An Uncertain Peace (The Making of a Man Series, Book 3)

by Andrew Wareham

The American ambassador stopped beside Dick for a few minutes, said how glad he was to meet him, so distinguished as he was in the field of Anglo-American relations; possibly Sir Richard might wish to drop into the Embassy – tomorrow at twelve, perhaps?

  “I presume I am safe to do so, Lord Robert? The Embassy is sovereign soil, is it not? Might I be placed under arrest there?”

  “Only if they wished to see Palmerston immediately give diplomatic recognition to the Confederacy, sir. They could not conceive of abusing their privilege in such a fashion. Mr Gladstone is bearing down upon us, Sir Richard; smile sweetly and make no reference to fallen women, sir – I shall explain later, hush now!”

  Mr Gladstone had little to say, but he offered his words very kindly and with only a slight condescension.

  “Mr Disraeli will appear next – he will never allow Gladstone to steal a march on him – they are, in their own opinions at least, the next leaders of their parties and must be seen as equals.”

  Disraeli was more obviously arrogant than Gladstone, but they attributed that to his Party; he was not personally too unpleasant a man. Importantly to Dick, he asked questions about America rather than giving the impression of omniscience that Gladstone imparted.

  “What was that about loose women, Lord Robert?”

  “’Fallen’ women, Sir Richard – there is, one gathers, a difference. Mr Gladstone often parades the streets at night to find such and try to save them from a life of sin. One understands that he sometimes gives them money and invites them to his parlour for tea.”

  “Does he now!”

  They said no more on the topic.

  Mr Adams, the American Ambassador, was dismissive of Dick’s recent problems in Washington.

  “Mere politicians, Sir Richard, and possessing little of understanding of the more subtle problems of government. Intelligent men, mark you, but tending to believe that any problem may be solved first by shouting at it and then by giving it money. You are aware that there is an election upon us in the Union?”

  “I am, sir, and I am given to understand that Mr Lincoln’s chances of re-election seem slender.”

  “Without a military victory of some significant scale, they are poor indeed, Sir Richard. His opponent may be General McClellan or the traitor Vallendigham – which is uncertain as yet; both will offer the Confederates an armistice to discuss peace terms. If the war once halts then it will be impossible to restart it for a decade and more; slavery will be fully reinstated and the Union may well not be saved. It is thought that the South has agents in Canada and probably in New York and Chicago and further West. There is some hope, strong hope, that these Copperhead villains may be uncovered within the next few months. It may be the case that they must be pursued into Canada, or South into the Confederacy. Your assistance might well prove invaluable, sir, particularly if the business is to be settled on British colonial territory.”

  “I presume these Copperheads will be proven to be armed incendiaries and in close contact with Vallendigham, sir. My experience of McClellan suggests that he is far too concerned to preserve his own skin to allow them anywhere near him.”

  “Correct on both counts, Sir Richard. But there are newspapers favourable to the Republican cause which will be happy to misunderstand the issues and portray both men quite equally as traitors.”

  “The wonders of the Free Press, sir!”

  “Indeed, Sir Richard!”

  “I am to be in Dorset for some few weeks, Mr Adams, and hope to be married while I am there. I could very easily be persuaded to take my bride on a wedding journey to the United States. I am quite sure that I would wish to show her Niagara Falls and then perhaps to see a little of the West, making a return possibly by way of the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence.”

  “Should that seem to be appropriate; be sure that I will make contact with you, Sir Richard. Your expenses, of course…”

  “Of course, sir. I would point out that I am, courtesy of my late father as well as my own endeavours, not a poor man. Matters of payment are none too important, sir, especially where the defeat of slavery is in question.”

  Dick was much of the opinion that he could gain more in future years from a good name in Washington than he would from a cash payment on the spot. A man who had the good ear of the Republican Party, and who was known favourably to General Grant and no doubt some others of importance, would find himself well able to make a million or two as the country grew and expanded west.

