undertook the
command of this expedition himself, as there had been so much
dissatisfaction with his appointment of a commander to the other. It
resulted just as was to be expected in the case of seven thousand men,
and a hundred ships, afloat on the swelling surges of the English
Channel, under the command of vanity, recklessness, and folly. The
duke came back to England in three months, bringing home one third of
his force. The rest had been lost, without accomplishing any thing.
The measure of public indignation against Buckingham was now full.

Buckingham himself walked as loftily and proudly as ever. He equipped
another fleet, and was preparing to set sail in it himself, as
commander again. He went to Portsmouth, accordingly, for this purpose,
Portsmouth being the great naval station then, as now, on the southern
coast of England. Here a man named Felton, who had been an officer
under the duke in the former expedition, and who had been extremely
exasperated against him on account of some of his management there,
and who had since found how universal was the detestation of him in
England, resolved to rid the country of such a curse at once. He
accordingly took his station in the passage-way of the house where
Buckingham was, armed with a knife. Buckingham came out, talking with
some Frenchmen in an angry manner, having had some dispute with them,
when Felton thrust the knife into his side as he passed, and, leaving
it in the wound, walked away, no one having noticed who did the deed.
Buckingham pulled out the knife, fell down, and died. The bystanders
were going to seize one of the Frenchmen, when Felton advanced and
said, "I am the man; you are to arrest me; let no one suffer that is
innocent." He was taken. They found a paper in his hat, saying that he
was going to destroy the duke, and that he could not sacrifice his
life in a nobler cause than by delivering his country from so great an
enemy.

King Charles was four miles off at this time. They carried him the
news. He did not appear at all concerned or troubled, but only
directed that the murderer--he ought to have said, perhaps, the
_executioner_--should be secured, and that the fleet should proceed
to sail. He also ordered the treasurer to make arrangements for a
splendid funeral.

The treasurer said, in reply, that a funeral would only be a temporary
show, and that he could hereafter erect a _monument_ at half the cost,
which would be a much more lasting