"But nobody else is doing so, man!"
"Are the Scots so altogether wretched? Cowed, you said, I think, that they will not rise?" Alderman Dare grated. "So broken a nation?"
In answer, Andrew did not trust himself to look at the man. Instead, he spoke as to Colonel Rumbold. "Scotland groans under the most harsh and rigorous military occupation, with men, women even children hanged, shot, drowned, tortured. For as little as having even a kinsman attend a coventicle, a religious service. My lord of Argyll himself was condemned to death for refusing the Test. You, sir, are a soldier, I understand. You know, if any does, what the military, in total command, can do to a people. Your Oliver Cromwell held down all England so for sixteen years, did he not? How many successful risings did the English make, against you?"
There was silence.
It was Monmouth who spoke, then. "So, Mr. Fletcher, you advise against all military ventures?"
"No, my lord Duke, I do not. Such invasion and rising, aimed at England firstly, might be successful. For there the military are not all-powerful. But you have made it that wa
y - or your father did - in Scotl
and. A successful landing in England might well spark one off in Scotland. But not the other way."
"I see. Then, sir, I thank you for your counsel - however unpalatable! We shall consider well what you have said. I bid you a good night. Sir Patrick - perhaps you will stay with us a little longer?"
Bowing, Andrew took his leave. He certainly had had enough for one night, as evidently had the others.
Later, thinking it over, Andrew came to the conclusion that he had had enough for considerably more than one night. He was filling in his time in exile by writing a book, a sort of discourse on the affairs of Scotland incorporating his views on government. He had reached a stage where he wished to use the hopeless misgovernment of Spain under an imbecile king, as an example, and recognised that a sojourn in Brussels, the capital of the Spanish Netherlands, would greatly assist his knowledge. So to Brussels he decided to repair forthwith - before any more unpleasantness developed, any more requests for money or involvement in plots and schemes, of which, to say the least, he was in no wholehearted support. Two days later, then, he was on his way to Brabant, Brussels, lying some eighty miles south of Rotterdam. Patrick Home at least was sorry to see him go - as was Alida van Heel.
It was three weeks later, in his temporary lodgings near the Cathedral of St. Gudule, that he was surprised to be visited by a messenger with a letter from the Duke of Monmouth, no less, urging him in most pressing terms to call upon him at the Hague palace at his earliest convenience. It was a friendly letter, modestly worded, with neither flourish nor command about it, and was signed, not Monmouth, nor yet James Scott nor even Crofts, but James Stewart. And as a postscript was a note to add that a particular friend of his had arrived at The Hague.
Andrew was in a quandary, of course. He did not want to get further involved; but nor did he wish to seem discourteous. And, to be sure, the writer might well become his liege lord before too long. But it was, of course, the reference to a friend's arrival that intrigued him. When, questioning the messenger, he elicited the fact that it was Dr. Gilbert Burnet, he hesitated no longer. He would leave for the Hague in a day or two; he had all but finished all he could do in Brussels anyway.
He had not visited the Dutch capital since his youthful tour, and even then had not aspired so high as the Stadtholder's palace of the Bosch. Here he found Monmouth to be occupying a rear wing of the great establishment, with quite a little court of his own - at which he was less than pleased to see the man Dare, the Plotter Robert Ferguson, as well as Colonel Rumbold, Grey and others. Although he asked for Gilbert Burnet, none appeared to know of him, so presumably he was not staying at the palace.
However, when after some delay, the Duke received him privately in a gilded saloon large enough to house ten score, Burnet was therein, the only other occupant.
Monmouth was thoughtful in allowing Andrew to greet his old tutor, with some emotion, whilst he himself strolled over to gaze out of a window. It seemed that London had become quite too hot, under James the Second and Seventh, to hold such as Burnet, and he had betaken himself first to Paris then to Italy, and now here he was at the personal invitation of the Prince of Orange himself.
"It was good of you to come, Mr. Fletcher," the Duke said, presently. "Sir Patrick Home informed me that you were in Brussels. I hope that this has not too greatly inconvenienced you?"
"I was practically finished at Brussels, my lord Duke."
"Let us dispense with lordings and highnesses since we three are alone, my friends. I asked you to come, because I seek your advice. Again. And at Dr. Burnet's urging. He believes that you will give me good counsel, personal, close counsel. Each time that we have met I have conceived that you are not only an honest man but shrewd and well-informed - if outspoken! And such are, I fear, distinctly
rare. A man in my situation is
surrounded by men with . . . shall we say, other qualities! Schemers, self-seekers, trimmers and fanatics, not to say toadies. Not all, of course. But too many. So much of the counsel given me is what these wish me to hear, or what they believe I myself would wish to hear. Not what
I
require
to hear. You, I think, will be otherwise - as Dr. Burnet assures me. He has a high regard for your abilities. Will you so help me, Mr. Fletcher?"
"Why, sir, to be sure. I much appreciate your trust. Whether my poor advice will be of any service is another matter. I fear that Dr. Burnet's esteem may not be altogether warranted! Our friendship cozening him! In what way can I help you?"
"It is in what my great-grandfather James called statecraft that I seek counsel. I am short on statesmen to advise me, I fear - however many politicians! From what I have heard, and what Dr. Burnet tells me, that is
your
great interest." He paused. "I want to know how best to reach the people. Not only the lords and gentry but the people. When I land on English soil again. What do I do? Apart from fight! Proclaim myself King - or not? At once? Issue an appeal to arms - or not? Wave the Protestant banner? Promise reforms of government, lower taxation, repeal of the harshest laws? Or is all this too lofty for the common folk? How say you?"
"You are set on this invasion, then?"
"Yes. Argyll sails in four days' time. I have promised to move within days thereafter. So that the Scots will hear of it and be heartened."
