CHAPTER XXV
NEWS FROM ENGLAND
The letters which Waverley had hitherto received from hisrelations in England were not such as required any particularnotice in this narrative. His father usually wrote to him with thepompous affectation of one who was too much oppressed by publicaffairs to find leisure to attend to those of his own family. Nowand then he mentioned persons of rank in Scotland to whom hewished his son should pay some attention; but Waverley, hithertooccupied by the amusements which he had found at Tully-Veolan andGlennaquoich, dispensed with paying any attention to hints socoldly thrown out, especially as distance, shortness of leave ofabsence, and so forth furnished a ready apology. But latterly theburden of Mr. Richard Waverley's paternal epistles consisted incertain mysterious hints of greatness and influence which he wasspeedily to attain, and which would ensure his son's obtaining themost rapid promotion, should he remain in the military service.Sir Everard's letters were of a different tenor. They were short;for the good Baronet was none of your illimitable correspondents,whose manuscript overflows the folds of their large post paper,and leaves no room for the seal; but they were kind andaffectionate, and seldom concluded without some allusion to ourhero's stud, some question about the state of his purse, and aspecial inquiry after such of his recruits as had preceded himfrom Waverley-Honour. Aunt Rachel charged him to remember hisprinciples of religion, to take care of his health, to beware ofScotch mists, which, she had heard, would wet an Englishmanthrough and through, never to go out at night without his great-coat, and, above all, to wear flannel next to his skin.
Mr. Pembroke only wrote to our hero one letter, but it was of thebulk of six epistles of these degenerate days, containing, in themoderate compass of ten folio pages, closely written, a precis ofa supplementary quarto manuscript of addenda, delenda, etcorrigenda in reference to the two tracts with which he hadpresented Waverley. This he considered as a mere sop in the pan tostay the appetite of Edward's curiosity until he should find anopportunity of sending down the volume itself, which was much tooheavy for the post, and which he proposed to accompany withcertain interesting pamphlets, lately published by his friend inLittle Britain, with whom he had kept up a sort of literarycorrespondence, in virtue of which the library shelves ofWaverley-Honour were loaded with much trash, and a good roundbill, seldom summed in fewer than three figures, was yearlytransmitted, in which Sir Everard Waverley of Waverley-Honour,Bart., was marked Dr. to Jonathan Grubbet, bookseller andstationer, Little Britain. Such had hitherto been the style of theletters which Edward had received from England; but the packetdelivered to him at Glennaquoich was of a different and moreinteresting complexion. It would be impossible for the reader,even were I to insert the letters at full length, to comprehendthe real cause of their being written, without a glance into theinterior of the British cabinet at the period in question.
The ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to bedivided into two parties; the weakest of which, making up byassiduity of intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, hadof late acquired some new proselytes, and with them the hope ofsuperseding their rivals in the favour of their sovereign, andoverpowering them in the House of Commons. Amongst others, theyhad thought it worth while to practise upon Richard Waverley. Thishonest gentleman, by a grave mysterious demeanour, an attention tothe etiquette of business rather more than to its essence, afacility in making long dull speeches, consisting of truisms andcommonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon of office, whichprevented the inanity of his orations from being discovered, hadacquired a certain name and credit in public life, and evenestablished, with many, the character of a profound politician;none of your shining orators, indeed, whose talents evaporate intropes of rhetoric and flashes of wit, but one possessed of steadyparts for business, which would wear well, as the ladies say inchoosing their silks, and ought in all reason to be good forcommon and every-day use, since they were confessedly formed of noholiday texture.
