ith
Mary Stuart had vanished the last serious danger of a Catholic
insurrection in England; or perhaps they did realise it, and this was
what decided them to act.

I cannot dwell on this here. As long as there was a Catholic princess of
English blood to succeed to the throne, the allegiance of the Catholics
to Elizabeth had been easily shaken. If she was spared now, every one of
them would look on her as their future sovereign. To overthrow
Elizabeth might mean the loss of national independence. The Queen of
Scots gone, they were paralysed by divided counsels, and love of country
proved stronger than their creed.

What concerns us specially at present is the effect on the King of
Spain. The reluctance of Philip to undertake the English enterprise (the
'empresa,' as it was generally called) had arisen from a fear that when
it was accomplished he would lose the fruit of his labours. He could
never assure himself that if he placed Mary Stuart on the throne she
would not become eventually French. He now learnt that she had
bequeathed to himself her claims on the English succession. He had once
been titular King of England. He had pretensions of his own, as in the
descent from Edward III. The Jesuits, the Catholic enthusiasts
throughout Europe, assured him that if he would now take up the cause in
earnest, he might make England a province of Spain. There were still
difficulties. He might hope that the English Catholic laity would accept
him, but he could not be sure of it. He could not be sure that he would
have the support of the Pope. He continued, as the Conde de Feria said
scornfully of him, 'meando en vado,' a phrase which I cannot translate;
it meant hesitating when he ought to act. But he saw, or thought he saw,
that he could now take a stronger attitude towards Elizabeth as a
claimant to her throne. If the treaty of peace was to go forward, he
could raise his terms. He could insist on the restoration of the
Catholic religion in England. The States of the Low Countries had made
over five of their strongest towns to Elizabeth as the price of her
assistance. He could insist on her restoring them, not to the States,
but to himself. Could she be brought to consent to such an act of
perfidy, Parma and he both felt that the power would then be gone from
her, as effectually as Samson's when his locks were clipped by the
harlot, and they could leave her then, if it suited them, on a throne
which would have become a pillory-