No.7.J NARRA'l'IVE SERIES, [Price
Id.,

Or 68. per 100.

THE

FIFTH OF NOVEMBER;

OR,

CUNPOWDER TREASON.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR "rHE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, 6, SERJEANTS'-rNN, FLEET-STR.EET,

BY HATCHARDS, RIVINGTONS, SEELEYS, NISBET) DALTON,

AND ALL BOOKSELLE RS.

1854.



MACINTOSH, PRINTER,

GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.



THE

F I F T li O F N O V E M BER.

THE reign of Queen Elizabeth was a period of signal and mani-
.

fold manifestations of God's power and mercy in dealing with
nations faithful to His truth. The mightiest armament ever fitted
out was sent to subdue this island: its enterprise was blessed by
the Pope, and the prayers of all Rornanists ascended to heaven
for its success; but the Lord arose, ano his enemies were scat­

tered : a few straggling vessels arrived back in Spain, dismantled
and defeated, to tell of the fate of all the rest which had perished
in the waves, or lay broken on the shore. Conspiracy after con­

spiracy was formed against the life of the Sovereign. Popery
proclaimed in plain accents, that in her case killing would be no
murder, her subjects were absolved from their allegiance, some of
herprincipal nobles rose in rebellion, treason was fostered through­
out the kingdom, and Ireland, time after time, was rent by com­
motion and plunged in civil war. But over all these machinations
and disorders, there was an omnipotent and eternal Providence,
which stilled the tumult of the people, and saved the Monarch
from the poison or the dagger, and the country from the triumph
of the traitor. And thus at length the subjects of Elizabeth re­

garded hers almost as a charmed life, and sat each man under his
own vine and his own fig-tree, none daring to make him afraid.
All who were loyal, however, looked forward to the period of her
death with deep anxiety, not knowing what new jealousies might
be fomented, or what new perils braved. It was indeed a time
of great solicitude, for Elizabeth had governed with so firm and

steady a hand, had chosen for her counsellors such wise and
honest ministers, and had been blessed with such remarkable

prosperity, that her people having experienced the blessings of
this kind of sway, might well dread the rule of a stranger. . This

feeling, in the quaint and homely, but forcible language of the

time, is expressed in the Preface of the translation of the English
A 2



4

Bible, wherein it is presented and dedicated to Elizabeth's suc­

cessor, King James :-
" Great andmanifoldwere the blessings, most dread Sovereiqn,

which Almighty God, the Father ofall mercies, bestowed on us the

people ofEngland, whenfirst he sentyour Majesty's Royalperson
to rule and reign over us. For whereas it was the expectation of
many, who wished not well unto our Sion, that upon the setting

of that br£ght occidental star, Queen Elizabeth 0/ most happy
m.emory, some thick and palpable clouds 0/ darkness would so
have overshadowed this land, that men should have been in doubt

uihich. way they were to walk; and that it should hardly be

known who was to direct the unsettled state; the appearance of

your Majesty, as 0/ the sun in his strength, instant�y dispelled
those supposed and surmised mists, and gave unto all that we're

well affected exceeding cause of comfort; especially when we

beheld the Government established in your Highness, and your

hopeful seed, b.y an undoubted title, and this also accompanied
with peace and tranquillity at home and abroad.

"But among all our joys'} there was no one more filled our

hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's
sacred Word among us, which is that inestimable treasure which

excelleth all the riches of the earth; because the fruit thereof
eætendeth itself, not only to the time spent in this transitory
world, but directetb and disposeth men unto that eternal happi­
ness which is above in heaven:"

