which was the last to agree, by the influence of Maurice.  Jeannin was aware that the finances of Spain were at their last gasp, and that both the archdukes and Philip III were most anxious for a respite from the ever-consuming expense of the war.  At last the long and wearisome negotiations came to an end, and the treaty concluding a truce for twelve years was signed at the Hague on April 9,1609.  The territorial status quo was recognised.  The United Provinces were treated “as free States over which the archdukes made no pretensions.”  Nothing was said about the religious difficulty nor about trade in the Indies, but in a secret treaty the King of Spain undertook not to interfere with Dutch trade, wherever carried on.  Thus access to the Indies was conceded, though to save appearances the word was not mentioned.  This result was due solely to the diplomatic tact and resource of Jeannin, who was able to announce to Henry IV that he had accomplished his task “to the satisfaction of everyone, and even of Prince Maurice.”

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CHAPTER VII

THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

One of the reasons which influenced the archdukes and the King of Spain to make large concessions in order to secure the assent of the States-General to the conclusion of a twelve years’ truce was their firm belief that the unstable political condition of the United Provinces must lead to civil discord, as soon as the relaxing of the pressure of war loosened the bonds which had, since Leicester’s departure, held together a number of separate authorities and discordant interests.  They were right in their supposition.  In order, therefore, to understand the course of events in the republic, which had been correctly recognised by the treaty not as a single state, but as a group of “free and independent States,” it is necessary to give a brief account of one of the most strangely complicated systems of government that the world has ever seen—­especially strange because no one could ever say positively where or with whom the sovereignty really resided.

Let us take into separate consideration the powers and functions of (1) the Council of State, (2) the States-General, (3) the Provincial Estates, (4) the Stadholders, (5) the Advocate (later the Raad-Pensionarius or Council-Pensionary) of Holland, (6) the Admiralty Colleges.

The Council of State was not a legislative, but an executive, body.  In the time of Leicester the Council was the executive arm of the governor-general and had large powers.  After his departure the presence of the English ambassador, who by treaty had a seat in the Council, caused the States-General gradually to absorb its powers, and to make its functions subordinate to their own, until at last its authority was confined to the administration of the affairs of war and of finance.  The right of the English representative to sit in the Council and take an active