They were afraid that if, at that moment, they succeeded in getting rid of William, the situation of James would be more hopeless than ever.

So fully were they persuaded of the duplicity of their accomplice, that they not only refused to proceed further in the execution of the plan which he had formed, but disclosed his whole scheme to Portland.
William seems to have been alarmed and provoked by this intelligence to a degree very unusual with him.

In general he was indulgent, nay, wilfully blind to the baseness of the English statesmen whom he employed.

He suspected, indeed he knew, that some of his servants were in correspondence with his competitor; and yet he did not punish them, did not disgrace them, did not even frown on them.

He thought meanly, and he had but too good reason for thinking meanly, of the whole of that breed of public men which the Restoration had formed and had bequeathed to the Revolution.