drink wine with his majesty and the men, he could win the ladies of the court by his gallantry and liberality; and it is said that, in that sink of dishonour and immorality, he intrigued with some of the highest dames, and bribed some of the proudest nobles. If the indiscretion of the king over his cups were not enough, he had plenty of other keys to the secrets of government. According to James's own declaration, Gondomar "took great alarm, and made vehement assertions, in repeated audiences, that he had discovered the objects of the expedition to be hostile and piratical, tending to a breach of the late peace between the two crowns."* Raleigh drew up a memorial, stating that he intended to sail not for any Spanish possession, but for a country over which England could claim a right both by priority of discovery and by the consent of the natives; that there would be no hostile collision with the Spaniards; and that the arms and soldiers he took with him would be solely for selfdefence. According to James, the ambassador then seemed to be satisfied, observing to Secretary Winwood, that if Raleigh only meant to make a peaceful settlement, Spain would offer no resistance. Thereupon the energetic adventurer pressed the preparations for his expedition, and his reputation and merit "brought many gentlemen of quality to venture their estates and persons upon the design." Sir Walter obtained from the Countess of Bedford 8000/. which were owing to him, and Lady Raleigh sold her estate of Mitcham for 2500l.; all of which money he embarked in the adventure. Having obtained ample information as to the course he intended to pursue, and securities, in persons of wealth and rank, for his good behaviour and return, James granted his commission under the privy seal, constituting Raleigh general and commander-in-chief of the expedition, and governor of the colony which he was about to found. On the 28th of March, 1617, he set sail with a fleet of fourteen vessels. The Destiny,' in which he hoisted his flag, carried thirty-six pieces of ordnance, and had on board two hundred men, including sixty gentlemen, many of whom were his own or his wife's relations. The voyage began inauspiciously; the ships were driven by a storm into the Cove of Cork, where they lay till the month of August. They did not reach the Cape de Verd Islands before October, and it was the 13th of November when they recovered the land of Guiana." During the long rough voyage, disease had broken out among the sailors; fortytwo men died on board the admiral's ship alone, and Raleigh suffered the most violent calenture that ever man did and lived. But he wrote to his wife "We are still strong enough, I hope, to perform what we have undertaken, if the diligent care at London to make our strength known to the Spanish king by his ambassador have not taught that monarch to fortify all the entrances against us." He was received by his old friends, the Indians on the coast, with enthusiasm ;† but he soon learned

James's declaration in App. to Cayley's Life of Raleigh. "To tell you that I might here be king of the Indians were a

that the Spaniards were up the country, and prepared to dispute with him the possession of it. Being himself so reduced by sickness as to be unable to walk, he sent Captain Keymis up the river Oronoco with five of the ships, and took up his station with the rest at the island of Trinidad, close to the mouths of that river. He had been given to understand that a Spanish fleet was in the neighbourhood; and it is quite certain that he intended not only to fight it if challenged, but also to fight in order to prevent it following Keymis up the river. This brave captain, who had been for many years devoted to Raleigh, and had suffered many troubles on his account, had explored the country where the mine was situated in 1595, and he was now ordered to make direct for the mine, "the star that directed them thither." If he found it rich and royal he was to establish himself at it; if poor and unpromising, he was to bring away with him a basket or two of ore, to convince the king that the design was not altogether visionary. Keymis began sailing up the river on the 10th of December. If we are to believe the English accounts, the Spaniards began the war, and shot at the ships both with their ordnance and muskets, which they were very likely to do, even without a reference to the exclusive pretension of sovereignty, from the recollection of the mode in which the great Drake and other English commanders had behaved, and that too when, as now, there was no declaration of war between England and Spain.* Keymis soon arrived off the town of St. Thomas, which the Spaniards had recently built on the right bank of the river; and he landed and took up a position between that town and the mine. It is said that he had no intention of attacking the place -we confess that, from a consideration of the circumstances, we doubt the assertion—and that the Spaniards broke in upon him by surprise, in the middle of the night, and butchered many of his people in their sleep. In the morning the English assaulted the town and forced their way into it. The fight was desperate: on one side the governor, who was a near relation of the ambassador Gondomar, was slain; on the other the brave young Captain Walter Raleigh, the general's eldest son. This young Walter was the true son of his father: he cut down one of the chief officers of the Spaniards, and was cut down himself in the act of charging at the head of his own company of pikemen. His death infuriated the English, who loved him dearly; and, after much bloodshed, they set fire to the houses. All the Spaniards that escaped retired to strong positions among the hills and woods, to guard, as Raleigh said, the approaches to some mines they had found in the neighbourhood of St. Thomas. We cannot help suspecting that the adventurers expected to find and secure some rich

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."-Letter to his Wife.

