It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to inquire how Essex came to desire such a thankless office as the government of Ireland. His ambition was not of an ignoble cast; but it is certain that he grasped greedily at every important command, and that he could scarcely brook a superior, or even a colleague. This was clearly shown in his ridiculous quarrel with the Lord Admiral about precedence, no less than in more important matters. He probably saw the Irish difficulty well enough, but any hesitation about incurring the risk of failure was more than counterbalanced by the fear of someone else gaining great glory.
Bacon’s excuses.
Bacon had advised him to remain at Court, but to take Irish affairs under his special protection there, to consult with men who knew the country, to fill places with his own friends, and to patronise others who were likely to be useful. In short, he was urged to make what the newspapers now call political capital out of Ireland, but not to risk himself and his reputation there. While giving this counsel, Bacon had expressed a fear that the Earl was not the man to play such a game skilfully. And so it fell out. By the beginning of the year 1599 Essex saw that he would have to go. Years afterwards, when Elizabeth was gone, Bacon found that an inconvenient cloud hung over him on account of the part he had played. He then tried to persuade others, and possibly succeeded in persuading himself, that he had really ‘used all means he could devise’ to prevent Essex from venturing into Ireland. The fact seems to be that he kept quiet as long as the thing could have been prevented, and did not try to make Essex reconsider the matter when he decided to go. He afterwards said that he ‘did plainly see his overthrow chained as it were by destiny to that journey’; but at the time he did no more than warn him against possible failure from defects of temper, while he enlarged upon the great glory which would follow success. A comparison of extant letters shows that Essex himself was far more impressed than Bacon with the danger and difficulties of the Irish problem, though, when he was on the eve of setting out, his impulsive nature allowed him to brag of the great things that he was going to do.[303]
Opinions of Wotton and Bacon.
‘I have heard him say,’ writes Wotton of Essex, ‘and not upon any flashes or fumes of melancholy, or traverses of discontent, but in a serene and quiet mood, that he could very well have bent his mind to a retired course.’ This is confirmed by other authorities, and indeed Essex, though he had a soldier’s courage, was by nature a student and a dreamer rather than a man of action. Circumstances brought him forward, and his character made him uncomfortable in any place except the highest. Bacon wished him to stay at court with a white staff, as Leicester had done, but the work was uncongenial. If he could have succeeded Burghley, perhaps he might have accepted the position; as it was Ireland offered him the kind of power which he most coveted, and though he was not blind to the danger of leaving a Hanno behind him, he fancied that he was fit to play the part of Hannibal. Just as he was starting Bacon wrote him a long letter of advice, reminding him that the Irish rebels were active and their country difficult, but reminding him also that ‘the justest triumphs that the Romans in their greatness did obtain, and that whereof the emperors in their styles took addition and denomination, were of such an enemy as this... such were the Germans and the Ancient Britons, and divers others. Upon which kind of people, whether the victory were a conquest, or a reconquest upon a rebellion or a revolt, it made no difference that ever I could find in honour.’ Years afterwards Bacon pleaded that he had done what he could to stop Essex, on the ground that the expedition would certainly fall short of public expectation and ‘would mightily diminish his reputation.’ Again he mentions the Germans and Britons, the woods and the bogs, the hardness of the Irishmen’s bodies, so that there can be no doubt about what he alludes to. We have the original letter, and Bacon stands convicted of misrepresentation, the grosser because careless observers might so easily confound it with the reality.[304]
Difficulties and delays.
About the beginning of December the number of Essex’s army was fixed at 14,000. Then there was talk of a smaller establishment, and the affair went through the usual hot and cold phases of all suits at Elizabeth’s court. Spenser had experienced the miseries of hope deferred, and Shakespeare saw the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes. ‘Into Ireland I go,’ writes the Earl on New Year’s day; ‘the Queen hath irrevocably decreed it, the Council do passionately urge it, and I am tied in my own reputation to use no tergiversation.’ He had many misgivings, but had decided in his own mind that he was bound to go. ‘The Court,’ he admitted, ‘is the centre, but methinks it is the fairer choice to command armies than humours.’ In the meanwhile the humour changed daily. Essex was not patient, and the whole wrangle must have been inexpressibly distasteful to him. On Twelfth-day the Queen danced with him, and it was decided that he should start in March. Three weeks later there were fresh difficulties about the excessive number of gentlemen whom he proposed to take with him. As late as March 1, it seemed doubtful whether the Queen’s irrevocable decree would not after all be altered. Mountjoy, who had a much cooler head, had earnestly advised his friend to leave nothing to chance, to his enemies’ pleasure, or to official promises, and it is to the Earl’s consciousness that this advice was sound, that the delays must be chiefly attributed. On March 6 letters patent were passed, releasing him from the arrears of his father’s debts incurred in the same thankless Irish service, and six days later he was formally appointed Lord Lieutenant. That title had not been granted since the return of Sussex thirty-seven years before.[305]
Departure of Essex.
On March 27 Essex took horse at Seething Lane, accompanied by a brilliant suite. Prayers were offered in the churches for his success against the imitators of Korah and Absalom, in whose cases God had manifested to the world his hatred of all rebellion against His divine ordinance, and foreshadowing His probable care for an anointed queen. ‘Do not,’ said the Anglican divines, ‘punish our misdeeds by strengthening the hands of such as despise the truth.’ Through Cornhill and Cheapside, and for more than four miles out of town, the people thronged about their favourite, with such cries as ‘God bless your lordship! God preserve your honour!’ The day was very fine at starting, but ere Islington was passed there came a black north-easter with thunder, hail, and rain; and some held it for a bad omen. Nor did the popular hero travel as though he loved the work or believed in himself. On April 1 he was at Bromley, bitterly complaining that the Queen would not make Sir Christopher Blount a councillor, and announcing that he had sent him back. ‘I shall,’ he wrote, ‘have no such necessary use of his hands, as, being barred the use of his head, I would carry him to his own disadvantage, and the disgrace of the place he should serve in.’ The place was that of Marshal of the army, which Blount did actually fill, and there is no reason to suppose that he would have been any useful addition to the Council. Such virtues as he had, and they were not many, were those of the camp. On the 3rd, Essex was at Tamworth, and on the 5th at Helbry, the island off the Dee which Sir Henry Sidney had found so wearisome. The wind did not serve, and there was a delay of a week before he sailed from Beaumaris, having ridden over Penmaen Mawr, ‘the worst way and in the extremest wet that I have endured.’ After a bad passage Dublin was reached on the 15th. William, 13th Earl of Kildare, ‘with eighteen of the chiefs of Meath and Fingal’ set out to follow in the Lord Lieutenant’s wake. The vessel, built for speed and probably overpressed with canvas, foundered in mid-Channel, and all on board perished.[306]