atholic population was divided in its support between Matthew
and Anjou, and that Orange retained the balance of influence.

[Sidenote: Protestant schism]

The insuperable difficulty in the way of success for the policy of this
great man was still the religious one. Calvinism had been largely
drawn off to Holland and Zeeland, and Catholicism remained the religion
of the great majority of the population in the other provinces. At
first sight the latter appeared far from being an intractable force.
In contrast with the fiery zeal of the Calvinists on the one hand and
of the Spaniards on the other, the faith of the Catholic Flemings and
Walloons seemed lukewarm, an old custom rather than a living
conviction. Most were shocked by the fanaticism of the Spaniards, who
thus proved the worst enemies of their faith, and yet, within the
Netherlands, they were very unwilling to see the old religion perish.
When the lower classes at Ghent assumed the leadership they rather
forced than converted that city to the Calvinist confession. Their
acts were taken as a breach of the Pacification of Ghent and threatened
the whole policy of Orange by creating fresh discord. To obviate this,
William proposed to the States General a religious peace on the basis
of the _status quo_ with refusal to allow further proselyting.
[Sidenote: July, 1578] But this measure, acceptable to the Catholics,
was deeply resented by the Calvinists. It was said that one who
changed his religion as often as his coat must prefer human to divine
things and that he who would tolerate Romanists must himself be an
atheist.

[Sidenote: Division of the Netherlands]

It was therefore, a primarily religious issue, and no difference of
race, language or material interest, {271} that divided the Netherlands
into two halves. For a time the common hatred of all the people for
the foreigner welded them into a united whole; but no sooner was the
pressure of the Spanish yoke even slightly relaxed than the mutual
antipathy of Calvinist and Catholic showed itself. If we look closely
into the causes why the North should become predominantly Protestant
while the South gradually reverted to an entirely Catholic faith, we
must see that the reasons were in part racial, in part geographical and
in part social. Geographically and linguistically the Northern
provinces looked for their culture to Germany, and the Southern
provinces to France. Moreover the easy defensibility of