Earl of Suffolk Lord Chamberlain Earl of Devon Lord Henry Howard Lord Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Wotton Sir Iohn Stanhope Vice-Chamberlain Lord Chief-Justice of England Popham Lord Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas Anderson Justice Gaudie Justice Warburton and Sir William Wade Commissioners First The Commission of Oyer and Terminer was read by the Clerk of the Crown-Office and the Prisoner bid hold up his Hand And then presently the INDICTMENT was in effect as followeth THat he did Conspire and go about to deprive the King of his Government to raise up Sedition within the Realm to alter Religion to bring in the Roman Superstition and to procure Foreign Enemies to invade the Kingdoms That the Lord Cobham the ninth of June last did meet with the said Sir Walter Raleigh in Durham-House in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields and then and there had Conference with him how to advance Arabella Stuart to the Crown and Royal Throne of this Kingdom and that then and there it was agreed that Cobham should treat with Aremberg Embassador from the Arch-Duke of Austria to obtain of him 600000 Crowns to bring to pass their intended Treasons It was agreed that Cobham should go to the Arch-Duke Albert to procure him to advance the pretended Title of Arabella from thence knowing that Albert had not sufficient means to maintain his own Army in the Low-Countries Cobham should go to Spain to procure the King to assist and further her pretended Title It was agreed the better to effect all this Conspiracy that Arabella should write three Letters one to the Arch-Duke another to the King of Spain and a third to the Duke of Savoy and promise three things First to establish firm Peace between England and Spain Secondly To tolerate the Popish and Roman Superstition Thirdly To be ruled by them in contracting of her Marriage And for the effecting these Traiterous Purposes Cobham should return by the Isle of Jersey and should find Sir Walter Raleigh Captain of the said Isle there and take Counsel of Raleigh for the distributing of the aforesaid Crowns as the Occasion or Discontentment of the Subjects should give cause and way And further That Cobham and his Brother Brook met on the 9th of June last and Cobham told Brook all these Treasons To the which Treasons Brook gave his Assent and did joyn himself to all these and after on the Thursday following Cobham and Brook did speak these words That there would never be a good World in England till the King meaning our Soveraign Lord and his Cubs meaning his Royal Issue were taken away And the more to disable and deprive the King of his Crown and to confirm the said Cobham in his Intents Raleigh did publish a Book falsly written against the most just and Royal Title of the King knowing the said Book to be written against the just Title of the King which Book Cobham after that received of him Further for the better effecting these Traiterous Purposes and to establish the said Brook in his Intent the said Cobham did deliver the said Book unto him the 14th of June And further the said Cobham on the 16th of June for accomplishment of the said Conference and by the traiterous Instigation of Raleigh did move Brook to incite Arabella to write to the three forenamed Princes to procure them to advance her Title and that she after she had obtained the Crown should promise to perform three things viz. Peace between England and Spain 2. To tolerate with impunity the Popish and Roman Superstitions 3. To be ruled by them three in the contracting of her Marriage To these Motions the said Brook gave his Assent And for the better effecting of the said Treasons Cobham on the seventeenth of June by the Instigation of Raleigh did write Letters to Count Aremberg and did deliver the said Letters to one Matthew de Lawrency to be delivered to the said Count which he did deliver for the obtaining of the 600000 Crowns which Money by other Letters Count Aremberg did promise to perform the payment of and this Letter Cobham received the eighteenth of June And then did Cobham promise to Raleigh that when he had received the said Mony he would deliver 8000 Crowns to him to which motion he did consent and afterwards Cobham offered Brook that after he should receive the said Crowns he would give to him 10000 thereof to which Motion Brook did assent To the Indictment Sir Walter Raleigh pleaded Not Guilty The JURY Sir Ralph Conisby Knights Sir Thomas Fowler Knights Sir Edward Peacock Knights Sir William Rowe Knights Henry Goodyer Esquires Roger Wood Esquires Thomas Walker Esquires Thomas Whitby Esquires Thomas Highgate Gentlemen Robert Kempthon Gentlemen Iohn Chawkey Gentlemen Robert Brumley Gentlemen Sir Walter Raleigh Prisoner was asked whether he would take Exceptions to any of the Jury Raleigh I know none of them they are all Christians and honest Gentlemen I except against none E. Suff. You Gentlemen of the Kings Learned