NAVAL EXPEDITIONS--TRIAL AND EXECUTION.
The desirability of further crippling or arresting the reviving
power of Spain, engaged the continued attention of the queen and her
advisers, but there was much vacillation, on the part of the queen,
with regard to actual operations. In 1596 a commission was appointed to
act as a council of war, consisting of the Earl of Essex, Lord Charles
Howard, High Admiral; Sir Walter Raleigh, and Lord Thomas Howard.
Raleigh was treated with the highest consideration as an experienced
and skilful naval authority. As Admiral of the Counties, he sent to the
Council a valuable report on the defence of Cornwall and Devon. He was
appointed collector of levies for a projected hostile expedition to
Cadiz. In the prosecution of this work he displayed robust activity,
recruiting all round the southern and south-eastern coasts, flitting
about from place to place between Plymouth, Dover, Gravesend, and
Blackwall as occasion required. On 1st June 1596, the forces collected
put to sea, and on the 20th cast anchor in the Bay of San Sebastian.
The English fleet, in four divisions, comprised 93 ships; an auxiliary
Dutch squadron numbered 24 additional. The combined fleet had on board
about 13,000 English soldiers and sailors, and 2600 Dutchmen.
[Illustration: RALEIGH AS SAILOR, SCHOLAR, POET.]
This English Armada of 1596 was the “return match” for the “most happy
and invincible Armada” of Philip of Spain, that visited, and was for
the most part scattered, upon our shores in 1588. The English force,
although very imposing, was much smaller than the array which Spain had
made. As has been stated, the combined fleet consisted of 117 ships,
carrying 15,600 men. The Spanish Armada embraced 130 ships, some of
them of enormous size, carrying about 30,000 men all told, including
“124 volunteers of quality, and 180 monks.” The Spanish expedition
attracted the flower of the nobility of the nation, and the English
Armada, in like manner, enlisted the sympathy, fired the patriotism,
and inflamed the martial ardour of the flower of English chivalry.
The most distinguished men in both arms of the service accompanied
the expedition. Even amongst such associates in council and comrades
in arms, Sir Walter Raleigh came to the front simply by his native
force and merits; even in such a galaxy he shone the bright particular
star--he was pre-eminently the hero of the expedition.
At the beginning of the battle of Cadiz, Raleigh, in compliance with
the orders of the lord admiral, detached the ships under his charge
and the Dutch squadron from the main body, and took up a favourable
position for preventing the escape of Spanish ships from Cadiz
harbour. He was directed to watch, but not to fight unless attacked.
Lord Howard and the impetuous Essex, Raleigh being absent from their
council, determined to open the action by military, in preference to
naval operations--to land the soldiers and assault the town, leaving
the Spanish fleet alone for the time. Raleigh detected in this a false
and dangerous move, and despite his being a subordinate in command,
interposed with promptitude and courage. He came up with Essex in
the _Repulse_, when the embarkation of the soldiers was actually
in progress. There was a heavy sea running, making the landing an
enterprise to be attended with extreme difficulty and danger. He warmly
remonstrated with Essex, and declared that this course imperilled
their own lives, and risked the utter overthrow and ruin of the whole
expedition. Essex deferred to Raleigh’s superior experience, judgment,
and ability, and shifted the responsibility for the movement to the
lord admiral, to whom, on board the _Ark Royal_, Raleigh immediately
repaired,--now that he had boldly declared himself,--warmly supported
by the highest military officers of the expedition. Lord Howard was
converted to Raleigh’s views, which were in favour of immediate and
vigorous action, but on a different plan. From his own ship, the _War
Sprite_, Raleigh wrote a hurried letter to Lord Howard, advising the
order of battle, which included the attack by well-manned boats upon
the Spanish galleons, before they could be set on fire. Raleigh was at
his best in this crisis. He bore himself with graceful courtesy towards
his colleagues of the Council, and commanded, by his manifest grasp
of the situation, his skill, intrepidity, and genius for rapid and
vigorous action, their respect and admiration. Each of the four heads
of the force was eager to lead the van, but they generously conceded
the post of honour to Raleigh. Their final council before the action
was held late on the evening of June 20th. Cadiz was illuminated, and
its inhabitants carousing, and in the full enjoyment, as they supposed,
of perfect security. At daybreak on the 21st June, the splendid English
fleet swept into the harbour of Cadiz. Raleigh led in the _War Sprite_,
followed by Sir George Carew in the _Mary Rose_, Sir Francis Vere in
the _Rainbow_, Sir Robert Southwell in the _Lion_, Sir Conyers Clifford
in the _Dreadnought_, and another ship, the six being a considerable
distance in advance of the main body of the fleet. In front of them,
under the walls of Cadiz, were seventeen galleons that were the special
objects of attack. The forts and galleys opened fire upon the invading
squadron, making a target of the leading _War Sprite_. Raleigh answered
