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Volume 2.
From the London Eclectic Review
The Great Armada Fight.
[ln lieu of our customary tale to-day,
*re extract from a late number of an En
glish magazine an eloquent narrative of
one of the most critical and stirring pas
sages iu English History. The occasion
of the series of articles from which the fol
lowing is extracted, is the alleged minato
ry attitude of France in respect to an in
vasion of England, which the writer in
sists is substantially a revival of the Span
ish Armada project in its purpose and de
sign, and will intimate its fate in the final
result. —Ed. Telegraph.]
Raleigh, Gilliert, Greenville, I must not
even mention, hut pass on to the year 1587,
when the magnitude and object of the Ar
mada became patent to all the world.—
Then Draka, by the Queen's commission,
get forth to delay, if possible, the sailing
ot the fleet for another year ; it might be
that he would cripple it altogether. The
whole expedition is one of the most daring
and successful on record. His old con
tempt for the Spaniards led him, with his
thirty ships, iu the most reckless manner,
into the Spanish ports. One of the ships
only was the Queen’s ; the rest were furn
ished by the merchants of London, partly
as a private venture, and partly for the
public good. He dashed into Cadiz, where
a fleet was waiting to join the Armada, and
destroyed every ship—in number, it is
said, not less than one hundred—with two
large galleons, Thence to the Tagus, where
he challenged Santa Cruz, at the head of
the main body of the Armada, to come out ;
and fight him, with his thirty ships ; which
the Spaniard, knowing well what a dare
devil he had to deal with, most wisely de
clined. Thence having humbled the Span
iard in his own ports, to the Azores, where
he captured an immense galleon laden with
treasure ;ou board which he found most
valuable maps and charts of the Indian
seas. These proved most useful in open
ing up the unknown tracks of the Spanish
commerce to our sailors. According to
Camden, it led to the formation of our
Kast-ludia Company. Then “having,” as
he with grim humor, “singed the j
King of Spain’s beard,” he returned home, j
“laden,” as lie writes to Lord Burleigh, j
“with as much honor and victory as any ■
roan in the world could wish for.” His
exp diti >n was the salvation of England.-
It truly decided the fate of the Armada.—
Hat his letter to the Government, printed
in u Strype,” contained the most grave and
htatesmanlike advice. “It is very necessa
ry,” he says, “that all possible prepara
tions for defense be speedily made.” Bur
high had full information from his agents
in the chief Spanish ports ; and in Novem
ber, 1587, the Queen summoned a Special
Council to consider of the defence of the
realm. Os the eight able men called to the
Council, Greenville, llaleigh, and Norris
are the best known. Iu the Spanish Coun
cil, Cameden tells us, there was high de
bate. Some advised a preliminary expedi
tion from Flanders, to seize and hold some
port in Holland or Zealand, where the Ar- j
inada might disembark tire troops. Oth
ers opposed it strongly. Fortunately for
us, though Parma and Santa Cruz strenu
ously urged the proposal, the adverse opin
ion prevailed. It was resolved to sail up
chaunel, effect a junction with Parma off
the coast of Flanders, and, disembarking
the army at the mouth of the Thames,
n arch on London, and finish the war at a
bhiw. This wag probably the very worst
Ihm which could possibly have been pro
posed. The Queen’s Cotincil, within a
biet space, put the whole kingdom into a
jnost complete and admirable state of de-
The enthusiasm was boundless, and
the judgment of those at the head of af
•ws masterly. Among Lord Burleigh’s
papers there is a most important doc
Btnent, in which every ship and every
tr °op raised for the defense of the country
with most elaborate detail, set forth.—
there was a prior question with the
Queen’s advisers, should the main defense
be by land or sea. The question was warm
ly debated, Raleigh’s strenuous reasoning
seeins mainly to have led to the decision
that, as with Athens of old, the chief
o'England should be in her ships. Still
land rose up in complete defense ; En
sheathed herself in steel to meet the
crisis of her history ; one hundred
thirty thousand meD, besides the Lon
oo'Ders, who were a host in themselves,
anaed for war. The organization was so
complete, ih;at asaSpanishspv writes to the
Ambassador in Paris, “a force of twenty
thousand men could be concentrated in
• rty-eight hours upon any part ot the coast
*bich might be threatened, under leaders
renown and skill.” Twenty-two thou
“fod foot and 2000 horse were stationed at
Tilbury to guard the mouth of the river ;
*bile 29,000 men and 10,000 Londoners
*- r e stationed nearer to the city to protect:
p ” capital and the person of the Queen.—
11 'he chief interests of the struggle is
j ava l> and to that we will now proceed.—’
s difficult to discover accurately the ex
ot Philips preparations. According
j a Spanish account which was disemina
*'a Europe, and which is probably the
trustworthy, the numbersstood thus:
c f v ot the aggregate burden of 57,-
29SrT ; 19)295 soldiers ; 8450 sailors;
iro~ b iAves . 2630 pieces of ordnance ; and
‘atuse military and naval stores. Eigh
ty. °. re B hips are 6aid afterwards to have
n^ eanw hile the Prince of Parma
ijjpl picked troops ready to embark
W,T 6rß ’ an d great supplies of flat bot-
Gnio, boat8 > and all the munitions of war.
