They would not even love the King of Spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his Majesty was declared to have heaped upon them.

On the contrary, they persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent Prince of Orange.

That heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was showing them the road to liberty, and nothing, in the eyes of the Governor, could be more pitiable than to behold an innocent people setting forth upon such a journey.

"In truth," said he, bitterly, in his memorable letter to his sister the Empress, "they are willing to recognize neither God nor king.

They pretend to liberty in all things: so that 'tis a great pity to see how they are going on; to see the impudence and disrespect with which they repay his Majesty for the favors which he has shown them, and me for the labors, indignities, and dangers which I have undergone for their sakes." Nothing, indeed, in the Governor's opinion, could surpass the insolence of the Netherlanders, save their ingratitude.