Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/429

 I575-] THE SPANISH TREATY. 409 ' If ever prince that possessed this crown/ Walsing- ham wrote to Burghley, ' had cause to desire the amity of Scotland, none can have greater than her Majesty, the corruption of her estate being well weighed, and the malice that the princes her neighbours bear to her. God forbid that no other thing should teach her Majesty to make value of the friendship of Scotland, but only the mischief that we may taste by the lack thereof.' l Every word of these warnings came back in due time to Elizabeth, and many a year of anxiety, and many a million from her treasury, the neglect of them was in the end to cost her. But it will be seen that what Walsmgham wished was incompatible with the course which on the whole she had determined to be best for her. After long oscillation Elizabeth's policy finally gravitated towards Philip and peace. She always advised the Netherlands to make no alterations in religion. Having no belief herself, she regarded Protestantism as a lost cause, and in her heart she was probably meditating how best to bring back England into communion with the rest of Christendom. Her ecclesiastical administration at home tended in the same direction, and towards the same issue. It is evident that neither then, nor till long after, did she regard the Church of England as more than a provisional arrangement, an Interim intended to last but while the confusions of Europe continued. Walsingbam to Burghley, April n, 1575 : M'SS. Domestic