of towns; but other towns, including Amsterdam, refused, and the total levy did not amount to more than 1800 men.  Meanwhile the majority of the States-General, urged on by Maurice and William Lewis, were determined, despite the resistance of Holland and Utrecht, to carry through the proposal for the summoning of a National Synod.  Overyssel had been overawed and persuaded to assent, so that there were five votes against two in its favour.  All through the winter the wrangling went on, and estrangement between the contending parties grew more bitter and acute.  A perfect flood of pamphlets, broadsheets and pasquinades issued from the press; and in particular the most violent and envenomed attacks were made upon the character and administration of the Advocate, in which he was accused of having received bribes both from Spanish and French sources and to have betrayed the interests of his country.  The chief instigator of these attacks was Oldenbarneveldt’s personal enemy, Francis van Aerssens, whose pen was never idle.  The defenders of the Remonstrant cause and of the principles of provincial sovereignty were not lacking in the vigour and virulence of their replies; and the Advocate himself felt that the accusations which were made against him demanded a formal and serious rejoinder.  He accordingly prepared a long and careful defence of his whole career, in which he proved conclusively that the charges made against him had no foundation.  This Remonstratie he addressed to the Estates of Holland, and he also sent a copy to the Prince.  If this document did not at the time avail to silence the voices of prejudiced adversaries whose minds were made up, it has at least had the effect of convincing posterity that, however unwise may have been the course now deliberately pursued by the Advocate, he never for the sake of personal gain betrayed the interests of his country.  Had he now seen that the attempt of a majority in the Estates of Holland to resist the will of the majority in the States-General could only lead to civil war, and had he resigned his post, advising the Estates to disband the Waardgelders and yield to superior force, a catastrophe might have been averted.  There is no reason to believe that in such circumstances Maurice would have countenanced any extreme harshness in dealing with the Advocate.  But Oldenbarneveldt, long accustomed to the exercise of power, was determined not to yield one jot of the claim of the sovereign province of Holland to supremacy within its own borders in matters of religion.  The die was cast and the issue had to be decided by force of arms.

On June 28, 1618, a solemn protest was made by the Advocate in the States-General against the summoning of a National Synod in opposition to the expressed opinion of the Estates of Holland; and a threat was made that Holland might withhold her contribution to the general fund.  The majority of the States-General (July 9) declared the raising of local levies illegal, and (July 23) it was resolved that a commission be sent to Utrecht with Maurice at its head to demand the disbanding of the Waardgelders in that town.