CHAPTER CLVII.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS.--THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HATFIELD.

Yes--it was true that the Prince of Montoni had become Grand Duke

of Castelcicala; and those who have read the First Series of “THE

MYSTERIES OF LONDON,” have now traced the career of Richard Markham

from the period of his obscure boyhood until the time when his brow is

circled by a sovereign crown!

And when we reflect that it was a REVOLUTION which evoked his brilliant

qualities as a warrior and a statesman,--when we call to mind the fact

that it was the cry of “LIBERTY” which became the watch-word of his

achievements and the herald of his triumphs,--we cannot do otherwise,

on reaching this point in our narrative, than avail ourselves of so

fitting an opportunity to notice the grand and glorious struggle that

has so lately taken place in the capital of France.

Oh! the French are a fine people, and are destined to teach the world

some signal lessons in the school of POLITICAL FREEDOM!

PEOPLE OF ENGLAND! accord your sympathies--your best and most generous

sympathies--to that gallant Parisian population which has so recently

dethroned a miscreant Monarch, and hurled an execrable Ministry from

the seat of power!

Let the English Sons of Toil--oppressed, ground down by taxation,

half-starved, and deprived of their electoral rights as they are,--let

the Industrious Classes of the British Islands, trampled upon and made

tools of by the wealthy _few_ as we know them to be,--let _them_ do

honour, at least by words to the working men of France who have dared

to expel a demon-hearted tyrant and his bravo-hirelings.

The States of Italy--Bavaria--and France have all, within the last few

weeks, manifested their scorn and contempt for the doctrine of “the

divine right of kings;”--the PEOPLE in those realms have exercised the

power which they possess:--the cause has been righteous--the despots

have yielded--and _one_ has been overthrown altogether.

For the cause is always righteous when the People seek to wrest from

their rulers that freedom which has been basely usurped, and which the

tyrannical oligarchy refuses to surrender by fair means to the millions.

It is a monstrous absurdity and a hideous mockery to prate of treason,

and sedition, and rebellion, when a people rises up in its might and

its power to demand the privileges which are naturally its own.

The _few_ cannot possibly possess an inherent or hereditary right to

enslave the _many_: nor is the present generation to be bound by the

enactments of the preceding one. If that preceding one chose to have

a Monarchy, the present one is justified in declaring its will that

a Republic shall exist;--and so long as the great majority of the

inhabitants of a country are of accord in this respect, they have a

right to upset the existing government at any moment and establish

another. Nay, more; we will assert that the people need not even be

wise or prudent in order to legitimatise their actions:--the great

majority may act as they think fit, although they should be unwise or

imprudent in respect to the institutions they choose to build up!

We are averse to the exercise of physical force;--but France has shown

that when moral agitation fails, violence _must_ be used;--and if

freedom can be gained by the loss of a few drops of blood--why, then

those drops should be shed cheerfully.

Suppose that in any country the great majority of the people sign a

document addressed to the sovereign in these terms:--“We are very much

obliged to you for having reigned over us hitherto; but we do not

require your services farther. It pleases us to establish another form

of government and raise up another ruler; and therefore we request you

to descend from the throne and surrender up the power delegated to

you.” Were the sovereign to refuse compliance with this demand, then

force should be used; and all the antiquated farces of “hereditary

rights,” and “treason,” and “sedition,” and such-like nonsense, would

of course be disregarded by an insurgent people.

On the other hand, so long as a nation remains tranquil, and addresses

to the sovereign no demand of the kind supposed above, that sovereign

may continue to occupy the throne, as the people’s executive

magistrate; for it is the fault of the millions themselves if they be

foolish enough to tolerate either a king or a queen.

Republicanism is the “order of the day;” and there is not a throne

in Europe that is worth twenty years’ purchase,--no--not even that

of the Austrian Kaiser or the Muscovite Czar;--and from the banks

of the Thames to the confines of Asia--from the cheerless regions

of the North to the sunny shores of the tideless Mediterranean, the

prevailing sentiment is adverse to the antiquated, useless, oppressive

institutions of Monarchy.

HONOUR TO THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS FRENCH NATION! And let the Royalty

which still exists in England beware how it caress, and pet, and

openly sympathise with the ex-Royalty which has taken refuge on this

soil. For the Queen of England to adopt such a course, were to offer

a gross and flagrant insult to the people of France, and inevitably

provoke a war. Besides--is not Louis-Philippe a miscreant deserving

universal execration? Did he not calmly and deliberately calculate

upon butchering the brave Parisian people, in order to consolidate

the power of his despot-throne? Are not his hands imbrued with blood?

No sympathy, then--no pity for this royal Greenacre--this horrible

assassin!

