gelders. By this means they had held such mutineers to their duty,
as had been seen at Leyden, Haarlem, and other places. The States of
Utrecht had secured themselves in the same way. But the mischiefmakers
and the ill-disposed had been seeking everywhere to counteract these
wholesome measures and to bring about a general disbanding of these
troops. This it was necessary to resist with spirit. It was the very
foundation of the provinces' sovereignty, to maintain which the public
means must be employed. It was in vain to drive the foe out of the
country if one could not remain in safety within one's own doors. They
had heard with sorrow that Utrecht was thinking of cashiering its troops,
and the speaker proceeded therefore to urge with all the eloquence he was
master of the necessity of pausing before taking so fatal a step.

The deputies of Utrecht answered by pleading the great pecuniary burthen
which the maintenance of the mercenaries imposed upon that province, and
complained that there was no one to come to their assistance, exposed as
they were to a sudden and overwhelming attack from many quarters. The
States-General had not only written but sent commissioners to Utrecht
insisting on the disbandment. They could plainly see the displeasure of
the Prince. It was a very different affair in Holland, but the States of
Utrecht found it necessary of two evils to choose the least.

They had therefore instructed their commissioners to request the Prince
to remove the foreign garrison from their capital and to send the old
companies of native militia in their place, to be in the pay of the
episcopate. In this case the States would agree to disband the new
levies.

Grotius in reply again warned the commissioners against communicating
with Maurice according to their instructions, intimated that the native
militia on which they were proposing to rely might have been debauched,
and he held out hopes that perhaps the States of Utrecht might derive
some relief from certain financial measures now contemplated in Holland.

The Utrechters resolved to wait at least several days before opening the
subject of their mission to the Prince. Meantime Ledenberg made a rough
draft of a report of what had occurred between them and Grotius and his
colleagues which it was resolved to lay secretly before the States of
Utrecht. The Hollanders hoped that they had at last persuaded the
commissioners to maintain the Waartgelders.

The States of