The Patriot (44 page)

"Thank God you have arrived!' Patrick Home greeted the newcomers. He was now an earl no less, advanced from being Baron Polwarth to Earl of Marchmont on his appointment as Lord Chancellor of Scotland, a man who made better use of his opportunities than did his friend. "Everybody has been calling for you, Paterson. We were afraid that there must have been some trouble. The shipmasters say that if they are to catch the tide, they must sail within the hour."

"No need for alarm, my lord," Paterson said. "I have only to go aboard, and say goodbye to these my friends. I was here until late last night, putting all matters in order. Everything is ready. We had no notion that there would be so many people."

"Aye, it is extraordinary. I have never seen anything like it. There are folk come from every airt. You have done your work almost too well, Andrew. The land is all but run mad! There are scores, hundreds, still beseeching us to let them sail. As colonists. And not only gangrels, tranters, vagrants, cadgers and the like. Or Hielantmen! But laird's sons, merchanters, men of some substance . . ."

"These stowaways, Mr. Paterson, sir - what are we to do with them?" the Provost interrupted. He had to shout, they all had to shout, for pipers were blowing lustily at the gangways up to every ship and the noise was appalling, with the stowaways yelling, women screeching, militiamen bellowing orders and the vast crowd in full cry.

"We cannot allow any to stay aboard. We are over-loaded already," Paterson declared. "We have many weeks of sailing. Conditions will be bad enough as it is .
.."

"Well, Saltoun - are you satisfied?" The new Lord Stair came up. Old James Dalrymple had died and John, the man who had planned Glencoe, was now the viscount and nowise inhibited from taking fullest part in the affairs of the nation, despite unpopularity. "I will say this for you - you and Belhaven and Marchmont have managed your business to some effect. Quite set the heather on fire, it seems - our Scots heather! Whether whatever they have for heather in this Darien will burn so well, we shall discover! Let us hope that it will prove all that you foretell - or Scotland is going to be a sorry, not to say an angry, land."

"I have every confidence, my lord - or I would not have laboured as I have done," Andrew said stiffly. "William Pater-son's dream is about to become a reality. The first part of it. And if we cannot make the second part come true thereafter, we are not the folk I have believed we are. But - I had scarce expected to see
you
here!"

"Why not, man? After all, I am now a shareholder, to the tune of my late father's perhaps rash investment of one thousand pounds. I hope that I shall see some fruits of it!"

Paterson led them up the gangway and aboard the largest ship,
Caledonia,
young Andrew dragging his mother after him eagerly, for a tour of the vessel. Most of the notables followed her, to cheers from the colonists-to-be already crowding the decks. Paterson took them below, to dispense wine in his own cabin to all who could squeeze inside amongst the crates and baggage, and success and a speedy voyage were toasted. But with shipmasters concerned with time and tides, there was pressure to get the formalities over, and the Lord Provost soon had them all hustled up to the high poop-deck at the stern, where he had the city trumpeter blow a flourish. He had to blow loud and long, to overcome the combined efforts of pipers, street-vendors, barking dogs, screaming gulls and the thousands of excited voices. But eventually an approximate hush was achieved, at least nearby.

The Provost then made a speech, rather lengthy. Just what
he said after the first minute or two was unclear, even to those around him, as the chatter began again to drown him out - but undoubtedly it was in congratulatory and well-wishing vein. Then he called upon the Lord Belhaven and Stenton, as chairman of the Company for Trading with Africa and the Indies. Johnnie was as brief as the other had been fulsome - but went equally unheard by most. All he said, in fact, was Godspeed to the great venture, thanks for all the wonderful support - and to introduce William Paterson, the begetter of it all.

Paterson did not so much as move forward to the Provost's side, mumbled a few words, raised his hand to wave, and was done. Few there probably knew who he was or what he said.

Then there was a change. The minister of the High Kirk of St. Giles, recently restored to that status after being for a while the cathedral of the unpopular Bishops of Edinburgh, stepped forward and raised both arms high. Quickly the level of noise subsided, tribute to the godly respect for the Kirk amongst the Scots folk at large, the black Geneva gown and white linen bands at throat clearly distinguishing its representative. So he had a better start than the others; but even so he would probably have been heard, for he had a rich and sonorous voice, trained to fill great echoing spaces and to project itself to far corners. Everywhere folk fell silent, save for the far-distant. Eloquently, vehemently, he addressed the Almighty, informing Him of
the
situation,
declaring the
essential
Tightness
and
worth
of
their
enterprise,
the
need for it to prosper,
the great
sacrifice of goods and gear the Lord's faithful Scots people had made to launch it, against the malice of ill-wishers from elsewhere; and beseeching God's most strenuous and comprehensive blessing upon the entire project and His incessant vigilance on their behalf. Amen. They would now sing to God's praise, in the Psalms of David, number One Hundred.

So, led by the powerful, resonant tenor, the people that on earth do dwell sang to the Lord with cheerful voice, somewhat doubtfully at first and then, as embarrassment gave place to fervour, in growing power and volume until the summer air rang and quivered with the ages-old affirmation and dedication, bringing a kind of wonder to the materialists and moisture to many an eye, if cynical comment from one or two.

Surely seldom had a trading, commercial and colonial endeavour been launched in quite this fashion.

Somebody, after a moment or two of peculiar hush at the psalm's end, started to cheer, and everywhere it was taken up in wild acclaim. On and on the vociferation went, the crowds surged this way and that, some impromptu dancing began, where there was room, on quayside and street, and clearly that was the end of all formalities. Relieved, the shipmen commenced the difficult task of ushering the important visitors off the vessels, and crews were ordered to get busy with ropes and canvas.

