Henrietta Maria Part 13

But there were those to whom Henrietta's act must have seemed, if they were aware of it, almost an act of desertion. The Catholics, to whom her love and honour were pledged, dreaded, and with good cause, nothing so much as a Parliament. Already their condition was deplorable. They suffered not only from the hatred of the Puritans, but from the terror of the Protestants, who attempted to propitiate the people by persecution of the common enemy.

Several priests were thrown into prison, and even the courtier Sir Tobie Matthew, who, though he posed as a layman, was generally believed to be in holy orders,[232] was arrested on suspicion. The houses of Catholics were searched, and on one occasion three cart-loads of Catholic books were publicly burned. "Nevertheless," wrote Montreuil, the French agent in London, with an ac.u.men revealed by the event, "it is thought that all the advantage which the Archbishop will get from this is to set the Catholics against him without improving his position with the Puritans."[233]

In October Charles returned to London, leaving the Scotch army still in the land, and with a pledge that its expenses should be paid. On November 3rd he opened at Westminster that historic a.s.sembly which is known as the Long Parliament.

[Footnote 202: Mme de Motteville records how Henrietta told her that Charles brought the new Scotch liturgy to her, asking her to read it, that she might see how similar were their religious beliefs.]

[Footnote 203: Among the archives of the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres is a doc.u.ment dated 1629 enumerating the reasons why it was desirable to have an agent in Scotland; one reason given is "to keep the Scotch n.o.bility in their devotion towards the cause of France."--Aff. Etran. Ang., t. 43.

The great importance the French attached to preserving the good-will of the Scotch is apparent in the French diplomatic literature concerning the Civil War.]

[Footnote 204: "L'annee ne se pa.s.sera pas que le roi et la reine d'Angleterre ne se repentent d'avoir refuse les offres que vous leur aves faites de la part du roy."--Richelieu to Estrades, December, 1637.

Estrades: _Amba.s.sades et Negotiations_ (1718), p. 13.]

[Footnote 205: Digby to Montagu, March 5th, 1638. Aff. Etran. Ang., t. 47.]

[Footnote 206: _Ibid._, March 19th, 1638.]

[Footnote 207: Montagu to Chavigny, February 14th, 1638. Aff. Etran. Ang., t. 4.]

[Footnote 208: The Duke of Chevreuse had been made a Knight of the Garter at the time of the marriage of Charles and Henrietta.]

[Footnote 209: Avenel: _Lettres de Richelieu_, VI, p. 122.]

[Footnote 210: _Histoire de l'entree de la reyne mere du roy tres-chrestien dans la Grande Bretaigne._ Par le S^r de la Serre, Historiographe de France (1639).]

[Footnote 211: Montagu to Digby, June, 1638. Aff. Etran. Ang., t. 47.]

[Footnote 212: Con gives the details, Add. MS., 15,391: Salvetti (Add. MS., 27,962) says that the King asked for the money, but did not formally authorize the contribution.]

[Footnote 213: Add. MS., 15,392, f. 75.]

[Footnote 214: Green: _Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria_, p. 25.]

[Footnote 215: Except for Herefordshire, the Isle of Wight, Anglesea, and Merionethshire, among the collectors' names appear those of members of such well-known Catholic families as the Englefields, the Howards, and the Chichesters.]

[Footnote 216: The sum is given as 40,000 in _The Life and Death of that matchless mirror of Magnanimity and Heroick Vertue, Henrietta Maria de Bourbon_ (1669).]

[Footnote 217: Mme de Motteville says that Henrietta was averse from making peace with the Scotch, but whether now or after the second Bishops' War does not appear.]

[Footnote 218: "Salmacida Spolia, a Masque, Presented by the King and Queenes Majesties, at Whitehall, on Tuesday, January 21st, 1639."]

[Footnote 219: The names of the masquers:--

The King's Majesty Duke of Lennox Earle of Carlisle Earle of Newport Earle of Leimricke Lord Russell Lord Herbert Lord Paget Lord Feilding Master Russell Master Thomas Howard The Queenes Majesty Dutchesse of Lennox Countesse of Carnarvon Countesse of Newport Countesse of Portland Lady Andrew Lady Margaret Howard Lady Kellymekin Lady Francis Howard Mistress Carig Mistress Nevill]

[Footnote 220: Hist. MSS. Con. Rep. III, p. 79.]

