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to have been paid to his narrative either by Elizabeth or the nation. But after he had languished many years in confinement, as a punishment for his conspiracy against James; when the envy excited by his superior talents was laid asleep, and commiseration awakened for his unhappy condition; a report which he propagated of a wonderfully rich gold mine that he formerly had discovered in Guiana obtained universal belief. People of all ranks were impatient to take possession of a country overflowing with the precious metals, and to which the nation was supposed to have a right by priority of discovery.

The king, by his own account, gave little credit to this report, not only because he believed there was no such mine in nature as the one described, but because he considered Raleigh as a man of desperate fortune, whose business it was by any means to procure his freedom, and reinstate himself in credit and authority.(1) Thinking, however, that he had already undergone sufficient punishment, James ordered him to be released from the tower: and when the hopes held out to the nation had induced multitudes to adopt his views, the king gave him permission to pursue the projected enterprise, and vested him with authority over his fellow-adventurers; but being still diffident of his intentions, he refused to grant him a pardon, that he might have some check upon his future conduct.(2)

The preparations made, in consequence of this commission, alarmed Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador; and although Raleigh protested the innocence of his intentions, and James urged his royal prohibition against invading any of the settlements of his Catholic majesty, that minister conveyed to his court intelligence of the expedition, and his apprehensions from it. Twelve armed vessels, he justly concluded, could not be fitted out without some purpose of hostility; and as Spain was then the only European power that had possessions in that part of America to which this fleet was destined, orders were given by the court of Madrid for fortifying all its settlements on or near the coast of Guiana.

It soon appeared that this precaution was not unnecessary. Though Raleigh's commission empowered him only to settle on a coast possessed by savage and barbarous inhabitants, he steered his course directly for the river Oronoco, where he knew there was a Spanish town named St. Thomas; and, without any provocation, sent a detachment, under his son and his old associate captain Keymis, who had accompanied him in his former voyage, to dislodge the Spaniards, and take possession of that town; while he himself, with the larger vessels, guarded the mouth of the river, in order to obstruct such Spanish ships as should attempt the relief of the place. (3) The Spaniards, apprized of this invasion, opposed the landing of the English; as they had foreseen. Young Raleigh was killed by a shot, while animating his followers: Keymis, however, and his surviving companions, not dismayed by the unfortunate accident, took, plundered, and burnt St. Thomas; but found in it no booty any way adequate to their expectations.(4)

It might have been expected, that these bold adventurers, having overcome all opposition, would now have gone in quest of the gold mine, the great object of their enterprise, as Keymis was said to be as well, if not better acquainted with it than Raleigh. But although that officer affirmed he was within a few miles of the place, he refused, under the most absurd pretences, to carry his companions thither, or to take any effectual step for again finding Id. ibid.

(1) King James's Vindication, in the Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii. No. 2. (3) All these particulars may be distinctly collected from the king's Vindication, and Raleigh's Apology. (4) In apology for this violence, it has been said, that the Spaniards had built the town of St. Thomas in a country originally discovered by Raleigh, and therefore he had a right to dispossess them. Admitting that to be the case, Raleigh could never be excusable in making war without any commission empowering him so to do, much less in invading the Spanish settlements contrary to his commission. But the fact is otherwise: the Spaniards had frequently visited the coast of Guiana before Raleigh touched upon it. Even as early as the year 1499, Alonzo de Ojedo aud Americus Vespucius had landed on different places on that coast, and made some excursions up the country (Herrera, dec. i. lib. iv. cap. 1,2); and the great Columbus himself had discovered the mouth of the Oronoco some years before. Between three and four hundred Spaniards are said to have been killed by Keymis and his party, at the sacking of St. Thomas. "This is the true mine!" said young Raleigh, as he rushed on to the attack;-" and none but fools looked for any other." Howel's Letters, vol. ii.

it himself. Struck, as it should seem, with the atrocity of his conduct, and with his embarrassing situation, he immediately returned to Raleigh with the sorrowful news of his son's death, and the disappointment of his followers. The interview, it may be conjectured, was not the most agreeable that could have ensued between the parties. Under the strong agitation of mind which it occasioned, Keymis, keenly sensible to reproach, and foreseeing disgrace, if not an ignominious death as the reward of his violence and imposture, retired into his cabin, and put an end to his life.

