Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/109

] had contributed to place Henry upon it. His name stood in the secret list of traitors furnished by Clifford, but he had been left for a more striking and dramatic discovery, for a denouement calculated to produce the most startling and profound impression.

After the festivities of Christmas the king took up his residence in the Tower, where he held his council on the 7th of January, 1495. If there was one man more distinguished than another by the royal favour in that august circle, he was Stanley, Lord Chamberlain. Sir William Stanley had burst upon Richard III. at Bosworth Field, at the critical moment, slain his standard-bearer, and, by his followers, killed the tyrant. His brother, Lord Stanley, had put the crown of the fallen monarch on Henry's head. For this he had been created Earl of Derby, and had been allowed to ally himself to the throne by the marriage of Henry's mother, the Countess of Richmond. Sir William had been made lord chamberlain, and both brothers had been glutted, as it were, with the wealth and estates of proscribed families. There were no men—not even Fox and Morton—who were supposed to stand so high, not merely in the favour, but in the friendship of Henry.

In the midst of the council the outlawed traitor Clifford, who was supposed at this moment to be at the Court of Margaret of Burgundy, was announced, to the terror and astonishment of the lords of the council; for he was known now, or violently suspected to be, at the bottom of all the late arrests. He prayed admission on the plea that he not only craved the king's pardon for past offences, but bore information essential to the king's safety. He was admitted, and falling on his knees, he made the humblest confession of his treasons against the king, and implored the royal clemency. All this was undoubtedly preconcerted by Henry, and for this reason he had taken up his quarters in the Tower; yet he affected to be as much astonished at the apparition of Clifford as anybody, and told the traitor that the only means by which he could hope for pardon was by revealing the very bottom of the Warbeck conspiracy. Thereupon Clifford named Sir William Stanley as the very soul of the treason, and the main hope of the traitors. The king, starting in well-assumed horror, declared the thing impossible. But this was only to render necessary a full revelation of all the charges against Sir William, and the proofs of them. Clifford declared himself ready to produce the gravest charges, the strongest proofs, and the king bade Sir William keep his private room in the square tower, and that the whole case should be heard in the morning.

Accordingly, Clifford, appearing before the council the next day, charged Sir William Stanley with being the chief instigator and abettor of himself and others. He was declared to be in secret correspondence with Warbeck and Margaret of Burgundy, and to have supplied money for the carrying out of the rebellion. Clifford stated that he had entertained himself, though a proclaimed traitor and outlaw, at his castle of Holt in Wales, last year at Easter, and had then declared that "if he were sure that that young man, meaning Warbeck, were King Edward's son, he would never bear arms against him." Clifford reminded the king that Sir William, through the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III., had shifted with the times, and always contrived to take the side of the new claimant. He reminded Henry how at Bosworth to the very last moment, he, and his brother Derby, had waited to see which side was likely to win, and then, rushing on, had borne away the credit of the victory.

In reply, Stanley seems to have been so satisfied that Henry had planned his downfall, that he admitted a certain degree of complicity, and throw himself on the mercy of the king. Probably, neither he nor any of the council expected that Henry would proceed to extremities with so distinguished a favourite, especially considering the near relation of his brother to the royal house. But, if so, they were mistaken. The crafty Henry had resolved to make an example which should strike terror through the hearts of all the disaffected, and convince them that no secrecy would screen from discovery, and no circumstances save them from his vengeance. But, besides this, there was his vast wealth. Sir William was regarded as the richest subject of the time. By his attainder, money and plate to the amount of 40,000 marks, besides jewels and other property of great value, would all go into the king's coffers, and an estate of £3,000 per annum, old rent, would fall to the crown. The writers of the time seem to regard the possession of such tempting affluence as the fatal item against him in Henry's eyes, and, accordingly, he was condemned and executed on Tower Hill on the 15th of February, 1498. The traitor Clifford received a reward of £500 for his base services, but Henry never again trusted him, and he slunk away into ignominious obscurity.

The fall of Stanley was a paralysing blow to the partisans of Warbeck. They saw that even that great nobleman, while apparently living in the very centre and blaze of royal favour, had been surrounded by spies who watched all his actions, heard his most secret communications, and carried them all to the king. No man who was in any degree implicated felt himself safe. Henry's cautious and severe temper, while it made him hated, made him proportionately feared. Assured by the success which had attended all his measures, Henry every day displayed more and more the grasping avarice of his disposition, and accusations and heavy fines fell thickly around. He fined Sir William Capel, Alderman of London, for some offence, £2,743; and, though he failed to secure the whole, he obtained £l,615. Encouraged by this, he repeated the like attempts; and, while he depressed the nobility, he especially countenanced unprincipled lawyers, as the ready tools of his rapacity. Whilst this conduct, however, kept alive the rancour of many influential people, it rendered the common people passive; for they escaped the oppressions of many petty tyrants, who were kept in check by the one great one. Warbeck's party, therefore, was greatly disabled. It was now three years since he made his appearance, but, with the exception of his brief visit to Ireland, he had attempted nothing in Henry's dominions. But the Flemings, who were smarting under the restrictions put upon their trade with England, began to murmur loudly, and the Archduke Charles to remonstrate warmly with Margaret on account of the countenance given to the English insurgents.

Under these circumstances it was necessary for Warbeck and his adherents to make an effort of some kind. Taking advantage, therefore, of the absence of