f the invasion, were only intended to deceive. They were but
the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy which
was about to be enacted. Equally deceived, and more sanguine than ever,
Louis Nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts to gain
friends for his cause. He had repeated audiences of the King, to whose
court he had come in disguise. He made a strong and warm impression upon
Elizabeth's envoy at the French Court, Walsingham. It is probable that in
the Count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed more plausibility
to be given to certain projects for subdividing the Netherlands than his
brother would ever have sanctioned. The Prince was a total stranger to
these inchoate schemes. His work was to set his country free, and to
destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. That employment was
sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be found that a
paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place among his
motives.

Meantime, in the autumn of 1569, Orange had again reached Germany. Paul
Buys, Pensionary of Leyden, had kept him constantly informed of the state
of affairs in the provinces. Through his means an extensive
correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every
part of the Netherlands. The conventional terms by which different
matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were
familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces,
but in France, England, Germany, and particularly in the great commercial
cities. The Prince, for example, was always designated as Martin
Willemzoon, the Duke of Alva as Master Powels van Alblas, the Queen of
England as Henry Philipzoon, the King of Denmark as Peter Peterson. The
twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a
great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. Before his visit to
France, Orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of
sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise
against Spanish commerce.

The "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves,
soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest
beggars; but the Prince, having had many conversations with Admiral
Coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had
faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his
return from France. The Seigneu