3i4 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

e h a p. the king was to be assassinated; all the protestantslxvii. massacred, who would not seriously be converted;

"78. the government offered to one , if he wouldconsent to hold it of the church ; but if heshould refuse that condition, as was suspected,the supreme authority would be given to certainlords under the nomination of the pope. In asubsequent examination before the commons,Bedloe added ( for these men always brought outtheir intelligence successively and by piece-meal),that lord Carrington was also in the conspiracyfor raising men and money against the govern-ment ; as was likewise lord Brudenel. Thesenoblemen, with all the other persons mentionedby Bedloe , were immediately committed tocustody by the parliament.

It is remarkable , that the only resource ofSpain, in her present decayed condition, lay inthe ailistance of England; and, so far from beingin a situation to transport ten thousand men forthe invasion of that kingdom , she had solicitedand obtained English forces to be sent into thegarrisons of Flanders, which were not otherwiseable to defend themselves against the French.The French too, we may observe, were, at thatvery time, in open war with Spain, and yet aresupposed to be engaged in the same design againstEngland; as if religious motives were becomethe sole actuating principle among sovereigns.But none of these circumstances, however obvi-ous, were able, when set in opposition to multi-plied horrors, antipathies , and prejudices, to