The way to prevent that descent was to invade the Spanish Netherlands, and to menace the Batavian frontier.

The Prince of Orange, indeed, was so bent on his darling enterprise that he would persist, even if the white flag were flying on the walls of Brussels.

He had actually said that, if the Spaniards could only manage to keep Ostend, Mons, and Namur till the next spring, he would then return from England with a force which would soon recover all that had been lost.

But, though such was the Prince's opinion, it was not the opinion of the States.

They would not readily consent to send their Captain General and the flower of their army across the German Ocean, while a formidable enemy threatened their own territory.