Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/47

 15 7 1-] THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. 27 commerce destroyed, his colonies outraged by English desperadoes, in whose adventures the Queen herself was an interested shareholder. The seizure of his treasure at Plymouth and Southampton was an act of piracy 011 a gigantic scale, committed by the Govern- ment itself. The English harbours had been the home of the Dutch privateer fleet ; ships built in England, armed in England, and manned by Englishmen, had held the Channel under the flag of the Prince of Orange ; and if Alva attempted to interfere with them they were sheltered by English batteries. Their plunder was sold openly in the markets, the royal purveyors being occa- sional purchasers ; and Dover had been made a second Algiers, where Spanish gentlemen had been set up in chains for public auction. The King of Spain might have held himself free in equity from all obligations to a Government which set at nought the usages of civilized nations ; and Don Guerau could have seen no sin in endeavouring to bring into power the old nobility, the hereditary friends of the House of Burgundy. The .legitimate remedy however was open war, and Philip and his councillors had stained their honour and their cause by preferring the assassin's dagger. To the same ill re- source the ambassador, now at his last extremity, ap- plied himself. The mine which had been dug and loaded so carefully had been discovered and harmlessly sprung ; the excommunicated Queen, the insolent Burghley, the heretics, and the buccaneers, had once more triumphed ; Norfolk was to be tried for his life ; the experienced Spaniard could not hope that the Queen of Scots would