Elizabeth, now seated on a Protestant throne, found all the neighbouring states, France, Scotland, Spain, and the Pope, openly or secretly combined against her ; and having thus no friend to aid her in emergencies, she sought her great resource in the affection of her subjects, and the wisdom of her administration. To make herself beloved by the people, and at the same time feared by her courtiers, became therefore the governing maxims of her conduct. By frugal management of the national treasure, and by the most gracious affability in her pub lic appearances, she acquired a degree of popularity, which no other English sovereign ever attained ; and by a sparing distribution of gifts to her favourites, together with strict impartiality in dispensing rewards or punish ments, she kept the great in sufficient subjection. Her chief minister was Robert Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland, to whom she cherished an attach ment, for which, as he had neither great abilities nor virtues, it is not easy to account ; but, to make amends for his incapacity, the two favourites next in power were Bacon and Cecil, men of the highest talents and most indefatigable application, who regulated the finances of the kingdom, and directed all the great political mea sures of her reign.
While measures were pursuing for settling the pub lic religion at home, negociations were, at the same time, going on for peace with France ; and a treaty was at length concluded, by which it was stipulated, that the French monarch should restore Calais at the end of eight years; that, in case of failure, he should pay 500,000 crowns, and the queen's title to Calais'still remain; that if Elizabeth broke the peace with France or Scotland during the interval, she should forfeit all claims to Ca lais; and that if the king of France made war on Eng land during that time, he should be bound immediately to restore that foi tress. A peace with Scotland was the natural consequence of that with France; but a serious ground of quarrel soon arose between the English and Scottish queens, which was attended with the most im portant consequences, and which was removed only by T he death of the latter. The birth of Elizabeth was lia ble to the charge of illegitimacy, and the next heir of blood to the English throne was the queen of Scots, now married to the dauphin of France. The French king had been secretly soliciting at Rome, a bull of excom munication against the daughter of Anne Boleyne ; and Mary had been persuaded to assume openly the arms and title of England. This was vindicated by her descent from the blood royal, and by the example of other princes; but, as it had not been done during the reign of Mary, Elizabeth considered it as indicating an intention to dis pute, on the first opportunity, the legitimacy of her birth, and the validity of her title to the crown. Hence, she conceived a violent jealousy against the queen of Scots, as at once her most formidable rival and mortal enemy. Determined, as far as possible, to incapacitate her oppo nents from executing any project against her, she rea dily listened to an application from the Scottish refor mers, for assistance against the French party in that kingdom ; and by the most prompt and powerful succours, soon secured an honourable and advantageous treaty for berself and her friends. It was stipulated, that the French should evacuate Scotland, and that the queen of Scots should abstain from bearing the royal arms of England ; while, at the same time, by procuring favourable terms for the Scottish Protestants, she continued to possess a stronger influence over them, than their natii•e sovereign was ever able to acquire. But Mary afterwards refusing to ratify the treaty, and thus to make a formal renuncia tion of her pretensions, unless she were declared to be next in the succession to the English crown, and Eliza beth determined never to assist in any respect in strength ening the claims of so formidable a rival, the two queens, amidst all the appearance of cordial friendship, conti nued to entertain a perpetual jealousy of each others in tentions.
