The Case of Mary Queen of Scots, and of Elizabeth Queen of England, legally, briefly, and historically stated: embracing the amorous life of the Virgin Queen, and identifying her with all the plans that led to Mary's ruin and murder. With an account of last moments of Mary, her letter to...

Front matter

M LOMB BAIOTLEY. . A'/.v A,,.r . l/,,-r,wy,- ,,.,-f/i . tf„„, xLlW/z t,fS,VtS. J'ui f ff ShtrwMd., Jeius Ji Cf ' .Vfzre/iJJSiS. THE CASE OK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, AND OF ELIZABETH QUEEN OF ENGLAND, LEGALLY, BRIEFLY, AND HISTORICALLY STATED : EMBRACING THE amorous life of fye asegm -aueen, AND IDENTIFYING HER WITH ALL THE PLANS THAT LED TO Jflarp s Warn anO j-Hurtier. WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE LAST MOMENTS OF MARY, HER LETTER TO ELIZABETH, AND DAVISON'S APOLOGY ABOUT THE DEATH-WARRANT : THE WHOLE DRAWN FROM STATE PAPERS, AND THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES, By HUGH CAMPBELL, LL.D. F.A.S. Illustrator of Ossian's Poems, aud of the Love Letters of Mary Queen of Scots. Censen' te posse reperire ullam mulierem quæ carcat culpa .** TERENCE, HEC LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, JONES, AND CO. TATERNOSTER-ROW. 1825.

B. M'Millau, Printer, Cow-street, Covent-gardeu, TO WALTER F. CAMPBELL, OF ISLAY, ESQ. M.P. SsC. t)c. cfc. DEAR SIR, I know not to whom I can with so much since rity and propriety dedicate the present Work in favour of Mary Queen of Scots, as to you ; who, uniting in your person, the blood of two of her most loyal, powerful, and strenuous Friends — the Earl of Argyll, and Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudon, — exemplify the virtues of your Illustrious Ancestors, whether in the Senate, or in the more quiet walks of domestic life. Accept then, Sir, a Volume, which is drawn from the most authentic sources, and which is intended to contain a chain of evidence, every link of which con nects the Virgin Queen with all the plots and plans that led to Mary's murder. And believe me, DEAR SIR, Yours faithfully, HUGH CAMPBELL. Middle Temple, Feb. 1825. a2

Preface

. I promised in " The Love Letters to Both well," to prove that Elizabeth was unkind, cruel, and unmerciful to Mary; and in this volume I redeem my pledge. Because I fairly and honestly gave the advocacy for and against the lovely Queen of Scots, I was charged in a periodical work, that purports to give a fair and impartial review of new publi cations, with having joined the Queen's enemies ! It would be lost time and labour to attempt to convince any person to the contrary, who could arrive at such a conclusion, after having? read my Preface and Introduction to the Love Letters. To such persons let this Volume speak for me ! — whilst I treat them with contempt. In this Work I have selected proofs from a host of Authors, that Elizabeth was either directly in person, or indirectly through her Ambassadors, the primum mobile of all the intrigues, plots, and VI

PREFACE.

. plans, which led to involve Mary, first in difficulties, then in dangers, and, subsequently, in ruin. The following Case, I presume, will recon cile me to those readers who consider me an enemy of Mary, or a distorter of truth. CASE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS : BRIEFLY STATED, QUERIED, AND ANSWERED. Driven from her throne by Rebels, and deeply dis tressed, she took refuge in the territory of a friendly Princess, who was nearly related to her ; and, in fact, she was her Heir Apparent in the Succession; and she was by the said Princess detained, at first as a prisoner ; and, subsequently, put to death, contrary to the laws of courtesy, of nature, and of hospitality. The following questions occur, of course : "Was the friendly Princess, in whose realm the Queen of Scots took refuge, justified by any known law of states or nations ?

No ! — Are there any cases on English his torical record, in point with that of Mary Queen of Scots? None in point! — But since the Conquest, there are two cases mentioned in the History of Eng land, recording the fact of two Princes having been detained, by friendly powers, when necessarily passing through their territories !

PREFACE.

. VII State the cases : The first is that of the brave Richard, King of England, who was detained by the reigning Duke of Austria, until ransomed, on his return from the Holy Land : the second is that of the Prince of Scotland, who was detained by Henry IV. King of England, after having been driven on the coast of England by a violent storm ! Were these cases precedents for the conduct of Elizabeth towards the Queen of Scots? I should think not ; for they severally called forth the indignation of Europe at the time ; and I cannot conceive that such violations of hospitality and the supreme law of nature, could be in accordance with the spirit and temper of the more refined nations of Europe in the time of Queen Elizabeth — an age of chivalry, and the dawn of true philosophy. But were there no political causes for the detention of Mary by Elizabeth ?

To short-sighted politicians there were such causes, arising from prejudices which in the present, or in any enlightened age, would occa sion no obstacles — as in the late cases of the exiled Families of Orange and of Bourbon — because England then, had already the means to triumph over the Catholic League, which was done the year after the murder of Mary, by the defeat of the Armada : and, if Mary had been allowed to return to France, which she requested, after she found that her Son was s

PREFACE.

