to the command of the troops in the pay of the Estates of Brabant.  De Heze exerted himself to arouse popular opinion in the capital in favour of Orange and against the Spaniards.  To such an extent was he successful that he ventured, Sept. 21, to arrest the whole of the Council of State with the exception of the Spanish member Roda, who fled to Antwerp.  William now entered into direct negotiations with Aerschot and other prominent nobles of Flanders and Brabant.  He took a further step by sending, at the request of the citizens of Ghent, a strong armed force to protect the town against the Spanish garrison in the citadel.  In the absence of any lawful government, the States-General were summoned to meet at Brussels on September 22.  Deputies from Brabant, Flanders and Hainault alone attended, but in the name of the States-General they nominated Aerschot, Viglius and Sasbout as Councillors of State, and appointed Aerschot to the command of the forces, with the Count of Lalaing as his lieutenant.  They then, Sept. 27, approached the prince with proposals for forming a union of all the provinces.  As a preliminary it was agreed that the conditions, which had been put forward by William as indispensable—­namely, exclusion of all foreigners from administrative posts, dismissal of foreign troops, and religious toleration—­should be accepted.  The proposals were gladly received by William, and Ghent was chosen as the place where nine delegates from Holland and Zeeland should confer with nine delegates nominated by the States-General as representing the other provinces.  They met on October 19.  Difficulties arose on two points—­the recognition to be accorded to Don John of Austria, and the principle of non-interference with religious beliefs.  Orange himself had always been an advocate of toleration, but the representatives of Holland and Zeeland showed an obstinate disinclination to allow liberty of Catholic worship within their borders; and this attitude of theirs might, in spite of the prince’s efforts, have led to a breaking-off of the negotiations, had not an event occurred which speedily led to a sinking of differences on the only possible basis, that of mutual concession and compromise.

The citadel of Antwerp was, during this month of October, garrisoned by a body of mutinous Spanish troops under the command of Sancho d’Avila, the victor of Mook.  Champagney, the governor, had with him a body of German mercenaries under a certain Count Oberstein; and at his request, such was the threatening attitude of the Spaniards, the States-General sent Havre with a reinforcement of Walloon troops.  On Sunday, November 4, the garrison, which had been joined by other bands of mutineers, turned the guns of the citadel upon the town and sallying forth attacked the forces of Champagney.  The Germans offered but a feeble resistance.  Oberstein perished; Champagney and Havre took refuge on vessels in the river; and the Spaniards were masters of Antwerp.  The scene of massacre, lust and wholesale pillage, which followed, left a memory behind it unique in its horror even among the excesses of this blood-stained time.  The “Spanish Fury,” as it was called, spelt the ruin of what, but a short time before, had been the wealthiest and most flourishing commercial city in the world.