them not by shot from his guns, but, in contempt, by blasts from his
trumpets. In his account of the action, he says that “the _St. Philip_,
the great and famous ship of Spain, was the mark I shot at, esteeming
those galleys but as wasps.” The _St. Philip_ had a special claim upon
his attention. It was the _St. Philip_ and the _St. Andrew_ that had
been the principal actors in what Raleigh considered the murder of
his gallant friend and companion-in-arms, Sir Richard Grenville, who
in the fight at the Azores in 1591, in his ship the _Revenge_, with
a hundred men, faced in battle, and was crushed by, a Spanish fleet,
manned by fifteen thousand soldiers and sailors. Raleigh was determined
to avenge the death of his gallant friend and kinsman, or to perish in
the attempt. He came to anchor close to the galleons, and for three
hours the battle raged with great fury. Raleigh’s ship was suffering
severely, and he became impatient from the delay in the arrival of the
boats. He put on his skiff, and urged first Essex and afterwards the
admiral to make every possible effort to bring up the boats. During
this short parley, and Raleigh’s absence from his ship, some of the
other commanders, especially Sir Francis Vere in the _Rainbow_, had
attempted to supplant the _War Sprite_. Vere, the marshal, had a rope
attached from his own to Raleigh’s ship, to haul the _Rainbow_ abreast
of the leader. On Raleigh’s discovering this, he ordered the rope to be
thrown off, and for the remainder of the fight the _Rainbow_, excepting
a small part of the bows, was covered by the _War Sprite_. In Sir
Walter’s spirited description of the action, he says:--
“Having no hope of my fly-boats to board, and the earl and my Lord
Thomas having both promised to second me, I laid out a warp by the side
of the _Philip_ to shake hands with her, for with the wind we could not
get aboard; which, when she and the rest perceived, finding also that
the _Repulse_, seeing mine, began to do the like, and the rear-admiral
my Lord Thomas, they all let slip, and ran aground, tumbling into the
sea heaps of soldiers, as thick as if coals had been poured out of a
sack in many ports at once, some drowned, and some sticking in the mud.
The _Philip_ and the _St. Thomas_ burned themselves; the _St. Matthew_
and the _St. Andrew_ were recovered by our boats ere they could get
out to fire them. The spectacle was very lamentable on their side; for
many drowned themselves; many, half burned, leaped into the water; very
many hanging by the ropes’ end, by the ships’ side, under the water
even to the lips; many swimming with grievous wounds, stricken, under
water, and put out of their pain; and withal so huge a fire, and such
tearing of the ordnance in the great _Philip_ and the rest when the
fire came to them, as if a man had a desire to see hell itself, it was
there most lively figured. Ourselves spared the lives of all after the
victory, but the Flemings, who did little or nothing in the fight, used
merciless slaughter, till they were by myself, and afterwards by my
lord admiral, beaten off.”
In the action Raleigh received a serious wound in the leg, his flesh
was torn by splinters, which disabled him from taking part in the land
attack. Although his wound was excessively painful, he was unwilling
to be left behind, and had himself carried into Cadiz on a litter. But
a town in process of being sacked by soldiers freed from discipline
and restraint, grievously hurt as he was, and suffering the agony he
did, was no place for him, and he was speedily carried back to the
_War Sprite_. Early next morning, however, eager in spirit although
physically unfit for arduous duty, he went ashore again, and entreated
for leave to follow a fleet of richly-laden Spanish carracks, Indian
bound, that had escaped. The disturbance and excitement attending
the operations on land, prevented attention being given to Raleigh’s
request. In the interim of his waiting for authority, the Spanish
commander, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, settled the matter by burning
the whole fleet of rich argosies. Raleigh had the mortification of
witnessing the conflagration from the deck of the _War Sprite_. Of the
large fleet of Spain that had been completely defeated, only two ships,
the _St. Matthew_ and the _St. Andrew_, remained for the victors to
take home as prizes to England.
[Illustration: ENGLISH FLEET BEFORE CADIZ.]
Neither the lord admiral nor his colleagues on the Council concerned
themselves about sending home information about their proceedings. A
letter written by Raleigh to Cecil, dated 7th July, and taken home
by Sir Anthony Ashley, was the first news received in England of the
victory. An epidemic broke out in Raleigh’s ship, which could not be
effectively dealt with, and it was determined, 1st August, that he
should return with his ship to England, in company with two other ships
of the fleet. He arrived at Plymouth in six days. On the 12th he landed
at Weymouth, and proceeded to Sherborne for the rest and nursing of
which he stood so sorely in need. The remainder of the fleet returned
a few weeks later. Essex on the way home landed and pounced upon the
magnificent library of the Bishop of Algarve. He presented it to Sir
Thomas Bodley, to form the nucleus of the famous Bodleian Library,
which remaineth at Oxford until this day.
