<234>The renewal of the persecution of the Catholics may appear to the historian to be the inevitable result of the claim of the Pope to universal authority, under the conditions of the times. Indignation of the Catholics.It was not likely to appear in that light to the Catholics themselves. They would see no more than the intolerable wrongs under which they suffered; and it would be strange if there were not some amongst them who would be driven to meet wrong with violence, and to count even the perpetration of a great crime as a meritorious deed.
Robert Catesby, who was possibly a convert from Protestantism, was a man capable of becoming the leader in Catesby.any action requiring clearness of head and strength of will. He was a born leader of men, and had the rare gift of a mind which drew after it all wills in voluntary submission. At the end of Elizabeth’s reign he had despatched to Spain Winter’s mission to Spain.Thomas Winter, in company with the Jesuit Greenway, to urge Philip to send an invading force to England. He was to assure the Spaniards that they would not want allies amongst the warlike companions of Essex, who had now lost hope of employment after the Earl’s death. Philip and Lerma adopted the proposal, and promised Winter to send a force to Milford Haven in the spring of 1605. Then came the death of the Queen. Catesby sent another of his friends, named Christopher Wright, to Spain, No help to be expected from Spain.to know if there was still any hope of Spanish intervention. Wright was at once able to report that there was none. The Spaniards were all bent on peace with James.[293]
<235>By the time that this news reached Catesby, James had arrived in England, and under pressure of the Privy Council had given orders for the first temporary collection of the Recusancy fines. May, 1603.Catesby conceives the idea of the plot.As Catesby brooded over the wrongs of his Church — wrongs which were made the more palpable to him by the fact that so many of his kinsmen and friends were suffering by those evil laws — the idea arose within him, though we cannot tell how far it was as yet defined in his mind, of righting the grievous wrong by destroying both the King and Parliament by means of gunpowder, and of establishing a Catholic Government in their place. Perhaps the design had not completely taken shape when, one day, a Catholic friend, Percy proposes to murder the King.Thomas Percy, rushed into his room. Percy was a relative of the Earl of Northumberland, and, at this time, was acting as his steward. Through him James, whilst yet in Scotland, had conveyed assurances of relief to the English Catholics. He now believed himself to have been a dupe whose easy credulity had held back his co-religionists from active measures. He angrily told Catesby that he had resolved to kill the King. “No, Tom,” was the reply, “thou shalt not adventure to small purpose; but, if thou wilt be a traitor, thou shalt be to some great advantage.” Catesby added that ‘he was thinking of a most sure way,’ and would soon let him know what it was.[294]
A few weeks later matters looked brighter for the Catholics. In July their fines were suspended, and during the remainder <236>of the year a more tolerant system was established. So far as we know, July.The plot suspended.Catesby said no more about his plan, and may possibly have intended to let it sleep, unless some changes for the worse took place in the policy of the King. 1604.Feb. 22.Effect of the proclamation against the priests.That change came in February 1604. The proclamation for the banishment of the priests was not indeed carried into execution at the time, but it must have seemed, to a mind so sensitive as that of Catesby to the warnings of impending danger, to be ominous of evil days in store.
A few days after the issue of the proclamation,[295] Thomas Winter, who was on a visit to his brother Robert, at Huddington, in the neighbourhood of Worcester, Winter summoned to London by Catesby.received a letter from his cousin, Catesby, entreating him to meet him in London on business of importance. After some hesitation, he consented. He found Catesby at Lambeth, He finds Wright with him.in company with John Wright, who had for many years been one of his most intimate associates. On Winter’s arrival, Catesby begged him to join in striking one more blow for the Catholic cause. He told him that he had formed a design which could scarcely fail of success. He proposed to Catesby proposes to blow up the Parliament House.blow up the Parliament House with gunpowder. God would surely favour them in taking vengeance upon that accursed den from whence had issued all the evils under which the country and the Church were suffering. Winter acknowledged that such a course would strike at the root of the evil, but reminded him that in case of failure ‘the scandal would be so great which the Catholic religion might hereby sustain, that not only our enemies, but our friends also, would with good reason condemn us.’ It does not seem to have occurred to him that the scandal would be at least as great if they succeeded. Catesby, with that strange power of fascination which he exercised over all with whom he came in contact, soon put an end <237>to his hesitation. Winter did not leave him until he had given him a promise to risk his life in this or in any other design upon which his cousin might determine.
It was probably in deference to Winter’s scruples that Catesby consented to his going over to Flanders, in order Winter sent into Flanders.to obtain an interview with the Constable of Castile, who then was on his way to England to take part in the negotiations for peace. He was to attempt to secure his intervention with the King on behalf of the English Catholics. If he was unsuccessful — and it is plain that Catesby had no great hopes from that quarter — Winter was to engage the services of an Englishman who was then in Flanders, and whose known character for courage and skill were such as to make him a desirable acquisition to the plotters. This Englishman was Guido Fawkes.
Winter left England early in April.[296] He obtained nothing but vague promises from the Constable; and from all that he heard, April.he came to the conclusion that but little reliance could be placed upon the Spanish Government. Towards the end of the month he returned, bringing Fawkes with him, who had agreed to come, on the general information that Winter brings Fawkes to England.some design had been formed of which he was hereafter to learn the particulars. Soon after Winter’s return, Percy, who seems not to have been acquainted before with the particulars of Catesby’s scheme, Accession of Percy to the plot.appeared amongst the four conspirators. His first words as he entered the room in which they were sitting were, “Shall we always, gentlemen, talk, and never do anything?” Catesby took him aside and proposed that they should all join in taking an oath of secrecy before he disclosed its particulars. For this purpose, these five men May.They take an oath of secrecy.met shortly afterwards in a house behind St. Clements, where they swore to keep any secrets which might be confided to them. They then went into another room in the same house, where they found Gerard, a Jesuit priest;[297] from <238>whose hands, having first heard mass, they received the Sacrament as an additional confirmation of their oath. He was, however, as there can be little doubt, left in ignorance[298] of the plot. As soon as they were again alone, Percy and Fawkes were made acquainted with the proposed scheme. It was agreed that May 24.A house taken.a building abutting upon the Parliament House should be hired by Percy. Fawkes who, from his long absence from England was not in danger of being recognised, assumed the character of Percy’s servant, and took the name of John Johnson. The agreement for the lease of the house was signed on May 24.
Shortly after the prorogation, the five plotters separated and went into the country, having first agreed to meet in London at Michaelmas. It was then understood that Parliament would assemble in February 1605, and the conspirators calculated that this would give them ample time for their preparations. Deterioration of the prospects of the Catholics.During these months of waiting the position of the Catholics was rapidly deteriorating. In July the King had given his consent to the new Recusancy Act. In August it was put in force by some of the judges. In the beginning of September the commission was issued for the banishment of the priests. When, therefore, the conspirators returned to London in the autumn, their zeal was not likely to be blunted, and the imposition of the fines on the wealthy Catholics in November must have seemed to them to fill up the measure of James’s guilt. In order to have a second place in which to collect the necessary materials, they hired the house at Lambeth in which Catesby usually lodged. They gave it into the charge of Robert Keyes,[299] a gentleman who had been living at the house <239>of Lord Mordaunt, at Turvey in Bedfordshire, where his wife had the charge of the education of the children. He, too, was informed of the plot, and sworn to secrecy. When the time for commencing operations arrived, Fawkes was sent to London to examine the ground. He found that the house which Percy had taken had been selected by the Commissioners for the Union as the place in which their meetings should be held. This unexpected obstacle delayed the progress of the scheme till December 11. As soon as the conspirators obtained access to the house Dec. 11.The plotters begin the mine.they commenced their labours, and by Christmas Eve they succeeded in removing the obstacles which separated them from the lower part of the wall of the Parliament House.
