CHAPTER VIII
THE POLICY OF THE PRINCE
Gaspard Fagel, Grand Pensionary of Holland, and M. Dyckfelt, entered thelittle room where the Prince awaited them. They were both statesmen whohad been trained under the last Grand Pensionary, John de Witt, whoseParliamentary Republic had kept the Prince twenty years out of hishereditary offices, and both retained something of the simplicity andsternness of their early life, especially M. Dyckfelt, who wore theplain falling band of the Republican era and a suit old-fashioned inprimness and sombre colour.
He was a cleverer man than M. Fagel, who was utterly and entirely underthe dominion of the Stadtholder, and saw too clearly with his master'seyes even to have an opinion of his own. His manner to the Prince wasthe more humble, but both addressed him with that deep respect whichdoes not preclude perfect openness.
William looked at them both sharply, then down at the letters in hishand.
"I have received the invitation from England for which I have beenwaiting," he said.
M. Dyckfelt bowed, and M. Fagel answered--
"May I congratulate Your Highness----"
"Not yet," interrupted William. "Listen first to these letters--theyask almost the impossible."
He made a little gesture to the straight chairs the other side of thetable, and the two seated themselves. M. Dyckfelt had flushed witheagerness and excitement, M. Fagel looked tired and ill. They were bothconsiderably older than the Prince, both men of a fine type with honest,shrewd faces.
William drew his chair nearer the table and held the letters under theglow of the flame of the tall wax candles.
"These," he said, looking down at the flowing English writing, "werebrought me by Mr. Herbert, whom I suppose you met, M. Dyckfelt, inEngland, and are written by Mr. Sidney."
He paused with a little cough; neither of the other two men spoke.
"In the preamble," continued William, "they say that they are pleased tolearn from M. Zuylestein that I will be of assistance to them, but theyfear the difficulties; and though every one is so dissatisfied with theKing his government it would not be safe to speak to thembeforehand--and though they might venture themselves on my landing theywill do nothing now." He smiled unpleasantly, and added, "In brief,they are on the winning side, and I must go with strength enough todefend myself until they can be gotten into some order. For the army,they say the discontent is such that the King could not count on them,and for the navy, they believe not one in ten would do him any servicein such a cause."
"Mine own observations confirm this advice," said M. Dyckfelt, with hiseyes fixed on the Prince. "And M. Zuylestein hath writ the same."
William made no comment on that.
"Now," he said, "we come to the gist of the business, which is, thatthese gentlemen fear affairs will be worse next year, both by theofficering of the army with Irish Catholics, the calling of a packedParliament to pass the repeal of the Test Act, and the employment ofviolent means against the remaining liberties of the Protestants."
He raised his brilliant eyes to the two intent faces opposite.
"Therefore they wish me to undertake this expedition this year."
A soft exclamation broke from Gaspard Fagel.
"Can it be done?"
"If it must be done it can be done," said the Prince firmly; "and Ithink it is 'nunc aut nunquam,' M. Fagel."
M. Dyckfelt gave a movement of irrepressible excitement.
"Do they not recognise the difficulties of Your Highness?"
William looked again at the letter.
"These are their words, Mynheer: 'If the circumstances stand so withYour Highness, that you believe you can get here time enough, in acondition to give assistance this year sufficient for a relief underthese circumstances which have been so represented, we who subscribethis will not fail to attend Your Highness upon your landing, and to doall that lies in our power to prepare others to be in as much readinessas such an action is capable of, where there is so much danger incommunicating an affair of such a nature, till it be near the time ofits being made public.' Then follow their difficulties: 'We know notwhat alarm your preparations for this expedition may give, or whatnotice it will be necessary for you to give the States beforehand, byeither of which means their intelligence or suspicions here may be suchas may cause us to be secured before your landing----'"
William laid the paper down.
"That is their main trouble--they doubt whether I can be so secret asnot to cause them and all like to support me to be clapt up before Isail--and wish to know my opinion on it--further, they mislike mycompliment to the King on the birth of the Prince of Wales, which hath,they say, done me injury among the Protestants, of whom not one in athousand believeth the child to be the Queen's--and for the rest--dareI, will I, adventure on the attempt?"
