ed another motive to the natural hatred
for his assumed murderer.

The prince of Parma, who now succeeded, by virtue of Don John's
testament, to the post of governor-general in the name of the
king, remained intrenched in his camp. He expected much from
the disunion of his various opponents; and what he foresaw very
quickly happened. The duke of Alencon disbanded his troops and
retired to France; and the prince Palatine, following his example,
withdrew to Germany, having first made an unsuccessful attempt to
engage the queen of England as a principal in the confederacy. In
this perplexity, the Prince of Orange saw that the real hope for
safety was in uniting still more closely the northern provinces
of the union; for he discovered the fallacy of reckoning on the
cordial and persevering fidelity of the Walloons. He therefore
convoked a new assembly at Utrecht; and the deputies of Holland,
Guelders, Zealand, Utrecht, and Groningen, signed, on the 29th
of January, 1579, the famous act called the Union of Utrecht,
the real basis or fundamental pact of the republic of the United
Provinces. It makes no formal renunciation of allegiance to Spain,
but this is virtually done by the omission of the king's name.
The twenty-six articles of this act consolidate the indissoluble
connection of the United Provinces; each preserving its separate
franchises, and following its own good pleasure on the subject
of religion. The towns of Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, and Ypres,
soon after acceded to and joined the union.

The prince of Parma now assumed the offensive, and marched against
Maestricht with his whole army. He took the place in the month
of June, 1579, after a gallant resistance, and delivered it to
sack and massacre for three entire days. About the same time
Mechlin and Bois-le-duc returned to their obedience to the king.
Hembyse having renewed his attempts against the public peace at
Ghent, the Prince of Orange repaired to that place, re-established
order, frightened the inveterate demagogue into secret flight,
and Flanders was once more restored to tranquillity.

An attempt was made this year at a reconciliation between the
king and the states. The emperor Rodolf II. and Pope Gregory XIII.
offered their mediation; and on the 5th of April a congress assembled
at Cologne, where a number of the most celebrated diplomatists in
Europe were collected. But it was early seen that no settlement
would result from the apparently reciproca