if your intention was to rise, you would do well to act immediately,
on the assurance that the plan you prescribed, be it what it would,
should be exactly complied with. We took this resolution the rather
because one of the packets, which had been prepared in cypher to
give you an account of things, which had been put above three weeks
before into Monsieur de Torcy's hands, and which by consequence we
thought to be in yours, was by this time sent back to me by this
Minister (I think, open), with an excuse that he durst not take upon
him to forward it.

The person despatched to London returned very soon to us, and the
answer he brought was, that since affairs grew daily worse, and
could not mend by delay, our friends in England had resolved to
declare immediately, and that they would be ready to join the
Chevalier on his landing; that his person would be as safe there as
in Scotland, and that in every other respect it was better that he
should land in England; that they had used their utmost endeavours,
and that they hoped the western counties were in a good posture to
receive him. To this was added a general indication of the place he
should come to, as near to Plymouth as possible.

You must agree that this was not the answer of men who knew what
they were about. A little more precision was necessary in dictating
a message which was to have such consequences, and especially since
the gentleman could not fail to acquaint the persons he spoke with
that the Chevalier was not able to carry men enough to secure him
from being taken up even by the first constable. Notwithstanding
this, the Duke of Ormond set out from Paris and the Chevalier from
Bar. Some persons were sent to the North of England and others to
London to give notice that they were both on their way. Their