It was an axiom with sailors long before and long after this voyage of Raleigh, that the treaties of Europe did not extend across the ocean-that there was "no peace beyond the Line."

prize, like what had been pounced upon by the Drakes and Hawkinses, but all they really found in the captured and destroyed town of St. Thomas were two ingots of gold and four empty refininghouses. They immediately showed their disappointment and discontent, became mutinous and dangerous, and Keymis, oppressed with grief for the loss of young Raleigh, and confounded by their clamours and conflicting projects, appears to have lost his head. He however led them some way higher up the river; but, on receiving a volley from a body of Spaniards lying in ambush, which killed two and wounded six of his men, he retreated and made all haste to join his chief. Their meeting was dreadful: Raleigh, in anguish and despair, accused Keymis of having undone him, and ruined his credit for ever. The poor captain answered, that when his son was lost, and he reflected that he had left the general himself so weak that he scarcely thought to find him alive, he had no reason to enrich a company of rascals, who, after his son's death, made no account of him. He further urged, that he had hardly force sufficient to defend the town of St. Thomas, which they had taken, and therefore, for them to pass through thick woods it was impossible, and more impossible to have victuals brought them into the mountains. Raleigh, in the utter anguish of his soul, repeated his charges. Keymis drew up a defence of his conduct in a letter to the Earl of Arundel, which he requested his commander to approve of; but, though some days had been allowed to elapse, Raleigh was not yet in a humour to be merciful to the brave friend of many years. He refused to sign the letter; he vented reproaches of cowardice or incapacity; and then Keymis retiring to his cabin, which he had in the general's ship, put an end to his existence with a pistol and a knife.* All now was horror, confusion, and mutiny in the fleet. Captain Whitney, for whom Raleigh said he had sold all his plate at Plymouth, and in whom he reposed "more credit and countenance" than in all the other captains, took off his ship, and sailed for England, and Captain Woolaston went with him. Others followed "a rabble of idle rascals," — and Sir Walter was soon left with only five ships. But the men that remained were, for the most part, dashing, daring sailors, or desperate adventurers; and these men would have wished Raleigh to take a leaf or two out of the book of the lives of some of his predecessors (men honoured above all naval heroes in the annals of their country); and, though Raleigh rejected their plans of plunder, it appears to have been after a struggle with the overwhelming feeling of his utter desperation. With his "brains broken,"t he sailed down the North American coast to Newfoundland, where he refitted his ships. When they

"I rejected all these his arguments, and told him that I must leave it to himself to answer it to the king and state. He shut himself into his cabin, and shot himself with a pocket-pistol, which brake one of his ribs; and finding that he had not prevailed, he thrust a long knife under his short ribs up to the handle, and died."-Raleigh's letter to his wife.

↑ This striking expression is Raleigh's own, in a letter to his wife.

were fit for sea, a fresh 'mutiny broke out, and Raleigh avowedly kept them together by holding Raleigh avowedly kept them together by holding out the hope of intercepting the treasure galleons. What followed at sea is open to much doubt; but, in the month of June, 1618, Sir Walter came to anchor at Plymouth, where he was welcomed by the intelligence that there was a royal proclamation against him. Gondomar, who had received intelligence of all that had passed on the Oronoco, and of the death of his kinsman, had rushed into the royal presence, crying, "Pirates! pirates!" and had so worked upon James that the worst possible view of Raleigh's case was instantly adopted at the English court, and a proclamation was published, accusing him of scandalous outrages in infringing the royal commission, and inviting all who could give information to repair to the privy council, in order that he might be brought to punishment; and, a few days after Raleigh's arrival, Buckingham wrote a most humble letter to the Spanish ambassador, informing him that they had got the offender safe, and had seized his ships and other property; that King James held himself more aggrieved by the proceedings than King Philip could do; that all kinds of property belonging to the subjects of the king of Spain should forthwith be placed at his disposal; and that, though the offenders could not be put to death without process of law, the king of England promised that a brief and summary course should be taken with them, and that he would be as severe in punishing them as if they had done the like spoil in an English town. As if this were not enough, Buckingham concluded by saying that the king, his master, would punctually perform his promise by sending the offenders to be punished in Spain, unless the king of Spain should think it more satisfactory and exemplary that they should receive the reward of their crimes in England: and he requested the ambassador to send an express messenger into Spain because the king his master would not have the vindication of his affection to the king of Spain, or his sincere desire to do justice, long suspended. This warmth of affection arose out of James's belief that Philip was now quite ready to bestow the Infanta, with a large sum of ready money, upon Prince Charles.

