The Spanish monarchy was actually _in extremis._ Portugal and Catalonia were in revolt; a French army had crossed the Pyrenees; the treasury was exhausted.

Peace with the Dutch Republic was a necessity; and, as has been already said, the vexed question about the Indies had resolved itself rather into a Portuguese than a Spanish question.

By a recognition of the Dutch conquests in Brazil and in the Indian Ocean they were acquiring an ally without losing anything that they had not lost already by the Portuguese declaration of independence.

But, as the basis of an agreement was on the point of being reached, an event happened which caused a delay in the proceedings.
The Prince of Orange, who had been long a martyr to the gout, became in the autumn of 1646 hopelessly ill.

He lingered on in continual suffering for some months and died on March 14, 1647.