Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/68

58 F A W K E S Greenwich, April 22, 1604, and at once went to Catesby. At a meeting soon after they were joined by Thomas Percy, another zealous Romanist, a relative of the earl of Northumberland, and one of the king s pensioners. The plot was propounded and approved of ; all took a solemn oath of secrecy and perseverance, and afterwards received the sacrament from Gerard, a Jesuit, who was in another room. In May a house adjoining the Parliament House was hired in Percy s name, from the cellars of which the conspirators proposed to work a mine. Having, however, with great labour worked about half-way through the nine feet of stona which composed the wall, they discovered that a vault, immediately under the House of Lords, was to let, and as this exactly suited their purpose, it was at once en gaged by Fawkes, who, being little known in England, passed as Percy s servant, and took the name of Johnson. Barrels of gunpowder which had been stored in a house at Lambeth were brought over in the night, large stones and bars of iron were placed upon them, and the whole covered with billets of wood, so that no suspicion might be excited in case it was found necessary to admit a stranger. All was prepared about May 1605. The plan of the plot was that after the blow had been given, as most probably the prince of Wales would attend and perish with the king, the duke (Charles) was to be seized and carried into the country if possible ; or otherwise possession was to be obtained of the person of the Princess Elizabeth, who was then at Combe Abbey in Warwickshire, and a rising was to be prepared among the Catholics of the midland counties. Fawkes was to fire the train, and then to get over as quickly as possible into Flanders in a ship prepared for his passage. After being several times prorogued, parliament was to meet on the 5th of November. During the progress of the preparations many other gentlemen, Robert Winter, Christopher Wright, Keyes, Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby, and Francis Tresham, had been sworn in by Catesby to assist with labour or money. In the interval between the completion of the pre parations and the opening of parliament, Fawkes was sent into Flanders to acquaint Stanley and Owen the Jesuit with the plot, arid to secure their co-operation after the event of the explosion. A great cause of disagreement among the conspirators was the fact that the Catholic lords and members ef parliament would bo destroyed in a common catastrophe with those whom the plot was specially intended to strike. That the Catholics should somehow be warned there was general agreement, but not as to the method in which the warning should be given. This dis agreement no doubt caused the failure of the whole trans action. Ten days before the opening of parliament, Lord Monteagle, a Catholic and a friend of several of tho con- .spirators, received an anonymous letter giving him a warn ing, couched in ambiguous terms, not to attend the opening, for " they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament." It is not known who wrote the letter. Tresham was, and is, generally suspected ; but when Catesby accused him of it, he vehemently and with oaths denied all knowledge of the matter. Something in the character of the letter and of the attendant circumstances seems to render it probable that the whole thing was prepared beforehand to quash the plot, but in such a manner that the Government should not be fully alive to the danger until the conspirators had had time to escape. It has also been suggested that the whole plot itself was got up by Cecil, and was nothing but a state trick. However, Monteagle at once took this letter to Salisbury, who communicated it to the king, directly his Majesty returned from Royston, where he had been hunt ing, and it seems to have been at once decided that every precaution should be taken. Winter received warning that all was discovered. Tresham also warned Catesby and tho others that all was known, and passionately desired them to make good their escape to foreign lands. They, how ever, determined to await further events, and Fawkes especially stuck to his post in the vault with that coolness of courage which seems to have been one of his chief char acteristics. The Lord Chamberlain, on the 4th November, going over the Parliament House to see that all was prepared for the morrow, visited the vault, and there saw this " very tall and desperate fellow," who, together with the large quantity of fuel, exciting suspicions which he communicated to the king, it was decided that a more strict search should be made. Sir Thomas Knevet, a Westminster magistrate, was ordered to direct this search, and going down to the house suddenly, just before midnight, he came upon Fawkes just stepping out of the door. The 36 barrels of powder were discovered ; Fawkes was seized, bound with his own garters, and searched. Upon him were found a watch, a tinder box, and some touchwood. He at once avowed his purpose, and said that if he had been within the house when taken he would have blown up house, takers, himself, and all. He was taken to Whitehall and examined before the king. Answering all questions with careless sarcastic indifference, he would say nothing to implicate his confederates. Tho other conspirators fled into the country to Dunchurch, where a meeting of the Catholic gentry had been convened under pretence of a hunting party. In the hue and cry which followed, all were either killed or taken. Fawkes and the others were repeatedly examined, and torture was, no doubt, in his case used to break the wonderful will and nerve of the man. On 27th January 1606 the trial took place. All were condemned to be drawn, hanged, and quartered. On Thursday the 30th, Digby, R. Winter, Grant, and Bates (Catesby s servant) suffered in St Paul s churchyard ; the next day, T. Winter, Rookwood, Keyes, and Fawkes, at Westminster. So all yet alive who, from belief in the cause or from love of Catesby, had joined his outrageous plot ascended the scaffold, Fawkes last ; "his body being weak with torture and sickness, he was scarce able to go up the ladder." He " made no long speech, but after a sort seeming sorry for his offence, asked a kind of forgiveness of the king and the state for his bloody intent," and so died. Jesuit evidence describes Fawkes as a man "of great piety, of exemplary temperance, of mild and cheerful demeanour, an enemy of broils and disputes, a faithful friend," and asserts that his society was sought by all the most distinguished in the archduke s camp for nobility and virtue. There seems to be no doubt that he had qualities which under a different rule would have carried him to honour instead of to ignominy. There is something in tho whole character of his actions and undertakings in this plot which seems to imply absolute self-renunciation for the cause believed to be just. But nothing could possibly have been more disastrous to the interest of the Catholics of England. The stringency of tho laws against recusants was greatly increased, and their observance more severely exacted. The 5th November was ordered to be kept as a day of thanksgiving for ever, by an Act which was not re pealed for over two centuries. The festivities which were long common on what is called Guy Fawkes s day are now perhaps dying out. The custom was to dress up an absurd figure in rags with a tall cap and a lantern, to parade with this through the streets singing rhymes, and finally at night to burn the effigy. This holocaust was in some places an important annual ceremony, presided over by the local officials. The question as to the part taken by the Jesuits in tho Gunpowder Plot has been a much debated one. There seems to be no doubt that Garnet, the superior of tho