The other piece of Evidence that I wish to bring before my readers which
tends to show that it was _one of the conspirators themselves that
revealed the Plot_ is this:——
Jardine gives in his “_Criminal Trials_”[133] a certain Letter of
Instructions to Sir Edward Coke,[134] the Attorney-General who conducted
the prosecution of the surviving Gunpowder conspirators at Westminster
Hall[135] before a Special Commission for High Treason, on the 27th day of
January, 1605-6.
This very remarkable document is in the handwriting of Robert Cecil first
Earl of Salisbury.
It is as follows:——
“These things I am commanded to renew unto your memory. First,
that you be sure to make it appear to the world that there was
an employment of some persons to Spain for a practice of
invasion, as soon as the Queen’s breath was out of her body. The
reason is this for which the King doth urge it. He saith some
men there are that will give out, and do, that only despair of
the King’s courses on the Catholics and his severity, draw all
these to such works of discontentment: where by you it will
appear, that before his Majesty’s face was ever seen, or that he
had done anything in government, the King of Spain was moved,
though he refused it, saying, ‘he rather expected to have
peace,’ etc.
“_Next, you must in any case, when you speak of the Letter which
was the first ground of discovery, absolutely disclaim that any
of these wrote it, though you leave the further judgment
indefinite who else it should be._ (The italics are mine.)
“Lastly, and you must not omit, you must deliver, in
commendation of my Lord Mounteagle, words to show how sincerely
he dealt, and how fortunately it proved that he was the
instrument of so great a blessing as this was. To be short, sir,
you can remember how well the King in his Book did censure[A]
his lordship’s part in it, from which sense you are not to vary,
but _obiter_ (as you know best how), to give some good echo of
that particular action in that day of public trial of these men;
because it is so lewdly given out that he was once of this plot
of powder, and afterwards betrayed it all to me.
“This is but _ex abundanti_, that I do trouble you; but as they
come to my head or knowledge, or that I am directed, I am not
scrupulous to send to you.
“You must remember to lay Owen as foul in this as you can.”
[Footnote A: The word “censure” here means, formed an opinion of his
lordship’s part. From Lat. _censeo_, I think.]
Now, strangely enough, in the day of public trial of these men, the
learned Attorney-General forgot in one particular the aforesaid clear and
express Injunctions of his Majesty’s principal Secretary of State.
For, if he be correctly reported, Sir Edward Coke then said:——[136]
“The last consideration is concerning the admirable discovery of this
treason, _which was by one of themselves_, _who had taken the oath and
sacrament, as hath been said, against his own will; the means was by a
dark and doubtful letter sent to my Lord Mounteagle._”[A] (The italics are
mine.)
[Footnote A: “Truth will out!”]
Now, regard being had (1) to what Salisbury bade Coke _not say_; and (2)
to what Coke as a matter of fact _did say_, I infer, first, that it _was_
one of the conspirators who revealed the Plot; because of just scruples
that his conscience had, well-nigh at the eleventh hour, awakened in his
breast: that, secondly, not only so, but that the Government, through
Salisbury, Suffolk, Coke, and probably Bacon, strongly suspected as much:
that, thirdly, this was the explanation not only of their _comparatively_
mild treatment of the Gunpowder conspirators themselves,[137] but also, I
hold, of the subsequent _comparatively_ mild treatment of the recusants
generally throughout the country.[138]
For had the Government stripped all English Papists of their lands and
goods and driven them into the sea, Humanity scarcely could have
complained of injustice or harshness, regard being had to the devilish
wholesale cruelty of the Gunpowder Plot.
Contrariwise, the entire action of the Government resembles the action of
a man in whose hand the stick has broken whilst he is in the act of
administering upon a wrong-doer richly deserved chastisement.
For, indisputably, the Government abstained from following after, and from
reaping the full measure of, their victory (to have recourse to a more
dignified figure of speech) _either on grounds of principle, policy——or
both_.
Moreover, none of the estates of the plotters were forfeited. And this,
regard being had to the fact that the plotters were “moral monsters,” and
to the well-known impecuniosity of the tricky James and his northern
satellites, is itself a circumstance pregnant with the greatest possible
suspicion that there was some great mystery in the background.——See
Lathbury’s “_Guy Fawkes_,” pp. 76, 77, first Edition.
For, even if deeds of marriage settlement intervened to protect the
plotters’ estates, an Act of Parliament surely could have swept them away
like the veriest cobwebs. For Sir Edward Coke himself might have told the
King and Privy Council that “an Act of Parliament could do anything, short
of turning a man into a woman,” if the King and Council had needed
enlightening on the point.