religion, the Spaniards thought that for the hurt they CHAP XII could do to an Englishman they got heaven by it."

Cobham was tried for piracy the next year at the indignant requisition of Spain; he was found guilty, but he escaped punishment; and there was some insincere shuffling in connexion with his prosecution, for the Spanish ambassador was assured that a sentence had been passed upon him, the description of which might have been borrowed from the torture chamber of the Inquisition, but which assuredly was never pronounced in an English court of justice.

'Thomas Cobham,' wrote de Silva, 'being asked at his trial, according to the usual form in England, if he had anything to say in arrest of judgment, and answering nothing, was condemned to be taken to the Tower, to be stripped naked to the skin, and then to be placed with his shoulders resting on a sharp stone, his legs and arms extended, and on his stomach a gun, too heavy for him to bear, yet not large enough immediately to crush him. There he is to be left till he die. They will give him a few grains of corn to eat, and for drink the foulest water in the Tower." 'His relations,' de Silva added, ' are doing all in their power to prevent the execution of the sentence.' Had any such sentence been pronounced,

it would not have been left to be discovered in the letter of a stranger: the ambassador may perhaps in this instance have been purposely deceived, and his demand for justice satisfied by a fiction of imaginary horror.

When the Governments of Spain and England were tried alternately by outrages such as these, the chief matter of surprise is that peace should have been preserved so long. The instincts of the two nations outran

1 Cureton to Chaloner, March 14, 1564.-Spanish MSS. Rolls House. * De Silva to Philip, July 16, 1565.—MS. Simancas.

ELIZ. II.

G G

1564

CHAP XII the action of their sovereigns; and while Elizabeth was 1563 trusting to the traditions of the house of Burgundy, and Philip was expecting vainly that danger would compel Elizabeth to change her policy, their subjects encountered each other in every sea where the rival flags were floating, with the passions of instinctive hate. The impulse given to the English privateers on the occupation of Havre and the breaking out of the war with France, almost brought matters to a crisis.

Letters of

marque to

prey on

Papists.

While Philip was openly assisting the Duke of Guise, and Condé was still the ally of England, letters of marque were issued in the joint names of the Huguenot Prince and the Earl of Warwick. Vessels manned by mixed crews of French and English, were sent out to prey on Spaniards, Portuguese, and all other 'Papists' with whom they might encounter; and although their commissions were not formally recognized by Elizabeth, yet the officers of the English ports were ordered to supply them privately with food, arms, stores, and anything which the service might require. In December 1562, one of these irregular rovers, commanded by Jacques le Clerc, called by the Spaniards Pié de Pálo,1 sailed out of Havre, captured a Portuguese vessel worth 40,000 ducats, then a Biscayan laden with wool and iron, and afterwards chased another Spanish ship into Falmouth, where they fired into her and drove her ashore. The captain of the Spaniard appealed for protection to the Governor of Pendennis; the Governor replied that the privateer was properly commissioned, and that without special orders from the Queen he could not interfere :

1 Timber leg.

2 Le respondió que si la Reyna no se le mandaba, que el no le podia hacer, por cuanto el Pié de Pálo le

habia mostrado un patente firmado del Principe de Condé y del Conde de Warwick General de los Ingleses en

1563

Pié de Pálo took possession of him as a prize, and CHAP XII then lying close under the shelter of Pendennis waited for further good fortune. Being midwinter, and the weather being as usual unsettled, five Portuguese ships a few days later were driven in for shelter. Finding the neighbourhood into which they had fallen, they attempted to escape to sea again; but Pié de Pálo dashed after them, and two out of the five he clutched and brought back as prizes.1

teers.

Elizabeth herself at the same time, catching at the The privareadiest and cheapest means to annoy the French,' had let loose the English privateers under the usual licence from the Crown. Their commissions of course empowered them only to make war upon the acknowledged enemy; but they were not particular. Captain Sorrey, Pié de Pálo's consort, was blockading a fleet of rich Biscayans in Plymouth, and the Crown privateers were unwilling to be restricted to less lucrative game. If Sir Thomas Chaloner was rightly informed four hundred of these lawless adventurers were sweeping the Channel in the summer of 1563.2 In a few months they had taken

Havre de Grace, la cual contenia una comission de poder prender todos los navios y gente de Españoles, Portogueses, Bretones, y otros cuales quiéra Papistas que encontrase, encargando á los ministros y oficiales de la Reyna de Inglatierra le favoreciesen ayudasen y vituallasen para su armada de todo lo necesario,' &c.-Relacion de Nicolas de Landa Verde, January 20, 1563. MS. Simancas. Landa Verde was the Spanish captain.

