how more prudence
and selfcommand. He could not wish the negotiation to succeed. But he
was far too wise a man not to know that, if unreasonable demands made
by him should cause it to fail, public feeling would no longer be on his
side. He therefore overruled the opinion of his too eager followers, and
declared his determination to treat on the basis proposed by the King.
Many of the Lords and gentlemen assembled at Hungerford remonstrated: a
whole day was spent in bickering: but William's purpose was immovable.
He declared himself willing to refer all the questions in dispute to the
Parliament which had just been summoned, and not to advance within forty
miles of London. On his side he made some demands which even those who
were least disposed to commend him allowed to be moderate. He insisted
that the existing statutes should be obeyed till they should be altered
by competent authority, and that all persons who held offices without a
legal qualification should be forthwith dismissed. The deliberations of
the Parliament, he justly conceived, could not be free if it was to sit
surrounded by Irish regiments while he and his army lay at a distance
of several marches. He therefore thought it reasonable that, since his
troops were not to advance within forty miles of London on the west, the
King's troops should fall back as far to the east. There would thus be,
round the spot where the Houses were to meet, a wide circle of neutral
ground. Within that circle, indeed, there were two fastnesses of great
importance to the people of the capital, the Tower, which commanded
their dwellings, and Tilbury Fort, which commanded their maritime trade.
It was impossible to leave these places ungarrisoned. William therefore
proposed that they should be temporarily entrusted to the care of
the City of London. It might possibly be convenient that, when the
Parliament assembled, the King should repair to Westminster with a body
guard. The Prince announced that, in that case, he should claim the
right of repairing thither also with an equal number of soldiers. It
seemed to him just that, while military operations were suspended, both
the armies should be considered as alike engaged in the service of
the English nation, and should be alike maintained out of the English
revenue. Lastly, he required some guarantee that the King would not take
advantage of the armistice for the purpose of introducing a French force
into England. The point where the