It was indeed a great mercy to the nation that Almighty God

had raised up to Queen Elizabeth such wise counsellors as pre­

pared for King .Iarnes's accession to the throne; who, by the

energy of their movements, established him in its possession on

the Queen's death before the disaffected had time to concert

resistance, or to rally round the standard of a Pretender, And

it was also a manifestation of great mercy to this nation, that

there was provided as Elizabeth's successor, one so well calculated

for such troublous times as King James-a man with a deep­
rooted abhorrence of the soul-destroying heresies of Rome, yet
of a moderate and tolerant disposition. To him at once the

hearts of the population turned, and, as if by magic, was the

possessor of the crown changed, without the unsettlement of one

single law, or the shedding of one drop of blood, or the oppres­
sion of one single su bject.
And here fell the hopes of the Church of Rome. Elizabeth

was dead; that event had happened which they had striven to

hasten, and for which they had so earnestly longed, and yet they
were no nearer to their loved supremacy. At once, therefore,
all among them who had both stake in the country and a degree
of independence of Jesuit influence, resolved to pursue the system
of conciliating the new Government, and, as if willingly and



5

cheerfully, disclaimed hostility to the King or the national insti.

tutions. Not so the many Romanists and the Jesuits, in whom

the principles of their Church were more deeply seated. They
had thus lost their leaders, but they were resolved not to lose

their end; they could no longer engage in powerful conspiracies,
but were driven to secret cabals, and from open rebellion to

private murder. Of one plot, by some of those men concerted,
we have now to give a description, and truly it may be called in

the Act of Parliament commemorating the Event, and ordered

to be read in churches,
" An Invention So Inhuman, Barbarous,

and Cruel, As The Like Was Never Before Heard Of."* We

mean the famous (or infamous) Gunpowder Treason.

The conspirators were thirteen in number :--

Robert Catesby, Sir Everard Digby,
Robert Winter, Ambrose Rookwood,
Thomas Percy, Francis Tresham,
Thomas Winter, John Grant,

John Wright, Robert Keys,

Christopher Wright, Guy Faukes,

And Bates, the servant of Catesby.

Three Jesuits also, Garnet, Gerard," and Tesmond, who was

also called Greenway, were aware of the design, if they did not

counsel and arrange it; for never, indeed, as has
been well

remarked by Sir Edward Coke, was there a treason
in those days

without a Jesuit at the bottom of it; and such probably is the

case now.

or these conspirators, Catesby, Rookwood, Tresham, Percy,
and Sir Everard Digby, were men of wealth and ancient family.

Guy Faukes was an adventurer who had
served under the Spanish

King as a soldier, and who appears to
have been bigoted in his

religion, and ready for every desperate enterprise
to maintain it.

Bates was Catesby's servant, taken into the conspiracy, and

sworn to secrecy, when
it was feared that he knew or suspected

it, and the rest all appear to have been men of education
and

property.

King James the First ascended the throne
in the early part of

1603. At that time the plan had been conceived by Catesby,
For nearly three years therefore was secrecy kept of

one of

the most horrible massacres ever contemplated by the unrege­
nerate heart of man. So tight is the seal of the confessional!

80 benumbing to the conscience is Popery I

Catesby first communicated his design to Thomas
Winter and

John Wright, the former of whom engaged Guy
Faukes to join

it. Subsequently Percy joined them, and they
met in a room

near St. Clement's Church, Catesby and Winter alone knowing

• Publications of Protestant Association j Handbill, No.6, price Is. per 100.



6

the whole plan, and keeping it partial1y and for a time secret
from the rest. I t was there determined that an oath of secrecy
should be imposed; and accordingly, having each taken it on a
Primer, they heard mass from the Jesuit Gerard, and at his
hands received the sacrament. The whole scheme was then

revealed to Percv, Faukes, and Wright, and all readily agreed to

engage in it. The plan was, that they should undermine the
House of Lords, place a quantity of gunpowder underneath it,
and by this, when the King should open Parliament, blow it

up, with the Prince of Wales, the nobles, and the Commons; that

Percy in the panic, having an office at Court, and access to the

palace, should seize the Duke of York, and that a body of Papists
should assemble on Dunsmore Heath, under pretence of a hunt­

ing-match, to seize also the Princess Elizabeth, who was then
on a visit to Lord Harrington, in Warwickshire.
A house adjoining the House of Lords was then hired by

