A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's InsurrectionHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
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A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Tyler's Insurrection, 1381 -- Juvenile fiction
"This and nothing less will we be content with," he went on. "There are
some of the king's advisers who had best not fall into our hands, for
if they do their lives will pay the penalty for their evil deeds. But
upon one thing we are determined: there shall be no plundering. Our
cause is a just one, and for that we are ready to fight. But should any
join us with the intention of turning this movement to their private
advantage, and of plunder and robbery, we warn them that such will not
be permitted, and any man caught plundering will at once be hung. They
may call us rioters; they may try and persuade the king that we are
disloyal subjects, though this is not the case. One thing they shall
not say of us, that we are a band of robbers and thieves. By to-night
we shall be joined by all true men of the neighbourhood, and will then
march to Gravesend, where our fellows have already risen and are in
arms; thence we go to Rochester and deliver those of our brethren who
have been thrown into prison because they could not pay the unjust
taxes. That done, we will go straight to London and demand from the
king himself a charter granting the four points we demand. Wat the
Tyler has been chosen our leader. He has struck the first blow, and as
a man of courage and energy there is no fear of his betraying us,
seeing that he has already put his head into a noose. Now shout for the
charter, for the king, and for the commons of England."
Such was the tenor of all the speeches, and they were everywhere
received with loud cheers. As Edgar rode down the main street on his
way home he heard shouting, and a brawny, powerful man came along,
surrounded by a mob of cheering men. He looked at Edgar steadily, and
stepped in front of his horse.
"You are the son of the man at St. Alwyth," he said. "I have seen you
in the streets before. What think you of what we are doing? I have
heard of you attending meetings there."
"I think that you have been cruelly wronged," Edgar answered, quietly,
"and that the four points that you demand are just and right. I wish
you good fortune in obtaining them, and I trust that it will be done
peacefully and without opposition."
"Whether peacefully or not, we are determined that they shall be
obtained. If it be needful, we will burn down London and kill every man
of rank who falls into our hands, and force our way into the king's
presence. We will have justice!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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