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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18209-8.txt b/18209-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b9a008 --- /dev/null +++ b/18209-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5749 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by +James Anthony Froude + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century + Lectures Delivered at Oxford Easter Terms 1893-4 + +Author: James Anthony Froude + +Release Date: April 19, 2006 [EBook #18209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +ENGLISH SEAMEN + +IN + +THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + +_LECTURES DELIVERED AT OXFORD EASTER TERMS 1893-4_ + +BY + +JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE + +LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD + + + + +New Edition +LONDON +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1896 +[_All rights reserved_] +RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON & BUNGAY. + + + + + CONTENTS + + LECTURE PAGE + + I. THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION 1 + + II. JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE 35 + + III. SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND 68 + + IV. DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD 102 + + V. PARTIES IN THE STATE 141 + + VI. THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES 176 + + VII. ATTACK ON CADIZ 207 + + VIII. SAILING OF THE ARMADA 238 + + IX. DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 272 + + + + +LECTURE I + +THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION + + +Jean Paul, the German poet, said that God had given to France the empire +of the land, to England the empire of the sea, and to his own country +the empire of the air. The world has changed since Jean Paul's days. The +wings of France have been clipped; the German Empire has become a solid +thing; but England still holds her watery dominion; Britannia does still +rule the waves, and in this proud position she has spread the English +race over the globe; she has created the great American nation; she is +peopling new Englands at the Antipodes; she has made her Queen Empress +of India; and is in fact the very considerable phenomenon in the social +and political world which all acknowledge her to be. And all this she +has achieved in the course of three centuries, entirely in consequence +of her predominance as an ocean power. Take away her merchant fleets; +take away the navy that guards them: her empire will come to an end; her +colonies will fall off, like leaves from a withered tree; and Britain +will become once more an insignificant island in the North Sea, for the +future students in Australian and New Zealand universities to discuss +the fate of in their debating societies. + +How the English navy came to hold so extraordinary a position is worth +reflecting on. Much has been written about it, but little, as it seems +to me, which touches the heart of the matter. We are shown the power of +our country growing and expanding. But how it grew, why, after a sleep +of so many hundred years, the genius of our Scandinavian forefathers +suddenly sprang again into life--of this we are left without +explanation. + +The beginning was undoubtedly the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. +Down to that time the sea sovereignty belonged to the Spaniards, and had +been fairly won by them. The conquest of Granada had stimulated and +elevated the Spanish character. The subjects of Ferdinand and Isabella, +of Charles V. and Philip II., were extraordinary men, and accomplished +extraordinary things. They stretched the limits of the known world; they +conquered Mexico and Peru; they planted their colonies over the South +American continent; they took possession of the great West Indian +islands, and with so firm a grasp that Cuba at least will never lose the +mark of the hand which seized it. They built their cities as if for +eternity. They spread to the Indian Ocean, and gave their monarch's name +to the _Philippines_. All this they accomplished in half a century, and, +as it were, they did it with a single hand; with the other they were +fighting Moors and Turks and protecting the coast of the Mediterranean +from the corsairs of Tunis and Constantinople. + +They had risen on the crest of the wave, and with their proud _Non +sufficit orbis_ were looking for new worlds to conquer, at a time when +the bark of the English water-dogs had scarcely been heard beyond their +own fishing-grounds, and the largest merchant vessel sailing from the +port of London was scarce bigger than a modern coasting collier. And yet +within the space of a single ordinary life these insignificant islanders +had struck the sceptre from the Spaniards' grasp and placed the ocean +crown on the brow of their own sovereign. How did it come about? What +Cadmus had sown dragons' teeth in the furrows of the sea for the race to +spring from who manned the ships of Queen Elizabeth, who carried the +flag of their own country round the globe, and challenged and fought the +Spaniards on their own coasts and in their own harbours? + +The English sea power was the legitimate child of the Reformation. It +grew, as I shall show you, directly out of the new despised +Protestantism. Matthew Parker and Bishop Jewel, the judicious Hooker +himself, excellent men as they were, would have written and preached to +small purpose without Sir Francis Drake's cannon to play an +accompaniment to their teaching. And again, Drake's cannon would not +have roared so loudly and so widely without seamen already trained in +heart and hand to work his ships and level his artillery. It was to the +superior seamanship, the superior quality of English ships and crews, +that the Spaniards attributed their defeat. Where did these ships come +from? Where and how did these mariners learn their trade? Historians +talk enthusiastically of the national spirit of a people rising with a +united heart to repel the invader, and so on. But national spirit could +not extemporise a fleet or produce trained officers and sailors to match +the conquerors of Lepanto. One slight observation I must make here at +starting, and certainly with no invidious purpose. It has been said +confidently, it has been repeated, I believe, by all modern writers, +that the Spanish invasion suspended in England the quarrels of creed, +and united Protestants and Roman Catholics in defence of their Queen and +country. They remind us especially that Lord Howard of Effingham, who +was Elizabeth's admiral, was himself a Roman Catholic. But was it so? +The Earl of Arundel, the head of the House of Howard, was a Roman +Catholic, and he was in the Tower praying for the success of Medina +Sidonia. Lord Howard of Effingham was no more a Roman Catholic than--I +hope I am not taking away their character--than the present Archbishop +of Canterbury or the Bishop of London. He was a Catholic, but an English +Catholic, as those reverend prelates are. Roman Catholic he could not +possibly have been, nor anyone who on that great occasion was found on +the side of Elizabeth. A Roman Catholic is one who acknowledges the +Roman Bishop's authority. The Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth, had +pronounced her deposed, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, +and forbidden them to fight for her. No Englishman who fought on that +great occasion for English liberty was, or could have been, in communion +with Rome. Loose statements of this kind, lightly made, fall in with the +modern humour. They are caught up, applauded, repeated, and pass +unquestioned into history. It is time to correct them a little. + +I have in my possession a detailed account of the temper of parties in +England, drawn up in the year 1585, three years before the Armada came. +The writer was a distinguished Jesuit. The account itself was prepared +for the use of the Pope and Philip, with a special view to the reception +which an invading force would meet with, and it goes into great detail. +The people of the towns--London, Bristol, &c.--were, he says, generally +heretics. The peers, the gentry, their tenants, and peasantry, who +formed the immense majority of the population, were almost universally +Catholics. But this writer distinguishes properly among Catholics. There +were the ardent impassioned Catholics, ready to be confessors and +martyrs, ready to rebel at the first opportunity, who had renounced +their allegiance, who desired to overthrow Elizabeth and put the Queen +of Scots in her place. The number of these, he says, was daily +increasing, owing to the exertions of the seminary priests; and plots, +he boasts, were being continually formed by them to murder the Queen. +There were Catholics of another sort, who were papal at heart, but went +with the times to save their property; who looked forward to a change in +the natural order of things, but would not stir of themselves till an +invading army actually appeared. But all alike, he insists, were eager +for a revolution. Let the Prince of Parma come, and they would all join +him; and together these two classes of Catholics made three-fourths of +the nation. + +'The only party,' he says (and this is really noticeable), 'the only +party that would fight to death for the Queen, the only real friends she +had, were the _Puritans_ (it is the first mention of the name which I +have found), the Puritans of London, the Puritans of the sea towns.' +These he admits were dangerous, desperate, determined men. The numbers +of them, however, were providentially small. + +The date of this document is, as I said, 1585, and I believe it +generally accurate. The only mistake is that among the Anglican +Catholics there were a few to whom their country was as dear as their +creed--a few who were beginning to see that under the Act of Uniformity +Catholic doctrine might be taught and Catholic ritual practised; who +adhered to the old forms of religion, but did not believe that obedience +to the Pope was a necessary part of them. One of these was Lord Howard +of Effingham, whom the Queen placed in his high command to secure the +wavering fidelity of the peers and country gentlemen. But the force, the +fire, the enthusiasm came (as the Jesuit saw) from the Puritans, from +men of the same convictions as the Calvinists of Holland and Rochelle; +men who, driven from the land, took to the ocean as their natural home, +and nursed the Reformation in an ocean cradle. How the seagoing +population of the North of Europe took so strong a Protestant impression +it is the purpose of these lectures to explain. + +Henry VIII. on coming to the throne found England without a fleet, and +without a conscious sense of the need of one. A few merchant hulks +traded with Bordeaux and Cadiz and Lisbon; hoys and fly-boats drifted +slowly backwards and forwards between Antwerp and the Thames. A fishing +fleet tolerably appointed went annually to Iceland for cod. Local +fishermen worked the North Sea and the Channel from Hull to Falmouth. +The Chester people went to Kinsale for herrings and mackerel: but that +was all--the nation had aspired to no more. + +Columbus had offered the New World to Henry VII. while the discovery was +still in the air. He had sent his brother to England with maps and +globes, and quotations from Plato to prove its existence. Henry, like a +practical Englishman, treated it as a wild dream. + +The dream had come from the gate of horn. America was found, and the +Spaniard, and not the English, came into first possession of it. Still, +America was a large place, and John Cabot the Venetian with his son +Sebastian tried Henry again. England might still be able to secure a +slice. This time Henry VII. listened. Two small ships were fitted out at +Bristol, crossed the Atlantic, discovered Newfoundland, coasted down to +Florida looking for a passage to Cathay, but could not find one. The +elder Cabot died; the younger came home. The expedition failed, and no +interest had been roused. + +With the accession of Henry VIII. a new era had opened--a new era in +many senses. Printing was coming into use--Erasmus and his companions +were shaking Europe with the new learning, Copernican astronomy was +changing the level disk of the earth into a revolving globe, and turning +dizzy the thoughts of mankind. Imagination was on the stretch. The +reality of things was assuming proportions vaster than fancy had dreamt, +and unfastening established belief on a thousand sides. The young Henry +was welcomed by Erasmus as likely to be the glory of the age that was +opening. He was young, brilliant, cultivated, and ambitious. To what +might he not aspire under the new conditions! Henry VIII. was all that, +but he was cautious and looked about him. Europe was full of wars in +which he was likely to be entangled. His father had left the treasury +well furnished. The young King, like a wise man, turned his first +attention to the broad ditch, as he called the British Channel, which +formed the natural defence of the realm. The opening of the Atlantic had +revolutionised war and seamanship. Long voyages required larger vessels. +Henry was the first prince to see the place which gunpowder was going +to hold in wars. In his first years he repaired his dockyards, built new +ships on improved models, and imported Italians to cast him new types of +cannon. 'King Harry loved a man,' it was said, and knew a man when he +saw one. He made acquaintance with sea captains at Portsmouth and +Southampton. In some way or other he came to know one Mr. William +Hawkins, of Plymouth, and held him in especial esteem. This Mr. Hawkins, +under Henry's patronage, ventured down to the coast of Guinea and +brought home gold and ivory; crossed over to Brazil; made friends with +the Brazilian natives; even brought back with him the king of those +countries, who was curious to see what England was like, and presented +him to Henry at Whitehall. + +Another Plymouth man, Robert Thorne, again with Henry's help, went out +to look for the North-west passage which Cabot had failed to find. +Thorne's ship was called the _Dominus Vobiscum_, a pious aspiration +which, however, secured no success. A London man, a Master Hore, tried +next. Master Hore, it is said, was given to cosmography, was a +plausible talker at scientific meetings, and so on. He persuaded 'divers +young lawyers' (briefless barristers, I suppose) and other +gentlemen--altogether a hundred and twenty of them--to join him. They +procured two vessels at Gravesend. They took the sacrament together +before sailing. They apparently relied on Providence to take care of +them, for they made little other preparation. They reached Newfoundland, +but their stores ran out, and their ships went on shore. In the land of +fish they did not know how to use line and bait. They fed on roots and +bilberries, and picked fish-bones out of the ospreys' nests. At last +they began to eat one another--careless of Master Hore, who told them +they would go to unquenchable fire. A French vessel came in. They seized +her with the food she had on board and sailed home in her, leaving the +French crew to their fate. The poor French happily found means of +following them. They complained of their treatment, and Henry ordered an +inquiry; but finding, the report says, the great distress Master Hore's +party had been in, was so moved with pity, that he did not punish them, +but out of his own purse made royal recompense to the French. + +Something better than gentlemen volunteers was needed if naval +enterprise was to come to anything in England. The long wars between +Francis I. and Charles V. brought the problem closer. On land the +fighting was between the regular armies. At sea privateers were let +loose out of French, Flemish, and Spanish ports. Enterprising +individuals took out letters of marque and went cruising to take the +chance of what they could catch. The Channel was the chief +hunting-ground, as being the highway between Spain and the Low +Countries. The interval was short between privateers and pirates. +Vessels of all sorts passed into the business. The Scilly Isles became a +pirate stronghold. The creeks and estuaries in Cork and Kerry furnished +hiding-places where the rovers could lie with security and share their +plunder with the Irish chiefs. The disorder grew wilder when the divorce +of Catherine of Aragon made Henry into the public enemy of Papal Europe. +English traders and fishing-smacks were plundered and sunk. Their crews +went armed to defend themselves, and from Thames mouth to Land's End the +Channel became the scene of desperate fights. The type of vessel altered +to suit the new conditions. Life depended on speed of sailing. The State +Papers describe squadrons of French or Spaniards flying about, dashing +into Dartmouth, Plymouth, or Falmouth, cutting out English coasters, or +fighting one another. + +After Henry was excommunicated, and Ireland rebelled, and England itself +threatened disturbance, the King had to look to his security. He made +little noise about it. But the Spanish ambassador reported him as +silently building ships in the Thames and at Portsmouth. As invasion +seemed imminent, he began with sweeping the seas of the looser vermin. A +few swift well-armed cruisers pushed suddenly out of the Solent, caught +and destroyed a pirate fleet in Mount's Bay, sent to the bottom some +Flemish privateers in the Downs, and captured the Flemish admiral +himself. Danger at home growing more menacing, and the monks spreading +the fire which grew into the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry suppressed the +abbeys, sold the lands, and with the proceeds armed the coast with +fortresses. 'You threaten me,' he seemed to say to them, 'that you will +use the wealth our fathers gave you to overthrow my Government and bring +in the invader. I will take your wealth, and I will use it to disappoint +your treachery.' You may see the remnants of Henry's work in the +fortresses anywhere along the coast from Berwick to the Land's End. + +Louder thundered the Vatican. In 1539 Henry's time appeared to have +come. France and Spain made peace, and the Pope's sentence was now +expected to be executed by Charles or Francis, or both. A crowd of +vessels large and small was collected in the Scheldt, for what purpose +save to transport an army into England? Scotland had joined the Catholic +League. Henry fearlessly appealed to the English people. Catholic peers +and priests might conspire against him, but, explain it how we will, the +nation was loyal to Henry and came to his side. The London merchants +armed their ships in the river. From the seaports everywhere came armed +brigantines and sloops. The fishermen of the West left their boats and +nets to their wives, and the fishing was none the worse, for the women +handled oar and sail and line and went to the whiting-grounds, while +their husbands had gone to fight for their King. Genius kindled into +discovery at the call of the country. Mr. Fletcher of Rye (be his name +remembered) invented a boat the like of which was never seen before, +which would work to windward, with sails trimmed fore and aft, the +greatest revolution yet made in shipbuilding. A hundred and fifty sail +collected at Sandwich to match the armament in the Scheldt; and +Marillac, the French ambassador, reported with amazement the energy of +King and people. + +The Catholic Powers thought better of it. This was not the England which +Reginald Pole had told them was longing for their appearance. The +Scheldt force dispersed. Henry read Scotland a needed lesson. The Scots +had thought to take him at disadvantage, and sit on his back when the +Emperor attacked him. One morning when the people at Leith woke out of +their sleep, they found an English fleet in the Roads; and before they +had time to look about them, Leith was on fire and Edinburgh was taken. +Charles V., if he had ever seriously thought of invading Henry, returned +to wiser counsels, and made an alliance with him instead. The Pope +turned to France. If the Emperor forsook him, the Most Christian King +would help. He promised Francis that if he could win England he might +keep it for himself. Francis resolved to try what he could do. + +Five years had passed since the gathering at Sandwich. It was now the +summer of 1544. The records say that the French collected at Havre near +300 vessels, fighting ships, galleys, and transports. Doubtless the +numbers are far exaggerated, but at any rate it was the largest force +ever yet got together to invade England, capable, if well handled, of +bringing Henry to his knees. The plan was to seize and occupy the Isle +of Wight, destroy the English fleet, then take Portsmouth and +Southampton, and so advance on London. + +Henry's attention to his navy had not slackened. He had built ship on +ship. The _Great Harry_ was a thousand tons, carried 700 men, and was +the wonder of the day. There were a dozen others scarcely less +imposing. The King called again on the nation, and again the nation +answered. In England altogether there were 150,000 men in arms in field +or garrison. In the King's fleet at Portsmouth there were 12,000 seamen, +and the privateers of the West crowded up eagerly as before. It is +strange, with the notions which we have allowed ourselves to form of +Henry, to observe the enthusiasm with which the whole country, as yet +undivided by doctrinal quarrels, rallied a second time to defend him. + +In this Portsmouth fleet lay undeveloped the genius of the future naval +greatness of England. A small fact connected with it is worth recording. +The watchword on board was, 'God save the King'; the answer was, 'Long +to reign over us': the earliest germ discoverable of the English +National Anthem. + +The King had come himself to Portsmouth to witness the expected attack. +The fleet was commanded by Lord Lisle, afterwards Duke of +Northumberland. It was the middle of July. The French crossed from Havre +unfought with, and anchored in St. Helens Roads off Brading Harbour. +The English, being greatly inferior in numbers, lay waiting for them +inside the Spit. The morning after the French came in was still and +sultry. The English could not move for want of wind. The galleys crossed +over and engaged them for two or three hours with some advantage. The +breeze rose at noon; a few fast sloops got under way and easily drove +them back. But the same breeze which enabled the English to move brought +a serious calamity with it. The Mary Rose, one of Lisle's finest +vessels, had been under the fire of the galleys. Her ports had been left +open, and when the wind sprang up, she heeled over, filled, and went +down, carrying two hundred men along with her. The French saw her sink, +and thought their own guns had done it. They hoped to follow up their +success. At night they sent over boats to take soundings, and discover +the way into the harbour. The boats reported that the sandbanks made the +approach impossible. The French had no clear plan of action. They tried +a landing in the island, but the force was too small, and failed. They +weighed anchor and brought up again behind Selsea Bill, where Lisle +proposed to run them down in the dark, taking advantage of the tide. But +they had an enemy to deal with worse than Lisle, on board their own +ships, which explained their distracted movements. Hot weather, putrid +meat, and putrid water had prostrated whole ships' companies with +dysentery. After a three weeks' ineffectual cruise they had to hasten +back to Havre, break up, and disperse. The first great armament which +was to have recovered England to the Papacy had effected nothing. Henry +had once more shown his strength, and was left undisputed master of the +narrow seas. + +So matters stood for what remained of Henry's reign. As far as he had +gone, he had quarrelled with the Pope, and had brought the Church under +the law. So far the country generally had gone with him, and there had +been no violent changes in the administration of religion. When Henry +died the Protector abolished the old creed, and created a new and +perilous cleavage between Protestant and Catholic, and, while England +needed the protection of a navy more than ever, allowed the fine fleet +which Henry had left to fall into decay. The spirit of enterprise grew +with the Reformation. Merchant companies opened trade with Russia and +the Levant; adventurous sea captains went to Guinea for gold. Sir Hugh +Willoughby followed the phantom of the North-west Passage, turning +eastward round the North Cape to look for it, and perished in the ice. +English commerce was beginning to grow in spite of the Protector's +experiments; but a new and infinitely dangerous element had been +introduced by the change of religion into the relations of English +sailors with the Catholic Powers, and especially with Spain. In their +zeal to keep out heresy, the Spanish Government placed their harbours +under the control of the Holy Office. Any vessel in which an heretical +book was found was confiscated, and her crew carried to the Inquisition +prisons. It had begun in Henry's time. The Inquisitors attempted to +treat schism as heresy and arrest Englishmen in their ports. But Henry +spoke up stoutly to Charles V., and the Holy Office had been made to +hold its hand. All was altered now. It was not necessary that a poor +sailor should have been found teaching heresy. It was enough if he had +an English Bible and Prayer Book with him in his kit; and stories would +come into Dartmouth or Plymouth how some lad that everybody knew--Bill +or Jack or Tom, who had wife or father or mother among them, +perhaps--had been seized hold of for no other crime, been flung into a +dungeon, tortured, starved, set to work in the galleys, or burned in a +fool's coat, as they called it, at an _auto da fé_ at Seville. + +The object of the Inquisition was partly political: it was meant to +embarrass trade and make the people impatient of changes which produced +so much inconvenience. The effect was exactly the opposite. Such +accounts when brought home created fury. There grew up in the seagoing +population an enthusiasm of hatred for that holy institution, and a +passionate desire for revenge. + +The natural remedy would have been war; but the division of nations was +crossed by the division of creeds; and each nation had allies in the +heart of every other. If England went to war with Spain, Spain could +encourage insurrection among the Catholics. If Spain or France declared +war against England, England could help the Huguenots or the Holland +Calvinists. All Governments were afraid alike of a general war of +religion which might shake Europe in pieces. Thus individuals were left +to their natural impulses. The Holy Office burnt English or French +Protestants wherever it could catch them. The Protestants revenged their +injuries at their own risk and in their own way, and thus from Edward +VI.'s time to the end of the century privateering came to be the special +occupation of adventurous honourable gentlemen, who could serve God, +their country, and themselves in fighting Catholics. Fleets of these +dangerous vessels swept the Channel, lying in wait at Scilly, or even at +the Azores--disowned in public by their own Governments while secretly +countenanced, making war on their own account on what they called the +enemies of God. In such a business, of course, there were many mere +pirates engaged who cared neither for God nor man. But it was the +Protestants who were specially impelled into it by the cruelties of the +Inquisition. The Holy Office began the work with the _autos da fé_. The +privateers robbed, burnt, and scuttled Catholic ships in retaliation. +One fierce deed produced another, till right and wrong were obscured in +the passion of religious hatred. Vivid pictures of these wild doings +survive in the English and Spanish State Papers. Ireland was the rovers' +favourite haunt. In the universal anarchy there, a little more or a +little less did not signify. Notorious pirate captains were to be met in +Cork or Kinsale, collecting stores, casting cannon, or selling their +prizes--men of all sorts, from fanatical saints to undisguised ruffians. +Here is one incident out of many to show the heights to which temper had +risen. + +'Long peace,' says someone, addressing the Privy Council early in +Elizabeth's time, 'becomes by force of the Spanish Inquisition more +hurtful than open war. It is the secret, determined policy of Spain to +destroy the English fleet, pilots, masters and sailors, by means of the +Inquisition. The Spanish King pretends he dares not offend the Holy +House, while we in England say we may not proclaim war against Spain in +revenge of a few. Not long since the Spanish Inquisition executed sixty +persons of St. Malo, notwithstanding entreaty to the King of Spain to +spare them. Whereupon the Frenchmen armed their pinnaces, lay for the +Spaniards, took a hundred and beheaded them, sending the Spanish ships +to the shore with their heads, leaving in each ship but one man to +render the cause of the revenge. Since which time Spanish Inquisitors +have never meddled with those of St. Malo.' + +A colony of Huguenot refugees had settled on the coast of Florida. The +Spaniards heard of it, came from St. Domingo, burnt the town, and hanged +every man, woman, and child, leaving an inscription explaining that the +poor creatures had been killed, not as Frenchmen, but as heretics. +Domenique de Gourges, of Rochelle, heard of this fine exploit of +fanaticism, equipped a ship, and sailed across. He caught the Spanish +garrison which had been left in occupation and swung them on the same +trees--with a second scroll saying that they were dangling there, not as +Spaniards, but as murderers. + +The genius of adventure tempted men of highest birth into the rovers' +ranks. Sir Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother and the King's uncle, +was Lord High Admiral. In his time of office, complaints were made by +foreign merchants of ships and property seized at the Thames mouth. No +redress could be had; no restitution made; no pirate was even punished, +and Seymour's personal followers were seen suspiciously decorated with +Spanish ornaments. It appeared at last that Seymour had himself bought +the Scilly Isles, and if he could not have his way at Court, it was said +that he meant to set up there as a pirate chief. + +The persecution under Mary brought in more respectable recruits than +Seymour. The younger generation of the western families had grown with +the times. If they were not theologically Protestant, they detested +tyranny. They detested the marriage with Philip, which threatened the +independence of England. At home they were powerless, but the sons of +honourable houses--Strangways, Tremaynes, Staffords, Horseys, Carews, +Killegrews, and Cobhams--dashed out upon the water to revenge the +Smithfield massacres. They found help where it could least have been +looked for. Henry II. of France hated heresy, but he hated Spain worse. +Sooner than see England absorbed in the Spanish monarchy, he forgot his +bigotry in his politics. He furnished these young mutineers with ships +and money and letters of marque. The Huguenots were their natural +friends. With Rochelle for an arsenal, they held the mouth of the +Channel, and harassed the communications between Cadiz and Antwerp. It +was a wild business: enterprise and buccaneering sanctified by religion +and hatred of cruelty; but it was a school like no other for seamanship, +and a school for the building of vessels which could out-sail all others +on the sea; a school, too, for the training up of hardy men, in whose +blood ran detestation of the Inquisition and the Inquisition's master. +Every other trade was swallowed up or coloured by privateering; the +merchantmen went armed, ready for any work that offered; the Iceland +fleet went no more in search of cod; the Channel boatmen forsook nets +and lines and took to livelier occupations; Mary was too busy burning +heretics to look to the police of the seas; her father's fine ships +rotted in harbour; her father's coast-forts were deserted or dismantled; +she lost Calais; she lost the hearts of her people in forcing them into +orthodoxy; she left the seas to the privateers; and no trade flourished, +save what the Catholic Powers called piracy. + +When Elizabeth came to the throne, the whole merchant navy of England +engaged in lawful commerce amounted to no more than 50,000 tons. You may +see more now passing every day through the Gull Stream. In the service +of the Crown there were but seven revenue cruisers in commission, the +largest 120 tons, with eight merchant brigs altered for fighting. In +harbour there were still a score of large ships, but they were +dismantled and rotting; of artillery fit for sea work there was none. +The men were not to be had, and, as Sir William Cecil said, to fit out +ships without men was to set armour on stakes on the seashore. The +mariners of England were otherwise engaged, and in a way which did not +please Cecil. He was the ablest minister that Elizabeth had. He saw at +once that on the navy the prosperity and even the liberty of England +must eventually depend. If England were to remain Protestant, it was not +by articles of religion or acts of uniformity that she could be saved +without a fleet at the back of them. But he was old-fashioned. He +believed in law and order, and he has left a curious paper of +reflections on the situation. The ships' companies in Henry VIII.'s days +were recruited from the fishing-smacks, but the Reformation itself had +destroyed the fishing trade. In old times, Cecil said, no flesh was +eaten on fish days. The King himself could not have license. Now to eat +beef or mutton on fish days was the test of a true believer. The English +Iceland fishery used to supply Normandy and Brittany as well as England. +Now it had passed to the French. The Chester men used to fish the Irish +seas. Now they had left them to the Scots. The fishermen had taken to +privateering because the fasts of the Church were neglected. He saw it +was so. He recorded his own opinion that piracy, as he called it, was +_detestable_, and could not last. He was to find that it could last, +that it was to form the special discipline of the generation whose +business would be to fight the Spaniards. But he struggled hard against +the unwelcome conclusion. He tried to revive lawful trade by a +Navigation Act. He tried to restore the fisheries by Act of Parliament. +He introduced a Bill recommending godly abstinence as a means to virtue, +making the eating of meat on Fridays and Saturdays a misdemeanour, and +adding Wednesday as a half fish-day. The House of Commons laughed at him +as bringing back Popish mummeries. To please the Protestants he inserted +a clause, that the statute was politicly meant for the increase of +fishermen and mariners, not for any superstition in the choice of meats; +but it was no use. The Act was called in mockery 'Cecil's Fast,' and the +recovery of the fisheries had to wait till the natural inclination of +human stomachs for fresh whiting and salt cod should revive of itself. + +Events had to take their course. Seamen were duly provided in other +ways, and such as the time required. Privateering suited Elizabeth's +convenience, and suited her disposition. She liked daring and adventure. +She liked men who would do her work without being paid for it, men whom +she could disown when expedient; who would understand her, and would not +resent it. She knew her turn was to come when Philip had leisure to deal +with her, if she could not secure herself meanwhile. Time was wanted to +restore the navy. The privateers were a resource in the interval. They +might be called pirates while there was formal peace. The name did not +signify. They were really the armed force of the country. After the war +broke out in the Netherlands, they had commissions from the Prince of +Orange. Such commissions would not save them if taken by Spain, but it +enabled them to sell their prizes, and for the rest they trusted to +their speed and their guns. When Elizabeth was at war with France about +Havre, she took the most noted of them into the service of the Crown. +Ned Horsey became Sir Edward and Governor of the Isle of Wight; +Strangways, a Red Rover in his way, who had been the terror of the +Spaniards, was killed before Rouen; Tremayne fell at Havre, mourned over +by Elizabeth; and Champernowne, one of the most gallant of the whole of +them, was killed afterwards at Coligny's side at Moncontour. + +But others took their places: the wild hawks as thick as seagulls +flashing over the waves, fair wind or foul, laughing at pursuit, brave, +reckless, devoted, the crews the strangest medley: English from the +Devonshire and Cornish creeks, Huguenots from Rochelle; Irish kernes +with long skenes, 'desperate, unruly persons with no kind of mercy.' + +The Holy Office meanwhile went on in cold, savage resolution: the Holy +Office which had begun the business and was the cause of it. + +A note in Cecil's hand says that in the one year 1562 twenty-six English +subjects had been burnt at the stake in different parts of Spain. Ten +times as many were starving in Spanish dungeons, from which +occasionally, by happy accident, a cry could be heard like this which +follows. In 1561 an English merchant writes from the Canaries: + +'I was taken by those of the Inquisition twenty months past, put into a +little dark house two paces long, loaded with irons, without sight of +sun or moon all that time. When I was arraigned I was charged that I +should say our mass was as good as theirs; that I said I would rather +give money to the poor than buy Bulls of Rome with it. I was charged +with being a subject to the Queen's grace, who, they said, was enemy to +the Faith, Antichrist, with other opprobrious names; and I stood to the +defence of the Queen's Majesty, proving the infamies most untrue. Then I +was put into Little Ease again, protesting very innocent blood to be +demanded against the judge before Christ.' + +The innocent blood of these poor victims had not to wait to be avenged +at the Judgment Day. The account was presented shortly and promptly at +the cannon's mouth. + + + + +LECTURE II + +JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE + + +I begin this lecture with a petition addressed to Queen Elizabeth. +Thomas Seely, a merchant of Bristol, hearing a Spaniard in a Spanish +port utter foul and slanderous charges against the Queen's character, +knocked him down. To knock a man down for telling lies about Elizabeth +might be a breach of the peace, but it had not yet been declared heresy. +The Holy Office, however, seized Seely, threw him into a dungeon, and +kept him starving there for three years, at the end of which he +contrived to make his condition known in England. The Queen wrote +herself to Philip to protest. Philip would not interfere. Seely remained +in prison and in irons, and the result was a petition from his wife, in +which the temper which was rising can be read as in letters of fire. +Dorothy Seely demands that 'the friends of her Majesty's subjects so +imprisoned and tormented in Spain may make out ships at their proper +charges, take such Inquisitors or other Papistical subjects of the King +of Spain as they can by sea or land, and retain them in prison with such +torments and diet as her Majesty's subjects be kept with in Spain, and +on complaint made by the King to give such answer as is now made when +her Majesty sues for subjects imprisoned by the Inquisition. Or that a +Commission be granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other +bishops word for word for foreign Papists as the Inquisitors have in +Spain for the Protestants. So that all may know that her Majesty cannot +and will not longer endure the spoils and torments of her subjects, and +the Spaniards shall not think this noble realm dares not seek revenge of +such importable wrongs.' + +Elizabeth issued no such Commission as Dorothy Seely asked for, but she +did leave her subjects to seek their revenge in their own way, and they +sought it sometimes too rashly. + +In the summer of 1563 eight English merchantmen anchored in the roads +of Gibraltar. England and France were then at war. A French brig came in +after them, and brought up near. At sea, if they could take her, she +would have been a lawful prize. Spaniards under similar circumstances +had not respected the neutrality of English harbours. The Englishmen +were perhaps in doubt what to do, when the officers of the Holy Office +came off to the French ship. The sight of the black familiars drove the +English wild. Three of them made a dash at the French ship, intending to +sink her. The Inquisitors sprang into their boat, and rowed for their +lives. The castle guns opened, and the harbour police put out to +interfere. The French ship, however, would have been taken, when +unluckily Alvarez de Baçan, with a Spanish squadron, came round into the +Straits. Resistance was impossible. The eight English ships were +captured and carried off to Cadiz. The English flag was trailed under De +Baçan's stern. The crews, two hundred and forty men in all, were +promptly condemned to the galleys. In defence they could but say that +the Frenchman was an enemy, and a moderate punishment would have +sufficed for a violation of the harbour rules which the Spaniards +themselves so little regarded. But the Inquisition was inexorable, and +the men were treated with such peculiar brutality that after nine months +ninety only of the two hundred and forty were alive. + +Ferocity was answered by ferocity. Listen to this! The Cobhams of +Cowling Castle were Protestants by descent. Lord Cobham was famous in +the Lollard martyrology. Thomas Cobham, one of the family, had taken to +the sea like many of his friends. While cruising in the Channel he +caught sight of a Spaniard on the way from Antwerp to Cadiz with forty +prisoners on board, consigned, it might be supposed, to the Inquisition. +They were, of course, Inquisition prisoners; for other offenders would +have been dealt with on the spot. Cobham chased her down into the Bay of +Biscay, took her, scuttled her, and rescued the captives. But that was +not enough. The captain and crew he sewed up in their own mainsail and +flung them overboard. They were washed ashore dead, wrapped in their +extraordinary winding-sheet. Cobham was called to account for this +exploit, but he does not seem to have been actually punished. In a very +short time he was out and away again at the old work. There were plenty +with him. After the business at Gibraltar, Philip's subjects were not +safe in English harbours. Jacques le Clerc, a noted privateer, called +Pie de Palo from his wooden leg, chased a Spaniard into Falmouth, and +was allowed to take her under the guns of Pendennis. The Governor of the +castle said that he could not interfere, because Le Clerc had a +commission from the Prince of Condé. It was proved that in the summer of +1563 there were 400 English and Huguenot rovers in and about the +Channel, and that they had taken 700 prizes between them. The Queen's +own ships followed suit. Captain Cotton in the _Phoenix_ captured an +Antwerp merchantman in Flushing. The harbour-master protested. Cotton +laughed, and sailed away with his prize. The Regent Margaret wrote in +indignation to Elizabeth. Such insolence, she said, was not to be +endured. She would have Captain Cotton chastised as an example to all +others. Elizabeth measured the situation more correctly than the Regent; +she preferred to show Philip that she was not afraid of him. She +preferred to let her subjects discover for themselves that the terrible +Spaniard before whom the world trembled was but a colossus stuffed with +clouts. Until Philip consented to tie the hands of the Holy Office she +did not mean to prevent them from taking the law into their own hands. + +Now and then, if occasion required, Elizabeth herself would do a little +privateering on her own account. In the next story that I have to tell +she appears as a principal, and her great minister, Cecil, as an +accomplice. The Duke of Alva had succeeded Margaret as Regent of the +Netherlands, and was drowning heresy in its own blood. The Prince of +Orange was making a noble fight; but all went ill with him. His troops +were defeated, his brother Louis was killed. He was still struggling, +helped by Elizabeth's money. But the odds were terrible, and the only +hope lay in the discontent of Alva's soldiers, who had not been paid +their wages, and would not fight without them. Philip's finances were +not flourishing, but he had borrowed half a million ducats from a house +at Genoa for Alva's use. The money was to be delivered in bullion at +Antwerp. The Channel privateers heard that it was coming and were on the +look-out for it. The vessel in which it was sent took refuge in +Plymouth, but found she had run into the enemy's nest. Nineteen or +twenty Huguenot and English cruisers lay round her with commissions from +Condé to take every Catholic ship they met with. Elizabeth's special +friends thought and said freely that so rich a prize ought to fall to no +one but her Majesty. Elizabeth thought the same, but for a more +honourable reason. It was of the highest consequence that the money +should not reach the Duke of Alva at that moment. Even Cecil said so, +and sent the Prince of Orange word that it would be stopped in some way. + +But how could it decently be done? Bishop Jewel relieved the Queen's +mind (if it was ever disturbed) on the moral side of the question. The +bishop held that it would be meritorious in a high degree to intercept a +treasure which was to be used in the murder of Protestant Christians. +But the how was the problem. To let the privateers take it openly in +Plymouth harbour would, it was felt, be a scandal. Sir Arthur +Champernowne, the Vice-admiral of the West, saw the difficulty and +offered his services. He had three vessels of his own in Condé's +privateer fleet, under his son Henry. As vice-admiral he was first in +command at Plymouth. He placed a guard on board the treasure ship, +telling the captain it would be a discredit to the Queen's Government if +harm befell her in English waters. He then wrote to Cecil. + +'If,' he said, 'it shall seem good to your honour that I with others +shall give the attempt for her Majesty's use which cannot be without +blood, I will not only take it in hand, but also receive the blame +thereof unto myself, to the end so great a commodity should redound to +her Grace, hoping that, after bitter storms of her displeasure, showed +at the first to colour the fact, I shall find the calm of her favour in +such sort as I am most willing to hazard myself to serve her Majesty. +Great pity it were such a rich booty should escape her Grace. But surely +I am of that mind that anything taken from that wicked nation is both +necessary and profitable to our commonwealth.' + +Very shocking on Sir Arthur's part to write such a letter: so many good +people will think. I hope they will consider it equally shocking that +King Philip should have burned English sailors at the stake because they +were loyal to the laws of their own country; that he was stirring war +all over Europe to please the Pope, and thrusting the doctrines of the +Council of Trent down the throats of mankind at the sword's point. Spain +and England might be at peace; Romanism and Protestantism were at deadly +war, and war suspends the obligations of ordinary life. Crimes the most +horrible were held to be virtues in defence of the Catholic faith. The +Catholics could not have the advantage of such indulgences without the +inconveniences. The Protestant cause throughout Europe was one, and +assailed as the Protestants were with such envenomed ferocity, they +could not afford to be nicely scrupulous in the means they used to +defend themselves. + +Sir Arthur Champernowne was not called on to sacrifice himself in such +peculiar fashion, and a better expedient was found to secure Alva's +money. The bullion was landed and was brought to London by road on the +plea that the seas were unsafe. It was carried to the Tower, and when it +was once inside the walls it was found to remain the property of the +Genoese until it was delivered at Antwerp. The Genoese agent in London +was as willing to lend it to Elizabeth as to Philip, and indeed +preferred the security. Elizabeth calmly said that she had herself +occasion for money, and would accept their offer. Half of it was sent to +the Prince of Orange; half was spent on the Queen's navy. + +Alva was of course violently angry. He arrested every English ship in +the Low Countries. He arrested every Englishman that he could catch, and +sequestered all English property. Elizabeth retaliated in kind. The +Spanish and Flemish property taken in England proved to be worth double +what had been secured by Alva. Philip could not declare war. The +Netherlands insurrection was straining his resources, and with Elizabeth +for an open enemy the whole weight of England would have been thrown on +the side of the Prince of Orange. Elizabeth herself should have +declared war, people say, instead of condescending to such tricks. +Perhaps so; but also perhaps not. These insults, steadily maintained and +unresented, shook the faith of mankind, and especially of her own +sailors, in the invincibility of the Spanish colossus. + +I am now to turn to another side of the subject. The stories which I +have told you show the temper of the time, and the atmosphere which men +were breathing, but it will be instructive to look more closely at +individual persons, and I will take first John Hawkins (afterwards Sir +John), a peculiarly characteristic figure. + +The Hawkinses of Plymouth were a solid middle-class Devonshire family, +who for two generations had taken a leading part in the business of the +town. They still survive in the county--Achins we used to call them +before school pronunciation came in, and so Philip wrote the name when +the famous John began to trouble his dreams. I have already spoken of +old William Hawkins, John's father, whom Henry VIII. was so fond of, +and who brought over the Brazilian King. Old William had now retired and +had left his place and his work to his son. John Hawkins may have been +about thirty at Elizabeth's accession. He had witnessed the wild times +of Edward VI. and Mary, but, though many of his friends had taken to the +privateering business, Hawkins appears to have kept clear of it, and +continued steadily at trade. One of these friends, and his contemporary, +and in fact his near relation, was Thomas Stukely, afterwards so +notorious--and a word may be said of Stukely's career as a contrast to +that of Hawkins. He was a younger son of a leading county family, went +to London to seek his fortune, and became a hanger-on of Sir Thomas +Seymour. Doubtless he was connected with Seymour's pirating scheme at +Scilly, and took to pirating as an occupation like other Western +gentlemen. When Elizabeth became Queen, he introduced himself at Court +and amused her with his conceit. He meant to be a king, nothing less +than a king. He would go to Florida, found an empire there, and write to +the Queen as his dearest sister. She gave him leave to try. He bought a +vessel of 400 tons, got 100 tall soldiers to join him besides the crew, +and sailed from Plymouth in 1563. Once out of harbour, he announced that +the sea was to be his Florida. He went back to the pirate business, +robbed freely, haunted Irish creeks, and set up an intimacy with the +Ulster hero, Shan O'Neil. Shan and Stukely became bosom friends. Shan +wrote to Elizabeth to recommend that she should make over Ireland to +Stukely and himself to manage, and promised, if she agreed, to make it +such an Ireland as had never been seen, which they probably would. +Elizabeth not consenting, Stukely turned Papist, transferred his +services to the Pope and Philip, and was preparing a campaign in Ireland +under the Pope's direction, when he was tempted to join Sebastian of +Portugal in the African expedition, and there got himself killed. + +Stukely was a specimen of the foolish sort of the young Devonshire men; +Hawkins was exactly his opposite. He stuck to business, avoided +politics, traded with Spanish ports without offending the Holy Office, +and formed intimacies and connections with the Canary Islands +especially, where it was said 'he grew much in love and favour with the +people.' + +At the Canaries he naturally heard much about the West Indies. He was +adventurous. His Canaries friends told him that negroes were great +merchandise in the Spanish settlements in Española, and he himself was +intimately acquainted with the Guinea coast, and knew how easily such a +cargo could be obtained. + +We know to what the slave trade grew. We have all learnt to repent of +the share which England had in it, and to abhor everyone whose hands +were stained by contact with so accursed a business. All that may be +taken for granted; but we must look at the matter as it would have been +represented at the Canaries to Hawkins himself. + +The Carib races whom the Spaniards found in Cuba and St. Domingo had +withered before them as if struck by a blight. Many died under the lash +of the Spanish overseers; many, perhaps the most, from the mysterious +causes which have made the presence of civilisation so fatal to the Red +Indian, the Australian, and the Maori. It is with men as it is with +animals. The races which consent to be domesticated prosper and +multiply. Those which cannot live without freedom pine like caged eagles +or disappear like the buffaloes of the prairies. + +Anyway, the natives perished out of the islands of the Caribbean Sea +with a rapidity which startled the conquerors. The famous Bishop Las +Casas pitied and tried to save the remnant that were left. The Spanish +settlers required labourers for the plantations. On the continent of +Africa were another race, savage in their natural state, which would +domesticate like sheep and oxen, and learnt and improved in the white +man's company. The negro never rose of himself out of barbarism; as his +fathers were, so he remained from age to age; when left free, as in +Liberia and in Hayti, he reverts to his original barbarism; while in +subjection to the white man he showed then, and he has shown since, high +capacities of intellect and character. Such is, such was the fact. It +struck Las Casas that if negroes could be introduced into the West +Indian islands, the Indians might be left alone; the negroes themselves +would have a chance to rise out of their wretchedness, could be made +into Christians, and could be saved at worst from the horrid fate which +awaited many of them in their own country. + +The black races varied like other animals: some were gentle and timid, +some were ferocious as wolves. The strong tyrannised over the weak, made +slaves of their prisoners, occasionally ate them, and those they did not +eat they sacrificed at what they called their _customs_--offered them up +and cut their throats at the altars of their idols. These customs were +the most sacred traditions of the negro race. They were suspended while +the slave trade gave the prisoners a value. They revived when the slave +trade was abolished. When Lord Wolseley a few years back entered +Ashantee, the altars were coated thick with the blood of hundreds of +miserable beings who had been freshly slaughtered there. Still later +similar horrid scenes were reported from Dahomey. Sir Richard Burton, +who was an old acquaintance of mine, spent two months with the King of +Dahomey, and dilated to me on the benevolence and enlightenment of that +excellent monarch. I asked why, if the King was so benevolent, he did +not alter the customs. Burton looked at me with consternation. 'Alter +the customs!' he said. 'Would you have the Archbishop of Canterbury +alter the Liturgy?' Las Casas and those who thought as he did are not to +be charged with infamous inhumanity if they proposed to buy these poor +creatures from their captors, save them from Mumbo Jumbo, and carry them +to countries where they would be valuable property, and be at least as +well cared for as the mules and horses. + +The experiment was tried and seemed to succeed. The negroes who were +rescued from the customs and were carried to the Spanish islands proved +docile and useful. Portuguese and Spanish factories were established on +the coast of Guinea. The black chiefs were glad to make money out of +their wretched victims, and readily sold them. The transport over the +Atlantic became a regular branch of business. Strict laws were made for +the good treatment of the slaves on the plantations. The trade was +carried on under license from the Government, and an import duty of +thirty ducats per head was charged on every negro that was landed. I +call it an experiment. The full consequences could not be foreseen; and +I cannot see that as an experiment it merits the censures which in its +later developments it eventually came to deserve. Las Casas, who +approved of it, was one of the most excellent of men. Our own Bishop +Butler could give no decided opinion against negro slavery as it existed +in his time. It is absurd to say that ordinary merchants and ship +captains ought to have seen the infamy of a practice which Las Casas +advised and Butler could not condemn. The Spanish and Portuguese +Governments claimed, as I said, the control of the traffic. The Spanish +settlers in the West Indies objected to a restriction which raised the +price and shortened the supply. They considered that having established +themselves in a new country they had a right to a voice in the +conditions of their occupancy. It was thus that the Spaniards in the +Canaries represented the matter to John Hawkins. They told him that if +he liked to make the venture with a contraband cargo from Guinea, their +countrymen would give him an enthusiastic welcome. It is evident from +the story that neither he nor they expected that serious offence would +be taken at Madrid. Hawkins at this time was entirely friendly with the +Spaniards. It was enough if he could be assured that the colonists would +be glad to deal with him. + +I am not crediting him with the benevolent purposes of Las Casas. I do +not suppose Hawkins thought much of saving black men's souls. He saw +only an opportunity of extending his business among a people with whom +he was already largely connected. The traffic was established. It had +the sanction of the Church, and no objection had been raised to it +anywhere on the score of morality. The only question which could have +presented itself to Hawkins was of the right of the Spanish Government +to prevent foreigners from getting a share of a lucrative trade against +the wishes of its subjects. And his friends at the Canaries certainly +did not lead him to expect any real opposition. One regrets that a +famous Englishman should have been connected with the slave trade; but +we have no right to heap violent censures upon him because he was no +more enlightened than the wisest of his contemporaries. + +Thus, encouraged from Santa Cruz, Hawkins on his return to England +formed an African company out of the leading citizens of London. Three +vessels were fitted out, Hawkins being commander and part owner. The +size of them is remarkable: the _Solomon_, as the largest was called, +120 tons; the _Swallow_, 100 tons; the _Jonas_ not above 40 tons. This +represents them as inconceivably small. They carried between them a +hundred men, and ample room had to be provided besides for the blacks. +There may have been a difference in the measurement of tonnage. We +ourselves have five standards: builder's measurement, yacht measurement, +displacement, sail area, and register measurement. Registered tonnage is +far under the others: a yacht registered 120 tons would be called 200 in +a shipping list. However that be, the brigantines and sloops used by the +Elizabethans on all adventurous expeditions were mere boats compared +with what we should use now on such occasions. The reason was obvious. +Success depended on speed and sailing power. The art of building big +square-rigged ships which would work to windward had not been yet +discovered, even by Mr. Fletcher of Rye. The fore-and-aft rig alone +would enable a vessel to tack, as it is called, and this could only be +used with craft of moderate tonnage. + +The expedition sailed in October 1562. They called at the Canaries, +where they were warmly entertained. They went on to Sierra Leone, where +they collected 300 negroes. They avoided the Government factories, and +picked them up as they could, some by force, some by negotiation with +local chiefs, who were as ready to sell their subjects as Sancho Panza +intended to be when he got his island. They crossed without misadventure +to St. Domingo, where Hawkins represented that he was on a voyage of +discovery; that he had been driven out of his course and wanted food and +money. He said he had certain slaves with him, which he asked permission +to sell. What he had heard at the Canaries turned out to be exactly +true. So far as the Governor of St. Domingo knew, Spain and England were +at peace. Privateers had not troubled the peace of the Caribbean Sea, +or dangerous heretics menaced the Catholic faith there. Inquisitors +might have been suspicious, but the Inquisition had not yet been +established beyond the Atlantic. The Queen of England was his +sovereign's sister-in-law, and the Governor saw no reason why he should +construe his general instructions too literally. The planters were eager +to buy, and he did not wish to be unpopular. He allowed Hawkins to sell +two out of his three hundred negroes, leaving the remaining hundred as a +deposit should question be raised about the duty. Evidently the only +doubt in the Governor's mind was whether the Madrid authorities would +charge foreign importers on a higher scale. The question was new. No +stranger had as yet attempted to trade there. + +Everyone was satisfied, except the negroes, who were not asked their +opinion. The profits were enormous. A ship in the harbour was about to +sail for Cadiz. Hawkins invested most of what he had made in a cargo of +hides, for which, as he understood, there was a demand in Spain, and he +sent them over in her in charge of one of his partners. The Governor +gave him a testimonial for good conduct during his stay in the port, and +with this and with his three vessels he returned leisurely to England, +having, as he imagined, been splendidly successful. + +He was to be unpleasantly undeceived. A few days after he had arrived at +Plymouth, he met the man whom he had sent to Cadiz with the hides +forlorn and empty-handed. The Inquisition, he said, had seized the cargo +and confiscated it. An order had been sent to St. Domingo to forfeit the +reserved slaves. He himself had escaped for his life, as the familiars +had been after him. + +Nothing shows more clearly how little thought there had been in Hawkins +that his voyage would have given offence in Spain than the astonishment +with which he heard the news. He protested. He wrote to Philip. Finding +entreaties useless, he swore vengeance; but threats were equally +ineffectual. Not a hide, not a farthing could he recover. The Spanish +Government, terrified at the intrusion of English adventurers into their +western paradise to endanger the gold fleets, or worse to endanger the +purity of the faith, issued orders more peremptory than ever to close +the ports there against all foreigners. Philip personally warned Sir +Thomas Chaloner, the English ambassador, that if such visits were +repeated, mischief would come of it. And Cecil, who disliked all such +semi-piratical enterprises, and Chaloner, who was half a Spaniard and an +old companion in arms of Charles V., entreated their mistress to forbid +them. + +Elizabeth, however, had her own views in such matters. She liked money. +She liked encouraging the adventurous disposition of her subjects, who +were fighting the State's battles at their own risk and cost. She saw in +Philip's anger a confession that the West Indies was his vulnerable +point; and that if she wished to frighten him into letting her alone, +and to keep the Inquisition from burning her sailors, there was the +place where Philip would be more sensitive. Probably, too, she thought +that Hawkins had done nothing for which he could be justly blamed. He +had traded at St. Domingo with the Governor's consent, and confiscation +was sharp practice. + +This was clearly Hawkins's own view of the matter. He had injured no +one. He had offended no pious ears by parading his Protestantism. He was +not Philip's subject, and was not to be expected to know the +instructions given by the Spanish Government in the remote corners of +their dominions. If anyone was to be punished, it was not he but the +Governor. He held that he had been robbed, and had a right to indemnify +himself at the King's expense. He would go out again. He was certain of +a cordial reception from the planters. Between him and them there was +the friendliest understanding. His quarrel was with Philip, and Philip +only. He meant to sell a fresh cargo of negroes, and the Madrid +Government should go without their 30 per cent. duty. + +Elizabeth approved. Hawkins had opened the road to the West Indies. He +had shown how easy slave smuggling was, and how profitable it was: how +it was also possible for the English to establish friendly relations +with the Spanish settlers in the West Indies, whether Philip liked it or +not. Another company was formed for a second trial. Elizabeth took +shares, Lord Pembroke took shares, and other members of the Council. The +Queen lent the _Jesus_, a large ship of her own, of 700 tons. Formal +instructions were given that no wrong was to be done to the King of +Spain, but what wrong might mean was left to the discretion of the +commander. Where the planters were all eager to purchase, means of +traffic would be discovered without collision with the authorities. This +time the expedition was to be on a larger scale, and a hundred soldiers +were put on board to provide for contingencies. Thus furnished, Hawkins +started on his second voyage in October 1564. The autumn was chosen, to +avoid the extreme tropical heats. He touched as before to see his +friends at the Canaries. He went on to the Rio Grande, met with +adventures bad and good, found a chief at war with a neighbouring tribe, +helped to capture a town and take prisoners, made purchases at a +Portuguese factory. In this way he now secured 400 human cattle, perhaps +for a better fate than they would have met with at home, and with these +he sailed off in the old direction. Near the equator he fell in with +calms; he was short of water, and feared to lose some of them; but, as +the record of the voyage puts it, 'Almighty God would not suffer His +elect to perish,' and sent a breeze which carried him safe to Dominica. +In that wettest of islands he found water in plenty, and had then to +consider what next he would do. St. Domingo, he thought, would be no +longer safe for him; so he struck across to the Spanish Main to a place +called Burboroata, where he might hope that nothing would be known about +him. In this he was mistaken. Philip's orders had arrived: no Englishman +of any creed or kind was to be allowed to trade in his West India +dominions. The settlers, however, intended to trade. They required only +a display of force that they might pretend that they were yielding to +compulsion. Hawkins told his old story. He said that he was out on the +service of the Queen of England. He had been driven off his course by +bad weather. He was short of supplies and had many men on board, who +might do the town some mischief if they were not allowed to land +peaceably and buy and sell what they wanted. The Governor affecting to +hesitate, he threw 120 men on shore, and brought his guns to bear on the +castle. The Governor gave way under protest. Hawkins was to be permitted +to sell half his negroes. He said that as he had been treated so +inhospitably he would not pay the 30 per cent. The King of Spain should +have 7 1/2, and no more. The settlers had no objection. The price would +be the less, and with this deduction his business was easily finished +off. He bought no more hides, and was paid in solid silver. + +From Burboroata he went on to Rio de la Hacha, where the same scene was +repeated. The whole 400 were disposed of, this time with ease and +complete success. He had been rapid; and had the season still before +him. Having finished his business, he surveyed a large part of the +Caribbean Sea, taking soundings, noting the currents, and making charts +of the coasts and islands. This done, he turned homewards, following the +east shore of North America as far as Newfoundland. There he gave his +crew a change of diet, with fresh cod from the Banks, and after eleven +months' absence he sailed into Padstow, having lost but twenty men in +the whole adventure, and bringing back 60 per cent. to the Queen and the +other shareholders. + +Nothing succeeds like success. Hawkins's praises were in everyone's +mouth, and in London he was the hero of the hour. Elizabeth received him +at the palace. The Spanish ambassador, De Silva, met him there at +dinner. He talked freely of where he had been and of what he had done, +only keeping back the gentle violence which he had used. He regarded +this as a mere farce, since there had been no one hurt on either side. +He boasted of having given the greatest satisfaction to the Spaniards +who had dealt with him. De Silva could but bow, report to his master, +and ask instructions how he was to proceed. + +Philip was frightfully disturbed. He saw in prospect his western +subjects allying themselves with the English--heresy creeping in among +them; his gold fleets in danger, all the possibilities with which +Elizabeth had wished to alarm him. He read and re-read De Silva's +letters, and opposite the name of Achines he wrote startled +interjections on the margin: 'Ojo! Ojo!' + +The political horizon was just then favourable to Elizabeth. The Queen +of Scots was a prisoner in Loch Leven; the Netherlands were in revolt; +the Huguenots were looking up in France; and when Hawkins proposed a +third expedition, she thought that she could safely allow it. She gave +him the use of the _Jesus_ again, with another smaller ship of hers, the +_Minion_. He had two of his own still fit for work; and a fifth, the +_Judith_, was brought in by his young cousin, Francis Drake, who was now +to make his first appearance on the stage. I shall tell you by-and-by +who and what Drake was. Enough to say now that he was a relation of +Hawkins, the owner of a small smart sloop or brigantine, and ambitious +of a share in a stirring business. + +The Plymouth seamen were falling into dangerous contempt of Philip. +While the expedition was fitting out, a ship of the King's came into +Catwater with more prisoners from Flanders. She was flying the Castilian +flag, contrary to rule, it was said, in English harbours. The treatment +of the English ensign at Gibraltar had not been forgiven, and Hawkins +ordered the Spanish captain to strike his colours. The captain refused, +and Hawkins instantly fired into him. In the confusion the prisoners +escaped on board the _Jesus_ and were let go. The captain sent a +complaint to London, and Cecil--who disapproved of Hawkins and all his +proceedings--sent down an officer to inquire into what had happened. +Hawkins, confident in Elizabeth's protection, quietly answered that the +Spaniard had broken the laws of the port, and that it was necessary to +assert the Queen's authority. + +'Your mariners,' said De Silva to her, 'rob our subjects on the sea, +trade where they are forbidden to go, and fire upon our ships in your +harbours. Your preachers insult my master from their pulpits, and when +we remonstrate we are answered with menaces. We have borne so far with +their injuries, attributing them rather to temper and bad manners than +to deliberate purpose. But, seeing that no redress can be had, and that +the same treatment of us continues, I must consult my Sovereign's +pleasure. For the last time, I require your Majesty to punish this +outrage at Plymouth and preserve the peace between the two realms.' + +No remonstrance could seem more just till the other side was heard. The +other side was that the Pope and the Catholic Powers were undertaking to +force the Protestants of France and Flanders back under the Papacy with +fire and sword. It was no secret that England's turn was to follow as +soon as Philip's hands were free. Meanwhile he had been intriguing with +the Queen of Scots; he had been encouraging Ireland in rebellion; he had +been persecuting English merchants and seamen, starving them to death in +the Inquisition dungeons, or burning them at the stake. The Smithfield +infamies were fresh in Protestant memories, and who could tell how soon +the horrid work would begin again at home, if the Catholic Powers could +have their way? + +If the King of Spain and his Holiness at Rome would have allowed other +nations to think and make laws for themselves, pirates and privateers +would have disappeared off the ocean. The West Indies would have been +left undisturbed, and Spanish, English, French, and Flemings would have +lived peacefully side by side as they do now. But spiritual tyranny had +not yet learned its lesson, and the 'Beggars of the Sea' were to be +Philip's schoolmasters in irregular but effective fashion. + +Elizabeth listened politely to what De Silva said, promised to examine +into his complaints, and allowed Hawkins to sail. + +What befell him you will hear in the next lecture. + + + + +LECTURE III + +SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND + + +My last lecture left Hawkins preparing to start on his third and, as it +proved, most eventful voyage. I mentioned that he was joined by a young +relation, of whom I must say a few preliminary words. Francis Drake was +a Devonshire man, like Hawkins himself and Raleigh and Davis and +Gilbert, and many other famous men of those days. He was born at +Tavistock somewhere about 1540. He told Camden that he was of mean +extraction. He meant merely that he was proud of his parents and made no +idle pretensions to noble birth. His father was a tenant of the Earl of +Bedford, and must have stood well with him, for Francis Russell, the +heir of the earldom, was the boy's godfather. From him Drake took his +Christian name. The Drakes were early converts to Protestantism. +Trouble rising at Tavistock on the Six Articles Bill, they removed to +Kent, where the father, probably through Lord Bedford's influence, was +appointed a lay chaplain in Henry VIII.'s fleet at Chatham. In the next +reign, when the Protestants were uppermost, he was ordained and became +vicar of Upnor on the Medway. Young Francis took early to the water, and +made acquaintance with a ship-master trading to the Channel ports, who +took him on board his ship and bred him as a sailor. The boy +distinguished himself, and his patron when he died left Drake his vessel +in his will. For several years Drake stuck steadily to his coasting +work, made money, and made a solid reputation. His ambition grew with +his success. The seagoing English were all full of Hawkins and his West +Indian exploits. The Hawkinses and the Drakes were near relations. +Hearing that there was to be another expedition, and having obtained his +cousin's consent, Francis Drake sold his brig, bought the _Judith_, a +handier and faster vessel, and with a few stout sailors from the river +went down to Plymouth and joined. + +De Silva had sent word to Philip that Hawkins was again going out, and +preparations had been made to receive him. Suspecting nothing, Hawkins +with his four consorts sailed, as before, in October 1567. The start was +ominous. He was caught and badly knocked about by an equinoctial in the +Bay of Biscay. He lost his boats. The _Jesus_ strained her timbers and +leaked, and he so little liked the look of things that he even thought +of turning back and giving up the expedition for the season. However, +the weather mended. They put themselves to rights at the Canaries, +picked up their spirits, and proceeded. The slave-catching was managed +successfully, though with some increased difficulty. The cargo with +equal success was disposed of at the Spanish settlements. At one place +the planters came off in their boats at night to buy. At Rio de la +Hacha, where the most imperative orders had been sent to forbid his +admittance, Hawkins landed a force as before and took possession of the +town, of course with the connivance of the settlers. At Carthagena he +was similarly ordered off, and as Carthagena was strongly fortified he +did not venture to meddle with it. But elsewhere he found ample markets +for his wares. He sold all his blacks. By this and by other dealings he +had collected what is described as a vast treasure of gold, silver, and +jewels. The hurricane season was approaching, and he made the best of +his way homewards with his spoils, in the fear of being overtaken by it. +Unluckily for him, he had lingered too long. He had passed the west +point of Cuba and was working up the back of the island when a hurricane +came down on him. The gale lasted four days. The ships' bottoms were +foul and they could make no way. Spars were lost and rigging carried +away. The _Jesus_, which had not been seaworthy all along, leaked worse +than ever and lost her rudder. Hawkins looked for some port in Florida, +but found the coast shallow and dangerous, and was at last obliged to +run for San Juan de Ulloa, at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. + +San Juan de Ulloa is a few miles only from Vera Cruz. It was at that +time the chief port of Mexico, through which all the traffic passed +between the colony and the mother-country, and was thus a place of some +consequence. It stands on a small bay facing towards the north. Across +the mouth of this bay lies a narrow ridge of sand and shingle, half a +mile long, which acts as a natural breakwater and forms the harbour. +This ridge, or island as it was called, was uninhabited, but it had been +faced on the inner front by a wall. The water was deep alongside, and +vessels could thus lie in perfect security, secured by their cables to +rings let into the masonry. + +The prevailing wind was from the north, bringing in a heavy surf on the +back of the island. There was an opening at both ends, but only one +available for vessels of large draught. In this the channel was narrow, +and a battery at the end of the breakwater would completely command it. +The town stood on the opposite side of the bay. + +Into a Spanish port thus constructed Hawkins entered with his battered +squadron on September 16, 1568. He could not have felt entirely easy. +But he probably thought that he had no ill-will to fear from the +inhabitants generally, and that the Spanish authorities would not be +strong enough to meddle with him. His ill star had brought him there at +a time when Alvarez de Baçan, the same officer who had destroyed the +English ships at Gibraltar, was daily expected from Spain--sent by +Philip, as it proved, specially to look for him. Hawkins, when he +appeared outside, had been mistaken for the Spanish admiral, and it was +under this impression that he had been allowed to enter. The error was +quickly discovered on both sides. + +Though still ignorant that he was himself De Baçan's particular object, +yet De Baçan was the last officer whom in his crippled condition he +would have cared to encounter. Several Spanish merchantmen were in the +port richly loaded: with these of course he did not meddle, though, if +reinforced, they might perhaps meddle with him. As his best resource he +despatched a courier on the instant to Mexico to inform the Viceroy of +his arrival, to say that he had an English squadron with him; that he +had been driven in by stress of weather and need of repairs; that the +Queen was an ally of the King of Spain; and that, as he understood a +Spanish fleet was likely soon to arrive, he begged the Viceroy to make +arrangements to prevent disputes. + +As yet, as I said in the last lecture, there was no Inquisition in +Mexico. It was established there three years later, for the special +benefit of the English. But so far there was no ill-will towards the +English--rather the contrary. Hawkins had hurt no one, and the negro +trading had been eminently popular. The Viceroy might perhaps have +connived at Hawkins's escape, but again by ill-fortune he was himself +under orders of recall, and his successor was coming out in this +particular fleet with De Baçan. + +Had he been well disposed and free to act it would still have been too +late, for the very next morning, September 17, De Baçan was off the +harbour mouth with thirteen heavily-armed galleons and frigates. The +smallest of them carried probably 200 men, and the odds were now +tremendous. Hawkins's vessels lay ranged along the inner bank or wall of +the island. He instantly occupied the island itself and mounted guns at +the point covering the way in. He then sent a boat off to De Baçan to +say that he was an Englishman, that he was in possession of the port, +and must forbid the entrance of the Spanish fleet till he was assured +that there was to be no violence. It was a strong measure to shut a +Spanish admiral out of a Spanish port in a time of profound peace. +Still, the way in was difficult, and could not be easily forced if +resolutely defended. The northerly wind was rising; if it blew into a +gale the Spaniards would be on a lee shore. Under desperate +circumstances, desperate things will be done. Hawkins in his subsequent +report thus explains his dilemma:-- + +'I was in two difficulties. Either I must keep them out of the port, +which with God's grace I could easily have done, in which case with a +northerly wind rising they would have been wrecked, and I should have +been answerable; or I must risk their playing false, which on the whole +I preferred to do.' + +The northerly gale it appears did not rise, or the English commander +might have preferred the first alternative. Three days passed in +negotiation. De Baçan and Don Enriquez, the new Viceroy, were naturally +anxious to get into shelter out of a dangerous position, and were +equally desirous not to promise any more than was absolutely necessary. +The final agreement was that De Baçan and the fleet should enter without +opposition. Hawkins might stay till he had repaired his damages, and buy +and sell what he wanted; and further, as long as they remained the +English were to keep possession of the island. This article, Hawkins +says, was long resisted, but was consented to at last. It was absolutely +necessary, for with the island in their hands, the Spaniards had only to +cut the English cables, and they would have driven ashore across the +harbour. + +The treaty so drawn was formally signed. Hostages were given on both +sides, and De Baçan came in. The two fleets were moored as far apart +from each other as the size of the port would allow. Courtesies were +exchanged, and for two days all went well. It is likely that the Viceroy +and the admiral did not at first know that it was the very man whom they +had been sent out to sink or capture who was lying so close to them. +When they did know it they may have looked on him as a pirate, with +whom, as with heretics, there was no need to keep faith. Anyway, the rat +was in the trap, and De Baçan did not mean to let him out. The _Jesus_ +lay furthest in; the _Minion_ lay beyond her towards the entrance, +moored apparently to a ring on the quay, but free to move; and the +_Judith_, further out again, moored in the same way. Nothing is said of +the two small vessels remaining. + +De Baçan made his preparations silently, covered by the town. He had men +in abundance ready to act where he should direct. On the third day, the +20th of September, at noon, the _Minion's_ crew had gone to dinner, when +they saw a large hulk of 900 tons slowly towing up alongside of them. +Not liking such a neighbour, they had their cable ready to slip and +began to set their canvas. On a sudden shots and cries were heard from +the town. Parties of English who were on land were set upon; many were +killed; the rest were seen flinging themselves into the water and +swimming off to the ships. At the same instant the guns of the galleons +and of the shore batteries opened fire on the _Jesus_ and her consorts, +and in the smoke and confusion 300 Spaniards swarmed out of the hulk and +sprang on the _Minion's_ decks. The _Minion's_ men instantly cut them +down or drove them overboard, hoisted sail, and forced their way out of +the harbour, followed by the _Judith_. The _Jesus_ was left alone, +unable to stir. She defended herself desperately. In the many actions +which were fought afterwards between the English and the Spaniards, +there was never any more gallant or more severe. De Baçan's own ship was +sunk and the vice-admiral's was set on fire. The Spanish, having an +enormous advantage in numbers, were able to land a force on the island, +seize the English battery there, cut down the gunners, and turn the guns +close at hand on the devoted _Jesus_. Still she fought on, defeating +every attempt to board, till at length De Baçan sent down fire-ships on +her, and then the end came. All that Hawkins had made by his voyage, +money, bullion, the ship herself, had to be left to their fate. Hawkins +himself with the survivors of the crew took to their boats, dashed +through the enemy, who vainly tried to take them, and struggled out +after the _Minion_ and the _Judith_. It speaks ill for De Baçan that +with so large a force at his command, and in such a position, a single +Englishman escaped to tell the story. + +Even when outside Hawkins's situation was still critical and might well +be called desperate. The _Judith_ was but fifty tons; the _Minion_ not +above a hundred. They were now crowded up with men. They had little +water on board, and there had been no time to refill their store-chests, +or fit themselves for sea. Happily the weather was moderate. If the wind +had risen, nothing could have saved them. They anchored two miles off to +put themselves in some sort of order. The Spanish fleet did not venture +to molest further so desperate a foe. On Saturday the 25th they set +sail, scarcely knowing whither to turn. To attempt an ocean voyage as +they were would be certain destruction, yet they could not trust longer +to De Baçan's cowardice or forbearance. There was supposed to be a +shelter of some kind somewhere on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico, +where it was hoped they might obtain provisions. They reached the place +on October 8, but found nothing. English sailors have never been wanting +in resolution. They knew that if they all remained on board every one of +them must starve. A hundred volunteered to land and take their chance. +The rest on short rations might hope to make their way home. The +sacrifice was accepted. The hundred men were put on shore. They wandered +for a few days in the woods, feeding on roots and berries, and shot at +by the Indians. At length they reached a Spanish station, where they +were taken and sent as prisoners to Mexico. There was, as I said, no +Holy Office as yet in Mexico. The new Viceroy, though he had been in the +fight at San Juan de Ulloa, was not implacable. They were treated at +first with humanity; they were fed, clothed, taken care of, and then +distributed among the plantations. Some were employed as overseers, some +as mechanics. Others, who understood any kind of business, were allowed +to settle in towns, make money, and even marry and establish themselves. +Perhaps Philip heard of it, and was afraid that so many heretics might +introduce the plague. The quiet time lasted three years; at the end of +those years the Inquisitors arrived, and then, as if these poor men had +been the special object of that delightful institution, they were hunted +up, thrown into dungeons, examined on their faith, tortured, some burnt +in an _auto da fé_, some lashed through the streets of Mexico naked on +horseback and returned to their prisons. Those who did not die under +this pious treatment were passed over to the Holy Office at Seville and +were condemned to the galleys. + +Here I leave them for the moment. We shall presently hear of them again +in a very singular connection. The _Minion_ and _Judith_ meanwhile +pursued their melancholy way. They parted company. The _Judith_, being +the better sailer, arrived first, and reached Plymouth in December, torn +and tattered. Drake rode off post immediately to carry the bad news to +London. The _Minion's_ fate was worse. She made her course through the +Bahama Channel, her crew dying as if struck with a pestilence, till at +last there were hardly men enough left to handle the sails. They fell +too far south for England, and at length had to put into Vigo, where +their probable fate would be a Spanish prison. Happily they found other +English vessels in the roads there. Fresh hands were put on board, and +fresh provisions. With these supplies Hawkins reached Mount's Bay a +month later than the _Judith_, in January 1569. + +Drake had told the story, and all England was ringing with it. +Englishmen always think their own countrymen are in the right. The +Spaniards, already in evil odour with the seagoing population, were +accused of abominable treachery. The splendid fight which Hawkins had +made raised him into a national idol, and though he had suffered +financially, his loss was made up in reputation and authority. Every +privateer in the West was eager to serve under the leadership of the +hero of San Juan de Ulloa. He speedily found himself in command of a +large irregular squadron, and even Cecil recognised his consequence. His +chief and constant anxiety was for the comrades whom he had left behind, +and he talked of a new expedition to recover them, or revenge them if +they had been killed; but all things had to wait. They probably found +means of communicating with him, and as long as there was no +Inquisition in Mexico, he may have learnt that there was no immediate +occasion for action. + +Elizabeth put a brave face on her disappointment. She knew that she was +surrounded with treason, but she knew also that the boldest course was +the safest. She had taken Alva's money, and was less than ever inclined +to restore it. She had the best of the bargain in the arrest of the +Spanish and English ships and cargoes. Alva would not encourage Philip +to declare war with England till the Netherlands were completely +reduced, and Philip, with his leaden foot (_pié de plomo_), always +preferred patience and intrigue. Time and he and the Pope were three +powers which in the end, he thought, would prove irresistible, and +indeed it seemed, after Hawkins's return, as if Philip would turn out to +be right. The presence of the Queen of Scots in England had set in flame +the Catholic nobles. The wages of Alva's troops had been wrung somehow +out of the wretched Provinces, and his supreme ability and inexorable +resolution were steadily grinding down the revolt. Every port in Holland +and Zealand was in Alva's hands. Elizabeth's throne was undermined by +the Ridolfi conspiracy, the most dangerous which she had ever had to +encounter. The only Protestant fighting power left on the sea which +could be entirely depended on was in the privateer fleet, sailing, most +of them, under a commission from the Prince of Orange. + +This fleet was the strangest phenomenon in naval history. It was half +Dutch, half English, with a flavour of Huguenot, and was commanded by a +Flemish noble, Count de la Mark. Its head-quarters were in the Downs or +Dover Roads, where it could watch the narrow seas, and seize every +Spanish ship that passed which was not too strong to be meddled with. +The cargoes taken were openly sold in Dover market. If the Spanish +ambassador is to be believed in a complaint which he addressed to Cecil, +Spanish gentlemen taken prisoners were set up to public auction there +for the ransom which they would fetch, and were disposed of for one +hundred pounds each. If Alva sent cruisers from Antwerp to burn them +out, they retreated under the guns of Dover Castle. Roving squadrons of +them flew down to the Spanish coasts, pillaged churches, carried off +church plate, and the captains drank success to piracy at their banquets +out of chalices. The Spanish merchants at last estimated the property +destroyed at three million ducats, and they said that if their flag +could no longer protect them, they must decline to make further +contracts for the supply of the Netherlands army. + +It was life or death to Elizabeth. The Ridolfi plot, an elaborate and +far-reaching conspiracy to give her crown to Mary Stuart and to make +away with heresy, was all but complete. The Pope and Philip had +approved; Alva was to invade; the Duke of Norfolk was to head an +insurrection in the Eastern Counties. Never had she been in greater +danger. Elizabeth was herself to be murdered. The intention was known, +but the particulars of the conspiracy had been kept so secret that she +had not evidence enough to take measures to protect herself. The +privateers at Dover were a sort of protection; they would at least make +Alva's crossing more difficult; but the most pressing exigency was the +discovery of the details of the treason. Nothing was to be gained by +concession; the only salvation was in daring. + +At Antwerp there was a certain Doctor Story, maintained by Alva there to +keep a watch on English heretics. Story had been a persecutor under +Mary, and had defended heretic burning in Elizabeth's first Parliament. +He had refused the oath of allegiance, had left the country, and had +taken to treason. Cecil wanted evidence, and this man he knew could give +it. A pretended informer brought Story word that there was an English +vessel in the Scheldt which he would find worth examining. Story was +tempted on board. The hatches were closed over him. He was delivered two +days after at the Tower, when his secrets were squeezed out of him by +the rack and he was then hanged. + +Something was learnt, but less still than Cecil needed to take measures +to protect the Queen. And now once more, and in a new character, we are +to meet John Hawkins. Three years had passed since the catastrophe at +San Juan de Ulloa. He had learnt to his sorrow that his poor companions +had fallen into the hands of the Holy Office at last; had been burnt, +lashed, starved in dungeons or worked in chains in the Seville yards; +and his heart, not a very tender one, bled at the thoughts of them. The +finest feature in the seamen of those days was their devotion to one +another. Hawkins determined that, one way or other, these old comrades +of his should be rescued. Entreaties were useless; force was impossible. +There might still be a chance with cunning. He would risk anything, even +the loss of his soul, to save them. + +De Silva had left England. The Spanish ambassador was now Don Guerau or +Gerald de Espes, and to him had fallen the task of watching and +directing the conspiracy. Philip was to give the signal, the Duke of +Norfolk and other Catholic peers were to rise and proclaim the Queen of +Scots. Success would depend on the extent of the disaffection in England +itself; and the ambassador's business was to welcome and encourage all +symptoms of discontent. Hawkins knew generally what was going on, and he +saw in it an opportunity of approaching Philip on his weak side. Having +been so much in the Canaries, he probably spoke Spanish fluently. He +called on Don Guerau, and with audacious coolness represented that he +and many of his friends were dissatisfied with the Queen's service. He +said he had found her faithless and ungrateful, and he and they would +gladly transfer their allegiance to the King of Spain, if the King of +Spain would receive them. For himself, he would undertake to bring over +the whole privateer fleet of the West, and in return he asked for +nothing but the release of a few poor English seamen who were in prison +at Seville. + +Don Guerau was full of the belief that the whole nation was ready to +rebel. He eagerly swallowed the bait which Hawkins threw to him. He +wrote to Alva, he wrote to Philip's secretary, Cayas, expatiating on the +importance of securing such an addition to their party. It was true, he +admitted, that Hawkins had been a pirate, but piracy was a common fault +of the English, and no wonder when the Spaniards submitted to being +plundered so meekly; the man who was offering his services was bold, +resolute, capable, and had great influence with the English sailors; he +strongly advised that such a recruit should be encouraged. + +Alva would not listen. Philip, who shuddered at the very name of +Hawkins, was incredulous. Don Guerau had to tell Sir John that the King +at present declined his offer, but advised him to go himself to Madrid, +or to send some confidential friend with assurances and explanations. + +Another figure now enters on the scene, a George Fitzwilliam. I do not +know who he was, or why Hawkins chose him for his purpose. The Duke of +Feria was one of Philip's most trusted ministers. He had married an +English lady who had been a maid of honour to Queen Mary. It is possible +that Fitzwilliam had some acquaintance with her or with her family. At +any rate, he went to the Spanish Court; he addressed himself to the +Ferias; he won their confidence, and by their means was admitted to an +interview with Philip. He represented Hawkins as a faithful Catholic who +was indignant at the progress of heresy in England, who was eager to +assist in the overthrow of Elizabeth and the elevation of the Queen of +Scots, and was able and willing to carry along with him the great +Western privateer fleet, which had become so dreadful to the Spanish +mind. Philip listened and was interested. It was only natural, he +thought, that heretics should be robbers and pirates. If they could be +recovered to the Church, their bad habits would leave them. The English +navy was the most serious obstacle to the intended invasion. Still, +Hawkins! The Achines of his nightmares! It could not be. He asked +Fitzwilliam if his friend was acquainted with the Queen of Scots or the +Duke of Norfolk. Fitzwilliam was obliged to say that he was not. The +credentials of John Hawkins were his own right hand. He was making the +King a magnificent offer: nothing less than a squadron of the finest +ships in the world--not perhaps in the best condition, he added, with +cool British impudence, owing to the Queen's parsimony, but easily to be +put in order again if the King would pay the seamen's wages and advance +some money for repairs. The release of a few poor prisoners was a small +price to ask for such a service. + +The King was still wary, watching the bait like an old pike, but +hesitating to seize it; but the duke and duchess were willing to be +themselves securities for Fitzwilliam's faith, and Philip promised at +last that if Hawkins would send him a letter of recommendation from the +Queen of Scots herself, he would then see what could be done. The Ferias +were dangerously enthusiastic. They talked freely to Fitzwilliam of the +Queen of Scots and her prospects. They trusted him with letters and +presents to her which would secure his admittance to her confidence. +Hawkins had sent him over for the single purpose of cheating Philip into +releasing his comrades from the Inquisition; and he had been introduced +to secrets of high political moment; like Saul, the son of Kish, he had +gone to seek his father's asses and he had found a kingdom. Fitzwilliam +hurried home with his letters and his news. Things were now serious. +Hawkins could act no further on his own responsibility. He consulted +Cecil. Cecil consulted the Queen, and it was agreed that the practice, +as it was called, should be carried further. It might lead to the +discovery of the whole secret. + +Very treacherous, think some good people. Well, there are times when +one admires even treachery-- + + nec lex est justior ulla + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. + +King Philip was confessedly preparing to encourage an English subject in +treason to his sovereign. Was it so wrong to hoist the engineer with his +own petard? Was it wrong of Hamlet to finger the packet of Rosencrantz +and Guildenstern and rewrite his uncle's despatch? Let us have done with +cant in these matters. Mary Stuart was at Sheffield Castle in charge of +Lord Shrewsbury, and Fitzwilliam could not see her without an order from +the Crown. Shrewsbury, though loyal to Elizabeth, was notoriously well +inclined to Mary, and therefore could not be taken into confidence. In +writing to him Cecil merely said that friends of Fitzwilliam's were in +prison in Spain; that if the Queen of Scots would intercede for them, +Philip might be induced to let them go. He might therefore allow +Fitzwilliam to have a private audience with that Queen. + +Thus armed, Fitzwilliam went down to Sheffield. He was introduced. He +began with presenting Mary with the letters and remembrances from the +Ferias, which at once opened her heart. It was impossible for her to +suspect a friend of the duke and duchess. She was delighted at receiving +a visitor from the Court of Spain. She was prudent enough to avoid +dangerous confidences, but she said she was always pleased when she +could do a service to Englishmen, and with all her heart would intercede +for the prisoners. She wrote to Philip, she wrote to the duke and +duchess, and gave the letters to Fitzwilliam to deliver. He took them to +London, called on Don Gerald, and told him of his success. Don Gerald +also wrote to his master, wrote unguardedly, and also trusted +Fitzwilliam with the despatch. + +The various packets were taken first to Cecil, and were next shown to +the Queen. They were then returned to Fitzwilliam, who once more went +off with them to Madrid. If the letters produced the expected effect, +Cecil calmly observed that divers commodities would ensue. English +sailors would be released from the Inquisition and the galleys. The +enemy's intentions would be discovered. If the King of Spain could be +induced to do as Fitzwilliam had suggested, and assist in the repairs of +the ships at Plymouth, credit would be obtained for a sum of money which +could be employed to his own detriment. If Alva attempted the projected +invasion, Hawkins might take the ships as if to escort him, and then do +some notable exploit in mid-Channel. + +You will observe the downright directness of Cecil, Hawkins, and the +other parties in the matter. There is no wrapping up their intentions in +fine phrases, no parade of justification. They went straight to their +point. It was very characteristic of Englishmen in those stern, +dangerous times. They looked facts in the face, and did what fact +required. All really happened exactly as I have described it: the story +is told in letters and documents of the authenticity of which there is +not the smallest doubt. + +We will follow Fitzwilliam. He arrived at the Spanish Court at the +moment when Ridolfi had brought from Rome the Pope's blessing on the +conspiracy. The final touches were being added by the Spanish Council of +State. All was hope; all was the credulity of enthusiasm! Mary Stuart's +letter satisfied Philip. The prisoners were dismissed, each with ten +dollars in his pocket. An agreement was formally drawn and signed in the +Escurial in which Philip gave Hawkins a pardon for his misdemeanours in +the West Indies, a patent for a Spanish peerage, and a letter of credit +for 40,000_l._ to put the privateers in a condition to do service, and +the money was actually paid by Philip's London agent. Admitted as he now +was to full confidence, Fitzwilliam learnt all particulars of the great +plot. The story reads like a chapter from _Monte Cristo_ and yet it is +literally true. + +It ends with a letter which I will read to you, from Hawkins to Cecil:-- + + 'My very good Lord,--It may please your Honour to be advertised + that Fitzwilliam is returned from Spain, where his message was + acceptably received, both by the King himself, the Duke of Feria, + and others of the Privy Council. His despatch and answer were with + great expedition and great countenance and favour of the King. The + Articles are sent to the Ambassador with orders also for the money + to be paid to me by him, for the enterprise to proceed with all + diligence. The pretence is that my powers should join with the Duke + of Alva's powers, which he doth secretly provide in Flanders, as + well as with powers which will come with the Duke of Medina Celi + out of Spain, and to invade this realm and set up the Queen of + Scots. They have practised with us for the burning of Her Majesty's + ships. Therefore there should be some good care had of them, but + not as it may appear that anything is discovered. The King has sent + a ruby of good price to the Queen of Scots, with letters also which + in my judgment were good to be delivered. The letters be of no + importance, but his message by word is to comfort her, and say that + he hath now none other care but to place her in her own. It were + good also that Fitzwilliam may have access to the Queen of Scots to + render thanks for the delivery of the prisoners who are now at + liberty. It will be a very good colour for your Lordship to confer + with him more largely. + + 'I have sent your Lordship the copy of my pardon from the King of + Spain, in the order and manner I have it, with my great titles and + honours from the King, from which God deliver me. Their practices + be very mischievous, and they be never idle; but God, I hope, will + confound them and turn their devices on their own necks. + + 'Your Lordship's most faithfully to my power, + 'JOHN HAWKINS.' + +A few more words will conclude this curious episode. With the clue +obtained by Fitzwilliam, and confessions twisted out of Story and other +unwilling witnesses, the Ridolfi conspiracy was unravelled before it +broke into act. Norfolk lost his head. The inferior miscreants were +hanged. The Queen of Scots had a narrow escape, and the Parliament +accentuated the Protestant character of the Church of England by +embodying the Thirty-nine Articles in a statute. Alva, who distrusted +Ridolfi from the first and disliked encouraging rebellion, refused to +interest himself further in Anglo-Catholic plots. Elizabeth and Cecil +could now breathe more freely, and read Philip a lesson on the danger +of plotting against the lives of sovereigns. + +So long as England and Spain were nominally at peace, the presence of De +la Mark and his privateers in the Downs was at least indecent. A +committee of merchants at Bruges represented that their losses by it +amounted (as I said) to three million ducats. Elizabeth, being now in +comparative safety, affected to listen to remonstrances, and orders were +sent down to De la Mark that he must prepare to leave. It is likely that +both the Queen and he understood each other, and that De la Mark quite +well knew where he was to go, and what he was to do. + +Alva now held every fortress in the Low Countries, whether inland or on +the coast. The people were crushed. The duke's great statue stood in the +square at Antwerp as a symbol of the annihilation of the ancient +liberties of the Provinces. By sea alone the Prince of Orange still +continued the unequal struggle; but if he was to maintain himself as a +sea power anywhere, he required a harbour of his own in his own country. +Dover and the Thames had served for a time as a base of operations, but +it could not last, and without a footing in Holland itself eventual +success was impossible. All the Protestant world was interested in his +fate, and De la Mark, with his miscellaneous gathering of Dutch, +English, and Huguenot rovers, were ready for any desperate exploit. + +The order was to leave Dover immediately, but it was not construed +strictly. He lingered in the Downs for six weeks. At length, one morning +at the end of March 1572, a Spanish convoy known to be richly loaded +appeared in the Straits. De la Mark lifted anchor, darted out on it, +seized two of the largest hulks, rifled them, flung their crews +overboard, and chased the rest up Channel. A day or two after he +suddenly showed himself off Brille, at the mouth of the Meuse. A boat +was sent on shore with a note to the governor, demanding the instant +surrender of the town to the admiral of the Prince of Orange. The +inhabitants rose in enthusiasm; the garrison was small, and the governor +was obliged to comply. De la Mark took possession. A few priests and +monks attempted resistance, but were put down without difficulty, and +the leaders killed. The churches were cleared of their idols, and the +mass replaced by the Calvinistic service. Cannon and stores, furnished +from London, were landed, and Brille was made impregnable before Alva +had realised what had happened to him. He is said to have torn his beard +for anger. Flushing followed suit. In a week or two all the strongest +places on the coast had revolted, and the pirate fleet had laid the +foundation of the great Dutch Republic, which at England's side was to +strike out of Philip's hand the sceptre of the seas, and to save the +Protestant religion. + +We may think as we please of these Beggars of the Ocean, these Norse +corsairs come to life again with the flavour of Genevan theology in +them; but for daring, for ingenuity, for obstinate determination to be +spiritually free or to die for it, the like of the Protestant privateers +of the sixteenth century has been rarely met with in this world. + +England rang with joy when the news came that Brille was taken. Church +bells pealed, and bonfires blazed. Money poured across in streams. +Exiled families went back to their homes--which were to be their homes +once more--and the Zealanders and Hollanders, entrenched among their +ditches, prepared for an amphibious conflict with the greatest power +then upon the earth. + + + + +LECTURE IV + +DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD + + +I suppose some persons present have heard the name of Lope de Vega, the +Spanish poet of Philip II.'s time. Very few of you probably know more of +him than his name, and yet he ought to have some interest for us, as he +was one of the many enthusiastic young Spaniards who sailed in the Great +Armada. He had been disappointed in some love affair. He was an earnest +Catholic. He wanted distraction, and it is needless to say that he found +distraction enough in the English Channel to put his love troubles out +of his mind. His adventures brought before him with some vividness the +character of the nation with which his own country was then in the +death-grapple, especially the character of the great English seaman to +whom the Spaniards universally attributed their defeat. Lope studied +the exploits of Francis Drake from his first appearance to his end, and +he celebrated those exploits, as England herself has never yet thought +it worth her while to do, by making him the hero of an epic poem. There +are heroes and heroes. Lope de Vega's epic is called 'The Dragontea.' +Drake himself is the dragon, the ancient serpent of the Apocalypse. We +English have been contented to allow Drake a certain qualified praise. +We admit that he was a bold, dexterous sailor, that he did his country +good service at the Invasion. We allow that he was a famous navigator, +and sailed round the world, which no one else had done before him. +But--there is always a but--of course he was a robber and a corsair, and +the only excuse for him is that he was no worse than most of his +contemporaries. To Lope de Vega he was a great deal worse. He was Satan +himself, the incarnation of the Genius of Evil, the arch-enemy of the +Church of God. + +It is worth while to look more particularly at the figure of a man who +appeared to the Spaniards in such terrible proportions. I, for my part, +believe a time will come when we shall see better than we see now what +the Reformation was, and what we owe to it, and these sea-captains of +Elizabeth will then form the subject of a great English national epic as +grand as the 'Odyssey.' + +In my own poor way meanwhile I shall try in these lectures to draw you a +sketch of Drake and his doings as they appear to myself. To-day I can +but give you a part of the rich and varied story, but if all goes well I +hope I may be able to continue it at a future time. + +I have not yet done with Sir John Hawkins. We shall hear of him again. +He became the manager of Elizabeth's dockyards. He it was who turned out +the ships that fought Philip's fleet in the Channel in such condition +that not a hull leaked, not a spar was sprung, not a rope parted at an +unseasonable moment, and this at a minimum of cost. He served himself in +the squadron which he had equipped. He was one of the small group of +admirals who met that Sunday afternoon in the cabin of the ark _Raleigh_ +and sent the fire-ships down to stir Medina Sidonia out of his anchorage +at Calais. He was a child of the sea, and at sea he died, sinking at +last into his mother's arms. But of this hereafter. I must speak now of +his still more illustrious kinsman, Francis Drake. + +I told you the other day generally who Drake was and where he came from; +how he went to sea as a boy, found favour with his master, became early +an owner of his own ship, sticking steadily to trade. You hear nothing +of him in connection with the Channel pirates. It was not till he was +five-and-twenty that he was tempted by Hawkins into the negro-catching +business, and of this one experiment was enough. He never tried it +again. + +The portraits of him vary very much, as indeed it is natural that they +should, for most of those which pass for Drake were not meant for Drake +at all. It is the fashion in this country, and a very bad fashion, when +we find a remarkable portrait with no name authoritatively attached to +it, to christen it at random after some eminent man, and there it +remains to perplex or mislead. + +The best likeness of Drake that I know is an engraving in Sir William +Stirling-Maxwell's collection of sixteenth-century notabilities, +representing him, as a scroll says at the foot of the plate, at the age +of forty-three. The face is round, the forehead broad and full, with the +short brown hair curling crisply on either side. The eyebrows are highly +arched, the eyes firm, clear, and open. I cannot undertake for the +colour, but I should judge they would be dark grey, like an eagle's. The +nose is short and thick, the mouth and chin hid by a heavy moustache on +the upper lip, and a close-clipped beard well spread over chin and +cheek. The expression is good-humoured, but absolutely inflexible, not a +weak line to be seen. He was of middle height, powerfully built, perhaps +too powerfully for grace, unless the quilted doublet in which the artist +has dressed him exaggerates his breadth. + +I have seen another portrait of him, with pretensions to authenticity, +in which he appears with a slighter figure, eyes dark, full, thoughtful, +and stern, a sailor's cord about his neck with a whistle attached to it, +and a ring into which a thumb is carelessly thrust, the weight of the +arms resting on it, as if in a characteristic attitude. Evidently this +is a carefully drawn likeness of some remarkable seaman of the time. I +should like to believe it to be Drake, but I can feel no certainty about +it. + +We left him returned home in the Judith from San Juan de Ulloa, a ruined +man. He had never injured the Spaniards. He had gone out with his cousin +merely to trade, and he had met with a hearty reception from the +settlers wherever he had been. A Spanish admiral had treacherously set +upon him and his kinsman, destroyed half their vessels, and robbed them +of all that they had. They had left a hundred of their comrades behind +them, for whose fate they might fear the worst. Drake thenceforth +considered Spanish property as fair game till he had made up his own +losses. He waited quietly for four years till he had re-established +himself, and then prepared to try fortune again in a more daring form. + +The ill-luck at San Juan de Ulloa had risen from loose tongues. There +had been too much talk about it. Too many parties had been concerned. +The Spanish Government had notice and were prepared. Drake determined to +act for himself, have no partners, and keep his own secret. He found +friends to trust him with money without asking for explanations. The +Plymouth sailors were eager to take their chance with him. His force was +absurdly small: a sloop or brigantine of a hundred tons, which he called +the _Dragon_ (perhaps, like Lope de Vega, playing on his own name), and +two small pinnaces. With these he left Plymouth in the fall of the +summer of 1572. He had ascertained that Philip's gold and silver from +the Peruvian mines was landed at Panama, carried across the isthmus on +mules' backs on the line of M. de Lesseps' canal, and re-shipped at +Nombre de Dios, at the mouth of the Chagre River. + +He told no one where he was going. He was no more communicative than +necessary after his return, and the results, rather than the +particulars, of his adventure are all that can be certainly known. +Discretion told him to keep his counsel, and he kept it. + +The Drake family published an account of this voyage in the middle of +the next century, but obviously mythical, in parts demonstrably false, +and nowhere to be depended on. It can be made out, however, that he did +go to Nombre de Dios, that he found his way into the town, and saw +stores of bullion there which he would have liked to carry off but could +not. A romantic story of a fight in the town I disbelieve, first because +his numbers were so small that to try force would have been absurd, and +next because if there had been really anything like a battle an alarm +would have been raised in the neighbourhood, and it is evident that no +alarm was given. In the woods were parties of runaway slaves, who were +called Cimarons. It was to these that Drake addressed himself, and they +volunteered to guide him where he could surprise the treasure convoy on +the way from Panama. His movements were silent and rapid. One +interesting incident is mentioned which is authentic. The Cimarons took +him through the forest to the watershed from which the streams flow to +both oceans. Nothing could be seen through the jungle of undergrowth; +but Drake climbed a tall tree, saw from the top of it the Pacific +glittering below him, and made a vow that one day he would himself sail +a ship in those waters. + +For the present he had immediate work on hand. His guides kept their +word. They led him to the track from Panama, and he had not long to wait +before the tinkling was heard of the mule bells as they were coming up +the pass. There was no suspicion of danger, not the faintest. The mule +train had but its ordinary guard, who fled at the first surprise. The +immense booty fell all into Drake's hands--gold, jewels, silver +bars--and got with much ease, as Prince Hal said at Gadshill. The silver +they buried, as too heavy for transport. The gold, pearls, rubies, +emeralds, and diamonds they carried down straight to their ship. The +voyage home went prosperously. The spoils were shared among the +adventurers, and they had no reason to complain. They were wise enough +to hold their tongues, and Drake was in a condition to look about him +and prepare for bigger enterprises. + +Rumours got abroad, spite of reticence. Imagination was high in flight +just then; rash amateurs thought they could make their fortunes in the +same way, and tried it, to their sorrow. A sort of inflation can be +traced in English sailors' minds as their work expanded. Even +Hawkins--the clear, practical Hawkins--was infected. This was not in +Drake's line. He kept to prose and fact. He studied the globe. He +examined all the charts that he could get. He became known to the Privy +Council and the Queen, and prepared for an enterprise which would make +his name and frighten Philip in earnest. + +The ships which the Spaniards used on the Pacific were usually built on +the spot. But Magellan was known to have gone by the Horn, and where a +Portuguese could go an Englishman could go. Drake proposed to try. There +was a party in Elizabeth's Council against these adventures, and in +favour of peace with Spain; but Elizabeth herself was always for +enterprises of pith and moment. She was willing to help, and others of +her Council were willing too, provided their names were not to appear. +The responsibility was to be Drake's own. Again the vessels in which he +was preparing to tempt fortune seem preposterously small. The _Pelican_, +or _Golden Hinde_, which belonged to Drake himself, was called but 120 +tons, at best no larger than a modern racing yawl, though perhaps no +racing yawl ever left White's yard better found for the work which she +had to do. The next, the _Elizabeth_, of London, was said to be eighty +tons; a small pinnace of twelve tons, in which we should hardly risk a +summer cruise round the Land's End, with two sloops or frigates of fifty +and thirty tons, made the rest. The _Elizabeth_ was commanded by Captain +Winter, a Queen's officer, and perhaps a son of the old admiral. + +We may credit Drake with knowing what he was about. He and his comrades +were carrying their lives in their hands. If they were taken they would +be inevitably hanged. Their safety depended on speed of sailing, and +specially on the power of working fast to windward, which the heavy +square-rigged ships could not do. The crews all told were 160 men and +boys. Drake had his brother John with him. Among his officers were the +chaplain, Mr. Fletcher, another minister of some kind who spoke Spanish, +and in one of the sloops a mysterious Mr. Doughty. Who Mr. Doughty was, +and why he was sent out, is uncertain. When an expedition of consequence +was on hand, the Spanish party in the Cabinet usually attached to it +some second in command whose business was to defeat the object. When +Drake went to Cadiz in after years to singe King Philip's beard, he had +a colleague sent with him whom he had to lock into his cabin before he +could get to his work. So far as I can make out, Mr. Doughty had a +similar commission. On this occasion secrecy was impossible. It was +generally known that Drake was going to the Pacific through Magellan +Straits, to act afterwards on his own judgment. The Spanish ambassador, +now Don Bernardino de Mendoza, in informing Philip of what was intended, +advised him to send out orders for the instant sinking of every English +ship, and the execution of every English sailor, that appeared on either +side the isthmus in West Indian waters. The orders were despatched, but +so impossible it seemed that an English pirate could reach the Pacific, +that the attention was confined to the Caribbean Sea, and not a hint of +alarm was sent across to the other side. + +On November 15, 1577, the _Pelican_ and her consort sailed out of +Plymouth Sound. The elements frowned on their start. On the second day +they were caught in a winter gale. The _Pelican_ sprung her mainmast, +and they put back to refit and repair. But Drake defied auguries. Before +the middle of December all was again in order. The weather mended, and +with a fair wind and smooth water they made a fast run across the Bay of +Biscay and down the coast to the Cape de Verde Islands. There taking up +the north-east trades, they struck across the Atlantic, crossed the +line, and made the South American continent in latitude 33° South. They +passed the mouth of the Plate River, finding to their astonishment fresh +water at the ship's side in fifty-four fathoms. All seemed so far going +well, when one morning Mr. Doughty's sloop was missing, and he along +with her. Drake, it seemed, had already reason to distrust Doughty, and +guessed the direction in which he had gone. The _Marigold_ was sent in +pursuit, and he was overtaken and brought back. To prevent a repetition +of such a performance, Drake took the sloop's stores out of her, burnt +her, distributed the crew through the other vessels, and took Mr. +Doughty under his own charge. On June 20 they reached Port St. Julian, +on the coast of Patagonia. They had been long on the way, and the +southern winter had come round, and they had to delay further to make +more particular inquiry into Doughty's desertion. An ominous and strange +spectacle met their eyes as they entered the harbour. In that utterly +desolate spot a skeleton was hanging on a gallows, the bones picked +clean by the vultures. It was one of Magellan's crew who had been +executed there for mutiny fifty years before. The same fate was to +befall the unhappy Englishman who had been guilty of the same fault. +Without the strictest discipline it was impossible for the enterprise to +succeed, and Doughty had been guilty of worse than disobedience. We are +told briefly that his conduct was found tending to contention, and +threatening the success of the voyage. Part he was said to have +confessed; part was proved against him--one knows not what. A court was +formed out of the crew. He was tried, as near as circumstances allowed, +according to English usage. He was found guilty, and was sentenced to +die. He made no complaint, or none of which a record is preserved. He +asked for the Sacrament, which was of course allowed, and Drake himself +communicated with him. They then kissed each other, and the unlucky +wretch took leave of his comrades, laid his head on the block, and so +ended. His offence can be only guessed; but the suspicious curiosity +about his fate which was shown afterwards by Mendoza makes it likely +that he was in Spanish pay. The ambassador cross-questioned Captain +Winter very particularly about him, and we learn one remarkable fact +from Mendoza's letters not mentioned by any English writer, that Drake +was himself the executioner, choosing to bear the entire responsibility. + +'This done,' writes an eye-witness, 'the general made divers speeches to +the whole company, persuading us to unity, obedience, and regard of our +voyage, and for the better confirmation thereof willed every man the +Sunday following to prepare himself to receive the Communion as +Christian brothers and friends ought to do, which was done in very +reverend sort; and so with good contentment every man went about his +business.' + +You must take this last incident into your conception of Drake's +character, think of it how you please. + +It was now midwinter, the stormiest season of the year, and they +remained for six weeks in Port St. Julian. They burnt the twelve-ton +pinnace, as too small for the work they had now before them, and there +remained only the _Pelican_, the _Elizabeth_, and the _Marigold_. In +cold wild weather they weighed at last, and on August 20 made the +opening of Magellan's Straits. The passage is seventy miles long, +tortuous and dangerous. They had no charts. The ships' boats led, taking +soundings as they advanced. Icy mountains overhung them on either side; +heavy snow fell below. They brought up occasionally at an island to rest +the men, and let them kill a few seals and penguins to give them fresh +food. Everything they saw was new, wild, and wonderful. + +Having to feel their way, they were three weeks in getting through. They +had counted on reaching the Pacific that the worst of their work was +over, and that they could run north at once into warmer and calmer +latitudes. The peaceful ocean, when they entered it, proved the +stormiest they had ever sailed on. A fierce westerly gale drove them 600 +miles to the south-east outside the Horn. It had been supposed, +hitherto, that Tierra del Fuego was solid land to the South Pole, and +that the Straits were the only communication between the Atlantic and +the Pacific. They now learnt the true shape and character of the Western +Continent. In the latitude of Cape Horn a westerly gale blows for ever +round the globe; the waves the highest anywhere known. The _Marigold_ +went down in the tremendous encounter. Captain Winter, in the +_Elizabeth_, made his way back into Magellan's Straits. There he lay for +three weeks, lighting fires nightly to show Drake where he was, but no +Drake appeared. They had agreed, if separated, to meet on the coast in +the latitude of Valparaiso; but Winter was chicken-hearted, or else +traitorous like Doughty, and sore, we are told, 'against the mariners' +will,' when the three weeks were out, he sailed away for England, where +he reported that all the ships were lost but the _Pelican_, and that +the _Pelican_ was probably lost too. + +Drake had believed better of Winter, and had not expected to be so +deserted. He had himself taken refuge among the islands which form the +Cape, waiting for the spring and milder weather. He used the time in +making surveys, and observing the habits of the native Patagonians, whom +he found a tough race, going naked amidst ice and snow. The days +lengthened, and the sea smoothed at last. He then sailed for Valparaiso, +hoping to meet Winter there, as he had arranged. At Valparaiso there was +no Winter, but there was in the port instead a great galleon just come +in from Peru. The galleon's crew took him for a Spaniard, hoisted their +colours, and beat their drums. The _Pelican_ shot alongside. The English +sailors in high spirits leapt on board. A Plymouth lad who could speak +Spanish knocked down the first man he met with an 'Abajo, perro!' 