. legally and firmly seated on the throne of his ances tors, there could have arisen no danger to England — inasmuch as the union of the Protestants of England and Scotland, would then have been too formidable, as they have since proved, for any efforts of the Con tinental Catholic Powers to disturb or destroy. Then Mary cannot be justly considered blameable for the intestine plots and conspiracies of the Catho lics, which occurred in England during a great part of Elizabeth's reign ? Most certainly not ! — for Eliza beth, by her detention of Mary, must have foreseen, or been less wise than she is represented to have been, that while the Queen of Scots continued in England, a declared victim to the Popish religion, she would naturally be not only an object of lively commiseration and pity, but also a rallying point for the Catholic standard.

Then it follows, as a matter of course, that Mary must have been much more hardly treated, than she deserved to have been treated by the Queen of Eng land ? Assuredly so ! — There can be but one rational opinion on the subject ! Lord Burleigh's Vindication of the Counsellors of the English Queen, recorded in Murdin's State Papers, will only militate against the propriety of the advice which went to detain Mary in England after James VI. was publicly crowned in Scotland. The influence of the Queen Mother, Ca-

PREFACE.

. IX therine de Medicis, in France; her hatred of the House of Lorraine and of Mary; and the feeble efforts of her Son, after Mary was sentenced to die — prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, the infallibility of the foregoing conclusion. It is an old and established maxim of the Laws of England, that a person cannot take advantage of his own wrong act ! — volenti non fit injuria. Now it is clear to all, and follows as a matter of course, that Elizabeth burst this bond of her country's laws, when she sentenced Mary to death : for she it was who had done wrong from first to last, by a dangerous and unjust detention of Mary in England! And she it was, who, by so detaining the Scottish Queen, made herself (by consequence), the origin of all the plots, dangers, and results, to her and kingdom, which she afterwards so unjustly visited with vengeance on the head of her lovely prisoner.

Mary ferl by the executioner ! — Elizabeth, in consequence, will not cease to fall, high as she stands by prejudices, when she is written of by the Historian, who traces effects to their causes. Groundless fears of shadows, in the first instance, introduced jealousy ; jealousy, in the second, led her to cruelty; and cruelty, in the third instance, led her to murder. HUGH CAMPBELL. X

PREFACE.

. Such are my opinions, and such were my opinions, when I published "The Love Letters of Mary Queen of Scots;" notwithstanding all that the shallow reader of that volume may think to the contrary ! Had I published " The Love Letters" without the advocacy pro and con, I had then been justly chargeable with partiality ; but, my object was and is, in that and this volume, to clear up the obscurity in which the true history of Mary is involved by prej udiced writers ; so that the most simple-minded, may understand the facts which have been heretofore confined to the studies of historians and antiquaries. My object is now attained. " The Love Letters of Mary," and " The Case of Mary Queen of Scots, and of Elizabeth Queen of England," embrace an extensive view of all the public and private events which occurred to the Queen of Scots, from the moment of her landing in Scotland, until the time of her barbarous decollation at Fotheringay castle. Consequently, I might as justly entitle my two volumes, " The Spirit of the Life of Mary Queen

PREFACE.

. XI of Scots," as, owing to circumstances, " The Love Letters of Mary," and " The Case of Mary Queen of Scots, and of Elizabeth Queen of England ;" to complete which volumes, without egotism, I may truly say, " I have sipped the sweet from every flower" — and, after having read the originals on which modern historians founded their more elegant nar ratives, I have merely adopted their descriptions, where faithfully and historically given, rather than risk my own narration, which would have been more liable to suspicion ; and, probably, less ele gant in composition. Middle Temple, Feb. 18275. CONTENTS. Introduction page xvii CHAP. I. Of the House of Lorraine, and its bad Counsels to Mary's Mother, the Queen Regent, and the Consequences — The Earl of Glencairn, and Sir Hugh Campbell of London, chosen by the Scottish Protestants to represent the Impropriety of the Queen Regent's Conduct — Her imprudent Answer, and Bloody Determination page 1 CHAP. II.

Of Settlements of the Scottish Crown, said to have been made by Mary whilst under the influence of her Uncle the Cardinal of Lorraine, in France 11 CHAP. III. Of Mary' 8 return from France, and supposed Origin of the Discord between her and Elisabeth, who refuses her a safe Conduct — Mary escapes from the English Fleet sent to intercept her, and arrives in Scotland — State of that Kingdom 17 CHAP. IV. Of Mary's Claim to the English Crown — Elisabeth supports the Scottish Protestants during Mary's stay in France — Her Brother, James Stuart Earl of Murray, and George Buchanan, his Tutor — Her Ideas of a Marriage with Lord Darnley her Cousin 27 CHAP. V. Proposed Interview between Mary and Elisabeth — Mary solicited to marry into the House of Austria — subsequently by several other Princes — The Views of Elisabeth ; and of Mary's Subjects on that occasion CONTENTS.

XIV CHAP. VI. Negotiations with regard to the Queen's Marriage — Elisabeth .recommends Leicester to Alary for an Husband — Mary offended — Elisabeth's Views in recommending him — Mary thinks of Lord Darnley — Elisabeth secretly pleased — Elisabeth and Mary each dissemble about the Marriage — Darnley arrives, and is beloved by Mary, who soon marries him — Of Rissio's Rise — Darnley esteems him — Elisabeth angry at the Match — Approved of by France — Elisabeth intrigues page 39 CHAP. VII. Birth of King Jatnes — Darnley hated by Mary, and Bothwell loved — Elisabeth perplexed about Mary's successful Pretensions tothe Succession, among the English — Elisabeth soothes and gains her Parliament — Mary intrigues in favour of Popery — Her extreme Hatred of the King 65 CHAP. VIII. Secret Association of the Confederate Lords with Queen Elisabeth, against Mary — Murray's design to kill Darnley — His Insurrection, and Banishment — An Outline of his Character 78 CHAP. IX.

Battle of Langside, and Mary's Flight to England — Elisabeth deliberates about the manner of treating her — Resolves to detain her in England — Letter of Mary to Elisabeth on the subject— Letter from Queen Elisabeth to the Earl of Murray, the Queen's Enemy 92 CHAP. X. Mary caught in the Snare laid for her by Elizabeth, who takes advantage of Mary's offer to vindicate her Conduct — Mary greatly offended by Elisabeth's Conduct— Mary suspects her, and demands a Personal Interview — Mary accused by Murray of the Murder of her Husband— Is treated with greater rigour by Elizabeth, who secretly supports Murray, and hales Mary . . CONTENTS. XV CHAP. XI. Of the Earl of Murray — Buchanan's Writings — Of Murray , and his Intrigues with the Court of France, and with Elisabeth — Attempts lo usurp the Crown after the Queen's Marriage — His Conduct while Mary's Prime Minister — His more open attempts to seise the Crown — Elisabeth still intriguing — Conduct of the Conspirators after their Disappointment at the Kirk of Beith — Murray again appears in Scotland — His Murder — And his Character by another Hand — Elisabeth's Grief on the occasion — And cruel trifling with Mary's Feelings page 117 CHAP. XII.

The Massacre of Paris, and its evil Consequences to Mary — Plots against Elisabeth — A severe Statute, which proved fatal to Mary in the end — She quarrels with her Son James — Critical situation of Elisabeth — Her Prudence, and vigorous Conduct — Resolves to punish Mary, and gain the King, her Son — Proposes a League with Scotland, which is adopted by that Country 175 CHAP. XIII. Of Sir James Melvill, his Life and Character 188 CHAP. XIV. Of the Love Letters — And the great Industry and Care of Elisabeth and Cecil in their Publication — Cruelty, in refusing Mary Copies, or sights of the Originals — Supposed to have been Forged — And serious Charges against the Queen of England, for encouraging the supposed Forgers 194 CHAP. XV. Of the Duke of Norfolk, a new Lover of Mary — Conceals his Love from Elisabeth — Gains the Consent of the English Nobles sub rosa — Discovered and defeated by Elisabeth — More Plots against the English Queen, who resolves to give up Mary to her Enemies in Scotland — Another Plot — Marriage proposed to Elisabeth by Catherine de Medicis, in favour of her Son the Duke of Anjou — Elisabeth declares open Hostility to Mary's Party — League between England and France CONTENTS.

CHAP. XVI. Of Buchanan's Forgeries — Death ; and Regret for his Calumnies heaped on Mary page 248 CHAP. XVII. Of Queen Elisabeth — Anecdotes from Sir Robert Naunton — Elisabeth's Vanity, and Maiden Resolves — Of her Gallants — Of the celebrated Letter from Mary to Elisabeth, regarding the Countess of Shrewsbury's Gossip — Of Walsingham's Treachery — Of Lady Shrewsbury— Part of a Letter from Elisabeth lo Mary — Melville flatters Elisabeth — His Detail of her Manners — Her loose Conduct — Her Favourites — Of Raleigh's Venus and Diana in her Sixty-first Year — Her Love to Simier, and the Duke of Anjou, his Master — Anecdotes . .'. 258 CHAP. XVIII. Most Affecting Letter from Mary to Elisabeth, intended for Posterity — Mary appeals to God, and reviews Elisabeth's Breach of Faith, and Cruelty 305 CHAP. XIX.

Of the Babington Conspiracy — Is discovered by Walsingham — Conspirators seised and punished — Mary implicated — All England indignant against Mary in consequence — Elizabeth determined to proceed to the utmost Extremities against her — Her Domestics and Papers seised — Elisabeth determines to try Mary publicly — The Trial at Fotheringay — Mary at first refuses, then consents to plead — The Accusation against her^-Her Defence — The Sentence — Is confirmed by Parliament, which demands Execution — Elisabeth dissembles — France and James interpose to save his Mother's Life — Warrant for Mary's Execution signed — Mary's Behaviour at her Death — Her Character — Her Death lamented by Elisabeth 322 CHAP. XX. Of Davison the Secretary, and his Apology for the part he had in the signing of the Death- Warrant — Elisabeth condemned by his Detail of the Proceedings thereon