<328>James would soon have a yet more difficult question to solve than he had had before. A diversion upon the Palatinate, by a Spanish force, 1619.Maximilian’s designs upon the Palatinate.occupied a large place in the Duke of Bavaria’s plan for the ensuing campaign. Such a diversion would, no doubt, weaken Frederick’s chances of defending Bohemia. But to Maximilian it was chiefly valuable as facilitating the projected aggrandisement of his own dominions.
The plan was eagerly adopted by Ferdinand,[535] and found a warm supporter in the Archduke Albert, who replied to a hesitating suggestion of Philip’s[536] by a recommendation to send thirty-five thousand men across the Rhine in the following spring.[537]
The reception of the Archduke’s letter at Madrid was by no means what Maximilian would have desired. The Spanish ministers Discussion at Madrid on the proposed invasion.had not ceased to dread the cost and danger of a general European war. In the Council of State opinions were freely expressed upon the Archduke’s motives. Of course, it was said, the war was popular at Brussels. The stream of gold which would flow through the hands of the officials there would be welcome <329>enough. But the King of Spain must look at the question from a different point of view.[538]
These sentiments derived great weight from the support of the King’s Confessor, Aliaga, who since Lerma’s fall, had become November.Opposition of Aliaga.the most influential personage in Spain. The same good sense which had led him to oppose the attempt to overthrow English Protestantism by the aid of a Spanish Infanta, led him to look with dissatisfaction upon a scheme which would hopelessly entangle Spain in the disputes of Germany. Khevenhüller, the Imperial Ambassador, had tried argument in vain. He at last resorted to menace. “If the Palatinate is not invaded,” he said, “the Emperor will make common cause with his enemies, and will attack the outlying territories of Spain.” “Such language,” said Aliaga, “may cost you your life.” “For the sake of the truth and the House of Austria,” was Khevenhüller’s magniloquent answer, “I would gladly die. I should then be better off than you, for I should be in eternal glory, whilst the deepest place in hell, deeper than that appointed for Luther and Calvin, is prepared for you.”[539]
With the poor bigot who occupied the throne of Charles V., words like these had more effect than with the patriotic priest Philip gives way.whose first thought was of his country. Frightened at the idea of passing at his death into the company of Luther and Calvin, Philip at once gave directions that a 1620.January.favourable consideration should be given to Maximilian’s overtures, and before the end of January, he wrote to the Archduke in approval of the dismemberment of the Palatinate, and of the transference of the Electorate, either to the Duke of Bavaria, or to the Duke of Neuburg, who laid claim to it as the next of kin after Frederick’s immediate relations.[540]
<330>The details of these deliberations were veiled in profound secrecy. But it was notorious that negotiations were in progress of which Buwinckhausen’s mission.Maximilian kept the key, and the movement of troops in the Low Countries had excited serious apprehension in Germany. The Princes of the Union knew that an attack upon the Palatinate would be a crushing blow to themselves, and in January they resolved upon sending an ambassador to London and the Hague, to demand the succour to which they were entitled by the existing league, as soon as they could show that their territories were exposed to unprovoked attack.[541]
The ambassador thus despatched was Buwinckhausen, a councillor of the Duke of Würtemberg. He had no reason to complain of February.His reception in Holland.his reception in Holland. The Dutch had regularly remitted to Bohemia a contribution of 50,000 florins a month. They now promised to give a similar subsidy to the Princes of the Union, and declared that, if necessity for further aid should arise, they would send four thousand men to their assistance.[542]
On February 21, Buwinckhausen arrived in London.[543] No mission of equal importance had ever been received by James. The demand which His arrival in England.the ambassador was directed to make may well have appeared at first sight unreasonable; it was hard that Englishmen should be called upon to shed their blood in defence of a territory which was only endangered by the senseless folly of its own rulers. But to inflict penalties for past errors is no part of a statesman’s work. His duty is to frame his measures so as to produce the greatest possible amount of good, at the expense of the least possible amount of evil.
It was undeniable that the occupation of the Palatinate by Question of the defence of the Palatinate.a Spanish force would be an evil of no ordinary magnitude. Heidelberg was the key of the Protestant position in the Empire. The victory of Ferdinand <331>in Bohemia would be a local success, and nothing more. His victory on the Rhine would carry with it the dissolution of the Union, and the dissolution of the Union would be followed by a struggle for the resumption of the secularised domains, and for the re-establishment of the Imperial authority over the whole of Germany. A blow would have been struck, of which every Protestant state in Europe would feel the consequences.
Nor was it likely that the sacrifices which the defence of the Palatinate would demand of James would be in any degree disproportionate to the results. If the Spaniards could be assured that war with England and Holland would be the consequence of an invasion, the military reasons for the proposed diversion would be at an end. It is evident that without the prospect of the neutrality of England, the Spanish Government would have turned a deaf ear to Maximilian’s entreaties, and would have refused to light up the flames of a continental war merely to satisfy the Duke of Bavaria’s ambition. When the struggle in Bohemia was at last brought to a close, James would have a chance of realising the great object of his life. He might fairly earn the honourable title of The Peacemaker. The sympathies of Northern Germany, which had been estranged by Frederick’s acceptance of the Bohemian crown, might be regained, when the only question at issue was the defence of the Protestant populations of the Palatinate from Catholic aggression. It is possible that the settlement of the Peace of Westphalia might have been anticipated by more than a quarter of a century.
Such statesmanship was not to be found in James. If he could not be led to do injustice by the temptations of avarice or ambition, James investigates Frederick’s title.he was always prone to pass over the broader aspects of a problem, and to fix his eyes upon some side issue by which his personal reputation was affected, or his personal feelings touched. He did not, therefore, ask himself how he might best provide for the good of Europe as a whole, or whether his own country was sufficiently interested in the struggle to take part in it at all. In the midst of the convulsions by which the Continent was <332>shaken to its centre, he fixed his eyes mainly upon two points: on the fact that Frederick was his son-in-law, and on the fact that Frederick was a usurper. When he thought of one of these facts, he persuaded himself that he ought to do something. When he thought of the other, he persuaded himself that he ought to do nothing.
James had now for some weeks been busily engaged in an investigation of Frederick’s title. Early in January, Doncaster had returned to England, eager to embark his master in a crusade against the Catholic powers. At the same time Christopher Dohna’s brother, Achatius, had arrived to perform the duties of ambassador from the new King of Bohemia, and had brought with him documents by which he hoped to make good his master’s claim.[544]
Dohna’s arguments, however, were not left without an answer. Lafuente plied the King with reasonings on the other side. January.James was sadly perplexed. All he wanted, he said, was to learn the truth. He was in great straits. Affection for his own flesh and blood urged him in one direction; justice and his friendship for the House of Austria urged him in the other.[545]
At last, after two or three weeks’ consideration, James announced that he had convinced himself of the groundlessness of Ferdinand’s February.claim to reign in Bohemia by hereditary right. But he had still to consider whether the deposition of a king, once elected, was valid by the constitution of Bohemia. Buckingham, carried away by the tide of feeling around him, was now found urging his master to stand forth in defence of the Palatinate. Both he and Doncaster were delighted at the progress which had been made, and Dohna, Proposed loan for Bohemia.in order to strike while the iron was hot, told James that he was authorised to raise a loan of 100,000l. in the City, and asked him to assist him with his recommendation. The request was met <333>by a refusal. It was equally in vain that Buckingham asked permission to visit the Aldermen, and at least to hint that His Majesty would not be displeased if they opened their purses to his son-in-law. Dohna, compelled to go in his own name, was told that, without the King’s permission, the loan could not be raised.[546]
Equally hesitating was James’s treatment of Sir Andrew Gray, a Scotch officer in the Bohemian service, who came to ask leave Gray asks permission to levy troops.to levy a regiment for his master, the expenses of which were intended to be met out of the City loan. Together with his credentials,[547] he placed in the King’s hands a letter from his little grandchild, in which the boy had been taught to appeal in piteous terms for help. For a moment James was deeply moved. But he could not be induced to give any positive reply to Gray.[548] Something however, he said, should be done. He would order Trumbull, his agent at Brussels, to send in a protest to the Archduke, as soon as it appeared clearly that Spinola’s army was directed against the Palatinate. To this order Trumbull respectfully replied, that by the time that it was positively known in what direction the army was marching, it would be too late to interfere.[549]
Such was the position of affairs when Buwinckhausen arrived. He soon found that his very presence irritated James. Buwinckhausen’s reception.The King met him with a torrent of abuse; he would scarcely suffer him to speak, and he kept him waiting for his answer more than a fortnight. He then told him that the present danger of the princes was the result of the Elector’s aggression upon Bohemia, and that he was not bound to furnish any assistance whatever.[550]
<334>In a few days, however, James’s language assumed a more favourable tone. Gray received permission to levy a thousand men in England, and March.a similar force in Scotland.[551] Sir Robert Anstruther was ordered to get ready to go to the King of Denmark, to borrow a large sum of money to be placed at Frederick’s disposal, upon condition that it should be employed in the defence of the Palatinate.[552] At the same time, James announced that he intended to cooperate with the French in an attempt to put an end to the war in Germany.[553]
It was, it would seem, in part at least, to Digby’s advice that these resolutions were owing, and we shall hardly be wrong Digby’s policy.in attributing to him the whole of a plan which would have held out the olive branch to Spain, but which at the same time would have shown that the olive branch concealed the sword.[554]
<335>It is usually to little purpose to speculate on the result of events which might have happened, but there is evidence in a letter Philip’s apprehension of English interference.written about this time by the King of Spain to the Archduke Albert, which can hardly leave a doubt in any candid mind that a little firmness on James’s part would have saved the Palatinate from invasion. “It is thought,” wrote Philip, “that the invasion of the Palatinate will give the English a fair pretext for openly interfering in Germany, and for sending all their forces to the assistance of the Dutch. They will take the ground that it is one thing to assist their king’s son-in-law in his attempt to seize the property of others, and another thing to protect him from the loss of his own patrimony. You will thus be attacked by the combined forces of England and Holland, and then, if we are to take part in the Bohemian war, we shall be at the expense of maintaining two armies, and we shall have to fight with England, though a war with that power has always been held by us to be most impolitic. Its inconvenience at this time will be especially great, on account of our poverty.”[555]
It is true that Philip went on to say that, in spite of all obstacles, the Palatinate must be invaded. But it may fairly be argued that if James had adopted a more manly tone, Philip’s letter would have ended in a very different way.
