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398

HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

X.

Several eminent Scotsmen were in London when the■Prince arrived there; and many others now hastened thitherto pay their court to him. On the seventh of January he re-quested them to attend him at Whitehall. The assemblagewas large and respectable. The Duke of Hamilton and hiseldest son, the Earl of Arran, the chiefs of a house of almostregal dignity, appeared at the head of the procession. Theywere accompanied by thirty Lords and about eighty gentle-men of note. William desired them to consult together, andto let him know in what way he could best promote the welfareof their country. He then withdrew, and left them to de-liberate unrestrained by his presence. They repaired to theCouncil chamber, and put Hamilton into the chair. Thoughthere seems to have been little difference of opinion, their de-bates lasted three days, a fact which is sufficiently explainedby the circumstance that Sir Patrick Hume was one of the de-baters. Arran ventured to recommend a negotiation with theKing. But this motion was ill received by the mover’s fatherand by the whole assembly, and did not even find a seconder.At length resolutions were carried closely resembling the re-solutions which the English Lords and Commoners had pre-sented to the Prince a few days before. He was requested tocall together a Convention of the Estates of Scotland, to fixthe fourteenth of March for the day of meeting, and, till thatday, to take on himself the civil and military administration.To this request he acceded; and thenceforth the governmentof the whole island was in his hands.*state of The decisive moment approached; and the agitation of theIns'iand. n public mind rose to the height. Knots of politicians wereeverywhere whispering and consulting. The coffee-houseswere in a ferment. The presses of the capital never rested. Ofthe pamphlets which appeared at that time, enough may still becollected to form several volumes; and from those pamphlets itis not difficult to gather a correct notion of the state of parties.

There was a very small faction which wished to recallJames without stipulations. There was also a very smallfaction which wished to set up a commonwealth, and to entrust* Burnet, i.805.; Sixth Collection of Papers, 1089.

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