hereafter he durst use no diligences for her and himself, since he was subject to so ill offices; except she would take this for granted, that he would never go without her, which she liked very well of. When I had done this, I told her, since she was the Prince’s wife, all my thoughts were bent to gain her the love of that people whither she was to go; and I showed her how the articles contained no more than for the time to come, but there were many Catholics who at this day were fined in the Exchequer, and though it would be some loss to your Majesty,— though I think it would be none,— yet, if she would make a request to the Prince for them, your Majesty would quit it.
“I hope I have not done ill in this: but sure I am it hath not done ill to our business; Assurance from the Countess that the Infanta will be allowed to go.for what with this, and that news of the sending the four ships to Leith, this morning the Countess hath sent the Prince this message, that the King, the Infanta, and the Conde are the best contented that can be; and that he should not now doubt his soon going away, and to carry the Infanta with him.”[179]
Already, some days before this letter reached England, the suggestion thus thrown out by Buckingham about the recusancy fines, July 24.The fleet ordered to sail.had been carried out by the King. Almost immediately after the solemnity at Whitehall, James had set out on his progress towards Salisbury, where the Spanish ambassadors were invited to join him on August 4. Orders were at once sent off to Rutland to set sail for Santander as soon as possible,[180] and Conway, in his usual hyperbolical language, had wished him for his return ‘a wind like lovers’ embracements, neither too strong nor too slack, and a sea as smooth as a lady’s face so embraced.’[181]
<98>In the meanwhile, Calvert, who had remained in London, was busily engaged in consulting with other members of the Council July 26.Favours to the recusants.in what mode the favours recently promised to the recusants should be granted.[182] James had proposed to issue a warrant to the Attorney-General, directing him to abstain from all fresh proceedings against Catholics still unconvicted of recusancy. With this offer the Spanish ambassadors were discontented, and pointed out that the convicted recusants, who were bound to pay their fines into the Exchequer for the remainder of their lives, would receive no benefit whatever. James replied that, though he intended to comply with their wishes, he was resolved to show that he did so as an act of free grace, by reserving his release from penalties already incurred for some future occasion of public rejoicing. This subtle distinction between convicted and unconvicted recusants was lost upon the ambassadors, and James soon found that in his attempt to maintain his dignity he had laid himself open to the charge of having refused July 27.Remonstrances of Inojosa.to fulfil his obligations. Inojosa at once wrote to Calvert to complain of a decision which he represented as a breach of promise. If it were not revoked, he proceeded to hint, it would be impossible for him to make a satisfactory report to his master.[183] Thus pressed, James gave way at once, and Calvert was ordered to include in the remission past offences as well as future.[184] To effect this a pardon was to be issued under the Great Seal, relieving convicted recusants Question of the mode of granting the pardon.from the future payment of penalties already incurred, accompanied by a dispensation from all future penalties. Even with this the ambassadors were not contented. They asked for a public proclamation declaring his Majesty’s purpose to grant entire relief from the penal laws. It was not till some time had been spent in explaining to them that a proclamation, according to English law, had no binding effect whatever, whereas a pardon <99>under the Great Seal might safely be pleaded in court, that they consented to give way.[185] It is impossible to resist the conviction that more was meant by the ambassadors than they chose to avow. What they wanted was a public and notorious act, which would ring in the ears of all men, and would test the readiness of the English people to submit to the repeal of the obnoxious laws by Parliament. For such a purpose a proclamation would undoubtedly have served far better than hundreds of pardons quietly granted to individuals.
As soon as the ambassadors reached Salisbury, Conway and Carlisle were appointed to treat with them on this important matter. Aug. 8.Agreement made at Salisbury.At last, after some discussion, an agreement was come to, and was signed by both parties. A general pardon was to be passed under the Great Seal, of which all Roman Catholics who had been convicted, or had been liable to be convicted, in past times, would be allowed to take the benefit at any time during the next five years. A declaration was also to be issued suspending for the future all the penal laws by which the Roman Catholics were affected, and releasing them from all penalties to which they might be subject ‘by reason of any statute or law whatsoever for their consciences, or exercise of their Roman Catholic religion in their private houses without noise and public scandal, or for any other matter or cause whatsoever for their consciences, by what law or ordinances soever to the observation whereof the rest of his Majesty’s subjects are not bound.’ The King would, after conference with the Bishops, contrive a way for relieving the Catholics from the penalties consequent upon excommunication. Orders should be sent to Ireland to grant similar concessions there. As for Scotland, his Majesty would ‘according to the constitution of affairs there, and in regard to the public good and peace of that kingdom, and as soon as possible, do all that shall be convenient for the accomplishment of his promise.’[186]
<100>Two points only amongst the ambassadors’ demands[187] had been passed over. To a request that the forfeited rents and fines Further demands rejected.which had been given away by patent should be restored, James could only reply by giving permission to the aggrieved persons to try the question at law. The other claim was of a more serious nature. Not content with the immunity which they had secured for those who refused to take the oath of allegiance, the ambassadors pressed hard that schools and colleges might be rendered accessible to the Roman Catholics. On this point James stood firm. It would not look well, he held, ‘that he should not only at one instant give unexpected grace and immunity to his subjects the Roman Catholics, but seem to endeavour to plant a seminary of other religion than he made profession of.’
To this answer Coloma raised no objection; but Inojosa, who no doubt had been to some extent initiated into the plans of Olivares, The ambassadors give hopes of the Infanta’s coming.was evidently dissatisfied. At last, he promised to write to Madrid that James had done all that was to be expected, and, on leaving Salisbury, both the ambassadors joined in expressions of hope that the immediate marriage and departure of the Infanta would be the result of these negotiations.[188]
On August 10, two days after the signature of the agreement, Buckingham’s letter arrived, with renewed hopes of the immediate delivery of the Infanta. James was of course delighted with the news.[189] In return, he sent the command to leave Spain immediately, for which Charles had asked in order to Aug. 10.The King orders his son to return.excuse his rudeness to the Infanta. “My dearest son,” he wrote, “I sent you a commandment long ago, not to lose time where ye are, but either to bring quickly home your mistress, which is my earnest desire; but if no better may be, rather than to linger any longer there, to come without her, which, for many important reasons, I am now forced to renew; and therefore I charge you, on my <101>blessing, to come quickly either with her or without her. I know your love to her person hath enforced you to delay the putting in execution of my former commandments. I confess it is my chiefest worldly joy that ye love her; but the necessity of my affairs enforceth me to tell you that you must prefer the obedience to a father to the love ye carry to a mistress.”[190]
Before this letter reached Madrid, there had been a fresh struggle between Charles and the Spanish Court. The conferences Spanish proposal that Charles shall be married in Spainwith Olivares and the messages to the Infanta had failed in producing the expected result. Philip utterly refused to give up his sister a day sooner than he had promised; but in one respect he now changed his tactics. If Charles would consent to remain in Spain till Christmas, he might then be married in person, and would be allowed to live with the Infanta as his wife, though she would not be permitted to leave Madrid till the appointed time in the spring.
