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 == Secret letter to Charles II of Jan. 1672 == 

 My hair stood on end when I read "" Meanwhile, William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States-General to appoint William stadtholder"" in the section ""Conflict with republicans."" Since when did the States-General appoint stadtholders? I looked at the citation given (Troost, pp. 65-66) and indeed no such claim is made there. In the quote from the letter, William speaks of ""the States,"" which has to refer to the States of Holland, his most-persistent opponents. Troost does not make the claim that ""States-General"" is intended here. I have deleted ""-General"" which leaves the ambiguous ""States"" from the letter. No need to change or challenge the citation. 

 I have made a number of other edits (some of which regrettably ""anonymous"" because I forgot to log in) to dot a number of other 'i's. For instance, the Act of Seclusion itself was not in the secret annexe with the Treaty of Westminster (1654) (which article I have recently rewritten), but was required by it. De Witt was quite capable of drafting the text of the Act, without having it dictated to him -) I don't think the provinces suspended the stadtholderate (Friesland certainly did not and left uncle William Frederick in place), but most left the office vacant.  "