Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
Scarcely had the Enchantress terminated this
narrative of the ceremony which elevated her friend to a ducal throne, - a
narrative which she had perused with the liveliest feelings of satisfaction,
and the most unadulterated pleasure - when the Earl of Warrington was
announced.
Diana hastened to communicate to him the tidings which she
had received; and the nobleman himself read Eliza's letter, and the extract
from the
Montoni Gazette,
with an interest which showed how
gratified he felt in the high and exalted fortunes of the daughter of her whom
he had once loved so tenderly.
"Yes, indeed," said the earl
,
when he had terminated the perusal of the two documents,
"Eliza Sydney now ranks amongst the queens and reigning princesses of the
world: from a humble cottage she has risen to a throne."
"And this exalted station she owes to your lordship's
goodness," remarked Diana.
"
Say to my justice,'' observed the earl; "for I may flatter
myself that I have behaved with justice to the child of my departed uncle's
daughter. And this remarkable exaltation of Eliza Sydney shows us, Diana, that
we should never judge of a person's character by one fault. Eliza has always
been imbued with sentiments of virtue and integrity, although she was led into
one error by that villain Stephens; and she has now met with a reward of a
price high almost beyond precedent. But, ah!" exclaimed the earl, who was
carelessly turning the letter of the Grand Duchess over and over in his hands
as he spoke, "this is very singular - very remarkable;"- and he
inspected the seal and postmarks of the letter with minute attention.
"What is the matter ?" inquired Diana.
"Some treachery has been perpetrated here,"
answered the earl, still continuing his scrutiny: "this letter had been
opened before it was delivered to you."
"Opened!" cried Diana.
"Yes," said the Earl of Warrington; "here is
every proof that the letter has been violated. See - there is the English
post-mark of
yesterday morn
ing; and over it has been stamped
another mark,
of this morning's date. Then contemplate the seal. There are two
kinds of wax, the one melted over the other: do you not notice a shade
different in their colours?"
"Certainly," said Diana: "it is apparent. But
who could have done this? Perhaps the Grand Duchess herself; for the ducal arms
are imprinted upon the upper layer of wax."
"The persons who opened this letter, Diana, said the
earl, in a serious - almost a solemn tone., "are those who know full well
how to take the imprint of a seal. But have you not other letters from
Castelcicala?"
"Several," replied
Diana; and she hastily unlocked her writing-desk, where she produced all the
correspondence she had received from Eliza Sydney.
The earl carefully inspected the envelopes of those letters;
and his countenance grew more serious as he proceeded with his scrutiny.
"Yes," he exclaimed, after a long pause; "the
fact is glaring! Every one of these letters was opened
somewhere
ere they were delivered to you. The utmost caution has been
evidently used in re-sealing and re-stamping them ; - nevertheless, there are
proofs - undoubted proofs - that the whole of this correspondence has been
violated in its transit from the writer to the receiver."
"But what object - what motive —"
"I have long entertained
suspicions," said the Earl of Warrington, interrupting his fair mistress,
"that there is one public institution in England which is made the scene
of proceedings so vile - so detestable - so base as to cast a stain upon the
entire nation. Those suspicions are now confirmed."
"What mean you?" inquired Diana: "to which
institution do you allude?"
"
To the General
Post-office,
"
replied the Earl of Warrington.
"The General Post-office!" cried Mrs. Arlington,
her countenance expressing the most profound astonishment.
"The General Post-office," repeated the earl.
"But this is a matter of so serious a nature that I shall not allow it to
rest here. You will lend me these letters for a few hours? I am more intimately
acquainted with the Home Secretary than with any other of her Majesty's
Ministers; and to him will I now proceed."
The earl consigned the letters to his pocket, and, with an
air of deep determination, took a temporary leave of Mrs. Arlington.
Scarcely had the earl left the house, when Mr. Greenwood's
valet, Filippo, was introduced.
"I have called, madam," said the Italian, "
to inform you that I last night counteracted another of my master's plots, and
saved a young female from the persecution of his addresses."
"You have done well, Filippo," exclaimed Mrs.
Arlington. "Does your master suspect you?"
"Not in the remotest degree, madam. I contrived matters
so well, that he believed the young person alluded to had escaped by her own
means, and without any assistance, save that of a pair of sheets which enabled
her to descend in safety from the window of the room in which she was
confined."
"I am delighted to hear that your mission to England
has been so successful, in thwarting the machinations of that bad man,"
observed Mrs. Arlington. "Have you heard any news from Castelcicala
?"
"I have this morning received a Montoni newspaper,
announcing the nuptials of the Grand Duke and the Marchioness of Ziani,"
replied Filippo.
"And I also have heard those
happy tidings," said Mrs. Arlington. "But have you any farther
information to give me relative to the schemes of your master? I am always
pleased to learn that a his evil designs experience defeat through your
agency."
