1618 COURSE OF THE MARRIAGE TREATY.

105

do everything that he could, but the revocation of the penal laws was not his to grant.

It was not that James was in any way desirous of drawing back. Not only had he assured Gondomar in the warmest terms of his desire that the marriage should take place, but he had added that he was well aware that it could not take place unless satisfaction were given to the Pope with respect to the treatment of the English Catholics.2 A Spanish marriage, he said on another occasion, was incompatible with a persecution of the Catholics.3

James did his best to prove by his acts the sincerity of his words. He sent over as a gift to the Archduke Albert the golden crucifix which had been used by Queen Mary. He offered to liberate sixty priests who were in prison, and to allow them to leave the country with Gondomar, and this number was afterwards increased to more than a hundred. Gondomar was even more hopeful of the Prince's good-will than he was of the King's. He had already suggested to him that, if his father did not agree to the necessary terms, he might obtain his bride by wooing her in person at Madrid."

sus

Yet, in spite of all that James or Charles might say or do, Gondomar knew that he had not obtained the concessions which were indispensable if the Pope's consent was to be given. It seemed to him that, after four years of constant disThe negotia cussion, the project, from which so much had been pended. hoped on both sides, had come to nothing. James could not give way if he would, and Lerma, speaking in Philip's name, would not give way if he could. If, indeed, circumstances were to arise which would make it more than ordinarily important to humour the King of England, it was still possible that Lerma might be induced, at least in appearance, to reconFrancisco de Jesus, 22-24.

2 The Bishop of Otranto to Borghese, Feb. 72 Roman Transcripts, R. O.

17,

3 Gondomar to Philip III., June Madrid Palace Library.

16, 26,

The Bishop of Otranto to Borghese, April 11, Roman Transcripts, R. O.

5 Gondomar to Philip III., June

21,

mar to Philip III., July Simancas MSS. 2524, fol. 77.

15

sider his decision. But, for the present, it seemed hardly likely that anything of the kind would take place. Yet neither party was willing to break off the negotiation. James could not so easily give up all hope of the 600,000l. which were to have paid his debts, and he was equally reluctant to abandon that close alliance with Spain which was the corner-stone of his foreign policy. He persuaded himself that the treaty was still on foot, and that the Spanish Government, after receiving Gondomar's report, would probably be satisfied without any express grant of toleration to the English Catholics. Lerma was not likely to wish to undeceive him. He would have counted it a good stroke of policy, if he could have gone on Dandying the marriage backwards and forwards between London and Madrid at least as long as there was a single French princess left unmarried.

1617.

The proposed expedition against the pirates.

The other negotiation with which Digby, who had recently been raised to the peerage, as Lord Digby of Sherborne, had been entrusted had hardly reached a more promising stage. Before he left London in 1617, one obstacle indeed had been cleared out of the way of the expedition against Algiers. The Dutch had refused to hear of any co-operation with the Spanish fleet,1 and Digby was therefore spared the annoyance of proposing to unwilling ears a close alliance between the countrymen of Alva and the countrymen of Heemskerk. Even if the English fleet were to come alone, the prospect could not fail to be most distasteful to the Spanish ministers. They listened to Digby's arguments, but it was only after a delay of several months that they replied that the English might come if they pleased, but that under no circumstances could the two nations act together. Such was the promising commencement of that alliance which was to be the guarantee for the peace of Europe.2

1618.

Carleton

'Lake to Carleton, May 6. Winwood to Carleton, June 4. to Lake, June 7. Carleton to Winwood, Aug. 12, Carleton Letters, 135, 136, 148, 160.

Oct. 30, Nov. 25, 1617.
Nov. 9, Dec. 5,

T'hilip III.

14. 24.

Consulta of the Council of War, April Con

1618

1

NEWS FROM AMERICA.

