At that time his death was hardly remarked, in presence of the great loss which the whole Protestant cause and the world in general experienced when the King of Sweden fell on the battle-field of Lützen.
The two events exercised a concurrent influence upon England. King Charles, after his brother-in-law’s death, regarded it as his duty to identify his nephew’s cause still more closely with his own. The death of the King of Sweden made his task easier, inasmuch as the strong will, which had hitherto controlled every design, had now ceased to act. Charles I now immediately invited the Protestant sovereigns of Germany to carry on the war, by which the Palatinate was to be restored; and in return he offered to continue to them the subsidies which he had contributed to the King of Sweden. And Chancellor Oxenstiern, who guided the Swedish policy, had weighty reasons himself for respecting the interests of the Palatinate, as they were linked not only with so many others in the Empire, but with those of the Netherlands besides, and just now with those of Great Britain[26]. In May 1633, at the convention of Heilbronn, where the English ambassador Anstruther appeared among others, the cause of the Palatinate received more consideration than it ever had before. Electoral rank was conceded for the first time to the plenipotentiary of the Palsgrave Louis Philip, who came forward as administrator of the Palatinate in the name of the Elector Charles Louis, who was still a minor. The Chancellor of Sweden promised them the restoration of the whole country, so far as it was in Swedish hands: and in the Consilium formatum, which it was determined at Heilbronn to set up, to act in conjunction with him, the Palatinate occupied the first place. In return the administrator granted the restoration of the Lutheran faith: he left Mannheim, as well as other important A.D. 1633. places, in the hands of Sweden for the time, and made himself answerable for the payment of 60,000 reichs thalers. These however the English ambassador undertook to furnish; and in fact we find that immediately after this time £15,000, which at that time was about equal to the sum stipulated, was despatched to Germany. The King and Weston were well pleased that England was not named in the treaty, nor pledged to further advances[27]. They now thought it preferable to leave the matter alone.
But the help of England could not but be often claimed hereafter in aid of this cause.
In the summer of 1633 there was much talk of invoking the sympathies of the English nation in behalf of the widowed Queen Elizabeth and her children. Her friends flattered themselves that half a million thalers might be raised by voluntary contributions; and Nethersole, one of the Queen’s most trusty friends, was in the country to conduct the transaction, which was to be carried out in the name of the Princess and of the King. But it was soon perceived that the nation was not so forward as had been expected; for it saw in this scheme an attempt to evade the necessity of a Parliamentary grant. In order to meet this suspicion the sketch of a proclamation was laid before the King, in which the remark was made that he would measure the loyalty of his people by the amount of their voluntary contributions, and would be the more ready to seek their help in another way when the time for this should have arrived[28]. But this clause displeased the King, because it contained a promise which he was reluctant to give, that Parliament should be summoned; and he struck it out with his own hand[29]. On this the whole project fell to the ground, for without an assurance of this sort the Queen’s friends had no hope of effecting anything.
A.D. 1634.
Towards the end of the year 1633 there was a moment when the Emperor again obtained advantages on the Upper Rhine; and the attention of King Charles was called to the inability of the territory of the Palatinate to resist even a feeble attack from the side of Alsace. The administrator asked for only a small force of 6000 infantry and 1000 cavalry, which after it was once raised might be kept in pay for £6000 a month. The Queen of Bohemia, the States-General, and the French ambassador united their requests with his; the Chancellor of Sweden sent his son over to recommend the King most strongly to accede to them: but the King and his treasurer shrank from a new and regular outlay, which in the present instance was sure to entail much other expenditure. At last they raised 100,000 thalers for Germany, and sent the administrator a gold chain in order to keep him in a good humour: but they could not be moved to undertake an obligation which could lead to the assembling of Parliament.
We should remark however that they were withheld from decisive action, not only by want of money and by fees of Parliament, but also by general political considerations as well.
