onference which immediately took place; and after some months
of cautious parleying, in the latter part of which the candor
of the prince seemed doubtful, and which the native historians
do not hesitate to stigmatize as merely assumed, a treaty was
signed at Marche-en-Famenne, a place between Namur and Luxemburg,
in which every point insisted on by the states was, to the surprise
and delight of the nation, fully consented to and guaranteed.
This important document is called The Perpetual Edict, bears
date the 12th of February, 1577, and contains nineteen articles.
They were all based on the acceptance of the Pacification; but
one expressly stipulated that the count of Beuren should be set
at liberty as soon as the Prince of Orange, his father, had on
his part ratified the treaty.

Don John made his solemn entry into Brussels on the 1st of May,
and assumed the functions of his limited authority. The conditions
of the treaty were promptly and regularly fulfilled. The citadels
occupied by the Spanish soldiers were given up to the Flemish and
Walloon troops; and the departure of these ferocious foreigners
took place at once. The large sums required to facilitate this
measure made it necessary to submit for a while to the presence
of the German mercenaries. But Don John's conduct soon destroyed
the temporary delusion which had deceived the country. Whether
his projects were hitherto only concealed, or that they were
now for the first time excited by the disappointment of those
hopes of authority held out to him by Philip, and which his
predecessors had shared, it is certain that he very early displayed
his ambition, and very imprudently attempted to put it in force.
He at once demanded from the council of state the command of
the troops and the disposal of the revenues. The answer was a
simple reference to the Pacification of Ghent; and the prince's
rejoinder was an apparent submission, and the immediate despatch
of letters in cipher to the king, demanding a supply of troops
sufficient to restore his ruined authority. These letters were
intercepted by the king of Navarre, afterward Henry IV. of France,
who immediately transmitted them to the Prince of Orange, his
old friend and fellow-soldier.

Public opinion, to the suspicions of which Don John had been
from the first obnoxious, was now unanimous in attributing to
design all that was unconstitutional and unfair. His impetuous
character could no longer submit to the rest