1623 INOJOSA'S DEMANDS. 125 tempered Inojosa.' At last, on the 28th of August, Conway was able to inform the Lord Keeper that the pardon and dispensation had been signed by the King, who had at the same time directed him to prepare a warrant for the liberation of the imprisoned priests, and to write a letter to the judges and magistrates, desiring them to take note of the pardon which had been granted, and to allow it to be pleaded in court.3 Question of writing to the judges. The instructions thus conveyed by Conway were a concession to Williams. The ambassadors had been asking for something very different-for a direct command restraining the judges from allowing the institution of proceedings against the Catholics. To this the Lord Keeper, not without reason, objected. It was customary, he urged, to grant dispensations from penalties incurred by the breach of the laws, and such dispensations would render any judicial sentence inoperative. He was, therefore, willing to write to the judges, informing them that the dispensation had been granted, and directing them to take note of the fact whenever it was pleaded in arrest of judgment. But it was utterly contrary to reason and precedent to forbid the judges and the justices of the peace to execute that law which they were sworn to administer. Such a proceeding, he justly declared, would provoke a storm of reprobation from one end of England to the other. Through the efforts of Williains, the ambassadors were induced to postpone their demands. It was agreed that the question should not be mooted again till the Infanta had been six months in England.1 Manœuvres If Williams had stopped here he would have done nothing more than his duty as a guardian of constitutional of Williams. right, but it soon became evident that he had something more than the mere exercise of his duty in his mind. 1 The correspondence on both sides is amongst the State Papers, but has unfortunately been divided without any sufficient motive. Some of the ietters will be found in the Domestic Series, others in the Spanish. 2 See p. 98. 3 Conway to Williams, Calvert, and Weston, Aug. 28, S. P. Dom. cli. 77. Conway to Gage, Aug. 29, S. P. Spain. Williams to Buckingham, Aug. 30. Printed with a wrong uate in Cabala, 272. Knowing, as he did, that the Prince would in all probability soon be home from Spain, he turned all the resources of his brain to the one object of postponing the settlement of any single question by which the recusants were affected till Charles was once again in England. Shrewd enough to foresee that the Prince would probably come back in a high state of discontent, the Lord Keeper was already trimming his sails to suit the changing breeze; but in this, as in most other human actions, there was, no doubt, a mixture of motives at work. The last concessions to the Catholics had been wrung out of the King by the fear that a refusal would be visited upon his son. Would not James therefore, Williams may have thought, be justified in replacing himself in the position which he would have occupied if the Prince had remained quietly in England? To do this, indeed, would cost some amount of manoeuvring, from which an honourable man would have shrunk; but the episcopal Lord Keeper was ready to take all this upon his own shoulders, and it is probable that the game which he proposed to play was the more enjoyable to him because it involved a trial of skill not altogether restrained within the limits of truthfulness and honesty. tion of the pardon delayed. To a certain point, at least, Williams had the clear support of the King. James was really desirous of fulfilling his promises, The publica- but he wished first to make sure that the King of Spain was in earnest too. The instrument containing the pardon and dispensation was therefore ordered to be got ready on the distinct understanding that it was not to be published or in any way made use of until the return of the Prince, or the arrival of satisfactory tidings from Spain. An exemplification of it was, however, to be made under the great seal for the purpose of being placed in Inojosa's hands, though he was strictly charged to keep his possession of it a profound secret.1 A day or two afterwards he was told that this restriction would be taken off, and the Catholics would be allowed to Conway to Williams, Calvert, and Weston, Sept. 1. Conway to Gage, Sept. 1. Conway to Calvert, Sept. 4, S. P. Dom. Conway's Letter Book, 81, 82. Calvert to Conway, Sept. 2, S. P. Dom. clii. 4. Conway to Calvert, Aug. 31. Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 4, S. P. Spain. 