That there were the gravest objections to such a plan was evident to anyone less deeply in love than Charles; and no doubt there were not a few around him who reminded him that, if he accepted the offer, he would not only be placing himself in Philip’s hands as a hostage for another half-year, but that if, before the spring came, there were a prospect of the Infanta becoming a mother, fresh excuses for delay would arise, which would, in all probability, end in placing in Spanish hands another heir to the English throne — another hostage for James’s subserviency to Spain in the affair of the Palatinate. Yet, accepted by Charles.in spite of these reasonable objections, Charles told Philip that he was ready to accept the conditions, and even sought an audience of the Queen in order to assure her, in the Infanta’s presence, that he had made up his mind to remain.[191]
Scarcely was this resolution taken when Cottington arrived, bringing with him the signatures of the King and Council to the marriage articles. Once more Charles tried, by a renewed <102>threat of immediate departure, to induce the Spaniards to give way, and He changes his mind;to allow him to carry home his bride at once. The request was referred to the Theologians, and the Theologians, as usual, proved obdurate, and refused their consent.[192]
Charles could not make up his mind what to do. Although he was unable to resist the impression that he was being made but cannot prevail upon himself to go.a tool of by Olivares, he could not resolve to tear himself away from the Infanta. It was observed that when the refusal of the Theologians was brought to him, he did not repeat his threat of leaving Madrid; yet he had hard work to hold his own. Buckingham had again lost his temper, and had for some days been talking of setting out alone to meet Rutland’s fleet at Santander.[193] All the Prince’s little Court were of one mind in denouncing the hypocrisy of the Spaniards, and the hard words which were freely used were returned with interest by those who were assailed. One day a Behaviour of the Prince’s attendants.Spanish gentleman going into the Prince’s room found on the table a richly bound copy of a translation of the English Catechism into his own language, and carried it off in triumph to Philip; whilst at the same time charges, true or false, of an attempt to make proselytes to their faith were brought against Charles’s attendants. The accusation might certainly have been retorted upon the Spaniards. One day Cottington was suddenly taken ill, and Temporary conversion of Cottington.believing himself to be dying, sent for Lafuente, and was by him reconciled to the Church of Rome. A few days afterwards, as soon as he began to get better, he declared himself a Protestant again. The next case was that of Henry Washington, a dying youth, who summoned an English Jesuit, named Ballard, to his bedside. His English companions were terribly excited. Gathering in a knot about the door, they barred the entrance, as they said, by the Prince’s orders; and one of them, Sir Edmund Verney, struck the priest on the face with his fist. The people without, seeing what had <103>happened, naturally took the part of the priest, and, but for A priest struck by Sir E. Verney.the timely arrival of the alcalde, backed by the interposition of Gondomar, the tumult which ensued would hardly have been quieted without bloodshed.
It was no doubt with a feeling of triumph mingled with sorrow, that Verney and his friends attended the funeral of Washington in the burial-ground in the garden behind Bristol’s house, which was the only resting-place allowed to the lad whom they had prevented from acknowledging with the lips the belief which he entertained in his heart. At Philip’s Court the tidings were received with indignation. How can it be expected, it was asked, that these men should behave better to the Catholics in England than they do in Spain? To meet Dispute about punishing Verney.the opposition which had been raised, Charles ordered Verney to leave Madrid; but this was not enough to satisfy the Nuncio; and, at his complaint, the King sent Gondomar to demand that the offender should be rigorously punished. The Prince was deeply annoyed, and demanded in return that the alcalde should be punished for laying hands upon his servant. At last Philip cut the matter short by sending a message to Charles, to tell him that, if he wished to spend the winter at Madrid, he must dismiss all his Protestant attendants.[194]
Such a collision between the two Courts made Charles’s stay at Madrid more difficult than ever. At last, therefore, he Aug. 20.Charles writes that he will leave Madrid.gave way to the solicitations of those around him, and announced to his father his resolution to leave Spain. “The cause,” he explained, “why we have been so long in writing to you since Cottington’s coming, is that we would try all means possible, before we would send you word, to see if we could move them to send the Infanta before winter. They, for form’s sake, called the divines, and they stick to their old resolution; but we find, by circumstances, that conscience is not the true but seeming cause of the Infanta’s stay. To conclude, we have wrought <104>what we can, but since we cannot have her with us that we desired, our next comfort is that we hope shortly to kiss your Majesty’s hands.”[195]
Such was the meagre account which Charles thought fit to give to his father of that fortnight of weakness and vacillation, of How far were the Spaniards in fault?promises unfulfilled, and of words only uttered to be recalled. What he meant by the circumstances which, in his opinion, were the cause of the Infanta’s stay, it is impossible to tell; but those who have attentively perused the true narrative of his proceedings will hardly join in the cry, which has been repeated from century to century, that the Spaniards were deeply to blame in refusing to send the Infanta at once to England, excepting so far as they deserve blame for not taking a wider and more generous view than they did of the crisis through which the world was in that day passing. There can be little doubt that they would have preferred not to send the Infanta at all, if it could have been done without exasperating Charles and his father into declaring war, and that they looked upon her detention, not merely as affording them time to ascertain how James would treat his Catholic subjects, but as enabling them to come to some definite understanding as to the resistance which he was likely to offer to their scheme for the forced conversion of the Palatinate to their creed. From this point of view it is hard to blame Olivares for the course which he took; for he had learned by a strange experience to know Charles as his countrymen were, to their sorrow, to know him in coming years. He had discovered that he was at the same time both weak and obstinate. How was Philip to entrust his sister to such a man? Who was to guarantee that the moment the wedded pair landed in England the whole of the edifice of religious liberty, which was one day to become the edifice of religious supremacy for the Catholics, would not be overthrown, with a shout of triumph?
Olivares was a liar of a very different stamp from Charles. He, at least, was perfectly aware whether his words were intended to be true or not, whilst Charles was, probably, perfectly <105>unconscious of his prevarications. As far as the marriage went, the course was now straight before the Spanish minister. He had only to keep the English to the very hard bargain which he had driven, and to make use of the winter to drive an equally hard bargain for the Palatinate. Strange to say, however, he had at last been beguiled by the irresolution of Charles into the idea that the task of gaining his consent to his scheme for the pacification of Germany was a mere trifle in comparison with that which he had already effected. On August 12, in the midst of all his difficulties with Charles, Olivares proposes the marriage of Prince Frederick Henry with the Emperor’s daughter.he calmly gave it as his opinion that it would be well to interest the Prince of Wales in the marriage of Frederick’s son with the Emperor’s daughter. James, he added, would make no difficulty, as the scheme would relieve him from all further annoyance, and it was certain that he would rather see his grandchildren Catholic than Puritan. To Gondomar the future did not present itself in quite so rosy a light. The chief thing, he observed, was to contrive that the boy should be brought up as a Catholic. It would, therefore, be well to have him sent to Vienna before the Prince left the country; for, if Charles were once gone, it was probable that he would take arms against the Emperor and the King of Spain.[196]
Olivares did not know how completely Charles had set his heart upon his sister’s restoration, and that since his arrival in Spain he had twice despatched a special messenger to assure her that she should not be forgotten.[197] Not long ago he had told the Prince, in his grand Spanish way, that his master was ready to place a blank sheet of paper in his hands, which he would be at liberty to fill up with what conditions he pleased about the Palatinate. He now recited the old scheme which had been originally sketched out by his uncle, of course taking care to make no reference to the boy’s expected conversion. The Electoral Prince, he said, was to be educated at Vienna, and married to the Emperor’s daughter. “But,” replied Charles, “if the Emperor proves refractory, will the King your master assist us with arms to reduce him to reasonable terms?” <106>“No,” replied Olivares, in a moment of frankness, “we have a maxim of state, that the King of Spain must never fight against the Emperor. We cannot employ our forces against the House of Austria.” “Look to it, sir,” said the Prince, “for if you hold yourself to that, there is an end of all; for without this, you may not rely upon either marriage or friendship.”[198] It was probably after this conversation had taken place, that the question was once more brought before the Council of State. By this time Olivares’ faith in his powers of cajolery had been somewhat shaken, and he had fallen back upon his old position. “Even if the Emperor,” he said to the Council, “were to give the King a blow in the face, and to call him a knave, it would be impossible for his Majesty to abandon him or to become his enemy. If he can preserve the friendship of the King of England as well as that of the Emperor, well and good. But if not, we ought to break with England, even if we had a hundred Infantas married there. Such conduct is necessary for the preservation of Christendom and the Catholic religion, and of the glorious House of Austria.” The King, he went on to say, was much indebted to the Elector of Bavaria, and must not take part against him. The proposed marriage between the Emperor’s daughter and the Palatine’s son, should not be left out of consideration. But it must be brought about by his Majesty’s intercession. The boy must be educated as a Catholic, and either the Emperor or the Elector of Bavaria must have the administration of the Palatinate during his minority. It was impossible that the father should be restored to the whole of his dominions, but he might have a certain portion of territory assigned to him. The number of Electors might be raised to nine, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt being rewarded by this honour for his fidelity.
