Great Ralegh

by Hugh De Sélincourt

Do it with thy might was as sincerely his motto in little things as in big; and this it is well to remember in protest against those who are inclined to regard Ralegh merely as an unsuccessful dreamer of great dreams.

He was Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Among other duties which the post entailed, was the important duty of keeping the county ready to ward off an invasion, which was a very real danger all through his period of office. His letters to Lord Burghley give ample evidence of his care and wisdom. In 1587, one year before the Armada, he sent the Lord Treasurer a letter in which he gave it as his opinion that a company of two thousand foot and a troop of two hundred should be levied from the counties of Cornwall and Devon, and should be trained to be ready for defence at a moment's notice against surprise. The difficulties of his plan he saw clearly. There was, in the first place, a feeling of rivalry between the two Duchies which increased the difficulty of combination. The Lord Lieutenant of Devonshire, the Earl of Bath, was not easily brought to see the wisdom of the plan, though Sir John Gilbert and Sir Richard Grenville, staunch Devon men, were its supporters. The merchants of Exeter were not disposed to bear willingly any additional outlay in the matter of defence, because they were obliged to pay heavily to defend their merchandise against Barbary and other pirates. Ralegh incloses a tabulated list in his letter, showing exactly how these levies could be raised, and the exact cost of the raising. The payment of the troop of horse is of much interest. The men were to receive 1s. a day (the pay of an infantry man was 8d.). The horsemen were to be divided into four cornets: that would imply four captains at 5s., four lieutenants at 3s., four guidons at 2s. 6d., four clerks at 1s. 6d., four trumpetts at 1s. 6d. per day. He adds the charge of ammunition. "There is allowed for each soldier for this service of sixteen daies, tenn pounde of Powder at 12d. the pounde and is £500. Ther is allowed of matche for each soldier at halfe a pounde the daye, at 6d. the pounde and is £200. Of leade for each mann one pounde at 1½d. the pounde, and is £6 8s.

The whole estimated cost of training and raising came to £2163 5s. and unlike the majority of estimates, the one drawn up by Ralegh is as clear as it is concise.

But his best contribution to the problem of defence is a letter, written in the year 1595 to the Lords of the Council. It had been decided that "mutual succour be gyven from the Counties of Devon and Cornwall to each other," and the point of the letter is to show that Devonshire should be supplied with reinforcements from Somerset rather than from Cornwall. His reasons are well put and convincing. "If there shall any discent be made by the enymye in either county by the waie of surprise, and that the enymye doe but burne or sacke, and departe, then can nether be releeved as aforesaid, bycause there wilbe no tyme given to unite the forces of the same shere, where such attempt shalbe offered, much lesse for the drawing in of any numbers from affarr; and for any such enterpryze, where there is no purpose to hold and possesse the places gotten, each shire with 4000 men shalbe able either to repel or to resiste the same. But if the enymy dispose himself to fortyfye any part in Cornewall or to strengthen any neck of land of advantage, and thereby begyne to dryve us to a defensive warr, then there is noe country adjoyneth to Cornwall but Devon from whence any spedy supplie maie be had to impeach the begining of such a purpose. And if ought be attempted in Devon—of which Plymouth is most to be feared, having, in one indraught, two goodly harboroughes, as Cattwater and Aishewater—then it is also very likely that the enymye will either assure Cornewall, or seeke utterly to waste yt, because yt is next his supplies, both from Spayne and Brittaine (Brittany); and hath divers ports and good rodes to receive a fleete."

He proceeds to point out the length and narrowness of Cornwall, and the extreme difficulty of sending succour to Plymouth. The river can only be forded in two places, and that by small ferries at Stonehouse and Aishe, which would be of little use for horses or ammunition. Moreover, the enemy would bring "gallies" with them, which would enable them to command the river Tamar. If four thousand men were taken from Cornwall, the enemy would certainly become cognizant of the fact, and nothing would be easier for them, in that event, than to lay waste the whole shire, either by sending round a ship from Plymouth or across from Brittany. Three hundred soldiers would be sufficient.

He points out that no county in England is so dangerously situated as Cornwall, with the sea on both sides of it, and with sparse inhabitants. It is so narrow that if the enemy were to possess any of two or three straits, the men of the West would be quite cut off from the men of the East, for between Mount's Bay and the sea entering within St. Tees, it is but three miles and a half from sea to sea; between Truro and St. Pirom but five miles. He concludes the letter by making manifest the advantages of the position of Somerset, its breadth, its richness, and lack of separating rivers.

And he set his mind to these details of his defence at the time when his mind was eager to bring down to the realm of reality those high dreams by which Guiana caused him to be obsessed. A few days afterwards he writes to Sir Robert Cecil: "I beseich you lett us know whether wee shalbe travelers or tinkers; conquerors or novices. For if the winter pass without making provision there can be no vitling in the summer; and if it be now fore-slowed, farewell Guiana for ever.... Honor and gold and all good, for ever hopeless."

A great man, this Elizabethan, whose imperial dreams did not prevent him from mastering the little businesses under his hand! Visions of Eldorado did not blurr his view of Minnett or lessen his interest in the clash-mills of Mr. Crymes.

Not only was Ralegh Lord Warden of the Stannaries and Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, but he was also what Edwards calls Captain of Industry in Ireland. The work connected with these duties was what may be looked upon as the business of his life. Each entailed work and responsibility which would suffice the energy of an ordinary man of business, a little above the modern average of capacity. It was typical of Ralegh's immense vitality that he dealt with them with as much thoroughness and ease as he managed his own household, and always he inspired them with new ideas and new life, even as his garden was the first in which orange-trees were cultivated. His imagination made him an originator. He was never content with the old way of doing things—he found a better. He was always seeing old facts for the first time, as though he had never seen them before, as all men of vigorous intellect do. Consequently he trusted his own opinion, and he had good cause to trust it.

Ralegh had first become prominent by his actions in Ireland, and very soon after he had attained to eminence he was employed by the Crown in their endeavour to bring some kind of prosperity to the country ravaged to desolation by war. Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. Six hundred thousand acres of land had been confiscated from the Earl of Desmond, and probably at his own suggestion Ralegh undertook to plant an English colony there. Others joined in the enterprise. Ralegh's share consisted of some twelve thousand acres in the counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary, and he rented, in addition, Lismore Castle at the annual charge of £13 6s. 8d., from Meyler Magrath, Bishop of the See of Lismore and Archbishop of Cashel. His tenants he had taken from men of Devon (the stamp of man he knew and approved), and his land was soon recognized as the most prosperous among all the estates which these "gentlemen under-takers," as they were called, were opening out. Fertility did not satisfy him. His acres were well forested, and an idea occurred to him by which he could turn the timber to good account. His scheme was to construct pipe-staves and hogsheads and barrel boards, and to transport them to the wine growers of Spain and France. It was a good scheme and practical. But he found the utmost difficulty in obtaining a licence from the Privy Council for their export. He was not in favour with Sir William Fitzwilliam, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, nor the deputy's cousin, one Richard Wingfield. By the time that sanction was obtained, Ireland was again in too unsettled a state for prosperity in quiet commerce, and Ralegh sold his estate to Richard Boyle, who afterwards became Earl of Cork. He had planted many products, which his men had brought from Virginia, on the land of his Irish estate, and among these was the potato. He also tried to cultivate tobacco, but with less success.