$22 © Condemnation and Execution of Str Walter Raleigh. [May }, 
' 
facility all the principal fixed stars that 
ray at any tine be visible m our hemi- 
sphere. 
But as it was my intention merely to 
hint to the manufacturer, the useful 
application of these instruments to the 
elements of geography and astronomy, I 
shall not enlarge upon the subject; but 
leave it to abler heads, and more expert 
hands, practically to perform what | have 
here theoretically suggested. 
Wisbech. WM. SKRIMSHIRE, Jun, 
ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On the CONDEMNATION and EXECUTION 
of SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
N deciding upon the conduct of the 
court of England, in the condemna- 
tion and in the death of sir Walter Ra- 
leigh, there are two circumstances which 
particularly merit our regard, The first 
of these is the verdict of guilt passed 
against him; the other, the execution 
ofthe sentence. 
That a conspiracy was formed against 
the sceptre of James, involved and mys- 
terious as are the circumstances attending 
it, is notto bedenied. The character of 
the persons said to be concerned, seems 
sufficient to suggest a presumption of 
their guilt; and the trial and confession 
of the criminals put the matter beyond a 
“doubt. Thé enemies-of Essex lad be- 
come the enemies of James; and, certain 
of the resentment of: this prince for their 
zeal in the death of his mother and of his 
friend, they had endeavoured to op- 
pose his being proclaimed king tll he 
should have promised to overlook the 
murder of a queen whose fate the world 
lamented, and the untimely end of a no- 
bleman whose generosity, genius, and 
courage, his country had adored. De- 
testation however of their conduct, or 
perhaps views of policy and interest, the 
generally exclusive motives of action in 
royal breasts, refused an accommodation ; 
and dismissed from their employments 
sir Walter Raleigh, lord Grey, and lord 
Cebham. Men of so proud and so fiery 
tempers, were not likely to bear with the 
affront; and their restless and ambitious 
spirits, incapable of being imactive and 
of living in disgrace, might be thought 
capable of forming any plot, or entering 
upon any enterprize, which would prove 
detrimental to the power that had 
frowned upon their erimes, and deprived 
them of office. The discontented and 
innovating spirit of a puritan, as exh. 
bited in lord Grey, the thoughtless and 
unprincipled Cobham, and even the jea- 
lous and vindictive Raleigh, as experien- 
ced m_ his rivalship with Essex, had af- 
forded_precedents to anticipate their fu- 
ture conduct: and it might be dreaded 
by the discerning and considerate, that 
every thing which opposed their views or 
their interest, would at once be sacrificed 
to their rage. : 
But though the fact of the conspiracy 
be undoubted, and though such be the 
‘presumptions which arise against those 
charged with it, we must not be influe 
enced by these when unattended with 
proof. Nor even though one or more be 
tound guilty of the crime, are we to pro~ — 
nounce sentence against all. He is not 
to he held as guilty, against whom we ean 
only say that he lad once bee hostile to 
the injured, or that. he was the compa- 
nion of those who had attempted his ruin. 
In acharge of any kind, and more par- 
ticularly in that which affects the fortune 
and the life of any individual, we must 
confine ourselves to the facts of the 
case; and every thing which does not 
bear immediately upon these, we are to_ 
account as maliciously presented to us, 
or to dismiss it from our enquiries as ex- 
traneous and unsatisfactory. We may 
say with truth, that he whom we know to 
be worthless and depraved is_ vicious ; 
but we should do. injustice to our 
own integrity, as well as to the person of 
whom we'speak, were we to say that in 
‘every thing which was vicious he was en- 
gaged, and that for every thing of that 
kind which happened he was to be pu- 
nished. There are few who will doubt 
that Mary was the murderer of her 
husband; or who do not add to her faults, 
her being a Roman catholic: but the 
murder of Darnley was not the conspi- 
racy of Babipgton. Her devotions in the 
church of Rome had never disturbed the 
peace of the English communion; and 
unless it shall be proved that she was 
guilty of the conspiracy for which she 
suffered, the vindication of her death 
upon former guilt. must be reprobated as 
odious; and Elizabeth must be held, 
in having put her hand to a warrant af 
murder, to be guilty of the same crime 
as the queen she beheaded. i 
These reasonings in point, when ap- 
plied to Raleigh, in whose character 
we find alternately presented to us spes. 
cimens of greatness, of weakness, and 
of vice; the first of which sometimes 
adorned, but oftener, with the others, 
lessened 
