with the Catholic forces on an undertaking by Spinola that there should
be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the Republic or
by Spain. But Barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the
Marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of
the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any
moment. Count Bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place
and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor.
Then the Archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual
withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of
garrisons. But Barneveld, speaking for the States, liked not the
security. The Archduke was but the puppet of Spain, and Spain had no
part in the guarantee. She held the strings, and might cause him at any
moment to play what pranks she chose. It would be the easiest thing in
the world for despotic Spain, so the Advocate thought, to reappear
suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the States' troops had
been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the
many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness.
To withdraw without a guarantee from Spain to the Treaty of Xanten, which
had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up
fifty points in the game. Nothing but disaster could ensue. The
Advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was
ever actuated by the favourite quotation of William the Silent from
Demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is
distrust. And he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure
the Spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the States, and there
were many ready to assist it in the task. Now that one of the
pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the Prince of Neuburg,
had espoused both Catholicism and the sister of the Archbishop of Cologne
and the Duke of Bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for Spain to
make a temporary withdrawal. Maximilian of Bavaria was beyond all