AMERICAN COLONISATION SCHEMES.
Endowed with a rare combination of high qualities and capability, Sir
Walter Raleigh may be pronounced one of the most distinguished men of
the Elizabethan era. He approved himself a brave soldier, an intrepid
sailor, and a thorough disciplinarian; in other directions he was a
learned scholar, a profound philosopher, an eloquent orator, and an
elegant courtier.
Raleigh’s family traced its lineage from before the Conquest, and
Walter could claim descent from, and connection with, three of the best
Devonshire houses--the Gilberts, the Carews, and the Champernouns. His
father, Walter Raleigh the elder, was the second husband of Catherine,
daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of Modbury. By a former husband,
Otto Gilbert, this lady had two sons, Humphrey and Adrian, destined to
distinguish themselves as navigators and colonists, with whom Walter
Raleigh was intimately associated in their enterprises.
Walter Raleigh was born, according to Camden, in 1552, at Hayes Barton,
East Budleigh, a farmstead in Devonshire, pleasantly situated near the
coast.
Information touching Raleigh’s education and the early part of his life
is vague and meagre, few facts being on record concerning him prior to
1569, when, it is stated, he left Oxford, where he was first a resident
at Christ Church, from which he removed to Oriel. It is supposed
that he commenced at Oxford his acquaintance with Sir Philip Sydney,
Hakluyt, and Camden.
Camden states, in his _Annales_, that Raleigh was one of a hundred
gentlemen volunteers who proceeded to France with Henry Champernoun,
Raleigh’s cousin, to the assistance of the Huguenots. The service of
the English contingent appears to have commenced about the end of
the year 1569. References are made by Raleigh in his _History of the
World_ to the Huguenot troubles, and his own connection with them;
amongst others, to the conduct of the Protestants at the battle of
Jarnac, after the death of the Prince of Condé; and to the retreat at
Moncontour, of which he was an eye-witness. It is conjectured that
Raleigh spent about six years in France in active service.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH.]
It has been discovered by modern historians that in 1577 Raleigh was
attached in some capacity to Queen Elizabeth’s court, and that he was
also “of the Middle Temple,” but whether called to the Bar, or only
lodging in the Temple, or “eating his terms,” is not certain. He had
reached vigorous manhood, was twenty-five years of age, of cultivated
mind, active temperament, enterprising and ambitious. He was familiar
with the exploits of Hawkins and Drake, and was probably fired by
the romance of the Spanish Indies. His half-brother, Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, had made several voyages to the Gulf of Mexico and the country
afterwards called Virginia in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and it has
been considered probable that on one or more occasions Walter was his
companion. It is known that he was with Gilbert in an unfortunate
expedition to the St. Lawrence in 1578. In the following year he was
committed to the Fleet prison for a violent difference with another
courtier. He was released after a short confinement, however, and in
the same year was stopped when in the act of starting on a piratical
expedition against Spain.
At the close of 1579 the Spanish Catholics invaded Ireland. The
invading expedition, which came from Ferrol, first landed at Dingle,
but not feeling so secure there as they desired, they sailed four
miles farther west to Senerwick Bay, and built there the Fort del
Ore, upon a sandy isthmus, from which the invaders thought they
might easily, if pressed, escape to sea. The Earl of Desmond and the
Geraldines coalesced with their foreign co-religionists, casting off
their allegiance to Elizabeth. Raleigh was sent to take part with the
force then in Ireland upholding the queen’s power, and to assist in
exterminating the invaders.
Raleigh left London in January 1580, with one hundred foot soldiers.
At the Isle of Wight they were transferred into ships of the queen’s
fleet. On the 22nd February, Raleigh wrote from Cork to Lord Burghley,
giving an account of his voyage. His arrival was welcome, and timely,
to his friend Sir Warham Saint Leger, who was holding Cork with great
difficulty, with an insufficient garrison of only forty Englishmen.
It does not appear that Raleigh entered at once upon active duty,
as his pay only begins July 13, 1580; he probably served, however,
irrespective of this circumstance. In August he was associated with
Saint Leger, provost-marshal of Munster, in a commission to try the
younger brother of the Earl of Desmond, whom they sentenced to be hung.
In August, Lord Grey of Wilton arrived in Dublin, to relieve Pelham of
the chief command in Ireland. He had with him the afterwards famous
poet, Edmund Spenser, as his secretary. Raleigh remained in Ireland,
and thus were brought together two of the most gifted men of their
time; they naturally, as they became known to each other, entered into
a close friendship.
In the operations for the suppression of the rebellion that followed,
Raleigh took an active and influential part, and was for a time
practically governor of Munster. There was much hard work in the
campaign, and considerable scope for dash and military capability,
which Raleigh exhibited in a high degree, but there was little “glory”
to be derived from skirmishes, raids, and forays, or from scouring the
woods and ravines for hunted rebels, and it must have been a welcome
relief to Raleigh when a summons from London, to which he returned
in December 1581, put an end to his military service in Ireland. An
established reputation for military prowess had preceded him.
