Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/181

1572.] THE MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW. 161 corresponding with Alva in the midst of the most opposite professions, and the catastrophe of August had justified the misgivings all along entertained by the op- ponents of the French alliance. The opportunity, at all events, had now passed. It remained for Elizabeth to do the best that she could for her subjects and herself, and her manifest interest pointed to the prudence of x - deserting the Low Countries and accepting Philip's offered friendship. If she entertained any doubts about it, she must have been fortified in her conclusions by the consternation which was produced among the Catholics. At the moment when the massacre at Paris seemed to have opened the way to their immediate triumph, the refugees and the friends of Mary Stuart found their hopes utterly blighted. With the Pope at their back, and European fanaticism enthusiastic to take arms in their cause, they found their movements paralyzed ; and if the Protestants on one side re- r proached Elizabeth for abandoning the Prince, the reconciliation of Philip with an excommunicated Sove- reign was more terrible and more destructive to the Catholics. For a long time they could not believe their senses, and they continued to besiege the Court of Madrid with plans for the conquest of England, and with re- proaches for Alva's coldness in executing them. Doctor Sanders, in the name of the Louvain exiles, repeated in the usual language that England was the cause of the Netherlands' rebellion, and that till England was sub- , dued, the rebellion would never be put down. He VOL. X. 11