d III.
as well as the old religion. In =1414=, whilst he amused the French
court by offers of friendship, he was in reality preparing to demand
the crown of France as the right of the king of England, leaving out
of sight the consideration that if the claim of Edward III. had been
worth anything at all, it would have descended to the Earl of March
and not to himself. Everything seemed to combine to make easy an
attack on France. Burgundians and Armagnacs were engaged in a
death-struggle. In =1413= a riotous Burgundian mob had made itself
master of Paris and the Government. Then the Armagnacs had got the
upper hand, and the Duke of Burgundy was driven back to his own
dominions. Henry now made an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy
against the ruling powers, and prepared to invade the distracted land.
Thus far he proceeded in imitation of Edward III., who had attacked
Philip VI. in alliance with the Flemings. With Edward III., however,
the claim to the French crown had always been a secondary
consideration. He went to war because French sailors plundered English
ports and the French king assisted the Scots. Henry had no such reason
to urge. He went to war because he was young and warlike, because the
enterprise was easy, and because foreign conquest would unite all
Englishmen round his throne. When once the war was begun he was
certain to carry it on in a different spirit from that of Edward III.
Edward had gone to weaken the plunderers by plundering in return, and
to fight battles only when they happened to come in his way. Henry
went with the distinct resolution to conquer France and to place the
French crown on his own head. Every step which he took was calculated
with skill for the attainment of this end. Of immediate, perhaps of
lifelong, success Henry was as nearly certain as it was possible to
be. Yet, if he had remembered what had been the end of campaigns
adorned by the brilliant victories of Crecy and Poitiers, he might
have known that all that he could do would end in ultimate failure,
and that the day must come when divided France would unite to cast
out, if not himself, at least his heirs. It was significant that when
his Chancellor, Beaufort, announced to Parliament the king's
intention, he took for his text, after the manner of political
speakers in those days, 'Let us work while it is called to-day.' Henry
was not inclined, as Edward I. had been, to take thought for a distant
morrow.

15. =The Invasion of