Raleigh, as before stated, was attached in some capacity to the court
in 1577, but had not then entered into personal relations, or become
a favourite, with the queen, who reappointed him a captain to serve
in Ireland, but decreed in connection with the appointment,--“That
our pleasure is that the said [Irish] land be, in the meantime, till
he [Raleigh] repair into that Our realm, delivered to some such as he
shall depute to be his lieutenant there.” “For that he is, for some
considerations, by Us excused to stay here.” The Duc d’Alençon, who had
at this time come from France to woo the queen, was not very favourably
spoken of by Her Majesty. He served probably as a foil to manly,
handsome Raleigh, who was now about thirty years of age, and described
as “having a good presence in a well-compacted person; a strong natural
wit, and a better judgment; with a bold and plausible tongue, whereby
he could set out his parts to the best advantage.” He was “about six
feet in height, with dark hair and a high colour, a facial expression
of great brightness, personable from the virile force of his figure,
and illustrating these attractions by a splendid taste in dress. His
clothes were at all times noticeably gorgeous; and to the end of his
life his person was commonly bedizened with jewels to his very shoes.”
The sprightly soldier-poet never lost his decided Devonshire accent,
which his royal mistress liked rather than otherwise. For several years
he basked in the almost perfectly unclouded sunshine of her smiles, and
received openly many distinguishing marks of the queen’s favour. Old
writers give some interesting illustrations of the little passages of
wit and gallantry that marked their intercourse. On one occasion, it
is related, when the queen, with Raleigh in attendance, had to alight
from her carriage into a puddle,--roads were bad in those days,--the
gay cavalier whipt off his dainty cloak of silk plush, and spread it
out as a foot-cloth to protect her feet from the mud. The sacrifice of
the cloak was highly appreciated, and proved to have been--although,
perhaps, not so designed on Raleigh’s part--an excellent investment.
The personal intimacy and intercourse between the queen and Raleigh
were as close as was permissible between a sovereign and a subject. Had
the queen given the Duc d’Alençon half the encouragement she gave to
Raleigh, his suit would have ended in a royal wedding. Sir Walter did
not dare, probably, to make the queen an offer of his heart and hand,
but he did not fail to give her an “inkling” concerning his feelings.
On a pane in the window of her boudoir or other apartment, he wrote
with his diamond ring--
“Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.”
His royal inamorata, holding probably that “there is much virtue in an
‘if,’” replied--
“If thy heart fail thee, then climb not at all.”
Raleigh did not go to Ireland to take over from his lieutenant command
of the company of infantry of which he was the nominal commander, but
had a confidential place by the queen’s side, and was her counsellor in
divers weighty matters.
In 1583, Raleigh came into possession, through the queen’s favour, of
the estates of Stolney and Newland, formerly possessions of All Souls’
College, Oxford. He was also favoured with letters patent for the “Farm
of Wines,” afterwards one of the principal sources of his wealth.
Under this grant each vintner throughout the kingdom had to pay twenty
shillings a year for a licence to sell wines. The grant also included
a share to Raleigh of fines accruing to the Crown, under previously
existing wine statutes. From his wine trade emoluments Raleigh realised
at one period about £2000 a year, equivalent to about £12,000 of our
money. From certain causes the amount of his receipts from this source
declined, and he afterwards resigned his patent to James I. for £1000
per annum.
Meantime, Raleigh’s half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had been
making, at great cost, persevering attempts to establish a colony or
colonies in North America, but unfortunately without success. Gilbert
had obtained a charter for his colonisation project extending for
six years from 1578. After repeated failures of his enterprises,
particularly in 1579, he gave up, for a time at least, their further
prosecution, and lent three of his ships to the Government for service
on the coast of Ireland.
[Illustration: “RALEIGH WHIPT OFF HIS CLOAK OF SILK PLUSH, AND SPREAD
IT OUT TO PROTECT THE QUEEN’S FEET FROM THE MUD.”]
Raleigh had always befriended his courageous relative, Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, and now used all his court influence in his favour. His
charter was about to expire. The queen was much importuned to renew
it, and reluctantly did so, but refusing permission to her favourite,
Raleigh, to take part personally in the enterprise. He expended,
however, a large sum in aid of the fresh expedition to North
America, which Sir Humphrey was resolved to undertake. One of the five
ships that constituted the fleet--the _Ark Raleigh_--was built and
fitted out entirely by Sir Walter, at a cost of £2000. The expedition
sailed June 11th, 1583, and met with a series of disasters, including
the death of its resolute and gallant commander. In this expedition
Newfoundland was touched at, and taken possession of by Gilbert in the
queen’s name.
Undismayed by Humphrey Gilbert’s repeated and disastrous failures,
Raleigh continued to believe in the ultimate success of these American
colonisation schemes, and he induced the queen to renew the charter,
to which the parties were Raleigh himself, as chief; Adrian Gilbert,
a younger brother of Sir Humphrey; and John Davis, a courageous and
experienced navigator. These three were incorporated as representing
“The College of the Fellowship for the Discovery of the North-West
Passage.” Realisation of the queen’s dream, and desire after a shorter
route _via_ the north-west to China, was the professed object of the
adventurers, but Raleigh was careful to secure subsidiary material
advantages, and the charter gave full powers to the adventurers to
inhabit or retain, build or fortify, at Raleigh’s discretion, any
remote lands that he might find hitherto unoccupied by any Christian
power.
