<364>There is one subject which presents itself again and again with unvarying monotony to all who study the history of the Stuart Kings. 1615.Sept. 24.James expresses a wish to pay his debts and to reduce his expenditure.Whilst everything else was changing around them, the emptiness of the Exchequer continued to perplex the brains of a whole succession of Treasurers. On September 24, just after the Government had come upon the traces of the poisoners, James assembled the Council at Greenwich, and informed them that he was anxious to pay his debts, and to reduce his expenditure, and that he looked to them to tell him how it was possible to effect the object which he had in view.
The next day the Council met again, and, after full deliberation, decided that the debt, which was now above 700,000l., was Sept. 25.The Council recommend a Parliament.far too great to be met in any way excepting by a Parliamentary grant. Three days later, a discussion was opened as to the measures which it was necessary to take in order to induce the House of Commons to treat the King with liberality.
The first who spoke was Lake. He had no difficulty in putting his finger upon the real points at issue. There was a general impression, Sept. 28.They discuss the measures to be taken before it is summoned.he said, that the King was too bountiful, and that he was acting illegally against the liberties and privileges of his subjects. With a view to meeting the first complaint, His Majesty must be moved to stay his hand from gifts until his estate was in a more flourishing condition, and to reduce his expenses in whatever way might appear to be most practicable. As to the other <365>matter, let the grievances of 1610 be submitted to the King’s Council, and if any of them were selected as being fit to be redressed, let them be dealt with without any further delay. Of all the grievances, that which roused the greatest opposition was the levy of the Impositions, and it would be necessary to deal with them in some way or another. Although, however, Lake saw where the difficulties lay, he did not propose that the King should relinquish his right to the Impositions altogether; but he proceeded to suggest the enactment of certain laws for the benefit of trade. The two following speakers, Sir Julius Cæsar and Sir Thomas Parry, contented themselves with expressing a general assent to these views.
Coke, who spoke after Parry, advocated still stronger measures. It would be necessary, he said, that, in addition to the contemplated reduction of the expenditure, a stop should be put to the payment of pensions till the King’s debts had been liquidated. It would also be well that a statement should be drawn up of the expenses which had been incurred at the commencement of the King’s reign, and that it should be presented to Parliament, in order that it might be seen that the difficulties of the Treasury did not arise from prodigality. He then proceeded to advise that no attempt should be made to influence the elections. He had seen in the last Parliament that all efforts of this kind had only recoiled upon their authors. He then recommended (and it is difficult to believe that he was not influenced by a desire to put a check upon the influence of his great rival) that none of the King’s learned counsel should have seats in the Lower House, partly because they were needed in the House of Lords, and partly because their presence was disliked by the Commons. He concluded by moving that committees might be formed of members of the Council to consider of the particular concessions which were to be made. On the point of the Impositions he did not utter a word.
Sir Fulk Greville, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, seemed unwilling to give up the revenue which he derived from that source, but he finally consented to make over the whole subject to the new Parliament, to deal with it at its pleasure.
Winwood was the next speaker. He agreed with Coke, <366>as far as he had gone, but he expressed a wish that a special committee might examine the Impositions, to see in what way relief could best be given. He added a suggestion of his own, that assurance should be given to the Parliament that whatever supplies it might grant should be employed upon the public service, and in no other way. The principal speakers who followed were Bishop Bilson, who recommended that the people should be taught ‘that relief to their Sovereign in necessity was due jure divino, and no less due than their allegiance and service;’ Pembroke, who laid special stress on the settlement of the Impositions; Suffolk, who declared his belief that ‘the taking away of impositions de facto would not satisfy the Parliament, but that the point of right would be insisted upon;’ and Ellesmere, who assured the Board that ‘he would not speak of His Majesty’s right of imposing, nor even give consent it should be spoken of in Parliament or elsewhere,’ and who proposed a thorough investigation into various proposals for improving the financial position, or for rendering the King more popular.
As soon as the King had been informed of the discussion, he approved of most of Ellesmere’s recommendations, and on the following day the Council divided itself into committees, for the purpose of taking them separately into consideration.[613]
The Councillors, it would appear, were all of them anxious that Parliament should be called, and Feeling of the Councillors.were all of them aware of the importance of the question of the Impositions. Not one of them, however, really suggested a way out of the difficulty.
It is by no means unlikely that James felt that it would be well to consult another and a better adviser than was to be found in the Privy Council. At all events Bacon, about this time, wrote him a long letter, encouraging him to summon a Parliament.[614] In many respects his view coincided with that of <367>the Councillors; but he had a definite plan for dealing with the Impositions, and he saw, what none of the Councillors had seen, the connection between the domestic and the foreign policy of the King. The double marriages between France and Spain were almost immediately to take place, and the French Protestants were at a grave disadvantage. There was still a danger of war breaking out in Cleves and Juliers. “These things,” he wrote, “will give fire to our nation, and make them aspire to be again umpires of those wars, or at least to retrench the greatness of Spain for their own preservation. And this is a subject worthy for counsellors of state and others of quality to work upon to move a Parliament, which is ever best persuaded by somewhat that is above their capacity; and not to stand as in a shop to set out the King’s bills of graces, whereof every man will take upon him to discern, and to value his own judgment by disvaluing the pieces.”
Such a policy implied no war of aggression upon Spain. It was one of defence against a Government bent upon imposing its religious and political system by force and intrigue upon the rest of Europe.
It was necessary, however, for Bacon to say more than this. Writing of the good effect which might ensue if the King could show that he was not entirely dependent on Parliament, he referred to that negotiation which Digby was then carrying on at Madrid, and of which, if he knew little, he certainly suspected more than he knew. He therefore recommended James to make use of ‘the opinion of some great offer for a marriage of the Prince with Spain.’ “Not,” he went on to say, “that I shall easily advise that that should be really effected; but I say the opinion of it may have singular use, both because it will easily be believed that the offer may be so great from that hand, as may at once free the King’s estate; and chiefly because it will be a notable attractive to Parliament, that hates the Spaniard, so to do for the King as his state may not force him to fall upon that condition.”
<368>Perhaps, if Bacon had been writing simply to express his own thoughts, he would not have couched them in quite so unsatisfactory a form; but at all events the meaning is clear. He wished James to take his place against Spain in the coming struggle. In fact the question whether there was to be a successful Parliament or not depended quite as much on the line which James might take in this matter as it did on his resolution about the Impositions.
Unfortunately, James was the last man in the world to take up the position to which Bacon pointed. Opposition to Spain was, for him, too closely connected with the war of plunder and aggression which was favoured by Abbot and Winwood, to have any charms in his eyes.
