CHARLES II.

191

The spirit of the young prince infused itselfinto his hearers. Those who lately entertainedthoughts of yielding their necks to subjectionwere now bravely determined to resist the haughtyvictor , and to defend those lath remains of theirnative foil, of which neither the irruptions ofLewis nor the inundation of waters had as yetbereaved them. Should even the ground failthem on which they might combat, they werestill resolved not to yield the generous strife;but flying to their settlements in the Indies, erecta new empire in those remote regions , anckpre-serve alive, even in the climates of slavery, thatliberty, of which Europe was become unworthy.Already they concerted measures for executingthis extraordinary resolution; and found, thatthe vessels, contained in their harbours, couldtransport above two hundred thousand inhabitantsto the East - Indies.

The combined princes, finding at last someappearance of opposition, bent all their effortsto seduce the prince of Orange, on whose valorand conduct the fate of the commonwealth en-tirely depended. The sovereignty of the proviqceof Holland was offered him, and the protectionof England and France, to insure him, as wellagainst the invasion of foreign enemies, as theinsurrection of his subjects. All proposals weregenerously rejected; and the prince declaredhis resolution to retire into Germany, andto pass his life in hunting on his lands there,rather than abandon the liberty of his country,

: ha prxv.

1672.