THE TRIAL
Arrival of James VI. of Scotland--Ralegh in immediate
disfavour--Gondomar comments on James--Ralegh accused of
treason--Cobham and Brooke--Ralegh attempts suicide--
Cobham's retractions--November 17--And the trial's infamy.
Slowly King James moved on his royal progress to London to the
acclamation of the people of all the towns through which he passed. "The
Council of State and the Nobility, no doubt assisted with the Spirit of
Truth, considering the infallible right of our Sovereign Lord, King
James, took such order that the news of the Queen's death should no
sooner be spread to deject the hearts of the people, but, at the
instant, they should be comforted with the Proclaiming of the King." The
people were intoxicated with the prospect of the new king coming
peaceably to reign over the kingdom, for the fear of a civil war had
been imminent and universal. The country burst into a salvo of welcome;
a new era of peace and prosperity was to be inaugurated. Scotland now
joined to England lessened the fear of invasion. "They now began duly to
think upon his unmatched virtues, which never the most malicious enemy
could impeach ... they now considered his affability mercy justice and
magnanimity." The hopes of every party ran high. The Catholics knew that
he was inclined towards friendliness; the Churchmen felt sure that they
who had been chief instigators in bringing him to the throne of
England, could rely upon his support. The Puritans had heard of his
godliness and his tolerance to their views. Each vied with the other in
sounding the praises of the new King. "But our King coming through the
North," writes Mr. Arthur Wilson, "(Banquetting and Feasting by the way)
the applause of the people in so obsequious and submissive a manner
(still admiring change) was checkt by an honest plain Scotsman ... with
a propheticall expression. _This people will spoil a gud King._ The King
as unused, so tired with multitudes, especially in his Huntinge (which
he did as he went) caused an inhibition to be published, to restrain his
people from hunting him. Happily being fearful of so great a concourse,
as this novelty produced, the old hatred betwixt the Borderers not yet
forgotten, might make him apprehend it to be of a greater extent: though
it was generally imputed to a desire of enjoying his recreations without
interruption."
Few kings have received such a welcome; few kings have proved themselves
so unworthy as the event proved James. But the prestige of his welcome
and his rescue from the Gunpowder Plot hid his true character for many
years from the people under the obscuring cloud of sentiment.
"Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits
Sets all to hazard."
Every one connected with the Court and Court appointments hastened to
meet him and win his good will: and James was lavish in his treatment.
He created innumerable knights, and raised so many to the peerage that
"some unhappy fancy pasted up a Pasquil in Pauls, wherein he pretended
an art to help weak memories to a competent knowledge of the names of
the Nobility." Sir Robert Cecil was created Baron of Essingdon and soon
after Viscount Cranborn and Earl of Salisbury. Lord Henry Howard was
made Earl of Northampton.
During the Queen's last illness Ralegh was in Devonshire. Directly he
heard of the news of her death he hastened with Sir Robert Cross to pay
his respects to the new sovereign. Cecil advised him to spare himself
the trouble; but he did not listen to Cecil's advice. He came to the
King at Burghley House, trusting in his power to impress himself
favourably upon the King. But James had been too carefully primed
against him. Old Aubrey's gossip bears the stamp of truth; it is so
characteristic of James, that he should have met the great Ralegh with a
pun upon his name--"I have heard but rawly of thee." Ralegh spoke with
James about business connected with the Duchy of Cornwall; he wanted a
royal letter authorizing the continuance of legal process, and a warrant
to stop "the waste of woods and parks" which he said was due to Lord
Treasurer Buckhurst's heedlessness. James listened, and gave
instructions to his secretary, Sir Thomas Lake, to write the necessary
letters as quickly as possible, that he might be rid of the man whom he
feared and disliked. "Let them be delivered speedily that Ralegh may be
gone again."
James was not slow in compassing Ralegh's downfall. Two weeks passed by
and Ralegh was summoned to the Council Chamber, where the Lord President
informed him that James no longer desired his services as Captain of the
Guard; that the honour had been conferred upon the King's countryman,
Sir Thomas Erskine, to whom Ralegh was bidden to hand all appurtenances
of the office.
Ralegh had increased James's dislike of him by suggesting that articles
should be framed which should prevent the King's countrymen from
devouring the kingdom like locusts. The advisability of such a measure
became manifest to all later, when it was too late. Naturally the first
man to suffer was Ralegh himself. But the indignity was glossed
over--not for Ralegh's sake so much as to hinder unpleasant gossip about
the new appointment--by increasing Ralegh's salary as Governor of Jersey
by three hundred pounds per annum. Ralegh's loss was directly due to
Cecil, to whom James had given the disposal of the office, and who
gained new favour with James by electing a Scotchman. For seven weeks
Ralegh enjoyed the added emolument.
