Now what is the Evidence to support the preceding paragraphs (1), (2), and
(3)?
As to paragraph (1), the Evidence is direct.
There was a tradition extant that _Mounteagle expected the Letter, told to
a gentleman named Edmund Church his confidant_.——See Gardiner’s
“_Gunpowder Plot_,” p. 10.
Moreover, the fact that the footman was in the street at about seven of
the clock when the missive was given to him _is strongly suggestive of the
fact that he had been anxiously sent thither by some one, so that he might
be ready at hand to receive the document immediately on its arrival_.
As to paragraphs (2) and (3), the Evidence is indirect and inferential.
It is this:——Thomas Ward was manifestly on excellent terms with Mounteagle
on the one hand and with the conspirators on the other.
For it is evident that no sooner had Mounteagle arrived back from his
errand of mercy on that dark night of Saturday, the 26th day of October,
1605, than he divulged to his servant almost all, if not quite all, that
had passed at Whitehall during his never-to-be-forgotten interview with
Salisbury, the King’s principal Secretary of State.[A]
[Footnote A: The days of the week and the dates of the month run parallel
for the years 1605 and 1901. Thus both the 26ths of October are on a
Saturday. _What was the condition of the moon on that memorable Saturday
night?_]
That Lord Mounteagle had imparted to Thomas Ward almost all, if not quite
all, that had passed between Lord Salisbury and himself on the delivery to
the latter of the peerless document to my mind is clear from the fact
_that the faithful Ward, the very next day (Sunday) repaired to Thomas
Winter_, one of the principal conspirators, _and told Winter that the
Letter was in the hands of Salisbury_!——“_Winter’s Confession._”
Assuming that Thomas Ward was a Ward of Mulwith, he would be a family
connection of Thomas Winter as well as of Christopher Wright through
Ursula Ward and Inglebies, of Ripley, in Nidderdale.
Now, what is proved by this very significant fact of _Thomas Ward’s_ so
unerringly darting off to _Thomas Winter_, one of the prime movers in this
conspiracy of wholesale slaughter, when he (Ward) had all the adult male
inhabitants of London and Westminster to make his selection from?
Plainly this: that the revealing conspirator (whoever he was) _must have
“primed” Thomas Ward by previously telling Thomas Ward that Thomas Winter
was one of the chiefest of those involved in the conspiracy_.
Again; as Winter had been formerly in Mounteagle’s service (a circumstance
doubtless well known to the revealing conspirator), _that revealing
conspirator_ would naturally, nay inevitably, _bid Ward_ put himself _not
only into speedy communication with Mounteagle_, in order to reach
Salisbury, the principal servant of the King, _but, this done, also into
speedy communication with Thomas Winter_, one of the chief promoters of
the baleful enterprise, in order that by dint of _Winter’s_ powerful
influence the general body of the latter’s co-conspirators might be
warned, and not merely warned, but haply prevailed upon to take to their
heels in instant flight.
Thus the great end aimed at by the curvilinear triangular
movement——wherein (_ex hypothesi_) the Penman, Father Oldcorne, as well as
the go-between, Thomas Ward, and the revealing Christopher Wright, was a
party and responsible actor——would be, with clear-eyed, sure-footed,
absolute certitude, secured and accomplished——nothing being left to the
perilous contingencies of purblind, stumbling, limited chance.