  Adams suspected the motivation, but was also held on a tight budget by Washington and was quite happy not to have to disburse the relatively small amount of gold he possessed,

  They parted on the best of terms.

  “Number Ten in the morning, Sir Richard, Pam himself to give you audience, and you will then be free to take a drink with me in the Lobby of the House of Lords where you are to fortuitously bump into Tarleton – the Marquis, that is – and will then have done all that is necessary in London.”

  “I rather suspect, Lord Robert, that these few days have been more necessary to me than to you. I believe I owe you some thanks.”

  “Not at all, sir, not at all! You enabled me in Washington to make a coup that has done my career a great deal of good. I am to go to the Embassy in Paris, as of next week, in fact. The premier posting of the Diplomatic Service, some years before I could have hoped. Two years as Military Attaché in Paris and I may expect to be called to Horse Guards as a colonel and with glittering prospects on the Staff. I was but another drifting Guardee and am now a bright young prospect, sir; I have already been obliquely approached with an offer of marriage into a powerful family!”

  Dick grinned – it was not his world, but it was useful to have a friend in it.

  They entered the Prime Minister’s official dwelling soon after ten in the morning, which had the great advantage that Lord Palmerston was still sober, but the drawback that he had not yet cleared his morning headache.

  “Sir Richard Burke – glad to meet you, sir. What can you tell me of this fool Tarleton, and of Fellowes?”

  “Nothing that you have not just said, my Lord.”

  “Succinct, Sir Richard! Sons of privilege and nothing more, you think?”

  “They knew nothing of the American West, my Lord. They thought the whole world to be as Mayfair and they believed, particularly, that they would be accorded special consideration because of who they were. In the West, sir, a man is what he shows himself to be – not what his name proclaims. They were unaware of that fact and wished to treat free-born men as if they were English agricultural labourers. The society in America is in many ways crude, but it is not subservient, my Lord.”

  “You are blunt, Sir Richard. You are a landowner yourself, I understand?”

  “A country house and a park, my Lord, in Dorset. Some thousands of acres in Missouri and Kansas; how many I do not know for certain as my agent is still busy. I might purchase more yet, and may spread my holdings further to the West as the railway opens the land. I have no wish to buy farming land in England and, in fact, will not do so, except that I may give discreet aid to a neighbour – the normal sort of thing, my Lord.”

  “How have you made your money, Sir Richard?”

  Palmerston was renowned for blunt questioning, especially in the morning.

  “Patent medicines, my Lord. I am to a very great extent the famous Mrs Boswell.”

  “Good God!”

  “I have recently invested in a steam ship-building yard, in England, and may well become involved in steel and coal. In the States I am one half of the firm of Parsons and Burke, importers and traders. I have been much assisted of course by my recent inheritance.”

  “Are you an Englishman or an American, Sir Richard?”

  That was a perceptive question showing that Palmerston must not be dismissed as the irascible and thick-headed old squire he tried to appear.

  “I am English born, my Lord, and feel a little more at home here than I do in the States. I have a deal of re
spect for our Queen and much pride in the country. On the other hand, my Lord, the States is in many respects the land of the free and will welcome the hard-working man with open arms.”

  “Which is why they have shown very small concern for the shooting of Tarleton and Fellowes? They did not come as working folk of any description.”

  “To a very great extent, that is so, my Lord. There is no love in the North for the aristocrat - although their Society dames will fawn at the feet of an English peer – which is one of the unstated reasons for their current war, and which is why within ten years they will again be butting their heads against the Canadian border.”

  “You would advise against a reduction in the Canadian garrison, Sir Richard?”

  “I would advise the stationing of a warship or two on the West Coast, my Lord; the building of steam gunboats on the Great Lakes; and the maintenance of several regiments in the eastern provinces. If for no other reason, the land is open and thinly settled and provides a near-perfect training-ground.”

