The Life Of A Conspirator Part 13

11 and 13.

The last of all to fly was Thomas Winter.[266] Of his movements Catesby could have told Sir Everard nothing; but he left London very soon after Rookwood, and eventually joined his fellow-conspirators at Huddington.

[266] Gardiner. _Hist. Eng._, Vol. i. p. 257.

When Rookwood had gone about three miles beyond Highgate, he overtook Keyes, and rode with him into Bedfordshire, where Keyes took a different road, as is conjectured by Jardine,[267] for "Lord Mordaunt's house at Turvey, where his wife resided." Somewhere in the neighbourhood of Brick-hill, a place not far from Fenny Stratford, Rookwood overtook Percy, the two Wrights, and Catesby, after which these five rode together to Ashby St Leger, Lady Catesby's place in Northamptonshire, which was very near to Dunchurch. Roughly speaking, the course of the fugitives had been not very wide of the route of the London and North-Western railway from Euston to Rugby, and while all did it quickly, Rookwood's pace was exceptionally fast, as he rode about eighty miles between eleven in the morning and six in the evening, averaging more than eleven miles an hour, including stoppages to change horses. He himself stated that he[268] "rode thirty miles of one horse in two hours," and that "Percy and John Wright cast off their cloaks and threw them into the hedge to ride the more speedily."

[267] _G. P._, p. 106.

[268] _Rookwood's Examination_, Dec. 2, 1605. S.P.O. Jardine, _G.

P._, p. 106.

The five fugitives entered Lady Catesby's house just as she and her party, which included Robert Winter and Acton, were sitting down to supper. The news of the arrest of Fawkes and the failure of the main design having been announced by the new arrivals, who, as Jardine says, were[269] "fatigued and covered with dirt,"--Father Gerard, again, in describing their ride, writes of[270] "the foulness of the winter ways"--no time was lost over the hurried meal, during which a short conference took place, ending in a decision that the whole party should ride off immediately to Dunchurch, taking with them all the arms that were in the house.

[269] P. 108.

[270] _Narrative G. P._, p. 106.

CHAPTER XI.

It is to be lamented that Catesby, not content with giving an account of the failure of the plot to Sir Everard Digby, added to it a lie. In his examination,[271] Digby stated that Catesby "told him that now was the time for men to stirre in the Catholick cause, for though the sayd Ro.

Katesbie had bin disappointed of his first intention, yet there was such a pudder bredd in the State by _y{e} death of the King and the Earle of Salisburie_, as if true Catholiques would now stirre, he doubted not but they might procure to themselves good conditions. Wherefore by all the bondes of frendshippe to him self and all which that cause might require at this examt{s}. handes, he urged this exam{t}. to proceede in that businesse as him self and all that companie would do, and as he had great a.s.surance all other Catholiques in those parts would do the like: telling me that there were two gentlemen in the companie, naming the Littletons, that would bring 1000 men the next day."

[271] S.P. Dom. James I., Vol. xvi. No. 94.

The King and Lord Salisbury both killed, and a promise of a thousand men from one family alone!

This was something to start with, even though the parliament had not been destroyed; and in the general "pudder" that had been "bredd," the Catholics might possibly succeed in obtaining good terms, if not the reins of government. So was Sir Everard persuaded by Catesby, who was not only a traitor to his country, but a deceiver of his friends.

The conspirators a.s.sumed that their names would be soon, if not already, known to the Government, as Fawkes would almost certainly be tortured until he revealed them; and, brave as he was, there was no saying whether he would be able to withstand the temptations of putting an end to his agonies on the rack by giving the names of his employers and accomplices.

Besides all this, Catesby pretended that their case was by no means hopeless. No Catholics were more discontented with the Government than those in Wales and the English counties which bordered on it; few, again, as a body, were more powerful. Let the party at Dunchurch, therefore, start at once, said Catesby, with their servants and retainers, ride through Warwickshire and Worcestershire into Wales, rallying the Catholic gentry with their followers to their standard as they went along; and, so soon as they should be in considerable numbers, let them proclaim a general insurrection of the Catholics of England.

Were it once to be known that a Catholic army was established in the West, others would certainly be raised in different parts of the country.

