THE FALL OF SUFFOLK.
[Sidenote: Two years pass away.]
After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Margaret was plunged
in a perfect sea of plots, schemes, manoeuvres, and machinations of
all sorts, which it would take a volume fully to unravel. This state
of things continued for two years, during which time she became more
and more involved in the difficulties and complications which
surrounded her, until at last she found herself in very serious
trouble. I can only here briefly allude to the more prominent sources
of her perplexity.
[Sidenote: Suspicions of the people.]
[Sidenote: Their hearts alienated.]
In the first place, the people of England were very seriously
displeased at the treatment which Gloucester had received. They would
not believe that he died a natural death, and the impression gained
ground very generally that the queen was the cause of his being
murdered. They did not suppose that she literally ordered him to be
put to death, but that she gave hints or intimations, as royal
personages were accustomed to do in such cases in those days, on which
some zealous and unscrupulous follower ventured to act, certain of
pleasing her. As Gloucester had been a general favorite with the
nation, these rumors and suspicions tended greatly to alienate the
hearts of the people from the queen. Many began to hate her. They
called her the French woman, and vented their ill-will in obscure
threats and mutterings.
[Sidenote: Reverses in France.]
[Sidenote: Feeling in England.]
This feeling of hostility to the queen was increased by the very
unfortunate turn that things were taking in France about this time.
The provinces of Maine and Anjou lay directly to the south of
Normandy,[10] which last was the most valuable of the possessions
which the English crown held in France, and these two provinces had
been given up to the French at the time of Margaret's marriage. It was
only on condition that the English would give them up that Lord
Suffolk could induce Margaret's father to consent to the match.
Suffolk was extremely unwilling to surrender these provinces. He knew
that the English nobles and people would be very much dissatisfied as
soon as they learned that it was done, and he feared that he might at
some future day be called to account for having been concerned in the
transaction. But the king was so deeply in love with Margaret that he
insisted on Suffolk's complying with the terms which were exacted by
her friends, and the provinces were ceded.
[Footnote 10: See map at the commencement of the volume.]
[Sidenote: York regent in France.]
The Duke of York was regent in France at that time, but Margaret felt
some uneasiness in respect to his position there. He was the
representative and heir of the rival line; and while it was for her
interest to give him prominence enough under Henry's government to
prevent his growing discontented and desperate, it was not good policy
to exalt him to too high a position. She was accordingly somewhat at a
loss to decide what to do.
[Sidenote: Somerset.]
Soon after the death of Gloucester, Somerset, finding that he was an
object of suspicion, felt himself to be in danger, and he proposed to
Margaret that he should retire into Normandy for a time. Margaret
suggested that he should take the regency of Normandy in the Duke of
York's stead. To this he finally consented. The Duke of York was
recalled, and Somerset went to take command of Normandy in his stead.
[Sidenote: Suffolk's intentions.]
[Sidenote: Exposed frontier.]
At the time that Suffolk negotiated the marriage contract between
Henry and Margaret, a truce had been made with the King of France, as
has already been stated. Suffolk intended and hoped to conclude a
permanent peace, but he could not succeed in accomplishing this. The
King of France, as soon as the marriage was fairly carried into
effect, seemed bent on renewing hostilities, and as he had now the
territories of Maine and Anjou in his possession, with all the castles
and fortresses which those provinces contained, he could advance to
the frontiers of Normandy on that side with great facility, and
organize expeditions for invading the country in the most effective
manner.
[Sidenote: Pretext for war.]
He now only wanted a pretext, and a pretext in such cases is always
soon found. A certain company of soldiers, who had been dismissed from
some place in Maine in consequence of the cession of that province to
France, instead of going across the frontier into Normandy to join the
English forces there, as they ought to have done, went into Brittany,
another French province near, and there organized themselves into a
sort of band of robbers, and committed acts of plunder. The King of
France complained of this to Somerset, for this was after Somerset had
assumed the command as regent, or governor of Normandy. Somerset
admitted the facts, and proposed to pay damages. The king named a sum
so great that Somerset could not or would not pay it, and so war was
again declared.
[Illustration: Rouen.]
[Sidenote: Invasion of Normandy.]
In consequence of the advantages which the King of France enjoyed in
having possession of Maine, he could organize his invading army in a
very effective manner. He crossed the frontier in great force, and
after taking a number of towns and castles, and defeating the English
army in several battles, he at last drove Somerset into Rouen, the
capital of the province--a very ancient and remarkable town--and shut
him up there.