  “You know your own mind, Sir Richard! Have you given thought to taking a seat, sir?”

  “My father had the idea for me, my Lord, but I have little love for the prospect. Perhaps in later years.”

  Palmerston nodded, suggested that if he ever made his mind up which interest he should sit for then he should come knocking at the Party leaders’ doors. Intelligent men were few and far between in Westminster.

  Lord Robert was most pleased – Sir Richard had made a very favourable impression on the great man.

  “That of course reflects upon me, Sir Richard, because I am the fortunate gentleman who introduced you. We must go to the lobby of the House of Lords now, Sir Richard – an entirely unplanned, accidental and fortuitous encounter, sir. I am to meet my father, which gives me right of entry, and for my guest.”

  Tarleton senior, the Marquis, was a tall, spare and pleasant-seeming gentleman; he discovered Lord Robert and greeted him by name and was most pleased to meet his acquaintance, Sir Richard Burke, shaking hands with no reluctance at all.

  “Sir Richard! I believe you came across a son of mine in Kansas City, just a few months ago. Not the eldest, fortunately. A most foolish young fellow who had hatched some very strange ideas in his head; I will not say in his brain, sir.”

  Dick shrugged apologetically.

  “Yes, my Lord. We met and, I am afraid, quite quickly came to a disagreement. We were both armed and settled matters then and there in the local fashion. I am afraid your son did not survive our debate.”

  “A pity. His mother was rather upset, but I had long believed that he would die both young and foolishly.”

  “But honourably, sir, facing his foe and with a pistol in his hand. I am afraid that his companion was less upright in his behaviour.”

  The Marquis had not been informed of that detail, made polite enquiry and was distressed to hear of a concealed pocket pistol.

  “This in the presence of an officer of the law, one is told?”

  “Fellowes fell with five bullets in him, my Lord. Three of them were fired by the Sheriff.”

  “I did not like the young man when I met him, but one rarely finds esteem for one’s sons’ acquaintances…”

  “No doubt I will come to discover that in a few years, my Lord.”

  “What of this Fortescue, Sir Richard?”

  “A young man in an expensive posting, my Lord. It seems not unlikely that he was in the habit of spending more money than he possessed and found a way of earning another income.”

  “As simple as that, you think?”

  “Money rather than honour, I fear, my Lord. What would you say, Lord Robert?”

  “Venal, my Lord. His probity disposed of for a very few guineas.”

  “Then he is in a very good place just at the moment. There has been a move to request clemency and an early release for the young man; I shall oppose it and suspect that I have influence enough to keep him behind bars for another year or two. Thank you, Sir Richard. I suspect you may have preserved the honour of my House - and if I cannot love you for it, I must feel gratitude!”

  The Marquis turned away, then snapped his fingers at his forgetfulness and addressed Dick again.

  “What of this ‘Sharps Kid’, Sir Richard? I have heard tell of some wild gunfighting man, have indeed been shown a ‘Penny Dreadful’, I believe the term is, detailing his supposed exploits.”

  “Oh dear! I must purchase a copy myself, sir. I do like to keep up with the latest tales!”

  “Then, you are he?”

  “As much as any man may actually be said to be one of these desperadoes created by the pens of fanciful scribblers, then, yes, my Lord, I am. I was attacked by Southern ruffians initially and defended myself successfully; after that it might be said that the reputation fed upon itself.”

  “Remarkable, sir!”

  The Marquis shook his head and returned to the Chamber, there to debate matters of foreign policy, about which he had strong opinions and no knowledge at all, in the best traditions of the House of Lords.

  “I presume it might be tactless to enquire how one becomes a ‘gunfighting man’, Sir Richard?”

  “Not at all Lord Robert – I was taught to handle a pistol when little more than a stripling, there being reason to suppose that it might be a skill useful to me. The influence of my first wife was important in that. Then, as I said, I was attacked immediately before the War, in Bloody Kansas; then came the affair in Wilmington where again I did no more than defend myself against the unpleasant Curtis-Manvers. After that, ‘give a dog any name at all’, one might say. It rather helped that initially I did not care whether I lived or died; indeed, for a year or two I might have welcomed the latter event.”