The question was then put to the vote, and the proposition of Olivares, counting his own voice, was approved by a majority of one, Gondomar voting in the minority.[199]
<107>Nine months before, the Council of State had declared in opposition to Olivares in favour of a temporising policy, and had The decisive vote in the Council of State.driven him to take refuge in a series of intrigues by which he had hoped first to get rid of the marriage altogether by the intervention of the Pope, and then to make the acceptance of his terms by Charles as difficult as possible. In these intrigues he had been signally foiled. The Pope had refused to take upon himself the burden of withholding the dispensation, and Charles had been ready to promise anything that was asked of him. Very few months now remained before the time would come for the Infanta’s marriage, and before that time came the affairs of the Palatinate must be arranged one way or the other. It is easy to say that the decision adopted by the Council of State produced the exhaustion and ultimate ruin of the Spanish monarchy; but this is only to say, in other words, that the Spanish ministers ought to have risen above the traditions of their creed and country. Frederick had for months refused to set his hand even to the preliminary suspension of arms, and he had only been induced to agree to it at last by the terrors of Tilly’s victory at Stadtloo. It was therefore more than ever evident that no real peace was to be purchased in Germany on any reasonable terms, and the Spanish ministers, being what they were, naturally preferred oppressing Protestants in the name of their own creed, to standing by whilst Protestants were plundering Catholic lands, and annexing Catholic dioceses by force of arms.
It was under the influence of these considerations, no doubt, that, in opposition to Gondomar’s plea for further procrastination, the Spanish Council of State adopted the more decisive policy of Olivares. The question to which they now required an answer was whether James and his son would consent to such a settlement as would please the Emperor; and, excepting upon grounds far higher than any of which a Spaniard was likely to take cognizance, there can be little doubt that they were in the right.
The Prince was accordingly given to understand that he must not expect to have everything his own way in Germany. The King of Spain, he was told, would not engage to obtain <108>for Frederick himself a restitution of the Electorate. But he might have the territory, and after Maximilian’s death his son should have the title.
Charles was very sore. He had come to Spain with the idea that he would find the whole world at his feet. He had Bristol’s opinion of the proposal.assured his sister that he would take care of her interests as his own, and now he was told that the decision rested in the hands of the Emperor, and that the Emperor would not readmit his brother-in-law into the Electoral College. It was therefore not without the gravest dissatisfaction that he found that Bristol, after making some reservations, had much to say in favour of the Spanish plan, and even declared it to be his opinion that his Majesty would not be averse to the boy’s education at Vienna if only the dignity as well as the land were at once restored, and if the young Prince ‘might be brought up in his own religion, and have such preceptors and such a family as his Majesty and his father should appoint, and they to have free exercise of their religion.’[200] At this unexpected declaration, Aston, who happened to be present, was startled. “I dare not,” he said, “give my consent, for fear of my head.” “Without some such great action,” answered Bristol, “the peace of Christendom will never be had.”[201]
These words were long afterwards raked up by Charles and Buckingham, and were made by them the subject of a grave charge How far was he right?against the ambassador. It is indeed impossible to acquit him entirely of at least an error in judgment. It was true, no doubt, as he afterwards explained, that the sons of Protestant princes[202] were at that very time being brought up at Vienna, without danger to their religion; but the stake to be played for in the present case was a far higher one. With the religion of the whole of the two Palatinates depending on the issue, a skilful Jesuit, supported as he would be by the bright eyes of the young archduchess, would probably <109>find little difficulty in eluding the vigilance of the prince’s Protestant tutors. Yet, in spite of these objections, the spirit of Bristol’s advice was undoubtedly right. No man who knew what human nature was, could fancy that without some serious guarantee for the future, the Emperor would ever again place power in the hands of the ally of Mansfeld and of Bethlen Gabor; and however lightly Charles and Buckingham might talk about using compulsion, Bristol was justified in shrinking from a renewal of the conflict in which the great cause of Protestantism had been stained with greed and cruelty and with every anarchical passion.
In truth, it is impossible to do justice to Bristol without recollecting that at every step he was liable to be controlled by His policy with respect to the marriage.others who had not a tithe of his sagacity. It was against his recommendation that the Spanish match had originally been accepted by the King; but when once it had been accepted, he proceeded to carry out his instructions, and to manage the negotiations so that the greatest possible good might accrue to his country. Resisting the direct interference of Spain with the internal affairs of England, he was in favour of any alleviation of the bitter lot of the English Catholics which might proceed from the spontaneous act of his own sovereign. It was in this spirit that, when he returned to Spain in 1622, he had attempted to carry on the negotiations entrusted to him. When, after the unexpected demands of the Pope, alterations were made in the treaty by which the King was bound to a special mode of dealing with his Catholic subjects, it was only upon Gondomar’s assurance that he had often heard James express his willingness to consent to these conditions that the changes were even acknowledged by Bristol, as fit to send home for his master’s approval. After that approval was given, he then believed, and it is certain that he was right in so believing, that but for the unlucky arrival of the Prince at Madrid, the affair would have been settled one way or another in the spring of 1623. Either the Pope and the King of Spain would assent to the marriage on the conditions agreed to in the preceding winter, or they would not. If they did, the whole question was settled. If they did not, it would <110>have to be considered afresh with reference to any new conditions that might be laid down. His expectations had been baffled by the sudden arrival of the Prince. New demands were made, which he evidently considered to be exorbitant, but which he was powerless to resist. Questions which would affect deeply the future welfare of the English nation, were taken out of the hands of grave diplomatists and statesmen, to be settled in accordance with the fleeting desires of a lovesick youth, and of an ignorant, headstrong courtier. Charles himself behaved in such a manner as to tempt the Spanish ministers to put forward the most indefensible propositions. With the acceptance of these propositions Bristol had nothing whatever to do. Though he was treated with studied rudeness by the insolent Buckingham, and shut out from any serious part in the negotiations which ensued, he held, like a man of honour as he was, that a treaty which had been sworn to in the most solemn manner, was intended to be kept. In his eyes, it was now too late for the Prince to break off the marriage without the deepest discredit to himself.
Straightforward as Bristol’s conduct had been in relation to the marriage, it was equally straightforward in relation to the Palatinate. And with respect to the Palatinate.Ever since the failure, through James’s fault, of his plan for imposing by the sword a compromise upon the contending parties in Germany, he had advocated a close understanding with the Spanish Government, and had hoped that if his master at home could succeed in bringing his son-in-law to reasonable terms, it might be possible, partly by the fear of a ruinous contest with England, partly by the wish to retain the advantages which were offered by the proposed marriage, to induce Philip to lend his assistance to the attempt to bring about a pacification in Germany upon some rational basis. Unhappily, such a policy had one irreparable fault. It was too much in advance of the times to meet with acceptance on either side. In spite of all that Bristol could say, in spite of the conviction of the advantages, and even of the necessity, of peace, which was cherished by Philip’s ministers, they would not cease to believe that it was possible, by some petty diplomatic contrivance, to snatch a glorious victory for their Church; and, equally, in spite of all that might be urged <111>in favour of concession, Frederick and his confederates would never cease to sow discord in the Empire, and to forward that reign of plunderers and bandits which some of them, at least, imagined in all sincerity to be the highest achievement of patriotism.
