ACT TWO
Scene 1
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Time : Five months later; March, 1829.
Place : York Gaol.
Curtain rises on interior of ground floor cell; door from corridor stage
left; window with bars stage right; sun shining on opposite wall, faint
shadow of a gallows. From basement cell there are random female shouts
and shrieks. There is a rough plank bed, a table, and a chair. Torn fabric
loosely hanging from nails cuts off portion of bed. As the curtain rises
Francis Collins is seated at the table, quill in hand, writing. Hands,
feet and body are cold. He stops writing, leans back, half turns to audience
and speaks as if talking to himself.
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COLLINS
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Dammit all. Did I ever think, did I ever dream, did I ever imagine in
my wildest imaginings, I would be celebrating my birthday in a gaol, in
Canada of all places. (turning directly to audience, and rising to his feet.)
When I think of it, when I was a lad growing up in Newry, near hand
the Mountains of Mourne adjacent to the sea, emigrating to Canada never
entered my mind. I was content to be a printer, like my father and my
uncle before me. But I had to go and better myself, to become a publisher
with my own newspaper, The Ulster Recorder.
And I fell in love (pause) - with my dove Ann, and she the daughter
of one of the leading families in the county.
Then came Castlereagh, and his newspaper tax, bad cess and more to both
of them, and I lost my paper, and I lost my country, and I damn near lost
Ann too. I came to Canada, and she followed me. And now what is her reward?
Here I am in a gaol house cell; above me a debtors' prison; below me a
lunatic asylum. And a gallows being made ready to hang a man outside my
own cell window. I suppose, I suppose you could call it a cell with a
view. But somehow I don't think this is the way things were meant to be.
(Above muffled shrieks there is the sound of footsteps coming along
the corridor. The Sheriff, Jarvis, brings Ann Collins into the cell. She
is carrying a basket.)
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JARVIS
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Here you are Collins. The Missus herself to see you. Now you can both
see the hanging for free. The best seats in the house! (Ann rushes across
to Collins; they embrace. Jarvis laughs.) I'll leave you to it. I have a
hanging to look after. (exits.)
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COLLINS
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Ah, Ann! Ann my dove! Sure I was just talking about you.
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ANN
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Talking about me, Francis! And to whom? To the poor people below, or the
poor people above?
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COLLINS
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To myself, Ann; and maybe to the world too.
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ANN
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Go on, Francis. Is it going mad you are? Talking to the world you say.
There's not much of a world here in a gaol house cell. And it your birthday!
Oh! And the children said to say happy birthday. Sure they miss you, Francis.
They miss their daddy, terribly.
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COLLINS
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My poor girls. Poor wee Mary, and poor wee Margaret! How are they? Thanks
be to God they're too young to know what's really happening to their daddy.
Oh Ann, Ann, Ann! I'm sorry love; sorrier than I can tell you that you have
to come to see me in a prison cell. Although, thank God, you're allowed
to come.
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ANN
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Hush now. I'm not complaining. Have you ever heard me complain once? Where
you are; where we are, together, there's world enough for me.
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COLLINS
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Ann, my dove Ann, what would life be like without you? A wilderness, a
desert, a whole nothing surrounded by emptiness.
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ANN
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No sea.
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COLLINS
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No mountains.
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ANN
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No sun.
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COLLINS
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No moon.
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ANN
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No light.
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COLLINS
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Nothing.
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ANN
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Nothing . (Pause) Francis --
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COLLINS
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Yes, my dove?
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ANN
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That's blarney.
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COLLINS
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Yes, my dove, but 'tis true blarney. (They embrace and kiss again.)
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ANN
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Enough of that for now, Francis. I have some news will cheer you up. The
whole House of Assembly has been meeting in committee for three days solid,
three whole days, and you, Francis, my dear man, the centre of attention.
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COLLINS
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Tell me ! Tell me more. Tell me everything!
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ANN
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Hold on a minute, I can do better (pulling wad of paper from her basket.)
Here's the transcript. Didn't John Carey himself take down every word of
it. It's going to be in The Observer, and he says you can have this copy
for the Freeman.
Seventeen times, Francis, they voted in your favour. Seventeen times
they condemned your trial as a farce and a travesty. Seventeen times they
called for a reversal of the sentence. Seventeen times they've asked for
clemency. The whole Assembly is petitioning the King on your behalf!
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COLLINS
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The King! But what about Colbourne? What about the new Lieutenant- Governor?
