The Prince of Orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, that it would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties.  He intended that the marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at that day, should be upon the “uti possidetis” principle, which was the foundation of the religious peace of Germany.  His wife, after marriage and removal to the Netherlands, would “live Catholically;” she would be considered as belonging to the same Church with her husband, was to give no offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, by violating any of the religious decencies.  Further than this, William, who at that day was an easy, indifferent Catholic, averse to papal persecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers and faces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiastical controversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path.  Having a stern bigot to deal with, in Madrid, and another in Cassel, he soon convinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, and thought it wiser simply to satisfy himself.

Early in 1560, Count Gunther de Schwartzburg, betrothed to the Prince’s sister Catharine, together with Colonel George Von Holl, were despatched to Germany to open the marriage negotiations.  They found the Elector Augustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion.  It was easy for the envoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question.  If, as the Elector afterwards stated to the Landgrave, they really promised that the young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in her own apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is very certain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, for such concessions were steadily refused by William in person.  It is, however, more probable that Augustus, whose slippery feet were disposed to slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had represented the Prince’s communications under a favorable gloss of his own.  At any rate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusions thus hastily formed.

The Landgrave Philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance to the match.  As soon as the proposition had been received by Augustus, that potentate despatched Hans von Carlowitz to the grandfather at Cassel.  The Prince of Orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the Spanish monarch; the Princess Anna, on the other hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or better proportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likely to improve with years.  It was therefore desirable to find a settlement for her as soon as possible.  The Elector, however, would decide upon nothing without the Landgrave’s consent.