Gerald Fitzgerald, the Chevalier: A Novel

by Charles James Lever

  CHAPTER I. A CARDINAL'S CHAMBER

  We must ask of our reader to pass over both time and space, andaccompany us, as night is falling, to a small chamber in the house ofthe Cardinal Caraffa at Rome, where his Eminence is now closeted insecret converse with a tall, sickly, but still handsome man, in a longrobe of black serge, buttoned almost to his feet, and wearing on hishead a low square cap, of the same coarse material; he is the PereMassoni, superior of the College of Jesuits.

  The Cardinal had but just returned from a conclave, and had not takentime to change a dress, whose splendour formed a strong contrast withthe simple attire of his guest.

  'It is, happily, the last council for the season,' said his Eminence, ashe seated himself in a deep easy-chair. 'His Holiness leaves for Gaetato-morrow, the Cardinal Secretary Piombino retires to Albano during thehot weather, and I am free to confer with my esteemed friend the PereMassoni, and discuss deeper themes than the medallions in the nave ofSan Giovanni di Laterano. There were to have been fourteen on eitherside last Tuesday; on Friday, we came down to twelve; to-day, we deemedeleven enough; in fact, Massoni, we are less speculative as to thefuture, and have left but four spaces to be filled up; but enough ofthis,--have your letters arrived?'

  'Yes, your Eminence, the Priest Carroll from Ireland has brought meseveral, and much information besides of events in England.'

  'It is of France I want to hear,' broke in the Cardinal impatiently. 'Itis of the man in the throes of death I would learn tidings, not of himlingering in the long stages of a chronic malady. Did this priest passthrough Paris?'

  'He did, your Eminence; he was two days there. The fever of bloodstill rages. 'Twas but Monday week, thirty-two nobles of La Vendee wereguillotined, and, worse still, eight priests, old and venerable men,cures of the several parishes. They met their death as became true sonsof the holy Church, declaring with their last breath that the sacrificewould bring a blessing on the faith.'

  'So it will--they are right--truth must triumph at last, Massoni,' saidthe Cardinal hurriedly; 'but we are passing through a fiery ordeal;sparks of the same fire have been seen among ourselves too. Grave fearsexist that all is not well at Viterbo.'

  'The flame must be trodden out quickly and completely, your Eminence;deal with traitors with speed, and you can treat true men with justice.The Abbe Guescard, whose book on private judgments you have seen, wasburied this morning.'

  'I had not heard that he was ill.'

  'It was a sudden seizure, your Eminence, but the convulsions resistedall treatment, and death closed his sufferings about midnight. Thedoctrines of Diderot and Jean Jacques form but sorry homilies. They whopreach them go to a heavy reckoning hereafter.'

  'And meet with sudden deaths besides,' said the Cardinal, with a glancein which there was fully as much jollity as gloom.

  The Jesuit Father's pale face remained calm and passionless as before,nor did a syllable escape from him in reply. At length the Cardinalsaid, 'All accounts agree in one thing, the pestilence is spreading,At Aranguez, in Spain, a secret society has been discovered incorrespondence with Des-moulins. At Leipsic a record for futureproscription throughout Germany has been found, exactly fashioned afterthe true Paris model; and even in sluggish England the mutter-ings ofdiscontent are heard, but with them we have less sympathy--or rather wemight say, God speed the hand that would pull down the heretic Church!''Carroll tells me that Ireland is ripe, though for what, it is yet hardto pronounce. The cry of "Liberty" in France has awakened her to thememory of all her hatred to England. Men of great ability and daring areeagerly feeding the flame; the difficulty will be to direct its ravageswhen once it breaks out. If the principles of France sway them, thetorrent that will overwhelm the heretic will also sweep away the faith.'

  'Much will depend upon the men who direct the movement.'

  'No, no,' said the Jesuit, 'next to nothing. Each in his turn will bethe victim of the event he seems to control. It is not the riven treecarried along by the current that directs the stream. It is to humanpassions and their working we must look, to see the issue out ofthese troubles. Once men emerge out of the storm-tossed ocean oftheir excesses, they strain their eyes to catch some haven--someresting-place. Some find it in religion; some in ambition, which is thereligion of this world. The crime of France has been that no such goalhas ever existed. In their lust to destroy, they have forfeited thepower to rebuild. As well endeavour to reanimate the cold corpsesbeneath the guillotine as revive that glorious monarchy. For men likethese there is no hope--no hereafter. Have no trust in them.'

