CHAPTER XLVII.
THE JUDGMENT OF NATAS.
The myriad-voiced chorus of the Song of the Revolution ended in amighty shout of jubilant hurrahs, in the midst of which the _Ariel_dropped lightly to the earth, and Tremayne, dressed now in the greyuniform of the Federation, with a small red rosette on the leftbreast of his tunic, descended from her deck to the ground with adrawn sword in his hand.
He was at once recognised by several of the leaders, and as thewords, "The Chief, the Chief," ran from lip to lip, those in thefront ranks brought their rifles to the present, while the captainssaluted with their swords. The British regulars and volunteersfollowed suit as if by instinct, and the chorus of cheers broke outagain. Tremayne acknowledged the salute, and raised his hand tocommand silence. A hush at once fell upon the assembled multitude,and in the deep silence of anticipation which followed, he said inclear, ringing tones--
"Soldiers of the Federation and the Empire! that which I hope will bethe last battle of the Western nations has been fought and won. TheAnglo-Saxon race has rallied to the defence of its motherland, and inthe blood of its invaders has wiped out the stain of conquest. It hasmet the conquerors of Europe in arms, and on the field of battle ithas vindicated its right to the empire of the world.
"Henceforth the destinies of the human race are in its keeping, andit will worthily discharge the responsibility. It may yet benecessary for you to fight other battles with other races; but thevictory that has attended you here will wait upon your armselsewhere, and then the curse and the shame of war will be removedfrom the earth, let us hope for ever. European despotism has foughtits last battle and lost, and those who have appealed to the swordshall be judged by the sword."
As he said this, he pointed with his weapon towards the Tsar and hisStaff, and continued, with an added sternness in his voice--
"In the Master's name, take those men prisoners! Their fate will bedecided to-morrow. Forward a company of the First Division; yourlives will answer for theirs!"
As the Chief ended his brief address to the victorious troops tenmen, armed with revolver and sword, stepped forward, each followed byten others armed with rifle and fixed bayonet, and immediately formedin a hollow square round the Tsar and his Staff. This summaryproceeding proved too much for the outraged dignity of the fallenAutocrat, and he stepped forward and cried out passionately--
"What is this? Is not my surrender enough? Have we not fought withcivilised enemies, that we are to be treated like felons in the hourof defeat?"
Tremayne raised his sword and cried sharply, "To the ready!" andinstantly the prisoners were encircled by a hedge of levelledbayonets and rifle-barrels charged with death. Then he went on, instern commanding tones--
"Silence there! We do not recognise what you call the usages ofcivilised warfare. You are criminals against humanity, assassins bywholesale, and as such you shall be treated."
There was nothing for it but to submit to the indignity, and within afew minutes the Tsar and those who with him had essayed theenslavement of the world were lodged in separate rooms in thebuilding under a strong guard to await the fateful issue of themorrow.
The rest of the night was occupied in digging huge trenches for theburial of the almost innumerable dead, a task which, gigantic as itwas, was made light by the work of hundreds of thousands of willinghands. Those of the invaders who had fallen in London itself weretaken down the Thames on the ebb tide in fleets of lighters, towed bysteamers, and were buried at sea. Happily it was midwinter, and thetemperature remained some degrees below freezing point, and so thegreat city was saved from what in summer would infallibly havebrought pestilence in the track of war.
At twelve o'clock on the following day the vast interior of St.Paul's Cathedral was thronged with the anxious spectators of the lastscene in the tremendous tragedy which had commenced with thedestruction of Kronstadt by the _Ariel_, and which had culminated inthe triumph of Anglo-Saxondom over the leagued despotism andmilitarism of Europe.
At a long table draped with red cloth, and placed under the dome infront of the chancel steps, sat Natas, with Tremayne and Natasha onhis right hand, and Arnold and Alexis Mazanoff on his left. Radna,Anna Ornovski, and the other members of the Inner Circle of theTerrorists, including the President, Nicholas Roburoff, who had beenpardoned and restored to his office at the intercession of Natasha,occupied the other seats, and behind them stood a throng of theleaders of the Federation forces.
Neither the King of England nor any of his Ministers or militaryofficers were present, as they had no voice in the proceedings whichwere about to take place. It had been decided, at a consultation withthem earlier in the day, that it would be better that they should beabsent.
That which was to be done was unparalleled in the history of theworld, and outside the recognised laws of nations; and so theirprejudices were respected, and they were spared what they might havelooked upon as an outrage on international policy, and the ancientbut mistaken traditions of so-called civilised warfare.