He drew a deep breath as he finished this speech, and fixed his eyes onthe dark, uncurtained square of the window as if he pictured somethingin his mind too vast, too confined, for the narrow room, and mustimagine it filling the silent night without.
M. Fagel spoke, very low.
"Your Highness doth not hesitate?"
"I cannot," answered the Prince simply; "for it is the only way to gainEngland from France."
In those plain words lay the whole policy of his life--to gain Englandfrom France, to weigh the balance of Europe against Louis by throwinginto the scale against him a nation so powerful, so wealthy, andanciently so glorious as England; for ten years he had been at thehopeless task of gaining England through her King, now he was going toignore the King and go straight to the people; but confident as he wasin his destiny, the difficulties of the project seemed overwhelming.
He turned again to the letter.
"This is signed by seven great lords," he said, "but I do not know thatthey are any of them great Politics--Mr. Russell and Mr. Sidney are themost knowing in affairs, and the last sendeth me words of no greatencouragement----"
He picked up the other letter.
"There is advice here that I should take M. de Schomberg for the secondin command, for he is beloved in England."
"Hath he not been too long in the service of France?" asked M. Fagel.
"Yet he resigned all his posts when the Edict of Nantes was revoked,"said M. Dyckfelt. "And being so staunch a Protestant, and so famous acaptain, it would be well if Your Highness could borrow him, as Mr.Sidney saith."
"He is very knowing in his profession," said William, withoutenthusiasm; "but I doubt he will be too dear--apart from his age, and,God forgive me, I do not relish a lieutenant of eighty."
He leant forward with one arm resting on the dark table. Behind him wasthe shadowed mantelshelf and the dark picture of a storm that occupiedthe whole width of the chimney shaft, obscured in gloom and touched onlyvaguely now and then with passing glimmers of candlelight. The Prince'sface, which wore an extraordinary expression of concentration andresolve, was thrown out clearly against this darkness, for the lightsstood directly before him, and the two men watching him, almost withsuspended breath, were (though so familiar with his features) powerfullyimpressed by this intent look of unconscious strength in the mobilemouth and glowing eyes.
There was the same spirit of enthusiastic energy in his words, thoughhis utterance was laboured and his voice husky from so much speaking.
"Those are the difficulties of the English," he said. "Mine, youknow,"--he brought his fine hand down lightly on the table,--"after allthey are--as always--summed up in one word--France."
The manner in which he stressed that name was almost startling in itsbitterness, hatred, and challenge.
"Is it possible," asked M. Fagel, who was always at first afraid of thedaring schemes of the Prince, "for you to deceive the French?"
"M. D'Avaux is a clever man," answered William grimly, "but Albevilleand Sunderland will lull King James, and even I think M. Barillon. MyLord Sunderland," he added, with some admiration, "is the finest, mostbewi
tching knave I have ever met----"
"Then," said M. Dyckfelt, "there are a many at the Court whose interestit is to keep the King deceived--namely, those nobles whose letters ofservice I brought to Your Highness--and from what I observed of HisMajesty he was so infatuate with his own conceptions of affairs as togive scant hearing to good advice."
"That may be," answered M. Fagel. "But will France be so easilybeguiled? M. D'Avaux at The Hague itself must suspect."
"He doth already," said William, in a kind of flashing shortness; "buthe cannot prove his suspicions."
"Your Highness," asked M. Fagel, still anxious, "must take an army and afleet with you----"
"You do not think," answered the Stadtholder, "that I would go with ahandful of adventurers, like my poor Lord Monmouth?"
"Then," urged the Grand Pensionary, "what is to become of the Stateswith all their defences beyond the seas and you absent?"
An expression of pain crossed William's face.
"It must be risked," he said, in his hoarse, tired voice. "Do you notsuppose I have counted these risks?" he added half fiercely.
M. Fagel looked at him straightly.
"Will the States permit Your Highness to take these risks?" he asked.
"I must hope to God that the States will trust me as they have donebefore," answered William, with dignity.
"Your Highness must lay down new ships, raise new companies, and underwhat pretence?"
"It can be done," said William. "Have not Algerine corsairs shownthemselves in the North Sea? There is one excuse."
