1623 JAMES'S PROPOSAL. 145 another long rambling letter to Bristol, in which he once more called upon the King of Spain to get him out of his difficulties. Nov. 13. His letter to Bristol order ing the post ponement of the marriage. He would never have written to defer the marriage till after Christmas, he said, if he had known that the proxy would have expired. He now sent a fresh proxy, which would continue in force till March. There would, therefore, be plenty of time to obtain entire satisfaction. Yet he could not but have doubts as to the intentions of the King of Spain. News had just arrived that the rich lands about the Bergstrasse, which had been given up by the Elector of Mentz more than a century and a half before, had now been reclaimed from the Palatinate, and had been surrendered into the Elector's hands with the connivance of the Spanish garrisons. Bristol, therefore, before he delivered the proxy, was to procure a written declaration from Philip of his determination to obtain a complete restitution of the Palatinate and the Electorate by mediation, and to give assistance to ob. tain that object by other means, if mediation failed. He was also to be required to state within what time the mediation shall determine, and the assistance of arms begin.' In order, however, to show that he was not exorbitant in his demands, James expressed his readiness to propound a plan for satisfying the Elector of Bavaria. He was also prepared to go on with the negotiation for his grandson's marriage, although, in deference to his son-in-law's objections, the offer of sending the boy to Vienna must be withdrawn. James now proposed that the Electoral Prince should be educated in England, under the eye of the Prince of Wales and the Infanta. Having thus disposed of the interests of Europe, James returned with unusual vigour to his own. He would have nothing to do, he said, with the proposal for sending any part of the Infanta's portion in jewels, or with the substitution of a yearly rent for the payment of the capital. He must have the whole sum in ready money.' This letter was accompanied by another from Conway, 'The King to Bristol, Nov. 13, Clarendon State Papers, i. 13. ordering Bristol to come away from Spain if he did not receive a satisfactory answer within twenty days.1 Such was the despatch which, no doubt, much to James's astonishment, proved to be an ultimatum, the rejection of which Character of brought down in ruin the whole edifice of the Spanish the letter. alliance. It has, perhaps, been usual to lay too great stress upon the influence of Charles and Buckingham in bringing about the change in the King's method of proceeding. In point of fact, there was very little change at all, and what there was was the result far more of circumstances than of any alteration in James's opinions. Always inclined to look upon the great religious and political questions of the age very much as a lawyer looks upon an action for the possession of an acre of ground, and leaving cut of consideration the interests, the feel~ings, and the passions of men and of nations, he had for years been under the impression that if only a suspension of arms could be effected, everything else would be easy. At last he had got his wish. A suspension of arms had been agreed on, to be followed by a great diplomatic meeting at Cologne, at which all difficulties were to be surmounted if the conflicting parties could come to an understanding on the preliminaries of an arrangement. A very few weeks had been sufficient to show that James was unable to discover a compromise which would be satisfactory to the disputants, and he could but call upon the King of Spain to come to his help or to forfeit his friendship for ever. The King's despatch was followed by one much shorter and sharper from his son. Bristol," wrote Charles, "the false interpretation of the King's and my directions conLetter from cerning the not delivering of my proxy has made me Charles. in such haste to send away this bearer, that by this I can only give you a command, without giving any reasons at this time, which is not to deliver my proxy until you hear further from the King and myself. Make what shifts or fair excuses you will, but I command you, as you answer it upon your peril, not to deliver my proxy till you hear further from hence. So, hoping you will obey this command punctually, I rest your friend, CHARLES, P." 3 Nov. 14. 66 1 Conway to Bristol, Nov. 13, Sherborne MSS. 2 See p. 78. 1623 ANTAGONISTIC VIEWS. 147 The next day another letter from the Prince followed in the same tone. "Whatsoever answer ye get," he wrote, "ye must Nov. 15. A second letter. not deliver the proxy till ye make my father and me judge of it. As for the whole business, ye must deal freely with them in as civil terms as ye will, that except that King will promise under his hand to help my father with his arms, in case mediation fail, to restore my brother-in-law to his honours and inheritances, there can be neither marriage nor friendship; and, as to the breeding up of my nephew in the Emperor's Court, avoid it handsomely as ye can, but I assure you it shall never be. And if they will do all that my father desires, they may not only be sure of an alliance, but of a hearty sincere friendship. Make no replies. Suffer no delays.' The day on which this letter was written, Inojosa and Coloma were received by the King in the presence of the Audience of Prince and Buckingham. For four long hours the the Spanish discussion lasted. James was forced to admit that ambassa dors. 4 he had never asked that the