THE TOWN-HALL.
When I went home and told them what was to be done, they were of
course surprised, but apparently not very unhappy. Mrs Neverbend
suggested that she should accompany me, so as to look after my linen
and other personal comforts. But I told her, whether truly or not I
hardly then knew, that there would be no room for her on board a ship
of war such as the John Bright. Since I have lived on board her, I
have become aware that they would willingly have accommodated, at my
request, a very much larger family than my own. Mrs Neverbend at once
went to work to provide for my enforced absence, and in the course of
the day Eva Crasweller came in to help her. Eva's manner to myself
had become perfectly altered since the previous morning. Nothing
could be more affectionate, more gracious, or more winning, than she
was now; and I envied Jack the short moments of _tête-à-tête_ retreat
which seemed from time to time to be necessary for carrying out the
arrangements of the day.
I may as well state here, that from this time Abraham Grundle
showed himself to be a declared enemy, and that the partnership was
dissolved between Crasweller and himself. He at once brought an
action against my old friend for the recovery of that proportion of
his property to which he was held to be entitled under our marriage
laws. This Mr Crasweller immediately offered to pay him; but some
of our more respectable lawyers interfered, and persuaded him not
to make the sacrifice. There then came on a long action, with an
appeal,--all which was given against Grundle, and nearly ruined the
Grundles. It seemed to me, as far as I could go into the matter, that
Grundle had all the law on his side. But there arose certain quibbles
and questions, all of which Jack had at his fingers'-ends, by the
strength of which the unfortunate young man was trounced. As I
learned by the letters which Eva wrote to me, Crasweller was all
through most anxious to pay him; but the lawyers would not have it
so, and therefore so much of the property of Little Christchurch was
saved for the ultimate benefit of that happy fellow Jack Neverbend.
On the afternoon of the one day which, as a matter of grace, had
been allowed to me, Sir Ferdinando declared his intention of making
a speech to the people of Gladstonopolis. "He was desirous," he
said, "of explaining to the community at large the objects of H.M.
Government in sending him to Britannula, and in requesting the
inhabitants to revert to their old form of government." "Request
indeed," I said to Crasweller, throwing all possible scorn into the
tone of my voice,--"request! with the North-north-west Birmingham
regiment, and his 250-ton steam-swiveller in the harbour! That
Ferdinando Brown knows how to conceal his claws beneath a velvet
glove. We are to be slaves,--slaves because England so wills it. We
are robbed of our constitution, our freedom of action is taken from
us, and we are reduced to the lamentable condition of a British Crown
colony! And all this is to be done because we had striven to rise
above the prejudices of the day." Crasweller smiled, and said not a
word to oppose me, and accepted all my indignation with assent; but
he certainly did not show any enthusiasm. A happier old gentleman,
or one more active for his years, I had never known. It was but
yesterday that I had seen him so absolutely cowed as to be hardly
able to speak a word. And all this change had occurred simply because
he was to be allowed to die out in the open world, instead of
enjoying the honour of having been the first to depart in conformity
with the new theory. He and I, however, spent thus one day longer
in sweet friendship; and I do not doubt but that, when I return
to Britannula, I shall find him living in great comfort at Little
Christchurch.
At three o'clock we all went into our great town-hall to hear what
Sir Ferdinando had to say to us. The chamber is a very spacious one,
fitted up with a large organ, and all the arrangements necessary for
a music-hall; but I had never seen a greater crowd than was collected
there on this occasion. There was not a vacant corner to be found;
and I heard that very many of the inhabitants went away greatly
displeased in that they could not be accommodated. Sir Ferdinando had
been very particular in asking the attendance of Captain Battleax,
and as many of the ship's officers as could be spared. This, I was
told, he did in order that something of the _éclat_ of his oration
might be taken back to England. Sir Ferdinando was a man who thought
much of his own eloquence,--and much also of the advantage which he
might reap from it in the opinion of his fellow-countrymen generally.
