ere putting themselves in direct and personal
opposition to the king himself. William alone, clear-sighted
in politics and profound in his views, knew, in thus devoting
himself to the public cause, the adversary with whom he entered
the lists.

This great man, for whom the national traditions still preserve
the sacred title of "father" (Vader-Willem), and who was in truth
not merely the parent but the political creator of the country,
was at this period in his thirtieth year. He already joined the
vigor of manhood to the wisdom of age. Brought up under the eye
of Charles V., whose sagacity soon discovered his precocious
talents, he was admitted to the councils of the emperor at a
time of life which was little advanced beyond mere boyhood. He
alone was chosen by this powerful sovereign to be present at
the audiences which he gave to foreign ambassadors, which proves
that in early youth he well deserved by his discretion the surname
of "the taciturn." It was on the arm of William, then twenty
years of age, and already named by him to the command of the
Belgian troops, that this powerful monarch leaned for support on
the memorable day of his abdication; and he immediately afterward
employed him on the important mission of bearing the imperial
crown to his brother Ferdinand, in whose favor he had resigned
it. William's grateful attachment to Charles did not blind him
to the demerits of Philip. He repaired to France, as one of the
hostages on the part of the latter monarch for the fulfilment
of the peace of Cateau-Cambresis; and he then learned from the
lips of Henry II., who soon conceived a high esteem for him,
the measures reciprocally agreed on by the two sovereigns for
the oppression of their subjects. From that moment his mind was
made up on the character of Philip, and on the part which he
had himself to perform; and he never felt a doubt on the first
point, nor swerved from the latter.

But even before his patriotism was openly displayed, Philip had
taken a dislike to one in whom his shrewdness quickly discovered
an intellect of which he was jealous. He could not actually remove
William from all interference with public affairs; but he refused
him the government of Flanders, and opposed, in secret, his projected
marriage with a princess of the House of Lorraine, which was
calculated to bring him a considerable accession of fortune,
and consequently of influence. It may be therefore said that
William, in his subs