Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill: (Georgian Series) (31 page)

‘This is really a question of Is the Prince married or is he not? Pitt thinks His Highness daren’t risk an inquiry into his affairs.’

‘But surely His Highness does not wish for such an inquiry?’

‘His Highness wishes his debts to be paid – and I intend to see that they are.’

Pitt sprang a surprise on the House by referring to the matter before Alderman Newnham brought it up again. He chose an opportunity when the House was full to ask whether the honourable magistrate, Alderman Newnham, intended to persevere with the motion and what scope and tendency it would take.

Newnham replied that it was simply to rescue the Prince of Wales from his present embarrassing position.

Pitt’s reply was threatening.

‘The principal delicacy of the question,’ he remarked, ‘will lie in the necessity for inquiring into the
causes
of the circumstances.’

Fox knew what that meant.

Ever since Maria’s return from the Continent there had been cartoons and paragraphs about her and the Prince in the papers; but just at this time, when the question of the Prince’s debts was about to be brought up in the House, John Home Tooke, a politician who also enjoyed writing pamphlets and was renowned for his eccentricities, produced one of his papers entitled
The Reported Marriage of the Prince of Wales.
His motive seemed to be to expose the iniquities of the Marriage Act and to pour ridicule upon it, for since as he believed the Prince had married in spite of it, what use was it? He ended by writing:

‘It is not from debates in either Houses of Parliament that the public will receive any solid information on a point of so much importance to the nation, to the Sovereign on the throne, to his royal successor and to a most amiable and justly valued female character whom I conclude to be in all respects both legally, really, worthily and happily for this country, Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales.’

This pamphlet caused a stir throughout London and the Court. Is he or isn’t he? everyone was asking. Bets were taken on. Everything else now seemed to have taken second place to the all important questions: Is the Prince married? Can the Prince be married? What about the Royal Marriage Act? Is the marriage legal? But first of all: Did an actual ceremony take place?

Fox was alert.

He said to Sheridan, ‘It seems that one of us must always be in the House in case Pitt should bring up the matter at any moment. You know what this is going to mean. It’s not going to be a question of the Prince’s debts – that is just the cover. It’s going to be Is he married or not?’

‘Does His Highness grasp this fact, do you think?’

‘He grasps it. But he has to have his debts settled. This is the price Pitt is asking. Damned clever. He’s not going to let us
show the King for the mean old devil he is. He’s going to try and show up the Prince and possibly attempt to have him cut out of succession. We must be on our guard. You and I are the only defenders. You can be sure that Portland won’t allow the Party to be involved.’

Nevertheless Fox was taken off his guard. Perhaps he had underestimated the effect Home Tooke’s pamphlet would have. There was one section of the House which was very much opposed to any encroachment on the Established Church of England; these were the country squires who were determined that they would never have a Catholic on the throne – nor should any monarch have a Catholic consort. This group had been very influential in driving James II from England and establishing William of Orange on the throne; and if the Prince of Wales had indeed married a Catholic they saw – not the same danger, of course, which had arisen in 1688, but what could be the beginning of a similar situation. Wives influenced husbands; they were anxious that the heir to the throne should be solidly Protestant, and if he had been so foolish as to marry a Catholic wife – even morganatically, they wanted to know it.

So they met and appointed as their spokesman John Rolle, a squire from Devonshire. Rolle was a blunt and honest man; his accent betrayed his Devon origin and he was slow of speech but forthright; no one had ever been able to bribe John Rolle; he was no respector of persons and he did not care if his frank speaking offended royalty. As a sturdy noncomformist he was not prepared to support any Catholic influence on the throne; and if the Prince of Wales had married a Catholic he was determined to know it.

On the 27th April, Alderman Newnham rose, as had been arranged, and suggested that an address be made to His Majesty the King, begging him to consider the present embarrassed financial position of the Prince of Wales and to grant him such relief as he should think fit, that the House might make good whatever sum was considered necessary to restore the Prince to a reasonable state.