However unpractical Bristol’s ideas had by this time become, they were the highest wisdom when contrasted with those passing His policy compared with that of Charles and Buckingham.fancies which floated in the brains of Charles and Buckingham. To Bristol the question of the restitution of the Palatinate was one to be entertained on its own merits. It depended partly on the nature of the concessions which Frederick was willing to make, partly on the state of public feeling in Germany, and it was therefore impossible to make the settlement of an intricate European problem a condition of the marriage treaty. Yet this was precisely what Charles, if his words meant anything, was prepared to do. He expected that Frederick should be replaced in his old position, without the slightest reference to the interests of the Empire, on the mere ground of his happening to be the brother-in-law of the Prince of Wales. It was with this expectation that he had come to Madrid, and he felt that it would be an insult to himself if, when the time came for his departure, the question were still unsettled.
Charles was at least in the right in thoroughly distrusting Olivares. The Spaniard, adept in falsehood as he was, had been too early in life a favourite of fortune to make a good hypocrite. After weeks of flattery and dissimulation, he would overthrow, in some moment of confidence or of passion, the edifice of deceit which he had raised so painfully. At an interview with the Prince and Buckingham, he cried out that it must certainly be Olivares produces the King’s letter.a match now, for the devil himself could not break it. “I think so too,” said Buckingham, ironically; “it had need to be firm and strong, for it has been seven years in soldering,” “Nay,” replied Olivares, forgetting all that was implied by his words, “it has not really been intended these seven months.” To this Buckingham answered that in that case the settlement was plainly the result of his negotiations, and he must therefore have the credit of it. Stung <112>by the tone in which the words were uttered, Olivares walked to his desk and produced not only his own written opinion against the marriage which had been placed by Bristol in Charles’s hands some months before, but even the short letter in which Philip himself had ordered him to break off the match, and had stated that neither the late King nor Zuñiga had ever really intended to allow the marriage to take place.
Well may Aston, when he heard of this letter, have held up his hands in astonishment, remembering as he did the assurances which he had so often received from Philip’s own lips. The importance of the revelation it is impossible to estimate too highly. It could no longer be held, as Bristol had supposed, that the plan for throwing off the Prince of Wales had originated either in Olivares’ newness to business or in a passing fancy of the Infanta’s. Philip himself stood convicted as having taken part in the long deceit.
Of this letter Charles was not allowed to take away a copy. But, with Aston’s assistance he carried with him the meaning of the words in English, and wrote them down as soon as he had left the room.[203]
In spite of all that had now occurred, Charles could scarcely make up his mind to leave Spain. Almost at the last moment, Bristol Charles resolves to go.wagered with him a ring worth 1,000l. that he would spend his Christmas at Madrid.[204] It is possible, that, but for one circumstance, he might still have <113>resolved to disregard his father’s commands. The new Pope, Urban VIII., had fallen ill almost immediately after his election, and till he was able to send the necessary powers by which the Nuncio would be authorised to hand over the dispensation to Philip, the marriage could not take place. Whilst Charles was thus kept in inaction, he asked leave of Philip to present to his future bride a magnificent chain of pearls, a pair of diamond earrings, and another single diamond of priceless value. The King took them from him, showed them to his sister, and returned him word that he would keep them safely for her till after the marriage. Annoyed at the fresh rebuff, Charles once more announced his positive intention of returning to England; yet those who watched him closely doubted whether he would not have lingered on, if Philip, who was by this time thoroughly tired of his guest, had not taken him at his word, and assured him that his presence with his father would be the best means of facilitating those arrangements which were the necessary conditions of the Infanta’s journey in the spring.[205]
It was, therefore, now arranged that the Prince, being unable to wait any longer for tidings from Rome, should make out a proxy in the names of the King of Spain and his brother the Infant Charles, and that this proxy should be lodged in Bristol’s hands. Before he went, he was himself to swear solemnly to the marriage contract which he had signed on August 4.
If Charles had possessed one spark of that ‘heroical virtue’ for which he allowed himself to take credit a few months later, he would surely have paused here. For many months he had known that the Spaniards were not dealing fairly by him. He had now learned that, whatever they might have said when they were hard pressed, they had not the slightest intention of assisting his brother-in-law to recover the Palatinate by force of arms. That he was thoroughly dissatisfied with the discovery there can be no doubt whatever.[206] Still less can there be any doubt that it was his plain duty to make up his mind before he took <114>the oath, whether or no he meant to demand a promise of Aug. 28.Charles takes the oath to the marriage contract;armed assistance as a condition of his marriage. But in Charles’s mind such considerations found no place. On the 28th he took the solemn oath binding himself to the marriage, and engaged to leave his proxy behind to be used within ten days after the arrival from Rome of the Pope’s consent.[207]
The next day Charles went to take his leave of the Queen, in whose presence Aug. 29.takes leave of the Infanta;he saw the Infanta for the last time. With his parting words he assured her that he had taken the Catholics of England under his protection, and that Aug. 30.and leaves Madrid.they should never again suffer persecution. The rest of the day was spent in giving and receiving presents, and on the following morning he started for the Escurial, accompanied by Philip and his brothers.
It is probable that, in urging Charles to go home to see the marriage treaty carried out, Philip was giving expression to his real wishes; but, whatever may have been his real feelings about Charles, there can be no doubt whatever as to the disgust with which he regarded Buckingham, whose insolence was Arrogance of Buckingham.every day becoming more and more unbearable. Strange words were now heard from the lips of the polite and courteous Spaniards. “We would rather,” said one of them, speaking of Buckingham to Bristol, “put the Infanta headlong into a well than into his hands.” Bristol was in great distress. Ever since he had had the misfortune to differ from the favourite he had, as he said, been treated worse than a dog; but he had never allowed his resentment to get the better of him, and had, if possible, been Aug. 29.Bristol informs the King of it.more respectful than before.[208] He saw that it was at last time to speak out. “I must here,” he wrote to his master, “like a faithful and much obliged servant unto your Majesty, presume to deal freely and clearly with you, that if your Majesty’s great and high wisdom find not means to compound and accommodate what is now out of <115>order,— although I conceive it not to be doubted that the match will, in the end, proceed,— yet your Majesty will find yourself frustrated of those effects of amity and friendship which by this alliance you expected. For the truth is, that this King and his ministers are grown to have so high a dislike against my lord Duke of Buckingham, and, on the one side to judge him to have so much power with your Majesty and the Prince, and, on the other side, to be so ill affected to them and their affairs, that if your Majesty shall not be pleased in your wisdom either to find some means of reconciliation, or else to let them see and be assured that it shall no way be in my lord Duke of Buckingham’s power to make the Infanta’s life less happy unto her, or any way to cross and embroil the affairs betwixt your Majesties and your kingdoms, I am afraid your Majesty will see the effects which you have just cause to expect from this alliance to follow but slowly, and all the great businesses now in treaty prosper but ill. For I must, for the discharge of my conscience and duty, without descending to particulars, let your Majesty truly know that suspicions and distastes betwixt them all here and my Lord of Buckingham cannot be at a greater height.”[209]
It is probable that no other man amongst the ministers of the Crown would have been bold enough to write such a letter.
