Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/82

 62 KEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41. her allies. Peace was signed in France on the 25th of March, and notice was sent to Warwick that the purpose of the war being happily accomplished, he was expected to withdraw from Havre. 1 The Prince however was unwilling to press matters to extremity. On the 8th of April he protested in a second and more gracious message, that neither by him nor by the Admiral had the town been placed in English hands ; but he offered, in the name of himself, the Queen-Regent, and the entire nobility of France, to renew solemnly and formally the clause in the Treaty of Cambray for the restoration of Calais in 1567 ; to repay Elizabeth the money which she had lent him, and to admit the English to free trade and inter- course with all parts of France. Could Elizabeth have temperately considered the value of these proposals she would have hesitated before she refused them ; but she was irritated at having been outwitted in a transaction in which her own conduct had not been pure. The people, with the national blindness to everything but their own injuries, were as furious as the Queen. The garrison at Havre was only anxious for an opportunity of making ' the French cock cry cuck.' 2 They promised Elizabeth that 'the least molehill about her town should not be lost without many bloody blows ; ' and when a few days later there came the certainty that they would really be besieged, they prayed ' that the Queen would bend her brows and 1 "Warwick to the Council, March 31 : FOIJHES, vol. ii. 2 Pelham to Throgmorton, April 5 : Couwtiy MSS.