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forward himself against his inclination. The chief movers in the enterprise, these who had fed the fire of religious animosity through Europe, and prevented a rational arrangement between the Spanish and English nations, were the Society of Jesus, those members of it especially who had been bred at Oxford in the Anglican Church, and hated it with the frenzy of renegades. From them came the endless conspiracies which Spain was forced to countenance, and the consequent severities of the English Government, which they shrieked in Philip's ears; and Philip, half a bigot and half a cautious statesman, wavered between two policies till fate decided for him. Both on Philip's part and on Elizabeth's part there was a desire for peace if peace could be had. Philip was weary of the long struggle in the Low Countries, which threatened to be endless if Elizabeth supported it. Elizabeth her self wished to be left in quiet, relieved of the necessity of supporting insurgent Protestants and hanging traitorous priests. An arrangement was possible, based on principles of general toleration.

The Pope was right in not wholly trusting Philip. The Spanish King was willing to agree that England should remain Protestant if England wished it, provided the Catholics were allowed the free exercise of their own religion, and provided Elizabeth would call in her privateers, surrender to him the towns which she held in Holland, and abandon her alliance with the Dutch States. Elizabeth was perfectly ready to tolerate Catholic worship if the Catholics would cease their plots against her and Spain would cease to encourage them. It was true that Flushing and Brill had been trusted to her charge by the States, and that if she withdrew her garrison she was bound in honor to replace them in the States' hands. But she regarded the revolt of the Low Countries as only justified by the atrocities of the Blood Council and the Inquisition. If she could secure for the Dutch Confederation the same toleration which she was willing herself to concede to the English Catholics, she might feel her honor to be acquitted sufficiently if she gave up to Philip towns which really were his own. Here only, so far as the two sovereigns were concerned, the difficulty lay. Philip held himself bound by duty to allow no liberty of religion among his own sub

jects. But if peace was made the Spanish garrisons were to be withdrawn from the Low Countries; the Executive Government would be left in the hands of the States themselves, who could be as tolerant practically as they pleased. On these terms it was certain that a general pacification was possible. The Duke of Parma strongly advised it. Philip himself wished for it. Half Elizabeth's Council recommended it, and she herself wished. for it. Unless Catholics and Protestants intended to fight till one or other was exterminated, they must come to some such terms at last; and if at last, why not at once? With this purpose a conference was being held at Ostend between Elizabeth's and Parma's commissioners. The terms were rational. The principal parties, it is now possible to see-even Philip himself-were sincere about it. How long the terms of such a peace would have lasted, with the theological furnace at such a heat, may be fairly questioned. Bigotry and freedom of thought had two centuries of battle still before them till it could be seen which was to prevail, but an arrangement might then have been come to at Ostend, in the winter of 1587-8, which would have lasted Philip's and Elizabeth's lifetime, could either party have trusted the other. In both countries there was a fighting party and a peace party. In England it was said that the negotiations were a fraud, designed only to induce Elizabeth to relax her preparations for defence. In Spain it was urged that the larger and more menacing the force which could be collected, the more inclined Elizabeth would be to listen to reason; while Elizabeth had to show on her part that frightened she was not, and that if Philip preferred war she had no objection. The bolder her bearing, the more likely she would be to secure fair terms for the Hollanders.

The preparations at Cadiz and Lisbon were no secret. All Europe was talking of the enormous armament which Spain was preparing, and which Santa Cruz was to convoy to the English Channel. Both the Tagus and Cadiz Harbor were reported to be crowded with ships, though as yet unprovided with crews for them. With some misgivings, but in one of her bolder moments, the Queen in the spring of 1587 allowed Drake to take a flying squadron with him down the Spanish coast.

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hung about his neck a second in command to limit his movements; but Drake took his own way, leaving his vice-admiral to go home and complain. He sailed into Cadiz Harbor, burned eighteen galleons which were lying there, and, remaining leisurely till he had finished his work, sailed away to repeat the operation at Lisbon. It might have been done with the same ease. The English squadron lay at the mouth of the river within sight of Santa Cruz, and the great admiral had to sit still and fume, unable to go out and meet him por falta de gente-for want of sailors to man his galleons. Drake might have gone in and burned them all, and would have done it had not Elizabeth felt that he had accomplished enough and that the negotiations would be broken off if he worked more destruction. He had singed the King's beard, as he called it; and the King, though patient of affronts, was moved to a passing emotion. Seamen and soldiers were hurried down to the Tagus. Orders were sent to the Admiral to put to sea at once and chase the English off the shore. But Philip, too, on his side was afraid of Santa Cruz's too great audacity. He, too, did not wish for a collision which might make peace impossible. Another order followed. The fleet was to stay where it was and continue its preparations. It was to wait till the next spring, when the enterprise should be undertaken in earnest if the peace conference at Ostend should fail in finding a conclusion.

