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John Gerard, S.J.
John Gerard, S.J.
The following study of the Gunpowder Plot has grown out of the accidental circumstance that, having undertaken to read a paper before the Historical Research Society, at Archbishop's House, Westminster, as the day on which it was to be read chanced to be the 5th of November, [1] I was asked to take the famous conspiracy for my subject. It was with much reluctance that I agreed to do so, believing, as I then did, that there was absolutely nothing fresh to say upon this topic, that no incident in
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THE STATE OF THE QUESTION.
THE STATE OF THE QUESTION.
On the morning of Tuesday, the 5th of November, 1605, which day was appointed for the opening of a new Parliamentary session, London rang with the news that in the course of the night a diabolical plot had been discovered, by which the king and legislature were to have been destroyed at a blow. In a chamber beneath the House of Lords had been found a great quantity of gunpowder, and with it a man, calling himself John Johnson, who, finding that the game was up, fully acknowledged his intention t
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THE PERSONS CONCERNED.
THE PERSONS CONCERNED.
At the period with which we have to deal the chief minister of James I. was Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, [34] the political heir of his father, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, [35] and of Walsingham, his predecessor in the office of secretary. It is clear that he had inherited from them ideas of statesmanship of the order then in vogue, and from nature, the kind of ability required to put these successfully in practice. Sir Robert Naunton thus describes him: [36] "This great minister of state,
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THE OPINION OF CONTEMPORARIES AND HISTORIANS.
THE OPINION OF CONTEMPORARIES AND HISTORIANS.
We have now for so long a period been accustomed to accept the official story regarding the Gunpowder Plot, that most readers will be surprised to hear that at the time of its occurrence, and for more than a century afterwards, there were, to say the least, many intelligent men who took for granted that in some way or other the actual conspirators were but the dupes and instruments of more crafty men than themselves, and in their mad enterprise unwittingly played the game of ministers of State.
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THE TRADITIONAL STORY.
THE TRADITIONAL STORY.
The history of the Gunpowder Plot prior to its discovery, as related with much circumstantiality by the government of the day, has, in all essential particulars, been accepted without demur by the great majority of modern writers. We have already seen that those who lived nearer to the period in question were less easily convinced; it remains to show that the internal evidence of the story itself is incompatible with its truthfulness. The point upon which everything turns is the secret, and ther
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THE GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT.
THE GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT.
Having followed the history of the plotters and their doings, to the point when everything was ready for action, we have now to inquire what, in the meantime, those were about for whose destruction such notable preparations were making, and whether in truth they were, as we are assured, wrapped in a sense of false security, and altogether unconscious of the signs and tokens that should have awakened their suspicion and alarm. When, by the aid of such evidence as remains to us, we turn to examine
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THE "DISCOVERY."
THE "DISCOVERY."
When the conspirators first undertook their enterprise, Parliament was appointed to meet on February 7th, 1604-5, but, as has been seen, it was subsequently prorogued till October 3rd, and then again till Tuesday, November 5th. On occasion of the October prorogation, the confederates employed Thomas Winter to attend the ceremony in order to learn from the demeanour of the assembled Peers whether any suspicion of their design had suggested this unexpected adjournment. He returned to report that n
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PERCY, CATESBY, AND TRESHAM.
PERCY, CATESBY, AND TRESHAM.
On occasion of a notorious trial in the Star Chamber, in the year 1604, [292] Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, made the significant observation [293] that nothing was to be discovered concerning the Catholics "but by putting some Judas amongst them." That amongst the Powder Plot conspirators there was some one who played such a part, who perhaps even acted as a decoy-duck to lure the others to destruction, has always been suspected, but with sundry differences of opinion as to which of th
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THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE.
THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE.
We have hitherto confined our attention to sources of information other than those with which the authors of the official narrative have supplied us, and upon which they based the same. It remains to inquire how far the evidence presented by them can avail to substantiate the traditional history, and to rebut the various arguments against its authenticity which have been adduced. For brevity and clearness' sake it will be advisable to divide this investigation under several heads. On the thresho
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THE SEQUEL.
