Widnes Examiner. — 1915-02-06 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE EXAMINER, SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 6, 1915.  GUNPOWDER PLOT.  In "The Examiner" of January 9th we wrote about the first-known English newspaper, "The Mercurie," published in 1588, containing the stirring news of the Armada .and the plan for the invasion of England. To-day we give extracts from a paper called "The Weekely Newes," published in 1606. There may have been other news-sheets issued between these dates, but "The Weekely Newes" is the first we know of since "The Mercurie." Of course there was news to be had before the advent of the newspaper. Professional writers in London gathered the gossip and rumour of the city together with items of general interest from the news of the day and wrote news-letters to the aristocracy in the provinces, or to anyone else who was willing to pay them for their trouble. These gentlemen plied busy quills day by day and found subscribers in large numbers. Three centuries ago, by the coming of the printed news-sheet, they discovered themselves to be members of a rapidly decaying industry. The issue of "The Weekely Newes" from which we have taken the following extracts is Number 19, and contains the record of the "Guy Fawkes" plot, and the execution of " Guy " and his associates. This piece of history is too well known to require introduction or comment. The plot was discovered through a vague anonymous letter left at the house of Lord Monteagle, which advised him to "think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your own 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 this Parliament." The letter was shown to the King and his Councillors, and led to the searching of the Parliament House, the discovery, and the subsequent execution.  How a Famous Event was Described in the Newspaper of the Period.  of until the rest shall give you leave."  unless it were by the dozen upon their beads— and taking tobacco as if that hanging were no trouble to them; craving mercy neither of God nor the King for their offences, and making their conscience, as it were, as wide of the mind, and to the very Gates of Hell to be the cause of their Hellish courses to make a work meritorious."  Then follows in detail a somewhat ghastly recital of how the conspirators met their death by hanging, and ends, "Then came Bates," the last of the conspirators, "and when he was hanged the Executioners prepared to Draw and Quarter them; and when this was done the business of the day ended?'  The Oath of the Conspirators was: "You shall swear by the blessed Trinity, and by the Sacrament you now propose to receive, never to disclose directly or indirectly, by word or circumstance, the matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret—nor desert from the execution there The Objects of the Conspiracy as set out in the Trial:  First, To Deprive the King of his Rights. Secondly, To Murder the King, the Queen and the Prince. Thirdly, To Stir Rebellion and Sedition in the Kingdom. Fourthly, To Bring a Miserable Destruction among the Subjects. Fifthly, To Change, Alter, and Subvert the Religion here Established. Sixthly, To Eminate the State of the Commonwealth, and to bring in Strangers to invade it.  "That after the destruction of the King, the Queen, the Prince, and Royal Male Issue, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, the Knights, Burgesses, they should notify the same to Foreign States, and thereupon Sir Edmund Baynam—an attainted person of treason, and styling himself prince of the damned crew— should be sent and make the same known to the Pope and crave his aid, an Ambassador fit both for the message and pergon to be sent betwixt the Pope and the Devil. That the Parliament, being prorogued till 'the 7th February, they in December made a mine under the Houses of Parliament, proposing to place their powder there, but, the Parliament being then further adjourned till the 3rd of October, they in Lent following hired the vault, and placed therein twenty barrels of powder. "20 July: They laid in more ten barrels of powder, laying upon them divers great bars of iron and pieces of timber and great passive stones, and covering the sante with fagots, de. "20 Septemb: They lay in more four hogsheads of powder, with other stones and bars of iron thereon.  "4 Novem. (the Parliament being prorogued to the 5); at eleven o'clock at night Fawkes had prepared by We procurement of the rest, tonchwood and matches to give fire to the powder the next day."