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 Chapter XVI.

time which Elizabeth and her ministers, Burleigh, Walsingham, and Leicester, had been for years pressing forward to had at length arrived. They had hunted the unfortunate Queen of Scots into their toils; had purchased up the secret agency of her subjects, and of her only son, against her; had heaped every possible injury and indignity upon her; had tortured her in mind, and ruined her in health; had blackened her reputation, and had contrived by the basest acts and forgeries to stamp upon her that character which belonged pre-eminently to themselves, that of a murderer. She was prematurely old, stripped of her friends, her attendants, her most secret papers, of her very modicum of money, and even of her last gold chain. Her money amounted only to £107 2s. in English coin—five rouleaux of French crowns. They seized also 2,000 crowns which she had given to Curie's wife as a marriage portion; a gold chain and money belonging to Nau, amounting to £1,548 18s.; they left only three pounds to pay the wages of some of the inferior servants. There remained nothing now to complete this most infamous history than to take the royal and infirm captive's life; and for this they had paved the way by the means which we have detailed.

On the 5th of October a commission was issued to forty-six persons, peers, privy councillors, and judges, constituting a court competent to inquire into and determine all offences committed against the statute of the 27th of the Queen, either by Mary, daughter and heiress of James V., late King of Scotland, or by any other person whomsoever. The moment this was known, Chasteauneuf, the French ambassador, demanded in the name of his sovereign that Mary should be allowed counsel, according to the universal practice of civilised nations. But Elizabeth sent him an angry and insulting message by Hatton, that "she did not require the advice or schooling of foreign powers to instruct her how she ought to act;" and added that the Scottish queen was unworthy of counsel. Thus was refused the necessary defence of the accused, which the humblest citizen had a right to claim; and that it was determined beforehand to condemn and execute the Queen of Scots, was plain by the order of Elizabeth to the commissioners, dated October 7th, not to pass sentence on Mary till they had returned into the queen's presence, and made their report to her, sentence being thus predetermined; and we find the whole proceedings of this arbitrary, one-sided and outrageous cast.

On the 12th the commissioners arrived at the castle. They were the Lord Chancellor Bromley, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, the Earls of Oxford, Kent, Derby, Rutland, Worcester, Cumberland, Warwick, Pembroke, and Lincoln; the Viscount Montague; the Lords Zouch, Morley, Abergavenny, Stafford, Gray, Lumley, Stourton, Sandys, Wentworth, Mordaunt, St. John of Bletsoe, Compton, and Cheney; Sir James Croft, Sir Christopher Hatton, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Walter Mildmay, and Sir Amyas Paulet; Wray, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Anderson, Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench; Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and Gawdy and Periam, Justices of the Common Pleas. The next day Mary kept her chamber on the plea of indisposition, but admitted Mildmay and Paulet, with Barker, a notary, who summoned her to attend the court of commission. Mary denied their authority over her, an independent queen, whereupon they produced and handed to her the following extraordinary letter from Elizabeth:—

Mary read this blunt and dictatorial letter with great composure, and then said to the deputies that she was sorry to be charged by her sister the queen with that of which she was innocent; that she had indeed endeavoured to obtain her liberty, and would continue to do as long as she lived; but she reminded them that she was a queen as well as their mistress, and neither subject to her nor their jurisdiction; that as to plotting against the life of their queen, she abhorred all such attempts; on the contrary, she had repeatedly warned Elizabeth of dangers; that as to the laws of England, she was neither subject to them, nor did she know what they were; that as to defending herself, even if she were inclined to plead, they had deprived her of that power, for they had taken her papers, her secretaries, and would allow her no advocates. In a word, she had done nothing against the queen, had excited no man against her, and could only be charged from her own words and writings, neither of which, she was sure, would serve them.

The next day Paulet and Barker waited on her again, to know whether she still persisted in ignoring the authority of the court. She replied, "Most certainly;" adding, "There are things which I do not understand. The queen says I am subject to the laws of England because I am living under their protection." She denied this protection, declaring that she came into the kingdom to demand aid and assistance, and had ever since been treated neither as a queen nor a subject, but a close prisoner. 