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 the Queen's authority, thus giving fresh courage to the pirates. Fresh outrages were consequently committed on Spanish commerce, and fresh demands made by Philip that pirates who had been taken and convicted should in no case be pardoned, that the Queen's officers in the western harbours should no longer allow these marauders to take in stores or to frequent her ports, that rewards should be offered for their capture and conviction, and that all persons on shore who aided these lawless expeditions should be severely punished.

In reply to these peremptory demands Elizabeth "resolved to show to the world that she intended to deal honestly in that matter." More ships of war were sent to sea to prosecute the search with greater vigour, yet, in the October following, a vessel from Flanders to Spain laden with tapestry, clocks, and various household articles, belonging to Philip himself, was intercepted and plundered. So audacious an act seems to have excited real alarm to Elizabeth and her Council. Orders were issued to make strict inquiry along the coast so as to discover the haunts of the pirates, with a view to their immediate trial and conviction; harbour commissioners were appointed to inquire and report upon all vessels entering or leaving places within their jurisdiction; rules were framed for the detection and detention of suspicious vessels, and any landed proprietors or other persons on the coasts who harboured or encouraged them were threatened with severe punishment. But