Certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently pliant.  It had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his Excellency, which was already becoming imperious.  The adulation which he had received; the triumphal marches, the Latin orations, the flowers strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the Earl was almost inclined to assume the airs of royalty.  The committee waited upon him at Leyden.  He affected a reluctance to accept the “absolute” government, but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the “wise old Leoliinus,” or Menin, Maalzoon, Florin Thin, or Aitzma, who composed the deputation.  It was obvious enough to them that it was not a King Log that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining.  The governor elect insisted, of course, that the two Englishmen, according to the treaty with her Majesty, should be members of, the council.  He also, at once, nominated Leoninus, Meetkerk, Brederode, Falck, and Paul Buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these were five keepers—­if keepers he must have—­who would not draw his nose off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that game might be.  It was reserved for the future, however, to show, whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously as he hoped.  As to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he would make up his mind at leisure.

This matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game pursued by the Earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied with his success—­the States received a letter from their committee at Leyden, informing them that his Excellency, after some previous protestations, had accepted the government (24th January, 1586).

It was agreed that he should be inaugurated Governor-General of the United Provinces of Gelderland and Zutphen, Flanders, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, and all others in confederacy with them.  He was to have supreme military command by land and sea.  He was to exercise supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the customs prevalent in the reign of the Emperor Charles V. All officers, political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or triple nomination made by the States of the Provinces in which vacancies might occur.  The States-General were to assemble whenever and wherever he should summon them.  They were also—­as were the States of each separate Province—­competent to meet together by their own appointment.  The Governor-General was to receive an oath of fidelity from the States, and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and privileges of the country.