Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/491

] him of more consequence than that of his having desired to marry the Queen of Scots, provided the Queen of England was willing—which was no treason—and had been brought to no trial, he petitioned to be liberated, contending that though he was wrong in not communicating everything fully to the queen, yet that he had neither committed nor intended any crime, and that his health and circumstances were suffering greatly from his close imprisonment. In consequence, he was removed from the Tower, on the 4th of August, 1570, to one of his own houses, under the custody of Sir Henry Neville. He certainly then obtained sufficient variety of prisons, but no more liberty, for he was repeatedly removed from one house to another. He petitioned to be restored to his seat in the Council, but was refused; and in August of 1571 circumstances transpired which occasioned his return to the Tower.

A man of the name of Brown, of Shrewsbury, on the 29th of August, carried to the Privy Council a bag of money which he said he had received from Hickford, the Duke of Norfolk's secretary, to carry to Bannister, the duke's steward. The money, on being counted in presence of the Council, was found to amount to £600. But besides the money there were two papers in cipher; and on this suspicious appearance Hickford, the secretary, was at once arrested and ordered to decipher the notes, which then showed that the money was intended to be sent to Lord Herries, in Scotland, to assist in making fresh efforts on behalf of Mary. Here was treason, or something like it, if it were true, and the duke was immediately sent back to the Tower in the custody of Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Neville, his old keeper, and Dr. Wilson. The duke denied all knowledge of it; but Bannister, and Barker, another secretary of Norfolk's, being now apprehended, as well as the Bishop of Ross, the rack was set to work to force a confession from them. Of evidence so obtained we all know the value. Sir Thomas Smith, one of the commissioners in the case, writing to Cecil, says:—"We think surely we have done all that at this time may be done. Of Bannister with the rack, of Barker with the extreme fear of it, we suppose to have gotten all. Bannister, indeed, knoweth little."

It appears that before Bannister would confess anything, they were compelled to rack him; but Barker was terrified at the very sight of the ugly machine. Smith admits, with that candour in such disclosures amongst one another which, coming to our hands in the State Paper Office, have stamped those ministers of Elizabeth with such deserved infamy, that they were cooking the evidence thus obtained, to make it tell against the duke. They make Barker say that he had ordered one William Taylor, a carpenter at the "White Lion Inn," in Aldersgate Street, to bury a bag of the duke's papers, which contained letters from the Scottish queen; that the duke had not only corresponded with the Queen of Scots, but with the Duke of Alva on her behalf, through Rudolfi, and with her adherents in Scotland through the Bishop of Ross; and though Smith confessed to Cecil that Bannister had disclosed little, yet they so tampered with the evidence as to make Bannister confirm that of Hickford and Barker.

The Bishop of Ross, when questioned, stood upon his privilege of ambassador as being no subject of the Queen of England; and he strengthened his case by a very unpleasant reminder that when Randolph and Tamworth, the emissaries of Elizabeth, were convicted of actually supporting rebellion in Mary's dominions by both money and counsel, Mary had contented herself with ordering them to quit the kingdom. But Ross had to do with very different people to Mary. Cecil and Elizabeth were not inclined to let him off so easily; but he was told that he must either make a full answer to their questions, or they would force it from him by the rack. Ross was not only terrified by the threat of torture, but was told that his confessions wore not intended to criminate any one, but merely to satisfy the mind of Elizabeth. He gave way, and made such revelations, that when the Duke of Norfolk, who had hitherto stoutly denied everything laid to his charge, saw the depositions of the bishop, of Hickford, and Barker, he exclaimed that he had been betrayed and ruined by those in whom he put confidence. On comparing the various answers of these men and of the duke, it would appear that several plans had been in agitation for the liberation of the Queen of Scots; that Norfolk, though he would confess to nothing of the kind, had taken active part in them; that the money lately taken from Hickford had been sent from France for the Scotch friends of Mary. But by far most fatal to the duke was the revelation of the mission of Rudolfi, who had, it appeared, been sent by him to Alva, to the King of Spain, and to the Pope—or, rather, by Mary, with the cognisance and approbation of the duke. On his return, Rudolfi had found the duke at Howard House, smarting under his restraint, and the refusal of his request to resume his place at the Council board.

Both Mary and Norfolk, who had waited the issue of the negotiation betwixt her commissioners and those of Elizabeth for her restoration to no purpose, now deemed it the only chance for her liberation to seek the aid of foreign powers. Ross seems to have been the suggester to Mary of the mission of Rudolfi. He contended that both Philip and the Popo must be ready to adopt the same means against Elizabeth which she had always been employing against them—the incitement to rebellion amongst their subjects; that it only wanted the authority of Mary and of Norfolk to succeed. Certain instructions were afterwards exhibited as those furnished by Mary to Rudolfi; but their genuineness is doubtful, and Norfolk never would set his hand to any written document of the kind. According to these instructions Mary declared that all her hopes of accommodation with her subjects through Elizabeth were at an end, and she appealed to France and Spain for help. She declared that she could have been happy with Don John of Austria; and that the offer of the Duke of Norfolk to restore the Roman Catholic faith, and to send her son to Spain for security and education, made her marriage with him appear the more advisable.

With these instructions, Ross, Rudolfi, and Barker waited on Espés, the Spanish ambassador, who is described as a sanguine, credulous man, very unfit for his office; and he, satisfied of their authenticity, gave them letters of introduction to Philip and the Duke of Alva. Alva received Rudolfi at Brussels, but declared that he could do nothing, being only a servant, and that he must see the king himself. The English exiles there,