{"product_id":"2940013289079","title":"By England's Aid","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAN EXCURSION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to give help and succour to Thy servants\u003cbr\u003ethe people of Holland, and to deliver them from the cruelties and\u003cbr\u003epersecutions of their wicked oppressors; and grant Thy blessing,\u003cbr\u003ewe pray Thee, upon the arms of our soldiers now embarking to aid\u003cbr\u003ethem in their extremity.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese were the words with which the Rev. John Vickars, rector of\u003cbr\u003eHedingham, concluded the family prayers on the morning of December\u003cbr\u003e6th, 1585.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor twenty years the first portion of this prayer had been repeated\u003cbr\u003edaily by him, as it had been in tens of thousands of English\u003cbr\u003ehouseholds; for since the people of the Netherlands first rose\u003cbr\u003eagainst the Spanish yoke the hearts of the Protestants of England\u003cbr\u003ehad beat warmly in their cause, and they had by turns been moved\u003cbr\u003eto admiration at the indomitable courage with which the Dutch\u003cbr\u003estruggled for independence against the might of the greatest power\u003cbr\u003ein Europe, and to horror and indignation at the pitiless cruelty\u003cbr\u003eand wholesale massacres by which the Spaniards had striven to stamp\u003cbr\u003eout resistance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the first the people of England would gladly have joined\u003cbr\u003ein the fray, and made common cause with their co-religionists;\u003cbr\u003ebut the queen and her counsellors had been restrained by weighty\u003cbr\u003econsiderations from embarking in such a struggle. At the commencement\u003cbr\u003eof the war the power of Spain overshadowed all Europe. Her infantry\u003cbr\u003ewere regarded as irresistible. Italy and Germany were virtually her\u003cbr\u003edependencies, and England was but a petty power beside her. Since\u003cbr\u003eAgincourt was fought we had taken but little part in wars on the\u003cbr\u003eContinent. The feudal system was extinct; we had neither army nor\u003cbr\u003emilitary system; and the only Englishmen with the slightest experience\u003cbr\u003eof war were those who had gone abroad to seek their fortunes, and\u003cbr\u003ehad fought in the armies of one or other of the continental powers.\u003cbr\u003eNor were we yet aware of our naval strength. Drake and Hawkins and\u003cbr\u003ethe other buccaneers had not yet commenced their private war with\u003cbr\u003eSpain, on what was known as the Spanish Main -- the waters of\u003cbr\u003ethe West Indian Islands -- and no one dreamed that the time was\u003cbr\u003eapproaching when England would be able to hold her own against the\u003cbr\u003estrength of Spain on the seas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThus, then, whatever the private sentiments of Elizabeth and her\u003cbr\u003ecounsellors, they shrank from engaging England in a life and death\u003cbr\u003estruggle with the greatest power of the time; though as the struggle\u003cbr\u003ewent on the queen's sympathy with the people of the Netherlands\u003cbr\u003ewas more and more openly shown. In 1572 she was present at a parade\u003cbr\u003eof three hundred volunteers who mustered at Greenwich under Thomas\u003cbr\u003eMorgan and Roger Williams for service in the Netherlands. Sir Humphrey\u003cbr\u003eGilbert, half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, went out a few months\u003cbr\u003elater with 1500 men, and from that time numbers of English volunteers\u003cbr\u003econtinued to cross the seas and join in the struggle against the\u003cbr\u003eSpaniards. Nor were the sympathies of the queen confined to allowing\u003cbr\u003eher subjects to take part in the fighting; for she sent out large\u003cbr\u003esums of money to the Dutch, and as far as she could, without openly\u003cbr\u003ejoining them, gave them her aid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpain remonstrated continually against these breaches of neutrality,\u003cbr\u003ewhile the Dutch on their part constantly implored her to join them\u003cbr\u003eopenly; but she continued to give evasive answers to both parties\u003cbr\u003euntil the assassination of William of Orange on 10th July, 1584,\u003cbr\u003esent a thrill of horror through England, and determined the queen\u003cbr\u003eand her advisers to take a more decisive part in the struggle. In the\u003cbr\u003efollowing June envoys from the States arrived in London, and were\u003cbr\u003ereceived with great honour, and a treaty between the two countries\u003cbr\u003ewas agreed upon. Three months later the queen published a declaration\u003cbr\u003eto her people and to Europe at large, setting forth the terrible\u003cbr\u003epersecutions and cruelties to which \"our next neighbours, the people\u003cbr\u003eof the Low Countries,\" the special allies and friends of England,\u003cbr\u003ehad been exposed, and stating her determination to aid them to\u003cbr\u003erecover their liberty. The proclamation concluded: \"We mean not\u003cbr\u003ehereby to make particular profit to ourself and our people, only\u003cbr\u003edesiring to obtain, by God's favour, for the Countries, a deliverance\u003cbr\u003eof them from war by the Spaniards and foreigners, with a restitution\u003cbr\u003eof their ancient liberties and government.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Thomas Cecil was sent out at once as governor of Brill, and\u003cbr\u003eSir Philip Sidney as governor of Flushing, these towns being handed\u003cbr\u003eover to England as guarantees by the Dutch. These two officers,\u003cbr\u003ewith bodies of troops to serve as garrisons, took charge of their\u003cbr\u003erespective fortresses in November.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47168652411120,"sku":"2940013289079","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013289079_p0.jpg?v=1763579408","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013289079","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}