I found that a place of honour had been reserved for me too at his
right hand, and also one for my wife at his left. I must confess that
in these last moments of my sojourn among the people over whom I had
ruled, I was treated with the most distinguished courtesy. But, as
I continued to say to myself, I was to be banished in a few hours
as one whose intended cruelties were too abominable to allow of my
remaining in my own country. On the first seat behind the chair sat
Captain Battleax, with four or five of his officers behind him. "So
you have left Lieutenant Crosstrees in charge of your little toy," I
whispered to Captain Battleax.
"With a glass," he replied, "by which he will be able to see whether
you leave the building. In that case, he will blow us all into
atoms."
Then Sir Ferdinando rose to his legs, and began his speech. I had
never before heard a specimen of that special oratory to which the
epithet flowery may be most appropriately applied. It has all the
finished polish of England, joined to the fervid imagination of
Ireland. It streams on without a pause, and without any necessary end
but that which the convenience of time may dictate. It comes without
the slightest effort, and it goes without producing any great effect.
It is sweet at the moment. It pleases many, and can offend none. But
it is hardly afterwards much remembered, and is efficacious only in
smoothing somewhat the rough ways of this harsh world. But I have
observed that in what I have read of British debates, those who have
been eloquent after this fashion are generally firm to some purpose
of self-interest. Sir Ferdinando had on this occasion dressed himself
with minute care; and though he had for the hour before been very
sedulous in manipulating certain notes, he now was careful to show
not a scrap of paper; and I must do him the justice to declare that
he spun out the words from the reel of his memory as though they all
came spontaneous and pat to his tongue.
"Mr Neverbend," he said, "ladies and gentlemen,--I have to-day for
the first time the great pleasure of addressing an intelligent
concourse of citizens in Britannula. I trust that before my
acquaintance with this prosperous community may be brought to an end,
I may have many another opportunity afforded me of addressing you. It
has been my lot in life to serve my Sovereign in various parts of the
world, and humbly to represent the throne of England in every quarter
of the globe. But by the admitted testimony of all people,--my
fellow-countrymen at home in England, and those who are equally my
fellow-countrymen in the colonies to which I have been sent,--it is
acknowledged that in prosperity, intelligence, and civilisation, you
are excelled by no English-speaking section of the world. And if by
none who speak English, who shall then aspire to excel you? Such,
as I have learned, has been the common verdict given; and as I look
round this vast room, on a spot which fifty years ago the marsupial
races had under their own dominion, and see the feminine beauty and
manly grace which greet me on every side, I can well believe that
some peculiarly kind freak of nature has been at work, and has tended
to produce a people as strong as it is beautiful, and as clever in
its wit as it is graceful in its actions." Here the speaker paused,
and the audience all clapped their hands and stamped their feet,
which seemed to me to be a very improper mode of testifying their
assent to their own praises. But Sir Ferdinando took it all in good
part, and went on with his speech.
"I have been sent here, ladies and gentlemen, on a peculiar
mission,--on a duty as to which, though I am desirous of explaining
it to all of you in every detail, I feel a difficulty of saying a
single word." "Fixed Period," was shouted from one of the balconies
in a voice which I recognised as that of Mr Tallowax. "My friend
in the gallery," continued Sir Ferdinando, "reminds me of the very
word for which I should in vain have cudgelled my brain. The Fixed
Period is the subject on which I am called upon to say to you a few
words;--the Fixed Period, and the man who has, I believe, been among
you the chief author of that system of living,--and if I may be
permitted to say so, of dying also." Here the orator allowed his
voice to fade away in a melancholy cadence, while he turned his face
towards me, and with a gentle motion laid his right hand upon my
shoulder. "Oh, my friends, it is, to say the least of it, a startling
project." "Uncommon, if it was your turn next," said Tallowax in the
gallery. "Yes, indeed," continued Sir Ferdinando, "if it were my
turn next! I must own, that though I should consider myself to be
affronted if I were told that I were faint-hearted,--though I should
know myself to be maligned if it were said of me that I have a
coward's fear of death,--still I should feel far from comfortable if
that age came upon me which this system has defined, and were I to
live in a country in which it has prevailed. Though I trust that I
may be able to meet death like a brave man when it may come, still I
should wish that it might come by God's hand, and not by the wisdom
of a man.
