His lordship here paused to take breath, and Malletort again struck in.
“By authority of that resolution, I have called you together to-night. I cannot conceive it possible that there is present here one dissentient to our great principle of immediate action. Immediate, because thus only simultaneous. At the same time, if any nobleman or gentleman at this table has a suggestion to make, let him now submit his views to the meeting.”
Several heads were bent towards each other, and a good deal of conversation took place in whispers, ere a stout, good-humoured looking man, constituting himself a mouthpiece for the rest, observed bluntly—
“Tell us your plan, Mr. Secretary, and we’ll answer at once. Not one of us is afraid of a leap in the dark, or we should scarcely be here now; but there is no harm in taking a look whilst we can!”
A murmur of applause denoted the concurrence of the majority in this prudent remark, and Malletort, still with his eye on Florian, rose once more to address them.
“I need not recapitulate to this meeting, and especially to you, Sir Rupert (saluting the last speaker), all the details set forth in those secret instructions of which each man present has a copy. The invasion from the Continent will take place on the appointed day, but with this additional assurance of success, that three thousand Irish troops are promised from a quarter on which we can implicitly rely. His lordship here, as you are aware, following the instincts of his illustrious line, assumes the post of honour and the post of danger amongst us in the north, by placing himself at the head of a loyal and enthusiastic multitude, only waiting his signal to take up arms. You, Sir Rupert, have pledged yourself and your dalesmen to overawe the Whigs and Puritans of the east. Other gentlemen, now listening to me, are prepared to bring their several troops of an irregular, but highly efficient cavalry, into the field. To you, who are all intimately acquainted with our military dispositions, I need not insist on the certainty of success. Let each man read over his secret instructions and judge for himself. But gentlemen, the scheme of a campaign on a grand scale is not all with which we have to occupy ourselves. Something more than a military triumph, something more than a victorious battle is indispensable to our complete success. And I need not remind you that there is no compromise between complete success and irremediable disaster. It is an unavoidable choice between St James’s Palace and Temple Bar. I now come to the germ of the undertaking—the essence of the whole movement—the keystone of that bridge we must all pass over to reach the wished-for shore. I allude to the suppression of the Usurper and the fall of the House of Hanover.”
A stir, almost a shudder, went through the assemblage. Men looked askance at the papers on the table, the buckles of their sword-belts, the spur-leathers on their boots, anything rather than betray to their neighbours either too eager an apprehension of the Abbé’s meaning, or too cold an approval of his object. He was speaking high treason with a vengeance, and the one might place them in too dangerous a prominence, while the other might draw down the equally dangerous mistrust of their fellow-conspirators. Malletort knew well what was passing in his hearers’ minds, but he never expected to get the iron hotter than it was to-night, and he struck at it with his whole force.
“The arrangements for our great blow,” said he, “have been confided to a few zealous loyalists, with whose plans, as your Secretary, I have been made acquainted. In five days from the present, King George, as he is still called, returns to Kensington. He will arrive at the palace about dusk. What do I say? He will never arrive there at all! Captain Bold here, whom I have had the honour to present to this meeting, has organised a small body of his old comrades, men of tried bravery and broken fortunes, who are pledged to possess themselves of the Usurper’s person. His guard will be easily overpowered, for it will be outnumbered three to one. The titular Prince of Wales and his children will at the same time be made prisoners, and the chief officers of state secured, if possible without bloodshed. Such a bold stroke, combined with a simultaneous rising here in the north, cannot but insure success. It is for you, gentlemen, to assemble your followers, to hold yourselves in readiness, and trusting implicitly to the co-operation of your friends in London, to declare on the same day for His Majesty King James III.!”
The enthusiasm Malletort contrived to fling into his last sentence caught like wildfire.
“Long live James the Third!”—“Down with the Whigs!” exclaimed several of his listeners; and Sir Rupert flung his hat to the low ceiling ere he placed it on his head, as if preparing to depart; but the tall figure of the elderly nobleman, as he rose from his chair, seemed to dominate the tumult, and every syllable was distinctly audible, while he inquired, gravely—