Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/305

 1582.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 289 by her. 1 As regarded Scotland, his objects, as La Mot-he described them, were equally plausible. He said generally that he had come to help England in pacify- ing the feuds with which that unhappy country was distracted ; and his principle of pacification was one which was likely to be seductive to Elizabeth, however unsafe it might appear to Walsingham. ' The Queen of Scots,' La Mothe said to her in a private convers- ation, ' must either be held prisoner for life, or released under hard conditions, or lastly her Majesty, like a true friend and loving sister, might replace her on her own throne. To condemn her to perpetual captivity would provoke the anger of God, the enmity and perhaps the interposition of man. Her Majesty was too honourable and too wise a princess to take a course so unjust and so hazardous. The second alternative, if less cruel, was even more dangerous. Hard conditions would, of course, be resented. They might be imposed, but circumstances might change. Elizabeth might be without power to enforce them, and the end might -be convulsion and vio- lence. To impartial observers the most prudent course appeared to be to gain the Queen of Scots' gratitude by a frank and generous clemency, and restore her to the station which she had lost. Past unpleasantnesses would then be forgotten. The treaty of Leith could be rati- fied, and the two Princesses, rivals no longer, might reign in peace and goodwill to the end of their natural lives.' 2 Don Bernardino to Philip, December 16 : MSS. Simancaa. ' Paper endorsed ' Advice of M. de la Mothe,' January, 1583 : MSS. France, Rolls House. VOL. xr. 19