Trial and execution.

put on their trial, admitted the general charge preferred against them, but denied that the conspiracy had originated with the Jesuits, as was affirmed by their accusers, or that it had been at all sanctioned by them. They also attempted to vindicate their own conduct by referring to the sufferings of themselves and their brethren; to the king's forgetfulness of the promises which he had made on their behalf; and to the great improbability of their obtaining any release from the intolerance that oppressed them, except by the means which they had resolved to employ. Such was their demeanor at the trial, and in the same state of mind they appeared on the scaffold, and met their fate as traitors.

Case of the

Jesuit mis

sionaries.

The Jesuits who were ascertained to have been in frequent intercourse with the conspirators, and who were with much reason suspected of having been parties to the treason, were the three whose names have already occurred-Gerard, Greenway, and Garnet. Of these, the two former escaped to the continent: Garnet, after a search of many days, was found secreted in a house at Henlip, in Worcestershire, the residence of the brother-in-law of lord Mounteagle. That both Greenway and Garnet knew of the conspiracy is unquestionable; and that they might and ought to have prevented its progress is as little open to reasonable dispute. Garnet himself at length confessed that he had been privy to the plot; but pleaded that he became possessed of the fatal secret under the seal of confession, which, according to the law of the Catholic church, did not allow of disclosure, even in such a case. It was, however, his further confession as to the lawfulness of equivocation which, as it served to take from his own affirmations and those of his disciples nearly all their value, contributed most to determine his sentence and its execution. Concerning "lawful equivocation," Garnet stated, "that the speech, by equivocation, being saved from a lie, the same speech may be without perjury confirmed by oath, or by any other usual way, though it were by receiving the sacrament, if just necessity so require." An historian, whose sympathy is never wanting when the Catholic priesthood are the sufferers, is constrained to remark on this passage, that "the man who maintained such opinions could not reasonably complain if the king refused credit to his asseverations of innocence, and permitted the law to take its course*." From Garnet we see that false views of religion may reconcile a connivance with treason and murder in their worst forms, with the highest pretensions to sanctity. It is ever the work of fanaticism to plead the supposed will of the Almighty as enjoining acts of inhumanity; but it is the province of true religion to inculcate the lessons of social justice as in perpetual harmony with the lessons of piety, as partaking of the same nature, and as enforced by the same sanctions. What is morally wrong can never be religiously right. * Lingard, ix. 87.

The historian just adverted to remarks with respect to Garnet, that "his pious and constant demeanour excited the sympathy of the crowd; their vociferations checked the impatience of the executioner, and the cruel operation of quartering was deferred until he was fully dead." Yes, and he might have added that such was the nature of the superstition which these men laboured so much, and hazarded so much to propagate, that its votaries spoke of miracles wrought by the influence of this distinguished saint, contending that on the straw stained by his blood the impress of his celestial countenance could be traced*. The meeting of parliament was deferred from the 5th of November to the 9th, when the king congratulated the two houses Meeting of Parliament, on the detection of the gunpowder conspiracy, as being Nov. 9. little less than the prevention of a second deluge; and on their escape from a destruction, which, as inflicted by unconscious elements, was more to be dreaded than as proceeding from the worst passions of men, as from the rage of the most ferocious among brute creatures. The parties concerned in the great treason were described as meditating the accomplishment of their direful purpose without any real provocation; and the intelligence which had led to such a construction of lord Mounteagle's letter, as rendered it the clue to so dark a labyrinth, was noticed as approaching the miraculoust. But the danger being so happily passed, it would behove the great council of the nation to deliberate without passion on the course best to be adopted with regard to that religious body which not a few perhaps would be disposed to look upon as more or less implicated in this enormity. In any discussion on this subject it would be manifestly proper to avoid all reflection on the great Catholic powers, as though they were capable of regarding such a deed with any measure of approval. Nor should it be forgotten that there were more religious parties than one against which the charge of cruelty might be proved. The Puritan, who declared the Papist excluded from salvation, was so far the creature of intolerance, in