Counsel follow the same course as you did the other day Raleigh My Lord I pray you I may answer the Points particularly as they are delivered by reason of the weakness of my memory and sickness Popham Chief Iustice. After the Kings Learned Counsel have delivered all the Evidence Sir Walter you may answer particularly to what you will Heale the Kings Serjeant at Law You have heard of Raleigh's bloody Attempts to kill the King and his Royal Progeny and in place thereof to advance one Arabella Stuart The particulars of the Indictment are these First That Raleigh met with Cobham the ninth of Iune and had Conference of an Invasion of a Rebellion and an Insurrection to be made by the King's Subjects to depose the King and to kill his Children poor Babes that never gave offence Here is Blood here is a new King and Governour In our King consists all our Happiness and the true use of the Gospel a thing which we all wished to be setled after the death of the Queen Here must be Money to do this for Money is the Sinew of War Where should that be had Count Aremberg must procure it of Philip King of Spain five or six hundred thousand Crowns and out of this Sum Raleigh must have eight thousand But what is that Count Aremberg though I am no good Frenchman yet it is as much as to say in English Earl of Aremberg Then there must be Friends to effect this Cobham must go to Albert Arch-Duke of Austria for whom Aremberg was Ambassador at that time in England And what then He must perswade the Duke to assist the pretended Title of Arabella From thence Cobham must go to the King of Spain and perswade him to assist the said Title Since the Conquest there was never the like Treason But out of whose Head came it Out of Raleigh's who must also advise Cobham to use his Brother Brook to incite the Lady Arabella to write three several Letters as aforesaid
the Year 1596 both died with Grief and bequeath'd their Hatred of the Spaniard to Sir Walter Raleigh to revenge their Quarrel Who this Year return'd being satisfi'd with his Expedition and much more vvith the Reception he found at Court The Storm vvas blown over and his Mistresses Brow vvas more smooth than at his departure after his Eclipse he shone brighter at Court and the Death of those two famous Sea-men put them upon courting Sir Walter whom the necessity of State forc'd them to cherish and encourage It 's strange that vvhat was Essex's Ruine should confirm Sir Walter in Favour frequent Absence from his Mistress But Sir Walter 's Obsequiousness work'd much upon the humour of the Queen who lov'd Pliantness and exact Obedience which Essex could not always counterfeit The Spaniard being encouraged with the possession of Cales from whence it was but a short cut over into England the Death of Hawkins and their former scourge Drake and the earnest Sollicitations of the Irish who through her Reign had got the Itch of Rebellion which vvas fed and maintained by the Spaniard thô they had been sufficiently blooded by the English And the Queen foreseeing a Storm gathering thought 't was the best way to scatter it before it grew too great and came too near She resolved therefore to begin with the Spaniard first and fairly set on the Enemy in his own Ports She speedily riggs a brave Fleet consisting of 150 Ships Mann'd by 6360 Souldiers 1000 Volunteer-Gentlemen 6772 Seamen Robert Earl of Essex and the Lord Howard were Commanders of equal Authority having been both at an excessive charge in carrying on the War To these were joyn'd a Council of War consisting of several eminent Seamen and Souldiers among whom was our Sir Walter The Fleet was divided into four Squadrons the first commanded by the Lord Admiral Howard the second by Essex the third by Sir Thomas Howard the fourth by Sir Walter Raleigh In the beginning of Iune they set sail and got to Gades the 20th their Design being perfectly unknown as well to their Enemies as their own Men. Essex heated with Youth and an ambition of doing bravely would have presently landed and assaulted the Enemy but this heat was allayed and corrected by Sir Walter 's Advice vvho impugned all such rash Attempts At last a fit Opportunity presented it self and by all it was resolv'd to fight them At which News the Earl threw up his Hat for joy The Ebbing-Waters would not permit the great Ships to engage the Shelves being of greater hazard than the Enemy Therefore Raleigh is pitch'd on as the most proper Person in the midst of the Channel to provoke them vvho accordingly in a little Ship called the Wastspight directed his Prow against the Spanish Men of War vvho thereupon presently fell back Upon this the rest of the Feet came in and burnt and took several of their Ships After this Victory at Sea the Men were very importunate to go on shore whom Essex landed at Puntal a league from the City At first the Spaniards received them with a great deal of Courage but the English charged so warmly that they thought it their prudentst way to