GUY FAWKES.

NZ Truth, Issue 282, 19 November 1910, Page 8

GUY FAWKES.

And The Gunpowder Plot. Historic Blackguards.— No. 4, (By Albert ■'' Pay son Terbune) . A big, bearded man, known as 1 'Johnson,' ' aroused some idle curiosity -bf bidding m an auction for ; the lease of a vault - or- coal-cellar underneath the House of L©rds m London. Johnson explained that ., he was the servant of -Master,. Thomas Piercy, who lived next door to Parliament House, and that he wanted ttie vault as a storage place for. fuel. He haa the look of a soldier rather than a servant., And Piercy seemed' to trea him as an eolial. A r ll'\ these trivia facts were brought forward latei- * when they formed links^n a horribly ichain of evidence. .. : * ; James T. was King of England, hi had succeeded Queeri -Eliiabetb '• 1603. He was a scoundrel- m a wear. :, stilted way. He persecuted the'Uabholics, broke , his SQliemn ., State promises, lied out of difficulties and m otiher ways made himself a host oi enemies. Pariiamettfc, for the most part, backed the King's wishes. Hence Parliament shared his unpopularity. THE "GUNPOWDER PLOT." A band of daring, if unscrupulous, men, resolved to rid Ehg-land of Kin^ .James, the Royal family, and ParJiamen as well by. the. very . simpW. means of destroying the whole. lot a y one blow. Their plan was to fill th* cellar of the IJouse t of ;Lords witb gunpowder. Then, on the day whet, the King and bis family should come to open Parliament, to set a match to the powder and Wow U;p every one,. m ttoe building. • ; -

Robert Catesby, Thomas Piercy &&d eighteen others were . m the .cjßJaspiracy. They chose as the^ actual assassin a brave^ fearless, soldier, of fortu>ne, whose.re&l name, is said to* .have been Ouido Fox, "but who- is known to history as "<juy Pawkes." No one knows whether Fawkes was to receive money for his deed or whether he consented to do rt "Hirougft hatred ol King James.. • InV'any. case, he threw himself heart and soul into the plot. ; He went to live with Piercy, next to Parliament House, and: took the name ot Johnson, calling Wmself a servant. ...

J.u the early autumn of 1604 the conspirators began .-to cut a hole through the ni^-foot wall between Piercy's house" and the Parliament cellars,. 'JCaen, ■ hearing the cellars were for .- rent, Fawkes hired theip.. After that the work went on easily and .safely enough. Th'irty-9ix barrels >oi gunpowder were, rolled into the cellars,,, and were covered with masses of wood. A train of •. powderwas laid. Everything was ready. Parliament was to meet on November 5, IGO4. The King and most of the Royal family were to be there. At a signal Fawkes was- 'to light the powder train, and was then to escape by ship to Flanders. The other conspirators were to kill any members of the Royal family who did not chance- to be at Parliariient's opening. No one betrayed this -plot, which 'might have changed the' history of the world. Yet it was discovered. The discovery came m an odd. way. One of the conspirators — which one was never known — was ./a friend of Lord Mohteagle, a. noted English statesman. He sent Monteagle an

anonymous letter, "begging him to keep away front the opening of Parliament ; Monfceagle, not sure whether or not the note was a joke, showed *t to the Secretary of State. The Secretary laughed at it as a hoax, but was induced ,to show it to the King. James (who was so cowardly that the. sight of a sword used to make him ill) fell into a, frenzy . of fear. On the night of November* 4 he ordered Parliament House to be searched. As the searchers neared the cellars tfoey met Guy . Fawfces conn»& out. He was seized before he could dart back and the place was ransacked.

The sight of so large a p>ile of. wood roused suspicion. The wood was cleared away, and the gunpowder barrels were discovered. Fawkes, raving with helpless fury, strove m vain to set. fire to the gunpowder and to die with his enemies. He was overpowered and dragged before the King. There he made surly, conrtemptuous answers to all questions, and refused 10 betray his accomplices. But torure at last made him speak, fyhe conspirators- were/ seized and. most of hem executed— Fawkes last of all. \n old chronicle gives the following account of his farewell to the world* . "This very tall and desperate fel^ low * * * made no long speech, but i after a sort), seeming sorry for his offence, asked a kind of forgiveness of the King and 'the State for his Woody in-tent."

All Europe shuddered over England's narrow escape. The fifth Of .November was ordained by King James "to be observed forever as a day of thanksgiving. " For centuries thereafter November 5 has been ceie? brated throughout England, and her colonies. Amid boncfiies and noise, Guy Pawkes was burned m effigy. Even. n,ow the cellars of the Houses of } Parliament are . regularly llsearehedy In memory of a Gdvermment's •old-time peril.

So, for more than 300 years after his death, Guy Pawfces. has had the honor of an annual "day"— a irivilege denied to most heroes and accorded perhaps to no other blackguard.