History of the United Netherlands, 1598 | Page 5

repose. He would not, however, in the slightest degree urge
the States to join in the treaty. He desired their security, and would aid
in maintaining it. What had most vexed him was that the Protestants
with great injustice accused him of intending to make war upon them.
But innumerable and amazing reports were flying abroad, both among
his own subjects, the English, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret
conferences. He then said that he would tell the Duke of Bouillon to
speak with Sir Robert Cecil concerning a subject which now for the
first time he would mention privately to Olden-Barneveld.

The king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. Alluding
to the constitution of the Netherlands, he remarked that a popular
government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to
more danger than monarchies were, and he asked the Advocate if he
thought there was no disposition to elect a prince. Barneveld replied
that the general inclination was rather for a good republic. The
government, however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic,
and the state was administered according to laws and charters by the
principal inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. Since the
death of the late Prince of Orange, and the offer made to the King of
France, and subsequently to the Queen of England, of the sovereignty,
there had been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so
delicate a matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the
State.
Henry then spoke of Prince Maurice, and asked whether, if he should
be supported by the Queen of England and the King of France, it would
not be possible to confer the sovereignty upon him.
Here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a
pistol- shot full in the face of a republican minister.
The answer of the Advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively
sincere.
If your Majesty, said he, together with her Majesty the queen, think the
plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war,
to rescue all the Netherlands from the hands of the Spaniards and their
adherents, and thus render the States eternally obliged to the sovereigns
and kingdoms of France and England, my lords the States-General
would probably be willing to accept this advice.
But the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him.
Without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating
Maurice to the sovereignty of the Netherlands, at the expense of the
republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private
opinions of Barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the
condition he thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. He had
thoroughly satisfied himself during the period in which he had been
baffled by the southwest gales at the Brill and by the still more
persistent head-winds which he had found prevailing at the French
court, that it was hopeless to strive for that much-desired haven, a

general war. The admiral and himself might as well have endeavoured
to persuade Mahomet III. and Sigismund of Poland to join the States in
a campaign against Cardinal Albert, as to hope for the same good
offices from Elizabeth and Henry.
Having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly
communicated, next day, to Cecil the proposition thus made by the
king. Subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the Queen of
England.
On the 27th April both Barneveld and Nassau were admitted to the
royal dressing-room in Nantes citadel for a final audience. Here, after
the usual common places concerning his affection for the Netherlands,
and the bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance,
Henry again referred to his suggestion in regard to Prince Maurice;
urging a change from a republican to a monarchical form of
government as the best means of preserving the State.
The envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them,
but declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their
request. The course pursued by his Majesty, they said, would be found
very hard of digestion by the States, both in regard to the whole force
of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of
the bad example thus set for other powers.
They then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. At their
departure his Majesty personally conducted them through various
apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the Duchess
of Beaufort, then lying in childbed. Here he drew wide open the bed-
curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. They complied, and begging the
duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her
farewell. She promised not to forget their