Yet this was precisely the condition of the United Netherlands.

To the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and the achievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many as the legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs would have cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood.
During the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state.

Two hundred officers lived daily at his table.

Great nobles and scions of sovereign houses were his pupils or satellites.

The splendour of military despotism and the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed the greatest of all sciences invested the person of Maurice of Nassau with a grandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy.