THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINLySTA 
 
 ENDOWED BY 
 
 JOHN SPRUNT HILL 
 
 CLASS OF 1889 
 
 CB 
 Rl63t5 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00032703352 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
THE; 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OK 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 PIONEER OF 
 ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION. 
 
 CHARLES K. TRUE, D. D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF " ELEMENTS OF LOGIC," " LIFE OF JOHN WINTHROP," ETC. 
 
 t 
 
 CINCINNATI : CURTvS & JENNINGS. 
 NEW YORK : EATON & MAINS. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 
 
 HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 This book is composed to find a place in 
 Sunday-school libraries, to keep in memory 
 the heroic men who have contributed to lay 
 the foundations of Anglo-Saxon civilization 
 on this Continent, in the hope that it may 
 alternate with, if not substitute, some of the 
 fictitious tales that make up so much of the 
 reading of our young people. It is based 
 upon the most recent and reliable biographies 
 of Raleigh and the histories of his times. I 
 take pleasure in acknowledging my indebted- 
 ness to the biographies of Raleigh by Edward 
 Edwards and by Mrs. M. A. Thompson, En- 
 glish writers, and to J. C. Ridpath's ** History 
 
 of the United States." 
 
 C. K. T. 
 Flushing, L. I., N, Y., 1877. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Birth and Education, 9. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Raleigh enlists in the Civil Wars of France — The 
 
 Huguenots. • . . , . . • '5 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Discovery and Colonization of America — Raleigh's 
 
 First Adventures, ...... 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Civil Wars in Ireland, 03 
 
 CHAPTER V. • 
 
 Raleigh at the Court of Elizabeth — Essex — Lady 
 
 Arabella Stuart — Sir Philip Sidney — Spenser, . 40 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Raleigh attempts to colonize Virginia, . . • 54 
 
6 Contents. 
 
 PACK. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Raleigh's Relation to Ireland — Potatoes introduced 
 into Ireland — War with Spain — The Armada — 
 Reprisals, . 64 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Visit to Spenser — Panama Scheme — Favors Tolera- 
 tion— Udall— The Brownists — The Jesuits— Ra- 
 leigh's Marriage — Disgrace at Court and Impris- 
 onment, ........ 72 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Expeditions to Guiana, . . . , . .85 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Naval Expedition against Cadiz — ^The Island's Enter- 
 prise — Breach with Essex, ... . . 99 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Raleigh and his Compeers at Court — Revolt and Ex- 
 ecution of Essex, . , . . . .110 
 
 ^CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Raleigh Governor of Jersey — His Domestic Life — 
 
 Member of Parliament — His Literary Associates, 119 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Death of Elizabeth — Accession of James — His Char- 
 acter and Works — Raleigh's Disgrace at Court — 
 
Contents. 
 
 Charged with Conspiracy — Impiisonment in the 
 Tower, X28 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Trial of Raleigh and the Conspirators — Conduct 
 of Sir Edward Coke — The Sentence of the Pris- 
 oners. 
 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Execution of the Prisoners Watson, Clarke, and 
 Brooke — ^The King's Maneuvers in regard to the 
 Fate of Raleigh, Cobham, Grey, and Markham, 184 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Death of Cecil and Prince Henry — Raleigh released 
 from the Tower — Projects Another Expedition to 
 Guiana, 196 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Guiana Expedition, 206 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Arrested on his Journey to London — Expedients to 
 escape — Committed to the Tower — Fruitless Ef- 
 forts of Queen Anne in his Behalf — Brought 
 before the Court of the King's Bench — Former 
 Sentence renewed against him — His Execution 
 and Burial, , 234 
 
Illustrations. 
 
 Young Essex brought to Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth giving a Ring to Essex, . ii6 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 ^Conter of anfilo-^mcruan Colonijati'on. 
 
 dljkptef I. 
 
 BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 
 
 QIR WALTER RALEIGH was born A. D. 
 *^ 1552, at the Manor Hayes, in the parish of 
 East Badleigh, on the eastern coast of Devon- 
 shire, a county distinguished as the birthplace of 
 two other great navigators, Sir Francis Drake and 
 Sir John Hawkins. It was in the reign of the 
 young king, Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and 
 Jane Seymour, whose death at the age of fifteen 
 gave the throne to Mary, the Cathohc, daughter 
 of Henry VIII and Catherine. His parents were 
 Protestants, as we know by the following anec- 
 
lo Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dotes, well worth noting, as revealing the charac- 
 ter of the times : 
 
 A few years before Walter was born a revolt 
 against the government of the papists, called the 
 "Rising of the West," took place. It commenced 
 on Whitsunday, 1549, at the Church of Sampford 
 Courtenay, about twenty miles from Hayes, and 
 spread all over Devon and Cornwall. While rid- 
 ing toward Exeter, Walter Raleigh, Senior, over- 
 took an old woman going to the Church of Clyst 
 St. Mary. He amused himself by asking her, 
 "What is the good of your beads?" and told her 
 of the new laws against superstitious practices. 
 She was made so angry by his banter that, when 
 she got to the church, she rushed in and cried 
 out, "Unless they would quit their beads and 
 holy water, the gentlemen would burn their houses 
 over their heads!" The Congregation thereupon 
 swarmed out of the church "like a sort of 
 wasps;" and a party of them overtook Raleigh, 
 and obliged him to flee into a chapel on the road- 
 side, where he was protected for the time; but 
 farther on he was overhauled and captured by a 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. ii 
 
 party of rioters, and imprisoned in the tower of a 
 church at Saint Sidwell's, in the suburbs of Exeter. 
 The rebels besieged Exeter ; but, in a bloody battle 
 at Clyst Heath, Lord Grey defeated them with 
 great slaughter. In the morning after the battle 
 Mr. Raleigh was set at liberty by the victors. 
 
 In the next reign the work of suppressing 
 Protestantism was carried on with vigor by Queen 
 Mary, and many good people were martyred for 
 their religion. Among them was one uneducated 
 but strong-minded and pious woman, named 
 Agnes Prest, whose trial so excited the sympathies 
 of young Walter's mother that she made her a 
 visit of condolence in prison. The poor woman 
 revealed the special cause of her imprisonment 
 while repeating to Mrs. Raleigh her creed; for 
 when she came to the words, ^^ He ascended" she 
 stopped and remarked upon the folly of looking 
 for the body of Christ in any earthly temple ; and 
 declared the papal usage of the sacrament was 
 making an idol of the wafer, and not a proper 
 remembrance of Christ's passion. Mrs. Raleigh 
 was surprised at her intelligence, and said to 
 
12 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the family that she was convinced that '* God 
 was with her." "I was not able to answer her — 
 I who could read, and she can not!" 
 
 We know nothing more of the mother of 
 Walter, except that she was the widow of Otho 
 Gilbert, a man of wealth, and became the third 
 wife of Mr. Raleigh. By him she became the 
 mother of three children, Carew, Walter, and 
 Margaret. By her first husband she had three 
 sons, Humphrey, John, and Adrian Gilbert, all of 
 whom attained distinction, especially the eldest. 
 We shall find him, in the course of our narrative, 
 the Sir Humphrey Gilbert exploring the ''North- 
 west Passage.'' 
 
 The rustic house in which Walter was born 
 still remains, with various alterations and addi- 
 tions, amidst rural scenes that have scarcely 
 changed since. *'It is of the plainest sort of 
 Tudor architecture, with three gables, heavily 
 mullioned windows, a thatched roof, and some- 
 what picturesque porch." It was within a pleasant 
 walk of the coast, which made him conversant 
 with sailors who had visited all parts of the globe, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 13 
 
 and it was in the neighborhood of manufactories 
 established by emigrants from Flanders; and on 
 every side were exhibitions of trade and enter- 
 prise and thrift, the early types of that marvelous 
 industry and art which has made England the 
 foremost nation of the world. 
 
 The name of the family was spelled in every 
 possible way — Rale, Rawley, Rawleigh, Ralegh, 
 and Raleigh. We retain the latter because it is 
 so spelled in our American geographies, though 
 Sir Walter's autographs show that he spelled it 
 Ralegh, without the /. It is curious to observe 
 how utterly erratic was the spelling of even 
 learned persons of those days, having no stand- 
 ard, and showing no reluctance to employ double 
 letters for single, spelling the same word differ- 
 ently in the same paragraph, and all such vagaries. 
 
 All we know of Walter's early education is 
 that he was entered as a commoner at Oxford 
 University in Christ Church College, and also in 
 Oriel College, probably for the chance of a fellow- 
 ship in one or the other of the colleges. He was 
 a student three years, and was distinguished foi 
 
14 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 his attainments in philosophy and oratory ; but he 
 did not remain long enough to graduate. 
 
 At the University he made the acquaintance 
 of Francis Bacon, who formed a high opinion 
 of his talents. Bacon tells this story of him : 
 ''Whilst Raleigh was a scholar at Oxford, there 
 was a cowardly fellow, who happened to be a 
 very good archer; but, having been grossly in- 
 sulted by another, he bemoaned himself to Raleigh, 
 and asked his advice what he should do to repair 
 the wrong that had been offered him. 'Why, 
 challenge him,' answered Raleigh, 'to a match 
 of shooting !' " Very witty, and wise too, com- 
 pared with the barbarous fashion of dueling. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 15 
 
 Cil\kj)tef II. 
 
 RALEIGH ENLISTS IN THE CIVIL WARS OF FRANCE — THE 
 HUGUENOTS. 
 
 IN the Autumn of 1569 he leaves college, and 
 engages as a vohmteer under his cousin, 
 Henry Champernoun, to fight on the side of the 
 Huguenots against the King of France. He was 
 probably at the battle of Jarnac, and certainly in 
 that of Moncontour, for in his "History of the 
 World" he extols the masterly ability of Count 
 Ludovic, brother of the Prince of Orange, in con- 
 ducting the retreat of the Protestant army after 
 being defeated in battle, thereby saving it from 
 utter demoralization and destruction : ''of which," 
 he records, ''myself was an eye-witness, and was 
 one of those that had come to thank him for it." 
 These facts connect our hero with a portion 
 of history that will never cease to be of tragic 
 interest. 
 
1 6 Sir vValter Raleigh. 
 
 The Protestants of France were named Hugue- 
 nots as a name of contempt. It is derived from 
 a compound German word meaning confederates. 
 They were mostly Calvinists, and, at the time in 
 question, were found in every part of France, 
 and numbered two million. They had endured 
 every sort of persecution; many had been run- 
 demned by the Chatnbre Ardente to be burnt tor 
 heresy, and their estates were confiscated. At 
 length, in 1560, being secretly encouraged by 
 Conde, a prince of the blood royal, a conspijacy 
 was formed to resist by arms the tyranny of the 
 government. The plot was discovered, and «.ost 
 the lives of about one thousand two hundred 
 persons. 
 
 On the accession of Charles IX to the throne 
 of France, being advised by the queen mother, 
 Catherine, he granted toleration and many privi- 
 leges to the persecuted sect. This awakened the 
 jealousy of the Catholics, and especially of the 
 Duke of Guise, the chief minister of State. A 
 civil war was imminent. A number of Hugue- 
 nots, engaged in worship in a barn, were insulted 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 17 
 
 by the servants of the Duke as he was passing 
 that way, and in the tnklie which followed the 
 Duke was wounded in the face by a stone. See- 
 ing this, his attendants became furious, and killed 
 a number of the Huguenots. The reports of this 
 affray went abroad in an exaggerated form, and 
 in a shoft space the whole country was in a blaze 
 of civil war. 
 
 The first batde was fought at Dreux, and the 
 Huguenots were defeated, and their commander, 
 Conde, was taken prisoner. 
 
 The next year the Duke of Guise, while at 
 the siege of Orleans, was stabbed by an assassin. 
 On his dying bed he exhorted the queen mother, 
 who had unbounded influence at court, to make 
 peace with the Huguenots. She complied with 
 his request, and favorable terms of pacification 
 were granted; but in a few years after, the war 
 broke out afresh. In the first battle, the leader 
 of the Huguenots, the Constable Montmorenci, 
 was killed. The next great battle was fought at 
 Jarnac, March 13, 1569, and the Prince Conde 
 was obliged to surrender. Being wounded, he 
 
1 8 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 was placed by a tree, when an officer of the 
 enemy came behind him, and in a dastardly 
 manner shot him dead. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, who was now on the throne 
 »f England, did not formally engage on the side 
 of the Protestants; but it had all her sympathies, 
 and she winked at the unauthorized participa- 
 tion of her subjects in the war. Men, ships, 
 provisions, and money were freely contributed, 
 which so offended the government of France that 
 it was on the point of declaring war against 
 England. 
 
 The religious conflict went on in France, and 
 finally culminated in the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's Day. The Queen Mother Catherine, 
 now 'become ferocious, conceived the diaboHcal 
 purpose of murdering at one fell stroke all the 
 hated Huguenots in the kingdom. It required 
 all her art to inveigle the young king into her 
 scheme; but at last he yielded. The night of 
 the 24th of August, 1572, was set for the execu- 
 tion of the plot. The great bell of the palace 
 was rung, and the Swiss guards of tlie king led 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 19 
 
 the way for the whole miHtary to enact the horrid 
 scene. The Duke of Guise rushed with a band 
 of soldiers to the residence of the Admiral Co- 
 ligny, the aged and venerable leader of the Hu- 
 guenots, and surprised him in bed. As one of 
 the assassins approached him with a drawn sword, 
 he said to him, "Young man, you ought to rev- 
 erence these gray hairs. But do your work; my 
 life can be shortened but a little." His body was 
 thrown out of the window. It was taken to 
 Rome, and hung on a gibbet by the feet. In 
 this manner every house where Huguenots lived 
 was broken into, and its inmates were put to 
 death, without respect to age or sex. And the 
 same scenes were enacted in every province of 
 the realm. Seventy thousand persons, it is reck- 
 oned, perished in that dreadful night. The young 
 king murdered his own peace, for he never knew 
 rest to his conscience from that hour. His Prot- 
 estant nurse, whose life he had spared, was with 
 him at his dying hour. Hearing him groaning, 
 she went to his bed, and opened the curtain, and 
 asked what distressed him. ''Alas, nurse!'' he 
 
20 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 cried. *' What blood! what murder! Ah, I have 
 followed wicked counsel! O my God, forgive 
 me! Have mercy upon me if thou wilt!" 
 
 Raleigh was in France at this time, and until 
 1576. How he escaped^ the massacre, and of 
 what he was doing, we have no account. His 
 own silence on the subject is accounted for by 
 the fact that the English allies of the Huguenots 
 had no authority from their own government for 
 enlisting in the civil wars of France, and they 
 fought with the assurance that, if taken prisoners, 
 they were liable to be hung. The persecution of 
 the Huguenots, of which we have a glimpse at 
 this point of history, went on for a century, until 
 the land was cleared of them by death and emi- 
 gration. More than two millions of the best in- 
 habitants of France fled to Switzerland, Germany, 
 England, and America, carrying with them art, 
 wealth, and the principles of the Reformation. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 21 
 
 dl\^tef III. 
 
 DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF AMERICA — RALEIGH'S 
 FIRST ADVENTURES. 
 
 COMING from the civil wars of France, we 
 trace Raleigh to his native land, planning 
 with his renowned step-brother Humphrey Gilbert 
 to make discoveries of the north-west passage. 
 
 As early as A. D. 986, an Icelander named 
 Herjalfson, on a voyage to Greenland, was over- 
 taken by a storm, and driven to a land that was 
 so different from Greenland that they knew it was 
 another country. From his stories about it on his 
 return it is conjectured to have been Labrador or 
 Newfoundland. 
 
 This awakened the spirit of discovery in others, 
 and an expedition was fitted out under Captain 
 Lief Erickson, in A. D. looi. He discovered 
 and explored the coast of Labrador. Thence he 
 sailed southward as far as Massachusetts, and the 
 
2 2 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 next year went on to Rhode Island, and round to 
 the mouth of the Hudson, River. The same 
 year, 1002, his brother Thorwald took the same 
 route as far as Fall River, Massachusetts, where 
 he died. In 1005, another brother, Thorstein, 
 came to Massachusetts. In 1007, Thorfinn Karl- 
 sefne, a noted navigator, took one hundred and 
 fifty men, and made explorations along the coast 
 as far as Virginia. They gave the country the 
 name of Vinland. Small colonies were planted 
 by Norwegian and. Icelandic adventurers in New- 
 foundland and Nova Scotia. But all these at- 
 tempts were ephemeral, and nothing came of 
 them. In after years vessels from Norway visited 
 these coasts. They were supposed to be a con- 
 tinuation of Greenland, and no idea of a new 
 continent discovered ever came to Europe until 
 after Columbus had made his discoveries. 
 
 His idea was that, the earth being a globe, a 
 passage could be made to the Indies by proceed- 
 ing westward. As early as 1356, in the first 
 English book ever printed. Sir John Mandeville 
 expressed this conviction, derived from his own 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 23 
 
 observation of the stars in traveling northward 
 and southward. But it was reserved to Columbus 
 to reduce the speculation to experiment. In the 
 evening of the nth of October, 1492, after sev- 
 enty days' sailing, he saw a light moving on the 
 horizon which betokened land, and when tlie morn- 
 ing dawned he heard the cry of *'land!" from 
 Rodrigo Triana, and in a litde while he stepped 
 ashore at the Isle of San Salvador, with the flag 
 of Castile in his hand, and followed by his rejoic- 
 ing crew. In this voyage he discovered Concep- 
 tion, Cuba, and Hayti, and having built a fort 
 out of the timber of one of his little ships, the 
 Santa Maria^ he returned to electrify the Old 
 World with the news of his success. On his 
 second voyage he discovered Jamaica and Porto 
 Rico, and on the third he discovered the South 
 American Continent near the Orinoco River. 
 
 In 1499 Amerigo Vespucci discovered the 
 South American coast, and again in 1501 he ex- 
 plored it, and published the fact that it was not 
 India, but another continent. 
 
 In 1 5 10, a Spanish colony was planted on the 
 
24 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Isthmus of Darien. The governor, Vasco Nunez 
 de Balboa, crossed the Isthmus, and first saw the 
 Pacific Ocean, and pompously took possession of 
 it in the name of the King of Spain. 
 
 Florida was discovered in 15 12 by Juan Ponce 
 de Leon, who made a landing near St. Augustine. 
 On a second voyage to this region he was shot by 
 an arrow from the Indians, who resisted his land- 
 ing, and he withdrew, to die of his wound in Cuba. 
 
 In the year 1517 Yucatan and the Bay of 
 Campeachy were discovered by Fernandez de 
 Cordova, who met the same fate at the hands of 
 the natives. Two years afterward Cortez began 
 the invasion and conquest of Mexico. 
 
 In 15 19 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese 
 captain, set out from Seville, under the patronage 
 of the King of Spain, to discover a south-west 
 passage to India; and, after spending several 
 months in Brazil, the next Spring he passed down 
 to the straits which now bear his name, and pen- 
 etrated into the Pacific. Then, proceeding west- 
 ward, he reached the Ladrones, and after that 
 the Philippine Islands, where he lost his life in a 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 25 
 
 battle with the natives. The fleet went on to the 
 Moluccas.. There one vessel took in a cargo of 
 spices, and leaving the rest, as too much strained 
 to pursue the voyage, passed round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and reached Spain in safety, with 
 the announcement that the world had been cir- 
 cumnavigated. 
 
 In 1520 the coast of South Carolina was visited 
 by the infamous Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, who, 
 being driven by a storm, put into the St. Helena 
 Sound and the Cambahee River. The natives 
 came on board to trade, and while the decks were 
 crowded with them he set sail, and carried them 
 off and made slaves of them. One of his ships 
 went to the bottom in a storm, and all on board 
 perished. In a few years he returned to the 
 same spot. One of his ships ran aground, when 
 the Indians made an assault upon it and killed 
 many of the crew, and compelled De Ayllon to 
 escape as best he could. 
 
 In 1526 Charles V granted to Pamphila de 
 Narvaez the territory from Cape Sable to the 
 River of Palms, and in 1528, with a force of three 
 
26 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 hundred men, he entered Tampa Bay and landed 
 to explore the country, and took possession. But 
 after incredible hardship the whole of this force 
 perished, except four men, who came out of their 
 wandering on the Pacific Coast, at what is now 
 the village of San Miguel. 
 
 The year 1539 saw a fleet of ten vessels, under 
 Ferdinand de Soto, enter Tampa Bay, commis- 
 sioned to explore the country. Our limits will 
 not allow us to follow the marvelous fortunes of 
 this company, as they traversed the regions east 
 and west of the Mississippi as far as the borders 
 of the State of Missouri. Disappointed in his 
 pursuit of El Dorado, and overcome by fatigue, 
 De Soto fell a prey to a malignant fever, and was 
 buried in the Mississippi River. 
 
 It was not till 1568 that the attempt to colo- 
 nize Florida was renewed, and then it was for the 
 diabolical purpose of dispersing a Huguenot col- 
 ony that had formed a residence on the St. John's 
 River. Philip II gave the command of the ex- 
 pedition to Pedro Melender. Having laid the 
 foundations of St. Augustine, the first town planted 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 27 
 
 in the present territory of the United States, he 
 started on his murderous enterprise, and surprised 
 the colony of Protestants, and butchered them, 
 men, women, and children, to the number of two 
 hundred. Seven hundred seamen were in the 
 neighborhood, having escaped from their wrecked 
 vessels, which had gone down the river expecting 
 to meet the hostile forces by the way of the sea. 
 These were captured and marched to St. Augus- 
 tine, and there were slaughtered without mercy. 
 The leader of the Huguenot colony, Laudonniere, 
 with a few men, escaped to the coast, and were 
 rescued by the two vessels that had escaped the 
 storm which sent the rest to their destruction. How 
 mysterious the ways of Providence, that he should 
 allow the elements to conspire with the wicked- 
 ness of man to extinguish the light of the Refor- 
 mation on these shores! It was his will that 
 Protestant colonies should be planted further 
 northward. 
 
 In 1 501 a Portuguese captain named Cortereal 
 explored the coast of Maine, and carried off fifty 
 natives, and sold them as slaves in Europe. The 
 
28 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 next year he went on the same nefarious expedi- 
 tion, bui- was never heard of afterward. 
 
 France sent her fishermen to the Banks of 
 Newfoundland in 1504; and 1524 an expedition 
 was fitted out by Francis 1 to discover a north- 
 west passage. John Verrazzani, a Florentine, com- 
 manded a fleet of four vessels when they started, 
 but three of them were* disabled by a tempest, 
 and he proceeded with but a solitary ship. He 
 first touched the coast in the neighborhood of 
 Wilmington, North Carolina; thence he passed 
 along to New Jersey and to New York Harbor; 
 thence to Newport and the coast of Massachu- 
 setts; thence to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. 
 He gave the name of New France to these coun- 
 tries. In 1534 James Cartier came with two ships 
 to Newfoundland, and then, seeking the north- 
 west passage, he discovered the Gulf and River 
 St. Lawrence. The report of this awakened the 
 deepest interest in France, and he was commis- 
 sioned to plant a colony in this region. He pen- 
 etrated the river in boats as far as Montreal, and 
 wintered there f®ur years afterward. Cartier was 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 29 
 
 associated with Francis of La Roque, Lord of 
 Roberval, to lead another colony to the St. Law- 
 rence. Finding the people uninclined to enlist, 
 the Government adopted the expedient of giving 
 liberty to the prisoners who would volunteer to 
 embark for America. With this strange company 
 they entered the St. Lawrence in 1541, and 
 selected the present Quebec as the site of the 
 settlement, and built a fort. But though this 
 colony was re-enforced the next year with a fresh 
 supply of the same sort of persons, the whole 
 enterprise failed and came to naught. 
 
 This ended French colonization for fifty years, 
 as attempted by the Government. 
 
 In 1562 the Huguenot Admiral Coligny ob- 
 tained from Charles IX the privilege of sending 
 forth a colony of the persecuted Protestants, 
 under Captain John Ribault. They first touched 
 at Florida, and then came to Port Royal, where 
 they erected a fort, and gave to it the name of 
 Carolina, in honor of the king. There he left 
 twenty-four men ; but not being able to re-enforce 
 them, on account of the troubles of the times, 
 
30 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 they became discouraged, and constructed a vessel 
 and left for France. The next attempt was made 
 in the neighborhood of St. Augustine; but it was 
 destroyed by Melendez. Vengeance was taken 
 for this slaughter by Dominic de Gourges, who. 
 came with three ships and surprised three of the 
 Spanish forts, and hanged the captives on trees, 
 with the inscription over them, "Not Spaniards 
 but murderers." 
 
 In 1598 the Marquis de la Roche planted a 
 small colony of forty released criminals on Sable 
 Island, but they escaped back to France by ships 
 passing the coast. 
 
 In 1605 De Monts planted in Nova Scotia the 
 first permanent French colony in North America, 
 and gave the country the name of Acadia. 
 
 In 1608 Champlain made a second voyage to 
 the St. Lawrence, and settled a colony at Quebec. 
 The following year he discovered the noble lake 
 to which his name is given. 
 
 Glance now at English adventurers. 
 
 The first discovery of the real Continent of 
 North America was made in 1496 by John Cabot, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 31 
 
 who, in the employ of the English Government, 
 bore the flag of England to the coast of Labrador 
 full fourteen months beore Columbus saw the coast 
 of Guiana. He took the country to be the king- 
 dom of the Cham of Tartary. By the side of the 
 English flag he set up the flag of his native land, 
 the Republic of Venice ! 
 
 In 1498 his son, Sebastian Cabot, visited the 
 country discovered by his father, and explored the 
 whole coast as far southward as Cape Hatteras. 
 
 In 1576 Martin Frobisher, searching for the 
 north-west passage, discovered the strait called by 
 his name, and afterward also Hudson's Strait, in 
 latitude 63° 8'. The next year he returned to 
 the same region, but did not dare to go so far 
 north on account of the icebergs; and the year 
 following he renewed the attempt, and passed into 
 Hudson's Strait. 
 
 Sir Francis Drake in 1577 passed through the 
 Straits of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean, and 
 ascended as far as Oregon in search of the long- 
 desired passage, and gave the name of New 
 Albion to all this coast. 
 
32 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 We come now to the part which our hero, 
 Walter Raleigh, had in the colonization of North 
 America by Englishmen. His step-brother, Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, obtained from Queen Eliza- 
 beth a patent to take possession of any six hun- 
 dred square miles of territory not yet occupied on 
 the coast of North America. 
 
 A large company were associated in this enter- 
 prise, and ample preparations were made to put 
 to sea, when the English Court interposed on ac- 
 count of objections made by the King of Spain, 
 who absurdly claimed the whole of America as his 
 dominion by right of previous discovery and oc- 
 cupation ! However, the two brothers, disregard- 
 ing this injunction, set sail with two vessels; but 
 they were met at sea by Spanish men-of-war, and 
 after an engagement in which they suffered defeat 
 with the loss of many men, they were obliged to 
 put back. Five years afterward the attempt was 
 renewed under better auspices. To this we shall 
 return, after we have followed our hero to another 
 and far different engagement in Ireland. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 33 
 
 dl\k|)tef IV. 
 
 CIVIL WARS IN IRELAND. 
 
 '' I ^HE Irish people, being mostly adherents of 
 -•- the Church of Rome, and of an aspiring 
 and turbulent disposition, have never been con- 
 tented under the rule of Protestant England. 
 The entire reign of Elizabeth was marked by 
 tragic scenes of rebellion, riot, and civil war. 
 In 157O; Philip II instigated a plot to revolution- 
 ize Ireland, and to place the natural son of Pope 
 Gregory XIII on an independent throne. This 
 movement was thwarted; but in a few years it 
 was revived under the leadership of the Earl 
 of Desmond. The insurrection took formidable 
 shape in Munsler. At Smerwich, in Kerry, an 
 invading party of Spaniards and Italians landed 
 under the command of San Joseph, and con- 
 structed a fort, which they called "Del Oro." 
 Walter Raleigh enlisted for the suppression 
 3 
 
34 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 of this rebellion, and was actively engaged, wc 
 know not to what extent, under the command of 
 Thomas, Earl of Ormond, and Governor of 
 Munster. In 1580, we find him one of a com 
 mission to try James, the brother of the Earl of 
 Desmond. The case was a clear one, and the 
 execution of this distinguished rebel had a great 
 influence to discourage the insurrection. At Ra- 
 kele an encampment was vacated by the English 
 forces, and was immediately taken possession of 
 by the Irish. This was anticipated by Raleigh, 
 and an ambush was laid for them, and they were 
 taken prisoners. One of the prisoners had a 
 bundle of withes on his shoulder, and being 
 asked what he was going to do with them, he 
 replied: "To hang up the English churls with!" 
 "Is it so?" said Raleigh; "they shall now serve 
 for an Irish kerne." And he ordered the man to 
 be strangled with his own willows. He has been 
 censured for this act; but he justified himself by 
 necessity of striking terror into the minds of the 
 rebels. 
 
 A certain Lord Barey, in the county of Cork, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 35 
 
 was suspected of abetting the rebellion, and Ra- 
 leigh, at his own request, was ordered to surprise 
 him in his castle at Barey Court. His coming 
 was anticipated, and an ambush was laid for him 
 at a ford near Cork. With great presence of 
 mind he collected around him his little band, 
 and made a dash upon the thick ranks of the troops 
 opposing his march, and fought his way through 
 them. In the fight, a follower named Henry 
 Moyle, to whom he was attached, twice foundered 
 in the bog, and was twice rescued by Raleigh at 
 the hazard of his own life. He was at another 
 moment struck from his horse, and stood face to 
 face with twenty men, with nothing but his pis- 
 tol and quarter-staff to defend himself. But he 
 escaped, and so did every man in his escort. 
 He lost nothing but his horse, and gained the 
 reputation of a great fighter. 
 
 It was deemed of greatest importance to de- 
 stroy the garrison of Del Oro, at Smerwich, by 
 which Spanish vessels were supplying the rebellion 
 with all kinds of stores and munitions of war. 
 The Deputy Lord Grey commanded the land 
 
$6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 forces in person, and Admiral Sir Wm. Winter the 
 fleet sent to besiege the fort. The attack was re- 
 sisted three days, when Captains Raleigh and 
 Mackworth penetrated the fort, and demanded 
 unconditional surrender. A white flag was held 
 out; but Lord Grey would listen to nothing but 
 absolute submission. ''The enemy," writes the 
 Deputy in his dispatches to the government, 
 ** begged for a surcease of arms. I definitely 
 answered I would not grant it. Either pres- 
 ently he must take my offer, or else return, and 
 I would fall to my business. He then embraced 
 my knees, simply putting himself to my mercy; 
 only he prayed that for this night he might abide 
 in the fort, and that in the morning all should be 
 put into my hands. I asked for hostages for the 
 performances. . . . Morning came; I pre- 
 sented my companies in battle before the fort. 
 . , I sent straight certain gentlemen to see 
 weapons and ammunition laid down. Then I 
 put in certain bands, who straightway fell to exe- 
 cution. There were six hundred slain. Those I 
 gave life unto, I have bestowed upon the cap- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 37 
 
 tains and gentlemen, whose service both well de- 
 served." 
 
 This oruel slaughter was disgraceful even for 
 those times; but it was apologized for by the 
 poet Spenser and others as a justifiable treatment 
 of the foreign *' brigands," many of whom were 
 criminals released from ItaHan prisons by the 
 Pope, and sent to maintain insurrection and re- 
 bellion in a distant land. 
 
 One notable adventure of Raleigh was his 
 seizure of Lord Roche at his estate in Prathy, 
 about twenty miles from Cork. This nobleman 
 was suspected of secretly aiding the rebellion, 
 and Raleigh deemed it important to take this 
 prop from the rebels, and offered to undertake 
 his capture, and bring him and his family to 
 Cork. Some of the rebels got wind of this, and 
 a force of eight hundred men, under Fitz-Ed- 
 monds, were thrown in Raleigh's path; but he 
 was too quick for them, and by a night's march 
 got by the place for the ambuscade before they 
 had reached it. At Prathy he found five hundred 
 men in arms awaiting him ; but he managed with 
 
38 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 his small escort to amuse them, while he, with a 
 handful of men, made his way to the castle, fol- 
 lowed by another small band. Arrived at the 
 gates of the castle, the guards objected to his 
 entrance with more than two attendants; but 
 Raleigh managed deftly to get his six soldiers 
 inside, and the others coming up had the same 
 success. Lord Roche, finding an armed force 
 within his gates, made the best of the circum- 
 stances; protested his loyalty to the queen, and 
 ordered a table to be spread for the entertain- 
 ment of his unexpected guests ! Raleigh lost no 
 time in making known his purpose to take him 
 away to Cork and exhibited the warrant for his 
 arrest. Nothing could be done but for him and 
 his family to get ready for a night journey to 
 Cork. This was accomplished over unfrequented 
 routes, at considerable peril, and with the loss 
 of one soldier's life, who fell from the rocks, and 
 the wounding by falls of several others. They 
 avoided, however, the ambuscades on the direct 
 road, and at dawn Raleigh presented his prison 
 ers to Lord Ormond. Upon examination. Lord 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 39 
 
 Roche was lionorably acquitted, and was never 
 after suspected of complicity with the rebellion. 
 Indeed, he took an active part in support of the 
 queen's authority, and three of his sons fell in 
 battle fighting for the government. 
 
 Upon the recall of Ormond as Deputy, a joint 
 commission was given to Raleigh and two other 
 gentlemen to act as governors of Ireland. He 
 established his headquarters at Cork. In furious 
 conflicts with rebel forces he displayed much 
 skill and bravery. At Clove he had a horse shot 
 under him, and would have lost his life but for 
 the attachment and bravery of one of his follow- 
 ers, Nicholas Wright. In 1582 he was relieved 
 from his command, and returned to England, 
 having the satisfaction of seeing the rebellion 
 quelled. 
 
