Netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored
as a Messiah. He had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed
upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe
expressions of the Queen's displeasure at the joint action of the States-
General and himself. He had been comforted by the affectionate
expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had
been succeeded. He was now again distressed by the peremptory command to
do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause,
yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a
remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of Elizabeth's
presence. He felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the
destruction of the Netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the
downfall of England; and that the Provinces, believing themselves
deceived by the Queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to
which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal
Nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands
distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. He had
come from the camp before Nymegen in order to attend the conference with
the state-council at Arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to,
despatch Heneage to England, to learn her Majesty's final determination.

He protested to the Queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous
service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this
was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute
government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply
impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the
enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared
with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate
him for this enforced absence from her. To be sent back even in disgrace
would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her