Should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with Spain, and transfer the Provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of Milan, which France had ever coveted.

The Netherlands, after a quarter of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition.
The Kings of France and of Spain always acted in concert, for religion was the most potent of bonds.

Witness the sacrifice of thousands of French soldiers to Alva by their own sovereign at Mons, witness the fate of Genlis, witness the bloody night of St.Bartholomew, witness the Antwerp fury.

Men cited and relied upon the advice of William of Orange as to this negotiation with France.

But Orange never dreamed of going so far as now proposed.