About this time a little ray of comfort came to cheer the Queen's imprisonment. Her faithful steward, Melville, who had of late been separated from her, was permitted to return, and he brought with him his daughter and the daughter of Bastien Pages, who was a goddaughter of the Queen's. The consolation which Mary received from their arrival was, however, soon allayed by the summary dismissal of her coachmen and some other servants, a proceeding which she rightly took to be a fresh sign of the gravity of her position.[20]
In London meanwhile events were proceeding rapidly. On October 8th the Commissioners appointed to judge the Scottish Queen assembled at Westminster. The Chancellor, Sir Thomas Bromley, having briefly related the history of the late conspiracy, read aloud copies of the letters addressed by Babington to Mary, her reputed answers, and the evidence said to have been extracted from Nau and Curle. At the conclusion nearly all present were of opinion that Mary should be brought to trial. The Commissioners were therefore summoned to meet at Fotheringay, and all the peers of the kingdom were invited to be there present, save those employed in offices of state. To the great displeasure of Elizabeth and Burleigh, Lord Shrewsbury evaded this summons on the plea of illness. The Queen herself intimated the approaching trial to her faithful Paulet.[21] The crisis, therefore, had now come. No one familiar with the character of Elizabeth or the policy of her advisers could doubt the issue of the trial. It would have seemed only natural to suppose that France or Spain would effectively resent the outrage offered to a sister Queen; but the days of chivalry were past, and Philip of Spain could forsake an ally and Henry of France abandon a sister-in-law in her dire need. To the honour of France be it said, however, that Mary found an ardent defender in the French Ambassador, De Chateauneuf, who exerted himself to the utmost on her behalf; Elizabeth, however, treated his efforts with supreme contempt.
When Chateauneuf implored that the Queen of Scotland might at least have counsel to defend her, Elizabeth sent him word that she knew what she was doing, and did not require advice from strangers. She was aware that she need fear no active interference from Chateauneuf's master. Still less did she dread opposition on the part of the young King of Scotland. The disregard for his mother, in which Elizabeth had herself encouraged James, was her present safeguard, and she had determined that should he prove obstinate she would threaten him with exclusion from the succession to the English throne.
On Saturday, 11th October, the Commissioners reached Fotheringay. Some were lodged in the castle, though the greater number found rooms in the village and neighbouring farmhouses and cottages. A duplicate copy of the Commission was at once transmitted to Mary. The act bore the names of forty-eight members, but of these nine or ten had refused to attend.
The Primate of England headed the list, and among the most important names occurred those of Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Walsingham, Sir Christopher Hatton, the Earls of Leicester and Warwick, Davison, Elizabeth's Secretary, Beale, and others.[22]
On the following day, Sunday, the lords attended service in the castle chapel. They afterwards sent a deputation to Mary, composed of Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Amyas Paulet, Barker (Elizabeth's notary), and Stallenge, Usher of Parliament. They were the bearers of a letter from their mistress, couched in brief and imperious terms. This epistle, which was addressed simply to "The Scotish," without any other title or expression of courtesy, stated that Elizabeth having heard that Mary had denied participation in the plot against her person, notwithstanding that she herself possessed proofs of the fact, she now considered it well to send some of her peers and legal counsellors to examine Mary and judge the case, adding that as the Queen of Scotland was in England, and under her protection, she was subject to the laws of the country.[23]
In reply to this document, which, as she observed, read as a command addressed to a subject, Queen Mary replied with dignity. "I am myself a queen," said she, "daughter of a king, a stranger, and the true kinswoman of the Queen of England. I came into England on my cousin's promise of assistance against my enemies and rebel subjects, and was at once imprisoned. I have thus remained for eighteen years, always ill-treated and suffering constant trials at the hands of Queen Elizabeth. I have several times offered to treat with the Queen with good and honest intentions, and have often wished to speak with her. I have always been willing to do her service and give her pleasure, but I have always been prevented by my enemies. As a queen I cannot submit to orders, nor can I submit to the laws of the land without injury to myself, the King my son, and all other sovereign princes. As I belong to their estate, majesty, and dignity, I would rather die than betray myself, my people, or my kingdom, as a certain person has done. I decline my judges," continued Mary, "as being of a contrary faith to my own. For myself, I do not recognise the laws of England, nor do I know or understand them, as I have already often asserted. I am alone, without counsel, or any one to speak on my behalf. My papers and notes have been taken from me, so that I am destitute of all aid, taken at a disadvantage, commanded to obey, and to reply to those who are well prepared and are my enemies, who only seek my ruin. I have made several offers to the Queen of England which have not been accepted, and now I hear that she has again entered into a league with my son, thus separating mother from child. I am a Catholic, and have placed myself under the protection of those Catholic kings and princes who have offered me their services. If they have planned any attempt against Queen Elizabeth, I have not been cognisant of it, and therefore it is wrong to treat me as if I were guilty." Mary concluded by demanding that reference should be made to her former protestation.[24]
Mildmay and Paulet carried Mary's reply to the Commissioners, who were assembled in the large apartment which had been prepared for them, near the Queen's rooms. After a consultation had been held, Sir Amyas, Barker, and Stallenge returned to the Queen's presence, in order to obtain her sanction to the copy of her answer to Elizabeth, which had been committed to writing.
Barker knelt before Mary and read aloud the letter, which, Bourgoing tells us, was reported in "good style," and with no omission save the passage in which Mary expressed her desire to see Elizabeth. Mary signified her approval of the letter, and observed that she wished now to reply to those points of her cousin's letter which in her trouble and agitation had before escaped her. She repeated that she did not consider herself under the protection of the Queen; that she had not come into England for refuge, but to obtain assistance; and that, notwithstanding the promise of help from Elizabeth, she had been made prisoner and detained by force. She was not, she said, subject to the laws of England, which are made for the English and such as come to reside in England, whereas she had always been dealt with as a captive and had had no advantage from the laws, nor had she been in subjection to them. She had always kept her own religion, which was not that of England, and she had lived according to her own usages, to all of which no objection had been made.