Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/422

402 the Bologna council. Yet his hostility was sustained uniformly to the extreme of his ability; to save his interests, in Italy, it was his object to keep France occupied, and to exasperate, therefore, the English quarrel; and Cardinal Pole took the trouble to write a letter to Somerset, warning him that, when opportunity offered, Charles also would not fail to use it to revenge his own wrongs and the wrongs of the Church;—adding, at the same time, that the Catholic powers had not recognized the legitimacy of a prince who had been born when the kingdom was under an interdict. The money loans at Antwerp were contracted in the face of an edict prohibiting the exportation of bullion from Flanders. The dealings with the Jews were contraband; and a large sum, as much, it was said, as 40,000l., was intercepted and seized on its way to England by the officers of the customs. No provident English statesman could calculate safely on the maintenance of the treaty with the Emperor until England was at peace with France and Charles was again at war with it.

If England was insecure towards the Continent, at home things were on the edge of convulsion. The Enclosures Commission had excited hopes among the people, which Parliament had destroyed by refusing to consider their petition; and the fencing and hedging, sanctioned by the determination of the House of Commons, went on more actively than ever. The Catholics were irritated and