He asserted that he had saved Antwerp from another "Spanish fury," and from impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was unable to count the number of his masters.

If a man had ever performed a service to his country, he claimed to have done so in this capitulation.
Nevertheless, he declared that he was the same Philip Marnix, earnestly devoted to the service of God, the true religion, and the fatherland; although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual offering of the Netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates.

He was now going, he said, to his estates in Zeeland; there to turn farmer again; renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen.

Count Maurice and the States of Holland and Zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it unsafe for him to visit the country.
The Netherlands and England--so soon as they were united in policy--were, not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous efforts to prevent that union.

The English were, in truth, deeply offended.