ously, England
had not had a single quiet day: without doubt the Catholic zeal
prevailing there would have been at once excited in support of her
claims to the English throne. An attempt was again made to reconcile
the Scotch nobles with their Queen: but as this led to an enquiry
respecting her share in the guilt of the King's murder--those letters
of Mary to Bothwell now first came to the knowledge of the public--the
dissension became rather greater and quite irreconcilable.

One now begins to feel sympathy with the Queen of Scots, especially as
her share in the crime imputed to her is not quite clear. Of her own
free will she had come to England to seek for assistance on which she
thought she could reckon: but high considerations of policy not merely
prevented its being given but also made it seem prudent to detain her
in England.[233] Elizabeth and her ministers brought themselves to
prefer the interests of the crown to what was in itself right and fit.
Mary did not however on this account vanish from the stage of the
world: rather she obtained an exceedingly important position by her
presence in England, where one party acknowledged her immediate claim
to the throne, the other at least her claim to the succession; and
hence arose not merely inconveniences but very serious dangers for the
English government. Even in 1569, at a moment when the Catholic
military power had the superiority in France and the Netherlands,
Mary's uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine, proposed to the King of Spain
an offensive alliance against Queen Elizabeth.[234] In the civil wars
of France they had just won the victory in two great battles. Who
could say what the result would have been if in the still very
unprepared condition of England an invasion had been undertaken by the
combined Catholic powers?

But the life and the destiny of Europe depend on the fact that the
great general antagonisms are perpetually crossed by the special ones
of the several states. Philip did not wish for an alliance with the
French; it seemed to him untrustworthy, too extensive and, even if it
led to victory, dangerous. He declared with the greatest distinctness,
that he thought of nothing but of putting down his rebels (including
at the time the Moriscoes), and the complete pacification of the
Netherlands; he would not hear of a declaration of war against
England. The difficulty of this sovereign's position on all sides and
his natural temperament were the deter