Read The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 Online
Authors: David Hume
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A violent tempest overtook the Armada after it passed the Defeated.
Orkneys: The ships had already lost their anchors, and were obliged to keep to sea: The mariners, unaccustomed to such hardships, and not able to govern such unwieldly vessels, yielded to the fury of the storm, and allowed their ships to drive either on the western isles of Scotland, or on the coast of Ireland, where they were miserably wrecked. Not a half of the navy returned to Spain; and the seamen, as well as soldiers, who remained, were so overcome with hardships and fatigue, and so dispirited by their discomfiture, that they filled all Spain with accounts of the desperate valour of the English, and of the tempestuous violence of that ocean which surrounds them.
Such was the miserable and dishonourable conclusion of an enterprize which had been preparing for three years, which had exhausted the revenue and force of Spain, and which had long filled all Europe with anxiety or expectation. Philip, who was a slave to his ambition, but had an entire command over his countenance, no sooner heard of the mortifying event, which blasted all his hopes, than he fell on his knees, and rendering thanks for that gracious dispensation of Providence, expressed his joy, that the calamity was not greater. The Spanish priests, who had so often blest this holy crusade, and foretold its infallible success, were somewhat at a loss to account for the victory gained over the catholic monarch by excommunicated heretics and an execrable usurper: But they at last discovered, that all the calamities of the Spaniards had proceeded from their allowing the infidel Moors to live among them.
NOTE [Z]
Soon after the defeat and dispersion of the Spanish Armada, the 1589. 4th Feb.
queen summoned a new parliament; and received from them a supply of two subsidies and four fifteenths payable in four years. This is the first instance that subsidies were doubled in one supply; and so unusual a concession was probably obtained from the joy of the present success, and from the general sense of the queen’s necessities. Some members objected to this heavy charge, on account of the great burthen of loans, which had lately been imposed upon the nation.
NOTE
Elizabeth foresaw, that this house of commons, like all the A parliament.
foregoing, would be governed by the puritans; and therefore, to obviate their enterprizes, she renewed, at the beginning of the session, her usual injunction, that the parliament should not, on any account, presume to treat of matters ecclesiastical. Notwithstanding this strict inhibition, the zeal of one Damport moved him to present a bill to the commons for remedying spiritual grievances, and for restraining the tyranny of the ecclesiastical commission, which were certainly great: But when Mr. Secretary Woley reminded the house of her majesty’s commands, no one durst second the motion; the bill was not so much as read; and the speaker returned it to Damport, without taking the least notice of it.
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Some members of the house, notwithstanding the general submission, were even committed to custody on account of this attempt.
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The imperious conduct of Elizabeth appeared still more clearly in another parliamentary transaction. The right of purveyance was an ancient prerogative, by which the officers of the crown could at pleasure take provisions for the household PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
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from all the neighbouring counties, and could make use of the carts and carriages of the farmers; and the price of these commodities and services was fixed and stated.
The payment of the money was often distant and uncertain; and the rates, being fixed before the discovery of the West-Indies, were much inferior to the present market price; so that purveyance, besides the slavery of it, was always regarded as a great burthen, and being arbitrary and casual, was liable to great abuses: We may fairly presume, that the hungry courtiers of Elizabeth, supported by her unlimited power, would be sure to render this prerogative very oppressive to the people; and the commons had, last session, found it necessary to pass a bill for regulating these
exactions: But the bill was lost in the house of peers.i
The continuance of the abuses begat a new attempt for redress; and the same bill was now revived again, and sent up to the house of peers, together with a bill for some new regulations in the court of exchequer. Soon after the commons received a message from the upper house, desiring them to appoint a committee for a conference. At this conference, the peers informed them, that the queen, by a message, delivered by lord Burleigh, had expressed her displeasure, that the commons should presume to touch on her prerogative. If there were any abuses, she said, either in imposing purveyance, or in the practice of the court of exchequer, her majesty was both able and willing to provide due reformation; but would not permit the parliament to intermeddle in these
matters.k
The commons alarmed at this intelligence, appointed another committee to attend the queen, and endeavour to satisfy her of their humble and dutiful intentions.