retire with more speed than they came out The English pursued so close that they had almost recover'd the City-Gates as soon as they The Earl got upon a Bulwark near the Gate and from thence he espyed an Entrance into the Town but very hazardous it being down a very steep Precipice but this did not affright several of our English who leap'd from thence into the Town and engaged the Enemy in the Streets In the mean time Sir Walter and others having forced the Gates entred the Town and the Castle was surrendred upon Merciful Conditions But Sir Walter was not idle or eager after the enjoyment of his Conquest for whilst others vvere reaping the plentiful Harvest of War he with some small Ships who could pass up the Chanel fired their Merchant-Men vvhich were withdrawn to Port-Real althô they offered two millions of Ducats for their Redemption Great vvere the Losses to the Spaniards by this War and if we may believe our Histories amounted to no less than Twenty Millions of Ducats Upon Consultation it was resolv'd to quit the Town though contrary to the Opinion of Essex vvho vvas for keeping it as a future Annoyance to the Spaniards After this they took Faro in Algarbe and being weary at last of their Victories they resolv'd for home though much against Essex's will vvhose youthful heat was but inflam'd by their Successes but was wisely slack'd by the Prudence of the Admiral and the sober Advice of Sir Walter vvho finding their Men sick and having gotten so ample Rewards were not again for hazarding their Fortune upon hopes of a future Prey At their Return the Queen welcom'd and encourag'd her Souldiers vvith new Honours All but Essex were pleased who found State-Preferments not dispos'd of according to his mind Vere was made Governour of the Briel and Sir Robert Cecil Secretary of State To recover their Losses at Gades the Spaniard riggs out a new Fleet vvhich were baffled alone by the Winds for the greatest part were cast away and wreck'd With the Reliques of this Fleet in the Year following I find him upon his old Designs of Ireland But the Queen was always too nimble for the grave Don whose Designs like his Ships mov'd slow and heavy Twenty Ships were rigg'd out at present and afterwards encreased to an hundred and twenty Men of War and Victuallers five thousand Men rais'd besides a thousand old Souldiers brought from the Netherlands by Vere To appease Essex the whole Conduct of the Expedition is committed to him The Navy was divided into three Squadrons The first led by Essex himself The second by Howard The third by Sir Walter who now was esteemed the ablest Seaman of his Age. To enoble this Expedition several Persons of quality of all sorts engag'd themselves who look'd rather like Courtiers than Souldiers being more adorn'd with Feathers and gay Clothes than arm'd with Courage and Resolution On the ninth of Iuly they set out with these Instructions viz. To steer to Farol and the Groine to surprize the Spaniards in their Harbours and to intercept their Indian Fleet the Bait of the War at the Azores Which Design was built upon very good Maximes of State For it would hinder the Fleet intended against England Their Merchant-men wanting Convoys might be seized on The Azores vvon where the Indian Fleet always call'd for fresh Water in their Return the Queen have the Dominion of the Seas and the Spaniard be obliged to a Treatment of Peace Essex gave out that he was resolv'd to sacrifice Himself and the Navy for his Country But his brisk Resolutions were quickly daunted by a dismal Tempest which astonish'd the Mariners themselves and forc'd home our gaudy Volunteers who thought no Enemy so terrible as a Tempest and the severe motions of a Sea-sick
Aremberg nor of the surprising Treason Lord Ch. Iustice. In my Conscience I am perswaded that Cobham hath accused you truly You cannot deny but that you were dealt with to have a Pension to be a Spy for Spain therefore you are not so true to the King as you have protested your self to be Raleigh I submit my self to the King's Mercy I know his Mercy is greater than my Offence I recommend my Wife and Son of tender years unbrought up to his Compassion Lord Chief Iustice. I had thought I should never have seen this Day to have stood in this place to give Sentence of Death against you because I thought it impossible that one of so great Parts should have fallen so grievously God hath bestowed on you many Benefits You had been a Man fit and able to have served the King in good Place You had brought your self into a good State of Living if you had entred into a good Consideration of your Estate and not suffered your own Wit to have intrapped your self you might have lived in good comfort It is best for Man not to seek to climb too high lest he fall nor yet to creep too low lest he be trodden on It was the Posie of the wisest and greatest Counsellor of our time in England In medio spatio mediocria firma locantur You might have lived well with 