The discarded Monarch came, as Middleton said, and a gleam of loyalty burst out once more, amidst bells and bonfires. The poor man almost thought he should gain a new lease of power, and the frightened Papists came out of holes and corners to welcome their regal friend. He even ventured to assume a rather haughty tone, but in vain. The die was cast. The Dutch Ambassador informed him that the Prince would allow no Royal guards, but such as were under his own command. This amounted to a demand of surrender. William was in a position to insist upon it. Three Dutch battalions reached Whitehall at 10 o’clock on the night of December the 17th. Before the morning a message arrived from the Prince, requiring James to proceed to Ham, near Richmond. James said he should prefer Rochester. It mattered little where he went. The party in the ascendant only wished to get rid of him. He went to Rochester. There we need not follow him. It is enough to notice that several Bishops concurred in entreating him not to leave the country.[75] From Rochester he stole away to France. Next we find him at St. Germains. As the rejected King slipped down the Thames on the morning of December the 18th, his destined successor was preparing to take up his quarters at St. James’s Palace. He disappointed the people, who waited in the rain to welcome him, by driving through the park. Attended by a brilliant train of courtiers and officers, he reached the gateway of the Royal residence late in the afternoon. The Princess Anne, accompanied by Lady Churchill, both covered with orange ribbons, went that night to the theatre in her father’s coach. [Sidenote: 1688.] William had ordered Burnet to secure the Papists from violence, thinking perhaps of the probable consequences of the third Declaration. He renewed the order after he had entered London; in consequence of it, passports were granted to priests wishing to leave the country; and two being imprisoned in Newgate, the busy ecclesiastical Minister of His Highness paid them a visit, and took upon himself to provide for their comfort. A little incident, recorded by Dr. Patrick, brings before us vividly the excitement amongst Churchmen at that critical period. “It was a very rainy night when Dr. Tenison and I being together, and discoursing in my parlour, in the little cloisters in Westminster, one knocked hard at the door. It being opened, in came the Bishop of St. Asaph; to whom I said, ‘What makes your Lordship come abroad in such weather, when the rain pours down as if heaven and earth would come together?’ To which he answered, ‘He had been at Lambeth, and was sent by the Bishops to wait upon the Prince, and know when they might all come and pay their duty to him.’ I asked if my Lord of Canterbury had agreed to it, together with the rest. He said, ‘Yea, he made some difficulty at the first, but consented at the last, and ordered him to go with that message.’”[76]