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| 12 April. |
487. Bernardino de Mendoza to the King.
I wrote to your Majesty on the 31st ultimo, and on the 4th
instant received a letter from Don Juan dated the 14th, with one
for the Queen in my credence.
I thereupon requested audience, which was granted on the 10th,
when I handed to the Queen his Highness's letter. As soon as she
saw it she said it was very old, which I excused. She mentioned
that the object of the letter was to advise her of his Highness's
victory, respecting which I gave her a full statement, in conformity
with his Highness's instructions. She replied that it was
a great pleasure to her to hear of victories won for your Majesty,
and by his Highness, unless they, being against your own subjects,
might tend to the destruction of your own patrimony. She said
she had sent Thomas Wilkes to his Highness, and that if her
requests were not acceded to she would help the States with all
her strength, and this she said in a loud voice, that it might be
heard by every one present. I replied that the people were already
talking of this, as money had been lent to M. d'Havrey, and
troops were being raised here for Flanders, against the treaties with
your Majesty, whose rebel subjects she was thus helping. I also
said, as his Highness had ordered me, that if the States were
so obstinate as to be dissatisfied with the concessions which they
themselved had begged for on the 25th of September, and which
had been granted to them, I could not help telling her, much
attached as I was to her by her kindness to me, that your Majesty
had very long arms, and, that if need arose, their strength would
be felt in any country upon which they were placed. She swallowed
this with rather a wry face, and replied that she did not consider
these people to be rebels, as they were satisfied with what your
Majesty had granted them before, and she would not allow either
the French to set foot in the States, nor the Spaniards to rule
them, on any account, and she would stand to this while she had a
man left in her country. I told her that the French were not
thinking of such a thing, and I could believe that they had their
eyes fixed rather elsewhere. She said she knew what was going
on in Ireland, and that the king of France had sent the Order of
St. Michael to an Irishman, as she was informed of what took
place everywhere. When I assured her that she might have confidence
in your Majesty, and reminded her of the steps taken in
the year 1560 to prevent the French from entering Scotland, (fn. 1) she
replied that she was well aware of the league between your
Majesty, the Pope, and the king of France ; and knew how long
it had been hatching, as the Emperor Maximilian had told her five
years ago that he had been asked to join it. She also knew
what was the object of the visit of two Spaniards to this country.
I tried to satisfy her on these points, and she said that the letters
that had been captured, written by his Highness, proved what she
said. The letters were confessed to be his, although he said that
he had not ordered his secretary to write what he had. She was
full of complaints of his Highness as usual, saying that he had
broken his promise and the oath of peace, and she knew very well
that his Highness was on the look-out for a kingdom that belonged
to her. She ended by swearing three times in the name of God
that if the perpetual edict was not granted she would help the
States whilst she had a man left in England. This is all I can
report to your Majesty, but as things here change so rapidly and continually,
it is difficult to keep pace with them, and to send their
latest decisions. These people are so fickle and wavering that they
are indeed insular. With regard to the release of Antonio de
Guaras, I spoke to her warmly, as his Highness instructed me.
She said that she had been very merciful to him, that the honour
and dignity of her country forced her to keep him in his present
condition, but that if these two points were not involved, she
would not detain him a moment, but would send him out of the
country. I returned to the subject later, when she begged me
earnestly not to mention him to her, nor his servant Damian
either, as he was as great a rogue as his master. She said I
should soon have two packets of letters which he had left in Calais
to be sent to me, and which he had not brought hither in order
to prevent their seizure. I said I hoped that my despatches
would not be tampered with in her country whilst I was your
Majesty's minister here, and I was much surprised at the complaints
made to me by Spaniards that their servants were stopped at the
ports, and their letters taken from them. She replied that she was
very glad that her people were so alert, although it was not by
her orders ; as certain people came here with no very good objects in
view, and anybody who was captured in future on account of such
plots should be hanged first and your Majesty informed afterwards.