The thirst of the Spaniards for Raleigh's blood was provoked by many causes besides the burning of the little town of St. Thomas. He was hated and feared as the ablest commander England possessed, and one whose place it was thought would not soon be supplied. It was remembered how he had butchered the Spaniards in the surrendered fort on the coast of Ireland, and the feeble garrison on the coast of Guiana, at the time of his first voyage thither in 1595. There were other bitter recollections of his exploits with Essex among the Azores and the Canary Islands, and Gondomar was eager to avenge the death of his kinsman. Sir Walter was fully aware of his danger; his sailors had told him that if he returned to England he would be undone; but, according to the testimony of his

younger son Carew, given many years after his father's death, the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel had become bound for his return, and he had therefore come to discharge his friends from their heavy engagement, and to save them from trouble on his account. Upon landing at Plymouth, he was arrested by Sir Lewis Stukely, Vice-Admiral of Dover, and his own near relation, who took him to the house of Sir Christopher Harris, not far from that sea-port, where he remained more than a week. As he had returned and delivered himself up, Pembroke and Arundel were released from their bond, and Sir Walter now attempted to escape to France, but he failed through his indecision, or which is more probable-through the faithlessness of his agents and the vigilance of Stukely.

When he was carried forward from the coast to be lodged again in the Tower, Sir Walter feigned to be sick, to have the plague, to be mad; and if what is related of him be true, which we doubt, never did man play wilder or sadder pranks to save his life. Having gained a little wretched time and the king's permission to remain a few days at his own house at London before being

locked up, he sent forward Captain King, one of his old officers and friends, to secure a bark for him in the Thames, in which he might yet escape to the continent. He then followed slowly to the capital, giving a rich diamond to his loving kinsman Stukely, and some money to one Manourie, a Frenchman, Stukely's servant, who both took the bribes, and promised to connive at his escape. On reaching London, his faithful friend, Captain King, informed him that he had a bark waiting near Tilbury Fort; and on that same evening Le Clerc, the French chargé d'affaires, sought him out privately, and gave him a safe conduct to the governor of Calais, with letters of recommendation to other gentlemen in France. On the following morning, as he was descending the Thames, he was basely betrayed by Stukely, who, to the last moment, pretended that he was assisting him through the toils.* He was brought back to London, and securely lodged in that wretched prison where he had already spent so many years, and where he was soon subjected to frequent examination by a commission composed of the Archbishop For the particulars of Stukely's villany see Mr. Tytler's Life of Raleigh.

of Canterbury (Abbot), Lord Chancellor Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, his old and fierce antagonist, and some other members of the privy council. He was charged, first, with having fraudulently pretended that his expedition was to discover a mine, while his real object was to recover his liberty, and commence pirate; secondly, that he intended to excite a war with Spain; thirdly, that he barbarously abandoned his ships' companies, and exposed them unnecessarily to extreme danger; fourthly, that he had spoken disrespectfully of the king's majesty; that he had imposed upon the king by feigning sickness and madness; and lastly, had attempted to escape in contempt of his authority. Raleigh calmly replied that his sincerity as to the gold mine was proved by his taking out refiners and tools, at his own expense, "of not less than 20007.;" that the affair of St. Thomas was contrary to his orders; that he never abandoned his men, or exposed them to more danger than he underwent himself; that all that he had said of the king was, that he was undone by the confidence he had placed in his majesty, and that he knew his life would be sacrificed to state purposes. As to his feigning sickness and attempting to escape, it was true, but natural and justifiable. As the commissioners could gain no advantage over him in these interrogatories, it was resolved to place a familiar or spy over him who might ensnare him into admissions and dangerous correspondence. The person chosen for this detestable but at that time not uncommon office was Sir Thomas Wilson, keeper of the State Paper Office, a learned, ingenious, base, scoundrel. If this Wilson is to be credited, Raleigh acknowledged that, had he fallen in with the treasure-ships, he would have made a prize of them according to the old principles which he had learned in the school of Drake and Cavendish. "He fell of himself into discourse, telling what the lords asked, and what he answered; . . . . also what discourse he and my Lord Chancellor had about taking the Platefleet, which he confessed he would have taken had he lighted on it; to which my Lord Chancellor said, Why, you would have been a pirate.' 'Oh!' quoth he, did you ever know of any that were pirates for millions? They that work for small things are pirates.' Bacon's palm must have itched as he thought of all this gold, and perhaps, in spite of James's fears, Raleigh's fate would have been somewhat different if he had returned with the "millions," or even brought back as good a booty as Drake had landed at Plymouth, in time of peace, forty-five years before. But as things were, there was no making a capital crime of an intention; nor could all the cunning, and zeal, and perseverance of Sir Thomas Wilson, though acting in many ways at once, both within the Tower and without, extract or detect anything of the least consequence. As it was fully resolved that he

