lare war with
France, yet to threaten a declaration, in the event of an invasion of
the Netherlands.

The privy council considered the queen's request; their conclusion was
not what she desired.

The treaty of 1546, the council replied, had been abrogated by the
treaty of marriage, so far as it might involve England in a war with
France. "Her majesty would be unable to maintain a war, and,
therefore, to say to the French king that she would aid her husband,
according to the treaty, and not being able to perform it, indeed
would be dishonourable, and many ways dangerous." "It was to be
considered further, that, if by these means the realm should be drawn
into war, the fault would be imputed to the king's majesty." "The
common {p.286} people of the realm were at present many ways
grieved--some pinched with famine, some for want of payment of money
due to them, some discontented for matters of religion; and,
generally, all yet tasting the smart of the late wars. It would be
hard to have any aid of money of them. And in times past," the council
added, significantly, "although the prince found himself able to make
and maintain wars, yet the causes of those wars were opened for the
most part in parliament."[598]

[Footnote 598: Answer of the Privy Council to the
queen's question whether England shall enter the
wars with France.--_Sloane MSS._ 1786, British
Museum.]

Objections so decided and so just would have hardly been overcome, but
for an injudicious enterprise of the refugees, under French auspices.
The French court believed that, by keeping Mary in alarm at home, they
would make it the less easy for her to join in the war. They mistook
the disposition of the people, who resented and detested the
interference of France in their concerns.

Among the exiles at the court of Paris, the most distinguished by
birth, if not by ability, was Sir Thomas Stafford, Lord Stafford's
second son, and grandson of the Duke of Buckingham, who was put to
death under Henry VIII. On the 27th of April, Wotton sent notice to
the queen that Stafford had sailed from the mouth of the Seine with
two vessels well manned and appointed. His destination was unknown;
but it was understood that he intended to take some fortress on the
English coast, and that the refugees, in a body, intended to follow
him. Before Wotton's letter arrived, the scheme, such as it was, had
be