Page:William the Silent.djvu/77

Rh resort of foreigners for purposes of trade and commerce, the first condition of which is a state of secure peace.

There are seven possible courses that might be taken:—

These seven courses the Prince proceeds to discuss. The first three, all of which are persecution in one form or other, he rejects with indignation and horror, as involving the ruin of the country, as well as manifest injustice. The sixth he passes by as unfair and illusory, and that in spite of his own Lutheran birth, wife, brothers, and alliances. The seventh he seems to feel would never be listened to for a moment by Philip or the ruling powers. The fourth or the fifth he seems to regard as the most practicable schemes. Indeed the fourth course—the free exercise of any Christian faith to be assigned to defined quarters and spots—was the plan on which he had been acting with success during the whole struggle since the outrages of August. His conception of the neutralisation of the Netherlands in the general interest of Europe, and also his expectation of