"PLEASE TO REMEMBER-"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22718, 2 November 1935, Page 11

"PLEASE TO REMEMBER-"

By C. H. Fobtttnb. There is always a certain amount of regret attached to the dying out of old customs, and it is with mixed feelings one observes the slow death of Guy Fawkes's Day. Guy Fawkes's Day has none of the festivities once attached to it. Time was when a " guy " was really manifest and in the majority of cases was most horribly burnt at the close of the day. To-day, in this country at least, the child mind does not seem to go beyond the thin disguise of a little soot, and father's long since cast-off pants. Then, with the plea of supporting an altogether unexistent guy, they proceed to cadge for money. W 8 are not, however, concerned with the ethics of Guy Fawkes's Day herein. Ask the average youth who celebrates Guy Fawkes's anniversary and you may receive a vague, "Guy Fox? He's the bloke who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London." When, or why, is no concern of his. Guido Fawkes has had a doubtful honour thrust upon him. For 300 years his memory has survived as a perpetrator of an invidious crime. Yet Guido Fawkes was really only a catspaw in the plotting that culminated in the disastrous attempt to blow King and Parliament sky-high. The plot was outlined and fully discussed long before Fawkes's name was ever mentioned. He was enlisted solely because he possessed a knowledge of tunnelling and explosives denied the others. If it should come to the point of bestowing "credit" on anyone for this fiendish plot, such credit should go to Robert Catesby, an English gentleman of means, and a man who, in happier circumstances, should have lived a peaceful and honourable life. Catesby was a Catholic, and at the beginning of the 17th century Catholics were not popular in England. Catesby, and others o'f hia ilk who were avowed Catholics and refused to accept the rulers of England and Protestantism, were known as recrusants, and they were very severely taxed. Catesby was rich, and was fined heavily, frequently. He brooded over his, and his fellow Catholics', treatment until he brought about minor strife and was imprisoned. In the year 1603 Catesby decided it was up to him to do something to free Catholic England from her despots. And in his mind was born the Gunpowder Plot. Catesby wasted little time in forming a band of recrusants who were only too willing to fall in with him in any plot that meant the destruction of England's present rulers, and the idea of blowing up King and Parliament combined appeared to them the most perfect plot. Chief amongst his earlier conspirators were Thomas Winter and John Wright, two wealthy men, and men who, their minds once made up, would not deviate from their chosen path.

They all agreed that to blow up Parliament and King would bring about deliverance, and they would be free from persecution. Unfortunately none of the party as it stood had any great knowledge of explosives. Also it was essential to have someone in the party who understood tunnelling work, for it was found to be necessary to tunnel under Parliament in order that their scheme might be properly carried out. Winter had a friend, a certain Guido Fawkes, a Yorkshireman, who was then living in the Low Countries in Belgium where he had done much fighting. Fawkes eagerly agreed to join the conspirators. ' Parliament was to meet about the beginning of October, 1603, and all plans were set for the explosion accordingly. They obtained possession of a house near the Houses of Parliament from which their operations would be carried out. Then news was received that Parliament would not open until February, 1605. With time on their hands the conspirators disbanded and went their various ways. In the winter of 1604 they banded together again, and set to work with a will. Fortune favoured them at the start. They were able to get all the gunpowder they required without difficulty, and were also able to get it into the house from which they were working without arousing suspicion. The tunnelling was a long and difficult job, and Fawkes proved an invaluable ally. The conspirators were in high hopes. They had everything figured out. Parliament would go, King James would go, and also the Prince of Wales. They doubted whether the Duke of York, the only remaining member of the Royal Family, would be present, but it was arranged quite casually that one of the number should kidnap him! In the midst of their work, word was received that Parliament would not open in February after all, but on November 5, eight months later. This seemed like checkmate, and it was decided that the conspirators should again disband and lead open, straightforward lives for a few months. They were determined fellows all right, and several months' delay, which might have caused the abandonment of many a plot meant nothing to them. When work was resumed on the tunnelling it was found impossible to proceed further. It now seemed as if the project must at last be abandoned, for there appeared no way by which they might get under the House of Lords. Then Fawkes discovered a cellar that led right under the House of Lords. Negotiations were immediately opened, and the conspirators obtained a lease over the house of which the cellar was part. The kegs of gunpowder were safely removed and stowed in this cellar, effectually camouflaged by piles of wood. Usually in any gang of conspirators there is at least one who is a traitor, one who is only too willing to give away his companions' secrets for financial or other consideration. Now there must, have been fully a dozen involved in the Gunpowder Plot, but all were loyal and there was no breath of treachery. The Gunpowder Plot would have succeeded had it not been for one thing, and this an unusual thing. The conspirators were all Catholics. In the House of Lords there were one or two Catholic peers, and these would almost certainly be present when Parliament opened. Their fate naturally would be the same as that of the others —sudden and violent death. The conspirators decided amongst themselves that these men should be warned and so not be present on the fateful day. At least one letter was sent out. It has never been proved who was responsible for this letter, though'evidence points fairly conclusively to. one Francis Tresham. The letter warned a certain Lord Monteagle that he must not be present at the opening of Parliament on November 5 if he valued Ids life. But Monteagle caused news of the letter to spiead, and, though no actual suggestion was given, it was hinted that something terrible was to befall Parliament when it opened. The fate of the Gunpowder Plot held in the balance, but if members had disbanded there and then it is likely that at some later date they might have been more successful. But Catesby had made up his mind that it was to be now or never, so plans went ahead. For a time it seemed as if he were right, for no move was made to discover whom the conspirators were. On the afternoon of November 4 a sudden and unexpected search was inaugurated, and as a result the kegs of gunpowder were found. Late that night Guido Fawkes was arrested nearby, and in his possession were found a piece of touchwood and some fuses. The Gunpowder Plot had blown up! But not in the sense the conspirators had anticipated. Nor wished for. Now commenced a hue and cry. The other conspiraors must be found. They mostly fled to the country. A number, including Catesby and Winter, hid in Holbcache House, near Dudley, in Staf-

fordshire, and here for a time they held at bay their pursuers. Eventually, however, the house was broken into and ~ome fierce hand-to-hand fighting indulged in. Several of the plotters, including Catesby, were killed. The rest were captured. Inside of two months all implicated in the Gunpowder Plot were arrested. They | were tried, given a fair trial, but their ' guilt was never in doubt. On January 31, IGO6, all, including Guy Fawkes, paid the death penalty. It only remains to add one note: The ceremony of searching the vaults of Parliament Buildings at its annual openings i is a reminder of the ill-fated Gunpowder | Plot. —... —