In front of the table two double lines of Federation soldiers, withrifles and fixed bayonets, kept a broad clear passage down to thewestern doors of the Cathedral. The murmur of thousands of voicessuddenly hushed as the Cathedral clock struck the first stroke oftwelve. It was the knell of an empire and a despotism. At the laststroke Natas raised his hand and said--
"Bring up the prisoners!"
There was a quick rustling sound, mingled with the clink of steel, asthe two grey lines stiffened up to attention. Twelve commanders ofdivisions marched with drawn swords down to the end of the nave, afew rapid orders were given, and then they returned heading twodouble files of Federation guards, between which, handcuffed likecommon felons, walked the once mighty Tsar and the ministers of hisnow departed tyranny.
The footsteps of the soldiers and their captives rang clearly uponthe stones in the ominous breathless silence which greeted theirappearance. The fallen Autocrat and his servants walked with downcastheads, like men in a dream, for to them it was a dream, this suddenand incomprehensible catastrophe which had overwhelmed them in thevery hour of victory and on the threshold of the conquest of theworld. Three days ago they had believed themselves conquerors, withthe world at their feet; now they were being marched, guarded and inshackles, to a tribunal which acknowledged no law but its own, andfrom whose decision there was no appeal. Truly it was a dream, such adream of disaster and calamity as no earthly despot had ever dreamtbefore.
Four paces from the table they were halted, the Tsar in the centre,facing his unknown judge, and his servants on either side of him. Herecognised Natasha, Anna Ornovski, Arnold, and Tremayne, but therecognition only added to his bewilderment.
There was a slight flush on the face of Natas, and an angry gleam inhis dark magnetic eyes, as he watched his captives approach; but whenhe spoke his tones were calm and passionless, the tones of theconqueror and the judge, rather than of the deeply injured man and apersonal enemy. As the prisoners were halted in front of the table,and the rifle-butts of the guards rang sharply on the stone pavement,so deep a hush fell upon the vast throng in the Cathedral, that menseemed to hold their breath rather than break it until the Master ofthe Terror began to speak.
"Alexander Romanoff, late Tsar of the Russias, and now prisoner ofthe Executive of the Brotherhood of Freedom, otherwise known to youas the Terrorists--you have been brought here with your advisers andthe ministers of your tyranny that your crimes may be recounted inthe presence of this congregation, and to receive sentence of suchpunishment as it is possible for human justice to mete out to you"--
"Two bayonets crossed in front of him with a sharpclash."
_See page 359._]
"I deny both your justice and your right to judge. It is you who arethe criminals, conspirators, and enemies of Society. I am a crownedKing, and above all earthly laws"--
Before he could say any more two bayonets crossed in front of himwith a sharp clash, and he was instantly thrust back into his place.
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p; "Silence!" said Natas, in a tone of such stern command that even heinstinctively obeyed. "As for our justice, let that be decidedbetween you and me when we stand before a more awful tribunal thanthis. My right to judge even a crowned king who has no longer acrown, rests, as your own authority and that of all earthly rulershas ever done, upon the power to enforce my sentence, and I can andwill enforce it upon you, you heir of a usurping murderess, whosethrone was founded in blood and supported by the bayonets of herhired assassins. You have appealed to the arbitration of battle, andit has decided against you; you must therefore abide by its decision.
"You have waged a war of merciless conquest at the bidding ofinsatiable ambition. You have posed as the peace-keeper of Europeuntil the train of war was laid, as you and your allies thought, insecret, and then you let loose the forces of havoc upon yourfellow-men without ruth or scruple. Your path of victory has beentraced in blood and flames from one end of Europe to the other; youhave sacrificed the lives of millions, and the happiness of millionsmore, to a dream of world-wide empire, which, if realised, would havebeen a universal despotism.
"The blood of the uncounted slain cries out from earth to heavenagainst you for vengeance. The days are past when those who made warupon their kind could claim the indulgence of their conquerors. Youhave been conquered by those who hold that the crime of aggressivewar cannot be atoned for by the transfer of territory or the paymentof money.
"If this were your only crime we would have blood for blood, and lifefor life, as far as yours could pay the penalty. But there is morethan this to be laid to our charge, and the swift and easy punishmentof death would be too light an atonement for Justice to accept.
"Since you ascended your throne you have been as the visible shape ofGod in the eyes of a hundred million subjects. Your hands have heldthe power of life and death, of freedom and slavery, of happiness andmisery. How have you used it, you who have arrogated to yourself theattributes of a vicegerent of God on earth? As the power is, so toois the responsibility, and it will not avail you now to shelteryourself from it behind the false traditions of diplomacy andstatecraft.