This faith had become so general that the insurgent party in thecabinet, of which we have made mention, after sounding Mr. RichardWaverley, were so satisfied with his sentiments and abilities asto propose that, in case of a certain revolution in the ministry,he should take an ostensible place in the new order of things, notindeed of the very first rank, but greatly higher, in point bothof emolument and influence, than that which he now enjoyed. Therewas no resisting so tempting a proposal, notwithstanding that theGreat Man under whose patronage he had enlisted, and by whosebanner he had hitherto stood firm, was the principal object of theproposed attack by the new allies. Unfortunately this fair schemeof ambition was blighted in the very bud by a premature movement.All the official gentlemen concerned in it who hesitated to takethe part of a voluntary resignation were informed that the kinghad no further occasion for their services; and in RichardWaverley's case, which the minister considered as aggravated byingratitude, dismissal was accompanied by something like personalcontempt and contumely. The public, and even the party of whom heshared the fall, sympathised little in the disappointment of thisselfish and interested statesman; and he retired to the countryunder the comfortable reflection that he had lost, at the sametime, character, credit, and,--what he at least equally deplored,--emolument.
Richard Waverley's letter to his son upon this occasion was amasterpiece of its kind. Aristides himself could not have made outa harder case. An unjust monarch and an ungrateful country werethe burden of each rounded paragraph. He spoke of long servicesand unrequited sacrifices; though the former had been overpaid byhis salary, and nobody could guess in what the latter consisted,unless it were in his deserting, not from conviction, but for thelucre of gain, the Tory principles of his family. In theconclusion, his resentment was wrought to such an excess by theforce of his own oratory, that he could not repress some threatsof vengeance, however vague and impotent, and finally acquaintedhis son with his pleasure that he should testify his sense of theill-treatment he had sustained by throwing up his commission assoon as the letter reached him. This, he said, was also hisuncle's desire, as he would himself intimate in due course.
Accordingly, the next letter which Edward opened was from SirEverard. His brother's disgrace seemed to have removed from hiswell-natured bosom all recollection of their differences, and,remote as he was from every means of learning that Richard'sdisgrace was in reality only the just as well as naturalconsequence of his own unsuccessful intrigues, the good butcredulous Baronet at once set it down as a new and enormousinstance of the injustice of the existing government. It was true,he said, and he must not disguise it even from Edward, that hisfather could not have sustained such an insult as was now, for thefirst time, offered to one of his house, unless he had subjectedhimself to it by accepting of an employment under the presentsystem. Sir Everard had no doubt that he now both saw and felt themagnitude of this error, and it should be his (Sir Everard's)business to take care that the cause of his regret should notextend itself to pecuniary consequences. It was enough for aWaverley to have sustained the public disgrace; the patrimonialinjury could easily be obviated by the head of their family. Butit was both the opinion of Mr. Richard Waverley and his own thatEdward, the representative of the family of Waverley-Honour,should not remain in a situation which subjected him also to suchtreatment as that with which his father had been stigmatised. Herequested his nephew therefore to take the fittest, and at thesame time the most speedy, opportunity of transmitting hisresignation to the War Office, and hinted, moreover, that littleceremony was necessary where so little had been used to hisfather. He sent multitudinous greetings to the Baron ofBradwardine.
A letter from Aunt Rachel spoke out even more plainly. Sheconsidered the disgrace of brother Richard as the just reward ofhis forfeiting his allegiance to a lawful though exiled sovereign,and taking the oaths to an alien; a concession which hergrandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, refused to make, either to theRoundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when his life and fortunestood in the utmost extremity. She hoped her dear Edward wouldfo
llow the footsteps of his ancestors, and as speedily as possibleget rid of the badge of servitude to the usurping family, andregard the wrongs sustained by his father as an admonition fromHeaven that every desertion of the line of loyalty becomes its ownpunishment. She also concluded with her respects to Mr.Bradwardine, and begged Waverley would inform her whether hisdaughter, Miss Rose, was old enough to wear a pair of veryhandsome ear-rings, which she proposed to send as a token of heraffection. The good lady also desired to be informed whether Mr.Bradwardine took as much Scotch snuff and danced as unweariedly ashe did when he was at Waverley-Honour about thirty years ago.
