A SPANISH GALLEON9 OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
And how crowded with extraordinary activities by this most versatile10 of the Elizabethan men these years were, the record of his greater achievements, mostly chronicled in the Principal Navigations, shows. What 382he had done up to the time of White’s abandonment of the search for the Lost Colony in 1590 we have seen. In 1591 he was the organizer of a fleet for service against Spain’s American possessions, and was appointed second in command under Lord Thomas Howard. But the queen refusing to let him go out, his cousin Sir Richard Grenville was appointed in his place; and with this expedition Sir Richard’s career closed, he being wounded to death when off the Azores, the last of August, in one of the most stubborn and desperate sea-fights of naval11 history. The next year, 1592, Raleigh promoted the privateering expedition under Frobisher and Burroughs which captured, among other prizes in the West Indies, the “Madre de Dios,” greatest of the Spanish treasure-ships then afloat. It was in this year, in July, that he was disgraced and sent to the Tower, but in October, when the privateers had returned with their rich prize, the queen, who had the largest share in this privateering venture, released him, since he alone could superintend the division of the plunder12. In 1593 he matured a plan for a voyage to the “Empire of Guiana” and the fabled13 “El Dorado,” the “citie of gold,” in the unexplored northwestern part of South America, of which the natives had told Spanish travellers, with mines far excelling those of Peru. In 1594, in accordance with this plan, he sent out a preliminary expedition, under an experienced navigator, Captain Jacob Whiddon, to explore the coast contiguous to the great River Orinoco, and also the river with its tributaries14, above which “El Dorado,” or “Manoa” as called by the Indians, was 383supposed to lie. In 1595 he sailed himself for Guiana at the head of a fleet of five ships and a company of one hundred officers, soldiers, and gentlemen adventurers. By a perilous15 voyage in small boats he succeeded in penetrating16 the Orinoco far up to the mouth of the Caroni, and the latter river to impassable falls, yet two hundred miles short, as it was reckoned, of the “citie of gold.” Upon his return to England in the summer, with some specimens17 of ore which he had picked up along the way, and the son of a local king as a pledge of friendship against his next coming, he prepared, maybe with Hakluyt’s assistance, a glowing account of this voyage, embellished18 with the tales that had been told him of the wonders of the region besides its richness in mines: among them, the “Amazons,” a warlike race of great women, and the “Ewaipanoma,” a headless nation, whose eyes were in their shoulders and their mouths in the middle of their breasts, and who wore “a long train of hair growing backward between the shoulders.” And when this story was printed, under the inviting19 title, “The Discouerie of the large, rich, and beautifull Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden citie of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado,” it was eagerly read and heightened his reputation. In 1596 he sent out Captain Laurence Keymis, a companion of his first voyage, with two well-equipped ships to renew the exploration of the Orinoco, especially with a view to planting an English colony in the region. Keymis returned in June with a report that confirmed Raleigh’s belief in its great mineral 384wealth. But at this juncture20 Raleigh was engrossed21 in a venture nearer home for checkmating Spain’s move of a second “Armada” against England. He was now united with Howard and the Earl of Essex in command of a fleet to attack Cadiz. With the ship “Warspite” he led the van in the great fight of June twenty-one which resulted in the destruction of the fleet intended for the descent upon England, and the capture of the city. Later, the same year, he despatched one of the smaller ships that had been in the Cadiz fight to Guiana, but this voyage had no important result. In 1597 he sailed as second in command with Essex in an expedition to strike another blow against Spain, and this was effectively done with the capture of Fayal. In 1598 his scheme of colonization in the fertile valley of the Orinoco had developed, and he planned to send out a colony. But for some reason not known the enterprise was abandoned. In 1600 he added to his several offices that of Governor of Jersey22. In 1602 he despatched his fifth expedition for the relief of the “Virginia” colony.
This expedition was put in charge of Captain Samuel Mace23, an excellent mariner, who had already made two voyages to “Virginia.” He returned unsuccessful and Raleigh planned to send him out again. Raleigh could not, however, do any more at his personal cost alone. He had now exhausted24 his own means in the undertaking25 which, as Hakluyt wrote, “required a prince’s purse to have it thoroughly26 followed out.” He had renewed his endeavours to bring the privy27 385council into his scheme, but without success. Elizabeth’s end was approaching and her ministers were busy with their personal affairs, man?uvring for their own advancement28 with her successor on the throne. Notwithstanding his failure to find support his splendid hope for his “Virginia” was not crushed. On the eve of his own downfall, which came swift upon the accession of James, he had written, “I shall yet live to see it an English Nation.” This faith he carried with him to the Tower of London, into which James thrust him in December, 1603, under sentence of death on a trumped-up charge of treason; and while in durance here he saw his cherished hopes realized through Richard Hakluyt’s efforts.
