WAR WITH THE TURKS.
League against the Turks--Preparations for the War--Don John
Commander-in-Chief--His Reception at Naples--His Departure from Messina.
1570-1571.
While Philip was occupied with the Morisco insurrection, his attention
was called to another quarter, where a storm was gathering that menaced
Spain in common with the rest of Christendom. In 1566, Solyman the
Magnificent closed his long and prosperous reign. His son and successor,
Selim the Second, possessed few of the qualities of his great father.
Bred in the seraglio, he showed the fruits of his education in his
indolent way of life, and in the free indulgence of the most licentious
appetites. With these effeminate tastes, he inherited the passion for
conquest which belonged not only to his father, but to the whole of his
warlike dynasty. Not that, like them, he headed his armies in the field.
These were led by valiant commanders, who had learned the art of war
under Solyman. Selim was, above all, fortunate in possessing for his
grand vizier a minister whose untiring industry and remarkable talents
for business enabled him to bear on his own shoulders the whole burden
of government. It was fortunate for the state, as well as for the
sultan, that Mahomet had the art to win the confidence of his master,
and to maintain it unshaken through the whole of his reign.
The scheme which most occupied the thoughts of Selim was the conquest of
Cyprus. This island, to which nature had been so prodigal of her gifts,
belonged to Venice. Yet, placed at the extremity of the Mediterranean,
it seemed in a manner to command the approaches to the Dardanelles,
while its line of coast furnished convenient ports, from which swarms of
cruisers might sally forth in time of war, and plunder the Turkish
commerce.
Selim, resolved on the acquisition of Cyprus, was not slow in devising a
pretext for claiming it from Venice as a part of the Ottoman empire. The
republic, though willing to make almost any concession rather than come
to a rupture with the colossal power under whose shadow she lay, was not
prepared to surrender without a struggle the richest gem in her colonial
diadem. War was accordingly declared against her by the Porte, and vast
preparations were made for fitting out an armament against Cyprus.
Venice, in her turn, showed her usual alacrity in providing for the
encounter. She strained her resources to the utmost. In a very short
time she equipped a powerful fleet, and took measures to place the
fortifications of Cyprus in a proper state of defence. But Venice no
longer boasted a navy such as in earlier days had enabled her to humble
the pride of Genoa, and to ride the unquestioned mistress of the
Mediterranean. The defences of her colonies, moreover, during her long
repose, had gradually fallen into decay. In her extremity, she turned to
the Christian powers of Europe, and besought them to make common cause
with her against the enemy of Christendom.
[Sidenote: LEAGUE AGAINST THE TURKS.]
Fortunately the chair of St. Peter was occupied, at this crisis, by Pius
the Fifth, one of those pontiffs who seem to have been called forth by
the exigencies of the time, to uphold the pillars of Catholicism, as
they were yet trembling under the assaults of Luther. Though he was near
seventy years of age, the fire of youth still glowed in his veins. He
possessed all that impetuous eloquence which, had he lived in the days
of Peter the Hermit, would have enabled him, like that enthusiast, to
rouse the nations of Europe to a crusade against the infidel. But the
days of the crusades were past; and a summons from the Vatican had no
longer the power to stir the souls of men like a voice from heaven. The
great potentates of Europe were too intent on their own selfish schemes
to be turned from these by the apprehension of a danger so remote as
that which menaced them from the East. The forlorn condition of Venice
had still less power to move them; and that haughty republic was now
made to feel, in the hour of her distress, how completely her perfidious
and unscrupulous policy had estranged from her the sympathies of her
neighbours.
