used
were subjected to an impartial trial. Without torture, they confessed
their guilt. It is true, however, that Cosmo was placed within sight of
the rack. He avowed that his object had been to place the city under the
authority of Leicester, and to effect this purpose, if possible, without
bloodshed. He declared that the attempt was to be made with the full
knowledge and approbation of the Earl, who had promised him the command
of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his services, if
they proved successful. Leicester, said Cosmo, had also pledged himself,
in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be discovered and
endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the sacrifice of all his
fortune, and of the office he held. When asked if he had any written
statement from his Excellency to that effect, Cosmo replied, no, nothing
but his princely word which he had voluntarily given.

Volmar made a similar confession. He, too, declared that he had acted
throughout the affair by express command of the Earl of Leicester. Being
asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied
in the negative. "Then his Excellency will unquestionably deny your
assertion," said the judges. "Alas, then am I a dead man," replied
Volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. Captain de
Maulde also confessed his crime. He did not pretend, however, to have had
any personal communication with Leicester, but said that the affair had
been confided to him by Colonel Cosmo, on the express authority of the
Earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to his
Excellency's commands.

On the 26th October, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full
confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to
death. The decree was surely a most severe one. They had been guilty of
no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to
commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence
punishable with death. But it was exactly because it was important to
make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. The
offence was considered as a crime not against Leyden, but as an attempt
to levy war upon a city which was a member of the States of Holland and
of the United States. If the States were sovereign, then this was a
lesion of their sovereignty. Moreover, the offence had been aggravated by
the employment of United States' troo