of the prince, negotiations were being secretly carried on between Madrid and the Hague with the view of arriving at a separate understanding, in spite of the explicit terms of the treaty of 1635.  As soon as the French became aware of what was going on, they naturally protested and did their utmost to raise every difficulty to prevent a treaty being concluded behind their backs.  The old questions which had proved such serious obstacles in the negotiations of 1607-9 were still sufficiently formidable.  But the situation was very different in 1646-7.  The Spanish monarchy was actually in extremis. Portugal and Catalonia were in revolt; a French army had crossed the Pyrenees; the treasury was exhausted.  Peace with the Dutch Republic was a necessity; and, as has been already said, the vexed question about the Indies had resolved itself rather into a Portuguese than a Spanish question.  By a recognition of the Dutch conquests in Brazil and in the Indian Ocean they were acquiring an ally without losing anything that they had not lost already by the Portuguese declaration of independence.  But, as the basis of an agreement was on the point of being reached, an event happened which caused a delay in the proceedings.

The Prince of Orange, who had been long a martyr to the gout, became in the autumn of 1646 hopelessly ill.  He lingered on in continual suffering for some months and died on March 14, 1647.  Shortly before his death he had the satisfaction of witnessing the marriage of his daughter Louise Henrietta to Frederick William of Brandenburg, afterwards known as the Great Elector.  He was not, however, destined to see peace actually concluded, though he ardently desired to do so.  Frederick Henry could, however, at any rate feel that his life-work had been thoroughly and successfully accomplished.  The services he rendered to his country during his stadholderate of twenty-two years can scarcely be over-estimated.  It is a period of extraordinary prosperity and distinction, which well deserves the title given to it by Dutch historians—­“the golden age of Frederick Henry.”  The body of the stadholder was laid, amidst universal lamentation and with almost regal pomp, besides those of his father and brother in the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft.

The removal of a personality of such authority and influence at this critical time was a dire misfortune, for there were many cross-currents of policy in the different provinces and of divergence of interests between the seafaring and merchant classes and other sections of the population.  Finally the skill and perseverance of the two leading Dutch plenipotentiaries, Pauw and Van Knuyt, and of the Spanish envoys, Penaranda and Brun, brought the negotiations to a successful issue.  The assent of all the provinces was necessary, and for a time Utrecht and Zeeland were obstinately refractory, but at length their opposition was overcome; and on January 30,1648, the treaty of Muenster was duly signed.  Great rejoicings throughout the