M. Dyckfelt spoke now.
"I see other difficulties. I do not think that Your Highness need fearthe loyalty of the States, but what of your Romanist allies, the Popehimself?"
"The Pope," said William calmly, "is on the verge of war with Louis overthe Cologne affair, and as long as I stand against France I am assuredof his secret support--and as for England, I have it from a sure handthat His Holiness was so offended by the sending of Lord Castlemaine asenvoy that all King James his compliments to his nuncio have had noeffect."
He could not forbear a smile, for in truth the sending of a man who owedhis very title to an infamous wife to the court of the saintly Pontiffwas one of those almost incredible blunders it is difficult to believeeven of a stupid man.
"I have good hopes from that incident," continued the Prince. "The Kingwho made that mistake may make others."
"Ah! Highness," said M. Dyckfelt, "the mistakes of King James will nothelp you so much as your own wisdom."
William glanced at the speaker. In the faith and trust of such lay hissurest strength. These men, incorruptible, clever, industrious,devoted, and patriotic, such as the two now facing him, were the bulwarkof the position he had held fifteen years, the instruments of all hisprojects. These thoughts so moved in his mind that he was constrainedto speak warmly.
"Mynheer, neither on my own understanding nor on the mistakes of myenemies do I rely, but on the services of such as you and M. Fagel."
Praise was rare from the Prince they served, and at the sound of it thetwo grave diplomats coloured.
M. Dyckfelt answered.
"Where should Your Highness find perfect loyalty if not in us?"
"God be thanked," said William, with a contained passion, "I have nocause to doubt my own people. But here," he added frankly, "we have todeal with foreigners, and those a nation of all others light andchangeable in politics, arrogant and wilful. At present every noble outof office for not attending Mass, and every officer removed to giveplace to an Irish Papist, is for me; every courtier who thinketh theKing insecure is my very good friend, and every country gentlemandeprived of his vote raileth against King James--it will take somediplomacy, gentlemen, to combine these into a firm support for mydesign, and at the same time to conciliate the Catholics."
"There is a great body of fanatics very eager to call Your Highnesstheir champion," said M. Dyckfelt.
"The Hague is full of them," replied the Prince; "but as each manspendeth all his energies in advancing his own grievances and his ownschemes there is not much use in them. Methinks the Tories are a surerstrength, but they love me not--only use me to save their liberties.The Whigs shout for me, but know me not----"
"They are a corrupt and shallow people," said M. Fagel.
M. Dyckfelt, who had spent several months in England marshalling thediscontented factions, and putting them under the leadership of thePrince, answered this statement of the Grand Pensionary.
"There are many able, knowing, and patriotic men among them, though,being out of office, they are not so commonly heard of as the knaves whomake the ministry."
William spoke with some impatience.
"Heaven help me, I would never trust an Englishman, unless it were Mr.Sidney; for when they are honest they are lazy, as Lord Halifax and SirWilliam Temple, and too indifferent to business to be stirred; and whenthey are dishonest, which I ever found the great majority, they are themost shameless creatures in the world."
"Yet in the present instant Your Highness must trust them."
William smiled grimly.
"Their heads are on their secrecy this time, Mynheer. Besides, I thinkthese men are spirited enough if I can use them before their indignationcools."
There was a second's pause of silence, then M. Fagel spoke.
"Your Highness will require a vast deal of money."
"Yes," said the Prince dryly; "but I believe that it can be raised.'
"In England?" inquired M. Dyckfelt.
"--and among the French refugees here--and from my own fortune, Mynheer,which hath ever exceeded my wants--also, Mynheer, I hope the States willhelp."
"How great a sum would it be, Highness?"
William, who had the whole project already clear in his head, and hadmade careful calculations as to the cost, answered at once.
"About three hundred thousand pounds."
M. Fagel was silent. His secret thought was, that to raise this money,overcome all opposition, and complete every preparation by the autumnwas impossible.
The Prince was quick to divine his doubt.
"You think I cannot do it?" he asked, with that breathlessness that wasa sign of his rare excitement.
"No, Highness. I think of France."
"France!" cried William. "I think of France also."