She said that I need not be surprised if your Majesty did not
receive all my despatches, as some of them, and the secret
messengers who bore them, had been sent back from Dover, and
other ports, as they could not be allowed to pass.—London, 12th
April 1578.
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488. Bernardino de Mendoza to the King.
The 31st ultimo was my last letter to your Majesty, in which I
advised you of the troops being raised here, of whom the commanders
are to be Henry Cavendish, George York, and Thomas
Morgan, who they say are to take them to Flanders, but all that
is known for certain is that Cavendish will take fifteen hundred
soldiers to Dunbar for Scotch affairs, whilst a thousand soldiers
from the fortress of Berwick, with two hundred horse from the
Border (where also three thousand infantry have been raised), are
to go and help Morton and his friends, who are adherents of this
Queen, whilst those on the side of the prince of Scotland are the
earls of Huntley, Athole, and Argyll, and Lord Erskine. Thomas
Randolph has left Scotland, and they are sending as an ambassador
to this Queen a Protestant abbot. The Queen has given orders for
various ships to be equipped, and they have taken from the Tower
two hundred bronze pieces, large and small, which are now on the
shore ready for shipment. Some people think that these great
efforts on part of the Queen to ensure affairs in Scotland are caused
not only by their great importance to her, but also in order not
to miss the opportunity, as she is informed by her friends that the
king of France will not help the other side with much warmth,
although he has been incited thereto by the assertion that your
Majesty intended to seize the prince of Scotland, to which he
replied, that such a course was a bad one, as the business was so
important, and he was much disturbed at the intelligence. The
Queen has sent for Henry Sidney, the governor of Ireland, to
come over and take charge of the queen of Scotland, the affair
having been settled by his brother-in-law, the earl of Leicester,
as they are not sure of the earl of Shrewsbury, who guards her
now.
The man who came here from Alençon has returned, accompanied
by a merchant sent by this Queen with him to see the
prince of Condé, it is suspected about some projected enterprise
in Cascony. There is much talk here of a marriage between
Philip Sidney, Leicester's nephew, the heir of Henry Sidney,
of the earl of Warwick, and of Leicester's property, and a sister
of Orange, who enters very willingly into the suggestion, and
promises as a dowry to make him lord of Holland and Zealand,
by this means and other gifts gaining over Leicester, who has now
turned his back upon France, to which he was formerly so much
attached.
M. d'Havrey is said to be leaving every day, and is generally
at Court.
On the 5th the Queen, attended by two ladies, came to Leicester's
London house, where Havrey presently joined her, and returned
with her to Greenwich by land. Some people think he will stay
here until the receipt of his Highness' reply to Wilkes, who has
been sent as ambassador. The meeting of Parliament has been
prorogued until 26th May.
The ambassador sent by the Queen to the king of Sweden
has returned. He was sent respecting the 100,000 ducats the
King owes to her and others, and the answer he brings is far
from satisfactory, being to the effect that the King does not owe
the money, and will not pay it. He would not reply to the
letters. It is said the King has sent his submission to the Pope.—
London, 12th April 1578.
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| 22 April. |
489. Bernardino De Mendoza to the King.
On the 31st ultimo I wrote to your Majesty what I had been
able to learn about the voyage which had been undertaken by the
English, and reported that they were fitting out eight ships to send
on a similar expedition. Since then four more vessels have been
added, making twelve in all, and the number of men for colonization
has been increased. A quantity of easily erected wooden houses
and other necessaries are being taken. Frobisher, who is to command
the expedition on the Queen's behalf, and the other captains
have taken leave, receiving great signs of the Queen's favour. She
expressed herself very warmly as to the great importance of the
undertaking for the welfare of her realm. I am still persevering
in my attempts to get a chart of the voyage. I have the greatest
hope of being able to obtain one, in which case I will at once send
it to your Majesty. The pieces of ore did not go in my last letter
in consequence of the risk, but I send them herewith as this letter
is taken by one of my own servants, and I have ordered him, in case
the ship in which he sails is overhauled, to throw the letters and
samples into the sea, as I have another similar set of specimens
here.—London, 22nd April 1578.