"I have nothing to say against the wisdom of that man," continued
he, turning to me again. "I know all the arguments with which he
has fortified himself. They have travelled even as far as my ears;
but I venture to use the experience which I have gathered in many
countries, and to tell him that in accordance with God's purposes the
world is not as yet ripe for his wisdom." I could not help thinking
as he spoke thus, that he was not perhaps acquainted with all the
arguments on which my system of the Fixed Period was founded; and
that if he would do me the honour to listen to a few words which I
proposed to speak to the people of Britannula before I left them,
he would have clearer ideas about it than had ever yet entered into
his mind. "Oh, my friends," said he, rising to the altitudes of his
eloquence, "it is fitting for us that we should leave these things in
the hands of the Almighty. It is fitting for us, at any rate, that we
should do so till we have been brought by Him to a state of god-like
knowledge infinitely superior to that which we at present possess."
Here I could perceive that Sir Ferdinando was revelling in the sounds
of his own words, and that he had prepared and learnt by heart the
tones of his voice, and even the motion of his hands. "We all know
that it is not allowed to us to rush into His presence by any deed of
our own. You all remember what the poet says,--
'Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!'
Is not this self-slaughter, this theory in accordance with which a
man shall devote himself to death at a certain period? And if a man
may not slay himself, how shall he then, in the exercise of his poor
human wit, devote a fellow-creature to certain death?" "And he as
well as ever he was in his life," said Tallowax in the gallery.
"My friend does well to remind me. Though Mr Neverbend has named a
Fixed Period for human life, and has perhaps chosen that at which its
energies may usually be found to diminish, who can say that he has
even approached the certainty of that death which the Lord sends
upon us all at His own period? The poor fellow to whom nature has
been unkind, departs from us decrepit and worn out at forty; whereas
another at seventy is still hale and strong in performing the daily
work of his life."
"I am strong enough to do a'most anything for myself, and I was to
be the next to go,--the very next." This in a treble voice came from
that poor fellow Barnes, who had suffered nearly the pangs of death
itself from the Fixed Period.
"Yes, indeed; in answer to such an appeal as that, who shall venture
to say that the Fixed Period shall be carried out with all its
startling audacity? The tenacity of purpose which distinguishes our
friend here is known to us all. The fame of his character in that
respect had reached my ears even among the thick-lipped inhabitants
of Central Africa." I own I did wonder whether this could be true.
"'Justum et tenacem propositi virum!' Nothing can turn him from his
purpose, or induce him to change his inflexible will. You know him,
and I know him, and he is well known throughout England. Persuasion
can never touch him; fear has no power over him. He, as one unit, is
strong against a million. He is invincible, imperturbable, and ever
self-assured."
I, as I sat there listening to this character of myself, heroic
somewhat, but utterly unlike the person for whom it was intended,
felt that England knew very little about me, and cared less; and
I could not but be angry that my name should be used in this
way to adorn the sentences of Sir Ferdinando's speech. Here in
Gladstonopolis I was well known,--and well known to be neither
imperturbable nor self-assured. But all the people seemed to accept
what he said, and I could not very well interrupt him. He had his
opportunity now, and I perhaps might have mine by-and-by.