Thus the winter drove through. Peace was really impossible, however sincerely the high contracting parties might themselves desire it. Public opinion in Spain would have compelled Philip to leave the conqueror of Terceira in command of the expedition. Santa Cruz would have sailed in March for the English Channel, supported by officers whom he had himself trained; and, although the Armada might still have failed, history would have had another tale to tell of its exploits and its fate. But a visible coldness had grown up between the King and the Admiral. Philip, like many men of small minds raised into great positions, had supreme confidence in his own powers of manage. ment. He chose to regulate everything, to the diet and daily habits of every sailor

and soldier on board. He intended to direct and limit the action of the Armada

even when out and gone to its work. He had settled perhaps in his own mind that, since he could not himself be King of England, the happiest result for himself would be to leave Elizabeth were she was, reduced to the condition of his vassal, which she would become if she consented to his terms; and the presence of an overpowering fleet in the Channel, a moderate but not too excessive use of force, an avoidance of extreme and violent measures, which would make the strife internecine and make an arrangement impossible, he conceived it likely would bring Elizabeth to her knees. For such a purpose Santa Cruz was not the most promising instrument; he required some one of more malleable material who would obey his own instructions, and would not be led either by his own ambition or the enthusiasm and daring of his officers into desperate adventures. It was probably, therefore, rather to his relief than regret that in February, when the Armada was almost ready to sail, the old Admiral died at Lisbon. He was seventy-three years old. He had seen fifty years of service. Spanish tradition, mourning at the fatal consequence, said afterward that he had been broken-hearted at the King's hesita tion. Anxiety for the honor of his country might have worn out a younger man. He went, and with him went the only chance of a successful issue of the expedition. He was proud of his country, which he saw that Philip was degrading. The invasion of England had been his dream for years, and he had correspondents of his own in England and Ireland. He was the al·lest seaman that Spain possessed, and had studied long the problems with which he would have had to deal. Doubtless he had left men behind among those who had served under him who could have taken his place, and have done almost as well. But Philip had determined that, since the experiment was to be made, he would himself control it from his room in the Escurial, and in his choice of Santa Cruz's successor he showed that naval capacity and patriotic enthusi asm were the last qualities for which he was looking.

Don Alonzo de Guzman, Duke of Medina Sidonia, was the richest peer in Spain. He was now thirty-eight years old, and his experience as a public man was limited to his failure to defend Cadiz against

Drake. He was a short, broad-shouldered, olive-complexioned man, said to be a good rider; but if his wife was to be believed, he was of all men in Spain the least fitted to be trusted with the conduct of any critical undertaking. The Duchess, Doña Aña de Mendoza was the daughter of Philip's Minister, Ruy Gomez, and of the celebrated Princess of Eboli, whom later scandal called Philip's mistress, and whose influence was supposed to have influenced Philip in favor of her son-in-law. Royal scandals are dreary subjects. When they are once uttered the stain is indelible, for every one likes to believe them. The only contemporary witness for the amours of Philip and the Princess of Eboli is Antonio Perez, who, by his own confession, was a scoundrel who deserved the gallows. Something is known at last of the history of the lady. If there was a woman in Spain whom Philip detested, it was the wife of Ruy Gomez. If there was a man whom the Princess despised, it was the watery-blooded King. An intrigue between a wildcat of the mountain and a narrow-minded, conscientious sheepdog would be about as probable as a loveaffair between Philip and the Princess of Eboli; and at the time of her son-in-law's appointment she was locked up in a castle in defiant disgrace. The Dule had been married to her daughter when he was twenty-two and his bride was eleven, and Doña Aña, after sixteen years' experience of him, had observed to her friends that he was well enough in his own house among persons who did not know what he was; but that if he was employed on business of State the world would discover to its cost his real character. That such a man should have been chosen to succeed Alonzo de Bazan astonished every one. A commander of Gold, it was said, was taking the place of a commander of Iron. The choice was known to Santa Cruz while he still breathed, and did not comfort him in his departure.

The most astonished of all, when he learned the honor which was intended for him, was the Duke himself, and he drew a picture of his own incapacity as simple as Sancho's when appointed to govern his island.

