a force by sea, and in the meantime it would be necessary to permit them
to live for another indefinite period at the charge of the estates.

With regard to the Ghent Pacification, the estates, in the course of
December, procured: an express opinion from the eleven professors of
theology, and doctors utriusque juris of Louvain, that the treaty
contained nothing which conflicted with the supremacy of the Catholic
religion. The various bishops, deacons, abbots, and pastors of the
Netherlands made a similar decision. An elaborate paper, drawn, up by
the State-Council, at the request of the states-general, declared that
there was nothing in the Pacification derogatory to the supreme authority
of his Majesty. Thus fortified; with opinions which, it must be
confessed, were rather dogmatically than argumentatively drawn up,
and which it would have been difficult very logically to, defend,
the states looked forward confidently to the eventual acceptance by Don
John of the terms proposed. In the meantime, while there was still an
indefinite pause in the negotiations, a remarkable measure came to aid
the efficacy of the Ghent Pacification.

Early in January, 1577, the celebrated "Union of Brussels" was formed.
This important agreement was originally signed by eight leading
personages, the Abbot of Saint Gertrude, the Counts Lalain and Bossu,
and the Seigneur de Champagny being among the number. Its tenor was to
engage its signers to compass the immediate expulsion of the Spaniards
and the execution of the Ghent Pacification, to maintain the Catholic
religion and the King's authority, and to defend the fatherland and all
its constitutions. Its motive was to generalize the position assumed by
the Ghent treaty. The new act was to be signed, not by a few special
deputies alone, like a diplomatic convention, but by all the leading
individuals of all the provinces, in order to exhibit to Don John such an