forced to range himself either upon the side of the fatherland or of despotism.  Two copies of the signatures procured in each province were ordered, of which one was to be deposited in its archives, and the other forwarded to Brussels.  In a short time, every province, with the single exception of Luxemburg, had loaded the document with signatures.  This was a great step in advance.  The Ghent Pacification, which was in the nature of a treaty between the Prince and the estates of Holland and Zealand on the one side, and a certain number of provinces on the other, had only been signed by the envoys of the contracting parties.  Though received with deserved and universal acclamation, it had not the authority of a popular document.  This, however, was the character studiously impressed upon the “Brussels Union.”  The people, subdivided according to the various grades of their social hierarchy, had been solemnly summoned to council, and had deliberately recorded their conviction.  No restraint had been put upon their freedom of action, and there was hardly a difference of opinion as to the necessity of the measure.

A rapid revolution in Friesland, Groningen, and the dependencies, had recently restored that important country to the national party.  The Portuguese De Billy had been deprived of his authority as King’s stadholder, and Count Hoogstraaten’s brother, Baron de Ville, afterwards as Count Renneberg infamous for his, treason to the cause of liberty, had been appointed by the estates in his room.  In all this district the “Union of Brussels” was eagerly signed by men of every degree.  Holland and Zealand, no less than the Catholic provinces of the south willingly accepted the compromise which was thus laid down, and which was thought to be not only an additional security for the past, not only a pillar more for the maintenance of the Ghent Pacification, but also a sure precursor of a closer union in the future.  The Union of Brussels became, in fact, the stepping-stone to the “Union of Utrecht,” itself the foundation-stone of a republic destined to endure more than two centuries.  On the other hand, this early union held the seed, of its own destruction within itself.  It was not surprising, however, that a strong declaration in favor of the Catholic religion should be contained in a document intended for circulation through all the provinces.  The object was to unite as large a force, and to make as striking a demonstration before the eyes of the Governor General as was practicable under the circumstances.  The immediate purpose was answered, temporary union was formed, but it was impossible that a permanent crystallization should take place where so strong a dissolvent as the Catholic clause had been admitted.  In the sequel, therefore, the union fell asunder precisely at this fatal flaw.  The next union was that which definitely separated the provinces into Protestant, and Catholic, into self-governing republics, and the