The Prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Feversham, and to see
the King safe and at full liberty to go whithersoever he pleased. But as
soon as the news of the King's being at Feversham came to London, all the
indignation that people had formerly conceived against him was turned to
pity and compassion. The privy council met upon it. Some moved that he
should be sent for. Others said he was king, and might send for his guards
and coaches as he pleased, but it became not them to send for him. It was
left to his general, the Earl of Feversham, to do what he thought best. So
he went for him with his coaches and guards. And, as he came back through
the city, he was welcomed with expressions of joy by great numbers; so
slight and unstable a thing is a multitude, and so soon altered. At his
coming to Whitehall, he had a great court about him. Even the papists crept
out of their lurking-holes, and appeared at court with much assurance.
The King himself began to take heart. And both at Feversham, and now at
Whitehall, he talked in his ordinary high strain, justifying all that he
had done; only he spoke a little doubtfully of the business of Magdalen
College. But when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he saw it
was so soon broken that nothing was now left to deliberate upon. So he
sent the Earl of Feversham to Windsor without demanding any passport, and
ordered him to desire the Prince to come to St. James' to consult with him
of the best way for settling the nation.
When the news of what had passed at London came to Windsor, the Prince
thought the privy council had not used him well, who after they had sent to
him to take the government upon him, had made this step without consulting
him. Now the scene was altered and new counsels were to be taken. The
Prince heard the opinions, not only of those who had come along with him,
but of such of the nobility as were now come to him, among whom the Marquis
of Halifax was one. All agreed that it was not convenient that the King
should stay at Whitehall. Neither the King, nor the Prince, nor the city,
could have been safe if they had been both near one another. Tumults would
probably have arisen out of it. The guards and the officious flatterers of
the two courts would have been unquiet neighbors. It was thought necessary
to stick to the point of the King's deserting his people, and not to
give up that by entering upon any treaty with him. And since the Earl of
Feversham, who had commanded the army against the Prince, was come without
a passport he was for some days put in arrest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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