1604. CHAP. which seemed prejudicial to the Dutch commonXLV. wealth, were never executed by the King; and as the Spaniards made no complaints on that head, it appeared that, by secret agreement, the King had expressly reserved the power of sending assistance to the Hollanders". The constable of Castile came into England to ratify the peace; and on the part of England the Earl of Hertford was sent into the Low Countries for the same purpose, and the Earl of Nottingham, high admiral, into Spain. The train of the latter was numerous and splendid; and the Spaniards, it is said, were extremely surprised, when they beheld the blooming countenances and graceful appearance of the English, whom their bigotry, inflamed by the priests, had represented as so many monsters and infernal dæmons. THOUGH England, by means of her naval force, was perfectly secure during the latter years of the Spanish war, James shewed an impatience to put an end to hostilities; and soon after his accession, before any terms of peace were concerted, or even proposed by Spain, he recalled all the letters of marque' which had been granted by Queen Elizabeth. Archduke Albert had made some advances of a like nature *, which invited the King to take this friendly step. But what is remarkable; in James's proclamation for that purpose, he plainly supposes, that, as he had himself, while King of Scotland, always lived in amity with Spain, peace was attached to his person, and that merely by his accession to the crown of England, without any articles of treaty or agreement, he had ended the war between the kingdoms'. This igno Winwood, vol. ii. p. 27. 330. et alibi. In this respect James's peace was more honourable than that which Henry IV. himself made with Spain. This latter Prince stipulated not to assist the Dutch; and the supplies which he secretly sent them, were in direct contravention to the treaty. 23d of June 1603. I See proclamations during the Winwood, vol. ii. p. 65. * Grotii Annal. lib. 12. first seven years of K. James. rance 1604. rance of the law of nations may appear surprising CHA P. in a Prince, who was thirty-six years of age, and who XLV. had reigned from his infancy; did we not consider that a King of Scotland, who lives in close friendship with England, has few transactions to manage with foreign Princes, and has little opportunity of acquiring experience. Unhappily for James, his timidity, his prejudices, his indolence, his love of amusement, particularly of hunting, to which he was much addicted, ever prevented him from making any progress in the knowledge or practice of foreign politics, and in a little time diminished that regard which all the neighbouring nations had paid to England during the reign of his predecessor ". m Memoires de la Boderie, vol. i. p. 64. 181. 195. 217. 302. vol. ii. p. 244. 278. CHAP. 1604. Gunpowder conspiracy. CHAP. XLVI. Gunpowder Conspiracy.-A Parliament.-Truce betwixt Spain and the United Provinces.-A Parliament-Death of the French King.—Arminianism. State of Ireland. WE are now to relate an event, one of the most memorable that history has conveyed to posterity, and containing at once a singular proof both of the strength and weakness of the human mind; its widest departure from morals, and most steady attachment to religious prejudices. 'Tis the Gunpowder treason of which I speak; a fact as certain as it appears incredible. THE Roman catholics had expected great favour and indulgence on the accession of James, both as he was descended from Mary, whose life they believed to have been sacrificed to their cause, and as he himself, in his early youth, was imagined to have shewn some partiality towards them, which nothing, they thought, but interest and necessity had since restrained. It is pretended, that he had even entered into positive engagements to tolerate their religion, as soon as he should mount the throne of England; whether their credulity had interpreted in this sense some obliging expressions of the King's, or that he had employed such an artifice, in order to render them favourable to his title ". Very soon they discovered their mistake; and were at once surprised and enraged to find James, on all occasions, express his intention of strictly executing the laws enacted against them, and of persevering in all the rigorous measures of Elizabeth. Catesby, a gentleman of good parts and of an ancient family, first thought of "State Trials, vol. ii. p. 201, 202, 203. Winwood, vol. ii. P.49. a most 1604. 31 a most extraordinary method of revenge; and he CHAP. opened his intention to Piercy, a descendant of the XLVI. illustrious house of Northumberland. In one of their conversations with regard to the distressed condition of the catholics, Piercy, having broken into a sally of passion, and mentioned assassinating the King; Catesby took the opportunity of revealing to him a nobler and more extensive plan of treason, which not only included a sure execution of vengeance, but afforded some hopes of restoring the catholic religion in England. In vain, said he,. would you put an end to the King's life: He has children, who would succeed both to his crown and to his maxims of government. In vain would you extinguish the whole royal family: The nobility, the gentry, the parliament, are all infected with the same heresy, and could raise to the throne another Prince and another family, who, besides their hatred to our religion, would be animated with revenge for the tragical death of their predecessors. To serve any good purpose, we must destroy, at one blow, the King, the royal family, the Lords, the commons; and bury all our enemies in one common ruin. Happily, they are all assembled on the first meeting of the parliament: and afford us the opportunity of glorious and useful vengeance. Great preparations will not be requisite. A few of us, combining, may run a mine below the hall in which they meet; and choosing the very moment when the King harangues both houses, consign over to destruction these determined foes to all piety and religion. Meanwhile, we ourselves standing aloof, safe and unsuspected, shall triumph in being the instruments of divine wrath, and shall behold with pleasure those sacrilegious walls, in which passed the edicts for proscribing our church and butchering her children, tossed into a thousand fragments; while their impious inhabitants, meditating, perhaps, still new persecutions against us, were pass CHAP. pass from flames above to flames below, there for XLVI. ever to endure the torments due to their offences". 1604 PIERCY was charmed with this project of Catesby; and they agreed to communicate the matter to a few more, and among the rest to Thomas Winter, whom they sent over to Flanders, in quest of Fawkes, an officer in the Spanish service, with whose zeal and courage they were all thoroughly acquainted. When they enlisted any new conspirator, in order to bind him to secresy, they always, together with an oath, employed the Communion, the most sacred rite of their religion. And it is remarkable, that no one of these pious devotees ever entertained the least compunction with regard to the cruel massacre which they projected, of whatever was great and eminent in the nation. Some of them only were startled by the reflection, that of necessity many catholics must be present; as spectators or attendants on the King, or as having seats in the house of peers: But Tesmond, a Jesuit, and Garnet, superior of that order in England, removed these scruples, and shewed them how the interests of religion required that the innocent should here be sacrificed with the guilty. ALL this passed in the spring and summer of the year 1604; when the conspirators also hired a house in Piercy's name, adjoining to that in which the parliament was to assemble. Towards the end of that year they began their operations. That they might be less interrupted, and give less suspicion to the neighbourhood, they carried in store of provisions with them, and never desisted from their labour. Obstinate in their purpose, and confirmed by passion, by principle, and by mutual exhortation, they little feared death in comparison of a disappointment; and having provided arms, together with the instruments of their labour, they resolved there to perish in case of a • History of the Gunpowder Treason. discovery. |