History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. II.

A Historical book which tells the History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. The revolution through which Scotland and England were passing was visibly modified by it ; it perplexed the counsels and complicated the policy of the great Catholic Powers of the Continent ; while the ultimate verdict of history on the character of the greatest English statesmen of the age must depend upon the opinion which the eventual consent of mankind shall accept on the share of the Queen of Scots herself in that transaction. If the Queen of Scots was the victim of a conspiracy, which at the present day and with an imperfect case before us can nevertheless be seen through and exposed, it is impossible to believe that men like Sir William Cecil, Sir Nicholas Bacon, or Lord Bedford were deceived by so poor a contrivance ; and as the vindication of the conduct of the English Government proceeds on the assumption of her guilt, so the determination of her innocence will equally be the absolute condemnation of Elizabeth and Elizabeth's advisers. Yet the difficulty of the investigation has been occasioned only by the causes which make it necessary. Had the question been no more than personal, it would long ago have been decided; but we have to do with a case on which men have formed their opinions, not on the merits of the evidence, but through the . passions or traditions of the party to which they have belonged. The interests of the Catholics required at the time that a plea of innocence on behalf of the Queen of Scots should formally be preferred before the world.