"Why would Admiral van Tromp be helping Henrietta?” Daniel asked Isaac Dorislaus, the half-Dutch diplomat he was taking to London in the Swift. Isaac was alone for once, because his two assistants were standing on the aft castle bothering the helmsman with navigation questions. Isaac was alone at the desk in the "office” that Anso had created for his diplomatic passengers in the main hold of the ship. When Anso had first shown the office to Rob and Daniel, they had erupted in gales of laughter, for the crew had acquired, or perhaps stolen, a great sprung carriage from some noble, and had used a crane to drop it down into the open cargo hold of the ship.
With the wheels firmly secured it could not shift or roll, but the sprung suspension still worked. The result was a bright "office” complete with table and padded leather seats where the diplomats could read and write in comfort during their long journeys. Bright because of the glass windows. Comfortable because the two leather cushioned benches were long enough to allow two men to sleep there, and the padded interior walls muffled the wind, cold and sounds.
It was an inventive solution to the accommodation problem of a working cargo ship. The Swift had originally been a fighting galliot, which meant it had a fore castle and aft castle with cabins underneath them, but a large cargo hatch had been cut through the main deck, leaving just a narrow deck running along each of the gunnels for use by oarsmen and cannons. This layout allow for only three cabins, all of which were low, dark, plain and functional.
The small fore cabin, under the bow castle, was used as shelter by the bow watch during rough weather, but otherwise it served as a sail and rope locker, and to house the bowchaser cannon, an eight pounder that could be fired through a front facing hatch. The slightly larger command cabin was under the aft castle. The third and largest cabin, the crew's quarters, was also aft but underneath the command cabin where it shared the lower deck with the cargo hold. Though it had about twice the floor area of the command cabin, it had even less headroom. The only man aboard who could stand full height in any of the cabins was Robert Blake.
"A moment please,” Isaac replied as he looked up as Daniel sat across from him. "Let me finish this thought and blot the ink.” His forethought and penmanship were a remarkable gift that sped up his work, as he was often able to present his rough drafts as finished pieces. "There, done, now what was your question? Ah yes Tromp.” He was an amateur historian, and his time spent with these traditional clansmen from the Fens had opened his thoughts to new ways of viewing history, so he relished his time speaking with them. "Simply put, Admiral Maarten Tromp is under the command of the Admiral-General Fredrick Henry, the Prince of Orange and therefore the Stadtholder of Holland. Tromp will have been following orders."
"This is all about the marriage of William and Mary, isn't it?"
"Not really,” Isaac replied, "but it is a factor. Henrietta's hope was that Mary would marry a Catholic king, but she was refused by Spain. Prince William of Orange was a more palatable choice than Prince Karl of Bohemia. What it is really all about is the treaty between the United Provinces and France. That is the treaty that has joined their efforts against Austria and Spain. Henrietta is sister to the King of France, and I suppose that France has threatened to cancel the treaty unless Frederick Henry helps Henrietta's invasion convoy to reach England."
"You mean to say that the Dutch Republics would rather help Catholic France, than help create a protestant republic in England?” Daniel asked and then punched at the plush interior of the office.
"Before you cast stones, please look at it from the Dutch point of view,” Isaac scolded softly. "The Dutch are building up a republican empire that is stretching itself around the world. The sun never sets on the Dutch Empire. Their historic enemy on land and on the sea has always been the Spanish Empire, and now, therefore, the Austrians. The treaty with France keeps their borders safe enough that they can send their men and ships out all over the world. France has cut off all land access to Dunkirk so one of these months the Dutch will conquer it, and then their home ports will be safe from Dunkirker raiders and from any more Spanish invasion armadas. In the great scheming of empires, England is nothing. That is why Strickland's convincing of the Stats-General to declare the United Provinces neutral in our civil war was such a feat of diplomacy."
"So Tromp is acting under orders,” Daniel sighed.
"As I have said. Now, do you have time to sit with me and tell me more of your clan's history and traditions? The little that Captain Anso told me has left me with a thirst to know more."
"Why do you want to know?"
"I am writing a treatise proving how democratic England was before the Norman Conquest, but as you can imagine, my sources are few and since that time all written history has been twisted about to serve the view of the ruling classes. The oral history that Anso was telling me had my mind racing in new directions."
"Give me an hour on deck while we pass Lowestoft,” Daniel told the historian diplomat, "and then I will join you. Which do you prefer with your history lesson, wine or genever?"
