For Faith and Freedom

by Walter Besant

  CHAPTER X.

  LE ROY EST MORT.

  In February of the year 1685, King Charles II. died.

  Sir Christopher himself brought us the news from Sherborne, whitherhe had gone, as was his wont, to the weekly ordinary. He clatteredup the lane on his cob, and halted at our gate.

  'Call thy father, child. Give you good day, Madam Eykin. Will yourhusband leave his books and come forth for a moment? Tell him I havenews.'

  My father rose and obeyed. His gown was in rags; his feet were cladin cloth shoon, which I worked for him; his cheek was wasted; buthis eye was keen. He was lean and tall; his hair was as white as SirChristopher's, though he was full twenty years younger.

  'Friend and gossip,' said Sir Christopher, 'the King is dead.'

  'Is Charles Stuart dead?' my father replied. 'He cumbered the earthtoo long. For five-and-twenty years hath he persecuted the saints.Also he hath burnt incense after the abomination of the heathen. Lethis lot be as the lot of Ahaz.'

  'Nay; he is buried by this time. His brother the Duke of York hathbeen proclaimed King.'

  'James the Papist. It is as though Manasseh should succeed to Ahaz.And after him Jehoiakim.'

  'Yet the bells will ring and we shall pray for the King; and wisemen, friend Eykin, will do well to keep silence.'

  'There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence. It may be thatthe time is at hand when a godly man must stretch forth his hand totear down the Scarlet Woman, though she slay him in the attempt.'

  'It may be so, my friend; yet stretch not forth thine hand untilthou art well assured of the Divine Command. The King is dead. Nowwill my son-in-law ring out the bells for the new King, and we shallpray for him, as we prayed for his brother. It is our duty to prayfor all in authority, though to the prayers of a whole nation thereseemeth, so far as human reason can perceive, no answer.'

  'I for one will pray no more for a King who is a Papist. Rather willI pray daily for his overthrow.'

  'King Charles is said to have received a priest before he died. Yetit is worse that the King should be an open than a secret Catholic.Let us be patient, my friend, and await the time.'

  So he rode up the village, and presently the bells were seta-ringing, and they clashed as joyously, echoing around the CortonHills, as if the accession of King James II. was the only thingwanted to make the nation prosperous, happy, and religious.

  My father stood at the gate after Sir Christopher left him. The windwas cold, and the twilight was falling, and his cassock was thin,but he remained there motionless, until my mother went out and drewhim back to the house by the arm. He went into his own room, but heread no more that day.

  In the evening he came forth and sat with us, and while I satsewing, my mother spinning by the light of the fire, he discoursed,which was unusual with him, upon things and peoples and the bestform of government, which he held to be a Commonwealth, with astrong man for President. But he was to hold his power from thepeople, and was to lay it down frequently, lest he should in histurn be tempted to become a King. And if he were to fall away fromrighteousness, or to live in open sin, or to be a merry-maker, orto suffer his country to fall from a high place among the nations,he was to be displaced, and be forced to retire. As for the manCharles, now dead, he would become, my father said, an exampleto all future ages, and a warning of what may happen when thedoctrine of Divine Right is generally accepted and acted upon;the King himself being not so much blamed by him as the practiceof hereditary rule which caused him to be seated upon the throne,when his true place, my father said, was among the lacqueys andvarlets of the palace. 'His brother James,' he added, 'hath nowan opportunity such as is given to few--for he may become anotherJosiah. But I think he will neglect that opportunity,' he concluded;'yea, even if Hilkiah, the priest, were to bring him a message fromHuldah, the prophetess; for he doth belong to a family which, by theDivine displeasure, can never perceive the truth. Let us now readthe Word, and wrestle with the Lord in prayer.'

  Next we heard that loyal addresses were poured in from allquarters congratulating the King, and promising most submissiveobedience. One would have thought that the people were rejoicedat the succession of a Roman Catholic; it was said that the Kinghad promised liberty of conscience unto all; that he claimed thatliberty for himself, and that he went to Mass daily and openly.

  But many there were who foresaw trouble. Unfortunately, one of themwas Sir Christopher, who spoke his mind at all times too fiercelyfor his safety. Mr. Boscorel, also, was of opinion that civil warwould speedily ensue.