The sequel of this delusive and pompous expedition is still more painful to relate. The adventurers in general now concluded that they were deceived by Raleigh; that the story of the mine had only been invented to afford him a pretext for pillaging St. Thomas, the spoils of which, he hoped, would encourage his followers to proceed to the plunder of other Spanish settlements; that he expected to repair his ruined fortune by such daring enterprises, trusting to the riches he should acquire for obtaining a pardon from James; or if that prospect failed him, that he meant to take refuge in some foreign country, where his wealth would secure him an asylum.(1) The inconsiderable booty gained by the sack of St. Thomas discouraged his followers, however, from embracing these splendid projects, though it appears that he had employed many artifices to engage them in his designs. Besides, they saw a palpable absurdity in a fleet, acting under the sanction of royal authority, committing depredations against the allies of the crown: they therefore thought it safest, whatever might be their inclinations, or how great soever their disappointment, to return immediately to England, and carry their leader along with them to answer for his conduct.

On the examination of Raleigh and his companions, before the privy council, where the foregoing facts were brought to light, it appeared that the king's suspicions, in regard to his intentions, had been well grounded; that, contrary to his instructions, he had committed hostilities against the subjects of his majesty's ally, the king of Spain, and had wilfully burned and destroyed a town belonging to that prince; so that he might have been tried either by common law for this act of violence, or by martial law for breach of orders. But it was the opinion of the crown lawyers, as we learn from Bacon, (2) that as Raleigh still lay under an actual attainder for hightreason, he could not be brought to a new trial for any other crime. James, therefore, in order to satisfy the court of Madrid, which was very clamorous on this occasion, signed the warrant for his execution upon his former sen

tence.

Raleigh's behaviour, since his return, had hitherto been beneath the dignity of his character. He had counterfeited madness, sickness, and a variety of distempers, in order to protract his examination, and enable him to procure the means of his escape. But finding his fate inevitable, he now collected all his courage, and met death with the most heroic indifference. Feeling the edge of the axe with which he was to be beheaded, ""T is a sharp remedy," said he, "but a sure one for all ills!"(3) then calmly laid his head on the block, and received the fatal blow.

Of all the transactions of a reign distinguished by public discontent, this was perhaps the most odious. Men of every condition were filled with indignation against the court. Even such as acknowledged the justice of Raleigh's punishment, blamed the measure. They thought it cruel to execute a sentence, originally severe, and tacitly pardoned, which had been so long suspended; and they considered it as mean and impolitic, even though a new trial had been instituted, to sacrifice to a concealed enemy of England the only man in the kingdom whose reputation was high for valour and military experience.

Unhappily for James, the intimate connexions which he was endeavouring to form with Spain, in themselves disgustful to the nation, increased the

(1) See the King's Vindication.

(2) See Original Letters, &c. published by Dr. Birch, p. 181.

(3) Franklin.

public dissatisfaction. Gondomar, ambassador from the court of Madrid, a man capable of the most artful flattery, and no stranger to the king's hereditary pride, had proposed a match between the prince of Wales and the second daughter of his Catholic majesty; and in order to render the tempta tion irresistible to the English monarch, whose necessities were well known, he gave hopes of an immense fortune with the Spanish princess. Allured by the prospect of that alliance, James, it has been affirmed, was not only induced to bring Raleigh to the block, but to abandon the elector Palatine, his son-in-law, and the Protestant interest in Germany, to the ambition of the house of Austria. This latter suspicion completed the odium occasioned by the former, and roused the attention of parliament.

We have formerly had occasion to observe(1) in what manner Frederic V. elector Palatine, was induced, by the persecuted Protestants, to accept the crown of Bohemia, contrary to the advice of the king of England, his fatherin-law; and how he was chased from that kingdom, and stripped of all his hereditary dominions, by the power of the emperor Ferdinand I., supported by the Spanish branch of the house of Austria, in spite of the utmost efforts of the Evangelical Union, or Protestant body in Germany, though assisted by the United Provinces. The news of these disasters no sooner reached England than the voice of the nation was loud against the king's inactivity. People of all ranks were on fire to engage in the defence of the distressed Palatine, and rescue their Protestant brethren from the persecutions of the idolatrous Catholics, their implacable and cruel enemies, In this quarrel they would cheerfully have marched to the extremity of Europe, have inconsiderately plunged themselves into a chaos of German politics, and freely have expended the blood and treasure of the kingdom. They therefore regarded James's neutrality as a base desertion of the cause of God and of his holy religion: not reflecting, that their interference in the wars on the continent, however agreeable to pious zeal, could not be justified on any sound maxims of policy.

