| 4 Aug. |
118. The Same to the Same.
I wrote to your Majesty by Don Juan Pacheco, and since then
Secretary Cecil, the bishop of Valence, and M. de Randau, have
arrived in London, and I have spoken to them several times. The
French have told me lately how dissatisfied they are with what has
been done about Scotland and say, in effect, that their King will
never consent that the Queen of England shall have any influence
in that country, either as ally and friend of the people or even as
intercessor which is the character they have been forced to grant her
by the provisional treaty. They refer to a clause in which they
agree with the Queen that by her intercession the king of France
promises certain things touching the freedom of the country, and
the Queen wished that the King's promise in this respect should
also be pledged to her, in order that she might be able to call the
king of France to account in case the promise were not fulfilled to
the Scots. I understand that the Queen wrote to her Commissioners
when they were in treaty, that, in any case, she wished the French
distinctly to acknowledge the open union and alliance which existed
between her and the Scots, but the Commissioners seeing that this
would cause the whole agreement to fall through, Cecil devised this
other plan which will have the effect of enabling the Queen as trustee
and next friend to make the Frenchman keep his word to the Scots,
so that indirectly she has got the alliance she claimed, and has
entered into some arrangement with the Scots for mutual defence.
Although the French saw through Cecil's design they thought best
to dissemble and pretend not to see ; so as to enable them to say, as
they do now, that they knew nothing of this alliance, and will not
agree to it. In the meanwhile they have withdrawn their troops
from Leith, which is exactly what they wanted to do, as they (the
troops) were without food, and there was no intention of relieving
them by force, whereas, on the other hand, the English desired
nothing better than that the Scots should crush these troops, so
that the hate and distrust between them should be perpetual and
irreconcilable. They have given me many reasons why the King
their master is not bound to agree to what the Queen claims by
virtue of this clause, namely, an alliance with the Scots. The first
is that, as they were prisoners under guard all the time they were in
Scotland settling the terms of peace, and were not allowed to speak
a word with the Scots or anybody else, they negotiated as prisoners
and are not now bound by anything they agreed to under duress.
The second reason is that at the end of the afore-mentioned treaty
there is a clause saying that the French bound themselves to the
queen of England to fulfil all they promised to the Scots in this
treaty on condition that the Scots obeyed the King implicitly, and
carried out all their obligations towards him. The French say they
have failed in many respects to do this, both before and since their
departure from Scotland, and in one particular instance, they say
that a Frenchman, who was bringing them 4,000 crowns to Leith to
pay, in part, what their soldiers owed in that place, was robbed a
mile from Edinburgh, although a herald and an escort of Scots
accompanied him. On a complaint having been made of this by the
factor of the queen of Scotland there to the Deputies of the Congregation,
they answered that they had no means of redressing it.
They pile up many other things of the sort, and they have made up
their minds in consequence that the King will not ratify the treaty.
It seems to me that they still hope to pacify the Scots and calm their
distrust and suspicion, in which case this Queen would be finely
outwitted, and would see her folly in interfering in what does not
concern her instead of looking to her own safety. She is not so gay
as usual lately, and is very suspicious since the French Commissioners
spoke to her. She asked me yesterday if I knew how the French
were pleased with the agreement as, for her part, she thought they
seemed ashamed of themselves and with but small desire to give her
the satisfaction she claimed or even to discuss it as they had
promised. With regard to this indemnity I hear that the bishop of
Valence and M. de Randau, who are those who had to remain here
to discuss the affair, have asked her leave to depart, and, on her
reminding them that they had to stay to arrange her claims
according to promise, they said the King would send others to do so,
or commission his ordinary ambassador.
She allows them to depart on condition that within three weeks
they return or the King sends others, and they therefore leave
to-morrow, but, in fact, they jest at the Queen's claims as they say
that they did not cause the war, and that it is not customary for
princes to impose this sort of penalty except on a vanquished foe.
The bishop of Valence says that he expects to be sent at once to
give an account to your Majesty of events here and to reply to
this Queen's claims, which they say are only made so as to enable
her to break with them when she thinks fit, and for this reason, she
has put in this bone of contention in order that, if your Majesty
gives no decision in the case within the year she will still possess
the right to force her claim in the best way she can. This way is
to go straight into Scotland, and for this purpose they say she will
keep 2,000 soldiers in Berwick although she has made the French
not only disarm on the frontier but leave Scotland altogether, and
they say finally that they are sure she will not rest until she has
taken the kingdom away from them if she can.