Of such glory as attached to the destruction of the Spanish fleet,
Sir Walter Raleigh was entitled to the chief share. There was much
plunder, great destruction and loss of property, but little or no prize
money resulted from the great victory. The “Council of Four” agreed
that if the property available for prize money realised as much, the
lord admiral and Essex should have £5000 each, and Raleigh £3000;
subordinate officers and men according to the amount that the treasure
would “pan out.” The Earl of Essex gallantly assigned his share to his
venerable and royal lady, but he might have saved himself the trouble,
for “the good Queen Bess,” without consultation, or “by’r leave,”
scooped up the whole. She further blamed the victorious chiefs of the
expedition for having failed to bring home the Indian carracks, and
adding to her coffers the treasure with which they were laden! Raleigh
did all he could to procure restoration to favour, but the queen
continued relentless towards him.
Raleigh’s hope and expectation of achieving credit and renown to
himself, and adding to the glory of his country, in connection with
“the large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana,” had slumbered while
other active enterprises engaged his energies, but they were now
revived. Towards the close of 1596 he sent out another expedition to
Guiana, under Captain Berrie, who brought back in the summer of 1597 a
glowing confirmation of Raleigh’s favourable report. About this time
he was received again at court, and appears to have been on the most
friendly terms with Sir Robert Cecil and the Earl of Essex.
Essex, high in authority, with the assent of the queen, it may be
supposed, and of the Privy Council and chiefs of the services, designed
another expedition against Spain, and needed Raleigh’s assistance,
which was heartily given. He fully approved the object, as may be
inferred from his _Spanish Alarum_, which he wrote expressly to
stimulate and warn the Government against its old enemy. He felt
assured that as soon as Philip should think his power sufficient,
he would attempt reprisals for the crushing losses and humiliating
indignities that had been inflicted upon him in the face of the
world. Raleigh was decidedly of opinion that it would be best not to
wait Philip’s coming, but to go to him at home, or on the high seas.
Restored to power, Raleigh proceeded energetically to victual and
equip a powerful fleet. The Dutch contributed a contingent of twelve
ships. On the night of Sunday, 10th July 1597, the fleet sailed from
the rendezvous in Plymouth Sound, but soon got separated by a violent
storm. Some of the ships were lost; the others got back as they could
to Falmouth, Plymouth, and Tor Bay. On 18th August the fleet again
put to sea. The _St. Andrew_ and the _St. Matthew_, Spanish prizes,
revisiting their native shores as enemies, were disabled in the Bay
of Biscay, and had to be left at La Rochelle. Raleigh’s ship also
sustained an accident, which required his detention for repairs off
Lisbon. Essex left directions for Raleigh to hasten after him to the
Azores. Raleigh rejoined the main fleet under Essex at Flores, on the
15th September. A pinnace from India, fallen in with, gave the news
that the homeward-bound Spanish fleet was changing its course this
year. The English fleet was, in consequence of this information, and
as the decision of a council of war, divided, and the ships of the
fleet assigned their several posts. Fayal was to be taken by Essex
and Raleigh, the other islands by different appointed commanders.
Essex sailed first, leaving Raleigh taking in provisions at Flores.
Essex, after he had left, sent a letter to Raleigh to come on at
once to Fayal, and do his victualling there. Raleigh had completed
his work, and sailed at midnight; he had perhaps a better ship than
Essex, or could handle it better, and thus headed his superior. When
Raleigh arrived at Fayal with the _War Sprite_ and the _Dreadnought_,
Essex had not come up. The inhabitants immediately began to construct
defensive works, and to remove their most valuable effects inland.
Raleigh waited, chafing insufferably with impatience, for three days.
On the fourth day his patience was exhausted; he leaped into a boat
at the head of a storming party, and scaled the cliffs. The Spaniards
contested every foot of the road, but were completely defeated, and
Raleigh at the head of his four hundred and fifty men, entered Fayal,
a “town full of fine gardens, orchards, and wells of delicate waters,
with fair streets, and one very fair church.”
Next morning Essex came creeping into the harbour. Raleigh went out
to meet and greet him. The impetuous earl felt mortified, doubtless,
at having been forestalled and eclipsed, and as he had those about
him envious of Raleigh, they would do what they could to inflame his
anger. Essex reproved Raleigh for breach of orders and articles, and
intimated that by taking Fayal without authority he had rendered
himself liable to the punishment of death. Raleigh defended himself,
and claimed that authority for what he had done had been given to him
by the queen’s letters patent. A reconciliation for the present was
patched up, and the fleet proceeded to St. Miguel, Raleigh being left
to watch the roadstead, in which he had not been posted long, ere an
Indian carrack of 1600 tons, laden with spices, unsuspectingly sailed
into what it took for a friendly Spanish fleet. Raleigh, at the head of
a party, made a prompt attempt to seize the vessel, but its commander
ran her ashore, enabled his crew to land, and set the ship on fire. It
was totally destroyed; he took, however, another carrack laden with
cochineal. Nothing else notable distinguished the voyage, in which
Raleigh, although not the highest in authority, was incontestably
the most prominent, active, and successful in action. He came home
in October, with his health greatly disordered and his strength much
impaired.
