to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. There was, however,
no pretence of a revolutionary movement. The Prince came to maintain,
not to overthrow. The freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces
until the accession of the Burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to
restore. The attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in
history. This defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary
standard. In all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the
authority of the King. By a fiction, which was not unphilosophical,
he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged
upon the Viceroy. Thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in
arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied
troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to
his master's orders. In the interest of Philip, assumed to be identical
with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who
was sacrificing both. This mask of loyalty would never save his head
from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might
perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen
the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the King.

And thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand
boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world.
At his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled
nearly thirty thousand men. He now boldly proclaimed to the world, and
especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his
purposes, and his hopes.

"We, by God's grace Prince of Orange," said his declaration of 31st
August, 1568, "salute all faithful subjects of his Majesty. To few
people is it unknown that the Spaniards have for a long time sought
to govern the land according to their pleasure. Abusing his