3000 Pound a Year for so I have heard your Revenues to be I know nothing might move you to be discontented but if you had been down you know Fortunes Wheel when it is turned about riseth again I never heard that the King took away any thing from you but the Captainship of the Guard which he did with very good Reason to have one of his own knowledg whom he might trust in that Place You have been taken for a wise Man and so have shewed Wit enough this Day Again for Monopolies for Wine c. If the King had said it is a Matter that offends my People should I burthen them for your private Good I think you could not well take it hardly that his Subjects were eased though by your private hindrance Two Vices have lodged chiefly in you one is an eager Ambition the other corrupt Covetousness Ambition in desiring to be advanced to equal Grace and Favour as you have been before-time that Grace you had then you got not in a Day or Year For your Covetousness I am sorry to hear that a Gentleman of your Wealth should become a base Spie for the Enemy which is the vilest of all other wherein on my Conscience Cobham hath said true by it you would have increased your Living 1500 Pound a Year This Covetousness is like a Canker that eats the Iron Place where it lives Your Case being thus let it not grieve you if I speak a little out of zeal and love to your good You have been taxed by the World with the Defence of the most Heathenish and Blasphemous Opinions which I list not to repeat because Christian Ears cannot endure to hear them nor the Authors and Maintainers of them suffered to live in any Christian Common-wealth You know what Men said of Harpool You shall do well before you go out of the World to give satisfaction therein and not to die with these Imputations on you Let not any Devil perswade you to think there is no Eternity in Heaven for if you think thus you shall find Eternity in Hell-Fire In the first Accusation of my Lord Cobham I observed his manner of speaking I protest before the Living God I am perswaded he spoke nothing but the Truth You wrote that he should not in any case confess any thing to a Preacher telling him an Example of my Lord of Essex that noble Earl that is gone who if he had not been carried away with others had lived in Honour to this Day among us He confessed his Offences and obtained Mercy of the Lord for I am verily perswaded in my Heart he died a worthy Servant of God Your Conceit of not confessing any thing is very inhumane and wicked In this World is the time of Confessing that we may be absolved at the Day of Judgment You have shewed a fearful Sign of denying God in advising a Man not to confess the Truth It now comes in my mind why you may not have your Accuser come face to face for such an one is easily brought to retract when he seeth there is no hope of his own Life It is dangerous that any Traytors should have any Access to or Conference with one another when they see themselves must die they will think it best to have their Fellow live that he may commit the like Treason again and so in some sort seek Revenge Now it resteth to pronounce the Judgment which I wish you had not been this day to have received of me For if the Fear of God in you had been answerable to your other great Parts you might have lived to have been a singular good Subject I never saw the like Trial and hope I shall never see the like again The Iudgment But since you have been found guilty of these horrible Treasons the Judgment of this Court is That you shall be had from hence to the Place whence you came there to remain until the Day of Execution and from thence you shall be drawn upon a Hurdle through the open Streets to the Place of Execution there to be hanged and cut down alive and your Body shall be opened your Heart and Bowels pluckt out and your Privy Members cut off and thrown into the Fire before your Eyes then your Head to be strucken off from your Body and your Body shall be divided into four Quarters to be disposed of at the King's Pleasure And God have Mercy upon your Soul Sir Walter Raleigh besought the Earl of Devonshire and the Lords to be Suiters on his behalf to the King that in regard of Places of Estimation he did bear in his Majesties time the Rigour of his Judgment might be qualified and his Death honourable and not ignominious Wherein after they had promised him to do their utmost Endeavours the Court rose and the Prisoner was carried up again to the Castle Here follows the Continuation of the Life IT was observed that before the Lords principally to my Lord Cecil at Winchester for there he was tried the Sickness then reigning in London he was humble but not prostrate dutiful but not deject For in some cases he would humbly thank them for gracious Speeches in other acknowledge that their Honours said true as in relating some Circumstances And in such points wherein he would not yield unto them he would crave pardon and with reverence urge them and answer them as in points of Law or essential matters of Fact To the Jury he was affable but not fawning hoping but not trusting in them carefully perswading them with Reason not distemperately importuning them with Conjuration rather shewing love of Life
