The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-03-03
war, and so remained until the total destruc-
t;or, &c liz l, -, LOO ..oduoaI Gs,a;,,

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to the rank of second-rate power.
Captain Drake had not yet done with
the Spaniards. While he was upon the
Isthmus of Darien, he had seen from a
mountan-top the Pacific Ocean. He now
laid before the Queen project of sailing
round South America, by way of the newly
discovered Straits of Magellan, and falling
upon the unprotected coasts of Peru,
whence the Spaniards were drawing car
goes of gold. Elizabeth, we may almost
say, jumped at the proposal. With six YES
sells and one hundred and sixty-four men,
this bold adventurer set sail, and made his
way to Patagonia. He was five weeks in
getting through the straits, and when he
emerged intothe broad Pacific, he had but
the ship commanded by himself, named the
Golden Hind. Two vessels he had him
self femptied and turned adrift, and three
others had turned back and gone to Eng
land. On board his own ship he had fifty
seven men and three casks Of water
Undaunted, he held to his purpose, and
reached in safety the shore of Peru. He
plundered the Spanish settlements he cap
tured a Spanish ship loaded with gold and
silver; he sailed along the coast to Califor-
MIA, of which he took formal possession in
the name of the Queen of England. Then,
laden deep with booty, he thought to find a
northern passage back into the Atlantic
Northward he sailed until he reached the
region of eternal cold, but found no gap in
the ice bound coast DESTROYS, above all
things, to avoid the Spanish cruisers, he
came to the resolution to sail westward, and
endeaver to reach England by completing
the circumnavigation of the globe. lie ac-
complished. his purpose, and reached Eng
land in 1880, after an absence oftwO years.
nine months and thirteen days. This was
regarded as an immense achievement
The Queen knighted Captain Drake, and
came on board his ship, where she partook
of a banquet, and when the Spanish king
demanded his surrender as buccaneer, she
refused to give him up.
Drake soon had on opportunity Of glut-
ting his vengeance against the Spaniards.
Such exploits as his sanctioned and reward
ed by the Queen of England, led finally to
open and declared war between the two
powers Again, in command Of a powerful
fleet, he ravaged and plundeyed the Spanish
towns in America, and visiting Virginia,
brought away to England the settlers plant
ed there by Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1887,
with feet of thirty armed ships, he sailed
boldly into Cadz and there destroyed a
hundred Spanish vessels, which he called
"singeing the beard of the king of Spain"
Next year, the Invincible Armada ap-
preached the shores of England On the
great, immortal day which saw that mighty
ornament defeated and dispersed, Sir Fran
els Drake was second in command Of the
British feet, and bore q mans part in the
tremendous conflict In the year following,
he was again on the coast of Spain with a
great feet, desolating every point which
he attacked, and keeping the whole penin-
sula in terror.
There was then short interval Of peace
between the two countries, during which
Admiral Drake represented the town OF
Plymouth in parliament. War being re-
newed in 1894, we see him once more in the
West Indies, under his old patron, Sir
Jno. Hawkins. This was the last of his SER
vices. Hawkins dying from wound receiv-
ed in action, Drake assumed command OF
the forces, and committed great havoc
among the Spanish settlements but part
of his troops having met with reverse, he
took it so much to heart that he fell sick Of
fever. He died on board his ship, aged
fifty years, and his remains were committed
to the deep.
1t thus appears that this brave man spent
his life in warning upon the Spaniards.-
What ought we to think Of himS Was he a
buccaneer; or a patriot sailor waging legt-
innate warfare | answer the question thus {:
The worst man of whom history gives
any account and the most formidable ene-
my modern civilization has had to encount-
er, was Philip H., King of Spain. He
was moody, ignorant, sensual, cowardly
hypocrite. So long as that atrocious ty-
rant welded the resources of the Spanish
monarchy-then the most powerful on earth
the first interest of human nature was the
reduction of his power. TO do this was the
great object and the almost ceaseless effort
of Queen Elizabeth and the protestant
powers in. alliance with her. In lending
hand to this work, Francis Drake was fight
ing on the side of civilization, and prepar-
ing the way for such an America as we see
around us now; for, in limiting the power
of Philip, he was rescuing the fairest por
tions Of America from the blight Of Span
ish superstition, Spanish cruelty and Span
ish narrowness That he fought his share
of this fight in wild, rough, buccaneering
manner, was the fault of his age, more than
his own. His voyage round the world, too,
marks an era in the history of navigation.