On December 7, whilst the Council was still labouring over projects of economy, he sent Lord Fenton — the trusty Scotchman who, Dec. 7.James resolves to proceed with the Spanish marriage.as Sir James Erskine, had succeeded Raleigh as Captain of the Guard — to assure Sarmiento that in spite of the interruption caused by Somerset’s disgrace, he was ready to go on with the negotiations for the marriage, and that he wished to be on the most friendly terms with the King of Spain.[615]
That there was anything incompatible between this resolution and his wish to call a Parliament, James did not understand. Abbot and Winwood continued to represent to him James anxious to summon Parliament.the advantages which he would gain by summoning Parliament. Shortly before Christmas the Council reported in favour of various economies, and James promised to diminish his personal expenditure as far as he could. He expressed himself as being eager that Parliament should meet,[616] and on December 22 he gave a public intimation of his wishes by appointing Pembroke, who was hostile to the Spanish alliance, to the office of Lord Chamberlain, which had become vacant upon Somerset’s arrest.[617]
<369>In less than a fortnight the wind had changed. On January 2, 1616, the Catholic Earl of Worcester became Lord Privy Seal, and 1616.The design of summoning Parliament abandoned.on January 3, not only was the Mastership of the Horse, which had been vacated by Worcester, given to Villiers, an appointment which had no political significance, but Lake the confidant of the Howards, the friend and now the pensioner of Spain, was made Secretary of State, to counterbalance Winwood.[618] On the same day James had a long interview with Sarmiento, and on January 20, the Spanish ambassador was able to inform his master that the thought of summoning Parliament was for the present laid aside. The King had in fact taken alarm at the turmoil around him. The impression made by the Spanish marriages in France had resulted in a war-cry in England, and the hesitation of the Dutch to carry out their part of the treaty of Xanten until they could be certain that the Spaniards would carry out theirs, irritated James in the extreme.[619]
James could not, however, be consistent in any one line of policy. He saw too many sides to every question to be a mere partisan, whilst he was incapable of rising into a statesman, because he never saw more than one side at a time. The abandonment of the idea of calling a Parliament brought with it the necessity of finding a large sum of money; and however large might be the portion which the Infanta might be expected to bring with her, some time must necessarily elapse before that source of revenue would be available to meet the wants of the English Exchequer. The time was therefore propitious to those who could hold out hopes of gain to James, and Plans of the opponents of Spain.the opponents of Spain were at this time fertile in financial projects which, as they fondly hoped, might lead him into a quarrel with that country. With this object in view, Ellesmere and Abbot, Pembroke and Winwood, had turned their eyes upon the man who still survived as the foremost relic of the Elizabethan age.
<370>That age, indeed, had not been altogether of pure gold. Side by side with its hardy daring, and its chivalrous devotion, were to be found its low intrigue, and its disregard of moral restraint. The social and religious system of the fifteenth century had fallen to the ground. The social and religious system of the seventeenth century was not yet in being. The men who had served Elizabeth had, indeed, for the most part, the root of the matter in them. Their imaginations were fixed on high and noble objects. But it was reserved for another generation to define, more strictly than they had been able to do, the boundary between right and wrong; and to form those habits of duty which stand like a wall of rock against temptation, when the unaided heroism of the individual man would resist in vain.
Of this age, of its faults and vices, as well as of its heroism, Sir Walter Raleigh was the most complete representative. There had been 1594.Sir W. Raleigh.a time when men had looked to him for counsel, and they had seldom looked in vain. He had been the Ulysses of a time prolific in heroes. His exploits had been achieved in many climes and under every possible variety of circumstances. Amongst the bogs of Ireland, and under the walls of Cadiz; where the surf of the Atlantic dashes against the rocks of the Western Isles; and where the mighty flood of the Orinoco freshens the salt waves of the ocean, he had made his name known as that of a man fertile in expedients and undaunted in valour.
Unfortunately Raleigh’s heroism was the result rather of high instinct than of high principle. It was certain that he would never betray to the enemy, like Sir William Stanley, a post committed to his charge, or accept a pension from Spain, like Salisbury and Northampton. But he never could learn the lesson that there are times when inaction, or even failure, is better than the most glorious success. He loved to bask in the sunshine of a court, and he tempted men to forget the blows which he had dealt upon the Spaniard, in the ever-present spectacle of the monopolies with which his purse was filled, and of the broad lands which he had torn from the feeble grasp of the Church. Nor could he ever understand that it <371>was better to lose sight of the object which he had in view, than to secure it by falsehood and deceit. In his later years he was most especially exposed to his besetting temptation. For it was then that he was called upon to bear injustice with equanimity, and to submit patiently to suffering, rather than to put forth his hand to work which he was unable honestly to accomplish.
Long before Raleigh ever saw the face of James, he had been attracted to those countries which were to witness the His thoughts occupied with the Indies.last exploits of his life. In 1594, he was living at Sherborne in forced retirement, and was undergoing the penalty which had been inflicted upon him by Elizabeth for the wrong which he had done to her whom he had at last made his wife. He there found leisure to ponder once more over the narratives of the Spanish discoveries in America, in which he had taken so deep an interest. As he read, the fire of ambition lighted up within him. He, too, longed to place his name on the roll of the conquerors of the New World. But the fame for which he was eager was very different from that with which Cortes and Pizarro had been contented. His mind had been stirred to the depths by the tales of demoniac cruelty which were wafted across the Atlantic with every ship which returned in safety from the perils of the western seas. Over these tales he brooded till he conceived the idea of another conquest — of a conquest to be undertaken for the preservation, not for the destruction, of the natives of the land. Might there not be other empires upon the American continent as rich and as powerful as those which had succumbed to a handful of Spanish adventurers? To them he would present himself in the name of the Great Queen, whose servant he was, in order that he might save them from the oppressors of their race. He would train them to the use of arms, and to habits of military discipline. Spain had degraded the Indians to the lot of bondsmen. England should raise them to the dignity of civilised and intelligent freemen. For such services, he doubted not, the grateful Indians would willingly pay tribute to their benefactors out of the superfluity of their wealth. England would no longer be over matched <372>in the battle which she was waging for her very existence. The golden stream which was ceaselessly flowing into the Tagus and the Guadalquiver would, at least in part, be diverted to the Thames. No longer would complaints be heard of the difficulty of meeting the expenses of the war with the miserable revenue which was all that Elizabeth could call her own. The gold which had been used by Philip to corrupt and enslave would, in English hands, be all-powerful to free the nations of Europe from his detested yoke.
The tract of country in which Raleigh hoped to try the grand experiment was situated somewhere above the head of the El Dorado.delta of the Orinoco, at an unknown distance from the southern bank of the river. Here, if credit was to be given to the reports generally current, was to be found a kingdom whose treasures were at least equal to those which, at the cost of so much blood and misery, had been wrested from the Incas of Peru. It was said that the sovereign of this mighty empire had his abode in the city of Manoa, upon the shores of the lake of Parima, a vast inland sea to which the Caspian alone, amongst eastern waters, was to be compared. The name of El Dorado, the Golden, was in these narratives sometimes applied to the king himself, who was said to appear on festive occasions with his bare limbs sprinkled with gold dust; but more generally to the city in which he was supposed to hold his court. According to a legend, which was probably of Spanish origin, he was a descendant of a younger brother of the Inca Atahualpa, who had himself been treacherously slaughtered by Pizarro. The remainder of this story was perhaps of native growth, though the seeds from which it sprang had in all probability been quickened into life by the eager inquisitiveness of Europeans.
The lake of Parima has long since resolved itself into the inundations which, at certain seasons of the year, spread over the level plains, to Probable origin of the fable.the enormous extent of fourteen thousand square miles.[620] For the fable of the Golden City no similar foundation has been discovered. Gold is <373>indeed found amongst the rocks and in the river-beds of Guiana, but it does not exist in sufficient quantities to repay the expenses of working. It must not, however, be forgotten, that to give rise to such a tale, it was enough that the wealth described should have been of importance in the eyes of the first narrators, however little its value may have been when judged by the European standard. Whatever gold was in existence would soon find its way into the hands of the most powerful and warlike of the neighbouring tribes, and it is certain that the value of the riches thus acquired would speedily be exaggerated by all who had suffered from the violence of its possessors. When once the idea of great wealth had been accepted, the tale would quickly spread from tribe to tribe, and would be repeated with peculiar emphasis whenever a white man happened to be present. It was too well known that these strange beings from beyond the sea had come to search for gold, and the lesson was soon learned that the surest way to purchase their aid was to impress them with a belief in the unbounded wealth of the enemy.
It is easy for us to laugh at such a tale as this. In Raleigh’s day it would have been difficult to show any satisfactory reason for rejecting it. 1595.Raleigh’s first voyage to Guiana.Raleigh, at all events, believed it; and the spring of 1595 saw him once more upon the seas, bound for that new world which had filled so large a place in his thoughts, but which he had never yet seen with his bodily eyes.
