Netherlands in their
great struggle with Spain. Orange possessed the rare quality of caution,
a characteristic by which he was distinguished from his youth. At fifteen
he was the confidential counsellor, as at twenty-one he became the
general-in-chief, to the most politic, as well as the most warlike
potentate of his age, and if he at times indulged in wiles which modern
statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns, he ever held in his
hand the clue of an honorable purpose to guide him through the tortuous
labyrinth.

It is difficult to find any other characteristic deserving of grave
censure, but his enemies have adopted a simpler process. They have been
able to find few flaws in his nature, and therefore have denounced it in
gross. It is not that his character was here and there defective, but
that the eternal jewel was false. The patriotism was counterfeit; the
self-abnegation and the generosity were counterfeit. He was governed only
by ambition--by a desire of personal advancement. They never attempted to
deny his talents, his industry, his vast sacrifices of wealth and
station; but they ridiculed the idea that he could have been inspired by
any but unworthy motives. God alone knows the heart of man. He alone can
unweave the tangled skein of human motives, and detect the hidden springs
of human action, but as far as can be judged by a careful observation of
undisputed facts, and by a diligent collation of public and private
documents, it would seem that no man--not even Washington--has ever been
inspired by a purer patriotism. At any rate, the charge of ambition and
self-seeking can only be answered by a reference to the whole picture
which these volumes have attempted to portray. The words, the deeds of
the man are there. As much as possible, his inmost soul is revealed in
his confidential letters, and he who looks in a right spirit will hardly
fail to find what he desires.

Whether originally of a timid temperament or not, he was certainly
possessed of perfect courage at last. In siege and battle--in the deadly
air of pestilential cities--in the long exhaustion of mind and body which
comes from unduly protracted labor and anxiety--amid the countless
conspiracies of assassins--he was daily exposed to death in every shape.
Within two years, five different attempts against his life had been
discovered. Rank and fortune were offered to any malefactor who would
compass the murder. He had already been shot through