at had happened.
Hawkins, confident in Elizabeth's protection, quietly answered that the
Spaniard had broken the laws of the port, and that it was necessary to
assert the Queen's authority.

'Your mariners,' said De Silva to her, 'rob our subjects on the sea,
trade where they are forbidden to go, and fire upon our ships in your
harbours. Your preachers insult my master from their pulpits, and when
we remonstrate we are answered with menaces. We have borne so far with
their injuries, attributing them rather to temper and bad manners than
to deliberate purpose. But, seeing that no redress can be had, and that
the same treatment of us continues, I must consult my Sovereign's
pleasure. For the last time, I require your Majesty to punish this
outrage at Plymouth and preserve the peace between the two realms.'

No remonstrance could seem more just till the other side was heard. The
other side was that the Pope and the Catholic Powers were undertaking to
force the Protestants of France and Flanders back under the Papacy with
fire and sword. It was no secret that England's turn was to follow as
soon as Philip's hands were free. Meanwhile he had been intriguing with
the Queen of Scots; he had been encouraging Ireland in rebellion; he had
been persecuting English merchants and seamen, starving them to death in
the Inquisition dungeons, or burning them at the stake. The Smithfield
infamies were fresh in Protestant memories, and who could tell how soon
the horrid work would begin again at home, if the Catholic Powers could
have their way?

If the King of Spain and his Holiness at Rome would have allowed other
nations to think and make laws for themselves, pirates and privateers
would have disappeared off the ocean. The West Indies would have been
left undisturbed, and Spanish, English, French, and Flemings would have
lived peacefully side by side as they do now. But spiritual tyranny had
not yet learned its lesson, and the 'Beggars of the Sea' were to be
Philip's schoolmasters in irregular but effective fashion.

Elizabeth listened politely to what De Silva said, promised to examine
into his complaints, and allowed Hawkins to sail.

What befell him you will hear in the next lecture.

LECTURE III

SIR JOHN HAWKINS AND PHILIP THE SECOND

My last lecture left Hawkins preparing to start on his third and, as it
proved, most eventful voyage. I mentioned that he was joined by a young
relation, of whom I must say a few pre