Remember, rememberYes, it's the
fifth of November.
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
l - r: Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright, John Wright, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby and Thomas Wintour On the 5th November 1605 ~ four hundred years ago today ~ Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was subsequently tried as a traitor with his co-conspirators for plotting against the government.
He was tried by Judge Popham who came to London specifically for the trial from his country manor Littlecote House in Hungerford, Gloucestershire. Fawkes was sentenced to death and the form of the execution (in the Tower of London) was one of the most horrendous ever practised (hung ,drawn and quartered) which reflected the serious nature of the crime of treason.
Although Guy Fawkes' actions have been considered acts of terrorism by many people, cynical Britons, who criticise the integrity of politicians, sometimes joke that he was the only man to go to Parliament with honourable intentions.Terrorism?
Surely.
Honourable intentions?
Surely not.
What worries Jakartass most is that public executions, or executions called for by the public, create martyrs.
The 2002 Bali bombers,
Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, have all said that they are ready to be executed, and not just because fellow inmates in
Nusakambangan island prison would like to lynch them.
Do they imagine that they'll be celebrated with fireworks and bonfires, let alone remembered, in four hundred years time?
Not by me, they won't.
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