Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/383

THE SPANISH TREATY. 363 or expulsion of St Aldegonde in return for the banish- ment of the refugees. Elizabeth declined oil the ground that St Aldegonde being commissioned to her by the States, was protected by his position. Cobham, fresh from Madrid, was ordered to Brussels to tell Requescens that peace must be made ' or her Majesty would be forced for her own safety to put in execution some remedy for her relief that she would not willingly yield unto/ * while Parliament was summoned immediately to provide the necessary means. Parliament made no difficulty. The States were not spoken of by name, but a large subsidy was voted for 'the defence of the realm.' The session promised to pass off for once without unpleasantness, when a ques- tion burst out which produced an ill-timed exasperation, and flung the Queen into the worst of humours with the Protestants and all belonging to them. She ruled the pulpits of the churches : she imagined that she could do the same with the House of Commons; and more than once she had intimated that she would allow nothing to be discussed there affecting religion where the initiative had not been taken by the bishops. On the same principle on which she prohibited Puritan con- venticles and forbade Catholics to preach in public or say mass, she checked the tongues of the Reformers in Parliament. While secular questions were best resolved by debate, religious animosities she always attempted to suffocate. 1 Instructions to Sir H. Cobham, sent to the Commendator, March, 1576 : Flanders.