e in sea power Spain felt herself immeasurably
superior to her foe. Her wealth, her dominions, recently augmented by
the annexation of Portugal, were enormous; her army had been tried in a
hundred battles. England's force was doubtless underestimated. An
Italian expert stated that an army of 10,000 to 12,000 foot and 2,000
horse would be sufficient to conquer her. Even to the last it was
thought that an invader would be welcomed by a large part of the
population, for English refugees never wearied of picturing the hatred
of the people for their queen.

But the decision was long postponed for two reasons. First, Spain was
fully employed in subduing the Netherlands. Secondly, the Catholic
powers hoped for the accession of Mary. But after the assassination of
Orange in 1584, and after the execution of the Queen {341} of Scots,
these reasons for delay no longer existed. Drake carried the naval war
[Sidenote: 1585] to the coasts of Spain and to her colonies. The
consequent bankruptcy of the Bank of Seville and the wounded national
pride brought home to Spaniards the humiliation of their position. All
that Philip could do was to pray for help and to forbid the importation
of English wares. [Sidenote: April 1587] In reply Drake fell upon the
harbor of Cadiz and destroyed twenty-four or more warships and vast
military stores.

So at last the decision was taken to crush the one power that seemed to
maintain the Reformation, to uphold the Huguenots and the Dutch
patriots and to harry with impunity the champions of Catholicism. Pope
Sixtus V, not wishing to hazard anything, promised a subsidy of
1,000,000 crowns of gold, the first half payable on the landing of the
Spanish army, the second half two months later. Save this, Philip had
no promise of help from any Catholic power.

The huge scale of his preparations was only equaled by their vast lack
of intelligence, insuring defeat from the first. The type of ship
adopted was the old galley, intended to ram and grapple the enemy but
totally unfitted for manoeuvring in the Atlantic gales. The 130 ships
carried 2500 guns, but the artillery, though numerous, was small,
intended rather to be used against the enemy crews than against the
ships themselves. The necessary geographical information for the
invasion of Britain in the year 1588 was procured from Caesar's _De
Bello Gallico_. The admiral in chief, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had
never even commanded a ship be