They had made a truce, half the term of which had already run by.

At any moment the keys of their very house-door might be placed in the hands of their arch enemy.

Treacherous and base as the deed would be, it might be defended by the letter of a treaty in which the Republic had no part; and was there anything too treacherous or too base to be dreaded from James Stuart?
But the States owed the crown of England eight millions of florins, equivalent to about L750,000.

Where was this vast sum to be found?
It was clearly impossible for the States to beg or to borrow it, although they were nearly as rich as any of the leading powers at that day.
It was the merit of Barneveld, not only that he saw the chance for a good bargain, but that he fully comprehended a great danger.

Years long James had pursued the phantom of a Spanish marriage for his son.