Volume III Part 18 (1/2)
[Sidenote: The religious differences will not be composed,]
Thus instructed, Wyatt proceeded to Spain; and his reception was, on the whole, auspicious. On both sides, indeed, the hope of agreement on points of religion disappeared with the first words upon the subject.
Mendoza offered in London the Emperor's mediation with the Pope. He received for answer that he might spare his labour. ”The disposition of the King's Highness was immutably against the said Bishop.”[333] The Emperor in his opening interview spoke to Wyatt of the sickness of England, from which he trusted it would soon be recovered. Wyatt replied that England was conscious only of having cast off a chronic sickness which had lasted too long.
[Sidenote: But the Emperor will leave them to those whom they concern.]
On the other hand, Charles, with equal resolution, declined a theological discussion, to which Henry had challenged him. ”If your Majesty,” wrote Wyatt, ”would hearken to the reconciling with the Bishop of Rome, he would be glad to travel in it. But if not, yet he will go through with you, and will continue ever in that mind, the same not withstanding. And like as he is not lettred, so will he not charge your Majesty with the argument of the Bishop's state, but leave it alone to them that it toucheth.”[334]
On these terms, apparently satisfactory, the _entente cordiale_ was restored between England and Spain. It was threatened by a cloud in November, when a truce[335] was concluded between Charles and Francis; but the light suspicion was dispelled by a.s.surances that if the truce was followed by a peace, ”the King of England should be in the same as a princ.i.p.al contrahent;” ”that nothing should be therein concluded which might redound to his dishonour or miscontentment.”[336] The alliance promised stability: by skilful management it might be even more strongly cemented.
[Sidenote: December 23. Various ladies suggested as successors to Jane Seymour.]
[Sidenote: Christina d.u.c.h.ess of Milan.]
[Sidenote: Objection and advantage in this connexion.]
[Sidenote: January 22.]
[Sidenote: The Emperor accepts the proposal, and adds to it.]
[Sidenote: February 22.]
The English council were now busily engaged in selecting a successor for Jane Seymour. Mendoza, in the name of the Emperor, proposed the Infanta of Portugal. ”The offer was thankfully taken,”[337] but was for some cause unwelcome, and died in its first mention. Cromwell had thrown out feelers in the various European courts. Madame de Longueville was thought of,[338] if she was not already destined for another throne.[339] Hutton, the English agent in Flanders, recommended several ladies as more or less desirable: a daughter of the Lord of Brederode, the Countess of Egmont, Anne of Cleves (of the latter, however, adding, that she was said to be plain), and finally, and with especial emphasis, Christina of Denmark, the young relict of the Duke of Milan, and the niece of the Emperor. The d.u.c.h.ess was tall, handsome, and though a widow, not more than sixteen.[340] The alliance would be honourable in itself: it would be a link reconnecting England with the Empire; and, more important still, Charles in his consent would condone before the world the affront of the divorce of Catherine. One obstacle only presented itself, which, with skilful management, might perhaps prove a fresh recommendation. In the eyes of all persons of the Roman communion the marriage with Catherine was of course considered valid, and the lady stood towards her aunt's husband within the degrees of affinity in which marriage was unlawful without a dispensation from the Pope. This certainly was a difficulty; but it was possible that Charles's anxiety for the connexion might induce him to break the knot, and break with the Papacy. On the d.u.c.h.ess of Milan, therefore, the choice of the English government rested; and in January Sir Thomas Wyatt was directed to suggest to the Emperor, as of his own motion, that his niece would be a fit wife for the king.[341] The hint was caught at with gracious eagerness. Mendoza instantly received instructions to make the proposal in form, and, as if this single union was insufficient, to desire at the same time that Henry would bestow the Lady Mary on Don Louis of Portugal. Henry acquiesced, and, seeing Charles so forward, added to his acquiescence the yet further suggestion that the Prince of Wales should be betrothed to the Emperor's daughter, and Elizabeth to one of the many sons of the King of the Romans.[342] Both princes appeared to be overflowing with cordiality. Charles repeated his promises, that when peace was concluded with France, the King of England should be a contracting party. The Queen Regent wrote to Cromwell, thanking him for his zeal in forwarding the Emperor's interests with his master.[343] The d.u.c.h.ess of Milan sate for her picture to Holbein for Henry's cabinet,[344] and professed for herself that she was wholly at her uncle's disposal.[345] Commissioners had only to be appointed to draw the marriage treaty, and all might at once be arranged. The dispensation so far had not been mentioned. Mendoza, indeed, had again pressed Henry to accept the Emperor's good offices at the Vatican; but he had been met with a refusal so absolute as to forbid the further mooting of the question; and the negotiations for these several alliances being continued as amicably as before, the king flattered himself that the difficulty was waived, or else would be privately disposed of.
