tates, had neither been loyally
accepted, nor candidly refused. They inferred, therefore, that the object
of the royal government had, been to amuse the states, while tine was
thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more abject than any
which had yet existed. On the other hand, the royal commissioners as
solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the failure of the
negotiations belonged to the, estates.

It was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government
had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor
desired to conclude a peace. It is probable, however, that Philip was
sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude
a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war. With
his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire, if
this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could have
no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should consent to
abandon the country. As usual, however, he left his agents in the dark as
to his real intentions. Even Requesens was as much in doubt as to the
King's secret purposes as Margaret of Parma had ever been in former
times.

[Compare the remarks of Groen v. Prinst., Archives, etc., v 259-
262; Bor, viii. 606, 615; Meteren, v. 100; Hoofd, g. 410.--Count
John of Nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning.
Against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of
the estates, he felt that the whole force of the Macchiavelli system
of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. He felt that
the object of the King's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to
deceive. He did not believe them capable of conceding the real
object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the
judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to
deal. Alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and
his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to Venetian drugs,
by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed.
Under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not
perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a
rustling leaf. Not comprehending then the tendency of their own
acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring
faggots for their own funeral pile."-Archives, etc., v. 131-137.]