In the last few years, since the leading of the King of Sweden in Germany, the importance and power of the French had immeasurably increased. They had the Protestant interest in Germany on their side, and they already exercised a decisive influence on the Catholics also. In all their proceedings it was seen that, notwithstanding the advantages which they won, their allies derived no benefit, but that on the contrary they only endeavoured to make their own position so strong in order to be raised above all need of considering the interests of other powers. Only one other state, Holland, raised itself side by side with them to daily-increasing importance. Just at that time the Dutch had thrown their English rivals into the shade: they had founded their East Indian empire, they had established a footing in Brazil, they had captured in the West Indian waters the Spanish register-ships which went from Mexico to Havanna with all their rich cargo—an achievement which the English had so often attempted in vain; and in their A.D. 1635. domestic waters, in the narrow channel of the Slaak, they had annihilated the fleet of the Infanta Isabella which was sailing to attack them. In consequence of this they also became masters of the neighbouring seas. They did not hesitate to seek out ships under the Spanish flag, especially those of Dunkirk, in English ports, or in English waters, and to take them across to Holland as their lawful prize. And even on land at that time they achieved important results. By the successful surprise of Wesel they not only again secured their own frontier, but once more infused some portion of vital power into that principality on the Rhine, which had been formerly founded there by Brandenburg in conjunction with England, but which certainly required a longer time for its development. The sieges of Bois-le-duc and Maastricht, notwithstanding so many other great events, riveted at that time the attention of Europe. The success of the Dutch in these two enterprises appeared a proof of their general superiority; the provinces of the Spanish Netherlands were much straitened by it. And as it revived in those provinces the hereditary feeling of dislike to a foreign rule, Holland and France on their part might well think of availing themselves of this dissatisfaction, and of putting an end for ever by a sudden attack to the rule of Spain.
It is quite plain how great a blow the English would have sustained if the whole coasts of this part of the continent had fallen into the hands of these two neighbours, whose close alliance was in itself very offensive to them[30]. Against the danger of being entangled in continental affairs, and of feeling their reflex action in Great Britain, Charles I had to set off the other danger, if he held aloof from them, of seeing new powers develop during their progress, which might make his position most critical. In order to acquire the means of resisting the ascendancy of France and Holland, he was obliged to make fresh advances to Spain.
We can hardly form an idea for ourselves how much the relations between England and Spain changed and shifted in A.D. 1634. the great conflict which was going on. In the year 1631 a scheme was drawn up for a great attack of the English and Spaniards upon the United Netherlands, as a result of which Zealand should fall to the lot of the former. As yet indeed there was no treaty, but only a plan sketched out for further consideration, which Charles I avoided accepting, although Cottington seems to have approved of it[31]. But we see at all events to what the aim of the Spaniards was directed. After a short time, when they found themselves deceived, they entertained designs of an entirely opposite character. A detailed plan of Count Olivarez is extant, according to which Spain and France were to undertake a general attack upon England[32]. England, Scotland, and Ireland, were each to be attacked separately, and internal animosities of every kind were to be invoked in aid of the invaders. An idea was entertained of placing the young Elector Palatine on the throne of England, under the condition that he guaranteed full religious liberty and restored the expelled Irish to their lost inheritance. On the other hand, in the summer of 1634 an alliance between Spain and England was again in progress. Weston, Cottington, and Windebank, took counsel with the Spanish resident, Don Juan Nicolalde, for this object, in such entire secrecy that even Coke, the Secretary of State, had no information about it. The King besought the court of Brussels, which on this occasion as on others he was obliged to take into his confidence, to apply to no one about this matter except himself and Windebank. The overtures which he made to Spain at that time are accounted for by the ascendancy of the Dutch marine and the rise of that of the French. The claim of England to exercise a sort of supremacy over the neighbouring seas, was once more called in question. The English contended for this right in learned treatises[33]; the King of France on the other A.D. 1635. hand showed a determination no longer to acknowledge it. For, as his ambassador said, everything must have its foundation in reason; the usage of the sea only required that the less powerful should show honour to the more powerful; even England could have no other claim: and what would happen if the relative power of different states varied? The English would not entertain this supposition, for they clung to the principle that their navy must have the superiority over that of all their neighbours[34], for this reason, if for no other, that, if it had not, their neighbours could throw a far superior army on the shores of England. And another principle was asserted at that time, which did not find full acceptance until a quarter of a century later, viz. that there must be an equilibrium between the European powers; for fears were already felt lest France should become supreme by sea as well as on land[35]. Moreover King Charles was implored by English merchants to protect them against the insults to which they were exposed, while he was not even in a condition to give effect to his ordinances, e.g. those which concerned the fisheries: he therefore cherished the ardent wish to be able again to show himself strong by sea; it was to a Spanish loan that he looked for the requisite means. For even in reference to this object he was cramped by his misunderstanding with Parliament. We shall see hereafter how fatal to the development of domestic affairs were the measures which Charles I was induced to adopt in order to attain this end. Certainly Spain, fully occupied by the war in Germany, and threatened just now by a French war in the Netherlands, could not give him the assistance he desired. But even though no subsidy was forthcoming, yet at all events a common tie of interest between England and Spain again grew out of the situation of affairs.