From Berreo, the Spanish governor of Trinidad, whom he had contrived to capture, Raleigh learned something of the Golden Land of which he was in search. The Spaniard, too, had joined in the quest, and had even formed a settlement, named San Thomè, not far from the spot where the Caroni discharges its waters into the Orinoco, which he had hoped to make the basis of his future operations. But it was not long before the presence of Spaniards produced its usual consequences. The Indians were goaded into resistance by the cruelty of their oppressors, and Berreo’s little band found the post no longer tenable. Berreo had accordingly been compelled to retire to Trinidad, where he was awaiting <374>reinforcements from Spain at the time when Raleigh appeared upon the coast. The only Spanish force left on the Orinoco was a small garrison occupying a village belonging to a chief named Carapana; but, as this place was situated below the head of the delta, on the eastern branch of the river, Raleigh would find no difficulty in making his way unobserved up the western channel.
Hostile attacks, however, were not the only danger to be encountered. For two hundred and fifty miles — a distance which was The ascent of the river.magnified into four hundred by the imagination of the weary rowers — Raleigh and his companions struggled in open boats against the mighty stream which was sweeping past them to the sea. The unwholesome food which they carried with them was barely sufficient in quantity to support their exhausted frames. Day after day they were parched by the scorching sunbeams, and by night they were exposed to the heavy dew. At last they arrived at Aromaia, a district not far from Berreo’s deserted settlement of San Thomè. The chief of the tribe by which that part of the country was occupied had been put to death by Berreo’s orders, and his uncle and successor, Topiawari, was glad enough to welcome in the English stranger an enemy of Spain. The Indian told him all he knew, or thought he knew, about the golden empire, and gave him guides to accompany him amongst the neighbouring tribes. Raleigh, as soon as he had left the friendly chief, ascended the stream as far as the mouth of the Caroni, where he picked up some stones in which fragments of gold were imbedded. On his return, he held a long consultation with Topiawari. The Indian promised him the assistance of the neighbouring tribes in his attack upon El Dorado, but recommended him, on account of the lateness of the season, to defer his enterprise till the following year.[621]
Raleigh, therefore, took leave of Topiawari, with a promise that he would soon be back again. A little lower down the stream A gold mine pointed out.he was persuaded by his Indian guide to leave the boats, and to strike off into a track which ran along the foot of the hills at no great distance from the <375>southern bank of the river, and which led, as the Indian assured him, to a mountain where stones of the colour of gold were to be found. Raleigh accompanied him to the place, and saw the stones, but does not seem to have thought them of any great value. After some further explorations, he returned to the boats, leaving Keymis, his faithful follower, who was a better walker than himself, to accompany the Indian in a direction parallel with the stream, so as to rejoin his comrades lower down. In due course of time Keymis was taken on board at the appointed place. At first he did not speak of having seen anything remarkable. Afterwards he remembered that, as he passed a certain spot, the guide had made signs to him to follow him; but that, supposing that he merely wished to show him a waterfall, he had refused to turn aside from the track. For the time, he remembered the circumstance merely as an ordinary incident of travel, little knowing what an influence that lonely spot amongst the hills was to exercise upon the destinies of his master and of himself.[622]
Raleigh’s reception in England was not what he had a right to expect. Elizabeth still looked coldly upon him, and gave Raleigh’s return.no sign of readiness to forward the enterprise upon which he had set his heart. Sober men, who would have given him an enthusiastic welcome if he had sailed into Plymouth Sound followed by a long train of Spanish prizes, shook their heads dubiously when they saw that he had returned empty-handed, and came to the conclusion that the story of the golden empire was a mere fabrication, as baseless as the wonderful tales about the armies composed of female warriors, or about the men with heads beneath their shoulders which Raleigh had found floating amongst the Indian tribes. Far more galling were the charges which were circulated in secret by his enemies. Some said that he had been hiding in Cornwall, and had never crossed the Atlantic at all. Others declared that he had gone as far as the coast of Africa, and had there bought the pieces of gold which he exhibited. After this, it was easy to say that his specimens were not gold at all, but only pieces of some glittering mineral of no use to anyone.
<376>Raleigh’s reply to these calumnies was the publication of the whole history of the voyage from which he had just returned. In other works Publication of the discovery of Guiana.he may have displayed higher genius, and in other achievements he may have approached more nearly to success; but whenever his character is called in question, it is to this little book that a hearing should first be given. To Raleigh, the man of action, the discovery and conquest of Guiana was what the New Atlantis was to Bacon, the man of thought. It shows not so much what he was as what he would have been.[623] A great idea had taken possession of him, and, in order to carry it out, he had spurned every ordinary means of enriching himself. It was an idea which was to haunt him through good fortune and through evil fortune, till it brought him to his grave. He was now looking forward to returning to Guiana under the Queen’s authority, that he might establish amongst those simple tribes the empire of which he hoped to be the founder.
If Raleigh could have contented himself with merely literary success, the reception which was accorded to his book would have been sufficient to gladden his heart. In two or three years it went through at least two editions in England, at a time when second editions were far rarer than they are at present. It was not long before it was translated into almost every language of cultivated Europe. From the banks of the Clyde to the banks of the Danube, men were able to amuse themselves in the winter evenings with the stories about the strange peoples who lived on the shores of the Orinoco; and opened their eyes in wonder as they read of the Amazonian warriors, of the men who scarcely bore a human shape, and, above all, of the golden monarch of the golden city beside the lake of Parima. But, as as far as any practical result was concerned, the book fell flat upon the world. Amongst the thousands who amused themselves over its pages, it was difficult to find one who would make any sacrifice, however slight, to help on the realisation of Raleigh’s dream.[624]
<377>Still, though the nation and the Queen looked coldly on, there were a few who were ready to trust him once more. The aged 1596.The expedition to Cadiz.Burghley gave him 50l. towards the expenses of another voyage, and Sir Robert Cecil risked a new ship, the mere hull of which cost 800l. But Raleigh could not leave England. The Queen needed his services nearer home. He had tried in vain to interest her in Guiana. Whilst Raleigh was thinking of El Dorado, Elizabeth was thinking of the great Spanish fleet lying in Cadiz harbour. In obedience to her, he turned aside to Cadiz, from whence he returned after having achieved, in co-operation with the sailors of the Dutch Republic, the most glorious victory which had for centuries been won by English arms upon the Continent.
But if Raleigh could not go to Guiana, at least he could send Keymis. His faithful follower sailed in the February after his return. Voyage of Keymis to Guiana.In the Essequibo he heard fresh rumours of Manoa, and was told of a new route by which it might be approached; but the news from the Orinoco was disheartening. The rivalry which always existed between the Spanish governors of the various towns along the coast had broken out into a flame. Berreo had been assaulted by the combined forces of his countrymen from Cumana and Margarita. He had been overmatched, and had fled up the river towards his old settlement on the Caroni. Even there he had been in danger, but had been relieved by the news of the arrival of the long-expected reinforcements from Spain. As, however, there was likely to be some little delay before the Spanish vessels made their way up the Orinoco, Keymis determined to profit by the opportunity, and to revisit the spot at the mouth of the Caroni, where the specimens of ore had been picked up the year before. On his arrival he found that Topiawari was dead, and that the friendly Indians had been won over by the Spaniards, or had been terrified into submission. All attempts to reach the Caroni were in vain, as Berreo had posted his handful of men in a position which could not be attacked with any prospect of success.
