Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/423

 1584.] EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 407 defence of Elizabeth's Government, containing the entire history of her relations with the Catholics, her steady forbearance to retaliate for the Marian persecu- tion, her resolution that at no time and under no cir- cumstances should any one of her subjects suffer for persevering in the faith of his ancestors. In this spirit she had begun her reign, and in this spirit Lord Burgh- ley said she would have continued, had not the Pope forced a change of policy upon her by making treason a part of his creed. The principle of the administra- tion remained unchanged. He repeated what he had declared many times already, that no Catholic had been or would be punished for his opinions on the Christian mysteries ; but, with a just disdain, he refused to re- cognize the pretence that the Pope could make rebel- lion a religious duty, or could elevate men into martyrs Arho had suffered deaths for conspiring against their Sovereign. Equally decided was the course taken with Don Bernardino de Mendoza. Four times the experiment of a resident Spanish ambassador in Protestant Eng- land, had evidenced the reluctance of the old allies to drift into hostility. Four times the separative tenden- cies of the creeds had proved too strong for the efforts of statesmanship. The chief obligation which devolved upon the representatives of Spain was to encourage the Catholics to persevere in recusancy, to sustain their spirits, to hold out indefinite prospects to them of better days that were to come ; and it was a duty which lay so near conspiracy that the step from one to the other was