Percy, who employed Faukes as his keeper, under the name of
Johnson. Gunpowder was procured from Flanders, and placed
in a house at Lambeth, where Catesby frequently lodged; and
this house was then intrusted to Keys, who at this period (the
summer of 1604), was admitted into the conspiracy. Thus far
their proceedings had gone, when Parliament was adjourned till
the ensuing February, 1605. The conspirators consequently
left town, and travelled in various directions to avoid suspicion.
They assembled again, however, very shortly, and after some

unexpected delays in getting possession of Percy's house, which
sometimes was used for Parliamentary business, they commenced

operations by beginning, on the 11th December, 1604, to dig
through the wall which separated his house from the cellar of
the House of Lords. Here they worked till Christmas-eve; but
then finding that Parliament was again adjourned to the following
October, they ceased for a time their labours. In spring, they
added Christopher Wright and Robert Winter to their party,
recommenced operations, and went on with them until Easter.
The wall through which they had ·to penetrate was nine feet

thick, and of a very hard substance; and none of them being at
all accustomed to man ual labour, they made slow progress. It
was therefore with great delight that they seized an opportunity
of hiring the cellar of the House of Lords itself, which happened
to be to let about this time; an opportunity which they regarded
as a remarkable omen of success. The plan then having been
communicated to Bates (the servant of Catesby), who with Catesby
and Winter received absolution from Tesmond the Jesuit on

confessing it, and to Sir Everard Digby, Tresham (who supplied
money towards its expense), and subsequently to Rookwood and
Grant, it only remained to convey their materials privately into
the cellar, and to make arrangements at home and abroad to



7

follow up with success t.heir scheme, when the first fearful blow

should be struck. And now Parliament having been again pro ..

rogued, a definite day (the ever-memorable 5th of November,
1605), was fixed for its opening. The powder was placed in

readiness, arrangements were made for its ignition, and on the

discovery that the Prince of Wales would not be present with
his father, a plan was settled for his capture. And th us was this
deed of darkness carried to the point of execution. Ten days
only had to elapse before the fatal moment; all things were

prepared, and the whole Romanist body, though not acquainted
with the particulars, looked anxiously forward to some great
catastrophe, by which, they were told, their despotism was once
more to be established. The Government had information from

abroad that something treasonable was going on; but so carefully
and successfully was it veiled, that they could gain no clue to the

conspiracy, of which in silent apprehension they waited the issue.
But man's extremity is God's opportunity. The time had come
for the baffling of the traitors' impious design. By a process
the most remarkable, this foul secret was to be dragged to light,
and the monarchy, freedom, and the religion of the nation saved
from annihilation.

On the evening of the 26th October, by an unknown hand,
the following letter was left at the house of Lord Monteagle, a
Roman Catholic:-
"

ffIy Lord,
" Out of the love I hear to some ofyour friends, Ihave

a care ofyour preservation; therefore Iwould advise you, asyou
tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift offyour attendance
at this Parliament; for God and man have concurred to punish
the uiickedness of this time. ·And think not slightly of this adver­

tisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may
expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of
any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow at this Parlia­

ment, and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel
is not to he contemned, because it may do you good, and can do

you no harm; for the danger is past, as soon as you have burnt
the letter: and I hope God will give you the grace to make a

good use of it, to whose hoZy protection I commend you."
Thus personally and publicly threatened, and evidently as one

of the Parliament, Lord Monteagle at once conveyed the letter
to King James's celebrated Minister, Cecil, Earl of Salisbury.
Whence the letter came, however, it was impossible for him to
tell, nor indeed to this day has it been ascertained, though it is

probable that it was written by Tresham, who was related to Lord

Monteagle, and might naturally be anxious to save his life. Nor
could he assist in discovering its meaning. Cecil, also, and the
rest of the Council whom he consulted, were baffied ; but deeming



