The place of rendezvous for the “gallant defenders of the British
constitution,” as Leicester had designated the little party, was a cigar
shop in the immediate vicinity of the building in which the meeting was
to be held. On their arrival they perceived that the shop was already
occupied by several young men, who were lounging over the counter,
bandying jests and compliments with a ringleted young lady, who appeared
thoroughly self-possessed and quite equal to the part she had to
perform, having through all her pretty coquetries a shrewd eye to
business, and reserving her most fascinating smiles for the most
inveterate smokers.
As Grandeville entered the shop, which he did with a most lordly and
dignified air, he was welcomed with general acclamation.
“All hail, Macbeth!” exclaimed a thin young man, with a white greatcoat
and a face to match, throwing himself into a tragedy attitude.
“Most noble commander!” began another of the group. “Most illustrious De
Grandeville! how is----”
“Your anxious mother?” interrupted a short, muscular little fellow, with
as rich a brogue as ever claimed Cork for its county.
“Hush! be quiet, Pat; we have no time for nonsense now, man,” cried a
tall youth with a profusion of light curling hair, a prominent hooked
nose, a merry smile, and a pair of wicked grey eyes, which appeared
to possess the faculty of looking in every direction at once. “You are
late, De Grandeville,” he added, coming forward.
“Ar--no, sir; five minutes good by the Horse Guards. Ar--I should have
been here sooner, but I have been--ar--recruiting, you see. Mr. Bracy,
Mr. Frere, Mr. Arundel--you know Leicester?”
“Delighted to see such an addition to our forces,” replied Bracy,
bowing; then shaking hands with Leicester, he added in an undertone,
“Walk with me when we start; I have a word to say to you.” Leicester
nodded in assent, and then proceeded to accost others of the party with
whom he was acquainted.
“Ar--now, gentlemen, will you please to attend to orders?” began
Grandeville, raising his voice.
“Hear, hear!” cried the pale young man, faintly.
“We’ll do it betther if you’d be houldin’ yer tongue, maybe,” interposed
the hero from Cork, who, being interpreted, was none other
than Lieutenant McDermott of the Artillery, believed by the
Commander-in-Chief to be at that very moment on duty at Woolwich.
“Ar--you are to divide yourselves into three or four bodies.”
“Faith, we must get blind drunk, and see double twice over then, before
we can do that,” remarked the son of Erin argumentatively.
“Now, Paddy, be quiet,” said Bracy, soothingly; “you know you never got
so far in your arithmetic as vulgar fractions, so you can’t be supposed
to understand the matter.”
A somewhat forcible rejoinder was drowned by Grandeville, who continued,
in his most sonorous tone: “Ar--you will then proceed to the hall
of meeting, and make your way quietly to the right side, as near the
platform as possible. There--keep together, and attract as little
attention as you can, and Mr. Bracy will transmit such directions to you
as circumstances may render advisable. Do you all clearly understand?”
A general shout of assent, varied by a muttered “Not in the slightest
degree,” from McDermott, was followed by the order, “Then march!” and in
another moment the party were _en route_. The pale young man, who was
in his secret soul rather alarmed than otherwise, had attached himself
firmly to Frere, with whom he was slightly acquainted, and who he
thought would take care of him, so Lewis was left to pair off with
Leicester.
As they proceeded, the latter began: “Depend upon it, there’s some trick
in all this, probably intended for Grandeville’s benefit; that fellow
Bracy is one of the most inveterate practical jokers extant, and he
seems particularly busy to-night; he’s a clerk in the Home Office, and
Grandeville believes in him to an immense extent; but here he comes.
Well, Bracy, what is it, man?”
“Is your friend safe?” inquired Bracy aside, glancing at Lewis as he
spoke.
“The most cautious man in London,” was the reply, “and one who
appreciates our noble commander thoroughly; so now allow us a peep
behind the scenes.”
