to soften down
the hatred of this unfortunate family, these brothers had been
removed from their employments, their property was confiscated,
and despair soon urged them to desperation. In such a time of
general discontent it was easy to find accomplices. Seven or
eight determined men readily joined in the plot; of these, two
were Catholics, the rest Arminians; the chief of whom was Henry
Slatius, a preacher of considerable eloquence, talent, and energy.
It was first proposed to attack the prince at Rotterdam; but
the place was soon after changed for Ryswyk, a village near The
Hague, and afterward celebrated by the treaty of peace signed
there and which bears its name. Ten other associates were soon
engaged by the exertions of Slatius: these were Arminian artisans
and sailors, to whom the actual execution of the murder was to
be confided; and they were persuaded that it was planned with
the connivance of Prince Frederick Henry, who was considered
by the Arminians as the secret partisan of their sect. The 6th
of February was fixed on for the accomplishment of the deed.
The better to conceal the design, the conspirators agreed to go
unarmed to the place, where they were to find a box containing
pistols and poniards in a spot agreed upon. The death of the
Prince of Orange was not the only object intended. During the
confusion subsequent to the hoped-for success of that first blow,
the chief conspirators intended to excite simultaneous revolts
at Leyden, Gouda, and Rotterdam, in which towns the Arminians
were most numerous. A general revolution throughout Holland was
firmly reckoned on as the infallible result; and success was
enthusiastically looked for to their country's freedom and their
individual fame.

But the plot, however cautiously laid and resolutely persevered
in, was doomed to the fate of many another; and the horror of
a second murder (but with far different provocation from the
first) averted from the illustrious family to whom was still
destined the glory of consolidating the country it had formed.
Two brothers named Blansaart, and one Parthy, having procured a
considerable sum of money from the leading conspirators, repaired
to The Hague, as they asserted, for the purpose of betraying the
plot; but they were forestalled in this purpose: four of the
sailors had gone out to Ryswyk the preceding evening, and laid the
whole of the project, together with the wages of their intended
crime, before the prince; w