As was natural, they often talked over their plans during the intervals of work. They sincerely hoped that Prince Henry, the King’s eldest son, Plans of the conspirators.might be with his father at the opening of the session, in which case he would be involved in a common destruction with him. Percy, who was now a gentleman pensioner, and, as such, had access to the Court, promised to secure the person of Prince Charles, who had recently been created Duke of York. The Princess Elizabeth — with the exception of an infant princess, the only other child of the King — was being brought up in the family of Lord Harington, at Combe Abbey, in the neighbourhood of Coventry, and she was consequently within reach of the residence of Catesby’s mother, at Ashby St. Legers, in Northamptonshire. This would make it comparatively easy to obtain possession of the child. With this advantage, and with a little money and a few horses, these sanguine dreamers fancied that they would have the whole of England at their feet.
Whilst they were still working at the wall, news was brought to them that Parliament was prorogued till October. Upon this they determined to give themselves a little rest. Robert Winter and John Grant informed of the plot.During this interval Catesby went to Oxford, and sent for Winter’s elder brother, Robert, and for John Grant, who had married a sister of the Winters.[300] <240>Robert Winter’s house at Huddington, and Grant’s house at Norbrook, in Warwickshire, were admirably suited for the carrying out of their future operations. After swearing them to secrecy, Catesby told them what he was doing. Winter made several objections, but Catesby’s irresistible powers of persuasion were again brought into exercise, and Winter left him saying that it was a dangerous matter, but for his oath’s sake, and for the love that he bore to his cousin, he would not reveal it. Bates joins the plotters.Bates Catesby’s servant, had been already admitted to the secret. His master, seeing that he was evidently suspicious of what he heard and saw, thought it prudent to confide the whole matter to him;[301] but he was never allowed to take any prominent part in the conspiracy.
In the beginning of February, by which time the whole system of recusancy fines was once more in full swing, the plotters again commenced operations. Feb. 1605.Christopher Wright admitted.Finding the work as hard as ever, they sent for Wright’s brother Christopher, to share it with them. His devotion to the cause was well known, and they were certain to find in him a <241>faithful confederate. They sent for the gunpowder which was stored at Lambeth, and were thereby enabled to release Keyes from his duty of watching it, and to employ him in digging at the wall. In spite of all difficulties, they worked on for another fortnight. It was not an easy task, getting through nine feet of wall. Besides their other difficulties, the water flowed in and hindered them in their work. About the middle of the month they again desisted from their labour.
Two or three weeks later they prepared for another effort. One day as they were working, a rustling sound was heard. March.The conspirators hear of a cellar that will suit them.Terrified lest their proceedings had been discovered, they sent Fawkes to find out the cause of the noise. He returned with the intelligence that it proceeded from a Mrs. Bright, who was selling off her stock of coals in an adjoining cellar. This cellar, as they found, ran under the Parliament House, so that it would be exactly suited for their object. Mrs. Bright agreed to sell the lease to them. This lease she held from a man named Whynniard, who was also the landlord of Percy’s house. Percy told him that he required additional accommodation for his coals, as he intended to bring his wife to London.
Their work being thus lightened, they proceeded to open a door between the house and the cellar,[302] through which Fawkes carried the twenty barrels of powder which had been brought from Lambeth. He placed upon the barrels several bars of iron, in order to increase the effect of the explosion. The whole was covered over with a thousand billets of wood and five hundred faggots. As soon as this was done, they all dispersed till October, when they expected that Parliament would meet.
During the course of the summer, the growing discontent of the Catholics may be traced by the renewal of the informations which June.Discontent among the Catholics.from time to time reached the Government of the suppressed dissatisfaction which here and there came to the surface. Men went about with wild talk of insurrections and revolutions, and predicted to their <242>Protestant neighbours the near approach of the day when blood would again flow for the cause of Holy Church.[303] Amongst the Welsh mountains Catholic priests preached to large congregations.[304] In Herefordshire, the Sheriff came into actual collision with a body of Catholics, who were especially numerous in that county.[305] In August and September, in spite of the King’s charge, three laymen were executed for attempting to convert their neighbours.[306]
Meanwhile the conspirators had not been idle. When they left London in the spring, Fawkes was sent over to Flanders, Proceedings of Fawkes,where he imparted the plot to the Jesuit Owen, who ‘seemed well pleased with the business.’[307] He advised him not to acquaint Sir William Stanley with the conspiracy, but promised that as soon as it had taken effect, he would inform him of all the particulars, and would engage his assistance in the insurrection which was expected to break out in England. Fawkes returned to London about the end of August.
At this time, Lord Arundel of Wardour, a Catholic nobleman, who had seen much service on the Continent, was and Catesby.levying a body of men in England for the service of the Archduke. In forwarding this object, Catesby was particularly busy. He contrived that several of the officers should be appointed from amongst his friends,[308] and entered into an understanding with them that they should be ready to return to England whenever the Catholic cause required their assistance. September.In September, he sent a certain Sir Edmund Baynham on a mission to the Pope. It is doubtful how far the particulars of the plot were revealed to him. He was to be on the spot, in order that, as soon as the <243>news arrived at Rome of the destruction of the tyrants, he might win the Pope over to second the further efforts of the conspirators. The three priests.Of the three priests who were afterwards inculpated, Gerard may perhaps have been aware that some scheme of unusual importance was on hand, though there is strong reason to believe that he was not made acquainted with the particulars.[309] Greenway both knew of the plot and favoured its execution; whilst Garnet, the Superior of the Jesuits in England, had been acquainted with it at least as early as in July by Greenway in confession. He always denied that he looked upon the project otherwise than with the utmost abhorrence; but circumstantial evidence leaves but little doubt that his feelings were not quite so strongly expressed as he afterwards represented them, and perhaps imagined them to have been.[310]
In September, Winter and Fawkes were busy bringing in fresh barrels of powder, to replace any which might have been spoiled by the damp.[311] Parliament prorogued to the 5th of November.Towards the end of the month, they heard that Parliament was again prorogued to November 5, upon which they both returned to the country for a few weeks.