  'But you yourself told me,' cried the Cardinal, 'how vain it were topledge men to the cause of the Church.'

  'And truly did I say so. Men will serve no cause but that which securesthem a safe recompense. In France they have that recompense--thereis vengeance and there is pillage; but both will be exhausted after atime--there will be satiety for one and starvation for the other, andthen woe to those who spirited them on to this pursuit. The convulsionin Ireland, if it should come, need not have this peril; there, there isa race to expel and a heresy to exterminate; in both the prospect of thefuture is implied. Let us aid this project.'

  'Ah! it is your old project lurs there,' cried the Cardinal; 'I seea glimpse of it already; but what a dream is the restoration of thathouse!'

  'Nor do I mean it should be more; the phantom of a Stuart in theprocession is all I ask for. By that dynasty the Church is typified.Instead of encountering the thousand enemies of a faith, we rally to usthe adherents of a monarchy. If we build up this throne, he who sits onit is our viceroy; we have made, and can unmake him.'

  'And how can the Cardinal York serve these plans?'

  'I never intended that he should; his gown alone would exempt him, evenhad he--which he has not--personal qualities for such a cause.'

  'Yet with him the race is extinct.'

  'Of that I am not so certain, and it is precisely the point on which Iwant to confer with you.' So saying, the Pere drew a packet of papersfrom the breast of his robe, and placed it on the table. 'I have therebeneath my hand, said he, 'the copy of a marriage certificate betweenCharles Edward, Prince of Wales, and Grace Geraldine, of Cappa Glyn,County Kildare, Ireland. It is formally drawn up, dated, signed, andwitnessed with due accuracy. The Father Ignatius, in whose hand thedocument is, is dead; but there are many alive who could recognise hiswriting. One of the witnesses, too, is believed still to be living ina remote part of Ireland; I have his name and can trace him; but evenbetter than this, the Cardinal York admits the fact, and owns that heretains in his possession a last legacy of the Prince for the child bornof this marriage.

  'Your Eminence smiles incredulously; but what will you say when I addthat the same child was inscribed in our College under the name ofGerald Fitzgerald; was well known to my predecessor, the present Bishopof Orvieto; quitted the College to acquire the protection of thePrince, from which he most unaccountably strayed or was withdrawn, andultimately reached France.'

  'Where he has, doubtless, been guillotined for his royal blood,' brokein the Cardinal.

  'No, your Eminence; he lives, and I have traced him. Nay, more, I havefound that he is one in every way adapted for such an enterprise as Ispeak of; possessed of the most heroic courage, with a character fertilein resources; all the winning graces of his father are united in him,with a steadfast energy that few of the Stuarts could ever have laidclaim to. In a life of struggle and adversity--for he has never knownhis rank, nor has the slightest suspicion of his birth--he has neveronce descended to a single act that could impugn the highest station.In a word, to declare him a Prince to-morrow needs not that we shouldobliterate his past life or conceal its vicissitudes.'

  'Be it so as you say. Is it such pretensions you would oppose to therecognised and established monarchy of England? A youth of at leasthighly questionable legitimacy, friendless and penniless; and this, too,in an age when thrones propped up by all that can aid their prestige aretottering to their fall!'

  'We want him
but as the banner to rally around; we need him as thestandard which will draw Scotland to the side of Ireland, and both forone cause--the Church. A Prince of the House of Stuart is the emblem ofall that defies the heresy when the day of trouble comes. It is vitalthat Ireland should not follow in the steps of France, and Christianblood be shed to establish the reign of the infidel! If the pestilencethat now rages in France extend through Europe, as many wise headspredict it will, the day will come that the last resting-place of ourfaith will be that small island in the west. Think, then, how importantit is that we should give to the struggle that is approaching a guidanceand direction. If the Irish insurrection be capable of a royalistcolouring, we can take advantage of that feature to awaken the dormantchivalry of those who would risk nothing in the cause of a Republic. Theold Catholic families of England, the Scottish chiefs, men who can bringinto the field the fiercest partisans and the most intrepid followers;all Ireland, save that small garrison which assumes to subject it toEnglish rule, will rally round a Stuart: and that Stuart will be in ourhands to deal with--to elevate to a throne on the claim of his birth;or, if need be, to proclaim an illegitimate pretender!'

  The soft, mild eyes of the Jesuit grew darker and deeper in colour,and his pale cheeks flushed, while the last words came from him with anutterance thick and almost guttural from passion. Nor was the Cardinalunmoved: partly in sympathy with the emotion of the speaker, partlystimulated by the great proportions of the scheme displayed before him,he sat, with hurried, breathing and a heated brow, gazing steadfastly atthe other.

