The story of Sir Walter Ralegh : and A day in a tobacco factory / by Joseph Hatton ; illustrated by John Wallace.

  • Joseph Hatton
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The story of Sir Walter Ralegh : and A day in a tobacco factory / by Joseph Hatton ; illustrated by John Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    had not slept since the repulse of the Armada. She was alert and persistent in her preparations to avenge herself upon England. Ralegh preached the necessity of rapid responsive action on the part of Elizabeth’s ministers. “ Expedition in a little is better than much too late ” he wrote to the Council ; “ if we be once driven to the defensive we are lost.” Concurrent disasters told in favour of his wise and chivalrous counsel. Hawkins and Drake had been unsuccessful in an expedition against Panama. During the month in which Ralegh was urging the State to action Hawkins died, and two months later Drake followed his comrade; “both,” Ralegh has declared, “broken-hearted from disappointment and vexation.” It was the confirmation of a Spanish league with the Earl of Tyrone that at last aroused the spirit of Elizabeth and compelled action on the lines of offence advised by Ralegh. Ninety-six English sail were equipped and the Dutch added twenty-four. The force consisted of fifteen thousand and five hundred sailors and soldiers, two thousand and six hundred being Dutchmen. Lord Admiral Howard and Lord Essex were joint commanders, Sir Walter Ralegh, Lord Thomas Howard, Sir Francis Vere, Sir Conyers Clifford, and Sir George Carew being of their council. The fleet sailed in the beginning of June, 1596, and on the twentieth it appeared before Cadiz. Mr. Stebbing refers in detail to some contentions as to the mode of attack, which arose through a judgment being arrived at in a council of war that took place while Ralegh was intercepting runaway Spanish ships, and which Ralegh with overmastering power reversed. He induced Lord Essex to give up, even in the act of disembarking troops, the scheme thus previously arranged ; the result being a different line of action, in which the admirals and generals of troops having acquiesced, seconded Ralegh’s plans with enthusiasm and success. Campbell and Guthrie, both writing exhaustive accounts of the action, agree substan¬ tially in their records, which, for the purposes of this brief biography, provide the most interesting
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