’ Moreover, promised to march 12,000
men into Normandy, to be transported by
the Armada to England.
The English force we know accurately.
In the Queen’s navy there werejust thirty
four ships, of the aggregate burden ot 12,-
168 tons, carrying 6225 men. Two only
of these ships reached 1000 tons. The
largest, the Triumph, commanded by Frob
isher, was 1100 tons. The Admiral was
in the Ark Royal, of 800 tons; Drake.
Vice-Admiral, was in the Revenge, of 500
tons, while the Victory, of 800. carried
stout John Hawkins to the fight. One
hundred and fifty-seven merchant ships
completed the navy. I have gone careful
ly through the list. Sixteen only of these
reached one hundred tons —not one reach
ed two hundred. The men on board the
whole fleet numbered 15,772 ; its tonage
was 31,986 tons. The supreme command
was conferred on Lord Charles Howard, a
man far more fitted than Drake for the
conmiand-in-chief, Camden says of him :
“Os whose fortunate conduct the Queen
had great persuasion whom she knew by
his moderate and noble carriage to be skill
ful in sea matters, wary and provident, val
iant and courageous, industrious and ac
tive, and of great personal authority and
esteem among the statesmen of the Navy.”
It is not a little remarkable that he was a
Catholic. It was a noble trust which the
Queen reposed, and right nobly was it re
paid. Burleigh, cautious as he was bound
to be, seems to have had his doubts. He
seems to have solicited Drake's opinion of
the Admiral, of whom in June, 1688,
Drake nobly writes thus : “I do assure
your good lordship, and protest it before
God, that I find my Lord Admiral so well
affected for all honorable service in this ac
tion, that it doth assure all his followers
of good successes and the hope of victory.”
The fleet was thus distributed. Lord Hen
ry Seymour was stationed with forty ships
to keep the coast of Flanders in strict
blockade ; while Howard, with Drake as
Vice-Admiral, closed the mouth of the En
glish Channel with the main body of the
fleet. Amidst the hum of this vast prep
aration the new year’s morning dawned. —
It is said that, a hundred years before, an
astronomer of Koinsberg foretold that
“1588 would be an admirable year, and the
climacterical year of the world.” This
was about right. Os the spirit of the En
glish people we have the most abundant
evidence. The Queen, in a letter to the
Lords-Lietitenant of Hampshire, puts the
simple question :
“Every -man’s particular state in the
highest degree will be touched, in respect
of country, liberty, wives, children, lands,
lives, and (which was especially to be re
garded) the profession of the true and sin
cere religion of Christ. * “ Wherefore” in a
word, O Englishman ! “Quit you like
men and fight.” And nothing loth was
England. Hear this testimony from Stow :
“It was a pleasant sight to behold the
soldiers as they marched to Tilburie, their
cheertul countenances, courageous words
and gestures, dancing aud leaping wherev
er they came. In the camp their most fe
licity was in the hope of fighting the ene
my, where oft times divers rumors ran of
their foe’s approach, and that present bat
tle would be given them. Then were they
as joyful at such news as if lusty giants
were to run a race.”
A country like that is impregnable to an
invader. Spaniards had to learn it. France
may have to learn it yet.
1 can not refuse myself the pleasure of
quoting from the form of prayer which was
offered up in prospect of this great peril :
“0 Lord ! give good and prosperous suc
cess to all those who fight thy battle a
gainst the enemies of their gospel. Show
some token continually for our good, that
they who hate us may see it and be con
founded. And that we, thy little and des
pised flock, may say, with good King Da
vid : “Blessed is the people whose God is
the Lord Jehovah, and blessed is the folks
whom he hath chosen to be his inheritance.
