After reading this paper the reader will naturally suppose that the Queen of Scots was a wicked person to get up an agitation among the Catholics of France and Spain for the invasion of England and the consequent removal of Elizabeth from the English Crown. That such were the wishes of the Catholics will not be denied, but the connection of Mary with such a revolutionary scheme was one of the cleverest acts of Walsingham and Phillips the spy. We have printed six letters in the appendix, which are of great importance in considering this complexion of the matter. No. vi., which is a genuine letter of the Queen, should be read first. In it, though dated so late as 27th July, there is no reference to such a thing, and Mendoza was one of her most confidential friends. The paper which we have just reproduced is evidently founded on Nos. i. and v., Queen Mary to Charles Paget. These two letters are in the State Paper Office in the handwriting of Phillips, and may be set down as forgeries. We have no evidence save that of Phillips that Queen Mary wrote these two letters, and until reliable proof is produced they must be regarded as bogus productions. Whether Paget wrote No. ii. it is impossible to determine. In the investigation of this matter we have to bear in mind that the Babington Conspiracy and the Babington Plot were two separate and distinct schemes. The former was for the assassination of Elizabeth, fabricated and tacked on by Walsingham to Babington's letter proposing Mary's liberation; the latter was Babington's plot for Mary's liberation only and for nothing else, which neither Babington nor Mary ever denied. CHAPTER III Interview between Queen Mary and Paulet at Fotheringay—Elizabeth nominates commissioners for the trial—Elizabeth's commission to Burghley and Walsingham to conduct the trial—Important letter, Elizabeth to Burghley, Mary's sentence prearranged—The commissioners in Mary's bedchamber—The three private interviews—The Lord Chancellor Bromley opens the trial—Mary exposes Walsingham's duplicity (Petit's version)—Close of the first day and conversation with her physician—Sentence of death—Burghley writes Davison—The gross illegality of the trial exposed—The commissioners in the Star Chamber—Tytler's opinion of the Babington Plot—Mary Seton's letter to Courcelles—Paulet to Walsingham, 24th October 1586.