R A L 



Guiana, where lie was received with the utmod joy by the 

 Indians, who not only rendered him all tliu Icrvice in their 

 power, but endeavoured to pcrfuade him to end all Jiis 

 labours there, and take upon himfelf the fovcrcignty of the 

 country, which, however, he (leadily rchifed. A violent 

 and long continued (ickriefs prevented him from undertak- 

 ing tliL- difcovery of the mine in perfon. This important 

 aflair he entrufted to one of his captains, Keymis : the 

 fcheme, however, proved abortive, the Spaniards having beeii 

 before iiand with him in the fearch of gold. Humi.-, for 

 the purpofc of exculpating James, endeavours to fhew that 

 the n-ul intention of lir Walter Ralegh was to plunder the 

 Spanifti fettlements, and neither to colonize, nor to work 

 the mines. He aiiumes that Ralegh was a wilful deceiver 

 in the expeftations he had raifcd of vaft fubterraneous riches ; 

 but confidering his charafter, it is Ir.rely more rcafonable to 

 believe that he was carried away by fome vague ideas of this 

 kind, and Hume admits that the Spaniards were at the very 

 time working fome mines. It will be readily admitted, that 

 James did not imagine he was giving Ralegh a connnillion 

 of hoftilities againll Spain, yet he mull have known that 

 the exclufive claims of that crown in South America ren- 

 dered every interference with its dominion hoitile in its eyes. 

 The faft feems to be, that the expedition was undertaken 

 with an intention to make the moll of it, by any means 

 witliin the power of the armament, and that the commander 

 trufted to its fuccefs for juftification before a court where 

 bribery to favourites was omnipotent. 



In this expedition Ralegh's eldeil fon loll his life, of 

 which, and of the unfortunate iHue of Keymis's undertaking, 

 he reproached his captain very feverely, who, without hefita- 

 tion, put an end to his own life. Ralegh, with a heavy heart, 

 fteered homewards. In July 1618 he arrived at Plymouth, 

 and in his journey to London he was arrefted, and carried 

 back to Plymouth. Twice he attempted to efcape, but 

 was fecured and committed a prifoner to the Tower. James 

 was exafperated at the injury which had been inflifted on 

 Spain, a power then in amity with England, and which had 

 been complained of by the Spanifh court in very itrong 

 terms. He was, moreover, about to enter into a more in- 

 timate conneftion with that court, and therefore, without 

 heiitation, determined to facriiice Ralegh to its refentment. 

 Though his death had been determined on, it was difficult 

 to take away his life. His conduft in the late expedition, 

 though the want of fuccefs had rendered it criminal in the 

 eyes of the court, was far from being fo in the light of the 

 nation ; and though judges might have been found who would 

 pronounce it treafon, yet even in thofe days it was not eafy 

 to find a jury vrho would, without evidence, have found him 

 guilty. The commiffioners therefore, who had been ap- 

 pointed to enquire into the matter, and who had frequently ex- 

 amined him, finally reported, that no ground of legal judgment 

 could be drawn from what had palled in the expedition. Upon 

 this, it was refolved to call him down to judgment upon his 

 former fenteuce, which, fays Campbell, was done, with all 

 the circumftances of iniquity and brutality that can well 

 be conceived. Being brought before the court of king's 

 bench, his plea of an implied pardon, by his having afted 

 under the king's commiffion fmce fenteuce had been pro- 

 nounced, was over-ruled, and he was not permitted to enter 

 into a vindication of his conduft in the late voyage. Exe- 

 cution was accordingly awarded, and the king's warrant for 

 it produced, which had been iigned and fealed before-hand. 



" That this judgment was illegal," obferves Dr. Camp- 

 bell, " and that fir Walter was really murdered, has often 

 been faid, and, I believe, feldom doubted ; but I think it Ira^ 

 not been made fo plain as it might be, and, therefura^n 



Vol. XXIX. 