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490. Bernardino De Mendoza to the King.
Since writing the enclosed Jeronimo Gondi (fn. 2) has arrived here, it
is suspected on a special embassy to the Queen. I was informed
before his arrival that he was coming to represent to the Queen the
evils that might result to her from the happy successes which God
is sending to your Majesty in the Netherlands, in order to draw her
the more towards them (the French), and other plots of the same
sort, of which I can say nothing more decided yet. It is also said
that he is going with an embassy to Scotland, from which country
ambassadors are to arrive here to-morrow.
M. d'Havrey has left here but is still at Gravesend, ships being
ready at Dover to take him across.—London, 22nd April 1578.
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491. Bernardino de Mendoza to the King.
Since I wrote to your Majesty on the 12th, Thomas Randolph
arrived here from Scotland and his coming and the account he gives
of affairs in that country have altered the intention which I wrote
was entertained here, of sending Cavendish, son of the countess of
Shrewsbury, (fn. 3) with fifteen hundred men to Dunbar, it appearing that
the adherents of this Queen there are not in such good case as will
warrant their appealing to arms. They will rather delay matters
and await a more favourable opportunity. They have therefore
decided here simply to remain on the alert, and do not seem to have
been much disturbed by the change of government there, pending
the arrival of the ambassador from Scotland who, as I said, was on
his way hither. The troops raised by the said Sir Harry Cavendish,
with Captains George York and Thomas Morgan, are to slip over to
Flanders quietly, pretending that they are not sent or paid by the
Queen but by Cavendish, who is a rich young man, but is not a
soldier and knows nothing of war. He has bought great quantities
of arms which have been packed up like bales of merchandise, and a
thousand pounds sterling worth of powder, most of the men being
shipped in Gravesend and lower down the river, attracted by the
money paid to them. They are told that they are to be lodged at
Bruges, Malines, and Antwerp, five hundred in each place. It is also
said that as soon as Casimir and the others with the German troops
arrive in the States, Henry Sidney, who is coming from Ireland, will
go over with ten thousand men. I wrote to your Majesty on the
12th that they had sent for him, in order to give him the queen of
Scotland in keeping, but as Scotch affairs are not to be taken in
hand at present, they think it will be well not to make this change.
They will not send so many men to Flanders as to deprive themselves
of sufficient force to deal with Scotch affairs when the time comes.
They are in great fear about them, as their designs can only be
frustrated from this quarter.
The Queen has sent all through the country fully authorised
officers with powers such as never have been granted before, to seize
and imprison Catholics, without appeal, in consequence of its having
been stated that the queen of Scotland had many adherents on
account of religion. Most of these officers are pernicious heretical
Puritans and creatures of Walsingham, who is a great supporter of
their sect. Walsingham said the other day to some people, who he
knew would tell me at once, that the Queen knew full well that
your Majesty had made a truce with the Turk, she having learnt
this by recent letters from Constantinople and reports from
France.
I sent to ask for audience as soon as I heard that the troops were
being shipped at Gravesend, notwithstanding what had been promised
me, but I have been attacked with a very bad tertian ague,
which has prevented me from seeing the Queen personally, and it
was not a business that could be entrusted to a third person, so that
I shall not be able to speak to her about it until I can get out, which
shall be at the first possible moment.
Parliament has been summoned in Scotland for the 10th of June
and great things are to be done. This Queen is sending Henry
Killigrew, Cecil's brother-in-law, to be present.
Walsingham and Leicester have had a conference with Havrey in
consequence of what they heard from Gravelines. Fearing that the
same thing may occur in many other towns, they have decided that
the dykes shall be broken in other places, by which, wherever
possible, land may be isolated.—London, 22nd April 1578.
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