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ANN
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Colbourne! Colbourne! Don't mention Colbourne to me. Didn't the Assembly
petition him first, and didn't he turn them flat down, flatter than a pancake.
Here, read it yourself. (Collins reads silently.) |
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COLLINS
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In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Ann, did you read this?
Did you read this? That get of a judge, Sherwood, he's admitted it! He's
admitted it! Listen to what he wrote to Colbourne:
"Taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, Mr.
Justice Hagerman and myself deemed the sentence which we passed on the
defendant, both proper and necessary, for the public good." For the
public good, my foot! For the good of the Sherwoods, the Robinsons, the
Boultons, the Jarvises, the Smalls, the Rideouts, the whole kit and caboodle
of "our betters," our self-proclaimed York aristocracy. The
whole damn lot! (Stamps his feet on the floor.)
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CHANT
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(from below) The whole damn lot -- the whole damn lot -- the whole damn
lot -- the whole--
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ANN
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Oh, Francis --
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COLLINS
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Below there! Hold it, hold it, friends. (Shrieks from below, and laughter.
Noise fades.)
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ANN
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I'm sorry Francis; I'm sorry. I'm almost as sorry for them as for you.
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COLLINS
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Sorry, Ann? Listen to this -- Oh, what a birthday present. You're right,
seventeen resolutions! Listen to this one (reads):
"Resolved - That is appears from the appended copy of the letter
of Judge Sherwood to His Excellency (marked E) that Mr. Justice Hagerman,
alleged on the record to be libelled, did concern himself with Mr. Justice
Sherwood in measuring the punishment of the defendant, without necessity
for it, further violating the rule that a man shall not be a judge in
his own case. Carried 29 to 11 !"
By the powers, Ann; by the powers. (Shrieking and catcalls from below.)
Quiet, you poor miserable wretches! Quiet! (sound lessens.) Listen to
this, Ann, just listen! (reading):
"To the King's Most Excellent Majesty -
Most Gracious Sovereign
WE, Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Upper Canada
in Provincial Parliament assembled, humbly request your Majesty's most
favourable consideration of the resolutions and documents accompanying
this Address, and humbly pray your Majesty to extend to Francis Collins
the Royal clemency by remitting the residue of his punishment--which act
of mercy will be most acceptable to the people of this province, and be
regarded by us as a fresh proof of your Majesty's gracious disposition
to consult the wishes and happiness of your people in all parts of your
ample dominions."
Carried by a vote of 24 to 8; three to one, Ann; three to one! Twenty
four good men and true; Baldwin, Blacklock, Buell; Cawthra, Dalton, Ewing;
Hornor, Ketchum, Kilborn; Lefferty, Lockwood, Lyons, McDonald, Mackenzie,
Malcolm and Matthews; Perry; Peterson - Peterson; John Rolph; Shaver,
Smith, Thomson; James Wilson, and Woodruff! (dances around the cell with
Ann, singing "Baldwin, Blacklock and Buell; Baldwin, Blacklock and
Buell --"
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ANN
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Francis, slow down; slow down.
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CHANT
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(from below) Baldwin, Blacklock and Buell; Baldwin, Blacklock and Buell
-- (sound of hammering without - chant lessens.)
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ANN
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What's that? (hammering continues)
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COLLINS
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(quietly) The last nails going into the gallows, and the crowd with the
blood lust on them. (Moans from below.)
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ANN
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I saw the hideous thing on my way in.
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COLLINS
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And you can see the shadow of it coming clearer on the wall behind you.
(More moans from below.)
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ANN
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Francis, I don't like it; I don't like it.
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COLLINS
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There now Ann. Come over here (leads her to the plank bed.) Turn your
head away from it. There, dove, pay no attention. Look, I'll fasten this
curtain up better (starts to re-arrange curtain around bed.)
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ANN
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But what if Jarvis comes back? Francis, you're crazy.
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COLLINS
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Sure the bugger can't come back. He's got a hanging to run. Didn't you
hear him yourself? (He leans Ann back on the bed.) Besides, it's me birthday!
(Sounds offstage, shouts and howls from the basement, and a drum beats.)
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ANN
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Can't you do anything better with the curtain, Francis? Look in the basket.
There's a couple of yards of stuff there.
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COLLINS
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And you say I'm crazy! Sure you're a wonder yourself to be thinking ahead
like that. (Gets material from basket.) I'm sure it got here all by itself!
(arranges the curtain to provide better privacy. Ann slides back out
of sight.)
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ANN
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Francis, what will they think of us?