  'The King's friends,' he said, 'may for a time buy the support ofthe Nonconformists, and make a show of religious liberty. Thus maythey govern for a while. But it is not in the nature of the RomanCatholic priest to countenance religious liberty, or ever to sitdown contented with less than all the pie. They must for everscheme and intrigue for more power. Religious liberty? It means tothem the eternal damnation of those who hold themselves free tothink for themselves. They would be less than human if they didnot try to save the souls of the people by docking their freedom.They must make this country even as Spain or Italy. Is it to bebelieved that they will suffer the Church to retain her revenues,or the universities to remain out of their control? Nay, will theyallow the grammar schools to be in the hands of Protestants? Never!The next generation will be wholly Catholic, unless the presentgeneration send King and priests packing.'

  These were treasonable words, but they were uttered in the hall ofthe Manor House with no other persons present than Sir Christopherand the Rector himself.

  'Seeing these things, son-in-law,' said Sir Christopher, 'whatbecomes of Right Divine? Where is the duty of Non-Resistance?'

  'The doctrine of Right Divine,' said Mr. Boscorel, rubbing his nose,'includes the Divine institution of a Monarchy, which, I confess, ismanifestly untenable, because the Lord granted a King to the peopleonly because they clamoured for one. Also, had the institution beenof Divine foundation, the Jews would never have been allowed to liveunder the rule of Judges, Tetrarchs, and Roman Governors.'

  'You have not always spoken so plainly,' said Sir Christopher.

  'Nay; why be always proclaiming to the world your thoughts andopinions? Besides, even if the doctrine of Non-Resistance weresound, there may be cases in which just laws may be justly setaside. I say not that this is one, as yet. But if there were dangerof the ancient superstitions being thrust upon us to the destructionof our souls, I say not that we should meekly sit down. Nay; if astarving man take a loaf of bread, there being no other way possibleto save his life, one would not, therefore, hold him a thief. Yetthe law remains.'

  'Shall the blood which hath been poured out for the cause of libertyprove to be shed in vain?' asked Sir Christopher.

  'Why, Sir,' said the Rector, 'the same question might be asked inFrance, where the Protestants fought longer and against greater oddsthan we in this country. Yet the blood of those martyrs hath beenshed, so far as man can see, in vain; the Church of Rome is therethe conqueror indeed. It is laid upon the Protestants, even upon us,who hold that we are a true branch of the ancient Apostolic Church,to defend ourselves continually against an enemy who is always atunity, always guided by one man, always knows what he wants, andis always working to get it. We, on the other hand, do not knowour own minds, and must for ever be quarrelling among ourselves.Nevertheless, the heart of the country is Protestant; and sooner orlater the case of conscience may arise whether--the law remainingunchanged--we may not blamelessly break the law.'

  That case of conscience was not yet ripe for consideration. Thereneeded first many things--including the martyrdom of saints andinnocent men and poor, ignorant rustics--before the country rousedherself once more to seize her liberties. Then as to that poordoctrine of Divine Right, they all made a mouthful of it, exceptonly a small and harmless band of Nonjurors.

  At the outset, whatever the opinions of the people--who could havebeen made to rise as one man--the gentry remained loyal. Above allthings, they dreaded another ci
vil war.

  'We must fain accept the King's professions,' said the Rector. 'Ifwe have misgivings, let us disguise them. Let us rather nourish thehope that they are honestly meant; and let us wait. England will notbecome another Spain in a single day. Let us wait. The stake is notyet set up in Smithfield, and the Inquisition is not yet establishedin the country.'

  It was in this temper that the King's accession found SirChristopher. Afterwards, he was accused of having harboured designsagainst the King from the beginning. That, indeed, was not the case.He had no thought of entering into any such enterprise. Yet he neverdoubted that in the end there would be an uprising against the ruleof the priests. Nor did he doubt that the King would be pushed on byhis advisers to one pretension after another for the advancement ofhis own prerogative and the displacement of the Protestant Church.Nay, he openly predicted that there would be such attempts; andhe maintained--such was his wisdom!--that, in the long run, theProtestant faith would be established upon a surer foundation thanever. But as for conspiring or being cognisant of any conspiracy,that was untrue. Why, he was at this time seventy-five years ofage--a time when such men as Sir Christopher have continually beforetheir eyes Death and the Judgment.