“Well, the matter stands thus,” returned Bracy. “I was walking with
Duke Grandeville one night about three weeks ago, when we chanced to
encounter the good folks coming away from one of these meetings; they
were nothing very formidable--a fair sample of young Newgate Street,
youthful patriots from Snow Hill, embryo republicans of St. Paul’s
Churchyard, Barbican, and other purlieus of Cockaignia, led by a few
choice spirits--copying clerks, who hide their heroism from the light of
day in lawyers’ offices, booksellers’ shopmen from the Row, who regard
themselves as distinguished literary characters, and prate of the
sovereignty of the press, and the like. Well, as might be expected, they
discoursed most ferociously, and the Duke, overhearing some of their
conversation, was deeply scandalised, and fancied he had discovered a
second Cato Street conspiracy. The thing appeared to promise fun, so I
encouraged him in the idea, and we attended the next meeting, when
they talked the usual style of radical clap-trap. Everything was an
abuse--the rich were tyrants, the poor slaves, and property required
transferring (_i.e_., from its present possessors to themselves); they
knew they never should be kings, so they cried down monarchy; but they
trusted that, with strong lungs and good-luck, they might become paid
delegates, therefore they clamoured for a republic. There was much
noise, but no talent; sanguinary theories were discussed, which they had
neither minds nor means to enable them to carry out; in short, the place
is one of those innocent sedition shops which act as safety valves to
carry off popular discontent, and ensure the health and vigour of the
British constitution. Of course, however, Grandeville did not see it in
that point of view, and from that night forth he became positively rabid
on the subject; so it entered the heads of some of us that we might
improve the occasion by persuading him that he might, through me,
communicate information to the Home Office (I need scarcely tell you
that it never reached the authorities there), and we have led him on
sweetly and easily, till he positively believes that he is to be at the
Hall to-night as an accredited government agent, with full powers to
suppress the meeting, and I know not what else.”
“But surely you’ll get into a fearful row,” urged Leicester.
“We are safe for a bit of a shindy, no doubt,” was the cool reply; “in
fact I do not consider that the thing would go off properly without it,
so I brought an Irishman with me to render it inevitable; but I have
bribed a doorkeeper, and let the worst come to the worst, we can easily
fight our way out.”
“To be sure we can,” exclaimed Lewis, “lick a hundred such fellows as
you have described. This is glorious fun; I would not have missed it for
the world.”
Bracy glanced at him for a moment with a look of intense approval, then
shaking him warmly by the hand, he said, “Sir, I’m delighted to make
your acquaintance; your sentiments do you honour, sir. Are you much
accustomed to rows of this nature, may I ask?”
“I have been resident in Germany for the last three years,” was the
reply; “and although they have a very fair notion of an _émeute_ after
their own fashion, they don’t understand the use of the fist as we do.”
“There are two grand rules for crowd-fighting,” returned Bracy. “First,
make play with your elbows, Cockneys’ ribs are as sensitive as niggers’
shins; secondly, if it comes to blows, strike at their faces, and never
waste your strength; but when you _do_ make a hit, drop your man if
possible; it settles him, and frightens the rest. Here we are!” So
saying, he turned into a kind of passage which led to an open door,
through which they passed into the body of the hall.
It was a large room with a vaulted ceiling, and appeared capable of
holding from five to six hundred persons. At the farther end of it was
a platform, raised some feet, and divided from the rest of the hall by
a stout wooden railing. The room was lighted with gas, and considerably
more than half filled. Although the majority of the audience appeared to
answer the description Bracy had given of them, yet along the sides
of the apartment were ranged numbers of sturdy artisans and craftsmen,
amongst whom many a stalwart form and stern determined visage might be
detected.
“There are some rather awkward customers here to-night,” whispered
Leicester. “If we chance to get black eyes, Arundel, we must postpone
our visit to the General to-morrow.”
“The man that gives me a black eye shall have something to remember it
by, at all events,” returned Lewis quickly.
“Hush! that fellow heard you,” said Leicester.
Lewis glanced in the direction indicated, and met the sinister gaze,
of a tall, heavy-built mechanic, in a rough greatcoat, who frowned
menacingly when he found that he was observed. Lewis smiled carelessly
in reply, and proceeded after Bracy up the room. When he had passed, the
man, still keeping his eye upon him, quitted his seat and followed
at some little distance. On reaching the upper end of the room they
perceived Grandeville and two or three others, among whom was McDermott,
on the platform, while Frere and the rest of their party had congregated
on and near a flight of five or six steps leading to it from the body of
the hall.