His last interview with James took place at Beddington Park, in Surrey,
which was the seat of his uncle, Sir Nicolas Carew. There Ralegh,
anxious to prove his loyalty to the King, gave him his "Discourse
touching a War with Spain, and of the protecting of the Netherlands,"
and offered to carry on his enterprises against Spain (he always had his
great Guiana scheme in the front of his mind) by offering "to carry two
thousand men to invade him without the King's charge." He could not have
made a more inauspicious suggestion to the timorous James; but Ralegh
did not realize how the King was influenced against him to such an
extent that he would be quick to think that the man who could raise so
many men to fight the Spaniard, could at less expense raise them to
fight his own Majesty. Moreover, James, from no high motives, but merely
from terror at the sight even of a drawn sword, hated war and fighting
of any kind, and distrusted, as is shown by his choice of favourites,
the quality of bravery in others. All Ralegh's grip of a situation, his
clearness of exposition, his courage would be against him in a
conference with James. The standard by which a man was judged had
changed, now that the great Queen was in her grave. The clever Gondomar
summed James up to a nicety when he wrote, without any need (for once)
of diplomacy, "James has a vanity so enormous that, in order to make him
play his adversary's game, you have simply to let James believe that it
is from himself that the adversary has learnt to know how to play." His
favourites were men who were more adroit in the use of poison than in
the use of the sword. It is easy to imagine what were the feelings of
James as Ralegh propounded his masterly exposition of the Spanish
situation, and offered his own services. There would be something
burlesque in this interview between the brave man and the coward, if
absolute power of life and death were not in the hands of the coward,
and if the coward had not already determined to use his power to the
detriment of the brave man.
The carefully planned toils were closing round Ralegh. Copley was
arrested in Sussex, and in consequence of his first examination, which
was dated July 12, George Brooke was arrested two days afterwards, and
orders were given for the arrest of Lord Grey and Sir Griffin Markham.
On the 14th or 15th, Cobham, George Brooke's brother, was examined by
the Council. They were accused of complicity with the "Treason of the
Priests." Now, treason at that time was formidable, and it was necessary
to treat it in a summary fashion. In every nation there must be a large
number of discontented people who would combine if there was a man of
sufficient influence to lead them in any way; very little was known in
spite of spies; man dealt with man; there was no proper way of gauging
public opinion; a spark might set all the disaffected into a dangerous
fire. Now discontent is aired in the newspapers; every one can read
what happens in Parliament. Treason is no longer a thing to dread. But
then it was a constant danger, and the least suspicion of treasonable
practices was sufficient to condemn a man to a death of horrible
ignominy. Justice was swift but not unerring. A man had not only to keep
clear of treason, but must have the wit to avoid even the suspicion. It
is easy to see how the power thus put into the hands of the Government,
though such power was essential to its safety and the welfare of the
citizens, could be abused. And there is probably no instance in history
where its abuse is more conspicuous than in the treatment of Ralegh.
Cecil feared Ralegh; James feared Ralegh. There is nothing so
unscrupulous, nothing so dangerous and so cruel as fear. The world lay
obscured by the dark cloud of Time and of Space; and terrible scope was
given to fear by the insuperable darkness.
The suspected man was shut up alone, and a Bishop or a Judge or a
Councillor was told off to examine him; and the man knew quite well that
his answers might be made more satisfactory by the help of the rack, and
that his examiner would earn reward and distinction by discovering
treason and his associates in treason. The promise, too, of a pardon was
often dangled before his eyes to loosen his tongue. Such promises were
not often kept. Brooke implicated Cobham, and Cobham implicated Ralegh.
George Brooke, Cobham's brother, was a light-hearted fellow, who was
drawn into listening to the priest's conspiracy, because he had been
disappointed of some small office upon which he had set his heart. To
Bishop Bancroft was assigned the task of examining him. Large rewards
were offered the Bishop if he were successful in finding out the
details of the conspiracy. "The only way to procure favour is to open
all that possibly you can" were the words with which the good Bishop
began his inquiry. And gradually he played upon the fears and hopes of
the prisoner to such an extent that the wretched man burst into a kind
of rapture of confession, stating all he knew and all he imagined to be
fact, about the treason against King James. Day after day the
examination was continued relentlessly; statements made by other
prisoners, or said to have been made, were told him; lists of written
questions were given him. It would have taken a man of extraordinary
strength and control to have kept his balance under such circumstances.
George Brooke was a very ordinary man. On July 17 he said: "The
conspirators among themselves thought Sir Walter Ralegh a fit man to be
of the action." The good Bishop did not leave such an important
statement undeveloped; under his careful management the statement by the
end of August had grown; Brooke was ready to swear that Ralegh and
Cobham had resolved to kill the King and his cubs.
Cobham, too, was examined in the same relentless manner. He was a little
stronger than his brother, George Brooke, but no match for the
examiners. He began by steadfastly denying everything; his nerves,
however, could not bear the terrible suspense. He had been suddenly
removed to solitary confinement; the horror of a dreadful death loomed
over him. He did not know who might be arrested, who might desire his
death. At length some of the confessions of his brother were disclosed
to him; but the examiners named Ralegh, not Brooke, as the authority;
and Cobham, knowing that Ralegh must have invented or guessed at such
things, broke into an outcry of disgust (who can blame him!), "Oh
traitor, oh villain! I will now tell you all the truth." And he said
that he had never entered into these courses but by Ralegh's
instigation, and that Ralegh would never let him alone. It was very
cleverly done by the examiner. Cobham was led into confessing, helped by
questions from George Brooke's statements, that "he had conferred with
Arenberg about procuring 500,000 or 600,000 crowns from the King of
Spain; and that nothing should be done with the money until he had
spoken with Sir Walter Ralegh, for distribution of the money to them
which were discontented in England." Then part of a letter from Ralegh
to Cecil--for Cecil knew much of the intercourse between Arenberg and
England in his official capacity--was shown to Cobham, in which it was
written, "If da Renzy were not secured, the matter would not be
discovered, for da Renzy would fly; yet if he were then apprehended, it
would give matter of suspicion to Lord Cobham." Naturally Cobham,
reading such words at the moment when they were shown him, constructed
them into his death sentence, and broke out into fury of denunciation
sufficient for the bad purpose of the examiners--to close the net round
Ralegh. Lord Henry Howard justly remarks in his "Adversaria," "It is an
old observation of jugglers to make others give fire to the piece after
they themselves have charged it, and thereby put them into the peril of
recoil or breaking, if any mischief follow." Lord Henry Howard may be
taken as an authority on this subject.
