WnXIAM AND MART.

79

and perfidious of mankind, was secured by a pension.* For ciiap.the Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg, William, not without llii)2 ■-difficulty, procured the long desired title of Elector of Hanover.

By such means as these the breaches which had divided thecoalition were so skilfully repaired that it appeared still topresent a firm front to the enemy.

William had complained bitterly to the Spanish governmentof the incapacity and inertness of Gastanaga.. The Spanish meats forgovernment, helpless and drowsy as it was, could not be vernmontaltogether insensible to the dangers which threatened Flanders Spanishand Brabant. Gastanaga was recalled; and William was in- J^“ r "vited to take upon himself the government of the Low Coun-tries, with powers not less than regal. Philip the Second wouldnot easily have believed that, within a century after his death,his greatgrandson would implore the greatgrandson of Wil-liam the Silent to exercise the authority of a sovereign atBrussels.**

The offer was in one sense tempting: but William was toowise to accept it. He knew that the population of the SpanishNetherlands was firmly attached to the Church of Rome. Everyact of a Protestant ruler was certain to be regarded withsuspicion by the clergy and people of those countries. AlreadyGastanaga, mortified by his disgrace, had written to informthe Court of Rome that changes were in contemplation whichwould make Ghent and Antwerp as heretical as Amsterdam andLondon.*** It had doubtless also occurred to William that if, .by governing mildly and justly, and by showing a decent

Eeroit tout mon empressement;

Et jo ne vois rien sur la terra

Ou jo Irouve plus d’agr^ment.”

* William’s correspondence with Heinsius. There is a curious accountof Schcening in the Memoirs of Count Dohna.

** Burnet, ii. 84.

*** Narcissus Luttrell’s Diary.