Page 48 of Against the Wind

Sidmouth’s man looked at him, surprised and a perhaps a little annoyed. “O’course I am, Isaac. Half the country is organized, ’specially the manufacturing districts. I tell ye, the men are ready to rebel against the government. It is time for all good men to have a vote!”

“That may be, Oliver, but I still have a few concerns,” said Isaac’s friend William Turner. “People are unhappy, and some in dire straits to be sure, but not many would fight the government. ’Tis like fighting against the wind.”

Oliver was undaunted. “Yer wrong, Will. It was only with a great deal of explaining that I was able to prevent some towns from taking up arms too soon.”

“I grant ye there’s been trouble,” Turner continued, “but while many families have faced grave difficulty, Derbyshire seems set in the ways of the past.”

Oliver looked around, and his eyes came to rest on Jeremiah Brandreth. “That will soon change. I would ask ye good men of Derbyshire to do something, even if ’tis only a token gesture. My London Committee will expect it. The main business will be done there, o’course, where seventy thousand armed men can be raised at an hour or two’s notice.”

Martin was appalled to see how far matters had gone and the direct way Oliver, fluent know-nothing that he was, actively encouraged impoverished and reticent men to revolt. He was calling for nothing short of a march on London, telling these poor country fools there were thousands of men willing to join them. Like lambs led to slaughter, they were unaware of the perfidy of the goat that was drawing them ever nearer to disaster.

He and John exchanged a look of concern, his young assistant appearing equally disgusted at the sheer folly of the course of action being advocated. Oliver wanted a demonstration of force that would satisfy his superiors in London, but Martin hoped to forestall such an event. A rebellion might never occur without such an agent provocateur. Perhaps Ormond would, in response to Martin’s note, persuade the Prince Regent there was still time to stop what was developing in this peaceful Derbyshire. Martin prayed it was so.

A slightly crazed look about him, Jeremiah Brandreth suddenly exclaimed, “Well, I for one am ready to join those in London. I’ve had enough of the government’s bare rations of liberty. Oliver’s right. We must have change!”

That frenzied gleam in his eyes was worrisome. Of all the men Martin had met on this mission, the Nottingham Captain appeared the most dangerous. If Oliver was a schemer, Brandreth was a zealot. It was impossible to predict what he might do. Worst of all, he seemed able to stir the men of Derbyshire into an action they would not otherwise take. Active rebellion suddenly loomed large.

The man set eyes on his partner in lunacy. “Will you fix a date for the general rising, Oliver?”

“Aye, now that you have assured me the Nottingham folks are with us. We can talk of that when we meet again in a few days. And once the date for the uprising is set, I will be returning to London to make sure all is ready there.”