Two whole days were spent by Charles at the Escurial, and, according to one account, he did not omit to plead once more for the Palatinate, and received in return an assurance from Philip that he would leave no means untried to obtain its cession from the Emperor, in order that he might bestow it upon the Prince as a marriage gift.[210] Sept. 2.Charles leaves the Escurial.When, on September 2, the moment of parting came, nothing could exceed the effusiveness of cordiality between the two young men. Philip pressed Charles to allow him to attend him to the coast, and Charles, in refusing the offer, pointed to the effect which the journey might have upon the Queen, who was daily expecting her delivery. At last the moment for separation came. The King and the Prince enjoyed one last hunt together, and after a repast which had been prepared for them <116>under the shade of a wood, they took an apparently affectionate farewell of one another, by the side of a pillar which had been raised to commemorate the event.[211]
Buckingham had not been present at this last interview. Fierce words had passed that morning between him and Olivares. Buckingham quarrels with Olivares.He was going away, he said, under the greatest obligations to his Majesty. As to Olivares, he had come with the hope of making him a friend; but he had found it impossible to carry out his intention, as he had discovered the bad offices he had done him both with the King of Spain and with his own master. He hoped, however, that in spite of this he would hasten on the conclusion of the marriage with all his power. To this petulant outbreak Olivares replied with offended dignity. The marriage, he said, was for the good of the Catholic religion. As for the friendship which he had lost, he looked upon it as of no importance. It was enough for him that he had always acted as a gentleman and as a man of honour.
The loud tone in which these words were spoken attracted the attention of the bystanders, and the King called Olivares away, to put an end to the unseemly altercation.[212] Soon afterwards Buckingham rode away on horseback, in spite of all remonstrances against the imprudence of exposing himself to the heat, leaving the Prince to follow in the coach which had been provided for him.[213]
The Prince’s journey resembled a Royal progress. The President of the Council of the Indies, with three members of the Council of State, The Prince’s journey.accompanied him to do him honour, and a large retinue of officials had been sent to see that he wanted nothing. After their return they were loud in praise of his courtesy and liberality.[214] Only once did he betray the sentiments which were lurking beneath the smooth surface of his speech. Cardinal Zapata had asked him whether he wished the carriage to be open. “I should not <117>dare,” he replied, “to give my assent without sending first to Madrid to consult the Junta of Theologians.”[215]
In truth Charles’s feelings towards the Infanta were rapidly undergoing a change. At the best, his love for her had been largely compounded of vanity; and it was a sore blow to him, after giving way to every exorbitant demand till he had all but crawled in the dust at Philip’s feet, to be sent back to England without the bride whom he had sacrificed every honourable consideration to win. If he had expressed himself openly in indignant remonstrance, no one would have thought the worse of him. Even if he had simply restrained his impatience, and had confined himself to unmeaning compliments till he was safely out of Spain, wise men might have shaken their heads at a prudence which did not promise well for the future of so young a man; but nothing more would have been said. As it was, he did that which forces us to regard Buckingham, petulant and arrogant as he was, almost as a model of virtue by his side.
It seems that the reference to the possibility of the Infanta’s taking refuge in a nunnery from dislike of the marriage, which was His doubt about the Infanta.contained in the papers produced by Olivares a few days before, had sunk deeply into his mind, and that he now fancied it possible that she would be allowed thus to dispose of herself even after the marriage. With this thought he was undoubtedly justified in asking for an explanation; but to speak out where he felt doubt was not in his nature. It is true that he said something on the subject to Bristol before he left the Escurial, but he took no further action Sept. 3.His letters to Philip from Segovia.in the matter at the time. On the 3rd, the day after he had parted from Philip, he reached Segovia, where he found a friendly letter from the King. He at once sat down to answer it. “I have,” he wrote, after expressing his regret for the necessity which compelled him to leave Spain, “a firm and constant resolution to accomplish all that my father and I have treated of and agreed with your Majesty; and, moreover, to do everything else that may be necessary as far as possible to draw tightly the bonds of brotherhood and <118>sincere amity with your Majesty. Even if all the world conjoined were to oppose itself, and seek to trouble our friendship, it would have no effect upon my father or myself; but we would rather declare those who attempted it to be our enemies.”[216]
Within a few hours[217] after this letter was written, Edward Clarke, a confidential servant of Buckingham’s, started for Madrid His letter to Bristol asking whether the Infanta will go into a nunnery.with another of widely different import. “Bristol,” wrote Charles, “you may remember that, a little before I came from St. Lorenzo,[218] I spake to you concerning a fear I had that the Infanta might be forced to go into a monastery after she is betrothed; which you know she may do with a dispensation. Though at that time I was loth to press it, because I thought it fit, at the time of my parting, to eschew distastes or disputes as much as I could; yet, since, considering that, if I should be betrothed before that doubt be removed, and that upon illgrounded suspicions, or any other cause whatsoever, they should take this way to break the marriage, the King my father, and all the world might justly condemn me for a rash-headed fool, not to foresee and prevent this in time; wherefore I thought it necessary by this letter to command you not to deliver my proxy to the King of Spain, until I may have sufficient security, both from him and the Infanta, that, after I am betrothed, a monastery may not rob me of my wife; and after ye have gotten this security send with all possible speed to me, that, if I find it sufficient, as I hope I shall, I may send you order, by the delivery of my proxy, to despatch the marriage.”[219]
The worst is yet to come. Clarke was ordered to inform the ambassador that he had been sent back to Madrid on Clarke ordered not to deliver it at once.Buckingham’s private business, whilst he kept the important document in his pocket till the arrival of the Pope’s approbation. He was then to hand it to Bristol, when, as the date had been intentionally omitted, he <119>would be able to represent it as having only just come to hard. The meaning of this manœuvre is unfortunately but too easy to understand. Bristol would be compelled to postpone the betrothal for more than three weeks, whilst he was communicating with Charles in England, although the Prince had solemnly consented to the arrangement by which the ceremony was to be performed ten days after the arrival of the news from Rome. It would seem, therefore, that the scheme was one carefully prepared by Charles in order to take revenge for the slights which he had received, by the outrageous device of rendering the redemption of his own promise impossible; if, indeed, the explanation is not rather to be sought in his burning desire to throw off his engagements, without consideration for the nature of the method by which he proposed to gain his object.[220]
Unconscious of the disgrace which he was bringing upon himself in the eyes of all honourable men, Charles pursued his way to Santander, The Prince continues his journey.taking care every day to indite a few words of greeting to the Sovereign who little dreamed of the insult which had been so elaborately prepared for him. As he drew near the coast his anxiety increased to know whether the fleet, which had been long detained by contrary winds in the English Channel, had yet arrived to bear him away from the now detested soil of Spain. Early in the morning of the 12th, when he was about six leagues from Santander, he was met by Sir John Finett, and Sir Thomas Somerset, who had been riding all night to greet him with Sept. 12.His embarkation.the welcome tidings. The news, he afterwards assured Finett, made him look upon him ‘as one that had the face of an angel.’[221] As the Prince entered Santander, the bells were rung, and the cannon of the fort were fired, in honour of his coming; but Charles, whose heart was in the fleet which bore the English flag, did not respond to these signs of welcome. Late as it was in the <120>afternoon, he put off to Rutland’s ship, the ‘Prince,’ which was appointed to carry him home, and which had been fitted up with a gorgeously decorated cabin for the Infanta. As he was returning in his barge, after nightfall, the wind rose, and the rowers found it impossible to make head against the tide, which was sweeping them out to sea. Fortunately, Sir Sackville Trevor, in the ‘Defiance,’ was aware of the danger, and threw out ropes attached to buoys with lanterns, which might attract the notice of the Prince amidst the increasing gloom. One of these ropes was seized by the crew, and Charles, saved from imminent danger, passed the night on board the ‘Defiance.’
