William II becomes involved in 1650 in a bitter quarrel with the province of Holland and the powerful regents of Amsterdam, like Bicker and his cousin Cornelis de Graeff.

William opposes the reduction in the size of the army, which will diminish his power base.

This results in William imprisoning six leading members of the provincial assembly in the castle of Loevestein.

In addition, he sends his cousin Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz with an army of ten thousand troops with the aim of taking Amsterdam by force.

On the march towards Dordrecht and Amsterdam with an army, Willem Frederik’s troops become lost in a dense fog and are discovered by the postal courier to Hamburg, who also warns Bicker’s son Gerard, the high bailiff of Muiden, to leave without delay for Amsterdam.

The mayors of Amsterdam have the civic guard called out, the bridges raised, the gates closed and the artillery dragged into position.

Although this coup de main fails and Amsterdam manages to keep the troops outside the gates, the city is sufficiently intimidated to give in to William's demands to purge his opponents from the Amsterdam city council.

The States of Holland capitulate and rescind the order to disband the troops, disavowing also the theory of provincial supremacy.