they were at last compelled to break silence.  They hoped that the King would receive with benignity a communication which was pure, frank, and free from all passion.  The leading personages of the province, they continued, having thoroughly examined the nature and extent of Cardinal Granvelle’s authority, had arrived at the conclusion that every thing was in his hands.  This persuasion, they said, was rooted in the hearts of all his Majesty’s subjects, and particularly in their own, so deeply, that it could not be eradicated as long as the Cardinal remained.  The King was therefore implored to consider the necessity of remedying the evil.  The royal affairs, it was affirmed, would never be successfully conducted so long as they were entrusted to Granvelle, because he was so odious to so many people.  If the danger were not imminent, they should not feel obliged to write to his Majesty with so much vehemence.  It was, however, an affair which allowed neither delay nor dissimulation.  They therefore prayed the King, if they had ever deserved credence in things of weight, to believe them now.  By so doing, his Majesty would avoid great mischief.  Many grand seigniors, governors, and others, had thought it necessary to give this notice, in order that the King might prevent the ruin of the country.  If, however, his Majesty were willing, as they hoped, to avoid discontenting all for the sake of satisfying one, it was possible that affairs might yet prosper.  That they might not be thought influenced by ambition or by hope of private profit, the writers asked leave to retire from the state council.  Neither their reputation, they said, nor the interests of the royal service would permit them to act with the Cardinal.  They professed themselves dutiful subjects and Catholic vassals.  Had it not been for the zeal of the leading seigniors, the nobility, and other well-disposed persons, affairs would not at that moment be so tranquil; the common people having been so much injured, and the manner of life pursued by the Cardinal not being calculated to give more satisfaction than was afforded by his unlimited authority.  In conclusion, the writers begged his Majesty not to throw the blame upon them, if mischance should follow the neglect of this warning.  This memorable letter was signed by Guillaume, de Nassau, Lamoral d’Egmont, and Philippes de Montmorency (Count Horn).  It was despatched undercover to Charles de Tisnacq, a Belgian, and procurator for the affairs of the Netherlands at Madrid, a man whose relations with Count Egmont were of a friendly character.  It was impossible, however, to keep the matter a secret from the person most interested.  The Cardinal wrote to the King the day before the letter was written, and many weeks before it was sent, to apprize him that it was coming, and to instruct him as to the answer he was to make.  Nearly all the leading nobles and governors had adhered to the substance of the letter, save the Duke of Aerschot,