Those who were able and willing to pay for a dispensation found a ready and judicious toleration.
This toleration was not entirely due to the venality of the officials, but rather to the spirit of materialistic indifference that was abroad among the orthodox Calvinists, who were alone eligible for public office.

Large numbers of those who professed the established faith were in reality either nominal conformists too much immersed in affairs to trouble about religious questions, or actually free-thinkers in disguise.

It must never be forgotten that in the United Provinces taken as a whole, the Calvinists, whether orthodox or arminian, formed a minority of the population.

Even in Holland itself more than half the inhabitants were Catholics, including many of the old families and almost all the peasantry.

Likewise in Utrecht, Gelderland and Overyssel the Catholics were in the majority.