Whilst they were in London, circumstances occurred which eventually ruined the whole undertaking. As long as the only question had been the selection of men fit to take part in the plot, Catesby’s discretion had been sufficient to guide him to the right persons; Want of money.but for the execution of their further designs money was requisite as well as men, and money was now running short with the conspirators. To engage a wealthy man in the plot was as dangerous as it would have been to engage a very poor man. From the existing system of fines the poor suffered nothing, because they had nothing to lose; the rich suffered little because they could afford to pay. Nevertheless it was a risk which must be run. Without horses and arms and ready money no insurrection <244>had a chance of success, and for these requisites the pockets of the conspirators were unable to supply the necessary funds. In the course of September, Percy met Catesby at Bath, where the two friends discussed the difficult question together.[312] It was at last decided that Catesby should be intrusted with the selection of persons to whom he might confide the secret. His choice fell upon three men, two of them, Sir Everard Digby and Ambrose Rokewood, were very young; it was perhaps hoped that their youth would render them sufficiently enthusiastic to set aside prudential considerations. The third, Francis Tresham, was indeed older, but his wealth offered a powerful inducement to men with whom money was an object; and his participation in previous intrigues gave some guarantee that he would not be unwilling to engage in the present design.[313]
Ambrose Rokewood, of Coldham Hall, in Suffolk, had long been an intimate friend and an ardent admirer of Catesby. At first Ambrose Rokewood.he expressed some reluctance to take part in the plot, because he feared that it would be impossible to save those Catholic Peers who would be present at the opening of the session. Catesby told him that a trick would be put upon them, so that he need have no fears on that score.[314] Rokewood then said that ‘it was a matter of conscience to take away so much blood.’ Catesby assured him that he had been resolved by good authority that the deed was lawful, even if some innocent men should lose their lives together with the guilty. Upon this Rokewood gave up his scruples. In order to be at hand when he was wanted in November, he took a house at Clopton, in Warwickshire.[315]
Early in October,[316] Catesby was residing with Digby in the <245>neighbourhood of Wellingborough. After raising some objections, Sir Everard Digby.Digby too yielded to the fascination, and threw himself headlong into the plot.[317] A suitable house was procured for his temporary residence at Coughton, in Warwickshire, a place lying on the borders of Worcestershire. What was still more to the purpose, he offered 1,500l. for the good of the cause.
The last person to whom the secret was revealed was Tresham, who had, upon the death of his father in September, Francis Tresham.inherited the estate of Rushton, not far from Kettering. He was a cousin of Catesby and the Winters, and had taken part with them in Essex’s rebellion, as well as in the negotiations with Spain shortly before the Queen’s death.
There were now thirteen persons who were intrusted with all the details of the scheme. But it was also necessary to Preparations for the insurrection.take some measures in order that a large number of malcontents might be ready to join the insurrection on the first news from London. Accordingly, it was proposed that Digby should hold a great hunting match at Dunchurch on the day of the meeting of Parliament, to which a large company of the Catholic gentry of the Midland counties were to be invited. If Prince Charles escaped the fate prepared for his family, Percy was to snatch up the child, and to rush with him in his arms to Worcestershire. As soon as the news arrived that the explosion had succeeded, the gentlemen who had come to the hunt were to be urged to seize the Princess Elizabeth, who was at Combe Abbey, within an easy ride of eight miles. Either she or Prince Charles was to be proclaimed as the new Sovereign, the nation was to be won over by the announcement of popular measures, and the Protestant Church would be at the feet of the conspirators.
In the midst of all these sanguine anticipations one difficulty presented itself, how were the Catholic Lords to be prevented from attending the opening of Parliament? This difficulty had long been felt by Catesby and his companions, but it <246>presented itself with increased force as the moment for action approached. The Catholic Lords must be warned.There were those among the conspirators who were connected by special ties with some of the Peers: Percy was in the service of his kinsman, the Earl of Northumberland; Lord Mordaunt had intrusted his children to the charge of Keyes’s wife, Lord Stourton and Lord Monteagle had both married sisters of Tresham. It would be impossible for any Catholic to regard with complacency any act which would involve in ruin Lord Montague, who had dared to stand forth as the champion of his religion in the House of Lords, or the young Earl of Arundel, the son of that Earl who was honoured above all the Catholic martyrs of the reign of Elizabeth, and who had by James’s favour been lately restored to his father’s honours. October.Many were the appeals which had been made to Catesby, who was the guiding spirit of the plot. Sometimes he answered that the nobility were but ‘atheists, fools, and cowards’; at other moments he assured his friends that means should be taken to warn them. He had a scheme for sending some one to inflict a slight wound on Lord Arundel, so as to incapacitate him from leaving his house. It is probable that many of the Catholic Peers received hints to absent themselves from the opening of the session. But such warnings could not safely be given to all. Catesby was warmly attached to the Earl of Rutland, ‘but it seemed then he was contented to let him go.’ Even Catholic peeresses who came merely to enjoy the spectacle must be sacrificed, though not without compunction. Mr. Catesby, according to Garnet’s statement, ‘could not find in his heart to go to see the Lady Derby or the Lady Strange at their houses, though he loved them above all others; because it pitied him to think that they must all die.’[318]
Among the plotters was one who had never entered heart and soul into the matter. Tresham had, by his father’s death, Tresham wavers.lately succeeded to a large family property, and the temper of a man who has just entered into the enjoyment of considerable wealth is by no means likely to fit him for a conspirator. Catesby’s sagacity had here deserted him, <247>or had perhaps been overpowered by his eagerness to share in Tresham’s ready money. If we are to believe Tresham himself,[319] he at once remonstrated with his cousin, and reminded him that even if they succeeded they would be exposed to the fury of the enraged nation. He pointed out to him that when the organization of the Government was destroyed, the country would fall into the hands of the Protestant clergy, who would form the only organized body remaining in existence. He appears to have given way at last, and to have promised to give 1,000l. to the cause.
Tresham pleaded strongly for his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, and when he found that the other conspirators were unwilling to risk their lives by giving him warning, Tresham determines to inform Lord Monteagle.he probably formed the determination to take the matter into his own hands. He told them that it would be necessary for him to go down into Northamptonshire, in order to collect the money which they required, and he made an appointment with Winter to meet him as he passed through Barnet on his return, on October 28 or 29.
On the 25th, and perhaps on the 26th, he was still in London. On one of those days, Winter came to him at his lodgings in Clerkenwell, and obtained 100l. from him.[320] Shortly afterwards he was on his way to Rushton.
On the 26th, Lord Monteagle ordered a supper to be prepared at his house at Hoxton, although he had not been there for more than twelve months.[321] He was a man who had been <248>closely connected with some of the principal conspirators. He was himself a Catholic. He had been engaged in Essex’s rebellion, and Oct. 26he had shared in promoting Winter’s journey to Spain.[322] It has been suspected that even at that time he furnished information to the Government. However this may have been, on the accession of James he gave his whole support to the new King. His advances were accepted, and he was admitted to high favour at Court.[323]
As he was sitting down to supper, one of his footmen came in, bringing with him a letter which he had been requested to A letter brought to Lord Monteagle.give to his master by a man whose features he had been unable to distinguish in the dark winter night. Lord Monteagle took the letter, and as soon as he had glanced over it, handed it to Ward, one of the gentlemen in his service, requesting him to read it. The letter was anonymous, and ran as follows:—
“My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift of your attendance at this Parliament; for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm, for the danger is <249>past as soon as you have burnt the letter: and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.”[324]
Monteagle at once set out for Whitehall, to communicate the letter to the Government. On his arrival he found Salisbury, He takes it to Whitehall.just ready to sit down to supper in company with Nottingham, Suffolk, Worcester, and Northampton. Monteagle immediately drew him aside into another room, and put the letter into his hands. Although vague rumours had already reached Salisbury’s ears that some danger was in agitation amongst the Catholics, he was at first inclined to think lightly of the matter;[325] but being well aware of their discontented state, he determined to make further inquiries. Accordingly, he called Suffolk from the next room and put the letter before him. As they re-perused the paper, it occurred to them that it might probably refer to some attempt at mischief by means of gunpowder. Upon this Suffolk, to whom, as Lord Chamberlain, all the buildings in and around the Parliament House were well known, remembered that the cellar under the house would be a suitable place for the execution of a design of this kind. As soon as Monteagle had left them, they imparted the discovery to the other three lords, who agreed that it would be proper to search the cellar before the beginning of the session, but advised that the search should be delayed as long as possible, in order that the conspirators might not be scared before their plot was fully ripe.