These letters, as might have been expected, highly excitedWaverley's indignation. From the desultory style of his studies,he had not any fixed political opinion to place in opposition tothe movements of indignation which he felt at his father'ssupposed wrongs. Of the real cause of his disgrace Edward wastotally ignorant; nor had his habits at all led him to investigatethe politics of the period in which he lived, or remark theintrigues in which his father had been so actively engaged.Indeed, any impressions which he had accidentally adoptedconcerning the parties of the times were (owing to the society inwhich he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a nature ratherunfavourable to the existing government and dynasty. He entered,therefore, without hesitation into the resentful feeling of therelations who had the best title to dictate his conduct, and notperhaps the less willingly when he remembered the tedium of hisquarters, and the inferior figure which he had made among theofficers of his regiment. If he could have had any doubt upon thesubject it would have been decided by the following letter fromhis commanding officer, which, as it is very short, shall beinserted verbatim:--
SIR,--
Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty an indulgencewhich even the lights of nature, and much more those ofChristianity, direct towards errors which may arise from youth andinexperience, and that altogether without effect, I am reluctantlycompelled, at the present crisis, to use the only remaining remedywhich is in my power. You are, therefore, hereby commanded torepair to--, the headquarters of the regiment, within three daysafter the date of this letter. If you shall fail to do so, I mustreport you to the War Office as absent without leave, and alsotake other steps, which will be disagreeable to you as well as to,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
J. GARDINER, Lieut.-Col.
Commanding the----Regt. Dragoons.
Edward's blood boiled within him as he read this letter. He hadbeen accustomed from his very infancy to possess in a greatmeasure the disposal of his own time, and thus acquired habitswhich rendered the rules of military discipline as unpleasing tohim in this as they were in some other respects. An idea that inhis own case they would not be enforced in a very rigid manner hadalso obtained full possession of his mind, and had hitherto beensanctioned by the indulgent conduct of his lieutenant-colonel.Neither had anything occurred, to his knowledge, that should haveinduced his commanding officer, without any other warning than thehints we noticed at the end of the fourteenth chapter, so suddenlyto assume a harsh and, as Edward deemed it, so insolent a tone ofdictatorial authority. Connecting it with the letters he had justreceived from his family, he could not but suppose that it wasdesigned to make him feel, in his present situation, the samepressure of authority which had been exercised in his father'scase, and that the whole was a concerted scheme to depress anddegrade every member of the Waverley family.
Without a pause, therefore, Edward wrote a few cold lines,thanking his lieutenant-colonel for past civilities, andexpressing regret that he should have chosen to efface theremembrance of them by assuming a different tone towards him. Thestrain of his letter, as well as what he (Edward) conceived to behis duty in the present crisis, called upon him to lay down hiscommission; and he therefore inclosed the formal resignation of asituation which subjected him to so unpleasant a correspondence,and requested Colonel Gardiner would have the goodness to forwardit to the proper authorities.
Having finished this magnanimous epistle, he felt somewhatuncertain concerning the terms in which his resignation ought tobe expressed, upon which subject he resolved to consult FergusMac-Ivor. It may be observed in passing that the bold and prompthabits of thinking, acting, and speaking which distinguished thisyoung Chieftain had given him a considerable ascendency over themind of Waverley. Endowed with at least equal powers ofunderstanding, and with much finer genius, Edward yet stooped tothe bold and decisive activity of an intellect which was sharpenedby the habit of acting on a preconceived and regular system, aswell as by extensive knowledge of the world.
When Edward found his friend, the latter had still in his hand thenewspaper which he had perused, and advanced to meet him with theembarrassment of one who has unpleasing news to communicate. 'Doyour letters, Captain Waverley, confirm the unpleasing informationwhich I find in this paper?'
He put the paper into his hand, where his father's disgrace wasregistered in the most bitter terms, transferred probably fromsome London journal. At the end of the paragraph was thisremarkable innuendo:--
'We understand that "this same RICHARD who hath done all this" isnot the only example of the WAVERING HONOUR of W-v-r-ly H-n-r. Seethe Gazette of this day.'
With hurried and feverish apprehension our hero turned to theplace referred to, and found therein recorded, 'Edward Waverley,captain in----regiment dragoons, superseded for absence withoutleave'; and in the list of military promotions, referring to thesame regiment, he discovered this farther article, 'Lieut. JuliusButler, to be captain, VICE Edward Waverley, superseded.'