“Bravo, Grandeville!” observed Bracy, in an undertone, to Leicester. “Do
you mark that! he has secured a retreat--good generalship, very. I shall
have to believe in him if he goes on as well as he has commenced. Hark!
they are beginning to give tongue.”
As he concluded, a little fat man came forward and said a good deal
about the honour which had been done him in being allowed the privilege
of opening the evening’s proceedings, to which he appended a long and
utterly incomprehensible account of the objects of the meeting. His zeal
was evident, but Nature had never intended him for an orator, and the
chances of life had fitted him with a short husky cough, so that nobody
was very sorry when he ceded the rostrum to his “esteemed friend, if he
might be allowed to say so (which he was), Jabez Broadcom.” This Jabez
Broadcom was evidently a great gun, and his coming forward created no
small sensation. He was a tall, gaunt-looking man, with straight weak
hair and an unhealthy complexion; but his great feature, in every sense
of the word, was his mouth.
It _was_ a mouth, not only for mutton, but for every other purpose to
which that useful aperture could be applied; at present it was to
be devoted to the task of conveying its owner’s mighty thoughts, in
appropriate language, to the eager listeners who surrounded him.
This gentleman then, having, by dint of drawing in his lips and
thrusting them out again, and rolling his eyes so fearfully as to
suggest a sudden attack of English cholera, got up his steam to the
required height, proceeded to inform the assembly that they were,
individually and collectively, free and enlightened citizens of the
great metropolis of Europe, prepared to recognise their sacred rights,
and resolved to go forth as one man to assert and maintain them. Having
imparted this information (through his nose, for the greater effect),
he began to ask himself a species of Pinnock’s Catechism, so to speak,
which ran somewhat after the following fashion:--
“And why am I here to-night? Because I love profit? No. Because I love
personal distinction? No. Because I love my country? Yes. Because I
would not see her children slaves? Yes. Because purse-proud oppressors,
revelling in their wealth, trample on the honest poor man? Yes.”
Having said by heart several pages of this, in which he was exceedingly
well up, and which he rattled off most fluently, he continued--
“But such tyranny shall not always be tolerated. British freemen, whose
proud boast it is that they have never borne a foreign yoke, shall no
longer crouch beneath a despotic rule at home. The atrocious barbarities
of a brutal poor-law, which taxes honest householders to furnish
salaried ruffians with power to drag the half-eaten crust from the
famished jaws of helpless poverty----”
(A slight sensation was here occasioned by McDermott mentioning for the
benefit of the meeting in general, and the orator himself in particular,
his conviction that the last sentence was “very pretty indeed,” together
with a polite inquiry as to whether he could not be so kind as to say it
again. Peace being restored after sundry shouts of “Turn him out!”)
“Shame!” etc., the orator resumed--
“Let them build their bastiles, let them tear the wife from her husband,
the mother from her child; let them crowd their prison-houses with the
honest sons of labour whom their brutality has forced into crime--the
poor man need never dread starvation while the hulks hunger and the
gallows gapes for him--but a day of retribution is at hand; let the
tyrants tremble beneath their gilded roofs--those unjust usurpers of
the soil--the poor man’s bitterest foes, the landed gentry, as they
arrogantly style themselves, must be cut off and rooted out.”
“Pretty strong, that!” observed Bracy, in a whisper.
“Ar--this won’t do, you know!” returned Grandeville, in an equally low
voice. “I must, really--ar--interfere.”
“Better hear him out,” rejoined Bracy, “and then get up and address them
yourself.” To which suggestion, after a slight remonstrance, the former
agreed; but such a shining light as Mr. Jabez Broadcom was not to be put
out as quickly as they desired; he was the great card of the evening,
and knew it, and prolonged his speech for a good three-quarters of an
hour, during which time he theoretically dethroned the Queen, abolished
the Lords and Commons, seated a National Convention in St. Stephen’s,
and made all the rich poor, and the poor both rich and happy, whilst he
practically rendered himself so hoarse as to be nearly inaudible;
for which gallant exertions in the cause of liberty he received the
tumultuous applause of the meeting, together with Lieut. McDermott’s
expressed conviction that he was “a broth of a boy entirely,” together
with an anxious inquiry, “whether his mother had many more like him.”
