Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/578

 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 67. the havens and sea towns,' should be made over to him, 1 and Stafford warned Elizabeth 'to prepare for the worst/ He ascertained that part of the council, Secre- tary Yilleroy especially, had advised Henry to save France from civil war by diverting the storm upon England, and that Villeroy had gone so far as to con- sult Mendoza on the possibility of a union with Spain against the Queen. The King having declined her offer of help, she was driven back once more upon her ' natural allies/ When Catholic Europe threatened to combine against her, she remembered that she was a Protestant Sovereign. Young Champernowne of Dartington, a name as well known as it was honoured in the Huguenot army, was commissioned to go to the King of Navarre, and to tell him that if the King of France was misled into joining the League, he might count on her support, and that she would send to Germany and invite the Luther- ans to join for the common defence. 2 M. de Segur came again to England. Money was given to Mont- pensier to enable him to hold Picardy, while Elizabeth had recourse to her pen, and endeavoured to work di- rectly upon the mind of ' her dear brother ' at Paris. 3 1 Stafford to Walsingham, May 414: MSS. France. 2 Abstract of instructions to Ar- thur Champernowne, sent to the King of Navarre, April May, 1585 : MSS. Ibid. 3 ' Could you but know, my most dear brother, the grief which I feel at the danger to which you are allow- ing yourself to be exposed, you would perceive that there was no creature in the world on whom you might more surely count for help than on myself. My God ! is it possible that a great King, against all reason and honour, can sue for peace and to rebels and traitors in- stead of forcing them to submit to