There was one monarch, however, who did not close his ears against the
appeal of Venice,--and that monarch, one of more importance to her cause
than any other, perhaps all others united. In the spring of 1570, Luigi
Torres, clerk of the apostolic chamber, was sent to Spain by Pius the
Fifth, to plead the cause of the republic. He found the king at Ecija,
on the route from Cordova, where he had been for some time presiding
over a meeting of the Cortes. The legate was graciously received by
Philip, to whom he presented a letter from his holiness, urging the
monarch, in the most earnest and eloquent language, to give succour to
Venice, and to unite with her in a league against the infidel. Philip
did not hesitate to promise his assistance in the present emergency; but
he had natural doubts as to the expediency of binding himself by a
league with a power on whose good faith he had little reliance. He
postponed his decision until his arrival at Seville. Accompanied by the
legate, on the first of May, he made his solemn entry into the great
commercial capital of the South. It was his first visit there, and he
was received with tumultuous joy by the loyal inhabitants. Loyalty to
their monarchs has ever been a predominant trait of the Spaniards; and
to none of their princes did they ever show it in larger measure than to
Philip the Second. No one of them, certainly, was more thoroughly
Spanish in his own nature, or more deeply attached to Spain.
After swearing to respect the privileges of the city, the king received
the homage of the authorities. He then rode through the streets under a
gorgeous canopy, upheld by the principal magistrates, and visited the
churches and monasteries, hearing _Te Deum_, and offering up his prayers
in the cathedral. He was attended by a gay procession of nobles and
cavaliers, while the streets of the populous city were thronged with
multitudes, filled with enthusiasm at the presence of their sovereign.
By this loyal escort Philip was accompanied to the place of his
residence, the royal alcazar of Seville. Here he prolonged his stay for
a fortnight, witnessing the shows and festivals which had been prepared
for his entertainment. At his departure he received a more substantial
proof of the attachment of the citizens, in a donation of six hundred
thousand ducats. The object of this magnificent present was to defray,
in part, the expenses of the king's approaching marriage with his fourth
wife, Anne of Austria, the daughter of his cousin, the emperor
Maximilian. The fair young bride had left her father's court, and was
already on her way to Madrid, where her nuptials were to be celebrated,
and where she was to take the place of the lovely Isabella, whose death,
not two years since, had plunged the nation in mourning.[289]
While at Seville, Philip laid the subject of the league before his
ministers. Some of these, and among the number Espinosa, president of
the council of Castile, entertained great doubts as to the policy of
binding Spain by a formal treaty with the Venetian republic. But, with
all his distrust of that power, Philip took a broader view of the matter
than his ministers. Independently of his willingness to present himself
before the world as the great champion of the Faith, he felt that such
an alliance offered the best opportunity for crippling the maritime
power of Turkey, and thus providing for the safety of his own colonial
possessions in the Mediterranean. After much deliberation, he dismissed
the legate with the assurance that, notwithstanding the troubles which
pressed on him both in the Low Countries and in Granada, he would
furnish immediate succours to Venice, and would send commissioners to
Rome, with full powers to unite with those of the pope and the republic
in forming a treaty of alliance against the Ottoman Porte. The papal
envoy was charged with a letter to the same effect, addressed by Philip
to his holiness.
The ensuing summer, the royal admiral, the famous John Andrew Doria, who
was lying with a strong squadron off Sicily, put to sea by the king's
orders. He was soon after reinforced by a few galleys which were
furnished by his holiness, and placed under the command of Mark Antonio
Colonna, the representative of one of the most ancient and illustrious
houses in Rome. On the last of August, 1570, the combined fleet effected
its junction with the Venetians at Candia, and a plan of operations was
immediately arranged. It was not long before the startling intelligence
arrived that Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, had been taken and sacked
by the Turks, with all the circumstances of cruelty which distinguish
wars in which the feeling of national hostility is embittered by
religious hatred. The plan was now to be changed. A dispute arose among
the commanders as to the course to be pursued. No one had authority
enough to enforce compliance with his own opinion. The dispute ended in
a rupture. The expedition was abandoned; and the several commanders
returned home with their squadrons, without having struck a blow for the
cause. It was a bad omen for the success of the league.[290]
Still the stout-hearted pontiff was not discouraged. On the contrary, he
endeavoured to infuse his own heroic spirit into the hearts of his
allies, giving them the most cheering assurances for the future, if they
would but be true to themselves. Philip did not need this encouragement.
