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, and the staff of the Queen's declining
age, though his little crooked person[37] could not provide any great
supportation, yet it carried thereon a head and a headpiece of vast
content, and therein, it seems, nature was so diligent to complete one,
and the best, part about him, as that to the perfection of his memory
and intellectuals, she took care also of his senses, and to put him in
_Lynceos oculos_, or to pleasure him the more, borrowed of Argus, so to
give him a perfective sight. And for the rest of his sensitive virtues,
his predecessor had left him a receipt, to smell out what was done in
the Conclave; and his good old father was so well seen in the
mathematicks, as that he could tell you throughout Spain, every part,
every ship, with their burthens, whither bound, what preparation, what
impediments for diversion of enterprises, counsels, and resolutions."
The writer then proceeds to give a striking instance to show "how
docible was this little man."
Of his character, as estimated by competent judges, his contemporaries,
we have very different accounts. Mr. Gardiner, who may fairly be chosen
to represent his apologists, speaks thus:[38]
"Although there are circumstances in his life which tell against him, it
is difficult to read the whole of the letters and documents which have
come down to us from his pen, without becoming gradually convinced of
his honesty of intention. It cannot be denied that he was satisfied with
the ordinary morality of his time, and that he thought it no shame to
keep a State secret or to discover a plot by means of a falsehood. If he
grasped at power as one who took pleasure in the exercise of it, he used
it for what he regarded as the true interests of his king and country.
Nor are we left to his own acts and words as the only means by which we
are enabled to form a judgment of his character. Of all the statesmen of
the day, not one has left a more blameless character than the Earl of
Dorset. Dorset took the opportunity of leaving upon record in his will,
which would not be read till he had no longer injury or favour to expect
in this world, the very high admiration in which his colleague was held
by him."
This, it must be allowed, is a somewhat facile species of argument.
Though wills are not formally opened until after the testators' deaths,
it is not impossible for their contents to be previously communicated to
others, when there is an object for so doing.[39] But, however this may
be, it can scarcely be said that the weight of evidence tends in this
direction. Not to mention the fact that, while enjoying the entire
confidence of Queen Elizabeth, Cecil was engaged in a secret
correspondence with King James, which she would have regarded as
treasonable--and which he so carefully concealed that for a century
afterwards and more it was not suspected--there remains the other
indubitable fact, that while similarly trusted by James, and while all
affairs of State were entirely in his hands, he was in receipt of a
secret pension from the King of Spain,[40] the very monarch any
communication with whom he treated as treason on the part of others.[41]
It is certain that the Earl of Essex, when on his trial, asserted that
Cecil had declared the Spanish Infanta to be the rightful heir to the
crown, and though the secretary vehemently denied the imputation, he
equally repudiated the notion that he favoured the King of Scots.[42] We
know, moreover, that one who as Spanish Ambassador had dealings with
him, pronounced him to be a venal traitor, who was ready to sell his
soul for money,[43] while another intimated[44] that it was in his
power to have charged him with "unwarrantable practices." Similarly, we
hear from the French minister of the ingrained habit of falsehood which
made it impossible for the English secretary to speak the truth even to
friends;[45] and, from the French Ambassador, of the resolution imputed
to the same statesman, to remove from his path every rival who seemed
likely to jeopardize his tenure of power.[46]
What was the opinion of his own countrymen, appeared with startling
emphasis when, in 1612, the Earl died. On May 22nd we find the Earl of
Northampton writing to Rochester that the "little man" is dead, "for
which so many rejoice, and so few even seem to be sorry."[47] Five days
later, Chamberlain, writing[48] to his friend Dudley Carleton, to
announce the same event, thus expresses himself: "As the case stands it
was best that he gave over the world, for they say his friends fell from
him apace, and some near about him, and however he had fared with his
health, it is verily thought he would never have been himself again in
power and credit. I never knew so great a man so soon and so openly
censured, for men's tongues walk very liberally and freely, but how
truly I cannot judge." On June 25th he again reports: "The outrageous
speeches against the deceased Lord continue still, and there be fresh