"My health is bad," he wrote to Philip's secretary, "and from my small experience of the water I know that I am always sea-sick. I have no money which

I can spare. I owe a million ducats, and I have not a real to spend on my outfit. The expedition is on such a scale and the object is of such high importance that the person at the head of it ought to understand navigation and sea-fighting, and I know nothing of either. I have not one of those essential qualifications. I have no acquaintances among the officers who are to serve under me. Santa Cruz had information about the state of things in England; I have none. Were I competent otherwise, I should have to act in the dark by the opinion of others, and I cannot tell to whom I may trust. The Adelantado of Castile would do better than I. Our Lord would help him, for he is a good Christian and has fought in naval battles. If you send me, depend upon it I shall have a bad account to render of my trust."*

The Duchess perhaps guided her husband's hand when he wrote so faithful an account of himself. But his vanity was flattered. Philip persisted that he must go. He and only he would answer the purpose in view, so he allowed himself to be persuaded.

"Since your Majesty still desires it, after my confession of incompetence," he wrote to Philip, "I will try to deserve your confidence. As I shall be doing God's work, I may hope that He will help me.

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Philip gratefully replied: "You are sacrificing yourself for God's service and mine. I am so anxious, that if I was less occupied at home I would accompany the fleet myself and I should be certain that all would go well. Take heart; you have now an opportunity of showing the extraordinary qualities which God, the author of all good, has been pleased to bestow upon you. Happen what may, charge myself with the care of your children. If you fail, you fail; but the cause being the cause of God, you will not fail.”

Thus the Duke was to command the Armada and to sail at the earliest possible moment, for the Commissioners were sitting at Ostend, and his presence in the Channel was of pressing consequence. Sana Cruz besides had fixed on the end of March as the latest date for the departure, on account of the north winds which later in the season blow down the coast of

*Medina Sidonia to Secretary Idriaquez, Feb. 16, 1588. Duro, vol. i. p. 414.

Portugal. The Duke at the time of his nomination was at his house at San Lucar. He was directed to repair at once to Lisbon, where his commission would reach him. An experienced but cautious Admiral, Don Diego Flores de Valdez, was assigned to him as a nautical adviser, and Philip proceeded to inflict upon him a series of instructions and advice as wise and foolish as those with which Don Quixote furnished his squire. Every day brought fresh letters as suggestions rose in what Philip called his mind. Nothing was too trifling for his notice, nothing was to be left to the Duke's discretion which could possibly be provided for. In a secret despatch to the Duke of Parina, the King revealed alike his expectations and his wishes. He trusted that the appearance of the Armada and some moderate victory over the English fleet would force Elizabeth to an agreement. If the Catholic religion could be tolerated in England, and if Flushing and Brill were given up to him, he said that he was prepared to be satisfied. To Medina Sidonia he reported as his latest advice from England that the Queen was inclining to the treaty, but was dissuaded by Leicester and Walsingham, and he gave him a list of the English force which he might expect to meet, which was tolerably accurate and far inferior to his own.

So far he wrote like a responsible and sensible prince, but the smallest thing and the largest seemed to occupy him equally. He directed the Duke to provide himself with competent Channel pilots, as if this was a point which might be overlooked. It laid down regulations for the health of the crews, the allowances of biscuit and wine, salt fish and bacon. Beyond all, the Duke was to attend to their morals.

They were in the service of the Lord, and the Lord must not be offended by the faults of His instruments. The clergy throughout Spain were praying for them and would continue to pray, but soldiers and sailors must do their part and live like Christians. They must not swear; they must not gamble, which led to swearing. If they used low language God would be displeased. Every man before he embarked must confess and commend himself to the Lord. Especially and pre-eminently, loose women must be kept away, and if any member of the expedition fell into the pecado nefando he must be chastised

to the example of the rest. Returning to secular subjects, he had heard, the King said, that the gentlemen adventurers wanted staterooms and private berths. It would encumber the ships, and the Duke was cautioned not to allow it. As the Duke knew nothing of navigation, here. too, the King held himself competent to instruct. He was to make straight for the English Channel, advance to the North Foreland, and put himself in communication with Parma. If foul weather came and the ships were scattered, they were to collect again, first at Finisterre, and then at the Scilly Isles. In the Chan. nel he must keep on the English side, because the water was deeper there. Elizabeth's fleet, Philip understood, was divided, part being under Drake at Plymouth, and part in the Straits of Dover. If the Duke fell in with Drake he was to take no notice of him unless he was attacked, and was to keep on his course. If he found the two squadrons united, he would still be in superior force and might join battle, being careful to keep to windward.

