The league thus concluded was a confederation between a group of virtually independent little republics.  Each municipality, was, as it were, a little sovereign, sending envoys to a congress to vote and to sign as plenipotentiaries.  The vote of each city was, therefore, indivisible, and it mattered little, practically, whether there were one deputy or several.  The nobles represented not only their own order, but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population.  On the whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation.  The people were well and worthily represented in the government of each city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates.  It was not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and which were never thoroughly alive.

At this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain themselves against Spanish despotism, were practical and substantial.  The government was a representative one, in which all those who had the inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice.  Although the various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they, established was, in form, monarchical.  The powers conferred upon Orange constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the Spanish monarch remained suspended, the Prince was invested, not only with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large share in the legislative functions of the state.

The whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any accurate distribution of political powers.  In living, energetic communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly, there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow.  It is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of each other.

Certainly, the Prince of Orange did not at that moment indulge in speculations concerning the nature and origin of government.  The Congress of Delft had just clothed him with almost regal authority.  In his hands were the powers of war and peace, joint control of the magistracies and courts of justice, absolute supremacy over the army and the fleets.  It is true that these attributes had been conferred upon him ad interim, but it depended only upon himself to make the sovereignty personal and permanent.  He was so thoroughly absorbed in his work, however, that he did not even see the diadem which he put aside.  It was small matter to him whether they called him stadholder or guardian, prince or king.  He was the father of his country and its defender.  The people, from highest to lowest, called him “Father William,” and the title was enough for him.  The question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task.