Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/571

 1585.] THE BOND OF ASSOCIATION. 555 cient confidence in Elizabeth to venture into a war; but he represented himself as still willing, if she wished it, to make a special league with England ; to remonstrate with Philip, in connection with her, on his treatment of the Low Countries ; and to show him that if he per- sisted in violence he must count upon their united en- mity : it was a course which the Queen herself had once suggested ; she was unwilling to see the Provinces be- come annexed to France, and he therefore trusted that she would approve. To have consented would have obliged England eventually to go to war, and the Queen was bent ipon forcing Henry into it single-handed. Stafford not very honestly replied that his mistress would at one time have been satisfied with remonstrance, for fear of harm to the person of Monsieur, whom she loved so dearly ; but he was surprised, he said, to see a French King refuse oifers which his predecessors would have caught at so eagerly, proffered to him as they were with the good- will of England: the chance might not return, and he should not injure his reputation by neglecting it. The King answered quietly, that he could not sacri- fice himself for the good of others. If the King of Spain saw France and England united and determined, he would respect their wishes. The course which ho had suggested was the best, and under the circumstances the only one possible. 1 It would have pleased Elizabeth well to have seen Stafford to Walsingbara, March 313 : MSS. Fraiitc,