Once resolved, his was not a mind lightly to be turned from its purpose.
Venice, on the other hand, soon showed that the Catholic king had good
reason for distrusting her fidelity. Appalled by the loss of Nicosia,
with her usual inconstancy, she despatched a secret agent to
Constantinople, to see if some terms might not yet be made with the
Sultan. The negotiation could not be managed so secretly, however, but
that notice of it reached the ears of Pius the Fifth. He forthwith
despatched an envoy to the republic to counteract this measure, and to
persuade the Venetians to trust to their Christian allies rather than to
the Turks, the enemies of their country and their religion. The person
selected for this mission was Colonna, who was quite as much
distinguished for his address as for his valour. He performed his task
well. He represented so forcibly to the government that the course he
recommended was the one dictated not less by interest than by honour,
that they finally acquiesced, and recalled their agent from
Constantinople. It must be acknowledged that Colonna's arguments were
greatly strengthened by the cold reception given to the Venetian envoy
at Constantinople, where it was soon seen that the conquest of the
capital had by no means tended to make the sultan relax his hold on
Cyprus.[291]
[Sidenote: LEAGUE AGAINST THE TURKS.]
Towards the close of 1570, the deputies from the three powers met in
Rome to arrange the terms of the league. Spain was represented by the
cardinals Granvelle and Pacheco, together with the ambassador, Juan de
Zuniga, all three at that time being resident in Rome. It will readily
be believed that the interests of Spain would not suffer in the hands of
a commission with so skilful a tactician as Granvelle to direct it.
Yet though the parties seemed to be embarked in a common cause, there
was found much difficulty in reconciling their different pretensions.
The deputies from Venice, in the usual spirit of her diplomacy, regarded
the league as exclusively designed for her benefit; in other words, for
the protection of Cyprus against the Turks. The Spanish commissioners
took a wider view, and talked of the war as one waged by the Christian
against the Infidel; against the Moors no less than the Turks. In this
politic view of the matter, the Catholic king was entitled to the same
protection for his colonies on the coast of Africa as Venice claimed for
Cyprus.
Another cause of disagreement was the claim of each of the parties to
select a commander-in-chief for the expedition from its own nation. This
pre-eminence was finally conceded to Spain, as the power that was to
bear the largest share of the expenses.
It was agreed that the treaty should be permanent in its duration, and
should be directed against the Moors of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, as
well as against the Turks; that the contracting parties should furnish
two hundred galleys, one hundred transports and smaller vessels, fifty
thousand foot, and four thousand five hundred horse, with the requisite
artillery and munitions; that by April, at farthest, of every succeeding
year, a similar force should be held in readiness by the allies for
expeditions to the Levant; and that any year in which there was no
expedition in common, and either Spain or the republic should desire to
engage in one on her own account against the Infidel, the other
confederates should furnish fifty galleys towards it; that if the enemy
should invade the dominions of any of the three powers, the others
should be bound to come to the aid of their ally; that three-sixths of
the expenses of the war should be borne by the Catholic king, two-sixths
by the republic, the remaining sixth by the Holy See; that the Venetians
should lend his holiness twelve galleys, which he was to man and equip
at his own charge, as his contribution towards the armament; that each
power should appoint a captain-general; that the united voices of the
three commanders should regulate the plan of operations; that the
execution of this plan should be entrusted to the captain-general of the
league, and that this high office should be given to Don John of
Austria; that, finally, no one of the parties should make peace, or
enter into a truce with the enemy, without the knowledge and consent of
the others.[292]
Such were the principal provisions of the famous treaty of the Holy
League. The very first article declares this treaty perpetual in its
nature. Yet we should be slow to believe that the shrewd and politic
statesmen who directed the affairs of Spain and the republic could for a
moment believe in the perpetuity of a contract which imposed such
burdensome obligations on the parties. In fact, the league did not hold
together two years. But it held together long enough to accomplish a
great result, and as such occupies an important place in the history of
the times.