  Lord Robert was taken aback – he had not realised the extent to which Dick had been harmed by his early experiences – and he had only the haziest idea of the events which had driven him from England.

  “I would imagine that no longer to be the case, Sir Richard?”

  “Not to so marked an extent, Lord Robert. But I find that I have no fear of death. Indeed, I am not certain that I possess the capacity to fear at all – which is an undesirable trait in any man, I think. It has certain advantages, of course, not the least of which is that I am impervious to threat. Perhaps that will change when I am wed and have a family. I do not know.”

  “Do tell me if ever you find out, Sir Richard, for I am much saddened to hear that you value life so low. Perhaps you will discover happiness one day, sir.”

  “It is possible, but I am not sure that it is important – the mere pursuit of happiness seems a limited aim for a man’s life… No matter! You are aware that Mr Adams has asked me to make myself available against need to return to the States in the near future? It would seem that there is a question of Copperheads based in Canada and acting against the interests of the Union in the northern states. It might be the case that I would be called upon to deal with these gentlemen wherever I found them, which might well be north of the border, although just as likely to be well to the south, one gathers.”

  “A message to the appropriate authorities in Canada might be worthwhile, you suggest?”

  “Just so, sir.”

  Dick took the express to Poole next morning, making the change in his mind from the sharp northern businessman to the slower-moving agricultural gentleman, and wondering if either was a true character. Just what was he?

  “Welcome back, Sir Richard. Have you been wounded, sir?”

  “Yes, Briggs. I was most misfortunately involved in a street brawl with a group of Fenians. Misguided rather than malicious, perhaps, but nonetheless brutal.”

  “Unfortunate, Sir Richard.”

  “Just so, Briggs. It is in my mind that we might set a date for the wedding, preferably sooner rather than later. I am to return to the States later this year, at the request of the Federal Government, and might well wish to be accompanied by my bride.”

  “The music room is read
y, Sir Richard, and I have ventured so far as to purchase a library of sheet music – Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel, Moscheles and Schumann prominent among the composers, though I have also included pieces by Mendelssohn and Haydn.”

  “Excellent! I have of course heard of some of those names – no doubt I shall learn more of them.”

  “I have ventured as well to add to the library, Sir Richard. Though well represented in the field of the Classics I felt there was a certain lack of the more modern authors. I have placed a full set of Mr Dickens’ works upon the shelves and have ordered one or two others, Thackeray and the Waverley Novels as an example – some of whom you might wish to read, sir.”

  “As the military people say, ‘Orders are orders’, Briggs!”

  “Yes indeed, sir. A visit to Mr Sudbury in the morning, I presume?”

  “Of course – I could hardly remain away from the arms of my betrothed, Briggs!”

  “I am to return to the States later in the year, Mr Sudbury. I was in the company of Lord Palmerston two mornings since, and was addressed on the topic by the Federal Ambassador on the day previous. You will appreciate that I have little choice in the business!”

  Sudbury could see that Dick must go but was little pleased that the wedding must be postponed till some indefinite future.

  “Such being the case, sir, I would much like to arrange a very early date for my marriage. It would be much to my satisfaction was Lady Burke to accompany me to the States on a prolonged and leisurely wedding journey during which I could conduct the few days of business required of me.”

  Sudbury thought that an excellent idea. He wondered whether he might make so bold as to inquire into the nature of Sir Richard’s business.

  “It is confidential to the Crown, I am afraid, sir. I may not lawfully disclose its nature except on a warrant in a closed court of law. Suffice it to say that it will be greatly to my future advantage to bring the matters to a successful close. I suspect that I will gain in Army rank and may well find myself appointed to a position at Court.”