Indies I haue thought good to set down my opinion how many waies they doe or may take their claim And first by discovery secondly by the Popes gift thirdly by consent of the people fourthly by conquest and consent So as if neither of these be able to proue or giue a good and sufficient title or at least such an one as may barr you and other Princes that will to inhabite in those parts I know no reason why your Majestie should not doe as he hath done that is to possesse as much as you can of those Heathen Countries especially where the Spaniard is not seated nor hath no command wherby you might not onely propagate the Christian faith amongst those Pagans and Infidels as you are bound to doe as much as you can but a golden world to the Crown of England wherby you be more enabled as well to undertake a forraign warre against the enemy of the Christian name as also to make your State the more strong by the Indian treasures against such of your neighbours as shall envie your Highness And therefore to come to his Title If he claim his interest by possession and first Discovery which doubtless must be the strongest Title that he can challenge then your Majestie hath as much title for all the firme land of the Indies as he hath for these Ilands before named As for proofe of this the Captaines of Henry the 7 being Sebastion Cabot and his companions discovered the Iland of the Indies on the north part of the Indies from 60 degrees coasting the north latitude the verie year before Christian Columbus discovered the high land of Dania on the south part of the Indies which was the first day that ever the Spaniards saw the maine and took possession of that new Discovery in the behalfe of Henry the 7 and his successours their Lord and Master So as if first Discovery and Possession be his Title your Majestie preceding him in that said Title must necessarily precede him in the right thereof If he claime it by the gift of Pope Alexander the sixth then it must be argued whether the said Pope had power to giue it yea or no if not then the gift is voide in it selfe If yea he must proue it either by Divine or Human Arguments for Human he cannot for that no way belonged to him or any other Christian Prince or Potentate at that time nor were so much as ever heard of before that present Discovery of Columbus upon which the gift was made in the year of grace 1492. All things never known to him or his Ancestors can no way of right belong to him or them so as not belonging to him directly or by circumstance hee had no right to giue or dispose thereof either in present or future and thus for Human. For Divine Arguments if he say he gaue them as Christs Vicar wherby he may dispose of Kings or Kingdoms he must proue that authority by the word of God or else we are not bound to beleeu him or think his gift of any value As for example if hee be but Christs servant heer on earth he must challenge to himselfe no more prerogatiue then his Master took on him whilst he was on earth for if he doe it is a great token of pride and arrogancie And our Saviour being but requested to make a lawfull division of a certaine inheritance betwixt one and his brother refused to doe it saying Who made me a Iudge over you as also he confessed openly to Pilate That his kingdom is not of this world Why then doth the Pope who acknowledgeth himselfe to be no better then his servant take upon him the giving of so many Kingdomes of this world But the Popes say they gaue Ireland to Henry the 2 and his successours and indeed they did so in word but when had he it when he had fast footing in it and when Dernitius the King of Lemster had made the King of England his Heir But for all that donation had not the Kings of this land by the sharpnesse of the sword more prevailed then by this gift the Popes donation had stood in little stead neither did the rest of the Irish Kings admit or allow of the Popes Donation for if they had they would never haue rebelled so often against this Crown But to conclude this point though we confesse that the Popes haue done this or that yet it is no good argument in my opinion to say that they did it and therfore it was lawfull unlesse they could shew they did it rightfully But the Popes gift of the West Indies may well be compared to the Sermon of Iudge Molineux his Chaplain in Queen Maries daies who would make it appear by a liuely text out of the Scripture to his Parishioners what a lying knaue the divell was and for his Text he took the place where the divell took Christ and carryed him up to the mountain from whence he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world told him it he would fall down and worship him he would giue them all unto him My Masters quoth he by this you may well perceiue what a lyar he is for he had no more right to haue given him these Kingdoms if would haue fallen down and worshipt him then my selfe that am now in the Pulpit If I should say to you all now Sirs if you will all fall down and worship me before I goe out of the Church I will giue