Orange, he had quietly submitted, on the contrary, to serve as the instrument of that great statesman.  His personality during his residence was null, and he had to expiate, by many a petty mortification, by many a bitter tear, the boyish ambition which brought him to the Netherlands.  He had certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with which he had got out of his warm bed in Vienna to take his bootless journey to Brussels.  Nevertheless, in a country where so much baseness, cruelty, and treachery was habitually practised by men of high position, as was the case in the Netherlands; it is something in favor of Matthias that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous.  The states voted him, on his departure, a pension of fifty thousand guldens annually, which was probably not paid with exemplary regularity.

CHAPTER V.

Policy of electing Anjou as sovereign—­Commode et incommode—­Views of Orange—­Opinions at the French Court,—­Anjou relieves Cambray—­ Parma besieges Tourney—­Brave defence by the Princess of Espinoy—­ Honorable capitulation—­Anjou’s courtship in England—­The Duke’s arrival in the Netherlands—­Portrait of Anjou—­Festivities in Flushing—­Inauguration at Antwerp—­The conditions or articles subscribed to by the Duke—­Attempt upon the life of Orange—­The assassin’s papers—­Confession of Venero—­Gaspar Anastro—­His escape —­Execution of Venero and Zimmermann—­Precarious condition of the Prince—­His recovery—­Death of the Princess—­Premature letters of Parma—­Further negotiations with Orange as to the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand—­Character of the revised Constitution—­ Comparison of the positions of the Prince before and after his acceptance of the countship.

Thus it was arranged that, for the—­present, at least, the Prince should exercise sovereignty over Holland and Zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the United Netherlands in the proposed election of Anjou.  This, however, they sternly refused to do.  There was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of Orange that eventually carried the measure through.  Looking at the position of affairs and at the character of Anjou, as they appear to us now, it seems difficult to account for the Prince’s policy.  It is so natural to judge only by the result, that we are ready to censure statesmen for consequences which beforehand might seem utterly incredible, and for reading falsely human characters whose entire development only a late posterity has had full opportunity to appreciate.  Still, one would think that Anjou had been sufficiently known to inspire distrust.