distress, William prince of Orange, the greatest support of the infant
Republic, was murdered the year following, 1584, at Delft. His talents,
his experience, and his reputation were the principal resource of the
Malcontents. The confusion, in which he left affairs, grieved him so
much, that his last words were, _Lord, have pity on this poor people_.
Every thing was prepared, when he died, for proclaiming him Count of
Holland. The provinces of Zealand and Utrecht did not oppose it: only
the cities of Amsterdam and Goude made some difficulty: however, the
thing was so far advanced, that the States of Holland sent a deputation
to those two cities, to acquaint them, if they refused any longer to
give their consent, the States would nevertheless consummate the affair.
The deputation had been gone a month, when the prince was assassinated
on the tenth of July.

The States in this kind of anarchy requested Henry III. of France to
receive them for his subjects; but the embarrassments the League gave
him hindered his accepting their offer. On his refusal they had recourse
to Queen Elizabeth, who concluded a treaty with them, by which she
engaged to furnish five thousand foot, and a thousand horse, under an
English general, and to pay these troops during the war on condition of
being reimbursed when it was over: and it was stipulated that for
security of the payment some towns, particularly Flushing in Zealand,
and the Brille in Holland, should be put into her hands, to be restored
to the States when the money was repaid. The Queen of England at the
same time published a manifesto, setting forth, that the alliance
between the Kings of England and the Sovereigns of the Low Countries was
not so much between their persons as between their respective States:
from whence she concluded that, without violating her alliance with the
King of Spain, she might assist the people of the Low Countries
oppressed by the Spaniards.