  As for my father, perhaps I am wrong, but in the daily prayers ofnight and morning, and in the grace before meat, he seemed to finda freer utterance, and to wrestle more vehemently than was his wonton the subject of the Scarlet Woman, offering himself as a willingmartyr and confessor, if by the shedding of his blood the great dayof her final overthrow might be advanced; yet always humble, notdaring to think of himself as anything but an instrument to do thewill of his Master. In the end, his death truly helped, with others,to bring a Protestant King to the Throne of these isles. And sincewe knew him to be so deep a scholar, always reading and learning,and in no sense a man of activity, the thing which he presently didamazed us all. Yet we ought to have known that one who is under theDivine command to preach the Word of God, and hath been silenced byman for more than twenty years, so that the strength of his manhoodhath run to waste and is lost--it is a most terrible and grievousthing for a man to be condemned to idleness!--may become like untoone of those burning mountains of which we sometimes read in booksof voyages. In him, as in them, the inner fires rage and burn,growing ever stronger and fiercer, until presently they rend asunderthe sides of the mountain and burst forth, pouring down liquid fireover the unhappy valleys beneath, with showers of red-hot ashes todestroy and cover up the smiling homesteads and the fertile meadows.

  It is true that my father chafed continually at the inaction forcedupon him, but his impatience was never so strong as at this time,namely, after the accession of King James. It drove him from hisbooks and out into the fields and lanes, where he walked to and frowaving his long arms, and sometimes crying aloud and shouting in thewoods, as if compelled to cry out in order to quench some ragingfever or heat of his mind.

  About this time, too, I remember, they began to talk of the exilesin Holland. The Duke of Monmouth was there with the Earl of Argyle,and with them a company of firebrands eager to get back to Englandand their property.

  I am certain now that my father (and perhaps through hisinformation, Sir Christopher also) was kept acquainted with theplots and designs that were carried on in the Low Countries. Nay, Iam also certain that his informant was none other than Humphrey, whowas still in Leyden. I have seen a letter from him, written, as Inow understand, in a kind of allegory or parable, in which one thingwas said and another meant. Thus, he pretends to speak of Dutchgardening:--'The gardeners,' he says, 'take infinite pains thattheir secrets shall not be learned or disclosed. I know, however,that a certain blue tulip much desired by many gardeners in England,will be taken across the water this year, and I hope that by nextyear the precious bulb may be fully planted in English soil. Thepreparation of the soil necessary for the favourable reception ofthe bulb is well known to you, and you will understand how to mixyour soil and to add manure and so forth. I myself expect to finishwhat I have to do in a few weeks, when I shall cross to London, andso ride westwards, and hope to pay my respects to my revered tutorin the month of June next. It may be that I shall come with thetulip, but that is not certain. Many messages have been receivedoffering large sums of money for the bulb, so that it is hoped thatthe Dutch gardeners will let it go.

  'From H. C.'

  The tulip, in a word, was the Duke of Monmouth, and the Dutchgardeners were the Scotch and English exiles then in Holland,and the English gardeners were the Duke's friends, and H. C. wasHumphrey Challis.

  I think that Sir Christopher must have known of this correspondence,because I now remember that my father would sit with him for manyhours looking at a map of England, conversing long and earnestly,and making notes in a book. These notes he made in the Arabiccharacter, which no one but himself could read. I therefore supposethat he was estimating the number of Nonconformists who might bedisposed to aid in such an enterprise as Humphrey's 'gardeners' werecontemplating.

  Robin, who certainly was no conspirator, also wrote a letter fromLeyden about this time saying that something was expected, nobodyknew what; but that the exiles were meeting constantly, as ifsomething was brewing.

  It was about the first week of June that the news came to us ofLord Argyle's landing. This was the beginning. After that, asyou will hear, the news came thick and fast; every day somethingfresh, and something to quicken the most sluggish pulse. To me, atleast, it seemed as if the breath of God Himself was poured outupon the country, and that the people were everywhere resolvedto banish the accursed thing from their midst. Alas! I was but asimple country maid and I was deceived! The accursed thing was tobe driven forth, but not yet. The country party hated the Pope, butthey dreaded civil war; and, indeed, there is hardly any excuse forthat most dreadful scourge except the salvation of the soul and thesafeguarding of liberties. They would gladly welcome a rising, butit must be general and universal. They had for five-and-twenty yearsbeen taught the wickedness of rebellion, and now there was no wayto secure the Protestant Faith except by rebellion. Unhappily, therebellion began before the country gentlemen were ready to begin.