Oliver Cromwell, with his heavy pack slung over
one shoulder, followed Daniel along Cheapside towards Saint Paul’s.
It was late and most of the shops showed no lights. At a shop that
sold Christian trinkets, they stopped and Daniel knocked. A window
creaked open above and a man's voice asked them what they
wanted.
"It's me, Dan. Do you have any rooms to spare?" Since Alice had begun running the shop, Tom, her goldsmith husband, had more time to spend creating his trinkets so the profits of the shop had soared. Soared enough for the newlyweds to rent all of the floors above the shop. It was a handy and friendly place to stay whenever Daniel was in London.
There was a sound of fumbling with the bar on the door while a candle lantern threw shadows against the barred windows. The door swung open and Daniel's hand was grabbed in the firm grip of his friend Robert Blake. Of course Robert would be staying here with his little sister Alice. Robert and Oliver nodded to each other. They had met only once, back in Ely, but that was before both of them had been called up to Parliament. Now they began sizing each other up.
While those two serious Puritans were staring at each other, Alice skipped down the stairs and threw herself into Daniel's arms. As she wore just her night gown, it was a most un-Puritan thing to do. Daniel pushed her away, explaining that his sea cloak was filthy and salty and she would ruin her gown, but she would have none of it.
"Don't be silly,” she laughed. "How else should I greet the man who saved my life? Here,” she grabbed his hand and placed it onto her tummy, "there is a life there that would not be, if not for you. You saved two lives that night in the River Parrett." She heard her husband coming down the stairs. "And now there will be three happy lives."
Alice and Thomas agreed that he could store his chests of Spanish spices and kegs of brandy in the attic while he marketed them. This was a great help, for it meant that tomorrow Anso and the crew of the Freisburn could hire a cart and unload the ship. It would take them but a day or two to find an outbound cargo, and then they would be gone from the nasty docklands of London. Daniel would stay behind in London until the brandy and spices were sold.
That first night ashore, Daniel fell asleep early because he did not have to share a room. This was because Oliver was bunking with Robert so that the two Puritan politicians could talk away the night without bothering anyone else. Unfortunately, he did not sleep long for his was the room with the window overlooking Cheapside. Cheapside residents were woken early every morning by the sound of cartwheels on cobble. First the garbage collectors, then the barrows heading to market, then the carriages of those needing early prayers, or early shopping, or early meals.
Daniel groaned and buried his head beneath his pillow to drown the noise. How could anyone ever be happy while living in a noisy city? Oliver, on the other hand, was so curious about this great city that at first light he came into the front bedroom without knocking and immediately dragged a stool to the window and took in every movement on the increasingly busy street.
The clothing of the busy people below separated them into three types. The grubby dun-coloured clothes of those that worked hard for their pennies. The drab but neat and clean clothes of the Puritans, who earned better and stayed cleaner due to their schooling. Lastly, there was the flamboyant and colorful clothing of those who gained their wealth from the work of others, especially off the backs of the country peasants who worked the great inherited estates of the aristocrats.
Alice knocked lightly and then walked in carrying a morning tray, and caught both men in their nightshirts. Master Cromwell quickly pulled a blanket from the bed to cover himself and stood still and quite useless, while she looked for a clear space on any surface to put the heavy tray down. Daniel reached out from the bed and cleared a small bed chest with a sweep of his arm. She put the tray down on it and then sat on his bed and gave him a good morning kiss. Master Cromwell turned his face away.
Robert tumbled through the open door and didn't give Alice a second look as he went straight up to Oliver. "Come, get dressed. We can share a trap to Westminster. I want to be there early to see how the men group as they arrive." Only then did he notice Alice leaning against Daniel on his bed and he gave her a sour look.
"Stop it,” she scolded. "If you want to be happy in life then you must trust those around you. If you do not trust those around you, then you should find a different life."
"Aye, fitting words for two stout lads off to sit before a king,” Daniel said as he reached over to grab a piece of buttered bread before it cooled. "You'd better leave us, lass, so that Ollie can dress."