40 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Cl\k|)tef V. 
 
 RALEIGH AT THE COURT OF ELIZABETH — ESSEX— LADY 
 ARABELLA STUART — SIR PHILIP SIDNEY — SPENSER. 
 
 OOON after Raleigh's appearance at Court, a 
 *^-^ question concerning the management of 
 affairs in Ireland by Lord Grey was argued before 
 the Council Board, and Raleigh, who took ground 
 against the Earl, was heard by the Council in the 
 presence of the queen. His penetrating, piquant, 
 and splendid delivery won her admiration, and 
 from this time, Sir Robert Naunton remarks, ' ' she 
 took him for a kind of oracle," and loved to hear 
 him debate any case he might have occasion to 
 present to her. On his part, he was bent on 
 securing the personal affection of Elizabeth. It 
 is related that he met her one day on the marshy 
 shore at Greenwich, and, to save her from wet- 
 ting her feet, threw down his gorgeous velvet 
 cloak for a carpet. He addressed to her some 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 4] 
 
 adulatory poetry ; and on a window of the palace, 
 where it was sure to meet her eye, he scratched, 
 with a diamond ring: 
 
 ** Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall." 
 
 Seeing it, she wrote under it:' 
 
 "If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." 
 
 Elizabeth was about forty years of age, ten 
 years the senior of Raleigh. She could not, for 
 state reasons, allow her affections to be engrossed 
 by any of her admirers, but was nevertheless sus- 
 ceptible of the romantic sentiment of love. Nor 
 could Raleigh have aspired to any thing more — 
 but so much he meant to have. He was well 
 calculated to interest any lady. To his fame as a 
 soldier and scholar he added the charm of a 
 countenance expressive of intelligence and reso- 
 lution, a tall and well-proportioned form, manners 
 graceful in the extreme, and a copious and ready 
 wit in conversation. He prided himself on his 
 costly and elegant dress, after the showy fashion 
 of the day. In one of several portraits extant, 
 his array is a white satin pinked vest with close 
 
42 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 sleeves, a brown doublet, flowered and embroi- 
 dered with pearls, a pearl -embroidered belt, a 
 dagger with a jeweled pommel, a black feather in 
 his hat, contrasted with a ruby and pearl drop, 
 white satin trunk hose, and buff-colored shoes, 
 tied with white ribbons. His silver armor was 
 preserved in the Tower, as a curiosity. On one 
 occasion his shoes were adorned with jewels 
 computed to be worth upward of six thousand 
 six hundred gold pieces! Such a display would 
 excite disgust in this day; but it passed for good 
 taste in the court of the queen. She too was 
 fond of rich and showy attire. In person she was 
 described by Sir Robert Naunton as ' ' tall, of hair 
 and complexion fair; and therewithal well fa- 
 vored, but high-nosed; of limbs and features 
 neat; of a stately and majestic comportment." 
 She was specially proud of her delicate hands. 
 ' ' She pulled off her gloves more than a hundred 
 times," said a contemporary of an audience he 
 had with her, ' ' to display her hands, which were 
 indeed very beautiful and very white." 
 
 Notwithstanding her serious attention to public 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 43 
 
 business, Elizabeth was fond of amusements, and 
 many were the pageants, plays, masques, and 
 tournaments which were exhibited in her court, 
 and marked her costly visits to the seats of her 
 favorite noblemen. In all these pastimes Raleigh 
 bore his part, and every day ingratiated himself 
 in the affections of the queen, as the celebrated 
 Leicester had done at an early period of her life. 
 This favoritism was a matter of public gossip, and 
 was severely criticised. A foreign embassador, 
 writing home, calls her Cleopatra; and even a 
 popular actor, Taylor, ventured to point to 
 Raleigh while repeating in the part he was acting 
 the words, "See how the knave commands the 
 queen !" The queen resented it, and banished 
 him from the court. Spenser confessed to Raleigh 
 that he meant him and Elizabeth in the Timias 
 and Belphoebe of the ''Faerie Queene." 
 
 A letter written to Sir Robert Cecil, when 
 Raleigh was by the queen's order a prisoner in 
 the Tower, as a punishment for his intrigue and 
 marriage with Elizabeth Throckmorton, displays 
 only the courtly style of adulation, rather than 
 
44 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 real affection: '*My heart was never broken till 
 that day that I hear the queen goes away so far 
 off, whom I have followed so many years with so 
 great love and desire in so many journeys, and 
 am now left behind here in a dark prison all 
 alone. While she was yet near at hand, that I 
 might hear of her once in two or three days, my 
 sorrows were the less; but even now my heart is 
 cast into the depths of all misery. I, that was 
 wont to behold her riding like Alexander, hunt- 
 ing like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle 
 wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks 
 like a nymph. Sometimes setting in the shade 
 like a goddess ; sometimes singing like an angel ; 
 sometimes playing like Orpheus. • Behold the sor- 
 rows of this world !" It is clear enough that 
 Elizabeth's heart was more touched than Ra- 
 leigh's, and that it was her jealous, disappointed 
 love which punished him so severely. 
 
 But we anticipate our story. At present Ra- 
 leigh is in high favor, and his influence is sought 
 even by distinguished noblemen. He is appointed 
 lord Warden of Stannaries (that is, tin mines), 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 45 
 
 lieutenant of the county of Cornwall, vice-admiral 
 of Cornwall and Devon, and finally captain of the 
 Queen's Guard, a troop chiefly distinguished by 
 personal figure and splendid uniform. 
 
 He was sent in the suite of the Earl of Leicester 
 to Antwerp to honor the inauguration of Francis 
 of Valois. He obtained grants of license to 
 export broadcloths, and the "farm of wines," 
 that is, authority to grant licenses to traders, and 
 to regulate prices. This, however, did not on 
 the whole prove so very profitable to him, while 
 it involved him in some lawsuits, and especially 
 in a disagreeable controversy with the University 
 of Cambridge, which claimed this privilege within 
 its own precincts. The greatest gift of the queen 
 to her favorite was the estates of Anthon Babing- 
 ton, who, in 1586, was convicted of conspiring to 
 assassinate her. This man was the head of an 
 ancient family in Northumberland, and had large 
 possessions there and in Derbyshire. He was 
 educated by the Jesuits, and led a wild and dis- 
 sipated life. He was taught by his priest, one 
 • Ballard, that it would be no crime to kill an ex- 
 
46 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 communicated princess, but doing God service. 
 The motive was to make room for Mary, Queen 
 of Scots, who was the next heir to the throne, 
 and a Roman Catholic. During his confinement 
 in prison he made an overture through friends, or 
 arranged to do it, to get Raleigh to intercede for 
 him with the queen, and offered to pay him a thou- 
 sand pounds if he could procure his pardon. But 
 there is no evidence that Raleigh gave the least 
 heed to his solicitation even if it reached him. 
 The queen's grant not only made Raleigh rich 
 in lands and manors and tenements, forfeited to 
 the crown with all the rents, profits, and revenues 
 thereof, but no acknowledgment and no fee was 
 required of him in receiving the great seal to his 
 grant. 
 
 About this time there came a rival in the favor 
 of the queen in the person of Robert Devereux, 
 the young Earl of Essex. He was that smart 
 boy, who, when eleven years of age, turned away 
 from the queen when she offered to kiss him. And 
 he was now not even twenty years of age, but 
 ripe beyond his years, and possessed of very many 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 47 
 
 graces and accomplishments. He was put upon 
 this career, it has been said, by the Earl of Leices- 
 ter, Elizabeth's old favorite, out of jealousy of 
 the growing favoritism of Raleigh. Any how, 
 the queen took this young and handsome noble- 
 man at once to her good graces, and he became 
 very intimate with her. "When she is abroad," 
 said a spectator of court life, "nobody is near 
 her but my Lord of Essex; and at night my Lord 
 is at cards, or one game or another with her till 
 the birds sing in the morning." 
 
 Very soon he became arrogant, and resented 
 the partiality of the queen for the splendid cap- 
 tain of her guards. He went so far as to write 
 to a friend that he said to her, "I was loth to be 
 near her, when I knew my affections so much 
 thrown down, and such a wretch as Raleigh 
 highly esteemed of her!" Fine language, if in- 
 deed he ever said it, to a queen by an upstart of 
 twenty years of age ! 
 
 Another person, the Lady Arabella Stuart, 
 whose tragic fate resembles so much that of 
 Raleigh, was about this time introduced to him. 
 
48 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 She was the granddaughter of Henry VII, and 
 cousin of James I, and so after him, if he had 
 no children, she would be heir to the throne of 
 England. A plot of some nobles, abetted by the 
 Pope, who imagined she was inclined to Roman- 
 ism, to set aside James in her favor, was the 
 cause of her ruin, though she was wholly innocent 
 of the affair. She was now but eleven years of 
 age, very beautiful and accomplished, and it was 
 whispered in Raleigh's ear that it was a pity she 
 was not older, to which he replied, "It would 
 be a very happy thing." Edward Edwards men- 
 tions this piece of gossip, and adds, ''When the 
 same names were brought together on the latest 
 occasion of all, Arabella lay beneath her shroud 
 in the prison, which to her had but shortened 
 life, and embittered while degrading it Raleigh 
 was beneath the same gloomy roof, and above 
 his head the fatal clouds were beginning to gather. 
 But in his case a long imprisonment had given 
 birth to an immortal book. Save for the twelve 
 years in the tower, English literature would have 
 lacked one of its glories." But we shall come 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 49 
 
 to that fall soon enough ; at present life was wear- 
 ing all the bright hues of joy and promise. 
 
 Among the favorites of Elizabeth should be 
 mentioned Sir PhiHp Sidney, especially as he 
 was a friend of Raleigh, and in literary genius 
 and knightly valor much resembled him. He 
 was born in 1554, the son of Sir Henry Sidney, 
 an officer in government of Queen Mary. He 
 was educated at the universities of Oxford and 
 Cambridge, and after his graduation traveled sev- 
 eral years on the continent. Elizabeth, on his 
 return home, took him into her service, and sent 
 him on an embassy to Germany. His sensitive 
 nature was so ruffled by a quarrel with the Earl 
 of Oxford, that he abruptly left the court, and 
 retired to the seat of the Earl of Pembroke, who 
 had married his sister. There he employed him- 
 self in the completion of a romance, which he 
 entitled, in honor of his sister, ''The Countess 
 of Pembroke's Arcadia" — a work which for the 
 time was a superior model of English prose, and 
 contributed to fix the English tongue. He medi- 
 tated an expedition with Sir Francis Drake against 
 4 
 
5© Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the Spanish settlements in America, but was per- 
 emptorily forbidden by the queen to engage in it. 
 In 1585, he was mentioned as a candidate for the 
 crown of Poland; but this, too, EUzabeth objected 
 to, not wishing, she said, *'to lose the jewel of 
 the times." He was subsequently made governor 
 of Flushing, a town in the Netherlands, ceded to 
 the English for services against the Spaniards. 
 As general of the horse he joined his uncle, the 
 Earl of Leicester, who commanded the army of 
 the English assisting the Dutch against Philip of 
 Spain. In 1586 he achieved the capture of the 
 town of Oxel as captain of a detachment of En- 
 glish troops. The same year, in a skirmish with 
 the enemy at Zutphen, he received a wound in 
 the thigh which proved mortal. As he lay upon 
 the field, a cup of water was brought to him; 
 and as he was putting it to his lips, a wounded 
 soldier was carried by who looked so wistfully to 
 the cup that Sir Philip ordered his attendants to 
 give it to him, saying to the soldier, "Thy neces- 
 sity is greater than mine." His death spread 
 gloom over the court of England, and Raleigh lost 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 51 
 
 a friend whose loss could not be made up to him. 
 He was but thirty-two years of age at his death. 
 His other writings extant are the "Defense of 
 Poesy," "Astrophel and Stella," and "Songs and 
 Sonnets." 
 
 The best of his sonnets, as I think, is the 
 following : 
 
 "O happy Thames, that didst my Stella bear! 
 
 I saw thee, with full many a smiling line 
 Upon thy cheerful face, joy's livery wear. 
 
 While these fair planets on thy stream did shine. 
 The boat for joy could not to dance forbear, 
 
 While wanton winds, with beauties so divine 
 Ravished, staid not, till in her golden hair 
 
 They did themselves, O sweetest prison, twine, 
 And fain those iEol's youth there would tlieir stay 
 
 Have made ; but forced by nature still to fly, 
 First did with puffing kiss those locks display, 
 
 She, so dishevel'd, blushed. From window I, 
 With sight thereof, cried out, oh fair disgrace! 
 Let honor's self to thee grant highest place." 
 
 Another literary friend of Raleigh was Edmund 
 Spenser, the first great poet of England after 
 Chaucer. He was born in London, at East 
 Smithfield, near the Tower, in 1553, and gradu- 
 ated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, 1569. He 
 
52 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 was employed in the capacity of secretary by 
 Lord Grey, while Lord Deputy to Ireland; and 
 in 1586 he received from the queen a grant of a 
 portion of the Earl of Desmond's forfeited lands. 
 The condition was that he should reside in Ire- 
 land, and accordingly he occupied the old Kilcol- 
 man Castle. Here he wrote the *' Faerie Queene," 
 which, more than any thing else, has immortalized 
 him. The peculiar stanza employed was his own 
 invention, and now bears his name. Lord Byron 
 has employed it in his "Childe Harold," with the 
 greatest success. Sir Walter Raleigh visited him 
 when he had finished three cantos, and the 
 friends spent a delightful hour together in reading 
 and commenting upon the poem. He has cele- 
 brated both Elizabeth and Raleigh in his verse, 
 giving the latter the style of ''Shepherd of the 
 Ocean." In his forty-first year he married the 
 lady whom he celebrates under the name of 
 Elizabeth in that magnificent epithalamium, which 
 is deemed the greatest of the kind in English 
 verse. The rebellion of Tyrone, in 1598, drove 
 Spenser and his family from Kilcolman, and so 
 
* Pioneer of American Colonization. 53 
 
 hurried was their flight that they left beliind 
 their infant child. The mob set fire to the house, 
 and the babe perished in the flames, with all the 
 contents of the house which they did not choose 
 to pillage. The heart-broken poet escaped to 
 London, where, overcome with misfortune, he 
 soon after died. He was buried in the tomb of 
 Chaucer, in Westminster Abbey. His wife found 
 refuge with her two sons, living in another part 
 of Ireland ; and after the rebellion was suppressed 
 she returned to Kilcolman. In 1641 another out- 
 break sent a second wave of desolation over the 
 place. She fled, to return no more; and the 
 place fell out of the possession of the family until 
 Cromwell the Protector restored it. In now be- 
 longs to the Earl of Clancarty. 
 
 It was the influence of Raleigh that induced 
 Spenser to bring out the three cantos of the 
 ' * Faerie Queene " before more were written. These 
 were published in 1596, but only fragments have 
 been found of what would have been the con- 
 cluding six, had the troubles of the times not 
 driven him from home and ended his life. 
 
54 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dlikptef VI. 
 
 RALEIGH ATTEMPTS TO COLONIZE VIRGINIA. 
 
 ^ I ''HE bad success of the first effort for colo- 
 ■^ nizing America of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
 with whom Raleigh was a partner, in 1579, as 
 related in Chapter IV, did not discourage the 
 devoted brothers. Raleigh exerted all his influ- 
 ence with Queen Elizabeth in favor of renewing 
 the enterprise. In 1583 five ships were fitted out 
 at great expense, and set sail for Plymouth on the 
 nth of June. The queen told Sir Humphrey 
 that *'she wished as great good-hap and safety to 
 his ship as if herself were there in person." She 
 gave him as a present "an anchor guided by a 
 lady," which he was to wear on his breast, and 
 asked him to leave with her his picture as a keep- 
 sake. Raleigh did not himself embark, but con- 
 tributed two thousand pounds to equip one of the 
 ships, which, after him, was named The Ark Raleigh, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 55 
 It unfortunately happened to this ship that an 
 infection broke out among the crew soon after she 
 left port, and she was obhged to put back. Sir 
 Humplirey saw them putting back, and supposed 
 that they had treacherously deserted him, but he 
 went directly on with the remaining four ships. 
 They discovered Newfoundland early in August, 
 and Sir Humphrey took ceremonial possession of 
 >t in the name of his sovereign. The insane pas- 
 sion for gold and silver and precious stones 
 reigned in the breasts of all the early discoverers 
 of America; and in this instance the sailors, hav- 
 ing discovered mica in a hill, took it for silver 
 and went to work to load one of the ships with 
 the precious metal, regardless of the order of the 
 commander and of the purpose of the expedition 
 to settle the country. One of the ships was con- 
 demned as useless, and with the three that were 
 left Sir Humphrey at length got away, and pro- 
 ceeded down the coast. Off Massachusetts a 
 storm overtook them, and the ship laden with 
 supposed treasure went down, carrying with her 
 a hundred men. This determined Gilbert to steer 
 
56 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 for home. But be was destined never to reach 
 England. A storm soon ingulfed the vessel in 
 which he sailed. At midnight the two ships 
 came within hailing distance, and Gilbert shouted 
 to his comrades in peril, *'Be of good cheer, my 
 friends; we are as near to heaven by sea as by 
 land!" The other ship brought to England the 
 sad tale of the shipwreck of her consort and the 
 loss of all on board. 
 
 Six months after this the undaunted Raleigh 
 obtained a new charter, by which he was author- 
 ized to take possession of and colonize such 
 countries as were not already possessed by other 
 Christian States; and to repel all intruders who 
 might approach nearer than two hundred leagues, 
 and to exercise all civil and military rule in this 
 settlement for six years thereafter, provided the 
 laws enacted be conformed as near as may be to 
 the statutes of England, and *'not oppose the 
 Christian faith." 
 
 Under this charter Raleigh dispatched two 
 ships, commanded by Philip Amidas and Arthur 
 Barlow. In July they came in sight of the coast 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 57 
 
 of North Carolina, and landed at the island of 
 Roanoke. ''There lieth," says William Strachey, 
 an historian of those times, "along the coast a 
 tract of islands two hundred miles in length, and 
 between the islands two or three entrances. 
 When they were entered between them, there 
 appeared an inclosed sea, in which were one 
 hundred islands of diverse bigness, whereof 
 Roanoke is fifteen or sixteen miles long, a pleas- 
 ant and fertile ground, full of cedars, sassafras, 
 currants, flax, vines, deer, conies, hares, and the 
 tree that beareth the rind of black cinnamon." 
 There the company were entertained by the 
 Indian queen, and welcomed to the country. 
 
 But these captains had no genius for coloniza- 
 tion, and after exploring the coasts of Pamlico and 
 Albemarle Sounds, and getting such an impression 
 of the country as would make a basis for glowing 
 rhetoric on their return to England, they came 
 away, bringing with them some specimens of 
 skins, **a bracelet of pearls as big as pears," and 
 two of the native Indians. 
 
 Raleigh seems not to have resented this 
 
58 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 fruitless expedition. He was delighted with the 
 account of the beauty and richness of the coun- 
 try, and sought and obtained permission to honor 
 the queen by naming it ''Virginia." On a new 
 seal of his arms he had his name engraved in 
 Latin as "Lord and Governor of Virginia." 
 
 The idea now of colonization took possession 
 of the popular mind in lieu of the impractical 
 notion of finding a north-west passage, and Ra- 
 leigh got the Parliament, in December of that year, 
 1584, to enlarge his charter. And now large num- 
 bers, including young men from the nobility, enlist 
 in a new expedition. Sir Ralph Lane is engaged 
 by Raleigh to be governor of the colony, and 
 Sir Richard Greenville to command the fleet con- 
 sisting of seven ships. There were no less than 
 one hundred householders on board, and such 
 notable men as Thomas Hariot, the mathema- 
 tician, and Captain Thomas Cavendish were as- 
 sociated with them; but no females were in the 
 company — a fatal lack in view of permanent col- 
 onization. When near the coast off Cape Fear, 
 they encountered a fearful storm ; but they weath- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 59 
 
 ered it, and arrived safely at Roanoke on the 
 26th of June. With a portion of the emigrants, 
 consisting of one hundred and ten persons, Lane 
 commenced the work of forming a setdement, 
 while Greenville made explorations along the 
 coast, in the course of which, in the piratical 
 spirit of the times, he seized a Spanish treasure 
 ship. But he made no attempts to form another 
 settlement, and returned to England with his 
 prize. 
 
 Lane- very soon came into collision with the 
 natives of the land. He set fire to an Indian 
 to<vn on the island simply to retaliate an act of 
 theft committed by some of the inhabitants, and 
 by such measures set the whole native population 
 against him. Soon after he was lured into the 
 depths of the mainland by reports of gold mines, 
 and came near being captured by the Indians. 
 He retaliated by entrapping the Indian king Win- 
 gina and other chiefs, and putting them to death. 
 Of course, the country was roused against them, 
 and he got ready to quit the country. Sir Francis 
 Drake in this emergency happened to be passing 
 
6o Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 by on his return from the Pacific coast, and took 
 the colonists back to England, where they arrived 
 July 27, 1586. Soon after a supply ship arrived 
 from Sir Walter Raleigh, and two weeks after 
 that Sir Richard Greenville himself arrived with 
 a fleet of three ships, laden with stores of all 
 kinds, and re-enforcements of men. He was sur- 
 prised and amazed to find the colony gone ; but 
 he left fifteen men to still hold possession, and re- 
 turned to England. Was ever a scheme of col- 
 onization so foolishly managed? The settlement 
 had not lasted two years. 
 
 The next year, 1587, saw a new experiment 
 commenced by Raleigh under better auspices. 
 Captain John White was appointed governor, with 
 a charter of municipal government, and he em- 
 barked with one hundred and fifty householders. 
 The government was styled, **The Governor and 
 Assistants of the City of Raleigh in Virginia." 
 They avoided the dangers of Capes Fear and 
 Hatteras, and landed at Roanoke in the month 
 of July. To their sorrow, they found no traces 
 of the fifteen colonists ; but they commenced their 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 6i 
 
 foundations of the new city at the north end of 
 the same island. 
 
 The old story of war with the natives has to 
 be told, and the usual results followed. Raleigh 
 counseled a pacific policy, and he adopted an 
 expedient, which, whatever effect it might have 
 on aristocratic Englishmen, was powerless for 
 good in Virginia. He got Manito, an Indian 
 chief, made a peer of the realm, with the title of 
 Lord of Roanoke. The colonists now began to 
 begin to be in dread of want, and they urged 
 Governor White to return to England for supplies. 
 He left them, and they perished at the hands of 
 the aborigines, it is supposed, for no account has 
 ever been given of their fate. It is worth men- 
 tioning that the first child of English parents born 
 in America was born August i8th. She was 
 named Virginia Dale. This was the end of Sir 
 Walter's costly eiforts to colonize Virginia. He 
 strove to reach the colony by two supply ships; 
 but they were seized by Spanish cruisers, and 
 when White returned in 1590, under the direction 
 of a London society, to whom Raleigh sold out 
 
62 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 his proprietary rights, he found nothing but deso 
 lation where the city of Raleigh was to have been 
 founded. The expense to Sir Walter of all these 
 nine expeditions was not less, it is reckoned, than 
 two hundred thousand dollars. But his name is 
 worthy of everlasting honor in America, and the 
 city of Raleigh, in North Carolina, though on 
 another site, will ever be his monument to pos- 
 terity of his unparalleled devotion to American 
 colonization. 
 
 Elizabeth was now so involved in the war with 
 Spain that she could give no aid to colonization. 
 The terrible Armada was coming, and the fate of 
 the nation was at stake. Nothing more was done 
 for Virginia during her reign. It remained for 
 Captain John Smith to take up the work where 
 Raleigh left it, and after great hardships and re- 
 verses to get the first plant of English civilization 
 to take root at Jamestown, on James River, named 
 in honor of Elizabeth's successor on the throne of 
 England. The words of Raleigh came true, ''I 
 shall yet live to see it an English nation." 
 
 One reminiscence of this ill-fated colony is the 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 63 
 
 tobacco plant. When Lane returned with Drake 
 he brought specimens of it, and contributed to in- 
 troduce the custom of using it in England, as it 
 was already more or less prevalent in Spain, 
 ]*ortugal and France. Sir Walter Raleigh was 
 fond of it, and one day he was amusing himself 
 with "drinking" the smoke (that is, taking it 
 into his mouth, and letting it come out of his 
 nose and ears), when his servant came in, and, 
 thinking that his master was on fire, he seized a 
 bucket of water, and dashed it on his head. 
 Elizabeth did not favor its use by her example. 
 One day she made a wager with Raleigh that he 
 could not ascertain the weight of the smoke. He 
 won the bet by weighing first the tobacco used, 
 and then weighing the ashes. The difference was 
 the answer. The queen laughed, and paid the 
 wager, saying "she had heard of those who 
 turned their gold into smoke, but had never be- 
 fore seen the man who could turn smoke into 
 gold." 
 
64 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dli^tef YII. 
 
 Raleigh's relation to Ireland — potatoes introduced 
 
 into ireland — ^war with spain — the 
 
 armada — reprisals. 
 
 IF tobacco was a damage to the nation, an- 
 other plant, the gift of Virginia, was one of 
 the greatest blessings. It was on his estate in 
 Munster Sir Walter was the first to plant the po- 
 tato in Ireland. We have seen how, after the 
 suppression of the Irish rebellion, large landed 
 estates were bestowed upon Raleigh. To all the 
 concessions the crown attached the requisition 
 that the owner should re-people the estates with 
 loyal people from England. He went to work 
 with zeal, and from Devonshire and Somerset- 
 shire brought industrious tenants, and soon gained 
 the reputation of having the best ordered and 
 best cultivated lands in Ireland. But property 
 obtained by confiscation was destined to bring 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 65 
 
 trouble, and he had his full share. It would be 
 tedious to detail these troubles; suffice it to say 
 that he grew weary of them, and finally sold out 
 nearly all his interests to Richard Boyle, after- 
 ward Earl of Cork. There remained to him only 
 one castle, which for her jointure was occupied 
 by the old Countess of Desmond. This lady lived 
 to be an hundred and forty years of age, and 
 saw nine successive reigns, from Edward IV to 
 James I. 
 
 Raleigh was severe in his views of policy in 
 the government of the Irish. He believed in 
 showing no quarter to rebels. It is related that 
 a Captain Leigh killed a noted insurgent named 
 Feogh Machugb, in fair fight, and cut off his 
 head, and sent it as a present to the queen. It 
 was sent back again, by the same messenger, to 
 be thrown among the carcasses of other rebels ; 
 and the error was pardoned in view of the intent. 
 Raleigh advised that the court sliould not deal 
 harshly with such cases. The rebels deserved to 
 have a price put upon their heads, seeing they 
 
 "sought the lives of anointed princes." 
 
 5 
 
66 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 At this time, 1587, Drake was upon the sea, 
 destroying the commerce of Spain. More than 
 one hundred vessels of all kinds were sunk by 
 him in a single year. He wrote to Lord Bur- 
 leigh that "there never was heard of or known 
 so great preparations as the King of Spain hath 
 and daily maketh ready for the invasion of Eng- 
 land." Pope Sextus V had formed a powerful 
 league for the suppression of heresy, and the 
 chief in this conspiracy was Philip of Spain. He 
 had a large army in the Netherlands under the 
 greatest captain of the age, and he was preparing 
 the greatest fleet that ever before was known for 
 die invasion of England. The queen was fully 
 apprised of 'her danger, and put forth all her 
 masculine energies to arm the nation for defense, 
 by land forces and fortifications and by ships of 
 war. Raleigh took an active part in these prepa- 
 rations. As governor of Devon and Cornwall, he 
 organized the militia, strengthened the fortifica- 
 tions of the Isle of Portland, and contributed 
 largely to the arming of ships, which he regarded 
 as the best defense that could be made. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 67 
 
 The commander of the English fleet was Lord 
 Howard, of Eppingham, who, though a Roman 
 Catholic, had the confidence of the whole nation 
 as a truly loyal man and an able admiral, de- 
 scended from a line of naval heroes. A spy at 
 Madrid gave notice of the sailing of the Armada 
 in the month of May, 1588. This took the min- 
 istry by surprise, for they had sent word to 
 Howard to return to harbor with his ships, to 
 save expense. He was of a different opinion, 
 and protested that he would rather have the ex- 
 pense of the ships charged to his account. Soon 
 the report of the approach of the formidable fleet 
 off the coast showed the correctness of his infor- 
 mation and judgment. li: consisted of a hundred 
 and forty sail of all kinds, from galleys to the 
 largest frames that ever floated, carrying in all 
 twenty-six hundred and fifty guns, eight thousand 
 sailors, twenty thousand soldiers, and two thou- 
 sand volunteers of distinguished rank. 
 
 As they entered the British Channel, Howard 
 went out to engage them, with only six ships, but 
 was soon joined by others, to the number of 
 
68 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 thirty. The object of the Spaniards was to reach 
 Calais to make communication with the Duke of 
 Parma, and to take aboard his army, and cross 
 over to the English coast and effect a landing. 
 They were pursued and annoyed by the fast- 
 sailing English ships, and lost their principal ship 
 and many galleons. In the night, after coming 
 to anchor, eight fire-ships were sent amongst 
 them, which so frightened them that they weighed 
 anchor and moved off. In their disorder they 
 were furiously assailed by the English ships, and 
 numbers of them sunk or captured. At length 
 the Spanish commander signaled orders to return 
 by the way of the North Sea. So poorly were 
 the English ships supplied with ammunition, that 
 now they felt that they were unable to complete 
 the victory by further pursuit. At this juncture a 
 terrible storm arose, and the flying ships were 
 wrecked at sea, or driven upon the coasts of 
 Scotland and Ireland and Norway, and not half 
 of the "Invincible Armada" escaped to tell the 
 fate of the expedition. 
 
 Sir Walter did not get ready to join the English 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 69 
 
 fleet until the second day of the engagement, but 
 he was one of the last to give up the pursuit and 
 leave to nature the finishing of the terrible retri- 
 bution on the enemy. 
 
 The thousands that were wrecked on the coast 
 of Scotland and Ireland were taken captive, and 
 sent to England to await the judgment of the 
 queen. Magnanimously she refused to order them 
 to be put to death, and sent them home to Spain, 
 to tell the tragic story in the ears of their coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 In token of the Divine Providence which had 
 so signally defeated the diabolical purpose of the 
 Spaniards, Queen Elizabeth had medals struck 
 with the motto, ^' Afflavit Deus et dissipantur.''' 
 (God breathed on them, and they are scattered.) 
 
 Edward Edwards relates that Lord Burleigh 
 received a letter from Rome stating that Cardinal 
 Allen was overheard saying that the King of Spain 
 had given *' great charge to the Duke of Modena, 
 and to all the captains, that they should in no 
 wise harm the person of the queen ; but should 
 as speedily ^s might be give order for the con- 
 
70 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 veyance of her person to Rome, to the purpose 
 that His Holiness the Pope should dispose thereof 
 in such sort as it should please him!" So man 
 proposes, but how differently God disposes! 
 
 Had the invasion of England succeeded, the 
 history of Europe and America would have been 
 far otherwise than we now read, and this country 
 would be a Spanish colony. 
 
 The defeat of the Armada left the English 
 cruisers at liberty to rove the seas, and to make 
 reprisals on Spanish commerce. Sir Walter Ra- 
 leigh had three ships, the Crown, the Garland, 
 and the Revenge, and did much damage to the 
 enemy; and not always, it is to be feared, with 
 such regard to the rights of neutrals as is re- 
 quired by international law. **They are Span- 
 iards in disguise," was his answer to a complaint 
 of this kind, made against one of his captains for 
 seizing a ship flying Dutch colors. 
 
 Sir Walter took part also in the expedition 
 commanded by Drake and Norris, to aid Don 
 Antonio, King of Portugal, to recover his crown, 
 usurped by Philip II. This enterprise failed; 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 71 
 
 but they succeeded in making a prize of a large 
 fleet of sixty ships, laden with supplies for an- 
 other Armada which was to be fitted out against 
 England. 
 
72 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Cl^kptef VIII. 
 
 VISIT TO SPENSER— PANAMA SCHEME — FAVORS TOLERA- 
 TION — UD ALL — THE BROWNISTS — THE JESUITS — RA- 
 LEIGH'S MARRIAGE — DISGRACE AT COURT AND IM- 
 PRISONMENT. 
 
 FOR some unexplained cause, Raleigh about 
 this time lost the favor of Elizabeth, and 
 took occasion to visit Ireland, and to spend some 
 time with his friend, the poet Spenser. 
 
 On his return to court, he took advantage of a 
 temporary suspension of hostilities with Spain to 
 plan a scheme for divesting that nation of some 
 of her American dominions by the conquest of 
 Panama and other regions of America. For this 
 purpose he fitted out, at great expense, thirteen 
 vessels. The queen added two ships of war, and 
 made Raleigh admiral of the expedition. 
 
 He was vexatiously delayed by contrary winds 
 months after preparations were made; and, to 
 crown all, when he had fairly got started he was 
 
Pioneer of AiMerican Colonization. 73 
 
 overtaken by an order from the queen to resign 
 the command to Sir Martin Frobisher, and to re- 
 turn to the court. What was precisely the queen's 
 motive for this is not known, but it was pretended 
 that she wished his services at court. 
 
 Sir Walter made no haste to obey, but kept 
 on with his fleet until he had made such investi- 
 gations of the designs and warlike preparations 
 of Spain as to induce him to change the whole 
 plan of his adventure. He gave up his designs 
 on Panama, and divided his fleet into two parts, 
 one for cruising after the rich India caracks that 
 were expected, and the other to hover about the 
 coast of Spain, to engage the attention of the 
 Spanish home fleet, and keep them from coming 
 out to protect the caracks. 
 
