He did not hesitate at playing this doubly and trebly false game with the provinces, but he was anxious to drive the best possible bargain for himself with Parma.  He, offered to restore Dunkirk, Dixmuyde, and the other cities which he had so recently filched from the states, and to enter into a strict alliance with Philip; but he claimed that certain Netherland cities on the French frontier, should be made over to him in exchange.  He required; likewise; ample protection for his retreat from a country which was likely to be sufficiently exasperated.  Parma and his agents smiled, of course, at such exorbitant terms.  Nevertheless, it was necessary to deal cautiously with a man who, although but a poor baffled rogue to-day, might to-morrow be seated on the throne of France.  While they were all secretly haggling over the terms of the bargain, the Prince of Orange discovered the intrigue.  It convinced him of the necessity of closing with a man whose baseness was so profound, but whose position made his enmity, on the whole, more dangerous than his friendship.  Anjou, backed by so astute and unscrupulous a politician as Parma, was not to be trifled with.  The feeling of doubt and anxiety was spreading daily through the country:  many men, hitherto firm, were already wavering, while at the same time the Prince had no confidence in the power of any of the states, save those of Holland and Utrecht; to maintain a resolute attitude of defiance, if not assisted from without.

He therefore endeavored to repair the breach, if possible, and thus save the Union.  Mirambeau, in his conferences with the estates, suggested, on his part, all that words could effect.  He expressed the hope that the estates would use their discretion “in compounding some sweet and friendly medicine” for the present disorder; and that they would not judge the Duke too harshly for a fault which he assured them did not come from his natural disposition.  He warned them that the enemy would be quick to take advantage of the present occasion to bring about, if possible, their destruction, and he added that he was commissioned to wait upon the Duke of Anjou, in order to assure him that, however alienated he might then be from the Netherlands, his Majesty was determined to effect an entire reconciliation.

The envoy conferred also with the Prince of Orange, and urged him most earnestly to use his efforts to heal the rupture.  The Prince, inspired by the sentiments already indicated, spoke with perfect sincerity.  His Highness, he said, had never known a more faithful and zealous friend than himself, He had begun to lose his own credit with the people by reason of the earnestness with which he had ever advocated the Duke’s cause, and he could not flatter himself that his recommendation would now be of any advantage to his Highness.  It would be more injurious than his silence.  Nevertheless, he was willing to make use of all the influence which was left to him for the purpose of