William’s first act was to put a stop to the negotiations already on foot with Don John.  He intended that they should lead to war, because peace was impossible, except a peace for which civil and religious liberty would be bartered, for it was idle, in his opinion, to expect the maintenance by the Spanish Governor of the Ghent Pacification, whatever promises might be extorted from his fears.  A deputation, in the name of the states, had already been sent with fresh propositions to Don John, at Namur.  The envoys were Caspar Schetz and the Bishop of Bruges.  They had nearly come to an amicable convention with the Governor, the terms of which had been sent to the states-general for approval, at the very moment of the Prince’s arrival in Brussels.  Orange, with great promptness, prevented the ratification of these terms, which the estates had in reality already voted to accept.  New articles were added to those which had originally been laid before Don John.  It was now stipulated that the Ghent treaty and the Perpetual Edict should be maintained.  The Governor was required forthwith to abandon Namur Castle, and to dismiss the German troops.  He was to give up the other citadels and strong places, and to disband all the soldiers in his service.  He was to command the governors of every province to prohibit the entrance of all foreign levies.  He was forthwith to release captives, restore confiscated property, and reinstate officers who had been removed; leaving the details of such restorations to the council of Mechlin and the other provincial tribunals.  He was to engage that the Count Van Buren should be set free within two months.  He was himself, while waiting for the appointment of his successor, to take up his residence in Luxemburg, and while there, he was to be governed entirely by the decision of the State Council, expressed by a majority of its members.  Furthermore, and as not the least stinging of these sharp requisitions, the Queen of England—­she who had been the secret ally of Orange, and whose crown the Governor had secretly meant to appropriate—­was to be included in the treaty.

It could hardly excite surprise that Don John, receiving these insolent propositions at the very moment in which he heard of the triumphant entrance into Brussels of the Prince, should be filled with rage and mortification.  Never was champion of the Cross thus braved by infidels before.  The Ghent treaty, according to the Orange interpretation, that is to say, heresy made legitimate, was to be the law of the land.  His Majesty was to surrender—­colors and cannon—­to his revolted subjects.  The royal authority was to be superseded by that of a State Council, appointed by the states-general, at the dictation of the Prince.  The Governor-General himself, brother of his Catholic Majesty, was to sit quietly with folded arms in Luxemburg, while the arch-heretic and rebel reigned supreme in Brussels.  It was too much to expect that the choleric soldier would be content with what he could not help