On the 31st, the King, who had been absent at Royston, Oct. 31.The King returns from Royston,returned to London, but it was not till Sunday, November 3, that the letter was shown to him. He at once, if we are to believe the narrative drawn up under Salisbury’s inspection, came to the same conclusion as that which had been come to by his ministers.[326] By <250>his direction, Suffolk, in execution of his office as Lord Chamberlain, Nov. 3.and orders search to be made.proceeded about three o’clock on the afternoon of the following day to go round the Parliament House and the adjoining buildings. In this search Nov. 4.he was accompanied by Monteagle, who had joined him at his own request. Suffolk, like the rest of the Councillors, had no very strong belief in the reality of the plot, and was under great apprehensions lest he should become an object of general ridicule, if the gunpowder for which he was looking proved to be without any real existence. He therefore gave out that he was come to look for some stuff of the King’s which was in Whynniard’s keeping, and, finding that Whynniard had let his cellar to a stranger, he contented himself with looking into it without entering. Seeing the piles of coals and faggots, he asked to whom they belonged. Fawkes, who had opened the door to him, said that they belonged to Mr. Thomas Percy, one of His Majesty’s Gentlemen Pensioners. Upon hearing Percy’s name, Suffolk suspected that there was more truth in the story than he had previously supposed. Monteagle, probably wishing to shield Tresham, and hoping to put the Government on a wrong scent, suggested that Percy might have sent the letter. Upon receiving Suffolk’s report of what he had seen, the King ordered that further search should be made, still under the pretence of looking for the stuff which was missing.
There was no time to be lost, as the session was to commence on the following morning. About eleven at night, Sir Thomas Knyvett Discovery of the gunpowder by Knyvett.went down to the cellar. At the door he was met by Fawkes. He stopped him, and carefully removing the coals and wood, he came to the barrels of gunpowder. Fawkes saw at once that the game was up. He made no attempt to excuse himself, but confessed <251>that he had intended to blow up the King and the two Houses on the following morning. Upon this he was bound hand and foot, and taken to Salisbury’s lodgings. Such of the Council as could be reached at that late hour were summoned to the King’s bedchamber. James’s first thought on hearing of the discovery was to offer thanks to God for his deliverance. He then directed that the Lord Mayor should be ordered to set a watch for the prevention of any outbreak, and that the prisoner should be carefully guarded, in order to hinder any attempt at self-destruction.
A question has often been raised, whether the letter received by Monteagle was, in reality, the first intimation given to him. That Tresham the writer of the letter.the writer of the letter was Tresham there can be no reasonable doubt.[327] The character of Tresham, the suspicions of his confederates, his own account of his proceedings, all point to him as the betrayer of the secret. If any doubt still remained, there is the additional evidence in the confidence which was after his death expressed by his friends, that if he had survived the disease of which he died, he would have been safe from all fear of the consequences of the crime with which he was charged.[328] This confidence they could only have derived from himself, and it could only have been founded upon one ground.
To say the least of it, it is highly probable that Monteagle expected the letter on the evening of the 26th. He came out unexpectedly Probable arrangement between him and Monteagle.to sup at Hoxton, where he had not been for upwards of a twelvemonth. If there had been no communication between him and the writer of the letter, how could the bearer of it know that he would find one of Monteagle’s footmen at so unlikely a spot? <252>Why, too, should Monteagle, instead of reading the letter himself, have given it to Ward to read aloud? Besides, if Tresham had calculated upon the letter alone to deter his brother-in-law from going down to the House, he would surely have written it in plainer terms.[329]
The probability is that Tresham, finding that he could not persuade Catesby to give a sufficiently distinct warning to Monteagle, sought an interview with him himself. If the object which they both had before them was to frustrate the whole scheme in such a manner as to allow the conspirators themselves to escape, it is impossible to imagine a more satisfactory contrivance. The information given was just enough to set the Government upon preventive measures, but not enough to enable them to seize the culprits. By giving the letter to Ward, Monteagle conveyed the intelligence to a man who was likely to warn the conspirators of the discovery of their schemes; Ward being Winter’s friend, would be certain to inform him of what had happened.[330] There could be little doubt that, upon receipt of this intelligence, they would take to flight.
<253>Part of this scheme was successful. Either by arrangement, or in consequence of his own friendship for Winter, Ward only Oct. 27.Oct. 28.Ward informs Winter of what had passed.waited till the next day to slip round to his lodgings and to tell him all that he knew. On the following morning Winter went out to White Webbs, a house in Enfield Chase, where Catesby was to be found, and entreated him to give up the enterprise, and to leave the country. Catesby received the news with astonishing <254>coolness. He decided to wait till the 30th, when Fawkes, who was in the country, was expected to join them. They would then send him to examine the cellar, and they would be guided <255>by his report. Meanwhile, their suspicions naturally turned upon Tresham as the traitor. They expected him to pass through Barnet at two in the afternoon of the 29th, and it had been arranged that Winter should meet him there. Tresham, however, shrank from seeing any of his fellow-conspirators, and caught eagerly at any plan which would save him from their presence even for four-and-twenty hours. He accordingly sent to Winter to inform him that he had postponed his journey, and that Oct. 30.he should not pass through Barnet till the 30th. He said nothing of the hour at which he was to pass, and pushing on got through at eight in the morning, long before he was expected. He had not secured immunity for any long time; Oct. 31.the next day the unhappy man was doomed to see the detested face of Winter at his lodgings in London. He had come to request his presence at Barnet on the following day. Tresham did not dare to refuse. At Nov. 1.the appointed time he went to Barnet, where he found Catesby and Winter waiting for him. They at once charged him with having written the letter. They intended, as it was said, to poniard him at once if he gave room for the slightest suspicion.[331] He showed, however, so bold a face, and swore so positively that he knew nothing of the matter, <256>that they let him go. He again pressed them to let the matter drop, at least for the present, and to take refuge in Flanders. He found that The conspirators refuse to give up their plan.his entreaties were all in vain. In fact, Fawkes had been sent up to London to examine the cellar, and upon his report that he had found everything in the state in which he had left it, they came to the conclusion that the Government had attached no weight to Monteagle’s representations, and that the conspirators would incur no real danger by persisting in their original plan.
On the next day, Winter was again despatched to Tresham for money, and was quieted with 100l. Tresham again Nov. 2.pressed him to fly, and assured him that Salisbury was acquainted with all their secrets, and that he had laid everything before the King. Upon hearing this, Winter carried the news to Catesby, who was at last shaken by this new intelligence, and made up his mind to fly. Before taking this last step, however, he would confer with Percy, who was expected to arrive shortly from the North, where he had been engaged in collecting the Earl of Northumberland’s rents.
