LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2818, 8 July 1916, Page 6

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

A"'; Parallel from the Past. - Re-reading the' other 'evening tlie silly, . land so far as they have affected neutral ■opinion, quite futile mendacities of the /Huns concerning, the great sea fight, -I 'ibetook me to an old and favourito "dipipitig" .book of-mine, v the "Harleian Mis- ' ceilany," 'a collection of "scarce, curious' ian<L,entertaining pamphlets and tracts," mainly of an lnstorical'character, which wore found ill tho library of the Earl of Oxford and' republished in 180?. Quito o'nnmber of the "tracts" and broadsides reproduced in this curious collection refer to the.-, war with iSpain, and expose tlie falsify of; the .many bulletins of im-•aginary.-victories, w.hich tho Spaitisli circulated so industriously on the Continent. One such, .tract is ontitled "A Packo' of\.Spanisho Lyes, Sent Abroad in tho .World; First printed in Spaine, in tho Spanish tongue, "and. translated out of tho Original;...now ripped up, nnffilded, iand by just examination, condemned, as conteyning 1 false, corrupt, and detestable wares, worthy to be damned and burned." .-."Thou snalt destroy them that speak lyes, the Lord ivil abhorre the bloody -. and ; -deceitful man." Psal. v., ver. 6. "Imprinted at London, by tlie deputies,-or Christopher; Barker, . Printer to t.lio Quceub's r most excellent Majestie, .1588." The Spanish, bulletins or letters and .the, English re-futations-are printed'-in parallel columns, and make, interesting reading. Thus,-in the,course of a bulletin issued by, Cosmo do Lara, "printer of books at Sovil, 'Spaing" / the iollowing statement by' one .Diego. Pores, Chiefo Postmaster ofSLogrono,; dated tlie Second of September, 1588:— . • The news-of England is confirmed, hero fcyjft Letter of tho GoveVnou of Hoana. Se'writetli that lie lmth in his power the 'ohiofe piloto of Captain Drako. and that he 'knoweth that all the English Navie remainetbi. overthrown, the Spaniards bavin £ sunlse two and twnntie stilppes, and taken fourtie. and imprisoned TYancis ■Drake, having ; given them chase as liie (north) as Abspurgo and slaino many, and lie'likewise saycth . etc.. etc., etc. , Pacing this partioplar "Spanish lye," ns ! detailed, you will observe, as a Hun pfficial' communique of the present day, is thb English refutation Dr ''condemnation" which gives a very different .Torsion of tho fight, Hero is an extract The Bollen and, Oallois (Boulogne and Calais) can inform the Governor of Boan how false a resort it ■was. There was never either a chief pilote. or tao value of "a ship's boy of Captain DraKo's taken and brought to him as a prisoner. . . . Tho English Navlo fought with tho - Spanishe, chased tho Spajrishe. as a brace of greyhounds would chase a horde of dcere;' tho Spaniards' shippos wero beaten, spoiled, burnt, sunke, some In the rnoine seas afore Dnnkirke, and tho rest chased awayo, some afore Flushing; so as they fleddoi continually n-foro the Engli6li Navio'in their best order lor:,6trengtho without daring- to a'bido any flghto. Tea, some oho of the Engilsli shippes fought with thrco of their fjalliassos; the Spaniards nevor attempted to board any Epglish, but as many of them as could sailo awac, fledrto jrith all their geiles, and were followed by tho English, until they wero chased awaye, out of all the English eeas . . . and the English' Navie, upon good consideration left them, when they sawo them- so liastilie to Hie' desperately into tlio northern dangerous Jbas, whero tho English Navie did very doTtainlie' knowo . that thero would bo no safety for tliem to follow tho Spanislic. . . . Why durst any report that twenty-two English shippes wero sunke and fourtie taken, when. In truth, there Iras not ono of tho English shippes sunko or .taken? A strange disposition to forgo such great lyes, whereof thero was no ground or colour. If any oue or,two of the English liad been sunk a ]yar might hare put tho number of twenty for two, \and excused tho lye by error of figuring, but with nono'in number no number can to made savo by falsehood. , . . Later on in this tract, wo find a Spanish bulletin, "Ad'vitse from London, Trhioli tho Binbassadour of our Soveraigne Lord the King of Spaino resident In Paris, had from tIiMCB," in wkioii It is declared to bb known for oertoine, from persons of credit, that tho Qucene's Admiral Oen-ei-ajl was arrived in tho river of London With twouty-fivo shippes only (having lost., Booordlng to a previous account, twentytaken -whole and aouud by the Spaniards and hewt twenty moro sunk) and jrith.W| lis Admiral! shipne, which was Jw <iuaj Admirall Saint John; and

—James Thomson

It. is well knowon in England that to hide the loss of thoir Admirall'a shippe, they do say he put liimsclfe into a smaller sliippc, the better to follow our fleete; and that it is knowon for cortaintie that lio saved himeelfo in a boat, when ho lose his shippe, and that Drake, for certainie, is taken or eluine. Tho same is confirmed hy way of Holland, by a pinnosseof theirs, and from Amsterdam, that tho Quoeno commanded upon paino of death that nobody shall speako of her fleete. . . . All the above and much more is an-m>.:m-od by tho indignant English com'tor as "a.mouutaine of lyes." The ■nvutator apparently had a pretty V for v.-it. and did not even disdain -. for "he says:— It is reason* that if thero were lyars:in London, they should send them to Ifendoza (tho Spanish Ambassador at Paris) for so Ifendacia (lies) aro of more price to liim than truo jeportoß, and so was ho accustomed, when 'lie was ambassador in England, to buye more lyes, because ho liketh them belter than trueths. And he proceeds to declare that the '"Admiral! shippe, the Arko Royall," so far from having been sunk by tho Spanish, "was safely brought home by tho Lord Admirall of England. Lord Howard, .who never' changed her. She is able, 'with tho Lord Admirall, to match in figlit with the Dulce of Medina or any Prince in Chris.tendoiue in any. shippe that the King of Spaino hath.' And,, he modestly adds:—' This is not spoken for ostentation, but God's favour is assured to England in tho justice of the quarrjlle .against any invader." \ ' As in 15S8, so in 191G, the enemy's lies will not prevent his final discomfiture. The juslico of Britain's "quarrello" with' Germany is fully on a -par with that of her causeagainst -Spame in the grand old Elizabethan day 3. Fighting a lying enemy is no new thinij for England, and to-day .we may quote Scripture as was done by the writer of the tract when he tells the Spandiards: ''Ye are of your Father the Devil and the-Lustes of your Father ye will doe. -Ho hath bene a murtherer from;the beginning and abode not in the trueth, because 'there is- no-...trueth . in " him." (John viii., -U.) How well does this apEly' to the Kaiser, to his vile deeds m Belgium, and his impudent mendacities concerning the great sea. battle.