He was the father of his country and its defender.

The people, from highest to lowest, called him "Father William," and the title was enough for him.
The question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task.
So little was he inspired by the sentiment of self-elevation, that he was anxiously seeking for a fitting person--strong, wise, and willing enough--to exercise the sovereignty which was thrust upon himself, but which he desired to exchange against an increased power to be actively useful to his country.

To expel the foreign oppressor; to strangle the Inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of the nation; here was labor enough for his own hands.

The vulgar thought of carving a throne out of the misfortunes of his country seems not to have entered his mind.
Upon one point, however, the Prince had been peremptory.

He would have no persecution of the opposite creed.