ede the province of Maine to Charles of Anjou, and had
accordingly ceded it; which proved in the issue the chief cause of the
loss of Normandy.[**]

* Cotton, p. 641.

** Cotton, p. 642. Hall, fol. 157. Holing, p. 631. Grafton,
p. 607

It is evident, from a review of these articles, that the commons adopted
without inquiry all the popular clamors against the duke of Suffolk,
and charged him with crimes of which none but the vulgar could seriously
believe him guilty. Nothing can be more incredible, than that a
nobleman, so little eminent by his birth and character, could think
of acquiring the crown to his family, and of deposing Henry by foreign
force, and, together with him, Margaret, his patron, a princess of so
much spirit and penetration. Suffolk appealed to many noblemen in the
house, who knew that he had intended to marry his son to one of the
coheirs of the earl of Warwick, and was disappointed in his views only
by the death of that lady: and he observed, that Margaret of Somerset
could bring to her husband no title to the crown; because she herself
was not so much as comprehended in the entail settled by act of
parliament. It is easy to account for the loss of Normandy and Guienne,
from the situation of affairs in the two kingdoms, without supposing any
treachery in the English ministers; and it may safely be affirmed, that
greater vigor was requisite to defend these provinces from the arms of
Charles VII., than to conquer them at first from his predecessor.
It could never be the interest of any English minister to betray and
abandon such acquisitions; much less of one who was so well established
in his master's favor, who enjoyed such high honors and ample
possessions in his own country, who had nothing to dread but the effects
of popular hatred and who could never think, without the most extreme
reluctance, of becoming a fugitive and exile in a foreign land. The only
article which carries any face of probability, is his engagement for
the delivery of Maine to the queen's uncle: but Suffolk maintained, with
great appearance of truth, that this measure was approved of by several
at the council table; [*] and it seems hard to ascribe to it, as is done
by the commons, the subsequent loss of Normandy and expulsion of the
English. Normandy lay open on every side to the invasion of the French:
Maine, an inland province, must soon after have fallen without any
attack; and as the English possessed in