In 1598, Raleigh resumed his duties at court as Captain of the Guard.
Although his office brought him into personal contact with the queen,
and he had well proved his loyalty and valour, these claims failed
to benefit him. Essex had never been as patient and painstaking in
serving and endeavouring to please the queen as Raleigh had been,
yet nothing he might have asked from her in reason would have been
denied him; but to the faithful Raleigh she would give nothing. He
desired the office of Vice-Chamberlain, which had become vacant; he
thought it not unreasonable that he should be raised to the peerage;
he would have been a very fit man to have been made Lord Deputy of
Ireland; but from all these offices he was excluded, and Cecil, his
professed friend, prevented him from being sworn on the Privy Council.
Life at court became unpleasant from the jarring and bad blood that
prevailed. Essex had been so far left to himself as to personally
insult the queen, whose conditions he declared were “as crooked as her
carcass.” True friendship had never existed between Essex and Raleigh,
and their relations did not improve by closer contact,--very much the
reverse; their dislike grew into hate. About this time Raleigh formed
another friendship that was to have much to do in effecting his ruin.
This dangerous friend was Henry Brooke, afterwards Lord Cobham,
Lady Cecil’s brother, who, with his brother, George Brooke, were the
champions of Arabella Stuart, cousin of James I., daughter of Charles
Stuart, a younger brother of Darnley, whom they conspired to support
by secret intrigues as heir to the throne. Raleigh got unwittingly
entangled with them, to his ultimate, although long-deferred, ruin.
The closeness of his intimacy with Cobham may be inferred from the
following letter, of date--
“BATH, _April 29, 1600_.
“Here we attend you and have done this se’enight, and we still
mourn your absence, the rather that we fear your mind is changed.
I pray let us hear from you at least, for if you come not we will
go hereby home, and make but short tarrying here. My wife will
despair ever to see you in these parts, if your Lordship come
not now. We can but long for you and wish you as our own lives
whatsoever.--Your Lordship’s everest faithful, to honour you most.
W. RALEIGH.”
At intervals Raleigh did much good work in connection with his offices
as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Warden of the Stannaries; affairs in
Ireland also engaged much of his attention.
Sir Anthony Paulet, Governor of Jersey, died in August 1600, and
Raleigh was appointed his successor. He “entered into residence” in
October, Lady Raleigh and their little son Walter, now six years old,
witnessing his departure from Weymouth. As Governor he discharged his
duties with a breadth of view and a spirit of enterprise not often
manifested by such officials. From considerations of policy his first
intention was to destroy the castle of Mont Orgueil, but he was not an
iconoclast; its stately architecture and commanding position so charmed
him as to induce him to appoint a military guard for its preservation.
He established a trade communication for interchange of products
between Jersey and Newfoundland. In many ways he lightened the burdens
and improved the condition of the people, whom he ruled with wisdom,
justice, and beneficence.
Essex was tried and executed in 1601. The friends of Essex stigmatised
Raleigh. A trap was laid for him by Sir Christopher Blount and others,
who attempted, but unsuccessfully, to assassinate Raleigh when he kept
an appointment on the river, off Durham House, to which they lured him.
Four shots were fired at him from a boat manned by Blount and some of
Essex’s servants. Raleigh escaped unhurt. Blount confessed having taken
part in this treachery, and on the scaffold asked pardon from Raleigh,
which was freely granted. Touching his enmity with Essex, Raleigh
states that he “shed tears for him when he died. I confess I was of a
contrary faction, but I knew he was a noble gentleman. Those that
set me up against him, did afterwards set themselves against me.”
[Illustration: ST. HELIER, JERSEY.]
In 1601, Raleigh had much trouble in connection with Meeres, bailiff
of the Sherborne estates, who was first aggressive and overbearing,
and when brought to account, insolent, malicious, and audacious;
clever enough to make much mischief, and cause his abused employer
much vexation and annoyance. He made himself amenable to the law, and
confessed that he had wrongously maligned Sir Walter. He was pardoned,
but pardon was not followed by repentance, and he continued as vicious
and troublesome as before.
In September 1601, Henry IV. of France being at Calais, sent a
complimentary embassy, consisting of the Duke de Biron and a large and
brilliant retinue, to pay respect to Queen Elizabeth. The queen was
not in London at the time, and the remnant of her court left behind
were unequal to the duty of fitly entertaining the French chevaliers.
Raleigh happened, most opportunely, to pay a visit to London, and
exercised his accomplishments to good purpose in the entertainment of
the distinguished visitors, whom he escorted to Westminster, and to the
Bear Garden by way of variety. After “doing London,” he accompanied the
party, “by royal command,” to Hampshire, where the queen was the guest
of the Marquis of Worcester. In anticipation of the visit, and by the
queen’s desire, Raleigh wrote to Lord Cobham to join him, and assist
in entertaining the visitors. Raleigh’s letters to Cobham show that
they were on terms of intimate friendship.