Immediately after Cobham's outbreak, Ralegh was arrested and sent to the
Tower, to await the slow, strange process of justice. His arrest took
place at the beginning of August. Almost immediately the Government of
Jersey was transferred to Sir John Peyton, Governor of the Tower. James
in his grant stated that the post was forfeited by Sir Walter Ralegh
through the grievous treason against the Crown. With the King thus
quickly convinced of his guilt, Ralegh knew that he had small chance of
proving his innocence. Dismay came upon him and despair. His hopes fell
from a great height and were broken. Suddenly shut closely in by four
stone walls, he was obliged to wait the slow approach of an ignominious
death--a death which would involve the ruin of his family, and the
immediate disgrace of his name. He was a man of action; he could not sit
and do nothing but think. Despair brought madness to him; he tried to
kill himself in a fit of impotent despair. This is the way in which
Cecil, once Ralegh's friend, writes of 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 Ralegh 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 bear his
misfortune, and protesting innocency, with carelessness of life. In that
humour he had wounded himself under the right pap, but no way mortally;
being in truth rather a cut than a stab."
On August 13, Ralegh was examined about Cobham's negotiations with
Arenberg. His statement was: "Lord Cobham offered me 10,000 crowns of
the money, for the furthering of the Peace between England and Spain;
and he said that I should have it within three days. I told him, 'When I
see the money I will make you an answer.' For I thought it one of his
ordinary idle conceits, and therefore made no account thereof. But this
was as I think before Count Arenberg's coming over." And in a letter
written to the Lords of the Council a few days after this examination,
in which he proclaims his innocence of any treasonable practice, he
breaks out, after enumerating his exploits against Spain, in bitterness
at the irony of the charge. "Alas, to what end should we live in the
world if all the endeavours of so many testimonies shall be blown off
with one blast of breath, or be prevented by one man's charge."
Lord Cobham had made several retractions of his outburst against Ralegh,
both at Ralegh's instigation and on his own initiative. Sir George
Harvey, the Governor of the Tower, was discreet enough to keep back the
latter retraction until one month after the trial, when he showed Cecil
a letter in which Cobham wrote of his accusation, "God is my wittness,
it doth troble my contiens." Terror had unhinged Cobham's mind, he
accused Ralegh and retracted his accusations in such a way that one
retraction more or less mattered little; Sir George Harvey's sense of
duty, however, is significant.
The indictment was drawn up at Staines on the 21st of September. Three
months were allowed to elapse before the trial took place. Meanwhile,
Sir Francis Godolphin, High Sheriff of Cornwall, was authorized to take
the muster of the county, "the Commission of Lieutenancy granted to Sir
Walter Ralegh being become void and determined." In October Arenberg
left England for Flanders, overwhelmed with evidence of the King's
favour. The plague was raging in London, and accordingly the trial was
to be held at Winchester. Sir William Waad was ordered to bring Sir
Walter Ralegh to Wolvesey Castle--the episcopal palace of Winchester.
Waad wrote to Cecil, "It was hob or nob whether Ralegh should have been
brought alive through such multitudes of unruly people as did exclaim
against him. We took the best order we could in setting watches through
the streets, both in London and the suburbs. If one hare-brain fellow
amongst so great multitudes had begun to set upon him--as they were very
near to do it--no entreaty or means could have prevailed; the fury and
tumult of the people was so great." Ralegh was driven in his own
carriage; he faced the mob with disdain.
On the 17th of November the trial began; and the after comment of one of
"these my judges" was true: "That trial injured and degraded the justice
of England." The Commissioners were eleven in number: Thomas Howard,
Earl of Suffolk, who had fought with Ralegh at Cadiz; Charles Blount,
Earl of Devonshire; Lord Henry Howard; Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury;
Edward, Lord Wotton of Morley; Sir William Waad; Sir John Stanhope,
Vice-Chamberlain; the Lord Chief Justice of England, Popham; the Lord
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Anderson; Mr. Justice Gawdie and Mr.
Justice Warburton. Coke, as Attorney-General, conducted the prosecution,
and was assisted by Serjeant Hale. The Clerk of the Crown Office, having
read the commission of Oyer and Terminer, the prisoner was bidden to
hold up his hand, and then the indictment was read, the gist of which is
as follows:--
That he did conspire and go about to deprive the King of his government,
to raise up sedition within the realm, to alter religion, to bring in
the Roman superstition, and to procure foreign enemies to invade the
kingdom. That the Lord Cobham, the 9th of June last, did meet with the
said Sir Walter Ralegh, in Durham House, and then and there had
conference with him how to advance Arabella Stuart to the crown and
royal throne of this kingdom. And that then and there it was agreed
that Cobham should treat with Arenberg, ambassador from the Archduke of
Austria, to obtain of him 600,000 crowns to bring to pass their intended
treason. It was agreed that Cobham should go to the Archduke Albert to
procure him to advance the pretended title of Arabella. From thence,
knowing that Albert had not sufficient means to maintain his own army in
the Low Countries, Cobham should go to Spain, to procure the king to
assist and further her pretended title. It was agreed, the better to
effect all this conspiracy, that Arabella should write three letters,
one to the Archduke, another to the King of Spain, and a third to the
Duke of Savoy, and promise three things--
First.--To establish a firm peace between England and Spain.
Secondly.--To tolerate the popish and Roman superstition.
