Especially was gratitude expressed to the Apostles Paul and Peter; upon whose festival, and by whose sword and key the crowning mercy had been accomplished,--and by whose special agency eight thousand heretics now lay unburied in the streets.

These acts of piety performed, the triumphal procession returned to the camp, where, soon afterwards, the joyful news of Alexander Farnese's entire convalescence was proclaimed.
The Prince of Orange, as usual, was blamed for the tragical termination to this long drama.

All that one man could do, he had done to awaken his countrymen to the importance of the siege.

He had repeatedly brought the subject solemnly before the assembly, and implored for Maestricht, almost upon his knees.

Lukewarm and parsimonious, the states had responded to his eloquent appeals with wrangling addressee and insufficient votes.
With a special subsidy obtained in April and May, he had organized the slight attempt at relief, which was all which he had been empowered to make, but which proved entirely unsuccessful.