Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/249

I570-] EXCOMMUNICATION OF ELIZABETH. 23$ estates of the Northern Earls, who could now be only- reached through an Act of Attainder. Sir Thomas Gresham however was able to raise a loan in the City. The Spanish treasure was untouched, and could be used in extremity. Every serviceable ship was sent to sea ; the musters were called into training on the whole south and west of England ; the arms and horses looked to ; and officers were chosen who were known as haters of Popes and Papistries. Before March, La Mothe reported that a hundred and twenty thousand men could take the field in different parts of England at a few days' notice, and could be relied upon to de- fend the country from a French invasion. 1 The defeat of Leonard Dacres came opportunely to strengthen the impression of the Queen's resources ; and thus sup- ported, she felt herself able to reply with dignity to the French demands. She was called upon to restore Mary Stuart : she answered with an unexaggerated sketch of Mary Stuart's history. She went over the old ground of the usurped title, the unratified treaty, the marriage with Darnley, and the unceasing intrigues in England. She came next to the murder, of which the Queen of Scots was accused by her subjects of having directly procured ; and finally to her flight into England ; where, as her murdered husband was Elizabeth's near- est kinsman, an examination into the circumstances of his death was absolutely unavoidable. The Queen of Scots had consented after some objections, and Eliza- Depeches de la Mothe Fenelon, February, 1570.