'Down, +you dog, down!' No life was taken; Drake never hurt man if he could help +it. The crew crossed themselves, jumped overboard, and swam ashore. The +prize was examined. Four hundred pounds' weight of gold was found in +her, besides other plunder. + +The galleon being disposed of, Drake and his men pulled ashore to look +at the town. The people had all fled. In the church they found a +chalice, two cruets, and an altar-cloth, which were made over to the +chaplain to improve his Communion furniture. A few pipes of wine and a +Greek pilot who knew the way to Lima completed the booty. + +'Shocking piracy,' you will perhaps say. But what Drake was doing would +have been all right and good service had war been declared, and the +essence of things does not alter with the form. In essence there _was_ +war, deadly war, between Philip and Elizabeth. Even later, when the +Armada sailed, there had been no formal declaration. The reality is the +important part of the matter. It was but stroke for stroke, and the +English arm proved the stronger. + +Still hoping to find Winter in advance of him, Drake went on next to +Tarapaca, where silver from the Andes mines was shipped for Panama. At +Tarapaca there was the same unconsciousness of danger. The silver bars +lay piled on the quay, the muleteers who had brought them were sleeping +peacefully in the sunshine at their side. The muleteers were left to +their slumbers. The bars were lifted into the English boats. A train of +mules or llamas came in at the moment with a second load as rich as the +first. This, too, went into the _Pelican's_ hold. The bullion taken at +Tarapaca was worth near half a million ducats. + +Still there were no news of Winter. Drake began to realise that he was +now entirely alone, and had only himself and his own crew to depend on. +There was nothing to do but to go through with it, danger adding to the +interest. Arica was the next point visited. Half a hundred blocks of +silver were picked up at Arica. After Arica came Lima, the chief depôt +of all, where the grandest haul was looked for. At Lima, alas! they were +just too late. Twelve great hulks lay anchored there. The sails were +unbent, the men were ashore. They contained nothing but some chests of +reals and a few bales of silk and linen. But a thirteenth, called by the +gods _Our Lady of the Conception_, called by men _Cacafuego_, a name +incapable of translation, had sailed a few days before for the isthmus, +with the whole produce of the Lima mines for the season. Her ballast was +silver, her cargo gold and emeralds and rubies. + +Drake deliberately cut the cables of the ships in the roads, that they +might drive ashore and be unable to follow him. The _Pelican_ spread her +wings, every feather of them, and sped away in pursuit. He would know +the _Cacafuego_, so he learnt at Lima, by the peculiar cut of her sails. +The first man who caught sight of her was promised a gold chain for his +reward. A sail was seen on the second day. It was not the chase, but it +was worth stopping for. Eighty pounds' weight of gold was found, and a +great gold crucifix, set with emeralds said to be as large as pigeon's +eggs. They took the kernel. They left the shell. Still on and on. We +learn from the Spanish accounts that the Viceroy of Lima, as soon as he +recovered from his astonishment, despatched ships in pursuit. They came +up with the last plundered vessel, heard terrible tales of the rovers' +strength, and went back for a larger force. The _Pelican_ meanwhile went +along upon her course for 800 miles. At length, when in the latitude of +Quito and close under the shore, the _Cacafuego's_ peculiar sails were +sighted, and the gold chain was claimed. There she was, freighted with +the fruit of Aladdin's garden, going lazily along a few miles ahead. +Care was needed in approaching her. If she guessed the _Pelican's_ +character, she would run in upon the land and they would lose her. It +was afternoon. The sun was still above the horizon, and Drake meant to +wait till night, when the breeze would be off the shore, as in the +tropics it always is. + +The _Pelican_ sailed two feet to the _Cacafuego's_ one. Drake filled his +empty wine-skins with water and trailed them astern to stop his way. The +chase supposed that she was followed by some heavy-loaded trader, and, +wishing for company on a lonely voyage, she slackened sail and waited +for him to come up. At length the sun went down into the ocean, the rosy +light faded from off the snows of the Andes; and when both ships had +become invisible from the shore, the skins were hauled in, the night +wind rose, and the water began to ripple under the _Pelican's_ bows. +The _Cacafuego_ was swiftly overtaken, and when within a cable's length +a voice hailed her to put her head into the wind. The Spanish commander, +not understanding so strange an order, held on his course. A broadside +brought down his mainyard; and a flight of arrows rattled on his deck. +He was himself wounded. In a few minutes he was a prisoner, and _Our +Lady of the Conception_ and her precious freight were in the corsair's +power. The wreck was cut away; the ship was cleared; a prize crew was +put on board. Both vessels turned their heads to the sea. At daybreak no +land was to be seen, and the examination of the prize began. The full +value was never acknowledged. The invoice, if there was one, was +destroyed. The accurate figures were known only to Drake and Queen +Elizabeth. A published schedule acknowledged to twenty tons of silver +bullion, thirteen chests of silver coins, and a hundredweight of gold, +but there were gold nuggets besides in indefinite quantity, and 'a great +store' of pearls, emeralds, and diamonds. The Spanish Government proved +a loss of a million and a half of ducats, excluding what belonged to +private persons. The total capture was immeasurably greater. + +Drake, we are told, was greatly satisfied. He thought it prudent to stay +in the neighbourhood no longer than necessary. He went north with all +sail set, taking his prize along with him. The master, San Juan de +Anton, was removed on board the _Pelican_ to have his wound attended to. +He remained as Drake's guest for a week, and sent in a report of what he +observed to the Spanish Government. One at least of Drake's party spoke +excellent Spanish. This person took San Juan over the ship. She showed +signs, San Juan said, of rough service, but was still in fine condition, +with ample arms, spare rope, mattocks, carpenters' tools of all +descriptions. There were eighty-five men on board all told, fifty of +them men-of-war, the rest young fellows, ship-boys and the like. Drake +himself was treated with great reverence; a sentinel stood always at his +cabin door. He dined alone with music. + +No mystery was made of the _Pelican's_ exploits. The chaplain showed San +Juan the crucifix set with emeralds, and asked him if he could +seriously believe that to be God. San Juan asked Drake how he meant to +go home. Drake showed him a globe with three courses traced on it. There +was the way that he had come, there was the way by China and the Cape of +Good Hope, and there was a third way which he did not explain. San Juan +asked if Spain and England were at war. Drake said he had a commission +from the Queen. His captures were for her, not for himself. He added +afterwards that the Viceroy of Mexico had robbed him and his kinsman, +and he was making good his losses. + +Then, touching the point of the sore, he said, 'I know the Viceroy will +send for thee to inform himself of my proceedings. Tell him he shall do +well to put no more Englishmen to death, and to spare those he has in +his hands, for if he do execute them I will hang 2,000 Spaniards and +send him their heads.' + +After a week's detention San Juan and his men were restored to the empty +_Cacafuego_, and allowed to go. On their way back they fell in with the +two cruisers sent in pursuit from Lima, reinforced by a third from +Panama. They were now fully armed; they went in chase, and according to +their own account came up with the _Pelican_. But, like Lope de Vega, +they seemed to have been terrified at Drake as a sort of devil. They +confessed that they dared not attack him, and again went back for more +assistance. The Viceroy abused them as cowards, arrested the officers, +despatched others again with peremptory orders to seize Drake, even if +he was the devil, but by that time their questionable visitor had flown. +They found nothing, perhaps to their relief. + +A despatch went instantly across the Atlantic to Philip. One squadron +was sent off from Cadiz to watch the Straits of Magellan, and another to +patrol the Caribbean Sea. It was thought that Drake's third way was no +seaway at all, that he meant to leave the _Pelican_ at Darien, carry his +plunder over the mountains, and build a ship at Honduras to take him +home. His real idea was that he might hit off the passage to the north +of which Frobisher and Davis thought they had found the eastern +entrance. He stood on towards California, picking up an occasional +straggler in the China trade, with silk, porcelain, gold, and emeralds. +Fresh water was a necessity. He put in at Guatulco for it, and his +proceedings were humorously prompt. The alcaldes at Guatulco were in +session trying a batch of negroes. An English boat's crew appeared in +court, tied the alcaldes hand and foot, and carried them off to the +_Pelican_, there to remain as hostages till the water-casks were filled. + +North again he fell in with a galleon carrying out a new Governor to the +Philippines. The Governor was relieved of his boxes and his jewels, and +then, says one of the party, 'Our General, thinking himself in respect +of his private injuries received from the Spaniards, as also their +contempt and indignities offered to our country and Prince, sufficiently +satisfied and revenged, and supposing her Majesty would rest contented +with this service, began to consider the best way home.' The first +necessity was a complete overhaul of the ship. Before the days of copper +sheathing weeds grew thick under water. Barnacles formed in clusters, +stopping the speed, and sea-worms bored through the planking. Twenty +thousand miles lay between the _Pelican_ and Plymouth Sound, and Drake +was not a man to run idle chances. Still holding his north course till +he had left the furthest Spanish settlement far to the south, he put +into Canoas Bay in California, laid the _Pelican_ ashore, set up forge +and workshop, and repaired and re-rigged her with a month's labour from +stem to stern. With every rope new set up and new canvas on every yard, +he started again on April 16, 1579, and continued up the coast to +Oregon. The air grew cold though it was summer. The men felt it from +having been so long in the tropics, and dropped out of health. There was +still no sign of a passage. If passage there was, Drake perceived that +it must be of enormous length. Magellan's Straits, he guessed, would be +watched for him, so he decided on the route by the Cape of Good Hope. In +the Philippine ship he had found a chart of the Indian Archipelago. With +the help of this and his own skill he hoped to find his way. He went +down again to San Francisco, landed there, found the soil teeming with +gold, made acquaintance with an Indian king who hated the Spaniards and +wished to become an English subject. But Drake had no leisure to annex +new territories. Avoiding the course from Mexico to the Philippines, he +made a direct course to the Moluccas, and brought up again at the Island +of Celebes. Here the _Pelican_ was a second time docked and scraped. The +crew had a month's rest among the fireflies and vampires of the tropical +forest. Leaving Celebes, they entered on the most perilous part of the +whole voyage. They wound their way among coral reefs and low islands +scarcely visible above the water-line. In their chart the only outlet +marked into the Indian Ocean was by the Straits of Malacca. But Drake +guessed rightly that there must be some nearer opening, and felt his way +looking for it along the coast of Java. Spite of all his care, he was +once on the edge of destruction. One evening as night was closing in a +grating sound was heard under the _Pelican's_ keel. In another moment +she was hard and fast on a reef. The breeze was light and the water +smooth, or the world would have heard no more of Francis Drake. She lay +immovable till daybreak. At dawn the position was seen not to be +entirely desperate. Drake himself showed all the qualities of a great +commander. Cannon were thrown over and cargo that was not needed. In the +afternoon, the wind changing, the lightened vessel lifted off the rocks +and was saved. The hull was uninjured, thanks to the Californian +repairs. All on board had behaved well with the one exception of Mr. +Fletcher, the chaplain. Mr. Fletcher, instead of working like a man, had +whined about Divine retribution for the execution of Doughty. + +For the moment Drake passed it over. A few days after, they passed out +through the Straits of Sunda, where they met the great ocean swell, +Homer's [Greek: mega kuma thalassês], and they knew then that all was +well. + +There was now time to call Mr. Fletcher to account. It was no business +of the chaplain to discourage and dispirit men in a moment of danger, +and a court was formed to sit upon him. An English captain on his own +deck represents the sovereign, and is head of Church as well as State. +Mr. Fletcher was brought to the forecastle, where Drake, sitting on a +sea-chest with a pair of _pantoufles_ in his hand, excommunicated him, +pronounced him cut off from the Church of God, given over to the devil +for the chastising of his flesh, and left him chained by the leg to a +ring-bolt to repent of his cowardice. + +In the general good-humour punishment could not be of long duration. The +next day the poor chaplain had his absolution, and returned to his berth +and his duty. The _Pelican_ met with no more adventures. Sweeping in +fine clear weather round the Cape of Good Hope, she touched once for +water at Sierra Leone, and finally sailed in triumph into Plymouth +Harbour, where she had been long given up for lost, having traced the +first furrow round the globe. Winter had come home eighteen months +before, but could report nothing. The news of the doings on the American +coast had reached England through Madrid. The Spanish ambassador had +been furious. It was known that Spanish squadrons had been sent in +search. Complications would arise if Drake brought his plunder home, and +timid politicians hoped that he was at the bottom of the sea. But here +he was, actually arrived with a monarch's ransom in his hold. + +English sympathy with an extraordinary exploit is always irresistible. +Shouts of applause rang through the country, and Elizabeth, every bit of +her an Englishwoman, felt with her subjects. She sent for Drake to +London, made him tell his story over and over again, and was never weary +of listening to him. As to injury to Spain, Philip had lighted a fresh +insurrection in Ireland, which had cost her dearly in lives and money. +For Philip to demand compensation of England on the score of justice was +a thing to make the gods laugh. + +So thought the Queen. So unfortunately did not think some members of her +Council, Lord Burghley among them. Mendoza was determined that Drake +should be punished and the spoils disgorged, or else that he would force +Elizabeth upon the world as the confessed protectress of piracy. +Burghley thought that, as things stood, some satisfaction (or the form +of it) would have to be made. + +Elizabeth hated paying back as heartily as Falstaff, nor had she the +least intention of throwing to the wolves a gallant Englishman, with +whose achievements the world was ringing. She was obliged to allow the +treasure to be registered by a responsible official, and an account +rendered to Mendoza; but for all that she meant to keep her own share of +the spoils. She meant, too, that Drake and his brave crew should not go +unrewarded. Drake himself should have ten thousand pounds at least. + +Her action was eminently characteristic of her. On the score of real +justice there was no doubt at all how matters stood between herself and +Philip, who had tried to dethrone and kill her. + +The _Pelican_ lay still at Plymouth with the bullion and jewels +untouched. She directed that it should be landed and scheduled. She +trusted the business to Edmund Tremayne, of Sydenham, a neighbouring +magistrate, on whom she could depend. She told him not to be too +inquisitive, and she allowed Drake to go back and arrange the cargo +before the examination was made. Let me now read you a letter from +Tremayne himself to Sir Francis Walsingham:-- + +'To give you some understanding how I have proceeded with Mr. Drake: I +have at no time entered into the account to know more of the value of +the treasure than he made me acquainted with; and to say truth I +persuaded him to impart to me no more than need, for so I saw him +commanded in her Majesty's behalf that he should reveal the certainty to +no man living. I have only taken notice of so much as he _has_ revealed, +and the same I have seen to be weighed, registered, and packed. And to +observe her Majesty's commands for the ten thousand pounds, we agreed he +should take it out of the portion that was landed secretly, and to +remove the same out of the place before my son Henry and I should come +to the weighing and registering of what was left; and so it was done, +and no creature living by me made privy to it but himself; and myself no +privier to it than as you may perceive by this. + +'I see nothing to charge Mr. Drake further than he is inclined to charge +himself, and withal I must say he is inclined to advance the value to be +delivered to her Majesty, and seeking in general to recompense all men +that have been in the case dealers with him. As I dare take an oath, he +will rather diminish his own portion than leave any of them unsatisfied. +And for his mariners and followers I have seen here as eye-witness, and +have heard with my ears, such certain signs of goodwill as I cannot yet +see that any of them will leave his company. The whole course of his +voyage hath showed him to be of great valour; but my hap has been to see +some particulars, and namely in this discharge of his company, as doth +assure me that he is a man of great government, and that by the rules of +God and his book, so as proceeding on such foundation his doings cannot +but prosper.' + +The result of it all was that deductions were made from the capture +equivalent to the property which Drake and Hawkins held themselves to +have been treacherously plundered of at San Juan de Ulloa, with perhaps +other liberal allowances for the cost of recovery. An account on part of +what remained was then given to Mendoza. It was not returned to him or +to Philip, but was laid up in the Tower till the final settlement of +Philip's and the Queen's claims on each other--the cost, for one thing, +of the rebellion in Ireland. Commissioners met and argued and sat on +ineffectually till the Armada came and the discussion ended, and the +talk of restitution was over. Meanwhile, opinion varied about Drake's +own doings as it has varied since. Elizabeth listened spellbound to his +adventures, sent for him to London again, and walked with him publicly +about the parks and gardens. She gave him a second ten thousand pounds. +The _Pelican_ was sent round to Deptford; a royal banquet was held on +board, Elizabeth attended and Drake was knighted. Mendoza clamoured for +the treasure in the Tower to be given up to him; Walsingham wished to +give it to the Prince of Orange; Leicester and his party in the Council, +who had helped to fit Drake out, thought it ought to be divided among +themselves, and unless Mendoza lies they offered to share it with him if +he would agree to a private arrangement. Mendoza says he answered that +he would give twice as much to chastise such a bandit as Drake. +Elizabeth thought it should be kept as a captured pawn in the game, and +so in fact it remained after the deductions which we have seen had been +made. + +Drake was lavish of his presents. He presented the Queen with a diamond +cross and a coronet set with splendid emeralds. He gave Bromley, the +Lord Chancellor, 800 dollars' worth of silver plate, and as much more to +other members of the Council. The Queen wore her coronet on New Year's +Day; the Chancellor was content to decorate his sideboard at the cost of +the Catholic King. Burghley and Sussex declined the splendid temptation; +they said they could accept no such precious gifts from a man whose +fortune had been made by plunder. + +Burghley lived to see better into Drake's value. Meanwhile, what now are +we, looking back over our history, to say of these things--the Channel +privateering; the seizure of Alva's army money; the sharp practice of +Hawkins with the Queen of Scots and King Philip; or this amazing +performance of Sir Francis Drake in a vessel no larger than a +second-rate yacht of a modern noble lord? + +Resolution, daring, professional skill, all historians allow to these +men; but, like Burghley, they regard what they did as piracy, not much +better, if at all better, than the later exploits of Morgan and Kidd. So +cried the Catholics who wished Elizabeth's ruin; so cried Lope de Vega +and King Philip. In milder language the modern philosopher repeats the +unfavourable verdict, rejoices that he lives in an age when such doings +are impossible, and apologises faintly for the excesses of an imperfect +age. May I remind the philosopher that we live in an age when other +things have also happily become impossible, and that if he and his +friends were liable when they went abroad for their summer tours to be +snapped by the familiars of the Inquisition, whipped, burnt alive, or +sent to the galleys, he would perhaps think more leniently of any +measures by which that respectable institution and its masters might be +induced to treat philosophers with greater consideration? + +Again, remember Dr. Johnson's warning, Beware of cant. In that intensely +serious century men were more occupied with the realities than the forms +of things. By encouraging rebellion in England and Ireland, by burning +so many scores of poor English seamen and merchants in fools' coats at +Seville, the King of Spain had given Elizabeth a hundred occasions for +declaring war against him. Situated as she was, with so many disaffected +Catholic subjects, she could not _begin_ a war on such a quarrel. She +had to use such resources as she had, and of these resources the best +was a splendid race of men who were not afraid to do for her at their +own risk what commissioned officers would and might have justly done had +formal war been declared, men who defeated the national enemy with +materials conquered from himself, who were devoted enough to dispense +with the personal security which the sovereign's commission would have +extended to prisoners of war, and face the certainty of being hanged if +they were taken. Yes; no doubt by the letter of the law of nations Drake +and Hawkins were corsairs of the same stuff as Ulysses, as the rovers of +Norway. But the common-sense of Europe saw through the form to the +substance which lay below it, and the instinct of their countrymen gave +them a place among the fighting heroes of England, from which I do not +think they will be deposed by the eventual verdict of history. + + + + +LECTURE V + +PARTIES IN THE STATE + + +On December 21, 1585, a remarkable scene took place in the English House +of Commons. The Prince of Orange, after many attempts had failed, had +been successfully disposed of in the Low Countries. A fresh conspiracy +had just been discovered for a Catholic insurrection in England, +supported by a foreign invasion; the object of which was to dethrone +Elizabeth and to give her crown to Mary Stuart. The Duke of Alva, at the +time of the Ridolfi plot, had pointed out as a desirable preliminary, if +the invasion was to succeed, the assassination of the Queen of England. +The succession being undecided, he had calculated that the confusion +would paralyse resistance, and the notorious favour with which Mary +Stuart's pretensions were regarded by a powerful English party would +ensure her an easy victory were Elizabeth once removed. But this was an +indispensable condition. It had become clear at last that so long as +Elizabeth was alive Philip would not willingly sanction the landing of a +Spanish army on English shores. Thus, among the more ardent Catholics, +especially the refugees at the Seminary at Rheims, a crown in heaven was +held out to any spiritual knight-errant who would remove the obstacle. +The enterprise itself was not a difficult one. Elizabeth was aware of +her danger, but she was personally fearless. She refused to distrust the +Catholics. Her household was full of them. She admitted anyone to her +presence who desired a private interview. Dr. Parry, a member of +Parliament, primed by encouragements from the Cardinal of Como and the +Vatican, had undertaken to risk his life to win the glorious prize. He +introduced himself into the palace, properly provided with arms. He +professed to have information of importance to give. The Queen received +him repeatedly. Once he was alone with her in the palace garden, and was +on the point of killing her, when he was awed, as he said, by the +likeness to her father. Parry was discovered and hanged, but Elizabeth +refused to take warning. When there were so many aspirants for the +honour of removing Jezebel, and Jezebel was so easy of approach, it was +felt that one would at last succeed; and the loyal part of the nation, +led by Lord Burghley, formed themselves into an association to protect a +life so vital to them and apparently so indifferent to herself. + +The subscribers bound themselves to pursue to the death all manner of +persons who should attempt or consent to anything to the harm of her +Majesty's person; never to allow or submit to any pretended successor by +whom or for whom such detestable act should be attempted or committed; +but to pursue such persons to death and act the utmost revenge upon +them. + +The bond in its first form was a visible creation of despair. It implied +a condition of things in which order would have ceased to exist. The +lawyers, who, it is curious to observe, were generally in Mary Stuart's +interest, vehemently objected; yet so passionate was public feeling +that it was signed throughout the kingdom, and Parliament was called to +pass an Act which would secure the same object. Mary Stuart, at any +rate, was not to benefit by the crimes either of herself or her +admirers. It was provided that if the realm was invaded, or a rebellion +instigated by or for any one pretending a title to the crown after the +Queen's death, such pretender should be disqualified for ever. In the +event of the Queen's assassination the government was to devolve on a +Committee of Peers and Privy Councillors, who were to examine the +particulars of the murder and execute the perpetrators and their +accomplices; while, with a significant allusion, all Jesuits and +seminary priests were required to leave the country instantly, under +pain of death. + +The House of Commons was heaving with emotion when the Act was sent up +to the Peers. To give expression to their burning feelings Sir +Christopher Hatton proposed that before they separated they should join +him in a prayer for the Queen's preservation. The 400 members all rose, +and knelt on the floor of the House, repeating Hatton's words after him, +sentence by sentence. + +Jesuits and seminary priests! Attempts have been made to justify the +conspiracies against Elizabeth from what is called the persecution of +the innocent enthusiasts who came from Rheims to preach the Catholic +faith to the English people. Popular writers and speakers dwell on the +executions of Campian and his friends as worse than the Smithfield +burnings, and amidst general admiration and approval these martyred +saints have been lately canonised. Their mission, it is said, was purely +religious. Was it so? The chief article in the religion which they came +to teach was the duty of obedience to the Pope, who had excommunicated +the Queen, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, and, by a +relaxation of the Bull, had permitted them to pretend to loyalty _ad +illud tempus_, till a Catholic army of deliverance should arrive. A Pope +had sent a legate to Ireland, and was at that moment stirring up a +bloody insurrection there. + +But what these seminary priests were, and what their object was, will +best appear from an account of the condition of England, drawn up for +the use of the Pope and Philip, by Father Parsons, who was himself at +the head of the mission. The date of it is 1585, almost simultaneous +with the scene in Parliament which I have just been describing. The +English refugees, from Cardinal Pole downwards, were the most active and +passionate preachers of a Catholic crusade against England. They failed, +but they have revenged themselves in history. Pole, Sanders, Allen, and +Parsons have coloured all that we suppose ourselves to know of Henry +VIII. and Elizabeth. What I am about to read to you does not differ +essentially from what we have already heard from these persons; but it +is new, and, being intended for practical guidance, is complete in its +way. It comes from the Spanish archives, and is not therefore open to +suspicion. Parsons, as you know, was a Fellow of Balliol before his +conversion; Allen was a Fellow of Oriel, and Sanders of New College. An +Oxford Church of England education is an excellent thing, and beautiful +characters have been formed in the Catholic universities abroad; but as +the elements of dynamite are innocent in themselves, yet when fused +together produce effects no one would have dreamt of, so Oxford and +Rome, when they have run together, have always generated a somewhat +furious compound. + +Parsons describes his statement as a 'brief note on the present +condition of England,' from which may be inferred the ease and +opportuneness of the holy enterprise. 'England,' he says, 'contains +fifty-two counties, of which forty are well inclined to the Catholic +faith. Heretics in these are few, and are hated by all ranks. The +remaining twelve are infected more or less, but even in these the +Catholics are in the majority. Divide England into three parts; +two-thirds at least are Catholic at heart, though many conceal their +convictions in fear of the Queen. English Catholics are of two +sorts--one which makes an open profession regardless of consequences, +the other believing at the bottom, but unwilling to risk life or +fortune, and so submitting outwardly to the heretic laws, but as eager +as the Catholic confessors for redemption from slavery. + +'The Queen and her party,' he goes on, 'more fear these secret Catholics +than those who wear their colours openly. The latter they can fine, +disarm, and make innocuous. The others, being outwardly compliant, +cannot be touched, nor can any precaution be taken against their rising +when the day of divine vengeance shall arrive. + +'The counties specially Catholic are the most warlike, and contain +harbours and other conveniences for the landing of an invading army. The +north towards the Scotch border has been trained in constant fighting. +The Scotch nobles on the other side are Catholic and will lend their +help. So will all Wales. + +'The inhabitants of the midland and southern provinces, where the taint +is deepest, are indolent and cowardly, and do not know what war means. +The towns are more corrupt than the country districts. But the strength +of England does not lie, as on the Continent, in towns and cities. The +town population are merchants and craftsmen, rarely or never nobles or +magnates. + +'The nobility, who have the real power, reside with their retinues in +castles scattered over the land. The wealthy yeomen are strong and +honest, all attached to the ancient faith, and may be counted on when an +attempt is made for the restoration of it. The knights and gentry are +generally well affected also, and will be well to the front. Many of +their sons are being now educated in our seminaries. Some are in exile, +but all, whether at home or abroad, will be active on our side. + +'Of the great peers, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, part are +with us, part against us. But the latter sort are new creations, whom +the Queen has promoted either for heresy or as her personal lovers, and +therefore universally abhorred. + +'The premier peer of the old stock is the Earl of Arundel, son and heir +of the late Duke of Norfolk, whom she has imprisoned because he tried to +escape out of the realm. This earl is entirely Catholic, as well as his +brothers and kinsmen; and they have powerful vassals who are eager to +revenge the injury of their lord. The Earl of Northumberland and his +brothers are Catholics. They too have family wrongs to repay, their +father having been this year murdered in the Tower, and they have placed +themselves at my disposal. The Earl of Worcester and his heir hate +heresy, and are devoted to us with all their dependents. The Earls of +Cumberland and Southampton and Viscount Montague are faithful, and have +a large following. Besides these we have many of the barons--Dacre, +Morley, Vaux, Windsor, Wharton, Lovelace, Stourton, and others besides. +The Earl of Westmoreland, with Lord Paget and Sir Francis Englefield, +who reside abroad, have been incredibly earnest in promoting our +enterprise. With such support, it is impossible that we can fail. These +lords and gentlemen, when they see efficient help coming to them, will +certainly rise, and for the following reasons:-- + +'1. Because some of the principals among them have given me their +promise. + +'2. Because, on hearing that Pope Pius intended to excommunicate and +depose the Queen sixteen years ago, many Catholics did rise. They only +failed because no support was sent them, and the Pope's sentence had not +at that time been actually published. Now, when the Pope has spoken and +help is certain, there is not a doubt how they will act. + +'3. Because the Catholics are now much more numerous, and have received +daily instruction in their religion from our priests. There is now no +orthodox Catholic in the whole realm who supposes that he is any longer +bound in conscience to obey the Queen. Books for the occasion have been +written and published by us, in which we prove that it is not only +lawful for Catholics, but their positive duty, to fight against the +Queen and heresy when the Pope bids them; and these books are so +greedily read among them that when the time comes they are certain to +take arms. + +'4. The Catholics in these late years have shown their real feeling in +the martyrdoms of priests and laymen, and in attempts made by several of +them against the person and State of the Queen. Various Catholics have +tried to kill her at the risk of their own lives, and are still trying. + +'5. We have three hundred priests dispersed among the houses of the +nobles and honest gentry. Every day we add to their number; and these +priests will direct the consciences and actions of the Catholics at the +great crisis. + +'6. They have been so harried and so worried that they hate the +heretics worse than they hate the Turks. + +'Should any of them fear the introduction of a Spanish army as dangerous +to their national liberties, there is an easy way to satisfy their +scruples. Let it be openly declared that the enterprise is undertaken in +the name of the Pope, and there will be no more hesitation. We have +ourselves prepared a book for their instruction, to be issued at the +right moment. If his Holiness desires to see it we will have it +translated into Latin for his use. + +'Before the enterprise is undertaken the sentence of excommunication and +deposition ought to be reissued, with special clauses. + +'It must be published in all adjoining Catholic countries; all Catholic +kings and princes must be admonished to forbid every description of +intercourse with the pretended Queen and her heretic subjects, and +themselves especially to make or observe no treaties with her, to send +no embassies to her and admit none; to render no help to her of any sort +or kind. + +'Besides those who will be our friends for religion's sake we shall +have others with us--neutrals or heretics of milder sort, or atheists, +with whom England now abounds, who will join us in the interest of the +Queen of Scots. Among them are the Marquis of Winchester, the Earls of +Shrewsbury, Derby, Oxford, Rutland, and several other peers. The Queen +of Scots herself will be of infinite assistance to us in securing these. +She knows who are her secret friends. She has been able so far, and we +trust will always be able, to communicate with them. She will see that +they are ready at the right time. She has often written to me to say +that she hopes that she will be able to escape when the time comes. In +her last letter she urges me to be vehement with his Holiness in pushing +on the enterprise, and bids him have no concern for her own safety. She +believes that she can care for herself. If not, she says she will lose +her life willingly in a cause so sacred. + +'The enemies that we shall have to deal with are the more determined +heretics whom we call Puritans, and certain creatures of the Queen, the +Earls of Leicester and Huntingdon, and a few others. They will have an +advantage in the money in the Treasury, the public arms and stores, and +the army and navy, but none of them have ever seen a camp. The leaders +have been nuzzled in love-making and Court pleasures, and they will all +fly at the first shock of war. They have not a man who can command in +the field. In the whole realm there are but two fortresses which could +stand a three days' siege. The people are enervated by long peace, and, +except a few who have served with the heretics in Flanders, cannot bear +their arms. Of those few some are dead and some have deserted to the +Prince of Parma, a clear proof of the real disposition to revolt. There +is abundance of food and cattle in the country, all of which will be at +our service and cannot be kept from us. Everywhere there are safe and +roomy harbours, almost all undefended. An invading force can be landed +with ease, and there will be no lack of local pilots. Fifteen thousand +trained soldiers will be sufficient, aided by the Catholic English, +though, of course, the larger the force, particularly if it includes +cavalry, the quicker the work will be done and the less the expense. +Practically there will be nothing to overcome save an unwarlike and +undisciplined mob. + +'Sixteen times England has been invaded. Twice only the native race have +repelled the attacking force. They have been defeated on every other +occasion, and with a cause so holy and just as ours we need not fear to +fail. The expenses shall be repaid to his Holiness and the Catholic King +out of the property of the heretics and the Protestant clergy. There +will be ample in these resources to compensate all who give us their +hand. But the work must be done promptly. Delay will be infinitely +dangerous. If we put off, as we have done hitherto, the Catholics will +be tired out and reduced in numbers and strength. The nobles and priests +now in exile, and able to be of such service, will break down in +poverty. The Queen of Scots may be executed or die a natural death, or +something may happen to the Catholic King or his Holiness. The Queen of +England may herself die, a heretic Government may be reconstructed under +a heretic successor, the young Scotch king or some other, and our case +will then be desperate; whereas if we can prevent this and save the +Queen of Scots there will be good hope of converting her son and +reducing the whole island to the obedience of the faith. Now is the +moment. The French Government cannot interfere. The Duke of Guise will +help us for the sake of the faith and for his kinswoman. The Turks are +quiet. The Church was never stronger or more united. Part of Italy is +under the Catholic King; the rest is in league with his Holiness. The +revolt in the Low Countries is all but crushed. The sea provinces are on +the point of surrendering. If they give up the contest their harbours +will be at our service for the invasion. If not, the way to conquer them +is to conquer England. + +'I need not urge how much it imports his Holiness to undertake this +glorious work. He, supremely wise as he is, knows that from this Jezebel +and her supporters come all the perils which disturb the Christian +world. He knows that heretical depravity and all other miseries can only +end when this woman is chastised. Reverence for his Holiness and love +for my afflicted country force me to speak. I submit to his most holy +judgment myself and my advice.' + +The most ardent Catholic apologist will hardly maintain, in the face of +this document, that the English Jesuits and seminary priests were the +innocent missionaries of religion which the modern enemies of +Elizabeth's Government describe them. Father Parsons, the writer of it, +was himself the leader and director of the Jesuit invasion, and cannot +be supposed to have misrepresented the purpose for which they had been +sent over. The point of special interest is the account which he gives +of the state of parties and general feeling in the English people. Was +there that wide disposition to welcome an invading army in so large a +majority of the nation? The question is supposed to have been +triumphantly answered three years later, when it is asserted that the +difference of creed was forgotten, and Catholics and Protestants fought +side by side for the liberties of England. But, in the first place, the +circumstances were changed. The Queen of Scots no longer lived, and the +success of the Armada implied a foreign sovereign. But, next, the +experiment was not tried. The battle was fought at sea, by a fleet +four-fifths of which was composed of Protestant adventurers, fitted out +and manned by those zealous Puritans whose fidelity to the Queen Parsons +himself admitted. Lord Howard may have been an Anglo-Catholic; Roman +Catholic he never was; but he and his brother were the only loyalists in +the House of Howard. Arundel and the rest of his kindred were all that +Parsons claimed for them. How the country levies would have behaved had +Parma landed is still uncertain. It is likely that if the Spanish army +had gained a first success, there might have been some who would have +behaved as Sir William Stanley did. It is observable that Parsons +mentions Leicester and Huntingdon as the only powerful peers on whom the +Queen could rely, and Leicester, otherwise the unfittest man in her +dominions, she chose to command her land army. + +The Duke of Alva and his master Philip, both of them distrusted +political priests. Political priests, they said, did not understand the +facts of things. Theological enthusiasm made them credulous of what they +wished. But Father Parsons's estimate is confirmed in all its parts by +the letters of Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London. Mendoza was +himself a soldier, and his first duty was to learn the real truth. It +may be taken as certain that, with the Queen of Scots still alive to +succeed to the throne, at the time of the scene in the House of Commons, +with which I began this lecture, the great majority of the country party +disliked the Reformers, and were looking forward to the accession of a +Catholic sovereign, and as a consequence to a religious revolution. + +It explains the difficulty of Elizabeth's position and the inconsistency +of her political action. Burghley, Walsingham, Mildmay, Knolles, the +elder Bacon, were believing Protestants, and would have had her put +herself openly at the head of a Protestant European league. They +believed that right and justice were on their side, that their side was +God's cause, as they called it, and that God would care for it. +Elizabeth had no such complete conviction. She disliked dogmatism, +Protestant as well as Catholic. She ridiculed Mr. Cecil and his brothers +in Christ. She thought, like Erasmus, that the articles of faith, for +which men were so eager to kill one another, were subjects which they +knew very little about, and that every man might think what he would on +such matters without injury to the commonwealth. To become 'head of the +name' would involve open war with the Catholic powers. War meant war +taxes, which more than half her subjects would resent or resist. +Religion as she understood it was a development of law--the law of moral +conduct. You could not have two laws in one country, and you could not +have two religions; but the outward form mattered comparatively little. +The people she ruled over were divided about these forms. They were +mainly fools, and if she let them each have chapels and churches of +their own, molehills would become mountains, and the congregations would +go from arguing into fighting. With Parliament to help her, therefore, +she established a Liturgy, in which those who wished to find the Mass +could hear the Mass, while those who wanted predestination and +justification by faith could find it in the Articles. Both could meet +under a common roof, and use a common service, if they would only be +reasonable. If they would not be reasonable, the Catholics might have +their own ritual in their own houses, and would not be interfered with. + +This system continued for the first eleven years of Elizabeth's reign. +No Catholic, she could proudly say, had ever during that time been +molested for his belief. There was a small fine for non-attendance at +church, but even this was rarely levied, and by the confession of the +Jesuits the Queen's policy was succeeding too well. Sensible men began +to see that the differences of religion were not things to quarrel over. +Faith was growing languid. The elder generation, who had lived through +the Edward and Mary revolutions, were satisfied to be left undisturbed; +a new generation was growing up, with new ideas; and so the Church of +Rome bestirred itself. Elizabeth was excommunicated. The cycle began of +intrigue and conspiracy, assassination plots, and Jesuit invasions. +Punishments had to follow, and in spite of herself Elizabeth was driven +into what the Catholics could call religious persecution. Religious it +was not, for the seminary priests were missionaries of treason. But +religious it was made to appear. The English gentleman who wished to +remain loyal, without forfeiting his faith, was taught to see that a +sovereign under the Papal curse had no longer a claim on his allegiance. +If he disobeyed the Pope, he had ceased to be a member of the Church of +Christ. The Papal party grew in coherence, while, opposed to them as +their purpose came in view, the Protestants, who at first had been +inclined to Lutheranism, adopted the deeper and sterner creed of Calvin +and Geneva. The memories of the Marian cruelties revived again. They saw +themselves threatened with a return to stake and fagot. They closed +their ranks and resolved to die rather than submit again to Antichrist. +They might be inferior in numbers. A _plébiscite_ in England at that +moment would have sent Burghley and Walsingham to the scaffold. But the +Lord could save by few as well as by many. Judah had but two tribes out +of the twelve, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the +words of Israel. + +One great mistake had been made by Parsons. He could not estimate what +he could not understand. He admitted that the inhabitants of the towns +were mainly heretic--London, Bristol, Plymouth, and the rest--but he +despised them as merchants, craftsmen, mean persons who had no heart to +fight in them. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the +sixteenth century than the effect of Calvinism in levelling distinctions +of rank and in steeling and ennobling the character of common men. In +Scotland, in the Low Countries, in France, there was the same +phenomenon. In Scotland, the Kirk was the creation of the preachers and +the people, and peasants and workmen dared to stand in the field against +belted knights and barons, who had trampled on their fathers for +centuries. The artisans of the Low Countries had for twenty years defied +the whole power of Spain. The Huguenots were not a fifth part of the +French nation, yet defeat could never dishearten them. Again and again +they forced Crown and nobles to make terms with them. It was the same in +England. The allegiance to their feudal leaders dissolved into a higher +obligation to the King of kings, whose elect they believed themselves to +be. Election to them was not a theological phantasm, but an enlistment +in the army of God. A little flock they might be, but they were a +dangerous people to deal with, most of all in the towns on the sea. The +sea was the element of the Reformers. The Popes had no jurisdiction over +the winds and waves. Rochelle was the citadel of the Huguenots. The +English merchants and mariners had wrongs of their own, perpetually +renewed, which fed the bitterness of their indignation. Touch where they +would in Spanish ports, the inquisitor's hand was on their ships' crews, +and the crews, unless they denied their faith, were handed over to the +stake or the galleys. The Calvinists are accused of intolerance. I fancy +that even in these humane and enlightened days we should not be very +tolerant if the King of Dahomey were to burn every European visitor to +his dominions who would not worship Mumbo Jumbo. The Duke of Alva was +not very merciful to heretics, but he tried to bridle the zeal of the +Holy Office in burning the English seamen. Even Philip himself +remonstrated. It was to no purpose. The Holy Office said they would +think about it, but concluded to go on. I am not the least surprised if +the English seamen were intolerant. I should be very much surprised if +they had not been. The Queen could not protect them. They had to protect +themselves as they could, and make Spanish vessels, when they could +catch them, pay for the iniquities of their rulers. + +With such a temper rising on both sides, Elizabeth's policy had but a +poor chance. She still hoped that the better sense of mankind would keep +the doctrinal enthusiasts in order. Elizabeth wished her subjects would +be content to live together in unity of spirit, if not in unity of +theory, in the bond of peace, not hatred, in righteousness of life, not +in orthodoxy preached by stake and gibbet. She was content to wait and +to persevere. She refused to declare war. War would tear the world in +pieces. She knew her danger. She knew that she was in constant peril of +assassination. She knew that if the Protestants were crushed in +Scotland, in France, and in the Low Countries, her own turn would +follow. To protect insurgents avowedly would be to justify insurrection +against herself. But what she would not do openly she would do secretly. +What she would not do herself she let her subjects do. Thousands of +English volunteers fought in Flanders for the States, and in France for +the Huguenots. When the English Treasury was shut to the entreaties of +Coligny or William of Orange the London citizens untied their +purse-strings. Her friends in Scotland fared ill. They were encouraged +by promises which were not observed, because to observe them might bring +on war. They committed themselves for her sake. They fell one after +another--Murray, Morton, Gowrie--into bloody graves. Others took their +places and struggled on. The Scotch Reformation was saved. Scotland was +not allowed to open its arms to an invading army to strike England +across the Border. But this was held to be their sufficient recompense. +They cared for their cause as well as for the English Queen, and they +had their reward. If they saved her they saved their own country. She +too did not lie on a bed of roses. To prevent open war she was exposing +her own life to the assassin. At any moment a pistol-shot or a stab with +a dagger might add Elizabeth to the list of victims. She knew it, yet +she went on upon her own policy, and faced in her person her own share +of the risk. One thing only she did. If she would not defend her friends +and her subjects as Queen of England, she left them free to defend +themselves. She allowed traitors to be hanged when they were caught at +their work. She allowed the merchants to fit out their privateer fleets, +to defend at their own cost the shores of England, and to teach the +Spaniards to fear their vengeance. + +But how long was all this to last? How long were loyal citizens to feel +that they were living over a loaded mine?--throughout their own country, +throughout the Continent, at Rome and at Madrid, at Brussels and at +Paris, a legion of conspirators were driving their shafts under the +English commonwealth. The Queen might be indifferent to her own danger, +but on the Queen's life hung the peace of the whole realm. A stroke of a +poniard, a touch of a trigger, and swords would be flying from their +scabbards in every county; England would become, like France, one wild +scene of anarchy and civil war. No successor had been named. The Queen +refused to hear a successor declared. Mary Stuart's hand had been in +every plot since she crossed the Border. Twice the House of Commons had +petitioned for her execution. Elizabeth would neither touch her life nor +allow her hopes of the crown to be taken from her. The Bond of +Association was but a remedy of despair, and the Act of Parliament would +have passed for little in the tempest which would immediately rise. The +agony reached a height when the fatal news came from the Netherlands +that there at last assassination had done its work. The Prince of +Orange, after many failures, had been finished, and a libel was found in +the Palace at Westminster exhorting the ladies of the household to +provide a Judith among themselves to rid the world of the English +Holofernes. + +One part of Elizabeth's subjects, at any rate, were not disposed to sit +down in patience under the eternal nightmare. From Spain was to come the +army of deliverance for which the Jesuits were so passionately longing. +To the Spaniards the Pope was looking for the execution of the Bull of +Deposition. Father Parsons had left out of his estimate the Protestant +adventurers of London and Plymouth, who, besides their creed and their +patriotism, had their private wrongs to revenge. Philip might talk of +peace, and perhaps in weariness might at times seriously wish for it; +but between the Englishmen whose life was on the ocean and the Spanish +Inquisition, which had burned so many of them, there was no peace +possible. To them, Spain was the natural enemy. Among the daring spirits +who had sailed with Drake round the globe, who had waylaid the Spanish +gold ships, and startled the world with their exploits, the joy of whose +lives had been to fight Spaniards wherever they could meet with them, +there was but one wish--for an honest open war. The great galleons were +to them no objects of terror. The Spanish naval power seemed to them a +'Colossus stuffed with clouts.' They were Protestants all of them, but +their theology was rather practical than speculative. If Italians and +Spaniards chose to believe in the Mass, it was not any affair of theirs. +Their quarrel was with the insolent pretence of Catholics to force their +creed on others with sword and cannon. The spirit which was working in +them was the genius of freedom. On their own element they felt that +they could be the spiritual tyrants' masters. But as things were going, +rebellion was likely to break out at home; their homesteads might be +burning, their country overrun with the Prince of Parma's army, the +Inquisition at their own doors, and a Catholic sovereign bringing back +the fagots of Smithfield. + +The Reformation at its origin was no introduction of novel heresies. It +was a revolt of the laity of Europe against the profligacy and avarice +of the clergy. The popes and cardinals pretended to be the +representatives of Heaven. When called to account for abuse of their +powers, they had behaved precisely as mere corrupt human kings and +aristocracies behave. They had intrigued; they had excommunicated; they +had set nation against nation, sovereigns against their subjects; they +had encouraged assassination; they had made themselves infamous by +horrid massacres, and had taught one half of foolish Christendom to hate +the other. The hearts of the poor English seamen whose comrades had been +burnt at Seville to make a Spanish holiday, thrilled with a sacred +determination to end such scenes. The purpose that was in them broke +into a wild war-music, as the wind harp swells and screams under the +breath of the storm. I found in the Record Office an unsigned letter of +some inspired old sea-dog, written in a bold round hand and addressed to +Elizabeth. The ships' companies which in summer served in Philip's +men-of-war went in winter in thousands to catch cod on the Banks of +Newfoundland. 'Give me five vessels,' the writer said, 'and I will go +out and sink them all, and the galleons shall rot in Cadiz Harbour for +want of hands to sail them. But decide, Madam, and decide quickly. Time +flies, and will not return. _The wings of man's life are plumed with the +feathers of death._' + +The Queen did not decide. The five ships were not sent, and the poor +Castilian sailors caught their cod in peace. But in spite of herself +Elizabeth was driven forward by the tendencies of things. The death of +the Prince of Orange left the States without a Government. The Prince of +Parma was pressing them hard. Without a leader they were lost. They +offered themselves to Elizabeth, to be incorporated in the English +Empire. They said that if she refused they must either submit to Spain +or become provinces of France. The Netherlands, whether Spanish or +French, would be equally dangerous to England. The Netherlands once +brought back under the Pope, England's turn would come next; while to +accept the proposal meant instant and desperate war, both with France +and Spain too--for France would never allow England again to gain a foot +on the Continent. Elizabeth knew not what to do. She would and she would +not. She did not accept; she did not refuse. It was neither No nor Yes. +Philip, who was as fond of indirect ways as herself, proposed to quicken +her irresolution. + +The harvest had failed in Galicia, and the population were starving. +England grew more corn than she wanted, and, under a special promise +that the crews should not be molested, a fleet of corn-traders had gone +with cargoes of grain to Coruña, Bilbao, and Santander. The King of +Spain, on hearing that Elizabeth was treating with the States, issued a +sudden order to seize the vessels, confiscate the cargoes, and imprison +the men. The order was executed. One English ship only was lucky enough +to escape by the adroitness of her commander. The _Primrose_, of London, +lay in Bilbao Roads with a captain and fifteen hands. The mayor, on +receiving the order, came on board to look over the ship. He then went +on shore for a sufficient force to carry out the seizure. After he was +gone the captain heard of the fate which was intended for him. The mayor +returned with two boatloads of soldiers, stepped up the ladder, touched +the captain on the shoulder, and told him he was a prisoner. The +Englishmen snatched pike and cutlass, pistol and battleaxe, killed seven +or eight of the Spanish boarders, threw the rest overboard, and flung +stones on them as they scrambled into their boats. The mayor, who had +fallen into the sea, caught a rope and was hauled up when the fight was +over. The cable was cut, the sails hoisted, and in a few minutes the +_Primrose_ was under way for England, with the mayor of Bilbao below the +hatches. No second vessel got away. If Philip had meant to frighten +Elizabeth he could not have taken a worse means of doing it, for he had +exasperated that particular part of the English population which was +least afraid of him. He had broken faith besides, and had seized some +hundreds of merchants and sailors who had gone merely to relieve Spanish +distress. Elizabeth, as usual, would not act herself. She sent no ships +from her own navy to demand reparation; but she gave the adventurers a +free hand. The London and Plymouth citizens determined to read Spain a +lesson which should make an impression. They had the worst fears for the +fate of the prisoners; but if they could not save, they could avenge +them. Sir Francis Drake, who wished for nothing better than to be at +work again, volunteered his services, and a fleet was collected at +Plymouth of twenty-five sail, every one of them fitted out by private +enterprise. No finer armament, certainly no better-equipped armament, +ever left the English shores. The expenses were, of course, enormous. Of +seamen and soldiers there were between two and three thousand. Drake's +name was worth an army. The cost was to be recovered out of the +expedition somehow; the Spaniards were to be made to pay for it; but how +or when was left to Drake's judgment. This time there was no second in +command sent by the friends of Spain to hang upon his arm. By universal +consent he had the absolute command. His instructions were merely to +inquire at Spanish ports into the meaning of the arrest. Beyond that he +was left to go where he pleased and do what he pleased on his own +responsibility. The Queen said frankly that if it proved convenient she +intended to disown him. Drake had no objection to being disowned, so he +could teach the Spaniards to be more careful how they handled +Englishmen. What came of it will be the subject of the next lecture. +Father Parsons said the Protestant traders of England had grown +effeminate and dared not fight. In the ashes of their own smoking cities +the Spaniards had to learn that Father Parsons had misread his +countrymen. If Drake had been given to heroics he might have left +Virgil's lines inscribed above the broken arms of Castile at St. +Domingo: + + En ego victa situ quam veri effeta senectus + Arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit: + Respice ad hæc. + + + + +LECTURE VI + +THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES + + +Queen Elizabeth and her brother-in-law of Spain were reluctant champions +of opposing principles. In themselves they had no wish to quarrel, but +each was driven forward by fate and circumstance--Philip by the genius +of the Catholic religion, Elizabeth by the enthusiasts for freedom and +by the advice of statesmen who saw no safety for her except in daring. +Both wished for peace, and refused to see that peace was impossible; but +both were compelled to yield to their subjects' eagerness. Philip had to +threaten England with invasion; Elizabeth had to show Philip that +England had a long arm, which Spanish wisdom would do well to fear. It +was a singular position. Philip had outraged orthodoxy and dared the +anger of Rome by maintaining an ambassador at Elizabeth's Court after +her excommunication. He had laboured for a reconciliation with a +sincerity which his secret letters make it impossible to doubt. He had +condescended even to sue for it, in spite of Drake and the voyage of the +_Pelican_; yet he had helped the Pope to set Ireland in a flame. He had +encouraged Elizabeth's Catholic subjects in conspiracy after conspiracy. +He had approved of attempts to dispose of her as he had disposed of the +Prince of Orange. Elizabeth had retaliated, though with half a heart, by +letting her soldiers volunteer into the service of the revolted +Netherlands, by permitting English privateers to plunder the Spanish +colonies, seize the gold ships, and revenge their own wrongs. Each, +perhaps, had wished to show the other what an open war would cost them +both, and each drew back when war appeared inevitable. + +Events went their way. Holland and Zeeland, driven to extremity, had +petitioned for incorporation with England; as a counter-stroke and a +warning, Philip had arrested the English corn ships and imprisoned the +owners and the crews. Her own fleet was nothing. The safety of the +English shores depended on the spirit of the adventurers, and she could +not afford to check the anger with which the news was received. To +accept the offer of the States was war, and war she would not have. +Herself, she would not act at all; but in her usual way she might let +her subjects act for themselves, and plead, as Philip pleaded in excuse +for the Inquisition, that she could not restrain them. And thus it was +that in September 1585, Sir Francis Drake found himself with a fleet of +twenty-five privateers and 2,500 men who had volunteered to serve with +him under his own command. He had no distinct commission. The expedition +had been fitted out as a private undertaking. Neither officers nor crews +had been engaged for the service of the Crown. They received no wages. +In the eye of the law they were pirates. They were going on their own +account to read the King of Spain a necessary lesson and pay their +expenses at the King of Spain's cost. Young Protestant England had taken +fire. The name of Drake set every Protestant heart burning, and hundreds +of gallant gentlemen had pressed in to join. A grandson of Burghley had +come, and Edward Winter the Admiral's son, and Francis Knolles the +Queen's cousin, and Martin Frobisher, and Christopher Carlile. Philip +Sidney had wished to make one also in the glory; but Philip Sidney was +needed elsewhere. The Queen's consent had been won from her at a bold +interval in her shifting moods. The hot fit might pass away, and +Burghley sent Drake a hint to be off before her humour changed. No word +was said. On the morning of the 14th of September the signal flag was +flying from Drake's maintop to up anchor and away. Drake, as he admitted +after, 'was not the most assured of her Majesty's perseverance to let +them go forward.' Past Ushant he would be beyond reach of recall. With +light winds and calms they drifted across the Bay. They fell in with a +few Frenchmen homeward-bound from the Banks, and let them pass +uninjured. A large Spanish ship which they met next day, loaded with +excellent fresh salt fish, was counted lawful prize. The fish was new +and good, and was distributed through the fleet. Standing leisurely on, +they cleared Finisterre and came up with the Isles of Bayona, at the +mouth of Vigo Harbour. They dropped anchor there, and 'it was a great +matter and a royal sight to see them.' The Spanish Governor, Don Pedro +Bemadero, sent off with some astonishment to know who and what they +were. Drake answered with a question whether England and Spain were at +war, and if not why the English merchants had been arrested. Don Pedro +could but say that he knew of no war, and for the merchants an order had +come for their release. For reply Drake landed part of his force on the +islands, and Don Pedro, not knowing what to make of such visitors, found +it best to propitiate them with cartloads of wine and fruit. The +weather, which had been hitherto fine, showed signs of change. The wind +rose, and the sea with it. The anchorage was exposed, and Drake sent +Christopher Carlile, with one of his ships and a few pinnaces, up the +harbour to look out for better shelter. Their appearance created a panic +in the town. The alarmed inhabitants took to their boats, carrying off +their property and their Church plate. Carlile, who had a Calvinistic +objection to idolatry, took the liberty of detaining part of these +treasures. From one boat he took a massive silver cross belonging to the +High Church at Vigo; from another an image of Our Lady, which the +sailors relieved of her clothes and were said, when she was stripped, to +have treated with some indignity. Carlile's report being satisfactory, +the whole fleet was brought the next day up the harbour and moored above +the town. The news had by this time spread into the country. The +Governor of Galicia came down with all the force which he could collect +in a hurry. Perhaps he was in time to save Vigo itself. Perhaps Drake, +having other aims in view, did not care to be detained over a smaller +object. The Governor, at any rate, saw that the English were too strong +for him to meddle with. The best that he could look for was to persuade +them to go away on the easiest terms. Drake and he met in boats for a +parley. Drake wanted water and fresh provisions. Drake was to be allowed +to furnish himself undisturbed. He had secured what he most wanted. He +had shown the King of Spain that he was not invulnerable in his own +home dominion, and he sailed away unmolested. Madrid was in +consternation. That the English could dare insult the first prince in +Europe on the sacred soil of the Peninsula itself seemed like a dream. +The Council of State sat for three days considering the meaning of it. +Drake's name was already familiar in Spanish ears. It was not +conceivable that he had come only to inquire after the arrested ships +and seamen. But what could the English Queen be about? Did she not know +that she existed only by the forbearance of Philip? Did she know the +King of Spain's force? Did not she and her people quake? Little England, +it was said by some of these councillors, was to be swallowed at a +mouthful by the King of half the world. The old Admiral Santa Cruz was +less confident about the swallowing. He observed that England had many +teeth, and that instead of boasting of Spanish greatness it would be +better to provide against what she might do with them. Till now the +corsairs had appeared only in twos and threes. With such a fleet behind +him Drake might go where he pleased. He might be going to the South +Seas again. He might take Madeira if he liked, or the Canary Islands. +Santa Cruz himself thought he would make for the West Indies and Panama, +and advised the sending out there instantly every available ship that +they had. + +The gold fleet was Drake's real object. He had information that it would +be on its way to Spain by the Cape de Verde Islands, and he had learnt +the time when it was to be expected. From Vigo he sailed for the +Canaries, looked in at Palma, with 'intention to have taken our pleasure +there,' but found the landing dangerous and the town itself not worth +the risk. He ran on to the Cape de Verde Islands. He had measured his +time too narrowly. The gold fleet had arrived and had gone. He had +missed it by twelve hours, 'the reason,' as he said with a sigh, 'best +known to God.' The chance of prize-money was lost, but the political +purpose of the expedition could still be completed. The Cape de Verde +Islands could not sail away, and a beginning could be made with Sant +Iago. Sant Iago was a thriving, well-populated town, and down in Drake's +book as specially needing notice, some Plymouth sailors having been +recently murdered there. Christopher Carlile, always handy and +trustworthy, was put on shore with a thousand men to attack the place on +the undefended side. The Spanish commander, the bishop, and most of the +people fled, as at Vigo, into the mountains with their plate and money. +Carlile entered without opposition, and flew St. George's Cross from the +castle as a signal to the fleet. Drake came in, landed the rest of his +force, and took possession. It happened to be the 17th of November--the +anniversary of the Queen's accession--and ships and batteries, dressed +out with English flags, celebrated the occasion with salvoes of cannon. +Houses and magazines were then searched and plundered. Wine was found in +large quantities, rich merchandise for the Indian trade, and other +valuables. Of gold and silver nothing--it had all been removed. Drake +waited for a fortnight, hoping that the Spaniards would treat for the +ransom of the city. When they made no sign, he marched twelve miles +inland to a village where the Governor and the bishop were said to have +taken refuge. But the village was found deserted. The Spaniards had +gone to the mountains, where it was useless to follow them, and were too +proud to bargain with a pirate chief. Sant Iago was a beautifully built +city, and Drake would perhaps have spared it; but a ship-boy who had +strayed was found murdered and barbarously mutilated. The order was +given to burn. Houses, magazines, churches, public buildings were turned +to ashes, and the work being finished Drake went on, as Santa Cruz +expected, for the Spanish West Indies. The Spaniards were magnificent in +all that they did and touched. They built their cities in their new +possessions on the most splendid models of the Old World. St. Domingo +and Carthagena had their castles and cathedrals, palaces, squares, and +streets, grand and solid as those at Cadiz and Seville, and raised as +enduring monuments of the power and greatness of the Castilian monarchs. +To these Drake meant to pay a visit. Beyond them was the Isthmus, where +he had made his first fame and fortune, with Panama behind, the depôt of +the Indian treasure. So far all had gone well with him. He had taken +what he wanted out of Vigo; he had destroyed Sant Iago and had not lost +a man. Unfortunately he had now a worse enemy to deal with than Spanish +galleons or Spanish garrisons. He was in the heat of the tropics. Yellow +fever broke out and spread through the fleet. Of those who caught the +infection few recovered, or recovered only to be the wrecks of +themselves. It was swift in its work. In a few days more than two +hundred had died. But the north-east trade blew merrily. The fleet sped +on before it. In eighteen days they were in the roads at Dominica, the +island of brooks and rivers and fruit. Limes and lemons and oranges were +not as yet. But there were leaves and roots of the natural growth, known +to the Caribs as antidotes to the fever, and the Caribs, when they +learnt that the English were the Spaniards' enemies, brought them this +precious remedy and taught them the use of it. The ships were washed and +ventilated, and the water casks refilled. The infection seemed to have +gone as suddenly as it appeared, and again all was well. + +Christmas was kept at St. Kitts, which was then uninhabited. A council +of war was held to consider what should be done next. St. Domingo lay +nearest to them. It was the finest of all the Spanish colonial cities. +It was the capital of the West Indian Government, the great centre of +West Indian commerce. In the cathedral, before the high altar, lay +Columbus and his brother Diego. In natural wealth no island in the world +outrivals Espinola, where the city stood. A vast population had +collected there, far away from harm, protected, as they supposed, by the +majesty of the mother country, the native inhabitants almost +exterminated, themselves undreaming that any enemy could approach them +from the ocean, and therefore negligent of defence and enjoying +themselves in easy security. + +Drake was to give them a new experience and a lesson for the future. On +their way across from St. Kitts the adventurers overhauled a small +vessel bound to the same port as they were. From the crew of this vessel +they learnt that the harbour at St. Domingo was formed, like so many +others in the West Indies, by a long sandspit, acting as a natural +breakwater. The entrance was a narrow inlet at the extremity of the +spit, and batteries had been mounted there to cover it. To land on the +outer side of the sandbank was made impossible by the surf. There was +one sheltered point only where boats could go on shore, but this was ten +miles distant from the town. + +Ten miles was but a morning's march. Drake went in himself in a pinnace, +surveyed the landing-place, and satisfied himself of its safety. The +plan of attack at Sant Iago was to be exactly repeated. On New Year's +Eve Christopher Carlile was again landed with half the force in the +fleet. Drake remained with the rest, and prepared to force the entrance +of the harbour if Carlile succeeded. Their coming had been seen from the +city. The alarm had been given, and the women and children, the money in +the treasury, the consecrated plate, movable property of all kinds, were +sent off inland as a precaution. Of regular troops there seem to have +been none, but in so populous a city there was no difficulty in +collecting a respectable force to defend it. The hidalgos formed a body +of cavalry. The people generally were unused to arms, but they were +Spaniards and brave men, and did not mean to leave their homes without +a fight for it. Carlile lay still for the night. He marched at eight in +the morning on New Year's Day, advanced leisurely, and at noon found +himself in front of the wall. So far he had met no resistance, but a +considerable body of horse--gentlemen and their servants +chiefly--charged down on him out of the bush and out of the town. He +formed into a square to receive them. They came on gallantly, but were +received with pike and shot, and after a few attempts gave up and +retired. Two gates were in front of Carlile, with a road to each leading +through a jungle. At each gate were cannon, and the jungle was lined +with musketeers. He divided his men and attacked both together. One +party he led in person. The cannon opened on him, and an Englishman next +to him was killed. He dashed on, leaving the Spaniards no time to +reload, carried the gate at a rush, and cut his way through the streets +to the great square. The second division had been equally successful, +and St. Domingo was theirs except the castle, which was still untaken. +Carlile's numbers were too small to occupy a large city. He threw up +barricades and fortified himself in the square for the night. Drake +brought the fleet in at daybreak, and landed guns, when the castle +surrendered. A messenger--a negro boy--was sent to the Governor to learn +the terms which he was prepared to offer to save the city from pillage. +The Spanish officers were smarting with the disgrace. One of them struck +the lad through the body with a lance. He ran back bleeding to the +English lines and died at Drake's feet. Sir Francis was a dangerous man +to provoke. Such doings had to be promptly stopped. In the part of the +town which he occupied was a monastery with a number of friars in it. +The religious orders, he well knew, were the chief instigators of the +policy which was maddening the world. He sent two of these friars with +the provost-marshal to the spot where the boy had been struck, promptly +hanged them, and then despatched another to tell the Governor that he +would hang two more every day at the same place till the officer was +punished. The Spaniards had long learnt to call Drake the Draque, the +serpent, the devil. They feared that the devil might be a man of his +word. The offender was surrendered. It was not enough. Drake insisted +that they should do justice on him themselves. The Governor found it +prudent to comply, and the too hasty officer was executed. + +The next point was the ransom of the city. The Spaniards still +hesitating, 200 men were told off each morning to burn, while the rest +searched the private houses, and palaces, and magazines. Government +House was the grandest building in the New World. It was approached by +broad flights of marble stairs. Great doors opened on a spacious gallery +leading into a great hall, and above the portico hung the arms of +Spain--a globe representing the world, a horse leaping upon it, and in +the horse's mouth a scroll with the haughty motto, 'Non sufficit orbis.' +Palace and scutcheon were levelled into dust by axe and gunpowder, and +each day for a month the destruction went on, Drake's demands steadily +growing and the unhappy Governor vainly pleading impossibility. + +Vandalism, atrocity unheard of among civilised nations, dishonour to the +Protestant cause, Drake deserving to swing at his own yardarm; so +indignant Liberalism shrieked, and has not ceased shrieking. Let it be +remembered that for fifteen years the Spaniards had been burning English +seamen whenever they could catch them, plotting to kill the Queen and +reduce England itself into vassaldom to the Pope. The English nation, +the loyal part of it, were replying to the wild pretension by the hands +of their own admiral. If Philip chose to countenance assassins, if the +Holy Office chose to burn English sailors as heretics, those heretics +had a right to make Spain understand that such a game was dangerous, +that, as Santa Cruz had said, they had teeth and could use them. + +It was found in the end that the Governor's plea of impossibility was +more real than was at first believed. The gold and silver had been +really carried off. All else that was valuable had been burnt or taken +by the English. The destruction of a city so solidly built was tedious +and difficult. Nearly half of it was blown up. The cathedral was spared, +perhaps as the resting-place of Columbus. Drake had other work before +him. After staying a month in undisturbed occupation he agreed to +accept 25,000 ducats as a ransom for what was left and sailed away. + +It was now February. The hot season was coming on, when the climate +would be dangerous. There was still much to do and the time was running +short. Panama had to be left for another opportunity. Drake's object was +to deal blows which would shake the faith of Europe in the Spanish +power. Carthagena stood next to St. Domingo among the Spanish West +Indian fortresses. The situation was strong. In 1740 Carthagena was able +to beat off Vernon and a great English fleet. But Drake's crews were in +high health and spirits, and he determined to see what he could do with +it. Surprise was no longer to be hoped for. The alarm had spread over +the Caribbean Sea. But in their present humour they were ready to go +anywhere and dare anything, and to Carthagena they went. + +Drake's name carried terror before it. Every non-combatant--old men, +women and children--had been cleared out before he arrived, but the rest +prepared for a smart defence. The harbour at Carthagena was formed, as +at St. Domingo and Port Royal, by a sandspit. The spit was long, +narrow, in places not fifty yards wide, and covered with prickly bush, +and along this, as before, it was necessary to advance to reach the +city. A trench had been cut across at the neck, and a stiff barricade +built and armed with heavy guns; behind this were several hundred +musketeers, while the bush was full of Indians with poisoned arrows. +Pointed stakes--poisoned also--had been driven into the ground along the +approaches, on which to step was death. Two large galleys, full of men, +patrolled inside the bank on the harbour edge, and with these +preparations the inhabitants hoped to keep the dreadful Drake from +reaching them. Carlile, as before, was to do the land fighting. He was +set on shore three miles down the spit. The tide is slight in those +seas, but he waited till it was out, and advanced along the outer shore +at low-water mark. He was thus covered by the bank from the harbour +galleys, and their shots passed over him. Two squadrons of horse came +out, but could do nothing to him on the broken ground. The English +pushed on to the wall, scarcely losing a man. They charged, scaled the +parapets, and drove the Spanish infantry back at point of pike. Carlile +killed their commander with his own hand. The rest fled after a short +struggle, and Drake was master of Carthagena. Here for six weeks he +remained. The Spaniards withdrew out of the city, and there were again +parleys over the ransom money. Courtesies were exchanged among the +officers. Drake entertained the Governor and his suite. The Governor +returned the hospitality and received Drake and the English captains. +Drake demanded 100,000 ducats. The Spaniards offered 30,000, and +protested that they could pay no more. The dispute might have lasted +longer, but it was cut short by the re-appearance of the yellow fever in +the fleet, this time in a deadlier form. The Spanish offer was accepted, +and Carthagena was left to its owners. It was time to be off, for the +heat was telling, and the men began to drop with appalling rapidity. +Nombre de Dios and Panama were near and under their lee, and Drake threw +longing eyes on what, if all else had been well, might have proved an +easy capture. But on a review of their strength, it was found that +there were but 700 fit for duty who could be spared for the service, and +a council of war decided that a march across the Isthmus with so small a +force was too dangerous to be ventured. Enough had been done for glory, +enough for the political impression to be made in Europe. The King of +Spain had been dared in his own dominions. Three fine Spanish cities had +been captured by storm and held to ransom. In other aspects the success +had fallen short of expectation. This time they had taken no _Cacafuego_ +with a year's produce of the mines in her hold. The plate and coin had +been carried off, and the spoils had been in a form not easily turned to +value. The expedition had been fitted out by private persons to pay its +own cost. The result in money was but 60,000_l._ Forty thousand had to +be set aside for expenses. There remained but 20,000_l._ to be shared +among the ships' companies. Men and officers had entered, high and low, +without wages, on the chance of what they might get. The officers and +owners gave a significant demonstration of the splendid spirit in which +they had gone about their work. They decided to relinquish their own +claims on the ransom paid for Carthagena, and bestow the same on the +common seamen, 'wishing it were so much again as would be a sufficient +reward for their painful endeavour.' + +Thus all were well satisfied, conscious all that they had done their +duty to their Queen and country. The adventurers' fleet turned homewards +at the beginning of April. What men could do they had achieved. They +could not fight against the pestilence of the tropics. For many days the +yellow fever did its deadly work among them, and only slowly abated. +They were delayed by calms and unfavourable winds. Their water ran +short. They had to land again at Cape Antonio, the western point of +Cuba, and sink wells to supply themselves. Drake himself, it was +observed, worked with spade and bucket, like the meanest person in the +whole company, always foremost where toil was to be endured or honour +won, the wisest in the devising of enterprises, the calmest in danger, +the first to set an example of energy in difficulties, and, above all, +the firmest in maintaining order and discipline. The fever slackened as +they reached the cooler latitudes. They worked their way up the Bahama +Channel, going north to avoid the trades. The French Protestants had +been attempting to colonise in Florida. The Spaniards had built a +fortress on the coast, to observe their settlements and, as occasion +offered, cut Huguenot throats. As he passed by Drake paid this fortress +a visit and wiped it out. Farther north again he was in time to save the +remnant of an English settlement, rashly planted there by another +brilliant servant of Queen Elizabeth. + +Of all the famous Elizabethans Sir Walter Raleigh is the most +romantically interesting. His splendid and varied gifts, his chequered +fortunes, and his cruel end, will embalm his memory in English history. +But Raleigh's great accomplishments promised more than they performed. +His hand was in everything, but of work successfully completed he had +less to show than others far his inferiors, to whom fortune had offered +fewer opportunities. He was engaged in a hundred schemes at once, and in +every one of them there was always some taint of self, some personal +ambition or private object to be gained. His life is a record of +undertakings begun in enthusiasm, maintained imperfectly, and failures +in the end. Among his other adventures he had sent a colony to Virginia. +He had imagined, or had been led by others to believe, that there was an +Indian Court there brilliant as Montezuma's, an enlightened nation +crying to be admitted within the charmed circle of Gloriana's subjects. +His princes and princesses proved things of air, or mere Indian savages; +and of Raleigh there remains nothing in Virginia save the name of the +city which is called after him. The starving survivors of his settlement +on the Roanoke River were taken on board by Drake's returning squadron +and carried home to England, where they all arrived safely, to the glory +of God, as our pious ancestors said and meant in unconventional +sincerity, on the 28th of July, 1586. + +The expedition, as I have said, barely paid its cost. In the shape of +wages the officers received nothing, and the crews but a few pounds a +man; but there was, perhaps, not one of them who was not better pleased +with the honour which he had brought back than if he had come home +loaded with doubloons. + +Startled Catholic Europe meanwhile rubbed its eyes and began to see that +the 'enterprise of England,' as the intended invasion was called, might +not be the easy thing which the seminary priests described it. The +seminary priests had said that so far as England was Protestant at all +it was Protestant only by the accident of its Government, that the +immense majority of the people were Catholic at heart and were thirsting +for a return to the fold, that on the first appearance of a Spanish army +of deliverance the whole edifice which Elizabeth had raised would +crumble to the ground. I suppose it is true that if the world had then +been advanced to its present point of progress, if there had been then +recognised a Divine right to rule in the numerical majority, even +without a Spanish army the seminary priests would have had their way. +Elizabeth's Parliaments were controlled by the municipalities of the +towns, and the towns were Protestant. A Parliament chosen by universal +suffrage and electoral districts would have sent Cecil and Walsingham +into private life or to the scaffold, replaced the Mass in the churches, +and reduced the Queen, if she had been left on the throne, into the +humble servant of the Pope and Philip. It would not perhaps have lasted, +but that, so far as I can judge, would have been the immediate result, +and instead of a Reformation we should have had the light come in the +shape of lightning. But I have often asked my Radical friends what is to +be done if out of every hundred enlightened voters two-thirds will give +their votes one way, but are afraid to fight, and the remaining third +will not only vote but will fight too if the poll goes against them? +Which has then the right to rule? I can tell them which will rule. The +brave and resolute minority will rule. Plato says that if one man was +stronger than all the rest of mankind he would rule all the rest of +mankind. It must be so, because there is no appeal. The majority must be +prepared to assert their Divine right with their right hands, or it will +go the way that other Divine rights have gone before. I will not believe +the world to have been so ill-constructed that there are rights which +cannot be enforced. It appears to me that the true right to rule in any +nation lies with those who are best and bravest, whether their numbers +are large or small; and three centuries ago the best and bravest part of +this English nation had determined, though they were but a third of it, +that Pope and Spaniard should be no masters of theirs. Imagination goes +for much in such excited times. To the imagination of Europe in the +sixteenth century the power of Spain appeared irresistible if she chose +to exert it. Heretic Dutchmen might rebel in a remote province, English +pirates might take liberties with Spanish traders, but the Prince of +Parma was making the Dutchmen feel their master at last. The pirates +were but so many wasps, with venom in their stings, but powerless to +affect the general tendencies of things. Except to the shrewder eyes of +such men as Santa Cruz the strength of the English at sea had been left +out of count in the calculations of the resources of Elizabeth's +Government. Suddenly a fleet of these same pirates, sent out, unassisted +by their sovereign, by the private impulse of a few individuals, had +insulted the sacred soil of Spain herself, sailed into Vigo, pillaged +the churches, taken anything that they required, and had gone away +unmolested. They had attacked, stormed, burnt, or held to ransom three +of Spain's proudest colonial cities, and had come home unfought with. +The Catholic conspirators had to recognise that they had a worse enemy +to deal with than Puritan controversialists or spoilt Court favourites. +The Protestant English mariners stood between them and their prey, and +had to be encountered on an element which did not bow to popes or +princes, before Mary Stuart was to wear Elizabeth's crown or Cardinal +Allen be enthroned at Canterbury. It was a revelation to all parties. +Elizabeth herself had not expected--perhaps had not wished--so signal a +success. War was now looked on as inevitable. The Spanish admirals +represented that the national honour required revenge for an injury so +open and so insolent. The Pope, who had been long goading the lethargic +Philip into action, believed that now at last he would be compelled to +move; and even Philip himself, enduring as he was, had been roused to +perceive that intrigues and conspiracies would serve his turn no +longer. He must put out his strength in earnest, or his own Spaniards +might turn upon him as unworthy of the crown of Isabella. Very +reluctantly he allowed the truth to be brought home to him. He had never +liked the thought of invading England. If he conquered it, he would not +be allowed to keep it. Mary Stuart would have to be made queen, and Mary +Stuart was part French, and might be wholly French. The burden of the +work would be thrown entirely on his shoulders, and his own reward was +to be the Church's blessing and the approval of his own +conscience--nothing else, so far as he could see. The Pope would recover +his annates, his Peter's pence, and his indulgence market. + +If the thing was to be done, the Pope, it was clear, ought to pay part +of the cost, and this was what the Pope did not intend to do if he could +help it. The Pope was flattering himself that Drake's performance would +compel Spain to go to war with England whether he assisted or did not. +In this matter Philip attempted to undeceive his Holiness. He instructed +Olivarez, his ambassador at Rome, to tell the Pope that nothing had +been yet done to him by the English which he could not overlook, and +unless the Pope would come down with a handsome contribution peace he +would make. The Pope stormed and raged; he said he doubted whether +Philip was a true son of the Church at all; he flung plates and dishes +at the servants' heads at dinner. He said that if he gave Philip money +Philip would put it in his pocket and laugh at him. Not one maravedi +would he give till a Spanish army was actually landed on English shores, +and from this resolution he was not to be moved. + +To Philip it was painfully certain that if he invaded and conquered +England the English Catholics would insist that he must make Mary Stuart +queen. He did not like Mary Stuart. He disapproved of her character. He +distrusted her promises. Spite of Jesuits and seminary priests, he +believed that she was still a Frenchwoman at heart, and a bad woman +besides. Yet something he must do for the outraged honour of Castile. He +concluded, in his slow way, that he would collect a fleet, the largest +and best-appointed that had ever floated on the sea. He would send or +lead it in person to the English Channel. He would command the situation +with an overwhelming force; and then would choose some course which +would be more convenient to himself than to his Holiness at Rome. On the +whole he was inclined to let Elizabeth continue queen, and forget and +forgive if she would put away her Walsinghams and her Drakes, and would +promise to be good for the future. If she remained obstinate his great +fleet would cover the passage of the Prince of Parma's army, and he +would then dictate his own terms in London. + + + + +LECTURE VII + +ATTACK ON CADIZ + + +I recollect being told when a boy, on sending in a bad translation of +Horace, that I ought to remember that Horace was a man of intelligence +and did not write nonsense. The same caution should be borne in mind by +students of history. They see certain things done by kings and statesmen +which they believe they can interpret by assuming such persons to have +been knaves or idiots. Once an explanation given from the baser side of +human nature, they assume that it is necessarily the right one, and they +make their Horace into a fool without a misgiving that the folly may lie +elsewhere. Remarkable men and women have usually had some rational +motive for their conduct, which may be discovered, if we look for it +with our eyes open. + +Nobody has suffered more from bad translators than Elizabeth. The +circumstances of Queen Elizabeth's birth, the traditions of her father, +the interests of England, and the sentiments of the party who had +sustained her claim to the succession, obliged her on coming to the +throne to renew the separation from the Papacy. The Church of England +was re-established on an Anglo-Catholic basis, which the rival factions +might interpret each in their own way. To allow more than one form of +public worship would have led in the heated temper of men's minds to +quarrels and civil wars. But conscience might be left free under outward +conformity, and those whom the Liturgy did not suit might use their own +ritual in their private houses. Elizabeth and her wise advisers believed +that if her subjects could be kept from fighting and killing one +another, and were not exasperated by outward displays of difference, +they would learn that righteousness of life was more important than +orthodoxy, and to estimate at their real value the rival dogmas of +theology. Had time permitted the experiment to have a fair trial, it +would perhaps have succeeded, but, unhappily for the Queen and for +England, the fire of controversy was still too hot under the ashes. +Protestants and Catholics had been taught to look on one another as +enemies of God, and were still reluctant to take each other's hands at +the bidding of an Act of Parliament. The more moderate of the Catholic +laity saw no difference so great between the English service and the +Mass as to force them to desert the churches where their fathers had +worshipped for centuries. They petitioned the Council of Trent for +permission to use the English Prayer Book; and had the Council +consented, religious dissension would have dissolved at last into an +innocent difference of opinion. But the Council and the Pope had +determined that there should be no compromise with heresy, and the +request was refused, though it was backed by Philip's ambassador in +London. The action of the Papacy obliged the Queen to leave the +Administration in the hands of Protestants, on whose loyalty she could +rely. As the struggle with the Reformation spread and deepened she was +compelled to assist indirectly the Protestant party in France and +Scotland. But she still adhered to her own principle; she refused to +put herself at the head of a Protestant League. She took no step without +keeping open a line of retreat on a contrary policy. She had Catholics +in her Privy Council who were pensioners of Spain. She filled her +household with Catholics, and many a time drove Burghley distracted by +listening to them at critical moments. Her constant effort was to disarm +the antagonism of the adherents of the old belief, by admitting them to +her confidence, and showing them that one part of her subjects was as +dear to her as another. + +For ten years she went on struggling. For ten years she was proudly able +to say that during all that time no Catholic had suffered for his belief +either in purse or person. The advanced section of the Catholic clergy +was in despair. They saw the consciences of their flocks benumbed and +their faith growing lukewarm. They stirred up the rebellion of the +North. They persuaded Pius V. to force them to a sense of their duties +by declaring Elizabeth excommunicated. They sent their missionaries +through the English counties to recover sheep that were straying, and +teach the sin of submission to a sovereign whom the Pope had deposed. +Then had followed the Ridolfi plot, deliberately encouraged by the Pope +and Spain, which had compelled the Government to tighten the reins. One +conspiracy had followed another. Any means were held legitimate to rid +the world of an enemy of God. The Queen's character was murdered by the +foulest slanders, and a hundred daggers were sharpened to murder her +person. The King of Spain had not advised the excommunication, because +he knew that he would be expected to execute it, and he had other things +to do. When called on to act, he and Alva said that if the English +Catholics wanted Spanish help they must do something for themselves. To +do the priests justice, they were brave enough. What they did, and how +far they had succeeded in making the country disaffected, Father Parsons +has told you in the paper which I read to you in a former lecture. +Elizabeth refused to take care of herself. She would show no distrust. +She would not dismiss the Catholic ladies and gentlemen from the +household. She would allow no penal laws to be enforced against +Catholics as such. Repeated conspiracies to assassinate her were +detected and exposed, but she would take no warning. She would have no +bodyguard. The utmost that she would do was to allow the Jesuits and +seminary priests, who, by Parsons's own acknowledgment, were sowing +rebellion, to be banished the realm, and if they persisted in remaining +afterwards, to be treated as traitors. When executions are treated as +martyrdoms, candidates will never be wanting for the crown of glory, and +the flame only burnt the hotter. Tyburn and the quartering knife was a +horrid business, and Elizabeth sickened over it. She hated the severity +which she was compelled to exercise. Her name was defiled with the +grossest calumnies. She knew that she might be murdered any day. For +herself she was proudly indifferent; but her death would and must be +followed by a furious civil war. She told the Privy Council one day +after some stormy scene, that she would come back afterwards and amuse +herself with seeing the Queen of Scots making their heads fly. + +Philip was weary of it too. He had enough to do in ruling his own +dominions without quarrelling for ever with his sister-in-law. He had +seen that she had subjects, few or many, who, if he struck, would strike +back again. English money and English volunteers were keeping alive the +war in the Netherlands. English privateers had plundered his gold ships, +destroyed his commerce, and burnt his West Indian cities--all this in +the interests of the Pope, who gave him fine words in plenty, but who, +when called on for money to help in the English conquest, only flung +about his dinner-plates. The Duke of Alva, while he was alive, and the +Prince of Parma, who commanded in the Netherlands in Alva's place, +advised peace if peace could be had on reasonable terms. If Elizabeth +would consent to withdraw her help from the Netherlands, and would allow +the English Catholics the tacit toleration with which her reign had +begun, they were of opinion, and Philip was of opinion too, that it +would be better to forgive Drake and St. Domingo, abandon Mary Stuart +and the seminary priests, and meddle no more with English internal +politics. + +Tired with a condition which was neither war nor peace, tired with +hanging traitors and the endless problem of her sister of Scotland, +Elizabeth saw no reason for refusing offers which would leave her in +peace for the rest of her own life. Philip, it was said, would restore +the Mass in the churches in Holland. She might stipulate for such +liberty of conscience to the Holland Protestants as she was herself +willing to allow the English Catholics. She saw no reason why she should +insist on a liberty of public worship which she had herself forbidden at +home. She did not see why the Hollanders should be so precise about +hearing Mass. She said she would rather hear a thousand Masses herself +than have on her conscience the crimes committed for the Mass or against +it. She would not have her realm in perpetual torment for Mr. Cecil's +brothers in Christ. + +This was Elizabeth's personal feeling. It could not be openly avowed. +The States might then surrender to Philip in despair, and obtain better +securities for their political liberties than she was ready to ask for +them. They might then join the Spaniards and become her mortal enemies. +But she had a high opinion of her own statecraft. Her Catholic friends +assured her that, once at peace with Philip, she would be safe from all +the world. At this moment accident revealed suddenly another chasm which +was opening unsuspected at her feet. + +Both Philip and she were really wishing for peace. A treaty of peace +between the Catholic King and an excommunicated princess would end the +dream of a Catholic revolution in England. If the English peers and +gentry saw the censures of the Church set aside so lightly by the most +orthodox prince in Europe, Parsons and his friends would preach in vain +to them the obligation of rebellion. If this deadly negotiation was to +be broken off, a blow must be struck, and struck at once. There was not +a moment to be lost. + +The enchanted prisoner at Tutbury was the sleeping and waking dream of +Catholic chivalry. The brave knight who would slay the dragon, deliver +Mary Stuart, and place her on the usurper's throne, would outdo Orlando +or St. George, and be sung of for ever as the noblest hero who had ever +wielded brand or spear. Many a young British heart had thrilled with +hope that for him the enterprise was reserved. One of these was a +certain Anthony Babington, a gentleman of some fortune in Derbyshire. A +seminary priest named Ballard, excited, like the rest, by the need of +action, and anxious to prevent the peace, fell in with this Babington, +and thought he had found the man for his work. Elizabeth dead and Mary +Stuart free, there would be no more talk of peace. A plot was easily +formed. Half a dozen gentlemen, five of them belonging to or connected +with Elizabeth's own household, were to shoot or stab her and escape in +the confusion; Babington was to make a dash on Mary Stuart's +prison-house and carry her off to some safe place; while Ballard +undertook to raise the Catholic peers and have her proclaimed queen. +Elizabeth once removed, it was supposed that they would not hesitate. +Parma would bring over the Spanish army from Dunkirk. The Protestants +would be paralysed. All would be begun and ended in a few weeks or even +days. The Catholic religion would be re-established and the hated heresy +would be trampled out for ever. Mary Stuart had been consulted and had +enthusiastically agreed. + +This interesting lady had been lately profuse in her protestations of a +desire for reconciliation with her dearest sister. Elizabeth had almost +believed her sincere. Sick of the endless trouble with Mary Stuart and +her pretensions and schemings, she had intended that the Scotch queen +should be included in the treaty with Philip, with an implied +recognition of her right to succeed to the English throne after +Elizabeth's death. It had been necessary, however, to ascertain in some +way whether her protestations were sincere. A secret watch had been kept +over her correspondence, and Babington's letters and her own answers had +fallen into Walsingham's hands. There it all was in her own cipher, the +key to which had been betrayed by the carelessness of a confederate. The +six gentlemen who were to have rewarded Elizabeth's confidence by +killing her were easily recognised. They were seized, with Babington and +Ballard, when they imagined themselves on the eve of their triumph. +Babington flinched and confessed, and they were all hanged. Mary Stuart +herself had outworn compassion. Twice already on the discovery of her +earlier plots the House of Commons had petitioned for her execution. For +this last piece of treachery she was tried at Fotheringay before a +commission of Peers and Privy Councillors. She denied her letters, but +her complicity was proved beyond a doubt. Parliament was called, and a +third time insisted that the long drama should now be ended and loyal +England be allowed to breathe in peace. Elizabeth signed the warrant. +France, Spain, any other power in the world would have long since made +an end of a competitor so desperate and so incurable. Torn by many +feelings--natural pity, dread of the world's opinion--Elizabeth paused +before ordering the warrant to be executed. If nothing had been at stake +but her own life, she would have left the lady to weave fresh plots and +at last, perhaps, to succeed. If the nation's safety required an end to +be made with her, she felt it hard that the duty should be thrown on +herself. Where were all those eager champions who had signed the +Association Bond, who had talked so loudly? Could none of them be found +to recollect their oaths and take the law into their own hands? + +Her Council, Burghley, and the rest, knowing her disposition and feeling +that it was life or death to English liberty, took the responsibility on +themselves. They sent the warrant down to Fotheringay at their own risk, +leaving their mistress to deny, if she pleased, that she had meant it to +be executed; and the wild career of Mary Stuart ended on the scaffold. + +They knew what they were immediately doing. They knew that if treason +had a meaning Mary Stuart had brought her fate upon herself. They did +not, perhaps, realise the full effects that were to follow, or that with +Mary Stuart had vanished the last serious danger of a Catholic +insurrection in England; or perhaps they did realise it, and this was +what decided them to act. + +I cannot dwell on this here. As long as there was a Catholic princess of +English blood to succeed to the throne, the allegiance of the Catholics +to Elizabeth had been easily shaken. If she was spared now, every one of +them would look on her as their future sovereign. To overthrow +Elizabeth might mean the loss of national independence. The Queen of +Scots gone, they were paralysed by divided counsels, and love of country +proved stronger than their creed. + +What concerns us specially at present is the effect on the King of +Spain. The reluctance of Philip to undertake the English enterprise (the +'empresa,' as it was generally called) had arisen from a fear that when +it was accomplished he would lose the fruit of his labours. He could +never assure himself that if he placed Mary Stuart on the throne she +would not become eventually French. He now learnt that she had +bequeathed to himself her claims on the English succession. He had once +been titular King of England. He had pretensions of his own, as in the +descent from Edward III. The Jesuits, the Catholic enthusiasts +throughout Europe, assured him that if he would now take up the cause in +earnest, he might make England a province of Spain. There were still +difficulties. He might hope that the English Catholic laity would accept +him, but he could not be sure of it. He could not be sure that he would +have the support of the Pope. He continued, as the Condé de Feria said +scornfully of him, 'meando en vado,' a phrase which I cannot translate; +it meant hesitating when he ought to act. But he saw, or thought he saw, +that he could now take a stronger attitude towards Elizabeth as a +claimant to her throne. If the treaty of peace was to go forward, he +could raise his terms. He could insist on the restoration of the +Catholic religion in England. The States of the Low Countries had made +over five of their strongest towns to Elizabeth as the price of her +assistance. He could insist on her restoring them, not to the States, +but to himself. Could she be brought to consent to such an act of +perfidy, Parma and he both felt that the power would then be gone from +her, as effectually as Samson's when his locks were clipped by the +harlot, and they could leave her then, if it suited them, on a throne +which would have become a pillory--for the finger of scorn to point at. + +With such a view before him it was more than ever necessary for Philip +to hurry forward the preparations which he had already commenced. The +more formidable he could make himself, the better able he would be to +frighten Elizabeth into submission. + +Every dockyard in Spain was set to work, building galleons and +collecting stores. Santa Cruz would command. Philip was himself more +resolved than ever to accompany the expedition in person and dictate +from the English Channel the conditions of the pacification of Europe. + +Secrecy was no longer attempted--indeed, was no longer possible. All +Latin Christendom was palpitating with expectation. At Lisbon, at Cadiz, +at Barcelona, at Naples, the shipwrights were busy night and day. The +sea was covered with vessels freighted with arms and provisions +streaming to the mouth of the Tagus. Catholic volunteers from all +nations flocked into the Peninsula, to take a share in the mighty +movement which was to decide the fate of the world, and bishops, +priests, and monks were set praying through the whole Latin Communion +that Heaven would protect its own cause. + +Meantime the negotiations for peace continued, and Elizabeth, strange +to say, persisted in listening. She would not see what was plain to all +the world besides. The execution of the Queen of Scots lay on her spirit +and threw her back into the obstinate humour which had made Walsingham +so often despair of her safety. For two months after that scene at +Fotheringay she had refused to see Burghley, and would consult no one +but Sir James Crofts and her Spanish-tempered ladies. She knew that +Spain now intended that she should betray the towns in the Low +Countries, yet she was blind to the infamy which it would bring upon +her. She left her troops there without their wages to shiver into +mutiny. She named commissioners, with Sir James Crofts at their head, to +go to Ostend and treat with Parma, and if she had not resolved on an act +of treachery she at least played with the temptation, and persuaded +herself that if she chose to make over the towns to Philip, she would be +only restoring them to their lawful owner. + +Burghley and Walsingham, you can see from their letters, believed now +that Elizabeth had ruined herself at last. Happily her moods were +variable as the weather. She was forced to see the condition to which +she had reduced her affairs in the Low Countries by the appearance of a +number of starving wretches who had deserted from the garrisons there +and had come across to clamour for their pay at her own palace gates. If +she had no troops in the field but a mutinous and starving rabble, she +might get no terms at all. It might be well to show Philip that on one +element at least she could still be dangerous. She had lost nothing by +the bold actions of Drake and the privateers. With half a heart she +allowed Drake to fit them out again, take the _Buonaventura_, a ship of +her own, to carry his flag, and go down to the coast of Spain and see +what was going on. He was not to do too much. She sent a vice-admiral +with him, in the _Lion_, to be a check on over-audacity. Drake knew how +to deal with embarrassing vice-admirals. His own adventurers would sail, +if he ordered, to the Mountains of the Moon, and be quite certain that +it was the right place to go to. Once under way and on the blue water he +would go his own course and run his own risks. Cadiz Harbour was +thronged with transports, provision ships, powder vessels--a hundred +sail of them--many of a thousand tons and over, loading with stores for +the Armada. There were thirty sail of adventurers, the smartest ships +afloat on the ocean, and sailed by the smartest seamen that ever handled +rope or tiller. Something might be done at Cadiz if he did not say too +much about it. The leave had been given to him to go, but he knew by +experience, and Burghley again warned him, that it might, and probably +would, be revoked if he waited too long. The moment was his own, and he +used it. He was but just in time. Before his sails were under the +horizon a courier galloped into Plymouth with orders that under no +condition was he to enter port or haven of the King of Spain, or injure +Spanish subjects. What else was he going out for? He had guessed how it +would be. Comedy or earnest he could not tell. If earnest, some such +order would be sent after him, and he had not an instant to lose. + +He sailed on the morning of the 12th of April. Off Ushant he fell in +with a north-west gale, and he flew on, spreading every stitch of +canvas which his spars would bear. In five days he was at Cape St. +Vincent. On the 18th he had the white houses of Cadiz right in front of +him, and could see for himself the forests of masts from the ships and +transports with which the harbour was choked. Here was a chance for a +piece of service if there was courage for the venture. He signalled for +his officers to come on board the _Buonaventura_. There before their +eyes was, if not the Armada itself, the materials which were to fit the +Armada for the seas. Did they dare to go in with him and destroy them? +There were batteries at the harbour mouth, but Drake's mariners had +faced Spanish batteries at St. Domingo and Carthagena and had not found +them very formidable. Go in? Of course they would. Where Drake would +lead the corsairs of Plymouth were never afraid to follow. The +vice-admiral pleaded danger to her Majesty's ships. It was not the +business of an English fleet to be particular about danger. Straight in +they went with a fair wind and a flood tide, ran past the batteries and +under a storm of shot, to which they did not trouble themselves to wait +to reply. The poor vice-admiral followed reluctantly in the _Lion_. A +single shot hit the _Lion_, and he edged away out of range, anchored, +and drifted to sea again with the ebb. But Drake and all the rest dashed +on, sank the guardship--a large galleon--and sent flying a fleet of +galleys which ventured too near them and were never seen again. + +Further resistance there was none--absolutely none. The crews of the +store ships escaped in their boats to land. The governor of Cadiz, the +same Duke of Medina Sidonia who the next year was to gain a disastrous +immortality, fled 'like a tall gentleman' to raise troops and prevent +Drake from landing. Drake had no intention of landing. At his extreme +leisure he took possession of the Spanish shipping, searched every +vessel, and carried off everything that he could use. He detained as +prisoners the few men that he found on board, and then, after doing his +work deliberately and completely, he set the hulls on fire, cut the +cables, and left them to drive on the rising tide under the walls of the +town--a confused mass of blazing ruin. On the 12th of April he had +sailed from Plymouth; on the 19th he entered Cadiz Harbour; on the 1st +of May he passed out again without the loss of a boat or a man. He said +in jest that he had singed the King of Spain's beard for him. In sober +prose he had done the King of Spain an amount of damage which a million +ducats and a year's labour would imperfectly replace. The daring +rapidity of the enterprise astonished Spain, and astonished Europe more +than the storm of the West Indian towns. The English had long teeth, as +Santa Cruz had told Philip's council, and the teeth would need drawing +before Mass would be heard again at Westminster. The Spaniards were a +gallant race, and a dashing exploit, though at their own expense, could +be admired by the countrymen of Cervantes. 