Accordingly, on the evening of November 3, a meeting was held at the same house behind St. Clement’s in which the original conspirators Nov. 3.Meeting behind St. Clement’s.had taken their oath of secrecy eighteen months before. Those five men now met again in the same place. Christopher Wright was the only other person present. Upon hearing all that had passed, Percy insisted upon their continuing steadfast. The conspirators could not tear away from their breasts a hope which had, by long cherishing, become a part of themselves, and they allowed themselves to be persuaded by his earnest entreaties. Fawkes, with a rare self-devotion, which, even in such a cause as this, commands our admiration, went down to the cellar and occupied his post as usual. Rokewood and Keyes were also in London, but it does not appear whether they were told that the plot had been discovered.
On Monday afternoon Fawkes was still at his post. After Suffolk and Monteagle had left him, Nov. 4.Fawkes remains at his post.he may possibly have thought that the danger was over. About ten o’clock he received a visit from Keyes, who brought <257>a watch which Percy had bought for him, in order that he might know how the hours were passing during that anxious night.[332] Within an hour after the time when Keyes left him, he was a hopeless prisoner, and all his schemes were blown for ever to the winds.
Early on Tuesday morning the chief conspirators were flying at full gallop along the road to Lady Catesby’s house at Ashby St. Legers. Nov. 5.Flight of the plotters.Utterly disheartened by the consciousness of failure, they yet instinctively followed out the plan which they had determined upon whilst success seemed still within their grasp. Catesby and John Wright were the first to get away. At five on the morning of the 5th, Christopher Wright burst into Winter’s lodgings with the tidings that all was at an end. He then went out to reconnoitre, and returned with the assurance that the news was only too true. He again went out to find Percy, whose name was now known to the Government as that of the tenant of the cellar. These two galloped off together. Some hours later they were followed by Keyes and Rokewood, the latter of whom did not leave London before ten oclock.[333]
Thomas Winter was the last to fly. He determined to see for himself how matters stood. He coolly made his way to the gates of the palace, which he found strictly guarded. He then attempted to reach the Parliament House, but was stopped by the guard in the middle of King Street. As he returned, he heard men in the crowd talking of the treason which had been discovered. Finding that all was known, he took horse and followed his companions in their flight. He seems to have been the only one of them who did not hurry himself; for though Nov. 6.he could not have left London at a much later hour than Rokewood, he did not overtake the rest of the party till Wednesday evening, when he found them at Huddington.
About three miles beyond Highgate, Keyes was overtaken by Rokewood. Further on he contrived to slip away from <258>him, and to conceal himself till he was captured, a few days later. Nov. 5.The speed at which Rokewood was riding enabled him to come up with Percy and Christopher Wright, about forty miles down the road. A little beyond Brickhill they overtook John Wright and Catesby. In hot haste all five pressed on, as men press on who are flying for their lives. So excited were they, that Percy and John Wright tore off their cloaks and threw them into the hedge, in order that they might ride the faster.
Whilst these men were thus riding their desperate race, Digby was calmly carrying out his instructions, in complete ignorance of the failure of his associates. The hunting at Dunchurch.He came to the hunting at Dunchurch, accompanied by his uncle, Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill. Grant brought with him three of his own brothers, a neighbour named Morgan, and a third brother of the Winters. Late in the evening Robert Winter rode in, followed by Robert Acton, a neighbour, whom he had persuaded to join him, and by Stephen and Humphrey Littleton, of Holbeche, in Staffordshire. These two had been induced to come in the hope that one of them might obtain a commission in the force which Catesby had been ostensibly levying for the Archduke. All the gentlemen who arrived were accompanied by their servants. The number of persons present was about eighty.[334] Winter left the Littletons at Dunchurch, and rode on to Ashby with some others of his companions. He expected that he would thus be the first to hear the good news from Catesby, who was sure to bring the tidings to his mother’s house.[335]
About six in the evening Catesby arrived at Ashby. He called for Winter to come out to him, and there he poured out <259>to him the whole wretched story of failure and despair. Winter Catesby’s arrival at Ashby St. Legers.saw at once that all hope was at an end, and advised instant surrender. Catesby, who had waded far deeper into treason than his adviser, refused to hear of it, and decided upon riding off to Dunchurch, for the purpose of consulting with his friends. Bates, who lived at a little distance from the house, was sent to Rugby to act as guide to some of Catesby’s party, who had been left there.
On his arrival at Dunchurch, Catesby called Digby aside, and told him ‘that now was the time to stir for the Catholic cause.’ He had, indeed, failed to blow up the Parliament House, but both the King and Salisbury were dead, so that if they were only steadfast in asserting their claims, he ‘doubted not but they might procure themselves good conditions.’ He assured him that the Littletons would be able to assist them with a thousand men, and that Robert Winter’s father-in-law, John Talbot of Grafton, would undoubtedly join them with a large force as soon as he heard that they were in arms.[336]
These falsehoods imposed upon the weak mind of Digby. With most of the others they failed entirely. Sir Robert Digby rode off indignantly, and tendered his services to the Government. Humphrey Littleton refused to follow them, and several more, especially of the servants, took every opportunity which offered itself of slipping away unobserved. The remainder determined to make the best of their way to Huddington, in hopes of raising the Catholics of the neighbourhood. They would then pass on into Wales, where they expected to be joined by large numbers of insurgents.[337]
As they rode along they remembered that at Warwick there was a stable, in which they would be able to find fresh horses, Seizure of horses at Warwick.which they might carry off in exchange for the tired ones on which some of the company were mounted. Robert Winter, who, as he had never joined in the actual operations, had not sufficiently realised his position as a conspirator, remonstrated against this breach of the law. “Some of us,” was Catesby’s answer, “may not look back.” “But,” <260>said Winter, “others, I hope, may, and therefore, I pray you, let this alone.” “What! hast thou any hope, Robin?” was the reply; “I assure thee there is none that knoweth of this action but shall perish.” Rokewood, too, felt indisposed to join in horse-stealing, especially as he was himself well-mounted, and rode on before them towards Grant’s house at Norbrook. At three in the morning the rest of the party rejoined him there upon their fresh horses, but they only remained long enough to take away about fifty muskets and a fresh supply of powder and ball. They then rode on, tired as they were, to Huddington, where they arrived, weary and desponding, at two o’clock in Nov. 6.the afternoon of the 6th;[338] having despatched Bates, as they left Norbrook, to Coughton, with a letter for Father Garnet, in which their condition was described, and his advice was asked.
Bates found Garnet at Coughton, and gave him the letter. While he was reading it, Father Greenway came in, and, upon hearing the news, offered to accompany Bates to Huddington. Upon their arrival, Catesby, catching sight of the priest’s face, exclaimed, that ‘here at least was a gentleman who would live and die with them.’[339] After a conference with Catesby and Percy, Unsuccessful attempt to gain AbingtonGreenway rode away to Hindlip, a house about four miles from Huddington, belonging to a Catholic gentleman of the name of Abington, who had often offered a refuge to priests flying from persecution. It was in vain that he tried to gain him to the cause.[340] Abington would willingly have sheltered him if he had been seeking a refuge for himself, but he immediately refused to take any part in treason.
