1623 JAMES'S TERMS. 135 magnify it sufficiently, which makes us not know how sufficiently to give thanks; but we will that by all means you endeavour to express our thankfulness to that King, and the rest to whom it belongs, in the most ample manner you can. And hereupon you may take occasion to let that King know that, according to our constant affection to make a firm and indissoluble amity between our families, nations, and crowns, and not seem to abandon our honour, nor, at the same time we give joy to our only son, to give our only daughter a portion in tears, by the advice of that King's ambassadors, we have entered a treaty concerning the restitution of the Palatinate and Electoral dignity to our son-in-law to be really procured by that King, according to the obligation of our honour, as you have well expressed in your reasons why the person of our son-in-law should not be left out of the treaty; but that the Emperor should find out a great title, or by increasing the number of Electoral States wherewith to satisfy the Duke of Bavaria. We now, therefore, require you that presently on your first audience you procure from that King a punctual answer what course that King will take for the restitution of the Palatinate and Electorate to our son-in-law; and in case that either the Emperor or the Duke of Bavaria oppose any part of the expected restitution, what course that King will take to give us assurance for our content on that point, whereof we require your present answer; and that you so press expedition herein that we may all together receive the full joy of both in Christmas, resting ourself upon that faithful diligence of yours we have approved in all your service; though almost with the latest we must remember to you as a good ground for you to work on, that our son did write us out of Spain that that King would give us a blank, in which we might form our own conditions concerning the Palatinate, and the same our son confirms to us now. What observation and performance that King will make we require you to express, and give us a speedy account.” 1 In this letter, James, passing by, as unworthy of notice, Bristol's statement that a postponement of the marriage would 1 The King to Bristol, Oct. 8, Cabala, 241. be regarded in Spain as a personal insult, quietly fixed, as Intentions of if it were a mere matter of course, upon a day subseJames. quent to the date at which, as he must have known if he had read his ambassador's despatch with the slightest attention, his son's proxy would expire. The remainder of the letter was no less characteristic of the man. He evidently believed that the King of Spain would be able and willing to effect what was now equivalent to a revolution in Germany as a personal favour to himself. For himself to take part in the German war on behalf of his kindred and religion was a task which was, in his eyes, surrounded by ever-increasing difficulties; for the King of Spain to join in the strife on the side opposite to his own family interests and his own warmest convictions, was a mere trifle, from which it would be ridiculous to expect him to shrink. Charles writes to Bristol, James's letter was accompanied by one from the Prince. "The King," wrote Charles, "has thought good in this interim of expectation for my mistress, to give you a command to try what the King of Spain will do concerning the business of the Palatinate before I be contracted, and his reason is-which I could not reply to--that, having but two children, he would be loth that one of them should have cause to weep when the other has reason to laugh; and I was the rather induced to yield unto it, because the King may very well have a positive answer of this before Christmas, so that it will lose no time in that business I desire so much. Although this be a needless office, because I am sure you will understand this more amply by the King's own letters, yet I have written this that ye may know from me, as well as from the King my father, the intent of this direction, which I assure you is in no way to break the marriage, but, in this dull interim of looking for my mistress, to put an end to the miseries of my sister and her children, which I should have done if I had stayed this winter.” 1 Another letter, written to Aston on the same day, is far more indicative of Charles's real teelings. Honest Watt," he wrote, 1 The Prince to Bristol, Oct. 8, Sherborne MSS. -1623 બ and to Aston. THE PROXY TO BE KEPT BACK. 137 the King, my father, has sent a command to Bristol not to de liver my proxy until we may know certainly what the King of Spain will do concerning the Palatinate. If you find that this do make them startle, give them all the assurance that you can think of, that I do really intend to desire this match; and the chief end of this is that we may be as well hearty friends as near allies; and, to deal freely with you, so that we may have satisfaction concerning the Palatinate, I will be content to forget all ill-usage and be hearty friends; but, if not, I can never match where I have had so dry entertainment, although I shall be infinitely sorry for the loss of the Infanta." It is not probable that, if Charles had been allowed to bring the Infanta with him in September, he would have expressed himself so strongly about the Palatinate. But all his self-love was in arms to avenge the slight which had been put upon him. Now that the remembrance of the wounds which had been inflicted upon his vanity in Spain was rankling in his breast his sense of his sister's wrongs became more vivid than before. Oct. 20. reply. To the summons