  'There are immense difficulties, Father,' he began.

  'I know them all,' broke in Massoni. 'For some I have provided, formany more I am still reflecting; but still remember, that to launch theproject is our great care. When the rock is riven from its base, noman can tell by what course it will descend the mountain, over whatprecipice gain new force, or in what hollow lie spent and motionless.Let us be satisfied if we start the game, and leave to destiny thepursuit!'

  'Much money will be needed----'

  'The great families of England are rich. It will not require deepcalculation to satisfy them that the cost of supporting a loyalist causewill be little in comparison with the consequences of a revolution toend in a republic; a loan is ever lighter than confiscation!'

  'There is much in that if the alternative be well put and wellunderstood.'

  'From what I learn,' continued the Pere, 'men of influence and fortunewill grasp eagerly at what offers any issue to the coming trouble, saveto follow in the footsteps of France. The Terror there has done us goodservice, and the lesson may be still further improved. They who wouldimitate Marat and Robespierre will have a short reign.'

  'Better they should have none!'

  'There must be the baptism of blood,' said the Pere, in a low but firmvoice.

  'And who is to prepare the plan of this great campaign, to gathertogether the leaders, to applot the several duties, to arrangedetails, conciliate interests, and reconcile rivalries? He must be one,doubtless, of commanding ability and vast resources.'

  Massoni bowed a deep and reverential assent.

  'A man of station sufficient to make his influence felt withoutdispute--one whose counsel none dare gainsay.'

  Again did a humble bow give acquiescence.

  'Nor,' continued the speaker, 'must it be from his exalted station alonethat men yield deference to him. He must needs be one well versedin human nature; who can read the heart in its mood of strength orweakness; a master of all the secret springs that sway motives; in aword, he ought to combine the wide views and grand conceptions of thepolitician with the deep and subtle knowledge of a churchman--where willyou find such?

  'He can be found, was the calm reply. 'I know of one who answers to eachdemand of your description.

  'You are mistaken, Pere Massoni,' said the Cardinal in a voice slightlytremulous with agitation. 'I know his Eminence of York well, and he isill fitted for a charge so vast and momentous.'

  'I never thought of him, sir,' was the prompt answer. 'My eyes werefixed upon one scarcely his inferior in high descent, infinitely abovehim in all the qualities of mind and intellect, one whose name in thecause would half ensure success, and whose vast resources of thoughtwould be a more precious mine than the wealth of Peru.

  'And he--who is this great and transcendent genius?' asked the Cardinal,half angrily.

  'His Eminence the Cardinal Leo Gonzales Caraffa!' said the Pere, as hedropped on his knees and pressed his lips fervently to the other's hand.

  The Cardinal's florid features flushed till they were crimson; andthough he tried to speak, no sound came from his lips. A sense ofoverwhelming astonishment, even more than gratified vanity, had masteredhim, and, with a gesture of modest dissent, he raised the priest fromthe ground.

  'No, no, Massoni,' said he, in a soft, low tone; 'these are thepromptings of your own affectionate regard for me, not the fruit of thatcalm reason with which you know so well how to judge your fellow-men.'

  'Read these letters, then, sir,' said Massoni, placing a packet on thetable, 'and see if my sentiments are not as strong in the hearts ofothers.'

  The Cardinal hesitated to open the documents before him; there wasa sort of modest reluctance in his manner which Massoni seemed tounderstand; for, taking up one of the letters himself, he glanced hiseyes along the lines till he came to a particular passage, pointing outwhich with his finger, he read: '"You have among the Cardinals, however,one fully equal to this great task, the Cardinal Caraffa, a man whosepolitical sagacity is not surpassed in Europe, and who, by a goodfortune, rare among churchmen, possesses a mind capable of comprehendingand directing great military measures. I am informed that he served inSpain."'

  'Who writes this?' broke in the Cardinal.

  'The writer is Prince Charles of Hesse.'

  'A brave soldier and an honest man,' said the Cardinal, with evidentpleasure in the words.

  'This is from the Viscount de Noe,' resumed Massoni, opening anotherletter and reading: '"It is essentially the cause of the Church, anddemands a churchman at its head. Who, then, so fit as he who may, oneday or other, occupy the throne of St. Peter!"' Here he paused as ifhaving concluded.

  'The expression is vague, nor has it any the least application to me,'said Caraffa, reddening.

