But this was not enough for Lethington. Setting forth the enmity that the Darnley match might draw upon Mary from the Queen of England, he continued, “All this would cause grave evil, but could be remedied by the King of Spain taking my Queen and her affairs under his protection, in the assurance that at all times and in every matter they shall be considered as his own.... Such an arrangement would have to be treated with the utmost secrecy until the opportune moment arrived. There is no doubt whatever that the majority of the [English] gentry and common people are attached to my Queen, and I can promise positively that she will follow the wishes of your master in everything.” Lethington then suggested that, as the despatch of an ambassador from Scotland to Spain might alarm Elizabeth, the King of Spain might authorise Guzman to conclude a secret agreement by which Mary and her future husband should be bound absolutely to Spain in return for Philip’s support, or otherwise that the affair might be carried through by Mary’s ambassador in Paris (Beton, Archbishop of Glasgow) and the Spanish representative there. Once again we see here that the exigencies of the position had driven the Protestant Lethington to place Scotland and, if possible, England, under the tutelage of the King of Spain, if no other way could be found to enforce the claim of Mary to the English Crown. The course he took was dictated by the highest diplomacy, whatever might be said for its religious consistency. Failing Don Carlos and the King of France, who are now out of the question, Darnley was, in fact, the only man who could unite the English Catholics in Mary’s cause and attract foreign support to her claims. Lethington and Mary knew that Philip’s vital political need was a submissive England, and that Scotland was only interesting to him as contributing to that end. If Philip, by means of Mary and the Lennoxes, could obtain command of the powerful Catholic elements in England united in favour of the two legitimate heirs to the Crown, with the added advantage of a permanent base of operations in Scotland, he might find himself by the death or deposition of Elizabeth, which might be brought about at any time, the virtual master of Great Britain. No wonder, therefore, that Guzman smiled upon Lethington’s important mission, and promised to send post haste to Spain for the King’s decision.