to refuse their requests It 's likely that it was given out amongst and by themselves that there was such a Petition preparing and if they could but possess their own Party by that means so as to be in expectation of it it might serve to satisfie them about any report of an Insurrection and keep them from enquiring into that which they endeavoured to keep within the breasts of a few And this will serve to give light to what I have before said at the beginning of this Section viz. That more were concerned in this Conspiracy than were at that time publickly known that is more than we read of did know of the very manner of a Plot for the destruction of the King c. as those that were to surprize the next Heir and many more of a Plot to bring in and set up their Religion by force of Arms. To this purpose it was that care was taken at the first for assistance from abroad and that a continual Negotiation was maintained with Spain by the Jesuits as Watson and Clark did depose which they said they were sure tended to nothing but a preparation for a Forraign Commotion It 's true that King James speaks favourably in this case of Forraign Princes and their Ministers but if we may believe Osborn he saith that the King of Spain had an Army then in Flanders to land in the huge mist so black a Cloud must needs have caused over the Nation and that when the people heard that his Catholick Majesty sent an Agent on purpose to Congratulate King James ' s preservation he could not tell it the Cardinal d'Ossat without laughing in his face at so palpable a piece of flattery as he conceived it to be To this purpose was it that Prayers were appointed to be used by those that were Romishly affected throughout the whole Nation as not only Osburn relates but also as it hath been this last year confirmed from Sancta Clara's c. own mouth by Mr. S. in his Depositions before the Council and is yet to be seen in a Book of theirs wrote in the beginning of King James's Reign where are many passages relating hereunto in a consolatory Psalm as it 's there called its said Confirm your hearts in hope for your Redemption draweth nigh The year of Visitation draweth to an end and Jubilation is at hand England shall be called a happy Realm a blessed Country a Religious People Those which knew the former glory of Religion shall lift up their hands for joy to see it returned again Righteousness shall prosper and Infidelity shall be plucked up by the roots Again false Error shall vanish like smoke and they which saw it shall say where is it become The Daughters of Babylon shall be cast down and in the dust lament their ruin Proud Heresie shall strike her Sail and groan as a Beast crushed under a Cart Wheel The memory of Novelties shall perish with a crack as a ruinous House falling to the ground Repent ye Seducers with speed and prevent the dreadfull Wrath of the most Powerable He will come as a flame that burneth out beyond the Furnace his fury shall fly forth as Thunder and pitch upon their tops which maligne him So in the fifth Psalm of his composure They Enemies shall perish in thy Fury and melt like wax before the fire I have repeated the more from this Book because it was made about that season and also because it 's very hard to be got From which we may observe 1. That the Jubilee they expected was very near 2. That this was to be by the destruction of their Enemies 3. That it should be such a destruction as would render the Enemies uncapable of resistance or recovery 4. The manner is as much pointed out as a thing of that nature that was a Secret and charily to be kept as such could be Heresie shall vanish like smoak the memory of Novelties shall perish with a crack he will come as a flame that burneth out beyond a Furnace c. As the time drew on so they were more secure of success and more confident and open in their expectations of it Thus it was abroad for Henry Flood a Jesuit caused the Jesuits at Lisbon to spend a great deal of Money on Powder upon a Festival day a little before the Gunpowder-Treason in England to make experiment of the force of it and perswaded one John How a Merchant whom he had perverted and diverse other Catholicks to go over into England and to expect their Redemption there as he called it a while as we have the relation of it Thus it was also at home for a few days before the appointed time Garnet meets the other Traitors at Coughton in Warwick-shire which was the place of Rendezvouz whither they resorted out of all Countreys And upon the first of November Garnet openly prayeth for the good success of the great Action concerning the Catholick Cause in the beginning of the Parliament adding these Verses of an Hymn in the end of his Prayer Gentem auferte perfidam Credentium de finibus Vt Christo laudes debitas Persolvamus alacriter This Garnet never denied but pleaded that he went thither with a purpose to disswade Mr. Catesby when he should have come down An Answer most absurd as the Earl of Salisbury replied to him seeing he knew Catesby would not come down till the 6 th of November which was the day after the Blow should have been given and Garnet went into the Country ten days before If this had been his Errand it would rather have kept him in London where Catesby was than carried him from it As to the Prayer he used he had prepared this Answer