trouble to create or succumb to their tremendous power of wealth and wickedness.  Drake was the chosen instrument of an inscrutable destiny, and we owe it to him that the divided England of that day was saved from annihilation.  He broke the power of Spain at sea, and established England as the first naval and mercantile Power in the world.  He was the real founder of generations of seamen, and his undying fame will inspire generations yet unborn to maintain the supremacy of the seas.

The callous, brutal attitude of Elizabeth towards a race of men who had given their lives and souls so freely in every form of danger and patriotic adventure because they believed it to be a holy duty is one of the blackest pages of human history.  The cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition and the treatment of sailors in the galleys were only different in degree, and while there are sound reasons for condemning the Queen and the ruling classes of that time for conduct that would not be tolerated in these days, it is unquestionably true that it was a difficult task to keep under control the spirit of rebellion of that period, as it is to-day.  Doubtless those in authority were, in their judgment, compelled to rule with a heavy hand in order to keep in check wilful breaches of discipline.

Attempts to mutiny and acts of treason were incidents in the wonderful career of Francis Drake which frequently caused him to act with severity.  Doughty, the Spanish spy, who was at one time a personal friend of Drake’s, resolved to betray his commander.  Doughty was caught in the act, tried by a court composed of men serving under Drake, found guilty, and after dining with the Admiral, chatting cheerfully as in their friendly days, they drank each other’s health and had some private conversation not recorded; then Doughty was led to the place of execution and had his head chopped off, Drake exclaiming as it fell, “Lo, this is the end of traitors!” Then Drake relieved Fletcher of his duties as chaplain by telling him softly that he would “preach this day.”  The ship’s company was called together and he exhorted them to harmony, warning them of the danger of discord.  Then in his breezy phraseology he exclaims, “By the life of God, it doth even take my wits from me to think of it.”  The crew, it appears, was composed of gentlemen, who were obviously putting on airs, and sailors, who resented their swank as much as did the great captain.  So Drake proceeds to lay the law down vehemently.  “Let us show ourselves,” said he, “all to be of one company, and let us not give occasion to the enemy to rejoice at our decay and overthrow.  Show me the man that would refuse to set his hand to a rope, but I know that there is not any such here.”  Then he proceeds to drive home his plan of discipline with vigour.  “And as gentlemen are necessary for government’s sake in the voyage, so I have shipped them to that and to some further intent.”  He does not say quite what it is, but they doubtless