'So praised,' we read, 'was +Drake for his valour among them, that they said that if he was not a +Lutheran there would not be the like of him in the world.' A Court lady +was invited by the King to join a party on a lake near Madrid. The lady +replied that she dared not trust herself on the water with his Majesty +lest Sir Francis Drake should have her. + +Drake might well be praised. But Drake would have been the first to +divide the honour with the comrades who were his arm and hand. Great +admirals and generals do not win their battles single-handed like the +heroes of romance. Orders avail only when there are men to execute them. +Not a captain, not an officer who served under Drake, ever flinched or +blundered. Never was such a school for seamen as that twenty years' +privateering war between the servants of the Pope and the West-country +Protestant adventurers. Those too must be remembered who built and +rigged the ships in which they sailed and fought their battles. We may +depend upon it that there was no dishonesty in contractors, no scamping +of the work in the yards where the Plymouth rovers were fitted out for +sea. Their hearts were in it; they were soldiers of a common cause. + +Three weeks had sufficed for Cadiz. No order for recall had yet arrived. +Drake had other plans before him, and the men were in high spirits and +ready for anything. A fleet of Spanish men-of-war was expected round +from the Mediterranean. He proposed to stay for a week or two in the +neighbourhood of the Straits, in the hope of falling in with them. He +wanted fresh water, too, and had to find it somewhere. + +Before leaving Cadiz Roads he had to decide what to do with his +prisoners. Many English were known to be in the hands of the Holy Office +working in irons as galley slaves. He sent in a pinnace to propose an +exchange, and had to wait some days for an answer. At length, after a +reference to Lisbon, the Spanish authorities replied that they had no +English prisoners. If this was true those they had must have died of +barbarous usage; and after a consultation with his officers Sir Francis +sent in word that for the future such prisoners as they might take would +be sold to the Moors, and the money applied to the redemption of English +captives in other parts of the world. + +Water was the next point. There were springs at Faro, with a Spanish +force stationed there to guard them. Force or no force, water was to be +had. The boats were sent on shore. The boats' crews stormed the forts +and filled the casks. The vice-admiral again lifted up his voice. The +Queen had ordered that there was to be no landing on Spanish soil. At +Cadiz the order had been observed. There had been no need to land. Here +at Faro there had been direct defiance of her Majesty's command. He +became so loud in his clamours that Drake found it necessary to lock him +up in his own cabin, and at length to send him home with his ship to +complain. For himself, as the expected fleet from the Straits did not +appear, and as he had shaken off his troublesome second in command, he +proceeded leisurely up the coast, intending to look in at Lisbon and see +for himself how things were going on there. All along as he went he fell +in with traders loaded with supplies for the use of the Armada. All +these he destroyed as he advanced, and at length found himself under the +purple hills of Cintra and looking up into the Tagus. There lay gathered +together the strength of the fighting naval force of Spain--fifty great +galleons, already arrived, the largest war-ships which then floated on +the ocean. Santa Cruz, the best officer in the Spanish navy, was himself +in the town and in command. To venture a repetition of the Cadiz +exploit in the face of such odds seemed too desperate even for Drake, +but it was one of those occasions when the genius of a great commander +sees more than ordinary eyes. He calculated, and, as was proved +afterwards, calculated rightly, that the galleons would be half manned, +or not manned at all, and crowded with landsmen bringing on board the +stores. Their sides as they lay would be choked with hulks and lighters. +They would be unable to get their anchors up, set their canvas, or stir +from their moorings. Daring as Drake was known to be, no one would +expect him to go with so small a force into the enemy's stronghold, and +there would be no preparations to meet him. He could count upon the +tides. The winds at that season of the year were fresh and steady, and +could be counted on also to take him in or out; there was sea room in +the river for such vessels as the adventurers' to manoeuvre and to +retreat if overmatched. Rash as such an enterprise might seem to an +unprofessional eye, Drake certainly thought of it, perhaps had meant to +try it in some form or other and so make an end of the Spanish invasion +of England. He could not venture without asking first for his mistress's +permission. He knew her nature. He knew that his services at Cadiz would +outweigh his disregard of her orders, and that so far he had nothing to +fear; but he knew also that she was still hankering after peace, and +that without her leave he must do nothing to make peace impossible. +There is a letter from him to the Queen, written when he was lying off +Lisbon, very characteristic of the time and the man. + +Nelson or Lord St. Vincent did not talk much of expecting supernatural +assistance. If they had we should suspect them of using language +conventionally which they would have done better to leave alone. Sir +Francis Drake, like his other great contemporaries, believed that he was +engaged in a holy cause, and was not afraid or ashamed to say so. His +object was to protest against a recall in the flow of victory. The +Spaniards, he said, were but mortal men. They were enemies of the Truth, +upholders of Dagon's image, which had fallen in other days before the +Ark, and would fall again if boldly defied. So long as he had ships +that would float, and there was food on board them for the men to eat, +he entreated her to let him stay and strike whenever a chance was +offered him. The continuing to the end yielded the true glory. When men +were serving religion and their country, a merciful God, it was likely, +would give them victory, and Satan and his angels should not prevail. + +All in good time. Another year and Drake would have the chance he +wanted. For the moment Satan had prevailed--Satan in the shape of +Elizabeth's Catholic advisers. Her answer came. It was warm and +generous. She did not, could not, blame him for what he had done so far, +but she desired him to provoke the King of Spain no further. The +negotiations for peace had opened, and must not be interfered with. + +This prohibition from the Queen prevented, perhaps, what would have been +the most remarkable exploit in English naval history. As matters stood +it would have been perfectly possible for Drake to have gone into the +Tagus, and if he could not have burnt the galleons he could certainly +have come away unhurt. He had guessed their condition with entire +correctness. The ships were there, but the ships' companies were not on +board them. Santa Cruz himself admitted that if Drake had gone in he +could have himself done nothing 'por falta de gente' (for want of men). +And Drake undoubtedly would have gone, and would have done something +with which all the world would have rung, but for the positive command +of his mistress. He lingered in the roads at Cintra, hoping that Santa +Cruz would come out and meet him. All Spain was clamouring at Santa +Cruz's inaction. Philip wrote to stir the old admiral to energy. He must +not allow himself to be defied by a squadron of insolent rovers. He must +chase them off the coast or destroy them. Santa Cruz needed no stirring. +Santa Cruz, the hero of a hundred fights, was chafing at his own +impotence; but he was obliged to tell his master that if he wished to +have service out of his galleons he must provide crews to handle them, +and they must rot at their anchors till he did. He told him, moreover, +that it was time for him to exert himself in earnest. If he waited much +longer, England would have grown too strong for him to deal with. + +In strict obedience Drake ought now to have gone home, but the campaign +had brought so far more glory than prize-money. His comrades required +some consolation for their disappointment at Lisbon. The theory of these +armaments of the adventurers was that the cost should be paid somehow by +the enemy, and he could be assured that if he brought back a prize or +two in which she could claim a share the Queen would not call him to a +very strict account. Homeward-bound galleons or merchantmen were to be +met with occasionally at the Azores. On leaving Lisbon Drake headed away +to St. Michael's, and his lucky star was still in the ascendant. + +As if sent on purpose for him, the _San Philip_, a magnificent caraque +from the Indies, fell straight into his hands, 'so richly loaded,' it +was said, 'that every man in the fleet counted his fortune made.' There +was no need to wait for more. It was but two months since Drake had +sailed from Plymouth. He could now go home after a cruise of which the +history of his own or any other country had never presented the like. +He had struck the King of Spain in his own stronghold. He had disabled +the intended Armada for one season at least. He had picked up a prize by +the way and as if by accident, worth half a million, to pay his +expenses, so that he had cost nothing to his mistress, and had brought +back a handsome present for her. I doubt if such a naval estimate was +ever presented to an English House of Commons. Above all he had taught +the self-confident Spaniard to be afraid of him, and he carried back his +poor comrades in such a glow of triumph that they would have fought +Satan and all his angels with Drake at their head. + +Our West-country annals still tell how the country people streamed down +in their best clothes to see the great _San Philip_ towed into Dartmouth +Harbour. English Protestantism was no bad cable for the nation to ride +by in those stormy times, and deserves to be honourably remembered in a +School of History at an English University. + + + + +LECTURE VIII + +SAILING OF THE ARMADA + + +Peace or war between Spain and England, that was now the question, with +a prospect of securing the English succession for himself or one of his +daughters. With the whole Spanish nation smarting under the indignity of +the burning of the ships at Cadiz, Philip's warlike ardour had warmed +into something like fire. He had resolved at any rate, if he was to +forgive his sister-in-law at all, to insist on more than toleration for +the Catholics in England. He did not contemplate as even possible that +the English privateers, however bold or dexterous, could resist such an +armament as he was preparing to lead to the Channel. The Royal Navy, he +knew very well, did not exceed twenty-five ships of all sorts and sizes. +The adventurers might be equal to sudden daring actions, but would and +must be crushed by such a fleet as was being fitted out at Lisbon. He +therefore, for himself, meant to demand that the Catholic religion +should be restored to its complete and exclusive superiority, and +certain towns in England were to be made over to be garrisoned by +Spanish troops as securities for Elizabeth's good behaviour. As often +happens with irresolute men, when they have once been forced to a +decision they are as too hasty as before they were too slow. After Drake +had retired from Lisbon the King of Spain sent orders to the Prince of +Parma not to wait for the arrival of the Armada, but to cross the +Channel immediately with the Flanders army, and bring Elizabeth to her +knees. Parma had more sense than his master. He represented that he +could not cross without a fleet to cover his passage. His transport +barges would only float in smooth water, and whether the water was +smooth or rough they could be sent to the bottom by half a dozen English +cruisers from the Thames. Supposing him to have landed, either in Thanet +or other spot, he reminded Philip that he could not have at most more +than 25,000 men with him. The English militia were in training. The +Jesuits said they were disaffected, but the Jesuits might be making a +mistake. He might have to fight more than one battle. He would have to +leave detachments as he advanced to London, to cover his communications, +and a reverse would be fatal. He would obey if his Majesty persisted, +but he recommended Philip to continue to amuse the English with the +treaty till the Armada was ready, and, in evident consciousness that the +enterprise would be harder than Philip imagined, he even gave it as his +own opinion still (notwithstanding Cadiz), that if Elizabeth would +surrender the cautionary towns in Flanders to Spain, and would grant the +English Catholics a fair degree of liberty, it would be Philip's +interest to make peace at once without stipulating for further terms. He +could make a new war if he wished at a future time, when circumstances +might be more convenient and the Netherlands revolt subdued. + +To such conditions as these it seemed that Elizabeth was inclining to +consent. The towns had been trusted to her keeping by the +Netherlanders. To give them up to the enemy to make better conditions +for herself would be an infamy so great as to have disgraced Elizabeth +for ever; yet she would not see it. She said the towns belonged to +Philip and she would only be restoring his own to him. Burghley bade +her, if she wanted peace, send back Drake to the Azores and frighten +Philip for his gold ships. She was in one of her ungovernable moods. +Instead of sending out Drake again she ordered her own fleet to be +dismantled and laid up at Chatham, and she condescended to apologise to +Parma for the burning of the transports at Cadiz as done against her +orders. + +This was in December 1587, only five months before the Armada sailed +from Lisbon. Never had she brought herself and her country so near ruin. +The entire safety of England rested at that moment on the adventurers, +and on the adventurers alone. + +Meanwhile, with enormous effort the destruction at Cadiz had been +repaired. The great fleet was pushed on, and in February Santa Cruz +reported himself almost ready. Santa Cruz and Philip, however, were not +in agreement as to what should be done. Santa Cruz was a fighting +admiral, Philip was not a fighting king. He changed his mind as often as +Elizabeth. Hot fits varied with cold. His last news from England led him +to hope that fighting would not be wanted. The Commissioners were +sitting at Ostend. On one side there were the formal negotiations, in +which the surrender of the towns was not yet treated as an open +question. Had the States been aware that Elizabeth was even in thought +entertaining it, they would have made terms instantly on their own +account and left her alone in the cold. Besides this, there was a second +negotiation underneath, carried on by private agents, in which the +surrender was to be the special condition. These complicated schemings +Parma purposely protracted, to keep Elizabeth in false security. She had +not deliberately intended to give up the towns. At the last moment she +would have probably refused, unless the States themselves consented to +it as part of a general settlement. But she was playing with the idea. +The States, she thought, were too obstinate. Peace would be good for +them, and she said she might do them good if she pleased, whether they +liked it or not. + +Parma was content that she should amuse herself with words and neglect +her defences by sea and land. By the end of February Santa Cruz was +ready. A northerly wind blows strong down the coast of Portugal in the +spring months, and he meant to be off before it set in, before the end +of March at latest. Unfortunately for Spain, Santa Cruz fell ill at the +last moment--ill, it was said, with anxiety. Santa Cruz knew well enough +what Philip would not know--that the expedition would be no holiday +parade. He had reason enough to be anxious if Philip was to accompany +him and tie his hands and embarrass him. Anyway, Santa Cruz died after a +few days' illness. The sailing had to be suspended till a new commander +could be decided on, and in the choice which Philip made he gave a +curious proof of what he intended the expedition to do. He did not +really expect or wish for any serious fighting. He wanted to be +sovereign of England again, with the assent of the English Catholics. +He did not mean, if he could help it, to irritate the national pride by +force and conquest. While Santa Cruz lived, Spanish public opinion would +not allow him to be passed over. Santa Cruz must command, and Philip had +resolved to go with him, to prevent too violent proceedings. Santa Cruz +dead, he could find someone who would do what he was told, and his own +presence would no longer be necessary. + +The Duke of Medina Sidonia, named El Bueno, or the Good, was a grandee +of highest rank. He was enormously rich, fond of hunting and shooting, a +tolerable rider, for the rest a harmless creature getting on to forty, +conscious of his defects, but not aware that so great a prince had any +need to mend them; without vanity, without ambition, and most happy when +lounging in his orange gardens at San Lucan. Of active service he had +seen none. He was Captain-General of Andalusia, and had run away from +Cadiz when Drake came into the harbour; but that was all. To his +astonishment and to his dismay he learnt that it was on him that the +choice had fallen to be the Lord High Admiral of Spain and commander of +the so much talked of expedition to England. He protested his unfitness. +He said that he was no seaman; that he knew nothing of fighting by sea +or land; that if he ventured out in a boat he was always sick; that he +had never seen the English Channel; and that, as to politics, he neither +knew anything nor cared anything about them. In short, he had not one +qualification which such a post required. + +Philip liked his modesty; but in fact the Duke's defects were his +recommendations. He would obey his instructions, would not fight unless +it was necessary, and would go into no rash adventures. All that Philip +wanted him to do was to find the Prince of Parma, and act as Parma +should bid him. As to seamanship, he would have the best officers in the +navy under him; and for a second in command he should have Don Diego de +Valdez, a cautious, silent, sullen old sailor, a man after Philip's own +heart. + +Doubting, hesitating, the Duke repaired to Lisbon. There he was put in +better heart by a nun, who said Our Lady had sent her to promise him +success. Every part of the service was new to him. He was a fussy, +anxious little man; set himself to inquire into everything, to meddle +with things which he could not understand and had better have left +alone. He ought to have left details to the responsible heads of +departments. He fancied that in a week or two he could look himself into +everything. There were 130 ships, 8,000 seamen, 19,000 Spanish infantry, +with gentlemen volunteers, officers, priests, surgeons, galley +slaves--at least 3,000 more--provisioned for six months. Then there were +the ships' stores, arms small and great, powder, spars, cordage, canvas, +and such other million necessities as ships on service need. The whole +of this the poor Duke took on himself to examine into, and, as he could +not understand what he saw, and knew not what to look at, nothing was +examined into at all. Everyone's mind was, in fact, so much absorbed by +the spiritual side of the thing that they could not attend to vulgar +commonplaces. Don Quixote, when he set out on his expedition, and forgot +money and a change of linen, was not in a state of wilder exaltation +than Catholic Europe at the sailing of the Armada. Every noble family +in Spain had sent one or other of its sons to fight for Christ and Our +Lady. + +For three years the stream of prayer had been ascending from church, +cathedral, or oratory. The King had emptied his treasury. The hidalgo +and the tradesman had offered their contributions. The crusade against +the Crescent itself had not kindled a more intense or more sacred +enthusiasm. All pains were taken to make the expedition spiritually +worthy of its purpose. No impure thing, specially no impure woman, was +to approach the yards or ships. Swearing, quarrelling, gambling, were +prohibited under terrible penalties. The galleons were named after the +apostles and saints to whose charge they were committed, and every +seaman and soldier confessed and communicated on going on board. The +ship-boys at sunrise were to sing their Buenos Dias at the foot of the +mainmast, and their Ave Maria as the sun sank into the ocean. On the +Imperial banner were embroidered the figures of Christ and His Mother, +and as a motto the haughty 'Plus Ultra' of Charles V. was replaced with +the more pious aspiration, 'Exsurge, Deus, et vindica causam tuam.' + +Nothing could be better if the more vulgar necessities had been looked +to equally well. Unluckily, Medina Sidonia had taken the inspection of +these on himself, and Medina Sidonia was unable to correct the +information which any rascal chose to give him. + +At length, at the end of April, he reported himself satisfied. The +banner was blessed in the cathedral, men and stores all on board, and +the Invincible Armada prepared to go upon its way. No wonder Philip was +confident. A hundred and thirty galleons, from 1,300 to 700 tons, 30,000 +fighting men, besides slaves and servants, made up a force which the +world might well think invincible. The guns were the weakest part. There +were twice as many as the English; but they were for the most part nine +and six pounders, and with but fifty rounds to each. The Spaniards had +done their sea fighting hitherto at close range, grappling and trusting +to musketry. They were to receive a lesson about this before the summer +was over. But Philip himself meanwhile expected evidently that he would +meet with no opposition. Of priests he had provided 180; of surgeons and +surgeons' assistants eighty-five only for the whole fleet. + +In the middle of May he sent down his last orders. The Duke was not to +seek a battle. If he fell in with Drake he was to take no notice of him, +but thank God, as Dogberry said to the watchman, that he was rid of a +knave. He was to go straight to the North Foreland, there anchor and +communicate with Parma. The experienced admirals who had learnt their +trade under Santa Cruz--Martinez de Recalde, Pedro de Valdez, Miguel de +Oquendo--strongly urged the securing Plymouth or the Isle of Wight on +their way up Channel. This had evidently been Santa Cruz's own design, +and the only rational one to have followed. Philip did not see it. He +did not believe it would prove necessary; but as to this and as to +fighting he left them, as he knew he must do, a certain discretion. + +The Duke then, flying the sacred banner on the _San Martin_, dropped +down the Tagus on the 14th of May, followed by the whole fleet. The +_San Martin_ had been double-timbered with oak, to keep the shot out. He +liked his business no better. In vain he repeated to himself that it was +God's cause. God would see they came to no harm. He was no sooner in the +open sea than he found no cause, however holy, saved men from the +consequences of their own blunders. They were late out, and met the +north trade wind, as Santa Cruz had foretold. + +They drifted to leeward day by day till they had dropped down to Cape +St. Vincent. Infinite pains had been taken with the spiritual state of +everyone on board. The carelessness or roguery of contractors and +purveyors had not been thought of. The water had been taken in three +months before. It was found foul and stinking. The salt beef, the salt +pork, and fish were putrid, the bread full of maggots and cockroaches. +Cask was opened after cask. It was the same story everywhere. They had +to be all thrown overboard. In the whole fleet there was not a sound +morsel of food but biscuit and dried fruit. The men went down in +hundreds with dysentery. The Duke bewailed his fate as innocently as +Sancho Panza. He hoped God would help. He had wished no harm to +anybody. He had left his home and his family to please the King, and he +trusted the King would remember it. He wrote piteously for fresh stores, +if the King would not have them all perish. The admirals said they could +go no further without fresh water. All was dismay and confusion. The +wind at last fell round south, and they made Finisterre. It then came on +to blow, and they were scattered. The Duke with half the fleet crawled +into Corunna, the crews scarce able to man the yards and trying to +desert in shoals. + +The missing ships dropped in one by one, but a week passed and a third +of them were still absent. Another despairing letter went off from the +Duke to his master. He said that he concluded from their misfortunes +that God disapproved of the expedition, and that it had better be +abandoned. Diego Florez was of the same opinion. The stores were +worthless, he said. The men were sick and out of heart. Nothing could be +done that season. + +It was not by flinching at the first sight of difficulty that the +Spaniards had become masters of half the world. The old comrades of +Santa Cruz saw nothing in what had befallen them beyond a common +accident of sea life. To abandon at the first check an enterprise +undertaken with so much pretence, they said, would be cowardly and +dishonourable. Ships were not lost because they were out of sight. Fresh +meat and bread could be taken on board from Corunna. They could set up a +shore hospital for the sick. The sickness was not dangerous. There had +been no deaths. A little energy and all would be well again. Pedro de +Valdez despatched a courier to Philip to entreat him not to listen to +the Duke's croakings. Philip returned a speedy answer telling the Duke +not to be frightened at shadows. + +There was nothing, in fact, really to be alarmed at. Fresh water took +away the dysentery. Fresh food was brought in from the country. Galician +seamen filled the gaps made by the deserters. The ships were laid on +shore and scraped and tallowed. Tents were pitched on an island in the +harbour, with altars and priests, and everyone confessed again and +received the Sacrament. 'This,' wrote the Duke, 'is great riches and a +precious jewel, and all now are well content and cheerful.' The +scattered flock had reassembled. Damages were all repaired, and the only +harm had been loss of time. Once more, on the 23rd of July, the Armada +in full numbers was under way for England and streaming across the Bay +of Biscay with a fair wind for the mouth of the Channel. + +Leaving the Duke for the moment, we must now glance at the preparations +made in England to receive him. It might almost be said that there were +none at all. The winter months had been wild and changeable, but not so +wild and not so fluctuating as the mind of England's mistress. In +December her fleet had been paid off at Chatham. The danger of leaving +the country without any regular defence was pressed on her so vehemently +that she consented to allow part of the ships to be recommissioned. The +_Revenge_ was given to Drake. He and Howard, the Lord Admiral, were to +have gone with a mixed squadron from the Royal Navy and the adventurers +down to the Spanish coast. In every loyal subject there had long been +but one opinion, that a good open war was the only road to an honourable +peace. The open war, they now trusted, was come at last. But the hope +was raised only to be disappointed. With the news of Santa Cruz's death +came a report which Elizabeth greedily believed, that the Armada was +dissolving and was not coming at all. Sir James Crofts sang the usual +song that Drake and Howard wanted war, because war was their trade. She +recalled her orders. She said that she was assured of peace in six +weeks, and that beyond that time the services of the fleet would not be +required. Half the men engaged were to be dismissed at once to save +their pay. Drake and Lord Henry Seymour might cruise with four or five +of the Queen's ships between Plymouth and the Solent. Lord Howard was to +remain in the Thames with the rest. I know not whether swearing was +interdicted in the English navy as well as in the Spanish, but I will +answer for it that Howard did not spare his language when this missive +reached him. 'Never,' he said, 'since England was England was such a +stratagem made to deceive us as this treaty. We have not hands left to +carry the ships back to Chatham. We are like bears tied to a stake; the +Spaniards may come to worry us like dogs, and we cannot hurt them.' + +It was well for England that she had other defenders than the wildly +managed navy of the Queen. Historians tell us how the gentlemen of the +coast came out in their own vessels to meet the invaders. Come they did, +but who were they? Ships that could fight the Spanish galleons were not +made in a day or a week. They were built already. They were manned by +loyal subjects, the business of whose lives had been to meet the enemies +of their land and faith on the wide ocean--not by those who had been +watching with divided hearts for a Catholic revolution. + +March went by, and sure intelligence came that the Armada was not +dissolving. Again Drake prayed the Queen to let him take the _Revenge_ +and the Western adventurers down to Lisbon; but the commissioners wrote +full of hope from Ostend, and Elizabeth was afraid 'the King of Spain +might take it ill.' She found fault with Drake's expenses. She charged +him with wasting her ammunition in target practice. She had it doled out +to him in driblets, and allowed no more than would serve for a day and a +half's service. She kept a sharp hand on the victualling houses. April +went, and her four finest ships--the _Triumph_, the _Victory_, the +_Elizabeth Jonas_, and the _Bear_--were still with sails unbent, +'keeping Chatham church.' She said they would not be wanted and it would +be waste of money to refit them. Again she was forced to yield at last, +and the four ships were got to sea in time, the workmen in the yards +making up for the delay; but she had few enough when her whole fleet was +out upon the Channel, and but for the privateers there would have been +an ill reckoning when the trial came. The Armada was coming now. There +was no longer a doubt of it. Lord Henry Seymour was left with five +Queen's ships and thirty London adventurers to watch Parma and the +Narrow Seas. Howard, carrying his own flag in the _Ark Raleigh_, joined +Drake at Plymouth with seventeen others. + +Still the numbing hand of his mistress pursued him. Food supplies had +been issued to the middle of June, and no more was to be allowed. The +weather was desperate--wildest summer ever known. The south-west gales +brought the Atlantic rollers into the Sound. Drake lay inside, perhaps +behind the island which bears his name. Howard rode out the gales under +Mount Edgecumbe, the days going by and the provisions wasting. The +rations were cut down to make the stores last longer. Owing to the many +changes the crews had been hastily raised. They were ill-clothed, +ill-provided every way, but they complained of nothing, caught fish to +mend their mess dinners, and prayed only for the speedy coming of the +enemy. Even Howard's heart failed him now. English sailors would do what +could be done by man, but they could not fight with famine. 'Awake, +Madam,' he wrote to the Queen, 'awake, for the love of Christ, and see +the villainous treasons round about you.' He goaded her into ordering +supplies for one more month, but this was to be positively the last. The +victuallers inquired if they should make further preparations. She +answered peremptorily, 'No'; and again the weeks ran on. The +contractors, it seemed, had caught her spirit, for the beer which had +been furnished for the fleet turned sour, and those who drank it +sickened. The officers, on their own responsibility, ordered wine and +arrowroot for the sick out of Plymouth, to be called to a sharp account +when all was over. Again the rations were reduced. Four weeks' allowance +was stretched to serve for six, and still the Spaniards did not come. So +England's forlorn hope was treated at the crisis of her destiny. The +preparations on land were scarcely better. The militia had been called +out. A hundred thousand men had given their names, and the stations had +been arranged where they were to assemble if the enemy attempted a +landing. But there were no reserves, no magazines of arms, no stores or +tents, no requisites for an army save the men themselves and what local +resources could furnish. For a general the Queen had chosen the Earl of +Leicester, who might have the merit of fidelity to herself, but +otherwise was the worst fitted that she could have found in her whole +dominions; and the Prince of Parma was coming, if he came at all, at +the head of the best-provided and best-disciplined troops in Europe. The +hope of England at that moment was in her patient suffering sailors at +Plymouth. Each morning they looked out passionately for the Spanish +sails. Time was a worse enemy than the galleons. The six weeks would be +soon gone, and the Queen's ships must then leave the seas if the crews +were not to starve. Drake had certain news that the Armada had sailed. +Where was it? Once he dashed out as far as Ushant, but turned back, lest +it should pass him in the night and find Plymouth undefended; and +smaller grew the messes and leaner and paler the seamen's faces. Still +not a man murmured or gave in. They had no leisure to be sick. + +The last week of July had now come. There were half-rations for one week +more, and powder for two days' fighting. That was all. On so light a +thread such mighty issues were now depending. On Friday, the 23rd, the +Armada had started for the second time, the numbers undiminished; +religious fervour burning again, and heart and hope high as ever. +Saturday, Sunday, and Monday they sailed on with a smooth sea and soft +south winds, and on Monday night the Duke found himself at the Channel +mouth with all his flock about him. Tuesday morning the wind shifted to +the north, then backed to the west, and blew hard. The sea got up, broke +into the stern galleries of the galleons, and sent the galleys looking +for shelter in French harbours. The fleet hove to for a couple of days, +till the weather mended. On Friday afternoon they sighted the Lizard and +formed into fighting order; the Duke in the centre, Alonzo de Leyva +leading in a vessel of his own called the _Rata Coronada_, Don Martin de +Recalde covering the rear. The entire line stretched to about seven +miles. + +The sacred banner was run up to the masthead of the _San Martin_. Each +ship saluted with all her guns, and every man--officer, noble, seaman, +or slave--knelt on the decks at a given signal to commend themselves to +Mary and her Son. We shall miss the meaning of this high epic story if +we do not realise that both sides had the most profound conviction that +they were fighting the battle of the Almighty. Two principles, freedom +and authority, were contending for the guidance of mankind. In the +evening the Duke sent off two fast fly-boats to Parma to announce his +arrival in the Channel, with another reporting progress to Philip, and +saying that till he heard from the Prince he meant to stop at the Isle +of Wight. It is commonly said that his officers advised him to go in and +take Plymouth. There is no evidence for this. The island would have been +a far more useful position for them. + +At dark that Friday night the beacons were seen blazing all up the coast +and inland on the tops of the hills. They crept on slowly through +Saturday, with reduced canvas, feeling their way--not a sail to be seen. +At midnight a pinnace brought in a fishing-boat, from which they learnt +that on the sight of the signal fires the English had come out that +morning from Plymouth. Presently, when the moon rose, they saw sails +passing between them and the land. With daybreak the whole scene became +visible, and the curtain lifted on the first act of the drama. The +Armada was between Rame Head and the Eddystone, or a little to the west +of it. Plymouth Sound was right open to their left. The breeze, which +had dropped in the night, was freshening from the south-west, and right +ahead of them, outside the Mew Stone, were eleven ships manoeuvring to +recover the wind. Towards the land were some forty others, of various +sizes, and this formed, as far as they could see, the whole English +force. In numbers the Spaniards were nearly three to one. In the size of +the ships there was no comparison. With these advantages the Duke +decided to engage, and a signal was made to hold the wind and keep the +enemy apart. The eleven ships ahead were Howard's squadron; those inside +were Drake and the adventurers. With some surprise the Spanish officers +saw Howard reach easily to windward out of range and join Drake. The +whole English fleet then passed out close-hauled in line behind them and +swept along their rear, using guns more powerful than theirs and pouring +in broadsides from safe distance with deadly effect. Recalde, with +Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo, who came to his help, tried desperately to +close; but they could make nothing of it. They were out-sailed and +out-cannoned. The English fired five shots to one of theirs, and the +effect was the more destructive because, as with Rodney's action at +Dominica, the galleons were crowded with troops, and shot and splinters +told terribly among them. + +The experience was new and not agreeable. Recalde's division was badly +cut up, and a Spaniard present observes that certain officers showed +cowardice--a hit at the Duke, who had kept out of fire. The action +lasted till four in the afternoon. The wind was then freshening fast and +the sea rising. Both fleets had by this time passed the Sound, and the +Duke, seeing that nothing could be done, signalled to bear away up +Channel, the English following two miles astern. Recalde's own ship had +been an especial sufferer. She was observed to be leaking badly, to drop +behind, and to be in danger of capture. Pedro de Valdez wore round to +help him in the _Capitana_, of the Andalusian squadron, fouled the +_Santa Catalina_ in turning, broke his bowsprit and foretopmast, and +became unmanageable. The Andalusian _Capitana_ was one of the finest +ships in the Spanish fleet, and Don Pedro one of the ablest and most +popular commanders. She had 500 men on board, a large sum of money, +and, among other treasures, a box of jewel-hilted swords, which Philip +was sending over to the English Catholic peers. But it was growing dark. +Sea and sky looked ugly. The Duke was flurried, and signalled to go on +and leave Don Pedro to his fate. Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo rushed on +board the _San Martin_ to protest. It was no use. Diego Florez said he +could not risk the safety of the fleet for a single officer. The +deserted _Capitana_ made a brave defence, but could not save herself, +and fell, with the jewelled swords, 50,000 ducats, and a welcome supply +of powder, into Drake's hands. + +Off the Start there was a fresh disaster. Everyone was in ill-humour. A +quarrel broke out between the soldiers and seamen in Oquendo's galleon. +He was himself still absent. Some wretch or other flung a torch into the +powder magazine and jumped overboard. The deck was blown off, and 200 +men along with it. + +Two such accidents following an unsuccessful engagement did not tend to +reconcile the Spaniards to the Duke's command. Pedro de Valdez was +universally loved and honoured, and his desertion in the face of an +enemy so inferior in numbers was regarded as scandalous poltroonery. +Monday morning broke heavily. The wind was gone, but there was still a +considerable swell. The English were hull down behind. The day was spent +in repairing damages and nailing lead over the shot-holes. Recalde was +moved to the front, to be out of harm's way, and De Leyva took his post +in the rear. + +At sunset they were outside Portland. The English had come up within a +league; but it was now dead calm, and they drifted apart in the tide. +The Duke thought of nothing, but at midnight the Spanish officers +stirred him out of his sleep to urge him to set his great galleasses to +work; now was their chance. The dawn brought a chance still better, for +it brought an east wind, and the Spaniards had now the weather-gage. +Could they once close and grapple with the English ships, their superior +numbers would then assure them a victory, and Howard, being to leeward +and inshore, would have to pass through the middle of the Spanish line +to recover his advantage. However, it was the same story. The Spaniards +could not use an opportunity when they had one. New-modelled for +superiority of sailing, the English ships had the same advantage over +the galleons as the steam cruisers would have over the old +three-deckers. While the breeze held they went where they pleased. The +Spaniards were out-sailed, out-matched, crushed by guns of longer range +than theirs. Their own shot flew high over the low English hulls, while +every ball found its way through their own towering sides. This time the +_San Martin_ was in the thick of it. Her double timbers were ripped and +torn; the holy standard was cut in two; the water poured through the +shot-holes. The men lost their nerve. In such ships as had no gentlemen +on board notable signs were observed of flinching. + +At the end of that day's fighting the English powder gave out. Two days' +service had been the limit of the Queen's allowance. Howard had pressed +for a more liberal supply at the last moment, and had received the +characteristic answer that he must state precisely how much he wanted +before more could be sent. The lighting of the beacons had quickened +the official pulse a little. A small addition had been despatched to +Weymouth or Poole, and no more could be done till it arrived. The Duke, +meanwhile, was left to smooth his ruffled plumes and drift on upon his +way. But by this time England was awake. Fresh privateers, with powder, +meat, bread, fruit, anything that they could bring, were pouring out +from the Dorsetshire harbours. Sir George Carey had come from the +Needles in time to share the honours of the last battle, 'round shot,' +as he said, 'flying thick as musket balls in a skirmish on land.' + +The Duke had observed uneasily from the _San Martin's_ deck that his +pursuers were growing numerous. He had made up his mind definitely to go +for the Isle of Wight, shelter his fleet in the Solent, land 10,000 men +in the island, and stand on his defence till he heard from Parma. He +must fight another battle; but, cut up as he had been, he had as yet +lost but two ships, and those by accident. He might fairly hope to force +his way in with help from above, for which he had special reason to look +in the next engagement. Wednesday was a breathless calm. The English +were taking in their supplies. The Armada lay still, repairing damages. +Thursday would be St. Dominic's Day. St. Dominic belonged to the Duke's +own family, and was his patron saint. St. Dominic he felt sure, would +now stand by his kinsman. + +The morning broke with a light air. The English would be less able to +move, and with the help of the galleasses he might hope to come to close +quarters at last. Howard seemed inclined to give him his wish. With just +wind enough to move the Lord Admiral led in the _Ark Raleigh_ straight +down on the Spanish centre. The _Ark_ out-sailed her consorts and found +herself alone with the galleons all round her. At that moment the wind +dropped. The Spanish boarding-parties were at their posts. The tops were +manned with musketeers, the grappling irons all prepared to fling into +the _Ark's_ rigging. In imagination the English admiral was their own. +But each day's experience was to teach them a new lesson. Eleven boats +dropped from the _Ark's_ sides and took her in tow. The breeze rose +again as she began to move. Her sails filled, and she slipped away +through the water, leaving the Spaniards as if they were at anchor, +staring in helpless amazement. The wind brought up Drake and the rest, +and then began again the terrible cannonade from which the Armada had +already suffered so frightfully. It seemed that morning as if the +English were using guns of even heavier metal than on either of the +preceding days. The armament had not been changed. The growth was in +their own frightened imagination. The Duke had other causes for +uneasiness. His own magazines were also giving out under the unexpected +demands upon them. One battle was the utmost which he had looked for. He +had fought three, and the end was no nearer than before. With resolution +he might still have made his way into St. Helen's roads, for the English +were evidently afraid to close with him. But when St. Dominic, too, +failed him he lost his head. He lost his heart, and losing heart he lost +all. In the Solent he would have been comparatively safe, and he could +easily have taken the Isle of Wight; but his one thought now was to +find safety under Parma's gaberdine and make for Calais or Dunkirk. He +supposed Parma to have already embarked, on hearing of his coming, with +a second armed fleet, and in condition for immediate action. He sent on +another pinnace, pressing for help, pressing for ammunition, and +fly-boats to protect the galleons; and Parma was himself looking to be +supplied from the Armada, with no second fleet at all, only a flotilla +of river barges which would need a week's work to be prepared for the +crossing. + +Philip had provided a splendid fleet, a splendid army, and the finest +sailors in the world except the English. He had failed to realise that +the grandest preparations are useless with a fool to command. The poor +Duke was less to blame than his master. An office had been thrust upon +him for which he knew that he had not a single qualification. His one +anxiety was to find Parma, lay the weight on Parma's shoulders, and so +have done with it. + +On Friday he was left alone to make his way up Channel towards the +French shore. The English still followed, but he counted that in Calais +roads he would be in French waters, where they would not dare to meddle +with him. They would then, he thought, go home and annoy him no further. +As he dropped anchor in the dusk outside Calais on Saturday evening he +saw, to his disgust, that the _endemoniada gente_--the infernal +devils--as he called them, had brought up at the same moment with +himself, half a league astern of him. His one trust was in the Prince of +Parma, and Parma at any rate was now within touch. + + + + +LECTURE IX + +DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA + + +In the gallery at Madrid there is a picture, painted by Titian, +representing the Genius of Spain coming to the delivery of the afflicted +Bride of Christ. Titian was dead, but the temper of the age survived, +and in the study of that great picture you will see the spirit in which +the Spanish nation had set out for the conquest of England. The scene is +the seashore. The Church a naked Andromeda, with dishevelled hair, +fastened to the trunk of an ancient disbranched tree. The cross lies at +her feet, the cup overturned, the serpents of heresy biting at her from +behind with uplifted crests. Coming on before a leading breeze is the +sea monster, the Moslem fleet, eager for their prey; while in front is +Perseus, the Genius of Spain, banner in hand, with the legions of the +faithful laying not raiment before him, but shield and helmet, the +apparel of war for the Lady of Nations to clothe herself with strength +and smite her foes. + +In the Armada the crusading enthusiasm had reached its point and focus. +England was the stake to which the Virgin, the daughter of Sion, was +bound in captivity. Perseus had come at last in the person of the Duke +of Medina Sidonia, and with him all that was best and brightest in the +countrymen of Cervantes, to break her bonds and replace her on her +throne. They had sailed into the Channel in pious hope, with the blessed +banner waving over their heads. + +To be the executor of the decrees of Providence is a lofty ambition, but +men in a state of high emotion overlook the precautions which are not to +be dispensed with even on the sublimest of errands. Don Quixote, when he +set out to redress the wrongs of humanity, forgot that a change of linen +might be necessary, and that he must take money with him to pay his +hotel bills. Philip II., in sending the Armada to England, and confident +in supernatural protection, imagined an unresisted triumphal +procession. He forgot that contractors might be rascals, that water four +months in the casks in a hot climate turned putrid, and that putrid +water would poison his ships' companies, though his crews were companies +of angels. He forgot that the servants of the evil one might fight for +their mistress after all, and that he must send adequate supplies of +powder, and, worst forgetfulness of all, that a great naval expedition +required a leader who understood his business. Perseus, in the shape of +the Duke of Medina Sidonia, after a week of disastrous battles, found +himself at the end of it in an exposed roadstead, where he ought never +to have been, nine-tenths of his provisions thrown overboard as unfit +for food, his ammunition exhausted by the unforeseen demands upon it, +the seamen and soldiers harassed and dispirited, officers the whole week +without sleep, and the enemy, who had hunted him from Plymouth to +Calais, anchored within half a league of him. + +Still, after all his misadventures, he had brought the fleet, if not to +the North Foreland, yet within a few miles of it, and to outward +appearance not materially injured. Two of the galleons had been taken; +a third, the _Santa Aña_, had strayed; and his galleys had left him, +being found too weak for the Channel sea; but the great armament had +reached its destination substantially uninjured so far as English eyes +could see. Hundreds of men had been killed and hundreds more wounded, +and the spirit of the rest had been shaken. But the loss of life could +only be conjectured on board the English fleet. The English admiral +could only see that the Duke was now in touch with Parma. Parma, they +knew, had an army at Dunkirk with him, which was to cross to England. He +had been collecting men, barges, and transports all the winter and +spring, and the backward state of Parma's preparations could not be +anticipated, still less relied upon. The Calais anchorage was unsafe; +but at that season of the year, especially after a wet summer, the +weather usually settled; and to attack the Spaniards in a French port +might be dangerous for many reasons. It was uncertain after the day of +the Barricades whether the Duke of Guise or Henry of Valois was master +of France, and a violation of the neutrality laws might easily at that +moment bring Guise and France into the field on the Spaniards' side. It +was, no doubt, with some such expectation that the Duke and his advisers +had chosen Calais as the point at which to bring up. It was now +Saturday, the 7th of August. The Governor of the town came off in the +evening to the _San Martin_. He expressed surprise to see the Spanish +fleet in so exposed a position, but he was profuse in his offers of +service. Anything which the Duke required should be provided, especially +every facility for communicating with Dunkirk and Parma. The Duke +thanked him, said that he supposed Parma to be already embarked with his +troops, ready for the passage, and that his own stay in the roads would +be but brief. On Monday morning at latest he expected that the attempt +to cross would be made. The Governor took his leave, and the Duke, +relieved from his anxieties, was left to a peaceful night. He was +disturbed on the Sunday morning by an express from Parma informing him +that, so far from being embarked, the army could not be ready for a +fortnight. The barges were not in condition for sea. The troops were in +camp. The arms and stores were on the quays at Dunkirk. As for the +fly-boats and ammunition which the Duke had asked for, he had none to +spare. He had himself looked to be supplied from the Armada. He promised +to use his best expedition, but the Duke, meanwhile, must see to the +safety of the fleet. + +Unwelcome news to a harassed landsman thrust into the position of an +admiral and eager to be rid of his responsibilities. If by evil fortune +the north-wester should come down upon him, with the shoals and +sandbanks close under his lee, he would be in a bad way. Nor was the +view behind him calculated for comfort. There lay the enemy almost +within gunshot, who, though scarcely more than half his numbers, had +hunted him like a pack of bloodhounds, and, worse than all, in double +strength; for the Thames squadron--three Queen's ships and thirty London +adventurers--under Lord H. Seymour and Sir John Hawkins, had crossed in +the night. There they were between him and Cape Grisnez, and the +reinforcement meant plainly enough that mischief was in the wind. + +After a week so trying the Spanish crews would have been glad of a +Sunday's rest if they could have had it; but the rough handling which +they had gone through had thrown everything into disorder. The sick and +wounded had to be cared for, torn rigging looked to, splintered timbers +mended, decks scoured, and guns and arms cleaned up and put to rights. +And so it was that no rest could be allowed; so much had to be done, and +so busy was everyone, that the usual rations were not served out and the +Sunday was kept as a fast. In the afternoon the stewards went ashore for +fresh meat and vegetables. They came back with their boats loaded, and +the prospect seemed a little less gloomy. Suddenly, as the Duke and a +group of officers were watching the English fleet from the _San +Martin's_ poop deck, a small smart pinnace, carrying a gun in her bow, +shot out from Howard's lines, bore down on the _San Martin_, sailed +round her, sending in a shot or two as she passed, and went off unhurt. +The Spanish officers could not help admiring such airy impertinence. +Hugo de Monçada sent a ball after the pinnace, which went through her +mainsail, but did no damage, and the pinnace again disappeared behind +the English ships. + +So a Spanish officer describes the scene. The English story says nothing +of the pinnace; but she doubtless came and went as the Spaniard says, +and for sufficient purpose. The English, too, were in straits, though +the Duke did not dream of it. You will remember that the last supplies +which the Queen had allowed to the fleet had been issued in the middle +of June. They were to serve for a month, and the contractors were +forbidden to prepare more. The Queen had clung to her hope that her +differences with Philip were to be settled by the Commission at Ostend; +and she feared that if Drake and Howard were too well furnished they +would venture some fresh rash stroke on the coast of Spain, which might +mar the negotiations. Their month's provisions had been stretched to +serve for six weeks, and when the Armada appeared but two full days' +rations remained. On these they had fought their way up Channel. +Something had been brought out by private exertion on the Dorsetshire +coast, and Seymour had, perhaps, brought a little more. But they were +still in extremity. The contractors had warned the Government that they +could provide nothing without notice, and notice had not been given. The +adventurers were in better state, having been equipped by private +owners. But the Queen's ships in a day or two more must either go home +or their crews would be starving. They had been on reduced rations for +near two months. Worse than that, they were still poisoned by the sour +beer. The Queen had changed her mind so often, now ordering the fleet to +prepare for sea, then recalling her instructions and paying off the men, +that those whom Howard had with him had been enlisted in haste, had come +on board as they were, and their clothes were hanging in rags on them. +The fighting and the sight of the flying Spaniards were meat and drink, +and clothing too, and had made them careless of all else. There was no +fear of mutiny; but there was a limit to the toughest endurance. If the +Armada was left undisturbed a long struggle might be still before them. +The enemy would recover from its flurry, and Parma would come out from +Dunkirk. To attack them directly in French waters might lead to +perilous complications, while delay meant famine. The Spanish fleet had +to be started from the roads in some way. Done it must be, and done +immediately. + +Then, on that same Sunday afternoon a memorable council of war was held +in the _Ark's_ main cabin. Howard, Drake, Seymour, Hawkins, Martin +Frobisher, and two or three others met to consult, knowing that on them +at that moment the liberties of England were depending. Their resolution +was taken promptly. There was no time for talk. After nightfall a strong +flood tide would be setting up along shore to the Spanish anchorage. +They would try what could be done with fire-ships, and the excursion of +the pinnace, which was taken for bravado, was probably for a survey of +the Armada's exact position. Meantime eight useless vessels were coated +with pitch--hulls, spars, and rigging. Pitch was poured on the decks and +over the sides, and parties were told off to steer them to their +destination and then fire and leave them. + +The hours stole on, and twilight passed into dark. The night was +without a moon. The Duke paced his deck late with uneasy sense of +danger. He observed lights moving up and down the English lines, and +imagining that the _endemoniada gente_--the infernal devils--might be up +to mischief ordered a sharp look-out. A faint westerly air was curling +the water, and towards midnight the watchers on board the galleons made +out dimly several ships which seemed to be drifting down upon them. +Their experience since the action off Plymouth had been so strange and +unlooked for that anything unintelligible which the English did was +alarming. + +The phantom forms drew nearer, and were almost among them when they +broke into a blaze from water-line to truck, and the two fleets were +seen by the lurid light of the conflagration; the anchorage, the walls +and windows of Calais, and the sea shining red far as eye could reach, +as if the ocean itself was burning. Among the dangers which they might +have to encounter, English fireworks had been especially dreaded by the +Spaniards. Fire-ships--a fit device of heretics--had worked havoc among +the Spanish troops, when the bridge was blown up, at Antwerp. They +imagined that similar infernal machines were approaching the Armada. A +capable commander would have sent a few launches to grapple the burning +hulks, which of course were now deserted, and tow them out of harm's +way. Spanish sailors were not cowards, and would not have flinched from +duty because it might be dangerous; but the Duke and Diego Florez lost +their heads again. A signal gun from the _San Martin_ ordered the whole +fleet to slip their cables and stand out to sea. + +Orders given in panic are doubly unwise, for they spread the terror in +which they originate. The danger from the fire-ships was chiefly from +the effect on the imagination, for they appear to have drifted by and +done no real injury. And it speaks well for the seamanship and courage +of the Spaniards that they were able, crowded together as they were, at +midnight and in sudden alarm to set their canvas and clear out without +running into one another. They buoyed their cables, expecting to return +for them at daylight, and with only a single accident, to be mentioned +directly, they executed successfully a really difficult manoeuvre. + +The Duke was delighted with himself. The fire-ships burnt harmlessly +out. He had baffled the inventions of the _endemoniada gente_. He +brought up a league outside the harbour, and supposed that the whole +Armada had done the same. Unluckily for himself, he found it at daylight +divided into two bodies. The _San Martin_ with forty of the best +appointed of the galleons were riding together at their anchors. The +rest, two-thirds of the whole, having no second anchors ready, and +inexperienced in Channel tides and currents, had been lying to. The west +wind was blowing up. Without seeing where they were going they had +drifted to leeward, and were two leagues off, towards Gravelines, +dangerously near the shore. The Duke was too ignorant to realise the +full peril of his situation. He signalled to them to return and rejoin +him. As the wind and tide stood it was impossible. He proposed to follow +them. The pilots told him that if he did the whole fleet might be lost +on the banks. Towards the land the look of things was not more +encouraging. + +One accident only had happened the night before. The Capitana galleass, +with Don Hugo de Monçada and eight hundred men on board, had fouled her +helm in a cable in getting under way and had become unmanageable. The +galley slaves disobeyed orders, or else Don Hugo was as incompetent as +his commander-in-chief. The galleass had gone on the sands, and as the +tide ebbed had fallen over on her side. Howard, seeing her condition, +had followed her in the _Ark_ with four or five other of the Queen's +ships, and was furiously attacking her with his boats, careless of +neutrality laws. Howard's theory was, as he said, to pluck the feathers +one by one from the Spaniard's wing, and here was a feather worth +picking up. The galleass was the most splendid vessel of her kind +afloat, Don Hugo one of the greatest of Spanish grandees. + +Howard was making a double mistake. He took the galleass at last, after +three hours' fighting. Don Hugo was killed by a musket ball. The vessel +was plundered, and Howard's men took possession, meaning to carry her +away when the tide rose. The French authorities ordered him off, +threatening to fire upon him; and after wasting the forenoon, he was +obliged at last to leave her where she lay. Worse than this, he had lost +three precious hours, and had lost along with them, in the opinion of +the Prince of Parma, the honours of the great day. + +Drake and Hawkins knew better than to waste time plucking single +feathers. The fire-ships had been more effective than they could have +dared to hope. The enemy was broken up. The Duke was shorn of half his +strength, and the Lord had delivered him into their hand. He had got +under way, still signalling wildly, and uncertain in which direction to +turn. His uncertainties were ended for him by seeing Drake bearing down +upon him with the whole English fleet, save those which were loitering +about the galleass. The English had now the advantage of numbers. The +superiority of their guns he knew already, and their greater speed +allowed him no hope to escape a battle. Forty ships alone were left to +him to defend the banner of the crusade and the honour of Castile; but +those forty were the largest and the most powerfully armed and manned +that he had, and on board them were Oquendo, De Leyva, Recalde, and +Bretandona, the best officers in the Spanish navy next to the lost Don +Pedro. + +It was now or never for England. The scene of the action which was to +decide the future of Europe was between Calais and Dunkirk, a few miles +off shore, and within sight of Parma's camp. There was no more +manoeuvring for the weather-gage, no more fighting at long range. +Drake dashed straight upon his prey as the falcon stoops upon its +quarry. A chance had fallen to him which might never return; not for the +vain distinction of carrying prizes into English ports, not for the ray +of honour which would fall on him if he could carry off the sacred +banner itself and hang it in the Abbey at Westminster, but a chance so +to handle the Armada that it should never be seen again in English +waters, and deal such a blow on Philip that the Spanish Empire should +reel with it. The English ships had the same superiority over the +galleons which steamers have now over sailing vessels. They had twice +the speed; they could lie two points nearer to the wind. Sweeping round +them at cable's length, crowding them in one upon the other, yet never +once giving them a chance to grapple, they hurled in their cataracts of +round shot. Short as was the powder supply, there was no sparing it that +morning. The hours went on, and still the battle raged, if battle it +could be called where the blows were all dealt on one side and the +suffering was all on the other. Never on sea or land did the Spaniards +show themselves worthier of their great name than on that day. But from +the first they could do nothing. It was said afterwards in Spain that +the Duke showed the white feather, that he charged his pilot to keep him +out of harm's way, that he shut himself up in his cabin, buried in +woolpacks, and so on. The Duke had faults enough, but poltroonery was +not one of them. He, who till he entered the English Channel had never +been in action on sea or land, found himself, as he said, in the midst +of the most furious engagement recorded in the history of the world. As +to being out of harm's way, the standard at his masthead drew the +hottest of the fire upon him. The _San Martin's_ timbers were of oak and +a foot thick, but the shot, he said, went through them enough to shatter +a rock. Her deck was a slaughterhouse; half his company were killed or +wounded, and no more would have been heard or seen of the _San Martin_ +or her commander had not Oquendo and De Leyva pushed in to the rescue +and enabled him to creep away under their cover. He himself saw nothing +more of the action after this. The smoke, he said, was so thick that he +could make out nothing, even from his masthead. But all round it was but +a repetition of the same scene. The Spanish shot flew high, as before, +above the low English hulls, and they were themselves helpless butts to +the English guns. And it is noticeable and supremely creditable to them +that not a single galleon struck her colours. One of them, after a long +duel with an Englishman, was on the point of sinking. An English +officer, admiring the courage which the Spaniards had shown, ran out +upon his bowsprit, told them that they had done all which became men, +and urged them to surrender and save their lives. For answer they +cursed the English as cowards and chickens because they refused to +close. The officer was shot. His fall brought a last broadside on them, +which finished the work. They went down, and the water closed over them. +Rather death to the soldiers of the Cross than surrender to a heretic. + +The deadly hail rained on. In some ships blood was seen streaming out of +the scupper-holes. Yet there was no yielding; all ranks showed equal +heroism. The priests went up and down in the midst of the carnage, +holding the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. At midday Howard came +up to claim a second share in a victory which was no longer doubtful. +Towards the afternoon the Spanish fire slackened. Their powder was gone, +and they could make no return to the cannonade which was still +overwhelming them. They admitted freely afterwards that if the attack +had been continued but two hours more they must all have struck or gone +ashore. But the English magazines were empty also; the last cartridge +was shot away, and the battle ended from mere inability to keep it up. +It had been fought on both sides with peculiar determination. In the +English there was the accumulated resentment of thirty years of menace +to their country and their creed, with the enemy in tangible shape at +last to be caught and grappled with; in the Spanish, the sense that if +their cause had not brought them the help they looked for from above, +the honour and faith of Castile should not suffer in their hands. + +It was over. The English drew off, regretting that their thrifty +mistress had limited their means of fighting for her, and so obliged +them to leave their work half done. When the cannon ceased the wind +rose, the smoke rolled away, and in the level light of the sunset they +could see the results of the action. + +A galleon in Recalde's squadron was sinking with all hands. The _San +Philip_ and the _San Matteo_ were drifting dismasted towards the Dutch +coast, where they were afterwards wrecked. Those which were left with +canvas still showing were crawling slowly after their comrades who had +not been engaged, the spars and rigging so cut up that they could +scarce bear their sails. The loss of life could only be conjectured, but +it had been obviously terrible. The nor'-wester was blowing up and was +pressing the wounded ships upon the shoals, from which, if it held, it +seemed impossible in their crippled state they would be able to work +off. + +In this condition Drake left them for the night, not to rest, but from +any quarter to collect, if he could, more food and powder. The snake had +been scotched, but not killed. More than half the great fleet were far +away, untouched by shot, perhaps able to fight a second battle if they +recovered heart. To follow, to drive them on the banks if the wind held, +or into the North Sea, anywhere so that he left them no chance of +joining hands with Parma again, and to use the time before they had +rallied from his blows, that was the present necessity. His own poor +fellows were famished and in rags; but neither he nor they had leisure +to think of themselves. There was but one thought in the whole of them, +to be again in chase of the flying foe. Howard was resolute as Drake. +All that was possible was swiftly done. Seymour and the Thames squadron +were to stay in the Straits and watch Parma. From every attainable +source food and powder were collected for the rest--far short in both +ways of what ought to have been, but, as Drake said, 'we were resolved +to put on a brag and go on as if we needed nothing.' Before dawn the +admiral and he were again off on the chase. + +The brag was unneeded. What man could do had been done, and the rest was +left to the elements. Never again could Spanish seamen be brought to +face the English guns with Medina Sidonia to lead them. They had a fool +at their head. The Invisible Powers in whom they had been taught to +trust had deserted them. Their confidence was gone and their spirit +broken. Drearily the morning broke on the Duke and his consorts the day +after the battle. The Armada had collected in the night. The nor'-wester +had freshened to a gale, and they were labouring heavily along, making +fatal leeway towards the shoals. + +It was St. Lawrence's Day, Philip's patron saint, whose shoulder-bone he +had lately added to the treasures of the Escurial; but St. Lawrence was +as heedless as St. Dominic. The _San Martin_ had but six fathoms under +her. Those nearer to the land signalled five, and right before them they +could see the brown foam of the breakers curling over the sands, while +on their weather-beam, a mile distant and clinging to them like the +shadow of death, were the English ships which had pursued them from +Plymouth like the dogs of the Furies. The Spanish sailors and soldiers +had been without food since the evening when they anchored at Calais. +All Sunday they had been at work, no rest allowed them to eat. On the +Sunday night they had been stirred out of their sleep by the fire-ships. +Monday they had been fighting, and Monday night committing their dead to +the sea. Now they seemed advancing directly upon inevitable destruction. +As the wind stood there was still room for them to wear and thus escape +the banks, but they would then have to face the enemy, who seemed only +refraining from attacking them because while they continued on their +present course the winds and waves would finish the work without help +from man. Recalde, De Leyva, Oquendo, and other officers were sent for +to the _San Martin_ to consult. Oquendo came last. 'Ah, Señor Oquendo,' +said the Duke as the heroic Biscayan stepped on board, 'que haremos?' +(what shall we do?) 'Let your Excellency bid load the guns again,' was +Oquendo's gallant answer. It could not be. De Leyva himself said that +the men would not fight the English again. Florez advised surrender. The +Duke wavered. It was said that a boat was actually lowered to go off to +Howard and make terms, and that Oquendo swore that if the boat left the +_San Martin_ on such an errand he would fling Florez into the sea. +Oquendo's advice would have, perhaps, been the safest if the Duke could +have taken it. There were still seventy ships in the Armada little hurt. +The English were 'bragging,' as Drake said, and in no condition +themselves for another serious engagement. But the temper of the entire +fleet made a courageous course impossible. There was but one Oquendo. +Discipline was gone. The soldiers in their desperation had taken the +command out of the hands of the seamen. Officers and men alike +abandoned hope, and, with no human prospect of salvation left to them, +they flung themselves on their knees upon the decks and prayed the +Almighty to have pity on them. But two weeks were gone since they had +knelt on those same decks on the first sight of the English shore to +thank Him for having brought them so far on an enterprise so glorious. +Two weeks; and what weeks! Wrecked, torn by cannon shot, ten thousand of +them dead or dying--for this was the estimated loss by battle--the +survivors could now but pray to be delivered from a miserable death by +the elements. In cyclones the wind often changes suddenly back from +north-west to west, from west to south. At that moment, as if in answer +to their petition, one of these sudden shifts of wind saved them from +the immediate peril. The gale backed round to S.S.W., and ceased to +press them on the shoals. They could ease their sheets, draw off into +open water, and steer a course up the middle of the North Sea. + +So only that they went north, Drake was content to leave them +unmolested. Once away into the high latitudes they might go where they +would. Neither Howard nor he, in the low state of their own magazines, +desired any unnecessary fighting. If the Armada turned back they must +close with it. If it held its present course they must follow it till +they could be assured it would communicate no more for that summer with +the Prince of Parma. Drake thought they would perhaps make for the +Baltic or some port in Norway. They would meet no hospitable reception +from either Swedes or Danes, but they would probably try. One only +imminent danger remained to be provided against. If they turned into the +Forth, it was still possible for the Spaniards to redeem their defeat, +and even yet shake Elizabeth's throne. Among the many plans which had +been formed for the invasion of England, a landing in Scotland had long +been the favourite. Guise had always preferred Scotland when it was +intended that Guise should be the leader. Santa Cruz had been in close +correspondence with Guise on this very subject, and many officers in the +Armada must have been acquainted with Santa Cruz's views. The Scotch +Catholic nobles were still savage at Mary Stuart's execution, and had +the Armada anchored in Leith Roads with twenty thousand men, half a +million ducats, and a Santa Cruz at its head, it might have kindled a +blaze at that moment from John o' Groat's Land to the Border. + +But no such purpose occurred to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. He probably +knew nothing at all of Scotland or its parties. Among the many +deficiencies which he had pleaded to Philip as unfitting him for the +command, he had said that Santa Cruz had acquaintances among the English +and Scotch peers. He had himself none. The small information which he +had of anything did not go beyond his orange gardens and his tunny +fishing. His chief merit was that he was conscious of his incapacity; +and, detesting a service into which he had been fooled by a hysterical +nun, his only anxiety was to carry home the still considerable fleet +which had been trusted to him without further loss. Beyond Scotland and +the Scotch Isles there was the open ocean, and in the open ocean there +were no sandbanks and no English guns. Thus, with all sail set he went +on before the wind. Drake and Howard attended him till they had seen +him past the Forth, and knew then that there was no more to fear. It was +time to see to the wants of their own poor fellows, who had endured so +patiently and fought so magnificently. On the 13th of August they saw +the last of the Armada, turned back, and made their way to the Thames. + +But the story has yet to be told of the final fate of the great +'enterprise of England' (the 'empresa de Inglaterra'), the object of so +many prayers, on which the hopes of the Catholic world had been so long +and passionately fixed. It had been ostentatiously a religious crusade. +The preparations had been attended with peculiar solemnities. In the +eyes of the faithful it was to be the execution of Divine justice on a +wicked princess and a wicked people. In the eyes of millions whose +convictions were less decided it was an appeal to God's judgment to +decide between the Reformation and the Pope. There was an +appropriateness, therefore, if due to accident, that other causes +besides the action of man should have combined in its overthrow. + +The Spaniards were experienced sailors; a voyage round the Orkneys and +round Ireland to Spain might be tedious, but at that season of the year +need not have seemed either dangerous or difficult. On inquiry, however, +it was found that the condition of the fleet was seriously alarming. The +provisions placed on board at Lisbon had been found unfit for food, and +almost all had been thrown into the sea. The fresh stores taken in at +Corunna had been consumed, and it was found that at the present rate +there would be nothing left in a fortnight. Worse than all, the +water-casks refilled there had been carelessly stowed. They had been +shot through in the fighting and were empty; while of clothing or other +comforts for the cold regions which they were entering no thought had +been taken. The mules and horses were flung overboard, and Scotch +smacks, which had followed the retreating fleet, reported that they had +sailed for miles through floating carcases. + +The rations were reduced for each man to a daily half-pound of biscuit, +a pint of water, and a pint of wine. Thus, sick and hungry, the wounded +left to the care of a medical officer, who went from ship to ship, the +subjects of so many prayers were left to encounter the climate of the +North Atlantic. The Duke blamed all but himself; he hanged one poor +captain for neglect of orders, and would have hanged another had he +dared; but his authority was gone. They passed the Orkneys in a single +body. They then parted, it was said in a fog; but each commander had to +look out for himself and his men. In many ships water must be had +somewhere, or they would die. The _San Martin_, with sixty consorts, +went north to the sixtieth parallel. From that height the pilots +promised to take them down clear of the coast. The wind still clung to +the west, each day blowing harder than the last. When they braced round +to it their wounded spars gave way. Their rigging parted. With the +greatest difficulty they made at last sufficient offing, and rolled down +somehow out of sight of land, dipping their yards in the enormous seas. +Of the rest, one or two went down among the Western Isles and became +wrecks there, their crews, or part of them, making their way through +Scotland to Flanders. Others went north to Shetland or the Faroe +Islands. Between thirty and forty were tempted in upon the Irish coasts. +There were Irishmen in the fleet, who must have told them that they +would find the water there for which they were perishing, safe harbours, +and a friendly Catholic people; and they found either harbours which +they could not reach or sea-washed sands and reefs. They were all +wrecked at various places between Donegal and the Blaskets. Something +like eight thousand half-drowned wretches struggled on shore alive. Many +were gentlemen, richly dressed, with velvet coats, gold chains, and +rings. The common sailors and soldiers had been paid their wages before +they started, and each had a bag of ducats lashed to his waist when he +landed through the surf. The wild Irish of the coast, tempted by the +booty, knocked unknown numbers of them on the head with their +battle-axes, or stripped them naked and left them to die of the cold. On +one long sand strip in Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred +bodies, and he heard that there were as many more a few miles distant. + +The better-educated of the Ulster chiefs, the O'Rourke and O'Donnell, +hurried down to stop the butchery and spare Ireland the shame of +murdering helpless Catholic friends. Many--how many cannot be +said--found protection in their castles. But even so it seemed as if +some inexorable fate pursued all who had sailed in that doomed +expedition. Alonzo de Leyva, with half a hundred young Spanish nobles of +high rank who were under his special charge, made his way in a galleass +into Killibeg. He was himself disabled in landing. O'Donnell received +and took care of him and his companions. After remaining in O'Donnell's +castle for a month he recovered. The weather appeared to mend. The +galleass was patched up, and De Leyva ventured an attempt to make his +way in her to Scotland. He had passed the worst danger, and Scotland was +almost in sight; but fate would have its victims. The galleass struck a +rock off Dunluce and went to pieces, and Don Alonzo and the princely +youths who had sailed with him were washed ashore all dead, to find an +unmarked grave in Antrim. + +Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who fell into the hands of +the English garrisons in Galway and Mayo. Galleons had found their way +into Galway Bay--one of them had reached Galway itself--the crews half +dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water. The +Galway townsmen were human, and tried to feed and care for them. Most +were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion. Some might have +recovered, but recovered they would be a danger to the State. The +English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the midst of a +sullen, half-conquered population. The ashes of the Desmond rebellion +were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine Commission were +fresh in immediate memory. The defeat of the Armada in the Channel could +only have been vaguely heard of. All that English officers could have +accurately known must have been that an enormous expedition had been +sent to England by Philip to restore the Pope; and Spaniards, they +found, were landing in thousands in the midst of them with arms and +money; distressed for the moment, but sure, if allowed time to get their +strength again, to set Connaught in a blaze. They had no fortresses to +hold so many prisoners, no means of feeding them, no men to spare to +escort them to Dublin. They were responsible to the Queen's Government +for the safety of the country. The Spaniards had not come on any errand +of mercy to her or hers. The stern order went out to kill them all +wherever they might be found, and two thousand or more were shot, +hanged, or put to the sword. Dreadful! Yes, but war itself is dreadful +and has its own necessities. + +The sixty ships which had followed the _San Martin_ succeeded at last in +getting round Cape Clear, but in a condition scarcely less miserable +than that of their companions who had perished in Ireland. Half their +companies died--died of untended wounds, hunger, thirst, and famine +fever. The survivors were moving skeletons, more shadows and ghosts than +living men, with scarce strength left them to draw a rope or handle a +tiller. In some ships there was no water for fourteen days. The weather +in the lower latitudes lost part of its violence, or not one of them +would have seen Spain again. As it was they drifted on outside Scilly +and into the Bay of Biscay, and in the second week in September they +dropped in one by one. Recalde, with better success than the rest, made +Corunna. The Duke, not knowing where he was, found himself in sight of +Corunna also. The crew of the _San Martin_ were prostrate, and could not +work her in. They signalled for help, but none came, and they dropped +away to leeward to Bilbao. Oquendo had fallen off still farther to +Santander, and the rest of the sixty arrived in the following days at +one or other of the Biscay ports. On board them, of the thirty thousand +who had left those shores but two months before in high hope and +passionate enthusiasm, nine thousand only came back alive--if alive they +could be called. It is touching to read in a letter from Bilbao of their +joy at warm Spanish sun, the sight of the grapes on the white walls, and +the taste of fresh home bread and water again. But it came too late to +save them, and those whose bodies might have rallied died of broken +hearts and disappointed dreams. Santa Cruz's old companions could not +survive the ruin of the Spanish navy. Recalde died two days after he +landed at Bilbao. Santander was Oquendo's home. He had a wife and +children there, but he refused to see them, turned his face to the wall, +and died too. The common seamen and soldiers were too weak to help +themselves. They had to be left on board the poisoned ships till +hospitals could be prepared to take them in. The authorities of Church +and State did all that men could do; but the case was past help, and +before September was out all but a few hundred needed no further care. + +Philip, it must be said for him, spared nothing to relieve the misery. +The widows and orphans were pensioned by the State. The stroke which had +fallen was received with a dignified submission to the inscrutable +purposes of Heaven. Diego Florez escaped with a brief punishment at +Burgos. None else were punished for faults which lay chiefly in the +King's own presumption in imagining himself the instrument of +Providence. + +The Duke thought himself more sinned against than sinning. He did not +die, like Recalde or Oquendo, seeing no occasion for it. He flung down +his command and retired to his palace at San Lucan; and so far was +Philip from resenting the loss of the Armada on its commander, that he +continued him in his governorship of Cadiz, where Essex found him seven +years later, and where he ran from Essex as he had run from Drake. + +The Spaniards made no attempt to conceal the greatness of their defeat. +Unwilling to allow that the Upper Powers had been against them, they set +it frankly down to the superior fighting powers of the English. + +The English themselves, the Prince of Parma said, were modest in their +victory. They thought little of their own gallantry. To them the defeat +and destruction of the Spanish fleet was a declaration of the Almighty +in the cause of their country and the Protestant faith. Both sides had +appealed to Heaven, and Heaven had spoken. + +It was the turn of the tide. The wave of the reconquest of the +Netherlands ebbed from that moment. Parma took no more towns from the +Hollanders. The Catholic peers and gentlemen of England, who had held +aloof from the Established Church, waiting _ad illud tempus_ for a +religious revolution, accepted the verdict of Providence. They +discovered that in Anglicanism they could keep the faith of their +fathers, yet remain in communion with their Protestant fellow-countrymen, +use the same liturgy, and pray in the same temples. For the first time +since Elizabeth's father broke the bonds of Rome the English became a +united nation, joined in loyal enthusiasm for the Queen, and were +satisfied that thenceforward no Italian priest should tithe or toll +in her dominions. + +But all that, and all that went with it, the passing from Spain to +England of the sceptre of the seas, must be left to other lectures, or +other lecturers who have more years before them than I. My own theme has +been the poor Protestant adventurers who fought through that perilous +week in the English Channel and saved their country and their country's +liberty. + + +THE END + + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by +James Anthony Froude + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + +***** This file should be named 18209-8.txt or 18209-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/0/18209/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century + Lectures Delivered at Oxford Easter Terms 1893-4 + +Author: James Anthony Froude + +Release Date: April 19, 2006 [EBook #18209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>ENGLISH SEAMEN</h1> + +<h4>IN</h4> + +<h2>THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY</h2> + +<h3><i>LECTURES DELIVERED AT OXFORD EASTER TERMS 1893-4</i></h3> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE</h2> + +<h4>LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD</h4> + +<p class='center'>New Edition</p> + +<p class='center'>LONDON<br /> +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1896<br /> +[<i>All rights reserved</i>]</p> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,<br />London & Bungay.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_I">LECTURE I—THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_II">LECTURE II—JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_III">LECTURE III—SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_IV">LECTURE IV—DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_V">LECTURE V—PARTIES IN THE STATE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_VI">LECTURE VI—THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_VII">LECTURE VII—ATTACK ON CADIZ</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_VIII">LECTURE VIII—SAILING OF THE ARMADA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LECTURE_IX">LECTURE IX—DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA</a></td></tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_I" id="LECTURE_I"></a>LECTURE I</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION</h3> + + +<p>Jean Paul, the German poet, said that God had given to France the empire +of the land, to England the empire of the sea, and to his own country +the empire of the air. The world has changed since Jean Paul's days. The +wings of France have been clipped; the German Empire has become a solid +thing; but England still holds her watery dominion; Britannia does still +rule the waves, and in this proud position she has spread the English +race over the globe; she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> has created the great American nation; she is +peopling new Englands at the Antipodes; she has made her Queen Empress +of India; and is in fact the very considerable phenomenon in the social +and political world which all acknowledge her to be. And all this she +has achieved in the course of three centuries, entirely in consequence +of her predominance as an ocean power. Take away her merchant fleets; +take away the navy that guards them: her empire will come to an end; her +colonies will fall off, like leaves from a withered tree; and Britain +will become once more an insignificant island in the North Sea, for the +future students in Australian and New Zealand universities to discuss +the fate of in their debating societies.</p> + +<p>How the English navy came to hold so extraordinary a position is worth +reflecting on. Much has been written about it, but little, as it seems +to me, which touches the heart of the matter. We are shown the power of +our country growing and expanding. But how it grew, why, after a sleep +of so many hundred years, the genius of our Scandinavian forefathers +suddenly sprang<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> again into life—of this we are left without +explanation.</p> + +<p>The beginning was undoubtedly the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. +Down to that time the sea sovereignty belonged to the Spaniards, and had +been fairly won by them. The conquest of Granada had stimulated and +elevated the Spanish character. The subjects of Ferdinand and Isabella, +of Charles V. and Philip II., were extraordinary men, and accomplished +extraordinary things. They stretched the limits of the known world; they +conquered Mexico and Peru; they planted their colonies over the South +American continent; they took possession of the great West Indian +islands, and with so firm a grasp that Cuba at least will never lose the +mark of the hand which seized it. They built their cities as if for +eternity. They spread to the Indian Ocean, and gave their monarch's name +to the <i>Philippines</i>. All this they accomplished in half a century, and, +as it were, they did it with a single hand; with the other they were +fighting Moors and Turks and protecting the coast of the Mediterranean +from the corsairs of Tunis and Constantinople.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>They had risen on the crest of the wave, and with their proud <i>Non +sufficit orbis</i> were looking for new worlds to conquer, at a time when +the bark of the English water-dogs had scarcely been heard beyond their +own fishing-grounds, and the largest merchant vessel sailing from the +port of London was scarce bigger than a modern coasting collier. And yet +within the space of a single ordinary life these insignificant islanders +had struck the sceptre from the Spaniards' grasp and placed the ocean +crown on the brow of their own sovereign. How did it come about? What +Cadmus had sown dragons' teeth in the furrows of the sea for the race to +spring from who manned the ships of Queen Elizabeth, who carried the +flag of their own country round the globe, and challenged and fought the +Spaniards on their own coasts and in their own harbours?</p> + +<p>The English sea power was the legitimate child of the Reformation. It +grew, as I shall show you, directly out of the new despised +Protestantism. Matthew Parker and Bishop Jewel, the judicious Hooker +himself, excellent men as they were, would have written and preached to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +small purpose without Sir Francis Drake's cannon to play an +accompaniment to their teaching. And again, Drake's cannon would not +have roared so loudly and so widely without seamen already trained in +heart and hand to work his ships and level his artillery. It was to the +superior seamanship, the superior quality of English ships and crews, +that the Spaniards attributed their defeat. Where did these ships come +from? Where and how did these mariners learn their trade? Historians +talk enthusiastically of the national spirit of a people rising with a +united heart to repel the invader, and so on. But national spirit could +not extemporise a fleet or produce trained officers and sailors to match +the conquerors of Lepanto. One slight observation I must make here at +starting, and certainly with no invidious purpose. It has been said +confidently, it has been repeated, I believe, by all modern writers, +that the Spanish invasion suspended in England the quarrels of creed, +and united Protestants and Roman Catholics in defence of their Queen and +country. They remind us especially that Lord Howard of Effingham, who +was Eliza<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>beth's admiral, was himself a Roman Catholic. But was it so? +The Earl of Arundel, the head of the House of Howard, was a Roman +Catholic, and he was in the Tower praying for the success of Medina +Sidonia. Lord Howard of Effingham was no more a Roman Catholic than—I +hope I am not taking away their character—than the present Archbishop +of Canterbury or the Bishop of London. He was a Catholic, but an English +Catholic, as those reverend prelates are. Roman Catholic he could not +possibly have been, nor anyone who on that great occasion was found on +the side of Elizabeth. A Roman Catholic is one who acknowledges the +Roman Bishop's authority. The Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth, had +pronounced her deposed, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, +and forbidden them to fight for her. No Englishman who fought on that +great occasion for English liberty was, or could have been, in communion +with Rome. Loose statements of this kind, lightly made, fall in with the +modern humour. They are caught up, applauded, repeated, and pass +unquestioned into history. It is time to correct them a little.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have in my possession a detailed account of the temper of parties in +England, drawn up in the year 1585, three years before the Armada came. +The writer was a distinguished Jesuit. The account itself was prepared +for the use of the Pope and Philip, with a special view to the reception +which an invading force would meet with, and it goes into great detail. +The people of the towns—London, Bristol, &c.—were, he says, generally +heretics. The peers, the gentry, their tenants, and peasantry, who +formed the immense majority of the population, were almost universally +Catholics. But this writer distinguishes properly among Catholics. There +were the ardent impassioned Catholics, ready to be confessors and +martyrs, ready to rebel at the first opportunity, who had renounced +their allegiance, who desired to overthrow Elizabeth and put the Queen +of Scots in her place. The number of these, he says, was daily +increasing, owing to the exertions of the seminary priests; and plots, +he boasts, were being continually formed by them to murder the Queen. +There were Catholics of another sort, who were papal at heart, but went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +with the times to save their property; who looked forward to a change in +the natural order of things, but would not stir of themselves till an +invading army actually appeared. But all alike, he insists, were eager +for a revolution. Let the Prince of Parma come, and they would all join +him; and together these two classes of Catholics made three-fourths of +the nation.</p> + +<p>'The only party,' he says (and this is really noticeable), 'the only +party that would fight to death for the Queen, the only real friends she +had, were the <i>Puritans</i> (it is the first mention of the name which I +have found), the Puritans of London, the Puritans of the sea towns.' +These he admits were dangerous, desperate, determined men. The numbers +of them, however, were providentially small.</p> + +<p>The date of this document is, as I said, 1585, and I believe it +generally accurate. The only mistake is that among the Anglican +Catholics there were a few to whom their country was as dear as their +creed—a few who were beginning to see that under the Act of Uniformity +Catholic doctrine might be taught and Catholic ritual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> practised; who +adhered to the old forms of religion, but did not believe that obedience +to the Pope was a necessary part of them. One of these was Lord Howard +of Effingham, whom the Queen placed in his high command to secure the +wavering fidelity of the peers and country gentlemen. But the force, the +fire, the enthusiasm came (as the Jesuit saw) from the Puritans, from +men of the same convictions as the Calvinists of Holland and Rochelle; +men who, driven from the land, took to the ocean as their natural home, +and nursed the Reformation in an ocean cradle. How the seagoing +population of the North of Europe took so strong a Protestant impression +it is the purpose of these lectures to explain.</p> + +<p>Henry VIII. on coming to the throne found England without a fleet, and +without a conscious sense of the need of one. A few merchant hulks +traded with Bordeaux and Cadiz and Lisbon; hoys and fly-boats drifted +slowly backwards and forwards between Antwerp and the Thames. A fishing +fleet tolerably appointed went annually to Iceland for cod. Local +fishermen worked the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> North Sea and the Channel from Hull to Falmouth. +The Chester people went to Kinsale for herrings and mackerel: but that +was all—the nation had aspired to no more.</p> + +<p>Columbus had offered the New World to Henry VII. while the discovery was +still in the air. He had sent his brother to England with maps and +globes, and quotations from Plato to prove its existence. Henry, like a +practical Englishman, treated it as a wild dream.</p> + +<p>The dream had come from the gate of horn. America was found, and the +Spaniard, and not the English, came into first possession of it. Still, +America was a large place, and John Cabot the Venetian with his son +Sebastian tried Henry again. England might still be able to secure a +slice. This time Henry VII. listened. Two small ships were fitted out at +Bristol, crossed the Atlantic, discovered Newfoundland, coasted down to +Florida looking for a passage to Cathay, but could not find one. The +elder Cabot died; the younger came home. The expedition failed, and no +interest had been roused.</p> + +<p>With the accession of Henry VIII. a new era<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> had opened—a new era in +many senses. Printing was coming into use—Erasmus and his companions +were shaking Europe with the new learning, Copernican astronomy was +changing the level disk of the earth into a revolving globe, and turning +dizzy the thoughts of mankind. Imagination was on the stretch. The +reality of things was assuming proportions vaster than fancy had dreamt, +and unfastening established belief on a thousand sides. The young Henry +was welcomed by Erasmus as likely to be the glory of the age that was +opening. He was young, brilliant, cultivated, and ambitious. To what +might he not aspire under the new conditions! Henry VIII. was all that, +but he was cautious and looked about him. Europe was full of wars in +which he was likely to be entangled. His father had left the treasury +well furnished. The young King, like a wise man, turned his first +attention to the broad ditch, as he called the British Channel, which +formed the natural defence of the realm. The opening of the Atlantic had +revolutionised war and seamanship. Long voyages required larger vessels. +Henry was the first prince to see the place which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> gunpowder was going +to hold in wars. In his first years he repaired his dockyards, built new +ships on improved models, and imported Italians to cast him new types of +cannon. 'King Harry loved a man,' it was said, and knew a man when he +saw one. He made acquaintance with sea captains at Portsmouth and +Southampton. In some way or other he came to know one Mr. William +Hawkins, of Plymouth, and held him in especial esteem. This Mr. Hawkins, +under Henry's patronage, ventured down to the coast of Guinea and +brought home gold and ivory; crossed over to Brazil; made friends with +the Brazilian natives; even brought back with him the king of those +countries, who was curious to see what England was like, and presented +him to Henry at Whitehall.</p> + +<p>Another Plymouth man, Robert Thorne, again with Henry's help, went out +to look for the North-west passage which Cabot had failed to find. +Thorne's ship was called the <i>Dominus Vobiscum</i>, a pious aspiration +which, however, secured no success. A London man, a Master Hore, tried +next. Master Hore, it is said, was given to cosmography,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> was a +plausible talker at scientific meetings, and so on. He persuaded 'divers +young lawyers' (briefless barristers, I suppose) and other +gentlemen—altogether a hundred and twenty of them—to join him. They +procured two vessels at Gravesend. They took the sacrament together +before sailing. They apparently relied on Providence to take care of +them, for they made little other preparation. They reached Newfoundland, +but their stores ran out, and their ships went on shore. In the land of +fish they did not know how to use line and bait. They fed on roots and +bilberries, and picked fish-bones out of the ospreys' nests. At last +they began to eat one another—careless of Master Hore, who told them +they would go to unquenchable fire. A French vessel came in. They seized +her with the food she had on board and sailed home in her, leaving the +French crew to their fate. The poor French happily found means of +following them. They complained of their treatment, and Henry ordered an +inquiry; but finding, the report says, the great distress Master Hore's +party had been in, was so moved with pity, that he did not punish them, +but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> out of his own purse made royal recompense to the French.</p> + +<p>Something better than gentlemen volunteers was needed if naval +enterprise was to come to anything in England. The long wars between +Francis I. and Charles V. brought the problem closer. On land the +fighting was between the regular armies. At sea privateers were let +loose out of French, Flemish, and Spanish ports. Enterprising +individuals took out letters of marque and went cruising to take the +chance of what they could catch. The Channel was the chief +hunting-ground, as being the highway between Spain and the Low +Countries. The interval was short between privateers and pirates. +Vessels of all sorts passed into the business. The Scilly Isles became a +pirate stronghold. The creeks and estuaries in Cork and Kerry furnished +hiding-places where the rovers could lie with security and share their +plunder with the Irish chiefs. The disorder grew wilder when the divorce +of Catherine of Aragon made Henry into the public enemy of Papal Europe. +English traders and fishing-smacks were plundered and sunk. Their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> crews +went armed to defend themselves, and from Thames mouth to Land's End the +Channel became the scene of desperate fights. The type of vessel altered +to suit the new conditions. Life depended on speed of sailing. The State +Papers describe squadrons of French or Spaniards flying about, dashing +into Dartmouth, Plymouth, or Falmouth, cutting out English coasters, or +fighting one another.</p> + +<p>After Henry was excommunicated, and Ireland rebelled, and England itself +threatened disturbance, the King had to look to his security. He made +little noise about it. But the Spanish ambassador reported him as +silently building ships in the Thames and at Portsmouth. As invasion +seemed imminent, he began with sweeping the seas of the looser vermin. A +few swift well-armed cruisers pushed suddenly out of the Solent, caught +and destroyed a pirate fleet in Mount's Bay, sent to the bottom some +Flemish privateers in the Downs, and captured the Flemish admiral +himself. Danger at home growing more menacing, and the monks spreading +the fire which grew into the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry suppressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the +abbeys, sold the lands, and with the proceeds armed the coast with +fortresses. 'You threaten me,' he seemed to say to them, 'that you will +use the wealth our fathers gave you to overthrow my Government and bring +in the invader. I will take your wealth, and I will use it to disappoint +your treachery.' You may see the remnants of Henry's work in the +fortresses anywhere along the coast from Berwick to the Land's End.</p> + +<p>Louder thundered the Vatican. In 1539 Henry's time appeared to have +come. France and Spain made peace, and the Pope's sentence was now +expected to be executed by Charles or Francis, or both. A crowd of +vessels large and small was collected in the Scheldt, for what purpose +save to transport an army into England? Scotland had joined the Catholic +League. Henry fearlessly appealed to the English people. Catholic peers +and priests might conspire against him, but, explain it how we will, the +nation was loyal to Henry and came to his side. The London merchants +armed their ships in the river. From the seaports everywhere came armed +brigantines and sloops. The fishermen of the West left their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> boats and +nets to their wives, and the fishing was none the worse, for the women +handled oar and sail and line and went to the whiting-grounds, while +their husbands had gone to fight for their King. Genius kindled into +discovery at the call of the country. Mr. Fletcher of Rye (be his name +remembered) invented a boat the like of which was never seen before, +which would work to windward, with sails trimmed fore and aft, the +greatest revolution yet made in shipbuilding. A hundred and fifty sail +collected at Sandwich to match the armament in the Scheldt; and +Marillac, the French ambassador, reported with amazement the energy of +King and people.</p> + +<p>The Catholic Powers thought better of it. This was not the England which +Reginald Pole had told them was longing for their appearance. The +Scheldt force dispersed. Henry read Scotland a needed lesson. The Scots +had thought to take him at disadvantage, and sit on his back when the +Emperor attacked him. One morning when the people at Leith woke out of +their sleep, they found an English fleet in the Roads; and before they +had time to look about them, Leith was on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> fire and Edinburgh was taken. +Charles V., if he had ever seriously thought of invading Henry, returned +to wiser counsels, and made an alliance with him instead. The Pope +turned to France. If the Emperor forsook him, the Most Christian King +would help. He promised Francis that if he could win England he might +keep it for himself. Francis resolved to try what he could do.</p> + +<p>Five years had passed since the gathering at Sandwich. It was now the +summer of 1544. The records say that the French collected at Havre near +300 vessels, fighting ships, galleys, and transports. Doubtless the +numbers are far exaggerated, but at any rate it was the largest force +ever yet got together to invade England, capable, if well handled, of +bringing Henry to his knees. The plan was to seize and occupy the Isle +of Wight, destroy the English fleet, then take Portsmouth and +Southampton, and so advance on London.</p> + +<p>Henry's attention to his navy had not slackened. He had built ship on +ship. The <i>Great Harry</i> was a thousand tons, carried 700 men, and was +the wonder of the day. There were a dozen others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> scarcely less +imposing. The King called again on the nation, and again the nation +answered. In England altogether there were 150,000 men in arms in field +or garrison. In the King's fleet at Portsmouth there were 12,000 seamen, +and the privateers of the West crowded up eagerly as before. It is +strange, with the notions which we have allowed ourselves to form of +Henry, to observe the enthusiasm with which the whole country, as yet +undivided by doctrinal quarrels, rallied a second time to defend him.</p> + +<p>In this Portsmouth fleet lay undeveloped the genius of the future naval +greatness of England. A small fact connected with it is worth recording. +The watchword on board was, 'God save the King'; the answer was, 'Long +to reign over us': the earliest germ discoverable of the English +National Anthem.</p> + +<p>The King had come himself to Portsmouth to witness the expected attack. +The fleet was commanded by Lord Lisle, afterwards Duke of +Northumberland. It was the middle of July. The French crossed from Havre +unfought with, and anchored in St. Helens Roads off Brading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> Harbour. +The English, being greatly inferior in numbers, lay waiting for them +inside the Spit. The morning after the French came in was still and +sultry. The English could not move for want of wind. The galleys crossed +over and engaged them for two or three hours with some advantage. The +breeze rose at noon; a few fast sloops got under way and easily drove +them back. But the same breeze which enabled the English to move brought +a serious calamity with it. The Mary Rose, one of Lisle's finest +vessels, had been under the fire of the galleys. Her ports had been left +open, and when the wind sprang up, she heeled over, filled, and went +down, carrying two hundred men along with her. The French saw her sink, +and thought their own guns had done it. They hoped to follow up their +success. At night they sent over boats to take soundings, and discover +the way into the harbour. The boats reported that the sandbanks made the +approach impossible. The French had no clear plan of action. They tried +a landing in the island, but the force was too small, and failed. They +weighed anchor and brought up again behind Selsea Bill,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> where Lisle +proposed to run them down in the dark, taking advantage of the tide. But +they had an enemy to deal with worse than Lisle, on board their own +ships, which explained their distracted movements. Hot weather, putrid +meat, and putrid water had prostrated whole ships' companies with +dysentery. After a three weeks' ineffectual cruise they had to hasten +back to Havre, break up, and disperse. The first great armament which +was to have recovered England to the Papacy had effected nothing. Henry +had once more shown his strength, and was left undisputed master of the +narrow seas.</p> + +<p>So matters stood for what remained of Henry's reign. As far as he had +gone, he had quarrelled with the Pope, and had brought the Church under +the law. So far the country generally had gone with him, and there had +been no violent changes in the administration of religion. When Henry +died the Protector abolished the old creed, and created a new and +perilous cleavage between Protestant and Catholic, and, while England +needed the protection of a navy more than ever, allowed the fine fleet +which Henry had left to fall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> into decay. The spirit of enterprise grew +with the Reformation. Merchant companies opened trade with Russia and +the Levant; adventurous sea captains went to Guinea for gold. Sir Hugh +Willoughby followed the phantom of the North-west Passage, turning +eastward round the North Cape to look for it, and perished in the ice. +English commerce was beginning to grow in spite of the Protector's +experiments; but a new and infinitely dangerous element had been +introduced by the change of religion into the relations of English +sailors with the Catholic Powers, and especially with Spain. In their +zeal to keep out heresy, the Spanish Government placed their harbours +under the control of the Holy Office. Any vessel in which an heretical +book was found was confiscated, and her crew carried to the Inquisition +prisons. It had begun in Henry's time. The Inquisitors attempted to +treat schism as heresy and arrest Englishmen in their ports. But Henry +spoke up stoutly to Charles V., and the Holy Office had been made to +hold its hand. All was altered now. It was not necessary that a poor +sailor should have been found teaching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> heresy. It was enough if he had +an English Bible and Prayer Book with him in his kit; and stories would +come into Dartmouth or Plymouth how some lad that everybody knew—Bill +or Jack or Tom, who had wife or father or mother among them, +perhaps—had been seized hold of for no other crime, been flung into a +dungeon, tortured, starved, set to work in the galleys, or burned in a +fool's coat, as they called it, at an <i>auto da fé</i> at Seville.</p> + +<p>The object of the Inquisition was partly political: it was meant to +embarrass trade and make the people impatient of changes which produced +so much inconvenience. The effect was exactly the opposite. Such +accounts when brought home created fury. There grew up in the seagoing +population an enthusiasm of hatred for that holy institution, and a +passionate desire for revenge.</p> + +<p>The natural remedy would have been war; but the division of nations was +crossed by the division of creeds; and each nation had allies in the +heart of every other. If England went to war with Spain, Spain could +encourage insurrection among the Catholics. If Spain or France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> declared +war against England, England could help the Huguenots or the Holland +Calvinists. All Governments were afraid alike of a general war of +religion which might shake Europe in pieces. Thus individuals were left +to their natural impulses. The Holy Office burnt English or French +Protestants wherever it could catch them. The Protestants revenged their +injuries at their own risk and in their own way, and thus from Edward +VI.'s time to the end of the century privateering came to be the special +occupation of adventurous honourable gentlemen, who could serve God, +their country, and themselves in fighting Catholics. Fleets of these +dangerous vessels swept the Channel, lying in wait at Scilly, or even at +the Azores—disowned in public by their own Governments while secretly +countenanced, making war on their own account on what they called the +enemies of God. In such a business, of course, there were many mere +pirates engaged who cared neither for God nor man. But it was the +Protestants who were specially impelled into it by the cruelties of the +Inquisition. The Holy Office began the work with the <i>autos da fé</i>. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +privateers robbed, burnt, and scuttled Catholic ships in retaliation. +One fierce deed produced another, till right and wrong were obscured in +the passion of religious hatred. Vivid pictures of these wild doings +survive in the English and Spanish State Papers. Ireland was the rovers' +favourite haunt. In the universal anarchy there, a little more or a +little less did not signify. Notorious pirate captains were to be met in +Cork or Kinsale, collecting stores, casting cannon, or selling their +prizes—men of all sorts, from fanatical saints to undisguised ruffians. +Here is one incident out of many to show the heights to which temper had +risen.</p> + +<p>'Long peace,' says someone, addressing the Privy Council early in +Elizabeth's time, 'becomes by force of the Spanish Inquisition more +hurtful than open war. It is the secret, determined policy of Spain to +destroy the English fleet, pilots, masters and sailors, by means of the +Inquisition. The Spanish King pretends he dares not offend the Holy +House, while we in England say we may not proclaim war against Spain in +revenge of a few. Not long since the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Spanish Inquisition executed sixty +persons of St. Malo, notwithstanding entreaty to the King of Spain to +spare them. Whereupon the Frenchmen armed their pinnaces, lay for the +Spaniards, took a hundred and beheaded them, sending the Spanish ships +to the shore with their heads, leaving in each ship but one man to +render the cause of the revenge. Since which time Spanish Inquisitors +have never meddled with those of St. Malo.'</p> + +<p>A colony of Huguenot refugees had settled on the coast of Florida. The +Spaniards heard of it, came from St. Domingo, burnt the town, and hanged +every man, woman, and child, leaving an inscription explaining that the +poor creatures had been killed, not as Frenchmen, but as heretics. +Domenique de Gourges, of Rochelle, heard of this fine exploit of +fanaticism, equipped a ship, and sailed across. He caught the Spanish +garrison which had been left in occupation and swung them on the same +trees—with a second scroll saying that they were dangling there, not as +Spaniards, but as murderers.</p> + +<p>The genius of adventure tempted men of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> highest birth into the rovers' +ranks. Sir Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother and the King's uncle, +was Lord High Admiral. In his time of office, complaints were made by +foreign merchants of ships and property seized at the Thames mouth. No +redress could be had; no restitution made; no pirate was even punished, +and Seymour's personal followers were seen suspiciously decorated with +Spanish ornaments. It appeared at last that Seymour had himself bought +the Scilly Isles, and if he could not have his way at Court, it was said +that he meant to set up there as a pirate chief.</p> + +<p>The persecution under Mary brought in more respectable recruits than +Seymour. The younger generation of the western families had grown with +the times. If they were not theologically Protestant, they detested +tyranny. They detested the marriage with Philip, which threatened the +independence of England. At home they were powerless, but the sons of +honourable houses—Strangways, Tremaynes, Staffords, Horseys, Carews, +Killegrews, and Cobhams—dashed out upon the water to revenge the +Smithfield mas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>sacres. They found help where it could least have been +looked for. Henry II. of France hated heresy, but he hated Spain worse. +Sooner than see England absorbed in the Spanish monarchy, he forgot his +bigotry in his politics. He furnished these young mutineers with ships +and money and letters of marque. The Huguenots were their natural +friends. With Rochelle for an arsenal, they held the mouth of the +Channel, and harassed the communications between Cadiz and Antwerp. It +was a wild business: enterprise and buccaneering sanctified by religion +and hatred of cruelty; but it was a school like no other for seamanship, +and a school for the building of vessels which could out-sail all others +on the sea; a school, too, for the training up of hardy men, in whose +blood ran detestation of the Inquisition and the Inquisition's master. +Every other trade was swallowed up or coloured by privateering; the +merchantmen went armed, ready for any work that offered; the Iceland +fleet went no more in search of cod; the Channel boatmen forsook nets +and lines and took to livelier occupations; Mary was too busy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> burning +heretics to look to the police of the seas; her father's fine ships +rotted in harbour; her father's coast-forts were deserted or dismantled; +she lost Calais; she lost the hearts of her people in forcing them into +orthodoxy; she left the seas to the privateers; and no trade flourished, +save what the Catholic Powers called piracy.</p> + +<p>When Elizabeth came to the throne, the whole merchant navy of England +engaged in lawful commerce amounted to no more than 50,000 tons. You may +see more now passing every day through the Gull Stream. In the service +of the Crown there were but seven revenue cruisers in commission, the +largest 120 tons, with eight merchant brigs altered for fighting. In +harbour there were still a score of large ships, but they were +dismantled and rotting; of artillery fit for sea work there was none. +The men were not to be had, and, as Sir William Cecil said, to fit out +ships without men was to set armour on stakes on the seashore. The +mariners of England were otherwise engaged, and in a way which did not +please Cecil. He was the ablest minister that Elizabeth had. He saw at +once that on the navy the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> prosperity and even the liberty of England +must eventually depend. If England were to remain Protestant, it was not +by articles of religion or acts of uniformity that she could be saved +without a fleet at the back of them. But he was old-fashioned. He +believed in law and order, and he has left a curious paper of +reflections on the situation. The ships' companies in Henry VIII.'s days +were recruited from the fishing-smacks, but the Reformation itself had +destroyed the fishing trade. In old times, Cecil said, no flesh was +eaten on fish days. The King himself could not have license. Now to eat +beef or mutton on fish days was the test of a true believer. The English +Iceland fishery used to supply Normandy and Brittany as well as England. +Now it had passed to the French. The Chester men used to fish the Irish +seas. Now they had left them to the Scots. The fishermen had taken to +privateering because the fasts of the Church were neglected. He saw it +was so. He recorded his own opinion that piracy, as he called it, was +<i>detestable</i>, and could not last. He was to find that it could last, +that it was to form the special discipline of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> generation whose +business would be to fight the Spaniards. But he struggled hard against +the unwelcome conclusion. He tried to revive lawful trade by a +Navigation Act. He tried to restore the fisheries by Act of Parliament. +He introduced a Bill recommending godly abstinence as a means to virtue, +making the eating of meat on Fridays and Saturdays a misdemeanour, and +adding Wednesday as a half fish-day. The House of Commons laughed at him +as bringing back Popish mummeries. To please the Protestants he inserted +a clause, that the statute was politicly meant for the increase of +fishermen and mariners, not for any superstition in the choice of meats; +but it was no use. The Act was called in mockery 'Cecil's Fast,' and the +recovery of the fisheries had to wait till the natural inclination of +human stomachs for fresh whiting and salt cod should revive of itself.</p> + +<p>Events had to take their course. Seamen were duly provided in other +ways, and such as the time required. Privateering suited Elizabeth's +convenience, and suited her disposition. She liked daring and adventure. +She liked men who would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> do her work without being paid for it, men whom +she could disown when expedient; who would understand her, and would not +resent it. She knew her turn was to come when Philip had leisure to deal +with her, if she could not secure herself meanwhile. Time was wanted to +restore the navy. The privateers were a resource in the interval. They +might be called pirates while there was formal peace. The name did not +signify. They were really the armed force of the country. After the war +broke out in the Netherlands, they had commissions from the Prince of +Orange. Such commissions would not save them if taken by Spain, but it +enabled them to sell their prizes, and for the rest they trusted to +their speed and their guns. When Elizabeth was at war with France about +Havre, she took the most noted of them into the service of the Crown. +Ned Horsey became Sir Edward and Governor of the Isle of Wight; +Strangways, a Red Rover in his way, who had been the terror of the +Spaniards, was killed before Rouen; Tremayne fell at Havre, mourned over +by Elizabeth; and Champernowne, one of the most gallant of the whole of +them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> was killed afterwards at Coligny's side at Moncontour.</p> + +<p>But others took their places: the wild hawks as thick as seagulls +flashing over the waves, fair wind or foul, laughing at pursuit, brave, +reckless, devoted, the crews the strangest medley: English from the +Devonshire and Cornish creeks, Huguenots from Rochelle; Irish kernes +with long skenes, 'desperate, unruly persons with no kind of mercy.'</p> + +<p>The Holy Office meanwhile went on in cold, savage resolution: the Holy +Office which had begun the business and was the cause of it.</p> + +<p>A note in Cecil's hand says that in the one year 1562 twenty-six English +subjects had been burnt at the stake in different parts of Spain. Ten +times as many were starving in Spanish dungeons, from which +occasionally, by happy accident, a cry could be heard like this which +follows. In 1561 an English merchant writes from the Canaries:</p> + +<p>'I was taken by those of the Inquisition twenty months past, put into a +little dark house two paces long, loaded with irons, without sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> of +sun or moon all that time. When I was arraigned I was charged that I +should say our mass was as good as theirs; that I said I would rather +give money to the poor than buy Bulls of Rome with it. I was charged +with being a subject to the Queen's grace, who, they said, was enemy to +the Faith, Antichrist, with other opprobrious names; and I stood to the +defence of the Queen's Majesty, proving the infamies most untrue. Then I +was put into Little Ease again, protesting very innocent blood to be +demanded against the judge before Christ.'</p> + +<p>The innocent blood of these poor victims had not to wait to be avenged +at the Judgment Day. The account was presented shortly and promptly at +the cannon's mouth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_II" id="LECTURE_II"></a>LECTURE II</h2> + +<h3>JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE</h3> + + +<p>I begin this lecture with a petition addressed to Queen Elizabeth. +Thomas Seely, a merchant of Bristol, hearing a Spaniard in a Spanish +port utter foul and slanderous charges against the Queen's character, +knocked him down. To knock a man down for telling lies about Elizabeth +might be a breach of the peace, but it had not yet been declared heresy. +The Holy Office, however, seized Seely, threw him into a dungeon, and +kept him starving there for three years, at the end of which he +contrived to make his condition known in England. The Queen wrote +herself to Philip to protest. Philip would not interfere. Seely remained +in prison and in irons, and the result was a petition from his wife, in +which the temper which was rising can be read as in letters of fire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +Dorothy Seely demands that 'the friends of her Majesty's subjects so +imprisoned and tormented in Spain may make out ships at their proper +charges, take such Inquisitors or other Papistical subjects of the King +of Spain as they can by sea or land, and retain them in prison with such +torments and diet as her Majesty's subjects be kept with in Spain, and +on complaint made by the King to give such answer as is now made when +her Majesty sues for subjects imprisoned by the Inquisition. Or that a +Commission be granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other +bishops word for word for foreign Papists as the Inquisitors have in +Spain for the Protestants. So that all may know that her Majesty cannot +and will not longer endure the spoils and torments of her subjects, and +the Spaniards shall not think this noble realm dares not seek revenge of +such importable wrongs.'</p> + +<p>Elizabeth issued no such Commission as Dorothy Seely asked for, but she +did leave her subjects to seek their revenge in their own way, and they +sought it sometimes too rashly.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1563 eight English mer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>chantmen anchored in the roads +of Gibraltar. England and France were then at war. A French brig came in +after them, and brought up near. At sea, if they could take her, she +would have been a lawful prize. Spaniards under similar circumstances +had not respected the neutrality of English harbours. The Englishmen +were perhaps in doubt what to do, when the officers of the Holy Office +came off to the French ship. The sight of the black familiars drove the +English wild. Three of them made a dash at the French ship, intending to +sink her. The Inquisitors sprang into their boat, and rowed for their +lives. The castle guns opened, and the harbour police put out to +interfere. The French ship, however, would have been taken, when +unluckily Alvarez de Baçan, with a Spanish squadron, came round into the +Straits. Resistance was impossible. The eight English ships were +captured and carried off to Cadiz. The English flag was trailed under De +Baçan's stern. The crews, two hundred and forty men in all, were +promptly condemned to the galleys. In defence they could but say that +the Frenchman was an enemy, and a moderate punish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>ment would have +sufficed for a violation of the harbour rules which the Spaniards +themselves so little regarded. But the Inquisition was inexorable, and +the men were treated with such peculiar brutality that after nine months +ninety only of the two hundred and forty were alive.</p> + +<p>Ferocity was answered by ferocity. Listen to this! The Cobhams of +Cowling Castle were Protestants by descent. Lord Cobham was famous in +the Lollard martyrology. Thomas Cobham, one of the family, had taken to +the sea like many of his friends. While cruising in the Channel he +caught sight of a Spaniard on the way from Antwerp to Cadiz with forty +prisoners on board, consigned, it might be supposed, to the Inquisition. +They were, of course, Inquisition prisoners; for other offenders would +have been dealt with on the spot. Cobham chased her down into the Bay of +Biscay, took her, scuttled her, and rescued the captives. But that was +not enough. The captain and crew he sewed up in their own mainsail and +flung them overboard. They were washed ashore dead, wrapped in their +extraordinary winding-sheet. Cobham was called to account for this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +exploit, but he does not seem to have been actually punished. In a very +short time he was out and away again at the old work. There were plenty +with him. After the business at Gibraltar, Philip's subjects were not +safe in English harbours. Jacques le Clerc, a noted privateer, called +Pie de Palo from his wooden leg, chased a Spaniard into Falmouth, and +was allowed to take her under the guns of Pendennis. The Governor of the +castle said that he could not interfere, because Le Clerc had a +commission from the Prince of Condé. It was proved that in the summer of +1563 there were 400 English and Huguenot rovers in and about the +Channel, and that they had taken 700 prizes between them. The Queen's +own ships followed suit. Captain Cotton in the <i>Phoenix</i> captured an +Antwerp merchantman in Flushing. The harbour-master protested. Cotton +laughed, and sailed away with his prize. The Regent Margaret wrote in +indignation to Elizabeth. Such insolence, she said, was not to be +endured. She would have Captain Cotton chastised as an example to all +others. Elizabeth measured the situation more correctly than the Regent; +she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> preferred to show Philip that she was not afraid of him. She +preferred to let her subjects discover for themselves that the terrible +Spaniard before whom the world trembled was but a colossus stuffed with +clouts. Until Philip consented to tie the hands of the Holy Office she +did not mean to prevent them from taking the law into their own hands.</p> + +<p>Now and then, if occasion required, Elizabeth herself would do a little +privateering on her own account. In the next story that I have to tell +she appears as a principal, and her great minister, Cecil, as an +accomplice. The Duke of Alva had succeeded Margaret as Regent of the +Netherlands, and was drowning heresy in its own blood. The Prince of +Orange was making a noble fight; but all went ill with him. His troops +were defeated, his brother Louis was killed. He was still struggling, +helped by Elizabeth's money. But the odds were terrible, and the only +hope lay in the discontent of Alva's soldiers, who had not been paid +their wages, and would not fight without them. Philip's finances were +not flourishing, but he had borrowed half a million ducats from a house +at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> Genoa for Alva's use. The money was to be delivered in bullion at +Antwerp. The Channel privateers heard that it was coming and were on the +look-out for it. The vessel in which it was sent took refuge in +Plymouth, but found she had run into the enemy's nest. Nineteen or +twenty Huguenot and English cruisers lay round her with commissions from +Condé to take every Catholic ship they met with. Elizabeth's special +friends thought and said freely that so rich a prize ought to fall to no +one but her Majesty. Elizabeth thought the same, but for a more +honourable reason. It was of the highest consequence that the money +should not reach the Duke of Alva at that moment. Even Cecil said so, +and sent the Prince of Orange word that it would be stopped in some way.</p> + +<p>But how could it decently be done? Bishop Jewel relieved the Queen's +mind (if it was ever disturbed) on the moral side of the question. The +bishop held that it would be meritorious in a high degree to intercept a +treasure which was to be used in the murder of Protestant Christians. +But the how was the problem. To let the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> privateers take it openly in +Plymouth harbour would, it was felt, be a scandal. Sir Arthur +Champernowne, the Vice-admiral of the West, saw the difficulty and +offered his services. He had three vessels of his own in Condé's +privateer fleet, under his son Henry. As vice-admiral he was first in +command at Plymouth. He placed a guard on board the treasure ship, +telling the captain it would be a discredit to the Queen's Government if +harm befell her in English waters. He then wrote to Cecil.</p> + +<p>'If,' he said, 'it shall seem good to your honour that I with others +shall give the attempt for her Majesty's use which cannot be without +blood, I will not only take it in hand, but also receive the blame +thereof unto myself, to the end so great a commodity should redound to +her Grace, hoping that, after bitter storms of her displeasure, showed +at the first to colour the fact, I shall find the calm of her favour in +such sort as I am most willing to hazard myself to serve her Majesty. +Great pity it were such a rich booty should escape her Grace. But surely +I am of that mind that anything taken from that wicked nation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> is both +necessary and profitable to our commonwealth.'