neighbours of England and Scotland in new dissensions, as it must be
evident to every one of you that his pretended accusations against me are
but colors and shadows to embellish and to shroud his own desire for war,
his appetite for vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to
yourselves, and as his determination is, in the words of Escovedo, to
chastise some of us by means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of
one portion of the country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do I
most affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these
matters, not upon words but upon actions. Examine carefully my conduct
in the points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively
to what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then, having
compared it with all the proceedings of Seigneur Don John, you will be
able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy, and befitting
your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have been chosen chiefs
and protectors, by God and by men. Put away all considerations which
might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with magnanimity, and like
men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your children, your estates,
your liberties; see that this poor people, whose eyes are fixed upon you,
does not perish; preserve them from the greediness of those who would
grow great at your expense; guard them from the yoke of miserable
servitude; let not all our posterity lament that, by our pusillanimity,
they have lost the liberties which our ancestors had conquered for them,
and bequeathed to them as well as to us, and that they have been
subjugated by the proud tyranny of strangers.

"Trusting," said the Prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith
and attention to my envoys, I will only add an expression of my sincere
determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the
welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power, nor
my life itself."