fear that, if he prospered in England, he
would become absolute master of Holland. Nevertheless the errors of the
court of Versailles, and the dexterity with which he had availed himself
of those errors, made it impossible to continue the struggle against
him. He saw that the time had come for demanding the sanction of the
States. Amsterdam was the head quarters of the party hostile to his
line, his office, and his person; and even from Amsterdam he had at this
moment nothing to apprehend. Some of the chief functionaries of that
city had been repeatedly closeted with him, with Dykvelt, and with
Bentinck, and had been induced to promise that they would promote, or
at least that they would not oppose, the great design: some were
exasperated by the commercial edicts of Lewis: some were in deep
distress for kinsmen and friends who were harassed by the French
dragoons: some shrank from the responsibility of causing a schism which
might be fatal to the Batavian federation; and some were afraid of the
common people, who, stimulated by the exhortations of zealous preachers,
were ready to execute summary justice on any traitor to the Protestant
cause. The majority, therefore, of that town council which had long
been devoted to France pronounced in favour of William's undertaking.
Thenceforth all fear of opposition in any part of the United Provinces
was at an end; and the full sanction of the federation to his enterprise
was, in secret sittings, formally given. [476]

The Prince had already fixed upon a general well qualified to be second
in command. This was indeed no light matter. A random shot or the dagger
of an assassin might in a moment leave the expedition without a head. It
was necessary that a successor should be ready to fill the vacant place.
Yet it was impossible to make choice of any Englishman without giving
offence either to the Whigs or to the Tories; nor had any Englishman
then living shown that he possessed the military skill necessary for
the conduct of a campaign. On the other band it was not easy to assign
preeminence to a foreigner without wounding the national sensibility
of the haughty islanders. One man there was, and only one in Europe,
to whom no objection could be found, Frederic, Count of Schomberg, a
German, sprung from a noble house of the Palatinate. He was generally
esteemed the greatest living master of the art of war. His rectitude and
piety, tried by strong temptations and never found wanting,