1623 INOJOSA Baffled 127 benefit by the pardon as soon as it was known that the marriage ceremony had taken place at Madrid.1 Great as must have been the annoyance felt by Inojosa at the delay, it was as nothing to his disgust at what followed. September. happened that a certain Preston was one of the very Preston's few Roman Catholic priests who had taken the King's pardon. side in the controversy on the oath of allegiance. He was in consequence excessively unpopular amongst the members of his own Church, and was living under the constant fear of punishment by his ecclesiastical superiors for the courageous firmness with which he had maintained his opinions in the face of the worst of oppositions, the opposition of those who had once been his intimate friends. He had now for some time been imprisoned in the Marshalsea with his own consent, in order that if he were summoned to Rome to give an account of his actions, he might be able to plead the bar of physical impossibility. This was the man, of all others, who was selected by James and Williams to be named in the first pardon, a copy of which was to be placed in Inojosa's hands. Care was taken at the same time that he should not be sent away from England without the King's permission.2 A day or two after Williams had received orders to get this pardon ready, news arrived that the Prince had left Madrid. From that moment the Lord Keeper set himself reDelays of Williams, solutely to evade, and even to disobey, the orders which he received from his Sovereign. Again and again Inojosa complained that no copy of the pardon had been given to him, and that the promises which he had received in the King's name had not been fulfilled. Again and again James sent messages to assure him that he had given distinct orders, and that it was not his fault if they had not been carried out." Williams, whenever he was applied to, answered unblushingly ' Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 6, S. P. Spain. 2 Conway to Williams, Sept. 6. Warrant, Sept. 8, Hacket, 158. • Calvert to Conway, Sept. 12, S. P. Dom. clii. 36. Conway to Calvert, Sept. 12. Inojosa to Conway, Sept. 15. Conway to Inojosa, Sept. 16, S. P. Spain. Conway to Williams, Sept. 17, Hacket, 158. that it was imposible to get ready such a multitude of instru Oct. 5. Arrival of the Prince. At last, on October 5, the Prince landed at Portsmouth. Hurrying up to London, he reached York House a little after daybreak on the following morning. Already the news of his arrival had spread like wildfire. That he had come without the dreaded Infanta by his side was sufficient to awaken the long-suppressed loyalty of the English people. They saw in it a pledge that the prolonged rule of Spanish ministers and of Spanish counsels was coming to an end. At last, they believed, the Prince had burst the bonds which had been woven around him by designing men, and had come back free to withstand the insidious aggressions Rejoicings in of Popery. When Charles landed from the barge in which he crossed the Thames, he found that the news of his coming had preceded him. The bells rang out their merriest peals on every side. The streets were thronged with happy faces. But he did not care to linger in London. After Oct. 6. London. 1 Conway to Williams, Oct. 18, Oct. 19, Hacket, 159. Williams to Conway, Oct. 18, S. P. Dom. clii. 46. 2 Hacket (i. 159), states that everything was put off till the return of the Prince; but he himself admits that the order for the letter had been given; and Salvetti, in his News-Letter of October 24, distinctly states that the pardon was in the ambassador's hands. 7 1623 AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. 129 receiving complimentary visits from the Privy Councillors, he rejected an ill-timed demand that he would give audience to the Spanish ambassadors, and ordered a coach to be got ready, that he might join his father at Royston with all possible speed. As he drove along the Strand, it was with the utmost difficulty that he could make his way through the enthusiastic crowd. "Long live the Prince of Wales!" was heard on every side, from voices mingled in one universal roar of gladness. When he was gone, men felt that it was impossible to settle down to their usual avocations. Wealthy citizens brought out tables laden with food and wine, and placed them in the streets. Prisoners confined for debt were set at liberty by the contributions of persons whose names were utterly unknown to them. A cartload of felons, wending its melancholy way to Tyburn, and happening to cross the Prince's path, was turned back, and the condemned men were astonished by an unexpected release from death. When the evening closed in, lighted candles were placed in every window, and the sky was reddened with bonfires. One hundred and eight blazing piles were counted in the short distance between St. Paul's and London Bridge. In one place a cart laden with wood was stopped by the populace, and as soon as the horse had been taken out, a light was applied to the load as it stood. Never before, according to the general testimony of all who have left a narrative of the scenes which passed before their eyes, had rejoicing so universal and so spontaneous been known in England,1 Nichols, iii. 935. Valaresso to the Doge, Oct. Venice Transcripts. |