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diff --git a/old/jm85v10.txt b/old/jm85v10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06d0315 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jm85v10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,72481 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook United Netherlands, 1584-1609, Complete +[This ebook includes eBooks #4837-4884] +#85 in our series by John Lothrop Motley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1584-1609, Complete + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4885] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 17, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1584-1609 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1584-1609, Complete + +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + + +PREFACE. + +The indulgence with which the History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic +was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed +industry. + +A single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increased +proportions which the present work has assumed over the original design. +The intimate connection which was formed between the Kingdom of England +and the Republic of Holland, immediately after the death of William the +Silent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for a +season almost identical. The years of anxiety and suspense during which +the great Spanish project for subjugating England and reconquering the +Netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest +import for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the cause +of national liberty. The deep-laid conspiracy of Spain and Rome against +human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the +great lessons of history. The crisis was long and doubtful, and the +health--perhaps the existence--of England and Holland, and, with them, of +a great part of Christendom, was on the issue. + +History has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from +superstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from the +maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the +struggle between England and Holland on the one side, and Spain and Rome +on the other, during the epoch which I have attempted to describe. It is +for this reason that I have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely +as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest +against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong +self-helping energy of two free nations combined. + +The period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, when +counted by years, for it begins in 1584 and ends with the commencement of +1590. When estimated by the significance of events and their results for +future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination +which it has received. With the year 1588 the crisis was past; England +was safe, and the new Dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. It is +my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, +will complete the present work, to carry the history of the Republic down +to the Synod of Dort. After this epoch the Thirty Years' War broke out +in Germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of +that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military +events in Holland, down to the epoch when the Thirty Years' War and the +Eighty Years' War of the Netherlands were both brought to a close by the +Peace of Westphalia. + +The materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant +that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compass +without doing injustice to the subject. It was desirable to throw full +light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of +historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the +succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly +indicated. That I may not be thought capable of abusing the reader's +confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, I would take +this opportunity of stating--although I have repeated the remark in the +foot-notes--that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak +any words save those which, on the best historical evidence, he is known +to have written or spoken. + +A brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous: +I have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and +pamphlets of Holland, Flanders, Spain, France, Germany, and England; but, +as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary +to give a list of them here. But by far my most valuable materials are +entirely unpublished ones. + +The archives of England are especially rich for the history of the +sixteenth century; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, +how largely I have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the State +Paper Office and the MS. department of the British Museum. Although both +these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be +regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much +trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now +obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to, +find different portions of the same correspondence. + +From the royal archives of Holland I have obtained many most important, +entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which I have endeavoured to +verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder +national chroniclers; and I have derived the greatest profit from the +invaluable series of Archives and Correspondence of the Orange-Nassau +Family, given to the world by M. Groen van Prinsterer. I desire to renew +to that distinguished gentleman, and to that eminent scholar M. Bakhuyzen +van den Brink, the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindness +and advice during my residence at the Hague. Nothing can exceed the +courtesy which has been extended to me in Holland, and I am deeply +grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the +history of the country have been received where that history is best +known. + +I have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the Archives of +Simancas, the originals of which are in the Archives de l'Empire in +Paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness +of M. le Comte de La Borde. + +I have, further; enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the +whole correspondence between Philip II., his ministers, and governors, +relating to the affairs of the Netherlands, from the epoch at which this +work commences down to that monarch's death. Copies of this +correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at Simancas by +order of the Belgian Government, under the superintendence of the eminent +archivist M. Gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment +of a portion of it in a French translation. The translation and +abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy +many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the +correspondence--and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch +occupied by these volumes sees the light. It was, therefore, of the +greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and +untranslated. This privilege has been accorded me, and I desire to +express my thanks to his Excellency M. van de Weyer, the distinguished +representative of Belgium at the English Court, to whose friendly offices +I am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. +A letter from him to his Excellency M. Rogier, Minister of the Interior +in Belgium--who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my +views--obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this +correspondence; and I passed several months in Brussels, occupied with +reading the whole of it from the year 1584 to the end of the reign of +Philip II. + +I was thus saved a long visit to the Archives of Simancas, for it would +be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a +thorough examination of the correspondence of the King and his ministers. +I venture to hope, therefore--whatever judgment may be passed upon my own +labours--that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for +the various materials of which it is composed are original, and--so far +as I am aware--have not been made use of by any historical writer. + +I would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to M. Gachard, +Archivist of the kingdom of Belgium, for the uniform courtesy and +kindness which I have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to +the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many +passages of Belgian and Spanish history. + +31, HERTFORD-STREET, MAY-FAIR, +November llth 1860. + + + + +THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. + +CHAPTER I. + + Murder of Orange--Extension of Protestantism--Vast Power of Spain-- + Religious Origin of the Revolt--Disposal of the Sovereignty--Courage + of the Estates of Holland--Children of William the Silent-- + Provisional Council of State--Firm attitude of Holland and Zeeland-- + Weakness of Flanders--Fall of Ghent--Adroitness of Alexander + Farnese. + +WILLIAM THE SILENT, Prince of Orange, had been murdered on the 10th of +July, 1534. It is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than +the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. For +nearly twenty years the character of the Prince had been expanding +steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased. Habit, +necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him +at last with an authority which seemed more than human. There was such +general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation +had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand. It was +natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute +and helpless paralysis. + +Whatever his technical attributes in the polity of the Netherlands--and +it would be difficult to define them with perfect accuracy--there is no +doubt that he stood there, the head of a commonwealth, in an attitude +such as had been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high +priests of history. Assassination, a regular and almost indispensable +portion of the working machinery of Philip's government, had produced, in +this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which +had been so anxiously desired. The ban of the Pope and the offered gold +of the King had accomplished a victory greater than any yet achieved by +the armies of Spain, brilliant as had been their triumphs on the blood- +stained soil of the Netherlands. + +Had that "exceeding proud, neat, and spruce" Doctor of Laws, William +Parry, who had been busying himself at about the same time with his +memorable project against the Queen of England, proved as successful as +Balthazar Gerard, the fate of Christendom would have been still darker. +Fortunately, that member of Parliament had made the discovery in time-- +not for himself, but for Elizabeth--that the "Lord was better pleased +with adverbs than nouns;" the well-known result being that the traitor +was hanged and the Sovereign saved. + +Yet such was the condition of Europe at that day. A small, dull, +elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair +and protruding under jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after day; +seldom speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty- +four, at a writing table covered with heaps of interminable despatches, +in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the very heart of +Spain. A clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from +time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others-- +all written and composed by secretaries or high functionaries--and all +to be scrawled over in the margin by the diligent old man in a big +schoolboy's hand and style--if ever schoolboy, even in the sixteenth +century, could write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly; +couriers in the court-yard arriving from or departing for the uttermost +parts of earth-Asia, Africa America, Europe-to fetch and carry these +interminable epistles which contained the irresponsible commands of this +one individual, and were freighted with the doom and destiny of countless +millions of the world's inhabitants--such was the system of government +against which the Netherlands had protested and revolted. It was a +system under which their fields had been made desolate, their cities +burned and pillaged, their men hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked to +pieces; their women subjected to every outrage; and to put an end to +which they had been devoting their treasure and their blood for nearly +the length of one generation. It was a system, too, which, among other +results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of +Europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most +eminent sovereign in the world. The industrious Philip, safe and +tranquil in the depths of the Escorial, saying his prayers three times +a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the +body of William the Silent at his dining-room door in Delft. "Had it +only been done two years earlier," observed the patient old man, "much +trouble might have been spared me; but 'tis better late than never." Sir +Edward Stafford, English envoy in Paris, wrote to his government--so soon +as the news of the murder reached him--that, according to his information +out of the Spanish minister's own house, "the same practice that had been +executed upon the Prince of Orange, there were practisers more than two +or three about to execute upon her Majesty, and that within two months." +Without vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelligence, he +implored the Queen to be more upon her guard than ever. "For there is no +doubt," said the envoy, "that she is a chief mark to shoot at; and seeing +that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him +to kill the Prince of Orange, in the midst of Holland, and that there was +a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that +anything may be done. Therefore God preserve her Majesty." + +Invisible as the Grand Lama of Thibet, clothed with power as extensive +and absolute as had ever been wielded by the most imperial Caesar, Philip +the Prudent, as he grew older and feebler in mind and body seemed to +become more gluttonous of work, more ambitious to extend his sceptre over +lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his +determination to annihilate that monster Protestantism, which it had been +the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every +human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artizan, that defended +heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire. + +If this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had, been wielded or +performed with a beneficent intention; if the man who seriously regarded +himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants +thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited +from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an +intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little +longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice. + +But there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another +remote land, who, in his capacity of representative of Saint Peter, +claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth--and had been willing +to bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. Philip +stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all America, the East Indies, the +whole Spanish Peninsula, the better portion of Italy, the seventeen +Netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated +annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of France, of England, +and Ireland. The Holy League, maintained by the sword of Guise, the +pope's ban, Spanish ducats, Italian condottieri, and German mercenaries, +was to exterminate heresy and establish the Spanish dominion in France. +The same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was +to substitute for English protestantism and England's queen the Roman +Catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. "The holy league," said +Duplessis-Mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, "has destined +us all to the name sacrifice. The ambition of the Spaniard, which has +overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible." + +The Netherland revolt had therefore assumed world-wide proportions. +Had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the +importance of the struggle would have been more local and temporary. But +the period was one in which the geographical land-marks of countries were +almost removed. The dividing-line ran through every state, city, and +almost every family. There was a country which believed in the absolute +power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his Maker, +and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. There was +another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, +theoretically or practically, a liberty of conscience. The territory of +these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants +of each, whether resident in France, Germany, England, or Flanders, +recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than +those of race or language. It was not entirely a question of doctrine or +dogma. A large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated +delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its +determination, once for all, to have done with it. The transition to +freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be +taken. To establish the principle of toleration for all religions was +an inevitable consequence of the Dutch revolt; although thus far, perhaps +only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that +doctrine and had died in its defence. But a great true thought never +dies--though long buried in the earth--and the day was to come, after +long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and +religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound +like an insult and an absurdity. + +A vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as Philip +II. found himself, at this great dividing point in modern history. To +judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of +view, is weak and illogical. History judges the man according to its +point of view. It condemns or applauds the point of view itself. The +point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. Nor +is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a +time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. The age of +Philip II. was also the age of William of Orange and his four brethren, +of Sainte Aldegonde, of Olden-Barneveldt, of Duplessis-Mornay, La Noue, +Coligny, of Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, Walsingham, Sidney, Raleigh, +Queen Elizabeth, of Michael Montaigne, and William Shakspeare. It was +not an age of blindness, but of glorious light. If the man whom the +Maker of the Universe had permitted to be born to such boundless +functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he might grope along his +great pathway of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he must be +judged. The King perhaps firmly believed that the heretics of the +Netherlands, of France, or of England, could escape eternal perdition +only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore; +perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. +But he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, +throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay +over the bodies of those heretics. Three centuries have nearly past +since this memorable epoch; and the world knows the fate of the states +which accepted the dogma which it was Philip's life-work to enforce, and +of those who protested against the system. The Spanish and Italian +Peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the +career of France, Prussia, the Dutch Commonwealth, the British Empire, +the Transatlantic Republic. + +Yet the contest between those Seven meagre Provinces upon the sand-banks +of the North Sea, and--the great Spanish Empire, seemed at the moment +with which we are now occupied a sufficiently desperate one. Throw a +glance upon the map of Europe. Look at the broad magnificent Spanish +Peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of latitude and ten of +longitude, commanding the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, with a genial +climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of Africa, and protected +from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and +temperate breezes from either ocean. A generous southern territory, +flowing with wine and oil, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful +nature-splendid cities--the new and daily expanding Madrid, rich in the +trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world--Cadiz, as +populous at that day as London, seated by the straits where the ancient +and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two +oceans--Granada, the ancient wealthy seat of the fallen Moors--Toledo, +Valladolid, and Lisbon, chief city of the recently-conquered kingdom of +Portugal, counting, with its suburbs, a larger population than any city, +excepting Paris, in Europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the +capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the Indies--these +were some of the treasures of Spain herself. But she possessed Sicily +also, the better portion of Italy, and important dependencies in Africa, +while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her +aggrandizement. The world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings +from East to West, only to bear the fortunate Spanish Empire to the most +dizzy heights of wealth and power. The most accomplished generals, the +most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best- +equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were +at the absolute command of the sovereign. Such was Spain. + +Turn now to the north-western corner of Europe. A morsel of territory, +attached by a slight sand-hook to the continent, and half-submerged by +the stormy waters of the German Ocean--this was Holland. A rude climate, +with long, dark, rigorous, winters, and brief summers, a territory, the +mere wash of three great rivers, which had fertilized happier portions of +Europe only to desolate and overwhelm this less-favoured land, a soil so +ungrateful, that if the whole of its four hundred thousand acres of +arable land had been sowed with grain, it could not feed the labourers +alone, and a population largely estimated at one million of souls--these +were the characteristics of the Province which already had begun to give +its name to the new commonwealth. The isles of Zeeland--entangled in the +coils of deep slow-moving rivers, or combating the ocean without--and the +ancient episcopate of Utrecht, formed the only other Provinces that had +quite shaken off the foreign yoke. In Friesland, the important city of +Groningen was still held for the King, while Bois-le-Duc, Zutphen, +besides other places in Gelderland and North Brabant, also in possession +of the royalists, made the position of those provinces precarious. + +The limit of the Spanish or "obedient" Provinces, on the one hand, and of +the United Provinces on the other, cannot, therefore, be briefly and +distinctly stated. The memorable treason--or, as it was called, the +"reconciliation" of the Walloon Provinces in the year 1583-4--had placed +the Provinces of Hainault, Arthois, Douay, with the flourishing cities +Arran, Valenciennes, Lille, Tournay, and others--all Celtic Flanders, in +short-in the grasp of Spain. Cambray was still held by the French +governor, Seigneur de Balagny, who had taken advantage of the Duke of +Anjou's treachery to the States, to establish himself in an unrecognized +but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of France and Spain; +while East Flanders and South Brabant still remained a disputed +territory, and the immediate field of contest. With these limitations, +it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the United +States was that of the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands, while the +obedient Provinces occupied what is now the territory of Belgium. + +Such, then, were the combatants in the great eighty years' war for civil +and religious liberty; sixteen of which had now passed away. On the one +side, one of the most powerful and, populous world-empires of history, +then in the zenith of its prosperity; on the other hand, a slender group +of cities, governed by merchants and artisans, and planted precariously +upon a meagre, unstable soil. A million and a half of souls against the +autocrat of a third part of the known world. The contest seemed as +desperate as the cause was certainly sacred; but it had ceased to be a +local contest. For the history which is to occupy us in these volumes is +not exclusively the history of Holland. It is the story of the great +combat between despotism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of +rational human liberty. The tragedy opened in the Netherlands, and its +main scenes were long enacted there; but as the ambition of Spain +expanded, and as the resistance to the principle which she represented +became more general, other nations were, of necessity, involved in the +struggle. There came to be one country, the citizens of which were the +Leaguers; and another country, whose inhabitants were Protestants. And +in this lay the distinction between freedom and absolutism. The religious +question swallowed all the others. There was never a period in the early +history of the Dutch revolt when the Provinces would not have returned to +their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of +conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in +Philip II.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to +listen to such a claim. The quarrel was in its nature irreconcilable and +eternal as the warfare between wrong and right; and the establishment of +a comparative civil liberty in Europe and America was the result of the +religious war of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The struggle +lasted eighty years, but the prize was worth the contest. + +The object of the war between the Netherlands and Spain was not, +therefore, primarily, a rebellion against established authority for the +maintenance of civil rights. To preserve these rights was secondary. +The first cause was religion. The Provinces had been fighting for years +against the Inquisition. Had they not taken arms, the Inquisition would +have been established in the Netherlands, and very probably in England, +and England might have become in its turn a Province of the Spanish +Empire. + +The death of William the Silent produced a sudden change in the political +arrangements of the liberated Netherlands. During the year 1583, the +United Provinces had elected Francis, Duke of Anjou, to be Duke of +Brabant and sovereign of the whole country, under certain constitutional +provisions enumerated in articles of solemn compact. That compact had +been grossly violated. The Duke had made a treacherous attempt to +possess himself of absolute power and to seize several important cities. +He had been signally defeated in Antwerp, and obliged to leave the +country, covered with ignominy. The States had then consulted William of +Orange as to the course to be taken in the emergency. The Prince had +told them that their choice was triple. They might reconcile themselves +with Spain, and abandon the contest for religious liberty which they had +so long been waging; they might reconcile themselves with Anjou, +notwithstanding that he had so utterly forfeited all claims to their +consideration; or they might fight the matter out with Spain single- +handed. The last course was, in his opinion, the most eligible one, and +he was ready to sacrifice his life to its furtherance. It was, however, +indispensable, should that policy be adopted, that much larger supplies +should be voted than had hitherto been raised, and, in general, that a +much more extensive and elevated spirit of patriotism should manifest +itself than had hitherto been displayed. + +It was, on the whole, decided to make a second arrangement with the Duke +of Anjou, Queen Elizabeth warmly urging that course. At the same time, +however, that articles of agreement were drawn up for the installation of +Anjou as sovereign of the United Provinces, the Prince had himself +consented to accept the title of Count of Holland, under an ample +constitutional charter, dictated by his own lips. Neither Anjou nor +Orange lived to be inaugurated into the offices thus bestowed upon them. +The Duke died at Chateau-Thierry on the 10th June, and the Prince was +assassinated a month later at Delft. + +What now was the political position of the United Provinces at this +juncture? The sovereignty which had been held by the Estates, ready to +be conferred respectively upon Anjou and Orange, remained in the hands of +the Estates. There was no opposition to this theory. No more enlarged +view of the social compact had yet been taken. The people, as such, +claimed no sovereignty. Had any champion claimed it for them they would +hardly have understood him. The nation dealt with facts. After abjuring +Philip in 1581--an act which had been accomplished by the Estates--the +same Estates in general assembly had exercised sovereign power, and had +twice disposed of that sovereign power by electing a hereditary ruler. +Their right and their power to do this had been disputed by none, save by +the deposed monarch in Spain. Having the sovereignty to dispose of, it +seemed logical that the Estates might keep it, if so inclined. They did +keep it, but only in trust. While Orange lived, he might often have been +elected sovereign of all the Provinces, could he have been induced to +consent. After his death, the Estates retained, ex necessitate, the +sovereignty; and it will soon be related what they intended to do with +it. One thing is very certain, that neither Orange, while he lived, nor +the Estates, after his death, were actuated in their policy by personal +ambition. It will be seen that the first object of the Estates was to +dispossess themselves of the sovereignty which had again fallen into +their hands. + +What were the Estates? Without, at the present moment, any farther +inquiries into that constitutional system which had been long +consolidating itself, and was destined to exist upon a firmer basis for +centuries longer, it will be sufficient to observe, that the great +characteristic of the Netherland government was the municipality. + +Each Province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by +a board of magistrates, varying in number from twenty to forty. This +college, called the Vroedschap (Assembly of Sages), consisted of the most +notable citizens, and was a self-electing body--a close corporation--the +members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. Whenever +vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose +new members--sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or +triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered +to the stadtholder of the province. This functionary was appointed by +the Count, as he was called, whether Duke of Bavaria or of Burgundy, +Emperor, or King. After the abjuration of Philip, the governors were +appointed by the Estates of each Province. + +The Sage-Men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose +functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and +sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. This was +the popular branch of the Estates. But, besides this body of +representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large +possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of +Europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and +had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having +the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial +and in the general assemblies. + +Regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities +into the administration of public affairs, and for organising the most +practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the Netherland +constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. The +officeholders, it is obvious, were not greedy for the spoils of office; +for it was, unfortunately, often the case that their necessary expenses +in the service of the state were not defrayed. The people raised +enormous contributions for carrying on the war; but they could not afford +to be extremely generous to their faithful servants. + +Thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of William the +Silent. The gloom produced by that event was tragical. Never in human +history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any +individual. The despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was +soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. It seemed, after they had laid +their hero in the tomb, as though his spirit still hovered above the +nation which he had loved so well, and was inspiring it with a portion of +his own energy and wisdom. + +Even on the very day of the murder, the Estates of Holland, then sitting +at Delft, passed a resolution "to maintain the good cause, with God's +help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood." This decree was +communicated to Admiral de Warmont, to Count Hohenlo, to William Lewis of +Nassau, and to other commanders by land and sea. At the same time, the +sixteen members--for no greater number happened to be present at the +session--addressed letters to their absent colleagues, informing them +of the calamity which had befallen them, summoning them at once to +conference, and urging an immediate convocation of the Estates of all +the Provinces in General Assembly. They also addressed strong letters of +encouragement, mingled with manly condolence, upon the common affliction, +to prominent military and naval commanders and civil functionaries, +begging them to "bear themselves manfully and valiantly, without +faltering in the least on account of the great misfortune which had +occurred, or allowing themselves to be seduced by any one from the union +of the States." Among these sixteen were Van Zuylen, Van Nyvelt, the +Seigneur de Warmont, the Advocate of Holland, Paul Buys, Joost de Menin, +and John van Olden-Barneveldt. A noble example was thus set at once to +their fellow citizens by these their representatives--a manful step taken +forward in the path where Orange had so long been leading. + +The next movement, after the last solemn obsequies had been rendered to +the Prince was to provide for the immediate wants of his family. For the +man who had gone into the revolt with almost royal revenues, left his +estate so embarrassed that his carpets, tapestries, household linen-- +nay, even his silver spoons, and the very clothes of his wardrobe were +disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. He left eleven +children--a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by +Anna of Saxony, six daughters by Charlotte of Bourbon, and an infant, +Frederic Henry, born six months before his death. The eldest son, Philip +William, had been a captive in Spain for seventeen years, having been +kidnapped from school, in Leyden, in the year 1567. He had already +become so thoroughly Hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the +King and the Jesuits, that even his face had lost all resemblance to the +type of his heroic family, and had acquired a sinister, gloomy, +forbidding expression, most painful to contemplate. All of good that +he had retained was a reverence for his father's name--a sentiment which +he had manifested to an extravagant extent on a memorable occasion in +Madrid, by throwing out of window, and killing on the spot a Spanish +officer who had dared to mention the great Prince with insult. + +The next son was Maurice, then seventeen years of age, a handsome youth, +with dark blue eyes, well-chiselled features, and full red lips, who had +already manifested a courage and concentration of character beyond his +years. The son of William the Silent, the grandson of Maurice of Saxony, +whom he resembled in visage and character, he was summoned by every drop +of blood in his veins to do life-long battle with the spirit of Spanish +absolutism, and he was already girding himself for his life's work. He +assumed at once for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling +springing from its root. His motto, "Tandem fit surculus arbor," "the +twig shall yet become a tree"--was to be nobly justified by his career. + +The remaining son, then a six months' child, was also destined to high +fortunes, and to win an enduring name in his country's history. For the +present he remained with his mother, the noble Louisa de Coligny, who had +thus seen, at long intervals, her father and two husbands fall victims to +the Spanish policy; for it is as certain that Philip knew beforehand, and +testified his approbation of, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, as that he +was the murderer of Orange. + +The Estates of Holland implored the widowed Princess to remain in their +territority, settling a liberal allowance upon herself and her child, and +she fixed her residence at Leyden. + +But her position was most melancholy. Married in youth to the Seigneur +de Teligny, a young noble of distinguished qualities, she had soon become +both a widow and an orphan in the dread night of St. Bartholomew. She +had made her own escape to Switzerland; and ten years afterwards she had +united herself in marriage with the Prince of Orange. At the age of +thirty-two, she now found herself desolate and wretched in a foreign +land, where she had never felt thoroughly at home. The widow and +children of William the Silent were almost without the necessaries of +life. "I hardly know," wrote the Princess to her brother-in-law, Count +John, "how the children and I are to maintain ourselves according to the +honour of the house. May God provide for us in his bounty, and certainly +we have much need of it." Accustomed to the more luxurious civilisation +of France, she had been amused rather than annoyed, when, on her first +arrival in Holland for her nuptials, she found herself making the journey +from Rotterdam to Delft in an open cart without springs, instead of the +well-balanced coaches to which she had been used, arriving, as might have +been expected, "much bruised and shaken." Such had become the primitive +simplicity of William the Silent's household. But on his death, in +embarrassed circumstances, it was still more straightened. She had no +cause either to love Leyden, for, after the assassination of her husband, +a brutal preacher, Hakkius by name, had seized that opportunity for +denouncing the French marriage, and the sumptuous christening of the +infant in January, as the deeds which had provoked the wrath of God and +righteous chastisement. To remain there in her widowhood, with that six +months' child, "sole pledge of her dead lord, her consolation and only +pleasure," as she pathetically expressed herself, was sufficiently +painful, and she had been inclined to fix her residence in Flushing, in +the edifice which had belonged to her husband, as Marquis of Vere. She +had been persuaded, however, to remain in Holland, although "complaining, +at first, somewhat of the unkindness of the people." + +A small well-formed woman, with delicate features, exquisite complexion, +and very beautiful dark eyes, that seemed in after-years, as they looked +from beneath her coif, to be dim with unshed tears; with remarkable +powers of mind, angelic sweetness of disposition, a winning manner, and a +gentle voice, Louisa de Coligny became soon dear to the rough Hollanders, +and was ever a disinterested and valuable monitress both to her own child +and to his elder brother Maurice. + +Very soon afterwards the States General established a State Council, +as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the +Provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, and such parts of +Flanders and Brabant as still remained in the Union. At the head of this +body was placed young Maurice, who accepted the responsible position, +after three days' deliberation. The young man had been completing his +education, with a liberal allowance from Holland and Zeeland, at the +University of Leyden; and such had been their tender care for the child +of so many hopes, that the Estates had given particular and solemn +warning, by resolution, to his governor during the previous summer, +on no account to allow him to approach the sea-shore, lest he should be +kidnapped by the Prince of Parma, who had then some war-vessels cruising +on the coast. + +The salary of Maurice was now fixed at thirty thousand florins a year, +while each of the councillors was allowed fifteen hundred annually, out +of which stipend he was to support at least one servant; without making +any claim for travelling or other incidental expenses. + +The Council consisted of three members from Brabant, two from Flanders, +four from Holland, three from Zeeland, two from Utrecht, one from +Mechlin, and three from Friesland--eighteen in all. They were empowered +and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and +military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys +voted by the States, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, +and to see that all troops in service of the Provinces made oath of +fidelity to the Union. Diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, +the treaty-making power, were not entrusted to the Council, without the +knowledge and consent of the States General, which body was to be +convoked twice a year by the State Council. + +Thus the Provinces in the hour of danger and darkness were true to +themselves, and were far from giving way to a despondency which under +the circumstances would not have been unnatural. + +For the waves of bitterness were rolling far and wide around them. A +medal, struck in Holland at this period, represented a dismasted hulk +reeling through the tempest. The motto, "incertum quo fate ferent" (who +knows whither fate is sweeping her?) expressed most vividly the ship +wrecked condition of the country. Alexander of Parma, the most +accomplished general and one of the most adroit statesmen of the age, +was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the +rebellious Provinces. Had he been better provided with men and money, +the cause of the States might have seemed hopeless. He addressed many +letters to the States General, to the magistracies of various cities, and +to individuals, affecting to consider that with the death of Orange had +died all authority, as well as all motive for continuing the contest with +Spain. He offered easy terms of reconciliation with the discarded +monarch--always reserving, however, as a matter of course, the religious +question--for it was as well known to the States as to Parma that there +was no hope of Philip making concessions upon that important point. + +In Holland and Zeeland the Prince's blandishments were of no avail. His +letters received in various towns of those Provinces, offered, said one +who saw them, "almost every thing they would have or demand, even till +they should repent." But the bait was not taken. Individuals and +municipalities were alike stanch, remembering well that faith was not to +be kept with heretics. The example was followed by the Estates of other +Provinces, and all sent in to the General Assembly, soon in session at +Delft, "their absolute and irrevocable authority to their deputies to +stand to that which they, the said States General, should dispose of as +to their persons, goods and country; a resolution and agreement which +never concurred before among them, to this day, in what age or government +soever." + +It was decreed that no motion of agreement "with the tyrant of Spain" +should be entertained either publicly or privately, "under pain to be +reputed ill patriots." It was also enacted in the city of Dort that any +man that brought letter or message from the enemy to any private person +"should be forthwith hanged." This was expeditious and business-like. +The same city likewise took the lead in recording its determination by +public act, and proclaiming it by sound of trumpet, "to live and die in +the cause now undertaken." + +In Flanders and Brabant the spirit was less noble. Those Provinces were +nearly lost already. Bruges seconded Parma's efforts to induce its +sister-city Ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without +a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little +commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. +"The ducats of Spain, Madam, are trotting about in such fashion," wrote +envoy Des Pruneaux to Catherine de Medici, "that they have vanquished a +great quantity of courages. Your Majesties, too, must employ money if +you wish to advance one step." No man knew better than Parma how to +employ such golden rhetoric to win back a wavering rebel to his loyalty, +but he was not always provided with a sufficient store of those practical +arguments. + +He was, moreover, not strong in the field, although he was far superior +to the States at this contingency. He had, besides his garrisons, +something above 18,000 men. The Provinces had hardly 3000 foot and 2500 +horse, and these were mostly lying in the neighbourhood of Zutphen. +Alexander was threatening at the same time Ghent, Dendermonde, Mechlin, +Brussels, and Antwerp. These five powerful cities lie in a narrow +circle, at distances varying from six miles to thirty, and are, as it +were, strung together upon the Scheldt, by which river, or its tributary, +the Senne, they are all threaded. It would have been impossible for +Parma, with 100,000 men at his back, to undertake a regular and +simultaneous siege of these important places. His purpose was to isolate +them from each other and from the rest of the country, by obtaining the +control of the great river, and so to reduce them by famine. The scheme +was a masterly one, but even the consummate ability of Farnese would have +proved inadequate to the undertaking, had not the preliminary +assassination of Orange made the task comparatively easy. Treason, +faint-heartedness, jealousy, were the fatal allies that the Governor- +General had reckoned upon, and with reason, in the council-rooms of these +cities. The terms he offered were liberal. Pardon, permission for +soldiers to retreat with technical honour, liberty to choose between +apostacy to the reformed religion or exile, with a period of two years +granted to the conscientious for the winding up of their affairs; these +were the conditions, which seemed flattering, now that the well-known +voice which had so often silenced the Flemish palterers and intriguers +was for ever hushed. + +Upon the 17th August (1584) Dendermonde surrendered, and no lives were +taken save those of two preachers, one of whom was hanged, while the +other was drowned. Upon the 7th September Vilvoorde capitulated, by +which event the water-communication between Brussels and Antwerp was cut +off. Ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with Parma likewise; +and upon the 17th September made its reconciliation with the King. The +surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the +cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. +It was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning, +although the thread had been abruptly, and, as it was hoped, +conclusively, severed several months before. During the early part of +the year, after the reconciliation of Bruges with the King--an event +brought about by the duplicity and adroitness of Prince Chimay--the same +machinery had been diligently and almost successfully employed to produce +a like result in Ghent. Champagny, brother of the famous Cardinal +Granvelle, had been under arrest for six years in that city. His +imprisonment was not a strict one however; and he avenged himself for +what he considered very unjust treatment at the hands of the patriots, +by completely abandoning a cause which he had once begun to favour. +A man of singular ability, courage, and energy, distinguished both for +military and diplomatic services, he was a formidable enemy to the party +from which he was now for ever estranged. As early as April of this +year, secret emissaries of Parma, dealing with Champagny in his nominal +prison, and with the disaffected burghers at large, had been on the point +of effecting an arrangement with the royal governor. The negotiation had +been suddenly brought to a close by the discovery of a flagrant attempt +by Imbue, one of the secret adherents of the King, to sell the city of +Dendermonde, of which he was governor, to Parma. For this crime he had +been brought to Ghent for trial, and then publicly beheaded. The +incident came in aid of the eloquence of Orange, who, up to the latest +moment of his life, had been most urgent in his appeals to the patriotic +hearts of Ghent, not to abandon the great cause of the union and of +liberty. William the Silent knew full well, that after the withdrawal of +the great keystone-city of Ghent, the chasm between the Celtic-Catholic +and the Flemish-Calvinist Netherlands could hardly be bridged again. +Orange was now dead. The negotiations with France, too, on which those +of the Ghenters who still held true to the national cause had fastened +their hopes, had previously been brought to a stand-still by the death of +Anjou; and Champagny, notwithstanding the disaster to Imbize, became more +active than ever. A private agent, whom the municipal government had +despatched to the French court for assistance, was not more successful +than his character and course of conduct would have seemed to warrant; +for during his residence in Paris, he had been always drunk, and +generally abusive. This was not good diplomacy, particularly on the part +of an agent from a weak municipality to a haughty and most undecided +government. + +"They found at this court," wrote Stafford to Walsingham, "great fault +with his manner of dealing that was sent from Gaunt. He was scarce sober +from one end of the week to the other, and stood so much on his tiptoes +to have present answer within three days, or else that they of Gaunt +could tell where to bestow themselves. They sent him away after keeping +him three weeks, and he went off in great dudgeon, swearing by yea and +nay that he will make report thereafter." + +Accordingly, they of Ghent did bestow themselves very soon thereafter +upon the King of Spain. The terms were considered liberal, but there +was, of course, no thought of conceding the great object for which the +patriots were contending--religious liberty. The municipal privileges-- +such as they might prove to be worth under the interpretation of a royal +governor and beneath the guns of a citadel filled with Spanish troops-- +were to be guaranteed; those of the inhabitants who did not choose to go +to mass were allowed two years to wind up their affairs before going into +perpetual exile, provided they behaved themselves "without scandal;" +while on the other hand, the King's authority as Count of Flanders was to +be fully recognised, and all the dispossessed monks and abbots to be +restored to their property. + +Accordingly, Champagny was rewarded for his exertions by being released +from prison and receiving the appointment of governor of the city: and, +after a very brief interval, about one-half of the population, the most +enterprising of its merchants and manufacturers, the most industrious of +its artizans, emigrated to Holland and Zeeland. The noble city of Ghent +--then as large as Paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified +with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during +the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and +meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year--was ignominiously +surrendered. The population, already a very reduced and slender one +for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been +estimated at 70,000. The number of houses was 35,000, so that as the +inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one +individual to each house. On the other hand, the twenty-five monasteries +and convents in the town were repeopled--with how much advantage as a +set-off to the thousands of spinners and weavers who had wandered away, +and who in the flourishing days of Ghent had sent gangs of workmen +through the streets "whose tramp was like that of an army"--may be +sufficiently estimated by the result. + +The fall of Brussels was deferred till March, and that of Mechlin (19th +July, 1585) and of Antwerp (19th August, 1585), till Midsummer of the +following year; but, the surrender of Ghent (10th March 1585) +foreshadowed the fate of Flanders and Brabant. Ostend and Sluys, +however, were still in the hands of the patriots, and with them the +control of the whole Flemish coast. The command of the sea was destined +to remain for centuries with the new republic. + +The Prince of Parma, thus encouraged by the great success of his +intrigues, was determined to achieve still greater triumphs with his +arms, and steadily proceeded with his large design of closing the +Scheldt--and bringing about the fall of Antwerp. The details of that +siege-one of the most brilliant military operations of the age and one of +the most memorable in its results--will be given, as a connected whole, +in a subsequent series of chapters. For the present, it will be better +for the reader who wishes a clear view of European politics at this +epoch, and of the position of the Netherlands, to give his attention to +the web of diplomatic negotiation and court-intrigue which had been +slowly spreading over the leading states of Christendom, and in which the +fate of the world was involved. If diplomatic adroitness consists mainly +in the power to deceive, never were more adroit diplomatists than those +of the sixteenth century. It would, however, be absurd to deny them a +various range of abilities; and the history of no other age can show more +subtle, comprehensive, indefatigable--but, it must also be added, often +unscrupulous--intellects engaged in the great game of politics in which +the highest interests of millions were the stakes, than were those of +several leading minds in England, France, Germany, and Spain. With such +statesmen the burgher-diplomatists of the new-born commonwealth had to +measure themselves; and the result was to show whether or not they could +hold their own in the cabinet as on the field, + +For the present, however, the new state was unconscious of its latent +importance, The new-risen republic remained for a season nebulous, and +ready to unsphere itself so soon as the relative attraction of other +great powers should determine its absorption. By the death of Anjou and +of Orange the United Netherlands had became a sovereign state, an +independent republic; but they stood with that sovereignty in their +hands, offering it alternately, not to the highest bidder, but to the +power that would be willing to accept their allegiance, on the sole +condition of assisting them in the maintenance of their religious +freedom. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Relations of the Republic to France--Queen's Severity towards + Catholics and Calvinists--Relative Positions of England and France-- + Timidity of Germany--Apathy of Protestant Germany--Indignation of + the Netherlanders--Henry III. of France--The King and his Minions-- + Henry of Guise--Henry of Navarre--Power of France--Embassy of the + States to France--Ignominious position of the Envoys--Views of the + French Huguenots--Efforts to procure Annexation--Success of Des + Pruneaux. + +The Prince of Orange had always favoured a French policy. He had ever +felt a stronger reliance upon the support of France than upon that of any +other power. This was not unreasonable, and so long as he lived, the +tendency of the Netherlands had been in that direction. It had never +been the wish of England to acquire the sovereignty of the Provinces. In +France on the contrary, the Queen Dowager, Catharine de' Medici had +always coveted that sovereignty for her darling Francis of Alencon; and +the design had been favoured, so far as any policy could be favoured, by +the impotent monarch who occupied the French throne. + +The religion of the United Netherlands was Calvinistic. There were also +many Anabaptists in the country. The Queen of England hated Anabaptists, +Calvinists, and other sectarians, and banished them from her realms on +pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. As firmly opposed as +was her father to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, she felt much of +the paternal reluctance to accept the spirit of the Reformation. Henry +Tudor hanged the men who believed in the Pope, and burnt alive those who +disbelieved in transubstantiation, auricular confession, and the other +'Six Articles.' His daughter, whatever her secret religious convictions, +was stanch in her resistance to Rome, and too enlightened a monarch not +to see wherein the greatness and glory of England were to be found; but +she had no thought of tolerating liberty of conscience. All opposed to +the Church of England, whether Papists or Puritans, were denounced as +heretics, and as such imprisoned or banished. "To allow churches with +contrary rites and ceremonies," said Elizabeth, "were nothing else but to +sow religion out of religion, to distract good men's minds, to cherish +factious men's humours, to disturb religion and commonwealth, and mingle +divine and human things; which were a thing in deed evil, in example +worst of all; to our own subjects hurtful, and to themselves--to whom it +is granted, neither greatly commodious, nor yet at all safe."--[Camden] +The words were addressed, it is true, to Papists, but there is very +little doubt that Anabaptists or any other heretics would have received a +similar reply, had they, too, ventured to demand the right of public +worship. It may even be said that the Romanists in the earlier days of +Elizabeth's reign fared better than the Calvinists. The Queen neither +banished nor imprisoned the Catholics. She did not enter their houses to +disturb their private religious ceremonies, or to inquire into their +consciences. This was milder treatment than the burning alive, burying +alive, hanging, and drowning, which had been dealt out to the English and +the Netherland heretics by Philip and by Mary, but it was not the spirit +which William the Silent had been wont to manifest in his measures +towards Anabaptists and Papists alike. Moreover, the Prince could hardly +forget that of the nine thousand four hundred Catholic ecclesiastics who +held benefices at the death of Queen Mary, all had renounced the Pope on +the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and acknowledged her as the head of the +church, saving only one hundred and eighty-nine individuals. In the +hearts of the nine thousand two hundred and eleven others, it might be +thought perhaps that some tenderness for the religion from which they had +so suddenly been converted, might linger, while it could hardly be hoped +that they would seek to inculcate in the minds of their flocks or of +their sovereign any connivance with the doctrines of Geneva. + +When, at a later period, the plotting of Catholics, suborned by the Pope +and Philip, against the throne and person of the Queen, made more +rigorous measures necessary; when it was thought indispensable to execute +as traitors those Roman seedlings--seminary priests and their disciples-- +who went about preaching to the Queen's subjects the duty of carrying out +the bull by which the Bishop of Rome had deposed and excommunicated their +sovereign, and that "it was a meritorious act to kill such princes as +were excommunicate," even then, the men who preached and practised +treason and murder experienced no severer treatment than that which other +"heretics" had met with at the Queen's hands. Jesuits and Popish priests +were, by Act of Parliament, ordered to depart the realm within forty +days. Those who should afterwards return to the kingdom were to be held +guilty of high treason. Students in the foreign seminaries were +commanded to return within six months and recant, or be held guilty of +high treason. Parents and guardians supplying money to such students +abroad were to incur the penalty of a preamunire--perpetual exile, +namely, with loss of all their goods. + +Many seminary priests and others were annually executed in England under +these laws, throughout the Queen's reign, but nominally at least they +were hanged not as Papists, but as traitors; not because they taught +transubstantiation, ecclesiastical celibacy, auricular confession, or +even Papal supremacy, but because they taught treason and murder--because +they preached the necessity of killing the Queen. It was not so easy, +however, to defend or even comprehend the banishment and imprisonment of +those who without conspiring against the Queen's life or throne, desired +to see the Church of England reformed according to the Church of Geneva. +Yet there is no doubt that many sectaries experienced much inhuman +treatment for such delinquency, both in the early and the later years of +Elizabeth's reign. + +There was another consideration, which had its due weight in this +balance, and that was the respective succession to the throne in the two +kingdoms of France and England. Mary Stuart, the Catholic, the niece of +the Guises, emblem and exponent of all that was most Roman in Europe, the +sworn friend of Philip, the mortal foe to all heresy, was the legitimate +successor to Elizabeth. Although that sovereign had ever refused to +recognize that claim; holding that to confirm Mary in the succession was +to "lay her own winding sheet before her eyes, yea, to make her, own +grave, while she liveth and looketh on;" and although the unfortunate +claimant of two thrones was a prisoner in her enemy's hands, yet, so long +as she lived, there was little security for Protestantism, even in +Elizabeth's lifetime, and less still in case of her sudden death. On the +other hand, not only were the various politico-religious forces of France +kept in equilibrium by their action upon each other--so that it was +reasonable to believe that the House of Valois, however Catholic itself, +would be always compelled by the fast-expanding strength of French +Calvinism, to observe faithfully a compact to tolerate the Netherland +churches--but, upon the death of Henry III. the crown would be +legitimately placed upon the head of the great champion and chief of the +Huguenots, Henry of Navarre. + +It was not unnatural, therefore, that the Prince of Orange, a Calvinist +himself, should expect more sympathy with the Netherland reformers in +France than in England. A large proportion of the population of that +kingdom, including an influential part of the nobility, was of the +Huguenot persuasion, and the religious peace, established by royal edict, +had endured so long, that the reformers of France and the Netherlands had +begun to believe in the royal clemency, and to confide in the royal word. +Orange did not live to see the actual formation of the Holy League, and +could only guess at its secrets. + +Moreover, it should be remembered that France at that day was a more +formidable state than England, a more dangerous enemy, and, as it was +believed, a more efficient protector. The England of the period, +glorious as it was for its own and all future ages, was, not the great +British Empire of to-day. On the contrary, it was what would now be +considered, statistically speaking, a rather petty power. The England of +Elizabeth, Walsingham, Burghley, Drake, and Raleigh, of Spenser and +Shakspeare, hardly numbered a larger population than now dwells in its +capital and immediate suburbs. It had neither standing army nor +considerable royal navy. It was full of conspirators, daring and +unscrupulous, loyal to none save to Mary of Scotland, Philip of Spain, +and the Pope of Rome, and untiring in their efforts to bring about a +general rebellion. With Ireland at its side, nominally a subject +province, but in a state of chronic insurrection--a perpetual hot-bed for +Spanish conspiracy and stratagem; with Scotland at its back, a foreign +country, with half its population exasperated enemies of England, and the +rest but doubtful friends, and with the legitimate sovereign of that +country, "the daughter of debate, who discord still did sow,"--[Sonnet by +Queen Elizabeth.]--a prisoner in Elizabeth's hands, the central point +around which treason was constantly crystallizing itself, it was not +strange that with the known views of the Queen on the subject of the +reformed Dutch religion, England should seem less desirable as a +protector for the Netherlands than the neighbouring kingdom of France. + +Elizabeth was a great sovereign, whose genius Orange always appreciated, +in a comparatively feeble realm. Henry of Valois was the contemptible +monarch of a powerful state, and might be led by others to produce +incalculable mischief or considerable good. Notwithstanding the massacre +of St. Bartholomew, therefore, and the more recent "French fury" of +Antwerp, Orange had been willing to countenance fresh negociations with +France. + +Elizabeth, too, it should never be forgotten, was, if not over generous, +at least consistent and loyal in her policy towards the Provinces. She +was not precisely jealous of France, as has been unjustly intimated on +distinguished authority, for she strongly advocated the renewed offer of +the sovereignty to Anjou, after his memorable expulsion from the +Provinces. At that period, moreover, not only her own love-coquetries +with Anjou were over, but he was endeavouring with all his might, though +in secret, to make a match with the younger Infanta of Spain. Elizabeth +furthered the negociation with France, both publicly and privately. It +will soon be narrated how those negociations prospered. + +If then England were out of the, question, where, except in France, +should the Netherlanders, not deeming themselves capable of standing +alone, seek for protection and support? + +We have seen the extensive and almost ubiquitous power of Spain. Where +she did not command as sovereign, she was almost equally formidable as an +ally. The Emperor of Germany was the nephew and the brother-in-law of +Philip, and a strict Catholic besides. Little aid was to be expected +from him or the lands under his control for the cause of the Netherland +revolt. Rudolph hated his brother-in-law, but lived in mortal fear of +him. He was also in perpetual dread of the Grand Turk. That formidable +potentate, not then the "sick man" whose precarious condition and +territorial inheritance cause so much anxiety in modern days, was, it is +true, sufficiently occupied for the moment in Persia, and had been +sustaining there a series of sanguinary defeats. He was all the more +anxious to remain upon good terms with Philip, and had recently sent him +a complimentary embassy, together with some rather choice presents, among +which were "four lions, twelve unicorns, and two horses coloured white, +black, and blue." Notwithstanding these pacific manifestations towards +the West, however, and in spite of the truce with the German Empire which +the Turk had just renewed for nine years,--Rudolph and his servants still +trembled at every report from the East. + +"He is much deceived," wrote Busbecq, Rudolph's ambassador in Paris, "who +doubts that the Turk has sought any thing by this long Persian war, but +to protect his back, and prepare the way, after subduing that enemy, to +the extermination of all Christendom, and that he will then, with all his +might, wage an unequal warfare with us, in which the existence of the +Empire will be at stake." + +The envoy expressed, at the same period, however, still greater awe of +Spain. "It is to no one," he wrote, "endowed with good judgment, in the +least obscure, that the Spanish nation, greedy of empire, will never be +quiet, even with their great power, but will seek for the dominion of the +rest of Christendom. How much remains beyond what they have already +acquired? Afterwards, there will soon be no liberty, no dignity, for +other princes and republics. That single nation will be arbiter of all +things, than which nothing can be more miserable, nothing more degrading. +It cannot be doubted that all kings, princes, and states, whose safety or +dignity is dear to them, would willingly associate in arms to extinguish +the common conflagration. The death of the Catholic king would seem the +great opportunity 'miscendis rebus'." + +Unfortunately neither Busbecq's master nor any other king or prince +manifested any of this commendable alacrity to "take up arms against the +conflagration." Germany was in a shiver at every breeze from East or +West-trembling alike before Philip and Amurath. The Papists were making +rapid progress, the land being undermined by the steady and stealthy +encroachments of the Jesuits. Lord Burghley sent many copies of his +pamphlet, in Latin, French, and Italian, against the Seminaries, to +Gebhard Truchsess; and the deposed archbishop made himself busy in +translating that wholesome production into German, and in dispersing it +"all Germany over." The work, setting duly forth "that the executions of +priests in England were not for religion but for treason," was +"marvellously liked" in the Netherlands. "In uttering the truth," said +Herle, "'tis likely to do great good;" and he added, that Duke Augustus +of Saxony "did now see so far into the sect of Jesuits, and to their +inward mischiefs, as to become their open enemy, and to make friends +against them in the Empire." + +The love of Truchsess for Agnes Mansfeld had created disaster not only +for himself but for Germany. The whole electorate of Cologne had become +the constant seat of partisan warfare, and the resort of organised bands +of brigands. Villages were burned and rifled, highways infested, cities +threatened, and the whole country subjected to perpetual black mail +(brandschatzung)--fire-insurance levied by the incendiaries in person--by +the supporters of the rival bishops. Truchsess had fled to Delft, where +he had been countenanced and supported by Orange. Two cities still held +for him, Rheinberg and Neuss. On the other hand, his rival, Ernest of +Bavaria; supported by Philip II., and the occasional guest of Alexander +of Parma, had not yet succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the +territory. Two pauper archbishops, without men or means of their own, +were thus pushed forward and back, like puppets, by the contending +highwaymen on either side; while robbery and murder, under the name of +Protestantism or Catholicism, were for a time the only motive or result +of the contest. + +Thus along the Rhine, as well as the Maas and the Scheldt, the fires of +civil war were ever burning. Deeper within the heart of Germany, there +was more tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity rather of paralysis +than of health. A fearful account was slowly accumulating, which was +evidently to be settled only by one of the most horrible wars which +history has ever recorded. Meantime there was apathy where there should +have been enthusiasm; parsimony and cowardice where generous and combined +effort were more necessary than ever; sloth without security. The +Protestant princes, growing fat and contented on the spoils of the +church, lent but a deaf ear to the moans of Truchsess, forgetting that +their neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own. "They +understand better, 'proximus sum egomet mild'," wrote Lord Willoughby +from Kronenburg, "than they have learned, 'humani nihid a me alienum +puto'. These German princes continue still in their lethargy, careless +of the state of others, and dreaming of their ubiquity, and some of them, +it is thought, inclining to be Spanish or Popish more of late than +heretofore." + +The beggared archbishop, more forlorn than ever since the death of his +great patron, cried woe from his resting-place in Delft, upon Protestant +Germany. His tones seemed almost prophetic of the thirty years' wrath to +blaze forth in the next generation. "Courage is wanting to the people +throughout Germany," he wrote to William Lewis of Nassau. "We are +becoming the laughing-stock of the nations. Make sheep of yourselves, +and the wolf will eat you. We shall find our destruction in our +immoderate desire for peace. Spain is making a Papistical league in +Germany. Therefore is Assonleville despatched thither, and that's the +reason why our trash of priests are so insolent in the empire. 'Tis +astonishing how they are triumphing on all sides. God will smite them. +Thou dear God! What are our evangelists about in Germany? Asleep on +both ears. 