In November the Duke of Lennox visited London, with a delicate
diplomatic commission from James of Scotland touching the succession
to the English throne. Amongst others he saw Raleigh and Cobham, both
of whom he found unfavourable to the claims of the Scottish king. In
the complications which resulted from this important question of State
policy, Cecil, never a warm friend of Raleigh, became more unfriendly
and even hostile, and accused him of ingratitude.
In 1602, Raleigh sent out commissioners to look after, and, if
possible, more firmly settle the colony of Virginia, which had now
occupied his attention for above a dozen years. His representatives
were his nephew, Bartholomew Gilbert, Captain Gosnoll, and Samuel
Mace. No definite results followed their expeditions, beyond their
supplying a link establishing Raleigh’s claim to be the founder of the
still inchoate colony. At home Raleigh devoted his time and attention
to the discharge of his numerous and onerous official duties. He was
at this time in poor health, very depressed in spirits, and pestered
by legal proceedings taken by his dismissed steward Meeres, with whom
Lord Thomas Howard, now Lord Howard of Bindon, Raleigh’s brother
commander in the Cadiz expedition, meanly and maliciously conspired.
Towards the close of 1602, Raleigh had what has been supposed his last
interview with Queen Elizabeth, who asked for his counsel with respect
to Irish affairs. He advised that the leaders of the malcontents
should be treated with rigorous severity. In the same year he sold
his great estates in Ireland to Boyle, Earl of Cork. Queen Elizabeth
died 30th March 1603. The loss of his protector and patroness was to
Raleigh ruinous and irreparable. His career up to this point--he was
now fifty-one years of age--had not been distinguished by unclouded
sunshine,--henceforth it was to be marked by unrelieved gloom. Of his
well-earned title to honour and fame he could not be wholly stripped,
but it was in the power of his enemies to deprive him of offices,
property, peace, and other conditions that made life worth living. He
entered now upon his decline and fall.
King James received Raleigh roughly, and at once superseded him as
Captain of the Guard; Cecil was raised to the peerage as a mark of
favour. In May 1603, Raleigh, in terms of a royal warrant, was required
to surrender Durham House to the Bishop of Durham. He had expended
large sums upon the “rotten house” to which, as was now stated, he
had “no right.” The order to quit was most arbitrary and unjust. He
had received no notice, and was required in the space of a few days
to clear out his retinue of forty persons and twenty horses, with the
provision laid in for them.
James was favourable to Spain and the Catholics; Raleigh never
repressed or concealed his hostility to both. Raleigh became involved
with Lord Cobham and George Brooke, brothers-in-law of Cecil, in an
alleged treasonable plot, the lines and objects of which it would be
difficult to define. Raleigh was arrested on 17th July, and immured in
the Tower on the information of his dastardly and dangerous friend,
Lord Cobham, the Judas who should have been consigned to the dungeon,
in place of his too confiding and credulous friend. In his depression
and desperation he attempted suicide. Anticipating death, he wrote an
extremely touching letter to his wife:--
“Receive from thy unfortunate husband,” he writes, “these last
lines.... That I can live never to see thee and my child more! I
cannot! I have desired God and disputed with my reason, but nature and
compassion have the victory. That I can live to think how you are both
left a spoil to my enemies, and that my name shall be a dishonour to
my child! I cannot!... Unfortunate woman, unfortunate child, comfort
yourselves, trust God, and be contented with your poor estate. I would
have bettered it, if I had enjoyed a few years.
“What will my poor servants think, at their return, when they hear I
am accused to be Spanish, who sent them, at my great charge, to plant
and discover upon his territory! O God! O intolerable infamy!... For
the rest I commend me to thee, and thee to God, and the Lord knows my
sorrow to part from thee and my poor child, and let him know his father
was no traitor. Be bold of my innocence, for God--to whom I offer life
and soul--knows it.... And the Lord for ever keep thee and give thee
comfort in both worlds.”
On 21st September, Raleigh, Cobham, and George Brooke were indicted at
Staines. The charge was “of exciting rebellion against the king, and
raising one Arabella Stuart to the crown of England.” This Arabella
Stuart was first cousin to James, being the daughter of Charles Stuart,
fifth Earl of Lennox, Darnley’s elder brother. Raleigh’s bitter enemy,
Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards Lord Howard of Bindon, and yet again
created Earl of Suffolk, had powerful influence amongst the higher
powers, and exercised his influence virulently against Raleigh to the
full extent of his power. Raleigh was repeatedly examined, and on
Thursday, 17th November 1603, put upon his trial before a Court of
King’s Bench, the court-room having been fitted up in the old episcopal
palace at Winchester. Lord Chief Justice Popham presided, and had with
him on the bench as commissioners, Sir Robert Cecil, Sir W. Wood, the
Earl of Devonshire, and Howard of Bindon, Earl of Suffolk, with judges
Anderson, Gawdy, and Warburton. Sir Edward Coke, Attorney-General,
prosecuted, with Serjeant Hale as his “junior.”