every man his Copie-hold for ever which if I should doe I should giue you your livings in words But my Masters quoth hee that sit there below to whom they belong would take them from you again And therfore saith he if he had given all these Kingdoms to Christ the Kings of the earth to whom by right they did pertain would never haue suffered him to haue injoyed them And so for that For the earth is the Lords and all that dwell therin he founded and prepared it as in the Psalmist and so consequently neither the Popes nor the divels doe dispose to whom they please The copie of which foolish donation of the Popes truely translated out of the originall hath been delivered to your Majestie long since and I hope perused before this time To proue that he hath no generall consent of all the people and Nations of the Indies appeareth most evidently by this reason for that no Spaniard farther inhabiteth northward then Florida where they haue but two little Forts or Villages the one called S. Austine the other S. Helena All the rest of that huge tract whose insinitenesse is such as no mortall tongue can expresse nor eye hath seen doe not so much as think there is another world but that they themselues inhabite except some few of them which dwell upon the edges of the shore that sometimes see both us the French the Dutch and the Spanyard when we come a fishing but are not able to distinguish of us
is most true that the reputation that that Iland holdeth in warlike actions is rather grounded on that it was in time past then that which it hath at this present and therfore as it often happeneth the minde grown great with the bundles of imaginations wherwith it is maintained though the foundation wheron it dependeth be changed and diminished Yet for all that is the estimation of England great in our minds because wee all behold it with the selfe same eye of consideration as wee are wont to doe at all other times when as in ancient for succession of more then 300 yeares it possessed Normandie Britaine Guienne and Gascoigne and made Scotland tributary and for a long time enjoyed the most part of the Kingdom of France upon which Henry the 6 was publiquely crowned at Paris But those that haue diligently observed her now when shee is deprived of so great forces and aide will judge that shee is greater through the reputation of her ancient fame then for the quality of her present power and force and that shee is now no more England so grievous and terrible to the greatest Princes of Europe and since that with so unhappy a resolution shee fell into obscurity shee hath been driven of necessity to submit her selfe to those fearfull things which alteration of Religion and faith draw after them A most mighty and prevailent meanes to the ruin and declination of States For if Religion be the onely base of all the peoples obedience and loyalty who doubteth but that being removed all rule of life goeth to the ground and together all lawes both Divine and Human haue dispensation In which parties or rather habites of this most pernicious beast are most miserable how much the mutations haue been sudden and violent as aboue all other these of England haue been which from the height of Religion threw it selfe headlong into the depth of Infidelity from thence rising againe into the Catholike light from whence it came and a fresh to fall ruinously into the darknesse of heresie which is so prejudiciall unto States as there is no greater pestilencie or that more weakens the sollidity of their forces England therfore in these outragious stormes must needs haue suffered shipwrack of which we may plainly see the effects if wee doe but obserue shee hath lost the foundation wherupon no lesse her reputation then security was grounded that is shee hath lost the power and authority which sometimes shee had in sea-affaires for in times past this Iland maintained a great number of Shippes and kept a continuall Fleet of Armes wherupon it came to passe that minding to try the strength of her own forces the preparation was admirable amongst others wee may see that when Henry the sixth of England went against Charles the sixth of France with neere eight hundred great Ships which made a bridge over the Ocean but the quality of that Iland is so diverse and changed that since the daies of Henry seventh and eighth it hath not been able to maintain one hundred ordinary Ships which it was wont to wey and haue in readinesse for the security of the State and further this Iland hath been put to such pinches that they haue not onely been constrained to diminish but to sell out-right a great part of their Shipping which both was and is their onely securitie from forraign danger so much more urgent in Princes is feare of present poverty then the respect of their future safety So that now comming to resolue on the point of facility that your Majesty shall now finde in that Enterprise against this Iland I will offer to your Highness two principall heads the one of the Defendant the other of the Assaylant wherby I