 After taking a valuable prize of another sort, 
 they fell in with the caracks, and one of them, 
 the Madre de Dios, was captured. Another was 
 set on fire by her own crew. The prize was 
 taken to Dartmouth. It proved to be possessed 
 of wealth beyond all calculation, and produced 
 the greatest excitement all over England, every 
 
74 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 body trying to make capital out of it. The queen 
 managed to get the lion's share, while Raleigh 
 had less than his due. In Spain the utmost in- 
 dignation was felt at an order now given by 
 Philip II to all his adherents to blow up any ship 
 rather than to let it be taken by the English 
 cruisers. 
 
 It is a pleasure at this time to contemplate 
 Raleigh as a courtier favoring toleration in re- 
 ligion at home. Rev. John Udall, of the estab- 
 lished Church, had become a non-conformist, and 
 written in favor of Reform in ecclesiastical polity. 
 He was a man of learning and eloquence. The 
 first Hebrew grammar in English was written by 
 him. His principal work on Church reform was 
 entitled, "The Demonstration of Discipline which 
 Christ hath Presented in his Word for the Gov- 
 ernment of the Church in all Times and Places 
 until the World's end." For publishing this work 
 he was absurdly charged with libel on the queen's 
 majesty, and was brought to trial in fetters. He 
 was condemned on written depositions against 
 him, no personal testimony being admitted, and no 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 75 
 
 written defense allowed to him. He was sent to 
 prison, and remained a year before he received 
 sentence of death. Raleigh's attention was turned 
 to this unhappy case, and he took an earnest in- 
 terest in his behalf. He got word to Udall to 
 write through him a letter to the queen protesting 
 his loyalty as a subject of the realm. He did so, 
 praying that his punishment might be commuted 
 to banishment. A reprieve was granted, and it 
 was proposed to send him to Guinea on condition 
 that he should be kept there until his sentence 
 was revoked by the queen. Udall objected to 
 this condition, and while the subject was yet 
 pending, he was taken ill, and died in prison. 
 
 Raleigh in the same spirit united with Essex to 
 resist the expatriation of the Brownists. Robert 
 Brown was a minister of the Church of England; 
 but his studies in theology produced in his ardent 
 mind a deep conviction that the polity of the es- 
 tablished Church was anti-christian. He preached 
 on this subject in Norwich in 1581, and converted 
 a number to his views, and for this was arraigned 
 before the ecclesiastical commissioners, who con- 
 
76 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 demned him partly for his heresies and partly 
 for his rude behavior, and sent him to prison. 
 Obtaining release in a short time, he went with 
 certain of his disciples to Zealand. There he 
 wrote a book entitled, "A Treatise of Reforma- 
 tion without Tarrying for any Man." In 1585 
 he was back again in England, and went on 
 with his work of reformation until he was ex- 
 communicated by the Bishop of Peterborough. 
 He was subsequently made obsequious to the rule 
 of the Church, and accepted a living in North- 
 hamptonshire, of which it is said '^he received 
 the emoluments without discharging the duties," 
 His opinions, however discussed, made him un- 
 popular; but his violence of manner intensified 
 his troubles, and made him a martyr. He boasted 
 that he had been in thirty-two prisons, and finally, 
 in 1630, he died in Northampton jail, where lie 
 was imprisoned for ''assaulting a constable and 
 insulting a magistrate." The views of this ex- 
 traordinary man were shared by many better 
 people than himself, and a sect was established 
 in the north of England called Brownists, among 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 77 
 
 whom was the Rev. John Robinson, and the 
 glorious band, who fled first to Holland and 
 afterward to Plymouth in Massachusetts — the pil- 
 grims of the Mayflower— ihQ beginning of the 
 noble Church of American Congregationalists. 
 
 A law was propounded in Parliament against 
 the Brownists and other schismatics, which drew 
 out the eloquent opposition of Raleigh. The law 
 specified that "any person above sixteen years 
 of age who refused, during the space of a month, 
 to attend public worship, should be committed to 
 prison ; and if persisting for three months in such 
 determination be banished the realm under pain 
 of death if detected in returning^ Against this law 
 Raleigh, though sharing the popular prejudice 
 against heretics, protested as unjust, cruel, and 
 impolitic. '' In my conceit," he said, ''the Brown- 
 ists are worthy to be rooted out of a common- 
 wealth; but what danger may grow to ourselves 
 if this law passed were fit to considered ? For it 
 is to be feared that men not guilty will be in- 
 cluded in it; and that law is hard that taketh life 
 and sendeth into banishment, wlien man's in- 
 
78 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 tentions shall be judged by a jury, and the> 
 shall be judges of what another means. But a 
 law which is against a fact is just; and punish 
 the fact as severely as you will. If two or three 
 thousand Brownists meet at the sea, at whose 
 charge shall they be transported? and where 
 shall they be sent ? I am sorry for it, but I am 
 afraid that there are near twenty thousand of 
 them in England; and when they are gone, who 
 shall maintain their wives and children." This 
 argument shows the dawn of the true idea of re- 
 ligious toleration, which Roger Williams first fully 
 developed and crystallized into public law, and 
 which is now the glory of both England and 
 America. He prevailed so far as to have the 
 bill committed for revision to a committee, of 
 which he was appointed a member. 
 
 The modifications of this law which Raleigh 
 secured were as favorable to Roman Catholics as 
 to Protestant dissenters; but on account of his 
 opposition to the Jesuits and their seminaries he 
 excited the wrath of one Father Parsons, who 
 was chief penitentiary of this order in Rome, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 79 
 
 and was sent to England by the pope to establish 
 his order there, with a view to the displacing the 
 Protestant succession to the crown. This man 
 got lip a cry of atheism against Raleigh, and 
 a charge of planning a school of infidelity in 
 which the Bible was a subject of ridicule. His 
 real offense was, advising Queen Elizabeth in 
 council to issue a proclamation against the Jesuit- 
 ical establishment, a measure which has saved 
 England from their machinations, and which has 
 been again and again imitated by the govern- 
 ments of Catholic nations. 
 
 While the pope held a temporal scepter, and 
 assumed to be chief of the kings of the earth, 
 the Jesuits were not to be regarded as a religious 
 sect merely, but as principally a political society, 
 scheming for the ascendancy of the papal power 
 over all nations. At this day, though the pope 
 has lost his crown, and is nothing more than 
 chief bishop of Roman Catholics, yet he still 
 holds his claim to the triple crown, and his emis- 
 saries are striving to restore him to his lost 
 position. It is right, therefore, that they should 
 
8o Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 be treated differently from strictly religious sec- 
 tarians. 
 
 We come now to a scene of tragic romance in 
 the life of Raleigh, which was to affect his whole 
 subsequent life. He excites the deepest displeas 
 ure of the queen by a secret marriage with Eliza- 
 beth Throckmorton, one of the ladies of the bed 
 chamber. Why he should conceal his courtship 
 and marriage from the queen is not known, though 
 the most recent and authentic biographies ascribe 
 it to her jealousy of all rivals to the affection she 
 claimed of her favorites. Lord Essex, two years 
 before, had the same experience by his secret 
 marriage with Frances Walsingham, the widow of 
 Sir Philip Sidney. 
 
 Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir Nicholas 
 Throckmorton, a man of superior mind and cul- 
 ture, descended from an ancient and honorable 
 family. From the pictures of her, which have 
 been copied from originals, she appears to have 
 possessed surpassing beauty of face and form, 
 and her subsequent life shows her possessed of 
 mental and moral traits befitting the wife of such 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 8i 
 
 a man as Sir Walter Raleigh. She was eighteen 
 years his junior, and she survived to mourn his 
 tragic death nearly as many years. 
 
 The queen was piqued by this clandestine 
 alliance, and immediately dismissed her maid of 
 honor from her court, and deprived Sir Walter of 
 his office as gentleman of the privy chamber, and 
 ordered his imprisonment in the Tower. Some 
 other complaint, probably in reference to his 
 seizure of prizes, may have been connected with 
 this harsh treatment; but it is all a matter of 
 inference and conjecture, as no account of it 
 appears in State records. 
 
 Spenser's *' Faerie Queene " is supposed to 
 refer to this affair, and to make disappointed love 
 the real cause of Elizabeth's excessive displeasure. 
 Timias attends Belphoebe, and attracts her love. 
 One day a young lady, Amoret, is seized in a 
 forest by a wild man of the woods, and Timias 
 comes to her rescue. A battle ensues of doubt- 
 ful issue, until Belphoebe is seen by the monster 
 to approach, and he flees, to encounter a sharp 
 
 arrow from her bow, and dies. Upon coming to 
 6 
 
82 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the scene of the conflict she finds Timias fondly 
 
 striving to restore Amoret from a swoon into 
 
 which she was fallen. 
 
 "There she found him, by that new lovely mate, 
 Who lay the whiles in swoon full sadly set, 
 From her fair eyes wiping the dewy wet. 
 
 Which softly 'stilled : and kissing them atween, 
 And handling soft the hurts which she did get ; 
 
 For of that carle she sorely bruised had been ; 
 Which, when she saw with sudden glancing eye. 
 
 Her noble heart with sight thereof was filled 
 With deep disdain and great indignity, 
 
 That in her wrath she thought them both t' have thrilled 
 
 With that self arrow which the carle had killed. 
 Yet held her wrathful hand from vengeance sore; 
 
 But drawing nigh, ere he her well beheld, 
 
 *Is this thy faith?' she said, and said no more. 
 But turned her face and fled away for evermore." 
 
 It is certain that Raleigh had more or less 
 personal attachment to the queen, and deeply 
 regretted the loss of her friendship. 
 
 An amusing story is told of an outburst of his 
 emotions on being informed that the queen was 
 about coming to visit Sir George Carew, keeper 
 of the Tower. Seeing the royal procession ap- 
 proaching in gay barges, he became almost frantic 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 83 
 
 with passion to get out of prison, and to get into 
 a boat in disguise, and see the queen. Sir George 
 resisted his importunity, and swords were drawn, 
 which might have proved fatal to one or both of 
 them, had not Sir Arthur Gorges, who happened 
 to be present, interfered. In doing it, Sir Ar- 
 thur received a severe cut on his knuckles, which 
 arrested tlieir attention, and **they stayed the 
 brawl," he says, "to see my bloody fingers. I 
 was ready to break with laughing to see the two 
 scramble and brawl like madmen, until I saw 
 the iron walking, and then I did my best to ap- 
 pease the fury. As yet I can not reconcile them 
 by any persuasion, for Sir Walter swears that he 
 shall hate him while he lives for so restraining 
 him from the sight of his mistress; for that lie 
 knows not (as he said) whether he shall see her 
 again when she is gone the progress." This ab- 
 surd adulation shows how Raleigh wrought on 
 the affections of a maiden queen, and made it an 
 unpardonable offense to love and marry another. 
 His imprisonment was not solitary. He had 
 the company of his young and beautiful wife. 
 
^4 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 whose attachment to him was unbroken through 
 all the vicissitudes of his eventful life, and his 
 many friends were allowed to visit him without 
 reserve. He was called out for a time to attend 
 to the apportionment of the spoils found in the 
 Madre de Dios. His influence with the sailors 
 was unbounded, and there was a great huzzaing 
 when he came among them. The queen ex- 
 ceeded every body in her rapacity, and Raleigh, 
 captive as he was, protested against it. His own 
 expense for the expedition was thirty -four thou- 
 sand pounds, and the share allowed him by the 
 government was only thirty-six thousand pounds. 
 The envy of Lord Burghley was partly the cause 
 of this injustice. This was the man that Spenser 
 describes in the "Ruins of Time" — 
 
 "O grief of griefs ! O gall of the hearts! 
 To see that virtue should despised be 
 Of him that first was raised for virtuous parts, 
 And now, broad spreading like an aged tree, 
 Lets none shoot up that nigh him planted be.'* 
 
 After Raleigh's release from the Tower, we 
 find him cultivating gardens at his place in Sher- 
 borne, Dorsetshire. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 85 
 
 dl:\k|)tei^ IX. 
 
 EXPEDITIONS TO GUIANA. 
 
 /"^ UIANA, as now known, is that portion of 
 ^^ South America lying on the north-east slope 
 of the continent, south of the Orinoco River, and 
 extending as far as the Sierra Acarai, and not 
 to the Amazon River, as formerly marked in the 
 geographies. The largest part of it is possessed 
 by the British, Dutch, and French. English Gui- 
 ana has three sections — Essequibo, Demerara, 
 and Berbice. The region on the coast is level, 
 and in the interior mountainous. The valleys are 
 exceedingly fertile, and the hills are full of miner- 
 als of various kinds; but it has no gold or silver 
 mines of any value. It abounds with beasts and 
 birds and fishes and reptiles similar to most tropi- 
 cal regions. The descendants of the aborigines 
 are yet numerous, and occupy chiefly the remote 
 interior. There is also a race of negroes, de- 
 
S6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 scended from fugitive slaves, who formerly gave 
 the Dutch settlement much trouble by their in- 
 cursions. 
 
 Guiana, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, was 
 reported to be the realm of the golden city of 
 El Dorado. This was the name first given to an 
 imaginary king, who was said to powder himself 
 with gold dust, and then go and wash in the 
 rivers, and so scatter the precious spangles all 
 over the sands. The wildest ideas of gold mines 
 and banks of gold obtained among European ad- 
 venturers, which lured them from home, and left 
 them to disappointment. Sir Walter Raleigh was 
 affected by these dreams. He wrote a history of 
 Guiana, in which he says: " Many years since he 
 had knowledge by relation of that mighty, rich, 
 and beautiful empire of Guiana, and of that great 
 and golden city which the Spaniards call El 
 Dorado and the natives Manoa." He first sent 
 forth, in 1594, two pioneers, Whiddon and Par- 
 ker, who brought back word that there was an 
 El Dorado there, but it was six hundred miles into 
 the interior. They were specially instructed to 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 87 
 
 explore the Orinoco River; but they acquired 
 but little information in regard to it. However, 
 encouraged and assisted by Sir Robert Cecil and 
 Lord Howard, Sir Walter went forward in Jiis 
 preparation for a voyage of discovery and perhaps 
 settlement. He fitted out a fleet of five vessels, 
 with all sorts of provisions, barges, and boats for 
 ascending the streams, instruments for mining, 
 and arms for defense. He left Plymouth on the 
 9th of February, 1595, and in about six or seven 
 weeks he reached the Island of Trinidad off tlie 
 north coast of South America. On his way he 
 captured a Spanish vessel laden with fire arms, 
 from which he exacted a ransom, and also a 
 Flemish ship, from which he took twenty butts 
 of wine. 
 
 The Spanish governor of Trinidad was An- 
 tonio de Berreo. This man had maltreated Whid- 
 don, and imprisoned some of his crew, and he 
 was guilty of cruel treatment of the natives. Sir 
 Walter directly made an attack upon the town of 
 St. Joseph, and captured it, and took Berreo pris- 
 oner. He found five Indian caciques or chiefs 
 
88 . Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 bound to a single chair, on whom Berreo had in- 
 flicted inquisitorial tortures. He liberated them, 
 and treated them with the utmost kindness, as 
 he did all the natives who came on board his 
 ships. Berreo, who had made a voyage up the 
 Orinoco, he spared, and made him useful as an 
 informer and guide in his expedition. This man 
 liad married a daughter of a previous discoverer 
 on condition that he should pursue the enterprise, 
 and he related to Raleigh all that he knew about 
 the country of Guiana, and much probably that 
 he did not know. Among other marvels he said 
 that the natives presented him "with ten images 
 of fine gold, among divers other plates and crois- 
 sants, which were so curiously wrought, as he 
 had not seen the like either in Italy, Spain, or 
 the Low Countries. And he was resolved that 
 when they came to the hands of the Spanish king, 
 to whom he had sent tliem by his camp-master, 
 they would appear very admirable, especially 
 being wrought by such a nation as had no iron 
 instruments nor any of those helps which our 
 goldsmiths have to work withal." Berreo had 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 89 
 
 already sent his lieutenant, Domingo de Vera, to 
 Spain to interest the king in behalf of another 
 exploration and conquest of Guiana. This man 
 told stories about the country and the natives 
 of the most mythical and extravagant character, 
 which have been absurdly accredited to Sir Wal- 
 ter Raleigh, because he recorded them as he 
 heard them in his ''History of Guiana." De Vera 
 said the men of that country ''had the points of 
 their shoulders higher than the crowns of tlieir 
 heads. They had many eagles of gold hanging 
 on their breasts, and pearls in their ears, and 
 when they danced were all covered with gold." 
 In one province, he affirms, there were "so many 
 Indians as would shadow the sun, and so much 
 gold that all yonder plain will not contain it. 
 They take of said gold in dust, and anoint them- 
 selves all over with it to make a braver show, 
 and to the end that gold may cover them, they 
 anoint their bodies with stamped herbs of a glu- 
 tinous substance." These tales awakened a great 
 enthusiasm of colonization in Spain, and full two 
 thousand persons, including monks and priests, 
 
go Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 embarked with De Vera on five ships to take 
 possession of the real El Dorado. This expedi- 
 tion was on its way while De Berreo was talking 
 with Sir Walter; and, though he kept assuring him 
 that the country was full of riches, he neverthe- 
 less tried to persuade him that it was too hazard- 
 ous for the English to attempt its possession. 
 Among other tilings of interest related by De 
 Berreo was that one Martinez, who was put 
 ashore and deserted by his comrades for neglect 
 of duty, was picked up by the Indians, and was 
 actually carried to Manoa, the capital of El Do- 
 rado. He was blindfolded when approaching it, 
 and was kept from seeing any of the surrounding 
 country; but he was permitted to see the city 
 when inside of it, and was brought, after travers- 
 ing the city nearly two days, to the palace of the 
 emperor. 
 
 Nothing daunted, Sir Walter left his 'ships at 
 Los Gallos, having put a hundred persons in five 
 small barges, with a month's provisions and am- 
 munition, and crossed the bay or gulf of Paria 
 to the mouth of the river. They had a young 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 91 
 
 Indian for a pilot; but when they got into the 
 river, they found such a multitude of branches 
 that it seemed a perfect ''labyrinth" of rivers 
 and islands, and they would have hopelessly lost 
 their way, had they not come upon a canoe with 
 three Indians, one of whom they found to be an 
 experienced pilot. Their voyage was full of dif- 
 ficulty and perils. Twice the largest of the barges 
 run aground, and they were advised by their pilot 
 to leave it, and use only the smaller boats. Do- 
 ing this, and passing up a narrow stream, they 
 emerged into an open country twenty miles 
 in length, beautifully diversified, and looking 
 like a cultivated land. But after rowing with 
 great toil against the current hundreds of miles, 
 they seemed no nearer the fabled city. They 
 took plenty of game to supply them with meat, 
 but the bread began to be exhausted. At length 
 this demand was met by meeting several canoes 
 of Indians called Arroacas, who supplied them with 
 excellent bread, and also furnished another pilot. 
 The characteristic sudden flooding of tlie rivers 
 surprised and alarmed them, and having discov- 
 
92 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 ered, as they thought, several gold mines which 
 might be worked with profit, they would have 
 ended their voyage, had they not a higher end in 
 view than to find gold. This object was to sur- 
 vey the country, and mark it for an English col- 
 ony. The voyage was pursued as far as the 
 mouth of the River Caroni, and near the Island 
 of Tortola. There he was visited by swarms of 
 the Indians, who had heard of the difference be- 
 tween Englishmen and Spaniards, and of the kind 
 treatment of the natives by Sir Walter. Friendly 
 trades were made, of fruits and victuals of various 
 kinds, for such trinkets as were valuable in the 
 eyes of savages. Sir Walter entertained the old 
 chief of this region, Topiawari, with tales of 
 England, and especially of the wonderful ruler, 
 Queen Elizabeth; and he seems to be impressed 
 with the good sense and information possessed by 
 the aged monarch of the woods. 
 
 Had Sir Walter accompanied in person the 
 various expeditions by which he sought in vain 
 to colonize Virginia, I can not help thinking, a 
 different fate would have attended them. The 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 93 
 
 one great mistake of American colonization has 
 been cruelty to the aborigines. 
 
 While halting his company at the mouth of the 
 Caroni, he sent off parties to hunt for minerals, 
 while he, with a few attendants, went by land to 
 view the falls. The ascent of the river by boats 
 was found impossible on account of the impetu- 
 osity of the current. "When we ran to the tops 
 of the first hills of the plains adjoining the river," 
 he writes, "we beheld this wonderful rush of 
 water which ran down the Caroli [now spelled 
 Caroni], and might from that mountain see the 
 river, how it ran in those parts above twenty 
 miles off; and there appeared some ten or twelve 
 other falls in sight, every one as high over the 
 other as a church -tower; which fell with that 
 fury that the rebound of the waters made it seem 
 as if it had been covered over with a great 
 shower of rain; and in some places we took it, 
 at the first, for a smoke that had risen over some 
 great town." 
 
 The explorers for gold had no instruments but 
 their daggers to dig into the mines; but they 
 
94 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 brought back some samples, which were pro- 
 nounced by assayers in London to be indicative 
 of valuable placers. 
 
 They were now ready to return to their ships. 
 Bidding adieu to their new friends, with a promise 
 to return some day, they launched upon the de- 
 scending current, and made such rapid progress 
 that in a few days they came to the mouth of 
 the river. 
 
 At one place they delayed their homeward 
 voyage, and made a visit to a town called 
 Winecoposa. There they found the people cele- 
 brating a feast at the house of their chief, and 
 ''all as drunk as beggars;" but they were wel- 
 comed to partake of their viands and liquor. 
 Withdrawing to their boats, the people came to 
 them from all parts of the country with abundant 
 supplies of fowls and other provisions, including 
 "a delicate wine of pinao." 
 
 As they approached the mouth of the Orinoco 
 it was greatly swollen, and rough with surges. 
 A storm set in, and they took shelter under the 
 land with the small boats; but the galley was not 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 95 
 
 so conveniently harbored, and came near sinking, 
 with all on board. Leaving it to come after, Sir 
 Walter set out, as soon as the storm lulled a little, 
 in his barge, and made for Trinidad and his ships 
 at Curiapan. Great was their joy when they saw 
 them at anchor where they had left them. The 
 galley, with the other^boats, coming, in a few 
 days they set sail for England, and arrived there 
 some time in August, 1595. 
 
 A narrative of this voyage was published by 
 Raleigh, entitled ''The Discovery of Guiana," 
 which, with some colorings and exaggerations of 
 fancy, has been verified by subsequent explora- 
 tions. In this he mentions that the old chieftain, 
 Topiawari, urged him to come again, and advised 
 him in that case to make a league witH those 
 tribes at variance with the tribes of Inga, other- 
 wise he might share the fate of a former expedi- 
 tion of De Berreo, whose followers were flanked 
 by those border Indians, and three hundred of 
 them killed. ''The borderers, setting the long 
 dry grass on fire, so smothered them as they had 
 no breath to fight, nor could discern their enemies 
 
96 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 for the great smoke." Two of his company were 
 left with Topiawari by their request, Francis 
 Sparrey, a trader, and Hugh Goodwin, a youth 
 who was ambitious to learn the hmguage of the 
 natives. Sparrey was exhorted by Raleigh to find 
 the great city of Manoa; but he fell into the 
 hands of the Spaniards, and was sent to Spain, 
 whence he escaped to England. 
 
 In his second expedition to Guiana Sir Walter 
 found Goodwin at Caliana, in 1617, and obtained 
 from him " sl great store of bread." He had 
 been so long in the Indian country that he had 
 almost lost his native language. What became 
 of him afterward is not quite certain, but Oldys 
 reported that "he was devoured by a tiger." On 
 his part* Topiawari gave his only son to Raleigh, 
 who took him with him to England. 
 
 Raleigh had meditated a visit to his colony in 
 Virginia on his homeward voyage, but the tem- 
 pestuous weather prevented the execution of his 
 design. Having commission from Queen Eliza- 
 beth to do all the damage possible to her enemies, 
 the Spanish, he stopped at Cumana, St. Mary's, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 97 
 
 and Rio de la Hacha, and compelled them to 
 furnish supplies for his fleet. 
 
 He had scarcely rested at home before he set 
 about a second expedition to Guiana. This he 
 intrusted to Captain Keymis, one of the captains 
 of the first expedition. On his arrival he found 
 the mouth of the River Caroni in possession of a 
 party of Spaniards, under the direction of De 
 Berreo, and his way to the mines effectually 
 blocked. But he went on exploring the country, 
 beyond the range of Raleigh's observations; and 
 returned in a few months, with valuable addi- 
 tions to their geographical knowledge. 
 
 Persisting in his purpose of adding Guiana to 
 the English possessions, he makes a further appeal 
 to the public, in a pamphlet entitled ''Of a 
 Voyage to Guiana," on the ground that "by this 
 means infinite numbers of souls may be brought 
 from their idolatry, bloody sacrifices, ignorance, 
 and incivility, to the worshiping aright of the 
 true God, and to civil conversation. This will 
 stop the mouths of the Roman Catholics, who 
 boast of their great adventures for the propagation 
 
98 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 of the Gospel ; it will add great increase of honor 
 to the memory of Her Majesty's name upon earth 
 to all posterity; and in the end be rewarded with 
 an excellent starlight splendency in the heavens, 
 which is reserved for them that turn many unto 
 righteousness, as the prophet speaketh." Not 
 finding any support from government, he fits out 
 at his own expense another small ship, under the 
 command of Captain Leonard Perry, in 1596; 
 and in 1598 he had engaged the Duke of Finland 
 to join him with twelve ships to establish a colony 
 in Guiana; but by some means not now known 
 this scheme proved abortive. Nothing more was 
 attempted during the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 The noble conduct of Raleigh in these enter- 
 prises completely restored him to the favor of the 
 queen; though the envy and ill-will of some peo- 
 ple were thereby excited against him. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 99 
 
 dl}b,j)tef X. 
 
 NAVAL EXPEDITION AGAINST CADIZ — THE ISLAND'S ENTER- 
 PRISE — BREACH WITH ESSEX. 
 
 T N 1596 Lord Admiral Howard revived a 
 -*- Scheme of attacking Cadiz, first suggested by 
 Sir John Hawkins in 1587, which was made so 
 effectual that in the sequel it was more advan- 
 tageous to England than the destruction of the 
 Armada. At first it was embarrassed by the hes- 
 itation of the queen as to whom she should in- 
 trust the command. At length her personal 
 favoritism of Essex decided in his favor. Lord 
 Admiral Howard was made second in command, 
 and Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Thomas How- 
 ard were ranked next in order. The fleet num- 
 bered one hundred and twenty-one ships, includ- 
 ing twenty-four Dutch ships, besides pinnaces and 
 barges, and was divided into four separate squad- 
 rons. The whole number of sailors and soldiers 
 
I60 "Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 was sixteen thousand. The principal object was 
 the destruction of the Spanish navy and the 
 seizure of rich merchant ships, rather than the 
 taking of Cadiz. This agreed with the judgment 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh. Some delay was made by 
 the repugnance of the soldiers and sailors who 
 were pressed into the service. Desertions took 
 place every day, until some of them were tried 
 by martial law and hung, which had the effect to 
 intimidate the rest and secure subordination. 
 
 Early in June the fleet left Plymouth Sound, 
 and arrived off Cadiz on the 20th of this month. 
 The harbor was defended by about eighty war- 
 vessels, including twenty galleys. Essex prepared 
 to land the soldiers, and immediately attack the 
 fort; but a council of war was objecting, when 
 Raleigh, having arrived from some excursion, 
 joined in the objections, and it was finally con- 
 cluded to attack the ships of war. Raleigh was 
 ordered to lead the assault. As soon as day 
 began to break he started in tlie War Spright, 
 followed by the ships of his squadron. Passing 
 the galleys, which he regarded but as "masks," 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. loi 
 
 he made directly for the Philip and the Andrew, 
 the leading ships, and the two largest in the Span- 
 ish navy. For three hours he battled with both 
 of them, and then determined to board the Philip, 
 and end the fight in that way. But the order 
 was not to board without the aid of the flyboats, 
 and they were not come. At that moment he 
 saw the flag-ship of Essex approaching, and fling- 
 ing himself into a skiff, he rowed to him, and 
 demanded permission to board at once. Essex 
 tried to persuade him against taking so great a 
 hazard, but finally bade him do as he would, say- 
 ing, **I will second you, upon my honor." He 
 returned to his ship, and brought her into position 
 to board, when the Philip drew back, and ran 
 aground. Her crew sprang into the sea, and she 
 was blown up. Sir Walter then turned to engage 
 other ships, and succeeded in taking two, the 
 St. Andrew and St. Matthew, which were after- 
 ward brought to England — the only ships cap- 
 tured that were not destroyed. The whole naval 
 battle, of which we have only a glimpse, went on 
 in the same fashion. Sir Walter compared it to 
 
I02 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 *'hell itself." The victory of the English was 
 complete. Thirteen war ships and seventeen gal- 
 leys were taken or destroyed. 
 
 Cadiz is built upon a peninsula, and it was 
 now the first object of the English to prevent all 
 communication with the mainland. The soldiers 
 were landed, and, headed by Essex, made an as- 
 sault upon the nearest gate. Raleigh had been 
 wounded in the naval battle; but he was borne 
 on a litter into the fight, and was one of the first 
 that entered into the captured town. With the 
 town the whole of the merchant ships in the har- 
 bor and their stores fell. An offer of two millions 
 of ducats was accepted from the merchants of 
 Cadiz and Seville as ransom for the India fleet 
 that then lay at Puerte Real; but the fleet was 
 set on fire by the Duke of Medina. One hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand ducats was offered for 
 the ransom of the lives of the combatants in the 
 city, and fifty persons were delivered as hostages 
 for its payment; but the money not being paid, 
 the hostages were carried prisoners to England. 
 The fortifications of Cadiz and much of the town 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 103 
 
 was rased to the ground. But nobody was killed 
 or abused after the surrender, but all the cap- 
 tives were carried to the Port of St. Mary. 
 
 The people of England were in raptures over 
 this great victory, and many a home was made 
 glad by the return of friends who had been pris- 
 oners of war and slaves in the Spanish galleys. 
 Great quarreling ensued in respect to the spoils 
 by the parties concerned, and rumor told false- 
 hood if Queen Elizabeth was not the most grasp- 
 ing of all. The wife of Admiral Howard writes, 
 "It was told me certainly that my lord should 
 have his part, five thousand pounds, and Sir 
 Walter Raleigh three thousand pounds; but being 
 at court yesterday, I heard that the queen claimed 
 all, and my Lord of Essex, it is thought, will yield 
 his right to her majesty. My lord hath spent 
 already twenty thousand pounds in the queen's 
 service." 
 
 It was the year after these events that Raleigh 
 was reinstated in his old office of captain of the 
 guard. At first Essex received him coldly, but 
 after a while their friendly relations were re 
 
I04 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 sumed. Cecil, who was now Secretary of State, 
 had contributed to the restoration of Raleigh, and 
 an endeavor was made on his part to reconcile 
 Essex to Cecil, but not with the greatest success. 
 This year was marked by another expedition 
 against the Spaniards. It was rumored that 
 Philip II had determined on creating another 
 Armada more invincible than the former, where- 
 with to assail the English. Sir Walter Raleigh 
 wrote a pamphlet upon the subject, in which he 
 expresses the opinion that it was not to be believed 
 that the King of Spain should attempt such a thing 
 after the disasters he had already experienced; 
 nevertheless he advised that the nation should be 
 prepared for any event by suitable defenses along 
 the coast. Moreover, he proposes that the initia- 
 tive should be taken by an expedition against the 
 Spanish navy and commerce. This new enter- 
 prise was called the Island's Voyage, as it re- 
 sulted in the conquest of the Azores. It was at 
 first intended to equip ten ships, and place them 
 under the joint command of Raleigh and Lord 
 Thomas Howard; but the plan was afterward 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 105 
 
 much enlarged, and three squadrons were fitted 
 out, commanded by Essex as admiral, with Lord 
 Thomas Howard as vice-admiral, and Raleigh as 
 rear-admiral. With these joined a Dutch squadron 
 of twelve ships, commanded by Admiral Van der 
 Woord. This great fleet put out to sea from Ply- 
 mouth Sound on the loth of July, 1597, but was 
 soon overtaken by a terrific tempest, which came 
 near sinking them altogether, and so disabled sev- 
 eral of the best ships that they were all obliged 
 to put back to various ports for repairs. It was 
 afterward concluded to leave the land forces, 
 and rely exclusively upon the ships. 
 