The indictment against Raleigh was in effect--
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 Raleigh in Durham House, in the parish
of St. Martins in the Fields, 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 Aremberg, ambassador from the Archduke of Austria, and
obtain of him 600,000 crowns to bring to pass the intended treasons. It
was agreed that Cobham should go to Albert the Archduke 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.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH CONFINED IN THE TOWER.]
And for the effecting these traitorous purposes, Cobham should return
by the Isle of Jersey, and should there find Sir Walter Raleigh,
Captain of the said isle, and take counsel of him for the distributing
the aforesaid crowns, as the occasion or discontentment of the subjects
should give cause and way.
That Raleigh must be found guilty was a foregone conclusion. The
trial was a cruel mockery of the accused; a flagrant outrage upon
the spirit, even the mere name, of justice. One of the judges at
least--Gawdy--confessed on his death-bed that the procedure had
violated and “degraded the justice of England.” Coke attacked the
apparently deserted and friendless defendant with uncontrollable
ferocity, with a shameless abuse of his office. Instead of attempting
to prove his case by admissible evidence and legitimate arguments, he
discharged upon the defendant a torrent of coarse invective, that was
utterly disgraceful in the public prosecutor in a State trial. His
case was doubtless aggravated by the feeling that the man whom he was
privileged with permission to abuse was his superior, and bore himself
with a self-command and dignity of demeanour that Coke could appreciate
in another, but to which it was not given to himself to attain.
The sole evidence(?) against Raleigh consisted of the alleged
declarations of persons with whom he was not confronted, as he
demanded to be. Coke, in successive speeches, denounced the defendant
with insensate rage, and in disgustingly clumsy phrases, as the
“notoriousest traitor,” the “vilest viper,” the “absolutest traitor
that ever came to the bar.” Raleigh had great difficulty in obtaining
a hearing, in checking the rushing stream of violent abuse. “You try
me,” said he, “as by the Spanish Inquisition, if you proceed only
by the circumstances, without two witnesses.” He pleaded that “by
the statute law and by God’s word it was required that there be two
witnesses. Bear me if I ask for only one; the common law is my support
in this. Call my accuser before my face, and I have done. All I hear
against me is but this accusation of Cobham. Which of his accusations
has he subscribed to or avouched?” Cobham, it appears, had made eight
different confessions, each conflicting in some points, or varying from
all the others. Coke’s answer to Raleigh’s reasonable plea was to heap
more violent, utterly irrelevant abuse upon him,--“Thou art the most
vile and execrable traitor that ever lived. I will make it appear that
there never lived a viler viper on the face of the earth than thou. I
want words to express sufficiently thy viperous treasons.” “You want
words, indeed,” interposed Raleigh, “for you have spoken one thing half
a dozen times; you speak indiscreetly, barbarously, and uncivilly.”
Raleigh defended himself with signal ability, but in vain. Popham
summed up strongly against him, and the packed jury found him guilty.
The rumours in circulation against Raleigh had been accepted, and
before the trial popular fury raged against him. The effect of the
trial, the cruel, crushing injustice with which he was treated, caused
a reaction in his favour. So gross and palpable was the injustice done
to him, that even in the High Court, Popham was hissed and Coke was
hooted, by the portion of the public present during the proceedings.
The revolting terms of the sentence are too hideous to be recited. Many
weary years elapsed between Raleigh’s sentence and his execution.
A number of persons really concerned in the conspiracy were tried
and condemned about the same time as Raleigh, and were executed.
The execution of others, including Raleigh, was stayed by the king,
although Raleigh had no knowledge of this. The Bishop of Winchester,
who was appointed to prepare him for execution, gave him no hope.
Believing himself at death’s door, he wrote a touching farewell letter
to his wife, in which he says:--
“Know it, dear wife, that your son is the child of a true man, and
who, in his own respect, despiseth death and all his misshapen and
ugly forms. I cannot write much. God knows how hardly I stole this
time, when all sleep; and it is time to separate my thoughts from the
world. Beg my dead body, which living was denied you; and either lay
it at Sherborne, if the land continue yours, or in Exeter Church, by my
father and mother. I can write no more. Time and death call me away.”
From Wolvesley Castle, in which Raleigh was confined after his trial,
he was, after having received the announcement that his life was not
to be taken, removed to the Tower of London on the 16th December 1603,
and remained there a State prisoner for twelve years. He, of course,
lost his various offices and sources of income, excepting Sherborne,
which was coveted and greedily desired by court favourites and others.
Ultimately the estate was taken by the king, and £8000 paid as
purchase-money for the benefit of Lady Raleigh and her children. Many
of Raleigh’s voluminous writings were composed during the period of his
confinement in the Tower.
The queen, who made the acquaintance of Raleigh about the year 1606,
was very favourably disposed towards him, as was also Prince Henry, a
most promising prince, who became warmly attached to the illustrious
prisoner, and would probably have been successful in obtaining his
release, had he been spared. He obtained from the king, indeed, a
promise of Raleigh’s release, but died before the stipulated date
had arrived. Influence on Raleigh’s behalf continued to be used with
the king, who at last gave way to the importunities of the captive’s
friends, and a warrant for his release from the Tower was signed by
James on the 30th January 1616.
