ias. He
concluded by deprecating the idea that any recommendation of his should
interfere, in the least degree, with the exercise of her better
judgment.[69]

Renard was further to intimate to the queen the importance of secrecy in
regard to this negotiation. If she were disinclined to the proposed
match, it would be obviously of no advantage to give it publicity. If,
on the other hand, as the emperor had little doubt, she looked on it
favorably, but desired to advise with her council before deciding,
Renard was to dissuade her from the latter step, and advise her to
confide in him.[70] The wary emperor had a twofold motive for these
instructions. There was a negotiation on foot at this very time for a
marriage of Philip to the infanta of Portugal, and Charles wished to be
entirely assured of Mary's acquiescence, before giving such publicity to
the affair as might defeat the Portuguese match, which would still
remain for Philip, should he not succeed with the English queen.[71] In
case Mary proved favorable to his son's suit, Charles, who knew the
abhorrence in which foreigners were held by the English beyond all other
nations,[72] wished to gain time before communicating with Mary's
council. With some delay, he had no doubt that he had the means of
winning over a sufficient number of that body to support Philip's
pretensions.[73]

[Sidenote: PHILIP'S PROPOSALS OF MARRIAGE.]

These communications could not be carried on so secretly but that some
rumor of them reached the ears of Mary's ministers, and of Noailles, the
French ambassador at the court of London.[74] This person was a busy
and unscrupulous politician, who saw with alarm the prospect of Spain
strengthening herself by this alliance with England, and determined,
accordingly, in obedience to instructions from home, to use every effort
to defeat it. The queen's ministers, with the chancellor, Gardiner,
bishop of Winchester, at their head, felt a similar repugnance to the
Spanish match. The name of the Spaniards had become terrible from the
remorseless manner in which their wars had been conducted during the
present reign, especially in the New World. The ambition and the
widely-extended dominions of Charles the Fifth made him the most
formidable sovereign in Europe. The English looked with apprehension on
so close an alliance with a prince who had shown too little regard for
the liberties of his own land to make it probable that he or his son
would respect th