Elizabeth gave a gracious reception to the committee: She expressed her great
inestimable loving care
towards her loving subjects; which, she said, was greater than of her own self, or even than any of them could have of themselves. She told them, that she had already given orders for an enquiry into the abuses attending purveyance, but the dangers of the Spanish invasion had retarded the progress of the design; that she had as much skill, will, and power to rule her household as any subjects whatsoever to govern theirs, and needed as little the assistance of her neighbours; that the exchequer was her chamber, consequently more near to her than even her household, and therefore the less proper for them to intermeddle with; and that she would of herself, with advice of her council and the judges, redress every grievance in these matters, but would not permit the commons, by laws moved without her privity,
to bereave her of the honour attending these regulations.l
The issue of this matter was the same that attended all contests between Elizabeth and her parliament.
m
She seems even to have been more imperious, in this particular, than her predecessors; at least, her more remote ones: For they often permitted the abuses of purveyance
NOTE [BB]
to be redressed by law.o
Edward III., a very arbitrary prince, allowed ten several statutes to be enacted for that purpose.
In so great awe did the commons stand of every courtier, as well as of the crown, that they durst use no freedom of speech, which, they thought, would give the least offence to any of them. Sir Edward Hobby shewed in the house his extreme grief, that, by some great personage, not a member of the house, he had been sharply rebuked for speeches delivered in parliament: He craved the favour of the house, and desired that some of the members might inform that great personage of his true meaning and intention in these speeches.
p
The commons, to obviate these inconveniencies, passed a vote, that no one should reveal the secrets of the house.
q
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The discomfiture of the Armada had begotten in the nation a kind of enthusiastic passion for enterprizes against Spain; and nothing seemed now impossible to be atchieved by the valour and fortune of the English. Don Antonio, prior of Crato, a natural son of the royal family of Portugal, trusting to the aversion of his countrymen against the Castilians, had advanced a claim to the crown; and flying first to France, thence to England, had been encouraged both by Henry and Elizabeth in his pretensions.
A design was formed by the people, not the court, of England to Expedition against conquer the kingdom of Don Antonio: Sir Francis Drake and Sir Portugal.
John Norris were the leaders in this romantic enterprize: Near twenty thousand volunteers
r
enlisted themselves in the service: And ships were hired, as well as arms provided, at the charge of the adventurers. The queen’s frugality kept her from contributing more than sixty thousand pounds to the expence; and she only
allowed six of her ships of war to attend the expedition.s
There was more spirit and bravery, than foresight or prudence, in the conduct of this enterprize. The small stock of the adventurers did not enable them to buy either provisions or ammunition sufficient for such an undertaking: They even wanted vessels to stow the numerous volunteers, who crowded to them; and they were obliged to seize by force some ships of the Hanse Towns, which they met with at sea: An expedient, which set them somewhat more at ease in point of room for their men, but remedied not the deficiency of their provisions.
t
Had they sailed directly to Portugal, it is believed, that the good will of the people, joined to the defenceless state of the country, might have ensured them of success: But hearing, that great preparations were making at the Groine, for the invasion of England, they were induced to go thither, and destroy this new armament of Spain. They broke into the harbour; burned some ships of war, particularly one commanded by Recalde, vice-admiral of Spain; they defeated an army of four or five thousand men, which was assembled to oppose them; they assaulted the Groine, and took the lower town, which they pillaged; and they would have taken the higher, though well fortified, had they not found their ammunition and provisions beginning to fail them. The young earl of Essex, a nobleman of promising hopes, who, fired with the thirst of military honour, had secretly, unknown to the queen, stolen from England, here joined the adventurers; and it was then agreed by common consent to make sail for Portugal, the main object of their enterprize.