"My friends," continued Sir Ferdinando, "at home in England, where,
though we are powerful by reason of our wealth and numbers--" "Just
so," said I. "Where we are powerful, I repeat, by reason of our
wealth and numbers, though perhaps less advanced than you are in
the philosophical arrangements of life, it has seemed to us to be
impossible that the theory should be allowed to be carried to its
legitimate end. The whole country would be horrified were one life
sacrificed to this theory." "We knew that,--we knew that," said the
voice of Tallowax. "And yet your Assembly had gone so far as to give
to the system all the stability of law. Had not the John Bright
steamed into your harbour yesterday, one of your most valued citizens
would have been already--deposited." When he had so spoken, he turned
round to Mr Crasweller, who was sitting on my right hand, and bowed
to him. Crasweller looked straight before him, and took no notice of
Sir Ferdinando. He was at the present moment rather on my side of the
question, and having had his freedom secured to him, did not care for
Sir Ferdinando.
"But that has been prevented, thanks to the extraordinary rapidity
with which my excellent friend Captain Battleax has made his way
across the ocean. And I must say that every one of these excellent
fellows, his officers, has done his best to place H.M. ship the John
Bright in her commanding position with the least possible delay."
Here he turned round and bowed to the officers, and by keen eyes
might have been observed to bow through the windows also to the
vessel, which lay a mile off in the harbour. "There will not, at
any rate for the present, be any Fixed Period for human life in
Britannula. That dream has been dreamed,--at any rate for the
present. Whether in future ages such a philosophy may prevail, who
shall say? At present we must all await our death from the hands of
the Almighty. 'Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.'
"And now, gentlemen, I have to request your attention for a few
moments to another matter, and one which is very different from this
which we have discussed. I am to say a few words of the past and
the present,--of your past constitution, and of that which it is my
purpose to inaugurate." Here there arose a murmur through the room
very audible, and threatening by its sounds to disturb the orator. "I
will ask your favour for a few minutes; and when you shall have heard
me to-day, I will in my turn hear you to-morrow. Great Britain at
your request surrendered to you the power of self-government. To
so small an English-speaking community has this never before been
granted. And I am bound to say that you have in many respects shown
yourselves fit for the responsibility imposed upon you. You have been
intelligent, industrious, and prudent. Ignorance has been expelled
from your shores, and poverty has been forced to hide her diminished
head." Here the orator paused to receive that applause which he
conceived to be richly his due; but the occupants of the benches
before him sat sternly silent. There were many there who had been
glad to see a ship of war come in to stop the Fixed Period, but
hardly one who was pleased to lose his own independence. "But though
that is so," said Sir Ferdinando, a little nettled at the want of
admiration with which his words had been received, "H.M. Government
is under the necessity of putting an end to the constitution under
which the Fixed Period can be allowed to prevail. While you have made
laws for yourselves, any laws so made must have all the force of
law." "That's not so certain," said a voice from a distance, which I
shrewdly suspect to have been that of my hopeful son, Jack Neverbend.
"As Great Britain cannot and will not permit the Fixed Period to be
carried out among any English-speaking race of people--"
"How about the United States?" said a voice.
"The United States have made no such attempt; but I will proceed. It
has therefore sent me out to assume the reins, and to undertake the
power, and to bear the responsibility of being your governor during a
short term of years. Who shall say what the future may disclose? For
the present I shall rule here. But I shall rule by the aid of your
laws."
"Not the Fixed Period law," said Exors, who was seated on the floor
of the chamber immediately under the orator.
"No; that law will be specially wiped out from your statute-book. In
other respects, your laws and those of Great Britain are nearly the
same. There may be divergences, as in reference to the non-infliction
of capital punishment. In such matters I shall endeavour to follow
your wishes, and so to govern you that you may still feel that you
are living under the rule of a president of your own selection." Here
I cannot but think that Sir Ferdinando was a little rash. He did not
quite know the extent of my popularity, nor had he gauged the dislike
which he himself would certainly encounter. He had heard a few voices
in the hall, which, under fear of death, had expressed their dislike
to the Fixed Period; but he had no idea of the love which the people
felt for their own independence, or,--I believe I may say,--for their
own president. There arose in the hall a certain amount of clamour,
in the midst of which Sir Ferdinando sat down.
