Diedrich Sonoy arrived on the 2nd June at Enkbuizen. He was provided by
the Prince with a commission, appointing him Lieutenant-Governor of North
Holland or Waterland. Thus, to combat the authority of Alva was set up
the authority of the King. The stadholderate over Holland and Zealand,
to which the Prince had been appointed in 1559, he now reassumed. Upon
this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted
Netherlands. The government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this
epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute
renunciation of the Spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future
chapter. The people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than
was secured by Philip's coronation oath. There was no pretence that
Philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to
worship God according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political
"liberties" of the land. So long as Alva reigned, the Blood Council, the
inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every
charter slept. To recover this practical liberty and these historical
rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government,
was the purpose of William and of the people. No revolutionary standard
was displayed.

The written instructions given by the Prince to his Lieutenant Sonoy were
to "see that the Word of God was preached, without, however, suffering
any hindrance to the Roman Church in the exercise of its religion; to
restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of
all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of
fidelity." The Prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath,
repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition
of intolerance. "Likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the
religion' offer no let or hindrance to the Roman churches."