Raleigh was financier and managing director, but not the personal
conductor of the next American expedition. In April 1584 a small
fleet sailed for the West, under the command of Captains Amadas and
Barlow. In May they passed the Canaries; in June they fell in with the
Bahama Islands. While still far out at sea, delicate odours, sweet
as those of “Araby the blest,” were wafted to them from Florida, at
which they touched; thereafter sailing northwards, they landed at,
and, in name of the queen, annexed the islands then called Roanoke and
Wokoken, with the mainland adjacent. In honour of Queen Elizabeth, the
newly-annexed country was named Virginia. An ancient writer pronounces
the name appropriate, from the country having been discovered in the
reign of the Virgin Queen, and also because the country seemed “to
retain the virgin purity and plenty of the first creation, and the
people their primitive innocence.” Early in 1585 Raleigh sent out a
second expedition to Virginia under Sir Richard Grenville; others
were afterwards sent, and, under Ralph Lane, settled for a time on
Roanoke, but failed to succeed as settlers, or to justify the sanguine
expectations of Raleigh, who was by this time very rich, and could
well afford to carry out his costly colonisation hobby. He was also
befriended by a success that befell his lieutenant, Sir Richard
Grenville, who, in returning to England, fell in with a treasure-laden
Spanish ship of an estimated value of £50,000, which he captured and
brought safely into Plymouth.
In addition to his other rich privileges and possessions, the queen
granted to Raleigh a liberty to export broadcloth. This fresh mark
of royal favour was disapproved by Lord Burghley, who estimated the
increase to Raleigh’s income from the woollen broadcloth trade at the
equivalent of £18,000 of our present money. It is to be said for Sir
Walter that his enormous wealth was not wasted in vice and debauchery,
although personal ambition had probably a good deal to do in directing
his expenditure. He probably aspired to the creation of a state in
the West, with himself as its chief, that for riches, dignity, and
power, would excel the possessions of Spain. His were not the views
or aims of the mere grubber after lucre for its own sake, or for his
own personal aggrandisement. He was not indifferent to any promise the
newly-found region might give of pearls or precious metals, but was
equally solicitous concerning its useful mineral, vegetable, and animal
products, and he appointed Mr. Thomas Hariot, an able scientific and
practical man, commissioner to collect trustworthy information.
At this time, 1584, Raleigh was very much in close attendance on the
queen, at one or other of her palaces, at Greenwich or Windsor. His
own residence was in the then rural village of Islington. The immense
revenue derived from his wine and broadcloth businesses enabled him to
indulge in such a scale of expenditure as could only be incurred by a
merchant prince or other opulent personage. He leased from the queen,
Durham House, situated on the river, in the locality now known as the
Adelphi. This was a vast palace, occupied at one time by the bishops
of Durham, and afterwards by Queen Elizabeth herself. This stately
building was Raleigh’s town house from 1584 to 1603.
In the year 1584, or the year following, Raleigh was knighted, and
advanced to various high dignities. He was appointed Lord Warden of
the Stannaries, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Vice-Admiral of Cornwall
and Devon, and he entered Parliament, as one of the two members for
Devonshire. He was no carpet knight or mere sinecurist, but to the
utmost of his ability discharged faithfully the duties devolving upon
him in these various offices, personally as far as possible, or by
competent deputies. As Warden of the Stannaries he effected important
reforms that greatly mitigated the hardships of the Cornish miners.
His discrimination, judgment, and resolution fitted him admirably for
judge, and director of administration of the affairs that came within
his jurisdiction.
Raleigh’s Virginian colony came to an inglorious end in 1586, but he
was successful in another less creditable enterprise. He had sent a
small fleet for undisguised predatory purposes to the Azores, that did
good business. Its commander captured and brought to England a Spanish
noble, Don Pedro Sarmiento, a colonial governor. While his ransom was
being collected, Raleigh entertained his illustrious guest in splendid
style in his grand town house. In 1587, Raleigh took possession of
vast estates in Ireland, assigned to his charge by the queen, as
gentleman-undertaker; they were part of the escheated lands of the
Earl of Esmond, and embraced forty-two thousand acres in the counties
of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary. He did his best to re-people the
desolate regions, and brought over many West of England farmers and
farm labourers, but his energetic and well-meant efforts met with only
partial success.
Up to this time, 1587, Raleigh had been first favourite with the queen,
who had showered wealth and influence upon him. The queen had now,
however, other flutterers around her in addition to Raleigh. In 1587
one appeared on the scene, who seemed likely to cut them all out. The
queen had reached the mature age of fifty-four years; the young Earl
of Essex, the new royal favourite, was only twenty. Essex hated “that
knave Raleigh,” as he designated him, and did all he could to make
mischief between the queen and her favourite.
Turning to affairs more worthy of Raleigh’s nature and powers, the
public offices he held necessitated his frequent and rapid movements
from one distant locality to another, and withdrew him from court
connection and intrigues. His interest in his Virginian enterprise
had never flagged. A third expedition he had despatched had proved
disastrous; in May 1587 he sent out another, under Captain John White.
Another still, under Sir Richard Grenville, that attempted to follow,
was stopped by Government at Bideford. Undismayed and resolute, Raleigh
sent out from Bideford, in April 1588, two pinnaces, with help to the
unfortunate colonists. These fell into the hands of privateers, and
returned to England stripped and helpless. Raleigh had up to this
time used the most strenuous endeavours, and had spent a princely
fortune, in his attempt to found an American colony, but he was unaided
by court or other influence, and public affairs now required the
application of his energies in another direction. The advent of the
“invincible Spanish Armada” was at hand. Raleigh was one of the nine
commissioners appointed to consider the best means of resisting the
threatened invasion; two of his captains, Sir Richard Grenville and
Ralph Lane, were also on the commission, which implies that Sir Walter
was an important factor in determining the most important national
affairs. In anticipation of the arrival of the Armada he made all
necessary preparations for defence, and for assistance in attack, in
relation to the counties under his charge, as vice-admiral. He also
directed preparations to resist invasion on the east coast--notably
at Norfolk. In resistance of the Armada, and assistance in its pursuit
and destruction, Raleigh took a prominent part. His ship was amongst
those that chased the distressed Spanish galleons northwards. In proof
that he had rendered important service in connection with the memorable
events, it may be mentioned that on September 5th, 1588, to Raleigh and
Drake were consigned equal numbers of wealthy Spanish prisoners, whose
ransoms were to be the reward of the achievements of these commanders.