8

it of importance they resolved to lay it before the King; which
was accordingly done on the 31st of October. James was a man
of little courage, and therefore was much disposed to view it

seriously. His father, too, had perished by an explosion of gun­
powder, and this might, under the circumstances, naturally occur
to him. He therefore at once suggested that the sentence,

"

They
shall receive a terrible blow at this Parliament, and yet shall

not see who hurts them," meant an attempt by gunpowder on the
asserobled Parliament; and he thought the sentence, "for the

danger is over as soon as you luiue burnt this letter," meant as

quickly as you have burnt this letter, which seemed to confirm
his opinion. Subsequently this impression appears also to have

been made on the Council and the Lord Chancellor, by whom

on the following day (Saturday, the 2d inst.) it was determined
that a search of the vaults of the House of Lords should be

made. This delay deceived the conspirators. Through Lord

Monteagle's servant they had heard of the letter, and that it
had been carried to the Council; but finding that no search
was made, their hopes revi ved, and trusting that the letter had
been disregarded, they stationed Faukes, on Monday, the 4th inst.,
in charge of the train, with a watch in his pocket (in those

days an unusual ornament), by which he might know the exact
hour to fire it. On that day the search was made as had been

determined, but it extended no further than to the cellar of

Percy's house, in which the Lord Chamberlain saw Guy Faukes,
and a large quantity of fuel, which excited sufficient suspicions
to induce him at once to return to the Council and announce

the facts. Lord Monteagle also then stated his belief that

Percy was the writer of the letter. But this report of the Lord

Chamberlain was only the foundation of an opinion, that it was
intended to consume the House of Lords by fire, a plan which
did not seem to answer the description in the letter of the

intended blow. King James insisted on the necessity of a
more narrow search, being still convinced that the fuel was

placed there to conceal the gunpowder. At midnight, there­

fore, Sir Thomas Knivet, a magistrate of Westminster, with a

small band, suddenly proceeded to the search, and there in the

cellar was Faukes, who had just completed all his arrangements,
and was about, for a time, to leave his post of iniquity and

peril. Going further they found, on removing the coals and

wood, first, one barrel of gunpowder, and then more, till at

length the number of thirty-six was discovered. Guy Faukes
was then searched, and on him they found matches, the watch,
and arms. At four o'clock in the morning, Sir Thomas Knivet

returned to Whitehall, the whole Council was at once assembled,

and there, a few hours before the time concerted for launching
them all into eternity, stood before them the detected conspira-



9

tor ;-a memorable and marvellous proof of God's never-failing
providence, and of His faithfulness and power. To Him, to Him

alone, be praise ascribed for the discovery. He in whose hands

are the hearts of men, who turneth them whithersoever He will,

had caused a conspirator, whose conscience allowed him to

sacrifice hundreds, to interpose to save one. He had by that

interposition thrown light on this dark and awful treason, just at

the moment when the train was ready for its explosion.
The other conspirators fled. Within one hour after Sir

Thomas Knivet's return they heard of the discovery through a

message left at Lord Monteagle's, summoning him to assist in

the search for Percy: and at once most of them started for

Warwickshire, where they assembled to concert future mea­

sures, as they had before arranged. Meanwhile London was

in the height of excitement; the intelligence, probably with

many exaggerations, was conveyed from man to man, and

thence into the country, where at once revived that determined

spirit of abhorrence of Popery, the foul author of so many
crimes, the parent of so many perils to this nation, which

afterwards so long and so usefully reigned in the hearts of

Englishmen.
The hour for retributive justice was now at hand. The

conspirators, forsaken on all sides, were hunted through the

country, till wearied and despairing, they took refuge in the

house of Stephen Littleton, at Holbeach, in Staffordshire.

Here they were speedily surrounded and assailed by the Sheriff.
A contest ensued, in which some gunpowder exploded, whereby
the house was set in flames, and Catesby, Rookwood, and

Grant were serious1y injured; even by the very instrument of
destruction they had prepared for others! The Sheriff's men

now gained entrance, and a furious struggle ensued; Catesby
and Percy fought back to back with desperate courage, and at

length fell, slain it is said by the same shot. The two Wrights
were also killed, Rookwood and one of the Winters were

wounded, and the rest were captured. Tresham was captured
in London, and Robert Winter, Garnet, and Sir Everard

Digby, were arrested soon after. Of these, Tresham died in

prison, and the rest were brought to trial, and paid the penalty
of their crimes.

