, brought letters of credence to the
states of the Union and to the Prince of Orange. He delivered also a
short confidential note, written in her own hand, from Catherine de
Medici to the Prince, to the following effect:

"My COUSIN,--The King, my son, and myself, send you Monsieur de
Mirambeau, to prove to you that we do not believe--for we esteem you an
honorable man--that you would manifest ingratitude to my son, and to
those who have followed him for the welfare of your country. We feel that
you have too much affection for one who has the support of so powerful a
prince as the King of France, as to play him so base a trick. Until I
learn the truth, I shall not renounce the good hope which I have always
indulged--that you would never have invited my son to your country,
without intending to serve him faithfully. As long as you do this, you
may ever reckon on the support of all who belong to him.

"Your good Cousin,

"CATHERINE."

It would have been very difficult to extract much information or much
comfort from this wily epistle. The menace was sufficiently plain, the
promise disagreeably vague. Moreover, a letter from the same Catherine de
Medici, had been recently found in a casket at the Duke's lodgings in
Antwerp. In that communication, she had distinctly advised her son to
re-establish the Roman Catholic religion, assuring him that by so doing,
he would be enabled to marry the Infanta of Spain. Nevertheless, the
Prince, convinced that it was his duty to bridge over the deep and fatal
chasm which had opened between the French Prince and the provinces, if an
honorable reconciliation were possible, did not attach an undue
importance either to the stimulating or to the upbraiding portion of the
communication from Catherine. He was most anxious to avert the chaos
which he saw returning. He knew that while the tempers of Rudolph, of the
English Queen, and of the Protestant princes of Germany, and the internal
condition of the Netherlands remained the same, it were madness to
provoke the government of France, and thus gain an additional enemy,
while losing their only friend. He did not renounce the hope of forming
all the Netherlands--excepting of course the Walloon provinces already
reconciled to Philip--into one independent commonwealth, freed for ever
from Spanish tyranny. A dynasty from a foreign house he was willing to
accept, but only on condition that the new royal line s