*Osborne, 436. The following anecdote will indicate how much the most determined of the conspirators were under the influence of superstitious impressions. "Greenway relates an incident which occurred while they were at work, and which perhaps is worth repeating as an instance of the gross superstition of the times, and also as evincing the workings of conscience on the minds of the conspirators as they proceeded with their design. They were one day surprised by the sound of the tolling of a bell, which seemed to proceed from the middle of the wall under the parliament house; all suspended their labour, and listened with alarm and uneasiness to the mysterious sound. Fawkes was sent for from his station above; the tolling still continued, and was distinctly heard by him as well as the others. Much wondering at this prodigy, they sprinkled the wall with holy water, when the sound instantly ceased. Upon this they resumed their labour, and after a short time the tolling commenced again, and again was silenced by the application of holy water. This process was repeated frequently for several days, till at length the unearthly sound was heard no more!" Criminal Trials, ii. 45.

The courtiers gave the credit of this miracle to the king, though it no doubt belonged to Cecil.-Winwood, ii. 171.

his majesty's opiniou, as to be "worthy of fire." In judging, therefore, of the connexion between the recent plot, and the great body of Catholics, care should be taken not to punish the whole for the delinquency of a part; and a distinction was to be observed between the character of a system, and certain extravagant speculations entertained by a few only among the many by whom that system might have been embraced.

In conclusion, the monarch would avail himself of the opportunity before him to deliver his sentiments on the design of parliaments. On this subject he had not spoken sufficiently in his former address. It is true the topic was always familiar to the mind of kings, and especially to one who had long swayed the sceptre of a state where a popular legislature, and constituted much as in England, had long existed. But the last three years had afforded the means of closer inspection, and the monarch was now fully apprised that the high court of parliament in his new dominions consisted of the lords temporal and spiritual, and of gentlemen and burgesses representing the shires and towns of the kingdom; that these existed as the king's great council, assembled by him for the purpose of enacting new laws, or of interpreting or abrogating the old. From such assemblies all private resentment was to be excluded; nor were they the place for the exhibition of a vain eloquence, or for the indulgence of a censorious wit. It was the grave national assembly, where laws might be instituted, either at the suggestion of the monarch, or in independence of him, but was far from being the place where every rash novelist might obtrude his crude conceptions at pleasure. "Nay, rather could I wish," said the monarch," that those busy heads should remember that law of the Lacedemonians, that whosoever came to propose a new law to the people, behoved publicly to present himself with a rope about his neck, that in case the law were not allowed, he should be hanged therewith."

Impression made by the

Widely different were the impressions made by this speech. The court saw in it the proofs of extraordinary wisdom, and a moderation, which, under such circumstances, rose to magnanimity. The Puritans, on the other hand, were not able king's speech. to conceal their astonishment and displeasure, on being told, and at such a moment, that their religion was in a nearer alliance with cruelty than that of the Papist. They needed no further evidence to disclose to them the alarming fact, that the king himself was much more a Papist than a Protestant.

This conclusion was not at all weakened when it became known that even at this time James was meditating a union between the heir apparent to the crown of England and the infanta of Spain. The treaty at length adjusted on this matter, promised, with the wife of prince Henry, the annual pension of a million of ducats, and a considerable portion of Flanders. It also flattered the vanity of the English monarch Parl. Hist. i. 1053-1062.

by devolving on him the office of arbitrator with respect to such theological grounds of dissension as should arise among the nations of Europe. In return it was stipulated that the king should aid his Catholic majesty in his efforts to subdue the protestant states of Holland. Such were the conditions of the Spanish match-so prominent a topic in the history of this reign. It was the error of James to suppose that the union of his son with any princess in the families of the lesser potentates of Europe would be an event detracting necessarily from the dignity of his crown. Hence, notwithstanding the exceedingly unpopular character of the proposed alliance with Spain, and the constant artifice of the Spanish court, James continued to cherish the hope of seeing such a union between the two crowns ;-and it is to the fondness with which this hope was already indulged that we must look for the main cause of the solicitude evinced by the king to restrain the threatened outbreak of protestant feeling at this juncture.