The king's ideas, relative to this matter, were not more liberal than those of his subjects; but happily, for once, they were more friendly to the welfare of the nation. Shocked at the revolt of a people against their prince, he refused, on that account, to patronise the Bohemian Protestants, or to bestow on his son-in-law the title of king;(2) although he owned that he had not examined their pretensions, privileges, or constitution. (3) To have withdrawn their allegiance from their sovereign, under whatever circumstances, was, in his eyes, an enormous crime, and a sufficient reason for denying them any support; as if subjects must be ever in the wrong, when they stand in opposition to those who have acquired or assumed authority over them, how much soever that authority may have been abused!

The Spanish match is likewise allowed to have had some influence upon the political sentiments of James on this occasion. He flattered himself that, in consequence of his son's marriage with the infanta, and the intimate connexions it would form between England and Spain, besides other advantages, the restitution of the Palatinate might be procured from motives of mere friendship. The principal members of the house of commons, however, thought very differently: that projected marriage was the great object of their terror. They saw no good that could result from it, but were apprehensive of a multitude of evils, which, as the guardians of public liberty and general happiness, they thought it their duty to prevent. They accordingly framed a remonstrance to the king, representing the enormous growth of the Austrian power, become dangerous to the liberties of Europe, and the alarming progress of the Catholic religion in England: and they entreated his majesty instantly to take arms in defence of the Palatine; to turn his sword against Spain, whose treasures were the chief support of the Catholic interest over Europe; and to exclude all hope of the toleration or re-establishment of

(1) Part I. Letter LXXIV.

(2) Rushworth, vol. i.

(3) It was a very dangerous precedent, he said, against all Christián kings, to allow the translation of crown by the people. Franklin, p. 48.

popery in the kingdom, by entering into no negotiation for the marriage of his son Charles, but with a Protestant princess. Yet more effectually to extinguish that idolatrous worship, they requested that the fines and confiscations to which the Catholics were subject, by law, should be levied with the utmost rigour; and that the children of such as refused to conform to the established worship should be taken from their parents, and committed to the care of Protestant divines and schoolmasters.(1)

Inflamed with indignation at hearing these instructions, which militated against all his favourite maxims of government, James instantly wrote to the speaker of the house of commons, commanding him to admonish the members, in his majesty's name, not to presume to meddle with any thing that regarded his government, or with deep matters of state, as above their reach and capacity; and especially not to touch on his son's marriage with a daughter of Spain, nor to attack the honour of that king, or any other of his friends and confederates. (2) Conscious of their strength and popularity, the commons were rather roused than intimidated by this imperious letter. Along with a new remonstrance they returned the former, which had been withdrawn; and maintained, that they were entitled to interpose with their counsel in all matters of government; and that entire freedom of speech, in their debates on public business, was their ancient and undoubted right, and an inheritance transmitted to them from their ancestors.(3)

The king's reply was keen and ready. He told the house, that their remonstrance was more like a denunciation of war than an address of dutiful and loyal subjects; that their pretension to inquire into all state affairs, without exception, was a plenipotence to which none of their ancestors, even during the weakest reigns, had ever dared to aspire: and he closed his answer with the following memorable words, which discover a very considerable share of political sagacity: "Although we cannot allow of your style, in mentioning your ancient and undoubted right and inheritance, but would rather have wished, that ye had said, that your privileges were derived from the grace and permission of our ancestors and us (for the most of them grew from precedents, which show rather a toleration than inheritance); yet we are pleased to give you our royal assurance, that as long as you contain yourselves within the limits of your duty, we will be as careful to maintain and preserve your lawful liberties and privileges as ever any of our predecessors were, nay, as to preserve our own royal prerogative."(4)

Alarmed at this dangerous insinuation, that their privileges were derived from royal favour, the commons framed a protest, in which they opposed pretension to pretension, and declared, "That the liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdictions of parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England, and that the arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king, state, and defence of the realm, and of the church of England, and the maintenance and making of laws, and redress of grievances, which daily happen within this realm, are proper subjects, and matter of counsel or debate, in parliament; and that in the handling and proceeding on these businesses, every member of the house of parliament hath, and of right ought to have, freedom of speech to propound, treat, reason, and bring to conclusion the same."(5)

