Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/345

Bacon his offer was repeated, was written after he knew that Egerton had been named a member of the commission which had been appointed to examine certain charges brought against the actual holder of the clerkship, the transaction assumes an aspect which ought to have opened Bacon's eyes to its questionable character, though, judging from his subsequent proceedings as chancellor, his eyes were very hard to open.

In the parliament which opened on 24 Oct. 1597, Bacon, as member for Southampton, had the satisfaction of seeing legislation proposedand carried for objects of which he heartily approved, such as the maintenance of husbandry and the relief of the poor.

In the meanwhile Bacon's doubts of the possibility of making a statesman of Essex must have been growing. In the summer of 1597 the earl was absent from England on what is known as the Island Voyage. On his return after failing to capture the Spanish treasure fleet, he showed himself more discontented and unreasonable than ever. Bacon, who wished him to give up military enterprises, was not likely to obtain a cordial response from a man who would resent such a proposalas thrusting him off a field in which he believed himself specially qualified to shine, in order to give him a position in which Bacon would be his master and inspirer. However this may have been, in the middle of February 1598 circumstances concurred to assist Bacon's wishes. The secretary, Sir Robert Cecil, left England on a diplomatic mission to France, and Essex was employed to do his work in his absence. At this time, therefore. Bacon thought the opportunity had come to fix Essex in the career of a statesmanby interesting him in that problem of the government of Ireland which was one of the most important of the political questions of the day. In a letter of advice he skilfully selected the ground on which he was most sure of gaining the good will of Essex, by speaking of the subject as 'one of the aptest particulars for your lordship to purchase honour upon.' For the present, however, he contented himself with recommending Essex to take advice from those who were best qualified to give it.

Essex appears to have been willing enough to take up the Irish question, and to have listened to Bacon's advice on the subject of the negotiations which were then pending with Tyrone. Before anything was settled, however, Essex's hot temper had again blazed up into defiance of the queen; and though a reconciliation was effected about the end of October, it was then too late to bring Ireland into order by peaceful statesmanship, as the greater part of the country was already in insurrection.

In the meanwhile Bacon's own private necessities had been growing upon him, and on 23 Sept. he was arrested for debt. He was not long detained, and soon after he recovered his freedom he found the whole world agitated by the question whether Essex was to take the command in Ireland or not.

Of the whole of the advice given by Bacon to Essex on his assumption of the Irish command we cannot speak with certainty. In his subsequent 'Apology' Bacon said that he had dissuaded Essex from going, on the ground that he would not only risk the loss of the queen's favour, but would find the Irish as difficult to conquer as the Romans had found the Gauls, Britons, or Germans. On the other hand we have an actual letter in which Bacon encourages Essex to go, on the grounds that he is likely to succeed, and that, as the Romans gained greater glory by reducing to civilisation barbarians like the Germans and Britons, he might gain glory by bringing the Irish under a just and civil government. He ends by begging Essex to remember 'that merit is worthier than fame,' and 'obedience is better than sacrifice,' and, in short, that he is not to act in the hot-headed manner usual to him. It is possible, as Dr. Abbott has suggested (Bacon and Essex, 115), that there was but one letter, and that Bacon's memory played him false; and it is also possible that there where really two written, the one before Essex had made up his mind, and the other after he had determined on his course, and that Bacon might urge at one time that people like the Britons and Gauls were hard to conquer, and at the other that glory might be achieved by bringing them under law and order. Such repetitions are very much after Bacon's style. At all events, even if this explanation be rejected, it is plain from the published letter that Bacon took the opportunity of warning Essex against a very real danger in his path.

On 27 March 1599 Essex set out. He was neither a good strategist nor a good administrator.By the beginning of August he had lost the greater part of his army in useless marches, so that the Irish council advised him not to proceed to Ulster against the chief rebel, Tyrone, that year at all. Just at this time, however, he received a letter from the queen forbidding him to return to England before he had attacked Tyrone. On this Essex lost his temper, and talked wildly to his confidants of going to England with two or three thousand soldiers, apparently to drive away from the queen those enemies to whose influence he attributed his misfortunes.