The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-24

watery eyes. I. your poor servant ant
most loyal subject, an unworthy secre.
tary. beseech your Majesty to pardon
this lowly suit, that considering OF this
proceeding in this matter for remov-
Ing OF the French out Of Scotland doth
not content your Majesty. and that
cannot with my conscience give any
contrary advice. I may, with your
MaJesty's favor and clemency. be spared
to intermeddle therein" II was only
after two French expeditions intended
for Scotland had been wrecked that she
determined to give her support to the
Scottish rebels.
II was In fact . dificult situation
Upon the question Of religion, which
was inextricably involved with the polit-
ical question in Scotland. the English
people were largely Of the same mind
with the Scottish. There were, to be
sure, few reformers In England of the
stripe of John Knox. who was already
engaged in his campaign Of iconoclasm
against the "idolaters." but the Church
Of England already called itself ire
formed" and the Queen had been made
the Ihead" thereof, or as she modestly
or politically objected to that desgna-
ton, the governor" which was a title
In which she acquiesced. There Is here
given the remonstrance Of Ave Catholic
bishops against the new oath Of su-
premacy they were required to take, and
a straightforward allocution in answer
from the Queens own pen: "As for our
father being withdrawn from the SUI
premacy' of Rome by schismatical and
heretical counsels and advisers. who
we pray. advised him more or nattered
him than you, good Mr.. Hethe. when
you were Bishop Of Rochester? And
than you, Mr.. Bonner. when you were
archdeacon? And you. Mr.. Turber-
ville?" This direct and emphatic form
OF address to Ecclesiastical dignitaries is
by no means the extreme Of good Queen
Bess's achievements in that kind. The
extreme instance IL probably given In
a letter. not included in the present COL
lection. which she wrote to the Bishop
Of Ely on his demurring to hand over
his garden to a royal favorite: PROUD
Prelate: You know what you were be-
fore I made you what you are; II you
do not Immediately comply with my re-
quest. by God 1 will unfrock you" BY
such means she kept her ecclesiastical
flock IN fair order and subsection. Old
John Knox, II he had been an English
man instead of a Scotchman, would not
have got of so easily as he did under
Mary. A letter OF his is given here in
which he processes establishment that
the Virgin Queen should have taken in
bad part his Blast OF the Trumpet
against the Montrous Regiment of
Women" His astonishment. II unaf-
a. 30,
naive. Here Is his notion OF courtllness
IF thus In Gods presence you humble
yourself as in my heart I glorify God
for that rest granted TO his afflicted
flock within England under you. a weak
instrument. so will / with tongue and
pen justify your authority and regiment.
as the Holy Ghost hath justified the
same In Deborah. that blessed mother in
Israel; but II, these premises las God
forbid) neglected, we shall begin to brag
Of your birth. and to build your author
ity upon your own law. fiatter you
whose list. your felicity shall be short"
Neither the fact that his letter eats up
the argument Of his book. nor the fact
that when he wrote II Mary OF Guise
was Regent OF Scotland and Mary and
not Elizabeth Tudor was on the throne
Of England. would have kept him ut
large II he had ventured into Queen
Elizabeth's country.
Upon the whole, ono could ind quite
sufficient warrant In these pages for
the assertion of the Spanish bishop.
Quadra. Ambassador in London during
those years for Philip OF Spain. and one
Of the most valuable OF Mr. Mumby's
authorities, though Of great credulty.
that Religion here now Is simply a
question of policy" although a month
later he seems to contradict this by say
ing OF Elizabeth: "In religious matters
she has been saturated ever since she
was born In bitter hatred to our faith.
and her one object Is to destroy It,"
So much of the correspondence given
here as bears upon the point goes to
show that the first assertion is much
nearer the mark than the second. In
domestic politics the Queens aim was TO
content the majority OF her subjects,
which she succeeded In doing. In for
eign politics she was anti-Catholic be-
cause TO her Catholicism meant France
and meant Spain.
1.-THE beginning Of the feud." TO adopt
Mr.. Mumby's phrase, had TO do with
the designs OF France. II Elizabeth
was lllegitimate as the daughter of the
adulterous connection of Henry VIII.
and Anne Boleyn. and this was the
Papal contention, Mary Stuart was the
next heir. The Catholic Views of her
birth alone would have sufiiced to put
the Queen In opposition to Rome. Spain
was the secular arm, so TO speak. OF the
Holy See. and would have been quite
willing to break up such nest OF here
tics as England had become. II she
could have afforded to do II. But oper-
atoms against the heretics OF the
Netherlands had left her without the
means of going to war with England.
The objects of France were political
When Mary Stuart married the Dau-
phin of France in 1858 as part of the
marriage contract she had signed a
secret treaty by which. in case OF her
death without issue. Scotland was ~
go to France. and all rights she might
have upon the succession to the Eng
lish crown were likewise TO revert to
the royal family of France. OF course,
1t would be absurd to hold a girl OF
rs. who had been brought up In the
French court, to a strict accountability
for signing such a paper The exist
ence OF this treaty was doubtless I'M
known In England. But what was
known there was that. upon the death
OF Queen Mary, Mary Stuart had as
sumed to quarter the arms OF England
with those Of France and Scotland upon
mi