[Sidenote: March. Warnings are sent from France that the Emperor is insincere.]
Either the Emperor's true intentions were better known in Paris than in London, or Francis was alarmed at the rapid friends.h.i.+p, and desired to chill down its temperature. While gracious messages and compliments were pa.s.sing between England and Spain and Flanders, the Bishop of Tarbes was sent over with an offer on the part of the French to make Henry sole mediator in the peace, and with a promise that, in the matter of the general council, and in all other things, Francis would be ”his good brother and most entire friend.” The Emperor, the bishop a.s.serted on his own knowledge, was playing a part of mere duplicity. Whatever he said, or whatever others said for him, he had determined that England should not be comprehended in the treaty. The king would be left out--dropped out--in some way or other got rid of--when his friends.h.i.+p ceased to be of moment; and so he would find to his cost.
[Sidenote: Henry, however, will confide in the Emperor's honor,]
[Sidenote: But desires Charles to commit himself in writing.]
The warning might have been well meant, the offer might have been sincere, but the experience was too recent of the elastic character of French promises. Henry refused to believe that Charles was deceiving him; he replied with a declaration of his full confidence in the Emperor's honour, and declined with cold courtesy the counter-advances of his rival. Yet he was less satisfied than he desired to appear. He sent to Sir T. Wyatt an account of the Bishop of Tarbes's expressions, desiring him to acquaint the Emperor with their nature, and with the answer which he had returned; but hinting at the same time, that although the general language of the Flemish and Spanish courts was as warm as he could desire, yet so far it amounted only to words. The proposal to const.i.tute him sole mediator in the peace was an advance upon the furthest positive step towards him which had been taken by Charles, and he requested a direct engagement in writing, both as to his comprehension in the intended treaty, and on the equally important subject alluded to by the bishop, of the approaching council.[346]
[Sidenote: April 5. The commissioners meet in April to arrange the marriages, and separate ineffectually.]
Meanwhile the marriages, if once they were completed, would be a security for good faith in other matters; and on this point no difficulties were interposed till the middle of the spring. The amount of dotes and dowries, with the securities for their payment, the conditions under which Mary was to succeed to the crown, and other legal details, were elaborately discussed. At length, when the substance seemed all to be determined, and the form only to remain, the first official conference was opened on the 5th of April, with the Spanish commissioners, who, as was supposed, had come to London for that single and special purpose. The card castle so carefully raised crumbled into instant ruins--the solid ground was unsubstantial air. The commissioners had no commission: they would agree to nothing, arrange nothing, promise nothing. ”I never heard so many gay words, and saw so little effect ensue of the same,” wrote Cromwell in the pa.s.sion of his disappointment; ”I begin to perceive that there is scarce any good faith in this world.”
[Sidenote: Preparations for the pacification of Nice.]
Henry's eyes were opening, but opening slowly and reluctantly. Though irritated for the moment, he listened readily to the excuses with which Charles was profusely ready; and if Charles had not been intentionally treacherous, he reaped the full advantage of the most elaborate deception. In the same month it was arranged between the courts of France and Spain that the truce should, if possible, become a peace. The place of mediator, which Henry had rejected at the hands of France, had been offered to and accepted by the Pope, and the consequences foretold by the Bishop of Tarbes were now obviously imminent. Paul had succeeded at last, it seemed, in his great object--the two Catholic powers were about to be united. The effect of this reconciliation, brought about by such means, would be followed in all likelihood by a renewal of the project for an attack on the Reformation, and on all its supporters.
Nice was chosen for the scene of the great event of pacification, which was to take place in June. The two sovereigns were to be present in person; the Pope would meet them, and sanctify the reconciliation with his blessing.
The Emperor continued, notwithstanding the change of circ.u.mstances, to use the same language of friends.h.i.+p towards Henry, and professed to be as anxious as ever for the maintenance of his connexion with England.
Wyatt himself partially, but not entirely, distrusted him, until his conduct no longer admitted any construction but the worst.
[Sidenote: June. Congress of Nice.]
[Sidenote: A ten years' truce is concluded between France and Spain.
Henry's name is not mentioned.]
The affair at Nice was the central incident of the summer. Wyatt went thither in Charles's train. Paul came accompanied by Pole. Many English were present belonging to both parties: royal emissaries as spies--pa.s.sionate Catholic exiles, flushed with hope and triumph. We see them, indistinctly, winding into one another's confidence--”practising”