"Why? I've seen men dress before. I am married now, remember?" She smirked at the shocked look on the faces of the two Puritans. "Oh, all right." She left but did not close the door. She planned on giving Master Cromwell a minute and then pop back in just to embarrass him. Her brother must have read her mind because the door was pushed closed behind her.
"So, you are both called to Parliament, then?" Daniel asked rhetorically. "What about Henry Marten? Has he been called as well?"
"I don't kn..." began Oliver.
"Yes indeed,” finished Robert. "Have you seen Henry since our trip through Oxford?"
"Aye, many times,” replied Daniel suddenly realizing how long it had been since he had spoken to Robert, his fellow pistoleer, friend, and one-time partner in the Genever trade. "Each time I come to London I seem to run into him."
"Ah,” Oliver muttered. "Henry Marten. Well, that explains a lot. So is that who fronted you the money to ship muskets to Scotland?"
"Shhh!" Daniel hushed him. "That transaction is a secret that only Henry should tell. It would cost him his life if King Charlie found out."
"Can you arrange for me to meet him?" Oliver asked. "Privately that is, for I am sure we will see him at Westminster."
"I'll see what I can do. Now weren't you two in a hurry to get to Westminster?"
* * * * *
Robert was embarrassed and speechless when he walked into Henry Marten's town house and was asked for his hat by Mary Ward, the personal maid of Henry's wife Margaret. He was the last to arrive, so she pulled him quickly aside and whispered harshly to him, "You must ignore me as if we were the briefest of acquaintances."
"That will be difficult,” replied Robert softly, dearly wishing to give her a hug. Of all the women he had ever slept with, this was the woman he most regretted not asking the hand of. He pushed closer to her, close enough to feel the warmth of her flush.
"No, you mustn't,” she pushed him away. "Henry has declared me his mistress. As soon as I bear this child for him, he will declare me his concubine. I will rule his London house. Do you understand? I am with child. Now get thee away and learn to ignore me."
As she turned away from him and slipped out of his arms, his hand rubbed against her belly. She was definitely with child, and their own dalliances were too far in the past for it to be his. "Mary,” he croaked out. He wanted to tell her how happy he was for her, but she was walking away and he did not want to say it in a loud voice.
She turned after three steps and told him, "Don't you be pitying me or worrying about me. This is with Margaret's permission. Her complete permission. I have never been happier or more secure. Not in my whole life."
Henry called out with a jest for him to quit dallying with the lady of the house. When Robert came closer he said, "Oh, of course, I couldn't place you for a moment. You were the other dashing Pistoleer who saved Margaret from highwaymen. And now a parliamentarian. Excellent. Remind me to show you my collection of pistols. No republican should be without one. What do you carry when in London?"
"A Swiss built wheel lock. I would show it to you, but it would be most inappropriate to draw a loaded pistol in this company."
"Later then. Come and meet the other friends who have been called to Parliament."
* * * * *
As the evening progressed and more Spanish brandy was consumed, it became a great success. Henry had wanted to bring parliamentarians together, republican parliamentarians, republicans from ridings spread across the kingdom. Together in his home so they could speak face to face without being spied upon by the king's agents. The worst and most despicable of king's agents, of course, being the puffed-up wastes of air that sat in the House of Lords.
Daniel, as the only non-Puritan and non-Parliamentarian, was immediately bored by all of the double speak and innuendo of all of these highly educated Oxford and Cambridge graduates. Most of them were wealthy lawyers so he had very little in common with them, and frankly couldn't understand half of the complex words they bantered around with such ease. He sought out Mary's company, and within moments was helping her and her cook in the preparation and delivery of the snacks to the many card tables that were gaily arranged in the spacious dining room in place of the usual single long table.
"Now there is a sight,” Oliver called out. "A well-practiced warrior wielding a snack tray instead of a shield." When he was asked to explain his comment, he continued. "Why, didn't you know? Yon Daniel rode with the Scots who so humiliated Henry Rich and his cavalry at Kelso, and afterwards sailed with Maarten Tromp who so humiliated the Armada in the Downs."
Mary's plan of being fashionable by serving food at card tables while the men played the latest game, whist, was destroyed in an instant as the men grabbed up the small tables and shoved them end to each to form one long table to hold the snacks and the drinks so they could cluster around Daniel and prod him to tell of his adventures.