Keymis, therefore, dropped down the river in search of the <378>Indian guide who had accompanied him in the preceding year, and He again hears of the gold-mine.who had pointed out, as he supposed, a spot from which a view of a waterfall was to be obtained. The man was not to be found, and inquiry soon convinced Keymis that the natives were completely cowed, and could not be expected to join in an attack upon their conquerors. But before he left the district his Indian pilot directed his attention to the very spot on the mountain’s side where he imagined the waterfall to be. On inquiry, he learned to his astonishment that he had misunderstood the signs of his last year’s companion, and that he had missed the opportunity of visiting what all the natives present concurred in describing as a gold mine of exceeding richness. He did not consider himself justified in making the attempt with the small force at his disposal; but he marked the spot, and he kept the information which he had acquired for Raleigh’s use.[625]
In the midst of the employments which were now coming thickly upon him, Raleigh did not forget his darling scheme. Berry’s voyage.He had not been many weeks in England, after his return from Cadiz, before he commenced fitting out another vessel which he despatched to Guiana under the command of Berry. Berry struck the coast at a point farther to the east than Keymis had done. He seems to have been deterred, by the representations of the natives, from proceeding farther than the mouth of the Oyapok, and he returned without making any attempt to penetrate to El Dorado.[626]
Here, for a time, Raleigh’s active participation in the Guiana voyages ceased. Leigh and Harcourt, who attempted colonisation 1603.Explorations of Leigh and Harcourt.early in the reign of James, confined their attention to the more easterly part of the coast, where there were no Spaniards to interfere with them; and, in the charter by which James gave his authority to their proceedings, the western boundary of their intended settlement was fixed at the Essequibo.[627] But if Raleigh sent no more vessels to the Orinoco, he did not forget the Indians <379>who had received him with so hearty a welcome, and whenever he heard of a ship bound for Guiana he took care to charge the commander with kindly messages for his old friends.
Nor was the great white chief forgotten in the West. Leigh’s companions had to tell how an Indian had come all the way from the Orinoco to inquire after Raleigh, and to know when his promise to return was likely to be fulfilled. Harcourt reported that Leonard, who had been with Raleigh in England, bore him great affection, and that he loved the English nation with all his heart.[628]
Evil days came upon Raleigh.[629] As he lay in the Tower he <380>turned again, with almost desperate hope, to the Western continent. Raleigh’s imprisonment.The report which Keymis had brought of the mine pointed out to him by the Indian took up an abiding place in his imagination. No doubt he had not forgotten his loftier schemes, but he knew well that, to James, gold was a topic which never came amiss, and he saw in the secret of which he believed himself to be possessed, the sure means of recovering his lost position.
Raleigh accordingly appealed vehemently for help to all whom he could induce to listen to his scheme. Haddington was the His wish to return to Guiana.first whom he called to his assistance;[630] but Haddington was unable or unwilling to do anything for him. Salisbury,[631] to whom he next betook himself, had perhaps no wish to help in setting such a rival at liberty, and had himself lost too much money in Guiana voyages to be very sanguine of the result. It was not till after the death of the Lord Treasurer[632] that Raleigh again attempted to seize the opportunity afforded by James’s resentment at the rejection of 1612.Raleigh proposes to send Keymis.his proposal for the hand of the Infanta Anne. Writing to the Lords of the Council, he offered to fit out two vessels at his own expense. He would himself remain as a hostage in the Tower. The expedition should be entrusted to Keymis. If Keymis brought back less than half a ton of gold, he would be content to remain a prisoner for life: if, on the other hand, he brought more, he was immediately to be set at liberty. The Spaniards were not to be attacked, ‘except themselves shall begin the war.’
<381>The proposal thus made was rejected. It may be that James was too cautious to consent to an undertaking which would have His offer rejected.involved a risk of war with Spain. It may be that the influence of Somerset was thrown into the balance against Raleigh. But at last a gleam of hope appeared: rumours were abroad that Somerset’s influence was on the wane. An appeal to Winwood was sure to go straight 1615.to the heart of that unbending hater of Spain, and Villiers, now in the hands of the enemies of Somerset and the Spanish faction, willingly gave ear to the pleadings of the captive.[633]
The voices of Winwood and Villiers were not raised in vain. The Queen, too, who in her jealousy of Somerset’s influence, had 1616.Raleigh’s release.shifted round to the side of those who viewed a Spanish policy with suspicion, threw her weight into the scale of the new favourite. On March 19,[634] 1616, a warrant was issued to the Lieutenant of the <382>Tower, authorising him to permit Raleigh to go abroad in the company of a keeper to make preparations for his voyage. At last, therefore, after a confinement of little less than thirteen years, he stepped forth from his prison, with the sentence of death still hanging over his head.
Against his liberation it is impossible to say a word; but that James should have thought of sending him across the ocean to Guiana at a time when he was secretly assuring Sarmiento of his intention to abide by Somerset’s policy of the Spanish alliance is truly marvellous. To choose with Bacon or with Digby a broad ground of policy which would have raised him above the contending factions was beyond his capacity. If to intrigue with Sarmiento for the ducats of the Spanish princess was a blunder of which he did not himself recognise the full import, neither did he recognise the full import of his assent to Raleigh’s expedition. He was assured by those who favoured it that Raleigh had no intention of attacking Spain, and it can hardly be doubted that the prospect of sharing in the profits of the gold mine blinded him to the risk to himself, as well as to Raleigh, by which the search would be accompanied.
The want of money, which was the probable cause of the facility with which James gave ear to Raleigh’s supporters, led him at the same time to come to an understanding with the Dutch on a subject in which the Republic was deeply interested. Brill, Flushing, and Rammekens, the cautionary towns as they were called, which had been pledged by the Dutch to Elizabeth as security for the money which she had lent them at the height of their struggle against Spain, were still occupied by English garrisons, and the States-General were naturally anxious to recover them, especially as it was always possible that, in a moment of disgust, James might give up these precious possessions to the King of Spain. Caron, the Ambassador of the States, Treaty for the surrender of the cautionary towns.had therefore long been pressing James to make some arrangement by which the towns might be surrendered to their rightful owners; but it was not till the end of 1615 that James in any way listened to the proposal. At that time Caron found that his <383>request was supported by some members of the Privy Council. James listened to what they had to say, but refused to give a decision on his own responsibility. At his request the whole subject was thoroughly discussed in the Council, and Commissioners were appointed to treat with Caron on the amount to be received. At last, on April 23, 1616, it was agreed that the towns should be surrendered on condition of the payment of 215,000l., of which sum 15,000l. was to be made over to the officers of the garrisons, and the rest was to be paid into the Exchequer,[635] and that upon the receipt of this money the debt of the Provinces to England was to be cancelled.
Perhaps no treaty which has ever been concluded has received a greater amount of obloquy than this agreement. Few amongst Objections which have been made to the treaty.the contemporaries of the men who signed it spoke of it with any degree of favour, and fewer still, amongst the writers who have referred to it in later times, have described it otherwise than as a hard bargain, to which James was compelled by his necessities to submit. Curiously enough, however, although these two classes of critics have been unanimous in the opinions which they have adopted, they have given very different reasons for coming to the same conclusion. It is not difficult to account for this discrepancy. Those who wrote in the seventeenth century shut their eyes to the principles upon which independent nations ought to deal with one another; those who have written in the nineteenth century shut their eyes to the facts of the case which they were discussing.
The objections which were made in the Privy Council are probably well represented by a paper which was drawn up for Those made by contemporaries.the use of Sir Fulk Greville.[636] The writer was afraid lest the King should sacrifice his honour, lest England should be excluded from the Continent, lest there should be no longer any place where Englishmen could <384>be trained for a military life, lest France should become too powerful, and, above all, lest the Dutch, when they were relieved from the fear of the English garrisons, should bring scandal upon Protestantism by the encouragement which they gave to heresy and schism. We have learned to estimate such objections as these at their real worth. In the whole paper there is only one point in any way worthy of consideration. The writer doubted the propriety of abandoning the towns, because Flushing and Brill were the keys of the navigation of the Rhine and the Meuse, and without their possession the English merchants might be debarred from trading in the regions watered by those rivers. It must, however, be remembered that neither Flushing nor Brill guarded, as Gibraltar does, the communications with an open sea. They were only valuable so far as they afforded means of retaliation upon the Dutch in case they were inclined to make use of their position on the banks of these rivers at a greater distance from the sea, to hinder English merchandise from passing into the interior. Under such circumstances, it would certainly be better to retain the friendship of the Dutch by an honourable course of policy, than to exasperate them by retaining garrisons in places which they justly regarded as their own.