 The 17th of August found them again afloat, 
 and proceeding to the coast of Spain. Off Cape 
 Ortegal they encountered another terrible gale 
 blowing directly out of the port of Ferrol. A 
 council of war was called, and it was agreed to 
 abandon the project of attacking Ferrol and 
 Corunna, and proceed to the Azores. Sir Wal- 
 ter's ship was disabled, and he could not keep 
 up with the movements of the fleet ; but at length 
 he joined it at Flores, one of the Azores, in lati- 
 
io6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 tude 36° to 39°. Essex was enraged at the ab- 
 sence of Raleigh, and had written to England, 
 charging him with treachery and desertion. This 
 he frankly and regretfully confessed when he 
 found his mistake. Subsequently a collision took 
 place in respect to the assault upon Fayal. The 
 order was for Raleigh to support Essex; but it 
 happened that Raleigh arrived three days before 
 Essex, and waiting all that time, and not know- 
 ing what had happened to the admiral, he landed 
 his men, and captured the place. When chal- 
 lenged for breach of order, he defended himself by 
 quoting an article in the orders, which run: *'No 
 captain of any ship or company, if he be severed 
 from the fleet, shall wend anywhere without di- 
 rections from the general or some other principal 
 commander^ upon pain of death." Lord Thomas 
 Howard interposed between the commanders, 
 and the apology was accepted; but much ill 
 feeling continued to exist between them, fo- 
 mented by Sir Christopher Blount and other in- 
 fluential adherents of Essex, who were unfriendly 
 to Raleigh. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 107 
 
 To persons so disposed, envy had much provo- 
 cation in the matter of this attack on Fayal, for 
 it Avas one of the most brilliant exploits of Sir 
 Walter. While waiting for Essex in the harbor 
 of Hoctu, the chief town of the island, Sir Wal- 
 ter sought to improve the time to take in water. 
 While about this business, he was fired upon by 
 the garrison, which so excited his sailors that they 
 demanded to be led to the assault. Taking his 
 ship as near the shore as was convenient, he took 
 two hundred and fifty men, and attempted to 
 land them in barges on the rock-bound shore. 
 The Spanish forces lined the shore, and opened 
 such a fire upon them that a panic seized his 
 men, and they began to push back, when Ra- 
 leigh, shouting to them to follow him, shoved his 
 barge forward toward a narrow passage between 
 the rocks, where a landing was practicable. The 
 retreating sailors rallied, and the whole force 
 rushed to his support; and being joined by other 
 barges from the Netherland squadron, the Spanish 
 troops retreated into the woods, and left the town 
 an easy prey to the victors. Sir Gilly Merrick 
 
io8 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 had objected to the stormmg of the town, and 
 he represented that it was done to deprive the 
 admiral of the honor of the exploit. Besides the 
 taking of these islands, the fleet captured eighteen 
 Spanish vessels, including several very rich prizes. 
 Raleigh's squadron fell in with a very rich carack, 
 and would have taken it as a prize ; but the crew 
 set it on fire, and escaped in boats, while Raleigh 
 in vain attempted to extinguish the flames. A 
 Spanish squadron, sent forth from Ferrol, was 
 overtaken by a storm and sunk. So Providence 
 interfered for the protection of England. 
 
 "The Islands' Voyage" would have been a 
 failure but for the part which Raleigh took in it. 
 His reputation was enhanced by it, and he be- 
 came chief among the counselors of the queen 
 in her relations to Spanish affairs. He constantly 
 advises that the power of Spain must be guarded 
 against, not by costly bulwarks on the English 
 coast, but by ships of war and naval expeditions 
 against her commerce, her extended colonies, and 
 her maritime ports. In after years he wrote, ''If 
 the late queen would have believed her men of 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 109 
 
 war as she did her scribes, we had, in her time, 
 beaten that great empire to pieces, and made 
 their kings kings of figs and oranges as in old 
 times. But her majesty did all by halves, and by 
 petty invasions taught the Spaniard how to defend 
 himself, and to see his OAvn weakness, which, till 
 our attempts taught him, was hardly known to him- 
 self. Four thousand men would have taken from 
 him all the ports of his Indies; I mean all his 
 ports by which his treasure doth or can pass. 
 He is more hated in that part of the world by 
 the sons of the conquered than are the English 
 by the Irish." 
 
no Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 6l(^tef XI. 
 
 RALEIGH AND HIS COMPEERS AT COURT— REVOLT AND 
 EXECUTION OF ESSEX. 
 
 T3 ALEIGH and Essex were now much together 
 -*- ^ in the court and councils of Queen Elizabeth, 
 and though they never were affected with cordial 
 friendship for each other, yet they harmonized in 
 conduct, and on one marked occasion, Raleigh 
 was of much service to the Earl. While Essex 
 was prosecuting the Cadiz expedition, Robert 
 Cecil was made Secretary of State, at which 
 Essex took offense, especially because he had 
 recommended for that office Sir Thomas Bodley, 
 the founder of the Bodleian Library at Oxford 
 University. He also was annoyed and humiliated 
 by the bestowment of the Earldom of Nottingham 
 upon Lord Howard, as a reward for his services 
 in the recent naval expeditions; inasmuch as this 
 elevation, in connection with his office of lord 
 high admiral, gave him, according to the statutes, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization, m 
 
 the precedence over Essex. Raleigh found no 
 way to adjust this delicate matter but to suggest 
 to the queen to create Essex earl marshal of 
 England. This she did; but it gave offense to 
 Nottingham, and he withdrew for a time from 
 court to his estate in Chelsea. 
 
 All this time it seems that Essex was losing 
 somewhat the favor of the queen. This down- 
 ward tendency was increased 'by the encourage- 
 ment which Essex gave, contrary to the views of 
 the queen, to the marriage of the Earl of South- 
 ampton, one of her courtiers, to Elizabeth Vernon, 
 which resulted in his dismissal from court and 
 confinement for a time in the "Fleet" prison. 
 He afterward gave mortal offense to the queen, 
 in one of his angry moods, by contemptuous 
 words and gestures. This she never forgave. 
 
 She was annoyed by the rivalry of Raleigh 
 and Essex. This was displayed in an extraor. 
 dinary and even ridiculous manner, at a tourna- 
 ment given in honor of the queen's birthday. 
 On this occasion Raleigh was arrayed in a suit 
 of armor very splendid and costly, and the jewels 
 
112 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 be wore were valued at a quarter of a million of 
 dollars. He had a numerous retinue prepared for 
 the second day's tilt arrayed in gorgeous apparel, 
 with orange-colored feathers in their caps. Essex, 
 being apprised of this, appeared in a suit of 
 orange-color, followed by two thousand retainers 
 adorned with orange-colored feathers! 
 
 The affairs of Ireland at this time were excit- 
 ing great solicitude, and a leader was called for 
 who should be able to subdue the rebellion that 
 was rising in that unhappy country. Raleigh was 
 the man to whom attention was first turned, but 
 he declined altogether; and the choice wavered 
 between Earl Essex and Charles Blount, now 
 Lord Mountjoy. By the urgent solicitation of the 
 latter, it was finally settled that Essex should be 
 made Lord Deputy. He exulted in his success. 
 *'I have beaten Raleigh and Knollys in the 
 council," he exclaimed, as he set out for Ireland, 
 "and I will beat Sir Owen in the field; for 
 nothing worthy of Her Majesty's honor has yet 
 been achieved." Alas! this Irish expedition was 
 the beginning of his ruin. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 113 
 
 O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, instigated by the pope 
 and the King of Spain, had commenced the re- 
 bellion with a formidable body of troops, and to 
 meet and subdue him was the first object to be 
 gained. Essex, however, turned aside to suppress 
 an outbreak in Munster, and was so far disabled 
 by the conflict that he thought it prudent not to 
 attack Tyrone, but to negotiate with him. This 
 transaction was denounced at court, and a very 
 sharp altercation by letters took place, which in- 
 duced him to quit his command to defend him- 
 self in person. 
 
 When he arrived at the court, without chang- 
 ing his apparel, he rushed into the queen's bed- 
 chamber, and fell down on his knees to plead 
 with her. But his case was submitted to a coun- 
 cil, and resulted in his being deprived of his 
 office, and all other public positions except that 
 of master of the horse. 
 
 Soon after this he engaged in correspondence 
 
 with the King of Scodand, in respect of procuring 
 
 a public recognition of his right to the Enghsh 
 
 crown on the demise of Elizabeth. He corre- 
 8 
 
114 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 sponded also with Lord Mountjoy, now Deputy 
 of Ireland, to induce him to employ the troops 
 under his command to enforce this measure. 
 He conspired, furthermore, to seize the queen's 
 person, and revolutionize the government. 
 
 Finding that his schemes were discovered and 
 exposed, he made an effort to incite the populace 
 of London in his favor, and his intention was by 
 their aid to make his way to the presence of the 
 queen. Raleigh sent a messenger to one of his 
 old friends, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, to meet him 
 at Durham House. Essex was consulted about 
 this, and he advised Gorges to go by water, but 
 not to land at the Durham House. At this inter- 
 view Sir Walter advised him of his danger, and 
 exhorted him to go at once to his post as gover- 
 nor of Plymouth. Sir Ferdinand thanked him 
 for his advice, but stated that he was engaged 
 another way. Upon being asked what he meant 
 he said ** there were two thousand gentlemen 
 who had resolved this day to die, or live free- 
 men." Raleigh expressed surprise, and they 
 parted. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 115 
 
 To Essex the queen sent a deputation of four 
 privy councilors, the lord keeper, and the chief 
 justice, to inquire about what was intended by 
 these movements. They found him surrounded by 
 a turbulent crowd, and attended by several nobles 
 of distinction, and other gentlemen. He ordered 
 the commissioners into custody, and went forth 
 into the streets, to promote in person the rising 
 of the populace. To his dismay, there was no 
 indication of popular sympathy, when word came 
 of the approach of a strong force under the com- 
 mand of the lord admiral. Turning to regain his 
 house, he found his way barricaded, and was 
 obliged to take boats and come by the river. 
 He set about fortifying his house ; but it was soon 
 surrounded by the queen's troops, and at mid- 
 night he was induced to surrender, and was taken 
 to Lambeth Palace, and the next day to the 
 Tower. 
 
 He was soon after arraigned at Westminster 
 Hall, and charged with treason. The sergeant- 
 at-law, Yelverton, in his argument, compared him 
 to Catiline, and Coke, the attorney of the crown, 
 
ii6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 insinuated that he aimed to become king of Eng- 
 land. Essex protested that he meant no more 
 than to force his way to the presence of the 
 queen, to counteract the machinations of his ene- 
 mies. He was condemned to be beheaded, and 
 in seven days after the trial this sentence was 
 executed. Raleigh was present as captain of the 
 guard, and for that he was charged by his ene- 
 mies as exulting in the death of his rival. He 
 subsequendy protested that, so far from rejoicing, 
 he "shed tears at his death," and he was observed 
 to be deeply sad as he returned in a boat from the 
 Tower. Was it a forecast of his own destiny ? 
 
 It was expected that the queen would pardon 
 Essex; but, though she was terribly affected by 
 his sad fate, she made no sign of interference. 
 She had given him a ring, in the days of his 
 prosperity, with the promise that she would par- 
 don any offense, if he presented it to her. This 
 ring was in the possession of the Countess of 
 Nottingham, but her husband forbade her return- 
 ing it. This, on her death-bed, she confessed to 
 the queen. Elizabeth turned pale, and trembled 
 

 Queen Elizabeth giving a Ring to Essex. 
 
 Page 1 16 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 117 
 
 with grief and indignation at this confession, and 
 said "God might forgive her, but she never 
 could !" 
 
 Sir Christopher Blount was tried for his partic- 
 ipation in this conspiracy, and was condemned to 
 be beheaded on the scaffold. He inquired, '*Is 
 Sir Walter Raleigh~ here ?" When Sir Walter 
 came near he said: "Sir Walter Raleigh, I thank 
 God that you are present. I had an infinite de- 
 sire to speak with you, to ask your forgiveness, 
 ere I died. But for the harm done you, and for 
 my particular ill intent toward you, I beseech 
 you to forgive me." Raleigh replied, "I most 
 willingly forgive you, and I beseech God to for- 
 give you, and to give you his divine comfort." 
 Sir Christopher had exhorted Gorges to seize the 
 person of Raleigh on the occasion of their inter- 
 view on the Thames; and. he had himself, in the 
 streets of London, shot at Raleigh four times, 
 with intent to kill him. 
 
 Essex was but thirty-four years of age at his 
 death. He was born, according to the astrol- 
 ogers, under the "disastrous aspect of Mars 
 
ii8 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 sliining adversely upon him, in the eleventh house 
 of heaven." It is said that his footman, on his 
 death-bed, warned him that that year would be a 
 fatal one to him. With all his faults he had a 
 generous heart, and was a friend to the common 
 people, who mourned his death. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 119 
 
 Ci])kj)tef XII. 
 
 RALEIGH GOVERNOR OF JERSEY— HIS DOMESTIC LIFE — 
 MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT — HIS LITERARY ASSOCIATES. 
 
 T T was in 1600 that Raleigh was made governor 
 -■- of Jersey. This island is interesting to Amer- 
 ican readers as having given its name to one of 
 the original thirteen United States. It is situated 
 in the English Channel, the largest and most 
 southern of that group of islands, lying about 
 seventeen miles from the coast of France, which 
 belongs to Great Britain. It is twelve miles long, 
 by an average of six and a half miles broad. Its 
 climate is delightfully mild and salubrious, and 
 its soil is fertile, especially adapted to producing 
 fruits of all kinds common to the Temperate 
 Zone. Many remains of Druid ical antiquities are 
 found there: the old churches are mostly of the 
 Gothic style; and the population is in religion 
 Roman Catholic. It is distant from England 
 
I20 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 seventy-five miles. Lady Raleigh writes concern- 
 ing her husband's first visit to the island: "He 
 was two days and two nights on the sea^ with 
 contrary winds, notwithstanding he went from 
 Weymouth with so fair wind and weather as little 
 Wat and myself brought him on board the ship. 
 He writeth to me that he never saw a pleasanter 
 island; but protested unfeignedly that it was not 
 in value a third part of what was reported." 
 
 With characteristic zeal he set himself to work 
 for the benefit of the island. He commenced a 
 system for the registration of the real estate, 
 opened a profitable trade with Newfoundland, 
 abolished the co7-ps de garde, an oppressive mili- 
 tary service imposed on the people, and, as judge 
 in civil courts, he exerted his influence to abate 
 the litigation to which the people of these peace- 
 ful islands seem to have been addicted. 
 
 Sir Walter's home in England was now at 
 Sherborne, in Devonshire. Having failed to pur- 
 chase the homestead where he was born, he ob- 
 tained from Queen Ehzabeth an estate which a 
 Norman knight bequeathed to the See of Canter- 
 
PiONEKR OF American Colonization. 121 
 
 bury, with a curse upon any profane person who 
 should covet it. It was finally passed over to 
 the Bishop of Salisbury, who ceded it to Eliza- 
 beth. When Raleigh went to see the place, it is 
 related as a bad omen that his horse fell, and 
 brought him on his face to the ground. But 
 little did he care for such prognostic. He sprang 
 up laughing, addressed his half-brother Gilbert, 
 and with a joke turned it into a good omen. He 
 ventured to make the place an elegant and happy 
 home for his family. He built upon it a house 
 surpassing, for beauty and convenience, all the 
 mansions in that region. Here he enjoyed, when 
 absent from Parliament and other public engage- 
 ments, the society of his family, and the visits 
 of his numerous literary and political friends. 
 He was fondly attached to his wife and children, 
 kind and generous to his servants, and abundant 
 in hospitality. To fix his estate as a family inher- 
 itance, in 1602 he settled it upon his eldest son, 
 Walter. His second son, Carew, was not yet 
 born. We shall see how the conveyance of his 
 estate was eventually made void by a clerical 
 
122 Sir Walter Rai.kigh. 
 
 error in the omission of a few words. The 
 principal inconvenience of this residence was 
 its distance from London, where his duties at 
 court and as a member of Parliament required 
 his presence much of the time. There were no 
 railroads in those days, and the post-roads were 
 not so perfect as they are now. 
 
 Sir Walter was member of Parliament for 
 Devonshire in 1585, and he was returned for 
 Cornwall in 1601, in the latter part of the reigr. 
 of Elizabeth. His brother-in-law, Sir Carew Gil- 
 bert, was also a member. He exhibited his char- 
 acteristic energy and industry in the business of 
 committees, and in the debates on the floor of 
 the House of Commons. He distinguished him- 
 self by his successful objection to the act to pro- 
 mote the culture of hemp. On this occasion he 
 said: " I do not like this constraining of men to 
 manure the ground as one wills; but rather let 
 every man use his ground for that which it is 
 most fit for, and therein use his own discretion. 
 For when the law provides that every man must 
 plow the third of his land, I know divers poor 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 123 
 
 people have done so to avoid the penalty of the 
 statute when their abilities have been so poor that 
 they have not been able to buy seed corn to sow 
 It; nay, they have been fain to hire others to 
 plow it, which, if it had been unplowed, would 
 have been good pasture for beasts, or might have 
 been converted to still other uses." In 1593, he 
 took part in the debate on subsidies. " On that oc- 
 casion,'' says Edwards, "he entered into an elabo- 
 rate review of the power and resources of Spain ; 
 showed that those resources extended virtually 
 over Northern as well as Southern Europe; that 
 in France Philip had effectual command of im- 
 portant towns and havens; and that even in Scot- 
 land he had ' so corrupted the nobility ' that some 
 of them had agreed to work with Spanish forces 
 for the re-establishment of Papistry. ' In his own 
 country,' continued Sir Walter, 'there is all pos- 
 sible preparation, and he is coming with sixty 
 galleons, beside other shipping, with purpose to 
 annoy us. If he invade us, we must have no 
 ships riding at anchor. All will be little enough 
 to withstand him. At his coming he fully resolv- 
 
124 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 eth to get Plymouth, . . . and Plymouth is 
 in most danger.' And then he goes on to con- 
 tend, as he always contended, that the way to de- 
 feat Philip was not to wait for him. ' Let us send 
 a royal army to supplant him in Brittany, and to 
 possess ourselves there, and send also a strong 
 navy to sea, and to lie with it upon the cape and 
 such places as his ships bring his riches to, tliat 
 they may set upon all that come. This we are 
 able to do, and we shall undoubtedly have for- 
 tunate success if we undertake it.'" 
 
 It was such forcast as this speech indicates 
 which had before prepared the nation to meet 
 the invincible Armada when it came, and, by 
 the co-operation of nature in her hurricane and 
 storm, to sweep it to destruction. 
 
 On the subject of monopolies, by which it was 
 costomary to reward public services. Sir Walter 
 made a profound sensation by declaring his will- 
 ingness to resign his patent on the tin mines if 
 there should be a general repeal of licenses. One 
 who was present when his speech was delivered, 
 remarked that "there was a great silence after 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 125 
 
 it." The idea was adopted by Elizabeth, and 
 she made her reign popular by the abolition of 
 the most oppressive of these monopolies. Herein 
 free trade, the glory and prosperity of England, 
 began to dawn on the councils of the State. 
 
 Raleigh had doubts as to the matter of his 
 own monopoly in the tin mines being any disad- 
 vantage on the whole, particularly because under 
 his management the workmen were well paid, and 
 regarded him with much affection.. *'Now I tell 
 you," he said in the debate, ^'tliat before the 
 granting of my patent, whether tin were but 
 seventeen shillings and so up to fifty shillings a 
 hundred, yet the poor workman never had but 
 two shillings a week, finding himself. But since 
 my patent, whosoever will work, be tin at what 
 price sold, they have four shillings a week, truly 
 paid. Notwithstanding, if all others be repealed, 
 I will give my consent as freely to the canceling 
 of this as any member of this House." The 
 question of free trade in this country has been in 
 debate from the beginning, and until lately it 
 made a chief distinction between the leading 
 
126 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 political parties. The necessity of a vast revenue 
 to pay the war debt has made large duties on 
 imports inevitable, and the economical question 
 is practically laid on the shelf. 
 
 As lieutenant of Cornwall, Raleigh devoted 
 himself to the welfare of the county, and espe- 
 cially of the common people. He resisted success- 
 fully an attempt of some politicians to get an old 
 tax on the curing of fish restored; he also suc- 
 ceeded in getting the tax upon tin considerably 
 reduced. "Your ears and mouth have ever 
 been open to hear and deliver our grievances," 
 wrote Richard Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, 
 "and your feet and hands ready to go and work 
 their redress; and that not only as a magistrate 
 of yourself, but also very often as a suitor and 
 solicitor to others of the highest place." Un- 
 popular as he was with the politicians, and often- 
 times exciting the ill will of the London populace, 
 and especially the party of Essex, Raleigh was 
 admired and loved by his own neighbors, and by 
 the soldiers and sailors who served under him. 
 While residing on his estates, he devoted much 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 127 
 
 leisure time to antiquarian researches, and to min- 
 eralogical observations and studies. His mind 
 was ever active, and his tongue and pen and 
 hands were unceasingly active. 
 
 He was a member of the antiquarian society 
 formed under Archbishop Parker in 1572. He 
 instituted a club of literary men in London, who 
 held their meetings at a tavern called the Mermaid, 
 in Friday Street. It was composed of such men 
 as Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Ben Jonson, 
 Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and oth- 
 ers, whose names are yet stars in the horizon of 
 letters. ''Many," says Fuller, ''were the wit 
 combats between Ben Jonson and Shakespeare. 
 I beheld them like a Spanish great galleon and an 
 English man-of-war. Master Jonson, like the 
 former, was built far higher in learning, solid, 
 but slow in his performances. Shakespeare, like 
 the latter, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, 
 could turn with all tides, tack about, and take 
 advantage of all winds by the quickness of his 
 wit and invention." 
 
128 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 C!l\kj)tef XIII. 
 
 DEATH OF ELIZABETH — ACCESSION OF JAMES — HIS CHAR- 
 ACTER AND WORKS — RALEIGH'S DISGRACE AT COURT — 
 CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY— IMPRISONMENT IN THE 
 TOWER. 
 
 QUEEN Elizabeth died on 24th day of March, 
 ^,^^ 1602, in the seventieth year of her age, and 
 the forty-fifth of her reign. The death of Essex 
 made a melancholy impression upon her mind, 
 wliich she could not throw off, and which, to- 
 gether with State cares — the discussions about 
 the succession — affected her health and hastened 
 her end. Having a good constitution and the 
 most temperate habits, she disdained the use of 
 medicine. Feeling that her days were numbered, 
 she devoted herself to religious meditations and 
 exercises. That she might enjoy these without so 
 much molestation, she left Westminster, ani re- 
 paired to Richmond. She had the attendance 
 and ministrations of the Archbishop of Canter- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 129 
 
 bury, and to him she communicated her inmost 
 feelings in regard to her rehitions to the eternal 
 life, and to her successor on the throne. Vexed 
 by the intrigues which she saw going on around 
 her, she kept silence in regard to her decision in 
 respect to the succession until the last hours of 
 her life, when she declared to Lord Howard, of 
 Effingham, her faithful friend, "that her tlirone 
 had been the throne of kings, and that her kins- 
 man, the King of Scots, should succeed her.*' 
 After this she abandoned herself to prayer, that 
 her mind might be, as she expressed it, "wholly 
 fixed on God." Thus died the maiden queen, 
 than whom no greater ruler ever occupied the 
 throne of England. 
 
 While before the death of Elizabeth the ques- 
 tion of succession was under discussion, Raleigh 
 and Cecil took opposite views. Raleigh was op- 
 posed to the King of Scotland, and preferred the 
 claims of Arabella Stuart, who was the fourth in 
 descent from Henry VII. Her father, the Earl 
 of Lenox, was the grandson of Margaret Tudor, 
 vho was the daughter of Henry VII. She was 
 9 
 
130 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 born in England, and was, like James, a Protest- 
 ant. Elizabeth at first seemed to be friendly to 
 Arabella, and instructed her embassador to pro- 
 pose her marriage with James, and end the ques- 
 tion ; but afterward, for some reason unexplained, 
 she turned against Arabella, and her opposition 
 was intensified by that lady's projected marriage 
 to William Seymour, afterward Duke of Somerset, 
 who also was a descendant of Henry VII. When 
 James was acknowledged to be the rightful heir 
 to the crown, and came to London to establish 
 his court, he regarded the friends of Arabella 
 with jealousy, and was particularly evil-disposed 
 toward Sir Walter Raleigh. He suspected him to 
 be the author of certain pamphlets in opposition 
 to his claims, and to have been concerned in the 
 condemnation and execution of his friend, the 
 unfortunate Earl of Essex. Cecil seems to have 
 encouraged this disposition in James, and to stand 
 altogether in his light as he approached the new 
 monarch for the usual congratulations and wel- 
 comes expected of courtiers. On their first inter- 
 view, James, in the broadest Northern dialect, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 131 
 
 returned his salutation with a poor grace, "On 
 my soul, mon, I have heard Rawly of thee." 
 He accepted the presents of Raleigh ; but his 
 timidity and love of peace was unpleasantly af- 
 fected by Raleigh's bold and generous, but ill- 
 advised, offer to support, at his own expense, a 
 force of two thousand men to invade the territo- 
 ries of Spain. This offer was the key-note, as we 
 shall see, of a disastrous tenor of events, that 
 brouglit the brave knight to an untimely and 
 cruel end. 
 
 James I of England and VI of Scotland was 
 the son of the beautiful but unfortunate Mary, 
 Queen of Scotland. His father was Henry Stuart, 
 Lord Darnley, the cousin and husband of Mary, 
 with whom she was, at the time of James's birth, 
 at variance, having fixed her affection on the Earl 
 of Both well. The assassination of Darnley fol- 
 lowed, and Bothwell was suspected of being the 
 instigator of the deed; nevertheless the impru- 
 dent queen married him. The result was a re- 
 bellion against the authority of the queen, which 
 drove Bothwell into exile in Denmark, and Mary 
 
132 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 to imprisonment in the Castle of Loch Leven. 
 She escaped ; a battle ensued at Langside ; her 
 army was defeated; she fled to England; was 
 kept a prisoner eighteen years by Elizabeth, at 
 the end of which she was charged with conspir- 
 acy against the crown; was tried, condemned, 
 and beheaded, February 8, 1587. 
 
 James was crowned King of Scodand while 
 yet an infant, and was kept in Stirling Castle, 
 under the regency of the Earl of Mar. His tutor 
 was the celebrated Buchanan, and he proved a 
 diligent scholar in the learning of the times. He 
 early imbibed inflated notions of royal supremacy; 
 and by his arrogance he set his nobles against 
 him, and a party took possession of his person, 
 and confined him in Ruthven Castle. A counter 
 revolution soon effected his liberation, and he was 
 placed under the tutorship of his favorite, the 
 unprincipled Earl of Arran. He showed little 
 sympathy for his unhappy mother until her life 
 was in danger, when he protested against the 
 course Elizabeth was pursuing, and appealed to 
 other courts of Europe for interference. At her 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 133 
 
 death his nobles were ready to make war on the 
 English nation, but the poverty of his resources 
 prevented it. When Philip II threatened the inva- 
 sion of England, liis decided and ardent Protest- 
 antism prompted him to forego personal animosity 
 and to offer his assistance to repel the invasion. 
 
 He was thirty-seven years of age when the 
 death of Elizabeth in 1603 opened his way, by 
 hereditary claim, to the crown of England. His 
 progress to London was cheered by the popular 
 acclamations, and he distributed the honors and 
 titles at his disposal with the greatest profusion 
 on Englishmen and Scotchmen. 
 
 It is said that his timidity was such that, when 
 he laid his sword on the shoulder of the new- 
 made knight, he averted his eyes. He liad also 
 a habit of rolling his eyes after any person who 
 was introduced to him, which was very embar- 
 rassing to strangers. 
 
 He held a conference at Hampton Court be- 
 tween the Puritans and the divines of the English 
 Church, in which he displayed a bitter hostility 
 to innovations on the established order of the 
 
134 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Church, and to all kinds of non-conformity. He 
 did not pursue the non-conformist with the sword 
 and fagot, as in the previous reign; but he ex- 
 pelled the Puritans from their offices in the 
 Church, and in 1604 no less than three hundred 
 pastors were silenced, imprisoned, or banished. 
 As to the Catholics, he disappointed their expec- 
 tations of royal favor; and their despair of gain- 
 ing any thing from him or his Parliament led, in 
 1605, to the Gunpowder Plot, the object of which 
 was to annihilate at a blow the king and the 
 Parliament. 
 
 Catesby, Percy, and some other papists, de- 
 vised the plan of storing gunpowder under the 
 Parliament Hall, to be fired when the session 
 should be opened, at which time the king and 
 royal family would be present. More than twenty 
 persons had the fatal secret; but it was kept 
 until within ten days of the appointed time, when 
 a Catholic peer received a note advising him not 
 to attend Parliament if he would avoid a calam- 
 ity. This he carried to Lord Salisbury, Secretary 
 of State, and the matter was at once made known 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 135 
 
 to King James. Salisbury made light of it; but 
 the timidity and sagacity of the king prompted 
 him to order a thorough search of the vaults 
 of tlie Hall, where both houses of Parliament 
 assembled. At the door Guy Fawkes was found 
 with matches in his pocket, and two hogsheads 
 and thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were discov- 
 ered. Guy Fawkes, on being put to torture, con- 
 fessed the plot and all the persons concerned in it. 
 These conspirators, with their attendants, to the 
 number of eighty, concentrated at Warwickshire, 
 and determined to defend tliemselves against ar- 
 rest. Catesby and Percy were killed in the at- 
 tack, and the residue were captured, tried, and 
 executed. 
 
 In the Calendar of the Church of England the 
 5th of November is made a holiday; and the boys 
 in England, and even in Boston, Massachusetts, 
 celebrated it by carrying about an effigy of Guy 
 Fawkes, singing, as they burnt it: 
 
 "Remember, remember 
 
 The fiftli of November, 
 Gunpowder treason and plot I 
 
136 Sir Walter Rai.kigh. 
 
 We know no reason 
 Why gunpowder treason 
 Should ever be forgot. 
 
 Hallo, boys ! Hurra !" 
 
 The truly great and the only great deed which 
 distinguishes the reign of James was the transla- 
 tion of the original Scriptures into the English. 
 At the Hampton conference, which displayed the 
 intolerance of the king, the leader of the non- 
 conformists was Dr. Reynolds, who has the honor 
 of having suggested to the king the necessity of 
 this translation. The king at once perceived its 
 importance, and orders were issued the next year, 
 1604, appointing fifty-four distinguished scholars 
 to do the work. Seven of them, however, for 
 some reason, failed to be actually employed in it. 
 These were divided into six classes, to each of 
 which was assigned a distinct portion of the 
 Scriptures, to be translated by each member of 
 the class, and to be revised by the whole class, 
 and then sent to the other classes for examina- 
 tion. These translations employed three years. 
 The whole work was then sent to London, and 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 137 
 
 was revised by a committee of one from each 
 of the six classes, and finally criticised by Dr. 
 Smith and Bishop Bilson. It was finally printed 
 in 161 1. This is admitted to be the noblest of 
 all translations of the Bible, scarcely inferior in 
 spirit and letter to the inspired original. Re- 
 cently a convention of learned men have been 
 employed on a revision of King James's version, 
 which is designed to correct what errors of trans- 
 lation have been observed in it, without alteration 
 of its general style. 
 
 The ill will of James to Raleigh was soon 
 revealed by an act of oppression in reference to 
 his eldest son, Walter Raleigh, Jr. This young 
 man was engaged to a wealthy heiress, Miss 
 Basset, a descendant of the Plantagenets. This 
 engagement was broke up by James, and the 
 young lady compelled to marry Henry Howard. 
 Her relative. Sir Robert Basset, opposed this 
 transaction so vehemently that he was made an 
 object of the royal displeasure, and his estate 
 was confiscated, and he was compelled to flee 
 the country to save his life. 
 
138 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 The Earl of Southampton, who was an accom- 
 plice of Essex in his conspirac}^ against Elizabeth, 
 was called from the Tower, and received with 
 favor by the king, while Sir Walter was informed 
 that his presence was not acceptable. This ma- 
 neuver was attributed by Raleigh to the mali- 
 cious influence of Cecil, and he wrote a letter to 
 the king, in which he blamed Cecil for the exe- 
 cution of Essex, and charged him with having 
 brought about the execution of Queen Mary, 
 against the intention and wishes of Elizabeth. 
 This made Cecil his implacable enemy. Sir Wal- 
 ter also joined with others to advise a limitation 
 of the prerogatives of the king, and moderation 
 in bestowing honors upon those favorites who 
 were not natives of England. This was an un- 
 pardonable offense to one who was inflated with 
 notions of kingly right and privilege — notions, 
 which bequeathed to his son and successor, 
 Charles I, brought him to the block. 
 
 Before the accession of James, the CathoUcs 
 had much dispute among themselves as to the 
 succession. Much hope was entertained of Span- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 139 
 
 ish influence with the prospective king, procuring 
 for their Church great toleration and larger privi- 
 leges, and agents were sent to the court of Scot- 
 land for furthering these views. William Watson 
 and Francis Clarke, Catholic priests, were the 
 most prominent of these emissaries. James acted 
 a double part in dealing with this question. To 
 the pope he intimated that his accession to the 
 throne of England would be an advantage to the 
 Papists, while to the English court he expressed his 
 dissatisfaction with the leniency and favor shown 
 to them. Three weeks before his arrival in Eng- 
 land a scheme for seizing his person was com- 
 municated by Sir Griffin Markham, a Catholic 
 gentleman, to his two trustees, whom he had in- 
 vited to dine with him at Berwood Park. He 
 led them into the depths of the woods, and bound 
 them by an oath not to reveal what he was about 
 to relate. He then told them that a band of men 
 had entered into a conspiracy to surprise tlie 
 king at Greenwich, and to bring him to the 
 Tower, which a party of them was to seize for 
 that purpose. Among them were George Brooke, 
 
I40 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 brother to Lord Cobham, Anthony Capley, a Cath 
 olic gentleman, and Lord Grey, of Wilton. Lore 
 Grey was a Puritan, and hated Popery; but he 
 hated the Scotch more, and, like the Catholics, 
 longed for greater liberty in both civil and re- 
 ligious matters than could be hoped for from the 
 Scottish king. The original design of surprising 
 the king at Greenwich was laid aside for a plan 
 of seizing him on his departure from Hanworth. 
 It was much against Priest Watson's judgment 
 that such a Protestant nobleman as Lord Grey 
 should be mixed up with the scheme, and so he 
 invented a plot within the plot to capture the 
 king from Lord Grey and his troop, and to carry 
 him to the Tower as if for safe keeping from his 
 enemies, and by this means to secure the favor 
 of the king to the Catholic cause. He first re- 
 vealed his plan to Sir Edward Parham, who fell 
 in with it at once. But in various ways the 
 scheme of surprising the king was betrayed to 
 the king's council, and they took immediate 
 measures to guard the king's person. ' Capley 
 was first arrested, and afterward the rest of the 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 141 
 
 conspirators. It does not appear that Cobham 
 had any thing to do with this ''treason of the 
 priests." His brother had spoken of him to Wat- 
 son, and of Sir Walter Raleigh, as discontented 
 with the king, as well as Lord Grey. 
 
