History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

and Zealand, where the Popish worship had been
suppressed, it was to be restored in all places where
a hundred resident families desired it. In the Popish
Provinces an equivalent indulgence was to be
granted wherever an equal number of Protestant
families resided. [Nowhere was the private exercise
of either faith to be obstructed; the Protestants were
to be eligible to all offices for which they were
qualified, and were to abstain from all trade and
labor on the great festivals of the Roman Church.
This scheme was approved by the States-General,
under the name of the "Peace of Religion." William
was overjoyed to behold his most ardent hopes of a
united Fatherland, and the vigorous prosecution of
its great battle against a common tyranny, about to
be crowned.
But these bright hopes were only for a moment.
The banner of toleration, bravely uplifted by
William, had been waved over the Netherlands
only to be furled again. The Roman Catholic
nobles, with Aerschot and Champagny at their
head, refused to accept the "Peace of Religion." In
their immense horror of Protestantism they forgot
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