Daniel had not cried out Will you condemn an innocent Israelite without Examination or Knowledge of the Truth Remember it is absolutely the Commandment of God If a false Witness rise up you shall cause him to be brought before the Judges if he be found false he shall have the Punishment which the Accused should have had It is very sure for my Lord to accuse me is my certain Danger and it may be a means to excuse himself Lord Chief Iustice. There must not such a Gap be opened for the Destruction of the King as would be if we should grant this You plead hard for your self but the Laws plead as hard for the thing I did never hear that Course to be taken in a Case of Treason as to write one to another or speak one to another during the time of their Imprisonment There hath been Intelligence between you and what underhand Practices there may be I know not If the Circumstances agree not with the Evidence we will not condemn you Raleigh The King desires nothing but the knowledge of the Truth and would have no advantage taken by Severity of the Law If ever we had a Gracious King now we have I hope as he is such are his Ministers If there be but a Trial of five Marks at common Law a Witness must be deposed Good my Lords let my Accuser come face to face and be deposed Lord Chief Iustice. You have no Law for it God forbid any Man should accuse himself upon his Oath Attourney The Law presumes a Man will not accuse himself to accuse another You are an odious Man For Cobham thinks his Cause the worse that you are in it Now you shall hear of some Stirs to be raised in Scotland Part of Coplies Examination Also Watson told me that a special Person told him that Aremberg offer'd to him a thousand Crowns to be in that Action and that Brook said the Stirs in Scotland came out of Rawleigh's Head Raleigh Brook hath been taught his Lesson Lord H. How This Examination was taken before me Did I teach him his Lesson Raleigh I protest before God I meant it not by any Privy Counsellor but because Money is scant he will juggle on both sides Raleigh's Examination The way to invade England were to begin with Stirs in Scotland Raleigh I think so still I have spoken it to divers of the Lords of the Council by way of Discourse and Opinion Attourney Now let us come to those words of Destroying the King and his Cubs Raleigh O barbarous if they like unnatural Villains should use those words shall I be charged with them I will not hear it I was never any Plotter with them against my Country I was never false to the Crown of England I have spent 4000 Pounds of my own against the Spanish Faction for the Good of my Country Do you bring the words of these Hellish Spiders Clark Watson and others against me Attourney Thou hast a Spanish Heart and thy self art a Spider of Hell for thou confessest the King to be a most Sweet and Gracious Prince and yet hast conspired against him Watson's Examination read He said that George Brook told him twice That his Brother the Lord Cobham said to him that you are but on the Bye but Raleigh and I are on the Main Brook's Examination read Being askt what was meant by this Jargon the Bye and the Main he said That the Lord Cobham told him that Grey and others were in the Bye he and Raleigh were on the Main Being askt what Exposition his Brother made of these Words he said he is loth to repeat it And after saith by the Main was meant the taking away of the King and his Issue and thinks on his Conscience it was infused into his Brother's Head by Raleigh Cobham's Examination read Being askt if ever he had said It will never be well in England till the King and his Cubs were taken away He said he had answered before and that he would answer no more to that Point Raleigh I am not named in all this There is a Law of two sorts of Accusers one of his own Knowledg another by Hear-say Earl of Suffolk See the Case of Arnold Lord Chief Iustice. It is the Case of Sir Will. Thomas and Sir Nicholas Arnold Raleigh If this may be you will have any Mans Life in a Week Attourney Raleigh saith that Cobham was in a Passion when he said so Would he tell his Brother any thing of Malice against Raleigh whom he lov'd as his Life Raleigh Brook never loved me until his Brother had accused me he said nothing Lord Cecil We have heard nothing that might lead us to think that Brook accused you he was only in the Surprising Treason for by accusing you he should accuse his Brother Raleigh He doth not care much for that Lord Cecil I must judg the best The Accusation of his Brother was not Voluntary he pared every thing as much as he could to save his Brother Cobham's Examination read He saith he had a Book written against the Title of the King which he had of Raleigh and that