“When the commissioners read, and wondered at her confession of correspondence, she silenced them by telling them it was not their business to speak of the affairs of princes. Did they not understand that princes had secret correspondents? and it could not be otherwise. Burghley did not blame her for this, and did not wish to enter into it, but said if such a number of soldiers as was spoken of had come into the country as the King of Spain, the Pope, and M. Guise thought of sending, what opinion would she have had of them, and would she have been willing to answer for the life of the King and the state of the country; and would not the country have been in danger of falling into the hands of foreigners? She said she did not know what were their intentions, but she was certain they might have done something for her, and if she could have employed them she could have formulated some agreement, as she several times offered to do. They ought not thus to reject her, and if they lost her they would experience more harm than profit, and put themselves in danger of what was being done by foreigners. She knew nothing and wished for nothing but her deliverance. Burghley again told her that the death of the Queen and principal lords and councillors had been plotted; that her friends had talked of setting fire to Chartley and killing her guards; they were to enter England by all sides and harbours of the kingdom; that all the Catholics were to rise, were to put Her Majesty in place of Elizabeth; that they already called her their Queen and their Sovereign, and that the Pope had sent bulls to deliver the kingdom from the illegitimate usurper; that they made public prayers in Rome for Her Majesty as their legitimate Queen; that the King of Spain and the Pope furnished ships, men, and money to invade the kingdom; that already there had been a revolt in Ireland which by the grace of God their mistress had subdued, and had had a victory over her enemies. This plot was to take the King of Scotland and give him to foreigners and Catholics in order to dispose of him afterwards, and that Her Majesty had offered her rights to the King of Spain. To all these things he said she was a consenting party, as they found by the letters discovered and read publicly, addressed to Mendoza, Ambassador of Spain, to Lord Paget, who was in Spain, to the Ambassador of France in London, and others. Her Majesty answered that she knew nothing of murder or any attempt against the life of anyone or of a plot or invasion of the kingdom; that as she had already said, she had warned her friends that they must take care lest they undertook some such enterprise. They were doing something, she knew not what; they had always hidden it from her, knowing she would not consent, and they were afraid of doing her harm; that they may have made use of her name to authorise their plan, to render it stronger, but that no letter was found written