Chapter XII. A Great Scheme, And Who Balked It
As characters written with a secret ink come out with the application offire, and disappear again and leave the paper white, so soon as it iscool, a hundred names of men, high in repute and favouring the prince'scause, that were writ in our private lists, would have been visible enoughon the great roll of the conspiracy, had it ever been laid open under thesun. What crowds would have pressed forward, and subscribed their namesand protested their loyalty, when the danger was over! What a number ofWhigs, now high in place and creatures of the all-powerful minister,scorned Mr. Walpole then! If ever a match was gained by the manliness anddecision of a few at a moment of danger; if ever one was lost by thetreachery and imbecility of those that had the cards in their hands, andmight have played them, it was in that momentous game which was enacted inthe next three days, and of which the noblest crown in the world was thestake.
From the conduct of my Lord Bolingbroke, those who were interested in thescheme we had in hand, saw pretty well that he was not to be trusted.Should the prince prevail, it was his lordship's gracious intention todeclare for him: should the Hanoverian party bring in their sovereign, whomore ready to go on his knee, and cry "God save King George"? And hebetrayed the one prince and the other; but exactly at the wrong time. Whenhe should have struck for King James, he faltered and coquetted with theWhigs; and having committed himself by the most monstrous professions ofdevotion, which the Elector rightly scorned, he proved the justness oftheir contempt for him by flying and taking renegado service with St.Germains, just when he should have kept aloof: and that Court despisedhim, as the manly and resolute men who established the Elector in Englandhad before done. He signed his own name to every accusation of insincerityhis enemies made against him; and the king and the pretender alike couldshow proofs of St. John's treachery under his own hand and seal.
Our friends kept a pretty close watch upon his motions, as on those of thebrave and hearty Whig party, that made little concealment of theirs. Theywould have in the Elector, and used every means in their power to effecttheir end. My Lord Marlborough was now with them. His expulsion from powerby the Tories had thrown that great captain at once on the Whig side. Weheard he was coming from Antwerp; and in fact, on the day of the queen'sdeath, he once more landed on English shore. A great part of the army wasalways with their illustrious leader; even the Tories in it were indignantat the injustice of the persecution which the Whig officers were made toundergo. The chiefs of these were in London, and at the head of them oneof the most intrepid men in the world, the Scots Duke of Argyle, whoseconduct, on the second day after that to which I have now brought down myhistory, ended, as such honesty and bravery deserved to end, byestablishing the present royal race on the English throne.
Meanwhile there was no slight difference of opinion amongst thecouncillors surrounding the prince, as to the plan his highness shouldpursue. His female minister at Court, fancying she saw some ameliorationin the queen, was for waiting a few days, or hours it might be, until hecould be brought to her bedside, and acknowledged as her heir. Mr. Esmondwas for having him march thither, escorted by a couple of troops of HorseGuards, and openly presenting himself to the Council. During the whole ofthe night of the 29th-30th July, the colonel was engaged with gentlemen ofthe military profession, whom 'tis needless here to name; suffice it tosay that several of them had exceeding high rank in the army, and one ofthem in especial was a general, who, when he heard the Duke of Marlboroughwas coming on the other side, waved his crutch over his head with ahuzzah, at the idea that he should march out and engage him. Of the threesecretaries of state, we knew that one was devoted to us. The Governor ofthe Tower was ours: the two companies on duty at Kensington barrack weresafe; and we had intelligence, very speedy and accurate, of all that tookplace at the Palace within.
At noon, on the 30th of July, a message came to the prince's friends thatthe Committee of Council was sitting at Kensington Palace, their graces ofOrmonde and Shrewsbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the threeSecretaries of State, being there assembled. In an hour afterwards,hurried news was brought that the two great Whig dukes, Argyle andSomerset, had broke into the Council-chamber without a summons, and takentheir seat at table. After holding a debate there, the whole partyproceeded to the chamber of the queen, who was lying in great weakness,but still sensible, and the lords recommended his grace of Shrewsbury asthe fittest person to take the vacant place of lord treasurer; her Majestygave him the staff, as all know. "And now," writ my messenger from Court,"_now or never is the time_."
Now or never was the time indeed. In spite of the Whig dukes, our side hadstill the majority in the Council, and Esmond, to whom the message hadbeen brought (the personage at Court not being aware that the prince hadquitted his lodging in Kensington Square), and Esmond's gallant young aidede camp, Frank Castlewood, putting on sword and uniform, took a briefleave of their dear lady, who embraced and blessed them both; and went toher chamber to pray for the issue of the great event which was thenpending.
