Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/311

 1 5 70. ]. EXCOMMUNICA TION OF ELTZABE TH. 297 her engagement ; she would send her army back to Edinburgh ; Mary Stuart should remain prisoner for her life, and if war came it must come. 1 Fresh orders went down to Sussex. He had scarcely digested the letter of the 3ist of May when another followed it to say that new practices had been dis- covered, and that the Queen intended to move with greater caution. The King's Lords, who had been but just informed that they were to prepare to receive back Mary Stuart, ' were now to be told that in no wise they should shrink or yield ; and whatever the Queen of Scots or her friends might say to the contrary, they might assure themselves of the support of England/ 2 Rarely have any set of public men been in a more deplorable situation than these unlucky Lords. Chatel- herault had proclaimed the Queen. Elizabeth had withdrawn the indirect sanction which she had given to the election of Lennox in Murray's place, and they had neither Regent nor recognized authority among them. She had fed them with doses of alternate warmth and coldness, and her invasions and burnings had done them more harm than good, for she had tempted them to join in the demolition of Hamilton Castle, and then by her desertion had exposed them to be destroyed by their adversaries. The Abbot of Dum- fermline had found her impatient for the treaty, and had come back with an intimation that they must pre- pare for the return of the Queen. Lennox, Angus, 1 Depcches, June 16, June 19, June 21, vol. iii. 2 The Queen to Sussex, June 6 : MSS. Scotland.