King and the Duke were calculating on the Divine assistance, they were omitting, all of them, the most obvious precautions by which moderate success could be looked for. Santa Cruz had reported that the fleet was almost ready to sail. The stores of provisions had been laid in while he was still alive, and the watercasks had been filled. But after his death there was no responsible person left in Lisbon who had exerted himself to see to anything. Great naval expeditions were nothing new in Spain. The West Indies and Mexico and Peru had not been conquered by men in their sleep; and what ships and ships' crews required for dangerous voyages was as well understood at Lisbon and Cadiz as in any harbor in the world. But the Armada was surrounded by a halo of devout imagination which seemed to paralyze all ordinary sense. lt was to have sailed in March, but, even to the inexperienced eye of Medina Sidonia when he arrived at his command, the inadequacy of the preparations was too obvious. The casks of salt meat were found to be putrefying; the water in the tanks had not been renewed, and had stood for weeks, growing foul and poisonous under the hot Lisbon sun. Spare rope, spare spars, spare anchors-all were deficient. The powder-supply was short. The balls were short. The contractors had cheated as audaciously as if they had been mere heretics, and the soldiers and mariners so little liked the look of things that they were deserting in hundreds, while the muster-masters drew pay for the full nuinbers and kept it. Instead of sailing in March, as he had been ordered, the Duke was obliged to send to Madrid a long list of indispensable necessaries, without which he could not sail at all. Nothing had been attended to save the state of the men's souls, about which the King had been so peculiarly anxious. They had been sent to confession, had received each his ticket certifying that he had been absolved and had duly commended himself to the Lord. The loose women had been sent away, the cards and dice prohibited, the moral instructions punctually complied with. All the rest had been left to chance and villainy. The short powder-supply was irremediable. The Duke purchased a few casks from merchant ships, but no more was to be had. For the rest, the King wrote letters, and the Duke, accord

con

ing to his own account, worked like a slave, and the worst defects were cealed if not supplied. Not, however, till the end of April were the conditions advanced sufficiently for the presentation of the standard, and even then the squadron from Andalusia had not arrived.

All was finished at last, or at any rate seemed so. The six squadrons were assembled under their respective commanders. Men and officers were on board, and sailing orders, addressed to every member of the expedition, were sent round, in the Duke's name, to the several ships, which, remembering the fate to which all these men were being consigned by their crusading enthusiasm, we cannot read without emotion.

All

"From highest to lowest you are to understand the object of our expedition, which is to recover countries to the Church now oppressed by the eneinies of the true faith. I therefore beseech you to remember your calling, so that God may be with us in what we do. I charge you, one and all, to abstain from profane oaths dishonoring to the names of our Lord, our Lady, and the Saints. personal quarrels are to be suspended while the expedition lasts, and for a month after it is completed. Neglect of this will be held as treason. Each morning at sunrise the ship boys, according to custom, shall sing 'Good Morrow' at the foot of the mainmast,* and at sunset the Ave Maria.' Since bad weather may interrupt the communications, the watchword is laid down for each day in the week :-Sunday, Jesus; the days succeeding, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity, Santiago, the Angels, All Saints, and our Lady. At sea, every evening, each ship shall pass with a salute under the lee of the Commander-in-Chief, and shall follow at night the light which he will carry in his stern."

เ

So, as it were, singing their own dirge, the doomed Armada went upon its way, to encounter the arms and the genius of the new era, unequally matched with unbelievers. On May 14 it dropped down the river to Belem, and lay there waiting for a wind. A brief account may here be given of its composition and its chief leaders. The fleet consisted of a hundred

* " 'Los pajes segun es costumbre davan los buenos dias al pié del mástil major."

and thirty ships. Seven of them were over a thousand tons and sixty-seven over five hundred. They carried two thousand five hundred guns, chiefly small, however-four, six, and nine-pounders. Spanish seamen understood little of gunnery. Their art in their sea-battles was to close and grapple and trust to their strength and courage in hand-to-hand fighting. Large for the time as the galleons were, they were still overcrowded. Soldiers, sailors, officers, volunteers, priests, surgeons, galley slaves, amounted, according to the returns, to nearly thirty thousand men. The soldiers were the finest in Europe; the seamen old trained hands, who had learned their trade urder Santa Cruz. They were divided into six squadrons, each with its Vice-Admiral and Capitana, or flag-ship. The Duke carried his standard in the San Martin, of the squadron of Portugal, the finest vessel in the service, and, as the Spaniards thought, in the world. The other five. of Biscay, Castile, Andalusia, Guypuscoa, and the Levant, were led by distinguished officers. There was but one commander in the fleet entirely ignorant of his duties, though be, unfortunately, was Commander-in-Chief.

As the names of these officers recur frequently in the account of what followed, a brief description may be given of each.

