At about the same time the Prince of Orange addressed a remarkable letter to the states-general then assembled at Ghent, urging them to hasten the conclusion of the treaty.  The news of the massacre, which furnished an additional and most vivid illustration of the truth of his letter, had not then reached him at Middelburg, but the earnestness of his views, taken in connexion with this last dark deed, exerted a powerful and indelible effect.  The letter was a masterpiece, because it was necessary, in his position, to inflame without alarming; to stimulate the feelings which were in unison, without shocking those which, if aroused, might prove discordant.  Without; therefore, alluding in terms to the religious question, he dwelt upon the necessity of union, firmness, and wariness.  If so much had been done by Holland and Zealand, how much more might be hoped when all the provinces were united?  “The principal flower of the Spanish army has fallen,” he said, “without having been able to conquer one of those provinces from those whom they call, in mockery, poor beggars; yet what is that handful of cities compared to all the provinces which might join us in the quarrel?” He warned the states of the necessity of showing a strong and united front; the King having been ever led to consider the movement in the Netherlands a mere conspiracy of individuals.  “The King told me himself; in 1559,” said Orange, “that if the estates had no pillars to lean upon, they would not talk so loud.”  It was, therefore, “necessary to show that prelates, abbots, monks, seigniors, gentlemen, burghers, and peasants, the whole people in short, now cried with one voice, and desired with one will.  To such a demonstration the King would not dare oppose himself.  By thus preserving a firm and united front, sinking all minor differences, they would, moreover, inspire their friends and foreign princes with confidence.  The princes of Germany, the lords and gentlemen of France, the Queen of England, although sympathizing with the misfortunes of the Netherlanders, had been unable effectually to help them, so long as their disunion prevented them from helping themselves; so long as even their appeal to arms seemed merely a levy of bucklers, an emotion of the populace, which, like a wave of the sea, rises and sinks again as soon as risen.”

While thus exciting to union and firmness, he also took great pains to instil the necessity of wariness.  They were dealing with an artful foe.  Intercepted letters had already proved that the old dissimulation was still to be employed; that while Don John of Austria was on his way, the Netherlanders were to be lulled into confidence by glozing speeches.  Roda was provided by the King with a secret programme of instructions for the new Governor’s guidance and Don Sancho d’Avila, for his countenance to the mutineers of Alost, had been applauded to the echo in Spain.  Was not this applause a frequent indication of the policy to be adopted by Don John, and a thousand times