Ormonde and Prince George had joined the deserters, taking with them young Drumlanrig.  Douglas did not himself go over; but one of his battalions did, without any attempt on his part to stop them.  He had sounded Dundee on the expediency of making terms for themselves with William; but as he had done so under an oath of secrecy, Dundee felt himself bound in honour to keep silence, and we may suppose made it a part of the bargain that Douglas should stay where he was.

James left no orders behind him, and after his retreat the movements of his army are somewhat confused.  Dundee marched his cavalry to Reading, where he was joined by Dumbarton.  Thence they were ordered to Uxbridge to consult with Feversham on the chances of a battle.  But hardly had they got there when the latter received orders to disband the army, and heard at the same time of the King’s flight from London.  The Scottish troops clamoured for Dundee to lead them back to their country.  He marched them to Watford, and while there, it is said, received a letter from William, who had now advanced to Hungerford, bidding him stay where he was and none should harm him.[75] According to Balcarres, Dundee made at once for London on the news of the King’s flight, and was still there on his return.  But the fact is that few of these contemporary writers descend to dates, and it is almost impossible therefore to track any one man’s movements through those troubled days.  It is, however, certain that a meeting of the Scottish Council was summoned in London by Hamilton at some period between James’s first flight and his return, and that Dundee attended it.  That Hamilton meditated declaring for William is certain, and that he would have taken all his colleagues with him, except Dundee and Balcarres, is probable; but the King’s sudden return to Whitehall postponed matters for a time.

James reached London from Rochester on the afternoon of Sunday, December 16th.  William was then at Windsor, and James expressed a wish to meet him in London, offering St. James’s Palace for his quarters.  William sent an answer that he could not come to London while there were any troops there not under his command.  On the 17th a council was held at Windsor, with Halifax in the chair, to determine what should be done with James.  William himself would not be present.  It was decided that James must, at any rate, leave London, and the decision was brought to him that night as he lay asleep in bed.  No resistance was possible, had any been intended.  The Dutch had occupied Chelsea and Kensington early in the afternoon; and when Halifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere arrived with their message from Windsor, three battalions of foot, with some troops of horse, were bivouacked in St. James’s Park, and Dutch sentinels were posted at Whitehall.