These and all graces necessary for us,
grant. O Heavenly Father ! for Jesus
Christ’s sake, our only mediator and Re
deemer.”
The Armada, too, had its Liturgy. The
instructions to the Duke of Medina Sido
nia. who had succeeded Santa Cruz as Ad
miral, are extant. They are clear and
able, but painfully elaborate. One feels
that a little good sense and good seaman
ship would be worth them all. The or
ders against vice and profligacy were strict,
and doubtless earnest; and there is this
about prayer : “The company of every
ship every morning, at break of every day,
shall, according to the custom, give the
good morrow by the main mast, and at
night the Ave Maria and some days the
Salve Regina , or at least the Saturdays
with a Litany.” Christ is not once men
tioned. “For Jesus Christ’s sake, our
only Advocate and Mediator,” sounds
grand and solemn amid these Ave Marias
and Salve Reginas. And it means much
in this strife. It is the honor of the one
mediator between God and man which is
at stake ic this battle ; and England in
the name of her one High-Priest before
the throne of God, did gird herself for this
great battle of the Lord.
The Spanish preparations being now
complete, the ArmadasaiM from the Tagus
the last week in May. But a tierce storm
dispersed it, and drove it back with no lit
tle loss into the harbors of the nearest
coast. Rumor magnified the disaster;
and it was confidently reported m England
that the fleet would need a year to rent.
Elizabeth, whose besetting sin, let us thank
God was parsimony and not extravagance
or profligacy, sent orders to tbe Admira.
THE UNION OF THE STATES: —DISTINCT. LIKE THE BILLOWS; ONE, LIKE THE SEA.”
THOMASm GEORGIA. SATltJIar-MORNiXIi, OCTOBER 6,18 ft
to lay up the largest of his ships. How
ard, a wise and provident commander, by
no means believed the danger over for the
year. He wrote nobly to Walsingharn,
offering to keep the sea at his own expense
rather than give up the defense of the
coast. Nay, he resolved to sail down
Spain-wards, and see if he could not do a
little “singeing of the King of Spain” him
self ; who could tell but that he might find
the ships all crippled, burn them in their
own harbors, and tiuish the war at a blow.
Running down before a north wind, he ap
proached the coasts of Spain. There the
wind shifted to the south. Then his abil
ity as Lord High-Admiral of England ap
peared. Drake would certainly have stood
on. Nothing on earth would have held
him back from another razzia in the Span
ish ports. Howard remembered that the
defense of England was his charge ; he re
flected that with the South wind, the Ar
mada might slip by him, and find thecoast
defenseless ; and so at once he stood about
and returned. Ignorant of the move
ments of the Armada, the fleet went into
Plymouth ; and there, in those early July
days, were gathered in that little western
town, intensely excited, but finding time
hanging heavily on their hands, the first
seaman of the world. The Howards, Shef
field, Raliegh, Frobisher, Hawkins, Drake,
Townshend, Fenton, and brave John Da
vis, just back from a harder battle with
the Polar ice. In the lists of ships the
name of John Davis occurs as captain of
a little boat of twenty tons —doubtless,
the gallant Arctic mariner turning out in a
fishing-boat, to strike a blow for merry
England and the Gospel. One would like
to be able to look into Plymouth and hear
them talk in those days. Meanwhile,
though they knew it not, the Armada had
sailed finally from the Tagus on the twelfth
of July. On the nineteenth, there was
bowling on Plymouth Hoe. The idle but
anxious mariners, casting many an eager
gaze round the glorious horizon which that
spot commands, were solacing themselves,
Drake foremost, with a merry game ot
bowls. Suddenly one Fleming, a well
known Scotch rover, blunders in among
them, and declares that he has seen the
Armada off the Lizard, within four miles
of his ship, and has hurried to Plymouth
with the news. All start up in livid ex
citement, hut Drake, cool and humorous,
and not to be hurried by a Spaniard, will
have the game played out to the end.—
Then every man braces himself to work.—
The wind was blowing stiffly right into the
harbor. None but English seamen proba
bly could have got out the ships. “But
indeed,” says Camden, “with singular dil
igence and alacrity of the seaman, whom
he,” the Lord-Admiral, “encouraged at
their halser work, assisting them and the
common soldiers in doing it in person,”
fifty-four of the ships were warped out to
sea in the teeth of the gale, and started
like hounds on the track of their game.
