e Armada was not confined to England and
Holland. All Northern Europe joined in it. Philip's ambition, in the event
of victory over England, might have led him to attempt the subjection of
every Protestant state in Europe, while Catholic France, which he
afterwards attempted to conquer, had the greatest reason to dread his
success.

Thus ended the most threatening enterprise in the religious wars of the
sixteenth century, and to Lord Howard and his gallant captains England and
Europe owe the deepest debt of gratitude, for the success of the Armada
and the conquest of England by Spain might have proved a calamity whose
effects would have been felt to the present day.

THE CAUSES OF SPAIN'S DECADENCE.

The golden age of Spain began in 1492, in which year the conquest of
Granada extinguished the Arab dominion, and the discovery of America by
Columbus opened a new world to the enterprise of the Spanish cavaliers. It
continued during the reigns of Charles I. and Philip II., extending over a
period of about a century, during which Spain was the leading power in
Europe, and occupied the foremost position in the civilized world. In
Europe its possessions included the Netherlands and important regions in
Italy, while its king, Charles I., ruled as Charles V. over the German
empire, possessing a dominion in Europe only surpassed by that of
Charlemagne. Under Philip II. Portugal became a part of the Spanish realm,
and with it its colony of Brazil, so that Spain was the unquestioned owner
of the whole continent of South America, while much of North America lay
under its flag.

Wealth flowed into the coffers of this broad kingdom in steady streams,
the riches of America over-flowing its treasury; its fleet was the
greatest, its army the best trained and most irresistible in Europe; it
stood as the bulwark against that mighty Ottoman power before which the
other nations trembled, and checked its career of victory at Lepanto; in
short, as above said, it was for a brief period the leading power in
Europe, and appeared to have in it the promise of a glorious career.

Such was the status of Spain during the reigns of the monarchs named. This
was followed by a long period of decline, which reduced that kingdom from
its position of supremacy into that of one of the minor powers of Europe.
Various causes contributed to this change, the chief being the accession
of a series of weak monarchs and the false ideas of the principles