as he told Hall in their secret Conference together It is true saith he that I prayed for the good Success of that great Action but I will tell them that I meant it in respect of some sharper Laws which I feared they would then make against the Catholicks And that answer shall serve well enough In which 1. he plainly grants that he had another end in reciting that verse than he would own to them that should examine him upon it 2. It appears that the end which he did it for was what he was very much afraid to have discovered As is evident from his own Letters in one of which he saith I know not how I shall satisfie them about my Journey to Coughton and in another there is a rumour of a Sermon preached by me at Hall I am afraid it 's that which I made at Coughton And he further said to Hall If I can clear my self of this which I hope to do I care not what otherwise they have to object against me c. And can we then think that it was by chance that he recited those Verses being used in the Octaves of All-Saints day as his Apologist saith
Laws c. Now supposing 1. that thus it was that the King had before promised favour to them and instead of that had permitted the horrid and cruel Laws as he calls them to have their course is this sufficient to excuse their cursed Design or to prove that Religion was not concerned in it Was it upon any other account if we grant this than Religion when they hoped for Toleration and was it not Religion that put them upon Rebellion because they had not that Toleration But 2. indeed there was no such reason for their Conspiracy for they had no such assurances from the King Such a report was spread abroad by themselves as Watson doth acknowledge but with what truth will appear not only from Watson's Confession who two days before his death protested upon his Soul to the Earl of Northampton that he could never draw the smallest comfort from him in those degrees but also from Watson's Treason who would never have attempted that if he had been satisfied of the King 's good intentions towards those of his Religion It is not unlikely but that the King who after his coming in did receive them freely and favourably might before treat them after the same manner but how far it was from any promise Watson further declares I could never draw more from the King saith he than that he would have the Catholicks apprehend that as he was a stranger to this state so till he under stood in all points how those matters stood he would not promise favour any way But how far the King was from affording them any such favours as they pretend is further declared in a Memorandum in the Star-Chamber For some of the Puritans having spread a rumour that the King intended to grant a Toleration to Papists the Lords severally declared how the King was discontented with the said false rumour and had made but the day before a Protestation to them that he never intended it and that he would spend the last drop of blood in his body before he would do it and prayed that before any of his Issue should maintain any other Religion than what he truly professed and maintained that God would take them out of the World As false also and less ground is there for that of their Persecution For he was so far from it that he gave honour at his first coming to many of them and did admit all without distinction to his presence upon just occasion of access as the Earl of Northampton shews and took away the Mulcts that were laid upon them And in his first Speech in Parliament Mar. 19. 1603 the King did make a proposal of clearing the Laws of such interpretations as might tend to the hurt of the innocent as well as the guilty as he saith which Speech was made after the Treason of Watson was discovered that not provoking the King to change his behaviour toward any other of them than those that were Confederates in it So that if we truly enquire into the case unless Lenity and Favour is Persecution we shall hardly find what may be so called And so much indeed doth Suarez say that King James's kindnesses inasmuch as they proceeded from political reasons may be well esteemed part of their Persecution But 3. There could be no such reason for this Conspiracy for they had laid the foundation of it and were carrying it on before the King was settled in his Throne This Watson confess'd and it s also manifest for Christopher Wright was dispatched into Spain to engage that Kings assistance immediatly upon Queen Elizabeths death and the Powder Treason it self was formed in the first year of King James's Reign We see then they had no such provocation given them as is pretended and that if they had it doth not at all infer that they engaged upon this Design not upon the account of Religion But if we should grant that they had such a provocation and that the provocation and Religion did not go together in it Yet we have other reasons to shew that it was upon a religious account that this was undertaken and that I shall make evident 1. From the Principles which they went upon 2. From their own Declaration From their Principles As 1. They held that an Heretical Prince might and ought to be deposed So Faux said he was moved to this because the King was not his lawful Sovereign or the Anointed of God in respect he was an Heretick 2. That the Pope had sufficient power by vertue of