In the mean time, Elizabeth, leaving the queen of Scots sufficiently occupied with domestic contentions, turned her attention to regulate the affairs of her own kingdom, and to promote the prosperity of her subjects. She adopted measures for paying off the debts of the Cr011:11, and reformed the coin which her predecessors had debased; furnished her arsenals with military stores, and provided for the general defence of her dominions; encouraged agriculture and commerce, by wise regula tions; and particularly exerted her endeavours to in crease the naval power of the kingdom. She bestowed great encouragement also upon the seminaries of learning; and set an example of moderation and justice to the Ca tholic party, by providing for the more faithful payment of the pensions which had been granted to the dispos sessed monks, but which had hitherto been in a great measure neglected. Powerful at home, and respected abroad, she received numerous proposals of marriage, both from surrounding princes, and from the more emi nent of her own subjects. The Archduke Charles, se
cond son of the Emperor ; Casimir, son of the Elector Palatine ; Eric, King of Sweden; Adolph, Duke of Hol stein ; the Earl of Arran, heir to the crown of Scotland ; the Earl of Arundel, distinguished by his nobility and wealth ; Sir William Pickering, a man much esteemed for his personal merit ; and, above all, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, were all competitors for her hand ; but, while she publicly declared her resolution to lead a single life, she gave to all her suitors such gentle refu sals, as generally encouraged them to persevere in the pursuit; and this she has been supposed to have done partly from motives of policy, to keep them more at tached to her interests, and partly from taking pleasure, as a woman, in receiving professions of love. While thus apparently determined to have no heir of her own body, and avoiding carefully to fix any successor to the crown, she seems to haVe also resolved, either from po licy or malignity, to prevent every one, who had preten sions to the throne, from having either heirs or succes sors. Lady Catherine Grey, youngest sister of Lady Jane, and now the nearest claimant, after the queen of Scots, to the throne of England, having privately mar ried the Earl of Hertford, without the consent of Eliza beth, they were both committed to the Tower in sepa rate prisons, where they suffered ten years of severe con finement ; till the death of the lady, by removing the un relenting jealousy of the queen, procured the liberty of her husband. A similar anxiety to prevent the mar riage of the queen of Scots, excited new contests with that rival princess, in which the treachery and cruelty of Elizabeth's conduct cannot be justified; though it must be admitted, that the fears which impelled her pro ceedings were not without foundation, and were too often alarmed by the rashness of Mary's friends. During her illness, in consequence of the small-pox, when little hopes were entertained of her recovery, the partizans of the Scottish princess, and those of the House of Suffolk, already divided the nation into such violent factions, that the controversy, it was evident, in case of the queen's decease, would be terminated only by the sword. The commons, therefore, as soon as her health was restored, earnestly entreated her to put an end to such apprehen sions, either by choosing a husband, or by naming her successor. Elizabeth, however, afraid to declare against Mary, who clearly possessed the right of blood, and who would instantly have become her avowed enemy ; and, on the other hand, unwilling, by a settlement in her rival's favour, to establish pretensions which might be enforced even during her reign, she resolved to keep both parties in awe, by an ambiguous conduct and eva sive answers ; and chose rather that her subjects should run the risk of a civil war at her death, than that her throne should be endangered during her life. She con tinued, with all her vigour and policy, to avert such at tempts on the part of the Popish interest, by giving her enemies employment at home ; and afforded every ne cessary succour, both to the Hugonots in France, and to the Reformers in Scotland. An event, however, hap pened, which placed the person and the fate of her rival entirely at her disposal ; and effectually precluded all farther danger from her pretensions. Mary, queen of Scots, having been reduced, by her imprudence, if not by her guilt, to take refuge in England, and to seek the protection of Elizabeth against her own subjects, was al lured, by the most plausible professions of friendship, to admit the queen of England as umpire in her cause; and being at length required either voluntarily to resign her crown, or to associate her son with her in the govern ment, leaving the administration of affairs in the hands of the Earl of Murray, she was, upon her refusal to make such a submission, unjustly detained as a prisoner in Eng land. Various insurrections and conspiracies, chiefly on her account, and sometimes with her concurrence; an attempt by the Duke of Norfolk, (for which he suffered on the scaffold,) to espouse and to deliver the royal cap tive; the open interference of the Pope, who excommu nicated Elizabeth, and freed her subjects from their al legiance to her person ; and particularly, a plot conduct ed by the Catholics to assassinate the Queen, to which Mary, irritated by confinement, and anxious for liberty, had become a party ; these occurrences, and a multitude of other political considerations, induced Elizabeth to bring her unhappy prisoner to a trial, and to hasten the ruin of a competitor, whom she had never ceased to dread or to hate. Mary, who had now lingered 18 years in confinement, was accordingly condemned for high treason against the Queen of England, and beheaded in one of the rooms of her prison :—a transaction, in the course of which Elizabeth was guilty of the grossest dissimulation and most cruel injustice; and which, what ever were the crimes of the sufferer, must remain an in delible stain upon the memory of her oppressor.