</p> + +<p>Very shocking on Sir Arthur's part to write such a letter: so many good +people will think. I hope they will consider it equally shocking that +King Philip should have burned English sailors at the stake because they +were loyal to the laws of their own country; that he was stirring war +all over Europe to please the Pope, and thrusting the doctrines of the +Council of Trent down the throats of mankind at the sword's point. Spain +and England might be at peace; Romanism and Protestantism were at deadly +war, and war suspends the obligations of ordinary life. Crimes the most +horrible were held to be virtues in defence of the Catholic faith. The +Catholics could not have the advantage of such indulgences without the +inconveniences. The Protestant cause throughout Europe was one, and +assailed as the Protestants were with such envenomed ferocity, they +could not afford to be nicely scrupulous in the means they used to +defend themselves.</p> + +<p>Sir Arthur Champernowne was not called on to sacrifice himself in such +peculiar fashion, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> better expedient was found to secure Alva's +money. The bullion was landed and was brought to London by road on the +plea that the seas were unsafe. It was carried to the Tower, and when it +was once inside the walls it was found to remain the property of the +Genoese until it was delivered at Antwerp. The Genoese agent in London +was as willing to lend it to Elizabeth as to Philip, and indeed +preferred the security. Elizabeth calmly said that she had herself +occasion for money, and would accept their offer. Half of it was sent to +the Prince of Orange; half was spent on the Queen's navy.</p> + +<p>Alva was of course violently angry. He arrested every English ship in +the Low Countries. He arrested every Englishman that he could catch, and +sequestered all English property. Elizabeth retaliated in kind. The +Spanish and Flemish property taken in England proved to be worth double +what had been secured by Alva. Philip could not declare war. The +Netherlands insurrection was straining his resources, and with Elizabeth +for an open enemy the whole weight of England would have been thrown on +the side of the Prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of Orange. Elizabeth herself should have +declared war, people say, instead of condescending to such tricks. +Perhaps so; but also perhaps not. These insults, steadily maintained and +unresented, shook the faith of mankind, and especially of her own +sailors, in the invincibility of the Spanish colossus.</p> + +<p>I am now to turn to another side of the subject. The stories which I +have told you show the temper of the time, and the atmosphere which men +were breathing, but it will be instructive to look more closely at +individual persons, and I will take first John Hawkins (afterwards Sir +John), a peculiarly characteristic figure.</p> + +<p>The Hawkinses of Plymouth were a solid middle-class Devonshire family, +who for two generations had taken a leading part in the business of the +town. They still survive in the county—Achins we used to call them +before school pronunciation came in, and so Philip wrote the name when +the famous John began to trouble his dreams. I have already spoken of +old William Hawkins, John's father, whom Henry VIII. was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> so fond of, +and who brought over the Brazilian King. Old William had now retired and +had left his place and his work to his son. John Hawkins may have been +about thirty at Elizabeth's accession. He had witnessed the wild times +of Edward VI. and Mary, but, though many of his friends had taken to the +privateering business, Hawkins appears to have kept clear of it, and +continued steadily at trade. One of these friends, and his contemporary, +and in fact his near relation, was Thomas Stukely, afterwards so +notorious—and a word may be said of Stukely's career as a contrast to +that of Hawkins. He was a younger son of a leading county family, went +to London to seek his fortune, and became a hanger-on of Sir Thomas +Seymour. Doubtless he was connected with Seymour's pirating scheme at +Scilly, and took to pirating as an occupation like other Western +gentlemen. When Elizabeth became Queen, he introduced himself at Court +and amused her with his conceit. He meant to be a king, nothing less +than a king. He would go to Florida, found an empire there, and write to +the Queen as his dearest sister. She gave him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> leave to try. He bought a +vessel of 400 tons, got 100 tall soldiers to join him besides the crew, +and sailed from Plymouth in 1563. Once out of harbour, he announced that +the sea was to be his Florida. He went back to the pirate business, +robbed freely, haunted Irish creeks, and set up an intimacy with the +Ulster hero, Shan O'Neil. Shan and Stukely became bosom friends. Shan +wrote to Elizabeth to recommend that she should make over Ireland to +Stukely and himself to manage, and promised, if she agreed, to make it +such an Ireland as had never been seen, which they probably would. +Elizabeth not consenting, Stukely turned Papist, transferred his +services to the Pope and Philip, and was preparing a campaign in Ireland +under the Pope's direction, when he was tempted to join Sebastian of +Portugal in the African expedition, and there got himself killed.</p> + +<p>Stukely was a specimen of the foolish sort of the young Devonshire men; +Hawkins was exactly his opposite. He stuck to business, avoided +politics, traded with Spanish ports without offending the Holy Office, +and formed intimacies and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> connections with the Canary Islands +especially, where it was said 'he grew much in love and favour with the +people.'</p> + +<p>At the Canaries he naturally heard much about the West Indies. He was +adventurous. His Canaries friends told him that negroes were great +merchandise in the Spanish settlements in Española, and he himself was +intimately acquainted with the Guinea coast, and knew how easily such a +cargo could be obtained.</p> + +<p>We know to what the slave trade grew. We have all learnt to repent of +the share which England had in it, and to abhor everyone whose hands +were stained by contact with so accursed a business. All that may be +taken for granted; but we must look at the matter as it would have been +represented at the Canaries to Hawkins himself.</p> + +<p>The Carib races whom the Spaniards found in Cuba and St. Domingo had +withered before them as if struck by a blight. Many died under the lash +of the Spanish overseers; many, perhaps the most, from the mysterious +causes which have made the presence of civilisation so fatal to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> Red +Indian, the Australian, and the Maori. It is with men as it is with +animals. The races which consent to be domesticated prosper and +multiply. Those which cannot live without freedom pine like caged eagles +or disappear like the buffaloes of the prairies.</p> + +<p>Anyway, the natives perished out of the islands of the Caribbean Sea +with a rapidity which startled the conquerors. The famous Bishop Las +Casas pitied and tried to save the remnant that were left. The Spanish +settlers required labourers for the plantations. On the continent of +Africa were another race, savage in their natural state, which would +domesticate like sheep and oxen, and learnt and improved in the white +man's company. The negro never rose of himself out of barbarism; as his +fathers were, so he remained from age to age; when left free, as in +Liberia and in Hayti, he reverts to his original barbarism; while in +subjection to the white man he showed then, and he has shown since, high +capacities of intellect and character. Such is, such was the fact. It +struck Las Casas that if negroes could be introduced into the West<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +Indian islands, the Indians might be left alone; the negroes themselves +would have a chance to rise out of their wretchedness, could be made +into Christians, and could be saved at worst from the horrid fate which +awaited many of them in their own country.</p> + +<p>The black races varied like other animals: some were gentle and timid, +some were ferocious as wolves. The strong tyrannised over the weak, made +slaves of their prisoners, occasionally ate them, and those they did not +eat they sacrificed at what they called their <i>customs</i>—offered them up +and cut their throats at the altars of their idols. These customs were +the most sacred traditions of the negro race. They were suspended while +the slave trade gave the prisoners a value. They revived when the slave +trade was abolished. When Lord Wolseley a few years back entered +Ashantee, the altars were coated thick with the blood of hundreds of +miserable beings who had been freshly slaughtered there. Still later +similar horrid scenes were reported from Dahomey. Sir Richard Burton, +who was an old acquaintance of mine, spent two months with the King of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +Dahomey, and dilated to me on the benevolence and enlightenment of that +excellent monarch. I asked why, if the King was so benevolent, he did +not alter the customs. Burton looked at me with consternation. 'Alter +the customs!' he said. 'Would you have the Archbishop of Canterbury +alter the Liturgy?' Las Casas and those who thought as he did are not to +be charged with infamous inhumanity if they proposed to buy these poor +creatures from their captors, save them from Mumbo Jumbo, and carry them +to countries where they would be valuable property, and be at least as +well cared for as the mules and horses.</p> + +<p>The experiment was tried and seemed to succeed. The negroes who were +rescued from the customs and were carried to the Spanish islands proved +docile and useful. Portuguese and Spanish factories were established on +the coast of Guinea. The black chiefs were glad to make money out of +their wretched victims, and readily sold them. The transport over the +Atlantic became a regular branch of business. Strict laws were made for +the good treatment of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> slaves on the plantations. The trade was +carried on under license from the Government, and an import duty of +thirty ducats per head was charged on every negro that was landed. I +call it an experiment. The full consequences could not be foreseen; and +I cannot see that as an experiment it merits the censures which in its +later developments it eventually came to deserve. Las Casas, who +approved of it, was one of the most excellent of men. Our own Bishop +Butler could give no decided opinion against negro slavery as it existed +in his time. It is absurd to say that ordinary merchants and ship +captains ought to have seen the infamy of a practice which Las Casas +advised and Butler could not condemn. The Spanish and Portuguese +Governments claimed, as I said, the control of the traffic. The Spanish +settlers in the West Indies objected to a restriction which raised the +price and shortened the supply. They considered that having established +themselves in a new country they had a right to a voice in the +conditions of their occupancy. It was thus that the Spaniards in the +Canaries represented the matter to John Hawkins. They told him that if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +he liked to make the venture with a contraband cargo from Guinea, their +countrymen would give him an enthusiastic welcome. It is evident from +the story that neither he nor they expected that serious offence would +be taken at Madrid. Hawkins at this time was entirely friendly with the +Spaniards. It was enough if he could be assured that the colonists would +be glad to deal with him.</p> + +<p>I am not crediting him with the benevolent purposes of Las Casas. I do +not suppose Hawkins thought much of saving black men's souls. He saw +only an opportunity of extending his business among a people with whom +he was already largely connected. The traffic was established. It had +the sanction of the Church, and no objection had been raised to it +anywhere on the score of morality. The only question which could have +presented itself to Hawkins was of the right of the Spanish Government +to prevent foreigners from getting a share of a lucrative trade against +the wishes of its subjects. And his friends at the Canaries certainly +did not lead him to expect any real opposition. One regrets that a +famous Englishman should have been connected with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> slave trade; but +we have no right to heap violent censures upon him because he was no +more enlightened than the wisest of his contemporaries.</p> + +<p>Thus, encouraged from Santa Cruz, Hawkins on his return to England +formed an African company out of the leading citizens of London. Three +vessels were fitted out, Hawkins being commander and part owner. The +size of them is remarkable: the <i>Solomon</i>, as the largest was called, +120 tons; the <i>Swallow</i>, 100 tons; the <i>Jonas</i> not above 40 tons. This +represents them as inconceivably small. They carried between them a +hundred men, and ample room had to be provided besides for the blacks. +There may have been a difference in the measurement of tonnage. We +ourselves have five standards: builder's measurement, yacht measurement, +displacement, sail area, and register measurement. Registered tonnage is +far under the others: a yacht registered 120 tons would be called 200 in +a shipping list. However that be, the brigantines and sloops used by the +Elizabethans on all adventurous expeditions were mere boats compared +with what we should use now on such occasions. The reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> was obvious. +Success depended on speed and sailing power. The art of building big +square-rigged ships which would work to windward had not been yet +discovered, even by Mr. Fletcher of Rye. The fore-and-aft rig alone +would enable a vessel to tack, as it is called, and this could only be +used with craft of moderate tonnage.</p> + +<p>The expedition sailed in October 1562. They called at the Canaries, +where they were warmly entertained. They went on to Sierra Leone, where +they collected 300 negroes. They avoided the Government factories, and +picked them up as they could, some by force, some by negotiation with +local chiefs, who were as ready to sell their subjects as Sancho Panza +intended to be when he got his island. They crossed without misadventure +to St. Domingo, where Hawkins represented that he was on a voyage of +discovery; that he had been driven out of his course and wanted food and +money. He said he had certain slaves with him, which he asked permission +to sell. What he had heard at the Canaries turned out to be exactly +true. So far as the Governor of St. Domingo knew, Spain and England were +at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> peace. Privateers had not troubled the peace of the Caribbean Sea, +or dangerous heretics menaced the Catholic faith there. Inquisitors +might have been suspicious, but the Inquisition had not yet been +established beyond the Atlantic. The Queen of England was his +sovereign's sister-in-law, and the Governor saw no reason why he should +construe his general instructions too literally. The planters were eager +to buy, and he did not wish to be unpopular. He allowed Hawkins to sell +two out of his three hundred negroes, leaving the remaining hundred as a +deposit should question be raised about the duty. Evidently the only +doubt in the Governor's mind was whether the Madrid authorities would +charge foreign importers on a higher scale. The question was new. No +stranger had as yet attempted to trade there.</p> + +<p>Everyone was satisfied, except the negroes, who were not asked their +opinion. The profits were enormous. A ship in the harbour was about to +sail for Cadiz. Hawkins invested most of what he had made in a cargo of +hides, for which, as he understood, there was a demand in Spain, and he +sent them over in her in charge of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> one of his partners. The Governor +gave him a testimonial for good conduct during his stay in the port, and +with this and with his three vessels he returned leisurely to England, +having, as he imagined, been splendidly successful.</p> + +<p>He was to be unpleasantly undeceived. A few days after he had arrived at +Plymouth, he met the man whom he had sent to Cadiz with the hides +forlorn and empty-handed. The Inquisition, he said, had seized the cargo +and confiscated it. An order had been sent to St. Domingo to forfeit the +reserved slaves. He himself had escaped for his life, as the familiars +had been after him.</p> + +<p>Nothing shows more clearly how little thought there had been in Hawkins +that his voyage would have given offence in Spain than the astonishment +with which he heard the news. He protested. He wrote to Philip. Finding +entreaties useless, he swore vengeance; but threats were equally +ineffectual. Not a hide, not a farthing could he recover. The Spanish +Government, terrified at the intrusion of English adventurers into their +western paradise to endanger the gold fleets, or worse to endanger the +purity of the faith, issued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> orders more peremptory than ever to close +the ports there against all foreigners. Philip personally warned Sir +Thomas Chaloner, the English ambassador, that if such visits were +repeated, mischief would come of it. And Cecil, who disliked all such +semi-piratical enterprises, and Chaloner, who was half a Spaniard and an +old companion in arms of Charles V., entreated their mistress to forbid +them.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth, however, had her own views in such matters. She liked money. +She liked encouraging the adventurous disposition of her subjects, who +were fighting the State's battles at their own risk and cost. She saw in +Philip's anger a confession that the West Indies was his vulnerable +point; and that if she wished to frighten him into letting her alone, +and to keep the Inquisition from burning her sailors, there was the +place where Philip would be more sensitive. Probably, too, she thought +that Hawkins had done nothing for which he could be justly blamed. He +had traded at St. Domingo with the Governor's consent, and confiscation +was sharp practice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was clearly Hawkins's own view of the matter. He had injured no +one. He had offended no pious ears by parading his Protestantism. He was +not Philip's subject, and was not to be expected to know the +instructions given by the Spanish Government in the remote corners of +their dominions. If anyone was to be punished, it was not he but the +Governor. He held that he had been robbed, and had a right to indemnify +himself at the King's expense. He would go out again. He was certain of +a cordial reception from the planters. Between him and them there was +the friendliest understanding. His quarrel was with Philip, and Philip +only. He meant to sell a fresh cargo of negroes, and the Madrid +Government should go without their 30 per cent. duty.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth approved. Hawkins had opened the road to the West Indies. He +had shown how easy slave smuggling was, and how profitable it was: how +it was also possible for the English to establish friendly relations +with the Spanish settlers in the West Indies, whether Philip liked it or +not. Another company was formed for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> second trial. Elizabeth took +shares, Lord Pembroke took shares, and other members of the Council. The +Queen lent the <i>Jesus</i>, a large ship of her own, of 700 tons. Formal +instructions were given that no wrong was to be done to the King of +Spain, but what wrong might mean was left to the discretion of the +commander. Where the planters were all eager to purchase, means of +traffic would be discovered without collision with the authorities. This +time the expedition was to be on a larger scale, and a hundred soldiers +were put on board to provide for contingencies. Thus furnished, Hawkins +started on his second voyage in October 1564. The autumn was chosen, to +avoid the extreme tropical heats. He touched as before to see his +friends at the Canaries. He went on to the Rio Grande, met with +adventures bad and good, found a chief at war with a neighbouring tribe, +helped to capture a town and take prisoners, made purchases at a +Portuguese factory. In this way he now secured 400 human cattle, perhaps +for a better fate than they would have met with at home, and with these +he sailed off in the old direction. Near the equator he fell in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> with +calms; he was short of water, and feared to lose some of them; but, as +the record of the voyage puts it, 'Almighty God would not suffer His +elect to perish,' and sent a breeze which carried him safe to Dominica. +In that wettest of islands he found water in plenty, and had then to +consider what next he would do. St. Domingo, he thought, would be no +longer safe for him; so he struck across to the Spanish Main to a place +called Burboroata, where he might hope that nothing would be known about +him. In this he was mistaken. Philip's orders had arrived: no Englishman +of any creed or kind was to be allowed to trade in his West India +dominions. The settlers, however, intended to trade. They required only +a display of force that they might pretend that they were yielding to +compulsion. Hawkins told his old story. He said that he was out on the +service of the Queen of England. He had been driven off his course by +bad weather. He was short of supplies and had many men on board, who +might do the town some mischief if they were not allowed to land +peaceably and buy and sell what they wanted. The Governor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> affecting to +hesitate, he threw 120 men on shore, and brought his guns to bear on the +castle. The Governor gave way under protest. Hawkins was to be permitted +to sell half his negroes. He said that as he had been treated so +inhospitably he would not pay the 30 per cent. The King of Spain should +have 7-1/2, and no more. The settlers had no objection. The price would +be the less, and with this deduction his business was easily finished +off. He bought no more hides, and was paid in solid silver.</p> + +<p>From Burboroata he went on to Rio de la Hacha, where the same scene was +repeated. The whole 400 were disposed of, this time with ease and +complete success. He had been rapid; and had the season still before +him. Having finished his business, he surveyed a large part of the +Caribbean Sea, taking soundings, noting the currents, and making charts +of the coasts and islands. This done, he turned homewards, following the +east shore of North America as far as Newfoundland. There he gave his +crew a change of diet, with fresh cod from the Banks, and after eleven +months' absence he sailed into Padstow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> having lost but twenty men in +the whole adventure, and bringing back 60 per cent. to the Queen and the +other shareholders.</p> + +<p>Nothing succeeds like success. Hawkins's praises were in everyone's +mouth, and in London he was the hero of the hour. Elizabeth received him +at the palace. The Spanish ambassador, De Silva, met him there at +dinner. He talked freely of where he had been and of what he had done, +only keeping back the gentle violence which he had used. He regarded +this as a mere farce, since there had been no one hurt on either side. +He boasted of having given the greatest satisfaction to the Spaniards +who had dealt with him. De Silva could but bow, report to his master, +and ask instructions how he was to proceed.</p> + +<p>Philip was frightfully disturbed. He saw in prospect his western +subjects allying themselves with the English—heresy creeping in among +them; his gold fleets in danger, all the possibilities with which +Elizabeth had wished to alarm him. He read and re-read De Silva's +letters, and opposite the name of Achines he wrote startled +interjections on the margin: 'Ojo! Ojo!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>The political horizon was just then favourable to Elizabeth. The Queen +of Scots was a prisoner in Loch Leven; the Netherlands were in revolt; +the Huguenots were looking up in France; and when Hawkins proposed a +third expedition, she thought that she could safely allow it. She gave +him the use of the <i>Jesus</i> again, with another smaller ship of hers, the +<i>Minion</i>. He had two of his own still fit for work; and a fifth, the +<i>Judith</i>, was brought in by his young cousin, Francis Drake, who was now +to make his first appearance on the stage. I shall tell you by-and-by +who and what Drake was. Enough to say now that he was a relation of +Hawkins, the owner of a small smart sloop or brigantine, and ambitious +of a share in a stirring business.</p> + +<p>The Plymouth seamen were falling into dangerous contempt of Philip. +While the expedition was fitting out, a ship of the King's came into +Catwater with more prisoners from Flanders. She was flying the Castilian +flag, contrary to rule, it was said, in English harbours. The treatment +of the English ensign at Gibraltar had not been forgiven, and Hawkins +ordered the Spanish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> captain to strike his colours. The captain refused, +and Hawkins instantly fired into him. In the confusion the prisoners +escaped on board the <i>Jesus</i> and were let go. The captain sent a +complaint to London, and Cecil—who disapproved of Hawkins and all his +proceedings—sent down an officer to inquire into what had happened. +Hawkins, confident in Elizabeth's protection, quietly answered that the +Spaniard had broken the laws of the port, and that it was necessary to +assert the Queen's authority.</p> + +<p>'Your mariners,' said De Silva to her, 'rob our subjects on the sea, +trade where they are forbidden to go, and fire upon our ships in your +harbours. Your preachers insult my master from their pulpits, and when +we remonstrate we are answered with menaces. We have borne so far with +their injuries, attributing them rather to temper and bad manners than +to deliberate purpose. But, seeing that no redress can be had, and that +the same treatment of us continues, I must consult my Sovereign's +pleasure. For the last time, I require your Majesty to punish this +outrage at Plymouth and preserve the peace between the two realms.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>No remonstrance could seem more just till the other side was heard. The +other side was that the Pope and the Catholic Powers were undertaking to +force the Protestants of France and Flanders back under the Papacy with +fire and sword. It was no secret that England's turn was to follow as +soon as Philip's hands were free. Meanwhile he had been intriguing with +the Queen of Scots; he had been encouraging Ireland in rebellion; he had +been persecuting English merchants and seamen, starving them to death in +the Inquisition dungeons, or burning them at the stake. The Smithfield +infamies were fresh in Protestant memories, and who could tell how soon +the horrid work would begin again at home, if the Catholic Powers could +have their way?</p> + +<p>If the King of Spain and his Holiness at Rome would have allowed other +nations to think and make laws for themselves, pirates and privateers +would have disappeared off the ocean. The West Indies would have been +left undisturbed, and Spanish, English, French, and Flemings would have +lived peacefully side by side as they do now. But spiritual tyranny had +not yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> learned its lesson, and the 'Beggars of the Sea' were to be +Philip's schoolmasters in irregular but effective fashion.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth listened politely to what De Silva said, promised to examine +into his complaints, and allowed Hawkins to sail.</p> + +<p>What befell him you will hear in the next lecture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_III" id="LECTURE_III"></a>LECTURE III</h2> + +<h3>SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND</h3> + + +<p>My last lecture left Hawkins preparing to start on his third and, as it +proved, most eventful voyage. I mentioned that he was joined by a young +relation, of whom I must say a few preliminary words. Francis Drake was +a Devonshire man, like Hawkins himself and Raleigh and Davis and +Gilbert, and many other famous men of those days. He was born at +Tavistock somewhere about 1540. He told Camden that he was of mean +extraction. He meant merely that he was proud of his parents and made no +idle pretensions to noble birth. His father was a tenant of the Earl of +Bedford, and must have stood well with him, for Francis Russell, the +heir of the earldom, was the boy's godfather. From him Drake took his +Christian name. The Drakes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> were early converts to Protestantism. +Trouble rising at Tavistock on the Six Articles Bill, they removed to +Kent, where the father, probably through Lord Bedford's influence, was +appointed a lay chaplain in Henry VIII.'s fleet at Chatham. In the next +reign, when the Protestants were uppermost, he was ordained and became +vicar of Upnor on the Medway. Young Francis took early to the water, and +made acquaintance with a ship-master trading to the Channel ports, who +took him on board his ship and bred him as a sailor. The boy +distinguished himself, and his patron when he died left Drake his vessel +in his will. For several years Drake stuck steadily to his coasting +work, made money, and made a solid reputation. His ambition grew with +his success. The seagoing English were all full of Hawkins and his West +Indian exploits. The Hawkinses and the Drakes were near relations. +Hearing that there was to be another expedition, and having obtained his +cousin's consent, Francis Drake sold his brig, bought the <i>Judith</i>, a +handier and faster vessel, and with a few stout sailors from the river +went down to Plymouth and joined.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>De Silva had sent word to Philip that Hawkins was again going out, and +preparations had been made to receive him. Suspecting nothing, Hawkins +with his four consorts sailed, as before, in October 1567. The start was +ominous. He was caught and badly knocked about by an equinoctial in the +Bay of Biscay. He lost his boats. The <i>Jesus</i> strained her timbers and +leaked, and he so little liked the look of things that he even thought +of turning back and giving up the expedition for the season. However, +the weather mended. They put themselves to rights at the Canaries, +picked up their spirits, and proceeded. The slave-catching was managed +successfully, though with some increased difficulty. The cargo with +equal success was disposed of at the Spanish settlements. At one place +the planters came off in their boats at night to buy. At Rio de la +Hacha, where the most imperative orders had been sent to forbid his +admittance, Hawkins landed a force as before and took possession of the +town, of course with the connivance of the settlers. At Carthagena he +was similarly ordered off, and as Carthagena was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> strongly fortified he +did not venture to meddle with it. But elsewhere he found ample markets +for his wares. He sold all his blacks. By this and by other dealings he +had collected what is described as a vast treasure of gold, silver, and +jewels. The hurricane season was approaching, and he made the best of +his way homewards with his spoils, in the fear of being overtaken by it. +Unluckily for him, he had lingered too long. He had passed the west +point of Cuba and was working up the back of the island when a hurricane +came down on him. The gale lasted four days. The ships' bottoms were +foul and they could make no way. Spars were lost and rigging carried +away. The <i>Jesus</i>, which had not been seaworthy all along, leaked worse +than ever and lost her rudder. Hawkins looked for some port in Florida, +but found the coast shallow and dangerous, and was at last obliged to +run for San Juan de Ulloa, at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.</p> + +<p>San Juan de Ulloa is a few miles only from Vera Cruz. It was at that +time the chief port of Mexico, through which all the traffic passed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +between the colony and the mother-country, and was thus a place of some +consequence. It stands on a small bay facing towards the north. Across +the mouth of this bay lies a narrow ridge of sand and shingle, half a +mile long, which acts as a natural breakwater and forms the harbour. +This ridge, or island as it was called, was uninhabited, but it had been +faced on the inner front by a wall. The water was deep alongside, and +vessels could thus lie in perfect security, secured by their cables to +rings let into the masonry.</p> + +<p>The prevailing wind was from the north, bringing in a heavy surf on the +back of the island. There was an opening at both ends, but only one +available for vessels of large draught. In this the channel was narrow, +and a battery at the end of the breakwater would completely command it. +The town stood on the opposite side of the bay.</p> + +<p>Into a Spanish port thus constructed Hawkins entered with his battered +squadron on September 16, 1568. He could not have felt entirely easy. +But he probably thought that he had no ill-will to fear from the +inhabitants generally, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> the Spanish authorities would not be +strong enough to meddle with him. His ill star had brought him there at +a time when Alvarez de Baçan, the same officer who had destroyed the +English ships at Gibraltar, was daily expected from Spain—sent by +Philip, as it proved, specially to look for him. Hawkins, when he +appeared outside, had been mistaken for the Spanish admiral, and it was +under this impression that he had been allowed to enter. The error was +quickly discovered on both sides.</p> + +<p>Though still ignorant that he was himself De Baçan's particular object, +yet De Baçan was the last officer whom in his crippled condition he +would have cared to encounter. Several Spanish merchantmen were in the +port richly loaded: with these of course he did not meddle, though, if +reinforced, they might perhaps meddle with him. As his best resource he +despatched a courier on the instant to Mexico to inform the Viceroy of +his arrival, to say that he had an English squadron with him; that he +had been driven in by stress of weather and need of repairs; that the +Queen was an ally of the King of Spain;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and that, as he understood a +Spanish fleet was likely soon to arrive, he begged the Viceroy to make +arrangements to prevent disputes.</p> + +<p>As yet, as I said in the last lecture, there was no Inquisition in +Mexico. It was established there three years later, for the special +benefit of the English. But so far there was no ill-will towards the +English—rather the contrary. Hawkins had hurt no one, and the negro +trading had been eminently popular. The Viceroy might perhaps have +connived at Hawkins's escape, but again by ill-fortune he was himself +under orders of recall, and his successor was coming out in this +particular fleet with De Baçan.</p> + +<p>Had he been well disposed and free to act it would still have been too +late, for the very next morning, September 17, De Baçan was off the +harbour mouth with thirteen heavily-armed galleons and frigates. The +smallest of them carried probably 200 men, and the odds were now +tremendous. Hawkins's vessels lay ranged along the inner bank or wall of +the island. He instantly occupied the island itself and mounted guns at +the point covering the way in. He then sent a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> boat off to De Baçan to +say that he was an Englishman, that he was in possession of the port, +and must forbid the entrance of the Spanish fleet till he was assured +that there was to be no violence. It was a strong measure to shut a +Spanish admiral out of a Spanish port in a time of profound peace. +Still, the way in was difficult, and could not be easily forced if +resolutely defended. The northerly wind was rising; if it blew into a +gale the Spaniards would be on a lee shore. Under desperate +circumstances, desperate things will be done. Hawkins in his subsequent +report thus explains his dilemma:—</p> + +<p>'I was in two difficulties. Either I must keep them out of the port, +which with God's grace I could easily have done, in which case with a +northerly wind rising they would have been wrecked, and I should have +been answerable; or I must risk their playing false, which on the whole +I preferred to do.'</p> + +<p>The northerly gale it appears did not rise, or the English commander +might have preferred the first alternative. Three days passed in +negotiation. De Baçan and Don Enriquez, the new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Viceroy, were naturally +anxious to get into shelter out of a dangerous position, and were +equally desirous not to promise any more than was absolutely necessary. +The final agreement was that De Baçan and the fleet should enter without +opposition. Hawkins might stay till he had repaired his damages, and buy +and sell what he wanted; and further, as long as they remained the +English were to keep possession of the island. This article, Hawkins +says, was long resisted, but was consented to at last. It was absolutely +necessary, for with the island in their hands, the Spaniards had only to +cut the English cables, and they would have driven ashore across the +harbour.</p> + +<p>The treaty so drawn was formally signed. Hostages were given on both +sides, and De Baçan came in. The two fleets were moored as far apart +from each other as the size of the port would allow. Courtesies were +exchanged, and for two days all went well. It is likely that the Viceroy +and the admiral did not at first know that it was the very man whom they +had been sent out to sink or capture who was lying so close to them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +When they did know it they may have looked on him as a pirate, with +whom, as with heretics, there was no need to keep faith. Anyway, the rat +was in the trap, and De Baçan did not mean to let him out. The <i>Jesus</i> +lay furthest in; the <i>Minion</i> lay beyond her towards the entrance, +moored apparently to a ring on the quay, but free to move; and the +<i>Judith</i>, further out again, moored in the same way. Nothing is said of +the two small vessels remaining.</p> + +<p>De Baçan made his preparations silently, covered by the town. He had men +in abundance ready to act where he should direct. On the third day, the +20th of September, at noon, the <i>Minion's</i> crew had gone to dinner, when +they saw a large hulk of 900 tons slowly towing up alongside of them. +Not liking such a neighbour, they had their cable ready to slip and +began to set their canvas. On a sudden shots and cries were heard from +the town. Parties of English who were on land were set upon; many were +killed; the rest were seen flinging themselves into the water and +swimming off to the ships. At the same instant the guns of the galleons +and of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> shore batteries opened fire on the <i>Jesus</i> and her consorts, +and in the smoke and confusion 300 Spaniards swarmed out of the hulk and +sprang on the <i>Minion's</i> decks. The <i>Minion's</i> men instantly cut them +down or drove them overboard, hoisted sail, and forced their way out of +the harbour, followed by the <i>Judith</i>. The <i>Jesus</i> was left alone, +unable to stir. She defended herself desperately. In the many actions +which were fought afterwards between the English and the Spaniards, +there was never any more gallant or more severe. De Baçan's own ship was +sunk and the vice-admiral's was set on fire. The Spanish, having an +enormous advantage in numbers, were able to land a force on the island, +seize the English battery there, cut down the gunners, and turn the guns +close at hand on the devoted <i>Jesus</i>. Still she fought on, defeating +every attempt to board, till at length De Baçan sent down fire-ships on +her, and then the end came. All that Hawkins had made by his voyage, +money, bullion, the ship herself, had to be left to their fate. Hawkins +himself with the survivors of the crew took to their boats, dashed +through the enemy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> who vainly tried to take them, and struggled out +after the <i>Minion</i> and the <i>Judith</i>. It speaks ill for De Baçan that +with so large a force at his command, and in such a position, a single +Englishman escaped to tell the story.</p> + +<p>Even when outside Hawkins's situation was still critical and might well +be called desperate. The <i>Judith</i> was but fifty tons; the <i>Minion</i> not +above a hundred. They were now crowded up with men. They had little +water on board, and there had been no time to refill their store-chests, +or fit themselves for sea. Happily the weather was moderate. If the wind +had risen, nothing could have saved them. They anchored two miles off to +put themselves in some sort of order. The Spanish fleet did not venture +to molest further so desperate a foe. On Saturday the 25th they set +sail, scarcely knowing whither to turn. To attempt an ocean voyage as +they were would be certain destruction, yet they could not trust longer +to De Baçan's cowardice or forbearance. There was supposed to be a +shelter of some kind somewhere on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico, +where it was hoped they might obtain provisions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> They reached the place +on October 8, but found nothing. English sailors have never been wanting +in resolution. They knew that if they all remained on board every one of +them must starve. A hundred volunteered to land and take their chance. +The rest on short rations might hope to make their way home. The +sacrifice was accepted. The hundred men were put on shore. They wandered +for a few days in the woods, feeding on roots and berries, and shot at +by the Indians. At length they reached a Spanish station, where they +were taken and sent as prisoners to Mexico. There was, as I said, no +Holy Office as yet in Mexico. The new Viceroy, though he had been in the +fight at San Juan de Ulloa, was not implacable. They were treated at +first with humanity; they were fed, clothed, taken care of, and then +distributed among the plantations. Some were employed as overseers, some +as mechanics. Others, who understood any kind of business, were allowed +to settle in towns, make money, and even marry and establish themselves. +Perhaps Philip heard of it, and was afraid that so many heretics might +introduce the plague. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> quiet time lasted three years; at the end of +those years the Inquisitors arrived, and then, as if these poor men had +been the special object of that delightful institution, they were hunted +up, thrown into dungeons, examined on their faith, tortured, some burnt +in an <i>auto da fé</i>, some lashed through the streets of Mexico naked on +horseback and returned to their prisons. Those who did not die under +this pious treatment were passed over to the Holy Office at Seville and +were condemned to the galleys.</p> + +<p>Here I leave them for the moment. We shall presently hear of them again +in a very singular connection. The <i>Minion</i> and <i>Judith</i> meanwhile +pursued their melancholy way. They parted company. The <i>Judith</i>, being +the better sailer, arrived first, and reached Plymouth in December, torn +and tattered. Drake rode off post immediately to carry the bad news to +London. The <i>Minion's</i> fate was worse. She made her course through the +Bahama Channel, her crew dying as if struck with a pestilence, till at +last there were hardly men enough left to handle the sails. They fell +too far south for England, and at length had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> to put into Vigo, where +their probable fate would be a Spanish prison. Happily they found other +English vessels in the roads there. Fresh hands were put on board, and +fresh provisions. With these supplies Hawkins reached Mount's Bay a +month later than the <i>Judith</i>, in January 1569.</p> + +<p>Drake had told the story, and all England was ringing with it. +Englishmen always think their own countrymen are in the right. The +Spaniards, already in evil odour with the seagoing population, were +accused of abominable treachery. The splendid fight which Hawkins had +made raised him into a national idol, and though he had suffered +financially, his loss was made up in reputation and authority. Every +privateer in the West was eager to serve under the leadership of the +hero of San Juan de Ulloa. He speedily found himself in command of a +large irregular squadron, and even Cecil recognised his consequence. His +chief and constant anxiety was for the comrades whom he had left behind, +and he talked of a new expedition to recover them, or revenge them if +they had been killed; but all things had to wait. They probably found +means of communicating with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> him, and as long as there was no +Inquisition in Mexico, he may have learnt that there was no immediate +occasion for action.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth put a brave face on her disappointment. She knew that she was +surrounded with treason, but she knew also that the boldest course was +the safest. She had taken Alva's money, and was less than ever inclined +to restore it. She had the best of the bargain in the arrest of the +Spanish and English ships and cargoes. Alva would not encourage Philip +to declare war with England till the Netherlands were completely +reduced, and Philip, with his leaden foot (<i>pié de plomo</i>), always +preferred patience and intrigue. Time and he and the Pope were three +powers which in the end, he thought, would prove irresistible, and +indeed it seemed, after Hawkins's return, as if Philip would turn out to +be right. The presence of the Queen of Scots in England had set in flame +the Catholic nobles. The wages of Alva's troops had been wrung somehow +out of the wretched Provinces, and his supreme ability and inexorable +resolution were steadily grinding down the revolt. Every port in Holland +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> Zealand was in Alva's hands. Elizabeth's throne was undermined by +the Ridolfi conspiracy, the most dangerous which she had ever had to +encounter. The only Protestant fighting power left on the sea which +could be entirely depended on was in the privateer fleet, sailing, most +of them, under a commission from the Prince of Orange.</p> + +<p>This fleet was the strangest phenomenon in naval history. It was half +Dutch, half English, with a flavour of Huguenot, and was commanded by a +Flemish noble, Count de la Mark. Its head-quarters were in the Downs or +Dover Roads, where it could watch the narrow seas, and seize every +Spanish ship that passed which was not too strong to be meddled with. +The cargoes taken were openly sold in Dover market. If the Spanish +ambassador is to be believed in a complaint which he addressed to Cecil, +Spanish gentlemen taken prisoners were set up to public auction there +for the ransom which they would fetch, and were disposed of for one +hundred pounds each. If Alva sent cruisers from Antwerp to burn them +out, they retreated under the guns of Dover Castle. Roving squadrons of +them flew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> down to the Spanish coasts, pillaged churches, carried off +church plate, and the captains drank success to piracy at their banquets +out of chalices. The Spanish merchants at last estimated the property +destroyed at three million ducats, and they said that if their flag +could no longer protect them, they must decline to make further +contracts for the supply of the Netherlands army.</p> + +<p>It was life or death to Elizabeth. The Ridolfi plot, an elaborate and +far-reaching conspiracy to give her crown to Mary Stuart and to make +away with heresy, was all but complete. The Pope and Philip had +approved; Alva was to invade; the Duke of Norfolk was to head an +insurrection in the Eastern Counties. Never had she been in greater +danger. Elizabeth was herself to be murdered. The intention was known, +but the particulars of the conspiracy had been kept so secret that she +had not evidence enough to take measures to protect herself. The +privateers at Dover were a sort of protection; they would at least make +Alva's crossing more difficult; but the most pressing exigency was the +discovery of the details of the treason. Nothing was to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> gained by +concession; the only salvation was in daring.</p> + +<p>At Antwerp there was a certain Doctor Story, maintained by Alva there to +keep a watch on English heretics. Story had been a persecutor under +Mary, and had defended heretic burning in Elizabeth's first Parliament. +He had refused the oath of allegiance, had left the country, and had +taken to treason. Cecil wanted evidence, and this man he knew could give +it. A pretended informer brought Story word that there was an English +vessel in the Scheldt which he would find worth examining. Story was +tempted on board. The hatches were closed over him. He was delivered two +days after at the Tower, when his secrets were squeezed out of him by +the rack and he was then hanged.</p> + +<p>Something was learnt, but less still than Cecil needed to take measures +to protect the Queen. And now once more, and in a new character, we are +to meet John Hawkins. Three years had passed since the catastrophe at +San Juan de Ulloa. He had learnt to his sorrow that his poor companions +had fallen into the hands of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Holy Office at last; had been burnt, +lashed, starved in dungeons or worked in chains in the Seville yards; +and his heart, not a very tender one, bled at the thoughts of them. The +finest feature in the seamen of those days was their devotion to one +another. Hawkins determined that, one way or other, these old comrades +of his should be rescued. Entreaties were useless; force was impossible. +There might still be a chance with cunning. He would risk anything, even +the loss of his soul, to save them.</p> + +<p>De Silva had left England. The Spanish ambassador was now Don Guerau or +Gerald de Espes, and to him had fallen the task of watching and +directing the conspiracy. Philip was to give the signal, the Duke of +Norfolk and other Catholic peers were to rise and proclaim the Queen of +Scots. Success would depend on the extent of the disaffection in England +itself; and the ambassador's business was to welcome and encourage all +symptoms of discontent. Hawkins knew generally what was going on, and he +saw in it an opportunity of approaching Philip on his weak side. Having +been so much in the Canaries, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> probably spoke Spanish fluently. He +called on Don Guerau, and with audacious coolness represented that he +and many of his friends were dissatisfied with the Queen's service. He +said he had found her faithless and ungrateful, and he and they would +gladly transfer their allegiance to the King of Spain, if the King of +Spain would receive them. For himself, he would undertake to bring over +the whole privateer fleet of the West, and in return he asked for +nothing but the release of a few poor English seamen who were in prison +at Seville.</p> + +<p>Don Guerau was full of the belief that the whole nation was ready to +rebel. He eagerly swallowed the bait which Hawkins threw to him. He +wrote to Alva, he wrote to Philip's secretary, Cayas, expatiating on the +importance of securing such an addition to their party. It was true, he +admitted, that Hawkins had been a pirate, but piracy was a common fault +of the English, and no wonder when the Spaniards submitted to being +plundered so meekly; the man who was offering his services was bold, +resolute, capable, and had great influence with the English sailors; he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +strongly advised that such a recruit should be encouraged.</p> + +<p>Alva would not listen. Philip, who shuddered at the very name of +Hawkins, was incredulous. Don Guerau had to tell Sir John that the King +at present declined his offer, but advised him to go himself to Madrid, +or to send some confidential friend with assurances and explanations.</p> + +<p>Another figure now enters on the scene, a George Fitzwilliam. I do not +know who he was, or why Hawkins chose him for his purpose. The Duke of +Feria was one of Philip's most trusted ministers. He had married an +English lady who had been a maid of honour to Queen Mary. It is possible +that Fitzwilliam had some acquaintance with her or with her family. At +any rate, he went to the Spanish Court; he addressed himself to the +Ferias; he won their confidence, and by their means was admitted to an +interview with Philip. He represented Hawkins as a faithful Catholic who +was indignant at the progress of heresy in England, who was eager to +assist in the overthrow of Elizabeth and the elevation of the Queen of +Scots, and was able and willing to carry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> along with him the great +Western privateer fleet, which had become so dreadful to the Spanish +mind. Philip listened and was interested. It was only natural, he +thought, that heretics should be robbers and pirates. If they could be +recovered to the Church, their bad habits would leave them. The English +navy was the most serious obstacle to the intended invasion. Still, +Hawkins! The Achines of his nightmares! It could not be. He asked +Fitzwilliam if his friend was acquainted with the Queen of Scots or the +Duke of Norfolk. Fitzwilliam was obliged to say that he was not. The +credentials of John Hawkins were his own right hand. He was making the +King a magnificent offer: nothing less than a squadron of the finest +ships in the world—not perhaps in the best condition, he added, with +cool British impudence, owing to the Queen's parsimony, but easily to be +put in order again if the King would pay the seamen's wages and advance +some money for repairs. The release of a few poor prisoners was a small +price to ask for such a service.</p> + +<p>The King was still wary, watching the bait like an old pike, but +hesitating to seize it; but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> duke and duchess were willing to be +themselves securities for Fitzwilliam's faith, and Philip promised at +last that if Hawkins would send him a letter of recommendation from the +Queen of Scots herself, he would then see what could be done. The Ferias +were dangerously enthusiastic. They talked freely to Fitzwilliam of the +Queen of Scots and her prospects. They trusted him with letters and +presents to her which would secure his admittance to her confidence. +Hawkins had sent him over for the single purpose of cheating Philip into +releasing his comrades from the Inquisition; and he had been introduced +to secrets of high political moment; like Saul, the son of Kish, he had +gone to seek his father's asses and he had found a kingdom. Fitzwilliam +hurried home with his letters and his news. Things were now serious. +Hawkins could act no further on his own responsibility. He consulted +Cecil. Cecil consulted the Queen, and it was agreed that the practice, +as it was called, should be carried further. It might lead to the +discovery of the whole secret.</p> + +<p>Very treacherous, think some good people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> Well, there are times when +one admires even treachery—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">nec lex est justior ulla</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>King Philip was confessedly preparing to encourage an English subject in +treason to his sovereign. Was it so wrong to hoist the engineer with his +own petard? Was it wrong of Hamlet to finger the packet of Rosencrantz +and Guildenstern and rewrite his uncle's despatch? Let us have done with +cant in these matters. Mary Stuart was at Sheffield Castle in charge of +Lord Shrewsbury, and Fitzwilliam could not see her without an order from +the Crown. Shrewsbury, though loyal to Elizabeth, was notoriously well +inclined to Mary, and therefore could not be taken into confidence. In +writing to him Cecil merely said that friends of Fitzwilliam's were in +prison in Spain; that if the Queen of Scots would intercede for them, +Philip might be induced to let them go. He might therefore allow +Fitzwilliam to have a private audience with that Queen.</p> + +<p>Thus armed, Fitzwilliam went down to Sheffield. He was introduced. He +began with presenting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Mary with the letters and remembrances from the +Ferias, which at once opened her heart. It was impossible for her to +suspect a friend of the duke and duchess. She was delighted at receiving +a visitor from the Court of Spain. She was prudent enough to avoid +dangerous confidences, but she said she was always pleased when she +could do a service to Englishmen, and with all her heart would intercede +for the prisoners. She wrote to Philip, she wrote to the duke and +duchess, and gave the letters to Fitzwilliam to deliver. He took them to +London, called on Don Gerald, and told him of his success. Don Gerald +also wrote to his master, wrote unguardedly, and also trusted +Fitzwilliam with the despatch.</p> + +<p>The various packets were taken first to Cecil, and were next shown to +the Queen. They were then returned to Fitzwilliam, who once more went +off with them to Madrid. If the letters produced the expected effect, +Cecil calmly observed that divers commodities would ensue. English +sailors would be released from the Inquisition and the galleys. The +enemy's intentions would be discovered. If the King of Spain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> could be +induced to do as Fitzwilliam had suggested, and assist in the repairs of +the ships at Plymouth, credit would be obtained for a sum of money which +could be employed to his own detriment. If Alva attempted the projected +invasion, Hawkins might take the ships as if to escort him, and then do +some notable exploit in mid-Channel.</p> + +<p>You will observe the downright directness of Cecil, Hawkins, and the +other parties in the matter. There is no wrapping up their intentions in +fine phrases, no parade of justification. They went straight to their +point. It was very characteristic of Englishmen in those stern, +dangerous times. They looked facts in the face, and did what fact +required. All really happened exactly as I have described it: the story +is told in letters and documents of the authenticity of which there is +not the smallest doubt.</p> + +<p>We will follow Fitzwilliam. He arrived at the Spanish Court at the +moment when Ridolfi had brought from Rome the Pope's blessing on the +conspiracy. The final touches were being added by the Spanish Council of +State. All was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> hope; all was the credulity of enthusiasm! Mary Stuart's +letter satisfied Philip. The prisoners were dismissed, each with ten +dollars in his pocket. An agreement was formally drawn and signed in the +Escurial in which Philip gave Hawkins a pardon for his misdemeanours in +the West Indies, a patent for a Spanish peerage, and a letter of credit +for 40,000<i>l.</i> to put the privateers in a condition to do service, and +the money was actually paid by Philip's London agent. Admitted as he now +was to full confidence, Fitzwilliam learnt all particulars of the great +plot. The story reads like a chapter from <i>Monte Cristo</i> and yet it is +literally true.</p> + +<p>It ends with a letter which I will read to you, from Hawkins to Cecil:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'My very good Lord,—It may please your Honour to be advertised +that Fitzwilliam is returned from Spain, where his message was +acceptably received, both by the King himself, the Duke of Feria, +and others of the Privy Council. His despatch and answer were with +great expedition and great countenance and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> favour of the King. The +Articles are sent to the Ambassador with orders also for the money +to be paid to me by him, for the enterprise to proceed with all +diligence. The pretence is that my powers should join with the Duke +of Alva's powers, which he doth secretly provide in Flanders, as +well as with powers which will come with the Duke of Medina Celi +out of Spain, and to invade this realm and set up the Queen of +Scots. They have practised with us for the burning of Her Majesty's +ships. Therefore there should be some good care had of them, but +not as it may appear that anything is discovered. The King has sent +a ruby of good price to the Queen of Scots, with letters also which +in my judgment were good to be delivered. The letters be of no +importance, but his message by word is to comfort her, and say that +he hath now none other care but to place her in her own. It were +good also that Fitzwilliam may have access to the Queen of Scots to +render thanks for the delivery of the prisoners who are now at +liberty. It will be a very good colour for your Lordship to confer +with him more largely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I have sent your Lordship the copy of my pardon from the King of +Spain, in the order and manner I have it, with my great titles and +honours from the King, from which God deliver me. Their practices +be very mischievous, and they be never idle; but God, I hope, will +confound them and turn their devices on their own necks.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">'Your Lordship's most faithfully to my power,</span><br /> +'<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 20em;">John Hawkins</span>.'</p></div> + +<p>A few more words will conclude this curious episode. With the clue +obtained by Fitzwilliam, and confessions twisted out of Story and other +unwilling witnesses, the Ridolfi conspiracy was unravelled before it +broke into act. Norfolk lost his head. The inferior miscreants were +hanged. The Queen of Scots had a narrow escape, and the Parliament +accentuated the Protestant character of the Church of England by +embodying the Thirty-nine Articles in a statute. Alva, who distrusted +Ridolfi from the first and disliked encouraging rebellion, refused to +interest himself further in Anglo-Catholic plots. Elizabeth and Cecil +could now breathe more freely, and read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> Philip a lesson on the danger +of plotting against the lives of sovereigns.</p> + +<p>So long as England and Spain were nominally at peace, the presence of De +la Mark and his privateers in the Downs was at least indecent. A +committee of merchants at Bruges represented that their losses by it +amounted (as I said) to three million ducats. Elizabeth, being now in +comparative safety, affected to listen to remonstrances, and orders were +sent down to De la Mark that he must prepare to leave. It is likely that +both the Queen and he understood each other, and that De la Mark quite +well knew where he was to go, and what he was to do.</p> + +<p>Alva now held every fortress in the Low Countries, whether inland or on +the coast. The people were crushed. The duke's great statue stood in the +square at Antwerp as a symbol of the annihilation of the ancient +liberties of the Provinces. By sea alone the Prince of Orange still +continued the unequal struggle; but if he was to maintain himself as a +sea power anywhere, he required a harbour of his own in his own country. +Dover and the Thames had served for a time as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> base of operations, but +it could not last, and without a footing in Holland itself eventual +success was impossible. All the Protestant world was interested in his +fate, and De la Mark, with his miscellaneous gathering of Dutch, +English, and Huguenot rovers, were ready for any desperate exploit.</p> + +<p>The order was to leave Dover immediately, but it was not construed +strictly. He lingered in the Downs for six weeks. At length, one morning +at the end of March 1572, a Spanish convoy known to be richly loaded +appeared in the Straits. De la Mark lifted anchor, darted out on it, +seized two of the largest hulks, rifled them, flung their crews +overboard, and chased the rest up Channel. A day or two after he +suddenly showed himself off Brille, at the mouth of the Meuse. A boat +was sent on shore with a note to the governor, demanding the instant +surrender of the town to the admiral of the Prince of Orange. The +inhabitants rose in enthusiasm; the garrison was small, and the governor +was obliged to comply. De la Mark took possession. A few priests and +monks attempted resistance, but were put down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> without difficulty, and +the leaders killed. The churches were cleared of their idols, and the +mass replaced by the Calvinistic service. Cannon and stores, furnished +from London, were landed, and Brille was made impregnable before Alva +had realised what had happened to him. He is said to have torn his beard +for anger. Flushing followed suit. In a week or two all the strongest +places on the coast had revolted, and the pirate fleet had laid the +foundation of the great Dutch Republic, which at England's side was to +strike out of Philip's hand the sceptre of the seas, and to save the +Protestant religion.</p> + +<p>We may think as we please of these Beggars of the Ocean, these Norse +corsairs come to life again with the flavour of Genevan theology in +them; but for daring, for ingenuity, for obstinate determination to be +spiritually free or to die for it, the like of the Protestant privateers +of the sixteenth century has been rarely met with in this world.</p> + +<p>England rang with joy when the news came that Brille was taken. Church +bells pealed, and bonfires blazed. Money poured across in streams.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +Exiled families went back to their homes—which were to be their homes +once more—and the Zealanders and Hollanders, entrenched among their +ditches, prepared for an amphibious conflict with the greatest power +then upon the earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_IV" id="LECTURE_IV"></a>LECTURE IV</h2> + +<h3>DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD</h3> + + +<p>I suppose some persons present have heard the name of Lope de Vega, the +Spanish poet of Philip II.'s time. Very few of you probably know more of +him than his name, and yet he ought to have some interest for us, as he +was one of the many enthusiastic young Spaniards who sailed in the Great +Armada. He had been disappointed in some love affair. He was an earnest +Catholic. He wanted distraction, and it is needless to say that he found +distraction enough in the English Channel to put his love troubles out +of his mind. His adventures brought before him with some vividness the +character of the nation with which his own country was then in the +death-grapple, especially the character of the great English seaman to +whom the Spaniards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> universally attributed their defeat. Lope studied +the exploits of Francis Drake from his first appearance to his end, and +he celebrated those exploits, as England herself has never yet thought +it worth her while to do, by making him the hero of an epic poem. There +are heroes and heroes. Lope de Vega's epic is called 'The Dragontea.' +Drake himself is the dragon, the ancient serpent of the Apocalypse. We +English have been contented to allow Drake a certain qualified praise. +We admit that he was a bold, dexterous sailor, that he did his country +good service at the Invasion. We allow that he was a famous navigator, +and sailed round the world, which no one else had done before him. +But—there is always a but—of course he was a robber and a corsair, and +the only excuse for him is that he was no worse than most of his +contemporaries. To Lope de Vega he was a great deal worse. He was Satan +himself, the incarnation of the Genius of Evil, the arch-enemy of the +Church of God.</p> + +<p>It is worth while to look more particularly at the figure of a man who +appeared to the Spaniards in such terrible proportions. I, for my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> part, +believe a time will come when we shall see better than we see now what +the Reformation was, and what we owe to it, and these sea-captains of +Elizabeth will then form the subject of a great English national epic as +grand as the 'Odyssey.'</p> + +<p>In my own poor way meanwhile I shall try in these lectures to draw you a +sketch of Drake and his doings as they appear to myself. To-day I can +but give you a part of the rich and varied story, but if all goes well I +hope I may be able to continue it at a future time.</p> + +<p>I have not yet done with Sir John Hawkins. We shall hear of him again. +He became the manager of Elizabeth's dockyards. He it was who turned out +the ships that fought Philip's fleet in the Channel in such condition +that not a hull leaked, not a spar was sprung, not a rope parted at an +unseasonable moment, and this at a minimum of cost. He served himself in +the squadron which he had equipped. He was one of the small group of +admirals who met that Sunday afternoon in the cabin of the ark <i>Raleigh</i> +and sent the fire-ships down to stir Medina Sidonia out of his anchorage +at Calais. He was a child<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> of the sea, and at sea he died, sinking at +last into his mother's arms. But of this hereafter. I must speak now of +his still more illustrious kinsman, Francis Drake.</p> + +<p>I told you the other day generally who Drake was and where he came from; +how he went to sea as a boy, found favour with his master, became early +an owner of his own ship, sticking steadily to trade. You hear nothing +of him in connection with the Channel pirates. It was not till he was +five-and-twenty that he was tempted by Hawkins into the negro-catching +business, and of this one experiment was enough. He never tried it +again.</p> + +<p>The portraits of him vary very much, as indeed it is natural that they +should, for most of those which pass for Drake were not meant for Drake +at all. It is the fashion in this country, and a very bad fashion, when +we find a remarkable portrait with no name authoritatively attached to +it, to christen it at random after some eminent man, and there it +remains to perplex or mislead.</p> + +<p>The best likeness of Drake that I know is an engraving in Sir William +Stirling-Maxwell's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> collection of sixteenth-century notabilities, +representing him, as a scroll says at the foot of the plate, at the age +of forty-three. The face is round, the forehead broad and full, with the +short brown hair curling crisply on either side. The eyebrows are highly +arched, the eyes firm, clear, and open. I cannot undertake for the +colour, but I should judge they would be dark grey, like an eagle's. The +nose is short and thick, the mouth and chin hid by a heavy moustache on +the upper lip, and a close-clipped beard well spread over chin and +cheek. The expression is good-humoured, but absolutely inflexible, not a +weak line to be seen. He was of middle height, powerfully built, perhaps +too powerfully for grace, unless the quilted doublet in which the artist +has dressed him exaggerates his breadth.</p> + +<p>I have seen another portrait of him, with pretensions to authenticity, +in which he appears with a slighter figure, eyes dark, full, thoughtful, +and stern, a sailor's cord about his neck with a whistle attached to it, +and a ring into which a thumb is carelessly thrust, the weight of the +arms resting on it, as if in a characteristic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> attitude. Evidently this +is a carefully drawn likeness of some remarkable seaman of the time. I +should like to believe it to be Drake, but I can feel no certainty about +it.</p> + +<p>We left him returned home in the Judith from San Juan de Ulloa, a ruined +man. He had never injured the Spaniards. He had gone out with his cousin +merely to trade, and he had met with a hearty reception from the +settlers wherever he had been. A Spanish admiral had treacherously set +upon him and his kinsman, destroyed half their vessels, and robbed them +of all that they had. They had left a hundred of their comrades behind +them, for whose fate they might fear the worst. Drake thenceforth +considered Spanish property as fair game till he had made up his own +losses. He waited quietly for four years till he had re-established +himself, and then prepared to try fortune again in a more daring form.</p> + +<p>The ill-luck at San Juan de Ulloa had risen from loose tongues. There +had been too much talk about it. Too many parties had been concerned. +The Spanish Government had notice and were prepared. Drake determined to +act for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> himself, have no partners, and keep his own secret. He found +friends to trust him with money without asking for explanations. The +Plymouth sailors were eager to take their chance with him. His force was +absurdly small: a sloop or brigantine of a hundred tons, which he called +the <i>Dragon</i> (perhaps, like Lope de Vega, playing on his own name), and +two small pinnaces. With these he left Plymouth in the fall of the +summer of 1572. He had ascertained that Philip's gold and silver from +the Peruvian mines was landed at Panama, carried across the isthmus on +mules' backs on the line of M. de Lesseps' canal, and re-shipped at +Nombre de Dios, at the mouth of the Chagre River.</p> + +<p>He told no one where he was going. He was no more communicative than +necessary after his return, and the results, rather than the +particulars, of his adventure are all that can be certainly known. +Discretion told him to keep his counsel, and he kept it.</p> + +<p>The Drake family published an account of this voyage in the middle of +the next century, but obviously mythical, in parts demonstrably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> false, +and nowhere to be depended on. It can be made out, however, that he did +go to Nombre de Dios, that he found his way into the town, and saw +stores of bullion there which he would have liked to carry off but could +not. A romantic story of a fight in the town I disbelieve, first because +his numbers were so small that to try force would have been absurd, and +next because if there had been really anything like a battle an alarm +would have been raised in the neighbourhood, and it is evident that no +alarm was given. In the woods were parties of runaway slaves, who were +called Cimarons. It was to these that Drake addressed himself, and they +volunteered to guide him where he could surprise the treasure convoy on +the way from Panama. His movements were silent and rapid. One +interesting incident is mentioned which is authentic. The Cimarons took +him through the forest to the watershed from which the streams flow to +both oceans. Nothing could be seen through the jungle of undergrowth; +but Drake climbed a tall tree, saw from the top of it the Pacific +glittering below him, and made a vow that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> one day he would himself sail +a ship in those waters.</p> + +<p>For the present he had immediate work on hand. His guides kept their +word. They led him to the track from Panama, and he had not long to wait +before the tinkling was heard of the mule bells as they were coming up +the pass. There was no suspicion of danger, not the faintest. The mule +train had but its ordinary guard, who fled at the first surprise. The +immense booty fell all into Drake's hands—gold, jewels, silver +bars—and got with much ease, as Prince Hal said at Gadshill. The silver +they buried, as too heavy for transport. The gold, pearls, rubies, +emeralds, and diamonds they carried down straight to their ship. The +voyage home went prosperously. The spoils were shared among the +adventurers, and they had no reason to complain. They were wise enough +to hold their tongues, and Drake was in a condition to look about him +and prepare for bigger enterprises.</p> + +<p>Rumours got abroad, spite of reticence. Imagination was high in flight +just then; rash amateurs thought they could make their fortunes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> in the +same way, and tried it, to their sorrow. A sort of inflation can be +traced in English sailors' minds as their work expanded. Even +Hawkins—the clear, practical Hawkins—was infected. This was not in +Drake's line. He kept to prose and fact. He studied the globe. He +examined all the charts that he could get. He became known to the Privy +Council and the Queen, and prepared for an enterprise which would make +his name and frighten Philip in earnest.</p> + +<p>The ships which the Spaniards used on the Pacific were usually built on +the spot. But Magellan was known to have gone by the Horn, and where a +Portuguese could go an Englishman could go. Drake proposed to try. There +was a party in Elizabeth's Council against these adventures, and in +favour of peace with Spain; but Elizabeth herself was always for +enterprises of pith and moment. She was willing to help, and others of +her Council were willing too, provided their names were not to appear. +The responsibility was to be Drake's own. Again the vessels in which he +was preparing to tempt fortune seem preposterously small. The <i>Pelican</i>, +or <i>Golden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Hinde</i>, which belonged to Drake himself, was called but 120 +tons, at best no larger than a modern racing yawl, though perhaps no +racing yawl ever left White's yard better found for the work which she +had to do. The next, the <i>Elizabeth</i>, of London, was said to be eighty +tons; a small pinnace of twelve tons, in which we should hardly risk a +summer cruise round the Land's End, with two sloops or frigates of fifty +and thirty tons, made the rest. The <i>Elizabeth</i> was commanded by Captain +Winter, a Queen's officer, and perhaps a son of the old admiral.</p> + +<p>We may credit Drake with knowing what he was about. He and his comrades +were carrying their lives in their hands. If they were taken they would +be inevitably hanged. Their safety depended on speed of sailing, and +specially on the power of working fast to windward, which the heavy +square-rigged ships could not do. The crews all told were 160 men and +boys. Drake had his brother John with him. Among his officers were the +chaplain, Mr. Fletcher, another minister of some kind who spoke Spanish, +and in one of the sloops a mysterious Mr. Doughty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> Who Mr. Doughty was, +and why he was sent out, is uncertain. When an expedition of consequence +was on hand, the Spanish party in the Cabinet usually attached to it +some second in command whose business was to defeat the object. When +Drake went to Cadiz in after years to singe King Philip's beard, he had +a colleague sent with him whom he had to lock into his cabin before he +could get to his work. So far as I can make out, Mr. Doughty had a +similar commission. On this occasion secrecy was impossible. It was +generally known that Drake was going to the Pacific through Magellan +Straits, to act afterwards on his own judgment. The Spanish ambassador, +now Don Bernardino de Mendoza, in informing Philip of what was intended, +advised him to send out orders for the instant sinking of every English +ship, and the execution of every English sailor, that appeared on either +side the isthmus in West Indian waters. The orders were despatched, but +so impossible it seemed that an English pirate could reach the Pacific, +that the attention was confined to the Caribbean Sea, and not a hint of +alarm was sent across to the other side.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>On November 15, 1577, the <i>Pelican</i> and her consort sailed out of +Plymouth Sound. The elements frowned on their start. On the second day +they were caught in a winter gale. The <i>Pelican</i> sprung her mainmast, +and they put back to refit and repair. But Drake defied auguries. Before +the middle of December all was again in order. The weather mended, and +with a fair wind and smooth water they made a fast run across the Bay of +Biscay and down the coast to the Cape de Verde Islands. There taking up +the north-east trades, they struck across the Atlantic, crossed the +line, and made the South American continent in latitude 33° South. They +passed the mouth of the Plate River, finding to their astonishment fresh +water at the ship's side in fifty-four fathoms. All seemed so far going +well, when one morning Mr. Doughty's sloop was missing, and he along +with her. Drake, it seemed, had already reason to distrust Doughty, and +guessed the direction in which he had gone. The <i>Marigold</i> was sent in +pursuit, and he was overtaken and brought back. To prevent a repetition +of such a performance, Drake took the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> sloop's stores out of her, burnt +her, distributed the crew through the other vessels, and took Mr. +Doughty under his own charge. On June 20 they reached Port St. Julian, +on the coast of Patagonia. They had been long on the way, and the +southern winter had come round, and they had to delay further to make +more particular inquiry into Doughty's desertion. An ominous and strange +spectacle met their eyes as they entered the harbour. In that utterly +desolate spot a skeleton was hanging on a gallows, the bones picked +clean by the vultures. It was one of Magellan's crew who had been +executed there for mutiny fifty years before. The same fate was to +befall the unhappy Englishman who had been guilty of the same fault. +Without the strictest discipline it was impossible for the enterprise to +succeed, and Doughty had been guilty of worse than disobedience. We are +told briefly that his conduct was found tending to contention, and +threatening the success of the voyage. Part he was said to have +confessed; part was proved against him—one knows not what. A court was +formed out of the crew. He was tried, as near as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> circumstances allowed, +according to English usage. He was found guilty, and was sentenced to +die. He made no complaint, or none of which a record is preserved. He +asked for the Sacrament, which was of course allowed, and Drake himself +communicated with him. They then kissed each other, and the unlucky +wretch took leave of his comrades, laid his head on the block, and so +ended. His offence can be only guessed; but the suspicious curiosity +about his fate which was shown afterwards by Mendoza makes it likely +that he was in Spanish pay. The ambassador cross-questioned Captain +Winter very particularly about him, and we learn one remarkable fact +from Mendoza's letters not mentioned by any English writer, that Drake +was himself the executioner, choosing to bear the entire responsibility.</p> + +<p>'This done,' writes an eye-witness, 'the general made divers speeches to +the whole company, persuading us to unity, obedience, and regard of our +voyage, and for the better confirmation thereof willed every man the +Sunday following to prepare himself to receive the Communion as +Christian brothers and friends ought to do, which was done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> in very +reverend sort; and so with good contentment every man went about his +business.'</p> + +<p>You must take this last incident into your conception of Drake's +character, think of it how you please.</p> + +<p>It was now midwinter, the stormiest season of the year, and they +remained for six weeks in Port St. Julian. They burnt the twelve-ton +pinnace, as too small for the work they had now before them, and there +remained only the <i>Pelican</i>, the <i>Elizabeth</i>, and the <i>Marigold</i>. In +cold wild weather they weighed at last, and on August 20 made the +opening of Magellan's Straits. The passage is seventy miles long, +tortuous and dangerous. They had no charts. The ships' boats led, taking +soundings as they advanced. Icy mountains overhung them on either side; +heavy snow fell below. They brought up occasionally at an island to rest +the men, and let them kill a few seals and penguins to give them fresh +food. Everything they saw was new, wild, and wonderful.</p> + +<p>Having to feel their way, they were three weeks in getting through. They +had counted on reaching the Pacific that the worst of their work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> was +over, and that they could run north at once into warmer and calmer +latitudes. The peaceful ocean, when they entered it, proved the +stormiest they had ever sailed on. A fierce westerly gale drove them 600 +miles to the south-east outside the Horn. It had been supposed, +hitherto, that Tierra del Fuego was solid land to the South Pole, and +that the Straits were the only communication between the Atlantic and +the Pacific. They now learnt the true shape and character of the Western +Continent. In the latitude of Cape Horn a westerly gale blows for ever +round the globe; the waves the highest anywhere known. The <i>Marigold</i> +went down in the tremendous encounter. Captain Winter, in the +<i>Elizabeth</i>, made his way back into Magellan's Straits. There he lay for +three weeks, lighting fires nightly to show Drake where he was, but no +Drake appeared. They had agreed, if separated, to meet on the coast in +the latitude of Valparaiso; but Winter was chicken-hearted, or else +traitorous like Doughty, and sore, we are told, 'against the mariners' +will,' when the three weeks were out, he sailed away for England, where +he reported<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> that all the ships were lost but the <i>Pelican</i>, and that +the <i>Pelican</i> was probably lost too.</p> + +<p>Drake had believed better of Winter, and had not expected to be so +deserted. He had himself taken refuge among the islands which form the +Cape, waiting for the spring and milder weather. He used the time in +making surveys, and observing the habits of the native Patagonians, whom +he found a tough race, going naked amidst ice and snow. The days +lengthened, and the sea smoothed at last. He then sailed for Valparaiso, +hoping to meet Winter there, as he had arranged. At Valparaiso there was +no Winter, but there was in the port instead a great galleon just come +in from Peru. The galleon's crew took him for a Spaniard, hoisted their +colours, and beat their drums. The <i>Pelican</i> shot alongside. The English +sailors in high spirits leapt on board. A Plymouth lad who could speak +Spanish knocked down the first man he met with an 'Abajo, perro!' 'Down, +you dog, down!' No life was taken; Drake never hurt man if he could help +it. The crew crossed themselves, jumped overboard, and swam ashore. The +prize was examined. Four hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> pounds' weight of gold was found in +her, besides other plunder.</p> + +<p>The galleon being disposed of, Drake and his men pulled ashore to look +at the town. The people had all fled. In the church they found a +chalice, two cruets, and an altar-cloth, which were made over to the +chaplain to improve his Communion furniture. A few pipes of wine and a +Greek pilot who knew the way to Lima completed the booty.</p> + +<p>'Shocking piracy,' you will perhaps say. But what Drake was doing would +have been all right and good service had war been declared, and the +essence of things does not alter with the form. In essence there <i>was</i> +war, deadly war, between Philip and Elizabeth. Even later, when the +Armada sailed, there had been no formal declaration. The reality is the +important part of the matter. It was but stroke for stroke, and the +English arm proved the stronger.</p> + +<p>Still hoping to find Winter in advance of him, Drake went on next to +Tarapaca, where silver from the Andes mines was shipped for Panama. At +Tarapaca there was the same unconsciousness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> of danger. The silver bars +lay piled on the quay, the muleteers who had brought them were sleeping +peacefully in the sunshine at their side. The muleteers were left to +their slumbers. The bars were lifted into the English boats. A train of +mules or llamas came in at the moment with a second load as rich as the +first. This, too, went into the <i>Pelican's</i> hold. The bullion taken at +Tarapaca was worth near half a million ducats.</p> + +<p>Still there were no news of Winter. Drake began to realise that he was +now entirely alone, and had only himself and his own crew to depend on. +There was nothing to do but to go through with it, danger adding to the +interest. Arica was the next point visited. Half a hundred blocks of +silver were picked up at Arica. After Arica came Lima, the chief depôt +of all, where the grandest haul was looked for. At Lima, alas! they were +just too late. Twelve great hulks lay anchored there. The sails were +unbent, the men were ashore. They contained nothing but some chests of +reals and a few bales of silk and linen. But a thirteenth, called by the +gods <i>Our Lady of the Conception</i>, called by men <i>Cacafuego</i>, a name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +incapable of translation, had sailed a few days before for the isthmus, +with the whole produce of the Lima mines for the season. Her ballast was +silver, her cargo gold and emeralds and rubies.</p> + +<p>Drake deliberately cut the cables of the ships in the roads, that they +might drive ashore and be unable to follow him. The <i>Pelican</i> spread her +wings, every feather of them, and sped away in pursuit. He would know +the <i>Cacafuego</i>, so he learnt at Lima, by the peculiar cut of her sails. +The first man who caught sight of her was promised a gold chain for his +reward. A sail was seen on the second day. It was not the chase, but it +was worth stopping for. Eighty pounds' weight of gold was found, and a +great gold crucifix, set with emeralds said to be as large as pigeon's +eggs. They took the kernel. They left the shell. Still on and on. We +learn from the Spanish accounts that the Viceroy of Lima, as soon as he +recovered from his astonishment, despatched ships in pursuit. They came +up with the last plundered vessel, heard terrible tales of the rovers' +strength, and went back for a larger force. The <i>Pelican</i> meanwhile went +along upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> her course for 800 miles. At length, when in the latitude of +Quito and close under the shore, the <i>Cacafuego's</i> peculiar sails were +sighted, and the gold chain was claimed. There she was, freighted with +the fruit of Aladdin's garden, going lazily along a few miles ahead. +Care was needed in approaching her. If she guessed the <i>Pelican's</i> +character, she would run in upon the land and they would lose her. It +was afternoon. The sun was still above the horizon, and Drake meant to +wait till night, when the breeze would be off the shore, as in the +tropics it always is.</p> + +<p>The <i>Pelican</i> sailed two feet to the <i>Cacafuego's</i> one. Drake filled his +empty wine-skins with water and trailed them astern to stop his way. The +chase supposed that she was followed by some heavy-loaded trader, and, +wishing for company on a lonely voyage, she slackened sail and waited +for him to come up. At length the sun went down into the ocean, the rosy +light faded from off the snows of the Andes; and when both ships had +become invisible from the shore, the skins were hauled in, the night +wind rose, and the water began to ripple under the <i>Pelican's</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> bows. +The <i>Cacafuego</i> was swiftly overtaken, and when within a cable's length +a voice hailed her to put her head into the wind. The Spanish commander, +not understanding so strange an order, held on his course. A broadside +brought down his mainyard; and a flight of arrows rattled on his deck. +He was himself wounded. In a few minutes he was a prisoner, and <i>Our +Lady of the Conception</i> and her precious freight were in the corsair's +power. The wreck was cut away; the ship was cleared; a prize crew was +put on board. Both vessels turned their heads to the sea. At daybreak no +land was to be seen, and the examination of the prize began. The full +value was never acknowledged. The invoice, if there was one, was +destroyed. The accurate figures were known only to Drake and Queen +Elizabeth. A published schedule acknowledged to twenty tons of silver +bullion, thirteen chests of silver coins, and a hundredweight of gold, +but there were gold nuggets besides in indefinite quantity, and 'a great +store' of pearls, emeralds, and diamonds. The Spanish Government proved +a loss of a million and a half of ducats, excluding what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> belonged to +private persons. The total capture was immeasurably greater.</p> + +<p>Drake, we are told, was greatly satisfied. He thought it prudent to stay +in the neighbourhood no longer than necessary. He went north with all +sail set, taking his prize along with him. The master, San Juan de +Anton, was removed on board the <i>Pelican</i> to have his wound attended to. +He remained as Drake's guest for a week, and sent in a report of what he +observed to the Spanish Government. One at least of Drake's party spoke +excellent Spanish. This person took San Juan over the ship. She showed +signs, San Juan said, of rough service, but was still in fine condition, +with ample arms, spare rope, mattocks, carpenters' tools of all +descriptions. There were eighty-five men on board all told, fifty of +them men-of-war, the rest young fellows, ship-boys and the like. Drake +himself was treated with great reverence; a sentinel stood always at his +cabin door. He dined alone with music.</p> + +<p>No mystery was made of the <i>Pelican's</i> exploits. The chaplain showed San +Juan the crucifix set with emeralds, and asked him if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> could +seriously believe that to be God. San Juan asked Drake how he meant to +go home. Drake showed him a globe with three courses traced on it. There +was the way that he had come, there was the way by China and the Cape of +Good Hope, and there was a third way which he did not explain. San Juan +asked if Spain and England were at war. Drake said he had a commission +from the Queen. His captures were for her, not for himself. He added +afterwards that the Viceroy of Mexico had robbed him and his kinsman, +and he was making good his losses.</p> + +<p>Then, touching the point of the sore, he said, 'I know the Viceroy will +send for thee to inform himself of my proceedings. Tell him he shall do +well to put no more Englishmen to death, and to spare those he has in +his hands, for if he do execute them I will hang 2,000 Spaniards and +send him their heads.'</p> + +<p>After a week's detention San Juan and his men were restored to the empty +<i>Cacafuego</i>, and allowed to go. On their way back they fell in with the +two cruisers sent in pursuit from Lima, reinforced by a third from +Panama. They were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> now fully armed; they went in chase, and according to +their own account came up with the <i>Pelican</i>. But, like Lope de Vega, +they seemed to have been terrified at Drake as a sort of devil. They +confessed that they dared not attack him, and again went back for more +assistance. The Viceroy abused them as cowards, arrested the officers, +despatched others again with peremptory orders to seize Drake, even if +he was the devil, but by that time their questionable visitor had flown. +They found nothing, perhaps to their relief.</p> + +<p>A despatch went instantly across the Atlantic to Philip. One squadron +was sent off from Cadiz to watch the Straits of Magellan, and another to +patrol the Caribbean Sea. It was thought that Drake's third way was no +seaway at all, that he meant to leave the <i>Pelican</i> at Darien, carry his +plunder over the mountains, and build a ship at Honduras to take him +home. His real idea was that he might hit off the passage to the north +of which Frobisher and Davis thought they had found the eastern +entrance. He stood on towards California, picking up an occasional +straggler in the China trade, with silk, porcelain, gold, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> emeralds. +Fresh water was a necessity. He put in at Guatulco for it, and his +proceedings were humorously prompt. The alcaldes at Guatulco were in +session trying a batch of negroes. An English boat's crew appeared in +court, tied the alcaldes hand and foot, and carried them off to the +<i>Pelican</i>, there to remain as hostages till the water-casks were filled.</p> + +<p>North again he fell in with a galleon carrying out a new Governor to the +Philippines. The Governor was relieved of his boxes and his jewels, and +then, says one of the party, 'Our General, thinking himself in respect +of his private injuries received from the Spaniards, as also their +contempt and indignities offered to our country and Prince, sufficiently +satisfied and revenged, and supposing her Majesty would rest contented +with this service, began to consider the best way home.' The first +necessity was a complete overhaul of the ship. Before the days of copper +sheathing weeds grew thick under water. Barnacles formed in clusters, +stopping the speed, and sea-worms bored through the planking. Twenty +thousand miles lay between the <i>Pelican</i> and Plymouth Sound,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> and Drake +was not a man to run idle chances. Still holding his north course till +he had left the furthest Spanish settlement far to the south, he put +into Canoas Bay in California, laid the <i>Pelican</i> ashore, set up forge +and workshop, and repaired and re-rigged her with a month's labour from +stem to stern. With every rope new set up and new canvas on every yard, +he started again on April 16, 1579, and continued up the coast to +Oregon. The air grew cold though it was summer. The men felt it from +having been so long in the tropics, and dropped out of health. There was +still no sign of a passage. If passage there was, Drake perceived that +it must be of enormous length. Magellan's Straits, he guessed, would be +watched for him, so he decided on the route by the Cape of Good Hope. In +the Philippine ship he had found a chart of the Indian Archipelago. With +the help of this and his own skill he hoped to find his way. He went +down again to San Francisco, landed there, found the soil teeming with +gold, made acquaintance with an Indian king who hated the Spaniards and +wished to become an English subject. But Drake<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> had no leisure to annex +new territories. Avoiding the course from Mexico to the Philippines, he +made a direct course to the Moluccas, and brought up again at the Island +of Celebes. Here the <i>Pelican</i> was a second time docked and scraped. The +crew had a month's rest among the fireflies and vampires of the tropical +forest. Leaving Celebes, they entered on the most perilous part of the +whole voyage. They wound their way among coral reefs and low islands +scarcely visible above the water-line. In their chart the only outlet +marked into the Indian Ocean was by the Straits of Malacca. But Drake +guessed rightly that there must be some nearer opening, and felt his way +looking for it along the coast of Java. Spite of all his care, he was +once on the edge of destruction. One evening as night was closing in a +grating sound was heard under the <i>Pelican's</i> keel. In another moment +she was hard and fast on a reef. The breeze was light and the water +smooth, or the world would have heard no more of Francis Drake. She lay +immovable till daybreak. At dawn the position was seen not to be +entirely desperate. Drake himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> showed all the qualities of a great +commander. Cannon were thrown over and cargo that was not needed. In the +afternoon, the wind changing, the lightened vessel lifted off the rocks +and was saved. The hull was uninjured, thanks to the Californian +repairs. All on board had behaved well with the one exception of Mr. +Fletcher, the chaplain. Mr. Fletcher, instead of working like a man, had +whined about Divine retribution for the execution of Doughty.</p> + +<p>For the moment Drake passed it over. A few days after, they passed out +through the Straits of Sunda, where they met the great ocean swell, +Homer's [Greek: mega kuma thalassês], and they knew then that all was +well.</p> + +<p>There was now time to call Mr. Fletcher to account. It was no business +of the chaplain to discourage and dispirit men in a moment of danger, +and a court was formed to sit upon him. An English captain on his own +deck represents the sovereign, and is head of Church as well as State. +Mr. Fletcher was brought to the forecastle, where Drake, sitting on a +sea-chest with a pair of <i>pantoufles</i> in his hand, excommunicated him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +pronounced him cut off from the Church of God, given over to the devil +for the chastising of his flesh, and left him chained by the leg to a +ring-bolt to repent of his cowardice.</p> + +<p>In the general good-humour punishment could not be of long duration. The +next day the poor chaplain had his absolution, and returned to his berth +and his duty. The <i>Pelican</i> met with no more adventures. Sweeping in +fine clear weather round the Cape of Good Hope, she touched once for +water at Sierra Leone, and finally sailed in triumph into Plymouth +Harbour, where she had been long given up for lost, having traced the +first furrow round the globe. Winter had come home eighteen months +before, but could report nothing. The news of the doings on the American +coast had reached England through Madrid. The Spanish ambassador had +been furious. It was known that Spanish squadrons had been sent in +search. Complications would arise if Drake brought his plunder home, and +timid politicians hoped that he was at the bottom of the sea. But here +he was, actually arrived with a monarch's ransom in his hold.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<p>English sympathy with an extraordinary exploit is always irresistible. +Shouts of applause rang through the country, and Elizabeth, every bit of +her an Englishwoman, felt with her subjects. She sent for Drake to +London, made him tell his story over and over again, and was never weary +of listening to him. As to injury to Spain, Philip had lighted a fresh +insurrection in Ireland, which had cost her dearly in lives and money. +For Philip to demand compensation of England on the score of justice was +a thing to make the gods laugh.</p> + +<p>So thought the Queen. So unfortunately did not think some members of her +Council, Lord Burghley among them. Mendoza was determined that Drake +should be punished and the spoils disgorged, or else that he would force +Elizabeth upon the world as the confessed protectress of piracy. +Burghley thought that, as things stood, some satisfaction (or the form +of it) would have to be made.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth hated paying back as heartily as Falstaff, nor had she the +least intention of throwing to the wolves a gallant Englishman, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +whose achievements the world was ringing. She was obliged to allow the +treasure to be registered by a responsible official, and an account +rendered to Mendoza; but for all that she meant to keep her own share of +the spoils. She meant, too, that Drake and his brave crew should not go +unrewarded. Drake himself should have ten thousand pounds at least.</p> + +<p>Her action was eminently characteristic of her. On the score of real +justice there was no doubt at all how matters stood between herself and +Philip, who had tried to dethrone and kill her.</p> + +<p>The <i>Pelican</i> lay still at Plymouth with the bullion and jewels +untouched. She directed that it should be landed and scheduled. She +trusted the business to Edmund Tremayne, of Sydenham, a neighbouring +magistrate, on whom she could depend. She told him not to be too +inquisitive, and she allowed Drake to go back and arrange the cargo +before the examination was made. Let me now read you a letter from +Tremayne himself to Sir Francis Walsingham:—</p> + +<p>'To give you some understanding how I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> proceeded with Mr. Drake: I +have at no time entered into the account to know more of the value of +the treasure than he made me acquainted with; and to say truth I +persuaded him to impart to me no more than need, for so I saw him +commanded in her Majesty's behalf that he should reveal the certainty to +no man living. I have only taken notice of so much as he <i>has</i> revealed, +and the same I have seen to be weighed, registered, and packed. And to +observe her Majesty's commands for the ten thousand pounds, we agreed he +should take it out of the portion that was landed secretly, and to +remove the same out of the place before my son Henry and I should come +to the weighing and registering of what was left; and so it was done, +and no creature living by me made privy to it but himself; and myself no +privier to it than as you may perceive by this.</p> + +<p>'I see nothing to charge Mr. Drake further than he is inclined to charge +himself, and withal I must say he is inclined to advance the value to be +delivered to her Majesty, and seeking in general to recompense all men +that have been in the case dealers with him. As I dare take an oath,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> he +will rather diminish his own portion than leave any of them unsatisfied. +And for his mariners and followers I have seen here as eye-witness, and +have heard with my ears, such certain signs of goodwill as I cannot yet +see that any of them will leave his company. The whole course of his +voyage hath showed him to be of great valour; but my hap has been to see +some particulars, and namely in this discharge of his company, as doth +assure me that he is a man of great government, and that by the rules of +God and his book, so as proceeding on such foundation his doings cannot +but prosper.'</p> + +<p>The result of it all was that deductions were made from the capture +equivalent to the property which Drake and Hawkins held themselves to +have been treacherously plundered of at San Juan de Ulloa, with perhaps +other liberal allowances for the cost of recovery. An account on part of +what remained was then given to Mendoza. It was not returned to him or +to Philip, but was laid up in the Tower till the final settlement of +Philip's and the Queen's claims on each other—the cost, for one thing, +of the rebellion in Ireland. Commis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>sioners met and argued and sat on +ineffectually till the Armada came and the discussion ended, and the +talk of restitution was over. Meanwhile, opinion varied about Drake's +own doings as it has varied since. Elizabeth listened spellbound to his +adventures, sent for him to London again, and walked with him publicly +about the parks and gardens. She gave him a second ten thousand pounds. +The <i>Pelican</i> was sent round to Deptford; a royal banquet was held on +board, Elizabeth attended and Drake was knighted. Mendoza clamoured for +the treasure in the Tower to be given up to him; Walsingham wished to +give it to the Prince of Orange; Leicester and his party in the Council, +who had helped to fit Drake out, thought it ought to be divided among +themselves, and unless Mendoza lies they offered to share it with him if +he would agree to a private arrangement. Mendoza says he answered that +he would give twice as much to chastise such a bandit as Drake. +Elizabeth thought it should be kept as a captured pawn in the game, and +so in fact it remained after the deductions which we have seen had been +made.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>Drake was lavish of his presents. He presented the Queen with a diamond +cross and a coronet set with splendid emeralds. He gave Bromley, the +Lord Chancellor, 800 dollars' worth of silver plate, and as much more to +other members of the Council. The Queen wore her coronet on New Year's +Day; the Chancellor was content to decorate his sideboard at the cost of +the Catholic King. Burghley and Sussex declined the splendid temptation; +they said they could accept no such precious gifts from a man whose +fortune had been made by plunder.</p> + +<p>Burghley lived to see better into Drake's value. Meanwhile, what now are +we, looking back over our history, to say of these things—the Channel +privateering; the seizure of Alva's army money; the sharp practice of +Hawkins with the Queen of Scots and King Philip; or this amazing +performance of Sir Francis Drake in a vessel no larger than a +second-rate yacht of a modern noble lord?</p> + +<p>Resolution, daring, professional skill, all historians allow to these +men; but, like Burghley, they regard what they did as piracy, not much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +better, if at all better, than the later exploits of Morgan and Kidd. So +cried the Catholics who wished Elizabeth's ruin; so cried Lope de Vega +and King Philip. In milder language the modern philosopher repeats the +unfavourable verdict, rejoices that he lives in an age when such doings +are impossible, and apologises faintly for the excesses of an imperfect +age. May I remind the philosopher that we live in an age when other +things have also happily become impossible, and that if he and his +friends were liable when they went abroad for their summer tours to be +snapped by the familiars of the Inquisition, whipped, burnt alive, or +sent to the galleys, he would perhaps think more leniently of any +measures by which that respectable institution and its masters might be +induced to treat philosophers with greater consideration?</p> + +<p>Again, remember Dr. Johnson's warning, Beware of cant. In that intensely +serious century men were more occupied with the realities than the forms +of things. By encouraging rebellion in England and Ireland, by burning +so many scores of poor English seamen and merchants in fools' coats at +Seville, the King of Spain had given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Elizabeth a hundred occasions for +declaring war against him. Situated as she was, with so many disaffected +Catholic subjects, she could not <i>begin</i> a war on such a quarrel. She +had to use such resources as she had, and of these resources the best +was a splendid race of men who were not afraid to do for her at their +own risk what commissioned officers would and might have justly done had +formal war been declared, men who defeated the national enemy with +materials conquered from himself, who were devoted enough to dispense +with the personal security which the sovereign's commission would have +extended to prisoners of war, and face the certainty of being hanged if +they were taken. Yes; no doubt by the letter of the law of nations Drake +and Hawkins were corsairs of the same stuff as Ulysses, as the rovers of +Norway. But the common-sense of Europe saw through the form to the +substance which lay below it, and the instinct of their countrymen gave +them a place among the fighting heroes of England, from which I do not +think they will be deposed by the eventual verdict of history.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_V" id="LECTURE_V"></a>LECTURE V</h2> + +<h3>PARTIES IN THE STATE</h3> + + +<p>On December 21, 1585, a remarkable scene took place in the English House +of Commons. The Prince of Orange, after many attempts had failed, had +been successfully disposed of in the Low Countries. A fresh conspiracy +had just been discovered for a Catholic insurrection in England, +supported by a foreign invasion; the object of which was to dethrone +Elizabeth and to give her crown to Mary Stuart. The Duke of Alva, at the +time of the Ridolfi plot, had pointed out as a desirable preliminary, if +the invasion was to succeed, the assassination of the Queen of England. +The succession being undecided, he had calculated that the confusion +would paralyse resistance, and the notorious favour with which Mary +Stuart's pretensions were regarded by a powerful English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> party would +ensure her an easy victory were Elizabeth once removed. But this was an +indispensable condition. It had become clear at last that so long as +Elizabeth was alive Philip would not willingly sanction the landing of a +Spanish army on English shores. Thus, among the more ardent Catholics, +especially the refugees at the Seminary at Rheims, a crown in heaven was +held out to any spiritual knight-errant who would remove the obstacle. +The enterprise itself was not a difficult one. Elizabeth was aware of +her danger, but she was personally fearless. She refused to distrust the +Catholics. Her household was full of them. She admitted anyone to her +presence who desired a private interview. Dr. Parry, a member of +Parliament, primed by encouragements from the Cardinal of Como and the +Vatican, had undertaken to risk his life to win the glorious prize. He +introduced himself into the palace, properly provided with arms. He +professed to have information of importance to give. The Queen received +him repeatedly. Once he was alone with her in the palace garden, and was +on the point of killing her, when he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> awed, as he said, by the +likeness to her father. Parry was discovered and hanged, but Elizabeth +refused to take warning. When there were so many aspirants for the +honour of removing Jezebel, and Jezebel was so easy of approach, it was +felt that one would at last succeed; and the loyal part of the nation, +led by Lord Burghley, formed themselves into an association to protect a +life so vital to them and apparently so indifferent to herself.</p> + +<p>The subscribers bound themselves to pursue to the death all manner of +persons who should attempt or consent to anything to the harm of her +Majesty's person; never to allow or submit to any pretended successor by +whom or for whom such detestable act should be attempted or committed; +but to pursue such persons to death and act the utmost revenge upon +them.</p> + +<p>The bond in its first form was a visible creation of despair. It implied +a condition of things in which order would have ceased to exist. The +lawyers, who, it is curious to observe, were generally in Mary Stuart's +interest, vehemently objected; yet so passionate was public feeling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +that it was signed throughout the kingdom, and Parliament was called to +pass an Act which would secure the same object. Mary Stuart, at any +rate, was not to benefit by the crimes either of herself or her +admirers. It was provided that if the realm was invaded, or a rebellion +instigated by or for any one pretending a title to the crown after the +Queen's death, such pretender should be disqualified for ever. In the +event of the Queen's assassination the government was to devolve on a +Committee of Peers and Privy Councillors, who were to examine the +particulars of the murder and execute the perpetrators and their +accomplices; while, with a significant allusion, all Jesuits and +seminary priests were required to leave the country instantly, under +pain of death.</p> + +<p>The House of Commons was heaving with emotion when the Act was sent up +to the Peers. To give expression to their burning feelings Sir +Christopher Hatton proposed that before they separated they should join +him in a prayer for the Queen's preservation. The 400 members all rose, +and knelt on the floor of the House, repeating Hatton's words after him, +sentence by sentence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jesuits and seminary priests! Attempts have been made to justify the +conspiracies against Elizabeth from what is called the persecution of +the innocent enthusiasts who came from Rheims to preach the Catholic +faith to the English people. Popular writers and speakers dwell on the +executions of Campian and his friends as worse than the Smithfield +burnings, and amidst general admiration and approval these martyred +saints have been lately canonised. Their mission, it is said, was purely +religious. Was it so? The chief article in the religion which they came +to teach was the duty of obedience to the Pope, who had excommunicated +the Queen, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, and, by a +relaxation of the Bull, had permitted them to pretend to loyalty <i>ad +illud tempus</i>, till a Catholic army of deliverance should arrive. A Pope +had sent a legate to Ireland, and was at that moment stirring up a +bloody insurrection there.</p> + +<p>But what these seminary priests were, and what their object was, will +best appear from an account of the condition of England, drawn up for +the use of the Pope and Philip, by Father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Parsons, who was himself at +the head of the mission. The date of it is 1585, almost simultaneous +with the scene in Parliament which I have just been describing. The +English refugees, from Cardinal Pole downwards, were the most active and +passionate preachers of a Catholic crusade against England. They failed, +but they have revenged themselves in history. Pole, Sanders, Allen, and +Parsons have coloured all that we suppose ourselves to know of Henry +VIII. and Elizabeth. What I am about to read to you does not differ +essentially from what we have already heard from these persons; but it +is new, and, being intended for practical guidance, is complete in its +way. It comes from the Spanish archives, and is not therefore open to +suspicion. Parsons, as you know, was a Fellow of Balliol before his +conversion; Allen was a Fellow of Oriel, and Sanders of New College. An +Oxford Church of England education is an excellent thing, and beautiful +characters have been formed in the Catholic universities abroad; but as +the elements of dynamite are innocent in themselves, yet when fused +together produce effects no one would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> dreamt of, so Oxford and +Rome, when they have run together, have always generated a somewhat +furious compound.</p> + +<p>Parsons describes his statement as a 'brief note on the present +condition of England,' from which may be inferred the ease and +opportuneness of the holy enterprise. 'England,' he says, 'contains +fifty-two counties, of which forty are well inclined to the Catholic +faith. Heretics in these are few, and are hated by all ranks. The +remaining twelve are infected more or less, but even in these the +Catholics are in the majority. Divide England into three parts; +two-thirds at least are Catholic at heart, though many conceal their +convictions in fear of the Queen. English Catholics are of two +sorts—one which makes an open profession regardless of consequences, +the other believing at the bottom, but unwilling to risk life or +fortune, and so submitting outwardly to the heretic laws, but as eager +as the Catholic confessors for redemption from slavery.</p> + +<p>'The Queen and her party,' he goes on, 'more fear these secret Catholics +than those who wear their colours openly. The latter they can fine,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +disarm, and make innocuous. The others, being outwardly compliant, +cannot be touched, nor can any precaution be taken against their rising +when the day of divine vengeance shall arrive.</p> + +<p>'The counties specially Catholic are the most warlike, and contain +harbours and other conveniences for the landing of an invading army. The +north towards the Scotch border has been trained in constant fighting. +The Scotch nobles on the other side are Catholic and will lend their +help. So will all Wales.</p> + +<p>'The inhabitants of the midland and southern provinces, where the taint +is deepest, are indolent and cowardly, and do not know what war means. +The towns are more corrupt than the country districts. But the strength +of England does not lie, as on the Continent, in towns and cities. The +town population are merchants and craftsmen, rarely or never nobles or +magnates.</p> + +<p>'The nobility, who have the real power, reside with their retinues in +castles scattered over the land. The wealthy yeomen are strong and +honest, all attached to the ancient faith, and may be counted on when an +attempt is made for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> restoration of it. The knights and gentry are +generally well affected also, and will be well to the front. Many of +their sons are being now educated in our seminaries. Some are in exile, +but all, whether at home or abroad, will be active on our side.</p> + +<p>'Of the great peers, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, part are +with us, part against us. But the latter sort are new creations, whom +the Queen has promoted either for heresy or as her personal lovers, and +therefore universally abhorred.</p> + +<p>'The premier peer of the old stock is the Earl of Arundel, son and heir +of the late Duke of Norfolk, whom she has imprisoned because he tried to +escape out of the realm. This earl is entirely Catholic, as well as his +brothers and kinsmen; and they have powerful vassals who are eager to +revenge the injury of their lord. The Earl of Northumberland and his +brothers are Catholics. They too have family wrongs to repay, their +father having been this year murdered in the Tower, and they have placed +themselves at my disposal. The Earl of Worcester and his heir hate +heresy, and are devoted to us with all their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> dependents. The Earls of +Cumberland and Southampton and Viscount Montague are faithful, and have +a large following. Besides these we have many of the barons—Dacre, +Morley, Vaux, Windsor, Wharton, Lovelace, Stourton, and others besides. +The Earl of Westmoreland, with Lord Paget and Sir Francis Englefield, +who reside abroad, have been incredibly earnest in promoting our +enterprise. With such support, it is impossible that we can fail. These +lords and gentlemen, when they see efficient help coming to them, will +certainly rise, and for the following reasons:—</p> + +<p>'1. Because some of the principals among them have given me their +promise.</p> + +<p>'2. Because, on hearing that Pope Pius intended to excommunicate and +depose the Queen sixteen years ago, many Catholics did rise. They only +failed because no support was sent them, and the Pope's sentence had not +at that time been actually published. Now, when the Pope has spoken and +help is certain, there is not a doubt how they will act.</p> + +<p>'3. Because the Catholics are now much more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> numerous, and have received +daily instruction in their religion from our priests. There is now no +orthodox Catholic in the whole realm who supposes that he is any longer +bound in conscience to obey the Queen. Books for the occasion have been +written and published by us, in which we prove that it is not only +lawful for Catholics, but their positive duty, to fight against the +Queen and heresy when the Pope bids them; and these books are so +greedily read among them that when the time comes they are certain to +take arms.</p> + +<p>'4. The Catholics in these late years have shown their real feeling in +the martyrdoms of priests and laymen, and in attempts made by several of +them against the person and State of the Queen. Various Catholics have +tried to kill her at the risk of their own lives, and are still trying.</p> + +<p>'5. We have three hundred priests dispersed among the houses of the +nobles and honest gentry. Every day we add to their number; and these +priests will direct the consciences and actions of the Catholics at the +great crisis.</p> + +<p>'6. They have been so harried and so worried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> that they hate the +heretics worse than they hate the Turks.</p> + +<p>'Should any of them fear the introduction of a Spanish army as dangerous +to their national liberties, there is an easy way to satisfy their +scruples. Let it be openly declared that the enterprise is undertaken in +the name of the Pope, and there will be no more hesitation. We have +ourselves prepared a book for their instruction, to be issued at the +right moment. If his Holiness desires to see it we will have it +translated into Latin for his use.</p> + +<p>'Before the enterprise is undertaken the sentence of excommunication and +deposition ought to be reissued, with special clauses.</p> + +<p>'It must be published in all adjoining Catholic countries; all Catholic +kings and princes must be admonished to forbid every description of +intercourse with the pretended Queen and her heretic subjects, and +themselves especially to make or observe no treaties with her, to send +no embassies to her and admit none; to render no help to her of any sort +or kind.</p> + +<p>'Besides those who will be our friends for re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>ligion's sake we shall +have others with us—neutrals or heretics of milder sort, or atheists, +with whom England now abounds, who will join us in the interest of the +Queen of Scots. Among them are the Marquis of Winchester, the Earls of +Shrewsbury, Derby, Oxford, Rutland, and several other peers. The Queen +of Scots herself will be of infinite assistance to us in securing these. +She knows who are her secret friends. She has been able so far, and we +trust will always be able, to communicate with them. She will see that +they are ready at the right time. She has often written to me to say +that she hopes that she will be able to escape when the time comes. In +her last letter she urges me to be vehement with his Holiness in pushing +on the enterprise, and bids him have no concern for her own safety. She +believes that she can care for herself. If not, she says she will lose +her life willingly in a cause so sacred.</p> + +<p>'The enemies that we shall have to deal with are the more determined +heretics whom we call Puritans, and certain creatures of the Queen, the +Earls of Leicester and Huntingdon, and a few others. They will have an +advantage in the money<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> in the Treasury, the public arms and stores, and +the army and navy, but none of them have ever seen a camp. The leaders +have been nuzzled in love-making and Court pleasures, and they will all +fly at the first shock of war. They have not a man who can command in +the field. In the whole realm there are but two fortresses which could +stand a three days' siege. The people are enervated by long peace, and, +except a few who have served with the heretics in Flanders, cannot bear +their arms. Of those few some are dead and some have deserted to the +Prince of Parma, a clear proof of the real disposition to revolt. There +is abundance of food and cattle in the country, all of which will be at +our service and cannot be kept from us. Everywhere there are safe and +roomy harbours, almost all undefended. An invading force can be landed +with ease, and there will be no lack of local pilots. Fifteen thousand +trained soldiers will be sufficient, aided by the Catholic English, +though, of course, the larger the force, particularly if it includes +cavalry, the quicker the work will be done and the less the expense. +Practically there will be nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> to overcome save an unwarlike and +undisciplined mob.