november 5th

[fletcher.5]

November the 5th is nearly here. In which we the British celebrate the failed plot of a man who wanted emancipation for catholics & rid us of a tyrant (anti catholic) monarch.

I have often wondered if Mr Fawke`s wonderfull plot had been a success would we still be celebrating the event. I doubt it, however the catholic faith may have done???

The closest anybody came to ridding us of a useless House of Lords was Mr Blair in 2000 (nice one Ton)

[Ice-Maiden]

The House of Commons isn't all that wonderful either!

[legend760]

well i guess that oswald moseley and the british fascist party came close in the thirties and during w w 2 ??

[vehelpfulguy]

>Mr Fawke`s wonderfull plot

It was hardly his plot, he was was just one minor player in the whole thing.

There are those that think the "plot" was setup by the leaders at the time to give them an excuse to purge the country of catholic traitors (nice conspiracory theory there)

Remember that during Elizabeth's reign there were catholic plots against her life. Any catholic priest arrested at the time was charged with treason.

I am glad we are now not a catholic country as I consider them to be a rather sinister organization, for example holding back science just to keep themselves in power
(galileo for example)

[vehelpfulguy]

If you live in the Midlands then Coughton Court (National Trust) is an interesting place to visit.

This was (and still is) owned by a strong Catholic family.

Much plotting was done here during that time, and many of the wives whose husbands were involved in the plot waited at the house for news of how the plot to blow up parliament had gone.

They do have an extensive gunpowder plot exhibition.

More here

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-vi sits/w-findaplace/w-coughtoncourt/

http://www.coughtoncourt.co.uk/page.cfm?pageid =133

[jake-the-peg]

I don't think Mr. Fawkes had a liberal emancipation of Catholics in mind.

I think restoring a Catholic Monarch and Government and wiping out protestantism were more on his mind!

Actually Cromwell did rid us of the Lords - and the Commons but in the end his constitutional experiments all failed and outlived him by only months.

We don't celebrate him so I don't think we'd celebrate Guy Fawkes either

[Lonnie]

Thing is, its not the reason for the plot thats celebrated, just the fact he failed, and his death.

Better than Halloween anyway.

[Parsfan]

And they do say that Guy Fawkes was the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.

[Octavius]

I don�t think Catholic�s would be celebrating the event (any more than they do now). It is though that with the amount of gunpowder set up, that not only parliament but the area of Westminster and all its inhabitants would have been wiped out. The anti-Catholic backlash and chaos that would have ensued would probably have driven Catholicism out of the country completely. The scale of the attack has been likened to a medieval 9/11 so the outcome may have been equally denounced by most people, whilst potentially �innocent� Catholics would have been hunted down and executed.

We might as well celebrate the fact that many innocent (along with the less so) lives were not lost.

[4GS]

Also, the IRA came close to wiping out the Cabinate twice
First time was the Tory Party Conference in 1984:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stori es/october/12/newsid_2531000/2531583.stm

Second was again the Tories, but this time a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a war cabinate meeting in 1991:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res =9D0CE7DA123BF93BA35751C0A967958260

[Famous5]

Sorry vehelpfulguy, but Coughton Court is owned by the National Trust and has been since 1946.

The family gave the house to the charity then, but the descendants of the Throckmortons do live there as tenants/managers.