The next day the Armada was discover
ed standing up channel under full sail, in
the form of a crescent, the horns of which
are said to have covered seven miles. Lord
Howard had already settled, with consum
mate wisdom, the plan of the fight. Dar
ing and seamanship were the English char
acteristics ; speed, lightness, and weather
liuess the qualities ot their ships. How
ard, determined that these qualities should
have the fullest play, and “seeing that his
ships could turn about with incredible ce
lerity and nimbleness which way soever
they pleased, to change wind and tack
about again,” he resolved that it should be
a running fight. The huge Spaniards were
to be harrassed by ceaseless attacks, strag
glers were to be cut off, and all which in
dividual daring and skill could attempt
with the likelihood of success, was to be
enterpfised ; but close fight and boarding
were forbidden, as the rule of the action ;
for the size of the galleons and the troops
on board would give them in that case a
great advantage over their nimble foes.—
Confident in his seamanship, and his power
to out manouver the Spaniards at will,
Lord Howard, with but fifty-four ships,
dashed gallautly into the fray. His Ark
Royal singled out the Admiral’s ship at
once, and “thundered grievously upon
her,” while Drake, Hawkins, and Fro
bisher attacked the rear squadron under
Kecalde so fiercely, that it was compelled
to close up with the main body, grievously
battered, and with the loss of two great
ships. In one ot these Drake found fifty
five thousand ducats, which he abandoned
to his men. Atter two hours’ fighting, in
which he had just breathed his men, and
demonstiated his essential superiority,
Howard drew off to await the forty ships
which had been unable to warp out of
Plymouth iu time to join the first day’s
fray. That night and next day there was
some confusion in the English fleet. How
ard, with two ships, the YVhite Bear, Lord
Edmund Sheffield, and the Mary Rose,
Captain Fenton, held on in sight of the
lights of the Spaniards, but the English
Vice-Admiral’s lanterns had disappeared.
The truth seems to be that at sun-down
Drake had cought sight of five sail in the
distance, which had the air of Spanish gal
leons about them, and a flavor therefore—
and Drake had a keen scent for such mat
ters —of gold, 6pices aud Indian wares.
Drake, not in the least hurry about the
Armada, (remember he was as true a pa
triot as ever lived,) knowing that be could
overhaul the ships and catch the Armada
again in good time for the fighting, slipped
off in pursuit. To his infinite disgust, he
found they were quiet Dutch merchant
men, and he ciowded all sail to rejoin the
fleet. Btit tbe }oM of tbe Vice Admiral’s
signals had entailed some confusioh, and
on the twenty-second nothing was done.
On the twenty-third, Tuesday, both par
ties set to work in earnest. During the
night, Raleigh, unable to endure the sus
pense on shore, came off with a little
squadron to join. His spirit was telt at
| once in confirming fully the policy of How
ard. He observed that the Spanish shot
from theii lofty decks cleared, in most
cases, the English ships ; while ours, well
aimed and low, crashed into the crowded
Spaniards and did fearful execution. He
advised, therefore, fighting “ loose and
j large” dashing iu and out again, wherever
an opening in the enemy’s array offered—
keeping the Spaniard in ceaseless alarm
and miserable perplexity. It was a battle
of evolutions, in which the enemy, though
brave euough at. close quarters, was as
helpless as a bear amidst a troop ot agile
hounds. It was merrily called “a morris
dance on the waters,” and there was that
of the old chivalry living still in English
breasts which made them enjoy the game.
It was a well fought day. Frobisher, with
five London merchantmen, was set upon
by overwhelming numbers, aud sustained
the assault with astonishing spirit and
skill. Howard pressed to his rescue, sig
naling to all in sight to follow him. Re
calde flung himself in the way with the
largest galleons, and a most sanguinary
tight ensued. Howard reserved his fire till
within musket-range, and it told terribly.
In the end, the Spaniards were compelled
to sheer off. Frobisher was rescued, and
as the result of the day’s fight, a large Ve
netian argosy and several transports re
mained iu our hands. “One Ooek, nn
Englishman, died, however, in the midst
of enemies, in a small ship of his”—the
only serious English loss. Next day was
a day of repose. The Spaniards had had
enough, and the English were unable to
renew the fight. An English campaign
would nut be complete without a bit of
English blundering ; and by some great
mismanagement of the government, having
its root probably in the parsimony of Eliz
abeth, the fleet was short of stores.
