ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 1584, possibly accompanied by his patron Sir Walter Ralegh and probably with Sir Francis Walsingham too, an already well-reputed Richard Hakluyt presented Queen Elizabeth with the longest extant example we have of his own writing, the so-called ‘Discourse of Western Planting’ (or, to give the manuscript title, ‘A particuler discourse concerninge the greate necessitie and manifolde commodyties that are like to growe to this Realme of Englande by the westerne discoveries lately attempted’). 1 Perhaps mirroring the scene in which his older cousin had introduced him to the study of English voyages, 2 Hakluyt now had an opportunity to encourage the queen to accept his and his patrons’ views on how England should proceed in the colonization of North America. 3 Elizabeth probably read the ‘Discourse’ attentively, but, from what we know, she never fully accepted the thrust of the argument. At a time when tension with Spain was reaching its zenith, and the possibility of a Spanish invasion was more than just a rumour, Elizabeth harboured serious doubts that a direct confrontation with the Iberians in North America would be the best option for her country. 4 Certainly, the fact that such a politically important document was not rushed to the press immediately reveals that Elizabeth hesitated to provoke Philip II further.