Whatever Philip or his ministers may have feared, the war party in England knew better than to trust to James’s fitful Gondomar’s return to England.manifestations of zeal on behalf of the independence of the Palatinate. Aware that Gondomar would soon be once more amongst them, they exhausted all their efforts in a vain endeavour to force their views upon the King, before the arrival of the dreaded Spaniard.
On March 5, Gondomar landed at Dover. To the <336>compliments of the old buccaneer, Sir Henry Mainwaring, who was now the Lieutenant of the Castle, he replied by telling him that he would repay him for his courtesy by forgiving him twelve crowns out of the million which he had taken from the subjects of the King of Spain, if only he would promise to make good the rest.[556] The ambassador was then conducted in state to London,[557] and was lodged at the Bishop of Ely’s house in Hatton Garden, which had been prepared for his accommodation by the express orders of the King. It was the first time for more than sixty years, as men bitterly reminded one another, that the chapel of an English bishop had been decked for the service of the mass.
Gondomar was scarcely settled in his new abode, when Gray’s drums were heard beating in the streets. The next morning a placard, inviting volunteers to enlist, was found nailed to his door. He was far too wise to take any serious notice of the affront. The Elector, he said, had no better friend than himself, for, as soon as he had arrived, he had obtained for him that for which he had been for many weeks petitioning in vain.[558]
Much which was by no means to the ambassador’s taste had been done during his absence. The East India treaty had been concluded with the Dutch, and was by this time in operation, to the detriment of Spanish interests. The Howards, his firm allies, had been driven from office. The Court was full of men to whom the very name of Spain was an abomination. Even Buckingham was in league with Pembroke and Southampton. All seemed lost, unless he could regain his mastery over the feeble mind of James.
Gondomar’s first audience took place on March 12. He was received by James with Gondomar’s return to England.a hearty welcome in the presence of the whole Court, and was asked to return the next morning for a private conference.[559] As he went <337>back to Ely House, the courtiers trooped after him, eager to know what he had to say about the troubles in Germany. With ready wit he contrived to elude their questionings, so as to avoid rousing their master’s susceptibilities by telling to others what he had not as yet told to him. He took care, however, to let his dissatisfaction appear by the dryness of his answers.
The next morning, as the Spaniard was waiting to be admitted to his audience, Digby took him aside, and appealed to him Digby’s remonstrance.not to push matters to extremities. Spain, he said, had not a single friend in England but himself. The Court swarmed with Puritans. He must, however, speak plainly. The whole mischief was attributable to the conduct of the Spanish Government. His master had been anxious to repose confidence in Spain, but he had met with no response to his overtures. If he had been driven to make common cause with the Dutch in the East, it was because the Spaniards had turned a deaf ear to his offers.
The name of the Palatinate had not been mentioned. But it is plain that Digby intended to intimate that on that question, too, the just demands of England must be satisfied, if James was not to be thrown into the hands of the war party. Such language from James would doubtless have had its effect; coming from Digby, Gondomar could afford to pass it by. He assumed in his reply that lofty tone which was his chief weapon. Spain, he said, had not behaved badly. Whatever blame there was lay with the King of England, who had broken the promises which he had made. It was in order to complain of his master’s wrongs that he had returned to London; and he was ready to be cut in pieces in defence of the truth of his assertions.
At this point the conversation was interrupted. Digby was summoned into the King’s presence, leaving the wily ambassador to congratulate himself on the probability that his words would be repeated, and would alarm James sufficiently to make his morning’s work the easier.
He was not mistaken. The moment he entered the room, James began to speak, as if for the purpose of stopping his <338>mouth. “I hear,” he said, “from Buckingham, that when you Gondomar’s second audience.shook his hand you squeezed his sore finger hard enough to hurt him. I remember hearing that Lord Montague once did the same to Lord Treasurer Burghley when he had the gout.” He then proceeded to interpret his parable. He was in a sad plight, and he must not be squeezed too hard. He had done everything in his power not to offend the King of Spain or the Emperor. He had tried not to do anything wrong; yet everybody was complaining of him. Four years ago he had been warned against Winwood, and now he had three hundred Winwoods in his palace. “I give you my word,” he ended by saying, taking Gondomar’s hand as he spoke, “as a king, as a gentleman, as a Christian, and as an honest man, that I have no wish to marry my son to anyone except your master’s daughter, and that I desire no alliance but that of Spain.” At these words he took off his hat, as if exhausted by the effort, and wiped his heated forehead with his handkerchief.
This pitiable spectacle was enough for Gondomar. He saw that his work was done to his hand. He answered gravely that he was very sorry for what he had just heard. He could not, however, forget that His Majesty had the power to remedy these disorders, and that words, not followed by acts, were useless.
James blushed, as well he might. “All that is needed,” he said, “is that we two should talk over these matters together.” The conversation then took a different turn. At last James ventured to approach the great question of the day. “Do you think,” he said, “that the Emperor intends to attack the Palatinate?” “What would you do,” was the answer, “if anyone had taken London from you?” “Well,” said James, “I hope that God will arrange everything for the best!” and with this demonstration of his helplessness he brought the audience to a close.[560]
The effect of this conversation was not long in showing <339>itself. The next day James despatched a letter to the Princes of the Union. James’s letter to the Princes of the Union.No one was likely to attack them, he wrote, and he should, therefore, send them no assistance. He hoped to bring about a general pacification, which would make all warlike preparations needless.[561]
Buwinckhausen was still in England. His indignation was great. “If this is the way,” he said, “that the Princes are to be treated, Buwinckhausen’s demands.the sooner they come to terms with the Emperor the better.” He now asked for a categorical reply to certain questions. Would the Princes be allowed to levy troops in England? If they were attacked, would James fulfil his engagements? Did he mean that they were to provide for the defence of the Palatinate as well as for that of their own territories? Were they to submit to such terms as might be proposed by the French ambassadors who were about to be sent into Germany as mediators? If these included the dissolution of the Union, were they to obey?[562]
James hesitated between his dislike of what was evidently becoming a religious war, and his desire to secure his daughter’s inheritance from invasion. A voluntary contribution.On March 21, Abbot told him that his refusal to send help was sheer desertion of the cause of God. He begged him to allow him at least to collect a voluntary contribution from the clergy. James could not find it in his heart to say No, and he gave permission, on the condition that his own name was not mentioned.[563]
Shortly afterwards James agreed to extend to the Princes the permission to levy volunteers, which had been Volunteers for the Union.granted to Gray in the King of Bohemia’s name. Buwinckhausen asked how the expenses of the levy were to be met? “I do not wish, for many reasons,” was the cautious reply, “that my name should be mentioned in the matter. But if you and Dohna will ask the City and the clergy for money, I <340>will take care to make your way easy.”[564] Thus encouraged, Buwinckhausen and Dohna hurried to the City to ask for a loan of 100,000l. Again the authorities, to whom the request was made, wished to know what the King had to say upon the subject, and the Lord Mayor and the Recorder were deputed to ask the question. “I will neither command you nor entreat you,” was the answer which they received from James; “but if you do anything for my son-in-law, I shall take it kindly.” The matter was then referred to the wardens of the several companies, in order that they might raise their quotas from the estates belonging to the various societies. But the wardens hesitated to make themselves responsible by the payment of public money on so slight a security as a verbal recommendation from the King. If they could have an Act of Parliament, or even an official warrant from the Privy Council, they would see what they could do.[565]
To this request no satisfactory reply was given, and everything remained at a standstill in the City. Abbot, not having to The clergy asked for contributions.deal with corporate property, was less scrupulous. A circular was issued to the clergy by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and two other bishops, requesting contributions to a loan to be placed in Dohna’s hands.[566]
It was a poor result of Buwinckhausen’s mission. On March 23, he was dismissed by the King with a final James replies to Buwinckhausen.answer to his demands. The Princes, James said, might levy as many volunteers as they pleased, but, for the present at least, they must expect no money from him. He must first be assured that they had renounced all aggressive designs. If they thought it right to defend the Palatinate, he should be well pleased at their doing so. When he saw the instructions given to the French ambassadors, he would give an opinion upon them. If the Emperor’s demand <341>for a dissolution of the Union were a legal one, they had better submit to it; if not, he would help them to resist it.[567]
At this solemn trifling Buwinckhausen was deeply exasperated. Three times he sent back the present of plate which, as was customary at the departure of ambassadors, had been sent him by the King. At last he gave way ungraciously enough. If his Majesty, he said, was affronted at his refusal of the gift, he was ready to accept it; but he would leave it behind in Dohna’s charge. He had no means to guard so much silver, and it would be conveyed more safely under the protection of the volunteers who were about to leave England for the defence of the Palatinate.[568]
James probably fancied that he had done nothing, and had incurred no responsibility. He was grievously mistaken. By Result of James’s inaction.his hesitating inaction, he had conveyed to Gondomar’s mind the assurance that the Palatinate might be assailed without fear of interruption from England. If the Bohemian war grew into a German war, if the Thirty Years’ War has rested as a dark blot upon the history of Europe, it is James who must share the heavy responsibility with Frederick and Maximilian.