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There were limits even to Philip's confidence in his ability to guide. He admitted that he could not direct the Duke specifically how to form the ships for an engagement. Time and opportunity would have to determine. Only," he said, "omit no advantage and so handle the fleet that one part shall support another. The enemy will try to fight at a distance with his guns. You will endeavor to close. You will observe that their practice is to shoot low into the hulls rather than into the rigging. You will find how to deal with this. Keep your vessels together, allow none to stray or go in advance. Do not let them hurry in pursuit of prizes after a victory. This fault has often caused disaster both on sea and land. Conquer first, and then you will have spoil enough. The Council of War will order the distribution of it. What I am now saying implies that a battle will have to be fought; but if the enemy can be got rid of without an action, so much the better. The effect will be produced without loss to yourself. Should the Prince be able to cross, you will remain with the Armada at the mouth of the Thames, lending such assistance as you can. Consult with the Prince, and land none of your forces without his ap

proval. Remember that your only business is to fight at sea. Differences between leaders are injurious, and always to be avoided. I am confident that you will co-operate cordially with the Prince as my service demands; but I must charge you to follow these injunctions of mine strictly according to the exact words. I have similarly directed the Prince on his own conduct, and if you two acting together can succeed in your undertaking, there will be honor to spare for both of you. You will remain at the Thames' mouth till the work is done. You may then, if the Prince approves, take in hand Ireland, in which case you will leave your Spanish troops with him and exchange them for Germans and Italians. You will be careful in what you spend. You know how costly the Armada has been to me. You will also see that I am not cheated in the muster rolls, and that the provisions are sound and sufficient. You will watch the conduct of the officers and keep them attentive to their duties.

"This is all which occurs to me at present. I must leave the rest to your own care and prudence, and for any further advices which I may have to send you.

Much of all this was no doubt reasonable and true. But Generals chosen to conduct great enterprises do not require to be taught the elements of their duties. That Philip thought it necessary to write all these details was characteristic both of himself and of the Duke. The special commission was to cover the crossing of the Duke of Parma by defeating or dispersing the English fleet; but it was possible that the English fleet might not be so easily got rid of, and that Parma could not cross, in which case, by a second secret instruction, the Duke was told that he might take possession of the Isle of Wight and fortify it. But this was only an alternative in case of failure at the North Foreland, and in no case was to be attempted on his first advance. It was to be hoped that God would make the cause His own, however, and that there would be no need of any secondary expedients. If the negotiations failed at Ostend, and if Parma succeeded in effecting a landing, he was to advance to London and take

*Philip the Second to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, April 1. Duro, vol. ii. pp. 5-13.

possession of the Government, Cardinal Allen inviting the English nobility to join in restoring the Church. But to Parma himself were given instructions, also secret, of a more temperate kind, which the Duke was to deliver to him. If the Armada won a battle, or if the enemy feared to encounter it, he was to pass over with his army in the name of God and carry out the purpose agreed upon. Should the success, however, be less complete, and should he think peace desirable, he would use the presence of the fleet to enforce favorable conditions. It was indispensable that the Catholics should be allowed their services and the ports in Holland be restored. He might demand compensation for past injuries, but this might be sacrificed if he could obtain religious liberty for the English Catholics. He might argue that the Huguenots were tolerated in France, and if it was answered that they were not tolerated in Flanders, he might say that the case was different. He might demand hostages also, and retain certain fortified positions on the coast to be held for a number of years, till it could be seen how things would go. that case the Isle of Wight might be useful, as the Armada could lie in the Solent.

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Disaster it is evident that Philip did not anticipate. Something less than complete success he probably did anticipate, and on the whole might prefer it. Satisfied with having provided for all contingencies, he was now only anxious to see the Armada on its way; while the nuns and hermits had removed the alarms of Medina Sidonia, had convinced him that God could not neglect a business in which He was so peculiarly concerned, and that, in the fine language of theological knighterrantry, the service which he was to execute had been specially reserved by Providence for the King to achieve.*

Such thoughts and such experiences were doubtless indications of a highwrought frame of mind; but men may dwell too exclusively on the conviction that God is on their side, and perhaps forget that God will not be found there if they neglect to do their own parts. While the priests were praying and the

"Y que lo tiene guardado á V. Md. para que por su mano y con su gran zelo y christiandad, se reduzca aquel Regno al gremio y obediencia de su Iglesia." Medina Sidonia to Philip, April 11.

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