In the meanwhile the conspiracy, by far the most dangerous that Elizabeth ever had to face, was developing in London. Cecil, who, in fact, was the most pacific of ministers, is represented by the Spanish party as the firebrand, determined to precipitate a war with Spain. This was certainly not the case. He, with his cool head, understood how far he might go now that Philip was powerless to attack England. The seizure of the money destined to pay Alba’s troops had made all the difference, and Cecil and his mistress knew that they might for the present defy Spain with impunity. The news of the attack upon Hawkins’s expedition at San Juan de Lua was now confirmed and added to the determination of the English Protestant party to get even with a Power which, for the time at all events, was disabled for harm. But the conservative elements, the old English nobility, with their strong Catholic leanings, their traditions of awed regard for the alliance of the House of Burgundy and Spain, and with their long-standing jealousy of Cecil, saw in his present action a dangerous provocation to a Power they dreaded, and a possible opportunity of supplanting him and his party in the counsels of the Queen. On several occasions the nobles of this party had expressed to de Spes their annoyance at the seizure of the treasure; and we have seen that the Earl of Northumberland, the powerful Catholic head of the House of Percy, had sought him out secretly in the dead of night to make disloyal offers to him. The Duke of Norfolk, unhappily for himself, had also been drawn into these questionable intrigues by his father-in-law, the Earl of Arundel. Late in February, 1569, Norfolk and Arundel sent a Florentine banker in London, one Ridolfi, a great friend of de Spes and the Pope’s agent in England, to tell the Spanish ambassador that they had put up with Cecil’s impertinences and violence in seizing the treasure so far because they were not strong enough to resist him. “But they are gathering their friends, and letting the public know what is going on, in the hope and belief that they will be able to turn out the present accursed Government and raise a Catholic one, bringing the Queen to consent thereto. They think you [_i.e._, the Duke of Alba] will support them in this, and that the country will not lose the friendship of our King.” The object of this conspiracy was to capture (and probably kill) Cecil; and, although the nobles euphemistically professed to believe that Elizabeth would consent to a entire revolution in her religion and policy, it is evident that the intention of the majority was to depose her in favour of Mary Stuart. On the 2nd April de Spes writes: “The Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Arundel wish to serve your Majesty. They have many friends and adherents in the country, and when they hear that your Majesty will accept their goodwill, they will declare themselves more openly at a convenient opportunity. The Duke of Alba ... orders me to