History of the United Netherlands, 1586c | Page 2

in his enterprise,
forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the voyage.
The speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and for the
kingdom.
The terrible Sea-King was one of the great types of the sixteenth
century. The self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the
'Golden Hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war
against a mighty empire, and had shown England how to humble Philip.
When he again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring
crowds, and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it
was not the ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which
had endeared his name to the nation. The popular instinct recognized
that the true means had been found at last for rescuing England and
Protestantism from the overshadowing empire of Spain. The Queen
visited him in his 'Golden Hind,' and gave him the honour of
knighthood.
The treaty between the United Netherlands and England had been
followed by an embargo upon English vessels, persons, and property,
in the ports of Spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the
privateersman again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which
five or six only were armed--under his command, conjoined with that
of General Carlisle. This time the voyage was undertaken with full
permission and assistance of the Queen who, however, intended to
disavow him, if she should find such a step convenient. This was the
expedition in which Philip Sidney had desired to take part. The Queen
watched its result with intense anxiety, for the fate of her Netherland
adventure was thought to be hanging on the issue. "Upon Drake's
voyage, in very truth, dependeth the life and death of the cause,
according to man's judgment," said Walsingham.
The issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile
speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of Sir
Francis had been. He returned in the midsummer of 1586, having
captured and brandschatzed St. Domingo and Carthagena; and burned
St. Augustine. "A fearful man to the King of Spain is Sir Francis

Drake," said Lord Burghley. Nevertheless, the Queen and the
Lord-Treasurer--as we have shown by the secret conferences at
Greenwich--had, notwithstanding these successes, expressed a more
earnest desire for peace than ever.
A simple, sea-faring Englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little
vessels, had carried terror, into the Spanish possessions all over the
earth: but even then the great Queen had not learned to rely on the
valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy.
Drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. The preparations for
Philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in Lisbon, Cadiz,
and other ports of Spain and Portugal, and, despite assurances to the
contrary, there was a growing belief that England was to be invaded.
To destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to
"singe his beard." But whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke?
Whose but that of the Devonshire skipper who had already
accomplished so much?
And so Sir Francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under
him, and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the
Netherlands to talk over his project with the States-General, and with
the Dutch merchants and sea-captains. His visit was not unfruitful. As a
body the assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every
maritime city of Holland and Zeeland one or two ships should be got
ready, to participate in all the future enterprises of Sir Francis and his
comrades.
The martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of
mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in England-- to
furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable
adventures. The foundation of a still more intimate connection between
England and Holland was laid, and thenceforth Dutchmen and
Englishmen fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was
to be struck in the cause of human freedom against despotic Spain.
The famous Babington conspiracy, discovered by Walsingham's
"travail and cost," had come to convince the Queen and her

counsellors--if further proof were not superfluous--that her throne and
life were both incompatible with Philip's deep designs, and that to keep
that monarch out of the Netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him
out of England. "She is forced by this discovery to countenance the
cause by all outward means she may," said Walsingham, "for it
appeareth unto her most plain, that unless she had entered into the
action, she had been utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the
same she cannot continue." The Secretary had sent Leicester
information at an early day of the great secret, begging his friend to
"make the letter a heretic after be had read the same,"