n event occurred which caused
still greater confusion in the affairs of the Netherlands. This was a
meeting of the confederates at St. Trond, in the neighborhood of Liege.
They assembled, two thousand in number, with Count Louis and Brederode
at their head. Their great object was to devise some means for their
personal security. They were aware that they were held responsible, to
some extent, for the late religious movements among the people.[783]
They were discontented with the prolonged silence of the king, and they
were alarmed by rumors of military preparations, said to be designed
against them. The discussions of the assembly, long and animated, showed
some difference of opinion. All agreed to demand some guaranty from the
government for their security. But the greater part of the body, no
longer halting at the original limits of their petition, were now for
demanding absolute toleration in matters of religion. Some few of the
number, stanch Catholics at heart, who for the first time seem to have
had their eyes opened to the results to which they were inevitably
tending, now, greatly disgusted, withdrew from the league. Among these
was the younger Count Mansfeldt,--a name destined to become famous in
the annals of the revolution.

Margaret, much alarmed by these new demonstrations, sent Orange and
Egmont to confer with the confederates, and demand why they were thus
met in an unfriendly attitude towards the government which they had so
lately pledged themselves to support in maintaining order. The
confederates replied by sending a deputation of their body to submit
their grievances anew to the regent.

The deputies, twelve in number, and profanely nicknamed at Brussels "the
twelve apostles,"[784] presented themselves, with Count Louis at their
head, on the twenty-eighth of July, at the capital. Margaret, who with
difficulty consented to receive them in person, gave unequivocal signs
of her displeasure. In the plain language of Louis, "the regent was
ready to burst with anger."[785] The memorial, or rather remonstrance,
presented to her was not calculated to allay it.

Without going into details, it is only necessary to say, that the
confederates, after stating their grounds for apprehension, requested
that an assurance should be given by the government that no harm was
intended them. As to pardon for the past, they disclaimed all desire for
it. What they had done called for applause, not condemnation. They only