_Edmund Campion, to the Learned Members of the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, Greeting._
Last year, Gentlemen, when in accordance with my calling in life
I returned under orders to this Island, I found on the shore of
England not a little wilder waves than those I had recently left
behind the in the British Seas. As thereupon I made my way into
the interior of England, I had no more familiar sight than that
of unusual executions, no greater certainty than the uncertainty
of threatening dangers. I gathered my wits together as best I
could, remembering the cause which I was serving and the times in
which I lived. And lest I might perhaps be arrested before I had
got a hearing from any one, I at once put my purpose in writing,
stating who I was, what was my errand, what war I thought of
declaring and upon whom. I kept the original document on my
person, that it might be taken with me, if I were taken. I
deposited a copy with a friend, and this copy, without my
knowledge, was shown to many. Adversaries took very ill the
publication of the paper. What they particularly disliked and
blamed was my having offered to hold the field alone against all
comers in this matter of religion, though to be sure I should not
have been alone had I disputed under a public safe conduct.
Hanmer and Chartres have replied to my demands. What is the
tenour of their reply? All off the point. The only honest answer
for them to give is one they will never give: "We embrace the
conditions, the Queen pledges her word, come at once." Meanwhile
they fill the air with their cries: "Your conspiracy! your
seditious proceedings! your arrogance! traitor! aye marry,
traitor!" The whole thing is absurd. These men are not fools: why
are they wasting their pains and damaging their own reputation?
Nevertheless, in reply to these two gentlemen (one of whom has
chosen my paper to run at for his amusement, the other more
maliciously has confused the whole issue) there has recently been
presented a very clear memorial setting forth all that need be
said about our Society and their calumnies and the part that we
are taking. The only course left open to me (since as I see, it
is tortures, not academic disputations, that the high-priests are
making ready) was to make good to you the account of my conduct;
to show you the chief heads and point my finger to the sources
from whence I derive this confidence; to exhort you also, as it
is your concern above others, to give to this business that
attention which Christ, the Church, the Common Weal, and your own
salvation demand of you. If it were confidence in my own talents,
erudition, art, reading, memory, that led me to challenge all the
skill that could be brought against me, then were I the vainest
and proudest of mortals, not having considered either myself or
my opponents. But if, with my cause before my eyes, I thought
myself competent to show that the sun here shines at noon-day,
you ought to allow in me that heat which the honour of Jesus
Christ, my King, and the unconquered force of truth have put upon
me. You know how in Marcus Tullius's speech for Publius Quintius,
when Roscius promised that he should win the case if he could
make out by arguments that a journey of 700 miles had not been
accomplished in two days, Cicero not only had no fear of all the
force of the pleading of the opposing counsel, Hortensius, but
could not have been afraid even of greater orators than
Hortensius, men of the stamp of Cotta and Antonius and Crassus,
whose reputation for speaking he set higher than that of all
other men: for truth does sometimes stand out in so clear a light
that no artifice of word or deed can hide it. Now the case on our
side is clearer even than that position of Roscius. I have only
to evince this, that there is a Heaven, that there is a God, that
there is a Faith, that there is a Christ, and I have gained my
cause. Standing on such ground should I not pluck up heart? I may
be killed, beaten I cannot be. I take my stand on those Doctors,
whom that Spirit has instructed who is neither deceived nor
overcome. I beg of you, consent to be saved. Of those from whom I
obtain this consent I expect without the least doubt that all the
rest will follow. Only give yourselves up to take interest in
this inquiry, entreat Christ, add efforts of your own, and
certainly you will perceive how the case lies, how our
adversaries are in despair, and ourselves so solidly founded that
we cannot but desire this conflict with serene and high courage.
I am brief here, because I address you in the rest of my
discourse. Farewell.