lic priests; of
hypocrisy, tyranny, and perjury; and, as the height of atrocity,
of having introduced liberty of conscience into his country! For
these causes, and many others, the king declares him "proscribed
and banished as a public pest"; and it is permitted to all persons
to assail him "in his fortune, person, and life, as an enemy
to human nature." Philip also, "for the recompense of virtue
and the punishment of crime," promises to whoever will deliver
up William of Nassau, dead or alive, "in lands or money, at his
choice, the sum of twenty-five thousand golden crowns; to grant
a free pardon to such person for all former offences of what kind
soever, and to invest him with letters patent of nobility."

In reply to this brutal document of human depravity, William
published all over Europe his famous "Apology," of which it is
enough to say that language could not produce a more splendid
refutation of every charge or a more terrible recrimination against
the guilty tyrant. It was attributed to the pen of Peter de Villiers,
a Protestant minister. It is universally pronounced one of the
noblest monuments of history. William, from the hour of his
proscription, became at once the equal in worldly station, as
he had ever been the superior in moral worth, of his royal
calumniator. He took his place as a prince of an imperial family,
not less ancient or illustrious than that of the House of Austria;
and he stood forward at the supreme tribunal of public feeling
and opinion as the accuser of a king who disgraced his lineage
and his throne.

By a separate article in the treaty with the states, the duke
of Alencon secured to William the sovereignty of Holland and
Zealand, as well as the lordship of Friesland, with his title
of stadtholder, retaining to the duke his claim on the prince's
faith and homage. The exact nature of William's authority was
finally ratified on the 24th of July, 1581; on which day he took
the prescribed oath, and entered on the exercise of his well-earned
rights.

Philip now formed the design of sending back the duchess of Parma
to resume her former situation as stadtholderess, and exercise
the authority conjointly with her son. But the latter positively
declined this proposal of divided power; and he, consequently,
was left alone to its entire exercise. Military affairs made
but slow progress this year. The most remarkable event was the
capture of La Noue, a native of Bretagne, one of the bravest,