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be put upon her father by her husband, nor could he think it a becoming part for himself, while it was by no means certain that it would be acceptable to the nation or to the Parliament. He replied, therefore, that he could consent to nothing but the request to be made to his Majesty to withdraw from London; and said that he should even order a guard to attend him, with a charge to protect him from insult, but to put no constraint whatever on his movements. In truth, it was for his interest to leave the King free, since his one desire was that James should renew his flight, but that all men should see that it was his own voluntary and deliberate act; and James, with incredible fatuity, was already resolved to gratify him.

On the morning of the 18th, Halifax, with two other nobles, arrived from Windsor, with the request that the King would fix his abode at Ham; and his answer was that he should prefer returning to Rochester. William's consent was gladly given to such an arrangement. But the report of it struck terror into the minds of all James's friends. That his preference for Rochester over Ham was dictated solely by the consideration of the facilities which it would afford for crossing over to France, was evident to all; and several of the nobles, among whom were some of the Bishops whom he had so shamefully prosecuted in the summer, entreated him to change his purpose, urging that to quit the country would be ruinous, not only to his own cause, but to the tranquillity of the kingdom; and that it would also be very contrary to the feelings and wishes of the great majority of the nation. One peer even urged him to call around him the soldiers whom Feversham had disbanded, and who had not been re-enlisted, and with them to fall on the Dutch troops, who were so widely dispersed in their different quarters

as to make it probable that they might be easily overpowered.

Bewildered as James was, and obstinately as he was won't to adhere to a plan when he had once formed it, he can hardly have failed to see the force of these arguments, or the vast difference between the ease of retaining power which he possessed, and recovering it after he had resigned, or even seemed to resign it. But he persisted in returning to Rochester; and, if the remonstrances and entreaties thus pressed upon him, and repeated by frequent messengers and letters during the next two or three days, induced him for a moment to waver in his resolution to pass over to France, his hesitation was but temporary. He had conceived the most absurd and groundless fears that his life was in danger; and the Queen, who had been imbued with his alarms, wrote him "an earnest if not imperious" letter, claiming his flight as the fulfilment of a promise made to herself. The letter was intercepted and brought to William, who at once forwarded it to Rochester; but even this proof of William's anxiety that he should quit the kingdom failed to detain him. That he was disarming his friends and playing into the hands of his enemies he could not doubt; but fear prevailed over every other consideration, and, on the evening of the 22nd of December, he resumed his attempt to fly, copying his conduct of eleven days before with singular and discreditable minuteness.

Once more he made his pusillanimous act still more ignominious by wanton and needless deceit of his followers. That very evening some gentlemen of sense and influence had arrived from London bringing him fresh letters of

They are the expressions of Burnet, who, perhaps, had seen the letter.

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entreaty that he would by no means quit the kingdom, which they seconded by information and remonstrance of their own. He read the letters; listened to the advice; promised to take both into his consideration, and to discuss the matter with them in the morning; and, having thus got rid of them, he pretended to go to bed. But as soon

as he had dismissed his personal attendants he dressed himself again; and accompanied by his natural son, the Duke of Berwick, a promising youth of eighteen, who had only that evening joined him from Portsmouth, he stole down to the shore and embarked in a vessel which was waiting for him. Good care had been taken by William's partisans that no one should stop him again. The captain at once set sail without the slightest hindrance, and reached Ambleteuse, on the French coast, in a few hours.

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CHAPTER VIII.

William reaches London-Invites the Peers and chief Commoners to a conference-The Peers request the Prince to take the government on himself for the present, and to summon a convention-Differences of opinion in the nation-The convention meets January 22, 1689An Association for self-defence is formed in Ulster by the Protestants -Discussion in the House of Commons-A resolution is agreed to by the House of Commons-Keen debate on every clause of the resolution in the House of Peers-A conference between the two Houses is held-James sends a letter to the convention-Feelings of the Prince and Princess of Orange-The Prince and Princess are invited to accept the crown-The Declaration of Right is framed by the Commons-The Princess reaches England-The two Houses present the crown to the Prince and Princess February 13, 1689.

MEANWHILE the Prince was in London, prosecuting his objects with great energy and sagacity, and steering his way with a judgment that never went astray between the conflicting counsels of the different parties among his followers. James had quitted London for the last time on the morning of the 18th. On the afternoon of the same day William arrived in the capital, where, though the weather was wet and stormy, he was met by as large a concourse of people, and was greeted by cheers as loud, and illuminations and bonfires as general, as had hailed the return of the King the week before. He drove at once to St. James's Palace, which he had selected for his residence; and in the evening he held a Court which was numerously attended by all the

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principal nobles and men of influence who were at the time in London.

The next day he received addresses from different bodies; from the Aldermen and Common Council of the City; from the clergy, who were headed by nearly all the Bishops; from the Nonconformist ministers of the capital; from the lawyers, one of whom replied to one of his observations in a sentence which has often been quoted, and which in a few words contains the whole justification of the Revolution. Almost half a century before, Serjeant Maynard had aided, as one of the counsel for the Commons, in conducting the impeachment of Strafford; he had had the honour of incurring the marked displeasure of Cromwell, who had twice sent him to the Tower; of refusing a seat on the bench from Charles II.; and of sending back in the past summer a brief which had been meant to secure his services in the prosecution of the Bishops. He was in his eighty-seventh year when he now headed the deputation from the Inns of Court. The Prince, who was no stranger to his character, received him with especial graciousness: "Mr. Serjeant," said he, "you must have outlived all the lawyers of your time." "Yes, please your Highness," replied the old man; "and, if your Highness had not come over, I should have outlived the law itself."

And indeed he would have outlived the law if William had taken the course which some of his exulting partisans recommended; for they advised him at once to seize on the Crown, claiming it by right of conquest; and such a claim so enforced would for the moment have abrogated all law. But he was far too politic, and too careful of appearances, to take such advice; it was not only that to have done so would have been to falsify all the professions of the Declara