[Footnote 221: Cf. an extract from a letter of M. de Balzac to "M. de Corznet, gentleman-in-ordinary to the most ill.u.s.trious Queen of Great Britain": "If the tempests which threaten the frontiers of Bayou arrive at us we must think of another way of safetie and resolve (in any case) to pa.s.se the sea and go and dwell in that region of peace and that happie climate where your divine Princesse reigns."--September 20th, 1636.

_Letters of M. de Balzac_, translated into English by Sir Richard Bahn and others (1654): a collection of some modern epistles of M. de Balzac, p.

16.]

[Footnote 222: He was made Earl of Strafford January 12th, 1640.]

[Footnote 223: Aff. Etran. Ang., t. 47.]

[Footnote 224: The name of Sir Kenelm Digby was mentioned in connection with the post, but the Queen's choice fell upon Sir John Winter, a Catholic gentleman, who was cousin to the Marquis of Worcester.]

[Footnote 225: Father Philip to Barberini: P.R.O. Roman Transcripts.]

[Footnote 226: MS. Francais, 15,995, f. 85.]

[Footnote 227: Her son Henry was born July 6th, 1640.]

[Footnote 228: Salvetti. October 22nd, 1638. Add. MS., 27,962.]

[Footnote 229: Add. MS., 15,392, f. 162.]

[Footnote 230: See Rosetti correspondence, P.R.O. Roman Transcripts, specially Barberini to Rosetti, June 30th, 1640, and Rosetti's answer, August l0th, 1640. "... de pero quando S. M^{ta} dichiaresse tale [Catholic] di qua non si guaderebbe a mandarli denari."--Barberini to Rosetti, June 30th 1640.]

[Footnote 231: Salvetti. September, 1640. Add. MS., 27,962, I, f. 109.]

[Footnote 232: Perhaps justly; among the archives of the See of Westminster is a certificate of his saying Ma.s.s 1630-1; he was thought to be a Jesuit.]

[Footnote 233: Bib. Nat., MS. Francais, 15,995.]

CHAPTER VII

THE EVE OF THE WAR

II

My eyes with tears did uncommanded flow, And on my soul hung the dull weight Of some intolerable fate.

ABRAHAM COWLEY

When the Long Parliament met the eyes of Europe were fixed upon England; the foreign agents who were resident in London had recognized, almost before the English themselves, the gravity of the crisis.[234] Such a crisis could not fail to be of European consequence, for though England had decayed from the great glory of Elizabeth's reign, and during the last few years particularly had lost much esteem, yet she was of great importance in the struggle between France and Spain, each party of which had striven for so long, and neither quite successfully, to win her as an ally.

It was confidently believed at the time, and on both sides of the Channel, that the troubles of England and Scotland were fomented by Richelieu. "The Cardinal de Richelieu," wrote Madame de Motteville, whose account, no doubt, owed something to Henrietta herself, "had great fear of a neighbouring King who was powerful and at peace in his dominions, and following the maxims of a policy which consults self-interest rather than justice and charity to one's neighbour, he thought it necessary that this Prince [the King of England] should have trouble in his kingdom."[235]

It is now known that if Richelieu stirred up Charles' rebellious subjects, it was only in the most secret and indirect way; but certainly he was not sorry for the Scotch troubles, and his att.i.tude both now and later was a serious addition to the difficulties of the King of England and his wife, who were reaping the results of their long and reckless defiance of the all-powerful Cardinal. As early as 1638 Windbank believed that French influence was working in Scotland, where, on account of the old alliance between the two countries, it would have a specially favourable field; but when he wrote for information to the Earl of Leicester, at that time amba.s.sador in Paris, he received an indecisive and somewhat petulant reply.

"It would be very difficult to give you my opinion about the Scotch affair," so ran the letter; "for I am as ignorant about it as if I lived in Tartary. If it is fomented by France it is by means so secret that it will only be discovered, with difficulty, by the results."[236]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU

FROM A PORTRAIT BY PHILLIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE]