Page:The Queens of England.djvu/451

ELIZABETH. 407 In the year 1559 occurred the commencement of Elizabeth's tyrannical intercourse with the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. Originally some foundation existed for an animosity which was afterwards, and for so many years, sustained by a sorry feminine spite and vanity. Mary had tolerated, if not encouraged, the asseverations of her partisans, that her claim to the throne of England was preferable to that of her masculine and powerful rival. She had also been rash enough to commit the still graver offense of assuming the arms of England, and quartering them on all her equipages and liveries ; and maintaining and justifying this act when remonstrances were addressed to her, Elizabeth clearly saw that it was per- sonal to herself, or else why had it not been perpetrated during the reign of her sister? Consequently it could only be viewed as an indication of an intention to question the legitimacy of her birth, on the first favorable opportunity, and to dispute her right to the throne : I tide irae : these were provocations sufficient to engender in the selfish and energetic mind of Elizabeth a mortal hatred. Thus, by personal rancor, public policy and religious bias, she was incited to interfere in the affairs of Scotland, and to give her strongest support to the Protes- tants of that country. The publication of state doc- uments of that period recently, has shown that Henry the Eighth established a regular system of espionage in Scotland, which was carefully maintained by Elizabeth, The great object of the Tudors was to bring Scotland under the dominion of England. It is now clearly established that when Mary of Scotland retired, after the death of Francis the Second, from France to her own kingdom, nearly the whole of the Scottish nobles were in the pay of Elizabeth, and that Mary actually came home into the bosom of a nest of aristocratic traitors. Those nearest to her throne, not ex- cepting her half-brother, were spies upon her, and misrepre- senters of her actions, working against her and in the inter- est of the English queen. When, therefore, emissaries were dispatched to her by the leaders of the congregation, to solicit from her succor, she gladly granted it, and equipped a fleet, which she ordered to co-operate with Mary's rebellious sub- jects. The result of this alliance was the defeat of the Scotch and French Catholics, and the execution of a treaty of peace,