Andrew frowned. "I regret it, sir. I know that it is argued that such a move should be soon. Before King James, your uncle, has time to entrench himself. But I would say to wait. He is a man of harsh, stern methods. Every month that he is on the throne will see the people of England, Protestant people, more afflicted, more hardly used. And so growing more ready to welcome an invasion . . ."
"It is too late. I have given my word. Moreover, matters here push me to it, Mr. Fletcher. My uncle has sent an envoy to the Prince of Orange here, requesting that he no longer permits me to remain in Holland, and hints that he might have to consider making an edict removing the
heirship to the throne from his
elder daughter, Mary, William's wife, to the younger, Anne. So William wishes to be rid of me. I had thought to go to Sweden-but am committed to make the great venture in England instead. Preparations are in train. We sail in a matter of days."
"What then am I to say to you? Only that I do not advise that you proclaim yourself King, in England as in Scotland. Announce rather that you have come to defend the Protestant faith. Issue a call to arms, in that defence. But leave the parliaments to proclaim you monarch. If you have the parliamentarians on your side, it is half the battle. And you have more hope of that in England than in Scotland, meantime."
"You think so? How else may I woo the parliamentarians?"
"You might ask them, sir, to bring in a Bill of Legitimation. Ask it in friendly, even respectful fashion. The English parliament is sovereign. In Scotland it is the
King
in parliament that is sovereign. So this could not serve there. If an Act was passed legitimating your birth, it would much help. And involve the members in your cause. Even if it failed to pass the Lords, that could serve you. Provide an issue - the Lords against the people! All to stir up feeling, rouse the nation."
The Duke rose to pace the floor, glancing over at Burnet. "Dr. Burnet is right - you have shrewd wits, sir. But. . . there is a matter here which, shall we say, holds me back. The fact is, my friends, I
require
no legitimation!"
They both stared.
"Few know of this, gentlemen. And I tell you in greatest confidence - for I feel that I can trust you. My royal father, you see, for his own reasons, made me promise not to publish the matter. As price of his continued goodwill. I possess my father's marriage-lines to my mother!"
"Good Lord ..-.!'*
"My lord Duke . . ."
"Aye - my father, as Prince of Wales, secretly married Lucy Walters, here at The Hague, in 1648, when he found that she was with child by him. It was kept very close. For his father, King Charles the First, was prisoner in England. And his mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, in Paris, had forbidden anything such, and threatened to cut his allowance from the King of France. Late
r, when both my grandfather and
grandmother were dead, the politicians persuaded my father that to let it be known that he was wed to a commoner was no way to regain his throne. Then, it was considered expedient that he wed a princess, Catherine of Braganza. And so the thing must remain hidden - or it made that royal marriage a fraud. So it has remained." The Duke spoke it all tensely, through tight lips.
His hearers exchanged glances. "I do not know what to say . . . Your Royal Highness!" Andrew said.
"Say nothing, my friend - as I have done all these years. But you will understand why I am loth to seek legitimation by any parliament!"
"No, no - that would be an equal fraud!" Burnet exclaimed.
"Perhaps. But
...
it could be worth doing, nevertheless," Andrew said. "Even though in truth unnecessary. It might well please the people. And help to bring parliament to your side. An acknowledgement of its power. Promise of your good relations with it, hereafter. Unlike your uncle's!"
"M'mm. I will think on this. Have you any other counsel for me?"
"The Church, sir." Andrew looked over at Burnet. "Perhaps Dr. Gilbert has so advised? I mean the
English
Church. For the Scottish Kirk is in hopeless disarray. No so in England. It is a Protestant Church, alarmed, with a Catholic monarch nominally at its head. Address yourself to the churchmen."
"I agree," Burnet nodded. "It could do much. The Church can provide a voice in every parish. To stir up the people. More than any other can do."
"If you, sir, as a Protestant monarch, could be preached in every pulpit!"
"Yes - yes, I see. That is good, wise. Anything else, my friends?"
"Only that I would hope, Highness, that you could yet delay this venture. Until the time was more ripe, England more eager to be rid of your uncle."
"Impossible, I fear. It is too late to halt Argyll's sailing. And I have agreed to sail within days of his." The Duke held out an open hand. "Mr. Fletcher - despite your most evident lack of eagerness, it is my hope, inde
ed my urgent desire, that I can
persuade you to accompany me. Dammit, man, if I was but your King already, it would be my royal command!" And he smiled.
Andrew shook his head, wordless.
"Consider it, my friend. Dr. Burnet, I seek your kind offices on my behalf. He will, perhaps, listen to you. He could serve me passing well . . ."
They took their leave.
Burnet, there as guest of the Stadtholder, was himself lodging in another wing of the vast palace; and nothing would do but that Andrew should stay with him meantime, permission already sought and granted.
So much for non-involvement.
7
Andrew paced the deck of the frigate
Helderenberg,
on which he now knew every plank and nail and mark. It was the 31st May and he had been on this wretched ship for eight endless days, waiting, waiting, there off Texel Island at one of the mouths of the Zuider Zee. They had been due to sail on the 24th, and even that was a grievous delay; for Argyll had eventually left for Scotland on the 2nd and Monmouth had agreed to follow within six days. But delay had succeeded delay, part of it due to sheer inefficiency on the part of the Duke's lieutenants, for there did not seem to be a practical or reliable man, in Andrew's estimation, amongst them. But, to be sure, most of the trouble had been caused by lack of funds for purchasing the necessary arms and ammunition and other warlike supplies, for chartering this frigate and the three tenders which were to accompany it; likewise for paying the accumulated debts of the various exile-adventurers owed here in Holland - which proved to be an unexpectedly major item. Although money had been promised from England, none had materialised. Argyll's part of the joint venture seemed to have