The Vice-Admiral of the Biscay squadron was Juan Martinez de Recalde, a native of Bilbao, an old, battered sea-warrior, who had fought and served in all parts of the ocean. He knew Ireland; he knew the Channel; he had been in the great battle at Terceira, and in the opinion of the service was second only to Santa Cruz. His flagship was the Santa Aña, a galleon of eight hundred tons; he sailed himself in the Gran Grin, of eleven hundred so far fortunate, if any one in the expedition could be called fortunate, for the Santa Ana was disabled in a storm at the mouth of the Channel.

The leaders of the squadrons of Castile and Andalusia were two cousins, Don Pedro and Don Diego de Valdez. Don Diego, whom Philip had chosen for the Duke's mentor, was famous as a naval architect, had been on exploring expeditions, and had made a certain reputation for himself. He was a jealous, suspicious, cautious kind of man, and Philip had a NEW SERIES.--VOL. LIV., No. 5.

high opinion of him. Don Pedro was another of the heroes of Terceira, a rough, bold seaman, scarred in a hundred actions with English corsairs, and between the two kinsmen there was neither resemblance nor affection. Don Pedro's misfortune in the Channel, which will soon be heard of, brought him more honor than Don Diego earned by his timidity. He lived long after, and was for eight years Governor of Cuba, where the Castle of the Moro at Havannah still stands as his monument. Two other officers deserve peculiar mention: Miguel de Oquendo, who sailed in the Señora de la Rosa, of Guypuscoa, and Alonzo de Leyva, who had a ship of his own, the Rata Coronada. Oquendo's career had been singularly distinguished. He had been the terror of the Turks in the Mediterranean. At Terceira, at a critical point in the action, he had rescued Santa Cruz when four French vessels were alongside of him. He had himself captured the French Admiral's flagship, carrying her by boarding, and sending his own flag to her masthead above the smoke of the battle. He was an excellent seainan besides, and managed his ship, as was said, as easily as a horse. Alonzo de Leyva held no special command beyond his own vessel; but he had been named by Philip to succeed Medina Sidonia in case of misadventure. With him, and under his special charge, were most of the high-born adventurous youths who had volunteered for the crusade. Neither he nor they were ever to see Spain again, but Spanish history ought not to forget him, and ought not to forget Oquendo.

Of pri sts and friars there were a hundred and eighty; of surgeons, doctors, and their assistants, in the entire fleet, not more than eighty-five. The numbers might have been reversed with advantage. Among the adventurers one only may be noted particularly, the poet Lope de Vega, then smarting from disappointment in a love-affair, and seeking new excitement.

Meanwhile, the winds were unpropitious. For fourteen days the fleet lay at anchor at the mouth of the river unable to get away. They weighed at last on May 28, and stood out to sea; but a northerly breeze drove them to leeward, and they could make no progress, while almost instantly on their sailing the state of the stores was brought to light. The water had been on board for four months; the

enemy.

The crews are sick, and grow daily worse from bad food and water. Most of our provisions have perished, and we have not enough for more than two months' consumption. Much depends on the safety of this fleet. You have exhausted your resources to collect it, and if it is lost you may lose Portugal and the Indies. The men are out of spirit. The officers do not understand their business. We are no longer strong. Do not deceive yourself into thinking that we are equal to the work before us. You remember how much it cost you to conquer Portugal, a country adjoining Castile, where half the inhabitants were in your favor. We are now going against a powerful kingdom with only the weak force of the Prince of Parnia and myself. I speak freely, but I have laid the matter before the Lord; you must decide yourself what is to be done. Recollect only how many there are who envy your greatness and hear you no goodwill.*

On the 27th thirty-five ships were still absent, and nothing had been heard of them. The storm after all had not been especially severe, and it was not likely that they were lost. The condition to which the rest were reduced was due merely to rascally contractors and official negligence, and all could easily be repaired by an efficient commander in whom the men had confidence. But the Duke had no confidence in himself nor the officers in him. Four weeks only had passed since he had left Lisbon and he was already despondent, and his disquieted subordinates along with him. He had written freely to Philip, and advised that the expedition should be abandoned. He again summoned the Vice-Admirals to his cabin and required their opinions. Should they or should they not go forward with their reduced force? The Inspector General, Don George Manrique, produced a schedule of numbers. They were supposed, he said, to have twenty-eight thousand men besides the galley-slaves. Owing to sickness and other causes, not more than twenty-two or twenty-three thousand could be regarded as effective, and of these six thousand were in the missing galleons. The Vice-Admirals were less easily frightened than their

*Medina Sidonia to Philip the Second from Corunna, June 24.

