They were unable to perform what they
had promised by their agents. They had not the means, nor the courage,
nor the abilities, necessary for the undertaking. The majority refused
to declare themselves, till Charles should have actually landed with a
respectable force; and the most sanguine required a pledge that he would
be ready to sail the moment he heard of their rising, because there was no
probability of their being able, without foreign aid, to make head against
the protector beyond the short space of a fortnight.[1]
In these conferences Ormond frequently came in contact with Sir Richard
Willis, one of the sealed knot, and standing high in the confidence of
Charles.[2]
[Footnote 1: Carte's Letters, ii. 118, 124, 130. Clar. iii. 388, 392, 395.
Thurloe, i. 718.]
[Footnote 2: The knot consisted of Willis, Colonel Russell, Sir William
Compton, Edward Villiers, and Mr. Broderick, according to several letters
in Clarendon; according to the duke of York, of the four first, Lord
Belasyse, and Lord Loughborough.--James, i. 370.]
Willis uniformly disapproved of the attempt. The king's enemies, he
observed, were now ready to unsheath their swords against each other; but
let the royal banner be once unfurled, and they would suspend their present
quarrel, to combine their efforts against the common enemy.
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