Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/113

] of the palatine's restoration. He added that the prince and my lord duke had also acted entirely on that opinion during their stay there. Charles and Buckingham, in fact, seem to have taken very little trouble about the ex-king and queen of Bohemia.

But all was in vain; the prince had determined not to complete the marriage. It was believed that the view which he had had of the princess Henrietta at Paris had, even before his reaching Spain, changed his intentions; and a courier brought from James an order for Bristol not to deliver the proxy till Christmas, "because that holy and joyful time was best fitting so notable and blessed an action as the marriage." When we add, that the proxy was well known to the king and prince to expire before Christmas, we can duly estimate this awful language of hypocrisy. The king of Spain saw at once that he had been imposed upon; he gave instant orders to cease the preparations for the marriage, for the Infanta to drop the title of princess of England, which she is said to have done with tears, and to return to her usual state. The fury of indignation against the English in Spain may readily be conceived.

The earl of Bristol had acted too much the part of a faithful and honourable servant of the crown to escape the censure of such a court, and the vengeance of such a man as Buckingham. He had not hesitated, in spite of the remonstrances of the prince, to represent to James, during their sojourn in Madrid, the disgraceful conduct of that despicable libertine. James had the folly or the wickedness to show to the favourite these letters, and he received his recall. The ambassador wrote to James, requesting a remittance sufficient to bear him home, having pledged all his lady's jewels, and incurred a debt of fifty thousand crowns for prince Charles, so that he had not funds even for his journey.

It does not appear that James or Charles took any notice of this most reasonable appeal; but Philip not only exonerated Bristol from any share in the disgraceful proceedings, but warned him of the danger which threatened him at home, and offered to make him one of the most distinguished men of his own realm, if he would take up his abode in Spain. Bristol, however, declined the noble offer, saying that he would rather lose his head in England, conscious as he was of innocence, than live a duke of Infantado in Spain, with the imputation of treason, which was sure in such a case to be cast on him. Though he was ordered to quit Spain without delay, he was instructed to travel slowly, and on his landing he was commanded to retire to his house in the country, and consider himself a prisoner. The malicious Buckingham did his best to have him committed to the Tower, but the duke of Richmond and the earl of Pembroke opposed this injustice with effect.

James had got his baby Charles and his dog Steenie home again, but he soon found that they had involved him in troubles and debts, which very much abated the pleasure of their company. They had brought home neither wife nor her much desired money; on the contrary, they had spent his last shilling, involved him in debt, thrown away the greater part of his jewels, had left the cause of his daughter and son-in-law in a worse position than before, and now were vehement to engage him in a war with Spain. Under the gloomy oppression of these embarrassments, he lost even his appetite for hunting and hawking, shut himself up alone at Newmarket, and wrote to the palatine, recommending him to make his submission to the emperor; offer his eldest son, who was to be educated in England, to him for his daughter; accept the administration of his hereditary territory, and allow the duke of Bavaria the title of elector for his life. Under the advice of Charles and Buckingham the palsgave positively declined any such arrangement.

The only resource now was to call a parliament, but it was one which had rarely brought him any satisfaction. Before doing this he took the opinion of the privy council during the Christmas holidays on these points:—Whether the king of Spain had acted sincerely in the negotiations for the marriage? and whether he had given sufficient provocation to call for a war? The council unanimously supported the idea of the king of Spain's sincere dealing, and a majority declared that there was no just cause for a war.

This result, so hostile to the wishes of Buckingham, filled him with chagrin, and his wrath fell with especial weight on Williams, the lord-keeper, and Cranfield, the treasurer. These men had been his most service creatures; they were, in fact, altogether his creatures; but during his absence they had seen such evidences of displeasure in the king towards him, that they imagined his power was about at an end, and they were emboldened to oppose him. But his fierce displeasure, and the symptoms of even growing popularity which showed themselves round him, terrified them, and they made the most humble submission.

On the 2nd of February, 1624, Williams wrote a most crawling letter to Buckingham, begging him to forgive his past conduct, "to receive his soul in gage and pawn:" they were reconciled. People who before hated Buckingham, now looked upon him as a patriot, for having broken off the papist match, and for seeking to punish Spain by a war. The heads of the opposition in the house of commons, the earl of Southampton, the lord Say and Sele, and others came over to him; and through Preston, a puritan minister and chaplain to the prince, he was brought in favour with many other members of the country party. Buckingham and Charles assured James that the demand of war with Spain was the only cry for him, as nothing would so readily draw money from the commons. Accordingly, though trembling and reluctant, James summoned parliament, which met on the 19th of February.

He opened it in much humbler tones than ever before. He expressed a great desire to manifest his love for his people. He then informed them that he had long been engaged in treaties with different countries for the public good, and had actually sent his son and the man whom he most trusted to Spain, and all that had passed there should be laid before them; and he begged them to judge him charitably, and to give him their advice on the whole matter. One thing he begged to assure them of, that in everything, public and private, he had always made a reservation for the cause of religion; and though he had occasionally relaxed the penal statutes against catholics a little, yet as to suspending or altering any of them, "I never," he exclaimed, "promised or yielded; I never thought it with my heart nor spoke it with my mouth!" And this