</p> + +<p>'Sixteen times England has been invaded. Twice only the native race have +repelled the attacking force. They have been defeated on every other +occasion, and with a cause so holy and just as ours we need not fear to +fail. The expenses shall be repaid to his Holiness and the Catholic King +out of the property of the heretics and the Protestant clergy. There +will be ample in these resources to compensate all who give us their +hand. But the work must be done promptly. Delay will be infinitely +dangerous. If we put off, as we have done hitherto, the Catholics will +be tired out and reduced in numbers and strength. The nobles and priests +now in exile, and able to be of such service, will break down in +poverty. The Queen of Scots may be executed or die a natural death, or +something may happen to the Catholic King or his Holiness. The Queen of +England may herself die, a heretic Government may be reconstructed under +a heretic successor, the young Scotch king or some other, and our case +will then be desperate; whereas if we can prevent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> this and save the +Queen of Scots there will be good hope of converting her son and +reducing the whole island to the obedience of the faith. Now is the +moment. The French Government cannot interfere. The Duke of Guise will +help us for the sake of the faith and for his kinswoman. The Turks are +quiet. The Church was never stronger or more united. Part of Italy is +under the Catholic King; the rest is in league with his Holiness. The +revolt in the Low Countries is all but crushed. The sea provinces are on +the point of surrendering. If they give up the contest their harbours +will be at our service for the invasion. If not, the way to conquer them +is to conquer England.</p> + +<p>'I need not urge how much it imports his Holiness to undertake this +glorious work. He, supremely wise as he is, knows that from this Jezebel +and her supporters come all the perils which disturb the Christian +world. He knows that heretical depravity and all other miseries can only +end when this woman is chastised. Reverence for his Holiness and love +for my afflicted country force me to speak. I submit to his most holy +judgment myself and my advice.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>The most ardent Catholic apologist will hardly maintain, in the face of +this document, that the English Jesuits and seminary priests were the +innocent missionaries of religion which the modern enemies of +Elizabeth's Government describe them. Father Parsons, the writer of it, +was himself the leader and director of the Jesuit invasion, and cannot +be supposed to have misrepresented the purpose for which they had been +sent over. The point of special interest is the account which he gives +of the state of parties and general feeling in the English people. Was +there that wide disposition to welcome an invading army in so large a +majority of the nation? The question is supposed to have been +triumphantly answered three years later, when it is asserted that the +difference of creed was forgotten, and Catholics and Protestants fought +side by side for the liberties of England. But, in the first place, the +circumstances were changed. The Queen of Scots no longer lived, and the +success of the Armada implied a foreign sovereign. But, next, the +experiment was not tried. The battle was fought at sea, by a fleet +four-fifths of which was composed of Protestant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> adventurers, fitted out +and manned by those zealous Puritans whose fidelity to the Queen Parsons +himself admitted. Lord Howard may have been an Anglo-Catholic; Roman +Catholic he never was; but he and his brother were the only loyalists in +the House of Howard. Arundel and the rest of his kindred were all that +Parsons claimed for them. How the country levies would have behaved had +Parma landed is still uncertain. It is likely that if the Spanish army +had gained a first success, there might have been some who would have +behaved as Sir William Stanley did. It is observable that Parsons +mentions Leicester and Huntingdon as the only powerful peers on whom the +Queen could rely, and Leicester, otherwise the unfittest man in her +dominions, she chose to command her land army.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Alva and his master Philip, both of them distrusted +political priests. Political priests, they said, did not understand the +facts of things. Theological enthusiasm made them credulous of what they +wished. But Father Parsons's estimate is confirmed in all its parts by +the letters of Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> in London. Mendoza was +himself a soldier, and his first duty was to learn the real truth. It +may be taken as certain that, with the Queen of Scots still alive to +succeed to the throne, at the time of the scene in the House of Commons, +with which I began this lecture, the great majority of the country party +disliked the Reformers, and were looking forward to the accession of a +Catholic sovereign, and as a consequence to a religious revolution.</p> + +<p>It explains the difficulty of Elizabeth's position and the inconsistency +of her political action. Burghley, Walsingham, Mildmay, Knolles, the +elder Bacon, were believing Protestants, and would have had her put +herself openly at the head of a Protestant European league. They +believed that right and justice were on their side, that their side was +God's cause, as they called it, and that God would care for it. +Elizabeth had no such complete conviction. She disliked dogmatism, +Protestant as well as Catholic. She ridiculed Mr. Cecil and his brothers +in Christ. She thought, like Erasmus, that the articles of faith, for +which men were so eager to kill one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> another, were subjects which they +knew very little about, and that every man might think what he would on +such matters without injury to the commonwealth. To become 'head of the +name' would involve open war with the Catholic powers. War meant war +taxes, which more than half her subjects would resent or resist. +Religion as she understood it was a development of law—the law of moral +conduct. You could not have two laws in one country, and you could not +have two religions; but the outward form mattered comparatively little. +The people she ruled over were divided about these forms. They were +mainly fools, and if she let them each have chapels and churches of +their own, molehills would become mountains, and the congregations would +go from arguing into fighting. With Parliament to help her, therefore, +she established a Liturgy, in which those who wished to find the Mass +could hear the Mass, while those who wanted predestination and +justification by faith could find it in the Articles. Both could meet +under a common roof, and use a common service, if they would only be +reasonable. If they would not be reasonable, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> Catholics might have +their own ritual in their own houses, and would not be interfered with.</p> + +<p>This system continued for the first eleven years of Elizabeth's reign. +No Catholic, she could proudly say, had ever during that time been +molested for his belief. There was a small fine for non-attendance at +church, but even this was rarely levied, and by the confession of the +Jesuits the Queen's policy was succeeding too well. Sensible men began +to see that the differences of religion were not things to quarrel over. +Faith was growing languid. The elder generation, who had lived through +the Edward and Mary revolutions, were satisfied to be left undisturbed; +a new generation was growing up, with new ideas; and so the Church of +Rome bestirred itself. Elizabeth was excommunicated. The cycle began of +intrigue and conspiracy, assassination plots, and Jesuit invasions. +Punishments had to follow, and in spite of herself Elizabeth was driven +into what the Catholics could call religious persecution. Religious it +was not, for the seminary priests were missionaries of treason. But +religious it was made to appear. The English gentleman who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> wished to +remain loyal, without forfeiting his faith, was taught to see that a +sovereign under the Papal curse had no longer a claim on his allegiance. +If he disobeyed the Pope, he had ceased to be a member of the Church of +Christ. The Papal party grew in coherence, while, opposed to them as +their purpose came in view, the Protestants, who at first had been +inclined to Lutheranism, adopted the deeper and sterner creed of Calvin +and Geneva. The memories of the Marian cruelties revived again. They saw +themselves threatened with a return to stake and fagot. They closed +their ranks and resolved to die rather than submit again to Antichrist. +They might be inferior in numbers. A <i>plébiscite</i> in England at that +moment would have sent Burghley and Walsingham to the scaffold. But the +Lord could save by few as well as by many. Judah had but two tribes out +of the twelve, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the +words of Israel.</p> + +<p>One great mistake had been made by Parsons. He could not estimate what +he could not understand. He admitted that the inhabitants of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> towns +were mainly heretic—London, Bristol, Plymouth, and the rest—but he +despised them as merchants, craftsmen, mean persons who had no heart to +fight in them. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the +sixteenth century than the effect of Calvinism in levelling distinctions +of rank and in steeling and ennobling the character of common men. In +Scotland, in the Low Countries, in France, there was the same +phenomenon. In Scotland, the Kirk was the creation of the preachers and +the people, and peasants and workmen dared to stand in the field against +belted knights and barons, who had trampled on their fathers for +centuries. The artisans of the Low Countries had for twenty years defied +the whole power of Spain. The Huguenots were not a fifth part of the +French nation, yet defeat could never dishearten them. Again and again +they forced Crown and nobles to make terms with them. It was the same in +England. The allegiance to their feudal leaders dissolved into a higher +obligation to the King of kings, whose elect they believed themselves to +be. Election to them was not a theological phantasm, but an enlistment +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the army of God. A little flock they might be, but they were a +dangerous people to deal with, most of all in the towns on the sea. The +sea was the element of the Reformers. The Popes had no jurisdiction over +the winds and waves. Rochelle was the citadel of the Huguenots. The +English merchants and mariners had wrongs of their own, perpetually +renewed, which fed the bitterness of their indignation. Touch where they +would in Spanish ports, the inquisitor's hand was on their ships' crews, +and the crews, unless they denied their faith, were handed over to the +stake or the galleys. The Calvinists are accused of intolerance. I fancy +that even in these humane and enlightened days we should not be very +tolerant if the King of Dahomey were to burn every European visitor to +his dominions who would not worship Mumbo Jumbo. The Duke of Alva was +not very merciful to heretics, but he tried to bridle the zeal of the +Holy Office in burning the English seamen. Even Philip himself +remonstrated. It was to no purpose. The Holy Office said they would +think about it, but concluded to go on. I am not the least surprised if +the English seamen were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> intolerant. I should be very much surprised if +they had not been. The Queen could not protect them. They had to protect +themselves as they could, and make Spanish vessels, when they could +catch them, pay for the iniquities of their rulers.</p> + +<p>With such a temper rising on both sides, Elizabeth's policy had but a +poor chance. She still hoped that the better sense of mankind would keep +the doctrinal enthusiasts in order. Elizabeth wished her subjects would +be content to live together in unity of spirit, if not in unity of +theory, in the bond of peace, not hatred, in righteousness of life, not +in orthodoxy preached by stake and gibbet. She was content to wait and +to persevere. She refused to declare war. War would tear the world in +pieces. She knew her danger. She knew that she was in constant peril of +assassination. She knew that if the Protestants were crushed in +Scotland, in France, and in the Low Countries, her own turn would +follow. To protect insurgents avowedly would be to justify insurrection +against herself. But what she would not do openly she would do secretly. +What she would not do herself she let her subjects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> do. Thousands of +English volunteers fought in Flanders for the States, and in France for +the Huguenots. When the English Treasury was shut to the entreaties of +Coligny or William of Orange the London citizens untied their +purse-strings. Her friends in Scotland fared ill. They were encouraged +by promises which were not observed, because to observe them might bring +on war. They committed themselves for her sake. They fell one after +another—Murray, Morton, Gowrie—into bloody graves. Others took their +places and struggled on. The Scotch Reformation was saved. Scotland was +not allowed to open its arms to an invading army to strike England +across the Border. But this was held to be their sufficient recompense. +They cared for their cause as well as for the English Queen, and they +had their reward. If they saved her they saved their own country. She +too did not lie on a bed of roses. To prevent open war she was exposing +her own life to the assassin. At any moment a pistol-shot or a stab with +a dagger might add Elizabeth to the list of victims. She knew it, yet +she went on upon her own policy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> and faced in her person her own share +of the risk. One thing only she did. If she would not defend her friends +and her subjects as Queen of England, she left them free to defend +themselves. She allowed traitors to be hanged when they were caught at +their work. She allowed the merchants to fit out their privateer fleets, +to defend at their own cost the shores of England, and to teach the +Spaniards to fear their vengeance.</p> + +<p>But how long was all this to last? How long were loyal citizens to feel +that they were living over a loaded mine?—throughout their own country, +throughout the Continent, at Rome and at Madrid, at Brussels and at +Paris, a legion of conspirators were driving their shafts under the +English commonwealth. The Queen might be indifferent to her own danger, +but on the Queen's life hung the peace of the whole realm. A stroke of a +poniard, a touch of a trigger, and swords would be flying from their +scabbards in every county; England would become, like France, one wild +scene of anarchy and civil war. No successor had been named. The Queen +refused to hear a successor declared. Mary Stuart's hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> had been in +every plot since she crossed the Border. Twice the House of Commons had +petitioned for her execution. Elizabeth would neither touch her life nor +allow her hopes of the crown to be taken from her. The Bond of +Association was but a remedy of despair, and the Act of Parliament would +have passed for little in the tempest which would immediately rise. The +agony reached a height when the fatal news came from the Netherlands +that there at last assassination had done its work. The Prince of +Orange, after many failures, had been finished, and a libel was found in +the Palace at Westminster exhorting the ladies of the household to +provide a Judith among themselves to rid the world of the English +Holofernes.</p> + +<p>One part of Elizabeth's subjects, at any rate, were not disposed to sit +down in patience under the eternal nightmare. From Spain was to come the +army of deliverance for which the Jesuits were so passionately longing. +To the Spaniards the Pope was looking for the execution of the Bull of +Deposition. Father Parsons had left out of his estimate the Protestant +adventurers of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> London and Plymouth, who, besides their creed and their +patriotism, had their private wrongs to revenge. Philip might talk of +peace, and perhaps in weariness might at times seriously wish for it; +but between the Englishmen whose life was on the ocean and the Spanish +Inquisition, which had burned so many of them, there was no peace +possible. To them, Spain was the natural enemy. Among the daring spirits +who had sailed with Drake round the globe, who had waylaid the Spanish +gold ships, and startled the world with their exploits, the joy of whose +lives had been to fight Spaniards wherever they could meet with them, +there was but one wish—for an honest open war. The great galleons were +to them no objects of terror. The Spanish naval power seemed to them a +'Colossus stuffed with clouts.' They were Protestants all of them, but +their theology was rather practical than speculative. If Italians and +Spaniards chose to believe in the Mass, it was not any affair of theirs. +Their quarrel was with the insolent pretence of Catholics to force their +creed on others with sword and cannon. The spirit which was working in +them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> was the genius of freedom. On their own element they felt that +they could be the spiritual tyrants' masters. But as things were going, +rebellion was likely to break out at home; their homesteads might be +burning, their country overrun with the Prince of Parma's army, the +Inquisition at their own doors, and a Catholic sovereign bringing back +the fagots of Smithfield.</p> + +<p>The Reformation at its origin was no introduction of novel heresies. It +was a revolt of the laity of Europe against the profligacy and avarice +of the clergy. The popes and cardinals pretended to be the +representatives of Heaven. When called to account for abuse of their +powers, they had behaved precisely as mere corrupt human kings and +aristocracies behave. They had intrigued; they had excommunicated; they +had set nation against nation, sovereigns against their subjects; they +had encouraged assassination; they had made themselves infamous by +horrid massacres, and had taught one half of foolish Christendom to hate +the other. The hearts of the poor English seamen whose comrades had been +burnt at Seville to make a Spanish holiday, thrilled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> with a sacred +determination to end such scenes. The purpose that was in them broke +into a wild war-music, as the wind harp swells and screams under the +breath of the storm. I found in the Record Office an unsigned letter of +some inspired old sea-dog, written in a bold round hand and addressed to +Elizabeth. The ships' companies which in summer served in Philip's +men-of-war went in winter in thousands to catch cod on the Banks of +Newfoundland. 'Give me five vessels,' the writer said, 'and I will go +out and sink them all, and the galleons shall rot in Cadiz Harbour for +want of hands to sail them. But decide, Madam, and decide quickly. Time +flies, and will not return. <i>The wings of man's life are plumed with the +feathers of death.</i>'</p> + +<p>The Queen did not decide. The five ships were not sent, and the poor +Castilian sailors caught their cod in peace. But in spite of herself +Elizabeth was driven forward by the tendencies of things. The death of +the Prince of Orange left the States without a Government. The Prince of +Parma was pressing them hard. Without a leader they were lost. They +offered themselves to Elizabeth, to be incorporated in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> English +Empire. They said that if she refused they must either submit to Spain +or become provinces of France. The Netherlands, whether Spanish or +French, would be equally dangerous to England. The Netherlands once +brought back under the Pope, England's turn would come next; while to +accept the proposal meant instant and desperate war, both with France +and Spain too—for France would never allow England again to gain a foot +on the Continent. Elizabeth knew not what to do. She would and she would +not. She did not accept; she did not refuse. It was neither No nor Yes. +Philip, who was as fond of indirect ways as herself, proposed to quicken +her irresolution.</p> + +<p>The harvest had failed in Galicia, and the population were starving. +England grew more corn than she wanted, and, under a special promise +that the crews should not be molested, a fleet of corn-traders had gone +with cargoes of grain to Coruña, Bilbao, and Santander. The King of +Spain, on hearing that Elizabeth was treating with the States, issued a +sudden order to seize the vessels, confiscate the cargoes, and imprison +the men. The order was executed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> One English ship only was lucky enough +to escape by the adroitness of her commander. The <i>Primrose</i>, of London, +lay in Bilbao Roads with a captain and fifteen hands. The mayor, on +receiving the order, came on board to look over the ship. He then went +on shore for a sufficient force to carry out the seizure. After he was +gone the captain heard of the fate which was intended for him. The mayor +returned with two boatloads of soldiers, stepped up the ladder, touched +the captain on the shoulder, and told him he was a prisoner. The +Englishmen snatched pike and cutlass, pistol and battleaxe, killed seven +or eight of the Spanish boarders, threw the rest overboard, and flung +stones on them as they scrambled into their boats. The mayor, who had +fallen into the sea, caught a rope and was hauled up when the fight was +over. The cable was cut, the sails hoisted, and in a few minutes the +<i>Primrose</i> was under way for England, with the mayor of Bilbao below the +hatches. No second vessel got away. If Philip had meant to frighten +Elizabeth he could not have taken a worse means of doing it, for he had +exasperated that particular part of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> English population which was +least afraid of him. He had broken faith besides, and had seized some +hundreds of merchants and sailors who had gone merely to relieve Spanish +distress. Elizabeth, as usual, would not act herself. She sent no ships +from her own navy to demand reparation; but she gave the adventurers a +free hand. The London and Plymouth citizens determined to read Spain a +lesson which should make an impression. They had the worst fears for the +fate of the prisoners; but if they could not save, they could avenge +them. Sir Francis Drake, who wished for nothing better than to be at +work again, volunteered his services, and a fleet was collected at +Plymouth of twenty-five sail, every one of them fitted out by private +enterprise. No finer armament, certainly no better-equipped armament, +ever left the English shores. The expenses were, of course, enormous. Of +seamen and soldiers there were between two and three thousand. Drake's +name was worth an army. The cost was to be recovered out of the +expedition somehow; the Spaniards were to be made to pay for it; but how +or when was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> left to Drake's judgment. This time there was no second in +command sent by the friends of Spain to hang upon his arm. By universal +consent he had the absolute command. His instructions were merely to +inquire at Spanish ports into the meaning of the arrest. Beyond that he +was left to go where he pleased and do what he pleased on his own +responsibility. The Queen said frankly that if it proved convenient she +intended to disown him. Drake had no objection to being disowned, so he +could teach the Spaniards to be more careful how they handled +Englishmen. What came of it will be the subject of the next lecture. +Father Parsons said the Protestant traders of England had grown +effeminate and dared not fight. In the ashes of their own smoking cities +the Spaniards had to learn that Father Parsons had misread his +countrymen. If Drake had been given to heroics he might have left +Virgil's lines inscribed above the broken arms of Castile at St. +Domingo:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">En ego victa situ quam veri effeta senectus</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Respice ad hæc.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_VI" id="LECTURE_VI"></a>LECTURE VI</h2> + +<h3>THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES</h3> + + +<p>Queen Elizabeth and her brother-in-law of Spain were reluctant champions +of opposing principles. In themselves they had no wish to quarrel, but +each was driven forward by fate and circumstance—Philip by the genius +of the Catholic religion, Elizabeth by the enthusiasts for freedom and +by the advice of statesmen who saw no safety for her except in daring. +Both wished for peace, and refused to see that peace was impossible; but +both were compelled to yield to their subjects' eagerness. Philip had to +threaten England with invasion; Elizabeth had to show Philip that +England had a long arm, which Spanish wisdom would do well to fear. It +was a singular position. Philip had outraged orthodoxy and dared the +anger of Rome by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> maintaining an ambassador at Elizabeth's Court after +her excommunication. He had laboured for a reconciliation with a +sincerity which his secret letters make it impossible to doubt. He had +condescended even to sue for it, in spite of Drake and the voyage of the +<i>Pelican</i>; yet he had helped the Pope to set Ireland in a flame. He had +encouraged Elizabeth's Catholic subjects in conspiracy after conspiracy. +He had approved of attempts to dispose of her as he had disposed of the +Prince of Orange. Elizabeth had retaliated, though with half a heart, by +letting her soldiers volunteer into the service of the revolted +Netherlands, by permitting English privateers to plunder the Spanish +colonies, seize the gold ships, and revenge their own wrongs. Each, +perhaps, had wished to show the other what an open war would cost them +both, and each drew back when war appeared inevitable.</p> + +<p>Events went their way. Holland and Zeeland, driven to extremity, had +petitioned for incorporation with England; as a counter-stroke and a +warning, Philip had arrested the English corn ships and imprisoned the +owners and the crews.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> Her own fleet was nothing. The safety of the +English shores depended on the spirit of the adventurers, and she could +not afford to check the anger with which the news was received. To +accept the offer of the States was war, and war she would not have. +Herself, she would not act at all; but in her usual way she might let +her subjects act for themselves, and plead, as Philip pleaded in excuse +for the Inquisition, that she could not restrain them. And thus it was +that in September 1585, Sir Francis Drake found himself with a fleet of +twenty-five privateers and 2,500 men who had volunteered to serve with +him under his own command. He had no distinct commission. The expedition +had been fitted out as a private undertaking. Neither officers nor crews +had been engaged for the service of the Crown. They received no wages. +In the eye of the law they were pirates. They were going on their own +account to read the King of Spain a necessary lesson and pay their +expenses at the King of Spain's cost. Young Protestant England had taken +fire. The name of Drake set every Protestant heart burning, and hundreds +of gallant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> gentlemen had pressed in to join. A grandson of Burghley had +come, and Edward Winter the Admiral's son, and Francis Knolles the +Queen's cousin, and Martin Frobisher, and Christopher Carlile. Philip +Sidney had wished to make one also in the glory; but Philip Sidney was +needed elsewhere. The Queen's consent had been won from her at a bold +interval in her shifting moods. The hot fit might pass away, and +Burghley sent Drake a hint to be off before her humour changed. No word +was said. On the morning of the 14th of September the signal flag was +flying from Drake's maintop to up anchor and away. Drake, as he admitted +after, 'was not the most assured of her Majesty's perseverance to let +them go forward.' Past Ushant he would be beyond reach of recall. With +light winds and calms they drifted across the Bay. They fell in with a +few Frenchmen homeward-bound from the Banks, and let them pass +uninjured. A large Spanish ship which they met next day, loaded with +excellent fresh salt fish, was counted lawful prize. The fish was new +and good, and was distributed through the fleet. Standing leisurely on, +they cleared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> Finisterre and came up with the Isles of Bayona, at the +mouth of Vigo Harbour. They dropped anchor there, and 'it was a great +matter and a royal sight to see them.' The Spanish Governor, Don Pedro +Bemadero, sent off with some astonishment to know who and what they +were. Drake answered with a question whether England and Spain were at +war, and if not why the English merchants had been arrested. Don Pedro +could but say that he knew of no war, and for the merchants an order had +come for their release. For reply Drake landed part of his force on the +islands, and Don Pedro, not knowing what to make of such visitors, found +it best to propitiate them with cartloads of wine and fruit. The +weather, which had been hitherto fine, showed signs of change. The wind +rose, and the sea with it. The anchorage was exposed, and Drake sent +Christopher Carlile, with one of his ships and a few pinnaces, up the +harbour to look out for better shelter. Their appearance created a panic +in the town. The alarmed inhabitants took to their boats, carrying off +their property and their Church plate. Carlile, who had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Calvinistic +objection to idolatry, took the liberty of detaining part of these +treasures. From one boat he took a massive silver cross belonging to the +High Church at Vigo; from another an image of Our Lady, which the +sailors relieved of her clothes and were said, when she was stripped, to +have treated with some indignity. Carlile's report being satisfactory, +the whole fleet was brought the next day up the harbour and moored above +the town. The news had by this time spread into the country. The +Governor of Galicia came down with all the force which he could collect +in a hurry. Perhaps he was in time to save Vigo itself. Perhaps Drake, +having other aims in view, did not care to be detained over a smaller +object. The Governor, at any rate, saw that the English were too strong +for him to meddle with. The best that he could look for was to persuade +them to go away on the easiest terms. Drake and he met in boats for a +parley. Drake wanted water and fresh provisions. Drake was to be allowed +to furnish himself undisturbed. He had secured what he most wanted. He +had shown the King of Spain that he was not in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>vulnerable in his own +home dominion, and he sailed away unmolested. Madrid was in +consternation. That the English could dare insult the first prince in +Europe on the sacred soil of the Peninsula itself seemed like a dream. +The Council of State sat for three days considering the meaning of it. +Drake's name was already familiar in Spanish ears. It was not +conceivable that he had come only to inquire after the arrested ships +and seamen. But what could the English Queen be about? Did she not know +that she existed only by the forbearance of Philip? Did she know the +King of Spain's force? Did not she and her people quake? Little England, +it was said by some of these councillors, was to be swallowed at a +mouthful by the King of half the world. The old Admiral Santa Cruz was +less confident about the swallowing. He observed that England had many +teeth, and that instead of boasting of Spanish greatness it would be +better to provide against what she might do with them. Till now the +corsairs had appeared only in twos and threes. With such a fleet behind +him Drake might go where he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> pleased. He might be going to the South +Seas again. He might take Madeira if he liked, or the Canary Islands. +Santa Cruz himself thought he would make for the West Indies and Panama, +and advised the sending out there instantly every available ship that +they had.</p> + +<p>The gold fleet was Drake's real object. He had information that it would +be on its way to Spain by the Cape de Verde Islands, and he had learnt +the time when it was to be expected. From Vigo he sailed for the +Canaries, looked in at Palma, with 'intention to have taken our pleasure +there,' but found the landing dangerous and the town itself not worth +the risk. He ran on to the Cape de Verde Islands. He had measured his +time too narrowly. The gold fleet had arrived and had gone. He had +missed it by twelve hours, 'the reason,' as he said with a sigh, 'best +known to God.' The chance of prize-money was lost, but the political +purpose of the expedition could still be completed. The Cape de Verde +Islands could not sail away, and a beginning could be made with Sant +Iago. Sant Iago was a thriving, well-populated town, and down in Drake's +book<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> as specially needing notice, some Plymouth sailors having been +recently murdered there. Christopher Carlile, always handy and +trustworthy, was put on shore with a thousand men to attack the place on +the undefended side. The Spanish commander, the bishop, and most of the +people fled, as at Vigo, into the mountains with their plate and money. +Carlile entered without opposition, and flew St. George's Cross from the +castle as a signal to the fleet. Drake came in, landed the rest of his +force, and took possession. It happened to be the 17th of November—the +anniversary of the Queen's accession—and ships and batteries, dressed +out with English flags, celebrated the occasion with salvoes of cannon. +Houses and magazines were then searched and plundered. Wine was found in +large quantities, rich merchandise for the Indian trade, and other +valuables. Of gold and silver nothing—it had all been removed. Drake +waited for a fortnight, hoping that the Spaniards would treat for the +ransom of the city. When they made no sign, he marched twelve miles +inland to a village where the Governor and the bishop were said to have +taken refuge. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> the village was found deserted. The Spaniards had +gone to the mountains, where it was useless to follow them, and were too +proud to bargain with a pirate chief. Sant Iago was a beautifully built +city, and Drake would perhaps have spared it; but a ship-boy who had +strayed was found murdered and barbarously mutilated. The order was +given to burn. Houses, magazines, churches, public buildings were turned +to ashes, and the work being finished Drake went on, as Santa Cruz +expected, for the Spanish West Indies. The Spaniards were magnificent in +all that they did and touched. They built their cities in their new +possessions on the most splendid models of the Old World. St. Domingo +and Carthagena had their castles and cathedrals, palaces, squares, and +streets, grand and solid as those at Cadiz and Seville, and raised as +enduring monuments of the power and greatness of the Castilian monarchs. +To these Drake meant to pay a visit. Beyond them was the Isthmus, where +he had made his first fame and fortune, with Panama behind, the depôt of +the Indian treasure. So far all had gone well with him. He had taken +what he wanted out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> Vigo; he had destroyed Sant Iago and had not lost +a man. Unfortunately he had now a worse enemy to deal with than Spanish +galleons or Spanish garrisons. He was in the heat of the tropics. Yellow +fever broke out and spread through the fleet. Of those who caught the +infection few recovered, or recovered only to be the wrecks of +themselves. It was swift in its work. In a few days more than two +hundred had died. But the north-east trade blew merrily. The fleet sped +on before it. In eighteen days they were in the roads at Dominica, the +island of brooks and rivers and fruit. Limes and lemons and oranges were +not as yet. But there were leaves and roots of the natural growth, known +to the Caribs as antidotes to the fever, and the Caribs, when they +learnt that the English were the Spaniards' enemies, brought them this +precious remedy and taught them the use of it. The ships were washed and +ventilated, and the water casks refilled. The infection seemed to have +gone as suddenly as it appeared, and again all was well.</p> + +<p>Christmas was kept at St. Kitts, which was then uninhabited. A council +of war was held to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> consider what should be done next. St. Domingo lay +nearest to them. It was the finest of all the Spanish colonial cities. +It was the capital of the West Indian Government, the great centre of +West Indian commerce. In the cathedral, before the high altar, lay +Columbus and his brother Diego. In natural wealth no island in the world +outrivals Espinola, where the city stood. A vast population had +collected there, far away from harm, protected, as they supposed, by the +majesty of the mother country, the native inhabitants almost +exterminated, themselves undreaming that any enemy could approach them +from the ocean, and therefore negligent of defence and enjoying +themselves in easy security.</p> + +<p>Drake was to give them a new experience and a lesson for the future. On +their way across from St. Kitts the adventurers overhauled a small +vessel bound to the same port as they were. From the crew of this vessel +they learnt that the harbour at St. Domingo was formed, like so many +others in the West Indies, by a long sandspit, acting as a natural +breakwater. The entrance was a narrow inlet at the extremity of the +spit,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> and batteries had been mounted there to cover it. To land on the +outer side of the sandbank was made impossible by the surf. There was +one sheltered point only where boats could go on shore, but this was ten +miles distant from the town.</p> + +<p>Ten miles was but a morning's march. Drake went in himself in a pinnace, +surveyed the landing-place, and satisfied himself of its safety. The +plan of attack at Sant Iago was to be exactly repeated. On New Year's +Eve Christopher Carlile was again landed with half the force in the +fleet. Drake remained with the rest, and prepared to force the entrance +of the harbour if Carlile succeeded. Their coming had been seen from the +city. The alarm had been given, and the women and children, the money in +the treasury, the consecrated plate, movable property of all kinds, were +sent off inland as a precaution. Of regular troops there seem to have +been none, but in so populous a city there was no difficulty in +collecting a respectable force to defend it. The hidalgos formed a body +of cavalry. The people generally were unused to arms, but they were +Spaniards and brave men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> and did not mean to leave their homes without +a fight for it. Carlile lay still for the night. He marched at eight in +the morning on New Year's Day, advanced leisurely, and at noon found +himself in front of the wall. So far he had met no resistance, but a +considerable body of horse—gentlemen and their servants +chiefly—charged down on him out of the bush and out of the town. He +formed into a square to receive them. They came on gallantly, but were +received with pike and shot, and after a few attempts gave up and +retired. Two gates were in front of Carlile, with a road to each leading +through a jungle. At each gate were cannon, and the jungle was lined +with musketeers. He divided his men and attacked both together. One +party he led in person. The cannon opened on him, and an Englishman next +to him was killed. He dashed on, leaving the Spaniards no time to +reload, carried the gate at a rush, and cut his way through the streets +to the great square. The second division had been equally successful, +and St. Domingo was theirs except the castle, which was still untaken. +Carlile's numbers were too small to occupy a large city.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> He threw up +barricades and fortified himself in the square for the night. Drake +brought the fleet in at daybreak, and landed guns, when the castle +surrendered. A messenger—a negro boy—was sent to the Governor to learn +the terms which he was prepared to offer to save the city from pillage. +The Spanish officers were smarting with the disgrace. One of them struck +the lad through the body with a lance. He ran back bleeding to the +English lines and died at Drake's feet. Sir Francis was a dangerous man +to provoke. Such doings had to be promptly stopped. In the part of the +town which he occupied was a monastery with a number of friars in it. +The religious orders, he well knew, were the chief instigators of the +policy which was maddening the world. He sent two of these friars with +the provost-marshal to the spot where the boy had been struck, promptly +hanged them, and then despatched another to tell the Governor that he +would hang two more every day at the same place till the officer was +punished. The Spaniards had long learnt to call Drake the Draque, the +serpent, the devil. They feared that the devil might be a man of his +word.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> The offender was surrendered. It was not enough. Drake insisted +that they should do justice on him themselves. The Governor found it +prudent to comply, and the too hasty officer was executed.</p> + +<p>The next point was the ransom of the city. The Spaniards still +hesitating, 200 men were told off each morning to burn, while the rest +searched the private houses, and palaces, and magazines. Government +House was the grandest building in the New World. It was approached by +broad flights of marble stairs. Great doors opened on a spacious gallery +leading into a great hall, and above the portico hung the arms of +Spain—a globe representing the world, a horse leaping upon it, and in +the horse's mouth a scroll with the haughty motto, 'Non sufficit orbis.' +Palace and scutcheon were levelled into dust by axe and gunpowder, and +each day for a month the destruction went on, Drake's demands steadily +growing and the unhappy Governor vainly pleading impossibility.</p> + +<p>Vandalism, atrocity unheard of among civilised nations, dishonour to the +Protestant cause, Drake deserving to swing at his own yardarm; so +indig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>nant Liberalism shrieked, and has not ceased shrieking. Let it be +remembered that for fifteen years the Spaniards had been burning English +seamen whenever they could catch them, plotting to kill the Queen and +reduce England itself into vassaldom to the Pope. The English nation, +the loyal part of it, were replying to the wild pretension by the hands +of their own admiral. If Philip chose to countenance assassins, if the +Holy Office chose to burn English sailors as heretics, those heretics +had a right to make Spain understand that such a game was dangerous, +that, as Santa Cruz had said, they had teeth and could use them.</p> + +<p>It was found in the end that the Governor's plea of impossibility was +more real than was at first believed. The gold and silver had been +really carried off. All else that was valuable had been burnt or taken +by the English. The destruction of a city so solidly built was tedious +and difficult. Nearly half of it was blown up. The cathedral was spared, +perhaps as the resting-place of Columbus. Drake had other work before +him. After staying a month in undisturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> occupation he agreed to +accept 25,000 ducats as a ransom for what was left and sailed away.</p> + +<p>It was now February. The hot season was coming on, when the climate +would be dangerous. There was still much to do and the time was running +short. Panama had to be left for another opportunity. Drake's object was +to deal blows which would shake the faith of Europe in the Spanish +power. Carthagena stood next to St. Domingo among the Spanish West +Indian fortresses. The situation was strong. In 1740 Carthagena was able +to beat off Vernon and a great English fleet. But Drake's crews were in +high health and spirits, and he determined to see what he could do with +it. Surprise was no longer to be hoped for. The alarm had spread over +the Caribbean Sea. But in their present humour they were ready to go +anywhere and dare anything, and to Carthagena they went.</p> + +<p>Drake's name carried terror before it. Every non-combatant—old men, +women and children—had been cleared out before he arrived, but the rest +prepared for a smart defence. The harbour at Carthagena was formed, as +at St. Domingo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> and Port Royal, by a sandspit. The spit was long, +narrow, in places not fifty yards wide, and covered with prickly bush, +and along this, as before, it was necessary to advance to reach the +city. A trench had been cut across at the neck, and a stiff barricade +built and armed with heavy guns; behind this were several hundred +musketeers, while the bush was full of Indians with poisoned arrows. +Pointed stakes—poisoned also—had been driven into the ground along the +approaches, on which to step was death. Two large galleys, full of men, +patrolled inside the bank on the harbour edge, and with these +preparations the inhabitants hoped to keep the dreadful Drake from +reaching them. Carlile, as before, was to do the land fighting. He was +set on shore three miles down the spit. The tide is slight in those +seas, but he waited till it was out, and advanced along the outer shore +at low-water mark. He was thus covered by the bank from the harbour +galleys, and their shots passed over him. Two squadrons of horse came +out, but could do nothing to him on the broken ground. The English +pushed on to the wall, scarcely losing a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> man. They charged, scaled the +parapets, and drove the Spanish infantry back at point of pike. Carlile +killed their commander with his own hand. The rest fled after a short +struggle, and Drake was master of Carthagena. Here for six weeks he +remained. The Spaniards withdrew out of the city, and there were again +parleys over the ransom money. Courtesies were exchanged among the +officers. Drake entertained the Governor and his suite. The Governor +returned the hospitality and received Drake and the English captains. +Drake demanded 100,000 ducats. The Spaniards offered 30,000, and +protested that they could pay no more. The dispute might have lasted +longer, but it was cut short by the re-appearance of the yellow fever in +the fleet, this time in a deadlier form. The Spanish offer was accepted, +and Carthagena was left to its owners. It was time to be off, for the +heat was telling, and the men began to drop with appalling rapidity. +Nombre de Dios and Panama were near and under their lee, and Drake threw +longing eyes on what, if all else had been well, might have proved an +easy capture. But on a review of their strength, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> was found that +there were but 700 fit for duty who could be spared for the service, and +a council of war decided that a march across the Isthmus with so small a +force was too dangerous to be ventured. Enough had been done for glory, +enough for the political impression to be made in Europe. The King of +Spain had been dared in his own dominions. Three fine Spanish cities had +been captured by storm and held to ransom. In other aspects the success +had fallen short of expectation. This time they had taken no <i>Cacafuego</i> +with a year's produce of the mines in her hold. The plate and coin had +been carried off, and the spoils had been in a form not easily turned to +value. The expedition had been fitted out by private persons to pay its +own cost. The result in money was but 60,000<i>l.</i> Forty thousand had to +be set aside for expenses. There remained but 20,000<i>l.</i> to be shared +among the ships' companies. Men and officers had entered, high and low, +without wages, on the chance of what they might get. The officers and +owners gave a significant demonstration of the splendid spirit in which +they had gone about their work. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> decided to relinquish their own +claims on the ransom paid for Carthagena, and bestow the same on the +common seamen, 'wishing it were so much again as would be a sufficient +reward for their painful endeavour.'</p> + +<p>Thus all were well satisfied, conscious all that they had done their +duty to their Queen and country. The adventurers' fleet turned homewards +at the beginning of April. What men could do they had achieved. They +could not fight against the pestilence of the tropics. For many days the +yellow fever did its deadly work among them, and only slowly abated. +They were delayed by calms and unfavourable winds. Their water ran +short. They had to land again at Cape Antonio, the western point of +Cuba, and sink wells to supply themselves. Drake himself, it was +observed, worked with spade and bucket, like the meanest person in the +whole company, always foremost where toil was to be endured or honour +won, the wisest in the devising of enterprises, the calmest in danger, +the first to set an example of energy in difficulties, and, above all, +the firmest in maintaining order and discipline.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> The fever slackened as +they reached the cooler latitudes. They worked their way up the Bahama +Channel, going north to avoid the trades. The French Protestants had +been attempting to colonise in Florida. The Spaniards had built a +fortress on the coast, to observe their settlements and, as occasion +offered, cut Huguenot throats. As he passed by Drake paid this fortress +a visit and wiped it out. Farther north again he was in time to save the +remnant of an English settlement, rashly planted there by another +brilliant servant of Queen Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>Of all the famous Elizabethans Sir Walter Raleigh is the most +romantically interesting. His splendid and varied gifts, his chequered +fortunes, and his cruel end, will embalm his memory in English history. +But Raleigh's great accomplishments promised more than they performed. +His hand was in everything, but of work successfully completed he had +less to show than others far his inferiors, to whom fortune had offered +fewer opportunities. He was engaged in a hundred schemes at once, and in +every one of them there was always some taint of self, some personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +ambition or private object to be gained. His life is a record of +undertakings begun in enthusiasm, maintained imperfectly, and failures +in the end. Among his other adventures he had sent a colony to Virginia. +He had imagined, or had been led by others to believe, that there was an +Indian Court there brilliant as Montezuma's, an enlightened nation +crying to be admitted within the charmed circle of Gloriana's subjects. +His princes and princesses proved things of air, or mere Indian savages; +and of Raleigh there remains nothing in Virginia save the name of the +city which is called after him. The starving survivors of his settlement +on the Roanoke River were taken on board by Drake's returning squadron +and carried home to England, where they all arrived safely, to the glory +of God, as our pious ancestors said and meant in unconventional +sincerity, on the 28th of July, 1586.</p> + +<p>The expedition, as I have said, barely paid its cost. In the shape of +wages the officers received nothing, and the crews but a few pounds a +man; but there was, perhaps, not one of them who was not better pleased +with the honour which he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> brought back than if he had come home +loaded with doubloons.</p> + +<p>Startled Catholic Europe meanwhile rubbed its eyes and began to see that +the 'enterprise of England,' as the intended invasion was called, might +not be the easy thing which the seminary priests described it. The +seminary priests had said that so far as England was Protestant at all +it was Protestant only by the accident of its Government, that the +immense majority of the people were Catholic at heart and were thirsting +for a return to the fold, that on the first appearance of a Spanish army +of deliverance the whole edifice which Elizabeth had raised would +crumble to the ground. I suppose it is true that if the world had then +been advanced to its present point of progress, if there had been then +recognised a Divine right to rule in the numerical majority, even +without a Spanish army the seminary priests would have had their way. +Elizabeth's Parliaments were controlled by the municipalities of the +towns, and the towns were Protestant. A Parliament chosen by universal +suffrage and electoral districts would have sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> Cecil and Walsingham +into private life or to the scaffold, replaced the Mass in the churches, +and reduced the Queen, if she had been left on the throne, into the +humble servant of the Pope and Philip. It would not perhaps have lasted, +but that, so far as I can judge, would have been the immediate result, +and instead of a Reformation we should have had the light come in the +shape of lightning. But I have often asked my Radical friends what is to +be done if out of every hundred enlightened voters two-thirds will give +their votes one way, but are afraid to fight, and the remaining third +will not only vote but will fight too if the poll goes against them? +Which has then the right to rule? I can tell them which will rule. The +brave and resolute minority will rule. Plato says that if one man was +stronger than all the rest of mankind he would rule all the rest of +mankind. It must be so, because there is no appeal. The majority must be +prepared to assert their Divine right with their right hands, or it will +go the way that other Divine rights have gone before. I will not believe +the world to have been so ill-constructed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> there are rights which +cannot be enforced. It appears to me that the true right to rule in any +nation lies with those who are best and bravest, whether their numbers +are large or small; and three centuries ago the best and bravest part of +this English nation had determined, though they were but a third of it, +that Pope and Spaniard should be no masters of theirs. Imagination goes +for much in such excited times. To the imagination of Europe in the +sixteenth century the power of Spain appeared irresistible if she chose +to exert it. Heretic Dutchmen might rebel in a remote province, English +pirates might take liberties with Spanish traders, but the Prince of +Parma was making the Dutchmen feel their master at last. The pirates +were but so many wasps, with venom in their stings, but powerless to +affect the general tendencies of things. Except to the shrewder eyes of +such men as Santa Cruz the strength of the English at sea had been left +out of count in the calculations of the resources of Elizabeth's +Government. Suddenly a fleet of these same pirates, sent out, unassisted +by their sovereign, by the private impulse of a few indi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>viduals, had +insulted the sacred soil of Spain herself, sailed into Vigo, pillaged +the churches, taken anything that they required, and had gone away +unmolested. They had attacked, stormed, burnt, or held to ransom three +of Spain's proudest colonial cities, and had come home unfought with. +The Catholic conspirators had to recognise that they had a worse enemy +to deal with than Puritan controversialists or spoilt Court favourites. +The Protestant English mariners stood between them and their prey, and +had to be encountered on an element which did not bow to popes or +princes, before Mary Stuart was to wear Elizabeth's crown or Cardinal +Allen be enthroned at Canterbury. It was a revelation to all parties. +Elizabeth herself had not expected—perhaps had not wished—so signal a +success. War was now looked on as inevitable. The Spanish admirals +represented that the national honour required revenge for an injury so +open and so insolent. The Pope, who had been long goading the lethargic +Philip into action, believed that now at last he would be compelled to +move; and even Philip himself, enduring as he was, had been roused to +perceive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> that intrigues and conspiracies would serve his turn no +longer. He must put out his strength in earnest, or his own Spaniards +might turn upon him as unworthy of the crown of Isabella. Very +reluctantly he allowed the truth to be brought home to him. He had never +liked the thought of invading England. If he conquered it, he would not +be allowed to keep it. Mary Stuart would have to be made queen, and Mary +Stuart was part French, and might be wholly French. The burden of the +work would be thrown entirely on his shoulders, and his own reward was +to be the Church's blessing and the approval of his own +conscience—nothing else, so far as he could see. The Pope would recover +his annates, his Peter's pence, and his indulgence market.</p> + +<p>If the thing was to be done, the Pope, it was clear, ought to pay part +of the cost, and this was what the Pope did not intend to do if he could +help it. The Pope was flattering himself that Drake's performance would +compel Spain to go to war with England whether he assisted or did not. +In this matter Philip attempted to undeceive his Holiness. He instructed +Olivarez, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> ambassador at Rome, to tell the Pope that nothing had +been yet done to him by the English which he could not overlook, and +unless the Pope would come down with a handsome contribution peace he +would make. The Pope stormed and raged; he said he doubted whether +Philip was a true son of the Church at all; he flung plates and dishes +at the servants' heads at dinner. He said that if he gave Philip money +Philip would put it in his pocket and laugh at him. Not one maravedi +would he give till a Spanish army was actually landed on English shores, +and from this resolution he was not to be moved.</p> + +<p>To Philip it was painfully certain that if he invaded and conquered +England the English Catholics would insist that he must make Mary Stuart +queen. He did not like Mary Stuart. He disapproved of her character. He +distrusted her promises. Spite of Jesuits and seminary priests, he +believed that she was still a Frenchwoman at heart, and a bad woman +besides. Yet something he must do for the outraged honour of Castile. He +concluded, in his slow way, that he would collect a fleet, the largest +and best-appointed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> had ever floated on the sea. He would send or +lead it in person to the English Channel. He would command the situation +with an overwhelming force; and then would choose some course which +would be more convenient to himself than to his Holiness at Rome. On the +whole he was inclined to let Elizabeth continue queen, and forget and +forgive if she would put away her Walsinghams and her Drakes, and would +promise to be good for the future. If she remained obstinate his great +fleet would cover the passage of the Prince of Parma's army, and he +would then dictate his own terms in London.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_VII" id="LECTURE_VII"></a>LECTURE VII</h2> + +<h3>ATTACK ON CADIZ</h3> + + +<p>I recollect being told when a boy, on sending in a bad translation of +Horace, that I ought to remember that Horace was a man of intelligence +and did not write nonsense. The same caution should be borne in mind by +students of history. They see certain things done by kings and statesmen +which they believe they can interpret by assuming such persons to have +been knaves or idiots. Once an explanation given from the baser side of +human nature, they assume that it is necessarily the right one, and they +make their Horace into a fool without a misgiving that the folly may lie +elsewhere. Remarkable men and women have usually had some rational +motive for their conduct, which may be discovered, if we look for it +with our eyes open.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nobody has suffered more from bad translators than Elizabeth. The +circumstances of Queen Elizabeth's birth, the traditions of her father, +the interests of England, and the sentiments of the party who had +sustained her claim to the succession, obliged her on coming to the +throne to renew the separation from the Papacy. The Church of England +was re-established on an Anglo-Catholic basis, which the rival factions +might interpret each in their own way. To allow more than one form of +public worship would have led in the heated temper of men's minds to +quarrels and civil wars. But conscience might be left free under outward +conformity, and those whom the Liturgy did not suit might use their own +ritual in their private houses. Elizabeth and her wise advisers believed +that if her subjects could be kept from fighting and killing one +another, and were not exasperated by outward displays of difference, +they would learn that righteousness of life was more important than +orthodoxy, and to estimate at their real value the rival dogmas of +theology. Had time permitted the experiment to have a fair trial, it +would perhaps have suc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>ceeded, but, unhappily for the Queen and for +England, the fire of controversy was still too hot under the ashes. +Protestants and Catholics had been taught to look on one another as +enemies of God, and were still reluctant to take each other's hands at +the bidding of an Act of Parliament. The more moderate of the Catholic +laity saw no difference so great between the English service and the +Mass as to force them to desert the churches where their fathers had +worshipped for centuries. They petitioned the Council of Trent for +permission to use the English Prayer Book; and had the Council +consented, religious dissension would have dissolved at last into an +innocent difference of opinion. But the Council and the Pope had +determined that there should be no compromise with heresy, and the +request was refused, though it was backed by Philip's ambassador in +London. The action of the Papacy obliged the Queen to leave the +Administration in the hands of Protestants, on whose loyalty she could +rely. As the struggle with the Reformation spread and deepened she was +compelled to assist indirectly the Protestant party in France and +Scotland. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> she still adhered to her own principle; she refused to +put herself at the head of a Protestant League. She took no step without +keeping open a line of retreat on a contrary policy. She had Catholics +in her Privy Council who were pensioners of Spain. She filled her +household with Catholics, and many a time drove Burghley distracted by +listening to them at critical moments. Her constant effort was to disarm +the antagonism of the adherents of the old belief, by admitting them to +her confidence, and showing them that one part of her subjects was as +dear to her as another.</p> + +<p>For ten years she went on struggling. For ten years she was proudly able +to say that during all that time no Catholic had suffered for his belief +either in purse or person. The advanced section of the Catholic clergy +was in despair. They saw the consciences of their flocks benumbed and +their faith growing lukewarm. They stirred up the rebellion of the +North. They persuaded Pius V. to force them to a sense of their duties +by declaring Elizabeth excommunicated. They sent their missionaries +through the English counties to recover sheep that were straying,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> and +teach the sin of submission to a sovereign whom the Pope had deposed. +Then had followed the Ridolfi plot, deliberately encouraged by the Pope +and Spain, which had compelled the Government to tighten the reins. One +conspiracy had followed another. Any means were held legitimate to rid +the world of an enemy of God. The Queen's character was murdered by the +foulest slanders, and a hundred daggers were sharpened to murder her +person. The King of Spain had not advised the excommunication, because +he knew that he would be expected to execute it, and he had other things +to do. When called on to act, he and Alva said that if the English +Catholics wanted Spanish help they must do something for themselves. To +do the priests justice, they were brave enough. What they did, and how +far they had succeeded in making the country disaffected, Father Parsons +has told you in the paper which I read to you in a former lecture. +Elizabeth refused to take care of herself. She would show no distrust. +She would not dismiss the Catholic ladies and gentlemen from the +household. She would allow no penal laws to be enforced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> against +Catholics as such. Repeated conspiracies to assassinate her were +detected and exposed, but she would take no warning. She would have no +bodyguard. The utmost that she would do was to allow the Jesuits and +seminary priests, who, by Parsons's own acknowledgment, were sowing +rebellion, to be banished the realm, and if they persisted in remaining +afterwards, to be treated as traitors. When executions are treated as +martyrdoms, candidates will never be wanting for the crown of glory, and +the flame only burnt the hotter. Tyburn and the quartering knife was a +horrid business, and Elizabeth sickened over it. She hated the severity +which she was compelled to exercise. Her name was defiled with the +grossest calumnies. She knew that she might be murdered any day. For +herself she was proudly indifferent; but her death would and must be +followed by a furious civil war. She told the Privy Council one day +after some stormy scene, that she would come back afterwards and amuse +herself with seeing the Queen of Scots making their heads fly.</p> + +<p>Philip was weary of it too. He had enough to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> do in ruling his own +dominions without quarrelling for ever with his sister-in-law. He had +seen that she had subjects, few or many, who, if he struck, would strike +back again. English money and English volunteers were keeping alive the +war in the Netherlands. English privateers had plundered his gold ships, +destroyed his commerce, and burnt his West Indian cities—all this in +the interests of the Pope, who gave him fine words in plenty, but who, +when called on for money to help in the English conquest, only flung +about his dinner-plates. The Duke of Alva, while he was alive, and the +Prince of Parma, who commanded in the Netherlands in Alva's place, +advised peace if peace could be had on reasonable terms. If Elizabeth +would consent to withdraw her help from the Netherlands, and would allow +the English Catholics the tacit toleration with which her reign had +begun, they were of opinion, and Philip was of opinion too, that it +would be better to forgive Drake and St. Domingo, abandon Mary Stuart +and the seminary priests, and meddle no more with English internal +politics.</p> + +<p>Tired with a condition which was neither war<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> nor peace, tired with +hanging traitors and the endless problem of her sister of Scotland, +Elizabeth saw no reason for refusing offers which would leave her in +peace for the rest of her own life. Philip, it was said, would restore +the Mass in the churches in Holland. She might stipulate for such +liberty of conscience to the Holland Protestants as she was herself +willing to allow the English Catholics. She saw no reason why she should +insist on a liberty of public worship which she had herself forbidden at +home. She did not see why the Hollanders should be so precise about +hearing Mass. She said she would rather hear a thousand Masses herself +than have on her conscience the crimes committed for the Mass or against +it. She would not have her realm in perpetual torment for Mr. Cecil's +brothers in Christ.</p> + +<p>This was Elizabeth's personal feeling. It could not be openly avowed. +The States might then surrender to Philip in despair, and obtain better +securities for their political liberties than she was ready to ask for +them. They might then join the Spaniards and become her mortal enemies. +But she had a high opinion of her own statecraft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> Her Catholic friends +assured her that, once at peace with Philip, she would be safe from all +the world. At this moment accident revealed suddenly another chasm which +was opening unsuspected at her feet.</p> + +<p>Both Philip and she were really wishing for peace. A treaty of peace +between the Catholic King and an excommunicated princess would end the +dream of a Catholic revolution in England. If the English peers and +gentry saw the censures of the Church set aside so lightly by the most +orthodox prince in Europe, Parsons and his friends would preach in vain +to them the obligation of rebellion. If this deadly negotiation was to +be broken off, a blow must be struck, and struck at once. There was not +a moment to be lost.</p> + +<p>The enchanted prisoner at Tutbury was the sleeping and waking dream of +Catholic chivalry. The brave knight who would slay the dragon, deliver +Mary Stuart, and place her on the usurper's throne, would outdo Orlando +or St. George, and be sung of for ever as the noblest hero who had ever +wielded brand or spear. Many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> a young British heart had thrilled with +hope that for him the enterprise was reserved. One of these was a +certain Anthony Babington, a gentleman of some fortune in Derbyshire. A +seminary priest named Ballard, excited, like the rest, by the need of +action, and anxious to prevent the peace, fell in with this Babington, +and thought he had found the man for his work. Elizabeth dead and Mary +Stuart free, there would be no more talk of peace. A plot was easily +formed. Half a dozen gentlemen, five of them belonging to or connected +with Elizabeth's own household, were to shoot or stab her and escape in +the confusion; Babington was to make a dash on Mary Stuart's +prison-house and carry her off to some safe place; while Ballard +undertook to raise the Catholic peers and have her proclaimed queen. +Elizabeth once removed, it was supposed that they would not hesitate. +Parma would bring over the Spanish army from Dunkirk. The Protestants +would be paralysed. All would be begun and ended in a few weeks or even +days. The Catholic religion would be re-established and the hated heresy +would be trampled out for ever. Mary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Stuart had been consulted and had +enthusiastically agreed.</p> + +<p>This interesting lady had been lately profuse in her protestations of a +desire for reconciliation with her dearest sister. Elizabeth had almost +believed her sincere. Sick of the endless trouble with Mary Stuart and +her pretensions and schemings, she had intended that the Scotch queen +should be included in the treaty with Philip, with an implied +recognition of her right to succeed to the English throne after +Elizabeth's death. It had been necessary, however, to ascertain in some +way whether her protestations were sincere. A secret watch had been kept +over her correspondence, and Babington's letters and her own answers had +fallen into Walsingham's hands. There it all was in her own cipher, the +key to which had been betrayed by the carelessness of a confederate. The +six gentlemen who were to have rewarded Elizabeth's confidence by +killing her were easily recognised. They were seized, with Babington and +Ballard, when they imagined themselves on the eve of their triumph. +Babington flinched and confessed, and they were all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> hanged. Mary Stuart +herself had outworn compassion. Twice already on the discovery of her +earlier plots the House of Commons had petitioned for her execution. For +this last piece of treachery she was tried at Fotheringay before a +commission of Peers and Privy Councillors. She denied her letters, but +her complicity was proved beyond a doubt. Parliament was called, and a +third time insisted that the long drama should now be ended and loyal +England be allowed to breathe in peace. Elizabeth signed the warrant. +France, Spain, any other power in the world would have long since made +an end of a competitor so desperate and so incurable. Torn by many +feelings—natural pity, dread of the world's opinion—Elizabeth paused +before ordering the warrant to be executed. If nothing had been at stake +but her own life, she would have left the lady to weave fresh plots and +at last, perhaps, to succeed. If the nation's safety required an end to +be made with her, she felt it hard that the duty should be thrown on +herself. Where were all those eager champions who had signed the +Association Bond, who had talked so loudly? Could none of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> be found +to recollect their oaths and take the law into their own hands?</p> + +<p>Her Council, Burghley, and the rest, knowing her disposition and feeling +that it was life or death to English liberty, took the responsibility on +themselves. They sent the warrant down to Fotheringay at their own risk, +leaving their mistress to deny, if she pleased, that she had meant it to +be executed; and the wild career of Mary Stuart ended on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>They knew what they were immediately doing. They knew that if treason +had a meaning Mary Stuart had brought her fate upon herself. They did +not, perhaps, realise the full effects that were to follow, or that with +Mary Stuart had vanished the last serious danger of a Catholic +insurrection in England; or perhaps they did realise it, and this was +what decided them to act.</p> + +<p>I cannot dwell on this here. As long as there was a Catholic princess of +English blood to succeed to the throne, the allegiance of the Catholics +to Elizabeth had been easily shaken. If she was spared now, every one of +them would look on her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> as their future sovereign. To overthrow +Elizabeth might mean the loss of national independence. The Queen of +Scots gone, they were paralysed by divided counsels, and love of country +proved stronger than their creed.</p> + +<p>What concerns us specially at present is the effect on the King of +Spain. The reluctance of Philip to undertake the English enterprise (the +'empresa,' as it was generally called) had arisen from a fear that when +it was accomplished he would lose the fruit of his labours. He could +never assure himself that if he placed Mary Stuart on the throne she +would not become eventually French. He now learnt that she had +bequeathed to himself her claims on the English succession. He had once +been titular King of England. He had pretensions of his own, as in the +descent from Edward III. The Jesuits, the Catholic enthusiasts +throughout Europe, assured him that if he would now take up the cause in +earnest, he might make England a province of Spain. There were still +difficulties. He might hope that the English Catholic laity would accept +him, but he could not be sure of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> He could not be sure that he would +have the support of the Pope. He continued, as the Condé de Feria said +scornfully of him, 'meando en vado,' a phrase which I cannot translate; +it meant hesitating when he ought to act. But he saw, or thought he saw, +that he could now take a stronger attitude towards Elizabeth as a +claimant to her throne. If the treaty of peace was to go forward, he +could raise his terms. He could insist on the restoration of the +Catholic religion in England. The States of the Low Countries had made +over five of their strongest towns to Elizabeth as the price of her +assistance. He could insist on her restoring them, not to the States, +but to himself. Could she be brought to consent to such an act of +perfidy, Parma and he both felt that the power would then be gone from +her, as effectually as Samson's when his locks were clipped by the +harlot, and they could leave her then, if it suited them, on a throne +which would have become a pillory—for the finger of scorn to point at.</p> + +<p>With such a view before him it was more than ever necessary for Philip +to hurry forward the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> preparations which he had already commenced. The +more formidable he could make himself, the better able he would be to +frighten Elizabeth into submission.</p> + +<p>Every dockyard in Spain was set to work, building galleons and +collecting stores. Santa Cruz would command. Philip was himself more +resolved than ever to accompany the expedition in person and dictate +from the English Channel the conditions of the pacification of Europe.</p> + +<p>Secrecy was no longer attempted—indeed, was no longer possible. All +Latin Christendom was palpitating with expectation. At Lisbon, at Cadiz, +at Barcelona, at Naples, the shipwrights were busy night and day. The +sea was covered with vessels freighted with arms and provisions +streaming to the mouth of the Tagus. Catholic volunteers from all +nations flocked into the Peninsula, to take a share in the mighty +movement which was to decide the fate of the world, and bishops, +priests, and monks were set praying through the whole Latin Communion +that Heaven would protect its own cause.</p> + +<p>Meantime the negotiations for peace con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>tinued, and Elizabeth, strange +to say, persisted in listening. She would not see what was plain to all +the world besides. The execution of the Queen of Scots lay on her spirit +and threw her back into the obstinate humour which had made Walsingham +so often despair of her safety. For two months after that scene at +Fotheringay she had refused to see Burghley, and would consult no one +but Sir James Crofts and her Spanish-tempered ladies. She knew that +Spain now intended that she should betray the towns in the Low +Countries, yet she was blind to the infamy which it would bring upon +her. She left her troops there without their wages to shiver into +mutiny. She named commissioners, with Sir James Crofts at their head, to +go to Ostend and treat with Parma, and if she had not resolved on an act +of treachery she at least played with the temptation, and persuaded +herself that if she chose to make over the towns to Philip, she would be +only restoring them to their lawful owner.</p> + +<p>Burghley and Walsingham, you can see from their letters, believed now +that Elizabeth had ruined herself at last. Happily her moods were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +variable as the weather. She was forced to see the condition to which +she had reduced her affairs in the Low Countries by the appearance of a +number of starving wretches who had deserted from the garrisons there +and had come across to clamour for their pay at her own palace gates. If +she had no troops in the field but a mutinous and starving rabble, she +might get no terms at all. It might be well to show Philip that on one +element at least she could still be dangerous. She had lost nothing by +the bold actions of Drake and the privateers. With half a heart she +allowed Drake to fit them out again, take the <i>Buonaventura</i>, a ship of +her own, to carry his flag, and go down to the coast of Spain and see +what was going on. He was not to do too much. She sent a vice-admiral +with him, in the <i>Lion</i>, to be a check on over-audacity. Drake knew how +to deal with embarrassing vice-admirals. His own adventurers would sail, +if he ordered, to the Mountains of the Moon, and be quite certain that +it was the right place to go to. Once under way and on the blue water he +would go his own course and run his own risks. Cadiz Harbour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> was +thronged with transports, provision ships, powder vessels—a hundred +sail of them—many of a thousand tons and over, loading with stores for +the Armada. There were thirty sail of adventurers, the smartest ships +afloat on the ocean, and sailed by the smartest seamen that ever handled +rope or tiller. Something might be done at Cadiz if he did not say too +much about it. The leave had been given to him to go, but he knew by +experience, and Burghley again warned him, that it might, and probably +would, be revoked if he waited too long. The moment was his own, and he +used it. He was but just in time. Before his sails were under the +horizon a courier galloped into Plymouth with orders that under no +condition was he to enter port or haven of the King of Spain, or injure +Spanish subjects. What else was he going out for? He had guessed how it +would be. Comedy or earnest he could not tell. If earnest, some such +order would be sent after him, and he had not an instant to lose.</p> + +<p>He sailed on the morning of the 12th of April. Off Ushant he fell in +with a north-west gale, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> he flew on, spreading every stitch of +canvas which his spars would bear. In five days he was at Cape St. +Vincent. On the 18th he had the white houses of Cadiz right in front of +him, and could see for himself the forests of masts from the ships and +transports with which the harbour was choked. Here was a chance for a +piece of service if there was courage for the venture. He signalled for +his officers to come on board the <i>Buonaventura</i>. There before their +eyes was, if not the Armada itself, the materials which were to fit the +Armada for the seas. Did they dare to go in with him and destroy them? +There were batteries at the harbour mouth, but Drake's mariners had +faced Spanish batteries at St. Domingo and Carthagena and had not found +them very formidable. Go in? Of course they would. Where Drake would +lead the corsairs of Plymouth were never afraid to follow. The +vice-admiral pleaded danger to her Majesty's ships. It was not the +business of an English fleet to be particular about danger. Straight in +they went with a fair wind and a flood tide, ran past the batteries and +under a storm of shot, to which they did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> trouble themselves to wait +to reply. The poor vice-admiral followed reluctantly in the <i>Lion</i>. A +single shot hit the <i>Lion</i>, and he edged away out of range, anchored, +and drifted to sea again with the ebb. But Drake and all the rest dashed +on, sank the guardship—a large galleon—and sent flying a fleet of +galleys which ventured too near them and were never seen again.</p> + +<p>Further resistance there was none—absolutely none. The crews of the +store ships escaped in their boats to land. The governor of Cadiz, the +same Duke of Medina Sidonia who the next year was to gain a disastrous +immortality, fled 'like a tall gentleman' to raise troops and prevent +Drake from landing. Drake had no intention of landing. At his extreme +leisure he took possession of the Spanish shipping, searched every +vessel, and carried off everything that he could use. He detained as +prisoners the few men that he found on board, and then, after doing his +work deliberately and completely, he set the hulls on fire, cut the +cables, and left them to drive on the rising tide under the walls of the +town—a confused mass of blazing ruin. On the 12th of April he had +sailed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> from Plymouth; on the 19th he entered Cadiz Harbour; on the 1st +of May he passed out again without the loss of a boat or a man. He said +in jest that he had singed the King of Spain's beard for him. In sober +prose he had done the King of Spain an amount of damage which a million +ducats and a year's labour would imperfectly replace. The daring +rapidity of the enterprise astonished Spain, and astonished Europe more +than the storm of the West Indian towns. The English had long teeth, as +Santa Cruz had told Philip's council, and the teeth would need drawing +before Mass would be heard again at Westminster. The Spaniards were a +gallant race, and a dashing exploit, though at their own expense, could +be admired by the countrymen of Cervantes. 'So praised,' we read, 'was +Drake for his valour among them, that they said that if he was not a +Lutheran there would not be the like of him in the world.' A Court lady +was invited by the King to join a party on a lake near Madrid. The lady +replied that she dared not trust herself on the water with his Majesty +lest Sir Francis Drake should have her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>Drake might well be praised. But Drake would have been the first to +divide the honour with the comrades who were his arm and hand. Great +admirals and generals do not win their battles single-handed like the +heroes of romance. Orders avail only when there are men to execute them. +Not a captain, not an officer who served under Drake, ever flinched or +blundered. Never was such a school for seamen as that twenty years' +privateering war between the servants of the Pope and the West-country +Protestant adventurers. Those too must be remembered who built and +rigged the ships in which they sailed and fought their battles. We may +depend upon it that there was no dishonesty in contractors, no scamping +of the work in the yards where the Plymouth rovers were fitted out for +sea. Their hearts were in it; they were soldiers of a common cause.</p> + +<p>Three weeks had sufficed for Cadiz. No order for recall had yet arrived. +Drake had other plans before him, and the men were in high spirits and +ready for anything. A fleet of Spanish men-of-war was expected round +from the Mediterranean.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> He proposed to stay for a week or two in the +neighbourhood of the Straits, in the hope of falling in with them. He +wanted fresh water, too, and had to find it somewhere.</p> + +<p>Before leaving Cadiz Roads he had to decide what to do with his +prisoners. Many English were known to be in the hands of the Holy Office +working in irons as galley slaves. He sent in a pinnace to propose an +exchange, and had to wait some days for an answer. At length, after a +reference to Lisbon, the Spanish authorities replied that they had no +English prisoners. If this was true those they had must have died of +barbarous usage; and after a consultation with his officers Sir Francis +sent in word that for the future such prisoners as they might take would +be sold to the Moors, and the money applied to the redemption of English +captives in other parts of the world.</p> + +<p>Water was the next point. There were springs at Faro, with a Spanish +force stationed there to guard them. Force or no force, water was to be +had. The boats were sent on shore. The boats' crews stormed the forts +and filled the casks. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> vice-admiral again lifted up his voice. The +Queen had ordered that there was to be no landing on Spanish soil. At +Cadiz the order had been observed. There had been no need to land. Here +at Faro there had been direct defiance of her Majesty's command. He +became so loud in his clamours that Drake found it necessary to lock him +up in his own cabin, and at length to send him home with his ship to +complain. For himself, as the expected fleet from the Straits did not +appear, and as he had shaken off his troublesome second in command, he +proceeded leisurely up the coast, intending to look in at Lisbon and see +for himself how things were going on there. All along as he went he fell +in with traders loaded with supplies for the use of the Armada. All +these he destroyed as he advanced, and at length found himself under the +purple hills of Cintra and looking up into the Tagus. There lay gathered +together the strength of the fighting naval force of Spain—fifty great +galleons, already arrived, the largest war-ships which then floated on +the ocean. Santa Cruz, the best officer in the Spanish navy, was himself +in the town and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> command. To venture a repetition of the Cadiz +exploit in the face of such odds seemed too desperate even for Drake, +but it was one of those occasions when the genius of a great commander +sees more than ordinary eyes. He calculated, and, as was proved +afterwards, calculated rightly, that the galleons would be half manned, +or not manned at all, and crowded with landsmen bringing on board the +stores. Their sides as they lay would be choked with hulks and lighters. +They would be unable to get their anchors up, set their canvas, or stir +from their moorings. Daring as Drake was known to be, no one would +expect him to go with so small a force into the enemy's stronghold, and +there would be no preparations to meet him. He could count upon the +tides. The winds at that season of the year were fresh and steady, and +could be counted on also to take him in or out; there was sea room in +the river for such vessels as the adventurers' to manœuvre and to +retreat if overmatched. Rash as such an enterprise might seem to an +unprofessional eye, Drake certainly thought of it, perhaps had meant to +try it in some form or other and so make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> an end of the Spanish invasion +of England. He could not venture without asking first for his mistress's +permission. He knew her nature. He knew that his services at Cadiz would +outweigh his disregard of her orders, and that so far he had nothing to +fear; but he knew also that she was still hankering after peace, and +that without her leave he must do nothing to make peace impossible. +There is a letter from him to the Queen, written when he was lying off +Lisbon, very characteristic of the time and the man.</p> + +<p>Nelson or Lord St. Vincent did not talk much of expecting supernatural +assistance. If they had we should suspect them of using language +conventionally which they would have done better to leave alone. Sir +Francis Drake, like his other great contemporaries, believed that he was +engaged in a holy cause, and was not afraid or ashamed to say so. His +object was to protest against a recall in the flow of victory. The +Spaniards, he said, were but mortal men. They were enemies of the Truth, +upholders of Dagon's image, which had fallen in other days before the +Ark, and would fall again if boldly defied. So long as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> had ships +that would float, and there was food on board them for the men to eat, +he entreated her to let him stay and strike whenever a chance was +offered him. The continuing to the end yielded the true glory. When men +were serving religion and their country, a merciful God, it was likely, +would give them victory, and Satan and his angels should not prevail.</p> + +<p>All in good time. Another year and Drake would have the chance he +wanted. For the moment Satan had prevailed—Satan in the shape of +Elizabeth's Catholic advisers. Her answer came. It was warm and +generous. She did not, could not, blame him for what he had done so far, +but she desired him to provoke the King of Spain no further. The +negotiations for peace had opened, and must not be interfered with.</p> + +<p>This prohibition from the Queen prevented, perhaps, what would have been +the most remarkable exploit in English naval history. As matters stood +it would have been perfectly possible for Drake to have gone into the +Tagus, and if he could not have burnt the galleons he could certainly +have come away unhurt. He had guessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> their condition with entire +correctness. The ships were there, but the ships' companies were not on +board them. Santa Cruz himself admitted that if Drake had gone in he +could have himself done nothing 'por falta de gente' (for want of men). +And Drake undoubtedly would have gone, and would have done something +with which all the world would have rung, but for the positive command +of his mistress. He lingered in the roads at Cintra, hoping that Santa +Cruz would come out and meet him. All Spain was clamouring at Santa +Cruz's inaction. Philip wrote to stir the old admiral to energy. He must +not allow himself to be defied by a squadron of insolent rovers. He must +chase them off the coast or destroy them. Santa Cruz needed no stirring. +Santa Cruz, the hero of a hundred fights, was chafing at his own +impotence; but he was obliged to tell his master that if he wished to +have service out of his galleons he must provide crews to handle them, +and they must rot at their anchors till he did. He told him, moreover, +that it was time for him to exert himself in earnest. If he waited much +longer, England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> would have grown too strong for him to deal with.</p> + +<p>In strict obedience Drake ought now to have gone home, but the campaign +had brought so far more glory than prize-money. His comrades required +some consolation for their disappointment at Lisbon. The theory of these +armaments of the adventurers was that the cost should be paid somehow by +the enemy, and he could be assured that if he brought back a prize or +two in which she could claim a share the Queen would not call him to a +very strict account. Homeward-bound galleons or merchantmen were to be +met with occasionally at the Azores. On leaving Lisbon Drake headed away +to St. Michael's, and his lucky star was still in the ascendant.</p> + +<p>As if sent on purpose for him, the <i>San Philip</i>, a magnificent caraque +from the Indies, fell straight into his hands, 'so richly loaded,' it +was said, 'that every man in the fleet counted his fortune made.' There +was no need to wait for more. It was but two months since Drake had +sailed from Plymouth. He could now go home after a cruise of which the +history of his own or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> any other country had never presented the like. +He had struck the King of Spain in his own stronghold. He had disabled +the intended Armada for one season at least. He had picked up a prize by +the way and as if by accident, worth half a million, to pay his +expenses, so that he had cost nothing to his mistress, and had brought +back a handsome present for her. I doubt if such a naval estimate was +ever presented to an English House of Commons. Above all he had taught +the self-confident Spaniard to be afraid of him, and he carried back his +poor comrades in such a glow of triumph that they would have fought +Satan and all his angels with Drake at their head.</p> + +<p>Our West-country annals still tell how the country people streamed down +in their best clothes to see the great <i>San Philip</i> towed into Dartmouth +Harbour. English Protestantism was no bad cable for the nation to ride +by in those stormy times, and deserves to be honourably remembered in a +School of History at an English University.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_VIII" id="LECTURE_VIII"></a>LECTURE VIII</h2> + +<h3>SAILING OF THE ARMADA</h3> + + +<p>Peace or war between Spain and England, that was now the question, with +a prospect of securing the English succession for himself or one of his +daughters. With the whole Spanish nation smarting under the indignity of +the burning of the ships at Cadiz, Philip's warlike ardour had warmed +into something like fire. He had resolved at any rate, if he was to +forgive his sister-in-law at all, to insist on more than toleration for +the Catholics in England. He did not contemplate as even possible that +the English privateers, however bold or dexterous, could resist such an +armament as he was preparing to lead to the Channel. The Royal Navy, he +knew very well, did not exceed twenty-five ships of all sorts and sizes. +The adventurers might be equal to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> sudden daring actions, but would and +must be crushed by such a fleet as was being fitted out at Lisbon. He +therefore, for himself, meant to demand that the Catholic religion +should be restored to its complete and exclusive superiority, and +certain towns in England were to be made over to be garrisoned by +Spanish troops as securities for Elizabeth's good behaviour. As often +happens with irresolute men, when they have once been forced to a +decision they are as too hasty as before they were too slow. After Drake +had retired from Lisbon the King of Spain sent orders to the Prince of +Parma not to wait for the arrival of the Armada, but to cross the +Channel immediately with the Flanders army, and bring Elizabeth to her +knees. Parma had more sense than his master. He represented that he +could not cross without a fleet to cover his passage. His transport +barges would only float in smooth water, and whether the water was +smooth or rough they could be sent to the bottom by half a dozen English +cruisers from the Thames. Supposing him to have landed, either in Thanet +or other spot, he reminded Philip that he could not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> have at most more +than 25,000 men with him. The English militia were in training. The +Jesuits said they were disaffected, but the Jesuits might be making a +mistake. He might have to fight more than one battle. He would have to +leave detachments as he advanced to London, to cover his communications, +and a reverse would be fatal. He would obey if his Majesty persisted, +but he recommended Philip to continue to amuse the English with the +treaty till the Armada was ready, and, in evident consciousness that the +enterprise would be harder than Philip imagined, he even gave it as his +own opinion still (notwithstanding Cadiz), that if Elizabeth would +surrender the cautionary towns in Flanders to Spain, and would grant the +English Catholics a fair degree of liberty, it would be Philip's +interest to make peace at once without stipulating for further terms. He +could make a new war if he wished at a future time, when circumstances +might be more convenient and the Netherlands revolt subdued.</p> + +<p>To such conditions as these it seemed that Elizabeth was inclining to +consent. The towns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> had been trusted to her keeping by the +Netherlanders. To give them up to the enemy to make better conditions +for herself would be an infamy so great as to have disgraced Elizabeth +for ever; yet she would not see it. She said the towns belonged to +Philip and she would only be restoring his own to him. Burghley bade +her, if she wanted peace, send back Drake to the Azores and frighten +Philip for his gold ships. She was in one of her ungovernable moods. +Instead of sending out Drake again she ordered her own fleet to be +dismantled and laid up at Chatham, and she condescended to apologise to +Parma for the burning of the transports at Cadiz as done against her +orders.</p> + +<p>This was in December 1587, only five months before the Armada sailed +from Lisbon. Never had she brought herself and her country so near ruin. +The entire safety of England rested at that moment on the adventurers, +and on the adventurers alone.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, with enormous effort the destruction at Cadiz had been +repaired. The great fleet was pushed on, and in February Santa Cruz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +reported himself almost ready. Santa Cruz and Philip, however, were not +in agreement as to what should be done. Santa Cruz was a fighting +admiral, Philip was not a fighting king. He changed his mind as often as +Elizabeth. Hot fits varied with cold. His last news from England led him +to hope that fighting would not be wanted. The Commissioners were +sitting at Ostend. On one side there were the formal negotiations, in +which the surrender of the towns was not yet treated as an open +question. Had the States been aware that Elizabeth was even in thought +entertaining it, they would have made terms instantly on their own +account and left her alone in the cold. Besides this, there was a second +negotiation underneath, carried on by private agents, in which the +surrender was to be the special condition. These complicated schemings +Parma purposely protracted, to keep Elizabeth in false security. She had +not deliberately intended to give up the towns. At the last moment she +would have probably refused, unless the States themselves consented to +it as part of a general settlement. But she was playing with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> the idea. +The States, she thought, were too obstinate. Peace would be good for +them, and she said she might do them good if she pleased, whether they +liked it or not.</p> + +<p>Parma was content that she should amuse herself with words and neglect +her defences by sea and land. By the end of February Santa Cruz was +ready. A northerly wind blows strong down the coast of Portugal in the +spring months, and he meant to be off before it set in, before the end +of March at latest. Unfortunately for Spain, Santa Cruz fell ill at the +last moment—ill, it was said, with anxiety. Santa Cruz knew well enough +what Philip would not know—that the expedition would be no holiday +parade. He had reason enough to be anxious if Philip was to accompany +him and tie his hands and embarrass him. Anyway, Santa Cruz died after a +few days' illness. The sailing had to be suspended till a new commander +could be decided on, and in the choice which Philip made he gave a +curious proof of what he intended the expedition to do. He did not +really expect or wish for any serious fighting. He wanted to be +sovereign of England again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> with the assent of the English Catholics. +He did not mean, if he could help it, to irritate the national pride by +force and conquest. While Santa Cruz lived, Spanish public opinion would +not allow him to be passed over. Santa Cruz must command, and Philip had +resolved to go with him, to prevent too violent proceedings. Santa Cruz +dead, he could find someone who would do what he was told, and his own +presence would no longer be necessary.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Medina Sidonia, named El Bueno, or the Good, was a grandee +of highest rank. He was enormously rich, fond of hunting and shooting, a +tolerable rider, for the rest a harmless creature getting on to forty, +conscious of his defects, but not aware that so great a prince had any +need to mend them; without vanity, without ambition, and most happy when +lounging in his orange gardens at San Lucan. Of active service he had +seen none. He was Captain-General of Andalusia, and had run away from +Cadiz when Drake came into the harbour; but that was all. To his +astonishment and to his dismay he learnt that it was on him that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +choice had fallen to be the Lord High Admiral of Spain and commander of +the so much talked of expedition to England. He protested his unfitness. +He said that he was no seaman; that he knew nothing of fighting by sea +or land; that if he ventured out in a boat he was always sick; that he +had never seen the English Channel; and that, as to politics, he neither +knew anything nor cared anything about them. In short, he had not one +qualification which such a post required.</p> + +<p>Philip liked his modesty; but in fact the Duke's defects were his +recommendations. He would obey his instructions, would not fight unless +it was necessary, and would go into no rash adventures. All that Philip +wanted him to do was to find the Prince of Parma, and act as Parma +should bid him. As to seamanship, he would have the best officers in the +navy under him; and for a second in command he should have Don Diego de +Valdez, a cautious, silent, sullen old sailor, a man after Philip's own +heart.</p> + +<p>Doubting, hesitating, the Duke repaired to Lisbon. There he was put in +better heart by a nun, who said Our Lady had sent her to promise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> him +success. Every part of the service was new to him. He was a fussy, +anxious little man; set himself to inquire into everything, to meddle +with things which he could not understand and had better have left +alone. He ought to have left details to the responsible heads of +departments. He fancied that in a week or two he could look himself into +everything. There were 130 ships, 8,000 seamen, 19,000 Spanish infantry, +with gentlemen volunteers, officers, priests, surgeons, galley +slaves—at least 3,000 more—provisioned for six months. Then there were +the ships' stores, arms small and great, powder, spars, cordage, canvas, +and such other million necessities as ships on service need. The whole +of this the poor Duke took on himself to examine into, and, as he could +not understand what he saw, and knew not what to look at, nothing was +examined into at all. Everyone's mind was, in fact, so much absorbed by +the spiritual side of the thing that they could not attend to vulgar +commonplaces. Don Quixote, when he set out on his expedition, and forgot +money and a change of linen, was not in a state of wilder exaltation +than Catholic Europe at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> sailing of the Armada. Every noble family +in Spain had sent one or other of its sons to fight for Christ and Our +Lady.</p> + +<p>For three years the stream of prayer had been ascending from church, +cathedral, or oratory. The King had emptied his treasury. The hidalgo +and the tradesman had offered their contributions. The crusade against +the Crescent itself had not kindled a more intense or more sacred +enthusiasm. All pains were taken to make the expedition spiritually +worthy of its purpose. No impure thing, specially no impure woman, was +to approach the yards or ships. Swearing, quarrelling, gambling, were +prohibited under terrible penalties. The galleons were named after the +apostles and saints to whose charge they were committed, and every +seaman and soldier confessed and communicated on going on board. The +ship-boys at sunrise were to sing their Buenos Dias at the foot of the +mainmast, and their Ave Maria as the sun sank into the ocean. On the +Imperial banner were embroidered the figures of Christ and His Mother, +and as a motto the haughty 'Plus Ultra' of Charles V. was replaced with +the more pious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> aspiration, 'Exsurge, Deus, et vindica causam tuam.'</p> + +<p>Nothing could be better if the more vulgar necessities had been looked +to equally well. Unluckily, Medina Sidonia had taken the inspection of +these on himself, and Medina Sidonia was unable to correct the +information which any rascal chose to give him.</p> + +<p>At length, at the end of April, he reported himself satisfied. The +banner was blessed in the cathedral, men and stores all on board, and +the Invincible Armada prepared to go upon its way. No wonder Philip was +confident. A hundred and thirty galleons, from 1,300 to 700 tons, 30,000 +fighting men, besides slaves and servants, made up a force which the +world might well think invincible. The guns were the weakest part. There +were twice as many as the English; but they were for the most part nine +and six pounders, and with but fifty rounds to each. The Spaniards had +done their sea fighting hitherto at close range, grappling and trusting +to musketry. They were to receive a lesson about this before the summer +was over. But Philip himself meanwhile expected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> evidently that he would +meet with no opposition. Of priests he had provided 180; of surgeons and +surgeons' assistants eighty-five only for the whole fleet.</p> + +<p>In the middle of May he sent down his last orders. The Duke was not to +seek a battle. If he fell in with Drake he was to take no notice of him, +but thank God, as Dogberry said to the watchman, that he was rid of a +knave. He was to go straight to the North Foreland, there anchor and +communicate with Parma. The experienced admirals who had learnt their +trade under Santa Cruz—Martinez de Recalde, Pedro de Valdez, Miguel de +Oquendo—strongly urged the securing Plymouth or the Isle of Wight on +their way up Channel. This had evidently been Santa Cruz's own design, +and the only rational one to have followed. Philip did not see it. He +did not believe it would prove necessary; but as to this and as to +fighting he left them, as he knew he must do, a certain discretion.</p> + +<p>The Duke then, flying the sacred banner on the <i>San Martin</i>, dropped +down the Tagus on the 14th of May, followed by the whole fleet. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +<i>San Martin</i> had been double-timbered with oak, to keep the shot out. He +liked his business no better. In vain he repeated to himself that it was +God's cause. God would see they came to no harm. He was no sooner in the +open sea than he found no cause, however holy, saved men from the +consequences of their own blunders. They were late out, and met the +north trade wind, as Santa Cruz had foretold.</p> + +<p>They drifted to leeward day by day till they had dropped down to Cape +St. Vincent. Infinite pains had been taken with the spiritual state of +everyone on board. The carelessness or roguery of contractors and +purveyors had not been thought of. The water had been taken in three +months before. It was found foul and stinking. The salt beef, the salt +pork, and fish were putrid, the bread full of maggots and cockroaches. +Cask was opened after cask. It was the same story everywhere. They had +to be all thrown overboard. In the whole fleet there was not a sound +morsel of food but biscuit and dried fruit. The men went down in +hundreds with dysentery. The Duke bewailed his fate as innocently as +Sancho<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> Panza. He hoped God would help. He had wished no harm to +anybody. He had left his home and his family to please the King, and he +trusted the King would remember it. He wrote piteously for fresh stores, +if the King would not have them all perish. The admirals said they could +go no further without fresh water. All was dismay and confusion. The +wind at last fell round south, and they made Finisterre. It then came on +to blow, and they were scattered. The Duke with half the fleet crawled +into Corunna, the crews scarce able to man the yards and trying to +desert in shoals.</p> + +<p>The missing ships dropped in one by one, but a week passed and a third +of them were still absent. Another despairing letter went off from the +Duke to his master. He said that he concluded from their misfortunes +that God disapproved of the expedition, and that it had better be +abandoned. Diego Florez was of the same opinion. The stores were +worthless, he said. The men were sick and out of heart. Nothing could be +done that season.</p> + +<p>It was not by flinching at the first sight of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> difficulty that the +Spaniards had become masters of half the world. The old comrades of +Santa Cruz saw nothing in what had befallen them beyond a common +accident of sea life. To abandon at the first check an enterprise +undertaken with so much pretence, they said, would be cowardly and +dishonourable. Ships were not lost because they were out of sight. Fresh +meat and bread could be taken on board from Corunna. They could set up a +shore hospital for the sick. The sickness was not dangerous. There had +been no deaths. A little energy and all would be well again. Pedro de +Valdez despatched a courier to Philip to entreat him not to listen to +the Duke's croakings. Philip returned a speedy answer telling the Duke +not to be frightened at shadows.</p> + +<p>There was nothing, in fact, really to be alarmed at. Fresh water took +away the dysentery. Fresh food was brought in from the country. Galician +seamen filled the gaps made by the deserters. The ships were laid on +shore and scraped and tallowed. Tents were pitched on an island in the +harbour, with altars and priests, and everyone confessed again and +received the Sacrament.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> 'This,' wrote the Duke, 'is great riches and a +precious jewel, and all now are well content and cheerful.' The +scattered flock had reassembled. Damages were all repaired, and the only +harm had been loss of time. Once more, on the 23rd of July, the Armada +in full numbers was under way for England and streaming across the Bay +of Biscay with a fair wind for the mouth of the Channel.</p> + +<p>Leaving the Duke for the moment, we must now glance at the preparations +made in England to receive him. It might almost be said that there were +none at all. The winter months had been wild and changeable, but not so +wild and not so fluctuating as the mind of England's mistress. In +December her fleet had been paid off at Chatham. The danger of leaving +the country without any regular defence was pressed on her so vehemently +that she consented to allow part of the ships to be recommissioned. The +<i>Revenge</i> was given to Drake. He and Howard, the Lord Admiral, were to +have gone with a mixed squadron from the Royal Navy and the adventurers +down to the Spanish coast. In every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> loyal subject there had long been +but one opinion, that a good open war was the only road to an honourable +peace. The open war, they now trusted, was come at last. But the hope +was raised only to be disappointed. With the news of Santa Cruz's death +came a report which Elizabeth greedily believed, that the Armada was +dissolving and was not coming at all. Sir James Crofts sang the usual +song that Drake and Howard wanted war, because war was their trade. She +recalled her orders. She said that she was assured of peace in six +weeks, and that beyond that time the services of the fleet would not be +required. Half the men engaged were to be dismissed at once to save +their pay. Drake and Lord Henry Seymour might cruise with four or five +of the Queen's ships between Plymouth and the Solent. Lord Howard was to +remain in the Thames with the rest. I know not whether swearing was +interdicted in the English navy as well as in the Spanish, but I will +answer for it that Howard did not spare his language when this missive +reached him. 'Never,' he said, 'since England was England was such a +stratagem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> made to deceive us as this treaty. We have not hands left to +carry the ships back to Chatham. We are like bears tied to a stake; the +Spaniards may come to worry us like dogs, and we cannot hurt them.'</p> + +<p>It was well for England that she had other defenders than the wildly +managed navy of the Queen. Historians tell us how the gentlemen of the +coast came out in their own vessels to meet the invaders. Come they did, +but who were they? Ships that could fight the Spanish galleons were not +made in a day or a week. They were built already. They were manned by +loyal subjects, the business of whose lives had been to meet the enemies +of their land and faith on the wide ocean—not by those who had been +watching with divided hearts for a Catholic revolution.</p> + +<p>March went by, and sure intelligence came that the Armada was not +dissolving. Again Drake prayed the Queen to let him take the <i>Revenge</i> +and the Western adventurers down to Lisbon; but the commissioners wrote +full of hope from Ostend, and Elizabeth was afraid 'the King of Spain +might take it ill.' She found fault with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> Drake's expenses. She charged +him with wasting her ammunition in target practice. She had it doled out +to him in driblets, and allowed no more than would serve for a day and a +half's service. She kept a sharp hand on the victualling houses. April +went, and her four finest ships—the <i>Triumph</i>, the <i>Victory</i>, the +<i>Elizabeth Jonas</i>, and the <i>Bear</i>—were still with sails unbent, +'keeping Chatham church.' She said they would not be wanted and it would +be waste of money to refit them. Again she was forced to yield at last, +and the four ships were got to sea in time, the workmen in the yards +making up for the delay; but she had few enough when her whole fleet was +out upon the Channel, and but for the privateers there would have been +an ill reckoning when the trial came. The Armada was coming now. There +was no longer a doubt of it. Lord Henry Seymour was left with five +Queen's ships and thirty London adventurers to watch Parma and the +Narrow Seas. Howard, carrying his own flag in the <i>Ark Raleigh</i>, joined +Drake at Plymouth with seventeen others.</p> + +<p>Still the numbing hand of his mistress pursued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> him. Food supplies had +been issued to the middle of June, and no more was to be allowed. The +weather was desperate—wildest summer ever known. The south-west gales +brought the Atlantic rollers into the Sound. Drake lay inside, perhaps +behind the island which bears his name. Howard rode out the gales under +Mount Edgecumbe, the days going by and the provisions wasting. The +rations were cut down to make the stores last longer. Owing to the many +changes the crews had been hastily raised. They were ill-clothed, +ill-provided every way, but they complained of nothing, caught fish to +mend their mess dinners, and prayed only for the speedy coming of the +enemy. Even Howard's heart failed him now. English sailors would do what +could be done by man, but they could not fight with famine. 'Awake, +Madam,' he wrote to the Queen, 'awake, for the love of Christ, and see +the villainous treasons round about you.' He goaded her into ordering +supplies for one more month, but this was to be positively the last. The +victuallers inquired if they should make further preparations. She +answered peremptorily, 'No';<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> and again the weeks ran on. The +contractors, it seemed, had caught her spirit, for the beer which had +been furnished for the fleet turned sour, and those who drank it +sickened. The officers, on their own responsibility, ordered wine and +arrowroot for the sick out of Plymouth, to be called to a sharp account +when all was over. Again the rations were reduced. Four weeks' allowance +was stretched to serve for six, and still the Spaniards did not come. So +England's forlorn hope was treated at the crisis of her destiny. The +preparations on land were scarcely better. The militia had been called +out. A hundred thousand men had given their names, and the stations had +been arranged where they were to assemble if the enemy attempted a +landing. But there were no reserves, no magazines of arms, no stores or +tents, no requisites for an army save the men themselves and what local +resources could furnish. For a general the Queen had chosen the Earl of +Leicester, who might have the merit of fidelity to herself, but +otherwise was the worst fitted that she could have found in her whole +dominions; and the Prince of Parma was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> coming, if he came at all, at +the head of the best-provided and best-disciplined troops in Europe. The +hope of England at that moment was in her patient suffering sailors at +Plymouth. Each morning they looked out passionately for the Spanish +sails. Time was a worse enemy than the galleons. The six weeks would be +soon gone, and the Queen's ships must then leave the seas if the crews +were not to starve. Drake had certain news that the Armada had sailed. +Where was it? Once he dashed out as far as Ushant, but turned back, lest +it should pass him in the night and find Plymouth undefended; and +smaller grew the messes and leaner and paler the seamen's faces. Still +not a man murmured or gave in. They had no leisure to be sick.</p> + +<p>The last week of July had now come. There were half-rations for one week +more, and powder for two days' fighting. That was all. On so light a +thread such mighty issues were now depending. On Friday, the 23rd, the +Armada had started for the second time, the numbers undiminished; +religious fervour burning again, and heart and hope high as ever. +Saturday, Sunday, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> Monday they sailed on with a smooth sea and soft +south winds, and on Monday night the Duke found himself at the Channel +mouth with all his flock about him. Tuesday morning the wind shifted to +the north, then backed to the west, and blew hard. The sea got up, broke +into the stern galleries of the galleons, and sent the galleys looking +for shelter in French harbours. The fleet hove to for a couple of days, +till the weather mended. On Friday afternoon they sighted the Lizard and +formed into fighting order; the Duke in the centre, Alonzo de Leyva +leading in a vessel of his own called the <i>Rata Coronada</i>, Don Martin de +Recalde covering the rear. The entire line stretched to about seven +miles.</p> + +<p>The sacred banner was run up to the masthead of the <i>San Martin</i>. Each +ship saluted with all her guns, and every man—officer, noble, seaman, +or slave—knelt on the decks at a given signal to commend themselves to +Mary and her Son. We shall miss the meaning of this high epic story if +we do not realise that both sides had the most profound conviction that +they were fighting the battle of the Almighty. Two principles, freedom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +and authority, were contending for the guidance of mankind. In the +evening the Duke sent off two fast fly-boats to Parma to announce his +arrival in the Channel, with another reporting progress to Philip, and +saying that till he heard from the Prince he meant to stop at the Isle +of Wight. It is commonly said that his officers advised him to go in and +take Plymouth. There is no evidence for this. The island would have been +a far more useful position for them.</p> + +<p>At dark that Friday night the beacons were seen blazing all up the coast +and inland on the tops of the hills. They crept on slowly through +Saturday, with reduced canvas, feeling their way—not a sail to be seen. +At midnight a pinnace brought in a fishing-boat, from which they learnt +that on the sight of the signal fires the English had come out that +morning from Plymouth. Presently, when the moon rose, they saw sails +passing between them and the land. With daybreak the whole scene became +visible, and the curtain lifted on the first act of the drama. The +Armada was between Rame Head and the Eddystone, or a little to the west +of it. Plymouth Sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> was right open to their left. The breeze, which +had dropped in the night, was freshening from the south-west, and right +ahead of them, outside the Mew Stone, were eleven ships manœuvring to +recover the wind. Towards the land were some forty others, of various +sizes, and this formed, as far as they could see, the whole English +force. In numbers the Spaniards were nearly three to one. In the size of +the ships there was no comparison. With these advantages the Duke +decided to engage, and a signal was made to hold the wind and keep the +enemy apart. The eleven ships ahead were Howard's squadron; those inside +were Drake and the adventurers. With some surprise the Spanish officers +saw Howard reach easily to windward out of range and join Drake. The +whole English fleet then passed out close-hauled in line behind them and +swept along their rear, using guns more powerful than theirs and pouring +in broadsides from safe distance with deadly effect. Recalde, with +Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo, who came to his help, tried desperately to +close; but they could make nothing of it. They were out-sailed and +out-cannoned. The English fired five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> shots to one of theirs, and the +effect was the more destructive because, as with Rodney's action at +Dominica, the galleons were crowded with troops, and shot and splinters +told terribly among them.</p> + +<p>The experience was new and not agreeable. Recalde's division was badly +cut up, and a Spaniard present observes that certain officers showed +cowardice—a hit at the Duke, who had kept out of fire. The action +lasted till four in the afternoon. The wind was then freshening fast and +the sea rising. Both fleets had by this time passed the Sound, and the +Duke, seeing that nothing could be done, signalled to bear away up +Channel, the English following two miles astern. Recalde's own ship had +been an especial sufferer. She was observed to be leaking badly, to drop +behind, and to be in danger of capture. Pedro de Valdez wore round to +help him in the <i>Capitana</i>, of the Andalusian squadron, fouled the +<i>Santa Catalina</i> in turning, broke his bowsprit and foretopmast, and +became unmanageable. The Andalusian <i>Capitana</i> was one of the finest +ships in the Spanish fleet, and Don Pedro one of the ablest and most +popular commanders. She had 500 men on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> board, a large sum of money, +and, among other treasures, a box of jewel-hilted swords, which Philip +was sending over to the English Catholic peers. But it was growing dark. +Sea and sky looked ugly. The Duke was flurried, and signalled to go on +and leave Don Pedro to his fate. Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo rushed on +board the <i>San Martin</i> to protest. It was no use. Diego Florez said he +could not risk the safety of the fleet for a single officer. The +deserted <i>Capitana</i> made a brave defence, but could not save herself, +and fell, with the jewelled swords, 50,000 ducats, and a welcome supply +of powder, into Drake's hands.</p> + +<p>Off the Start there was a fresh disaster. Everyone was in ill-humour. A +quarrel broke out between the soldiers and seamen in Oquendo's galleon. +He was himself still absent. Some wretch or other flung a torch into the +powder magazine and jumped overboard. The deck was blown off, and 200 +men along with it.</p> + +<p>Two such accidents following an unsuccessful engagement did not tend to +reconcile the Spaniards to the Duke's command. Pedro de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> Valdez was +universally loved and honoured, and his desertion in the face of an +enemy so inferior in numbers was regarded as scandalous poltroonery. +Monday morning broke heavily. The wind was gone, but there was still a +considerable swell. The English were hull down behind. The day was spent +in repairing damages and nailing lead over the shot-holes. Recalde was +moved to the front, to be out of harm's way, and De Leyva took his post +in the rear.</p> + +<p>At sunset they were outside Portland. The English had come up within a +league; but it was now dead calm, and they drifted apart in the tide. +The Duke thought of nothing, but at midnight the Spanish officers +stirred him out of his sleep to urge him to set his great galleasses to +work; now was their chance. The dawn brought a chance still better, for +it brought an east wind, and the Spaniards had now the weather-gage. +Could they once close and grapple with the English ships, their superior +numbers would then assure them a victory, and Howard, being to leeward +and inshore, would have to pass through the middle of the Spanish line +to recover his advantage. However,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> it was the same story. The Spaniards +could not use an opportunity when they had one. New-modelled for +superiority of sailing, the English ships had the same advantage over +the galleons as the steam cruisers would have over the old +three-deckers. While the breeze held they went where they pleased. The +Spaniards were out-sailed, out-matched, crushed by guns of longer range +than theirs. Their own shot flew high over the low English hulls, while +every ball found its way through their own towering sides. This time the +<i>San Martin</i> was in the thick of it. Her double timbers were ripped and +torn; the holy standard was cut in two; the water poured through the +shot-holes. The men lost their nerve. In such ships as had no gentlemen +on board notable signs were observed of flinching.