therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated.  This privilege has been accorded me, and I desire to express my thanks to his Excellency M. van de Weyer, the distinguished representative of Belgium at the English Court, to whose friendly offices I am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect.  A letter from him to his Excellency M. Rogier, Minister of the Interior in Belgium—­who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views—­obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence; and I passed several months in Brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year 1584 to the end of the reign of Philip ii.

I was thus saved a long visit to the Archives of Simancas, for it would be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough examination of the correspondence of the King and his ministers.  I venture to hope, therefore—­whatever judgment may be passed upon my own labours—­that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for the various materials of which it is composed are original, and—­so far as I am aware—­have not been made use of by any historical writer.

I would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to M. Gachard, Archivist of the kingdom of Belgium, for the uniform courtesy and kindness which I have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of Belgian and Spanish history.

31, Hertford-street, may-fair, November llth 1860.

THE UNITED NETHERLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

Murder of Orange—­Extension of Protestantism—­Vast Power of Spain—­ Religious Origin of the Revolt—­Disposal of the Sovereignty—­Courage of the Estates of Holland—­Children of William the Silent—­ Provisional Council of State—­Firm attitude of Holland and Zeeland—­ Weakness of Flanders—­Fall of Ghent—­Adroitness of Alexander Farnese.

William the silent, Prince of Orange, had been murdered on the 10th of July, 1584.  It is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic.  For nearly twenty years the character of the Prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased.  Habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him at last with an authority which seemed more than human.  There was such general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand.  It was natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute and helpless paralysis.