colleague, who, to extricate himself from danger, had probably feigned that which he only feared? His arguments or his authority prevailed. But a change was made in their former arrangements. Fawkes under- Nov. 4. took to keep guard within the cellar; Percy and Winter to superintend the operations in London; Catesby and John Wright departed for the general rendezvous in Warwickshire. ' Towards evening the lord chamberlain, whose duty it was to ascertain that the necessary preparations had been made for the opening of the session, visited the parliament house, and in company with lord Mounteagle entered the cellar. Casting around an apparently careless glance, he inquired by whom it was occupied ; and then fixing his eye upon Fawkes, who was present under the designation of Percy's servant, observed that his master had laid in an abundant provision of fuel. This warning was lost on the determined mind of the conspirator. Though he saw and heard all that passed, he was so fixed on his ruthless purpose, that he resolved to remain to the last moment; and having acquainted Percy with the circumstance, returned to his post, with a determination on the first appearance of danger to fire the mine, and perish in the company of his enemies. About two in the morning (the reader will observe that this was the fifth of November, the day appointed for the commencement of the session), Fawkes had occasion to open the door of the vault; and at the very moment was seized by sir Thomas Knevett and a party of soldiers. He was dressed and booted as for a journey-three matches were found in his pockets and Appre- hension of His resolu tiou. His accomplices flee. in a corner behind the door was concealed a dark lanthorn containing a light. The search immediately began; and, on the removal of the fuel, were discovered two hogsheads and thirty-two barrels of gunpowder. 1 : By four o'clock the king and council had assembled to interrogate the prisoner. Fawkes stood before them collected and undaunted : his replies, though delivered in respectful language, gave no clue to the discovery of his associates. His name he said was Johnson →→→ his master Percy whether he had or had not accomplices, should never be known from him: his object was to destroy the parliament, as the sole means of putting an end to religious persecution. More than this he refused to disclose, though he was repeatedly examined in the presence of the king. During the intervals, he bore without shrinking the inquisitive gaze of the courtiers and answered all their questions in a tone of sarcasm and defiance. A Scottish nobleman asked him for what end he had collected so many barrels of gunpowder : « To blow the Scottish beggars back to their native mountains; » was the reply. James pronounced him the English Scævola. 2 In the Tower, though orders were given that he should be racked to extremity, his resolution was not to be subdued; nor did he consent to make any disclosure, till his associates had announced themselves by appearing in arms. 3 They, the moment they heard of his apprehension, had mounted their horses, and on p. I Winwood, ii. 171, 172. Gunpowder Treason, 32-37. 2 James's Works, apud Howell, ii. 201. Birch's Negociations, 3 239. The gentler tortures are to be first used unto him, et sic per Nov. 6. the same evening reached the hunting party at Dunchurch. There was something mysterious in their sudden arrival, in their dejected appearance, and in their long and serious consultation with sir Everard Digby. Before morning a whisper of disappointed treason was circulated the guests gradually took their leave and three only remained to share the desperate fate of their friends. The seizure of the princess Elizabeth was no longer an object: they traversed in haste the counties of Warwick and Worcester, to Holbeach, the residence of Stephen Littleton, one of their new associates. To their dismay every catholic from whom they solicited aid on the road, shut his doors against them while the sheriffs of each county followed, though at a respectful distance, with an armed force'. At Holbeach house they resolved to turn on their pursuers. Though they could not muster, with the addition of their servants, more than eighty men, yet well horsed and well armed, they believed themselves a match for the tumultuary host of their adversaries : and a victory in such circumstances would probably add to their numbers, would certainly allow time to provide for their safety. But on the fourth morning after Are all slain the discovery of the plot, during their preparation for battle, a spark of fire accidentally fell amongt he powder. Catesby and some of his accomplices were severely burnt and the majority of their followers took advan « : gradus ad ima tendatur. » James's Instructions, Nov. 6, in the State Paper Office. I Greenway, 70. They took this route in expectation that Mr. Talbot would join them, in which case they had no doubt of beating their pursuers or of bringing them to terms. But Talbot refused to see them or to receive any message from them. Digby's letters, 250. or taken. Nov. 8. Prisoners examined. 1606. Jan. 15. tage of the confusion to make their escape. Within an hour the house was surrounded. To a summons from the sheriff, was returned a haughty defiance; not that the inmates cherished the hope of saving their lives, but they sought to avoid the knife of the executioner by provoking the hostility of their pursuers. With this view Catesby, Percy, and the two Wrights, armed with their swords only, exposed themselves in the court to the shot of their assailants, and were all mortally wounded. Thomas Winter, who had accompanied them, retreated into the house; where with Rookwood, Grand, and Keys, who had suffered from the explosion, he was after some resistance made prisoner. Digby, Robert Winter, and Littleton, burst through the ranks of their opponents: but the first was surrounded in a wood; the others were afterwards betrayed by a servant of Mrs. Littleton, a widow in whose house, at Hagley, they had been secreted without her knowledge by her cousin Humphrey Littleton. More than two months intervened between the apprehension and the trial of the conspirators. The ministers had persuaded themselves, or wished to persuade others, that the jesuit missionaries were deeply implicated in the plot. On this account the prisoners were subjected to repeated examinations: every artifice which ingenuity could devise, both promises and threats, the sight of the rack, and occasionally the infliction of torture, were employed, to draw from them some avowal, which might furnish a ground for the charge : and in a proclamation issued for the apprehension of Gerard, Garnet, and Greenway, it was said « to be plain << and evident from the examinations, that all three had been peculiarly practisers in the plot, and therefore « no less pernicious than the actors and counsellors of Trials. Jan. 27. At length the eight prisoners were arraigned. They all pleaded not guilty; not, they wished it to be observed, because they denied their participation in the conspiracy, but because the indictment contained much to which till that day they had been strangers, It was false that the three jesuits had been the authors of the conspiracy, or had ever held consultations with them on the subject: as far as had come to their knowledge, all three were innocent. With respect to themselves they had certainly entertained the design laid to their charge but whatever men might think of the fact, they would maintain that their intention was innocent before God. Some of them had already lost most of their property-all had suffered severely on account of their religion. The king had broken his promise of toleration, and the malice of their enemies daily aggravated their burthens. No means of liberation was left, but that which they had adopted. Their only object was to relieve themselves and their brethren from the cruelty of the persecutors, and to restore a worship which in their consciences they believed to be the true worship of Christ: and for this they had risked, and for this they were ready to sacrifice their fortunes and lives. In reply the earls of Salisbury and Northampton strongly asserted that the king had not broken his faith; and that the promises on which the catholics relied, had been the fictions of designing men in their own body. The prisoners received judgment, and suffered And exethe punishment of traitors, having on the scaffold re cution. Jan. 30. |