THE SEQUEL.
As we have already seen, the Gunpowder Plot formed no exception to the general law observable in conspiracies of its period, proving extremely advantageous to those against whom it was principally directed. No single individual was injured by it except those concerned in it, or accused of being so concerned. On the other hand, it marked an epoch in public policy, and irrevocably committed the king and the nation to a line of action towards Catholics, which up to that time they had hoped, and the
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Sir Everard Digby's letter to Salisbury.
Sir Everard Digby's letter to Salisbury.
It seems to have been always assumed that this celebrated letter, which is undated, was written after the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, and the consequent arrest of Sir Everard, and doubtless to some extent internal evidence supports this view, as the writer speaks of himself as deserving punishment, and of "our offence." It is, moreover, clear that the letter, which is undated, cannot have been written before May 4th, 1605, the date of Cecil's earldom. On the other hand, the whole tone of the
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The Question of Succession.
The Question of Succession.
Father Parsons' well-known book on this subject, written under the pseudonym of Doleman, was denounced by Sir Edward Coke as containing innumerable treasons and falsehoods. In fact, as may be seen in the work itself, it is an exhaustive and careful statement of the descent of each of the possible claimants, and of other considerations which must enter into the settlement. Sir Francis Inglefield wrote that it was necessary to take some step of this kind, to set men thinking on so important a ques
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The Spanish Treason.
The Spanish Treason.
The history of the alleged treasonable negotiations with Spain, conducted by various persons whose names were afterwards connected with the Gunpowder Plot, appears open to the gravest doubt and suspicion. It would be out of place to discuss the question here, but two articles on the subject, by the present writer, will be found in the Month for May and June, 1896....
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Site of Percy's lodging [see View, p. 56, and Plan, p. 59.]
Site of Percy's lodging [see View, p. 56, and Plan, p. 59.]
That the lodging hired by Percy stood near the south-east corner of the old House of Lords ( i.e . nearer to the river than that building, and adjacent to, if not adjoining, the Prince's Chamber) is shown by the following arguments. [It has always been understood that Percy's house stood at the south end of the House of Lords, but Smith ( Antiquities of Westminster , p. 39) places it to the south-west instead of the south-east, saying that it stood on the site of what was afterwards the Ordnance
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Enrolment of Conspirators.
Enrolment of Conspirators.
The evidence on this point is most contradictory. 1. The Indictment, on the trial of the conspirators, mentions the following dates. May 20th, 1604. [Besides Garnet, Greenway, Gerard, "and other Jesuits,"] there met together T. Winter, Faukes, Keyes, Bates, Catesby, Percy, the two Wrights, and Tresham, by whom the Plot was approved and undertaken. March 31st, 1605 , R. Winter, Grant, and Rokewood were enlisted. [No mention is made of Digby, who was separately arraigned, nor in his arraignment is
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Henry Wright the Informer.
Henry Wright the Informer.
1. Letter to Sir T. Challoner, April, 1604. [ Gunpowder Plot Book , n. 236.] Good Sir Thomas, I am as eager for setting of the lodgings as you can be, and in truth whereas we desired but twenty, the discoverer had set and (if we accept it) can set above three score, but I told him that the State would take it for good service if he set twenty of the most principal Jesuits and seminary priests, and therewithal I gave him thirteen or fourteen names picked out of his own notes, among the which five
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Lord Monteagle to King James, (British Museum MSS. Add. 19402, f. 146.)
Lord Monteagle to King James, (British Museum MSS. Add. 19402, f. 146.)
