As for the affairs of the Netherlands, I do not doubt your Majesty is fully informed of everything. They do not, therefore, properly come within my province; still there will be no harm in sending the following particulars. After the taking of Buren[87] the persons appointed by the two parties separated without effecting anything or even concluding an armistice. The Royalists hope to finish the war by force of arms, and are therefore prosecuting it vigorously by land; they are also fitting out a fleet once more. Their chances of speedy success will be considerably increased by their obtaining a supply of small galleys, which are independent of winds and tides. By means of such boats Mondragon[88] has ferried his troops over to some islands, and intends to occupy others as opportunities occur, his design being thus to cut off Zealand from Holland, and prevent them from helping each other. However successful the Royalists may be, it will be a long business, and who can tell what may happen in the interval to create fresh difficulties for them? Of this much there is no doubt: Orange has openly declared that, if he finds himself beaten, he will, as a last resource, enter into negotiations with England or France or some other power, and place a foreign Sovereign in possession.[89] In spite of this clear declaration of his intentions, there are people who are so confident in the present state of affairs that they take no thought for the future. Three days ago, they say, a gentleman came to Paris from the Governor of the Netherlands to ask the Duke of Lorraine’s permission for the passage through his territories of some thousands of Spaniards and Italians, whom the King of Spain, it appears, is sending to the Netherlands. If this be so, there are misfortunes yet in store for that unhappy country. The King, whose natural melancholy is increased by the troubles of the times, in order to divert his thoughts has instituted a club, the members of which take turns to invite him and the whole Court. At these entertainments there is much merry-making and dancing. The people grumble at these festivities; they think it wrong for the King to give himself up to revels, when the distress of the country is so great and so wide-spread, as if the miseries of France concerned him not, or there was nothing more he could do to alleviate them. The day after your Majesty’s letter was presented to the King, Vaudemont paid a long visit to Montmorency; on leaving, he said that he had little doubt of his innocence, and would not hesitate, if bail were wanted, to be his surety. He afterwards repeated to several gentlemen his conversation with Montmorency. The latter had professed to him his entire innocence. There is no need to trouble your Majesty with an account of what passed.