What was the Gunpowder Plot? Part 4

[82] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 17.

[83] Gardiner, _Hist._ i. 84.

[84] Trial of Father Garnet (Cobbett's _State Trials_, ii. 243).

[85] Camden, the historian, to Sir R. Cotton, March 15th, 1596. (Birch, _Original Letters_, 2nd series, iii. p. 179.) Various writers erroneously suppose this transaction to have occurred in March, 1603, on occasion of Elizabeth's last illness. The correct date, 1596, given by Sir Henry Ellis, is supplied by a statement contained in the letter, that this was her Majesty's "climacterick year," that is, her sixty-third, this number, as the multiple of the potent factors seven and nine, being held of prime importance in human life. Elizabeth was born in 1533.

From Garnet's examination of March 14th, 1605-6 (_Dom. James I._ xix.

44), we learn that Catesby was at large at the time of the queen's demise.

For Cecil's description of the men, see Winwood's _Memorials_, ii. 172.

[86] Catesby purchased his life for a fine of 4,000 marks, and Tresham of 3,000. Mr. Jessopp says that the former sum is equivalent at least to 30,000 at the present day. (_Dict. Nat. Biog., Catesby_.)

[87] But see Appendix D, _The Spanish Treason_.

[88] Father Gerard says of him that "he paid them [the pursuivants] so well for their labour not with crowns of gold, but with cracked crowns sometimes, and with dry blows instead of drink and other good cheer, that they durst not visit him any more unless they brought store of help with them." (_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_, p. 86.)

[89] _Ibid._, p. 57.

[90] _Catholique Apology_, p. 403.

[91] _E.g._, by Mr. Talbot of Grafton, father-in-law of Robert Winter, who drove their envoys away with threats and reproaches (Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 112), and by Sir Robert Digby, of Coles.h.i.+ll, cousin to Sir Everard, who a.s.sisted in taking prisoners. (R.O. _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 42.)

[92] _History_, i. 263.

[93] _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 151.

[94] _Ibid._, p. 38.

[95] _Life of a Conspirator, by one of his Descendants_, p. 150.

[96] _English Protestants' Plea and Pet.i.tion for English Priests and Papists._ The author of this book (published 1621) describes himself as a priest who has been for many years on the English mission. His t.i.tle indicates that he draws his arguments from Protestant sources.

[97] P. 56.

[98] November 25th, 1605, _Stowe MSS._ 168, 61.

CHAPTER III.

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.

From the beginning the government itself antic.i.p.ated this, as is evidenced by the careful and elaborate account of the whole affair drawn up on the 7th of November, 1605--two days after the "discovery"--seemingly for the benefit of the Privy Council.[99] This important doc.u.ment, which is in the handwriting of Levinus Munck, Cecil's secretary, with numerous and significant emendations from the hand of Cecil himself, speaks, amongst other things, of the need of circ.u.mspection, "considering how apt the world is nowadays to think all providence and intelligences to be but practices." The result did not falsify the expectation. Within five weeks we find a letter written from London to a correspondent abroad,[100] wherein it is said: "Those that have practical experience of the way in which things are done, hold it as certain that there has been foul play, and that some of the Council secretly spun the web to entangle these poor gentlemen, as did Secretary Walsingham in other cases," and it is clear that the writer has but recorded an opinion widely prevalent. To this the government again bear witness, for they found it advisable to issue an official version of the history, in the _True and Perfect Relation_, and the _Discourse of the Manner of the Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot_, the appearance of which was justified expressly on the ground that "there do pa.s.s from hand to hand divers uncertain, untrue, and incoherent reports and relations,"

and that it is very important "for men to understand the birth and growth of the said abominable and detestable conspiracy." The accounts published with this object are, by the common consent of historians, flagrantly untruthful and untrustworthy.[101] We likewise find Secretary Cecil writing to instruct Sir E. c.o.ke, the Attorney-General, as to his conduct of the case against the conspirators, in view of the "lewd" reports current in regard of the manner in which it had been discovered.[102] The same minister, in the curious political manifesto which he issued in connection with the affair,[103] again bears witness to the same effect, when he declares that the papists, after the manner of Nero, were throwing the blame of their crime upon others.

Clearly, however, it was not to the papists alone that such an explanation commended itself. The Puritan Osborne[104] speaks of the manner in which the "discovery" was managed as "a neat device of the Treasurer's, he being very plentiful in such plots." Goodman, Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, another contemporary, is even more explicit. After describing the indignation of the Catholics when they found themselves deceived in their hopes at the hands of James, he goes on: "The great statesman had intelligence of all this, and because he would show his service to the State, he would first contrive and then discover a treason, and the more odious and hateful the treason were, his service would be the greater and the more acceptable."[105] Another notable witness is quoted by the Jesuit Father Martin Grene, in a letter to his brother Christopher, January 1st, 1665-6:[106] "I have heard strange things, which, if ever I can make out, will be very pertinent: for certain, the late Bishop of Armagh, Usher, was divers times heard to say, that if papists knew what he knew, the blame of the Gunpowder Treason would not lie on them." In like manner we find it frequently a.s.serted on the authority of Lord Cobham and others,[107] that King James himself, when he had time to realize the truth of the matter, was in the habit of speaking of the Fifth of November as "Cecil's holiday."

