could hardly be averted if Charles were sent back with wounded

feelings. Yet, in the Infanta's present temper, the marriage was impossible. One expedient only seems to have presented itself to the mind of the Spanish minister. It was almost certain that if the dispensation were granted at all it would be accompanied by a reiteration of the old demand for liberty of worship in England. If Charles could be persuaded to make this concession, was it likely that the Infanta would persist in her opposition to terms which had received the hearty approbation of the Vatican? 1

Olivares de

concessions.

The Spaniard, accordingly, informed Buckingham that the King was most anxious for the conclusion of the marriage. It depended, however, entirely on the Prince whether mands fresh it would take place or not. The King had done his best to obtain the dispensation from the Pope; but it was thought at Madrid that, if a favourable answer was to be obtained, it would be necessary for the King of England to grant liberty of worship, according to the Pope's request. In this way all other difficulties would be easily surmounted.2

Buckingham was ignorant of much, but he at least knew England better than Olivares. It was impossible, he replied, Bucking- for the King to admit such a proposition without danham's reply. ger of tumult, and even of rebellion, from which the Catholics would be the first to suffer. He had no power to promise anything beyond that which was contained in his master's

In ascribing this reasoning to Olivares, I have not followed any authority. But it appears to be the only possible way of accounting for his actions, taking them into consideration as a whole.

2 "Olivares rispose, che il Rè persisteva non solo nell' assento, et lo confermeva a pieno, ma che gradendo appunto la dimostratione del Prencipe di trasferirse qui, desiderava medesimamente che si concludesse et s'ultimasse che tuttavia questi stava solo nella volontà del Prencipe; perchè si era sempre con tal conditione trattato per il che più volte havea S. Mtà. supplicato il Papa della gratia, et che rinoverebbe con efficace colore le supplicationi; ma accio più facilmente fossero essaudite, si stimava necessario che il Rè d'Inghilterra si risolvesse permettere la libertà della conscienza nella maniera che insta il Pontifice, sperandosi che cosi March 27,

tutte le altre difficoltà si superebbono." Corner to the Doge, April 6 Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna.

1623

COMMENTS OF THE NUNCIO.

21

letter written in 1620. James was ready to promise that the Catholics should not be persecuted, and that they should not be meddled with as long as they confined their religious observances to their private houses. It was possible that time might bring them further advantages, but, for the present, nothing more could be done.

It is com

With this reply, Olivares betook himself to the junta of the Council of State for English affairs, a committee municated to which had recently been formed by excluding the the Nuncio, ecclesiastics who had taken part in the original junta to which the marriage articles had been submitted. From it he received authority to consult the Nuncio on the subject.

who raises

It is better to see many things clearly than to be a man of one idea; but a sharp-sighted ecclesiastic, like De Massimi, possesses an undeniable advantage over a shifty politician like Olivares. What Olivares wanted might vary at any moment, according as the danger of offending the Emperor, or the danger of offending the King of England, was uppermost in his mind. The Nuncio's object was ever the same. To the Infanta's feelings, and to the impending bankruptcy of the Spanish monarchy, he was entirely callous. All he wanted to know, as each proposition was brought before him, was, how far it would conduce to the extension of his Church Under his scrutiny, thereobjections. fore, it is not to be wondered at if Buckingham's proposal was weighed and found wanting. The Pope, he told Olivares, would do everything for the King of Spain that his honour and conscience would permit, but the decision had been entrusted to the Congregation of Cardinals, and it must be some very extraordinary cause which would move the Pope to set aside the resolution which they had taken. For his part, he thought that, unless liberty of worship were accorded, the dispensation would not be granted. If James did not choose to render real and effective service to the Catholics at a moment when he was so eager to gain the Pope's consent to the marriage, it was vain to expect his good-will at a future time. Was it not ground for suspicion that he acknowledged that he was afraid of his own subjects, and that he was unable to induce them to See Vol. III. p. 346.

consent to the very change which he professed himself to be most anxious to grant? If it was true that the King of England's power was limited by the will of his Parliament, was it likely that, when the Infanta was once in England, he would be able to keep any promises which he might now make?

This was, indeed, going to the root of the matter. After all, the liberty accorded to the Catholics would depend upon the will of the English people. If Gondomar and Olivares had been able to understand this, they would have saved themselves much discredit.

Olivares, however, was not yet ready to acknowledge the weight of the Nuncio's objections. He tried to turn the subject, by alleging that he had not come to ask advice upon the general question. That had been carefully examined by the Council of State. All he wanted to know was, whether the Pope would assent to its decision.1

Proposes the cession of a fortress to the English Catholics.

