The Prince seized it as from the hand of God.

Thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed.

To effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage.

Expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men's consciences--these were the great objects to which the Prince now devoted himself with renewed energy.
To bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary.

The sentiment of extreme Catholicism and Monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition.