Mary of Burgundy; or, The Revolt of Ghent

by G. P. R. James

CHAPTER XXIV.

In the meantime, many events had occurred within the walls of the city of Ghent, of which some account must be given, though perhaps it may be necessary to follow the same desultory course in which they are related in shrewd old Philip de Commines and pompous Jean de Molinet.

The quelled tumult, the extinguished fire, and the prompt justice done upon some of the incendiaries, spread in a thousand shapes through the town; and as, whenever Fame has marked a hero for her own, she never fails to load him with many more honours than his due, Albert Maurice had soon acquired the reputation of a thousand miracles of skill, and courage, and judgment, far beyond the acts he had really performed. Thus, when, after a brief sleep and a hasty meal, he issued forth from his house the next morning, and rode on to the town-house, he found the people--on whose wrath for their thwarted passions he had fully counted--ready, on the contrary, to shout gratulations and plaudits on his path. At the town-house, the syndics and notables of all the trades had already assembled, and the druggist Ganay was in the very act of proposing that an address of thanks and applause should be voted to the young burgher for his noble and courageous conduct of the preceding evening. Albert Maurice, however, was not to be blinded; and even when the druggist was declaiming vehemently against the outrages of the foregoing night, and lamenting that the populace had dealt upon the eschevins without due judgment by law, the eye of the young citizen fixed upon him with a glance of keen reproach, which Ganay at once translated, and translated rightly--"You have deceived me."

To have done so, however, was no matter of shame to the dark and artful man who was speaking; and, as their eyes met, a slight smile of triumphant meaning curled his lip, while, with a fresh burst of eloquence, he called upon the assembly to testify their admiration of the man who had saved the city from pillage and conflagration. The address of thanks was carried by acclamation; and Albert Maurice soon found that it was the determination of the more active part of the citizens, under the immediate influence of Ganay, to carry forward, with eager rapidity, all those bold measures which would deprive the sovereigns of any real power for the future, and place it entirely in the hands of the people--or rather, in the hands of whatever person had courage, energy, and talent, to snatch it from their grasp, and retain it in his own. Twenty-six eschevins, together with the lieutenant-bailli, and three pensioners, were immediately elected by the citizens, to replace those who had been massacred, and to administer the law; but the grand bailli and chief pensioner were still to be chosen, and Albert Maurice with surprise heard the determination of the citizens to confound those two high offices in his own person. From the body of magistrates, three persons were selected, as a president and two consuls, as they were called, and extraordinary powers were entrusted to them. The president named at once was the chief officer of the city, Albert Maurice; and Ganay, the druggist, was added as one of the consuls. The third office was not so easily filled; and a strong attempt was made to raise to it a fierce and brutal man, whose talents perhaps appeared greater than they really were, from the total want of any of the restraints of feeling and moral principle, to limit the field in which they were exercised.

Some one, however, luckily proposed the name of worthy Martin Fruse; and his nomination, seconded by the eloquent voice of his nephew, was instantly acquiesced in by all. A slight cloud passed over the brow of the druggist, as he found his power likely to be counterbalanced by the influence of one, who, if he possessed no other quality to render him great, had at least that rectitude of feeling, which was a fearful stumbling-block in the way of crooked designs. But unchangeable determination of purpose, and unscrupulous exercise of means, had rendered the druggist so often successful in things which seemed hopeless, that he bore, with scarcely a care, any change of circumstances, confident of finding some path to his object in the end.

After one of those noisy and tumultuous assemblies, in the course of which, though no business is transacted with calm reason, an infinity of acts are performed by impulse, the meeting at the town-house broke up; and while Martin Fruse returned to his dwelling on foot, as was his usual custom, Albert Maurice and the druggist mounted their horses, and rode slowly homeward. Their conversation was long and rapid--too long, indeed, for transcription here; but the commencement of it must not be omitted, even for the sake of brevity.

"Ganay, you have deceived me!" said Albert Maurice, as soon as they were in some degree free from the crowd.

"I have!" was the calm reply of the druggist. "You are ungrateful, Albert. You have never thanked me for it. What, you would pretend you do not see cause for thanks! Had not the populace taken it into their own hands, the council must have condemned those foul vultures who have so long preyed upon us. Ay, I say must; and then whose name, but that of Albert Maurice, must have stood amongst others in the order for their death? As I have managed it, the severity was no act of yours. You have offended none--no, not even the princess; and, on the contrary, you have had the means of adding, in one night, more to your fame, than your whole life has won before. You have had an opportunity of winning honour and respect from commons and from nobles, and love and gratitude from Mary of Burgundy. Still farther, have you not in one night, in consequence of acts with which you accuse me almost as a crime--have you not climbed to the very height of power in your native land? ay, I say the height of power, for who is there, be he duke, or count, or prince, who has so much authority as he who sways the power of all the people of Flanders? A few steps more, and your hand may seize the----"

"The what?" demanded Albert Maurice, as the other paused.

"No matter," replied the druggist. "The gates of ambition are cast wide open before you; and you must on, whether you will or not."

"Ha! and who shall force me?" demanded Albert Maurice.

"Fate! Destiny!" answered the druggist. "'Tis many years ago, and you were then a mere boy; but I remember your fate was predicted in the forest of Hannut by that gloomy lord whose only commune, for many a year, had been with the bright stars. 'Twas one night when we fell accidentally into the hands of the free companions--and he foretold that you should go on from power to power, successfully through life; and that no one should check you but yourself."

"And do you believe in such vain dreams?" rejoined Albert Maurice.

"I believe," replied the druggist, gravely, "that our lot through life is immutably fixed from the cradle to the grave; that like a wild horse we may foam and plunge, or like a dull jade plod onward at a foot pace--but that the firm rider, Fate, still spurs us on upon the destined course; and when the stated goal is won, casts down the bridle on our neck, and leaves us to repose. I believe, too, that the stars, as well as many other things, may tell, to those who study them, events to come; for depend upon it, everything throughout the universe fits closely, like the blocks cut for a perfect arch; so that, from the form and position of the neighbouring stones, a person, who has deeply studied, may tell to a certainty the shape and size of any other."

Albert Maurice mused for a moment over the confession of this strange creed, and its illustration, and then demanded--"What did the old lord say concerning me?"

The druggist repeated his former words; and his young companion again mused for a brief space. Then suddenly bringing back the conversation to the matter in which it arose, he repeated--"Ganay, you have deceived me; and not for my interest, but for your own revenge. You have worked your will; and I trust that you are now sated. Better for us both to labour together as far as may be, than stand in the very outset face to face as foes. Are you contented with the blood already shed?"

"There must be one more!" said the druggist, resolutely.

"And who do you aim at now?" demanded the young citizen, with no small loathing and horror towards his companion; but yet with a conviction that, by some means, he would accomplish his purpose.

"It matters not," replied Ganay; "but set your mind at ease. The man to whom I point is less an enemy to myself than an enemy to the state; and I give you my promise that I will practise nought against his life but with your consent. So guilty is he, and so convinced shall you be of his guilt, that your own hand shall sign the warrant for his death. But, oh! Albert Maurice, if you believe that the blood shed last night is all that must be shed to effect the purposes you seek, sadly, sadly do you deceive yourself. Prepare to bid it flow like water, or betake you to a monastery! Ambition joined to faint-hearted pity, is like a tame lion at a show, led about by a woman."

"But there is such a thing as patriotism," rejoined Albert Maurice--yet he named the virtue but faintly, compared with the tone in which he would have mentioned it three days before.

"Ay," said the druggist; "patriotism! The first step to ambition--but that stage is past."

Well did Ganay know that there exists no means of persuading a human being to any course of action, so powerful as by convincing him it is inevitable. To do so, however, there must be probability as a basis; and Ganay had watched too closely the most minute turns of his companion's behaviour during many months, not to divine the spark of ambition lying half smothered at the bottom of his heart. Nor had the effect of Mary of Burgundy's eyes upon the colour and the voice of Albert Maurice been lost upon the keen spirit that followed him; and he fancied he beheld an easy method of bending him to his own purpose. He saw, indeed, that, if either by love, or any other means, he succeeded in fanning that spark of ambition into a flame, he must leave him to run his course without a struggle, or a hope to deprive him of the prize; nay, that he must aid him with his whole cunning to raise up a new authority in the land, on the basis of that which they were about to overthrow. But Ganay was not ambitious of aught but avarice and revenge; and he soon perceived that these two master passions of his soul must be gratified by Albert Maurice in his ascent to power.

As he rode on, he spoke long of their future prospects. He cast away, at once, the enthusiastic cant he had at one time assumed towards him, of patriotism and the entire abnegation of self; and, in order to habituate his mind fully to the dreams of ambition, he spoke of them as things already determined and to be. But still, to smooth the transition, he failed not to point out the mighty benefits that a ruler with a truly liberal heart might confer upon his people--it mattered not what he was called--governor, lord, duke, prince, or king. As for a pure republic, the land was not yet in a state fit for it, he said: but what a boon--a mighty boon--might not that man grant to the whole world, who, starting up from amongst the people, were to rule them for their own happiness alone, and to show to other monarchs the immense advantages of such a sway!

"But if you speak of this land," replied Albert Maurice, in whose heart he had discovered the unfortified spot--"but if you speak of this land, how can any man so start up, without tearing her inheritance from the gentlest, the noblest of beings?"

"By one means alone," answered Ganay, in a grave, decided tone; "by uniting her fate with his own."

Albert Maurice, thrown off his guard by so bold and straightforward an allusion to that which was passing in his own heart, suddenly drew in his rein, and glanced his eye over the countenance of the druggist, to see if there were no sneer at the presumption of his very dreams, hidden beneath the calm tone which the other assumed. But all was tranquil, and even stern; and, after a momentary pause, the young burgher replied, though with a flushed and burning cheek--"If--as we know her to be--she is so gentle, and noble, and kind-hearted, as you admit, why not leave her to rule her hereditary lands by the dictates of her generous will?"

"What! before a year be over," cried Ganay, "to give her hand, and with it the wealth, and welfare, and happiness of her people, to some of the proud tyrants under which the country groans; or, at the instigation of her intriguing ministers, to bestow the whole upon some foreign prince, who will come amongst us without one sympathy, to grind into the dust the stranger subjects given him like serfs, as a part of his wife's portion! Is this what you would have?"

Albert Maurice was silent, but not so Ganay; and as they proceeded, with poisonous eloquence he poured forth every argument, to show both the necessity and the facility of the course he suggested. He cited Artevelde, as an instance of what talented ambition had accomplished in that very city, and in an age when all the institutions of feudal pride were a thousand-fold stricter than they had since become. He depicted him, now a lackey in a noble house in France, and then a mead-brewer in Ghent, and then a popular leader, and then a companion of kings, seated beside the conquering and accomplished Edward of England, treating as a prince with Philip of France, waging war at the head of mighty armies, and balancing the fate of Europe by his power. He had fallen, at length, he said, it was true; but he had fallen by his vices and his follies; and as far as virtues, talents, courage, or accomplishments, went, could Artevelde compete, for one hour, with the man to whom he then spoke. The one was a lackey, risen from the lowest order of the state, the other sprang from the highest class of the burghers of the first commercial city in the north of Europe--burghers who already ranked almost with nobility, and who, in fact, should rank far higher.

With the skill of a practised musician, whose finger lights with nice precision on all the tones and half tones of his instruments, Ganay found means to touch every feeling in the bosom of the young burgher, and make every chord vibrate with the sound that he desired. True it is, indeed, that the heart of Albert Maurice was not one to have been thus worked upon, had not the feelings been already there; and the task of his companion--an easy one in comparison--was merely to excite those feelings into stronger action.

At length they reached the door of his own dwelling; and Albert Maurice alighted from his horse, without asking the druggist to do so too. But Ganay rode on contented; for he saw that he had given the young citizen matter for thoughts which sought to be indulged in private, and he desired no better. Nor had his words failed to sink deep. Albert Maurice, indeed, passed rapidly over, in his own mind, all the intermediate steps; but there rested behind, as a result, the proud, the inspiring conviction, that all which he chose to snatch at was within his grasp--that in one single day he had reached a height of power, from which it was but a step to the side of Mary of Burgundy; and the conviction was a dangerous one for his virtue and his peace. Much, however, was still to be done; and he sat down to revolve all that must be attempted and effected, in order to render the daring hopes of mingled love and ambition, with which his own heart beat, a passion of the people--to crush, or scatter, or circumvent the many rivals that must and would arise--and to win the love of her, upon whose affections all his dreams were founded. For the latter object, he felt that it was necessary to bury deep in his own heart the aspirations which rose within it, till manifold communings, service, and tenderness, should have ripened the esteem, in which he saw he was held, into warmer feelings. Thus he pondered, till, before he was aware, schemes were formed, and deeds were prepared, which all eternity could not annul.

The following days passed much in the same manner; but each day brought forward to the light some of the many difficulties with which the young citizen was destined to contend in his progress towards the great object before his eyes, but which, having calculated upon them from the first, he was prepared to meet as soon as they assumed a tangible form. During the course of the morning which followed the day of his elevation to the supreme power in the city, the levy of a large body of troops was voted, and the entire command was assigned to himself: but, before night, the Lord of Ravestein, the Duke of Cleves, and the Bishop of Liege arrived, to counsel and support the princess; and though each came separately, their trains, united, amounted to nearly a thousand men. A wary guard, however, was held upon the gates of Ghent, and only thirty attendants were allowed to pass within the walls in company with each of the noble visitors; while, much to the discontent of their lords, the rest were sent back to their various territories.

A new scene of intrigue immediately followed the arrival of these princes in the palace; and it soon reached the ears of Albert Maurice, that the Duke of Cleves was moving heaven and earth to obtain the hand of the orphan Princess of Burgundy for his son. Almost at the same time, good Martin Fruse received intelligence, from a quarter which we already know, that Louis XI. sought to unite France and Burgundy, by a union between the heiress of Charles the Bold and his sickly child, the Dauphin; and it soon became evident, that Imbercourt and Hugonet, supported by the Lord of Ravestein, were eagerly pressing Mary to sacrifice her own feelings to the benefit of her country, and to bestow her hand upon the feeble boy.

Clear, however--most clear, it was, both to Albert Maurice and to the druggist Ganay, that while these parties contended for mastery, they must equally court the people of Ghent, and more especially must bow to the young citizen himself, whose power they all well knew, and whose designs they did not suspect. Of neither of the parties at the court did Albert Maurice at first entertain much fear; for he felt sure that the heart of Mary of Burgundy, however tutored to sacrifice her own will, would strongly revolt against either alliance--the one with a fierce and brutal sot--the other with a sickly child. But tidings speedily arrived, which made him fear that force or terror would soon compel the unhappy girl to yield herself to France. News now reached him that Louis was already in the field, that Picardy was full of the troops of France, and that Commines and Bourbon were advancing along the line of the Somme. An ambassador, too, he was warned at the same time, was on his way from France to Ghent; and to show the young citizen that he was sent rather to tamper with the people, than to negotiate with the princess, or even with the municipal council, copies of his commission and instructions readied Albert Maurice from an unknown source, together with an assurance that some days would yet elapse before he could appear at the gates.

The near approach of the ambassador, whom we have already seen delayed on his journey, remained unknown in the palace; but hourly tidings were received of the progress of the French king, and of his unjust claims upon the whole inheritance of the late Duke of Burgundy. The pretences he set forth were so futile and absurd--so contrary to every principle of law or justice, that every one believed his sole object was to force the heiress of Burgundy into an immediate marriage with his son. Imbercourt, Hugonet, and all the ministers of the late duke, saw his proceedings in the same point of view, and incessantly besought the unhappy Mary to yield to her fate, and, before her dominions were entirely incorporated with France, to avert the misfortunes that must fall upon herself and her people, by yielding her hand to the Dauphin.

The same conclusion in regard to the motives of Louis XI. was drawn by the Duke of Cleves; but the result on his own conduct was totally different. Instead of beseeching Mary to yield to necessity, he opposed such advice with determined and angry vehemence. He stigmatized Hugonet and Imbercourt as traitors; and, in order to destroy the powerful party opposed to his own views in the council of the princess, he laid himself out to court the people; rode side by side with Albert Maurice through the streets of the city, amidst the shouts of the multitude; and, after having excited the municipal body to petition that their president might have a seat in the provincial council of Flanders, he himself presented the address, which he knew that neither Mary nor her ministers dared to refuse.

