asure
power by obstacles mastered. Apply this test to Orange, and he will
stand huge of bulk as mountain ranges; for Alva and Parma were among
the chief generals of their century, with royal authority and equipment
(inadequate enough, truly, but still an equipment), with royal credit
and prestige, with the taxes of the provinces to supply the exchequer;
and these generals Orange met, hampered with lack of arms, men, funds,
moral support; with mercenary troops, unreliable and mutinous, hired
much of the time with moneys raised by mortgaging his own estates, and
backed up by a supine and a divided people, himself clothed with no
authority compelling subordination, and, with the exception of his
brother Louis (who was slain at the battle of Mookerheyde), without a
single captain of generous military capacity,--with such odds,
seemingly insuperable, William of Orange met the chief captains of his
generation, and made head against them, creeping forward, as the tides
do, till they own the shore. When these facts are co-ordinated, his
achievements become phenomenal. His resiliency was tremendous. In
some significant regards, his military career finds parallel in General
Washington.

In a remarkable particular, William the Silent resembles Quintus
Sertorius; namely, that each, while rebel against his Government,
fought in the name of his Government. Mommsen says: "It may be doubted
whether any Roman statesman of the earlier period can be compared in
point of versatile talent to Sertorius," who, though in rebellion
against Rome, did all he did in the name of Rome, fought battles,
levied tributes, enfranchised cities, remodeled communities; in short,
did in Spain what, in a later period, Julius Caesar did in Gaul.
William the Silent for years carried on his warfare in Philip's name,
tacitly assuming that Philip's agents were at fault, and not Philip's
self, and that himself was the king's true representative in the Low
Countries. William made war in the king's name, Granvelle, in the
earlier stages of the rebellion, being named as the agent of
oppression; while, in fact, that remarkable man and sagacious statesman
was hopelessly subordinate to his master, though harmonious with him.
As yet, the Netherlands had not conceived the extent of Philip's
tyranny, bigotry, and duplicity. Another similarity between the Dutch
and Roman outlaw was, that both were statesmen rather than generals,
having commanding outlook on their era