Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/141

 EDWARD, VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON 117

miles in pursuit of a non-existent enemy. 1 By this time Cadiz had received strong reinforcements and " was apprehended to be so strongly fortified that it was not to be carried without a siege " ; moreover, the commanders w r ere convinced by experience that their troops were unfit for any serious enterprise ; and, above all, it was time to be on the look-out for the Plate fleet. 2 The troops were therefore re-embarked, the fort evacuated, and six days after its arrival in Cadiz Bay, the fleet again put out to sea.

Cecil still hoped to be able to cover his ill-success by the capture of the treasure-ships, and he there- fore took up his position in the Atlantic to await their arrival. Unfortunately, the Spanish fleet, having heard rumours of war, had taken a southerly course, and sailing up the coast of Africa, crept into Cadiz Bay two days after the English had left. Of this Cecil was ignorant, and from November 4th to I7th, his foul and leaky ships " beat it out at sea," until, battered by storms which they were in no state to resist, and with their crews diminishing daily owing to the putrid condition of their food and drink, they made

1 Cecil was himself in command of this adventure. Finding that there had been a false alarm, instead of returning, he marched on, in the hope of something turning up. Meanwhile most of his men had had no food since the previous day, and, finding a store of wine in some houses near where they halted for the night, they threw off all discipline, broke violently into the cellars, and very soon the whole army was raving drunk. The only thing to be said for Cecil in this affair is that he had given instructions that provisions should be provided, though he had omitted to see whether they were carried out (Gardiner, VI. 18, 19 ; Glanville, pp. 59, 60).

2 Glanville, p. 66.

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