Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/240

 220 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. Mary Stuart was still unable to act without her brother and Maitland ; and the Earl of Murray was a better Protestant than Knox believed him to be, and Mait- land' s broad statesmanship had little in common with the scheming conspiracies which were*hatched in the chambers of priests. Maitland's single object was the union of the realms, where Scotland, in compensation for the surrender of its separate independence, would have the pride of giving a sovereign to its ancient enemy. While therefore he was zealous for the honour of his mistress, he had no interest in those collateral objects of religious revolution and personal revenge of which Mary was in such keen pursuit. With the Darnley connection, as it appeared afterwards, he had no sym- pathy, unless Darnley was freely offered by Elizabeth and the choice was freely sanctioned by the two Parlia- ments. So far therefore Maitland was ill suited for the Queen of Scots' purposes ; on the. other hand, he was by far the ablest minister that she possessed. He wag_ fanatically eager so far as a man of so cool and clear an intellect could be fanatical about anything to secure the English succession for her ; and aware of his value, she~named himTwith her brother to meet the English commissioners and consider in form Elizabeth's pro- posals. The conference was to be kept secret from the world. The Queen of Scots would go to Dunbar in the middle of November. The two ministers would leave her as if for a few days' hawking on the Tweed, and the Governor of Berwick would invite them to visit him.