Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/423

] Leith, Bruntisland, and Inchkeith had fired upon him, and obliged him to return the fire in self-defence. The story, though solemnly supported in the form of a despatch from the Duke of Norfolk, who was residing on the borders as the queen's lieutenant, was too flimsy and barefaced to bear a moment's scrutiny, and, to appease the clamour of the French ambassador, an inquiry into Winter's conduct was set on foot, which, like many such inquiries, was never meant to go very deep; and it answered its purpose by keeping up an appearance of investigation till the Duke of Norfolk had completed a treaty at Berwick with the Lords of the Congregation, by which Elizabeth bound herself to aid them with an army to expel the French from Scotland.



Elizabeth's excuse for entering into a formal treaty with the subjects of another monarch with whom she was at peace, was, that she knew the French were directing their power in Scotland to an ulterior attack on her own kingdom; and on this plea Cecil is accused of not only inciting conspiracy in Scotland but also in France, by arming the princes of the blood and the Reformers against their sovereign, Francis II. For this purpose, Throckmorton was sent over to the King of Navarre, a favourer of the Protestant cause. Throckmorton bore secret offers of alliance and support against his enemies and the enemies of the true religion from the Queen of England. The fact was that Elizabeth was aware that Antoine, the King of Navarre, and Louis, Prince of Condé, were jealous of the preference given by Francis to the Duke of Guise and the cardinal of