INTRODUCTION.

It was in the reign of Elizabeth that England first became the enemy of
Spain. Rivals as yet Spain had none, whether in Europe or beyond the
seas. There was only one great mmilitary monarchy in Europe, only one
great colonising power in the New World, and that was Spain. While
England was still slowly recovering from the prostration consequent upon
the Wars of the Roses, and nearly a century had to run before she
established her earliest colony in Newfoundland, the enterprise and
disciplined courage of the Spaniards had added an enormous empire across
the Atlantic to the already great dominions of the Spanish crown. In 1520
Magellan, whose ship was the first to circumnavigate the globe, pushed
his way into the Pacific and reached the Philippines. In 1521 Cortez
completed the conquest of Mexico. Pizarro in 1532 added Peru, and shortly
afterwards Chile to the Spanish Empire.

From the gold mines of Chile and the silver mines of Peru a wealth of
bullion hitherto undreamed of poured into the treasuries of Spain. But no
treasuries, however full, could meet the demands of Phillip II. His
fanatical ambition had thought to dominate Europe and root out the newly
reformed religion which had already established itself in the greater
part of the north and west, and nowhere more firmly than among his
subjects in the Netherlands and among the English. England for years he
had seemed to hold in the hollow of his hand. The Dutch, at the beginning
of their great struggle for freedom, appeared even to themselves to be
embarking upon a hopeless task. Yet from their desperate struggle England
and Holland rose up two mighty nations full of genius for commerce and
for war, while Spain had already advanced far along that path of decline
which led rapidly to the extinction of her preeminence in Europe and the