The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-02-14
The SPANISH AR NJ AD A

POPULAR TRADITIONS SHAT
TERED BY JOHN r. HALE IN HIS
RECENTLY PUBLISHED "sToRY
OF THE GREAT ARMADA"
The popular tradition among British
people about the Spanish Armada, re-
ceives rude shock from Mr.. John R.
Hale in his newly published STORY of
the Great Armada" writes Father
Graham, M. A., in the Catholic Union
and Times of Buffalo. Coming as it
does from a writer who has thorough
ly examined the subject, it should
serve to dispel some of the dark and
erroneous impressions about that
much misunderstood and much mis-
represented exploit of Philip II of
| Spain. I suppose most of us who
were reared in Professionalism were
taught to believe that the Armada was
a religious undertaking with the object
of smashing Elizabeth and of making
England Catholic again; and, implic-
| lily or explicitly, we thanked God that
the kingdom had been saved from the
| horrors of Popery and the Inquisition.
Froude and Kingsley and writer's of
that kind have helped to keep alive
this idea. But Mr.. Hale, basing his
narrative upon contemporary English
and Spanish documents, and writing
without any intention of proving this
or that preconceived theory, throws
new, light on the subject. His book is
fine piece of historical writing With
calm and Independent judgment, sift-
ing out legend from fact and weigh
ling we'll in the balance all authorities
usually cited in connection with the
event, he gives what must commend
itself to any unprecedented reader as a
true and just account of the whole ad-
venture of 1888.
The Popular, and False, Idea.
First let us see what he has to say
about the popular Protestant tradi-
ton. "The plain facts of the case,'
he says Opp. $3.50, ''are very different
from the wild stories of Philips plans
which, first circulated in England at
the time to fan into fury the national
hatred of the foreign enemy, have been
repeated in grave histories and lighter
romances, dressed up anew in contro-
versial pamphlets, and re-echoed in
the popular tradition of three cen
turtles. In England at the time broad
sheets were printed with blood-curd-
| ling accounts of the barbarities said to
have been practised by the Spaniards
in the Indies; of their alleged cruel
treatment of English prisoners; of the
| horrors of the Inquisition-these be-
| ing illustrated with pictures of racks
and instruments of torture. 1t was
declared that the Spanish King hoped
to establish an Inquisition in Eng
land, and that the Queen herself
| (Elizabeth) would be sent to Rome to
| be burned as hereto. This story
of the projected Spanish Inquisition
has found it's way into several histor-
ical works. 1t is gravely stated that
an inquisitor-general and his officials
embarked on board the Armada,
bringing with him a supply of racks
and other engines of torture.
"a few years ago the warders of the
Tower of London used to exhibit to
the visitors they conducted round the
building a thumbscrew and the iron
hoops of the 'Scavenger's Daughter,
and explain that these were instru-
ments of torture taken from captured
vessels of the Armada; and this
though the 'Scavenger's Daughter
was VIGOROUSLY an English invention,
and years before the Armada sailed,
the tower had very complete equip
ment of such horrible instruments as
the rack and the thumbscrew."
The True Explanation.
Now sober history, as we have it
about the motives of religion. The
fight arose from the clash of trade
interests and colonial ambitions "
Philip had no cause and no wish for
quarrel with Elizabeth, but he was
goaded into action by the unwarrant-
able attacks upon his possessions at
the hands of Hawkins and Drake, sail
ors of Elizabeth who raided and plum
dered Spanish ports in the Indies and
carried off huge booty. They were
simply chartered pirates. Elizabeth
herself seized some of Philips ships
and property, and refused to disgorge
penny of the plumber. Moreover,
she supported and subsidized the in
surgents in Philips Netherlands. Any
other ruler than Philip would have
taken action far sooner. But "he was
never Influenced in his policy by i'm
pulse and anger. He was a marvel of
self-restraint, calculating policy" calm
even to the verge of callousness Even
when English Catholics appealed to
him to deliver their prosecuted breth-
rem, and Mary Queen of Scots, from
the cruelty of Elizabeth, he remained
unmoved, and silently pursued his own
settled plans" elsewhere But at last
''the raids of English seamen on his
transatlantic trade and his posses
| cionc in tronica1 Amnrica'' drove him