For three hours Daniel told his stories and answered questions that led to other stories, until he was so hoarse that even the constant trickle of purloined brandy down his throat would not take the gruff note away from his voice.
"So you are saying that King Charlie's forces were humiliated at the Tweed and at the Downs for the same reason. They lacked professional leadership?" asked a lawyer introduced as Oliver Sinjin or Sanjohn or something similar, who was the member from Totnes.
"Aye, that was the main reason,” Daniel confirmed. "There were many reasons but they all point back to that one."
"So as the man who watched both of those humiliations, what do you expect of Charlie now?" asked another John, John Hampden the member from Wendover.
"You well know what to expect. It was you who said earlier that the only reason he has called Parliament together is that he needs money to fight the Scots. A lot of money, and that means a new tax, and he can't do that without the approval of Parliament."
"Yes, yes, yes, but beyond that,” Henry joined in. "Strategically, I mean. Perhaps from the point of view of the Scots or the Dutch."
"Charlie has spent the last year displaying his incompetence and shortcomings,” Daniel replied. "He has angered his most obvious allies against the Papists. Charles Stuart is no longer welcome in his own home kingdom of Scotland. The Spanish and the Portuguese blame him for the loss of their Armada because he failed to protect it from the Dutch. The Dutch and the French mistrust him because he ordered his cannons to fire on the Dutch fleet. Mistrust, nay, they hate him because afterwards he ordered his Royal fleet to ferry what was left of the Spanish army out of Kent and into Dunkirk."
"You see,” Hampden clapped his hands to make the other members pay attention. "His peace treaties have gained Charlie no friends and many enemies."
"The Dutch hate him so much,” Daniel said looking around so as to gauge the effect of what he was about to say, "that I am surprised they haven't offered the Scots the loan of an army with which to depose Charlie and create a republic in Scotland."
All around the table men sucked in their breath and chatted and smiled at each other. Their thoughts were on their faces. Every man in this room wanted rid of this king, or perhaps rid of all kings. "Would they respond to a message from us inviting their help?"
"Who, the Dutch or the Scots?"
"Either."
"The Scots perhaps,” Daniel thought about it while he sipped brandy. The others waited, not speaking, their rapt silence encouraging him to answer the question. "The Dutch, not this year. Not after such a complete defeat of both the Spanish and Portuguese fleets."
"How so?"
"Consider the implications of that defeat,” Daniel replied. "On that one day at the Downs the control and the balance of trade changed. For the entire world it changed. Neither Spain nor Portugal could afford to lose those ships. Those were the ships built to guard their trade convoys. Their loss means that this year their spice galleons from both the West and East Indies are sailing undefended. Undefended and carrying millions in spice and gold across dangerous seas.
This spring, all the major Dutch ships will be sailing with the Dutch East and West Indiamen. They need to beat the privateers and pirates to the Spanish and Portuguese convoys. The pickings would be rich for the pirates, but far richer for the Dutch Companies."
"Why is that?" Robert asked, now sitting forward in his seat. While living in Rotterdam one of his ventures was to arrange trade in saltpeter between his uncle in Morocco and the great Dutch trading companies.
Daniel looked at his friend's face and knew immediately that neither of them would be getting any sleep tonight. Robert would be camped on his bed picking his brain for more information about this. "The pirates would take but one ship at a time. A rich prize for sure, but a piss in the ocean compared to what the Dutch Companies want. They don't want to find and capture one ship with one cargo of spice. They want to find and capture of the source of the spice.
They want to capture the navigators of those ships and force them to hand over their secret rudders. They want the log books and charts that will lead them to the fabled islands of spice. They must capture those navigators before some pirate feeds them to the fishes."
"And do you know this for sure?" asked another John, John Pym the member from Tavistock. "How can you, the master of a petty English coastal trader, know this? It will be a closely kept secret even in Holland."
Daniel was flushed with brandy and he did not like this Pym fellow looking down his nose at him, so he said something he shouldn't have, just to brag, "Because Admiral Maarten Tromp, the current hero of Holland, owes me large, and I don't mean just for a cargo of Genever. He has offered me shares in the United East India Company at last year's prices."