* * * * *
Traveling through London was almost a pleasure during this, the second big freeze of the winter. All of the putrification that gave the city its usual funk of smells was now frozen. Even the night soil was freezing as soon as it was laid down. There had been a disruption of coal shipments from Newcastle, so folk were using coal sparingly in their hearths, which meant that the filthy blackness of that dusty smoke had not yet dirtied all of the pure whiteness which had fallen from the skies. Londoners most likely would not have agreed with this point of view.
Londoners were short on food and fuel, and were therefore wearing everything they owned in an effort to keep warm, or at least not get too cold. Once you got cold it was tough to get warm again. Despite the hardships set for them by the cold, everyone had work or the promise of work, so the city was peaceful. There were no political rallies because the hated king was in hiding far away, and because the freeze was a hardship on rich and poor alike. But mostly the city was peaceful because it was too blasted cold to be out on the streets making trouble.
Just as in Wellenhay where the folk had moved into fewer on room cottages so they could share the food and warmth, so it was in London that the people moved into fewer rooms. The great mansions of the Strand and Westminster and Holborn were vacant and left to the ice, in favour of smaller manors that you could actually keep warm. An easy way to meet your neighbours was to light a fire, for they would come knocking to share in its warmth. The bakers were the most popular folk in town, and had endless offers of help with the bakeries. Anything to get warm for an hour, or two.
The streets were empty or almost empty for most of the day and all of the night. The traffic was light, so the city was almost quiet. The tens of thousands that usually slept out on the pavements and in the alcoves, had disappeared. They had all taken up a new cause, the 'occupy' cause. The cause of those who were advocating the return to the North Sea tradition of reclaiming unused land and unused buildings for the common good. The houses of royalists who had fled London were now sheltering those tens of thousands who last winter had suffered homelessness. The absence of so many good-for-nowt royalists was God sent to save the lives of the folk during the big freeze, or so many of the once-homeless were spouting, interspersed with appropriate quotes from the bible. Bible thumping preachers were now never short of audiences so long as they offered folk shelter for the night.
In the shops and markets, lightly used extravagances such as French-made dining chairs were being sold for next to nothing, for the supply of them was fed by those that were occupying and stripping the vacant houses of the royalists, while the demand for them was small at a time when spare coins were saved for food and fuel. London and the usual values of Londoners had been turned upside down. A warm home spun cloak had more value than a finely made gentleman's cape. The heavy wooden box that protected fine dishes was worth more for its firewood than the dishes it held.
"Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the values of Londoners have finally been turned right side up.” Isaac Dorislaus corrected Daniel's insight, as Daniel knocked on John Pym's door. The door opened immediately and they were hurried inside the house so the door could be slammed to keep the cold out. The front hallway was crowded with men dressed like undertakers, none of whom were warm enough yet to remove their woolen cloaks. The steamy funk from so much damp and dirty wool was making the air un-breathable.
As soon as Isaac was announced, everyone immediately wanted to speak with him, but he was hurried through the crowd of parliamentarians and into a small study, a room which was actually quite warm. Warm enough to make one want to take off a winter cloak. Daniel kept up to Isaac and slipped into the warmth before the guard could close the door in his face. There were only five men in the room, not including Isaac, and one of them, old John Pym, was reclined on a day bed and looking ghastly pale. They had been warned to expect this, but nothing could prepare them for their first sight of leader of the Reform Party. He was a man dying by inches.
The world seemed to stop still as the sick man was handed a sheaf of papers by Isaac, and the room stayed silent while he read them. Pym's mind was still vibrant even though his body was not. For a long while the only sound in the room was the crackle of the wood fire, the occasional cough, and the sliding and turning of heavy paper. When Pym had finished his reading, he took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then asked, "So Henrietta’s convoy sailed and then was turned back by the storm. Does anyone know for sure whether she returned to Holland or waited out the storm and then continued on to the Humber?"
"It is too soon to know that,” Isaac replied. "My own ship took shelter in Great Yarmouth until the worst of the winds had blown through. I cannot think that any ship could have endured such winds at sea for days and days. All communication by land and sea came to a standstill, so as I have said, it is too soon to know.” Isaac cleared his throat. "There is more to report that was never written down. Henrietta's ships were escorted by four Dutch warships commanded by none other than Maarten Tromp.” You could have heard a pin drop.
"So the Frederick of Orange has finally dropped all pretense,” Pym finally spoke. "He can no longer claim that Holland merely chartered the ships to Henrietta. However, it is not a large escort as naval squadrons go. Surely our fleet can still stop them, should it be ordered to do so by our Earl Admiral Rich.” There were grunted agreements from all present. All except for one.
"Not bloody likely,” Daniel called out from where he was warming his hands by the fire. Everyone stared daggers at him.