The Nuncio's reply showed that, if he was more alive than Olivares to the general conditions of human action, his knowledge of special English feeling was limited in the extreme. Without some benefit to religion, he said, success was unattainable. If it were granted that, from fear of the Puritans and other heretics, the King of England was unable to permit the free exercise of the Catholic religion in his dominions, it was all the more necessary that he should give security that the concessions which he was willing to make would not be withdrawn. Let him, therefore, make over some fortified town to the Catholics, to be held by them in the same way that Rochelle was held by the French Huguenots.2

Charged with this monstrous proposition, the Spanish minis1 Corner to the Doge, March 27 Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna. April 6, 2 "Monsignor Nuntio replicò che, senza beneficare la Religione et assicurarla, non sarebbono riusciboli i tentativi. Propose che, escusandosi il Rè di Inghilterra che in se non stava di ammettere publicamente l'essercitio Cattolico per non pericolarsi coi Puritani, et con gli alteri Heretici ; che, almeno, perchè vi fosse sicurtà che non venissero fra poco tempo di nuovo travagliuti et molestati i Cattolici, et al exempio di Francia con gli Ugonotti, conseguesse alcuna fortezza o luogo da fortificarsi in mano di esse Cattolici per sicuro ricovero et difesa loro." Ibid.

1623 AN ENGLISH FORTRESS DEMANDED.

by Bucking

ham.

23

ter hurried back to Buckingham, who at once made short work Rejection of of the proposal. The circumstances of the French the proposal Huguenots and of the English Catholics, he said, were not the same. When the strong places were granted to the Protestants in France, it was done as a means of obtaining peace from a powerful body, which not only had the fortresses already in its possession, but was well able to keep them. The English Catholics were in a very different case. Living a retired and timid life in private, they had no following in the kingdom. The King could find no pretext to submit the proposition just made to Parliament. If Olivares thought of bringing forward any such demands as these, it would save trouble if he understood at once that they would not even be taken into consideration.1

It is with

Olivares saw that he had made a mistake. He drawn by threw the blame of all that he had said upon the Nuncio, and assured Buckingham that he would write

Olivares.

March 25.

at once to the Pope to hasten the dispensation.2 Everything now appeared, to Buckingham's inexperienced eye, to be going on smoothly. On March 25, he received from Olivares an engagement that no time should be lost in making preparations for the Infanta's journey.3 Two days afterwards, his Majesty's humble and Satisfaction obedient son and servant, Charles, and his humble slave and dog, Steenie, were able to send home still more favourable news. "We think it not amiss," they wrote,

March 27.

of Bucking

ham.

1 "Il Conte di Olivares riportò il pensiero a Buckingham, qual maravigliendosene, esplicossi che non concorrea in parità di case lo succeduto nella Francia con quello che si ricercava deliberare il Rè suo Signore, perchè la consegnatione delle Piazze a quelli della Religione Reformata fu da stimolo et da desiderio di quiete del Regno, perchè si ritrovavano armati in furore, et con acquisti di Piazze; cosa che non era de' Cattolici in Inghilterra, che nascosti, timidi, et senza alcuna existimatione viveano; onde che il Rè, non havendo pretesto, non ardirebbe porter nel Parlamento simil propositione; manifestando al Conde che, quando si pretendesse di nuovo queste dimande, si poteva riputar caduta e svanita qualunque trattica, ancorche avanti si trovasse." Venice MSS. Desp. Spagna. 2 Ibid.

The Prince and Buckingham to the King, March 25, Harl. MSS. 6987, fol. 44.

"to assure you that, neither in spiritual nor in temporal things there is anything pressed upon us more than is already agreed upon. Fain would they, in this time of expecting the dispensation, have treated upon the ends and effects of friendship; but we have avoided it with so many forcible arguments that they now rest satisfied. They were likewise in hope of a conversion of us both, but now excuses are more studied than reasons for it, though they say their loves shall ever make them wish it. To conclude, we never saw the business in a better way than now it is; therefore, we humbly beseech you, lose no time in hasting the ships, that we may make the more haste to beg that personally which now we do by letter-your blessing."1

Pastrana's

Rome.

For some weeks the Duke of Pastrana, a Spanish grandee— the natural son, if rumour was to be trusted, of Philip II.-had been preparing to start on a mission to Rome. mission to He was now ordered to leave Madrid at once, and it was given out that he was to use every means in his power to hasten the dispensation. Before he left Madrid, he came to kiss the Prince's hand, and assured him that 'the chiefest errand of his employment was to do his Highness service.' 2 Charles would indeed have been startled if he had known that Pastrana carried secret instructions from the King of Spain, requiring him to inform the Pope of the state of affairs at Madrid, and to urge him to refuse to grant the dispensation, which was no longer desired, now that all hope of the Prince's conversion was at an end.3

The Prince and Buckingham to the King, March 27, Hardwicke S. P. i. 413.

2 Aston to Carleton, April 2, S. P. Spain.

3 "Tardandosi tanto a sentire la nuova della conclusione del matrimonio del Principe d'Inghilterra, et sapendosi che la dispensa di quà fu inviata gran tempo fu, habbiamo procurato d'intendere con fondamento il vero stato di questo importante negotio, et da persona principalissima che ha havuto gran parte in questi maneggi habbiamo havuto la seguente relatione :-che la dispensa fu inviata in Spagna quasi contra la volontà de Spagnuoli, che per loro interessi tenevan volontieri questo negotio in piedi, ma anco per lor importanti rispetti non volevan per adesso venir a conclusione alcuna, et volevan servirse con Inghilterra per pretesti che non potevano cavar il consenso Ponteficio nè la dispensa, et che questo era uno