Although a draft of the treaty had been prepared in the latter part of
the preceding year, it was not ratified till 1571.[293] On the
twenty-fourth of May, the pope caused it to be read aloud in full
consistory. He then, laying his hand on his breast, solemnly swore to
the observance of it. The ambassadors of Spain and Venice made oath to
the same effect, on behalf of their governments, placing their hands on
a missal with a copy of the Gospels beneath it. On the day following,
after mass had been performed, the treaty was publicly proclaimed in the
church of St. Peter.[294]
The tidings of the alliance of the three powers caused a great sensation
throughout Christendom. Far from dismaying the sultan, however, it only
stimulated him to greater exertions. Availing himself of the resources
of his vast empire, he soon got together a powerful fleet, partly drawn
from his own dominions, and in part from those of the Moslem powers on
the Mediterranean, who acknowledged allegiance to the Porte. The armada
was placed under the command of Selim's brother-in-law, the Pacha Piali,
a man of an intrepid spirit, who had given many proofs of a humane and
generous nature; qualities more rare among the Turks, perhaps among all
nations, than mere physical courage.
Early in the spring of 1571, the Ottoman admiral sailed out of the
Golden Horn, and directed his course towards Candia. Here he remained
until joined by a strong Algerine force under the redoubtable corsair
Uluch Ali,--a Calabrian renegade, who had risen from the humblest
condition to the post of dey of Algiers. Early in the season the
combined fleets sailed for the Adriatic; and Piali, after landing and
laying waste the territory belonging to the republic, detached Uluch
with his squadron to penetrate higher up the gulf. The Algerine, in
executing these orders, advanced so near to Venice as to throw the
inhabitants of that capital into a consternation such as they had not
felt since the cannon of the Genoese, two centuries before, had
resounded over their waters. But it was not the dey's purpose to engage
in so formidable an enterprise as an assault upon Venice; and soon
drawing off, he joined the commander-in-chief at Corfu, where they
waited for tidings of the Christian fleet.[295]
The indefatigable Pius, even before the treaty was signed, had
despatched his nephew, Cardinal Alessandrino, to the different courts,
to rouse the drooping spirits of the allies, and to persuade other
princes of Christendom to join the league. In the middle of May, the
legate, attended by a stately train of ecclesiastics, appeared at
Madrid. Philip gave him a reception that fully testified his devotion to
the Holy See. The king's brother, Don John, and his favourite minister,
Ruy Gomez de Silva, with some of the principal nobles, waited at once on
the cardinal who had taken up his quarters in the suburbs, at the
Dominican monastery of Atocha, tenanted by brethren of his own order. On
the following morning the papal envoy made his entrance, in great state,
into the capital. He was mounted on a mule, gorgeously caparisoned, the
gift of the city. John of Austria rode on his right; and he was escorted
by a pompous array of prelates and grandees, who seemed to vie with one
another in the splendour of their costumes. On the way he was met by the
royal cavalcade. As the legate paid his obeisance to the monarch, he
remained with his head uncovered; and Philip, with a similar act of
courtesy, while he addressed a few remarks to the churchman, held his
hat in his hand.[296] He then joined the procession, riding between the
legate on the right and his brother on the left, who was observed, from
time to time, to take part in the conversation,--a circumstance
occasioning some surprise, says an historian, as altogether contrary to
the established etiquette of the punctilious Castilian court.[297]
[Sidenote: PREPARATIONS FOR THE WAR.]
The ceremonies were concluded by religious services in the church of
Santa Maria, where the legate, after preaching a discourse, granted all
present a full remission of the pains of purgatory for two hundred
years.[298] A gift of more worth, in a temporal view, was the grant to
the king of the _cruzada_, the _excusada_, and other concessions of
ecclesiastical revenue, which the Roman see knows so well how to bestow
on the champions of the Faith. These concessions came in good time to
supply the royal coffers, sorely drained by the costly preparations for
the war.