 The project of Cobham was a different affair al- 
 together. He had always been opposed to Essex 
 and his views of the succession of the Scottish 
 king. He favored at first the right of the Lady 
 Arabella; but after his introduction to her per- 
 sonally at the court of EHzabeth, for some reason, 
 he changed his mind. "When I saw her," he 
 remarked to Cecil, "I resolved never to hazard 
 my estate for her." 
 
 The correspondence of Cobham and Count 
 d' Aremberg, Embassador of Archduke Albert^ 
 Sovereign of the Spanish Low Countries, is veiled 
 in some obscurity; but it seems to have been 
 respecting a treaty of peace with Spain, for which 
 the influence of Cobham was solicited. In their 
 intimacies, Cobham told Raleigh about a sum of 
 money which he hoped to receive for negotiations 
 in this matter. This being known by some means 
 
142 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 to the king's counselors, Cobham was suspertcd 
 of some treasonable designs of his own, or com- 
 plicity with the priests' conspiracy, and Sir Walter 
 Raleigh was supposed to know something about it. 
 One day Cecil met Raleigh at Windsor, and 
 notified him that the lords of the privy council 
 had something to inquire of him. He was asked 
 what he knew about a correspondence of Cob- 
 ham with Aremberg, the Austrian embassador, in 
 respect to Spanish affairs, the object of which was 
 to induce Raleigh to favor an alliance of England 
 with Spain. Raleigh denied that Cobham had 
 any unwarrantable communication with himself 
 or the Austrian minister, and referred the council 
 to Laurencie, an Antwerp merchant, who had 
 first introduced Cobham to Aremberg. Lord Cob- 
 ham was afterward called before the council, and 
 he entirely exonerated Raleigh from any improper 
 transactions. After that, by an infamous artifice, 
 a letter of Raleigh addressed to Cecil was shown 
 to Cobham, from some expressions of which he 
 was led to conclude that Raleigh had betrayed 
 him. Whereupon, as if possessed with a demoniac 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 143 
 
 spirit of revenge he cried out, "O traitor! O vil- 
 lain! now will I confess the whole truth." He 
 then confessed that his intention was to go to 
 Spain, and borrow six hundred thousand crowns 
 of Philip III, to pay the troops to be employed in 
 the conspiracy, and that he was to return by Jer- 
 sey, where he would meet Raleigh, and arrange 
 for the disbursement of the money. He further 
 deposed that it was by the instigation of Raleigh 
 that he embarked in this plot. On being ques- 
 tioned, he declared ignorance of any other plots, 
 and contradicted his previous statements by stating 
 that he feared that, on arriving at Jersey, Ra- 
 leigh would deliver him and his money into the 
 hands of the government. He was then dis- 
 charged; but before he reached the stairway to 
 depart, he was seized with remorse, and returned 
 and retracted all that he had said against his 
 friends. His deposition had been taken in writ- 
 ing; but he refused to sign it. He was con- 
 strained, however, to do so by being informed by 
 the chief justice that it would be treated as con- 
 tempt of court. Some weeks after he was newly 
 
144 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 examined, and distinctly retracted his accusation 
 of Sir Walter. Cecil, who never fully declared 
 his conviction of Sir Walter Raleigh's complicity 
 with the conspirators, but seems quite willing to 
 find proof of it against his former friend, and in 
 his letters makes the most of incidental matters, 
 which might look unfavorable, now ascribes this 
 change in Cobham to a correspondence which 
 Raleigh contrived to have with Cobham in the 
 confinement in neighboring apartments of the 
 Tower. This was brought to the attention of 
 Cobham; that he saw Sir John Paxton talking 
 with Sir Walter at the window, and that, when 
 he came to see him shortly after, he said to him, 
 ''I saw you with Sir Walter Raleigh. God for- 
 give him! He hath accused me, but I can not 
 accuse him." Then Sir John said, ''He doth 
 say the like of you : that you have accused him, 
 but he can not accuse you." Cobham was mis- 
 taken about Raleigh's accusing him; it was his 
 own brother Brooke that made the first disclos- 
 ures of the plot. 
 
 Upon his first entrance into the Tower, Sir 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 145 
 
 '^''alter Raleigh gave way to desponding thoughts. 
 He knew he was innocent; but he had read his- 
 tory so as to convince him that the slightest 
 things are taken for proofs of treason, and the 
 innocent are condemned with the guilty. He 
 knew the law was such that, if sentence was pro- 
 nounced against him, it would result in the con- 
 fiscation of his estate, and leave his wife and 
 family destitute. Dwelling upon these consid- 
 erations, he was so wrought up that he deter- 
 mined not to be brought to trial by sacrificing 
 his life. On the 20th of July, 1603, while Lord 
 Cecil was in the Tower examining the prisoners, 
 he stabbed himself near the right breast. Cecil 
 writes about it: "Although lodged and attended 
 as well as in his own house, yet one afternoon, 
 while divers of us were in the Tower examining 
 these prisoners, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to 
 have murdered himself. Whereof, when we were 
 advertised, we came to him, and found him in 
 some agony, seeming to be unable to endure his 
 misfortune, and protesting his innocency with 
 
 carelessness of life. In that humor he had 
 10 
 
146 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 wounded himself under the right pap, but no way 
 mortally; being in truth rather a cut than a stab." 
 The following letter, lately found among State 
 papers, and published in Edwards's second vol- 
 ume' reveals the feeling which moved him to this 
 rash act: 
 
 TO LADY RALEIGH. 
 
 " Receive from thy unfortunate husband these, 
 his last lines; these, the last words thou shalt ever 
 receive from him. That I can live to see thee 
 and my child more ! — I can not. I have desired 
 God and disputed with my reason, but nature and 
 compassion hath the victory. That I can live to 
 think how you are both left a spoil to my ene- 
 mies, and that my name shall be a dishonor to 
 my child, — I can not. I can not endure the 
 memory thereof. Unfortunate woman, unfortu- 
 nate child, comfort yourselves; trust God, and be 
 contented in your poor estate. I would have bet- 
 tered it, if I had enjoyed a few years. 
 
 ''Thou art a young woman, and forbear not 
 to marry again ; thou art no more mine, nor I 
 thine. To witness that thou didst love me once. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 147 
 
 take care that thou marry not to please sense, 
 but to avoid poverty, and to preserve thy child. 
 That thou didst also love me living, witness it to 
 others; to my poor daughter, to whom I have 
 given nothing; for his sake, who will be cruel to 
 himself to preserve thee. Be charitable to her, and 
 teach thy son to love her for his father's sake. 
 
 ''For myself, I am left of all men that have 
 done good to many. All my good turns forgotten; 
 all my errors revived and expounded to all ex- 
 tremity of ill. All my services, hazards, and 
 expenses for my country — plantings, discoveries, 
 fights, councils, and whatsoever else — malice hath 
 now covered over. I am now made an enemy 
 and traitor by the word of an unworthy man. 
 He hath proclaimed me to be a partaker of his 
 vain imaginations, notwithstanding the whole 
 course of my life hath approved the contrary, as 
 my death shall approve it. Woe, woe, woe be 
 unto him by whose falsehood we are lost ! He 
 hath separated us asunder. He hath slain my 
 honor, my fortune. He hath robbed thee of thy 
 husband, thy child of his father, and me of you 
 
148 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 both. O God, thou dost know my wrongs. 
 Know then, thou my wife and child; know then, 
 thou my lord and king, — that I ever thought 
 them too honest to betray, and too good to con- 
 spire against. 
 
 ' ' But, my wife, forgive them all, as I do. 
 Live humble, for thou hast but a time also. God 
 forgive my Lord Harry ! for he was my heavy 
 enemy. And for my Lord Cecil, I thought 
 he would never forsake me in extremity. I 
 would not have done it him, God knows. But 
 do not thou know it; for he must be master of 
 thy child, and may have compassion of him. Be 
 not dismayed that I died in despair of God's 
 mercies. Strive not to dispute it. But assure 
 thyself that God hath not left me, nor Satan 
 tempted me. Hope and Despair live not together. 
 I know it is forbidden to destroy ourselves; but 
 trust it is forbidden in this sort, that we destroy 
 not ourselves despairing of God's mercy. The 
 mercy of God is immeasurable; the cogitations 
 of men comprehend it not. 
 
 '* In the Lord I have ever trusted, and I know 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 149 
 
 that my Redeemer liveth. Far is it from me to 
 be tempted with Satan. I am only tempted with 
 sorrow, whose sharp teeth devour my heart. O 
 God, thou art goodness itself. Thou canst not 
 but be good to me. O God, thou art mercy 
 itself. Thou canst not but be merciful to me. 
 
 ''For my estate, [it] is conveyed to feoffees — 
 to your cousin Brett and others. I have but a 
 bare estate for a short life. My plate is at gage 
 in Lombard Street; my debts are many To 
 Peter Vanlove, some ;^6oo. To Atropus ^s 
 much, but Compton is to pay ;£"3oo of it. To 
 Michael Hext, ;£"ioo. To George Carew, ;^ioo. 
 To Nicholas Sanderson, ;£ioo. To Jolin Fitz- 
 james, ;^ioo. To Master Waddon, ;£'ioo. To 
 a poor man, one Hawkes, for horses, ^To. To 
 a poor man called Hunt, ;^2o. Take first care 
 of those, for God's sake. To a brewer at Wey- 
 mouth, and a baker, for Lord Cecil's ship and 
 mine, I think some /^So. John Reynolds know- 
 eth it. And let that poor man have his true part 
 of my return from Virginia; and let tlie pool 
 men's wages be paid with the goods, for the 
 
I50 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Lord's sake. Oh, what will my poor servants 
 think, at their return, when they hear I am ac- 
 cused to be Spanish, who sent them — at my great 
 charge — to plant and discover upon his territory, 
 
 "Oh, intolerable infamy! O God, I can not 
 resist these thoughts! I can not live to think 
 how I am derided, to think of the expectation 
 of my enemies, the scorns I shall receive, the 
 cruel words of lawyers, the infamous taunts and 
 despites, to be made a wonder and a spectacle ! 
 O Death, hasten thou unto me, that thou mayest 
 destroy the memory of these, and lay me up in 
 dark forgetfulness ! O Death, destroy my mem- 
 ory, which is my tormentor ! my thoughts and my 
 life can not dwell in one body. But do thou for- 
 get me, poor wife, that thou mayest live to bring 
 up my poor child. 
 
 "I recommend unto you my poor brother 
 Gilbert. The lease of Tandridge is his, and none 
 of mine. Let him have it, for God's cause. He 
 knows what is due to me upon it. And be good 
 to Kemis; for he is a perfect honest man, and 
 hath much wrong for my sake. For the rest, I 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 151 
 
 commend me to them, and them to God. And 
 the Lord knows my sorrows to part from thee and 
 my poor child. But part I must, by enemies and 
 injuries; part with shame, and triumph of my 
 detractors. And therefore be contented with this 
 work of God, and forget me in all things but 
 thine own honor and the love of mine. 
 
 "I bless my poor child; and let him know 
 his father was no traitor. Be bold of my inno- 
 cence; for God, to whom I offer life and soul, 
 knows it. And whosoever thou choose again after 
 me, let him but be thy politique husband. But 
 let my son be thy beloved, for he is part of me, 
 and I live in him; and the difference is but in 
 the number, and not in the kind. And the Lord 
 forever keep thee and them, and give thee com- 
 fort in both worlds!" 
 
 After Raleigh's recovery from his wound, he, 
 like the other prisoners, was subjected to private 
 examinations; but through all he confesses no 
 guilt, and discloses nothing which betrays con- 
 nection with the conspiracy. On the contrary, 
 
152 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Lord Grey confessed that he "had a part, a 
 party, and confederates," and that their object 
 was to take the king and his court by surprise. 
 Brooke and Cobham made similar acknowledg- 
 ments, and threw themsleves on tlie mercy of the 
 king. Raleigh wrote an eloquent letter to the 
 Earls of Nottingham, Suffolk, and Devonshire, 
 and Lord Cecil, protesting his innocence, and 
 showing reasons why he ought not to be con- 
 founded with the guilty. He wrote also suppli- 
 cating letters to the king. He managed to hold 
 a communication with Cobham, entreating him to 
 exonerate him. He paid money to an attendant 
 in the prison to throw an apple into Cobham's 
 apartment, containing a letter to this effect. The 
 answer was not altogether satisfactory. He then 
 sent another letter in the same way, requesting 
 Cobham at least to declare his innocence at the 
 approaching trial. To this a reply came, plainly 
 and solemnly declaring that Raleigh was innocent 
 of all the charges. 
 
 As it happened that the plague was raging at 
 London, and people were dying every-where — 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 153 
 
 except, strange to relate, in the Tower — it became 
 necessary to remove the prisoners, for trial, to 
 Winchester Castle. Thither, in September, Ra- 
 leigh was conveyed in his own coach, under the 
 direction of Sir William Wade, who was, accord- 
 ing to his own account, in constant alarm from 
 the manifestation of popular ill-will toward his 
 illustrious prisoners. Mud and stones, and even 
 tobacco-pipes, were thrown into the coach. "He 
 that had seen it," says Wade, 'Svould not think 
 there had been any sickness in London. We 
 took the best order we could in setting watches 
 through all the streets, both in London and the 
 suburbs. If one hair-brain fellow among so great 
 multitudes had begun to set on him, as they were 
 very ready to do, no night-watch or means could 
 have prevailed, the fury and tumult of the people 
 were so great." Raleigh seems never to have 
 been popular with the masses, though very much 
 beloved by his attendants, and by soldiers and 
 sailors in his service. The wrath of the populace, 
 in this instance, was destined by the events of the 
 trial to be converted into admiration and pity. 
 
154 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 C'l^kptef XIV. 
 
 THE TRIAL OF RALEIGH AND THE CONSPIRATORS — CONDUCT 
 OF SIR EDWARD COKE— THE SENTENCE OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 '' I ^HE plague, which made it necessary for the 
 ^ court to leave London, continued to rage 
 until thirty thousand of the population' perished. 
 The king and his council repaired to Welton. A 
 court of king's bench was prepared by the sheriff 
 of Hants, at Wolverley Castle, the old episcopal 
 Palace of Winchester. The trial hi Sir Walter 
 Raleigh commenced on the 17th of November, 
 O. S. Cecil, Wade, and Henry Howard were 
 made judges by special commission. With them 
 were Lord Thomas Howard, Charles Blount, 
 Edward Walton, Sir John Stanhope, Popham, 
 lord chief- justice, Anderson, chief -justice of the 
 common pleas, and two judges, Warburton and 
 Gandy. Sir Edward Coke, attorney-general, was 
 assisted by Sergeant Hale. The jury consisted of 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 155 
 
 knights, squires, and gentlemen, all strangers to 
 Raleigh. When the indictment was read, Sir 
 Walter pleaded, "Not guilty;" and when asked 
 if he had any objection to the jury, he answered, 
 "I know none of them, but think them all honest 
 and Christian men. I know my own innocence, 
 and, therefore, will challenge none. All are in- 
 different to me. Only this I desire : sickness 
 hath of late weakened me, and my memory is al- 
 ways bad; the points in the indictment are many, 
 and perhaps in the evidence more will be urged. 
 I beseech you, therefore, my lords, let me answer 
 the points severally as they are delivered, for I 
 shall not carry them all in my mind to the end." 
 
 Coke objected: "The king's evidence ought 
 not to be broken or dismembered, whereby it 
 might lose much of its grace and vigor." This 
 objection was overruled in part. 
 
 The indictment substantially was that he had 
 conspired against the government of the king ; 
 had sought to excite sedition, to introduce the 
 Papal religion, and to engage foreign nations to 
 invade the kingdom. In addition to this con- 
 
156 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 spiracy, he was charged with having published a 
 book against the title of James, and had incited 
 Lady Arabella Stuart to write to the King of 
 Spain, to the Archduke of Austria, and to the 
 Duke of Saxony to advance her title. Besides 
 this he was implicated in transactions between 
 Cobham and Aremburg, Embassador of Aus- 
 tria, to obtain five or six hundred thousand 
 crowns from Philip III of Spain to aid the trea- 
 son, of which Raleigh should have the disburse- 
 ment of ten thousand crowns. 
 
 The opening of the case was made by Ser- 
 geant Hale, who displayed as much ability to 
 manage such a case as could be expected from a 
 small lawyer who could affirm, "As for the Lady 
 Arabella, she, upon my conscience, hath no more 
 tide to the crown than I have, which before God 
 I utterly renounce." As James himself could not 
 trace a more direct relation to the royal line than 
 Lady Arabella, Raleigh was seen to smile at the 
 blundering witticism of the king's sergeant-at-law. 
 Sir Edward Coke soon followed in turn, and 
 made a display of mingled acuteness, eloquence, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 157 
 
 effrontery, and malignity, which has left a blot 
 upon his character. He declared that as no re- 
 sort had been made to torture to extract the truth 
 from the conspirators, so he should bring nothing 
 but plain and positive proof against the prisoner. 
 He analyzed the crime charged in the following 
 pedantic manner: *'Unto all great mischiefs, 
 there be ever three inseparable incidents. The 
 first is invitation; the second, siipportation ; the 
 third, defense. Within these three fall all Sir 
 Walter Raleigh's treasons. For his is the treason 
 of ^the mainf the others were ^the bye.* The 
 treason of ^the buy* was that Lord Grey, Brooke, 
 Markham, and the others should hastily surprise 
 the king's court. This was a rebellion in the 
 heart of the realm ; yea, in the heart of the heart, 
 that is, the court. They intended to break open 
 the doors with muskets, and so of a sovereign 
 make a subject. Having him, they meant to 
 carry him to the Tower, and to keep him there 
 until they had extorted three things from him — 
 first, their own pardon; secondly, toleration for 
 the Romish superstition; and, thirdly, the re- 
 
158 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 moval of certain privy councilors. This," he 
 concluded, "was the treason of 'the buy.'" 
 
 Raleigh interposed, and addressed the jury : 
 ''I pray you, gentlemen of the jury, to remember 
 that I am not charged with the 'buy,' which was 
 the treason of the priests." 
 
 "You are not," replied Coke; "but your 
 lordships will see that all these treasons, though 
 they consisted of several points, closed in to- 
 gether, like Samson's foxes, which were joined 
 in the tails, though the heads were severed." 
 
 He then went on reciting cases of treason 
 in other reigns, and showing, too, or rather 
 trying to show, that only one witness was nec- 
 essary to make out a case of treason. He 
 finally comes to the case. ' ' Now, my masters 
 of the jury, I come to your charge. Treason 
 is of four kinds — treason in cofde (in the heart), 
 which is the root of the tree; treason ifi ore 
 (in the mouth), which is the bud; treason in manu 
 (in the hand), which is the blossom; and treason 
 171 consufmnatione (in consummation), which is the 
 fruit. In this case you shall find the three first 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 159 
 
 of these, these traitors being prevented before the 
 consummation of their mischiefs. But, though 
 prevented, they are still traitors /;/ cordc, in ore, 
 et in ina?iuy And so he went on quoting Latin 
 phrases, and charging the conspirators with the 
 purpose not only to take the life of the king, but 
 to destroy his posterity. Then turning to Ra- 
 leigh, he said, ''But to whom, Sir Walter, did 
 you bear malice? To the royal clnldren?" 
 
 "Master attorney," said Raleigh, ''I pray you, 
 to whom or to what end speak you all this? I 
 protest I do not understand what a word of this 
 means, except it be to tell the news. What is 
 the treason of Markham and the priests to me?" 
 
 Coke replied, ''I will, then, come close to 
 you. I will prove you to be the most notorious 
 traitor that ever came to the bar. They, indeed, 
 are upon 'the mainf but you followed them of 
 'the bye' in imitation. I will charge you with 
 the words." 
 
 ''Your words can not condemn me," responded 
 Raleigh. ' ' My innocence is my defense. Prove 
 against me any one thing of the many that you 
 
i6o Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 have spoken, and I will confess all the indict- 
 ment, and that I am the most horrible traitor that 
 ever lived, and worthy to be crucified with a 
 thousand torments." 
 
 *'Nay," said Coke, "I will prove all. Thou 
 art a monster; thou hast an English face, but a 
 Spanish heart. You would have stirred England 
 and Scodand both. You incited the Lord Cob- 
 ham, as soon as Count Aremberg came into Eng- 
 land, to go to him. The night he went you 
 supped with Lord Cobham, and he brought you 
 after supper to Dunbar House; and then, the same 
 night, by a back way, went with La Renzi to 
 Count Aremberg, and got from him a promise 
 of the money. After this it was arranged that 
 Lord Cobham should go to Spain, and return by 
 Jersey." So he went on simply affirming the in- 
 dictment. 
 
 Raleigh cried out, "Let me answer; it con- 
 cerns my life!" 
 
 Coke: "Thou shalt not." 
 
 Lord Chief Justice Popham then interposed, 
 saying: "Sir Walter Raleigh, master attorney is 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. i6i 
 
 yet but in general. But when the king's counsel 
 hath given the whole evidence, you shall answer 
 to every particular." 
 
 After this Coke went on stating that Cobham 
 invented the scheme, but Raleigh was relied 
 upon, both as a ''politician and landsman," to 
 manage and execute the plot; and that he con- 
 trived that Cobham should be the only witness 
 against him, believing that he could not be con- 
 victed of treason by only one witness. He re- 
 lated several matters in which Cobham was con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Raleigh replied : ' ' What is this to me ? I do 
 not hear yet that you have spoken one word 
 against me. If my Lord Cobham be a traitor, 
 what is that to me ?" 
 
 Coke retorted: "All that he did was by thy 
 instigation, thou viper! for I thou thee, thou 
 traitor! I will prove thee the rankest traitor in 
 all England." 
 
 Raleigh replied that he might call him a traitor, 
 but that was no proof of it. The lord chief- 
 justice then charged tliem both to ''be patient." 
 
i62 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Coke then proceeded to give his proofs. It 
 was simply a record of the examinations of Cob- 
 ham, which was read by the clerk of the crown. 
 Raleigh requested to look at it. Having done 
 so, he addressed the jury in his defense. He 
 explained that he was aware that Cobham, 
 through La Renzi, had communications with 
 Count Aremberg, and he informed Cecil of it, and 
 that La Renzi should be called to account for it; 
 but Cecil thought it not politic to do so, as the 
 embassador might be offended; and that this 
 letter was shown to Cobham, who in a sudden 
 rage denounced him as a traitor, and then re- 
 pented of it "ere he came to the stairs' foot, and 
 acknowledged he had done wrong." He then 
 turned to the attorney-general, 'and said, in lan- 
 guage that thrilled every loyal and honest English- 
 man and Scotchman in the assembly : 
 
 "Master attorney, whether to favor or to disable 
 my Lord Cobham, you speak as you will of him; 
 yet he is not such a traitor as you make of him. 
 He hath dispositions of such violence, which his 
 best friends could never temper. But it is very 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. i6 
 
 strange that I, at tliis time, should be thought to 
 plot with the Lord Cobham, knowing him a man 
 that hath neither love or following; and myself, 
 at this time, having resigned a place of my best 
 command in an ofifice I had in Cornwall, I was 
 not so bare of sense but I saw that, if ever this 
 state was strong, it was now that we have the 
 kingdom of Scotland united, whence we were 
 wont to fear all our troubles; Ireland quieted, 
 where our forces were wont to be divided; Den- 
 mark assured, whom before we were always wont 
 to have in jealousy; the Low Countries our near- 
 est neighbor. And, instead of a lady whom time 
 had surprised, we had now an active king, who 
 would be present at his own business. For me 
 at this time to make myself a Robin Hood, a 
 Wat Tyler, a Kett, or a Jack Cade ! I was not 
 so mad. I knew the state of Spain well; his 
 weakness, his poorness, his humbleness at this 
 time. I knew that six times we had repulsed his 
 forces : thrice in Ireland ; thrice at sea, — once 
 upon our coast, twice upon his own. Thrice had 
 I served against him myself at sea, Avherein for 
 
1 64 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 my country's sake I had expended of my own 
 property forty thousand marks. I knew that 
 where beforetimffs he was wont to have forty 
 great sails, at the least, in his ports, now he hath 
 not past six or seven. And for sending to his 
 Indies he was driven to have strange vessels, a 
 thing contrary to the institutions of his ancestors, 
 w^ho straitly forbade that, even in case of neces- 
 sity, they should make their necessity known to 
 strangers. I knew that, of twenty-five millions 
 which he had from his Indies, he had scarce any 
 left. Nay, I knew his poorness to be such at this 
 time as [that] the Jesuits, his imps, begged at his 
 church doors. [I knew] his pride so abated that, 
 notwithstanding his former high terms, he was 
 glad to congratulate his majesty, and send unto 
 him. Whoso knew what great assurances were 
 required from other states, for smaller sums, would 
 not think he would so freely disburse to my Lord 
 Cobham six hundred thousand crowns ! And, if 
 I had minded to set my Lord Cobham a-work in 
 such a case, I would have given liim some instruc- 
 tions how to persuade the king. For I knew 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 165 
 
 Cobham no such minion that could persuade a 
 king that was in want to disburse so great a sum, 
 without great reason, and some assurance for his 
 money. I knew the Queen of England lent not 
 her money to the States, without she l^d Flush- 
 i"g, Brill, and other towns, in assurance for it. 
 She lent not money to the King of France, with- 
 out she had Newhaven for it. Nay, her own 
 subjects, the merchants of London, did not lend 
 lier money, without they had her lands in pawn 
 for it. And to show that I am not 'Spanish'- 
 as you term me-at this time I had writ a treatise 
 to the king's majesty of the present state of Spain, 
 and reasons against the peace. 
 
 ''For my inwardness with the Lord Cobham, 
 it was only in matters of private estate, wherein,' 
 he communicating often with me, I lent him my 
 best advice. At this time I was to deal with the 
 duke for him, to procure a fee farm from the 
 king; for which purpose I had about me in my 
 bosom, when I was first examined, four thousand 
 pounds worth of his jewels. He being a baron 
 of this realm, upon whom all the honors of his 
 
1 66 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 house rested; his possessions great; having goodly 
 houses, worth at least five thousand pounds a 
 year revenue; his plate and furniture as rich as 
 was any man of his rank, — is it likely I could so 
 easily incite a man of these fortunes to enter into 
 so gross treasons ? And for further argument that 
 he was not desperate in estate nor poor in purse, 
 he offered four thousand pounds for this fee farm. 
 Not three days before his apprehending he had 
 bestowed one hundred and fifty pounds in books, 
 which he sent to his house at Canterbury. He 
 gave [too] three hundred pounds for a cabinet, 
 which he offered to you, master attorney, for the 
 drawing of his book. He had the value of thirty- 
 five hundred pounds in one piece of [plate], besides 
 one ring worth five hundred pounds; and besides 
 many others jewels, of price. Think now if it 
 be likely that this man, upon an idle humor, 
 would venture all this. As for my knowing that 
 he had conspired all these things with Spain, for 
 Arabella, and against the king, I protest before 
 Almighty God I am as clear as whosoever here 
 is freest." 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 167 
 
 The next thing brouglit forward by the attorney 
 general was the document which Cobham refused 
 to sign at first, but was afterward constrained to 
 do so by the Chief-Justice Popham saying that he 
 would be compelled to do so. 
 
 The chief-justice then, contrary to all the 
 rules of courts of justice, volunteers his testimony. 
 ''I came to the Lord Cobham, and told him he 
 ought to subscribe, which presently after the Lord 
 Cobham did. And he said of Sir Walter Raleigh 
 in the doing of it, ' That wretch ! That traitor 
 Raleigh !' And surely the countenance and ac- 
 tion of my Lord Cobham much satisfied me 
 that what he had confessed was true, and 
 that he surely thought that Sir Walter had be- 
 trayed him." 
 
 What a procedure for a judge upon the bench 
 trying the case ! The foreman of the jury asked 
 for the time of Lord Cobham's accusation. Lord 
 Cecil then, half apologizing for testifying in Ra- 
 leigh's favor, answered that Raleigh was examined 
 at the outset of the inquiry, and that he testified 
 nothing against Lord Cobham whatsoever. 
 
1 68 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Cobham was deceived, and was so enraged 
 against Raleigh that he accused him of treason. 
 
 Coke then repHed at length to Raleigh's speech, 
 after which Raleigh begged to have his accuser 
 brought face to face to him, and declared that to 
 rely on one witness in such a case was contrary 
 to the law of God and the justice of mankind. 
 
 Both the justices decided that it was according 
 to law and usage, and they denied his right to 
 demand the presence of his accuser. 
 
 The matter of Raleigh's receiving a part of the 
 money expected of the King of Spain was then 
 brought in. To this Raleigh made the following 
 reply : 
 
 •' Mr. Attorney, you have seemed to say much, 
 but in truth nothing that applies to me. You con- 
 clude that I must know of the plot because I was 
 to have a part of the money. But all you have 
 said concerning this I have made void by distin- 
 guishing the time when it was spoken. It is true, 
 my Lord Cobham had speech with me about the 
 money, and made me an offer. But how? and 
 when? Voluntarily; one day at dinner, some- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 169 
 
 time before Count Aremberg's coming over. For 
 he and I, being at liis own board, arguing and 
 speaking violently— he for the peace, I against 
 the peace, the Lord Cobham told me that 
 when Count Aremberg came, he would give such 
 strong arguments for the peace as would satisfy 
 any man. And withal he told, as his fashion is 
 to utter things easily, what great sums of money 
 would be given to some councilors for makino- 
 the peace, and he named my Lord Cecil and the 
 Earl of Mar. I answering, bade him make no 
 such offer to them, for they would hate him if he 
 did offer it. Now, if often thus my Lord Cob- 
 ham changed his mind as to the use to be made 
 of the money, and joining with Lord Grey and 
 the others, had any such treasonable intent as 
 is alleged, what is that to me? They must answer 
 it, not I. The offer of the money to me is 
 nothing, for it was made before Count Arem- 
 berg's coming. The offer made to others was 
 afterward." 
 
 Lord Henry Howard said: ''Allege me any 
 ground or cause why you gave ear to my Lord 
 
lyo Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Cobham ,on receiving of pensions in matters you 
 had not to deal in." 
 
 Raleigh replied : ' ' Could I stop, my Lord 
 Cobham's mouth?" 
 
 Cecil then appealed to the judges to say 
 whether the accuser of Raleigh should not be 
 brought face to face with accused. 
 
 Justices Popham and Gowdy denied the right 
 of the prisoner to claim this by law. 
 
 The examinations of Capley and of Raleigh 
 were then read, in which Raleigh was charged 
 with saying that "the way to invade England 
 was to begin with stirs in Scotland." 
 
 Raleigh replied: ''I think so still. I have 
 spoken it often to divers of the lords by way of 
 discourse and my opinion." 
 
 Coke then said: "Now let us come to the 
 words of destroying of 'the king and his cubs.'" 
 
 Raleigh exclaimed : " Oh, barbarous ! If they, 
 like unnatural villains, spoke such words, shall I 
 be charged with them? I will not hear it. I 
 was never false to the crown of England. I have 
 spent forty thousand pounds of niine own against 
 
Pioneer of Ame"rican Colonization. 171 
 
 the Spanish faction for the good of my country. 
 Do you bring the words of tliose helhsh spiders 
 Clarke, Watson, and others against me?" 
 
 Coke retorted: ''Thou hast a Spanish heart, 
 and thyself art a spider of hell. For thou con- 
 fessest the king to be a most sweet and gracious 
 prince, and yet thou hast conspired against him." 
 
 The only proof of this allegation was that 
 Brooke stated in his examination that he thought 
 that the project of " the destruction of the king 
 was infused into his brother's head by Raleigh." 
 
 "If this may be," exclaimed Raleigh, indig- 
 nantly protesting against such evidence, "you 
 will have any man's life in a week !" 
 
 It was then read from Cobham's examination : 
 "I had from Raleigh a book written against the 
 tide of the king. I gave it to my brother. Ra- 
 leigh said, 'It was foolishly written.'" 
 
 Raleigh replied to this: "I never gave it him. 
 He took it off my table. For I remember a litde 
 before that time I received a challenge from Sir 
 Amias Preston, and for that I did resolve to an- 
 swer it. I resolved to leave my estate settled. 
 
172 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 and, therefor, laid out all my loose papers, 
 amongst which was this book." 
 
 The point which was then made was whether 
 this book was given to Cobham before or after 
 the Lord Cobham was known to be discontented 
 with King James. As to the matter of it. Lord 
 Henry Howard testified that Cobham had con- 
 tradicted himself on this subject, having first said 
 it was against the king's title, and afterward said 
 that *'it contained nothing against the king's 
 title, and that he had it not from Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, but took it from his table when he was 
 sleeping." 
 
 Various other matters were now introduced 
 and discussed; but as they had no vital bearing 
 upon the case, it would be tedious to describe 
 them. 
 
 Raleigh repeatedly insisted that the only im- 
 portant witness against him should be produced in 
 court. The final dispute about this is thus de- 
 scribed by Edwards : 
 
 Coke. ' ' He is a party, and may not come. 
 The law is as^ainst it." 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 173 
 
 Raleigh. "It is a toy to tell me of law. I defy 
 law. I stand on the facts." 
 
 Lord Cecil. **I am afraid my plain speech, 
 who am inferior to my lords here in presence, 
 will make the world think I delight to hear my- 
 self talk. My affection to you, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 has not extinguished, but slacked, in regard of 
 your defects. You know the reason, to Avhich 
 your mind doth not contest, that my Lord Cob- 
 ham can not be brought." 
 
