that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign.  The fraternal spirit which existed between the Reformers in all countries was all which could be manifested upon the occasion.  The Prince was frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly disappointed by the supineness of the country.  Not a voice was raised to welcome the deliverer.  Not a single city opened its gates.  All was crouching, silent, abject.  The rising, which perhaps would have been universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly tactics of Alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea.  The mutinous demonstrations in the Prince’s camp became incessant; the soldiers were discontented and weary.  What the Duke had foretold was coming to pass, for the Prince’s army was already dissolving.

Genlis and the other French officers were desirous that the Prince should abandon the Netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the Huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under Conde and Coligny.  The German soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal.  They had enlisted to fight the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, and would not hear of making war against Charles ix. in France.  The Prince was obliged to countermarch toward the Rhine.  He recrossed the Geta, somewhat to Alva’s astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the Meuse.  The autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be forded.  He approached the city of Liege, and summoned their Bishop, as he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to his troops.  The Bishop who stood in awe of Alva, and who had accepted his protection again refused.  The Prince had no time to parley.  He was again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to France, still watched and closely pursued by Alva, between whose troops and his own daily skirmishes took place.  At Le Quesnoy, the Prince gained a trifling advantage over the Spaniards; at Cateau Cambresis he also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the 17th of November the Duke of Alva had entered Cateau Cambresis, and the Prince had crossed the frontier of France.

The Marechal de Cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of France and Flanders, now harassed the Prince by very similar tactics to those of Alva.  He was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although strong enough to create perpetual annoyance.  He also sent a secretary to the Prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of Charles ix., against his entering the French territory with his troops.