'Dormiunt in utramque aurem'. I doubt they will be suddenly +enough awakened one day, and the cry will be, 'Who'd have thought it?' +Then they will be for getting oil for the lamp, for shutting the stable- +door when the steed is stolen," and so on, with a string of homely +proverbs worthy of Sancho Panza, or landgrave William of Hesse. + +In truth, one of the most painful features is the general aspect of +affairs was the coldness of the German Protestants towards the +Netherlands. The enmity between Lutherans and Calvinists was almost as +fatal as that between Protestants and Papists. There was even a talk, at +a little later period, of excluding those of the "reformed" church from +the benefits of the peace of Passau. The princes had got the Augsburg +confession and the abbey-lands into the bargain; the peasants had got the +Augsburg confession without the abbey-lands, and were to believe exactly +what their masters believed. This was the German-Lutheran sixteenth- +century idea of religious freedom. Neither prince nor peasant stirred in +behalf of the struggling Christians in the United Provinces, battling, +year after year, knee-deep in blood, amid blazing cities and inundated +fields, breast to breast with the yellow jerkined pikemen of Spain and +Italy, with the axe and the faggot and the rack of the Holy Inquisition +distinctly visible behind them. Such were the realities which occupied +the Netherlanders in those days, not watery beams of theological +moonshine, fantastical catechism-making, intermingled with scenes of riot +and wantonness, which drove old John of Nassau half frantic; with +banquetting and guzzling, drinking and devouring, with unchristian +flaunting and wastefulness of apparel, with extravagant and wanton +dancing, and other lewd abominations; all which, the firm old reformer +prophesied, would lead to the destruction of Germany. + +For the mass, slow moving but apparently irresistible, of Spanish and +papistical absolutism was gradually closing over Christendom. The +Netherlands were the wedge by which alone the solid bulk could be riven +asunder. It was the cause of German, of French, of English liberty, for +which the Provinces were contending. It was not surprising that they +were bitter, getting nothing in their hour of distress from the land of +Luther but dogmas and Augsburg catechisms instead of money and gunpowder, +and seeing German reiters galloping daily to reinforce the army of Parma +in exchange for Spanish ducats. + +Brave old La Noue, with the iron arm, noblest of Frenchmen and Huguenots +--who had just spent five years in Spanish bondage, writing military +discourses in a reeking dungeon, filled with toads and vermin, after +fighting the battle of liberty for a life-time, and with his brave son +already in the Netherlands emulating his father's valour on the same +field--denounced at a little later day, the lukewarmness of Protestant +Germany with whimsical vehemence:--"I am astounded," he cried, "that +these princes are not ashamed of themselves; doing nothing while they see +the oppressed cut to pieces at their gates. When will God grant me grace +to place me among those who are doing their duty, and afar from those who +do nothing, and who ought to know that the cause is a common one. If I +am ever caught dancing the German cotillon, or playing the German flute, +or eating pike with German sauce, I hope it may be flung in my teeth." + +The great league of the Pope and Philip was steadily consolidating +itself, and there were but gloomy prospects for the counter-league in +Germany. There was no hope but in England and France. For the reasons +already indicated, the Prince of Orange, taking counsel with the Estates, +had resolved to try the French policy once more. The balance of power in +Europe, which no man in Christendom so well understood as he, was to be +established by maintaining (he thought) the equilibrium between France +and Spain. In the antagonism of those two great realms lay the only hope +for Dutch or European liberty. Notwithstanding the treason of Anjou, +therefore, it had been decided to renew negociations with that Prince. +On the death of the Duke, the envoys of the States were accordingly +instructed to make the offer to King Henry III. which had been intended +for his brother. That proposition was the sovereignty of all the +Netherlands, save Holland and Zeeland, under a constitution maintaining +the reformed religion and the ancient laws and privileges of the +respective provinces. + +But the death of Francis of Anjou had brought about a considerable change +in French policy. It was now more sharply defined than ever, a right- +angled triangle of almost mathematical precision. The three Henrys and +their partizans divided the realm into three hostile camps--threatening +each other in simulated peace since the treaty of Fleig (1580), which had +put an end to the "lover's war" of the preceding year,--Henry of Valois, +Henry of Guise, and Henry of Navarre. + +Henry III., last of the Valois line, was now thirty-three years of age. +Less than king, less even than man, he was one of those unfortunate +personages who seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous, +and to test the capacity of mankind to eat and drink humiliation as if it +were wholesome food. It proved how deeply engraved in men's minds of +that century was the necessity of kingship, when the hardy Netherlanders, +who had abjured one tyrant, and had been fighting a generation long +rather than return to him, were now willing to accept the sovereignty of +a thing like Henry of Valois. + +He had not been born without natural gifts, such as Heaven rarely denies +to prince or peasant; but the courage which he once possessed had been +exhausted on the field of Moncontour, his manhood had been left behind +him at Venice, and such wit as Heaven had endowed him withal was now +expended in darting viperous epigrams at court-ladies whom he was only +capable of dishonouring by calumny, and whose charms he burned to +outrival in the estimation of his minions. For the monarch of France was +not unfrequently pleased to attire himself like a woman and a harlot. +With silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, and painted face, with pearls +of great price adorning his bared neck and breast, and satin-slippered +feet, of whose delicate shape and size he was justly vain, it was his +delight to pass his days and nights in a ceaseless round of gorgeous +festivals, tourneys, processions; masquerades, banquets, and balls, the +cost of which glittering frivolities caused the popular burthen and the +popular execration to grow, from day to day, more intolerable and more +audible. Surrounded by a gang of "minions," the most debauched and the +most desperate of France, whose bedizened dresses exhaled perfumes +throughout Paris, and whose sanguinary encounters dyed every street in +blood, Henry lived a life of what he called pleasure, careless of what +might come after, for he was the last of his race. The fortunes of his +minions rose higher and higher, as their crimes rendered them more and +more estimable in the eyes of a King who took a woman's pride in the +valour of such champions to his weakness, and more odious to a people +whose miserable homes were made even more miserable, that the coffers of +a few court-favourites might be filled: Now sauntering, full-dressed, in +the public promenades, with ghastly little death's heads strung upon his +sumptuous garments, and fragments of human bones dangling among his +orders of knighthood--playing at cup and ball as he walked, and followed +by a few select courtiers who gravely pursued the same exciting +occupation--now presiding like a queen of beauty at a tournament to +assign the prize of valour, and now, by the advice of his mother, going +about the streets in robes of penitence, telling his beads as he went, +that the populace might be edified by his piety, and solemnly offering up +prayers in the churches that the blessing of an heir might be vouchsafed +to him,--Henry of Valois seemed straining every nerve in order to bring +himself and his great office into contempt. + +As orthodox as he was profligate, he hated the Huguenots, who sought his +protection and who could have saved his throne, as cordially as he loved +the Jesuits, who passed their lives in secret plottings against his +authority and his person, or in fierce denunciations from the Paris +pulpits against his manifold crimes. Next to an exquisite and sanguinary +fop, he dearly loved a monk. The presence of a friar, he said, exerted +as agreeable an effect upon his mind as the most delicate and gentle +tickling could produce upon his body; and he was destined to have a +fuller dose of that charming presence than he coveted. + +His party--for he was but the nominal chief of a faction, 'tanquam unus +ex nobis'--was the party in possession--the office-holders' party; the +spoilsmen, whose purpose was to rob the exchequer and to enrich +themselves. His minions--for the favourites were called by no other +name--were even more hated, because less despised than the King. Attired +in cloth of gold--for silk and satin were grown too coarse a material for +them--with their little velvet porringer-caps stuck on the sides of their +heads, with their long hair stiff with pomatum, and their heads set +inside a well-starched ruff a foot wide, "like St. John's head in a +charger," as a splenetic contemporary observed, with a nimbus of musk and +violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals, these +rapacious and insolent courtiers were the impersonation of extortion and +oppression to the Parisian populace. They were supposed, not unjustly, +to pass their lives in dancing, blasphemy, dueling, dicing, and intrigue, +in following the King about like hounds, fawning at his feet, and showing +their teeth to all besides; and for virtues such as these they were +rewarded by the highest offices in church, camp, and state, while new +taxes and imposts were invented almost daily to feed their avarice and +supply their extravagance. France, doomed to feel the beak and talons of +these harpies in its entrails, impoverished by a government that robbed +her at home while it humiliated her abroad, struggled vainly in its +misery, and was now on the verge of another series of internecine +combats--civil war seeming the only alternative to a voluptuous and +licentious peace. + +"We all stood here at gaze," wrote ambassador Stafford to Walsingham, +"looking for some great matter to come of this sudden journey to Lyons; +but, as far as men can find, 'parturient montes', for there hath been +nothing but dancing and banquetting from one house to another, bravery in +apparel, glittering like the sun." He, mentioned that the Duke of +Epernon's horse, taking fright at a red cloak, had backed over a +precipice, breaking his own neck, while his master's shoulder merely was +put out of joint. At the same time the Duke of Joyeuse, coming over +Mount Cenis, on his return from Savoy, had broken his wrist. The people, +he said, would rather they had both broken their necks "than any other +joint, the King having racked the nation for their sakes, as he hath- +done." Stafford expressed much compassion for the French in the plight +in which they found themselves. "Unhappy people!" he cried, "to have +such a King, who seeketh nothing but to impoverish them to enrich a +couple, and who careth not what cometh after his death, so that he may +rove on while he liveth, and careth neither for doing his own estate good +nor his neighbour's state harm." Sir Edward added, however, in a +philosophizing vein, worthy of Corporal Nym, that, "seeing we cannot be +so happy as to have a King to concur with us to do us any good, yet we +are happy to have one that his humour serveth him not to concur with +others to do us harm; and 'tis a wisdom for us to follow these humours, +that we may keep him still in that humour, and from hearkening to others +that may egg him on to worse." + +It was a dark hour for France, and rarely has a great nation been reduced +to a lower level by a feeble and abandoned government than she was at +that moment under the distaff of Henry III. Society was corrupted to its +core. "There is no more truth, no more justice, no more mercy," moaned +President L'Etoile. "To slander, to lie, to rob, to wench, to steal; all +things are permitted save to do right and to speak the truth." Impiety +the most cynical, debauchery the most unveiled, public and unpunished +homicides, private murders by what was called magic, by poison, by hired +assassins, crimes natural, unnatural, and preternatural, were the common +characteristics of the time. All posts and charges were venal. Great +offices of justice were sold to the highest bidder, and that which was +thus purchased by wholesale was retailed in the same fashion. Unhappy +the pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law. The great +ecclesiastical benefices were equally matter of merchandise, and married +men, women, unborn children, enjoyed revenues as dignitaries of the +church. Infants came into the world, it was said, like the mitre-fish, +stamped with the emblems of place. + +"'Twas impossible," said L'Etoile, "to find a crab so tortuous and +backsliding as the government." + +This was the aspect of the first of the three factions in France. Such +was the Henry at its head, the representative of royalty. + +Henry with the Scar, Duke of Guise, the well-known chief of the house of +Lorraine, was the chief of the extreme papistical party. He was now +thirty-four years of age, tall, stately, with a dark, martial face and +dangerous eyes, which Antonio Moro loved to paint; a physiognomy made +still more expressive by the arquebus-shot which had damaged his left +cheek at the fight near Chateau-Thierry and gained him his name of +Balafre. Although one of the most turbulent and restless plotters of +that plotting age, he was yet thought more slow and heavy in character +than subtle, Teutonic rather than Italian. He was the idol of the +Parisian burghers. The grocers, the market-men, the members of the +arquebus and crossbow clubs, all doated on him. The fishwomen worshipped +him as a god. He was the defender of the good old religion under which +Paris and the other cities of France had thriven, the uncompromising +opponent of the new-fangled doctrines which western clothiers, and dyers, +and tapestry-workers, had adopted, and which the nobles of the mountain- +country, the penniless chevaliers of Bearn and Gascony and Guienne, were +ceaselessly taking the field and plunging France into misery and +bloodshed to support. But for the Balafre and Madam League--as the great +Spanish Catholic conspiracy against the liberties of France, and of +England, and of all Europe, was affectionately termed by the Paris +populace--honest Catholics would fare no better in France than they did +in England, where, as it was well known, they were every day subjected to +fearful tortures: The shopwindows were filled with coloured engravings, +representing, in exaggerated fashion, the sufferings of the English +Catholics under bloody Elizabeth, or Jezebel, as she was called; and as +the gaping burghers stopped to ponder over these works of art, there were +ever present, as if by accident, some persons of superior information who +would condescendingly explain the various pictures, pointing out with a +long stick the phenomena most worthy of notice. These caricatures +proving highly successful, and being suppressed by order of government, +they were repeated upon canvas on a larger scale, in still more +conspicuous situations, as if in contempt of the royal authority, which +sullied itself by compromise with Calvinism! The pulpits, meanwhile, +thundered denunciations on the one hand against the weak and wicked King, +who worshipped idols, and who sacrificed the dearly-earned pittance of +his subjects to feed the insolent pomp of his pampered favourites; and on +the other, upon the arch-heretic, the arch-apostate, the Bearnese +Huguenot, who, after the death of the reigning monarch, would have the +effrontery to claim his throne, and to introduce into France the +persecutions and the horrors under which unhappy England was already +groaning. + +The scarce-concealed instigator of these assaults upon the royal and upon +the Huguenot faction was, of course, the Duke of Guise,--the man whose +most signal achievement had been the Massacre of St. Bartholomew--all the +preliminary details of that transaction having been arranged by his +skill. So long as Charles IX. was living, the Balafre had created the +confusion which was his element, by entertaining and fomenting the +perpetual intrigues of Anjou and Alencon against their brother; while the +altercations between them and the Queen Mother and the furious madman who +then sat upon the throne, had been the cause of sufficient disorder and +calamity for France. On the death of Charles IX. Guise had sought the +intimacy of Henry of Navarre, that by his means he might frustrate the +hopes of Alencon for the succession. During the early period of the +Bearnese's residence at the French court the two had been inseparable, +living together, going to the same festivals, tournaments, and +masquerades, and even sleeping in the same bed. "My master," was ever +Guise's address to Henry; "my gossip," the young King of Navarre's reply. +But the crafty Bearnese had made use of the intimacy only to read the +secrets of the Balafre's heart; and on Navarre's flight from the court, +and his return to Huguenotism, Guise knew that he had been played upon by +a subtler spirit than his own. The simulated affection was now changed +into undisguised hatred. Moreover, by the death of Alencon, Navarre now +stood next the throne, and Guise's plots became still more extensive and +more open as his own ambition to usurp the crown on the death of the +childless Henry III. became more fervid. + +Thus, by artfully inflaming the populace of Paris, and through his +organized bands of confederates--that of all the large towns of France, +against the Huguenots and their chief, by appeals to the religious +sentiment; and at the same time by stimulating the disgust and +indignation of the tax-payers everywhere at the imposts and heavy +burthens which the boundless extravagance of the court engendered, Guise +paved the way for the advancement of the great League which he +represented. The other two political divisions were ingeniously +represented as mere insolent factions, while his own was the true +national and patriotic party, by which alone the ancient religion and the +cherished institutions of France could be preserved. + +And the great chief of this national patriotic party was not Henry of +Guise, but the industrious old man who sat writing despatches in the +depths of the Escorial. Spanish counsels, Spanish promises, Spanish +ducats--these were the real machinery by which the plots of Guise against +the peace of France and of Europe were supported. Madam League was +simply Philip II. Nothing was written, officially or unofficially, to +the French government by the Spanish court that was not at the same time +communicated to "Mucio"--as the Duke of Guise was denominated in the +secret correspondence of Philip, and Mucio was in Philip's pay, his +confidential agent, spy, and confederate, long before the actual +existence of the League was generally suspected. + +The Queen-Mother, Catharine de' Medici, played into the Duke's hands. +Throughout the whole period of her widowhood, having been accustomed to +govern her sons, she had, in a certain sense, been used to govern the +kingdom. By sowing dissensions among her own children, by inflaming +party against party, by watching with care the oscillations of France +--so than none of the great divisions should obtain preponderance--by +alternately caressing and massacring the Huguenots, by cajoling or +confronting Philip, by keeping, as she boasted, a spy in every family +that possessed the annual income of two thousand livres, by making +herself the head of an organized system of harlotry, by which the +soldiers and politicians of France were inveigled, their secrets +faithfully revealed to her by her well-disciplined maids of honour, by +surrounding her unfortunate sons with temptation from earliest youth, and +plunging them by cold calculation into deepest debauchery, that their +enervated faculties might be ever forced to rely in political affairs on +the maternal counsel, and to abandon the administration to the maternal +will; such were the arts by which Catharine had maintained her influence, +and a great country been governed for a generation--Machiavellian state- +craft blended with the more simple wiles of a procuress. + +Now that Alencon was dead, and Henry III. hopeless of issue, it was her +determination that the children of her daughter, the Duchess of Lorraine, +should succeed to the throne. The matter was discussed as if the throne +were already vacant, and Guise and the Queen-Mother, if they agreed in +nothing else, were both cordial in their detestation of Henry of Navarre. +The Duke affected to support the schemes in favour of his relatives, the +Princes of Lorraine, while he secretly informed the Spanish court that +this policy was only a pretence. He was not likely, he said, to advance +the interests of the younger branch of a house of which he was himself +the chief, nor were their backs equal to the burthen. It was necessary +to amuse the old queen, but he was profoundly of opinion that the only +sovereign for France, upon the death of Henry, was Philip II. himself. +This was the Duke's plan of arriving, by means of Spanish assistance, +at the throne of France; and such was Henry le Balafre, chief of the +League. + +And the other Henry, the Huguenot, the Bearnese, Henry of Bourbon, Henry +of Navarre, the chieftain of the Gascon chivalry, the king errant, the +hope and the darling of the oppressed Protestants in every land--of him +it is scarce needful to say a single word. At his very name a figure +seems to leap forth from the mist of three centuries, instinct with ruddy +vigorous life. Such was the intense vitality of the Bearnese prince, +that even now he seems more thoroughly alive and recognizable than half +the actual personages who are fretting their hour upon the stage. + +We see, at once, a man of moderate stature, light, sinewy, and strong; a +face browned with continual exposure; small, mirthful, yet commanding +blue eyes, glittering from beneath an arching brow, and prominent +cheekbones; a long hawk's nose, almost resting upon a salient chin, a +pendent moustache, and a thick, brown, curly beard, prematurely grizzled; +we see the mien of frank authority and magnificent good humour, we hear +the ready sallies of the shrewd Gascon mother-wit, we feel the +electricity which flashes out of him, and sets all hearts around him on +fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle. The headlong desperate charge, +the snow-white plume waving where the fire is hottest, the large capacity +for enjoyment of the man, rioting without affectation in the 'certaminis +gaudia', the insane gallop, after the combat, to lay its trophies at the +feet of the Cynthia of the minute, and thus to forfeit its fruits; all +are as familiar to us as if the seven distinct wars, the hundred pitched +battles, the two hundred sieges; in which the Bearnese was personally +present, had been occurrences of our own day. + +He at least was both king and man, if the monarch who occupied the throne +was neither. He was the man to prove, too, for the instruction of the +patient letter-writer of the Escorial, that the crown of France was to be +won with foot in stirrup and carbine in hand, rather than to be caught by +the weaving and casting of the most intricate nets of diplomatic +intrigue, though thoroughly weighted with Mexican gold. + +The King of Navarre was now thirty-one years old; for the three Henrys +were nearly of the same age. The first indications of his existence had +been recognized amid the cannon and trumpets of a camp in Picardy, and +his mother had sung a gay Bearnese song as he was coming into the world +at Pau. Thus, said his grandfather, Henry of Navarre, thou shalt not +bear to us a morose and sulky child. The good king, without a kingdom, +taking the child, as soon as born, in the lappel of his dressing-gown, +had brushed his infant lips with a clove of garlic, and moistened them +with a drop of generous Gascon wine. Thus, said the grandfather again, +shall the boy be both merry and bold. There was something mythologically +prophetic in the incidents of his birth. + +The best part of Navarre had been long since appropriated by Ferdinand of +Aragon. In France there reigned a young and warlike sovereign with four +healthy boys. But the new-born infant had inherited the lilies of France +from St. Louis, and a later ancestor had added to the escutcheon the +motto "Espoir." His grandfather believed that the boy was born to +revenge upon Spain the wrongs of the House of Albret, and Henry's nature +seemed ever. pervaded with Robert of Clermont's device. + +The same sensible grandfather, having different views on the subject of +education from those manifested by Catherine de Medici towards her +children, had the boy taught to run about bare-headed and bare-footed, +like a peasant, among the mountains and rocks of Bearn, till he became as +rugged as a young bear, and as nimble as a kid. Black bread, and beef, +and garlic, were his simple fare; and he was taught by his mother and his +grandfather to hate lies and liars, and to read the Bible. + +When he was fifteen, the third religious war broke out. Both his father +and grandfather were dead. His mother, who had openly professed the +reformed faith, since the death of her husband, who hated it, brought her +boy to the camp at Rochelle, where he was received as the chief of the +Huguenots. His culture was not extensive. He had learned to speak the +truth, to ride, to shoot, to do with little sleep and less food. He +could also construe a little Latin, and had read a few military +treatises; but the mighty hours of an eventful life were now to take him +by the hand, and to teach him much good and much evil, as they bore him +onward. He now saw military treatises expounded practically by +professors, like his uncle Condo, and Admiral Coligny, and Lewis Nassau, +in such lecture-rooms as Laudun, and Jarnac, and Montcontour, and never +was apter scholar. + +The peace of Arnay-le-Duc succeeded, and then the fatal Bartholomew +marriage with the Messalina of Valois. The faith taught in the mountains +of Bearn was no buckler against the demand of "the mass or death," +thundered at his breast by the lunatic Charles, as he pointed to +thousands of massacred Huguenots. Henry yielded to such conclusive +arguments, and became a Catholic. Four years of court imprisonment +succeeded, and the young King of Navarre, though proof to the artifices +of his gossip Guise, was not adamant to the temptations spread for him by +Catherine de' Medici. In the harem entertained for him in the Louvre +many pitfalls entrapped him; and he became a stock-performer in the state +comedies and tragedies of that plotting age. + +A silken web of palace-politics, palace-diplomacy, palace revolutions, +enveloped him. Schemes and counter-schemes, stratagems and conspiracies, +assassinations and poisonings; all the state-machinery which worked so +exquisitely in fair ladies' chambers, to spread havoc and desolation over +a kingdom, were displayed before his eyes. Now campaigning with one +royal brother against Huguenots, now fighting with another on their side, +now solicited by the Queen-Mother to attempt the life of her son, now +implored by Henry III. to assassinate his brother, the Bearnese, as fresh +antagonisms, affinities; combinations, were developed, detected, +neutralized almost daily, became rapidly an adept in Medicean state- +chemistry. Charles IX. in his grave, Henry III. on the throne, Alencon +in the Huguenot camp--Henry at last made his escape. The brief war and +peace of Monsieur succeeded, and the King of Navarre formally abjured the +Catholic creed. The parties were now sharply defined. Guise mounted +upon the League, Henry astride upon the Reformation, were prepared to do +battle to the death. The temporary "war of the amorous" was followed by +the peace of Fleix. + +Four years of peace again; four fat years of wantonness and riot +preceding fourteen hungry famine-stricken years of bloodiest civil war. +The voluptuousness and infamy of the Louvre were almost paralleled in +vice, if not in splendour, by the miniature court at Pau. Henry's +Spartan grandfather would scarce have approved the courses of the youth, +whose education he had commenced on so simple a scale. For Margaret +of Valois, hating her husband, and living in most undisguised and +promiscuous infidelity to him, had profited by her mother's lessons. +A seraglio of maids of honour ministered to Henry's pleasures, and were +carefully instructed that the peace and war of the kingdom were +playthings in their hands. While at Paris royalty was hopelessly sinking +in a poisonous marsh, there was danger that even the hardy nature of the +Bearnese would be mortally enervated by the atmosphere in which he lived. + +The unhappy Henry III., baited by the Guises, worried by Alencon and his +mother, implored the King of Navarre to return to Paris and the Catholic +faith. M. de Segur, chief of Navarre's council, who had been won over +during a visit to the capital, where he had made the discovery that +"Henry III. was an angel, and his ministers devils," came back to Pau, +urging his master's acceptance of the royal invitation. Henry wavered. +Bold D'Aubigne, stanchest of Huguenots, and of his friends, next day +privately showed Segur a palace-window opening on a very steep precipice +over the Bayae, and cheerfully assured him that he should be flung from +it did he not instantly reverse his proceedings, and give his master +different advice. If I am not able to do the deed myself, said +D'Aubigne, here are a dozen more to help me. The chief of the council +cast a glance behind him, saw a number of grim Puritan soldiers, with +their hats plucked down upon their brows, looking very serious; so made +his bow, and quite changed his line of conduct. + +At about the same time, Philip II. confidentially offered Henry of +Navarre four hundred thousand crowns in hand, and twelve hundred thousand +yearly, if he would consent to make war upon Henry III. Mucio, or the +Duke of Guise, being still in Philip's pay, the combination of Leaguers +and Huguenots against the unfortunate Valois would, it was thought, be a +good triangular contest. + +But Henry--no longer the unsophisticated youth who had been used to run +barefoot among the cliffs of Coarasse--was grown too crafty a politician +to be entangled by Spanish or Medicean wiles. The Duke of Anjou was now +dead. Of all the princes who had stood between him and the throne, there +was none remaining save the helpless, childless, superannuated youth, who +was its present occupant. The King of Navarre was legitimate heir to the +crown of France. "Espoir" was now in letters of light upon his shield, +but he knew that his path to greatness led through manifold dangers, and +that it was only at the head of his Huguenot chivalry that he could cut +his way. He was the leader of the nobles of Gascony, and Dauphins, and +Guienne, in their mountain fastnesses, of the weavers, cutlers, and +artizans, in their thriving manufacturing and trading towns. It was not +Spanish gold, but carbines and cutlasses, bows and bills, which could +bring him to the throne of his ancestors. + +And thus he stood the chieftain of that great austere party of Huguenots, +the men who went on, their knees before the battle, beating their breasts +with their iron gauntlets, and singing in full chorus a psalm of David, +before smiting the Philistines hip and thigh. + +Their chieftain, scarcely their representative--fit to lead his Puritans +on the battle-field, was hardly a model for them elsewhere. Yet, though +profligate in one respect, he was temperate in every other. In food, +wine, and sleep, he was always moderate. Subtle and crafty in self- +defence, he retained something of his old love of truth, of his hatred +for liars. Hardly generous perhaps, he was a friend of justice, while +economy in a wandering King, like himself, was a necessary virtue, of +which France one day was to feel the beneficent action. Reckless and +headlong in appearance, he was in truth the most careful of men. On the +religious question, most cautious of all, he always left the door open +behind him, disclaimed all bigotry of opinion, and earnestly implored the +Papists to seek, not his destruction, but his instruction. Yet prudent +as he was by nature in every other regard, he was all his life the slave +of one woman or another, and it was by good luck rather than by sagacity +that he did not repeatedly forfeit the fruits of his courage and conduct, +in obedience to his master-passion. + +Always open to conviction on the subject of his faith, he repudiated the +appellation of heretic. A creed, he said, was not to be changed like a +shirt, but only on due deliberation, and under special advice. In his +secret heart he probably regarded the two religions as his chargers, and +was ready to mount alternately the one or the other, as each seemed the +more likely to bear him safely in the battle. The Bearnese was no +Puritan, but he was most true to himself and to his own advancement. His +highest principle of action was to reach his goal, and to that principle +he was ever loyal. Feeling, too, that it was the interest of France that +he should succeed, he was even inspired--compared with others on the +stage--by an almost lofty patriotism. + +Amiable by nature and by habit, he had preserved the most unimpaired +good-humour throughout the horrible years which succeeded St. +Bartholomew, during which he carried his life in his hand, and learned +not to wear his heart upon his sleeve. Without gratitude, without +resentment, without fear, without remorse, entirely arbitrary, yet with +the capacity to use all men's judgments; without convictions, save in +regard to his dynastic interests, he possessed all the qualities, +necessary to success. He knew how to use his enemies. He knew how to +use his friends, to abuse them, and to throw them away. He refused to +assassinate Francis Alencon at the bidding of Henry III., but he +attempted to procure the murder of the truest of his own friends, one of +the noblest characters of the age--whose breast showed twelve scars +received in his services--Agrippa D'Aubigne, because the honest soldier +had refused to become his pimp--a service the King had implored upon his +knees. + +Beneath the mask of perpetual careless good-humour, lurked the keenest +eye, a subtle, restless, widely combining brain, and an iron will. +Native sagacity had been tempered into consummate elasticity by the fiery +atmosphere in which feebler natures had been dissolved. His wit was as +flashing and as quickly unsheathed as his sword. Desperate, apparently +reckless temerity on the battle-field was deliberately indulged in, that +the world might be brought to recognise a hero and chieftain in a King. +The do-nothings of the Merovingian line had been succeeded by the Pepins; +to the effete Carlovingians had come a Capet; to the impotent Valois +should come a worthier descendant of St. Louis. This was shrewd Gascon +calculation, aided by constitutional fearlessness. When despatch- +writing, invisible Philips, stargazing Rudolphs, and petticoated Henrys, +sat upon the thrones of Europe, it was wholesome to show the world that +there was a King left who could move about in the bustle and business of +the age, and could charge as well as most soldiers at the head of his +cavalry; that there was one more sovereign fit to reign over men, besides +the glorious Virgin who governed England. + +Thus courageous, crafty, far-seeing, consistent, untiring, imperturbable, +he was born to command, and had a right to reign. He had need of the +throne, and the throne had still more need of him. + +This then was the third Henry, representative of the third side of the +triangle, the reformers of the kingdom. + +And before this bubbling cauldron of France, where intrigues, foreign and +domestic, conflicting ambitions, stratagems, and hopes, were whirling in +never-ceasing tumult, was it strange if the plain Netherland envoys +should stand somewhat aghast? + +Yet it was necessary that they should ponder well the aspect of affairs; +for all their hopes, the very existence of themselves and of their +religion, depended upon the organization which should come of this chaos. + +It must be remembered, however, that those statesmen--even the wisest or +the best-informed of them--could not take so correct a view of France and +its politics as it is possible for us, after the lapse of three +centuries, to do. The interior leagues, subterranean schemes, +conflicting factions, could only be guessed at; nor could the immediate +future be predicted, even by such far-seeing politicians as William of +Orange; at a distance, or Henry of Navarre, upon the spot. + +It was obvious to the Netherlanders that France, although torn by +faction, was a great and powerful realm. There had now been, with the +brief exception of the lovers' war in 1580, a religious peace of eight +years' duration. The Huguenots had enjoyed tranquil exercise of their +worship during that period, and they expressed perfect confidence in the +good faith of the King. That the cities were inordinately taxed to +supply the luxury of the court could hardly be unknown to the +Netherlanders. Nevertheless they knew that the kingdom was the richest +and most populous of Christendom, after that of Spain. Its capital, +already called by contemporaries the "compendium of the world," was +described by travellers as "stupendous in extent and miraculous for its +numbers." It was even said to contain eight hundred thousand souls; and +although, its actual population did not probably exceed three hundred and +twenty thousand, yet this was more than double the number of London's +inhabitants, and thrice as many as Antwerp could then boast, now that a +great proportion of its foreign denizens had been scared away. Paris was +at least by one hundred thousand more populous than any city of Europe, +except perhaps the remote and barbarous Moscow, while the secondary +cities of France, Rouen in the north, Lyons in the centre, and Marseilles +in the south, almost equalled in size, business, wealth, and numbers, the +capitals of other countries. In the whole kingdom were probably ten or +twelve millions of inhabitants, nearly as many as in Spain, without her +colonies, and perhaps three times the number that dwelt in England. + +In a military point of view, too, the alliance of France was most +valuable to the contiguous Netherlands. A few regiments of French +troops, under the command of one of their experienced Marshals, could +block up the Spaniards in the Walloon Provinces, effectually stop their +operations against Ghent, Antwerp, and the other great cities of Flanders +and Brabant, and, with the combined action of the United Provinces on the +north, so surround and cripple the forces of Parma, as to reduce the +power of Philip, after a few vigorous and well-concerted blows, to an +absolute nullity in, the Low Countries. As this result was of as vital +importance to the real interests of France and of Europe, whether +Protestant or Catholic, as it was to the Provinces, and as the French +government had privately manifested a strong desire to oppose the +progress of Spain towards universal empire, it was not surprising that +the States General, not feeling capable of standing alone, should make +their application to France. This they had done with the knowledge and +concurrence of the English government. What lay upon the surface the +Netherland statesmen saw and pondered well. What lurked beneath, they +surmised as shrewdly as they could, but it was impossible, with plummet +and fathom-line ever in hand, to sound the way with perfect accuracy, +where the quicksands were ever shifting, and the depth or shallowness of +the course perpetually varying. It was not easy to discover the +intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions, and +whose changing policy was controlled by so many hidden currents. + +Moreover, as already indicated, the envoys and those whom they +represented had not the same means of arriving at a result as are granted +to us. Thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of Europe, +the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so +long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. To him who +has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no +political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. He leans over +the shoulder of Philip the Second at his writing-table, as the King +spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed +hieroglyphics of Parma or Guise or Mendoza. He reads the secret thoughts +of "Fabius,"--[The name usually assigned to Philip himself in the Paris- +Simancas Correspondence.]--as that cunctative Roman scrawls his marginal +apostilles on each despatch; he pries into all the stratagems of +Camillus, Hortensius, Mucius, Julius, Tullius, and the rest of those +ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of +the 16th century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply-pondering Burghley, +and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that +minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds +of the stealthy, softly-gliding Walsingham the last secret which he has +picked from the Emperor's pigeon-holes, or the Pope's pocket, and which, +not Hatton, nor Buckhurst, nor Leicester, nor the Lord Treasurer, is to +see; nobody but Elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret +councils of the Nassaus and Barneveldt and Buys, or pores with Farnese +over coming victories, and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads +the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or +minister, chronicled by the gossiping Venetians for the edification of +the Forty; and, after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the +cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings, the fencings in the dark, he +is not surprised, if those who were systematically deceived did not +always arrive at correct conclusions. + +Noel de Caron, Seigneur de Schoneval, had been agent of the States at the +French court at the time of the death of the Duke of Anjou. Upon the +occurrence of that event, La Mouillerie and Asseliers were deputed by the +Provinces to King Henry III., in order to offer him the sovereignty, +which they had intended to confer upon his brother. Meantime that +brother, just before his death, and with the privity of Henry, had been +negotiating for a marriage with the younger daughter of Philip II.--an +arrangement somewhat incompatible with his contemporaneous scheme to +assume the sovereignty of Philip's revolted Provinces. An attempt had +been made at the same time to conciliate the Duke of Savoy, and invite +him to the French court; but the Duc de Joyeuse, then on his return from +Turin, was bringing the news, not only that the match with Anjou was not +favored--which, as Anjou was dead, was of no great consequence--but that +the Duke of Savoy was himself to espouse the Infanta, and was therefore +compelled to decline the invitation to Paris, for fear of offending his +father-in-law. Other matters were in progress, to be afterwards +indicated, very much interfering with the negotiations of the Netherland +envoys. + +When La Mouillerie and Asseliers arrived at Rouen, on their road from +Dieppe to Paris, they received a peremptory order from the Queen-Mother +to proceed no farther. This prohibition was brought by an unofficial +personage, and was delivered, not to them, but to Des Pruneaux, French +envoy to the States General, who had accompanied the envoys to France. + +After three weeks' time, during which they "kept themselves continually +concealed in Rouen," there arrived in that city a young nephew of +Secretary Brulart, who brought letters empowering him to hear what they +had in charge for the King. The envoys, not much flattered by such +cavalier treatment on the part of him to, whom they were offering a +crown, determined to digest the affront as they best might, and, to save +time, opened the whole business to this subordinate stripling. He +received from them accordingly an ample memoir to be laid before his +Majesty, and departed by the post the same night. Then they waited ten +days longer, concealed as if they had been thieves or spies, rather than +the representatives of a friendly power, on a more than friendly errand. + +At last, on the 24th July 1854, after the deputies had been thus shut up +a whole month, Secretary Brulart himself arrived from Fontainebleau. + +He stated that the King sent his royal thanks to the States for the offer +which they had made him, and to the deputies in particular for taking the +trouble of so long a journey; but that he did not find his realm in +condition to undertake a foreign war so inopportunely. In every other +regard, his Majesty offered the States "all possible favours and +pleasures." + +Certainly, after having been thus kept in prison for a month, the +ambassadors had small cause to be contented with this very cold +communication. To be forbidden the royal presence, and to be turned out +of the country without even an official and accredited answer to a +communication in which they had offered the sovereignty of their +fatherland, was not flattering to their dignity. "We little thought," +said they to Brulart, after a brief consultation among themselves, "to +receive such a reply as this. It displeases us infinitely that his +Majesty will not do us the honour to grant us an audience. We must take +the liberty of saying, that 'tis treating the States, our masters, with +too much contempt. Who ever heard before of refusing audience to public +personages? Kings often grant audience to mere letter-carriers. Even +the King of Spain never refused a hearing to the deputies from the +Netherlands when they came to Spain to complain of his own government. +The States General have sent envoys to many other kinds and princes, and +they have instantly granted audience in every case. His Majesty, too, +has been very ill-informed of the contracts which we formerly made with +the Duke of Anjou, and therefore a personal interview is the more +necessary." As the envoys were obstinate on the point of Paris, Brulart +said "that the King, although he should himself be at Lyons, would not +prevent any one from going to the capital on his own private affairs; but +would unquestionably take it very ill if, they should visit that city in +a public manner, and as deputies." + +Des Pruneaux professed himself "very grievous at this result, and +desirous of a hundred deaths in consequence." + +They stated that they should be ready within a month to bring an army of +3,000 horse and 13,000 foot into the field for the relief of Ghent, +besides their military operations against Zutphen; and that the enemy had +recently been ignominiously defeated in his attack upon Fort Lille, and +had lost 2,000 of his best soldiers. + +Here were encouraging facts; and it certainly was worth the while of the +French sovereign to pause a moment before rejecting without a hearing, +the offer of such powerful and conveniently-situated provinces. + +Des Pruneaux, a man of probity and earnestness, but perhaps of +insufficient ability to deal with such grave matters as now fell almost +entirely upon his shoulders, soon afterwards obtained audience of the +King. Being most sincerely in favour of the annexation of the +Netherlands to France, and feeling that now or never was the opportunity +of bringing it about, he persuaded the King to send him back to the +Provinces, in order to continue the negotiation directly with the States +General. The timidity and procrastination of the court could be overcome +no further. + +The two Dutch envoys, who had stolen secretly to Paris, were indulged in +a most barren and unmeaning interview with the Queen-Mother. Before +their departure from France, however, they had the advantage of much +conversation with leading members of the royal council, of the +parliaments of Paris and Rouen, and also with various persons professing +the reformed religion. They endeavoured thus to inform themselves, as +well as they could, why the King made so much difficulty in accepting +their propositions, and whether, and by what means, his Majesty could be +induced to make war in their behalf upon the King of Spain. + +They were informed that, should Holland and Zeeland unite with the rest +of the Netherlands, the King "without any doubt would undertake the cause +most earnestly." His councillors, also--even those who had been most +active in dissuading his Majesty from such a policy--would then be +unanimous in supporting the annexation of the Provinces and the war with +Spain. In such a contingency, with the potent assistance of Holland and +Zeeland, the King would have little difficulty, within a very short time, +in chasing every single Spaniard out of the Netherlands. To further this +end, many leading personages in France avowed to the envoys their +determination "to venture their lives and their fortunes, and to use all +the influence which they possessed at court." + +The same persons expressed their conviction that the King, once satisfied +by the Provinces as to conditions and reasons, would cheerfully go into +the war, without being deterred by any apprehension as to the power of +Spain. It was, however, fitting that each Province should chaffer as +little as possible about details, but should give his Majesty every +reasonable advantage. They should remember that they were dealing with +"a great, powerful monarch, who was putting his realm in jeopardy, and +not with a Duke of Anjou, who had every thing to gain and nothing to +lose." + +All the Huguenots, with whom the envoys conversed, were excessively +sanguine. Could the King be once brought they said, to promise the +Netherlands his protection, there was not the least fear but that he +would keep his word. He would use all the means within his power; "yea, +he would take the crown from his head," rather than turn back. Although +reluctant to commence a war with so powerful a sovereign, having once +promised his help, he would keep his pledge to the utmost, "for he was a +King of his word," and had never broken and would never break his faith +with those of the reformed religion. + +Thus spoke the leading Huguenots of France, in confidential communication +with the Netherland envoys, not many months before the famous edict of +extermination, published at Nemours. + +At that moment the reformers were full of confidence; not foreseeing the +long procession of battles and sieges which was soon to sweep through the +land. Notwithstanding the urgency of the Papists for their extirpation, +they extolled loudly the liberty of religious worship which Calvinists, +as well as Catholics, were enjoying in France, and pointed to the fact +that the adherents of both religions were well received at court, and +that they shared equally in offices of trust and dignity throughout the +kingdom. + +The Netherland envoys themselves bore testimony to the undisturbed +tranquillity and harmony in which the professors of both religions were +living and worshipping side by side "without reproach or quarrel" in all +the great cities which they had visited. They expressed the conviction +that the same toleration would be extended to all the Provinces when +under French dominion; and, so far as their ancient constitutions and +privileges were concerned, they were assured that the King of France +would respect and maintain them with as much fidelity as the States could +possibly desire. + +Des Pruneaux, accompanied by the two States' envoys, departed forthwith +for the Netherlands. On the 24th August, 1584 he delivered a discourse +before the States General, in which he disclosed, in very general terms, +the expectations of Henry III., and intimated very clearly that the +different Provinces were to lose no time in making an unconditional offer +to that monarch. With regard to Holland and Zeeland he observed that he +was provided with a special commission to those Estates. It was not long +before one Province after the other came to the conclusion to offer the +sovereignty to the King without written conditions, but with a general +understanding that their religious freedom and their ancient +constitutions were to be sacredly respected. Meantime, Des Pruneaux made +his appearance in Holland and Zeeland, and declared the King's intentions +of espousing the cause of the States, and of accepting the sovereignty of +all the Provinces. He distinctly observed, however, that it was as +sovereign, not as protector, that his Majesty must be recognised in +Holland and Zeeland, as well as in the rest of the country. + +Upon this grave question there was much debate and much difference of +opinion. Holland and Zeeland had never contemplated the possibility of +accepting any foreign sovereignty, and the opponents of the present +scheme were loud and angry, but very reasonable in their remarks. + +The French, they said, were no respecters of privileges nor of persons. +The Duke of Anjou had deceived William of Orange and betrayed the +Provinces. Could they hope to see farther than that wisest and most +experienced prince? Had not the stout hearts of the Antwerp burghers +proved a stronger defence to Brabant liberties than the "joyous entry" on +the dread day of the "French fury," it would have fared ill then and for +ever with the cause of freedom and religion in the Netherlands. The King +of France was a Papist, a Jesuit. He was incapable of keeping his +pledges. Should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the +sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with Spain, and +transfer the Provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of +Milan, which France had ever coveted. The Netherlands, after a quarter +of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would +find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender +mercies of the Spanish Inquisition. + +The Kings of France and of Spain always acted in concert, for religion +was the most potent of bonds. Witness the sacrifice of thousands of +French soldiers to Alva by their own sovereign at Mons, witness the fate +of Genlis, witness the bloody night of St. Bartholomew, witness the +Antwerp fury. Men cited and relied upon the advice of William of Orange +as to this negotiation with France. But Orange never dreamed of going so +far as now proposed. He was ever careful to keep the Provinces of +Holland and Zeeland safe from every foreign master. That spot was to be +holy ground. Not out of personal ambition. God forbid that they, should +accuse his memory of any such impurity, but because he wished one safe +refuge for the spirit of freedom. + +Many years long they had held out by land and sea against the Spaniards, +and should they now, because this Des Pruneaux shrugged his shoulders, be +so alarmed as to open the door to the same Spaniard wearing the disguise +of a Frenchman? + +Prince Maurice also made a brief representation to the States' Assembly +of Holland, in which, without distinctly opposing the negotiation with +France, he warned them not to proceed too hastily with so grave a matter. +He reminded them how far they had gone in the presentation of the +sovereignty to his late father, and requested them, in their dealings +with France, not to forget his interests and those of his family. He +reminded them of the position of that family, overladen with debt +contracted in their service alone. He concluded by offering most +affectionately his service in any way in which he, young and +inexperienced as he knew himself to be, might be thought useful; as he +was long since resolved to devote his life to the welfare of his country. + +These passionate appeals were answered with equal vehemence by those who +had made up their minds to try the chances of the French sovereignty. +Des Pruneaux, meanwhile, was travelling from province to province, and +from city to city, using the arguments which have already been +sufficiently indicated, and urging a speedy compliance with the French +King's propositions. At the same time, in accordance with his +instructions, he was very cautious to confine himself to generalities, +and to avoid hampering his royal master with the restrictions which had +proved so irksome to the Duke of Anjou. + +"The States General demanded a copy of my speech," he wrote the day after +that harangue had been delivered, "but I only gave them a brief outline; +extending myself [25th August, 1584] as little as I possibly could, +according to the intention and command of your Majesty. When I got here, +I found them without hope of our assistance, and terribly agitated by the +partizans of Spain. There was some danger of their going over in a panic +to the enemy. They are now much changed again, and the Spanish partizans +are beginning to lose their tongues. I invite them, if they intend to +address your Majesty, to proceed as they ought towards a veritably grand +monarch, without hunting up any of their old quibbles, or reservations of +provinces, or any thing else which could inspire suspicion. I have sent +into Gelderland and Friesland, for I find I must stay here in Holland and +Zeeland myself. These two provinces are the gates and ramparts through +which we must enter. 'Tis, in my opinion, what could be called superb, +to command all the sea, thus subject to the crown of France. And France, +too, with assistance of this country, will command the land as well. +They are much astonished here, however, that I communicate nothing of the +intention of your Majesty. They say that if your Majesty does not accept +this offer of their country, your Majesty puts the rope around their +necks." + +The French envoy was more and more struck with the brilliancy of the +prize offered to his master. "If the King gets these Provinces," said he +to Catharine, "'t will be the most splendid inheritance which Prince has +ever conquered." + +In a very few weeks the assiduity of the envoy and of the French party +was successful. All the other provinces had very soon repeated the offer +which they had previously made through Asseliers and La Mouillerie. By +the beginning of October the opposition of Holland was vanquished. The +estates of that Province--three cities excepted, however--determined "to +request England and France to assume a joint protectorate over the +Netherlands. In case the King of France should refuse this proposition, +they were then ready to receive him as prince and master, with knowledge +and consent of the Queen of England, and on such conditions as the United +States should approve." + +Immediately afterwards, the General Assembly of all the States determined +to offer the sovereignty to King Henry "on conditions to be afterwards +settled." + +Des Pruneaux, thus triumphant, received a gold chain of the value of two +thousand florins, and departed before the end of October for France. + +The departure of the solemn embassy to that country, for the purpose of +offering the sovereignty to the King, was delayed till the beginning of +January. Meantime it is necessary to cast a glance at the position of +England in relation to these important transactions. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive +Enmity between Lutherans and Calvinists +Find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace +German-Lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom +Intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions +Lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns +Make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you +Necessity of kingship +Neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own +Nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence +Pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law +Seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous +Shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen +String of homely proverbs worthy of Sancho Panza +The very word toleration was to sound like an insult +There was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm +Tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health +Write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v37 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, 1584-1585 + + +CHAPTER III. + + Policy of England--Schemes of the Pretender of Portugal--Hesitation + of the French Court--Secret Wishes of France--Contradictory Views as + to the Opinions of Netherlanders--Their Love for England and + Elizabeth--Prominent Statesmen of the Provinces--Roger Williams the + Welshman Views of Walsingham, Burghley, and the Queen--An Embassy to + Holland decided upon--Davison at the Hague--Cautious and Secret + Measures of Burghley--Consequent Dissatisfaction of Walsingham-- + English and Dutch Suspicion of France--Increasing Affection of + Holland for England. + +The policy of England towards the Provinces had been somewhat hesitating, +but it had not been disloyal. It was almost inevitable that there should +be timidity in the councils of Elizabeth, when so grave a question as +that of confronting the vast power of Spain was forcing itself day by +day more distinctly upon the consideration of herself and her statesmen. +It was very clear, now that Orange was dead, that some new and decided +step would be taken. Elizabeth was in favour of combined action by the +French and English governments, in behalf of the Netherlands--a joint +protectorate of the Provinces, until such time as adequate concessions on +the religious question could be obtained from Spain. She was unwilling +to plunge into the peril and expense of a war with the strongest power in +the world. She disliked the necessity under which she should be placed +of making repeated applications to her parliament, and of thus fostering +the political importance of the Commons; she was reluctant to encourage +rebellious subjects in another land, however just the cause of their +revolt. She felt herself vulnerable in Ireland and on the Scottish +border. Nevertheless, the Spanish power was becoming so preponderant, +that if the Netherlands were conquered, she could never feel a moment's +security within her own territory. If the Provinces were annexed to +France, on the other hand, she could not contemplate with complacency +the increased power thus placed in the hands of the treacherous and +jesuitical house of Valois. + +The path of the Queen was thickly strewed with peril: her advisers were +shrewd, far-seeing, patriotic, but some of them were perhaps over +cautious. The time had, however, arrived when the danger was to be +faced, if the whole balance of power in Europe were not to come to an +end, and weak states, like England and the Netherlands, to submit to the +tyranny of an overwhelming absolutism. The instinct of the English +sovereign, of English statesmen, of the English nation, taught them that +the cause of the Netherlands was their own. Nevertheless, they were +inclined to look on yet a little longer, although the part of spectator +had become an impossible one. The policy of the English government was +not treacherous, although it was timid. That of the French court was +both the one and the other, and it would have been better both for +England and the Provinces, had they more justly appreciated the character +of Catharine de' Medici and her son. + +The first covert negotiations between Henry and the States had caused +much anxiety among the foreign envoys in France. Don Bernardino de +Mendoza, who had recently returned from Spain after his compulsory +retreat from his post of English ambassador, was now established in +Paris, as representative of Philip. He succeeded Tasais--a Netherlander +by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the Spanish service--and +his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to +which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the League. His +salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence +intolerable. + +"Tassis is gone to the Netherlands," wrote envoy Busbecq to the Emperor, +"and thence is to proceed to Spain. Don Bernardino has arrived in his +place. If it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it +would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his +intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy. I +would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in +other respects so inferior to Tassis." + +It is, however, very certain that Mendoza was not only a brave soldier, +but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his +inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a +negotiator. He was, of course, watching with much fierceness the +progress of these underhand proceedings between the French court and the +rebellious subjects of his master, and using threats and expostulations +in great profusion. "Mucio," too, the great stipendiary of Philip, was +becoming daily more dangerous, and the adherents of the League were +multiplying with great celerity. + +The pretender of Portugal, Don Antonio, prior of Crato, was also in +Paris; and it was the policy of both the French and the English +governments to protect his person, and to make use of him as a rod over +the head of Philip. Having escaped, after the most severe sufferings, in +the mountains of Spain, where he had been tracked like a wild beast, with +a price of thirty thousand crowns placed upon his head, he was now most +anxious to stir the governments of Europe into espousing his cause, and +into attacking Spain through the recently acquired kingdom of Portugal. +Meantime, he was very desirous of some active employment, to keep himself +from starving, and conceived the notion, that it would be an excellent +thing for the Netherlands and himself, were he to make good to them the +loss of William the Silent. + +"Don Antonio," wrote Stafford, "made a motion to me yesterday, to move +her Majesty, that now upon the Prince of Orange's death, as it is a +necessary thing for them to have a governor and head, and him to be at +her Majesty's devotion, if her Majesty would be at the means to work it +for him, she should be assured nobody should be more faithfully tied in +devotion to her than he. Truly you would pity the poor man's case, who +is almost next door to starving in effect." + +A starving condition being, however, not the only requisite in a governor +and head to replace the Prince of Orange, nothing came of this motion. +Don Antonio remained in Paris, in a pitiable plight, and very much +environed by dangers; for the Duke of Guise and his brother had +undertaken to deliver him into the hands of Philip the Second, or those +of his ministers, before the feast of St. John of the coming year. Fifty +thousand dollars were to be the reward of this piece of work, combined +with other services; "and the sooner they set about it the better," said +Philip, writing a few months later, "for the longer they delay it, the +less easy will they find it."' + +The money was never earned, however, and meantime Don Antonio made +himself as useful as he could, in picking up information for Sir Edward +Stafford and the other opponents of Spanish policy in Paris. + +The English envoy was much embarrassed by the position of affairs. He +felt sure that the French monarch would never dare to enter the lists +against the king of Spain, yet he was accurately informed of the secret +negotiations with the Netherlands, while in the dark as to the ultimate +intentions of his own government. + +"I was never set to school so much," he wrote to Walsingham (27th July, +1584), "as I have been to decipher the cause of the deputies of the Low +Countries coming hither, the offers that they made the King here, and the +King's manner of dealing with them!" + +He expressed great jealousy at the mystery which enveloped the whole +transaction; and much annoyance with Noel de Caron, who "kept very +secret, and was angry at the motion," when he endeavoured to discover the +business in which they were engaged. Yet he had the magnanimity to +request Walsingham not to mention the fact to the Queen, lest she should +be thereby prejudiced against the States. + +"For my part," said he, "I would be glad in any thing to further them, +rather than to hinder them--though they do not deserve it--yet for the +good the helping them at this time may bring ourselves." + +Meantime, the deputies went away from France, and the King went to Lyons, +where he had hoped to meet both the Duke of Savoy and the King of +Navarre. But Joyeuse, who had been received at Chambery with "great +triumphs and tourneys," brought back only a broken wrist, without +bringing the Duke of Savoy; that potentate sending word that the "King of +Spain had done him the honour to give him his daughter, and that it was +not fit for him to do any thing that might bring jealousy." + +Henry of Navarre also, as we have seen, declined the invitation sent him, +M. de Segur not feeling disposed for the sudden flight out of window +suggested by Agrippa D' Aubigne; so that, on the whole, the King and his +mother, with all the court, returned from Lyons in marvellous ill humour. + +"The King storms greatly," said Stafford, "and is in a great dump." +It was less practicable than ever to discover the intentions of the +government; for although it was now very certain that active exertions +were making by Des Pruneaux in the Provinces, it was not believed by the +most sagacious that a serious resolution against Spain had been taken in +France. There was even a talk of a double matrimonial alliance, at that +very moment, between the two courts. + +"It is for certain here said," wrote Stafford, "that the King of Spain +doth presently marry the dowager of France, and 'tis thought that if the +King of Spain marry, he will not live a year. Whensoever the marriage +be," added the envoy, "I would to God the effect were true, for if it be +not by some such handy work of God, I am afraid things will not go so +well as I could wish." + +There was a lull on the surface of affairs, and it was not easy to sound +the depths of unseen combinations and intrigues. + +There was also considerable delay in the appointment and the arrival of +the new deputies from the Netherlands; and Stafford was as doubtful as +ever as to the intentions of his own government. + +"They look daily here for the States," he wrote to Walsingham (29th Dec. +1584), "and I pray that I may hear from you as soon as you may, what +course I shall take when they be here, either hot or cold or lukewarm in +the matter, and in what sort I shall behave myself. Some badly affected +have gone about to put into the King's head, that they never meant to +offer the sovereignty, which, though the King be not thoroughly persuaded +of, yet so much is won by this means that the King hearkeneth to see the +end, and then to believe as he seeth cause, and in the meantime to speak +no more of any such matter than if it had never been moved." + +While his Majesty was thus hearkening in order to see more, according to +Sir Edward's somewhat Hibernian mode of expressing himself, and keeping +silent that he might see the better, it was more difficult than ever for +the envoy to know what course to pursue. Some persons went so far as to +suggest that the whole negotiation was a mere phantasmagoria devised by +Queen Elizabeth--her purpose being to breed a quarrel between Henry and +Philip for her own benefit; and "then, seeing them together by the ears, +as her accustomed manner was, to let them go alone, and sit still to look +on." + +The King did not appear to be much affected by these insinuations against +Elizabeth; but the doubt and the delay were very harrassing. "I would to +God," wrote the English envoy, "that if the States mean to do anything +here with the King, and if her. Majesty and the council think it fit, +they would delay no time, but go roundly either to an agreement or to a +breach with the King. Otherwise, as the matter now sleepeth, so it will +die, for the King must be taken in his humour when he begins to nibble at +any bait, for else he will come away, and never bite a full bite while he +liveth." + +There is no doubt that the bait, at which Henry nibbled with much +avidity, was the maritime part of the Netherlands. Holland and Zeeland +in the possession of either England or Spain, was a perpetual +inconvenience to France. The King, or rather the Queen-Mother and her +advisers--for Henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections. +on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those +Provinces. It had been the French policy, from the beginning, to delay +matters, in order to make the States feel the peril of their position to +the full. + +"The King, differing and temporising," wrote Herle to the Queen, "would +have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer +unto him simply the possession of all their estates. Otherwise, they +were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." + +Even before the death of Orange, Henry had been determined, if possible, +to obtain possession of the island of Walcheren, which controlled the +whole country. "To give him that," said Herle, "would be to turn the hot +end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the King's +hand. He had accordingly made a secret offer to William of Orange, +through the Princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, +if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual +inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of Walcheren. In that +case he promised to declare war upon the King of Spain, to confirm to the +States their privileges, and to guarantee to the Prince the earldoms of +Holland and Zeeland, with all his other lands and titles." + +It is superfluous to say that such offers were only regarded by the +Prince as an affront. It was, however, so necessary, in his opinion; to +maintain the cause of the reformed churches in France, and to keep up the +antagonism between that country and Spain, that the French policy was not +abandoned, although the court was always held in suspicion. + +But on the death of William, there was a strong reaction against France +and in favour of England. Paul Buys, one of the ablest statesmen of the +Netherlands, Advocate of Holland, and a confidential friend of William +the Silent up to the time of his death, now became the leader of the +English party, and employed his most strenuous efforts against the French +treaty-having "seen the scope of that court." + +With regard to the other leading personages, there was a strong +inclination in favour of Queen Elizabeth, whose commanding character +inspired great respect. At the same time warmer sentiments of adhesion +seem to have been expressed towards the French court, by the same +individuals, than the, mere language of compliment justified. + +Thus, the widowed Princess of Orange was described by Des Pruneaux to his +sovereign, as "very desolate, but nevertheless doing all in her power to +advance his interests; the Count Maurice, of gentle hopes, as also most +desirous of remaining his Majesty's humble servant, while Elector +Truchsess was said to be employing himself, in the same cause, with very +great affection." + +A French statesman resident in the Provinces, whose name has not been +preserved, but who was evidently on intimate terms with many eminent +Netherlanders, declared that Maurice, "who had a mind entirely French, +deplored infinitely the misfortunes of France, and regretted that all the +Provinces could not be annexed to so fair a kingdom. I do assure you," +he added, "that he is in no wise English." + +Of Count Hohenlo, general-in-chief of the States' army under Prince +Maurice, and afterwards his brother-in-law, the same gentleman spoke with +even greater confidence. "Count d'Oloc," said he (for by that ridiculous +transformation of his name the German general was known to French and +English), "with whom I have passed three weeks on board the fleet of the +States, is now wholly French, and does not love the English at all. The +very first time I saw him, he protested twice or thrice, in presence of +members of the States General and of the State Council, that if he had no +Frenchmen he could never carry on the war. He made more account," he +said, "of two thousand French than of six thousand others, English, or +Germans." + +Yet all these distinguished persons--the widowed Princess of Orange, +Count Maurice, ex-elector Truchsess, Count Holenlo--were described to +Queen Elizabeth by her confidential agent, then employed in the +Provinces, as entirely at that sovereign's devotion. + +"Count Maurice holds nothing of the French, nor esteems them," said +Herle, "but humbly desired me to signify unto your Majesty that he had in +his mind and determination faithfully vowed his service to your Majesty, +which should be continued in his actions with all duty, and sealed with +his blood; for he knew how much his father and the cause were beholden +ever to your Highness's goodness." + +The Princess, together with her sister-in-law Countess Schwartzenburg, +and the young daughters of the late Prince were described on the same +occasion "as recommending their service unto her Majesty with a most +tender affection, as to a lady of all ladies." "Especially," said Herle, +"did the two Princesses in most humble and wise sort, express a certain +fervent devotion towards your Majesty." + +Elector Truchsess was spoken of as "a prince well qualified and greatly +devoted to her Majesty; who, after many grave and sincere words had of +her Majesty's virtue, calling her 'la fille unique de Dieu, and le bien +heureuse Princesse', desired of God that he might do her service as she +merited." + +And, finally, Count Hollock--who seemed to "be reformed in sundry things, +if it hold" (a delicate allusion to the Count's propensity for strong +potations), was said "to desire humbly to be known for one that would +obey the commandment of her Majesty more than of any earthly prince +living besides." + +There can be no doubt that there was a strong party in favour of an +appeal to England rather than to France. The Netherlanders were too +shrewd a people not to recognize the difference between the king of a +great realm, who painted his face and wore satin petticoats, and the +woman who entertained ambassadors, each in his own language, on gravest +affairs of state, who matched in her wit and wisdom the deepest or the +most sparkling intellects of her council, who made extemporaneous Latin +orations to her universities, and who rode on horseback among her +generals along the lines of her troops in battle-array, and yet was only +the unmarried queen of a petty and turbulent state. + +"The reverend respect that is borne to your Majesty throughout these +countries is great," said William Herle. They would have thrown +themselves into her arms, heart and soul, had they been cordially +extended at that moment of their distress; but she was coy, hesitating, +and, for reasons already sufficiently indicated, although not so +conclusive as they seemed, disposed to temporize and to await the issue +of the negotiations between the Provinces and France. + +In Holland and Zeeland especially, there was an enthusiastic feeling in +favour of the English alliance. "They recommend themselves," said Herleo +"throughout the country in their consultations and assemblies, as also in +their common and private speeches, to the Queen of England's only favour +and goodness, whom they call their saviour, and the Princess of greatest +perfection in wisdom and sincerity that ever governed. Notwithstanding +their treaty now on foot by their deputies with France, they are not more +disposed to be governed by the French than to be tyrannized over by the +Spaniard; concluding it to be alike; and even 'commutare non sortem sed +servitutem'." + +Paul Buys was indefatigable in his exertions against the treaty with +France, and in stimulating the enthusiasm for England and Elizabeth. He +expressed sincere and unaffected devotion to the Queen on all occasions, +and promised that no negotiations should take place, however secret and +confidential, that were not laid before her Majesty. "He has the chief +administration among the States," said Herle, "and to his credit and +dexterity they attribute the despatch of most things. He showed unto me +the state of the enemy throughout the provinces, and of the negotiation +in France, whereof he had no opinion at all of success, nor any will of +his own part but to please the Prince of Orange in his life-time." + +It will be seen in the sequel whether or not the views of this +experienced and able statesman were lucid and comprehensive. It will +also be seen whether his strenuous exertions in favour of the English +alliance were rewarded as bountifully as they deserved, by those most +indebted to him. + +Meantime he was busily employed in making the English government +acquainted with the capacity, disposition, and general plans of the +Netherlanders. + +"They have certain other things in consultation amongst the States to +determine of," wrote Herle, "which they were sworn not to reveal to any, +but Buys protested that nothing should pass but to your liking and +surety, and the same to be altered and disposed as should seem good to +your Highness's own authority; affirming to me sincerely that Holland and +Zeeland, with the rest of the provinces, for the estimation they had of +your high virtue and temperancy, would yield themselves absolutely to +your Majesty and crown for ever, or to none other (their liberties only +reserved), whereof you should have immediate possession, without +reservation of place or privilege." + +The important point of the capability of the Provinces to defend +themselves, about which Elizabeth was most anxious to be informed, was +also fully elucidated by the Advocate. "The means should be such, +proceeding from the Provinces," said he, "as your Majesty might defend +your interest therein with facility against the whole world." He then +indicated a plan, which had been proposed by the States of Brabant to the +States General, according to which they were to keep on foot an army of +15,000 foot and 5000 horse, with which they should be able, "to expulse +the enemy and to reconquer their towns and country lost, within three +months." Of this army they hoped to induce the Queen to furnish 5000 +English footmen and 500 horse, to be paid monthly by a treasurer of her +own; and for the assistance thus to be furnished they proposed to give +Ostend and Sluys as pledge of payment. According to this scheme the +elector palatine, John Casimir, had promised to furnish, equip, and pay +2000 cavalry, taking the town of Maestricht and the country of Limburg, +when freed from the enemy, in pawn for his disbursements; while Antwerp +and Brabant had agreed to supply 300,000 crowns in ready money for +immediate use. Many powerful politicians opposed this policy, however, +and urged reliance upon France, "so that this course seemed to be lame in +many parts."