Whilst James was hesitating, the public excitement was increasing as the reports of an approaching attack upon the Palatinate acquired consistency. On March 26 James went in state to hear the Bishop of London preach at Paul’s Cross. Various rumours were afloat as to the reason for this unusual display. Some thought that an opportunity would be taken to announce the conclusion of the marriage treaty with Spain. Others were sanguine enough to expect a declaration in favour of the Bohemians. Those who were better informed knew that James merely wished to give effect to the Bishop’s appeal for contributions for the repair of the ruinous fabric of the Cathedral, and for the rebuilding of the steeple which had been <342>destroyed by fire at the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth.[569]
The Bishop’s text was selected by the King. “Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, The Bishop’s sermon.the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” He had been strictly forbidden to touch upon the politics of the day. Yet, as he spoke of the necessity of prayer and action on behalf of the spiritual Zion, and exhorted his hearers to nourish the truth of the Gospel in every place, there were probably many present who would have responded to the words with which one of the bystanders recorded his impressions. “The Bishop,” he wrote, “said that there was not the poorest hewer of wood who would not give one penny out of twopence to build up the walls of Zion. He did not, he durst not apply it; but gave every man liberty to make the application; but I believe his heart was then in Bohemia.”[570]
As far as the immediate object of the sermon was concerned, nothing whatever was effected. The hearts of many of the citizens, like the heart of their Bishop, may or may not have been in Bohemia. But, in spite of the appointment of commissioners[571] to watch over the restoration of the church, the money which had been asked for did not come in.
There were other demands upon the purses of those who had listened to the sermon. Before he left the City, James, who had now The contribution for the Palatinate.taken up warmly the idea that he might assist his son-in-law without incurring any responsibility himself, asked the Aldermen to imitate the example of the clergy, and to raise a fund by voluntary contribution for the defence of the Palatinate. The difficulty which had stood in the way of the loan would thus be avoided, as there would be no need to ask for a formal authorisation of the Council when the money was no longer to be levied out of the public property of the companies.
The step taken by the clergy had already found imitators. <343>The Earl of Dorset had sent 500l. to Dohna, with an intimation that the payment would be continued for five years, if the war lasted so long. Similar offers had been made by others of the chief nobility. Still the Aldermen hung back. They were willing, they said, to give, but they disliked a renewal of the system of benevolences. Let Parliament be summoned, and it would then appear what they would do.[572]
At last, with some hesitation, they gave way. They were plainly told that they must not expect a Parliament, and they were unwilling to incur the responsibility of a refusal. Nominally, at least, the payment was to be voluntary. But it was soon seen that popular bodies were not slow in imitating the evil example which the Government had set. A house-to-house visitation made refusal difficult. Each citizen, in turn, was exhorted to show himself a good Christian by a liberal payment, and the names of those who refused to give were taken down, in order that they might be held up to public reprobation.[573]
Yet, with all this, money came in but slowly. 100,000l. had been expected. The partisans of Spain had contented themselves with April.predicting that the contribution would not exceed 50,000l.[574] Yet, on April 28, four weeks after the collection had been commenced, only 13,000l. had been obtained.[575] The shortcoming may, perhaps, in some measure be attributed to the ordinary difficulties of raising money by voluntary subscription. But it can hardly be doubted that, however deeply the misfortunes of the continental Protestants were felt by individuals, the mass of the citizens were comparatively little affected by the distress of a country so distant and unknown as that mountain-girded land <344>which had not long ago been brought upon the stage as the scene of the shipwreck of the Winter’s Tale.
To this James had come at last. For seventeen years he had been carrying on what he had Political suicide of James.plainly seen to be a struggle for sovereignty. The issue which was being tried was whether England should be a monarchy under the forms of the old constitution, or a republic under the forms of the old monarchy. And now, at the first moment, when there was a call for the fulfilment of duties as well as for the assertion of rights, it was James who struck the first blow at his own pretensions. To have adopted an erroneous policy at such a crisis would have been bad enough. But to have no policy at all — to drift helplessly from side to side as the various arguments were presented to him that lay upon the outside of the problem, into the heart of which he was unable to look, and finally to throw the burden of decision and of action upon mayors and aldermen, upon country gentlemen and country clergymen — was an act of political suicide. By his own mouth, James had declared himself incapable of giving any guidance to the nation.
During the weeks in which the fate of the Continent was being decided at Munich and Brussels, James presented a pitiable spectacle. James’s varying language.One day he was stirred to passion by a rumour that his son-in-law had invited the Turks into Hungary. “If that be the case,” he said, “I will myself declare war against him; and, if I die, my bones shall be carried in front of the army which is to attack him.”[576] A few days afterwards he was calmly discussing the prospects of the mediation which he was about to undertake in conjunction with the French.[577] If he were to do more than this, he said, fresh provocation would be given to the Catholic powers, and they would enter into a closer confederacy than ever.[578]
Gondomar was in good spirits. He knew that whatever James might say, the neutrality of England was, for the time <345>at least, secured. His next step was to bind more firmly the Resumption of the marriage treaty.chains which he had laid upon James, by assuring him of his master’s readiness to proceed with the marriage treaty, if only means could be found to satisfy the Pope. If James would give satisfactory assurances about the English Catholics, Lafuente would carry the treaty to Rome, and formally demand the dispensation. Of the liberty of worship, without which, as he well knew, the Pope’s consent could not be obtained, the Spaniard said nothing. He knew that to ask for that would be to risk a complete breach, and he therefore left James to embody his resolution in his own words.[579]
On April 27 James sent the two Secretaries of State to Gondomar, to inform him that steps had already been taken to Improved treatment of the Catholics.ameliorate the condition of the English Catholics. In consequence of his irritation at the return of the banished priests, the promise which he had given Gondomar, that he would put an end to the exactions of the pursuivants, had not been fulfilled. That form of persecution, however, was now to come to an end. Commissions were to be issued to inquire into the misdeeds of these harpies, and to take in hand the leasing of the recusants’ lands, and the compositions for offences against the penal laws. The Catholics would thus have the advantage of dealing with an official body instructed to act with moderation, instead of with greedy courtiers, who had obtained grants of forfeitures, and who had pushed to the extreme the legal rights which they had thus acquired.[580] All persons refusing to take the oath of allegiance were to be set at liberty on condition that they would leave the kingdom within forty days.[581]
On the following day, Gondomar received another visit. <346>Buckingham and Digby brought with them a letter from James to the King of Spain, in which he promised that the future Princess of Wales and her servants should enjoy the free exercise of April 28.James declares his intentions about the Catholics.their religion within the walls of the palace which was to be assigned to her. Besides this, no Catholic should suffer death for conscience’ sake. It was impossible to repeal the penal laws without consent of Parliament, but they should be mitigated in practice, and all complaints should receive due attention.[582] Buckingham who, though he wished to see the Palatinate preserved from invasion, was anxious to keep on good terms with Spain, assured the ambassador that it was impossible for the King to go farther than this. If he did, the people would rise in insurrection, and would cut all the Catholics in pieces.
In reply, Gondomar took high ground. It was impossible, he said, to believe that James really wished for peace with Spain. Gondomar’s reply.Piracy was never more rife, or the attacks upon Spanish trade in the East and West Indies more incessant. Was not Captain North now bound for the Amazon, with the King’s commission,[583] no doubt to do what Raleigh had done before him? Were not the drums even then beating in the streets to gather soldiers to fight for the Palatine in Bohemia? Was not the King himself in constant correspondence with the enemies of the Emperor in Germany, and was he not urging them to resist the Emperor’s designs? The English had now the advantages of peace and war at the same time. The King of Spain did not want such a peace as that. God had given him power enough to fight all the nations of the world together. He had hardy mariners amongst his subjects, and if he was provoked, it would be as easy for them to attack England as it would be for Englishmen to attack Spain. If James wished to maintain peace, he must change his ways. If he wished the Infanta to marry his son, he must satisfy Philip in respect to religion.
Such was the appearance of James’s policy in the eyes of <347>Gondomar. The Spaniard hit the mark in saying that it attempted to combine the advantages of peace and war at the same time. When he ended, Buckingham acknowledged that he could not deny that in many things the ambassador had spoken truly. Digby knew that there was another side to the question. If James, he said, granted to the Catholics all that Gondomar wished, England would be Catholic, and mass would be said publicly in the churches. Whether this was true or not, at all events it was the prevalent belief in England that it was true.
On May 6, Gondomar had an interview with the King himself, at which the Prince was present as well as Buckingham. May 6.Gondomar’s interview with the King.James complained much of his misfortune in having to deal with the troubles in Germany, and assured the ambassador that the Catholics should in future be as little molested as his other subjects. He pressed Gondomar to say what it was that would content the King of Spain in matters of religion. Gondomar did not venture to say that nothing short of liberty of worship would be accepted. All that he could do, as he informed his master in describing the scene, was so to frame his answers as to prevent James from imagining that he was well satisfied with the proposal to which he had been listening.
