No one is better entitled
to speak on the naval policy of the Armada epoch than Mr. Julian
Corbett,[67] who is not disposed to assume that the Queen's action
was above criticism. He says that 'Elizabeth has usually been
regarded as guilty of complete and unpardonable inaction.' He
explains that 'the event at least justified the Queen's policy.
There is no trace of her having been blamed for it at the time at
home; nor is there any reason to doubt it was adopted sagaciously
and deliberately on the advice of her most capable officers.'
Mr. David Hannay, who, as an historian, rightly takes into
consideration the conditions of the age, points out that 'Elizabeth
was a very poor sovereign, and the maintenance of a great fleet
was a heavy drain upon her resources.' He adds: 'There is no
reason to suppose that Elizabeth and her Lord Treasurer were
careless of their duty; but the Government of the time had very
little experience in the maintenance of great military forces.'
[Footnote 67: _Drake_and_the_Tudor_Navy_, 1898, vol. ii. p. 117.]
If we take the charges against her in detail, we shall find that
each is as ill-founded as that of criminal neglect of naval
preparations generally. The most serious accusation is that with
regard to the victuals. It will most likely be a surprise to
many people to find that the seamen of Elizabeth were victualled
on a more abundant and much more costly scale than the seamen of
Victoria.
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