"Shares from the companies treasury then." Pym whistled. He was a director of the Providence Company ,so he well knew that the easy profits from owning company shares were always made by company insiders who had first claim on new shares from the company treasury.
"Ahhh,” said Henry quietly. "I was wondering what was sending the value of India Company shares so high. I though it was just in relief that the Dutch fleet was not lost to the Armada, so I have been waiting for the price to come back down before I bought more. It seems that I was a fool to wait. From what you say, those shares will never come back down to last year's price. The India Companies will be flooded with profits, and their share price will soar, and the Netherlands will become the richest place on earth."
His quiet statement about the Amsterdam share market had the effect of clearing the room. Distinguished gentlemen were jumping up and searching for their hats and cloaks and making their excuses to Mary about the lateness of the hour. Henry whispered to Oliver that these men would spend the night camped in front of their banks so as to be the first in the morning to purchase Dutch shares.
"You mean camped in front of Westminster don't you?" Oliver replied. "Parliament sits tomorrow." When Henry gave him a look as if he were the town fool he added, "What did I say?"
"Were you not listening to your friend from Ely, man?" Henry told Oliver. "Ahhh, or did he already tell you about the shares, and so you have already invested your fortune in them?" He wondered at the blank stare on Oliver Cromwell's face, but just for a moment. Then he hurried away to the front door to say his goodbyes to the rush of friends and members who were now searching for their hats and cloaks.
The leaving took longer than any of these men expected, for Henry had a small but heavy gift box for each of them. When they opened them and saw the contents, they were in awe at the present. Each of the members had been given a small pistol. A pistol that could easily be hidden in their coats or cloaks or belts while in polite company.
Henry waved away their thanks by saying over and over, "No good republican should ever walk within the king's reach without carrying a pistol. I give you this on the condition that you carry it in Parliament, just in case there are traps set to capture all of us at once, and thus silence all of us at once."
Oliver Cromwell was overjoyed by the German-made pocket pistol that he had been given. He could never have afforded such a fine piece. Clumsy farm pistols were expensive to farmers, but less than a tenth of the price of a gentlemen's weapon small enough for a pocket.
Eventually, only the three men boarding with Alice were left with Henry sipping Spanish brandy in his library. Henry poured more brandy to encourage them to stay longer and review all that had been said during the evening. "Well, what do you think of our republican MPs?" Henry asked of no one in particular.
Daniel looked towards Robert, but Robert shook his head slightly, so Daniel spoke in his stead. "We here now are all republicans, and so are Pym and Hampden. Not so the rest of them. They seem to be more against Archbishop Laud than against King Charlie. The religious issues seem more important to them than the political ones ,so I count them as Puritans but not necessarily as republicans."
"True," said Henry thoughtfully. "It is their hatred, or perhaps their fear of the Archbishop that binds them together. All Puritans want Laud de-frocked, and the sooner the better because they fear the resurrection of the bishops that Laud is championing. Laud has been a vicious opponent. The voice of the Puritan movement is our printers and pamphleteers, and Laud knows this, so he has imprisoned them and fined them and flogged them, and now he makes it worse by cutting off their ears and branding them as libelers."
"I, this, uh...,” Daniel stopped in frustration. "I'm sorry, but I don't know the political words in English. I didn't understand half of the big words spoken tonight." He looked over at Robert and spoke to him in Dutch. Most of the political theory he knew, having heard it in Holland, so he did know the Dutch words.
Robert listened and then translated for him. "I think what Daniel is trying to say is that the Dutch Republic has been weakened by the infighting amongst the many the factions of zealots. Yes, they will all stand together so long as their Republic is threatened by Spain and Rome, but once that threat is no more, they risk splintering apart and wasting their power and energy by fighting amongst themselves. Even with the threat of Spain they bicker endlessly about which sect should be promoted, or how to distribute the wealth and tax burden"
"Exactly,” Daniel spoke up again. "Factions and zealots. Except for me, everyone here tonight was a Puritan zealot and you all seem to expect everyone in this kingdom to become a Puritan. The same is true of those leading the rebellion in Scotland, except they are all Presbyterian zealots and they expect everyone to become a Presbyterian. Only Pym and Hampden seemed to be looking beyond the politics of religion."
