[201] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 4851; Titus B., i. 142.
[205] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 4851; Titus B., i. 142.
[206] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5263; Galba B., iii. 210.
[207] _Ibid._, i. 5117; Galba B., iii. 193.
[208] _Ibid._, 1. 4851; Titus B., i. 142.
The ink was scarcely dry on the treaties signed at Lille before the intrigues with the French began to bear fruit. The frontier was ill-guarded, and Margaret herself is said to have commanded the garrisons to abstain from attacking the French; at the same time the charges of the army were not diminished,[210] and many of the gens d'armes drew their pay for active service while comfortably seated at home.[211] Ferdinand, in spite of the treaty signed before Therouenne, to which Henry had been persuaded by Margaret to admit him, was renewing his peace with France, who was to give his second daughter to Don Ferdinand of Austria, the Prince's brother, with Milan for dowry; to the Emperor money and forces to recover the duchy, and to the Queen of Aragon the Conté de Foix; further, he was to abandon Navarre to Ferdinand and leave the Scots a prey to England. "Habes totam hanc perfidiam." Pedro Quintana, Bishop of Catania, Ferdinand's secretary, had been sent across France to the Emperor, and after conferring with him in open secrecy, the English ambassador, Sir Robert Wingfield, being kept entirely in the dark, had returned by the same way, so that when on February 8 a truce was signed between France and Aragon, it was conjectured to be a mere matter of time till the Emperor also joined it. Margaret, who was Henry's firm friend, and devoted to the English cause and marriage, implored her father to remember that Aragon was the only one who had already pulled his chestnuts from the fire, and that no profit would come to the Emperor. She reminded him that the only bulwark of Burgundy against "la grande et invétérée inimitié que les Francais portent à cette maison" is amity with her enemies, for between France and Aragon are the mountains and England has the sea, and Henry now was so powerful that he could make a separate and better peace if he liked. His preparations for the new campaign, like those for the wedding, were such as had never been made within the memory of man, and this was the hour or never to overtop the enemy of Burgundy at the expense of England. "I know, sir, that he has not the faintest thought of making a truce, and that up to now he has not had, I am sure. But I am sure that if he sees or suspects that you want to change the treaty concluded with him, that will make him think what before he never thought, and the thing is very dangerous, for he could always have a good treaty and ample, and if he wanted to do it alone, it is clear he could do it better than anyone else." "As for me, sir, I wish for peace as much as any living person, provided it be good and sure; but otherwise it will be to the loss and destruction of this house in the future, which God forbid." Then she comes to the main point of her relations with Lisle: "Sir, I know there are many people who desire nothing so much as to break this friendship with England, and to do this, not knowing any other means, have contrived certain tales 'de maulvaises paroles et langaiges' which touch my honour, to put trouble between you, the said King and myself; but, sir, be assured they are all lies, and that I would rather have died a thousand times if it were possible than to have thought of it, and only speak of it to take away this trouble between us."[212] But in spite of all that Margaret could do or write, the French party was in the ascendant, and she was discredited, for the Emperor was backing Chièvres, who now practically ruled Charles, though the "people about the Prince do not care much for the Emperor."[213] The Council were already, in February, expecting information of the treaty with France, "putting no doubt in the deliverance at this time of the French King's daughter into their hands for the prince," and they hoped, as the price of the marriage, that France would surrender Burgundy.