R A L 



rcfpeft to his memory, I will attempt it, by (hewing that 

 the judgment was ablulutfly illegal, as well as manifcflly 

 iniquitous. 



" It is a maxim in our law that the king can do no 

 wrong ; and moll certain it is, that no king can do legal 

 wrong, that is to fay, can employ the law to unjull pur- 

 pofes. Sir Waller Ralegh, after his conviftion, was dead 

 in law, and, therefore, if king James's commiflion to him had 

 not the virtue of a pardon, what was it ? Did it empower 

 a dead man to aft, and not only to aft, but to have a power 

 over the lives and cllates of the living ? It cither conveyed 

 authority, or it did not. If it did convey authority, then 

 fir Walter was capable of receiving it ; that is, he was no 

 longer dead in law : or, in other words, he was pardoned. 

 If it conveyed no authority, then this was an aft of legal 

 wrong. I cannot help the blunder ; the abfurdity is in the 

 thing, and not in my expreffien. A commiflion under the 

 privy feal, if not under the great feal, granted by tlic king, 

 with the advice of his council, to a dead man ; or, to put 

 it (ithervvife, a lawful commiffion given to a man dead in law, 

 is nonfenfe not to be endured ; and, therefore, to avoid 

 this, we mull conceive, as fir Francis Bacon, and every 

 other lawyer did, that the commiffion included, (<r rather 

 conveyed, a pardon. Indeed, the fame thing may be made 

 out in much fewer words. Grace is not fo Itrong a mark of 

 royal favour as trull ; and, therefore, where the latter ap- 

 pears, the law ouglit, and, indeed, does, prefume the former. 

 This judgment, therefore, did not only murder fir Walter 

 Ralegh, but, in this inllance, fubverted the conftitution, 

 and ought to be looked upon, not only as an aft of the 

 bafeit prollitution, but as the mofl flagrant violation of juf- 

 tice that ever was committed." 



The fentence of death was pronounced on him one day, 

 and put in execution on the following. Oft. 29, 16 18, in 

 Old Palace Yard. His behavieur on the fcaffold was calm 

 and manly. He addrefled the people at fome length : he 

 faid he never feared death, and much lefs at that time ; that 

 as to the manner of it, though to others it might feem 

 grievous, yet for himfelf, he iiad rather die in this way than 

 in a burning fever. He defired to fee the axe, and feeling 

 the edge of it, faid to the Iheriff, " this is a fliarp me- 

 dicine, but a lure remedy for all evils." Being aflced which 

 way he chofe to place himfelf on the block, he rephed, 

 " io the heart be right, it is no matter wiiich way the head 

 lies," and giving the fignal, he received the ftroke with the 

 moll perfeft compofure. Such was the end of the illuf- 

 trious fir Walter Ralegh, in the 66th year of his age, by a 

 lentence which was regarded as one of the moll difhonourable 

 meafures of an odious adminillration. The panegyric upon 

 his charafter by Dr. Campbell is much too highly coloured : 

 fir Walter Ralegh was not faultlols, thougli in extent of ca- 

 pacity and vigour of mind he had few equals in an age that 

 abounded with great men. His imprifoiiment was the oc- 

 cafion of his obtaining a high reputation as an author. His 

 writings were on various topics, and are clalTed as poetical, 

 geographical, political, philofophical, and hlllorica!. They 

 are now but little known. His " Hillory of the World," 

 though not much read, is regarded with refjieft, as one of 

 the bell fpecimens of the Englifli language of that time : 

 the llyle is pure, nervous, and without pedantry. It is the 

 llyle of a man of bufinefs as well as ot a fcholar. It has 

 been many times reprinted, but the bell edition is that of 

 Oldys, in 1736. He brought down his hillory no farther 

 than the overthrow o£ the Macedonian empire. Of his 

 mifcellaneous works, a colleftion in two volumes 8vo. was 

 printed in 1748. Biog. Brit. Hume. Campbell. Cayley. 



RALEIGH, or Rayleigii, in Geography, a market-town 

 3 B and 



