ABSTRACT
Friend and foe were agreed that Orange had almost the whole population in his power. In his attempts to incite the people of the provinces that had not yet risen in revolt to shake off the Spanish yoke, Orange was assisted by a number of his Brabant and Flemish colleagues who, like him, had gone into exile in 1567 to escape Alva's grasp. The Pacification was a great victory for Orange. As early as September 1576 Orange had praised the elder Hembyze as a good patriot, and had urged him to devote all his strength to the liberation of the fatherland. At the beginning of 1578 Orange could be fairly confident about the future of the Revolt. In January 1578, when Orange was raised to the leadership of the government by the States-General, he knew it was quite possible that the good fortune that had smiled on him since July 1576 would soon turn her back on him.
