asible, and Ghent being the most important of all I could
attack, I fixed upon it to besiege." The place was invested on the 1st
of March, and capitulated on the 11th; Ypres, in its turn, succumbed on
the 25th, after a vigorous resistance. On the 7th of April the king
returned to St. Germain, "pretty content with what I had done," he says,
"and purposing to do better in the future, if the promise I had given not
to undertake anything for two months were not followed by the conclusion
of peace." Louis XIV. sent his ultimatum to Nimeguen.

Holland had weight in congress as well as in war, and her influence was
now enlisted on the side of peace. "Not only is it desired," said the
grand pensionary Fagel, "but it is absolutely indispensable, and I would
not answer for it that the States General, if driven to extremity by the
sluggishness of their allies, will not make a separate peace with France.
I know nobody in Holland who is not of the same opinion." The Prince of
Orange flew out at such language. "Well, then, I know somebody," said
he, "and that is myself; I will oppose it to the best of my ability;
but," he added more slowly, upon reflection, "if I were not here, I know
quite well that peace would be concluded within twenty-four hours."

One man alone, though it were the Prince of Orange, cannot long withstand
the wishes of a free people. The republican party, for a while cast down
by the death of John van Witt, had taken courage again, and Louis XIV.
secretly encouraged it. William of Orange had let out his desire of
becoming Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen: these foreshadowings of
sovereignty had scared the province of Holland, which refused its
consent; the influence of the stadtholder was weakened thereby; the
Estates pronounced for peace, spite of the entreaties of the Prince of
Orange. "I am always ready to obey the orders of the state," said he,
"but do not require me to give my assent to a peace which appears to me
not only ruinous, but shameful as well." Two deputies from the United
Provinces set out for Brussels.

"It is better to throw one's self out of the window than from the top of
the roof," said the Spanish plenipotentiary to the nuncio, when he had
cognizance of the French proposals, and he accepted the treaty offered
him. "The Duke of Villa Hermosa says that he will accept the conditions;
for ourselves, we will do the same," said the Prince of Orange, bitterly,
"and so here is peace