Such was the end of the famous councillor who had been wont to shout
"ad patibulum" in his sleep. It was cruel that the fair face of civil
liberty showing itself after years of total eclipse, should be insulted
by such bloody deeds on the part of her votaries. It was sad that the
crimes of men like Imbize and Ryhove should have cost more to the cause
of religious and political freedom than the lives of twenty thousand such
ruffians were worth. But for the influence of demagogues like these,
counteracting the lofty efforts and pure life of Orange, the separation
might never have occurred between the two portions of the Netherlands.
The Prince had not power enough, however, nor the nascent commonwealth
sufficient consistency, to repress the disorganizing tendency of a
fanatical Romanism on the one side, and a retaliatory and cruel
ochlocracy on the other.

Such events, with the hatred growing daily more intense between the
Walloons and the Ghenters, made it highly important that some kind
of an accord should be concluded, if possible. In the country, the
Malcontents, under pretence of protecting the Catholic clergy, were
daily abusing and plundering the people, while in Ghent the clergy were
maltreated, the cloisters pillaged, under the pretence of maintaining
liberty. In this emergency the eyes of all honest men turned naturally
to Orange.

Deputies went to and fro between Antwerp and Ghent, Three points were
laid down by the Prince as indispensable to any arrangement--firstly,
that the Catholic clergy should be allowed the free use of their
property; secondly, that they should not be disturbed in the exercise of
their religion; thirdly, that the gentlemen kept in prison since the
memorable twenty-eighth of October should be released. If these points
should be granted, the Archduke Matthias, the states-general, and the