The English landed at Paniche, a sea-port town, twelve leagues from Lisbon; and Norris led the army to that capital, while Drake undertook to sail up the river, and attack the city with united forces. By. this time the court of Spain had gotten leisure to prepare against the invasion. Forces were thrown into Lisbon: The Portuguese were disarmed: All suspected persons were taken into custody: And thus, though the inhabitants bore great affection to Don Antonio, none of them durst declare in favour of the invaders. The English army, however, made themselves masters of the suburbs, which abounded with riches of all kinds; but as they desired to conciliate the affections of the Portuguese, and were more intent on honour than profit, they observed a strict discipline, and abstained from all plunder. Meanwhile, they found their ammunition and provisions much exhausted; they had not a single cannon to make a breach in the walls; the admiral had not been able to pass some fortresses, which guarded the river; there was no appearance of an insurrection in their favour; sickness, from fatigue, hunger, and intemperance in wine and fruits, had seized the PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
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army: So that it was found necessary to make all possible haste to reimbark. They were not pursued by the enemy; and finding, at the mouth of the river, sixty ships laden with naval stores, they seized them as lawful prize; though they belonged to the Hanse Towns, a neutral power. They sailed thence to Vigo, which they took and burned; and having ravaged the country around, they set sail and arrived in England.
Above half of these gallant adventurers perished by sickness, famine, fatigue, and the sword;
u
and England reaped more honour than profit from this extraordinary enterprize. It is computed, that eleven hundred gentlemen embarked on board the fleet, and that only three hundred and fifty survived those multiplied disasters.
w
When these ships were on their voyage homewards, they met with the earl of Cumberland, who was outward bound, with a fleet of seven sail, all equipped at his own charge, except one ship of war, which the queen had lent him. That nobleman supplied Sir Francis Drake with some provisions; a generosity which saved the lives of many of Drake’s men, but for which the others afterwards suffered severely.
Cumberland sailed towards the Terceras, and took several prizes from the enemy; but the richest, valued at a hundred thousand pounds, perished in her return, with all her cargo, near St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwal. Many of these adventurers were killed in a rash attempt at the Terceras: A great mortality seized the rest: And it was with difficulty that the few hands, which remained, were able to steer the ships back into
Though the signal advantages, gained over the Spaniards, and the Affairs of Scotland.
spirit thence infused into the English, gave Elizabeth great security during the rest of her reign, she could not forbear keeping an anxious eye on Scotland, whose situation rendered its revolutions always of importance to her. It might have been expected, that this high-spirited princess, who knew so well to brave danger, would not have retained that malignant jealousy towards her heir, with which, during the life-time of Mary, she had been so much agitated. James had indeed succeeded to all the claims of his mother; but he had not succeeded to the favour of the catholics, which could alone render these claims dangerous:
y
And as the queen was now well advanced in years, and enjoyed an uncontrouled authority over her subjects, it was not likely, that the king of Scots, who was of an indolent unambitious temper, would ever give her any disturbance in her possession of the throne. Yet all these circumstances could not remove her timorous suspicions: And so far from satisfying the nation by a settlement of the succession, or a declaration of James’s title, she was as anxious to prevent every incident, which might anywise raise his credit, or procure him the regard of the English, as if he had been her immediate rival and competitor. Most of his ministers and favourites were her pensioners; and as she was desirous to hinder him from marrying and having children, she obliged them to throw obstacles in the way of every alliance, even the most reasonable, which could be offered him; and during some years, she succeeded in this malignant policy.
z
He had fixed on the elder daughter of the king of Denmark, who, being a remote prince and not powerful, could give her no umbrage; yet did she so artfully cross this negociation, that the Danish monarch, impatient of delay, married his daughter to the duke of Brunswick. James then renewed his suit to the younger princess; and still found obstacles from the intrigues of Elizabeth, who, merely with a view of interposing delay, proposed to him the sister of the king of Navarre, a princess much PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)