"If they should attack us while you were absent--or even before you wereready----"
William lifted his hand gravely and let it fall lightly on the smoothsurface of the table.
"Ah, _if_--M. Fagel," he said solemnly; "but that is in God His keeping,where all our destinies be--and we can but fulfil them."
He smiled a little as if he thought of other things, and his bright gazeagain sought the window, but instantly he recalled himself.
"I need detain you no more to-night--I shall need to see the Statesseparately and the Amsterdamers--everything must be put in trainimmediately."
All three rose. The two older men were much moved; before the mind ofeach were pictures of ten years ago when with the same deliberatecourage and heroic fatalism the Prince had pitted himself against Franceand been forced by the treachery of Charles Stewart into the peace ofNymwegen.
Ten years ago, and ever since William had been working for and planninga renewal of the war he had then been forced to conclude; now it seemedthat he had accomplished his desire, and that his re-entry into thecombat would be in a manner to take the breath of Europe.
Grave men as these two were, and well used to the spectacle of highpolicies, they felt that extraordinary thrill which shakes those aboutto watch the curtain draw up on tremendous events.
They knew that in that quiet little room actions were being resolved andput in train that would stir every court in Europe and make all the pompof Versailles show hollow if successful; and looking on the Prince, theycould not think of failure.
When they had taken their leave, William locked the two letters in aChinese escritoire. Mr. Sidney had
requested that they, being in hisknown hand, might be destroyed, but the Prince considered his desk assafe as the fire, and was always loath to burn papers of importance.
In that same inner drawer where these letters now lay were offers ofservices from many famous English names, and that correspondence withHenry Sidney which had prepared the way for the invitation receivedto-night; also all the letters from King James written since themarriage of Mary, which the Prince had carefully kept.
As he turned the little gold key in the smooth lock he thought of hisfather-in-law and of the personal aspect of his undertaking. Though hewould very willingly have avoided the odium and scandal that he mustincur by a break with so near a relation, he had no feelings ofaffection or even respect for King James. They were antagonistic inreligion, character, aims, and policy. James had opposed the Prince'smarriage, and ever since he had come to power opposed his every wish anddesire. The withdrawal of Sidney from The Hague, the sending of Skeltonin his stead, the attempt to recall and place at the disposal of Francethe English troops in the service of the State, his refusal to interferewith Louis' insulting seizure of Orange, his constant spyings in thehousehold of the Princess, his endeavour to convert her to his ownfaith, had been all so many widenings of a breach that had never beencompletely closed; and, on the other hand, the Prince knew that the Kinghad never forgiven him three things--the League of Augsburg (whichconfederacy of the German Princes against France was known to be hiswork, though his name did not appear in it), the refusal really his,though nominally the State's, to return the English troops or to putSkelton at the head of them, and his refusal to countenance theDeclaration of Indulgence, even when accompanied by the tempting bribeof alliance against France.
They were, and always had been, natural enemies, despite the accident ofthe double tie of blood and marriage, and even the conventionalcompliments of their rank had long since been worn thin between them.William was indebted to his uncle for nothing. James did not even givehis eldest daughter an allowance, while his youngest received a princelyincome; but the Prince, faithful to his unchanging policy, would havepassed all this, would James have but done what Charles had always beenpressed to do by his nephew, namely, join the States in an allianceagainst France. The Prince had, indeed, with this end in view,endeavoured to please the King on his first accession, and would haveworked with him loyally as an ally.
But for the last year he had seen clearly, and with mingled wrath andpity, that James was bent on the old dishonest policy of packedparliaments, French money, and corrupt ministers, added to which was anintolerant, almost insane, bigotry which, discountenanced by the Popehimself and displeasing to all moderate Catholics, was an impossiblescheme of government, and in William's eyes, all religiousconsiderations apart, the act of a madman or a fool.
And it did not suit his statecraft to have either on the throne ofEngland. He had waited a long time for this country, which he had seenfrom boyhood was essential to his schemes for the balance of power andthe liberty of Europe, and now was his moment.
As he walked up and down the plain little room he vowed that thedifficulties should be conquered, and that even if the Bourbon lilieswere flying over Brussels he would lead an armament to England thatyear.