"
I have nothing more to say at
present, madam," answered Filippo; "except, indeed," he added,
suddenly recollecting himself, "that I overheard, a few days ago, a warm
contention between my master and a certain Sir Rupert Harborough."
"Sir Rupert Harborough!" ejaculated Diana, a blush
suddenly overspreading her cheeks.
"Yes, madam. From what I could learn, there was a
balance of about a thousand pounds due from Sir Rupert Harborough to Mr.
Greenwood, on a bill that purported to be the acceptance of Lord Tremordyn, but
which was in reality a forgery committed by Sir Rupert himself."
"A forgery!" cried
Diana.
"A forgery, madam. Sir Rupert bitterly reproached Mr.
Greenwood with having suggested to him that mode of raising money, whereas Mr.
Greenwood appeared to deny with indignation any share in the part of the
transaction imputed to him. The matter ended by Mr. Greenwood declaring that if
the bill were not paid to-morrow, when it falls due (having, it appears, been
renewed several times), Sir Rupert Harborough should be prosecuted for
forgery."
"And what said Sir Rupert Harborough to that?"
inquired Diana.
"He changed his tone, and began to implore the mercy of
Mr. Greenwood: but my master was inexorable; and Sir Rupert left the house with
ruin and terror depicted upon his countenance."
"This battle you must allow them to fight out between
themselves," said Diana, after a moment's hesitation. " I know Sir
Rupert Harborough - know him full well; but I do not think that he is so
thoroughly black-hearted as your master. He was once kind to me - once,"
she added, musing to herself rather than addressing the Italian valet : then,
suddenly recollecting herself, she said, " However, Filippo - that affair
does not regard you."
"Very good, madam," replied the valet; and he then
took his departure.
The moment he was gone, Mrs. Arlington threw herself into
her comfortable arm-chair, and became wrapt up in deep thought.
CHAPTER XCIV.
THE HOME OFFICE.
IN a well-furnished room, on the first-floor of the Home Office,
sate the Secretary of State for that Department.
The room was spacious and lofty. The walls were hung with
the portraits of several eminent statesmen who had, at different times,
presided over the internal policy of the country. A round table stood in the
middle of the apartment; and at this table, which groaned beneath a mass of
papers, was seated the Minister.
At the feet of this functionary was a wicker basket, into
which he threw the greater portion of the letters addressed to him, and over
each of which he cast a glance of such rapidity that he must either have been a
wonderfully clever man to acquire a notion of the contents of those documents
by means of so superficial a survey, or else a very neglectful one to pay so
little attention to affairs which were associated with important individual
interests or which related to matters of national concern.
The time-piece upon the mantel struck twelve, when a low
knock at the door of the apartment elicited from the Minister an invitation to
enter.
A tall, thin, middle-aged, sallow-faced person, dressed in
black, glided noiselessly into the room, bowed obsequiously to the Minister,
and took his seat at the round table.
This was the Minister's private secretary.
The secretary immediately mended a pen, arranged his
blotting-paper in a business-like fashion before him, spread out his foolscap
writing paper, and then glanced towards his master, as much as to say, "I
am ready."
"Take that pile of correspondence, if you please,"
said the Minister, "and run your eye over each letter."
"Yes, my lord," said the Secretary; and he glanced
cursorily over the letters alluded to, one after the other, briefly mentioning
their respective objects as he proceeded. " This letter, my lord, is from
the chaplain of Newgate. It sets forth that there is a man of the name of
William Lees at present under sentence of death in that prison; that William
Lees, in a fit of unbridled passion, which bordered upon insanity, murdered his
wife; that the conduct of the deceased was sufficient to provoke the most
temperate individual to a similar deed; that he had no interest in killing her;
and that he committed the crime in a moment over which he had no control."
"Do you remember anything of the case?" demanded
the Home Secretary. "For my part, I have no time to read trials."
"Yes, my lord," replied the Secretary. "This
William Lees is a barber; and his wife was of vile and most intemperate habits.
He murdered her in a fit of exasperation caused by the discovery that she had
pledged every thing moveable in the house, to obtain the means of buying
drink."
"Oh! a barber - eh?" said the Home Secretary,
yawning.
"Yes, my lord. Your lordship will remember that young
Medhurst, who assassinated a school-fellow in a fit of passion, was only
condemned to three years' imprisonment."
"Ah! but that was quite a different thing," exclaimed
the Minister. "Medhurst was a gentleman; but this man is only a
barber."
"True, my lord - very true," said the Secretary.
"I had quite forgotten that."
"Make a memorandum, that the law in the case of William
Lees must take its course."