Raleigh so distinguished himself in the actions with the Armada by his
skill in naval tactics, and his genius for rapid action, as to excite
the admiration of Lord Howard, High Admiral, who ever after treated him
as a recognised authority in important naval affairs.
In 1589, Raleigh leased his patent rights, title, and interest in the
Virginia Colony to a company of merchants, reserving only a royalty
upon gold and silver ore that might be raised in the colony. It is
not recorded that he ever received profit from this reservation, or
from his costly efforts to colonise Virginia, extending over thirteen
years. In the settlement of America by Europeans he was the unpaid
pioneer. After the defeat of the Armada, Raleigh continued actively
occupied in the direction of important schemes in Devonshire, Cornwall,
Ireland, and other parts of the kingdom, and was interested also in
some privateering enterprises for which the King of Spain--“the natural
enemy of England”--and the Armada were convenient covering and excuse.
Raleigh’s rovers were not particular as to nationality of vessels
attacked; they sacked the English ship _Angel Gabriel_ of a cargo of
wine, and took sack and sugar and mace from other vessels, without
assurance that these were only reprisals against the Spaniards.
In 1589, Raleigh was associated with Sir Francis Drake in an expedition
to restore Dom Antonio to the throne of Portugal, from which he had
been ousted by Philip of Spain. Raleigh proceeded with the force up to
the walls of Lisbon. The object of the expedition was not achieved,
but a good deal of plunder was secured in its course,--Raleigh’s
share amounting to £4000. Some of the ships engaged were Raleigh’s
own property, amongst them the afterwards famous _Revenge_, the
_Crane_, and the _Garland_. These ships were employed as merchantmen
or men-of-war, as circumstances might require or interest suggest. The
sort of public service they rendered, led to the exploits of their
owners and crews being judged with a considerable degree of indulgence
by the national authorities, who sometimes overlooked acts of piracy,
and in some instances appropriated the proceeds. Raleigh’s men were
on this occasion so rash and inconsiderate as to capture two French
barques, which brought a sharp reprimand upon Sir Walter, because
France and England were at that time at peace with each other. In some
cases the cargo of the privateers was “taken over” wholesale by the
authorities.
[Illustration: EDMUND SPENSER, AUTHOR OF “THE FAERIE QUEEN.”]
The Earl of Essex, as a courtier and an admirer, had a great advantage
over Raleigh, thus so much out of the queen’s sight,--and he made the
most of it to his rival’s disadvantage. In August 1589, a contemporary
writes, “My Lord of Essex hath chased Mr. Raleigh from the court, and
hath confined him to Ireland”; but Raleigh contradicted the rumour
of his disgrace. However this may have been, he proceeded to Ireland
in 1589, and resided in his own house at Youghal,--his most intimate
friends and neighbours there being his cousin, Sir George Carew, who
lived at Lismore, and the poet, Edmund Spenser, who had been rewarded
for his services, as Clerk of the Council of Munster, with a gift of a
manor and ruined castle, Kilcolman, formerly the property of the rebel
Desmonds. With Spenser, Raleigh had much close, pleasant, sympathetic
intercourse. Much of Spenser’s admirable poetical work was done during
his comparative seclusion at Kilcolman, and there Raleigh also,
perturbed though his life had been, and unfavourable to cultivation of
the muses, exercised his extraordinary literary powers. Spenser had
nearly completed his great poem, _The Faery Queen_, the MS. of which
was read by Raleigh, who in turn submitted to the friendly criticism
of Spenser his _Lamentable Lay_, a eulogy on Queen Elizabeth, under the
name of Cynthia. Mr. Edmund Gosse, as a result of the most searching
inquiry into the circumstances and evidence, touching the intercourse
between Raleigh and Spenser at this time, says that the evidence is
conclusive that Raleigh had then written a poem or poems which Spenser
“set on a level with the best works of the age, in verse.”
But Raleigh was an energetic man of business as well as a poet, a man
of action more than of dreams, and, during his residence in Ireland,
he did much in various ways to promote the material prosperity of
the people. He defended the rights of the merchants of Waterford and
Wexford, and encouraged their export trade in barrel staves by putting
two of his own ships to a regular service between Waterford and the
Canaries. Traces of his beneficent work in Munster still remain. Sir
John Pope Hennessy says:--
“The richly perfumed wallflowers that he brought to Ireland from the
Azores, and the Affane cherry, are still found where he first planted
them by the Blackwater. Some cedars he brought to Cork are to this
day growing at a place called Tivoli. He also introduced a number of
plants, before unknown in England,--among others, the potato, which has
had such an influence--for good or evil--on the destinies of Ireland
and many other countries,--and the tobacco plant, which was not much
approved by the queen, and which he had to use very privately. The four
venerable yew-trees, whose branches have grown and intermingled into
a sort of summer-house thatch, are pointed out as having sheltered
Raleigh, when he first smoked tobacco in his Youghal garden. In that
garden he also planted tobacco.... A few steps farther on, where the
town-wall of the thirteenth century bounds the walls of the gardens of
the Warden’s house, is the famous spot where the first Irish potato
was planted by him. In that garden he gave the tubers to the ancestor
of the present Lord Southwell, by whom they were spread throughout the
province of Munster.”
