The
Prince of Orange had, by his superior intellect, gained an influence
over the Regent which great minds cannot fail to command from inferior
spirits. His retirement had opened a void in her confidence, which Count
Egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy which so naturally
subsists between timidity, weakness, and good nature. As she was as much
afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive confidence in the
adherents of the crown as she was fearful of displeasing the King by too
close an understanding with the declared leaders of the faction, a
better object for her confidence could now hardly be presented than this
very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be said that he belonged to
either of the two conflicting parties.
Up to this point the general peace had, it appears, been the sincere
wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and their
friends. They had pursued the true interest of their sovereign as much
as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been
as little at variance with the former as with the latter. Nothing had as
yet occurred to make their motives suspected or to manifest in them a
rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done in discharge of
their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of
the nation, as advisers of the King, as men of integrity and honor.
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