uld advise the ladies to submit to the judgment
of the Universities of Europe, which had been sanctioned by the English
estates of the realm, and was as good as a decree of a Council, they would
have nothing to complain of.[324] Chapuys observed that such a letter
ought to have been shown to himself before it was sent; but that was of no
moment. The King of France, Cromwell went on, would bring the Turk, and
the Devil, too, into Christendom to recover Milan; the King and the
Emperor ought to draw together to hold France in check; and yet, to give
Chapuys a hint that he knew what he had been doing, he said he had heard,
though he did not believe it, that the Emperor and the King of the Romans
had thought of invading England, in a belief that they would make an easy
conquest of it. They would find the enterprise more costly than they
expected, and, even if they did conquer England, they could not keep it.
Chapuys, wishing to learn how much had been discovered, asked what
Cromwell meant. Cromwell told him the exact truth. The scheme had been to
stop the trade between England and Flanders. A rebellion was expected to
follow, which, Cromwell admitted, was not unlikely; and then, in great
detail and with a quiet air of certainty, he referred to the solicitations
continually made to the Emperor to send across an army.

Leaving Chapuys to wonder at his sources of information, so accurate,
Cromwell spoke of an approaching conference at Calais, which was to be
held at the request of the French King. He did not think anything would
come of it. He had himself declined to be present, but one of the
proposals to be made would be an offer of the Duke of Angouleme for the
young Princess Elizabeth. The Council, he said, had meantime been
reviewing the old treaty for the marriage of the Emperor to the Princess
Mary, and the King had spoken in the warmest terms of the Emperor. Perhaps
as a substitute for the French connection, and provided the divorce was
not called in question again, he thought that the Princess Elizabeth might
be betrothed to Philip, and a marriage could be found out of the realm for
the Princess Mary with the Emperor's consent and approbation. The King, in
this case, would give her the greatest and richest dower that was ever
given to any Queen or Empress.[325]

Chapuys observed that the divorce must be disposed of before fresh
marriages could be thought of. Cromwell wished him to speak himself to the
King. Chapuys pol