As to political convictions, the fifteen provinces differed much less from their two sisters.  There was a strong attachment to their old constitutions; a general inclination to make use of the present crisis to effect their restoration.  At the same time, it had not come to be the general conviction, as in Holland and Zealand, that the maintenance of those liberties was incompatible with the continuance of Philip’s authority.  There was, moreover, a strong aristocratic faction which was by no means disposed to take a liberal view of government in general, and regarded with apprehension the simultaneous advance of heretical notions both in church and, state.  Still there were, on the whole, the elements of a controlling constitutional party throughout the fifteen provinces The great bond of sympathy, however, between all the seventeen was their common hatred to the foreign soldiery.  Upon this deeply imbedded, immovable fulcrum of an ancient national hatred, the sudden mutiny of the whole Spanish army served as a lever of incalculable power.  The Prince seized it as from the hand of God.  Thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed.  To effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage.  Expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men’s consciences—­these were the great objects to which the Prince now devoted himself with renewed energy.

To bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary.  The sentiment of extreme Catholicism and Monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition.  The Prince, therefore, in all his addresses and documents was careful to disclaim any intention of disturbing the established religion, or of making any rash political changes.  “Let no man think,” said he, to the authorities of Brabant, “that, against the will of the estates, we desire to bring about any change in religion.  Let no one suspect us capable of prejudicing the rights of any man.  We have long since taken up arms to maintain a legal and constitutional freedom, founded upon law.  God forbid that we should now attempt to introduce novelties, by which the face of liberty should be defiled.”

In a brief and very spirited letter to Count Lalain, a Catholic and a loyalist, but a friend of his country and fervent hater of foreign oppression, he thus appealed to his sense of chivalry and justice:  “Although the honorable house from which you spring,” he said, “and the virtue and courage of your ancestors have always impressed me with the conviction that you would follow in their footsteps, yet am I glad to have received proofs that my anticipations were correct.  I cannot help, therefore, entreating you to maintain the same high heart, and to accomplish that which you have so worthily begun.  Be not deluded by false masks, mumming faces, and borrowed titles, which people assume for their own profit, persuading others that the King’s service consists in the destruction of his subjects.”