libels come out every day, and I doubt his actions will be hardly
censured in the next parliament, if the King be not the more gracious to
repress them." Moreover, his funeral was attended by few or none of the
gentry, and those only were present whose official position compelled
them. His own opinion Chamberlain expresses in two epigrams and an
anagram, which, although of small literary merit, contrive clearly to
express the most undisguised animosity and contempt for the late
minister.[49]
There is abundant proof that such sentiments were not first entertained
when he had passed away, though, naturally, they were less openly
expressed when he was alive and practically all powerful. Cecil seems,
in fact, to have been throughout his career a lonely man, with no real
friends and many enemies, desperately fighting for his own hand, and for
the retention of that power which he prized above all else, aspiring, as
a contemporary satirist puts it, to be "both shepherd and dog."[50]
Since the accession of James he had felt his tenure of office to be
insecure. Goodman tells us[51] that "it is certain the king did not love
him;" Osborne,[52] "that he had forfeited the love of the people by the
hate he expressed to their darling Essex, and the desire he had to
render justice and prerogative arbitrary."[53] Sir Anthony Weldon speaks
of him[54] as "Sir Robert Cecil, a very wise man, but much hated in
England by reason of the fresh bleeding of that universally beloved Earl
of Essex, and for that clouded also in the king's favour." De la
Boderie, the French Ambassador, tells us[55] that the nobility were
exceedingly jealous of his dignity and power, and[56] that he in his
turn was jealous of the growing influence of Prince Henry, the heir
apparent, who made no secret of his dislike of him. Meanwhile there were
rivals who, it seemed not improbable, might supplant him. One of these,
Sir Walter Raleigh, had already been rendered harmless on account of his
connection with the "Main," the mysterious conspiracy which inaugurated
the reign of James. There remained the Earl of Northumberland, and it
may be remarked in passing that one of the effects of the Gunpowder Plot
was to dispose of him likewise.[57] Even the apologists of the minister
do not attempt to deny either the fact that he was accustomed to work by
stratagems and disguises, nor the obloquy that followed on his
death;[58] while by friends and foes alike he was compared to Ulysses of
many wiles.[59]
But amongst those whom he had to dread, there can be no doubt that the
members of the Catholic party appeared to the secretary the most
formidable. It was known on all hands, nor did he attempt to disguise
the fact, that he was the irreconcilable opponent of any remission of
the penal laws enacted for the purpose of stamping out the old
faith.[60] The work, however, had as yet been very incompletely done. At
the beginning of the reign of King James, the Catholics formed at least
a half, probably a majority,[61] of the English people. There were
amongst them many noblemen, fitted to hold offices of State. Moreover,
the king, who before his accession had unquestionably assured the
Catholics at least of toleration,[62] showed at his first coming a
manifest disposition to relieve them from the grievous persecution under
which they had groaned so long.[63] He remitted a large part of the
fines which had so grievously pressed upon all recusants, declaring that
he would not make merchandise of conscience, nor set a price upon
faith;[64] he invited to his presence leading Catholics from various
parts of the country, assuring them, and bidding them assure their
co-religionists, of his gracious intentions in their regard;[65] titles
of honour and lucrative employments were bestowed on some of their
number;[66] one professed Catholic, Henry Howard, presently created Earl
of Northampton, being enrolled in the Privy Council; and in the first
speech which he addressed to his Parliament James declared that, as to
the papists, he had no desire to persecute them, especially those of the
laity who would be quiet.[67] The immediate effect of this milder
policy was to afford evidence of the real strength of the Catholics,
many now openly declaring themselves who had previously conformed to the
State church. In the diocese of Chester alone the number of Catholics
was increased by a thousand.[68]
It is scarcely to be wondered at that men who were familiar with the
political methods of the age should see in all this a motive sufficient
to explain a great stroke for the destruction of those who appeared to
be so formidable, devised by such a minister as was then in power, "the
statesman," writes Lord Castlemaine,[69] "who bore (as everybody knew) a
particular hatred to all of our profession, and this increased to hear
his Majesty speak a little in his first speech to the two Houses against
persecution of papists, whereas there had been nothing within those
walls but invectives and defamations for above forty years together."