he gave it to his Brother Brook and Raleigh said it was foolishly written Attorney After the King came within twelve miles of London Cobham never came to see him and intended to travel without seeing the Queen and the Prince Now in this Discontentment you gave him the Book and he gave it his Brother Raleigh I never gave it him he took it off my Table For I well remember a little before that time I received a Challenge from Sir Amias Preston and for that I did intend to answer it I resolved to leave my Estate setled therefore laid out all my loose Papers amongst which was this Book Lord Howard Where had you this Book Raleigh In the old Lord Treasurers Study after his Death Lord Cecil Did you ever shew or make known the Book to me Raleigh No my Lord. Lord Cecil My Father being employed in the Affairs of State at that time it was like enough he had many Books and Papers written against the then Queen and State which might come to his hands by the Discovery of such Offences Attourney I observe there was Intelligence between you and Cobham in the Tower for after he said it vvas against the King's Title he denied it again Sir William Wade First my Lord Cobham confesseth it and after he had subscribed it he revoked it again To me he always said that the Drift of it was against the King's Title Raleigh I protest before God and all his Works I gave him not the Book Nota. Sir Robert Wroth speaketh or whispereth something secretly Attourney My Lords I must complain of Sir Robert Wroth he sayes this Evidence is not material Sir Robert Wroth. I never spake the vvords Attourney Let Mr. Serjeant Philips testifie vvhether he heard him say the Words or no. Lord Cecil I will give my Word for Sir Robert Wroth. Sir Robert Wroth.
his own hands he wrote this Letter Now Sir you shall see whether you had Intelligence with Cobham within four days before he came to the Tower If he be wholly Spanish that desired a Pension of 1500 Pound a Year from Spain that Spain by him might have Intelligence then Raleigh is a Traytor He hath taken an Apple and pinned a Letter unto it and threw it into my Lord Cobham's Window the Contents whereof were this It is doubtful whether we shall be proceeded with or no perhaps you shall not be tried This was to get a Retractation Oh! it was Adam's Apple whereby the Devil did deceive him Further he wrote thus Do not as my Lord of Essex did take heed of a Preacher for by his Perswasion he confessed and made himself guilty I doubt not but this day God shall have as great a Conquest by this Traytor and the Son of God shall be as much glorified as when it was said Vicisti Galilaee you know my meaning What though Cobham retracted yet he could not rest nor sleep till he confirmed it again If this be not enough to prove him a Traytor the King my Master shall not live three years to an end Nota. Here Mr. Attourney produced the Lord Cobham's Letter and as he read it inserted some speeches I have thought fit to set down this to my Lords wherein I protest on my Soul to write nothing but the truth I am now come near the period of my time therefore I confess the whole Truth before God and his Angels Raleigh four days before I came from the Tower caused an Apple Eves Apple to be thrown in at my Chamber-Window the effect of it was to intreat me to right the wrong that I had done him in saying that I should have come home by Iersey which under my hand to him I have retracted His first Letter I answered not which was thrown in the same manner wherein he prayed me to write him a Letter which I did He sent me word that the Judges met at Mr. Attourneys House and that there was good hope the Proceedings against us should be stayed He sent me another time a little Tobacco At Aremberg's coming Raleigh was to have procured a Pension of fifteen hundred Pounds a Year for which he promised that no Action should be against Spain the Low-Countries or the Indies but he would give knowledg before-hand He told me the States had Audience with the King Attourney Ah! is not this a Spanish Heart in an English Body He hath been the Original Cause of my Ruine for I had no dealing with Aremberg but by his instigation He hath also been the cause of my Discontentment he advised me not to be overtaken with Preachers as Essex was and that the King would better allow of a constant Denial than to accuse any Attourney Oh damnable Atheist he hath learned some Text of Scripture to serve his own purpose but falsly alledged He counsels him not to be counselled by Preachers as Essex was He died the Child of God God honoured him at his death thou wast by when he died Et Lupus Turpes instant morientibus Ursae He died indeed for his Offence The King himself spake these words He that shall say Essex died not for Treason is punishable Raleigh You have heard a strange Tale of a strange Man Now he thinks he hath matter enough to destroy me but the King and all of you shall witness by our Deaths which of us was the Ruine of the