--[Letter of Herle]. + +Agents had already been sent both to England and France, to procure, if +possible, a levy of troops for immediate necessity. The attempt was +unsuccessful in France, but the Dutch community of the reformed religion +in London subscribed nine thousand and five florins. This sum, with +other contributions, proved sufficient to set Morgan's regiment on foot, +which soon after began to arrive in the Netherlands by companies. "But +if it were all here at once," said Stephen Le Sieur, "'t would be but a +breakfast for the enemy." + +The agent for the matter in England was De Griyse, formerly bailiff of +Bruges; and although tolerably successful in his mission, he was not +thought competent for so important a post, nor officially authorised for +the undertaking. While procuring this assistance in English troops he +had been very urgent with the Queen to further the negotiations between +the States and France; and Paul Buys was offended with him as a mischief- +maker and an intriguer. He complained of him as having "thrust himself +in, to deal and intermeddle in the affairs of the Low Countries +unavowed," and desired that he might be closely looked after. + +After the Advocate, the next most important statesman in the provinces +was, perhaps, Meetkerk, President of the High Court of Flanders, a man of +much learning, sincerity, and earnestness of character; having had great +experience in the diplomatic service of the country on many important +occasions. "He stands second in reputation here," said Herle, "and both +Buys and he have one special care in all practises that are discovered, +to examine how near anything may concern your person or kingdom, whereof +they will advertise as matter shall fall out in importance." + +John van Olden-Barneveldt, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of +the country, was rather inclined, at this period, to favour the French +party; a policy which was strenuously furthered by Villiers and by Sainte +Aldegonde. + +Besides the information furnished to the English government, as to the +state of feeling and resources of the Netherlands, by Buys, Meetkerk, and +William Herle, Walsingham relied much upon the experienced eye and the +keen biting humour of Roger Williams. + +A frank open-hearted Welshman, with no fortune but his sword, but as true +as its steel, he had done the States much important service in the hard- +fighting days of Grand Commander Requesens and of Don John of Austria. +With a shrewd Welsh head under his iron morion, and a stout Welsh heart +under his tawny doublet, he had gained little but hard knocks and a dozen +wounds in his campaigning, and had but recently been ransomed, rather +grudgingly by his government, from a Spanish prison in Brabant. He was +suffering in health from its effects, but was still more distressed in +mind, from his sagacious reading of the signs of the times. Fearing that +England was growing lukewarm, and the Provinces desperate, he was +beginning to find himself out of work, and was already casting about him +for other employment. Poor, honest, and proud, he had repeatedly +declined to enter the Spanish service. Bribes, such as at a little later +period were sufficient to sully conspicuous reputations and noble names, +among his countrymen in better circumstances than his own, had been +freely but unsuccessfully offered him. To serve under any but the +English or States' flag in the Provinces he scorned; and he thought the +opportunity fast slipping away there for taking the Papistical party in +Europe handsomely by the beard. He had done much manful work in the +Netherlands, and was destined to do much more; but he was now +discontented, and thought himself slighted. In more remote regions of +the world, the, thrifty soldier thought that there might be as good +harvesting for his sword as in the thrice-trampled stubble of Flanders. + +"I would refuse no hazard that is possible to be done in the Queen's +service," he said to Walsingham; "but I do persuade myself she makes no +account of me. Had it not been for the duty that nature bound me towards +her and my country, I needed not to have been in that case that I am in. +Perhaps I could have fingered more pistoles than Mr. Newell, the late +Latiner, and had better usage and pension of the Spaniards than he. Some +can tell that I refused large offers, in the misery of Alost, of the +Prince of Parma. Last of all, Verdugo offered me very fair, being in +Loccum, to quit the States' service, and accept theirs, without treachery +or betraying of place or man." + +Not feeling inclined to teach Latin in Spain, like the late Mr. Newell, +or to violate oaths and surrender fortresses, like brave soldiers of +fortune whose deeds will be afterwards chronicled, he was disposed to +cultivate the "acquaintance of divers Pollacks," from which he had +received invitations. "Find I nothing there," said he, "Duke Matthias +has promised me courtesy if I would serve in Hungary. If not, I will +offer service to one of the Turk's bashaws against the Persians." + +Fortunately, work was found for the trusty Welshman in the old fields. +His brave honest face often reappeared; his sharp sensible tongue uttered +much sage counsel; and his ready sword did various solid service, in +leaguer, battle-field, and martial debate, in Flanders, Holland, Spain, +and France. + +For the present, he was casting his keen glances upon the negotiations in +progress, and cavilling at the general policy which seemed predominant. + +He believed that the object of the French was to trifle with the States, +to protract interminably their negotiations, to prevent the English +government from getting any hold upon the Provinces, and then to leave +them to their fate. + +He advised Walsingham to advance men and money, upon the security of +Sluys and Ostend. + +"I dare venture my life," said he, with much energy, "that were Norris, +Bingham, Yorke, or Carlisle, in those ports, he would keep them during +the Spanish King's life." + +But the true way to attack Spain--a method soon afterwards to be carried +into such brilliant effect by the naval heroes of England and the +Netherlands--the long-sighted Welshman now indicated; a combined attack, +namely, by sea upon the colonial possessions of Philip. + +"I dare be bound," said he, "if you join with Treslong, the States +Admiral, and send off, both, three-score sail into his Indies, we will +force him to retire from conquering further, and to be contented to let +other princes live as well as he." + +In particular, Williams urged rapid action, and there is little doubt, +that had the counsels of prompt, quick-witted, ready-handed soldiers like +himself, and those who thought with him, been taken; had the stealthy but +quick-darting policy of Walsingham prevailed over the solemn and stately +but somewhat ponderous proceedings of Burghley, both Ghent and Antwerp +might have been saved, the trifling and treacherous diplomacy of +Catharine de' Medici neutralized, and an altogether more fortunate aspect +given at once to the state of Protestant affairs. + +"If you mean to do anything," said he, "it is more than time now. If you +will send some man of credit about it, will it please your honour, I will +go with him, because I know the humour of the people, and am acquainted +with a number of the best. I shall be able to show him a number of their +dealings, as well with the French as in other affairs, and perhaps will +find means to send messengers to Ghent, and to other places, better than +the States; for the message of one soldier is better than twenty boors." + +It was ultimately decided--as will soon be related--to send a man of +credit to the Provinces. Meantime, the policy of England continued to be +expectant and dilatory, and Advocate Buys, after having in vain attempted +to conquer the French influence, and bring about the annexation of the +Provinces to England, threw down his office in disgust, and retired for a +time from the contest. He even contemplated for a moment taking service +in Denmark, but renounced the notion of abandoning his country, and he +will accordingly be found, at a later period, conspicuous in public +affairs. + +The deliberations in the English councils were grave and anxious, for it +became daily more obvious that the Netherland question was the hinge upon +which the, whole fate of Christendom was slowly turning. To allow the +provinces to fall back again into the grasp of Philip, was to offer +England herself as a last sacrifice to the Spanish Inquisition. This was +felt by all the statesmen in the land; but some of them, more than the +rest, had a vivid perception of the danger, and of the necessity of +dealing with it at once. + +To the prophetic eye of Walsingham, the mists of the future at times +were lifted; and the countless sails of the invincible Armada, wafting +defiance and destruction to England, became dimly visible. He felt that +the great Netherland bulwark of Protestantism and liberty was to be +defended at all hazards, and that the death-grapple could not long be +deferred. + +Burghley, deeply pondering, but less determined, was still disposed to +look on and to temporize. + +The Queen, far-seeing and anxious, but somewhat hesitating, still clung +to the idea of a joint protectorate. She knew that the reestablishment +of Spanish authority in the Low Countries would be fatal to England, but +she was not yet prepared to throw down the gauntlet to Philip. She felt +that the proposed annexation of the Provinces to France would be almost +as formidable; yet she could not resolve, frankly and fearlessly, to +assume, the burthen of their protection. Under the inspiration of +Burghley, she was therefore willing to encourage the Netherlanders +underhand; preventing them at every hazard from slackening in their +determined hostility to Spain; discountenancing, without absolutely +forbidding, their proposed absorption by France; intimating, without +promising, an ultimate and effectual assistance from herself. Meantime, +with something of feline and feminine duplicity, by which the sex of the +great sovereign would so often manifest itself in the most momentous +affairs, she would watch and wait, teasing the Provinces, dallying with +the danger, not quite prepared as yet to abandon the prize to Henry or +Philip, or to seize it herself. + +The situation was rapidly tending to become an impossible one. + +Late in October a grave conference was held council, "upon the question +whether her Majesty should presently relieve the States of the Low +Countries." + +It was shown, upon one side, that the "perils to the Queen and to the +realm were great, if the King of Spain should recover Holland and +Zeeland, as he had the other countries, for lack of succour in seasonable +time, either by the French King or the Queen's Majesty." + +On the other side, the great difficulties in the way of effectual +assistance by England, were "fully remembered." + +"But in the end, and upon comparison made," said Lord Burghley, summing +up, "betwixt the perils on the one part, and the difficulties on the +other," it was concluded that the Queen would be obliged to succumb to +the power of Spain, and the liberties of England be hopelessly lost, if +Philip were then allowed to carry out his designs, and if the Provinces +should be left without succour at his mercy. + +A "wise person" was accordingly to be sent into Holland; first, to +ascertain whether the Provinces had come to an actual agreement with the +King of France, and, if such should prove to be the case, to enquire +whether that sovereign had pledged himself to declare war upon Philip. +In this event, the wise person was to express her Majesty's satisfaction +that the Provinces were thus to be "relieved from the tyranny of the King +of Spain." + +On the other hand, if it should appear that no such conclusive +arrangements had been made, and that the Provinces were likely to fall +again victims to the "Spanish tyranny," her Majesty would then "strain +herself as far as, with preservation of her own estate, she might, to +succour them at this time." + +The agent was then to ascertain "what conditions the Provinces would +require" upon the matter of succour, and, if the terms seemed reasonable, +he would assure them that "they should not be left to the cruelties of +the Spaniards." + +And further, the wise person, "being pressed to answer, might by +conference of speeches and persuasions provoke them to offer to the Queen +the ports of Flushing and Middelburg and the Brill, wherein she meant not +to claim any property, but to hold them as gages for her expenses, and +for performances of their covenants." + +He was also to make minute inquiries as to the pecuniary resources of the +Provinces, the monthly sums which they would be able to contribute, the +number of troops and of ships of war that they would pledge themselves to +maintain. These investigations were very important, because the Queen, +although very well disposed to succour them, "so nevertheless she was to +consider how her power might be extended, without ruin or manifest peril +to her own estate." + +It was also resolved, in the same conference, that a preliminary step of +great urgency was to "procure a good peace with the King of Scots." +Whatever the expense of bringing about such a pacification might be, it +was certain that a "great deal more would be expended in defending the +realm against Scotland," while England was engaged in hostilities with +Spain. Otherwise, it was argued that her Majesty would be "so impeached +by Scotland in favour of the King of Spain, that her action against that +King would be greatly weakened." + +Other measures necessary to be taken in view of the Spanish war were also +discussed. The ex-elector of Cologne, "a man of great account in +Germany," was to be assisted with money to make head against his rival +supported by the troops of Philip. + +Duke Casimir of the Palatinate was to be solicited to make a diversion +in Gelderland. + +The King of France was to be reminded of his treaty with England for +mutual assistance in case of the invasion by a foreign power of either +realm, and to be informed "not only of the intentions of the Spaniards +to invade England, upon their conquest of the Netherlands, but of their +actual invasion of Ireland." + +It was "to be devised how the King of Navarre and Don Antonio of +Portugal, for their respective titles, might be induced to offend and +occupy the King of Spain, whereby to diminish his forces bent upon the +Low Countries." + +It was also decided that Parliament should be immediately summoned, in +which, besides the request of a subsidy, many other necessary, provisions +should be made for her Majesty's safety. + +"The conclusions of the whole," said Lord Burghley, with much +earnestness, "was this. Although her Majesty should hereby enter into a +war presently, yet were she better to do it now, while she may make the +same out of her realm, having the help of the people of Holland, and +before the King of Spain shall have consummated his conquests in those +countries, whereby he shall be so provoked with pride, solicited by the +Pope, and tempted by the Queen's own subjects, and shall be so strong by +sea, and so free from all other actions and quarrels,--yea, shall be so +formidable to all the rest of Christendom, as that her Majesty shall no +wise be able, with her own power, nor with aid of any other, neither by +sea nor land, to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced to give +place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible to be thought of, +but miserable to suffer." + +Thus did the Lord Treasurer wisely, eloquently, and well, describe the +danger by which England was environed. Through the shield of Holland the +spear was aimed full at the heart of England. But was it a moment to +linger? Was that buckler to be suffered to fall to the ground, or to be +raised only upon the arm of a doubtful and treacherous friend? Was it an +hour when the protection of Protestantism and of European liberty against +Spain was to be entrusted to the hand of a feeble and priest-ridden +Valois? Was it wise to indulge any longer in doubtings and dreamings, +and in yet a little more folding of the arms to sleep, while that +insatiable malice, so terrible to be thought of, so miserable to feel, +was bowing hourly more formidable, and approaching nearer and nearer? + +Early in December, William Davison, gentleman-in-ordinary of her +Majesty's household, arrived at the Hague; a man painstaking, earnest, +and zealous, but who was fated, on more than one great occasion, to be +made a scape-goat for the delinquencies of greater personages than +himself. + +He had audience of the States General on the 8th December. He then +informed that body that the Queen had heard, with, sorrowful heart, of +the great misfortunes which the United Provinces had sustained since the +death of the Prince of Orange; the many cities which they had lost, and +the disastrous aspect of the common cause. Moved by the affection which +she had always borne the country, and anxious for its preservation, she +had ordered her ambassador Stafford to request the King of France to +undertake, jointly with herself, the defence of the provinces against the +king of Spain. Not till very lately, however, had that envoy succeeded +in obtaining an audience, and he had then received "a very cold answer." +It being obvious to her Majesty, therefore, that the French government +intended to protract these matters indefinitely, Davison informed the +States that she had commissioned him to offer them "all possible +assistance, to enquire into the state of the country, and to investigate +the proper means of making that assistance most useful." He accordingly +requested the appointment of a committee to confer with him upon the +subject; and declared that the Queen did not desire to make herself +mistress of the Provinces, but only to be informed how she best could aid +their cause. + +A committee was accordingly appointed, and a long series of somewhat +concealed negotiations was commenced. As the deputies were upon the eve +of their departure for France, to offer the sovereignty of the Provinces +to Henry, these proceedings were necessarily confused, dilatory, and at +tines contradictory. + +After the arrival of the deputies in France, the cunctative policy +inspired by the Lord Treasurer was continued by England. The delusion of +a joint protectorate was still clung to by the Queen, although the +conduct of France was becoming very ambiguous, and suspicion growing +darker as to the ultimate and secret purport of the negotiations in +progress. + +The anxiety and jealousy of Elizabeth were becoming keener than ever. If +the offers to the King were unlimited; he would accept them, and would +thus become as dangerous as Philip. If they were unsatisfactory, he +would turn his back upon the Provinces, and leave them a prey to Philip. +Still she would not yet renounce the hope of bringing the French King +over to an ingenuous course of action. It was thought, too, that +something might be done with the great malcontent nobles of Flanders, +whose defection from the national cause had been so disastrous, but who +had been much influenced in their course, it was thought, by their +jealousy of William the Silent. + +Now that the Prince was dead, it was thought probable that the Arschots, +and Havres, Chimays, and Lalaings, might arouse themselves to more +patriotic views than they had manifested when they espoused the cause of +Spain. + +It would be desirable to excite their jealousy of French influence, and, +at the same time, to inspire throughout the popular mind the fear of +another tyranny almost as absolute as that of Spain. "And if it be +objected," said Burghley, "that except they shall admit the French King +to the absolute dominion, he will not aid them, and they, for lack of +succour, be forced to yield to the Spaniard, it may be answered that +rather than they should be wholly subjected to the French, or overcome +by the Spaniard, her Majesty would yield unto them as much as, with +preservation of her estate, and defence of her own country, might be +demanded." + +The real object kept in view by the Queen's government was, in short, to +obtain for the Provinces and for the general cause of liberty the +greatest possible amount of assistance from Henry, and to allow him to +acquire in return the least possible amount of power. The end proposed +was a reasonable one, but the means employed savoured too much of +intrigue. + +"It may be easily made probable to the States," said the Lord Treasurer, +"that the government of the French is likely to prove as cumbersome and +perilous as that of the Spaniards; and likewise it may probably be +doubted how the French will keep touch and covenants with them, when any +opportunity shall be offered to break them; so that her Majesty thinketh +no good can be looked for to those countries by yielding this large +authority to the French. If they shall continue their title by this +grant to be absolute lords, there is no end, for a long time, to be +expected of this war; and, contrariwise, if they break off, there is an +end of any good composition with the King of Spain." + +Shivering and shrinking, but still wading in deeper and deeper, inch by +inch, the cautious minister was fast finding himself too far advanced to +retreat. He was rarely decided, however, and never lucid; and least of +all in emergencies, when decision and lucidity would have been more +valuable than any other qualities. + +Deeply doubting, painfully balancing, he at times drove the unfortunate +Davison almost distraught. Puzzled himself and still more puzzling to +others, he rarely permitted the Netherlanders, or even his own agents, to +perceive his drift. It was fair enough, perhaps, to circumvent the +French government by its own arts, but the Netherlanders meanwhile were +in danger of sinking into despair. + +"Thus," wrote the Lord Treasurer to the envoy, "I have discoursed to you +of these uncertainties and difficulties, things not unknown to yourself, +but now being imparted to you by her Majesty's commandment, you are, by +your wisdom, to consider with whom to deal for the stay of this French +course, and yet, so to use it (as near as you may) that they of the +French faction there be not able to charge you therewith, by-advertising +into France. For it hath already appeared, by some speeches past between +our ambassador there and Des Pruneaux, that you are had in some jealousy +as a hinderer of this French course, and at work for her Majesty to have +some entrance and partage in that country. Nevertheless our ambassador; +by his answer, hath satisfied them to think the contrary." + +They must have been easily satisfied, if they knew as much of the +dealings of her Majesty's government as the reader already knows. To +inspire doubt of the French, to insinuate the probability of their not +"keeping touch and covenant," to represent their rule as "cumbersome and +perilous," was wholesome conduct enough towards the Netherlanders--and +still more so, had it been accompanied with frank offers of assistance +--but it was certainly somewhat to "hinder the courses of the French." + +But in truth all parties were engaged for a season in a round game of +deception, in which nobody was deceived. + +Walsingham was impatient, almost indignant at this puerility. "Your +doings, no doubt of it," he wrote to Davison, "are observed by the French +faction, and therefore you cannot proceed so closely but it will be +espied. Howsoever it be, seeing direction groweth from hence, we cannot +but blame ourselves, if the effects thereof do not fall out to our +liking." + +That sagacious statesman was too well informed, and too much accustomed +to penetrate the designs of his antagonists, to expect anything from the +present intrigues. + +To loiter thus, when mortal blows should be struck, was to give the +Spanish government exactly that of which it was always most gluttonous-- +time; and the Netherlanders had none of it to spare. "With time and +myself, there are two of us," was Philip II.'s favourite observation; and +the Prince of Parma was at this moment sorely perplexed by the parsimony +and the hesitations of his own government, by which his large, swift and +most creative genius was so often hampered. + +Thus the Spanish soldiers, deep in the trenches, went with bare legs and +empty stomachs in January; and the Dutchmen, among their broken dykes, +were up to their ears in mud and water; and German mercenaries, in the +obedient Provinces, were burning the peasants' houses in order to sell +the iron to buy food withal; while grave-visaged statesmen, in +comfortable cabinets, wagged their long white beards at each other from a +distance, and exchanged grimaces and protocols which nobody heeded. + +Walsingham was weary of this solemn trifling. "I conclude," said he to +Davison, "that her Majesty--with reverence be it spoken--is ill advised, +to direct you in a course that is like to work so great peril. I know +you will do your best endeavour to keep all things upright, and yet it is +hard--the disease being now come to this state, or, as the physicians +term it, crisis--to carry yourself in such sort, but that it will, I +fear, breed a dangerous alteration in the cause." + +He denounced with impatience, almost with indignation, the insincerity +and injustice of these intolerable hesitations. "Sorry am I," said he, +"to see the course that is taken in this weighty cause, for we will +neither help those poor countries ourselves, nor yet suffer others to +do it. I am not ignorant that in time to come the annexing of these +countries to the crown of France may prove prejudicial to England, but +if France refuse to deal with them, and the rather for that we shall +minister some cause of impediment by a kind of dealing underhand, then +shall they be forced to return into the hands of Spain, which is like to +breed such a present peril towards her Majesty's self, as never a wise +man that seeth it, and loveth her, but lamenteth it from the bottom of +his heart." + +Walsingham had made up his mind that it was England, not France, that +should take up the cause of the Provinces, and defend them at every +hazard. He had been overruled, and the Queen's government had decided to +watch the course of the French negotiation, doing what it could, +underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. The +Secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. At the same time +he had no faith in the good intentions of the French court. + +"I could wish," said he, "that the French King were carried with that +honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her Majesty is, +but France has not been used to do things for God's sake; neither do they +mean to use our advice or assistance in making of the bargain. For they +still hold a jealous conceit that when Spain and they are together by the +ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace." Walsingham, +therefore, earnestly deprecated the attitude provisionally maintained by +England. + +Meantime, early in January, (Jan. 3, 1585) the deputation from the +Provinces had arrived in France. The progress of their 1585 negotiation +will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general +dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the Netherlands. The +factitious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of France, as well +as the prejudice against England, began to die out. It became probable +in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, +that the French court was acting in connivance with Philip, and that the +negotiation was only intended to amuse the Netherlanders, to circumvent +the English, and to gain time both for France and Spain. It was not +believed that the character of Henry or the policy of his mother was +likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty +or Protestant principles. + +"They look for no better fruit from the commission to France," wrote +Davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and +breadth of vision, "than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither +leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief +elsewhere, especially in England, or else some pleasing motion of peace, +wherein the French King will offer his mediation with Spain. Meantime +the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, +shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some +Provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection +astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened. +This is the scope whereto the doings of the French King, not without +intelligence with the Spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is +pretended." + +There was a wide conviction that the French King was dealing falsely with +the Provinces. It seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense +jealousy of England, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those +whose "religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign," +he could not but disapprove, to allow Queen Elizabeth to steal a march +upon him, and "make her own market with Spain to his cost and +disadvantage." + +In short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently +shown--that Henry III. "was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as +his brother Charles did before the Massacre of St. Bartholomew." As the +letters received from the Dutch envoys in France became less and less +encouraging, and as the Queen was informed by her ambassador in Paris of +the tergiversations in Paris, she became the more anxious lest the States +should be driven to despair. She therefore wrote to Davison, instructing +him "to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from +himself--that though France should reject them, yet she would not abandon +them." + +He was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would +offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, +and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support +of the war that they were still capable of furnishing. She was beginning +to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and +manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that Ghent had fallen and +Brussels and Antwerp were in such imminent peril. She feared that, while +so much valuable time had been thrown away, the Provinces had become too +much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was +seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular +disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with Spain. It +soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, +but the other reasons for Elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid. + +On the whole, the feeling in favour of England was rapidly gaining +ground. In Holland especially there was general indignation against the +French party. The letters of the deputies occasioned "murmur and +mislike" of most persons, who noted them to contain "more ample report of +ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort." + +Sir Edward Stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of +the mysterious proceedings at Paris, assured his government that no +better result was to be looked for, "after long dalliance and +entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of +their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and +confusion than relief for their declining estate." While "reposing upon +a broken reed," they were, he thought, "neglecting other means more +expedient for their necessities." + +This was already the universal opinion in Holland. Men now remembered, +with bitterness, the treachery of the Duke of Anjou, which they had been +striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly +proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the Provinces. A committee of +the States had an interview with the Queen's envoy at the Hague; implored +her Majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited +regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination +"to pluck their heads out of the collar," so soon as the opportunity +should offer. + +They stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the assembly to lay +before him the instructions for the envoys to France, and the articles +proposed for the acceptance of the King. The envoy knew his business +better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these +documents, which he had already laid before his own government. + +He affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in +ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. "After some pretended +quarrel," said he, "for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, I did +accept them, as if. I had before neither seen nor heard of them." + +This then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence +of the deputies in France. It is now necessary to shift the scene to +that country. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Reception of the Dutch Envoys at the Louvre--Ignominious Result of + the Embassy--Secret Influences at work--Bargaining between the + French and Spanish Courts--Claims of Catharine de' Medici upon + Portugal--Letters of Henry and Catharine--Secret Proposal by France + to invade England--States' Mission to Henry of Navarre--Subsidies + of Philip to Guise--Treaty of Joinville--Philip's Share in the + League denied by Parma--Philip in reality its Chief--Manifesto of + the League--Attitude of Henry III. and of Navarre--The League + demands a Royal Decree--Designs of France and Spain against England + --Secret Interview of Mendoza and Villeroy--Complaints of English + Persecution--Edict of Nemours--Excommunication of Navarre and his + Reply. + +The King, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in Sir Edward +Stafford's language, "nibbled at the bait." He had, however, not been +secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, +under what were supposed to be most favourable circumstances. In +accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, Des Pruneaux, had been +busily employed in the States, arranging the terms of a treaty which +should be entirely satisfactory. It had been laid down as an +indispensable condition that Holland and Zeeland should unite in the +offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, +diplomacy, and money, Holland and Zeeland had given their consent. The +court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the +deputies. Early in December, Des Pruneaux wrote from Paris to Count +Maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action. + +"When I left you," he said, "I thought that performance would follow +promises. I have been a little ashamed, as the time passed by, to hear +nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. It would seem +as though God had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to +know their own adversity." + +To the States his language was still more insolent. "Excuse me, +Gentlemen," he said, "if I tell you that I blush at hearing nothing from +you. I shall have the shame and you the damage. I regret much the +capture of De Teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your +delays and want of resolution." + +Thus did the French court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and +then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the +sovereignty of the Provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever +since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire +fulfillment of the King's demands. The States were just despatching a +solemn embassy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to +terms. + +The envoys arrived on January 3rd, 1585, at Boulogne, after a stormy +voyage from Brielle. Yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all +the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling +in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both +embassies was to offer a crown. The deputies were, however, not kept in +prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. They were +admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; +they fared sumptuously every day, at Henry's expense, and, after they had +been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their +first audience. + +On the 13th February the King sent five "very splendid, richly-gilded, +court-coach-waggons" to bring the envoys to the palace. At one o'clock +they arrived at the Louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent +antechambers into the royal cabinet. The apartments through which they +passed swarmed with the foremost nobles, court-functionaries, and ladies +of France, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with +demonstrations of extreme respect: The halls and corridors were lined +with archers, halbardiers, Swiss guards, and grooms "besmeared with +gold," and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be +somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of +Holland. + +Henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the +Duke of Joyeuse--his foremost and bravest "minion"--by the Count of +Bouscaige, M. de Valette, and the Count of Chateau Vieux. + +The most Christian King was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and +hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a +little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed +and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, +suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. He held himself stiff and +motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the +ambassadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced. + +Chancellor Leoninus, the most experienced, eloquent, and tedious of men, +now made an interminable oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in +facts; and the King made a short and benignant reply, according to the +hallowed formula in such cases provided. And then there was a +presentation to the Queen, and to the Queen-Mother, when Leoninus was +more prolix than before, and Catharine even more affectionate than her +son; and there were consultations with Chiverny and Villeroy, and Brulart +and Pruneaux, and great banquets at the royal expense, and bales of +protocols, and drafts of articles, and conditions and programmes and +apostilles by the hundred weight, and at last articles of annexation were +presented by the envoys, and Pruneaux looked at and pronounced them "too +raw and imperative," and the envoys took them home again, and dressed +them and cooked them till there was no substance left in them; for +whereas the envoys originally offered the crown of their country to +France, on condition that no religion but the reformed religion should be +tolerated there, no appointments made but by the States, and no security +offered for advances to be made by the Christian King, save the hearts +and oaths of his new subjects--so they now ended by proposing the +sovereignty unconditionally, almost abjectly; and, after the expiration +of nearly three months, even these terms were absolutely refused, and the +deputies were graciously permitted to go home as they came. The +annexation and sovereignty were definitely declined. Henry regretted and +sighed, Catharine de' Medici wept--for tears were ever at her command-- +Chancellor Chiverny and Secretary Brulart wept likewise, and Pruneaux was +overcome with emotion at the parting interview of the ambassadors with +the court, in which they were allowed a last opportunity for expressing +what was called their gratitude. + +And then, on the lath March, M. d'Oignon came to them, and presented, on +the part of the King, to each of the envoys a gold chain weighing twenty- +one ounces and two grains. + +Des Pruneaux, too--Des Pruneaux who had spent the previous summer in the +Netherlands, who had travelled from province to province, from city to +city, at the King's command, offering boundless assistance, if they would +unanimously offer their sovereignty; who had vanquished by his +importunity the resistance of the stern Hollanders, the last of all the +Netherlanders to yield to the royal blandishments--Des Pruneaux, who had +"blushed"--Des Pruneaux who had wept--now thought proper to assume an +airy tone, half encouragement, half condolence. + +"Man proposes, gentlemen," said he "but God disposes. We are frequently +called on to observe that things have a great variety of times and terms. +Many a man is refused by a woman twice, who succeeds the third time," and +so on, with which wholesome apothegms Des Pruneaux faded away then and +for ever from the page of Netherland history. + +In a few days afterwards the envoys took shipping at Dieppe, and arrived +early in April at the Hague. + +And thus terminated the negotiation of the States with France. + +It had been a scene of elaborate trifling on the King's part from +beginning to end. Yet the few grains of wheat which have thus been +extracted from the mountains of diplomatic chaff so long mouldering in +national storehouses, contain, however dry and tasteless, still something +for human nourishment. It is something to comprehend the ineffable +meanness of the hands which then could hold the destiny of mighty +empires. Here had been offered a magnificent prize to France; a great +extent of frontier in the quarter where expansion was most desirable, a +protective network of towns and fortresses on the side most vulnerable, +flourishing, cities on the sea-coast where the marine traffic was most +lucrative, the sovereignty of a large population, the most bustling, +enterprising, and hardy in Europe--a nation destined in a few short years +to become the first naval and commercial power in the world--all this was +laid at the feet of Henry Valois and Catharine de' Medici, and rejected. + +The envoys, with their predecessors, had wasted eight months of most +precious time; they had heard and made orations, they had read and +written protocols, they had witnessed banquets, masquerades, and revels +of stupendous frivolity, in honour of the English Garter, brought +solemnly to the Valois by Lord Derby, accompanied by one hundred +gentlemen "marvellously, sumptuously, and richly accoutred," during that +dreadful winter when the inhabitants of Brussels, Antwerp, Mechlin--to +save which splendid cities and to annex them to France, was a main object +of the solemn embassy from the Netherlands--were eating rats, and cats, +and dogs, and the weeds from the pavements, and the grass from the +churchyards; and were finding themselves more closely pressed than ever +by the relentless genius of Farnese; and in exchange for all these losses +and all this humiliation, the ambassadors now returned to their +constituents, bringing an account of Chiverny's magnificent banquets and +long orations, of the smiles of Henry III., the tears of Catharine de' +Medici, the regrets of M. des Pruneaux, besides sixteen gold chains, each +weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. + +It is worth while to go for a moment behind the scene; We have seen the +actors, with mask and cothurn and tinsel crown, playing their well-conned +parts upon the stage. Let us hear them threaten, and whimper, and +chaffer among themselves. + +So soon as it was intimated that Henry III. was about to grant the +Netherland, envoys an audience, the wrath of ambassador Mendoza was +kindled. That magniloquent Spaniard instantly claimed an interview with +the King, before whom, according to the statement of his colleagues, +doing their best to pry into these secrets, he blustered and bounced, and +was more fantastical in his insolence than even Spanish envoy had ever +been before. + +"He went presently to court," so Walsingham was informed by Stafford, +"and dealt very passionately with the King and Queen-Mother to deny them +audience, who being greatly offended with his presumptuous and malapert +manner of proceeding, the King did in choler and with some sharp +speeches, let him plainly understand that he was an absolute king, bound +to yield account of his doings to no man, and that it was lawful for him +to give access to any man within his own realm. The Queen-Mother +answered him likewise very roundly, whereupon he departed for the time, +very much discontented." + +Brave words, on both sides, if they had ever been spoken, or if there had +been any action corresponding to their spirit. + +But, in truth, from the beginning, Henry and his mother saw in the +Netherland embassy only the means of turning a dishonest penny. Since +the disastrous retreat of Anjou from the Provinces, the city of Cambray +had remained in the hands of the Seigneur de Balagny, placed there by the +duke. The citadel, garrisoned by French troops, it was not the intention +of Catharine de' Medici to restore to Philip, and a truce on the subject +had been arranged provisionally for a year. Philip, taking Parma's +advice to prevent the French court, if possible, from "fomenting the +Netherland rebellion," had authorized the Prince to conclude that truce, +as if done on his own responsibility, and not by royal order. Meantime, +Balagny was gradually swelling into a petty potentate, on his own +account, making himself very troublesome to the Prince of Parma, and +requiring a great deal of watching. Cambray was however apparently +acquired for France. + +But, besides this acquisition, there was another way of earning something +solid, by turning this Netherland matter handsomely to account. Philip +II. had recently conquered Portugal. Among the many pretensions to that +crown, those of Catherine de' Medici had been put forward, but had been +little heeded. The claim went back more than three hundred years, and to +establish its validity would have been to convert the peaceable +possession of a long line of sovereigns into usurpation. To ascend to +Alphonso III. was like fetching, as it was said, a claim from Evander's +grandmother. Nevertheless, ever since Philip had been upon the +Portuguese throne, Catherine had been watching the opportunity, not +of unseating that sovereign, but of converting her claim into money. + +The Netherland embassy seemed to offer the coveted opportunity. There +was, therefore, quite as much warmth at the outset, on the part of +Mendoza, in that first interview after the arrival of the deputies, as +had been represented. There was however less dignity and more cunning on +the part of Henry and Catherine than was at all suspected. Even before +that conference the King had been impatiently expecting overtures from +the Spanish envoy, and had been disappointed. "He told me," said Henry, +"that he would make proposals so soon as Tassis should be gone, but he +has done nothing yet. He said to Gondi that all he meant was to get the +truce of Cambray accomplished. I hope, however, that my brother, the +King of Spain, will do what is right in regard to madam my mother's +pretensions. 'Tis likely that he will be now incited thereto, seeing +that the deputies of all the Netherland provinces are at present in my +kingdom, to offer me carte blanche. I shall hear what they have to say, +and do exactly what the good of my own affairs shall seem to require. +The Queen of England, too, has been very pressing and urgent with me for +several months on this subject. I shall hear, too, what she has to say, +and I presume, if the King of Spain will now disclose himself, and do +promptly what he ought, that we may set Christendom at rest." + +Henry then instructed his ambassador in Spain to keep his eyes wide open, +in order to penetrate the schemes of Philip, and to this end ordered him +an increase of salary by a third, that he might follow that monarch on +his journey to Arragon. + +Meanwhile Mendoza had audience of his Majesty. "He made a very pressing +remonstrance," said the King, "concerning the arrival of these deputies, +urging me to send them back at once; denouncing them as disobedient +rebels and heretics. I replied that my kingdom was free, and that I +should hear from them all that they had to say, because I could not +abandon madam my mother in her pretensions, not only for the filial +obedience which I owe her, but because I am her only heir. Mendoza +replied that he should go and make the same remonstrance to the Queen- +Mother, which he accordingly did, and she will herself write you what +passed between them. If they do not act up to their duty down there I +know how to take my revenge upon them." + +This is the King's own statement--his veriest words--and he was surely +best aware of what occurred between himself and Mendoza, under their four +eyes only. The ambassador is not represented as extremely insolent, but +only pressing; and certainly there is little left of the fine periods on +Henry's part about listening to the cry of the oppressed, or preventing +the rays of his ancestors' diadem from growing pale, with which +contemporary chronicles are filled. + +There was not one word of the advancement and glory of the French nation; +not a hint of the fame to be acquired by a magnificent expansion of +territory, still less of the duty to deal generously or even honestly +with an oppressed people, who in good faith were seeking an asylum in +exchange for offered sovereignty, not a syllable upon liberty of +conscience, of religious or civil rights; nothing but a petty and +exclusive care for the interests of his mother's pocket, and of his own +as his mother's heir. This farthing-candle was alone to guide the steps +of "the high and mighty King," whose reputation was perpetually +represented as so precious to him in all the conferences between his +ministers and the Netherland deputies. Was it possible for those envoys +to imagine the almost invisible meanness of such childish tricks? + +The Queen-Mother was still more explicit and unblushing throughout the +whole affair. + +"The ambassador of Spain," she said, "has made the most beautiful +remonstrances he could think of about these deputies from the +Netherlands. All his talk, however, cannot persuade me to anything else +save to increase my desire to have reparation for the wrong that has been +done me in regard to my claims upon Portugal, which I am determined to +pursue by every means within my power. Nevertheless I have told Don +Bernardino that I should always be ready to embrace any course likely to +bring about a peaceful conclusion. He then entered into a discussion of +my rights, which, he said, were not thought in Spain to be founded in +justice. But when I explained to him the principal points (of which I +possess all the pieces of evidence and justification), he hardly knew +what to say, save that he was astounded that I had remained so long +without speaking of my claims. In reply, I told him ingenuously the +truth." + +The truth which the ingenuous Catharine thus revealed was, in brief, that +all her predecessors had been minors, women, and persons in situations +not to make their rights valid. Finding herself more highly placed, she +had advanced her claims, which had been so fully recognized in Portugal, +that she had been received as Infanta of the kingdom. All pretensions to +the throne being now through women only, hers were the best of any. At +all this Don Bernardino expressed profound astonishment, and promised to +send a full account to his master of "the infinite words" which had +passed between them at this interview! + +"I desire," said Catharine, "that the Lord King of Spain should open his +mind frankly and promptly upon the recompense which he is willing to make +me for Portugal, in order that things may pass rather with gentleness +than otherwise." + +It was expecting a great deal to look for frankness and promptness from +the Lord King of Spain, but the Queen-Mother considered that the +Netherland envoys had put a whip into her hand. She was also determined +to bring Philip up to the point, without showing her own game. "I will +never say," said Catharine--ingenuous no longer--"I will never say how +much I ask, but, on the contrary, I shall wait for him to make the offer. +I expect it to be reasonable, because he has seen fit to seize and occupy +that which I declare to be my property." + +This is the explanation of all the languor and trifling of the French +court in the Netherland negotiation. A deep, constant, unseen current +was running counter to all the movement which appeared upon the surface. +The tergiversations of the Spanish cabinet in the Portugal matter were +the cause of the shufflings of the French ministers on the subject of the +Provinces. + +"I know well," said Henry a few days later, "that the people down there, +and their ambassador here, are leading us on with words, as far as they +can, with regard to the recompense of madam my mother for her claims upon +Portugal. But they had better remember (and I think they will), that out +of the offers which these sixteen deputies of the Netherlands are +bringing me--and I believe it to be carte blanche--I shall be able to pay +myself. 'Twill be better to come promptly to a good bargain and a brief +conclusion, than to spin the matter out longer." + +"Don Bernardino," said the Queen-Mother on the same day, "has been +keeping us up to this hour in hopes of a good offer, but 'tis to be +feared, for the good of Christendom, that 'twill be too late. The +deputies are come, bringing carte blanche. Nevertheless, if the King of +Spain is willing to be reasonable, and that instantly, it will be well, +and it would seem as if God had been pleased to place this means in our +hands." + +After the conferences had been fairly got under way between the French +government and the envoys, the demands upon Philip for a good bargain and +a handsome offer became still more pressing. + +"I have given audience to the deputies from the Provinces," wrote Henry, +"and the Queen-Mother has done the same. Chancellor Chiverny, +Villequier, Bellievre, and Brulart, will now confer with them from day +today. I now tell you that it will be well, before things go any +farther, for the King of Spain to come to reason about the pretensions of +madam mother. This will be a means of establishing the repose of +Christendom. I shall be very willing to concur in such an arrangement, +if I saw any approximation to it on the part of the King or his +ministers. But I fear they will delay too long, and so you had better +tell them. Push them to the point as much as possible, without letting +them suspect that I have been writing about it, for that would make them +rather draw back than come forward." + +At the same time, during this alternate threatening and coaxing between +the French and the Spanish court, and in the midst of all the solemn and +tedious protocolling of the ministry and the Dutch envoys, there was a +most sincere and affectionate intercourse maintained between Henry III. +and the Prince of Parma. The Spanish Governor-General was assured that +nothing but the warmest regard was entertained for him and his master on +the part of the French court. Parma had replied, however, that so many +French troops had in times past crossed the frontier to assist the +rebels, that he hardly knew what to think. He expressed the hope, now +that the Duke of Anjou was dead, that his Christian Majesty would not +countenance the rebellion, but manifest his good-will. + +"How can your Highness doubt it," said Malpierre, Henry's envoy, "for his +Majesty has given proof enough of his good will, having prevented all +enterprises in this regard, and preferred to have his own subjects cut +into pieces rather than that they should carry out their designs. Had +his Majesty been willing merely to connive at these undertakings, 'tis +probable that the affairs of your highness would not have succeeded so +well as they have done." + +With regard to England, also, the conduct of Henry and his mother in +these negotiations was marked by the same unfathomable duplicity. There +was an appearance of cordiality on the surface; but there was deep +plotting, and bargaining, and even deadly hostility lurking below. We +have seen the efforts which Elizabeth's government had been making to +counteract the policy which offered the sovereignty of the provinces to +the French monarch. At the same time there was at least a loyal +disposition upon the Queen's part to assist the Netherlands, in +concurrence with Henry. The demeanour of Burghley and his colleagues was +frankness itself, compared with the secret schemings of the Valois; for +at least peace and good-will between the "triumvirate" of France, England +and the Netherlands, was intended, as the true means of resisting the +predominant influence of Spain. + +Yet very soon after the solemn reception by Henry of the garter brought +by Lord Derby, and in the midst of the negotiations between the French +court and the United Provinces, the French king was not only attempting +to barter the sovereignty offered him by the Netherlanders against a +handsome recompense for the Portugal claim, but he was actually proposing +to the King of Spain to join with him in an invasion of England! Even +Philip himself must have admired and respected such a complication of +villany on the part of his most Christian brother. He was, however, not +disposed to put any confidence in his schemes. + +"With regard to the attempt against England," wrote Philip to Mendoza, +"you must keep your eyes open--you must look at the danger of letting +them, before they have got rid of their rivals and reduced their +heretics, go out of their own house and kingdom, and thus of being made +fools of when they think of coming back again. Let them first +exterminate the heretics of France, and then we will look after those of +England; because 'tis more important to finish those who are near than +those afar off. Perhaps the Queen-Mother proposes this invasion in order +to proceed more feebly with matters in her own kingdom; and thus Mucio +(Duke of Guise) and his friends will not have so safe a game, and must +take heed lest they be deceived." + +Thus it is obvious that Henry and Catharine intended, on the whole, to +deceive the English and the Netherlanders, and to get as good a bargain +and as safe a friendship from Philip as could be manufactured out of the +materials placed in the French King's hands by the United Provinces. +Elizabeth honestly wished well to the States, but allowed Burghley and +those who acted with him to flatter themselves with the chimera that +Henry could be induced to protect the Netherlands without assuming the +sovereignty of that commonwealth. The Provinces were fighting for their +existence, unconscious of their latent strength, and willing to trust to +France or to England, if they could only save themselves from being +swallowed by Spain. As for Spain itself, that country was more practised +in duplicity even than the government of the Medici-Valois, and was of +course more than a match at the game of deception for the franker +politicians of England and Holland. + +The King of Navarre had meanwhile been looking on at a distance. Too +keen an observer, too subtle a reasoner to doubt the secret source of the +movements then agitating France to its centre, he was yet unable to +foresee the turn that all these intrigues were about to take. He could +hardly doubt that Spain was playing a dark and desperate game with the +unfortunate Henry III.; for, as we have seen, he had himself not long +before received a secret and liberal offer from Philip II., if he would +agree to make war upon the King. But the Bearnese was not the man to +play into the hands of Spain, nor could he imagine the possibility of the +Valois or even of his mother taking so suicidal a course. + +After the Netherland deputies had received their final dismissal from the +King, they sent Calvart, who had been secretary to their embassy, on a +secret mission to Henry of Navarre, then resident at Chartres. + +The envoy communicated to the Huguenot chief the meagre result of the +long negotiation with the French court. Henry bade him be of good cheer, +and assured him of his best wishes for their cause. He expressed the +opinion that the King of France would now either attempt to overcome the +Guise faction by gentle means, or at once make war upon them. The Bishop +of Acqs had strongly recommended the French monarch to send the King of +Navarre, with a strong force, to the assistance of the Netherlands, +urging the point with much fervid eloquence and solid argument. Henry +for a moment had seemed impressed, but such a vigorous proceeding was of +course entirely beyond his strength, and he had sunk back into his +effeminate languor so soon as the bold bishop's back was turned. + +The Bearnese had naturally conceived but little hope that such a scheme +would be carried into effect; but he assured Calvart, that nothing could +give him greater delight than to mount and ride in such a cause. + +"Notwithstanding," said the Bearnese, "that the villanous intentions of +the Guises are becoming plainer and plainer, and that they are obviously +supplied with Spanish dollars, I shall send a special envoy to the most +Christian King, and, although 'tis somewhat late, implore him to throw +his weight into the scale, in order to redeem your country from its +misery. Meantime be of good heart, and defend as you have done your +hearths, your liberty, and the honour of God." + +He advised the States unhesitatingly to continue their confidence in the +French King, and to keep him informed of their plans and movements; +expressing the opinion that these very intrigues of the Guise party would +soon justify or even force Henry III. openly to assist the Netherlands. + +So far, at that very moment, was so sharp a politician as the Bearnese +from suspecting the secret schemes of Henry of Valois. Calvart urged the +King of Navarre to assist the States at that moment with some slight +subsidy. Antwerp was in such imminent danger as to fill the hearts of +all true patriots with dismay; and a timely succour, even if a slender +one, might be of inestimable value. + +Henry expressed profound regret that his own means were so limited, and +his own position so dangerous, as to make it difficult for him to +manifest in broad daylight the full affection which he bore the +Provinces. + +"To my sorrow," said he, "your proposition is made in the midst of such +dark and stormy weather, that those who have clearest sight are unable to +see to what issue these troubles of France are tending." + +Nevertheless, with much generosity and manliness, he promised Calvart to +send two thousand soldiers, at his own charges, to the Provinces without +delay; and authorised that envoy to consult with his agent at the court +of the French King, in order to obtain the royal permission for the +troops to cross the frontier. + +The crownless and almost houseless King had thus, at a single interview, +and in exchange for nothing but good wishes, granted what the most +Christian monarch of France had refused, after months of negotiation, and +with sovereignty as the purchase-money. The envoy, well pleased, sped as +swiftly as possible to Paris; but, as may easily be imagined, Henry of +Valois forbade the movement contemplated by Henry of Navarre. + +"His Majesty," said Villeroy, secretary of state, "sees no occasion, in +so weighty a business, thus suddenly to change his mind; the less so, +because he hopes to be able ere long to smooth over these troubles which +have begun in France. Should the King either openly or secretly assist +the Netherlands or allow them to be assisted, 'twould be a reason for all +the Catholics now sustaining his Majesty's party to go over to the Guise +faction. The Provinces must remain firm, and make no pacification with +the enemy. Meantime the Queen of England is the only one to whom God has +given means to afford you succour. One of these days, when the proper +time comes, his Majesty will assist her in affording you relief." + +Calvart, after this conference with the King of Navarre, and subsequently +with the government, entertained a lingering hope that the French King +meant to assist the Provinces. "I know well who is the author of these +troubles," said the unhappy monarch, who never once mentioned the name of +Guise in all those conferences, "but, if God grant me life, I will give +him as good as he sends, and make him rue his conduct." + +They were not aware after how many strange vacillations Henry was one day +to wreak this threatened vengeance. As for Navarre, he remained upon the +watch, good humoured as ever, more merry and hopeful as the tempest grew +blacker; manifesting the most frank and friendly sentiments towards the +Provinces, and writing to Queen Elizabeth in the chivalrous style so dear +to the heart of that sovereign, that he desired nothing better than to be +her "servant and captain-general against the common enemy." + +But, indeed, the French King was not so well informed as he imagined +himself to be of the authorship of these troubles. Mucio, upon whose +head he thus threatened vengeance, was but the instrument. The concealed +hand that was directing all these odious intrigues, and lighting these +flames of civil war which were so long to make France a scene of +desolation, was that of the industrious letter-writer in the Escorial. +That which Henry of Navarre shrewdly suspected, when he talked of the +Spanish dollars in the Balafre's pocket, that which was dimly visible to +the Bishop of Acqs when he told Henry III. that the "Tagus had emptied +itself into the Seine and Loire, and that the gold of Mexico was flowing +into the royal cabinet," was much more certain than they supposed. + +Philip, in truth, was neglecting his own most pressing interests that he +might direct all his energies towards entertaining civil war in France. +That France should remain internally at peace was contrary to all his +plans. He had therefore long kept Guise and his brother, the Cardinal de +Lorraine, in his pay, and he had been spending large sums of money to +bribe many of the most considerable functionaries in the kingdom. + +The most important enterprises in the Netherlands were allowed to +languish, that these subterranean operations of the "prudent" monarch of +Spain should be pushed forward. The most brilliant and original genius +that Philip had the good fortune to have at his disposal, the genius of +Alexander Farnese, was cramped and irritated almost to madness, by the +fetters imposed upon it, by the sluggish yet obstinate nature of him it +was bound to obey. Farnese was at that moment engaged in a most arduous +military undertaking, that famous siege of Antwerp, the details of which +will be related in future chapters, yet he was never furnished with men +or money enough to ensure success to a much more ordinary operation. +His complaints, subdued but intense, fell almost unheeded on his master's +ear. He had not "ten dollars at his command," his cavalry horses were +all dead of hunger or had been eaten by their riders, who were starving +to death themselves, his army had dwindled to a "handful," yet he still +held on to his purpose, in spite of famine, the desperate efforts of +indefatigable enemies, and all the perils and privations of a deadly +winter. He, too, was kept for a long time in profound ignorance of +Philip's designs. + +Meantime, while the Spanish soldiers were starving in Flanders, Philip's +dollars were employed by Mucio and his adherents in enlisting troops in +Switzerland and Germany, in order to carry on the civil war in France. +The French king was held systematically up to ridicule or detestation in +every village-pulpit in his own kingdom, while the sister of Mucio, the +Duchess of Montpensier, carried the scissors at her girdle, with which +she threatened to provide Henry with a third crown, in addition to those +of France and Poland, which he had disgraced--the coronal tonsure of a +monk. The convent should be, it was intimated, the eventual fate of the +modern Childeric, but meantime it was more important than ever to +supersede the ultimate pretensions of Henry of Navarre. To prevent that +heretic of heretics, who was not to be bought with Spanish gold, from +ever reigning, was the first object of Philip and Mucio. + +Accordingly, on the last day of the year 1584, a secret treaty had been +signed at Joinville between Henry of Guise and his brother the Duc de +Mayenne, holding the proxies of their brother the Cardinal and those of +their uncles, Aumale and Elbeuf, on the one part, and John Baptist Tassis +and Commander Moreo, on the other, as representatives of Philip. This +transaction, sufficiently well known now to the most superficial student +of history, was a profound mystery then, so far as regarded the action of +the Spanish king. It was not a secret, however, that the papistical +party did not intend that the Bearnese prince should ever come to the +throne, and the matter of the succession was discussed, precisely as if +the throne had been vacant. + +It was decided that Charles, paternal uncle to Henry of Navarre, commonly +called the Cardinal Bourbon, should be considered successor to the crown, +in place of Henry, whose claim was forfeited by heresy. Moreover, a +great deal of superfluous money and learning was expended in ordering +some elaborate legal arguments to be prepared by venal jurisconsults, +proving not only that the uncle ought to succeed before the nephew, but +that neither the one nor the other had any claim to succeed at all. The +pea having thus been employed to do the work which the sword alone could +accomplish, the poor old Cardinal was now formally established by the +Guise faction as presumptive heir to the crown. + +A man of straw, a superannuated court-dangler, a credulous trifler, but +an earnest Papist as his brother Antony had been, sixty-six years old, +and feeble beyond his years, who, his life long, had never achieved one +manly action, and had now one foot in the grave; this was the puppet +placed in the saddle to run a tilt against the Bearnese, the man with +foot ever in the stirrup, with sword rarely in its sheath. + +The contracting parties at Joinville agreed that the Cardinal should +succeed on the death of the reigning king, and that no heretic should +ever ascend the throne, or hold the meanest office in the kingdom. +They agreed further that all heretics should be "exterminated" without +distinction throughout France and the Netherlands. In order to procure +the necessary reforms among the clergy, the council of Trent was to be +fully carried into effect. Philip pledged himself to furnish at least +fifty thousand crowns monthly, for the advancement of this Holy League, +as it was denominated, and as much more as should prove necessary. The +sums advanced were to be repaid by the Cardinal on his succeeding to the +throne. All the great officers of the crown, lords and gentlemen, +cities, chapters, and universities, all Catholics, in short, in the +kingdom, were deemed to be included in the league. If any foreign +Catholic prince desired to enter the union, he should be admitted with +the consent of both parties. Neither his Catholic majesty nor the +confederated princes should treat with the most Christian King, either +directly or indirectly. The compact was to remain strictly secret--one +copy of it being sent to Philip, while the other was to be retained by +Cardinal Bourbon and his fellow leaguers. + +And now--in accordance with this program--Philip proceeded stealthily and +industriously to further the schemes of Mucio, to the exclusion of more +urgent business. Noiseless and secret himself, and delighting in +clothing so much as to glide, as it were, throughout Europe, wrapped in +the mantle of invisibility, he was perpetually provoked by the noise, the +bombast, and the bustle, which his less prudent confederates permitted +themselves. While Philip for a long time hesitated to confide the secret +of the League to Parma, whom it most imported to understand these schemes +of his master, the confederates were openly boasting of the assistance +which they were to derive from Parma's cooperation. Even when the Prince +had at last been informed as to the state of affairs, he stoutly denied +the facts of which the leaguers made their vaunt; thus giving to Mucio +and his friends a lesson in dissimulation." + +"Things have now arrived at a point," wrote Philip to Tassis, 15th March, +1585, "that this matter of the League cannot and ought not to be +concealed from those who have a right to know it. Therefore you must +speak clearly to the Prince of Parma, informing him of the whole scheme, +and enjoining the utmost secrecy. You must concert with him as to the +best means of rendering aid to this cause, after having apprised him of +the points which regarded him, and also that of the security of Cardinal +de Bourbon, in case of necessity." + +The Prince was anything but pleased, in the midst of his anxiety and +his almost superhuman labour in the Antwerp siege, to be distracted, +impoverished, and weakened, in order to carry out these schemes against +France; but he kept the secret manfully. + +To Malpierre, the French envoy in Brussels--for there was the closest +diplomatic communication between Henry III. and Philip, while each was +tampering with the rebellious subjects of the other--to Malpierre Parma +flatly contradicted all complicity on the part of the Spanish King or +himself with the Holy League, of which he knew Philip to be the +originator and the chief. + +"If I complain to the Prince of Parma," said the envoy, "of the companies +going from Flanders to assist the League, he will make me no other reply +than that which the President has done--that there is nothing at all in +it--until they are fairly arrived in France. The President (Richardot) +said that if the Catholic King belonged to the League, as they insinuate, +his Majesty would declare the fact openly." + +And a few days later, the Prince himself averred, as Malpierre had +anticipated, that "as to any intention on the part of himself or his +Catholic Majesty, to send succour to the League, according to the boast +of these gentlemen, he had never thought of such a thing, nor had +received any order on the subject from his master. If the King intended +to do anything of the kind, he would do it openly. He protested that he +had never seen anything, or known anything of the League." + +Here was a man who knew how to keep a secret, and who had no scruples in +the matter of dissimulation, however enraged he might be at seeing men +and money diverted from his own masterly combinations in order to carry +out these schemes of his master. + +Mucio, on the contrary, was imprudent and inclined to boast. His +contempt for Henry III, made him blind to the dangers to be apprehended +from Henry of Navarre. He did little, but talked a great deal. + +Philip was very anxious that the work should be done both secretly and +thoroughly. "Let the business be finished before Saint John's day," said +he to Tassis, when sending fifty thousand dollars for the use of the +brothers Guise. "Tell Iniquez to warn them not to be sluggish. Let them +not begin in a lukewarm manner, but promise them plenty of assistance +from me, if they conduct themselves properly. Let them beware of +wavering, or of falling into plans of conciliation. If they do their +duty, I will do mine." + +But the Guise faction moved slowly despite of Philip's secret promptings. +The truth is, that the means proposed by the Spanish monarch were +ludicrously inadequate to his plans, and it was idle to suppose that the +world was to be turned upside down for his benefit, at the very low price +which he was prepared to pay. + +Nothing less than to exterminate all the heretics in Christendom, to +place himself on the thrones of France and of England, and to extinguish +the last spark of rebellion in the Netherlands, was his secret thought, +and yet it was very difficult to get fifty thousand dollars from him from +month to month. Procrastinating and indolent himself, he was for ever +rebuking the torpid movements of the Guises. + +"Let Mucio set his game well at the outset," said he; "let him lay the +axe to the root of the tree, for to be wasting time fruitlessly is +sharpening the knife for himself." + +This was almost prophetic. When after so much talking and tampering, +there began to be recrimination among the leaguers, Philip was very angry +with his subordinate. + +"Here is Mucio," said he, "trying to throw the blame of all the +difficulties, which have arisen, upon us. Not hastening, not keeping his +secret, letting the execution of the enterprise grow cold, and lending an +ear to suggestions about peace, without being sure of its conclusion, he +has turned his followers into cowards, discredited his cause, and given +the King of France opportunity to strengthen his force and improve his +party. These are all very palpable things. I am willing to continue +my friendship for them, but not, if, while they accept it, they permit +themselves to complain, instead of manifesting gratitude." + +On the whole, however, the affairs of the League seemed prosperous. +There was doubtless too much display among the confederates, but there +was a growing uneasiness among the royalists. Cardinal Bourbon, +discarding his ecclesiastical robes and scarlet stockings, paraded +himself daily in public, clothed in military costume, with all the airs +of royalty. Many persons thought him mad. On the other hand, Epergnon, +the haughty minion-in-chief, who governed Henry III., and insulted all +the world, was becoming almost polite. + +"The progress of the League," said Busbecq, "is teaching the Duc +d' Epergnon manners. 'Tis a youth of such insolence, that without +uncovering he would talk with men of royal descent, while they were +bareheaded. 