FOOTNOTES: [1] 1894. [2] Some of these have been partially set forth in a series of six articles appearing in _The Month_, December 1894-May, 1895. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. THE STATE OF THE QUESTION 1 Disclosure of the Plot--Arrest of Guy Faukes--Flight of his associates--Their abortive insurrection--Their fate--The crime charged on Catholics in general--Garnet and other Jesuits proclaimed as the ringleaders--Capture of Garnet--Efforts to procure evidence against him--His execution--Previous history of the Plot as traditionally narrated; Proceedings and plans of the conspirators--Manner of the discovery. Reasons for suspecting the truth of this history--Previous plots originated or manipulated by the government--Suspicious circumstances respecting the Gunpowder Plot in particular--Essential points of the inquiry. II. THE PERSONS CONCERNED 19 Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury--His character variously estimated--Discreditable incidents of his career--Contemporary judgments of him--His unpopularity--His political difficulties largely dissipated in consequence of the Plot. His hatred of and hostility towards the Catholics--Their numbers and importance--Their hopes from King James, and their disappointment--The probability that some would have recourse to violence--The conspirators known as men likely to seek such a remedy--Their previous history--Difficulties and contradictions in regard of their character. III. THE OPINION OF CONTEMPORARIES AND HISTORIANS 42 The government at once suspected of having contrived or fomented the Plot--Persistence of these suspicions, to which historians for more than a century bear witness--No fresh information accounts for their disappearance. IV. THE TRADITIONAL STORY 54 The old House of Lords and its surroundings--House hired by the conspirators--They attempt to dig a mine beneath the Peers' Chamber--Difficulties and improbabilities of the account--The "Cellar" hired--Its position and character--The gunpowder bought and stored--Further problems concerning it--The conspirators' plans--Contradictions respecting them--Their wild and absurd character--Impossibility of the supposition that the proceedings escaped the notice of the government. V. THE GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT 93