restitution of the Palatinate should be made a condition of the marriage, and even that it was unreasonable to expect the King of Spain to take up arms against the Emperor ; but, he added, in his usual inconsecutive way, that his daughter and his grandchildren were dear to him, -he could not bear to abandon them,—he had promised that by fair means or by foul he would recover all that they had lost, -his reputation was engaged, and he could not break his word. Oct. 30. Whilst James was making these ineffectual representations in London, the question of the inarriage was being decided at Madrid. On October 30, Bristol received a fresh Fresh answer reply on the subject of the Palatinate: Philip now Palatinate. affirmed that he would try to get the Electorate restored after the death of Maximilian to Frederick himself about the 1 The word "his" is not in the original, 2 The word "to" is also omitted. The Prince to Bristol, Nov. 15, Sherborne MSS. ♦ This particular admission is referred to in the King of Spain's reply to the ambassadors on December 9. For the rest of the conversation instead of to his son, but he gave no hope of taking arms against the Emperor. He would continue, he said, to interpose his good offices. To ask him for more was to ask for impossibilities.1 Whilst Bristol was waiting for a reply to a fresh application for a better answer,2 tidings reached Madrid that the new Pope The dispen. had given his approval to the dispensation granted by his predecessor, and that the documents necessary for the accomplishment of the marriage ceremony sation ap proved at Rome. would soon be on their way from Rome. Bristol, having at this time received only the despatch of October 8, in which he was commanded to postpone the marriage till after Christmas, at once communicated his difficulties to James. “There is an Nov. 1. Bristol demands instructions. intention," he wrote, "to call presently upon me for the Prince's powers for the marriage left in my hands, the which I know not upon what ground or reason to detain, the Prince having engaged in the said powers the faith and word of a prince no way to revoke and retract from them, but that they should remain in full force till Christmas; and delivered unto me a politic declaration of his pleasure, that, upon the coming of the dispensation, I should deliver them unto this King that they might be put in execution, and hereof, likewise was there by Secretary Ciriza, as a public notary, an instrument drawn and attested by all the witnesses present. If I shall allege your Majesty's pleasure of having the marriage deferred till one of the holidays, although they should condescend thereunto, that is impossible, for the powers will be then expired. If I shall insist upon the restitution of the Palatinate, this King hath therein declared his answer; and it would be much wondered why that should be now added for a condition of the marriage, having hitherto been treated of as a business apart, and was in being at the granting of the said powers, and hath been often under debate, but never specified, nor the powers delivered upon any condition of having any such point first cleared; and I must confess unto your Majesty I understand not how with honour, and that exact dealing which hath ever been observed in all your Majesty's actions, 1623 BRISTOL'S PROTEST. 149 the powers, can be detained, unless there should appear some new and emergent cause since the granting of them, whereof as yet I hear none specified. Therefore, being loth to be the instrument by whose hands anything should pass that might have the least reflection upon your Majesty's or the Prince's honour, which I shall ever value more than my life or safety, and judging it likewise to conduce more to your service, and assuring myself that your Majesty's late direction to have the marriage upon one of the holidays in Christmas, was for want of due information that the powers will be then expired, I have thought it fit, with the advice of Sir Walter Aston, to raise no scruple in the delivery of the said powers; but do intend, when they shall be required, to pass on to the nominating of a prefixed day for the marriage; but I shall endeavour to defer the time until I may be advertised of your Majesty's pleasure, if it may be within the space of twenty-four days, and will labour to find some handsome and fair occasion for the deferring of them, without alleging any directions in that kind from your Majesty or the Prince.” 1 This was plain speaking. The King, and the Prince through him, were told that the course which they had adopted was Was Charles utterly dishonourable. With full knowledge that dishonoured? Spain would not give armed assistance for the recovery of the Palatinate, Charles had chosen to swear that he would fulfil the marriage contract in every particular, and it was monstrous that he should now repudiate his obligations on account of an obstacle which he had foreseen when he undertook them. If indeed he had chosen to plead that he had subsequently been enlightened, and that since his return to England he had learned that the engagements which he had formed were ruinous to his country, he might fairly have asked to be relieved from a promise given through ignorance or inadvertence. But nothing of the kind was the case. With him there was no admission of error, no confession of heedlessness. He was in the right when he had sworn; he was equally in the right when, without a word of explanation, he broke his oath. 1 Bristol to the King, Nov. 1, Cabala, 95. Compare Aston to Buckingham, Nov. 1 (?), ibid. 11. |