who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to
captivity.'

The conversion of this important naval position into a Spanish-Flemish
station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to
France and dangerous to England. The neighbouring Dunkirk had long been
a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and
nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations.
These corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit,
after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the
sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the dfficers
were held for ransom. In case the vessels themselves were wanted, the
crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand,
the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable
to escape from superior force. Capture was followed by speedy execution,
and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought
into Rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the
day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held
for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty.

And now Calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea-
robbers' cave than even Dunkirk had been.

Notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three
allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking
which had been arranged between England and the republic. For the time,
therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the
States of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended.
It had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the
republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. The year 1595 had not