he
found herself in as soon as the glamour of Henry's seductive policy was
dispelled, while James of Great Britain, rubbing his hands with great
delight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired,
bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the States-General thus
left in virtual isolation. The barren burthen of knighthood and a sermon
on predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners in
place of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance which
he point-blank refused. The possessory princes, in whose cause the sword
was drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for much
else than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field.

And the States-General were equal to the immense responsibility.
Steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, the
policy, and the power of the Empire, of Spain, and of the Pope. Had the
Republic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable and
most important territory from becoming provinces of Spain, whose power
thus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of England would
have been more menacing than in the days of the Armada. Had the Republic
faltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. But the Republic did not
falter.

On the 13th July, Prince Maurice took command of the States' forces,
13,000 foot and 3000 horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled at
Schenkenschans. The July English and French regiments in the regular
service of the United Provinces were included in these armies, but there
were no additions to them: "The States did seven times as much,"
Barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do." Maurice, moving
with the precision and promptness which always marked his military
operations, marched straight upon Julich, and laid siege to that
important fortress. The Archdukes at Brussels, determined to keep out of
the fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of his
supplies up the Rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them at
Rheinberg. The details of the siege, as of all the Prince's sieges,
possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of a
geometrical problem. He was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, but
it was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before the
arrival of de la Chatre. Maurice received with courtesy the Marshal, who
arrived on the 18th August, at the head of