It was strange that a great King, who had a good army and a strong fleet, should choose rather to abandon all than either try his fate with that part of the army that stood firm to him, or stay and see the issue of Parliament. This was variously imputed to his want of courage, his consciousness of guilt, or the advice of those about him; but so it was that his deserting in this manner, and leaving them to be pillaged by an army that he had ordered to be disbanded without pay, was thought the forfeiture of his right, and the expiration of his reign; and with this notion I now proceed to relate what passed in the Interregnum (though under the same title still) until the throne, which was then left vacant, came to be filled.
When it was noised about town that the King was gone, the apprentices and rabble, supposing the priests had persuaded him to it, broke out again with fresh fury upon all suspected houses, and did much havoc in many places. They met with Jeffreys as he was making his escape in disguise, and he being known by some of them, was insulted with all the scorn and rudeness that malice could invent, and after some hour's tossing about, was carried to the Lord Mayor to be committed to the Tower, which Lord Lucas had now seized, and in it declared for the Prince.
The Lord Mayor was so struck with the terror of the rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits of which he died soon after; but to prevent all future disorders in the City, he called a meeting of the Privy Councillors and Peers at the Guildhall, who all agreed to send an invitation to the Prince, desiring him to come and take the government of the nation into his hands until a Parliament should meet and reduce all things to a proper settlement.
The Prince was at Abingdon when the news of the King's desertion and the City's disorder met him, and upon this it was proposed that he should make all imaginable haste to London; but some were against it, because, though there had been but two small actions, one at Winkinton, in Dorsetshire, and the other at Reading, during the whole campaign, in neither of which the King's forces gave them much reason to dread them, yet there were so many of the disbanded soldiers scattered along the road, all the way to London, that it was thought unsafe for the Prince to advance faster than his troops could march before him, which delay was attended with very bad consequences. When the people of Feversham understood that it was the King they had in their custody, they changed their rough usage into all the respect they could possibly pay him. The country came in, and were moved with this astonishing instance of all worldly greatness, that he who had ruled three kingdoms, and might have been arbiter of all Europe, was now found in such mean hands, and in so low an equipage; and when the news was brought to London, all the indignation that was formerly conceived against him was turned into pity and compassion. The Privy Council upon this occasion met, and agreed to have the King sent for. The Earl of Feversham went with the coaches and guards to bring him back. In his passage through the City he was welcomed by great numbers with loud acclamations of joy, and at his coming to Whitehall had a numerous Court; but when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he found them in so ruinous a condition, that there was no possibility of making any stand; and therefore he sent the Earl of Feversham (but without demanding a pass) to Windsor, to desire the Prince to come to St. James's and consult with him the best means of settling the nation.
The Prince had some reason to take this procedure of the Council amiss, after they had invited him to take the government into his own hands; and because the Earl of Feversham had commanded the army against him, and was now come without a passport, it was thought advisable to put him in arrest. The tender point was how to dispose of the King's person; and when some proposed rougher methods, such as keeping him in prison or sending him to Breda, at least until the nation was settled, the Prince would not consent to it; for he was for no violence or compulsion upon him, though he held it necessary for their mutual quiet and safety that he should remove from London.
When this was resolved on, the Lords Halifax, Shrewsbury and Delamere were appointed to go and order the English guards to be drawn off, and sent into country quarters, while Count Solms with the Dutch was to come and take all the posts about Court. The thing was executed without resistance, but not without murmuring, and it was near midnight before all was settled, when the lords sent notice to the King that they had a message to deliver to him. They told him "the necessity of affairs required that the Prince should come presently to London, and they thought it would conduce both to the safety of the King's person and the quiet of the City to have him retire to some house out of town, and they named Ham; adding that he should be attended with a guard, but only to secure his person, and not give him any disturbance." When the lords had delivered their message they withdrew; but the King sent immediately after them to know if the Prince would permit him to go to Rochester. It was soon seen that the intent of this was to forward his escape, and therefore the Prince willingly consented to it; and as the King next day went out of town, the Prince came through the park privately to St. James's which disgusted many who had stood some time in the wet to see him. The next day all the bishops in town (except the Archbishop, who had once agreed to do it), the clergy of London, and the several companies of the City came to welcome him, and express a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought by his means. As the Prince took notice of Serjeant Maynard's great age, and how he had outlived all the men of the law, he answered he had liked to have outlived the law itself, had not his Highness come over to their relief.
When compliments were over, the first thing that came under consultation was how to settle the nation. The lawyers were of opinion that the Prince might declare himself King, as Henry VII. had done, and then call a Parliament, which would be a legal assembly; but their notion in this was so contrary to the Prince's Declaration, and so liable to give offence, that it could not be admitted. Upon this the Prince called together all the peers and members of the three late Parliaments that were in town, together with some of the citizens of London, desiring their advice in the present conjuncture. They agreed in an address to him that he would write missive letters round the nation, in such manner as the writs were issued out, for sending up representatives, and that in the meantime he would be pleased to take the administration of the government into his hands.
While these things were carrying on in London, the King at Rochester was left in full liberty, and had all the respect paid to him that he could wish. Most of the Dutch guards that attended him happened to be Papists; and when he went to Mass they went with him, and joined very reverently in the devotion; whereupon, being asked how they could serve in an expedition that was intended to destroy their own religion, one of them answered briskly that his soul was God's, but his sword was the Prince of Orange's. The King continued there a week, and many who were zealous for his interest went to him, and desired him to stay and see the result. But while he was distracted between his own inclinations and his friends' importunities, a letter came from the Queen reminding him of his promise, and upbraiding him for not performing it, which determined his purpose; and on the last day of this memorable year he went from Rochester very secretly, and got safely into France, leaving a paper on his table, wherein he reproached the nation for forsaking him, and promised that, though he was going to seek for foreign aid to restore him to his throne, yet he would make no use of it either to overthrow the established religion or the laws of the land.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS (1689).
Source.—Statutes of the Realm. Vol. vi., pp. 142-145.