A perusal of the letters of Renard and Noailles, and the evidence given by Wyatt himself, leaves no shadow of doubt that Elizabeth and Courtenay were accomplices in the series of risings that, with French support, were intended to frustrate the Spanish match; and, although Froude and other English historians have done their best to exonerate them, Mary’s clemency to her sister on this occasion is at least entitled to a word of praise, considering the great provocation she had suffered at her hands. When at last Elizabeth was sent to the Tower, in March, it was only because Mary was about to absent herself from the capital for a time; and it was, of course, impossible to leave the disaffected Princess, beloved as she was by the Londoners, practically at liberty in their midst. Thus the open enemies of the marriage were silenced; Wyatt and his accomplices, as well as the Greys and Dudleys, were dead or doomed, Noailles was found out and raging impotently, Courtenay and Elizabeth behind the bars, and the Carews and their West-country friends refugees in France. When, therefore, on the 2nd March, 1554, Egmont again arrived in London, with the Bulls, powers, and other formal documents necessary for the solemn betrothal, it seemed as if all would now run smoothly. Renard, it is true, always anxious to augment the importance of Philip, gravely raised the question before the Queen and Council whether it would be safe to bring the Prince to England in the circumstances; because, he said, if there was to be any risk to either the Queen or her betrothed, it might be better to abandon the match. But whilst Mary declared that for the world she would have no harm happen to Philip, “neither she nor her Council saw any means or danger that should cause the postponement of a marriage so beneficial and honourable. Thank God, the heretics and rebels were imprisoned, their conspiracy discovered and proved, and in a short time exemplary punishment would be inflicted upon them! For the future the Queen would see to it that the strong hand would be hers, and that she retained full authority over her subjects; so that they had no doubt whatever that his Highness might safely pass over to England, provided that he guarded himself against the French naval force which was being prepared to intercept him.”[33]