done its work. There was no hearty effort for the relief of Sluys.
There were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken
possession of by the Earl of Leicester, as an additional vantage-point
for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority.
Perhaps it would be transferred to Philip by Elizabeth as part of the
price for peace. There was a growing feeling in Holland and Zeeland that
as those Provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative
necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their
own soil. The suspicions as to the policy of the English government were
sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small
disposition on the part of the Hollanders, therefore, to protect what
remained of Flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they
were beginning to look upon as an enemy.

Maurice and Hohenlo made, however, a foray into Brabant, by way of
diversion to the siege of Sluys, and thus compelled Farnese to detach a
considerable force under Haultepenne into that country, and thereby to
weaken himself. The expedition of Maurice was not unsuccessful. There
was some sharp skirmishing between Hohenlo and Haultepenne, in which the
latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal
side, was defeated and slain; the fort of Engel, near Bois-le-Duc, was
taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand,
the contingent on which Leicester relied from the States to assist in
relieving Sluys was not forthcoming.

For, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his
sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. Leaving Leicester
House on the 4th July (N. S.), he had come on board the fleet two days
afterwards at Margate. He was bringing with him to the Netherlands three
thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen