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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/4858.txt b/4858.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f168154 --- /dev/null +++ b/4858.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2014 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1588 +#58 in our series by John Lothrop Motley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1588 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4858] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1588 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 58 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1588 + + + Both Fleets off Calais--A Night of Anxiety--Project of Howard and + Winter--Impatience of the Spaniards--Fire-Ships sent against the + Armada--A great Galeasse disabled--Attacked and captured by English + Boats--General Engagement of both Fleets--Loss of several Spanish + Ships--Armada flies, followed by the English--English insufficiently + provided--Are obliged to relinquish the Chase--A great Storm + disperses the Armada--Great Energy of Parma Made fruitless by + Philip's Dulness--England readier at Sea than on Shore--The + Lieutenant--General's Complaints--His Quarrels with Norris and + Williams--Harsh Statements as to the English Troops--Want of + Organization in England--Royal Parsimony and Delay--Quarrels of + English Admirals--England's narrow Escape from great Peril--Various + Rumours as to the Armada's Fate--Philip for a long Time in Doubt--He + believes himself victorious--Is tranquil when undeceived. + + +CHAPTER XIX. Part 2. + + +And in Calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in +company with the English, without a shot being fired on either side--at +last dropped anchor on Saturday afternoon, August 6th. + +Here then the Invincible Armada had arrived at its appointed resting- +place. Here the great junction--of Medina Sidonia with the Duke of Parma +was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last +act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. + +That Saturday afternoon, Lord Henry Seymour and his squadron of sixteen +lay between Dungeness and Folkestone; waiting the approach of the two +fleets. He spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they +could give him no information--strange to say--either of the Spaniards +or, of his own countrymen,--Seymour; having hardly three days' provision +in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and +so bore into the Downs. Hardly had he been there half an hour; when a +pinnace arrived from the Lord-Admiral; with orders for Lord Henry's +squadron to hold itself in readiness. There was no longer time for +victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail +and bear for the French coast. The wind was however so light; that the +whole day was spent before Seymour with his ships could cross the +channel. At last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great Spanish +Armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very +near each other--a little to the eastward of Calais, and very near the +shore. The English, under Howard Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins, were +slowly following, and--so soon as Lord Henry, arriving from the opposite +shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped +anchor likewise very near Calais, and within one mile and a half of the +Spaniards. That invincible force had at last almost reached its +destination. It was now to receive the cooperation of the great Farnese, +at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle- +fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been +with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in +Christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of England. The +long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, +maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of +a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. +The mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of Philip's +diplomatists and their English dupes, interchanging protocols so +decorously month after month on the sands of Bourbourg, had been drowned +by the peremptory voice of English and Spanish artillery, suddenly +breaking in upon their placid conferences. It had now become +supererogatory to ask for Alexander's word of honour whether he had, +ever heard of Cardinal Allan's pamphlet, or whether his master +contemplated hostilities against Queen Elizabeth. + +Never, since England was England, had such a sight been seen as now +revealed itself in those narrow straits between Dover and Calais. Along +that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the Calais +fortifications, one hundred and thirty Spanish ships--the greater number +of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, +and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty English +sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could +furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. + +Farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post +perilous and vital service, was a squadron of Dutch vessels of all sizes, +lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the Flemish +coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate +and dangerous cruising-ground between Dunkerk and Walcheren. Those +fleets of Holland and Zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty +galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under Warmond, Nassau, Van der Does, de +Moor, and Rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from +Newport, or Gravelines; or Sluys, or Flushing, or Dunkerk, and longing to +grapple with the Duke of Parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and +hoys, packed with his Spanish and Italian veterans, should venture to set +forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. + +It was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. +The moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of +anxious expectation. Would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, +upon a subjugated England, a re-enslaved Holland--upon the downfall of +civil and religious liberty? Those ships of Spain, which lay there with +their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated +triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they +not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the +conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? + +That English fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the +watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender +vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory +skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the +moment had arrived for the death grapple? Would not Howard, Drake, +Frobisher, Seymour, Winter, and Hawkins, be swept out of the straits at +last, yielding an open passage to Medina, Oquendo, Recalde, and Farnese? +Would those Hollanders and Zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their +treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible +'Holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? + +So soon as he had cast anchor, Howard despatched a pinnace to the +Vanguard, with a message to Winter to come on board the flag-ship. When +Sir William reached the Ark, it was already nine in the evening. He was +anxiously consulted by the Lord-Admiral as to the course now to be taken. +Hitherto the English had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the +retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. Although anxious +to give battle, the Spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast +until after his junction with Parma. So the English had played a +comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating +him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and +slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. But he was now to be met +face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was +upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. + +Winter, standing side by aide with the Lord-Admiral on the deck of the +little Ark-Royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and +galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. + +"Considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove +them but by a device." + +Then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four +years before of the fire ships sent by the Antwerpers against Parma's +bridge--the inventor of which, the Italian Gianibelli, was at that very +moment constructing fortifications on the Thames to assist the English +against his old enemy Farnese--Winter suggested that some stratagem of +the same kind should be attempted against the Invincible Armada. There +was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had +been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least +might be sent among the fleet. Some damage would doubtless be thus +inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of +Antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous Mantuan wizard was then a +resident of England, would be still more effective. In Winter's opinion, +the Armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown +into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. + +Howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a +council of war for arranging the details of its execution. + +While the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well +nigh been a serious misfortune. The ship, White Bear, of 1000 tons +burthen, and three others of the English fleet, all tangled together, +came drifting with the tide against the Ark. There were many yards +carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; +in the opinion of Winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet +would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. +By alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the +ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to +several Spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. + +Next day, Sunday, 7th August, the two great fleets were still lying but a +mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and +falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the +only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. Nothing as yet was +heard of Farnese. Thus far, at least, the Hollanders had held him at +bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. So +Howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very +soon after Drake and Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, and the rest, were gravely +consulting in his cabin. + +It was decided that Winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and Sir +Henry Palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to Dover, to bring +off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of +light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to +the purpose.' But as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for +Palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of +what could be collected in the fleet itself. Otherwise it was to be +feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. Parma, crushing all +opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the +whole Spanish Armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would +engage the English and Dutch fleets, and cover his passage to Dover. It +would then be too late to think of the burning ships. + +On the other hand, upon the decks of the Armada, there was an impatience +that night which increased every hour. The governor of Calais; M. de +Gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of Medina Sidonia, +with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful +refreshments. There was no fear--now that Mucio was for the time in the +ascendency--that the schemes of Philip would be interfered with by +France. The governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the +dangerous position in which the Armada had placed itself. He was quite +right. Calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those +of Spain and Portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they +were exposed were most treacherous. It was calm enough at the moment, +but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet +hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous Flemish coast. +Moreover, the Duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and +pilots for the English coast, was comparatively unprovided against the +dangers which might beset him off Dunkerk, Newport, and Flushing. He had +sent messengers, day after day, to Farnese, begging for assistance of +various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the +field of action. It was the time and, place for Alexander to assume the +chief command. The Armada was ready to make front against the English +fleet on the left, while on the right, the Duke, thus protected, might +proceed across the channel and take possession of England. + +And the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was +equal to that of their commanders. There was London almost before their +eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those +mines beyond the Atlantic which had so often rewarded Spanish chivalry +with fabulous wealth. And there were men in those galleons who +remembered the sack of Antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, +from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when +once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury +of Antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of +a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and +daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the +number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many +thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by +millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' Those Spaniards, +and Italians, and Walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more +blood; and as the capital of England was even more wealthy and far more +defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the Netherlands had been, +so it was resolved that the London 'fury' should be more thorough and +more productive than the 'fury' of Antwerp, at the memory--of which the +world still shuddered. And these professional soldiers had been taught +to consider the English as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, +dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and +discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were +the excellent burghers of Antwerp. + +And so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons +and galeasses upon the English vessels. More than three quarters of them +were merchantmen. There was no comparison whatever between the relative +strength of the fleets. In number they were about equal being each from +one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the Spaniards +had twice the tonnage of the English, four times the artillery, and +nearly three times the number of men. + +Where was Farnese? Most impatiently the Golden Duke paced the deck of +the Saint Martin. Most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards +the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of Parma's flotilla. But +the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and +mysterious silence prevailed. There was utter solitude on the waters in +the direction of Gravelines and Dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the +quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. The mystery +was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the Armada +that Alexander could not come out when he chose. + +And now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were +curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. For in the horrible +atmosphere of duplicity, in which all Spaniards and Italians of that +epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already Medina Sidonia +suspected Farnese of playing him false. There were whispers of collusion +between the Duke and the English commissioners at Bourbourg. There were +hints that Alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide +the sovereignty of the Netherlands with the heretic Elizabeth, to desert +his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his +master's Armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the +north. Men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which +Alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, +that Medina Sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw Farnese into +bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive +back to Spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the +hand of the Duke of Pastrana, Philip's bastard by the Eboli. Thus, in +the absence of Alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. It seemed +possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through +the treachery of the commander-in-chief. Four and twenty hours and more, +they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather +had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in +the atmosphere. + +As the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud- +masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder +rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. +Such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those +cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of Flanders under their +lee. + +At an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the +most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. But a faint drip of +oars now struck the ears of the Spaniards as they watched from the decks. +A few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six +flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon +them before the wind and tide. + +There were men in the Armada who had been at the siege of Antwerp only +three years before. They remembered with horror the devil-ships of +Gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and +ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a +blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of Farnese, +as though they had been toys of glass. They knew, too, that the famous +engineer was at that moment in England. + +In a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such +contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the Spaniards. +There was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of Antwerp, the +fire-ships of Antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and +frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what +seemed imminent destruction. The confusion was beyond description. Four +or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. Two +others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. +Medina Sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from +Spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had +even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to +search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. +He gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger +should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further +orders. But it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to +issue commands. The despised Mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs +at Philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but +partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at Antwerp, had now; +by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on Philip's Armada +than had hitherto been accomplished by Howard and Drake, Hawkins and +Frobisher, combined. + +So long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. +When the Monday morning dawned, several of the Spanish vessels lay +disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two +leagues from Calais, driving towards the Flemish coast. The threatened +gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the +W.S.W., which, to such awkward sailers as the Spanish vessels; were +difficult to contend with. On the other hand, the English fleet were all +astir; and ready to pursue the Spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the +North Sea. In the immediate neighbourhood of Calais, the flagship of the +squadron of galeasses, commanded by Don Hugo de Moncada, was discovered +using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. +She had been damaged by collision with the St. John of Sicily and other +ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. She +was the largest and most splendid vessel in the Armada--the show-ship of +the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the Spanish navy," and during the +previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of +Frenchmen from the shore. + +Lord Admiral Howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in +shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the +Ark could not follow with safety. So he sent his long-boat to cut her +out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in +courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. +The Margaret and Joan of London, also following in pursuit, ran herself +aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, +to aid in the capture of the galeasse. + +That huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the +bar. There was much dismay on board, but Don Hugo prepared resolutely to +defend himself. The quays of Calais and the line of the French shore +were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing +steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of +artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred +and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. Of these +daring Englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open +pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. +They soon laid themselves close to the Capitana, far below her lofty +sides, and called on Don Hugo to surrender. The answer was, a smile of +derision from the haughty Spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what +seemed an inaccessible height. Then one Wilton, coxswain of the Delight; +of Winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead +the same instant. Then the English volunteers opened a volley upon the +Spaniards; "They seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold Dick +Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far +under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." Moreover the numbers +were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. But, the Spaniards, still +quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a +spell. Otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great +galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of +time. + +The English pelted the Spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus +shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a +considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, +Lieutenant Preston of the Ark-Royal, among others, being dangerously +wounded. "We had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said Tomson. +At last Don Hugo de Moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and +leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet +through both eyes. The panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several +other English boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were +seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once +leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming +and wading to the shore. Some of them succeeded, but the greater number +were drowned. The few who remained--not more, than twenty in all-- +hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. The +English, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great +difficulty up the lofty sides of the Capitana, and, for an hour and a +half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in +liberating the slaves. + +It was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as +she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. But a serious +obstacle arose to this arrangement. For presently a boat came along- +side, with young M. de Gourdon and another French captain, and hailed the +galeasse. There was nobody on board who could speak French but Richard +Tomson. So Richard returned the hail, and asked their business. They +said they came from the governor. + +"And what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked Tomson, when they had come +up the side. + +"The governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your +victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood +you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. He requires and commands +you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its +ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and +within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." + +This seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open +boats, had so manfully carried a ship of 1200 tons, 40 guns, and 750 men; +but Richard answered diplomatically. + +"We thank M. de Gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners +and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his +good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on +ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. Concerning the ship +and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my Lord Admiral +Howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an +honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." + +With this--the French officers, being apparently content, were about to +depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained +the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which +Philip II. had made with his excellent friend Henry III. for aid and +comfort to Spanish vessels in French ports. Unluckily, however, the +inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the Englishmen +hustled their French visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, +as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. They +rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after +their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the English, and +they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder +already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of M. de Gourdon. + +This adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the +fleet, the Lord-Admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away +with all his force in pursuit of the Spaniards. The Invincible Armada, +already sorely crippled, was standing N.N.E. directly before a fresh +topsail-breeze from the S.S.W. The English came up with them soon after +nine o'clock A.M. off Gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, +the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by +the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of Portugal. + +Seeing the enemy approaching, Medina Sidonia ordered his whole fleet to +luff to the wind, and prepare for action. The wind shifting a few +points, was now at W.N.W., so that the English had both the weather-gage +and the tide in their favour. A general combat began at about ten, and +it was soon obvious to the Spaniards that their adversaries were +intending warm work. Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge, followed by, +Frobisher in the Triumph, Hawkins in the Victory, and some smaller +vessels, made the first attack upon the Spanish flagships. Lord Henry in +the Rainbow, Sir Henry Palmer in the Antelope, and others, engaged with +three of the largest galleons of the Armada, while Sir William Winter in +the Vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard +wing. + +The portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. +Four of the ships ran foul of each other, and Winter, driving into their +centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most +formidable' ships. + +"I tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there +were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, +from the Vanguard; and when I was farthest off in firing my pieces, I was +not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of +another." + +The battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no +excuse for retreat on the part of the Spaniards, but, on the contrary, it +was the intention of the Captain-General to return to his station off +Calais, if it were within his power. Nevertheless the English still +partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and +resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the Spaniards to lay themselves +along-side. Keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined English +mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of +the Armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the Spaniards, on their +part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder +and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. Throughout the +action, not an English ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were +killed. On the other hand, all the best ships of the Spaniards were +riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails +and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them +towards the fatal sand-batiks of Holland, they, laboured heavily in a +chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the +hands of Howard Drake, Seymour, Winter, and their followers. Not even +master-gunner Thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the +part of the English, with "little harm done" to the enemy. There was +scarcely a ship in the Armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly +all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of Gravelines. +The Captain-General himself, Admiral Recalde, Alonzo de Leyva, Oquendo, +Diego Flores de Valdez, Bertendona, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don Diego de +Pimentel, Telles Enriquez, Alonzo de Luzon, Garibay, with most of the +great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one +after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. Three sank before +the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks +towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at +least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to +five thousand soldiers killed. + + ["God hath mightily preserved her Majesty's forces with the least + losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so + great volleys of shot, both small and great. I verily believe there + is not threescore men lost of her Majesty's forces." Captain J. + Fenner to Walsingham, 4/14 Aug. 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +Nearly all the largest vessels of the Armada, therefore, having, been +disabled or damaged--according to a Spanish eye-witness--and all their +small shot exhausted, Medina Sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. +The Captain-General was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous Spaniard +of ancient Gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of +his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against +Alexander Farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. +the great Catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. Crippled, +maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have +still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him +on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would +be inevitable destruction to remain. After a slight and very ineffectual +attempt to rescue Don Diego de Pimentel in the St. Matthew--who refused +to leave his disabled ship--and Don Francisco de Toledo; whose great +galleon, the St. Philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards +Zeeland, the Armada bore away N.N.E. into the open sea, leaving those, +who could not follow, to their fate. + +The St. Matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a Dutch fisherman, who +was offered a gold chain to pilot her into Newport. But the fisherman, +being a patriot; steered her close to the Holland fleet, where she was +immediately assaulted by Admiral Van der Does, to whom, after a two +hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. Don Diego, marshal of the camp +to the famous legion of Sicily, brother, of the Marquis of Tavera, nephew +of the Viceroy of Sicily, uncle to the Viceroy of Naples, and numbering +as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a +grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the Hague. +"I was the means," said Captain Borlase, "that the best sort were saved, +and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. He, fought with +us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." + +John Van der Does, his captor; presented the banner; of the Saint Matthew +to the great church of Leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it +hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there +hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the Spanish +flags which had been left behind when Valdez abandoned the siege of that +heroic city fifteen years before. + +The galleon St. Philip, one of the four largest ships in the Armada, +dismasted and foundering; drifted towards Newport, where camp-marshal Don +Francisco de Toledo hoped in, vain for succour. La Motte made a feeble +attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the Holland fleet, being much +more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into +Flushing. The captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of +value on board, but there were some casks of Ribadavia wine which was +more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. For +while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the +capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the St. Philip, +which had been bored through and through with English shot, and had been +rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a +moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial +Hollanders. + +A large Biscay galleon, too, of Recalde's squadron, much disabled in +action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the Armada, was +summoned by Captain Cross of the Hope, 48 guns, to surrender. Although +foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. One of her +officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body +by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the +officer thus slain. In the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with +all her crew. + +Six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted-- +a most cruel battle, as the Spaniard declared. There were men in the +Armada who had served in the action of Lepanto, and who declared that +famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by +this fight off Gravelines. "Surely every man in our fleet did well," +said Winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." Nor +would the Spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most +unfortunately, the penurious policy of the Queen's government rendered +her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. They never +ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was +exhausted. "When the cartridges were all spent," said Winter, "and the +munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but +followed the enemy, who still kept away." And the enemy--although still +numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the +whole English fleet--fled before them. There remained more than fifty +Spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and +other vessels of less account; while in the whole English navy were but +thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "Their force is wonderful great +and strong," said Howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and +little." + +For Medina Sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed +in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, +the horrible panic of Sunday night and the succession of fights +throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. +Crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely +vanquished, the Armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy +who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. + +"Though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the Lord-Admiral, +"we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had +wanted nothing." And the brag countenance was successful, for that "one +day's service had much appalled the enemy" as Drake observed; and still +the Spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the Monday night. +"A thing greatly to be regarded," said Fenner, of the Nonpariel, "is +that that the Almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. I have +hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which +befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, +while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." + +On Tuesday morning, 9th August, the English ships were off the isle of +Walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "The wind is hanging +westerly," said Richard Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "and we drive +our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct +themselves. Those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that +they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both +rich and poor." + +"In my, conscience," said Sir William Winter, "I think the Duke would +give his dukedom to be in Spain again." + +The English ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning +half-a-league to windward, the Duke gave orders for the whole Armada to +lay to and, await their approach. But the English had no disposition to +engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their +enemies seemed inevitable. Ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before +their foes, the Spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of +Zeeland. Already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly +shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told Medina that all were +irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them +steadily upon the banks. The English, easily escaping the danger, hauled +their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud Armada accomplished +before their eyes. Nothing but a change of wind at the instant could +save them from perdition. There was a breathless shudder of suspense, +and then there came the change. Just as the foremost ships were about to +ground on the Ooster Zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, +and the Spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, +stood out once more into the open sea. + +All that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they +dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, +and still the Lord-Admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, +at an easy distance, the retreating foe. At 4 p. m., Howard fired a +signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. Winter could not go, for he +had been wounded in action, but Seymour and Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, +and the rest were present, and it was decided that Lord Henry should +return, accompanied by Winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to +guard the Thames mouth against any attempt of the Duke of Parma, while +the Lord Admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of +the Armada. + +Very wroth was Lord Henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. +"The Lord-Admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," +said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the +venture of my life, and to the distressing of the Spaniards, which was +thoroughly done on the Monday last, I now find his Lordship jealous and +loath to take part of the honour which is to come. So he has used his +authority to command me to look to our English coast, threatened by the +Duke of Parma. I pray God my Lord Admiral do not find the lack of the +Rainbow and her companions, for I protest before God I vowed I would be +as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of +the greatest ships in both armies." + +There was no insubordination, however, and Seymour's squadron; at +twilight of Tuesday evening, August 9th--according to orders, so that +the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for Margate. But +although Winter and Seymour were much disappointed at their enforced +return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. +Pursuing the Spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and +bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the English crews. Howard had +not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and Seymour and his +squadron had not food for one day. Accordingly, when Seymour and Winter +took their departure, "they had much ado," so Winter said; "with the +staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their +own company." Had the Spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but +turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict +with starving and unarmed men? + +Howard, Drake, and Frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the +Armada through the North Sea from Tuesday night (9th August) till Friday +(the 12th), and still, the strong southwester swept the Spaniards before +them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair +damages, in the realms of the treacherous King of Scots, or on the iron- +bound coasts of Norway. Medina Sidonia had however quite abandoned his +intention of returning to England, and was only anxious for a safe +return: to Spain. So much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, +around the grim Hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had +the English overtaken him and once more offered battle. He was on the +point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last +time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board +the Saint Martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear +from England than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that +country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace +to surrender before they had been once more attacked. + +On the other hand, the Devonshire skipper, Vice-Admiral Drake, now +thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the +Invincible Armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling +through the German Ocean, in full flight from the country which was to +have been made, that week, a Spanish province. Unprovided as were his +ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that +the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than Howard +thought. + +"We have the army of Spain before us," wrote Drake, from the Revenge, +"and hope with the grace of God to wrestle a pull with him. There never +was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a +southerly wind to the northward. God grant you have a good eye to the +Duke of Parma, for with the grace of God, if we live, I doubt not so to +handle the matter with the Duke of Sidonia as he shall wish himself at +St. Mary's Port among his orange trees." + +But Howard decided to wrestle no further pull. Having followed the +Spaniards till Friday, 12th of August, as far as the latitude of 56d. 17' +the Lord Admiral called a council. It was then decided, in order to save +English lives and ships, to put into the Firth of Forth for water and +provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be +past the Isles of Scotland." But the next day, as the wind shifted to +the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, +and bear away for the North Foreland, in order to obtain a supply of +powder, shot, and provisions. + +Up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been +moderate. During the week which succeeded the eventful night off. +Calais, neither the 'Armada nor the English ships had been much impeded +in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. But on the following +Sunday, 14th of August, there was a change. The wind shifted again to +the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the Monday, blew +a tremendous gale. "'Twas a more violent storm," said Howard, "than was +ever seen before at this time of the year." The retreating English fleet +was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands +off Norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in Margate +roads. + +Far different was the fate of the Spaniards. Over their Invincible +Armada, last seen by the departing English midway between the coasts of +Scotland and Denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. +A mystery hung for a long time over their fate. Damaged, leaking, +without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered +that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of Norway and +between the savage rocks of Faroe and the Hebrides. In those regions of +tempest the insulted North wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent +Spaniards. Disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale +after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or +shattering them against granite cliffs. The coasts of Norway, Scotland, +Ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed +the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which +were to have sacked London and made England a Spanish vice-royalty. + +Through the remainder of the month of August there, was a succession of +storms. On the 2nd September a fierce southwester drove Admiral Oquendo +in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large +Venetian ships, the Ratty and the Balauzara, and thirty-six other +vessels, upon the Irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, +while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious +affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or +sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped +to England. A few ships were driven on the English coast; others went +ashore near Rochelle. + +Of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to Spain. +Of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and +thirty-three returned. Of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. +and eighteen returned. Of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which +sailed from Corona in July, but fifty-three, great and small, made their +escape to Spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. +The invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. + +Of the 30,000 men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more +than 10,000 ever saw their native land again. Most of the leaders of the +expedition lost their lives. Medina Sidonia reached Santander in +October, and, as Philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of +the Armada," although the King soon discovered his mistake. Recalde, +Diego Flores de Valdez, Oquendo, Maldonado, Bobadilla, Manriquez, either +perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. +Pedro de Valdez, Vasco de Silva, Alonzo de Sayas, Piemontel, Toledo, with +many other nobles, were prisoners in England and Holland. There was +hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning, so that, +to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the +wearing of mourning at all. On the other hand, a merchant of Lisbon, not +yet reconciled to the Spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself +some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the Armada, and was immediately +hanged by express command of Philip. Thus--as men said--one could +neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions. + +This was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an +expense almost incalculable. In the year 1588 alone, the cost of +Philip's armaments for the subjugation of England could not have been +less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum +on board the Armada itself, although the Pope refused to pay his promised +million. And with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many +thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and Spain, in a moment, +instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. + +"Beaten and shuffled together from the Lizard to Calais, from Calais +driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of England +about Scotland and Ireland," as the Devonshire skipper expressed himself, +it must be confessed that the Spaniards presented a sorry sight. "Their +invincible and dreadful navy," said Drake, "with all its great and +terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about England so much +as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even +burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." + +Meanwhile Farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon +him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic +blunders of the invasion. + +"As for the Prince of Parma," said Drake, "I take him to be as a bear +robbed of her whelps." The Admiral was quite right. Alexander was +beside himself with rage. Day after day, he had been repeating to Medina +Sidonia and to Philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely +live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could +serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. He had +always counselled the seizing of a place like Flushing, as a basis of +operations against England, but had been overruled; and he had at least +reckoned upon the Invincible Armada to clear the way for him, before he +should be expected to take the sea. + +With prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or +improved internal water-communications from Ghent to Sluy's, Newport, and +Dunkerk. He had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions +for the invasion, from all points of the obedient Netherlands to the sea- +coast, without coming within reach of the Hollanders and Zeelanders, who +were keeping close watch on the outside. But those Hollanders and +Zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and +cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of England to scorn, braving +them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the Walloons and +Spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on +the water was as natural as upon dry land. Alexander, upon one occasion, +transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly +Spanish, partly Irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent +boatmen. With his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than +one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then +the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the Hollanders, and +every man of the thousand was slain. + +He had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his +men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in +a single day. "But it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long +packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about +in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." So soon as he had +received information of the arrival of the fleet before Calais--which was +on the 8th August--he had proceeded the same night to Newport and +embarked 16,000 men, and before dawn he was at Dunkerk, where the troops +stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. +Sir William Stanley, with his 700 Irish kernes, were among the first +shipped for the enterprise. Two-days long these regiments lay heaped. +together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers +described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the Dutch fleet would +be swept out of the sea by the Invincible Armada, and patiently expecting +the signal for setting sail to England. Then came the Prince of Ascoli, +who had gone ashore from the Spanish fleet at Calais, accompanied by +serjeant-major Gallinato and other messengers from Medina Sidonia, +bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the +Armada. + +"God knows," said Alexander, "the distress in which this event has +plunged me, at the very moment when I expected to be sending your Majesty +my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. But these +are the works of the Lord, who can recompense your Majesty by giving you +many victories, and the fulfilment of your Majesty's desires, when He +thinks the proper time arrived. Meantime let Him be praised for all, and +let your Majesty take great care of your health, which is the most +important thing of all." + +Evidently the Lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for +fulfilling his Majesty's desires for the subjugation of England, +and meanwhile the King might find what comfort he could in pious +commonplaces and in attention to his health. + +But it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, Alexander +Farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of Philips hopes. +No man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made +evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of +the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for +all emergencies. No man could have been more minutely faithful to his +master, more treacherous to all the world beside. Energetic, inventive, +patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered Flanders with +canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid +army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled Comptroller Croft. And not only +had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but +Elizabeth and Burghley, and, for a moment, even Walsingham, were in the, +dark, while Henry III. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent +Balafre a blind instrument in his hands. Nothing could equal Alexander's +fidelity, but his perfidy. Nothing could surpass his ability to command +but his obedience. And it is very possible that had Philip followed his +nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile +schemes; the result far England, Holland, and, all Christendom might have +been very different from the actual one. The blunder against which +Farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which +the King and all his counsellors chose to remain of the Holland and +Zeeland fleet. For them Warmond and Nassau, and Van der Does and Joost +de Moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with +their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. + +To the Queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of +England, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, +their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the +triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient Hollanders and +Zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held Farneae, the chief of +the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in +his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of +their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him +and the Duke of Medina Sidona, an equal share of honour is due. The +safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible +contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states +combined. + +Great was the enthusiasm certainly of the English people as the +volunteers marched through London to the place of rendezvous, and +tremendous were the cheers when the brave Queen rode on horseback along +the lines of Tilbury. Glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry +little England, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter +the Spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "It was a pleasant sight," says +that enthusiastic merchant-tailor John Stowe, "to behold the cheerful +countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they +marched to Tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the +news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. And +Bellona-like did the Queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and +resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their +sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the Spaniards might land quickly, +and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." + +But if the Spaniards had not fled, if there had been no English navy in +the Channel, no squibs at Calais, no Dutchmen off Dunkerk, there might +have been a different picture to paint. No man who has, studied the +history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic +determination of the English nation to repel the invaders. Catholics +and Protestants felt alike on the great subject. Philip did not flatter, +himself with assistance from any English Papists, save exiles and +renegades like Westmoreland, Paget, Throgmorton, Morgan, Stanley, +and the rest. The bulk of the Catholics, who may have constituted half +the population of England, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and +notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against +them, Elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. + +But loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply +the want of numbers and discipline. According to the generally accepted +statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some 75,000 men under +arms: 20,000 along the southern coast, 23,000 under Leicester, and 33,000 +under Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon, for the special defence of the Queen's +person. + +But it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring +anything like these numbers into the field. A drilled and disciplined +army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. +If the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were +thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the +volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine +militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. Magnificent was +the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their Queen. +The Earl of Pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse +and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard +the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "Accept hereof most +excellent sovereign," said the Earl, "from a person desirous to live no +longer than he may see your Highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre +the beards of all confederated leaguers." + +The Earl of Shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his +retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "Though I be old," he said, +"yet shall your quarrel make me young again. Though lame in body, yet +lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near +your defence, every way wherein your Highness shall employ me." + +But there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. The lieutenant- +general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency +among all the militia-men to escape from the Queen's colours, in order to +enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. This spirit was not +favourable to efficient organization of a national army. Even, had the +commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have +been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid +army, once landed, and led by Alexander Farnese, but even Leicester's +most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military +ability with that first general of his age. The best soldier in England +was un-questionably Sir John Norris, and Sir John was now marshal of the +camp to Leicester. The ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed +over, and--as might be expected--the Earl hated Norris more bitterly than +before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the +Netherlands. Roger William, too, was entrusted with the important duties +of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and Leicester +continued to bear the grudge towards that honest Welshman, which had +begun in Holland. These were not promising conditions in a camp, when +an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or +readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of +the commanders. + +The Armada had arrived in Calais roads on Saturday afternoon; the 6th +August. If it had been joined on that day, or the next--as Philip and +Medina Sidonia fully expected--by the Duke of Parma's flotilla, the +invasion would have been made at once. If a Spanish army had ever landed +in England at all, that event would have occurred on the 7th August. The +weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances +under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night +accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in England. For +aught that Leicester, or Burghley, or Queen Elizabeth, knew at the time, +the army of Farnese might, on Monday, have been marching upon London. +Now, on that Monday morning, the army of Lord Hunsdon was not assembled +at all, and Leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was +just commencing his camp at Tilbury. The. "Bellona-like" appearance of +the Queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her +troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been +repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great