Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/519

A.D. 1585.] settlements of Spain in the New World: had plundered Carthagena and Nombre de Dios, and almost every town on the coasts of Chile and Peru. They had intercepted the Spanish galleons, or treasure vessels, and carried off immense booty of silver and other precious articles. But as Drake had received special marks of Royal favour—the queen had dined on board his vessel, the "Golden Hind," when it lay at Deptford, and she had knighted him for his good services—and as there was no declaration of war, all these were clear cases of piracy; but Philip was too much engaged at home to defend these transatlantic possessions from the daring sea-captains of Elizabeth, and if he did declare war, he at once sanctioned Elizabeth's interference both in those seas and in the Netherlands.



To carry forward her operations in the Netherlands successfully, it was necessary to make quite sure of the King of Scotland. Elizabeth had discovered that the only