Mary Stuart and the Casket Letters, by J.F.N. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870. Excerpt: ... MARY STUART AND THE CASKET LETTEKS. The question of Mary Stuart's guilt or innocence must be decided mainly according to the acceptance or rejection of the celebrated Casket Letters. These Letters constituted the defence of the Lords who took up arms against her and placed her in confinement; they formed the groundwork of the charges preferred against her at York and "Westminster. Should they be found genuine in toto, it is proved incontestably "that she was in the foreknowledge, counsel, and device of the horrible murder of the King;" and it is proved also " that the Earl of Bothwell seized her person with her own consent, and by a stratagem of her own contrivance." But if they should be shown to be forgeries, either wholly, or "in some principal and substantious A clauses," then these two main charges against her fall to the ground, and she can be held answerable only for errors of judgment, in the blame of which her advisers must share. The authenticity of these Letters has now to be considered, first, with reference to their history; and, second, with reference to the nature of their contents. PAKT I. THE HISTORY OF THE LETTERS. Darnley was murdered on the 10th February 1567. A proclamation was issued on the 12th, offering a reward and an annuity to any one who should give any information concerning the murder. Placards appeared on the door of the Tolbooth, charging the Earl of Bothwell and others with the said murder. These placards were anonymous. Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded justice, and urged the Queen to commit to prison all the persons named in the placards. The Queen replied that the placards were numerous and contradictory, and begged him to specify the names which he considered most suspicious. He named Bothwell, Balfour, and several ot...