will shew that the assayled is as unable to defend as the Defendant is to assayle As for the Defendant which is the Kingdom of England it may certainly be averred that it cannot stand out in defensiue warre against the forces of your Majestie if you will but invade it with the provisions which is easie for you to compass and such as the Enterprise and importance of the action requireth the which I will cleerly shew for divers respects The first is because as I haue said the I le of England is poor and therefore is her debility such as if shee should goe about to manage a defensiue war against so mighty and potent as your Catholike Majestie shee might as well goe about to sustain heaven on her shoulders being neither Alcides nor Atlas The second is for the consideration of the necessity which possesseth there the State of England hath no more in readiness such number of Shippes as were sometimes maintained for the protection and security of their Kingdom The third is that the Kingdom of England by carelessnesse neglected or by poverty omitted to haue alwaies in readinesse prepared or practised Men Armes or provision as all other Princes haue to the end they may be a present remedy to all suddain Insurrectson which groweth either at home or abroad The fourth is because the desire of Innovation is proper to the Kingdom whose minds doe alwaies aspire after change and whosoever doth but obseru former histories will judge that her seditious conspiracies and every other effect of a disturbed and moving minde haue had their proper nest being stirred up with considerations which being accompanied with the ordinary disposition of the people to be alwaies attempting of new things may easily of a suddain if it were assaulted put the Realme into confusion especially when the Army of so mighty an enemy as your Majestie shall present it selfe wherby rebels may liberally discover their hearts without being chastised So as this people being any way ill-affected which meeting with their manner of disposition may peradventure easily giue occasion if your Majesty had no party in England which you shall never fail off to some unlooked for action if your Catholike Armies did but shew themselues It being so ordinary a matter with that people when they are masked with some great passion either of hatred or disdain towards them that govern that they will be ever ready to take all courses in hand that may be hurtfull to him Even so that Tantanus discontented with government of Cajus Iberius brought in before his face the Carthaginians First the English in respect of their ancient greatnesse haue been more accustomed to molest others then to be molested themselues and when they shall see themselues overwhelmed as it were with an innumeration of braue Souldiers and Captaines they will grow wonderfully astonied even as that change of fortunes countenance is a terrible spectacle to those to whom this sight is unusuall for by that meanes Greece which was sometimes Empresse of the whole East fell suddenly into other mens hands who of an Assaylant became assayled And lastly though nature get thus much in behalfe of them that England be well furnished with Armes men victuals and ships and whatsoever else
great Commander of the braue spirits of the English and Scottish Nation to doe that in reason and necessity you ought Our fathers when they were Masters but of one part of this I le were never wont to fear any thing in matters of warre but if the skie should fall upon them sailed over many a Sea to make their weapons glister in the bowels of other Kingdoms being by the honesty of their actions and nobleness of their courage assured And shall your Majestie by whose blessed arrivall to this part of your Ancestors and having brought home once again in your ship of Vnion our brethren and kinsmen no lesse valiant then our selues being descended from the bloud of our Ancestours and turned from us by the iniquity of time and dissentions of some mutinous persons of either part which we must not account proceeded by consent of both people neither measure the intents of great Nations according to the notable wickedness of some particulars Shall you I say who hath renewed again the ancient fame of this Ile by which for valour for men for munitions for engines for warre no Prince under heaven can lightly compare be doubtfull to undertake a warre to which you are so necessarily incited as well for the glory of God the advancement of Christian Religion in all parts as also your particular safety which can never be certain to You nor us your posterity but by the abatement of the Spanish greatness by means wherof many murders massacres and rebellions haue been made in Europe No no my renoumed Soveraign be it farre from your magnanimous minde to harbour a thought so unworthy that vertue that shineth so apparant in all mens eyes but rather since the nature of the Countries the inclination of the Subjects and the valours of the people doe seek to overcome the violence of the enemies let them be seconded