107

Even this amount of cordiality did not last long. Not many days after the concession had been made, news arrived from America that a Spanish town had been burned to the ground, and that Spaniards had been massacred by a band of Englishmen. The Government at Madrid at once caught at the excuse, and refused to say anything more about the pirates till reparation had been made.2 For the jealousy with which Spaniards regarded the entry of armed Englishmen into the Straits of Gibraltar was as nothing to the jealousy with which they regarded their presence in the Indies.

28,

sulta of the Council of State, April 18, 1618. fol. 13, 22, 25, 26.

1 Philip III. to Gondomar,

Simancas MSS. 2850,

May 30, 1618, ibid. 2572, fol. 312.

June 9,

2 Sanchez to Philip III., Jan. 1619, ibid. 2599, fol. 40.

17,

108

March 29.

leaves

London.

CHAPTER XXV.

RALEIGH'S LAST VOYAGE.

To understand the causes of the displeasure of the Spanish Government, it is necessary to go back to the time when, more than a year before, Raleigh was setting Raleigh out on his voyage. On March 29, 1617, he left London to join his ship at Dover, from whence he made the best of his way to Plymouth. Already, as he lay in that fair harbour, where the sloping woods and the rocky shores must have been fraught for him with memories of happier days, the shadows were falling thickly upon him. One of his captains, Sir Warham St. Leger, had been detained in the Downs by an accident to his vessel. His vice-admiral, Pennington, one of the most promising seamen of the day, had been stopped off the Isle of Wight for want of money, and had been unable to persuade the bakers to supply his ship with bread for the voyage. In despair, he had ridden up to London to appeal for help to Lady Raleigh. Poor Lady Raleigh had no money to give him; but she wrote to a friend at Portsmouth, who advanced the requisite 30l. to enable him to provision his ship. Two others of Raleigh's captains were in similar difficulties, and it was only by selling his plate that he was able to provide for their necessities.

1

There can have been few in England who had much hope of Raleigh's success. If he himself did not despair, it was only because he was determined that, whatever means he was

1 Cayley, Life of Raleigh, ii. 117; Edwards, i. 600.

1617

His negotiations

with Montmorency.

A REVOLUTION IN PARIS.

109

driven to use, he would not fail. As he was passing the Isle of Wight he was joined by Faige, the emissary whom he had despatched to Montmorency, and he immediately sent him back to France to complete the arrangements with which he had been charged.1 Faige returned to him at Plymouth, bringing a letter from Montmorency, by which the Admiral of France bound himself to do his best to obtain from the King permission for him to put into a French port on his return with his ships and men, together with any goods which he might have acquired by trade or otherwise."

Murder of

Since Raleigh had left London, an event had occurred in Paris which served to raise his hopes of receiving assistance from the French Government. Louis had long Ancre. borne with equanimity his exclusion from power by his mother and his mother's favourite Concini, who was now known as the Marshal of Ancre. His nature was singularly sluggish, and he loved better to amuse himself with his dogs and his falcons than to trouble himself with affairs of state. But there were others who were not equally resigned to insignificance. Luynes, the page who kept his hawks, and Vitry, the captain of his guard, hated Ancre as a rival, and they had little difficulty in obtaining from their master an order for the assas sination of a man whom he was unable, king as he was, to reach in any other way. The upstart Italian was, accordingly, cut down in the streets of Paris, amidst the plaudits of the whole nation.

3

The cry of exultation which was raised in France was echoed in all Protestant lands. The Queen-Mother had always been regarded as the chief supporter of the Spanish party. Even James was carried away by the tide, and for once found himself giving expression to opinions in complete accordance with those of Winwood and Raleigh. No doubt their reasons

1 Examination of Belle, March 10, 1618, Simancas MSS. 2598, fol. 56.

20,

2 He was to be admitted "avec tous ses ports, navires, equipages, et biens par lui traités ou conquis." Declaration by Montmorency,

1617, Simancas MSS. 2598, fol. 64.

April 27,

May 7,

3 In England, a play was written on the subject, which was interdicted

by the Government. Collier's Annals of the Stage, i. 408.