186 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS Essex, and the Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil, regarded each other with mutual distrust and dislike. Cecil and Raleigh were connected by ties of com- mon interest, and, as the latter supposed,' of friendship. Still Raleigh found the interest of the minister too weak to serve his purpose, while the interest of the favorite was employed against him ; and,- as the only method of effecting his own restoration to the Queen's favor, he undertook to work a reconciliation between these two powerful rivals. In this he succeeded, to the great admira- tion of all spectators ; and the fruit of his policy was seen in his re-admission to the execution of his official duties at court, June i, 1597. In the following August he was appointed Rear Admiral in the expedition called the Island Voy- age, of which Essex held the chief command. The slight successes which were obtained were again due to the military talents of Raleigh ; the main objects of the voyage were lost through the Earl's inexperience. From this time to the death of the Queen, Raleigh enjoyed an uninterrupted course of favor. Elizabeth was now old ; Cecil took no steps to diminish the high esteem ip which she held Sir Walter Raleigh, but he secretly labored to prejudice her successor against him, and he succeeded to his wish. Very soon after the accession of James I., Raleigh's post of captain of the guard was taken from him ; and his patent of wines was revoked, though not without a nominal compensation being made. To complete his ruin, it was contrived to involve him in a charge of treason. Most writers have concurred in speaking of this passage of history as inexplicable ; it is the opinion of the last historian of Raleigh, Mr. Tytler, that he has found sufficient evidence for regarding the whole plot as a device of Cecil, and he has supported this opinion by cogent arguments. Lord Cobham, a violent and ambitious but weak man, had engaged in private dealings with the Spanish ambassador, which brought him under the suspicion of the government. By a device of Cecil's (we here follow the account of Mr. Tytler) he was induced, in a fit of anger, and in the belief that Raleigh had given information against him, to accuse Sir Walter himself of being privy to a conspiracy against the government. This charge Cobham retracted, confirmed, and retracted again, behaving in so equivocal a manner, that no reliance whatever can be placed on any of his assertions. But as the King was afraid of Raleigh as much as the secretary hated him, this vague charge, unsupported by other evidence, was made sufficient to commit him to the Tower ; and, after being plied with private examinations, in which nothing crim- inal could be elicited, he was brought to trial, November 17, 1603. For an account of that memorable scene we shall refer to Mr. Jardine's " Criminal Trials," Vol. I. It is reported to have been said by one. of the judges who pre- sided over it, on his death-bed, that " the justice of England had never been so degraded and injured as by the condemnation of Sir Walter Raleigh." The behavior of the victim himself was the object of universal admiration, for the tempered mixture of patience and noble spirit with which he bore the oppressive measure dealt to him. He had before been unpopular ; but it was recorded by an eye-witness that " he behaved himself so worthily, so wisely, and so temper-
