proceedings that he betrayed him and them to the Government, never made any attempt to avert the greater treason concocted by his own friends. To cut a long story short, that he was guilty of high treason need not be doubted. Nevertheless, he received anything but a fair trial, and it would have been a gracious, merciful, and good act to have commuted the death sentence, which was not carried out until five weeks had elapsed after the trial.
Although Garnet was only charged in the indictment with complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, Sir Edward Coke opened the trial with copious references to the prisoner's former treasons in connection with his communications with Spain. That Garnet was guilty of having invited the Spaniards to invade England, and that on more than one occasion, was indisputable. Coke also accused him of being mainly responsible for sending Sir Edward Baynham, 'the Prince of the Damned Crew,'[1] to Rome, and there can be no doubt that Coke was correct in stating that Baynham carried letters of introduction written in Garnet's own hand to the Pope's Nuncio in Flanders.
After being sentenced to death, Garnet was
- ↑ Most writers seem to have laboured under the impression that the 'Crew' refers to the Gunpowder conspirators. But this is not so. Baynham was a leading member of a gang of men (similar to the 'Mohocks') called 'The Damned Crew,' and Coke more than once at the trial named Baynham as the leader of this band.
