to himself. He enjoined on them to
show similar respect to the regent, their own countrywoman, into whose
hands he had committed the government. They would reverence the laws and
maintain public tranquillity. Nothing would conduce to this so much as
the faithful execution of the edicts. It was their sacred duty to aid in
the extermination of heretics,--the deadliest foes both of God and their
sovereign. Philip concluded by assuring the states that he should soon
return in person to the Netherlands, or send his son Don Carlos as his
representative.

The answer of the legislature was temperate and respectful. They made no
allusion to Philip's proposed ecclesiastical reforms, as he had not
authorized this by any allusion to them himself. They still pressed,
however, the removal of the foreign troops, and the further removal of
all foreigners from office, as contrary to the constitution of the land.
This last shaft was aimed at Granvelle, who held a high post in the
government, and was understood to be absolute in the confidence of the
king. Philip renewed his assurances of the dismissal of the forces, and
that within the space, as he promised, of four months. The other request
of the deputies he did not condescend to notice. His feelings on the
subject were intimated in an exclamation he made to one of his
ministers: "I too am a foreigner; will they refuse to obey me as their
sovereign?"[417]

[Sidenote: ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNCILS.]

The regent was to be assisted in the government by three councils which
of old time had existed in the land;--the council of finance, for the
administration, as the name implies, of the revenues; the privy council,
for affairs of justice and the internal concerns of the country; and the
council of state, for matters relating to peace and war, and the foreign
policy of the nation. Into this last, the supreme council, entered
several of the Flemish nobles, and among them the prince of Orange and
Count Egmont. There were, besides, Count Barlaimont, president of the
council of finance, Viglius, president of the privy council, and lastly
Granvelle, bishop of Arras.

The regent was to act with the cooeperation of these several bodies in
their respective departments. In the conduct of the government, she was
to be guided by the council of state. But by private instructions of
Philip, questions of a more delicate nature, involving the tranquillity
of the country, might be first submitted to a s