Such were some of the precious gifts brought by Raleigh’s
wisely-instructed and zealous agents from across the Atlantic, and
conferred by the enlightened patriot upon his country--boons of
infinitely greater value than the plate and pearls of which the
Spaniards were deprived by the early English rovers.
About the end of 1589 Raleigh returned to England, taking Spenser
with him, whom he introduced to the queen, and he was instrumental in
obtaining for him, as the first poet-laureate, a pension of £50 a year.
Spenser’s _Faery Queen_ was published by royal command.
“The supplementary letter and sonnets to Raleigh express Spenser’s
generous recognition of the services his friend had performed for
him, and appeal to Raleigh, as ‘the Summer Nightingale, thy sovereign
goddess’s most dear delight,’ not to delay in publishing his own great
poem, the _Cynthia_. The first of the eulogistic pieces prefixed by
friends to the _Faery Queen_ was that noble and justly celebrated
sonnet signed W. R., which alone would justify Raleigh in taking a
place among the English poets.”--_Gosse_, p. 49.
In 1591, Raleigh’s first published work appeared, being an account
of the battle of the Azores, between the _Revenge_ and an armada of
the King of Spain. Raleigh sets forth enthusiastically the valour of
his gallant and faithful friend, Sir Richard Grenville, as displayed
in this contest, one of the most famous in English history, in which
Grenville, with one ship containing one hundred men, stood to his
guns against a fleet manned by fifteen thousand Spaniards. He ably
vindicated Grenville’s conduct, and following historians are agreed
that this action was “memorable even beyond credit, and to the height
of some heroical fable.” This report has been highly praised by
competent critics as attaining the highest level reached by English
narrative prose up to the period at which it was written.
About this time, 1591, Raleigh received another valuable gift from the
queen, in a long lease of Sherborne, an estate in Dorsetshire, formerly
the possession of the dean and chapter of Salisbury. This was, for the
future, Raleigh’s favourite country residence.
An expedition was planned at this time that seemed to promise
additional wealth and honours to Raleigh. Its objects were to capture
the rich fleet of Indian plate-ships, and to take possession of the
pearl fisheries of Panama, or to rifle the pearl treasuries. The queen
sanctioned and aided the project, and Raleigh threw his whole fortune
into it. He was to be admiral of the fleet of fifteen sail, and the
chief adventurer, with Sir Martin Frobisher as second in command. The
fleet was ready for sea in February 1592, but when the time for sailing
arrived, the capricious queen could not, or would not, part with
Raleigh, and the fleet sailed under the command of Sir John Burrough.
The courtship of Raleigh and Miss Elizabeth Throgmorton, afterwards
Lady Raleigh, a maid of honour of the queen, greatly exasperated his
royal mistress, and he was banished for four years from the queen’s
presence.
The privateering expedition before referred to, in which Raleigh
was so largely interested, proceeded to the Azores. The queen had
contributed two ships and £1800, and the citizens of London had given
£6000 in aid, but Raleigh retained by much the largest share. Sir John
Burrough divided his fleet, and left Frobisher with part of it on the
coast of Spain; with his own portion of the fleet he proceeded to
the supposed track of the expected richly-laden carracks, to await
their coming. The victims came as expected, and fell an easy prey to
the spoilers. The _Madre de Dios_, the largest of the treasure-laden
carracks, carried what was unprecedented in those days, the enormous
cargo of 1800 tons, valued at £500,000. The cargo included rubies,
pearls, ambergris, frankincense, ebony, sandalwood, cypress, ivory,
carpets, silks, sarsenets, cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, and stores of
the most costly productions of India. The unwieldy carrack offered a
feeble resistance to Raleigh’s more nimble and mischievous craft, the
_Roebuck_, which speedily overcame her. There had been considerable
leakage in the valuable cargo, which had been freely tapped at every
port called at, and before Sir John Burrough could get on board to take
personal command, his sailors had made the best possible use of their
opportunity to do a little privateering, each man for his own hand.
Even after these deductions, the _Madre de Dios_ was a prize of great
value. It was, after many trials and troubles from wind and weather,
and narrow escapes from foundering, safely brought into Dartmouth on
the 2nd September, being, as it happened, the queen’s birthday.
At this time Raleigh was a prisoner in the Tower, whither he had
been sent by the queen for his misconduct. The arrival of the _Madre
de Dios_ with such a store of plunder, awoke greed of gain in
all directions, and caused excitement and disorder that baffled the
authorities.
[Illustration: THE MADRE DE DIOS.]
Sir Robert Cecil, writing from Exeter, 19th September, reports that
“for seven miles everybody met on the London road smells of musk or
spice, and you could not open a private bag that had not seed pearls
in it”; he declares that “there never was such rich spoil.” Lord
Burleigh sent down Raleigh, in charge of a keeper, to look after his
property--if the term can be applied to plunder--and to restore order.
The disgraced favourite received quite an ovation: “His poor servants,
to the number of one hundred and forty goodly men, and all the
mariners, met him with shouts and joy.” Raleigh was greatly enraged to
find so much of the treasure devoured and dispersed. The residue of the
property was disposed of, according to the report of a commission of
inquiry, which included Sir Francis Drake, Sir Robert Cecil, and four
other persons.