When Broadcom retired from the rostrum there appeared some
misunderstanding and confusion as to his successor; taking advantage
of which, Grandeville looked at Bracy, who nodded, adding, “Now’s your
time! Go in, and win;” then, catching a cadaverous-looking individual
who was about to advance by the shoulders, and twisting him round, he
exclaimed, “Now, my man, stand out of the way, will you? This gentleman
is going to address the company.” He next thrust Grandeville forward,
and patting him encouragingly on the back, left him to his own devices.
That heroic gentleman, having bowed to his audience with much grace and
dignity, waved his hand to command attention, and began as follows:--
“Ar--listen to me, my friends! Ar--hem--I am prepared to admit--that is,
it is impossible to deny--that many great and serious evils exist in the
complicated social fabric of this glorious country. The vast increase of
population----”
“Owing to the introduction of chloroform,” suggested Bracy.
“Though slightly checked by----”
“The alarming consumption of Morrison’s Pills,” interposed the
Irishman----
“The wise facilities afforded for emigration,” continued Grandeville,
not heeding these interruptions, “is one chief cause of the poverty and
distress which, though greatly exaggerated by the false statements of
evil-disposed and designing persons (groans and cries of ‘Hear!’), are
to be found even in this metropolis, beneath the fostering care of
an enlightened and paternal government (increasing murmurs of
dissatisfaction). But if you believe that these evils are likely to be
redressed by such measures as have been pointed out to you this evening,
or that anarchy and rebellion can lead to any other result than misery
and ruin--ar--I tell you, that you are fearfully mistaken! Ar--as a
man, possessed of--ar--no inconsiderable influence--and ar--intimately
connected with those powers against which you are madly arraying
yourselves, I warn you!”
Here the excitement and dissatisfaction, which had been rapidly
increasing, reached a pitch which threatened to render the speaker
inaudible; and amid cries of “Who is he?”--“an informer!”--“government
spy!”--“turn him out!”--“throw him over!” several persons rose from
their seats and attempted to force their way on to the platform, but
were kept back by Lewis and others of Grandeville’s party, who, as has
been already mentioned, had taken possession of the flight of steps,
which afforded the only legitimate means of access from the body of the
hall.
Undisturbed by these hostile demonstrations, Grandeville continued, at
the top of his voice,--“I warn you that you are provoking an unequal
struggle,--that you are bringing upon yourselves a fearful retribution.
Even now I am armed with authority to disperse this meeting--to----”
What more he would have added the reader is not fated to learn, for at
this moment the man in the rough greatcoat, who had followed Lewis from
the entrance of the room, exclaiming, “Come on, we are not going to
stand this, you know; never mind the steps,” seized the railing of
the platform, and drawing himself up, sprang over, followed by several
others. In an instant all was confusion. Grandeville, taken in some
degree by surprise, after knocking down a couple of his assailants, was
overpowered, and, amid cries of “throw him over,” hurried to the edge
of the platform; here, grasping the rail with both hands, he struggled
violently to prevent the accomplishment of their purpose.
“Come along, boys! we must rescue him,” exclaimed Bracy; and suiting
the action to the word, he bounded forward, and hitting right and left,
reached the scene of conflict. Lewis and the others, abandoning the
steps, followed his example, and the row became general. For some
minutes the uproar was terrific; blows were given and received; blood
began to flow from sundry noses; and certain eyes that had begun the
evening blue, brown, or grey, as the case might be, assumed a hue dark
as Erebus. As for Lewis, he knocked down one of the fellows who had
hold of Grandeville; then he picked up the Irishman, who of course had
singled out and attacked the biggest man in the crowd (none other indeed
than the rough-coated patriot, who appeared a sort of leader among
them), and been immediately felled by him to the ground; then
he assisted Frere in extricating the pale-faced youth from three
individuals of questionable honesty, who were availing themselves of the
confusion to empty his pockets; as he did so he felt himself seized
with a grasp of iron, and turning his head, found he was collared by the
gigantic leader. A violent but ineffectual effort to free himself only
served to convince him that in point of strength he was no match for
his antagonist, who, regarding him with a smile of gratified malice,
exclaimed, “Now then, young feller, I’ve been a-waiting to get hold of
you. How about a black eye now?” As he spoke he drew him forward with
one hand and struck at him savagely with the other. Avoiding the blow by
suddenly dodging aside, Lewis closed with his adversary, and inserting
his knuckles within the folds of his neckcloth, tightened it, until in
self-defence, and in order to avoid strangulation, the fellow was forced
to loosen his grasp of Lewis’s collar. The instant he felt himself free,
Lewis, giving the neckcloth a final twist, and at the same time pressing
his knuckles into the man’s throat, so as for the moment almost to
throttle him, stepped back a couple of paces, and springing forward
again before the other had time to recover himself, hit up under his
guard and succeeded in planting a stinging and well-directed blow
exactly between his eyes; this, followed by a similar application rather
lower on the face, settled the matter. Reeling backwards, his antagonist
lost his footing and fell heavily to the ground, dragging one of his
companions down with him in a futile attempt to save himself. The fall
of their leader threw a damp on the spirits of the others; and although
those in the rear were still clamorous with threats and vociferations,
the members of the crowd in more immediate proximity to the little party
showed small inclination to renew the attack.
