CHAP. XLIX.

Negotiations with regard to the marriage and the Palatinate Character of Buckingham-Prince's journey to Spain-Marriage treaty broken-A parliament-Return of Bristol-Rupture with Spain-Treaty with France -Mansfeldt's expedition-Death of the king-His character.

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tions with

regard to

TO wrest the Palatinate from the hands of the CHAP. emperor and the duke of Bavaria, must always have been regarded as a difficult task for the power of England, conducted by so unwarlike a prince as James: It was plainly impossible, while the breach subsisted between him and the commons. The king's negotiations, there- Negotiafore, had they been managed with ever so great dexterity, must now carry less weight with them; and it was easy the marriage and to elude all his applications. When lord Digby, his am- the Palabassador to the emperor, had desired a cessation of hosti- tinate, lities, he was referred to the duke of Bavaria, who commanded the Austrian armies. The duke of Bavaria told him that it was entirely superfluous to form any treaty for that purpose. Hostilities are already ceased, said he; and I doubt not but I shall be able to prevent their revival by keeping firm possession of the Palatinate, till a final agreement shall be concluded between the contending parties. Notwithstanding this insult, James endeavoured to resume with the emperor a treaty of accommodation; and he opened the negotiations at Brussels, under the mediation of archduke Albert; and after his death, which happened about this time, under that of the Infanta: When the conferences were entered upon, it was found, that the powers of these princes to determine in the controversy were not sufficient or satisfactory. Schwartzenbourg, the Imperial minister, was expected at

VOL. V.

b

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CHAP. London; and it was hoped that he would bring more ample authority: His commission referred entirely to the negotiation at Brussels. It was not difficult for the king to perceive, that his applications were neglected by the emperor: but as he had no choice of any other expedient, and it seemed the interest of his son-in-law to keep alive his pretensions, he was still content to follow Ferdinand through all his shifts and evasions. Nor was he entirely discouraged, even when the Imperial diet at Ratisbon, by the influence or rather authority of the emperor, though contrary to the protestation of Saxony, and of all the protestant princes and cities, had transferred the electoral dignity from the palatine to the duke of Bavaria.

MEANWHILE the efforts made by Frederic, for the recovery of his dominions, were vigorous. Three armies were levied in Germany by his authority, under three commanders, duke Christian of Brunswick, the prince of Baden Dourlach, and count Mansfeldt. The two former generals were defeated by count Tilly and the Imperialists: The third, though much inferior in force to his enemies, still maintained the war; but with no equal supplies of money either from the palatine or the king of England. It was chiefly by pillage and free quarters in the Palatinate, that he subsisted his army. As the Aus trians were regularly paid, they were kept in more exact discipline; and James justly became apprehensive, lest so unequal a contest, besides ravishing the palatine's hereditary dominions, would end in the total alienation of the people's affections from their ancient sovereign, by whom they were plundered, and in an attachment to their new masters, by whom they were protected. He persuaded therefore his son-in-law to disarm, under colour of duty and submission to the emperor: And accordingly, Mansfeldt was dismissed from the palatine's service; and that famous general withdrew his army into the Low Countries and there received a commission from the States of the United Provinces..

To show how little account was made of James's negotiations abroad, there is a pleasantry mentioned by

e Parl. Hist. vol. v. p. 48.

1.39

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all historians, which, for that reason, shall have place CHAP. here. In a farce, acted at Brussels, a courier was introduced carrying the doleful news that the Palatinate would soon be wrested from the house of Austria; so powerful were the succours which, from all quarters were hastening to the relief of the despoiled elector: The king of Denmark had agreed to contribute to his assistance a hundred thousand pickled herrings, the Dutch a hundred thousand butterboxes, and the king of England a hundred thousand ambassadors. On other occasions he was painted with a scabbard, but without a sword; or with a sword, which nobody could draw, though several were pulling at it.d

IT was not from his negotiations with the emperor or the duke of Bavaria, that James expected any success in his project of restoring the palatine: His eyes were entirely turned towards Spain; and if he could effect his son's marriage with the Infanta, he doubted not but that, after so intimate a conjunction, this other point could easily be obtained. The negotiations of that court being commonly dilatory, it was not easy for a prince of so little penetration in business, to distinguish, whether the difficulties, which occurred, were real or affected; and he was surprised, after negotiating five years on so simple a demand, that he was not more advanced than at the beginning. A dispensation from Rome was requisite for the marriage of the Infanta with a protestant prince : and the king of Spain, having undertaken to procure that dispensation, had thereby acquired the means of retarding at pleasure, or of forwarding the marriage, and at the same time of concealing entirely his artifices from the court of England.

