Lord of the Sea
Page 43
XLIII
THE LAND BILL
The Manifesto's "month of grace" was passing, yet nothing had been done,second-rate Powers awaiting the Great, while the Great, appalled by thebigness of the demand, fussed and intrigued, consulted, fermented andproposed: but did nothing.
But at last, on the 3rd of December, the First Lord of the Treasury laida Bill on the table of our Commons--at the end of an Autumn-session!
On the 3rd: and on the 1st the Lord of the Sea had been captured nearEdgware Road, the probability being that this Bill was brought forwardwith a knowledge of that capture.
It consisted of three clauses and two schedules--called The LandPurchase Bill; and it had only to be published to produce the stormiestagitation ever known.
The Opposition was the Jew-Liberal-Labour party; and when the LabourCongress (met at Manchester) denounced the measure, there occurred a"split", a Liberal-Labour cave, the whole body of Jews, numbering 87,retiring to the Government ranks.
The Bill proposed the "purchase" of Britain from its "owners" by theBritish, the price fixed being 27 times the annual value, to be paid insettled annuities for entailed estates, and in consols for unentailed.
So, then, the Government would buy London alone for 1400 millions andBritain for 8000 millions--a bad lookout for England.
And the authors of the Bill chose a moment when Hogarth was living onbread and poisoned water in Market Street.
It rapidly passed to Committee, and then to the Lords.
But on that night a terrifying rumour for the first time pervadedEngland: that the Lord of the Sea, having come to London at thebeginning of the month, was missing, and that his person had beenclaimed from our Government by the Sea under menaces.
In fact, when a week, two weeks, had passed, and not a whisper fromHogarth, apprehension had turned into certainty in the breasts ofQuilter-Beckett, Loveday, and all: and at a hurried Council calledin the _Boodah_ on the 19th, when the date of Hogarth's landingat Southampton was determined, and his small train-in-waiting, hiscoachman, re-examined for the twentieth time, one certainty emerged:Frankl had had time to reach England before him; and the arrest ofFrankl was demanded.
Now England in consternation almost forgot the Land Bill; ScotlandYard ransacked Market Street: not a trace of Hogarth; it dissectedthe country for Frankl: but Frankl was now in the _Mahomet_, safelyconferring with O'Hara.
The popular tempest first directed itself against the League ofResistance: and at an attack upon its Offices in Victoria Street duringthe afternoon of the 21st Viscount Reid (the Secretary), and a girl,were killed by missiles; petitions signed by the nation rainingmeanwhile upon the Prince of Wales: for, apart from the wreck whichthreatened, Hogarth's popularity was at present considerable with themasses, whose instincts suspected those above them of knowing more ofhis disappearance than appeared.
On the night of the 22nd, when things had an air of revolution,fifty-three men met in a house in Adair Street, W. (This runs parallelto Market Street, the backs of the two house-rows facing.)
These were the warders of Hogarth: and the object of that night'smeeting was to determine whether he should die, and when, and how;the Land Bill now awaiting the Royal Assent; and on the morrow Britishhigh-sea trade to be ruthlessly stopped, failing news of Hogarth.
The room was double, with an arch in the partition, through which rana rough-board table surrounded with velvet arm-chairs; the floorrichly carpeted, though paper peeled from the walls; down the tablea procession of silver candlesticks and typewritten notice-papersand agenda; the windows boarded--a second floor; and in a room near,Hogarth, shackled hand and foot, he having been borne through asubterranean way, made for the purpose, from the cellar in Market Streetto this Adair Street.
From eight o'clock men began to let themselves in at the two doors inboth streets, and continued to arrive till nine, when a marquis at thetable-head rose to speak, the others leaning back with downcast eyes,nearly all pale.
The point before them was plainly put by the speaker on the Question:viz., whether they had more to fear from the life, or from the death, ofthe Lord of the Sea.
"By a strange Providence", he said, "this man is in our hands: and wehave the right to become his executioners. My Lords and Gentlemen, theawful decision rests with you to-night".
Then, one after another, they rose, they spoke: no two views identical;till at ten it was voted that the question be put, voting papers wentround, and presently the ballot-result was announced amid a momentousstillness.
Twenty-eight had voted for the death, twenty-five against.
But in that minute a key was heard in the room door, and in rushed twoflushed men: Frankl and O'Hara, just arrived in London from the sea; andFrankl burst into speech:
"I hope this is all right, my lords, my coming like this, and bringinginto your very midst a gentleman who is not one of us. When I tell youthat he is Admiral Donald of the _Mahomet_, turned away like a servant,how does that make your lordships feel? A house divided against itselfcan't stand; and this gentleman has a scheme in his pocket--he will readit to your lordships--which will crack up the Empire of the Sea like anegg-shell! So I do hope, my lords, that you have not decided anythinghasty about putting away Richard Hogarth: for unless he is liberatedthis night, it means sure and certain stoppage of everything tomorrow:and _that_ means my ruin, and many another's beside--"
Now the Master called him to order, and addressed himself to O'Hara,who, in admiral's uniform and stars, all stately bows, grave smiles, inten minutes had given guarantees, was a member, and in thirty had read amemorandum of a scheme of betrayal which everyone saw to be feasible.
Then the vote of death was annulled; and when the meeting broke upHogarth was being lifted with bandaged eyes through the subterraneanway to Market Street, where four men deposited him near the house-door,undid his ropes, said to him "You are free", and there he remainedtwenty minutes without motion, deadly sick, then rose, and, on findingthe door, went wildly with dragged feet, tottered into a cab, and leantbrow on hand.
As he entered the porch of his Berkeley Square house, Loveday rushed outto his knees with adoring eyes, having hardly hoped to see again thatface of Hogarth, while Hogarth patted the bowed head, saying: "Do get mea meal, and let me hear what has been going on....Oh, I am weary ".
And during the meal he heard all: of the Land Bill, the turmoil.
"Well, my God!" he exclaimed, "is there no drop of generous blood atall among those people? Never again do I trust them to make their ownarrangements I When does this precious Bill have the Royal Assent?"
"To-morrow, it is supposed".
"Really!"--he started: "and whereabouts is the Prince of Wales?"
"At Windsor to-night".
"Order the motor quick. I'll go".
He was soon off, and Loveday, listening to the dark story of Margaret'sappearing and singing, and vanishing, accompanied him under a frostymoon, snow lying on village-street and hedge; but, travelling hard, theyarrived shortly after one upon a Prince who, a wakeful man that night,sat conferring with Private Secretary and Attorney-General, he havingassented to the introduction of the Land Bill, then been alarmed by thestorm, and now was confronted with the responsibility of either givingHis Majesty's assent, and earning execration, or refusing it, and takinga step unheard-of since William III.
In that state of embarrassment he was, when the Lord of the Sea wasannounced, and "It is with heartiest pleasure that I offer to yourLordship's Majesty my congratulations on this re-appearance", he said,greatly and gladly surprised, without at all seeming so.
And the two conferred till three, when a secretary, at Hogarth'sdictation, wrote a document and its duplicate: a contract between Princeand King, giving pledges on each side, private, yet most momentous; andeach, having signed both copies, retained one.
The next evening the Clerk in the Lords uttered those unusual words:"_Le Roy s'avisera_," and the country was thrown into transport by thenews of the Royal rejection of the Land Bil
l, processions singing theNational Anthem, bells ringing: and for a month the mention of a Royalname in any assembly brought the people to their feet.
Ministers, of course, resigned; and, as the Liberals refused office,writs for a new House were made returnable for the end of January.