"Yes, my lord;" - and the Secretary, having
endorsed the note upon the letter, referred to another document. " This,
my lord, is a petition from a political prisoner confined in a county gaol, and
who sets forth that he is compelled to wear the prison dress, associate with
felons of the blackest character, and eat the prison allowance. He humbly
submits —"
"He may submit till he is tired," interrupted the
Minister. "Make a memorandum to answer the petition to the effect that her
Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department does not see any ground
for interfering in the matter."
"Very good, my lord. This letter is from a pauper in
the — Union, stating that he has, been cruelly assaulted, beaten, and ill-used
by the master; that he has applied in vain to the Poor Law Commissioners for
redress; and that he now ventures to submit his case to your lordship."
"Make a note to answer that the fullest inquiries shall
be immediately instituted," said the Minister.
"Shall I give the necessary instructions for the
inquiry, my lord?" asked the Secretary.
"Inquiry!" repeated the Minister: "are you
mad? Do you really imagine that I shall be foolish
enough to permit any inquiry at
all? Such a step would be almost certain to end in substantiating the pauper's
charge against the master; and then there would be a clamour from one end of
the country to the other against the New Poor Laws. We must smother all such
affairs whenever we can but by writing to say that the fullest inquiries shall
be instituted, I shall be armed with a reply to any member who might happen to
bring the case before Parliament. My answer to the charge would then be
that her Majesty's Government had
instituted a full inquiry into the matter, and had ascertained that the pauper
was a quarrelsome, obstreperous, end disorderly person, who was not to be
believed upon his oath
."
" True, my lord," said the Secretary, evidently
struck by this display of ministerial wisdom. "The next letter, my lord,
is from a clerk in the Tax Office, Somerset House. He complains that his income
is too small, and that the Commissioners of Taxes refuse to augment it. He
states in pretty plain terms, that unless he receives an augmentation, be shall
not hesitate to publish the fact, that the Dividend Books of the Bank of
England are removed to the Tax-Office every six months, in order that an
account of every fundholder's stock in the government securities may be taken
for the information of the Treasury and the Tax Commissioners: he adds that
such so announcement would convulse the whole nation with alarm at the awful
state of espionage under which the people exist; and he states these grounds as
a reason for purchasing his silence by means of an increase of salary."
"This is serious - very serious," said the
Minister: "but the letter should have been addressed to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer. You must enclose it to my colleague."
"Yes, my lord," replied the Secretary.
At this moment a gentle knock was heard at the door of the
apartment.
The Secretary hastened to respond to the summons, and
admitted two persons dressed in plain but decent attire. One was a short,
stout, red-faced, consequential-looking man: the other was a tall, raw-boned,
ungainly person, and seemed quite confounded at the presence in which he found
himself.
The former of these individuals was an inspector of police:
the latter was a common police-officer. Indeed, the reader has been already
introduced to them, in the fourteenth chapter of this narrative.
Having ushered these individuals into the room, the private
secretary hastened to breathe a few words in an under tone to the ear of his
master.
"Oh! these are the men, are they?" said the
Minister aloud.
"Yes, my lord," replied the Secretary; then,
addressing the police-officers, he exclaimed, " Step forward, my men -
step forward. There - that's right: now sit down at that side of the table, and
let the one who can write best make notes of the instructions that will be
immediately given to you."
Both the Minister and Secretary were cautious enough not to
give those instructions in their own handwriting.
The men sat down, as they were desired; and the inspector
whispered to his companion an order to assume the duties of amanuensis on the
occasion.
"You are aware, my good fellows," said the
Minister, "that there is to be a great political meeting to-morrow evening
somewhere in Bethnal Green?"
"Yes, my lord," replied the inspector.
"It is necessary to the purposes of her Majesty's
Government," continued the Minister, "that discredit should be thrown
upon all political meetings where very liberal sentiments are enunciated."
"Yes, my lord," said the inspector. " Shall
Crisp put that down, my lord?"
"There is no necessity to make a note of my
observations, only of my instructions," answered the Minister, with a
smile. "The best method of throwing discredit upon those meetings is to
create a disturbance. You, Mr. Inspector, will therefore take care and have at
least a dozen of your men in plain clothes at the assembly to-morrow
evening."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"You will direct your men, Mr. Inspector, to applaud
most vehemently all the inflammatory parts of the speeches made upon the
occasion."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"You will contrive that Mr. Crisp, whom my secretary
states to be a proper man for the purpose, shall himself make a speech
to-morrow evening."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"This speech must be of the most violent and
inflammatory kind: it must advocate the use of physical force, denounce the
aristocracy, the government, and the parliament in the most blood-thirsty
terms; it need not even spare her most gracious Majesty. Let the cry be
Blood
; and let your men, Mr. Inspector,
applaud with deafening shouts, every period in this incendiary harangue."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"The well-disposed portion of the audience will
remonstrate. Your men in plain clothes can thus readily pick a quarrel; and a
quarrel may be easily made to lead to blows. Then let a posse of constables in
uniform rush in, and lay about them with their bludgeons most unsparingly. The
more broken heads and limbs, the better. Be sure to have some of the audience
taken into custody; and on the following morning, appear against them before
the police-magistrate."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"You will take especial care to denounce the
individuals so captured, as the ringleaders of the riot, and the ones who made
themselves most conspicuous in applauding the inflammatory speeches uttered on
the occasion - especially those which advocated rebellion, bloodshed, and death
to monarchy and aristocracy."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
"If the magistrate asks you - as be will be certain to
do," continued the Minister, "whether you are acquainted with the
prisoners at the bar, you can say that they are well known to the police as
most dangerous and disorderly characters."