There is a ms, letter of Drake's in the
State Paper Office, dated March 30th,
1588, in which he remonstrates against the
parsimony shown in supplying the fleet,
and prophesies what befell. However,
Howard sent light ships into the coasts,
and got tolerably supplied. The twenty
fifth, St. Janie’s day was another great day
of battle. They were then off the Isle of
Wight. Hawkins secured a great galleon,
ami then it fell calm. A breeze soon spring
ing up, the fight became general. The
Spanish Admiral’s mainmast was shot
away, and Recalde, with difficulty, res
cued him from capture. The English am
munition again failed ; and Howard stood
out of eannonshot, still following closely
on the enemy’s track. On the twenty-sixth
he summoned Lord T. Howard, Lord Ed
mund Sheffield. Captains Townshend,
Hawkins, and Frobisher on board, and
knighted them Aith his own hand. And
now the coasts are lined with eager spec
tators. The nobles and peasantry, fired
with a high enthusiasm, which levels all
distinctions but qualities of manhood, come
off in coasting ships, fishing smacks, any
thing that will float to have their share in
the bloody game. Burleigh's sons are there
with the rest. A strange report now spreads
on the continent. Mendoza enters Notre
Dame, in Paris, waving his sword and shou
ting “victory.” Alas, for them ! one hun
dred and thirty thousand English soldiers,
and two hundred English ships, and cour
age which never was higher than at that
moment, were between them and victory.
Lord Howard resolved to suffer them for
the moment to sail peacefully on their way,
to follow them to Calais Roads, and being
joined by Seymour, make the decisive
struggle there.
So the Armada pursued its course, with
what steadiness it might, being already
not a little battered and disheartened, with
the English bloodhounds, gathering cour
age, hope, and numbers daily, baying in
its trucks. On the night of Saturday, the
twenty-seventh, it cast anchor iu Calais
Roads, and messengers were sent to Par
ma, entreating him to join at once with all
his force. But alas ! the storm which de
layed the Armada more than a month had
defeated all the arrangements of Farnese ;
his stores were spent, his army was sick,
his sailors had slipped away, his boats were
all cracked —aud to crown all, the dogged
Dutch were watching the only harbors
from which he could get out to sea. Si
donia was full of perplexity and dread, aft
the fleet lay that Sunday in Calais Roads*
with the resolute English inclosing their
anchorage, and threatening to drive them
ashore. The Salve Reginas had need to,
be potent to help them now. Then that
night Lord Howard, moved it is 6aid by
Elizabeth, shy herself moved—men believed
in that day—by God, “made ready eight
of his worst ships, besmeared them with
wildfire, pitch and rosin and filled them
with brimstone and othercombustible mat
ter, towed them towards the Armada, and,
firing them,” sent them sailing down the
wind into their midst. “The Spaniards,”
as Camden says, “seeing the whole sea
glittering aud shining with the flame
thereof, raised a sad outcry.’* Then arose
one of those fearful panics—*Was it that
dread of God’s people with which God
promised to afflict their foes ? with which
great masses are sometimes visited, and in
which man becomes more foolish and help
less than the brute ? Slipping their ca
bles in their fright, they stood pell-mell
out to sea. When tbe panic a little sub
sided, it is said Sidonia endeavored to rally
them—as became a Guzman, a grandee of
the bluest blood in Spain. But the Eng
lish were amongst them. The hour of
crowning victory had come. There was no
order in the fight. The English ships went
crashing through the confusion of the
Spanish hosr, dealing destruction at every
broadside. A prisoner afterwards exam
ined, estimates their loss, on that day alone,
at four thousand men. The Spaniards then
gave up all hope of victory, and Sidonia,
gathering the wreck of his great Armada
steered for the Straits, in the faint hone
that he might escape by that way to Spain.
But the south wind met him, aud turned
him northward, where lav his dreaded and
now victorious foes. Baffled on every hand,
hemmed iu by perils, he adopted, after has
ty counsel, a desperate resolution ; and the
fleet, scattering, pressed up the German
Ocean, if by chance, rounding the wild
coast of Scotland, they might gain the
broad ocean and get back to Spain. Then
writes Drake with grim exulation :
“We have the army of Spayne before
us, and mind, with the grace of God, to
wrestle with them. There was never any
thing pleased me better, than the seeing
the enemy flying with a south wiud to the
northward. God grant they have a good
eye to the Duke of Parma, for with the
grace of God, if we live, I doubt not but,
ere it be long, so to handle the matter with
the Duke of Sidonia, as he shall wish him
self at St. Marie among his orange-trees.”
