had never granted poor Raleigh a full formal pardon under the first conviction; he never would; and recent documents show that in the exercise of his vindictive, unforgiving spirit, he purposely withheld it, that he might at any time when he pleased reach the life of his victim. But Raleigh supposed that in the eye of the law he was pardoned. He had consulted the Lord Chancellor Bacon, and he said to him, when he was commissioned to command his last expedition to Guiana-"upon my life, you have a sufficient pardon for all that is past already, the king having under his broad seal made you admiral of your fleet, and given you power over your officers and soldiers." At the same time when James had resolved upon resorting to the old sentence, he wrote to the Spanish court expressing his willingness either to have the tragedy finished in England or to send Raleigh to suffer death in Spain. Philip as soon as possible transmitted what Mr. Tytler terms his "orders" to James under his own hand, stating "that it would be more agreeable to him that the punishment of Raleigh should take place in England; and as the offence was notorious, that its chastisement should be exemplary and immediate." Intimation was given to the prisoner without delay to prepare for death. "My age" (said he) "is fit for the grave. What have I to do with life? My reputation is lost, my body weak and full of pain. Nothing can be more welcome to me than death." It was necessary, however, that some semblance, at least, of legal solemnity, should precede the murder. Bacon, Coke, and Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, were named commissioners to devise the mode of proceeding. They decided that the prisoner having been convicted of treason, could not be called to answer judicially for any subsequent crime; and recommended that the king should issue a warrant for his execution and publish a narrative of his offences; and a writ of privy seal was dispatched to the Judges, directing them to order execution. The Judges said, no writ of privy seal, nor warrant under the great seal, would entitle them to pass sentence after fifteen years, without allowing the prisoner a hearing. A writ of habeas corpus was therefore recommended, and all this apparatus was provided in a case where the death of the victim was determined, in order that he might be murdered with becoming attention to the technical and scientific proprieties of judicial homicides. His majesty was pleased to approve of the wisdom of this mode of proceeding, and having ordered the Judges to sentence him, and signed the warrant for his execution, then directed the habeas corpus to issue. It was on the 28th of October. Raleigh was sick of fever in his bed. At eight in the morning, with an ague fit then on him, he. was conveyed before the Judges, and sentence was passed. All he asked was that he might have a few days to arrange his affairs, and then took leave of the court with great solemnity, in these words "I take God to be my judge, before whom I shall shortly appear, that I was never disloyal to his majesty, which I shall justify when I shall not fear the face of any king on earth; and so I beseech you all to pray for me." The request for a little time between sentence and execution was inhumanly refused, and on his return to prison he was informed that he must die the next morning. On the evening before he died, he was permitted to have his last interview with his wife, and she left not the prison until midnight. The parting scene we will not attempt to describe, but only say that on his side all was cheerful submission to heaven, and a studied effort to comfort her who had so long and so faithfully loved him. When in a flood of tears she informed him that she had obtained the favor of disposing of his body, he replied with a smile: "it is well, Bess, that thou mayest dispose of that dead, thou hadst not always the disposing of when alive." He was not permitted to select his own clergyman; the divine who was sent, however, was worthy of his calling, and has left on record his conviction of the deep and real christianity of the prisoner. He partook of the sacrament early in the morning, and his cheerfulness increased as he approached eternity. On the scaffold his deportment was all dignity. He answered in his address all the charges that had been brought against him, appealing most solemnly to heaven for the truth of his declarations, and having pronounced his forgiveness of all his enemies, he bade all farewell. He was asked in what faith he died: his reply was: "in the faith professed by the Church of England, adding that he hoped to be saved and to have his sins washed away by the precious blood and merits of our Saviour Christ." And then, says an VOL. I.-5 old writer, who was a spectator of the sad scene, he made a most divine and admirable prayer, after which, rising up and clasping his hands together, he exclaimed: "Now I am going to God.". The scaffold was cleared and he bid the executioner show him the axe; it was not done immediately, when he became more urgent "I prithee (said he) let me see it. Dost thou think I am afraid of it?" He took it in his hand, and kissing the blade he passed his finger along the edge, remarking to the sheriff-"'tis a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases."-He then approached the edge of the scaffold, and kneeling down requested the people to pray for him, continuing himself for some time in this · position, occupied in silent devotion. When he arose, he examined the block and fitted himself to it. Finding it as he would have it, he stood up once more and said he was ready. The executioner came forward, and falling on his knees, begged his forgiveness. Raleigh with a smile laid his hand on his shoulder and bade him be satisfied, assuring him that he most cheerfully forgave him, and asked of him only not to strike until he gave the signal and then to strike home. He then laid his neck on the block, and on being desired to make some change in the position of his head, he said, “it mattered little how the head lay, provided the heart was right."-The motion of his lips and hands then indicated that he was occupied in prayer, and in a short time he gave the signal. The executioner, probably from agitation, delayed to strike. Raleigh partially lifted his head and said in a loud voice-" What dost thou fear? Strike, man!"--At two blows his head was severed from his body, and thus at the age of sixty-six was murdered a man who, take him for all in all, knew in his day few equals and no superiors. His body was privately buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. His head was embalmed and preserved in a case by his devoted wife, who with pious solicitude kept it through a widowhood of twenty-nine years. When she died, the only surviving son of Sir Walter preserved it during his life, and it was finally at his death laid in the same grave with him. One fact alone is quite sufficient to indicate the true character of this bloody transaction. The conviction of Raleigh purported to be for treasonable intercourse with Spain: his execution under this conviction was caused by the injuries done to the town and forces of this very Spain, for which it had been alleged, he entertained a traitorous affection. Had he loved Spain more and England less, he had never died on the scaffold. The true cause of his execution was the desire on the part of James to gratify Spain. But Spain deluded him, the Spanish match never took place, and James caused one of his ministers to write to his agent in Spain, directing him to represent to the Spanish court, that it should act with sincerity toward the English king, since he had given so many proofs of his sincerity, and now lately, "by causing Sir Walter Raleigh to be put to death, CHIEFLY for the giving them satisfaction,"-" to give them content, he had not spared him, when, by preserving him, he might have given great satisfaction to his subjects, and had at command, upon all occasions, as useful a man as served any prince in Christendom." No further evidence is necessary. Raleigh was murdered and James was his murderer. We cannot better conclude our sketch than in the glowing language of Tytler, who thus closes his labors, in delineating the chequered career of Raleigh. "It is by a frequent contemplation of such lofty and splendid specimens of humanity as Sir Walter Raleigh, that the modern character may be elevated and invigorated. There was indeed in him such a grasp of thought, such an energy of spirit, and such a majesty of expression, that the mind cannot dwell upon either his character or his works without feeling itself exalted, expanded and informed. We see in him a combination of the most various and opposite ingredients in our nature-the coolest and most calculating sagacity, joined with a flowing and gorgeous imagination—the most irrepressible energy of will with the subtlest motions of intellect-the most sanguine and unsubdued spirit, with the most patient resignation to irresistible circumstances. We have also a most improving exhibition of the gradual obscuration of the gay and trusting faith which inexperience fondly reposes in human kind, which a long commerce with mankind, in the course of a perilous life, slowly but amply supplies. Surely there is something to be learned from a man like this-admiral, philosopher, statesman, historian and poet, all in one-first in |