The pipers resumed.

Andrew turned to shake Paterson by the hand. "I could wish that I was going with you, Will," he said. "Perhaps, one day. But meantime, there is too much to be done . . ."

"No, no. Your place is here, friend. There are plenty who can direct what has to be done in Darien; few indeed who can win the battle here, keep the folk contented until they can see something of their harvest. The enthusiasm will flag and fail long before the colony is fully established. You will require all your powers and eloquence . . ."

"Good fortune, fair winds and God's blessing, Mr, Paterson," Margaret broke in. "Our thoughts and prayers go with you all."

"I will come too, when I am a little older," young Andrew asserted.

They said farewell to a number of others, in a quite emotional scene, all disagreements, enmities and political rivalries forgotten meantime. There were, in fact, not a few personal friends, and the sons of friends, going on this first expedition. Over three hundred young men of the best families in the land amongst the twelve hundred, an amazing proportion of aristocrats as against sons of the soil, tradesmen, clerks, soldiers and the like, including half a dozen Campbell scions and Atholl's third son, the Lord Mungo Murray, the Secretary of State's brother. Paterson, in fact, was a little perturbed at this profusion of blue blood, for a task which would inevitably entail much hard labour and rough conditions; but his subscribers were not to be gainsaid, and many sent their sons to where their money went.

At last all was ready, the determined lingerers, fond mothers and proud fathers all but pushed down the gangways, the cables loosed and drawn inboard, the first sails hoisted. With a shoal of row-boats to tow her prow from the quayside, infinitely slowly
Caledonia
moved out into what was still the tidal mainstream of the Water of Leith. Canvas began to fill and the great vessel nosed her way, to ecstatic acclaim, towards the harbour-mouth and the Firth of Forth, one by one the other craft following. It was a slow process, of course, and throats were sore from cheering before all five ships were heading seawards. Guns fired a final salute from Leith Fort.

"How does it feel, Dand, to see that argosy sail, at last?" Henry Fletcher asked. "You have worked hard for it, hard and long. For another man's design. At much cost to yourself. Do you feel that it has been worth it?"

"Worth it in material gain and profit, we must wait to see. But that is not what has been my main concern, these many months."

"No?-What, then?"

"I haye seen this entire enterprise as something far greater than that. Think you that I would have devoted myself, as I have done so fully, to a mere scheme to make money? To develop trade? Even to found a colony? Have you ever known me to be concerned with merchanting and adding pound to pound? No - I have seen this project otherwise, as something like a crusade, Henry! Scotland needed it. Or needed something like it, desperately/Something which would unite and rally the people. We have come through grievous times, oppression, tyranny, civil strife, religious wars, and these have left their mark. The nation was despondent, riven with factions, poverty-stricken, suspicious of all authority. We could well have become a prey not only to anarchy but to English domination at last. There are plentywho talk of union, as you know - the union of the sprat with the mackerel! I used this vision of Paterson's to grow into a different kind of vision of my own. Of a people with a purpose again, something we could unite and struggle for - Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Catholics, town and country, gentry and merchantry and
commonality. Lowlands and Highlands. That it had to be money, the lure of siller, profit, troubled me at first. But what matters that if it served the purpose? Whether we approve or no, profit is the way to the best endeavours of many. Sadly, it has little to do with creeds or policies or rank. So, I said let us use the urge for profit to yoke our folk together and lead them on, in this pass." He waved a hand around him. "And you see the results!"

"So that was it, Andrew? I wondered," Margaret said, as they watched the ships diminish with distance. "You never spoke of this. Are you satisfied now? Seeing all this? And raising all that money?"

"So far, yes. All this today must mean something. The nation is stirred, at least."

"All the opposition from England? Did that not make you fear for
your
vision? As well as William Paterson's."

Andrew allowed himself a grim little smile. "To be honest -no, my dear! Indeed, I almost welcomed each blow the English Parliament, the East India Company and the London merchants struck against me. Nothing is more calculated to unite and arouse the Scots than open English interference and hostility, in especial aimed at Scots pockets! It is when they are more subtle and seek to divide us from within, Scot against Scot, that I fear!"

"Are you going to say as much at the parliament on Thursday, Dand? Explain your position?" Henry asked. "This of the English opposition is bound to come up."

"Lord, no! I am considered a sufficiently odd fish as it is! But, come -1 think that the crowd is thinning now. We can get through
..."

* *

The Scots Parliament of 1698 was scarcely one of the most important; but it
had
certain distinguishing features. For one thing it was particularly well attended, for many far-away lords and commissioners, who often did not bother to make the journey,
had
come to see the
sailing
of the Darien expedition. There was a notable increase in the number of
Highland
representatives, partly for the same reason but also as a result of
the new policy. Again, in the present euphoria, there was less overt acrimony. Also, contributing to this, was the unusual situation whereby King William, involved on the Continent once more and less than ever interested in Scotland, had not bothered to send up a High Commissioner but had merely ordered the Chancellor to act in both capacities. So the new Earl of Marchmont presided and led the discussions, a moderate and amiable man - which was a change at least.

All this affected Andrew Fletcher. Although still outside the government hierarchy, a determined individualist and belonging to no party, he had gained a sort of popularity over his connection with the Darien scheme; his co-operation over the Highland situation was appreciated; and he was known by all to be a friend of the Chancellor. So he in fact was in a position to take a more prominent and influential part in the proceedings than heretofore, and to be heard with respect.