It does not, however, appear, that Elizabeth ever saw Knox’s letter, and I have little doubt that it was suppressed by the sagacious secretary.[436] Cecil was himself friendly to the measure of assisting the Scottish {287} Congregation, and exerted all his influence to bring over the queen and her council to his opinion. Accordingly, Knox received a message, desiring him to meet Sir Henry Percy at Alnwick, on the 2d of August, upon business which required the utmost secrecy and dispatch; and Cecil himself came down to Stamford to hold an interview with him.[437] The confusion produced by the advance of the regent’s army upon Edinburgh, retarded his journey; but no sooner was this settled, than Knox sailed from Pittenweem to Holy Island. Finding that Percy was recalled from the borders, he applied to Sir James Croft, the governor of Berwick. Croft, who was not unapprized of the design on which he came, dissuaded him from proceeding farther into England, and undertook to despatch his communications to London, and to procure a speedy return. Alexander Whitlaw of Greenrig, who had been banished from Scotland, having come to London on his way from France, was intrusted by the English court with their answer to the letters of the Congregation. Arriving at Berwick, he delivered the despatches to Knox, who hastened with them to Stirling, where a meeting of the protestant lords was to be held. He prudently returned by sea to Fife; for the queen regent had come to the knowledge of his journey to England, and Whitlaw, in travelling through East Lothian, being mistaken for Knox, was hotly pursued, and made his escape with great difficulty.[438] The irresolution or {288} the caution of Elizabeth’s cabinet had led them to express themselves in such general and unsatisfactory terms, that the lords of the Congregation, when the letters were laid before them, were both disappointed and displeased; and it was with some difficulty that our Reformer obtained permission from them to write again to London in his own name. The representation which he gave of the urgency of the case, and the danger of further hesitation or delay, produced a speedy reply, desiring them to send a confidential messenger to Berwick, who would receive a sum of money to assist them in prosecuting the war. About the same time, Sir Ralph Sadler was sent down to Berwick, to act as an accredited but secret agent, and the correspondence between the court of London and the lords of the Congregation continued afterwards to be carried on through him and Sir James Croft, until the English auxiliary army entered Scotland.[439]