Gondomar knew that if he could win the Prince to change his religion it would matter little what James might say or do. He was, however, obliged to confess that he could, at present, see no likelihood of this. Charles, he said, was on terms of the closest familiarity with him, and assured him that he would never persecute the Catholics; but he had had a bad education, and was a confirmed heretic.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard was inclined to put more trust in the son than in the father. No one could be sure that what James’s language about persecution.James said one day he would not unsay the next. Though at one time he assured Gondomar that he meant to do much more for the Catholics than he had promised, at another time, in the presence of some Protestants, he expressed his surprise that the Spanish ambassador should have talked about persecution as existing in England. It was not persecution, he said, to carry out the <348>laws. Gondomar replied that it was persecution to take away life and estate from those who were living honestly and as loyal subjects. At all events, if these laws were to be executed, it was needless to take any further trouble about the marriage treaty.
What to recommend to Philip, Gondomar hardly knew. He foresaw the evil result of a breach, and yet he did not see how Gondomar’s advice to his master.a breach could be averted. On the whole, he recommended that Lafuente should go to Rome for the dispensation. It was impossible even in this way to gain very much time, as James was sure to be impatient. Still, in the mean time, the King might die, and his son might be converted. If this did not happen the Pope might make it a condition of the dispensation that James should summon Parliament to confirm his concessions to the Catholics, and to agree that these concessions should be actually put in force for a whole year before the Infanta arrived.
In giving this advice, Gondomar unwittingly revealed the unreal nature of the compact which he was striving to effect. He knew how to deal with persons, but he did not know how to deal with a nation. He expected great things from the hope which the Prince had already held out to him, of coming in person to Madrid to claim his bride. He did not understand the national feeling in England, and he fancied that it was enough that the greater number of the old nobility of England were either openly or secretly Catholics.[584] Gondomar, however, was made to feel that the good-will of James was not everything in England. He pleaded against the support which had been given to May.Expedition of Captain North.Captain North’s expedition to the Amazon, and his objections were supported by Digby, who was wise enough to see that no good could come of an attempt to establish an English trade in the midst of the Spanish Indies. But North, like Raleigh, had powerful friends at Court, and before the order for stopping his voyage was issued, he had slipped out of Plymouth harbour, and was well on his way across the Atlantic. When it was too late, a proclamation was <349>issued to arrest him, and his brother, Lord North, was imprisoned for a few days, on the charge of complicity with his evasion.[585]
Even Gondomar’s influence with the King had its limits. He was extremely anxious to see his old friend and pensioner Gondomar pleads for Lake.Lake restored to office. But though James consented to re-admit Lake to Court, and to a certain degree of favour, he resolutely refused to give him back the Secretaryship.[586] To a request that he would show indulgence to Lady Lake, who had not yet acknowledged the justice of her sentence, he was equally deaf. “As for my Lady Lake,” he said, “I must both confess to have pronounced an unjust sentence, and break my promise to my Lady Exeter in a matter of justice, if I grant her any ease at this time. Besides this cause hath no respect to religion, except the Romish religion be composed of the seven deadly sins, for I dare swear she is guilty of them all. If Spain trouble me with suits of this nature, both against my justice and honour, their friendship will be more burdensome than useful to me.”[587]
The Princes of the Union were not likely to be content with James’s reception of their appeal for help. Towards the end of April Fresh application from the Union.they applied to him again. The Duke of Bavaria, it was now known, had come to terms with the Elector of Saxony, and they had every reason to fear the worst. Nothing, however, could induce James to take a decided course. In private he assured Dohna that if the Princes were really attacked he would send twenty or thirty thousand men to help them; whilst to the Princes <350>themselves he despatched a long scolding letter, warning them not to make an unprovoked assault upon their neighbours, but entirely omitting all reference to the point at issue — the anticipated invasion of the Palatinate.
In Gondomar’s presence James forgot everything except the wickedness of his son-in-law’s usurpation. “You have good cause,” he one day said to him, “to complain of the treatment of the English Catholics, of Captain North’s voyage, and of the aid which has been given to the Palatinate. But it is not my fault. It is all the doing of the traitors around me. For the wrongs of the Catholics you must lay the blame upon the Archbishop, who is a godless Puritan. North was permitted to escape by that traitor Buckingham. He is young and inexperienced, and he sold him a passport.” Buckingham was then called into the room. “George,” said the King, “why did you sell a passport without telling me?” “Because,” answered Buckingham in the same jesting tone, “you never give me any money yourself.” James pulled his hair, kissed him twice, and told him to leave the room.
All this was sufficiently undignified; but its impolicy was nothing to what followed. “The Palatine,” said James, “is a godless man, and a usurper. I will give him no help. It is much more reasonable that he, young as he is, should listen to an old man like me, and do what is right by surrendering Bohemia, than that I should be involved in a bad cause. The Princes of the Union want my help; but I give you my word that they shall not have it.”[588]
Such language was not likely to pass unchallenged. James was daily urged by the war party to issue a declaration of his He is urged to defend the Palatinate.intention to preserve from invasion the hereditary dominions of his son-in-law. Let an army of ten or twelve thousand men, it was said, be sent to Heidelberg or Mannheim, with strict orders to take no part in the struggle in Bohemia. If this was impossible, let a garrison of a thousand men be thrown into Heidelberg: the mere <351>presence of the English flag would be enough to deter the Spaniards from their purpose.
This proposal was certain to be rejected by James. It was the more unpalatable to him as he was asked to give the command His refusal.to Southampton whom he thoroughly detested. As usual he fell back upon half-measures. He would allow Dohna, if he wished it, to levy a body of volunteers The general contribution and the volunteers for the Palatinate.at his own cost, and to issue a circular to the whole kingdom, calling upon the gentry to imitate the example of the London citizens by contributing to the expenses of the force.[589] He would think seriously of sending ambassadors to bring about a pacification, and he would order Trumbull to put a direct question to the Archduke Albert as to the future movements of the army which was preparing to take the field under Spinola’s command. At the same time he assured Gondomar privately that he did not expect much from the ambassadors, except that the sending of them would serve to keep quiet those who were giving him so much trouble at home. After this it is no wonder that Gondomar wrote home at once, recommending an immediate attack on the Palatinate.[590]
Gondomar had no reason to be dissatisfied. If, for form’s sake, he uttered loud protests against the enrolment of the volunteers, he was inwardly congratulating himself upon this fresh evidence of James’s weakness.[591] The fears of Enghsh intervention, which had been the object of so much consultation at Madrid in the previous year, had ceased to be seriously entertained. The Court of Brussels had learned to treat James as disrespectfully as Gondomar himself had ever done. It was not till June 19 that the Archduke deigned to reply to Trumbull’s inquiries. He had always <352>been desirous, he said, to remain on good terms with the King of England. He hoped, therefore, that in order that no jealousy might spring up between them, James would persuade his son-in-law to submit to reason. This answer, in which all mention of the invasion of the Palatinate was as carefully avoided as it had been by James in his letter to the Princes of the Union, could leave no doubt in any reasonable mind as to the Spanish intentions.[592]
To the Dutch, at least, no doubt was any longer possible. James, as his manner was, had asked them to defend the Palatinate, The Dutch offers.without signifying any intention of taking a direct part in the war himself. They replied that they could do nothing alone. Twelve thousand men were the utmost that they could spare. If James would send but six thousand Englishmen, a sufficient force would be collected to enable the Princes of the Union to defend themselves. Less than this would be entirely useless.[593] A few days later, on the very day on which the Archduke was replying to Trumbull at Brussels, Carleton was able to forward to Naunton a detailed list of the forces which the Dutch offered to bring into the field. “What more,” wrote Carleton, with scarcely concealed irony, “can be from hence — I say not expected but — desired? I will make no doubt but if his Majesty lay this aside in his wisdom, he seeth other ways to attain to the same end. Kings are gods upon earth, and they have this property, to see when mortals are fearful beyond measure; but, in the mean time, those must be pardoned for their fear and apprehension, who know no more than I do.”[594]
To this appeal Naunton’s reply was most desponding. James had just arrived from They are refused by the King.a hard day in the saddle when Carleton’s despatch was placed in his hands. He was much obliged to the Dutch, he said, for their offers; but he supposed that they only wanted to <353>entangle him in some engagement. Perhaps they had not heard that he had allowed volunteers to be levied for the Palatinate. Naunton pointed to a paragraph which showed that they were perfectly aware of this; but that they thought that the small force that could in this way be raised would be entirely useless. James fell back upon his old excuses. He was quite sure that Spinola would march straight for Bohemia without meddling with the Palatinate. Even if the Dutch were in the right, what could he do more than had been done already? They talked of supplying him with munitions of war. He did not see anything in their letter about supplying him with money. If they would do that, they might have as many English volunteers as they pleased.[595]
James’s love of inaction, and his irresoluteness of mind, will account for much; but, strange as his conduct was, it can only be fully accounted for by his entire confidence in Gondomar. During his whole life, wherever he placed his confidence, he placed it without stint, and he was now persuaded that, whatever happened, Gondomar would see that he suffered no wrong. He could not believe that when once his son-in-law had been brought, either by persuasion or by force, to abandon his unjust claim to Bohemia, the Spanish Government would not be as anxious as he was himself to secure the possession of the Palatinate to its legitimate ruler.