The main hope of the conspirators was now to obtain the assistance of John Talbot, whose daughter was married to Robert Winter. and Talbot of Grafton.He was one of the wealthiest of the Catholic laity,[341] and was a man of considerable <261>influence, as the representative of the younger branch of the family of the Earl of Shrewsbury.[342] Soon after their arrival at Huddington, Catesby and John Wright pressed Winter to write to his father-in-law. Winter, who knew him well, positively refused, telling them ‘that they did not know him, for the world would not draw him from his allegiance.’[343] Even if his loyalty had not been steadfast, so wealthy a man was the last person likely to take part in a hopeless insurrection.
In the evening the fugitives were joined by Thomas Winter. On the following morning the whole company, now reduced by desertion to about thirty-six persons, Nov. 7.Flight to Holbeche.were present at mass.[344] After its conclusion, they all confessed to the priest, who was a Father Hammond. He was aware of their late proceedings, but does not seem to have considered that there was anything in them which needed absolution. At least Bates naïvely stated that when he confessed on this occasion it was only for his sins, and not for any other particular cause.
After they had thus cleared their consciences, they rode off to Stephen Littleton’s house, at Holbeche, in Staffordshire, taking with them ten of Winter’s servants. The fugitives break into Hewell Grange.As they passed by Hewell Grange, the house of Lord Windsor,[345] they broke into it by force, and took all the armour which they could find, supplying those of the company who needed it, and putting that for which they had no immediate use into a cart, which followed them.
It was all to no purpose. Not a soul was willing to share their fate. Whilst they were at Lord Windsor’s a number of countrymen came to them and asked them what they meant to do. Catesby, in return, asked them to go with him. This was no answer, and they again asked what he intended to do. He <262>saw that nothing could be done with them, and contented himself with saying that he was for ‘God and the country.’ ‘And we,’ said his questioner, ‘are for God and the King, and the country,’ and turned his back upon him.
About ten o’clock at night they arrived at Holbeche, which was situated just over the borders of Staffordshire, about two miles from Stourbridge. They arrive at Holbeche.Many of their followers had, in spite of all their precautions, dropped away from their ranks. The Sheriff of Worcestershire was following them, with all the forces of the county; and the Sheriff of Staffordshire might soon be expected to bar their further progress. Flight had now become impossible, and hope of gathering fresh strength there was none. Early on Nov. 8.the following morning they were deserted by Sir Everard Digby. Desperate as their case was, they determined to make one more effort to get help from Talbot. Accordingly, Thomas Winter and Stephen Littleton were despatched to Grafton.[346] They found the old man at home, who at once drove them out of his presence. On their return, they were met by one of Winter’s servants, who told them that The accident at Holbeche.a terrible accident had occurred, and that some of their number had been killed.[347] Upon this Littleton lost heart and rode away, inviting Winter to accompany him. Winter, like a brave man as he was, answered that he would first find Catesby’s body and bury it before he thought of himself. On entering the house, he found that his friends were more frightened than hurt. The gunpowder which they had brought with them had been wetted in crossing the Stour, and they were engaged in drying some of it when a hot coal fell into it. Catesby and Rokewood were slightly injured by the explosion. Grant suffered more severely, his face and hands being much burnt. Their terror was extreme; they fancied they saw in the accident the finger of God’s Providence, bringing vengeance upon them by the same means as that by <263>which they had planned to take away the lives of so many of their fellow-creatures. John Wright, who was himself unhurt, stepped up to Catesby and cried out, “Woe worth the time that we have seen this day!” and called for the rest of the powder, that they might blow themselves all up. Robert Winter left the house and fled; he was immediately followed by Bates.
As soon as Thomas Winter entered the house, he asked what they meant to do. They all answered with one voice, that they meant to die there. Winter assured them that he would share their fate. The remainder of the time which was left to them they spent in prayer before a picture of the Virgin, acknowledging now, at last, that they had been guilty of a great sin.
About eleven the Sheriff arrived. His men began firing into the house. Winter, who went out into the court to meet them, Nov. 8.Arrival of the Sheriff.was wounded by a shot in the shoulder. John Wright was the first who was shot dead, and immediately afterwards, Death of the two Wrights,his brother fell by his side. Rokewood dropped, wounded in four or five places. Upon this, Catesby begged Winter to stand by him, that they might die together. “Sir,” was the answer, “I have lost the use of my right arm, and I fear that will cause me to be taken.” As they stood near each other, and of Catesby and Percy.Catesby and Percy fell, the same bullet passing through the bodies of both. Catesby was able to crawl on his knees to the picture of the Virgin, which he took in his arms, and died kissing and embracing it. Percy lived for two or three days longer. The assailants rushed in, and found the two wounded men, Winter and Rokewood. The rest are taken.They carried them off as prisoners, with Grant and Morgan and the few servants who had remained faithful to their masters.[348] The other conspirators were picked up here and there in their various hiding-places, most of them in the course of the next few days.
It is impossible not to feel some satisfaction that so many of the original conspirators escaped the scaffold. Atrocious as the whole undertaking was, great as must have been the moral <264>obliquity of their minds before they could have conceived such a project, there was at least Character of the conspiracy.nothing mean or selfish about them. They had boldly risked their lives for what they honestly believed to be the cause of God and of their country. Theirs was a crime which it would never have entered into the heart of any man to commit who was not raised above the low aims of the ordinary criminal. Yet, for all that, it was a crime born of ignorance. Catesby and his associates saw the hard treatment to which the Catholics were subjected. They saw in James and his Protestant Parliament the oppressors of their Church. They did not see the causes which made this oppression possible, causes which no destruction of human life could reach, and which were only too certain to be intensified by the wanton destruction which they had resolved to spread around.
If the criminality of their design was hidden from the eyes of the plotters, it was not from any ambitious thoughts of the consequences of success to themselves. When Watson and his associates formed their plans, visions floated before their eyes in which they saw themselves installed in the highest offices of the State. In the expressions of these conspirators not a single word can be traced from which it can be inferred that they cherished any such thoughts. As far as we can judge, they would have been ready, as soon as the wrongs of which they complained had been redressed, to sink back again into obscurity. One thing was wanting, that they should see their atrocious design in the light in which we see it. Even this was vouchsafed to some of them. In their time of trouble wisdom came to them. When they saw themselves alone in the world, when even their Catholic brethren spurned them from their houses, their thoughts turned to reconsider their actions, and to doubt whether they had been really, as they had imagined, fighting in the cause of God. In such a frame of mind, the accident with the gunpowder at Holbeche turned the scale, and placed before them their acts as they really were. With such thoughts on their minds, they passed away from the world which they had wronged to the presence of Him who had seen their guilt and their repentance alike.
[293] T. Winter’s declaration, Nov. 26, 1605, Hatfield MSS. 112, fol. 91.
[294] Garnet’s declaration, March 8, 1606, Hatfield MSS., 110, fol. 30. This valuable paper throws back the original conception of the plot nine or ten months earlier than has hitherto been supposed. It is true that Garnet expressly said, in a subsequent examination of March 10 (Hatfield MSS., 110, fol. 35): “I never was told, nor can imagine, when or where Percy moved the matter first, for all my knowledge came by a sudden and short relation by Mr. Greenwell,” i.e. Greenway; but the reference to Percy, at the time of his visit to Catesby, as one ‘who, having been sent into Scotland to his Majesty by the Catholics to sue for toleration, and affirming here that the king had given his princely word to that effect, and seeing the same here not performed, was very much discontented,’ can only apply to the time of the first imposition of the fines by James in May, 1603.
