Sybil, or the Two Nations Part 57

"Lor! Dusty, you quite terrify one," said Caroline.

"It's a true bill though. Instead of going to the Temple we must meet on the Moor, and in as great numbers as possible. Go you and get all your sweethearts. I must see your father, Harriet; he must preside. We will have the hymn of Labour sung by a hundred thousand voices in chorus. It will strike terror into the hearts of the Capitalists. This is what we must all be thinking of if we wish Labour to have a chance, not of going to Chaffing Jack's and listening to silly songs. D'ye understand?"

"Don't we!" said Caroline; "and for my part for a summer eve I prefer Mowbray Moor to all the Temples in the world, particularly if it's a sociable party and we have some good singing."

This evening it was settled among the princ.i.p.al champions of the cause of Labour, among whom Devilsdust was now included, that on the morrow there should be a monster meeting on the Moor to take into consideration the arrest of the delegate of Mowbray. Such was the complete organisation of this district that by communicating with the various lodges of the Trades Unions fifty thousand persons, or even double that number, could within four-and-twenty hours on a great occasion and on a favourable day be brought into the field. The morrow being a day of rest was favourable, and the seizure of their cherished delegate was a stimulating cause. The excitement was great, the enthusiasm earnest and deep. There was enough distress to make people discontented without depressing them. And Devilsdust after attending a council of the Union, retired to rest and dreamed of strong speeches and spicy resolutions, bands and banners, the cheers of a.s.sembled thousands, and the eventual triumph of the sacred rights.

The post of the next morning brought great and stirring news to Mowbray.

Gerard had undergone his examination at Bow Street. It was a long and laborious one; he was committed for trial for a seditious conspiracy, but he was held to bail. The bail demanded was heavy; but it was prepared and instantly proffered. His sureties were Morley and a Mr Hatton. By this post Morley wrote to his friends, apprising them that both Gerard and himself intended to leave London instantly, and that they might be expected to arrive at Mowbray by the evening train.

The monster meeting of the Moor it was instantly resolved should be converted into a triumphant procession, or rather be preceded by one.

Messengers on horseback were sent to all the neighbouring towns to announce the great event. Every artisan felt as a Moslemin summoned by the sacred standard. All went forth with their wives and their children to hail the return of the patriot and the martyr. The Trades of Mowbray mustered early in the morning, and in various processions took possession of all the churches. Their great pride was entirely to fill the church of Mr St Lys, who not daunted by their demonstration, and seizing the offered opportunity, suppressed the sermon with which he had supplied himself and preached to them an extemporary discourse on "Fear G.o.d and honour the King." In the dissenting chapels thanksgivings were publicly offered that bail had been accepted for Walter Gerard. After the evening service, which the Unions again attended, they formed in the High Street and lined it with their ranks and banners. Every half hour a procession arrived from some neighbouring town with its music and streaming flags. Each was received by Warner or some other member of the managing committee, who a.s.signed to them their appointed position, which they took up without confusion, nor was the general order for a moment disturbed. Sometimes a large party arrived without music or banners, but singing psalms and headed by their minister; sometimes the children walked together, the women following, then the men each with a ribbon of the same colour in his hat: all hurried, yet spontaneous and certain, indications how mankind under the influence of high and earnest feelings recur instantly to ceremony and form; how when the imagination is excited it appeals to the imagination, and requires for its expression something beyond the routine of daily life.

It was arranged that the moment the train arrived and the presence of Gerard was ascertained, the Trade in position nearest to the station should commence the hymn of Labour, which was instantly to be taken up by its neighbour, and so on in succession, so that by an almost electrical agency the whole population should almost simultaneously be a.s.sured of his arrival.

At half past six o'clock the bell announced that the train was in sight; a few minutes afterwards Dandy Mick hurried up to the leader of the nearest Trade, spoke a few words, and instantly the signal was given and the hymn commenced. It was taken up as the steeples of a great city in the silence of the night take up the new hour that has just arrived; one by one the mighty voices rose till they all blended in one vast waving sea of sound. Warner and some others welcomed Gerard and Morley, and ushered them, totally unprepared for such a reception, to an open carriage drawn by four white horses that was awaiting them. Orders were given that there was to be no cheering or any irregular clamour. Alone was heard the hymn. As the carriage pa.s.sed each Trade, they followed and formed in procession behind it; thus all had the opportunity of beholding their chosen chief, and he the proud consolation of looking on the mult.i.tude who thus enthusiastically recognised the sovereignty of his services.