It was something more than his usual dislike of anything that disturbed his repose which at this moment embittered James against the Dutch. The news from the East Indies.News had recently arrived[596] of the outrages committed upon English vessels by Dutch commanders in the East, in spite of their knowledge of the opening of the conference in London. The King had been deeply irritated, and had been encouraged in his irritation by Buckingham, Buckingham’s desertion of the war party.to whom political motives were as nothing in comparison with personal motives, and who saw in the sufferings of the English sailors an insult to himself as Lord High Admiral of England. Suddenly the war <354>party discovered that their powerful advocate was growing cool in the cause. Only a few weeks had passed since the King had been hardly able to restrain him from heading the list of contributions for the defence of the Palatinate with a magnificent donation of 10,000l., and now he was deep in the confidence of Gondomar, and responding eagerly to the hard things which it pleased the Spaniard to say about Frederick and his partisans. In return, he was compelled to listen to language long unheard, and to know that the men who had been his staunch friends in his contest with the Howards, were murmuring against the exorbitant influence which he exercised over the King.[597]
To some extent, perhaps, Buckingham’s change of temper — it can hardly be dignified with the name of a change of policy — may be attributed to his recent marriage with a Roman Catholic lady. His match-making mother had suggested to him that he would find a suitable wife in Lady Catherine Manners, the daughter of the Earl of Rutland. Her high birth would cast a lustre upon the son of a Leicestershire squire; and it was to be hoped that the child of the wealthiest nobleman in England would bring with her a portion such as was rarely to be found to the west of Temple Bar. Lady Buckingham, however, acted as though she were conferring rather than asking a favour. Her terms were high. She must have 10,000l. in ready money, and land worth 4,000l. a-year. Yet, strange as she probably thought it, the Earl showed no anxiety to strike a bargain. He was himself a strict Roman Catholic, and Lady Catherine had been educated in her father’s creed. To make matters worse, the King openly declared that his favourite should not marry a recusant. Buckingham’s wife, he said, must go to church.[598]
There happened to be a man about the Court who saw his own opportunity in Lady Buckingham’s difficulties. John Williams, the youngest son of a Welsh gentleman, had come <355>up to Cambridge to study, had taken orders, and had attracted Rise of Williams.Ellesmere’s notice by his ability. The Chancellor had made him his chaplain. When Ellesmere died, Bacon offered to renew the appointment, but Williams, whose ambition was not satisfied with his position, declined the offer, and, through the influence of Bishop Montague, obtained a nomination as one of the royal chaplains. From that moment his fortune was made. He was the very man to win James’s favour. He was not only an immense reader, but a ready and fluent talker. Multifarious as were the subjects which James loved to chat over, Williams was at home amongst them all. Whether the subject of conversation was the last work of Bellarmine, the latest news from Heidelberg or Vienna, or the newest scandal at Court, he had always something to say, and that something was sure to please. Amongst the minor difficulties of statesmanship his shrewdness was seldom at fault. His eye was quick to discern the narrow path of safety. But his intellect was keen, without being strong. In those powers of imagination which distinguish genius from talent he was entirely deficient. He was of the earth, earthy. The existence of any firm belief, either religious or political, was altogether incomprehensible to him, and after years of experience he dashed himself to pieces against the persistent singlemindedness of Laud, and the no less persistent singlemindedness of the Puritans of the Long Parliament, as a bird dashes itself against a window-pane from very ignorance that it is there.
For the present, however, the way was clear before him. He made himself indispensable to the King. One day James His intervention in favour of the marriage.dropped a hint that, if he wished to rise at Court, he had better secure a place in Buckingham’s regard. Upon this hint Williams acted. Belvoir Castle was not far from his rectory of Walgrave, and he was already known to the Earl of Rutland. He used what influence he possessed to smooth down the difficulties in the way of the match. Long afterwards, he was accustomed to boast that it was owing to his intervention that Lady Buckingham’s exorbitant demands were finally conceded. But it is not probable that he had much to do with these financial arrangements. <356>Upon the death of her brother in March, Lady Catherine was left the only surviving child of the Earl. Under these circumstances it hardly needed Williams’s persuasive tongue to urge him to make over a larger portion to his daughter than he would have been willing to do in his son’s lifetime.
The religious difficulty was still unsolved, and to this Williams now applied himself. He was not despondent. He His interviews with Lady Catherine.knew that Lady Catherine was deeply in love with Buckingham, and that she only wanted an excuse to yield. The method which he adopted was characteristic of himself. A Puritan would have denounced the Pope as Antichrist. Laud would have protested against the burden which the Church of Rome was laying upon the conscience by imposing its own traditions as articles of faith. Williams took the easier course of praising the catechism, and of pointing out the excellence of the forms under which the marriage service was conducted. For the moment his success was all that could be desired. Whether the conversion which he effected was likely to be permanent was a question which he, perhaps, hardly cared to ask.[599]
Still, however, there were obstacles in the way of the marriage. Rutland was deeply irritated at the possibility of his daughter’s apostasy. Quarrel between Buckingham and Rutland.Whilst he was in this mood he was told that the young lady had left the house in the morning in company with Lady Buckingham, and had not returned at night. The fact seems to have been that she had been taken ill, and had been kept by Lady Buckingham in her own apartment till the next morning.[600] But the angry father was not to be convinced. His daughter, he fancied, having first abandoned her religion, had consummated her guilt by sacrificing her own chastity and the honour of her family to the impatience of her lover. He refused to admit her again into his house, and forced her to take refuge with Lady Buckingham. Upon Buckingham himself he poured <357>out his indignation in no measured terms. But for the intervention of the Prince, the two noblemen would have come to blows.[601] Rutland insisted that the marriage should take place immediately, as the only way to clear his daughter’s fame. Buckingham replied that Lady Catherine’s fame was safe from everything except her father’s tongue; and that, if he was to be spoken to in such a style, he would have nothing more to do with the match.[602] When he was by himself, he was inclined to treat the whole affair as a jest. He drew up a petition on the subject, which he presented to the King. “I most humbly beseech your Majesty,” he wrote, “that, for the preserving me from the foul blemish of unthankfulness, you would lay a strait charge upon my Lord of Rutland to call home his daughter again, or at least I may be secured that, in case I should marry her, I may have so much respite of time given me as I may see one act of wisdom in the foresaid lord, as may put me in hope that of his stock I may some time beget one able to serve you in some mean employment.”[603]
To all this there was only one ending possible. Lady Catherine declared that she was convinced by the arguments which she had heard, and received the communion according to the rites of the English Church.[604] On May 16 the couple were married by Williams. After all that had passed, it was thought inexpedient that there should be any public festivities, and no one but the King and the bride’s father was present at the wedding.[605] Williams received the deanery of Westminster in reward for his services.
Whether Buckingham’s marriage had any part in his desertion of the popular party is a matter of conjecture. But there can be no doubt that at this time his vanity had <358>conceived a special irritation against Frederick. He had been annoyed, because, Buckingham intends Cecil to command the volunteers.in the midst of his multifarious occupations, the new King of Bohemia had not found time to write to him.[606] A fresh offence had now been added. As long as it was supposed that James might be induced to send troops in his own name into the Palatinate, the favourite had been besieged with applications for the command. He had engaged to give his support to Sir Edward Cecil, a son of the Earl of Exeter, whose family had stood by him in his contest with the Howards. The choice, however, of a commander was no longer in the hands of the King, and Dohna declined to entrust his master’s forces to Cecil.
The ambassador’s choice fell upon Sir Horace Vere, who had not even asked for the appointment. It seems that June.Appointment of Vere.Dohna had private reasons for passing over Cecil, who had, in some way or another, given personal offence to Elizabeth,[607] but his decision was fully justified upon military grounds. Both Vere and Cecil had long served in the army of the States, and Cecil had commanded the English contingent at the siege of Juliers. Such, however, was Vere’s reputation, as the first English soldier of the day, that, as soon as his appointment was known, the foremost of the young nobility were pressing forward for the honour of serving as subordinates under so distinguished a captain.
Vere’s military capacity was his smallest qualification for command. To perform his duty strictly, and to allow no personal disputes or vanities to distract him, were the objects which he set before him.
It was not long before Cecil justified Dohna’s wisdom in rejecting him. His own imagination had already placed him July.Quarrel between Cecil and Dohna.in command of the expedition. Secure of Buckingham’s good word, he had gone about prating of the honours in store for him, and had even distributed commissions among his friends. Furious at his disappointment, he vented his ill-humour upon Dohna, assailed him with <359>unseemly abuse, and gave him to understand that it was only his character as an ambassador which protected him from a demand for personal satisfaction. Buckingham took the matter up warmly, and, as his manner was, treated the rejection of his nominee as a personal insult to himself. The estrangement between the volatile favourite and the popular party was complete.[608]
By this time Gondomar must have formed a tolerably correct estimate of Buckingham’s character. Yet even Gondomar June.Buckingham complains to Gondomar.can scarcely have been prepared for the overtures now made to him. One day, in the second or third week in June, Buckingham, bringing Digby with him, came to pay him a private visit. Buckingham was greatly excited, and began to talk about the treatment of the English sailors in the East. He was obliged, he said, for very shame, to go about the streets in a covered chair. “It is all your fault,” was Gondomar’s reply, “and the fault of your master. The Dutch have robbed England of her fisheries, of her trade, and of her gold. The next thing they will do will be to carry off the country itself and to make a republic of it.” The words had the effect which Gondomar desired. “I hope,” said Buckingham, “that the King of Spain will not renew his truce with the Dutch next spring.” “Why,” replied the cunning diplomatist, “should not the King of England declare war upon them as well?” The bait was eagerly taken, and the Plan for the partition of the Netherlands.terms of an alliance were discussed. As some difficulty arose, Digby, who can hardly have looked with much satisfaction upon the scene, broke in. “Why,” he said, “they used to tell me at Madrid that your master would willingly make over the revolted provinces to England for a very small consideration.” Gondomar at first shook his head, but by degrees appeared to relent. If James would give real assistance towards the conquest of the country, one or two provinces might perhaps be assigned to him as a reward for his services. The offer was, after some hesitation, accepted on condition that the two provinces should be Holland and Zealand.