He (the bishop of Valence) also told me, although jestingly and
as if he did not believe it, that the Scots congratulated themselves
that your Majesty had sent them an assurance that you would
never be against them or against the queen of England and even
said they could show it in writing. They say the evil of the whole
business has been the absence of any person to represent your
Majesty in the making of the treaty who might have seen which
side was asking for justice and which side was making unreasonable
claims. They say they solicited this from Newcastle, and have
shown me copies of letters sent from there to the King (of France)
begging that the person whom the bishop of Limoges had asked
your Majesty to send should be despatched at once. I answered
that your Majesty had been willing to do anything to forward the
business either by sending a representative or otherwise, but as
the Queen had not solicited the visit of the person in question,
and the French themselves had only done so once when the bishop
of Limoges spoke about it, your Majesty's orders had not been
carried out, as they would most willingly have been if the French
had requested it.
What the Queen told M. de Glajon and me as to the French having
declared this kingdom to belong of right to her and not to France,
appears to have been declared not expressly or formally, but by
inference.
Certain Germans have arrived here sent by some of the princes of
Germany to the Queen and amongst them one from the duke of
Cleves, which duke I understand has become a pensioner of the
Queen, and the agreement has already been concluded between them.
She also has some dealings with the Master of Prussia, and it may
be believed that, to avoid having recourse to your Majesty, she will
seek what help she can from other quarters.
Florencio Ayaceto, a man who has been backwards and forwards
to France lately trying to arrange a marriage between the Queen
and a son of the Duke de Nevers (for which the King offered to
restore Calais to her) came the other day to take leave of me, and
told me that he knew a way by which the marriage of the Queen
and the Archduke Charles could easily be brought about. I answered
him coldly, as I thought he came to find out something from me,
but he said that if the Emperor caused the king of France to restore
Calais to the Queen (which he knew could be arranged easily) she
would certainly marry the Archduke, and the people of this country
would be delighted. Yesterday I was talking with the Queen, and,
as I had heard from Cecil and Treasurer Parry that she had now
made up her mind to marry, I thought I could tell her, as if in joke
what Florencio had said, to draw her out. She at once suspected
that this idea had been conveyed to me by the French with the
object of gaining the goodwill of your Majesty, and she said she
was surprised that they should make so light of her claim which
was that Calais should be restored to her as part of the indemnity
she demanded.
We afterwards spoke of her marriage and she said she thought
she could not any longer delay it, although she would wed with the
very worst will in the world. I asked whether she meant to keep
her promise to Count Helfenstein to let the Emperor know when
she had resolved to marry. She answered Yes, she would do so
when the time arrived. I asked her permission to inform your
Majesty of this resolution of hers, and she answered that she could
not give it to me yet, but she hoped to do so soon. I think she
would like to make me believe that she is not averse to the match
with the Archduke, but I fear that it is with the hope of gaining
your Majesty's favour for the decision of her cause, as she calls it,
with the French. The truth is that, as she has to ask Parliament
by Michaelmas for a new grant to defray her debts, she thinks they
will give it the more easily if she promises them to marry ; but
what she will do afterwards I know not. Her affairs, however, are
in such a condition that if she do not marry and behave herself
better than hitherto she will every day find herself in new and
greater troubles. Religious matters make me believe that in case
she determines to marry she will rather lay hands on any of these
heretics than on the Archduke. I understand the earl of Arran
is excluded as being poor and of small advantage to this country,
and also because he is not considered personally agreeable. They
all favour the prince of Sweden, as he is both heretical and
rich, and especially Secretary Cecil, who would expect to remain at
the head of affairs as at present if the prince of Sweden became
King.
Affairs here being so important to the welfare and the
preservation of your Majesty's dominions, I am of opinion that
at this juncture it is necessary to use every diligence to lead them
in a direction favourable to your Majesty by overcoming the
obstacles which exist in the minds of the Queen and her advisers
by the means which may appear most desirable. I beg your Majesty
to have this considered, and provided for in good time, and to
instruct me how I am to bear myself, and to what end I am to
endeavour to lead matters. I am here in such need that I am
obliged to supplicate your Majesty to be pleased to relieve it. Up
to the present I have worked hard to do the best I could for your
Majesty's service. This is no longer possible ; my poor strength is
insufficient.
Since writing the above I have learnt the terms of the peace and
send them to your Majesty.—London, 4th August 1560. |
