Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/483

 THE ALENCON MARRIAGE. 463 and were not confronted with, so orderly a skirmish as now they have been by Colonel Norris, neither could her Majesty be drawn nor wholly counselled to offer such aid, but now it was somewhat apparent that the Spaniards were no such devils/ 1 But Burghley knew his mistress too well to believe that the new humour would hold. ' Though this/ he said, ' be for the present earnestly meant, I can assure nothing but this only, that I am here uncertain of much/ 2 Walsinghain shared his misgivings, and saw that there was not a moment to be lost. The treaty of the States with Alencon was signed. If the war con- tinued, Monsieur was indisputably about to take part in it, and France itself was likely to follow. The States being now in a position to insist, refused to listen to terms which did not include liberty of worship. The Eng- lish ambassadors, taking advantage of the defeat of Ry- menant, went to Don John to try to persuade him to acquiesce, and to save Europe from a general war. The conditions were hard ; they would leave Spain in the United Provinces no more than a titular sovereignty. Walsingham reminded Don John of the Peace of Passau. But Don John was at no such exti omity as Charles had been at his flight from Innspruc'k. No one, he said, could desire peace more than he desired it, but if he was a prisoner in Brussels, he woul-J refuse stipulations so disgraceful. 3 The interview fail.;d. The war was to 1 Knowles to Walsingham, Au- gust 10 : MSS. Holland. 2 Burghley to Cobham and Wal- singham, August 9 : MSS. Ibid. 3 Walsingham was much struck with Don John. ' In conference with