possible, of several cities, and of the whole Island of Walcheren, which,
together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the
Queen to make good terms for herself with Spain, "if the worst came to
the, worst." It will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry
these schemes into execution. There is no evidence, however, and no
probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a
crime.

The States believed also, that in those secret negotiations with Parma
the Queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the
Netherlands. In this they were mistaken. But they had reason for their
mistake, because the negotiator De Loo, had expressly said, that, in her
overtures to Farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. If this
had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of
Elizabeth, that the Catholic religion and the inquisition should be
re-established in the Provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of
worship or polity. In truth, however, the position taken by her Majesty
on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. Certainly
she was no advocate for religious liberty. She chose that her own
subjects should be Protestants, because she had chosen to be a Protestant
herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate
uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. No more than her father,
who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well
as believers in the Pope, had Elizabeth the faintest idea of religious
freedom. Heretics to the English Church were persecuted, fined,
imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. In some
respects, the practice towards those who dissented from Elizabeth was
more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those
were subjected who rebelled against Sixtus. The Act of Uniformity
required Papists to assist at the Protestant worship, but wealthy Papists