by the Kingly command under which word there is no question of victorie Your Predecessours of famous memory undertook these warres upon discreet and premeditated considerations not onely chewed for many yeares together but likewise digested by the experience of time Conclusions of the Spaniards part of divers things against this State and probability of many more dangers like to ensue both against the people and country And therfore most renoumed Soveraign if the addition you adde in your own Greatness and Person to this your right inheritance of England be not sufficient to alter the consideration of your former policies in my minde you ought to be well-advised before you stray from the pathes of your Predecessours who built their onely safety upon the preservation of the Netherlands and abatement of the Spaniards Greatness as by divers excellent reasons wherupon they undertook openly these warres may appear But perhaps it may be said that the person of the Prince doth alter the pretence of the enemy I hope I shall need to say little on that point to so highly wise learned and judicious a Lord as your Highness especially when it is apparant to your Majestie that the Spaniards build their certain Greatness upon no one thing so much as the ruin and destruction of this land as by their foregoing projects appeareth But moreover if they could not loue the Princes of their bloud race and kindred as the King of Naples Cicily and Navarre whom they not onely deposed from their Kingdomes but likewise some of them from their liues under no pretence of reason or justice but onely thirsting after bloud and Seigniories I shall infinitely mistrust his regard of the safety of your noble and fortunate Issue And if your Majesty will goe by precedent which is most fit to most actions that doe minister themselues to men and but examine how the Monarchy of Spaine hath but raysed himselfe to his Greatnes you shall no doubt perceiu by comparing time past with that which is like to follow the irrecoverable dangers you are like to fall into by making peace with them that for advantage will hold it Religion to break with you And for that from Ferdinand of Aragons time they haue begun to render themselues so fearfull to their neighbours which as it were yesterday your Highness may acquaint your selfe with their unjust actions which are fresh in memory to their unchristianlike wounds given to many Christian Princes still Bleeding wherby you may the better discern and distinguish them For as Ferdinand himselfe which was the root from whence their Princes sprang there was no King in his time more unjust more cruell or more bloudy thirsting after bloud and breach of faith with all Princes with whom he had to doe although they were his Cosen germaines his brother in law his Sisters and Neeces and indeed laid his foundation of the Spanish Monarchy upon such base and treacherous foundations For Charles the fifth how hee behaved himselfe in his time amongst the Princes of Christendome I cannot more aptly referre your Majestie to a briefe relation thereof then by an Oration made by a worthy Gentleman who had particularly acquainted himselfe with the accidents of that time which hee wrote and dedicated to the two yong Earles of Embden long since For Phillip the second what bloud hath hee caused to be shed both in England Portugal France the Netherlands and Ireland is it not knowne to all Christian Princes Besides the often seeking of the innocent bloud of that most noble and thrice renoumed Predecessour of famous memory Elizabeth Queen of this land which if so it were there were no other witnesse of his Goatish and Moorish inclination as there are thousands were it not enough to enroule and memorize him in the ranke of unworthie and tyrannous Potentates For Phillip the third although hee bee yong yet is hee a Spaniard and whatsoever the wisest of the world haue ever thought of the nature and quality of a Spaniard is apparant For Francis Quicchardine a man so sufficient as the very reckoning of his very worth and perfections would require a story saith of them The Spanish Nation are covetous and deceitfull and where they bee at libertie exceeding outragious tyrannous and very proud and insolent And Andrew .. a famous Senatour of Venice saith of them That they are unfaithfull ravenous and the most unsatiable of all Nations For where is it saith hee of all the places of the world where these infamous Harpies set their feet which is not defiled with the foot-steps of most abominable vices and yet the shot of their Pistols doe so dazell the eyes of many in this land that they are not ashamed to defend them to be the most noble most faithfull most honourable Nation in the world Another writes of them That they are loathsome Swine theevish Owles and bragging Peacocks For saith he whosoever would behold the liuely portrature of them without troubling himselfe with the overturning of Martial or Terence let him but behold the grim speech of a stately Spanyard By whom most mightie Prince I