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COLLINS
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Och, Ann, let's not waste time. You know what I want; you know what I've
missed most.
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ANN
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And I've missed it too. May God forgive me, Francis, but --
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COLLINS
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Shush, love. Shush a stoir, a chroidhe. (Drum beats quicken, crowd noises
press in, lunatics yowl.)
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ANN
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Oh, Francis!
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COLLINS
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Shush, dove; shush. (Suddenly the shadow of a man hanging from the gallows
appears on the wall opposite the window. Drum beat stops. Silence falls.
There is movement continuing behind the roughly curtained bed. In a few
moments footsteps are heard coming along corridor.)
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ANN
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Francis, Francis, he's coming!
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COLLINS
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Bedad, he's not the only one.
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ANN
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Francis, would you for the love of God --
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COLLINS
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All right, dove; all right. Here, try to get yourself straightened out.
(Collins backs out from behind curtain, arranging his clothes. Enter Jarvis.)
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JARVIS
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Well, now, Mr. bloody proprietor Collins, and how did you like the hanging?
Twenty years ago it would have been your neck was stretched..
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COLLINS
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As hangings go, Sheriff, I'ld say tolerable, God rest the poor sod. But
don't look back, Sheriff; look ahead. Twenty years from now where will
you be? Where will we all be? Do you think that you and your friends in
the Family Compact are going to rule forever? Do you think you can keep
people under your heel forever? Do you think you can curb the Press forever
-- the Freeman, the Observer, the Gazette, the Vindicator? Crush one and
another will rise in it's place.
Subvert justice, and a committee of the House of Assembly will expose
it. They've done it now in York. They did it in Philadelphia not so long
ago. And they'll do it again, and again, and again, as long and as often
as it takes for corruption to be exposed and democracy to triumph.
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JARVIS
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Yankee-loving bastard! The triumph of democracy! You needn't put too much
faith in your precious parlimentary committees.
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COLLINS
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They're petitioning the King!
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JARVIS
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And how long do you think it's going to take for any petition to reach
London from here? Who do you think's going to decide whether it goes by
fast packet or slow schooner --
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COLLINS
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What we need is a good public postal service.
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JARVIS
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And do you think that will speed it up? You can have your postal service
if you want, but don't look for any great improvement. Somebody will still
decide what goes fast and what goes slow, and that somebody will be one
of us. (Stops, looks around.) And where is Mr. Francis bloody proprietor
Collins's wife? Where's your bloody Sheila?
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COLLINS
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How dare you insult my wife, you miserable cur -- (rushes at Jarvis who
dodges behind table; Ann hastens from behind curtain.)
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ANN
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Francis -- no! Francis -- no! Let him be. I heard what he said. It's no
mind.
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COLLINS
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No mind is it? If I get my hands --
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ANN
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No, Francis! I forbid it. (Francis stops attempt to get at Jarvis.)
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JARVIS
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Well, now, Mrs. Collins, I'm glad one of you has some sense. Let him hit
me and he'll be here for the rest of his life. And how did yourself enjoy
the hanging -- though I doubt you could see much back there behind the curtain.
I suppose it was on your knees, praying you were, for the soul of the poor
devil at the end of the rope.
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COLLINS
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You miserable blackguard. I'll -- I'll --
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ANN
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Francis, no! I'm going home now. Have you got anything for me to take
for this week's paper?
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COLLINS
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Here (lifting sheets from table), take these. You can sort them out later.
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JARVIS
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Aren't we lenient! Here you are, a convicted libeller, and we still let
you scribble for your rag. And do we get one word of thanks? Not one! Come,
Madam, your visit is over. (Starts to move toward door.)
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COLLINS
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No, Jarvis, you're not lenient. If the law didn't allow it, you would
be the happiest man in the world to deny me quill and paper. But because
the law does allow it which one of us is the happier this day in York Gaol
-- you, because you put a hempen rope around some condemned prisoner's neck?
Or maybe 'tis I, with my quill and paper, who has fashioned a rope to hang
a whole system of rotten government run by your accursed Family Compact
friends? Time will tell, Jarvis; time will tell.
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ANN
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Goodbye, Francis (kisses him.) I'll tell the girls their daddy is well
and asking for them.
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JARVIS
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Come on. I'm listening to no more. (Exits with Ann.)
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COLLINS
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(addressing the audience.) You know, the pity of it all is that that man
absolutely believes he is right. (Shrieks and mad laughter from below.)
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(Curtain and brief interval)
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