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

by Andrew Wareham

  A message arrived at dawn that some of Booth's acquaintance had been taken up, including his landlady who made no bones of having been in his confidence. She considered him to be a hero and was sure he would be far south already; he had a horse and guns and a change of clothing waiting as well as the aid of reliable friends including her own son.

  "Have they located the son? Who is he?"

  "One Surratt, and a man of his name has been found on a fast ship for France that sailed yesterday. No help there, I fear, and the Americans will not question the woman in unrestrained fashion."

  "Honourable men, it would seem. Fools, though!"

  "A reward has been posted, Sir Richard. One hundred thousand!"

  "That will bring the rats out of their holes! Invest that sum and there is four or five thousands a year for life, eight times the income of a bank clerk, I would guess."

  Goring did not approve - he believed in duty rather than cash in the hand.

  "Easy enough for you or me to say that, sir. We are rich!"

  "And cynical, Sir Richard!"

  "An observer of the human race, sir. With your permission I think I shall take myself onto a steamboat on the Potomac. The fugitive must cross the river, possibly in a stolen boat, or in a boat later said to be stolen to cover its owner. That may give a lead. If the need arises I shall speak to a few sensible sergeants who are engaged in the hunt. I am to take ship on the twenty-seventh from Boston, must leave Washington in one week, and I cannot delay travelling, bearing in mind my wife's condition. I can lay my hands on five thousand in gold, sir, and will place that in your keeping if the man has not been found before I leave. You will no doubt find a sergeant knocking on your door soon after Booth's body has been identified."

  "The Embassy will add a mite as well, Sir Richard."

  For three days Dick made his way from unit to unit of the searchers working their way through Maryland and across the river into Virginia. The news of the assassination and the reward was spreading only slowly through the backwoods towns and villages, the postal service having failed completely in the last days of the Confederacy. There were many soldiers straggling home, drifting westwards and further south and it was slow going, questioning so many men. There was word that Booth had been injured, had a wounded leg and must be lying up in a farmhouse somewhere on either side of the river. The reward brought in the news of injured men by the score, all of whom had to be slowly located and questioned, but the sheer number of searchers made it a certainty that the murderer would be found.

  Dick spoke to sergeants and corporals, never officers, and passed the word that the man who killed Booth should take himself to the British in Washington.

  "The Army wants a big trial and a firing-squad, and a chance of more riots and of a rescue by unrepentant Confederates. President Lincoln was our friend and we want the wicked man who killed him dead with no mistake! There will be a good few dollars in gold to the man who sees to his business!"

  The war was ended and almost all of the soldiers would be wearing civilian clothes before the summer was out. A thousand or more of dollars would make a respectable stake for the return to civilian life. Additionally, the great bulk of the soldiers were volunteers who had joined up to fight for Father Abe; they wanted to kill Booth, preferably very slowly. The word spread among the NCOs and the certainty grew that the wicked murderer would not come to trial.

  A week and Dick returned to a drab, black-ribboned Washington.

  He spoke briefly to the embassy people and then booked tickets for the journey to Boston, ready to shake the dust of America from his boots.

  He had never seen Boston before, was amazed by its prosperity. The main town was full of stores, all stocked high with luxury goods and in many ways comparable with the little he had seen of the main shopping areas of London and somewhat richer than Liverpool. It was immeasurably cleaner and more respectable than Washington, the central streets well-policed and with no sign of the drunkenness and whoredom that distinguished the capital city. Louise was inclined to approve.

  The manager of their hotel, giving his personal attention to Sir Richard and Lady Burke, was proud of his genteel city, but advised them most strongly not to stray from the 'civilised' parts of the town. The slums and back-streets were out of sight, properly so, but they most definitely existed, he warned them, and they were violently criminal, as was inevitable.

  "The dregs of Europe and of Russia, Sir and my Lady! Jews from the Pale and Italians from Sicily and Naples rub shoulders with Poles and Irish fresh from the bogs. There are Moriscoes from the Levant, and Greeks as well, still cutting each others' throats, and Black Handers from the Balkans who are at odds with the whole world. On top of that there are the contrabands and runaways from the South. Every sort of humanity from all over, all congregated on top of each other and concerned only to stab each other in the back, and more come ashore from every boat, sir! I know not where it will end!"

  Dick shook his head in mock sympathy; he had discovered that he did not care where it might end.

  They patronised the shops and bought the obligatory gifts for Louise's family and a rather fine gold necklace for Louise herself, the price appalling her. She had admired the piece in the window of a jeweller and had been amazed when Dick had instantly led her inside the store. She had been surprised that he had chosen to wear uniform that day, not realising that he had intended to buy for her and that he expected to be able to make a bargain.

  "Major Sir Richard Burke, sir, and my wife Lady Burke."

  Dick had made a half-bow, very formally to the jeweller, the store owner himself having come forward to such prosperous-seeming customers.

  "Welcome, Sir Richard. How can I assist you, sir?"

  "A necklace, sir. The one in the window caught my lady's eye."

  "A fine piece, sir. I will just get the boy to fetch it for you, sir. We do have a book, sir, that many of our satisfied patrons like to sign..."