This much is certain, that, whatever its origin, the Gunpowder Plot
immensely increased Cecil's influence and power, and, for a time, even
his popularity, assuring the success of that anti-Catholic policy with
which he was identified.[70]
Of no less importance is it to understand the position of the Catholic
body, and the character of the particular Catholics who engaged in this
enterprise. We have seen with what hopes the advent of King James had
been hailed by those who had suffered so much for his mother's sake, and
who interpreted in a too sanguine and trustful spirit his own words and
deeds. Their dream of enjoying even toleration at his hands was soon
rudely dispelled. After giving them the briefest of respites, the
monarch, under the influence, as all believed, of his council, and
especially of his chief minister,[71] suddenly reversed his line of
action and persecuted his Catholic subjects more cruelly than had his
predecessor, calling up the arrears of fines which they fancied had been
altogether remitted, ruining many in the process who had hitherto
contrived to pay their way,[72] and adding to the sense of injury which
such a course necessarily provoked by farming out wealthy recusants to
needy courtiers, "to make their profit of," in particular to the Scots
who had followed their royal master across the border. Soon it was
announced that the king would have blood; all priests were ordered to
leave the realm under pain of death, and the searches for them became
more frequent and violent than ever. In no long time, as Goodman tells
us,[73] "a gentlewoman was hanged only for relieving and harbouring a
priest; a citizen was hanged only for being reconciled to the Church of
Rome; besides the penal laws were such and so executed that they could
not subsist." Father Gerard says:[74] "This being known to Catholics, it
is easy to be seen how first their hopes were turned into fears, and
then their fears into full knowledge that all the contrary to that they
had hoped was intended and prepared for them", and, as one of the victims
of these proceedings wrote, "the times of Elizabeth, although most
cruel, were the mildest and happiest in comparison with those of King
James."[75]
In such circumstances, the Catholic body being so numerous as it was, it
is not to be wondered at that individuals should be found, who, smarting
under their injuries, and indignant at the bad faith of which they
considered themselves the dupes, looked to violent remedies for relief,
and might without difficulty be worked upon to that effect. Their case
seemed far more hopeless than ever. Queen Elizabeth's quarrel with Rome
had been in a great degree personal; and moreover, as she had no direct
heir, it was confidently anticipated that the demise of the crown would
introduce a new era. King James's proceedings, on the other hand, seemed
to indicate a deliberate policy which there was no prospect of
reversing, especially as his eldest son, should he prove true to his
promise, might be expected to do that zealously, and of himself, which
his father was held to do under the constraint of others.[76] As Sir
Everard Digby warned Cecil, in the remarkable letter which he addressed
to him on the subject:[77] "If your Lordship and the State think fit to
deal severely with the Catholics, within brief space there will be
massacres, rebellions, and desperate attempts against the King and the
State. For it is a general received reason among Catholics, that there
is not that expecting and suffering course now to be run that was in the
Queen's time, who was the last of her line, and last in expectance to
run violent courses against Catholics; for then it was hoped that the
King that now is, would have been at least free from persecuting, as his
promise was before his coming into this realm, and as divers his
promises have been since his coming. All these promises every man sees
broken."[78]
It must likewise be remembered that if stratagems and "practices" were
the recognized weapons of ministers, turbulence and arms were, at this
period, the familiar, and indeed the only, resource of those in
opposition, nor did any stigma attach to their employment unless taken
up on the losing side. Not a little of this kind of thing had been done
on behalf of James himself. As is well known, he succeeded to the throne
by a title upon which he could not have recovered at law an acre of
land.[79] Elizabeth had so absolutely forbidden all discussion of the