And were he to be received at the palace of our Queen, the insult would

not only be monstrous towards the French people, who have expelled him,

but equally great towards the English people, who abhor tyrants, and

who are generous, humane, and merciful.

WORKING MEN OF ENGLAND! rejoice and be glad--for amidst the changes

which have so recently taken place in France, there is one “sign of

the times” that is cheering and full of prophetic significancy for

_you_! I allude to the grand--the glorious fact, that in the list of

the Provisional Government which the Revolution raised up, these words

appeared--“ALBERT, Working Man.”

Yes: a Working Man was included in that fine category of Republican

names; and he has been instrumental in giving to the whole political

world that impulse which must inevitably conduct _even the present

generation_ to the most glorious destinies.

Honour to Albert, the Working Man!

There is another point on which I must touch, ere I resume the thread

of my narrative.

The Prime Minister of England has declared “that he has no intention

whatever to interfere with the form of government which the French

nation may choose for themselves.” He therefore admits the right of the

nation to establish any form of government which it chooses;--and this

concession is an important one, when coming from the principal adviser

of the Queen, and from a man who is, after all, nothing more nor less

than the chief of an aristocratic clique.

Well, then--it being admitted by the Prime Minister that a nation

has a right to choose its own form of government, the sooner the

people of England begin to think of establishing new institutions for

themselves, the better. For there is no use in disguising the fact--and

no possibility of exaggerating it,--that England is in a truly awful

condition. Already are we enduring a war-tax; and it was only through

fear of seeing the glorious example of the Parisians immediately

followed by the inhabitants of London, that the Ministers abandoned

their iniquitous and execrable scheme of doubling that shameful

impost. But the financial ignorance and the wanton extravagance of the

Whigs have plunged the country into serious pecuniary embarrassments,

from which nothing but the sweeping reform of a purely democratic

Ministry can relieve it. With a tremendous national debt,--with no

possibility of levying another tax,--with Ireland to care for and

almost support,--with a vast amount of absolute penury and positive

destitution in the country,--with an aristocracy clinging to old

abuses, and with the land in the possession of a contemptibly small

oligarchy,--with the industrious classes starving on pitiable

wages,--with a pension-list which is a curse and a shame,--with a

cumbrous and costly Monarchy,--with a Church grasping at all it

can possibly lay hands on,--with a Bench of Bishops in inveterate

and banded hostility to all enlightening opinions and popular

interests,--and with a franchise so limited that nine-tenths of the

people are altogether unrepresented,--with all these, and a thousand

other evils which might be readily enumerated, we repeat our assertion

that England is in an awful state; and we must add that great,

important, and radical changes must be speedily effected.[13]

Oh! how well and how truly has a great French writer declared that “men

have only to will it, in order to be free!” France has set England and

the world a great and glorious example in this respect.

These English newspapers which are interested in pandering to the

prejudices and the selfishness of a bloated aristocracy and an

oppressive oligarchy, of landowners, represent revolutions as scenes

of spoliation, social ruin, and other demoralisation. But the incidents

of the Revolution which gave Louis Philippe a throne in 1830, and those

of the grand struggle which has just hurled him from his despot-seat,

give the lie--the bold, unequivocal lie--to such statements.[14]

[Illustration]

The time has come when all true Reformers must band together for the

public weal. Let there be union,--union of all sects and parties who

are in favour of _progress_, no matter what their denomination may

be,--whether Republicans, Radicals, Chartists, or Democrats. “Union

Is strength,” says the proverb; and the truth thereof maybe fully

justified and borne out in the present age, and in the grand work of

moral agitation for the People’s Rights.[15]

* * * * *

We now proceed with the thread of our narrative; but it is not

necessary to give at any length the particulars of the interview which

took place between Lord Ellingham and Richard Markham, now Grand Duke

of Castelcicala. Suffice it to say, that his Sovereign Highness, though

deeply afflicted by the news of his father-in-law’s demise, welcomed

the English nobleman with the utmost cordiality, and immediately

consented to receive Charles Hatfield as one of his _aides-de-camp_.

The Earl hastened back to Pall-mall, and, sending for the young man to

his private apartment, reasoned with him in an impressive way upon the

necessity of retrieving the past by the conduct which he should pursue

in future. Charles listened with profound attention to all that the

excellent peer said upon this occasion, and promised that his behaviour

should henceforth render him worthy of all the signal favours bestowed

upon him.

The preparations for his departure were in the meantime made with all

possible despatch; and in the course of a few hours Charles Hatfield

took leave of his family, and hastened to Markham Place, to join the

suite of the new Sovereign of Castelcicala.