[295] It was in the beginning of Lent. Conf. of T. Winter, Nov. 23, Gunpowder Plot Book. This collection, kept apart amongst the State Papers, will hereafter be designated as G. P. B. In 1604 Ash Wednesday fell on the 22nd of February, the day of the issue of the proclamation.
[296] About Easter, which fell on the 8th of April. Exam. of Fawkes, Nov. 8, 1605, G. P. B.
[297] Fawkes’s Exam. Nov. 9, 1605, G. P. B.
[298] Those who distrust the evidence of Fawkes, of Winter, and of Gerard himself in his autobiography, may give weight to Gerard’s statement, that he never knew of the plot till it was publicly known, as this statement was made to the Rector of the English College at Rome in consequence of an order from the General of the Society upon his obedience. — Fitzherbert to Smith, March 15, 1631; Morris, Condition of Catholics, ccxlv.
[299] Keyes’s examination, Nov. 30, G. P. B. He there says that he was informed a little before Midsummer.
[300] Nov. 30, 1605, G. P. B. Examination of J. Grant, Jan. 17, 1606, <240>G. P. B. R. Winter to the Lords Commissioners, Jan. 21, 1606, G. P. B.
[301] In his Examination (Dec. 4, 1605, G. P. B.) he said that he was told about a fortnight less than a twelvemonth ago.
[302] Examination of Fawkes, Nov. 5 and 6, 1605, G. P. B.
[303] Depositions as to seditious speeches uttered by John Parker, Aug. 31, 1605, S. P. Dom. xv. 43.
[304] Barberini to Valenti, Sept. 12⁄22, Roman Transcripts, R. O.
[305] Bishop of Hereford to Salisbury, June 22, 1605, S. P. Dom. xiv. 52.
[306] Challoner’s Missionary Priests.
[307] T. Winter’s Confession, Nov. 23, G. P. B.
[308] Jardine, 61, from Greenway’s MS. Compare Birch’s Historical View, p. 251.
[310] The question of Garnet’s complicity will be discussed when his trial comes under review.
[311] Examination of Fawkes, Nov. 8, 1605, G. P. B.
[312] T. Winter’s Confession, Nov. 23, 1605, G. P. B.
[313] According to Jardine, p. 62–66, Digby was twenty-four, and Rokewood twenty-seven. Wood makes Tresham about thirty-eight. Ath. Ox. Bliss, i. 755.
[314] Examination of Rokewood, Dec. 2, 1605, G. P. B.
[315] Examination of R. Wilson, Nov. 7, 1606. He says the lease was asked for about ten days before Michaelmas.
[316] About Michaelmas (Examination of Sir E. Digby, Nov. 19, S. P. Dom. xvi. 94). About a week after Michaelmas (Examination of Sir E. Digby, Dec. 2, G. P. B.).
[317] See his letters in the Appendix to the Bishop of Lincoln’s Gunpowder Plot, 1679.
[318] Garnet’s Examination, March 10, 1606, Hatfield MSS. 110, fol. 35.
[319] Declaration of Tresham, Nov. 13, 1605, S. P. Dom. xvi. 63.
[320] This fact, which is distinctly stated by Winter (Exam. Nov. 25, 1605, G. P. B.), seems to have been overlooked by Mr. Jardine. It strengthens the evidence against Tresham, as it shows that he must have been in London within twenty-four hours of the delivery of the letter, if he was not there on the very day. It is suspicious that while Tresham gave rather a minute account of his proceedings, and mentioned a later occasion on which Winter came to him for money, he never spoke of this visit in his examinations, as if he had been unwilling to have it known that he was in London at the time.
[321] Greenway’s MS. in Tierney’s Dodd. iv. 50. The King’s History of the Gunpowder Plot, State Trials, ii. 195. Account of the plot drawn up by Munck, and corrected by Salisbury, G. P. B. Nov. 7, 1605.
[322] Examination of Tresham, Nov. 29, 1605, G. P. B. Note by T. Winter, Nov. 25, 1605, G. P. B. In the calendar, this note is said to refer to a message ‘relative to the plot,’ and it is appended to an examination of Winter of the same date, relating to the Gunpowder Plot. This must be a mistake, though both papers are endorsed in the same handwriting, ‘25 9br 1605. The Examination of Winter.’ The two papers themselves are not in the same handwriting, and the note evidently relates to the Spanish plot of 1602. It must refer, not to anything in the examination which is extant, but to a message in another which has been lost, and which was mentioned by Tresham in his examination of Nov. 29.
[323] Jardine, p. 80.
[324] The original is in the G. P. B. There is a copy with all the peculiarities of spelling in Jardine, p. 82.
[325] Salisbury to Cornwallis, Nov. 9, 1605, Winw. ii. 171, compared with Munck’s account, which agrees with it in all important particulars.
[326] James, as is well known, took a pleasure in allowing it to be believed <250>that he had made the discovery himself. It was not a very difficult one to make, and the courtiers probably were discreet enough to hold their tongues as to the fact that they had anticipated his conclusions. On the other hand, it was certainly absurd to found the inference on the words ‘the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the letter.’
[327] The whole argument is clearly given in Jardine, pp. 83–90. The evidence seems to warrant a stronger conclusion than that to which Mr. Jardine arrived. It is plain, however, that no doubt remained in his own mind.
[328] Waad to Salisbury, Dec. 23, 1605, S. P. Dom. xvii. 56. “His friends were marvellous confident if he had escaped this sickness, and have delivered out words in this place, that they feared not the course of justice.”
[329] The greater part of this argument is abridged from Mr. Jardine’s, to which there is scarcely anything to be added, pp. 90–93.
[330] The excited feelings under which the letter was written, and the desire to keep the middle ground between telling too little and telling too much, may account for the obscurity of its style. Besides holding that Monteagle was acquainted with Tresham’s intention of writing the letter, Mr. Jardine adopts Greenway’s opinion that the Government, or at least Salisbury, was acquainted with the manœuvre. “Many considerations,” he says, “tend to confirm the opinion expressed by Greenway in his narrative, that the particulars of the plot had been fully revealed to Lord Salisbury by Monteagle, who was supposed by Greenway and the conspirators to have received a direct communication from Tresham, and that the letter was a mere contrivance of the Government to conceal the means by which their information had really been obtained” (Archæol. xxix. 101).
In this theory I am unable to concur. The arguments by which it is supported seem to me to be weak, and there are difficulties in the way of its reception which appear to be insuperable.
Mr. Jardine’s first argument is that Monteagle ‘received 500l. per annum for his life and 200l. in fee farm rents,’ which he considers to be extravagant over-payment, ‘upon the supposition that the only service he <253>rendered was delivering to the Council an obscure anonymous letter, which he did not understand.’ (Ibid. p. 100.)