Armada, +shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself +against the cliffs of Norway and the Faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to +Spain. + +Leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not +restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient +spirit had to contend. "Be you assured," said he, on the 3rd August, +when the Armada was off the Isle of Wight, "if the Spanish fleet arrive +safely in the narrow seas, the Duke of Parma will join presently with all +his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. Therefore I beseech +you, my good Lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your +speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our +gate." + +For even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to +the intentions of the Spaniards: + +Next day he informed Walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. +"They be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as I ever saw," +said he. He could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "Some +want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without +one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel +of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have +discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. I see many causes to +increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all +sudden hurley burleys. In no former time was ever so great a cause, and +albeit her Majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they +land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, I find it +now. If it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it +will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty +miles off." + +He had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. +"I made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, +that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their +provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. I have +sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. I speak +it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not +deferred till the worst come. Let her Majesty not defer the time, upon +any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about +her. Her Majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had +not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole +realm been in by this time! And what care she will be in if her forces +be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the +mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." + +"God doth know, I speak it not to bring her to charges. I would she had +less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever +they were; but I will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the +realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." + +Thus, on the 5th August, no army had been assembled--not even the body- +guard of the Queen--and Leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided +with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his +entrenched camp at Tilbury. On the 6th August the Armada was in Calais +roads, expecting Alexander Farnese to lead his troops upon London! + +Norris and Williams, on the news of Medina Sidonia's approach, had rushed +to Dover, much to the indignation of Leicester, just as the Earl was +beginning his entrenchments at Tilbury. "I assure you I am angry with +Sir John Norris and Sir Roger Williams," he said. "I am here cook, +caterer, and huntsman. I am left with no one to supply Sir John's place +as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. +I ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully +promised. Yet, on arriving this morning, I hear nothing of either, and +have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. This manner of +dealing doth much mislike me in them both. I am ill-used. 'Tis now four +o'clock, but here's not one of them. If they come not this night, I +assure you I will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose +careless dealing at their hands. If you saw how weakly I am assisted you +would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the +enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. And seeing her Majesty +hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, I look that respect be used +towards me, such as is due to my place." + +Thus the ancient grudge--between Leicester and the Earl of Sussex's son +was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this +eventful season. + +Next day the Welshman arrived, and Sir John promised to come back in the +evening. Sir Roger brought word from the coast that Lord Henry Seymour's +fleet was in want both of men and powder. "Good Lord!" exclaimed +Leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my Lord-Admiral +are so weakened of men. I hear they be running away. I beseech you, +assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. Hasten +our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . If the Spanish fleet come to +the narrow seas the, Prince of Parma will play another part than is +looked for." + +As the Armada approached Calais, Leicester was informed that the soldiers +at Dover began to leave the coast. It seemed that they were dissatisfied +with the penuriousness of the government. Our soldiers do break away at +Dover, or are not pleased. I assure you, without wages, the people will +not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. Surely I find that her +Majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her +subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve +her." The lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him +to proceed to Dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these +discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, +undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in +opposing Alexander's march, to London, if he should once succeed in +landing. Leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands +of the metropolis. "For your Londoners," he said, "I see their service +will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, I +look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy. This was not +complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous Artillery Garden, +and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which +the capital was to be approached. But there was much jealousy, both +among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional +soldiers. "I know what burghers be, well enough," said the Earl, "as +brave and well-entertained as ever the Londoners were. If they should +go forth from the city they should have good leaders. You know the +imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen +of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. So +that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great +danger."' + +Sir John Smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize +some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those +of Leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these +English armies. The Earl was very angry with the knight, however, and +considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. Sir John seemed, +indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render +service to the Queen by leading awkward recruits against Alexander +Farnese. He thought it better to nurse himself. + +"You would laugh to see how Sir John Smith has dealt since my coming," +said Leicester. "He came to me, and told me that his disease so grew +upon him as he must needs go to the baths. I told him I would not be +against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had +taken with his countrymen, and that I had provided a good place for him. +Next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed +desirous, for his health, to be gone. I told him what place I did +appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. +He said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, +which I yielded unto. Yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to +me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst +withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile +and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to +argue with him." + +And the knight went that day to review Leicester's choice troops--the +four thousand men of Essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with +their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. He +became very censorious. + +"After the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into +such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the +weapon, as made me think he was not well. God forbid he should have +charge of men that knoweth so little, as I dare pronounce that he doth." + +Yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions +were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they +did not materially vary from those which Leicester himself was in the +habit of expressing. And these interior scenes of discord, tumult, +parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, +were occurring on the very Saturday and Sunday when the Armada lay in +sight of Dover cliffs, and when the approach of the Spaniards on the +Dover road might at any moment be expected. + +Leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a +formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. He was already +displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to Lord Hunsdon, +disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the Lord +Chamberlain should accept office under himself. He wished saving clauses +as to his own authority inserted in Hunsdon's patent. "Either it must be +so, or I shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my +patent doth give me power. You may easily conceive what absurd dealings +are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." + +Looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and +file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction +that in this great crisis of England's destiny, there were such men as +Howard, Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, Fenner, and their +gallant brethren, cruising that week in the Channel, and that Nassau and +Warmond; De Moor and Van der Does, were blockading the Flemish coast. + +There was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. There +were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. +There were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; +but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, +with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers +more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly +behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they +could scarcely have been avoided. + +Remembering that the Invincible Armada was lying in Calais roads on the +6th of August, hoping to cross to Dover the next morning, let us ponder +the words addressed on that very day to Queen Elizabeth by the +Lieutenant-General of England. + +"My most dear and gracious Lady," said the Earl, "it is most true that +those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved +foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the +less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most +just God that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. The cause you are +assailed for is His and His Church's, and He never failed any that +faithfully do put their chief trust in His goodness. He hath, to comfort +you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which +means I doubt not but your Majesty will timely and princely use them, +and your good God that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with +victory." + +He then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the +Queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and +her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. + +On the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the +6th of August. "For your army, it is more than time it were gathered and +about you," said Leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it +at a few hours' warning. The reason is that your mighty enemies are at +hand, and if God suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they +will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. And albeit +your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not +only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. No doubt if +the Prince of Parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be +greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect +whensoever he shall attempt it. Therefore it is most requisite that your +Majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; +for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. You +shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, +and must offend your gracious God that gave you these forces and power, +though you will not use them when you should." + +It seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the +enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land- +forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most +fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. Suggestions at this late moment +were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, +and the life of the great Queen, which would not have seemed premature +had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in August, +excite unbounded amazement. Alexander would have had time to, march from +Dover to Duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all +the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. + +"Now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the +memorable Saturday, 6th of August, "no doubt but I think about London +the, meetest, and I suppose that others will be of the same mind. And +your Majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special +nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every +man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all +things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; +for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under God. +And so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, +every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared +in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's +warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master +of ordnance." + +Certainly, with Alexander of Parma on his way to London, at the head of +his Italian pikemen, his Spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion-- +"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time. +that every man should know what he should do, that an army of Englishmen +should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "By and +by" was easily said, and yet, on the 6th of August it was by and by that +an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a +general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be +exercised, "every man to know his weapon." + +English courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who +governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was +to be invaded. But meantime every man of those invaders had already +learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. + +It was a magnificent determination on the part of Elizabeth to place +herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude +inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of +diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for +the perils caused by her procrastination. But Leicester could not +approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. + +The danger passed away. The Invincible Armada was driven out of the +Channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of +English sailors and volunteers. The Duke of Parma was kept a close +prisoner by the fleets of Holland and Zeeland; and the great storm of the +14th and 15th of August at last completed the overthrow of the Spaniards. + +It was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for +the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known +in England. The sailors, by whom England had been thus defended in her +utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, +in the latter days of August. Men sickened one day, and died the next, +so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the +English ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, +at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. Nor had +there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these +brave defenders of their country. They rotted in their ships, or died in +the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to +receive them. + +"'Tis a most pitiful sight," said the Lord-Admiral, "to see here at +Margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, +the streets. I am driven of force myself to come on land to see them +bestowed in some lodgings; and the best I can get is barns and such +outhouses, and the relief is small that I can provide for them here. It +would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die +so miserably." + +The survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been +eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get +their wages. "Finding it to come thus scantily," said Howard, "it breeds +a marvellous alteration among them." + +But more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the +misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals +of the English fleet. Not only was Seymour angry with Howard, but +Hawkins and Frobisher were at daggers drawn with Drake; and Sir Martin-- +if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the +most virulent abuse upon Sir Francis, calling him, in language better +fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, +for appropriating the ransom for Don Pedro Valdez in which both Frobisher +and Hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. + +And anxious enough was the Lord-Admiral with his sailors perishing by +pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as Lord Henry +Seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, +and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm +depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, +as they did almost daily, of the return of the Spanish Armada, and of new +demonstrations on the part of Farnese. He was naturally unwilling that +the fruits of English valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the +false economy of the government. He felt that, after all that had been +endured and accomplished, the Queen and her counsellors were still +capable of leaving England at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "I know not +what you think at the court," said he; "but I think, and so do all here, +that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six +weeks. God knoweth whether the Spanish fleet will not, after refreshing +themselves in Norway; Denmark, and the Orkneys, return. I think they +dare not go back to Sprain with this, dishonour, to their King and +overthrow of the Pope's credit. Sir, sure bind, sure find. A kingdom +is a grand wager. Security is dangerous; and, if God had not been our +best friend; we should have found it so." + + [Howard to Walsingham, Aug.8/18 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)] + + ["Some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said Drake, "but + my poor opinion is that I dare not advise her Majesty to hazard a + kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (Drake to Walsingham, + Aug. 8/18 1588.)] + +Nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple +advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the Armada; +after it had been lost sight of by the English vessels off the Firth of +Forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in Norway and the +Orkneys. But, Burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he +knew he could always find sympathy in the Queen's breast, and with which +he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "To spend in +time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without +needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without +knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is +lack of wisdom;" and so on. + +Yet the Spanish fleet might have returned into the Channel for ought the +Lord-Treasurer on the 22nd August knew--or the Dutch fleet might have +relaxed, in its vigilant watching of Farnese's movements. It might have +then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow English sailors to +die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous +for default of pay. To have saved under such circumstances would, +perhaps have brought repentance. + +The invasion of England by Spain had been most portentous. That the +danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the +English, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the +little English fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and +volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the Hollanders; and +to the hand of God shattering the Armada at last; but very little credit +can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts +of the Queen's government. Miracles alone, in the opinion of Roger +Williams, had saved England on this occasion from perdition. + +Towards the end of August, Admiral de Nassau paid a visit to Dover with +forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." He dined and conferred with +Seymour, Palmer, and other officers--Winter being still laid up with his +wound--and expressed the opinion that Medina Sidonia would hardly return +to the Channel, after the banquet he had received from her Majesty's navy +between Calais and Gravelines. He also gave the information that the +States had sent fifty Dutch vessels in pursuit of the Spaniards, and had +compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of +war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. +"I find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said Seymour of the +Dutch Admiral, "and therefore do I trust him." + +Nassau represented the Duke of Parma as evidently discouraged, as having +already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard +any further enterprise against England. "I have left twenty-five +Kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from Sluys, and I am +immediately returning thither myself. The tide will not allow his +vessels at present to leave Dunkerk, and I shall not fail--before the +next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their +coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." + +But after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those +waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of Farnese to +issue from Sluys and Dunkerk, and England and Holland were thenceforth +saved from all naval enterprises on the part of Spain. + +Meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in England as to the +condition and the intentions of the Armada was still more remarkable +elsewhere. There was a systematic deception practised not only upon +other governments; but upon the King of Spain as well. Philip, as he +sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of England, +long after his Armada had been hopelessly dispersed. + +In Paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of August +that England was vanquished, and that the Queen was already on her way to +Rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his +Holiness. Mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into Notre +Dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, +"Victory, victory!" and on the 10th of August ordered bonfires to be made +before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. He had +been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents +on the coast; and the King of France--better informed by Stafford, but +not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador-- +affected to believe his fables. He even confirmed them by intelligence, +which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the +landing of the Spaniards in England without opposition, and of the entire +subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. + +Hereupon, on the night of August 10th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as +Stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the +great news to Spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and +caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over +Paris! "I will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy +which we must all feel," he wrote to Idiaquez, "at this good news. God +be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, +and then, like a merciful Father, sends us infinite rewards." And in the +same strain he wrote; day after day, to Moura and Idiaquez, and to Philip +himself. + +Stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of +the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of +Mendoza might be contradicted. "That which cometh from me," he said, +"Will be believed; for I have not been used to tell lies, and in very +truth I have not the face to do it." + +And the news of the Calais squibs, of the fight off Gravelines, and +the retreat of the Armada towards the north; could not be very long +concealed. So soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the +English envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days +after their--occurrence--Stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer +to that of Mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. +It cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of +it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by +its sale. The English ambassador was unwilling to be known as the +author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the Spaniard" +--but the King had no doubt of its origin. Poor Henry, still smarting +under the insults of Mendoza and 'Mucio,--was delighted with this blow +to Philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of Queen Elizabeth's +valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had +just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most +illustrious men in history. + +"So soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said Stafford; "he offered to lay +a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." And there were +malicious pages about the French; court; who also found much amusement in +writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the Duke of Parma +that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: +England, such as York, Canterbury, London, or the like--till the luckless +Don Bernardino was ashamed to show his face. + +A letter, from Farnese, however, of 10th August, apprized Philip before +the end of August of the Calais disasters and caused him great +uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "At the very moment," wrote +the King to Medina Sidonia; "when I was expecting news of the effect +hoped for from my Armada, I have learned the retreat from before Calais, +to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and I have received a +very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. +Nevertheless I hope in our Lord that he will have provided a remedy; +and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come +back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great +stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so I am expecting +with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please God it may be that +which is so suitable for his service." + +His Spanish children the sacking of London, and the butchering of the +English nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad +formerly enjoyed in the Netherlands. + +And in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters +despatched on that day to the Duke of Parma. "The satisfaction caused by +your advices on the 8th August of the arrival of the Armada near Calais, +and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a +sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the 10th. The anxiety +thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause +being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. Perhaps the +Armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good +account of itself, with the help of the Lord. So I still promise myself +that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as +that the service intended to the Lord may have been executed, and repairs +made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." + +And the King's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which +reached him in September, by way of France. He now learned that the +Armada had taken captive four Dutch men-of-war and many English ships; +that, after the Spaniards had been followed from Calais roads by the +enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the English had attempted +in vain to avoid; off Newcastle; that Medina Sidonia had charged upon +them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture +twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, +had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all +hands perishing; that the Armada had taken a port in Scotland, where it +was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of Lord-admiral +Howard, of Drake; and of that "distinguished mariner Hawkins," had all +been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except Drake, who +had escaped in a cock-boat. "This is good news," added the writer; +"and it is most certain." + +The King pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained +very much in the dark. Half, the month of September went by, and he had +heard nothing--official since the news of the Calais catastrophe. It may +be easily understood that Medina Sidonia, while flying round the Orkneys +had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to Spain, and as +Farnese had not written since the 10th August, Philip was quite at a loss +whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. From the reports by +way of Calais, Dunkerk, and Rouen, he supposed that the Armada, had +inflicted much damage on the enemy. He suggested accordingly, on the 3rd +September, to the Duke of Parma, that he might now make the passage to +England, while the English fleet, if anything was left of it was +repairing its damages. "'Twill be easy enough to conquer the country," +said Philip," so soon as you set foot on the soil. Then perhaps our +Armada can come back and station itself in the Thames to support you." + +Nothing could be simpler. Nevertheless the King felt a pang of doubt +lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he +dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, +"But if this hope must be given up, you must take the Isle of Walcheren: +something must be done to console me." + +And on the 15th September he was still no wiser. "This business of the +Armada leaves me no repose," he said; "I can think of nothing else. I +don't content myself with what I have written, but write again and again, +although in great want of light. I hear that the Armada has sunk and +captured many English ships, and is refitting in a Scotch pert. If this +is in the territory, of Lord Huntley, I hope he will stir up the +Catholics of that country." + +And so, in letter after letter, Philip clung to the delusion that +Alexander could yet, cross to England, and that the Armada might sail up +the Thames. The Duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that +effect with Medina Sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed +grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the Bay of Biscay, with what +remained of his invincible fleet. + +Sanguine and pertinacious, the King refused to believe in, the downfall +of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning +upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which +had long amused him had been broken. If the Armada were really very much +damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the Duke of Parma to make +him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "In case the Armada is +too much shattered to come out," said Philip, "and winter compels it to +stay in that port, you must cause another Armada to be constructed at +Emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, +you will certainly be able to conquer England." + +And he wrote to Medina Sidonia in similar terms. That naval commander +was instructed to enter the Thames at once, if strong enough. If not, he +was to winter in the Scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. +Meantime Farnese would build a new fleet at Emden, and in the spring the +two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. + +But at last the arrival of Medina Sidonia at Santander dispelled these +visions, and now the King appeared in another attitude. A messenger, +coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of +October at the Escorial. Entering the palace he found Idiaquez and Moura +pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of Philip's cabinet, +and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, +of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, +of the Armada. The entire overthrow of the great project was now, for +the first time, fully revealed in Spain; the fabulous victories over the +English, and the annihilation of Howard and all his ships, were dispersed +in air. Broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible Armada--so far as it +still existed--had reached a Spanish port. Great was the consternation +of Idiaquez and Moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous +was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the +unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the King. + +At last Moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, +he found Philip seated at his desk. Of course he was writing letters. +Being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down +his pen, and inquired the news. The secretary replied that the accounts, +concerning the Armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. +The courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. The King +did not change countenance. "Great thanks," he observed, "do I render to +Almighty God, by whose generous hand I am gifted with such power, that I +could easily, if I chose, place another fleet upon the seas. Nor is it +of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes +intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains +inexhaustible." + +So saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. +Christopher Moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, +thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then +retired to confer with his colleague. + +"And how did his Majesty receive the blow?" asked Idiaquez. + +"His Majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered Moura, "nor do I, +consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his Majesty." + +So the King--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his +virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed +themselves in the same garment. Thus draped, they were all prepared +to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on +their heads, while it had been dashing the King's mighty galleons on the +rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. +Soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were +thoroughly known, Philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to +all the bishops of Spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty +for the safety of that portion of the invincible Armada which it had +pleased Him to preserve. + +And thus, with the sound of mourning throughout Spain--for there was +scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the +great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all England +and Holland, and with a solemn 'Te Deum' resounding in every church, +the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the Armada. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all +Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning +Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated +Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy +One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions +Security is dangerous +Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed +Sure bind, sure find + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1588 *** + +********** This file should be named 4858.txt or 4858.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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