Thirdly.--To be ruled by them in contracting of her marriage.
And further, that Cobham and his brother Brooke met on the 9th of June
last, and Cobham told Brooke all these treasons; to the which treasons
Brooke gave his assent and did join himself to all these. And after, on
the Thursday following, Cobham and Brooke did speak these words, _that
there would never be a good world in England till the King_ (meaning our
sovereign lord) _and his cubs_ (meaning the royal issue) _were taken
away_.
And the more to disable and deprive the King of his crown, and to
confirm the said Cobham in his intents Ralegh did publish a book falsely
written against the most just and royal title of the King, which book
Cobham after that received of him, and did deliver unto Brooke. And
further by the traitorous instigation of Ralegh, Cobham did incite
Brooke to move Arabella to write to the three forenamed princes to
procure them to advance her title. Further, Cobham, by the instigation
of Ralegh did write letters to the Count Arenberg for the obtaining of
the 600,000 crowns, which money by other letters Count Arenberg did
promise to perform the payment of. And then did Cobham promise to Ralegh
that when he had received the said money he would deliver 8000 crowns to
him.
[Illustration: COUNT ARENBERGH]
To the indictment Sir Walter Ralegh pleaded NOT GUILTY. Sir Walter
Ralegh was then asked whether he would take exception to any of the
jury; and he made answer, "I know none of them; they are all Christians
and honest gentlemen. I except against none." He did not know that the
original jurymen had been changed; he did not know that the names of
three near servants to the Queen Elizabeth had been erased from the
panel overnight, being thought unsuitable for their purpose.
_Earl Suffolk._--You, gentlemen of the King's learned counsel follow the
same course as you did the other day.
_Ralegh._--My lord, I pray you I may answer the points particularly as
they are delivered, by reason of the weakness of my memory and sickness.
_Lord Chief Justice Popham._--After the King's learned counsel have
delivered all the evidence, Sir Walter, you may answer particularly to
what you will.
Then spake the King's Serjeant at Law, by name Hele; of this man Edwards
points out that "he was more notable as a brawler and a buffoon--and
also as a moneylender, in which capacity he hoped to win a very large
stake by the ruin of Lord Cobham--than as a lawyer." The tone of his
short speech may be gathered from this typical sentence at the
conclusion. "It appears that Cobham took Ralegh to be either a god or
an idol. Cobham endeavours to set up a new king, or governor: God forbid
mine eyes should ever see so unhappy a change! As for the Lady Arabella,
she, upon my conscience hath no more title to the crown than I have,
which before God I utterly renounce. Cobham, a man bred in England, hath
no experience abroad; but Ralegh, a man of great wit, military and a
swordman. Now whether these things were bred in a hollow tree, I leave
to them to speak of, who can speak far better than myself."
Sir Edward Coke, the King's Attorney, then rose to his feet. It is well
to remember that it was Coke's business, as the King's Attorney, to
prove Ralegh guilty of treason, and that as he had almost no evidence in
his support, his business was one of extreme difficulty. Cobham's
accusation was his only evidence, and that must be used with caution,
owing to Cobham's retractations. The trial was of the utmost importance;
his professional reputation was at stake; the very difficulty put him on
his mettle. He rose magnificently to the occasion. With such evidence at
his disposal he could not quietly prove Ralegh's guilt. His chief
weapons were the appeal to the jury's loyalty and abuse of the
prisoner--especially abuse, by which he hoped to brow-beat him. His
speech was long and learned. He began by dividing the mischief of
treason into three divisions--imitation, supportation, and defence, and
by enlarging upon the main conspiracy of the priests Watson and Copley,
with which, as Ralegh pointed out, he was in no way connected, even in
the indictment. Undeterred, Coke continued his oration. He gave
instances of treason, he defined treason at length, and then he suddenly
began to praise the character of King James, and, turning angrily to
Ralegh, exclaimed: "To whom Sir Walter did you bear malice? To the royal
children?" To which Ralegh answered: "Master Attorney, 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 me news. What is the
treason of Markham and the priests to me?"
_Coke._ "I will then come close to you. I will prove you to be the most
notorious traitor that ever came to the bar."
_Ralegh._ "Your words cannot condemn me; my innocency is my defence.
_Prove_ against me any one thing of the many that you have broken, and I
will confess all the Indictment, and that I am the most horrible traitor
that ever lived."
_Coke._ "Nay I will prove all. Thou art a monster; thou hast an English
face, but a Spanish heart."
Then Coke proceeded to give a minute account of Cobham's plots in such a
way that, as Edwards notes, only the most unprejudiced and attentive
listener would fail to be trapped into thinking that he was relating the
plots of Ralegh. The device was clever, but it was unscrupulous. Ralegh,
in spite of his recent imprisonment and his imminent danger, remained
master of himself and of the situation. He withstood Coke's implications
as resolutely as he withstood Coke's abuse. "What is that to me?" he
asked the Court, after Coke had ended his clever recital of Cobham's
practices. "What is that to me? I do not hear yet that you have spoken
one word against _me_. Here is no treason of mine done. If my Lord
Cobham be a traitor, what is that to me?"
At this the King's Attorney broke into savage abuse. "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."
But Ralegh was not to be inveigled into losing his presence of mind by
Coke's insults, as Coke, of course, knowing Ralegh's temperament,
intended him to do. Never did Ralegh show greater proof of his power
than at this his trial, when circumstances were pressing most hardly
upon him; he answered--there is the suavity of strength in his
answer--"No, no, Master Attorney, I am no traitor. Whether I live or die
I shall stand as true a subject as ever the King hath. _You_ may call me
a traitor, at your pleasure; yet it becomes not a man of quality or
virtue to do so. But I take comfort in it. It is all that you can do,
for I do not yet hear that you charge me with any treason."
