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History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

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Chapter 30<br />

Grandeur <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> United<br />

Prov<strong>in</strong>ces<br />

WE have narrated <strong>the</strong> ill success that attended<br />

<strong>the</strong> government <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Earl <strong>of</strong> Leicester <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Low<br />

Countries. These repeated disappo<strong>in</strong>tments rebuked<br />

<strong>the</strong> Prov<strong>in</strong>ces for look<strong>in</strong>g abroad for defense, and<br />

despis<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> mightier source <strong>of</strong> strength which<br />

existed with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>mselves; and <strong>in</strong> due time <strong>the</strong>y<br />

came to see that it was not by <strong>the</strong> arm <strong>of</strong> any<br />

foreign pr<strong>in</strong>ce that <strong>the</strong>y were to be holden up and<br />

made strong, but by <strong>the</strong> nurtur<strong>in</strong>g virtue <strong>of</strong> that<br />

great pr<strong>in</strong>ciple which, rooted <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir land by <strong>the</strong><br />

blood <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir martyrs, had at last found for <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

nation a champion <strong>in</strong> William <strong>of</strong> Orange. This<br />

pr<strong>in</strong>ciple had laid <strong>the</strong> foundations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir free<br />

Commonwealth, and it alone could give it stability<br />

and conduct it to greatness.<br />

Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, after Leicester's departure, at a<br />

meet<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> Hague, <strong>the</strong> 6th <strong>of</strong> February, 1587,<br />

576

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