In modern times it has usually been said,[637] that though James was quite right in surrendering the towns, yet, if he had not Those made by later writers.been in extreme distress he would have bargained for more money than he actually got. It is no doubt true that he would have made rather a better bargain if he had been able to wait, but it is not true that he was in any way cheated out of what he ought to have received, or that he did not benefit by listening to the overtures of the Dutch. At the time when he agreed to the surrender, the amount owing to him was indeed no less than 600,000l., which was to be paid, as long as the truce lasted, in half-yearly instalments of 20,000l. each. If, then, the truce were renewed at its expiration in 1621, he might expect to receive the whole sum by the <385>end of 1630. On the other hand, as the expenses of the garrisons amounted to 26,000l. annually, his real gain would be reduced to 210,000l., coming in slowly in the course of fifteen years. It will be seen therefore, that the result of James’s bargain was to give him at once rather more than he could ever hope to obtain by slow degrees in the course of a long period. Nor was it at all certain that the advantages which accrued to him by the surrender would not be greater still. It was always possible that the truce might not be renewed, and that, as eventually proved to be the case, the war might break out again. He would then find that, after having rejected 215,000l., he had succeeded before 1621, the year in which the truce was to expire, in obtaining a bare 70,000l., and that there was before him an indefinite prospect of an annual expenditure of 26,000l. for the support of the garrisons without any equivalent whatever.[638] Nor was this all. The fortifications of the towns were sadly out of repair, and if James had refused the offers of the Dutch, an immediate outlay would have been necessary, which would have swallowed up some considerable portion of the future payments.
Whilst James was thus carrying out an engagement equally advantageous to himself and to the Dutch Republic, he was brought by his desire to advance the manufactures of England into a dispute which, coming, as it did, so soon after the disagreement with regard to the East India trade and the whale fishery, bid fair, for a moment, permanently to disturb those amicable relations which had hitherto subsisted between the two nations.
So long ago as in 1613, if not at an earlier time, the attention of the King had been called to the condition of the English cloth trade. 1613.The cloth manufactory.The manufacture of cloth was in the seventeenth century as much the leading trade of England as the manufacture of cotton goods has become in our own days. From time to time statutes had been passed for the encouragement of the trade, the object of which had been to secure that the cloth should be dyed and dressed, as <386>well as woven, before it left the country. With the greater part of the cloth exported this legislation had been successful. There was, however, one part of the Continent which refused to take any cloths excepting those which were undressed. Whether it was that our mode of preparing the cloth was in reality inferior to that which prevailed in the countries bordering on the Rhine, or that from economical causes the later stages of the manufacture could be more profitably carried on abroad, it was certain that, in the whole domain of the great company of the Merchant Adventurers, which extended from Calais to Hamburg, it was impossible to command a market for cloths which had been dressed and dyed in England. So far had this feeling or prejudice reached, that whenever, in obedience to the interference of the Government or of the Legislature, the merchants consented to carry any such cloths abroad, they found that they were actually unable to sell them for a price even equal to that which was commanded by those upon which no labour had been expended after the first rough process of the manufacture.[639]
In spite of these reasons for leaving the trade to take its natural course, there were some persons who, with Alderman Cockaine at their head, 1614.Cockaine’s proposal accepted by the King.pressed the King to make another effort to bring the whole process into the hands of English workmen.[640] Whatever their arguments may have been worth, they succeeded, in 1614, after a hearing before the Privy Council, in inducing James to issue a proclamation in which he declared his wish to throw work into the hands of Englishmen, and expressed his dissatisfaction at the injury which was done to the cloth by the unscrupulous treatment which it met with in the hands of the foreign dyers, who were, as he alleged, accustomed to stretch it, in order to make it cover the greatest possible number of <387>yards. The consequence was that the cloth which had been thus maltreated wore badly, and the blame was thrown upon the English manufacturers. In order to protect the foreign consumer, as well as the English workman, he had determined upon withdrawing all licenses for the exportation of undyed and undressed cloth. The Merchant Adventurers who refused to carry on trade under these disadvantageous restrictions, were ready to abandon their charter, and a new company was to be formed, with Alderman Cockaine at its head. The new association was to be open to all who would give in their names, together with a statement of the amount of money which they intended to embark in the trade during the following three years.[641] In taking this step, James was but acting in accordance with the universal opinion of the day, that it was worth while to sacrifice much in order to keep native industry employed. He was certainly disinterested in the matter, as the old company had offered him an increase of payment if he would allow them to continue the trade on the old footing. As, however, he would not give way, the old company delivered up its charter on February 21, 1615, and 1615.The new company.Cockaine and his followers had the whole trade, as far as the English Government could help them, in their hands. They soon discovered that it was impossible to fulfil the magnificent promises which they had made, and they were obliged to ask for leave to export undyed cloths as their predecessors had done, on condition of making some beginning in carrying out the trade upon the new principle.[642] After considerable haggling they consented to export six thousand dyed cloths within the year, and twelve and eighteen thousand in the second and third years respectively of their corporative existence.[643] Whatever they sent out of the country beyond this was to be undyed.
They had not been many months at work before the Government expressed its dissatisfaction at the manner in which <388>they were carrying out their contract, and even had it in contemplation to put an end to the agreement which had been made with them. Accordingly the members of the old company received permission to make proposals for a more effectual method of executing the King’s designs.[644] As, however, the meeting persisted in declaring that there was no reason to suppose that trade could be carried on on the terms proposed to them, and refused to do more than to offer to export one thousand cloths by way of an experiment,[645] the negotiation was broken off, and the new company was allowed to proceed with the undertaking.[646]
It was not long before James met with an unexpected check. The intelligence that the English were endeavouring to get into their own hands the dressing and dyeing of the cloth roused the Dutch to resist the change by every means in their power. They declared that if the English would send them nothing but dressed cloths they would refuse to buy them, as they would be able, without difficulty, to establish a manufacture of their own. 1616.Resistance of the Dutch.It was soon seen that these were not mere words. A bounty was offered for every fresh loom which was set up, and, after a few weeks, Carleton reported that, as he went about the country to examine the progress which had been made, his ears were saluted by the busy sound of the shuttle in all directions. It was in vain that James stormed against the ungrateful Dutchmen who were thwarting him in his beneficent intentions, and that he protested that he would not be the first to give way. The Dutch continued to weave their cloth in spite of his pretensions.
