ection. Spain,
on the other hand, as the representative of all Catholic Europe, had
never appeared so formidable. By the conquest of Portugal in 1580 her
king had acquired control over the East Indies, which were hardly less
valuable than the colonies of Spain; and with the money derived from
both the Spanish and Portuguese possessions Philip supported his
armies in Italy and the Netherlands, and was the mainstay of the pope
at Rome, the Guises in France, and the secret plotters in Scotland and
Ireland of rebellion against the authority of Elizabeth.

This wide distribution of power was, however, an inherent weakness
which created demands enough to exhaust the treasury even of Philip,
and he instinctively recognized in England a danger which must be
promptly removed. England must be subdued, and Philip, determining on
an invasion, collected a powerful army at Bruges, in Flanders, and an
immense fleet in the Tagus, in Spain. For the attack he selected a
time when Amsterdam, the great mart of the Netherlands, had fallen
before his general the duke of Palma; when the king of France had
become a prisoner of the Guises; and when the frenzied hatred of the
Catholic world was directed against Elizabeth for the execution of
Mary, queen of Scots.

How to meet and repel this immense danger caused many consultations on
the part of Elizabeth and her statesmen, and at first they inclined to
make the defence by land only. But Raleigh, like Themistocles at
Athens under similar conditions, urgently advised dependence on a
well-equipped fleet, and after some hesitation his advice was
followed. Then every effort was strained to bring into service every
ship that could be found or constructed in time within the limits of
England, so that in May, 1588, when Philip's huge Armada set sail from
the Tagus, a numerous English fleet was ready to dispute its onward
passage. A great battle was fought soon after in the English Channel,
and there Lord Charles Howard of Effingham, and Raleigh and Drake and
Hawkins joined with Grenville and Cavendish and Frobisher and Lane,
and all the other glorious heroes of England, in the mighty overthrow
of the Spanish enemy.[18]

Under the inspiration of this tremendous victory the Atlantic Ocean
during the next three years swarmed with English cruisers, and more
than eight hundred Spanish ships fell victims to their attacks. So
great was the destruction that the coast of Virginia abounded in the
wreckage.[1