"Move out of the way all of you,” Pym called out weakly, "so I can see the man who spoke.” Everyone jumped to his bidding. "Ah Daniel. Welcome back to London. And are you still Warwick's man?"
"Aye sir, but three years ago I was Admiral Tromp's man when he defeated the Spanish and Portuguese Armada in the Downs off the coast of Deal."
"Shush all of you so I can hear him. Please tell us more, captain."
"In order to beat the two mightiest navies in the world, the Dutch had to reinvent their navy. Reinvent their ships, their cannons, and their strategies. The Battle of the Downs was the proving ground of their reinvented navy. The Armadas lost 40 ships and 6,000 men at the cost of one Dutch ship and a hundred men. Now it is the Dutch navy that rules the sea, and the sun never sets on their empire.
Meanwhile the English navy is still modeled after the Spanish. No English captain would be fool enough to challenge a Dutch ship-of-the-line, not after the Downs. An English warship is a fat, wallowing, multipurpose vessel with an odd assortments of cannons. A Dutch warship is purposefully built for one purpose, to give and take cannonades. Our balls will bounce off their hulls, while their balls will punch holes in ours."
"Thank you Daniel. As usual you have cut through courtly doublespeak and have told us the ugly truth. Isaac, go and rest while I draft a formal response to the Stats-General and a matching suggestions for our navy. Of course there will be other messages, verbal messages, but they too must wait for the morning. With luck by then my cabinet will have approved them and you can return to The Hague. Hopefully Henrietta's convoy will have returned there, but for all we know, she could be in York by now.” It was a polite dismissal from a very busy, very ill man.
Isaac bowed slightly and turned to leave, but behind him Daniel spoke out once more. "John, another moment please. Have you noticed how the homeless of London have occupied the building's left vacant by the royalists?” He didn't wait for an answer for only a fool would not have noticed. "This 'occupy' movement has saved countless lives from the winter freezes. It is a telling lesson for the coming spring. The kingdom is short of food. The landless must be encouraged to occupy the fields left un-ploughed by the royalists. The folk must be promised our army's protection to assure them that they will eat well from what they plant this spring."
Silence. No one else in the room spoke to the issue. It told Daniel volumes. They were so busy thinking about how to bring the king to heel that they had given no thought to the greater issues facing the kingdom, such as food and fuel. He turned to follow Isaac out of the room.
"Daniel,” Pym called out to his back. "Again I must thank you for your brutal honesty. I will present it to the Committee of Safety for their advisement. As you say, there is a need and a precedent, though I must admit that I like it best for its irony."
With a wave and a nod and a smile, Daniel gave his fare-thee-well to the sick gent, and then followed Isaac back out into hallway crowded with parliamentarians with petitions for Pym. He felt like humming so he did. Those few words from Pym were alone worth this journey to London. If the Committee of Safety allowed squatters to farm unused fields, or better still, protected their right to do so, then the rule of landlords would be turned upside down. Or was that right side up? Wouldn't it be nice if the women and children won something from this war, rather than always being the losers.
* * * * *
"You were warned by Anso that this was likely to happen,” Daniel told Robert Blake as the Swift sailed down the Thames on its way back to The Hague. "What part of 'diplomatic shuttle' did you not understand about his description of the Swift's charter?"
"I'm not complaining about making the crossing back to The Hague,” Rob replied, "but of how little time I had in London. I barely had time enough to report to army headquarters, never mind enquire as to the whereabouts of Colonel Ruthven and my company. I stood for hours in a hallway filled with army captains and never did get to speak to anyone who really knew what was going on."
Isaac was about to tell about how he and Daniel had pushed through such a hallway and secured an immediate meeting with John Pym, but Daniel was shaking his head at him. He decided to save the story for later, when Rob's feathers were not so ruffled. Instead he told Rob, "I wish the Swift to return to The Hague on the same course that we came by. That means via Yarmouth. We could set you ashore there, if you would like."
"Nay, it cannot be,” Rob grumbled. "Danny has clansmen enough aboard for sailing the Swift in fair weather but not enough for foul, not without my men. Besides, I think I would be an asset to your diplomatic mission in The Hague. I was a member of Parliament you know.” He neglected to mention that he had been a member for only the three weeks of the Short Parliament.
"We will not refuse any help from a know reformer,” Isaac replied in his fluent Dutch, just to test Blakes own knowledge of the language, "though you may regret the offering once you see how Den Haag works, or rather, does not work. The Stats-General represents a confederation of eight republican provinces, which means it is far more divisive than our own parliament. You will soon learn to detest the imbecility in the government, the discord among the provinces, and the corruptive influences of the foreign influence and indignities. In the republics, any peace has a precarious existence, while any war leaps from calamity to calamity."
"Isaac, you paint too dark a picture,” Rob replied in good though accented Dutch. "Daniel and I have both lived and thrived in the republics, and wish the like in England. Nowhere is life more vibrant. Nowhere are the plain folk so emboldened. Nowhere does imagination turn into success more easily."
Isaac smiled at them. "I agree if you speak of each of the provinces, or the cities, or the Dutch folk, but not when you speak about The Hague. It is a town of palaces and courts and pomp and sycophants. The provinces would do better to hand The Hague and all of its players to the Spanish Netherlands and let it be their problem. How can the provinces possibly strengthen their republics while they still have the remnants of princely courts interfering in their politics. I spend my days hopping from the court of the Stadtholder, to that of Bohemia in exile, to that of Henrietta in exile, and then to each of the committees that represent each of the provinces."
"You make it sound like nothing is ever decided,” Rob sneered, "and yet the Dutch are fast building an empire that spans the globe."
"Decisions are made, but they are never final. This because decisions are made by each of the parts, and action is taken by each of the parts, but rarely with consensus."
Leslie, who was on the wheel, groaned. With Isaac standing close to him, he had been listening in out of boredom, but the longer Isaac and Rob spoke to each other, the longer and more complex were the phrases and words. Now it was all double Dutch. He went back to watching the horizon ahead for deadhead logs and sandbars.
"The Hapsburgs of Spain and Austria could destroy the Dutch Republics quite easily if they ever found out how dysfunctional The Hague was,” Isaac continued. "All they need do is make peace with them and withdraw their armies, and within five years the eight provinces would be tearing at each other's throats. It is only the threat of the Hapsburgs that keeps them united."
Daniel had been listening in but was also having trouble with the learned words. Not so much when they spoke Dutch, but when they spoke English. English was a mix of many languages, which meant that it had many completely different words meaning the same thing, and two many words that sounded the same but had completely different meanings. At one time he had tried to learn Spanish, and he had been amazed at how simple and logical it was, but of course, he could never admit this to any Englishman or Dutchman. "Perhaps it is because the many parts of the union are free to act that the Dutch are so successful,” he told them. "You know. Say five provinces try to solve a problem in five different ways. Whichever way turns out to be the best way will eventually be adopted by all."
"A good thought, and well put,” said Isaac thoughtfully. "Yes, I'll have to give that more thought."
"So what actually do you do in The Hague?” Rob asked.
"You mean to say, what does Walter Strickland do in The Hague, for I am just his 'go for'. His main work is keeping the Stats-General from giving any assistance to Henrietta, and therefore to Charles. He has no influence in any of the princely courts, for they do not acknowledge him as an ambassador. His main successes are built up from countless small successes with the bankers, especially the Jewish bankers."
"Bankers!” Daniel grumbled. "What is that saying from the Bible? The love of bankers is the root of all evil. Why is he dealing with bankers?"
"Because Henrietta's mission is not just a diplomatic one,” Isaac continued. "If that were so, she would be in Paris not The Hague. Her most important task is to raise coin, and use that coin to rent soldiers and buy supplies. When she fled from England, she stole the crown jewels and now she is claiming that they are hers to sell. Selling such costly baubles requires bankers. The United Provinces have the richest market for precious jewels, the biggest banks, the most modern weapons, and a lot of seasoned veterans in search of a new battle."
"If her mission is not just a diplomatic one,” Rob thought aloud, "then neither is Ambassador Strickland's."
"Exactly,” Isaac confirmed. "Though publicly he plays courtier, it is what he does in secret that matters most. Civil wars breed an abundance of spies, and double-spies, and double dealing, and information for sale. Walter is the paymaster, while I make sense of the bits and pieces of truth that he has bought. So which of you speak the best Dutch?"
Rob and Daniel looked at each other. Rob spoke for them both. "Mine is the Dutch of an Englishman. Daniel's is the Dutch of a Frisian. I cannot pass for a Dutchman but Daniel easily can."
"And your crews?"
"My crew all know trading Dutch, as does everyone on the sea, whereas Daniel's all learned the Frisian mother-tongue in the cradle."
"Ah, the same as Anso's crew then,” Isaac nodded sagely. Frisian was the mother tongue of many of the North Sea languages, including old English. He smiled to himself. Anso's crew had been very useful to Strickland because they could pretend to be Dutch. That would continue with Daniel's crew.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Pistoleer - Invasion by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-15