Before the English Government had time to take any violent measures against the Dutch, it found itself Distress in the clothing districts.involved at home in difficulties of its own creation. It was impossible that the disturbance of the course of <389>trade should fail to produce injurious effects in the English clothing districts. Even before the Dutch had time to carry out their plan of opposing prohibition by prohibition, a petition came up from Gloucestershire, complaining of the number of hands which had been thrown out of employment by the new regulations. The measures taken by the Government in consequence of this petition were characteristic of the ideas prevalent at the time on such subjects. They sent for the governor of the new company, and asked him why the Gloucestershire clothworkers were out of work. He excused himself by saying that they made bad cloth, for which it was impossible to obtain a sale. The excuse was at once rejected, and he was ordered to summon a meeting of the company, and to tell the members that they were expected to buy any amount of Gloucestershire cloth which might be exposed for sale. If, in spite of this, any clothier should discharge his workmen, he would be duly punished by the Council. Either stimulated by the example of the Gloucestershire clothiers, or urged by the increasing distress resulting from diminished exportation, Worcestershire and Wiltshire soon joined in the cry. Bacon, who had taken a great interest in the King’s scheme, Bacon’s proposals.now advised that a proclamation should be issued, forbidding any Englishman, during the next six months, to wear any silken stuff which did not contain a mixture of wool. This would give employment to the manufacturers, at the same time that it would show the foreigners that the King had no intention of receding from his purpose.[647]
Either this last proposal carried interference too far for the cooler heads in the Council, or, as is more probable, the members of the new company themselves were frightened at the difficulties which were before them. They seem to have made demands which the Government refused to concede, and after some months of fruitless negotiation, they <390>surrendered their charter to the Crown.[648] A few months later the 1617.Restoration of the old company.old company was restored to its original privileges.[649] James did not, indeed, resign his intention of attempting to change the course of trade, though he found that it was impossible, at the moment, to carry out his designs. Unhappily, his pretensions, which had been so injurious to the individual interests of his subjects, though so thoroughly in accordance with their theoretical principles, had also served to diminish the good understanding which ought always to have prevailed between England and the States.
During these alternations of friendliness and jealousy towards the Dutch, the arrangements for an alliance with Spain had been March, 1616.Digby’s advice.steadily progressing. When Digby returned to England in March 1616, after giving James full information on the relations between Somerset and the Spanish Court, he reminded him that as the King of Spain could do nothing without the approval of the Pope, he was not himself able to dispose of his daughter’s hand. For this reason, he said, it would be better to seek a German wife for the Prince, as a German husband had been sought for his sister. James was so pleased with the openness and sagacity of the young ambassador that he admitted him to the Privy Council, and conferred upon him the office of Vice-Chamberlain, which would give him constant access to his person.[650]
In spite of his hesitations, however, James carried out the engagement which he had made with Sarmiento in January,[651] that April.The French marriage to be broken off.he would put an end to the negotiation for a French marriage. In April he made a statement to the Council of the inconveniences of the French alliance. In fact, it was not difficult to make out a case against it. The Princes of the Blood, headed by the Prince of Condé, had taken advantage of the unpopularity <391>of the Spanish marriages, and of the well-founded distrust of the Huguenots, to enter upon a rebellion. Either on account of the weakness of the French Government, or because the King had evidently made up his mind, the English Council were unanimous in holding that the French terms were insufficient. Lennox alone appeared to hesitate. It might be, he said, that the French Government had not offered more because it knew that the King was looking in another direction.
James resolved to put the Regent to the test. He would ask her to yield on three points: that, in the case of the decease July.Lord Hay’s mission.of the Princess Christina without children, he should not be required to reimburse her portion: that the marriage, though solemnised in France after the forms of the Roman Catholic Church, should be again solemnised in England according to the Protestant ritual; and that the Princess should not be forced to renounce the claims to Navarre and Beam, which she would have in the improbable case of the decease, without heirs, of her two brothers and her elder sister.
For the purpose of this mission James selected Lord Hay, who, as a Scotchman, would be welcome in France, and who was sure to perform his part with ostentation, and to attract notice wherever he went. Though he was possessed of the equivocal distinction of knowing how to spend money more rapidly than anyone else in England, he was not without a strong fund of common sense, for which the world has hardly been inclined to give him credit.
For some weeks after Digby’s arrival in England, the Courts of London and Madrid were fencing with one another on a point of James’s hesitation.considerable importance. Before James would consent to discuss the terms of the marriage contract, he wished to have some assurance that the Pope would grant the dispensation, if reasonable concessions were made. Philip, who knew that it was perfectly hopeless to expect the Pope to promise anything of the kind, answered that it would be an insult to His Holiness to ask him to consent to articles which he had never seen. At last James, finding <392>that on this point the Spaniards were immovable, relinquished his demands.[652]
It is true that before Digby left Spain he had obtained from Lerma some modification of the original articles. The stipulation that Modification of the articles.the children should be baptized as Catholics was withdrawn. The condition that the servants should be exclusively Catholics was exchanged for an engagement that they should be nominated by the King of Spain. The question of the education of the children, and the question of the boon to be granted to the English Catholics, were allowed to drop out of sight for the present.[653] The changes were, however, greater in appearance than in reality, as James was well aware that though he was not called upon to express an immediate opinion on these last subjects, the whole of the religious difficulty would come up again for solution before the final arrangements were made. Even now, therefore, he was Continued embarrassment of James.not without occasional hesitation. One day he told Sarmiento that there were ‘terrible things in the articles,’ and suggested that it would be well if they could be reconsidered in England before a special ambassador was sent to discuss them at Madrid. This was not what Sarmiento wanted. He had no wish to be brought into personal collision with James on questions of detail, and with a few well-chosen sentences about the impropriety of asking the lady’s representative to argue the conditions of the marriage treaty, he quietly set the whole scheme aside. In giving an account to his master of this conversation, he expressed his opinion that James was desirous of reaping the political advantages of the alliance, but that he would prove to be unwilling to make the required concessions to the Catholics.[654] Yet, whatever his future prospects might be, Sarmiento knew that, for the present at <393>least, James was in his net. It would not be long before the negotiations were formally opened at Madrid.
At the outset of his mission, Hay met with an obstacle of which many an ambassador had complained before. If he was Hay’s want of money.to enter Paris with the magnificence which he thought fitting for the occasion, he must have money; and, as usual, the Exchequer had none to spare. The device resorted to was in the highest degree disgraceful. An idea had already been canvassed from time to time, that it might be possible Sale of peerages.to raise money by the sale of peerages. The precedent of the baronetages was sure, sooner or later, to turn the thoughts of the needy King in that direction; but as yet he had held back from such a desecration of the prerogative. It would be impossible to disguise the transaction under the pretence that the honour was granted for services rendered. It would make the grant of the highest dignity which it was in the power of the Crown to bestow a mere matter of bargain and sale. Yet to this it was necessary to come. There were many gentlemen who were ready to pay the required sum. One of those selected was Sir John Roper; the other was Sir John Holles. They paid 10,000l. apiece, and were, as a recompense, decorated with the titles of Lord Teynham and Lord Houghton. The sum paid by the first of the new barons was handed over to Hay. Half of Lord Houghton’s money was taken possession of by the King; the other half went to Winwood, who was promised 5,000l. more when the next baron was made. No doubt Winwood had worked hard for many years with little reward; but it speaks volumes for the corrupt atmosphere of James’s Court that a man of Winwood’s integrity should have condescended to accept payment from such a source.[655]
As soon as he had thus acquired the money which was necessary to enable him to leave England, Hay’s entry into Paris.Hay started on his journey. His entry into Paris was long talked of by the French as a magnificent exhibition. His train <394>was unusually large, and all his followers were attired in a sumptuous costume, which surpassed all that had ever been seen on such occasions. That his horse was shod with silver shoes, which were intentionally attached so loosely that he dropped them as he passed along the streets, is probably a tale which grew up in the popular imagination; but all accounts agree in speaking of the Ambassador’s entry into Paris as astonishing the spectators by the gorgeous spectacle which it presented. It is more important, however, to note the reception which he met with from high and low. The whole populace of Paris cheered him as he passed, and from all ranks of the people he received a greeting which assured him that the English alliance would be welcomed by thousands who were heartily weary of the subservience of the Queen to Spain.
It is proof of Hay’s good sense that he was not intoxicated by his reception. He talked over with Edmondes the instructions which His difficulties.he had received, and sat down to repeat in writing to Winwood the misgivings which he had expressed, before he went away, upon the success of his mission. He felt, he said, that the course which he was directed to take could end in nothing but failure. The negotiations would be broken off, and the fault would be laid upon James.[656] If Winwood had been left to himself he would doubtless have agreed with Hay. But he was obliged to write a despatch ordering him to persevere in the course which had been marked out for him.
