with unquenchable hopefulness raleigh continued his quest for the lost colony to the close of elizabeth’s reign, and abandoned it only when forced to do so by the attainder of james stripping him of his rights and liberty. by elizabeth’s last year he had fitted out at his own charges five several expeditions solely for this purpose. while during this period, 1589–1603, his marvellous energies had been directed in many channels, he had remitted no efforts for the succour of his colonists. while performing many parts,—courtier, captain of the queen’s guard, statesman, member of parliament, mariner, sea-fighter, explorer, gold seeker,—and with varying fortunes, now falling under the queen’s displeasure, imprisoned in the tower of london, again restored to her favour, engaged in dazzling adventure, american colonization was ever paramount in his thoughts.
a spanish galleon of the sixteenth century.
and how crowded with extraordinary activities by this most versatile of the elizabethan men these years were, the record of his greater achievements, mostly chronicled in the principal navigations, shows. what 382he had done up to the time of white’s abandonment of the search for the lost colony in 1590 we have seen. in 1591 he was the organizer of a fleet for service against spain’s american possessions, and was appointed second in command under lord thomas howard. but the queen refusing to let him go out, his cousin sir richard grenville was appointed in his place; and with this expedition sir richard’s career closed, he being wounded to death when off the azores, the last of august, in one of the most stubborn and desperate sea-fights of naval history. the next year, 1592, raleigh promoted the privateering expedition under frobisher and burroughs which captured, among other prizes in the west indies, the “madre de dios,” greatest of the spanish treasure-ships then afloat. it was in this year, in july, that he was disgraced and sent to the tower, but in october, when the privateers had returned with their rich prize, the queen, who had the largest share in this privateering venture, released him, since he alone could superintend the division of the plunder. in 1593 he matured a plan for a voyage to the “empire of guiana” and the fabled “el dorado,” the “citie of gold,” in the unexplored northwestern part of south america, of which the natives had told spanish travellers, with mines far excelling those of peru. in 1594, in accordance with this plan, he sent out a preliminary expedition, under an experienced navigator, captain jacob whiddon, to explore the coast contiguous to the great river orinoco, and also the river with its tributaries, above which “el dorado,” or “manoa” as called by the indians, was 383supposed to lie. in 1595 he sailed himself for guiana at the head of a fleet of five ships and a company of one hundred officers, soldiers, and gentlemen adventurers. by a perilous voyage in small boats he succeeded in penetrating the orinoco far up to the mouth of the caroni, and the latter river to impassable falls, yet two hundred miles short, as it was reckoned, of the “citie of gold.” upon his return to england in the summer, with some specimens of ore which he had picked up along the way, and the son of a local king as a pledge of friendship against his next coming, he prepared, maybe with hakluyt’s assistance, a glowing account of this voyage, embellished with the tales that had been told him of the wonders of the region besides its richness in mines: among them, the “amazons,” a warlike race of great women, and the “ewaipanoma,” a headless nation, whose eyes were in their shoulders and their mouths in the middle of their breasts, and who wore “a long train of hair growing backward between the shoulders.” and when this story was printed, under the inviting title, “the discouerie of the large, rich, and beautifull empire of guiana, with a relation of the great and golden citie of manoa, which the spaniards call el dorado,” it was eagerly read and heightened his reputation. in 1596 he sent out captain laurence keymis, a companion of his first voyage, with two well-equipped ships to renew the exploration of the orinoco, especially with a view to planting an english colony in the region. keymis returned in june with a report that confirmed raleigh’s belief in its great mineral 384wealth. but at this juncture raleigh was engrossed in a venture nearer home for checkmating spain’s move of a second “armada” against england. he was now united with howard and the earl of essex in command of a fleet to attack cadiz. with the ship “warspite” he led the van in the great fight of june twenty-one which resulted in the destruction of the fleet intended for the descent upon england, and the capture of the city. later, the same year, he despatched one of the smaller ships that had been in the cadiz fight to guiana, but this voyage had no important result. in 1597 he sailed as second in command with essex in an expedition to strike another blow against spain, and this was effectively done with the capture of fayal. in 1598 his scheme of colonization in the fertile valley of the orinoco had developed, and he planned to send out a colony. but for some reason not known the enterprise was abandoned. in 1600 he added to his several offices that of governor of jersey. in 1602 he despatched his fifth expedition for the relief of the “virginia” colony.