" Most gracious Soveraine.—Your maiestyes tender and fatherly love over me, In admonishinge me heartofore, to seake resolution In matter of religion, geves me both occasion, and Incouragement, as humbly to thanke your maiestye for this care of my soules good, so to crave leave of gevinge into your maiestyes hand this accompt, that your wisdome, seinge the course and end of my proceadinges, might rest assured that by the healp of god, I will [live and] dye, In that religion which I have nowe reso
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Epitaph in St. Anne's, Aldersgate. [Maitland, London (1756), p. 1065.]
Epitaph in St. Anne's, Aldersgate. [Maitland, London (1756), p. 1065.]
" Peter Heiwood , younger son of Peter Heiwood , one of the Counsellors of Jamaica , ... Great Grandson to Peter Heiwood of Heywood in the County Palestine of Lancaster ; who apprehended Guy Faux with his dark Lanthorn; and for his zealous prosecution of Papists, as Justice of Peace, was stabbed in Westminster-Hall by John James , a Dominican Friar, An. Dom. 1640. Obiit Novem. 2. 1701 . Reader, if not a Papist bred Upon such Ashes gently tread." It is to be presumed that the person who died in 1
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The Use of Torture.
The Use of Torture.
There can be no doubt that torture was freely employed to extract evidence from the conspirators and others who fell into the hands of the government. The Earl of Salisbury, in his letter to Favat, of December 4th, 1605, clearly intimates that this was the case, when he complains "most of the prisoners have wilfully forsworn that the priests knew anything in particular, and obstinately refuse to be accusers of them, yea, what torture soever they be put to ." About the middle of November, Lord Du
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Myths and Legends of the Powder Plot.
Myths and Legends of the Powder Plot.
Around the Gunpowder Plot has gathered a mass of fabulous embellishment too curious to be passed over in silence. This has chiefly attached itself to Guy Faukes, who, on account of the desperate part allotted to him has impressed the public mind far more than any of his associates, and has come to be erroneously regarded as the moving spirit of the enterprise. One of the best authenticated facts regarding him is that when apprehended he was booted and spurred for a journey, though it is usually
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Sir William Waad's Memorial Inscriptions.
Sir William Waad's Memorial Inscriptions.
In a room of the Queen's House in the Tower, in which the conspirators are supposed to have been examined by the Lords of the Council, Sir William Waad has left a series of inscriptions as memorials of the events in which he played so large a part. Of these the most noteworthy are the following: I. Jacobus Magnus, Magnæ Britanniæ rex, pietate, justitia, prudentia, doctrina, fortitudine, clementia, ceterisq. virtutibus regiis clariss'; Christianæ fidei, salutis publicæ, pacis universalis propugna
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The Published Confession of Guy Faukes. A. The draft, November 8th, 1605 (G.P.B. 49).
The Published Confession of Guy Faukes. A. The draft, November 8th, 1605 (G.P.B. 49).
* * * Passages between square brackets have been cancelled. Those marked * have been ticked off for omission....
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The Confession of Guy Fawkes, taken the 8 of November, 1605.
The Confession of Guy Fawkes, taken the 8 of November, 1605.
He confesseth that a Practise in generall was first broken unto him, agaynst his Majesty, for the Catholique cause, and not invented or propounded by himself, and this was first propounded unto him about Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the seas in the Low countreyes, by an English Lay-man, and that English man came over with him in his company into England, and they tow and three more weare the first five mencioned in the former examination. And they five resolving to do some thinge for the
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The Published Confession of Guy Faukes. B. As signed by Faukes, November 17th, 1605 (G.P.B. 101).
The Published Confession of Guy Faukes. B. As signed by Faukes, November 17th, 1605 (G.P.B. 101).
* * * Square brackets indicate an erasure. Italics an addition or substitution. The [deposition] declaration of Guy Fawkes prisonner in the Tower of London taken the 17 of Nov. 1605, acknowledged before the Lords Commissioners. [468] A. I confesse that a practise in generall was first broken unto me against his Majestie, for releife of the Catholique cause, and not invented or propounded by my self. And this was first propounded unto me about Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the Seas, in the
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