ese men had been sent thither
in order that they might assist Lauzun in any desperate emergency; for
it was thought not impossible that the captain of the ship might prove
false; and it was fully determined that, on the first suspicion of
treachery, he should be stabbed to the heart. There was, however, no
necessity for violence. The yacht proceeded down the river with a fair
wind; and Saint Victor, having seen her under sail, spurred back with
the good news to Whitehall. [573]

On the morning of Monday the tenth of December, the King learned that
his wife and son had begun their voyage with a fair prospect of reaching
their destination. About the same time a courier arrived at the
palace with despatches from Hungerford. Had James been a little more
discerning, or a little less obstinate, those despatches would have
induced him to reconsider all his plans. The Commissioners wrote
hopefully. The conditions proposed by the conqueror were strangely
liberal. The King himself could not refrain from exclaiming that they
were more favourable than he could have expected. He might indeed not
unreasonably suspect that they had been framed with no friendly design:
but this mattered nothing; for, whether they were offered in the
hope that, by closing with them, he would lay the ground for a happy
reconciliation, or, as is more likely, in the hope that, by rejecting
them, he would exhibit himself to the whole nation as utterly
unreasonable and incorrigible, his course was equally clear. In
either case his policy was to accept them promptly and to observe them
faithfully.

But it soon appeared that William had perfectly understood the character
with which he had to deal, and, in offering those terms which the Whigs
at Hungerford had censured as too indulgent, had risked nothing. The
solemn farce by which the public had been amused since the retreat of
the royal army from Salisbury was prolonged during a few hours. All the
Lords who were still in the capital were invited to the palace that
they might be informed of the progress of the negotiation which had been
opened by their advice. Another meeting of Peers was appointed for
the following day. The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs of London were also
summoned to attend the King. He exhorted them to perform their duties
vigorously, and owned that he had thought it expedient to send his wife
and child out of the country, but assured them that he would himself
remain at his post. While he