Surely, if the letter really was the means of discovering the plot, we can understand that the Government would not have scanned very closely the nature of the means by which they had been saved. Besides, there were additional reasons for valuing Monteagle’s services highly. It soon became probable that several other Catholics had received similar warnings, more or less obscure, and of all these not one, except Monteagle, had mentioned the matter to the Council.
Another argument used by Mr. Jardine, though he acknowledges that it is not entitled to much weight, is, that Monteagle was one of the Commissioners for proroguing Parliament on October 3, though he had not previously been employed on similar occasions. He thinks it probable that James and his Council wished to secure the Commissioners from being blown up on that occasion, by exposing a relative of some of the conspirators to danger.
In the first place the conspirators wanted to blow up the King and the Parliament, and were not likely to stoop to such small game as half a dozen Privy Councillors; in the second place it is admitted that whatever Monteagle knew, he learned from Tresham. But Tresham himself knew nothing of the plot till eleven days after the prorogation.
The only really important argument is drawn from the conduct of the Government towards Tresham. On November 7 questions were put to Fawkes in which the names of certain persons were proposed to him, and he was asked whether they shared in the plot. Among these Tresham’s name occurs. ‘Yet, though a proclamation was issued on that very day against the others, Tresham’s name is not mentioned in it’ (Jardine, Narrative, p. 120). On the 9th, Fawkes expressly mentioned him as an accomplice; yet, although he could have been arrested at any moment, he was not brought before the Council for examination till the 12th.
This certainly would give some weight to Mr. Jardine’s theory, that the Government wanted to spare him, if there were not very strong reasons which make us seek for an explanation in another direction. In the first place, Suffolk’s behaviour on the 4th looks like that of a man who knew <254>nothing more of the plot than what was on the face of the letter. But if it is said that Salisbury alone was behind the scenes, it remains to be shown what conceivable motives he can have had for the part which he is supposed to have acted. Can it be supposed that Tresham brought him information which was so scanty that he was unable to seize the conspirators before their flight from London? This information, too, must have been of such a character that, although Salisbury was able to issue a proclamation for the apprehension of Percy on the 5th, he was unable to name any of the other conspirators till the 7th. If Tresham had really come with such a lame story as it is necessary to suppose — if he really saw Salisbury before the 26th of October — he would immediately have been sent to the Tower, and probably tortured till he consented to reveal the names of his accomplices. It is plain that, with the exception of the names of Percy and Fawkes, not a single name was known to the Government till the 7th. And yet, it is for this that Tresham was to be so highly favoured. It is obvious that whoever invented the scheme of the letter did so with a view to the escape of the conspirators. Salisbury was accused by his contemporaries of inventing the whole plot, with a view to gain favour by his supposed cleverness in detecting it. Absurd as this charge was, it is hardly more absurd than a theory which makes him to be the inventor of a scheme which was admirably adapted to enable the conspirators to escape, and by which he did not even succeed in discovering their names.
On the other hand, the suspicious circumstances are capable of an explanation. The information of the names must have reached the Government on the 7th, or late on the 6th. Perhaps Monteagle gave them up when the whole plot had broken down. Perhaps they were learned from some other source.
At first, the Government would be unwilling to arrest Tresham, as being Monteagle’s brother-in-law. He had not taken flight, and they knew that they could have him when they wanted him. When the news came that so manv of the plotters had been killed, Tresham’s evidence became important, and he was accordingly sent for on the 12th. When he was dead, the Government may have thought it better to allow him to be attainted with the others. They must have suspected that Monteagle knew more of the plot than he had avowed, and they may have thought that to except his brother-in-law from the attainder would expose him to suspicion.
There is in Add. MSS. 19,402, fol. 143, a curious letter of Monteagle’s, written to assure the King of his desire to become a Protestant. It is undated, but it would hardly have been without reference to the plot, if it had been written subsequently to 1605.
[331] Declaration of Tresham, Nov. 13, S. P. Dom. xvi. 33. Confession of T. Winter, Nov. 23, G. P. B. Jardine, Narrative, p. 96, from Greenway’s MS.
A Calendar of the proceedings of these days may be useful:—
Sat. Oct. 26 | Monteagle receives the letter. |
Sun. ,, 27 | Ward informs Winter. |
Mon. ,, 28 | Winter informs Catesby. |
Tu. ,, 29 | |
Wed. ,, 30 | Tresham returns. Fawkes examines the cellar. |
Th. ,, 31 | Winter summons Tresham. |
Fri. Nov. 1 | Meeting of Tresham with Catesby and Winter. |
Sat. ,, 2 | Winter meets Tresham at Lincoln’s Inn. |
Sun. ,, 3 | Meeting behind St. Clement’s. |
Mon. ,, 4 | Percy goes to Sion. Fawkes taken. |
Tu. ,, 5 | Flight of the conspirators. |
Wed. ,, 6 | Arrival at Huddington at 2 p.m. |
Th. ,, 7 | Arrival at Holbeche at 10 p.m. |
Fri. ,, 8 | Capture at Holbeche. |
[332] Declaration of Fawkes, Nov. 16, 1605, G. P. B.
[333] Rokewood’s Examination, Dec. 2, 1605, G. P. B. Examination of R. Rooks and Elizabeth More, Nov. 5, 1605, S. P. Dom. xvi. 11, 13.
[334] Examination of J. Fowes. Enclosed in a letter of the Sheriff and Justices of Warwickshire to those of Worcestershire, Nov. 6, G. P. B.
[335] Examination of Francis Grant. Enclosed in a letter of the Sheriff of Warwickshire to Salisbury, Nov. 7, G. P. B. Examination of R. Higgins, enclosed in a letter of the Justices of Warwickshire to Salisbury, Nov. 12, G. P. B. Examination of R. Jackson, enclosed in a letter of the Sheriff of Northamptonshire to Salisbury, Nov. 8, S. P. Dom. xvi. 28. R. Winter to the Lords Commissioners, Jan. 21, 1606, G. P. B.
[336] Examination of Sir E. Digby, Nov. 19, 1605, S. P. Dom. xvi. 94.
[337] Examination of Garnet, March 12, 1606, S. P. Dom. xix. 40.
[338] Examination of Gertrude Winter, Nov. 7, G. P. B.
[339] Examination of Bates, Jan. 13, 1606, G. P. B. Declaration of H. Morgan, Jan. 10, G. P. B.
[340] Examination of Oldcorne, March 6, G. P. B.
[341] He was one of those who paid the 20l. fine, as was Throckmorton, the owner of Coughton.
[342] His son succeeded to the earldom on the extinction of the elder branch in 1617.
[343] R. Winter to the Lords Commissioners, Jan. 21, 1606, G. P. B.
[344] Examination of J. Flower and Stephen Kirk, enclosed by Sir E. Leigh to the Council, Nov. 9, G. P. B. Examination of Bates, Dec. 4, G. P. B.
[345] Examination of W. Ellis, Nov. 21, G. P. B.
[346] Examination of J. Talbot, Dec. 4, G. P. B. Examination of T. Winter, Dec. 5, G. P. B.
[347] Confession of T. Winter, Nov. 23, G. P. B. Examination of Bates, Dec. 4, G. P. B. Greenway’s MS. in Tierney’s Dodd. iv. 53.
[348] T. Lawley to Salisbury, Nov. 14, Add. MSS. 5495.