Most

leader. None were for giving up. of them advised that they should wait where they were till the ships came in, repairing damages and taking in fresh stores. Pedro de Valdez insisted that they should go on as they were; while they remained in harbor fresh meat and vegetables might be served out, and the crews would soon recover from a sickness which was caused only by bad food. With vigor and energy all that was wrong could be set right. The missing ships were doubtless abead expecting them, and would be fallen in with somewhere.

Don Pedro was addressing brave men, and carried the council along with him. He wrote himself to Philip to tell him what had passed. "The Duke," he said, 'bore him no goodwill for his advice, but he intended to persist in a course which he believed to be for his Majesty's honor."

A day or two later the wanderers came back and restored the Duke's courage. Some had been as far as Scilly, some even in Mount's Bay, but none had been lost and none had been seriously injured. The fresh meat was supplied as Don Pedro advised. The sick recovered; not one died, and all were soon in health again. Fresh supplies were poured down out of the country. The casks were refilled with pure water. In short, the sun began to shine again, and the despondency fit passed away. Philip wrote kindly and cheerily. Everything would be furnished which they could want. The Duke might spend money freely and need spare nothing to feed the men as they ought to be fed. If they had met with difficulties in the beginning, they would have greater glory in the end. There were difficulties in every enterprise. They must overcome them and go on. The Duke still hesitated. He said truly enough that other things were wanting besides food: powder, cordage, and the thousand minor stores which ought to have been provided and were not. But all the rest were now in heart again, and he found himself alone; Recalde only, like a wise man, begging Philip to modify his instructions and allow him to secure Plymouth or Dartmouth on their advance, as, although they might gain a victory, it was unlikely to be so complete as to end the struggle, and they might require a harbor to shelter the fleet.

Philip, unfortunately for himself, paid no attention to Recalde's suggestion, but only urged them to begone at their best speed. The ships were laid on shore to be scraped and tallowed. The gaps in the crews were filled up with fresh recruits. Another ship was added, and at the final muster there were a hundred and thirty-one vessels, between seven and eight thousand sailors and seventeen thou. sand infantry, two thousand slaves, and fourteen hundred officers, priests, gentlemen, and servants. With restored health and good-humor they were again com

mended to the Lord. Tents were set up on an island in the harbor, with an altar in each and friars in sufficient number to officiate. The ships' companies were landed and brought up man by man till the whole of them had again confessed and again received the Sacrament.

"This," said the Duke, "is great riches, and the most precious jewel which I carry with me. They are now all well, and content, and cheerful."-Longman's Magazine.

(To be continued.)

THE

recent barbarous proceedings against the Russian Jews, and the failure of the last Conversion Loan, have again called general attention to the state of the great Eastern Empire, and therefore it may be worth while to point out briefly what is its real condition.

After the death of Alexander I., Prince Metternich wrote (Memoirs, IV., p. 267): "Russia resembles a festival room on the morning after the feast; what seemed to be in the evening before solid and lasting now appears as coarse canvas, false diamonds, and worthless decoration. The Russia of old no more exists, Nicolas is called to create a new one, and my sincere wishes accompany him in this great and noble enterprise." Metternich's judgment on Russia was right, but he was mistaken in his opinion of the new sovereign. He believed him peacefully inclined, yet the Czar's foreign policy was one of constant aggression. In Russia herself he re-established order, after crushing the insurrection which broke out at his brother's death, by the harshest despotism. He was a man of very narrow intelligence and culture, but brave and simple minded, and he had the advantage of believing in himself and his divine vocation. Although not a great man, in reality he exercised a paramount influence. in European affairs, and, favored by fortune, acquired a powerful position, until, carried away by the feeling of his infallible omnipotence, he drifted into the Crimean war, the results of which broke his proud heart.

The dead pall which during his long reign covered Russia, and stifled every intellectual movement, was lifted by his successor, and a series of apparently hopeful reforms began with the abolition of serfdom, the introduction of local self-government, trial by jury, etc. But the condition of Russia is not that of Western countries; the people were not ripe for the hastily enacted change, which, in fact, had the result of giving free scope to the wild temper of the great majority, which had been kept under by despotism, but had never been subdued. There were no materials for building up free institutions; the masses of the peasants were entirely ignorant, and only made use of their new-gained liberty to plunge into dissipation and idleness; the aristocracy, the merchants and tradesmen were completely lost to all sense of honesty and honor, the corruption in the army and in the Civil Service was terrible, the Orthodox Church was without any moral influence in short, the governing classes were utterly bad; the governed, who form nine-tenths of the nation, reduced to virtual starvation. With all this the Government followed constantly an aggressive foreign policy: according to Stepniak* it was forced to do so, in order to acquire new external markets; for the people, by their poverty, were excluded from becoming buyers, and the Government were obliged to procure other outlets for the

*The Russian Storm Cloud, or, Russia in Her Relations to Neighboring Countries, 1886.