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OPPOSITION OF THE NATION

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reformation of doctrine. The general desire of the people was to restore as far as possible the state of affairs during the later years of Henry. The chance of attaining this end seemed to depend on the preservation on the throne of his legitimate descendants. To this must be added the constant preference which the English have shown for a regular succession, and a natural dislike that the will of the King, unauthorized by Parliament, should set aside a settlement which had the sanction of the national representation. The project of Northumberland then was beset with difficulties, and if carried out would have been forced upon an unwilling nation.

IN

N order to secure the completion of his plot, Northumberland kept the King's death a secret for some days. It was of paramount importance to him that Mary should be in his Escape of Mary. power, and soldiers were at once sent to Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, where she then was, to bring her to London. But her secret friends had given her instant information of the King's death, and she had taken flight and ridden to Keninghall on the Waveney. This castle belonged to the Howards, among whom she was in safety, while its proximity to the sea offered her an easy means of escape to the dominions of her cousin, Charles V., should flight be necessary. Meanwhile Lady Jane Grey was called before the Council at Sion House, and was there told that Edward was dead, and that she was appointed to succeed him. Young as she was, she had acquired an unusual amount of learning-Greek, Latin and Hebrew were among her accomplishments. Her Lady Jane Grey. letters show a remarkable degree of sense, and give us a picture of a gentle, thoughtful, pure and pious nature. To such a character the sudden news was a great shock. Understanding, however, that her right was a true one, she bravely and calmly accepted the position. She was proclaimed in London on the 10th of July, but the people could not hide from themselves that she was

Coronation of

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LADY JANE Grey

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a creature of Northumberland's, whose real plan was to take advantage of the doubt as to whether a female sovereign was allowed in England, and get his son Lord Guildford Dudley crowned and made King. The hatred of the people for this nobleman was intense. His high-handed proceedings and absolute want of success had together secured him perfect unpopularity. People loved to speak of him as "the rugged bear," in allusion to his armorial bearings. The proclamation was therefore heard in silence, and the audience thought what an apprentice, Gilbert Potter, was brave enough to say: "Lady Mary has the better title;"—the pillory was his reward.

The nation

Mary.

A force under the Earl of Warwick, Northumberland's eldest son, and another of the Dudleys, had been sent to fetch the Princess Mary, and a fleet was despatched to watch for her upon the coast. She had written to the Lords of the Council claiming the Crown, and had been told in reply to submit and behave as a good subject. Such was, however, by no means her temper. From Keninghall she moved to Framlingham, another stronghold of the Howards, and there began to gather round her the members of the older nobility, and those gentlemen whose Catholic tendencies had kept them in disgrace during the last reign. Lord Bath and Lord Sussex had joined her, Lord Mordaunt and Lord Wharton had sent their sons, and Lord Derby, the most powerful of the old Lords, had risen for her in Cheshire. Even Carew had proclaimed her in Devonshire. Warwick's attempt to seize Mary was rallies round quite unsuccessful; his own men declared against him. It was plain that the opposition to Queen Jane would be a very strong one. In fact the heart of the nation was with Mary. Not caring for subtleties of ecclesiastical law, the nation recognized in her a true descendant of Henry VIII., and, sick of the anarchical and revolutionary government of Northumberland and his colleagues, longed for the order which would restore England to its proper condition-the only hope of which seemed to lie in a reaction. Hatred of Northumberland, and a preference for more national and patriotic views than his, had sown dissension in the Council itself; Northumberland Winchester and Arundel were the secret friends of Mary. fails in Norfolk. And thus, when it became necessary to collect troops to be sent into Norfolk to remedy Warwick's want of success, and when at the Queen's entreaty, Suffolk, her father, was left at home, and the troops were intrusted to Northumberland in person, Winchester and Arundel took care that they should consist largely of their own retainers, who had received orders to turn traitors. The Duke secured a commis

sion under the Great Seal to authorize his proceedings, and set out to meet his army at Newmarket. But his army refused to fight against Queen Mary, and he had to fall back to Cambridge. The fleet, too, had declared for her on the coast, and most of the Council1 who were left in London, finding means to slip from the Tower where they had met, but where they felt under restraint, proclaimed Mary Queen. This act was received with demonstrations of delight, very different from the silence which had greeted Queen Jane's proclamation.