"Yes, my lord. Put that down, Crisp."
" You see," said the Minister, turning towards his
own private secretary, " it is ten to one that the individuals so arrested
will be respectable tradesmen ; and as they will thus obtain a taste of the
treadmill (for we must send our private instructions to the magistrates at
Lambeth Street, to that effect) the warning will be a most salutary one
throughout the whole district - especially at a moment when the Spitalfields
weavers are reduced to desperation by their dreadfully distressed
condition."
"Of course, my lord," replied the Secretary.
"Such a proceeding will sicken men of political meetings. Has your
lordship any farther instructions for these officers?"
"None," said the Minister. "I may, however,
add, that if they acquit themselves well in this respect, the inspector shall
become a superintendent, and the constable a sergeant."
"Thank your lordship,"
exclaimed the inspector. "You may put that down, too, Crisp - and express
your gratitude to his lordship for his kindness."
Mr. Crisp acted in all respects as he was desired; and
having each made an awkward bow, the two officers retired.
"Now proceed with the correspondence," said the
Minister.
"Yes, my lord," replied the Secretary. "Here
is a letter from the mayor of — stating that the experiment of making the
prisoners, tried and untried, who are confined in the goal of that town, wear
black masks whenever they are compelled to mingle together, works well. The
mayor moreover states, that out of two hundred prisoners subjected to the
solitary system, since the introduction of the plan into the goal, only
nineteen have gone mad, and of those only three have died raving. He therefore
recommends the solitary system. He adds that all personal identity is now
destroyed in the prison, and prisoners are known by numbers instead of by their
names. He concludes by inquiring whether these regulations shall continue in
force?"
"Most assuredly," answered the Minister.
"Make a note that a reply is to be sent to that effect. I am glad the system
of solitary confinement, black cloth masks, and numbers instead of names, works
well. I shall gradually apply it to every criminal prison in England. At the
same time. I must endeavour to throw the odium of the introduction of that
system upon the justices in quarter sessions assembled - in case I should be
assailed on the subject in the House."
"Certainly, my lord. This letter is from the secret
agent, sent down to Manchester to inquire into the constitution and principles
of the Independent Order of Rechabites. He obtained admission. into a lodge,
and was regularly initiated a member of the Brotherhood. He finds that the
Rechabites are about eighty thousand in number, having lodges in all the great
cities and towns of England, with the head-quarters at Manchester. The Order is
not political; but is formed of sections of the Teetotal Societies. The
government need not entertain any fears of this combination. The agent sends up
a detailed account of the secrets and signs connected with the Order, accompanied
by a copy of the rules and regulations."
"These Teetotalers must not be encouraged. They are
seriously injuring the Excise-revenues. Proceed."
"This letter, my lord, is from the principal agent sent
down into the mining districts, to encourage a spirit of discontent amongst the
pitmen. He says that he has no doubt of being enabled to produce a disturbance
in the north, and thus afford your lordship the wished-for opportunity of
sending more troops in that direction. When once over-awed by the presence of a
formidable number of bayonets, the pitmen will be compelled to submit to the
terms dictated by the coal-mine proprietors; and your lordship's aims will be
thus accomplished."
"I am glad of that, The coal-mine proprietors ire rich
and influential men, whom it is necessary to conciliate," said the
Minister. " What next?"
"Here is a letter," my lord, continued the
Secretary, "from Sir Joseph Gosborne, stating that his daughter, Miss
Gosborne, was taken into custody yesterday morning on an accusation of stealing
a jar of anchovies from an oilman's shop. The magistrate refused to take bail,
and remanded the young lady until next Monday. Sir Joseph is anxious that his
daughter should be admitted to bail, because, in that case, should he fail to
settle with the prosecutor, he can keep his daughter out of the way when the
day of trial arrives, and pay the money for the entreated recognizances. He is
moreover desirous that the case should be sent to the Sessions, because, if by
any accident the matter