William himself would not be present. It was decided that
James must, at any rate, leave London, and the decision was brought to
him that night as he lay asleep in bed. No resistance was possible, had
any been intended. The Dutch had occupied Chelsea and Kensington early
in the afternoon; and when Halifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere arrived
with their message from Windsor, three battalions of foot, with some
troops of horse, were bivouacked in St. James's Park, and Dutch
sentinels were posted at Whitehall.
Early on the morning of the 17th Dundee and Balcarres had waited on the
King. None were with him but some gentlemen of his bedchamber. Balcarres
told him that he had orders from his colleagues to promise that, if the
King would give the word, an army of twenty thousand men should be ready
within four-and-twenty hours. "My lord," replied James, "I know you to
be my friend, sincere and honourable: the men who sent you are not so,
and I expect nothing from them." It was a fine morning, and he said he
should like a walk. Balcarres and Dundee attended him into the Mall.
When they had got there the King asked them, how came they still to be
with him when all the world had forsaken him for the Prince of Orange?
Both answered that their fidelity to so good a master would be ever the
same, and that they had nothing to do with the Prince of Orange.
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