</p> + +<p>At the end of that day's fighting the English powder gave out. Two days' +service had been the limit of the Queen's allowance. Howard had pressed +for a more liberal supply at the last moment, and had received the +characteristic answer that he must state precisely how much he wanted +before more could be sent. The lighting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> of the beacons had quickened +the official pulse a little. A small addition had been despatched to +Weymouth or Poole, and no more could be done till it arrived. The Duke, +meanwhile, was left to smooth his ruffled plumes and drift on upon his +way. But by this time England was awake. Fresh privateers, with powder, +meat, bread, fruit, anything that they could bring, were pouring out +from the Dorsetshire harbours. Sir George Carey had come from the +Needles in time to share the honours of the last battle, 'round shot,' +as he said, 'flying thick as musket balls in a skirmish on land.'</p> + +<p>The Duke had observed uneasily from the <i>San Martin's</i> deck that his +pursuers were growing numerous. He had made up his mind definitely to go +for the Isle of Wight, shelter his fleet in the Solent, land 10,000 men +in the island, and stand on his defence till he heard from Parma. He +must fight another battle; but, cut up as he had been, he had as yet +lost but two ships, and those by accident. He might fairly hope to force +his way in with help from above, for which he had special reason to look +in the next engagement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> Wednesday was a breathless calm. The English +were taking in their supplies. The Armada lay still, repairing damages. +Thursday would be St. Dominic's Day. St. Dominic belonged to the Duke's +own family, and was his patron saint. St. Dominic he felt sure, would +now stand by his kinsman.</p> + +<p>The morning broke with a light air. The English would be less able to +move, and with the help of the galleasses he might hope to come to close +quarters at last. Howard seemed inclined to give him his wish. With just +wind enough to move the Lord Admiral led in the <i>Ark Raleigh</i> straight +down on the Spanish centre. The <i>Ark</i> out-sailed her consorts and found +herself alone with the galleons all round her. At that moment the wind +dropped. The Spanish boarding-parties were at their posts. The tops were +manned with musketeers, the grappling irons all prepared to fling into +the <i>Ark's</i> rigging. In imagination the English admiral was their own. +But each day's experience was to teach them a new lesson. Eleven boats +dropped from the <i>Ark's</i> sides and took her in tow. The breeze rose +again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> as she began to move. Her sails filled, and she slipped away +through the water, leaving the Spaniards as if they were at anchor, +staring in helpless amazement. The wind brought up Drake and the rest, +and then began again the terrible cannonade from which the Armada had +already suffered so frightfully. It seemed that morning as if the +English were using guns of even heavier metal than on either of the +preceding days. The armament had not been changed. The growth was in +their own frightened imagination. The Duke had other causes for +uneasiness. His own magazines were also giving out under the unexpected +demands upon them. One battle was the utmost which he had looked for. He +had fought three, and the end was no nearer than before. With resolution +he might still have made his way into St. Helen's roads, for the English +were evidently afraid to close with him. But when St. Dominic, too, +failed him he lost his head. He lost his heart, and losing heart he lost +all. In the Solent he would have been comparatively safe, and he could +easily have taken the Isle of Wight; but his one thought now was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> to +find safety under Parma's gaberdine and make for Calais or Dunkirk. He +supposed Parma to have already embarked, on hearing of his coming, with +a second armed fleet, and in condition for immediate action. He sent on +another pinnace, pressing for help, pressing for ammunition, and +fly-boats to protect the galleons; and Parma was himself looking to be +supplied from the Armada, with no second fleet at all, only a flotilla +of river barges which would need a week's work to be prepared for the +crossing.</p> + +<p>Philip had provided a splendid fleet, a splendid army, and the finest +sailors in the world except the English. He had failed to realise that +the grandest preparations are useless with a fool to command. The poor +Duke was less to blame than his master. An office had been thrust upon +him for which he knew that he had not a single qualification. His one +anxiety was to find Parma, lay the weight on Parma's shoulders, and so +have done with it.</p> + +<p>On Friday he was left alone to make his way up Channel towards the +French shore. The English still followed, but he counted that in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> Calais +roads he would be in French waters, where they would not dare to meddle +with him. They would then, he thought, go home and annoy him no further. +As he dropped anchor in the dusk outside Calais on Saturday evening he +saw, to his disgust, that the <i>endemoniada gente</i>—the infernal +devils—as he called them, had brought up at the same moment with +himself, half a league astern of him. His one trust was in the Prince of +Parma, and Parma at any rate was now within touch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_IX" id="LECTURE_IX"></a>LECTURE IX</h2> + +<h3>DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA</h3> + + +<p>In the gallery at Madrid there is a picture, painted by Titian, +representing the Genius of Spain coming to the delivery of the afflicted +Bride of Christ. Titian was dead, but the temper of the age survived, +and in the study of that great picture you will see the spirit in which +the Spanish nation had set out for the conquest of England. The scene is +the seashore. The Church a naked Andromeda, with dishevelled hair, +fastened to the trunk of an ancient disbranched tree. The cross lies at +her feet, the cup overturned, the serpents of heresy biting at her from +behind with uplifted crests. Coming on before a leading breeze is the +sea monster, the Moslem fleet, eager for their prey; while in front is +Perseus, the Genius of Spain, banner in hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> with the legions of the +faithful laying not raiment before him, but shield and helmet, the +apparel of war for the Lady of Nations to clothe herself with strength +and smite her foes.</p> + +<p>In the Armada the crusading enthusiasm had reached its point and focus. +England was the stake to which the Virgin, the daughter of Sion, was +bound in captivity. Perseus had come at last in the person of the Duke +of Medina Sidonia, and with him all that was best and brightest in the +countrymen of Cervantes, to break her bonds and replace her on her +throne. They had sailed into the Channel in pious hope, with the blessed +banner waving over their heads.</p> + +<p>To be the executor of the decrees of Providence is a lofty ambition, but +men in a state of high emotion overlook the precautions which are not to +be dispensed with even on the sublimest of errands. Don Quixote, when he +set out to redress the wrongs of humanity, forgot that a change of linen +might be necessary, and that he must take money with him to pay his +hotel bills. Philip II., in sending the Armada to England, and confident +in supernatural protection, imagined an unresisted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> triumphal +procession. He forgot that contractors might be rascals, that water four +months in the casks in a hot climate turned putrid, and that putrid +water would poison his ships' companies, though his crews were companies +of angels. He forgot that the servants of the evil one might fight for +their mistress after all, and that he must send adequate supplies of +powder, and, worst forgetfulness of all, that a great naval expedition +required a leader who understood his business. Perseus, in the shape of +the Duke of Medina Sidonia, after a week of disastrous battles, found +himself at the end of it in an exposed roadstead, where he ought never +to have been, nine-tenths of his provisions thrown overboard as unfit +for food, his ammunition exhausted by the unforeseen demands upon it, +the seamen and soldiers harassed and dispirited, officers the whole week +without sleep, and the enemy, who had hunted him from Plymouth to +Calais, anchored within half a league of him.</p> + +<p>Still, after all his misadventures, he had brought the fleet, if not to +the North Foreland, yet within a few miles of it, and to outward +appearance not materially injured. Two of the galleons had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> taken; +a third, the <i>Santa Aña</i>, had strayed; and his galleys had left him, +being found too weak for the Channel sea; but the great armament had +reached its destination substantially uninjured so far as English eyes +could see. Hundreds of men had been killed and hundreds more wounded, +and the spirit of the rest had been shaken. But the loss of life could +only be conjectured on board the English fleet. The English admiral +could only see that the Duke was now in touch with Parma. Parma, they +knew, had an army at Dunkirk with him, which was to cross to England. He +had been collecting men, barges, and transports all the winter and +spring, and the backward state of Parma's preparations could not be +anticipated, still less relied upon. The Calais anchorage was unsafe; +but at that season of the year, especially after a wet summer, the +weather usually settled; and to attack the Spaniards in a French port +might be dangerous for many reasons. It was uncertain after the day of +the Barricades whether the Duke of Guise or Henry of Valois was master +of France, and a violation of the neutrality laws might easily at that +moment bring Guise and France into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> field on the Spaniards' side. It +was, no doubt, with some such expectation that the Duke and his advisers +had chosen Calais as the point at which to bring up. It was now +Saturday, the 7th of August. The Governor of the town came off in the +evening to the <i>San Martin</i>. He expressed surprise to see the Spanish +fleet in so exposed a position, but he was profuse in his offers of +service. Anything which the Duke required should be provided, especially +every facility for communicating with Dunkirk and Parma. The Duke +thanked him, said that he supposed Parma to be already embarked with his +troops, ready for the passage, and that his own stay in the roads would +be but brief. On Monday morning at latest he expected that the attempt +to cross would be made. The Governor took his leave, and the Duke, +relieved from his anxieties, was left to a peaceful night. He was +disturbed on the Sunday morning by an express from Parma informing him +that, so far from being embarked, the army could not be ready for a +fortnight. The barges were not in condition for sea. The troops were in +camp. The arms and stores were on the quays at Dunkirk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> As for the +fly-boats and ammunition which the Duke had asked for, he had none to +spare. He had himself looked to be supplied from the Armada. He promised +to use his best expedition, but the Duke, meanwhile, must see to the +safety of the fleet.</p> + +<p>Unwelcome news to a harassed landsman thrust into the position of an +admiral and eager to be rid of his responsibilities. If by evil fortune +the north-wester should come down upon him, with the shoals and +sandbanks close under his lee, he would be in a bad way. Nor was the +view behind him calculated for comfort. There lay the enemy almost +within gunshot, who, though scarcely more than half his numbers, had +hunted him like a pack of bloodhounds, and, worse than all, in double +strength; for the Thames squadron—three Queen's ships and thirty London +adventurers—under Lord H. Seymour and Sir John Hawkins, had crossed in +the night. There they were between him and Cape Grisnez, and the +reinforcement meant plainly enough that mischief was in the wind.</p> + +<p>After a week so trying the Spanish crews<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> would have been glad of a +Sunday's rest if they could have had it; but the rough handling which +they had gone through had thrown everything into disorder. The sick and +wounded had to be cared for, torn rigging looked to, splintered timbers +mended, decks scoured, and guns and arms cleaned up and put to rights. +And so it was that no rest could be allowed; so much had to be done, and +so busy was everyone, that the usual rations were not served out and the +Sunday was kept as a fast. In the afternoon the stewards went ashore for +fresh meat and vegetables. They came back with their boats loaded, and +the prospect seemed a little less gloomy. Suddenly, as the Duke and a +group of officers were watching the English fleet from the <i>San +Martin's</i> poop deck, a small smart pinnace, carrying a gun in her bow, +shot out from Howard's lines, bore down on the <i>San Martin</i>, sailed +round her, sending in a shot or two as she passed, and went off unhurt. +The Spanish officers could not help admiring such airy impertinence. +Hugo de Monçada sent a ball after the pinnace, which went through her +mainsail, but did no damage, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> pinnace again disappeared behind +the English ships.</p> + +<p>So a Spanish officer describes the scene. The English story says nothing +of the pinnace; but she doubtless came and went as the Spaniard says, +and for sufficient purpose. The English, too, were in straits, though +the Duke did not dream of it. You will remember that the last supplies +which the Queen had allowed to the fleet had been issued in the middle +of June. They were to serve for a month, and the contractors were +forbidden to prepare more. The Queen had clung to her hope that her +differences with Philip were to be settled by the Commission at Ostend; +and she feared that if Drake and Howard were too well furnished they +would venture some fresh rash stroke on the coast of Spain, which might +mar the negotiations. Their month's provisions had been stretched to +serve for six weeks, and when the Armada appeared but two full days' +rations remained. On these they had fought their way up Channel. +Something had been brought out by private exertion on the Dorsetshire +coast, and Seymour had, perhaps, brought a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> little more. But they were +still in extremity. The contractors had warned the Government that they +could provide nothing without notice, and notice had not been given. The +adventurers were in better state, having been equipped by private +owners. But the Queen's ships in a day or two more must either go home +or their crews would be starving. They had been on reduced rations for +near two months. Worse than that, they were still poisoned by the sour +beer. The Queen had changed her mind so often, now ordering the fleet to +prepare for sea, then recalling her instructions and paying off the men, +that those whom Howard had with him had been enlisted in haste, had come +on board as they were, and their clothes were hanging in rags on them. +The fighting and the sight of the flying Spaniards were meat and drink, +and clothing too, and had made them careless of all else. There was no +fear of mutiny; but there was a limit to the toughest endurance. If the +Armada was left undisturbed a long struggle might be still before them. +The enemy would recover from its flurry, and Parma would come out from +Dunkirk. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> attack them directly in French waters might lead to +perilous complications, while delay meant famine. The Spanish fleet had +to be started from the roads in some way. Done it must be, and done +immediately.</p> + +<p>Then, on that same Sunday afternoon a memorable council of war was held +in the <i>Ark's</i> main cabin. Howard, Drake, Seymour, Hawkins, Martin +Frobisher, and two or three others met to consult, knowing that on them +at that moment the liberties of England were depending. Their resolution +was taken promptly. There was no time for talk. After nightfall a strong +flood tide would be setting up along shore to the Spanish anchorage. +They would try what could be done with fire-ships, and the excursion of +the pinnace, which was taken for bravado, was probably for a survey of +the Armada's exact position. Meantime eight useless vessels were coated +with pitch—hulls, spars, and rigging. Pitch was poured on the decks and +over the sides, and parties were told off to steer them to their +destination and then fire and leave them.</p> + +<p>The hours stole on, and twilight passed into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> dark. The night was +without a moon. The Duke paced his deck late with uneasy sense of +danger. He observed lights moving up and down the English lines, and +imagining that the <i>endemoniada gente</i>—the infernal devils—might be up +to mischief ordered a sharp look-out. A faint westerly air was curling +the water, and towards midnight the watchers on board the galleons made +out dimly several ships which seemed to be drifting down upon them. +Their experience since the action off Plymouth had been so strange and +unlooked for that anything unintelligible which the English did was +alarming.</p> + +<p>The phantom forms drew nearer, and were almost among them when they +broke into a blaze from water-line to truck, and the two fleets were +seen by the lurid light of the conflagration; the anchorage, the walls +and windows of Calais, and the sea shining red far as eye could reach, +as if the ocean itself was burning. Among the dangers which they might +have to encounter, English fireworks had been especially dreaded by the +Spaniards. Fire-ships—a fit device of heretics—had worked havoc among +the Spanish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> troops, when the bridge was blown up, at Antwerp. They +imagined that similar infernal machines were approaching the Armada. A +capable commander would have sent a few launches to grapple the burning +hulks, which of course were now deserted, and tow them out of harm's +way. Spanish sailors were not cowards, and would not have flinched from +duty because it might be dangerous; but the Duke and Diego Florez lost +their heads again. A signal gun from the <i>San Martin</i> ordered the whole +fleet to slip their cables and stand out to sea.</p> + +<p>Orders given in panic are doubly unwise, for they spread the terror in +which they originate. The danger from the fire-ships was chiefly from +the effect on the imagination, for they appear to have drifted by and +done no real injury. And it speaks well for the seamanship and courage +of the Spaniards that they were able, crowded together as they were, at +midnight and in sudden alarm to set their canvas and clear out without +running into one another. They buoyed their cables, expecting to return +for them at daylight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> and with only a single accident, to be mentioned +directly, they executed successfully a really difficult manœuvre.</p> + +<p>The Duke was delighted with himself. The fire-ships burnt harmlessly +out. He had baffled the inventions of the <i>endemoniada gente</i>. He +brought up a league outside the harbour, and supposed that the whole +Armada had done the same. Unluckily for himself, he found it at daylight +divided into two bodies. The <i>San Martin</i> with forty of the best +appointed of the galleons were riding together at their anchors. The +rest, two-thirds of the whole, having no second anchors ready, and +inexperienced in Channel tides and currents, had been lying to. The west +wind was blowing up. Without seeing where they were going they had +drifted to leeward, and were two leagues off, towards Gravelines, +dangerously near the shore. The Duke was too ignorant to realise the +full peril of his situation. He signalled to them to return and rejoin +him. As the wind and tide stood it was impossible. He proposed to follow +them. The pilots told him that if he did the whole fleet might be lost +on the banks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> Towards the land the look of things was not more +encouraging.</p> + +<p>One accident only had happened the night before. The Capitana galleass, +with Don Hugo de Monçada and eight hundred men on board, had fouled her +helm in a cable in getting under way and had become unmanageable. The +galley slaves disobeyed orders, or else Don Hugo was as incompetent as +his commander-in-chief. The galleass had gone on the sands, and as the +tide ebbed had fallen over on her side. Howard, seeing her condition, +had followed her in the <i>Ark</i> with four or five other of the Queen's +ships, and was furiously attacking her with his boats, careless of +neutrality laws. Howard's theory was, as he said, to pluck the feathers +one by one from the Spaniard's wing, and here was a feather worth +picking up. The galleass was the most splendid vessel of her kind +afloat, Don Hugo one of the greatest of Spanish grandees.</p> + +<p>Howard was making a double mistake. He took the galleass at last, after +three hours' fighting. Don Hugo was killed by a musket ball. The vessel +was plundered, and Howard's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> men took possession, meaning to carry her +away when the tide rose. The French authorities ordered him off, +threatening to fire upon him; and after wasting the forenoon, he was +obliged at last to leave her where she lay. Worse than this, he had lost +three precious hours, and had lost along with them, in the opinion of +the Prince of Parma, the honours of the great day.</p> + +<p>Drake and Hawkins knew better than to waste time plucking single +feathers. The fire-ships had been more effective than they could have +dared to hope. The enemy was broken up. The Duke was shorn of half his +strength, and the Lord had delivered him into their hand. He had got +under way, still signalling wildly, and uncertain in which direction to +turn. His uncertainties were ended for him by seeing Drake bearing down +upon him with the whole English fleet, save those which were loitering +about the galleass. The English had now the advantage of numbers. The +superiority of their guns he knew already, and their greater speed +allowed him no hope to escape a battle. Forty ships alone were left to +him to defend the banner of the crusade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> and the honour of Castile; but +those forty were the largest and the most powerfully armed and manned +that he had, and on board them were Oquendo, De Leyva, Recalde, and +Bretandona, the best officers in the Spanish navy next to the lost Don +Pedro.</p> + +<p>It was now or never for England. The scene of the action which was to +decide the future of Europe was between Calais and Dunkirk, a few miles +off shore, and within sight of Parma's camp. There was no more +manœuvring for the weather-gage, no more fighting at long range. +Drake dashed straight upon his prey as the falcon stoops upon its +quarry. A chance had fallen to him which might never return; not for the +vain distinction of carrying prizes into English ports, not for the ray +of honour which would fall on him if he could carry off the sacred +banner itself and hang it in the Abbey at Westminster, but a chance so +to handle the Armada that it should never be seen again in English +waters, and deal such a blow on Philip that the Spanish Empire should +reel with it. The English ships had the same superiority over the +galleons which steamers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> have now over sailing vessels. They had twice +the speed; they could lie two points nearer to the wind. Sweeping round +them at cable's length, crowding them in one upon the other, yet never +once giving them a chance to grapple, they hurled in their cataracts of +round shot. Short as was the powder supply, there was no sparing it that +morning. The hours went on, and still the battle raged, if battle it +could be called where the blows were all dealt on one side and the +suffering was all on the other. Never on sea or land did the Spaniards +show themselves worthier of their great name than on that day. But from +the first they could do nothing. It was said afterwards in Spain that +the Duke showed the white feather, that he charged his pilot to keep him +out of harm's way, that he shut himself up in his cabin, buried in +woolpacks, and so on. The Duke had faults enough, but poltroonery was +not one of them. He, who till he entered the English Channel had never +been in action on sea or land, found himself, as he said, in the midst +of the most furious engagement recorded in the history of the world. As +to being out of harm's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> way, the standard at his masthead drew the +hottest of the fire upon him. The <i>San Martin's</i> timbers were of oak and +a foot thick, but the shot, he said, went through them enough to shatter +a rock. Her deck was a slaughterhouse; half his company were killed or +wounded, and no more would have been heard or seen of the <i>San Martin</i> +or her commander had not Oquendo and De Leyva pushed in to the rescue +and enabled him to creep away under their cover. He himself saw nothing +more of the action after this. The smoke, he said, was so thick that he +could make out nothing, even from his masthead. But all round it was but +a repetition of the same scene. The Spanish shot flew high, as before, +above the low English hulls, and they were themselves helpless butts to +the English guns. And it is noticeable and supremely creditable to them +that not a single galleon struck her colours. One of them, after a long +duel with an Englishman, was on the point of sinking. An English +officer, admiring the courage which the Spaniards had shown, ran out +upon his bowsprit, told them that they had done all which became men, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> urged them to surrender and save their lives. For answer they +cursed the English as cowards and chickens because they refused to +close. The officer was shot. His fall brought a last broadside on them, +which finished the work. They went down, and the water closed over them. +Rather death to the soldiers of the Cross than surrender to a heretic.</p> + +<p>The deadly hail rained on. In some ships blood was seen streaming out of +the scupper-holes. Yet there was no yielding; all ranks showed equal +heroism. The priests went up and down in the midst of the carnage, +holding the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. At midday Howard came +up to claim a second share in a victory which was no longer doubtful. +Towards the afternoon the Spanish fire slackened. Their powder was gone, +and they could make no return to the cannonade which was still +overwhelming them. They admitted freely afterwards that if the attack +had been continued but two hours more they must all have struck or gone +ashore. But the English magazines were empty also; the last cartridge +was shot away, and the battle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> ended from mere inability to keep it up. +It had been fought on both sides with peculiar determination. In the +English there was the accumulated resentment of thirty years of menace +to their country and their creed, with the enemy in tangible shape at +last to be caught and grappled with; in the Spanish, the sense that if +their cause had not brought them the help they looked for from above, +the honour and faith of Castile should not suffer in their hands.</p> + +<p>It was over. The English drew off, regretting that their thrifty +mistress had limited their means of fighting for her, and so obliged +them to leave their work half done. When the cannon ceased the wind +rose, the smoke rolled away, and in the level light of the sunset they +could see the results of the action.</p> + +<p>A galleon in Recalde's squadron was sinking with all hands. The <i>San +Philip</i> and the <i>San Matteo</i> were drifting dismasted towards the Dutch +coast, where they were afterwards wrecked. Those which were left with +canvas still showing were crawling slowly after their comrades who had +not been engaged, the spars and rigging so cut up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> that they could +scarce bear their sails. The loss of life could only be conjectured, but +it had been obviously terrible. The nor'-wester was blowing up and was +pressing the wounded ships upon the shoals, from which, if it held, it +seemed impossible in their crippled state they would be able to work +off.</p> + +<p>In this condition Drake left them for the night, not to rest, but from +any quarter to collect, if he could, more food and powder. The snake had +been scotched, but not killed. More than half the great fleet were far +away, untouched by shot, perhaps able to fight a second battle if they +recovered heart. To follow, to drive them on the banks if the wind held, +or into the North Sea, anywhere so that he left them no chance of +joining hands with Parma again, and to use the time before they had +rallied from his blows, that was the present necessity. His own poor +fellows were famished and in rags; but neither he nor they had leisure +to think of themselves. There was but one thought in the whole of them, +to be again in chase of the flying foe. Howard was resolute as Drake. +All that was possible was swiftly done.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> Seymour and the Thames squadron +were to stay in the Straits and watch Parma. From every attainable +source food and powder were collected for the rest—far short in both +ways of what ought to have been, but, as Drake said, 'we were resolved +to put on a brag and go on as if we needed nothing.' Before dawn the +admiral and he were again off on the chase.</p> + +<p>The brag was unneeded. What man could do had been done, and the rest was +left to the elements. Never again could Spanish seamen be brought to +face the English guns with Medina Sidonia to lead them. They had a fool +at their head. The Invisible Powers in whom they had been taught to +trust had deserted them. Their confidence was gone and their spirit +broken. Drearily the morning broke on the Duke and his consorts the day +after the battle. The Armada had collected in the night. The nor'-wester +had freshened to a gale, and they were labouring heavily along, making +fatal leeway towards the shoals.</p> + +<p>It was St. Lawrence's Day, Philip's patron saint, whose shoulder-bone he +had lately added to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> the treasures of the Escurial; but St. Lawrence was +as heedless as St. Dominic. The <i>San Martin</i> had but six fathoms under +her. Those nearer to the land signalled five, and right before them they +could see the brown foam of the breakers curling over the sands, while +on their weather-beam, a mile distant and clinging to them like the +shadow of death, were the English ships which had pursued them from +Plymouth like the dogs of the Furies. The Spanish sailors and soldiers +had been without food since the evening when they anchored at Calais. +All Sunday they had been at work, no rest allowed them to eat. On the +Sunday night they had been stirred out of their sleep by the fire-ships. +Monday they had been fighting, and Monday night committing their dead to +the sea. Now they seemed advancing directly upon inevitable destruction. +As the wind stood there was still room for them to wear and thus escape +the banks, but they would then have to face the enemy, who seemed only +refraining from attacking them because while they continued on their +present course the winds and waves would finish the work without help +from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> man. Recalde, De Leyva, Oquendo, and other officers were sent for +to the <i>San Martin</i> to consult. Oquendo came last. 'Ah, Señor Oquendo,' +said the Duke as the heroic Biscayan stepped on board, 'que haremos?' +(what shall we do?) 'Let your Excellency bid load the guns again,' was +Oquendo's gallant answer. It could not be. De Leyva himself said that +the men would not fight the English again. Florez advised surrender. The +Duke wavered. It was said that a boat was actually lowered to go off to +Howard and make terms, and that Oquendo swore that if the boat left the +<i>San Martin</i> on such an errand he would fling Florez into the sea. +Oquendo's advice would have, perhaps, been the safest if the Duke could +have taken it. There were still seventy ships in the Armada little hurt. +The English were 'bragging,' as Drake said, and in no condition +themselves for another serious engagement. But the temper of the entire +fleet made a courageous course impossible. There was but one Oquendo. +Discipline was gone. The soldiers in their desperation had taken the +command out of the hands of the seamen. Officers and men alike +abandoned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> hope, and, with no human prospect of salvation left to them, +they flung themselves on their knees upon the decks and prayed the +Almighty to have pity on them. But two weeks were gone since they had +knelt on those same decks on the first sight of the English shore to +thank Him for having brought them so far on an enterprise so glorious. +Two weeks; and what weeks! Wrecked, torn by cannon shot, ten thousand of +them dead or dying—for this was the estimated loss by battle—the +survivors could now but pray to be delivered from a miserable death by +the elements. In cyclones the wind often changes suddenly back from +north-west to west, from west to south. At that moment, as if in answer +to their petition, one of these sudden shifts of wind saved them from +the immediate peril. The gale backed round to S.S.W., and ceased to +press them on the shoals. They could ease their sheets, draw off into +open water, and steer a course up the middle of the North Sea.</p> + +<p>So only that they went north, Drake was content to leave them +unmolested. Once away into the high latitudes they might go where they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +would. Neither Howard nor he, in the low state of their own magazines, +desired any unnecessary fighting. If the Armada turned back they must +close with it. If it held its present course they must follow it till +they could be assured it would communicate no more for that summer with +the Prince of Parma. Drake thought they would perhaps make for the +Baltic or some port in Norway. They would meet no hospitable reception +from either Swedes or Danes, but they would probably try. One only +imminent danger remained to be provided against. If they turned into the +Forth, it was still possible for the Spaniards to redeem their defeat, +and even yet shake Elizabeth's throne. Among the many plans which had +been formed for the invasion of England, a landing in Scotland had long +been the favourite. Guise had always preferred Scotland when it was +intended that Guise should be the leader. Santa Cruz had been in close +correspondence with Guise on this very subject, and many officers in the +Armada must have been acquainted with Santa Cruz's views. The Scotch +Catholic nobles were still savage at Mary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> Stuart's execution, and had +the Armada anchored in Leith Roads with twenty thousand men, half a +million ducats, and a Santa Cruz at its head, it might have kindled a +blaze at that moment from John o' Groat's Land to the Border.</p> + +<p>But no such purpose occurred to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. He probably +knew nothing at all of Scotland or its parties. Among the many +deficiencies which he had pleaded to Philip as unfitting him for the +command, he had said that Santa Cruz had acquaintances among the English +and Scotch peers. He had himself none. The small information which he +had of anything did not go beyond his orange gardens and his tunny +fishing. His chief merit was that he was conscious of his incapacity; +and, detesting a service into which he had been fooled by a hysterical +nun, his only anxiety was to carry home the still considerable fleet +which had been trusted to him without further loss. Beyond Scotland and +the Scotch Isles there was the open ocean, and in the open ocean there +were no sandbanks and no English guns. Thus, with all sail set he went +on before the wind. Drake and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> Howard attended him till they had seen +him past the Forth, and knew then that there was no more to fear. It was +time to see to the wants of their own poor fellows, who had endured so +patiently and fought so magnificently. On the 13th of August they saw +the last of the Armada, turned back, and made their way to the Thames.</p> + +<p>But the story has yet to be told of the final fate of the great +'enterprise of England' (the 'empresa de Inglaterra'), the object of so +many prayers, on which the hopes of the Catholic world had been so long +and passionately fixed. It had been ostentatiously a religious crusade. +The preparations had been attended with peculiar solemnities. In the +eyes of the faithful it was to be the execution of Divine justice on a +wicked princess and a wicked people. In the eyes of millions whose +convictions were less decided it was an appeal to God's judgment to +decide between the Reformation and the Pope. There was an +appropriateness, therefore, if due to accident, that other causes +besides the action of man should have combined in its overthrow.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards were experienced sailors; a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> voyage round the Orkneys and +round Ireland to Spain might be tedious, but at that season of the year +need not have seemed either dangerous or difficult. On inquiry, however, +it was found that the condition of the fleet was seriously alarming. The +provisions placed on board at Lisbon had been found unfit for food, and +almost all had been thrown into the sea. The fresh stores taken in at +Corunna had been consumed, and it was found that at the present rate +there would be nothing left in a fortnight. Worse than all, the +water-casks refilled there had been carelessly stowed. They had been +shot through in the fighting and were empty; while of clothing or other +comforts for the cold regions which they were entering no thought had +been taken. The mules and horses were flung overboard, and Scotch +smacks, which had followed the retreating fleet, reported that they had +sailed for miles through floating carcases.</p> + +<p>The rations were reduced for each man to a daily half-pound of biscuit, +a pint of water, and a pint of wine. Thus, sick and hungry, the wounded +left to the care of a medical officer, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> went from ship to ship, the +subjects of so many prayers were left to encounter the climate of the +North Atlantic. The Duke blamed all but himself; he hanged one poor +captain for neglect of orders, and would have hanged another had he +dared; but his authority was gone. They passed the Orkneys in a single +body. They then parted, it was said in a fog; but each commander had to +look out for himself and his men. In many ships water must be had +somewhere, or they would die. The <i>San Martin</i>, with sixty consorts, +went north to the sixtieth parallel. From that height the pilots +promised to take them down clear of the coast. The wind still clung to +the west, each day blowing harder than the last. When they braced round +to it their wounded spars gave way. Their rigging parted. With the +greatest difficulty they made at last sufficient offing, and rolled down +somehow out of sight of land, dipping their yards in the enormous seas. +Of the rest, one or two went down among the Western Isles and became +wrecks there, their crews, or part of them, making their way through +Scotland to Flanders. Others went north to Shetland or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> Faroe +Islands. Between thirty and forty were tempted in upon the Irish coasts. +There were Irishmen in the fleet, who must have told them that they +would find the water there for which they were perishing, safe harbours, +and a friendly Catholic people; and they found either harbours which +they could not reach or sea-washed sands and reefs. They were all +wrecked at various places between Donegal and the Blaskets. Something +like eight thousand half-drowned wretches struggled on shore alive. Many +were gentlemen, richly dressed, with velvet coats, gold chains, and +rings. The common sailors and soldiers had been paid their wages before +they started, and each had a bag of ducats lashed to his waist when he +landed through the surf. The wild Irish of the coast, tempted by the +booty, knocked unknown numbers of them on the head with their +battle-axes, or stripped them naked and left them to die of the cold. On +one long sand strip in Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred +bodies, and he heard that there were as many more a few miles distant.</p> + +<p>The better-educated of the Ulster chiefs, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> O'Rourke and O'Donnell, +hurried down to stop the butchery and spare Ireland the shame of +murdering helpless Catholic friends. Many—how many cannot be +said—found protection in their castles. But even so it seemed as if +some inexorable fate pursued all who had sailed in that doomed +expedition. Alonzo de Leyva, with half a hundred young Spanish nobles of +high rank who were under his special charge, made his way in a galleass +into Killibeg. He was himself disabled in landing. O'Donnell received +and took care of him and his companions. After remaining in O'Donnell's +castle for a month he recovered. The weather appeared to mend. The +galleass was patched up, and De Leyva ventured an attempt to make his +way in her to Scotland. He had passed the worst danger, and Scotland was +almost in sight; but fate would have its victims. The galleass struck a +rock off Dunluce and went to pieces, and Don Alonzo and the princely +youths who had sailed with him were washed ashore all dead, to find an +unmarked grave in Antrim.</p> + +<p>Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> fell into the hands of +the English garrisons in Galway and Mayo. Galleons had found their way +into Galway Bay—one of them had reached Galway itself—the crews half +dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water. The +Galway townsmen were human, and tried to feed and care for them. Most +were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion. Some might have +recovered, but recovered they would be a danger to the State. The +English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the midst of a +sullen, half-conquered population. The ashes of the Desmond rebellion +were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine Commission were +fresh in immediate memory. The defeat of the Armada in the Channel could +only have been vaguely heard of. All that English officers could have +accurately known must have been that an enormous expedition had been +sent to England by Philip to restore the Pope; and Spaniards, they +found, were landing in thousands in the midst of them with arms and +money; distressed for the moment, but sure, if allowed time to get their +strength again, to set Connaught in a blaze.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> They had no fortresses to +hold so many prisoners, no means of feeding them, no men to spare to +escort them to Dublin. They were responsible to the Queen's Government +for the safety of the country. The Spaniards had not come on any errand +of mercy to her or hers. The stern order went out to kill them all +wherever they might be found, and two thousand or more were shot, +hanged, or put to the sword. Dreadful! Yes, but war itself is dreadful +and has its own necessities.</p> + +<p>The sixty ships which had followed the <i>San Martin</i> succeeded at last in +getting round Cape Clear, but in a condition scarcely less miserable +than that of their companions who had perished in Ireland. Half their +companies died—died of untended wounds, hunger, thirst, and famine +fever. The survivors were moving skeletons, more shadows and ghosts than +living men, with scarce strength left them to draw a rope or handle a +tiller. In some ships there was no water for fourteen days. The weather +in the lower latitudes lost part of its violence, or not one of them +would have seen Spain again. As it was they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> drifted on outside Scilly +and into the Bay of Biscay, and in the second week in September they +dropped in one by one. Recalde, with better success than the rest, made +Corunna. The Duke, not knowing where he was, found himself in sight of +Corunna also. The crew of the <i>San Martin</i> were prostrate, and could not +work her in. They signalled for help, but none came, and they dropped +away to leeward to Bilbao. Oquendo had fallen off still farther to +Santander, and the rest of the sixty arrived in the following days at +one or other of the Biscay ports. On board them, of the thirty thousand +who had left those shores but two months before in high hope and +passionate enthusiasm, nine thousand only came back alive—if alive they +could be called. It is touching to read in a letter from Bilbao of their +joy at warm Spanish sun, the sight of the grapes on the white walls, and +the taste of fresh home bread and water again. But it came too late to +save them, and those whose bodies might have rallied died of broken +hearts and disappointed dreams. Santa Cruz's old companions could not +survive the ruin of the Spanish navy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> Recalde died two days after he +landed at Bilbao. Santander was Oquendo's home. He had a wife and +children there, but he refused to see them, turned his face to the wall, +and died too. The common seamen and soldiers were too weak to help +themselves. They had to be left on board the poisoned ships till +hospitals could be prepared to take them in. The authorities of Church +and State did all that men could do; but the case was past help, and +before September was out all but a few hundred needed no further care.</p> + +<p>Philip, it must be said for him, spared nothing to relieve the misery. +The widows and orphans were pensioned by the State. The stroke which had +fallen was received with a dignified submission to the inscrutable +purposes of Heaven. Diego Florez escaped with a brief punishment at +Burgos. None else were punished for faults which lay chiefly in the +King's own presumption in imagining himself the instrument of +Providence.</p> + +<p>The Duke thought himself more sinned against than sinning. He did not +die, like Recalde or Oquendo, seeing no occasion for it. He flung down +his command and retired to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> palace at San Lucan; and so far was +Philip from resenting the loss of the Armada on its commander, that he +continued him in his governorship of Cadiz, where Essex found him seven +years later, and where he ran from Essex as he had run from Drake.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards made no attempt to conceal the greatness of their defeat. +Unwilling to allow that the Upper Powers had been against them, they set +it frankly down to the superior fighting powers of the English.</p> + +<p>The English themselves, the Prince of Parma said, were modest in their +victory. They thought little of their own gallantry. To them the defeat +and destruction of the Spanish fleet was a declaration of the Almighty +in the cause of their country and the Protestant faith. Both sides had +appealed to Heaven, and Heaven had spoken.</p> + +<p>It was the turn of the tide. The wave of the reconquest of the +Netherlands ebbed from that moment. Parma took no more towns from the +Hollanders. The Catholic peers and gentlemen of England, who had held +aloof from the Established Church, waiting <i>ad illud tempus</i> for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +religious revolution, accepted the verdict of Providence. They +discovered that in Anglicanism they could keep the faith of their +fathers, yet remain in communion with their Protestant fellow-countrymen, +use the same liturgy, and pray in the same temples. For the first time +since Elizabeth's father broke the bonds of Rome the English became a +united nation, joined in loyal enthusiasm for the Queen, and were +satisfied that thenceforward no Italian priest should tithe or toll +in her dominions.</p> + +<p>But all that, and all that went with it, the passing from Spain to +England of the sceptre of the seas, must be left to other lectures, or +other lecturers who have more years before them than I. My own theme has +been the poor Protestant adventurers who fought through that perilous +week in the English Channel and saved their country and their country's +liberty.</p> + + +<h4>THE END</h4> + + +<p class='center'><i>Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay.</i></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by +James Anthony Froude + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + +***** This file should be named 18209-h.htm or 18209-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/0/18209/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century + Lectures Delivered at Oxford Easter Terms 1893-4 + +Author: James Anthony Froude + +Release Date: April 19, 2006 [EBook #18209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +ENGLISH SEAMEN + +IN + +THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + +_LECTURES DELIVERED AT OXFORD EASTER TERMS 1893-4_ + +BY + +JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE + +LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD + + + + +New Edition +LONDON +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1896 +[_All rights reserved_] +RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON & BUNGAY. + + + + + CONTENTS + + LECTURE PAGE + + I. THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION 1 + + II. JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE 35 + + III. SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND 68 + + IV. DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD 102 + + V. PARTIES IN THE STATE 141 + + VI. THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES 176 + + VII. ATTACK ON CADIZ 207 + + VIII. SAILING OF THE ARMADA 238 + + IX. DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 272 + + + + +LECTURE I + +THE SEA CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION + + +Jean Paul, the German poet, said that God had given to France the empire +of the land, to England the empire of the sea, and to his own country +the empire of the air. The world has changed since Jean Paul's days. The +wings of France have been clipped; the German Empire has become a solid +thing; but England still holds her watery dominion; Britannia does still +rule the waves, and in this proud position she has spread the English +race over the globe; she has created the great American nation; she is +peopling new Englands at the Antipodes; she has made her Queen Empress +of India; and is in fact the very considerable phenomenon in the social +and political world which all acknowledge her to be. And all this she +has achieved in the course of three centuries, entirely in consequence +of her predominance as an ocean power. Take away her merchant fleets; +take away the navy that guards them: her empire will come to an end; her +colonies will fall off, like leaves from a withered tree; and Britain +will become once more an insignificant island in the North Sea, for the +future students in Australian and New Zealand universities to discuss +the fate of in their debating societies. + +How the English navy came to hold so extraordinary a position is worth +reflecting on. Much has been written about it, but little, as it seems +to me, which touches the heart of the matter. We are shown the power of +our country growing and expanding. But how it grew, why, after a sleep +of so many hundred years, the genius of our Scandinavian forefathers +suddenly sprang again into life--of this we are left without +explanation. + +The beginning was undoubtedly the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. +Down to that time the sea sovereignty belonged to the Spaniards, and had +been fairly won by them. The conquest of Granada had stimulated and +elevated the Spanish character. The subjects of Ferdinand and Isabella, +of Charles V. and Philip II., were extraordinary men, and accomplished +extraordinary things. They stretched the limits of the known world; they +conquered Mexico and Peru; they planted their colonies over the South +American continent; they took possession of the great West Indian +islands, and with so firm a grasp that Cuba at least will never lose the +mark of the hand which seized it. They built their cities as if for +eternity. They spread to the Indian Ocean, and gave their monarch's name +to the _Philippines_. All this they accomplished in half a century, and, +as it were, they did it with a single hand; with the other they were +fighting Moors and Turks and protecting the coast of the Mediterranean +from the corsairs of Tunis and Constantinople. + +They had risen on the crest of the wave, and with their proud _Non +sufficit orbis_ were looking for new worlds to conquer, at a time when +the bark of the English water-dogs had scarcely been heard beyond their +own fishing-grounds, and the largest merchant vessel sailing from the +port of London was scarce bigger than a modern coasting collier. And yet +within the space of a single ordinary life these insignificant islanders +had struck the sceptre from the Spaniards' grasp and placed the ocean +crown on the brow of their own sovereign. How did it come about? What +Cadmus had sown dragons' teeth in the furrows of the sea for the race to +spring from who manned the ships of Queen Elizabeth, who carried the +flag of their own country round the globe, and challenged and fought the +Spaniards on their own coasts and in their own harbours? + +The English sea power was the legitimate child of the Reformation. It +grew, as I shall show you, directly out of the new despised +Protestantism. Matthew Parker and Bishop Jewel, the judicious Hooker +himself, excellent men as they were, would have written and preached to +small purpose without Sir Francis Drake's cannon to play an +accompaniment to their teaching. And again, Drake's cannon would not +have roared so loudly and so widely without seamen already trained in +heart and hand to work his ships and level his artillery. It was to the +superior seamanship, the superior quality of English ships and crews, +that the Spaniards attributed their defeat. Where did these ships come +from? Where and how did these mariners learn their trade? Historians +talk enthusiastically of the national spirit of a people rising with a +united heart to repel the invader, and so on. But national spirit could +not extemporise a fleet or produce trained officers and sailors to match +the conquerors of Lepanto. One slight observation I must make here at +starting, and certainly with no invidious purpose. It has been said +confidently, it has been repeated, I believe, by all modern writers, +that the Spanish invasion suspended in England the quarrels of creed, +and united Protestants and Roman Catholics in defence of their Queen and +country. They remind us especially that Lord Howard of Effingham, who +was Elizabeth's admiral, was himself a Roman Catholic. But was it so? +The Earl of Arundel, the head of the House of Howard, was a Roman +Catholic, and he was in the Tower praying for the success of Medina +Sidonia. Lord Howard of Effingham was no more a Roman Catholic than--I +hope I am not taking away their character--than the present Archbishop +of Canterbury or the Bishop of London. He was a Catholic, but an English +Catholic, as those reverend prelates are. Roman Catholic he could not +possibly have been, nor anyone who on that great occasion was found on +the side of Elizabeth. A Roman Catholic is one who acknowledges the +Roman Bishop's authority. The Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth, had +pronounced her deposed, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, +and forbidden them to fight for her. No Englishman who fought on that +great occasion for English liberty was, or could have been, in communion +with Rome. Loose statements of this kind, lightly made, fall in with the +modern humour. They are caught up, applauded, repeated, and pass +unquestioned into history. It is time to correct them a little. + +I have in my possession a detailed account of the temper of parties in +England, drawn up in the year 1585, three years before the Armada came. +The writer was a distinguished Jesuit. The account itself was prepared +for the use of the Pope and Philip, with a special view to the reception +which an invading force would meet with, and it goes into great detail. +The people of the towns--London, Bristol, &c.--were, he says, generally +heretics. The peers, the gentry, their tenants, and peasantry, who +formed the immense majority of the population, were almost universally +Catholics. But this writer distinguishes properly among Catholics. There +were the ardent impassioned Catholics, ready to be confessors and +martyrs, ready to rebel at the first opportunity, who had renounced +their allegiance, who desired to overthrow Elizabeth and put the Queen +of Scots in her place. The number of these, he says, was daily +increasing, owing to the exertions of the seminary priests; and plots, +he boasts, were being continually formed by them to murder the Queen. +There were Catholics of another sort, who were papal at heart, but went +with the times to save their property; who looked forward to a change in +the natural order of things, but would not stir of themselves till an +invading army actually appeared. But all alike, he insists, were eager +for a revolution. Let the Prince of Parma come, and they would all join +him; and together these two classes of Catholics made three-fourths of +the nation. + +'The only party,' he says (and this is really noticeable), 'the only +party that would fight to death for the Queen, the only real friends she +had, were the _Puritans_ (it is the first mention of the name which I +have found), the Puritans of London, the Puritans of the sea towns.' +These he admits were dangerous, desperate, determined men. The numbers +of them, however, were providentially small. + +The date of this document is, as I said, 1585, and I believe it +generally accurate. The only mistake is that among the Anglican +Catholics there were a few to whom their country was as dear as their +creed--a few who were beginning to see that under the Act of Uniformity +Catholic doctrine might be taught and Catholic ritual practised; who +adhered to the old forms of religion, but did not believe that obedience +to the Pope was a necessary part of them. One of these was Lord Howard +of Effingham, whom the Queen placed in his high command to secure the +wavering fidelity of the peers and country gentlemen. But the force, the +fire, the enthusiasm came (as the Jesuit saw) from the Puritans, from +men of the same convictions as the Calvinists of Holland and Rochelle; +men who, driven from the land, took to the ocean as their natural home, +and nursed the Reformation in an ocean cradle. How the seagoing +population of the North of Europe took so strong a Protestant impression +it is the purpose of these lectures to explain. + +Henry VIII. on coming to the throne found England without a fleet, and +without a conscious sense of the need of one. A few merchant hulks +traded with Bordeaux and Cadiz and Lisbon; hoys and fly-boats drifted +slowly backwards and forwards between Antwerp and the Thames. A fishing +fleet tolerably appointed went annually to Iceland for cod. Local +fishermen worked the North Sea and the Channel from Hull to Falmouth. +The Chester people went to Kinsale for herrings and mackerel: but that +was all--the nation had aspired to no more. + +Columbus had offered the New World to Henry VII. while the discovery was +still in the air. He had sent his brother to England with maps and +globes, and quotations from Plato to prove its existence. Henry, like a +practical Englishman, treated it as a wild dream. + +The dream had come from the gate of horn. America was found, and the +Spaniard, and not the English, came into first possession of it. Still, +America was a large place, and John Cabot the Venetian with his son +Sebastian tried Henry again. England might still be able to secure a +slice. This time Henry VII. listened. Two small ships were fitted out at +Bristol, crossed the Atlantic, discovered Newfoundland, coasted down to +Florida looking for a passage to Cathay, but could not find one. The +elder Cabot died; the younger came home. The expedition failed, and no +interest had been roused. + +With the accession of Henry VIII. a new era had opened--a new era in +many senses. Printing was coming into use--Erasmus and his companions +were shaking Europe with the new learning, Copernican astronomy was +changing the level disk of the earth into a revolving globe, and turning +dizzy the thoughts of mankind. Imagination was on the stretch. The +reality of things was assuming proportions vaster than fancy had dreamt, +and unfastening established belief on a thousand sides. The young Henry +was welcomed by Erasmus as likely to be the glory of the age that was +opening. He was young, brilliant, cultivated, and ambitious. To what +might he not aspire under the new conditions! Henry VIII. was all that, +but he was cautious and looked about him. Europe was full of wars in +which he was likely to be entangled. His father had left the treasury +well furnished. The young King, like a wise man, turned his first +attention to the broad ditch, as he called the British Channel, which +formed the natural defence of the realm. The opening of the Atlantic had +revolutionised war and seamanship. Long voyages required larger vessels. +Henry was the first prince to see the place which gunpowder was going +to hold in wars. In his first years he repaired his dockyards, built new +ships on improved models, and imported Italians to cast him new types of +cannon. 'King Harry loved a man,' it was said, and knew a man when he +saw one. He made acquaintance with sea captains at Portsmouth and +Southampton. In some way or other he came to know one Mr. William +Hawkins, of Plymouth, and held him in especial esteem. This Mr. Hawkins, +under Henry's patronage, ventured down to the coast of Guinea and +brought home gold and ivory; crossed over to Brazil; made friends with +the Brazilian natives; even brought back with him the king of those +countries, who was curious to see what England was like, and presented +him to Henry at Whitehall. + +Another Plymouth man, Robert Thorne, again with Henry's help, went out +to look for the North-west passage which Cabot had failed to find. +Thorne's ship was called the _Dominus Vobiscum_, a pious aspiration +which, however, secured no success. A London man, a Master Hore, tried +next. Master Hore, it is said, was given to cosmography, was a +plausible talker at scientific meetings, and so on. He persuaded 'divers +young lawyers' (briefless barristers, I suppose) and other +gentlemen--altogether a hundred and twenty of them--to join him. They +procured two vessels at Gravesend. They took the sacrament together +before sailing. They apparently relied on Providence to take care of +them, for they made little other preparation. They reached Newfoundland, +but their stores ran out, and their ships went on shore. In the land of +fish they did not know how to use line and bait. They fed on roots and +bilberries, and picked fish-bones out of the ospreys' nests. At last +they began to eat one another--careless of Master Hore, who told them +they would go to unquenchable fire. A French vessel came in. They seized +her with the food she had on board and sailed home in her, leaving the +French crew to their fate. The poor French happily found means of +following them. They complained of their treatment, and Henry ordered an +inquiry; but finding, the report says, the great distress Master Hore's +party had been in, was so moved with pity, that he did not punish them, +but out of his own purse made royal recompense to the French. + +Something better than gentlemen volunteers was needed if naval +enterprise was to come to anything in England. The long wars between +Francis I. and Charles V. brought the problem closer. On land the +fighting was between the regular armies. At sea privateers were let +loose out of French, Flemish, and Spanish ports. Enterprising +individuals took out letters of marque and went cruising to take the +chance of what they could catch. The Channel was the chief +hunting-ground, as being the highway between Spain and the Low +Countries. The interval was short between privateers and pirates. +Vessels of all sorts passed into the business. The Scilly Isles became a +pirate stronghold. The creeks and estuaries in Cork and Kerry furnished +hiding-places where the rovers could lie with security and share their +plunder with the Irish chiefs. The disorder grew wilder when the divorce +of Catherine of Aragon made Henry into the public enemy of Papal Europe. +English traders and fishing-smacks were plundered and sunk. Their crews +went armed to defend themselves, and from Thames mouth to Land's End the +Channel became the scene of desperate fights. The type of vessel altered +to suit the new conditions. Life depended on speed of sailing. The State +Papers describe squadrons of French or Spaniards flying about, dashing +into Dartmouth, Plymouth, or Falmouth, cutting out English coasters, or +fighting one another. + +After Henry was excommunicated, and Ireland rebelled, and England itself +threatened disturbance, the King had to look to his security. He made +little noise about it. But the Spanish ambassador reported him as +silently building ships in the Thames and at Portsmouth. As invasion +seemed imminent, he began with sweeping the seas of the looser vermin. A +few swift well-armed cruisers pushed suddenly out of the Solent, caught +and destroyed a pirate fleet in Mount's Bay, sent to the bottom some +Flemish privateers in the Downs, and captured the Flemish admiral +himself. Danger at home growing more menacing, and the monks spreading +the fire which grew into the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry suppressed the +abbeys, sold the lands, and with the proceeds armed the coast with +fortresses. 'You threaten me,' he seemed to say to them, 'that you will +use the wealth our fathers gave you to overthrow my Government and bring +in the invader. I will take your wealth, and I will use it to disappoint +your treachery.' You may see the remnants of Henry's work in the +fortresses anywhere along the coast from Berwick to the Land's End. + +Louder thundered the Vatican. In 1539 Henry's time appeared to have +come. France and Spain made peace, and the Pope's sentence was now +expected to be executed by Charles or Francis, or both. A crowd of +vessels large and small was collected in the Scheldt, for what purpose +save to transport an army into England? Scotland had joined the Catholic +League. Henry fearlessly appealed to the English people. Catholic peers +and priests might conspire against him, but, explain it how we will, the +nation was loyal to Henry and came to his side. The London merchants +armed their ships in the river. From the seaports everywhere came armed +brigantines and sloops. The fishermen of the West left their boats and +nets to their wives, and the fishing was none the worse, for the women +handled oar and sail and line and went to the whiting-grounds, while +their husbands had gone to fight for their King. Genius kindled into +discovery at the call of the country. Mr. Fletcher of Rye (be his name +remembered) invented a boat the like of which was never seen before, +which would work to windward, with sails trimmed fore and aft, the +greatest revolution yet made in shipbuilding. A hundred and fifty sail +collected at Sandwich to match the armament in the Scheldt; and +Marillac, the French ambassador, reported with amazement the energy of +King and people. + +The Catholic Powers thought better of it. This was not the England which +Reginald Pole had told them was longing for their appearance. The +Scheldt force dispersed. Henry read Scotland a needed lesson. The Scots +had thought to take him at disadvantage, and sit on his back when the +Emperor attacked him. One morning when the people at Leith woke out of +their sleep, they found an English fleet in the Roads; and before they +had time to look about them, Leith was on fire and Edinburgh was taken. +Charles V., if he had ever seriously thought of invading Henry, returned +to wiser counsels, and made an alliance with him instead. The Pope +turned to France. If the Emperor forsook him, the Most Christian King +would help. He promised Francis that if he could win England he might +keep it for himself. Francis resolved to try what he could do. + +Five years had passed since the gathering at Sandwich. It was now the +summer of 1544. The records say that the French collected at Havre near +300 vessels, fighting ships, galleys, and transports. Doubtless the +numbers are far exaggerated, but at any rate it was the largest force +ever yet got together to invade England, capable, if well handled, of +bringing Henry to his knees. The plan was to seize and occupy the Isle +of Wight, destroy the English fleet, then take Portsmouth and +Southampton, and so advance on London. + +Henry's attention to his navy had not slackened. He had built ship on +ship. The _Great Harry_ was a thousand tons, carried 700 men, and was +the wonder of the day. There were a dozen others scarcely less +imposing. The King called again on the nation, and again the nation +answered. In England altogether there were 150,000 men in arms in field +or garrison. In the King's fleet at Portsmouth there were 12,000 seamen, +and the privateers of the West crowded up eagerly as before. It is +strange, with the notions which we have allowed ourselves to form of +Henry, to observe the enthusiasm with which the whole country, as yet +undivided by doctrinal quarrels, rallied a second time to defend him. + +In this Portsmouth fleet lay undeveloped the genius of the future naval +greatness of England. A small fact connected with it is worth recording. +The watchword on board was, 'God save the King'; the answer was, 'Long +to reign over us': the earliest germ discoverable of the English +National Anthem. + +The King had come himself to Portsmouth to witness the expected attack. +The fleet was commanded by Lord Lisle, afterwards Duke of +Northumberland. It was the middle of July. The French crossed from Havre +unfought with, and anchored in St. Helens Roads off Brading Harbour. +The English, being greatly inferior in numbers, lay waiting for them +inside the Spit. The morning after the French came in was still and +sultry. The English could not move for want of wind. The galleys crossed +over and engaged them for two or three hours with some advantage. The +breeze rose at noon; a few fast sloops got under way and easily drove +them back. But the same breeze which enabled the English to move brought +a serious calamity with it. The Mary Rose, one of Lisle's finest +vessels, had been under the fire of the galleys. Her ports had been left +open, and when the wind sprang up, she heeled over, filled, and went +down, carrying two hundred men along with her. The French saw her sink, +and thought their own guns had done it. They hoped to follow up their +success. At night they sent over boats to take soundings, and discover +the way into the harbour. The boats reported that the sandbanks made the +approach impossible. The French had no clear plan of action. They tried +a landing in the island, but the force was too small, and failed. They +weighed anchor and brought up again behind Selsea Bill, where Lisle +proposed to run them down in the dark, taking advantage of the tide. But +they had an enemy to deal with worse than Lisle, on board their own +ships, which explained their distracted movements. Hot weather, putrid +meat, and putrid water had prostrated whole ships' companies with +dysentery. After a three weeks' ineffectual cruise they had to hasten +back to Havre, break up, and disperse. The first great armament which +was to have recovered England to the Papacy had effected nothing. Henry +had once more shown his strength, and was left undisputed master of the +narrow seas. + +So matters stood for what remained of Henry's reign. As far as he had +gone, he had quarrelled with the Pope, and had brought the Church under +the law. So far the country generally had gone with him, and there had +been no violent changes in the administration of religion. When Henry +died the Protector abolished the old creed, and created a new and +perilous cleavage between Protestant and Catholic, and, while England +needed the protection of a navy more than ever, allowed the fine fleet +which Henry had left to fall into decay. The spirit of enterprise grew +with the Reformation. Merchant companies opened trade with Russia and +the Levant; adventurous sea captains went to Guinea for gold. Sir Hugh +Willoughby followed the phantom of the North-west Passage, turning +eastward round the North Cape to look for it, and perished in the ice. +English commerce was beginning to grow in spite of the Protector's +experiments; but a new and infinitely dangerous element had been +introduced by the change of religion into the relations of English +sailors with the Catholic Powers, and especially with Spain. In their +zeal to keep out heresy, the Spanish Government placed their harbours +under the control of the Holy Office. Any vessel in which an heretical +book was found was confiscated, and her crew carried to the Inquisition +prisons. It had begun in Henry's time. The Inquisitors attempted to +treat schism as heresy and arrest Englishmen in their ports. But Henry +spoke up stoutly to Charles V., and the Holy Office had been made to +hold its hand. All was altered now. It was not necessary that a poor +sailor should have been found teaching heresy. It was enough if he had +an English Bible and Prayer Book with him in his kit; and stories would +come into Dartmouth or Plymouth how some lad that everybody knew--Bill +or Jack or Tom, who had wife or father or mother among them, +perhaps--had been seized hold of for no other crime, been flung into a +dungeon, tortured, starved, set to work in the galleys, or burned in a +fool's coat, as they called it, at an _auto da fe_ at Seville. + +The object of the Inquisition was partly political: it was meant to +embarrass trade and make the people impatient of changes which produced +so much inconvenience. The effect was exactly the opposite. Such +accounts when brought home created fury. There grew up in the seagoing +population an enthusiasm of hatred for that holy institution, and a +passionate desire for revenge. + +The natural remedy would have been war; but the division of nations was +crossed by the division of creeds; and each nation had allies in the +heart of every other. If England went to war with Spain, Spain could +encourage insurrection among the Catholics. If Spain or France declared +war against England, England could help the Huguenots or the Holland +Calvinists. All Governments were afraid alike of a general war of +religion which might shake Europe in pieces. Thus individuals were left +to their natural impulses. The Holy Office burnt English or French +Protestants wherever it could catch them. The Protestants revenged their +injuries at their own risk and in their own way, and thus from Edward +VI.'s time to the end of the century privateering came to be the special +occupation of adventurous honourable gentlemen, who could serve God, +their country, and themselves in fighting Catholics. Fleets of these +dangerous vessels swept the Channel, lying in wait at Scilly, or even at +the Azores--disowned in public by their own Governments while secretly +countenanced, making war on their own account on what they called the +enemies of God. In such a business, of course, there were many mere +pirates engaged who cared neither for God nor man. But it was the +Protestants who were specially impelled into it by the cruelties of the +Inquisition. The Holy Office began the work with the _autos da fe_. The +privateers robbed, burnt, and scuttled Catholic ships in retaliation. +One fierce deed produced another, till right and wrong were obscured in +the passion of religious hatred. Vivid pictures of these wild doings +survive in the English and Spanish State Papers. Ireland was the rovers' +favourite haunt. In the universal anarchy there, a little more or a +little less did not signify. Notorious pirate captains were to be met in +Cork or Kinsale, collecting stores, casting cannon, or selling their +prizes--men of all sorts, from fanatical saints to undisguised ruffians. +Here is one incident out of many to show the heights to which temper had +risen. + +'Long peace,' says someone, addressing the Privy Council early in +Elizabeth's time, 'becomes by force of the Spanish Inquisition more +hurtful than open war. It is the secret, determined policy of Spain to +destroy the English fleet, pilots, masters and sailors, by means of the +Inquisition. The Spanish King pretends he dares not offend the Holy +House, while we in England say we may not proclaim war against Spain in +revenge of a few. Not long since the Spanish Inquisition executed sixty +persons of St. Malo, notwithstanding entreaty to the King of Spain to +spare them. Whereupon the Frenchmen armed their pinnaces, lay for the +Spaniards, took a hundred and beheaded them, sending the Spanish ships +to the shore with their heads, leaving in each ship but one man to +render the cause of the revenge. Since which time Spanish Inquisitors +have never meddled with those of St. Malo.' + +A colony of Huguenot refugees had settled on the coast of Florida. The +Spaniards heard of it, came from St. Domingo, burnt the town, and hanged +every man, woman, and child, leaving an inscription explaining that the +poor creatures had been killed, not as Frenchmen, but as heretics. +Domenique de Gourges, of Rochelle, heard of this fine exploit of +fanaticism, equipped a ship, and sailed across. He caught the Spanish +garrison which had been left in occupation and swung them on the same +trees--with a second scroll saying that they were dangling there, not as +Spaniards, but as murderers. + +The genius of adventure tempted men of highest birth into the rovers' +ranks. Sir Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother and the King's uncle, +was Lord High Admiral. In his time of office, complaints were made by +foreign merchants of ships and property seized at the Thames mouth. No +redress could be had; no restitution made; no pirate was even punished, +and Seymour's personal followers were seen suspiciously decorated with +Spanish ornaments. It appeared at last that Seymour had himself bought +the Scilly Isles, and if he could not have his way at Court, it was said +that he meant to set up there as a pirate chief. + +The persecution under Mary brought in more respectable recruits than +Seymour. The younger generation of the western families had grown with +the times. If they were not theologically Protestant, they detested +tyranny. They detested the marriage with Philip, which threatened the +independence of England. At home they were powerless, but the sons of +honourable houses--Strangways, Tremaynes, Staffords, Horseys, Carews, +Killegrews, and Cobhams--dashed out upon the water to revenge the +Smithfield massacres. They found help where it could least have been +looked for. Henry II. of France hated heresy, but he hated Spain worse. +Sooner than see England absorbed in the Spanish monarchy, he forgot his +bigotry in his politics. He furnished these young mutineers with ships +and money and letters of marque. The Huguenots were their natural +friends. With Rochelle for an arsenal, they held the mouth of the +Channel, and harassed the communications between Cadiz and Antwerp. It +was a wild business: enterprise and buccaneering sanctified by religion +and hatred of cruelty; but it was a school like no other for seamanship, +and a school for the building of vessels which could out-sail all others +on the sea; a school, too, for the training up of hardy men, in whose +blood ran detestation of the Inquisition and the Inquisition's master. +Every other trade was swallowed up or coloured by privateering; the +merchantmen went armed, ready for any work that offered; the Iceland +fleet went no more in search of cod; the Channel boatmen forsook nets +and lines and took to livelier occupations; Mary was too busy burning +heretics to look to the police of the seas; her father's fine ships +rotted in harbour; her father's coast-forts were deserted or dismantled; +she lost Calais; she lost the hearts of her people in forcing them into +orthodoxy; she left the seas to the privateers; and no trade flourished, +save what the Catholic Powers called piracy. + +When Elizabeth came to the throne, the whole merchant navy of England +engaged in lawful commerce amounted to no more than 50,000 tons. You may +see more now passing every day through the Gull Stream. In the service +of the Crown there were but seven revenue cruisers in commission, the +largest 120 tons, with eight merchant brigs altered for fighting. In +harbour there were still a score of large ships, but they were +dismantled and rotting; of artillery fit for sea work there was none. +The men were not to be had, and, as Sir William Cecil said, to fit out +ships without men was to set armour on stakes on the seashore. The +mariners of England were otherwise engaged, and in a way which did not +please Cecil. He was the ablest minister that Elizabeth had. He saw at +once that on the navy the prosperity and even the liberty of England +must eventually depend. If England were to remain Protestant, it was not +by articles of religion or acts of uniformity that she could be saved +without a fleet at the back of them. But he was old-fashioned. He +believed in law and order, and he has left a curious paper of +reflections on the situation. The ships' companies in Henry VIII.'s days +were recruited from the fishing-smacks, but the Reformation itself had +destroyed the fishing trade. In old times, Cecil said, no flesh was +eaten on fish days. The King himself could not have license. Now to eat +beef or mutton on fish days was the test of a true believer. The English +Iceland fishery used to supply Normandy and Brittany as well as England. +Now it had passed to the French. The Chester men used to fish the Irish +seas. Now they had left them to the Scots. The fishermen had taken to +privateering because the fasts of the Church were neglected. He saw it +was so. He recorded his own opinion that piracy, as he called it, was +_detestable_, and could not last. He was to find that it could last, +that it was to form the special discipline of the generation whose +business would be to fight the Spaniards. But he struggled hard against +the unwelcome conclusion. He tried to revive lawful trade by a +Navigation Act. He tried to restore the fisheries by Act of Parliament. +He introduced a Bill recommending godly abstinence as a means to virtue, +making the eating of meat on Fridays and Saturdays a misdemeanour, and +adding Wednesday as a half fish-day. The House of Commons laughed at him +as bringing back Popish mummeries. To please the Protestants he inserted +a clause, that the statute was politicly meant for the increase of +fishermen and mariners, not for any superstition in the choice of meats; +but it was no use. The Act was called in mockery 'Cecil's Fast,' and the +recovery of the fisheries had to wait till the natural inclination of +human stomachs for fresh whiting and salt cod should revive of itself. + +Events had to take their course. Seamen were duly provided in other +ways, and such as the time required. Privateering suited Elizabeth's +convenience, and suited her disposition. She liked daring and adventure. +She liked men who would do her work without being paid for it, men whom +she could disown when expedient; who would understand her, and would not +resent it. She knew her turn was to come when Philip had leisure to deal +with her, if she could not secure herself meanwhile. Time was wanted to +restore the navy. The privateers were a resource in the interval. They +might be called pirates while there was formal peace. The name did not +signify. They were really the armed force of the country. After the war +broke out in the Netherlands, they had commissions from the Prince of +Orange. Such commissions would not save them if taken by Spain, but it +enabled them to sell their prizes, and for the rest they trusted to +their speed and their guns. When Elizabeth was at war with France about +Havre, she took the most noted of them into the service of the Crown. +Ned Horsey became Sir Edward and Governor of the Isle of Wight; +Strangways, a Red Rover in his way, who had been the terror of the +Spaniards, was killed before Rouen; Tremayne fell at Havre, mourned over +by Elizabeth; and Champernowne, one of the most gallant of the whole of +them, was killed afterwards at Coligny's side at Moncontour. + +But others took their places: the wild hawks as thick as seagulls +flashing over the waves, fair wind or foul, laughing at pursuit, brave, +reckless, devoted, the crews the strangest medley: English from the +Devonshire and Cornish creeks, Huguenots from Rochelle; Irish kernes +with long skenes, 'desperate, unruly persons with no kind of mercy.' + +The Holy Office meanwhile went on in cold, savage resolution: the Holy +Office which had begun the business and was the cause of it. + +A note in Cecil's hand says that in the one year 1562 twenty-six English +subjects had been burnt at the stake in different parts of Spain. Ten +times as many were starving in Spanish dungeons, from which +occasionally, by happy accident, a cry could be heard like this which +follows. In 1561 an English merchant writes from the Canaries: + +'I was taken by those of the Inquisition twenty months past, put into a +little dark house two paces long, loaded with irons, without sight of +sun or moon all that time. When I was arraigned I was charged that I +should say our mass was as good as theirs; that I said I would rather +give money to the poor than buy Bulls of Rome with it. I was charged +with being a subject to the Queen's grace, who, they said, was enemy to +the Faith, Antichrist, with other opprobrious names; and I stood to the +defence of the Queen's Majesty, proving the infamies most untrue. Then I +was put into Little Ease again, protesting very innocent blood to be +demanded against the judge before Christ.' + +The innocent blood of these poor victims had not to wait to be avenged +at the Judgment Day. The account was presented shortly and promptly at +the cannon's mouth. + + + + +LECTURE II + +JOHN HAWKINS AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE + + +I begin this lecture with a petition addressed to Queen Elizabeth. +Thomas Seely, a merchant of Bristol, hearing a Spaniard in a Spanish +port utter foul and slanderous charges against the Queen's character, +knocked him down. To knock a man down for telling lies about Elizabeth +might be a breach of the peace, but it had not yet been declared heresy. +The Holy Office, however, seized Seely, threw him into a dungeon, and +kept him starving there for three years, at the end of which he +contrived to make his condition known in England. The Queen wrote +herself to Philip to protest. Philip would not interfere. Seely remained +in prison and in irons, and the result was a petition from his wife, in +which the temper which was rising can be read as in letters of fire. +Dorothy Seely demands that 'the friends of her Majesty's subjects so +imprisoned and tormented in Spain may make out ships at their proper +charges, take such Inquisitors or other Papistical subjects of the King +of Spain as they can by sea or land, and retain them in prison with such +torments and diet as her Majesty's subjects be kept with in Spain, and +on complaint made by the King to give such answer as is now made when +her Majesty sues for subjects imprisoned by the Inquisition. Or that a +Commission be granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other +bishops word for word for foreign Papists as the Inquisitors have in +Spain for the Protestants. So that all may know that her Majesty cannot +and will not longer endure the spoils and torments of her subjects, and +the Spaniards shall not think this noble realm dares not seek revenge of +such importable wrongs.' + +Elizabeth issued no such Commission as Dorothy Seely asked for, but she +did leave her subjects to seek their revenge in their own way, and they +sought it sometimes too rashly. + +In the summer of 1563 eight English merchantmen anchored in the roads +of Gibraltar. England and France were then at war. A French brig came in +after them, and brought up near. At sea, if they could take her, she +would have been a lawful prize. Spaniards under similar circumstances +had not respected the neutrality of English harbours. The Englishmen +were perhaps in doubt what to do, when the officers of the Holy Office +came off to the French ship. The sight of the black familiars drove the +English wild. Three of them made a dash at the French ship, intending to +sink her. The Inquisitors sprang into their boat, and rowed for their +lives. The castle guns opened, and the harbour police put out to +interfere. The French ship, however, would have been taken, when +unluckily Alvarez de Bacan, with a Spanish squadron, came round into the +Straits. Resistance was impossible. The eight English ships were +captured and carried off to Cadiz. The English flag was trailed under De +Bacan's stern. The crews, two hundred and forty men in all, were +promptly condemned to the galleys. In defence they could but say that +the Frenchman was an enemy, and a moderate punishment would have +sufficed for a violation of the harbour rules which the Spaniards +themselves so little regarded. But the Inquisition was inexorable, and +the men were treated with such peculiar brutality that after nine months +ninety only of the two hundred and forty were alive. + +Ferocity was answered by ferocity. Listen to this! The Cobhams of +Cowling Castle were Protestants by descent. Lord Cobham was famous in +the Lollard martyrology. Thomas Cobham, one of the family, had taken to +the sea like many of his friends. While cruising in the Channel he +caught sight of a Spaniard on the way from Antwerp to Cadiz with forty +prisoners on board, consigned, it might be supposed, to the Inquisition. +They were, of course, Inquisition prisoners; for other offenders would +have been dealt with on the spot. Cobham chased her down into the Bay of +Biscay, took her, scuttled her, and rescued the captives. But that was +not enough. The captain and crew he sewed up in their own mainsail and +flung them overboard. They were washed ashore dead, wrapped in their +extraordinary winding-sheet. Cobham was called to account for this +exploit, but he does not seem to have been actually punished. In a very +short time he was out and away again at the old work. There were plenty +with him. After the business at Gibraltar, Philip's subjects were not +safe in English harbours. Jacques le Clerc, a noted privateer, called +Pie de Palo from his wooden leg, chased a Spaniard into Falmouth, and +was allowed to take her under the guns of Pendennis. The Governor of the +castle said that he could not interfere, because Le Clerc had a +commission from the Prince of Conde. It was proved that in the summer of +1563 there were 400 English and Huguenot rovers in and about the +Channel, and that they had taken 700 prizes between them. The Queen's +own ships followed suit. Captain Cotton in the _Phoenix_ captured an +Antwerp merchantman in Flushing. The harbour-master protested. Cotton +laughed, and sailed away with his prize. The Regent Margaret wrote in +indignation to Elizabeth. Such insolence, she said, was not to be +endured. She would have Captain Cotton chastised as an example to all +others. Elizabeth measured the situation more correctly than the Regent; +she preferred to show Philip that she was not afraid of him. She +preferred to let her subjects discover for themselves that the terrible +Spaniard before whom the world trembled was but a colossus stuffed with +clouts. Until Philip consented to tie the hands of the Holy Office she +did not mean to prevent them from taking the law into their own hands. + +Now and then, if occasion required, Elizabeth herself would do a little +privateering on her own account. In the next story that I have to tell +she appears as a principal, and her great minister, Cecil, as an +accomplice. The Duke of Alva had succeeded Margaret as Regent of the +Netherlands, and was drowning heresy in its own blood. The Prince of +Orange was making a noble fight; but all went ill with him. His troops +were defeated, his brother Louis was killed. He was still struggling, +helped by Elizabeth's money. But the odds were terrible, and the only +hope lay in the discontent of Alva's soldiers, who had not been paid +their wages, and would not fight without them. Philip's finances were +not flourishing, but he had borrowed half a million ducats from a house +at Genoa for Alva's use. The money was to be delivered in bullion at +Antwerp. The Channel privateers heard that it was coming and were on the +look-out for it. The vessel in which it was sent took refuge in +Plymouth, but found she had run into the enemy's nest. Nineteen or +twenty Huguenot and English cruisers lay round her with commissions from +Conde to take every Catholic ship they met with. Elizabeth's special +friends thought and said freely that so rich a prize ought to fall to no +one but her Majesty. Elizabeth thought the same, but for a more +honourable reason. It was of the highest consequence that the money +should not reach the Duke of Alva at that moment. Even Cecil said so, +and sent the Prince of Orange word that it would be stopped in some way. + +But how could it decently be done? Bishop Jewel relieved the Queen's +mind (if it was ever disturbed) on the moral side of the question. The +bishop held that it would be meritorious in a high degree to intercept a +treasure which was to be used in the murder of Protestant Christians. +But the how was the problem. To let the privateers take it openly in +Plymouth harbour would, it was felt, be a scandal. Sir Arthur +Champernowne, the Vice-admiral of the West, saw the difficulty and +offered his services. He had three vessels of his own in Conde's +privateer fleet, under his son Henry. As vice-admiral he was first in +command at Plymouth. He placed a guard on board the treasure ship, +telling the captain it would be a discredit to the Queen's Government if +harm befell her in English waters. He then wrote to Cecil. + +'If,' he said, 'it shall seem good to your honour that I with others +shall give the attempt for her Majesty's use which cannot be without +blood, I will not only take it in hand, but also receive the blame +thereof unto myself, to the end so great a commodity should redound to +her Grace, hoping that, after bitter storms of her displeasure, showed +at the first to colour the fact, I shall find the calm of her favour in +such sort as I am most willing to hazard myself to serve her Majesty. +Great pity it were such a rich booty should escape her Grace. But surely +I am of that mind that anything taken from that wicked nation is both +necessary and profitable to our commonwealth.' + +Very shocking on Sir Arthur's part to write such a letter: so many good +people will think. I hope they will consider it equally shocking that +King Philip should have burned English sailors at the stake because they +were loyal to the laws of their own country; that he was stirring war +all over Europe to please the Pope, and thrusting the doctrines of the +Council of Trent down the throats of mankind at the sword's point. Spain +and England might be at peace; Romanism and Protestantism were at deadly +war, and war suspends the obligations of ordinary life. Crimes the most +horrible were held to be virtues in defence of the Catholic faith. The +Catholics could not have the advantage of such indulgences without the +inconveniences. The Protestant cause throughout Europe was one, and +assailed as the Protestants were with such envenomed ferocity, they +could not afford to be nicely scrupulous in the means they used to +defend themselves. + +Sir Arthur Champernowne was not called on to sacrifice himself in such +peculiar fashion, and a better expedient was found to secure Alva's +money. The bullion was landed and was brought to London by road on the +plea that the seas were unsafe. It was carried to the Tower, and when it +was once inside the walls it was found to remain the property of the +Genoese until it was delivered at Antwerp. The Genoese agent in London +was as willing to lend it to Elizabeth as to Philip, and indeed +preferred the security. Elizabeth calmly said that she had herself +occasion for money, and would accept their offer. Half of it was sent to +the Prince of Orange; half was spent on the Queen's navy. + +Alva was of course violently angry. He arrested every English ship in +the Low Countries. He arrested every Englishman that he could catch, and +sequestered all English property. Elizabeth retaliated in kind. The +Spanish and Flemish property taken in England proved to be worth double +what had been secured by Alva. Philip could not declare war. The +Netherlands insurrection was straining his resources, and with Elizabeth +for an open enemy the whole weight of England would have been thrown on +the side of the Prince of Orange. Elizabeth herself should have +declared war, people say, instead of condescending to such tricks. +Perhaps so; but also perhaps not. These insults, steadily maintained and +unresented, shook the faith of mankind, and especially of her own +sailors, in the invincibility of the Spanish colossus. + +I am now to turn to another side of the subject. The stories which I +have told you show the temper of the time, and the atmosphere which men +were breathing, but it will be instructive to look more closely at +individual persons, and I will take first John Hawkins (afterwards Sir +John), a peculiarly characteristic figure. + +The Hawkinses of Plymouth were a solid middle-class Devonshire family, +who for two generations had taken a leading part in the business of the +town. They still survive in the county--Achins we used to call them +before school pronunciation came in, and so Philip wrote the name when +the famous John began to trouble his dreams. I have already spoken of +old William Hawkins, John's father, whom Henry VIII. was so fond of, +and who brought over the Brazilian King. Old William had now retired and +had left his place and his work to his son. John Hawkins may have been +about thirty at Elizabeth's accession. He had witnessed the wild times +of Edward VI. and Mary, but, though many of his friends had taken to the +privateering business, Hawkins appears to have kept clear of it, and +continued steadily at trade. One of these friends, and his contemporary, +and in fact his near relation, was Thomas Stukely, afterwards so +notorious--and a word may be said of Stukely's career as a contrast to +that of Hawkins. He was a younger son of a leading county family, went +to London to seek his fortune, and became a hanger-on of Sir Thomas +Seymour. Doubtless he was connected with Seymour's pirating scheme at +Scilly, and took to pirating as an occupation like other Western +gentlemen. When Elizabeth became Queen, he introduced himself at Court +and amused her with his conceit. He meant to be a king, nothing less +than a king. He would go to Florida, found an empire there, and write to +the Queen as his dearest sister. She gave him leave to try. He bought a +vessel of 400 tons, got 100 tall soldiers to join him besides the crew, +and sailed from Plymouth in 1563. Once out of harbour, he announced that +the sea was to be his Florida. He went back to the pirate business, +robbed freely, haunted Irish creeks, and set up an intimacy with the +Ulster hero, Shan O'Neil. Shan and Stukely became bosom friends. Shan +wrote to Elizabeth to recommend that she should make over Ireland to +Stukely and himself to manage, and promised, if she agreed, to make it +such an Ireland as had never been seen, which they probably would. +Elizabeth not consenting, Stukely turned Papist, transferred his +services to the Pope and Philip, and was preparing a campaign in Ireland +under the Pope's direction, when he was tempted to join Sebastian of +Portugal in the African expedition, and there got himself killed. + +Stukely was a specimen of the foolish sort of the young Devonshire men; +Hawkins was exactly his opposite. He stuck to business, avoided +politics, traded with Spanish ports without offending the Holy Office, +and formed intimacies and connections with the Canary Islands +especially, where it was said 'he grew much in love and favour with the +people.' + +At the Canaries he naturally heard much about the West Indies. He was +adventurous. His Canaries friends told him that negroes were great +merchandise in the Spanish settlements in Espanola, and he himself was +intimately acquainted with the Guinea coast, and knew how easily such a +cargo could be obtained. + +We know to what the slave trade grew. We have all learnt to repent of +the share which England had in it, and to abhor everyone whose hands +were stained by contact with so accursed a business. All that may be +taken for granted; but we must look at the matter as it would have been +represented at the Canaries to Hawkins himself. + +The Carib races whom the Spaniards found in Cuba and St. Domingo had +withered before them as if struck by a blight. Many died under the lash +of the Spanish overseers; many, perhaps the most, from the mysterious +causes which have made the presence of civilisation so fatal to the Red +Indian, the Australian, and the Maori. It is with men as it is with +animals. The races which consent to be domesticated prosper and +multiply. Those which cannot live without freedom pine like caged eagles +or disappear like the buffaloes of the prairies. + +Anyway, the natives perished out of the islands of the Caribbean Sea +with a rapidity which startled the conquerors. The famous Bishop Las +Casas pitied and tried to save the remnant that were left. The Spanish +settlers required labourers for the plantations. On the continent of +Africa were another race, savage in their natural state, which would +domesticate like sheep and oxen, and learnt and improved in the white +man's company. The negro never rose of himself out of barbarism; as his +fathers were, so he remained from age to age; when left free, as in +Liberia and in Hayti, he reverts to his original barbarism; while in +subjection to the white man he showed then, and he has shown since, high +capacities of intellect and character. Such is, such was the fact. It +struck Las Casas that if negroes could be introduced into the West +Indian islands, the Indians might be left alone; the negroes themselves +would have a chance to rise out of their wretchedness, could be made +into Christians, and could be saved at worst from the horrid fate which +awaited many of them in their own country. + +The black races varied like other animals: some were gentle and timid, +some were ferocious as wolves. The strong tyrannised over the weak, made +slaves of their prisoners, occasionally ate them, and those they did not +eat they sacrificed at what they called their _customs_--offered them up +and cut their throats at the altars of their idols. These customs were +the most sacred traditions of the negro race. They were suspended while +the slave trade gave the prisoners a value. They revived when the slave +trade was abolished. When Lord Wolseley a few years back entered +Ashantee, the altars were coated thick with the blood of hundreds of +miserable beings who had been freshly slaughtered there. Still later +similar horrid scenes were reported from Dahomey. Sir Richard Burton, +who was an old acquaintance of mine, spent two months with the King of +Dahomey, and dilated to me on the benevolence and enlightenment of that +excellent monarch. I asked why, if the King was so benevolent, he did +not alter the customs. Burton looked at me with consternation. 'Alter +the customs!' he said. 'Would you have the Archbishop of Canterbury +alter the Liturgy?' Las Casas and those who thought as he did are not to +be charged with infamous inhumanity if they proposed to buy these poor +creatures from their captors, save them from Mumbo Jumbo, and carry them +to countries where they would be valuable property, and be at least as +well cared for as the mules and horses. + +The experiment was tried and seemed to succeed. The negroes who were +rescued from the customs and were carried to the Spanish islands proved +docile and useful. Portuguese and Spanish factories were established on +the coast of Guinea. The black chiefs were glad to make money out of +their wretched victims, and readily sold them. The transport over the +Atlantic became a regular branch of business. Strict laws were made for +the good treatment of the slaves on the plantations. The trade was +carried on under license from the Government, and an import duty of +thirty ducats per head was charged on every negro that was landed. I +call it an experiment. The full consequences could not be foreseen; and +I cannot see that as an experiment it merits the censures which in its +later developments it eventually came to deserve. Las Casas, who +approved of it, was one of the most excellent of men. Our own Bishop +Butler could give no decided opinion against negro slavery as it existed +in his time. It is absurd to say that ordinary merchants and ship +captains ought to have seen the infamy of a practice which Las Casas +advised and Butler could not condemn. The Spanish and Portuguese +Governments claimed, as I said, the control of the traffic. The Spanish +settlers in the West Indies objected to a restriction which raised the +price and shortened the supply. They considered that having established +themselves in a new country they had a right to a voice in the +conditions of their occupancy. It was thus that the Spaniards in the +Canaries represented the matter to John Hawkins. They told him that if +he liked to make the venture with a contraband cargo from Guinea, their +countrymen would give him an enthusiastic welcome. It is evident from +the story that neither he nor they expected that serious offence would +be taken at Madrid. Hawkins at this time was entirely friendly with the +Spaniards. It was enough if he could be assured that the colonists would +be glad to deal with him. + +I am not crediting him with the benevolent purposes of Las Casas. I do +not suppose Hawkins thought much of saving black men's souls. He saw +only an opportunity of extending his business among a people with whom +he was already largely connected. The traffic was established. It had +the sanction of the Church, and no objection had been raised to it +anywhere on the score of morality. The only question which could have +presented itself to Hawkins was of the right of the Spanish Government +to prevent foreigners from getting a share of a lucrative trade against +the wishes of its subjects. And his friends at the Canaries certainly +did not lead him to expect any real opposition. One regrets that a +famous Englishman should have been connected with the slave trade; but +we have no right to heap violent censures upon him because he was no +more enlightened than the wisest of his contemporaries. + +Thus, encouraged from Santa Cruz, Hawkins on his return to England +formed an African company out of the leading citizens of London. Three +vessels were fitted out, Hawkins being commander and part owner. The +size of them is remarkable: the _Solomon_, as the largest was called, +120 tons; the _Swallow_, 100 tons; the _Jonas_ not above 40 tons. This +represents them as inconceivably small. They carried between them a +hundred men, and ample room had to be provided besides for the blacks. +There may have been a difference in the measurement of tonnage. We +ourselves have five standards: builder's measurement, yacht measurement, +displacement, sail area, and register measurement. Registered tonnage is +far under the others: a yacht registered 120 tons would be called 200 in +a shipping list. However that be, the brigantines and sloops used by the +Elizabethans on all adventurous expeditions were mere boats compared +with what we should use now on such occasions. The reason was obvious. +Success depended on speed and sailing power. The art of building big +square-rigged ships which would work to windward had not been yet +discovered, even by Mr. Fletcher of Rye. The fore-and-aft rig alone +would enable a vessel to tack, as it is called, and this could only be +used with craft of moderate tonnage. + +The expedition sailed in October 1562. They called at the Canaries, +where they were warmly entertained. They went on to Sierra Leone, where +they collected 300 negroes. They avoided the Government factories, and +picked them up as they could, some by force, some by negotiation with +local chiefs, who were as ready to sell their subjects as Sancho Panza +intended to be when he got his island. They crossed without misadventure +to St. Domingo, where Hawkins represented that he was on a voyage of +discovery; that he had been driven out of his course and wanted food and +money. He said he had certain slaves with him, which he asked permission +to sell. What he had heard at the Canaries turned out to be exactly +true. So far as the Governor of St. Domingo knew, Spain and England were +at peace. Privateers had not troubled the peace of the Caribbean Sea, +or dangerous heretics menaced the Catholic faith there. Inquisitors +might have been suspicious, but the Inquisition had not yet been +established beyond the Atlantic. The Queen of England was his +sovereign's sister-in-law, and the Governor saw no reason why he should +construe his general instructions too literally. The planters were eager +to buy, and he did not wish to be unpopular. He allowed Hawkins to sell +two out of his three hundred negroes, leaving the remaining hundred as a +deposit should question be raised about the duty. Evidently the only +doubt in the Governor's mind was whether the Madrid authorities would +charge foreign importers on a higher scale. The question was new. No +stranger had as yet attempted to trade there. + +Everyone was satisfied, except the negroes, who were not asked their +opinion. The profits were enormous. A ship in the harbour was about to +sail for Cadiz. Hawkins invested most of what he had made in a cargo of +hides, for which, as he understood, there was a demand in Spain, and he +sent them over in her in charge of one of his partners. The Governor +gave him a testimonial for good conduct during his stay in the port, and +with this and with his three vessels he returned leisurely to England, +having, as he imagined, been splendidly successful. + +He was to be unpleasantly undeceived. A few days after he had arrived at +Plymouth, he met the man whom he had sent to Cadiz with the hides +forlorn and empty-handed. The Inquisition, he said, had seized the cargo +and confiscated it. An order had been sent to St. Domingo to forfeit the +reserved slaves. He himself had escaped for his life, as the familiars +had been after him. + +Nothing shows more clearly how little thought there had been in Hawkins +that his voyage would have given offence in Spain than the astonishment +with which he heard the news. He protested. He wrote to Philip. Finding +entreaties useless, he swore vengeance; but threats were equally +ineffectual. Not a hide, not a farthing could he recover. The Spanish +Government, terrified at the intrusion of English adventurers into their +western paradise to endanger the gold fleets, or worse to endanger the +purity of the faith, issued orders more peremptory than ever to close +the ports there against all foreigners. Philip personally warned Sir +Thomas Chaloner, the English ambassador, that if such visits were +repeated, mischief would come of it. And Cecil, who disliked all such +semi-piratical enterprises, and Chaloner, who was half a Spaniard and an +old companion in arms of Charles V., entreated their mistress to forbid +them. + +Elizabeth, however, had her own views in such matters. She liked money. +She liked encouraging the adventurous disposition of her subjects, who +were fighting the State's battles at their own risk and cost. She saw in +Philip's anger a confession that the West Indies was his vulnerable +point; and that if she wished to frighten him into letting her alone, +and to keep the Inquisition from burning her sailors, there was the +place where Philip would be more sensitive. Probably, too, she thought +that Hawkins had done nothing for which he could be justly blamed. He +had traded at St. Domingo with the Governor's consent, and confiscation +was sharp practice. + +This was clearly Hawkins's own view of the matter. He had injured no +one. He had offended no pious ears by parading his Protestantism. He was +not Philip's subject, and was not to be expected to know the +instructions given by the Spanish Government in the remote corners of +their dominions. If anyone was to be punished, it was not he but the +Governor. He held that he had been robbed, and had a right to indemnify +himself at the King's expense. He would go out again. He was certain of +a cordial reception from the planters. Between him and them there was +the friendliest understanding. His quarrel was with Philip, and Philip +only. He meant to sell a fresh cargo of negroes, and the Madrid +Government should go without their 30 per cent. duty. + +Elizabeth approved. Hawkins had opened the road to the West Indies. He +had shown how easy slave smuggling was, and how profitable it was: how +it was also possible for the English to establish friendly relations +with the Spanish settlers in the West Indies, whether Philip liked it or +not. Another company was formed for a second trial. Elizabeth took +shares, Lord Pembroke took shares, and other members of the Council. The +Queen lent the _Jesus_, a large ship of her own, of 700 tons. Formal +instructions were given that no wrong was to be done to the King of +Spain, but what wrong might mean was left to the discretion of the +commander. Where the planters were all eager to purchase, means of +traffic would be discovered without collision with the authorities. This +time the expedition was to be on a larger scale, and a hundred soldiers +were put on board to provide for contingencies. Thus furnished, Hawkins +started on his second voyage in October 1564. The autumn was chosen, to +avoid the extreme tropical heats. He touched as before to see his +friends at the Canaries. He went on to the Rio Grande, met with +adventures bad and good, found a chief at war with a neighbouring tribe, +helped to capture a town and take prisoners, made purchases at a +Portuguese factory. In this way he now secured 400 human cattle, perhaps +for a better fate than they would have met with at home, and with these +he sailed off in the old direction. Near the equator he fell in with +calms; he was short of water, and feared to lose some of them; but, as +the record of the voyage puts it, 'Almighty God would not suffer His +elect to perish,' and sent a breeze which carried him safe to Dominica. +In that wettest of islands he found water in plenty, and had then to +consider what next he would do. St. Domingo, he thought, would be no +longer safe for him; so he struck across to the Spanish Main to a place +called Burboroata, where he might hope that nothing would be known about +him. In this he was mistaken. Philip's orders had arrived: no Englishman +of any creed or kind was to be allowed to trade in his West India +dominions. The settlers, however, intended to trade. They required only +a display of force that they might pretend that they were yielding to +compulsion. Hawkins told his old story. He said that he was out on the +service of the Queen of England. He had been driven off his course by +bad weather. He was short of supplies and had many men on board, who +might do the town some mischief if they were not allowed to land +peaceably and buy and sell what they wanted. The Governor affecting to +hesitate, he threw 120 men on shore, and brought his guns to bear on the +castle. The Governor gave way under protest. Hawkins was to be permitted +to sell half his negroes. He said that as he had been treated so +inhospitably he would not pay the 30 per cent. The King of Spain should +have 7 1/2, and no more. The settlers had no objection. The price would +be the less, and with this deduction his business was easily finished +off. He bought no more hides, and was paid in solid silver. + +From Burboroata he went on to Rio de la Hacha, where the same scene was +repeated. The whole 400 were disposed of, this time with ease and +complete success. He had been rapid; and had the season still before +him. Having finished his business, he surveyed a large part of the +Caribbean Sea, taking soundings, noting the currents, and making charts +of the coasts and islands. This done, he turned homewards, following the +east shore of North America as far as Newfoundland. There he gave his +crew a change of diet, with fresh cod from the Banks, and after eleven +months' absence he sailed into Padstow, having lost but twenty men in +the whole adventure, and bringing back 60 per cent. to the Queen and the +other shareholders. + +Nothing succeeds like success. Hawkins's praises were in everyone's +mouth, and in London he was the hero of the hour. Elizabeth received him +at the palace. The Spanish ambassador, De Silva, met him there at +dinner. He talked freely of where he had been and of what he had done, +only keeping back the gentle violence which he had used. He regarded +this as a mere farce, since there had been no one hurt on either side. +He boasted of having given the greatest satisfaction to the Spaniards +who had dealt with him. De Silva could but bow, report to his master, +and ask instructions how he was to proceed. + +Philip was frightfully disturbed. He saw in prospect his western +subjects allying themselves with the English--heresy creeping in among +them; his gold fleets in danger, all the possibilities with which +Elizabeth had wished to alarm him. He read and re-read De Silva's +letters, and opposite the name of Achines he wrote startled +interjections on the margin: 'Ojo! Ojo!' + +The political horizon was just then favourable to Elizabeth. The Queen +of Scots was a prisoner in Loch Leven; the Netherlands were in revolt; +the Huguenots were looking up in France; and when Hawkins proposed a +third expedition, she thought that she could safely allow it. She gave +him the use of the _Jesus_ again, with another smaller ship of hers, the +_Minion_. He had two of his own still fit for work; and a fifth, the +_Judith_, was brought in by his young cousin, Francis Drake, who was now +to make his first appearance on the stage. I shall tell you by-and-by +who and what Drake was. Enough to say now that he was a relation of +Hawkins, the owner of a small smart sloop or brigantine, and ambitious +of a share in a stirring business. + +The Plymouth seamen were falling into dangerous contempt of Philip. +While the expedition was fitting out, a ship of the King's came into +Catwater with more prisoners from Flanders. She was flying the Castilian +flag, contrary to rule, it was said, in English harbours. The treatment +of the English ensign at Gibraltar had not been forgiven, and Hawkins +ordered the Spanish captain to strike his colours. The captain refused, +and Hawkins instantly fired into him. In the confusion the prisoners +escaped on board the _Jesus_ and were let go. The captain sent a +complaint to London, and Cecil--who disapproved of Hawkins and all his +proceedings--sent down an officer to inquire into what had happened. +Hawkins, confident in Elizabeth's protection, quietly answered that the +Spaniard had broken the laws of the port, and that it was necessary to +assert the Queen's authority. + +'Your mariners,' said De Silva to her, 'rob our subjects on the sea, +trade where they are forbidden to go, and fire upon our ships in your +harbours. Your preachers insult my master from their pulpits, and when +we remonstrate we are answered with menaces. We have borne so far with +their injuries, attributing them rather to temper and bad manners than +to deliberate purpose. But, seeing that no redress can be had, and that +the same treatment of us continues, I must consult my Sovereign's +pleasure. For the last time, I require your Majesty to punish this +outrage at Plymouth and preserve the peace between the two realms.' + +No remonstrance could seem more just till the other side was heard. The +other side was that the Pope and the Catholic Powers were undertaking to +force the Protestants of France and Flanders back under the Papacy with +fire and sword. It was no secret that England's turn was to follow as +soon as Philip's hands were free. Meanwhile he had been intriguing with +the Queen of Scots; he had been encouraging Ireland in rebellion; he had +been persecuting English merchants and seamen, starving them to death in +the Inquisition dungeons, or burning them at the stake. The Smithfield +infamies were fresh in Protestant memories, and who could tell how soon +the horrid work would begin again at home, if the Catholic Powers could +have their way? + +If the King of Spain and his Holiness at Rome would have allowed other +nations to think and make laws for themselves, pirates and privateers +would have disappeared off the ocean. The West Indies would have been +left undisturbed, and Spanish, English, French, and Flemings would have +lived peacefully side by side as they do now. But spiritual tyranny had +not yet learned its lesson, and the 'Beggars of the Sea' were to be +Philip's schoolmasters in irregular but effective fashion. + +Elizabeth listened politely to what De Silva said, promised to examine +into his complaints, and allowed Hawkins to sail. + +What befell him you will hear in the next lecture. + + + + +LECTURE III + +SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND + + +My last lecture left Hawkins preparing to start on his third and, as it +proved, most eventful voyage. I mentioned that he was joined by a young +relation, of whom I must say a few preliminary words. Francis Drake was +a Devonshire man, like Hawkins himself and Raleigh and Davis and +Gilbert, and many other famous men of those days. He was born at +Tavistock somewhere about 1540. He told Camden that he was of mean +extraction. He meant merely that he was proud of his parents and made no +idle pretensions to noble birth. His father was a tenant of the Earl of +Bedford, and must have stood well with him, for Francis Russell, the +heir of the earldom, was the boy's godfather. From him Drake took his +Christian name. The Drakes were early converts to Protestantism. +Trouble rising at Tavistock on the Six Articles Bill, they removed to +Kent, where the father, probably through Lord Bedford's influence, was +appointed a lay chaplain in Henry VIII.'s fleet at Chatham. In the next +reign, when the Protestants were uppermost, he was ordained and became +vicar of Upnor on the Medway. Young Francis took early to the water, and +made acquaintance with a ship-master trading to the Channel ports, who +took him on board his ship and bred him as a sailor. The boy +distinguished himself, and his patron when he died left Drake his vessel +in his will. For several years Drake stuck steadily to his coasting +work, made money, and made a solid reputation. His ambition grew with +his success. The seagoing English were all full of Hawkins and his West +Indian exploits. The Hawkinses and the Drakes were near relations. +Hearing that there was to be another expedition, and having obtained his +cousin's consent, Francis Drake sold his brig, bought the _Judith_, a +handier and faster vessel, and with a few stout sailors from the river +went down to Plymouth and joined. + +De Silva had sent word to Philip that Hawkins was again going out, and +preparations had been made to receive him. Suspecting nothing, Hawkins +with his four consorts sailed, as before, in October 1567. The start was +ominous. He was caught and badly knocked about by an equinoctial in the +Bay of Biscay. He lost his boats. The _Jesus_ strained her timbers and +leaked, and he so little liked the look of things that he even thought +of turning back and giving up the expedition for the season. However, +the weather mended. They put themselves to rights at the Canaries, +picked up their spirits, and proceeded. The slave-catching was managed +successfully, though with some increased difficulty. The cargo with +equal success was disposed of at the Spanish settlements. At one place +the planters came off in their boats at night to buy. At Rio de la +Hacha, where the most imperative orders had been sent to forbid his +admittance, Hawkins landed a force as before and took possession of the +town, of course with the connivance of the settlers. At Carthagena he +was similarly ordered off, and as Carthagena was strongly fortified he +did not venture to meddle with it. But elsewhere he found ample markets +for his wares. He sold all his blacks. By this and by other dealings he +had collected what is described as a vast treasure of gold, silver, and +jewels. The hurricane season was approaching, and he made the best of +his way homewards with his spoils, in the fear of being overtaken by it. +Unluckily for him, he had lingered too long. He had passed the west +point of Cuba and was working up the back of the island when a hurricane +came down on him. The gale lasted four days. The ships' bottoms were +foul and they could make no way. Spars were lost and rigging carried +away. The _Jesus_, which had not been seaworthy all along, leaked worse +than ever and lost her rudder. Hawkins looked for some port in Florida, +but found the coast shallow and dangerous, and was at last obliged to +run for San Juan de Ulloa, at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. + +San Juan de Ulloa is a few miles only from Vera Cruz. It was at that +time the chief port of Mexico, through which all the traffic passed +between the colony and the mother-country, and was thus a place of some +consequence. It stands on a small bay facing towards the north. Across +the mouth of this bay lies a narrow ridge of sand and shingle, half a +mile long, which acts as a natural breakwater and forms the harbour. +This ridge, or island as it was called, was uninhabited, but it had been +faced on the inner front by a wall. The water was deep alongside, and +vessels could thus lie in perfect security, secured by their cables to +rings let into the masonry. + +The prevailing wind was from the north, bringing in a heavy surf on the +back of the island. There was an opening at both ends, but only one +available for vessels of large draught. In this the channel was narrow, +and a battery at the end of the breakwater would completely command it. +The town stood on the opposite side of the bay. + +Into a Spanish port thus constructed Hawkins entered with his battered +squadron on September 16, 1568. He could not have felt entirely easy. +But he probably thought that he had no ill-will to fear from the +inhabitants generally, and that the Spanish authorities would not be +strong enough to meddle with him. His ill star had brought him there at +a time when Alvarez de Bacan, the same officer who had destroyed the +English ships at Gibraltar, was daily expected from Spain--sent by +Philip, as it proved, specially to look for him. Hawkins, when he +appeared outside, had been mistaken for the Spanish admiral, and it was +under this impression that he had been allowed to enter. The error was +quickly discovered on both sides. + +Though still ignorant that he was himself De Bacan's particular object, +yet De Bacan was the last officer whom in his crippled condition he +would have cared to encounter. Several Spanish merchantmen were in the +port richly loaded: with these of course he did not meddle, though, if +reinforced, they might perhaps meddle with him. As his best resource he +despatched a courier on the