  The names of Sir Richard and Lady Burke would be pointed out to other customers, a profitable testimonial for the store. It might be possible to insert a gossip item in the local newspapers, the decorated war-hero and English baronet, and his lady, seen to be delighted with the elegant taste of Boston.

  The price of the necklace fell by four hundred dollars.

  Dick explained all afterwards.

  "I would have paid his price without quibble, whatever it might have been, but it was very much to his advantage to sell to you, my dear. Boston society, whatever that might be, will be far more inclined to patronise him for being able to puff us off as customers."

  He explained further that in Boston a baronet was a rarity. They were two-a-penny in London, perhaps, but in the States they had a value and it made sense to use it.

  "I am inclined to suspect, Sir Richard, that you are sometimes a wickedly perceptive man!"

  "I am a businessman, my dear," he answered, rather flattered by her assertion, "as well as a soldier by default and employee of Her Majesty's Government."

  They boarded their ship on the morning of the twenty-seventh, all according to schedule, and were gravely informed by the purser who led them to their accommodation that news was just coming through from Virginia that the villainous Booth had been taken.

  "Captured, sir?"

  "Shot dead, Sir Richard. Apparently he was cornered in a hay barn which he or accomplices set alight, in order to escape in the smoke, and was killed by a single shot from an alert sergeant."

  "Excellent! So perish all traitors, sir!"

  "Well said, Sir Richard! Let us be thankful that we do not have his like in England, sir."

  Neither made comment on the eight, at least, of attempts thus far on Queen Victoria's life.

  Dick had wondered whether they should make concessions to mourning in their dress, but an English ship, it transpired, paid little attention to the fate of foreign politicians. He did not see so much as a discreet black band on a sleeve going into dinner; the cabin steward had assu
red him that would be so, but he was uneasy until he had verified the fact for himself.

  "We should not stand out, my dear, by being in any way different - it is most important to fit in - but I feel it is rather poor conduct on the part of the English gentlefolk crossing with us."

  Louise agreed, on both points. She was, however, more concerned that she was now starting to show as being in the family way, a somewhat embarrassing occurrence, she felt.

  "I am sure there will be others ladies in like condition, ma'am, and it gives a conversational opening. I do not know who else is aboard or whether you will be one of the most senior by rank."

  Even a very few weeks earlier the prospect of being a leader of shipboard society would have intimidated her. She had grown, she decided, possibly as a result of the shooting in Kansas City and the possibility that she might have been left on her own, widowed in a strange land. She was an adult now, she realised, while she had still been a girl then. Her mother was due for a shock when she tried to assert herself, as she undoubtedly would in the weeks immediately before she was delivered. She rather looked forward to the prospect - she loved her mama dearly, as one must, but she would nonetheless be better for being put in her place.

  They were seated at the Captain's Table, the senior position in the dining cabin; the places at the captain's shoulder were taken by a German count and his lady and the Burkes sat next in precedence, a fact noted by every other diner.

  "I believe you have recently been in Washington, Sir Richard," the captain commented.

  "I have, sir, in pursuit of both business and pleasure. My main purpose was to surrender my American commission - I hold rank as a major in the army of the Union. General Grant very kindly asked me to retain my rank, on extended furlough, so I am still in the anomalous position of being a major in two armies!"

  There was a discussion of this unusual distinction and an agreement that as a war between Britain and America was in the highest degree unlikely there was no real difficulty.

  "I believe, Sir Richard, that General Grant's courtesy is not so very surprising in your circumstances. You are, I am right in saying, the holder of the Medal of Honour, are you not?"

  The speaker had been introduced as a Captain Tarleton, slightly to Dick's trepidation, that family being expected to have no great love for him, but the gentleman showed no signs of animosity.

  "I am, sir."

  "It is a distinction few Englishman can claim, Sir Richard, and I seem to remember to have been well earned."

  Dick made his thanks, politely and carefully tongue-tied as a gentleman should be when complimented in public. Self-deprecation was mandatory for the English officer.

  The German gentleman was uncertain in his English, asked the meaning of 'well-earned' in this instance.

  "Sir Richard displayed a rare degree of personal bravery in battle, sir, and on more than one occasion. I have been acting as a correspondent to some of the English newspapers while observing this war, Sir Richard, and consequently have noted such events. I am myself a captain of the Foot Guards. Can you tell us of the mood of Washington, Sir Richard?"

  "Horror, of course, Captain Tarleton, as must go without saying. Among those of authority and discretion it is no exaggeration to describe a feeling of despair. President Lincoln was capable of healing some of the wounds America has suffered, but few believe that there is another of his stature to be found in the whole of the country. The War Between the States will be felt for the remainder of our lives, I fear, and quite possibly longer, and I much doubt that the nation will ever fully recover from its suffering."

  "Will we see America active in the world as a whole, do you believe, Sir Richard?"

  "No, sir. In the Caribbean and the Pacific perhaps, supplying authority in place of moribund Spain, but not in Europe or Africa. I suspect that the States will become an inward-looking country for the next many years."

  That was seen as not necessarily a bad thing - Europe did very well on its own, they believed.

