1581.] VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 203 pay the expenses which Philip had caused her in Ire- land. If their ships were seized at Cadiz, there were goods enough in London belonging to Spain to reim- burse their losses. The honour of Spain was at stake. To have demanded reparation to have been unable to obtain it yet not to venture to resent the refusal, was a confession of weakness or cowardice. ' Many of their ships/ wrote Mendoza, ' I understand to be on their way home, and beyond the reach of arrest. Had they remained in our harbours the seizure might have still been impolitic in the present attitude of affairs at Terceira. I have therefore tried to frighten the merchants in another way. This treasure of Drake's is the bait which keeps the French at the Queen's devotion. We must recover it if we can. I therefore have forged a letter from the Board of Trade at Seville to the Anglo-Spanish Company in London, in which the Board intimate that they are waiting earnestly for the Queen's resolution. If the plunder be not restored, they will be obliged, to their extreme regret, to close the intercourse between the two coun- tries, and lay an embargo on English property. They recommend the company therefore to press on the Government the necessity of doing justice. I gave this composition to the masters, by whom it was translated and presented to the council. The council, I understand, said tnat it was moderate and reasonable, and they would give it their best consideration/ l 1 Mendoza to Pffilip, November 7 : MSS. SittMncas,
