Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/73

 THE JESUIT INVASION. 57 harshly forced iipon them. The Jesuits therefore were commissioned to tell them in the Pope's name that the Bull only remained in force as it regarded the Queen and the heretics, but that it was so construed as not to touch the Catholics. It left them free to profess them- selves loyal until circumstances woidd allow the sen- tence to be executed. Catholic English gentlemen, that is, were to be allowed to call themselves good subjects of Elizabeth, to disclaim all disloyal intentions, to lead the Queen to trust them by assurances of devotion and fidelity, until the Spaniards or the French or the Scots were ready to invade the country, and then it woidd be their duty to turn against her. 1 The poison of asps was under the lips of the bearers of such a message of treachery, It could not be com- municated, as Burghley fairly argued, 3 without implied treason. Xo plea of conscience could alter the nature of things. To tell English subjects that they might continue loyal till another sovereign who claimed their allegiance was in a position to protect them, was to assert the right of that sovereign, as entirely and essen- tially, as to invite them to take arms on his side. And if the Pope erected his pretensions to dispose of king- doms into an article of faith, a government which flung back his insolent claims into his teeth was not likely to allow priest or layman to make a conscience of disloyalty. 1 Facilitates concesse PP. Ho- ' 1580 : MSS. Domestic. berto Personio et Edmundo Cam- ; 2 Execution of Justice, London, piano, pro Anglia, die 14 Aprilis, ; 1583.