question of the succession as to leave it in a state of utter
confusion.[80] There were more than a dozen possible competitors, and
amongst these the claim of the King of Scots was technically not the
strongest, for though nearest in blood his claims had been barred by a
special Act of Parliament, excluding the Scottish line. As Professor
Thorold Rogers says, "For a year after his accession James, if Acts of
Parliament are to go for anything, was not legally King."[81]
Nevertheless the cause of James was vigorously taken up in all
directions, and promoted by means which might well have been styled
treason against the authority of Parliament. Thus, old Sir Thomas
Tresham, father of Francis Tresham, the Gunpowder Conspirator, who had
been an eminent sufferer for his religion, at considerable personal
risk, and against much resistance on the part of the local magistrates
and the populace, publicly proclaimed the new king at Northampton, while
Francis Tresham himself and his brother Lewis, with Lord Monteagle,
their brother-in-law, supported the Earl of Southampton in holding the
Tower of London on his behalf.[82] In London indeed everybody took to
arms as soon as the queen's illness had been known; watch and ward were
kept in the City; rich men brought their plate and treasure from the
country, and placed them where they would be safest,[83] and the
approaches were guarded. Cecil himself related in open court, in praise
of the Londoners, how, when he himself, attended by most of the peers
and privy councillors of the kingdom, wished to enter the City to
proclaim the new sovereign, they found the gates closed against them
till they had publicly declared that they were about to proclaim James
and no one else.[84]
In times when statesmen could approve such methods of political action,
it was inevitable that violent enterprises should have come to be
considered the natural resource of those out of power, and it is very
clear that there were numerous individuals, of whom no one party had the
monopoly, who were ready at any moment to risk everything for the cause
they served, and such men, although their proclivities were well known,
did not suffer much in public esteem.
The Gunpowder Conspirators were eminently men of this stamp, and
notoriously so. So well was their character known, that when, in 1596,
eight years before the commencement of the Plot, Queen Elizabeth had
been unwell, the Lords of the Council, as a precautionary measure
arrested some of the principal amongst them, Catesby, the two Wrights,
Tresham, and others, as being persons who would certainly give trouble
should a chance occur.[85] Since that time they had not improved their
record. All those above-named, as well as Thomas Winter, Christopher
Wright, Percy, Grant, and perhaps others, had been engaged in the
ill-starred rebellion of Essex, on which occasion Catesby was wounded,
and both he and Tresham came remarkably near being hanged.[86] They had
likewise been variously implicated in all the seditious attempts which
had since been made--Catesby and Tresham being named by Sir Edward Coke
as being engaged with Watson in the "Bye." Thomas Winter, Christopher
Wright, and Faukes, had, if we may believe the same authority, been sent
to Spain on treasonable embassies.[87] Grant made himself very
conspicuous by frequently resisting the officers of the law when they
appeared to search his house.[88] John Wright and Percy had, at least
till a very recent period, been notorious bravoes, who made a point of
picking a quarrel with any man who was reported to be a good swordsman,
they being both expert with the weapon.[89]
It is evident that men of this stamp were not unlikely to prove restive
under such treatment as was meted out to the Catholics, from which
moreover, as gentlemen, they themselves suffered in a special degree.
Lord Castlemaine remarks that loose people may usually be drawn into a
plot when statesmen lay gins, and that it was no hard thing for a
Secretary of State, should he desire any such thing, to know of
turbulent and ambitious spirits to be his unconscious instruments,[90]
and it is obvious that no great perspicacity would have been required to
fix upon those who had given such evidence of their disposition as had
these men.
It must, at the same time, be confessed that the character of the
plotters is one of the most perplexing features of the Plot. The crime
contemplated was without parallel in its brutal and senseless atrocity.