Albert Maurice, however, suffered himself not to be dazzled; and though joy inexpressible thrilled at his heart at every triumphant step he took in advance; though his whole soul rejoiced at the constant opportunity now afforded him of daily communication with her he dared to love; yet he allowed neither passion nor success for a moment to relax his energies or his watchfulness; and he yielded to the pretensions of the Duke of Cleves in favour of his son, only so far as might stay the precipitate haste with which the French alliance might otherwise have been concluded.

With Imbercourt he clashed continually; and the firm, calm reasoning of the minister was constantly met and overpowered by the fiery and brilliant eloquence of the young citizen. Nor was he, even in opposing her faithful and her esteemed minister, without deriving some encouragement from the eyes of Mary herself, whenever the discussion took place in her presence; for though she both loved and reverenced the wise and gallant friend of her father, who advocated, for her own interests, the proposed union with the Dauphin; yet to her heart that union was so repugnant, that she could not but look with pleasure on every one who opposed it, nor listen without delight to arguments which gave her new courage to resist.

Nor did Albert Maurice ever support the idea of her marriage with another; so that while advancing his own design, and winning both her gratitude and admiration, he was never found in opposition to her wishes; and still, when he appeared, she welcomed his coming with a smile and with a look of pleasure, which, without the slightest purpose of deceit, served painfully to deceive.

Nevertheless, the Duke of Cleves made rapid progress; and, not contented with the efforts of the young citizen to oppose the French alliance, he left no means untried to stimulate the people to support his own design. The watchful eye of Albert Maurice was indeed upon him, but still his strides towards the accomplishment of his schemes were more speedy than the other had anticipated; and the cries he heard, when riding, one day, towards the palace, of "Long live the Duke of Cleves! Long live his gallant son!" showed him at once that it was time to raise up some barrier against his pretensions. At the same time, he felt, that to give even a slight support to the opposite party might prove fatal to his hopes; and, after a long consultation with Ganay, he determined to seek out some one who might openly pretend to Mary's hand, and draw away the countenance of the people from the Duke of Cleves; but whose pretensions would be even more repugnant, not only to herself, but to her ministers, her friends, and her nobles, than even his own might prove at an after-period. But who was to be the man?

Accompanied by the crowd of attendants, who now always followed his footsteps when he rode forth, as chief magistrate of Ghent, Albert Maurice hastened to the palace, some minutes before the council met, and was admitted to the presence of the princess, whose smile gave him even a more glad reception than ordinary. She was not alone, however; for besides her usual train of ladies, a page, a chamberlain, and a man dressed as a peasant, but whose scarred cheek told tales of warlike broils, stood before her when he entered.

"Oh! you are most welcome, Sir President," said the princess, "and have come to afford me counsel at a good moment. Here is a ring just returned to me, which I gave some months ago to a stranger who saved me, I believe, from death, in a thunderstorm, near Tirlemont. I promised, at the same time, that on his sending it back, I would grant whatever he might ask, if it were consistent with my honour and my dignity. Look what he says on this slip of parchment. 'He, to whom the Duchess of Burgundy gave this ring, demands, as the boon of which it was a pledge, the instant liberation of Adolphus, Duke of Gueldres, and his restoration to his own domains.'"

Albert Maurice almost started; for there was a strange coincidence between the demand which the princess had just read, and the thoughts which had been passing in his mind as he rode thither. "Lady," he said, "it seems to me that there is but one counsel to be given you. Your word is plighted; the liberation of the Duke of Gueldres--monster though he be, is consistent with your honour and dignity; and your promise must be fulfilled."

"You always judge nobly, Sir President," replied the princess; "and I thank you now, and ever shall thank you, for supporting that which is just and generous, however contrary it may be to apparent interests."

"Believe me, madam," replied the young citizen, bending low to conceal the joy that sparkled in his eyes, "believe me that it shall ever be my endeavour both to forward your best interests and those of the country, which are, indeed, inseparable; and I would ask you as a boon, through all the future, whatever you may see or think strange in my demeanour, to rest assured that your good and my country's are still the motive."

"I will--I will, indeed," replied the Princess; "for it would be hard to make me suppose that you, whom I have seen act so nobly in circumstances of personal danger and difficulty, would forget your honour and integrity, when trusted by our countrymen and your sovereign."

