History of the United Netherlands, 1585 part 4 | Page 2

all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. Intending
to drive a hard bargain with the States, whose cause was her own, and
whose demands for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a
certain number of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at
her expense, and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the
shape of cautionary towns.
Too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at last
coming into the field to help the Netherlanders to fight her own battle,
she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of coyness
and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the
Netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. Her advisers in
the Provinces were inclined to take the same view. It seemed obvious,
after the failure in France, that those countries must now become either
English or Spanish; yet Elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling back,
from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to remain for
a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have been
her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own terms.
There was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was not
without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. At
the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the
Queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they
entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. It was
pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have
been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy.
Gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the English government in Zeeland,
kept Sir Francis Walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments
entertained by the people of that province towards England. Mixing
habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render
material assistance to the English council in the diplomatic game which
had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the
crown of England was to be hazarded.
"In conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or
credit, I find a great inclination towards her Majesty, joined
notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. They allege that matters of
such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while
some of them harp upon the old string, as if her Majesty, for the
security of her own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here."

He was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic
coquetry into the mind of a Princess who needed no such prompting.
"The less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive
that her Majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon
her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger
conditions in treaty may be required. For if they see it to come from
herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater
security of our own country and her Highness to fear the King of
Spain's greatness. But if they become seekers unto her Majesty, and if
they may, by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said
King's might, but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then
verily I think they may be brought to whatsoever points her Majesty
may desire."
Certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth
getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which it
was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together
except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit
from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. This was
neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such
trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. In accordance with
this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be
good and requisite for the English government somewhat to temporise,"
and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the
States would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and
resources they would show for belligerent purposes. If the Queen were
too eager, the Provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were,
their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands."
At the same time Gilpin was favourably impressed with the character
both of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important
relations with England. "This people," he said, "is such as by fair
means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or
demand. What these islands of Zeeland are her Majesty and all