A.D. 1568-1570.

RISE OF THE PURITANS.

331

from their oaths of allegiance (April 25, 1570). John Felton affixed this bull to the gates of the Bishop of London's palace; and, scorning either to fly or deny the fact, he was seized and condemned, and received the crown of martyrdom, for which he seems to have entertained so violent an ambition.

§ 11. It was at this period that the sect of the Puritans, who were afterward to play so great a part in the affairs of England, first began to make themselves considerable. It is computed that during the Marian persecutions 800 Protestants sought an asylum in Germany and Switzerland. Among them were many who, like Hooper, had been desirous of carrying reforms in the Church of England, especially in the matter of ceremonies and vestments, farther than Cranmer had done, and disputes upon these points broke out in 1554 among the Marian exiles settled at Frankfort. The exiles carried their quarrels back with them into England after the accession of Elizabeth, where they were the origin of dissent, or "the separation." These controversies had already excited such ferment among the people, that in some places they refused to frequent the churches where the habits and ceremonies were used; would not salute the conforming clergy; and proceeded so far as to revile them in the streets, to spit in their faces, and to use them with all manner of contumely. But there was another set of opinions adopted by these innovators, which rendered them in a peculiar manner the object of Elizabeth's aversion. The same bold and daring spirit which accompanied them in their addresses to the Divinity appeared in their political speculations; and the principles of civil liberty, which during some reigns had been little avowed in the nation, and which were totally incompatible with the present exorbitant rogative, had been strongly adopted by this new sect. Indeed, so absolute was the authority of the crown, that the precious spark of liberty was kindled and preserved by the Puritans alone, and it is to them that the English owe the whole freedom of their Constitution. Elizabeth neglected no opportunity of depressing those zealous innovators; and while they were secretly countenanced by some of her most favored ministers, Cecil, Leicester, Knolles, Bedford, Walsingham, she was never, to the end of her life, reconciled to their principles and practices.

pre

$ 12. The affairs of religion were in that age not only the cause of internal seditions and rebellions in various states, but also played a great part in the foreign policy of kingdoms. The cause of the Queen of Scots was identified with that of the Roman Catholic party in Europe, and was secretly favored by the courts of

*For an account of the "Troubles of Frankfort" and origin of dissent in the English Church, see Dyer's Life of Calvin, ch. xii.

France and Spain, and Elizabeth, therefore, could not regard with indifference the events that were passing in those countries. In France the wars of religion had already broken out, and the respective heads of the Roman Catholic and Huguenot parties had fallen in the open field; the Constable Montmorency on the plains of St. Denis, the Duke of Condé at the battle of Jarnac. But their places were supplied by leaders of equal zeal and ability. The young Duke of Guise was destined to eclipse the fame of his father; while, on the other side, the indomitable Admiral Coligny had placed the young Condé and the Prince of Navarre, then only 16, at the head of the Huguenots. To the latter party Elizabeth had secretly lent assistance; but in 1570 the court of France concluded a hollow peace with them, which was only intended to lure them to a surer and more fatal destruction. Among the other artifices employed to lull the Protestants into a fatal security, Charles IX. of France affected to enter into close connection with Elizabeth. The better to deceive her, proposals of marriage were made her with the Duke of Anjou; terms of the contract were proposed, difficulties started and removed; and the two courts, equally insincere, though not equally culpable, seemed to approach every day nearer to each other in their demands and concessions. The queen had several motives for dissimulation. Besides the advantage of discouraging Mary's partisans by the prospect of an alliance between France and England, her situation with Philip demanded her utmost vigilance and attention; and the violent authority established in the Low Countries made her desirous of fortifying herself even with the bare appearance of a new confederacy.

Philip had left the Duchess of Parma governess of the Low Countries; and the plain good sense and good temper of that princess, had she been intrusted with the sole power, would have preserved the submission of those opulent provinces, which were lost from that refinement of treacherous and barbarous politics on which the King of Spain so highly valued himself. The cruelties exercised in the name of religion, and the establishment of the Inquisition, had excited a disposition to revolt; and Philip determined to lay hold of the popular disorders as a pretense for entirely abolishing the privileges of the Low Country provinces, and for ruling them thenceforth with military and arbitrary authority. In the execution of this violent design he employed the Duke of Alva, a proper instrument in the hands of such a tyrant. All the privileges of the provinces, the gift of so many princes, and the inheritance of so many ages, were openly and expressly abolished by edict; arbitrary and sanguinary tribunals erected; the Counts Egmont and Horn, in spite of their great merits and past services, brought to

A.D. 1570-1572.

EXECUTION OF NORFOLK.

333

the scaffold; multitudes of all ranks thrown into confinement, and thence delivered over to the executioner; and, notwithstanding the peaceable submission of all men, nothing was heard of but confiscation, imprisonment, exile, torture, and death. Elizabeth gave protection to all the Flemish exiles who took shelter in her dominions; and as many of these were the most industrious inhabitants of the Netherlands, and had rendered that country celebrated for its arts, she reaped the advantage of introducing into England some useful manufactures which were formerly unknown in that kingdom. She also seized some Genoese vessels which were carrying a large sum of money to Alva, and which had been obliged to take refuge in Plymouth and Southampton. These measures led to retaliations; but nothing could repair the loss which so well-timed a blow inflicted on the Spanish government in the Low Countries.

