Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/359

1 5 74-1 THE SPANISH TREATY. 339 little spot of ground unfriended, and we have kept our consciences undefiled. God is all-powerful, and I trust we may yet be preserved. At worst, it shall cost the Catholic King half Spain and half his subjects, ere he ' make a final end of us.' 1 This letter fell into the hands of Requescens, and was sent by him to England as an evidence of the condition to which the Prince was reduced. The two years' treaty being at the same time almost expired, he intimated that if Elizabeth would in- terfere no further, his master was willing to do what till now he had always refused, and renew the old league which Charles Y. had made with her father. What was she to do ? If the Prince would but have accepted the terms which Philip offered, all would have been well. With the nobler aspect of Protestantism, with its deep, passionate loathing of falsehood loathing intense as that with which the first Christians shook themselves free of the heathen idolatry, with this she had no kind of sympathy. She did not understand what it meant. But the States, however desperate their situation, in- tended to fight to the death, and when crushed they would require to be held down by force. A Spanish army would continue to be a dangerous neighbour; Spanish fleets would lie in the Scheldt ; and the Dutch, having lost all they valued, might have no objection to assist in an enterprise against England. Spain might consent, at present, to the league, but while the differ- ence of religion continued, wise men were of opinion 1 The Prince of Orange to Count John, May 7 : MSS, Flanders.