The Lord Chief Justice Popham was here obliged to come to the help of
the King's Attorney, who was finding the case more difficult than he
expected. It was important that the people present, by whom the news of
the trial would be spread through England, should not be impressed in
the prisoner's favour. He said, realizing that Coke's last _coup_ had
been a failure: "Sir Walter Ralegh, Master Attorney speaks out of the
zeal of his duty for the service of the King, and you for your life; be
patient, on both sides."
Then Coke proceeded: "I charge Sir Walter Ralegh with contriving and
conspiring all this that I have recited. And now I will read my proofs
for it." He did so. That is to say, he read the most incriminating of
the confessions which the distraught Lord Cobham had made. While Coke
read this Declaration, there was silence in the hall--certainly a
haunting silence. Then Ralegh spoke. "This is absolutely all the
evidence that can be brought against me. But now I beseech you, hear
me. I was examined at Windsor touching the Surprising Treason; next of
plotting for Arabella; thirdly of practices with the Lord Cobham. From
all which God knows I was free, for I never was privy to any of them. It
is true that I suspected that the Lord Cobham kept intelligence with
D'Arenberg. For I knew that long since--in the late Queen's time--he
held that course with him in the Low Countries, as was well known to my
Lord Treasurer, and to my Lord Cecil. La Renzi being a man also well
known to me, I, seeing him and the Lord Cobham together, thought that
was the time they both had been to Count D'Arenberg. I gave intimation
thereof. But I was willed by my Lord Cecil not to speak of this; because
the King, at the first coming of D'Arenbergh, would not give him
occasion of suspicion. Wherefore I wrote to the Lord Cecil that if La
Renzi were not taken, the matter would not be discovered. Yet if he were
then apprehended, it would give matter of suspicion to the Lord Cobham.
This letter of mine being presently showed to the Lord Cobham, he
presently entered into a rage against me and spake bitterly and
railingly of me; yet ere he came to the stairs'-foot, he repented him,
and, as I heard, acknowledged that he had done me wrong."
Ralegh paused: up till now he had been speaking to the Court and to the
jury, quietly replying to the charges that had been brought against him.
Now he turned to Sir Edward Coke, the King's Attorney, and made this
speech, magnificent in its effect even in the version of the reporter,
even after more than three hundred years, now when no one feels anything
but great friendliness towards Spain; you can see the man draw himself
up to his full height, the man who had risked his life for his
country--Spain's most dreadful enemy, as he faced the attorney whose
business it was to brow-beat him to ruin.
"Master Attorney, whether to favour or to disable my Lord Cobham you
speak as you will of him; yet he is not such a babe as you make him. He
hath dispositions of such violence, which his best friends could never
temper. But it is very strange that I, at this time, should be thought
to plot with the Lord Cobham knowing him a man that hath neither love
nor following; and myself, at this time having resigned a place of my
best command, in an office I had in Cornwall. I was not so bare of sense
but I saw that, if even 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;
Denmark assured whom before we were always wont to have in jealousy; the
Low Countries our nearest neighbours. And, instead of a Lady whom Time
had surprised, we had now an active King who would be present at his own
businesses. For me at this time to make myself a Robin Hood, a Watt
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, wherein for my Country's sake, I had
expended of my own property forty thousand marks. I knew that where
beforetime he was wont to have forty great sails, at the least, in his
ports, now he hath not past six or seven. But for sending to his Indies,
he was driven to have strange vessels--a thing contrary to the
institutions of his ancestors who straitly forbade that, even in case
of necessity, 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; his pride so
abated that, notwithstanding his former high terms, he was become glad
to congratulate His Majesty and send unto him. Whoso knew what great
assurances he stood upon with 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 awork in such a case,
I would have given him some instructions how to persuade the King. For I
knew 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,
but she had Flushing, Brill, and other towns, in assurance for it. She
lent not money to the King of France without she had Newhaven for it.
Nay, her own subjects, the merchants of London, did not lend her money,
without they had their lands to pawn for it. And to show 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."
So spake Sir Walter Ralegh, summing up the whole question of policy
which was occupying the minds of all men, and drawing attention to the
great part which he had played in gaining naval supremacy for England.
He then went on to explain that the business which had brought him of
late years so much in Cobham's company was of a private nature,
concerning the improvement of Cobham's estate, and the purchase of a
fee-farm from the Duke of Lennox. He showed that Cobham was a wealthy
and prosperous man, not one who could easily be moulded to treason from
despair at his poverty.
Then another examination of Cobham was read, in which a second time he
had exclaimed, "O wretch, O traitor." The trickery is absurdly patent.
It resembles a game of chess in which one player as often as his black
queen is taken, hastily substitutes another black queen in its place. At
this juncture the foreman of the jury, Sir Thomas Fowler, was
ill-advised enough to ask a simple question. "I desire to understand of
the Court the time of Sir Walter Ralegh's first letter, and of the Lord
Cobham's accusation." The Court looked at him in amazement, and Lord
Cecil rose to his feet and immediately began a long and cunning speech.