Our hero's bosom glowed with the resentment which undeserved andapparently premeditated insult was calculated to excite in thebosom of one who had aspired after honour, and was thus wantonlyheld up to public scorn and disgrace. Upon comparing the date ofhis colonel's letter with that of the article in the Gazette, heperceived that his threat of making a report upon his absence hadbeen literally fulfilled, and without inquiry, as it seemed,whether Edward had either received his summons or was disposed tocomply with it. The whole, therefore, appeared a formed plan todegrade him in the eyes of the public; and the idea of its havingsucceeded filled him with such bitter emotions that, after variousattempts to conceal them, he at length threw himself into Mac-Ivor's arms, and gave vent to tears of shame and indignation.
It was none of this Chieftain's faults to be indifferent to thewrongs of his friends; and for Edward, independent of certainplans with which he was connected, he felt a deep and sincereinterest. The proceeding appeared as extraordinary to him as ithad done to Edward. He indeed knew of more motives than Waverleywas privy to for the peremptory order that he should join hisregiment. But that, without further inquiry into the circumstancesof a necessary delay, the commanding officer, in contradiction tohis known and established character, should have proceeded in soharsh and unusual a manner was a mystery which he could notpenetrate. He soothed our hero, however, to the best of his power,and began to turn his thoughts on revenge for his insulted honour.
Edward eagerly grasped at the idea. 'Will you carry a message forme to Colonel Gardiner, my dear Fergus, and oblige me for ever?'
Fergus paused. 'It is an act of friendship which you shouldcommand, could it be useful, or lead to the righting your honour;but in the present case I doubt if your commanding officer wouldgive you the meeting on account of his having taken measureswhich, however harsh and exasperating, were still within thestrict bounds of his duty. Besides, Gardiner is a preciseHuguenot, and has adopted certain ideas about the sinfulness ofsuch rencontres, from which it would be impossible to make himdepart, especially as his courage is beyond all suspicion. Andbesides, I--I, to say the truth--I dare not at this moment, forsome very weighty reasons, go near any of the military quarters orgarrisons belonging to this government.'
'And am I,' said Waverley, 'to sit down quiet and contented underthe injury I have received?'
'That will I never advise my friend,' replied Mac-Ivor. 'But Iwould have
vengeance to fall on the head, not on the hand, on thetyrannical and oppressive government which designed and directedthese premeditated and reiterated insults, not on the tools ofoffice which they employed in the execution of the injuries theyaimed at you.'
'On the government!' said Waverley.
'Yes,' replied the impetuous Highlander, 'on the usurping House ofHanover, whom your grandfather would no more have served than hewould have taken wages of red-hot gold from the great fiend ofhell!'
'But since the time of my grandfather two generations of thisdynasty have possessed the throne,' said Edward coolly.
'True,' replied the Chieftain; 'and because we have passivelygiven them so long the means of showing their native character,--because both you and I myself have lived in quiet submission, haveeven truckled to the times so far as to accept commissions underthem, and thus have given them an opportunity of disgracing uspublicly by resuming them, are we not on that account to resentinjuries which our fathers only apprehended, but which we haveactually sustained? Or is the cause of the unfortunate Stuartfamily become less just, because their title has devolved upon anheir who is innocent of the charges of misgovernment broughtagainst his father? Do you remember the lines of your favouritepoet?
Had Richard unconstrain'd resign'd the throne, A king can give no more than is his own; The title stood entail'd had Richard had a son.
You see, my dear Waverley, I can quote poetry as well as Flora andyou. But come, clear your moody brow, and trust to me to show youan honourable road to a speedy and glorious revenge. Let us seekFlora, who perhaps has more news to tell us of what has occurredduring our absence. She will rejoice to hear that you are relievedof your servitude. But first add a postscript to your letter,marking the time when you received this calvinistical colonel'sfirst summons, and express your regret that the hastiness of hisproceedings prevented your anticipating them by sending yourresignation. Then let him blush for his injustice.'
The letter was sealed accordingly, covering a formal resignationof the commission, and Mac-Ivor despatched it with some letters ofhis own by a special messenger, with charge to put them into thenearest post-office in the Lowlands.