The Declaration altogether failed to produce the effect which Middleton had anticipated.

The truth is that his advice had not been asked till it mattered not what advice he gave.

If James had put forth such a manifesto in January 1689, the throne would probably not have been declared vacant.

If he had put forth such a manifesto when he was on the coast of Normandy at the head of an army, he would have conciliated a large part of the nation, and he might possibly have been joined by a large part of the fleet.

But both in 1689 and in 1692 he had held the language of an implacable tyrant; and it was now too late to affect tenderness of heart and reverence for the constitution of the realm.