Such a belief must have been widely entertained, otherwise it could not have been handed on, as it was, for generations. It is not too much to say that historians for almost a century and a half, if they did not themselves favour the theory of the government's complicity, at least bore witness how widely that idea prevailed. Thus, to confine ourselves at present to Protestant writers, Sanderson,[108] acknowledging that the secretary was accused of having manipulated the transaction, says no word to indicate that he repudiates such a charge. Welwood[109] is of opinion that Cecil was aware of the Plot long before the "discovery,"

and that the famous letter to Monteagle was "a contrivance of his own."

Oldmixon writes[110] "notwithstanding the general joy, ... there were some who insinuated that the Plot was of the King's own making, or that he was privy to it from first to last." Carte[111] does not believe that James knew anything of it, but considers it "not improbable" that Cecil was better informed. Burnet[112] complains of the impudence of the papists of his day, who denied the conspiracy, and pretended it was an artifice of the minister's "to engage some desperate men into a plot, which he managed so that he could discover it when he pleased."

Fuller[113] bears witness to the general belief, but considers it inconsistent with the well-known piety of King James. Bishop Kennet, in his Fifth of November sermon at St. Paul's, in 1715, talks in a similar strain. So extreme, indeed, does the incredulity and uncertainty appear to have been, that the Puritan Prynne[114] is inclined to suspect Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, of having been engaged in the conspiracy; while one of the furious zealots who followed the lead of t.i.tus Oates, mournfully testified that there were those in his day who looked upon the Powder Treason "as upon a romantic story, or a politic invention, or a State trick," giving no more credence to it than to the histories of the "Grand Cyrus, or Guy of Warwick, or Amadis de Gaul,"--or, as we should now say, Jack the Giant Killer.

The general scope and drift of such suspicions are well indicated by Bevil Higgons, "This impious design," he writes[115] of the Plot, "gave the greatest blow to the Catholic interest in England, by rendering that religion so odious to the people. The common opinion concerning the discovery of the Plot, by a letter to the Lord Mounteagle, has not been universally allowed to be the real truth of the matter, for some have affirmed that this design was first hammered in the forge of Cecil, who intended to have produced this plot in the time of Queen Elizabeth, but prevented by her death he resumed his project in this reign, with a design to have so enraged the nation as to have expelled all Roman Catholics, and confiscated their estates. To this end, by his secret emissaries, he enticed some hot-headed men of that persuasion, who, ignorant whence the design first came, heartily engaged in this execrable Powder Treason.... Though this account should not be true," he continues, "it is certain that the Court of England had notice of this Plot from France and Italy long before the pretended discovery; upon which Cecil ... framed that letter to the Lord Mounteagle, with a design to make the discovery seem the more miraculous, and at the same time magnify the judgment of the king, who by his deep penetration was to have the honour of unravelling so ambiguous and dark a riddle."

It may be added that amongst modern historians who have given special attention to this period, several, though repudiating the notion that Cecil originated the Plot, are strongly of opinion that as to the important episode of the "discovery," the traditional story is a fabrication. Thus, Mr. Brewer[116] declares it to be quite certain that Cecil had previous knowledge of the design, and that the "discovery" was a fraud. Lodge[117] is of the same opinion, and so is the author of the _Annals of England_.[118] Jardine[119] inclines to the belief that the government contrived the letter to Monteagle in order to conceal the means by which their information had in reality been obtained. Mr.

Gardiner, though dismissing the idea as "absurd," acknowledges that his contemporaries accused Cecil of inventing the whole Plot.[120]

So much for the testimony of Protestants. As for those who had to suffer in consequence of the affair, there is no need to multiply testimonies.

Lord Castlemaine tells us[121] that "the Catholics of England, who knew Cecil's ways of acting and their own innocence, suspected him from the beginning, as hundreds still alive can testify." Father Henry More, S.J., a contemporary, speaks to the same effect.[122] Father John Gerard, who was not only a contemporary, but one of those accused of complicity, intimates[123] his utter disbelief of the official narrative concerning the discovery, and his conviction that those who had the scanning of the redoubtable letter were "well able in shorter time and with fewer doubts to decipher a darker riddle and find out a greater secret than that matter was." One Floyde, a spy, testified in 1615[124]

to having frequently heard various Jesuits say, that the government were aware of the Plot several months before they thought fit to "discover"

it.

The Catholic view is expressed with much point and force by an anonymous writer of the eighteenth century:[125] "I shall touch briefly upon a few particulars relating to this Plot, for the happy discovery whereof an anniversary holiday has now been kept for above a hundred years. Is it out of pure grat.i.tude to G.o.d the nation is so particularly devout on this occasion? If so, it is highly commendable: for we ought to thank G.o.d for all things, and therefore I cannot deny but there is all the reason in the world to give him solemn thanks, for that the king and Parliament never were in any danger of being hurt by the Powder Plot....

I am far from denying the Gunpowder Plot. Nay, I believe as firmly that Catesby, with twelve more popish a.s.sociates, had a design to blow up K.

James, as I believe that the father of that same king was effectually blown up by the Earls of Murray, Morton, Bothwell, and others of the Reformed Church of Scotland. However ... I humbly conceive I may say the king and Parliament were in no danger of being hurt by it, and my reason is because they had not less a man than the prime minister of state for their tutelar angel; a person deeply read in politics; who had inherited the double spirit of his predecessor Walsingham, knew all his tricks of legerdemain, and could as seasonably discover plots as contrive them....

This much at least is certain, that the letter written to my Lord Mounteagle, by which the Plot was discovered, had not a fool, but a very wise sophister for its author: for it was so craftily worded, that though it was mysterious enough on the one hand to prevent a full evidence that it was written on purpose to discover the Plot, yet it was clear enough on the other to be understood with the help of a little consideration, as the event soon showed. Indeed, when it was brought to Secretary Cecil, he, poor gentleman, had not penetration enough to understand the meaning of it, and said it was certainly written by a madman. But there, I fear, he wronged himself. For the secretary was no madman. On the contrary, he had too much wit to explain it himself, and was too refined a politician to let slip so favourable an occasion of making his court to the king, who was to have the compliment made him of being the only Solomon wise enough to unfold this dark mystery. Which while his Majesty was doing with a great deal of ease, the secretary was all the while at his elbow admiring and applauding his wonderful sagacity.... So that, in all probability, the same man was the chief underhand contriver and discoverer of the Plot; and the greatest part of the bubbles concerned in it were trapanned into it by one who took sure care that none but themselves should be hurt by it.... But be that as it will, there is no doubt but that they who suffer themselves to be drawn into a plot like fools, deserve to be hanged for it like knaves."

The opinion of Dodd, the historian, has already been indicated, which in another place he thus emphasizes and explains:[126] "Some persons in chief power suspecting the king would be very indulgent to Catholics, several stratagems were made use of to exasperate him against them, and cheris.h.i.+ng the Gunpowder Plot is thought to be a masterpiece in this way."[127]

It would not be difficult to continue similar citations, but enough has now been said to show that it is nothing new to charge the chief minister of James I. with having fostered the conspiracy for his own purposes, or even to have actually set it a-going. It appears perfectly clear that from the first there were not a few, and those not Catholics only, who entertained such a belief, and that the facts of the case are inadequately represented by historians, who imply, like Mr. Jardine, that such a theory was first broached long afterwards, and adopted by Catholics alone.[128]

It is moreover apparent that if in recent times historians have forgotten that such a view was ever held, or consider it too preposterous for serious discussion, this is not because fuller knowledge of the details of the conspiracy have discredited it. The official version of the story has remained in possession of the field, and it has gradually been a.s.sumed that this must substantially be true.

In consequence, as it seems, writers of history, approaching the subject with this conviction, have failed to remark many points suggested even by the doc.u.mentary evidence at our disposal, and still more emphatically by the recorded facts, which cannot but throw grave doubt upon almost every particular of the traditional account, while making it impossible to believe that, as to what is most essential, the Plot was in reality what has for so long been supposed. That long before the "discovery" the Plot must have been, and in fact was, known to the government; that this knowledge was artfully dissimulated, in order to make political capital out of it; that for the same purpose the sensational circ.u.mstances of its discovery were deliberately arranged; and that there are grave reasons for suspecting the beginnings of the desperate enterprise, as well as its catastrophe, to have been dexterously manipulated for State purposes;--such are the conclusions, the evidence for which will now be considered.

FOOTNOTES:

[99] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 129. Printed in _Archaeologia_, xii. 202*.

[100] R.O. _Roman Transcripts_ (Bliss), No. 86, December 10th, 1605 (Italian).

[101] Mr. Jardine writes (_Criminal Trials_, ii. p. 235), "_The True and Perfect Relation_ ... is certainly not deserving of the character which its t.i.tle imports. It is not _true_, because many occurrences on the trial are wilfully misrepresented; and it is not _perfect_, because the whole evidence, and many facts and circ.u.mstances which must have happened, are omitted, and incidents are inserted which could not by possibility have taken place on the occasion. It is obviously a false and imperfect relation of the proceedings; a tale artfully garbled and misrepresented, like many others of the same age, to serve a State purpose, and intended and calculated to mislead the judgment of the world upon the facts of the case." Of the _Discourse_ he speaks in similar terms. (_Ibid._, p. 4.)

[102] R.O. _Dom. James I._ xix. 94. Printed by Jardine, _Criminal Trials_, ii. 120 (note).

[103] _Answere to certaine Scandalous Papers, scattered abroad under colour of a Catholic Admonition._ (Published in January, 1605-6.)

[104] _Traditional Memoirs_, 36. Of this writer Lord Castlemaine says, "He was born before this plot, and was also an inquisitive man, a frequenter of company, of a noted wit, of an excellent family, and as Protestant a one as any in the whole nation."

[105] _Court of King James_ (1839), i. 102.

[106] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglia_, v. 67.