patriotic delay to baser motives. They accused him of a desire to assume
the governor-generalship himself, to the exclusion of the Archduke--
an insinuation which the states of Holland took occasion formally to
denounce as a calumny. For those who have studied the character and
history of the man, a defence against such slander is superfluous.
Matthias was but the shadow, Orange the substance. The Archduke had
been accepted only to obviate the evil effects of a political intrigue,
and with the express condition that the Prince should be his lieutenant-
general in name, his master in fact. Directly after his departure in the
following year, the Prince's authority, which nominally departed also,
was re-established in his own person, and by express act of the states-
general.

The Union of Utrecht was the foundation-stone of the Netherland Republic;
but the framers of the confederacy did not intend the establishment of a
Republic, or of an independent commonwealth of any kind. They had not
forsworn the Spanish monarch. It was not yet their intention to forswear
him. Certainly the act of union contained no allusion to such an
important step. On the contrary, in the brief preamble they expressly
stated their intention to strengthen the Ghent Pacification, and the
Ghent Pacification acknowledged obedience to the King. They intended no
political innovation of any kind. They expressly accepted matters as
they were. All statutes, charters, and privileges of provinces, cities,
or corporations were to remain untouched. They intended to form neither
an independent state nor an independent federal system. No doubt the
formal renunciation of allegiance, which was to follow within two years,
was contemplated by many as a future probability; but it could not be
foreseen with certainty.

The simple act of union was not regarded as the constitution of a