At this conjuncture it was of the highest moment that there should be entire union between William and Mary.

A misunderstanding between the presumptive heiress of the crown and her husband must have produced a schism in that vast mass which was from all quarters gathering round one common rallying point.

Happily all risk of such misunderstanding was averted in the critical instant by the interposition of Burnet; and the Prince became the unquestioned chief of the whole of that party which was opposed to the government, a party almost coextensive with the nation.
There is not the least reason to believe that he at this time meditated the great enterprise to which a stern necessity afterwards drove him.

He was aware that the public mind of England, though heated by grievances, was by no means ripe for revolution.

He would doubtless gladly have avoided the scandal which must be the effect of a mortal quarrel between persons bound together by the closest ties of consanguinity and affinity.