Among the Jacobites the dismay was great.  Some of those who had betted deep on the constancy of Lewis took flight.  One unfortunate zealot of divine right drowned himself.  But soon the party again took heart.  The treaty had been signed; but it surely would never be ratified.  In a short time the ratification came; the peace was solemnly proclaimed by the heralds; and the most obstinate nonjurors began to despair.  Some divines, who had during eight years continued true to James, now swore allegiance to William.  They were probably men who held, with Sherlock, that a settled government, though illegitimate in its origin, is entitled to the obedience of Christians, but who had thought that the government of William could not properly be said to be settled while the greatest power in Europe not only refused to recognise him, but strenuously supported his competitor.820 The fiercer and more determined adherents of the banished family were furious against Lewis.  He had deceived, he had betrayed his suppliants.  It was idle to talk about the misery of his people.  It was idle to say that he had drained every source of revenue dry, and that, in all the provinces of his kingdom, the peasantry were clothed in rags, and were unable to eat their fill even of the coarsest and blackest bread.  His first duty was that which he owed to the royal family of England.  The Jacobites talked against him, and wrote against him, as absurdly, and almost as scurrilously, as they had long talked and written against William.  One of their libels was so indecent that the Lords justices ordered the author to be arrested and held to bail.821

But the rage and mortification were confined to a very small minority.  Never, since the year of the Restoration, had there been such signs of public gladness.  In every part of the kingdom where the peace was proclaimed, the general sentiment was manifested by banquets, pageants, loyal healths, salutes, beating of drums, blowing of trumpets, breaking up of hogsheads.  At some places the whole population, of its own accord, repaired to the churches to give thanks.  At others processions of girls, clad all in white, and crowned with laurels, carried banners inscribed with “God bless King William.”  At every county town a long cavalcade of the principal gentlemen, from a circle of many miles, escorted the mayor to the market cross.  Nor was one holiday enough for the expression of so much joy.  On the fourth of November, the anniversary of the King’s birth, and on the fifth, the anniversary of his landing at Torbay, the bellringing, the shouting, and the illuminations were renewed both in London and all over the country.822 On the day on which he returned to his capital no work was done, no shop was opened, in the two thousand streets of that immense mart.  For that day the chiefs streets had, mile after mile, been covered with gravel; all the Companies had provided new banners; all the magistrates new robes.  Twelve thousand pounds had been expended in preparing fireworks.