An express condition involved in Raleigh’s liberation was that he
should proceed at once to undertake preparations for, and to personally
conduct, another expedition to Guiana. This he set about with
promptitude and energy, investing in it the whole of what remained of
his fortune. Raleigh and his friends contributed to the enterprise an
aggregate of about £15,000. Raleigh was by royal commission appointed
commander of the expedition, which consisted of the _Destiny_, of 440
tons, which was built under Raleigh’s personal direction, and six
smaller vessels.
The fleet sailed in March 1617. It could not be regarded with hopeful
confidence. Raleigh’s description of the _personnel_ of the expedition
is decidedly unsatisfactory. “A company of volunteers who for the most
part had neither seen the sea nor the wars; who, some forty gentlemen
excepted, were the very scum of the world, drunkards, blasphemers,
and such others as their fathers, brothers, and friends thought it
an exceeding good gain to be discharged of, with the hazard of some
thirty, forty, or fifty pound.” Raleigh was commander of the fleet,
and his son Walter captain of the _Destiny_. Various delays occurred.
On the 12th June the fleet left Plymouth, but soon got separated by
stormy weather, and some of the ships turned back to Falmouth. The
fleet reassembled in Cork harbour, and remained there waiting for a
favourable wind for nearly six weeks. While thus detained, Raleigh
disposed as completely as possible, and on the best terms he could
command, of his remaining Irish leases and other interests in Ireland.
The fleet called at the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands. After
encountering much rough weather, they sighted, on the 11th November,
Cape Orange, the most northerly point of the coast of Brazil; on the
14th they anchored at the mouth of the Cayenne River; and Raleigh, who
had been struck down by fever, was conveyed from the choky cabin to his
barge. From this place he writes to Lady Raleigh: “To tell you I might
be here King of the Indians were a vanity; but my name hath still lived
among them. Here they feed me with fresh meat and all that the country
yields; all offer to obey me. Commend me to poor Carew, my son.” Here,
also, Goodwin, the English lad left as exchange hostage on the occasion
of his first visit, twenty-two years before, came to do homage to his
old master. He was voluble in the Indian tongue, but had almost lost
ability to express himself in English.
The state of his health incapacitated Raleigh from conducting the
expedition on the Orinoco and searching for the expected mines of the
precious metals--gold more especially. He despatched a party under the
command of Captain Keymis; his son Walter, and George Raleigh, his
nephew, accompanied the expedition. Its result was disastrous. Keymis
attacked a Spanish settlement--San Thomé; and young Walter Raleigh lost
his life in the fight. Keymis, with a remnant of the men left with
him, fled in the belief that a powerful Spanish force was in pursuit.
When Raleigh and Keymis met, the admiral was severe in his reproof,
and required from him such explanation of his conduct as he could give
for the satisfaction of His Majesty and the State. Keymis, in great
dejection, committed suicide. The crews mutinied, and became quite
unmanageable; and the ships returned, each as the crews could find
their way, to English ports. On the 21st May, Raleigh in the _Destiny_
reached Kinsale harbour, and on the 21st June arrived at Plymouth,
infirm in body, broken in spirit, penniless, dejected, and destitute.
Intrigues against Raleigh were originated and stimulated by Gondomar,
the Spanish ambassador. He was beset with spies, who ensnared him into
acts and confessions--to be employed against him. Sir Lewis Stukely, a
cousin of Raleigh, an infamous wretch, was the traitor of the miserable
drama. Again the grand old man had to stand his trial; the charge now
was, of having abused the king’s confidence by setting out to find gold
in a mine which never existed, with instituting a piratical attack upon
a peaceful Spanish settlement, with attempting to capture the Mexican
Plate fleet, although he had been specially warned that he would take
his life in his hands, if he committed any one of these three faults.
Raleigh was tried before the Commissioners on 22nd October. He denied
having had any intention of stirring up war between England and Spain,
and declared that he had confidently believed in the existence of the
gold mine. He confessed that in case of his failing to find the mine,
he would if he could have taken the Mexican fleet. At the close of the
examination, Lord Francis Bacon, in the name of the commissioners, said
that he was guilty of abusing the confidence of King James, and of
injuring the subjects of Spain, and that he must prepare to die,--being
already civilly dead. Execution was ordered upon the Winchester
sentence of 1603. On the 28th October 1618 he was roused from his bed
in the Tower, where he lay suffering from a severe attack of ague. The
order of movement was so hurried that the barber remarked that his
master had not had time to comb his head. “Let them comb it that are to
have it,” said Raleigh. He had been brought first to Westminster Hall
from the Tower, and from the Hall was taken to the Gate House. On the
way he told his old friend, Sir Hugh Beeston, “to secure a good place
at the show next morning, adding that he (Raleigh) was sure of one.”