Meanwhile, the Venetians were pushing forward their own preparations
with their wonted alacrity,--indeed, with more alacrity than
thoroughness. They were prompt in furnishing their quota of vessels, but
discreditably remiss in their manner of equipping them. The fleet was
placed under the charge of Sebastian Veniero, a noble who had grown grey
in the service of his country. Zanne, who had had the command of the
fleet in the preceding summer, was superseded on the charge of
incapacity, shown especially in his neglect to bring the enemy to
action. His process continued for two years, without any opportunity
being allowed to the accused of appearing in his own vindication. It was
finally brought to a close by his death,--the consequence, as it is
said, of a broken heart. If it were so, it would not be a solitary
instance of such a fate in the annals of the stern republic. Before
midsummer the new admiral sailed with his fleet, or as much of it as was
then ready, for the port of Messina, appointed as the place of
rendezvous for the allies. Here he was soon joined by Colonna, the papal
commander, with the little squadron furnished by his holiness; and the
two fleets lay at anchor, side by side, in the capacious harbour,
waiting the arrival of the rest of the confederates and of John of
Austria.
Preparations for the war were now going actively forward in Spain.
Preparations on so large a scale had not been seen since the war with
Paul the Fourth and Henry the Third, which ushered in Philip's
accession. All the great ports in the Peninsula, as well as in the
kingdom of Naples, in Sicily, in the Balearic Isles, in every part of
the empire in short, swarmed with artisans, busily engaged in fitting
out the fleet which was to form Philip's contingent to the armament. By
the terms of the treaty, he was to bear one-half of the charges of the
expedition. In his naval preparations he spared neither cost nor care.
Ninety royal galleys, and more than seventy ships of small dimensions,
were got in readiness in the course of the summer. They were built and
equipped in that thorough manner which vindicated the pre-eminence in
naval architecture claimed by Spain, and formed a strong contrast to the
slovenly execution of the Venetians.[299]
Levies of troops were at the same time diligently enforced in all parts
of the monarchy. Even a corps of three thousand German mercenaries was
subsidized for the campaign. Troops were drawn from the veteran
garrisons in Lombardy and the kingdom of Naples. As the Morisco
insurrection was fortunately quelled, the forces engaged in it, among
whom were the brave Neapolitan battalion and its commander, Padilla,
could now be employed in the war against the Turk.
But it can hardly be said to have required extraordinary efforts to fill
the ranks on the present occasion; for seldom had a war been so popular
with the nation. Indeed, the Spaniards entered into it with an alacrity
which might well have suggested the idea that their master had engaged
in it on his own account, rather than as an ally. It was, in truth, a
war that appealed in a peculiar manner to the sensibilities of the
Castilian, familiar from his cradle with the sound of the battle-cry
against the Infidel. The whole number of infantry raised by the
confederates amounted to twenty-nine thousand. Of this number Spain
alone sent over nineteen thousand well-appointed troops, comprehending
numerous volunteers, many of whom belonged to the noblest houses of the
Peninsula.[300]
On the sixth of June, Don John, after receiving the last instructions of
his brother, set out from Madrid on his journey to the south. Besides
his own private establishment, making a numerous train, he was escorted
by a splendid company of lords and cavaliers, eager to share with him in
the triumphs of the Cross. Anxious to reach the goal, he pushed forward
at a more rapid rate than was altogether relished by the rest of the
cavalcade. Yet, notwithstanding this speed on the road, there were
matters that claimed his attention in the towns through which he passed
that occasioned some delay. His journey had the appearance of a royal
progress. The castles of the great lords were thrown open with princely
hospitality to receive him and his suite. In the chief cities, as
Saragossa and Barcelona, he was entertained by the viceroys with all the
pomp and ceremony that could have been shown to the king himself. He
remained some days in the busy capital of Catalonia, and found there
much to engage his attention in the arsenals and dockyards, now alive
with the bustle of preparation. He then made a brief pilgrimage to the
neighbouring hermitage of our Lady of Montserrat, where he paid his
devotions, and conversed with the holy fathers, whom he had always
deeply reverenced, and had before visited in their romantic solitudes.
