The Schiller Translations

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“Margaret possessed skilfulness and spirit, a savoury statesmanship when it comes to using freedom in ordinary situation, but she lacked the creativity in finding a new maxim in a new and extraordinary situation, or to overstep an old one with wisdom. In a country where the finest statesmanship was eloquence, she had the unfortunate idea of exercising her malicious Italian politics and sowed, through that means, a corruptive mistrust in the minds.”

“It had brought into light and developed many rare and beautiful virtues; however, it lacked the two most indispensable of all, restraint and intelligence, without which all enterprises are vain, without which all the fruits of the most forceful effort are wasted. Had its goals remained as pure as the Alliance first told people, or only remained as pure as they really were when it was founded; hence, it would have defied the arbitrarinesses which buried it prematurely, and it would also not have deserved, in an unfortunate manner, a place in History.”

F. Schiller
“The Secession of the Netherlands from Spanish Ruling”