England in America, 1580-1652 | Page 3

American history was the
history of Spanish conquest, settlement, and exploration. Except for the
feeble Portuguese settlements in Brazil and at the mouth of the La Plata,
from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, around the eastern and western
coasts of South America, and northward to the Gulf of California, all
was Spanish--main-land and islands alike. The subject of this volume is
the bold assertion of England to a rivalry in European waters and on
American coasts.
How came England, with four millions of people, to enter into a quarter
of a century of war with the greatest power in Europe? The answer is
that Spain was already decaying, while England was instinct with the
spirit of progress and development. The contrast grew principally out
of the different attitude of the two nations towards the wealth
introduced into Europe from America, and towards the hitherto
established religion of the Christian world. While the treasure from
Mexico and Peru enabled Charles V. and Philip II. to carry on great
wars and to establish an immense prestige at the different courts of
Europe, it created a speculative spirit which drew their subjects away
from sober employment. For this reason manufacturing and agriculture,
for which Spain was once so distinguished, were neglected; and the
kingdom, thinned of people and decreasing in industry, grew dependent
for supplies upon the neighboring countries.[1]
On the other hand, the treasures which destroyed the manufactures of
Spain indirectly stimulated those of England. Without manufactures,
Spain had to employ her funds in buying from other countries her
clothing, furniture, and all that was necessary for the comfort of her
citizens at home or in her colonies in America. In 1560 not above a
twentieth part of the commodities exported to America consisted of
Spanish-manufactured fabrics: all the rest came through the foreign
merchants resident in Spain.[2]
Similar differences arose from the attitude of the two kingdoms to
religion. Philip loved to regard himself as the champion of the Catholic
church, and he encouraged it to extend its authority in Spain in the most

absolute manner. Spain became the favored home of the Inquisition,
and through its terrors the church acquired complete sovereignty over
the minds of the people. Since free thought was impossible, private
enterprise gave way to mendicancy and indolence. It was not long
before one-half of the real estate of the realm fell into the hands of the
clergy and monastic orders.[3]
In England, on the other hand, Henry VIII.'s quarrel with the pope in
1534 gave Protestantism a foothold; and the suppression of the
convents and monasteries in 1537-1539 put the possibility of the
re-establishment of papal power out of question. Thus, while the body
of the people remained attached to the Catholic church under Edward
VI. and Queen Mary, the clergy had no great power, and there was
plenty of room for free speech. Under Elizabeth various causes
promoted the growth of Protestantism till it became a permanent ruling
principle. Since its spirit was one of inquiry, private enterprise, instead
of being suppressed as in Spain, spread the wings of manufacture and
commerce.[4]
Thus, collision between the two nations was unavoidable, and their
rivalry enlisted all the forces of religion and interest. Under such
influences thousands of young Englishmen crossed the channel to fight
with William of Orange against the Spaniards or with the Huguenots
against the Guises, the allies of Spain. The same motives led to the
dazzling exploits of Hawkins, Drake, and Cavendish, and sent to the
sea scores of English privateers; and it was the same motives which
stimulated Gilbert in 1576, eighty-four years after the Spaniards had
taken possession, in his grand design of planting a colony in America.
The purpose of Gilbert was to cut into Spanish colonial power, as was
explained by Richard Hakluyt in his Discourse on Western Planting,
written in 1584: "If you touche him [the king of Spain] in the Indies,
you touche the apple of his eye; for take away his treasure, which is
neruus belli, and which he hath almoste oute of his West Indies, his
olde bandes of souldiers will soone be dissolved, his purposes defeated,
his power and strengthe diminished, his pride abated, and his tyranie
utterly suppressed."[5]

Still, while English colonization at first sprang out of rivalry with Spain
and was late in beginning, England's claims in America were hardly
later than Spain's. Christopher Columbus at first hoped, in his search
for the East Indies, to sail under the auspices of Henry VII. Only five
years later, in 1497, John Cabot, under an English charter, reached the
continent of North America in seeking a shorter route by the northwest;
and in 1498, with his son Sebastian Cabot, he repeated his visit. But
nothing important resulted from these voyages, and after long neglect
their