Mary is proclaimed.

Paget and Arundel were at once despatched to make submission to Mary, and Arundel passed on to Cambridge, and there apprehended Northumberland, who humbly prayed him to be "good to him for the love of God, and to consider that he had done nothing but by the will of the Council."

Mary thus found herself Queen, contrary to the expectations even of her own friends at the Spanish Embassy. But the Queen's own views went much beyond those of the majority of her supporters. She looked not only to a restoration of the system of her father, but to a complete reconciliation with the Roman Church. Her position did not allow her at once to proceed to this extremity. The introduction of Bonner to the Council, and the appointment of Gardiner to the office of Chancellor, had indeed secured her strong partisans in the Government, but she could not yet dispense with that lay and national party which had raised her to the throne, while even Renard, the Ambassador of Charles, at whose advice she was forced to act, for political reasons employed himself in restraining her ardour. The political situation of Europe was critical, the rivalry between Charles and France was again at its height, and on the death of Edward there appeared a chance that England might be secured by one side or the other. Mary naturally inclined towards Charles, while Northumberland was so closely connected with the Court of France, that he had sent for help to that country to establish Lady Jane Grey. England was in fact at present the stake for which the two parties were playing. The ambassadors of the rival powers, Renard and Noailles, were therefore of great importance and the centres of all intrigue.

She wishes to rejoin Rome.

Now, to Simon Renard the restoration of England to Roman Catholicism was of secondary importance, except so political reasons far as it tended to throw the country upon the Spanish

Is checked by

1 Winchester, Arundel, Pembroke, Shrewsbury, Bedford, Cheyne, Paget, Mason, and Petre.

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MARY'S POLICY

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side of the great European contest. At the same time he was conscious that the nation as a whole did not desire reunion with Rome, especially as reconciliation probably implied repentance, and repentance restitution, and the restitution of the abbey lands was scarcely to be thought of. Any measure tending in that direction seemed for the time impossible. But while for these reasons the ambassador checked the Queen's eagerness, he was constantly urging her to severity to secure her position, which was so necessary for Charles's interests. The traitors who had tried to displace her should be executed at once, and with them all those whose claims were likely to be inconvenient-the Lady Jane, Lord Guildford Dudley, and even the Princess Elizabeth.

Though Renard's lukewarmness and political advice prevented Mary from at once restoring England to the Papacy, she proceeded rapidly to restore the old Church within the limits of her kingdom. She replaced the Bishops who had been deprived in the last reign, and sanctioned the restoration of the Mass-a measure which, except in the large towns, met with willing acceptance. The Protestant preachers and the foreign Protestants of note who were resident in England were either driven from the country by strong hints as to the danger of remaining, or summoned to London and imprisoned. Among these were Cranmer and Latimer, both of whom refused to leave the country. In August she went a step further, and although the law authorizing it had not been repealed,1 refused Gradual restorato recognize the marriage of the clergy. A commission, tion of the consisting of Bonner, Gardiner, Day and Tunstall, proceeded to purify the bench of married Bishops. By this means, or on charges of treason, ten Bishops were got rid of.

Roman Church.

The ease with which these changes were completed was perhaps partly due to the contemptible conduct of Northumberland. With the closest of his friends, his son the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Northampton, Sir Andrew Dudley, the two Gateses and Sir Thomas Palmer, he was tried and convicted of high treason, and on the 22d of August Gates and Palmer were executed. Northumberland's meanness followed him to his death. The day before his execution he and the other prisoners consented to hear Mass, and some of the more important citizens were summoned to see the edifying spectacle. The execution had been expected on that day, "and the headsman was ready, when suddenly they were commanded to depart. At the

I Mary's excuse for such illegal action was the position which she held that the Acts passed during the minority of Edward were void.