But with Cromwell the case was very different. The closing months of the year 1538 were the turning-point in his career, for they saw him take a step which was destined to bring him into collision with the King, and later to lead him to his death. The original difference of opinion between King and minister, which first came to the fore in the quarrel of 1536, now broke forth again under a slightly altered form, which it was destined to maintain till the end. At first we saw that Cromwell vented his distrust of the policy of neutrality in favouring a definite alliance with Spain. The changed situation on the Continent rendered a league with Charles impossible now, so that the only refuge that remained for England, if the policy which had been so successful in 1536 and 1537 really broke down, was to court an alliance with some power outside the two great continental rivals. And Cromwell, inexperienced, and overestimating the danger of foreign invasion, certainly believed that Henry’s efforts to maintain his old position between France and Spain were now doomed to inevitable failure. He did not see, as the King did, that the friendship of Charles and Francis was but temporary, and that the old quarrels were ultimately certain to break forth afresh. He looked the situation as it was squarely in the face, abandoned once and for all the policy of seeking safety by playing on the mutual jealousies of Charles and Francis; he frankly recognized the probability of war, and deliberately courted an outside league for England’s defence. As he had always considered the friendship of the Emperor more valuable than that of Francis, so he considered his enmity, which he now regarded as inevitable, as more to be feared. Consequently, in looking about for an alliance to fortify England, he sought one which could be most effectively directed against Charles.
It will be remembered that in order to guard against the danger of a possible coalition of the Emperor and the King of France in 1533 and 1534, some proposals had been made for a league with the Protestant princes of Germany; but that owing to theological differences, the Lübeck affair, and the death of Katherine and its results, the scheme had been abandoned as useless. As long as the interests of France and Spain were separated, the value of the German alliance as a defensive measure was of course lost, and England thought no more of it. But now that the news of the interview of Aigues Mortes had persuaded Cromwell that mere meddling in the affairs of France and Spain was not sufficient to prevent a coalition against England, he turned to his forsaken friends in Germany once more. Cromwell must have had great difficulty in bringing Henry to sanction a move to seek friendship with the Lutherans, but so hopeless did the King’s efforts to prevent a cordial relation between Charles and Francis appear, that he was at last induced to consent to the experiment, though, as we shall soon see, his acquiescence was only temporary. The opportunity for an alliance with the Germans was in many respects most favourable. The proclamation which Henry had put forth to show his contempt of the Papal authority to convoke a General Council, coupled with the Ten Articles of 1536, had called forth the most hearty approbation of the Lutheran princes. An elaborate set of instructions in the hand of one of the King’s secretaries directed Christopher Mont to go to the Germans again, and tell them how nearly Henry’s theological views coincided with their own, and to request them to send representatives to discuss with him points of faith[600]. The fact that the proposals for the German alliance ostensibly emanated from the King, is no sign that Cromwell was not the real originator of it. An invitation to send ambassadors could scarcely proceed from any other source than the Crown, so that the evidence afforded by the authorship of the instructions to Mont is of small weight; whereas the course of events in 1539 and 1540 leaves little doubt that the guiding hand throughout was that of the King’s minister. Henry’s name really appeared as little as possible in connexion with the Lutheran alliance from first to last, and only in the most formal manner. Cromwell’s was the moving spirit in it throughout, and Henry really never cordially supported him, but regarded the measure in the light of a disagreeable necessity, temporarily forced upon him by the apparent failure of his own plans.