of Orange carried before them all who were not actually bought
by the crown; and Granvelle found himself at length forced to
avow that an express order from the king forbade the convocation
of the states, on any pretext, during his absence.

The veil was thus rent asunder which had in some measure concealed
the deformity of Philip's despotism. The result was a powerful
confederacy, among all who held it odious, for the overthrow of
Granvelle, to whom they chose to attribute the king's conduct; thus
bringing into practical result the sound principle of ministerial
responsibility, without which, except in some peculiar case of
local urgency or political crisis, the name of constitutional
government is but a mockery. Many of the royalist nobles united
for the national cause; and even the stadtholderess joined her
efforts to theirs, for an object which would relieve her from
the tyranny which none felt more than she did. Those who composed
this confederacy against the minister were actuated by a great
variety of motives. The duchess of Parma hated him, as a domestic
spy robbing her of all real authority; the royalist nobles, as
an insolent upstart at every instant mortifying their pride.
The counts Egmont and Horn, with nobler sentiments, opposed him
as the author of their country's growing misfortunes. But it is
doubtful if any of the confederates except the Prince of Orange
clearly saw that they were 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