had hitherto met only by stealth and with extreme peril, now
worshipped God without molestation in the face of day. Those
simple mountaineers probably never knew that their fate had been
a subject of discussion at the Hague, and that they owed the
happiness of their firesides, and the security of their humble
temples to the ascendency which William exercised over the Duke
of Savoy.8

No coalition of which history has preserved the memory has had an
abler chief than William. But even William often contended in
vain against those vices which are inherent in the nature of all
coalitions. No undertaking which requires the hearty and long
continued cooperation of many independent states is likely to
prosper. Jealousies inevitably spring up. Disputes engender
disputes. Every confederate is tempted to throw on others some
part of the burden which he ought himself to bear. Scarcely one
honestly furnishes the promised contingent. Scarcely one exactly
observes the appointed day. But perhaps no coalition that ever
existed was in such constant danger of dissolution as the
coalition which William had with infinite difficulty formed. The
long list of potentates, who met in person or by their
representatives at the Hague, looked well in the Gazettes. The
crowd of princely equipages, attended by manycoloured guards and
lacqueys, looked well among the lime trees of the Voorhout. But
the very circumstances which made the Congress more splendid than
other congresses made the league weaker than other leagues. The
more numerous the allies, the more numerous were the dangers
which threatened the alliance. It was impossible that twenty
governments, divided by quarrels about precedence, quarrels about
territory, quarrels about trade, quarrels about religion, could