One man of power and influence he felt sure he could count upon: this was Talbot[272] of Grafton--a place not far from Coughton. Talbot was a zealous Catholic; he was heir presumptive to the Earldom of Shrewsbury; and his wife was a daughter of the Sir William Petre who had been Secretary of State to Queen Mary. He would be the more likely to join them, as he had suffered imprisonment and penalties for his religion under Elizabeth. Another reason for hoping for his adherence was the fact that his son-in-law, Robert Winter, was already one of the sworn conspirators, and had slept at his house only two nights earlier. Percy also came in and said that he was certain "all forces in those parts about Mr Talbot would a.s.sist" them. This a.s.surance evidently weighed considerably with Sir Everard; for he afterwards wrote[273]:--"We all thought if we could procure Mr Talbot to rise that ... that was not little, because we had in our Company his Son-in-Law, who gave us some hope of, and did not much doubt of it."

[272] S.P. Dom. James I., Vol. xvi. No. 94.

[273] _Papers or Letters of Sir E. Digby_, n. 9.

Of one thing there could be no sort of question; if action was to be taken at all, it must be taken at once, and without the delay of a moment: time was everything; the rapid journey of the conspirators from London was already much in their favour, and this advantage would be thrown away if there were to be any dallying or indecision. Grafton, Talbot's place, was about five and twenty miles from where they were then standing, and it would be of the utmost importance to reach it, or send an envoy there, early the next morning.

Before condemning Digby for proceeding further, now that the main plot had failed, we must remember that he had sworn to be faithful to the conspiracy, and that, in their present straits, it might have been as much as his life was worth to refuse to go on with Catesby and his fellows. We have seen how narrowly Tresham escaped Catesby's dagger.

There were others, however, not bound by any oath or promise, whose immediate support was required. The so-called hunting-party a.s.sembled at the inn must needs be enlisted in the service. Sc.r.a.ps of the terrible news had already been pa.s.sed from one to the other; for many, if not most of them, were well acquainted with the fugitives from London, and were eagerly questioning them concerning particulars. Digby and Catesby found the party in a state of great excitement when they went to summon them formally to join in the insurrection.

To the surprise of Sir Everard Digby and the disgust of Catesby, instead of rallying as one man to the call to arms, almost as one man they refused, with horror, to have anything whatever to do with an enterprise which had begun with an attempt at wholesale ma.s.sacre, and promised to end in the hanging, drawing, and quartering of all who had a share in it.

Sir Everard's own uncle, Sir Robert Digby,[274] was the very first to charge the conspirators with being a band of traitors, and to order his men and horses to be got ready for immediate departure. With scarcely any exceptions, the other guests followed his example, not only condemning the treason, but also reproaching the traitors with having gravely injured the Catholic cause. To join in a legitimate warfare, even a civil warfare, was one thing; to acquiesce in an attempted murder, a murder on a gigantic scale, and to endeavour to profit by the terror brought about by that attempted murder, was quite another. And besides all this; if they complained of having been invited to hunt and hawk at Dunchurch on false pretences, who could blame them? No doubt they were very angry. Besides, they were but mortal, and to be suddenly disturbed and required to decide hastily upon a most serious question, involving immediate action, is more disagreeable during the process of digestion, just after the princ.i.p.al meal of the day, than at any other time; and as the country squires, who had come to Dunchurch to enjoy good sport, scrambled into their uncleaned, and very likely but half-dried riding-clothes, and went out into the dark, damp night, to mount their horses for long, dreary journeys over bad roads towards their homes, they cannot have felt in the best of tempers.

[274] He afterwards "a.s.sisted in taking prisoners" of some of the conspirators. S. P. Dom. James I., Vol. xvi.; G. P. Bk., n. 142.

It may be worth noticing here, that Sir Robert was not the only member of the Digby family who gave the Government a.s.sistance in respect to the Gunpowder Plot.[275] "Lord Harrington, who had the care of the Princess Elizabeth, having received some intimation of an attempt to seize her, immediately sent up John Digby, a younger son of Sir George Digby, to court, with an account of all he knew; where the young gentleman told the tale so well as to acquire thereby the King's good graces, who not long after knighted, employed him in long negotiation in Spain, and Sep.

15th, 1622, created him Earl of Bristol. His son was the famous George Digby, &c." Accordingly, if the Gunpowder Plot marred the fortunes of one branch of the Digby family, it made those of another!

[275] _Biographia Britannica_, Vol. iii. p. 184.

Sir Everard was as much astonished as he was dispirited at finding that the "powder-action," far from being approved of, was repudiated with horror by the friends whom he had a.s.sembled at Dunchurch. He had expected them to have looked at the matter in a very different light. He can scarcely have failed now to see that, even if the plot had succeeded, the Catholics, as a body, would have condemned it, and refused to profit by it. Still he was weak enough to yield to Catesby's urgent requests to proceed with the insurrection and to endeavour to raise forces in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Wales.