  Discussion progressed naturally to the state of Europe, which seemed to Dick to be parlously unstable. He commented that the prospect of a great war appeared to be rather high, but he was rapidly corrected by English and Prussian alike.

  “There may be minor conflicts, Herr Major, but none to last more than a few months and one or two battles. There will be nothing like the long wars of Napoleon’s days. We are seeing a period of change, of adjustment, that is all.”

  Captain Tarleton agreed with the Count.

  “There is instability; in the nature of things that is inevitable. Three old empires are in a state of senility and decay and two new are to replace them while France is to continue on the periphery of European affairs.”

  Captain Tarleton explained that he had been acting as a correspondent for his newspaper for some little time and had been the recipient of background information from London, needing to be aware of all that was happening in the diplomatic world if he was to have an understanding of what was going on in Washington.

  “Russia and Turkey are in obvious decline, Captain Tarleton; that I suspect to be indisputable. I know little of Austria, but have heard that it is effete. Who is to shoulder them out?”

  “Great Britain has control now over much of the world – India, Canada, Australia, much of South and West and East Africa and a major presence in China. The Near and Middle East are under our influence. There will be a massive empire within a very few years, the largest the world has ever seen. But there is no British presence in mainland Europe. Domination of Europe is in debate between the Austrian Empire and the enlarged Prussia – soon, one suspects, to become Imperial Germany. I do not know if the Austrian army is capable of defeating Prussia – the Austrians are having difficulties in holding their possessions in the Italian States and they must keep strong forces on their frontiers with Russia and the Ottomans.”

  “Thus, sir, you are informed that the new Germany will come to be the dominant power of Europe?”

  “It is probable, Sir Richard.”

  The count nodded shortly but said very little – careless words could very easily reach Whitehall from the gathering of powerful and rich men in the dining cabin.

  “What of Eastern Europe, Captain Tarleton? There has been conflict there for decades.”

  “The Balkans, Sir Richard! Conquered by the Ottomans and some parts converted to Islam, others remaining Christian, mostly Orthodox but some Roman Catholic.”

  Tarleton seemed to think that he had explained all in those few words; everyone knew of the Balkans as the home of murder and atrocity.

  “Ah… yes, I can see that there could be difficulties there.”

  “The Ottomans are in decay – they cannot create industry in their lands, or so it would seem, and they are therefore falling into military weakness. They must buy all of their modern weaponry, and become the client of their supplier. That said, the Ottomans retain their independence because they have so many enemies who are at daggers-drawn with each other. The Muslims of their empire are split into various sects and languages – the Arabs hate the Turks as a result and there are many who will claim that the so-called Muslims of the Balkans are not true followers of the faith.”

  That seemed unimportant to Dick – he was used to the concept that religions were sectarian.

  “Islam claims it has no sects. That is a nonsense but one they will not examine.”

  Again, it seemed insignificant.

  “Not to worry, Sir Richard. It does mean that the Ottomans are unwilling to assist their own people in the Balkans when they come under attack from the Christians. The Orthodox in the Balkans tend to look towards Holy Russia as a patron, while the Catholics seek friends elsewhere, and the two sects spend as much energy fighting each other as they devote to independence from Stamboul.”

  “Do the Catholics not look to Austria for a friend?”

  “Not really – they know that the Austrian Empire will simply gobble them up, given the opportunity. The
Orthodox tend to believe that Russia is sufficiently distant that they will not become part of the Tsar’s lands. Neither Austria nor Russia actually cares greatly what happens to the Balkans – the lands are poor and the people invincibly primitive – but they do not wish to see their enemy expanding and so must be seen to favour their religious allies. The main concern at the moment, so London recently told me, is that the Austrians particularly do not wish to see Russia gaining access to the Mediterranean.”

  “So, the Austrians are enemies to both Ottomans and Russia and will play off one against the other, and the Balkans and its peoples are simply a lever in their greater concern.”

  “Basically, yes, Sir Richard. The Balkans will therefore continue to be a great trouble spot. The Ottomans will continue to keep the peace by a policy of massacre of all who offer opposition to their rule. The Russians will offer limited support to those who fight the Turks, but does not really care too much for them because they are in the wrong place in terms of geography – they do not provide a useful set of ports or forts for the Russian Empire. The Austrians do not wish to go to war with Turkey in the mountains, for fear that Russia might attack them in the plains.”

  It all seemed more or less logical to Dick.

  “What of England? Have we no interest in the fate of the Balkans?”

  “Why should we have? The Turks have nothing that we need in trade. Cotton from Egypt – which is far from the Balkans although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire – is probably our greatest single import other than opium.”

  Dick, whose patent medicines used substantial quantities of the drug, knew that opium of the highest grades could be obtained from the Ottomans; he was also aware that India supplied more cheaply and in larger quantities and had the advantage of being under English rule.

  “With the war in the States finally over then Egyptian cotton will be less important to us, Captain Tarleton. Have the Ottomans nothing else that we want?”

  “Nothing at all, Sir Richard. Not a damned thing!”

  “In that case, Captain Tarleton, we must leave the Balkans to stew in their own juices. Ours is not a country to involve itself in religious wars.”