March 6, 1585.
LETTER XLVII.
Positive news has come from Brabant that Brussels[227] has been compelled by famine to surrender to Parma, and Antwerp is hard pressed, being debarred from all use of the Scheldt by the completion of the bridge. These tidings in all probability will rouse up the French Court, and compel them to come to some decision with regard to the Netherlanders, for, unless these last receive some support, their defence must collapse. Indeed, the ambassadors of the rebel States assume an air of despondency, being disappointed at the King’s handing over the responsibility to his mother, instead of declaring war on his own account.
March 7, 1585.
LETTER XLVIII.
The English Ambassador left on the fourteenth of this month, after a visit of twenty days, during which he was treated with high honours, and received every mark of respect. On leaving he was presented with plate of the value of 4,000 crowns, and the chief gentlemen in his train had also the honour of receiving presents. A little later the Netherland ambassadors took their leave, when each of them was presented with a gold chain of the value of 200 crowns; their visit has produced little or no result; at any rate, if any arrangement has been made, it is a complete secret. The King’s public answer was that he did not intend to break the peace which subsisted between himself and the King of Spain; the Queen Mother said, she was deeply concerned for their preservation, but was prevented by the King’s wishes from giving them assistance. Whether any secret understanding is implied in these ambiguous phrases, I cannot say. The ambassadors have done their utmost to draw the King into open war; this appears also to have been the object of the English Ambassador, but he does not seem to have had much success. Some people think the King has undertaken to give them considerable succours as soon as his present troubles shall have blown over, and meanwhile to furnish them with some little assistance. As regards the troubles of which the King spoke, fresh storms are without doubt brewing in his kingdom. The Guises are levying war; the popular account is that they are angry[228] with the King for not recognising their own [238]and their family’s services, while a couple of young fellows, distinguished for nothing save impudence and conceit, are loaded with high offices and honours. But this is not all; they wish to have a Catholic successor appointed in case of the King’s death, and they are again putting forward the Holy League and Confederacy against heretics, in which they claim the leadership. The meaning of all this is, that knowing there will be no room for them in France, should Navarre, on the death of the King, ascend the throne, they wish betimes to grapple with this danger, and thus consult their own interests, regardless of the great troubles they must bring on the country. And, to be fair, there is everywhere in France a feeling of great anxiety, as people cannot tell what the position of the Church will be after the King’s death. Many believe that their ancient ritual, services, and sacraments will be profaned and put down by Navarre, and that the Catholics will be in the same position as the Protestants have hitherto been, if indeed they be not in a worse case. These fears give an excellent handle to those who are desirous of a revolution, and men who have been true to the old religion are in a peculiarly good position to take advantage of it. Among these stand the Guises, who are most popular in France, so much so that one may hear them spoken of with greater deference than the King himself. The family of Guise, they say, can trace its descent in an unbroken line from Charlemagne,[229] has ever been the bulwark of the Church, ever loyal to King and country, in spite of the neglect with which it has been treated, and the bestowal on others of the honours it has earned, and now is justified in [239]unsheathing the sword, exercising the Royal prerogatives, and undertaking the defence of the Church.[230]
The Cardinal de Bourbon also has deserted his family and takes part with the Guises. The King has warned them by letters and messengers to have a care of whither the road leads on which they are travelling; to which they replied, they had no designs against him, they had never swerved from the paths of loyalty and duty, so that he ought not to believe the calumnies of their enemies.