The republican party, for a while cast down by the death of John van Witt, had taken courage again, and Louis XIV.
secretly encouraged it.

William of Orange had let out his desire of becoming Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen: these foreshadowings of sovereignty had scared the province of Holland, which refused its consent; the influence of the stadtholder was weakened thereby; the Estates pronounced for peace, spite of the entreaties of the Prince of Orange.

"I am always ready to obey the orders of the state," said he, "but do not require me to give my assent to a peace which appears to me not only ruinous, but shameful as well." Two deputies from the United Provinces set out for Brussels.
"It is better to throw one's self out of the window than from the top of the roof," said the Spanish plenipotentiary to the nuncio, when he had cognizance of the French proposals, and he accepted the treaty offered him.

"The Duke of Villa Hermosa says that he will accept the conditions; for ourselves, we will do the same," said the Prince of Orange, bitterly, "and so here is peace made, if France continues to desire it on this footing, which I very much doubt." At one moment, in fact, Louis XIV.

raised fresh pretensions.