346

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

IX.

1688 .

TheKing’sprepa-rationsfor flight.

that, by closing -with them, he would lay the ground for ahappy reconciliation, or, as is more likely, in the hope that,by rejecting them, he would exhibit himself to the whole na-tion as utterly unreasonable and incorrigible, his course wasequally clear. In either case his policy was to accept thempromptly and to observe them faithfully.

But it soon appeared that William had perfectly under-stood the character with which he had to deal, and, in offer-ing those terms which the Whigs at Hungerford had censuredas too indulgent, had risked nothing. The solemn farce bywhich the public had been amused since the retreat of theroyal army from Salisbury was prolonged during a few hours.All the Lords who were still in the capital were invited to thepalace that they might be informed of the progress of the ne-gotiation which had been opened by their advice. Anothermeeting of Peers was appointed for the following day. TheLord Mayor and the Sheriffs of London were also summonedto attend the King. He exhorted them to perform their dutiesvigorously, and owned that he had thought it expedient tosend his wife and child out of the country, but assured themthat he would himself remain at his post. While he utteredthis unkingly and unmanly falsehood, his fixed purpose wasto depart before daybreak. Already he had entrusted hismost valuable moveables to the care of several foreign Am-bassadors. His most important papers had been depositedwith the Tuscan minister. But before the flight there wasstill something to be done. The tyrant pleased himself withthe thought that he might avenge himself on a people who hadbeen impatient of his despotism byinflicting on them at part-ing all the evils of anarchy. He ordered the Great Seal andthe writs for the new Parliament to be brought to his apart-ment. The writs which could be found he threw into the fire.Those which had been already sent out he annulled by an in-strument drawn up in legal form. To Feversham he wrote aletter which could be understood only as a command to dis-band the army. Still, however, the King concealed his in-tention of absconding even from his chief ministers. Justbefore he retired he directed Jeffreys to be in the closet early