Pitt was about to reply to this when John Rolle forestalled him.

His words, uttered in that burred accent, sent a shock through the House, for it was realized that from the moment the Devonshire squire had spoken there could be no more prevarication.

If ever there was a question which called particularly upon the attention of that class of persons, the country gentleman, it would be the question which the honourable Alderman had declared his determination to agitate, said Rolle, because it was a question which went immediately to affect our Constitution in Church and State. Whenever it was brought forward he would rise the moment the honourable Alderman sat down and move the previous question, being convinced that it ought not to be discussed.

Sheridan was disturbed. The moment was at hand. And where was Fox? On this most significant occasion Fox was not in the House. The burden therefore must fall on Sheridan.

What could he do? He must play for time. It was Fox who must deal with this. On the impulse of the moment it seemed there was only one thing he could do and that was to pretend not to understand Rolle’s meaning.

He jumped to his feet. He failed to see, he said, what the matter had to do with Church and State. The motion had been brought, he believed, merely to free the Prince from financial embarrassments.

But Rolle was not the man to be so easily set aside. He was immediately on his feet. If the motion were introduced, he said, he would do his duty.

The wily Pitt was immediately aware of Sheridan’s dismay and took his advantage.

He rose to his feet. ‘I am much concerned,’ he said, ‘that by the perseverance of the Honourable Member I shall be driven, though with infinite reluctance, to the disclosure of circumstances which I should otherwise think it my duty to conceal.’ The atmosphere of the House had become tense. ‘Whenever the motion should be agitated I am ready to avow my determined and fixed resolution to give it my absolute negative.’

Sheridan was quickly aware of Pitt’s indiscretion. He had made an announcement to the effect that he would refuse something which had not had the privilege of debate. This was unparliamentary; and uneasy as he was, Sheridan was
politician enough to be obliged to discountenance his opponent by making him aware of his indiscretion.

He must attempt to hide his concern in his attack on Pitt. ‘Some honourable gentlemen have thought proper to express their anxious wishes that the business should be deferred,’ he pointed out, ‘but Mr Pitt has erected an insuperable barrier to such a step. It would seem to the country, to all Europe, that the Prince had yielded to terror what he had denied to argument. What could the world think of such conduct, but that he has fled from the inquiry and dare not face his accusers? But if such was the design of these threats, I believe they will find the author of them has as much mistaken the feelings as the conduct of the Prince.’

There was excitement throughout the House.

Sheridan sought to hide his dismay, but he knew that the question of the Prince’s marriage would now most certainly be brought forward.

He went with all speed to Carlton House and there gave the Prince a detailed account of what had happened in the House.

‘There can be no hope now,’ said Sheridan, ‘that the question will not be brought up in the House. We have to have an answer.’

The Prince grew pale with rage and scarlet with mortification.

‘Rolle!’ he cried ‘Who is this fellow? Some country yokel! What have my affairs to do with him? Why cannot he keep his silly mouth shut? The only thing I am asking is the payment of my debts. What has any other matter to do with it? What concern is it of theirs?’

‘Your Highness,’ replied Sheridan, ‘the question will be asked. What we have to concern ourselves with, is how it is going to be answered.’

The Prince was silent. He was well informed enough to understand the issue at stake. To admit to the marriage was disaster. Maria … a Catholic! It was enough to put an end to the Hanoverian dynasty. Why should the Hanoverians be the rulers if they were tainted by Catholicism? It was the sole reason why the Stuarts had been spurned.

Was ever a man in such a predicament? He had to deny his
marriage or run the risk of losing his crown!

The silly words of the ballad kept ringing through his head:

‘I’d crowns resign’

To call thee mine …’

But Maria was his; he could have Maria
and
the Crown; and in his heart he knew he had no intention of losing either if he could help it.

‘Sherry,’ he cried, ‘for God’s sake tell me what to do.’

