The Rodney telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1838-1840, 1839-06-11

free will Of mine! Moreover, did promise
that which twas not mine to grant. My
royalty belongs not to myself, but to mypeo-
pie, in trust of whom hold it. may not
yield it but at their demand; let them but
second William, and instantly the crown he
seeks for, shall be his! Further, without
my peoples leave, may not wed woman
of strangers race. My sister, whom he
would have espoused unto the noblest of his
barons-she hath been dead . year. Will
he that should send her corpse?'
A little month elapsed, and during that
brief interval, Harold neglected nothing that
might preserve the crown he had determin
ed never, except with life, to yield to his
fierce rival. A powerful fleet was instantly
appointed to cruise upon the Downs, and in
tercept the French invaders; mighty army
was collected on the coast, and each and all
the Saxon landholders, mobiles, and thames,
md franklins, bound themselves by strong
oalhs never 10 entertain truce or treaty,
withsthe detested Normans, but to die free
men, or freemen to conquer
A second time the herald came in peace,
demanding in tones fair and moderate, that
Harold, if he might not keep all the condi-
ticns of his oath, would fulfil part, at least;
and wed Adela, his bethrothed bride already,
the daughter of the puissant Duke, who,
thereupon, would yield to him, as being his
daughters dover, all right and title to the
crown, which he now claimed as his by
heritage.
Harold again returned brief and stern
refusal: resolved, that as he would not yicld
the whole, he would not, by conceding part,
risk the alienation of the love-which he
possessed in an extraordinary degree-ot
the whole English people. Then burst the
storm at once. From every partof Europe,
where the victorious banners ofthe Normals
were spread to the wind of heaven, adven-
turers flocked to the consecrated standard u
their kinsman.
Four hundred vessels of the largest class,
and more than twice that number OF the
transports of the day, were speedily assem-
bled in the Firth of Dive, stream which
falls into the sea between the Seine and
Orne. There, for a month or better, BY
contrary winds and furious storms they were
detained in a state ofinactivity. Al length
a southern breeze rose suddenly, and by it:
aid they made the harbor of Saint Valery
but there, again, they were detained b,
times more stormy than before; and, super
stitious as all men Of that period were, thu
soldiers soon began to tremble and to muir
muir; strange tales of dreams, and Prod'g'e
were circulated, and the spirit of that vas
host, of late so confident and proud, sanl
lhourly. At length, whether at the instiga
ton oftheir own fanatical belief, or as las
resource, or hoping to distract the minds
men from gloomier considerations, the MOI
man chiefs appointed procession round th
harbor of Saint Valery; bearing the holes
relics, and among them, the bones of tn
good Saint himself, the patron and nomer
clator of the town; and ere the prayers wer
ended, 10! the wind shifted once again, an
now blew steadfastly and fair, swelling tn
: canvass with propitious breath. and drivin
Y out each vane and streamer at full lengtl
!, toward their destined port.
J, The same storm, which had held Willial
r on his Norman coast, windbound and m
o tionless, which he had cursed as unprop
0 tious and disastrous, fifty times every da..
h for the last month, had been, in truth-so lit
It is the foresight, and so ignorant the wisdo
J even of the most sagacious among mortals-
!! had been, in truth, the agent by which h
;, future conquest was to be effected. Tho.
a gales which had pent the Norman galli
II in their harbors, had forced the Engli!
2 fleet, shattered and storm-tost, to put in +
r victuals and repairs, leaving the seas u
Re guarded to the approach OF the invader
10 Nor was this all! Those self-same gal
b, had waited from the northward another fie
r l r e. Al hccf of "a hr
n sea king, Harold Hadrads, and the treache
r, GUS Tosti, the rebel brother Of the Sax
IS monarch. Debarking in the Humber, thu
TX had laid waste the borders of Northumbe
he land and Yorkshire; had vanquished in
tn pitched battle, Morcar and Edwin, and t
IN youthful Waltheof-who had made head
I'd painst Them with their sudden levies, rails
ne from the neighboring counties-had driv
r. them into the walls Of York, and there we
r. now besieging them with little hope Of r.
to cue or relief. Meanwhile, the King, W
u had, Cor months, being lying in the sonthe
le portion of the realm, in Essex, Kent, or 81
Mt sex, awaiting, at the head Of the best WI
he riors Of his kingdom, the arrival OF his mt
To- inveterate foeman-summoned by news
ce this isruption, unexpected, yet, as it seem
ut, most formidable, ir his northern provinc
M IluIled into temporary carelessness By
air long tarrying Of his Norman enemy, 9
ar,f hopinp, as It indeed seemed probable, Il
IN the prevailing wind would not change SO
ad ruptly, but that he might, by using some I
nd traordinary diligence and speed, attack
I'D oyerpower the besieging force at York,
i'll, vet return to Dover in time to oppose "
ry the united force Of his whole nation, the
,ml embarkation Of the Duke-had left his p
by and travelled with all speed toward 70