"Your subjects have starved, while you and yours have feasted. Youhave lavished millions in vain display upon your palaces, while theyhave died in their hovels for lack of bread; and when men have askedyou for freedom and justice, you have given them the knout, thechain, and the prison.
"You have parted the wife from her husband"--
Here for the moment the voice of Natas trembled with irrepressiblepassion, which, before he could proceed, broke from his heavingbreast in a deep sob that thrilled the vast assembly like an electricshock, and made men clench their hands and grit their teeth, andwrung an answering sob from the breast of many a woman who knew buttoo well the meaning of those simple yet terrible words. Then Natasrecovered his outward composure and went on; but now there was anangrier gleam in his eyes, and a fiercer ring in his voice.
"You have parted the wife from her husband, the maid from her lover,the child from its parents. You have made desolate countless homesthat once were happy, and broken hearts that had no thought of eviltowards you--and you have done all this, and more, to maintain asvile a despotism as ever insulted the justice of man, or mocked atthe mercy of God.
"In the inscrutable workings of Eternal Justice it has come to passthat your sentence shall be uttered by the lips of one of yourvictims. For no offence known to the laws of earth or Heaven my fleshhas been galled by your chains and torn by your whips. I have toiledto win your ill-gotten wealth in your mines, and by the hands of yourbrutal servants the iron has entered into my soul. Yet I am but oneof thousands whose undeserved agony cries out against you in thishour of judgment.
"Can you give us back what you have taken from us--the years of lifeand health and happiness, our wives and our children, our lovers andour kindred? You have ravished, but you cannot restore. You havesmitten, but you cannot heal. You have killed, but you cannot makealive again. If you had ten thousand lives they could not atone,though each were dragged out to the bitter end in the misery that youhave meted out to others.
"But so far as you and yours can pay the debt it shall be paid to theuttermost farthing. Every pang that you have inflicted you shallendure. You shall drag your chains over Siberian snows, and when youfaint by the wayside the lash shall revive you, as in the hands ofyour brutal Cossacks it has goaded on your fainting victims. Youshall sweat in the mine and shiver in the cell, and your wives andyour children shall look upon your misery and be helpless to helpyou, even as have been the fond ones who have followed your victimsto exile and death.
"They have seen your crimes without protest, and shared in yourwantonness. They have toyed with the gold and jewels which they knewwere bought with the price of misery and death, and so it is justthat they should see your sufferings and share in your doom.
"To the mines for life! And when the last summons comes to you andme, may Eternal Justice judge between us, and in its equal scalesweigh your crimes against your punishment! Begone! for you havelooked your last on freedom. You are no longer men; you are outcastsfrom the pale of the brotherhood of the humanity you have outraged!
"Alexis Mazanoff, you will hold yourself responsible for the lives ofthe prisoners, and the execution of their sentence. You will see themin safe keeping for the present, and on the thirtieth day from nowyou will set out for Siberia."
The sentence of Natas, the most terrible one which human lips couldhave uttered under the circumstances, was received with a breathlesssilence of awe and horror. Then Mazanoff rose from his seat, drew hissword, and saluted. As he passed round the end of the table theguards closed up round the prisoners, who were staring about them instupefied bewilderment at the incredible horror of the fate which ina moment had hurled them from the highest pinnacle of earthly powerand splendour down to the degradation and misery of the most wretchedof their own Siberian convicts. No time was given for protest orappeal, for Mazanoff instantly gave the word "Forward!" and,surrounded by a hedge of bayonets, the doomed men were marchedrapidly down between the two grey lines.
As they reached the bottom of the nave the great central doors swungopen, and through them came a mighty roar of execration from themultitude outside as they appeared on the top of the Cathedral steps.
From St. Paul's Churchyard, down through Ludgate Hill and up the OldBailey to the black frowning walls of Newgate, they were led throughtriple lines of Federation soldiers amidst a storm of angry criesfrom the crowd on either side,--cries which changed to a wildoutburst of savage, pitiless exultation as the news of their dreadfulsentence spread rapidly from lip to lip. They had shed blood likewater, and had known no pity in the hour of their brief triumph, andso none was shown for them in the hour of their fall and retribution.
The hour following their disappearance from the Cathedral was spentin a brief and simple service of thanksgiving for the victory whichhad wiped the stain of foreign invasion from the soil of Britain inthe blood of the invader, and given the control of the destinies ofthe Western world finally into the hands of the dominant race ofearth.
