One of the boldest adventurers and bravest fighters was Sir John Hawkins, who made several profitable voyages to the Spanish colonies with African slaves. His five ships were caught in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulloa by thirteen Spanish ships; he fought them all and escaped with two vessels (1568). One of Hawkins's captains was Francis Drake, who in 1572 sailed off again to prey on Spanish commerce. Pirate-like he harried the Spanish mainland, captured Spanish vessels and mule trains, and carried off gold, silver, and merchandise. Nevertheless, on his return to England Drake was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth and held in favor. The slow downfall of Spain may be said to have begun when the Netherlands revolted and formed a union of the provinces against the Spanish (1576). The English government sympathized and aided; then individual Englishmen took an active part in the pulling down of Spain. In 1577 with the queen's approval, though without a royal commission, Drake set off with a little fleet; he rounded South America, passed through the Strait of Magellan with his one remaining ship, and was the first to see Cape Horn, and to find the open sea to the south of it. The story of Drake's next exploits sounds like the Arabian Nights, and is gemmed with such phrases as "thirteene chests full of royals of plate, foure score pound weight of golde, and sixe and twentie tunne of siluer." He sailed up the unfortified west coast of South America, capturing coasters, terrifying towns, taking one prize worth a million dollars on its voyage from the Philippines, and throwing the Spaniards into a panic. Hart, Contemporaries, I. 85 Running far to the north, in hope of finding a passage through or around America to England, he put into a bay just north of the harbor of San Francisco to repair his ships, and called the country New Albion. Thence he struck boldly westward. across the Pacific, sailed through the Philippines and the Spice Islands, and then home again (1580) around the Cape of Good The next step towards colonization was a vain attempt at planting an English settlement in Newfoundland under a new charter granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1578). His half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, then got from the queen (1578-1587) a new "patent," or grant of lands (1584), authorizing him to colonize "remote heathen and barbarous lands and Consti-... not actually possessed of any Christian Prince." tutions, 1379 Forthwith he sent out two vessels, under Amidas and Barlowe, to find a proper place for a colony, and they fixed on Roanoke Island. On their return and favorable report Queen Elizabeth coyly named the new land for herself, "Virginia." Thrice did Raleigh send out actual colonists to Roanoke. A settlement of 1585 with 100 men failed and the settlers came back; a smaller settlement of 1586 disappeared; in 1587 he sent out a colony commanded by John White, with 150 people, whom gave birth to Vir SIR WALTER RALEIGH, ABOUT 1590. Type of the English gentleman of his time. including seventeen women, one of ginia Dare, the first English child born on American soil. All the members of this colony who remained in America disappeared in 1588, and their fate to this day is uncertain. The harrying of the commerce of Spain inevitably ied to war, and the crisis came in 1587 when Philip II. resolved to 24. War with Spain (1587-1604) invade England and destroy the plague of English sea rovers at received their guests ENGLISH WAR SHIP OF 1588. The war meanwhile had extended to the colonies, and it lasted for seventeen years. Drake took and plundered the city of Santo Domingo, the richest in the new world, and also the city of Carthagena, the capital of the Spanish West Indies. The new king of Spain, Philip III., and the new king of England, James I. (1603), both desired peace; but the Spaniards long insisted that the English should agree to keep Englishmen from traveling to the Spanish colonies, or settling in territory claimed by Spain. On both points the English stood firm; and in 1604 a treaty of peace was made without either of the desired pledges. Thus the way was opened for the foundation of the later United States in territory then claimed by Spain. By the year 1600 the geography and conditions of North America became clearer, especially through the diligence of Richard Hakluyt, an English gentleman who published claims to a famous collection of narratives of voyages; and the (1584-1605) various nations began to bring forward arguments for 25. Rival America their claims to America. France talked about the effect of the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier; Spain urged the Pope's bull of 1493 and her early explorations, assuming that coasts once skirted by Spanish ships remained Spanish, and that the territories inland from such coasts were Spanish to eternity. Against these sweeping claims Hakluyt in 1584 asserted that "one Cabot and the English did first discover the shores about the Chesapeake"; and a contemporary writer set forth the English title to Virginia as follows: (1) first discovery by the subjects of Henry VII. (1497); (2) voyages under Elizabeth "to the mainland and infinite islands of the West Indies"; (3) the voyage of Amadas and Barlowe (1584); (4) the actual settlement of the White colony (1587); (5) a broad claim that the coast and the ports of Virginia had of Western been long discovered, peopled, and possessed by many English. On the Pope's bull the writer said, "if there be a law that the Pope may do what he list, let them that list obey him." Discourse Planting As assertions of the English claims, three more attempts were made by individuals to plant colonies in America: (1) Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 spent a little time on the island of Cuttyhunk; (2) Martin Pring in 1603 entered the Penobscot; (3) in 1605 George Weymouth visited the coast of Maine. All these efforts failed; the country was too cold for comfort, and the English as yet had too little experience of colonizing. 26. Sum The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 was an accident brought about by attempting to reach the known lands of eastern Asia by sailing west, in the belief that the earth is a globe. But to Columbus is due the credit of acting on his belief. The discovery of an eastern route by the Portuguese Vasco da Gama was a stimulus to further attempts to reach the Spice Islands by sailing westward; and led to voyage after voyage of Spaniards, English, Portuguese, and Frenchmen, each successful explorer enlarging the knowledge of the American coast line and the islands. Geographers took up the course of discovery and registered it on rude maps. Before 1600 Spain alone established permanent colonies, which chanced to be rich in precious metals. The wealth of the West Indies made Spain great and yet prepared the way for her downfall; for the English attacked, first Spanish commerce, then the colonies, then the home country; and in 1588 established the naval supremacy of England. Thenceforth the sea was free as far as an English ship could ride, and the way was prepared for English colonization. mary TOPICS (1) What do the Icelandic sagas say of America? (2) Why did Suggestive not Henry VII. of England send out Columbus? (3) How did topics Columbus raise men for his expedition? (4) How did Balboa discover the Pacific? (5) How did the Philippine Islands become Spanish? (6) Cortez's capture of the city of Mexico. (7) Pizarro's treatment of Atahualpa. (8) Capture of Port Royal by the Spanish. (9) Were the Spaniards justified in fighting Sir John Hawkins at San Juan de Ulloa? (10) Why did the Invincible Armada fail? HART'S AMER. HIST.- -3 |