d with success. Holland and Zeeland, paying the whole
expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute
sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless
politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been
proved to be felons--and established, at Utrecht, which contributed
nothing to the general purse. If Leicester were really-coming, it seemed
certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution,
and to respect the sovereignty of the States-General. It was resolved
that he should be well bridled. The sensations of Barneveld and his party
may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of Leicester, to his
secretary "the fellow named Junius," as Hohenlo called him--having been
intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying the
Earl's secret thoughts.

The Earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting
for the Netherlands. He ordered him therefore to proceed at once to
reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of
her Majesty and of the governor-general. And if, on the part of Lord
Buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the Queen was resolved
to treat for peace with the King of Spain; and wished to have the opinion
of the Netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that Lord
Buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her Majesty had not been
treating at all. She had only been attempting to sound the King's
intentions towards the Netherlands, in case of any accord. Having
received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her Majesty was
determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. This appeared
by the expedition of Drake against Spain, and by the return of the Earl,
with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her Majesty, over and above her
ordinary subsidy.

"You are also;" said the Earl, "to tell those who have the care of the
people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that I am
returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past
difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate
authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the
Provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and
counter-minings of the States, as in times past. The States must content
themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised
under the governors of the Emperor and the Kin