pect. James had supreme
faith in his wisdom, to the extravagant extent, according to his own
incredible letter in 1622 from Madrid to the King, of having appointed
him a member '_non seulement de votre Conseil d'etat, mais du Cabinet
interieur_.'

[Sidenote: _Disclosures to the Spanish Ambassador._]

Above all, he held for or against England the key to a family pact with
the Escurial. At first he hoped to stop Ralegh's enterprise altogether.
So late as the middle of March, 1617, Chamberlain wrote to Carleton that
the Spanish Ambassador had 'well nigh overthrown it.' If he could not
nip the undertaking in the bud, he had means of stifling it by
misinterpreting to James Ralegh's motives, and by informing the Spanish
Court how to meet force with force. Ralegh was ordered to explain the
details of his scheme, and to lay down his route on a chart. According
to Carew Ralegh, whose information may be presumed to have been derived
from Lady Ralegh, James promised upon the word of a King to keep secret
these accounts of the programme. At any rate, Gondomar, by his familiar
access to the King, was enabled to study the whole, whatever its value.
He forwarded all particulars to Madrid. When the fleet had been surveyed
by the Admiralty, he had a copy of the official report. He sent it by
express to his Government, which despatched it with instructions to
America. Cottington, the English Agent at the Spanish Court, was
directed to promise that no harm should be done by Ralegh's voyage. The
King in his _Declaration_ of 1618 said he had taken 'order that he and
all those that went in his company should find good security to behave
themselves peaceably,' though the intention, the King lamented, was
frustrated by 'every one of the principals that were in the voyage
putting in security one for another.' There even was a story that the
Court had obliged Lords Arundel and Pembroke to engage solemnly for
Ralegh's return, that he might be rendered personally liable for any
wrong. The foundation for this report may have been that, late in March,
as the Destiny was about to sail from the Thames, James, alarmed at
Gondomar's prognostications of evil, retailed them to his Council.
Ralegh's supporters at the Board reassured him by affirmations of their
willingness to give security that no harm should be done to lands of the
King of Spain. James, several weeks earlier, at the end of January, had
solemnly promised Gondomar, through Winwood, that, t