There had, it is true, been powder-plots before, notably that which had
effected the destruction of the king's own father, Lord Darnley, a fact
undoubtedly calculated to make much impression upon the timorous mind
of James. But what marked off our Gunpowder Plot from all others, was
the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter in which it must have
resulted, and the absence of any possibility that the cause could be
benefited which the conspirators had at heart. It was at once reprobated
and denounced by the Catholics of England, and by the friends and near
relatives of the conspirators themselves.[91] It might be supposed that
those who undertook such an enterprise were criminals of the deepest
dye, and ruffians of a more than usually repulsive type. In spite,
however, of the turbulent element in their character of which we have
seen something, such a judgment would, in the opinion of historians, be
altogether erroneous. Far from their being utterly unredeemed villains,
it appears, in fact, that apart from the one monstrous transgression
which has made them infamous, they should be distinguished in the annals
of crime as the least disreputable gang of conspirators who ever plotted
a treason. On this point we have ample evidence from those who are by no
means their friends. "Atrocious as their whole undertaking was," writes
Mr. Gardiner,[92] "great as must have been the moral obliquity of their
minds before they could have conceived such a project, there was at
least nothing mean or selfish about them. They 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." Similarly Mr. Jardine, a still less friendly
witness, tells us[93] that "several at least of the conspirators were
men of mild and amiable manners, averse to tumults and bloodshed, and
dwelling quietly amidst the humanities of domestic life," a description
which he applies especially to Rokewood and Digby; while of Guy Faukes
himself he says[94] that, according to the accounts which we hear of
him, he is not to be regarded as a mercenary ruffian, ready for hire to
do any deed of blood; but as a zealot, misled by misguided fanaticism,
who was, however, by no means destitute either of piety or of humanity.
Moreover, as Mr. Jardine farther remarks, the conspirators as a body
were of the class which we should least expect to find engaged in
desperate enterprises, being, as Sir E. Coke described them, "gentlemen
of good houses, of excellent parts, and of very competent fortunes and
estates," none of them, except perhaps Catesby, being in pecuniary
difficulties, while several--notably Robert Winter, Rokewood, Digby,
Tresham, and Grant--were men of large possessions. It has also been
observed by a recent biographer of Sir Everard Digby,[95] that, for the
furtherance of their projects after the explosion, the confederates were
able to provide a sum equal at least to L75,000 of our money--a
sufficient proof of their worldly position.
That men of such a class should so lightly and easily have adopted a
scheme so desperate and atrocious as that of "murdering a kingdom in its
representatives," is undoubtedly not the least incomprehensible feature
of this strange story. At the same time it must not be forgotten that
there is another, and a very different account of these men, which comes
to us on the authority of a Catholic priest living in England at the
time,[96] who speaks of the conspirators as follows:
"They were a few wicked and desperate wretches, whom many Protestants
termed Papists, although the priests and the true Catholics knew them
not to be such.... They were never frequenters of Catholic Sacraments
with any priest, as I could ever learn; and, as all the Protestant
Courts will witness, not one of them was a convicted or known Catholic
or Recusant."[97]
Similarly Cornwallis, writing from Madrid,[98] reported that the king
and Estate of Spain were "much grieved that they being atheists and
devils in their inward parts, should paint their outside with
Catholicism."
In view of evidence so contradictory, it is difficult, if not
impossible, to form a confident judgment as to the real character of
those whose history we are attempting to trace; but, leaving aside what
is matter of doubt, the undisputed facts of their previous career
appear to show unmistakably that they were just the men who would be
ready to look to violence for a remedy of existing evils, and to whom it
would not be difficult to suggest its adoption.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] When James came to the throne Cecil was but a knight. He was
created Baron Cecil of Essendon, May 13th, 1603; Viscount Cranborne,
August 20th, 1604; Earl of Salisbury, May 4th, 1605.
[35] Robert, as the second son, did not succeed to his father's title,
which devolved upon Thomas, the eldest, who was created Earl of Exeter
on the same day on which Robert became Earl of Salisbury.
[36] _Fragmenta Regalia_, 37. Ed. 1642.