Sir Thomas Wilson's own MS. in the State Paper Office, as quoted by Mr. Tytler, Life of Raleigh. It appears that the Spanish ambassador expressly charged Raleigh with " propounding to his fleet to go and intercept some of the Plate galleons."-Howell, Letters.

should lose his head,* James ordered his council to devise some other means; and, on the 18th of October, Bacon and Coke and the other commissioners who had examined him presented two forms of proceeding for his majesty's consideration. The one was to send his death-warrant at once to the Tower, only accompanying it with a narrative of Raleigh's late offences, to be printed and published; the other form, to which they said they rather inclined, as being nearer to legal proceedings, was, "that the prisoner should be called before a council of state, at which the judges and several of the nobility and gentlemen of quality should be present; that some of the privy council should then declare that this form of proceeding was adopted because he was already civilly dead (in consequence of the sentence pronounced at Winchester fifteen years before); that, after that, the king's council should charge his acts of hostility, depredation, abuse of the king's commission, and of his subjects under his charge, impostures, attempts to escape, and other his misdemeanors:" and they recommended that, after this charge, the "examinations should be read, and Sir Walter heard, and some persons confronted against him, if need were; and then he was to be withdrawn and sent back, because no sentence could by law be given against him; and, after he was gone, that the lords of the privy council and the judges should give their advice whether upon these subsequent offences the king might not, with justice and honour, give warrant for his execution."+ For reasons not explained this latter form was rejected, and the former alternative, somewhat modified, was adopted; and a privy seal was sent to the judges of the Court of King's Bench, directing them to order immediate execution of the old sentence upon Sir Walter Raleigh. The judges, cowardly and corrupt as they were, were startled with the novelty and injustice of the case, and a consultation of all the twelve judges was held, wherein it was determined that neither a writ of privy seal, nor a warrant under the great seal, would be a sufficient authority, after so great a lapse of time, to order execution without calling upon the party to show cause against it; and, in the end, they unanimously resolved that the legal course would be to bring the prisoner to the bar by a writ of habeas corpus. Accordingly, such a writ was issued to the lieutenant of the Tower, who, upon the 28th of October, at an early hour of the morning, made Raleigh, who was suffering from fever and ague (this time his maladies were not feigned), rise from his bed and dress himself. As soon as he was brought to the bar of the Court of King's Bench at Westminster, Sir Henry Yelverton, the attorney-general, said, "My Lords,

"Gondomar will never give him over till he hath his head off his shoulders."-Howell, Letters. ↑ Cayley, Life of Raleigh.

"For, it was said, among other reasons, that the original judg ment being of so long standing, the party might have a pardon to show, or he might plead that he was not the same person."-Hutton's Reports, as quoted by Mr. Jardine, Crim. Trials.