The interminable population, the mighty melody, the incredible order, the simple yet awful solemnity, this representation of the great cause to which she was devoted under an aspect that at once satisfied the reason, captivated the imagination, and elevated the heart--her admiration of her father, thus ratified as it were by the sympathy of a nation--added to all the recent pa.s.sages of her life teeming with such strange and trying interest, overcame Sybil. The tears fell down her cheek as the carriage bore away her father, while she remained under the care of one unknown to the people of Mowbray, but who had accompanied her from London,--this was Hatton.

The last light of the sun was shed over the Moor when Gerard reached it, and the Druids' altar and its surrounding crags were burnished with its beam.

Book 5 Chapter 11

It was the night following the day after the return of Gerard to Mowbray. Morley, who had lent to him and Sybil his cottage in the dale, was at the office of his newspaper, the Mowbray Phalanx, where he now resided. He was alone in his room writing, occasionally rising from his seat and pacing the chamber, when some one knocked at his door.

Receiving a permission to come in, there entered Hatton.

"I fear I am disturbing an article," said the guest.

"By no means: the day of labour is not at hand. I am very pleased to see you."

"My quarters are not very inviting," continued Hatton. "It is remarkable what bad accommodation you find in these great trading towns. I should have thought that the mercantile traveller had been a comfortable animal--not to say a luxurious; but I find everything mean and third-rate. The wine execrable. So I thought I would come and bestow my tediousness on you. 'Tis hardly fair."

"You could not have pleased me better. I was, rather from distraction than from exigency, throwing some thoughts on paper. But the voice of yesterday still lingers in my ear."

"What a spectacle!"

"Yes; you see what a mult.i.tude presents who have recognised the predominance of Moral Power," said Morley. "The spectacle was august; but the results to which such a public mind must lead are sublime."

"It must have been deeply gratifying to our friend," said Hatton.

"It will support him in his career," said Morley.

"And console him in his prison," added Hatton.

"You think that it will come to that?" said Morley inquiringly.

"It has that aspect; but appearances change."

"What should change them?"

"Time and accident, which change everything."

"Time will bring the York a.s.sizes," said Morley musingly; "and as for accident I confess the future seems to me dreary. What can happen for Gerard?"

"He might win his writ of right," said Hatton demurely, stretching out his legs and leaning back in his chair. "That also may be tried at the York a.s.sizes."

"His writ of right! I thought that was a feint--a mere affair of tactics to keep the chance of the field."

"I believe the field may be won," said Hatton very composedly.

"Won!"

"Ay! the castle and manor of Mowbray and half the lords.h.i.+ps round, to say nothing of this good town. The people are prepared to be his subjects; he must give up equality and be content with being a popular sovereign."

"You jest my friend."

"Then I speak truth in jest; sometimes, you know, the case."

"What mean you?" said Morley rising and approaching Hatton; "for though I have often observed you like a biting phrase, you never speak idly.

Tell me what you mean."

"I mean," said Hatton, looking Morley earnestly in the face and speaking with great gravity, "that the doc.u.ments are in existence which prove the t.i.tle of Walter Gerard to the proprietors.h.i.+p of this great district; that I know where the doc.u.ments are to be found; and that it requires nothing but a resolution equal to the occasion to secure them."

"Should that be wanting?" said Morley.

"I should think not," said Hatton. "It would belie our nature to believe so."

"And where are these doc.u.ments?"

"In the muniment room of Mowbray castle."

"Hah!" exclaimed Morley in a prolonged tone.

"Kept closely by one who knows their value, for they are the t.i.tle deeds not of his right but of his confusion."

"And how can we obtain them?"

"By means more honest than those they were acquired by."

"They are not obvious."

"Two hundred thousand human beings yesterday acknowledged the supremacy of Gerard," said Hatton. "Suppose they had known that within the walls of Mowbray Castle were contained the proofs that Walter Gerard was the lawful possessor of the lands on which they live; I say suppose that had been the case. Do you think they would have contented themselves with singing psalms? What would have become of moral power then? They would have taken Mowbray Castle by storm; they would have sacked and gutted it; they would have appointed a chosen band to rifle the round tower; they would have taken care that every doc.u.ment in it, especially an iron chest painted blue and blazoned with the s.h.i.+eld of Valence, should have been delivered to you, to me, to any one that Gerard appointed for the office. And what could be the remedy of the Earl de Mowbray? He could scarcely bring an action against the hundred for the destruction of the castle, which we would prove was not his own. And the most he could do would be to transport some poor wretches who had got drunk in his plundered cellars and then set fire to his golden saloons."