Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/95

 158 1.] THE JESUIT INVASION. ft House accepted his advice without a division, and Knowles was empowered to tell the Queen that her will should be obeyed. Sir Walter Mildmay then rose for the council. He spoke of the moderation of the Govern- ment, of the prosperity which England had enjoyed under the Queen while the rest of Europe was in flames. He dwelt on the successive attempts which had been made by the Popes to destroy her, the northern rebellion, the Bull of Deposition, the Irish revolt, and the secret coun- tenance given to the disaffected by Spain. So far the Queen had befcn able to encounter these plots against her at her own cost. The country had been called on for little or no assistance. The few subsidies for which she had asked had not covered half her expenses, and without loans or benevolences she had carried on the government out of her private revenues. England under her moderate rule enjoyed more freedom than anv nation under the sun. She had been personally a vir- tuous princess, unspotted in word or deed, merciful, tem- perate, a maintainer of peace, and of justice. She had a right therefore to call upon her subjects now to stand by her against the malice of the Pope and his confederates. ' The enemy sleeps not/ Mildmay said. ' The mis- chievous purposes will be renewed. They are determined to root out the Gospel and set England on fire. The ob- stinate and stiff-necked are not converted, but are bolder than they were. A sort of hypocrites, Jesuits and vagrant Friars, have come into the realm to stir sedition, and many of those who used to come to church have fallen back and refuse to attend. We must therefore look to it.