'Tis a common jest now that he has found out where his hat +is." + +Thus, for a long time, a network of secret political combinations had +been stretching itself over Christendom. There were great movements of +troops throughout Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, slowly +concentrating themselves upon France; yet, on the whole, the great mass +of the populations, the men and women who were to pay, to fight, to +starve, to be trampled upon, to be outraged, to be plundered, to be +burned out of houses and home, to bleed, and to die, were merely +ignorant, gaping spectators. That there was something very grave in +prospect was obvious, but exactly what was impending they knew no more +than the generation yet unborn. Very noiselessly had the patient manager +who sat in the Escorial been making preparations for that European +tragedy in which most of the actors had such fatal parts assigned them, +and of which few of the spectators of its opening scenes were doomed to +witness the conclusion. A shifting and glancing of lights, a vision of +vanishing feet, a trampling and bustling of unseen crowds, movements of +concealed machinery, a few incoherent words, much noise and confusion +vague and incomprehensible, till at last the tinkling of a small bell, +and a glimpse of the modest manager stealing away as the curtain was +rising--such was the spectacle presented at Midsummer 1585, + +And in truth the opening picture was effective. Sixteen black-robed, +long-bearded Netherland envoys stalking away, discomfited and indignant +upon one side; Catharine de' Medici on the other, regarding them with a +sneer, painfully contorted into a pathetic smile; Henry the King, robed +in a sack of penitence, trembling and hesitating, leaning on the arm of +Epergnon, but quailing even under the protection of that mighty +swordsman; Mucio, careering, truncheon in hand, in full panoply, upon his +war-horse, waving forward a mingled mass of German lanzknechts, Swiss +musketeers, and Lorraine pikemen; the redoubtable Don Bernardino de +Mendoza, in front, frowning and ferocious, with his drawn sword in his +hand; Elizabeth of England, in the back ground, with the white-bearded +Burghley and the monastic Walsingham, all surveying the scene with eyes +of deepest meaning; and, somewhat aside, but in full view, silent, calm, +and imperturbably good-humoured, the bold Bearnese, standing with a +mischievous but prophetic smile glittering through his blue eyes and +curly beard--thus grouped were the personages of the drama in the +introductory scenes. + +The course of public events which succeeded the departure of the +Netherland deputies is sufficiently well known. The secret negotiations +and intrigues, however, by which those external facts were preceded or +accompanied rest mainly in dusty archives, and it was therefore necessary +to dwell somewhat at length upon them in the preceding pages. + +The treaty of Joinville was signed on the last day of the year 1584. + +We have seen the real nature of the interview of Ambassador Mendoza with +Henry III. and his mother, which took place early in January, 1585. +Immediately after that conference, Don Bernardino betook himself to the +Duke of Guise, and lost no time in stimulating his confederate to prompt +but secret action. + +The Netherland envoys had their last audience on the 18th March, and +their departure and disappointment was the signal for the general +exhibition and explosion. The great civil war began, and the man who +refused to annex the Netherlands to the French kingdom soon ceased to be +regarded as a king. + +On the 31st March, the heir presumptive, just manufactured by the Guises, +sent forth his manifesto. Cardinal Bourbon, by this document, declared +that for twenty-four years past no proper measures had been taken to +extirpate the heresy by which France was infested. There was no natural +heir to the King. Those who claimed to succeed at his death had deprived +themselves, by heresy, of their rights. Should they gain their ends, the +ancient religion would be abolished throughout the kingdom, as it had +been in England, and Catholics be subjected to the same frightful +tortures which they were experiencing there. New men, admitted to the +confidence of the crown, clothed with the highest honours, and laden with +enormous emoluments, had excluded the ancient and honoured functionaries +of the state, who had been obliged to sell out their offices to these +upstart successors. These new favourites had seized the finances of the +kingdom, all of which were now collected into the private coffers of the +King, and shared by him with his courtiers. The people were groaning +under new taxes invented every day, yet they knew nothing of the +distribution of the public treasure, while the King himself was so +impoverished as to be unable to discharge his daily debts. Meantime +these new advisers of the crown had renewed to the Protestants of the +kingdom the religious privileges of which they had so justly been +deprived, yet the religious peace which had followed had not brought with +it the promised diminution of the popular burthens. Never had the nation +been so heavily taxed or reduced to such profound misery. For these +reasons, he, Cardinal Bourbon, with other princes of the blood, peers, +gentlemen, cities, and universities, had solemnly bound themselves by +oath to extirpate heresy down to the last root, and to save the people +from the dreadful load under which they were languishing. It was for +this that they had taken up arms, and till that purpose was accomplished +they would never lay them down. + +The paper concluded with the hope that his Majesty would not take these +warlike demonstrations amiss; and a copy of the document was placed in +the royal hands. + +It was very obvious to the most superficial observer, that the manifesto +was directed almost as much against the reigning sovereign as against +Henry of Navarre. The adherents of the Guise faction, and especially +certain theologians in their employ, had taken very bold grounds upon the +relations between king and subjects, and had made the public very +familiar with their doctrines. It was a duty, they said, "to depose a +prince who did not discharge his duty. Authority ill regulated was +robbery, and it was as absurd to call him a king who knew not how to +govern, as it was to take a blind man for a guide, or to believe that a +statue could influence the movements of living men." + +Yet to the faction, inspired by such rebellious sentiments, and which was +thundering in his face such tremendous denunciations, the unhappy Henry +could not find a single royal or manly word of reply. He threw himself +on his knees, when, if ever, he should have assumed an attitude of +command. He answered the insolence of the men, who were parading their +contempt for his authority, by humble excuses, and supplications for +pardon. He threw his crown in the dust before their feet, as if such +humility would induce them to place it again upon his head. He abandoned +the minions who had been his pride, his joy, and his defence, and +deprecated, with an abject whimper, all responsibility for the unmeasured +ambition and the insatiable rapacity of a few private individuals. He +conjured the party-leaders, who had hurled defiance in his face, to lay +down their arms, and promised that they should find in his wisdom and +bounty more than all the advantages which they were seeking to obtain by +war. + +Henry of Navarre answered in a different strain. The gauntlet had at +last been thrown down to him, and he came forward to take it up; not +insolently nor carelessly, but with the cold courtesy of a Christian +knight and valiant gentleman. He denied the charge of heresy. He avowed +detestation of all doctrines contrary to the Word of God, to the decrees +of the Fathers of the Church, or condemned by the Councils. + +The errors and abuses which had from time to time crept into the church, +had long demanded, in the opinion of all pious persons, some measures of +reform. After many bloody wars, no better remedy had been discovered to +arrest the cause of these dire religious troubles, whether in France or +Germany, than to permit all men to obey the dictates of their own +conscience. The Protestants had thus obtained in France many edicts by +which the peace of the kingdom had been secured. He could not himself be +denounced as a heretic, for he had always held himself ready to receive +instruction, and to be set right where he had erred. To call him +"relapsed" was an outrage. Were it true, he were indeed unworthy of the +crown, but the world knew that his change at the Massacre of St. +Bartholomew had been made under duresse, and that he had returned to the +reformed faith when he had recovered his liberty. Religious toleration +had been the object of his life. In what the tyranny of the popes and +the violence of the Spaniards had left him of his kingdom of Navarre, +Catholics and Protestants enjoyed a perfect religious liberty. No man +had the right, therefore, to denounce him as an enemy of the church, or +a disturber of the public repose, for he had ever been willing to accept +all propositions of peace which left the rights of conscience protected. + +He was a Frenchman, a prince of France, a living member of the kingdom; +feeling with its pains, and bleeding with its wounds. They who denounced +him were alien to France, factitious portions of her body, feeling no +suffering, even should she be consuming with living fire. The Leaguers +were the friends and the servants of the Spaniards, while he had been +born the enemy, and with too good reason, of the whole Spanish race. + +"Let the name of Papist and of Huguenot," he said, "be heard no more +among us. Those terms were buried in the edict of peace. Let us speak +only of Frenchmen and of Spaniards. It is the counter-league which we +must all unite to form, the natural union of the head with all its +members." + +Finally, to save the shedding of so much innocent blood, to spare all the +countless miseries of civil war, he implored the royal permission to +terminate this quarrel in person, by single combat with the Duke of +Guise, one to one, two to two, or in as large a number as might be +desired, and upon any spot within or without the kingdom that should be +assigned. "The Duke of Guise," said Henry of Navarre, "cannot but accept +my challenge as an honour, coming as it does from a prince infinitely his +superior in rank; and thus, may God defend the right." + +This paper, drawn up by the illustrious Duplessis-Mornay, who was to have +been the second of the King of Navarre in the proposed duel, was signed +10 June 1585. + +The unfortunate Henry III., not so dull as to doubt that the true object +of the Guise party was to reduce him to insignificance, and to open their +own way to the throne, was too impotent of purpose to follow the dictates +which his wisest counsellors urged and his own reason approved. His +choice had lain between open hostility with his Spanish enemy and a more +terrible combat with that implacable foe wearing the mask of friendship. +He had refused to annex to his crown the rich and powerful Netherlands, +from dread of a foreign war; and he was now about to accept for himself +and kingdom all the horrors of a civil contest, in which his avowed +antagonist was the first captain of the age, and his nominal allies the +stipendiaries of Philip II. + +Villeroy, his prime minister, and Catharine de' Medici, his mother, had +both devoted him to disgrace and ruin. The deputies from the Netherlands +had been dismissed, and now, notwithstanding the festivities and +exuberant demonstrations of friendship with which the Earl of Derby's +splendid embassy had been greeted, it became necessary to bind Henry hand +and foot to the conspirators, who had sworn the destruction of that +Queen, as well as his own, and the extirpation of heresy and heretics in +every realm of Christendom. + +On the 9th June the league demanded a royal decree, forbidding the +practice of all religion but the Roman Catholic, on pain of death. In +vain had the clear-sighted Bishop of Acqs uttered his eloquent warnings. +Despite such timely counsels, which he was capable at once of +appreciating and of neglecting, Henry followed slavishly the advice of +those whom he knew in his heart to be his foes, and authorised the great +conspiracy against Elizabeth, against Protestantism, and against himself. + +On the 5th June Villeroy had expressed a wish for a very secret interview +with Mendoza, on the subject of the invasion of England. + +"It needed not this overture," said that magniloquent Spaniard, "to +engender in a person of my talents, and with the heart of a Mendoza, +venom enough for vengeance. I could not more desire than I did already +to assist in so holy a work; nor could I aspire to greater honour than +would be gained in uniting those crowns (of France and Spain) in strict +friendship, for the purpose of extirpating heresy throughout Europe, and +of chastising the Queen of England--whose abominations I am never likely +to forget, having had them so long before my eyes--and of satisfying my +just resentment for the injuries she has inflicted on myself. It was on +this subject," continued the ambassador, "that Monsieur de Villeroy +wished a secret interview with me, pledging himself--if your Majesty +would deign to unite yourself with this King, and to aid him with your +forces--to a successful result." + +Mendoza accordingly expressed a willingness to meet the ingenuous +Secretary of State--who had so recently been assisting at the banquets +and rejoicings with Lord Derby and his companions, which had so much +enlivened the French capital--and assured him that his most Catholic +Majesty would be only too glad to draw closer the bonds of friendship +with the most Christian King, for the service of God and the glory of +his Church. + +The next day the envoy and the Secretary of State met, very secretly, in +the house of the Signor Gondi. Villeroy commenced his harangue by an +allusion to the current opinion, that Mendoza had arrived in France with +a torch in his hand, to light the fires of civil war in that kingdom, as +he had recently done in England. + +"I do not believe," replied Mendoza, "that discreet and prudent persons +in France attribute my actions to any such motives. As for the ignorant +people of the kingdom, they do not appal me, although they evidently +imagine that I have imbibed, during my residence in England, something of +the spirit of the enchanter Merlin, that, by signs and cabalistic words +alone, I am thought capable of producing such commotions." + +After this preliminary flourish the envoy proceeded to complain bitterly +of the most Christian King and his mother, who, after the propositions +which they had made him, when on his way to Spain, had, since his return, +become so very cold and dry towards him. And on this theme he enlarged +for some time. + +Villeroy replied, by complaining, in his turn, about the dealings of the +most Catholic King, with the leaguers and the rebels of France; and +Mendoza rejoined by an intimation that harping upon past grievances and +suspicions was hardly the way to bring about harmony in present matters. + +Struck with the justice of this remark, the French Secretary of State +entered at once upon business. He made a very long speech upon the +tyranny which "that Englishwoman" was anew inflicting upon the Catholics +in her kingdom, upon the offences which she had committed against the +King of Spain, and against the King of France and his brothers, and upon +the aliment which she had been yielding to the civil war in the +Netherlands and in France for so many years. He then said that if +Mendoza would declare with sincerity, and "without any of the duplicity +of a minister"--that Philip would league himself with Henry for the +purpose of invading England, in order to reduce the three kingdoms to the +Catholic faith, and to place their crowns on the head of the Queen of +Scotland, to whom they of right belonged; then that the King, his master, +was most ready to join in so holy an enterprise. He begged Mendoza to +say with what number of troops the invasion could be made; whether Philip +could send any from Flanders or from Spain; how many it would be well to +send from France, and under what chieftain; in what manner it would be +best to communicate with his most Catholic Majesty; whether it were +desirable to despatch a secret envoy to him, and of what quality such +agent ought to be. He also observed that the most Christian King could +not himself speak to Mendoza on the subject before having communicated +the matter to the Queen-Mother, but expressed a wish that a special +carrier might be forthwith despatched to Spain; for he might be sure +that, on an affair of such weight, he would not have permitted himself to +reveal the secret wishes of his master, except by his commands. + +Mendoza replied, by enlarging with much enthusiasm on the facility with +which England could be conquered by the combined power of France and +Spain. If it were not a very difficult matter before--even with the +jealousy between the two crowns--how much less so, now that they could +join their fleets and armies; now that the arming by the one prince would +not inspire the other with suspicion; now that they would be certain of +finding safe harbour in each other's kingdoms, in case of unfavourable +weather and head-winds, and that they could arrange from what ports to +sail, in what direction, and under what commanders. He disapproved, +however, of sending a special messenger to Spain, on the ground of +wishing to keep the matter entirely secret, but in reality--as he +informed Philip--because he chose to keep the management in his own +hands; because he could always let slip Mucio upon them, in case they +should play him false; because he feared that the leaking out of the +secret might discourage the Leaguers, and because he felt that the bolder +and more lively were the Cardinal of Bourbon and his confederates, the +stronger was the party of the King, his master, and the more intimidated +and dispirited would be the mind and the forces of the most Christian +King. "And this is precisely the point," said the diplomatist, "at which +a minister of your Majesty should aim at this season." + +Thus the civil war in France--an indispensable part of Philip's policy-- +was to be maintained at all hazards; and although the ambassador was of +opinion that the most Christian King was sincere in his proposition to +invade England, it would never do to allow any interval of tranquillity +to the wretched subjects of that Christian King. + +"I cannot doubt," said Mendoza, "that the making of this proposal to me +with so much warmth was the especial persuasion of God, who, hearing the +groans of the Catholics of England, so cruelly afflicted, wished to force +the French King and his minister to feel, in the necessity which +surrounds them, that the offending Him, by impeding the grandeur of your +Majesty, would be their total ruin, and that their only salvation is to +unite in sincerity and truth with your Majesty for the destruction of the +heretics." + +Therefore, although judging from the nature of the French--he might +imagine that they were attempting to put him to sleep, Mendoza, on the +whole, expressed a conviction that the King was in earnest, having +arrived at the conclusion that he could only get rid of the Guise faction +by sending them over to England. "Seeing that he cannot possibly +eradicate the war from his kingdom," said the envoy, "because of the +boldness with which the Leaguers maintain it, with the strong assistance +of your Majesty, he has determined to embrace with much fervour, and +without any deception at all, the enterprise against England, as the only +remedy to quiet his own dominions. The subjugation of those three +kingdoms, in order to restore them to their rightful owner, is a purpose +so holy, just, and worthy of your Majesty, and one which you have had so +constantly in view, that it is superfluous for me to enlarge upon the +subject. Your Majesty knows that its effects will be the tranquillity +and preservation of all your realms. The reasons for making the attempt, +even without the aid of France, become demonstrations now that she is +unanimously in favour of the scheme. The most Christian King is +resolutely bent--so far as I can comprehend the intrigues of Villeroy-- +to carry out this project on the foundation of a treaty with the Guise +party. It will not take much time, therefore, to put down the heretics +here; nor will it consume much more to conquer England with the armies of +two such powerful Princes. The power of that island is of little moment, +there being no disciplined forces to oppose us, even if they were all +unanimous in its defence; how much less then, with so many Catholics to +assist the invaders, seeing them so powerful. If your Majesty, on +account of your Netherlands, is not afraid of putting arms into the hands +of the Guise family in France, there need be less objection to sending +one of that house into England, particularly as you will send forces of +your own into that kingdom, by the reduction of which the affairs of +Flanders will be secured. To effect the pacification of the Netherlands +the sooner, it would be desirable to conquer England as early as +October." + +Having thus sufficiently enlarged upon the sincerity of the French King +and his prime minister, in their dark projects against a friendly power, +and upon the ease with which that friendly power could be subjected, the +ambassador begged for a reply from his royal master without delay. He +would be careful, meantime, to keep the civil war alive in France--thus +verifying the poetical portrait of himself, the truth of which he had +just been so indignantly and rhetorically denying--but it was desirable +that the French should believe that this civil war was not Philip's sole +object. He concluded by drawing his master's attention to the sufferings +of the English Catholics. "I cannot refrain," he said, "from placing +before your eyes the terrible persecutions which the Catholics are +suffering in England; the blood of the martyrs flowing in so many kinds +of torments; the groans of the prisoners, of the widows and orphans; the +general oppression and servitude, which is the greatest ever endured by a +people of God, under any tyrant whatever. Your Majesty, into whose hands +God is now pleased to place the means, so long desired, of extirpating +and totally destroying the heresies of our time, can alone liberate them +from their bondage." + +The picture of these kings, prime ministers, and ambassadors, thus +plotting treason, stratagem, and massacre, is a dark and dreary one. +The description of English sufferings for conscience' sake, under the +Protestant Elizabeth, is even more painful; for it had unfortunately too +much, of truth, although as wilfully darkened and exaggerated as could be +done by religious hatred and Spanish bombast. The Queen was surrounded +by legions of deadly enemies. Spain, the Pope, the League, were united +in one perpetual conspiracy against her; and they relied on the +cooperation of those subjects of hers whom her own cruelty was +converting into traitors. + +We read with a shudder these gloomy secrets of conspiracy and wholesale +murder, which make up the diplomatic history of the sixteenth century, +and we cease to wonder that a woman, feeling herself so continually the +mark at which all the tyrants and assassins of Europe were aiming-- +although not possessing perhaps the evidences of her peril so completely +as they have been revealed to us--should come to consider every English +Papist as a traitor and an assassin. It was unfortunate that she was not +able to rise beyond the vile instincts of the age, and by a magnanimous +and sublime toleration, to convert her secret enemies into loyal +subjects. + +And now Henry of Valois was to choose between league and counter-league, +between Henry of Guise and Henry of Navarre, between France and Spain. +The whole chivalry of Gascony and Guienne, the vast swarm of industrious +and hardy Huguenot artisans, the Netherland rebels, the great English +Queen, stood ready to support the cause of French nationality, and of all +nationalities, against a threatening world-empire, of religious liberty +against sacerdotal absolutism, and the crown of a King, whose only merit +had hitherto been to acquiesce in a religious toleration dictated to him +by others, against those who derided his authority and insulted his +person. The bold knight-errant of Christendom, the champion to the +utterance against Spain, stood there with lance in rest, and the King +scarcely hesitated. + +The League, gliding so long unheeded, now reared its crest in the very +palace of France, and full in the monarch's face. With a single shudder +the victim fell into its coils. + +The choice was made. On the 18th of July (1585) the edict of Nemours was +published, revoking all previous edicts by which religious peace had been +secured. Death and confiscation of property were now proclaimed as the +penalty of practising any religious rites save those of the Roman +Catholic Church. Six months were allowed to the Nonconformists to put +their affairs in order, after which they were to make public profession +of the Catholic religion, with regular attendance upon its ceremonies, +or else go into perpetual exile. To remain in France without abjuring +heresy was thenceforth a mortal crime, to be expiated upon the gallows. +As a matter of course, all Huguenots were instantaneously incapacitated +from public office, the mixed chambers of justice were abolished, and the +cautionary towns were to be restored. On the other hand, the Guise +faction were to receive certain cities into their possession, as pledges +that this sanguinary edict should be fulfilled. + +Thus did Henry III. abjectly kiss the hand which smote him. His mother, +having since the death of Anjou no further interest in affecting to +favour the Huguenots, had arranged the basis of this treaty with the +Spanish party. And now the unfortunate King had gone solemnly down to +the Parliament of Paris, to be present at the registration of the edict. +The counsellors and presidents were all assembled, and as they sat there +in their crimson robes, they seemed, to the excited imagination of those +who loved their country, like embodiments of the impending and most +sanguinary tragedy. As the monarch left the parliament-house a faint cry +of 'God save the King' was heard in the street. Henry hung his head, for +it was long since that cry had met his ears, and he knew that it was a +false and languid demonstration which had been paid for by the Leaguers. + +And thus was the compact signed--an unequal compact. Madam League was on +horseback, armed in proof, said a contemporary; the King was on foot, and +dressed in a shirt of penitence. The alliance was not an auspicious one. +Not peace, but a firebrand--'facem, non pacem'--had the King held +forth to his subjects. + +When the news came to Henry of Navarre that the King had really +promulgated this fatal edict, he remained for a time, with amazement and +sorrow, leaning heavily upon a table, with his face in his right hand. +When he raised his head again--so he afterwards asserted--one side of his +moustachio had turned white. + +Meantime Gregory XIII., who had always refused to sanction the League, +was dead, and Cardinal Peretti, under the name of Sixtus V., now reigned +in his place. Born of an illustrious house, as he said--for it was a +house without a roof--this monk of humble origin was of inordinate +ambition. Feigning a humility which was but the cloak to his pride, he +was in reality as grasping, self-seeking, and revengeful, as he seemed +gentle and devout. It was inevitable that a pontiff of this character +should seize the opportunity offered him to mimic Hildebrand, and to +brandish on high the thunderbolts of the Church. + +With a flaming prelude concerning the omnipotence delegated by Almighty +God to St. Peter and his successors--an authority infinitely superior to +all earthly powers--the decrees of which were irresistible alike by the +highest and the meanest, and which hurled misguided princes from their +thrones into the abyss, like children of Beelzebub, the Pope proceeded to +fulminate his sentence of excommunication against those children of +wrath, Henry of Navarre and Henry of Conde. They were denounced as +heretics, relapsed, and enemies of God (28th Aug.1585). The King was +declared dispossessed of his principality of Bearne, and of what remained +to him of Navarre. He was stripped of all dignities, privileges, and +property, and especially proclaimed incapable of ever ascending the +throne of France. + +The Bearnese replied by a clever political squib. A terse and spirited +paper found its way to Rome, and was soon affixed, to the statutes of +Pasquin and Marforio, and in other public places of that city, and even +to the gates of the papal palace. Without going beyond his own doors, +his Holiness had the opportunity of reading, to his profound amazement, +that Mr. Sixtus, calling himself Pope, had foully and maliciously lied in +calling the King of Navarre a heretic. This Henry offered to prove +before any free council legitimately chosen. If the Pope refused to +submit to such decision, he was himself no better than excommunicate and +Antichrist, and the King of Navarre thereby declared mortal and perpetual +war upon him. The ancient kings of France had known how to chastise the +insolence of former popes, and he hoped, when he ascended the throne, to +take vengeance on Mr. Sixtus for the insult thus offered to all the kings +of Christendom--and so on, in a vein which showed the Bearnese to be a +man rather amused than blasted by these papal fireworks. + +Sixtus V., though imperious, was far from being dull. He knew how to +appreciate a man when he found one, and he rather admired the cheerful +attitude maintained by Navarre, as he tossed back the thunderbolts. He +often spoke afterwards of Henry with genuine admiration, and declared +that in all the world he knew but two persons fit to wear a crown--Henry +of Navarre and Elizabeth of England. "'Twas pity," he said, "that both +should be heretics." + +And thus the fires of civil war had been lighted throughout Christendom, +and the monarch of France had thrown himself head foremost into the +flames. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Hibernian mode of expressing himself +His inordinate arrogance +His insolence intolerable +Humility which was but the cloak to his pride +Longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it +Oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts +Round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived +Wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself +With something of feline and feminine duplicity +'Twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v38 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History of The United Netherlands, 1585 + + +Alexander Farnese, The Duke of Parma + + +CHAPTER V., Part 1. + + Position and Character of Farnese--Preparations for Antwerp Siege-- + Its Characteristics--Foresight of William the Silent--Sainte + Aldegonde, the Burgomaster--Anarchy in Antwerp--Character of Sainte + Aldegonde--Admiral Treslong--Justinus de Nassau--Hohenlo--Opposition + to the Plan of Orange--Liefkenshoek--Head--Quarters of Parma at + Kalloo--Difficulty of supplying the City--Results of not piercing + the Dykes--Preliminaries of the Siege--Successes of the Spaniards-- + Energy of Farnese with Sword and Pen--His Correspondence with the + Antwerpers--Progress of the Bridge--Impoverished Condition of Parma + --Patriots attempt Bois-le-Duc--Their Misconduct--Failure of the + Enterprise--The Scheldt Bridge completed--Description of the + Structure + +The negotiations between France and the Netherlands have been massed, in +order to present a connected and distinct view of the relative attitude +of the different countries of Europe. The conferences and diplomatic +protocolling had resulted in nothing positive; but it is very necessary +for the reader to understand the negative effects of all this +dissimulation and palace-politics upon the destiny of the new +commonwealth, and upon Christendom at large. The League had now achieved +a great triumph; the King of France had virtually abdicated, and it was +now requisite for the King of Navarre, the Netherlands, and Queen +Elizabeth, to draw more closely together than before, if the last hope +of forming a counter-league were not to be abandoned. The next step in +political combination was therefore a solemn embassy of the States- +General to England. Before detailing those negotiations, however, it is +proper to direct attention to the external public events which had been +unrolling themselves in the Provinces, contemporaneously with the secret +history which has been detailed in the preceding chapters. + +By presenting in their natural groupings various distinct occurrences, +rather than by detailing them in strict chronological order, a clearer +view of the whole picture will be furnished than could be done by +intermingling personages, transactions, and scenery, according to the +arbitrary command of Time alone. + +The Netherlands, by the death of Orange, had been left without a head. +On the other hand, the Spanish party had never been so fortunate in their +chief at any period since the destiny of the two nations had been blended +with each other. Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, was a general and a +politician, whose character had been steadily ripening since he came into +the command of the country. He was now thirty-seven years of age--with +the experience of a sexagenarian. No longer the impetuous, arbitrary, +hot-headed youth, whose intelligence and courage hardly atoned for his +insolent manner and stormy career, he had become pensive, modest, almost +gentle. His genius was rapid in conception, patient in combination, +fertile in expedients, adamantine in the endurance or suffering; for +never did a heroic general and a noble army of veterans manifest more +military virtue in the support of an infamous cause than did Parma and +his handful of Italians and Spaniards. That which they considered to be +their duty they performed. The work before them they did with all their +might. + +Alexander had vanquished the rebellion in the Celtic provinces, by the +masterly diplomacy and liberal bribery which have been related in a +former work. Artois, Hainault, Douay, Orchies, with the rich cities of +Lille, Tournay, Valenciennes, Arras, and other important places, were now +the property of Philip. These unhappy and misguided lands, however, were +already reaping the reward of their treason. Beggared, trampled upon, +plundered, despised, they were at once the prey of the Spaniards, and the +cause that their sister-states, which still held out, were placed in more +desperate condition than ever. They were also, even in their abject +plight, made still more forlorn by the forays of Balagny, who continued +in command of Cambray. Catharine de' Medici claimed that city as her +property, by will of the Duke of Anjou. A strange title--founded upon +the treason and cowardice of her favourite son--but one which, for a +time, was made good by the possession maintained by Balagny. That +usurper meantime, with a shrewd eye to his own interests, pronounced the +truce of Cambray, which was soon afterwards arranged, from year to year, +by permission of Philip, as a "most excellent milch-cow;" and he +continued to fill his pails at the expense of the "reconciled" provinces, +till they were thoroughly exhausted. + +This large south-western section of the Netherlands being thus +permanently re-annexed to the Spanish crown, while Holland, Zeeland, and +the other provinces, already constituting the new Dutch republic, were +more obstinate in their hatred of Philip than ever, there remained the +rich and fertile territory of Flanders and Brabant as the great +debateable land. Here were the royal and political capital, Brussels, +the commercial capital, Antwerp, with Mechlin, Dendermonde, Vilvoorde, +and other places of inferior importance, all to be struggled for to the +death. With the subjection of this district the last bulwark between the +new commonwealth and the old empire would be overthrown, and Spain and +Holland would then meet face to face. + +If there had ever been a time when every nerve in Protestant Christendom +should be strained to weld all those provinces together into one great +commonwealth, as a bulwark for European liberty, rather than to allow +them to be broken into stepping-stones, over which absolutism could +stride across France and Holland into England, that moment had arrived. +Every sacrifice should have been cheerfully made by all Netherlanders, +the uttermost possible subsidies and auxiliaries should have been +furnished by all the friends of civil and religious liberty in every land +to save Flanders and Brabant from their impending fate. + +No man felt more keenly the importance of the business in which he was +engaged than Parma. He knew his work exactly, and he meant to execute it +thoroughly. Antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole +country, perhaps of all Christendom, was to turn. "If we get Antwerp," +said the Spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into +a proverb--"you shall all go to mass with us; if you save Antwerp, we +will all go to conventicle with you." + +Alexander rose with the difficulty and responsibility of his situation. +His vivid, almost poetic intellect formed its schemes with perfect +distinctness. Every episode in his great and, as he himself termed it, +his "heroic enterprise," was traced out beforehand with the tranquil +vision of creative genius; and he was prepared to convert his conceptions +into reality, with the aid of an iron nature that never knew fatigue or +fear. + +But the obstacles were many. Alexander's master sat in his cabinet with +his head full of Mucio, Don Antonio, and Queen Elizabeth; while Alexander +himself was left neglected, almost forgotten. His army was shrinking to +a nullity. The demands upon him were enormous, his finances delusive, +almost exhausted. To drain an ocean dry he had nothing but a sieve. +What was his position? He could bring into the field perhaps eight or +ten thousand men over and above the necessary garrisons. He had before +him Brussels, Antwerp, Mechlin, Ghent, Dendermonde, and other powerful +places, which he was to subjugate. Here was a problem not easy of +solution. Given an army of eight thousand, more or less, to reduce +therewith in the least possible time, half-a-dozen cities; each +containing fifteen or twenty thousand men able to bear arms. To besiege +these places in form was obviously a mere chimera. Assault, battery, and +surprises--these were all out of the question. + +Yet Alexander was never more truly heroic than in this position of vast +entanglement. Untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, prodigal of +himself, generous, modest, brave; with so much intellect and so much +devotion to what he considered his duty, he deserved to be a patriot and +a champion of the right, rather than an instrument of despotism. + +And thus he paused for a moment--with much work already accomplished, +but his hardest life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, +a fine martial figure, standing, spear in hand, full in the sunlight, +though all the scene around him was wrapped in gloom--a noble, commanding +shape, entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of great +powers, however unscrupulous, must always command. A dark, meridional +physiognomy, a quick; alert, imposing head; jet black, close-clipped +hair; a bold eagle's face, with full, bright, restless eye; a man rarely +reposing, always ready, never alarmed; living in the saddle, with harness +on his back--such was the Prince of Parma; matured and mellowed, but +still unharmed by time. + +The cities of Flanders and Brabant he determined to reduce by gaining +command of the Scheldt. The five principal ones Ghent, Dendermonde, +Mechlin, Brussels Antwerp, lie narrow circle, at distances from each +other varying from five miles to thirty, and are all strung together by +the great Netherland river or its tributaries. His plan was immensely +furthered by the success of Balthasar Gerard, an ally whom Alexander had +despised and distrusted, even while he employed him. The assassination +of Orange was better to Parma than forty thousand men. A crowd of allies +instantly started up for him, in the shape of treason, faintheartedness, +envy, jealousy, insubordination, within the walls of every beleaguered +city. Alexander knew well how to deal with those auxiliaries. Letters, +artfully concocted, full of conciliation and of promise, were circulated +in every council-room, in almost every house. + +The surrender of Ghent--brought about by the governor's eloquence, aided +by the golden arguments which he knew so well how to advance--had by the +middle of September (19th Sept. 1584), put him in possession of West +Flanders, with the important exception of the coast. Dendermonde +capitulated at a still earlier day; while the fall of Brussels, which +held out till many persons had been starved to death, was deferred till +the 10th March of the following year, and that of Mechlin till midsummer. + +The details of the military or political operations, by which the +reduction of most of these places were effected, possess but little +interest. The siege of Antwerp, however, was one of the most striking +events of the age; and although the change in military tactics and the +progress of science may have rendered this leaguer of less technical +importance than it possessed in the sixteenth century, yet the +illustration that it affords of the splendid abilities of Parma, of the +most cultivated mode of warfare in use at that period, and of the +internal politics by which the country was then regulated, make it +necessary to dwell upon the details of an episode which must ever possess +enduring interest. + +It is agreeable to reflect, too, that the fame of the general is not +polluted with the wholesale butchery, which has stained the reputation of +other Spanish commanders so indelibly. There was no killing for the mere +love of slaughter. With but few exceptions, there was no murder in cold +blood; and the many lives that were laid down upon those watery dykes +were sacrificed at least in bold, open combat; in a contest, the ruling +spirits of which were patriotism, or at least honour. + +It is instructive, too, to observe the diligence and accuracy with which +the best lights of the age were brought to bear upon the great problem +which Parma had undertaken to solve. All the science then at command was +applied both by the Prince and by his burgher antagonists to the +advancement of their ends. Hydrostatics, hydraulics, engineering, +navigation, gunnery, pyrotechnics, mining, geometry, were summoned as +broadly, vigorously, and intelligently to the destruction or preservation +of a trembling city, as they have ever been, in more commercial days, to +advance a financial or manufacturing purpose. Land converted into water, +and water into land, castles built upon the breast of rapid streams, +rivers turned from their beds and taught new courses; the distant ocean +driven across ancient bulwarks, mines dug below the sea, and canals made +to percolate obscene morasses--which the red hand of war, by the very +act, converted into blooming gardens--a mighty stream bridged and +mastered in the very teeth of winter, floating ice-bergs, ocean-tides, +and an alert and desperate foe, ever ready with fleets and armies and +batteries--such were the materials of which the great spectacle was +composed; a spectacle which enchained the attention of Europe for seven +months, and on the result of which, it was thought, depended the fate of +all the Netherlands, and perhaps of all Christendom. + +Antwerp, then the commercial centre of the Netherlands and of Europe, +stands upon the Scheldt. The river, flowing straight, broad, and full +along the verge of the city, subtends the arc into which the place +arranges itself as it falls back from the shore. Two thousand ships of +the largest capacity then known might easily find room in its ample +harbours. The stream, nearly half a mile in width, and sixty feet in +depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet, moves, for a few miles, +in a broad and steady current between the provinces of Brabant and +Flanders. Then, dividing itself into many ample estuaries, and gathering +up the level isles of Zeeland into its bosom, it seems to sweep out with +them into the northern ocean. Here, at the junction of the river and the +sea, lay the perpetual hope of Antwerp, for in all these creeks and +currents swarmed the fleets of the Zeelanders, that hardy and amphibious +race, with which few soldiers or mariners could successfully contend, on +land or water. + +Even from the beginning of the year 1584 Parma had been from time to time +threatening Antwerp. The victim instinctively felt that its enemy was +poising and hovering over head, although he still delayed to strike. +Early in the summer Sainte Aldegonde, Recorder Martini, and other +official personages, were at Delft, upon the occasion of the christening +ceremonies of Frederic Henry, youngest child of Orange. The Prince, +at that moment, was aware of the plans of Parma, and held a long +conversation with his friends upon the measures which he desired to see +immediately undertaken. Unmindful of his usual hospitality, he insisted +that these gentlemen should immediately leave for Antwerp. Alexander +Farnese, he assured them, had taken the firm determination to possess +himself of that place, without further delay. He had privately signified +his purpose of laying the axe at once to the root of the tree, believing +that with the fall of the commercial capital the infant confederacy of +the United States would fall likewise. In order to accomplish this +object, he would forthwith attempt to make himself master of the banks +of the Scheldt, and would even throw a bridge across the stream, if his +plans were not instantly circumvented. + +William of Orange then briefly indicated his plan; adding that he had no +fears for the result; and assuring his friends, who expressed much +anxiety on the subject, that if Parma really did attempt the siege of +Antwerp it should be his ruin. The plan was perfectly simple. The city +stood upon a river. It was practicable, although extremely hazardous, +for the enemy to bridge that river, and by so doing ultimately to reduce +the place. But the ocean could not be bridged; and it was quite possible +to convert Antwerp, for a season, into an ocean-port. Standing alone +upon an island, with the sea flowing around it, and with full and free +marine communication with Zeeland and Holland, it might safely bid +defiance to the land-forces, even of so great a commander as Parma. To +the furtherance of this great measure of defence, it was necessary to +destroy certain bulwarks, the chief of (10th June, 1584) which was called +the Blaw-garen Dyke; and Sainte Aldegonde was therefore requested to +return to the city, in order to cause this task to be executed without +delay. + +Nothing could be more judicious than this advice. The low lands along +the Scheldt were protected against marine encroachments, and the river +itself was confined to its bed, by a magnificent system of dykes, which +extended along its edge towards the ocean, in parallel lines. Other +barriers of a similar nature ran in oblique directions, through the wide +open pasture lands, which they maintained in green fertility, against the +ever-threatening sea. The Blaw-garen, to which the prince mainly +alluded, was connected with the great dyke upon the right bank of the +Scheldt. Between this and the city, another bulwark called the Kowenstyn +Dyke, crossed the country at right angles to the river, and joined the +other two at a point, not very far from Lillo, where the States had a +strong fortress. + +The country in this neighbourhood was low, spongy, full of creeks, small +meres, and the old bed of the Scheldt. Orange, therefore, made it very +clear, that by piercing the great dyke just described, such a vast body +of water would be made to pour over the land as to submerge the Kowenstyn +also, the only other obstacle in the passage of fleets from Zeeland to +Antwerp. The city would then be connected with the sea and its islands, +by so vast an expanse of navigable water, that any attempt on Parma's +part to cut off supplies and succour would be hopeless. Antwerp would +laugh the idea of famine to scorn; and although this immunity would be +purchased by the sacrifice of a large amount of agricultural territory +the price so paid was but a slender one, when the existence of the +capital, and with it perhaps of the whole confederacy was at stake. + +Sainte Aldegonde and Martini suggested, that, as there would be some +opposition to the measure proposed, it might be as well to make a similar +attempt on the Flemish side, in preference, by breaking through the dykes +in the neighbourhood of Saftingen. Orange replied, by demonstrating that +the land in the region which he had indicated was of a character to +ensure success, while in the other direction there were certain very +unfavourable circumstances which rendered the issue doubtful. The result +was destined to prove the sagacity of the Prince, for it will be shown in +the sequel, that the Saftingen plan, afterwards really carried out, was +rather advantageous than detrimental to the enemy's projects. + +Sainte Aldegonde, accordingly, yielded to the arguments and entreaties of +his friend, and repaired without delay to Antwerp. + +The advice of William the Silent--as will soon be related--was not acted +upon; and, within a few weeks after it had been given, he was in his +grave. Nowhere was his loss more severely felt than in Antwerp. It +seemed, said a contemporary, that with his death had died all authority. +The Prince was the only head which the many-membered body of that very +democratic city ever spontaneously obeyed. Antwerp was a small republic +--in time of peace intelligently and successfully administered--which in +the season of a great foreign war, amid plagues, tumults, famine, and +internal rebellion, required the firm hand and the clear brain of a +single chief. That brain and hand had been possessed by Orange alone. + +Before his death he had desired that Sainte Aldegonde should accept the +office of burgomaster of the city. Nominally, the position was not so +elevated as were many of the posts which that distinguished patriot had +filled. In reality, it was as responsible and arduous a place as could +be offered to any man's acceptance throughout the country. Sainte +Aldegonde consented, not without some reluctance. He felt that there +was odium to be incurred; he knew that much would be expected of him, +and that his means would be limited. His powers would be liable to a +constant and various restraint. His measures were sure to be the subject +of perpetual cavil. If the city were besieged, there were nearly one +hundred thousand mouths to feed, and nearly one hundred thousand tongues +to dispute about furnishing the food. + +For the government of Antwerp had been degenerating from a well-organised +municipal republicanism into anarchy. The clashing of the various bodies +exercising power had become incessant and intolerable. The burgomaster +was charged with the chief executive authority, both for peace and war. +Nevertheless he had but a single vote in the board of magistrates, where +a majority decided. Moreover, he could not always attend the sessions, +because he was also member of the council of Brabant. Important measures +might therefore be decided by the magistracy, not only against his +judgment, but without his knowledge. Then there was a variety of boards +or colleges, all arrogating concurrent--which in truth was conflicting- +authority. There was the board of militia-colonels, which claimed great +powers. Here, too, the burgomaster was nominally the chief, but he might +be voted down by a majority, and of course was often absent. Then there +were sixteen captains who came into the colonels' sessions whenever they +liked, and had their word to say upon all subjects broached. If they +were refused a hearing, they were backed by eighty other captains, who +were ready at any moment to carry every disputed point before the +"broadcouncil." + +There were a college of ward-masters, a college of select men, a college +of deacons, a college of ammunition, of fortification, of ship-building, +all claiming equal authority, and all wrangling among themselves; and +there was a college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all the +rest together. + +Once a week there was a session of the board or general council. Dire +was the hissing and confusion, as the hydra heads of the multitudinous +government were laid together. Heads of colleges, presidents of +chambers, militia-chieftains; magistrates, ward-masters, deans of +fishmongers, of tailors, gardeners, butchers, all met together pell-mell; +and there was no predominant authority. This was not a convenient +working machinery for a city threatened with a siege by the first captain +of the age. Moreover there was a deficiency of regular troops: The +burgher-militia were well trained and courageous, but not distinguished +for their docility. There was also a regiment of English under Colonel +Morgan, a soldier of great experience, and much respected; but, as +Stephen Le Sieur said, "this force, unless seconded with more, was but a +breakfast for the enemy." Unfortunately, too, the insubordination, which +was so ripe in the city, seemed to affect these auxiliaries. A mutiny +broke out among the English troops. Many deserted to Parma, some escaped +to England, and it was not until Morgan had beheaded Captain Lee and +Captain Powell, that discipline could be restored. + +And into this scene of wild and deafening confusion came Philip de +Marnix, Lord of Sainte Aldegonde. + +There were few more brilliant characters than he in all Christendom. He +was a man, of a most rare and versatile genius. Educated in Geneva at +the very feet of Calvin, he had drunk, like mother's milk, the strong and +bitter waters of the stern reformer's, creed; but he had in after life +attempted, although hardly with success, to lift himself to the height of +a general religious toleration. He had also been trained in the severe +and thorough literary culture which characterised that rigid school. He +was a scholar, ripe and rare; no holiday trifler in the gardens of +learning. He spoke and wrote Latin like his native tongue. He could +compose poignant Greek epigrams. He was so familiar with Hebrew, that he +had rendered the Psalms of David out of the original into flowing Flemish +verse, for the use of the reformed churches. That he possessed the +modern tongues of civilized Europe, Spanish, Italian, French, and German, +was a matter of course. He was a profound jurisconsult, capable of +holding debate against all competitors upon any point of theory or +practice of law, civil, municipal, international. He was a learned +theologian, and had often proved himself a match for the doctors, +bishops, or rabbin of Europe, in highest argument of dogma, creed, or +tradition. He was a practised diplomatist, constantly employed in +delicate and difficult negotiations by William the Silent, who ever +admired his genius, cherished his friendship, and relied upon his +character. He was an eloquent orator, whose memorable harangue, beyond +all his other efforts, at the diet of Worms, had made the German princes +hang their heads with shame, when, taking a broad and philosophical view +of the Netherland matter, he had shown that it was the great question of +Europe; that Nether Germany was all Germany; that Protestantism could not +be unravelled into shreds; that there was but one cause in Christendom-- +that of absolutism against national liberty, Papacy against the reform; +and that the seventeen Provinces were to be assisted in building +themselves into an eternal barrier against Spain, or that the "burning +mark of shame would be branded upon the forehead of Germany;" that the +war, in short, was to be met by her on the threshold; or else that it +would come to seek her at home--a prophecy which the horrible Thirty +Years' War was in after time most signally to verify. + +He was a poet of vigour and originality, for he had accomplished what has +been achieved by few; he had composed a national hymn, whose strophes, as +soon as heard, struck a chord in every Netherland heart, and for three +centuries long have rung like a clarion wherever the Netherland tongue is +spoken. "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe," regarded simply as a literary +composition, has many of the qualities which an ode demands; an +electrical touch upon the sentiments, a throb of patriotism, sympathetic +tenderness, a dash of indignation, with rhythmical harmony and graceful +expression; and thus it has rung from millions of lips, from generation +to generation. + +He was a soldier, courageous, untiring, prompt in action, useful in +council, and had distinguished himself in many a hard-fought field. +Taken prisoner in the sanguinary skirmish at Maaslandssluys, he had been +confined a year, and, for more than three months, had never laid his +head, as he declared, upon the pillow without commending his soul as for +the last time to his Maker, expecting daily the order for his immediate +execution, and escaping his doom only because William the Silent +proclaimed that the proudest head among the Spanish prisoners should fall +to avenge his death; so that he was ultimately exchanged against the +veteran Mondragon. + +From the incipient stages of the revolt he had been foremost among the +patriots. He was supposed to be the author of the famous "Compromise of +the Nobles," that earliest and most conspicuous of the state-papers of +the republic, and of many other important political documents; and he had +contributed to general literature many works of European celebrity, of +which the 'Roman Bee-Hive' was the most universally known. + +Scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, +he had genius for all things, and was eminent in all. He was even famous +for his dancing, and had composed an intelligent and philosophical +treatise upon the value of that amusement, as an agent of civilisation, +and as a counteractor of the grosser pleasures of the table to which +Upper and Nether Germans were too much addicted. + +Of ancient Savoyard extraction, and something of a southern nature, he +had been born in Brussels, and was national to the heart's core. + +A man of interesting, sympathetic presence; of a physiognomy where many +of the attaching and attractive qualities of his nature revealed +themselves; with crisp curling hair, surmounting a tall, expansive +forehead--full of benevolence, idealism, and quick perceptions; broad, +brown, melancholy eyes, overflowing with tenderness; a lean and haggard +cheek, a rugged Flemish nose; a thin flexible mouth; a slender moustache, +and a peaked and meagre beard; so appeared Sainte Aldegonde in the forty- +seventh year of his age, when he came to command in Antwerp. + +Yet after all--many-sided, accomplished, courageous, energetic, as he +was--it may be doubted whether he was the man for the hour or the post. +He was too impressionable; he had too much of the temperament of genius. +Without being fickle, he had, besides his versatility of intellect, a +character which had much facility in turning; not, indeed, in the breeze +of self-interest, but because he seemed placed in so high and clear an +atmosphere of thought that he was often acted upon and swayed by subtle +and invisible influences. At any rate his conduct was sometimes +inexplicable. He had been strangely fascinated by the ignoble Duke of +Anjou, and, in the sequel, it will be found that he was destined to +experience other magnetic or magical impulses, which were once thought +suspicious, and have remained mysterious even to the present day. + +He was imaginative. He was capable of broad and boundless hopes. He was +sometimes prone to deep despair. His nature was exquisitely tempered; +too fine and polished a blade to be wielded among those hydra-heads by +which he was, now surrounded; and for which the stunning sledgehammer of +arbitrary force was sometimes necessary. + +He was perhaps deficient in that gift, which no training and no culture +can bestow, and which comes from above alone by birth-right divine--that +which men willingly call master, authority; the effluence which came so +naturally from the tranquil eyes of William the Silent. + +Nevertheless, Sainte Aldegonde was prepared to do his best, and all his +best was to be tasked to the utmost. His position was rendered still +more difficult by the unruly nature of some of his coordinates. + +"From the first day to the last," said one who lived in Antwerp during +the siege, "the mistakes committed in the city were incredible." It had +long been obvious that a siege was contemplated by Parma. A liberal sum +of money had been voted by the States-General, of which Holland and +Zeeland contributed a very large proportion (two hundred thousand +florins); the city itself voted another large subsidy, and an order was +issued to purchase at once and import into the city at least a year's +supply of every kind of provisions of life and munitions of war. + +William de Blois, Lord of Treslong, Admiral of Holland and Zeeland, was +requested to carry out this order, and superintend the victualling of +Antwerp. But Treslong at once became troublesome. He was one of the old +"beggars of the sea," a leader in the wild band who had taken possession +of the Brill, in the teeth of Alva, and so laid the foundation of the +republic. An impetuous noble, of wealthy family, high connections, and +refractory temper--a daring sailor, ever ready for any rash adventure, +but possessed of a very moderate share of prudence or administrative +ability, he fell into loose and lawless courses on the death of Orange, +whose firm hand was needed to control him. The French negotiation had +excited his profound disgust, and knowing Sainte Aldegonde to be heart +and soul in favour of that alliance, he was in no haste whatever to carry +out his orders with regard to Antwerp. He had also an insignificant +quarrel with President Meetkerk. The Prince of Parma--ever on the watch +for such opportunities--was soon informed of the Admiral's discontent, +and had long been acquainted with his turbulent character. Alexander at +once began to inflame his jealousy and soothe his vanity by letters and +messengers, urging upon him the propriety of reconciling himself with the +King, and promising him large rewards and magnificent employments in the +royal service. Even the splendid insignia of the Golden Fleece were +dangled before his eyes. It is certain that the bold Hollander was not +seduced by these visions, but there is no doubt that he listened to the +voice of the tempter. He unquestionably neglected his duty. Week after +week he remained, at Ostend, sneering at the French and quaffing huge +draughts in honour of Queen Elizabeth. At last, after much time had +elapsed, he agreed to victual Antwerp if he could be furnished with +thirty krom-stevens,--a peculiar kind of vessel, not to be found in +Zeeland. The krom-stevens were sent to him from Holland. Then, hearing +that his negligence had been censured by the States-General, he became +more obstinate than ever, and went up and down proclaiming that if people +made themselves disagreeable to him he would do that which should make +all the women and children in the Netherlands shriek and tremble. What +this nameless horror was to be he never divulged, but meantime he went +down to Middelburg, and swore that not a boat-load of corn should go up +to Antwerp until two members of the magistracy, whom he considered +unpleasant, had been dismissed from their office. Wearied with all this +bluster, and imbued with grave suspicion as to his motives, the States at +last rose upon their High Admiral and threw him into prison. He was +accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours, and, it was thought, would +be tried for his life. He was suspected and even openly accused of +having been tampered with by Spain, but there was at any rate a +deficiency of proof. + +"Treslong is apprehended," wrote Davison to Burghley, "and, is charged to +have been the cause that the fleet passed not up to Antwerp. He is +suspected to have otherwise forgotten himself, but whether justly or not +will appear by his trial. Meantime he is kept in the common prison of +Middelburg, a treatment which it is thought they would not offer him if +they had not somewhat of importance against him." + +He was subsequently released at the intercession of Queen Elizabeth, and +passed some time in England. He was afterwards put upon trial, but no +accuser appearing to sustain the charges against him, he was eventually +released. He never received a command in the navy again, but the very +rich sinecures of Grand Falconer and Chief Forester of Holland were +bestowed upon him, and he appears to have ended his days in peace and +plenty. + +He was succeeded in the post of Admiral of Holland and Zeeland by +Justinus de Nassau, natural son of William the Silent, a young man of +much promise but of little experience. + +General Count Hohenlo, too, lieutenant for young Maurice, and virtual +commander-in-chief of the States' forces, was apt to give much trouble. +A German noble, of ancient descent and princely rank; brave to temerity, +making a jest of danger; and riding into a foray as if to a merry-making; +often furiously intoxicated, and always turbulent and uncertain; a +handsome, dissipated cavalier, with long curls floating over his +shoulders, an imposing aristocratic face, and a graceful, athletic +figure, he needed some cool brain and steady hand to guide him--valuable +as he was to fulfil any daring project but was hardly willing to accept +the authority of a burgomaster. While the young Maurice yet needed +tutelage, while "the sapling was growing into the tree," Hohenlo was a +dangerous chieftain and a most disorderly lieutenant. + +With such municipal machinery and such coadjutors had Sainte Aldegonde to +deal, while, meantime, the delusive French negociation was dragging its +slow length along, and while Parma was noiselessly and patiently +proceeding with his preparations. + +The burgomaster--for Sainte Aldegonde, in whom vulgar ambition was not a +foible, had refused the dignity and title of Margrave of Antwerp, which +had been tendered him--had neglected no effort towards carrying into +effect the advice of Orange, given almost with his latest breath. The +manner in which that advice was received furnished a striking +illustration of the defective machinery which has been pourtrayed. + +Upon his return from Delft, Sainte Aldegonde had summoned a meeting of +the magistracy of Antwerp. He laid before the board the information +communicated by Orange as to Parma's intentions. He also explained the +scheme proposed for their frustration, and urged the measures indicated +with so much earnestness that his fellow-magistrates were convinced. The +order was passed for piercing the Blauw-garen Dyke, and Sainte Aldegonde, +with some engineers, was requested to view the locality, and to take +order for the immediate fulfilment of the plan. + +Unfortunately there were many other boards in session besides that of the +Schepens, many other motives at work besides those of patriotism. The +guild of butchers held a meeting, so soon as the plan suggested was +known, and resolved with all their strength to oppose its execution. + +The butchers were indeed furious. Twelve thousand oxen grazed annually +upon the pastures which were about to be submerged, and it was +represented as unreasonable that all this good flesh and blood should be +sacrificed. At a meeting of the magistrates on the following day, +sixteen butchers, delegates from their guild, made their appearance, +hoarse with indignation. They represented the vast damage which would be +inflicted upon the estates of many private individuals by the proposed +inundation, by this sudden conversion of teeming meadows, fertile farms, +thriving homesteads, prolific orchards, into sandy desolation. Above all +they depicted, in glowing colours and with natural pathos, the vast +destruction of beef which was imminent, and they urged--with some show of +reason--that if Parma were really about to reduce Antwerp by famine, his +scheme certainly would not be obstructed by the premature annihilation of +these wholesome supplies. + +That the Scheldt could be, closed in any manner was, however, they said, +a preposterous conception. That it could be bridged was the dream of a +lunatic. Even if it were possible to construct a bridge, and probable +that the Zeelanders and Antwerpers would look on with folded arms while +the work proceeded, the fabric, when completed, would be at the mercy of +the ice-floods of the winter and the enormous power of the ocean-tides. +The Prince of Orange himself, on a former occasion, when Antwerp was +Spanish, had attempted to close the river with rafts, sunken piles, and +other obstructions, but the whole had been swept away, like a dam of +bulrushes, by the first descent of the ice-blocks of winter. It was +witless to believe that Parma contemplated any such measure, and utterly +monstrous to believe in its success. + +Thus far the butchers. Soon afterwards came sixteen colonels of militia, +as representatives of their branch of the multiform government. These +personages, attended by many officers of inferior degree, sustained the +position of the butchers with many voluble and vehement arguments. Not +the least convincing of their conclusions was the assurance that it would +be idle for the authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke, +seeing that the municipal soldiery itself would prevent the measure by +main force, at all hazards, and without regard to their own or others' +lives. + +The violence of this opposition, and the fear of a serious internecine +conflict at so critical a juncture, proved fatal to the project. Much +precious time was lost, and when at last the inhabitants of the city +awoke from their delusion, it was to find that repentance, as usual, had +come many hours too late. + +For Parma had been acting while his antagonists had been wrangling. He +was hampered in his means, but he was assisted by what now seems the +incredible supineness of the Netherlanders. Even Sainte Aldegonde did +not believe in the possibility of erecting the bridge; not a man in +Antwerp seemed to believe it. "The preparations," said one who lived in +the city, "went on before our very noses, and every one was ridiculing +the Spanish commander's folly." + +A very great error was, moreover, committed in abandoning Herenthals to +the enemy. The city of Antwerp governed Brabant, and it would have been +far better for the authorities of the commercial capital to succour this +small but important city, and, by so doing, to protract for a long time +their own defence. Mondragon saw and rejoiced over the mistake. "Now +'tis easy to see that the Prince of Orange is dead," said the veteran, as +he took possession, in the Icing's name, of the forsaken Herenthals. + +Early in the summer, Parma's operations had been, of necessity, +desultory. He had sprinkled forts up and down the Scheldt, and had +gradually been gaining control of the navigation upon that river. Thus +Ghent and Dendermonde, Vilvoorde, Brussels, and Antwerp, had each been +isolated, and all prevented from rendering mutual assistance. Below +Antwerp, however, was to be the scene of the great struggle. Here, +within nine miles of the city, were two forts belonging to the States, +on opposite sides of the stream, Lille, and Liefkenshoek. It was +important for the Spanish commander to gain possession of both; before +commencing his contemplated bridge. + +Unfortunately for the States, the fortifications of Liefkenshoek, on the +Flemish side of the river, had not been entirely completed. Eight +hundred men lay within it, under Colonel John Pettin of Arras, an old +patriotic officer of much experience. Parma, after reconnoitring the +place in person, despatched the famous Viscount of Ghent--now called +Marquis of Roubaix and Richebourg--to carry it by assault. The Marquis +sent one hundred men from his Walloon legion, under two officers, in whom +he had confidence, to attempt a surprise, with orders, if not successful, +to return without delay. They were successful. The one hundred gained +entrance into the fort at a point where the defences had not been put +into sufficient repair. + +They were immediately followed by Richebourg, at the head of his +regiment. The day was a fatal one. It was the 10th July, 1584 and +William of Orange was falling at Delft by the hand of Balthazar Gerard. +Liefkenshoek was carried at a blow. Of the eight hundred patriots in the +place, scarcely a man escaped. Four hundred were put to the sword, the +others were hunted into the river, when nearly all were drowned. Of the +royalists a single man was killed, and two or three more were wounded. +"Our Lord was pleased," wrote Parma piously to Philip, that we "should +cut the throats of four hundred of them in a single instant, and that a +great many more should be killed upon the dykes; so that I believe very +few to have escaped with life. We lost one man, besides two or three +wounded." A few were taken prisoners, and among them was the commander +John Pettin. He was at once brought before Richebourg, who was standing +in the presence of the Prince of Parma. The Marquis drew his sword, +walked calmly up to the captured Colonel, and ran him through the body. +Pettin fell dead upon the spot. The Prince was displeased. "Too much +choler, Marquis, too much choler,"--said he reprovingly. "Troppa colera, +Signor Marchese, a questa." But Richebourg knew better. He had, while +still Viscount of Ghent, carried on a year previously a parallel intrigue +with the royalists and the patriots. The Prince of Parma had bid highest +for his services, and had, accordingly, found him a most effectual +instrument in completing the reduction of the Walloon Provinces. The +Prince was not aware, however, that his brave but venal ally had, at the +very same moment, been secretly treating with William of Orange; and as +it so happened that Colonel Pettin had been the agent in the unsuccessful +negotiation, it was possible that his duplicity would now be exposed. +The Marquis had, therefore, been prompt to place his old confederate in +the condition wherein men tell no tales, and if contemporary chronicles +did not bely him, it was not the first time that he had been guilty of +such cold-blooded murder. The choler had not been superfluous. + +The fortress of Lille was garrisoned by the Antwerp volunteers, called +the "Young Bachelors." Teligny, the brave son of the illustrious "Iron- +armed" La None, commanded in chief: and he had, besides the militia, a +company of French under Captain Gascoigne, and four hundred Scotchmen +under Colonel Morgan--perhaps two thousand men in all. + +Mondragon, hero of the famous submarine expeditions of Philipsland and +Zierickzee, was ordered by Parma to take the place at every hazard. With +five thousand men--a large proportion of the Spanish effective force at +that moment--the veteran placed himself before the fort, taking +possession, of the beautiful country-house and farm of Lille, where he +planted his batteries, and commenced a regular cannonade. The place was +stronger than Liefkenshoek, however, and Teligny thoroughly comprehended +the importance of maintaining it for the States. Mondragon dug mines, +and Teligny countermined. The Spanish daily cannonade was cheerfully +responded to by the besieged, and by the time Mondragon had shot away +fifty thousand pounds of powder, he found that he had made no impression +upon the fortress, while the number of his troops had been diminishing +with great rapidity. Mondragon was not so impetuous as he had been on +many former occasions. He never ventured an assault. At last Teligny +made a sortie at the head of a considerable force. A warm action +succeeded, at the conclusion of which, without a decided advantage on +either side, the sluice-gate in the fortress was opened, and the torrent +of the Scheldt, swollen by a high tide, was suddenly poured upon the +Spaniards. Assailed at once by the fire from the Lillo batteries, and by +the waters of the river, they were forced to a rapid retreat. This they +effected with great loss, but with signal courage; struggling breast high +in the waves, and bearing off their field-pieces in their arms in the +very face of the enemy. + +Three weeks long Mondragon had been before Fort Lille, and two thousand +of his soldiers had been slain in the trenches. The attempt was now +abandoned. Parma directed permanent batteries to be established at +Lillo-house, at Oordam, and at other places along the river, and +proceeded quietly with his carefully-matured plan for closing the river. + +His own camp was in the neighbourhood of the villages of Beveren, Kalloo, +and Borght. Of the ten thousand foot and seventeen hundred horse, which +composed at the moment his whole army, about one-half lay with him, while +the remainder were with Count Peter Ernest Mansfield, in the +neighbourhood of Stabroek. Thus the Prince occupied a position on the +left bank of the Scheldt, nearly opposite Antwerp, while Mansfield was +stationed upon the right bank, and ten miles farther down the river. +From a point in the neighbourhood of Kalloo, Alexander intended to throw +a fortified bridge to the opposite shore. When completed, all traffic up +the river from Zeeland would be cut off; and as the country on the land- +side; abut Antwerp, had been now reduced, the city would be effectually +isolated. If the Prince could hold