  'Then hear what follows,' cried Massoni. '"Even if there were personalperil, which there is not, the Cardinal Caraffa would not refuse us hisaid, nor must he remain the only man in Europe unconscious of the greatqualities which stamp him as our leader." This,' continued the priest,with increased rapidity, 'this is from Sir Godefry Wharton, an EnglishCatholic noble of great wealth and influence. "From all that I canlearn it must be Caraffa, not York, to lead us in this enterprise; allagree in representing him as a man of resolute action, gifted with everyquality of statesmanship." Troverini writes thus from Venice: "When theday of restoration"--it is of the Church he speaks--"when the day ofrestoration arrives, we shall need a man equal to the great task ofreconstructing society, without employing too ostentatiously the oldmaterials. I am assured that Caraffa is such a man; tell me your opinionof him." This,' resumed Massoni, holding up a large letter in a strange,rough, and irregular hand, 'this is from the Marquis d'Allonville,secretary to the Count d'Artois. "We all feel that if it be our fate toreturn, it must be as following in the procession of the Church. Nothingbut the faith can successfully combat this infidelity baptized in crime.To give, therefore, the impulse of religion to any of these movements,no matter among what people, must be the first care of those who lookforward to better things. Legitimacy is the doctrine of the Gospel."...This is what I was in search of. "Ireland is well adapted for theexperiment. A people of believers under the sway of a nation they detestwill eagerly grasp at what will alike establish the Church theyrevere and the nationality they covet. If you really have a legitimatedescendant of the Stuarts, and if he be one equal to the demands of thecrisis, it signifies little in what quarter of Europe the first essay bemade, and
we will throw all our efforts into the scale with you, alwaysprovided that you can show us some great political head, some man offoresight and reflection, among your party concurring in this view--sucha one, for example, as the Cardinal Caraffa. We have money, men ofaction and daring, only longing for occasions to employ them, but we aresadly in want of such capacities as Caraffa represents; so at least thePrince tells us, for I have no personal knowledge of the Cardinal."'

  'I am flattered by his Royal Highness's remembrance of me,' said Caraffaproudly.

  'And this,' said Massoni, showing a few lines on a simple slip of paper,'this came enclosed within D'Allonville's letter.

  "I am willing to open direct relations with his Eminence the CardinalCaraffa on the subjects herein discussed.--D'Artois."

  Are these enough, sir?'

  'More than enough to gratify a loftier pride than mine,' said Caraffa,with a flushed cheek; 'but let us turn to a worthier theme. What is itthat is proposed?'

  'The project, in one word, is this--to make the rising now about totake place in Ireland a royalist, and not a revolutionary movement;to overbear the men of destruction by the influence of wiser and saferguides; to direct the wild energies of revolt into the salutary channelsof a restoration; and to build up once more, in all its plenitude, thepower of the Church.'

  'Remember, Massoni, what Mirabeau said; and though I do not love theauthority, the words are those of wisdom: "Revolutions are not the workof men--they make themselves."'

  'It is from men's hands, however, they receive their first impulses. Itis also by a secret and firm alliance of men--steady to one purpose, andconstant to one idea--that revolutions catch their tone and colour. Noneof us could expect that, in a great national struggle, there will not bemany acts to deplore--grievous crimes committed gratuitously--vain anduseless cruelties. To every great vicissitude in this world there is anamount of power applied totally dis-proportioned to the effect produced.To wreck one solitary ship, a whole ocean is convulsed, and desolateshores in faraway lands are storm-lashed for days. So is it inrevolutions The unchained winds of men's passions sweep over a largerspace than is needed. This must be borne. Let us remember, too, thatthe blood thus, to all seeming, gratuitously shed has also its profit.Terror is a great agency of revolt. Many must be intimidated. It is whenpeople are paralysed by fear that they who are to reconstruct societyhave time to mature their plans, just as the surgeon awaits the momentsof his patient's insensibility to commence his operation. But, aboveall, your Eminence, bear in mind that where the object is good andgreat, a blessing goes with those who sustain it.'

  If the Cardinal bowed a submissive assent to this devout assertion,there was something like a half motion of impatience in his manner as hesaid--

  'And the men who are to lead this movement?'

  'The details are somewhat lengthy, your Eminence, but I have them here,'said Massoni, as he laid his hand on the papers before him.

  'And this is Ireland?' said Caraffa, as he bent over a map and gazed onthe small spot which represented the island. 'How small it looks, andhow far away!'