 Raleigh. ''He may be, my lord." 
 
 Lord Cecil. "But dare you challenge it?" 
 
 Raleigh. "Now." 
 
 Attorney General Coke. "You say that my Lord 
 Cobham, your main accuser, must come to accuse 
 you. You say that he hath retracted. What the 
 validity of all this is, is merely left to the jury. 
 Let me only ask you this : If my Lord Cobham 
 will say that you are the only instigator of him to 
 proceed in the treason, dare you put yourself on 
 this?" 
 
 Raleigh. "If he will speak it before God and 
 the king, that even I knew of Arabella's matter 
 
174 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 for the money out of Spain, or of the 'surprising 
 treason,' I put myself on it. God's will and the 
 king's be done with me." 
 
 Lord Henry Hotvard. ' ' How if he speak things 
 equivalent to what you have said?" 
 
 Raleigh. "Yes, in a main point." 
 
 Lo7'd Cecil. "If he say you have been the 
 instigator of him to deal with the Spanish 
 king, had not the council cause to draw you 
 hither?" 
 
 Raleigh. "I put myself on it." 
 
 Lord Cecil. "Then call to God, Sir Walter, 
 and prepare yourself; for I do verily believe my 
 lord will prove this. Excepting your fault, 1 am 
 your friend. - The great passion in you, and the 
 attorney's zeal for the king's service, make me 
 speak thus." 
 
 Raleigh. "Whosoever is the workman, it is 
 reason he should give account of his work to the 
 work -master. But let it be proved that he ac- 
 quainted me with any of his conference with 
 Aremberg." 
 
 Lord Cecil. "That follows not. If I set you a 
 
PiONKER OF American Colonization. 175 
 
 work, and you give me no account, am I there- 
 fore innocent ?" 
 
 Coke. "For Arabella, I have said that she was 
 never acquainted with the matter. Now, that Ra- 
 leigh hath had conference in all these treasons it 
 is manifest. The jury hath heard out the matter. 
 There is one Dyer, a pilot, that, being in Lisbon, 
 met with a Portuguese gentleman, who asked him 
 if the King of England was crowned yet. To 
 whom he answered, 'I think not yet, but he 
 shall be shordy.' 'Nay,' saith the Portuguese, 
 ' that shall never be, for his throat will be cut by 
 Don Raleigh and Don Cobham, before he be 
 crowned.' " 
 
 Hereupon Dyer was called. He deposed upon 
 oath to the hearing of these words in a conversa- 
 tion at Lisbon. 
 
 Raleigh. "What inference upon that?" 
 Coke. "That your treason hath wings." 
 Raleigh. "If Cobham did practice with Arem- 
 berg, how could it n'ot be known in Spain ? Why 
 did they name the Duke of Bucks with Jack 
 Straw? It was to countenance his treasons." 
 
176 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 And so the trial went on. At length Cobham's 
 letter to the lords was read to the court. He 
 begins by saying that he read two letters from 
 Raleigh in the Tower. To the first he made 
 no answer; to the second he replied out of 
 pity to his wife and children, and because he 
 was put in hope of the proceedings against him 
 being staid. "With the like truth," he goes 
 on to say, "I will proceed to tell you my deal- 
 ings toward Count Aremberg to get him (that is, 
 Raleigh,) a pension of one thousand five hundred 
 pounds per annum for intelligence, and he would 
 always tell and advertise what was intended 
 against Spain, for the Low Countries, or with 
 France. And coming from Greenwich one night, 
 he acquainted me with what was agreed betwixt 
 the king and the Low Countrymen, that I should 
 impart it to Count Aremberg. But upon this mo- 
 tion for one thousand five hundi-ed pounds per annum 
 for intelligence, I never dealt with Count Arem- 
 berg. Now, as by this may appear to your lord- 
 ships, he hath been the original cause of my ruin. 
 For, but by his instigation, I had never dealt 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 177 
 
 with Count Aremberg. And so he hath been 
 the only cause of my discontentment; I never 
 coming from the Count, but still he filled and 
 possessed me with new causes of discontentment. 
 To conclude : in his last letter he advised me 
 that I should not be overtaken by confessing to 
 any particular, for the king would better allow 
 my constant denial than my after-appealing. For 
 my after-accusing would but add matter to my 
 former offense." 
 
 Several times the reading of this confession 
 and accusation was interrupted by taunting ex- 
 clamations, such: ''Is not this a Spanish heart 
 in an English body !" At, the close he demanded 
 of Raleigh: "What say -.you now to the letter?" 
 
 '*I say," said Raleigh, ''that Cobham is a 
 base, dishonorable, poor soul." 
 
 "Is he base?" said Coke. "I return it into 
 their own throat in his behalf. But for them he 
 had been a good subject." 
 
 The best report of the trial puts the following 
 
 in the mouth of Sir Walter : 
 
 "I pray you, hear me in a word, and you 
 12 
 
178 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 shall see how many souls this Cobham hath. And 
 the king shall judge by one death which of us is 
 the perfidious man. Before my Lord Cobham's 
 coming from the Tower, I was advised by some 
 of my friends to get a confession from him. 
 Therefor I wrote to him thus : ' You or I must 
 go to trial. If I first, then your accusation is 
 the only evidence against me.' It was not ill of 
 me to beg him to say the truth. But his first 
 letter was not to my contenting. I writ a second, 
 and then he writ me a very good letter. But I 
 sent him word I feared Mr. Lieutenant of the 
 Tower might be blamed if it was discovered that 
 letters had passed. Though I protest, Sir George 
 Harvey is not to blame, for what passed. No 
 keeper in the world could so provide but it might 
 happen. So I sent him the letter again with 
 this : ' It is likely now that you shall be the first 
 tried.' But the Lord Cobham sent to me again: 
 'It is not unfit you had such a letter.' And 
 here you may see it, and, I pray you, read it." 
 And with this he presented the letter. 
 
 Lord Cecil, as being familiar with Cobham's 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 179 
 
 handwriting, was requested by Raleigh to read 
 the letter aloud. 
 
 "Now that the arraignment draws near, not 
 knowing which shall be first, I or you, to clear 
 my conscience, satisfy the world, and free my- 
 self from the cry of your blood, I protest upon 
 my soul and before God and his angels, I never 
 had conference with you in any treason, nor 
 was ever moved by you to the things I heretofore 
 accused you of. And for any thing I know, you 
 are as innocent and as clear of any treason 
 against the king as is any subject living. There- 
 fore I wash my hands, and pronounce '■Purus sum 
 a sanguine hujus.^ And so God deal with me, 
 and have mercy on my soul, as this is true." 
 
 This being read. Sir Walter rose, and said : 
 
 "Now, my masters, you have heard both. 
 That shewed against me is but a voluntary con- 
 fession; this is under oath and the deepest pro- 
 testations a Christian can make. Therefore be- 
 lieve which of these hath the most force." 
 
 There the case ended. The jury retired as 
 usual to make up their verdict. To the surprise 
 
i8o Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 of every body, they returned in a quarter of an 
 hour, and brought in a verdict of ''guilty of 
 treason." It was evident that they had acted 
 from prejudice rather than judgment, for the case 
 was to every reflecting and candid mind one of 
 no ordinary difficulty. Sir Walter had not been 
 wholly without complicity in Cobham's transac- 
 tions; but he had not been guilty of treason, nor 
 even of misprision of treason. Coke himself was 
 surprised by the verdict He had walked out 
 into the garden when the jury retired, and when 
 the verdict was mentioned to him, he declared 
 his astonishment, for he had not really meant to 
 charge him with any thing more than ^^ misprision 
 of treason.''^ One writer reports that several of 
 the jury were "so touched in their conscience" 
 that they came afterward to Sir Walter, and on 
 their knees confessed their injustice, and begged 
 his pardon. Mrs. Thompson thinks that this is 
 not likely, "since the men who gave such a ver- 
 dict must either have been compelled by fear or 
 induced by bribery to compromise their sense of 
 justice, and either of these motives would have 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. i8i 
 
 kept them silent after their decision." The pris- 
 oner received the verdict coolly. Upon being 
 asked, according to the forms of law, what he 
 had to say why sentence should not be pronounced 
 upon him, he rose, and said : 
 
 "My lords, the jury hath found me guilty. 
 They must do as they are directed. I can say 
 nothing why judgment should not proceed. You 
 see whereof Cobham hath accused me. You re- 
 member his protestation that I was never guilty. 
 I desire the king should know the wrong I have 
 been subject to since I came hither." 
 
 The chief-justice said: *'You have had no 
 wrong. Sir Walter." 
 
 "Yes," said Raleigh of the attorney, "I de- 
 sire the lords to remember these things to the 
 king. I was accused to be a practicer with 
 Spain. I never knew that Lord Cobham meant 
 to go thither. I will ask no mercy at the king's 
 hands if he will affirm it. Secondly, I never knew 
 of the practices with Arabella. Thirdly, I never 
 knew of my Lord Cobham's practice with Arem- 
 berg, nor of the 'surprising* treason." 
 
i82 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 The chief-justice then made a long and abusive 
 speech, blaming Raleigh's not confessing any 
 thing as an inhuman and wicked conceit, and 
 closing with sentencing him to be hanged and 
 afterward beheaded. Raleigh then turned to the 
 Earl of Devonshire and other lords, and solicited 
 their influence with the king to change the mode 
 of his death to one less ignominious. He also 
 approached Cecil and the lay commissioners, and 
 asked them to have Cobham brought first to the 
 scaffold, and made to confront him. ''He is a 
 false and cowardly accuser. He can face neither 
 me nor death without acknowledging his false- 
 hood." He was then conducted back to the 
 castle to await the final decision of the king as 
 to the execution of the sentence. 
 
 Sir Roger Orton, a Scotchman in the service 
 of the king, brought him the news of Raleigh's 
 condemnation. He could not help saying that 
 ''never had man spoken so well in times past, 
 nor would do so in times to come." Another 
 Scotchman, who accompanied Sir Roger to the 
 king, declared for himself, "that, although he 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 183 
 
 would before his trial have gone a thousand miles 
 to see him hanged, he would, ere he parted, 
 have gone a thousand miles to have saved his 
 life." This honest remark expresses the feeling 
 of most of the spectators of the trial. At one 
 time Coke was hissed as he uttered his coarse 
 abuse; and Raleigh's noble bearing under provo- 
 cation and pathetic appeals to the jury so deeply 
 affected the audience and revolutionized their feel- 
 ings, that one present remarked, ''Never was a 
 man so hated and so popular in so short a time." 
 The trial of Cobham came next in order. The 
 reading of the indictment was interrupted by his 
 occasional denial of several particulars, and he 
 charged Raleigh with exciting discontent in his 
 mind, but denied any treasonable intentions. He 
 admitted the truth of his first confession, and 
 made a merit of it, and a plea for pardon. When 
 asked about his contradictory letters respecting 
 Raleigh^s complicity in his crime, he affirmed the 
 truth of the first letter, in which he condemned 
 Raleigh. The trial occupied but little time, and 
 he was pronounced guilty of treason. 
 
184 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dVaptef XV. 
 
 EXECUTION OF THE PRISONERS WATSON, CLARKE, AND 
 BROOKE — THE KING'S MANEUVERS IN REGARD TO THE 
 FATE OF RALEIGH, COBHAM, GREY, AND MARKHAM . 
 
 Tn?ARLY in December, 1603, the authors of 
 -* — ^ the '' surprise" plots, Watson, Clarke, and 
 Brooke, were executed at Winchester. They 
 were hung until nearly dead, then cut down and 
 beheaded, then drawn and quartered, according 
 to the barbaric usage of those times. Clarke 
 justified the part he had taken in the movement, 
 but Watson confessed his guilt, and acknowl- 
 edged the justice of his punishment. Brooke 
 spoke mysteriously of some hidden cause of his 
 course of conduct, saying with his last breath : 
 "There is somewhat hidden that will one day 
 appear for my justification." This statement pro- 
 duced much alarm at first among the courtiers; 
 but nothing appeared to explain it, and the sen- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 185 
 
 sation passed away. While in prison he con- 
 fessed to the bishop who administered to him the 
 last sacrament that he had falsely accused his 
 brother and Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 While waiting in prison the time appointed for 
 his execution, Raleigh's friends made the most 
 earnest exertions to procure his pardon from tlie 
 king. The beloved wife of Raleigh wrote to 
 Cecil, and visited him, and on her knees en- 
 treated his influence in favor of her husband. 
 The Countess of Pembroke entreated her son as 
 he valued a mother's blessing to exert himself in 
 every possible way to save the life of Sir Walter, 
 The lords of the council who had judged him 
 united in petitioning the king to show mercy 
 in this beginning of his reign, and to "gain the 
 tide of Clemens as well as of Justus." Sir Walter 
 himself wrote letters to the king and to the lords 
 of the council, begging for his life in terms so 
 humble and even abject, that he afterward was 
 ashamed of it, and wrote to his wife, "Get those 
 letters, if it be possible, which I wrote to the 
 lords, wherein I sued for life. God knows it was 
 
1 86 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 for you and yours that I desired it. But it is true 
 that I disdain myself for begging it." 
 
 Queen Anne, and both the French and Spanish 
 embassadors, besought the king to show mercy 
 to the prisoners, and even bribes were given to 
 leading politicians, according to the corrupt usage 
 of the age, to purchase their interposition. 
 
 But no word or sign came from the king to 
 inspire hope. The clergymen who visited the pris- 
 oners in the exercise of their spiritual functions, 
 were instructed to prepare them for death. One 
 of the king's chaplains, preaching at Wilton before 
 the king and court, declared that clemency to trai- 
 tors was a sin against God and the state. He 
 could not have done a better thing to induce James 
 to exercise the mercy he deprecated, for he loved 
 to show himself independent and self-moved in all 
 his official acts. He went from the chapel, and 
 wrote a warrant to stay the execution; but he 
 kept it in his own hands. The next day he 
 signed the death warrants of Markham, Grey, 
 and Cobham, and sent them to the sheriff at 
 Winchester, to be executed two days after that. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 187 
 
 Friday, December 10, 1603, the day fixed for the 
 execution. Raleigh's execution was fixed for 
 Monday, the 13th of December. 
 
 Markham was first brought forward for execu- 
 tion. He had cherished hopes of a reprieve or par- 
 don, but the day before his advices extinguished 
 them altogether, and he appeared on the scaffold 
 deeply distressed in mind, but undaunted. A friend 
 offered him a napkin, to conceal his face, but he 
 declined it, saying, ' ' I can look upon death with- 
 out blushing." He said that he had been so led to 
 cherish hopes of pardon that he had not given 
 sufficient attention to preparing himself for death. 
 but now he bade his friends adieu, and, having 
 knelt for some time in prayer, he prepared him- 
 self for the executioner. 
 
 As Raleigh looked from the window of the 
 prison, to witness the fate of those who were to 
 precede him, he observed the sheriff to pause and 
 turn toward a magistrate pushing his way through 
 the crowd. It was Sir James Hayes, who had 
 received from a messenger a letter containing the 
 king's warrant for a stay of execution. The 
 
1 88 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 sheriff then turned to the prisoner, standing over 
 the block, and said: "You say that you are not 
 prepared to die! You shall have two hours' 
 respite." He was then led from the scaffold into 
 a hall, called Arthur's Hall, and locked in by 
 himself, without any explanation of the mystery 
 of his reprieve. It was the conceit of the small- 
 minded king to punish the prisoners with the 
 terrors of death, and then to commute the sen- 
 tence to imprisonment 
 
 The next scene in this "comedy," as it has 
 been styled, was the appearance of Lord Grey, 
 who was brought forth by the sheriff to go through 
 the same experience, without knowing what had 
 happened. The young and popular nobleman 
 was surrounded by friends, who came to cheer 
 his last moments; and he appeared like one going 
 to his marriage, rather than to his execution. He 
 made a long prayer, in which he protested to 
 God his innocence of treason, but confessed that 
 he deserved to die for his plotting against the 
 king. The sheriff waited for him to finish his 
 prayer, and then stepped up to him and, to his 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 189 
 
 surprise, told him that the king had sent word 
 that Cobham should precede him, and that he 
 was to wait for a time. He was then conducted 
 into Arthur's Hall, where, to his astonishment, he 
 found Markham. 
 
 Cobham now appeared, attended by a minister. 
 He showed no dismay at the prospect of death, 
 but he repeated the prayers of the minister with 
 special earnestness. He then expressed sorrow 
 for his offense, and reiterated his accusation of 
 Raleigh, saying, "It is true, as I have hope of 
 my soul's resurrection." He was then told that 
 he was, by the king's orders, to be confronted 
 with some other prisoners. 
 
 Presently the sheriff had Grey and Markham 
 brought out and placed before him. He then 
 addressed the group: "Are not your offenses 
 grievous? Have you not been justly tried and 
 condemned? Is not each of you subject to due 
 execution, now to be performed?" The prisoners 
 assented to the accusations. "Now, then," said 
 the sheriff, "see the mercy of your prince, who 
 of himself hath sent hither a countermand, and 
 
ipo Sir Walier Raleigh. 
 
 hath given you your lives !" Upon this being 
 announced, the crowd about the scaffold ap- 
 plauded long and lustily. The sentence of death 
 was commuted to imprisonment for life, or during 
 the pleasure of the king. 
 
 At the court in Wilton the king, as a part of 
 this comic tragedy, addressed his courtiers on the 
 crimes and characters of the prisoners, and con- 
 cluded by saying that, as he could not show 
 mercy to one without partiality, he concluded 
 to "save the lives of them all." 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, for some reason, was 
 spared the ignominy and agony of this mock 
 execution. He remained at Winchester a month, 
 and was then returned to the Tower, under the 
 guard of Sir WilHam Wade. Sir George Harvey 
 was still the lieutenant of tlie To^ver, and held 
 the office until August, 1605. This officer seems 
 to have treated his prisoner with all proper re- 
 spect and kindness. He was not shut up, as a 
 recent historian pictures, in a cell ten feet by 
 eight, without even a window to let in the light 
 of day; but he had a decent chamber, open to 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 191 
 
 the garden of the lieutenant, of which he had the 
 freedom, at least during the day. He was allowed 
 the company of his wife and son, young Walter; 
 also the frequent attendance of his servants, the 
 visits of his physicians, and of his clerical friend, 
 Rev. Gilbert Hawthorne. He had permission 
 occasionally to visit the cells of other prisoners, 
 and especially Cobham's apartment, near by. He 
 had the use of his library, and he constructed a 
 rude chemical laboratory out of the hen-house in 
 the garden, where he spent much of his time in 
 experiments, and, it is said, obtained some celeb- 
 rity for various nostrums invented by him. 
 
 One of his nostrums was like to have involved 
 him in trouble. One day the Countess of Beau- 
 mont made a visit to the Tower, and, among 
 other places, called at the garden, and asked Sir 
 Walter to furnish her with some of his *' Balsam 
 of Guiana." This was sent to her by one Captain 
 Whitlocke, who was seen in her train that day. 
 This gentleman was a retainer of the Earl of 
 Northumberland, who was afterward connected 
 with the Gunpowder Plot; and this circumstance 
 
192 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 gave rise to a suspicion that Sir Walter was 
 knowing to that conspiracy. He was brought 
 before the lords and examined, but was acquitted. 
 Besides his favorite recreations, music and 
 painting, he devoted his time to reading and 
 writing. The most important of all his produc- 
 tions during his long imprisonment was the " His- 
 tory of the World." A part of this was published 
 1604. The second volume, in a fit of passion, he 
 destroyed. One day his publisher, Walter Burse, 
 was asked how the work sold. He answered, 
 "So slowly that it has undone me." Whereupon 
 Sir Walter, taking the second volume from the 
 shelf, said, "The second volume shall undo ye no 
 more; this ungrateful world is unworthy of it." 
 He then threw it into the fire. "Both in style 
 and matter," says a writer in Chambers's Encyclo- 
 poedia, "this celebrated work is vastly superior to 
 all the English historical productions which had 
 previously appeared. Its style, though partaking 
 of the faults of the age, in being frequently stiff and 
 inverted, has less of those defects than the diction 
 of any other writer of the time. Mr. Tytler with 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 193 
 
 justice commends it as vigorous, purely English, 
 and possessing an antique richness of ornament, 
 similar to what pleases us when we see some ancient 
 priory or stately manor-mansion, and compare it 
 Avith our more modern mansions. The work is 
 laborious without being heavy, learned without 
 being dry, acute and ingenious without degener- 
 ating into the subtle but trivial distinctions of the 
 schoolmen. Its narration is clear and spirited, 
 and the matter collected from the most authentic 
 sources. The opinions of the author upon state 
 policy, on the causes of great events, on the dif- 
 ferent forms of government, on naval and military 
 tactics, on agriculture, commerce, manufactures, 
 and other sources of national greatness, are not 
 the mere echo of other minds, but the results of 
 experience drawn from the study of a long life, 
 spent in constant action and vicissitude, in vari- 
 ous climates and countries, and from personal 
 labor in offices of high trust and responsibility. 
 But perhaps its most striking feature is the sweet 
 tone of philosophic melancholy which pervades 
 the whole. Written in prison during the quiet 
 13 
 
194 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 evening of a tempestuous life, we feel in its peru- 
 sal that we are the companions of a superior 
 mind, nursed in contemplation and chastened 
 and improved by sorrow, in which the bitter rec- 
 ollections of injury and the asperity of resentment 
 have passed away, leaving only the heavenly 
 lesson that all is vanity." 
 
 Why this valuable and eloquent history did 
 not sell can not be explained. It shared the fate 
 of many other productions of genius which con- 
 temporaries have left to after times to appreciate. 
 
 Besides this, Raleigh composed treatises enti- 
 tled : "Discourses on the Match with Savoy;" 
 ** Treatise on the Art of War by Sea, Ancient 
 and Modern;" ''Discourses of the Invention of 
 Ships;" "Observations Concerning the Royal 
 Navy." The first of this list was written by the 
 request of Prince Henry, the heir-apparent of the 
 English throne, on the occasion of the Spanish 
 embassador proposing to the king to marry his 
 daughter to the eldest son of the Duke of Savoy, 
 and his son, Prince Henry, to a daughter of the 
 same prince. Raleigh gave good and substantial 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 195 
 
 reasons why this twofold match should not be 
 made; and by so doing he incurred the displeas- 
 ure of the king and some of his advisers. He 
 forfeited also some of his privileges at the Tower; 
 and was placed under close imprisonment for 
 three months. Prince Henry, however, was his 
 fast friend, and gave every encouragement to his 
 literary labors. 
 
 Such was Sir Walter's condition for twelve 
 long, weary years. As to the other prisoners, 
 Lord Grey died in the Tower in 1614; and Cob- 
 ham, after remaining about the same length of 
 time in prison, was set at liberty, to pass a few 
 more wretched years in poverty, neglect, and dis- 
 grace, and to die in a garret. While yet in 
 prison, he confessed the falsity of his accusation 
 of Raleigh, when Queen Anne contrived to have 
 him examined again under oath. He lived long 
 enough to see the sad doom of his victim, and 
 soon after passed to his account before the Great 
 Judge. As it respects Markham, the author has 
 no knowledge of what happened to him after his 
 removal to the Tower. 
 
196 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dl^kptef XVI. 
 
 DEATH OF CECIL AND PRINCE HENRY — RALEIGH RELEASED 
 
 FROM THE TOWER — PROJECTS ANOTHER 
 
 EXPEDITION TO GUIANA. 
 
 T3 OBERT CECIL, Lord Treasurer of the 
 -■-^ Government of James I, was the second 
 son of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, the wise and 
 successful leader of the previous reign. He was 
 of a delicate and somewhat deformed frame, but 
 with a mind keen, alert, and fruitful. He grad- 
 uated at the Cambridge University. His first im- 
 portant office under the government of Elizabeth 
 was as assistant to the embassador to France, 
 Lord Derby. In 1596 he was made one of the 
 secretaries of state, and finally he became the 
 principal secretary and privy councilor to the 
 queen. He secretly favored the claim of James 
 to the succession. One day, traveling with the 
 queen, he received dispatches from the Scottish 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 197 
 
 court, and upon being asked about it by her, he 
 pretended that it pertained to some of his private 
 affairs, and eluded her vigilance. On the acces- 
 sion of James he was continued in his office. 
 Though in person he was not such as the weak- 
 minded king liked to have around him, the 
 charms of his eloquence, his penetrating and 
 comprehensive intellect, and the substantial in- 
 tegrity of his moral character won for him the 
 royal confidence. He was successively made a 
 baron, Viscount of Cranbourn, and Earl of Salis- 
 bury. He was chosen chancellor of Cambridge 
 University, and in 1608 lord high treasurer. He 
 was a friend of Raleigh when Sir Walter was the 
 favorite of Elizabeth, and he always pretended 
 to be, though he took the part of the king in his 
 disgrace and condemnation. He was in religious 
 sentiment inclined to Puritanism. In 161 2 his 
 health gave way, and on his journey to London 
 from Bath, where he had in vain sought relief in 
 its mineral springs from complicated diseases, he 
 died at Marlborough on the 28th of May. He 
 A^elcomed death as the great release from care and 
 
198 Sir V/alter Raleigh. 
 
 trouble. "Ease and pleasure quake to hear of 
 death," he said; "but my life, full of cares and 
 miseries, desireth to be dissolved." His last 
 hours were employed in devotion, and such was 
 his expression of hope and trust in the Redeemer 
 that it shed around his dying bed on the minds 
 of all who attended him a twilight of immortality. 
 The death of Cecil removed one obstacle to 
 the pardon and release of Raleigh, for he be- 
 lieved that the judgment against him was just, 
 and so advised the king not to accede to the pe- 
 titions of distinguished friends, including Queen 
 Anne, who were interested in his favor. Only six 
 months after this event the death of Raleigh's 
 friend, Prince Henry, brought a deeper cloud over 
 his prospects. This young man possessed superior 
 qualities of mind and heart. He was the idol of 
 his mother; but his father's heart was made cold 
 toward him by the difference of their views in 
 regard to matters of state policy, and by his 
 growing popularity. Early in the Fall he began 
 to complain of giddiness in the head, attended 
 with pain. He resorted as a remedy to traveling 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization, i 
 
 99 
 
 about from place to place; but without success. 
 Drowsiness and coldness in the head and the 
 pallor of his countenance indicated that his end 
 was approaching. On his last appearing at public 
 worship, the text was ominous of his destiny: 
 ''Man that is born of a woman is of few days 
 and full of trouble • he cometh forth like a flower, 
 and is cut down : he fleeth also as a shadow, and 
 continueth not." (Job xiv, i, 2.) Some weeks 
 before his death he went down to Woolwich to wit- 
 ness, in company with his mother, the launching 
 of a ship built for him on a plan suggested by 
 Raleigh, and called after him ''The Prince:'' 
 The launch was not successful at the first; but 
 subsequent trials sent her forth on her mission. 
 And she was destined to do a good service for 
 the royal family, for it was in that ship Prince 
 Charles outrode the fearful gale which swept many 
 feeble craft to destruction. 
 
 As Prince Henry drew near his end, Raleigh 
 was applied to by the queen for a cordial he had 
 invented in die Tower, and which had gi /en her 
 relief in a se\.ire illness, and had \ great reputa- 
 
200 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 tion and run in the land. Raleigh sent it with 
 the remark that it would cure the prince or any 
 one of a fever if not poisoned. Such Avas the 
 credulity of those times in respect to the efficacy 
 of specific doses. But the disease of the prince 
 had too far progressed for any earthly relief. All 
 the effect it had was to soothe his sufferings and 
 procure sleep. The queen was compelled to 
 witness the death of her noble son, and she be- 
 lieved to her dying day that he was the victim 
 of poison. Various stories w- ere circulated ; some 
 said that he was poisoned by a bunch of grapes, 
 some by poisoned gloves. His chaplain hesi- 
 tated not to declare his belief in the truth of 
 these rumors. Suspicion fell upon Robert Car, 
 Viscount Rochester, the king's favorite, upon the 
 Spaniards, the Catholics, and even upon King 
 James himself. The queen believed that Car 
 was the instigator of his death, and refused 
 to see him ever after. That he was capable of 
 so great a crime was proved by his poisoning 
 two years afterward the food of Sir Thomas Over- 
 bury in the Tower, as was proved by the apothe- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 201 
 
 Gary's clerk who prepared the last fatal dose for 
 the unhappy prisoner. 
 
 The death of Prince Henry put an end to Sir 
 Walter's expectation of a speedy release from 
 the Tower. That brave and amiable youth had 
 ventured to urge this favor with his eccentric 
 father, and had prevailed so far as to get the 
 promise of it by the next Christmas; but the 
 merry bells of Christmas were sounded over his 
 grave, and tlie promise of the king was buried 
 with him. The queen remained his friend, and 
 in 1614 her intercessions on the plea of Raleigh's 
 failing health in confinement procured for him the 
 liberty of tlie Tower, that is, permission to go 
 about it for recreation without leaving its walls. 
 
 During tliis year he was afflicted by the flight 
 of his son Walter to Netherlands, to avoid the 
 consequences of a duel he had with Robert Tyr- 
 whit, an attache of the Earl of Suffolk, then the 
 lord high treasurer succeeding Cecil. The affair 
 blew over soon, and Walter returned to England. 
 
 The time was now at hand when Raleigh was 
 to once more enjoy liberty and the privilege of 
 
202 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 serving his country. The unprincipled Car was 
 succeeded as favorite of the king by George 
 Vilhers, afterward Duke of Buckingham. To 
 this young man as gentleman of the bed-chamber, 
 having the ear of the king, Raleigh made over- 
 tures for his liberation. These he backed up by 
 the influence of the mother of Villiers, and by 
 his uncles, Sir William and Sir Edward, whose 
 efforts he purchased, according to the corrupt 
 custom of the times, by the payment of one 
 thousand five hundred pounds. He had also 
 favorably impressed the king's ministers, espe- 
 cially Sir Ralph Winwood, Secretary of State, 
 with his project of a second expedition to Guiana. 
 He had during his imprisonment sent a vessel 
 every year to Guiana to assure the natives of the 
 favor and protection of the English against the 
 Spanish colonies. He believed he was doing a 
 great service to the king, and he longed to be 
 free to show his loyalty by such ''service as had 
 seldom be^n performed for any king." The long- 
 desired order for his liberation was sent by the 
 king on the 30th of January, 16 16. He was al- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 203 
 
 lowed to reside at his own house, but was under 
 the surveillance of a keeper. On the 19th of 
 March the privy council wrote to him, giving 
 permission to undertake measures for the Guiana 
 expedition in the following terms: 
 
 "His majesty, out of his gracious inclinations 
 toward you, being pleased to release you out 
 of your imprisonment in the Tower to go abroad 
 with a keeper to make your provisions for your 
 intended voyage, we think it good to admonish 
 you (though we do not prejudicate your own dis- 
 cretion so much as to think you would attempt it 
 without leave) that you should not presume to 
 resort either to his majesty's court, the queen's, 
 or prince's, nor go into any public assemblies 
 wheresoever, without especial license obtained 
 from his majesty for your warrant. But only 
 that you use the benefit of his majesty's grace 
 to follow the business which you are to under- 
 take, and for which, upon your humble request, 
 his majesty hath been graciously pleased to grant 
 you that pardon." 
 
 Was ever a condemned criminal before or 
 
2 04 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 since employed by any government to take charge 
 of an important enterprise for the benefit of the 
 nation before pardon had been given him, and 
 while he was under the oversight of a keeper? 
 Just such was the intolerable meanness of King 
 James. His purpose was to let this great adven- 
 turer make an experiment to find the gold mines 
 of South America. If he succeeded, the king 
 would be made rich; if he did not succeed, he 
 should lose his head. Sir Walter was anxious 
 about getting his pardon before he set forth, and 
 consulted with Lord Bacon in regard to it; but 
 Bacon assured him that it was not necessary, for 
 pardon was implied in his appointment as ad- 
 miral of the fleet and commander of the expedi- 
 tion. Time will show how this was understood 
 by the king. 
 
 Before Raleigh left the Tower, two events took 
 place of deepest interest to him — the death of 
 Lady Arabella Stuart and the imprisonment of 
 Robert Car, Earl of Somerset, to whom the king 
 had given Sherborne, the forfeited estate of Ra- 
 leigh, saying to those who objected, "I maun 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 205 
 
 have it for Car." "The whole history of the 
 world," said Raleigh, "had not a like precedent 
 of a king's prisoner to purchase freedom, and his 
 bosom favorite to have the halter, but in Scrip- 
 ture, in the case of Mordecai and Haman." As to 
 poor Lady Arabella, whose only crime was that 
 she had royal blood in her veins, being the grand- 
 daughter of Henry VII, and next to James in 
 the line of succession to the throne of England, 
 she was not proved to have any participation in 
 the conspiracy of Cobham and others to place 
 her on the throne, and was left at liberty. But 
 subsequently it was discovered that she had se- 
 cretly married the grandson of the Earl of Hert- 
 ford, and for that she and her husband were sent 
 to the Tower. In the course of the year they 
 escaped; but Arabella was captured, and taken 
 back to prison. These troubles wrought upon 
 her mind, and deprived her of her reason. At 
 her death, in September, 161 5, she was thirty- 
 eight years of age. 
 
2o6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 C;i|kf)tei^ XVII. 
 
 THE GUIANA EXPEDITION. 
 