Sir Walter Raleigh, the prisoner at the bar, was fifteen years since convicted of high treason at Winchester; then he received judgment to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but his majesty, of his abundant grace, hath been pleased to show mercy unto him till now, when justice calls upon him for execution. Sir Walter Raleigh hath been a statesman and a man who, in respect of his parts and quality, is to be pitied; he hath been as a star at which the world hath gazed; but stars may fall, nay, they must fall when they trouble the sphere wherein they abide. It is, therefore, his majesty's pleasure now to call for execution of the former judgment, and I now require your lordships' order for the same." Then, the clerk of the crown having first read the old conviction and judgment, the prisoner was asked why execution should not be awarded. "My lords," replied Raleigh," my voice is grown weak by reason of sickness." Montague, the chief justice, told him his voice was audible enough. "Then, my lords," continued Raleigh, with admirable composure, "all I have to say is this: I hope that the judgment which I received to die so long since cannot now be strained to take away my life; for, since that judgment was passed, it was his majesty's pleasure to grant me a commission to proceed in a voyage beyond the seas, wherein I had power, as marshal, over the life and death of others; so, under favour, I presume I am discharged of that judgment. By that commission I gained new life and vigour; for he that hath power over the lives of others, must surely be master of his own . . Under my commission I departed the land, and undertook a journey, to honour my sovereign and to enrich his kingdom with gold, the ore whereof this hand hath found and taken in Guiana; but the voyage, notwithstanding my endeavour, had no other event but what was fatal to me-the loss of my son and the wasting of my whole estate." The chief justice told him that he spoke not to the purpose; that his voyage had nothing to do with the judgment of death formerly given against him, which judgment it was now the king's pleasure, upon certain occasions best known to himself, to have executed; that the commission given to him could in no way help him, for by that he was not pardoned, nor was there any word tending to pardon him in all that commission ;* that in cases of treason there must be a pardon by express words. To this Raleigh replied, that, if such was the law, he must put himself on the mercy of the king, and hope that he would be pleased to have compassion. He then said, " Concerning that judgment at Winchester passed so long ago, I presume that most of you that hear me know how that was obtained; nay, I know that his majesty was of opinion that I had hard measure therein, and was so resolved

touching that trial; and if he had not been anew exasperated against me, certain I am, I might, if I could by nature, have lived a thousand and a thousand years before he would have taken advantage thereof." The chief justice told him that he had had an honourable trial at Winchester (and honourable it was to Raleigh!); that for fifteen years he had been as a dead man in the law, and might at any minute have been cut off, had not the king, in mercy, spared him. "You might justly think it heavy," he continued, "if you were now called to execution in cold blood; but it is not so; for new offences have stirred up his majesty's justice to revive what the law hath formerly granted." (This was admitting what Raleigh said, and what all the world knew.) And after praying God to have mercy on his soul, he ended with the fatal words-" Execution is granted." The undaunted victim then begged for a short respite to settle his affairs, and for the use of pen, ink, and paper to express something," and to discharge himself of ແ some worldly trust;"" and I beseech you," he said, "not to think that I crave this to gain one minute of life; for now, being old, sickly, disgraced, and certain to go to death, life is wearisome unto me." The gentle James had the barbarity to refuse the brief respite; but pen, ink, and paper were allowed, or procured from the humanity of the gaoler. Sir Walter, instead of being carried back to the Tower, was conveyed to the Gate-House at Westminster, where, in the evening, his affectionate wife took her last farewell. On parting, she told him that they had granted her the favour of having his body. is well, Bess," said he, smiling at the conceit, "that thou may'st dispose of that dead thou had'st not always the disposing of when alive." At an early hour on the following morning (October the 29th) he was waited upon by Dr. Tounson, dean of Westminster, appointed by the court to give him ghostly consolation; for he was not allowed to choose his own minister. This dean administered the sacrament, which he took very reverently, declaring that he forgave all men, even his relative Sir Lewis Stukely, who had so basely betrayed him. It has been well said of Raleigh, by a contemporary, that he rather loved life than feared death-the reverse we believe being generally the case with inferior minds. He would have lived on for the beauty of this visible world, of which, as a traveller, he had seen so much,-for the science and the literature he cultivated,―for the grand schemes of discovery he indulged in to the last, for his wife and dear boy ;-but, as soon as he felt his doom to be inevitable, he made up his mind to meet it with alacrity and cheerfulness. He breakfasted heartily, smoked a pipe of tobacco after it, as was his usual practice, and when they brought him a cup of good sack, and asked him how he liked it, he said, gaily, that it was good drink if a man might tarry by it. It was mercifully arranged at court that he should be beheaded instead of being hanged, drawn, and quartered.

"The old sentence," says Howell," still lies dormant against him, which he could never get off by pardon, notwithstanding that he mainly laboured in it before he went; but his majesty could never be brought to it; for he said he would keep this as a curb to hold him within the bounds of his commission, and of good behaviour."Letters.

"It