Parliament prorogued.

A.D. 1606,
Jan. 21.

But however strong or various the feeling with which the king's speech was listened to, it happened that time was allowed for the strongest feelings to become tempered by reflection before any public opportunity was afforded for giving expression to them. James announced, as soon as he had delivered his speech, the prorogation of parliament to the 21st of January. The first object of the two houses on their being re-assembled was to enact that the 5th of November should be observed for ever as a day of public thanksgiving. This act was introductory to a revision of the penal laws against the professors of the Catholic faith; and while some additions were made to the existing statutes, means were adopted with a view to secure a better enforcement of the whole. On this amended code a Catholic historian reThe penal laws against Catho- marks, that "It repealed none of the laws then in force, lics made more but added to their severity by two new bills, containing more than seventy articles, inflicting penalties on the Catholics in all their several capacities of masters, servants, husbands, parents, children, heirs, executors, patrons, barristers, and physicians. First-Catholic recusants were forbidden under particular penalties to appear at court, to dwell within the boundaries, or ten miles of the boundaries of the City of London; or to remove on any occasion more than five miles from their homes, without a special license under the signatures of four neighbouring magistrates. Second-They were made incapable of practising in surgery or physic, or in the common or civil law; of acting as judges, clerks, or officers in any court or corporation; of presenting to the livings, schools, or hospitals in their gift; or of performing the offices of administrators, executors, or guardians. ThirdUnless they were married by a Protestant minister, each party was made to forfeit every benefit to which he or she might otherwise be entitled from the property of the other; unless their children were bap

severe.

tized by a Protestant minister within a month after the birth, each omission subjected them to a fine of 1007.; and if after death they were not buried in a Protestant cemetery, their executors were liable to pay for each corpse the sum of 20%. Fourth-Every child sent for education beyond the sea was from that moment debarred from taking any benefit by devise, descent, or gift, until he should return and conform to the Established Church; all such benefit being assigned by law to the Protestant next of kin. Fifth-Every recusant was placed in the same situation as if he had been excommunicated by name: his house might be searched, his books and furniture, having or thought to have any relation to his worship or religion, might be burnt, and his horses and arms might be taken from him at any time by the order of neighbouring magistrates. Sixth-All the existing penalties for absence from church were continued, but with two improvements: 1. It was made optional in the king, whether he would take the fine of 201. per lunar month, or in lieu of it all the personal and two-thirds of the real estate; and 2. Every householder, of whatever religion, receiving Catholic visitors, or keeping Catholic servants, was liable to pay for each individual 107. per lunar month. Seventh-A new oath of allegiance was devised for the avowed purpose of drawing a distinction between those Catholics who denied, and those who admitted the temporal pretensions of the pontiffs. The former, who it was supposed would take the oath, were liable by law to no other penalties than those which have been enumerated: the latter were subject to perpetual imprisonment, and the forfeiture of their personal property, and of the rents of their lands during life; or if they were married women, to imprisonment in the common gaol, until they should repent of their obstinacy, and submit to take the oath."

sidered.

Concerning these laws, it is to be observed that they must be viewed in connexion with all the circumstances to which they in The justice of great part owe their existence, before we attempt to judge these penal of their expediency or justice. If not so regarded, they laws conwill lead us into conclusions with respect to the character of Englishmen in the seventeenth century much at variance with the truth. In practice, the new code existed more as a machinery to be applied when occasion should require, than as a body of enactments to be generally enforced; and to account for the number and severity of its provisions, we have not only to bear in mind the terror and resentment excited by the late conspiracy, but to recall the cruel intolerance of the English. Catholics under Philip and Mary; and the endless intrigues to which they had resorted during the long reign of Elizabeth, evidently with a view to the return of such timest. Much also of the rigour which sometimes marked the administration of these statutes must be ascribed to the

* Lingard, ix. 94–97.

James confessed to his parliament in 1614, that there were whole counties in which not more than two or three magistrates were to be found who could be induced to proceed against recusants.-Parl. Hist. i. 1150,