 \T TITH characteristic alacrity and devotion 
 ^ ^ to business, Sir Walter Raleigh began 
 his preparations for the voyage. For this pur- 
 pose he called in a loan of eight thousand 
 pounds to the Countess of Bedford, and added 
 two thousand five hundred pounds from the sale 
 of Lady Raleigh's estate at Mitch am in Surrey, 
 which she freely contributed for her husband's 
 sake. His friends, among whom were the Earls 
 of Huntingdon and Arundel, and some merchants, 
 chiefly foreigners, took shares in the enterprise; 
 but no pecuniary aid was given by the govern- 
 ment. A commission was given, August 26, 16 16, 
 to Sir Walter, constituting him admiral of the 
 fleet. Authority was given him ''to carry for 
 the voyage to Guiana so many of the British sub- 
 jects as should willingly accompany him, with an 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 207 
 
 unlimited supply of arms, ammunition, ships, etc." 
 Also to trade with the natives, and to bring home 
 gold, silver, etc., 'Tor the proper use of Sir 
 Walter Raleigh and his company, reserving to 
 the king and his heirs one-fifth only of such im- 
 portations." Raleigh was also constituted general 
 and commander of the enterprise, governor of the 
 new country, with the privilege of exercising 
 martial law, in a similar manner to the county 
 lieutenants of England, or to the heutenant-gen- 
 eral of land or sea forces. It is said that the 
 document began in the usual way, with the 
 words, *'To our trusty and well beloved knight, 
 Sir Walter Raleigh;" and it was pleaded after- 
 ward that these words implied a pardon from 
 the king. 
 
 On the 28th of March, 16 18, the fleet was 
 ready to sail. It consisted of seven vessels as it 
 proceeded down the Thames, and at Plymouth it 
 was joined by four more, making eleven sail. 
 Walter Raleigh, Jr., was made captain of the flag- 
 ship, the Destiny. The other captains were. Sir 
 John Feme, Lawrence Keymis, Wallaston, Chad- 
 
2o8 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 leigh, and Pennington. A carvel and two fly- 
 boats were added to the fleet at Plymouth. The 
 admiral's flag-ship was four hundred and fifty tons 
 burden, and carried thirty-six guns. Besides the 
 crew, there were on board two hundred volun- 
 teers, eighty of whom were gentlemen. A large 
 part of the company in the different ships were 
 of a low and dissolute character, whose native 
 land furnished them no prospect of success, and 
 whose friends were only too glad to get rid of 
 ihem, "at the hazard," as Raleigh said, ''of some 
 thirty, forty, or sixty pounds, knowing that they 
 could not live so cheaply at home." To this 
 mixed company Raleigh published his Orders, 
 which a contemporary writer described as admi- 
 rable, "fit to be written and engraven in every 
 man's soul that covets to do honor to his king 
 and country." Among the regulations was a 
 requisite of morning and evening worship, to be 
 omitted only in foul weather, when a psalm should 
 be sung at the setting of the evening watch. He 
 reminded his followers that "no enterprise can 
 prosper, be it by land or sea, without the favor 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 209 
 
 and assistance of Almighty God, the Lord and 
 Strength of hosts and armies." 
 
 The prayers and good wishes of numerous 
 friends attended the departure of the fleet; but 
 some friends prophesied evil would come to it. 
 They knew that he had undertaken it from a de- 
 sire to conciliate the king, more than from any 
 spirit of enterprise, and they could not suppress 
 the foreboding of disappointment. 
 
 Sylvanus Scory sent him, from London, the 
 
 following lines, to cheer and assure him : 
 
 "Raleigh, in this thyself thyself transcends, 
 When hourly tasting of a bitter chalice, 
 Scanning the sad faces of thy friends, 
 
 Thou smil'st at Fortune's menaces and malice. 
 
 Hold thee firm here : cast anchor in this port: 
 Here art thou safe till Death enfranchise thee: 
 
 Where neither harm, nor fears of harm, resort: 
 Here, though enchained, thou liv'st in liberty. 
 
 Nothing on earth hath permanent abode. 
 Nothing shall languish under sorrow still. 
 
 The Fates have set a certain period. 
 As well to those that do as suffer ill." 
 
 The spectator who took the deepest interest in 
 
 this enterprise was the Spanish embassador, Count 
 14 
 
2IO Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Goiidomar. He felt that the success of Raleigli 
 would be at the expense of Spain, and he had 
 already contrived to impress King James with 
 misgivings in regard to the propriety of the whole 
 scheme. He had obtained from James a full 
 catalogue of all the ships and of their armament, 
 and had transmitted it to the Spanish court. 
 It is clear, now, that Raleigh must succeed, or 
 be ruined. 
 
 The fleet had scarcely got out of Plymouth 
 Harbor, on the 12th of June, 161 7, when a storm 
 assailed them, and continued with violence for 
 several weeks, and ended in a terrific tempest. 
 They were then some eight leagues off the Scilly 
 Islands. After the sinking of one vessel, the 
 admiral signaled to the fleet to follow him to the 
 harbor of Cork. Here for six weeks they were 
 obliged to wait for a fair wind, a period long 
 enough to have reached America, under favorable 
 circumstances. This delay not only consumed 
 precious time and provisions for the voyage, but 
 gave rise to absurd rumors that he intended to 
 turn pirate, and not to go on the Guiana expedition. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 211 
 
 The first adventure that occurred after setting 
 sail again was tlie chase and capture of four sus- 
 picious-looking ships, which were flying French 
 colors. One of the shrewd captains of the fleet 
 advised Raleigh not to credit their pretense of 
 being merchantmen, but to confiscate them as 
 corsairs. But he refused, saying, "It is no busi- 
 ness of mine to examine the subjects of the 
 French king." Some time afterward it turned 
 out that he had proof that he was mistaken. 
 They were pirates, and would have been law- 
 ful prey. 
 
 He reached the Canary Islands early in Sep- 
 tember, and came to anchor in Lancerota. The 
 people were very much excited to see a fleet of 
 thirteen vessels anchoring in their waters, taking 
 them for Algerian pirates, as they had received 
 warning of the intention of these ferocious cor- 
 sairs to make their islands a visit. This suspicion 
 was increased by some of the ships landing their 
 crews in the night. But Raleigh sought an inter- 
 view with the governor, and assured him of 
 peaceable intentions, and asked leave to lay in 
 
212 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 water and provisions. The governor demanded 
 that the crews should be recalled to the ships, as 
 some conflict had already taken place between 
 them and the natives, and three of the English 
 had been wounded. Raleigh acceded to the 
 request, much to the chagrin of some of his men, 
 who wished to take vengeance on the town. But 
 such conduct would have endangered the com- 
 merce of merchantmen with the islands, and 
 have excited the displeasure of the king and the 
 government. 
 
 One of his captains at this time proved him- 
 self a traitor. Bailey, captain of the Husband, 
 stole away with his ship, and returned to Eng- 
 land, where he reported that he left Sir Walter at 
 Lancerota because he had landed in a hostile 
 manner, and also meant to turn pirate. This 
 man's conduct, it is suspected, was a part of a 
 plot of his Spanish and English enemies at home 
 to implicate Raleigh in unlawful transactions, and 
 to bring ruin upon him. 
 
 Not having permission to purchase stores and 
 to get supplies at the town, Raleigh moved down 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 213 
 
 tlie island, and landed some men to procure 
 water at an uninhabited place. But the ships 
 had been followed by hostile parties on shore, 
 and, while the seamen were busy filling their 
 casks, they were fired upon, and one of them 
 was killed. The assailants, numbering about 
 forty, were boldly attacked by young Walter Ra- 
 leigh, at the head of a file of six or eight men, 
 and were driven from their ambush and scattered. 
 Proceeding thence, the fleet touched at Go- 
 mera, another of the Canaries. Here he received 
 a welcomie quite in contrast with his recent expe- 
 rience. The wife of the governor was a noble 
 English lady; and on sending his message Raleigh 
 accompanied it with a present of English gloves. 
 He received in return from her a present of fruits, 
 rusks, and other needed refreshments, a part of 
 which he distributed among the sick men in the 
 fleet. He gave the strictest orders to his men to 
 avoid giving offense when on shore. The man 
 who should steal so much as an orange or a bunch 
 of grapes should be hung in the public square. 
 Before leaving the island, the governor expressed 
 
214 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 his great gratification at the good behavior of the 
 sailors, and even promised to send a letter to the 
 same effect to the government at Madrid. His 
 lady also sent on board a fresh store of fruit and 
 poultry, in return for a present of lace, some per- 
 fumes prepared by Raleigh when in the Tower, 
 and a beautiful picture of the Magdalen. ''This 
 incident," adds our eloquent authority, Edwards, 
 "was to prove for a year to come the one pleas- 
 ant oasis amid the dreary memories of a voyage 
 crowded with calamity." 
 
 Leaving the Canaries, where his crew had 
 been refreshed, and the sick among them im- 
 proved in health or recovered, he encountered a 
 series of disasters. The sickness which had been 
 quelled broke out afresh in the fleet, and fifty men 
 in his flag-ship were prostrated by it. Two cap- 
 tains, the chief surgeon, the provost marshal, and 
 several other officers, died. Off the isle of Brava, 
 one of the Cape de Verde Islands, in latitude 14° 
 48' north, and longitude 20° 44' west, one of the 
 terrible hurricanes known to those tropical seas 
 sunk one of his vessels, and damaged others. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 215 
 
 The disease increased, until a large number of his 
 best men in all tlie ships were carried off, includ- 
 ing John Pigott, the lieutenant-general of the land 
 forces, and his trusty servant John Talbot, his 
 assistant and companion in the Tower. Then 
 came calms more terrible than storms, Avith tor- 
 irents of rain that overwhelmed tlie ships and 
 filled the cabins. 
 
 So they fared until on the nth of November 
 they sighted Cape Orange, then called Wiapoco; 
 and on the 14th they cast anchor in the river 
 Cayenne, then called Caliana. Here he made it 
 his first business to write the following letter to 
 his beloved and anxious wife : 
 
 ''Sweetheart, — I can yet write unto you but 
 with a weak hand, for I have suffered the most 
 violent calenture for fifteen days that ever man 
 did and lived; but God, that gave me a strong 
 heart in all my adversities, hath also now strength- 
 ened it in the hell-fire of heat. 
 
 '*We have had two of the most grevious sick- 
 nesses in our ship, of which forty-two have died, 
 and there are yet many sick; but having recov- 
 
2i6 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 ered the land of Guiana this 12th of November, 
 I hope we shall recover them. We are yet two 
 hundred men, and the rest of our fleet are reason- 
 ably strong — strong enough, I hope, to perform 
 what we have undertaken, if the diligent care at 
 London to make our strength known to the Span- 
 ish king by his embassador hath not taught the 
 Spanish king to fortify all the entrances against us. 
 Howsoever, we must make the adventure; and if 
 we perish, it shall be no honor for England, nor 
 gain for his majesty, to lose, among many others, 
 one hundred as valiant gendemen as England 
 hath in it. 
 
 "Of Captain Bailey's base coming from us at 
 the Canaries, see a letter of Kemish's to Mr. Scory; 
 and of the unnatural weather, storms and rains 
 and winds, he hath in the same letter given a 
 touch. Of the way that hath been sailed in four- 
 teen days, now hardly performed in forty days, 
 God, I trust, will give us comfort in that which 
 is to come. In the passage to the Canaries, I 
 stayed at Gomera, where I took water in peace, 
 because the country durst not deny it me. I re- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 217 
 
 ceived there of a countess of the English race a 
 present of oranges, lemons, quinces, and pome- 
 granates, without which I could not have lived. 
 These I preserved in sands, and I have them yet 
 to my great refreshing. Your son had never so 
 good health, having no distemper in all the heat 
 under the line. My servants have escaped but 
 Crab and my cook; yet all have had the sickness. 
 Crafts and March and the rest are all well. Re- 
 member my service to my Lord Carew and Mr. 
 Secretary Winwood. I wrote not to them, for I 
 can write of nothing but miseries yet. 
 
 "Of men of sort we have lost one sergeant- 
 major, Captain Pigott, and his lieutenant, Captain 
 Edward Hastings, who would have died at home, 
 for both his liver, spleen, and brains were rotten; 
 my son's lieutenant, Payton, and my cousin, Mr. 
 Hews; Mr. Mordaunt, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Hay- 
 ward, Captain Jennings, the merchant; Kemish, 
 of London, and the master chirurgeon; master 
 refiner; Mr. Moor, the governor of Bermudas; 
 our provost marshal, W. Steed ; Lieutenant Vescie; 
 but, to my inestimable grief, Hammon and Talbot. 
 
2i8 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 By the next I trust you shall hear better of us. 
 In God's hands we are, and in him we trust. 
 
 ''This bearer, Captain Alley, for his infirmity 
 of his head, I have sent back — an honest, valiant 
 man. He can deliver you all that is past. Com- 
 mend me to my worthy friends at Loathbury, Sir 
 John Leigh, and Mr. Bower (whose nephew Kner- 
 vit is well), and to my cousin Blundell, and my 
 most devoted and humble service to his majesty. 
 ''To tell you that I might be here king of the 
 Indians were a vanity; but my name hath still 
 lived among them. Here they feed me with 
 fresh meat and all that the country yields. All 
 offer to obey me. Commend me to poor Carew, 
 my son. 
 
 '■^Frorn Calliana^ in Guiana, the i^th of Nove7nber, 1617." 
 
 While these events were passing on this side 
 the ocean, the deserter Bailey was doing his 
 best in London to injure the reputation and 
 destroy the influence of Sir Walter. He was 
 called to an account for his conduct by* the 
 Lord Admiral Howard, the Earl of Nottingham, 
 the former friend of Sir Walter in times gone by. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 219 
 
 But when the case came before the privy council, 
 the Lord Admiral was prevented from attending 
 by sickness, and it happened, too, that Secretary 
 Winwood, the friend of Raleigh in all these ad- 
 ventures, died suddenly, and not without suspicion 
 that he had been poisoned. The result, therefore, 
 of the inquiries was that the ship and goods which 
 had been taken from Bailey were ordered to be 
 restored to him, and he escaped the punishment 
 due to his crimes. Not long after Captain Reeks, 
 whose ship was in the harbor of Lancerota when 
 Raleigh was there, and for whose sake in part he 
 forbore to fire upon the town to avenge the treat- 
 ment he had received of the governor and some 
 of the people, arrived in England, and gave a 
 true and unvarnished account of the affair. He 
 said that at first the governor of the island had 
 promised Sir Walter that "he should want for 
 nothing the island afforded;" but afterward, with- 
 out provocation, ''all the goods of the town of 
 Lancerota were sent to the mountains, and the 
 governor sent Sir Walter Raleigh word that he 
 was a pirate, and should have no more than what 
 
220 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 he could win by his sword." The effect of diis 
 tesdmony was to assure the friends of Raleigh, 
 and to cause the arrest of Bailey, and his com- 
 mitment to the State-house at Westminster. 
 
 To return to America, we find Sir Walter too 
 ill to leave his ship, except as he was carried 
 ashore in a chair. He makes inquiry for his 
 friend Harry, the Indian who had so long looked 
 for his return, and earnestly inquired after him 
 of every English ship that had appeared on that 
 coast. It was not long before Harry made his 
 appearance, preceded and accompanied with muni- 
 ficent presents of "roasted mullets (which were 
 very good meat), great store of plantains and pine- 
 apples, with pistachios (or ground-nuts), and divers 
 other sorts of fruit." 
 
 The ships having taken time for needful re- 
 pairs, orders were given to proceed toward the 
 river Orinoco, and the ''Triangle Isles" were 
 made the "general rendezvous.''^ Captain Key- 
 mis, who had familiar acquaintance with country, 
 had the command of the expedition to search for 
 the gold mines, the grand object of the whole en- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 221 
 
 terprise. The land forces were placed under the 
 general command of George Raleigh, the nephew 
 of Sir Walter. Under him were Captains Ra 
 leigh, the son of Sir Walter, Parker, North. 
 Thornhurst, and Hall. 
 
 Sir Walter, still suffering from a relapse of his 
 disease, gave written directions to the principal 
 commanders how to proceed. The land forces 
 were to encamp "between the Spanish town and 
 the mine, if there be any camp near it; that, be- 
 ing so secured, you may make trial what depth 
 and breadth the mine holds, and whether or no it 
 answers our hopes. If you find it royal, and the 
 Spaniards begin to war on you, you, George Ra- 
 leigh, are to repel them, if it be in yoiy: power, 
 and to drive them as far as you can." 
 
 To Keymis he wrote: ''If you find the mine 
 be not so rich as may persuade the holding of it, 
 and draw on a second supply, then you shall 
 bring but a packet or two, to satisfy His Majesty 
 that my design was not imaginary, but true, 
 though not answerable to His Majesty's expecta- 
 tion. Of the quantity I never gave assurance, 
 
2 22 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 nor could. On the other side, if you shall find 
 that any great number of soldiers be newly sent 
 to Orinoco, as the cacique of Caliana told us that 
 they were, and that the passage be re-enforced so 
 that, without manifest peril of my son, yourself, 
 and the other captains, you can not pass toward 
 the mine, then be well advised how you land. 
 For I know, a few gentlemen excepted, what a 
 scum of men you have. And I would not for all 
 the world receive a blow from the Spaniard, to 
 the dishonor of our nation. I myself, for my 
 weakness, can not be present. Neither will the 
 companies land except I stay with the ships, the 
 galleons of Spain being daily expected." 
 
 That part of the fleet detailed for this enter- 
 prise set sail for the Orinoco on the loth of De- 
 cember, and the first of January found Sir Walter 
 making his head-quarters at Terra de Bri, a port 
 of Trinidad, about one hundred and fifty miles 
 north of the mouth of the Orinoco. It took over 
 three weeks for the fleet to reach the river and 
 ascend it as far as the island of Taya. A fisher- 
 man who was on the watch for tliein carried the 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 223 
 
 news of their arrival to St. Thomas, a new Span- 
 ish town, near the entrance of the Caroni into 
 the Orinoco. Of the existence of this new St. 
 Thomas, Raleigh had not been informed, ^or was 
 it to be seen from the river. Passing on, the fleet 
 arrived at Point Araya on the ist of January, 
 1 61 8. The land forces were landed here, intend- 
 ing to encamp for the night, and the next morn- 
 ing 10 march in search of the gold mines. A 
 party of Spaniards, under the command of Ge- 
 ronimo de Grados, were in ambush on a rising 
 point between them and the village, and as soon 
 as night set in surprised the English camp by a 
 sudden and furious attack. The English rallied, 
 and, led by young Captain Raleigh and the other 
 captains, they repelled and drove the Spaniards 
 back. Presently troops from St. Thomas, under 
 Diego Palomaque, came to their assistance. Call- 
 ing upon the pikemen not to wait for the mus- 
 keteers, Raleigh drove at them, and slew with his 
 own hand their leader. He was struck by a 
 musket shot, but, reckless of his wound, he at- 
 tacked with his sword an officer, named Erinetta, 
 
2 24 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 who defended himself with the butt of his mus- 
 ket, and struck Walter to the ground. Mortally 
 wounded, he cheered on his men, crying, "Go 
 on ! May the Lord have mercy on me, and 
 prosper youi enterprise !" Erinetta was immedi- 
 ately pierced to the heart by a halbert in the 
 hands of a sergeant. The Spaniards retreat. A 
 party of them took refuge in a monastery at the 
 outskirts of the town. It was stormed and taken. 
 The survivors of the fight escaped to the forest, 
 and finally to the place of refuge occupied by the 
 women and children, who had fled from the town 
 on the approach of the English. 
 
 Garcia de Aguilar, who succeeded Palomaque, 
 ordered the women, children, and invalids to be 
 removed to an island in the Orinoco, and organ- 
 ized the defeated troops of St. Thomas. One 
 portion of tliem was to guard the place of refuge, 
 and another portion to hang about St. Thomas, 
 to prevent the English from holding communica- 
 tion with the Indians, and to cut off any strag- 
 glers who might wander from the town. 
 
 The death of Walter Raleigh, Jr., threw a 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 225 
 
 gloom over the English camp, who now occupied 
 the town. He and Captain Cosmar were buried 
 with military ceremonies near the high altar of 
 the Church of St. I'homas. 
 
 The same day the vessels of Captain Whitney 
 and Captain Wallaston arrived. 
 
 Captain Keymis now took two launches, and 
 ascended the Orinoco in search of the mine; 
 but one of the launches being fired into by an 
 ambuscade of Spaniards near Seiba, and nine out 
 of ten men constituting the crew being shot, he 
 turned back to St. Thomas for re-enforcements. 
 Those that remained in the captured town made 
 inquiries and earnest search for the coveted 
 mines. The Indians whom they met assured 
 them that they existed in this region, but had not 
 been worked for a long time, for want of imple- 
 ments. Although Captain Keymis seems to be 
 disheartened in respect to further efforts to reach 
 the gold mine, George Raleigh was not in the 
 mood to give up, and, taking three boats filled 
 with soldiers and workers, he ascended the Orinoco 
 as far as the mouth of the Guarico, a hundred 
 15 
 
2 26 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 leagues or more above St. Thomas. He was de- 
 lighted with the country, and saw how attractive 
 it was to emigration; but he found no gold mines, 
 nor indeed made any effort to discover them. 
 
 AVhen he returned to St. Thomas he found the 
 company ready to abandon the enterprise. They 
 had suffered from sickness, and were in constant 
 alarm from the hostility of the Sj^aniards and the 
 natives. No one could venture out of the town 
 without danger of being captured, tortured, and 
 killed. One night the town was assaulted by a 
 large force of the enemy, and fired in several 
 places. It was concluded by all parties that the 
 enterprise was a failure. The death of young 
 Raleigli, the sickness of the admiral, over whose 
 head was suspended the penalty of death, and 
 the discovery of documents containing tlie corre- 
 siDondence of the Spanish government at Madrid 
 with the late governor of Guiana, Palomaque, by 
 which it appeared that the whole enterprise was 
 betrayed by King James, even before it left Eng- 
 land, all taken with the fact that the Spaniards and 
 their Indian allies were every-where in force to 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 227 
 
 resist, disposed Captain Key mis to give up the whole 
 business, and to quit the country. It can not be that 
 he doubted the existence of the precious metals in 
 the interior, for he had in previous voyages satis- 
 fied himself of that fact, and had brought off 
 heavy nuggets of gold as samples obtained from 
 the Indians; but he thought it not wise to persist 
 in the face of such obstacles and perils as he en- 
 countered, and with symptoms of mutiny in the 
 camp, and with traitors in the rear in the English 
 government. He had sent Sir Walter a letter 
 containing the sad news of his noble son's death, 
 and now he must bear to him the intelligence 
 worse than death or bereavement, of the failure 
 of his long cherished scheme. Taking with them 
 some spoils, six hundred reals in money, a silver 
 basin, some gold nuggets, church bells, and orna- 
 ments, the English troops set fire to the town, 
 and embarked in their vessels. Two of the 
 Indian captives they took away with them, one 
 of whom lived to reach England, and to bring 
 back to Guiana the wonderful story of English 
 civilization. Going down the river, he came to 
 
228 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the territory of some Indian tribes, whose caicques 
 remembered Raleigh, and made flattering off'ers 
 to induce the company to settle with them, and 
 share their wealth, saying that they had held a 
 portion of the country for Elizabeth; but Keymis 
 was full of suspicion now of collusion with the 
 Spaniards, and he declined the overtures. Here 
 was a chance, some writers think, of redeeming 
 the expedition from failure, and so tliought Ra- 
 leigh; but it was not to be. 
 
 The fleet now made straight for Trinidad, 
 where they arrived on the 2d of March, 16 18, 
 having been gone less than two months, of which 
 twenty-five days had been spent at St. Thomas. 
 The reception which Keymis received from the 
 admiral may be easily imagined. The death of 
 young Raleigh had filled the cup of his sorrow to 
 the brim, and now the report of the defeated ex- 
 pedition and the blasting of his last hope of success 
 made it to run over. His reproaches were deep 
 and bitter. The failure to discover the mines would 
 be ruin to himself and to all concerned. In vain 
 did Keymis plead that he had not force sufficient 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 229 
 
 to penetrate into the interior against the combined 
 opposition of Spaniards and Indians; that Gonda- 
 mar had got ahead of them, and had roused the 
 Avhole country against the invasion of the En- 
 ghsh; that if he had persisted and found the 
 mines, it would only be to the final advantage of 
 the Spaniards, for he had not men enough to 
 hold it; that his followers were dispirited upon 
 young Raleigh's death, and he could not rely on 
 them; that he feared Sir Walter himself would 
 sink under his sickness and grief at his son's 
 death, and he did not care "to enrich a company 
 of rascals who made no account of him." 
 
 "You have undone me, wounded my credit 
 with the king past recovery," repeated Sir Walter. 
 "You must answer it to the king and to the 
 State." Keymis is overwhelmed with grief and 
 remorse. He retires to his cabin, and writes a 
 long and elaborate apology to the Earl of Arundel, 
 one of the patrons of the enterprise, and brings it 
 to Raleigh for his sanction. But he refused to do 
 so, saying that he had refuted every point, and 
 no satisfactory explanation could be made. "Is 
 
230 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 that your resolution?" said Keymis. "It is," 
 said Raleigh. "I know then," said Keymis as 
 he withdrew, "what course to take." Not long 
 after a pistol-shot was heard in the cabin over- 
 head. A page was sent to inquire what it meant. 
 The door was shut, and Keymis answered from 
 within that the pistol had long been charged, and 
 he had fired it off. Less than an hour after the 
 lad goes into the room, and finds the captain 
 lying on his bed with the pistol by his side and 
 a knife penetrating his breast. The knife had 
 done what the ball had failed to effect — the veteran 
 seaman was dead. 
 
 The whole fleet was now assembled at Trini- 
 dad. During the absence of the exploring expe- 
 dition Sir Walter was in constant expectation of 
 the arrival of a hostile fleet from Spain. The 
 Spaniards at Trinidad had given him considerable 
 annoyance. A boat was fired into at one time 
 by a party in ambush; but no one was killed 
 or wounded. Soon another boat crew wander- 
 ing on shore were attacked, and one man was 
 killed, and a boy was taken captive and never 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 2^1 
 
 j'» 
 
 recovered, though Raleigh pursued the enemy and 
 scattered them. The question now arose what 
 course the united fleet should take. Captains 
 Whitney and Wallaston concluded that it would 
 be ruin to return to England, and that something 
 must be done to wreak vengeance on the Span- 
 iards, and to secure spoils to enrich themselves. 
 Raleigh hinted that the Mexican Plate Fleet 
 might be a useful prey. This he said to divert 
 the minds of the captains from undertaking priv- 
 ateering on their own account, for his own mind 
 was fully bent on returning directly homeward; 
 but it was of no avail with Whitney and Wallas- 
 ton, who took the first opportunity to desert with 
 their ships. It is clear that Raleigh regarded 
 depredations on Spanish commerce as lawful re- 
 prisals for the damage done him and his enter- 
 prise; but he had promised Arundel and Pem- 
 broke to return to England, and he meant to 
 keep his word. His remarks about the Mexican 
 Plate Fleet, however, were quoted against him as 
 proofs that he meant to turn pirate. The news 
 of the taking and burning of St. Thomas had got 
 
232 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 to Madrid some days before it reached England, 
 and Gondamar had rushed into the presence of 
 King James crying in Spanish, ''Pirates! pirates! 
 pirates 1" and as James was now bent on a mar- 
 riage of Prince Charles with the Spanish Infanta, it 
 was proof enough that Walter Raleigh had com- 
 mitted a great crime; and he was glad that he 
 had not pardoned him before he set forth on the 
 expedition, and could now get rid of him by exe- 
 cuting the sentence which had been suspended 
 so long. 
 
 In a council of the leaders of the expedition 
 it was concluded to pass up the American coast 
 to Newfoundland, and there to repair the ships, 
 and conclude what further to do before returning 
 home. He still clung to the idea of making some- 
 thing out of Guiana. However, at Newfoundland 
 he ^found his crews so anxious to return to Eng- 
 land, and almost ready to mutiny, and some ot 
 the ships actually going, that he concluded to 
 follow them, and abandon himself to the mercy 
 of the king. Never was hope more illusive. 
 His doom was already prepared. We next find 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 233 
 
 him on the Irish coast, and anchoring at Kings- 
 dale with two or three of his ships, the rest of the 
 fleet having been scattered by storms. Thence 
 Sir Walter proceeds in the Destiny to Plymouth, 
 where he arrived on the 21st of June, 161 8. 
 Captain Pennington's ship was seized by the lord 
 deputy of Ireland, under orders from the court, 
 previously given, to attach any and all of the 
 Guiana squadron which might put into any Irish 
 port. Captain Pennington went to London to 
 seek redress, and was arrested and put in prison. 
 Such were the first fruits and earnest of what was 
 in store for Sir Walter. 
 
234 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 dlikptef XVIII. 
 
 ARRESTED ON HIS JOURNEY TO LONDON — EXPEDIENTS TO 
 ESCAPE— COMMITTED TO THE TOWER — FRUITLESS EF- 
 FORTS OF QUEEN ANNE IN HIS BEHALF BROUGHT 
 
 BEFORE THE COURT OF THE KING's BENCH — FORMER 
 
 SENTENCE RENEWED AGAINST HIM HIS EXECUTION 
 
 ANB BURIAL. 
 
 T T AVING remained in Plymouth a few weeks, 
 ^ ^ Sir Walter Raleigh started for London, in 
 company with his wife and Captain Samuel King, 
 of the Guiana fleet, a fast friend. They had pro- 
 ceeded no fgirther than Ashburton, twenty miles 
 from Plymouth, when they met Sir Lewis Stuke- 
 ley, vice-admiral of Devonshire, a relative of Ra- 
 leigh, who had the king's orders to arrest him, 
 and to seize his ships. They turned back imme- 
 diately to Plymouth, and Stukeley took possession 
 of the Destiny. He left Sir Walter, with his wife 
 and servant, at the house of Sir Christopher Harris, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 235 
 
 while he busied himself about the affairs of 
 the ship. 
 
 There was now a chance for Raleigh to escape. 
 Urged by his wife and friends, he engaged Cap- 
 tain King to hire a vessel to take him to France, 
 and one night two men came and took him in a 
 boat to go to the vessel waiting out in the offing 
 of the harbor. But just before they reached the 
 barge Sir Walter had misgivings as to whether 
 it was honorable for him to take this course, 
 and he ordered the men to turn back. The lov- 
 ing instincts of his wife were in this case wiser 
 than the reasonings of her husband. Under the 
 circumstances, he had a right to protect himself 
 from the injustice and cruelty of the government, 
 as it now began to be manifested by the treatment 
 he and his captains were receiving. It is alto- 
 gether likely, from the loose manner in which 
 Stukeley guarded him, and from subsequent ma- 
 neuvers of this officer, that it would not be disa 
 greeable to his employers to have his prisoner 
 escape, and in that way deliver them from the 
 dilemma of disposing of him, so as to satisfy the 
 
236 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 vindictiveness of the Spanish court. The state- 
 ment that, after the death of Raleigh, was made 
 by the king, called the Declaration, and drawn 
 up at the instance of Lord Francis Bacon, to jus- 
 tify the conduct of the king, was false in the 
 assertion that Raleigh attempted to escape before 
 the time of his arrest by Stukeley. He thought 
 of no such thing before it appeared that his life 
 was in danger. 
 
 Soon a peremptory order to Stukeley came 
 from the council to bring his prisoner to Lon- 
 don. They were now accompanied by one 
 Manourie, a French doctor, employed by Stuke- 
 ley on pretense of Raleigh's health requiring 
 medical advice, but really for the purpose of set- 
 ting a spy over him. To him Raleigh and Cap- 
 tain King talked freely about their affairs. "I 
 wish," said King, one day, "we were all safe at 
 Paris." As they passed by his former estate at 
 Sherbourne, Raleigh remarked to Manourie, ''All 
 this was mine, and it was taken from me unjustly." 
 These and other talks were reported by Manourie 
 to Stukeley. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 237 
 
 Descending the hill at Wilton, toward Salis- 
 bury, Raleigh dismounted and walked with the 
 Frenchman, and opened to him a project which 
 occupied his thoughts, to delay his journey at the 
 latter place until the king, who was expected 
 there in a "progress" over the country, should 
 arrive. His object was to get time to put in 
 writing a full explanation of the Guiana voyage, 
 for his defense with the council, and for his vin- 
 dication with posterity. The scheme suggested to 
 the doctor was that he should give him some 
 medicine which should make him ill for a time, 
 and dispose Sir Lewis Stukeley to delay the jour- 
 ney. "I shall thus," Manourie reported Raleigh's 
 remarks, "gain time to reach my friends and or- 
 der my affairs, perhaps even to pacify his majesty. 
 Otherwise, as soon as ever I come to London, 
 they will have me in the Tower, and cut off 
 my head. I can not escape it without counter- 
 feiting sickness, which your vomits will effect 
 without suspicion." This being arranged, as Sir 
 Walter was proceeding to his chamber at Salis- 
 bury, he stumbled in the corridor and fell against 
 
238 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 a pillar. The plot took; the prisoner was de- 
 tained; Lady Raleigh, who was in the secret, 
 and her attendants went on to her house in Lon- 
 don; and Captain King was directed to hire a 
 ship at London or Gravesend, that should be in 
 readiness at Tilbury, on the Thames, for another 
 attempt to escape to France. The next morning 
 a servant came rushing into Stukeley's room, 
 crying out: "My master is out of his wits. I 
 have just found him in his shirt, on all fours, 
 gnawing at the rushes on the boards!" 
 
 The doctor was sent to him, and administered 
 an emetic. He also besmeared his forehead, 
 arms, and breast with an ointment which brought 
 out on the skin purple pustules, like the leprosy. 
 The Bishop of Ely, who was in town and heard 
 of the case, sent the best of the physicians of 
 Salisbury to his relief; and these physicians 
 joined with Manourie in a certificate that it 
 would not be safe for the prisoner to continue his 
 journey for some days. Raleigh's object was 
 gained; he had time to write ''The Apology foi 
 the Voyage to Guiana." In less than a week the 
 
Pioneer of American Qjlonization. 239 
 
 king and his court came to Salisbury, and Stuke- 
 ley received peremptory orders to take his pris- 
 oner to London. 
 
