History of the United Netherlands, 1598 | Page 6

request, and thanked them for
the presents of damask and fine linen.
Such was the result of the mission of the great Advocate and his
colleague to Henry IV., from which so much had been hoped; and for
anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time,
money, and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and
ended in this touching interview with the beautiful Gabrielle.
On the 19th of May the envoys embarked at Dieppe for England, and
on the 25th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the
republic, Noel de Caron, at the village of Clapham.

Having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between
France and Spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a
forlorn hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance
with England. They were well aware that many of the leading
counsellors of Elizabeth, especially Burghley and Buckhurst, were
determined upon peace. They knew that the queen was also heartily
weary of the war and of the pugnacious little commonwealth which had
caused her so much expense. But they knew, too, that Henry, having
now secured the repose of his own kingdom, was anything but desirous
that his deserted allies should enjoy the same advantage. The king did
not cease to assure the States that he would secretly give them
assistance in their warfare against his new ally, while Secretary of State
Villeroy, as they knew, would place every possible impediment in the
way of the queen's negotiations with Spain.
Elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. What the States most
feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the
cautionary towns in her negotiations with Philip. At any rate, said
Francis Aerssens, then States' minister in France, she will bring us to
the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into her
arms in despair.
The queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be
made. If not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the
States as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her
advances. Certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see
her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling
in wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her
own subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her
now, if they wished her aid to be continued. Her subjects were
impoverished and panting for peace, and although, as she remarked,
"their sense of duty restrained them from the slightest disobedience to
her absolute commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus
exposing them to perpetual danger.
She preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should
consent to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable
that--after this war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had
herself actively assisted them--these republican Calvinists should,
refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. To

Barneveld, Maurice of Nassau, and the States-General this did not seem
a very logical termination to so much hard fighting.
Accordingly, when on the 26th of May the two envoys fell on their
knees-- as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised
by her to their feet again, they found her Majesty in marvellously
ill-humour. Olden-Barneveld recounted to her the results of their
mission to France, and said that from beginning to end it had been
obvious that there could be no other issue. The king was indifferent, he
had said, whether the States preferred peace or war, but in making his
treaty he knew that he had secured a profit for himself, iuflicted
damage on his enemy, and done no harm to his friends.
Her Majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against
the French king for his treachery. She had written with her own hand,
she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing
what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but
which had now proved true.
Then she became very abusive to the Dutch envoys, telling them that
they were quite unjustifiable in not following Sir Robert Cecil's advice,
and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so
far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. She added,
pettishly, that if Prince Maurice and other functionaries were left in the
enjoyment of their offices, and if the Spaniards were sent out of the
country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be
accepted.
Barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible,
unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. Then came the
eternal two points--obedience to