However, he lay for some time
at the mouth of the river, destroying every ship that entered
its mouth, and sending in a challenge to Santa Cruz to come out
and fight. The Spanish admiral did not accept it, and Drake then
sailed to Corunna, and there, as at Cadiz, destroyed all the ships
collected in the harbour and then returned to England, having in
the course of a few months inflicted an enormous amount of damage
upon Spain, and having taken the first step to prove that England
was the mistress of the sea.
But while the little band of English had been defending Sluys
against the army of the Duke of Parma, Philip had been continuing
his preparations, filling up the void made by the destruction
wrought by Drake, and preparing an Armada which he might well have
considered to be invincible. Elizabeth was still continuing her
negotiations. She was quite ready to abandon the Netherlands to
Spain if she could but keep the towns she held there, but she could
nor bring herself to hand these over either to the Netherlands or
to Spain. She urged the States to make peace, to which they replied
that they did not wish for peace on such terms as Spain would alone
grant; they could defend themselves for ten years longer if left
alone, they did not ask for further help, and only wanted their
towns restored to them.
Had the Armada started as Philip intended in September, it would have
found England entirely unprepared, for Elizabeth still obstinately
refused to believe in danger, and the few ships that had been
held in commission after Drake's return had been so long neglected
that they could hardly keep the sea without repair; the rest lay
unrigged in the Medway.
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