The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-25


 grateful eo him for his protection of Anne, installed him again in the Tower and sup piled him with money to perfect his me chanical."
 His intellect grasped the meaning os the invention, though his learnings was too scant to follow Warmers scientific demonstration. "But," said he, thou wouldst turn this bold land of yeomanry Into a community of gripping traders and sickly artisans This thy invention, by multiplying the works of mans hand, would give England the markets of the world; and by amassing wealth, it will emasculate her defenders. However, be happy in thine own way"
 In this the Earl showed both his wis dom and his blindness. He saw what must happen to his order if the trader and the manufacturer became great; but he could not see that their rise need not mean the destruction of England, and still less could he see that 'mechanical' or no "mechanical' the van of the mid , dle class was already upon him. Yet it was in this very point that his | rule was based on a weak foundation. The cities, though they acquiesced, did not agree to the dethronement of York. | Bent on their own direct interest, they l saw that Edward, with all his vices and | tyrannes, fostered trade, while War wiczs iron barons despised it. In his own house, too Warwick was | undermined. Isabel who had dreamed of | the English throne for Clarence, was hu- inflated and angered when her sister be- came the Princess of Edward of Lancas- | ter In her bitter wrath she swayed the I weak Clarence so thoroughly that even while he rode by Warwick's s side he not | only meditated treason, but was actively | plotting it.
 Warwick felt Isabel's estrangement, though he did not guess it's measure. He l felt the luke-warm spirit of the merchant I class. He could not reward his own ad- herents, for his pledge to Margaret bound l him to make only provisional arrange l ments for government till she arrived l in England with her son. The royal treasury was so empty that his private means were exhausted to pay for the very expedition that had enthroned the | Lancasters.
 So, alone in pomp and power. with a fearless front, but an aching heart, stood the King Maker, Day by day the black locks of the strong man showed more streaks of gray; and day by day he longed more anxiously for the coming Of Margaret and her son.
 But they did not come. Never in the memory of man had so long a continu- ance of adverse winds blown dead against the coast of France. Men said that 1t scarcely had it's parallel in history. 1 Thrice she put to sea and thrice she was blown back.
 But the wind that was unfair for her was not quite so adverse to a small squad ron of ships that came across one day from the Flemish coast and disembarked a few thousand steel-clad men at the mouth of the Humber. They gathered around their leader The banner of the golden sun of York was thrown to the l wind The iron heel of the dauntless Ed ward was pressed once more on the soil of England.
 It seemed a desperate enterprise; but Edward and his supporters reckoned not ! merely on steel, but on craft. Richard l of Gloucester sent a secret letter to Clar- ence. and the little army set out for York, proclaiming on the way that Ed ward had returned only to claim his pri- vate heritage of the duchy.
 Edward swore at the gates of York that he desired admittance only as the Duke of York, and he pledged himself to be a faithful and loyal servant to King Henry. The oath was given in sacred conclave and the gates were thrown open to him.
 He did not delay in York, but pressed 1 onward, accumulating men as he went. i The Earl of Northumberland, who guard ed the district, was a true server of the time, who had changed from white rose to red rose and back again, as profit lay. He deemed 1t wise now to remain neu- tral
 Montagu lay near the course of Ed wards march, with a force that could de- stroy him with one blow. But Montagu, much to his surprise, had received orders from Clarence as co-protector of the realm to suffer Edward to march on, and adding the private intelligence that the Earl of Warwick was wishful to unite all fac tions by accepting Edwards voluntary abdication of the throne.
 That free passage was everything to Edward Men thought that his enterprise was favored by the Earl's brother as well as by Northumberland. Puzzled, alarmed, tempted, according to their various incli- nations, the nobles studied their own in- terests Adventurers fiocked to his stand ards first, then the disappointed, the needy and the ambitious.
 At Newark, Edwards arrival threw the forces of Warwick's lieutenants into such A confusion of counsels and minds that they fed When foes fly, friends start up from the very earth. Almost over night, Edward saw a Kings army under him. Then the audacious perjurer threw away the mask and sent forth not the humble prayer of the attainted Duke of York, but the proclamation of a vengefu1 king.
 Warwick had not been idle. The mo- ment he heard of Edwards landing, he dispatched orders to Montagu to give him hattie, but his message did not reach his ! brother while C1arence's traitorous and false one did Warwick hurried to Gov entry to marshal his forces there, after hastily making provisions for the defense 1 of London
 Then fell the first blow. Clarence fled to Edwards camp with all his men. Warwick had loved Clarence. His treachery struck him as poisoned dag ger, but still more deeply did his true and honest heart bleed at the knowl- edge that his own child had abetted the treason.
 Grief stricken, but undismayed he gath cred his army and marched to London. There the second blow awaited him. i, Treason had been at work within It's walls Edwards adherents had risen, and. helped by the citizens, had impris- oned Henry in the Tower and held the ! city for York
 Warwick saw now that all calculations were at an end. He must commit all to ] the hazard of one battle
 Silently, with a heart over-charged, the king-maker turned away from the walls 1 and prepared for that fight which was to be his last Stricken in his own kindred. | wounded to death through his loves, the great baron still betrayed little of his feelings to his army, but cheered them on with stout and brave words. A sullen and dense fog, that was to be fateful, covered the arraying of the two armies on that heath at Gladsmoor, where the issue between barons and King was to be decided forever. In this crown ing hour the vast and gigantic destiny of the Earl comprehended all on which its
 darkness or its light had lailen' great and humble.
 l On this very day Margaret and her son