Thus, my dear Philip, was fully opened, between the king and parliament, the grand dispute concerning privilege and prerogative, which gave birth to the Court and Country Parties, and which so long occupied the tongues, the pens, and even swords, of the most able and active men in the nation. Without entering deeply into this dispute (of which you must make yourself master by consulting the controversial writers), or taking side with either party, it may be observed, that if our ancestors, from the violent invasion of William the Norman to the period of which we are treating, did not enjoy so perfect, or perhaps so extensive, a system of liberty, as since the revolution, in 1688, they were at no time legally subject to the rule of an absolute sovereign; and (1) Rushworth, vol. i. (2) Id. ibid. (3) Rushworth, ubi sup. See also Franklin and Kennet (4) Franklin. Rushworth. (5) Rushworth, vol. i.

that, although the victorious arms and insidious policy of a foreign and hostile prince obliged them, in the hour of misfortune, to submit to his ambitious sway, and to the tyrannical laws which he afterward thought proper to impose upon the nation, the spirit of liberty was never extinguished in the breasts of Englishmen. They still looked back, with admiration and regret, to their independent condition under their native princes, and to the unlimited freedom of their Saxon forefathers; and, as soon as circumstances would permit, they compelled their princes of the Norman line, to restore to them the most essential of their former laws, privileges, and immunities. These original rights, as we have seen, were repeatedly confirmed to them by charters; and if they were also frequently violated by encroaching princes, those violations ought never to be pleaded as precedents, every such violation being a flagrant act of injustice and perjury, as every king, by his coronation oath, was solemnly bound to maintain the national charters. Nor did the people, keenly sensible to those injuries and insults, fail to avenge themselves as often as in their power, on the invaders of their liberties, or to take new measures for their future security.

This much is certain. But whether the commons were at first admitted into parliament through the indulgence of the prince, or in consequence of an original right to sit there, and what they claimed as their constitutional province, are matters of more intricacy, and less moment. That subject, however, I have had occasion to consider in deducing the effects of the Norman revolution, and in tracing the progress of society in Europe. (1) It will, therefore, be sufficient here to observe, that the English government was never a mere monarchy; that there was always a parliament or national assembly; that the commons, or third estate, had very early, and as soon as they were of any political importance, a place in that assembly; and that the privileges for which they now contended were essential to enable them to act with dignity, or indeed in such a manner as to be useful to the community, either in their deliberative or legislative capacity.

The subsequent transactions of James's reign were neither numerous nor important. They afford us, however, a precious picture of the weakness and extravagance of human nature; and therefore deserve our attention, as observers of the manners as well as of the policy of nations, and of the vices and follies no less than of the respectable qualities of men.

The Spanish match was still the king's favourite object. In order to facilitate that measure, he despatched a gentleman of the name of Digby, soon after created earl of Bristol, as his ambassador to the court of Madrid, while he softened at home the severity of the laws against popish recusants. The same religious motives which had hitherto made the Spaniards averse against the marriage now disposed them to promote it. They hoped to see the Catholic church freed from persecution, if not the ancient worship reestablished in England, by means of the infanta: and so full were they of this idea, that Bristol, a vigilant and discerning minister, assured his master that the Palatine would not only be restored to his dominions, but, what was still more agreeable to the needy monarch, that a dowry of two million of pesoes, or about five hundred thousand pounds sterling, would accompany the royal bride.(2)

This alliance, however, was still odious to the English nation; and Buckingham, become jealous of the reputation of Bristol, by a most absurd adventure contrived to ruin both him and the negotiation. On purpose to ingratiate himself into the favour of the prince of Wales, with whose candid turn of mind he was well acquainted, he represented to him the peculiar : unhappiness of princes in commonly receiving to their arms an unknown bride-one not endeared by sympathy, nor obliged by services, wooed by treaties alone, and attached by no ties but those of political interest! that it

(1) Part 1. Let. XXIII. and XXX.

(2) Rushworth, vol. i. The marriage and the restitution of the Palatinate, we are assured, by the most undoubted testimony, were always considered by the court of Spain as inseparable. Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 66. Franklin, p. 71, 72.

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