And so, cursing and reviled, the proud ambassador, with rage in his heart, was hustled out of England, and once more King Philip was face to face with the apparently unsolvable problem of how to gain control of English policy. Five ministers of his had begun hopefully with methods of suave diplomacy, and one after the other had become dangerous conspirators and promoters of treason. Elizabeth and her Government, timidly at first and with many gyrations, had through a long series of years injured with impunity the dearest interests of Spain. The seizure of the treasure had caused the failure of Alba; the constant aid of the Netherlands revolt had prevented the pacification of Flanders; the sheltering of the pirates and privateers in English ports had almost cut off communication between Spain and the Flemish dominions by sea; the depredations of Drake, afloat and ashore, had well-nigh ruined Spain and demonstrated her impotence to the world; whilst the assistance and asylum given to the Portuguese Pretender had rendered incomplete Philip’s hold over the new conquest upon which he based such great hopes. For five-and-twenty years Philip, against the impatient advice of many of his ministers, had persisted in the belief that his own slow, cautious, diplomatic methods would succeed in conciliating Elizabeth or in substituting for her an instrument more amenable to his hand. The expulsion of Mendoza, in January, 1584, marks the conclusion of the era of peaceful effort. The ambassador left England breathing threats of war and vengeance, and when Philip received the reports of his doings he had no words but those of praise and approbation for them. “You have acted with the same good sense and courage in the manner of your departure as in all else that has happened during your stay in the country. I am entirely satisfied with you, and with your good services, and will take care that they are duly remembered.” Philip at last had made up his mind: henceforward it must be war to the knife between himself and Elizabeth, and no keener instrument to work the destruction of his enemy could be found than Mendoza, with a bitter personal injury of his own to avenge. From his new post in Paris the ambassador worked incessantly to compass the ruin of the _régime_ in England that had wounded his pride; and for the rest of his active life, until, blind and heartbroken with failure, the brilliant soldier, diplomatist, and historian was shrouded in a monk’s gabardine, Elizabeth had no enemy so indefatigable and rancorous as Don Bernardino de Mendoza. Plans and plots for revolution in England, for the murder of Elizabeth, and for the overthrow by treachery of the Protestant power in favour of Mary Stuart, were the means upon which Mendoza mainly depended.