The Republican., 1932-11-24
The Queen Who Gave To Maryland Its Name.

ship might at any moment plunge to
the bottom. Henrietta replied gaily,
Comfort yourselves, mes cheres;
queens of England are never
drowned" The ship, however, was
not as staunch as the Queen, and the
vessel was put back into harbor to
await better weather.
The second attempt to cross the
channel met more favorable weather,
but the convoy was attacked this
time by five Parliament ships under
Commodore Battel. The royal party
took refuge on shore, but the next
morning the enemy ships commenced
cannonade on the house in which
the Queen was sleeping. Henrietta
fed with the other members Of her
party, but in her fight she re-
menbered that her dog, Mite, had
been left behind at the mercy Of Bat
tens bombardment. The Queen ran
back into the house, rescued little
Mite and carried the pet to safety in
nearby ditch. Even the ditch was
not entirely safe, but the royal party
escaped injury and at ebb tide the
attacking ships were forced to with
draw out of range.
Setting up her headquarters in
Burlington, the Queen went about
gathering for herself an army. She
distributed arms among the York
men and finally had 1000 under her
command. While she was adding to
her army, Charles and Parliament
were negotiating for peace, but Hen
rietta would have none of that. She
warned Charles not to make peace;
she liked her new duties too much
to see her army disbanded. 1t was
at about this time that she solemnly
advised a group of ladies who had
come to pay their respect to "learn by
my example to obey your husbands"
#*@
1t was not the Roundheads who
ended Henrietta's career as general
issimo, but the arrival of a daughter.
The King and Queen parted for the
last time in April, 1914, Charles to
surrender to the SCOTS (who later
sold him to his enemies) and Henriet-
ia to leave for France.
When she stepped on native soil
all her former glory was gone. She
was no longer queen, and what was
worse, no longer young and at
tractive. While Charles was hanging
to his life by a bare thread, and los
ing it at length, Henrietta was in
poverty in France, until a grant was
given her out of respect for her
father.
She returned to England after the
restoration of her son, Charles II, but
only because the English would not
grant her money to be spent in
France. She tried in vain to influence
the English court of Charles. She was
too old to fit into the new life which
the Restoration set up, and had no
following to encourage her. Samuel
Pepys paid sixpence to a sculler to
row him to the royal barge upon her
arrival in England, and observes in
his diary, "there were but three bon
fires in the city to welcome her, and
it was believed her coming did not
please anyone"
Though the London fogs were des-
troying her health, Henrietta re-
mained in England until 1865, when
her chest became so affected that she
was forced to leave for France. On
August 81, 1869, she was given opium
to aid her in going to sleep, but the
dose was so great that Henrietta
never awoke.
Her passing did not particularly
affect anyone in the English court, for
most of her former friends were gone.
Her enemies, however, could not con-
ceal their feelings, and one Of her
most bitter opponents, Lieut.-Gen.
Edmund Ludlow, wrote in his
memoirs:
About this time Henrietta Maria,
queen-m mother of England and auntof
the present King of France, having
been formerly an active instrument
in contriving and fomenting the
long and bloody civil war in Eng
land, and encouraging the barbar-
ious massacre of the Protestants
in Ireland; and more lately from a
spirit of revenge and malice prin-
ciple adviser of the cruelties acted
in England, died at Paris. Her dis
temper at first seemed not to be
dangerous, but upon taking some
thing prescribed by the physicians
to procure sleep, the potion oper-
ated in such a manner that she
walked no more. She received three
score thousand pounds yearly from
England, and yet left many and
great debts unpaid. She was our
particular enemy and had constant
ly favored the designs that had
been carried on against our lives.
With all her faults, the people of
Maryland have Henrietta to thank for