“Acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the Advocate of Holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect.  I have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and dispatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy —­and the reader has seen many of them is pervaded by their spirit.

“It had become a question whether he was to remain at his post or return.  It was doubtful whether he wished to be relieved of his embassy or not.  The States of Holland voted ’to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public any longer.  If yes, he may keep his office one year more.  If no, he may take leave and come home.’

“Surely the States, under the guidance of the Advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position, from no apparent fault of his own, but by the force of circumstances,—­and rather to his credit than otherwise, —­was gravely compromised.”

The Queen, Mary de’ Medici, had a talk with him, got angry, “became very red in the face,” and wanted to be rid of him.

“Nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. . . .  Nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to Barneveld’s request that he should, for the time at least, remain at his post.  Later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and, by inference at least, to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. . . .

“It is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him.  How could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonored before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country?  He knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man’s reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand, not to shield, but to stab him. . . .

   “‘I know,’ he said, that this plot has been woven partly here in
   Holland and partly here by good correspondence in order to drive me
   from my post.