From the settlement of the affairs of the _Madre de Dios_ at the close
of 1592, Raleigh was occupied with his own business concerns and the
discharge of various official duties; amongst others, with the exercise
of his judgment and authority, in attempting settlement of the quarrels
between English and French fishermen on the south coast, that were rife
then, and have continued intermittently, even until this day. He was
now about forty years of age, and although his health had suffered
from his imprisonment, he was at about the zenith of his vigorous
life. He was now married to a well-born lady, worthy of his affection
and esteem; he was possessed of a fair competence in wealth and
property, the wearer of high honours,--amongst others Lord Lieutenant
of Cornwall, Admiral of Devon and Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the
Stannaries. With these possessions and dignities an ordinary man would
have been content to settle down as a provincial magnate, but they did
not suffice for a man of Raleigh’s active and sanguine temperament, his
enterprising and ambitious nature. His life up to this point had been
enlivened by many and important stirring adventures and projects, that
had elevated him in position and influence, and made him famous. He had
proved himself alert, valorous, and capable alike as a soldier and as a
naval commander, and in the last-named capacity had rendered brilliant
service in connection with the defeat of the Spanish Armada. As a
pioneer colonist and a privateer, he had organised spirited and costly
projects, but had been prevented by circumstances from personally
conducting his enterprises. The desire to command personally in the
expeditions that had been successively fitted at his cost, and that
were conducted under his orders and directions, had always been alive
in his mind,--and now, as it would seem, the time had arrived for him
to realise his cherished dream. He hated the Spaniard as thoroughly as
Sir Francis Drake did, and had in common with that redoubtable sea-dog
the ruling passion and strong desire to shatter the Spaniard’s power,
and to appropriate the Spaniard’s treasure. He was in possession,
it may be supposed, of all the information existing and accessible
concerning Spanish discoveries and possessions in the West Indies and
South America, and touching the mineral wealth and other resources of
the settlements and resorts of the Spanish and other adventurers in
these quarters. Raleigh had probably by this time had enough of court
life and intrigues; he had the strong desire, “with God’s blessing,
and the queen’s permission, to sail into the sunset, and conquer for
England as much as he may of the fabled golden lands and cities of the
West.”
Early in 1594, Captain George Popham, a sea rover, sailing in one of
Raleigh’s vessels, made a prize at sea of a ship with letters to the
King of Spain, announcing that De Berreo, Governor of Trinidad, had
annexed Guiana to the Spanish dominions, under the name of the New El
Dorado. The despatches contained interesting particulars respecting the
country and its inhabitants. The documents were delivered to Raleigh,
in whom they excited lively interest, and they stimulated him to prompt
energetic action, which resulted in his sailing from Plymouth, bound
“Westward ho,” on the 2nd January 1595, with a squadron of five ships,
and an equipment of small craft for river navigation. On the voyage
out, two ships were captured, from one of which, laden with wine,
the ships of the expedition were stocked. In March they arrived off
Trinidad, the southern and western coasts of which were surveyed by
Raleigh in a boat,--the ships lying at anchor in the channel known as
the Serpent’s Mouth. In his _History of the World_, Raleigh describes
some of the natural curiosities he met with at Trinidad, including
oysters hanging to the branches of mangrove trees, and a curious liquid
pitch, a peculiar product of the island. At the first settlement
touched--the Port of Spain--some trading was done with the settlers,
and Raleigh endeavoured to worm out any information he could obtain
concerning Guiana, stating, with loose regard for veracity, that he
was on his way to Virginia, and that his inquiries were prompted by
mere curiosity. Very little information they did give him. This much he
found out, that De Berreo, the governor, had sent for reinforcements,
in anticipation of Raleigh’s arrival. Some of the Indians came on
board secretly, and gave harrowing accounts of the horrible cruelties
practised upon them by the Spaniards. Raleigh at once marched a part of
his force inland to St. Joseph, the capital of the island, which they
took by storm, with De Berreo in it. The reports of the Indians as to
the hideous cruelty of the governor were fully confirmed. It was a
pastime with him to baste the naked bodies of the Indians with boiling
fat. Five poor scorched chieftains were found in irons, and near the
point of death. They were released, and the town was burned.
Raleigh spared De Berreo, in the hope possibly that he might be
useful to him, but De Berreo did his best to bamboozle his captor.
The larger vessels of the expedition were left at anchor in the Gulf
of Paria, and with a galley, a barge, two wherries, and a ship’s boat
carrying a hundred men, with a stock of provisions, Raleigh entered
the Orinoco, the flotilla encountering at many points, and in divers
ways, formidable difficulties and obstacles in the navigation. Raleigh
thus describes the most painful and unpleasant voyage of four hundred
miles:--
“We were all driven to lie in the rain and weather in the open air,
in the burning sun, and upon the hard boards, and to dress our meat
and to carry all manner of furniture, wherewith the boats were so
pestered and unsavoury, that what with victuals being most fish,
and the wet clothes of so many men thrust together, and the heat
of the sun, I will undertake there was never any prison in England
that could be found more unsavoury and loathsome, especially to
myself, who had for many years before been dieted and cared for in
a sort far different.”