"I am divided in myself and at great dispute what to say of this
gentleman at the bar. For it is impossible, be the obligations never so
great, but the affections of nature and love will show themselves. A
former dearness betwixt me and this gentleman tied upon the knot of his
virtues, though slacked since by his actions, I cannot but acknowledge;
and the most of you know it." The speech was cunning and involved. He
made no mention of time; he harped upon his personal sorrow in being
obliged to speak against a man whom he once loved; his personal loyalty,
which was stronger than his affection had ever been, alone compelled
him. Two dates were all that were wanted; they could not be given. So
Cecil gave vent to his sorrow. Hypocrisy could go no further.
Directly that Lord Cecil had finished, Sir Edward Coke, the King's
Attorney, continued his accusation, trying to turn Ralegh's great
outburst about the state of Spain to Ralegh's disadvantage, trying to
prove it only another instance of his treachery. "Methinks it would have
been better for you to have stayed in Guiana than to be so well
acquainted with the state of Spain. As to the six overthrows of the King
of Spain, I answer 'he hath the more malice' because repulses breed
desire of revenge. As for you writing against the Peace with Spain, you
sought but to cloak a Spanish traitor's heart," and more to the same
effect.
When he had finished Ralegh rose to make his last claim on justice. "My
lords," he said, "I claim to have my accuser brought here to speak face
to face. Though I know not how to make my best defence by law, yet,
since I was a prisoner, I have learned that by the Law and Statutes of
this realm in case of treason a man ought to be convicted by the
testimony of two witnesses. I will not take upon me to defend the matter
upon the Statute of the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, though that
requires an overt act. But remember I beseech your Lordships, the
Statute of the first of Edward the Sixth which saith: 'No man shall be
condemned of treason, unless he be accused by two lawful accusers.' And
by the Statute of the fifth and sixth of Edward the Sixth, those
accusers must be brought in person before the party accused, at his
arraignment if living!" He continued to instance other laws; he pointed
out that Cobham was not only living but in the same town, in the same
palace. He called to mind the case of Fortescue, who had condemned a
woman to death on the witness of one man for the murder of her husband,
and who could never forgive himself for the injustice when the servant
of the man confessed at length to the murder. He drew instances from the
Bible, and the Canon of God, and concluded with this appeal for
justice: "If then by the Statute Law, by the Civil Law and by God's
Word, it be required that there be two witnesses, at the least, bear
with me if I desire one. Prove me guilty of these things by one witness
only, and I will confess the Indictment, I stand not upon the niceties
of the law. If I have done these things I deserve not to live; whether
they be treasons by the law or no. I beseech you then, my Lords, let
Cobham be sent for. Let him be charged upon his soul, upon his
allegiance to the King; and if he will then maintain his accusation to
my face, I will confess myself guilty." The Court were at first taken
aback by this unexpected knowledge of the law, but not for long. The
Lord Chief Justice Popham, who played the strange triple part of
assistant in the examination, of witness for the prosecution, and of
presiding judge, explained that such a course was quite out of the
question. "The statutes you speak of in cases of treason were found to
be inconvenient and were taken away by another law. Those of Edward the
Sixth are general, but were repealed by the first and second of Philip
and Mary, which you have mentioned, which Statute goes only to the
treasons therein comprised, and also appoints the trial of treasons to
be as before it was at the Common Law. Now the twenty-fifth of Edward
the Third makes declaration what the Common Law was. All is now
therefore put to the Common Law. And by the Common Law one witness is
sufficient and the accusation of confederates or the confession of
others is full proof." And Mr. Justice Warburton went one further in
making this point strong for the prosecution; he added the personal
touch of insult, which is characteristic of the trial. "I marvel, Sir
Walter," he said, "that you, being of such experience and wit, should
stand on this point. For many horse-stealers should escape, if they may
not be condemned without witnesses. By law a man may be condemned upon
presumption and circumstances without any witness to the main fact. As,
if the King, whom God defend, should be slain in his chamber and one be
shown to have come forth of the chamber with his sword drawn and bloody.
Were not this evidence both in law and opinion, without further
inquisition?"
The point was discussed at some length, and then it became time again to
bring forward accusations of Cobham, which were accordingly read; this
time also depositions of Copley, Watson, and George Brooke were also
read to the effect that somebody had heard from somebody else how Cobham
and Ralegh stood for the Spanish faction. Again Ralegh pointed out that
this had nothing to do with his charge, and again asked, "Good, my
Lords, let my accuser come face to face and be deposed." But that was
not permitted.
_Coke._ "Now let us come to the words of destroying of the 'King and his
cubs.'"
_Ralegh._ "O barbarous! if they like unnatural vilains 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 L40,000 of mine own against the
Spanish faction for the good of my country. Do you bring the words of
those hellish spiders Clarke, Watson, and others against me?"
_Coke._ "Thou hast a Spanish heart and thyself art a spider of hell. For
thou confessest the King to be a most sweet and gracious prince, and yet
thou hast conspired against him."
The reading of Cobham's examination was continued, wherein Cobham said
he had a book "written against the title of the king which he had of
Ralegh, and that he gave it to his brother Brooke, and Ralegh said it
was foolishly written.
_Coke._ "After the king came within twelve miles of London, Cobham never
came to see him; and intended to travel without seeing the queen and the
prince. Now in this discontentment you gave him the book, and he gave it
his brother."
_Ralegh._ "I never gave it him, he took it off my table. For I well
remember a little before that time I received a challenge from Sir Amias
Preston, and for that I did intend to answer it, I resolved to leave my
estate settled, therefore laid out all my loose papers, among which was
this book."
_Ld. Howard._ "Where had you this book?"
_Ralegh._ "In the old Lord-Treasurer's study, after his death."
_Cecil._ "Did you ever show or make known the book to me?"
_Ralegh._ "No, my lord."
