280 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



of the far more interesting matter to us which lies 

 before me, I must quit Lepanto, with the reflection 

 that there the maritime power of the Moslemah was 

 finally broken, and that, although it was long ere the 

 infernal nests of Mohammedan pirates, which abounded 

 along the shores of Africa and in the far Eastern 

 Mediterranean, were finally broken up, the snake was 

 so badly scotched that it never again became a serious 

 menace to civilization. We must now return to the 

 Atlantic, where a new era had opened up with the 

 discovery of the new world. Naturally the discoverers 

 claimed it for their own, without knowing of its vast 

 extent, and fancied vainly that they should be able 

 to hold it, this amazing reservoir of wealth, for the 

 aggrandisement of the mother-country and the Holy 

 Koman Church. In this they reckoned without their 

 hosts, and with all the arrogance which characterized 

 the haughty hidalgos of Spain. Our own islands had 

 bred a fearless race of seafarers, lineal descendants of 

 the ancient Vikings, and, feeling the need of having 

 a share in the world's wealth so long monopolized by 

 the Latin races, began to poach upon the Spanish 

 preserves. Here again the excuse of religion was 

 readily made for the wildest excesses, the most flagrant 

 acts of robbery and bloodshed. 



But it is difficult for us to put ourselves in the 

 place of the Spaniard when considering this question, 

 remembering, as we must, his horrible cruelties towards 

 the Dutch in the name of religion. Not even the 

 most bigoted Roman Catholic would dare to accuse 

 Protestants of attempting to spread their form of 

 worship by fire and sword, although he would, doubt- 

 less, add a saving clause to the effect that, had they 



