Civic order in the Hague was maintained by two Guilds of civic guards. The part of the city around the market and the town hall, where normal Dutchmen lived, was looked after by the St. Sebastian Guild. The St. George Guild was responsible for the Hofgebied, which was the part of the city containing the royal palace, foreign embassies, houses of rich families, and so on. Both Guilds were represented among the crowd of spectators who had gathered round to partake of the spectacle of d'Avaux and his English counterparts freezing to death. So d'Avaux's question was partly intended to flatter and amuse the genteel and aristocratic St. George men – perhaps at the expense of the more plebeian St. Sebastian guards, who seemed to be favoring the English delegation.