his Supremacy to depose such This was Catesbye's reason for saith he if the Popes Breves were of force to keep him King James out they are also of no less Authority to thrust him out 3. That it was lawful for the good of the Church and the furtherance of the Catholick Cause to kill and to destroy This was the reason upon which Catesby and all the rest were satisfied and from whence Sir Everard did with a great confidence affirm I could give unanswerable reasons for the good that this would have done for the Catholick Cause Which it seems he was furnished with from a Latin Book that he met with perhaps Delrio If these and the like be not principles of their Religion then we are to seek for them and if these are the Principlss upon which they were satisfied then it was the Cause of Religion that they fought in 2. But if this will not do let us attend to their own Declarations I was moved hereunto said Faux only for Religion and Conscience sake the King not being my lawful Soveraign c. So Sir Everard Digby no other cause drew me to hazard my Fortune and Life but Zeal to Gods Religion From all which we have reason to say with King James that it cannot be denied that it was the only blind Superstition of their errors in Religion that led them to this desperate device And must think the Author of the Catholick Apology let fall a great Truth though against his own mind that when Dr. Stillingfleet had asserted that the Plotters motives were from their Religion doth reply ' T is as true that the Plot had its rise from Clem. 8. Breves For so it had in a great measure as I have before shewed SECT V. THey never gave to the World any real and good satisfaction of their abhorrency of this bloody Design The Catholick Apology doth tell us that Cardinal Bellarmin doth express the Treason not only by the name of Horrid but also adds I excuse not the Fact I abominate King-killing I detest Conspiracies And presently adds of his own Did ever Writer whether Priest or Lay-man English-man or Stranger own the real Plotters not to be Villains But the Question is First who are those he calls real Plotters not the Jesuits or hardly Catesby whom they do so much applaud not only for his Parts but his Piety
the Netherlands For 1. if it had been so Garnet would most certainly have pleaded after that manner and not as he did I thought said Garnet it had been an idle question though afterwards I did verily think he intended something that was not good Here is not a word of a War or of the Low-Countries or of his going thither Nay Garnet saith expresly only Mr. Catesby asked him in general the question But 2. if this had been the case and that it was so propounded by Catesby as they would have it yet what needed so great a privacy that he should come to Garnet by way of secret Confession Since the Case as they now dress it up is what might be put in any place or company 3. If the Case was such what needed Catesby to be so solicitous in it and after the first resolution of it by Garnet to come again upon the same business 4. Especially considering that Garnet knew very well if Catesby had put it after that manner that he was not in earnest for there was another reason for his pretence of obtaining a Regiment and going to Flanders as hath been before observed 5. It s a sign that the Case was not so put by Catesby since it is acknowledged by Garnet that he did verily think that he in that queston intended something that was not good Now how could he well discern so much from thence if Catesby had pretended only scruple of Conscience about what he might lawfully do now he was going to serve in the Wars The question if put after that manner hath in it nothing but what is fair and gives no reason to suspect any thing that is not good and therefore its likely to avoid the objection that might be made against this way of framing the Case it is that More adds that Garnet discovered that Catesby had some great Design by frequent converse with him And that indeed is also true and it is as true that the Case was never so put under the disguise of a War For lastly Garnet himself doth acknowledg that Catesby in his name and by his authority did satisfie the rest of the lawfulness of the Fact Now it cannot be supposed that Catesby did not understand Garnet from whose side he never was as they say or that he should abuse his friend that trusted him above all the rest from the knowledg and experience he had of him It 's certain that when Rookwood made it a matter of Conscience to take away so much blood Catesby replied that he was resolved and that by good Authority as coming from the Superior of the Jesuits that in Conscience it might be done yea though it were with the destruction of many Innocents rather than that the Action should quail In like manner was Keys satisfied So Sir Everard Digby doth say For my keeping it secret it was caused by certain belief that those which were best able to judge of the lawfulness of it had been acquainted with it and given way unto it And of this we have a clear proof from him For whereas there was a Breve obtained from the Pope by Garnet for quieting some broils amongst the Papists in Wales in May. 1605. or rather upon the pretence of such broils as Eudaemon would have it which some now would make us believe were to forbid all Insurrections and