On one occasion the Prince had attempted to bring the refractory deputies to punishment as traitors.

On another occasion the gates of Amsterdam had been barred against him, and troops had been raised to defend the privileges of the municipal council.

That the rulers of this great city would ever consent to an expedition offensive in the highest degree to Lewis whom they courted, and likely to aggrandise the House of Orange which they abhorred, was not likely.

Yet, without their consent, such an expedition could not legally be undertaken.

To quell their opposition by main force was a course from which, in different circumstances, the resolute and daring Stadtholder would not have shrunk.