History of the United Netherlands, 1586 part 1 | Page 5

good occasion then in danger, I had been worthy to be
hanged, and to be taken for a most lewd servant to her Majesty, and a
dishonest wretch to my country."
But diligently as Heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had
not gained the approbation of Sidney. Sir Philip thought that the new
man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most
awkwardly contrived from the beginning. "Sir Thomas Heneage," said
he, "hath with as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as
any man this twelve- month hath done with naughtiness. But I hope in
God, when her Majesty finds the truth of things, her graciousness will
not utterly, overthrow a cause so behooveful and costly unto her."
He briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were
likely to ensue, if the Earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent
action of the States reversed. The penny-wise economy, too, of the
Queen, was rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "I only cry
for Flushing;" said Sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there
will some terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns,
if her Majesty mean to have them cautions."
The effect produced by the first explosion of the Queen's wrath was
indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. The greatest care had
been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for
Heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by
naughtiness, had modified his course as much as he dared in deference
to the opinions of the Earl himself, and that of his English counsellors.
The great culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, Clerk and
Killigrew--had himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. The letters

of the Queen to the States, to the council, and to the Earl himself, were,
of necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which Heneage had been
instructed to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. It was
arranged that he should make a speech before the council; but abstain
from a protocol. The oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of
necessity, stinging. Otherwise the disobedience to the Queen, would
have been flagrant. But the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first
castigation. The humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not
to be placed on perpetual record.
"We thought best," said Leicester, Heneage, Clerk, and Killigrew--"In
according to her Majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which
might least endanger the weak estate of the Provinces--that is to say, to
utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent
Majesty's expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm
that which was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the
good course of settling these affairs. Which speech, after Sir Thomas
Heneage had devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our
consent and advice, pronounced to the council of state. This we did
think needful--especially because every one of the council that was
present at the reading of her Majesty's first letters, was of the full mind,
that if her Majesty should again show the least mislike of the present
government, or should not by her next letters confirm it, they, were all
undone--for that every man would cast with himself which way to
make his peace."
Thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his
heart to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings
torn--he was made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there
should remain no trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's
displeasure, upon the record of the States. It was not long, too, before
the Earl was enabled to surmount his mortification; but the end was not
yet.
The universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most
painful. It pointed to one invariable quarter. It was believed by all that
the Queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction was
kept a secret not only from the States but from her own most trusted
counsellors also. It would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious
effects of this suspicion. Whether it was a well-grounded one or not,

will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the
vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. The
Provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal
10th of July, 1584, than they were in the early spring of 1586. They
were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the Queen had
manifested more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united
Englishmen and Hollanders would have been invincible even by
Alexander Farnese.
Moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the