 On the 7th of August Raleigh arrived at his 
 house in Broad Street, where, according to orders 
 previously given, Stukeley was to keep guard 
 over him instead of taking him to the Tower. 
 Here he was' visited by two emissaries of the 
 French government, Le Clerc and De Novion, 
 who made him an offer of a bark to carry him to 
 Calais. This the government found out, and 
 though they were satisfied that Raleigh was pas- 
 sive in the matter, it complicated his case, and 
 made it worse. Captain King came and informed 
 him that a ketch had been provided, and was 
 waiting at Tilbury under the command of one 
 Hart, formerly a boatswain of Captain King. 
 Stukeley was informed of all this; but he pre- 
 tended to favor it, having been promised by Rar 
 leigh large rewards for his connivance. He ac- 
 companied Raleigh, with his son. Captain King, 
 and a page to the river's side, where two wher- 
 ries waited to row the company to the ketch. 
 
240 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 They had scarcely got out on the river before 
 they perceived that they were followed by a 
 boat full of men. It was Herbert, a relation 
 of Stukeley, who had been engaged by him 
 for the purpose of apprehending Raleigh when 
 he should have gone so far as to prove that 
 he intended to escape to France. King and 
 Raleigh expressed their suspicions; but Stuke- 
 ley tried to allay them. Their talk alarmed 
 the watermen, and they slackened their speed. 
 The tide was getting unfavorable, and the ketch 
 could not be reached before daylight, and it was 
 clear that their pursuers would overtake them. 
 In this predicament it was decided to turn back, 
 and when they turned, the suspicious boat turned 
 also, and followed them to Greenwich. Arrived 
 there, Stukeley threw off his disguise, and arrested 
 both Raleigh and King in the name of King 
 James. "Sir Lewis," said Raleigh, "these ac- 
 tions will not turn out to your credit." He was 
 conducted to the Tower, where he parted with 
 his faithful friend, who was allowed to go at liberty. 
 Le Clerc, who was resident minister of France, 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 241 
 
 was called to attend at a meeting of the privy- 
 council, and explain his visit to Sir Walter. He 
 denied that he had made any overtures to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh to assist him to escape to France, 
 and . persisted in denying it even after he was 
 confronted with De Novion, who had confessed it 
 all. It was decreed that Le Clerc should retire 
 to his house, and forbear any further actions as a 
 public minister. This proceeding excited great 
 indignation at the French court. They denied 
 that a man who had been appointed admiral of a 
 fleet of fourteen ships could be pronounced "a 
 traitor," and they asserted that whatever Le Clerc 
 had done, it was not to do King James any ''dis- 
 service," but only to draw service for him against 
 the Spaniards. For their part of this mean tragedy, 
 Manourie received twenty pounds, and Stukeley 
 nine hundred and sixty-five pounds, three shill- 
 ings, and sixpence — a poor fee for a treachery 
 which gave him the name of Sir Judas Stukeley. 
 The doom of Raleigh was now certain to every 
 body. Kmg James had him now wholly in his 
 
 power, and it was only a question whether he 
 16 
 
242 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 should give him up to Spain to be hanged by 
 them as a buccaneer, or to be brought to the 
 block in England in execution of the sentence be- 
 fore pronounced upon him. He was repeatedly- 
 brought before a committee of the privy coun- 
 cil for examination. Attorney-general Yelverton 
 charged him with having deceived the king by 
 pretending to have discovered a gold mine which 
 no person knew but himself, and yet he took no 
 miners, nor tools for the business, and gave no 
 orders to his men to search for it. The solicitor- 
 general charged him with abandoning his forces 
 in Guiana, and with ''vile and dishonorable 
 speeches full of contumely to the king" since his 
 return to England. Sir Walter replied to all 
 these allegations, and concluded by denying that 
 the Spaniards had any rightful dominion over 
 that region where they had built the new town of 
 St. Thomas. Being charged with proposing to 
 capture the Mexican fleet, he admitted that he 
 talked about taking it, but it was **in order to 
 keep the fleet together." 
 
 Not satisfied with what was gained by these ex- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 243 
 
 aminations, the government appointed Sir Thomas 
 Wilson to have the keeping and oversight of Sir 
 Walter in the Tower, with a view to get from 
 him statements and expressions which might tend 
 his conviction of treason or piracy; but, though 
 he promised that ''if he would discover what he 
 knew, the king would forgive him and do him 
 all favor," yet nothing was extracted from Ra- 
 leigh to his disadvantage. He persisted in de- 
 fending the whole enterprise as lawful and expe- 
 dient, and emphatically denied the claims set up 
 by Spain to the exclusive possession of Guiana. 
 
 Lady Raleigh was made a prisoner in her own 
 house, under the charge of a Mr. Wallaston, a 
 London merchant, and her furniture and household 
 goods were put under lock and key. The letters 
 which passed between her and her husband were 
 intercepted by Wilson to find accusations against 
 him. A copy of one of Sir Walter's letters to his 
 wife has been preserved, which shows that Wilson 
 and his son Edward had played well the part of a 
 spy. It concludes thus : 
 
 **I am sycke and weak. This honest gentle- 
 
244 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 man, Mr. Edward Wilson, is my keeper, and 
 takes much payne with me. My swolne syde 
 keeps me in perpetual pain and unrest. God 
 comfort us. Yours, W. R." 
 
 Lady Raleigh's reply to Sir Walter's letter was 
 the following : 
 
 "I am sory to hear amongst many discomforts 
 that your health is so ill. 'Tis meerly sorrow 
 and greaf that with wynde hath gathered into 
 your syde. I hope your health and comforts Will 
 mend, and mend us for God. I am glad to hear 
 you have the company and comfort of so good a 
 keeper. I was somewhat dismayed at the first 
 that you had no servant of your own left you; 
 but I hear this night servants are very neces- 
 sary. God requite his courtesyes, and God in 
 mercy look on us. Yours, 
 
 "E. Raleigh." 
 
 Raleigh wrote a letter to the king; also, to his 
 favorite minister, the Marquis, afterward Duke, of 
 Buckingham, to intercede in his behalf. He also 
 appealed to the queen in the following lines, 
 which were among the last verses with which he 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 245 
 
 relieved the tedium and gloom of imprisonment. 
 The queen never ceased to love and respect Ra- 
 leigh, especially since the death of her first-born 
 son, Prince Henry. Her own health was now 
 failing, and she was in a mood to give earnest 
 heed to the plea of one whose life was suspended 
 oy a hair. 
 
 "Oh, had Truth power the guiltless could not fall, 
 Malice win glory, or Revenge triumph ; 
 But Truth alone can not encounter all. 
 
 Mercy is fled to God which Mercy made ; 
 Compassion dead; Faith turned to Policy. 
 Friends know not those who sit in sorrow's shade. 
 
 For what we sometimes were we are no more; 
 Fortune hath changed the shape, and Destiny 
 Defaced the very form we had before. 
 
 All love, and all desert of former times, 
 Malice hath covered from my sovereign's eyes, 
 And largely laid abroad supposed crimes. 
 
 But kings care not to mind what vassals were. 
 But know them now as Envy hath described them : 
 So can I look on no side from Despair. 
 
 Cold walls, to you I speak ; but you are senseless. 
 Celestial powers, you hear, but have determined, 
 And shall determine, to my greatest happiness. 
 
246 Sir Walter Ralligh. 
 
 Then unto whom shall I unfold my wrongs, 
 Cast down my tears, or hold up folded liands? 
 To her to whom remorse doth most belong. 
 
 To her who is the first, and may alone 
 
 Be justly called the empress of the Britons. 
 
 Who shall have mercy if a queen hath none? 
 
 Save those who would have died for your defense; 
 Save him whose thoughts no treason ever tainted. 
 For, lo ! destruction is not recompense. 
 
 If I have sold my duty, sold my faith 
 To strangers, which was only due to one, 
 Nothing I should esteem so dear as death. 
 
 But if both God and Time shall make you know 
 That I, your humblest vassal, am opprest, 
 Then cast your eyes on undeserved woe, 
 
 That I and mine may never mourn the miss 
 Of her we had ; but praise our living queen. 
 Who brings us equal, if not greater, bliss." 
 
 Queen Anne immediately addressed a letter in 
 a familiar and earnest style to Buckingham, a 
 copy of which is preserved. 
 *'Anna R. : 
 
 ^^My kind dogge, — If I have any power or 
 credit with you, I pray you let me have a trial 
 of it at this time in dealing sincerely and earnestly 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 247 
 
 with the king that Sir WaUer Raleigh's life may 
 not be called in question. 
 
 ''If you do it so that the success answer my 
 expectation, assure yourself that I will take it 
 extraordinarily kindly at your hands; and rest 
 one that wishes you well, and desires you to con- 
 tmew still, as you have been, a true servant of 
 your master. 
 
 " To the Marquis of Buckingame." 
 Buckingham's influence \vith the king in be- 
 half of Raleigh was forestalled by his devotion to 
 to the project of King James to wed Prince 
 Charles to the Infanta of Spain, and Gondamar 
 had impressed him with the necessity of putting 
 Raleigh out of the way, if the favor of the King 
 of Spain was to be secured. The probability is 
 that he did nothing to gratify the queen in this 
 matter, and save her friend. 
 
 The king was informed that the Spaniards 
 preferred not to have the prisoner delivered over 
 to them for execution, but to have him executed 
 in England. In this predicament, Lord Bacon 
 was applied to for counsel as to the legal form of 
 
248 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 accomplishing this purpose. On consultation with 
 his colleagues, tlie lord chancellor informed the king 
 that a person already "attainted of high treason 
 can not be drawn in question judicially for any 
 crime since committed ;" that the king might give 
 warrant for Raleigh's execution upon the former 
 conviction. At the same time Bacon inconsist- 
 ently suggested that Raleigh might be called 
 before the council of state and the judges, on the 
 charge of "acts of hostility, depredations, and 
 abuse." In that case Raleigh could not plead 
 that he had been pardoned. The king saw the 
 contradiction in these advices of his sycophantic 
 lord chancellor, and preferred the more direct 
 course of executing the sentence which had been 
 suspended since 1603. 
 
 Accordingly, Raleigh was summoned before 
 the court of the king's bench. It was a surprise 
 to him, and he arose from his bed, where he had 
 lain suffering from the ague, and, without much 
 attention to his personal appearance, hurried from 
 the Tower, followed by one of his old servants. 
 The servant observed his deshabille, and suggested 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 249 
 
 to him that he had not combed his liead. Sir 
 Walter naively remarked,, in the Devonshire dia- 
 lect he was accustomed to use witli common 
 people: ''Let them kem it that are to have it." 
 He then added, smiling, "Dost thou know, 
 Peter, of any plaster that will set a man's head 
 on again, when it is off?" 
 
 At the court the attorney-general produced the 
 record of conviction, and demanded in the king's 
 name that the sentence should be executed with- 
 out delay. The chief-justice then asked tlie pris- 
 oner if he had any thing to say. Raleigh, apol- 
 gizing for the weakness of his voice on account 
 of the ague, made reply: 
 
 ''All I can say, my lord, is this: The judg- 
 ment I received to die so long since can not now, 
 I hope, be strained ; for since it was his majesty's 
 pleasure to grant me a commission to proceed on 
 a voyage beyond the seas, wherein I had martial 
 power on the life and death of others, so, under 
 favor, I presume I stand discharged of that judg- 
 ment. By that commission I gained new life and 
 vigor; for he that hath power over the life of 
 
250 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 others must surely be master of his own. Under 
 my commission I undertook a voyage, to do 
 honor to my sovereign, and to enrich his king- 
 dom with gold, of the ore whereof this hand 
 hath found and taken in Guiana. But the enter- 
 prise, notwithstanding my endeavors, hath no 
 other issue than which was fatal to me — the loss 
 of my son, and the wasting of my whole estate." 
 
 Tlie chief-justice, Montague, here interposed, 
 saying : 
 
 ''Treason is a crime wliich must be pardoned 
 by express words, not by implication." 
 
 "If that be your lordship's opinion," said Ra- 
 leigh, "I can only put myself upon the mercy 
 of the king. His majesty, as well as all others 
 who are here present, have been of opinion that 
 in my former trial I received but hard measure. 
 Had the king not been exasperated anew against 
 me, certain I am that I might have lived a thou- 
 sand years before he would have taken advantage 
 of this conviction." 
 
 The chief-justice remarked that he had a fair 
 trial, and he should confess that his former judg- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 251 
 
 ment should justly be executed. For fifteen years 
 he had been dead in law, and might at any mo- 
 ment have been cut off. "I know,'- continued 
 the chief -justice, ^'you have been valiant and 
 wise, and I doubt not but you retain botli these 
 virtues, for now you shall have occasion to use 
 them. Your faith hath heretofore been ques- 
 tioned; but I am resolved that you are a good 
 Christian, for your book, which is an admirable 
 work, doth testify as much." Having added a 
 few words more, exi^ressing his sorrow for his 
 fate, the chief-justice declared that "the execution 
 was granted." 
 
 " My lords," said Raleigh, "I desire this much 
 favor, that I may not be cut off suddenly, but 
 may have some time granted me before my exe- 
 cution to settle my affairs and my mind more 
 than they yet are. I have something to do in 
 discharge of my conscience, and I have some- 
 what to satisfy His Majesty in. I would beseech 
 the favor of pen, ink, and paper. ... I would 
 beseech your lordships that, when I come to die, 
 I may have leave to speak freely at my farewell. 
 
252 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 And here I take God, before whom I shall shortly 
 appear, to be my judge, that I was never disloyal 
 to His Majesty, which I shall testify when I shall 
 not fear the face of any king on earth. And I 
 beseech you all to pray for me." 
 
 The king was purposely absent from London, 
 but the royal warrant for execution was now pro- 
 duced, it having been prepared by anticipation. 
 Die sentence of hanging was changed to behead- 
 ing; the time, the following morning. 
 
 Raleigh was now taken to the gate-house of 
 Westminster, one story of which was now used 
 for a prison. Here he was visited by friends. 
 
 As Raleigh passed from the Hall to the gate- 
 house, he met an old friend. Sir Hugh Barton, 
 and asked him : 
 
 ''You will come to-morrow morning?" 
 
 "Certainly," said Sir Hugh. 
 
 "But I do not know what you may do for a 
 place. For my own part, I am sure of one. 
 You must make what shift you can." 
 
 So cheerful was the' condemned, but innocent, 
 man, that his friends wondered at it, and one 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 253 
 
 said to him, ''Do not carry it with too much 
 bravery; your enemies will take exceptions, if 
 you do." "It is my last mirth in this world," he 
 repHed. "Do not grudge it to me. When I 
 come to the sad parting, you will see me grave 
 enough." To another friend he said, "The world 
 is but a large prison, out of which some are daily 
 selected for execution." 
 
 The Dean of Westminster, Dr. Robert Towson, 
 afterward Bisliop of Salisbury, who was appointed 
 to attend him, was impressed by his wonderful 
 buoyancy of spirits and fearlessness of death, and 
 cautioned him in respect to its source. "He was 
 the most fearless of death ever known," wrote 
 the dean, afterward, "and the m.ost resolute and 
 confident, yet with reverence and conscience." 
 
 The saddest scene of all was the final inter 
 view, at midnight, of Raleigh with his beloved 
 wife. It is best described by his eloquent biog- 
 rapher, Edward Edw^ards : 
 
 "She had buoyed herself with hope till almost 
 the moment of the final meeting in the gate-house. 
 But before she went, some friends broke to her 
 
254 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the news, and told her that the lords of council, 
 though they had refused intercession with the 
 king for her husband's life, would empower hei 
 to bury him. It was then late on Thursday. It 
 had yet to be told her that early on Friday morn- 
 ing she would be a widow. But the clownish 
 brutality native to James became an unmeant 
 mercy. During that brief space of time Ra- 
 leigh's thoughts were much bent upon the final 
 vindication of his fame before the world. Into 
 that channel he forced himself to turn his wife's 
 thoughts also. And her love was stronger than 
 her grief. He told her that he could not trust 
 himself to talk about their dear litde Carew. 
 Thoughts concerning him must be left unspoken. 
 Speech would but make the parting too hard for 
 both of them. As they were conversing together 
 about Lady Raleigh's task in the event of her 
 husband's misgivings being realized by the forcible 
 prevention of his intended address from the scaf- 
 fold, the abbey clock told them it was already 
 midnight. She knew that it would be an act of 
 wifely love now to leave him alone, and she com 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 255 
 
 pelled herself to go. Her last words were to 
 tell him of the message about the disposal of his 
 body. Then the passionate anguish would no 
 longer let itself be restrained. But the loving 
 purpose of departure was firmly kept. * It is 
 well, dear Bess/ said Sir Walter with a parting 
 smile, ' that thou mayst dispose of that dead 
 which thou hadst not always the disposing of 
 when alive.'" 
 
 Left alone, Sir Walter spent his time in sup- 
 plementing his last will and testament, and ap- 
 pending to it the substance of his replies to the 
 accusations of Feme, Stukeley, and Manourie. 
 
 Early in the morning he received the com- 
 munion from Dr. Towson, who testified that he 
 seemed "very cheerful and merry," and full of 
 hope tliat he should satisfy every one of his inno- 
 cence of the late charges by his final declaration 
 on the scaffold. He took his breakfast as usual, 
 and smoked his pipe, saying to all his attendants 
 that death seemed to him nothing more than 
 going on a journey. He dressed himself in his 
 usual precise manner, and with special reference 
 
256 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 to the mode of his execution. A cup of wine 
 was brought to him just before he left the gate- 
 house. He was asked if it were to his liking. " I 
 will answer you," said he, "as did the fellow who 
 drank of St. Giles's bowl as he went to Tyburn, 
 *It is a good drink, if a man might but tarry 
 by it.' " 
 
 Attended by the dean of Westminster, he fol- 
 lowed two sheriffs to the scaffold in tlie old palace 
 yard near the Parliament House. He bowed to 
 the crowd of persons present, among whom he 
 saw several of his distinguished friends. Noticing 
 a venerable, bald-headed old man standing near, 
 he took from under his hat a night-cap of cut 
 lace, and threw it to him, saying, "You need 
 this, my friend, more than I do." 
 
 He ascended the scaffold with a cheerful 
 countenance, but with the air of one whose 
 body was enfeebled by sickness, and out of 
 breath by pushing through the crowd. In that 
 crowd he was pleased to see numbers of the 
 most distinguished commoners and noblemen of 
 the realm standing or sitting on horseback. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 257 
 
 Sentence being proclaimed, Sir Walter began 
 his farewell speech, for which he had been so 
 anxious to have the opportunity of delivering. 
 He found it difficult to raise his voice to a pitch 
 sufficient to be heard by the whole assembly, and 
 particularly by his friends, the Earls of Arundel, 
 Oxford, and Northampton, who stood in the bal- 
 cony. "I have had fits of ague for these two 
 days," he said; "if, therefore, you perceive any 
 weakness in me, ascribe it to my sickness rather 
 than to myself. I am infinitely bound to God 
 that he hath vouchsafed me to die in the sight of 
 so noble an assembly, and not in darkness in 
 that Tower, where I have suffered so much ad- 
 versity and a long sickness. I thank God that 
 my fever hath not taken me at this time, as I 
 prayed to God it might not." 
 
 He then devoted his attention to the noblemen 
 in the balcony, and said that he was afraid he 
 could not make himself heard by them. Where- 
 upon they said, ''We will come down to you." 
 He sat down while they were making their way 
 to him. They came directly to where he sat, and 
 17 
 
258 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 shook hands with him heartily and long. He 
 then arose, and said : 
 
 "There are two main points which, as I con- 
 ceive, have hastened my coming thither, of which 
 his majesty hath been informed against me. The 
 first, that I had some practice with France. And 
 the reason which his majesty had so to believe 
 was, first, for that when I came to Plymouth, I 
 had a desire in a small bark to have passed to 
 Rochelle, and after^ because the French agent 
 came to my house here in London. But as ever 
 I hope to see God or to have any benefit or com- 
 fort by the passion of my Savior, I never had any 
 practice with the French king or his embassador 
 or agent; neither had I any intelligence from 
 thence; neither did I ever see the French king's 
 hand or seal as some report [asserting that], I 
 had a commission from him at sea; neither, as I 
 have a soul to save, did I know of the French 
 agent's coming to my house till I saw him in my 
 gallery. It is not now a time either to fear or 
 fla ""er kings. I am now the subject of death, and 
 the great God of heaven is my sovereign, before 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 259 
 
 whose tribunal-seat I am shortly to appear. And, 
 therefore, have a charitable conceit of me. To 
 swear [falsely] is an offense; to swear falsely at 
 any time is a great sin. So to call God to witness 
 an untruth is a sin above measure sinful. But to 
 do it at the hour of one's death, in the presence 
 of Almighty God, before whom one is forthwith 
 to appear, were the greatest madness and sin 
 that could be possible. 
 
 ''The other matter alleged against me," con- 
 tinued Raleigh, ''is that I should have spoken 
 some disloyal, dishonest, and dishonorable words 
 of the king. Mine accuser is a runagate French- 
 man, who, having run over the face of the earth, 
 hath no abiding-place. This fellow, because he 
 had a merry wit, and some small skill in chemical 
 medicine, I entertained rather for his taste than 
 his judgment. He perjured himself at Salisbury, 
 revealing that, the next day, the contrary of 
 which he vowed to me the day before. But by 
 the same protestation I have already made, and as 
 I hope for my inheritance in heaven, I did never 
 speak any disloyal, dishonorable, or dishonest 
 
2 6o Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 words of the king. If I did, tlie Lord blot me 
 out of the book of life. Nay, I will protest fur- 
 ther that I never thought such evil of hira in my 
 heart; and therefore it seemeth somewhat strange 
 that such a base fellow should receive credit. 
 Touching Sir Lewis Stukeley, he is my country- 
 man and kinsman, and I have this morning taken 
 the sacrament with Master Dean, and I have for- 
 given both Stukeley and the Frenchman. Yet thus 
 much, I think, I am bound in charity to speak 
 of it, that others may take warning how they 
 trust such men. Sir Lewis Stukeley hath testified 
 before tlie lords that I told him my Lord Carew 
 sent me word to get me gone, when I first landed. 
 I protest, upon my salvation, neither did my Lord 
 Carew send me any such word, neither did I tell 
 Stukeley any such matter. He accused me, again, 
 that I should tell him that my Lord Carew and 
 my Lord Doncaster would meet me in France, 
 which was never my speech nor my thought. 
 Thirdly, he accused me that I showed him, in a 
 letter, that I would give him ten thousand pounds 
 for my escape. I never made him offer of ten 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 261 
 
 thousand pounds, or one thousand pounds. If I 
 liad had half so much, I could have done better 
 with it. I did show him in a letter that if he 
 would go with me his debts should be paid when 
 he was gone. For, as to my seeking escape, I 
 can not deny it. I had advertisement that it 
 would go hard with me. I desired to save my 
 life. And as for that I did feign myself sick at 
 Salisbury, and by art made my body fall of blis- 
 ters, to put off the time of coming before the 
 council, I hope it was no sin. The prophet 
 David, a man after God's own heart, did feign 
 himself mad, and let the spittle fall down on his 
 beard. I find not that recorded as a fault in 
 David, and I hope God will never lay it to my 
 charge. I hoped by delay to gain time for ob- 
 taining my pardon. 
 
 ** But Sir Lewis Stukeley did me a further 
 injury, which I am very sensible of, howsoever it 
 seem not to concern myself. In my going up to 
 London, we lodged at Sir Edward Parham's 
 house. He is an ancient friend and follower of 
 mine, whose lady is my cousin-german. There 
 
262 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Stukeley made it to be suggested unto me, and 
 himself told me, he thought I had some poison 
 given me. I know it grieves the gendeman there 
 should be such a conceit held. And as for the 
 cook who was suspected, having been once my 
 servant, I know he would go a thousand miles to 
 do me good. 
 
 "For my going to Guiana, many thought I 
 never intended it, but intended to gain my lib- 
 erty, — which I would I had been so wise as to 
 have kept. But, as I shall answer it before the 
 same God before whom I am shortly to appear, I 
 endeavored, and I hoped, to have enriched the 
 "king, myself, and my partners. But I was un- 
 done by Keymis, a willful fellow, who, seeing my 
 son slain, and myself unpardoned, would not 
 open the mine, and killed himself. 
 
 *'It was also told the king that I was brought 
 by force to England, and that I did not intend to 
 come back again. I protest that when the voyage 
 succeeded not, and that I resolved to come home, 
 my company mutinied against me. They fortified 
 the gun-room against me, and kept me within my 
 
Pioneer op American Colonization. 263 
 
 own cabin; and would not be satisfied except I 
 would take a corporal oath not to bring them 
 into England until I had gotten the pardons of 
 four of them, — there being four men unpardoned. 
 So I took that oath. And we came into Ireland, 
 where they would have landed in the north parts. 
 But I would not, because there the inhabitants 
 were all Redshanks. So we came to the South, 
 hoping from thence to write to his majesty for 
 their pardons. In the mean time I offered to 
 send them to places in Devon or Cornwall, to lie 
 safe till they had been pardoned. 
 
 '' I am glad that my Lord of Arundel is here; 
 for, when I came down to my ship, his lordship 
 and divers others were with me. At the parting 
 salutation, his lordship took me aside, and desired 
 me freely and faithfully to resolve to him one re- 
 quest, which was, whether I made a good voyage 
 or bad, yet I should return again into England. 
 I made you," turning to Lord Arundel, who was 
 on the scaffold, "a promise, and gave you my 
 faith, that I would." 
 
 Lord Arundel responded: ''And so you did. 
 
264 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 It is true that they were were the last words I 
 spake unto you." 
 
 After a few desultory remarks on various un- 
 important matters, Sir Walter concluded : 
 
 "I will yet borrow a little time of Master 
 Sheriffs, to speak of one thing more. It doth 
 make my heart bleed to hear such an imputation 
 laid upon me. It was said that I was a perse- 
 cutor of my Lord of Essex, and that I stood in a 
 window over against him when he suffered, and 
 puffed out tobacco in disdain of him. I take my 
 God to witness that my eyes shed tears for him 
 when he died. And, as I hope to look in the 
 face of God hereafter, my Lord of Essex did not 
 see my face when he suffered. I was far off in 
 the Armory when I saw him, but he saw not me. 
 And now my soul hath been many times grieved 
 that I was not near with him when he died, be- 
 cause I have understood that he asked for me at 
 his death, to be reconciled to me. I confess I 
 was of a contrary faction. But I knew that my 
 Lord of Essex was a noble gentleman, and that 
 it would be worse with me when he was gone; 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 265 
 
 for tliose that did set me up against him did after- 
 ward set themselves against me." 
 
 He closed with an earnest prayer for the 
 divine mercy and blessing. 
 
 He then asked the people present to pray 
 for him : 
 
 "And now I entreat you all to join with me 
 in prayer to the Great God of Heaven, whom I 
 have grievously offended. I have many, many 
 sins for which to beseech God's pardon. Of a 
 long time my course was a course of vanity. I 
 have been a seafaring man, a soldier, and a 
 courtier, and the temptations of the least of 
 these overthrow a good mind and a good man. 
 I die in the faith as professed by the Church of 
 England. I hope to be saved and have my sins 
 washed away by the precious blood and merits 
 of our Savior, Christ.'' 
 
 Proclamation was now made for all persons to 
 leave the scaffold. Sir Walter then threw off his 
 cloak. His hat and some mogey he gave to his 
 attendants. He then bade farewell to his friends 
 around him. He asked Lord Arundel to entreat 
 
266 Sir Walt^pr Raleigh. 
 
 the king to allow no calumnious publications 
 against his character when he was gone. 
 
 "I have a long journey to go," he said, ''and 
 must therefore speedily take my leave." Taking 
 off his gown and doublet, he presented himself as 
 ready to the executioner. 
 
 He then asked to see the ax. The execu- 
 tioner, bewildered, hesitated, until he asked the 
 second time. He felt the blade to test its sharp- 
 ness, and kissed it, saying, "This gives me no 
 fear. It is a sharp and fair medicine to cure me 
 of all my diseases." He then said, ''When I 
 stretch forth my hands, dispatch me." 
 
 He then saluted the assembly around him, and 
 said, "Give me your prayers." He then kneeled 
 for the last prayer. 
 
 The executioner asked which way he would 
 have his head directed. He answered, "If the 
 heart be right, it were no matter which way the 
 head was laid." The executioner turned his face 
 to the east as he laid his head upon the bloclc, 
 and threw over his body his cloak. In a moment 
 the hand was raised, as a signal for the stroke. 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 267 
 
 But the man trembled and hesitated. "What 
 dost thou fear?" cried Sir Walter. ''Strike, man, 
 strike." The ax fell twice, and the head dropped 
 upon the stage, and all was over. 
 
 The head was lifted, shown to the crowd, and 
 then deposited in a red leather bag. That and 
 the body, enveloped in Sir Walter's cloak, were 
 conveyed in a coach to the house of Lady Ra- 
 leigh. By her the head was embalmed, and kept 
 in a case while she lived, and then left to her 
 son Carew, who at his death requested that it 
 should be buried in the same grave with himself. 
 
 The body was interred in the chancel of St. 
 Margaret's Church in Westminster. There now 
 the traveler will read on a tablet of brass, re- 
 placing in 1845 one of wood, this inscription 
 probably copied from the original : 
 
 "Within the chancel of this church was interred 
 the body of the great Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 on the day he was beheaded in Old Palace 
 Yard, Westminster, October 29, 161 8. 
 Reader, should you reflect on his errors, remem- 
 ber his many virtues, and that he was a 
 mortal." 
 
268 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 In his Bible at the gate-house these truthful 
 and touching lines were found : 
 
 "Even such is time that takes on trust 
 Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 
 And pays us but with age and dust; 
 Who in the dark and silent grave, 
 When we have wandered all our ways, 
 Shuts up the story of our days ! 
 But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
 The Lord shall raise me up, I trust." 
 
 The popular sympathy with Raleigh w^s mani- 
 fested by the promiscuous crowd that came to the 
 execution. In that assembly were Sir John Eliot 
 and John Hampden, whose resistance to the ar- 
 bitrary acts of Charles I has made them immor- 
 tal. From that hour the writings of Raleigh were 
 text-books to the English patriots, who sought to 
 limit the prerogatives of the crown, and to en 
 large the liberties of the subject. 
 
 The sad story of Raleigh's fate was the topic 
 of conversation in every circle in England, and 
 in every court in Europe. At St. Paul's Church, 
 where noblemen, merchants, and professional men 
 were wont to congregate twice a day for conver- 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 269 
 
 sation and business communication, a leading 
 merchant of London, Mr. Edward Weimark, 
 speaking of the Secretary of State, Sir Robert 
 Naunton, said he wished that Sir Walter Raleigh's 
 head were on his shoulders. This remark was 
 reported to the privy council, and Weimark was 
 called to account for it. He admitted the re- 
 mark, but said it only meant that two heads 
 were better than one. Not long after subscrip- 
 tions were taken at the council chamber for St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, and Weimark subscribed one 
 hundred pounds; but on the Secretary's remark- 
 ing significandy that two hundred were better 
 than one, he thought it prudent for him to double 
 his subscription. 
 
 The enemies of Raleigh were obnoxious to the 
 popular dislike. Manourie was treated with con- 
 tempt, and Sir Lewis Stukeley was repelled from 
 respectable society. One day his office as vice- 
 admiral of Devon brought him to the house of 
 Lord Charles Howard. He was met by the earl 
 with an outburst of indignation. " Barest thou 
 to come into, my presence, thou base fellow, who 
 
270 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 art reputed the common scorn and contempt of all 
 men? Were it not in my own house, I would 
 cudgel thee with my staff for presuming to speak 
 to me." Stukeley complained to the king of this 
 treatment. "What should I do with him?" said 
 James. "Hang him? On my sawle, mon, if I 
 hang all that spoke ill of thee, all the trees in 
 the island were too few." Not a year had 
 elapsed before Stukeley was detected in debas- 
 ing the king's coin in the Whitehall Palace, and 
 was condemned to be hung. The sentence was 
 commuted for confiscation of most his possessions. 
 He then took refuge at his countr3^-seat in Affton; 
 but being every-where scorned by poor and rich, 
 his life was a burden, and he fled to the litde 
 island of Lundy, sixteen miles off the coast of 
 Devon, and there, in less than two years, in 
 the old ruined "Moresco Castle," he died, a 
 wretched, heart-broken man. 
 
 The king found it necessary by the prosti- 
 tuted but plausible pen of Bacon to pubHsh an 
 apology for his treatment of Raleigh, entitled, 
 "A Declaration of the Demeanor and Carriage 
 
Pioneer of American Colonization. 271 
 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh," in which are some pal- 
 pable contradictions and perversions of the facts 
 in the case. The curse of God rested upon that 
 mean and cowardly king, and upon his family, 
 culminating in the beheading of Charles I, and 
 the final extinction of the royal house of the 
 Stuarts. 
 
 Lady Raleigh survived her noble husband 
 twenty-nine years. Her son Carew, who was 
 thirteen years of age at his father's death, vindi- 
 cated the characier of his father in a treatise, en- 
 titled, '^ Brief Relations of Sir Walter Raleigh's 
 Troubles.'^ He was highly educated, and pos- 
 sessed of more than ordinary literary genius. He 
 failed to recover his father's forfeited estate of 
 Sherbourne, but became possessed of an ample 
 fortune by marriage. At his death he requested 
 to be buried in his father's grave. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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