Charles and the Spanish Marriage_, an
aggravation of his guilt. The claim it sets up of his right to sweep
opposing Spaniards out of his way to the Mine, is treated as an
admission that he had founded his enterprise on a lie, and that his sin
had found him out. Mr. Gardiner adds he must have known that his case
would not bear the light. Apparently this means that he had asserted, or
had fraudulently suffered James to infer, that no Spaniards were settled
in the vicinity of Keymis's Mine, or were in the least likely to
withstand in arms his approach to it; or that he had made a promise, of
which the resistance of his men to the Spanish attack was a breach, in
no circumstances to fight. These are unproved assumptions. Ralegh, who
constitutionally took his instructions from Secretary Winwood, cannot be
shown to have given, or been asked for, any positive pledge that in no
circumstances would he force his way into the interior of Guiana. The
warlike equipment of his fleet, and of the men he led, is evidence that
the contingency of a collision with armed Spanish ships and soldiers was
contemplated by the Government and prepared for. The nature of the
business on which James had despatched him fully authorized the claim
in the _Apology_. He was sent to work a mine on the Orinoko, where the
whole commercial world knew that Spaniards were settled. James must have
known it from many sources. He knew it definitely from Gondomar, whose
protests against the expedition were based particularly on it. Any
'guilt' of Ralegh's for letting his followers run the gauntlet of the
San Thome garrison, James must share equally for letting him go with an
armed squadron to the Orinoko at all.

[Sidenote: _Manourie's Story._]

On the first of August, when the _Apology_ was already completed, the
King arrived at Salisbury. It is not known whether Ralegh succeeded in
having the composition at once laid before him. If the King saw it, we
may be certain that it exerted upon the royal mind the precise reverse
of the conciliatory effect the writer anticipated. Orders immediately
were issued that Ralegh should move forward. Thereupon, according to
Manourie, Ralegh bribed him with twenty crowns, and an offer of L50 a
year, to aid his escape. On the same suspicious testimony, he was
furious against the King, and uttered menaces. Ralegh informed Manourie
of King's Tilbury project. He said he must fly, for 'a man that fears is
never secure.' Further, he as