ad been banished from the
city to a little village in the neighbourhood; the Spanish ambassador at
London had been placed under guard for dispersing libels against her
person and government; and in consequence of her adroit seizure of a sum
of money belonging to some Genoese merchants designed as a loan to the
duke of Alva, to enable him to carry on the war against the protestants
in Flanders, the king of Spain had ordered all commerce to be broken off
between those provinces and England.

In the midst of these menaces of foreign war, cabals were forming
against Elizabeth in her own kingdom and court which threatened her with
nearer dangers. Of all these plots, the Scottish queen was, directly or
indirectly, the cause or the pretext; and in order to place them in a
clear light, it will now be necessary to return to the conferences at
York.

CHAPTER XVI.

1568 TO 1570.

Proceedings of the commissioners at York in the cause of
Mary.--Intrigues of the duke of Norfolk with the regent Murray.--The
conferences transferred to Westminster.--Mary's guilt disclosed.--Fresh
intrigues of Norfolk.--Conspiracy for procuring his marriage with
Mary.--Conduct of Throgmorton.--Attempt to ruin Cecil baffled by the
queen.--Endeavour of Sussex to reconcile Norfolk and Cecil.--Norfolk
betrayed by Leicester--his plot revealed--committed to the Tower.--Mary
given in charge to the earl of Huntingdon.--Remarks on this
subject.--Notice of Leonard Dacre--of the earls of Westmorland and
Northumberland.--Their rebellion.--Particulars of the Norton
family.--Severities exercised against the rebels.--Conduct of the earl
of Sussex.--Rising under Leonard Dacre.--His after-fortunes and those of
his family.--Expedition of the earl of Sussex into Scotland.--Murder of
regent Murray.--Influence of this event on the affairs of
Elizabeth.--Campaign in Scotland.--Papal bull against the
queen.--Trifling effect produced by it.--Attachment of the people to her
government.

The three commissioners named by Elizabeth to sit as judges in the great
cause between Mary and her subjects, of which she had been named the
umpire, were the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Sussex, and sir Ralph
Sadler, a very able negotiator and man of business. On the part of the
Scottish nation, the regent Murray, fearing to trust the cause in other
hands, appeared in person, attended by several men of talent and
consequence. The situation of Mary herself was not more critical or