<360>The next question was how James was to be brought to take part in the conspiracy. Gondomar doubted whether he could be trusted to keep the secret. Buckingham replied that the King was no longer on good terms with the Dutch, and that, before trusting him, he would make him swear not to reveal the mystery.
Buckingham was as good as his word. James swore to hold his tongue, seemed pleased with what he heard, and asked that James assents to it.the Prince of Wales might participate in the secret. The result was that Buckingham was sent back to the ambassador to beg him to write to Madrid for further instructions. The King, he was to say, embraced the scheme with pleasure, and would further engage not to meddle any more with the West Indies, if the King of Spain would agree that the East Indies should be fairly divided between the two nations.[609]
In his childish delight at having discovered a chance of taking vengeance on the Dutch, James had closed his eyes to the July.The plan of attack.bearing of his conduct upon the tangled web of the German difficulty. He held long and anxious consultations with Gondomar. At last he hit upon a plan which, as he thought, was certain to be crowned with success. He calculated that there were 8,000 Englishmen in the Dutch service. He would send orders to their officers to rise on a given day, and to seize the strong places which were entrusted to their charge. A powerful fleet, under Buckingham’s command, should be sent to the assistance of the mutineers, and a numerous army, with the Prince of Wales at its head, would soon put an end to all further resistance. Such was the plan which, at the moment when the very existence of Protestantism was at stake over half the Continent, an English King thought himself justified in proposing to the great enemy of the Protestant cause.[610]
This astounding proposal, the infamy of which was only equalled by its imbecility, was laid by Gondomar before the <361>Court of Madrid, and, in due course of business, was forwarded to Brussels for the consideration of the Archduke Albert.[611] For the straightforward mind of the Archduke the scheme possessed no attractions. He was curious to know, he observed, where the King of England proposed to find the fleet and army of which he talked so glibly. As to the 8,000 English soldiers in the Netherlands, they were scattered over the country, and could effect but little. Nor was it likely that even their King’s orders would induce them to act as traitors to the Republic which they had served faithfully for so many years.[612]
Before the scheme was brought under the Archduke’s notice, much had changed. The plot had been abandoned, if it had not been forgotten, by its author. As for Gondomar, all he wanted was to amuse James for the moment, and his object had been fully gained.
At the time when he first began to lend an ear to this disgraceful project, James openly announced his plan of June.The embassies.sending out ambassadors to pacify the Continent. Sir Henry Wotton was to return to his post at Venice, and was to stop at Vienna on his way, in order to put an end to the war in Bohemia. Sir Edward Conway and Sir Richard Weston were to visit Brussels and the States on the Rhine in company. From thence they were to pass on through Dresden to Prague, from which place it was hoped that they would be able to open communications with Wotton at Vienna.
It was an utterly hopeless task; so hopeless that it is hardly worth while to take note of the inefficiency of the ambassadors. Sir Henry Wotton.Wotton indeed could write in an easy and flowing style. His opinions were moderate, and his thoughts free from extravagance. For the embassy at Venice, where there was nothing to do but to chronicle for his master’s amusement the passing events of the day, he was admirably fitted; but in a diplomatic mission of importance he was sadly out of place. He never even found out how extremely ridiculous his <362>present embassy was. He went about his work under the impression that he was going to be of some use. When he left England, he boasted to the officers of Vere’s regiment, that he was about to do that which would keep their swords in their scabbards.[613]
Conway was an old soldier, who had commanded the garrison at Brill before the surrender of the cautionary towns. He had Sir Edward Conway.imbibed in Holland a thorough dislike of Spain, which saved him the trouble of thinking out a policy for himself. His mind was devoid of all originality of thought. In an age when everyone stooped to flatter the magnificent favourite, Conway surpassed them all in fulsomeness of phrase.
Weston was destined to rise to higher dignities than either Wotton or Conway. His was one of those natures which the Sir Richard Weston.possession of power serves only to deteriorate. At present he was favourably known as a good man of business. He had been a collector of the customs in the port of London, and had taken part in the late reforms of the navy.
Weston owed his present appointment to the favour with which he was regarded by Gondomar. Yet, as far as it is possible to The Spanish party.judge from the evidence which has reached us, neither he nor the other politicians who at this time formed what was called the Spanish party, had any wish to see Spain the mistress of the Continent, far less to place the government of England in the hands of the Spanish ambassador. They looked with justifiable dislike upon an aggressive and sectarian hostility against the Catholic States; and desired by entering upon a good understanding with the chief Catholic Power, to make a religious war impossible for the future. They were unfortunate, not so much from the badness of their cause as from the inefficiency of their leader. A King of England of practical ability, who knew how to mingle firmness with conciliation, might perhaps have made his voice heard by the contending parties. With James at their head, Digby and Calvert, Weston and Cranfield were alike foredoomed to toil in vain.
Wotton started on June 28. He visited the South German <363>Courts with due deliberation, and finally reached Vienna, where Wotton’s proceedings.he proposed, with all fitting gravity, terms which were utterly unacceptable to both sides. He was able to write a few lengthy despatches. But he never had a chance of doing any serious work.
The mediation in Bohemia with which Wotton had been charged, was beyond the powers of any man. The mission of Conway and Weston’s mission.Conway and Weston was of a more practical nature. They were entrusted with a protest, to be delivered at Brussels, against the invasion of the Palatinate, and their protest was to be supported by a vigorous remonstrance at Madrid.[614]
James, however, had been careful that the words of his ambassadors should be taken for no more than they were worth. Blindness of James.Under Gondomar’s manipulation, his mind was thoroughly bewildered; and Gondomar could always work upon James’s strong feeling that his son-in-law’s assumption of the crown of Bohemia was unjust. He had never ceased to assert that the invasion of the Palatinate was the only road to peace. “It is an idea,” he said on one occasion, “only fit for a book of knight-errantry, to imagine that the Palatine is to remain quietly at Prague, and that we are not to dislodge him by every means in our power. Let Bohemia be restored to its rightful owner, and the war will be at an end.”[615] But he professed to know nothing of the intentions of the Spanish Government. So far as he was aware, he asserted, no decision had been taken. His own impression was, that Spinola’s troops would march straight upon Bohemia. He had himself written to Brussels to urge the abandonment of the attack upon the Palatinate.
James did not wish to see through all this. Gondomar’s personal assurances seemed to him all-sufficient. “If Spinola touches the Palatinate,” he was one day heard to say, “the Count of Gondomar is a man without faith, and without God.”[616]
<364>Whilst James was talking, the French Government had been acting on the side of the Catholic powers. With Louis The Treaty of Ulm.sympathy with his co-religionists was a still more powerful motive than hostility to Spain. Early in July, just after Conway and Weston had started on their bootless errand, news arrived in London that, through the mediation of Louis’s ambassadors, a treaty had been signed at Ulm, on June 23, between the Union and the League.
The forces of the Duke of Bavaria would now be free to march upon Prague without fear of molestation in the rear. Of still greater importance was it, that the Archduke Albert was not included in the treaty. That the omission was intentional there could be no doubt whatever. Even James could hardly shut his eyes any longer to Spinola’s aim. Yet at the moment when it was in his power to localise the strife, and to prevent the Bohemian war from growing into a German war, he was silent. It was plain that he at least would not be the peacemaker of Europe.
The Treaty of Ulm was not without effect in England. Up to this time, the July.Embarkation of Vere.contributions for the payment of Vere’s troops had come in but slowly. The whole sum which had been levied from the counties did not exceed 10,000l. In consequence Dohna had been compelled to <365>announce that even if this sum were considerably increased he would only be able to provide for a regiment of 2,000 men, instead of a force of double that number which he had hoped to take with him across the sea. The news which now arrived from Germany touched to the quick those who had hitherto hung back. 7,000l. was subscribed in a single week. On July 22, the little force embarked for Holland, from whence it was to be escorted to the seat of war by a body of Dutch cavalry.
Amongst the officers who took service under Vere were to be found the dissolute and reckless Earl of Oxford, fresh from his dissipations at Venice, and the sturdy, half-Puritan Earl of Essex. In this enterprise there was room alike for the spirit which twenty years afterwards animated the Parliamentary bands, and for the spirit which inspired the troopers who followed Rupert to the charge.