Before that despatch arrived in Paris, an event had occurred <395>which made it still more unlikely that the French Government would give ear to the proposals with which Hay had been charged. Condé, Imprisonment of Condé.Aug. 21.though he had made his submission to the Regent on favourable terms, felt that, for some time, the position which he had attained gave him little more than a nominal dignity, and formed designs against Concini, the Queen’s favourite, whose influence was supreme at Court.[657] In the place of the Queen and her dependents, he would have organized a Council, in which the principal parts would have been played by the Princes of the Blood. The Queen saw the danger, and anticipated the blow. Instigated perhaps by the young Richelieu, then first rising into note, she attempted to surprise the heads of the opposite party. As far as Condé was concerned, she was successful in her attempts. The first Prince of the Blood was thrown into prison. His confederates succeeded in making their escape. No popular commotion ensued upon this sudden blow. In spite of the popular language of Condé, it was difficult to persuade the nation that it would be happier by substituting for the Government which had been carried on in the name of the King, a Council principally composed of the Princes of the Blood.
Five days after the seizure of Condé had taken place, the English ambassadors had an interview with Villeroi and the other Interview of Hay and Edmondes with the French ministers.principal ministers. Hay, being asked what proposals he had brought from England, gave in a paper which related simply to the grievances of which his master’s subjects complained. The Frenchmen were not to be put off the scent in this manner. They asked, at once, what he had to say about the marriage. Hay, according to his instructions, could only answer, that the King of England was dissatisfied with the last reply of the French Government, that he would have broken off the negotiations at once, if he had not been unwilling to do so at a time when France was suffering the miseries of a civil war, and that he was now waiting for new propositions which might be more <396>acceptable. The French ministers said that it was necessary to discuss the old proposals before bringing forward any new ones. James’s three demands were then laid before them, and it soon appeared that, on the questions of the repetition of the marriage ceremony, and of the renunciation of the right of succession, neither party would give way to the other.[658] Hay therefore brought the negotiations to a close, and returned to England, whither he was soon followed by Edmondes, who, in reward for his long diplomatic services, was raised to the dignity of a Privy Councillor. James was now free to listen, if he pleased, to the advances of the Spanish ambassador.
While James was thus putting an end to the projected French alliance, he was still making unsuccessful attempts to Sir Dudley Carleton in Holland.carry into effect the treaty of Xanten. Sir Henry Wotton, who had returned from the Hague weary of his twelvemonth’s sojourn amongst the imperturbable Dutchmen, had been once more despatched to an elegant retirement in the more congenial atmosphere of Venice. He was replaced at the Hague by Sir Dudley Carleton, who had long been to the full as eager to escape from Italy as Wotton had been to return there.
As a diplomatist, Carleton takes rank as one of the most prominent members of the school of which Winwood was the acknowledged chief. He had, at one time, acted as secretary to the Earl of Northumberland, and had been involved in his patron’s disgrace, being for some time causelessly suspected of some connection with the Gunpowder Plot. As soon as his character was cleared, he succeeded in obtaining the good-will of the all-powerful Salisbury, and was by his influence appointed, in 1610, to the embassy at Venice. A post of this nature could hardly have satisfied him under any circumstances. He not only longed for the free air of a Protestant country, and was anxious to be less completely cut off from his friends in England, but he took a warm interest in the opposition to Spain, which made him anxious to find another sphere for the exercise of his talents. It was therefore with no small pleasure <397>that he received the news of his appointment to the post which had just been vacated by Wotton.
It was to no purpose that he did his best to obtain the consent of the Dutch to the execution of the treaty of Xanten. Rightly or wrongly, The Dutch decline executing the treaty of Xanten.they believed that there was a settled disposition on the part of the Spaniards to make themselves masters of the disputed territories, and that even if the Spanish troops left the country after the withdrawal of their own forces, they would either return under some pretext or another, or the Emperor and the German Catholic League would carry out that which Spinola had been unable to do. Towards the end of the year, Carleton was directed to inform the States[659] that a declaration had been made by the Spanish ambassador in London, that, if the treaty of Xanten were not executed before the end of the ensuing February, his master would consider himself justified in retaining as his own the places occupied by his troops. Even this threat was without effect upon the Dutch, who persisted in looking with distrust upon every proposition emanating from Madrid.
Although, however, James was on less cordial terms with Holland and France than had formerly been the case, and although James has no intention of deserting the Dutch.he was on the point of opening negotiations with Spain, it would be a mistake to suppose that he had any intention of turning against his old allies. He was guilty of no such base treachery to the Protestant cause, of which, in word at least, he had constituted himself the Protector. During the very year in which these differences had sprung up, he had been anxiously urging the Duke of Savoy to join the union of the Protestant Princes of Germany in a defensive league which would support him in his resistance to the encroachments of the King of Spain.[660] He wished simply to keep the peace. He saw that the Continental Protestants were alarmed, and that alarm led to irritation. He was constantly afraid of some outbreak of temper or ambition <398>which would set Europe in a blaze. The calm dignity of Spain, and of the Spanish ambassador, imposed upon him. He did not see that the Spanish monarchy was compelled by its interests and traditions to interfere in the affairs of every European state, and that subservience to Spain might easily bring on that very danger which he sought to avoid.
End of the Second Volume.
[613] ‘Consultation … for a Parliament,’ Bacon’s Letters and Life, v. 194. As Mr. Spedding has suggested in his errata, the Bishop of Winchester should be Bilson, not Andrewes.
[614] Bacon to the King, Letters and Life, v. 176. Mr. Spedding thinks it must have been written a little before the meeting of the Council, because <367>the discussion is not mentioned. But it would be disrespectful in him to mention what was understood to be secret. The beginning would hardly have been so abrupt unless his opinion had been asked.
[615] Sarmiento to Philip III., Dec. 10⁄20, Simancas MSS. 2594, fol. 77.
[616] Sarmiento to Philip III., Dec. 16⁄26, ibid. 2594, fol. 93.
[617] Carew Letters, 21.
[618] Carew Letters, 22.
[619] Sarmiento to Philip III. Jan. 20⁄30, Jan. 22⁄Feb. 1, Simancas MSS. 2595, fol. 23, 33.
[620] Raleigh’s Discovery of Guiana. Ed. Schomburgk, Introd. 54. I shall always quote from this edition.
[621] Discovery of Guiana, 42–98.
[622] Discovery of Guiana, 98.
[623] “A man’s ideal,” says Mr. Spedding, “though not necessarily a description of what he is, is almost always a description of what he would be.” Preface to the New Atlantis, Bacon’s Philosophical Works, iii. 122.
[624] Discovery of Guiana, Introd. 55.
[625] Keymis, A Relation of the Second Voyage to Guiana.
[626] Hakluyt, iii. 692.
[627] Grant, Aug. 28, 1603. S. P. Grant Book, 126.
[628] Purchas, iv. 1264, 1270.