Castlewood sped to the barrack to give warning to the captain of the guardthere; and then went to the "King's Arms" tavern at Kensington, where ourfriends were assembled, having come by parties of twos and threes, ridingor in coaches, and were got together in the upper chamber, fifty-three ofthem; their servants, who had been instructed to bring arms likewise,being below in the garden of the tavern, where they were served withdrink. Out of this garden is a little door that leads into the road of thePalace, and through this it was arranged that masters and servants were tomarch; when that signal was given, and that Personage appeared, for whomall were waiting. There was in our company the famous officer next incommand to the Captain-General of the Forces, his grace the Duke ofOrmonde, who was within at the Council. There were with him two morelieutenant-generals, nine major-generals and brigadiers, seven colonels,eleven peers of Parliament, and twenty-one members of the House ofCommons. The guard was with us within and without the Palace: the queenwas with us; the Council (save the two Whig dukes, that must havesuccumbed); the day was our own, and with a beating heart Esmond walkedrapidly to the Mall of Kensington, where he had parted with the prince onthe night before. For three nights the colonel had not been to bed: thelast had been passed summoning the prince's friends together, of whom thegreat majority had no sort of inkling of the transaction pending untilthey were told that he was actually on the spot, and were summoned tostrike the blow. The night before and after the altercation with theprince, my gentleman, having suspicions of his royal highness, and fearinglest he should be minded to give us the slip, and fly off after hisfugitive beauty, had spent, if the truth must be told, at the "Greyhound"tavern, over against my Lady Esmond's house in Kensington Square, with aneye on the door, lest the prince should escape from it. The night beforethat he had passed in his boots at the "Crown" at Hounslow, where he mustwatch forsooth all night, in order to get one moment's glimpse of Beatrixin the morning. And fate had decreed that he was to have a fourth night'sride and wakefulness before his business was ended.
He ran to the curate's house in Kensington Mall, and asked for Mr. Bates,the name the prince went by. The curate's wife said Mr. Bates had goneabroad very early in the morning in his boots, saying he was going to theBishop of Rochester's house at Chelsea. But the bishop had been atKensington himself two hours ago to seek for Mr. Bates, and had returnedin his coach to his own house, when he heard that the gentleman was gonethither to seek him.
This absence was most unpropitious, for an hour's delay might cost akingdom; Esmond had nothing for it but to hasten to the "King's Arms", andtell the gentlemen there assembled that Mr. George (as we called theprince there) was not at home, but that Esmond would go fetch him; andtaking a general's coach that happened to be there, Esmond drove acrossthe country to Chelsea, to the bishop's house there.
The porter said two gentlemen were with his lordship, and Esmond ran pastthis sentry up to the locked door of the bishop's study, at which herattled, and was ad
mitted presently. Of the bishop's guests one was abrother prelate, and the other the Abbe G----.
"Where is Mr. George?" says Mr. Esmond; "now is the time." The bishoplooked scared; "I went to his lodging," he said, "and they told me he wascome hither. I returned as quick as coach would carry me; and he hath notbeen here."
The colonel burst out with an oath; that was all he could say to theirreverences; ran down the stairs again, and bidding the coachman, an oldfriend and fellow-campaigner, drive as if he was charging the French withhis master at Wynendael--they were back at Kensington in half an hour.
Again Esmond went to the curate's house. Mr. George had not returned. Thecolonel had to go with this blank errand to the gentlemen at the "King'sArms", that were grown very impatient by this time.
Out of the window of the tavern, and looking over the garden-wall, you cansee the green before Kensington Palace, the Palace gate (round which theministers' coaches were standing), and the barrack building. As we werelooking out from this window in gloomy discourse, we heard presentlytrumpets blowing, and some of us ran to the window of the front room,looking into the High Street of Kensington, and saw a regiment of horsecoming.
"It's Ormonde's Guards," says one.
"No, by God, it's Argyle's old regiment!" says my general, clapping downhis crutch.
It was, indeed, Argyle's regiment that was brought from Westminster, andthat took the place of the regiment at Kensington on which we could rely.
"Oh, Harry!" says one of the generals there present, "you were born underan unlucky star; I begin to think that there's no Mr. George, nor Mr.Dragon either. 'Tis not the peerage I care for, for our name is so ancientand famous, that merely to be called Lord Lydiard would do me no good; but'tis the chance you promised me of fighting Marlborough."
As we were talking, Castlewood entered the room with a disturbed air.
"What news, Frank?" says the colonel, "is Mr. George coming at last?"
"Damn him, look here!" says Castlewood, holding out a paper. "I found itin the book--the what you call it, _Eikum Basilikum_,--that villain Martinput it there--he said his young mistress bade him. It was directed to me,but it was meant for him I know, and I broke the seal and read it."
The whole assembly of officers seemed to swim away before Esmond's eyes ashe read the paper; all that was written on it was:--"Beatrix Esmond is sentaway to prison, to Castlewood, where she will pray for happier days."
"Can you guess where he is?" says Castlewood.
"Yes," says Colonel Esmond. He knew full well, Frank knew full well: ourinstinct told whither that traitor had fled.
He had courage to turn to the company and say, "Gentlemen, I fear verymuch that Mr. George will not be here to-day; something hathhappened--and--and--I very much fear some accident may befall him, which mustkeep him out of the way. Having had your noon's draught, you had best paythe reckoning and go home; there can be no game where there is no one toplay it."
Some of the gentlemen went away without a word, others called to pay theirduty to her Majesty and ask for her health. The little army disappearedinto the darkness out of which it had been called; there had been nowritings, no paper to implicate any man. Some few officers and members ofParliament had been invited overnight to breakfast at the "King's Arms",at Kensington; and they had called for their bill and gone home.