"It is not your affair," replied she, in a tone of authority. "It is not your affair to speak of matters concerning princes, and to inquire whether they have secret intelligences with each other."
"I do not blame you for this," said Burleigh; "but if the Spanish army had entered the country, could you have answered for the life of the Queen? Would not the country have been in danger of falling into the hands of strangers?"
"I do not know what were their intentions," returned the Queen, "nor am I bound to answer for them; but I am very sure that they would have done something for me, and if you had wished to employ my services I should have been able to bring about a good understanding between you and them, as I have often offered to do. You should not have refused my offers. If you destroy me you will place yourselves in danger, and will receive more harm than good. Of all that has been done by strangers I know nothing and am not responsible. I desired nothing save my own deliverance."
Unmoved by Mary's words, the lawyers redoubled their accusations. They declared again that the murder of the Queen, of her councillors and principal noblemen, had been determined upon; that the intention had been to burn down Chartley and kill the guards; that all the Catholics were to rise and place the Queen of Scots on the throne; that in Rome Mary was prayed for publicly, as legitimate Queen of England, together with other things of the same nature. To this Mary replied as follows:—
"I know nothing of any murder or attempt against any one, nor of any plot or invasion of the kingdom. As I have already said, I gave you sufficient warning to beware of some such enterprise, for I was sure that something was in preparation, though I knew not what. It was always hidden from me, as it was well known I should not consent to it, and also because they feared that it would injure me. These conspirators may have used my name to authorise their proceedings and strengthen their cause, but there is no letter written or signed by me; there is no one who has seen such a thing or received it, or who has communicated or spoken with me, and such a thing has been far from my intentions.
"You know very well," continued Mary, "that in my own kingdom I never interfered with any of the Protestants, but, on the contrary, tried to win them always by gentleness and clemency, which I carried too far, and for which I have been blamed. It has been the cause of my ruin, for my subjects became proud and haughty, and abused my clemency; indeed, they now complain that they were never so well off as under my government.
"As to Chartley, I never heard of the proposal to burn it, but my deliverance was promised. If the foreign princes were in league, it was to free me from my prison, from which I could not escape; and for the same reason they prepared armed men to receive and defend me. If the Catholics offered their aid in this matter, which I know not, it was in their own interest, as they are so wickedly treated, oppressed, and afflicted in this country that they have fallen into despair, and would as soon die as live longer under the persecution which they suffer. You gain nothing by afflicting them or me; I am but a single person. When I die the Catholics and foreign princes will continue to act, unless you cease to persecute them.
"As regards my wishing to take the place of the Queen, the very letters you have read aloud sufficiently prove the contrary. In them I expressly declare that I desire no honours or kingdom, that I do not care for them, and that I beg no enterprise of the kind may be undertaken for me; but for the Catholic cause and for God's quarrel I desire the deliverance of the first and the defence of the second. In short, you will find that I have no other desire than the overthrow of Protestantism and the deliverance of myself and the afflicted Catholics, for whom (as I have often said) I am ready to shed my blood. I shall esteem myself very happy if God gives me the grace to suffer and to endure death for His holy name and in the defence of His quarrel. If the Pope gives me the title of Queen, it is not for me to correct him. He knows what he does much better than I do.
"I thank him, all Christian people, and all Catholic nations for the prayers they daily offer for me, and I pray them to continue to do so, and to remember me in their masses. As I belong to the number of the faithful, I hope that though now deprived of the power of assisting myself, I participate in all the prayers and good works offered in the Church for all Catholics. As regards the Bull, I myself offered to prevent its execution."