Part 6 (1/2)
Walsingham had made up his mind that it was England, not France, that should take up the cause of the Provinces, and defend them at every hazard. He had been overruled, and the Queen's government had decided to watch the course of the French negotiation, doing what it could, underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. The Secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. At the same time he had no faith in the good intentions of the French court.
”I could wish,” said he, ”that the French King were carried with that honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her Majesty is, but France has not been used to do things for G.o.d's sake; neither do they mean to use our advice or a.s.sistance in making of the bargain. For they still hold a jealous conceit that when Spain and they are together by the ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace.” Walsingham, therefore, earnestly deprecated the att.i.tude provisionally maintained by England.
Meantime, early in January, (Jan. 3, 1585) the deputation from the Provinces had arrived in France. The progress of their 1585 negotiation will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the Netherlands. The fact.i.tious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of France, as well as the prejudice against England, began to die out. It became probable in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, that the French court was acting in connivance with Philip, and that the negotiation was only intended to amuse the Netherlanders, to circ.u.mvent the English, and to gain time both for France and Spain. It was not believed that the character of Henry or the policy of his mother was likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty or Protestant principles.
”They look for no better fruit from the commission to France,” wrote Davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and breadth of vision, ”than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief elsewhere, especially in England, or else some pleasing motion of peace, wherein the French King will offer his mediation with Spain. Meantime the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some Provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened.
This is the scope whereto the doings of the French King, not without intelligence with the Spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is pretended.”
There was a wide conviction that the French King was dealing falsely with the Provinces. It seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense jealousy of England, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those whose ”religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign,”
he could not but disapprove, to allow Queen Elizabeth to steal a march upon him, and ”make her own market with Spain to his cost and disadvantage.”
In short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently shown--that Henry III. ”was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as his brother Charles did before the Ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew.” As the letters received from the Dutch envoys in France became less and less encouraging, and as the Queen was informed by her amba.s.sador in Paris of the tergiversations in Paris, she became the more anxious lest the States should be driven to despair. She therefore wrote to Davison, instructing him ”to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from himself--that though France should reject them, yet she would not abandon them.”
He was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support of the war that they were still capable of furnis.h.i.+ng. She was beginning to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that Ghent had fallen and Brussels and Antwerp were in such imminent peril. She feared that, while so much valuable time had been thrown away, the Provinces had become too much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with Spain. It soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, but the other reasons for Elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid.
On the whole, the feeling in favour of England was rapidly gaining ground. In Holland especially there was general indignation against the French party. The letters of the deputies occasioned ”murmur and mislike”
of most persons, who noted them to contain ”more ample report of ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort.”
Sir Edward Stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of the mysterious proceedings at Paris, a.s.sured his government that no better result was to be looked for, ”after long dalliance and entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and confusion than relief for their declining estate.” While ”reposing upon a broken reed,” they were, he thought, ”neglecting other means more expedient for their necessities.”
This was already the universal opinion in Holland. Men now remembered, with bitterness, the treachery of the Duke of Anjou, which they had been striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the Provinces. A committee of the States had an interview with the Queen's envoy at the Hague; implored her Majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination ”to pluck their heads out of the collar,” so soon as the opportunity should offer.
They stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the a.s.sembly to lay before him the instructions for the envoys to France, and the articles proposed for the acceptance of the King. The envoy knew his business better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these doc.u.ments, which he had already laid before his own government.
He affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. ”After some pretended quarrel,” said he, ”for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, I did accept them, as if I had before neither seen nor heard of them.”
This then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence of the deputies in France. It is now necessary to s.h.i.+ft the scene to that country.
CHAPTER IV.
Reception of the Dutch Envoys at the Louvre--Ignominious Result of the Emba.s.sy--Secret Influences at work--Bargaining between the French and Spanish Courts--Claims of Catharine de' Medici upon Portugal--Letters of Henry and Catharine--Secret Proposal by France to invade England--States' Mission to Henry of Navarre--Subsidies of Philip to Guise--Treaty of Joinville--Philip's Share in the League denied by Parma--Philip in reality its Chief--Manifesto of the League--Att.i.tude of Henry III. and of Navarre--The League demands a Royal Decree--Designs of France and Spain against England --Secret Interview of Mendoza and Villeroy--Complaints of English Persecution--Edict of Nemours--Excommunication of Navarre and his Reply.
The King, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in Sir Edward Stafford's language, ”nibbled at the bait.” He had, however, not been secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, under what were supposed to be most favourable circ.u.mstances. In accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, Des Pruneaux, had been busily employed in the States, arranging the terms of a treaty which should be entirely satisfactory. It had been laid down as an indispensable condition that Holland and Zeeland should unite in the offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, diplomacy, and money, Holland and Zeeland had given their consent. The court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the deputies. Early in December, Des Pruneaux wrote from Paris to Count Maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action.
”When I left you,” he said, ”I thought that performance would follow promises. I have been a little ashamed, as the time pa.s.sed by, to hear nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. It would seem as though G.o.d had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to know their own adversity.”
To the States his language was still more insolent. ”Excuse me, Gentlemen,” he said, ”if I tell you that I blush at hearing nothing from you. I shall have the shame and you the damage. I regret much the capture of De Teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your delays and want of resolution.”
Thus did the French court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the sovereignty of the Provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire fulfillment of the King's demands. The States were just despatching a solemn emba.s.sy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to terms.
The envoys arrived on January 3rd, 1585, at Boulogne, after a stormy voyage from Brielle. Yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both emba.s.sies was to offer a crown. The deputies were, however, not kept in prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. They were admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; they fared sumptuously every day, at Henry's expense, and, after they had been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their first audience.
On the 13th February the King sent five ”very splendid, richly-gilded, court-coach-waggons” to bring the envoys to the palace. At one o'clock they arrived at the Louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent antechambers into the royal cabinet. The apartments through which they pa.s.sed swarmed with the foremost n.o.bles, court-functionaries, and ladies of France, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with demonstrations of extreme respect: The halls and corridors were lined with archers, halbardiers, Swiss guards, and grooms ”besmeared with gold,” and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of Holland.
Henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the Duke of Joyeuse--his foremost and bravest ”minion”--by the Count of Bouscaige, M. de Valette, and the Count of Chateau Vieux.
The most Christian King was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. He held himself stiff and motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the amba.s.sadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced.