 So in a brief period around 1594 there was an unusual concentration of investigations into continental conspiracies to this end - a "panic over Irishmen in London" - and the suggestion is that Lord Burghley and the Earl of Essex manipulated their information and intelligence to convince the Queen of an immediate and credible threat to her life, as they vied for her favour.Elizabeth was sufficiently concerned by the plot, however ineffective it had been, to write to the Spanish authorities in Brussels protesting at their willingness to let the Spanish Netherlands become a safe haven for English conspirators, and demanding, without success, the extradition of Holt and other conspirators.