Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/265

 ENGLISH ATTACKS ON PORTUGAL 207 down on the homeward-bound Indian ships near the Isle of Flores, drove one ashore, and took the other the Madre de Deos, almost the largest vessel belonging to the Portuguese crown, with a cargo valued at 150,- 000. Such windfalls, however, proved a poor substi- tute for England's regular Indian trade through Flan- ders, now stamped to death under the heels of Spanish INDIAN CARPENTERS AT WORK IN THEIR SHOP.

armies. Leave was at length obtained from Elizabeth to strike into the direct Indian trade, and in 1591, as we have seen, the first English squadron sailed round the Cape of Good Hope. When showing how the Turkish seizure of the ancient land paths constrained Christendom to seek an ocean route to India, I added a caution not to exag- gerate the effects of that single cause. So now that Philip II 's crusade against the Reformation stands dis- closed as a compelling influence which led the Prot-