Church and even if this had not been the system of the Romanists in that age, Mary might have felt herself justified in using any means for delivering herself from an unjust captivity. If we may not infer from history that the most generous policy is in all cases the best, this at least may be affirmed, that in a state of society, where right principles of morality are acknowledged, and public opinion is of any weight, no policy which has even the semblance of injustice can be good. Elizabeth would have better consulted her own safety and honour by sending Mary to France, than by detaining her in durance. Yet it must be remembered, that many circumstances seemed to render her detention essential for the welfare both of her own kingdom and of this; that Burleigh, by whose advice Elizabeth acted, was not only a profound statesman, but also a virtuous and religious man; and that the accession of Mary to the English throne, would certainly have been followed by a second' Marian persecution.

The hopes of the English Romanists for what they called2 a golden day, were kept up by false prophecies, and by the intrigues both of the French and Spaniards. An insurrection, in which the Scotch Papists were to have joined, and which Alva had promised to aid with troops from the Netherlands, broke out in the North, but was easily suppressed; and the Pope, who had hitherto in secret fomented disaffection, and encouraged plots, now openly called upon the English Papists to rebel. Pius V., the servant of the servants of God, "being," he said, as Peter's successor, prince over all people, and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant, and build," publicly excommunicated Elizabeth, whom he called the pretended Queen of England, and the servant of wickedness: "seeing," he said, "that impieties and wicked actions were multiplied through her instigation, he cut her off as a heretic, and favourer of heretics, from the unity of the body of Christ; deprived her of her pretended title to the kingdom, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever; absolved all her subjects from their allegi

66

1 Hall, a conforming Papist, who was ejected from the wardenship of Merton College, in 1562, writes thus to one of his Catholic friends abroad ;-" Frigent apud nos hæretici; sed spero eos aliquando fervescere, sicut olim vidimus archihæreticos in fossá illá suburbana ubi Vulcano traditi fuerunt."-Strype's Parker, p. 117.

2 Strype's Annals, i. p. 611.

ance, forbade them to obey her, or her laws; and included all who should disregard this prohibition, in the same sentence of excommunication." A Catholic publicly set up this bull upon the Bishop of London's palace gates, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and made no attempt to escape. For this, he was executed as a traitor. But the writers of his own church extolled bim as a martyr, and the Pope who issued the bull has been canonized.

It is certain that the modern Romanists in this country disapproved of what the Pope had done: but it is certain also, that it was in the spirit of the Papal Church, and that, throughout the Roman Catholic world, no voice was raised against it. Hitherto the conduct of Elizabeth's government toward the Romanists had been tolerant and conciliatory, in accord with her own feelings, and with those of her statesmen and prelates; insomuch, that when the statute for establishing the supremacy was past, whereby they who refused the oath were punishable by forfeiture of goods and chattels for the first offence, made liable to the penalties of a præmunire for the second, and for the third, declared guilty of high treason; it was provided, that none but those who held ecclesiastical or civil offices, should be required to take it; and the prelates were privately instructed by Parker, with the knowledge of Cecil and the Queen, not to offer the oath a second time. Severer statutes were now made necessary. It was made treasonable to deny that Elizabeth was the lawful sovereign; to affirm that she was a heretic, schismatic, or infidel; and to procure or introduce bulls or briefs from the Pope. Still the government continued its forbearance, till it was compelled, by the duty of self-preservation, to regard its Papistical subjects with suspicion, and treat them with severity.

Let it be remembered, that the Romish Church had abated none of its pretensions, and corrected none of its abuses. Its audacity was never greater, its frauds never more numerous nor more impudent, its cruelties never more atrocious than at that time. If the horrors of Queen Mary's reign had not been fresh in remembrance, the character of that bloody Church would have been sufficiently displayed by the proceedings of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, then in full activity; and by

1 Strype's Parker, i. p. 125.

376

MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. [CHAP. XV.

