This impolitic severity was occasioned by the informations of some of the exiles, who had not forgottenthe old quarrel at Frankfort, and had accused of disloyalty and disaffection to the queen, not only Knox, but all those who had been under his charge at Geneva, whom they represented as proselytes to the opinion which he had published against female government.[349] There was not an individual who could believe that Knox had the most distant eye to Elizabeth in publishing the obnoxious book; nor a person of judgment who could seriously think that her government was exposed to the slightest danger from him or his associates, who felt no less joy at her auspicious accession than their brethren.[350] If he had been imprudent in that publication, if he had“swerved from the particular question to the general,” his error (to use the words of his respondent) “rose not of malice, but of zeal, and by looking more to the present cruelty, than to the inconveniences that after might follow;” and it was the part of generosity and of good policy to overlook the fault. Instead of this, Elizabeth and her counsellors took up the charge in a serious light; and the accused were treated with such harshness and disdain, that they repented of leaving their late asylum to return to their native country.One cannot help feeling indignant at this weak revenge, when it is considered that Elizabeth had admitted to favour, and retained at court, persons who had endeavoured to prevent her succession, and who had thirsted for her blood;[351] and that those who, under the preceding reign, had advised and practised the greatest severities against the protestants, were now treated with the utmost lenity.Even the infamous Bonner was allowed to appear at court, and, although the queen shuddered at the thought of a man who was polluted with so much blood kissing her hand, yet was he at this time going about London without the smallest molestation.[352] In thefirst parliament of Elizabeth, one Dr Story made a speech, in which he had the effrontery to justify the cruelties of Mary, to boast of his own activity in carrying her orders into execution, and to regret that measures still more violent and effectual had not been adopted for the utter extirpation of heresy.[353] Nor does it appear that this speech was resented either by the house or by the queen.
De nobis, post hæc, tristis sententia fertur:
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.
The refusal of his request, and the harsh treatment of his flock, touched to the quick the irritable temper of our Reformer; and it was with some difficulty that he suppressed the desire which he felt rising in his breast, to prosecute a controversy which he had resolved to abandon. “My first Blast,” says he, in a letter, dated Dieppe, 6th April 1559, “hath blown from me all my friends in England. My conscience bears record, that yet I seek the favour of my God; and so I am in the less fear. The second Blast, I fear,shall sound somewhat more sharp, except that men be more moderate than I hear they are.—England hath refused me; but because, before, it did refuse Christ Jesus, the less do I regard the loss of this familiarity.And yet have I been a secret and assured friend to thee, O England, in cases which thyself could not have remedied.”[354] But greater designs occupied his mind, and engrossed his attention. It was not for the sake of personal safety, nor from the vanity of appearing at court, that he desired to pass through England. He felt the natural wish to visit his old acquaintance in that country, and was anxious for an opportunity of once more addressing those to whom he had preached, especially at Newcastle and Berwick. But there was another object which he had still more at heart, and in which the welfare of both England and Scotland were concerned.
Notwithstanding the flattering accounts which he had received of the favourable disposition of the queen regent towards the protestants, and the directions which he sent them to cultivate this, he appears to have always entertained suspicions of the sincerity of her professions. Since he left Geneva, these suspicions had been confirmed; and the information which he had procured, in travelling through France, conspired with intelligence which he had lately received from Scotland, to convince him, that the immediate suppression of the Reformation in his native country, and its consequent suppression in the neighbouringkingdom, were intended. The plan projected by the gigantic ambition of the princes of Lorrain, brothers of the queen regent of Scotland, has been developed, and described with great accuracy and ability, by a celebrated modern historian.[355] Suffice it to say here, that their counsels had determined the French court to set up the claim of the young queen of Scots to the crown of England; to attack Elizabeth, and wrest the sceptre from her hands, under the pretext that she was a bastard and a heretic; and to commence their operations by suppressing the Reformation, and establishing the French influence, in Scotland, as the best preparative to an attack upon the dominions of the English queen.In the course of his journeys through France, Knox had formed an acquaintance with certain persons about the court, and, by their means, had gained some knowledge of this plan.[356] He was convinced that the Scottish reformerswere unable to resist the power which France might bring against them; and that it was no less the interest than the duty of the English court to afford them the most effectual support. But he was afraid that a selfish and narrow policy might prevent them from doing this until it was too late, and was therefore anxious to call their attention to the subject at an early period, and to put them in possession of the facts that had come to his knowledge. The assistance which Elizabeth granted to the Scottish protestants in the year 1560, was dictated by the soundest policy. It baffled and defeated the designs of her enemies at the very outset; it gave her an influence over Scotland, which all her predecessors could not obtain by the terror of their arms, nor the influence of their money; and it secured the stability of her government, by extending and strengthening the protestant interest, the principal pillar on which it rested. And it reflects not a little credit on our Reformer’s sagacity, that he had conceived this plan at so early a period, was the first person who proposed it, and persisted, in spite of great discouragements, to urge its adoption, until his endeavours were ultimately crowned with success.
Deeply impressed with these considerations, he resolved, although he had already been twice repulsed, to brook the mortification, and make another attempt to obtain an interview with some confidential agentof the English government. With this view, he, on the 10th of April, wrote a letter to secretary Cecil, with whom he had been personally acquainted during his residence in London. Adverting to the treatment of the exiles who had returned from Geneva, he exculpated them from all responsibility as to the offensive book which he had published, and assured him that he had not consulted with any of them previous to its publication. As for himself, he did not mean to deny that he was the author, nor was he yet prepared to retract the leading sentiment which it contained. But he was not, on that account, less friendly to the person and government of Elizabeth, in whose exaltation he cordially rejoiced; although he rested the defence of her authority upon grounds different from the common. This was the third time that he had craved liberty to pass through England. He had no desire to visit the court, nor to remain long in the country; but he was anxious to communicate to him, or some other trusty person, matters of great importance, which it was not prudent to commit to writing, or intrust to an ordinary messenger.If his request was refused, it would turn out to the disadvantage of England.[357]
The situation in which he stood at this time with the court of England was so well known, that it was not without great difficulty that he could find a messenger to carry his letter;[358] and, either despairing ofthe success of his application, or urged by intelligence received from Scotland, he sailed from Dieppe on the 22d of April, and landed safely at Leith on the 2d of May, 1559.[359]
PERIOD VI.
FROM MAY 1559, WHEN HE FINALLY RETURNED TO SCOTLAND, TO AUGUST 1560, WHEN HE WAS SETTLED AS MINISTER OF EDINBURGH, AT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REFORMATION.
On his arrival, Knox found matters in the most critical state in Scotland. The queen regent had thrown off the mask which she had long worn, and avowed her determination forcibly to suppress the Reformation. As long as she stood in need of the assistance of the protestants, to support her authority against the Hamiltons, and to procure the matrimonial crown for her son‑in‑law, the dauphin of France, she courted their friendship, listened to their plans of reform, professed her dissatisfaction with the ecclesiastical order, and her desire of correcting its corruption and tyranny as soon as a fit opportunity offered, and flattered them, if not with the hopes of her joining their party, at least with assurances that she would shield them from the fury of the clergy. So completely were they duped by her consummate address and dissimulation, that they complied with all her requests, restrained their preachers from teaching in public, and desisted from presenting to the parliament a petition which they had prepared; norwould they believe her to be insincere, even after different parts of her conduct had afforded strong grounds for suspicion. But, having accomplished the great objects which she had in view, she at last adopted measures which completely undeceived them, and discovered the gulf into which they were about to be precipitated.