It is true that, during the
years of her reign which had passed away before the attempted invasion
of 1588, she had revived the commercial prosperity, the national spirit,
and the national loyalty of England. But her resources to cope with the
colossal power of Philip II still seemed most scanty; and she had not a
single foreign ally, except the Dutch, who were themselves struggling
hard, and, as it seemed, hopelessly, to maintain their revolt against
Spain.
On the other hand, Philip II was absolute master of an empire so
superior to the other states of the world in extent, in resources, and
especially in military and naval forces as to make the project of
enlarging that empire into a universal monarchy seem a perfectly
feasible scheme; and Philip had both the ambition to perform that
project and the resolution to devote all his energies and all his means
to its realization. Since the downfall of the Roman Empire no such
preponderating power had existed in the world. During the mediaeval
centuries the chief European kingdoms were slowly moulding themselves
out of the feudal chaos; and though the wars with each other were
numerous and desperate, and several of their respective kings figured
for a time as mighty conquerors, none of them in those times acquired
the consistency and perfect organization which are requisite for a
long-sustained career of aggrandizement.
Pages:
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443