and. At first these powers
declined to assist her. They said that their treasuries were
exhausted, and that they had no men. At last, however, Margaret
promised to the King of France that if he would furnish her with a
fleet and an army, by which she could recover the kingdom of her
husband, she would cede to him the town of Calais, which, though
situated on the coast of France, was at that time an English
possession. This was a very tempting offer, for Calais was a fortress
of the first class, and a military post either for England or France
of a very important character.

The king consented to this proposal. He equipped a fleet and raised an
army, and Margaret set sail for England, taking the king and the
prince with her. Her plan was to land in the northern part of the
island, near the frontiers of Scotland, where she expected to find the
country more friendly to the Lancastrian line than the people were
toward the south. As soon as she landed she was joined by many of the
people, and she succeeded in capturing some castles and small towns.
But the Earl of Warwick, who was, as has been already said, the prime
minister under Edward, immediately raised an army of twenty thousand
men, and marched to the northward to meet her. Margaret's French army
was wholly unprepared to encounter such a force as this, so they fled
to their ships. All but about five hundred of the men succeeded in
reaching the ships. The five hundred were cut to pieces. Margaret
herself was detained in making arrangements for the king and the
prince. She concluded not to take them to sea again, but to send them
secretly into Wales, while she herself went back to France to see if
she could not procure re-enforcements. She barely had time, at last,
to reach the ships herself, so close at hand were her enemies. As soon
as the queen had embarked, the fleet set sail. The queen had saved
nearly all the money and all the stores which she had brought with her
from France, and she hoped still to preserve them for another attempt.
But the fleet had scarcely got off from the shore when a terrible
storm arose, and the ships were all driven upon the rocks and dashed
to pieces. The money and the stores were all lost; a large portion of
the men were drowned; Margaret herself and the captain of the fleet
saved themselves, and, as soon as the storm was over, they succeeded
in making their escape back to Berwick in an old fishing-boat which
they obtained on the shore.