Conspiracies whatsoever and which it seems some did then so understand we are told the meaning of it in Sir Everard's Papers who writes thus Before I knew any thing of this Plot I did ask Mr. Farmer i.e. Garnet what the meaning of the Pope's Brief was he told me that they were not meaning the Priests to undertake or procure Stirs but yet they would not hinder any neither was it the Pope's mind they should that should be undertaken for Catholick Good And he presently adds This answer with Mr. Catesby's proceedings with him and me gave me absolute beliefe that the matter in general was approved though every particular was not known By which means he came to so great satisfaction in it that he saith I could give unanswerable reasons for the good this would have done the Catholick Cause But Garnet was not alone though his Opinion and Judgment in the case was of greatest Authority for others also did follow him in the same practice So Greenwel whose true name was Tesmond but who abroad went under the name of Beaumont did satisfie Bates Mr. Catesby's Servant when he feard the unlawfulness of the Action assuring him that it was no offence to conceal it nor sin to do it for a good Cause They tell us that Bates recanted of this Information for it was he that accused Greenwel But 1. that is no credit to them for in that Letter which he is said to have written to his Confessor he recants also that he had seen Greenwel and Garnet which he doth there declare to be true in it self 2. This report was spread of him at the first when all could bear witness of the falsness of it he not recanting to nor at his death So Gerard did absolve and give the Sacrament to the five first of the Conspirators The Author of the Catholick Apology doth say that he did deny both by a publick writing in which he called God to witness that he knew not of the Plot no not so much as in Confession and also upon Oath at Rome when examined by the General of his Order He did also saith another appeal to his familiar Friend Sir Everard Digby But in confutation of this we have the Confession of Faux and Thomas Winter the only survivers of the five that did thus receive the Sacrament of Gerard and were absolved by him whom though they did deny at the first to name yet did afterward accuse him of it and that he was thus charged by some Sir Everard saith he was told As for his Appeal to Sir Everard he knew that he might do it with safety and confidence since that Gentleman had again and again satisfied them that he would not confess his knowledg of any Priest nor of Him above any And if he could work thus upon another person to protest and deny even to the death it may well be supposed that he himself was not without those principles which be had furnished another with nor would be wanting in the use of them when his own life and reputation and the honour of his Religion was concerned to have it remain a Secret And this also is no new thing for we find Fitz-Herbert taking the same course for his own vindication in a charge of the like Nature Hammond the Jesuit is another whom we find concerned in this capacity who did absolve the Conspirators at the house of Rob. Winter when they were in actual Rebellion And for which the Apologist hath nothing
A VINDICATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE Gunpowder Treason And of the Proceedings and Matters relating thereunto from the Exceptions which have been made against it And more especially of late years by the Author of the Catholick Apologie and Others To which is added A PARALLEL betwixt That and the Present Popish Plot. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1681. Errata's in the History of the Gunpowder-Treason PAge 8.1 ult for 20 read 16. After p. 20 false paged P. 28. l. 23. r. Catesby P. 30. l. 19. f. Everard r. Gerard f. when r. where P. 31. l. 12. expunge that In the Vindication Page 17. lin 4. read reserve P. 32. Marg. l. 2. r. 9. P. 36. Marg. l. 14. r. 313. P. 40. Marg. f. ibid. r. Antilog p. 146. P. 47. Marg. dele l. ult P. 48. Marg. dele l. 9. P. 54. l. 1. r. Wykes P. 55. l. 18. r. Conjurationis P. 57. l. ult f. yet r. that Marg. dele Paper 418. P. 60. Marg. f. ibid. r. Proceeds P. 61. Marg. l. 8. r. 248 P. 63. l. 20. r. 338. To the Reader IN compiling the History of the Gunpowder-Treason published two Years since I had a particular respect to Brevity and Truth that I might neither burthen nor abuse the Reader How far I attained the former the Book it self doth shew and that I might not mistake in the latter I did with good heed and diligence consult not only the Histories foreign and domestick but also all other Books which I could meet with written pro and con upon that subject But all this while I had neither seen nor heard of the large Reply in Vindication of the Catholick Apology written by a Person of as great Wit as Honour in which I afterwards found there was a particular Discourse upon this Argument I must confess that the Honourable Author hath as well acquitted himself as could be expected in a Case of this nature and by the reviving and skilful disposing of what hath bin said by others and starting many things not taken notice of that I know of before hath put a pretty Varnish upon the Cause and made it passable with inconsiderate Persons But if what is there said be warily view'd I