The provisions ran short, and hunger, added to other hardships, induced
a mutinous spirit, repression of which severely taxed Raleigh’s
oratorical powers. At length they approached the inner reach of the
vast flat delta, with its mud banks and brackish water. They next
came to banks, on which wholesome fruits were found. In the purer
water they caught edible fresh fish. The abundance and variety of
birds and the brilliancy of the plumage of many of them, excited
wonder and admiration. Deer came feeding down to the water’s edge; the
alligators, with which the river swarmed, were less pleasant objects of
contemplation. A handsome young Indian, who leaped into the water from
the galley was seized and devoured by these monsters, immediately he
touched its surface. Four canoes laden with excellent bread were met
with in the river. The Indians to whom they belonged deserted them on
the approach of the strangers.
On the fifteenth day, far-off mountain peaks gladdened the sight of
the voyagers. On the evening of the same day the flotilla anchored in
the main stream of the great river, at a point a little to the east of
San Rafael de Barrancas. Here a welcome change of fare was met with.
The eggs of fresh-water turtles were found in vast numbers on the
sandy islands. The mountain chains to the south, in the direction of
Essiquibo, now assumed defined forms, and furnished a grand feature
in the splendid panorama. Parties of the native Indians were met with
ashore, who entertained the adventurers hospitably with provisions and
the “wine” of the country, of which Raleigh’s captains partook with
“strict moderation,” yet in sufficient quantity to make them, as their
leader has it, “reasonable pleasant.” Raleigh had an elastic moral
code; he was far from being straitlaced or squeamish with regard to
either honesty or veracity when he had his own purpose to promote.
He did not hesitate to tap the cargo of an alien, or even an English
trader, for a gratuitous supply to his wine-cellar; if the governor was
fool enough to swallow the tale, he did not scruple to tell it, that
he had found Trinidad on his way from England to Virginia. Whatever
laxity in morals he may have shown in other directions, it must be said
to his credit that he was the chivalrous protector of women; his men
were given to understand, and they well knew that the penalty would be
inflicted if incurred, that death would be the punishment for violence
towards an Indian matron or maiden.
Geography was not a strong point with Raleigh and the adventurers. It
is scarcely possible for us to measure or appreciate the difference
between the state of geographical knowledge then and now, between their
dubious scraps and our full and accurate knowledge,--the contrast
between their darkness and our light. So crude were their geographical
notions, that it has been said of the explorers that they believed
that if they could only sail far enough up the Orinoco, they would
emerge into the Pacific on the western coast of South America! They
traversed about three degrees of west longitude, through a region until
then entirely unknown to Europeans, except Spaniards, who had already
planted settlements here and there, at vast distances apart. Raleigh’s
party passed one of these, but possibly ignored its existence, his
majestic idea being to annex the entire territory in the name of the
Queen of England. His intercourse with the Indians was everywhere
friendly and pacific, and he was assiduous in impressing them with the
danger and disadvantage that would result from their having anything
to do with the Spaniards otherwise than by driving them out of the
country; he strongly recommended England as a safe and benign protector.
[Illustration: RALEIGH ON THE ORINOCO RIVER.]
On the banks of the Orinoco, Raleigh and his company feasted on
pine-apples and other luscious fruits, and made acquaintance with the
armadillo and many other strange creatures. At the junction of the
Caroni, a southern tributary, with the Orinoco, Raleigh left the main
stream, and ascended the branch to the great cataract which stopped
his further progress. Raleigh’s description of the great cataract and
the adjoining country may be given as a fair specimen of his literary
style:--
“When we ran to the tops of the first hills of the plains adjoining to
the river, we beheld the wonderful breach of the waters which ran down
Caroni, and might from that mountain see the river how it ran in three
parts, above twenty miles off, and there appeared some ten or twelve
overfalls in sight, every one as high over the other as a church tower,
which fell with that fury that the rebound of waters made it seem as
if it had been all 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. For mine own part I was well persuaded from thence to
have returned, being a very ill footman, but the rest were so desirous
to go near the said strange thunder of waters, that they drew me on,
little by little, till we came into the next valley, where we might
better discern the same. I never saw a more beautiful country, nor more
lively prospects; hills so raised here and there over the valleys, the
river winding into divers branches, the plains adjoining without bush
or stubble, all fair green grass, the ground of hard sand, easy to
march on, either for horse or foot; the deer crossing in every path,
the birds towards the evening singing on every tree, with a thousand
several tunes, cranes and herons, of white, crimson, and carnation,
perching on the river’s side, the air fresh with a gentle easterly
wind, and every stone that we stopped to take up promised either gold
or silver by his complexion.”
The expedition was not equipped with geologists’ hammers or prospecting
tools, but they nevertheless collected, and Sir Walter brought home, a
number of specimens, that he thought auriferous quartz richly charged
with gold. The white quartz brought home did contain gold, but in such
infinitesimal proportion as not to be worth extracting.
The friendly Indians, with whom Sir Walter had much familiar
intercourse, finding that he “with greedy ear devoured up their
discourse,” entertained him with many wondrous recitals--of pronounced
Munchausen flavour--concerning the gold and gems with which the country
abounded, and of the wonders in anthropology and natural history that
he would meet with, if he went a little farther on. These included
tribes of Indians away west, whose eyes were on their shoulders, and
their mouths below where their necks should be. In another direction
he would meet with men with heads of the form and fit-on of dogs, who
spent the day in the sea, and who spoke the Caril language. Sir Walter,
to do him justice, does not state that he saw or heard of any of these
marvels, except by report at second-hand. It should be remembered, too,
that the recitals, reaching Raleigh through interpreters, probably very
indifferently qualified, exposed them to the risk of distortion and
misapprehension, and conduced to exaggeration rather than accuracy.