this expedition was put in charge of captain samuel mace, an excellent mariner, who had already made two voyages to “virginia.” he returned unsuccessful and raleigh planned to send him out again. raleigh could not, however, do any more at his personal cost alone. he had now exhausted his own means in the undertaking which, as hakluyt wrote, “required a prince’s purse to have it thoroughly followed out.” he had renewed his endeavours to bring the privy 385council into his scheme, but without success. elizabeth’s end was approaching and her ministers were busy with their personal affairs, man?uvring for their own advancement with her successor on the throne. notwithstanding his failure to find support his splendid hope for his “virginia” was not crushed. on the eve of his own downfall, which came swift upon the accession of james, he had written, “i shall yet live to see it an english nation.” this faith he carried with him to the tower of london, into which james thrust him in december, 1603, under sentence of death on a trumped-up charge of treason; and while in durance here he saw his cherished hopes realized through richard hakluyt’s efforts.
in 1605 hakluyt brought his arguments to bear upon various men of condition, friendly to colonization, to induce them to join in a petition for patents for the establishment of two plantations on the coast of north america. the issue of this petition was james’s charter bearing date of april tenth, 1606, by which the two companies, subsequently designated the london and the plymouth companies, were created, between whom were divided in nearly equal parts the vast territory then known as virginia, stretching from cape fear to halifax, and back a hundred miles inland: the company occupying the southern part to be called the “first colony of virginia” and that occupying the northern part, the “second colony of virginia.”
sir thomas gates, sir george somers, richard hakluyt, and edward maria wingfield, as patentees, 386were the chief adventurers in the london or south virginia company. ten of the nineteen adventurers styled merchants, remaining in england, at the establishment of the corporation of “the governour and assistants of the citie of ralegh in virginia” became subscribers to the south virginia company. sir thomas smith, chief among the nineteen merchants, was made their first treasurer. just a year after the issue of the patent their “first colony of virginia,” sailing from england in december, 1606, arrived out at chesapeake bay, the region which ralph lane had determined as the fitter place than roanoke for settlement, and in which raleigh had directed white with the second—the lost—colony to plant, as they would have done had captain ferdinando been true to them. and in may, 1607, the permanent settlement here was at last begun as jamestown.
raleigh was condemned to be executed on the eleventh of december, 1603, but the day before he was reprieved, and he was held a prisoner in the tower, with this unjust sentence hanging over his head, for thirteen dismal years. during this cruel imprisonment his great talents were occupied in philosophic and literary work, and he wrote out his notable historie of the world. meanwhile his statesmanlike interest in the developing american colony continued constant and keen. at one time he sought release for a visit to virginia, promising to bring the king rich returns therefrom. at length, in 1616, james liberated him for the purpose of 387making another expedition to guiana upon his pledge to find the fabulous gold mine or else bear all the expenses of the undertaking. thus at liberty, while making his preparations for this voyage, he was enabled to see pocahontas from virginia, who was in england that year. he sailed on his forlorn hope in june, 1617, with a fleet of fourteen ships and four hundred men, accompanied by his son walter, and his faithful friend captain keymis. the expedition was a tragic failure, for his plans were betrayed to the court at madrid, through the spanish ambassador, under whose influence james had fallen, and immediate steps were taken to thwart them. the fleet were attacked by the spaniards at a new spanish settlement on the orinoco, and in the fight that ensued young raleigh was killed. sir walter himself had been detained at trinidad, sick with a violent fever, and when the report of this disaster with the loss of his beloved son was brought to him, his stout heart was broken. upon his return to england he was rearrested at the representation of the spanish ambassador, on a charge of breaking the peace with spain. again he was thrust into the tower. trial was denied him, and the truculent james, at the behest of the king of spain, now ordered his execution, finding a legal cover for this judicial murder in the original sentence of 1603. he was brought before the court of king’s bench on the twenty-eighth of october, 1618, and the next morning was beheaded on tower hill, meeting death with great fortitude. “prythie, let me see the axe, dost thou think, man, i am afraid of it?” he asked 388of the executioner; “a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases.”
in st. margaret’s church, westminster, is the beautiful raleigh window, the gift of americans, with this inscription from the pen of james russell lowell:
“the new world’s sons, from england’s breasts we drew
such milk as bids remember whence we came;
proud of her past, wherefrom our present grew,
this window we inscribe with raleigh’s name.”
hakluyt’s monument is the hakluyt society, worthy among historical institutions, in the membership of which americans are united with englishmen, founded in england in the first half of the nineteenth century, in a manner to continue hakluyt’s work through the printing of hitherto unpublished or rare accounts of voyages and travels, so to open an easier way to a branch of knowledge which, as the founders truly say, “yields to none in importance and is superior to most in agreeable variety.”