Sheridan looked at him steadily. It was clear that he was worried. It was no use calling on his Irish charm, his witty flattery now; this was a matter of a stark Yes or No.

‘I can only hope,’ he said, ‘that it is possible to deny the marriage, for if it were not I think Your Highness would be in a very perilous position indeed.’

The Prince could not look into Sheridan’s eyes. He despised himself. He had sworn that he would stand by Maria; that they would go abroad and live if necessary; he would do anything for her. But the Crown! How glittering is seemed at that moment. He saw a picture of himself going from one European country to another – a private gentleman, an outcast in a way, stripped of the glitter of royalty. Who would pay his debts then? And how was it possible for one brought up as he had been, one who had known from his nursery days that he would be King of England, to give up all that he had looked on as his right?

As for Maria … he loved Maria; he would always love Maria. He
thought
of her as his wife and to all intents and purposes she
was
his wife. Surely that was enough? Maria herself, he told himself triumphantly, would not
wish
him to make the sacrifice. That was the answer. Maria would be most unhappy if he admitted to the marriage.

Yet he could not deny her completely.

‘Sherry,’ he said, ‘how would it be possible for me to marry Maria? The Marriage Act makes it illegal.’

Sherry was relieved. He had made the right answer. Sherry was as ready to prevaricate as the Prince himself. They would not discuss the fact that a marriage could be a true marriage in the eyes of the Church if not in those of the State and that any marriage which the Church considered a true one was a marriage.

But no, this was easy. They must glide safely over the facts. There was so much at stake.

‘Sherry,’ said the Prince, ‘Maria must be warned.’

Sheridan agreed that this must be so.

‘You are my very good friend. You have a way with words. Haven’t we always said so? You, my dear Sherry, will be able to explain.’

Sheridan was uneasy; but he saw the point. Fox would have to be warned; and from now on Fox would have to take over in the House. But Maria Fitzherbert disliked Fox and he, Sheridan, was the one who must set about placating her.

A delicate task, but since the Prince insisted, he must do his best.

He went at once to Maria’s house and told her that he had something of the utmost importance to say to her. He then explained what had happened in the House and how through the actions of Rolle and Pitt the question of her marriage to the Prince of Wales would be raised.

Maria was alarmed. She had sworn to the Prince that she would tell no one of the ceremony which had taken place; so she could not explain the truth to Sheridan.

‘We all know that you are virtuous,’ said Sheridan, ‘and the Prince has shown by his conduct that he regards you as his wife. But it is, of course, of the utmost importance that no
ceremony
should have taken place … no ceremony with a priest that is. There was a ceremony we know when the Prince attempted his life and he put a ring on your finger … such a ceremony while full of significance to yourself and the Prince is not one which the country would frown on …’

I’m getting involved, thought Sheridan. How difficult it is to meander round and round the point in order to avoid it!

‘Sherry’ she said, ‘I feel like a dog with a log tied round its neck.’

‘Maria, I would do anything in the world to protect you. But if it were admitted that a ceremony has taken place I should fear the consequences to His Highness.’

She was silent. She thought of the ceremony, the solemn words she had spoken, the vows she had taken. To her it was a true marriage – and she had believed it was so to the Prince.
She trusted in him; he had sworn so often to stand by her, to face his father and the whole country for her sake. Why then should he be afraid of Mr Pitt and the House of Commons? But of course he was not afraid. She believed that when he was called upon to answer that question he would tell them that she was indeed his wife; that they had made their vows before a priest; that the marriage ceremony had been performed.

Sheridan was looking at her expectantly. But she would not tell him. She had sworn herself to secrecy; she could not betray Robert Burt and let him be submitted to the results of præmunire. It was for the Prince to stand up and make the avowal; it was for him to protect them all.

And he will, she thought. Of course he will.

‘I am sure,’ she told Sheridan, ‘that the Prince will know how to act.’

Fox listened to Sheridan’s account of what had taken place. He heard of the interview with Maria.