Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/237

Rh secret understanding between him and Lord Mounteagle; and that such understanding existed between the writer and Lord Mounteagle can be doubted by no one who attends to the particulars. They were convinced that Tresham had no sooner given his consent than he repented of it, and sought to break up the plot without betraying his associates. His first expedient was to persuade them to retire to Flanders in the ship which he had hired in the river. He next wrote the letter, and took care to inform them on the following evening that it had been carried to the Secretary, in hope that the danger of discovery would induce them to make use of the opportunity of escape. In this he would undoubtedly have succeeded, had not his cunning been defeated by the superior cunning of Cecil, who allowed no search to be made in the cellar.'

My own opinion is that if Tresham did not actually pen the letter himself, he dictated its contents, but did so with the full approval and cognisance of Lord Mounteagle, who arranged with Tresham the farcical comedy of its reception at Hoxton and transmission to Cecil.

Now, as to Lord Mounteagle; that he knew about the preparation of the plot I have not the faintest doubt, and I base my opinion on the following grounds, which seem to me to furnish conclusive proof that he possessed a guilty knowledge of the Gunpowder Treason, and saved himself by betraying his confederates.