ld not for a moment believe that he would so
far dishonor his great name and his illustrious descent as to deserve
such a reproach; and she had no doubt he would gladly avail himself of
the present occasion to wipe away all suspicion.[887]

The despatch inclosed a form of the oath, by which the party was to bind
himself to "serve the king, and act for or against whomever his majesty
might command, without restriction or limitation,"[888] on pain of being
dismissed from office.

William was not long in replying to a requisition, to obey which would
leave him less freedom than might be claimed by the meanest peasant in
the country. On the twenty-eighth of April, the same day on which he
received the letter, he wrote to the regent, declining in the most
positive terms to take the oath. Such an act, he said, would of itself
imply that he had already violated the oath he had previously taken. Nor
could he honorably take it, since it might bind him to do what would be
contrary to the dictates of his own conscience, as well as to what he
conceived to be the true interests of his majesty and the country.[889]
He was aware that such a demand on the regent's part was equivalent to a
dismissal from office. He begged her, therefore, to send some one fully
empowered to receive his commissions, since he was ready forthwith to
surrender them. As for himself, he should withdraw from the Netherlands,
and wait until his sovereign had time to become satisfied of his
fidelity. But wherever he might be, he should ever be ready to devote
both life and property to the service of the king and the common weal of
the country.[890]

Whatever hesitation the prince of Orange may have before felt as to the
course he was to take, it was clear the time had now come for decisive
action. Though the steady advocate of political reform, his policy, as
we have seen, had been to attempt this by constitutional methods, not by
violence. But all his more moderate plans had been overthrown by the
explosion of the iconoclasts. The outrages then perpetrated had both
alienated the Catholics and disgusted the more moderate portion of the
Protestants; while the divisions of the Protestants among themselves had
so far paralyzed their action, that the whole strength of the party of
reform had never been fairly exerted in the conflict. That conflict,
unprepared as the nation was for it, had been most disastrous.
Everywhere the arms of the regent had been victorious.