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proved of the decision in which they affected to concur, anawho wished to see the King treated with a severity which theydid not venture openly to recommend. It is a remarkablefact that the chief of this party was a peer who had been avehement Tory, and who afterwards died a Nonjuror, Claren-don. The rapidity, with which, at this crisis, he went back-ward and forward from extreme to extreme, might seemincredible to people living in quiet times, but will not surprisethose who have had an opportunity of watching the courseof revolutions. He knew that the asperity, with which hehad, in the royal presence, censured the whole system ofgovernment, had given mortal offence to his old master. Onthe other hand he might, as the uncle of the Princesses, hopeto be great and rich in the new world which was about to com-mence. The English colony in Ireland regarded him as afriend and patron; and he felt that on the confidence andattachment of that great interest much of his importance de-pended. To such considerations as these the principles,which he had, during his whole life, ostentatiously professed,now gave way. He repaired to the Prince’s closet, and re-presented the danger of leaving the King at liberty. TheProtestants of Ireland were in extreme peril. There was onlyone way to secure their estates and their lives; and that wasto keep His Majesty close prisoner. It might not be prudentto shut him up in an English castle. But he might be sentacross the sea and confined in the fortress of Breda till theaffairs of the British Islands were settled. If the Prince werein possession of such a hostage, Tyrconnel would probablylay down the sword of state; and the English ascendencywould be restored in Ireland without a blow. If, on the otherhand, James should escape to France and make his appear-ance at Dublin, accompanied by a foreign army, the conse-quences must be disastrous. William owned that there wasgreat weight in these reasons: but it couldnotbe. He knewhis wife’s temper; and he knew that she never would consentto such a step. Indeed it would not be for his own honour totreat his vanquished kinsman so ungraciously. Nor was itquite clear that generosity might not be the best policy. Who