other I bid a poor Fellow throw in the Letter at his Window written to this purpose You know you have undone me now write three Lines to justifie me In this I will die that he hath done me wrong Why did not he acquaint me with his Treasons if I acquainted him with my Dispositions Lord Chief Iustice. But what say you now of the rest of the Letter and the Pension of 1500 l. per annum Raleigh I say that Cobham is a base dishonourable poor Soul Attourney Is he base I return it into thy Throat on his behalf But for thee he had been a good Subject Lord Chief Iustice. I perceive you are not so clear a Man as you have protested all this while for you should have discovered these Matters to the King Nota. Here Raleigh pulled a Letter out of his Pocket which the Lord Cobham had written to him and desired my Lord Cecil to read it because he only knew his hand the Effect of it was as followeth Cobham's Letter of Iustification to Raleigh Seeing my self so near my End for the discharge of my own Conscience and freeing my self from your Blood which else will cry Vengeance against me I protest upon my Salvation I never practised with Spain by your procurement God so comfort me in this my Affliction as you are a true Subject for any thing that I know I will say as Daniel Purus sum a sanguine hujus So God have mery on my Soul as I know no Treason by you Raleigh Now I wonder how many Souls this Man hath he damns one in this Letter and another in that Here was much ado Mr. Attourney alledged that his last Letter was politickly and cunningly urged from the Lord Cobham and that the first was simply the Truth and that lest it should seem doubtful that the first Letter was drawn from my Lord Cobham by promise of mercy or hope of favour the Lord Chief Justice willed that the Jury might herein be satisfied Whereupon the Earl of Devonshire delivered that the same was meer voluntary and not extracted from the Lord Cobham upon any hopes or promise of Pardon Nota. This was the last Evidence whereupon a Marshal was sworn to keep the Jury private The Jury departed and staid not a quarter of an hour but returned and gave their Verdict Guilty Serj. Heale demanded Judgment against the Prisoner Clerk of the Crown Sir Walter Raleigh Thou hast been indicted arraigned and pleaded not guilty for all these several Treasons and for tryal thereof hast put thy self upon thy Country which Country are these who have found thee guilty What canst thou say for thy self why Judgment and Execution of Death should not pass against thee Raleigh My Lords the Jury have found me Guilty They must do as they are directed I can say nothing why Judgment should not proceed You see whereof Cobham hath accused me You remember his Protestations that I was never guilty I desire the King should know of the Wrongs done unto me since I came hither Lord Chief Iustice. You have had no wrong Sir Walter Raleigh Yes of Mr. Attourney I desire my Lords to remember three things to the King 1. I was accused to be a Practiser with Spain I never knew that my Lord Cobham meant to go thither I will ask no mercy at the Kings hands if he will affirm it 2. I never knew of the practice with Arabella 3. I never knew of my Lord Cobhams practice with
Citizens to an Insurrection But the City then being Rich was not so apt to rebel Rebellion being usually the Daughter of Poverty and Discontent For these Treasonable Actions being found guilty he was condemned and executed That he died bravely and like a Gentleman is not to be question'd but that Sir Walter Raleigh should come openly to see him die on purpose only to fat his Eyes with the Sacrifice of his Enemy can never be granted if we may believe himself in the same circumstances on the Scaffold where he told his Auditors on the words of a Dying-man he only came there to defend himself if any thing had been urg'd against him by the Earl Thus ended that Favourite whose Death struck a damp on the Queens prosperous days and gave blackness to her declining Reign This Blow like that of Gunpowder not only blew up his Friends and Neighbours but shook his Enemies at a distance for it reach'd Sir Walter too who wanting strength to grapple with his Rival the Treasurer and not owning humility enough to be his Servant perish'd at last in the Encounter This himself presag'd if we may believe Osborn as he came from the Execution of Essex in a Boat when he was heard to say That it was more safe to have many Enemies at Court of equal power than one false and ambitious Friend who hath attain'd to the absoluteness of Command The Queen could not long survive her Favourite for I find her Death to be the next year following A Queen who had enrich'd the Nation reform'd Religion curb'd the Pride of Spain supported France preserv'd Scotland protected the Hollander against the Spaniard and had vanquish'd his Armies by Sea and Land reduc'd Ireland to obedience notwithstanding all the subtil Practices of Spain and open Assistance given in