The whole country was in intense ex
citement. it was still by no means sure
that they might not, in very despair, at
tempt a landing on the eastern coasts. —
Then came the Queen to Tilbury, armed
in steel, with a marshal’s truncheon in her
hand, and mounted on a noble war-horse,
Essex and Leicester holding herbridlereign
—and spake those martial words which
raised to a white heat the enthusiasm of
the whole people :
“My loving people, we have been per
suaded by some that are careful of our
safety to take heed how we commit our
selves to armed multitudes, for fear of
treachery ; but I assure you I do not de
sire to live to distrust my loving and faith
ful people. Let tyrants fear 1 I have al
ways so behaved myself that, under God I
have placed my chiefest strength and safe
guard in the loyal hearts and good will of
my subjects ; and, therefore, I am come
among you at this time, and not for my
recreation or sport, but being resolved iu
the midst and the heat of the battle to live
and die among you all ; to lay down—for
my God, my kingdom and my people—mv
honor and my blood, even in the dust. I
know that I have but the body of a weak
and feeble woman, but I have the heart of
a king, aye, of a king of England too ; and
think it great scorn that Parma, or Spain,
or any prince of Europe should dare to in
vade the borders of ray realms. To which,
rather than that any dishonors shall grow
bv me, I myself will take up arms—l my
self will be your general, the judge and re
warder of every one of your virtues in the
field. I know already by your forwardness
that you have deserved rewards and crowns;
and we do assure you, on the word of a
prince, they shall be duly paid you. In
the meantime, ray Lieutenant-General
shall be in my stead, nor will I suffer my
self to doubt but that by your obedience
to my General, by yourconcord in the camp,
and your valor in the field, we shall short
ly have a famous victory over these ene
mies of my God, mv kiugdom and my peo
ple.”
Meanwhile, the Armanda was flying to
the north, pursued hotly by the English
fleet. It seemed likely, at that~ moment,
that not one of those proud ships would
ever return to the shores of Spain. But
again the English stores failed, and at the
most critical moment. Effingham watch
ed them as far as Flamborough-head, where
it was resolved, “on the Thursday, to have
anew fight with them, as a farewell ; but
it was found on counsel that we had not
munition enough for a half fight, and,
therefore, it was concluded that we should
let them pass and return.” It was a bit
ter disappointment to the English com
manders. Walsingharn even writes thus
significantly about it : “I am sorry the
Lord Admiral was forced to leave the pro
secution of the enemy thro’ the want he
sustained ; our half-doings doth breed dis
honor, and leaveth the disease uncured.”
Drake took a sorrowful farewell of them,
but enough had been done for honor,
enough for the liberty of religion, and the
welfare of mankind. The proudest fleet
which Europe had ever sent forth was fly
ing in defeat and confusion, with a loss to
the English of one small ship, and less than
100 men.
But heaven seemed to lift the warder
which the English, sated with victory, cast
down. Three days after the English left
them, Drake writes : “We were entertain
ed with a great storm, considering the time
of the year, which, in our judgement, hath
not a little forced the enemy away.” This
storm was the commencement of a series of
tremendous hurricanes, which kept them
iu distress and misery, knocking about in
those northern seas till the middle of Sep
tember. Ignorant of the coasts, used on
ly to the calm and straightforward naviga
tion of the region of the Trades, short of
water, food and 6tores, with an Iron-bound,
harborless shore, and afiercely-hoaiiie pop
ulation UDder their lee, they suffered, dur
ing those weeks, the extremes of misery.—
There is something heart-rending in the
tale of the prisoners who survived from the
wrecks which wera strewn along the shore.
Sick, starving, **sni>pat by storm and cold,
they struggled 6xs tbroogh the Straits of
Payable in Advance#
the Seas, leaving the fragment#
ot their great argosies as their spoil
Off Ireland, it is said, seventeen ship#
with five thousand three hundred men Writ
down, either dashed into fragments against
he iron-bound coast of Autrim, or sinking
bodily with their living freight, of one
thousand men into the deulh. Sidoni.
better stored than the rest, struggled on
but even bis ship ran short of watet, and
the bread became so moldy that they could
hardly bring thetnselves to partake of the
I nauseous tood. At length, having strewn
the fragments of his huge Armada along the
shores ot the country he came to conquer
from Weymouth round to Autrim, with
fifty-three ships— and those so battered
and cut to pieces, and the crews so worn
with sickness, hunger and oold, that w
are told they were pitiful to look upon—
he regained the harbors of .Spain.