[37] He was but little above five feet in height, and, in the phrase of
the time, a "Crouchback." King James, who was not a man of much delicacy
in such matters, was fond of giving him nicknames in consequence. Cecil
wrote to Sir Thomas Lake, October 24th, 1605: "I see nothing y^t I can
doe, can procure me so much favor, as to be sure one whole day what
title I shall have another. For from Essenden to Cranborne, from
Cranborne to Salisbury, from Salisbury to Beagle, from Beagle to Thom
Derry, from Thom Derry to Parret which I hate most, I have been so
walked, as I think by y^t I come to Theobalds, I shall be called Tare or
Sophie." (R.O. _Dom. James I._ xv. 105.)
[38] _History_, i. 92.
[39] In the same document James I. is spoken of as "the most judycious,
learned, and rareste kinge, that ever this worlde produced." (R.O.
_Dom. James I._ xxviii. 29.)
[40] Digby to the King, S. P., _Spain_, Aug. 8. Gardiner, _History_, ii.
216.
[41] At the trial of Essex, Cecil exclaimed, "I pray God to consume me
where I stand, if I hate not the Spaniard as much as any man living."
(Bruce, _Introduction to Secret Correspondence of Sir R. Cecil_,
xxxiii.)
Of the Spanish pension Mr. Gardiner, after endeavouring to show that
originally Cecil's acceptance of it may have been comparatively
innocent, thus continues (_History of England_, i. 216): "But it is
plain that, even if this is the explanation of his original intentions,
such a comparatively innocent connection with Spain soon extended itself
to something worse, and that he consented to furnish the ambassadors,
from time to time, with information on the policy and intentions of the
English Government.... Of the persistence with which he exacted payment
there can be no doubt whatever. Five years later, when the opposition
between the two governments became more decided, he asked for an
increase of his payments, and demanded that they should be made in large
sums as each piece of information was given."
At the same time it appears highly probable that he was similarly in the
pay of France. _Ibid._
[42] Queen Elizabeth regarded as treasonable any discussion of the
question of the succession.
[43] Gardiner, i. 215.
[44] _Chamberlain to Carleton_, July 9th, 1612, R.O.
[45] "Tout ce que vous a dit le Comte de Salisbury touchant le mariage
d'Espagne est rempli de deguisements et artifices a son accoutumee....
Toutefois, je ne veux pas jurer qu'ils negocient plus sincerement et de
meilleur foi avec lesdites Espagnols qu'avec nous. Ils corromproient par
trop leur naturel, s'ils le faisoient, pour des gens qui ne leur
scauroient guere de gre."--Le Fevre de la Boderie, _Ambassade_, i. 170.
[46] (Of the Earl of Northumberland.) "On tient le Comte de Salisbury
pour principal auteur de sa persecution, comme celui qui veut ne laisser
personne en pied qui puisse lui faire tete." De la Boderie. _Ibid._ 178.
[47] R.O. _Dom. James I._ lxix. 56.
[48] _Ibid._, May 27, 1612. Bishop Goodman, no enemy of Cecil, is
inclined to believe that at the time of the secretary's death there was
a warrant out for his arrest. _Court of King James_, i. 45.
[49] The first of these epigrams, in Latin, concludes thus:
Sero, Recurve, moreris sed serio;
Sero, jaces (bis mortuus) sed serio:
Sero saluti publicae, serio tuae.
The second is in English:
Whiles two RR's, both crouchbacks, stood at the helm,
The one spilt the blood royall, the other the realm.
A marginal note explains that these were, "Richard Duke of Gloster, and
Robert Earl of Salisburie;" the anagram, of which title is "A silie
burs." He also styles the late minister a monkey (_cercopithecus_) and
hobgoblin (_empusa_).
[50] Osborne, _Traditional Memoirs_, p. 236 (ed. 1811).
[51] _Court of King James_, i. 44.
[52] _Traditional Memoirs_, 181.
[53] This feeling was expressed in lampoons quoted by Osborne, e.g.:
"Here lies Hobinall, our pastor while here,
That once in a quarter our fleeces did sheare.
For oblation to Pan his custom was thus,
He first gave a trifle, then offer'd up us:
And through his false worship such power he did gaine,
As kept him o' th' mountain, and us on the plaine."