The band of conspirators, with the very few friends who chose to stay with them, then held a council of war; they were "prepared to stand in Armes and raise rebellion,"[276] and they determined to start at once on their journey, so as to enlist Mr Talbot to their support, as early as possible on the morrow, and give him the whole day to rally his numerous retainers round the standard of the little army of traitors and would-be murderers.

[276] Stow's _Annales_, p. 880.

Although five of the party had just ridden eighty miles at considerable speed, they swung themselves into the saddle again for a long night's march. Even if the whole hunting-party had remained there would not have been a large body of hors.e.m.e.n; in all the number present at Dunchurch was only eighty;[277] but some of the friends who had refused to have anything to do with the expedition were influential men, who could soon have raised substantial troops, even from among their own retainers. The party that actually started from Dunchurch under the command of the conspirators, according to Sir Everard Digby,[278] "were not above fiftie horse."

[277] Examination of J. Fowes, S. P. Dom. James I., Vol. xvi. n. 19.

Letter enclosed from the Sheriff and Justices of Warwickshire.

[278] S. P. Dom. James I., G. P. Bk., Part II. n. 135. H.

It was a wretched little cavalcade: if it had anything military about it, it was more of a recruiting party than an army, and its stealthy creeping forth from the inn, that November night, in darkness and dejection, was very different from the triumphant dash of the entire "hunting-party" upon Combe Abbey, to seize the Princess Elizabeth and take her from the keeping of Lord Harington, which had been laid down in the programme. The discovery of the plot, the arrest of Fawkes, and the seizure of the gunpowder was bad enough; and now, the refusal of the trusted, influential, and powerful Catholic landowners who had been a.s.sembled at Dunchurch to have hand or part in what they considered a detestable rebellion, added ten-fold to the disappointment of Sir Everard and his companions.

The road of the rebels lay through Warwick, and it was remembered that there, in the stable of a poor horse-breaker of cavalry re-mounts, they would be able to supply themselves with fresh horses. Even two of the leading conspirators--I wish I could say that Sir Everard Digby had been one of them--winced at this act of felony! Rookwood, as he subsequently admitted in examination,[279] "meant not to adventure himself in stealing any" horses, as he had already fifteen or sixteen; and Robert Winter[280] tried to persuade Catesby "to let it alone, alleging that it would make a great uproar in the country, and that once done," they "might not rest anywhere, the country would so rise about" them.

[279] Jardine, p. 111, footnote.

[280] S. P., Robert Winter's Confession, 21 Jan, 1605-6.

Catesby's reply was ominous. "Some of us may not look back."

"But others," said Winter, "I hope, may, and therefore, I pray you, let this alone."

Then Catesby spoke words in ill accordance with those which he had used to encourage Digby before leaving Dunchurch. "What! hast thou any hope, Robin? I a.s.sure thee there is none that knoweth of this action but shall perish."

On reaching Warwick, they left the trunk-horses with their attendants[281] at the entrance to the town, in case their intended raid should lead to any scrimmage or retaliation; and then they proceeded to the horse-breakers' stable and stole nine or ten horses. This took about half-an-hour, and when the robbery had been accomplished, they sent back for the trunk-horses and proceeded on their night-journey.

[281] See the examination of Richard Hollis, S. P. Gunpowder Treason, 1605, Part II. No. 138.

It was not far from Warwick to Norbrook, the house of John Grant, one of the conspirators. Here they made a brief halt, and, on entering the hall, they found two tables furnished with muskets and armour.[282]

After taking a very short rest--William Handy, one of Sir Everard's servants, says half-an-hour;[283] but Jardine says an hour or two,[284]

and Richard Hollis, a servant of Sir Everard's, says, "some howres,"[285]--the cavalcade again started on its dark nocturnal march.

The intention of its leaders was to ride to Huddington, near Droitwich, the house of Robert Winter; and on the way thither, to send a messenger a little to the right of their road, with a letter to Father Garnet at Coughton, explaining the desperate position in which they were placed.

On arriving at Huddington, their host was to be sent to his father-in-law, Talbot of Grafton, to inform him of all that had happened, and to urge him to join the insurrection with as many men as he could muster.

[282] S. P. Gunpowder Plot Book, Part II. No. 121.