The Treaty of Ulm wrought no change in James which was of the slightest consequence. In June he had refused to believe James’s feelings.that the Palatinate would be invaded at all. In July he refused to believe that any harm would come of the invasion. His language now was, that it was a mere diversion, for the sake of getting back Bohemia. The Spaniards were far too friendly not to relinquish their conquests in his favour as soon as they had accomplished their object. He probably thought that if they were ready to act in concert with him in his attack upon the Dutch, it was impossible that they would strip his son-in-law of his hereditary dominions. Whenever he spoke of Frederick, his voice grew louder, and his language more excited. “It is only by force,” he said, “that he will ever be brought to reason.” “The Palatine,” said Buckingham, “is mounted upon a high horse, but he must be pulled off in order to make him listen to his father-in-law’s advice.”[617]
<366>When such was James’s own language, it was not likely that much respect would be shown to his ambassadors at Brussels. Conway and Weston at Brussels.They were informed that no decision had as yet been taken as to the destination of Spinola’s army. With this they were forced to be content. Their mission, they found, was everywhere regarded as a mere formality. Men told them to their faces that it was well known that their master ‘would not be drawn into a war upon any condition.’[618]
In London, Gondomar now began to speak plainly. August.Nothing more was heard of his own desire to avert the invasion. The conquest of the Palatinate, he boldly averred, was the indispensable prelude to a lasting peace.[619]
James took the Archduke’s reply very easily. “If my son-in-law,” he said, “wishes to save the Palatinate, he had better at once consent to a suspension of arms in Bohemia.”[620]
James in his heart believed the view of the case which had been presented to him so industriously by Gondomar to be the true one. If Frederick had robbed the Emperor of his property, why might not the Emperor seize upon Frederick’s property as a security for the restitution of his own. Such reasoning could only be answered by those who knew that the Palatinate was not Frederick’s property at all, but a land filled with thousands of living souls whose rights were infinitely more precious than those for which the rival kings of Bohemia were doing battle.
The Dutch at least had learned from their own experience to value a people’s rights. One more desperate effort they <367>made to drag James into a war with Spain. He had now a fleet of Fresh overtures of the Dutch.twenty ships ready for sea. The expedition against the pirates, so often taken up and laid aside, was at last approaching realisation. Why should he not, such was the reasoning of the Dutch, divert them to a nobler purpose still? Let him launch this fleet against the Spanish treasure-house in the Indies. Spinola would quickly be brought to reason, and the Palatinate would be saved.
Far from thinking of aiding the Dutch against Spain, James was thinking of aiding Spain against the Dutch. News of fresh outrages in the East had just come to irritate him; and he rejected the request with scorn. In language which sounds strange from the lips of a man who was planning a mutiny in the garrisons of a friendly state, he replied, that an attack upon Spain would be ‘most dishonourable, and ill beseeming his sincerity.’[621]
Already it was too late to stop the torrent. Maximilian had completed his preparations. On July 13, the first detachment of his troops crossed the Austrian frontier. On the 25th July.The invasion of Austria.he was at Linz, and six days after his arrival the nobility of Upper Austria were crouchmg at his feet. Aheady Lower Austria had submitted unconditionally to Ferdinand, and it was not long before the Bavarians and the Imperialists were ready to march upon Prague. The Elector of Saxony had agreed to attack Lusatia and Silesia, and to keep the Bohemians well employed upon their northern frontier.
It was now Spinola’s turn to move. August.Spinola’s march.Eighteen thousand men were left in the Netherlands to keep the Dutch in check.[622] With an army of twenty-four thousand, Spinola himself made straight for the Rhine; he <368>crossed the river below Coblenz, in order to keep up as long as possible the belief that he was aiming at Bohemia. Suddenly wheeling round he re-crossed the Rhine, and when Conway and Weston entered Mentz on August 19, they found the town full of Spanish troops.[623]
Startled by the imminence of the peril, the English ambassadors hurried to Oppenheim, to confer with the Princes of the Union. The army of the Union.They found them at the head of an army of twenty thousand men,[624] a force sufficient, under favourable circumstances, to act on the defensive against the slightly superior numbers of the Spanish General. But the circumstances were not favourable. The long straggling territory of the Palatinate was by nature as indefensible as the Prussia which Frederick the Great received from his father; and in the army of the Union no Frederick was to be found to counterbalance the defects of his position. Nominally the troops were under the command of the Margrave of Anspach, but he was surrounded by a cavalcade of dukes and counts, each of whom fancied, perhaps not without reason, that he knew as much about war as the General.
At this critical moment, the princes appealed to the English ambassadors for advice. It was evident that Spinola, who was busy Conway and Weston consulted.establishing a basis of operations at Mentz, intended to attack them. Would they not, therefore, be justified in anticipating the blow? The ambassadors replied that they ‘conceived his Majesty’s desire was, that the fault of hostility might be on their adversaries’ parts.’ To a second and more urgent entreaty, they answered that they had no authority to speak in the King’s name, but that, as private persons, their opinion was that it was certain that Spinola was meditating an attack, and, if so, it would be within the limits of defensive warfare to anticipate it.
The discussion was of no practical importance. Spinola had taken good care that his military position should be unassailable. Already, before the ambassadors were consulted, <369>an attack planned against one of the Spanish posts had been relinquished as impracticable.
When misfortune came, the princes attempted to shift the blame upon the English envoys, who, as they said, had prevented them from attacking the enemy. It would have been well for James if all the charges brought against himself and his ministers could have been met as easily as this.[625]
The blow was not long in falling. On August 30, Spinola, with the spring of a lion, threw himself upon Kreuznach. Ill-fortified and ill-defended, Spinola’s attack.the town surrendered on the following day. Alzei was the next to capitulate, and the princes, whose communications were threatened, retreated in disorder to Worms, where they hoped to find a more defensible position. On September 4, Spinola entered Oppenheim in triumph.[626]
[535] Breyer, 339.
[536] Philip III. to the Archduke Albert, Oct. 26⁄Nov. 5, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 86.
[537] The Archduke Albert to Philip III., Nov. 29⁄Dec. 9, Brussels MSS.
[538] Consulta of the Council of State, Nov. 29⁄Dec. 9, 1619, Simancas MSS. 712.
[539] Khevenhüller, ix. 702. The date is not given, but judging from the change of tone in Philip’s letters, it is probable that the conversation took place about the end of December.
[540] Philip III. to the Archduke Albert, Jan. 24⁄Feb. 3, 1620, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 156.
[541] Trumbull to Carleton, Feb. 5, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 161.
[542] Carleton to Naunton, Feb. 17, ibid. Ser. ii. 169.
[543] Lando to the Doge, Feb. 25⁄March 6, Venice MSS. Desp. Ingh.
[544] Lando to the Doge, Jan. 7, 20⁄17, 30, Venice MSS.
[545] Edmondes to Carleton, Jan. 25, S. P. Dom. cxii. 35. Lafuente to Philip III., Feb. 4⁄14, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 157.
[546] Nethersole to Carleton, Feb. 20, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 176.
[547] Frederick to the King, Jan. 16. Elizabeth to the King, Jan. 17, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 142, 144.
[548] Salvetti’s News-Letter, Feb. 18⁄28, Feb. 25⁄March 6.
[549] Trumbull to Naunton, Feb. 26, Letters and Documents, Ser. ii. 185.
[550] Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb. 26, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 104. Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 3⁄13. Trumbull to Carleton, March 7, Letters and <334>Documents, Ser. ii. 188. Lando to the Doge, March 9⁄19, Venice MSS. Desp. Ingh.
[551] Chamberlain to Carleton, March 11, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 18.
[552] Nethersole to Carleton, March 10, ibid. cxiii. 33.
[553] Naunton to Carleton, March 10, S. P. Holland.
[554] In the following August Nethersole, in giving an account of his reception by Frederick and Elizabeth, stated that he had delivered a letter from Digby, and had said that the King, his master, “Having found my Lord Digby mistaken by some of his own people at home by occasion of his being by him employed in the affairs with Spain, and having thereupon conceived a jealousy that the same noble lord might be also misrepresented hither to their Majesties, had in that respect given me a particular commandment to assure His Majesty that he had no more nor more truly affectionate servant in England; and for proof thereof to let His Majesty understand that, whereas the Baron Dohna had, since his coming thither, obtained but three general points for His Majesty’s service: to wit, the loan of money from the King of Denmark, the contributions in England of the city and country, and the sending of ambassadors to the contrary parts, that the Lord Digby had been the first propounder of all this to the King, my master, before his Majesty’s ambassador or any other of his servants in England, although his lordship had been contented that others (who were but set on) should carry away the thanks and praise, because his being known to be the first mover therein might possibly weaken the credit he hath in Spain, and so render him the more unable to serve both his own master <335>and His Majesty, in which respect I humbly prayed his Majesty also to keep this to himself.” Nethersole to Calvert, Aug. 11, 1620, S. P. Germany. The whole passage is very instructive on Digby’s character and policy. One would, however, like to know what instructions he would have given to the ambassadors. Probably very different from those which they actually received.
[555] Philip III. to the Archduke Albert, March 15⁄25, Brussels MSS.
[556] Mainwaring to Zouch, March 5, 6, S. P. Dem. cxiii. 8, 10.
[557] Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 10⁄20.
[558] Chamberlain to Carleton, March 11, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 18.
[559] Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 17⁄27.
[560] Gondomar to Philip III., March 15⁄25, Simancas MSS. 2600, fol. 65.
[561] The King to the Princes of the Union, March 14, Add. MSS. 12,485, fol. 406.
[562] Buwinckhausen to the King, March 14, S. P. Germany.
[563] Gondomar to Philip III., March 18⁄28. This information is contained in a postscript written later.
[564] Lando to the Doge, March 24⁄April 3, 1620, Venice MSS. Desp. Ingh.
[565] Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 17⁄27. Chamberlain to Carleton, March 20. Nethersole to Carleton, March 21, 1620. S. P. Dom. cxiii. 32, 33.
[566] The Archbishop of Canterbury, &c., to the Bishop of Peterborough, March 21 (?), 1620, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 34.
[567] The King’s reply to Buwinckhausen, March 23, 1620, S. P. Germany.
[568] Lando to the Doge, March 24⁄April 3, Venice MSS. Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 24⁄April 3, 1620.
[569] Chamberlain to Carleton, March 20, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 32.
[570] Young to Zouch, March 27, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 32.
