Immediately he was free, the driver leaped frantically to his charge and pulled on a brass lever. There was a scream of escaping steam, and the hand wavered from the red mark.
“What in God’s name was that all about?” he asked, checking the line ahead.
“We’ve just saved the Queen from an assassination attempt,” Mendick explained and laughed until he fainted from the agony of his smashed ribs.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
London: May 1848
Mendick leaned back in his new chair at his new table in the otherwise empty room, scanning the pictures and desultorily reading the pages of the Illustrated London News. He read about the ‘monster meeting’ of the Chartists at Kennington Common on the twelfthof April and the presentation of the petition to the House of Commons. Apparently Feargus O’Connor had been extremely polite to the authorities. Thanks partly to Mendick’s warning, the government had been prepared for great violence, with pickets of the Foot Guards at the park gates, detachments of yeomanry hidden around the capital, artillery ready to hold the bridges over the Thames and armed men waiting at every public building.
In the event, there was hardly even a skirmish as the Chartists returned home peacefully. With O’Connor past his prime and Josiah Armstrong under arrest, they lacked conviction. Without his chief supporter William Monaghan had proved a disappointment. He was a fine orator but not noted for being in the forefront of any physical action and had hardly protested when the police arrested him. Mendick nodded sourly; things were as they ought to be, he had helped prevent a bloody outbreak in London and should be pleased.
He read on, learning that the Chartists had grossly exaggerated the numbers of those who signed the petition, and many of the signatures proved to be forgeries. He smiled sourly when he learned that the Duke of Wellington had apparently signed the Charter on numerous occasions, and the final signatory had been Queen Victoria herself. Not surprisingly, the House of Commons once again rejected the petition.
“So things have not improved for the working classes,” he murmured. “After all that effort, all that planning, all their hopes, they are as neglected as they ever were.’
Jennifer looked over her shoulder at him and nodded.
“Some things never change,” she said. “But others do. You’ll have heard about Sir Robert Trafford?”
Mendick shook his head, folding the newspaper neatly.
“Not a word.”
“The bailiffs got him; he tried to run abroad, but they stopped him as he boarded the ship, and he’s locked away in the Queen’s Bench Prison while they sell everything he once owned. For him, that’s worse than being hanged.”
Mendick nodded. “That sounds like justice,” he agreed. “Where did you read about it?”
“In the scandal pages, of course,” Jennifer grinned to him. “That’s where you find the juicy bits.”
“Let’s have a look.”
He took her paper and she pointed to the page. Most of the names in the columns dealing with society balls and marriages meant nothing to him, but one small piece interested him. Tucked away between an advertisement proclaiming that Monsieur Meyer had a large selection of corsets perfectionnés and another announcing that James Lough, chimney sweep, was ready to execute all orders with which he may be entrusted were four significant lines:
Miss Rachel Scott, natural daughter of Sir Henry Scott of Southerby House and first cousin to Sir Robert Trafford of Trafford Hall, has been found drowned off Heligoland. It was supposed that Miss Scott had been swimming with some friends from Hanover, but they have proved elusive in giving intelligence of her recent activities. On her mother’s side, Miss Scott was a distant relative of Ernest, King of Hanover.
“So Uncle Ernest was not pleased,” Mendick said.
“It could have been an accident,” Jennifer pointed out. Turning around, she placed a picture on the wall and stood back, hands on her hips. “There now, that is back where it belongs.” She stepped aside so that Mendick could see.
Emma’s silhouette had returned. Jennifer had taken some backing paper and glued all the torn fragments of the picture on top, fitting them together like a jigsaw, but so cleverly that Mendick could hardly see the tears. Rising from the chair, he stepped closer, touching the familiar image.
“Welcome home, Emma,” he said, and the bittersweet memories crowded back. “Welcome home.” He smiled to Jennifer. “I cannot thank you enough for that,” he said.
“That’s what friends are for,” Jennifer told him.
They held each others’ eyes for a few minutes, and then Jennifer sighed and reached for her coat.
“Well, James, I think I should be getting along. I cannot spend all my day making your house more comfortable, you know.”
Mendick shook his head, holding out his hand. “You don’t have to,” he said. “You are always welcome to stay here . . .”
“As what?”
The words were too quick to be casual. Jennifer held his gaze and then allowed her eyes to drift over to the silhouette of Emma.
“As a substitute? Or as a friend?” There was no bitterness in her smile. “We both know that I would not accept the former, and the etiquette of respectability dictates that I could not remain here as the latter.”
“Stay,” Mendick asked. “I don’t know as what, but stay.”
She shook her head and then bent to kiss him softly on the mouth. “It would not work, James.”
He helped her on with her coat, handed over her battered bonnet and watched as she fixed it in place with the wickedly long hatpin. Giving him one last smile, she stepped outside and softly closed the door. A piece of coal fell from the grate, and sighing, Mendick lifted the tongs and replaced it in the fire.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Chartism arose after the 1832 Reform Act, which granted a limited franchise to the male middle classes and nothing to the workers. The Chartists created a demand for parliamentary reform, based on the famous six points:
Equal electoral districts
Universal male suffrage
Payments for MPs
Annual parliaments
Vote by secret ballot
Abolition of the property qualification for Members of Parliament
The Kennington Park Chartist rally took place on April 12th 1848. Feargus O’Connor, the fiery leader of the Chartists, had threatened dire action if the government did not accept the Chartist petition and agree to their points. In the event, he handed the petition to the House of Commons, but there was no major trouble. Parliament did not bother to debate any of the Six Points.
Chartism was arguably the largest working class movement of the nineteenth century and is still the subject of much historical debate. By the 1840s it had split into two groups, Moral Force and Physical Force Chartism. While the Moral Force Chartists hoped to persuade the government to adopt their demands, the devotees of physical force preferred a more muscular approach. It is possible that this split in the Chartist aims contributed to their eventual demise.
The 1848 rally created great consternation in London, and Queen Victoria was hustled away to the Isle of Wight by special train. However, there was no attempt on her life during the journey. The other details of her journey to Gosport are also fictitious, including the existence of the Godalhurst viaduct.
The 1848 petition was the last surge of Chartism, which faded away with the more prosperous years of the 1850s and the death of O’Connor, but the ideas remained. Although none of the six points were achieved during the lifetime of the Chartist movement, all save annual parliaments have since been incorporated into the British electoral system.
Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland, and the fifth son of King George III, was indeed near to the British throne, and he was rumoured to have murdered his valet. His cruelty in the army is well attested. He was involved with the Orange Order and was suspected of having a son after an incestuous relationship with his sister. Although there were rumours that Ernest d
esired the British throne, there is no record of Ernest Augustus attempting to murder Queen Victoria in 1848. However, although the amended Treason Act of that year was apparently intended to curb the Chartists, it would also have been useful against any attempt to suborn the monarchy by a foreign potentate.
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