Arms to her Irish Rebels with many other things which might seem too much to be the Atchievements of one Reign King James her Successor came to the possession of a Kingdom arrived at the heighth of Prosperity which like other Bodies when they are at their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tend to Corruption and degenerate This Sir Walter perceiv'd would have as he thought remedied Sir Iohn Fortescue the Lord Cobham Sir Walter and others would have obliged the King by Articles before his coming to the Crown that his Country-mens number should be limited But this was stopt by the prudent Treasurer and the bold Northumberland Sir Walter fear'd that the Scots like Locusts would quickly devour this Kingdom it being probable that like the Goths and Vandals they would settle in any Country rather than their own and would make it their business to render our Nation as poor as their own for this he with the rest of them was afterwards frown'd on by the King and lost his Command of the Guards However Sir Walter still pursued the Good and Glory of his Country and as formerly in Active Times gave his Advice against the Peace with Spain which might now with no great difficulty be brought on its knees At the entrance of the King he presented him with a Manuscript of his own writing with no weak Arguments against the Peace But Sir VValter was mistaken for his Counsel was ill tim'd and a new Part was now to be acted the Scene being changed Peace was the King's Aim whether out of Fear or Religious Principles I determine not But with Spain a Peace is concluded with an Enemy already humbled who now had time given them to recover their former Losses and were as it were cherish'd to assault us with the greater vigor which how true it proved every Man can tell And as if the King would quite run counter to the Queens Politiques the Estates of the Netherlands are despised slighted and deserted under pretence that it were of ill example for a Monarch to protect them The King is hardly warm in his Throne but there is a great noise of a Plot generally call'd Sir Walter Raleigh's Treason but upon vvhat Grounds I know not since he had the least hand in it as by his Tryal will appear A Plot that is still a Mystery and hath a Vail spread over it A Plot compos'd of such a Hodg-podg of Religion and Interests that the World stands amazed Sir Walter Raleigh should ever be drawn into it A Plot so unlikely to hurt others or benefit themselves that as Osborn tells us If ever Folly was capable of the title or Pity due to Innocence theirs might claim so large a share as not possibly to be too severely condemn'd or slightly enough punished Envy and Disdain as Sir Walter has told us in his Remains seek Innovation by Faction Discontent is the great Seducer which at first put him to search into a Plot he afterwards was betray'd into The chief Ingredients in this Medley were two Priests Watson and Clerk and Count Arembergh Ambassador Extraordinary for the Arch-Duke who brought in Cobham and he his Brother George Brook both Protestants at least seeming so George Brook hook'd in Parham and others and they the Lord Grey of Wilton a rank Puritan then came in Sir Walter the wisest of them all according to Sanderson who as he tells us dallied like a Fly in the flame till it consum'd him Willing he was to know it and thought by his Wit to over-reach the Confederates whom he knew well enough thô he dealt with none but Cobham as I can find out One Mr. Lawrency an Antwerp-Merchant was the property made use of by Arembergh and a Crony of the Lord Cobhams These carried on the Contrivance a long while which as Sanderson tells us was betray'd by Lawrency and the vigilancy of Cecil And indeed it was morally impossible that so many disagreeing weak Souls should carry on a Project without taking Air the least glimpse being enough to give light to the States-men of those times Their Designs were 1. To set the Crown on the Lady Arabella or to seize the King and make him grant their Desires and a Pardon 2. To have a Toleration of Religion 3. To procure Aid and Assistance from Foreign Princes 4. To turn out of the Court such as they dislik'd and place themselves in Offices Watson to be Lord-Chancellor George Brook Lord-Treasurer Sir Griffin Markham Secretary of State Lord Grey Master of the Horse and Earl-Marshal of England But it seems they made no provision for Sir Walter which is no inconsiderable Argument of his Innocency who could have deserv'd and might have expected as great a Reward as any of them had he been engaged in the Plot. To oblige to Secrecy VVatson draws up an Oath But all is betray'd they are seiz'd examin'd and try'd How well or ill Sir Walter has acquitted himself we shall leave to the Opinion of the Readers of the following TRYAL which was exactly and faithfully taken THE ARRAIGNMENT OF Sir Walter Raleigh Knight AT Winton Thursday the 17th of November Anno Dom. 1603 before the Right Honourable The