The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1577 part 2 | Page 8

the states,
therefore, to beware of the artifices employed to seduce them from the
only path which led to the tranquillity of their common country, and
her true splendor and prosperity. "I believe there is not one of you," he
continued, "who can doubt me, if he will weigh carefully all my actions,
and consider closely the course which I am pursuing and have always
pursued. Let all these be confronted with the conduct of Don John, and
any man will perceive that all my views of happiness, both for my
country and myself, imply a peaceable enjoyment of the union, joined
with the legitimate restoration of our liberties, to which all good
patriots aspire, and towards which all my designs have ever tended. As
all the grandeur of Don John, on the contrary, consists in war, as there
is nothing which he so much abhors as repose, as he has given ample
proof of these inclinations in all his designs and enterprises, both before
and after the Treaty of Marche en Famine, both within the country and
beyond its borders, as it is most manifest that his purpose is, and ever
has been, to embroil us with our neighbours of England and Scotland in
new dissensions, as it must be evident to every one of you that his
pretended accusations against me are but colors and shadows to

embellish and to shroud his own desire for war, his appetite for
vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to yourselves, and as his
determination is, in the words of Escovedo, to chastise some of us by
means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of one portion of the
country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do I most
affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these matters,
not upon words but upon actions. Examine carefully my conduct in the
points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively to
what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then,
having compared it with all the proceedings of Seigneur Don John, you
will be able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy,
and befitting your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have
been chosen chiefs and protectors, by God and by men. Put away all
considerations which might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with
magnanimity, and like men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your
children, your estates, your liberties; see that this poor people, whose
eyes are fixed upon you, does not perish; preserve them from the
greediness of those who would grow great at your expense; guard them
from the yoke of miserable servitude; let not all our posterity lament
that, by our pusillanimity, they have lost the liberties which our
ancestors had conquered for them, and bequeathed to them as well as to
us, and that they have been subjugated by the proud tyranny of
strangers.
"Trusting," said the Prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith
and attention to my envoys, I will only add an expression of my sincere
determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the
welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power,
nor my life itself."
The vigilant Prince was indeed not slow to take advantage of the
Governor's false move. While in reality intending peace, if it were
possible, Don John had thrown down the gauntlet; while affecting to
deal openly and manfully, like a warrior and an emperor's son, he had
involved himself in petty stratagems and transparent intrigues, by all
which he had gained nothing but the character of a plotter, whose word
could not be trusted. Saint Aldegonde expressed the hope that the
seizure of Namur Castle would open the eyes of the people, and
certainly the Prince did his best to sharpen their vision.

While in North Holland, William of Orange received an urgent
invitation from the magistracy and community of Utrecht to visit that
city. His authority, belonging to him under his ancient commission, had
not yet been recognized over that province, but there was no doubt that
the contemplated convention of "satisfaction" was soon to be; arranged,
for his friends there were numerous and influential. His princess,
Charlotte de Bourbon, who accompanied him on his tour, trembled at
the danger to which her husband would expose himself by venturing
thus boldly into a territory which might be full of his enemies, but the
Prince determined to trust the loyalty of a province which he hoped
would be soon his own. With anxious forebodings, the Princess
followed her husband to the ancient episcopal city. As they entered its
gates, where an immense concourse was waiting to receive him, a shot
passed through the carriage window, and struck the Prince upon the