_Cecil._ "Was it one of the books which was left to me or my brother?"
_Ralegh._ "I took it out of the study in my Lord-Treasurer's house in
the Strand."
Then Cecil explained that after his father's death Ralegh was allowed to
search in the library for cosmo-graphical descriptions of the Indies.
Again he referred to his great love for Ralegh, and said he thought it a
little unkindly done on Sir Walter's part to remove the book without his
knowledge. It was a book in manuscript on which the Lord-Treasurer had
written, "_This is the book of Robert Snagg_." Brooke burned it; the
most was made of this incident.
Popham asked, "Wherefore should this book be burnt?"
_Ralegh._ "I burned it not."
_Serjeant Philips._ "You presented your friend with it when he was
discontented. If it had been before the queen's death it had been a less
matter, but you gave it him presently when he came from the king, which
was the time of his discontentment."
_Ralegh._ "Here is a book supposed to be treasonable; I never read it,
commended it, or delivered it, nor urged it."
_Coke._ "Why, this is cunning."
_Ralegh._ "Everything that doth make for me is cunning, and everything
that maketh against me is probable."
_The point was then raised_ about Captain Keymis, who had been
rigorously examined. He was well known to be friendly to Ralegh. He
proved, however, a faithful friend. Cobham said that Keymis came to him
with a letter torn. But of this nothing came; Keymis had been too
staunch to add anything to the truth, and the matter was dropped. More
testimony of Cobham was then read concerning letters to Arabella, and
again Ralegh insisted on Cobham's presence. "Let me speak for my life,"
cried Ralegh; "it can be no hurt for him to be brought; he dares not
accuse me. If you grant me not this favour, I am strangely used. Campian
was not denied to have his accusers face to face."
_Popham._ "Since he must needs have justice, the acquitting of his old
friend may move him to speak otherwise than the truth."
_Ralegh._ "If I had been the infuser of all these treasons into him--you
Gentlemen of the Jury, mark this, he said I have been the cause of all
his miseries, and the destruction of his house, and that all evil hath
happened unto him by my wicked counsel--if this be true, whom hath he
cause to accuse and to be revenged on, but on me? And I know him to be
as revengeful as any man on earth."
_Coke._ "He is a party, and may not come; the law is against it."
_Ralegh._ "It is a toy to tell me of law; I defy such law, I stand on
the fact."
_Cecil._ "I am afraid my often speaking (who am inferior to my lords
here present) will make the world think I delight to hear myself talk.
My affection to you, Sir Walter Ralegh, was not extinguished but slaked
in regard of your deserts. You know the law of the realm (to which your
mind doth not contest) that my Lord Cobham cannot be brought." The
King's Attorney, Sir Edward Coke, took up the thread of his
much-interrupted discourse, and this time he brought forward a witness,
one Dyer, a pilot. Dyer was accordingly sworn, and delivered this
evidence: "I came to a merchant's house in Lisbon to see a boy that I
had there, there came a gentleman into the house, and enquiring what
countryman I was, I said, an Englishman. Whereupon he asked me if the
King was crowned. And I answered, no, but that I hoped he should be so
shortly. Nay, saith he, he shall never be crowned; for Don Ralegh and
Don Cobham will cut his throat ere that day come."
Ralegh naturally asked, "What infer you from this?" And the King's
Attorney answered him, "That your treason hath wings." Ralegh had a
convincing reply, "Why did they name the Duke of Buckingham with Jack
Straw's treason, and the Duke of York with Jack Cade, but that it was to
countenance his treason?"
The King's Attorney was worsted in this point; and accordingly Serjeant
Philips came to his assistance by repeating, as usual, the gist of
Cobham's accusations. To which Ralegh answered, "If truth be constant
and constancy be in truth, why hath he forsworn that that he hath said?
You have not proved any one thing against me by direct proofs, but all
by circumstances."
Coke was becoming more and more impatient. "Have you done?" he cried.
"The King must have the last."
_Ralegh._ "Nay, Master Attorney, he which speaketh for his life must
speak last. False repetitions and mistakings must not mar my cause."
_Coke._ "The King's safety and your clearing cannot agree. I protest
before God, I never knew a clearer treason."
The Attorney's impatience grew so much that, in the words of one report,
he sat down in a chafe and would speak no more, until the commissioners
urged and entreated him. After much ado he went on, and made a long
repetition of all the evidence; and at the repeating of some things Sir
Walter Ralegh interrupted him, and said he did him wrong.
_Coke._ "Thou art the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived."
_Ralegh._ "You speak indiscreetly, barbarously and uncivilly."
_Coke._ "I want words sufficient to express thy viperous treasons."
_Ralegh._ "I think you want words indeed, for you have spoken one thing
half a dozen times."
_Coke._ "Thou art an odious fellow; thy name is hateful to all the realm
of England for thy pride."
_Ralegh._ "It will go near to prove a measuring cast between you and me,
Master Attorney."
_Coke._ "Well, I will now make it appear to the world that there never
lived a viler viper upon the face of the world than thou." And he
proceeded to work up his speech to his last chief point of all--that was
the production of a letter from Cobham, which he read. He interspersed
his reading with exclamations of triumph. "I have thought fit to set
down this to My Lords, wherein I protest on my soul to write nothing but
the truth. I am now come near the period of my time, therefore I confess
the whole truth before God and his angels. Ralegh, four days before I
came from the Tower, caused an apple (Eve's apple, cried out the King's
Attorney) to be thrown in at my chamber window; the effect of it was to
entreat me to right the wrong I had done him, in saying, that I should
have come home by Jersey, which under my hand to him I have
retracted.... At Aremberg's coming Ralegh was to have procured a pension
of L1500 a year, for which he promised, that no action should be against
Spain, the Low Countries, or the Indies, but he would give knowledge
beforehand. (Ah! is not this a Spanish heart in an English body?) He
hath also been the cause of my discontentment; he advised me not to be
overtaken with preachers, as Essex was; and that the king would better
allow of a constant denial, than to accuse any."