In order to remove all obstacles, James despatched Digby, soon after created earl of Bristol, as his ambassador to Philip IV. who had lately succeeded his father in the crown of Spain. He secretly employed Gage as his agent at Rome; and finding that the difference of religion was the principal, if not the sole difficulty, which, retarded the marriage, he resolved to soften that objection

d Kennet, p. 749.

as much as possible. He issued public orders for discharging all popish recusants who were imprisoned; and it was daily apprehended that he would forbid, for the future, the execution of the penal laws enacted against them. For this step, so opposite to the rigid spirit of his subjects, he took care to apologize; and he even endeavoured to ascribe it to his great zeal for the reformed religion. He had been making applications, he said, to all foreign princes for some indulgence to the distressed protestants; and he was still answered by objections derived from the severity of English laws against catholics.* It might indeed occur to him, that, if the extremity of religious zeal were ever to abate among christian sects, one of them must begin; and nothing would be more honourable for England, than to have led the way in sentiments so wise and moderate.

NOT only the religious puritans murmured at this tolerating measure of the king: The lovers of civil liberty were alarmed at so important an exertion of prerogative. But, among other dangerous articles of authority, the kings of England were at that time possessed of the dispensing power; at least were in the constant practice of exercising it. Besides, though the royal prerogative in civil matters was then extensive, the princes, during some late reigns, had been accustomed to assume a still greater in ecclesiastical. And the king failed not to represent the toleration of catholics as a measure entirely of that nature.

By James's concession in favour of the catholics, he attained his end. The same religious motives which had hitherto rendered the court of Madrid insincere in all the steps taken with regard to the marriage, were now the chief cause of promoting it. By its means, it was there hoped the English catholics would for the future enjoy ease and indulgence; and the Infanta would be the happy instrument of procuring to the church some tranquillity, after the many severe persecutions which it had hitherto undergone. The earl of Bristol, a minister of vigilance and penetration, and who had formerly opposed all alliance with catholics, was now fully convinced of the

e Franklyn, p. 69. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 63. f Rushworth, vol. i. p. 292.

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sincerity of Spain; and he was ready to congratulate the CHAP. king on the entire completion of his views and projects. A daughter of Spain, whom he represents as extremely accomplished, would soon, he said, arrive in England, and bring with her an immense fortune of two millions of pieces of eight, or six hundred thousand pounds sterling; a sum four times greater than Spain had ever before given with any princess, and almost equal to all the money which the parliament, during the whole course of this reign, had hitherto granted to the king.

But what was of more importance to James's honour and happiness, Bristol considered this match as an infallible prognostic of the palatine's restoration; nor would Philip, he thought, ever have bestowed his sister and so large a fortune under the prospect of entering next day into a war with England. So exact was his intelligence, that the most secret counsels of the Spaniards, he boasts, had never escaped him ;h and he found that they had all along considered the marriage of the Infanta and the restitution of the Palatinate as measures closely connected, or altogether inseparable. However little calculated James's character to extort so vast a concession; however improper the measures which he had pursued for attaining that end; the ambassador could not withstand the plain evidence of facts, by which Philip now demonstrated his sincerity. Perhaps too, like a wise man, he considered, that reasons of state, which are supposed solely to influence the councils of monarchs, are not always the motives which there predominate; that the milder views of gratitude, honour, friendship, generosity, are frequently able among princes, as well as private persons to counterbalance these selfish considerations; that the justice and moderation of James had been so conspicuous in all these transactions, his reliance on Spain, his confidence in her friendship, that he had at last obtained the cordial alliance of that nation, so celebrated for honour and fidelity. Or if politics must still be supposed the ruling motive of all public measures, the maritime h Ibid. p. 272.

Rushworth, vol. i. p. 69.

We find by private letters between Philip IV. and the Condé Olivarez, shown by the latter to Buckingham, that the marriage and the restitution of the Palatinate were always considered by the court of Spain as inseparable. See Franklyn, p. 71, 72. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 71. 280. 299, 300. Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 66.