his bridge until famine should break +the resistance of the burghers, Antwerp would fall into his hands. + +His head-quarters were at Kalloo, and this obscure spot soon underwent +a strange transformation. A drowsy placid little village--with a modest +parish spire peeping above a clump of poplars, and with half a dozen +cottages, with storks nests on their roofs, sprinkled here and there +among pastures and orchards--suddenly saw itself changed as it were into +a thriving bustling town; for, saving the white tents which dotted the +green turf in every direction, the aspect of the scene was, for a time, +almost pacific. It was as if, some great manufacturing enterprise had +been set on foot, and the world had suddenly awoke to the hidden +capabilities of the situation. + +A great dockyard and arsenal suddenly revealed themselves--rising like an +exhalation--where ship-builders, armourers, blacksmiths, joiners, +carpenters, caulkers, gravers, were hard at work all day long. The din +and hum of what seemed a peaceful industry were unceasing. From Kalloo, +Parma dug a canal twelve miles long to a place called Steeken, hundreds +of pioneers being kept constantly at work with pick and spade till it +was completed. Through this artificial channel--so soon as Ghent and +Dendermonde had fallen--came floats of timber, fleets of boats laden with +provisions of life and munitions of death, building-materials, and every +other requisite for the great undertaking, all to be disembarked at +Kalloo. The object was a temporary and destructive one, but it remains a +monument of the great general's energy and a useful public improvement. +The amelioration of the fenny and barren soil, called the Waesland, is +dated from that epoch; and the spot in Europe which is the most prolific, +and which nourishes the largest proportion of inhabitants to the square +mile, is precisely the long dreary swamp which the Prince thus drained +for military purposes, and converted into a garden. Drusus and Corbulo, +in the days of the Roman Empire, had done the same good service for their +barbarian foes. + +At Kalloo itself, all the shipwrights, cutlers, masons, brass-founders, +rope-makers, anchor-forgers, sailors, boatmen, of Flanders and Brabant, +with a herd of bakers, brewers, and butchers, were congregated by express +order of Parma. In the little church itself the main workshop was +established, and all day long, week after week, month after month, the +sound of saw and hammer, adze and plane, the rattle of machinery, the cry +of sentinels, the cheers of mariners, resounded, where but lately had +been heard nothing save the drowsy homily and the devout hymn of rustic +worship. + +Nevertheless the summer and autumn wore on, and still the bridge was +hardly commenced. The navigation of the river--although impeded and +rendered dangerous by the forts which Parma held along the banks--was +still open; and, so long as the price of corn in Antwerp remained three +or four times as high as the sum for which it could be purchased in +Holland and Zeeland, there were plenty of daredevil skippers ready to +bring cargoes. Fleets of fly-boats, convoyed by armed vessels, were +perpetually running the gauntlet. Sharp actions on shore between the +forts of the patriots and those of Parma, which were all intermingled +promiscuously along the banks, and amphibious and most bloody encounters +on ship-board, dyke, and in the stream itself, between the wild +Zeelanders and the fierce pikemen of Italy and Spain, were of repeated +occurrence. Many a lagging craft fell into the enemy's hands, when, as a +matter of course, the men, women, and children, on board, were horribly +mutilated by the Spaniards, and were then sent drifting in their boat +with the tide--their arms, legs, and ears lopped off up to the city, in +order that--the dangerous nature of this provision-trade might be fully +illustrated. + +Yet that traffic still went on. It would have continued until Antwerp +had been victualled for more than a year, had not the city authorities, +in the plentitude of their wisdom, thought proper to issue orders for its +regulation. On the 25th October (1584) a census was taken, when the +number of persons inside the walls was found to be ninety thousand. For +this population it was estimated that 300,000 veertell, or about 900,000 +bushels of corn, would be required annually. The grain was coming in +very fast, notwithstanding the perilous nature of the trade; for wheat +could be bought in Holland for fifty florins the last, or about fifteen +pence sterling the bushel, while it was worth five or six florins +the veertel, or about four shillings the bushel, in Antwerp. + +The magistrates now committed a folly more stupendous than it seemed +possible for human creatures, under such circumstances, to compass. They +established a maximum upon corn. The skippers who had run their cargoes +through the gauntlet, all the way from Flushing to Antwerp, found on +their arrival, that, instead of being rewarded, according to the natural +laws of demand and supply, they were required to exchange their wheat, +rye, butter, and beef, against the exact sum which the Board of Schepens +thought proper to consider a reasonable remuneration. Moreover, in order +to prevent the accumulation of provisions in private magazines, it was +enacted, that all consumers of grain should be compelled to make their +purchases directly from the ships. These two measures were almost as +fatal as the preservation of the Blaw-garen Dyke, in the interest of the +butchers. Winter and famine were staring the city in the face, and the +maximum now stood sentinel against the gate, to prevent the admission of +food. The traffic ceased without a struggle. Parma himself could not +have better arranged the blockade. + +Meantime a vast and almost general inundation had taken place. The +aspect of the country for many miles around was strange and desolate. +The sluices had been opened in the neighbourhood of Saftingen, on, the +Flemish side, so that all the way from Hulst the waters were out, and +flowed nearly to the gates of Antwerp. A wide and shallow sea rolled +over the fertile plains, while church-steeples, the tops of lofty trees, +and here and there the turrets of a castle, scarcely lifted themselves +above the black waters; the peasants' houses, the granges, whole rural +villages, having entirely disappeared. The high grounds of Doel, of +Kalloo, and Beveren, where Alexander was established, remained out of +reach of the flood. Far below, on the opposite side of the river, other +sluices had been opened, and the sea had burst over the wide, level +plain. The villages of Wilmerdonk, Orderen, Ekeren, were changed to +islands in the ocean, while all the other hamlets, for miles around, were +utterly submerged. + +Still, however, the Blaw-garen Dyke and its companion the Kowenstyn +remained obstinately above the waters, forming a present and more fatal +obstruction to the communication between Antwerp and Zeeland than would +be furnished even by the threatened and secretly-advancing bridge across +the Scheldt. Had Orange's prudent advice been taken, the city had been +safe. Over the prostrate dykes, whose destruction he had so warmly +urged, the ocean would have rolled quite to the gates of Antwerp, and it +would have been as easy to bridge the North Sea as to control the free +navigation of the patriots over so wide a surface. + +When it was too late, the butchers, and colonels, and captains, became +penitent enough. An order was passed, by acclamation, in November, to do +what Orange had recommended in June. It was decreed that the Blaw-garen +and the Kowenstyn should be pierced. Alas, the hour had long gone by. +Alexander of Parma was not the man to undertake the construction of a +bridge across the river, at a vast expense, and at the same time to +permit the destruction of the already existing barrier. There had been a +time for such a deed. The Seigneur de Kowenstyn, who had a castle and +manor on and near the dyke which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon +the Antwerp magistracy the propriety of piercing this bulwark, even after +their refusal to destroy the outer barrier. Sainte Aldegonde, who +vehemently urged the measure, protested that his hair had stood on end, +when he found, after repeated entreaty, that the project was rejected. +The Seigneur de Kowenstyn, disgusted and indignant, forswore his +patriotism, and went over to Parma. The dyke fell into the hands of the +enemy. And now from Stabroek, where old Mansfeid lay with his army, all +the way across the flooded country, ran the great bulwark, strengthened +with new palisade-work and block-houses, bristling with Spanish cannon, +pike, and arquebus, even to the bank of the Scheldt, in the immediate +vicinity of Fort Lille. At the angle of its junction with the main dyke +of the river's bank, a strong fortress called Holy Cross (Santa Cruz) had +been constructed. That fortress and the whole line of the Kowenstyn were +held in the iron grip of Mondragon. To wrench it from him would be no +child's play. Five new strong redoubts upon the dyke, and five or six +thousand Spaniards established there, made the enterprise more formidable +than it would have been in June. It had been better to sacrifice the +twelve thousand oxen. Twelve thousand Hollanders might now be +slaughtered, and still the dyke remain above the waves. + +Here was the key to the fate of Antwerp. + +On the other hand, the opening of the Saftingen Sluice had done Parma's +work for him. Even there, too, Orange had been prophetic. Kalloo was +high and dry, but Alexander had experienced some difficulty in bringing a +fleet of thirty vessels, laden with cannon and other valuable materials, +from Ghent along the Scheldt, into his encampment, because it was +necessary for them, before reaching their destination, to pass in front +of Antwerp. The inundation, together with a rupture in the Dyke of +Borght, furnished him with a watery road; over which his fleet completely +avoided the city, and came in triumph to Kalloo. + +Sainte Aldegonde, much provoked by this masterly movement on the part of +Parma, had followed the little squadron closely with some armed vessels +from the city. A sharp action had succeeded, in which the burgomaster, +not being properly sustained by the Zeeland ships on which he relied, had +been defeated. Admiral Jacob Jacobzoon behaved with so little spirit on +the occasion that he acquired with the Antwerp populace the name of "Run- +away Jacob," "Koppen gaet loppen;" and Sainte Aldegonde declared, that, +but for his cowardice, the fleet of Parma would have fallen into their +hands. The burgomaster himself narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner, and +owed his safety only to the swiftness of his barge, which was called the +"Flying Devil." + +The patriots, in order to counteract similar enterprises in future, now +erected a sconce, which they called Fort Teligny; upon the ruptured dyke +of Borght, directly in front of the Borght blockhouse, belonging to the +Spaniards, and just opposite Fort Hoboken. Here, in this narrow passage, +close under the walls of Antwerp, where friends and foes were brought +closely, face to face, was the scene of many a sanguinary skirmish, from +the commencement of the siege until its close. + +Still the bridge was believed to be a mere fable, a chimaera. Parma, men +said, had become a lunatic from pride. It was as easy to make the +Netherlands submit to the yoke of the Inquisition as to put a bridle on +the Scheldt. Its depth; breadth, the ice-floods of a northern winter, +the neighbourhood of the Zeeland fleets, the activity of the Antwerp +authorities, all were pledges that the attempt would be signally +frustrated. + +And they should have been pledges--more than enough. Unfortunately, +however, there was dissension within, and no chieftain in the field, no +sage in the council, of sufficient authority to sustain the whole burthen +of the war, and to direct all the energies of the commonwealth. Orange +was dead. His son, one day to become the most illustrious military +commander in Europe, was a boy of seventeen, nominally captain-general, +but in reality but a youthful apprentice to his art. Hohenlo was wild, +wilful, and obstinate. Young William Lewis Nassau, already a soldier of +marked abilities, was fully occupied in Friesland, where he was +stadholder, and where he had quite enough to do in making head against +the Spanish governor and general, the veteran Verdugo: Military +operations against Zutphen distracted the attention of the States, which +should have been fixed upon Antwerp. + +Admiral Treslong, as we have seen, was refractory, the cause of great +delinquency on the part of the fleets, and of infinite disaster to the +commonwealth. More than all, the French negotiation was betraying the +States into indolence and hesitation; and creating a schism between the +leading politicians of the country. Several thousand French troops, +under Monsieur d'Allaynes, were daily expected, but never arrived; and +thus, while English and French partisans were plotting and counter- +plotting, while a delusive diplomacy was usurping the place of +lansquenettes and gun-boats--the only possible agents at that moment to +preserve Antwerp--the bridge of Parma was slowly advancing. Before the +winter had closed in, the preparatory palisades had been finished. + +Between Kalloo and Ordam, upon the opposite side, a sandbar had been +discovered in the river's bed, which diminished the depth of the stream, +and rendered the pile-driving comparatively easy. The breadth of the +Scheldt at this passage was twenty-four hundred feet; its depth, sixty +feet. Upon the Flemish side, near Kalloo, a strong fort was erected, +called Saint Mary, in honour of the blessed Virgin, to whom the whole +siege of Antwerp had been dedicated from the beginning. On the opposite +bank was a similar fort, flamed Philip, for the King. From each of these +two points, thus fortified, a framework of heavy timber, supported upon +huge piles, had been carried so far into the stream on either side that +the distance between the ends had at last been reduced to thirteen +hundred feet. The breadth of the roadway--formed of strong sleepers +firmly bound together--was twelve feet, along which block-houses of great +thickness were placed to defend the whole against assault. + +Thus far the work had been comparatively easy. To bridge the remaining +open portion of the river, however, where its current was deepest and +strongest, and where the action of tide, tempest, and icebergs, would be +most formidable, seemed a desperate undertaking; for as the enterprise +advanced, this narrow open space became the scene of daily amphibious +encounters between the soldiers and sailors of Parma and the forces of +the States. Unfortunately for the patriots, it was only skirmishing. +Had a strong, concerted attack, in large force, from Holland and Zeeland +below and from the city above, been agreed upon, there was hardly a +period, until very late in the winter, when it might not have had the +best chances of success. With a vigorous commander against him, Parma, +weak in men, and at his wits' end for money, might, in a few hours, have +seen the labour of several months hopelessly annihilated. On the other +hand, the Prince was ably seconded by his lieutenant, Marquis Richebourg, +to whom had been delegated the immediate superintendence of the bridge- +building in its minutest details. He was never idle. Audacious, +indefatigable, ubiquitous, he at least atoned by energy and brilliant +courage for his famous treason of the preceding year, while his striking +and now rapidly approaching doom upon the very scene of his present +labours, made him appear to have been building a magnificent though +fleeting monument to his own memory. + +Sainte Aldegonde, shut up in Antwerp, and hampered by dissension within +and obstinate jealousy without the walls, did all in his power to +frustrate the enemy's enterprise and animate the patriots. Through the +whole of the autumn and early winter, he had urged the States of Holland +and Zeeland to make use of the long winter nights, when moonless and +stormy, to attempt the destruction of Parma's undertaking, but the fatal +influences already indicated were more efficient against Antwerp than +even the genius of Farnese; and nothing came of the burgomaster's +entreaties save desultory skirmishing and unsuccessful enterprises. An +especial misfortune happened in one of these midnight undertakings. +Teligny ventured forth in a row-barge, with scarcely any companions, to +notify the Zeelanders of a contemplated movement, in which their co- +operation was desired. It was proposed that the Antwerp troops should +make a fictitious demonstration upon Fort Ordam, while at the same moment +the States' troops from Fort Lillo should make an assault upon the forts +on Kowenstyn Dyke; and in this important enterprise the Zeeland vessels +were requested to assist. But the brave Teligny nearly forfeited his +life by his rashness, and his services were, for a long time, lost to the +cause of liberty. It had been better to send a less valuable officer +upon such hazardous yet subordinate service. The drip of his oars was +heard in the darkness. He was pursued by a number of armed barges, +attacked, wounded severely in the shoulder, and captured. He threw his +letters overboard, but they were fished out of the water, carried to +Parma, and deciphered, so that the projected attack upon the Kowenstyn +was discovered, and, of necessity, deferred. As for Teligny, he was +taken, as a most valuable prize, into the enemy's camp, and was soon +afterwards thrust into prison at Tournay, where he remained six years-- +one year longer than the period which his illustrious father had been +obliged to consume in the infamous dungeon at Mons. Few disasters could +have been more keenly felt by the States than the loss of this brilliant +and devoted French chieftain, who, young as he was, had already become +very dear to the republic; and Sainte Aldegonde was severely blamed for +sending so eminent a personage on that dangerous expedition, and for +sending him, too, with an insufficient convoy. + +Still Alexander felt uncertain as to the result. He was determined to +secure Antwerp, but he yet thought it possible to secure it by +negotiation. The enigmatical policy maintained by France perplexed him; +for it did not seem possible that so much apparent solemnity and +earnestness were destined to lead to an impotent and infamous conclusion. +He was left, too, for a long time in ignorance of his own master's secret +schemes, he was at liberty to guess, and to guess only, as to the +projects of the league, he was without adequate means to carry out to a +certain triumph his magnificent enterprise, and he was in constant alarm +lest he should be suddenly assailed by an overwhelming French force. Had +a man sat upon the throne of Henry III., at that moment, Parma's bridge- +making and dyke-fortifying skilful as they were--would have been all in +vain. Meantime, in uncertainty as to the great issue, but resolved to +hold firmly to his purpose, he made repeated conciliatory offers to the +States with one hand, while he steadily prosecuted his aggressive schemes +with the other. + +Parma had become really gentle, almost affectionate, towards the +Netherlanders. He had not the disposition of an Alva to smite and to +blast, to exterminate the rebels and heretics with fire and sword, with +the axe, the rack, and the gallows. Provided they would renounce the +great object of the contest, he seemed really desirous that they should +escape further chastisement; but to admit the worship of God according to +the reformed creed, was with him an inconceivable idea. To do so was +both unrighteous and impolitic. He had been brought up to believe that +mankind could be saved from eternal perdition only by believing in the +infallibility of the Bishop of Rome; that the only keys to eternal +paradise were in the hands of St. Peter's representative. Moreover, he +instinctively felt that within this religious liberty which the +Netherlanders claimed was hidden the germ of civil liberty; and though no +bigger than a grain of mustard-seed, it was necessary to destroy it at +once; for of course the idea of civil liberty could not enter the brain +of the brilliant general of Philip II. + +On the 13th of November he addressed a letter to the magistracy and +broad-council of Antwerp. He asserted that the instigators of the +rebellion were not seeking to further the common weal, but their own +private ends. Especially had this been the ruling motive with the prince +of Orange and the Duke of Anjou, both of whom God had removed from the +world, in order to manifest to the States their own weakness, and the +omnipotence of Philip, whose, prosperity the Lord was constantly +increasing. It was now more than time for the authorities of the country +to have regard for themselves, and for the miseries of the poor people. +The affection Which he had always felt for the Provinces from which he +had himself sprung and the favours which he had received from them in his +youth, had often moved him to propose measures, which, before God and his +conscience, he believed adequate to the restoration of peace. But his +letters had been concealed or falsely interpreted by the late Prince of +Orange, who had sought nothing but to spread desolation over the land, +and to shed the blood of the innocent. He now wrote once more, and for +the last time, in all fervour and earnestness, to implore them to take +compassion on their own wives and children and forlorn fatherland, to +turn their eyes backward on the peace and prosperity which they had +formerly enjoyed when obedient to his Majesty, and to cast a glance +around them upon the miseries which were so universal since the +rebellion. He exhorted them to close their ears to the insidious tongues +of those who were leading them into delusion as to the benevolence and +paternal sweetness of their natural lord and master, which were even now +so boundless that he did not hesitate once more to offer them his entire +forgiveness. If they chose to negotiate, they would find everything +granted that with right and reason could be proposed. The Prince +concluded by declaring that he made these advances not from any doubt as +to the successful issue of the military operations in which he was +engaged, but simply out of paternal anxiety for the happiness of the +Provinces. Did they remain obstinate, their ultimate conditions would be +rendered still more severe, and themselves, not he, would be responsible +for the misery and the bloodshed to ensue. + +Ten days afterwards, the magistrates, thus addressed--after communication +with the broad-council--answered Parma's. 23rd Nov., letter manfully, +copiously, and with the customary but superfluous historical sketch. +They begged leave to entertain a doubt as to the paternal sweetness of a +king who had dealt so long in racks and gibbets. With Parma's own +mother, as they told the Prince, the Netherlanders had once made a +treaty, by which the right to worship God according to their consciences +had been secured; yet for maintaining that treaty they had been devoted +to indiscriminate destruction, and their land made desolate with fire and +sword. Men had been massacred by thousands, who had never been heard in +their own defence, and who had never been accused of any crime, "save +that they had assembled together in the name of God, to pray to Him +through their only mediator and advocate Jesus Christ, according to His +command." + +The axis of the revolt was the religious question; and it was impossible +to hope anything from a monarch who was himself a slave of the +Inquisition, and who had less independence of action than that enjoyed by +Jews and Turks, according to the express permission of the Pope. +Therefore they informed Parma that they had done with Philip for ever, +and that in consequence of the extraordinary wisdom, justice, and +moderation, of the French King, they had offered him the sovereignty of +their land, and had implored his protection. + +They paid a tribute to the character of Farnese, who after gaining +infinite glory in arms, had manifested so much gentleness and disposition +to conciliate. They doubted not that he would, if he possessed the +power, have guided the royal councils to better and more generous +results, and protested that they would not have delayed to throw +themselves into his arms, had they been assured that he was authorized to +admit that which alone could form the basis of a successful negotiation-- +religious freedom. They would in such case have been willing to close +with him, without talking about other conditions than such as his +Highness in his discretion and sweetness might think reasonable. + +Moreover, as they observed in conclusion, they were precluded, by their +present relations with France, from entering into any other negotiation; +nor could they listen to any such proposals without deserving to be +stigmatized as the most lewd, blasphemous, and thankless mortals, that +ever cumbered the earth. + +Being under equal obligations both to the Union and to France, they +announced that Parma's overtures would be laid before the French +government and the assembly of the States-General. + +A day was to come, perhaps, when it would hardly seem lewdness and +blasphemy for the Netherlanders to doubt the extraordinary justice and +wisdom of the French King. Meantime, it cannot be denied that they were +at least loyal to their own engagements, and long-suffering where they +had trusted and given their hearts. + +Parma replied by another letter, dated December 3rd. He assured the +citizens that Henry III. was far too discreet, and much too good a friend +to Philip II., to countenance this rebellion. If he were to take up +their quarrel, however, the King of Spain had a thousand means of foiling +all his attempts. As to the religious question--which they affirmed to +be the sole cause of the war--he was not inclined to waste words upon +that subject; nevertheless, so far as he in his simplicity could +understand the true nature of a Christian, he could not believe that it +comported with the doctrines of Jesus, whom they called their only +mediator, nor with the dictates of conscience, to take up arms against +their lawful king, nor to burn, rob, plunder, pierce dykes, overwhelm +their fatherland, and reduce all things to misery and chaos, in the name +of religion. + +Thus moralizing and dogmatizing, the Prince concluded his letter, and so +the correspondence terminated. This last despatch was communicated at +once both to the States-General and to the French government, and +remained unanswered. Soon afterwards the Netherlands and England, France +and Spain, were engaged in that vast game of delusion which has been +described in the preceding chapters. Meantime both Antwerp and Parma +remained among the deluded, and were left to fight out their battle on +their own resources. + +Having found it impossible to subdue Antwerp by his rhetoric, Alexander +proceeded with his bridge. It is impossible not to admire the steadiness +and ingenuity with which the Prince persisted in his plans, the courage +with which he bore up against the parsimony and neglect of his sovereign, +the compassionate tenderness which he manifested for his patient little +army. So much intellectual energy commands enthusiasm, while the +supineness on the other side sometimes excites indignation. There is +even a danger of being entrapped into sympathy with tyranny, when the +cause of tyranny is maintained by genius; and of being surprised into +indifference for human liberty, when the sacred interests of liberty are +endangered by self-interest, perverseness, and folly. + +Even Sainte Aldegonde did not believe that the bridge could be completed. +His fears were that the city would be ruined rather by the cessation of +its commerce than by want of daily food. Already, after the capture of +Liefkenshoek and the death of Orange, the panic among commercial people +had been so intense that seventy or eighty merchants, representing the +most wealthy mercantile firms in Antwerp, made their escape from the +place, as if it had been smitten with pestilence, or were already in the +hands of Parma. All such refugees were ordered to return on peril of +forfeiting their property. Few came back, however, for they had found +means of converting and transferring their funds to other more secure +places, despite the threatened confiscation. It was insinuated that +Holland and Zeeland were indifferent to the fate of Antwerp, because in +the sequel the commercial cities of those Provinces succeeded to the vast +traffic and the boundless wealth which had been forfeited by the +Brabantine capital. The charge was an unjust one. At the very +commencement of the siege the States of Holland voted two hundred +thousand florins for its relief; and, moreover, these wealthy refugees +were positively denied admittance into the territory of tho United +States, and were thus forced to settle in Germany or England. This +cessation of traffic was that which principally excited the anxiety of +Aldegonde. He could not bring himself to believe in the possibility of a +blockade, by an army of eight or ten thousand men, of a great and wealthy +city, where at least twenty thousand citizens were capable of bearing +arms. Had he thoroughly understood the deprivations under which +Alexander was labouring, perhaps he would have been even more confident +as to the result. + +"With regard to the affair of the river Scheldt," wrote Parma to Philip, +"I should like to send your Majesty a drawing of the whole scheme; for +the work is too vast to be explained by letters. The more I examine it, +the more astonished I am that it should have been conducted to this +point; so many forts, dykes, canals, new inventions, machinery, and +engines, have been necessarily required." + +He then proceeded to enlighten the King--as be never failed to do in all +his letters--as to his own impoverished, almost helpless condition. +Money, money, men! This was his constant cry. All would be in vain, he +said, if he were thus neglected. "'Tis necessary," said he, "for your +Majesty fully to comprehend, that henceforth the enterprise is your own. +I have done my work faithfully thus far; it is now for your Majesty to +take it thoroughly to heart; and embrace it with the warmth with which an +affair involving so much of your own interests deserves to be embraced." + +He avowed that without full confidence in his sovereign's sympathy he +would never have conceived the project. "I confess that the enterprise +is great," he said, "and that by many it will be considered rash. +Certainly I should not have undertaken it, had I not felt certain of your +Majesty's full support." + +But he was already in danger of being forced to abandon the whole scheme +--although so nearly carried into effect--for want of funds. "The +million promised," he wrote, "has arrived in bits and morsels, and with +so many ceremonies, that I haven't ten crowns at my disposal. How I am +to maintain even this handful of soldiers--for the army is diminished to +such a mere handful that it would astonish your Majesty--I am unable to +imagine. It would move you to witness their condition. They have +suffered as much as is humanly possible." + +Many of the troops, indeed, were deserting, and making their escape, +beggared and desperate, into France, where, with natural injustice, they +denounced their General, whose whole heart was occupied with their +miseries, for the delinquency of his master, whose mind was full of other +schemes. + +"There past this way many Spanish soldiers," wrote Stafford from Paris, +"so poor and naked as I ever saw any. There have been within this +fortnight two hundred at a time in this town, who report the extremity of +want of victuals in their camp, and that they have been twenty-four +months without pay. They exclaim greatly upon the Prince of Parma. +Mendoza seeks to convey them away, and to get money for them by all means +he can." + +Stafford urged upon his government the propriety of being at least as +negligent as Philip had showed himself to be of the Spaniards. By +prohibiting supplies to the besieging army, England might contribute, +negatively, if not otherwise, to the relief of Antwerp. "There is no +place," he wrote to Walsingham, "whence the Spaniards are so thoroughly +victualled as from us. English boats go by sixteen and seventeen into +Dunkirk, well laden with provisions." + +This was certainly not in accordance with the interests nor the +benevolent professions of the English ministers. + +These supplies were not to be regularly depended upon however. They were +likewise not to be had without paying a heavy price for them, and the +Prince had no money in his coffer. He lived from hand to mouth, and was +obliged to borrow from every private individual who had anything to lend. +Merchants, nobles, official personages, were all obliged to assist in +eking out the scanty pittance allowed by the sovereign. + +"The million is all gone," wrote Parma to his master; "some to Verdugo in +Friesland; some to repay the advances of Marquis Richebourg and other +gentlemen. There is not a farthing for the garrisons. I can't go on a +month longer, and, if not supplied, I shall be obliged to abandon the +work. I have not money enough to pay my sailors, joiners, carpenters, +and other mechanics, from week to week, and they will all leave me in the +lurch, if I leave them unpaid. I have no resource but to rely on your +Majesty. Otherwise the enterprise must wholly fail." + +In case it did fail, the Prince wiped his hands of the responsibility. +He certainly had the right to do so. + +One of the main sources of supply was the city of Hertogenbosch, or Bois- +le-Duc. It was one of the four chief cities of Brabant, and still held +for the King, although many towns in its immediate neighbourhood had +espoused the cause of the republic. The States had long been anxious to +effect a diversion for the relief of Antwerp, by making an attack on +Bois-le-Duc. Could they carry the place, Parma would be almost +inevitably compelled to abandon the siege in which he was at present +engaged, and he could moreover spare no troops for its defence. Bois-le- +Duc was a populous, wealthy, thriving town, situate on the Deeze, two +leagues above its confluence with the Meuse, and about twelve leagues +from Antwerp. It derived its name of `Duke's Wood' from a magnificent +park and forest, once the favourite resort and residence of the old Dukes +of Brabant, of which some beautiful vestiges still remained. It was a +handsome well-built city, with two thousand houses of the better class, +besides more humble tenements. Its citizens were celebrated for their +courage and belligerent skill, both on foot and on horseback. They were +said to retain more of the antique Belgic ferocity which Caesar had +celebrated than that which had descended to most of their kinsmen. The +place was, moreover, the seat of many prosperous manufactures. Its +clothiers sent the products of their looms over all Christendom, and its +linen and cutlery were equally renowned. + +It would be a most fortunate blow in the cause of freedom to secure so, +thriving and conspicuous a town, situated thus in the heart of what +seemed the natural territory of the United States; and, by so doing, to +render nugatory the mighty preparations of Parma against Antwerp. +Moreover, it was known that there was no Spanish or other garrison within +its walls, so that there was no opposition to be feared, except from the +warlike nature of the citizens. + +Count Hohenlo was entrusted, early in January, with this important +enterprise. He accordingly collected a force of four thousand infantry, +together with two hundred mounted lancers; having previously +reconnoitered the ground. He relied very much, for the success of the +undertaking, on Captain Kleerhagen, a Brussels nobleman, whose wife was a +native of Bois-le-Duc, and who was thoroughly familiar with the locality. +One dark winter's night, Kleerhagen, with fifty picked soldiers, advanced +to the Antwerp gate of Bois-le-Duc, while Hohenlo, with his whole force, +lay in ambuscade as near as possible to the city. + +Between the drawbridge and the portcullis were two small guard-houses, +which, very carelessly, had been left empty. Kleerhagen, with his fifty +followers, successfully climbed into these lurking-places, where they +quietly ensconced themselves for the night. At eight o'clock of the +following morning (20th January) the guards of the gate drew up the +portcullis, and reconnoitered. At the same instant, the ambushed fifty +sprang from their concealment, put them to the sword, and made themselves +masters of the gate. None of the night-watch escaped with life, save one +poor old invalided citizen, whose business had been to draw up the +portcullis, and who was severely wounded, and left for dead. The fifty +immediately summoned all of Rohenlo's ambuscade that were within hearing, +and then, without waiting for them, entered the town pell-mell in the +best of spirits, and shouting victory! victory! till they were hoarse. A +single corporal, with two men, was left to guard the entrance. Meantime, +the old wounded gate-opener, bleeding and crippled, crept into a dark +corner, and laid himself down, unnoticed, to die. + +Soon afterwards Hohenlo galloped into the town, clad in complete armour, +his long curls floating in the wind, with about two hundred troopers +clattering behind him, closely followed by five hundred pike-men on foot. + +Very brutally, foolishly, and characteristically, he had promised his +followers the sacking of the city so soon as it should be taken. They +accordingly set about the sacking, before it was taken. Hardly had the +five or six hundred effected their entrance, than throwing off all +control, they dispersed through the principal streets, and began bursting +open the doors of the most opulent households. The cries of "victory!" +"gained city!" "down with the Spaniards!" resounded on all sides. Many +of the citizens, panic-struck, fled from their homes, which they thus +abandoned to pillage, while, meantime, the loud shouts of the assailants +reached the ears of the sergeant and his two companies who had been left +in charge of the gate. Fearing that they should be cheated of their +rightful share in the plunder, they at once abandoned their post, and set +forth after their comrades, as fast as their legs could carry them. + +Now it so chanced--although there was no garrison in the town--that forty +Burgundian and Italian lancers, with about thirty foot-soldiers, had come +in the day before to escort a train of merchandise. The Seigneur de +Haultepenne, governor of Breda, a famous royalist commander--son of old +Count Berlaymont, who first gave the name of "beggars" to the patriots- +had accompanied them in the expedition. The little troop were already +about to mount their horses to depart, when they became aware of the +sudden tumult. Elmont, governor of the city, had also flown to the +rescue, and had endeavoured to rally the burghers. Not unmindful of +their ancient warlike fame, they had obeyed his entreaties. Elmont, with +a strong party of armed citizens, joined himself to Haultepenne's little +band of lancers. They fired a few shots at straggling parties of +plunderers, and pursued others up some narrow streets. They were but an +handful in comparison with the number of the patriots, who had gained +entrance to the city. They were, however, compact, united, and resolute. +The assailants were scattered, disorderly, and bent only upon plunder. +When attacked by an armed and regular band, they were amazed. They had +been told that there was no garrison; and behold a choice phalanx of +Spanish lancers, led on by one of the most famous of Philip's Netherland +chieftains. They thought themselves betrayed by Kleerhagen, entrapped +into a deliberately arranged ambush. There was a panic. The soldiers, +dispersed and doubtful, could not be rallied. Hohenlo, seeing that +nothing was to be done with his five hundred, galloped furiously out of +the gate, to bring in the rest of his troops who had remained outside the +walls. The prize of the wealthy city of Bois-le-Duc was too tempting to +be lightly abandoned; but he had much better have thought of making +himself master of it himself before he should present it as a prey to his +followers. + +During his absence the panic spread. The States' troops, bewildered, +astonished, vigorously assaulted, turned their backs upon their enemies, +and fled helter-skelter towards the gates, through which they had first +gained admittance. But unfortunately for them, so soon as the corporal +had left his position, the wounded old gate-opener, in a dying condition, +had crawled forth on his hands and knees from a dark hole in the tower, +cut, with a pocket-knife, the ropes of the portcullis, and then given up +the ghost. Most effective was that blow struck by a dead man's hand. +Down came the portcullis. The flying plunderers were entrapped. Close +behind them came the excited burghers--their antique Belgic ferocity now +fully aroused--firing away with carbine and matchlock, dealing about them +with bludgeon and cutlass, and led merrily on by Haultepenne and Elmont +armed in proof, at the head of their squadron of lancers. The +unfortunate patriots had risen very early in the morning only to shear +the wolf. Some were cut to pieces in the streets; others climbed the +walls, and threw themselves head foremost into the moat. Many were +drowned, and but a very few effected their escape. Justinus de Nassau. +sprang over the parapet, and succeeded in swimming the ditch. +Kleerhagen, driven into the Holy Cross tower, ascended to its .roof, +leaped, all accoutred as he was, into the river, and with the assistance +of a Scotch soldier, came safe to land. Ferdinand Truchsess, brother of +the ex-elector of Cologne, was killed. Four or five hundred of the +assailants--nearly all who had entered the city--were slain, and about +fifty of the burghers. + +Hohenlo soon came back, with Colonel Ysselstein, and two thousand fresh +troops. But their noses, says a contemporary, grew a hundred feet long +with surprise when they saw the gate shut in their faces. It might have +occurred to the Count, when he rushed out of the town for reinforcements, +that it would be as well to replace the guard, which--as he must have +seen--had abandoned their post. + + +Cursing his folly, he returned, mavellously discomfited, and deservedly +censured, to Gertruydenberg. And thus had a most important enterprise; +which had nearly been splendidly successful, ended in disaster and +disgrace. To the recklessness of the general, to the cupidity which he +had himself awakened in his followers, was the failure alone to be +attributed. Had he taken possession of the city with a firm grasp at the +head of his four thousand men, nothing could have resisted him; +Haultepenne, and his insignificant force, would have been dead, or his +prisoners; the basis of Parma's magnificent operations would have been +withdrawn; Antwerp would have been saved. + +"Infinite gratitude," wrote Parma to Philip, "should be rendered to the +Lord. Great thanks are also due to Haultepenne. Had the rebels +succeeded in their enterprise against Bolduc, I should have been +compelled to abandon the siege of Antwerp. The town; by its strength and +situation, is of infinite importance for the reduction both of that place +and of Brussels, and the rebels in possession of Bolduc would have cut +off my supplies." + +The Prince recommended Haultepenne most warmly to the King as deserving +of a rich "merced." The true hero of the day, however--at least the +chief agent in the victory was the poor, crushed, nameless victim who had +cut the ropes of the portcullis at the Antwerp gate. + +Hohenlo was deeply stung by the disgrace which he had incurred. For a +time he sought oblivion in hard drinking; but--brave and energetic, +though reckless--he soon became desirous of retrieving his reputation by +more successful enterprises. There was no lack of work, and assuredly +his hands were rarely idle. + +"Hollach (Hohenlo) is gone from hence on Friday last," wrote Davison to +Walsingham, "he will do what he may to recover his reputation lost in the +attempt, of Bois-le-Duc; which, for the grief and trouble he hath +conceived thereof, hath for the time greatly altered him." + +Meantime the turbulent Scheldt, lashed by the storms of winter, was +becoming a more formidable enemy to Parma's great enterprise than the +military demonstrations of his enemies, or the famine which was making +such havoc, with his little army. The ocean-tides were rolling huge ice- +blocks up and down, which beat against his palisade with the noise of +thunder, and seemed to threaten its immediate destruction. But the work +stood firm. The piles supporting the piers, which had been thrust out +from each bank into the stream, had been driven fifty feet into the +river's bed, and did their duty well. But in the space between, twelve +hundred and forty feet in width, the current was too deep for pile- +driving and a permanent bridge was to be established upon boats. And +that bridge was to be laid across the icy and tempestuous flood, in the +depth of winter, in the teeth of a watchful enemy, with the probability +of an immediate invasion from France, where the rebel envoys were known +to be negotiating on express invitation of the King--by half-naked, half- +starving soldiers and sailors, unpaid for years, and for the sake of a +master who seemed to have forgotten their existence. + +"Thank God," wrote Alexander, "the palisade stands firm in spite of the +ice. Now with the favour of the Lord, we shall soon get the fruit we +have been hoping, if your Majesty is not wanting in that to which your +grandeur, your great Christianity, your own interests, oblige you. In +truth 'tis a great and heroic work, worthy the great power of your +Majesty." "For my own part," he continued, "I have done what depended +upon me. From your own royal hand must emanate the rest;--men, namely, +sufficient to maintain the posts, and money enough to support them +there." + +He expressed himself in the strongest language concerning the danger to +the royal cause from the weak and gradually sinking condition of the +army. Even without the French intrigues with the rebels, concerning +which, in his ignorance of the exact state of affairs, he expressed much +anxiety, it would be impossible, he said, to save the royal cause without +men and money. + +"I have spared myself," said the Prince, "neither day nor night. Let +not your Majesty impute the blame to me if we fail. Verdugo also is +uttering a perpetual cry out of Friesland for men--men and money." + +Yet, notwithstanding all these obstacles, the bridge was finished at +last. On the 25th February, (1585) the day sacred to Saint Matthew, and +of fortunate augury to the Emperor Charles, father of Philip and +grandfather of Alexander, the Scheldt was closed. + +As already stated, from Fort Saint Mary on the Kalloo side, and from Fort +Philip, not far from Ordain on the Brabant shore of the Scheldt, strong +structures, supported upon piers, had been projected, reaching, +respectively, five hundred feet into the stream. These two opposite ends +were now connected by a permanent bridge of boats. There were thirty-two +of these barges, each of them sixty-two feet in length and twelve in +breadth, the spaces between each couple being twenty-two feet wide, and +all being bound together, stem, stern, and midships, by quadruple hawsers +and chains. Each boat was anchored at stem and stern with loose cables. +Strong timbers, with cross rafters, were placed upon the boats, upon +which heavy frame-work the planked pathway was laid down. A thick +parapet of closely-fitting beams was erected along both the outer edges +of the whole fabric. Thus a continuous and well-fortified bridge, two +thousand four hundred feet in length, was stretched at last from shore to +shore. Each of the thirty-two boats on which the central portion of the +structure reposed, was a small fortress provided with two heavy pieces of +artillery, pointing, the one up, the other down the stream, and manned by +thirty-two soldiers and four sailors, defended by a breastwork formed of +gabions of great thickness. + +The forts of Saint Philip and St. Mary, at either end of the bridge, had +each ten great guns, and both were filled with soldiers. In front of +each fort, moreover, was stationed a fleet of twenty armed vessels, +carrying heavy pieces of artillery; ten anchored at the angle towards +Antwerp, and as many looking down the river. One hundred and seventy +great guns, including the armaments of the boats under the bridge of the +armada and the forts, protected the whole structure, pointing up and down +the stream. + +But, besides these batteries, an additional precaution had been taken. +On each side, above and below the bridge, at a moderate distance--a bow +shot--was anchored a heavy, raft floating upon empty barrels. Each raft +was composed of heavy timbers, bound together in bunches of three, the +spaces between being connected by ships' masts and lighter spar-work, and +with a tooth-like projection along the whole outer edge, formed of strong +rafters, pointed and armed with sharp prongs and hooks of iron. Thus a +serried phalanx, as it were, of spears stood ever on guard to protect the +precious inner structure. Vessels coming from Zeeland or Antwerp, and +the floating ice-masses, which were almost as formidable, were obliged to +make their first attack upon these dangerous outer defences. Each raft; +floating in the middle of the stream, extended twelve hundred, and fifty- +two feet across, thus protecting the whole of the bridge of boats and a +portion of that resting upon piles. + +Such was the famous bridge of Parma. The magnificent undertaking has +been advantageously compared with the celebrated Rhine-bridge of Julius +Caesar. When it is remembered; however; that the Roman work was +performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as the Scheldt, +free from the disturbing, action of the tides; and flowing through an +unresisting country; while the whole character of the structure; intended +only to, serve for the single passage of an army, was far inferior to the +massive solidity of Parma's bridge; it seems not unreasonable to assign +the superiority to the general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a +northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and +desperate enemies at every point. + +When the citizens, at last, looked upon the completed fabric, converted +from the "dream," which they had pronounced it to be, into a terrible +reality; when they saw the shining array of Spanish and Italian legions +marching and counter-marching upon their new road; and trampling, as it +were; the turbulent river beneath their feet; when they witnessed the +solemn military spectacle with which the Governor-General celebrated his +success, amid peals of cannon and shouts of triumph from his army, they +bitterly bewailed their own folly. Yet even then they could hardly +believe that the work had been accomplished by human agency, but they +loudly protested that invisible demons had been summoned to plan and +perfect this fatal and preter-human work. They were wrong. There had +been but one demon--one clear, lofty intelligence, inspiring a steady +and untiring hand. The demon was the intellect of Alexander Farnese; +but it had been assisted in its labour by the hundred devils of envy, +covetousness, jealousy, selfishness, distrust, and discord, that had +housed, not, in his camp, but in the ranks of those who were contending +for their hearths and altars. + +And thus had the Prince arrived at success in spite of every obstacle. +He took a just pride in the achievement, yet he knew by how many dangers +he was still surrounded, and he felt hurt at his sovereign's neglect. +"The enterprise at Antwerp," he wrote to Philip on the day the bridge was +completed, "is so great and heroic that to celebrate it would require me +to speak more at large than I like, to do, for fear of being tedious to +your Majesty. What I will say, is that the labours and difficulties have +been every day so, great, that if your Majesty knew them, you would +estimate, what we have done more highly than-you do; and not forget us so +utterly, leaving us to die of hunger." + +He considered the fabric in itself almost impregnable, provided he were +furnished with the means to maintain what he had so painfully +constructed. + +"The whole is in such condition," said he, "that in opinion of all +competent military judges it would stand though all Holland and Zeeland +should come to destroy our, palisades. Their attacks must be made at +immense danger, and disadvantage, so severely can we play upon them with +our artillery and musketry. Every boat is, garnished with the most +dainty captains and soldiers, so that if the enemy should attempt to +assail us now, they would come back with broken heads." + +Yet in the midst of his apparent triumph he had, at times, almost despair +in his heart. He felt really at the last gasp. His troops had dwindled +to the mere shadow of an army, and they were forced to live almost upon +air. The cavalry had nearly vanished. The garrisons in the different +cities were starving. The burghers had no food for the soldiers nor for +themselves. "As for the rest of the troops," said Alexander, "they are +stationed where they have nothing to subsist upon, save salt water and +the dykes, and if the Lord does not grant a miracle, succour, even if +sent by your Majesty, will arrive too late." He assured his master, that +he could not go on more than five or six days longer, that he had been +feeding his soldiers for a long time from hand to mouth, and that it +would soon be impossible for him to keep his troops together. If he did +not disband them they would run away. + +His pictures were most dismal, his supplications for money very moving +but he never alluded to himself. All his anxiety, all his tenderness, +were for his soldiers. "They must have food," he said: "'Tis impossible +to sustain them any longer by driblets, as I have done for a long time. +Yet how can I do it without money? And I have none at all, nor do I see +where to get a single florin." + +But these revelations were made only to his master's most secret ear. +His letters, deciphered after three centuries, alone make manifest the +almost desperate condition in which the apparently triumphant general was +placed, and the facility with which his antagonists, had they been well +guided and faithful to themselves, might have driven him into the sea. + +But to those adversaries he maintained an attitude of serene and smiling +triumph. A spy, sent from the city to obtain intelligence for the +anxious burghers, had gained admission into his lines, was captured and +brought before the Prince. He expected, of course, to be immediately +hanged. On the contrary, Alexander gave orders that he should be +conducted over every part of the encampment. The forts, the palisades, +the bridge, were all to be carefully exhibited and explained to him as if +he had been a friendly visitor entitled to every information. He was +requested to count the pieces of artillery in the forts, on the bridge, +in the armada. After thoroughly studying the scene he was then dismissed +with a safe-conduct to the city. + +"Go back to those who sent you," said the Prince. "Convey to them the +information in quest of which you came. Apprize them of every thing +which you have inspected, counted, heard explained. Tell them further, +that the siege will never be abandoned, and that this bridge will be my +sepulcher or my pathway into Antwerp." + +And now the aspect of the scene was indeed portentous. The chimera had +become a very visible bristling reality. There stood the bridge which +the citizens had ridiculed while it was growing before their faces. +There scowled the Kowenstyn--black with cannon, covered all over with +fortresses which the butchers had so sedulously preserved. From Parma's +camp at Beveren and Kalloo a great fortified road led across the river +and along the fatal dyke all the way to the entrenchments at Stabroek, +where Mansfeld's army lay. Grim Mondragon held the "holy cross" and the +whole Kowenstyn in his own iron grasp. A chain of forts, built and +occupied by the contending hosts of the patriots and the Spaniards, were +closely packed together along both banks of the Scheldt, nine miles long +from Antwerp to Lillo, and interchanged perpetual cannonades. The +country all around, once fertile as a garden, had been changed into a +wild and wintry sea where swarms of gun-boats and other armed vessels +manoeuvred and contended with each other over submerged villages and +orchards, and among half-drowned turrets and steeples. Yet there rose +the great bulwark--whose early destruction would have made all this +desolation a blessing--unbroken and obstinate; a perpetual obstacle to +communication between Antwerp and Zeeland. The very spirit of the +murdered Prince of Orange seemed to rise sadly and reproachfully out of +the waste of waters, as if to rebuke the men who had been so deaf to his +solemn warnings. + +Brussels, too, wearied and worn, its heart sick with hope deferred, now +fell into despair as the futile result of the French negotiation became +apparent. The stately and opulent city had long been in a most abject +condition. Many of its inhabitants attempted to escape from the horrors +of starving by flying from its walls. Of the fugitives, the men were +either scourged back by the Spaniards into the city, or hanged up along +the road-side. The women were treated, leniently, even playfully, for it +was thought an excellent jest to cut off the petticoats of the +unfortunate starving creatures up to their knees, and then command them +to go back and starve at home with their friends and fellow-citizens. A +great many persons literally died of hunger. Matrons with large families +poisoned their children and themselves to avoid the more terrible death +by starving. At last, when Vilvoorde was taken, when the baseness of the +French King was thoroughly understood, when Parma's bridge was completed +and the Scheldt bridled, Brussels capitulated on as favourable terms as +could well have been expected. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +College of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all +Military virtue in the support of an infamous cause +Not distinguished for their docility +Repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v39 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, 1585 + + +Alexander Farnese, The Duke of Parma + + +CHAPTER V., Part 2. + + + Position of Alexander and his Army--La Motte attempts in vain + Ostend--Patriots gain Liefkenshoek--Projects of Gianibelli--Alarm on + the Bridge--The Fire Ships--The Explosion--Its Results--Death of the + Viscount of Ghent--Perpetual Anxiety of Farnese--Impoverished State + of the Spaniards--Intended Attack of the Kowenstyn--Second Attack of + the Kowenstyn--A Landing effected--A sharp Combat--The Dyke pierced + --Rally of the Spaniards--Parma comes to the Rescue--Fierce Struggle + on the Dyke--The Spaniards successful--Premature Triumph at Antwerp + --Defeat of the Patriots--The Ship War's End--Despair of the Citizens + +Notwithstanding these triumphs, Parma was much inconvenienced by not +possessing the sea-coast of Flanders. Ostend was a perpetual stumbling- +block to him. He therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made +by La Motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the Walloon +royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. And La Motte; at +the first blow; was more than half successful. + +On the night of the 29th March, (1585) with two thousand foot and twelve +hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of Ostend. Leaving +a Walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position +already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. During his +advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted +Hohenlo's achievement at Bois-le-Duc. The soldiers he left behind him +deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. The officer in +command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. The +citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them, +and put the rest to flight. When La Motte returned; he found the panic +general. His whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to +the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. He killed several with his +own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. His quick triumph was +changed into an absolute defeat. + +Parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had +been expected, ordered the Walloon captain, from whose delinquency so +much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "Such villainy," +said he, "must never go unpunished." + +It was impossible for the Prince to send a second expedition to attempt +the reduction of Ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing +themselves to the necessity of exertion. It was very obvious--now that +the bridge had been built, and the Kowenstyn fortified--that one or the +other was to be destroyed, or Antwerp abandoned to its fate. + +The patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the +delusive dream of French sovereignty and French assistance. No language +can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that +negotiation. At any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. The dream +was dispelled. Antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck +by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and +maturely meditated. Certain preparatory steps were however necessary. + +The fort of Liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post. +The patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost, +as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of Orange's +death. Fort Lillo, exactly opposite, on the Brabant shore of the +Scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest +position. Were both places in their power, the navigation of the river, +at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure. + +A sudden dash was made upon Liefkenshoek. A number of armed vessels +sailed up from Zeeland, under command of Justinus de Nassau. They were +assisted from Fort Lillo by a detachment headed by Count Hohenlo. These +two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had +lost at Bois-le-Duc. They were successful, and the "darling" fort was +carried at a blow. After a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach, +effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. The Walloons and +Spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along +the dykes; others were hurled into the Scheldt. The victors followed up +their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of Saint +Anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. They thus +gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that +quarter above the inundation, and was called the Doel. + +The dyke, on which Liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards Kalloo, +distant less than a league. There were Parma's head-quarters and the +famous bridge. But at Fort Saint Mary; where the Flemish head of that +bridge rested, the dyke was broken. Upon that broken end the commanders +of the expedition against Liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an +entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have +gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. Sainte +Aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. From a +redoubt situated thus, in the very face of Saint Mary's, that position, +the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the +artillery that could be brought from Zeeland. + +But Parma was beforehand with them. Notwithstanding his rage and +mortification that Spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the +important fortress which Richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine +months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets. +His quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal. +In the very same night of the loss of Liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a +party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat- +bottomed boats across from Kalloo. As the morning dawned, an improvised +fortress, with the Spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the +broken end of the dyke. That done, he ordered one of the two captains +who had commanded in Liefkenshoek and Saint Anthony to be beheaded on the +same dyke. The other was dismissed with ignominy. Ostend was, of +course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said Parma, "to +fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent +the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos." + +Nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or +never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck. + +There lived in Antwerp a subtle Mantuan, Gianibelli by name, who had +married and been long settled in the city. He had made himself busy with +various schemes for victualling the place. He had especially urged upon +the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making +large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when +famine-price had by no means been reached. But the leading men had then +their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were +building, and which they had pompously named the 'War's End,' 'Fin de la +Guerre.' We shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period. +Meanwhile, Gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of +most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to +cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city +in bread for a third of a year. + +Gianibelli was no patriot. He was purely a man of science and of great +acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as +a dreamer and a wizard. He was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as +of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. He was also a +profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and +practical engineering. + +He had gone from Italy to Spain that he might offer his services to +Philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious +inventions. Forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering +courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of +practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly +denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered +Italian had gone away at last, indignant. He had then vowed revenge upon +the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the +next time the Spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to +deride, they should hear it with tears. + +He now laid before the senate of Antwerp a plan for some vessels likely +to prove more effective than the gigantic 'War's End,' which he had +prophesied would prove a failure. With these he pledged himself to +destroy the bridge. He demanded three ships which he had selected from +the city fleet; the 'Orange,' the 'Post,' and the 'Golden Lion,' +measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, +and five hundred tons. Besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed +scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged, +disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and +grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. This +machine was intended to operate against the raft. + +Ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and Gianbelli's +request was refused. As a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed +to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. The Italian was +disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the +same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an +exhibition of his power. + +Not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. Associated +with him were two skilful artizans of Antwerp; a clockmaker named Bory, +and a mechanician named Timmerman--but Gianibelli was the chief and +superintendent of the whole daring enterprise. + +He gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'Fortune' and the +'Hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their +efficiency. They were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the +river with tide, were to deal destruction where the Spaniards themselves +most secure. + +In the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid +flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. Upon +this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and +a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? D.W.] five +feet in thickness. + +This was the crater. It was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of +a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by Gianibelli himself. +It was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue +tombstones, placed edgewise. Over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or +pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon +balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and +every dangerous missile that could be imagined. The spaces between the +mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones, +iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. The whole fabric was +then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon +which was a pile of wood: This was to be lighted at the proper time, in +order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire- +ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. On the +'Fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the +submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. The +eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an +ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire, +struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below. + +In addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they +were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. Covered +with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible +materials, these barks were to be sent from Antwerp down the river in +detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. The object was +to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention +of the Spaniards, until the 'Fortune' and the `Hope' should come down +upon the bridge. + +The 5th April, (1885) being the day following that on which the +successful assault upon Liefkenshoek and Saint Anthony had taken place, +was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. So soon as it should be +dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of +Admiral Jacob Jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of +the 'Boor's Sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with +the Italian's plan. "Run-a-way Jacob," however, or "Koppen Loppen," had +earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious +appellation. He was not one of Holland's naval heroes, but, on the +whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best +concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. Accordingly, +Koppen-Loppen began with a grave mistake. Instead of allowing the +precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals +agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one +after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. Not +long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'Fortune' and the +'Hope,' directly in their wake. Thus the whole fiery fleet had set +forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage. + +It was known to Parma that preparations for an attack were making at +Antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the +dark. He was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in +combination with a squadron of Zeelanders coming up from below. So soon +as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were +discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his +conjecture. His drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the +whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and +in the nearest forts. Thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with +the danger, were leading the Spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. +Alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute +directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself +in the block-house at the point of junction, on the Flemish aide, between +the palisade and the bridge of boats. He was surrounded by a group of +superior officers, among whom Richebourg, Billy, Gaetano, Cessis, and the +Englishman Sir Rowland Yorke, were conspicuous. + +It was a dark, mild evening of early spring. As the fleet of vessels +dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship +flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. The very waves of +the Scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were +lighted up with a preternatural glare. It was a wild, pompous, +theatrical spectacle. The array of soldiers on both aides the river, +along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and +cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human +hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with +irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and +tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the +sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which +had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and +mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination. + +Presently, the Spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take +heart again. One after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted +blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks +and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any +extensive conflagration. Others grounded on the banks of the river, +before reaching their destination. Some sank in the stream. + +Last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the +current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having +noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. The slight fire upon +the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. Both were +carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of +judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been +made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. The 'Fortune' came +first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against +the dyke, and grounding near Kalloo, without touching the bridge. There +was a moment's pause of expectation. At last the slow match upon the +deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which +little or no damage was produced. + +Parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. +The desperate expedition was headed by the bold Roland York, a Londoner, +of whom one day there was more to be heard in Netherland history. The +party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing +the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears +and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. There was, however, +little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon +made their escape to the bridge. + +The troops of Parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the +parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive +laughter. It was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a Spanish +army, and a general like Alexander Farnese, with such paltry fire-works +as these. Nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining +fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'Hope,' which had now drifted very near +the place of its destination. Tearing her way between the raft and the +shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the Kalloo side, close to +the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the +bridge. A thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and +smouldering fire upon her deck. + +Marquis Richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the +apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. It was his last +laugh on earth. A number of soldiers, at Parma's summons, instantly +sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves, +as the party on board the 'Fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the +flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. +Richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments. + +At the same moment a certain ensign De Vega, who stood near the Prince of +Parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties +that he should retire. Alexander refused to stir from the spot, being +anxious to learn the result of these investigations. Vega, moved by some +instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and +plucking the General earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such +passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the Prince +reluctantly yielded. + +It was not a moment too soon. The clockwork had been better adjusted +than the slow match in the 'Fortune.' Scarcely had Alexander reached the +entrance of Saint Mary's Fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible +explosion was heard. The 'Hope' disappeared, together with the men who +had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with +all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the +troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. It was the work of a +single instant. The Scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast +its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. +The earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. A wild glare lighted up +the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. +Houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in +remote places, could keep its feet. The air was filled with a rain of +plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, +limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. Slabs of granite, +vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's +distance, and buried deep in the earth. A thousand soldiers were +destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond +even the semblance of humanity. + +Richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when +his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from +one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. The veteran Robles, +Seigneur de Billy, a Portuguese officer of eminent service and high +military rank, was also destroyed. Months afterwards, his body was +discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate +removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold +chain which he habitually wore. Parma himself was thrown to the ground, +stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. The page, who was +behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the +concussion of the air. + +Several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. The Viscomte de +Bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the Flemish side, and descended safe +and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. Captain Tucci, clad +in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into +the air, and then fell back into the river. Being of a cool temperament, +a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass +and helmet, recommended himself to the Blessed Virgin, and swam safely +ashore. Another young officer of Parma's body-guard, Francois de Liege +by name, standing on the Kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather +into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the +opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. He imagined +himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as +he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of +irresistible fury. + + [The chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous + enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the MS. + Letters of the Prince of Parma in the Archives of Simancas; Bor, ii. + 596, 597; Strada, H. 334 seq.; Meteren, xii. 223; Hoofd Vervolgh, + 91; Baudartii Polemographia, ii. 24-27; Bentivoglio, etc., I have + not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the + accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree + with each other. The most copious details are to be found in Strada + and in Bor.] + +It had been agreed that Admiral Jacobzoon should, immediately after the +explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the +amount of damage. If a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the +city opened, he was to fire a rocket. At this signal, the fleet +stationed at Lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions +enough to relieve Antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the +instant, was at once to force its way up the river. + +The deed was done. A breach, two hundred feet in width was made. Had +the most skilful pilot in Zeeland held the helm of the 'Hope,' with a +choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more +carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. Avoiding the raft +which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a +living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had +created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most +telling point. She had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right +moment. All the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by +the Mantuan wizard had come to pass. The famous bridge was cleft through +and through, and a thousand picked men--Parma's very "daintiest"--were +blown out of existence. The Governor-General himself was lying stark and +stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or +his tomb. His most distinguished officers were dead, and all the +survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, +convulsion. The passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below +with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal +to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all +that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph +into Antwerp. + +Not a soul slept in the city. The explosion had shook its walls, and +thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with +expectation. It was a moment of exquisite triumph. The 'Hope,' word of +happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and Parma's seven months +of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. Sainte Aldegonde and +Gianibelli stood in the 'Boors' Sconce' on the edge of the river. They +had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes +through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket. + +That rocket never rose. And it is enough, even after the lapse of three +centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to +think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and +legitimate hopes. The cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the +man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble +enterprise. + +Admiral Jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own +triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. The +boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed, +and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near +the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and +thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been +accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. Sainte Aldegonde +and Gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the +imbecility of the Admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the +gallows, which he certainly deserved. The wrath of the keen Italian may +be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was +thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent Fleming. + +On the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall. +Alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers +was universal. He was known to have been standing an instant before the +explosion on the very block-house where the 'Hope' had struck. After the +first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general +lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of St. Mary's Fort, his drawn +sword in his hand, with Cessis embracing his knees, and Gaetano extended +at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head. + +Recovering from his swoon, Parma was the first to spring to his feet. +Sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of +the disaster. The admirable structure, the result of so much patient and +intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and +the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. He expected, +as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force +its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were +with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and +then make its way to Antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. +And Alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. Momently +expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of +cheerfulness, with despair in his heart. + +His winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should +be obliged to raise the siege. Nevertheless, he passed in person from +rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided +for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a +portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army. + +Nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected +assault was still delayed. Without further loss of time, he employed his +men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a +hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined +portion of his bridge. And thus he employed himself steadily all the +night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of +the Zeeland cannon. When morning broke, and it became obvious that the +patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the +Governor-General felt as secure as ever. He at once set about the +thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again +molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained. + +It was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in +Antwerp. Hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge, +ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too +late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and +lost. The disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. And +thus had. Run-a-way Jacob, 'Koppen Loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many +wiser and braver spirits than his own. + +The loss to Parma and to the royalist cause in Marquis Richebourg, was +very great. The death of De Billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and +courageous general, was also much lamented. "The misfortune from their +death," said Parma, "is not to be exaggerated. Each was ever ready to do +his duty in your Majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my +various affairs. Nevertheless," continued the Prince, with great piety, +"we give the Lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which +comes from His hand." + +Alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of Robert de Melun, +Viscount of Ghent, Marquis of Roubaix and Richebourg. He was a most +valuable officer. His wealth was great. It had been recently largely +increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his +benefit, a measure which at Parma's intercession had been accorded by the +King. That brother was the patriotic Prince of Espinoy, whom we have +recently seen heading the legation of the States to France. And +Richebourg was grateful to Alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils, +he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to +the highest military offices. Insolent, overbearing, truculent to all +the world, to Parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful, +obsequious. A man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor +natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a +great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations +of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner +in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine +volcano, the Marquis of Richebourg had ever made himself most actively +and unscrupulously useful to his master. Especially had he rendered +invaluable services in the reduction, of the Walloon Provinces, and in +the bridging of the Scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of Alexander's +life. He had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic +and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the +current of the restless river. + +And in this eventful night, Parma, as always, had been true to himself +and to his sovereign. "We expected," said he, "that the rebels would +instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. But all remained +so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what +was going on. It seemed better that I--notwithstanding the risk of +letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away. +I did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the +enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest +risk and peril. I did not fail to do what I am obliged to do, and always +hope to do; but I say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself, +because it does not become me to speak of these things." + +Notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and +were incessantly making demonstrations against Parma's works. Their +proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the +Spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so +efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the Mantuan engineer +and the Dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity. +Nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory, +now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at +pleasure; for nearly the whole of Parma's little armada was stationed at +the two extremities of his bridge. Many fire-ships were sent down from +time to time, but Alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few +sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in +front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion. + +Some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole +more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. The perturbation of +spirit among the Spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they +called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. It +could not be forgotten, that the `Hope' had sent into space a thousand of +the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time. + +Such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the +minds of the survivors. The fatigue of watching was enormous. Hardly an +officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep. +There was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets +among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the +Antwerpers from above, and the Hollanders from below, with gun-boats and +fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not +expected. + +"We are always upon the alert," wrote Parma, "with arms in our hands. +Every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every +night, and the better part of every day." + +He was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the +nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout- +hearted veterans, was a proof that the Mantuan's genius--notwithstanding +the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised +entirely in vain. The image of the Antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself +indelibly upon the Spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with +which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was +not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history, +big with the fate of England, Spain, Holland, and all Christendom--when +the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the Antwerp +fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. The +blow struck by the obscure Italian against Antwerp bridge, although +ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had +passed, upon a wider field. + +Meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the biesieging army were +very exhausting. "They are never idle in the city," wrote Parma. "They +are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their +industrious genius and the machines which they devise. Every day we are +expecting some new invention. On our side we endeavour to counteract +their efforts by every human means in our power. Nevertheless, I confess +that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs +of their diabolical genius. Certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary +things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never +before witnessed." + +Moreover, Alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. His force +had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. His soldiers, ill-fed, half- +clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. He was obliged to +concentrate all the troops at his disposal around Antwerp. Diversions +against Ostend, operations in Friesland and Gelderland, although most +desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible. + +"I have recalled my cavalry and infantry from Ostend," he wrote, "and Don +Juan de Manrique has fortunately arrived in Stabroek with a thousand good +German folk. The commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too, +with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country. +Nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt +what ought to be done. If the enemy were more in force, or if the French +wished to make trouble, your Majesty would see how important it had been +to provide in time against such contingencies. And although our +neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us +in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. It would be of inestimable +advantage to make diversions in Gelderland and Friesland, because, in +that case, the Hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders, +would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from Antwerp. 'Tis pity to +see how few Spaniards your Majesty has left, and how diminished is our +army. Now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of +Antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. Unless soon +reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. I implore your Majesty +to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy." + +His Majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all. +Philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy +would be deferred. Meantime Alexander and his starving but heroic little +army were left to fight their battles as they could. + +His complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. With all +the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of +Ghent, Brussels, Vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that +could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. To +attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels +on the Doel, was quite out of the question. The pictures he painted of +his army were indeed most dismal. + +The Spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see +them. The Italians were not in much better condition, nor the Germans. +"As for the Walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do. +In truth, one of my principal dangers is that the French civil wars are +now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so +much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering." + +During the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of +the 'Hope' and the 'Fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety +of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the +bridge. On the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and +amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter, +while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the Kowenstyn. +That strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable +obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city +and their allies upon the outside. Its capture and demolition, even at +this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of Zeeland. + +In the undertaking of the 5th of April all had been accomplished that +human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even +at the very moment when it was complete. A determined and vigorous +effort was soon to be made upon the Kowenstyn, in the very face of Parma; +for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that +fatal dyke. The great bulwark was three miles long. It reached from +Stabroek in Brabant, near which village Mansfeld's troops were encamped, +across the inundated country, up to the line of the Scheldt. Thence, +along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to Kalloo and Beveren, where +Parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in +length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four +leagues apart, were all connected by this important line. + +Could the Kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great +bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea. +Moreover the Scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its +own cannel through Brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving +the famous bridge high and dry. A wide sheet of navigable water would +then roll between Antwerp and the Zeeland coasts, and Parma's bridge, the +result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's +broken toy. + +Alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the +Kowenstyn. All that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his +disposal, he had done. He had fringed both its margins, along its whole +length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. He had strengthened +the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. Upon its river- +end, just at the junction with the great Scheldt dyke, a strong fortress, +called the Holy Cross, had been constructed, which was under the special +command of Mondragon. Besides this, three other forts had been built, at +intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. The one nearest to Mondragon +was placed at the Kowenstyn manor-house, and was called Saint James. +This was entrusted to Camillo Bourbon del Monte, an Italian officer, who +boasted the blood royal of France in his veins, and was disposed on all +occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. The next fort +was Saint George's, sometimes called the Black Sconce. It had been built +by La Motte, but it was now in command of the Spanish officer, Benites. +The third was entitled the Fort of the Palisades, because it had been +necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being +absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. It was placed in the +charge of Captain Gamboa. These little castles had been created, as it +were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's +forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose. + +"'Twas very hard work," said Parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during +their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket- +proof vessels. They fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming +everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. We have been obliged +to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land +enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of +earth. The fatigue and anxiety are incredible. Not a man can sleep at +night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. But +they are animated to their hard work by seeing that I share in it, like +one of themselves. We have now got the dyke into good order, so far as +to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come." + +Quite at the farther or land end of the Kowenstyn, was another fort, +called the Stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in +the neighbourhood of Mansfeld's head-quarters. + +Placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief +distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around +them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect, +seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual +fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. There was +nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform. + +A series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from +time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but Alexander was unable to +inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. Upon the 7th of May a +more determined attempt was made upon the Kowenstyn, by the fleet from +Lillo. Hohenlo and Colonel Ysselstein conducted the enterprise. The +sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened +by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown +weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the +sword. "If the truth must be told," said Parma, "the sentries were sound +asleep." Five hundred Zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and +miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between St. +George's and Fort Palisade. The attack, although spirited at its +commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. A co-operation, agreed upon +by the fleet from Antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. Sainte +Aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the +cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should +perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in Fort Tholouse. The +watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the +preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. Hohenlo understanding, +accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from +Antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from +Lillo. He did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon +the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to +maintain his position. The Antwerp fleet never sailed. It was even +whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the +Antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of Hohenlo's +attempt before coming forth to share his fate. Such was the opinion +expressed by Farnese in his letters to Philip, but it seems probable +that he was mistaken. Whatever the cause, however, the fact of the +Zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. The St. George battery and that of +the Palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among +the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls +of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke. +The survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of +their ships behind them and three or four hundred men. + +"Forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said Parma, "and one hundred and +fifty more, at least, were drowned. The enemy confess a much larger loss +than the number I state, but I am not a friend of giving details larger +than my ascertained facts; nor do I know how many were killed in the +boats." + +This enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking +which had now been thoroughly matured. Upon the 26th May, another and +most determined attack was to be made upon the Kowenstyn, by the +Antwerpers and Hollanders acting in concert. This time, it was to be +hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "It was a +determination," said Parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no +substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but +they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose." + +Two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under Hohenlo +and Justinus de Nassau, to sail up from Zeeland; the others to advance +from Antwerp under Sainte Aldegonde. Their destination was the Kowenstyn +Dyke. Some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with +gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other +materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. + +It was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a May morning, +Sunday, the 26th of the month. The pale sight of a waning moon was +faintly perceptible in the sky. Suddenly the sentinels upon the +Kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards Lillo, +four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. The alarm +was given, and soon afterwards the Spaniards began to muster, somewhat +reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the +mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire. + +The fire-ships floated slowly nearer, and at last struck heavily against +the stockade-work. There, covered with tar, pitch, rosin, and gunpowder, +they flamed, flared, and exploded, during a brief period, with much +vigour, and then burned harmlessly out. One of the objects for which +they had been sent--to set fire to the palisade--was not accomplished. +The other was gained; for the enemy, expecting another volcanic shower of +tombstones and plough-coulters, and remembering the recent fate of their +comrades on the bridge, had retired shuddering into the forts. Meantime, +in the glare of these vast torches, a great swarm of gunboats and other +vessels, skimming across the leaden-coloured waters, was seen gradually +approaching the dyke. It was the fleet of Hohenlo and Justinus de +Nassau, who had been sailing and rowing since ten o'clock of the +preceding night. The burning ships lighted them on their way, while it +had scared the Spaniards from their posts. + +The boats ran ashore in the mile-long space between forts St. George and +the Palisade, and a party of Zeelanders, Admiral Haultain, governor of +Walcheren, at their head, sprang upon the dyke. Meantime, however, the +royalists, finding that the fire-ships had come to so innocent an end, +had rallied and emerged from their forts. Haultain and his Zeelanders, +by the time they had fairly mounted the dyke, found themselves in the +iron embrace of several hundred Spaniards. After a brief fierce +struggle, face to face, and at push of pike, the patriots reeled backward +down tile bank, and took refuge in their boats. Admiral Haultain slipped +as he left the shore, missed a rope's end which was thrown to him, fell +into the water, and, borne down by the weight of his armour, was drowned. +The enemy, pursuing them, sprang to the waist in the ooze on the edge of +the dyke, and continued the contest. The boats opened a hot fire, and +there was a severe skirmish for many minutes, with no certain result. It +was, however, beginning to go hard with the Zeelanders, when, just at the +critical moment, a cheer from the other side of the dyke was heard, and +the Antwerp fleet was seen coming swiftly to the rescue. The Spaniards, +taken between the two bands of assailants, were at a disadvantage, and it +was impossible to prevent the landing of these fresh antagonists. The +Antwerpers sprang ashore. Among the foremost was Sainte Aldegonde, poet, +orator, hymn-book maker, burgomaster, lawyer, polemical divine--now armed +to the teeth and cheering on his men, in the very thickest of the fight. +The diversion was successful, and Sainte Aldegonde gallantly drove the +Spaniards quite off the field. The whole combined force from Antwerp and +Zeeland now effected their landing. Three thousand men occupied all the +space between Fort George and the Palisade. + +With Sainte Aldegonde came the unlucky Koppen Loppen, and all that could +be spared of the English and Scotch troops in Antwerp, under Balfour and +Morgan. With Hohenlo and Justinus de Nassau came Reinier Kant, who had +just succeeded Paul Buys as Advocate of Holland. Besides these came two +other men, side by side, perhaps in the same boat, of whom the world was +like to hear much, from that time forward, and whose names are to be most +solemnly linked together, so long as Netherland history shall endure; +one, a fair-faced flaxen-haired boy of eighteen, the other a square- +visaged, heavy-browed man of forty--Prince Maurice and John of Olden- +Barneveldt. The statesman had been foremost to urge the claim of William +the Silent's son upon the stadholderate of Holland and Zeeland, and had +been, as it were, the youth's political guardian. He had himself borne +arms more than once before, having shouldered his matchlock under +Batenburg, and marched on that officer's spirited but disastrous +expedition for the relief of Haarlem. But this was the life of those +Dutch rebels. Quill-driving, law-expounding, speech-making, diplomatic +missions, were intermingled with very practical business in besieged +towns or open fields, with Italian musketeers and Spanish pikemen. And +here, too, young Maurice was taking his first solid lesson in the art of +which he was one day to be so distinguished a professor. It was a sharp +beginning. Upon this ribband of earth, scarce six paces in breadth, with +miles of deep water on both sides--a position recently fortified by the +first general of the age, and held by the famous infantry of Spain and +Italy--there was likely to be no prentice-work. + +To assault such a position was in truth, as Alexander had declared it to +be, a most daring and desperate resolution on the part of the States. +"Soldiers, citizens, and all," said Parma, "they are obstinate as dogs to +try their fortune." + +With wool-sacks, sand-bags, hurdles, planks, and other materials brought +with them, the patriots now rapidly entrenched themselves in the position +so brilliantly gained; while, without deferring for an instant the great +purpose which they had come to effect, the sappers and miners fastened +upon the ironbound soil of the dyke, tearing it with pick, mattock, and +shovel, digging, delving, and throwing up the earth around them, busy as +human beavers, instinctively engaged in a most congenial task. + +But the beavers did not toil unmolested. The large and determined force +of Antwerpers and English, Hollanders and Zeelanders, guarded the +fortifications as they were rapidly rising, and the pioneers as they were +so manfully delving; but the enemy was not idle. From Fort Saint James, +next beyond Saint George, Camillo del Monte led a strong party to the +rescue. There was a tremendous action, foot to foot, breast to breast, +with pike and pistol, sword and dagger. Never since the beginning of the +war had there been harder fighting than now upon that narrow isthmus. +"'Twas an affair of most brave obstinacy on both sides," said Parma, +who rarely used strong language. "Soldiers, citizens, and all--they +were like mad bulldogs." Hollanders, Italians, Scotchmen, Spaniards, +Englishmen, fell thick and fast. The contest was about the entrenchments +before they were completed, and especially around the sappers and miners, +in whose picks and shovels lay the whole fate of Antwerp. Many of the +dyke-breakers were digging their own graves, and rolled, one after +another, into the breach which they were so obstinately creating. +Upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were +hanging. To tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to Antwerp, +and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of Philip +--to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that May morning. +To prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was +the determination of the Spaniards. And so, closely pent and packed, +discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled +together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters, +struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the +royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry, +Catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all +the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved. + +At last the patriots were victorious. They made good their +entrenchments, drove the Spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the +fort of Saint George on the one side, and of the Palisade on the other, +and cleared the whole space between the two points. The centre of the +dyke was theirs; the great Kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of +Antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. They pursued +their victory, and attacked the Palisade Fort. Gamboa, its commandant, +was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks +were in the hands of the Hollanders; the slender piles on which the +fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost +complete. + +And now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. The beavers had done +their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water +rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. A few moments later, and +a Zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the +waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. The deed was done--the +victory achieved. Nothing more was necessary than to secure it, to tear +the fatal barrier to fragments, to bury it, for its whole length, beneath +the waves. Then, after the isthmus had been utterly submerged, when the +Scheldt was rolled back into its ancient bed, when Parma's famous bridge +had become useless, when the maritime communication between Antwerp and +Holland had been thoroughly established, the Spaniards would have nothing +left for it but to drown like rats in their entrenchments or to abandon +the siege in despair. All this was in the hands of the patriots. The +Kowenstyn was theirs. The Spaniards were driven from the field, the +batteries of their forts silenced. For a long period the rebels were +unmolested, and felt themselves secure. + +"We remained thus some three hours," says Captain James, an English +officer who fought in the action, and described it in rough, soldierly +fashion to Walsingham the same day, "thinking all things to be secure." +Yet in the very supreme moment of victory, the leaders, both of the +Hollanders and of the Antwerpers, proved themselves incompetent to their +position. With deep regret it must be admitted, that not only the +reckless Hohenlo, but the all-accomplished Sainte Aldegonde, committed +the gravest error. In the hour of danger, both had comported themselves +with perfect courage and conduct. In the instant of triumph, they gave +way to puerile exultation. With a celerity as censurable as it seems +incredible, both these commanders sprang into the first barge which had +thus floated across the dyke, in order that they might, in person, carry +the news of the victory to Antwerp, and set all the bells ringing and the +bonfires blazing. They took with them Ferrante Spinola, a mortally- +wounded Italian officer of rank, as a trophy of their battle, and a +boatload of beef and flour, as an earnest of the approaching relief. + +While the conquerors were thus gone to enjoy their triumph, the +conquered, though perplexed and silenced, were not yet disposed to accept +their defeat. They were even ignorant that they were conquered. They +had been forced to abandon the field, and the patriots had entrenched +themselves upon the dyke, but neither Fort Saint George nor the Palisade +had been carried, although the latter was in imminent danger. + +Old Count Peter Ernest Mansfeld--a grizzled veteran, who had passed his +childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, under fire--commanded at the +land-end of the dyke, in the fortress of Stabroek, in which neighbourhood +his whole division was stationed. Seeing how the day was going, he +called a council of war. The patriots had gained a large section of the +dyke. So much was certain. Could they succeed in utterly demolishing +that bulwark in the course of the day? If so, how were they to be +dislodged before their work was perfected? It was difficult to assault +their position. Three thousand Hollanders, Antwerpers, Englishmen-- +"mad bulldogs all," as Parma called them--showing their teeth very +mischievously, with one hundred and sixty Zeeland vessels throwing in +their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company +to face. + +"Oh for one half hour of Alexander in the field!" sighed one of the +Spanish officers in council. But Alexander was more than four leagues +away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence. +Yet how to send him a messenger. Who could reach him through that valley +of death? Would it not be better to wait till nightfall? Under the +cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight +would be hopeless. There was much anxiety, and much difference of +opinion had been expressed, when Camillo Capizucca, colonel of the +Italian Legion, obtained a hearing. A man bold in words as in deeds, he +vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for Parma +or for nightfall. "What difference will it make," he asked, "whether we +defer our action until either darkness or the General arrives? In each +case we give the enemy time enough to destroy the dyke, and thoroughly to +relieve the city. That done, what good can be accomplished by our arms? +Then our disheartened soldiers will either shrink from a fruitless combat +or march to certain death." Having thus, very warmly but very +sagaciously, defined the position in which all were placed, he proceeded +to declare that he claimed, neither for himself nor for his legion, any +superiority over the rest of the army. He knew not that the Italians +were more to be relied upon than others in the time of danger, but this +he did know, that no man in the world was so devoted as he was to the +Prince of Parma. To show that devotion by waiting with folded arms +behind a wall until the Prince should arrive to extricate his followers, +was not in his constitution. He claimed the right to lead his Italians +against the enemy at once--in the front rank, if others chose to follow; +alone, if the rest preferred to wait till a better leader should arrive. + +The words of the Italian colonel sent a thrill through all who heard him. +Next in command under Capizucca was his camp-marshal, an officer who bore +the illustrious name of Piccolomini--father of the Duke Ottavio, of whom +so much was to be heard at a later day throughout the fell scenes of that +portion of the eighty years' tragedy now enacting, which was to be called +the Thirty Years' War of Germany. The camp-marshal warmly seconded the +proposition of his colonel. Mansfeld, pleased with such enthusiasm among +his officers, yielded to their wishes, which were, in truth, his own. +Six companies of the Italian Legion were in his encampment while the +remainder were stationed, far away, upon the bridge, under command of his +son, Count Charles. Early in the morning, before the passage across the +dyke had been closed the veteran condottiere, pricking his ears as he +snuffed the battle from afar, had contrived to send a message to his son. + +"Charles, my boy," were his words, "to-day we must either beat them or +burst." + +Old Peter Ernest felt that the long-expected, long-deferred assault was +to be made that morning in full force, and that it was necessary for the +royalists, on both bridge and dyke, to hold their own. Piccolomini now +drew up three hundred of his Italians, picked veterans all, and led them +in marching order to Mansfeld. That general at the same moment, received +another small but unexpected reinforcement. A portion of the Spanish +Legion, which had long been that of Pedro Pacchi, lay at the extreme +verge of the Stabroek encampment, several miles away. Aroused by the +distant cannonading, and suspecting what had occurred, Don Juan d'Aquila, +the colonel in command, marched without a moment's delay to Mansfeld's +head-quarters, at the head of all the force he could muster--about two +hundred strong. With him came Cardona, Gonzales de Castro, Toralva, and +other distinguished officers. As they arrived, Capizucca was just +setting forth for the field. There arose a dispute for precedence +between the Italians and the Spaniards. Capizucca had first demanded the +privilege of leading what seemed a forlorn hope, and was unwilling to +yield his claim to the new comer. On the other hand, the Spaniards were +not disposed to follow where they felt entitled to lead. The quarrel was +growing warm, when Aquila, seizing his Italian rival by the hand, +protested that it was not a moment for friends to wrangle for precedence. + +"Shoulder to shoulder," said he, "let us go into this business, and let +our blows rather fall on our enemies' heads than upon each other's." +This terminated the altercation. The Italians and Spaniards--in battle +array as they were--all dropped on their knees, offered a brief prayer to +the Holy Virgin, and then, in the best possible spirits, set forth along +the dyke. Next to fort Stabroek--whence they issued--was the Palisade +Fort, nearly a mile removed, which the patriots had nearly carried, and +between which and St. George, another mile farther on, their whole force +was established. + +The troops under Capizucca and Aquila soon reached the Palisade, and +attacked the besiegers, while the garrison, cheered by the unexpected +relief, made a vigorous sortie. There was a brief sharp contest, in +which many were killed on both sides; but at last the patriots fell back +upon their own entrenchments, and the fort was saved. Its name was +instantly changed to Fort Victory, and the royalists then prepared to +charge the fortified camp of the rebels, in the centre of which the dyke- +cutting operations were still in progress. At the same moment, from the +opposite end of the bulwark, a cry was heard along the whole line of the +dyke. From Fort Holy Cross, at the Scheldt end, the welcome intelligence +was suddenly communicated--as if by a magnetic impulse--that Alexander +was in the field! + +It was true. Having been up half the night, as usual, keeping watch +along his bridge, where he was ever expecting a fatal attack, he had +retired for a few hours' rest in his camp at Beveren. Aroused at day- +break by the roar of the cannon, he had hastily thrown on his armour, +mounted his horse, and, at the head of two hundred pikemen, set forth for +the scene of action. Detained on the bridge by a detachment of the +Antwerp fleet, which had been ordered to make a diversion in that +quarter, he had, after beating off their vessels with his boat-artillery, +and charging Count Charles Mansfeld to heed well the brief injunction of +old Peter Ernest, made all the haste he could to the Kowenstyn. Arriving +at Fort Holy Cross, he learned from Mondragon how the day was going. +Three thousand rebels, he learned, were established on the dyke, Fort +Palisade was tottering, a fleet from both sides was cannonading the +Spanish entrenchments, the salt water was flowing across the breach +already made. His seven months' work, it seemed, had come to nought. +The navigation was already open from the sea to Antwerp, the Lowenstyn +was in the rebels' hands. But Alexander was not prone to premature +despair. "I arrived," said he to Philip in a letter written on the same +evening, "at the very nick of time." A less hopeful person might have +thought that he had arrived several hours too late. Having brought with +him every man that could be spared from Beveren and from the bridge, +he now ordered Camillo del Monte to transport some additional pieces of +artillery from Holy Cross and from Saint James to Fort Saint Georg. At +the same time a sharp cannonade was to be maintained upon the rebel fleet +from all the forts. + +Mondragon, with a hundred musketeers and pikemen, was sent forward +likewise as expeditiously as possible to Saint George. No one could be +more alert. The battered veteran, hero of some of the most remarkable +military adventures that history has ever recorded,' fought his way on +foot, in the midst of the fray, like a young ensign who had his first +laurels to win. And, in truth, the day was not one for cunning +manoeuvres, directed, at a distance, by a skillful tactician. It was +a brisk close contest, hand to hand and eye to eye--a Homeric encounter, +in which the chieftains were to prove a right to command by their +personal prowess. Alexander, descending suddenly--dramatically, as it +were--when the battle seemed lost--like a deity from the clouds-was to +justify, by the strength of his arm, the enthusiasm which his name always +awakened. Having, at a glance, taken in the whole situation, he made his +brief arrangements, going from rank to rank, and disposing his troops in +the most effective manner. He said but few words, but his voice had +always a telling effect. + +"The man who refuses, this day, to follow me," he said, "has never had +regard to his own honour, nor has God's cause or the King's ever been +dear to his heart." + +His disheartened Spaniards and Italians--roused as by a magic trumpet-- +eagerly demanded to be led against the rebels. And now from each end of +the dyke, the royalists were advancing toward the central position +occupied by the patriots. While Capizucca and Aquila were occupied at +Fort Victory, Parma was steadily cutting his way from Holy Cross to Saint +George. On foot, armed with sword and shield, and in coat of mail, and +marching at the head of his men along the dyke, surrounded by Bevilacqua, +Bentivoglio, Manriquez, Sforza, and other officers of historic name and +distinguished courage, now upon the summit of the causeway, now on its +shelving banks, now breast-high in the waters, through which lay the +perilous path, contending at every inch with the scattered bands of the +patriots, who slowly retired to their entrenched camp, and with the +Antwerp and Zeeland vessels, whose balls tore through the royalist ranks, +the General at last reached Saint George. On the preservation of that +post depended the whole fortune of the day, for Parma had already +received the welcome intelligence that the Palisade--now Fort Victory-- +had been regained. He instantly ordered an outer breast-work of wool- +sacks and sand-bags to be thrown up in front of Saint George, and planted +a battery to play point-blank at the enemy's entrenchments. Here the +final issue was to be made. + +The patriots and Spaniards were thus all enclosed in the mile-long space +between St. George and the Palisade. Upon that narrow strip of earth, +scarce six paces in width, more than five thousand men met in mortal +combat--a narrow arena for so many gladiators, hemmed in on both sides by +the sea. The patriots had, with solemn ceremony, before starting upon +their enterprise, vowed to destroy the dyke and relieve Antwerp, or to +perish in the attempt. They were true to their vow. Not the ancient +Batavians or Nervii had ever manifested more tenacity against the Roman +legions than did their descendants against the far-famed Spanish infantry +upon this fatal day. The fight on the Kowenstyn was to be long +remembered in the military annals of Spain and Holland. Never, since the +curtain first rose upon the great Netherland tragedy, had there been a +fiercer encounter. Flinching was impossible. There was scant room for +the play of pike and dagger, and, close packed as were the combatants, +the dead could hardly fall to the ground. It was a mile-long series of +separate mortal duels, and the oozy dyke was soon slippery with blood. + +From both sides, under Capizucca and Aquila on the one band, and under +Alexander on the other, the entrenchments of the patriots were at last +assaulted, and as the royalists fell thick and fast beneath the breast- +work which they were storming, their comrades clambered upon their +bodies, and attempted, from such vantage-ground, to effect an entrance. +Three times the invaders were beaten back with heavy loss, and after each +repulse the attack was renewed with fresh vigour, while within the +entrenchments the pioneers still plied the pick and shovel, undismayed by +the uproar around them. + +A fourth assault, vigorously made, was cheerfully repelled by the +Antwerpers and Hollanders, clustering behind their breast-works, and +looking steadily into their enemies' eyes. Captain Heraugiere--of whom +more was to be heard one day--had led two hundred men into action, and +now found himself at the head of only thirteen. The loss had been as +severe among many other patriot companies, as well as in the Spanish +ranks, and again the pikemen of Spain and Italy faltered before the iron +visages and cordial blows of the Hollanders. + +This work had lasted a good hour and a half, when at last, on the fifth +assault, a wild and mysterious apparition renewed the enthusiasm of the +Spaniards. The figure of the dead commander of the old Spanish Legion, +Don Pedro Pacchi, who had fallen a few months before at the siege of +Dendermonde was seen charging in front of his regiment, clad in his well- +known armour, and using the gestures which had been habitual with him in +life. No satisfactory explanation was ever made of this singular +delusion, but it was general throughout the ranks, and in that +superstitious age was as effective as truth. The wavering Spaniards +rallied once more under the guidance of their phantom leader, and again +charged the breast-work of the patriots. Toralva, mounting upon the back +of one of his soldiers, was first to vault into the entrenchments. At +the next instant he lay desperately wounded on the ground, but was close +followed by Capizucca, sustained by a determined band. The entrenchment +was carried, but the furious conflict still continued. At nearly the +same moment, however, several of the patriot vessels were observed to +cast off their moorings, and to be drifting away from the dyke. A large +number of the rest had been disabled by the hot fire, which by +Alexander's judicious orders had been directed upon the fleet. The +ebbing tide left no choice to the commander of the others but to retreat +or to remain and fall into the enemy's hands, should he gain the day. +Had they risked the dangerous alternative, it might have ensured the +triumph of the whole enterprise, while their actual decision proved most +disastrous in the end. + +"We have conquered," cried Alexander, stretching his arm towards the +receding waters. "The sea deserts the impious heretics. Strike from +them now their last hope, and cut off their retreat to the departing +ships." The Spaniards were not slow to perceive their advantage, while +the courage of the patriots at last began to ebb with the tide. The day +was lost. In the hour of transitory triumph the leaders of the +expedition had turned their backs on their followers, and now, after so +much heroism had been exhibited, fortune too had averted her face. The +grim resistance changed to desperate panic, and a mad chase began along +the blood-stained dyke. Some were slain with spear and bullet, others +were hunted into the sea, many were smothered in the ooze along the edge +of the embankment. The fugitives, making their way to the retreating +vessels, were pursued by the Spaniards, who swam after them, with their +swords in their teeth, and engaged them in mortal combat in the midst of +the waves. + +"And so we cut all their throats," said Parma, "the rebels on every side +remaining at our mercy, and I having no doubt that my soldiers would +avenge the loss of their friends." + +The English and the Scotch, under Balfour and Morgan, were the very last +to abandon the position which they had held so manfully seven hours long. +Honest Captain James, who fought to the last, and described the action +the same night in the fewest possible words, was of opinion that the +fleet had moved away only to obtain a better position. "They put off to +have more room to play on the enemy," said he; "but the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, seeing the enemy come on so hotly, and thinking our galleys +would leave them, abandoned their string. The Scots, seeing them to +retire, left their string. The enemy pursued very hotly; the Englishmen +stood to repulse, and are put most to the sword. In this shameful +retreat there were slain or drowned to the number of two thousand." +The blunt Englishman was justly indignant that an enterprise, so nearly +successful, had been ruined by the desertion of its chiefs. "We had cut +the dyke in three places," said he; "but left it most shamefully for want +of commandment." + +Poor Koppen Loppen--whose blunders on former occasions had caused so much +disaster--was now fortunate enough to expiate them by a soldier's death. +Admiral Haultain had, as we have seen, been drowned at the commencement +of the action. Justinus de Nassau, at its close, was more successful in +his retreat to the ships. He, too, sprang into the water when the +overthrow was absolute; but, alighting in some shallows, was able to +conceal himself among weeds and waterlilies till he had divested himself +of his armour, when he made his escape by swimming to a boat, which +conveyed him to Lillo. Roelke van Deest, an officer of some note, was so +horribly wounded in the face, that he was obliged to wear a mask for the +remainder of his life. + +Parma, overjoyed at his victory, embraced Capizucca before the whole +army, with warm expressions of admiration for his conduct. Both the +Italian colonel and his Spanish rival Aquila were earnestly recommended +to Philip for reward and promotion. The wounded Toralva was carried to +Alexander's own quarters, and placed in Alexander's own bed, where he +remained till his recovery, and was then presented--a distinction which +he much valued--with the armour which the Prince had worn on the day of +the battle. Parma himself, so soon as the action was concluded, went +with his chief officers straight from the field to the little village- +church of Stabroek, where he fell upon his knees and offered up fervent +thanks for his victory. He next set about repairing the ruptured dyke, +damaged in many places but not hopelessly ruined, and for this purpose +the bodies of the rebels, among other materials, were cast by hundreds +into the ditches which their own hands had dug. + +Thus ended the eight hours' fight on the Kowenstyn. "The feast lasted +from seven to eight hours," said Parma, "with the most brave obstinacy on +both sides that has been seen for many a long day." A thousand royalists +were killed and twice as many patriots, and the issue of the conflict was +most uncertain up to the very last. + +"Our loss is greater than I wish it was," wrote Alexander to Philip: "It +was a very close thing, and I have never been more anxious in my life as +to the result for your Majesty's service. The whole fate of the battle +was hanging all the time by a thread." More than ever were +reinforcements necessary, and it was only by a miracle that the victory +had at last been gained with such slender resources. "'Tis a large, +long, laborious, expensive, and most perilous war," said Parma, when +urging the claims of Capizucca and Aquila, "for we have to fight every +minute; and there are no castles and other rewards, so that if soldiers +are not to have promotion, they will lose their spirit." Thirty-two of +the rebel vessels grounded, and fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who +took from them many excellent pieces of artillery. The result was most +conclusive and most disheartening for the patriots. + +Meantime--as we have seen--Hohenlo and Sainte Aldegonde had reached +Antwerp in breathless haste to announce their triumph. They had been met +on the quay by groups of excited citizens, who eagerly questioned the two +generals arriving thus covered with laurels from the field of battle, and +drank with delight all the details of the victory. The poor dying +Spinola was exhibited in triumph, the boat-load of breadstuffs received +with satisfaction, and vast preparations were made to receive, on wharves +and in storehouses, the plentiful supplies about to arrive. Beacons and +bonfires were lighted, the bells from all the steeples rang their +merriest peals, cannon thundered in triumph not only in Antwerp itself, +but subsequently at Amsterdam and other more distant cities. In due time +a magnificent banquet was spread in the town-house to greet the +conquering Hohenlo. Immense gratification was expressed by those of the +reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the Catholics. Some +were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the +Scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon +as the siege should be raised--an event which could not now be delayed +many days longer. + +Hohenlo, placed on high at the head of the banquet-table, assumed the +very god of war. Beside and near him sat the loveliest dames of Antwerp, +rewarding his bravery with their brightest smiles. The Count drained +huge goblets to their health, to the success of the patriots, and to the +confusion of the royalists, while, as he still drank and feasted, the +trumpet, kettle-drum, and cymbal, and merry peal of bell without, did +honour to his triumph. So gay and gallant was the victor, that he +announced another banquet on the following day, still further to +celebrate the happy release of Antwerp, and invited the fair ladies +around him again to grace the board. It is recorded that the gentlewoman +next him responded with a sigh, that, if her presentiments were just, the +morrow would scarcely be so joyful as the present day had been, and that +she doubted whether the triumph were not premature. + +Hardly had she spoken when sinister sounds were heard in the streets. +The first few stragglers, survivors of the deadly fight, had arrived with +the fatal news that all was lost, the dyke regained, the Spaniards +victorious, the whole band of patriots cut to pieces. A few frightfully- +wounded and dying sufferers were brought into the banqueting-hall. +Hohenlo sprang from the feast--interrupted in so ghastly a manner-- +pursued by shouts and hisses. Howls of execration, saluted him in the +streets, and he was obliged to conceal himself for a time, to escape the +fury of the populace. + +On the other hand, Parma was, not unnaturally, overjoyed at the +successful issue to the combat, and expressed himself on the subject in +language of (for him) unusual exultation. "To-day, Sunday, 26th of +June," said he, in a letter to Philip, despatched by special courier on +the very same night, "the Lord has been pleased to grant to your Majesty +a great and most signal victory. In this conjuncture of so great +importance it may be easily conceived that the best results that can be +desired will be obtained if your Majesty is now ready to do what is +needful. I congratulate your Majesty very many times on this occasion, +and I desire to render infinite thanks to Divine Providence." + +He afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his +Majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, +Capizucca and Aquila, Mondragon and Vasto, with many other officers, and +recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily +and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to +whose personal exertions it was chiefly due. "As for good odd Mansfeld," +said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your +Majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, +writing to him yourself pleasantly in Spanish, which is that which will +be most highly esteemed by him." Alexander hinted also that Philip would +do well to bestow upon Mansfeld the countship of Biart, as a reward for +his long years of faithful service! + +This action on the Kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of +Antwerp. A few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of +which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set +afloat. She had been called the War's End, and, so far as Antwerp was +concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been +paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred. She was +larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four +masts and three helms. Her bulwarks were ten feet thick; her tops were +musket-proof. She had twenty guns of largest size, besides many other +pieces of artillery of lesser calibre, the lower tier of which was almost +at the water's level. She was to carry one thousand men, and she was so +supported on corks and barrels as to be sure to float under any +circumstances. Thus she was a great swimming fortress which could not be +sunk, and was impervious to shot. Unluckily, however, in spite of her +four masts and three helms, she would neither sail nor steer, and she +proved but a great, unmanageable and very ridiculous tub, fully +justifying all the sarcasms that had been launched upon her during the +period of her construction, which had been almost as long as the siege +itself. + +The Spaniards called her the Bugaboo--a monster to scare children withal. +The patriots christened her the Elephant, the Antwerp Folly, the Lost +Penny, with many similar appellations. A small army might have been +maintained for a month, they said, on the money she had cost, or the +whole city kept in bread for three months. At last, late in May, a few +days before the battle of the Kowenstyn, she set forth from Antwerp, +across the submerged land, upon her expedition to sweep all the Spanish +forts out of existence, and to bring the war to its end. She came to her +own end very briefly, for, after drifting helplessly about for an hour, +she stuck fast in the sand in the neighbourhood of Ordam, while the crew +and soldiers made their escape, and came back to the city to share in the +ridicule which, from first to last, had attached itself to the monster- +ship. + +Two days after the Kowenstyn affair, Alexander sent an expedition under +Count Charles Mansfeld to take possession of the great Bugaboo. The +boat, in which were Count Charles, Count Aremberg, his brother de +Barbancon, and other noble volunteers, met with an accident: a keg of gun +powder accidentally exploding, blowing Aremberg into the water, whence he +escaped unharmed by swimming, and frightfully damaging Mansfeld in the +face. This indirect mischief--the only injury ever inflicted by the +War's End upon the enemy--did not prevent the rest of the party in the +boats from taking possession of the ship, and bringing her in triumph to +the Prince of Parma. After being thoroughly examined and heartily +laughed at by the Spaniards, she was broken up--her cannon, munitions, +and other valuable materials, being taken from her--and then there was an +end of the War's End. + +This useless expenditure-against the judgment and entreaties of many +leading personages--was but a type of the difficulties with which Sainte +Aldegonde had been obliged to contend from the first day of the siege to +the last. Every one in the city had felt himself called on to express an +opinion as to the proper measures for defence. Diversity of humours, +popular license, anarchy, did not constitute the best government for a +city beleagured by Alexander Farnese. We have seen the deadly injury +inflicted upon the cause at the outset by the brutality of the butchers, +and the manful struggle which Sainte Aldegonde had maintained against +their cupidity and that of their friends. He had dealt with the thousand +difficulties which rose up around him from day to day, but his best +intentions were perpetually misconstrued, his most strenuous exertions +steadily foiled. It was a city where there was much love of money, and +where commerce--always timid by nature, particularly when controlled by +alien residents--was often the cause of almost abject cowardice. + +From time to time there had been threatening demonstrations made against +the burgomaster, who, by protracting the resistance of Antwerp, was +bringing about the absolute destruction of a worldwide trade, and the +downfall of the most opulent capital in Christendom. There were also +many popular riots--very easily inflamed by the Catholic portion of the +inhabitants--for bread. "Bread, bread, or peace!" was hoarsely shouted +by ill-looking mischievous crowds, that dogged the steps and besieged the +doors of Sainte Aldegonde; but the burgomaster had done his best by +eloquence of tongue and personal courage, both against mobs and against +the enemy, to inspire the mass of his fellow-citizens with his own +generous spirit. He had relied for a long time on the negotiation with +France, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effects +produced by the treachery of the Valois court. The historian Le Petit, +a resident of Antwerp at the time of the siege, had been despatched on +secret mission to Paris, and had communicated to the States' deputies +Sainte Aldegonde's earnest adjurations that they should obtain, if +possible, before it should be too late, an auxiliary force and a +pecuniary subsidy. An immediate assistance, even if slight, might be +sufficient to prevent Antwerp and its sister cities from falling into the +hands of the enemy. On that messenger's return, the burgomaster, much +encouraged by his report, had made many eloquent speeches in the senate, +and for a long time sustained the sinking spirits of the citizens. + +The irritating termination to the triumph actually achieved against the +bridge, and the tragical result to the great enterprise against the +Kowenstyn, had now thoroughly broken the heart of Antwerp. For the last +catastrophe Sainte Aldegonde himself was highly censurable, although the +chief portion of the blame rested on the head of Hohenlo. Nevertheless +the States of Holland were yet true to the cause of the Union and of +liberty. Notwithstanding their heavy expenditures, and their own loss of +men, they urged warmly and earnestly the continuance of the resistance, +and promised, within at latest three months' time, to raise an army of +twelve thousand foot and seven thousand horse, with which they pledged +themselves to relieve the city, or to perish in the endeavour. At the +same time, the legation, which had been sent to England to offer the +sovereignty to Queen Elizabeth, sent encouraging despatches to Antwerp, +assuring the authorities that arrangements for an auxiliary force had +been effected; while Elizabeth herself wrote earnestly upon the subject +with her own hand. + +"I am informed," said that Princess, "that through the closing of the +Scheldt you are likely to enter into a treaty with the Prince of Parma, +the issue of which is very much to be doubted, so far as the maintenance +of your privileges is concerned. Remembering the warm friendship which +has ever existed between this crown and the house of Burgundy, in the +realms of which you are an important member, and considering that my +subjects engaged in commerce have always met with more privilege and +comity in the Netherlands than in any other country, I have resolved to +send you at once, assistance, comfort, and aid. The details of the plan +will be stated by your envoys; but be assured that by me you will never +be forsaken or neglected." + +The negotiations with Queen Elizabeth--most important for the +Netherlands, for England, and for the destinies of Europe--which +succeeded the futile diplomatic transactions with France, will be laid +before the reader in a subsequent chapter. It is proper that they should +be massed by themselves, so that the eye can comprehend at a single +glance their whole progress and aspect, as revealed both by public and +official, and by secret and hitherto unpublished records. Meantime, so +far as regards Antwerp, those negotiations had been too deliberately +conducted for the hasty and impatient temper of the citizens. + +The spirit of the commercial metropolis, long flagging, seemed at last +broken. Despair was taking possession of all hearts. The common people +did nothing but complain, the magistrates did nothing but wrangle. In +the broad council the debates and dissensions were discouraging and +endless. Six of the eight militia-colonels were for holding out at all +hazards, while a majority of the eighty captains were for capitulation. +The populace was tumultuous and threatening, demanding peace and bread at +any price. Holland sent promises in abundance, and Holland was sincere; +but there had been much disappointment, and there was now infinite +bitterness. It seemed obvious that a crisis was fast approaching, and-- +unless immediate aid should come from Holland or from England--that a +surrender was inevitable. La None, after five years' imprisonment, had +at last been exchanged against Count Philip Egmont. That noble, chief of +an ancient house, cousin of the Queen of France, was mortified at being +ransomed against a simple Huguenot gentleman--even though that gentleman +was the illustrious "iron-armed" La Noue--but he preferred to sacrifice +his dignity for the sake of his liberty. He was still more annoyed that +one hundred thousand crowns as security were exacted from La Noue--for +which the King of Navarre became bondsman--that he would never again bear +arms in the Netherlands except in obedience to the French monarch, while +no such pledges were required of himself. La None visited the Prince of +Parma at Antwerp, to take leave, and was received with the courtesy due +to his high character and great distinction. Alexander took pleasure in +showing him all his fortifications, and explaining to him the whole +system of the siege, and La Noue was filled with honest amazement. He +declared afterwards that the works were superb and impregnable; and that +if he had been on the outside at the head of twelve thousand troops, he +should have felt obliged to renounce the idea of relieving the city. +"Antwerp cannot escape you," confessed the veteran Huguenot, "but must +soon fall into your hands. And when you enter, I would counsel you to +hang up your sword at its gate, and let its capture be the crowning +trophy in your list of victories." + +"You are right," answered Parma, "and many of my friends have given me +the same advice; but how am I to retire, engaged as I am for life in the +service of my King?" + +Such was the opinion of La None, a man whose love for the reformed +religion and for civil liberty can be as little doubted as his competency +to form an opinion upon great military subjects. As little could he be +suspected just coming as he did from an infamous prison, whence he had +been at one time invited by Philip II. to emerge, on condition of +allowing his eyes to be put out--of any partiality for that monarch or +his representative. + +Moreover, although the States of Holland and the English government were +earnestly desirous of relieving the city, and were encouraging the +patriots with well-founded promises, the Zeeland authorities were +lukewarm. The officers of the Zeeland navy, from which so much was +expected, were at last discouraged. They drew up, signed, and delivered +to Admiral Justinus de Nassau, a formal opinion to the effect that the +Scheldt had now so many dry and dangerous places, and that the tranquil +summer-nights--so different from those long, stormy ones of winter--were +so short as to allow of no attempt by water likely to be successful to +relieve the city. + +Here certainly was much to discourage, and Sainte Aldegonde was at length +discouraged. He felt that the last hope of saving Antwerp was gone, and +with it all possibility of maintaining the existence of a United +Netherland commonwealth. The Walloon Provinces were lost already; Ghent, +Brussels, Mechlin, had also capitulated, and, with the fall of Antwerp, +Flanders and Brabant must fall. There would be no barrier left even to +save Holland itself. Despair entered the heart of the burgomaster, and +he listened too soon to its treacherous voice. Yet while he thought a +free national state no longer a possibility, he imagined it practicable +to secure religious liberty by negotiation with Philip II. He abandoned +with a sigh one of the two great objects for which he had struggled side +by side with Orange for twenty years, but he thought it possible to +secure the other. His purpose was now to obtain a favourable +capitulation for Antwerp, and at the same time to bring about the +submission of Holland, Zeeland, and the other United Provinces, to the +King of Spain. Here certainly was a great change of face on the part of +one so conspicuous, and hitherto so consistent, in the ranks of +Netherland patriots, and it is therefore necessary, in order thoroughly +to estimate both the man and the crisis, to follow carefully his steps +through the secret path of negotiation into which he now entered, and in +which the Antwerp drama was to find its conclusion. In these +transactions, the chief actors are, on the one side, the Prince of Parma, +as representative of absolutism and the Papacy; on the other, Sainte +Aldegonde, who had passed his life as the champion of the Reformation. + +No doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great. Tumults were +of daily occurrence. Crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of +denunciations and demands for bread. A large and turbulent mob upon one +occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with +personal indignity and violence, when be undertook to disperse them. +On the other hand, Parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more +reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good +deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire +the burghers with confidence in his good-will. Thus, an infirm old lady +in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as +to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to +procure a supply from the neighbourhood. The young man was captured, +brought to Alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the +punishment of a spy. The prince, however, presented him, not only with +his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges +and capons, as a present for the invalid. The magistrates, hearing of +the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a +waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to +Alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the +amenities of diplomacy. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart +Demanding peace and bread at any price +Not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v40 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, v41, 1584 + + +Alexander Farnese, The Duke of Parma + + +CHAPTER V., Part 3. + + + Sainte Aldegonde discouraged--His Critical Position--His + Negotiations with the Enemy--Correspondence with Richardot-- + Commotion in the City--Interview of Marnix with Parma--Suspicious + Conduct of Marnix--Deputation to the Prince--Oration of Marnix-- + Private Views of Parma--Capitulation of Antwerp--Mistakes of Marnix + --Philip on the Religious Question--Triumphal Entrance of Alexander-- + Rebuilding of the Citadel--Gratification of Philip--Note on Sainte + Aldegonde + +Sainte Aldegonde's position had become a painful one. The net had been +drawn closely about the city. The bridge seemed impregnable, the great +Kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the +lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of Antwerp-Borght, Hoboken, +Cantecroix, Stralen, Berghen, and the rest--had likewise fallen into his +grasp. An account of grain, taken on the 1st of June, gave an average of +a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months. This +was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been +established in Leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly +oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments. It +seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had +arrived. + +"I had maintained the city," he said, "for a long period, without any +excessive tumult or great effusion of blood--a city where there was such +a multitude of inhabitants, mostly merchants or artisans deprived of all +their traffic, stripped of their manufactures, destitute of all +commodities and means of living. I had done this in the midst of a great +diversity of humours and opinions, a vast popular license, a confused +anarchy, among a great number of commanders, most of them inexperienced +in war; with very little authority of my own, with slender forces of +ships, soldiers, and sailors; with alight appearance of support from king +or prince without, or of military garrison within; and under all these +circumstances I exerted myself to do my uttermost duty in preserving the +city, both in regard to its internal government, and by force of arms by +land and sea, without sparing myself in any labour or peril. + +"I know very well that there are many persons, who, finding themselves +quite at their ease, and far away from the hard blows that are passing, +are pleased to exhibit their wisdom by sitting in judgment upon others, +founding their decision only upon the results. But I demand to be judged +by equity and reason, when passion has been set aside. I claim that my +honour shall be protected against my calumniators; for all should +remember that I am not the first man, nor shall I be the last, that has +been blamed unjustly. All persons employed in public affairs are subject +to such hazards, but I submit myself to Him who knows all hearts, and who +governs all. I take Him to witness that in the affair of Antwerp, as in +all my other actions since my earliest youth, I have most sincerely +sought His glory and the, welfare of His poor people, without regard to +my own private interests." + +For it is not alone the fate of Antwerp that is here to be recorded. The +fame of Sainte Aldegonde was now seriously compromised. The character of +a great man must always be closely scanned and scrutinised; protected, if +needful, against calumny, but always unflinchingly held up to the light. +Names illustrious by genius and virtue are History's most precious +treasures, faithfully to be guarded by her, jealously to be watched; but +it is always a misfortune when her eyes are deceived by a glitter which +is not genuine. + +Sainte Aldegonde was a man of unquestionable genius. His character had +ever been beyond the reproach of self-seeking or ignoble ambition. He +had multiplied himself into a thousand forms to serve the cause of the +United Netherland States, and the services so rendered had been brilliant +and frequent. A great change in his conduct and policy was now +approaching, and it is therefore the more necessary to examine closely at +this epoch his attitude and his character. + +Early in June, Richardot, president of the council of Artois, addressed a +letter to Sainte Aldegonde, by command of Alexander of Parma, suggesting +a secret interview between the burgomaster and the Prince. + +On the 8th of June, Sainte Aldegonde replied, in favourable terms, +as to the interview; but observed, that, as he was an official personage, +it was necessary for him to communicate the project to the magistracy of +the city. He expressed likewise the hope that Parma would embrace the +present opportunity for making a general treaty with all the Provinces. +A special accord with Antwerp, leaving out Holland and Zeeland, would, +he said, lead to the utter desolation of that city, and to the +destruction of its commerce and manufactures, while the occasion now +presented itself to the Prince of "winning praise and immortal glory by +bringing back all the country to a voluntary and prompt obedience to his +Majesty." He proposed, that, instead of his coming alone, there should +be a number of deputies sent from Antwerp to confer with Alexander. + +On the 11th June, Richardot replied by expressing, his own regrets and +those of the Prince, that the interview could not have been with the +burgomaster alone, but acknowledging the weight of his reasons, and +acquiescing in the proposition to send a larger deputation. Three days +afterwards, Sainte Aldegonde, on private consultation with some +confidential personages, changed his ground; announced his preference +for a private interview, under four eyes, with Parma; and requested that +a passport might be sent. The passport was accordingly forwarded the +same day, with an expression of Alexander's gratification, and with the +offer, on the part of Richardot, to come himself to Antwerp as hostage +during the absence of the burgomaster in Parma's camp at Beveren. + +Sainte Aldegonde was accordingly about to start on the following day +(16th of June), but meantime the affair had got wind. A secret +interview, thus projected, was regarded by the citizens as extremely +suspicious. There was much bitter insinuation against the burgomaster-- +many violent demonstrations. "Aldegonde, they say, is going to see +Parma," said one of the burghers, "which gives much dissatisfaction, +because, 'tis feared that he will make a treaty according to the appetite +and pleasure of his Highness, having been gained over to the royal cause +by money. He says that it would be a misfortune to send a large number +of burghers. Last Sunday (16th June) there was a meeting of the broad +council. The preachers came into the assembly and so animated the +citizens by demonstrations of their religion, that all rushed from the +council-house, crying with loud voices that they did not desire peace but +war." + +This desire was a healthy and a reasonable one; but, unfortunately, +the Antwerpers had not always been so vigorous or so united in their +resistance to Parma. At present, however, they were very furious, so +soon as the secret purpose of Sainte Aldegonde became generally known. +The proposed capitulation, which great mobs had been for weeks long +savagely demanding at the hands of the burgomaster, was now ascribed to +the burgomaster's unblushing corruption. He had obviously, they thought, +been purchased by Spanish ducats to do what he had hitherto been so +steadily refusing. A certain Van Werne had gone from Antwerp into +Holland a few days before upon his own private affairs, with a safe- +conduct from Parma. Sainte Aldegonde had not communicated to him the +project then on foot, but he had permitted him to seek a secret interview +with Count Mansfeld. If that were granted, Van Werne was to hint that in +case the Provinces could promise themselves a religious peace it would be +possible, in the opinion of Sainte Aldegonde, to induce Holland and +Zealand and all the rest of the United Provinces, to return to their +obedience. Van Werne, on his return to Antwerp, divulged these secret +negotiations, and so put a stop to Sainte Aldegonde's scheme of going +alone to Parma. "This has given a bad suspicion to the people," wrote +the burgomaster to Richardot, "so much so that I fear to have trouble. +The broad council has been in session, but I don't know what has taken +place there, and I do not dare to ask." + +Sainte Aldegonde's motive, as avowed by himself, for seeking a private +interview, was because he had received no answer to the main point in his +first letter, as to the proposition for a general accord. In order +therefore to make the deliberations more rapid, he had been disposed to +discuss that preliminary question in secret. "But now," said he to +Richardot, "as the affair had been too much divulged, as well by diverse +reports and writings sown about, very inopportunely, as by the arrival +of M. Van Werne, I have not found it practicable to set out upon my road, +without communication with the members of the government. This has been +done, however, not in the way of consultation, but as the announcement of +a thing already resolved upon." + +He proceeded to state, that great difficulties had arisen, exactly as he +had foreseen. The magistrates would not hear of a general accord, and it +was therefore necessary that a delay should be interposed before it would +be possible for him to come. He begged Richardot to persuade Alexander, +that he was not trifling with him. "It is not," said he, "from +lightness, or any other passion, that I am retarding this affair. I will +do all in my power to obtain leave to make a journey to the camp of his +Highness, at whatever price it may cost and I hope before long to arrive +at my object. If I fail, it must be ascribed to the humours of the +people; for my anxiety to restore all the Provinces to obedience to his +Majesty is extreme." + +Richardot, in reply, the next day, expressed regret, without +astonishment, on the part of Alexander and himself, at the intelligence +thus received. People had such difference of humour, he said, and all +men were not equally capable of reason. Nevertheless the citizens were +warned not to misconstrue Parma's gentleness, because he was determined +to die, with his whole army, rather than not take Antwerp. "As for the +King," said Richardot, "he will lay down all his crowns sooner than +abandon this enterprise." Van Werne was represented as free from blame, +and sincerely desirous of peace. Richardot had only stated to him, in +general terms, that letters had been received from Sainte Aldegonde, +expressing an opinion in favour of peace. As for the royalists, they +were quite innocent of the reports and writings that had so inopportunely +been circulated in the city. It was desirable, however, that the +negotiation should not too long be deferred, for otherwise Antwerp might +perish, before a general accord with Holland and Zeeland could be made. +He begged Sainte Aldegonde to banish all anxiety as to Parma's sentiments +towards himself or the community. "Put yourself, Sir, quite at your +ease," said he. "His Highness is in no respects dissatisfied with you, +nor prone to conceive any indignation against this poor people." He +assured the burgomaster that he was not suspected of lightness, nor of a +wish to delay matters, but he expressed solicitude with regard to the +threatening demonstrations which had been made against him in Antwerp. +"For," said he, "popular governments are full of a thousand hazards, and +it would be infinitely painful to me, if you should come to harm." + +Thus it would appear that it was Sainte Aldegonde who was chiefly anxious +to effect the reconciliation of Holland and Zeeland with the King. The +initiative of this project to include all the United Provinces in one +scheme with the reduction of Antwerp came originally from him, and was +opposed, at the outset, by the magistrates of that city, by the Prince of +Parma and his councillors, and, by the States of Holland and Zeeland. +The demonstrations on the part of the preachers, the municipal +authorities, and the burghers, against Sainte Aldegonde and his plan for +a secret interview, so soon as it was divulged, made it impossible to +carry that project into effect. + +"Aldegonde, who governs Antwerp," wrote Parma to Philip, +"was endeavouring, eight days ago, to bring about some kind of +negotiation for an accord. He manifested a desire to come hither +for the sake of a personal interview with me, which I permitted. It was +to have taken place last Sunday, 16th of this month, but by reason of a +certain popular tumult, which arose out of these circumstances, it has +been necessary to defer the meeting." + +There was much disappointment felt by the royalist at this unsatisfactory +result. "These bravadoes and impertinent demonstrations on the part of +some of your people," wrote Richardot, ten days later, "will be the +destruction of the whole country, and will convert the Prince's +gentleness into anger. 'Tis these good and zealous patriots, trusting to +a little favourable breeze that blew for a few days past, who have been +the cause of all this disturbance, and who are ruining their miserable +country--miserable, I say, for having produced such abortions as +themselves." + +Notwithstanding what had passed, however, Richardot intimated that +Alexander was still ready to negotiate. "And if you, Sir," he concluded, +in his letter to Aldegonde, "concerning whom many of our friends have at +present a sinister opinion, as if your object was to circumvent us, are +willing to proceed roundly and frankly, as I myself firmly believe that +you will do, we may yet hope for a favourable issue." + +Thus the burgomaster was already the object of suspicion to both parties. +The Antwerpers denounced him as having been purchased by Spanish gold; +the royalists accused him of intending to overreach the King. It was not +probable therefore that all were correct in their conjectures. + +At last it was arranged that deputies should be appointed by the broad +council to commence a negotiation with Parma. Sainte Aldegonde informed +Richardot, that he would (5th July, 1585) accompany them, if his affairs +should permit. He protested his sincerity and frankness throughout the +whole affair. "They try to calumniate me," he said, "as much on one side +as on the other, but I will overcome by my innocence all the malice of my +slanderers. If his Highness should be pleased to grant us some liberty +for our religion, I dare to promise such faithful service as will give +very great satisfaction." + +Four days later, Sainte Aldegonde himself, together with M. de Duffel, +M. de Schoonhoven, and Adrian Hesselt, came to Parma's camp at Beveren, +as deputies on the part of the Antwerp authorities. They were +courteously received by the Prince, and remained three days as his +guests. During the period of this visit, the terms of a capitulation +were thoroughly discussed, between Alexander and his councillors upon one +part, and the four deputies on the other. The envoys endeavoured, with +all the arguments at their command, to obtain the consent of the Prince +to three preliminary points which they laid down as indispensable. +Religious liberty must be granted, the citadel must not be reconstructed, +a foreign garrison must not be admitted; they said. As it was the firm +intention of the King, however, not to make the slightest concession on +any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one. +Besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present, +there was a private conference between Parma and Sainte Aldegonde which +lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his +opinions upon the other. The burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the +Prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the +hearts not of the Antwerpers only, but of the Hollanders and Zeelanders, +were easily to be won at that moment. Give them religious liberty, and +attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by Spanish garrisons, +and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the Provinces +with his Majesty. + +Alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points, +was courteous but peremptory in his statements. He recommended that the +rebels should take into consideration their own declining strength, the +inexhaustible resources of the King, the impossibility of obtaining +succour from France, and the perplexing dilatoriness of England, rather +than waste their time in idle expectations of a change in the Spanish +policy. He also intimated, obliquely but very plainly, to Sainte +Aldegonde, that his own fortune would be made, and that he had everything +to hope from his Majesty's bounty, if he were now willing to make himself +useful in carrying into effect the royal plans. + +The Prince urged these views with so much eloquence, that he seemed, +in his own words, to have been directly inspired by the Lord for this +special occasion! Sainte Aldegonde, too, was signally impressed by +Alexander's language, and thoroughly fascinated-magnetized, as it were +--by his character. He subsequently declared, that he had often +conversed familiarly with many eloquent personages, but that he had never +known a man more powerful or persuasive than the Prince of Parma. He +could honestly say of him--as Hasdrubal had said of Scipio--that Farnese +was even more admirable when seen face to face, than he had seemed when +one only heard of his glorious achievements. + +"The burgomaster and three deputies," wrote Parma to Philip, "were here +until the 12th July. We discussed (30th July, 1585) the points and form +of a capitulation, and they have gone back thoroughly satisfied. Sainte +Aldegonde especially was much pleased with the long interview which he +had with me, alone, and which lasted more than three hours. I told him, +as well as my weakness and suffering from the tertian fever permitted, +all that God inspired me to say on our behalf." + +Nevertheless, if Sainte Aldegonde and his colleagues went away thoroughly +satisfied, they had reason, soon after their return, to become thoroughly +dejected. The magistrates and burghers would not listen to a proposition +to abandon the three points, however strongly urged to do so by arguments +drawn from the necessity of the situation, and by representations of +Parma's benignity. As for the burgomaster, he became the target for +calumny, so soon as his three hours' private interview became known; and +the citizens loudly declared that his head ought to be cut off, and sent +in a bag, as a present, to Philip, in order that the traitor might meet +the sovereign with whom he sought a reconciliation, face to face, as soon +as possible. + +The deputies, immediately after their return, made their report to the +magistrates, as likewise to the colonels and captains, and to the deans +of guilds. Next day, although it was Sunday, there was a session of the +broad council, and Sainte Aldegonde made a long address, in which--as he +stated in a letter to Richardot--he related everything that had passed in +his private conversation with Alexander. An answer was promised to Parma +on the following Tuesday, but the burgomaster spoke very discouragingly +as to the probability of an accord. + +"The joy with which our return was greeted," he said, "was followed by a +general disappointment and sadness, so soon as the result was known. The +want of a religious toleration, as well as the refusal to concede on the +other two points, has not a little altered the hearts of all, even of the +Catholics. A citadel and a garrison are considered ruin and desolation +to a great commercial city. I have done what I can to urge the +acceptance of such conditions as the Prince is willing to give, and have +spoken in general terms of his benign intentions. The citizens still +desire peace. Had his Highness been willing to take both religions under +his protection, he might have won all hearts, and very soon all the other +Provinces would have returned to their obedience, while the clemency and +magnanimity of his Majesty would thus have been rendered admirable +throughout the world." + +The power to form an accurate conception as to the nature of Philip and +of other personages with whom he was dealing, and as to the general signs +of his times, seems to have been wanting in the character of the gifted +Aldegonde. He had been dazzled by the personal presence of Parma, and he +now spoke of Philip II., as if his tyranny over the Netherlands--which +for twenty years had been one horrible and uniform whole--were the +accidental result of circumstances, not the necessary expression of his +individual character, and might be easily changed at will--as if Nero, +at a moment's warning, might transform himself into Trajan. It is true +that the innermost soul of the Spanish king could by no possibility be +displayed to any contemporary, as it reveals itself, after three +centuries, to those who study the record of his most secret thoughts; +but, at any rate, it would seem that his career had been sufficiently +consistent, to manifest the amount of "clemency and magnanimity" which he +might be expected to exercise. + +"Had his Majesty," wrote Sainte Aldegonde, "been willing, since the year +sixty-six, to pursue a course of toleration, the memory of his reign +would have been sacred to all posterity, with an immortal praise of +sapience, benignity, and sovereign felicity." + +This might be true, but nevertheless a tolerating Philip, in the year +1585, ought to have seemed to Sainte Aldegonde an impossible idea. + +"The emperors," continued the burgomaster, "who immediately succeeded +Tiberius were the cause of the wisdom which displayed itself in the good +Trajan--also a Spaniard--and in Antoninus, Verus, and the rest: If you +think that this city, by the banishment of a certain number of persons, +will be content to abandon the profession of the reformed faith, you are +much mistaken. You will see, with time, that the exile of this religion +will be accompanied by a depopulation and a sorrowful ruin and desolation +of this flourishing city. But this will be as it pleases God. Meantime +I shall not fail to make all possible exertions to induce the citizens to +consent to a reconciliation with his Majesty. The broad council will +soon give their answer, and then we shall send a deputation. We shall +invite Holland and Zeeland to join with us, but there is little hope of +their consent." + +Certainly there was little hope of their consent. Sainte Aldegonde was +now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of Antwerp, without any +provision for religious liberty--a concession which Parma had most +distinctly refused--and it was not probable that Holland and Zeeland, +after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of +assistance from England--could now be induced to resign the great object +of the contest without further struggle. + +It was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of Antwerp sent +their propositions to the Prince of Parma. On the 12th August, however, +Sainte Aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen who had been +employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others besides, proceeded +with safe-conduct to the camp at Beveren. Here they were received with +great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by Alexander, who received +their formal draft of articles for a capitulation, and referred it to be +reported upon to Richardot, Pamel, and Vanden Burgh. Meantime there were +many long speeches and several conferences, sometimes between all the +twenty-one envoys and the Prince together; on other occasions, more +secret ones, at which only Aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues +were present. It had been obvious, from the date of the first interview, +in the preceding month, that the negotiation would be of no avail until +the government of Antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions +which they had originally announced as indispensable. Alexander had not +much disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions. + +"So far as I can understand," Parma had written on the 30th July, "they +are very far from a conclusion. They have most exorbitant ideas, talking +of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any account to +accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on such subjects." + +The discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, +though courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both +parties. "The articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote +Alexander, "by all the deputies, nor did I fail to have private +conferences with Aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and +politician, as well as with two or three of the others. I did all in my +power to bring them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to +produce a confidence in his Majesty's clemency, in order that they might +concede what was needful for the interests of the Catholic religion and +the security of the city. They heard all I had to say without +exasperating themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, +except in the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the +citadel and the garrison. Aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that +it would be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a +foreign military force. Even if compelled by necessity to submit now, +the inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon +the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and +powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion Catholics and heretics +unanimously concurred. The deputies protested, with one accord, that so +pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could not +even be proposed to their constituents. I answered, that, so long as the +rebellion of Holland and Zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for your +Majesty to make sure of Antwerp, by one or the other of those means, but +promised that the city should be relieved of the incumbrance so soon as +those islands should be reduced. + +"Sainte Aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the hope +of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had tried his +best, desired that I would hear him before the council of state. I +granted the request, and Sainte Aldegonde then made another long and very +elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution." + +It must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of that +long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the +burgomaster for Alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry. + +"We are not here, O invincible Prince," he said, "that we may excuse, by +an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our homes. +Who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in the +Netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? You would yourself have +rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on our part, for +the brave cannot love the timid. We knew the number of your troops, we +had discovered the famine in your camp, we were aware of the paucity of +your ships, we had heard of the quarrels in your army, we were expecting +daily to hear of a general mutiny among your soldiers. Were we to +believe that with ten or eleven thousand men you would be able to block +up the city by land and water, to reduce the open country of Brabant, to +cut off all aid as well from the neighbouring towns as from the powerful +provinces of Holland and Zeeland, to oppose, without a navy, the whole +strength of our fleets, directed against the dyke? Truly, if you had +been at the head of fifty thousand soldiers, and every soldier had +possessed one hundred hands, it would have seemed impossible for you to +meet so many emergencies in so many places, and under so many +distractions. What you have done we now believe possible to do, only +because we see that it has been done. You have subjugated the Scheldt, +and forced it to bear its bridge, notwithstanding the strength of its +current, the fury of the ocean-tides, the tremendous power of the +icebergs, the perpetual conflicts with our fleets. We destroyed your +bridge, with great slaughter of your troops. Rendered more courageous +by that slaughter, you restored that mighty work. We assaulted the great +dyke, pierced it through and through, and opened a path for our ships. +You drove us off when victors, repaired the ruined bulwark, and again +closed to us the avenue of relief. What machine was there that we did +not employ? what miracles of fire did we not invent? what fleets and +floating cidadels did we not put in motion? All that genius, audacity, +and art, could teach us we have executed, calling to our assistance +water, earth, heaven, and hell itself. Yet with all these efforts, with +all this enginry, we have not only failed to drive you from our walls, +but we have seen you gaining victories over other cities at the same +time. You have done a thing, O Prince, than which there is nothing +greater either in ancient or modern story. It has often occurred, while +a general was besieging one city that he lost another situate farther +off. But you, while besieging Antwerp, have reduced simultaneously +Dendermonde, Ghent, Nymegen, Brussels, and Mechlin." + +All this, and much more, with florid rhetoric, the burgomaster pronounced +in honour of Farnese, and the eulogy was entirely deserved. It was +hardly becoming, however, for such lips, at such a moment, to sound the +praise of him whose victory had just decided the downfall of religious +liberty, and of the national independence of the Netherlands. His +colleagues certainly must have winced, as they listened to commendations +so lavishly bestowed upon the representative of Philip, and it is not +surprising that Sainte Aldegonde's growing unpopularity should, from that +hour, have rapidly increased. To abandon the whole object of the siege, +when resistance seemed hopeless, was perhaps pardonable, but to offer +such lip-homage to the conqueror was surely transgressing the bounds of +decorum. + +His conclusion, too, might to Alexander seem as insolent as the whole +tenor of his address had been humble; for, after pronouncing this solemn +eulogy upon the conqueror, he calmly proposed that the prize of the +contest should be transferred to the conquered. + +"So long as liberty of religion, and immunity from citadel and garrison +can be relied upon," he said, "so long will Antwerp remain the most +splendid and flourishing city in Christendom; but desolation will ensue +if the contrary policy is to prevail." + +But it was very certain that liberty of religion, as well as immunity +from citadel and garrison, were quite out of the question. Philip and +Parma had long been inexorably resolved upon all the three points. + +"After the burgomaster had finished his oration," wrote Alexander to his +sovereign, "I discussed the matter with him in private, very distinctly +and minutely." + +The religious point was soon given up, Sainte Aldegonde finding it waste +of breath to say anything more about freedom of conscience. A suggestion +was however made on the subject of the garrison, which the prince +accepted, because it contained a condition which it would be easy to +evade. + +"Aldegonde proposed," said Parma, "that a garrison might be admissible +if I made my entrance into the city merely with infantry and cavalry of +nations which were acceptable--Walloons, namely, and Germans--and in no +greater numbers than sufficient for a body-guard. I accepted, because, +in substance, this would amount to a garrison, and because, also, after +the magistrates shall have been changed, I shall have no difficulty in +making myself master of the people, continuing the garrison, and +rebuilding the citadel." + +The Prince proceeded to give his reasons why he was willing to accept the +capitulation on what he considered so favourable terms to the besieged. +Autumn was approaching. Already the fury of the storms had driven +vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in Holland and Zeeland were +preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and fire- +machines--for another desperate attack upon the Palisades, in which there +was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force from +England was soon expected; so that, in view of all these circumstances, +he had resolved to throw himself at his Majesty's feet and implore his +clemency. "If this people of Antwerp, as the head, is gained," said he, +"there will be tranquillity in all the members." + +These reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that, +under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by Alexander, it would +have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised +succour from Holland and from England should arrive. In point of fact, +the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it +was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the Spanish officers in Antwerp, +that the icebergs which then filled the Scheldt must inevitably have +shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. It +certainly was superfluous for the Prince to make excuses to Philip for +accepting the proposed capitulation. All the prizes of victory had been +thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been +the regular accompaniments of Alva's victories, were to be reckoned among +the indispensable trophies of a Spanish triumph. + +Nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the +enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be +had for any money in all Antwerp, and Alexander declared that he would +never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of the real +condition of affairs. + +The articles of capitulation agreed upon between Parma and the deputies +were brought before the broad council on the 9th August. There was much +opposition to them, as many magistrates and other influential personages +entertained sanguine expectations from the English negotiation, and were +beginning to rely with confidence upon the promises of Queen Elizabeth. +The debate was waxing warm, when some of the councillors, looking out of +window of the great hall, perceived that a violent mob had collected in +the streets. Furious cries for bread were uttered, and some meagre- +looking individuals were thrust forward to indicate the famine which was +prevailing, and the necessity of concluding the treaty without further +delay. Thus the municipal government was perpetually exposed to +democratic violence, excited by diametrically opposite influences. +Sometimes the burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his +country to the Spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being +willing to conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. At other moments he +was accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the +Queen of England and from the authorities of Holland, in order to +protract the lingering tortures of the war. Upon this occasion the +peace-mob carried its point. The councillors, looking out of window, +rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; +the magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly +changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted the +articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote. + +The window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly +announced. The populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets, +tearing down the arms of the Duke of Anjou, which had remained above the +public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary residence +in the Netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity, the +escutcheon of Philip the Second. Thus suddenly could an Antwerp mob pass +from democratic insolence to intense loyalty. + +The articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected. +The only hope for Antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the +Netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until England and +Holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. This was, +unquestionably, possible. Had Antwerp possessed the spirit of Leyden, +had William of Orange been alive, that Spanish escutcheon, now raised +with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the outside +wall of any Netherland edifice. Belgium would have become at once a +constituent portion of a great independent national realm, instead of +languishing until our own century, the dependency of a distant and a +foreign metropolis. Nevertheless, as the Antwerpers were not disposed to +make themselves martyrs, it was something that they escaped the nameless +horrors which had often alighted upon cities subjected to an enraged +soldiery. It redounds to the eternal honour of Alexander Farnese--when +the fate of Naarden and Haarlem and Maestricht, in the days of Alva, and +of Antwerp itself in the horrible "Spanish fury," is remembered--that +there were no scenes of violence and outrage in the populous and wealthy +city, which was at length at his mercy after having defied him so long. + +Civil and religious liberty were trampled in the dust, commerce and +manufactures were destroyed, the most valuable portion of the citizens +sent into hopeless exile, but the remaining inhabitants were not +butchered in cold blood. + +The treaty was signed on the 17th August. Antwerp was to return to its +obedience. There was to be an entire amnesty and oblivion for the past, +without a single exception. Royalist absentees were to be reinstated in +their possessions. Monasteries, churches, and the King's domains were to +be restored to their former proprietors. The inhabitants of the city +were to practise nothing but the Catholic religion. Those who refused to +conform were allowed to remain two years for the purpose of winding up +their affairs and selling out their property, provided that during that +period they lived "without scandal towards the ancient religion"--a very +vague and unsatisfactory condition. All prisoners were to be released +excepting Teligny. Four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the +authorities as a fine. The patriot garrison was to leave the city with +arms and baggage and all the honours of war. + +This capitulation gave more satisfaction to the hungry portion of the +Antwerpers than to the patriot party of the Netherlands. Sainte +Aldegonde was vehemently and unsparingly denounced as a venal traitor. +It is certain, whatever his motives, that his attitude had completely +changed. For it was not Antwerp alone that he had reconciled or was +endeavouring to reconcile with the King of Spain, but Holland and Zeeland +as well, and all the other independent Provinces. The ancient champion +of the patriot army, the earliest signer of the 'Compromise,' the bosom +friend of William the Silent, the author of the 'Wilhelmus' national +song, now avowed his conviction, in a published defence of his conduct +against the calumnious attacks upon it, "that it was impossible, with a +clear conscience, for subjects, under any circumstances, to take up arms +against Philip, their king." Certainly if he had always entertained that +opinion he must have suffered many pangs of remorse during his twenty +years of active and illustrious rebellion. He now made himself secretly +active in promoting the schemes of Parma and in counteracting the +negotiation with England. He flattered himself, with an infatuation +which it is difficult to comprehend, that it would be possible to obtain +religious liberty for the revolting Provinces, although he had consented +to its sacrifice in Antwerp. It is true that he had not the privilege of +reading Philip's secret letters to Parma, but what was there in the +character of the King--what intimation had ever been given by the +Governor-General--to induce a belief in even the possibility of such a +concession? + +Whatever Sainte Aldegonde's opinions, it is certain that Philip had no +intention of changing his own policy. He at first suspected the +burgomaster of a wish to protract the negotiations for a perfidious +purpose. + +"Necessity has forced Antwerp," he wrote on the 17th of August--the very +day on which the capitulation was actually signed--"to enter into +negotiation. I understand the artifice of Aldegonde in seeking to +prolong and make difficult the whole affair, under pretext of treating +for the reduction of Holland and Zeeland at the same time. It was +therefore very adroit in you to defeat this joint scheme at once, and +urge the Antwerp matter by itself, at the same time not shutting the door +on the others. With the prudence and dexterity with which this business +has thus far been managed I am thoroughly satisfied." + +The King also expressed his gratification at hearing from Parma that the +demand for religious liberty in the Netherlands would soon be abandoned. + +"In spite of the vehemence," he said, "which they manifest in the +religious matter, desiring some kind of liberty, they will in the end, +as you say they will, content themselves with what the other cities, +which have returned to obedience, have obtained. This must be done in +all cases without flinching, and without permitting any modification." + +What "had been obtained" by Brussels, Mechlin, Ghent, was well known. +The heretics had obtained the choice of renouncing their religion or of +going into perpetual exile, and this was to be the case "without +flinching" in Holland and Zeeland, if those provinces chose to return to +obedience. Yet Sainte Aldegonde deluded himself with the thought of a +religious peace. + +In another and very important letter of the same date Philip laid down +his policy very distinctly. The Prince of Parma, by no means such a +bigot as his master, had hinted at the possibility of tolerating the +reformed religion in the places recovered from the rebels, sub silentio, +for a period not defined, and long enough for the heretics to awake from +their errors. + +"You have got an expression of opinion, I see," wrote the King to +Alexander, "of some grave men of wisdom and conscience, that the +limitation of time, during which the heretics may live without scandal, +may be left undefined; but I feel very keenly the danger of such a +proposition. With regard to Holland and Zeeland, or any other provinces +or towns, the first step must be for them to receive and maintain alone +the exercise of the Catholic religion, and to subject themselves to the +Roman church, without tolerating the exercise of any other religion, in +city, village, farm-house, or building thereto destined in the fields, or +in any place whatsoever; and in this regulation there is to be no flaw, +no change, no concession by convention or otherwise of a religious peace, +or anything of the sort. They are all to embrace the Roman Catholic +religion, and the exercise of that is alone to be permitted." + +This certainly was distinct enough, and nothing had been ever said in +public to induce a belief in any modification of the principles on which +Philip had uniformly acted. That monarch considered himself born to +suppress heresy, and he had certainly been carrying out this work during +his whole lifetime. + +The King was willing, however, as Alexander had intimated in his +negotiations with Antwerp, and previously in the capitulation of +Brussels, Ghent, and other places, that there should be an absence of +investigation into the private chambers of the heretics, during the +period allotted them for choosing between the Papacy and exile. + +"It may be permitted," said Philip, "to abstain from inquiring as to what +the heretics are doing within their own doors, in a private way, without +scandal, or any public exhibition of their rites during a fixed time. +But this connivance, and the abstaining from executing the heretics, +or from chastising them, even although they may be living very +circumspectly, is to be expressed in very vague terms." + +Being most anxious to provide against a second crop of heretics to +succeed the first, which he was determined to uproot, he took pains to +enjoin with his own hand upon Parma the necessity of putting in Catholic +schoolmasters and mistresses to the exclusion of reformed teachers into +all the seminaries of the recovered Provinces, in order that all the boys +and girls might grow up in thorough orthodoxy. + +Yet this was the man from whom Sainte Aldegonde imagined the possibility +of obtaining a religious peace. + +Ten days after the capitulation, Parma made his triumphal entrance into +Antwerp; but, according to his agreement, he spared the citizens the +presence of the Spanish and Italian soldiers, the military procession +being composed of the Germans and Walloons. Escorted by his body-guard, +and surrounded by a knot of magnates and veterans, among whom the Duke of +Arschot, the Prince of Chimay, the Counts Mansfeld, Egmont, and Aremberg, +were conspicuous, Alexander proceeded towards the captured city. He was +met at the Keyser Gate by a triumphal chariot of gorgeous workmanship, +in which sat the fair nymph Antwerpia, magnificently bedizened, and +accompanied by a group of beautiful maidens. Antwerpia welcomed the +conqueror with a kiss, recited a poem in his honour, and bestowed upon +him the keys of the city, one of which was in gold. This the Prince +immediately fastened to the chain around his neck, from which was +suspended the lamb of the golden fleece, with which order he had just +been, amid great pomp and ceremony, invested. + +On the public square called the Mere, the Genoese merchants had erected +two rostral columns, each surmounted by a colossal image, representing +respectively Alexander of Macedon and Alexander of Parma. Before the +house of Portugal was an enormous phoenix, expanding her wings quite +across the street; while, in other parts of the town, the procession was +met by ships of war, elephants, dromedaries, whales, dragons, and other +triumphal phenomena. In the market-place were seven statues in copper, +personifying the seven planets, together with an eighth representing +Bacchus; and perhaps there were good mythological reasons why the god of +wine, together with so large a portion of our solar system, should be +done in copper by Jacob Jongeling, to honour the triumph of Alexander, +although the key to the enigma has been lost. + +The cathedral had been thoroughly fumigated with frankincense, and +besprinkled with holy water, to purify the sacred precincts from their +recent pollution by the reformed rites; and the Protestant pulpits which +had been placed there, had been soundly beaten with rods, and then burned +to ashes. The procession entered within its walls, where a magnificent +Te Deum was performed, and then, after much cannon-firing, bell-ringing, +torch-light exhibition, and other pyrotechnics, the Prince made his way +at last to the palace provided for him. The glittering display, by which +the royalists celebrated their triumph, lasted three days' long, the city +being thronged from all the country round with eager and frivolous +spectators, who were never wearied with examining the wonders of the +bridge and the forts, and with gazing at the tragic memorials which still +remained of the fight on the Kowenstyn. + +During this interval, the Spanish and Italian soldiery, not willing to be +outdone in demonstrations of respect to their chief, nor defrauded of +their rightful claim to a holiday amused themselves with preparing a +demonstration of a novel character. The bridge, which, as it was well +known, was to be destroyed within a very few days, was adorned with +triumphal arches, and decked with trees and flowering plants; its roadway +was strewed with branches; and the palisades, parapets, and forts, were +garnished with wreaths, emblems, and poetical inscriptions in honour of +the Prince. The soldiers themselves, attired in verdurous garments of +foliage and flower-work, their swart faces adorned with roses and lilies, +paraded the bridge and the dyke in fantastic procession with clash of +cymbal and flourish of trumpet, dancing, singing, and discharging their +carbines, in all the delirium of triumph. Nor was a suitable termination +to the festival wanting, for Alexander, pleased with the genial character +of these demonstrations, repaired himself to the bridge, where he was +received with shouts of rapture by his army, thus whimsically converted +into a horde of fauns and satyrs. Afterwards, a magnificent banquet was +served to the soldiers upon the bridge. The whole extent of its surface, +from the Flemish to the Brabant shore--the scene so lately of deadly +combat, and of the midnight havoc caused by infernal enginery--was +changed, as if by the stroke of a wand, into a picture of sylvan and +Arcadian merry-making, and spread with tables laden with delicate viands. +Here sat that host of war--bronzed figures, banqueting at their ease, +their heads crowned with flowers, while the highest magnates of the army, +humouring them in their masquerade, served them with dainties, and filled +their goblets with wine. + +After these festivities had been concluded, Parma set himself to +practical business. There had been a great opposition, during the +discussion of the articles of capitulation to the reconstruction of the +famous citadel. That fortress had been always considered, not as a +defence of the place against a foreign enemy, but as an instrument to +curb the burghers themselves beneath a hostile power. The city +magistrates, however, as well as the dean and chief officers in all the +guilds and fraternities, were at once changed by Parma--Catholics being +uniformly substituted for heretics. In consequence, it was not difficult +to bring about a change of opinion in the broad council. It is true that +neither Papists nor Calvinists regarded with much satisfaction the +prospect of military violence being substituted for civic rule, but +in the first effusion of loyalty, and in the triumph of the ancient +religion, they forgot the absolute ruin to which their own action was now +condemning their city. Champagny, who had once covered himself with +glory by his heroic though unsuccessful efforts to save Antwerp from the +dreadful "Spanish fury" which had descended from that very citadel, was +now appointed governor of the town, and devoted himself to the +reconstruction of the hated fortress. "Champagny has particularly aided +me," wrote Parma, "with his rhetoric and clever management, and has +brought the broad council itself to propose that the citadel should be +rebuilt. It will therefore be done, as by the burghers themselves, +without your Majesty or myself appearing to desire it." + +This was, in truth, a triumph of "rhetoric and clever management," nor +could a city well abase itself more completely, kneeling thus cheerfully +at its conqueror's feet, and requesting permission to put the yoke upon +its own neck. "The erection of the castle has thus been determined +upon," said Parma, "and I am supposed to know nothing of the resolution." + +A little later he observed that they, were "working away most furiously +at the citadel, and that within a month it would be stronger than it ever +had been before." + +The building went on, indeed, with astonishing celerity, the fortress +rising out of its ruins almost as rapidly, under the hands of the +royalists, as it had been demolished, but a few years before, by the +patriots. The old foundations still remained, and blocks of houses, +which had been constructed out of its ruins, were thrown down that the +materials might be again employed in its restoration. + +The citizens, impoverished and wretched, humbly demanded that the expense +of building the citadel might be in part defrayed by the four hundred +thousand florins in which they had been mulcted by the capitulation. +"I don't marvel at this," said Parma, "for certainly the poor city is +most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." +It was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the +presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, +were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. +Its downfall was instantaneous. The merchants and industrious artisans +all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide +traffic. Civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the +citadel and the Jesuits. By express command of Philip, that order, +banished so recently, was reinstated in Antwerp, as well as throughout +the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed +under its especial care. No children could be thenceforth instructed +except by the lips of those fathers. Here was a curb more efficacious +even than the citadel. That fortress was at first garrisoned with +Walloons and Germans. "I have not yet induced the citizens," said Parma, +"to accept a Spanish garrison, nor am I surprised; so many of them +remembering past events (alluding to the 'Spanish fury,' but not +mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the +present time. Before long, I expect, however, to make the Spaniards as +acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves." + +It may easily be supposed that Philip was pleased with the triumphs that +had thus been achieved. He was even grateful, or affected to be +grateful, to him who had achieved them. He awarded great praise to +Alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack +upon the bridge, and the battle of the Kowenstyn; but censured him +affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "I have no words," +he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have +been doing. I recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the +security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the +rest." + +After the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed +gratification, but in rather cold language. "From such obstinate +people," said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; +therefore the capitulation is satisfactory." What more he wished to +extract it would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been +extracted from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to +moulder under the blight of a foreign garrison and an army of Jesuits. +"Perhaps religious affairs will improve before long," said Philip. +They did improve very soon, as he understood the meaning of improvement. +A solitude of religion soon brought with it a solitude in every other +regard, and Antwerp became a desert, as Sainte Aldegonde had foretold +would be the case. + +The King had been by no means so calm, however, when the intelligence +of the capitulation first reached him at Madrid. On the contrary, his +oldest courtiers had never seen him exhibit such marks of hilarity. + +When he first heard of the glorious victory at Lepanto, his countenance +had remained impassive, and he had continued in the chapel at the +devotional exercises which the messenger from Don John had interrupted. +Only when the news of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew first reached him, +had he displayed an amount of cheerfulness equal to that which he +manifested at the fall of Antwerp. "Never," said Granvelle, "had the +King been so radiant with joy as when he held in his hand the despatches +which announced the capitulation." The letters were brought to him after +he had retired to rest, but his delight was so great that he could not +remain in his bed. Rushing from his chamber, so soon as he had read +them, to that of his dearly-beloved daughter, Clara Isabella, he knocked +loudly at the door, and screaming through the keyhole the three words, +"Antwerp is ours," returned precipitately again to his own apartment. + +It was the general opinion in Spain, that the capture of this city had +terminated the resistance of the Netherlands. Holland and Zeeland would, +it was thought, accept with very little hesitation the terms which Parma +had been offering, through the agency of Sainte Aldegonde; and, with the +reduction of those two provinces, the Spanish dominion over the whole +country would of course become absolute. Secretary Idiaquez observed, +on drawing up instructions for Carlo Coloma, a Spanish financier then +departing on special mission for the Provinces, that he would soon come +back to Spain, for the Prince of Parma was just putting an end to the +whole Belgic war. + +Time was to show whether Holland and Zeeland were as malleable as +Antwerp, and whether there would not be a battle or two more to fight +before that Belgic war would come to its end. Meantime Antwerp was +securely fettered, while the spirit of commerce--to which its unexampled +prosperity had been due--now took its flight to the lands where civil and +religious liberty had found a home. + + + ===================================== + + +NOTE on MARNIX DE SAINTE ALDEGONDE. + +As every illustration of the career and character of this eminent +personage excites constant interest in the Netherlands, I have here +thrown together, in the form of an Appendix, many important and entirely +unpublished details, drawn mainly from the Archives of Simancas, and from +the State Paper Office and British Museum in London. + +The ex-burgomaster seemed determined to counteract the policy of those +Netherlanders who wished to offer the sovereignty of the Provinces to the +English Queen. He had been earnestly in favour of annexation to France, +for his sympathies and feelings were eminently French. He had never been +a friend to England, and he was soon aware that a strong feeling of +indignation--whether just or unjust--existed against him both in that +country and in the Netherlands, on account of the surrender of Antwerp. + +"I have had large conference with Villiers," wrote Sir John Norris to +Walsingham, "he condemneth Ste. Aldegonde's doings, but will impute it to +fear and not to malice. Ste. Aldegonde, notwithstanding that he was +forbidden to come to Holland, and laid for at the fleet, yet stole +secretly to Dort, where they say he is staid, but I doubt he will be +heard speak, and then assuredly he will do great hurt." + +It was most certainly Sainte Aldegonde's determination, so soon as the +capitulation of Antwerp had been resolved upon, to do his utmost to +restore all the independent Provinces to their ancient allegiance. +Rather Spanish than English was his settled resolution. Liberty of +religion, if possible--that was his cherished wish--but still more +ardently, perhaps, did he desire to prevent the country from falling +into the hands of Elizabeth. + +"The Prince of Parma hath conceived such an assured hope of the fidelity +of Aldegonde," wrote one of Walsingham's agents, Richard Tomson, "in +reducing the Provinces, yet enemies, into a perfect subjection, that the +Spaniards are so well persuaded of the man as if he had never been +against them. They say, about the middle of this month, he departed for +Zeeland and Holland, to prosecute the effect of his promises, and I am +the more induced to believe that he is become altogether Spanish, for +that the common bruit goeth that he hastened the surrendering of the town +of Antwerp, after he had intelligence of the coming of the English +succours." + +There was naturally much indignation felt in the independent Provinces, +against all who had been thought instrumental in bringing about the +reduction of the great cities of Flanders. Famars, governor of Mechlin, +Van den Tympel, governor of Brussels, Martini, who had been active in +effecting the capitulation of Antwerp, were all arrested in Holland. +"From all that I can hear," said Parma, "it is likely that they will be +very severely handled, which is the reason why Ste. Aldegonde, although +he sent his wife and children to Holland, has not ventured thither +himself: It appears that they threaten him there, but he means now to go, +under pretext of demanding to justify himself from the imputations +against him. Although he tells me freely that, without some +amplification of the concessions hitherto made on the point of religion, +he hopes for no good result, yet I trust that he will do good offices in +the meantime, in spite of the difficulties which obstruct his efforts. +On my part, every exertion will be made, and not without hope of some +fruit, if not before, at least after, these people have become as tired +of the English as they were of the French." + +Of this mutual ill-feeling between the English and the burgomaster, there +can be no doubt whatever. The Queen's government was fully aware of his +efforts to counteract its negotiation with the Netherlands, and to bring +about their reconciliation with Spain. When the Earl of Leicester--as +will soon be related--arrived in the Provinces, he was not long in +comprehending his attitude and his influence. + +"I wrote somewhat of Sir Aldegonde in putting his case," wrote Leicester, +"but this is certain, I have the copy of his very letters sent hither to +practise the peace not two days before I came, and this day one hath told +me that loves him well, that he hates our countrymen unrecoverably. I am +sorry for it." + +On the other hand, the Queen was very indignant with the man whom she +looked upon as the paid agent of Spain. She considered him a renegade, +the more dangerous because his previous services had been so illustrious. +"Her Majesty's mislike towards Ste. Aldegonde continueth," wrote +Walsingham to Leicester, "and she taketh offence that he was not +restrained of his liberty by your Lordship's order." It is unquestionable +that the exburgomaster intended to do his best towards effecting the +reconciliation of all the Provinces with Spain; and it is equally certain +that the King had offered to pay him well, if he proved successful in his +endeavours. There is no proof, however, and no probability that Sainte +Aldegonde ever accepted or ever intended to accept the proffered bribe. +On the contrary, his whole recorded career ought to disprove the +supposition. Yet it is painful, to find him, at this crisis, assiduous +in his attempts to undo the great work of his own life, and still more +distressing to find that great rewards were distinctly offered to him +for such service. Immense promises had been frequently made no doubt to +William the Silent; nor could any public man, in such times, be so pure +that an attempt to tamper with him might not be made: but when the +personage, thus solicited, was evidently acting in the interests of the +tempters, it is not surprising that he should become the object of grave +suspicion. + +"It does not seem to me bad," wrote Philip to Parma, "this negotiation +which you have commenced with Ste. Aldegonde, in order to gain him, and +thus to employ his services in bringing about a reduction of the islands +(Holland and Zeeland). In exchange for this work, any thing which you +think proper to offer to him as a reward, will be capital well invested; +but it must not be given until the job is done." + +But the job was hard to do, and Sainte Aldegonde cared nothing for the +offered bribe. He was, however, most strangely confident of being able +to overcome, on the one hand, the opposition of Holland and Zeeland to +the hated authority of Spain, and, on the other, the intense abhorrence +entertained by Philip to liberty of conscience. + +Soon after the capitulation, he applied for a passport to visit those two +Provinces. Permission to come was refused him. Honest men from Antwerp, +he was informed, would be always welcome, but there was no room for him. +There was, however--or Parma persuaded himself that there was-- +a considerable party in those countries in favour of reconciliation +with Spain. If the ex-burgomaster could gain a hearing, it was thought +probable that his eloquence would prove very effective. + +"We have been making efforts to bring about negotiations with Holland +and Zeeland," wrote Alexander to Philip. "Gelderland and Overyssel +likewise show signs of good disposition, but I have not soldiers enough +to animate the good and terrify the bad. As for Holland and Zeeland, +there is a strong inclination on the part of the people to a +reconciliation, if some concession could be made on the religious +question, but the governors oppose it, because they are perverse, and +are relying on assistance from England. Could this religious concession +be made, an arrangement could, without doubt, be accomplished, and more +quickly than people think. Nevertheless, in such a delicate matter, I am +obliged to await your Majesty's exact instructions and ultimatum." + +He then proceeded to define exactly the position and intentions of the +burgomaster. + +"The government of Holland and Zeeland," he said, "have refused a +passport to Ste. Aldegonde, and express dissatisfaction with him for +having surrendered Antwerp so soon. They know that he has much credit +with the people and with the ministers of the sects, and they are in much +fear of him because he is inclined for peace, which is against their +interests. They are, therefore, endeavouring to counteract my +negotiations with him. These have been, thus far, only in general terms. +I have sought to induce him to perform the offices required, without +giving him reason to expect any concession as to the exercise of +religion. He persuades himself that, in the end, there will be some +satisfaction obtained upon this point, and, under this impression he +considers the peace as good as concluded, there remaining no doubt as to +other matters. He has sent his wife to Zeeland, and is himself going to +Germany, where, as he says, he will do all the good service that he can. +He hopes that very shortly the Provinces will not only invite, but +implore him to come to them; in which case, he promises me to perform +miracles." + +Alexander then proceeded to pay a distinct tribute to Sainte Aldegonde's +motives; and, when it is remembered that the statement thus made is +contained in a secret despatch, in cipher, to the King, it may be assumed +to convey the sincere opinion of the man most qualified to judge +correctly as to this calumniated person's character. + +"Ste. Aldegonde offers me wonders," he said, "and I have promised him +that he shall be recompensed very largely; yet, although he is poor, I do +not find him influenced by mercenary or selfish considerations, but only +very set in opinions regarding his religion." + +The Prince had however no doubt of Sainte Aldegonde's sincerity, for +sincerity was a leading characteristic of the man. His word, once given, +was sacred, and he had given his word to do his best towards effecting a +reconciliation of the Provinces with Spain, and frustrating the efforts +of England. "Through the agency of Ste. Aldegonde and that of others" +wrote Parma, "I shall watch, day and night, to bring about a reduction of +Holland and Zeeland, if humanly possible. I am quite persuaded that they +will soon be sick of the English, who are now arriving, broken down, +without arms or money, and obviously incapable of holding out very long. +Doubtless, however, this English alliance, and the determination of the +Queen to do her utmost against us, complicates matters, and assists the +government of Holland and Zeeland in opposing the inclinations of their +people." + +Nothing ever came of these intended negotiations. The miracles were +never wrought, and even had Sainte Aldegonde been as venal as he was +suspected of being--which we have thus proof positive that he was not-- +he never could have obtained the recompense, which, according to Philip's +thrifty policy, was not to be paid until it had been earned. Sainte +Aldegonde's hands were clean. It is pity that we cannot render the same +tribute to his political consistency of character. It is also certain +that he remained--not without reason--for a long time under a cloud. He +became the object of unbounded and reckless calumny. Antwerp had fallen, +and the necessary consequence of its reduction was the complete and +permanent prostration of its commerce and manufactures. These were +transferred to the new, free, national, independent, and prosperous +commonwealth that had risen in the "islands" which Parma and Sainte +Aldegonde had vainly hoped to restore to their ancient servitude. In a +very few years after the subjugation of Antwerp, it appeared by +statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse +and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold-embroidery, arms-work, +silks, and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of Holland and +Zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the Flemish and +Brabantine cities had become mere dens of thieves and beggars. It was in +the mistaken hope of averting this catastrophe--as melancholy as it was +inevitable and in despair of seeing all the Netherlands united, unless +united in slavery, and in deep-rooted distrust of the designs and policy +of England, that this statesman, once so distinguished, had listened to +the insidious tongue of Parma. He had sought to effect a general +reconciliation with Spain, and the only result of his efforts was a +blight upon his own illustrious name. + +He published a defence of his conduct, and a detailed account of the +famous siege. His apology, at the time, was not considered conclusive, +but his narrative remains one of the clearest and most trustworthy +sources for the history of these important transactions. He was never +brought to trial, but he discovered, with bitterness, that he had +committed a fatal error, and that his political influence had passed +away. He addressed numerous private epistles to eminent persons, +indignantly denying the imputations against his character, and demanding +an investigation. Among other letters he observed in one to Count +Hohenlo, that he was astonished and grieved to find that all his faithful +labours and sufferings in the cause of his fatherland had been forgotten +in an hour. In place of praise and gratitude, he had reaped nothing but +censure and calumny; because men ever judged, not by the merits, but by +the issue. That common people should be so unjust, he said, was not to +be wondered at, but of men like Hohenlo be had hoped better things. He +asserted that he had saved Antwerp from another "Spanish fury," and from +impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular +soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was +unable to count the number of his masters. If a man had ever performed a +service to his country, be claimed to have done so in this capitulation. +Nevertheless, he declared that he was the same Philip Marnix, earnestly +devoted to the service of God, the true religion, and the fatherland; +although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual +offering of the Netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates. He was now +going, he said, to his estates in Zeeland; there to turn farmer again; +renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had +experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen. Count Maurice and +the States of Holland and Zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain +language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it +unsafe for him to visit the country. + +The Netherlands and England--so soon as they were united in policy--were, +not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous +efforts to prevent that union. The English were, in truth, deeply +offended. He had systematically opposed their schemes, and to his +prejudice against their country, and distrust of their intentions, they +attributed the fall of Antwerp. Envoy Davison, after his return to +Holland, on the conclusion of the English treaty, at once expressed his +suspicions of the ex-burgomaster, and the great dangers to be apprehended +from his presence in the free States. "Here is some working underhand," +said he to Walsingham, "to draw hither Sainte Aldegonde, under a pretext +of his justification, which--as it has hitherto been denied him--so is +the sequel suspected, if he should obtain it before they were well +settled here, betwixt her Majesty and them, considering the manifold +presumptions that the subject of his journey should be little profitable +or advantageous to the state of these poor countries, as tending, at the +best, to the propounding of some general reconcilement." It was +certainly not without substantial grounds that the English and +Hollanders, after concluding their articles of alliance, felt uneasy at +the possibility of finding their plans reversed by the intrigues of a man +whom they knew to be a mediator between Spain and her revolted Provinces, +and whom they suspected of being a venal agent of the Catholic King. +It was given out that Philip had been induced to promise liberty of +religion, in case of reconciliation. We have seen that Parma was at +heart in favour of such a course, and that he was very desirous of +inducing Marnix to believe in the possibility of obtaining such a boon, +however certain the Prince had been made by the King's secret letters, +that such a belief was a delusion. "Martini hath been examined," wrote +Davison, "who confesseth both for himself and others, to become hither +by direction of the Prince of Parma and intelligence of Sainte Aldegonde, +from whom he was first addressed by Villiers and afterwards to others for +advice and assistance. That the scope of this direction was to induce +them here to hearken to a peace, wherein the Prince of Parma promiseth +them toleration of religion, although he confesseth yet to have no +absolute power in that behalf, but hath written thereof to the King +expressly, and holdeth himself assured thereof by the first post, as I +have likewise been advertised from Rowland York, which if it had been +propounded openly here before things had been concluded with her Majesty, +and order taken for her assurance, your honour can judge what confusion +it must of necessity have brought forth." + +At last, when Marnix had become convinced that the toleration would not +arrive "by the very next mail from Spain," and that, in truth, such a +blessing was not to be expected through the post-office at all, he felt +an inward consciousness of the mistake which he had committed. Too +credulously had he inclined his ear to the voice of Parma; too +obstinately had he steeled his heart against Elizabeth, and he was now +the more anxious to clear himself at least from the charges of corruption +so clamorously made against him by Holland and by England. Conscious of +no fault more censurable than credulity and prejudice, feeling that his +long fidelity to the reformed religion ought to be a defence for him +against his calumniators, he was desirous both to clear his own honour, +and to do at least a tardy justice to England. He felt confident that +loyal natures, like those of Davison and his colleagues at home, would +recognize his own loyalty. He trusted, not without cause, to English +honour, and coming to his manor-house of Zoubourg, near Flushing, he +addressed a letter to the ambassador of Elizabeth, in which the strong +desire to vindicate his aspersed integrity is quite manifest. + +"I am very joyous," said he, "that coming hither in order to justify +myself against the false and malignant imputations with which they charge +me, I have learned your arrival here on the part of her Majesty, as well +as the soon expected coming of the Earl of Leicester. I see, in truth, +that the Lord God is just, and never abandons his own. I have never +spared myself in the service of my country, and I would have sacrificed +my life, a thousand times, had it been possible, in her cause. Now, I am +receiving for all this a guerdon of blame and calumny, which is cast upon +me in order to cover up faults which have been committed by others in +past days. I hope, however, to come soon to give you welcome, and to +speak more particularly to you of all these things. Meantime demanding +my justification before these gentlemen, who ought to have known me +better than to have added faith to such villanous imputations, I will +entreat you that my definite justification, or condemnation, if I have +merited it, may be reserved till the arrival of Lord Leicester." + +This certainly was not the language of a culprit, Nevertheless, his words +did not immediately make a deep impression on the hearts of those who +heard him. He had come secretly to his house at Zoubourg, having +previously published his memorable apology; and in accordance with the +wishes of the English government, he was immediately confined to his own +house. Confidence in the intention of a statesman, who had at least +committed such grave errors of judgment, and who had been so deeply +suspected of darker faults, was not likely very soon to revive. So far +from shrinking from an investigation which would have been dangerous, +even to his life, had the charges against his honour been founded in +fact, he boldly demanded to be confronted with his accusers, in order +that he might explain his conduct before all the world. "Sir, +yesternight, at the shutting of the gates," wrote Davison to Walsingham, +transmitting the little note from Marnix, which has just been cited-- +"I was advertised that Ste. Aldegonde was not an hour before secretly +landed at the head on the other side the Rammekens, and come to his house +at Zoubourg, having prepared his way by an apology, newly published in +his defence, whereof I have as yet recovered one only copy, which +herewith I send your honour. This day, whilst I was at dinner, he sent +his son unto me, with a few lines, whereof I send you the copy, +advertising me of his arrival (which he knew I understood before), +together with the desire he had to see me, and speak with me, if the +States, before whom he was to come to purge himself of the crimes +wherewith he stood, as he with, unjustly charged, would vouchsafe him so +much liberty. The same morning, the council of Zeeland, taking knowledge +of his arrival, sent unto him the pensioner of Middelburgh and this town, +to sound the causes of his coming, and to will him, in their behalf, to +keep his house, and to forbear all meddling by word or writing, with any +whatsoever, till they should further advise and determine in his cause. +In defence thereof, he fell into large and particular discourse with the +deputies, accusing his enemies of malice and untruth, offering himself to +any trial, and to abide what punishment the laws should lay upon him, if +he were found guilty of the crimes imputed to him. Touching the cause of +his coming, he pretended and protested that he had no other end than his +simple justification, preferring any hazard he might incur thereby, to +his honour and good fame." As to the great question at issue, Marnix +had at last become conscious that he had been a victim to Spanish +dissimulation, and that Alexander Fainese was in reality quite powerless +to make that concession of religious liberty, without which a +reconciliation between Holland and Philip was impossible. "Whereas," +said Davison, "it was supposed that Ste. Aldegonde had commission from +the Prince of Parma to make some offer of peace, he assured them of the +contrary as a thing which neither the Prince had any power to yield unto +with the surety of religion, or himself would, in conscience, persuade +without it; with a number of other particularities in his excuse; amongst +the rest, allowing and commending in his speech, the course they had +taken with her Majesty, as the only safe way of deliverance for these +afflicted countries--letting them understand how much the news thereof-- +specially since the entry of our garrison into this place (which before +they would in no sort believe), hath troubled the enemy, who doth what he +may to suppress the bruit thereof, and yet comforteth himself with the +hope that between the factions and partialities nourished by his +industry, and musters among the towns, especially in Holland and Zeeland +(where he is persuaded to find some pliable to a reconcilement) and the +disorders and misgovernment of our people, there will be yet occasion +offered him to make his profit and advantage. I find that the gentleman +hath here many friends indifferently persuaded of his innocency, +notwithstanding the closing up of his apology doth make but little for +him. Howsoever it be, it falleth out the better that the treaty with her +Majesty is finished, and the cautionary towns assured before his coming, +which, if he be ill affected, will I hope either reform his judgment or +restrain his will. I will not forget to do the best I can to sift and +decipher him yet more narrowly and particularly." + +Thus, while the scales had at length fallen from the eyes of Marnix, it +was not strange that the confidence which he now began to entertain in +the policy of England, should not be met, at the outset, with a +corresponding sentiment on the part of the statesman by whom that policy +was regulated. "Howsoever Ste. Aldegonde would seem to purge himself," +said Davison, "it is suspected that his end is dangerous. I have done +what I may to restrain him, so nevertheless as it may not seem to come +from me." And again--"Ste. Aldegonde," he wrote, "contimieth still our +neighbor at his house between this and Middelburg; yet unmolested. He +findeth many favourers, and, I fear, doth no good offices. He desireth +to be reserved till the coming of my Lord of Leicester, before whom he +pretends a desired trial." + +This covert demeanour on the part of the ambassador was in accordance +with, the wishes of his government. It was thought necessary that Sainte +Aldegonde should be kept under arrest until the arrival of the Earl, but +deemed preferable that the restraint should proceed from the action of +the States rather than from the order of the Queen. Davison was +fulfilling orders in attempting, by underhand means, to deprive Marnix, +for a time, of his liberty. "Let him, I pray you, remain in good safety +in any wise," wrote Leicester, who was uneasy at the thought of so +influential, and, as he thought, so ill-affected a person being at large, +but at the same time disposed to look dispassionately upon his past +conduct, and to do justice, according to the results of an investigation. +"It is thought meet," wrote Walsingham to Davison, "that you should do +your best endeavour to procure that Ste. Aldegonde may be restrained, +which in mine opinion were fit to be handled in such sort, as the +restraint might rather proceed from themselves than by your solicitation. +And yet rather than he should remain at liberty to practise underhand, +whereof you seem to stand in great doubt, it is thought meet that you +should make yourself a partizan, to seek by all the means that you may to +have him restrained under the guard of some well affected patriot until +the Earl's coming, at what time his cause may receive examination." + +This was, however, a result somewhat difficult to accomplish; for twenty +years of noble service in the cause of liberty had not been utterly in +vain, and there were many magnanimous spirits to sympathize with a great +man struggling thus in the meshes of calumny. That the man who +challenged rather than shunned investigation, should be thrown into +prison, as if he were a detected felon upon the point of absconding, +seemed a heartless and superfluous precaution. Yet Davison and others +still feared the man whom they felt obliged to regard as a baffled +intriguer. "Touching the restraint of Ste. Aldegonde," wrote Davison to +Lord Burghley, "which I had order from Mr. Secretary to procure +underhand, I find the difficulty will be great in regard of his many +friends and favourers, preoccupied with some opinion of his innocence, +although I have travailled with divers of them underhand, and am promised +that some order shall be taken in that behalf, which I think will be +harder to execute as long as Count Maurice is here. For Ste. +Aldegonde's affection, I find continual matter to suspect it inclined to +a peace, and that as one notably prejudging our scope and proceeding in +this cause, doth lie in wait for an occasion to set it forward, being, as +it seems, fed with a hope of 'telle quelle liberte de conscience,' which +the Prince of Parma and others of his council have, as he confesseth, +earnestly solicited at the King's hands. This appeareth, in truth, the +only apt and easy way for them to prevail both against religion and the +liberty of these poor countries, having thereby once recovered the +authority which must necessarily follow a peace, to renew and alter the +magistrates of the particular towns, which, being at their devotion, may +turn, as we say, all upside down, and so in an instant being under their +servitude, if not wholly, at the least in a great part of the country, +leaving so much the less to do about the rest, a thing confessed and +looked for of all men of any judgment here, if the drift of our peace- +makers may take effect." + +Sainte Aldegonde had been cured of his suspicions of England, and at last +the purity of his own character shone through the mists. + +One winter's morning, two days after Christmas, 1585, Colonel Morgan, an +ingenuous Welshman, whom we have seen doing much hard fighting on +Kowenstyn Dyke, and at other places, and who now commanded the garrison +at Flushing, was taking a walk outside the gates, and inhaling the salt +breezes from the ocean. While thus engaged he met a gentleman coming +along, staff in hand, at a brisk pace towards the town, who soon proved +to be no other than the distinguished and deeply suspected Sainte +Aldegonde. The two got at once into conversation. "He began," said +Morgan, "by cunning insinuations, to wade into matters of state, and at +the last fell to touching the principal points, to wit, her Majesty's +entrance into the cause now in hand, which, quoth he, was an action of +high importance, considering how much it behoved her to go through the +same, as well in regard of the hope that thereby was given to the +distressed people of these parts, as also in consideration of that worthy +personage whom she hath here placed, whose estate and credit may not be +suffered to quail, but must be upholden as becometh the lieutenant of +such a princess as her Majesty." + +"The opportunity thus offered," continued honest Morgan, "and the way +opened by himself, I thought good to discourse with him to the full, +partly to see the end and drift of his induced talk, and consequently to +touch his quick in the suspected cause of Antwerp." And thus, word for +word, taken down faithfully the same day, proceeded the dialogue that +wintry morning, near three centuries ago. From that simple record-- +mouldering unseen and unthought of for ages, beneath piles of official +dust--the forms of the illustrious Fleming and the bold Welsh colonel, +seem to start, for a brief moment, out of the three hundred years of +sleep which have succeeded their energetic existence upon earth. And so, +with the bleak winds of December whistling over the breakers of the North +Sea, the two discoursed together, as they paced along the coast. + +Morgan.