alified by law for public trust. [549]

But these concessions were meant only to blind the Lords and the nation
to the King's real designs. He had secretly determined that, even in
this extremity, he would yield nothing. On the very day on which he
issued the proclamation of amnesty, he fully explained his intentions to
Barillon. "This negotiation," said James, "is a mere feint. I must send
commissioners to my nephew, that I may gain time to ship off my wife
and the Prince of Wales. You know the temper of my troops. None but the
Irish will stand by me; and the Irish are not in sufficient force to
resist the enemy. A Parliament would impose on me conditions which I
could not endure. I should be forced to undo all that I have done for
the Catholics, and to break with the King of France. As soon, therefore,
as the Queen and my child are safe, I will leave England, and tale
refuge in Ireland, in Scotland, or with your master." [550]

Already James had made preparations for carrying this scheme into
effect. Dover had been sent to Portsmouth with instructions to take
charge of the Prince of Wales; and Dartmouth, who commanded the fleet
there, had been ordered to obey Dover's directions in all things
concerning the royal infant, and to have a yacht manned by trusty
sailors in readiness to sail for France at a moment's notice. [551]
The King now sent positive orders that the child should instantly be
conveyed to the nearest continental port. [552] Next to the Prince of
Wales the chief object of anxiety was the Great Seal. To that symbol of
kingly authority our jurists have always ascribed a peculiar and almost
mysterious importance. It is held that, if the Keeper of the Seal should
affix it, without taking the royal pleasure, to a patent of peerage or
to a pardon, though he may be guilty of a high offence, the instrument
cannot be questioned by any court of law, and can be annulled only by
an Act of Parliament. James seems to have been afraid that his enemies
might get this organ of his will into their hands, and might thus give a
legal validity to acts which might affect him injuriously. Nor will
his apprehensions be thought unreasonable when it is remembered that,
exactly a hundred years later, the Great Seal of a King was used, with
the assent of Lords and Commons, and with the approbation of many great
statesmen and lawyers, for the purpose of transferring his prerogatives
to his son. Lest the talisman which possessed such