In 1605 Hakluyt brought his arguments to bear upon various men of condition, friendly to colonization, to induce them to join in a petition for patents for the establishment of two plantations29 on the coast of North America. The issue of this petition was James’s charter bearing date of April tenth, 1606, by which the two companies, subsequently designated the London and the Plymouth Companies, were created, between whom were divided in nearly equal parts the vast territory then known as Virginia, stretching from Cape30 Fear to Halifax, and back a hundred miles inland: the company occupying the southern part to be called the “First Colony of Virginia” and that occupying the northern part, the “Second Colony of Virginia.”
Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt, and Edward Maria Wingfield, as patentees, 386were the chief adventurers in the London or South Virginia Company. Ten of the nineteen adventurers styled merchants, remaining in England, at the establishment of the corporation of “The Governour and Assistants of the Citie of Ralegh in Virginia” became subscribers to the South Virginia Company. Sir Thomas Smith, chief among the nineteen merchants, was made their first treasurer31. Just a year after the issue of the patent their “First Colony of Virginia,” sailing from England in December, 1606, arrived out at Chesapeake Bay, the region which Ralph Lane had determined32 as the fitter place than Roanoke for settlement, and in which Raleigh had directed White with the Second—the Lost—Colony to plant, as they would have done had Captain Ferdinando been true to them. And in May, 1607, the permanent settlement here was at last begun as Jamestown.
Raleigh was condemned33 to be executed on the eleventh of December, 1603, but the day before he was reprieved34, and he was held a prisoner in the Tower, with this unjust sentence hanging over his head, for thirteen dismal35 years. During this cruel imprisonment36 his great talents were occupied in philosophic37 and literary work, and he wrote out his notable Historie of the World. Meanwhile his statesmanlike interest in the developing American colony continued constant and keen. At one time he sought release for a visit to Virginia, promising38 to bring the king rich returns therefrom. At length, in 1616, James liberated39 him for the purpose of 387making another expedition to Guiana upon his pledge to find the fabulous40 gold mine or else bear all the expenses of the undertaking. Thus at liberty, while making his preparations for this voyage, he was enabled to see Pocahontas from Virginia, who was in England that year. He sailed on his forlorn hope in June, 1617, with a fleet of fourteen ships and four hundred men, accompanied by his son Walter, and his faithful friend Captain Keymis. The expedition was a tragic41 failure, for his plans were betrayed to the court at Madrid, through the Spanish ambassador, under whose influence James had fallen, and immediate42 steps were taken to thwart43 them. The fleet were attacked by the Spaniards at a new Spanish settlement on the Orinoco, and in the fight that ensued young Raleigh was killed. Sir Walter himself had been detained at Trinidad, sick with a violent fever, and when the report of this disaster with the loss of his beloved son was brought to him, his stout44 heart was broken. Upon his return to England he was rearrested at the representation of the Spanish ambassador, on a charge of breaking the peace with Spain. Again he was thrust into the Tower. Trial was denied him, and the truculent45 James, at the behest of the king of Spain, now ordered his execution, finding a legal cover for this judicial46 murder in the original sentence of 1603. He was brought before the Court of King’s Bench on the twenty-eighth of October, 1618, and the next morning was beheaded on Tower Hill, meeting death with great fortitude47. “Prythie, let me see the axe48, dost thou think, man, I am afraid of it?” he asked 388of the executioner; “a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases.”
In St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, is the beautiful Raleigh Window, the gift of Americans, with this inscription49 from the pen of James Russell Lowell:
“The New World’s sons, from England’s breasts we drew
Such milk as bids remember whence we came;
Proud of her Past, wherefrom our Present grew,
This Window we inscribe50 with Raleigh’s name.”
Hakluyt’s monument is the Hakluyt Society, worthy51 among historical institutions, in the membership of which Americans are united with Englishmen, founded in England in the first half of the nineteenth century, in a manner to continue Hakluyt’s work through the printing of hitherto unpublished or rare accounts of voyages and travels, so to open an easier way to a branch of knowledge which, as the founders52 truly say, “yields to none in importance and is superior to most in agreeable variety.”
The End
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1
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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remitted
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的过去式和过去分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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11
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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12
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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13
fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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14
tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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16
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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18
embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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mace
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| n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮 | |
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24
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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29
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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reprieved
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| v.缓期执行（死刑）( reprieve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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41
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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42
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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46
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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47
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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48
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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49
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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50
inscribe
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| v.刻；雕；题写；牢记 | |
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51
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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52
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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