four o'clock
But the cavalry rode with drawn sabres , the infantry marched with fixed bayonets , and , though weariness showed in every line of the men 's faces , there was as yet no sign of relaxed tension . Throughout that evening and night the baggage wagons rumbled through London , without cessation , to the two main western encampments in Hyde Park . The whole of Pall Mall and Park Lane were occupied by German officers that night , few of the usual occupants of the clubs in the one thoroughfare , or the residences in the other , being then in London . By four o'clock General von Füchter 's terms were in the hands of the Government which had now completed its earning of the title of `` The Destroyers . '' The Chief Commissioner of Police and the principal municipal authorities of greater London had all been examined during the day at the House of Commons , and were unanimous in their verdict that any delay in the arrangement of peace and the resumption of trade , ashore and afloat , could mean only revolution . Whole streets of shops had been sacked and looted already by hungry mobs , who gave no thought to the invasion or to any other matter than the question of food supply . A great , lowering crowd of hungry men and women occupied Westminster Bridge and the southern embankment -LRB- no German soldiers had been seen south of the Thames -RRB- waiting for the news of the promised conclusion of peace terms .