In March 1616, after an imprisonment of twelve years, he at last obtained his freedom, but not, as has been supposed, without heavy bribes paid to the Duke of Buckingham. Notwithstanding the failure of Ra leigh's last adventure to Guiana, he planned a new ex pedition to that land of gold, and by circulating the report that a rich gold mine existed in it, he engaged a number of speculators to embark their capital ; and in August 1616, he obtained from the king, and under the great seal ol England, a patent for making a settlement in Guiana.
In order to retain a hold upon Raleigh, James had never yet granted him a pardon ; and as this could easily have been purchased, Sir Walter consulted Sir Francis Bacon respecting the propriety of his paying a sum of money for the royal mercy. This great lawyer is said to have replied, " The knee timbers of your voyage is money ; spare your purse in this particular, for upon my life you have sufficient pardon for all that has past ; the king having under his broad seal made you admiral of your fleet, and given you power of martial law over your officers and soldiers." In July 1617, Raleigh sailed for Guiana with his armament of twelve vessels, upon which he had lavish ed all his resources. He was compelled, however, by stress of weather to put into Cork harbour, where he continued till the 19th of August. lie reached Guiana in November ; and the Indians, who received him with open arms, offered him the sovereignty ol the country, which he of course refused. A severe and lengthened illness, however, prevented him from exploring the mine of gold ; but Kemys, one of his captains, made the necessary search, and found to his great mortification, that the Spaniards had anticipated him in the search for this precious metal. The eldest sou of our author lost his life in this expedition ; and Captain Kemys, in consequence of having been severely reproved for the failure of his search, put an end to his own life.
Thwarted in this favourite object of his ambition, in the success of which his judgment and character were in no small degree compromised ; and wounded in his ten derest feelings by the loss of his son and of his captain, he steered homewards with a heavy sail, and arrived at Portsmouth in July 1618.
It has been said, but we presume not upon good authority, that the whole of Raleigh's scheme had been revealed to the Spaniards by King James himself, for the express purpose of getting rid of him. This opi nion, indeed, receives some confirmation from the sub sequent conduct of James. No sooner had Raleigh set off for London from Plymouth, than he was arrested and imprisoned. The two attempts which he made to escape, indicate the light in which he viewed the royal temper ; but in both of them he was baffled, and he was secured and committed a prisoner to the Tower.
The Spaniards, indeed, had entered a strong remon strance against Raleigh's invasion of their territory ; and as they were then at peace with England, James affected to be highly exasperated at the injury which they had received. His future views, too, with regard
to Spain, strengthened this feeling, and he seems to have resolved to sacrifice Raleigh to the resentment of that nation.
In a country such as England then was, and in an age when a sense of strict justice, and the nature of judicial evidence were less attended to than they were understood—it was difficult even then to contrive a decent pretence for taking away the life of Raleigh. Commissioners were appointed to inquire into his con duct in Guiana; but no act during that expedition could be fixed upon as a ground for putting him on his trial. It was therefore resolved to revive his former sen tence, and on this ground he was brought before the king's bench. It was in vain that he urged his plea of an implied pardon ; it was in vain that he produced the king's commission under which he had acted as a subject alive in the eye of the law. Justice was now really and no longer metaphorically blind. The equi librium of her scales was overset by the whole weight of the royal resentment ; and with one hand clenched in rage, she pronounced a sentence of condemnation, the basest and the most flagrant that ever disgraced the darkest era of barbarism, or the most flagitious convul sion of civilized society. We forget the name of the judge who lenthisconscience to that nefarious decision —and may it for ever be forgotten ; lest some honest man, who may not have courage to renounce it, partake in the infamy with which it must ever be associated.
The sentence of death was pronounced on Raleigh on the 28th of October 1618, and on the 29th he was executed in Old Palace-Yard, and his remains inter red in St. Margaret's Church, in the vicinity. His be haviour on the scaffold was such as might have been expected from a man who had so often braved death for his own purposes. He made a speech to the mob. He declared that he had no fear of death, and that he would rather die on the scaffo:d than in a burning fever. He requested a sight of the axe, and feeling its edge, he said to the sheriff, "This is a sharp medicine, but a sure remedy for all evils." Being asked by the exe cutioner how he would wish to place himself on the block ? he replied, " So that the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies." •He then gave the signal, and was thus murdered in the sixty•sixth year of his age.
The different compositions of Raleigh's which were poetical, geographical, political, philosophical, and his torical, were published in 2 vols. 8vo. in 1748. His History of the World has been several times reprinted. He brought it down no farther than the overthrow of the Macedonian empire. See the Biogralzhira Briton nira ; Campbell's Livrs of the ?dinirals ; and Cayley's Lifr Sir Walter Raleigh. Loud. 1806.