Again, he is described as
"Little bossive Robin that was so great,
Who seemed as sent from ugly fate,
To spoyle the prince, and rob the state,
Owning a mind of dismall endes,
As trappes for foes, and tricks for friends."
(_Ibid._ 236.)
Oldmixon (_History of Queen Elizabeth_, p. 620) says of the Earl of
Essex, "'Twas not likely that Cecil, whose Soul was of a narrow Size,
and had no Room for enlarged Sentiments of Ambition, Glory, and Public
Spirit, should cease to undermine a Hero, in comparison with whom he was
both in Body and Mind a Piece of Deformity, if there's nothing beautiful
in Craft."
[54] _Court and Character of King James_, Sec. 10.
[55] _Ambassade_, i. 58.
[56] _Ibid._ 401.
[57] Against Northumberland nothing was proved (_vide_ de la Boderie,
_Ambassade_, i. 178), except that he had admitted Thomas Percy amongst
the royal pensioners without exacting the usual oath. He in vain
demanded an open trial, but was prosecuted in the Star Chamber, and
there sentenced to a fine of L30,000 (equal to at least ten times that
sum in our money), and to be imprisoned for life.
Mr. Gardiner considers that, in regard both of Raleigh and of
Northumberland, Cecil acted with great moderation. It must, however, be
remembered that in his secret correspondence with King James, before the
death of the queen, he had strenuously endeavoured to poison the mind of
that monarch against these his rivals. Thus he wrote, December 4th, 1601
(as usual through Lord Henry Howard): "You must remember that I gave you
notice of the diabolical triplicity, that is, Cobham, Raleigh, and
Northumberland, that met every day at Durham-house, where Raleigh lies,
in consultation, which awaked all the best wits of the town ... to watch
what chickens they could hatch out of these cockatrice eggs that were
daily and nightly sitten on." (_Secret Correspondence of Sir Robert
Cecil with James VI., King of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1766, p. 29.) Coming
after this, the speedy ruin of all these men appears highly suspicious.
[58] Sir Walter Cope in his _Apology_ (Gutch, _Collectanea Curiosa_, i.
No. 10) says: "When living, the world observed with all admiration and
applause; no sooner dead, but it seeketh finally to suppress his
excellent parts, and load his memory with all imputations of
corruption."
Among such charges are enumerated "His Falsehood in Friendship.--That he
often made his friends fair promises, and underhand laid rubs to hinder
their preferment.--The secret passage of things I know not.... Great
Counsellors have their private and their publique ends...." etc.
[59] Lord Castlemaine after mentioning the chief features of the
Gunpowder Plot, goes on: "But let it not displease you, if we ask
whether Ulysses be no better known?" (_Catholique Apology_, p. 30.)
Francis Herring in his Latin poem, _Pietas Pontificia_ (published 1606),
speaking of Monteagle (called "Morleius," from his father's title), who
took the celebrated letter to Cecil, writes thus:
"Morleius Regis de consultoribus unum,
(Quem norat veteri nil quicquam cedere Ulyssi,
Juditio pollentem acri, ingenioque sagaci)
Seligit, atque illi Rem totam ex ordine pandit."
[60] This is so evident that it appears unnecessary to occupy space with
proofs in detail. De la Boderie remarks (_Ambassade_, i. 71) on the
extraordinary rancour of the minister against Catholics, and especially
against Jesuits, and that "he wishes to destroy them everywhere." Of
this a remarkable confirmation is afforded by the instructions given to
Sir Thomas Parry when he was sent as ambassador, "Leiger," to Paris, in
1603, at the head of which stood these extraordinary articles:
1. "To intimate to the French king the jealousy conceived in England
upon the revocation of the Jesuits, against former edicts.
2. "To inform the French king that the English were disgusted at the
maintenance allowed to the French king's prelates and clergy, to priests
and Jesuits that passed out of his dominions into England, Scotland, and
Ireland, to do bad offices." (P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132, f. 314.)