Then there was a shuffling of feet as of a crowd going away. Sir
Ferdinando having sat down, got up again and shook me warmly by the
hand. I returned his greeting with my pleasantest smile; and then,
while the people were moving, I spoke to them two or three words. I
told them that I should start to-morrow at noon for England, under
a promise made by me to their new governor, and that I purposed to
explain to them, before I went, under what circumstances I had given
that promise, and what it was that I intended to do when I should
reach England. Would they meet me there, in that hall, at eight
o'clock that evening, and hear the last words which I should have
to address to them? Then the hall was filled with a mighty shout,
and there arose a great fury of exclamation. There was a waving of
handkerchiefs, and a holding up of hats, and all those signs of
enthusiasm which are wont to greet the popular man of the hour. And
in the midst of them, Sir Ferdinando Brown stood up upon his legs,
and continued to bow without cessation.
At eight, the hall was again full to overflowing. I had been busy,
and came down a little late, and found a difficulty in making my way
to the chair which Sir Ferdinando had occupied in the morning. I
had had no time to prepare my words, though the thoughts had rushed
quickly,--too quickly,--into my mind. It was as though they would
tumble out from my own mouth in precipitate energy. On my right hand
sat the governor, as I must now call him; and in the chair on my left
was placed my wife. The officers of the gunboat were not present,
having occupied themselves, no doubt, in banking up their fires.
"My fellow-citizens," I said, "a sudden end has been brought to
that self-government of which we have been proud, and by which Sir
Ferdinando has told you that 'ignorance has been expelled from your
shores, and poverty has been forced to hide her diminished head.' I
trust that, under his experience, which he tells us as a governor has
been very extensive, those evils may not now fall upon you. We are,
however, painfully aware that they do prevail wherever the concrete
power of Great Britain is found to be in full force. A man ruling
us,--us and many other millions of subjects,--from the other side of
the globe, cannot see our wants and watch our progress as we can
do ourselves. And even Sir Ferdinando coming upon us with all his
experience, can hardly be able to ascertain how we may be made happy
and prosperous. He has with him, however, a company of a celebrated
English regiment, with its attendant officers, who, by their red
coats and long swords, will no doubt add to the cheerfulness of your
social gatherings. I hope that you may not find that they shall ever
interfere with you after a rougher fashion.
"But upon me, my fellow-citizens, has fallen the great disgrace of
having robbed you of your independence." Here a murmur ran through
the hall, declaring that this was not so. "So your new Governor
has told you, but he has not told you the exact truth. With whom
the doctrine of the Fixed Period first originated, I will not now
inquire. All the responsibility I will take upon myself, though the
honour and glory I must share with my fellow-countrymen.
"Your Governor has told you that he is aware of all the arguments by
which the Fixed Period is maintained; but I think that he must be
mistaken here, as he has not ventured to attack one of them. He has
told us that it is fitting that we should leave the question of life
and death in the hands of the Almighty. If so, why is all Europe
bristling at this moment with arms,--prepared, as we must suppose,
for shortening life,--and why is there a hangman attached to the
throne of Great Britain as one of its necessary executive officers?
Why in the Old Testament was Joshua commanded to slay mighty kings?
And why was Pharaoh and his hosts drowned in the Red Sea? Because the
Almighty so willed it, our Governor will say, taking it for granted
that He willed everything of which a record is given in the Old
Testament. In those battles which have ravished the North-west of
India during the last half-century, did the Almighty wish that men
should perish miserably by ten thousands and twenty thousands? Till
any of us can learn more than we know at present of the will of the
Almighty, I would, if he will allow me, advise our Governor to be
silent on that head.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it would be a long task, and one not to be
accomplished before your bedtime, were I to recount to you, for his
advantage, a few of the arguments which have been used in favour of
the Fixed Period,--and it would be useless, as you are all acquainted
with them. But Sir Ferdinando is evidently not aware that the
general prolongation of life on an average, is one of the effects
to be gained, and that, though he himself might not therefore live
the longer if doomed to remain here in Britannula, yet would his
descendants do so, and would live a life more healthy, more useful,
and more sufficient for human purposes.