[Illustration: 0050]
“Now’s our time for getting away,” said Bracy. “Make a bold push for the
door.”
“Ar--I should say,” rejoined Grandeville, one of whose eyes was
completely closed from the effects of a blow, and whose coat was hanging
about him in ribands, “let us despatch one of our party for the police
and military, and stand firm and maintain our ground till they come up,
then capture the ringleaders and clear the room.”
“Nonsense,” said Leicester, who, despite his regard for his wardrobe,
had behaved most spiritedly during the skirmish. “We shall all be
murdered before they appear; besides” (he added aside to Bracy), “it
will be making much too serious a business of it; we should get into
some tremendous scrape.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said Bracy; then turning to Grandeville, he added,
“I don’t think my instructions would bear us out if we were to go any
further. Remember, we were only to make a pacific demonstration.”
“And faith, if breaking heads, and getting a return in kind, comes under
that same denomination, it’s a pretty decent one we’ve made already,
’pon me conscience,” put in McDermott, wiping away the blood that was
still trickling from a cut in his forehead.
While these remarks were bandied from one to another, the party had
contrived to make their way from the platform, and were now in the body
of the room, striving to push through the crowd towards the side door.
This at every step became more and more difficult, till at length they
were so completely hemmed in that further progression became impossible,
and it was evident that a fresh attack upon them was meditated.
Fortunately, however, they were not far from the point of egress, and
Bracy, having caught the eye of his ally the doorkeeper, who was on the
alert, exclaimed, “Now, Grandeville, we must fight our way through these
fellows and gain the door; there’s nothing for it but a spirited charge.
You and I, Frere and his friend, and Paddy had better go first as a sort
of wedge.”
“Ar--head the column and break the enemy’s ranks, ar--yes, are you all
ready? Charge!”
As he gave the word they rushed forward in a compact body, and knocking
down and pushing aside all who opposed them, succeeded in reaching
the door. Here a short delay occurred while Bracy and his friend were
opening it, and several of their late antagonists, irritated at the
prospect of their escape, incited the others to attack them, so that
before their egress was secured even the Irish lieutenant had had
fighting enough to satisfy him, and the pale young man, having long
since given himself up as a lost mutton, actually fainted with fear and
over-exertion, and was dragged from under the feet of the combatants
and carried out by Frere and Lewis, but for whom his mortal career would
then and there have ended.
How, as they emerged into the street, a party of the police arrived and
caused more confusion and more broken heads; and how Grande-ville and
the Irishman on the one hand, and sundry Chartists, with Lewis’s late
antagonist among them, on the other, were jointly and severally taken
into custody and marched to the station-house, where they spent the
night; and how Leicester contrived just in the nick of time to catch an
intelligent cab, into which he, Lewis, Frere, and the fainting victim
with the pallid physiognomy compressed themselves, and were conveyed
rapidly from the scene of action, it boots not to relate: suffice it to
say that a certain barrel of oysters, flanked by a detachment of
pint bottles of stout, which had taken up their position on Frere’s
dining-table during the absence of its master, sustained an attack about
half-past eleven o’clock that night which proved that the mode in which
their assailants had passed the evening had in no way impaired their
respective appetites.