precipitate hostilities with the Habsburg powers however forced their
hands. Henry IV had for some time been making preparations for war, and
he was at the moment irritated by the protection given by the archdukes
to the runaway Princess of Condé, who had fled to Brussels. He had
succeeded in persuading the States to send an auxiliary force into
Germany to assist the French army of invasion in the spring of 1610,
when just as the king was on the point of leaving Paris to go to the
front he was assassinated on May 14. This event put an end to the
expedition, for the regent, Marie de' Medici, was friendly to Austria.
The States nevertheless did not feel disposed to leave Leopold in
possession of Jülich. Maurice led an army into the duchy and laid siege
to the town. It capitulated on September 1. As might have been
anticipated, however, the joint rule of the "possessors" did not turn
out a success. They quarrelled, and Neuburg asked for Catholic help.
Maurice and Spinola in 1614 found themselves again face to face at the
head of rival forces, but actual hostilities were avoided; and by the
treaty of Nanten (November 12, 1614) it was arranged that the disputed
territory should be divided, Brandenburg ruling at Cleves, Neuburg at
Jülich. Thus, in the settlement of this thorny question, the influence
of Oldenbarneveldt worked for a temporary solution satisfactory to the
interests of the United Provinces; nor was his successful intervention
in the Jülich-Cleves affair an isolated instance of his diplomatic
activity. On the contrary it was almost ubiquitous.

The growth of the Dutch trade in the Baltic had for some years been
advancing by leaps and bounds, and now far exceeded that of their old
rivals, the Hanseatic league. Christian IV, the ambitious and warlike
King of Denmark, had been seriously interfering with this trade by
imposing such heavy dues for the passage of the Sound as on the one hand
to furnish him with a large revenue, and on the other hand to support