[571] Commissions, April 15, Nov. 17, Pat. 18 Jac. I., Parts 9 and 6.
[572] Lando to the Doge, March 31⁄April 10, Venice MSS. Desp. Ingh. Nethersole to Carleton, March 21, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 33.
[573] Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 31⁄April 10.
[574] Salvetti’s News-Letter, April 7⁄17.
[575] Lando to the Doge, April 28⁄May 8, Venice MSS. Desp. Ingh. Salvetti’s News-Letter, April 28⁄May 8.
[576] Tillieres’ despatch, April 6⁄16, Raumer, Briefe aus Paris, ii. 299.
[577] The King to the Duke of Lorraine, April 12, Add. MSS. 12,485, fol. 42.
[578] Tillieres’ despatch, April 16⁄26, Raumer, Briefe aus Paris, ii. 300.
[579] Gondomar to Philip III., March 23⁄April 2, Madrid Palace Library.
[580] Statement of the vexations inflicted on recusants, May, S. P. Dom. cxv. 9. Commission to enquire into informers, &c., May 13, Rymer, xvii. 212. Commission to lease recusants’ lands, May 14, Pat. Jac. I., Part 18.
[581] There were ten of them. Order for release, April 24, Rymer, xvii. 193.
[582] The King to Philip III., April 27, Prynne’s Hidden Works of Darkness, 8.
[584] Gondomar to Philip III., May 12⁄22, Madrid Palace Library.
[585] Sanchez to the King, Feb. 19; Sanchez to Buckingham, Feb. 19, S. P. Spain. Chamberlain to Carlton, Feb. 26, S. P. Dom. cxii. 104. Salvetti’s News-Letter, May 12, 18⁄22, 28 Proclamation, May 15, Rymer, xvii. 215. The Council to the Warden of the Fleet, May 21, 1620, Council Register.
[586] Salvetti’s News-Letter, May 18⁄28. Woodward to Windebank, May 22, S. P. Dom. cxv. 50.
[587] The King to Buckingham, Halliwell’s Letters of the Kings of England, ii. 149. The letter is without a date, but it may be safely assigned to April or May, 1620.
[588] Tillieres’ Despatch, May 26⁄June 5, 1620, Raumer, Briefe aus Paris, ii. 300.
[589] Dohna to the Lord Lieutenant of Northampton, May 31, 1620, S. P. Germany.
[590] Gondomar to Philip III., June 8⁄18, June 27⁄July 7, Simancas MSS. 2601, fol. 31, 36; Dohna to Packer, May 27, 1620, S. P. Germany.
[591] Buckingham to Gondomar, June 20⁄30; Gondomar to Philip III., June 27⁄July 7, Simancas MSS. 2601, fol. 36.
[592] Trumbull to Naunton, June 17, 21. The Archduke Albert to the King, June 19, 1620; S. P. Flanders.
[593] Carleton to Naunton, June 12, Carleton Letters, 469; Carleton to the King, June 14, 1620, S. P. Holland.
[594] Carleton to Naunton, June 19, 1620, S. P. Holland.
[595] Naunton to Carleton, June 26, S. P. Holland.
[596] About the middle of May. Woodward to Windebank, May 22, S. P. Dom. cxv. 50.
[597] Gondomar to Philip III., June 27⁄July 7, Simancas MSS. 2601, fol. 36.
[598] Brent to Carleton, Aug. 20, 1619. Nethersole to Carleton, Jan. 20, 1620, S. P. Dom. cx. 22; cxii. 20. Salvetti’s News-Letter, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 23⁄Feb. 7, Feb. 21, March 4.
[599] Hacket, Life of Williams, 41.
[600] This was the story told by Lady Buckingham, and, judging by her son’s language afterwards, I see no reason to doubt its accuracy. Sir E. Zouch to Lord Zouch, March 23, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 38.
[601] Salvetti’s News-Letter, March 24⁄April 3.
[602] Buckingham to Rutland, March (?), Goodman, Court of King James, ii. 191.
[603] Buckingham to the King, March (?), Harl. MSS. 6986, fol. 112.
[604] Chamberlain to Carleton, April 29, S. P. Dom. cxiii. 92.
[605] “Si tiene segreto per taciti respetti.” Salvetti’s News-Letter, June 1⁄11.
[606] Nethersole to Buckingham, Aug. 11, S. P. Germany.
[607] Young to Zouch, June 14, S. P. Dom. cxv. 73. Roe to Elizabeth, June 7, S. P. Germany. Vere to Carleton, June 14, S. P. Holland.
[608] Account by Dohna of his conversation with Cecil, July (?). Cecil’s account, July 31. Cecil to Buckingham, July 31 (?), S. P. Holland.
[609] Gondomar to Philip III., June 27⁄July 7, Brussels MSS.
[610] Gondomar to Philip III., July 22⁄Aug. 1, ibid.
[611] Philip III. to the Archduke Albert, Oct. 10⁄20, Brussels MSS.
[612] The Archduke Albert to Philip III., Dec. 18⁄28, ibid.
[613] Chamberlain to Carleton, July 8, S. P. Dom. cxvi. 13.
[614] Aston to Carleton, July 30⁄Aug. 9, S. P. Spain.
[615] Gondomar to Philip III., June 27⁄July 7, Simancas MSS. 1601, fol. 36.
[616] “Tuttavia l’istesso Ambasciator di Spagna professa con sua Maestà <364>che lo Spinola non anderà all aggressione di esso Palatinato ancioche a lei stessa pure soggionga che questo sarebbe il vero modo per fare la pace, haviendo giurato et scongiurato più volte di havere scritto in Fiandra perchè non invada. Onde il Rè l’alterhieri a suoi favoriti di ciò parlando dice, o che Spinola non assalerà il Palatinato, o che il Conde di Gondomar è senza fede, è senza Dio.” Lando to the Doge, July 9⁄19, Venice MSS. I have not ventured to put Gondomar’s assurances as strongly as this. Upon comparison with his own despatches, and with his decided language when the King afterwards taxed him with having misled him, I have little doubt that he took care to put his assurances as proceeding personally from himself. This would correspond with the language used at Brussels to Conway and Weston. That Gondomar had in some way or other asserted that Spinola was going to Bohemia, is evident from Caron’s despatch of September 14⁄24. “Den Spaenschen Ambassadeur,” he writes, “hadde haer altyt verseeckert dat syne forcen tegen den Coninck van Bohemen ende tot secours van den Keyser souden gaen.” Add. MSS. 17,677K, fol. 66.
[617] Camden’s Annals. Gondomar to Philip III., July 24⁄Aug. 3, Simancas MSS. 2601, fol. 51. Sir E. Sackville is frequently said to have accompanied Vere. This was not the case. Camden tells us that he and Lord Lisle refused to serve, ‘out of I know not what ambition and emulation.’ In the autumn Sackville was in the Netherlands with the Prince of Orange.
[618] The Archduke Albert to the King, July 22. Conway and Weston to Naunton, July 22, 24, 29. Pecquius to Conway and Weston, July 24, S. P. Flanders. Weston to Buckingham, July 22, 23. Conway to Buckingham, July 24, Harl. MSS. 1581, fol. 192, 194; 1580, fol. 279. Conway to Buckingham, July 29, S. P. Germany.
[619] “Fieramente rispose, con tralasciere assolutamente li concetti prima usati per tenere in speranza che non sarebbe assalito, che vero mezzo per fare la pace era, a punto quello, non altro di lasciar cadere esso Palatinato.” Lando to the Doge, Aug. 10⁄20, Venice MSS.
[620] Naunton to Conway and Weston, Aug. 12, S. P. Germany.
[621] Carleton to Naunton, Aug. 9. Naunton to Carleton, Aug. 27, S. P. Holland. The King to the Princes of the Union, Aug. 27, Add. MSS. 12,485, fol. 496.
[622] Theatrum Europæum, i. 358. Trumbull to Naunton, Aug. 10, 24, S. P. Flanders. I cannot but think that the instructions for Spinola’s direction, printed in Londorp, ii. 170, are forged. The tone assumed is diametrically opposed to that which appears in every one of the papers which I have seen at Simancas.
[623] Conway and Weston to Naunton, Aug. 21, S. P. Germany.
[624] Conway and Weston to Naunton, Aug. 18, ibid.
[625] Conway and Weston to Naunton, Aug. 27; Oct. 13. Conway to Buckingham, Aug. 27; Oct. 13 (?). Balcanqual to Carleton, Oct. 14, S. P. Germany. The accusation has been usually accepted without hesitation by later writers. A passage written in a letter by the Duke of Zweibrücken to the King shows how it sprang up:— “Sur lesquelles entrefaites, les ambassadeurs de V. Mté., estants transportez vers les Princes Unis, et les ayants exhortez fort serieusement et instamment de ne faire aucun commencement d’hostilité, ains d’attendre jusques à ce qu’on peust juger au vray des intentions dudit Spinola, avec ceste adjection que s’ils en usoient autrement, vostre Mté. l’auroit desaggreable, et qu’au contraire, si de l’autre costé on faisoit le commencement d’aggression V. Mté. embrasseroit asseurement le parti et la defense du Palatinat.” Sept. 8. S. P. Germany. There is no mention here of the personal explanation given by the ambassadors; and from saying that they urged the Princes to wait till Spinola’s intentions could be discovered, to saying that they urged them to wait till the attack was made, the step was easy.
[626] Advertisement from Heidelberg, Sept. 1, S. P. Germany. Theatrum Europæum, i. 381.