peremptorily addressed to Madrid and to the Hague, Frederick was the first to reply. After thanking his father-in-law profusely for his good-will, Frederick's and especially for his declaration that he would obtain for him an entire restitution, he touched upon the important demand which had now been made. "As to the overture," he wrote, "of a marriage between my eldest son and the Emperor's daughter, when I have obtained that full and entire restitution of which I have spoken, if your Majesty judges it expedient to insist upon the point, I shall always be very willing, through my duty and filial respect, to yield to whatever may tend to the advancement of the glory of God, and which is in conformity with your Majesty's good advice, and is necessary for the public good, and the particular interests of my House."1 However courteous may have been the forms in which it was expressed, the letter contained what was virtually a decided refusal to listen to James's proposal. No candid person, The Prince to Aston, Oct. 8, S. P. Spain. 20 2 Frederick to the King, Oct. S. P. Germany. indeed, would think of blaming Frederick for his objection to marry his son to a Roman Catholic wife. His impracticable demands. Every day it was becoming more plain that the Protestant religion was in real danger in Germany. What the fugitive Prince could not see was, that, as long as he persisted in claiming total restitution as a right, so long would those moderate men who looked upon the Imperial institutions as the only bulwark against anarchy, be lukewarm in his cause, if they were not absolutely hostile. The best service that he could render to Germany was to leave the championship of his religion to men whose names would not sound in the ears of their countrymen as a challenge to sedition. Unhappily such patriotism as this is hardly to be expected from the majority of men, and least of all from such as Frederick. Mediation now impossible. However much opinions may differ as to Frederick's duty, there can be no doubt whatever that his letter was a deathblow to any vitality which may have been left in James's mediation. It rendered all further negotiation hopeless. If Philip had been the most conscientious man in Europe, he would not have considered himself bound by promises made under other circumstances, either to persuade or to compel the Emperor to replace Frederick in his old authority, without any guarantees for his future conduct, on the mere chance that the restored Prince would abstain from sending out fresh hordes of plunderers to devastate the territories of his neighbours. If Frederick was to some extent in the right, so far as the quarrel concerned religion, Ferdinand and Philip were altogether in the right so far as it concerned the political security of Germany. Oct. 21. claration On the 21st, the day after Frederick's letter was written, the King of Spain's intentions with respect to the Palatinate were made known to Bristol. With respect to the proPhilip's de posed marriage, he declared himself ready to do all good offices with the Emperor, if it were understood Palatinate. that the young Prince was to be educated at Vienna. It would then be for his father to make due submission, and to give guarantees that he would from that time become the firm ally of the House of Austria. Then everything possible would about the 1623 PHILIP'S TERMS. 139 be done to meet James's wishes, and in proportion as the Palatine gave satisfaction, his States would be restored either to himself or to his children. After the death of the Duke of Bavaria, the Electorate would revert to Frederick's eldest son. But, to quote the words of the document itself :-" As the aforecaid Count Palatine has up to this time shown so little sign of submission or repentance, and as he has made such notorious attempts upon his lord the Emperor, it seems that it would be of very ill example that he should not retain in his individual person some mark of punishment.” 1 As far as Frederick's own position was concerned, nothing more could fairly be expected. Ignorant as the Spanish ministers necessarily were of the letter which had been written the day before at the Hague, they were not ignorant that it was only after Christian's defeat at Stadtloo that Frederick had been brought to consent to any negotiation at all. The really serious point in the King of Spain's declaration was the total omission of any reference to the Protestant governor who was to have superintended young Frederick Henry's education at Vienna. The omission was evidently intentional; and, in fact, Olivares, sanguine as usual, was already communicating to Khevenhüller a plan by which Frederick might be induced to travel to Vienna in order to throw himself at the Emperor's feet, and to leave, not only his eldest, but also his second son, to be educated in the Catholic religion.2 Such were the secret plans of Olivares and his master, when, on October 21, the despatches written in England on the 8th were placed in Bristol's hands. Ignorant, alike of Frederick's last impracticable demands, and of the no less impracticable designs of the Spanish Government, the ambassador still cherished the belief that, when once the Prince of Wales was married, Philip could not fail to exert himself on behalf of the interests of his brother-in-law on the Continent. As he was himself without any religious enthusiasm whatever, and was accustomed to regard passing events from the point of view of a secular politician, he 1 Ciriza to Bristol, Oct. S. P. Spain. Olivares to Cottington (?), Oct. 21, Hacket, 483. 2 Khevenhüller, x. 99. 21 |