The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-02-14

crusade, instigated by the Pope, in or
der to bring heretical England once
more into the fold of the true Church
In reality, nothing can be more mac
curate. 1t is indeed quite certain that
religious bitterness was imported into
the quarrel; but the war had it's orr
gin in two perfectly clear and wholly
mundane causes"
These causes, as summarized by our
author, were "(1) the raids of Drake
and his comrades and imitators on the
Spanish American trade, and the re-
fusal of Elizabeth to disavow and
make amends for their acts; and (2)
the countenance and assistance which
had been given by the English to the
kings rebellious subjects in the Meth
erlands" (p. 24). Thus are the tables
turned by impartial historians; on the
part of Spain it was not defiance but
defense against the unwarrantable ag-
gressiveness and freebooting of Eng
land
Catholics Were Loyal.
We could wish to have quoted many
pages from Mr.. Hales thrilling nara
tive about the various encounters be-
| tween the two fleets; the deeds of
bravery on either side, the causes of
the failure of the Armada; about King
Philip and his admirals, and much
else; but space forbids. Two sub
jects, however, of special interest to
Catholics may not be overlooked. One
is the loyalty of the Catholics to Eliz-
abeth in the hour of England's peril,
when the hour of danger came, there
was no division among the people of
England, and the Catholics, harried
and impoverished as they were by the
penal laws, stood shoulder to shoulder
with their Protestant fellow country
men in opposing the foreigner" (p.
| 49,. Considering the relentless per-
secution to which Catholics were at
that time subjected by Elizabeth, Mr..
Hale may we'll speak of their mar
velous loyalty to the queen;" and in a
| fine passage he justly Institutes a con-
trast between their action and that of
the Protestants of 1858, who deserted
their lawful sovereign for a foreign
invader, William of Orange. Every
English historian" he writes (p. 40,
grants that the Catholics Loyalty sup
ported the government against Phil
ip); but none of them seemed to real
ize that they thus acted in spite of
provocation far greater than that
which the men of 1688-with the ap-
prevail of English political opinion
ever since-held to be enough to JUS
tify the rebellion, and league with
the foreigner to effect an invasion of
England, and the substitution of for
eign sovereign for the reigning king"
Sir r. Bingham and shipwrecked
Spaniards.
The other point to be noticed, un-
palatable though it be- is the ruthless
and brutal slaughter of the poor Span
ish sailors shipwrecked on the west
coast of Ireland at the hands of the
governor of Connaught, Sir Richard
Bingham, and his soldiers. Some of
the Irish chiefs, many of the poor
destitute Irish people, and the priests
and friars-themselves all under the
merciless persecution of the penal
laws-gave the shipwrecked sailors
such help and consolation as they
could afford. But one shudders on
reading of the wanton slaughter of the
unfortunate Spaniards carried out in
cold blood by the British soldiers.
When the poor, weak, half-starved,
broken-hearted, storm-battered officers
and men, cast on the Irish shore, laid
down their arms, they expected mercy
at least, if not charity; but Bingham
and Fitzwilliam were bent only on ex-
termination. They Fairly revelled in
the slaughter of the shipwrecked
part in the massacres. He marched
four hundred shipwrecked men into
Galway, and there ordered his troops
to STAY them all Then he reported
that, having made clean dispatch of
them, both in the town and in the
day, giving praise and thanks to God
for her Majesty's most happy success
in that action and our deliverance
from such dangerous O. enemies "
Up. 303).
On another occasion, Bingham
gloats over the piteous disaster of the
poor Spaniards, attributing all to the
direct Intervention of Almighty God.
Fitzwilliam, the viceroy, was even
more cruel and ruthless than Bling
ham. Their barbarous and unsoldier-
ly conduct admits neither of palliation
nor defence; and we may well con-
clude with the words of Mr.. Hale (p.
305): ut is not easy to set down pa
tiently the story of such deeds as
those, and one feels sickened at read
ing Bingham's Wanting record of this
cruel and bloody work. introduced by
his praise to God for deliverance from
the cruel and bloody hands of the
Queens enemies"
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