Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/44

 28 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 63. attempt was made to send him to Spain. Orders went again to Randolph to insist that Morton should be re- moved from Dumbarton and placed in neutral hands, that his trial should be open without practice or cor- ruption, and with due regard to time and place. If these demands were refused, Randolph was instructed ' undelayedly to call in the English army.' ' Morton/ said Walsingham, was not put at for the slaughter of the King, but for the putting down of the young King's mother ; ' and he sent Lennox word that if ' by foul play he touched one hair of Morton's head it should cost the life of the Queen of Scots.' * Threats unluckily were not actions, and Walsingham was not Elizabeth. Randolph's eyes remained myste- riously dim. He continued to hold intercourse with Lennox ; he continued his favourable reports to the Court. The King, he said, had no thoughts of leaving Scotland. Morton would have a fair trial, and there was not the faintest purpose of altering religion. Len- nox ' after conference with the ministers had embraced the true Evangile/ He was in Scotland only because he was the King's nearest relation. He was devoted to England and the English alliance. 2 The young nobleman who had been trusted with so great an enterprise, was doing ample credit to his in- structors. To blind Randolph, to pacify the alarms of the ministers, and as an answer to Elizabeth, a confes- ' Walsingham to Randolph, Feb- ruary 9 : MSS. Scotland. 2 Answer of the King of Scots and Council, February 7 : MSS. Scotland. Enclosed by Randolph to Walsinghara.