instant to Mexico to inform the Viceroy of +his arrival, to say that he had an English squadron with him; that he +had been driven in by stress of weather and need of repairs; that the +Queen was an ally of the King of Spain; and that, as he understood a +Spanish fleet was likely soon to arrive, he begged the Viceroy to make +arrangements to prevent disputes. + +As yet, as I said in the last lecture, there was no Inquisition in +Mexico. It was established there three years later, for the special +benefit of the English. But so far there was no ill-will towards the +English--rather the contrary. Hawkins had hurt no one, and the negro +trading had been eminently popular. The Viceroy might perhaps have +connived at Hawkins's escape, but again by ill-fortune he was himself +under orders of recall, and his successor was coming out in this +particular fleet with De Bacan. + +Had he been well disposed and free to act it would still have been too +late, for the very next morning, September 17, De Bacan was off the +harbour mouth with thirteen heavily-armed galleons and frigates. The +smallest of them carried probably 200 men, and the odds were now +tremendous. Hawkins's vessels lay ranged along the inner bank or wall of +the island. He instantly occupied the island itself and mounted guns at +the point covering the way in. He then sent a boat off to De Bacan to +say that he was an Englishman, that he was in possession of the port, +and must forbid the entrance of the Spanish fleet till he was assured +that there was to be no violence. It was a strong measure to shut a +Spanish admiral out of a Spanish port in a time of profound peace. +Still, the way in was difficult, and could not be easily forced if +resolutely defended. The northerly wind was rising; if it blew into a +gale the Spaniards would be on a lee shore. Under desperate +circumstances, desperate things will be done. Hawkins in his subsequent +report thus explains his dilemma:-- + +'I was in two difficulties. Either I must keep them out of the port, +which with God's grace I could easily have done, in which case with a +northerly wind rising they would have been wrecked, and I should have +been answerable; or I must risk their playing false, which on the whole +I preferred to do.' + +The northerly gale it appears did not rise, or the English commander +might have preferred the first alternative. Three days passed in +negotiation. De Bacan and Don Enriquez, the new Viceroy, were naturally +anxious to get into shelter out of a dangerous position, and were +equally desirous not to promise any more than was absolutely necessary. +The final agreement was that De Bacan and the fleet should enter without +opposition. Hawkins might stay till he had repaired his damages, and buy +and sell what he wanted; and further, as long as they remained the +English were to keep possession of the island. This article, Hawkins +says, was long resisted, but was consented to at last. It was absolutely +necessary, for with the island in their hands, the Spaniards had only to +cut the English cables, and they would have driven ashore across the +harbour. + +The treaty so drawn was formally signed. Hostages were given on both +sides, and De Bacan came in. The two fleets were moored as far apart +from each other as the size of the port would allow. Courtesies were +exchanged, and for two days all went well. It is likely that the Viceroy +and the admiral did not at first know that it was the very man whom they +had been sent out to sink or capture who was lying so close to them. +When they did know it they may have looked on him as a pirate, with +whom, as with heretics, there was no need to keep faith. Anyway, the rat +was in the trap, and De Bacan did not mean to let him out. The _Jesus_ +lay furthest in; the _Minion_ lay beyond her towards the entrance, +moored apparently to a ring on the quay, but free to move; and the +_Judith_, further out again, moored in the same way. Nothing is said of +the two small vessels remaining. + +De Bacan made his preparations silently, covered by the town. He had men +in abundance ready to act where he should direct. On the third day, the +20th of September, at noon, the _Minion's_ crew had gone to dinner, when +they saw a large hulk of 900 tons slowly towing up alongside of them. +Not liking such a neighbour, they had their cable ready to slip and +began to set their canvas. On a sudden shots and cries were heard from +the town. Parties of English who were on land were set upon; many were +killed; the rest were seen flinging themselves into the water and +swimming off to the ships. At the same instant the guns of the galleons +and of the shore batteries opened fire on the _Jesus_ and her consorts, +and in the smoke and confusion 300 Spaniards swarmed out of the hulk and +sprang on the _Minion's_ decks. The _Minion's_ men instantly cut them +down or drove them overboard, hoisted sail, and forced their way out of +the harbour, followed by the _Judith_. The _Jesus_ was left alone, +unable to stir. She defended herself desperately. In the many actions +which were fought afterwards between the English and the Spaniards, +there was never any more gallant or more severe. De Bacan's own ship was +sunk and the vice-admiral's was set on fire. The Spanish, having an +enormous advantage in numbers, were able to land a force on the island, +seize the English battery there, cut down the gunners, and turn the guns +close at hand on the devoted _Jesus_. Still she fought on, defeating +every attempt to board, till at length De Bacan sent down fire-ships on +her, and then the end came. All that Hawkins had made by his voyage, +money, bullion, the ship herself, had to be left to their fate. Hawkins +himself with the survivors of the crew took to their boats, dashed +through the enemy, who vainly tried to take them, and struggled out +after the _Minion_ and the _Judith_. It speaks ill for De Bacan that +with so large a force at his command, and in such a position, a single +Englishman escaped to tell the story. + +Even when outside Hawkins's situation was still critical and might well +be called desperate. The _Judith_ was but fifty tons; the _Minion_ not +above a hundred. They were now crowded up with men. They had little +water on board, and there had been no time to refill their store-chests, +or fit themselves for sea. Happily the weather was moderate. If the wind +had risen, nothing could have saved them. They anchored two miles off to +put themselves in some sort of order. The Spanish fleet did not venture +to molest further so desperate a foe. On Saturday the 25th they set +sail, scarcely knowing whither to turn. To attempt an ocean voyage as +they were would be certain destruction, yet they could not trust longer +to De Bacan's cowardice or forbearance. There was supposed to be a +shelter of some kind somewhere on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico, +where it was hoped they might obtain provisions. They reached the place +on October 8, but found nothing. English sailors have never been wanting +in resolution. They knew that if they all remained on board every one of +them must starve. A hundred volunteered to land and take their chance. +The rest on short rations might hope to make their way home. The +sacrifice was accepted. The hundred men were put on shore. They wandered +for a few days in the woods, feeding on roots and berries, and shot at +by the Indians. At length they reached a Spanish station, where they +were taken and sent as prisoners to Mexico. There was, as I said, no +Holy Office as yet in Mexico. The new Viceroy, though he had been in the +fight at San Juan de Ulloa, was not implacable. They were treated at +first with humanity; they were fed, clothed, taken care of, and then +distributed among the plantations. Some were employed as overseers, some +as mechanics. Others, who understood any kind of business, were allowed +to settle in towns, make money, and even marry and establish themselves. +Perhaps Philip heard of it, and was afraid that so many heretics might +introduce the plague. The quiet time lasted three years; at the end of +those years the Inquisitors arrived, and then, as if these poor men had +been the special object of that delightful institution, they were hunted +up, thrown into dungeons, examined on their faith, tortured, some burnt +in an _auto da fe_, some lashed through the streets of Mexico naked on +horseback and returned to their prisons. Those who did not die under +this pious treatment were passed over to the Holy Office at Seville and +were condemned to the galleys. + +Here I leave them for the moment. We shall presently hear of them again +in a very singular connection. The _Minion_ and _Judith_ meanwhile +pursued their melancholy way. They parted company. The _Judith_, being +the better sailer, arrived first, and reached Plymouth in December, torn +and tattered. Drake rode off post immediately to carry the bad news to +London. The _Minion's_ fate was worse. She made her course through the +Bahama Channel, her crew dying as if struck with a pestilence, till at +last there were hardly men enough left to handle the sails. They fell +too far south for England, and at length had to put into Vigo, where +their probable fate would be a Spanish prison. Happily they found other +English vessels in the roads there. Fresh hands were put on board, and +fresh provisions. With these supplies Hawkins reached Mount's Bay a +month later than the _Judith_, in January 1569. + +Drake had told the story, and all England was ringing with it. +Englishmen always think their own countrymen are in the right. The +Spaniards, already in evil odour with the seagoing population, were +accused of abominable treachery. The splendid fight which Hawkins had +made raised him into a national idol, and though he had suffered +financially, his loss was made up in reputation and authority. Every +privateer in the West was eager to serve under the leadership of the +hero of San Juan de Ulloa. He speedily found himself in command of a +large irregular squadron, and even Cecil recognised his consequence. His +chief and constant anxiety was for the comrades whom he had left behind, +and he talked of a new expedition to recover them, or revenge them if +they had been killed; but all things had to wait. They probably found +means of communicating with him, and as long as there was no +Inquisition in Mexico, he may have learnt that there was no immediate +occasion for action. + +Elizabeth put a brave face on her disappointment. She knew that she was +surrounded with treason, but she knew also that the boldest course was +the safest. She had taken Alva's money, and was less than ever inclined +to restore it. She had the best of the bargain in the arrest of the +Spanish and English ships and cargoes. Alva would not encourage Philip +to declare war with England till the Netherlands were completely +reduced, and Philip, with his leaden foot (_pie de plomo_), always +preferred patience and intrigue. Time and he and the Pope were three +powers which in the end, he thought, would prove irresistible, and +indeed it seemed, after Hawkins's return, as if Philip would turn out to +be right. The presence of the Queen of Scots in England had set in flame +the Catholic nobles. The wages of Alva's troops had been wrung somehow +out of the wretched Provinces, and his supreme ability and inexorable +resolution were steadily grinding down the revolt. Every port in Holland +and Zealand was in Alva's hands. Elizabeth's throne was undermined by +the Ridolfi conspiracy, the most dangerous which she had ever had to +encounter. The only Protestant fighting power left on the sea which +could be entirely depended on was in the privateer fleet, sailing, most +of them, under a commission from the Prince of Orange. + +This fleet was the strangest phenomenon in naval history. It was half +Dutch, half English, with a flavour of Huguenot, and was commanded by a +Flemish noble, Count de la Mark. Its head-quarters were in the Downs or +Dover Roads, where it could watch the narrow seas, and seize every +Spanish ship that passed which was not too strong to be meddled with. +The cargoes taken were openly sold in Dover market. If the Spanish +ambassador is to be believed in a complaint which he addressed to Cecil, +Spanish gentlemen taken prisoners were set up to public auction there +for the ransom which they would fetch, and were disposed of for one +hundred pounds each. If Alva sent cruisers from Antwerp to burn them +out, they retreated under the guns of Dover Castle. Roving squadrons of +them flew down to the Spanish coasts, pillaged churches, carried off +church plate, and the captains drank success to piracy at their banquets +out of chalices. The Spanish merchants at last estimated the property +destroyed at three million ducats, and they said that if their flag +could no longer protect them, they must decline to make further +contracts for the supply of the Netherlands army. + +It was life or death to Elizabeth. The Ridolfi plot, an elaborate and +far-reaching conspiracy to give her crown to Mary Stuart and to make +away with heresy, was all but complete. The Pope and Philip had +approved; Alva was to invade; the Duke of Norfolk was to head an +insurrection in the Eastern Counties. Never had she been in greater +danger. Elizabeth was herself to be murdered. The intention was known, +but the particulars of the conspiracy had been kept so secret that she +had not evidence enough to take measures to protect herself. The +privateers at Dover were a sort of protection; they would at least make +Alva's crossing more difficult; but the most pressing exigency was the +discovery of the details of the treason. Nothing was to be gained by +concession; the only salvation was in daring. + +At Antwerp there was a certain Doctor Story, maintained by Alva there to +keep a watch on English heretics. Story had been a persecutor under +Mary, and had defended heretic burning in Elizabeth's first Parliament. +He had refused the oath of allegiance, had left the country, and had +taken to treason. Cecil wanted evidence, and this man he knew could give +it. A pretended informer brought Story word that there was an English +vessel in the Scheldt which he would find worth examining. Story was +tempted on board. The hatches were closed over him. He was delivered two +days after at the Tower, when his secrets were squeezed out of him by +the rack and he was then hanged. + +Something was learnt, but less still than Cecil needed to take measures +to protect the Queen. And now once more, and in a new character, we are +to meet John Hawkins. Three years had passed since the catastrophe at +San Juan de Ulloa. He had learnt to his sorrow that his poor companions +had fallen into the hands of the Holy Office at last; had been burnt, +lashed, starved in dungeons or worked in chains in the Seville yards; +and his heart, not a very tender one, bled at the thoughts of them. The +finest feature in the seamen of those days was their devotion to one +another. Hawkins determined that, one way or other, these old comrades +of his should be rescued. Entreaties were useless; force was impossible. +There might still be a chance with cunning. He would risk anything, even +the loss of his soul, to save them. + +De Silva had left England. The Spanish ambassador was now Don Guerau or +Gerald de Espes, and to him had fallen the task of watching and +directing the conspiracy. Philip was to give the signal, the Duke of +Norfolk and other Catholic peers were to rise and proclaim the Queen of +Scots. Success would depend on the extent of the disaffection in England +itself; and the ambassador's business was to welcome and encourage all +symptoms of discontent. Hawkins knew generally what was going on, and he +saw in it an opportunity of approaching Philip on his weak side. Having +been so much in the Canaries, he probably spoke Spanish fluently. He +called on Don Guerau, and with audacious coolness represented that he +and many of his friends were dissatisfied with the Queen's service. He +said he had found her faithless and ungrateful, and he and they would +gladly transfer their allegiance to the King of Spain, if the King of +Spain would receive them. For himself, he would undertake to bring over +the whole privateer fleet of the West, and in return he asked for +nothing but the release of a few poor English seamen who were in prison +at Seville. + +Don Guerau was full of the belief that the whole nation was ready to +rebel. He eagerly swallowed the bait which Hawkins threw to him. He +wrote to Alva, he wrote to Philip's secretary, Cayas, expatiating on the +importance of securing such an addition to their party. It was true, he +admitted, that Hawkins had been a pirate, but piracy was a common fault +of the English, and no wonder when the Spaniards submitted to being +plundered so meekly; the man who was offering his services was bold, +resolute, capable, and had great influence with the English sailors; he +strongly advised that such a recruit should be encouraged. + +Alva would not listen. Philip, who shuddered at the very name of +Hawkins, was incredulous. Don Guerau had to tell Sir John that the King +at present declined his offer, but advised him to go himself to Madrid, +or to send some confidential friend with assurances and explanations. + +Another figure now enters on the scene, a George Fitzwilliam. I do not +know who he was, or why Hawkins chose him for his purpose. The Duke of +Feria was one of Philip's most trusted ministers. He had married an +English lady who had been a maid of honour to Queen Mary. It is possible +that Fitzwilliam had some acquaintance with her or with her family. At +any rate, he went to the Spanish Court; he addressed himself to the +Ferias; he won their confidence, and by their means was admitted to an +interview with Philip. He represented Hawkins as a faithful Catholic who +was indignant at the progress of heresy in England, who was eager to +assist in the overthrow of Elizabeth and the elevation of the Queen of +Scots, and was able and willing to carry along with him the great +Western privateer fleet, which had become so dreadful to the Spanish +mind. Philip listened and was interested. It was only natural, he +thought, that heretics should be robbers and pirates. If they could be +recovered to the Church, their bad habits would leave them. The English +navy was the most serious obstacle to the intended invasion. Still, +Hawkins! The Achines of his nightmares! It could not be. He asked +Fitzwilliam if his friend was acquainted with the Queen of Scots or the +Duke of Norfolk. Fitzwilliam was obliged to say that he was not. The +credentials of John Hawkins were his own right hand. He was making the +King a magnificent offer: nothing less than a squadron of the finest +ships in the world--not perhaps in the best condition, he added, with +cool British impudence, owing to the Queen's parsimony, but easily to be +put in order again if the King would pay the seamen's wages and advance +some money for repairs. The release of a few poor prisoners was a small +price to ask for such a service. + +The King was still wary, watching the bait like an old pike, but +hesitating to seize it; but the duke and duchess were willing to be +themselves securities for Fitzwilliam's faith, and Philip promised at +last that if Hawkins would send him a letter of recommendation from the +Queen of Scots herself, he would then see what could be done. The Ferias +were dangerously enthusiastic. They talked freely to Fitzwilliam of the +Queen of Scots and her prospects. They trusted him with letters and +presents to her which would secure his admittance to her confidence. +Hawkins had sent him over for the single purpose of cheating Philip into +releasing his comrades from the Inquisition; and he had been introduced +to secrets of high political moment; like Saul, the son of Kish, he had +gone to seek his father's asses and he had found a kingdom. Fitzwilliam +hurried home with his letters and his news. Things were now serious. +Hawkins could act no further on his own responsibility. He consulted +Cecil. Cecil consulted the Queen, and it was agreed that the practice, +as it was called, should be carried further. It might lead to the +discovery of the whole secret. + +Very treacherous, think some good people. Well, there are times when +one admires even treachery-- + + nec lex est justior ulla + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. + +King Philip was confessedly preparing to encourage an English subject in +treason to his sovereign. Was it so wrong to hoist the engineer with his +own petard? Was it wrong of Hamlet to finger the packet of Rosencrantz +and Guildenstern and rewrite his uncle's despatch? Let us have done with +cant in these matters. Mary Stuart was at Sheffield Castle in charge of +Lord Shrewsbury, and Fitzwilliam could not see her without an order from +the Crown. Shrewsbury, though loyal to Elizabeth, was notoriously well +inclined to Mary, and therefore could not be taken into confidence. In +writing to him Cecil merely said that friends of Fitzwilliam's were in +prison in Spain; that if the Queen of Scots would intercede for them, +Philip might be induced to let them go. He might therefore allow +Fitzwilliam to have a private audience with that Queen. + +Thus armed, Fitzwilliam went down to Sheffield. He was introduced. He +began with presenting Mary with the letters and remembrances from the +Ferias, which at once opened her heart. It was impossible for her to +suspect a friend of the duke and duchess. She was delighted at receiving +a visitor from the Court of Spain. She was prudent enough to avoid +dangerous confidences, but she said she was always pleased when she +could do a service to Englishmen, and with all her heart would intercede +for the prisoners. She wrote to Philip, she wrote to the duke and +duchess, and gave the letters to Fitzwilliam to deliver. He took them to +London, called on Don Gerald, and told him of his success. Don Gerald +also wrote to his master, wrote unguardedly, and also trusted +Fitzwilliam with the despatch. + +The various packets were taken first to Cecil, and were next shown to +the Queen. They were then returned to Fitzwilliam, who once more went +off with them to Madrid. If the letters produced the expected effect, +Cecil calmly observed that divers commodities would ensue. English +sailors would be released from the Inquisition and the galleys. The +enemy's intentions would be discovered. If the King of Spain could be +induced to do as Fitzwilliam had suggested, and assist in the repairs of +the ships at Plymouth, credit would be obtained for a sum of money which +could be employed to his own detriment. If Alva attempted the projected +invasion, Hawkins might take the ships as if to escort him, and then do +some notable exploit in mid-Channel. + +You will observe the downright directness of Cecil, Hawkins, and the +other parties in the matter. There is no wrapping up their intentions in +fine phrases, no parade of justification. They went straight to their +point. It was very characteristic of Englishmen in those stern, +dangerous times. They looked facts in the face, and did what fact +required. All really happened exactly as I have described it: the story +is told in letters and documents of the authenticity of which there is +not the smallest doubt. + +We will follow Fitzwilliam. He arrived at the Spanish Court at the +moment when Ridolfi had brought from Rome the Pope's blessing on the +conspiracy. The final touches were being added by the Spanish Council of +State. All was hope; all was the credulity of enthusiasm! Mary Stuart's +letter satisfied Philip. The prisoners were dismissed, each with ten +dollars in his pocket. An agreement was formally drawn and signed in the +Escurial in which Philip gave Hawkins a pardon for his misdemeanours in +the West Indies, a patent for a Spanish peerage, and a letter of credit +for 40,000_l._ to put the privateers in a condition to do service, and +the money was actually paid by Philip's London agent. Admitted as he now +was to full confidence, Fitzwilliam learnt all particulars of the great +plot. The story reads like a chapter from _Monte Cristo_ and yet it is +literally true. + +It ends with a letter which I will read to you, from Hawkins to Cecil:-- + + 'My very good Lord,--It may please your Honour to be advertised + that Fitzwilliam is returned from Spain, where his message was + acceptably received, both by the King himself, the Duke of Feria, + and others of the Privy Council. His despatch and answer were with + great expedition and great countenance and favour of the King. The + Articles are sent to the Ambassador with orders also for the money + to be paid to me by him, for the enterprise to proceed with all + diligence. The pretence is that my powers should join with the Duke + of Alva's powers, which he doth secretly provide in Flanders, as + well as with powers which will come with the Duke of Medina Celi + out of Spain, and to invade this realm and set up the Queen of + Scots. They have practised with us for the burning of Her Majesty's + ships. Therefore there should be some good care had of them, but + not as it may appear that anything is discovered. The King has sent + a ruby of good price to the Queen of Scots, with letters also which + in my judgment were good to be delivered. The letters be of no + importance, but his message by word is to comfort her, and say that + he hath now none other care but to place her in her own. It were + good also that Fitzwilliam may have access to the Queen of Scots to + render thanks for the delivery of the prisoners who are now at + liberty. It will be a very good colour for your Lordship to confer + with him more largely. + + 'I have sent your Lordship the copy of my pardon from the King of + Spain, in the order and manner I have it, with my great titles and + honours from the King, from which God deliver me. Their practices + be very mischievous, and they be never idle; but God, I hope, will + confound them and turn their devices on their own necks. + + 'Your Lordship's most faithfully to my power, + 'JOHN HAWKINS.' + +A few more words will conclude this curious episode. With the clue +obtained by Fitzwilliam, and confessions twisted out of Story and other +unwilling witnesses, the Ridolfi conspiracy was unravelled before it +broke into act. Norfolk lost his head. The inferior miscreants were +hanged. The Queen of Scots had a narrow escape, and the Parliament +accentuated the Protestant character of the Church of England by +embodying the Thirty-nine Articles in a statute. Alva, who distrusted +Ridolfi from the first and disliked encouraging rebellion, refused to +interest himself further in Anglo-Catholic plots. Elizabeth and Cecil +could now breathe more freely, and read Philip a lesson on the danger +of plotting against the lives of sovereigns. + +So long as England and Spain were nominally at peace, the presence of De +la Mark and his privateers in the Downs was at least indecent. A +committee of merchants at Bruges represented that their losses by it +amounted (as I said) to three million ducats. Elizabeth, being now in +comparative safety, affected to listen to remonstrances, and orders were +sent down to De la Mark that he must prepare to leave. It is likely that +both the Queen and he understood each other, and that De la Mark quite +well knew where he was to go, and what he was to do. + +Alva now held every fortress in the Low Countries, whether inland or on +the coast. The people were crushed. The duke's great statue stood in the +square at Antwerp as a symbol of the annihilation of the ancient +liberties of the Provinces. By sea alone the Prince of Orange still +continued the unequal struggle; but if he was to maintain himself as a +sea power anywhere, he required a harbour of his own in his own country. +Dover and the Thames had served for a time as a base of operations, but +it could not last, and without a footing in Holland itself eventual +success was impossible. All the Protestant world was interested in his +fate, and De la Mark, with his miscellaneous gathering of Dutch, +English, and Huguenot rovers, were ready for any desperate exploit. + +The order was to leave Dover immediately, but it was not construed +strictly. He lingered in the Downs for six weeks. At length, one morning +at the end of March 1572, a Spanish convoy known to be richly loaded +appeared in the Straits. De la Mark lifted anchor, darted out on it, +seized two of the largest hulks, rifled them, flung their crews +overboard, and chased the rest up Channel. A day or two after he +suddenly showed himself off Brille, at the mouth of the Meuse. A boat +was sent on shore with a note to the governor, demanding the instant +surrender of the town to the admiral of the Prince of Orange. The +inhabitants rose in enthusiasm; the garrison was small, and the governor +was obliged to comply. De la Mark took possession. A few priests and +monks attempted resistance, but were put down without difficulty, and +the leaders killed. The churches were cleared of their idols, and the +mass replaced by the Calvinistic service. Cannon and stores, furnished +from London, were landed, and Brille was made impregnable before Alva +had realised what had happened to him. He is said to have torn his beard +for anger. Flushing followed suit. In a week or two all the strongest +places on the coast had revolted, and the pirate fleet had laid the +foundation of the great Dutch Republic, which at England's side was to +strike out of Philip's hand the sceptre of the seas, and to save the +Protestant religion. + +We may think as we please of these Beggars of the Ocean, these Norse +corsairs come to life again with the flavour of Genevan theology in +them; but for daring, for ingenuity, for obstinate determination to be +spiritually free or to die for it, the like of the Protestant privateers +of the sixteenth century has been rarely met with in this world. + +England rang with joy when the news came that Brille was taken. Church +bells pealed, and bonfires blazed. Money poured across in streams. +Exiled families went back to their homes--which were to be their homes +once more--and the Zealanders and Hollanders, entrenched among their +ditches, prepared for an amphibious conflict with the greatest power +then upon the earth. + + + + +LECTURE IV + +DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD + + +I suppose some persons present have heard the name of Lope de Vega, the +Spanish poet of Philip II.'s time. Very few of you probably know more of +him than his name, and yet he ought to have some interest for us, as he +was one of the many enthusiastic young Spaniards who sailed in the Great +Armada. He had been disappointed in some love affair. He was an earnest +Catholic. He wanted distraction, and it is needless to say that he found +distraction enough in the English Channel to put his love troubles out +of his mind. His adventures brought before him with some vividness the +character of the nation with which his own country was then in the +death-grapple, especially the character of the great English seaman to +whom the Spaniards universally attributed their defeat. Lope studied +the exploits of Francis Drake from his first appearance to his end, and +he celebrated those exploits, as England herself has never yet thought +it worth her while to do, by making him the hero of an epic poem. There +are heroes and heroes. Lope de Vega's epic is called 'The Dragontea.' +Drake himself is the dragon, the ancient serpent of the Apocalypse. We +English have been contented to allow Drake a certain qualified praise. +We admit that he was a bold, dexterous sailor, that he did his country +good service at the Invasion. We allow that he was a famous navigator, +and sailed round the world, which no one else had done before him. +But--there is always a but--of course he was a robber and a corsair, and +the only excuse for him is that he was no worse than most of his +contemporaries. To Lope de Vega he was a great deal worse. He was Satan +himself, the incarnation of the Genius of Evil, the arch-enemy of the +Church of God. + +It is worth while to look more particularly at the figure of a man who +appeared to the Spaniards in such terrible proportions. I, for my part, +believe a time will come when we shall see better than we see now what +the Reformation was, and what we owe to it, and these sea-captains of +Elizabeth will then form the subject of a great English national epic as +grand as the 'Odyssey.' + +In my own poor way meanwhile I shall try in these lectures to draw you a +sketch of Drake and his doings as they appear to myself. To-day I can +but give you a part of the rich and varied story, but if all goes well I +hope I may be able to continue it at a future time. + +I have not yet done with Sir John Hawkins. We shall hear of him again. +He became the manager of Elizabeth's dockyards. He it was who turned out +the ships that fought Philip's fleet in the Channel in such condition +that not a hull leaked, not a spar was sprung, not a rope parted at an +unseasonable moment, and this at a minimum of cost. He served himself in +the squadron which he had equipped. He was one of the small group of +admirals who met that Sunday afternoon in the cabin of the ark _Raleigh_ +and sent the fire-ships down to stir Medina Sidonia out of his anchorage +at Calais. He was a child of the sea, and at sea he died, sinking at +last into his mother's arms. But of this hereafter. I must speak now of +his still more illustrious kinsman, Francis Drake. + +I told you the other day generally who Drake was and where he came from; +how he went to sea as a boy, found favour with his master, became early +an owner of his own ship, sticking steadily to trade. You hear nothing +of him in connection with the Channel pirates. It was not till he was +five-and-twenty that he was tempted by Hawkins into the negro-catching +business, and of this one experiment was enough. He never tried it +again. + +The portraits of him vary very much, as indeed it is natural that they +should, for most of those which pass for Drake were not meant for Drake +at all. It is the fashion in this country, and a very bad fashion, when +we find a remarkable portrait with no name authoritatively attached to +it, to christen it at random after some eminent man, and there it +remains to perplex or mislead. + +The best likeness of Drake that I know is an engraving in Sir William +Stirling-Maxwell's collection of sixteenth-century notabilities, +representing him, as a scroll says at the foot of the plate, at the age +of forty-three. The face is round, the forehead broad and full, with the +short brown hair curling crisply on either side. The eyebrows are highly +arched, the eyes firm, clear, and open. I cannot undertake for the +colour, but I should judge they would be dark grey, like an eagle's. The +nose is short and thick, the mouth and chin hid by a heavy moustache on +the upper lip, and a close-clipped beard well spread over chin and +cheek. The expression is good-humoured, but absolutely inflexible, not a +weak line to be seen. He was of middle height, powerfully built, perhaps +too powerfully for grace, unless the quilted doublet in which the artist +has dressed him exaggerates his breadth. + +I have seen another portrait of him, with pretensions to authenticity, +in which he appears with a slighter figure, eyes dark, full, thoughtful, +and stern, a sailor's cord about his neck with a whistle attached to it, +and a ring into which a thumb is carelessly thrust, the weight of the +arms resting on it, as if in a characteristic attitude. Evidently this +is a carefully drawn likeness of some remarkable seaman of the time. I +should like to believe it to be Drake, but I can feel no certainty about +it. + +We left him returned home in the Judith from San Juan de Ulloa, a ruined +man. He had never injured the Spaniards. He had gone out with his cousin +merely to trade, and he had met with a hearty reception from the +settlers wherever he had been. A Spanish admiral had treacherously set +upon him and his kinsman, destroyed half their vessels, and robbed them +of all that they had. They had left a hundred of their comrades behind +them, for whose fate they might fear the worst. Drake thenceforth +considered Spanish property as fair game till he had made up his own +losses. He waited quietly for four years till he had re-established +himself, and then prepared to try fortune again in a more daring form. + +The ill-luck at San Juan de Ulloa had risen from loose tongues. There +had been too much talk about it. Too many parties had been concerned. +The Spanish Government had notice and were prepared. Drake determined to +act for himself, have no partners, and keep his own secret. He found +friends to trust him with money without asking for explanations. The +Plymouth sailors were eager to take their chance with him. His force was +absurdly small: a sloop or brigantine of a hundred tons, which he called +the _Dragon_ (perhaps, like Lope de Vega, playing on his own name), and +two small pinnaces. With these he left Plymouth in the fall of the +summer of 1572. He had ascertained that Philip's gold and silver from +the Peruvian mines was landed at Panama, carried across the isthmus on +mules' backs on the line of M. de Lesseps' canal, and re-shipped at +Nombre de Dios, at the mouth of the Chagre River. + +He told no one where he was going. He was no more communicative than +necessary after his return, and the results, rather than the +particulars, of his adventure are all that can be certainly known. +Discretion told him to keep his counsel, and he kept it. + +The Drake family published an account of this voyage in the middle of +the next century, but obviously mythical, in parts demonstrably false, +and nowhere to be depended on. It can be made out, however, that he did +go to Nombre de Dios, that he found his way into the town, and saw +stores of bullion there which he would have liked to carry off but could +not. A romantic story of a fight in the town I disbelieve, first because +his numbers were so small that to try force would have been absurd, and +next because if there had been really anything like a battle an alarm +would have been raised in the neighbourhood, and it is evident that no +alarm was given. In the woods were parties of runaway slaves, who were +called Cimarons. It was to these that Drake addressed himself, and they +volunteered to guide him where he could surprise the treasure convoy on +the way from Panama. His movements were silent and rapid. One +interesting incident is mentioned which is authentic. The Cimarons took +him through the forest to the watershed from which the streams flow to +both oceans. Nothing could be seen through the jungle of undergrowth; +but Drake climbed a tall tree, saw from the top of it the Pacific +glittering below him, and made a vow that one day he would himself sail +a ship in those waters. + +For the present he had immediate work on hand. His guides kept their +word. They led him to the track from Panama, and he had not long to wait +before the tinkling was heard of the mule bells as they were coming up +the pass. There was no suspicion of danger, not the faintest. The mule +train had but its ordinary guard, who fled at the first surprise. The +immense booty fell all into Drake's hands--gold, jewels, silver +bars--and got with much ease, as Prince Hal said at Gadshill. The silver +they buried, as too heavy for transport. The gold, pearls, rubies, +emeralds, and diamonds they carried down straight to their ship. The +voyage home went prosperously. The spoils were shared among the +adventurers, and they had no reason to complain. They were wise enough +to hold their tongues, and Drake was in a condition to look about him +and prepare for bigger enterprises. + +Rumours got abroad, spite of reticence. Imagination was high in flight +just then; rash amateurs thought they could make their fortunes in the +same way, and tried it, to their sorrow. A sort of inflation can be +traced in English sailors' minds as their work expanded. Even +Hawkins--the clear, practical Hawkins--was infected. This was not in +Drake's line. He kept to prose and fact. He studied the globe. He +examined all the charts that he could get. He became known to the Privy +Council and the Queen, and prepared for an enterprise which would make +his name and frighten Philip in earnest. + +The ships which the Spaniards used on the Pacific were usually built on +the spot. But Magellan was known to have gone by the Horn, and where a +Portuguese could go an Englishman could go. Drake proposed to try. There +was a party in Elizabeth's Council against these adventures, and in +favour of peace with Spain; but Elizabeth herself was always for +enterprises of pith and moment. She was willing to help, and others of +her Council were willing too, provided their names were not to appear. +The responsibility was to be Drake's own. Again the vessels in which he +was preparing to tempt fortune seem preposterously small. The _Pelican_, +or _Golden Hinde_, which belonged to Drake himself, was called but 120 +tons, at best no larger than a modern racing yawl, though perhaps no +racing yawl ever left White's yard better found for the work which she +had to do. The next, the _Elizabeth_, of London, was said to be eighty +tons; a small pinnace of twelve tons, in which we should hardly risk a +summer cruise round the Land's End, with two sloops or frigates of fifty +and thirty tons, made the rest. The _Elizabeth_ was commanded by Captain +Winter, a Queen's officer, and perhaps a son of the old admiral. + +We may credit Drake with knowing what he was about. He and his comrades +were carrying their lives in their hands. If they were taken they would +be inevitably hanged. Their safety depended on speed of sailing, and +specially on the power of working fast to windward, which the heavy +square-rigged ships could not do. The crews all told were 160 men and +boys. Drake had his brother John with him. Among his officers were the +chaplain, Mr. Fletcher, another minister of some kind who spoke Spanish, +and in one of the sloops a mysterious Mr. Doughty. Who Mr. Doughty was, +and why he was sent out, is uncertain. When an expedition of consequence +was on hand, the Spanish party in the Cabinet usually attached to it +some second in command whose business was to defeat the object. When +Drake went to Cadiz in after years to singe King Philip's beard, he had +a colleague sent with him whom he had to lock into his cabin before he +could get to his work. So far as I can make out, Mr. Doughty had a +similar commission. On this occasion secrecy was impossible. It was +generally known that Drake was going to the Pacific through Magellan +Straits, to act afterwards on his own judgment. The Spanish ambassador, +now Don Bernardino de Mendoza, in informing Philip of what was intended, +advised him to send out orders for the instant sinking of every English +ship, and the execution of every English sailor, that appeared on either +side the isthmus in West Indian waters. The orders were despatched, but +so impossible it seemed that an English pirate could reach the Pacific, +that the attention was confined to the Caribbean Sea, and not a hint of +alarm was sent across to the other side. + +On November 15, 1577, the _Pelican_ and her consort sailed out of +Plymouth Sound. The elements frowned on their start. On the second day +they were caught in a winter gale. The _Pelican_ sprung her mainmast, +and they put back to refit and repair. But Drake defied auguries. Before +the middle of December all was again in order. The weather mended, and +with a fair wind and smooth water they made a fast run across the Bay of +Biscay and down the coast to the Cape de Verde Islands. There taking up +the north-east trades, they struck across the Atlantic, crossed the +line, and made the South American continent in latitude 33 deg. South. They +passed the mouth of the Plate River, finding to their astonishment fresh +water at the ship's side in fifty-four fathoms. All seemed so far going +well, when one morning Mr. Doughty's sloop was missing, and he along +with her. Drake, it seemed, had already reason to distrust Doughty, and +guessed the direction in which he had gone. The _Marigold_ was sent in +pursuit, and he was overtaken and brought back. To prevent a repetition +of such a performance, Drake took the sloop's stores out of her, burnt +her, distributed the crew through the other vessels, and took Mr. +Doughty under his own charge. On June 20 they reached Port St. Julian, +on the coast of Patagonia. They had been long on the way, and the +southern winter had come round, and they had to delay further to make +more particular inquiry into Doughty's desertion. An ominous and strange +spectacle met their eyes as they entered the harbour. In that utterly +desolate spot a skeleton was hanging on a gallows, the bones picked +clean by the vultures. It was one of Magellan's crew who had been +executed there for mutiny fifty years before. The same fate was to +befall the unhappy Englishman who had been guilty of the same fault. +Without the strictest discipline it was impossible for the enterprise to +succeed, and Doughty had been guilty of worse than disobedience. We are +told briefly that his conduct was found tending to contention, and +threatening the success of the voyage. Part he was said to have +confessed; part was proved against him--one knows not what. A court was +formed out of the crew. He was tried, as near as circumstances allowed, +according to English usage. He was found guilty, and was sentenced to +die. He made no complaint, or none of which a record is preserved. He +asked for the Sacrament, which was of course allowed, and Drake himself +communicated with him. They then kissed each other, and the unlucky +wretch took leave of his comrades, laid his head on the block, and so +ended. His offence can be only guessed; but the suspicious curiosity +about his fate which was shown afterwards by Mendoza makes it likely +that he was in Spanish pay. The ambassador cross-questioned Captain +Winter very particularly about him, and we learn one remarkable fact +from Mendoza's letters not mentioned by any English writer, that Drake +was himself the executioner, choosing to bear the entire responsibility. + +'This done,' writes an eye-witness, 'the general made divers speeches to +the whole company, persuading us to unity, obedience, and regard of our +voyage, and for the better confirmation thereof willed every man the +Sunday following to prepare himself to receive the Communion as +Christian brothers and friends ought to do, which was done in very +reverend sort; and so with good contentment every man went about his +business.' + +You must take this last incident into your conception of Drake's +character, think of it how you please. + +It was now midwinter, the stormiest season of the year, and they +remained for six weeks in Port St. Julian. They burnt the twelve-ton +pinnace, as too small for the work they had now before them, and there +remained only the _Pelican_, the _Elizabeth_, and the _Marigold_. In +cold wild weather they weighed at last, and on August 20 made the +opening of Magellan's Straits. The passage is seventy miles long, +tortuous and dangerous. They had no charts. The ships' boats led, taking +soundings as they advanced. Icy mountains overhung them on either side; +heavy snow fell below. They brought up occasionally at an island to rest +the men, and let them kill a few seals and penguins to give them fresh +food. Everything they saw was new, wild, and wonderful. + +Having to feel their way, they were three weeks in getting through. They +had counted on reaching the Pacific that the worst of their work was +over, and that they could run north at once into warmer and calmer +latitudes. The peaceful ocean, when they entered it, proved the +stormiest they had ever sailed on. A fierce westerly gale drove them 600 +miles to the south-east outside the Horn. It had been supposed, +hitherto, that Tierra del Fuego was solid land to the South Pole, and +that the Straits were the only communication between the Atlantic and +the Pacific. They now learnt the true shape and character of the Western +Continent. In the latitude of Cape Horn a westerly gale blows for ever +round the globe; the waves the highest anywhere known. The _Marigold_ +went down in the tremendous encounter. Captain Winter, in the +_Elizabeth_, made his way back into Magellan's Straits. There he lay for +three weeks, lighting fires nightly to show Drake where he was, but no +Drake appeared. They had agreed, if separated, to meet on the coast in +the latitude of Valparaiso; but Winter was chicken-hearted, or else +traitorous like Doughty, and sore, we are told, 'against the mariners' +will,' when the three weeks were out, he sailed away for England, where +he reported that all the ships were lost but the _Pelican_, and that +the _Pelican_ was probably lost too. + +Drake had believed better of Winter, and had not expected to be so +deserted. He had himself taken refuge among the islands which form the +Cape, waiting for the spring and milder weather. He used the time in +making surveys, and observing the habits of the native Patagonians, whom +he found a tough race, going naked amidst ice and snow. The days +lengthened, and the sea smoothed at last. He then sailed for Valparaiso, +hoping to meet Winter there, as he had arranged. At Valparaiso there was +no Winter, but there was in the port instead a great galleon just come +in from Peru. The galleon's crew took him for a Spaniard, hoisted their +colours, and beat their drums. The _Pelican_ shot alongside. The English +sailors in high spirits leapt on board. A Plymouth lad who could speak +Spanish knocked down the first man he met with an 'Abajo, perro!' 'Down, +you dog, down!' No life was taken; Drake never hurt man if he could help +it. The crew crossed themselves, jumped overboard, and swam ashore. The +prize was examined. Four hundred pounds' weight of gold was found in +her, besides other plunder. + +The galleon being disposed of, Drake and his men pulled ashore to look +at the town. The people had all fled. In the church they found a +chalice, two cruets, and an altar-cloth, which were made over to the +chaplain to improve his Communion furniture. A few pipes of wine and a +Greek pilot who knew the way to Lima completed the booty. + +'Shocking piracy,' you will perhaps say. But what Drake was doing would +have been all right and good service had war been declared, and the +essence of things does not alter with the form. In essence there _was_ +war, deadly war, between Philip and Elizabeth. Even later, when the +Armada sailed, there had been no formal declaration. The reality is the +important part of the matter. It was but stroke for stroke, and the +English arm proved the stronger. + +Still hoping to find Winter in advance of him, Drake went on next to +Tarapaca, where silver from the Andes mines was shipped for Panama. At +Tarapaca there was the same unconsciousness of danger. The silver bars +lay piled on the quay, the muleteers who had brought them were sleeping +peacefully in the sunshine at their side. The muleteers were left to +their slumbers. The bars were lifted into the English boats. A train of +mules or llamas came in at the moment with a second load as rich as the +first. This, too, went into the _Pelican's_ hold. The bullion taken at +Tarapaca was worth near half a million ducats. + +Still there were no news of Winter. Drake began to realise that he was +now entirely alone, and had only himself and his own crew to depend on. +There was nothing to do but to go through with it, danger adding to the +interest. Arica was the next point visited. Half a hundred blocks of +silver were picked up at Arica. After Arica came Lima, the chief depot +of all, where the grandest haul was looked for. At Lima, alas! they were +just too late. Twelve great hulks lay anchored there. The sails were +unbent, the men were ashore. They contained nothing but some chests of +reals and a few bales of silk and linen. But a thirteenth, called by the +gods _Our Lady of the Conception_, called by men _Cacafuego_, a name +incapable of translation, had sailed a few days before for the isthmus, +with the whole produce of the Lima mines for the season. Her ballast was +silver, her cargo gold and emeralds and rubies. + +Drake deliberately cut the cables of the ships in the roads, that they +might drive ashore and be unable to follow him. The _Pelican_ spread her +wings, every feather of them, and sped away in pursuit. He would know +the _Cacafuego_, so he learnt at Lima, by the peculiar cut of her sails. +The first man who caught sight of her was promised a gold chain for his +reward. A sail was seen on the second day. It was not the chase, but it +was worth stopping for. Eighty pounds' weight of gold was found, and a +great gold crucifix, set with emeralds said to be as large as pigeon's +eggs. They took the kernel. They left the shell. Still on and on. We +learn from the Spanish accounts that the Viceroy of Lima, as soon as he +recovered from his astonishment, despatched ships in pursuit. They came +up with the last plundered vessel, heard terrible tales of the rovers' +strength, and went back for a larger force. The _Pelican_ meanwhile went +along upon her course for 800 miles. At length, when in the latitude of +Quito and close under the shore, the _Cacafuego's_ peculiar sails were +sighted, and the gold chain was claimed. There she was, freighted with +the fruit of Aladdin's garden, going lazily along a few miles ahead. +Care was needed in approaching her. If she guessed the _Pelican's_ +character, she would run in upon the land and they would lose her. It +was afternoon. The sun was still above the horizon, and Drake meant to +wait till night, when the breeze would be off the shore, as in the +tropics it always is. + +The _Pelican_ sailed two feet to the _Cacafuego's_ one. Drake filled his +empty wine-skins with water and trailed them astern to stop his way. The +chase supposed that she was followed by some heavy-loaded trader, and, +wishing for company on a lonely voyage, she slackened sail and waited +for him to come up. At length the sun went down into the ocean, the rosy +light faded from off the snows of the Andes; and when both ships had +become invisible from the shore, the skins were hauled in, the night +wind rose, and the water began to ripple under the _Pelican's_ bows. +The _Cacafuego_ was swiftly overtaken, and when within a cable's length +a voice hailed her to put her head into the wind. The Spanish commander, +not understanding so strange an order, held on his course. A broadside +brought down his mainyard; and a flight of arrows rattled on his deck. +He was himself wounded. In a few minutes he was a prisoner, and _Our +Lady of the Conception_ and her precious freight were in the corsair's +power. The wreck was cut away; the ship was cleared; a prize crew was +put on board. Both vessels turned their heads to the sea. At daybreak no +land was to be seen, and the examination of the prize began. The full +value was never acknowledged. The invoice, if there was one, was +destroyed. The accurate figures were known only to Drake and Queen +Elizabeth. A published schedule acknowledged to twenty tons of silver +bullion, thirteen chests of silver coins, and a hundredweight of gold, +but there were gold nuggets besides in indefinite quantity, and 'a great +store' of pearls, emeralds, and diamonds. The Spanish Government proved +a loss of a million and a half of ducats, excluding what belonged to +private persons. The total capture was immeasurably greater. + +Drake, we are told, was greatly satisfied. He thought it prudent to stay +in the neighbourhood no longer than necessary. He went north with all +sail set, taking his prize along with him. The master, San Juan de +Anton, was removed on board the _Pelican_ to have his wound attended to. +He remained as Drake's guest for a week, and sent in a report of what he +observed to the Spanish Government. One at least of Drake's party spoke +excellent Spanish. This person took San Juan over the ship. She showed +signs, San Juan said, of rough service, but was still in fine condition, +with ample arms, spare rope, mattocks, carpenters' tools of all +descriptions. There were eighty-five men on board all told, fifty of +them men-of-war, the rest young fellows, ship-boys and the like. Drake +himself was treated with great reverence; a sentinel stood always at his +cabin door. He dined alone with music. + +No mystery was made of the _Pelican's_ exploits. The chaplain showed San +Juan the crucifix set with emeralds, and asked him if he could +seriously believe that to be God. San Juan asked Drake how he meant to +go home. Drake showed him a globe with three courses traced on it. There +was the way that he had come, there was the way by China and the Cape of +Good Hope, and there was a third way which he did not explain. San Juan +asked if Spain and England were at war. Drake said he had a commission +from the Queen. His captures were for her, not for himself. He added +afterwards that the Viceroy of Mexico had robbed him and his kinsman, +and he was making good his losses. + +Then, touching the point of the sore, he said, 'I know the Viceroy will +send for thee to inform himself of my proceedings. Tell him he shall do +well to put no more Englishmen to death, and to spare those he has in +his hands, for if he do execute them I will hang 2,000 Spaniards and +send him their heads.' + +After a week's detention San Juan and his men were restored to the empty +_Cacafuego_, and allowed to go. On their way back they fell in with the +two cruisers sent in pursuit from Lima, reinforced by a third from +Panama. They were now fully armed; they went in chase, and according to +their own account came up with the _Pelican_. But, like Lope de Vega, +they seemed to have been terrified at Drake as a sort of devil. They +confessed that they dared not attack him, and again went back for more +assistance. The Viceroy abused them as cowards, arrested the officers, +despatched others again with peremptory orders to seize Drake, even if +he was the devil, but by that time their questionable visitor had flown. +They found nothing, perhaps to their relief. + +A despatch went instantly across the Atlantic to Philip. One squadron +was sent off from Cadiz to watch the Straits of Magellan, and another to +patrol the Caribbean Sea. It was thought that Drake's third way was no +seaway at all, that he meant to leave the _Pelican_ at Darien, carry his +plunder over the mountains, and build a ship at Honduras to take him +home. His real idea was that he might hit off the passage to the north +of which Frobisher and Davis thought they had found the eastern +entrance. He stood on towards California, picking up an occasional +straggler in the China trade, with silk, porcelain, gold, and emeralds. +Fresh water was a necessity. He put in at Guatulco for it, and his +proceedings were humorously prompt. The alcaldes at Guatulco were in +session trying a batch of negroes. An English boat's crew appeared in +court, tied the alcaldes hand and foot, and carried them off to the +_Pelican_, there to remain as hostages till the water-casks were filled. + +North again he fell in with a galleon carrying out a new Governor to the +Philippines. The Governor was relieved of his boxes and his jewels, and +then, says one of the party, 'Our General, thinking himself in respect +of his private injuries received from the Spaniards, as also their +contempt and indignities offered to our country and Prince, sufficiently +satisfied and revenged, and supposing her Majesty would rest contented +with this service, began to consider the best way home.' The first +necessity was a complete overhaul of the ship. Before the days of copper +sheathing weeds grew thick under water. Barnacles formed in clusters, +stopping the speed, and sea-worms bored through the planking. Twenty +thousand miles lay between the _Pelican_ and Plymouth Sound, and Drake +was not a man to run idle chances. Still holding his north course till +he had left the furthest Spanish settlement far to the south, he put +into Canoas Bay in California, laid the _Pelican_ ashore, set up forge +and workshop, and repaired and re-rigged her with a month's labour from +stem to stern. With every rope new set up and new canvas on every yard, +he started again on April 16, 1579, and continued up the coast to +Oregon. The air grew cold though it was summer. The men felt it from +having been so long in the tropics, and dropped out of health. There was +still no sign of a passage. If passage there was, Drake perceived that +it must be of enormous length. Magellan's Straits, he guessed, would be +watched for him, so he decided on the route by the Cape of Good Hope. In +the Philippine ship he had found a chart of the Indian Archipelago. With +the help of this and his own skill he hoped to find his way. He went +down again to San Francisco, landed there, found the soil teeming with +gold, made acquaintance with an Indian king who hated the Spaniards and +wished to become an English subject. But Drake had no leisure to annex +new territories. Avoiding the course from Mexico to the Philippines, he +made a direct course to the Moluccas, and brought up again at the Island +of Celebes. Here the _Pelican_ was a second time docked and scraped. The +crew had a month's rest among the fireflies and vampires of the tropical +forest. Leaving Celebes, they entered on the most perilous part of the +whole voyage. They wound their way among coral reefs and low islands +scarcely visible above the water-line. In their chart the only outlet +marked into the Indian Ocean was by the Straits of Malacca. But Drake +guessed rightly that there must be some nearer opening, and felt his way +looking for it along the coast of Java. Spite of all his care, he was +once on the edge of destruction. One evening as night was closing in a +grating sound was heard under the _Pelican's_ keel. In another moment +she was hard and fast on a reef. The breeze was light and the water +smooth, or the world would have heard no more of Francis Drake. She lay +immovable till daybreak. At dawn the position was seen not to be +entirely desperate. Drake himself showed all the qualities of a great +commander. Cannon were thrown over and cargo that was not needed. In the +afternoon, the wind changing, the lightened vessel lifted off the rocks +and was saved. The hull was uninjured, thanks to the Californian +repairs. All on board had behaved well with the one exception of Mr. +Fletcher, the chaplain. Mr. Fletcher, instead of working like a man, had +whined about Divine retribution for the execution of Doughty. + +For the moment Drake passed it over. A few days after, they passed out +through the Straits of Sunda, where they met the great ocean swell, +Homer's [Greek: mega kuma thalasses], and they knew then that all was +well. + +There was now time to call Mr. Fletcher to account. It was no business +of the chaplain to discourage and dispirit men in a moment of danger, +and a court was formed to sit upon him. An English captain on his own +deck represents the sovereign, and is head of Church as well as State. +Mr. Fletcher was brought to the forecastle, where Drake, sitting on a +sea-chest with a pair of _pantoufles_ in his hand, excommunicated him, +pronounced him cut off from the Church of God, given over to the devil +for the chastising of his flesh, and left him chained by the leg to a +ring-bolt to repent of his cowardice. + +In the general good-humour punishment could not be of long duration. The +next day the poor chaplain had his absolution, and returned to his berth +and his duty. The _Pelican_ met with no more adventures. Sweeping in +fine clear weather round the Cape of Good Hope, she touched once for +water at Sierra Leone, and finally sailed in triumph into Plymouth +Harbour, where she had been long given up for lost, having traced the +first furrow round the globe. Winter had come home eighteen months +before, but could report nothing. The news of the doings on the American +coast had reached England through Madrid. The Spanish ambassador had +been furious. It was known that Spanish squadrons had been sent in +search. Complications would arise if Drake brought his plunder home, and +timid politicians hoped that he was at the bottom of the sea. But here +he was, actually arrived with a monarch's ransom in his hold. + +English sympathy with an extraordinary exploit is always irresistible. +Shouts of applause rang through the country, and Elizabeth, every bit of +her an Englishwoman, felt with her subjects. She sent for Drake to +London, made him tell his story over and over again, and was never weary +of listening to him. As to injury to Spain, Philip had lighted a fresh +insurrection in Ireland, which had cost her dearly in lives and money. +For Philip to demand compensation of England on the score of justice was +a thing to make the gods laugh. + +So thought the Queen. So unfortunately did not think some members of her +Council, Lord Burghley among them. Mendoza was determined that Drake +should be punished and the spoils disgorged, or else that he would force +Elizabeth upon the world as the confessed protectress of piracy. +Burghley thought that, as things stood, some satisfaction (or the form +of it) would have to be made. + +Elizabeth hated paying back as heartily as Falstaff, nor had she the +least intention of throwing to the wolves a gallant Englishman, with +whose achievements the world was ringing. She was obliged to allow the +treasure to be registered by a responsible official, and an account +rendered to Mendoza; but for all that she meant to keep her own share of +the spoils. She meant, too, that Drake and his brave crew should not go +unrewarded. Drake himself should have ten thousand pounds at least. + +Her action was eminently characteristic of her. On the score of real +justice there was no doubt at all how matters stood between herself and +Philip, who had tried to dethrone and kill her. + +The _Pelican_ lay still at Plymouth with the bullion and jewels +untouched. She directed that it should be landed and scheduled. She +trusted the business to Edmund Tremayne, of Sydenham, a neighbouring +magistrate, on whom she could depend. She told him not to be too +inquisitive, and she allowed Drake to go back and arrange the cargo +before the examination was made. Let me now read you a letter from +Tremayne himself to Sir Francis Walsingham:-- + +'To give you some understanding how I have proceeded with Mr. Drake: I +have at no time entered into the account to know more of the value of +the treasure than he made me acquainted with; and to say truth I +persuaded him to impart to me no more than need, for so I saw him +commanded in her Majesty's behalf that he should reveal the certainty to +no man living. I have only taken notice of so much as he _has_ revealed, +and the same I have seen to be weighed, registered, and packed. And to +observe her Majesty's commands for the ten thousand pounds, we agreed he +should take it out of the portion that was landed secretly, and to +remove the same out of the place before my son Henry and I should come +to the weighing and registering of what was left; and so it was done, +and no creature living by me made privy to it but himself; and myself no +privier to it than as you may perceive by this. + +'I see nothing to charge Mr. Drake further than he is inclined to charge +himself, and withal I must say he is inclined to advance the value to be +delivered to her Majesty, and seeking in general to recompense all men +that have been in the case dealers with him. As I dare take an oath, he +will rather diminish his own portion than leave any of them unsatisfied. +And for his mariners and followers I have seen here as eye-witness, and +have heard with my ears, such certain signs of goodwill as I cannot yet +see that any of them will leave his company. The whole course of his +voyage hath showed him to be of great valour; but my hap has been to see +some particulars, and namely in this discharge of his company, as doth +assure me that he is a man of great government, and that by the rules of +God and his book, so as proceeding on such foundation his doings cannot +but prosper.' + +The result of it all was that deductions were made from the capture +equivalent to the property which Drake and Hawkins held themselves to +have been treacherously plundered of at San Juan de Ulloa, with perhaps +other liberal allowances for the cost of recovery. An account on part of +what remained was then given to Mendoza. It was not returned to him or +to Philip, but was laid up in the Tower till the final settlement of +Philip's and the Queen's claims on each other--the cost, for one thing, +of the rebellion in Ireland. Commissioners met and argued and sat on +ineffectually till the Armada came and the discussion ended, and the +talk of restitution was over. Meanwhile, opinion varied about Drake's +own doings as it has varied since. Elizabeth listened spellbound to his +adventures, sent for him to London again, and walked with him publicly +about the parks and gardens. She gave him a second ten thousand pounds. +The _Pelican_ was sent round to Deptford; a royal banquet was held on +board, Elizabeth attended and Drake was knighted. Mendoza clamoured for +the treasure in the Tower to be given up to him; Walsingham wished to +give it to the Prince of Orange; Leicester and his party in the Council, +who had helped to fit Drake out, thought it ought to be divided among +themselves, and unless Mendoza lies they offered to share it with him if +he would agree to a private arrangement. Mendoza says he answered that +he would give twice as much to chastise such a bandit as Drake. +Elizabeth thought it should be kept as a captured pawn in the game, and +so in fact it remained after the deductions which we have seen had been +made. + +Drake was lavish of his presents. He presented the Queen with a diamond +cross and a coronet set with splendid emeralds. He gave Bromley, the +Lord Chancellor, 800 dollars' worth of silver plate, and as much more to +other members of the Council. The Queen wore her coronet on New Year's +Day; the Chancellor was content to decorate his sideboard at the cost of +the Catholic King. Burghley and Sussex declined the splendid temptation; +they said they could accept no such precious gifts from a man whose +fortune had been made by plunder. + +Burghley lived to see better into Drake's value. Meanwhile, what now are +we, looking back over our history, to say of these things--the Channel +privateering; the seizure of Alva's army money; the sharp practice of +Hawkins with the Queen of Scots and King Philip; or this amazing +performance of Sir Francis Drake in a vessel no larger than a +second-rate yacht of a modern noble lord? + +Resolution, daring, professional skill, all historians allow to these +men; but, like Burghley, they regard what they did as piracy, not much +better, if at all better, than the later exploits of Morgan and Kidd. So +cried the Catholics who wished Elizabeth's ruin; so cried Lope de Vega +and King Philip. In milder language the modern philosopher repeats the +unfavourable verdict, rejoices that he lives in an age when such doings +are impossible, and apologises faintly for the excesses of an imperfect +age. May I remind the philosopher that we live in an age when other +things have also happily become impossible, and that if he and his +friends were liable when they went abroad for their summer tours to be +snapped by the familiars of the Inquisition, whipped, burnt alive, or +sent to the galleys, he would perhaps think more leniently of any +measures by which that respectable institution and its masters might be +induced to treat philosophers with greater consideration? + +Again, remember Dr. Johnson's warning, Beware of cant. In that intensely +serious century men were more occupied with the realities than the forms +of things. By encouraging rebellion in England and Ireland, by burning +so many scores of poor English seamen and merchants in fools' coats at +Seville, the King of Spain had given Elizabeth a hundred occasions for +declaring war against him. Situated as she was, with so many disaffected +Catholic subjects, she could not _begin_ a war on such a quarrel. She +had to use such resources as she had, and of these resources the best +was a splendid race of men who were not afraid to do for her at their +own risk what commissioned officers would and might have justly done had +formal war been declared, men who defeated the national enemy with +materials conquered from himself, who were devoted enough to dispense +with the personal security which the sovereign's commission would have +extended to prisoners of war, and face the certainty of being hanged if +they were taken. Yes; no doubt by the letter of the law of nations Drake +and Hawkins were corsairs of the same stuff as Ulysses, as the rovers of +Norway. But the common-sense of Europe saw through the form to the +substance which lay below it, and the instinct of their countrymen gave +them a place among the fighting heroes of England, from which I do not +think they will be deposed by the eventual verdict of history. + + + + +LECTURE V + +PARTIES IN THE STATE + + +On December 21, 1585, a remarkable scene took place in the English House +of Commons. The Prince of Orange, after many attempts had failed, had +been successfully disposed of in the Low Countries. A fresh conspiracy +had just been discovered for a Catholic insurrection in England, +supported by a foreign invasion; the object of which was to dethrone +Elizabeth and to give her crown to Mary Stuart. The Duke of Alva, at the +time of the Ridolfi plot, had pointed out as a desirable preliminary, if +the invasion was to succeed, the assassination of the Queen of England. +The succession being undecided, he had calculated that the confusion +would paralyse resistance, and the notorious favour with which Mary +Stuart's pretensions were regarded by a powerful English party would +ensure her an easy victory were Elizabeth once removed. But this was an +indispensable condition. It had become clear at last that so long as +Elizabeth was alive Philip would not willingly sanction the landing of a +Spanish army on English shores. Thus, among the more ardent Catholics, +especially the refugees at the Seminary at Rheims, a crown in heaven was +held out to any spiritual knight-errant who would remove the obstacle. +The enterprise itself was not a difficult one. Elizabeth was aware of +her danger, but she was personally fearless. She refused to distrust the +Catholics. Her household was full of them. She admitted anyone to her +presence who desired a private interview. Dr. Parry, a member of +Parliament, primed by encouragements from the Cardinal of Como and the +Vatican, had undertaken to risk his life to win the glorious prize. He +introduced himself into the palace, properly provided with arms. He +professed to have information of importance to give. The Queen received +him repeatedly. Once he was alone with her in the palace garden, and was +on the point of killing her, when he was awed, as he said, by the +likeness to her father. Parry was discovered and hanged, but Elizabeth +refused to take warning. When there were so many aspirants for the +honour of removing Jezebel, and Jezebel was so easy of approach, it was +felt that one would at last succeed; and the loyal part of the nation, +led by Lord Burghley, formed themselves into an association to protect a +life so vital to them and apparently so indifferent to herself. + +The subscribers bound themselves to pursue to the death all manner of +persons who should attempt or consent to anything to the harm of her +Majesty's person; never to allow or submit to any pretended successor by +whom or for whom such detestable act should be attempted or committed; +but to pursue such persons to death and act the utmost revenge upon +them. + +The bond in its first form was a visible creation of despair. It implied +a condition of things in which order would have ceased to exist. The +lawyers, who, it is curious to observe, were generally in Mary Stuart's +interest, vehemently objected; yet so passionate was public feeling +that it was signed throughout the kingdom, and Parliament was called to +pass an Act which would secure the same object. Mary Stuart, at any +rate, was not to benefit by the crimes either of herself or her +admirers. It was provided that if the realm was invaded, or a rebellion +instigated by or for any one pretending a title to the crown after the +Queen's death, such pretender should be disqualified for ever. In the +event of the Queen's assassination the government was to devolve on a +Committee of Peers and Privy Councillors, who were to examine the +particulars of the murder and execute the perpetrators and their +accomplices; while, with a significant allusion, all Jesuits and +seminary priests were required to leave the country instantly, under +pain of death. + +The House of Commons was heaving with emotion when the Act was sent up +to the Peers. To give expression to their burning feelings Sir +Christopher Hatton proposed that before they separated they should join +him in a prayer for the Queen's preservation. The 400 members all rose, +and knelt on the floor of the House, repeating Hatton's words after him, +sentence by sentence. + +Jesuits and seminary priests! Attempts have been made to justify the +conspiracies against Elizabeth from what is called the persecution of +the innocent enthusiasts who came from Rheims to preach the Catholic +faith to the English people. Popular writers and speakers dwell on the +executions of Campian and his friends as worse than the Smithfield +burnings, and amidst general admiration and approval these martyred +saints have been lately canonised. Their mission, it is said, was purely +religious. Was it so? The chief article in the religion which they came +to teach was the duty of obedience to the Pope, who had excommunicated +the Queen, had absolved her subjects from their allegiance, and, by a +relaxation of the Bull, had permitted them to pretend to loyalty _ad +illud tempus_, till a Catholic army of deliverance should arrive. A Pope +had sent a legate to Ireland, and was at that moment stirring up a +bloody insurrection there. + +But what these seminary priests were, and what their object was, will +best appear from an account of the condition of England, drawn up for +the use of the Pope and Philip, by Father Parsons, who was himself at +the head of the mission. The date of it is 1585, almost simultaneous +with the scene in Parliament which I have just been describing. The +English refugees, from Cardinal Pole downwards, were the most active and +passionate preachers of a Catholic crusade against England. They failed, +but they have revenged themselves in history. Pole, Sanders, Allen, and +Parsons have coloured all that we suppose ourselves to know of Henry +VIII. and Elizabeth. What I am about to read to you does not differ +essentially from what we have already heard from these persons; but it +is new, and, being intended for practical guidance, is complete in its +way. It comes from the Spanish archives, and is not therefore open to +suspicion. Parsons, as you know, was a Fellow of Balliol before his +conversion; Allen was a Fellow of Oriel, and Sanders of New College. An +Oxford Church of England education is an excellent thing, and beautiful +characters have been formed in the Catholic universities abroad; but as +the elements of dynamite are innocent in themselves, yet when fused +together produce effects no one would have dreamt of, so Oxford and +Rome, when they have run together, have always generated a somewhat +furious compound. + +Parsons describes his statement as a 'brief note on the present +condition of England,' from which may be inferred the ease and +opportuneness of the holy enterprise. 'England,' he says, 'contains +fifty-two counties, of which forty are well inclined to the Catholic +faith. Heretics in these are few, and are hated by all ranks. The +remaining twelve are infected more or less, but even in these the +Catholics are in the majority. Divide England into three parts; +two-thirds at least are Catholic at heart, though many conceal their +convictions in fear of the Queen. English Catholics are of two +sorts--one which makes an open profession regardless of consequences, +the other believing at the bottom, but unwilling to risk life or +fortune, and so submitting outwardly to the heretic laws, but as eager +as the Catholic confessors for redemption from slavery. + +'The Queen and her party,' he goes on, 'more fear these secret Catholics +than those who wear their colours openly. The latter they can fine, +disarm, and make innocuous. The others, being outwardly compliant, +cannot be touched, nor can any precaution be taken against their rising +when the day of divine vengeance shall arrive. + +'The counties specially Catholic are the most warlike, and contain +harbours and other conveniences for the landing of an invading army. The +north towards the Scotch border has been trained in constant fighting. +The Scotch nobles on the other side are Catholic and will lend their +help. So will all Wales. + +'The inhabitants of the midland and southern provinces, where the taint +is deepest, are indolent and cowardly, and do not know what war means. +The towns are more corrupt than the country districts. But the strength +of England does not lie, as on the Continent, in towns and cities. The +town population are merchants and craftsmen, rarely or never nobles or +magnates. + +'The nobility, who have the real power, reside with their retinues in +castles scattered over the land. The wealthy yeomen are strong and +honest, all attached to the ancient faith, and may be counted on when an +attempt is made for the restoration of it. The knights and gentry are +generally well affected also, and will be well to the front. Many of +their sons are being now educated in our seminaries. Some are in exile, +but all, whether at home or abroad, will be active on our side. + +'Of the great peers, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, part are +with us, part against us. But the latter sort are new creations, whom +the Queen has promoted either for heresy or as her personal lovers, and +therefore universally abhorred. + +'The premier peer of the old stock is the Earl of Arundel, son and heir +of the late Duke of Norfolk, whom she has imprisoned because he tried to +escape out of the realm. This earl is entirely Catholic, as well as his +brothers and kinsmen; and they have powerful vassals who are eager to +revenge the injury of their lord. The Earl of Northumberland and his +brothers are Catholics. They too have family wrongs to repay, their +father having been this year murdered in the Tower, and they have placed +themselves at my disposal. The Earl of Worcester and his heir hate +heresy, and are devoted to us with all their dependents. The Earls of +Cumberland and Southampton and Viscount Montague are faithful, and have +a large following. Besides these we have many of the barons--Dacre, +Morley, Vaux, Windsor, Wharton, Lovelace, Stourton, and others besides. +The Earl of Westmoreland, with Lord Paget and Sir Francis Englefield, +who reside abroad, have been incredibly earnest in promoting our +enterprise. With such support, it is impossible that we can fail. These +lords and gentlemen, when they see efficient help coming to them, will +certainly rise, and for the following reasons:-- + +'1. Because some of the principals among them have given me their +promise. + +'2. Because, on hearing that Pope Pius intended to excommunicate and +depose the Queen sixteen years ago, many Catholics did rise. They only +failed because no support was sent them, and the Pope's sentence had not +at that time been actually published. Now, when the Pope has spoken and +help is certain, there is not a doubt how they will act. + +'3. Because the Catholics are now much more numerous, and have received +daily instruction in their religion from our priests. There is now no +orthodox Catholic in the whole realm who supposes that he is any longer +bound in conscience to obey the Queen. Books for the occasion have been +written and published by us, in which we prove that it is not only +lawful for Catholics, but their positive duty, to fight against the +Queen and heresy when the Pope bids them; and these books are so +greedily read among them that when the time comes they are certain to +take arms. + +'4. The Catholics in these late years have shown their real feeling in +the martyrdoms of priests and laymen, and in attempts made by several of +them against the person and State of the Queen. Various Catholics have +tried to kill her at the risk of their own lives, and are still trying. + +'5. We have three hundred priests dispersed among the houses of the +nobles and honest gentry. Every day we add to their number; and these +priests will direct the consciences and actions of the Catholics at the +great crisis. + +'6. They have been so harried and so worried that they hate the +heretics worse than they hate the Turks. + +'Should any of them fear the introduction of a Spanish army as dangerous +to their national liberties, there is an easy way to satisfy their +scruples. Let it be openly declared that the enterprise is undertaken in +the name of the Pope, and there will be no more hesitation. We have +ourselves prepared a book for their instruction, to be issued at the +right moment. If his Holiness desires to see it we will have it +translated into Latin for his use. + +'Before the enterprise is undertaken the sentence of excommunication and +deposition ought to be reissued, with special clauses. + +'It must be published in all adjoining Catholic countries; all Catholic +kings and princes must be admonished to forbid every description of +intercourse with the pretended Queen and her heretic subjects, and +themselves especially to make or observe no treaties with her, to send +no embassies to her and admit none; to render no help to her of any sort +or kind. + +'Besides those who will be our friends for religion's sake we shall +have others with us--neutrals or heretics of milder sort, or atheists, +with whom England now abounds, who will join us in the interest of the +Queen of Scots. Among them are the Marquis of Winchester, the Earls of +Shrewsbury, Derby, Oxford, Rutland, and several other peers. The Queen +of Scots herself will be of infinite assistance to us in securing these. +She knows who are her secret friends. She has been able so far, and we +trust will always be able, to communicate with them. She will see that +they are ready at the right time. She has often written to me to say +that she hopes that she will be able to escape when the time comes. In +her last letter she urges me to be vehement with his Holiness in pushing +on the enterprise, and bids him have no concern for her own safety. She +believes that she can care for herself. If not, she says she will lose +her life willingly in a cause so sacred. + +'The enemies that we shall have to deal with are the more determined +heretics whom we call Puritans, and certain creatures of the Queen, the +Earls of Leicester and Huntingdon, and a few others. They will have an +advantage in the money in the Treasury, the public arms and stores, and +the army and navy, but none of them have ever seen a camp. The leaders +have been nuzzled in love-making and Court pleasures, and they will all +fly at the first shock of war. They have not a man who can command in +the field. In the whole realm there are but two fortresses which could +stand a three days' siege. The people are enervated by long peace, and, +except a few who have served with the heretics in Flanders, cannot bear +their arms. Of those few some are dead and some have deserted to the +Prince of Parma, a clear proof of the real disposition to revolt. There +is abundance of food and cattle in the country, all of which will be at +our service and cannot be kept from us. Everywhere there are safe and +roomy harbours, almost all undefended. An invading force can be landed +with ease, and there will be no lack of local pilots. Fifteen thousand +trained soldiers will be sufficient, aided by the Catholic English, +though, of course, the larger the force, particularly if it includes +cavalry, the quicker the work will be done and the less the expense. +Practically there will be nothing to overcome save an unwarlike and +undisciplined mob. + +'Sixteen times England has been invaded. Twice only the native race have +repelled the attacking force. They have been defeated on every other +occasion, and with a cause so holy and just as ours we need not fear to +fail. The expenses shall be repaid to his Holiness and the Catholic King +out of the property of the heretics and the Protestant clergy. There +will be ample in these resources to compensate all who give us their +hand. But the work must be done promptly. Delay will be infinitely +dangerous. If we put off, as we have done hitherto, the Catholics will +be tired out and reduced in numbers and strength. The nobles and priests +now in exile, and able to be of such service, will break down in +poverty. The Queen of Scots may be executed or die a natural death, or +something may happen to the Catholic King or his Holiness. The Queen of +England may herself die, a heretic Government may be reconstructed under +a heretic successor, the young Scotch king or some other, and our case +will then be desperate; whereas if we can prevent this and save the +Queen of Scots there will be good hope of converting her son and +reducing the whole island to the obedience of the faith. Now is the +moment. The French Government cannot interfere. The Duke of Guise will +help us for the sake of the faith and for his kinswoman. The Turks are +quiet. The Church was never stronger or more united. Part of Italy is +under the Catholic King; the rest is in league with his Holiness. The +revolt in the Low Countries is all but crushed. The sea provinces are on +the point of surrendering. If they give up the contest their harbours +will be at our service for the invasion. If not, the way to conquer them +is to conquer England. + +'I need not urge how much it imports his Holiness to undertake this +glorious work. He, supremely wise as he is, knows that from this Jezebel +and her supporters come all the perils which disturb the Christian +world. He knows that heretical depravity and all other miseries can only +end when this woman is chastised. Reverence for his Holiness and love +for my afflicted country force me to speak. I submit to his most holy +judgment myself and my advice.' + +The most ardent Catholic apologist will hardly maintain, in the face of +this document, that the English Jesuits and seminary priests were the +innocent missionaries of religion which the modern enemies of +Elizabeth's Government describe them. Father Parsons, the writer of it, +was himself the leader and director of the Jesuit invasion, and cannot +be supposed to have misrepresented the purpose for which they had been +sent over. The point of special interest is the account which he gives +of the state of parties and general feeling in the English people. Was +there that wide disposition to welcome an invading army in so large a +majority of the nation? The question is supposed to have been +triumphantly answered three years later, when it is asserted that the +difference of creed was forgotten, and Catholics and Protestants fought +side by side for the liberties of England. But, in the first place, the +circumstances were changed. The Queen of Scots no longer lived, and the +success of the Armada implied a foreign sovereign. But, next, the +experiment was not tried. The battle was fought at sea, by a fleet +four-fifths of which was composed of Protestant adventurers, fitted out +and manned by those zealous Puritans whose fidelity to the Queen Parsons +himself admitted. Lord Howard may have been an Anglo-Catholic; Roman +Catholic he never was; but he and his brother were the only loyalists in +the House of Howard. Arundel and the rest of his kindred were all that +Parsons claimed for them. How the country levies would have behaved had +Parma landed is still uncertain. It is likely that if the Spanish army +had gained a first success, there might have been some who would have +behaved as Sir William Stanley did. It is observable that Parsons +mentions Leicester and Huntingdon as the only powerful peers on whom the +Queen could rely, and Leicester, otherwise the unfittest man in her +dominions, she chose to command her land army. + +The Duke of Alva and his master Philip, both of them distrusted +political priests. Political priests, they said, did not understand the +facts of things. Theological enthusiasm made them credulous of what they +wished. But Father Parsons's estimate is confirmed in all its parts by +the letters of Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in London. Mendoza was +himself a soldier, and his first duty was to learn the real truth. It +may be taken as certain that, with the Queen of Scots still alive to +succeed to the throne, at the time of the scene in the House of Commons, +with which I began this lecture, the great majority of the country party +disliked the Reformers, and were looking forward to the accession of a +Catholic sovereign, and as a consequence to a religious revolution. + +It explains the difficulty of Elizabeth's position and the inconsistency +of her political action. Burghley, Walsingham, Mildmay, Knolles, the +elder Bacon, were believing Protestants, and would have had her put +herself openly at the head of a Protestant European league. They +believed that right and justice were on their side, that their side was +God's cause, as they called it, and that God would care for it. +Elizabeth had no such complete conviction. She disliked dogmatism, +Protestant as well as Catholic. She ridiculed Mr. Cecil and his brothers +in Christ. She thought, like Erasmus, that the articles of faith, for +which men were so eager to kill one another, were subjects which they +knew very little about, and that every man might think what he would on +such matters without injury to the commonwealth. To become 'head of the +name' would involve open war with the Catholic powers. War meant war +taxes, which more than half her subjects would resent or resist. +Religion as she understood it was a development of law--the law of moral +conduct. You could not have two laws in one country, and you could not +have two religions; but the outward form mattered comparatively little. +The people she ruled over were divided about these forms. They were +mainly fools, and if she let them each have chapels and churches of +their own, molehills would become mountains, and the congregations would +go from arguing into fighting. With Parliament to help her, therefore, +she established a Liturgy, in which those who wished to find the Mass +could hear the Mass, while those who wanted predestination and +justification by faith could find it in the Articles. Both could meet +under a common roof, and use a common service, if they would only be +reasonable. If they would not be reasonable, the Catholics might have +their own ritual in their own houses, and would not be interfered with. + +This system continued for the first eleven years of Elizabeth's reign. +No Catholic, she could proudly say, had ever during that time been +molested for his belief. There was a small fine for non-attendance at +church, but even this was rarely levied, and by the confession of the +Jesuits the Queen's policy was succeeding too well. Sensible men began +to see that the differences of religion were not things to quarrel over. +Faith was growing languid. The elder generation, who had lived through +the Edward and Mary revolutions, were satisfied to be left undisturbed; +a new generation was growing up, with new ideas; and so the Church of +Rome bestirred itself. Elizabeth was excommunicated. The cycle began of +intrigue and conspiracy, assassination plots, and Jesuit invasions. +Punishments had to follow, and in spite of herself Elizabeth was driven +into what the Catholics could call religious persecution. Religious it +was not, for the seminary priests were missionaries of treason. But +religious it was made to appear. The English gentleman who wished to +remain loyal, without forfeiting his faith, was taught to see that a +sovereign under the Papal curse had no longer a claim on his allegiance. +If he disobeyed the Pope, he had ceased to be a member of the Church of +Christ. The Papal party grew in coherence, while, opposed to them as +their purpose came in view, the Protestants, who at first had been +inclined to Lutheranism, adopted the deeper and sterner creed of Calvin +and Geneva. The memories of the Marian cruelties revived again. They saw +themselves threatened with a return to stake and fagot. They closed +their ranks and resolved to die rather than submit again to Antichrist. +They might be inferior in numbers. A _plebiscite_ in England at that +moment would have sent Burghley and Walsingham to the scaffold. But the +Lord could save by few as well as by many. Judah had but two tribes out +of the twelve, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the +words of Israel. + +One great mistake had been made by Parsons. He could not estimate what +he could not understand. He admitted that the inhabitants of the towns +were mainly heretic--London, Bristol, Plymouth, and the rest--but he +despised them as merchants, craftsmen, mean persons who had no heart to +fight in them. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the +sixteenth century than the effect of Calvinism in levelling distinctions +of rank and in steeling and ennobling the character of common men. In +Scotland, in the Low Countries, in France, there was the same +phenomenon. In Scotland, the Kirk was the creation of the preachers and +the people, and peasants and workmen dared to stand in the field against +belted knights and barons, who had trampled on their fathers for +centuries. The artisans of the Low Countries had for twenty years defied +the whole power of Spain. The Huguenots were not a fifth part of the +French nation, yet defeat could never dishearten them. Again and again +they forced Crown and nobles to make terms with them. It was the same in +England. The allegiance to their feudal leaders dissolved into a higher +obligation to the King of kings, whose elect they believed themselves to +be. Election to them was not a theological phantasm, but an enlistment +in the army of God. A little flock they might be, but they were a +dangerous people to deal with, most of all in the towns on the sea. The +sea was the element of the Reformers. The Popes had no jurisdiction over +the winds and waves. Rochelle was the citadel of the Huguenots. The +English merchants and mariners had wrongs of their own, perpetually +renewed, which fed the bitterness of their indignation. Touch where they +would in Spanish ports, the inquisitor's hand was on their ships' crews, +and the crews, unless they denied their faith, were handed over to the +stake or the galleys. The Calvinists are accused of intolerance. I fancy +that even in these humane and enlightened days we should not be very +tolerant if the King of Dahomey were to burn every European visitor to +his dominions who would not worship Mumbo Jumbo. The Duke of Alva was +not very merciful to heretics, but he tried to bridle the zeal of the +Holy Office in burning the English seamen. Even Philip himself +remonstrated. It was to no purpose. The Holy Office said they would +think about it, but concluded to go on. I am not the least surprised if +the English seamen were intolerant. I should be very much surprised if +they had not been. The Queen could not protect them. They had to protect +themselves as they could, and make Spanish vessels, when they could +catch them, pay for the iniquities of their rulers. + +With such a temper rising on both sides, Elizabeth's policy had but a +poor chance. She still hoped that the better sense of mankind would keep +the doctrinal enthusiasts in order. Elizabeth wished her subjects would +be content to live together in unity of spirit, if not in unity of +theory, in the bond of peace, not hatred, in righteousness of life, not +in orthodoxy preached by stake and gibbet. She was content to wait and +to persevere. She refused to declare war. War would tear the world in +pieces. She knew her danger. She knew that she was in constant peril of +assassination. She knew that if the Protestants were crushed in +Scotland, in France, and in the Low Countries, her own turn would +follow. To protect insurgents avowedly would be to justify insurrection +against herself. But what she would not do openly she would do secretly. +What she would not do herself she let her subjects do. Thousands of +English volunteers fought in Flanders for the States, and in France for +the Huguenots. When the English Treasury was shut to the entreaties of +Coligny or William of Orange the London citizens untied their +purse-strings. Her friends in Scotland fared ill. They were encouraged +by promises which were not observed, because to observe them might bring +on war. They committed themselves for her sake. They fell one after +another--Murray, Morton, Gowrie--into bloody graves. Others took their +places and struggled on. The Scotch Reformation was saved. Scotland was +not allowed to open its arms to an invading army to strike England +across the Border. But this was held to be their sufficient recompense. +They cared for their cause as well as for the English Queen, and they +had their reward. If they saved her they saved their own country. She +too did not lie on a bed of roses. To prevent open war she was exposing +her own life to the assassin. At any moment a pistol-shot or a stab with +a dagger might add Elizabeth to the list of victims. She knew it, yet +she went on upon her own policy, and faced in her person her own share +of the risk. One thing only she did. If she would not defend her friends +and her subjects as Queen of England, she left them free to defend +themselves. She allowed traitors to be hanged when they were caught at +their work. She allowed the merchants to fit out their privateer fleets, +to defend at their own cost the shores of England, and to teach the +Spaniards to fear their vengeance. + +But how long was all this to last? How long were loyal citizens to feel +that they were living over a loaded mine?--throughout their own country, +throughout the Continent, at Rome and at Madrid, at Brussels and at +Paris, a legion of conspirators were driving their shafts under the +English commonwealth. The Queen might be indifferent to her own danger, +but on the Queen's life hung the peace of the whole realm. A stroke of a +poniard, a touch of a trigger, and swords would be flying from their +scabbards in every county; England would become, like France, one wild +scene of anarchy and civil war. No successor had been named. The Queen +refused to hear a successor declared. Mary Stuart's hand had been in +every plot since she crossed the Border. Twice the House of Commons had +petitioned for her execution. Elizabeth would neither touch her life nor +allow her hopes of the crown to be taken from her. The Bond of +Association was but a remedy of despair, and the Act of Parliament would +have passed for little in the tempest which would immediately rise. The +agony reached a height when the fatal news came from the Netherlands +that there at last assassination had done its work. The Prince of +Orange, after many failures, had been finished, and a libel was found in +the Palace at Westminster exhorting the ladies of the household to +provide a Judith among themselves to rid the world of the English +Holofernes. + +One part of Elizabeth's subjects, at any rate, were not disposed to sit +down in patience under the eternal nightmare. From Spain was to come the +army of deliverance for which the Jesuits were so passionately longing. +To the Spaniards the Pope was looking for the execution of the Bull of +Deposition. Father Parsons had left out of his estimate the Protestant +adventurers of London and Plymouth, who, besides their creed and their +patriotism, had their private wrongs to revenge. Philip might talk of +peace, and perhaps in weariness might at times seriously wish for it; +but between the Englishmen whose life was on the ocean and the Spanish +Inquisition, which had burned so many of them, there was no peace +possible. To them, Spain was the natural enemy. Among the daring spirits +who had sailed with Drake round the globe, who had waylaid the Spanish +gold ships, and startled the world with their exploits, the joy of whose +lives had been to fight Spaniards wherever they could meet with them, +there was but one wish--for an honest open war. The great galleons were +to them no objects of terror. The Spanish naval power seemed to them a +'Colossus stuffed with clouts.' They were Protestants all of them, but +their theology was rather practical than speculative. If Italians and +Spaniards chose to believe in the Mass, it was not any affair of theirs. +Their quarrel was with the insolent pretence of Catholics to force their +creed on others with sword and cannon. The spirit which was working in +them was the genius of freedom. On their own element they felt that +they could be the spiritual tyrants' masters. But as things were going, +rebellion was likely to break out at home; their homesteads might be +burning, their country overrun with the Prince of Parma's army, the +Inquisition at their own doors, and a Catholic sovereign bringing back +the fagots of Smithfield. + +The Reformation at its origin was no introduction of novel heresies. It +was a revolt of the laity of Europe against the profligacy and avarice +of the clergy. The popes and cardinals pretended to be the +representatives of Heaven. When called to account for abuse of their +powers, they had behaved precisely as mere corrupt human kings and +aristocracies behave. They had intrigued; they had excommunicated; they +had set nation against nation, sovereigns against their subjects; they +had encouraged assassination; they had made themselves infamous by +horrid massacres, and had taught one half of foolish Christendom to hate +the other. The hearts of the poor English seamen whose comrades had been +burnt at Seville to make a Spanish holiday, thrilled with a sacred +determination to end such scenes. The purpose that was in them broke +into a wild war-music, as the wind harp swells and screams under the +breath of the storm. I found in the Record Office an unsigned letter of +some inspired old sea-dog, written in a bold round hand and addressed to +Elizabeth. The ships' companies which in summer served in Philip's +men-of-war went in winter in thousands to catch cod on the Banks of +Newfoundland. 'Give me five vessels,' the writer said, 'and I will go +out and sink them all, and the galleons shall rot in Cadiz Harbour for +want of hands to sail them. But decide, Madam, and decide quickly. Time +flies, and will not return. _The wings of man's life are plumed with the +feathers of death._' + +The Queen did not decide. The five ships were not sent, and the poor +Castilian sailors caught their cod in peace. But in spite of herself +Elizabeth was driven forward by the tendencies of things. The death of +the Prince of Orange left the States without a Government. The Prince of +Parma was pressing them hard. Without a leader they were lost. They +offered themselves to Elizabeth, to be incorporated in the English +Empire. They said that if she refused they must either submit to Spain +or become provinces of France. The Netherlands, whether Spanish or +French, would be equally dangerous to England. The Netherlands once +brought back under the Pope, England's turn would come next; while to +accept the proposal meant instant and desperate war, both with France +and Spain too--for France would never allow England again to gain a foot +on the Continent. Elizabeth knew not what to do. She would and she would +not. She did not accept; she did not refuse. It was neither No nor Yes. +Philip, who was as fond of indirect ways as herself, proposed to quicken +her irresolution. + +The harvest had failed in Galicia, and the population were starving. +England grew more corn than she wanted, and, under a special promise +that the crews should not be molested, a fleet of corn-traders had gone +with cargoes of grain to Coruna, Bilbao, and Santander. The King of +Spain, on hearing that Elizabeth was treating with the States, issued a +sudden order to seize the vessels, confiscate the cargoes, and imprison +the men. The order was executed. One English ship only was lucky enough +to escape by the adroitness of her commander. The _Primrose_, of London, +lay in Bilbao Roads with a captain and fifteen hands. The mayor, on +receiving the order, came on board to look over the ship. He then went +on shore for a sufficient force to carry out the seizure. After he was +gone the captain heard of the fate which was intended for him. The mayor +returned with two boatloads of soldiers, stepped up the ladder, touched +the captain on the shoulder, and told him he was a prisoner. The +Englishmen snatched pike and cutlass, pistol and battleaxe, killed seven +or eight of the Spanish boarders, threw the rest overboard, and flung +stones on them as they scrambled into their boats. The mayor, who had +fallen into the sea, caught a rope and was hauled up when the fight was +over. The cable was cut, the sails hoisted, and in a few minutes the +_Primrose_ was under way for England, with the mayor of Bilbao below the +hatches. No second vessel got away. If Philip had meant to frighten +Elizabeth he could not have taken a worse means of doing it, for he had +exasperated that particular part of the English population which was +least afraid of him. He had broken faith besides, and had seized some +hundreds of merchants and sailors who had gone merely to relieve Spanish +distress. Elizabeth, as usual, would not act herself. She sent no ships +from her own navy to demand reparation; but she gave the adventurers a +free hand. The London and Plymouth citizens determined to read Spain a +lesson which should make an impression. They had the worst fears for the +fate of the prisoners; but if they could not save, they could avenge +them. Sir Francis Drake, who wished for nothing better than to be at +work again, volunteered his services, and a fleet was collected at +Plymouth of twenty-five sail, every one of them fitted out by private +enterprise. No finer armament, certainly no better-equipped armament, +ever left the English shores. The expenses were, of course, enormous. Of +seamen and soldiers there were between two and three thousand. Drake's +name was worth an army. The cost was to be recovered out of the +expedition somehow; the Spaniards were to be made to pay for it; but how +or when was left to Drake's judgment. This time there was no second in +command sent by the friends of Spain to hang upon his arm. By universal +consent he had the absolute command. His instructions were merely to +inquire at Spanish ports into the meaning of the arrest. Beyond that he +was left to go where he pleased and do what he pleased on his own +responsibility. The Queen said frankly that if it proved convenient she +intended to disown him. Drake had no objection to being disowned, so he +could teach the Spaniards to be more careful how they handled +Englishmen. What came of it will be the subject of the next lecture. +Father Parsons said the Protestant traders of England had grown +effeminate and dared not fight. In the ashes of their own smoking cities +the Spaniards had to learn that Father Parsons had misread his +countrymen. If Drake had been given to heroics he might have left +Virgil's lines inscribed above the broken arms of Castile at St. +Domingo: + + En ego victa situ quam veri effeta senectus + Arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit: + Respice ad haec. + + + + +LECTURE VI + +THE GREAT EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES + + +Queen Elizabeth and her brother-in-law of Spain were reluctant champions +of opposing principles. In themselves they had no wish to quarrel, but +each was driven forward by fate and circumstance--Philip by the genius +of the Catholic religion, Elizabeth by the enthusiasts for freedom and +by the advice of statesmen who saw no safety for her except in daring. +Both wished for peace, and refused to see that peace was impossible; but +both were compelled to yield to their subjects' eagerness. Philip had to +threaten England with invasion; Elizabeth had to show Philip that +England had a long arm, which Spanish wisdom would do well to fear. It +was a singular position. Philip had outraged orthodoxy and dared the +anger of Rome by maintaining an ambassador at Elizabeth's Court after +her excommunication. He had laboured for a reconciliation with a +sincerity which his secret letters make it impossible to doubt. He had +condescended even to sue for it, in spite of Drake and the voyage of the +_Pelican_; yet he had helped the Pope to set Ireland in a flame. He had +encouraged Elizabeth's Catholic subjects in conspiracy after conspiracy. +He had approved of attempts to dispose of her as he had disposed of the +Prince of Orange. Elizabeth had retaliated, though with half a heart, by +letting her soldiers volunteer into the service of the revolted +Netherlands, by permitting English privateers to plunder the Spanish +colonies, seize the gold ships, and revenge their own wrongs. Each, +perhaps, had wished to show the other what an open war would cost them +both, and each drew back when war appeared inevitable. + +Events went their way. Holland and Zeeland, driven to extremity, had +petitioned for incorporation with England; as a counter-stroke and a +warning, Philip had arrested the English corn ships and imprisoned the +owners and the crews. Her own fleet was nothing. The safety of the +English shores depended on the spirit of the adventurers, and she could +not afford to check the anger with which the news was received. To +accept the offer of the States was war, and war she would not have. +Herself, she would not act at all; but in her usual way she might let +her subjects act for themselves, and plead, as Philip pleaded in excuse +for the Inquisition, that she could not restrain them. And thus it was +that in September 1585, Sir Francis Drake found himself with a fleet of +twenty-five privateers and 2,500 men who had volunteered to serve with +him under his own command. He had no distinct commission. The expedition +had been fitted out as a private undertaking. Neither officers nor crews +had been engaged for the service of the Crown. They received no wages. +In the eye of the law they were pirates. They were going on their own +account to read the King of Spain a necessary lesson and pay their +expenses at the King of Spain's cost. Young Protestant England had taken +fire. The name of Drake set every Protestant heart burning, and hundreds +of gallant gentlemen had pressed in to join. A grandson of Burghley had +come, and Edward Winter the Admiral's son, and Francis Knolles the +Queen's cousin, and Martin Frobisher, and Christopher Carlile. Philip +Sidney had wished to make one also in the glory; but Philip Sidney was +needed elsewhere. The Queen's consent had been won from her at a bold +interval in her shifting moods. The hot fit might pass away, and +Burghley sent Drake a hint to be off before her humour changed. No word +was said. On the morning of the 14th of September the signal flag was +flying from Drake's maintop to up anchor and away. Drake, as he admitted +after, 'was not the most assured of her Majesty's perseverance to let +them go forward.' Past Ushant he would be beyond reach of recall. With +light winds and calms they drifted across the Bay. They fell in with a +few Frenchmen homeward-bound from the Banks, and let them pass +uninjured. A large Spanish ship which they met next day, loaded with +excellent fresh salt fish, was counted lawful prize. The fish was new +and good, and was distributed through the fleet. Standing leisurely on, +they cleared Finisterre and came up with the Isles of Bayona, at the +mouth of Vigo Harbour. They dropped anchor there, and 'it was a great +matter and a royal sight to see them.' The Spanish Governor, Don Pedro +Bemadero, sent off with some astonishment to know who and what they +were. Drake answered with a question whether England and Spain were at +war, and if not why the English merchants had been arrested. Don Pedro +could but say that he knew of no war, and for the merchants an order had +come for their release. For reply Drake landed part of his force on the +islands, and Don Pedro, not knowing what to make of such visitors, found +it best to propitiate them with cartloads of wine and fruit. The +weather, which had been hitherto fine, showed signs of change. The wind +rose, and the sea with it. The anchorage was exposed, and Drake sent +Christopher Carlile, with one of his ships and a few pinnaces, up the +harbour to look out for better shelter. Their appearance created a panic +in the town. The alarmed inhabitants took to their boats, carrying off +their property and their Church plate. Carlile, who had a Calvinistic +objection to idolatry, took the liberty of detaining part of these +treasures. From one boat he took a massive silver cross belonging to the +High Church at Vigo; from another an image of Our Lady, which the +sailors relieved of her clothes and were said, when she was stripped, to +have treated with some indignity. Carlile's report being satisfactory, +the whole fleet was brought the next day up the harbour and moored above +the town. The news had by this time spread into the country. The +Governor of Galicia came down with all the force which he could collect +in a hurry. Perhaps he was in time to save Vigo itself. Perhaps Drake, +having other aims in view, did not care to be detained over a smaller +object. The Governor, at any rate, saw that the English were too strong +for him to meddle with. The best that he could look for was to persuade +them to go away on the easiest terms. Drake and he met in boats for a +parley. Drake wanted water and fresh provisions. Drake was to be allowed +to furnish himself undisturbed. He had secured what he most wanted. He +had shown the King of Spain that he was not invulnerable in his own +home dominion, and he sailed away unmolested. Madrid was in +consternation. That the English could dare insult the first prince in +Europe on the sacred soil of the Peninsula itself seemed like a dream. +The Council of State sat for three days considering the meaning of it. +Drake's name was already familiar in Spanish ears. It was not +conceivable that he had come only to inquire after the arrested ships +and seamen. But what could the English Queen be about? Did she not know +that she existed only by the forbearance of Philip? Did she know the +King of Spain's force? Did not she and her people quake? Little England, +it was said by some of these councillors, was to be swallowed at a +mouthful by the King of half the world. The old Admiral Santa Cruz was +less confident about the swallowing. He observed that England had many +teeth, and that instead of boasting of Spanish greatness it would be +better to provide against what she might do with them. Till now the +corsairs had appeared only in twos and threes. With such a fleet behind +him Drake might go where he pleased. He might be going to the South +Seas again. He might take Madeira if he liked, or the Canary Islands. +Santa Cruz himself thought he would make for the West Indies and Panama, +and advised the sending out there instantly every available ship that +they had. + +The gold fleet was Drake's real object. He had information that it would +be on its way to Spain by the Cape de Verde Islands, and he had learnt +the time when it was to be expected. From Vigo he sailed for the +Canaries, looked in at Palma, with 'intention to have taken our pleasure +there,' but found the landing dangerous and the town itself not worth +the risk. He ran on to the Cape de Verde Islands. He had measured his +time too narrowly. The gold fleet had arrived and had gone. He had +missed it by twelve hours, 'the reason,' as he said with a sigh, 'best +known to God.' The chance of prize-money was lost, but the political +purpose of the expedition could still be completed. The Cape de Verde +Islands could not sail away, and a beginning could be made with Sant +Iago. Sant Iago was a thriving, well-populated town, and down in Drake's +book as specially needing notice, some Plymouth sailors having been +recently murdered there. Christopher Carlile, always handy and +trustworthy, was put on shore with a thousand men to attack the place on +the undefended side. The Spanish commander, the bishop, and most of the +people fled, as at Vigo, into the mountains with their plate and money. +Carlile entered without opposition, and flew St. George's Cross from the +castle as a signal to the fleet. Drake came in, landed the rest of his +force, and took possession. It happened to be the 17th of November--the +anniversary of the Queen's accession--and ships and batteries, dressed +out with English flags, celebrated the occasion with salvoes of cannon. +Houses and magazines were then searched and plundered. Wine was found in +large quantities, rich merchandise for the Indian trade, and other +valuables. Of gold and silver nothing--it had all been removed. Drake +waited for a fortnight, hoping that the Spaniards would treat for the +ransom of the city. When they made no sign, he marched twelve miles +inland to a village where the Governor and the bishop were said to have +taken refuge. But the village was found deserted. The Spaniards had +gone to the mountains, where it was useless to follow them, and were too +proud to bargain with a pirate chief. Sant Iago was a beautifully built +city, and Drake would perhaps have spared it; but a ship-boy who had +strayed was found murdered and barbarously mutilated. The order was +given to burn. Houses, magazines, churches, public buildings were turned +to ashes, and the work being finished Drake went on, as Santa Cruz +expected, for the Spanish West Indies. The Spaniards were magnificent in +all that they did and touched. They built their cities in their new +possessions on the most splendid models of the Old World. St. Domingo +and Carthagena had their castles and cathedrals, palaces, squares, and +streets, grand and solid as those at Cadiz and Seville, and raised as +enduring monuments of the power and greatness of the Castilian monarchs. +To these Drake meant to pay a visit. Beyond them was the Isthmus, where +he had made his first fame and fortune, with Panama behind, the depot of +the Indian treasure. So far all had gone well with him. He had taken +what he wanted out of Vigo; he had destroyed Sant Iago and had not lost +a man. Unfortunately he had now a worse enemy to deal with than Spanish +galleons or Spanish garrisons. He was in the heat of the tropics. Yellow +fever broke out and spread through the fleet. Of those who caught the +infection few recovered, or recovered only to be the wrecks of +themselves. It was swift in its work. In a few days more than two +hundred had died. But the north-east trade blew merrily. The fleet sped +on before it. In eighteen days they were in the roads at Dominica, the +island of brooks and rivers and fruit. Limes and lemons and oranges were +not as yet. But there were leaves and roots of the natural growth, known +to the Caribs as antidotes to the fever, and the Caribs, when they +learnt that the English were the Spaniards' enemies, brought them this +precious remedy and taught them the use of it. The ships were washed and +ventilated, and the water casks refilled. The infection seemed to have +gone as suddenly as it appeared, and again all was well. + +Christmas was kept at St. Kitts, which was then uninhabited. A council +of war was held to consider what should be done next. St. Domingo lay +nearest to them. It was the finest of all the Spanish colonial cities. +It was the capital of the West Indian Government, the great centre of +West Indian commerce. In the cathedral, before the high altar, lay +Columbus and his brother Diego. In natural wealth no island in the world +outrivals Espinola, where the city stood. A vast population had +collected there, far away from harm, protected, as they supposed, by the +majesty of the mother country, the native inhabitants almost +exterminated, themselves undreaming that any enemy could approach them +from the ocean, and therefore negligent of defence and enjoying +themselves in easy security. + +Drake was to give them a new experience and a lesson for the future. On +their way across from St. Kitts the adventurers overhauled a small +vessel bound to the same port as they were. From the crew of this vessel +they learnt that the harbour at St. Domingo was formed, like so many +others in the West Indies, by a long sandspit, acting as a natural +breakwater. The entrance was a narrow inlet at the extremity of the +spit, and batteries had been mounted there to cover it. To land on the +outer side of the sandbank was made impossible by the surf. There was +one sheltered point only where boats could go on shore, but this was ten +miles distant from the town. + +Ten miles was but a morning's march. Drake went in himself in a pinnace, +surveyed the landing-place, and satisfied himself of its safety. The +plan of attack at Sant Iago was to be exactly repeated. On New Year's +Eve Christopher Carlile was again landed with half the force in the +fleet. Drake remained with the rest, and prepared to force the entrance +of the harbour if Carlile succeeded. Their coming had been seen from the +city. The alarm had been given, and the women and children, the money in +the treasury, the consecrated plate, movable property of all kinds, were +sent off inland as a precaution. Of regular troops there seem to have +been none, but in so populous a city there was no difficulty in +collecting a respectable force to defend it. The hidalgos formed a body +of cavalry. The people generally were unused to arms, but they were +Spaniards and brave men, and did not mean to leave their homes without +a fight for it. Carlile lay still for the night. He marched at eight in +the morning on New Year's Day, advanced leisurely, and at noon found +himself in front of the wall. So far he had met no resistance, but a +considerable body of horse--gentlemen and their servants +chiefly--charged down on him out of the bush and out of the town. He +formed into a square to receive them. They came on gallantly, but were +received with pike and shot, and after a few attempts gave up and +retired. Two gates were in front of Carlile, with a road to each leading +through a jungle. At each gate were cannon, and the jungle was lined +with musketeers. He divided his men and attacked both together. One +party he led in person. The cannon opened on him, and an Englishman next +to him was killed. He dashed on, leaving the Spaniards no time to +reload, carried the gate at a rush, and cut his way through the streets +to the great square. The second division had been equally successful, +and St. Domingo was theirs except the castle, which was still untaken. +Carlile's numbers were too small to occupy a large city. He threw up +barricades and fortified himself in the square for the night. Drake +brought the fleet in at daybreak, and landed guns, when the castle +surrendered. A messenger--a negro boy--was sent to the Governor to learn +the terms which he was prepared to offer to save the city from pillage. +The Spanish officers were smarting with the disgrace. One of them struck +the lad through the body with a lance. He ran back bleeding to the +English lines and died at Drake's feet. Sir Francis was a dangerous man +to provoke. Such doings had to be promptly stopped. In the part of the +town which he occupied was a monastery with a number of friars in it. +The religious orders, he well knew, were the chief instigators of the +policy which was maddening the world. He sent two of these friars with +the provost-marshal to the spot where the boy had been struck, promptly +hanged them, and then despatched another to tell the Governor that he +would hang two more every day at the same place till the officer was +punished. The Spaniards had long learnt to call Drake the Draque, the +serpent, the devil. They feared that the devil might be a man of his +word. The offender was surrendered. It was not enough. Drake insisted +that they should do justice on him themselves. The Governor found it +prudent to comply, and the too hasty officer was executed. + +The next point was the ransom of the city. The Spaniards still +hesitating, 200 men were told off each morning to burn, while the rest +searched the private houses, and palaces, and magazines. Government +House was the grandest building in the New World. It was approached by +broad flights of marble stairs. Great doors opened on a spacious gallery +leading into a great hall, and above the portico hung the arms of +Spain--a globe representing the world, a