126

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CIIAP.

XVII.

1691.

Vices in*hercnt intlie na-ture ofcoali-tions.

prison for heresy returned to their homes. Children, who hadbeen taken from them parents to be educated by priests, weresent back. Congregations, which had hitherto met only bystealth and with extreme peril, now worshipped God withoutmolestation in the face of day. Those simple mountaineersprobably never knew that their fate had been a subject of dis-cussion at the Hague, and that they owed the happiness of theirfiresides and the security of their humble temples tothe ascendency which "William exercised over the Duke ofSavoy.*

No coalition of which history has preserved the memory hashad an abler chief than William. But even William often con-tended in vain against those vices which are inherent in thenature of all coalitions. No undertaking which requires thehearty and long continued cooperation of many independentstates is likely to prosper. Jealousies inevitably spring up.Disputes engender disputes. Every confederate is tempted tothrow on others some part of the burden which he ought him-self to bear. Scarcely one honestly furnishes the promisedcontingent. Scarcely one exactly observes the appointed day.But perhaps no coalition that ever existed was in such constantdanger of dissolution as the coalition which William had withinfinite difficulty formed. The long list of potentates, who metin person or by their representatives at the Hague, looked wellin the Gazettes. The crowd of princely equipages, attended bymanycoloured guards and lacqueys, looked well among the limetrees of the Voorhout. But the very circumstances which madethe Congress more splendid than other congresses made theleague weaker than other leagues. The more numerous theallies, the more numerous were the dangers which threatened

* The secret article by which the Duke of Savoy bound himself togrant toleration to the Waldenscs is in Dumont’s collection. It was signed