fomented a mutiny in Gertruydenburg, his relations with the States-General, with Maurice and Barneveldt, and with Sir Thomas Bodley [q. v.], the queen's envoy at The Hague, had been uniformly good. In 1595 Philip of Nassau conceived a daring scheme (to which Vere gave a reluctant assent) for surprising the Spanish force on the Rhine, near Wesel, under the nonagenarian Mondragon. But Mondragon, though ninety, was still the ablest of the Spanish generals after the death of Parma, and he lured the Dutch and English cavalry into a most skilfully prepared ambush, in which Vere's brother Robert lost his life by a lance-wound in the face. Sir Francis took the sad news home to his mother. On his visit to England he was specially consulted by the queen, and chosen by her to conduct the confidential negotiations with the Dutch in view of the counterstroke which it was decided to aim at Spain in a more vital part than the Netherlands.
On 1 March 1596 Vere arrived at Middelburg. He found the States-General somewhat inclined to evade his propositions, but succeeded in giving them the requisite character of urgency, and he sailed at the end of the following month with a thousand of his veterans (in Dutch pay) to join at Dover the Cadiz expedition under the joint command of Lord Howard of Effingham and Essex. Vere was lord-marshal, lieutenant-general, and one of the six members of Essex's council of war. He could not altogether escape the rivalries from which he was so happily exempt in the Low Countries, but he took the lead with an excellent steadying effect at the capture of the town of Cadiz, in which Essex himself impetuously led the stormers (21 June). The expedition, with Vere on the Rainbow, arrived safely at Plymouth, after the sack on 8 Aug., and Vere passed some of the succeeding winter at the court. He was again to serve as a sea captain in the summer of 1597 in the Islands' voyage, and we are told that he applied himself in the interval to the study of ‘sea-cases.’ He sailed in the Mary Rose, master John Winter, on 9 July 1597, and again, after putting back from stress of weather and a most severe ‘bucketing,’ on 17 Aug.; like his comrades, he had little opportunity of adding to his reputation by this injudiciously managed sea-raid. On his return he defended the conduct of his general before Elizabeth. Nevertheless the seeds of dissension seem to have been sown during the voyage between Vere and Essex, who had hitherto been staunch friends and correspondents.
In the autumn of 1597 Vere was once more in Holland, and at The Hague was in frequent intercourse with Barneveldt; it was mainly through the latter's influence in the States-General that at Vere's instance a more aggressive policy was decided upon in December against the formidable Spanish infantry. A force was accordingly secretly collected by Prince Maurice at Gertruydenburg to attack the advanced guard of the Spaniards under the Count of Varras at Turnhout. The English contingent, forming nearly a third of the little army of between five thousand and six thousand cavalry and infantry, was under the command of Vere and Sir Robert Sidney. A complete surprise was effected, and Varras had barely time to effect a retreat in the small hours of the morning of 24 Jan. 1598 before Maurice occupied the town. An immediate pursuit was counselled by Vere, who, with a small force of cavalry, succeeded in effectually cutting off the infantry of the enemy's rearguard and securing six hundred prisoners. His action was warmly applauded, and Elizabeth wrote herself to signify her ‘good liking’ of Vere's services.
In May it was decided by the English government (having regard to the rapidly increasing prosperity and burden-bearing capacity of the united provinces) that the relations between England and Holland should be revised and a new treaty negotiated on a basis which should render the war less burdensome to England. With a view to these negotiations, Vere was selected by the queen and Burghley as special envoy to the States-General, with George Gilpin [q. v.], the resident minister at The Hague, as his colleague. He was instructed on 7 June 1598 to remind the states of the sacrifices England had made on their behalf, and to point out that if the Dutch persisted in their resolution to make no peace with the Spanish monarchy, the queen would still stand by them, but on condition only of a repayment of a portion of their debt and a regular contribution towards the maintenance of the English garrisons in Holland (see Instructions in Cotton. MS. Galba D. xii. 159).
On 18 June Vere was received with his colleague at The Hague, and delivered a speech embracing the various points of his instructions, whereupon, after numerous conferences, a satisfactory settlement was arrived at—the states acknowledging a debt of 800,000l., and stipulating that they would contribute 30,000l. annually towards the cost of the English troops in the Netherlands. The new treaty was signed on 16 Aug. 1598. Twelve days before this Burghley died, but Vere was quite secure in the con-