[Sidenote: DON JOHN'S RECEPTION AT NAPLES.]
Embarking at Barcelona, he set sail with a squadron of more than thirty
galleys,--a force strong enough to guard against the Moslem corsairs in
the Mediterranean, and landed, on the twenty-fifth, at Genoa. The doge
and the senate came out to welcome him, and he was lodged during his
stay in the palace of Andrew Doria. Here he received embassies and
congratulatory addresses from the different princes of Italy. He had
already been greeted with an autograph letter, couched in the most
benignant terms, from the sovereign pontiff. To all these communications
Don John was careful to reply. He acquainted his holiness, in
particular, with the whole course of his proceedings. While on the way,
he had received a letter from his brother, giving him a full catalogue
of the appropriate titles by which each one of his correspondents should
be addressed. Nor was this list confined to crowned heads, but
comprehended nobles and cavaliers, of every degree.[301] In no country
has the perilous code of etiquette been more diligently studied than in
Spain, and no Spaniard was better versed in it than Philip.
Pursuing his route by water, Don John, in the month of August, dropped
anchor in the beautiful bay of Naples. Arrangements had been made in
that city for his reception on a more magnificent scale than any he had
witnessed on his journey. Granvelle, who had lately been raised to the
post of viceroy, came forth, at the head of a long and brilliant
procession, to welcome his royal guest. The houses that lined the
streets were hung with richly-tinted tapestries, and gaily festooned
with flowers. The windows and verandahs were graced with the beauty and
fashion of that pleasure-loving capital; and many a dark eye sparkled as
it gazed on the fine form and features of the youthful hero, who at the
age of twenty-four had come to Italy to assume the baton of command, and
lead the crusade against the Moslems. His splendid dress of white velvet
and cloth of gold set off his graceful person to advantage. A crimson
scarf floated loosely over his breast; and his snow-white plumes,
drooping from his cap, mingled with the yellow curls that fell in
profusion over his shoulders. It was a picture which the Italian maiden
might love to look on. It was certainly not the picture of the warrior
sheathed in the iron panoply of war. But the young prince, in his
general aspect, might be relieved from the charge of effeminacy, by his
truly chivalrous bearing and the dauntless spirit which beamed from his
clear blue eye. In his own lineaments he seemed to combine all that was
most comely in the lineaments of his race. Fortunately he had escaped
the deformity of the heavy Burgundian lip, which he might perhaps have
excused, as establishing his claims to a descent from the imperial house
of Hapsburg.[302]
Don John had found no place more busy with preparations for the campaign
than Naples. A fleet was riding at anchor in her bay, ready to sail
under the command of Don Alvaro Bazan, first marquis of Santa Cruz, a
nobleman who had distinguished himself by more than one gallant
achievement in the Mediterranean, and who was rapidly laying the
foundations of a fame that was one day to eclipse that of every other
admiral in Castile.
Ten days Don John remained at Naples, detained by contrary winds. Though
impatient to reach Messina, his time passed lightly amidst the _fetes_
and brilliant spectacles which his friendly hosts had provided for his
entertainment. He entered gaily into the revels; for he was well skilled
in the courtly and chivalrous exercises of the day. Few danced better
than he, or rode, or fenced, or played at tennis with more spirit and
skill, or carried off more frequently the prizes of the tourney. Indeed,
he showed as much ambition to excel in the mimic game of war as on the
field of battle. With his accomplishments and personal attractions, we
may well believe that Don John had little reason to complain of coldness
in the fair dames of Italy. But he seems to have been no less a
favourite with the men. The young cavaliers, in particular, regarded him
as the very mirror of chivalry, and studiously formed themselves on him
as their model. His hair clustered thickly round his temples, and he was
in the habit of throwing it back, so as to display his fine forehead to
advantage. This suited his physiognomy. It soon became the mode with
the gallants of the court; and even those whose physiognomies it did not
suit were no less careful to arrange their hair in the same manner.