Tresham and Sir Everard Digby confessed their guilt; Faukes,
Thomas Winter, and Bates, Robert Winter, Grant, and Rook ..

wood, did likewise, afterwards. From their confessions and

examinations, and the speech of Sir Edward Coke on the trial,
much useful information may be collected; and in the latter,

especially, the important facts are insisted on, that even prior to
the Reformation, this country, by several Acts of Parliament, had

renounced subjection to the See of Rome; that the proceedings



10

of the Jesuits in England were not of a treasonable character till
after the Bull of Pope Pi us the Fifth had been pu blished to
authorize such conduct; and that during the reign of Elizabeth,
the executions of Romanists in all cases were not for their
religion, but for gross acts of treason.
It was discovered that the influence of Garnet the Jesuit had

been exerted to stimulate the conspirators, when even Catesby
shrunk from sacrifìcing so many Roman Catholic Peers with the
other victims. And though in this manner he was a party to
one of the foulest tragedies ever designed, though on his trial
he not only equivocated but justified equivocation, he was held
as a martyr after his execution, a straw was exhibited on which
his blood had dropped, and on which there was said to be a
miraculous picture of his face. At Rome a print of this straw
was pu bIished and sold, and he was declared a martyr by the
Pope, who also beatified him in due form. Whether Romanists
now pray to him or for him, we are not concerned to inquire,
and can merely lament the" strong delusion

"
of men, some of

them of the highest degree of intellect, who can revere this
wicked plotter in a treason, which for iniquity and cold-blooded
cruelty has and can have few parallels.
Had the King been a Papist, and the conspirators Protestants,

the discovery of so fearful a design would have been the signal
for a general persecution. Less than thirty years before, Paris
and all the chief towns of France, on the mere imagination of a
conspiracy, were (on St. Bartholomew's day) drenched with
blood; in Spain and Italy the most dreadful persecutions were
going on; in Ireland, soon after, there was a fearful massacre of
Protestants; and fifty years afterwards, in Tyrol there were
inflicted on the Protestant population, cruelties which beggar
description. Such was then the spirit of Popery. But it was
different with Protestant England. So cautiously did King
James abstain from curbing' and discouraging Romanism to the
extent which many deemed necessaryfor self-defence, that he was
himself suspected by no small portion of his people of a leaning
to Popery. He restored to the children of the traitors their
forfeited estates, and seemed, in fact, more anxious than ever to
conciliate all foes.

The Romanists in the present day have endeavoured to escape
from the odium of this transaction; but their attempts are
fruitless,* The conspirators were (with the exception of Bates
* That there was such a plot, is attested by the papers in the State Paper

Office; by the Act of Parliament passed to perpetuate a grateful recollection
of the goodness of God in delivering the Church and nation from the medi­
tated destruction; by the Religious service enjoined to be used by the
Church each fifth of November; and by our State Trials, in which, at great
length, is given a minute account of the various proceedings relative to the
Plot, and its defeat.



11

and Faukes) men capable of judging between right and wrong,
who advisedly and deliberately took up the cause, received the
sacrament after swearing secrecy in it, and were not only
absolved, but encouraged by their priests. And the principles
upon which they proceeded are the principles which, to this day,
are inculcated by the Church of Rome. The third Canon of
the Fourth Lateran Council, expressly anathematizes and
excommunicates each prince who does not" cleanse his country
of heretical filth," and gives power to the Pope to absolve the
vassals of such a prince from their oaths of allegiance. This
Fourth Lateran Council is expressly recognised by the last
General Council, the Council of Trent, all of whose decrees

