"'Tis well known to all," said the famous Declaration of Independence, two years afterwards, "that if a prince is appointed by God over the land, 'tis to protect them from harm, even as a shepherd to the guardianship of his flock.

The subjects are not appointed by God for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, without whom he is no prince.

Should he violate the laws, he is to be forsaken by his meanest subject, and to be recognized no longer as prince." William of Orange always recognized these truths, but his scheme of government contemplated a permanent chief, and as it was becoming obvious that the Spanish sovereign would soon be abjured, it was necessary to fix upon a substitute.

"As to governing these provinces in the form of a republic," said he, speaking for the states-general, "those who know the condition, privileges, and ordinances of the country, can easily understand that 'tis hardly possible to dispense with a head or superintendent." At the same time, he plainly intimated that this "head or superintendent" was to be, not a monarch--a one-ruler--but merely the hereditary chief magistrate of a free commonwealth.
Where was this hereditary chief magistrate to be found?
His own claims he absolutely withdrew.

The office was within his grasp, and he might easily have constituted himself sovereign of all the Netherlands.