The English celebrated the victory with
thanksgiving to Him by whom it bad been
ordained. There was but one feeling
throughout the whole realm ; that God
had most marvelously interposed to defeat
the designs of the foes of his Gospel.—
Afflavit Deus et Dissipantur,” was the
inscription on the medal struck to com*
memorate the victory. The banners takefi
t * le rnia<^a w **re hung over London
Bridge on the eighth of September. The
nineteenth of November was “kept as a
holiday throughout the realm, with ser
mons, singing of psalms, bonfires, etc., for
joy; and thanksgiving unto God for the
overthrow of the .Spaniards, the citiiens of
London appearing that day in their liveries
heard another sermon at St. Paul’s Cross.”
On the twenty-fourth the Queen herself
attended in state the “Thanksgiving” at
bt. I aul s. She and all the Protestant
leaders regarded the overthrow of the Ar
mada as a special mercy from His hand,
who of old upheld his people in many a
desperate struggle with overwhelming foes.
And if ever one may confidently trace the
great hand of Providence, surely there is
ample reason to trace it here.
It is a revolting reflection that Ashland,
with all its hallowed memories clustering
mound it, was, upon the occasion of John
C. Breckinridge’s late speech, made the
site of a barbecue and revel of the Locofo
co party,—that party, which, for mom
than a quarter of a century, poured from
its mouth for the destruction of Ashland'*
great and immortal statesman, a torrent of
lies equal in volume to the flood sent forth
from the mouth of the great red dragon of
the Apocalypse.
We wonder whether the old Locofoco
enemies and villifiers of Henry Clay gath
ei ing upon the spot once hallowed by his
living presence, did not, under the influ
ence of the combined power of guilty con
sciences and diseased fancies behold him
standing in the midst of them as they
were in the habit of seeing him pictured
in 1844 in their newspaper organs and
electioneering handbills, a fall and fright
ful image, with a demijon as a head, a
couple of gambling ertrda as ears, a quart
bottle as a neck, duelling pistols as arms,
bowie-knives as fingers, a whiskey-barrel
as a belly, and a couple of sign-posts at
legs, the latter covered all over with print
ed enumerations of the crimes imputed to
the immortal man of Ashland.
How chany of those, who ate this bar
becue at Ashland, would have ventured to
open the gate in the lifetime of Henry
Clay P The mass of them would no more
have dared to open it than the fallen Adam
would have dared to open the gate of Eden,
guarded by the cherubio and a flaming
sword that turned every way.— Louisville
Journal.
Parson Brownlow and Yancey, says the
Louisville Democrat, came together at
| Knoxville. The Parson wanted to know
what Yancey would do if Lincoln was elec
! ted. Yancey wanted to know what the
! Parson would do. The Pafson would be
one of a regiment to drive back the Seces
sionists. Yancey would be one to bayonet
Brownlow if he did. Y'ancey told Brown
low he was a preacher, and ought not to
act so. Brownlow pointed out to Yancey
that one of the men on the stand with him,
and one of the Breckinridge electors of
Tennessee, were Parsons, and the only
difference between him and them was that
they had been silenced for lying. Yancey
said he Would make no reply to that, and
he didn’t. He dissolved finally in dignity.
Moral—Yancey waked the wrong passen
ger.
foumTdeaeiT
A man named Isaac Hesslen was discov
ered lying dead yesterday /norning, upon
the side-walk in front of “the Mechanic En
gine House, on Mclntosh street. It ap
peared that Hesslen, who was a man of in
temperate habits, had jumped from the
second story window of his boarding house
on Saturday night and had probably re
ceived some internal injuries which caused
his death on his reaching the place where
he was found dead. Coroner Baker sum
moned a jury, and their verdict was, death
from some unknown cause.— Augusta Dis
patch, 25th.
political excitement has risen
so high in the town of Selma., Alabama,
that some of the politicians, unwilling to
await the result of the election in October
next, have canvassed the voters of that
place in order to ascertain their preference*
among the three ticket# competing for
popular support. The result wa# as fol
lows : Bell two hundred and twenty-eight,
Douglas one hundred and forty-tl*rec
Breckinridge seventy-seven
Number (t