The

§ 13. Alva resolved to revenge the insult by exciting a rebellion in England, and procuring the marriage of the Duke of Norfolk with the Queen of Scots. Norfolk, finding that he had lost the confidence and favor of Elizabeth, was tempted to violate his word, and to open anew his correspondence with the Queen of Scots. A promise of marriage was renewed between them, and the duke was induced to give his consent to enterprises still more criminal. It was agreed that the Duke of Alva should land with a large body of troops at Harwich, where the Duke of Norfolk was to join them with all his friends; should thence march directly to London, and oblige the queen to submit to whatever terms the conspirators should please to impose upon her. conspiracy, however, was discovered by means of a servant of Norfolk's, who, being intrusted with a bag of gold and a letter for transmission to Scotland, became suspicious, and carried the letter to Cecil (now Lord Burleigh). Three of the duke's agents were arrested, and confessed the whole truth when tortured. The duke was brought to trial, and was condemned of treason by a jury of 26 peers. The queen long hesitated to sign his death-warrant, but at last, at the instance of the Commons, he was executed (June 2, 1572). The Earl of Northumberland, being delivered up to the queen by the regent of Scotland, was also, a few months after, brought to the scaffold for his rebellion.

The Queen of Scots was either the occasion or the cause of all these disturbances; but, as she was a sovereign princess, Elizabeth durst not, as yet, form any resolution of proceeding to extremities against her. The Parliament was so enraged against her that the Commons made a direct application for immediate trial and execution. Elizabeth, however, satisfied with showing Mary the disposition of the nation, sent to the House her express commands

not to deal any farther at present in the affair of the Scottish

queen.

§ 14. Shortly afterward there was perpetrated at Paris (Aug. 24, 1572) that inhuman slaughter of the Protestants which, from the day of its execution, has been called the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The Admiral Coligny, together with about 500 noblemen and gentlemen, and nearly 10,000 persons of inferior rank, were butchered on this occasion. Charles, in order to cover this

Medal of Pope Gregory XIII. commemorating the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Obv.: FREGORIVS XIII. PONT. MAX. AN. I: bust to left. Rev. VGONOTTORVM. STRAGES. 1572: An angel slaying the Huguenots.

barbarous perfidy, pretended that a conspiracy of the Huguenots to seize his person had been suddenly detected, and that he had been necessitated, for his own defense, to proceed to this severity against them. He sent orders to Fénélon, his embassador in England, to ask an audience, and to give Elizabeth this account of the late transaction. The queen heard his apology without discovering any visible symptoms of indignation. She blamed the conduct of Charles, but, being sensible of the dangerous situation in which she now stood, she did not think it prudent to reject all commerce with him. She therefore allowed even the negotiations to be renewed for her marriage with the Duke of Alençon, Charles's third brother; those with the Duke of Anjou had already been broken off. The nobility and gentry of England, indeed, were roused to such a pitch of resentment, that they offered to levy an army of 22,000 foot and 4000 horse, to transport them into France, and to maintain them six months at their own charge; but Elizabeth, who was cautious in her measures, and who feared to inflame farther the quarrel between the two religions by these dangerous crusades, refused her consent, and moderated the zeal of her subjects. But Elizabeth's best security lay in the strength of the Huguenots themselves. The sect which Charles had hoped at one blow to exterminate had soon an army of 18,000 men on foot, and possessed in different parts of France above 100 cities, castles, or fortresses. By the death of Charles (May 30, 1574) without issue,

A.D. 1572-1577. AFFAIRS OF THE NETHERLANDS.

335

at the age of 25, the crown devolved to his brother, the Duke of Anjou, now Henry III.; but his counsels were directed by the Duke of Guise and his family. Henry was desirous of increasing his power by acting as umpire between the two parties. Guise, however, having formed the famous League, which, without paying any regard to the royal authority, aimed at the entire suppression of the Huguenots, the king was forced to declare himself the head of it. Elizabeth secretly supported the Huguenots; but it was some years before any important transactions took place between her and France.

The affairs of the Netherlands were in as disturbed a state as those of France. In 1572 the provinces of Holland and Zealand revolted from the Spaniards and the tyranny of Alva. The Prince of Orange, who had been declared a rebel, and whose ample possessions in the Low Countries had been confiscated, emerged from his retreat in Germany to put himself at the head of the insurgents; and, by uniting the revolted cities in a league, he laid the foundation of that illustrious commonwealth, the offspring of industry and liberty, whose arms and policy long made so signal a figure in every transaction of Europe. The history of the memorable struggle of the Prince of Orange against the Duke of Alva and his successors can not be related in this place. The Hollanders, anxious to secure the assistance of Elizabeth, offered her the possession and sovereignty of their provinces if she would exert her power in their defense. But as an open war with the Spanish monarchy was the apparent consequence of her accepting this offer, she refused, in positive terms, the sovereignty proffered her; and she at present confined her efforts in their favor to an attempt at a mediation with Philip. But a few years afterward, Elizabeth, seeing from the union of all the provinces a fair prospect of their making a long and vigorous defense against Spain, no longer scrupled to embrace the protection of their liberties; she concluded a treaty with them, in which she stipulated to assist them with 5000 foot and 1000 horse, and to lend them £100,000 on receiving the bonds of some of the most considerable towns of the Netherlands for repayment within the year (1577).

§ 15. During these years, while Europe was almost every where in great commotion, England enjoyed a profound tranquillity, owing chiefly to the prudence and vigor of the queen's administration, and to the wise precautions which she employed in all her measures. By means of her rigid economy, she paid all the debts which she found on the crown, with their full interest, though some of these debts had been contracted even during the reign of her father. Some loans, which she had exacted at the commence