The service began with a short but eloquent address from Natas, inwhich he pointed out the consequences of the victory and thetremendous responsibilities to the generations of men in the presentand the future which it entailed upon the victors. He concluded withthe following words--
"My own part in this world-revolution is played out. For more thantwenty years I have lived solely for the attainment of one object,the removal of the blot of Russian tyranny upon Europeancivilisation, and the necessary punishment of those who were guiltyof the unspeakable crime of maintaining it at such a fearful expenseof human life and suffering.
"That object has now been accomplished; the soldiers of freedom havemet the hirelings of despotism on the field of the world'sArmageddon, and the God of Battles has decided between them. Ourmotives may have been mistaken by those who only saw the bare outwardappearance without knowing their inward intention, and our ends havenaturally bee
n misjudged by those who fancied that theiraccomplishment meant their own ruin.
"Yet, as the events have proved, and will prove in the ages to come,we have been but as intelligent instruments in the hands of thateternal wisdom and justice which, though it may seem to sleep for aseason, and permit the evildoer to pursue his wickedness for a space,never closes the eye of watchfulness or sheathes the sword ofjudgment. The empire of the earth has been given into the hands ofthe Anglo-Saxon race, and therefore it is fitting that the supremecontrol of affairs should rest in the hands of one of Anglo-Saxonblood and lineage.
"For that reason I now surrender the power which I have so farexercised as the Master of the Brotherhood of Freedom into the handsof Alan Tremayne, known in Britain as Earl of Alanmere and BaronTremayne, and from this moment the Brotherhood of Freedom ceases toexist as such, for its ends are attained, and the objects for whichit was founded have been accomplished.
"With the confidence born of intimate knowledge, I give this powerinto his keeping, and those who have shared his counsels and executedhis commands in the past will in the future assist him as the SupremeCouncil, which will form the ultimate tribunal to which the disputesof nations will henceforth be submitted, instead of to the barbarousand bloody arbitration of battle.
"No such power has ever been delivered into the hands of a singlebody of men before; but those who will hold it have been well tried,and they may be trusted to wield it without pride and withoutselfishness, the twin curses that have hitherto afflicted the dividednations of the earth, because, with the fate of humanity in theirhands and the wealth of earth at their disposal, it will beimpossible to tempt them with bribes, either of riches or of power,from the plain course of duty which will lie before them."
As Natas finished speaking, he signed with his hand to Tremayne, whorose in his place and briefly addressed the assembly--
"I and those who will share it with me accept alike the power and theresponsibility--not of choice, but rather because we are convincedthat the interests of humanity demand that we should do so. Thoseinterests have too long been the sport of kings and their courtiers,and of those who have seen in selfish profit and aggrandisement theonly ends of life worth living for.
"Under the pretences of furthering civilisation and progress, andmaintaining what they have been pleased to call law and order, theyhave perpetrated countless crimes of oppression, cruelty, andextortion, and we are determined that this shall have an end.
"Henceforth, so far as we can insure it, the world shall be ruled,not by the selfishness of individuals, or the ambitions of nations,but in accordance with the everlasting and immutable principles oftruth and justice, which have hitherto been burlesqued alike bydespots on their thrones and by political partisans in the senates ofso-called democratic countries.
"To-morrow, at mid-day in this place, the chief rulers of Europe willmeet us, and our intentions will be further explained. And now beforewe separate to go about the rest of the business of the day let us,as is fitting, give due thanks to Him who has given us the victory."
He ceased speaking, but remained standing; the same instant the organof the Cathedral pealed out the opening notes of the familiarNormanton Chant, and all those at the table, saving Natas, rose totheir feet. Then Natasha's voice soared up clear and strong above theorgan notes, singing the first line of the old well-known chant--
The strain upraise of joy and praise.
And as she ceased the swell of the organ rolled out, and a mightychorus of hallelujahs burst by one consent from the lips of the vastcongregation, filling the huge Cathedral, and flowing out from itsnow wide-open doors until it was caught up and echoed by thethousands who thronged the churchyard and the streets leading intoit.
As this died away Radna sang the second line, and so the Psalm ofPraise was sung through, as it were in strophe and anti-strophe,interspersed with the jubilant hallelujahs of the multitude who werecelebrating the greatest victory that had ever been won on earth.
That night the inhabitants of the delivered city gave themselves upto such revelry and rejoicing as had never been seen or heard inLondon since its foundation. The streets and squares blazed withlights and resounded with the songs and cheerings of a peopledelivered from an impending catastrophe which had bidden fair tooverwhelm it in ruin, and bring upon it calamities which would havebeen felt for generations.
The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror Page 48
