The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon Part 164

DE MONTROND [In sad surprise]

I may as well go hence then as I came, And kneel to Heaven for one thing--that success Attend Napoleon in the coming throes!

MENEVAL

I'll walk with you for safety to the gate, Though I am as the Emperor's man suspect, And any day may be dismissed. If so I go to Paris.

[Exeunt MENEVAL and DE MONTROND.]

SPIRIT IRONIC

Had he but persevered, and bia.s.sed her To slip the breeches on, and hie away, Who knows but that the map of France had shaped And it will never now!

[There enters from the other side of the gardens MARIA CAROLINA, ex-Queen of Naples, and grandmother of Marie Louise. The latter, dismissing MONTESQUIOU and the child, comes forward.]

MARIA CAROLINA

I have crossed from Hetzendorf to kill an hour; Why art so pensive, dear?

MARIE LOUISE

Ah, why! My lines Rule ruggedly. You doubtless have perused This vicious cry against the Emperor?

He's outlawed--to be caught alive or dead, Like any noisome beast!

MARIA CAROLINA

Nought have I heard, My child. But these vile tricks, to pluck you from Your nuptial plightage and your rightful glory Make me belch oaths!--You shall not join your husband Do they a.s.sert? My G.o.d, I know one thing, Outlawed or no, I'd knot my sheets forthwith, Were I but you, and steal to him in disguise, Let come what would come! Marriage is for life.

MARIE LOUISE

Mostly; not always: not with Josephine; And, maybe, not with me. But, that apart, I could do nothing so outrageous.

Too many things, dear grand-dame, you forget.

A puppet I, by force inflexible, Was bid to wed Napoleon at a nod,-- The man acclaimed to me from cradle-days As the incarnate of all evil things, The Antichrist himself.--I kissed the cup, Gulped down the inevitable, and married him; But none the less I saw myself therein The lamb whose innocent flesh was dressed to grace The altar of dynastic ritual!-- Hence Elba flung no duty-call to me, Neither does Paris now.

MARIA CAROLINA

I do perceive They have worked on you to much effect already!

Go, join your Count; he waits you, dear.--Well, well; The way the wind blows needs no c.o.c.k to tell!

[Exeunt severally QUEEN MARIA CAROLINA and MARIE LOUISE with NEIPPERG. The sun sets over the gardens and the scene fades.]

SCENE V

LONDON. THE OLD HOUSE OF COMMONS

[The interior of the Chamber appears as in Scene III., Act I., Part I., except that the windows are not open and the trees without are not yet green.

Among the Members discovered in their places are, of ministers and their supporters, LORD CASTLEREAGH the Foreign Secretary, VANSITTART Chancellor of the Exchequer, BATHURST, PALMERSTON the War Secretary, ROSE, PONSONBY, ARBUTHNOT, LUs.h.i.+NGTON, GARROW the Attorney General, SHEPHERD, LONG, PLUNKETT, BANKES; and among those of the Opposition SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, WHITBREAD, TIERNEY, ABERCROMBY, DUNDAS, BRAND, DUNCANNON, LAMBTON, HEATHCOTE, SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY, G. WALPOLE, RIDLEY, OSBORNE, and HORNER.

Much interest in the debate is apparent, and the galleries are full. LORD CASTLEREAGH rises.]

CASTLEREAGH

At never a moment in my stressed career, Amid no memory-moving urgencies, Have I, sir, felt so gravely set on me The sudden, vast responsibility That I feel now. Few things conceivable Could more momentous to the future be Than what may spring from counsel here to-night On means to meet the plot unparalleled In full fierce play elsewhere. Sir, this being so, And seeing how the events of these last days Menace the toil of twenty anxious years, And peril all that period's patient aim, No auguring mind can doubt that deeds which root In steadiest purpose only, will effect Deliverance from a world-calamity As dark as any in the vaults of Time.

Now, what we notice front and foremost is That this convulsion speaks not, pictures not The heart of France. It comes of artifice-- From the unique and sinister influence Of a smart army-gamester--upon men Who have shared his own excitements, spoils, and crimes.-- This man, who calls himself most impiously The Emperor of France by Grace of G.o.d, Has, in the scale of human character, Dropt down so low, that he has set at nought All pledges, stipulations, guarantees, And stepped upon the only pedestal On which he cares to stand--his lawless will.

Indeed, it is a fact scarce credible That so mysteriously in his own breast Did this adventurer lock the scheme he planned, That his companion Bertrand, chief in trust, Was unapprised thereof until the hour In which the order to embark was given!

I think the House will readily discern That the wise, wary trackway to be trod By our own country in the crisis reached, Must lie 'twixt two alternatives,--of war In concert with the Continental Powers, Or of an armed and cautionary course Sufficing for the present phase of things.

Whatever differences of view prevail On the so serious and impending question-- Whether in point of prudent reckoning 'Twere better let the power set up exist, Or promptly at the outset deal with it-- Still, to all eyes it is imperative That some mode of safeguardance be devised; And if I cannot range before the House, At this stage, all the reachings of the case, I will, if needful, on some future day Poise these nice matters on their merits here.

Meanwhile I have to move: That an address unto His Royal Highness Be humbly offered for his gracious message, And to a.s.sure him that his faithful Commons Are fully roused to the dark hazardries To which the life and equanimity Of Europe are exposed by deeds in France, In contravention of the plighted pacts At Paris in the course of yester-year.

That, in a cause of such wide-waked concern, It doth afford us real relief to know That concert with His Majesty's Allies Is being effected with no loss of time-- Such concert as will thoroughly provide For Europe's full and long security. [Cheers.]

That we, with zeal, will speed such help to him So to augment his force by sea and land As shall empower him to set afoot Swift measures meet for its accomplis.h.i.+ng. [Cheers.]

BURDETT

It seems to me almost impossible, Weighing the language of the n.o.ble lord, To catch its counsel,--whether peace of war. [Hear, hear.]

If I translate his words to signify The high expediency of watch and ward, That we may not be taken unawares, I own concurrence; but if he propose Too plunge this realm into a sea of blood To reinstate the Bourbon line in France, I should but poorly do my duty here Did I not lift my voice protestingly Against so ruinous an enterprise!

Sir, I am old enough to call to mind The first fierce frenzies for the selfsame end, The fruit of which was to endow this man, The object of your apprehension now, With such a might as could not be withstood By all of banded Europe, till he roamed And wrecked it wantonly on Russian plains.

Shall, then, another score of scourging years Distract this land to make a Bourbon king?

Wrongly has Bonaparte's late course been called A rude incursion on the soil of France.-- Who ever knew a sole and single man Invade a nation thirty million strong, And gain in some few days full sovereignty Against the nation's will!--The truth is this: The nation longed for him, and has obtained him....

I have beheld the agonies of war Through many a weary season; seen enough To make me hold that scarcely any goal Is worth the reaching by so red a road.

No man can doubt that this Napoleon stands As Emperor of France by Frenchmen's wills.

Let the French settle, then, their own affairs; I say we shall have nought to apprehend!--

Much as I might advance in proof of this, I'll dwell not thereon now. I am satisfied To give the general reasons which, in brief, Balk my concurrence in the Address proposed. [Cheers.]

PONSONBY

My words will be but few, for the Address Constrains me to support it as it stands.