every Papist undoubtedly admits; and Reiffensteul,* a class­
book of the College of Maynooth, where, to the shame of
British Protestants, Popish priests are educated at the nation's
-cost, quotes that canon no less than eighteen times. Cardinal
Bellarmine, too, and others of the very highest Popish autho­
rities, have over and over again asserted the principles on which
the 5th November conspirators acted,-principles which in the
chief standard books of the unchangeable Church of Rome may
be found to this day•. It is, therefore, absurd to suppose
(nothing can be more so) that the principles on which these
men acted are obsolete or extinct.' Such a supposition can only
lead to dangerous alliances with an Antichristian system, or

gender a false peace with them, who even now, we believe,
though in ways more calculated in these times to effect their

purposes, are plotting the ruin of the British institutions, and
destruction of the independence of the monarchy.
When Parliament met after the discovery, an Act was passed

at once to record and to commemorate the event. In it the

three estates of the realm solemnly acknowledged the great
mercy of God in saving them and the nation from the fearful
catastrophe. Have we not still cause for thankfulness on the
same account? Had success attended the design, had the King
and chief nobles, and dignitaries, and commoners of the land

perished, had the heir of the throne been seized, and success
been achieved by men who could so wickedly act on such diabo­
lical principles, this nation, probably, would not now be as she
is, the most free, and the most powerful in the world, but like
other Popish lands, like Spain, Portugal, and Ireland, torn,
distracted, and degraded; or like Austria, Bavaria, and Italy,
the seat of despotism and ignorance, of poverty, and of crime.
The Bible, which so soon after that conspiracy was by King
James's command carefully translated from the original, and
published in the vulgar tongue, would be a sealed book, and the

• See Nos. 2 and 19, Publications of the Protestant Association.



12

freedom and happiness, the peace and enlightenment with which
it has pleased God to bless this favoured land, would have been

lost, probably for ever. Rooted in blood, the offspring of foul
and wholesale murders, the new Government would have been

settled and established by foreign force, and consequently would
be compelled to oppress, in order to govern a reluctant people.
But it was not the destiny of this country thus to suffer. The

treason was discovered, the blow averted, and the kingdom
saved, Well then may we yearly commemorate this wonderful

deliverance, acknowledging in it the power and mercy of the

Lord, and trusting that if we retu rn to "the old paths," and

become faithful to His truth, He will continue to be gracious,

saving us as a nation, and our sovereign and rulers in particular,
from all the assaults of secret treason and of open violence.

Nor, let it be remembered, is the national escape from the

Gunpowder conspiracy the only event which we have to comme­

morate on the 5th November. On that day, in the year 1688,
there landed in England William Prince of Orange, by whom,

through the mercy of Almighty God, our Church and nation were

delivered from Popish tyranny and arbitrary power." The reign­

ing monarch, James the Second, had endeavoured to subvert the

liberties of the people, and to abolish their religion; but in due

season, while all his plans were proceeding, the Lord raised up
for our forefathers a zealous and noble deliverer, by whom the

schemes of the Monarch were defeated, and the rights of the

people were recognised and established. A t that time the Con­

stitution was settled by the wisdom of some of the most eminent

statesmen that ever lived,-happy would it have been for the

country if that settlement had never been disturbed! But for

the blessings which, while it lasted entire, the Constitution pro­
duced to us as a nation-for the privileges which the remainder

.of it now imparts, let us still be humbly grateful to the Giver of

every good and every perfect gift, remembering what marvel­

lous mercies we have formerly experienced; and on that recol­

lection, thanking God and taking courage in our struggle for

the principles which, in days gone by, were purchased so dearly,
and were cherished so fondly, by the reformed and liberated

inhabitants of this favoured island.

• See Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to be used yearly upon the Fifth

day of November.

Published by tke Prote�tant Association, The Gunpowder Plot, 18. per 100.

No.6, Fifth of November, ] 605, Is. per 100. Also, the 5th of November.

l3y J. LORD, Esq. 3,. per 100.

Madntoah. Printer, Gr.' New.ltreet, London.