After a short siege Rouen was compelled to capitulate, and, besides
giving up Rouen, Somerset was obliged to surrender several other
important castles and towns in order to obtain his own liberty.
[Sidenote: Normandy lost.]
Things went on in this way during the year 1449, from bad to worse,
until finally the whole of Normandy was lost. The town of Cherbourg,
which has lately become so renowned on account of the immense naval
and military works which have been constructed there, was the last
retreat and refuge of the English, and even from this they were
finally expelled.
[Sidenote: Rage of the English people.]
[Sidenote: The minister responsible.]
The people of England were in a great rage. The principal object of
their resentment was Lord Suffolk, who was now the first minister and
the acknowledged head of the government. During the progress of the
difficulties with Gloucester, Margaret had kept him a great deal in
the background, in order that the public might not associate him with
those transactions, nor hold him in any way responsible for them,
though there was no doubt that he was the queen's confidential friend
and counselor through the whole. After the death of Gloucester he had
been gradually brought forward, and he had now, for some time, been
the acknowledged minister of the crown, and as such responsible,
according to the theory of the British Constitution and to the ideas
of Englishmen, for every thing that was done, and especially for every
thing like misfortune and disaster which occurred.
[Sidenote: Suffolk in danger.]
There was, of course, a great outcry raised against Suffolk, and also,
more covertly, against the queen, who had brought Suffolk into power.
All the mischief originated, too, people said, in the luckless
marriage of Margaret to the king, and the cession of Maine and Anjou
to the French as the price of it. The French would never have been
able to have penetrated into Normandy had it not been for the
advantage they gained in the possession of those provinces on the
frontier.
[Illustration: View of Bordeaux.]
[Sidenote: Guienne.]
There were still large possessions held by the English in the
southwestern part of France on the Garonne. The capital of this
territory, which was the celebrated province of Guienne, was
Bordeaux,[11] a large and important city in those days as now. It
stands on the bank of the river where it begins to widen toward the
sea, and thus it was accessible to the English in their ships as well
as when coming with their armies by land. It was a place of great
strength as well as of commanding position, being provided with
castles and towers to defend it from the landward side, and thick
walls and powerful batteries along the margin of the water.
[Footnote 11: See map.]
[Sidenote: Bordeaux lost.]
Suffolk did all in his power to raise and send off re-enforcements to
the army in Guienne, but it was in vain. The English were driven out
of one town and castle after another, until, at last, Bordeaux itself
fell, and all was lost.
[Sidenote: Excitement in England.]
The resentment and rage of the people of England now knew no bounds.
Suffolk was universally denounced as the author of all these dire
calamities. Lampoons and satires were written against him; he was
hooted sometimes by the populace of London when he appeared in the
streets, and every thing portended a gathering storm. At length, in
the fall of 1449, a Parliament was summoned. When it was convened,
Suffolk appeared in the House of Lords as usual, and, rising in his
place, he called the attention of the peers to the angry and
vindictive denunciations which were daily heaped upon him by the
public, declaring that he was wholly ignorant of the crimes which were
laid to his charge, and challenging his enemies to bring forward any
proof to sustain their accusations.
[Sidenote: Braving the storm.]
A spirit of bold defiance like this might have been successful in some
cases, perhaps, in driving back the tide of hostility and hate which
was rising so rapidly, but in this instance it seemed to have the
contrary effect. The enemies of Suffolk in the House of Commons took
up the challenge at once. They were strong enough to carry the house
with them. They passed an address to the peers, requesting them to
cause Suffolk to be arrested and imprisoned. They would, they said,
immediately bring forward the proofs of his guilt.
[Sidenote: Accusations made.]
The Lords replied that they could not arrest and imprison one of their
number except upon specific charges made against him. Whereupon the
Commons very promptly prepared a list of charges and sent them to the
Lords. On this accusation the Lords ordered Suffolk to be arrested,
and he was sent to the Tower.
[Sidenote: An impeachment.]
[Sidenote: Suffolk in the Tower.]
During the two months that succeeded his arrest his enemies were
busily engaged in preparing the bill of impeachment against him in
form, and collecting the evidence by which they were to sustain it,
while the queen was equally earnest and anxious in the work of
contriving means to save him. She visited him secretly, it is said, in
his prison, and conferred with him on the plan to be pursued. They
seem to have been both convinced that it was impossible for him to
remain in England and ride out the storm. The only course of safety
would be for him to leave the country for a while, provided the means
could be devised for getting him away. What the plan was which they
agreed upon for accomplishing this purpose will appear in the sequel.