While at Naples he took part in a ceremony of an interesting and
significant character. It was on the occasion of the presentation of a
standard sent by Pius the Fifth for the Holy War. The ceremony took
place in the church of the Franciscan convent of Santa Chiara. Granvelle
officiated on the occasion. Mass was performed by the cardinal-viceroy
in his pontificals. _Te Deum_ was then chanted, after which Don John,
approaching the altar with a slow and dignified step, gracefully knelt
before the prelate, who, first delivering to him the baton of
generalissimo, in the name of his holiness, next placed in his hands the
consecrated standard. It was of azure damask. A crucifix was embroidered
on the upper part of the banner, while below were the arms of the
Church, with those of Spain on the right, and of Venice on the left,
united by a chain, from which were suspended the arms of John of
Austria. The prelate concluded the ceremony by invoking the blessing of
Heaven on its champion, and beseeching that he might be permitted to
carry the banner of the Cross victorious over its enemies. The choir of
the convent then burst forth into a triumphant peal, and the people from
every quarter of the vast edifice shouted "Amen!"[303]
It was a striking scene, pregnant with matter for meditation to those
who gazed on it. For what could be more striking than the contrast
afforded by these two individuals,--the one in the morning of life, his
eye kindling with hope and generous ambition, as he looked into the
future and prepared to tread the path of glory under auspices as
brilliant as ever attended any mortal; the other drawing near to the
evening of his day, looking to the past rather than the future, with
pale and thoughtful brow, as of one who, after many a toilsome day and
sleepless night, had achieved the proud eminence for which his companion
was panting,--and had found it barren!
The wind having become more favourable, Don John took leave of the gay
capital of the South, and embarked for Messina, which he reached on the
twenty-fifth of August. If in other places he had seen preparations for
war, here he seemed to be brought on the very theatre of war. As he
entered the noble port, he was saluted with the thunders of hundreds of
pieces of ordnance from the combined fleets of Rome and Venice, which
lay side by side awaiting his arrival. He landed beneath a triumphal
arch of colossal dimensions, embossed with rich plates of silver, and
curiously sculptured with emblematical bas-reliefs, and with
complimentary legends in Latin verse, furnished by the classical poets
of Italy.[304] He passed under two other arches of similar rich and
elaborate construction, as he rode into the town amidst the ringing of
bells, the cheers of the multitude, the waving of scarfs and
handkerchiefs from the balconies, and other lively demonstrations of the
public joy, such as might have intoxicated the brain of a less ambitious
soldier than John of Austria. The festivities were closed in the evening
by a general illumination of the city, and by a display of fireworks
that threw a light far and wide over the beautiful harbour and the
countless ships that floated on its waters.
[Sidenote: THE ARMADA OF THE ALLIES.]
Nothing could be finer, indeed, whether by day or by night, than the
spectacle presented by the port of Messina. Every day a fresh
reinforcement of squadrons, or of single galleys or brigantines, under
some brave adventurer, entered the harbour to swell the numbers of the
great armada. Many of these vessels, especially the galleys, were richly
carved and gilt, after the fashion of the time, and with their
many-coloured streamers, and their flags displaying the arms of their
several states, made a magnificent show as they glanced over the waters.
None, in the splendour of their decorations, exceeded the _Real_, as the
galley of the commander-in-chief was termed. It was of great size, and
had been built in Barcelona, famous for its naval architecture all the
world over. The stern of the vessel was profusely decorated with emblems
and devices drawn from history. The interior was furnished in a style of
luxury that seemed to be designed for pleasure, rather than for the
rough duties of war. But the galley was remarkable for both strength and
speed,--the two most essential qualities in the construction of a ship.
