no possibility of discussing that point. There was nothing to be done,
he said, but to obey, but he washed his hands of the fatal consequences
which he foresaw. There was no longer any middle course between
obedience and rebellion. This opinion, the soundness of which could
scarcely be disputed, was also sustained by Egmont and Horn.

Viglius, on the contrary, nervous, agitated, appalled, was now disposed
to temporize. He observed that if the seigniors feared such evil
results, it would be better to prevent, rather than to accelerate the
danger which would follow the proposed notification to the governors and
municipal authorities throughout the country, on the subject of the
inquisition. To make haste, was neither to fulfil the intentions nor to
serve the interests of the King, and it was desirable "to avoid emotion
and scandal." Upon these heads the President made a very long speech,
avowing, in conclusion, that if his Majesty should not find the course
proposed agreeable, he was ready to receive all the indignation upon his
own head.

Certainly, this position of the President was somewhat inconsistent with
his previous course. He had been most violent in his denunciations of
all who should interfere with the execution of the great edict of which
he had been the original draughtsman. He had recently been ferocious in
combating the opinion of those civilians in the assembly of doctors who
had advocated the abolition of the death penalty against heresy. He had
expressed with great energy his private opinion that the ancient religion
would perish if the machinery of persecution were taken away; yet he now
for the first time seemed to hear or to heed the outcry of a whole
nation, and to tremble at the sound. Now that the die had been cast,
in accordance with the counsels of his whole life, now that the royal
commands, often enigmatical and hesitating; were at last too distinct to