[61] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 5. Strype says of the time of
Elizabeth: "The faction of the Catholics in England is great, and able,
if the kingdom were divided into three parts, to make two of them."
(_Annals_, iii. 313, quoted by Butler, _Historical Memoirs_, ii. 177.)
At the execution of Father Oldcorne, 1606, a proof was given of their
numbers which is said to have alarmed the king greatly. The Father
having from the scaffold invited all Catholics to pray with him, almost
all present uncovered.
[62] Of this there can be no doubt, in spite of James's subsequent
denial. Father Garnet wrote to Parsons (April 16th, 1603): "There hath
happened a great alteration by the death of the Queen. Great fears were,
but all are turned into greatest security, and a golden time we have of
unexpected freedom abroade.... The Catholicks have great cause to hope
for great respect, in that the nobility all almost labour for it, and
have good promise thereof from his Majesty." (Stonyhurst MSS. _Anglia_,
iii. 32.)
Goodman says: "And certainly they [the Catholics] had very great
promises from him." (_Court of King James_, i. 86.)
[63] "The Penal Laws, a code as savage as any that can be conceived
since the foundation of the world."--Lord Chief Justice Coleridge. (_To
Lord Mayor Knill_, Nov. 9, 1892.)
[64] Gardiner, i. 100.
[65] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, 18.
[66] _Ibid._ 20.
[67] Gardiner, i. 166.
[68] Green, _History of the English People_, iii. 62. Mr. Green adds:
"Rumours of Catholic conversions spread a panic which showed itself in
an Act of the Parliament of 1604 confirming the statutes of Elizabeth;
and to this James gave his assent. He promised, indeed, that the statute
should remain inoperative." In May, 1604, the Catholics boasted that
they had been joined by 10,000 converts. (Gardiner, _Hist_. i. 202.)
[69] _Catholique Apology_, 404.
[70] Salisbury, in reward of his services on this occasion, received the
Garter, May 20th, 1606, and was honoured on the occasion with an almost
regal triumph.
Of the proceedings subsequent to the Plot we are told: "In passing these
laws for the security of the Protestant Religion, the Earl of Salisbury
exerted himself with distinguished zeal and vigour, which gained him
great love and honour from the kingdom, as appeared in some measure, in
the universal attendance on him at his installation with the Order of
the Garter, on the 20th of May, 1606, at Windsor." (Birch, _Historical
View_, p. 256.)
[71] This belief is so notorious that one instance must suffice as
evidence for it. A paper of informations addressed to Cecil himself,
April, 1604, declares that the Catholics hoped to see a good day yet,
and that "his Majesty would suffer a kinde of Tolleracyon, for his
inclynacyon is good, howsoever the Councell set out his speeches."
(S.P.O. _Dom. James I._ vii. 86.)
[72] Mr. Gardiner (_Hist._ i. 229, note) says that arrears were never
demanded in the case of the fine of L20 per lunar month for
non-attendance at the parish church. Father Gerard, however, a
contemporary witness, distinctly states that they were. (_Narrative of
the Gunpowder Plot_, ed. Morris, p. 62.)
[73] _Court of King James_, i. 100.
[74] _Narrative_, p. 46.
[75] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglia_, iii. 103.
[76] Of the Prince of Wales it was prophesied:
"The eighth Henry did pull down Monks and their cells,
The ninth will pull down Bishops and their bells."
[77] Concerning this letter see Appendix B, _Digby's Letter to
Salisbury_.
[78] R.O. _Dom. James I._ xvii. 10.
[79] Hallam, _Constitutional Hist._ i. 392 (3rd ed.).
[80] See Appendix C, _The Question of Succession_.
[81] _Agriculture and Prices_, v. 5.
[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
L30,000 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 Coleshill, cousin
to Sir Everard, who assisted 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 Petition 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 title
indicates that he draws his arguments from Protestant sources.
[97] P. 56.
[98] November 25th, 1605, _Stowe MSS._ 168, 61.