Of this she gave ample evidence in her contest with the Turk.[305]
The whole number of vessels in the armada, great and small, amounted to
something more than three hundred. Of these full two-thirds were "royal
galleys." Venice alone contributed one hundred and six, besides six
_galeazzas_. These were ships of enormous bulk, and, as it would seem,
of clumsy construction, carrying each more than forty pieces of
artillery. The Spaniards counted a score of galleys less than their
Venetian confederates. But they far exceeded them in the number of their
frigates, brigantines, and vessels of smaller size. They boasted a still
greater superiority in the equipment of their navy. Indeed, the Venetian
squadron was found so indifferently manned, that Don John ordered
several thousand hands to be drafted from the ships of the other Italian
powers, and from the Spanish, to make up the necessary complement. This
proceeding conveyed so direct a censure on the remissness of his
countrymen, as to give great disgust to the admiral, Veniero. But in the
present emergency he had neither the power to resist nor to resent
it.[306]
The number of persons on board of the fleet, soldiers and seamen, was
estimated at eighty thousand. The galleys, impelled by oars more than by
sails, required a large number of hands to navigate them. The soldiers,
as we have seen, did not exceed twenty-nine thousand; of which number
more than nineteen thousand were furnished by Spain. They were
well-appointed troops, most of them familiar with war, and officered by
men, many of whom had already established a high reputation in the
service. On surveying the muster-roll of cavaliers who embarked in this
expedition, one may well believe that Spain had never before sent forth
a fleet in which were to be found the names of so many of her sons
illustrious for rank and military achievement. If the same can be said
of Venice, we must consider that the present war was one in which the
prosperity, perhaps the very existence, of the republic was involved.
The Spaniard was animated by the true spirit of the Crusades, when,
instead of mercenary motives, the guerdon for which men fought was glory
in this world and paradise in the next.
Sebastian Veniero, trembling for the possessions of the republic in the
Adriatic, would have put to sea without further delay, and sought out
the enemy. But Don John, with a prudence hardly to have been expected,
declined moving until he had been strengthened by all his
reinforcements. He knew the resources of the Ottoman empire; he could
not doubt that in the present emergency they would be strained to the
utmost to equip a formidable armament; and he resolved not to expose
himself unnecessarily to the chances of defeat, by neglecting any means
in his power to prepare for the encounter. It was a discreet
determination, which must have met the entire approbation of his
brother.
While he was thus detained at Messina, a papal nuncio, Odescalco, bishop
of Pena, arrived there. He was the bearer of sundry spiritual favours
from the pontiff, whose real object, no doubt, was to quicken the
movements of John of Austria. The nuncio proclaimed a jubilee; and every
man in the armada, from the captain-general downwards, having fasted
three days, confessed and partook of the communion. The prelate, in the
name of his holiness, then proclaimed a full remission of their sins;
and he conceded to them the same indulgences as had been granted to the
deliverers of the Holy Sepulchre. To Don John the pope communicated
certain revelations and two cheering prophecies from St. Isadore, which
his holiness declared had undoubted reference to the prince. It is
further stated, that Pius appealed to more worldly feelings, by
intimating to the young commander that success could not fail to open
the way to the acquisition of some independent sovereignty for
himself.[307] Whether this suggestion first awakened so pleasing an idea
in Don John's mind, or whether the wary pontiff was aware that it
already existed there, it is certain that it became the spectre which
from this time forward continued to haunt the imagination of the
aspiring chieftain, and to beckon him onward in the path of perilous
ambition to its melancholy close.
All being now in readiness, orders were given to weigh anchor; and on
the sixteenth of September the magnificent armament--unrivalled by any
which had rode upon these waters since the days of imperial Rome--stood
out to sea. The papal nuncio, dressed in his pontificals, took a
prominent station on the mole; and as each vessel passed successively
before him, he bestowed on it his apostolic benediction. Then, without
postponing a moment longer his return, he left Messina and hastened back
to Rome to announce the joyful tidings to his master.[308]