"There is a reason there are so many Puritans in the House of Commons,” Oliver interrupted. "Education. It is our fundamental belief that no one should stand between a man and his God, therefore we encourage the education of our children so that they can read the Bible for themselves. We even educate our girls, Daniel, not like in your village. We have a saying that if you teach one man to read, you have taught one man. If you teach one mother to read, you have taught all of her children."
Daniel dearly wanted to stick his tongue out at Oliver Cromwell. Over the two years that they had known each other, Oliver had eventually given up on converting him to Christianity, but he still hounded him to send the village children to the local grammar school. Instead, he bit his tongue and gave Robert a look in hopes that he would change the subject.
Henry noticed the look and said, "Yes Robert. What do you think about our Reform Party, our group of republicans?"
Robert Blake chose his words carefully before he spoke. "I agree with Daniel. They are too focused on petty details. Take Sinjin. He is completely focused on the Ship Money tax to the exclusion of all else. Only Pym and Hampden were speaking of the wider issues."
"Which are?"
"Well, for instance, when Daniel told them that the world changed with the defeat of the latest Spanish Armada, most immediately focused on how they themselves could make money from the Amsterdam share market. They missed the wider importance of Daniel's words."
"Which ..."
"That the United Dutch Republic, with their new style army and new style navy are about to take over the spice trade from Portugal and Spain, just as Portugal took it over from Venice. And what will England do? Nothing. Why? Because Charlie and his aristos are incompetent. Our army and navy are as backwards and as-old fashioned as the Spanish. The defeat of the Armada has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our kingdom to expand our trade, our common wealth, our well-being, and we English are doing nothing about it, whereas the Dutch have already sailed."
Oliver stared at Robert with his mouth open. "So, would you have Parliament ignore church issues and instead focus on taking the control of the army and navy away from the king?"
"Of course." Robert replied. "Five years ago Charlie justified resurrecting the Shipping Money tax on our coastal areas without parliament's permission by saying that the coin was needed to support the navy. Well, that coin has obviously not reached the navy, so let's stop the collection of it. Without that levy, Charlie will not be able to fund the army or the navy. They will then turn to Parliament for the coin, and armies always obey the orders of their paymasters."
Henry laughed aloud. "I love it. Oh, Mister Blake you are truly a master strategist! Why did you not say this while we were all gathered?"
"It was not my place,” Robert replied softly. "They were men of wealth and position, and what am I? A country bumpkin elected to Parliament only because for the first time ever, all of Somerset's Dutch immigrants turned out to vote. They only voted for me because I could speak to them in their own tongue, sort of."
"An army and a navy modeled after the Dutch,” Oliver said softly, almost to himself. "So the first step would be to get rid of the inbred and fawning officer elite and replace them with professionals who have risen through the ranks."
"The House of Lords would never allow it,” Henry interrupted. "They or their sons are the very inbred elite you speak of. We would have to first get rid of the House of Lords."
"Sounds good to me,” said Robert in all seriousness.
"It's getting late,” Daniel interrupted. "So the last thing I am going to say is what General Leslie and I decided while guarding the Scottish border. That given the chance we would capture the king rather than kill him. Once he is in our hands, we would force him to enact laws that would stop the way that productive land is passed on from generation to generation within the aristocracy.
I repeat, capture Charlie, not kill him. Use him, not abuse him. Once those new inheritance laws are in place, Charlie and his entire family and his entire court can be attained of all their land, honors, and titles and exiled to our colonies in the New World. Let them soil their hands doing some hard work for a change."
It was the last thing spoken about politics that night. The outrageousness of the suggestion left the others thoughtful but speechless. Even Daniel said no more, because he was mulling over his new phrase 'factions of organized zealotry'. It explained so much about the internal political problems in Holland, and it set him wondering about how long the Dutch republics would last if the Spanish just walked away and left them to their own ends.
* * * * *
* * * * *
THE PISTOLEER - HellBurner by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-14