Part 58 (1/2)
”I have written two or three verses out of Virgil for the Queen to read,”
said he, ”which I pray your Lords.h.i.+p to present unto her. G.o.d grant her to weigh them. If your Lords.h.i.+p do read the whole discourse of Virgil in that place, it will make your heart melt. Observe the report of the amba.s.sadors that were sent to Diomedes to make war against the Trojans, for the old hatred that he, being a Grecian, did bear unto them; and note the answer of Diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the Trojans, the perplexity of the King, the miseries of the country, the reasons of Drances that spake against them which would have war, the violent persuasions of Turnus to war; and note, I pray you; one word, 'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' What a lecture could I make with Mr.
Cecil upon that pa.s.sage in Virgil!”
The most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this letter. It was received in the very last days of the month of July. Let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this cla.s.sic despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the Queen and Lord Burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the sorrows of the Trojan War. Perhaps the doings of Drake and Howard, Medina Sidonia, and Ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention as the eloquence of Diomede or the wrath of Turnus. Yet it may be doubted whether the reports of these Grecian envoys might not in truth, be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic pedant, with his Virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of England's doom.
”What a lecture I could make with Mr. Cecil on the subject!--” An English amba.s.sador, at the court of Philip II.'s viceroy, could indulge himself in imaginary prelections on the AEneid, in the last days of July, of the year of our Lord 1588!
The Doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions categorically, to his Highness as he had been instructed to do. He went to Bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save Lord Derby and Lord Cobham, knew the cause of his journey. Poor-puzzling James Croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out of the secret. On the 8/18 July Dale had audience of the Duke at Bruges.
After a few commonplaces, he was invited by the Duke to state what special purpose had brought him to Bruges.
”There is a book printed at Antwerp,” said Dale, ”and set forth by a fugitive from England, who calleth himself a cardinal.”
Upon this the Duke began diligently to listen.
”This book,” resumed Dale, ”is an admonition to the n.o.bility and people of England and Ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the Pope against the Queen which the King Catholic hath entrusted to your Highness as chief of the enterprise. There is also a bull of the Pope declaring my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. In this bull the Pope saith that he hath dealt with the most Catholic King to employ all the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, and doth charge her subjects to a.s.sist the army appointed by the King Catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your Highness. Therefore her Majesty would be satisfied from your Highness in that point, and will take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her Majesty.
Whatsoever it may be, her Majesty will not take it amiss against your Highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. Wherefore I do require you to satisfy the Queen.”
”I am glad,” replied the Duke, ”that her Majesty and her commissioners do take in good part my good-will towards them. I am especially touched by the good opinion her Majesty hath of my sincerity, which I should be glad always to maintain. As to the book to which you refer, I have never read it, nor seen it, nor do I take heed of it. It may well be that her Majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, I have nought to do with it, nor can I prevent men from writing or printing at their pleasure. I am at the commandment of my master only.”
As Alexander made no reference to the Pope's bull, Dr. Dale observed, that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the Pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her Majesty would be obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would receive safe-conduct as occasion should require.
”Yea, G.o.d forbid else,” replied Alexander; ”and further, I know nothing of any bull of the Pope, nor do I care for any, nor do I undertake anything for him. But as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between my master and her Majesty, I must, as a soldier, act at the command of my sovereign. For my part, I have always had such respect for her Majesty, being so n.o.ble a Queen, as that I would never hearken to anything that might be reproachful to her. After my master, I would do most to serve your Queen, and I hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that point. And for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such other calamities as do follow the wars, I have been a pet.i.tioner to my sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. That is a thing, however,” added the Duke; ”which you have more cause to desire than we; for if the King my master, should lose a battle, he would be able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough off in Spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose kingdom and all.”
”By G.o.d's sufferance,” rejoined the Doctor, ”her Majesty is not without means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a succession of ancestors. Moreover your Highness knows very well that one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country.”
”Well,” said the Duke, ”that is in G.o.d's hand.”
”So it is,” said the Doctor.
”But make an end of it,” continued Alexander quietly, ”and if you have anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to me.”
Dr. Valentine Dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a protocol, and promised one for the next day.
”I am charged only to give your Highness satisfaction,” he said, ”as to her Majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to the world in English, French, and Italian, in the hope that you may also satisfy the Queen upon this other point. I am but one of her commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. I crave leave to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as I had in coming.”
After the envoy had taken leave, the Duke summoned Andrea de Loo, and related to him the conversation which had taken place. He then, in the presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the 'Admonition' by Cardinal Allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and had no regard to it.'
The plausible Andrew accompanied the Doctor to his lodgings, protesting all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. The next day the Doctor, by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all the commissioners of her Majesty; which able protocol the Duke did not at that moment read, which he a.s.suredly never read subsequently, and which no human soul ever read afterwards. Let the dust lie upon it, and upon all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring and summer of 1588.
”Dr. Dale has been with me two or three, times,” said Parma, in giving his account of these interviews to Philip. ”I don't know why he came, but I think he wished to make it appear, by coming to Bruges, that the rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the English. He has been complaining of Cardinal Allen's book, and I told him that I didn't understand a word of English, and knew nothing whatever of the matter.”
It has been already seen that the Duke had declared, on his word of honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. Yet at that very moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight before from Philip, in which that monarch thanked Alexander for having had the Cardinal's book translated at Antwerp! Certainly few English diplomatists could be a match for a Highness so liberal of his word of honour.
But even Dr. Dale had at last convinced himself--even although the Duke knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against England. The sagacious man, having seen large bodies of Spaniards and Walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his country, and ”professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or market,” while even Alexander himself could ”no more hide it than did Henry VIII. when he went to Boulogne,” could not help suspecting something amiss.
His colleague, however, Comptroller Croft, was more judicious, for he valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of affairs. He was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous suspicion. So this envoy wrote to Lord Burghley on the 2nd August (N.S.)--let the reader mark the date--that, ”although a great doubt had been conceived as to the King's sincerity, . . . . yet that discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general incommodity which will come by the contrary, G.o.d had so balanced princes' powers in that age, as they rather desire to a.s.sure themselves at home, than with danger to invade their neighbours.”