On Monday morning all the trainbands of the City were under arms.  The King went in state to the House of Lords, sent for the Commons, and from the throne told the Parliament that, but for the protection of a gracious Providence, he should at that moment have been a corpse, and the kingdom would have been invaded by a French army.  The danger of invasion, he added, was still great; but he had already given such orders as would, he hoped, suffice for the protection of the realm.  Some traitors were in custody; warrants were out against others; he should do his part in this emergency; and he relied on the Houses to do theirs.669

The Houses instantly voted a joint address in which they thankfully acknowledged the divine goodness which had preserved him to his people, and implored him to take more than ordinary care of his person.  They concluded by exhorting him to seize and secure all persons whom he regarded as dangerous.

On the same day two important bills were brought into the Commons.  By one the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended.  The other provided that the Parliament should not be dissolved by the death of William.  Sir Rowland Gwyn, an honest country gentleman, made a motion of which he did not at all foresee the important consequences.  He proposed that the members should enter into an association for the defence of their Sovereign and their country.  Montague, who of all men was the quickest at taking and improving a hint, saw how much such an association would strengthen the government and the Whig party.670 An instrument was immediately drawn tip, by which the representatives of the people, each for himself, solemnly recognised William as rightful and lawful King, and bound themselves to stand by him and by each other against James and James’s adherents.  Lastly they vowed that, if His Majesty’s life should be shortened by violence, they would avenge him signally on his murderers, and would, with one heart, strenuously support the order of succession settled by the Bill of Rights.  It was ordered that the House should be called over the next morning.671 The attendance was consequently great; the Association, engrossed on parchment, was on the table; and the members went up, county by county, to sign their names.672

The King’s speech, the joint address of both Houses, the Association framed by the Commons, and a proclamation, containing a list of the conspirators and offering a reward of a thousand pounds for the apprehension of any one of them, were soon cried in all the streets of the capital and carried out by all the postbags.  Wherever the news came it raised the whole country.  Those two hateful words, assassination and invasion, acted like a spell.  No impressment was necessary.  The seamen came forth from their hiding places by thousands to man the fleet.  Only three days after the King had appealed to the nation, Russell sailed out of the Thames with one great squadron.  Another was ready for action at Spithead.  The