Page 18 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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r: 18 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST
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and unfamiliar lands. The stream of wealth which flowed
into Spain and Portugal from their distant possessions
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also acted as a powerful stimulus to the policy of adven­
ture. But undoubtedly it was Drake’s circumnavigation
of the world in 1577 which gave the first direct impulse
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to the national desire for a “ place in the sun,” to use a
modern phrase. That wonderful achievement, by its
incomparable audacity as an essay in seamanship, not
less than by its brilliant success as an exercise in the ever-
popular process of “ singeing the Spaniard’s beard,” had
thrilled the imagination of the people to an extraordinary
degree. It was the electric spark which set aflame the
\ smouldering ambitions of the nation and brought to life
ji schemes of commercial aggrandisement which had hitherto
been mere vague aspirations. It was realized that where
Drake and his little handful of men had gone, and where
Cavendish had followed, others equally brave and resolute
could go. The Eastern seas were wide, the markets there
open to all who were adventurous enough to resort to
them; the native populations were not unkindly disposed.
Nothing, in fact, but the barrier of an insolent claim to
monopoly was interposed to the creation of wide and
lucrative new openings for trade. The barrier, it is true,
was a substantial one—nothing less than the armed might
of the two greatest naval powers then existing; but the
nation was in the mood to take whatever risks there might
be in challenging this powerful combination.
Accurately interpreting the national will Elizabeth
issued her defiant replies to the Spanish protests. In
burning words she declined to accept the limitations by
which his most Catholic Majesty sought to keep English
ships from trespassing upon his Eastern preserves. Her »•

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