[History of the United Netherlands 1584-1609 by John Lothrop Motley]@TWC D-Link bookHistory of the United Netherlands 1584-1609 CHAPTER XXII 25/38
Since the malpractices of Leicester and the danger to which the country had been, subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that there should be very kindly feeling toward England in the public mind, however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known to be for the welfare of both. The bickering of the two English councillors, Wilkes and Bodley, and of the governor of the English contingent with the Hollanders, was incessant.
The Englishmen went so far as to claim the right of veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the States-General indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of England.
The two members and the military officer who together represented her Majesty were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their brother members.
For them to claim the right, however, at will to annul the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened to for a moment.
Certainly it would have been strange had two Dutchmen undertaken to veto every measure passed by the Queen's council at Richmond or Windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by Englishmen at the Hague. Another cause of quarrel was the inability of the Englishmen to understand the language in which the debates of the state council were held. According to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in discussing the state affairs of their native land.
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