1639 PENNINGTON IN THE DOWNS. 65 task. It is true that nothing was done by Newport to carry out this promise, and it is possible that, on second thoughts, he considered it to be too audacious to be put in practice. That such a bargain should ever have been contemplated is, however, sufficient evidence of the low tone of morality which prevailed at Charles's Court. A day or two later Cardenas reported home that he had gained a step with Charles. Orders had been given to Pennington to protect Oquendo from any hostile attacks Oct. 8. The Spaniards to be protected. Penning ton's instructions. as long as he remained in the Downs. If, indeed, the ambassador had been allowed to read the despatch in which these orders were conveyed, he would hardly have been as sanguine as he was. "I have made his Majesty acquainted with that part of your letter," wrote the Lord Admiral to his subordinate, "which concerns your demeanour between the Holland and the Spanish admirals, unto which his Majesty's answer is this, that you are to let the Holland admiral know that his Majesty is now celebrating the feast of St. George at Windsor, but within four days. will return to London, and is then resolved to appoint a short time for both fleets to depart the road; and upon the assurance which the Holland Ambassador hath given his Majesty, he rests confident that in the meanwhile no acts of hostility will be committed by them in that place. This being done, you are to send to the Spanish Admiral to inform yourself in what state they are to defend themselves, and to resist that great force of the Hollanders which now threatens them. If, when the Hollanders assault the others, you see the Spaniards defend themselves so well that, with the help of those few ships that are with you, they shall be able to make their party good -which the King, upon the reports of some, is well inclined to believe-then are you to give them your best assistance, otherwise you must make as handsome a retreat as you can in so unlucky a business." As far as any inference can be drawn from directions so incoherent, it would seem that Charles, at J Cardenas to Salamanca, Oct. Cardenas to the Cardinal Infant, Oct., Brussels MSS. Sec. Esp. cclxxx. fol. 129, 147. 21' VOL. IX. 14 F the moment, hoped more from France than from Spain. "More particular instructions," added Northumberland, "I cannot get for you, which you must manage to your best advantage." The King's message to Cardenas. To do Charles justice, he did not leave Cardenas entirely in the dark. He sent Endymion Porter to tell him that 'the King hath showed his care of the Spanish fleet with all the kindness that could be expected, and that, if the wind sit where it doth, it will be impossible for his ships to come to protect them against the Hollander; but his Majesty will do the best he can. Howsoever, he would have the Spaniards prepare themselves for the worst, for they cannot imagine but that he will have to limit a time for their abode in his port. In the mean time, he shail keep them from hostility, if it be possible, and his Majesty hath given the best order he can to that purpose.' Cardenas was also to be told 'how great a prejudice it would be to the King if they should fight in the harbour, for if any ships should miscarry, and be sunk there, it would be the ruin of the best harbour in the kingdom." But," reported Porter, "it seems the Spaniard regards nothing but his own accommodation, nor will they look about them until the King assign him a day to set sail, the which will be required from him; and when they are out of the port they must trust to their own force, for his Majesty will protect them no farther." If, in short, the Spaniards were to be sunk, they ought to oblige the King by choosing deep water to be sunk in. Charles, however, was prepared to face even the disagreeable alternative of a combat in the Downs. On the 10th Oct. 10. A conflict expected. Suffolk was directed, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, to provide board and lodging for any Spaniards who might take refuge on shore, in case of a fight, at least as long as they were able to pay for his hospitality.2 A man who is so uncertain of his intentions as Charles Northumberland to Pennington, Oct. 8, S. P. Dom. ccccxxx. 47. * Porter to Windebank, Oct. 9; Windebank to Suffolk, Oct. 10, ibid. ccccxxx. 57, 60. 1639 Oct. 12. Offers of Cardenas, Oct. 8. The French POWDER FOR OQUENDO. 67 had shown himself to be, ceases to have the power of making his intentions respected. On the 12th Cardenas was occupied with Windebank in drawing up an engagement, by which a considerable sum of money was to be secured to Charles in return for his protection, when unexpected news arrived from the Downs. The reply of the French Government to Charles's overtures was written on the 8th. Of his demand, that his nephew should reply. be placed in command of Bernhard's troops, it took no notice; but it distinctly asserted, that if France was to enter into any engagement with respect to the Palatinate, the six thousand men offered in return must be paid by Charles as well as levied. If he allowed the Spanish flect to escape, the statesmen of Madrid would laugh at him as Gondomar had laughed at his father.2 Richelieu had long ago taken the measure of Charles's capacity for aid or resistance. He did not wait, as Cardenas was obliged to wait, for Charles's resolution. Reinforce There ments for can be little doubt that Tromp acted under advice Oquendo. from the Cardinal. Whether this were so or not, the Dutch admiral knew that his enemy was growing stronger under his eyes. Thirty sloops arrived from Dunkirk laden with reinforcements for Oquendo. In the evening of the 10th Oct. 1o. the barrels of powder, which had been purchased at The powder so exorbitant a price, were at last alongside his ships. the Downs. The night, however, was closing in, and the Spaniards did not venture to bring them on board by the light of a candle.3 brought into But little of that powder ever reached the holds of the Spanish ships. Tromp knew that there was no time to be lost. He had a hundred armed vessels with him now, besides fire 22 › Cardenas to the Cardina! Infant, Oct. 12, Brussels MSS. Sec. Esp. cclxxx. fol. 152. Gage to Windebank, Oct. 12, Clar. S. P. ii. 79. 8 29 2 Memoir to Bellievre, Oct. Bibl. Nat. Fr. 15,995, fol. 373. 18' • Pennington to Northumberland, Oct. 11, S. P. Dom. ccccxxx. 77. Oct. II. in the Downs. ships ready to be let loose on the disabled foe. On the evening of the toth a shot, accidentally fired from on board a Spanish vessel, had killed a Dutch sailor. Tromp charged the Spaniards with a breach of the peace. In the morning of the 11th, whilst the Spanish powder was still in the boats, The sea-fight Tromp ranged up alongside of his outnumbered and unprepared antagonists. At eight, Pennington was roused by the boom of cannon-shot sounding out of the fog which lay heavily on the water. It was impossible for him to know which fleet had been the first to fire, and he tried hard to persuade himself that the Spaniards had been the aggressors. He knew that he could do but little good by thrusting himself between the Dutchmen and their prey, whilst the orders which he had received had been too incoherent to justify him in exposing his men to slaughter in a cause so unpopular. In an hour's time the firing came almost to an end. Some twenty Spanish vessels had run ashore to escape from their pursuers. The rest made off towards the South Foreland, chased by the Dutch. By this time Pennington had placed himself to windward, and after firing some shots at the victorious Dutch ships, returned to protect the stranded vessels, one of which was already blazing, and to seize upon two of Tromp's ships which had run ashore in the fog. Of the remaining Spaniards not a few were taken or sunk. The rest-numbering, according to various accounts, from ten to eighteen-reached Dunkirk in safety.1 The King's Charles was highly indignant. His golden dream of a choice between 150,000l. from Spain, and the command of Bernhard's army for his nephew, had vanished in the displeasure. smoke of Tromp's guns. His boasted sovereignty of the seas had been flouted in his very harbour by the audacious Netherlanders. Yet it was not in his power to take revenge. The barrenness of the exchequer, which had checked his march across the Tweed, would hardly allow him to embark upon a war with the Dutch. He ordered Pennington to get Relation by Pennington and others, Oct. 11. News-Letter, Oct. 12, S. P. Dom. ccccxxx. 74, ccccxxxi. 4. Account of the action, Nalson, i. 258. Extract from a letter, S. P. Flanders, Rushworth, iii. 969. 1639 ALARMING RUMOURS. 69 off the stranded Spanish vessels and to convoy them to Dunkirk. More than that he could not do.1 Damaging as was the true story of the fight in the Downs to Charles's reputation, it was concealed from the eyes of his Remours Spanish subjects. Its place was, however, taken by a cloud of rumour no less damaging. Oquendo's fleet, it was believed, had been intended to land troops not in Flanders, but in England. Men sapiently informed one another that the Governor of the Isle of Wight-the heir of Lord Treasurer Portland, who was himself suspected to be a Catholic in disguise-had shot away all his powder as a salvo at the drinking of healths, with the evident intention of leaving the island without the means of resistance; and that the arms of the county of Kent had been, with a similar intention, exhausted in supplying its trained bands on the Borders. The Governor of Dunkirk, it was said, had been so astonished at the arrival of the first shiploads of escaped soldiers, for which he was entirely unprepared, that he had at first refused them admission. From all this it was easy to conclude that England had been saved by the gallant Dutchmen from a grave peril—a peril all the more dangerous because the invaders, unlike the invaders of 1588, had the Sovereign of England on their side.2 Unfounded as the suspicion was, it cannot be said to have been absurd. Only a few months before, Charles had been planning how to obtain the services of 6,000 Spanish veterans for his war against the Scots, and the notion was already ripening in the minds of Englishmen, that an attack on Scotland was equivalent to an attack on England. Another disappointment was in store for Charles. His nephew had made his way in disguise through Paris, and had 1 Salvetti's News-Letter, Nov. —. 2 Rushworth, iii. 969. Examination of Dominey, Sept. 16, S. P. Dom. ccccxxviii. 94. Salvetti, in his News-Letter of Oct. says that the idea was spread by the French and Dutch Puritan faction, and speaks of it as an 'artifizio che se bene non ha colpito in quelli che governono, ha nondimeno intossicato talmente il popolo che malamente si può loro ridurre a credere il contrario.' |