A slight flush passed over the cheek of Albert Maurice, at such praise. It was not exactly that he knew himself undeserving of it, for he had laboured hard and successfully to convince his own mind that his aggrandizement, the welfare of the country--ay, and he almost hoped, the happiness of Mary herself, were inseparably united. He replied, however--not with words of course, for his lightest thoughts were seldom commonplace--but vaguely; and, after a few questions addressed to the man who bore the ring, which he seemed unwilling to answer, the princess rendered her promise to liberate the Duke of Gueldres definite, and the messenger was suffered to depart.

At the meeting of the council, which followed immediately, the matter was discussed and concluded, and the orders to set the duke at liberty were instantly despatched. They were accompanied, however, by an express command from the princess--whose abhorrence for that base, unnatural son, turbulent subject, and faithless friend, was unconcealed--that he should immediately retire to his own domains, and never present himself before her.

Most important matters occupied the council also. New tidings had been received from the frontiers; and all those tidings were evil. No doubt could now exist, that while his principal officers were invading the Duchy of Burgundy in the east, Louis XI., with an overwhelming force, was marching onward towards Flanders, taking possession of all those fair lands which had descended to the unhappy princess at the death of her father, and meeting with little opposition on his way. Already Abbeville had thrown open its gates. Ham, Bohain, St. Quentin, Roye, and Montdidier, had followed; and Peronne--proud impregnable Peronne--had been yielded at the first summons.

Again the Lord of Imbercourt boldly and strongly urged the absolute necessity of propitiating the King of France, and arresting his farther progress, by the immediate union, or at least affiancing, of the Princess of Burgundy and the heir of the French crown. It was the only means, he said--it was the only hope of preserving any part of the dominions, which, by various events, had been united under the coronet of Burgundy; and was it not better, he asked, for the princess to carry them as a dowry to her husband, than to come portionless to the same prince at last, and receive the honour of his alliance as a matter of grace and favour?

"My lords," replied Albert Maurice, rising as soon as the other had sat down, "already a thousand times have you heard my arguments against the base and ungenerous step proposed; often have I shown, by reasoning, that the interests of France and Burgundy are as distinct as it is possible to conceive, and that centuries must elapse before they can be united. But, if such be the case with the duchy of Burgundy itself, and all its immediate dependencies, how much more so is it the case with Flanders and Brabant. With England, the eternal enemy of France, has ever been our great commercial intercourse; to our friendship with England do we owe our commercial existence; and the moment that this land is united to the enemy of that great country, that moment our wealth, our prosperity, our being a distinct land, is at an end. All this I have shown, taking a mere political view: but remembering that I spoke to knights and nobles, to men who can feel for national honour, and fear national disgrace, I have also pointed out the shame--the burning shame--it would be in the eyes of all Christendom, the moment that your bold and gallant prince is dead, to truckle to his often worsted enemy; to yield to Louis the lands which Charles the Bold so stoutly maintained against him; and to give his daughter's hand to the son of that base foe, whose dark and traitorous intrigues effected, more than aught on earth, your sovereign's overthrow and death. Already have I demanded why, instead of all those degrading concessions, you do not prepare defences in the field: and why, rather than talk of yielding tamely to an unjust tyrant, you do not go forth to encounter him with lance and sword, as in the days of the great duke? But now I must use another language--language more bold and more decided--and say that Flanders, Hainault, and Brabant, will never consent to be the slaves of France: France, who has so often wronged us, and whose efforts, vain as they have been, have never ceased to grasp at the dominion of these lands. More! I say--and by my voice the three united states now speak to the councils of Burgundy--that we will consider and pursue, as a false and perfidious traitor, bought with the gold of France to betray his lady's interest, that man, whoever he may be, who henceforth proposes the subjection of these lands to a French prince."

The Duke of Cleves eagerly supported the bold speech of the young citizen, as did also the Bishop of Liege, more perhaps from personal hatred to Imbercourt, than from any real disapprobation of the French alliance. Warm and violent words passed on all parts; and the discussion had reached a pitch of dangerous turbulence, when it was announced that the Count de Meulan, envoy extraordinary from the King of France, had just entered the city, and taken up his abode at the principal inn of the place.

This news gave a different turn to the deliberations of the council; and after determining that the reception of the ambassador should take place the following day, the assembly broke up; and its various members separated, with those feelings of personal animosity burning in their bosoms, which have so often proved fatal to great designs.