noon on the 6th of December
He , however , so far yielded as to agree to send a message to the King of England to arrange terms of surrender , if possible at once , in order to save further bloodshed , and then , if these terms were rejected , to prepare for a general assault on the seventh day from then . These terms were accepted as a compromise , and the next morning the bombardment ceased both from the land batteries and the air . At daybreak on the 30th an envoy left the Tsar 's headquarters in one of the war-balloons , flying a flag of truce , and descended in Hyde Park . He was received by the King in Council at Buckingham Palace , and , after a lengthy deliberation , an answer was returned to the effect that on condition the bombardment ceased for the time being , London would be surrendered at noon on the 6th of December if no help had by that time arrived from the other cities of Britain . These terms , after considerable opposition from General le Gallifet and General Cosensz , the Italian Commander-in-Chief , were adopted and ratified at noon that day , almost at the very moment that Alexis Mazanoff was presenting the reply of the King of England to the President of the Federation in New York . As the relief expedition had been fully decided upon , whether the British Government recognised the Federation or not , everything was in readiness for an immediate start as soon as the _ Ithuriel _ brought definite news as to the acceptation or rejection of the President 's second offer . For the last seven weeks the ten dockyards of the east coast of America , and at Halifax in Nova Scotia , had been thronged with shipping , and swarming with workmen and sailors .