In spite, therefore, of Guzman’s remonstrances, the flail fell upon the backs of the English Catholics, and for the first time Guzman himself was treated with harshness. Cecil told him “that the Council regarded him with suspicion, and the Queen did the same.” The ambassador was gentler and more conciliatory than ever; but in the new situation created he was not the man for the place. In February, 1568, he had earnestly begged the King to recall him on the pretext of ill-health and lack of means. At that time, before Mary Stuart’s arrival in England, the relations between England and Spain were not abnormally strained, for Mary, being deposed and imprisoned, was powerless. Philip sent no answer to the ambassador’s request for several months; but in May, when the prospect was no longer “quiet and friendly,” he sent to Guzman his letter of dismissal. The King at this time needed a rough, overbearing man to support his strong action with regard to the English ambassador. The communications that had passed between Philip and Mary Stuart, and the reports he had received as to the attitude of the English Catholics of the north from the Lennoxes and others, had convinced him that an opportunity offered for dealing his blow. Guzman had continued gently to encourage the Queen of Scotland’s agent, Fleming, but neither his instructions nor his disposition allowed him to go beyond bare expressions of sympathy. “I have shown him great goodwill, and have in general terms assured him of your Majesty’s sincere affection for his Queen, as I am letting the Catholics, her friends, understand.”[172] But Guzman went no further than this.