"Oh! damnable atheist!" cried Coke. "He counsels him not to be
counselled by preachers as Essex was; he died the child of God. God
honoured him at his death."
_Ralegh._ "You have heard a strange tale of a strange man. Now he thinks
he hath matter enough to destroy me; but the king and all of you shall
witness, by our deaths, which of us was the ruin of the other. I bid a
poor fellow throw in the letter at his window, written to this purpose:
You know you have undone me, now write three lines to justify me. In
this will I die that he hath done me wrong."
Then Ralegh pulled a letter out of his pocket, which the Lord Cobham had
written to him, and desired my Lord Cecil to read it because he only
knew his hand. Cecil read the letter. "Seeing myself so near my end, for
the discharge of my own conscience, and freeing myself from your blood,
which also will cry vengeance against me, I protest upon my salvation I
never practised with Spain upon your procurement: God so comfort me in
this my affliction, as you are a true subject, for anything that I know.
I will say as Daniel, _Purus sum a sanguine hujus_. So God have mercy
upon my soul, as I know no treason by you!"
"Now I wonder," said Ralegh, "how many souls this man hath; he damns one
in this letter: another in that."
Such were Ralegh's last recorded words before the verdict was given. He
had said all that was to be said. He had stood his ground undismayed for
many hours, though the chief men in England and the cleverest lawyers in
England were set against him. He must gradually have realized that all
were resolute to condemn him: he must gradually have realized that all
his efforts were futile against such malignant opposition.
The King's Attorney alleged that the last letter was politicly and
cunningly urged from the Lord Cobham, and the first was simply the
truth. The Earl of Devonshire assured the Lord Chief Justice that Cobham
had written the first letter of his own free will, uninfluenced by any
hope or promise of pardon. A marshal was sworn to keep the jury private.
The jury retired. In less than a quarter of an hour the jury returned
and gave their verdict. The verdict was _GUILTY_. "Sir Walter Ralegh,"
said the Clerk of the Crown, "thou hast been indicted, arraigned, and
pleaded _not guilty_, for all these several treasons and for trial
thereof hast put thyself upon thy country, which country are these who
have found thee guilty. What canst thou say for thyself why judgment and
execution of death should not pass against thee?"
And Ralegh, now doomed, made answer, "My Lords, the jury have 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
remember his protestations that I was never guilty...." And later he
said, "I submit myself to the king's mercy. I know his mercy is greater
than my offence. I recommend my wife, and son of tender years,
unbrought-up, to his compassion."
And then the Lord Chief Justice Popham rose to deliver judgment, which
he prefaced by a pompous and insulting speech. "I thought I should never
have seen this day, to have stood in this place to give sentence of
death against you; because I thought it impossible that one of so great
parts should have fallen so grievously. God hath bestowed on you many
benefits. You had been a man fit and able to have served the king in
good place--you have brought yourself into a good state of living.... It
is best for man not to seek to climb too high, lest he fall; nor yet to
creep too low lest he be trodden on....
"You have been taxed by the world with the defence of the most
heathenish and blasphemous opinions; which I list not to repeat because
Christian ears cannot endure to hear them, nor the authors and
maintainers of them be suffered to live in any Christian
commonwealth.... You shall do well before you go out of the world, to
give satisfaction therein, and not to die with these imputations on you.
Let not any devil persuade you to think there is no eternity in heaven.
For if you think thus you shall find eternity in hell-fire. In the first
accusation of my Lord Cobham I observed his manner of speaking: I
protest before the living God I am persuaded he spoke nothing but the
truth! You wrote that he should not in any case confess anything to a
preacher, telling him an example of my Lord Essex, that noble Earl that
is gone. Who if he had not been carried away with others had lived in
honour to this day among us. He confessed his offences, and obtained
mercy of the Lord; for I am verily persuaded in my heart he died a
worthy servant of God. Your conceit of not confessing anything is very
inhuman and wicked. In this world is the time of confessing that we may
be absolved at the day of judgment. You have shewed a fearful sign of
denying God in advising a man not to confess the truth. It now comes in
my mind why you may not have your accuser come face to face; for such an
one is easily brought to retract, when he seeth there is no hope of his
own life. It is dangerous that any traitors should have access to or
conference with, one another. When they see themselves must die, they
will think it best to have their fellow live that he may commit the like
treason again, and so in some sort seek revenge.
"Now it resteth to pronounce the judgment which I wish you had not been
this day to have received of me.
"For if the fear of God in you had been answerable to your other great
parts you might have lived to have been a singular good subject. I never
saw the like trial, and hope I shall never see the like again.
"But since you have been found guilty of these horrible treasons, the
judgment of this court is, that you shall be had from hence to the place
whence you came, there to remain until the day of execution; and from
thence you shall be drawn upon an hurdle through the open streets to the
place of execution, there to be hanged and cut down alive; and your body
shall be opened, your heart and bowels plucked out, and your privy
members cut off, and thrown into the fire before your eyes; then your
head to be stricken off from your body, and your body shall be divided
into four quarters, to be disposed of at the King's pleasure; and God
have mercy upon your soul!"