For some days the fleet remained windbound at Santander. Between Charles and his Spanish train, the utmost cordiality Sept. 18.He sails for England.appeared to prevail. There were festivities in the town, and festivities on board. At last, on the 18th, the wind changed. Orders were given to weigh anchor, and this strange episode of the Spanish journey was at an end.[222]
No doubt, as he was tossing upon the waves of the Bay of Biscay, Charles did not cease to brood over the prospects of his scheme for springing a mine under Philip’s feet. Happily, however, for his own reputation, his deep-laid plot had already been disconcerted by a lucky accident. Almost immediately after he reached Madrid, Clarke was taken ill, and was thus unable to glean the news of the day by his own personal observation. About a week after he appeared at the Embassy, Bristol, either suspecting that he had been entrusted with a secret mission, or being himself under some misapprehension, told him that the Pope’s approbation had arrived. Clarke, Sept. 11.Clarke gives Bristol the Prince’s letter.supposing that the time indicated had come, produced the letter as one which he had just received. Bristol looked grave after he had read it, and charged him not to breathe a word about it to anyone. “If the Spaniards,” he said, “should come to the knowledge of it, they might give orders to stay the Prince.”[223]
<121>Bristol at once despatched a courier to England, acknowedging the receipt of the letter, and Bristol promises to make inquiries.assuring Charles that as soon as he heard that he was out of Spain, he would make every inquiry on the subject which he had named.[224]
Ten days afterwards he communicated to Charles the result of his investigations. “Since your Highness’s departure,” he wrote, “there have been Sept. 21.The result communicated to Charles.divers suspicions raised, which chiefly have grown from letters of some that accompanied your Highness to Santander, as though there might a doubt be made of your Highness’s affection to the Infanta, and of the real performance on your Highness’s part of what had been capitulated; which some of your Highness’s old friends about the Infanta have taken several occasions to intimate unto her; but, I dare assure your Highness, it hath not been possible for any to raise in her the least shadow of mistrust or doubt of want of your Highness’s affection, but she hath with show of displeasure reproved those that have presumed to speak that kind of language; and herself never speaketh of your Highness but with that respect and show of affection that all about her tell me of it with a little wonder.
“There was of late in some a desire here that, before your Highness’s embarking, the Princess might have sent unto your Highness some token; whereunto I assure your Highness that the Countess of Olivares was not backward, nor, as I am <122>assured, the Princess herself; but this was not to be done without the allowance of the junta;[225] and they, for a main reason, alleged that, in case your Highness should fail in what had been agreed, she would by these further engagements be made unfit for any other match; which coming to her knowledge, I hear she was infinitely much offended, and said that those of the junta were blockheads,[226] to think her a woman for a second wooing, or to receive a congratulation twice for several husbands. The truth is that, now in your Highness’s absence, she much more avowedly declareth her affection to your Highness than ever she did at your being here; and your Highness cannot believe how much the King and she and all the Court are taken with your Highness’s daily letters to the King and her.
“Since I understood of your Highness’s embarking, I have begun to speak of the doubt which your Highness seemeth to make, that the Infanta might enter into religion after the marriage. The Countess of Olivares broke it unto the Infanta, who seemed to make herself very merry that any such doubt should be made, and said that she must confess that she never in all her life had any mind to be a nun, and thought she should hardly be one now only to avoid the Prince of Wales, to whom she had such infinite obligation. After this, I replied that your Highness no way doubted of the favour that the Infanta did you; but she might be forced to that which others would have her; for that you said there was nothing done but either what the Theologians or the Junta ordained. Hereupon it was answered me, after conference with the Princess, that, after the marriage the Princess would be her own woman, and that the King neither would, nor the Junta should, have to do with her in things of that nature; but that she doubted not but, when it were fitting for her to write unto the Prince herself, she would both quickly clear that doubt, and any other that should be made, of her affection to the Prince of Wales. And <123>the truth is that I never speak of this marriage but the Countess of Olivares falleth a laughing extremely, and telleth me that the Princess doth so too. And, to tell your Highness my opinion, like an honest servant, if this doubt should be insisted upon, I conceive there will at the instant be such satisfaction given, as to stand upon it would rather seem a colour or pretext sought than otherwise; and therefore, once again, I humbly crave your Highness’s speedy direction herein.
“I shall conclude this letter by telling your Highness that commonly once a day I wait upon the Princess on the Queen’s side.[227] I receive from her most gracious usage, and ever affectionate and sometimes long messages.[228] I pray God send your Highness as happy in everything else as you are like to be in a wife; for certainly a worthier or more virtuous Princess liveth not.”[229]
It is true that, for his knowledge of the Infanta’s secret feelings, the ambassador was altogether dependent upon the reports which Feelings of the Infanta.it pleased the Countess of Olivares to put in circulation. But there is no reason to doubt that the statements in his letter were at least in the main correct. Whether any trace of her original repugnance to Charles still lurked in her mind it is impossible to say; but it is certain that she had begun to regard the marriage as a settled thing, and it is by no means impossible that, as Bristol suggested, Charles’s absence may have fanned into a flame the sparks of affection which the daily sight of her hoped-for convert had kindled in her bosom. She was now officially styled Princess of England, and she was diligently occupied in studying the language of her future country. Nor was it merely by the help of dictionaries and grammars that she was preparing herself for her new position. By her brother’s command, she was receiving instructions from the Bishop of Segovia, and from two of the royal preachers, by which, as it was hoped, she would be prepared to fulfil those duties of her <124>married life of which such great expectations had been formed.[230]
Yet already doubts were beginning to be entertained at Madrid whether, after all, those expectations would be realised. Doubts of the Spanish Ministers.Misled by Charles’s readiness to make every concession that was required of him, Olivares had committed the blunder of forgetting the large part which vanity had in his professions of love for the Infanta. He had calculated that because Charles was ready to do anything, and to swear to anything, in order to carry with him his promised bride, he would therefore be equally ready to redeem his engagements in the hope of obtaining her in the spring. Having omitted in his calculations the consequences of offended pride, he was now to learn that Charles, who would have accepted all his terms in order to obtain the credit of success, would be equally ready to shake off the most binding engagements in the vain hope of wiping away the disgrace of failure.
In one respect, at least, the Spanish minister appears to have resolved to surrender his hopes. From the moment that Intentions of Olivares.Charles began to show any spirit of independence, nothing more was heard about the Parliamentary repeal of the penal laws, which had been so marked a feature in the previous discussions. It almost seems as if Olivares would have been content to allow that point to drop out of sight, in spite of the long and arduous struggle which it had cost him.
Even before Charles arrived in England, the news forwarded by the Spanish ambassadors must have created some doubt in the August.The pardon and dispensation.mind of Olivares whether even the ground which had been gained by the agreement of Salisbury was not slipping from under his feet. For three weeks after the signature of that agreement the question of the form in which the promises then made were to be clothed in legal phraseology had been the subject of warm discussion; and, though there does not appear to have been any intention to raise delays, the length of time thus occupied brought forth grievous complaints from the Spanish ambassadors, and especially from the <125>hot-tempered Inojosa.[231] At last, on the 28th of August, Conway was able to inform the Lord Keeper that the pardon and dispensation had been signed by the King,[232] who had at the same time directed him to prepare a warrant for the liberation of the imprisoned priests, and to write a letter to the judges and magistrates, desiring them to take note of the pardon which had been granted, and to allow it to be pleaded in court.[233]
The instructions thus conveyed by Conway were a concession to Williams. The ambassadors had been asking for Question of writing to the judges.something very different — for a direct command restraining the judges from allowing the institution of proceedings against the Catholics. To this the Lord Keeper, not without reason, objected. It was customary, he urged, to grant dispensations from penalties incurred by the breach of the laws, and such dispensations would render any judicial sentence inoperative. He was, therefore, willing to write to the judges, informing them that the dispensation had been granted, and directing them to take note of the fact whenever it was pleaded in arrest of judgment. But it was utterly contrary to reason and precedent to forbid the judges and the justices of the peace to execute that law which they were sworn to administer. Such a proceeding, he justly declared, would provoke a storm of reprobation from one end of England to the other.