the merciless persecution which had now driven the Dutch to assert their liberty in arms. What the Papists were doing in those countries, they had done in this, and beyond all doubt would eagerly have done again, if the power had been once more in their hands. Persecution was their duty, if they believed their own principles; it was enjoined by their highest authority, that of a General Council, with the Pope at its head. In England, indeed, they pleaded for toleration, saying, that the attempt to force belief was repugnant to all laws; that no man can, or ought to be, constrained to take for certain what he holdeth for uncertain; that for the love of God, it behoved us to forget and forgive all griefs, and love one another; and that when all was done, to this we must come at last. Nothing could be more just than this argument, and nothing more contrary to their own practices. For they avowed the principle of intolerance wherever they had the power, and acted upon it without compunction, to the utmost extent. Nothing in the Mexican or Carthaginian superstitions, (the two most horrible of the heathen world,) was ever more execrable than the persecutions exercised in Elizabeth's age, by the Romish Church, wherever it was dominant. The cruelty of Nero toward the Christians was imitated in Paris at the inauguration of Henri II.: as a part of the solemnity and of the rejoicings, Protestants were fastened to the stake in the principal streets, and the piles were kindled at such times,' that the King might see the martyrs enveloped by the flames in their full force, at the moment when he should pass by! The parliament of Paris made a decree, declaring it lawful to kill Hugonots wherever they could be found; and they ordered this decree to be read every Sunday, in every parish church. The massacre of St. Bartholomew's day completed the crimes of that guilty city, and made the perfidy of the Romish Church as notorious as its corruption and its inhumanity. The head of Coligny, after having been presented to the King and the Queenmother, was embalmed and sent to Rome, that the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Pope might have the satisfaction of beholding it. Public rejoicings were made at Rome for this accursed event. A solemn service of thanksgiving was performed, at which the Pope himself assisted; and medals were struck in honour of the Strype's Cranmer, p. 448. Strype's Annals, i. p. 158.

most enormous crime with which the annals of the Christian world had ever been stained. That the blow might be the more fatal to the Protestant cause, the two sons of the Elector Palatine had been invited from Germany; and Leicester and Burleigh, as the chief supporters of that cause from England; . . . either to be secured as prisoners, or involved in the massacre. Nor did the machinations of the Guises end there; with the evident intention of entrapping Elizabeth herself, she was solicited to meet the Queen-mother either on the seas, or in the island of Jersey; a proposal so gross, after such a proof of the most flagitious treachery, that Burleigh' told the French ambassador, his mistress could not have believed it had been made, if it had not been shown her in the letter from the Queen-mother herself. Upon this occasion prayers were put up in England, not for the persecuted only, but for the persecutors. "Save them, O merciful Lord," was the language of our2 church, "who are as sheep appointed to the slaughter! hear their cry, O Lord, and our prayers for them and for ourselves. Deliver those that be oppressed; defend those that be in fear of cruelty; relieve them that be in misery; and comfort all that be in sorrow and heaviness; that by thy aid and strength they and we may obtain surety from our enemies, without shedding of Christian and innocent blood. And for that, O Lord, thou hast commanded us to pray for our enemies, we do beseech thee, not only to abate their pride, and to stay the cruelty and fury of such as either of malice or ignorance do persecute them which put their trust in Thee, but also to mollify their hard hearts, to open their blind eyes, and to enlighten their ignorant minds, that they may see and understand, and truly turn unto Thee."

The disposition of the Government entirely accorded with this language. But it was now compelled to act with severity against those, who, under the influence of a religious principle, were engaged in political plots and treason. The Bull Papists, as those were called who approved all the measures of the papal Court against the Queen, were undoubtedly at first a small minority. But the Popes allowed of no half-papists; they who 2 Strype's Parker, p. 359.

1 Strype's Annals, ii. p. 162.

Strype's Annals, ii. p. 131.

were not with them, they considered as against them; and an end therefore was put to that occasional conformity, whereby the great body of the Catholics had hitherto satisfied the laws, without in any degree compromising their principles. Allen, one of those Romanists who, preferring their Church to their Country, had expatriated themselves, and who afterwards was raised to the rank of Cardinal, declared strongly against this conforming, which he called the very worst kind of hypocrisy; and he informed his English brethren, that the case had been laid before the Council of Trent, where a select number of Fathers had examined into it, and condemned the practice.

1

Had it not been for this interference, most of the Catholics would insensibly have passed over to the established religion; and those who adhered to the old faith, by continuing to deserve toleration, would, in no long time, have obtained it. Allen, whose opinion upon this question unhappily prevailed, was the author of another measure, not less injurious in its effects. As he was travelling to Rome in company with Morgan Philips, who had been his tutor at Oriel, and with Veudeville, the professor of Canon Law at Douay, the latter happened to speak of a project for the relief of the Barbary slaves; this topic led Allen to lament his own country, as likely soon to fall into a worse slavery, when the old nonconforming Priests of Queen Mary's reign should have dropt off; there being neither provision nor prospect of any to supply their place. This led him to form the plan of a seminary, in which English youths might be educated for the purpose of serving the Catholic faith in their own country. Philips subscribed the first money toward the purchase of a convenient house; and colleges were successively established at Douay, Rome, Valladolid, Seville, and St. Omer's; and, in the reign of James I., at Madrid, Louvain, Liege, and Ghent. The Spanish Court contributed largely to their endowment and support, and great resources were drawn from England, especially from those Papists who possessed abbey lands. Douay College, which was transplanted to Rheims, and in about twenty years removed back to its original place, was under the management of secular priests, Allen himself being the first rector.

1 Dodd, ii. p. 45.