horse leaping upon it, and in +the horse's mouth a scroll with the haughty motto, 'Non sufficit orbis.' +Palace and scutcheon were levelled into dust by axe and gunpowder, and +each day for a month the destruction went on, Drake's demands steadily +growing and the unhappy Governor vainly pleading impossibility. + +Vandalism, atrocity unheard of among civilised nations, dishonour to the +Protestant cause, Drake deserving to swing at his own yardarm; so +indignant Liberalism shrieked, and has not ceased shrieking. Let it be +remembered that for fifteen years the Spaniards had been burning English +seamen whenever they could catch them, plotting to kill the Queen and +reduce England itself into vassaldom to the Pope. The English nation, +the loyal part of it, were replying to the wild pretension by the hands +of their own admiral. If Philip chose to countenance assassins, if the +Holy Office chose to burn English sailors as heretics, those heretics +had a right to make Spain understand that such a game was dangerous, +that, as Santa Cruz had said, they had teeth and could use them. + +It was found in the end that the Governor's plea of impossibility was +more real than was at first believed. The gold and silver had been +really carried off. All else that was valuable had been burnt or taken +by the English. The destruction of a city so solidly built was tedious +and difficult. Nearly half of it was blown up. The cathedral was spared, +perhaps as the resting-place of Columbus. Drake had other work before +him. After staying a month in undisturbed occupation he agreed to +accept 25,000 ducats as a ransom for what was left and sailed away. + +It was now February. The hot season was coming on, when the climate +would be dangerous. There was still much to do and the time was running +short. Panama had to be left for another opportunity. Drake's object was +to deal blows which would shake the faith of Europe in the Spanish +power. Carthagena stood next to St. Domingo among the Spanish West +Indian fortresses. The situation was strong. In 1740 Carthagena was able +to beat off Vernon and a great English fleet. But Drake's crews were in +high health and spirits, and he determined to see what he could do with +it. Surprise was no longer to be hoped for. The alarm had spread over +the Caribbean Sea. But in their present humour they were ready to go +anywhere and dare anything, and to Carthagena they went. + +Drake's name carried terror before it. Every non-combatant--old men, +women and children--had been cleared out before he arrived, but the rest +prepared for a smart defence. The harbour at Carthagena was formed, as +at St. Domingo and Port Royal, by a sandspit. The spit was long, +narrow, in places not fifty yards wide, and covered with prickly bush, +and along this, as before, it was necessary to advance to reach the +city. A trench had been cut across at the neck, and a stiff barricade +built and armed with heavy guns; behind this were several hundred +musketeers, while the bush was full of Indians with poisoned arrows. +Pointed stakes--poisoned also--had been driven into the ground along the +approaches, on which to step was death. Two large galleys, full of men, +patrolled inside the bank on the harbour edge, and with these +preparations the inhabitants hoped to keep the dreadful Drake from +reaching them. Carlile, as before, was to do the land fighting. He was +set on shore three miles down the spit. The tide is slight in those +seas, but he waited till it was out, and advanced along the outer shore +at low-water mark. He was thus covered by the bank from the harbour +galleys, and their shots passed over him. Two squadrons of horse came +out, but could do nothing to him on the broken ground. The English +pushed on to the wall, scarcely losing a man. They charged, scaled the +parapets, and drove the Spanish infantry back at point of pike. Carlile +killed their commander with his own hand. The rest fled after a short +struggle, and Drake was master of Carthagena. Here for six weeks he +remained. The Spaniards withdrew out of the city, and there were again +parleys over the ransom money. Courtesies were exchanged among the +officers. Drake entertained the Governor and his suite. The Governor +returned the hospitality and received Drake and the English captains. +Drake demanded 100,000 ducats. The Spaniards offered 30,000, and +protested that they could pay no more. The dispute might have lasted +longer, but it was cut short by the re-appearance of the yellow fever in +the fleet, this time in a deadlier form. The Spanish offer was accepted, +and Carthagena was left to its owners. It was time to be off, for the +heat was telling, and the men began to drop with appalling rapidity. +Nombre de Dios and Panama were near and under their lee, and Drake threw +longing eyes on what, if all else had been well, might have proved an +easy capture. But on a review of their strength, it was found that +there were but 700 fit for duty who could be spared for the service, and +a council of war decided that a march across the Isthmus with so small a +force was too dangerous to be ventured. Enough had been done for glory, +enough for the political impression to be made in Europe. The King of +Spain had been dared in his own dominions. Three fine Spanish cities had +been captured by storm and held to ransom. In other aspects the success +had fallen short of expectation. This time they had taken no _Cacafuego_ +with a year's produce of the mines in her hold. The plate and coin had +been carried off, and the spoils had been in a form not easily turned to +value. The expedition had been fitted out by private persons to pay its +own cost. The result in money was but 60,000_l._ Forty thousand had to +be set aside for expenses. There remained but 20,000_l._ to be shared +among the ships' companies. Men and officers had entered, high and low, +without wages, on the chance of what they might get. The officers and +owners gave a significant demonstration of the splendid spirit in which +they had gone about their work. They decided to relinquish their own +claims on the ransom paid for Carthagena, and bestow the same on the +common seamen, 'wishing it were so much again as would be a sufficient +reward for their painful endeavour.' + +Thus all were well satisfied, conscious all that they had done their +duty to their Queen and country. The adventurers' fleet turned homewards +at the beginning of April. What men could do they had achieved. They +could not fight against the pestilence of the tropics. For many days the +yellow fever did its deadly work among them, and only slowly abated. +They were delayed by calms and unfavourable winds. Their water ran +short. They had to land again at Cape Antonio, the western point of +Cuba, and sink wells to supply themselves. Drake himself, it was +observed, worked with spade and bucket, like the meanest person in the +whole company, always foremost where toil was to be endured or honour +won, the wisest in the devising of enterprises, the calmest in danger, +the first to set an example of energy in difficulties, and, above all, +the firmest in maintaining order and discipline. The fever slackened as +they reached the cooler latitudes. They worked their way up the Bahama +Channel, going north to avoid the trades. The French Protestants had +been attempting to colonise in Florida. The Spaniards had built a +fortress on the coast, to observe their settlements and, as occasion +offered, cut Huguenot throats. As he passed by Drake paid this fortress +a visit and wiped it out. Farther north again he was in time to save the +remnant of an English settlement, rashly planted there by another +brilliant servant of Queen Elizabeth. + +Of all the famous Elizabethans Sir Walter Raleigh is the most +romantically interesting. His splendid and varied gifts, his chequered +fortunes, and his cruel end, will embalm his memory in English history. +But Raleigh's great accomplishments promised more than they performed. +His hand was in everything, but of work successfully completed he had +less to show than others far his inferiors, to whom fortune had offered +fewer opportunities. He was engaged in a hundred schemes at once, and in +every one of them there was always some taint of self, some personal +ambition or private object to be gained. His life is a record of +undertakings begun in enthusiasm, maintained imperfectly, and failures +in the end. Among his other adventures he had sent a colony to Virginia. +He had imagined, or had been led by others to believe, that there was an +Indian Court there brilliant as Montezuma's, an enlightened nation +crying to be admitted within the charmed circle of Gloriana's subjects. +His princes and princesses proved things of air, or mere Indian savages; +and of Raleigh there remains nothing in Virginia save the name of the +city which is called after him. The starving survivors of his settlement +on the Roanoke River were taken on board by Drake's returning squadron +and carried home to England, where they all arrived safely, to the glory +of God, as our pious ancestors said and meant in unconventional +sincerity, on the 28th of July, 1586. + +The expedition, as I have said, barely paid its cost. In the shape of +wages the officers received nothing, and the crews but a few pounds a +man; but there was, perhaps, not one of them who was not better pleased +with the honour which he had brought back than if he had come home +loaded with doubloons. + +Startled Catholic Europe meanwhile rubbed its eyes and began to see that +the 'enterprise of England,' as the intended invasion was called, might +not be the easy thing which the seminary priests described it. The +seminary priests had said that so far as England was Protestant at all +it was Protestant only by the accident of its Government, that the +immense majority of the people were Catholic at heart and were thirsting +for a return to the fold, that on the first appearance of a Spanish army +of deliverance the whole edifice which Elizabeth had raised would +crumble to the ground. I suppose it is true that if the world had then +been advanced to its present point of progress, if there had been then +recognised a Divine right to rule in the numerical majority, even +without a Spanish army the seminary priests would have had their way. +Elizabeth's Parliaments were controlled by the municipalities of the +towns, and the towns were Protestant. A Parliament chosen by universal +suffrage and electoral districts would have sent Cecil and Walsingham +into private life or to the scaffold, replaced the Mass in the churches, +and reduced the Queen, if she had been left on the throne, into the +humble servant of the Pope and Philip. It would not perhaps have lasted, +but that, so far as I can judge, would have been the immediate result, +and instead of a Reformation we should have had the light come in the +shape of lightning. But I have often asked my Radical friends what is to +be done if out of every hundred enlightened voters two-thirds will give +their votes one way, but are afraid to fight, and the remaining third +will not only vote but will fight too if the poll goes against them? +Which has then the right to rule? I can tell them which will rule. The +brave and resolute minority will rule. Plato says that if one man was +stronger than all the rest of mankind he would rule all the rest of +mankind. It must be so, because there is no appeal. The majority must be +prepared to assert their Divine right with their right hands, or it will +go the way that other Divine rights have gone before. I will not believe +the world to have been so ill-constructed that there are rights which +cannot be enforced. It appears to me that the true right to rule in any +nation lies with those who are best and bravest, whether their numbers +are large or small; and three centuries ago the best and bravest part of +this English nation had determined, though they were but a third of it, +that Pope and Spaniard should be no masters of theirs. Imagination goes +for much in such excited times. To the imagination of Europe in the +sixteenth century the power of Spain appeared irresistible if she chose +to exert it. Heretic Dutchmen might rebel in a remote province, English +pirates might take liberties with Spanish traders, but the Prince of +Parma was making the Dutchmen feel their master at last. The pirates +were but so many wasps, with venom in their stings, but powerless to +affect the general tendencies of things. Except to the shrewder eyes of +such men as Santa Cruz the strength of the English at sea had been left +out of count in the calculations of the resources of Elizabeth's +Government. Suddenly a fleet of these same pirates, sent out, unassisted +by their sovereign, by the private impulse of a few individuals, had +insulted the sacred soil of Spain herself, sailed into Vigo, pillaged +the churches, taken anything that they required, and had gone away +unmolested. They had attacked, stormed, burnt, or held to ransom three +of Spain's proudest colonial cities, and had come home unfought with. +The Catholic conspirators had to recognise that they had a worse enemy +to deal with than Puritan controversialists or spoilt Court favourites. +The Protestant English mariners stood between them and their prey, and +had to be encountered on an element which did not bow to popes or +princes, before Mary Stuart was to wear Elizabeth's crown or Cardinal +Allen be enthroned at Canterbury. It was a revelation to all parties. +Elizabeth herself had not expected--perhaps had not wished--so signal a +success. War was now looked on as inevitable. The Spanish admirals +represented that the national honour required revenge for an injury so +open and so insolent. The Pope, who had been long goading the lethargic +Philip into action, believed that now at last he would be compelled to +move; and even Philip himself, enduring as he was, had been roused to +perceive that intrigues and conspiracies would serve his turn no +longer. He must put out his strength in earnest, or his own Spaniards +might turn upon him as unworthy of the crown of Isabella. Very +reluctantly he allowed the truth to be brought home to him. He had never +liked the thought of invading England. If he conquered it, he would not +be allowed to keep it. Mary Stuart would have to be made queen, and Mary +Stuart was part French, and might be wholly French. The burden of the +work would be thrown entirely on his shoulders, and his own reward was +to be the Church's blessing and the approval of his own +conscience--nothing else, so far as he could see. The Pope would recover +his annates, his Peter's pence, and his indulgence market. + +If the thing was to be done, the Pope, it was clear, ought to pay part +of the cost, and this was what the Pope did not intend to do if he could +help it. The Pope was flattering himself that Drake's performance would +compel Spain to go to war with England whether he assisted or did not. +In this matter Philip attempted to undeceive his Holiness. He instructed +Olivarez, his ambassador at Rome, to tell the Pope that nothing had +been yet done to him by the English which he could not overlook, and +unless the Pope would come down with a handsome contribution peace he +would make. The Pope stormed and raged; he said he doubted whether +Philip was a true son of the Church at all; he flung plates and dishes +at the servants' heads at dinner. He said that if he gave Philip money +Philip would put it in his pocket and laugh at him. Not one maravedi +would he give till a Spanish army was actually landed on English shores, +and from this resolution he was not to be moved. + +To Philip it was painfully certain that if he invaded and conquered +England the English Catholics would insist that he must make Mary Stuart +queen. He did not like Mary Stuart. He disapproved of her character. He +distrusted her promises. Spite of Jesuits and seminary priests, he +believed that she was still a Frenchwoman at heart, and a bad woman +besides. Yet something he must do for the outraged honour of Castile. He +concluded, in his slow way, that he would collect a fleet, the largest +and best-appointed that had ever floated on the sea. He would send or +lead it in person to the English Channel. He would command the situation +with an overwhelming force; and then would choose some course which +would be more convenient to himself than to his Holiness at Rome. On the +whole he was inclined to let Elizabeth continue queen, and forget and +forgive if she would put away her Walsinghams and her Drakes, and would +promise to be good for the future. If she remained obstinate his great +fleet would cover the passage of the Prince of Parma's army, and he +would then dictate his own terms in London. + + + + +LECTURE VII + +ATTACK ON CADIZ + + +I recollect being told when a boy, on sending in a bad translation of +Horace, that I ought to remember that Horace was a man of intelligence +and did not write nonsense. The same caution should be borne in mind by +students of history. They see certain things done by kings and statesmen +which they believe they can interpret by assuming such persons to have +been knaves or idiots. Once an explanation given from the baser side of +human nature, they assume that it is necessarily the right one, and they +make their Horace into a fool without a misgiving that the folly may lie +elsewhere. Remarkable men and women have usually had some rational +motive for their conduct, which may be discovered, if we look for it +with our eyes open. + +Nobody has suffered more from bad translators than Elizabeth. The +circumstances of Queen Elizabeth's birth, the traditions of her father, +the interests of England, and the sentiments of the party who had +sustained her claim to the succession, obliged her on coming to the +throne to renew the separation from the Papacy. The Church of England +was re-established on an Anglo-Catholic basis, which the rival factions +might interpret each in their own way. To allow more than one form of +public worship would have led in the heated temper of men's minds to +quarrels and civil wars. But conscience might be left free under outward +conformity, and those whom the Liturgy did not suit might use their own +ritual in their private houses. Elizabeth and her wise advisers believed +that if her subjects could be kept from fighting and killing one +another, and were not exasperated by outward displays of difference, +they would learn that righteousness of life was more important than +orthodoxy, and to estimate at their real value the rival dogmas of +theology. Had time permitted the experiment to have a fair trial, it +would perhaps have succeeded, but, unhappily for the Queen and for +England, the fire of controversy was still too hot under the ashes. +Protestants and Catholics had been taught to look on one another as +enemies of God, and were still reluctant to take each other's hands at +the bidding of an Act of Parliament. The more moderate of the Catholic +laity saw no difference so great between the English service and the +Mass as to force them to desert the churches where their fathers had +worshipped for centuries. They petitioned the Council of Trent for +permission to use the English Prayer Book; and had the Council +consented, religious dissension would have dissolved at last into an +innocent difference of opinion. But the Council and the Pope had +determined that there should be no compromise with heresy, and the +request was refused, though it was backed by Philip's ambassador in +London. The action of the Papacy obliged the Queen to leave the +Administration in the hands of Protestants, on whose loyalty she could +rely. As the struggle with the Reformation spread and deepened she was +compelled to assist indirectly the Protestant party in France and +Scotland. But she still adhered to her own principle; she refused to +put herself at the head of a Protestant League. She took no step without +keeping open a line of retreat on a contrary policy. She had Catholics +in her Privy Council who were pensioners of Spain. She filled her +household with Catholics, and many a time drove Burghley distracted by +listening to them at critical moments. Her constant effort was to disarm +the antagonism of the adherents of the old belief, by admitting them to +her confidence, and showing them that one part of her subjects was as +dear to her as another. + +For ten years she went on struggling. For ten years she was proudly able +to say that during all that time no Catholic had suffered for his belief +either in purse or person. The advanced section of the Catholic clergy +was in despair. They saw the consciences of their flocks benumbed and +their faith growing lukewarm. They stirred up the rebellion of the +North. They persuaded Pius V. to force them to a sense of their duties +by declaring Elizabeth excommunicated. They sent their missionaries +through the English counties to recover sheep that were straying, and +teach the sin of submission to a sovereign whom the Pope had deposed. +Then had followed the Ridolfi plot, deliberately encouraged by the Pope +and Spain, which had compelled the Government to tighten the reins. One +conspiracy had followed another. Any means were held legitimate to rid +the world of an enemy of God. The Queen's character was murdered by the +foulest slanders, and a hundred daggers were sharpened to murder her +person. The King of Spain had not advised the excommunication, because +he knew that he would be expected to execute it, and he had other things +to do. When called on to act, he and Alva said that if the English +Catholics wanted Spanish help they must do something for themselves. To +do the priests justice, they were brave enough. What they did, and how +far they had succeeded in making the country disaffected, Father Parsons +has told you in the paper which I read to you in a former lecture. +Elizabeth refused to take care of herself. She would show no distrust. +She would not dismiss the Catholic ladies and gentlemen from the +household. She would allow no penal laws to be enforced against +Catholics as such. Repeated conspiracies to assassinate her were +detected and exposed, but she would take no warning. She would have no +bodyguard. The utmost that she would do was to allow the Jesuits and +seminary priests, who, by Parsons's own acknowledgment, were sowing +rebellion, to be banished the realm, and if they persisted in remaining +afterwards, to be treated as traitors. When executions are treated as +martyrdoms, candidates will never be wanting for the crown of glory, and +the flame only burnt the hotter. Tyburn and the quartering knife was a +horrid business, and Elizabeth sickened over it. She hated the severity +which she was compelled to exercise. Her name was defiled with the +grossest calumnies. She knew that she might be murdered any day. For +herself she was proudly indifferent; but her death would and must be +followed by a furious civil war. She told the Privy Council one day +after some stormy scene, that she would come back afterwards and amuse +herself with seeing the Queen of Scots making their heads fly. + +Philip was weary of it too. He had enough to do in ruling his own +dominions without quarrelling for ever with his sister-in-law. He had +seen that she had subjects, few or many, who, if he struck, would strike +back again. English money and English volunteers were keeping alive the +war in the Netherlands. English privateers had plundered his gold ships, +destroyed his commerce, and burnt his West Indian cities--all this in +the interests of the Pope, who gave him fine words in plenty, but who, +when called on for money to help in the English conquest, only flung +about his dinner-plates. The Duke of Alva, while he was alive, and the +Prince of Parma, who commanded in the Netherlands in Alva's place, +advised peace if peace could be had on reasonable terms. If Elizabeth +would consent to withdraw her help from the Netherlands, and would allow +the English Catholics the tacit toleration with which her reign had +begun, they were of opinion, and Philip was of opinion too, that it +would be better to forgive Drake and St. Domingo, abandon Mary Stuart +and the seminary priests, and meddle no more with English internal +politics. + +Tired with a condition which was neither war nor peace, tired with +hanging traitors and the endless problem of her sister of Scotland, +Elizabeth saw no reason for refusing offers which would leave her in +peace for the rest of her own life. Philip, it was said, would restore +the Mass in the churches in Holland. She might stipulate for such +liberty of conscience to the Holland Protestants as she was herself +willing to allow the English Catholics. She saw no reason why she should +insist on a liberty of public worship which she had herself forbidden at +home. She did not see why the Hollanders should be so precise about +hearing Mass. She said she would rather hear a thousand Masses herself +than have on her conscience the crimes committed for the Mass or against +it. She would not have her realm in perpetual torment for Mr. Cecil's +brothers in Christ. + +This was Elizabeth's personal feeling. It could not be openly avowed. +The States might then surrender to Philip in despair, and obtain better +securities for their political liberties than she was ready to ask for +them. They might then join the Spaniards and become her mortal enemies. +But she had a high opinion of her own statecraft. Her Catholic friends +assured her that, once at peace with Philip, she would be safe from all +the world. At this moment accident revealed suddenly another chasm which +was opening unsuspected at her feet. + +Both Philip and she were really wishing for peace. A treaty of peace +between the Catholic King and an excommunicated princess would end the +dream of a Catholic revolution in England. If the English peers and +gentry saw the censures of the Church set aside so lightly by the most +orthodox prince in Europe, Parsons and his friends would preach in vain +to them the obligation of rebellion. If this deadly negotiation was to +be broken off, a blow must be struck, and struck at once. There was not +a moment to be lost. + +The enchanted prisoner at Tutbury was the sleeping and waking dream of +Catholic chivalry. The brave knight who would slay the dragon, deliver +Mary Stuart, and place her on the usurper's throne, would outdo Orlando +or St. George, and be sung of for ever as the noblest hero who had ever +wielded brand or spear. Many a young British heart had thrilled with +hope that for him the enterprise was reserved. One of these was a +certain Anthony Babington, a gentleman of some fortune in Derbyshire. A +seminary priest named Ballard, excited, like the rest, by the need of +action, and anxious to prevent the peace, fell in with this Babington, +and thought he had found the man for his work. Elizabeth dead and Mary +Stuart free, there would be no more talk of peace. A plot was easily +formed. Half a dozen gentlemen, five of them belonging to or connected +with Elizabeth's own household, were to shoot or stab her and escape in +the confusion; Babington was to make a dash on Mary Stuart's +prison-house and carry her off to some safe place; while Ballard +undertook to raise the Catholic peers and have her proclaimed queen. +Elizabeth once removed, it was supposed that they would not hesitate. +Parma would bring over the Spanish army from Dunkirk. The Protestants +would be paralysed. All would be begun and ended in a few weeks or even +days. The Catholic religion would be re-established and the hated heresy +would be trampled out for ever. Mary Stuart had been consulted and had +enthusiastically agreed. + +This interesting lady had been lately profuse in her protestations of a +desire for reconciliation with her dearest sister. Elizabeth had almost +believed her sincere. Sick of the endless trouble with Mary Stuart and +her pretensions and schemings, she had intended that the Scotch queen +should be included in the treaty with Philip, with an implied +recognition of her right to succeed to the English throne after +Elizabeth's death. It had been necessary, however, to ascertain in some +way whether her protestations were sincere. A secret watch had been kept +over her correspondence, and Babington's letters and her own answers had +fallen into Walsingham's hands. There it all was in her own cipher, the +key to which had been betrayed by the carelessness of a confederate. The +six gentlemen who were to have rewarded Elizabeth's confidence by +killing her were easily recognised. They were seized, with Babington and +Ballard, when they imagined themselves on the eve of their triumph. +Babington flinched and confessed, and they were all hanged. Mary Stuart +herself had outworn compassion. Twice already on the discovery of her +earlier plots the House of Commons had petitioned for her execution. For +this last piece of treachery she was tried at Fotheringay before a +commission of Peers and Privy Councillors. She denied her letters, but +her complicity was proved beyond a doubt. Parliament was called, and a +third time insisted that the long drama should now be ended and loyal +England be allowed to breathe in peace. Elizabeth signed the warrant. +France, Spain, any other power in the world would have long since made +an end of a competitor so desperate and so incurable. Torn by many +feelings--natural pity, dread of the world's opinion--Elizabeth paused +before ordering the warrant to be executed. If nothing had been at stake +but her own life, she would have left the lady to weave fresh plots and +at last, perhaps, to succeed. If the nation's safety required an end to +be made with her, she felt it hard that the duty should be thrown on +herself. Where were all those eager champions who had signed the +Association Bond, who had talked so loudly? Could none of them be found +to recollect their oaths and take the law into their own hands? + +Her Council, Burghley, and the rest, knowing her disposition and feeling +that it was life or death to English liberty, took the responsibility on +themselves. They sent the warrant down to Fotheringay at their own risk, +leaving their mistress to deny, if she pleased, that she had meant it to +be executed; and the wild career of Mary Stuart ended on the scaffold. + +They knew what they were immediately doing. They knew that if treason +had a meaning Mary Stuart had brought her fate upon herself. They did +not, perhaps, realise the full effects that were to follow, or that with +Mary Stuart had vanished the last serious danger of a Catholic +insurrection in England; or perhaps they did realise it, and this was +what decided them to act. + +I cannot dwell on this here. As long as there was a Catholic princess of +English blood to succeed to the throne, the allegiance of the Catholics +to Elizabeth had been easily shaken. If she was spared now, every one of +them would look on her as their future sovereign. To overthrow +Elizabeth might mean the loss of national independence. The Queen of +Scots gone, they were paralysed by divided counsels, and love of country +proved stronger than their creed. + +What concerns us specially at present is the effect on the King of +Spain. The reluctance of Philip to undertake the English enterprise (the +'empresa,' as it was generally called) had arisen from a fear that when +it was accomplished he would lose the fruit of his labours. He could +never assure himself that if he placed Mary Stuart on the throne she +would not become eventually French. He now learnt that she had +bequeathed to himself her claims on the English succession. He had once +been titular King of England. He had pretensions of his own, as in the +descent from Edward III. The Jesuits, the Catholic enthusiasts +throughout Europe, assured him that if he would now take up the cause in +earnest, he might make England a province of Spain. There were still +difficulties. He might hope that the English Catholic laity would accept +him, but he could not be sure of it. He could not be sure that he would +have the support of the Pope. He continued, as the Conde de Feria said +scornfully of him, 'meando en vado,' a phrase which I cannot translate; +it meant hesitating when he ought to act. But he saw, or thought he saw, +that he could now take a stronger attitude towards Elizabeth as a +claimant to her throne. If the treaty of peace was to go forward, he +could raise his terms. He could insist on the restoration of the +Catholic religion in England. The States of the Low Countries had made +over five of their strongest towns to Elizabeth as the price of her +assistance. He could insist on her restoring them, not to the States, +but to himself. Could she be brought to consent to such an act of +perfidy, Parma and he both felt that the power would then be gone from +her, as effectually as Samson's when his locks were clipped by the +harlot, and they could leave her then, if it suited them, on a throne +which would have become a pillory--for the finger of scorn to point at. + +With such a view before him it was more than ever necessary for Philip +to hurry forward the preparations which he had already commenced. The +more formidable he could make himself, the better able he would be to +frighten Elizabeth into submission. + +Every dockyard in Spain was set to work, building galleons and +collecting stores. Santa Cruz would command. Philip was himself more +resolved than ever to accompany the expedition in person and dictate +from the English Channel the conditions of the pacification of Europe. + +Secrecy was no longer attempted--indeed, was no longer possible. All +Latin Christendom was palpitating with expectation. At Lisbon, at Cadiz, +at Barcelona, at Naples, the shipwrights were busy night and day. The +sea was covered with vessels freighted with arms and provisions +streaming to the mouth of the Tagus. Catholic volunteers from all +nations flocked into the Peninsula, to take a share in the mighty +movement which was to decide the fate of the world, and bishops, +priests, and monks were set praying through the whole Latin Communion +that Heaven would protect its own cause. + +Meantime the negotiations for peace continued, and Elizabeth, strange +to say, persisted in listening. She would not see what was plain to all +the world besides. The execution of the Queen of Scots lay on her spirit +and threw her back into the obstinate humour which had made Walsingham +so often despair of her safety. For two months after that scene at +Fotheringay she had refused to see Burghley, and would consult no one +but Sir James Crofts and her Spanish-tempered ladies. She knew that +Spain now intended that she should betray the towns in the Low +Countries, yet she was blind to the infamy which it would bring upon +her. She left her troops there without their wages to shiver into +mutiny. She named commissioners, with Sir James Crofts at their head, to +go to Ostend and treat with Parma, and if she had not resolved on an act +of treachery she at least played with the temptation, and persuaded +herself that if she chose to make over the towns to Philip, she would be +only restoring them to their lawful owner. + +Burghley and Walsingham, you can see from their letters, believed now +that Elizabeth had ruined herself at last. Happily her moods were +variable as the weather. She was forced to see the condition to which +she had reduced her affairs in the Low Countries by the appearance of a +number of starving wretches who had deserted from the garrisons there +and had come across to clamour for their pay at her own palace gates. If +she had no troops in the field but a mutinous and starving rabble, she +might get no terms at all. It might be well to show Philip that on one +element at least she could still be dangerous. She had lost nothing by +the bold actions of Drake and the privateers. With half a heart she +allowed Drake to fit them out again, take the _Buonaventura_, a ship of +her own, to carry his flag, and go down to the coast of Spain and see +what was going on. He was not to do too much. She sent a vice-admiral +with him, in the _Lion_, to be a check on over-audacity. Drake knew how +to deal with embarrassing vice-admirals. His own adventurers would sail, +if he ordered, to the Mountains of the Moon, and be quite certain that +it was the right place to go to. Once under way and on the blue water he +would go his own course and run his own risks. Cadiz Harbour was +thronged with transports, provision ships, powder vessels--a hundred +sail of them--many of a thousand tons and over, loading with stores for +the Armada. There were thirty sail of adventurers, the smartest ships +afloat on the ocean, and sailed by the smartest seamen that ever handled +rope or tiller. Something might be done at Cadiz if he did not say too +much about it. The leave had been given to him to go, but he knew by +experience, and Burghley again warned him, that it might, and probably +would, be revoked if he waited too long. The moment was his own, and he +used it. He was but just in time. Before his sails were under the +horizon a courier galloped into Plymouth with orders that under no +condition was he to enter port or haven of the King of Spain, or injure +Spanish subjects. What else was he going out for? He had guessed how it +would be. Comedy or earnest he could not tell. If earnest, some such +order would be sent after him, and he had not an instant to lose. + +He sailed on the morning of the 12th of April. Off Ushant he fell in +with a north-west gale, and he flew on, spreading every stitch of +canvas which his spars would bear. In five days he was at Cape St. +Vincent. On the 18th he had the white houses of Cadiz right in front of +him, and could see for himself the forests of masts from the ships and +transports with which the harbour was choked. Here was a chance for a +piece of service if there was courage for the venture. He signalled for +his officers to come on board the _Buonaventura_. There before their +eyes was, if not the Armada itself, the materials which were to fit the +Armada for the seas. Did they dare to go in with him and destroy them? +There were batteries at the harbour mouth, but Drake's mariners had +faced Spanish batteries at St. Domingo and Carthagena and had not found +them very formidable. Go in? Of course they would. Where Drake would +lead the corsairs of Plymouth were never afraid to follow. The +vice-admiral pleaded danger to her Majesty's ships. It was not the +business of an English fleet to be particular about danger. Straight in +they went with a fair wind and a flood tide, ran past the batteries and +under a storm of shot, to which they did not trouble themselves to wait +to reply. The poor vice-admiral followed reluctantly in the _Lion_. A +single shot hit the _Lion_, and he edged away out of range, anchored, +and drifted to sea again with the ebb. But Drake and all the rest dashed +on, sank the guardship--a large galleon--and sent flying a fleet of +galleys which ventured too near them and were never seen again. + +Further resistance there was none--absolutely none. The crews of the +store ships escaped in their boats to land. The governor of Cadiz, the +same Duke of Medina Sidonia who the next year was to gain a disastrous +immortality, fled 'like a tall gentleman' to raise troops and prevent +Drake from landing. Drake had no intention of landing. At his extreme +leisure he took possession of the Spanish shipping, searched every +vessel, and carried off everything that he could use. He detained as +prisoners the few men that he found on board, and then, after doing his +work deliberately and completely, he set the hulls on fire, cut the +cables, and left them to drive on the rising tide under the walls of the +town--a confused mass of blazing ruin. On the 12th of April he had +sailed from Plymouth; on the 19th he entered Cadiz Harbour; on the 1st +of May he passed out again without the loss of a boat or a man. He said +in jest that he had singed the King of Spain's beard for him. In sober +prose he had done the King of Spain an amount of damage which a million +ducats and a year's labour would imperfectly replace. The daring +rapidity of the enterprise astonished Spain, and astonished Europe more +than the storm of the West Indian towns. The English had long teeth, as +Santa Cruz had told Philip's council, and the teeth would need drawing +before Mass would be heard again at Westminster. The Spaniards were a +gallant race, and a dashing exploit, though at their own expense, could +be admired by the countrymen of Cervantes. 'So praised,' we read, 'was +Drake for his valour among them, that they said that if he was not a +Lutheran there would not be the like of him in the world.' A Court lady +was invited by the King to join a party on a lake near Madrid. The lady +replied that she dared not trust herself on the water with his Majesty +lest Sir Francis Drake should have her. + +Drake might well be praised. But Drake would have been the first to +divide the honour with the comrades who were his arm and hand. Great +admirals and generals do not win their battles single-handed like the +heroes of romance. Orders avail only when there are men to execute them. +Not a captain, not an officer who served under Drake, ever flinched or +blundered. Never was such a school for seamen as that twenty years' +privateering war between the servants of the Pope and the West-country +Protestant adventurers. Those too must be remembered who built and +rigged the ships in which they sailed and fought their battles. We may +depend upon it that there was no dishonesty in contractors, no scamping +of the work in the yards where the Plymouth rovers were fitted out for +sea. Their hearts were in it; they were soldiers of a common cause. + +Three weeks had sufficed for Cadiz. No order for recall had yet arrived. +Drake had other plans before him, and the men were in high spirits and +ready for anything. A fleet of Spanish men-of-war was expected round +from the Mediterranean. He proposed to stay for a week or two in the +neighbourhood of the Straits, in the hope of falling in with them. He +wanted fresh water, too, and had to find it somewhere. + +Before leaving Cadiz Roads he had to decide what to do with his +prisoners. Many English were known to be in the hands of the Holy Office +working in irons as galley slaves. He sent in a pinnace to propose an +exchange, and had to wait some days for an answer. At length, after a +reference to Lisbon, the Spanish authorities replied that they had no +English prisoners. If this was true those they had must have died of +barbarous usage; and after a consultation with his officers Sir Francis +sent in word that for the future such prisoners as they might take would +be sold to the Moors, and the money applied to the redemption of English +captives in other parts of the world. + +Water was the next point. There were springs at Faro, with a Spanish +force stationed there to guard them. Force or no force, water was to be +had. The boats were sent on shore. The boats' crews stormed the forts +and filled the casks. The vice-admiral again lifted up his voice. The +Queen had ordered that there was to be no landing on Spanish soil. At +Cadiz the order had been observed. There had been no need to land. Here +at Faro there had been direct defiance of her Majesty's command. He +became so loud in his clamours that Drake found it necessary to lock him +up in his own cabin, and at length to send him home with his ship to +complain. For himself, as the expected fleet from the Straits did not +appear, and as he had shaken off his troublesome second in command, he +proceeded leisurely up the coast, intending to look in at Lisbon and see +for himself how things were going on there. All along as he went he fell +in with traders loaded with supplies for the use of the Armada. All +these he destroyed as he advanced, and at length found himself under the +purple hills of Cintra and looking up into the Tagus. There lay gathered +together the strength of the fighting naval force of Spain--fifty great +galleons, already arrived, the largest war-ships which then floated on +the ocean. Santa Cruz, the best officer in the Spanish navy, was himself +in the town and in command. To venture a repetition of the Cadiz +exploit in the face of such odds seemed too desperate even for Drake, +but it was one of those occasions when the genius of a great commander +sees more than ordinary eyes. He calculated, and, as was proved +afterwards, calculated rightly, that the galleons would be half manned, +or not manned at all, and crowded with landsmen bringing on board the +stores. Their sides as they lay would be choked with hulks and lighters. +They would be unable to get their anchors up, set their canvas, or stir +from their moorings. Daring as Drake was known to be, no one would +expect him to go with so small a force into the enemy's stronghold, and +there would be no preparations to meet him. He could count upon the +tides. The winds at that season of the year were fresh and steady, and +could be counted on also to take him in or out; there was sea room in +the river for such vessels as the adventurers' to manoeuvre and to +retreat if overmatched. Rash as such an enterprise might seem to an +unprofessional eye, Drake certainly thought of it, perhaps had meant to +try it in some form or other and so make an end of the Spanish invasion +of England. He could not venture without asking first for his mistress's +permission. He knew her nature. He knew that his services at Cadiz would +outweigh his disregard of her orders, and that so far he had nothing to +fear; but he knew also that she was still hankering after peace, and +that without her leave he must do nothing to make peace impossible. +There is a letter from him to the Queen, written when he was lying off +Lisbon, very characteristic of the time and the man. + +Nelson or Lord St. Vincent did not talk much of expecting supernatural +assistance. If they had we should suspect them of using language +conventionally which they would have done better to leave alone. Sir +Francis Drake, like his other great contemporaries, believed that he was +engaged in a holy cause, and was not afraid or ashamed to say so. His +object was to protest against a recall in the flow of victory. The +Spaniards, he said, were but mortal men. They were enemies of the Truth, +upholders of Dagon's image, which had fallen in other days before the +Ark, and would fall again if boldly defied. So long as he had ships +that would float, and there was food on board them for the men to eat, +he entreated her to let him stay and strike whenever a chance was +offered him. The continuing to the end yielded the true glory. When men +were serving religion and their country, a merciful God, it was likely, +would give them victory, and Satan and his angels should not prevail. + +All in good time. Another year and Drake would have the chance he +wanted. For the moment Satan had prevailed--Satan in the shape of +Elizabeth's Catholic advisers. Her answer came. It was warm and +generous. She did not, could not, blame him for what he had done so far, +but she desired him to provoke the King of Spain no further. The +negotiations for peace had opened, and must not be interfered with. + +This prohibition from the Queen prevented, perhaps, what would have been +the most remarkable exploit in English naval history. As matters stood +it would have been perfectly possible for Drake to have gone into the +Tagus, and if he could not have burnt the galleons he could certainly +have come away unhurt. He had guessed their condition with entire +correctness. The ships were there, but the ships' companies were not on +board them. Santa Cruz himself admitted that if Drake had gone in he +could have himself done nothing 'por falta de gente' (for want of men). +And Drake undoubtedly would have gone, and would have done something +with which all the world would have rung, but for the positive command +of his mistress. He lingered in the roads at Cintra, hoping that Santa +Cruz would come out and meet him. All Spain was clamouring at Santa +Cruz's inaction. Philip wrote to stir the old admiral to energy. He must +not allow himself to be defied by a squadron of insolent rovers. He must +chase them off the coast or destroy them. Santa Cruz needed no stirring. +Santa Cruz, the hero of a hundred fights, was chafing at his own +impotence; but he was obliged to tell his master that if he wished to +have service out of his galleons he must provide crews to handle them, +and they must rot at their anchors till he did. He told him, moreover, +that it was time for him to exert himself in earnest. If he waited much +longer, England would have grown too strong for him to deal with. + +In strict obedience Drake ought now to have gone home, but the campaign +had brought so far more glory than prize-money. His comrades required +some consolation for their disappointment at Lisbon. The theory of these +armaments of the adventurers was that the cost should be paid somehow by +the enemy, and he could be assured that if he brought back a prize or +two in which she could claim a share the Queen would not call him to a +very strict account. Homeward-bound galleons or merchantmen were to be +met with occasionally at the Azores. On leaving Lisbon Drake headed away +to St. Michael's, and his lucky star was still in the ascendant. + +As if sent on purpose for him, the _San Philip_, a magnificent caraque +from the Indies, fell straight into his hands, 'so richly loaded,' it +was said, 'that every man in the fleet counted his fortune made.' There +was no need to wait for more. It was but two months since Drake had +sailed from Plymouth. He could now go home after a cruise of which the +history of his own or any other country had never presented the like. +He had struck the King of Spain in his own stronghold. He had disabled +the intended Armada for one season at least. He had picked up a prize by +the way and as if by accident, worth half a million, to pay his +expenses, so that he had cost nothing to his mistress, and had brought +back a handsome present for her. I doubt if such a naval estimate was +ever presented to an English House of Commons. Above all he had taught +the self-confident Spaniard to be afraid of him, and he carried back his +poor comrades in such a glow of triumph that they would have fought +Satan and all his angels with Drake at their head. + +Our West-country annals still tell how the country people streamed down +in their best clothes to see the great _San Philip_ towed into Dartmouth +Harbour. English Protestantism was no bad cable for the nation to ride +by in those stormy times, and deserves to be honourably remembered in a +School of History at an English University. + + + + +LECTURE VIII + +SAILING OF THE ARMADA + + +Peace or war between Spain and England, that was now the question, with +a prospect of securing the English succession for himself or one of his +daughters. With the whole Spanish nation smarting under the indignity of +the burning of the ships at Cadiz, Philip's warlike ardour had warmed +into something like fire. He had resolved at any rate, if he was to +forgive his sister-in-law at all, to insist on more than toleration for +the Catholics in England. He did not contemplate as even possible that +the English privateers, however bold or dexterous, could resist such an +armament as he was preparing to lead to the Channel. The Royal Navy, he +knew very well, did not exceed twenty-five ships of all sorts and sizes. +The adventurers might be equal to sudden daring actions, but would and +must be crushed by such a fleet as was being fitted out at Lisbon. He +therefore, for himself, meant to demand that the Catholic religion +should be restored to its complete and exclusive superiority, and +certain towns in England were to be made over to be garrisoned by +Spanish troops as securities for Elizabeth's good behaviour. As often +happens with irresolute men, when they have once been forced to a +decision they are as too hasty as before they were too slow. After Drake +had retired from Lisbon the King of Spain sent orders to the Prince of +Parma not to wait for the arrival of the Armada, but to cross the +Channel immediately with the Flanders army, and bring Elizabeth to her +knees. Parma had more sense than his master. He represented that he +could not cross without a fleet to cover his passage. His transport +barges would only float in smooth water, and whether the water was +smooth or rough they could be sent to the bottom by half a dozen English +cruisers from the Thames. Supposing him to have landed, either in Thanet +or other spot, he reminded Philip that he could not have at most more +than 25,000 men with him. The English militia were in training. The +Jesuits said they were disaffected, but the Jesuits might be making a +mistake. He might have to fight more than one battle. He would have to +leave detachments as he advanced to London, to cover his communications, +and a reverse would be fatal. He would obey if his Majesty persisted, +but he recommended Philip to continue to amuse the English with the +treaty till the Armada was ready, and, in evident consciousness that the +enterprise would be harder than Philip imagined, he even gave it as his +own opinion still (notwithstanding Cadiz), that if Elizabeth would +surrender the cautionary towns in Flanders to Spain, and would grant the +English Catholics a fair degree of liberty, it would be Philip's +interest to make peace at once without stipulating for further terms. He +could make a new war if he wished at a future time, when circumstances +might be more convenient and the Netherlands revolt subdued. + +To such conditions as these it seemed that Elizabeth was inclining to +consent. The towns had been trusted to her keeping by the +Netherlanders. To give them up to the enemy to make better conditions +for herself would be an infamy so great as to have disgraced Elizabeth +for ever; yet she would not see it. She said the towns belonged to +Philip and she would only be restoring his own to him. Burghley bade +her, if she wanted peace, send back Drake to the Azores and frighten +Philip for his gold ships. She was in one of her ungovernable moods. +Instead of sending out Drake again she ordered her own fleet to be +dismantled and laid up at Chatham, and she condescended to apologise to +Parma for the burning of the transports at Cadiz as done against her +orders. + +This was in December 1587, only five months before the Armada sailed +from Lisbon. Never had she brought herself and her country so near ruin. +The entire safety of England rested at that moment on the adventurers, +and on the adventurers alone. + +Meanwhile, with enormous effort the destruction at Cadiz had been +repaired. The great fleet was pushed on, and in February Santa Cruz +reported himself almost ready. Santa Cruz and Philip, however, were not +in agreement as to what should be done. Santa Cruz was a fighting +admiral, Philip was not a fighting king. He changed his mind as often as +Elizabeth. Hot fits varied with cold. His last news from England led him +to hope that fighting would not be wanted. The Commissioners were +sitting at Ostend. On one side there were the formal negotiations, in +which the surrender of the towns was not yet treated as an open +question. Had the States been aware that Elizabeth was even in thought +entertaining it, they would have made terms instantly on their own +account and left her alone in the cold. Besides this, there was a second +negotiation underneath, carried on by private agents, in which the +surrender was to be the special condition. These complicated schemings +Parma purposely protracted, to keep Elizabeth in false security. She had +not deliberately intended to give up the towns. At the last moment she +would have probably refused, unless the States themselves consented to +it as part of a general settlement. But she was playing with the idea. +The States, she thought, were too obstinate. Peace would be good for +them, and she said she might do them good if she pleased, whether they +liked it or not. + +Parma was content that she should amuse herself with words and neglect +her defences by sea and land. By the end of February Santa Cruz was +ready. A northerly wind blows strong down the coast of Portugal in the +spring months, and he meant to be off before it set in, before the end +of March at latest. Unfortunately for Spain, Santa Cruz fell ill at the +last moment--ill, it was said, with anxiety. Santa Cruz knew well enough +what Philip would not know--that the expedition would be no holiday +parade. He had reason enough to be anxious if Philip was to accompany +him and tie his hands and embarrass him. Anyway, Santa Cruz died after a +few days' illness. The sailing had to be suspended till a new commander +could be decided on, and in the choice which Philip made he gave a +curious proof of what he intended the expedition to do. He did not +really expect or wish for any serious fighting. He wanted to be +sovereign of England again, with the assent of the English Catholics. +He did not mean, if he could help it, to irritate the national pride by +force and conquest. While Santa Cruz lived, Spanish public opinion would +not allow him to be passed over. Santa Cruz must command, and Philip had +resolved to go with him, to prevent too violent proceedings. Santa Cruz +dead, he could find someone who would do what he was told, and his own +presence would no longer be necessary. + +The Duke of Medina Sidonia, named El Bueno, or the Good, was a grandee +of highest rank. He was enormously rich, fond of hunting and shooting, a +tolerable rider, for the rest a harmless creature getting on to forty, +conscious of his defects, but not aware that so great a prince had any +need to mend them; without vanity, without ambition, and most happy when +lounging in his orange gardens at San Lucan. Of active service he had +seen none. He was Captain-General of Andalusia, and had run away from +Cadiz when Drake came into the harbour; but that was all. To his +astonishment and to his dismay he learnt that it was on him that the +choice had fallen to be the Lord High Admiral of Spain and commander of +the so much talked of expedition to England. He protested his unfitness. +He said that he was no seaman; that he knew nothing of fighting by sea +or land; that if he ventured out in a boat he was always sick; that he +had never seen the English Channel; and that, as to politics, he neither +knew anything nor cared anything about them. In short, he had not one +qualification which such a post required. + +Philip liked his modesty; but in fact the Duke's defects were his +recommendations. He would obey his instructions, would not fight unless +it was necessary, and would go into no rash adventures. All that Philip +wanted him to do was to find the Prince of Parma, and act as Parma +should bid him. As to seamanship, he would have the best officers in the +navy under him; and for a second in command he should have Don Diego de +Valdez, a cautious, silent, sullen old sailor, a man after Philip's own +heart. + +Doubting, hesitating, the Duke repaired to Lisbon. There he was put in +better heart by a nun, who said Our Lady had sent her to promise him +success. Every part of the service was new to him. He was a fussy, +anxious little man; set himself to inquire into everything, to meddle +with things which he could not understand and had better have left +alone. He ought to have left details to the responsible heads of +departments. He fancied that in a week or two he could look himself into +everything. There were 130 ships, 8,000 seamen, 19,000 Spanish infantry, +with gentlemen volunteers, officers, priests, surgeons, galley +slaves--at least 3,000 more--provisioned for six months. Then there were +the ships' stores, arms small and great, powder, spars, cordage, canvas, +and such other million necessities as ships on service need. The whole +of this the poor Duke took on himself to examine into, and, as he could +not understand what he saw, and knew not what to look at, nothing was +examined into at all. Everyone's mind was, in fact, so much absorbed by +the spiritual side of the thing that they could not attend to vulgar +commonplaces. Don Quixote, when he set out on his expedition, and forgot +money and a change of linen, was not in a state of wilder exaltation +than Catholic Europe at the sailing of the Armada. Every noble family +in Spain had sent one or other of its sons to fight for Christ and Our +Lady. + +For three years the stream of prayer had been ascending from church, +cathedral, or oratory. The King had emptied his treasury. The hidalgo +and the tradesman had offered their contributions. The crusade against +the Crescent itself had not kindled a more intense or more sacred +enthusiasm. All pains were taken to make the expedition spiritually +worthy of its purpose. No impure thing, specially no impure woman, was +to approach the yards or ships. Swearing, quarrelling, gambling, were +prohibited under terrible penalties. The galleons were named after the +apostles and saints to whose charge they were committed, and every +seaman and soldier confessed and communicated on going on board. The +ship-boys at sunrise were to sing their Buenos Dias at the foot of the +mainmast, and their Ave Maria as the sun sank into the ocean. On the +Imperial banner were embroidered the figures of Christ and His Mother, +and as a motto the haughty 'Plus Ultra' of Charles V. was replaced with +the more pious aspiration, 'Exsurge, Deus, et vindica causam tuam.' + +Nothing could be better if the more vulgar necessities had been looked +to equally well. Unluckily, Medina Sidonia had taken the inspection of +these on himself, and Medina Sidonia was unable to correct the +information which any rascal chose to give him. + +At length, at the end of April, he reported himself satisfied. The +banner was blessed in the cathedral, men and stores all on board, and +the Invincible Armada prepared to go upon its way. No wonder Philip was +confident. A hundred and thirty galleons, from 1,300 to 700 tons, 30,000 +fighting men, besides slaves and servants, made up a force which the +world might well think invincible. The guns were the weakest part. There +were twice as many as the English; but they were for the most part nine +and six pounders, and with but fifty rounds to each. The Spaniards had +done their sea fighting hitherto at close range, grappling and trusting +to musketry. They were to receive a lesson about this before the summer +was over. But Philip himself meanwhile expected evidently that he would +meet with no opposition. Of priests he had provided 180; of surgeons and +surgeons' assistants eighty-five only for the whole fleet. + +In the middle of May he sent down his last orders. The Duke was not to +seek a battle. If he fell in with Drake he was to take no notice of him, +but thank God, as Dogberry said to the watchman, that he was rid of a +knave. He was to go straight to the North Foreland, there anchor and +communicate with Parma. The experienced admirals who had learnt their +trade under Santa Cruz--Martinez de Recalde, Pedro de Valdez, Miguel de +Oquendo--strongly urged the securing Plymouth or the Isle of Wight on +their way up Channel. This had evidently been Santa Cruz's own design, +and the only rational one to have followed. Philip did not see it. He +did not believe it would prove necessary; but as to this and as to +fighting he left them, as he knew he must do, a certain discretion. + +The Duke then, flying the sacred banner on the _San Martin_, dropped +down the Tagus on the 14th of May, followed by the whole fleet. The +_San Martin_ had been double-timbered with oak, to keep the shot out. He +liked his business no better. In vain he repeated to himself that it was +God's cause. God would see they came to no harm. He was no sooner in the +open sea than he found no cause, however holy, saved men from the +consequences of their own blunders. They were late out, and met the +north trade wind, as Santa Cruz had foretold. + +They drifted to leeward day by day till they had dropped down to Cape +St. Vincent. Infinite pains had been taken with the spiritual state of +everyone on board. The carelessness or roguery of contractors and +purveyors had not been thought of. The water had been taken in three +months before. It was found foul and stinking. The salt beef, the salt +pork, and fish were putrid, the bread full of maggots and cockroaches. +Cask was opened after cask. It was the same story everywhere. They had +to be all thrown overboard. In the whole fleet there was not a sound +morsel of food but biscuit and dried fruit. The men went down in +hundreds with dysentery. The Duke bewailed his fate as innocently as +Sancho Panza. He hoped God would help. He had wished no harm to +anybody. He had left his home and his family to please the King, and he +trusted the King would remember it. He wrote piteously for fresh stores, +if the King would not have them all perish. The admirals said they could +go no further without fresh water. All was dismay and confusion. The +wind at last fell round south, and they made Finisterre. It then came on +to blow, and they were scattered. The Duke with half the fleet crawled +into Corunna, the crews scarce able to man the yards and trying to +desert in shoals. + +The missing ships dropped in one by one, but a week passed and a third +of them were still absent. Another despairing letter went off from the +Duke to his master. He said that he concluded from their misfortunes +that God disapproved of the expedition, and that it had better be +abandoned. Diego Florez was of the same opinion. The stores were +worthless, he said. The men were sick and out of heart. Nothing could be +done that season. + +It was not by flinching at the first sight of difficulty that the +Spaniards had become masters of half the world. The old comrades of +Santa Cruz saw nothing in what had befallen them beyond a common +accident of sea life. To abandon at the first check an enterprise +undertaken with so much pretence, they said, would be cowardly and +dishonourable. Ships were not lost because they were out of sight. Fresh +meat and bread could be taken on board from Corunna. They could set up a +shore hospital for the sick. The sickness was not dangerous. There had +been no deaths. A little energy and all would be well again. Pedro de +Valdez despatched a courier to Philip to entreat him not to listen to +the Duke's croakings. Philip returned a speedy answer telling the Duke +not to be frightened at shadows. + +There was nothing, in fact, really to be alarmed at. Fresh water took +away the dysentery. Fresh food was brought in from the country. Galician +seamen filled the gaps made by the deserters. The ships were laid on +shore and scraped and tallowed. Tents were pitched on an island in the +harbour, with altars and priests, and everyone confessed again and +received the Sacrament. 'This,' wrote the Duke, 'is great riches and a +precious jewel, and all now are well content and cheerful.' The +scattered flock had reassembled. Damages were all repaired, and the only +harm had been loss of time. Once more, on the 23rd of July, the Armada +in full numbers was under way for England and streaming across the Bay +of Biscay with a fair wind for the mouth of the Channel. + +Leaving the Duke for the moment, we must now glance at the preparations +made in England to receive him. It might almost be said that there were +none at all. The winter months had been wild and changeable, but not so +wild and not so fluctuating as the mind of England's mistress. In +December her fleet had been paid off at Chatham. The danger of leaving +the country without any regular defence was pressed on her so vehemently +that she consented to allow part of the ships to be recommissioned. The +_Revenge_ was given to Drake. He and Howard, the Lord Admiral, were to +have gone with a mixed squadron from the Royal Navy and the adventurers +down to the Spanish coast. In every loyal subject there had long been +but one opinion, that a good open war was the only road to an honourable +peace. The open war, they now trusted, was come at last. But the hope +was raised only to be disappointed. With the news of Santa Cruz's death +came a report which Elizabeth greedily believed, that the Armada was +dissolving and was not coming at all. Sir James Crofts sang the usual +song that Drake and Howard wanted war, because war was their trade. She +recalled her orders. She said that she was assured of peace in six +weeks, and that beyond that time the services of the fleet would not be +required. Half the men engaged were to be dismissed at once to save +their pay. Drake and Lord Henry Seymour might cruise with four or five +of the Queen's ships between Plymouth and the Solent. Lord Howard was to +remain in the Thames with the rest. I know not whether swearing was +interdicted in the English navy as well as in the Spanish, but I will +answer for it that Howard did not spare his language when this missive +reached him. 'Never,' he said, 'since England was England was such a +stratagem made to deceive us as this treaty. We have not hands left to +carry the ships back to Chatham. We are like bears tied to a stake; the +Spaniards may come to worry us like dogs, and we cannot hurt them.' + +It was well for England that she had other defenders than the wildly +managed navy of the Queen. Historians tell us how the gentlemen of the +coast came out in their own vessels to meet the invaders. Come they did, +but who were they? Ships that could fight the Spanish galleons were not +made in a day or a week. They were built already. They were manned by +loyal subjects, the business of whose lives had been to meet the enemies +of their land and faith on the wide ocean--not by those who had been +watching with divided hearts for a Catholic revolution. + +March went by, and sure intelligence came that the Armada was not +dissolving. Again Drake prayed the Queen to let him take the _Revenge_ +and the Western adventurers down to Lisbon; but the commissioners wrote +full of hope from Ostend, and Elizabeth was afraid 'the King of Spain +might take it ill.' She found fault with Drake's expenses. She charged +him with wasting her ammunition in target practice. She had it doled out +to him in driblets, and allowed no more than would serve for a day and a +half's service. She kept a sharp hand on the victualling houses. April +went, and her four finest ships--the _Triumph_, the _Victory_, the +_Elizabeth Jonas_, and the _Bear_--were still with sails unbent, +'keeping Chatham church.' She said they would not be wanted and it would +be waste of money to refit them. Again she was forced to yield at last, +and the four ships were got to sea in time, the workmen in the yards +making up for the delay; but she had few enough when her whole fleet was +out upon the Channel, and but for the privateers there would have been +an ill reckoning when the trial came. The Armada was coming now. There +was no longer a doubt of it. Lord Henry Seymour was left with five +Queen's ships and thirty London adventurers to watch Parma and the +Narrow Seas. Howard, carrying his own flag in the _Ark Raleigh_, joined +Drake at Plymouth with seventeen others. + +Still the numbing hand of his mistress pursued him. Food supplies had +been issued to the middle of June, and no more was to be allowed. The +weather was desperate--wildest summer ever known. The south-west gales +brought the Atlantic rollers into the Sound. Drake lay inside, perhaps +behind the island which bears his name. Howard rode out the gales under +Mount Edgecumbe, the days going by and the provisions wasting. The +rations were cut down to make the stores last longer. Owing to the many +changes the crews had been hastily raised. They were ill-clothed, +ill-provided every way, but they complained of nothing, caught fish to +mend their mess dinners, and prayed only for the speedy coming of the +enemy. Even Howard's heart failed him now. English sailors would do what +could be done by man, but they could not fight with famine. 'Awake, +Madam,' he wrote to the Queen, 'awake, for the love of Christ, and see +the villainous treasons round about you.' He goaded her into ordering +supplies for one more month, but this was to be positively the last. The +victuallers inquired if they should make further preparations. She +answered peremptorily, 'No'; and again the weeks ran on. The +contractors, it seemed, had caught her spirit, for the beer which had +been furnished for the fleet turned sour, and those who drank it +sickened. The officers, on their own responsibility, ordered wine and +arrowroot for the sick out of Plymouth, to be called to a sharp account +when all was over. Again the rations were reduced. Four weeks' allowance +was stretched to serve for six, and still the Spaniards did not come. So +England's forlorn hope was treated at the crisis of her destiny. The +preparations on land were scarcely better. The militia had been called +out. A hundred thousand men had given their names, and the stations had +been arranged where they were to assemble if the enemy attempted a +landing. But there were no reserves, no magazines of arms, no stores or +tents, no requisites for an army save the men themselves and what local +resources could furnish. For a general the Queen had chosen the Earl of +Leicester, who might have the merit of fidelity to herself, but +otherwise was the worst fitted that she could have found in her whole +dominions; and the Prince of Parma was coming, if he came at all, at +the head of the best-provided and best-disciplined troops in Europe. The +hope of England at that moment was in her patient suffering sailors at +Plymouth. Each morning they looked out passionately for the Spanish +sails. Time was a worse enemy than the galleons. The six weeks would be +soon gone, and the Queen's ships must then leave the seas if the crews +were not to starve. Drake had certain news that the Armada had sailed. +Where was it? Once he dashed out as far as Ushant, but turned back, lest +it should pass him in the night and find Plymouth undefended; and +smaller grew the messes and leaner and paler the seamen's faces. Still +not a man murmured or gave in. They had no leisure to be sick. + +The last week of July had now come. There were half-rations for one week +more, and powder for two days' fighting. That was all. On so light a +thread such mighty issues were now depending. On Friday, the 23rd, the +Armada had started for the second time, the numbers undiminished; +religious fervour burning again, and heart and hope high as ever. +Saturday, Sunday, and Monday they sailed on with a smooth sea and soft +south winds, and on Monday night the Duke found himself at the Channel +mouth with all his flock about him. Tuesday morning the wind shifted to +the north, then backed to the west, and blew hard. The sea got up, broke +into the stern galleries of the galleons, and sent the galleys looking +for shelter in French harbours. The fleet hove to for a couple of days, +till the weather mended. On Friday afternoon they sighted the Lizard and +formed into fighting order; the Duke in the centre, Alonzo de Leyva +leading in a vessel of his own called the _Rata Coronada_, Don Martin de +Recalde covering the rear. The entire line stretched to about seven +miles. + +The sacred banner was run up to the masthead of the _San Martin_. Each +ship saluted with all her guns, and every man--officer, noble, seaman, +or slave--knelt on the decks at a given signal to commend themselves to +Mary and her Son. We shall miss the meaning of this high epic story if +we do not realise that both sides had the most profound conviction that +they were fighting the battle of the Almighty. Two principles, freedom +and authority, were contending for the guidance of mankind. In the +evening the Duke sent off two fast fly-boats to Parma to announce his +arrival in the Channel, with another reporting progress to Philip, and +saying that till he heard from the Prince he meant to stop at the Isle +of Wight. It is commonly said that his officers advised him to go in and +take Plymouth. There is no evidence for this. The island would have been +a far more useful position for them. + +At dark that Friday night the beacons were seen blazing all up the coast +and inland on the tops of the hills. They crept on slowly through +Saturday, with reduced canvas, feeling their way--not a sail to be seen. +At midnight a pinnace brought in a fishing-boat, from which they learnt +that on the sight of the signal fires the English had come out that +morning from Plymouth. Presently, when the moon rose, they saw sails +passing between them and the land. With daybreak the whole scene became +visible, and the curtain lifted on the first act of the drama. The +Armada was between Rame Head and the Eddystone, or a little to the west +of it. Plymouth Sound was right open to their left. The breeze, which +had dropped in the night, was freshening from the south-west, and right +ahead of them, outside the Mew Stone, were eleven ships manoeuvring to +recover the wind. Towards the land were some forty others, of various +sizes, and this formed, as far as they could see, the whole English +force. In numbers the Spaniards were nearly three to one. In the size of +the ships there was no comparison. With these advantages the Duke +decided to engage, and a signal was made to hold the wind and keep the +enemy apart. The eleven ships ahead were Howard's squadron; those inside +were Drake and the adventurers. With some surprise the Spanish officers +saw Howard reach easily to windward out of range and join Drake. The +whole English fleet then passed out close-hauled in line behind them and +swept along their rear, using guns more powerful than theirs and pouring +in broadsides from safe distance with deadly effect. Recalde, with +Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo, who came to his help, tried desperately to +close; but they could make nothing of it. They were out-sailed and +out-cannoned. The English fired five shots to one of theirs, and the +effect was the more destructive because, as with Rodney's action at +Dominica, the galleons were crowded with troops, and shot and splinters +told terribly among them. + +The experience was new and not agreeable. Recalde's division was badly +cut up, and a Spaniard present observes that certain officers showed +cowardice--a hit at the Duke, who had kept out of fire. The action +lasted till four in the afternoon. The wind was then freshening fast and +the sea rising. Both fleets had by this time passed the Sound, and the +Duke, seeing that nothing could be done, signalled to bear away up +Channel, the English following two miles astern. Recalde's own ship had +been an especial sufferer. She was observed to be leaking badly, to drop +behind, and to be in danger of capture. Pedro de Valdez wore round to +help him in the _Capitana_, of the Andalusian squadron, fouled the +_Santa Catalina_ in turning, broke his bowsprit and foretopmast, and +became unmanageable. The Andalusian _Capitana_ was one of the finest +ships in the Spanish fleet, and Don Pedro one of the ablest and most +popular commanders. She had 500 men on board, a large sum of money, +and, among other treasures, a box of jewel-hilted swords, which Philip +was sending over to the English Catholic peers. But it was growing dark. +Sea and sky looked ugly. The Duke was flurried, and signalled to go on +and leave Don Pedro to his fate. Alonzo de Leyva and Oquendo rushed on +board the _San Martin_ to protest. It was no use. Diego Florez said he +could not risk the safety of the fleet for a single officer. The +deserted _Capitana_ made a brave defence, but could not save herself, +and fell, with the jewelled swords, 50,000 ducats, and a welcome supply +of powder, into Drake's hands. + +Off the Start there was a fresh disaster. Everyone was in ill-humour. A +quarrel broke out between the soldiers and seamen in Oquendo's galleon. +He was himself still absent. Some wretch or other flung a torch into the +powder magazine and jumped overboard. The deck was blown off, and 200 +men along with it. + +Two such accidents following an unsuccessful engagement did not tend to +reconcile the Spaniards to the Duke's command. Pedro de Valdez was +universally loved and honoured, and his desertion in the face of an +enemy so inferior in numbers was regarded as scandalous poltroonery. +Monday morning broke heavily. The wind was gone, but there was still a +considerable swell. The English were hull down behind. The day was spent +in repairing damages and nailing lead over the shot-holes. Recalde was +moved to the front, to be out of harm's way, and De Leyva took his post +in the rear. + +At sunset they were outside Portland. The English had come up within a +league; but it was now dead calm, and they drifted apart in the tide. +The Duke thought of nothing, but at midnight the Spanish officers +stirred him out of his sleep to urge him to set his great galleasses to +work; now was their chance. The dawn brought a chance still better, for +it brought an east wind, and the Spaniards had now the weather-gage. +Could they once close and grapple with the English ships, their superior +numbers would then assure them a victory, and Howard, being to leeward +and inshore, would have to pass through the middle of the Spanish line +to recover his advantage. However, it was the same story. The Spaniards +could not use an opportunity when they had one. New-modelled for +superiority of sailing, the English ships had the same advantage over +the galleons as the steam cruisers would have over the old +three-deckers. While the breeze held they went where they pleased. The +Spaniards were out-sailed, out-matched, crushed by guns of longer range +than theirs. Their own shot flew high over the low English hulls, while +every ball found its way through their own towering sides. This time the +_San Martin_ was in the thick of it. Her double timbers were ripped and +torn; the holy standard was cut in two; the water poured through the +shot-holes. The men lost their nerve. In such ships as had no gentlemen +on board notable signs were observed of flinching. + +At the end of that day's fighting the English powder gave out. Two days' +service had been the limit of the Queen's allowance. Howard had pressed +for a more liberal supply at the last moment, and had received the +characteristic answer that he must state precisely how much he wanted +before more could be sent. The lighting of the beacons had quickened +the official pulse a little. A small addition had been despatched to +Weymouth or Poole, and no more could be done till it arrived. The Duke, +meanwhile, was left to smooth his ruffled plumes and drift on upon his +way. But by this time England was awake. Fresh privateers, with powder, +meat, bread, fruit, anything that they could bring, were pouring out +from the Dorsetshire harbours. Sir George Carey had come from the +Needles in time to share the honours of the last battle, 'round shot,' +as he said, 'flying thick as musket balls in a skirmish on land.' + +The Duke had observed uneasily from the _San Martin's_ deck that his +pursuers were growing numerous. He had made up his mind definitely to go +for the Isle of Wight, shelter his fleet in the Solent, land 10,000 men +in the island, and stand on his defence till he heard from Parma. He +must fight another battle; but, cut up as he had been, he had as yet +lost but two ships, and those by accident. He might fairly hope to force +his way in with help from above, for which he had special reason to look +in the next engagement. Wednesday was a breathless calm. The English +were taking in their supplies. The Armada lay still, repairing damages. +Thursday would be St. Dominic's Day. St. Dominic belonged to the Duke's +own family, and was his patron saint. St. Dominic he felt sure, would +now stand by his kinsman. + +The morning broke with a light air. The English would be less able to +move, and with the help of the galleasses he might hope to come to close +quarters at last. Howard seemed inclined to give him his wish. With just +wind enough to move the Lord Admiral led in the _Ark Raleigh_ straight +down on the Spanish centre. The _Ark_ out-sailed her consorts and found +herself alone with the galleons all round her. At that moment the wind +dropped. The Spanish boarding-parties were at their posts. The tops were +manned with musketeers, the grappling irons all prepared to fling into +the _Ark's_ rigging. In imagination the English admiral was their own. +But each day's experience was to teach them a new lesson. Eleven boats +dropped from the _Ark's_ sides and took her in tow. The breeze rose +again as she began to move. Her sails filled, and she slipped away +through the water, leaving the Spaniards as if they were at anchor, +staring in helpless amazement. The wind brought up Drake and the rest, +and then began again the terrible cannonade from which the Armada had +already suffered so frightfully. It seemed that morning as if the +English were using guns of even heavier metal than on either of the +preceding days. The armament had not been changed. The growth was in +their own frightened imagination. The Duke had other causes for +uneasiness. His own magazines were also giving out under the unexpected +demands upon them. One battle was the utmost which he had looked for. He +had fought three, and the end was no nearer than before. With resolution +he might still have made his way into St. Helen's roads, for the English +were evidently afraid to close with him. But when St. Dominic, too, +failed him he lost his head. He lost his heart, and losing heart he lost +all. In the Solent he would have been comparatively safe, and he could +easily have taken the Isle of Wight; but his one thought now was to +find safety under Parma's gaberdine and make for Calais or Dunkirk. He +supposed Parma to have already embarked, on hearing of his coming, with +a second armed fleet, and in condition for immediate action. He sent on +another pinnace, pressing for help, pressing for ammunition, and +fly-boats to protect the galleons; and Parma was himself looking to be +supplied from the Armada, with no second fleet at all, only a flotilla +of river barges which would need a week's work to be prepared for the +crossing. + +Philip had provided a splendid fleet, a splendid army, and the finest +sailors in the world except the English. He had failed to realise that +the grandest preparations are useless with a fool to command. The poor +Duke was less to blame than his master. An office had been thrust upon +him for which he knew that he had not a single qualification. His one +anxiety was to find Parma, lay the weight on Parma's shoulders, and so +have done with it. + +On Friday he was left alone to make his way up Channel towards the +French shore. The English still followed, but he counted that in Calais +roads he would be in French waters, where they would not dare to meddle +with him. They would then, he thought, go home and annoy him no further. +As he dropped anchor in the dusk outside Calais on Saturday evening he +saw, to his disgust, that the _endemoniada gente_--the infernal +devils--as he called them, had brought up at the same moment with +himself, half a league astern of him. His one trust was in the Prince of +Parma, and Parma at any rate was now within touch. + + + + +LECTURE IX + +DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA + + +In the gallery at Madrid there is a picture, painted by Titian, +representing the Genius of Spain coming to the delivery of the afflicted +Bride of Christ. Titian was dead, but the temper of the age survived, +and in the study of that great picture you will see the spirit in which +the Spanish nation had set out for the conquest of England. The scene is +the seashore. The Church a naked Andromeda, with dishevelled hair, +fastened to the trunk of an ancient disbranched tree. The cross lies at +her feet, the cup overturned, the serpents of heresy biting at her from +behind with uplifted crests. Coming on before a leading breeze is the +sea monster, the Moslem fleet, eager for their prey; while in front is +Perseus, the Genius of Spain, banner in hand, with the legions of the +faithful laying not raiment before him, but shield and helmet, the +apparel of war for the Lady of Nations to clothe herself with strength +and smite her foes. + +In the Armada the crusading enthusiasm had reached its point and focus. +England was the stake to which the Virgin, the daughter of Sion, was +bound in captivity. Perseus had come at last in the person of the Duke +of Medina Sidonia, and with him all that was best and brightest in the +countrymen of Cervantes, to break her bonds and replace her on her +throne. They had sailed into the Channel in pious hope, with the blessed +banner waving over their heads. + +To be the executor of the decrees of Providence is a lofty ambition, but +men in a state of high emotion overlook the precautions which are not to +be dispensed with even on the sublimest of errands. Don Quixote, when he +set out to redress the wrongs of humanity, forgot that a change of linen +might be necessary, and that he must take money with him to pay his +hotel bills. Philip II., in sending the Armada to England, and confident +in supernatural protection, imagined an unresisted triumphal +procession. He forgot that contractors might be rascals, that water four +months in the casks in a hot climate turned putrid, and that putrid +water would poison his ships' companies, though his crews were companies +of angels. He forgot that the servants of the evil one might fight for +their mistress after all, and that he must send adequate supplies of +powder, and, worst forgetfulness of all, that a great naval expedition +required a leader who understood his business. Perseus, in the shape of +the Duke of Medina Sidonia, after a week of disastrous battles, found +himself at the end of it in an exposed roadstead, where he ought never +to have been, nine-tenths of his provisions thrown overboard as unfit +for food, his ammunition exhausted by the unforeseen demands upon it, +the seamen and soldiers harassed and dispirited, officers the whole week +without sleep, and the enemy, who had hunted him from Plymouth to +Calais, anchored within half a league of him. + +Still, after all his misadventures, he had brought the fleet, if not to +the North Foreland, yet within a few miles of it, and to outward +appearance not materially injured. Two of the galleons had been taken; +a third, the _Santa Ana_, had strayed; and his galleys had left him, +being found too weak for the Channel sea; but the great armament had +reached its destination substantially uninjured so far as English eyes +could see. Hundreds of men had been killed and hundreds more wounded, +and the spirit of the rest had been shaken. But the loss of life could +only be conjectured on board the English fleet. The English admiral +could only see that the Duke was now in touch with Parma. Parma, they +knew, had an army at Dunkirk with him, which was to cross to England. He +had been collecting men, barges, and transports all the winter and +spring, and the backward state of Parma's preparations could not be +anticipated, still less relied upon. The Calais anchorage was unsafe; +but at that season of the year, especially after a wet summer, the +weather usually settled; and to attack the Spaniards in a French port +might be dangerous for many reasons. It was uncertain after the day of +the Barricades whether the Duke of Guise or Henry of Valois was master +of France, and a violation of the neutrality laws might easily at that +moment bring Guise and France into the field on the Spaniards' side. It +was, no doubt, with some such expectation that the Duke and his advisers +had chosen Calais as the point at which to bring up. It was now +Saturday, the 7th of August. The Governor of the town came off in the +evening to the _San Martin_. He expressed surprise to see the Spanish +fleet in so exposed a position, but he was profuse in his offers of +service. Anything which the Duke required should be provided, especially +every facility for communicating with Dunkirk and Parma. The Duke +thanked him, said that he supposed Parma to be already embarked with his +troops, ready for the passage, and that his own stay in the roads would +be but brief. On Monday morning at latest he expected that the attempt +to cross would be made. The Governor took his leave, and the Duke, +relieved from his anxieties, was left to a peaceful night. He was +disturbed on the Sunday morning by an express from Parma informing him +that, so far from being embarked, the army could not be ready for a +fortnight. The barges were not in condition for sea. The troops were in +camp. The arms and stores were on the quays at Dunkirk. As for the +fly-boats and ammunition which the Duke had asked for, he had none to +spare. He had himself looked to be supplied from the Armada. He promised +to use his best expedition, but the Duke, meanwhile, must see to the +safety of the fleet. + +Unwelcome news to a harassed landsman thrust into the position of an +admiral and eager to be rid of his responsibilities. If by evil fortune +the north-wester should come down upon him, with the shoals and +sandbanks close under his lee, he would be in a bad way. Nor was the +view behind him calculated for comfort. There lay the enemy almost +within gunshot, who, though scarcely more than half his numbers, had +hunted him like a pack of bloodhounds, and, worse than all, in double +strength; for the Thames squadron--three Queen's ships and thirty London +adventurers--under Lord H. Seymour and Sir John Hawkins, had crossed in +the night. There they were between him and Cape Grisnez, and the +reinforcement meant plainly enough that mischief was in the wind. + +After a week so trying the Spanish crews would have been glad of a +Sunday's rest if they could have had it; but the rough handling which +they had gone through had thrown everything into disorder. The sick and +wounded had to be cared for, torn rigging looked to, splintered timbers +mended, decks scoured, and guns and arms cleaned up and put to rights. +And so it was that no rest could be allowed; so much had to be done, and +so busy was everyone, that the usual rations were not served out and the +Sunday was kept as a fast. In the afternoon the stewards went ashore for +fresh meat and vegetables. They came back with their boats loaded, and +the prospect seemed a little less gloomy. Suddenly, as the Duke and a +group of officers were watching the English fleet from the _San +Martin's_ poop deck, a small smart pinnace, carrying a gun in her bow, +shot out from Howard's lines, bore down on the _San Martin_, sailed +round her, sending in a shot or two as she passed, and went off unhurt. +The Spanish officers could not help admiring such airy impertinence. +Hugo de Moncada sent a ball after the pinnace, which went through her +mainsail, but did no damage, and the pinnace again disappeared behind +the English ships. + +So a Spanish officer describes the scene. The English story says nothing +of the pinnace; but she doubtless came and went as the Spaniard says, +and for sufficient purpose. The English, too, were in straits, though +the Duke did not dream of it. You will remember that the last supplies +which the Queen had allowed to the fleet had been issued in the middle +of June. They were to serve for a month, and the contractors were +forbidden to prepare more. The Queen had clung to her hope that her +differences with Philip were to be settled by the Commission at Ostend; +and she feared that if Drake and Howard were too well furnished they +would venture some fresh rash stroke on the coast of Spain, which might +mar the negotiations. Their month's provisions had been stretched to +serve for six weeks, and when the Armada appeared but two full days' +rations remained. On these they had fought their way up Channel. +Something had been brought out by private exertion on the Dorsetshire +coast, and Seymour had, perhaps, brought a little more. But they were +still in extremity. The contractors had warned the Government that they +could provide nothing without notice, and notice had not been given. The +adventurers were in better state, having been equipped by private +owners. But the Queen's ships in a day or two more must either go home +or their crews would be starving. They had been on reduced rations for +near two months. Worse than that, they were still poisoned by the sour +beer. The Queen had changed her mind so often, now ordering the fleet to +prepare for sea, then recalling her instructions and paying off the men, +that those whom Howard had with him had been enlisted in haste, had come +on board as they were, and their clothes were hanging in rags on them. +The fighting and the sight of the flying Spaniards were meat and drink, +and clothing too, and had made them careless of all else. There was no +fear of mutiny; but there was a limit to the toughest endurance. If the +Armada was left undisturbed a long struggle might be still before them. +The enemy would recover from its flurry, and Parma would come out from +Dunkirk. To attack them directly in French waters might lead to +perilous complications, while delay meant famine. The Spanish fleet had +to be started from the roads in some way. Done it must be, and done +immediately. + +Then, on that same Sunday afternoon a memorable council of war was held +in the _Ark's_ main cabin. Howard, Drake, Seymour, Hawkins, Martin +Frobisher, and two or three others met to consult, knowing that on them +at that moment the liberties of England were depending. Their resolution +was taken promptly. There was no time for talk. After nightfall a strong +flood tide would be setting up along shore to the Spanish anchorage. +They would try what could be done with fire-ships, and the excursion of +the pinnace, which was taken for bravado, was probably for a survey of +the Armada's exact position. Meantime eight useless vessels were coated +with pitch--hulls, spars, and rigging. Pitch was poured on the decks and +over the sides, and parties were told off to steer them to their +destination and then fire and leave them. + +The hours stole on, and twilight passed into dark. The night was +without a moon. The Duke paced his deck late with uneasy sense of +danger. He observed lights moving up and down the English lines, and +imagining that the _endemoniada gente_--the infernal devils--might be up +to mischief ordered a sharp look-out. A faint westerly air was curling +the water, and towards midnight the watchers on board the galleons made +out dimly several ships which seemed to be drifting down upon them. +Their experience since the action off Plymouth had been so strange and +unlooked for that anything unintelligible which the English did was +alarming. + +The phantom forms drew nearer, and were almost among them when they +broke into a blaze from water-line to truck, and the two fleets were +seen by the lurid light of the conflagration; the anchorage, the walls +and windows of Calais, and the sea shining red far as eye could reach, +as if the ocean itself was burning. Among the dangers which they might +have to encounter, English fireworks had been especially dreaded by the +Spaniards. Fire-ships--a fit device of heretics--had worked havoc among +the Spanish troops, when the bridge was blown up, at Antwerp. They +imagined that similar infernal machines were approaching the Armada. A +capable commander would have sent a few launches to grapple the burning +hulks, which of course were now deserted, and tow them out of harm's +way. Spanish sailors were not cowards, and would not have flinched from +duty because it might be dangerous; but the Duke and Diego Florez lost +their heads again. A signal gun from the _San Martin_ ordered the whole +fleet to slip their cables and stand out to sea. + +Orders given in panic are doubly unwise, for they spread the terror in +which they originate. The danger from the fire-ships was chiefly from +the effect on the imagination, for they appear to have drifted by and +done no real injury. And it speaks well for the seamanship and courage +of the Spaniards that they were able, crowded together as they were, at +midnight and in sudden alarm to set their canvas and clear out without +running into one another. They buoyed their cables, expecting to return +for them at daylight, and with only a single accident, to be mentioned +directly, they executed successfully a really difficult manoeuvre. + +The Duke was delighted with himself. The fire-ships burnt harmlessly +out. He had baffled the inventions of the _endemoniada gente_. He +brought up a league outside the harbour, and supposed that the whole +Armada had done the same. Unluckily for himself, he found it at daylight +divided into two bodies. The _San Martin_ with forty of the best +appointed of the galleons were riding together at their anchors. The +rest, two-thirds of the whole, having no second anchors ready, and +inexperienced in Channel tides and currents, had been lying to. The west +wind was blowing up. Without seeing where they were going they had +drifted to leeward, and were two leagues off, towards Gravelines, +dangerously near the shore. The Duke was too ignorant to realise the +full peril of his situation. He signalled to them to return and rejoin +him. As the wind and tide stood it was impossible. He proposed to follow +them. The pilots told him that if he did the whole fleet might be lost +on the banks. Towards the land the look of things was not more +encouraging. + +One accident only had happened the night before. The Capitana galleass, +with Don Hugo de Moncada and eight hundred men on board, had fouled her +helm in a cable in getting under way and had become unmanageable. The +galley slaves disobeyed orders, or else Don Hugo was as incompetent as +his commander-in-chief. The galleass had gone on the sands, and as the +tide ebbed had fallen over on her side. Howard, seeing her condition, +had followed her in the _Ark_ with four or five other of the Queen's +ships, and was furiously attacking her with his boats, careless of +neutrality laws. Howard's theory was, as he said, to pluck the feathers +one by one from the Spaniard's wing, and here was a feather worth +picking up. The galleass was the most splendid vessel of her kind +afloat, Don Hugo one of the greatest of Spanish grandees. + +Howard was making a double mistake. He took the galleass at last, after +three hours' fighting. Don Hugo was killed by a musket ball. The vessel +was plundered, and Howard's men took possession, meaning to carry her +away when the tide rose. The French authorities ordered him off, +threatening to fire upon him; and after wasting the forenoon, he was +obliged at last to leave her where she lay. Worse than this, he had lost +three precious hours, and had lost along with them, in the opinion of +the Prince of Parma, the honours of the great day. + +Drake and Hawkins knew better than to waste time plucking single +feathers. The fire-ships had been more effective than they could have +dared to hope. The enemy was broken up. The Duke was shorn of half his +strength, and the Lord had delivered him into their hand. He had got +under way, still signalling wildly, and uncertain in which direction to +turn. His uncertainties were ended for him by seeing Drake bearing down +upon him with the whole English fleet, save those which were loitering +about the galleass. The English had now the advantage of numbers. The +superiority of their guns he knew already, and their greater speed +allowed him no hope to escape a battle. Forty ships alone were left to +him to defend the banner of the crusade and the honour of Castile; but +those forty were the largest and the most powerfully armed and manned +that he had, and on board them were Oquendo, De Leyva, Recalde, and +Bretandona, the best officers in the Spanish navy next to the lost Don +Pedro. + +It was now or never for England. The scene of the action which was to +decide the future of Europe was between Calais and Dunkirk, a few miles +off shore, and within sight of Parma's camp. There was no more +manoeuvring for the weather-gage, no more fighting at long range. +Drake dashed straight upon his prey as the falcon stoops upon its +quarry. A chance had fallen to him which might never return; not for the +vain distinction of carrying prizes into English ports, not for the ray +of honour which would fall on him if he could carry off the sacred +banner itself and hang it in the Abbey at Westminster, but a chance so +to handle the Armada that it should never be seen again in English +waters, and deal such a blow on Philip that the Spanish Empire should +reel with it. The English ships had the same superiority over the +galleons which steamers have now over sailing vessels. They had twice +the speed; they could lie two points nearer to the wind. Sweeping round +them at cable's length, crowding them in one upon the other, yet never +once giving them a chance to grapple, they hurled in their cataracts of +round shot. Short as was the powder supply, there was no sparing it that +morning. The hours went on, and still the battle raged, if battle it +could be called where the blows were all dealt on one side and the +suffering was all on the other. Never on sea or land did the Spaniards +show themselves worthier of their great name than on that day. But from +the first they could do nothing. It was said afterwards in Spain that +the Duke showed the white feather, that he charged his pilot to keep him +out of harm's way, that he shut himself up in his cabin, buried in +woolpacks, and so on. The Duke had faults enough, but poltroonery was +not one of them. He, who till he entered the English Channel had never +been in action on sea or land, found himself, as he said, in the midst +of the most furious engagement recorded in the history of the world. As +to being out of harm's way, the standard at his masthead drew the +hottest of the fire upon him. The _San Martin's_ timbers were of oak and +a foot thick, but the shot, he said, went through them enough to shatter +a rock. Her deck was a slaughterhouse; half his company were killed or +wounded, and no more would have been heard or seen of the _San Martin_ +or her commander had not Oquendo and De Leyva pushed in to the rescue +and enabled him to creep away under their cover. He himself saw nothing +more of the action after this. The smoke, he said, was so thick that he +could make out nothing, even from his masthead. But all round it was but +a repetition of the same scene. The Spanish shot flew high, as before, +above the low English hulls, and they were themselves helpless butts to +the English guns. And it is noticeable and supremely creditable to them +that not a single galleon struck her colours. One of them, after a long +duel with an Englishman, was on the point of sinking. An English +officer, admiring the courage which the Spaniards had shown, ran out +upon his bowsprit, told them that they had done all which became men, +and urged them to surrender and save their lives. For answer they +cursed the English as cowards and chickens because they refused to +close. The officer was shot. His fall brought a last broadside on them, +which finished the work. They went down, and the water closed over them. +Rather death to the soldiers of the Cross than surrender to a heretic. + +The deadly hail rained on. In some ships blood was seen streaming out of +the scupper-holes. Yet there was no yielding; all ranks showed equal +heroism. The priests went up and down in the midst of the carnage, +holding the crucifix before the eyes of the dying. At midday Howard came +up to claim a second share in a victory which was no longer doubtful. +Towards the afternoon the Spanish fire slackened. Their powder was gone, +and they could make no return to the cannonade which was still +overwhelming them. They admitted freely afterwards that if the attack +had been continued but two hours more they must all have struck or gone +ashore. But the English magazines were empty also; the last cartridge +was shot away, and the battle ended from mere inability to keep it up. +It had been fought on both sides with peculiar determination. In the +English there was the accumulated resentment of thirty years of menace +to their country and their creed, with the enemy in tangible shape at +last to be caught and grappled with; in the Spanish, the sense that if +their cause had not brought them the help they looked for from above, +the honour and faith of Castile should not suffer in their hands. + +It was over. The English drew off, regretting that their thrifty +mistress had limited their means of fighting for her, and so obliged +them to leave their work half done. When the cannon ceased the wind +rose, the smoke rolled away, and in the level light of the sunset they +could see the results of the action. + +A galleon in Recalde's squadron was sinking with all hands. The _San +Philip_ and the _San Matteo_ were drifting dismasted towards the Dutch +coast, where they were afterwards wrecked. Those which were left with +canvas still showing were crawling slowly after their comrades who had +not been engaged, the spars and rigging so cut up that they could +scarce bear their sails. The loss of life could only be conjectured, but +it had been obviously terrible. The nor'-wester was blowing up and was +pressing the wounded ships upon the shoals, from which, if it held, it +seemed impossible in their crippled state they would be able to work +off. + +In this condition Drake left them for the night, not to rest, but from +any quarter to collect, if he could, more food and powder. The snake had +been scotched, but not killed. More than half the great fleet were far +away, untouched by shot, perhaps able to fight a second battle if they +recovered heart. To follow, to drive them on the banks if the wind held, +or into the North Sea, anywhere so that he left them no chance of +joining hands with Parma again, and to use the time before they had +rallied from his blows, that was the present necessity. His own poor +fellows were famished and in rags; but neither he nor they had leisure +to think of themselves. There was but one thought in the whole of them, +to be again in chase of the flying foe. Howard was resolute as Drake. +All that was possible was swiftly done. Seymour and the Thames squadron +were to stay in the Straits and watch Parma. From every attainable +source food and powder were collected for the rest--far short in both +ways of what ought to have been, but, as Drake said, 'we were resolved +to put on a brag and go on as if we needed nothing.' Before dawn the +admiral and he were again off on the chase. + +The brag was unneeded. What man could do had been done, and the rest was +left to the elements. Never again could Spanish seamen be brought to +face the English guns with Medina Sidonia to lead them. They had a fool +at their head. The Invisible Powers in whom they had been taught to +trust had deserted them. Their confidence was gone and their spirit +broken. Drearily the morning broke on the Duke and his consorts the day +after the battle. The Armada had collected in the night. The nor'-wester +had freshened to a gale, and they were labouring heavily along, making +fatal leeway towards the shoals. + +It was St. Lawrence's Day, Philip's patron saint, whose shoulder-bone he +had lately added to the treasures of the Escurial; but St. Lawrence was +as heedless as St. Dominic. The _San Martin_ had but six fathoms under +her. Those nearer to the land signalled five, and right before them they +could see the brown foam of the breakers curling over the sands, while +on their weather-beam, a mile distant and clinging to them like the +shadow of death, were the English ships which had pursued them from +Plymouth like the dogs of the Furies. The Spanish sailors and soldiers +had been without food since the evening when they anchored at Calais. +All Sunday they had been at work, no rest allowed them to eat. On the +Sunday night they had been stirred out of their sleep by the fire-ships. +Monday they had been fighting, and Monday night committing their dead to +the sea. Now they seemed advancing directly upon inevitable destruction. +As the wind stood there was still room for them to wear and thus escape +the banks, but they would then have to face the enemy, who seemed only +refraining from attacking them because while they continued on their +present course the winds and waves would finish the work without help +from man. Recalde, De Leyva, Oquendo, and other officers were sent for +to the _San Martin_ to consult. Oquendo came last. 'Ah, Senor Oquendo,' +said the Duke as the heroic Biscayan stepped on board, 'que haremos?' +(what shall we do?) 'Let your Excellency bid load the guns again,' was +Oquendo's gallant answer. It could not be. De Leyva himself said that +the men would not fight the English again. Florez advised surrender. The +Duke wavered. It was said that a boat was actually lowered to go off to +Howard and make terms, and that Oquendo swore that if the boat left the +_San Martin_ on such an errand he would fling Florez into the sea. +Oquendo's advice would have, perhaps, been the safest if the Duke could +have taken it. There were still seventy ships in the Armada little hurt. +The English were 'bragging,' as Drake said, and in no condition +themselves for another serious engagement. But the temper of the entire +fleet made a courageous course impossible. There was but one Oquendo. +Discipline was gone. The soldiers in their desperation had taken the +command out of the hands of the seamen. Officers and men alike +abandoned hope, and, with no human prospect of salvation left to them, +they flung themselves on their knees upon the decks and prayed the +Almighty to have pity on them. But two weeks were gone since they had +knelt on those same decks on the first sight of the English shore to +thank Him for having brought them so far on an enterprise so glorious. +Two weeks; and what weeks! Wrecked, torn by cannon shot, ten thousand of +them dead or dying--for this was the estimated loss by battle--the +survivors could now but pray to be delivered from a miserable death by +the elements. In cyclones the wind often changes suddenly back from +north-west to west, from west to south. At that moment, as if in answer +to their petition, one of these sudden shifts of wind saved them from +the immediate peril. The gale backed round to S.S.W., and ceased to +press them on the shoals. They could ease their sheets, draw off into +open water, and steer a course up the middle of the North Sea. + +So only that they went north, Drake was content to leave them +unmolested. Once away into the high latitudes they might go where they +would. Neither Howard nor he, in the low state of their own magazines, +desired any unnecessary fighting. If the Armada turned back they must +close with it. If it held its present course they must follow it till +they could be assured it would communicate no more for that summer with +the Prince of Parma. Drake thought they would perhaps make for the +Baltic or some port in Norway. They would meet no hospitable reception +from either Swedes or Danes, but they would probably try. One only +imminent danger remained to be provided against. If they turned into the +Forth, it was still possible for the Spaniards to redeem their defeat, +and even yet shake Elizabeth's throne. Among the many plans which had +been formed for the invasion of England, a landing in Scotland had long +been the favourite. Guise had always preferred Scotland when it was +intended that Guise should be the leader. Santa Cruz had been in close +correspondence with Guise on this very subject, and many officers in the +Armada must have been acquainted with Santa Cruz's views. The Scotch +Catholic nobles were still savage at Mary Stuart's execution, and had +the Armada anchored in Leith Roads with twenty thousand men, half a +million ducats, and a Santa Cruz at its head, it might have kindled a +blaze at that moment from John o' Groat's Land to the Border. + +But no such purpose occurred to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. He probably +knew nothing at all of Scotland or its parties. Among the many +deficiencies which he had pleaded to Philip as unfitting him for the +command, he had said that Santa Cruz had acquaintances among the English +and Scotch peers. He had himself none. The small information which he +had of anything did not go beyond his orange gardens and his tunny +fishing. His chief merit was that he was conscious of his incapacity; +and, detesting a service into which he had been fooled by a hysterical +nun, his only anxiety was to carry home the still considerable fleet +which had been trusted to him without further loss. Beyond Scotland and +the Scotch Isles there was the open ocean, and in the open ocean there +were no sandbanks and no English guns. Thus, with all sail set he went +on before the wind. Drake and Howard attended him till they had seen +him past the Forth, and knew then that there was no more to fear. It was +time to see to the wants of their own poor fellows, who had endured so +patiently and fought so magnificently. On the 13th of August they saw +the last of the Armada, turned back, and made their way to the Thames. + +But the story has yet to be told of the final fate of the great +'enterprise of England' (the 'empresa de Inglaterra'), the object of so +many prayers, on which the hopes of the Catholic world had been so long +and passionately fixed. It had been ostentatiously a religious crusade. +The preparations had been attended with peculiar solemnities. In the +eyes of the faithful it was to be the execution of Divine justice on a +wicked princess and a wicked people. In the eyes of millions whose +convictions were less decided it was an appeal to God's judgment to +decide between the Reformation and the Pope. There was an +appropriateness, therefore, if due to accident, that other causes +besides the action of man should have combined in its overthrow. + +The Spaniards were experienced sailors; a voyage round the Orkneys and +round Ireland to Spain might be tedious, but at that season of the year +need not have seemed either dangerous or difficult. On inquiry, however, +it was found that the condition of the fleet was seriously alarming. The +provisions placed on board at Lisbon had been found unfit for food, and +almost all had been thrown into the sea. The fresh stores taken in at +Corunna had been consumed, and it was found that at the present rate +there would be nothing left in a fortnight. Worse than all, the +water-casks refilled there had been carelessly stowed. They had been +shot through in the fighting and were empty; while of clothing or other +comforts for the cold regions which they were entering no thought had +been taken. The mules and horses were flung overboard, and Scotch +smacks, which had followed the retreating fleet, reported that they had +sailed for miles through floating carcases. + +The rations were reduced for each man to a daily half-pound of biscuit, +a pint of water, and a pint of wine. Thus, sick and hungry, the wounded +left to the care of a medical officer, who went from ship to ship, the +subjects of so many prayers were left to encounter the climate of the +North Atlantic. The Duke blamed all but himself; he hanged one poor +captain for neglect of orders, and would have hanged another had he +dared; but his authority was gone. They passed the Orkneys in a single +body. They then parted, it was said in a fog; but each commander had to +look out for himself and his men. In many ships water must be had +somewhere, or they would die. The _San Martin_, with sixty consorts, +went north to the sixtieth parallel. From that height the pilots +promised to take them down clear of the coast. The wind still clung to +the west, each day blowing harder than the last. When they braced round +to it their wounded spars gave way. Their rigging parted. With the +greatest difficulty they made at last sufficient offing, and rolled down +somehow out of sight of land, dipping their yards in the enormous seas. +Of the rest, one or two went down among the Western Isles and became +wrecks there, their crews, or part of them, making their way through +Scotland to Flanders. Others went north to Shetland or the Faroe +Islands. Between thirty and forty were tempted in upon the Irish coasts. +There were Irishmen in the fleet, who must have told them that they +would find the water there for which they were perishing, safe harbours, +and a friendly Catholic people; and they found either harbours which +they could not reach or sea-washed sands and reefs. They were all +wrecked at various places between Donegal and the Blaskets. Something +like eight thousand half-drowned wretches struggled on shore alive. Many +were gentlemen, richly dressed, with velvet coats, gold chains, and +rings. The common sailors and soldiers had been paid their wages before +they started, and each had a bag of ducats lashed to his waist when he +landed through the surf. The wild Irish of the coast, tempted by the +booty, knocked unknown numbers of them on the head with their +battle-axes, or stripped them naked and left them to die of the cold. On +one long sand strip in Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred +bodies, and he heard that there were as many more a few miles distant. + +The better-educated of the Ulster chiefs, the O'Rourke and O'Donnell, +hurried down to stop the butchery and spare Ireland the shame of +murdering helpless Catholic friends. Many--how many cannot be +said--found protection in their castles. But even so it seemed as if +some inexorable fate pursued all who had sailed in that doomed +expedition. Alonzo de Leyva, with half a hundred young Spanish nobles of +high rank who were under his special charge, made his way in a galleass +into Killibeg. He was himself disabled in landing. O'Donnell received +and took care of him and his companions. After remaining in O'Donnell's +castle for a month he recovered. The weather appeared to mend. The +galleass was patched up, and De Leyva ventured an attempt to make his +way in her to Scotland. He had passed the worst danger, and Scotland was +almost in sight; but fate would have its victims. The galleass struck a +rock off Dunluce and went to pieces, and Don Alonzo and the princely +youths who had sailed with him were washed ashore all dead, to find an +unmarked grave in Antrim. + +Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who fell into the hands of +the English garrisons in Galway and Mayo. Galleons had found their way +into Galway Bay--one of them had reached Galway itself--the crews half +dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water. The +Galway townsmen were human, and tried to feed and care for them. Most +were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion. Some might have +recovered, but recovered they would be a danger to the State. The +English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the midst of a +sullen, half-conquered population. The ashes of the Desmond rebellion +were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine Commission were +fresh in immediate memory. The defeat of the Armada in the Channel could +only have been vaguely heard of. All that English officers could have +accurately known must have been that an enormous expedition had been +sent to England by Philip to restore the Pope; and Spaniards, they +found, were landing in thousands in the midst of them with arms and +money; distressed for the moment, but sure, if allowed time to get their +strength again, to set Connaught in a blaze. They had no fortresses to +hold so many prisoners, no means of feeding them, no men to spare to +escort them to Dublin. They were responsible to the Queen's Government +for the safety of the country. The Spaniards had not come on any errand +of mercy to her or hers. The stern order went out to kill them all +wherever they might be found, and two thousand or more were shot, +hanged, or put to the sword. Dreadful! Yes, but war itself is dreadful +and has its own necessities. + +The sixty ships which had followed the _San Martin_ succeeded at last in +getting round Cape Clear, but in a condition scarcely less miserable +than that of their companions who had perished in Ireland. Half their +companies died--died of untended wounds, hunger, thirst, and famine +fever. The survivors were moving skeletons, more shadows and ghosts than +living men, with scarce strength left them to draw a rope or handle a +tiller. In some ships there was no water for fourteen days. The weather +in the lower latitudes lost part of its violence, or not one of them +would have seen Spain again. As it was they drifted on outside Scilly +and into the Bay of Biscay, and in the second week in September they +dropped in one by one. Recalde, with better success than the rest, made +Corunna. The Duke, not knowing where he was, found himself in sight of +Corunna also. The crew of the _San Martin_ were prostrate, and could not +work her in. They signalled for help, but none came, and they dropped +away to leeward to Bilbao. Oquendo had fallen off still farther to +Santander, and the rest of the sixty arrived in the following days at +one or other of the Biscay ports. On board them, of the thirty thousand +who had left those shores but two months before in high hope and +passionate enthusiasm, nine thousand only came back alive--if alive they +could be called. It is touching to read in a letter from Bilbao of their +joy at warm Spanish sun, the sight of the grapes on the white walls, and +the taste of fresh home bread and water again. But it came too late to +save them, and those whose bodies might have rallied died of broken +hearts and disappointed dreams. Santa Cruz's old companions could not +survive the ruin of the Spanish navy. Recalde died two days after he +landed at Bilbao. Santander was Oquendo's home. He had a wife and +children there, but he refused to see them, turned his face to the wall, +and died too. The common seamen and soldiers were too weak to help +themselves. They had to be left on board the poisoned ships till +hospitals could be prepared to take them in. The authorities of Church +and State did all that men could do; but the case was past help, and +before September was out all but a few hundred needed no further care. + +Philip, it must be said for him, spared nothing to relieve the misery. +The widows and orphans were pensioned by the State. The stroke which had +fallen was received with a dignified submission to the inscrutable +purposes of Heaven. Diego Florez escaped with a brief punishment at +Burgos. None else were punished for faults which lay chiefly in the +King's own presumption in imagining himself the instrument of +Providence. + +The Duke thought himself more sinned against than sinning. He did not +die, like Recalde or Oquendo, seeing no occasion for it. He flung down +his command and retired to his palace at San Lucan; and so far was +Philip from resenting the loss of the Armada on its commander, that he +continued him in his governorship of Cadiz, where Essex found him seven +years later, and where he ran from Essex as he had run from Drake. + +The Spaniards made no attempt to conceal the greatness of their defeat. +Unwilling to allow that the Upper Powers had been against them, they set +it frankly down to the superior fighting powers of the English. + +The English themselves, the Prince of Parma said, were modest in their +victory. They thought little of their own gallantry. To them the defeat +and destruction of the Spanish fleet was a declaration of the Almighty +in the cause of their country and the Protestant faith. Both sides had +appealed to Heaven, and Heaven had spoken. + +It was the turn of the tide. The wave of the reconquest of the +Netherlands ebbed from that moment. Parma took no more towns from the +Hollanders. The Catholic peers and gentlemen of England, who had held +aloof from the Established Church, waiting _ad illud tempus_ for a +religious revolution, accepted the verdict of Providence. They +discovered that in Anglicanism they could keep the faith of their +fathers, yet remain in communion with their Protestant fellow-countrymen, +use the same liturgy, and pray in the same temples. For the first time +since Elizabeth's father broke the bonds of Rome the English became a +united nation, joined in loyal enthusiasm for the Queen, and were +satisfied that thenceforward no Italian priest should tithe or toll +in her dominions. + +But all that, and all that went with it, the passing from Spain to +England of the sceptre of the seas, must be left to other lectures, or +other lecturers who have more years before them than I. My own theme has +been the poor Protestant adventurers who fought through that perilous +week in the English Channel and saved their country and their country's +liberty. + + +THE END + + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by +James Anthony Froude + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH SEAMEN IN THE *** + +***** This file should be named 18209.txt or 18209.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/0/18209/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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