His cousin, Francis Thynne, suggested that he should be more serious,
lest his enemies should report his levity. Raleigh rejoined, “It
is my last mirth in this world, do not grudge it to me.” The good Dr.
Tounson, Dean of Westminster, a stranger to Raleigh, was puzzled by his
conduct, but confessed his admiration. After the execution, he reported
“he was the most fearless of death he had ever known, and the most
resolute and confident, yet with reverence and conscience.”
[Illustration: LORD FRANCIS BACON.]
It was late, on the evening before the date fixed for execution, when
Lady Raleigh knew that the end was so near. She hastened to the Gate
House, and remained till midnight with her husband, from whom she had
been so much parted involuntarily, and from whom she was to be so soon
finally separated in this life.
In the morning the dean visited Raleigh in the Gate House, and
administered the Eucharist. He ate a hearty breakfast, and smoked a
pipe of tobacco. The servant brought him a cup of sack, and, after he
had drunk, asked if the wine was to his liking. “I may answer you,”
said Raleigh, “as the fellow did on his way to Tyburn. ‘It is good
drink, if a man might stay by it.’” As they passed through the dense
crowd that had assembled, Raleigh noticed a very old man bareheaded. He
pulled off the rich laced cap that he was wearing, and, throwing it to
the old man with the remark, “Friend, you need this more than I do,”
passed on himself bareheaded.
On the scaffold he delivered an ingenious and eloquent speech that
occupied nearly half an hour. At the windows of an adjacent house
he noticed a number of noblemen and gentlemen with whom he had been
connected in his foreign adventures, or associated in public affairs.
Amongst others were the Earls of Arundel, Oxford, and Northampton. He
seemed anxious that they should hear his vindication of his conduct,
and apologised for the weakness of his voice, whereupon they came
down, solemnly embraced him, and took their places around him on the
scaffold. He prayed that the company might bear with him, because
this was the third day of his fever, which might cause him to show
weakness. “I thank God,” he said, “that He has sent me to die in the
light and not in darkness. I also thank God that He has suffered me to
die before such an assembly of honourable witnesses, and not obscurely
in the Tower, where for the space of thirteen years together I have
been oppressed with many miseries. And I return Him thanks that my
fever hath not taken me at this time, as I prayed to Him that it might
not, that I might clear myself of such accusations unjustly laid to my
charge, and leave behind me the testimony of a true heart both to my
king and country.”
His speech was ingenious and eloquent, and well fitted to move the
sympathy of his hearers. He closed his address--
“And now I entreat that you will all join me in prayer to the great
God of heaven, whom I have grievously offended, being a man full of
all vanity, who has lived a sinful life in such callings as have
been most inducing to it; for I have been a soldier, a sailor, and
a courtier, which are courses of wickedness and vice; that His
almighty goodness will forgive me, that He will cast away my sins,
and that He will receive me into everlasting life.--So I take my
leave of you all, making my peace with God.”
His friends lingered on the stage after visitors had been asked to
quit, and Raleigh himself requested them to leave, saying smilingly, “I
have a long journey to go, and must take my leave of you.” Turning to
the headsman, he asked to see his axe. “Let me see it, I prithee,” he
said, as the executioner hesitated. “Dost thou think that I am afraid
of it?” Feeling its keen edge, he turned to the sheriff, to whom he
said with a smile, “’Tis a sharp medicine, but one that will cure me
of all my diseases.” The executioner, greatly moved, begged Raleigh to
pardon him for this cruel duty his office imposed. Raleigh answered him
by a kindly touch on the shoulders and assuring words. Turning to the
people, to whom he bowed right and left, Raleigh cried aloud, “Give me
heartily your prayers.” He then lay down, and gave the directions to
the headsman, “When I stretch forth my hands, despatch me.” After a
brief space, in which he was supposed to be engaged in silent prayer,
he put out his hands, but the man was completely overcome, and could
not perform his office. Again he repeated the signal, and yet a third
time, saying, “What dost thou fear? Strike, man, strike!” At last he
did strike, and with two rapidly delivered blows completely severed
Raleigh’s head from his body. According to custom, the head was held
up in view of the people, but it is not recorded that they were called
upon to behold the head of a traitor!
“All Europe,” says a biographer of last century, “was astonished
at the injustice and cruelty of this proceeding; but Gondamor, the
Spanish ambassador, thirsted for his blood, on account of his having
been the scourge of Spain during the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and
King James durst not refuse him the life of a man who, as a soldier,
a scholar, and a statesman, was the greatest ornament to his country.
This mean-spirited prince, to his eternal infamy, soon after ordered
Cortington, one of the residents of Spain, to inform the Spanish Court
how able a man Sir Walter Raleigh was, and yet to give them content,
he had not spared him, though, by preserving him, he would have given
great satisfaction to his subjects, and had at his command, upon all
occasions, as useful a man as served any prince in Christendom.”
THE PLANTING OF THE GREAT AMERICAN COLONIES.