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 the 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 tiling he could do and that was to pretend not to understand Rolle's meaning.
He jumped to his feet. He failed to sec, 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 enquiry 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; lie 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 tor her. But the Crown! How glittering it 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?