CHAP. I. 1624. no longer a mere religious error, endangering, according to the common belief, the souls of men, but accomMarch 29. panied by no very evident political danger. It was now once more aggressive both on the Continent and in England. Every step which had been gained by its champions in Germany, every blow which had been struck upon the Danube or the Rhine, had found an echo in English hearts, more especially as the detested creed had gained vantage ground in the concessions which Spain had wrung from the impolitic compliance of an English sovereign. April 3. Petition Recusants. And so the mischief which had been quietly growing, had produced another mischief in return. Because James had allowed the reins of government to hang loosely in his hands, and had not repelled with scorn the pretensions of an alien ruler to interfere with the domestic affairs of England, therefore the best and wisest spirits of the age were crying out not merely for the exclusion from England of Spanish influence, but for the administration of the English law, as far as their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects were concerned, in a harsh and intolerant spirit. On the 3rd of April a petition was sent up to the against the Lords asking for the full execution of the penal laws against the Recusants, and a request was added to it 'that upon no occasion of marriage or treaty, or other request on that behalf from any foreign Prince or State whatsoever,' his Majesty 'would take away or slacken the execution of his laws against the Popish Recusants.'1 James's objections. To the last clause James had no objection to make. He had learned something from past experience, and he had resolved not to complicate the French treaty with any of those stipulations for the English Catholics 1 Lords' Journals, i. 289. JAMES'S HESITATION. I. 1624. 39 April 3. which had hampered him so terribly in his negotiations CHAP. with Spain. But the demand for the full execution of the penal laws annoyed him. If he had no welldefined theory on the subject of toleration, and if his practice on this as in many other matters was very much influenced by the special circumstances of the moment, he shrank from avowing an intention to deal harshly with the Recusants at a time when he was persuaded that the Palatinate could only be recovered with the assistance of France and other Roman Catholic countries. his de ties. As often happened with James, his vexation threw He recalls him violently into a course opposite to that which he spatch had previously taken. He ordered the courier who had breaking already started for Madrid with a despatch announcing the breach of the negotiations, to be overtaken and brought back. He must now, he said, consult more fully with his son. "Ye know," he wrote to Conway in a letter conveying these directions, "my firm resolution not to make this a war of religion." "1 All this may easily be accounted for by the dislike Spanish inwhich James reasonably entertained for the intolerant trigues. policy which the Commons were urging him to adopt. But it may be acknowledged that other causes may have contributed to ruffle his temper. The Spanish ambassadors, ignorant, like the rest of the world, of the deep hold which the loss of the Palatinate had taken upon James's mind, saw, in the repulse which they had met, nothing more than the result of the overbearing self-will of Buckingham. It was not hard for them to construct out of rumour, partly true and partly false, the idea that the King was held in moral, if not in actual physical durance, by the arts of his 1 The King to Conway, April 3. Printed without a date in Rushworth, i. 140. CHAP. I. 1624. March 29. The King asked to see Carondelet favourite and his son, and they imagined that if they could only succeed for an instant in getting the ear of James, the whole monstrous edifice which Buckingham had constructed would topple down of itself. Their first difficulty arose from their knowledge that they were never allowed to see James in private. in private. When they were admitted to an audience Buckingham Caronde against was always present, ready to remove any impression they might chance to make, the moment they had left the room. This hindrance to freedom of speech they determined to break through at the earliest opportunity.' On March 29, the day on which they were summoned to hear from the King's lips the announcement that negotiations were at an end, whilst Coloma engaged the Prince and Buckingham in conversation, Inojosa offered James a paper which he requested him to put in his pocket till he found himself alone. The paper, when opened, proved to contain a request that the King would give a private audience to Carondelet, let's charge the Archdeacon of Cambrai, who was acting as Coloma's secretary. The audience was granted, and Carondelet made use of it to tell the King that he was little better than a prisoner in Buckingham's hands, and was being used as a tool for the satisfaction of the private animosities of his favourite. On the morning of April 3 Carondelet returned, bringing Lafuente with him.1 This time a written charge against Buckingham was placed in James's possession, accusing him of having formed a plot to transfer the government out of his master's hands to those of the Prince, whilst James was to be graciously allowed to pass the rest of his life in the full enjoyment of the sports of the field. The soldiers who would be levied as soon as war was Bucking ham. April 3 1 Valaresso's Despatch, April. INOJOSA'S INTRIGUES. declared would be used to bring the King to submission. Already Buckingham had been speaking disrespectfully of his sovereign, and had been doing his best to make him unpopular with the nation. If the King would but cast off his favourite, Spain would undertake to procure the restitution of the Palatinate in three months. The alleged intention to dethrone the King had doubtless no foundation in fact. But it is likely enough that Buckingham had spoken of the King in his conversation at least as disrespectfully as he had written to him in his letters. At all events, there was enough of general truth in the charge to make James excessively uncomfortable. He must have known that even if it was not true that he was being dragged against his will by Buckingham into a course of action which he disliked, he had at least entered upon a path which, but for Buckingham, he would never have chosen. He now expressed, in bitter words, the usual dissatisfaction of a man who finds out that he is being led by others. His son, he said, before his visit to Spain, was as well affected towards that nation as heart could desire, and as well disposed as any son in Europe, but now he was strangely carried away with rash and youthful counsels, and followed the humour of Buckingham, who had he knew not how many devils within him since that journey.' 41 CHAP. 1. 1624. March 29. doubts it. That afternoon the despatch for Spain was recalled, James as has been already told.' The fate of the negotiations was once more exposed to doubt. But the story told by Carondelet was so monstrous that James hesitated to accept it. If the Spaniards, he replied, expected him 1 P. 39. CHAP. to take any steps against the Duke, they must first prove their allegations.1 I. 1624. April 3. betrayed to Williams. Carondelet fancied that the secret of his interview Carondelet with the King was in safe keeping. But in spite of his clerical character his morals were loose.2 His mistress was in the pay of Williams, who, provided that he could get important information, cared little what means he employed to obtain it. To Williams the discovery afforded a splendid opportunity to strengthen his interests at court. It was true that Buckingham had assured him that his conduct in opposing the war with Spain would be passed over. But since he had given offence no opportunity had been afforded him of exhibiting his devotion. April 5. Williams Prince. Williams went first to the Prince. “In my studies informs the of divinity," he said, after explaining how he had come by his knowledge, "I have gleaned up this maxim, It is lawful to make use of the sin of another. Though the devil make her a sinner, I may make good use of her sin." "Yea," answered Charles with a smile, "do you deal in such ware?" "In good faith," said Williams, "I never saw her face." 1 There are two abstracts of the account of these transactions, given afterwards by Carondelet to Williams (Cabala, 275, and Hacket, i. 195). If, as I suspect, they are both taken at different times from the same conversation, though the notes given by Hacket are treated by him as an abstract of the paper given by Inojosa to James, Hacket's story, as usual, is in miserable confusion. He fancied that he knew better what happened than appears on the face of the documents he printed, and transferred to the beginning of April events which took place long afterwards when the King was at Windsor, which will be given in their proper place. 2 The Spanish embassy stood in no good repute since Inojosa's arrival. Tillières is not a very satisfactory authority against it. But even his outrageous statement about Inojosa that 'n'étant pas content de debaucher les filles et femmes Catholiques, il a fait servir des prêtres et confesseurs de maqueraux,' throws some light on the probability of the truth of the story about Carondelet. Tillières to Ville-aux-Clercs, Feb., Harl. MSS. 4593, fol. 46, b. |