A letter of de Quadra to Philip at the beginning of the month states that similar commissions were generally issued.-De Quadra to Philip, January 10. MS. Ibid.

1 'Dice que saliendo del puerto de Falmouth cinco navios Portogueses juntos vió que salió Pié de Pálo tras ellos, y tornó dos naos de las dichas cinco, y las otras se salváron á la vela; loquel todo dice en cargo de su consciencia ser verdad.'- Relacion de Nicolas de Landa Verde. MS. Ibid.

2 Of all historical statements those involving numbers must be received with greatest caution. Chaloner wrote from the official statement sent in at Madrid.

Chaloner to the Queen, June 11, 1564.-Spanish MSS. Rolls House.

1563

CHAP XII six or seven hundred French prizes; but the timehonoured dispute on the nature of munitions of war, and the liability of neutral ships engaged in an enemy's carrying trade, made an excuse for seizing Flemings and Spaniards; and the scenes which followed in the Channel and out of it were such as it would be hard to credit, were they not in large measure confessed and regretted in the English State Papers.

Spanish

subjects.

Plunder of A list, with notes in Cecil's hand, of depredations committed at sea during the war on the subjects of Philip,' contains sixty-one cases of piracy,' of which the following are illustrative examples :

:

The Maria,' from St. Sebastian, with a cargo of saf fron, valued at 4000 ducats, was taken by Captain Sorrey and brought in as a prize to the Isle of Wight.

The Crow,' from Zealand, was robbed of twenty-three last of herring by boats from Foy and Plymouth.

The Flying Spirit,' from Andalusia, with a rich cargo of cochineal, was plundered by Martin Frobisher.

The Tiger,' from Andalusia to Antwerp, with cochineal, silk, wool, gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, was taken by Captain Corbet and Captain Hewet.

Such a stormy petrel as Stukely of course was busy at such a time. Stukely, in June 1563, took a Zealand ship called the Holy Trinity,' with 3,000l. worth of linen and tapestry; and then joining a small fleet of west countrymen, fourteen sail in all, he lay off Ushant, watching professedly for the wine fleet from Bourdeaux, but picking up gratefully whatever the gods might send. No less a person than the Mayor of Dover himself was the owner of one of these seahawks.2 Wretched

1 Flanders MSS. Rolls House. The Paper is dated May 27, 1565.

2 Ibid.

1564

Spaniards flying from their talons were dashed upon the CHAP XII rocks and perished. If a Fleming was caught by mistake, it was an easy thing with an end of loose rope and a tourniquet to squeeze out a confession that made him a lawful prize.

and the

The baser order of marauders were not slow to imitate Condition of their betters, and the Thames was no safer than the the Channel Channel. Much of the richest merchandize which Thames. reached London was imported in coasters from Antwerp, and the water thieves which hung about the mouth of the river made a handsome harvest.

Bartholomew Panselfen, mariner of Antwerp, age twenty-four years or thereabouts,' deposed and declared on oath that about Christmas last past he was plying to London in company with other vessels, and that coming to Margate Roads he found there eight or nine English merchant ships lying at anchor. The said Bartholomew passing them by upon his course, the sailors in the said ships did cry out to him-" Heave to, heave to, filz du putain Flameng!"-of the which when he took no heed but pursued his way they did shoot their cannon at him, cutting the rigging and striking the hull of deponent's vessel; and moreover did fire upon him flights of innumerable arrows. He nevertheless keeping all sail, they could not overtake him, and for that time he escaped from pillage.'

Being asked whether at any other time he had been so attacked, the said Bartholomew declared that about a twelvemonth passed, certain Englishmen boarded his ship, and took from him two pieces of artillery, with

1 This and the following depositions are taken from a report of a commission appointed in 1565 by the Regent of the Low Countries, to inquire into these outrages.-Flanders MSS. Rolls House.