The King, mortified and enraged, returned to Saint Germains; yet he had the greatness to admire the heroism that had sent him back.
The French army found itself disconcerted, bewildered. Spain was arming, the Empire and Brandenburg.
Fortune turned swiftly.
The utter agony of shame, bitterness, despair, gave place to the return of hope. Even the vastness of the sacrifice could not discourage the country that breathed once more in freedom.
The English commissioners returned to Whitehall: Buckingham disgusted with politics; Arlington consoled by the rich bribes from France that had followed on the treaty of Heeswyck; Halifax full of admiration for the youthful warrior who had sprung into fame with his defiance of France.
Buckingham also had something to say of William of Orange.
“He hath not a single redeeming vice, and I like him not—but he will set the world by the ears as surely as any Tamerlane or Cæsar.”
So the English returned from their fruitless errand, and the great King was adored in Paris.
Sweden, Denmark, turned against the French. Europe was shaken from end to end; and in a few weeks, even days, the storm that had nearly overwhelmed the United Provinces became a great war whirlwind enveloping the world.