ere regarded by the court of Madrid as the lawful
children; the Flemings, as illegitimate.[562] It was necessary to do
away this impression to place the Flemings on the same footing with the
Spaniards; to give them lucrative appointments, for they greatly needed
them, in Spain or in Italy; and it might not be amiss to bestow the
viceroyalty of Sicily on the prince of Orange.--Thus, by the same act,
the politic minister would both reward his rivals and remove them from
the country. But he greatly misunderstood the character of William, if
he thought in this way to buy him off from the opposition.

It was four months before the confederates received an answer; during
which time affairs continued to wear the same gloomy aspect as before.
At length came the long-expected epistle from the monarch, dated on the
sixth of June. It was a brief one. Philip thanked the lords for their
zeal and devotion to his service. After well considering the matter,
however, he had not found any specific ground of complaint alleged, to
account for the advice given him to part with his minister. The king
hoped before long to visit the Low Countries in person. Meanwhile, he
should be glad to see any one of the nobles in Spain, to learn from him
the whole state of the affair; as it was not his wont to condemn his
ministers without knowing the grounds on which they were accused.[563]

The fact that the lords had not specified any particular subject of
complaint against the cardinal gave the king an obvious advantage in the
correspondence. It seemed to be too much to expect his immediate
dismissal of the minister, on the vague pretext of his unpopularity,
without a single instance of misconduct being alleged against him. Yet
this was the position in which the enemies of Granvelle necessarily
found themselves. The minister acted by the orders of the king. To have
assailed the minister's acts, therefore, would have been to attack the
king himself. Egmont, some time after this, with even more frankness
than usual, is said to have declared at table to a friend of the
cardinal, that "the blow was aimed not so much at the minister as at the
monarch."[564]

The discontent of the lords at receiving this laconic epistle may be
imagined. They were indignant that so little account should be made of
their representations, and that both they and the country should be
sacrificed to the king's partiality for his minister. The three lords
waited on the regent, an