[629] I have seen many of Aremberg’s despatches at Simancas, but the following passages are the only ones in which the names of Raleigh and Cobham occur:— “Ayer á la tarde, despues de aver despachado mis cartas de 25 desto, me vino á buscar un amigo, el qual me dixo que se murmurava de alguna conspiracion contra la persona del Rey por algunos Señores Yngleses, pero aun no me supo dezir la verdadera rayz, bien que havian ellos depositado algunos aquí (que quiere dezir puesto en manos de algunos Señores en guarda) algunos Señores, cuyos nombres son Milort Drak,” i.e. Brooke, “Ser Water Rale, hermano menor de Milor Cobham, que le fuéron á sacar de su casa, cosa que tira á mayor. Despues otro me ha confirmado lo mismo, y que son hasta diez personas, quiriendo dezir que havian determinado de tomar al Rey, y prendelle yendo á caza, llevalle preso á un Castillo para hazelle trocar la manera de governar, y quitar algunos del consejo, y entre otros Cecil que á esta ora es tan enemigo de Ser Water Ralè, y hombre de grande opinion aquí, como havia sido otra vez amigo en tiempo de la Reyna. … Todas estas cosas espero que no servirán poco á V. Alteza, porque [el Rey] conoscerá por ello lo que son rebeldes, y quanto le conviene tener amigos fundados, y de no creer los que le aconsejan de fomentar tal gente y abandonar los verdaderos amigos.” — Aremberg to the Archduke Albert, July 16⁄26.
“Por nuevas me ha dicho que anteayer fué presto uno llamado Griffin Marques, que era el principal de una conspiracion hecha contra el Rey moderno de Inglaterra, de la qual eran dos clerigos. … Pareceme que son dos conspiraciones differentes, esta y la de Cobham, pero que comunicavan juntos, segun el dicho Idonoit (?) me ha dicho? y que todos dos proceden de discontento que ellos dizen tener del Rey, por no havellos guardado lo que les habe prometido.” Aremberg to the Archduke Albert, July 28⁄Aug. 7, 1603. These extracts seem to leave no reasonable doubt that <380>Aremberg was not cognizant of any plot against James, though he might have had conversations with Cobham on the subject of money to be given for procuring the peace. The only strong evidence, on the other hand, is Beaumont’s account (King’s MSS. 124, fol. 577 b) of Cobham’s deposition, and his direct statement that he knew that the King had two compromising letters of Aremberg’s in his hands. Unfortunately I was not able to discover any despatch of Aremberg’s written after the Winchester trial.
[630] Raleigh to Haddington, 1610; Edwards’s Life of Ralegh, ii. 392.
[631] Raleigh to Winwood, 1615; ibid. ii. 339.
[632] Raleigh to the Lords of the Council, 1612; ibid. ii. 337. I accept Mr. Edwards’s argument in favour of this date, to which the circumstances noticed above give additional force.
[633] In the Observations on Sanderson’s History, we are told that ‘Sir William St. John and Sir Edward Villiers procured Sir W. Raleigh’s liberty, and had 1500l. for their labour, and for 700l. more offered him his full pardon and liberty not to go his voyage, if he pleased.’ This story has been generally adopted by subsequent writers, some of whom speak of Sir W. St. John as nearly connected in some way with Villiers’ family, probably by confusing him with Sir Oliver St. John. From Howel’s letter to C. Raleigh it appears that the original story was ‘that Sir W. St. John made an overture to him of procuring his pardon for 1500l.,’ which is a very different thing; ‘but whether he could have effected it,’ the writer proceeds, ‘I doubt a little, when he had come to negotiate really.’ Howel, at least, did not think the money had been paid, and I suspect the story originated from some loose talk. In the political situation, no bribery was necessary to gain the ear of Villiers. Sir W. St. John appears to have been acting cordially in Raleigh’s interest. Sherburn to Carleton, March 23; Chamberlain to Carleton, March 27, 1616; S. P. Dom. lxxvi. 100, 111.
[634] The letter of the Privy Council of March 19, is printed by Mr. Edwards (Life of Ralegh, i. 563), who has obligingly communicated to me the warrant of the same date from the Losely MSS. He has also placed in my hands the warrant upon which he had founded his statement that Raleigh’s release had taken place two months previously. It appears, however, that the true date of this is Jan. 30, 1617, and it will be referred to in the proper place.
[635] Reasons by Winwood for giving up the Towns. Undated, 1616. Winwood to Carleton, May 23, S. P. Hol.
[636] Reasons against the surrender, written by Sir John Coke for Sir Fulk Greville, April 24, S. P. Hol. Danvers to Carleton, April 22, 1616, S. P. Dom. lxxxvi. 147.
[637] Hume has stated the matter with perfect correctness, excepting that he supposed that the King received 250,000l.
[638] Winwood to Carleton, and Winwood’s Reasons, as before quoted.
[639] Merchant Adventurers to the Council, April (?), 1606. A Merchant of the Eastland Company to ———, March (?), 1613, S. P. Dom. xx. 10; lxxii. 70. The King to Coke and others, Dec. 3, 1613, Add. MSS. 14,027, fol. 254.
[640] Reasons of the Merchant Adventurers, with Answers by Cockaine and others, Lansd. MSS. 152, fol. 282.
[641] Proclamation, July 23, 1614. See also the proclamation of Dec. 2, S. P. Dom. clxxxvii. 29, 35.
[642] Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb. 23, 1615, S. P. Dom. lxxx. 38.
[643] Council Register, June 7 and 19, 1615.
[644] Warrant, Feb. 7, 1616, S. P. Dom. lxxxvi. 48. Bacon to the King, Aug. 12, 1615, Feb. 25, 1616, Letters and Life, v. 178, 256.
[645] Old Company to the Council, May 1616, S. P. Dom. lxxx. 110. Endorsed May, 1615, and so calendared by Mrs. Green; but the warrant just quoted shows this to have been a mistake.
[646] Chamberlain to Carleton, March 27, 1616, Court and Times, i. 392.
[647] Council to the Justices of the Peace in Gloucestershire, Aug. 2; Council with the King to the Council in London, Aug. 6; Council in London to the Council with the King, Aug. 13 (S. P. Dom. lxxxviii. 41, 45, 51); Bacon to the King, Sept. 13, Letters and Life, v. 74.
[648] Council Register, Jan. 9, 1617.
[649] Proclamation, Aug. 12, 1617, S. P. Dom. clxxxvii. 50*.
[650] Sarmiento to Philip III., April 17⁄27, Simancas MSS. 2595, fol. 55.
[651] Sarmiento to Philip III., Jan. 22⁄Feb. 1, Simancas MSS. 2595, fol. 33.
[652] Francisco de Jesus, 13; Sarmiento to Philip III., May 10⁄20, May 31⁄June 10, Simancas MSS. 2595, fol. 81, 99.
[653] The articles are amongst the S. P. Spain, and are, with a few verbal differences, the same as the twenty articles in Prynne’s Hidden Works, 4.
[654] Francisco de Jesus, 15; Minutes of Sarmiento’s despatches, Aug. 23⁄Sept. 2, Sept. 20⁄30, Simancas MSS. Est. 2850, 2518, fol. 20.
[655] Chamberlain to Carleton, July 20, 1616 (Court and Times, i. 408). Sir J. Holles had been condemned to fine and imprisonment only a few months before, for his proceedings at Weston’s execution.
[656] “And we must confess we find ourselves extremely troubled how to disguise His Majesty’s intentions, so as they may not here plainly discover he hath a desire quite to break off this match, and take advantage thereby to drive that envy upon us which, if they had not yielded to His Majesty’s desires, would have lighted heavily upon them from this people, whom we find generally much to desire this alliance might take effect.” (Hay and Edmondes to Winwood, July 31, S. P. France.) Hay and Edmondes evidently understood that James had determined to break off the match at all hazards. Winwood’s reply of the 19th, which still directs them to agree to the match if they can get better terms, was a mere conventional rejoinder, and James was not likely to impart his intentions to Winwood.
[657] Such at least is the explanation derived by Ranke from the despatches of the Venetian Ambassador, Französische Geschichte, i. 201.
[658] Hay and Edmondes to Winwood, Aug. 26, 1616, S. P. France.
[659] Winwood to Carleton, Nov. 13, 1616, Carleton Letters, 70.
[660] Wotton to the King, May 22, S. P. Venice.