It followed, necessarily, that the ancient charters were to be trampled in the dust before that tribunal could be triumphant.

The nobles, although all Catholics, defended the cause of the poor religious martyrs, the privileges of the nation and the rights of their order.

They were conservatives, battling for the existence of certain great facts, entirely consonant to any theory of justice and divine reason--for ancient constitutions which had been purchased with blood and treasure.
"I will maintain," was the motto of William of Orange.

Philip, bigoted and absolute almost beyond comprehension, might perhaps have proved impervious to any representations, even of Granvelle.

Nevertheless, the minister might have attempted the task, and the responsibility is heavy upon the man who shared the power and directed the career, but who never ceased to represent the generous resistance of individuals to frantic cruelty, as offences against God and the King.
Yet extracts are drawn from his letters to prove that he considered the Spaniards as "proud and usurping," that he indignantly denied ever having been in favor of subjecting the Netherlands to the soldiers of that nation; that he recommended the withdrawal of the foreign regiments, and that he advised the King, when he came to the country, to bring with him but few Spanish troops.