He resented the leading strings by which his youthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feel about his limbs so long as Barneveld existed.

He had never forgotten the unpalatable advice given to him by the Advocate through the Princess-Dowager.
The brief campaign in Cleve and Julich was the last great political operation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony.
But the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itself emphatically during the negotiations for the truce.

The Advocate had felt it absolutely necessary for the Republic to suspend the war at the first moment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing of equality.

Spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented to what she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebellious provinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority.

The peace party, led by Barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steady opposition of Prince Maurice and his adherents.
Why had Maurice opposed the treaty?
Because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, were all vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be in peace.