The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-02-23

/ bOl. Oh w oitCi 'DClHS d cOu vi I'll
last marriage, was.the half brother G
one OF the best geographers and dal
ing seamen of that glorious age. BE
sides being born on the sea-coast O
commercial Devonshire, he was close
/ ly allied by blood, by marriage, b
neighborhood or firm friendship, witt
nearly all of the Illustrious men who's
names have come down to us in con
nectionwith maritime enterprise il
Elizabeth's reign. Drake, born clos,
to Ralegh's, home, commander of :
ship at eighteen, was performing hi.
early exploits, and coming home t.
Devonshire tostell of them, while ls;l
legh was boy. Hawkins, anethel
connection of the family, was making
his successful VOYAGES to Guinea, ant
bringing to England the wealth Woi
by the trade in slaves, before Ralegl
went tai college ,Tle relations of hi.
fathers second wife, and his: father,
own commercial ventures, increased
his familiarity with the sea during the
years of his plant YOUTH ,'.1i az
The eventsoEthe time would have
kindled the PATRIOTIC, fire ina colder
heart than his. While he was grow
inglup in xerdans iDevonshire, Queen
Mary, of bloody memory, reigned and
died. He was fifteen years of age
when French sailors brought to the
seaports of Deyonshire the news that
Philip the Second, Queen Mary's
Spanish husband, had ruthlessly mas
sacred the Hugnenots in Florida; and
few ships arrived from ocean voyages
without bringing tidings of. new In
stances of Spanish arrogance and cruel
ty. Love for his native land included,
at that time, horror and hatred of
Spain and Raleigh, at every period
of his life. was noted for that. ..j@.'''
From the pleasant seaside villages
and valleys Of .Devonshire, Walter
Raleigh, at seventeen, went to Oxford,
bat dill not complete his university
course. Before his second year was
the head of his mothers
family began to raise body Of gem
tlemen volunteers to join the HUI
eenots in France, in their contest with
the king. This was. in 1869, only
three years before the massacre Of
Saint Bartholomew. Could young
Walter Raleigh linger in the cloisters
of Oxford, when the gentlemen Of De
vonshire were embarking for France
on such a mission? Ife-was present,
in 1869, at the disastrous battle of
Jarnac, where the Prince of Conde,
twice wounded in fair fight, was muir
dered at last by q captain, who shot
him through the head as he lay help
less on the field, Raleigh served six
years in France. He may have been
one of the. Englishmen who saved
themselves, duringthe great massacre,
at the house of the British Ambassador
at Paris. 1t was desperate strug-
gle, that civil war in France-one of
the cruelest wars recorded in history.
Raleigh meRtions one INCIDENT; T..
81 saw" he wrote, Sin the third
civil war of France, certain caves in
Languedoc, which had but one en-
trance, and that very narrow, cut out
in the midway of high rocks, which
we knew not how to enter by any lad
Ter or engine; till, at last, by certain
bardles OF straw: let down by an iron
chain, 2and a weighty' stone in the
midst, those that defended it were so
smothereA as they rendered themselves,
Will ther plate, money, and other.
goods therein hidden" -
Six years OF service amid scenes like
this he saw, with his kindred for COM
rades, and especially his brot ther,
Humphrey Gilbert were home, in Eng
and early in 1876, in time to see Mar
tin Frobisher drop down The Thames
with his three vessels, bound to make,
another attempt to reach Asia by the
lorthewest- Queen Elizabeth waving
her whine hand to them as they. glided
,y Greenwich Palace, Like Sebas-
ian Cabot; Frobisher was stopped by
he gloomy cliffs of Labrador, and his
;areer as a navigator might have end
81 with that voyage, but for the &C
,ident of his bringing back to Eng
and that celebrated piece of dark color
d stone, which proved to'eontain lit
le gold. ssyGrl.zs huG ,o~''asF-' ~
Readers remember, perhaps, the ex-
produced BY this event !, and
ow Frobisher was quickly dispatch
i again with threeIiyessels, and how
e, brought home hundreds of tons of
be same ,dark-celoredz stone, from
,hich gold enough was smelted to pay
he. expense OF the voyage. Next he
Tent with fleet of fifteen vessels. It
experienced nothing but disaster, and
rought home ole OF so poora quality.
hat no one went again to Labrador
1r gold. a il this, however, took place
nder the eyes of Walter Raleigh and
Humphrey Gilbert, ,.-., ~. 49,.
Glib TT fully believed, with Admir-
FHcbisher, that, Asia could be reaciI-
sailing to the northwest, and he |
a treatise to that effect about
le time that Frobisher was trying to
,rce his way ,thither through the ice
srgs. BotF the brothers, as well as
large circle of their Devonshire
inbred, and indeed all the intelligent
atriotism of England, were discon-
uted that the empire of the New
Torld should be abandoned to the.i
paniards and and Portuguese. As
Irly as, 1873, when Walter Raleigh
as but twenty-eight years of age, he
ldlhis brother Gilbert undertook an
,pedition of discovery beyond the
as A sudden rebellion in Ireland
them to suspend their pro-
cts, and kept them fighting in Num-
or, at the head OF mounted troopers,
I two .ior three years. Raleigh won
eat distinction there, both by his
dor and by his good sense, and his
lme was favorably mentioned at the
ouncil board of Queen Elizabeth, be-