do not question but it will appear to be founded rather upon conjecture than solid History and to have more of fancy than truth in it But whether this be so or not or whether what I have here said will make it evident or no I must now leave to the Judicious and such as will be concerned impartially to inquire into the merits of the Cause If it should be expected that I should have taken notice of some other late Books of our Adversaries that touch upon this Subject I have only this to say that I have not willingly overlooked any and as for those that I have seen I find little or nothing which is not the same with what is said in the foresaid Reply and that hath not for the most part bin borrowed from it THE HISTORY OF THE Gunpowder-Treason VINDICATED THE Conspiracy of the Gunpowder-Treason carried in its front so much of unnatural cruelty that with all their Art the Party could put no colour upon it and therefore there hath been nothing wanting amongst them to vindicate themselves and their Religion from being concerned in it Sometimes they will slander Authority and make the Judges and Council to Conspire against them Sometimes the whole was the contrivance of a Minister of State Sometimes the Traitors were but very few and they such as were young and rash quick to resent a provocation and easily inclined to revenge it Sometimes it was in those discontent not Religion And if any or all of these will serve to stop the mouths of their Adversaries and protect themselves they will boldly stand up in their own vindication And that they have reason to say all this is what they do maintain I shall therefore consider their several pleas and do think that I shall take in all that they say and shew it to be very weak and insufficient if I make good 1. That this was a Plot of their own and not contrived to their hands by their Adversaries 2. That more were concerned in it than were at that time publickly known and accused 3. That those that fled and suffered for it were really guilty 4. That this Conspiracy was purely upon the account of Religion 5. I shall add that they never yet gave to the world any real and good satisfaction of their abhorrency of it Of what great use it will be if they could prove the whole to be anothers device I cannot well understand For if it could be made as clear as the day that a Minister of State drew the Conspirators into the nooze and had such as from time to time did give him intelligence how their affair stood will it serve to clear their innocency and make the Plot on their part to be none was there all the while no evil inclination of their own to work upon and no mischief intended by them were they drawn in without their consent or were they not drawn in at all but the whole accusation a Fiction and it no better than a seeming Plot as one suggests If not why is this so vigorously urged and so much enlarged upon by our late Apologists But yet how little shadow of proof there is for this will appear if we consider how inconstantly these speak as to this matter For if we will hearken to the man of 70 years when he died who is for that reason presumed to be a person of some credit in the case by the honourable Author above said he saith Fuit non levis suspitio c. that there was no light suspicion of a certain Peer's being acquainted with the Conspiracy long before its discovery who cunningly pretended ignorance that the more might be involved in it It was in his time it seems a suspicion and a suspicion that that Noble-man knew of the Conspiracy i.e. by the intelligence he kept with some of them But in the current of ten or twelve years from a suspicion it comes to a certainty from his being privy to it it comes to be his proper Invention For now it s said to be set a work by the discoverers to be a trick invented by the States-man and to be a seeming Plot and that they were drawn into it by the dexterity of a Protestant It was in More 's time some Noble man thus was suspected but now upon the sole credit of Mr. Osborn it must be the Treasurer meaning I believe Cecil tho at the time of this Treason he was Secretary only and he for his good service was made an Earl as our Author saith altho as luck would have it he was so created on the Saturday after St. George's day Ann. 1605 which was above six months before this Treason
broke out So inconsistent are Persons with themselves when they have not truth on their side and so apt are they to catch at any little thing when they serve a Cause or a Party For is it not an easie thing to raise such a report and have we not reason to believe such will do it whose interest it is to discharge themselves of it and who as they would deny it if they could so would to be sure extenuat it when it is not to be denied Can we think that they who contrived to cast the whole upon the Puritans if it had succeeded were not as able and willing when it miscarried to place the name of Cecil in their Register as the Master-workman as the above said Author saith that Sanderson doth acknowledg and to make him the deviser of it Furthermore is it not usual for such as would be accounted Men of Wit which the Apol. saith Mr. Osborn was noted for to allow little of that in others and for such as pretend to be Inquisitive Politicoes as the Apol. saith Tacitus did to have every thing a Mystery can we