The great cataract on the Caroni was the farthest point reached by
Raleigh in this exploration. He and his party had now been away from
the fleet for about a month. He gave up the hope of reaching Manoa;
and the terrific violence of the tropical rains, the sudden floods
to which the rivers were subject, and the general aspect of affairs,
admonished him to return to the ships with the utmost possible speed.
They were carried down at a tremendous pace, without need to use sail
or oar. At Morequito, Raleigh had a grave, private conference with an
ancient chief, Topiawari. Raleigh solemnly denounced Spain as the enemy
and England as the friend of Guiana, and entered into an alliance with
him, offensive and defensive, Topiawari to become the ally of England,
which would in turn aid him against certain Indians who had given the
chief grounds for complaint. The old chief and his people heartily
assented, and urged Raleigh to proceed farther inland, if not to Manoa,
to a rich city, Macureguari, about four days’ journey distant, where
they would find many “statues of gold.” The prospect was tempting,
but the adventurers had been, and were, suffering severe privations,
and Raleigh determined to hasten back. He exchanged hostages with the
chief, engaging to return next year; he took with him the chiefs son,
and left with the chief Goodwin, who learned the Indian language, and
was found by Raleigh, on his revisiting the country many years later,
when Goodwin had almost forgotten the English language.
In the course of their descent of the Orinoco, the adventurers
visited a lake where they met with the curious creature, the manatee,
or sea-cow. On an island in the Orinoco they had a feast, at which
armadillo meat was the principal dainty. After encountering much
violent weather in rain-floods, thunder-storms, and intermittent cold
winds, they reached the sea. Notwithstanding bad water, scanty food,
and weather hardships, only one life was lost in the course of the
voyage, that of the young Indian who was devoured by the alligator.
During Raleigh’s absence, his fleet, under the command of Captain Amyas
Preston, was active in spoiling the Spaniards, sacking and burning all
the towns he could get at, in Venezuela. They were able to do much
mischief, but to collect very little plunder. The visits of English
captains had waked up the inhabitants to the propriety of preparing
for their coming; they hid their most precious portable possessions
away among the hills inland, or shipped them off to Spain for safety
with the least possible delay. Among other towns devastated was Cumana,
concerning which Captain Amyas Preston felt provoked to make the
peevish complaint that he “found not the value of a single real of
plate.”
Having accomplished all that his resources and circumstances made
possible, and prepared the way for future operations, Raleigh brought
back his little fleet to England in the autumn of 1595, making a
quiet entrance into port,--Dartmouth or Falmouth,--that was in strong
contrast with the pomp and circumstance, and noisy enthusiasm, that
distinguished the return of Sir Francis Drake from his famous voyage.
Raleigh’s spirited achievements do not seem to have been appreciated.
He had, as he thought, returned bringing a gift to his queen of a rich
empire that would assure his restoration to favour, but he was met with
cold neglect, and left in doubt as to whether his report concerning
Guiana was to be accepted as a true history or passed by as an idle
tale. At this stage of his career he gave conclusive evidence of the
diversity of his gifts, the wide range of his capability, his restless
activity, and indomitable perseverance. He had distinguished himself
as a practical navigator and commander, and as an explorer of regions
before unknown. As a diplomatist he had established satisfactory
relations with foreign potentates--albeit uncivilised--as allies; he
had carried out with safety and success a perilous expedition, and had
laid a good foundation for future operations. He had full confidence in
his own ability to prosecute these operations successfully, and felt
certain that evil and failure would result from his being supplanted,
as he seemed to have reason to fear. Of himself and the Guiana chiefs
he says: “I rather sought to win the kings than to sack them; I know
what others will do when these kings come singly into their hands.”
No author of reputation, probably, who has written works which the
world will not willingly let die,--works which have not died,--has
done his literary work under greater disadvantages than Raleigh, or
has enjoyed so little of the tranquillity of retirement, favourable to
literary pursuits. It would appear from the date of publication, the
end of the year 1595, that he must have been engaged in writing a book
that became famous, while his expedition was actually in progress. In
November he submitted a manuscript account of his Guiana voyage and
travels, illustrated with a map, to Sir Robert Cecil. In a letter which
accompanied it, he expresses his disappointment and surprise at the
rejection of such a prize, as was never before offered to a Christian
prince. In magnifying the value and importance of the acquisition
within reach, he draws freely upon his imagination, and declares that
the golden statues with which the city of Manoa abounds--which he has
not seen--are worth at least £100,000 each! He urges that, whatever may
be done about Guiana, or whoever may be sent to do it, the enterprise
may not be soiled by cruelty, and plunder of the Indians. At the close
of 1595 his work was published under the somewhat ponderous title,
_The Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with
a Relation of the Great and Golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards
call El Dorado, and of the provinces of Emeria, Arromaia, Amapaia, and
other countries, with their Rivers adjoining_. The book became famous
throughout Europe. Two editions were published in England in 1596,
and a Latin translation in Germany. Raleigh’s literary contemporaries
at this period included such illustrious men as Shakespeare, Bacon,
Hooker, and Marlowe. His book on Guiana is admitted to occupy the
foremost place among the volumes describing voyages and discoveries,
that appeared towards the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the
seventeenth centuries, and has been republished in Hakluyt’s _Voyages_
and Purchas’s _Pilgrim_.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH,
SAILOR, SCHOLAR, POET.