Through the efforts of Williams, the ambassadors were induced to postpone their demands. It was agreed that the question should not be mooted again till the Infanta had been six months in England.[234]
If Williams had stopped here he would have done nothing more than his duty as Manœuvres of Williams.a guardian of constitutional right, but it soon became evident that he had something more than the mere exercise of his duty in his mind. <126>Knowing, as he did, that the Prince would in all probability soon be home from Spain, he turned all the resources of his brain to the one object of postponing the settlement of any single question by which the recusants were affected till Charles was once again in England. Shrewd enough to foresee that the Prince would probably come back in a high state of discontent, the Lord Keeper was already trimming his sails to suit the changing breeze; but in this, as in most other human actions, there was, no doubt, a mixture of motives at work. The last concessions to the Catholics had been wrung out of the King by the fear that a refusal would be visited upon his son. Would not James therefore, Williams may have thought, be justified in replacing himself in the position which he would have occupied if the Prince had remained quietly in England? To do this, indeed, would cost some amount of manœuvring, from which an honourable man would have shrunk; but the episcopal Lord Keeper was ready to take all this upon his own shoulders, and it is probable that the game which he proposed to play was the more enjoyable to him because it involved a trial of skill not altogether restrained within the limits of truthfulness and honesty.
To a certain point, at least, Williams had the clear support of the King. James was really desirous of fulfilling his promises, but The publication of the pardon delayed.he wished first to make sure that the King of Spain was in earnest too. The instrument containing the pardon and dispensation was therefore ordered to be got ready on the distinct understanding that it was not to be published or in any way made use of until the return of the Prince, or the arrival of satisfactory tidings from Spain. An exemplification of it was, however, to be made under the great seal for the purpose of being placed in Inojosa’s hands, though he was strictly charged to keep his possession of it a profound secret.[235] A day or two afterwards he was told that this restriction would be taken off, and the Catholics would be allowed to <127>benefit by the pardon as soon as it was known that the marnage ceremony had taken place at Madrid.[236]
Great as must have been the annoyance felt by Inojosa at the delay, it was as nothing to his disgust at what followed. It happened that September.Preston’s pardon.a certain Preston was one of the very few Roman Catholic priests who had taken the King’s side in the controversy on the oath of allegiance. He was in consequence excessively unpopular amongst the members of his own Church, and was living under the constant fear of punishment by his ecclesiastical superiors for the courageous firmness with which he had maintained his opinions in the face of the worst of oppositions, the opposition of those who had once been his intimate friends. He had now for some time been imprisoned in the Marshalsea with his own consent, in order that if he were summoned to Rome to give an account of his actions, he might be able to plead the bar of physical impossibility.
This was the man, of all others, who was selected by James and Williams to be named in the first pardon, a copy of which was to be placed in Inojosa’s hands. Care was taken at the same time that he should not be sent away from England without the King’s permission.[237]
A day or two after Williams had received orders to get this pardon ready, news arrived that the Prince had left Madrid. Delays of Williams.From that moment the Lord Keeper set himself resolutely to evade, and even to disobey, the orders which he received from his Sovereign. Again and again Inojosa complained that no copy of the pardon had been given to him, and that the promises which he had received in the King’s name had not been fulfilled. Again and again James sent messages to assure him that he had given distinct orders, and that it was not his fault if they had not been carried out.[238] Williams, whenever he was applied to, answered unblushingly <128>that it was impossible to get ready such a multitude of instruments in so short a time. At last, however, James, who did not like to see his orders trifled with, sent peremptory commands to the Lord Keeper to obey. Williams, thus thrown back upon himself, acknowledged that there had been no truth in the excuses which he had made, and pleaded the danger of incurring opposition in a future Parliament by too great readiness to give way in matters of religion. Such underhand proceedings were not to the taste of James. All this, he said, would have been good counsel if no promises had been passed. As it was, ‘the truth of a King must be preferred before all other circumstances,’ and within three days the ambassadors must be satisfied.[239] Thus pressed, Williams replied that he was ready to obey orders. The copy of the pardon was given to Inojosa, and the letter directing the judges to admit its validity was to follow as soon as possible.[240]
At last, on October 5, the Prince landed at Portsmouth. Hurrying up to London, he reached York House a little after daybreak Oct. 5.Arrival of the Prince.on the following morning. Already the news of his arrival had spread like wildfire. That he had come without the dreaded Infanta by his side was sufficient to awaken the long-suppressed loyalty of the English people. They saw in it a pledge that the prolonged rule of Spanish ministers and of Spanish counsels was coming to an end. At last, they believed, the Prince had burst the bonds which had been woven around him by designing men, and had Oct 6.Rejoicings in London.come back free to withstand the insidious aggressions of Popery. When Charles landed from the barge in which he crossed the Thames, he found that the news of his coming had preceded him. The bells rang out their merriest peals on every side. The streets were thronged with happy faces. But he did not care to linger in London. After <129>receiving complimentary visits from the Privy Councillors, he rejected an ill-timed demand that he would give audience to the Spanish ambassadors, and ordered a coach to be got ready, that he might join his father at Royston with all possible speed. As he drove along the Strand, it was with the utmost difficulty that he could make his way through the enthusiastic crowd. “Long live the Prince of Wales!” was heard on every side, from voices mingled in one universal roar of gladness. When he was gone, men felt that it was impossible to settle down to their usual avocations. Wealthy citizens brought out tables laden with food and wine, and placed them in the streets. Prisoners confined for debt were set at liberty by the contributions of persons whose names were utterly unknown to them. A cartload of felons, wending its melancholy way to Tyburn, and happening to cross the Prince’s path, was turned back, and the condemned men were astonished by an unexpected release from death. When the evening closed in, lighted candles were placed in every window, and the sky was reddened with bonfires. One hundred and eight blazing piles were counted in the short distance between St. Paul’s and London Bridge. In one place a cart laden with wood was stopped by the populace, and as soon as the horse had been taken out, a light was applied to the load as it stood. Never before, according to the general testimony of all who have left a narrative of the scenes which passed before their eyes, had rejoicing so universal and so spontaneous been known in England.[241]
[169] Rushworth, i. 89. The original marriage contract is in Latin. Add. MSS. 19,271.
[170] Khevenhüller, x. 271. The additional demands are not specified, and are said to have been made after Cottington’s return to Spain. But I can find no trace of any such demands after Cottington came back, on August 5, and those above given were undoubtedly accepted before July 25. Whatever date may be given to the story, the facts of Charles’s acceptance of the articles, and of Olivares’ change of policy about this time, are beyond a doubt.
[171] He was a different man from the one who had warned her against the marriage so strongly, and who had lately died.
[172] “A che,” i.e. to assent to the marriage, “sebene gia stava lontanissima, essendo stata tuttavia impressa che grandissimo merito aquisterebbe appresso il Signor Dio col maritarsi con questo Principe, perche beneficava tanto la Religione, si havea ella accommodato l’animo, confidando che ritrovandosi da dovero esso Principe inamorato di lei, con progresso di tempo gli sia per esser facile anco il ridurlo con tutto il Regno alia chiesa.” Corner to the Doge, Aug. 8⁄18, Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.
[173] Bristol to Cottington, July 15, Prynne’s Hidden Works of Darkness, 49.
[174] The Prince and Buckingham to the King, July 29, Hardwicke S. P. i. 432.
[175] Wadsworth to Buckingham, Nov. 11, Goodman’s Court of King James, ii. 314.
[176] Khevenhüller to Ferdinand II., Ann. Ferd. x. 271.
[177] That is to say, the alliance between France and Spain by the double marriage of Louis XIII. and Philip IV. with each other’s sisters.
[178] “If he would relieve me,” in Buckingham’s handwriting, Harl. MSS. 6987, fol. 129 b.
