The deepest and gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship God according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of Buchanan and the friend of Buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms with a classical oration.

But James was very proud of the proposal and accepted it with alacrity.
"You know, my dear son," he wrote to Frederic, "that we are the only king in Europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation.

It would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of favouring one of the parties.

Your suggestion that we might secretly support the Bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world." And to do James justice, he had never fed Frederic with false hopes, never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny.
He had contented himself with suggesting from time to time that he might borrow money of the States-General.

His daughter Elizabeth must take care of herself, else what would become of her brother's marriage to the daughter of Spain.
And now it was war to the knife, in which it was impossible that Holland, as well as all the other great powers should not soon be involved.