expedition having been suffered to leave the shores of England, and of English merchants having supplied the besieged with provisions, the queen was able to disown personal knowledge of Montgomeri's design. Concerning the other allegation, she very aptly said that merchants were men who followed their gain, wheresoever they hoped to find it; and that since they, being Protestants, were in danger of being butchered in every other port of France, it was no wonder that they carried their goods where they might hope to vend them in safety.
A fifth war of religions raged in France from 1574 to 1576. As usual, Elizabeth, while countenancing the Huguenots, endeavoured to keep on terms of peace with France; and, at the height of the struggle, she sent the Earl of Worcester on a complimentary mission to the French Court. The Protestants of La Rochelle had, as on previous occasions of the kind, taken advantage of the civil strife to fit out privateers, which eventually began to commit piratical acts against vessels of all nations. Some of these cruisers were so rash as to seize a vessel containing part of the Earl's baggage, and in the affray they killed three or four people.[1] This was more than the queen could suffer, even from her protégés. The Lord High Admiral, who, in 1572 had been created Earl of Lincoln, was instructed to clear the Narrow Seas of all freebooters, Protestant or Catholic. He appointed the Controller of the Navy, William Holstock, as his vice-admiral, and entrusted him with the command of three fast vessels, having three hundred and sixty men on board. With these, in about six weeks, Mr. Holstock took twenty privateers, with nine hundred men, and retook fifteen merchantmen. The prizes were sent into Sandwich, Dover, and Portsmouth; and in one of them were found three of the persons who had been concerned in the plundering of the Earl of Worcester's baggage. These, after trial, were hanged as pirates.[2]
In 1575,[3] the Prince of Orange and the States General of the Netherlands offered Elizabeth the possession, or, if not, the protectorate of Holland and Zeeland. The queen graciously declined the offer, but promised, if possible, to use her influence with Spain to procure peace for the United Provinces. Had she accepted