[179] Buckingham to the King, July 30, Hardwicke S. P. i. 433.
[180] The King to Rutland, July 24, S. P. Dom. cxlix. 36.
[181] Conway to Rutland, July 24, ibid. cxlix. 37.
[182] Calvert to Conway, July 24, S. P. Dom. cxlix. 38.
[183] Inojosa to Calvert, July 27, 28, S. P. Spain. Calvert to Conway, July 28, S. P. Dom. cxlix. 79.
[184] Conway to Buckingham, Aug. 1, S. P. Spain.
[185] Conway to Calvert, Aug. 5, S. P. Spain. Conway to Buckingham, Aug. 5, Hardwicke S. P. i. 436.
[186] Agreement made at Salisbury, Aug. 8, Harl. MSS. 1583, fol. 287.
[187] Demands of the ambassadors, Aug., Harl. MSS. 1583, fol. 285.
[188] Conway to Buckingham, Aug. 5, Aug. 10, Hardwicke S. P. i. 436. Harl. MSS. 1580, fol. 326.
[189] The King to Buckingham, Aug. 10, Ellis’s Ser. i., iii. 158.
[190] The King to the Prince, Aug. 10, Hardwicke S. P. i. 447.
[191] Francisco de Jesus, 32.
[192] Corner to the Doge, Sept. 10⁄20, Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.
[193] Aston (?) to Trumbull, Aug. 13, S. P. Spain.
[194] Francisco de Jesus, 83. Corner to the Doge, Sept. 10⁄20, Venice MSS. Spagna. Howell’s Letters, Book i., Ser. 3, Letter 20.
[195] The Prince and Buckingham to the King, Aug. 20, Hardwicke S. P. i. 448.
[196] Consulta of the Council of State, Aug. 12⁄22, Simancas MSS. 2404.
[197] Sir W. Croft and Sir George Goring.
[198] Buckingham’s Relation, Lords’ Journals, iii. 226.
[199] Khevenhüller, x. 95. There is some confusion about the dates; but I think that I am following the probabilities of the case in placing Olivares’ declaration here.
[200] Bristol’s answer to his impeachment, State Trials, ii. 1411.
[201] Charles I. to Bristol, Jan. 20, 1626. Ninth Article of Bristol’s Impeachment, State Trials, ii. 1278, 1286.
[202] The son of Christian of Anhalt, for instance.
[203] Buckingham’s Relation, Lords’ Journals, iii. 226. A difficulty arises as to the date of this extraordinary revelation. Hacket apparently places it in July (i. 146), but he is no authority whatever in details. A more serious question arises as to the probability of its having been made during the conversations in May, which have been narrated at p. 38. But if so, it would surely have been mentioned in Bristol’s letter of Aug. 18, which is there quoted, unless Charles concealed it from him. This, however, is very unlikely, as he seems at that time to have spoken freely with him. Again, there is this to be said in favour of placing it, as I have done, where it is placed by Buckingham, that if it came just before the Prince’s departure, it supplies an explanation for the sudden question raised about the Infanta going into a nunnery, of which nothing had been heard for months, but which would have been brought freshly before his mind by the reading of these papers.
[204] Buckingham’s Relation, Lords’ Journals, iii. 320.
[205] Corner to the Doge, Sept. 10⁄20, Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.
[206] In a letter written about the end of September to Aston (S. P. Spain), Buckingham reminded Aston that the Prince had expressed himself to this effect before leaving Madrid.
[207] Francisco de Jesus, 84. Spanish Narrative in Nichols’s Progresses, iii. 907.
[208] Bristol to the King, Aug. 20, Cabala, 95.
[209] Bristol to the King, Aug. 29, Hardwicke S. P. i. 476.
[210] Hacket, 163.
[211] Narrative in Nichols’s Progresses, iii. 907.
[212] Corner to the Doge, Sept. 10⁄20, Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.
[213] Francisco de Jesus.
[214] Bristol to Calvert, Oct. 24, Hardwicke State Papers, i. 473.
[215] Corner to the Doge, Oct. 6⁄16, Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.
[216] The Prince to Philip IV., Sept. 3, S. P. Spain.
[217] It was written from Segovia. Francisco de Jesus, 87.
[218] The Escurial.
[219] The Prince to Bristol, Sept. 3 (?), S. P. Spain. The original is amongst the Sherborne MSS.
[220] Francisco de Jesus says that the letter was to be kept back till one or two days before the marriage; but, from Clarke’s own letter to Buckingham (Cabala, 199), there can be little doubt that his orders were as I have given them.
[221] Finetti, Philoxenis, 120.
[222] Pett’s Autobiography, Harl. MSS. 6279, fol. 86. Compare Nichols’s Progresses, iii. 920.
[223] Clarke to Buckingham, Oct. 1, Cabala, 199. Clarke says this took place on the day that the Prince arrived at Santander, i.e. the 12th. But Bristol’s letter shows that it must have been on the 11th.
[224] “This day Mr. Clarke, that lyeth sick in my house, delivered me a letter from you; but without date either of time or place. The contents of it your Highness will remember, and I will see as faithfully performed as, God willing, all your commandments to me shall be; though, for just respects, I shall forbear the clearing of that doubt your Highness maketh for some few days, until I heare of Lewis Dyve.” — Bristol to the Prince, Sept. 11, S. P. Spain. The allusion is obscure, but it is explained by a passage in the letter of the 21st, which is quoted in the text further on. Lewis Dyve was no doubt attached to the embassy, and may have been sent to accompany the Prince to Santander. Bristol may well have shrunk from saying plainly that he could not do anything till Charles had left Spain, as it would convey an indirect censure on the letter which he had received.
[225] Not the junta of Theologians, which was now dissolved, but the junta of Councillors of State and others, who were appointed to treat on all things connected with the marriage.
[226] “Maxaderos” in the original.
[227] The Queen’s side of the palace.
[228] “Recaudos” in the original.
[229] Bristol to the Prince, Sept. 21, Clarendon State Papers, i. App. 19.
[230] Francisco de Jesus, 88.
[231] The correspondence on both sides is amongst the State Papers, but has unfortunately been divided without any sufficient motive. Some of the letters will be found in the Domestic Series, others in the Spanish.
[233] Conway to Williams, Calvert, and Weston, Aug. 28, S. P. Dom. cli. 77. Conway to Gage, Aug. 29, S. P. Spain.
[234] Williams to Buckingham, Aug. 30. Printed with a wrong date in Cabala, 272.
[235] Conway to Williams, Calvert, and Weston, Sept. 1. Conway to Gage, Sept. 1. Conway to Calvert, Sept. 4, S. P. Dom. Conway’s Letter Book, 81, 82. Calvert to Conway, Sept. 2, S. P. Dom. clii. 4. Conway to Calvert, Aug. 31. Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 4, S. P. Spain.
[236] Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 6, S. P. Spain.
[237] Conway to Williams, Sept. 6. Warrant, Sept. 8, Hacket, 158.
[238] Calvert to Conway, Sept. 12, S. P. Dom. clii. 36. Conway to Calvert, Sept. 12. Inojosa to Conway, Sept. 15. Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 16, S. P. Spain. Conway to Williams, Sept. 17, Hacket, 158.
[239] Conway to Williams, Oct. 18, Oct. 19, Hacket, 159. Williams to Conway, Oct. 18, S. P. Dom. clii. 46.
[240] Hacket (i. 159), states that everything was put off till the return of the Prince; but he himself admits that the order for the letter had been given; and Salvetti, in his News-Letter of October 24, distinctly states that the pardon was in the ambassador’s hands.
[241] Nichols, iii. 935. Valaresso to the Doge, Oct. 10⁄20, Venice Transcripts. Salvetti’s News-Letter, Oct. 10⁄20.