"As far as I can read the will of the Almighty, or rather the
progress of the ways of human nature, it is for man to endeavour to
improve the conditions of mankind. It would be as well to say that we
would admit no fires into our establishments because a life had now
and again been lost by fire, as to use such an argument as that now
put forward against the Fixed Period. If you will think of the line
of reasoning used by Sir Ferdinando, you will remember that he has,
after all, only thrown you back upon the old prejudices of mankind.
If he will tell me that he is not as yet prepared to discard them,
and that I am in error in thinking that the world is so prepared,
I may perhaps agree with him. The John Bright in our harbour is
the strongest possible proof that such prejudices still exist. Sir
Ferdinando Brown is now your Governor, a fact which in itself is
strong evidence. In opposition to these witnesses I have nothing to
say. The ignorance which we are told that we had expelled from our
shores, has come back to us; and the poverty is about, I fear, to
show its head." Sir Ferdinando here arose and expostulated. But the
people hardly heard him, and at my request he again sat down.
"I do think that I have endeavoured in this matter to advance too
quickly, and that Sir Ferdinando has been sent here as the necessary
reprimand for that folly. He has required that I shall be banished
to England; and as his order is backed by a double file of
red-coats,--an instrument which in Britannula we do not possess,--I
purpose to obey him. I shall go to England, and I shall there use
what little strength remains to me in my endeavour to put forward
those arguments for conquering the prejudices of the people which
have prevailed here, but which I am very sure would have no effect
upon Sir Ferdinando Brown.
"I cannot but think that Sir Ferdinando gave himself unnecessary
trouble in endeavouring to prove to us that the Fixed Period is a
wicked arrangement. He was not likely to succeed in that attempt. But
he was sure to succeed in telling us that he would make it impossible
by means of the double file of armed men by whom he is accompanied,
and the 250-ton steam-swiveller with which, as he informed me, he is
able to blow us all into atoms, unless I would be ready to start with
Captain Battleax to-morrow. It is not his religion but his strength
that has prevailed. That Great Britain is much stronger than
Britannula none of us can doubt. Till yesterday I did doubt whether
she would use her strength to perpetuate her own prejudices and to
put down the progress made by another people.
"But, fellow-citizens, we must look the truth in the face. In this
generation probably, the Fixed Period must be allowed to be in
abeyance." When I had uttered these words there came much cheering
and a loud sound of triumph, which was indorsed probably by the
postponement of the system, which had its terrors; but I was enabled
to accept these friendly noises as having been awarded to the system
itself. "Well, as you all love the Fixed Period, it must be delayed
till Sir Ferdinando and the English have--been converted."
"Never, never!" shouted Sir Ferdinando; "so godless an idea shall
never find a harbour in this bosom," and he struck his chest
violently.
"Sir Ferdinando is probably not aware to what ideas that bosom may
some day give a shelter. If he will look back thirty years, he will
find that he had hardly contemplated even the weather-watch which he
now wears constantly in his waistcoat-pocket. At the command of his
Sovereign he may still live to carry out the Fixed Period somewhere
in the centre of Africa."
"Never!"
"In what college among the negroes he may be deposited, it may be
too curious to inquire. I, my friends, shall leave these shores
to-morrow; and you may be sure of this, that while the power of
labour remains to me, I shall never desist to work for the purpose
that I have at heart. I trust that I may yet live to return among
you, and to render you an account of what I have done for you and
for the cause in Europe." Here I sat down, and was greeted by the
deafening applause of the audience; and I did feel at the moment that
I had somewhat got the better of Sir Ferdinando.
I have been able to give the exact words of these two speeches, as
they were both taken down by the reporting telephone-apparatus, which
on the occasion was found to work with great accuracy. The words as
they fell from the mouth of the speakers were composed by machinery,
and my speech appeared in the London morning newspapers within an
hour of the time of its utterance.