throughout their dominions. This
inconsiderate avowal of the French king was made to William on the
supposition that he was stanch in the Roman Catholic faith, and entirely
in his master's confidence. Whatever may have been the prince's claims
to orthodoxy at this period, it is certain he was not in Philip's
confidence. It is equally certain that he possessed one Christian virtue
which belonged neither to Philip nor to Henry,--the virtue of
toleration. Greatly shocked by the intelligence he had received, William
at once communicated it to several of his friends in the Netherlands.
One of the letters unfortunately fell into Philip's hands. The prince
soon after obtained permission to return to his own country, bent, as he
tells us in his Apology, on ridding it of the Spanish vermin.[414]
Philip, who understood the temper of his mind, had his eye on his
movements, and knew well to what source, in part at least, he was to
attribute the present opposition. It was not long after, that a
Castilian courtier intimated to the prince of Orange and to Egmont, that
it would be well for them to take heed to themselves; that the names of
those who had signed the petition for the removal of the troops had been
noted down, and that Philip and his council were resolved, when a
fitting occasion offered, to call them to a heavy reckoning for their
temerity.[415]

Yet the king so far yielded to the wishes of the people as to promise
the speedy departure of the troops. But no power on earth could have
been strong enough to shake his purpose where the interests of religion
were involved. Nor would he abate one jot of the stern provisions of the
edicts. When one of his ministers, more hardy than the rest, ventured to
suggest to him that perseverance in this policy might cost him the
sovereignty of the provinces, "Better not reign at all," he answered,
"than reign over heretics!"[416]--an answer extolled by some as the
height of the sublime, by others derided as the extravagance of a
fanatic. In whatever light we view it, it must be admitted to furnish
the key to the permanent policy of Philip in his government of the
Netherlands.

Before dissolving the States-General, Philip, unacquainted with the
language of the country, addressed the deputies through the mouth of the
bishop of Arras. He expatiated on the warmth of his attachment to his
good people of the Netherlands, and paid them a merited tribute for
their loyalty both to his father and