[Sidenote: He is arraigned.]
[Sidenote: Suffolk's defense.]
[Sidenote: He appeals to the king.]
At length, on the thirteenth of March, he was summoned before the
House of Lords, and the bill of impeachment was brought forward. There
were a great many charges, beginning with that of having wickedly and
with corrupt motives surrendered, and so lost forever to the crown,
the provinces of Maine and Anjou, and going on to numerous accusations
of malfeasance in office, of encroachments on the prerogatives of the
king, and of acts in which the interest and honor of the country had
been sacrificed to his own personal ambition or private ends.
Suffolk defended himself in a general speech, without, however,
demanding, as he was entitled to do, a formal trial by his peers.
These proceedings occupied several days--as long as any lingering hope
remained in Suffolk's mind of his being able to stem the torrent. At
length, however, on the seventeenth of March, finding that the
pressure against him was continually increasing, and that there would
be no chance of an acquittal if he were to claim a trial, he appealed
to the king to decide his case, saying that, though he was entirely
innocent of the crimes charged against him, he would submit himself
entirely to his majesty's will.
[Sidenote: Sentence of banishment.]
In response to this appeal, the king declared, through the proper
officer, in the House of Lords, that he would not decide upon the
question of the guilt or innocence of the accused, since he had not
demanded a trial, but he thought it best, under all the circumstances
of the case, that Suffolk should leave the country. He therefore
issued a decree of banishment against him for five years. He was
required to leave England before the first of May, and not to put his
foot upon any English soil until the five years were expired.
[Sidenote: The people enraged.]
[Sidenote: A riot.]
The Lords were much displeased at having the affair thus taken out of
their hands. They made a formal protest against this decision, but
they could do nothing more. The people, too, were very much enraged.
They declared that Suffolk should never leave London alive; and on the
day when they expected that he was to be taken from the Tower to be
conveyed to France, a mob of two thousand men collected in the
streets, resolved to kill him.
[Sidenote: Suffolk escapes by sea.]
But the queen devised means for enabling him to evade them. Some of
his servants and followers were seized, but he succeeded in making his
escape, and, after going to his castle in the country, and making some
hurried arrangements there, he went down to the sea-coast at Ipswich,
a town in the eastern part of the island, and there embarked for
France in a vessel which the queen had taken the precaution to have
ready there for him.
[Sidenote: Suffolk made prisoner again.]
The vessel immediately sailed, steering to the southward, of course,
toward the Straits of Dover. As she was passing through the Straits,
between Dover and Calais, a man-of-war named the Nicholas of the
Tower, hove in sight, coming up to the vessel just as they were
sending a boat on shore at Calais to inquire whether Suffolk would be
allowed to land there. The boat was intercepted. At the same time, a
boat from the man-of-war came on board the vessel, bringing officers
who were instructed to search her thoroughly. Of course, they found
Suffolk on board, and the officer, as soon as Suffolk was discovered,
informed him that he must go with him on board the man-of-war.
Suffolk had no alternative but to obey. The captain of the man-of-war
received him, as he stepped upon the deck, with the words, I am glad
to see you, traitor, or something to that effect. Such a salutation
must have plainly indicated to Suffolk what was before him. The
man-of-war moved toward the English shore, and began to make signals
to some parties on the land. She remained there for two days,
exchanging signals in this way from time to time, and apparently
awaiting orders.
[Sidenote: His execution in a boat.]
At length, on the third day, a boat came off from the shore, provided
with every thing that was necessary for the execution of a criminal.
There was a platform with a block upon it, an axe, or cleaver of some
sort, and an executioner. Suffolk was conveyed on board the boat, and
there, with very little ceremony, his head was laid upon the block,
and the executioner immediately commenced his task of severing it from
the body. But, either from the unsteadiness of the boat, or the
unsuitableness of the instrument, or the clumsiness of the operator,
five several blows were required before the bloody deed was done.
[Sidenote: Disposal of the body.]
The boat immediately proceeded to the shore. The men on board threw
out the dissevered remains upon the beach, and then went away.
Some friends of Suffolk, hearing what had been done, came down to the
beach, and, finding the separate portions of the body lying in the
sand where they had been thrown, placed them reverently together
again, and gave them honorable burial.