think that he that slubbers over what K. James did well and continually exposeth him in what he thinks he did ill that will hardly allow him to have any sense of Honour and Religion would not be shy also of allowing him one dram of sagacity above other men to find out a Riddle or any greater title to divine Providence to help him to unfold it Can we think that he that was a frequenter of company and inquisitive as this Author saith Osborn was could be ignorant of such rumours as were scattered at that time abroad by the party concerned if such there were or that he that had a spite at the Court would not maliciously improve them And is there any reason to believe the one or the other upon their bare affirmation I do not think that the credit of such will pass at this time abroad without better Certificates and therefore since this honourable Person is he alone that hath urged some Arguments for it as he affirms I shall consider what he hath said And in the first place I think what he hath said concerning the Letter sent to the Lord Monteagle to be very remarkable upon which he observes That it 's pleasant to see in most of the Relations and Accounts of this Business how the Letter appeared Nonsence forsooth to Cecil and with what a particular adulation he seemed all along to admire the King's Comment and Exposition for though his Majesty had as much Wit as any man living yet the Affair was so plain that one of a far less capacity could not miscarry in it Herein I must confess he is very singular and I am of his mind when he saith perchance I have bin the first that urged the present Arguments For to this day all the World hath bin of another opinion and without doubt whoever had seen the Letter before the event did unriddle it must have no more thought of such a design then those that read the Case that Del Rio put of powder being placed so that the Prince and all that are in the City would be thereby destroyed could think of the respect which that had to England Will we hearken to their stout Apologist he acknowledgeth that Rex ingenio per se acer periculo factus acrior c. the King naturally of a sharp wit and by his danger made more quick when he could conceive no other way by which the Parliament should be destroyed suspected as it was that it must be by some Mine and so caused the place to be searched If Barclay be to be heeded the King was Divinely inspired Nay if Bellarmine be to be credited it was not discovered without a Miracle of Divine Providence And after all these it will be of some Authority with Protestants not only that King James in his Speech on that occasion saith it was miraculous and that when a general obscure Advertisement was given of some dangerous blow at this time I did saith he upon the instant interpret and apprehend some dark Phrases therein contrary to the ordinary Grammar construction of them and in another sort than I am sure any Divine or Lawyer in any Vniversity would have taken them to be meant by this horrible form of blowing us all up by Powder But also the Lords and Commons in Parliament declared that the Plot would have turned to the utter ruin of this whole Kingdom had it not pleased Almighty God by inspiring the King 's most excellent Majesty with a Divine Spirit to interpret some dark phrases of a Letter shewed to his Maiesty above and beyond all ordinary construction thereby miraculously discovering this hidden Treason After all which whether I shall with the aforesaid Author say that the words of that Letter are obvious and which he by way of scorn calls the Miraculous Letter or with Sir Edward Cook in his Speech say upon the Authority aforesaid that the King was divinely inspired by Almighty God the only Ruler of Princes like an Angel of God to direct and point out as it were to the very place to cause a search to be made out of those dark words of the Letter concerning a terrible Blow I leave the world to judg But he will not only have the Letter plain for the matter of it but also undertakes to find out the Authour which he will needs have to be the States-man and thinks to come off with a pretty Query or two Is it possible saith he to imagin that any Man could be so mad after he and his Partizans had brought their Plot to that perfection had so solemnly swore by the Trinity and Sacrament never to disclose it directly or indirectly by word or circumstance and had resolved to blow up all the Catholick Lords and the rest of their Friends c. To fancy that a man should write a Letter that had more in it of a Plot against the State than the bare saving of a Friend Again Suppose this yet what need was there to write that God and Man would punish the Parliament c. and a hundred other circumstances not only suspicious but to no manner of purpose unless intended for the detection of the whole Intrigue Besides no man really engaged in the Treason had he bin never so great a Fool would have given warning ten days before the Plot was to be executed And so he goes on to shew how this warning was quite opposite to the designs of a Conspirator c. but beneficial to a Machiavilian From all which we may observe how much may be said by a man of Wit to baffle any Cause that he undertakes to overthrow since this that he hath said is in the ground of it false as hath elsewhere bin shewedâ— and what if I had