--"I charge you with your want of confidence in her Majesty's +promised aid. 'Twas a thing of no small moment had it been embraced when +it was first most graciously offered." + +Sainte Aldegonde.--"I left not her prince-like purpose unknown to the +States, who too coldly and carelessly passed over the benefit thereof, +until it was too late to put the same in practice. For my own part, +I acknowledge that indeed I thought some further advice would either +alter or at least detract from the accomplishment of her determination. +I thought this the rather because she had so long been wedded to peace, +and I supposed it impossible to divorce her from so sweet a spouse. +But, set it down that she were resolute, yet the sickness of Antwerp was +so dangerous, as it was to be doubted the patient would be dead before +the physician could come. I protest that the state of the town was much +worse than was known to any but myself and some few private persons. The +want of victuals was far greater than they durst bewray, fearing lest the +common people, perceiving the plague of famine to be at hand, would +rather grow desperate than patiently expect some happy event. For as +they were many in number, so were they wonderfully divided: some being +Martinists, some Papists, some neither the one nor the other, but +generally given to be factious, so that the horror at home was equal to +the hazard abroad." + +Morgan.--"But you forget the motion made by the martial men for putting +out of the town such as were simple artificers, with women and children, +mouths that consumed meat, but stood in no stead for defence." + +Sainte Aldegonde.--"Alas, alas! would you have had me guilty of the +slaughter of so many innocents, whose lives were committed to my charge, +as well as the best? Or might I have answered my God when those +massacred creatures should have stood up against me, that the hope of +Antwerp's deliverance was purchased with the blood of so many simple +souls? No, no. I should have found my conscience such a hell and +continual worm as the gnawing thereof would have been more painful and +bitter than the possession of the whole world would have been pleasant." + +Morgan continued to press the various points which had created suspicion +as to the character and motives of Marnix, and point by point Marnix +answered his antagonist, impressing him, armed as he had been in +distrust, with an irresistible conviction as to the loftiness of the +nature which had been so much calumniated. + +Sainte Aldegonde (with vehemence).--"I do assure you, in conclusion, that +I have solemnly vowed service and duty to her Majesty, which I am ready +to perform where and when it may best like her to use the same. I will +add moreover that I have oftentimes determined to pass into England to +make my own purgation, yet fearing lest her Highness would mislike so +bold a resolution, I have checked that purpose with a resolution to tarry +the Lord's leisure, until some better opportunity might answer my desire. +For since I know not how I stand in her grace, unwilling I am to attempt +her presence without permission; but might it please her to command my +attendance, I should not only most joyfully accomplish the same, but also +satisfy her of and in all such matters as I stand charged with, and +afterwards spend life, land, and goods, to witness my duty towards her +Highness." + +Morgan.--"I tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that +you seem outwardly to be, I doubt not but her Majesty might easily be +persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you. For mine own part, I +will surely advertise Sir Francis Walsingham of as much matter as this +present conference hath ministered. + +"Hereof," said the Colonel--when, according to his promise, faithfully +recording the conversation in all its details for Mr. Secretary's +benefit," he seemed not only content but most glad. Therefore I beseech +your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that I may return him +some part of your mind. I have already written thereof to Sir Philip +Sidney, lord governor of Flushing, with request that his Excellency the +Earl of Leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause." + +Indeed the brave Welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by +the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman. +This result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character +of both personages. + +"Thus did he," wrote Morgan to Sir Francis, "from point to point, answer +all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and +substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as I think his very +enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied. And truly, Sir, as +heretofore I have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial +judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having +pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate +consideration, I find myself somewhat changed in conceit--not so much +carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of +his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering +--an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous +attempts; but as I am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any +censure, much less to give advice, so I leave the man and the matter to +your honour's opinion. Only (your graver judgment reserved) thus I +think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy +to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world +knoweth he is. And to conclude," added Morgan, "this was the upshot +between us." + +Nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period. When, +towards the close of the year 1585, the English government was +established in Holland, he was the object of constant suspicion. + +"Here is Aldegonde," wrote Sir Philip Sidney to Lord Leicester from +Flushing, "a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged. He lives +restrained to his own house, and for aught I can find, deals with +nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your +Lordship, and therefore, with the best heed I can to his proceedings, +I will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your Lordship shall +hear him." + +In another letter, Sir Philip again spoke of Sainte Aldegonde as "one of +whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye." + +Leicester himself was excessively anxious on the subject, deeply fearing +the designs of a man whom he deemed so mischievous, and being earnestly +desirous that he should not elude the chastisement which he seemed to +deserve. + +"Touching Ste. Aldegonde," he wrote to Davison, "I grieve that he is at +his house without good guard. I do earnestly pray you to move such as +have power presently to commit a guard about him, for I know he is a +dangerous and a bold man, and presumes yet to carry all, for he hath made +many promises to the Prince of Parma. I would he were in Fort Rammekyns, +or else that Mr. Russell had charge of him, with a recommendation from me +to Russell to look well to him till I shall arrive. You must have been +so commanded in this from her Majesty, for she thinks he is in close and +safe guard. If he is not, look for a turn of all things, for he hath +friends, I know." + +But very soon after his arrival, the Earl, on examining into the matter, +saw fit to change his opinions and his language. Persuaded, in spite of +his previous convictions, even as the honest Welsh colonel had been, of +the upright character of the man, and feeling sure that a change had come +over the feelings of Marnix himself in regard to the English alliance, +Leicester at once interested himself in removing the prejudices +entertained towards him by the Queen. + +"Now a few words for Ste. Aldegonde," said he in his earliest despatches +from Holland; "I will beseech her Majesty to stay her judgment till I +write next. If the man be as he now seemeth, it were pity to lose him, +for he is indeed marvellously friended. Her Majesty will think, I know, +that I am easily pacified or led in such a matter, but I trust so to deal +as she shall give me thanks. Once if he do offer service it is sure +enough, for he is esteemed that way above all the men in this country for +his word, if he give it. His worst enemies here procure me to win him, +for sure, just matter for his life there is none. He would fain come +into England, so far is he come already, and doth extol her Majesty for +this work of hers to heaven, and confesseth, till now an angel could not +make him believe it." + +Here certainly was a noble tribute paid unconsciously, as it were, to the +character of the maligned statesman. "Above all the men in the country +for his word, if he give it." What wonder that Orange had leaned upon +him, that Alexander had sought to gain him, and how much does it add to +our bitter regret that his prejudices against England should not have +been removed until too late for Antwerp and for his own usefulness. Had +his good angel really been present to make him believe in that "work of +her Majesty," when his ear was open to the seductions of Parma, the +destiny of Belgium and his own subsequent career might have been more +fortunate than they became. + +The Queen was slow to return from her prejudices. She believed--not +without reason--that the opposition of Ste. Aldegonde to her policy had +been disastrous to the cause both of England and the Netherlands; and it +had been her desire that he should be imprisoned, and tried for his life. +Her councillors came gradually to take a more favourable view of the +case, and to be moved by the pathetic attitude of the man who had once +been so conspicuous. + +"I did acquaint Sir Christopher Hatton," wrote Walsingham to Leicester, +"with the letter which Ste. Aldegonde wrote to your Lordship, which, +carrying a true picture of an afflicted mind, cannot but move an honest +heart, weighing the rare parts the gentleman is endowed withal, to pity +his distressed estate, and, to procure him relief and comfort, which Mr. +Vice-Chamberlain (Hatton) bath promised on his part to perform. I +thought good to send Ste. Aldegonde's letter unto the Lord Treasurer +(Burghley), who heretofore has carried a hard conceit of the gentleman, +hoping that the view of his letter will breed some remorse towards him. +I have also prayed his Lordship, if he see cause, to acquaint her Majesty +with the said letter." + +But his high public career was closed. He lived down calumny; and put +his enemies to shame, but the fatal error which he had committed, in +taking the side of Spain rather than of England at so momentous a crisis, +could never be repaired. He regained the good opinion of the most +virtuous and eminent personages in Europe, but in the noon of life he +voluntarily withdrew from public affairs. The circumstances just +detailed had made him impossible as a political leader, and it was +equally impossible for him to play a secondary part. He occasionally +consented to be employed in special diplomatic missions, but the serious +avocations of his life now became theological and literary. He sought-- +in his own words--to penetrate himself still more deeply than ever with +the spirit of the reformation, and to imbue the minds of the young with +that deep love for the reformed religion which had been the guiding +thought of his own career. He often spoke with a sigh of his compulsory +exile from the field where he had been so conspicuous all his lifetime; +he bitterly lamented the vanished dream of the great national union +between Belgium and Holland, which had flattered his youth and his +manhood; and he sometimes alluded with bitterness to the calumny which +had crippled him of his usefulness. He might have played a distinguished +part in that powerful commonwealth which was so steadily and splendidly +arising out of the lagunes of Zeeland and Holland, but destiny and +calumny and his own error had decided otherwise. + +"From the depth of my exile--" he said, "for I am resolved to retire, +I know not where, into Germany, perhaps into Sarmatia, I shall look from +afar upon the calamities of my country. That which to me is most +mournful is no longer to be able to assist my fatherland by my counsels +and my actions." He did not go into exile, but remained chiefly at his +mansion of Zoubourg, occupied with agriculture and with profound study. +Many noble works conspicuous in the literature of the epoch--were the +results of his learned leisure; and the name of Marnix of Sainte +Aldegonde will be always as dear to the lovers of science and letters as +to the believers in civil and religious liberty. At the request of the +States of Holland he undertook, in 1593, a translation of the Scriptures +from the original, and he was at the same time deeply engaged with a +History of Christianity, which he intended for his literary master-piece. +The man whose sword had done knightly service on many a battle-field for +freedom, whose tongue had controlled mobs and senates, courts and +councils, whose subtle spirit had metamorphosed itself into a thousand +shapes to do battle with the genius of tyranny, now quenched the feverish +agitation of his youth and manhood in Hebrew and classical lore. A grand +and noble figure always: most pathetic when thus redeeming by vigorous +but solitary and melancholy hard labor, the political error which had +condemned him to retirement. To work, ever to work, was the primary law +of his nature. Repose in the other world, "Repos ailleurs" was the +device which he assumed in earliest youth, and to which he was faithful +all his days. + +A great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds, +and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound +policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even +more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement +whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high +regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his +contemporaries. + +"They tell me," said La Noue, "that the Seigneur de Ste. Aldegonde has +been suspected by the Hollanders and the English. I am deeply grieved, +for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. I have always known him to +be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and I will bear him +this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. Had it been +otherwise, I must have known it. His example has made me regret the +less the promise I was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the +Netherlands. For I have thought that since this man, who has so much +credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well, +has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would +they have done with me, who am a stranger, had I continued in their +employment? The consul Terentius Varro lost, by his fault, the battle of +Canna; nevertheless, when he returned to Rome, offering the remainder of +his life in the cause of his Republic reduced to extremity, he was not +rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country. +It is not to be imputed as blame to Ste. Aldegonde that he lost Antwerp, +for he surrendered when it could not be saved. What I now say is drawn +from me by the compassion I feel when persons of merit suffer without +cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. In these terrible tempests, +as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even +so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support +them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the +right." + +Strange too as it may now seem to us, a reconciliation of the Netherlands +with Philip was not thought an impossibility by other experienced and +sagacious patriots, besides Marnix. Even Olden-Barneveld, on taking +office as Holland's Advocate, at this period, made it a condition that +his service was to last only until the reunion of the Provinces with +Spain. + +There was another illustrious personage in a foreign land who ever +rendered homage to the character of the retired Netherland statesman. +Amid the desolation of France, Duplessis Mornay often solaced himself by +distant communion with that kindred and sympathizing spirit. + +"Plunged in public annoyances," he wrote to Sainte Aldegonde, "I find no +consolation, except in conference with the good, and among the good I +hold you for one of the best. With such men I had rather sigh profoundly +than laugh heartily with others. In particular, Sir, do me the honor to +love me, and believe that I honor you singularly. Impart to me something +from your solitude, for I consider your deserts to be more fruitful and +fertile than our most cultivated habitations. As for me, think of me as +of a man drowning in the anxieties of the time, but desirous, if +possible, of swimming to solitude." + +Thus solitary, yet thus befriended,--remote from public employment, yet +ever employed, doing his daily work with all his soul and strength, +Marnix passed the fifteen years yet remaining to him. Death surprised +him at last, at Leyden, in the year 1598, while steadily laboring upon +his Flemish translation of the Old Testament, and upon the great +political, theological, controversial, and satirical work on the +differences of religion, which remains the most stately, though +unfinished, monument of his literary genius. At the age of sixty +he went at last to the repose which he had denied to himself on earth. +"Repos ailleurs." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors +Possible to do, only because we see that it has been done +Repose in the other world, "Repos ailleurs" +Soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad +To work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature +When persons of merit suffer without cause + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v41 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 42, 1585 + + +CHAPTER VI., Part 1. + + Policy of England--Diplomatic Coquetry--Dutch Envoys in England-- + Conference of Ortel and Walsingham--Interview with Leicester-- + Private Audience of the Queen--Letters of the States--General-- + Ill Effects of Gilpin's Despatch--Close Bargaining of the Queen and + States--Guarantees required by England--England's comparative + Weakness--The English characterised--Paul Hentzner--The Envoys in + London--Their Characters--Olden-Barneveldt described--Reception at + Greenwich--Speech of Menin--Reply of the Queen--Memorial of the + Envoys--Discussions with the Ministers--Second Speech of the Queen + --Third Speech of the Queen + +England as we have seen--had carefully watched the negotiations between +France and the Netherlands. Although she had--upon the whole, for that +intriguing age--been loyal in her bearing towards both parties, she was +perhaps not entirely displeased with the result. As her cherished +triumvirate was out of the question, it was quite obvious that, now or +never, she must come forward to prevent the Provinces from falling back +into the hands of Spain. The future was plainly enough foreshadowed, and +it was already probable, in case of a prolonged resistance on the part of +Holland, that Philip would undertake the reduction of his rebellious +subjects by a preliminary conquest of England. It was therefore quite +certain that the expense and danger of assisting the Netherlands must +devolve upon herself, but, at the same time it was a consolation that her +powerful next-door neighbour was not to be made still more powerful by +the annexation to his own dominion of those important territories. + +Accordingly, so soon as the deputies in France had received their +definite and somewhat ignominious repulse from Henry III. and his mother, +the English government lost no time in intimating to the States that they +were not to be left without an ally. Queen Elizabeth was however +resolutely averse from assuming that sovereignty which she was not +unwilling to see offered for her acceptance; and her accredited envoy at +the Hague, besides other more secret agents, were as busily employed in +the spring of 1585--as Des Pruneaux had been the previous winter on the +part of France--to bring about an application, by solemn embassy, for her +assistance. + +There was, however, a difference of view, from the outset, between the +leading politicians of the Netherlands and the English Queen. The +Hollanders were extremely desirous of becoming her subjects; for the +United States, although they had already formed themselves into an +independent republic, were quite ignorant of their latent powers. The +leading personages of the country--those who were soon to become the +foremost statesmen of the new commonwealth--were already shrinking from +the anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form of +government, and were seeking protection for and against the people under +a foreign sceptre. On the other hand, they were indisposed to mortgage +large and important fortified towns, such as Flushing, Brill, and others, +for the repayment of the subsidies which Elizabeth might be induced to +advance. They preferred to pay in sovereignty rather than in money. +The Queen, on the contrary, preferred money to sovereignty, and was not +at all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. Intending to drive a +hard bargain with the States, whose cause was her own, and whose demands +for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a certain number +of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at her expense, +and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the shape of +cautionary towns. + +Too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at +last coming into the field to help the Netherlanders to fight her own +battle, she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of +coyness and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the +Netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. Her advisers in +the Provinces were inclined to take the same view. It seemed obvious, +after the failure in France, that those countries must now become either +English or Spanish; yet Elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling +back, from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to +remain for a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have +been her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own +terms. There was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was +not without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. +At the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the +Queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they +entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. It was +pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have +been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy. + +Gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the English government in Zeeland, +kept Sir Francis Walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments +entertained by the people of that province towards England. Mixing +habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render +material assistance to the English council in the diplomatic game which +had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the crown +of England was to be hazarded. + +"In conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or +credit, I find a great inclination towards her Majesty, joined +notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. They allege that matters of +such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while some of +them harp upon the old string, as if her Majesty, for the security of her +own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here." + +He was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic +coquetry into the mind of a Princess who needed no such prompting. +"The less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive +that her Majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon +her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger +conditions in treaty may be required. For if they see it to come from +herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater +security of our own country and her Highness to fear the King of Spain's +greatness. But if they become seekers unto her Majesty, and if they may, +by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said King's might, +but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then verily I think +they may be brought to whatsoever points her Majesty may desire." + +Certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth +getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which +it was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together +except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit +from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. This was +neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such +trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. In accordance with +this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be +good and requisite for the English government somewhat to temporise," +and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the +States would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and +resources they would show for belligerent purposes. If the Queen were +too eager, the Provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were, +their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands." + +At the same time Gilpin was favourably impressed with the character both +of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important +relations with England. "This people," he said, "is such as by fair +means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or +demand. What these islands of Zeeland are her Majesty and all my lords +of her council do know. Yet for their government thus much I must write; +that during these troubles it never was better than now. They draw, in a +manner, one line, long and carefully in their resolution; but the same +once taken and promises made, they would perform them to the uttermost." + +Such then was the character of the people, for no man was better enabled +to form an opinion on the subject than was Gilpin. Had it not been as +well, then, for Englishmen--who were themselves in that age, as in every +other, apt to "perform to the uttermost promises once taken and made," +and to respect those endowed with the same wholesome characteristic--to +strike hands at once in a cause which was so vital to both nations? + +So soon as the definite refusal of Henry III, was known in England, +Leicester and Walsingham wrote at once to the Netherlands. The Earl +already saw shining through the distance a brilliant prize for his own +ambition, although he was too haughty, perhaps too magnanimous, but +certainly far too crafty, to suffer such sentiments as yet to pierce to +the surface. + +"Mr. Davison," he wrote, "you shall perceive by Mr. Secretary's letters +how the French have dealt with these people. They are well enough +served; but yet I think, if they will heartily and earnestly seek it, the +Lord hath appointed them a far better defence. But you must so use the +matter as that they must seek their own good, although we shall be +partakers thereof also. They may now, if they will effectually and +liberally deal, bring themselves to a better end than ever France would +have brought them." + +At that moment there were two diplomatic agents from the States resident +in England--Jacques de Gryze; whom Paul Buys had formerly described as +having thrust himself head and shoulders into the matter without proper +authority, and Joachim Ortel, a most experienced and intelligent man, +speaking and writing English like a native, and thoroughly conversant +with English habits and character. So soon as the despatches from France +arrived, Walsingham, 18th March, 1585, sent for Ortel, and the two held a +long conference. + +Walsingham.--"We have just received letters from Lord Derby and Sir +Edward Stafford, dated the 13th March. They inform us that your +deputies--contrary to all expectation and to the great hopes that had +been hold out to them--have received, last Sunday, their definite answer +from the King of France. He tells them, that, considering the present +condition of his kingdom, he is unable to undertake the protection of the +Netherlands; but says that if they like, and if the Queen of England be +willing to second his motion, he is disposed to send a mission of +mediation to Spain for the purpose of begging the King to take the +condition of the provinces to heart, and bringing about some honourable +composition, and so forth, and so forth. + +"Moreover the King of France has sent Monsieur de Bellievre to Lord Derby +and Mr. Stafford, and Bellievre has made those envoys a long oration. +He explained to them all about the original treaty between the States and +Monsieur, the King's brother, and what had taken place from that day to +this, concluding, after many allegations and divers reasons, that the +King could not trouble himself with the provinces at present; but hoped +her Majesty would make the best of it, and not be offended with him. + +"The ambassadors say further, that they have had an interview with your +deputies, who are excessively provoked at this most unexpected answer +from the King, and are making loud complaints, being all determined to +take themselves off as fast as possible. The ambassadors have +recommended that some of the number should come home by the way of +England." + +Ortel.--"It seems necessary to take active measures at once, and to leave +no duty undone in this matter. It will be advisable to confer, so soon +as may be, with some of the principal counsellors of her Majesty, and +recommend to them most earnestly the present condition of the provinces. +They know the affectionate confidence which the States entertain towards +England, and must now, remembering the sentiments of goodwill which they +have expressed towards the Netherlands, be willing to employ their +efforts with her Majesty in this emergency." + +Walsingham (with much show of vexation).--"This conduct on the part of +the French court has been most pernicious. Your envoys have been +delayed, fed with idle hopes, and then disgracefully sent away, so that +the best part of the year has been consumed, and it will be most +difficult now, in a great hurry, to get together a sufficient force of +horse and foot folk, with other necessaries in abundance. On the +contrary, the enemy, who knew from the first what result was to be +expected in France, has been doing his best to be beforehand with you in +the field: add, moreover, that this French negotiation has given other +princes a bad taste in their mouths. This is the case with her Majesty. +The Queen is, not without reason, annoyed that the States have not only +despised her friendly and good-hearted offers, but have all along been +endeavouring to embark her in this war, for the defence of the Provinces, +which would have cost her several millions, without offering to her the +slightest security. On the contrary, others, enemies of the religion, +who are not to be depended upon--who had never deserved well of the +States or assisted them in their need, as she has done--have received +this large offer of sovereignty without any reserve whatever." + +Ortel (not suffering himself to be disconcerted at this unjust and +somewhat insidious attack).--"That which has been transacted with France +was not done except with the express approbation and full foreknowledge +of her Majesty, so far back as the lifetime of his Excellency (William of +Orange), of high and laudable memory. Things had already gone so far, +and the Provinces had agreed so entirely together, as to make it +inexpedient to bring about a separation in policy. It was our duty to +hold together, and, once for all, thoroughly to understand what the King +of France, after such manifold presentations through Monsieur Des +Pruneaulx and others, and in various letters of his own, finally intended +to do. At the same time, notwithstanding these negotiations, we had +always an especial eye upon her Majesty. We felt a hopeful confidence +that she would never desert us, leaving us without aid or counsel, but +would consider that these affairs do not concern the Provinces alone or +even especially, but are just as deeply important to her and to all other +princes of the religion." + +After this dialogue, with much more conversation of a similar character, +the Secretary and the envoy set themselves frankly and manfully to work. +It was agreed between them that every effort should be made with the +leading members of the Council to induce the Queen "in this terrible +conjuncture, not to forsake the Provinces, but to extend good counsel and +prompt assistance to them in their present embarrassments." + +There was, however, so much business in Parliament just then, that it was +impossible to obtain immediately the desired interviews. + +On the 20th, Ortel and De Gryze had another interview with Walsingham at +the Palace of Greenwich. The Secretary expressed the warmest and most +sincere affection for the Provinces, and advised that one of the two +envoys should set forth at once for home in order to declare to the +States, without loss of time, her Majesty's good inclination to assume +the protection of the land, together with the maintenance of the reformed +religion and the ancient privileges. Not that she was seeking her own +profit, or wished to obtain that sovereignty which had just been offered +to another of the contrary religion, but in order to make manifest her +affectionate solicitude to preserve the Protestant faith and to support +her old allies and neighbours. Nevertheless, as she could not assume +this protectorate without embarking in a dangerous war with the King of +Spain, in which she would not only be obliged to spend the blood of her +subjects, but also at least two millions of gold, there was the more +reason that the States should give her certain cities as security. Those +cities would be held by certain of her gentlemen, nominated thereto, of +quality, credit, and religion, at the head of good, true, and well-paid +garrisons, who should make oath never to surrender them to the King of +Spain or to any one else without consent of the States. The Provinces +were also reciprocally to bind themselves by oath to make no treaty with +the King, without the advice and approval of her Majesty. It was +likewise thoroughly to be understood that such cautionary towns should be +restored to the States so soon as payment should be made of all moneys +advanced during the war. + +Next day the envoys had an interview with the Earl of Leicester, whom +they found as amicably disposed towards their cause as Secretary +Walsingham had been. "Her Majesty," said the Earl, "is excessively +indignant with the King of France, that he should so long have abused the +Provinces, and at last have dismissed their deputies so contemptuously. +Nevertheless," he continued, "'tis all your own fault to have placed your +hopes so entirely upon him as to entirely forget other princes, and more +especially her Majesty. Notwithstanding all that has passed, however, I +find her fully determined to maintain the cause of the Provinces. For my +own part, I am ready to stake my life, estates, and reputation, upon this +issue, and to stand side by side with other gentlemen in persuading her +Majesty to do her utmost for the assistance of your country." + +He intimated however, as Walsingham had done, that the matter of +cautionary towns would prove an indispensable condition, and recommended +that one of the two envoys should proceed homeward at once, in order to +procure, as speedily as possible, the appointment of an embassy for that +purpose to her Majesty. "They must bring full powers," said the Earl, +"to give her the necessary guarantees, and make a formal demand for +protection; for it would be unbecoming, and against her reputation, +to be obliged to present herself, unsought by the other party." + +In conclusion, after many strong expressions of good-will, Leicester +promised to meet them next day at court, where he would address the Queen +personally on the subject, and see that they spoke with her as well. +Meantime he sent one of his principal gentlemen to keep company with the +envoys, and make himself useful to them. This personage, being "of good +quality and a member of Parliament," gave them much useful information, +assuring them that there was a strong feeling in England in favour of the +Netherlands, and that the matter had been very vigorously taken up in the +national legislature. That assembly had been strongly encouraging her +Majesty boldly to assume the protectorate, and had manifested a +willingness to assist her with the needful. "And if," said he, "one +subsidy should not be enough, she shall have three, four, five, or six, +or as much as may be necessary." + +The same day, the envoys had an interview with Lord Treasurer Burghley, +who held the same language as Walsingham and Leicester had done. "The +Queen, to his knowledge," he said, "was quite ready to assume the +protectorate; but it was necessary that it should be formally offered, +with the necessary guarantees, and that without further loss of time." + +On the 22nd March, according to agreement, Ortel and De Gryze went to the +court at Greenwich. While waiting there for the Queen, who had ridden +out into the country, they had more conversation with Walsingham, whom +they found even more energetically disposed in their favour than ever, +and who assured them that her Majesty was quite ready to assume the +protectorate so soon as offered. "Within a month," he said, "after the +signing of a treaty, the troops would be on the spot, under command of +such a personage of quality and religion as would be highly +satisfactory." While they were talking, the Queen rode into the court- +yard, accompanied by the Earl of Leicester and other gentlemen. Very +soon afterwards the envoys were summoned to her presence, and allowed to +recommend the affairs of the Provinces to her consideration. She +lamented the situation of their country, and in a few words expressed her +inclination to render assistance, provided the States would manifest full +confidence in her. They replied by offering to take instant measures to +gratify all her demands, so soon as those demands should be made known; +and the Queen finding herself surrounded by so many gentlemen and by a +crowd of people, appointed them accordingly to come to her private +apartments the same afternoon. + +At that interview none were present save Walsingham and Lord Chamberlain +Howard. The Queen showed herself "extraordinarily resolute" to take up +the affairs of the Provinces. "She had always been sure," she said, +"that the French negotiation would have no other issue than the one which +they had just seen. She was fully aware what a powerful enemy she was +about to make--one who could easily create mischief for her in Scotland +and Ireland; but she was nevertheless resolved, if the States chose to +deal with her frankly and generously, to take them under her protection. +She assured the envoys that if a deputation with full powers and +reasonable conditions should be immediately sent to her, she would not +delay and dally with them, as had been the case in France, but would +despatch them back again at the speediest, and would make her good +inclination manifest by deeds as well as words. As she was hazarding +her treasure together with the blood and repose of her subjects, she was +not at liberty to do this except on receipt of proper securities." + +Accordingly De Gryze went to the Provinces, provided with complimentary +and affectionate letters from the Queen, while Ortel remained in England. +So far all was plain and above-board; and Walsingham, who, from the +first, had been warmly in favour of taking up the Netherland cause, was +relieved by being able to write in straightforward language. Stealthy +and subtle, where the object was to get within the guard of an enemy who +menaced a mortal blow, he was, both by nature and policy, disposed to +deal frankly with those he called his friends. + +"Monsieur de Gryze repaireth presently," he wrote to Davison, "to try if +he can induce the States to send their deputies hither, furnished with +more ample instructions than they had to treat with the French King, +considering that her Majesty carryeth another manner of princely +disposition than that sovereign. Meanwhile, for that she doubteth lest +in this hard estate of their affairs, and the distrust they have +conceived to be relieved from hence, they should from despair throw +themselves into the course of Spain, her pleasure therefore is--though by +Burnham I sent you directions to put them in comfort of relief, only as +of yourself--that you shall now, as it were, in her name, if you see +cause sufficient, assure some of the aptest instruments that you shall +make choice of for that purpose, that her Majesty, rather than that they +should perish, will be content to take them under her protection." + +He added that it was indispensable for the States, upon their part, to +offer "such sufficient cautions and assurances as she might in reason +demand." + +Matters were so well managed that by the 22nd April the States-General +addressed a letter to the Queen, in which they notified her, that the +desired deputation was on the point of setting forth. "Recognizing," +they said, "that there is no prince or potentate to whom they are more +obliged than they are to your Majesty, we are about to request you very +humbly to accept the sovereignty of these Provinces, and the people of +the same for your very humble vassals and subjects." They added that, +as the necessity of the case was great, they hoped the Queen would send, +so soon as might be, a force of four or five thousand men for the purpose +of relieving the siege of Antwerp. + +A similar letter was despatched by the same courier to the Earl of +Leicester. + +On the 1st of May, Ortel had audience of the Queen, to deliver the +letters from the States-General. He found that despatches, very +encouraging and agreeable in their tenor, had also just arrived from +Davison. The Queen was in good humour. She took the letter from Ortel, +read it attentively, and paused a good while. Then she assured him that +her good affection towards the Provinces was not in the least changed, +and that she thanked the States for the confidence in her that they were +manifesting. "It is unnecessary," said the Queen, "for me to repeat over +and over again sentiments which I have so plainly declared. You are to +assure the States that they shall never be disappointed in the trust that +they have reposed in my good intentions. Let them deal with me +sincerely, and without holding open any back-door. Not that I am seeking +the sovereignty of the Provinces, for I wish only to maintain their +privileges and ancient liberties, and to defend them in this regard +against all the world. Let them ripely consider, then, with what +fidelity I am espousing their cause, and how, without fear of any one, +I am arousing most powerful enemies." + +Ortel had afterwards an interview with Leicester, in which the Earl +assured him that her Majesty had not in the least changed in her +sentiments towards the Provinces. "For myself," said he, "I am ready, if +her Majesty choose to make use of me, to go over there in person, and to +place life, property, and all the assistance I can gain from my friends, +upon the issue. Yea, with so good a heart, that I pray the Lord may be +good to me, only so far as I serve faithfully in this cause." He added a +warning that the deputies to be appointed should come with absolute +powers, in order that her Majesty's bountiful intentions might not be +retarded by their own fault. + +Ortel then visited Walsingham at his house, Barn-Elms, where he was +confined by illness. Sir Francis assured the envoy that he would use +every effort, by letter to her Majesty and by verbal instructions to his +son-in-law, Sir Philip Sidney, to further the success of the negotiation, +and that he deeply regretted his enforced absence from the court on so +important an occasion. + +Matters were proceeding most favourably, and the all-important point of +sending an auxiliary force of Englishmen to the relief of Antwerp--before +it should be too late, and in advance of the final conclusion of the +treaty between the countries-had been nearly conceded. Just at that +moment, however, "as ill-luck would have it," said Ortel, "came a letter +from Gilpin. I don't think he meant it in malice, but the effect was +most pernicious. He sent the information that a new attack was to +be made by the 10th May upon the Kowenstyn, that it was sure to be +successful, and that the siege of Antwerp was as good as raised. So Lord +Burghley informed me, in presence of Lord Leicester, that her Majesty was +determined to await the issue of this enterprise. It was quite too late +to get troops in readiness; to co-operate with the States' army, so soon +as the 10th May, and as Antwerp was so sure to be relieved, there was no +pressing necessity for haste. I uttered most bitter complaints to these +lords and to other counsellors of the Queen, that she should thus draw +back, on account of a letter from a single individual, without paying +sufficient heed to the despatches from the States-General, who certainly +knew their own affairs and their own necessities better than any one else +could do, but her Majesty sticks firm to her resolution." + +Here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. The premature +shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the +unlucky 10th May, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the +Kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. Had the +four thousand bold Englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached +the Provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood +side by side with the Hollanders, the Zeelanders, and the Antwerpers, +upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that Antwerp would have +been relieved, and the whole of Flanders and Brabant permanently annexed +to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once +most imposing proportions. + +It was a great blunder of Sainte Aldegonde to station in the cathedral, +on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not +thoroughly rely. It was a blunder in Gilpin, intelligent as he generally +showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. But it +was the greatest blunder of all for Queen Elizabeth to suspend her +cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely +to prove most successful. It was a chapter of blunders from first to +last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by +the great Queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate +parsimony. + +And now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very +much to the credit of either party. The kingdom of England, and the +rebellious Provinces of Spain, were drawn to each other by an +irresistible law of political attraction. Their absorption into each +other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong +Protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the +great Catholic League which was clustering about Spain. + +It was unfortunate that the two governments of England and the +Netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard +bargain with each other, rather than that of two important commonwealths, +upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the weal and wo of +Christendom was hanging. It is quite true that the danger to England was +great, but that danger in any event was to be confronted--Philip was to +be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the Provinces to be her own, +which it unquestionably was, Elizabeth was taking the diadem from her +head--as the King of Sweden well observed--and adventuring it upon the +doubtful chance of war. Would it not have been better then--her mind +being once made up--promptly to accept all the benefits, as well as all +the hazards, of the bold game to which she was of necessity a party? +But she could not yet believe in the incredible meanness of Henry III. +"I asked her Majesty" (3rd May, 1585), said Ortel, "whether, in view of +these vast preparations in France, it did not behove her to be most +circumspect and upon her guard. For, in the opinion of many men, +everything showed one great scheme already laid down--a general +conspiracy throughout Christendom against the reformed religion. She +answered me, that thus far she could not perceive this to be the case; +'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that the King of France could be so +faint-hearted as to submit to such injuries from the Guises.'" + +Time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with regard +to injuries, and to prove to Elizabeth the error she had committed in +doubting his faint-heartedness. Meanwhile, time was passing, and the +Netherlands were shivering in the storm. They, needed the open sunshine +which her caution kept too long behind the clouds. For it was now +enjoined upon Walsingham to manifest a coldness upon the part of the +English government towards the States. Davison was to be allowed to +return; "but," said Sir Francis, "her Majesty would not have you +accompany the commissioners who are coming from the Low Countries; but to +come over, either before them or after them, lest it be thought they come +over by her Majesty's procurement." + +As if they were not coming over by her Majesty's most especial +procurement, and as if it would matter to Philip--the union once made +between England and Holland--whether the invitation to that union came +first from the one party or the other! + +"I am retired for my health from the court to mine own house," said +Walsingham, "but I find those in whose judgment her Majesty reposeth +greatest trust so coldly affected unto the cause, as I have no great hope +of the matter; and yet, for that the hearts of princes are in the hands +of God, who both can will and dispose them at his pleasure, I would be +loath to hinder the repair of the commissioners." + +Here certainly, had the sun gone most suddenly into a cloud. Sir Francis +would be loath to advise the commissioners to stay at home, but he +obviously thought them coming on as bootless an errand as that which had +taken their colleagues so recently into France. + +The cause of the trouble was Flushing. Hence the tears, and the +coldness, and the scoldings, on the part of the imperious and the +economical Queen. Flushing was the patrimony--a large portion of that +which was left to him--of Count Maurice. It was deeply mortgaged for the +payment of the debts of William the Silent, but his son Maurice, so long +as the elder brother Philip William remained a captive in Spain, wrote +himself Marquis of Flushing and Kampveer, and derived both revenue and +importance from his rights in that important town. The States of +Zeeland, while desirous of a political fusion of the two countries, were +averse from the prospect of converting, by exception, their commercial, +capital into an English city, the remainder of the Provinces remaining +meanwhile upon their ancient footing. The negociations on the subject +caused a most ill-timed delay. The States finding the English government +cooling, affected to grow tepid themselves. This was the true mercantile +system, perhaps, for managing a transaction most thriftily, but frankness +and promptness would have been more statesmanlike at such a juncture. + +"I am sorry to understand," wrote Walsingham, "that the States are not +yet grown to a full resolution for the delivering of the town of Flushing +into her Majesty's hands. The Queen finding the people of that island so +wavering and inconstant, besides that they can hardly, after the so long +enjoying a popular liberty, bear a regal authority, would be loath to +embark herself into so dangerous a war without some sufficient caution +received from them. It is also greatly to be doubted, that if, by +practice and corruption, that town might be recovered by the Spaniards, +it would put all the rest of the country in peril. I find her Majesty, +in case that town may be gotten, fully resolved to receive them into her +protection, so as it may also be made probable unto her that the promised +three hundred thousand guilders the month will be duly paid." + +A day or two after writing this letter, Walsingham sent one afternoon, in +a great hurry, for Ortel, and informed him very secretly, that, according +to information just received, the deputies from the States were coming +without sufficient authority in regard to this very matter. Thus all the +good intentions of the English government were likely to be frustrated, +and the Provinces to be reduced to direful extremity. + +"What can we possibly advise her Majesty to do?" asked Walsingham, +"since you are not willing to put confidence in her intentions. You are +trying to bring her into a public war, in which she is to risk her +treasure and the blood of her subjects against the greatest potentates of +the world, and you hesitate meantime at giving her such security as is +required for the very defence of the Provinces themselves. The deputies +are coming hither to offer the sovereignty to her Majesty, as was +recently done in France, or, if that should not prove acceptable, they +are to ask assistance in men and money upon a mere 'taliter qualiter' +guaranty. That's not the way. And there are plenty of ill-disposed +persons here to take advantage of this position of affairs to ruin the +interest of the Provinces now placed on so good a footing. Moreover, in +this perpetual sending of despatches back and forth, much precious time +is consumed; and this is exactly what our enemies most desire." + +In accordance with Walsingham's urgent suggestions, Ortel wrote at once +to his constituents, imploring them to remedy this matter. Do not +allow," he said, any, more time to be wasted. Let us not painfully, +build a wall only to knock our own heads against it, to the dismay of our +friends and the gratification of our enemies." + +It was at last arranged that an important blank should be left in the +articles to be brought by the deputies, upon which vacant place the names +of certain cautionary towns, afterwards to be agreed upon, were to be +inscribed by common consent. + +Meantime the English ministers were busy in preparing to receive the +commissioners, and to bring the Netherland matter handsomely before the +legislature. + +The integrity, the caution, the thrift, the hesitation, which +characterized Elizabeth's government, were well pourtrayed in the +habitual language of the Lord Treasurer, chief minister of a third-rate +kingdom now called on to play a first-rate part, thoroughly acquainted +with the moral and intellectual power of the nation whose policy he +directed, and prophetically conscious of the great destinies which were +opening upon her horizon. Lord Burghley could hardly be censured--least +of all ridiculed--for the patient and somewhat timid attributes of his +nature: The ineffable ponderings, which might now be ludicrous, on the +part of a minister of the British Empire, with two hundred millions of +subjects and near a hundred millions of revenue, were almost inevitable +in a man guiding a realm of four millions of people with half a million +of income. + +It was, on the whole, a strange negotiation, this between England and +Holland. A commonwealth had arisen, but was unconscious of the strength +which it was to find in the principle of states' union, and of religious +equality. It sought, on the contrary, to exchange its federal +sovereignty for provincial dependence, and to imitate, to a certain +extent, the very intolerance by which it had been driven into revolt. +It was not unnatural that the Netherlanders should hate the Roman +Catholic religion, in the name of which they had endured such infinite +tortures, but it is, nevertheless, painful to observe that they requested +Queen Elizabeth, whom they styled defender, not of "the faith" but of the +"reformed religion," to exclude from the Provinces, in case she accepted +the sovereignty, the exercise of all religious rites except those +belonging to the reformed church. They, however, expressly provided +against inquisition into conscience. Private houses were to be sacred, +the, papists free within their own walls, but the churches were to be +closed to those of the ancient faith. This was not so bad as to hang, +burn, drown, and bury alive nonconformists, as had been done by Philip +and the holy inquisition in the name of the church of Rome; nor is it +very surprising that the horrible past should have caused that church to +be regarded with sentiments of such deep-rooted hostility as to make the +Hollanders shudder at the idea of its re-establishment. Yet, no doubt, +it was idle for either Holland or England, at that day, to talk of a +reconciliation with Rome. A step had separated them, but it was a step +from a precipice. No human power could bridge the chasm. The steep +contrast between the league and the counter-league, between the systems +of Philip and Mucio, and that of Elizabeth and Olden-Barneveld, ran +through the whole world of thought, action, and life. + +But still the negociation between Holland and England was a strange one. +Holland wished to give herself entirely, and England feared to accept. +Elizabeth, in place of sovereignty, wanted mortgages; while Holland was +afraid to give a part, although offering the whole. There was no great +inequality between the two countries. Both were instinctively conscious, +perhaps, of standing on the edge of a vast expansion. Both felt that +they were about to stretch their wings suddenly for a flight over the +whole earth. Yet each was a very inferior power, in comparison with the +great empires of the past or those which then existed. + +It is difficult, without a strong effort of the imagination, to reduce +the English empire to the slender proportions which belonged to her in +the days of Elizabeth. That epoch was full of light and life. The +constellations which have for centuries been shining in the English +firmament were then human creatures walking English earth. The captains, +statesmen, corsairs, merchant-adventurers, poets, dramatists, the great +Queen herself, the Cecils, Raleigh, Walsingham, Drake, Hawkins, Gilbert, +Howard, Willoughby, the Norrises, Essex, Leicester, Sidney, Spenser, +Shakspeare and the lesser but brilliant lights which surrounded him; such +were the men who lifted England upon an elevation to which she was not +yet entitled by her material grandeur. At last she had done with Rome, +and her expansion dated from that moment. + +Holland and England, by the very condition of their existence, were sworn +foes to Philip. Elizabeth stood excommunicated of the Pope. There was +hardly a month in which intelligence was not sent by English agents out +of the Netherlands and France, that assassins, hired by Philip, were +making their way to England to attempt the life of the Queen. The +Netherlanders were rebels to the Spanish monarch, and they stood, one +and all, under death-sentence by Rome. The alliance was inevitable and +wholesome. Elizabeth was, however, consistently opposed to the +acceptance of a new sovereignty. England was a weak power. Ireland was +at her side in a state of chronic rebellion--a stepping-stone for Spain +in its already foreshadowed invasion. Scotland was at her back with a +strong party of Catholics, stipendiaries of Philip, encouraged by the +Guises and periodically inflamed to enthusiasm by the hope of rescuing +Mary Stuart from her imprisonment, bringing her rival's head to the +block, and elevating the long-suffering martyr upon the throne of all the +British Islands. And in the midst of England itself, conspiracies were +weaving every day. The mortal duel between the two queens was slowly +approaching its termination. In the fatal form of Mary was embodied +everything most perilous to England's glory and to England's Queen. +Mary Stuart meant absolutism at home, subjection to Rome and Spain +abroad. The uncle Guises were stipendiaries of Philip, Philip was the +slave of the Pope. Mucio had frightened the unlucky Henry III. into +submission, and there was no health nor hope in France. For England, +Mary Stuart embodied the possible relapse into sloth, dependence, +barbarism. For Elizabeth, Mary Stuart embodied sedition, conspiracy, +rebellion, battle, murder, and sudden death. + +It was not to be wondered at that the Queen thus situated should be +cautious, when about throwing down the gauntlet to the greatest powers of +the earth. Yet the commissioners from the United States were now on +their way to England to propose the throwing of that gauntlet. What now +was that England? + +Its population was, perhaps, not greater than the numbers which dwell +to-day within its capital and immediate suburbs. Its revenue was perhaps +equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national +debt. Single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in England but in +other countries cis- and trans-Atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than +half the amount of Elizabeth's annual budget. London, then containing +perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was hardly so +imposing a town as Antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to +Paris and Lisbon. Forty-two hundred children were born every year within +its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. In plague years, +which were only too frequent, as many as twenty and even thirty thousand +people had been annually swept away. + +At the present epoch there are seventeen hundred births every week, and +about one thousand deaths. + +It is instructive to throw a glance at the character of the English +people as it appeared to intelligent foreigners at that day; for the +various parts of the world were not then so closely blended, nor did +national colours and characteristics flow so liquidly into each other, +as is the case in these days of intimate juxta-position. + +"The English are a very clever, handsome, and well-made people," says a +learned Antwerp historian and merchant, who had resided a long time in +London, "but, like all islanders, by nature weak and tender. They are +generally fair, particularly the women, who all--even to the peasant +women--protect their complexions from the sun with fans and veils, as +only the stately gentlewomen do in Germany and the Netherlands. As a +people they are stout-hearted, vehement, eager, cruel in war, zealous in +attack, little fearing: death; not revengeful, but fickle, presumptuous, +rash, boastful, deceitful, very suspicious, especially of strangers, whom +they despise. They are full of courteous and hypocritical gestures and +words, which they consider to imply good manners, civility, and wisdom. +They are well spoken, and very hospitable. They feed well, eating much +meat, which-owing to the rainy climate and the ranker character of the +grass--is not so firm and succulent as the meat of France and the +Netherlands. The people are not so laborious as the French and +Hollanders, preferring to lead an indolent life, like the Spaniards. +The most difficult and ingenious of the handicrafts are in the hands +of foreigners, as is the case with the lazy inhabitants of Spain. +They feed many sheep, with fine wool, from which, two hundred years ago, +they learned to make cloth. They keep many idle servants, and many wild +animals for their pleasure, instead of cultivating the sail. They have +many ships, but they do not even catch fish enough for their own +consumption, but purchase of their neighbours. They dress very +elegantly. Their costume is light and costly, but they are very +changeable and capricious, altering their fashions every year, both the +men and the women. When they go away from home, riding or travelling, +they always wear their best clothes, contrary to the habit of other +nations. The English language is broken Dutch, mixed with French and +British terms and words, but with a lighter pronunciation. They do not +speak from the chest, like the Germans, but prattle only with the +tongue." + +Here are few statistical facts, but certainly it is curious to see how +many national traits thus photographed by a contemporary, have quite +vanished, and have been exchanged for their very opposites. Certainly +the last physiological criticism of all would indicate as great a +national metamorphosis, during the last three centuries, as is offered by +many other of the writer's observations. + +"With regard to the women," continues the same authority, "they are +entirely in the power of the men, except in matters of life and death, +yet they are not kept so closely and strictly as in Spain and elsewhere. +They are not locked up, but have free management of their household, +like the Netherlanders and their other neighbours. They are gay in +their clothing, taking well their ease, leaving house-work to the +servant-maids, and are fond of sitting, finely-dressed, before their +doors to see the passers-by and to be seen of them. In all banquets and +dinner-parties they have the most honour, sitting at the upper end of the +board, and being served first. + +"Their time is spent in riding, lounging, card-playing, and making merry +with their gossips at child-bearings, christenings, churchings, and +buryings; and all this conduct the men wink at, because such are the +customs of the land. They much commend however the industry and careful +habits of the German and Netherland women, who do the work which in +England devolves upon the men. Hence, England is called the paradise of +married women, for the unmarried girls are kept much more strictly than +upon the continent. The women are, handsome, white, dressy, modest; +although they go freely about the streets without bonnet, hood, or veil; +but lately learned to cover their faces with a silken mask or vizard with +a plumage of feathers, for they change their fashions every year, to the +astonishment of many." + +Paul Hentzner, a tourist from Germany at precisely the same epoch, +touches with equal minuteness on English characteristics. It may be +observed, that, with some discrepancies, there is also much similarity, +in the views of the two critics. + +"The English," says the whimsical Paul, are serious, like the Germans, +lovers of show, liking to be followed, wherever they go, by troops of +servants, who wear their master's arms, in silver, fastened to their left +sleeves, and are justly ridiculed for wearing tails hanging down their +backs. They excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, +although they are of thicker build than the Germans. They cut their hair +close on the forehead, letting it hang down on either side. They are +good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous, thievish. Three +hundred and upwards are hanged annually in London. Hawking is the +favourite sport of the nobility. The English are more polite in eating +than the French, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in +perfection. They put a great deal of sugar in their drink. Their beds +are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. They are powerful in +the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like +slavery, vastly fond of great ear-filling noises, such as cannon-firing, +drum-beating, and bell-ringing; so that it is very common for a number of +them, when they have got a cup too much in their heads, to go up to some +belfry, and ring the bells for an hour together, for the sake of the +amusement. If they see a foreigner very well made or particularly +handsome, they will say "'tis pity he is not an Englishman." + +It is also somewhat amusing, at the present day, to find a German +elaborately explaining to his countrymen the mysteries of tobacco- +smoking, as they appeared to his unsophisticated eyes in England. "At +the theatres and everywhere else," says the traveller, "the English are +constantly smoking tobacco in the following manner. They have pipes, +made on purpose, of clay. At the further end of these is a bowl. Into +the bowl they put the herb, and then setting fire to it, they draw the +smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their +nostrils, like funnels," and so on; conscientious explanations which a +German tourist of our own times might think it superfluous to offer to +his compatriots. + +It is also instructive to read that the light-fingered gentry of the +metropolis were nearly as adroit in their calling as they are at present, +after three additional centuries of development for their delicate craft; +for the learned Tobias Salander, the travelling companion of Paul +Hentzner, finding himself at a Lord Mayor's Show, was eased of his purse, +containing nine crowns, as skilfully as the feat could have been done by +the best pickpocket of the nineteenth century, much to that learned +person's discomfiture. + +Into such an England and among such English the Netherland envoys had now +been despatched on their most important errand. + +After twice putting back, through stress of weather, the commissioners, +early in July, arrived at London, and were "lodged and very worshipfully +appointed at charges of her Majesty in the Clothworkers' Hall in Pynchon- +lane, near Tower-street." About the Tower and its faubourgs the +buildings were stated to be as elegant as they were in the city itself, +although this was hardly very extravagant commendation. From this +district a single street led along the river's strand to Westminster, +where were the old and new palaces, the famous hall and abbey, the +Parliament chambers, and the bridge to Southwark, built of stone, with +twenty arches, sixty feet high, and with rows of shops and dwelling- +houses on both its sides. Thence, along the broad and beautiful river, +were dotted here and there many stately mansions and villas, residences +of bishops and nobles, extending farther and farther west as the city +melted rapidly into the country. London itself was a town lying high +upon a hill--the hill of Lud--and consisted of a coil of narrow, +tortuous, unseemly streets, each with a black, noisome rivulet running +through its centre, and with rows of three-storied, leaden-roofed houses, +built of timber-work filled in with lime, with many gables, and with the +upper stories overhanging and darkening the basements. There were one +hundred and twenty-one churches, small and large, the most conspicuous of +which was the Cathedral. Old Saint Paul's was not a very magnificent +edifice--but it was an extremely large one, for it was seven hundred and +twenty feet long, one hundred and thirty broad, and had a massive +quadrangular tower, two hundred and sixty feet high. Upon this tower had +stood a timber-steeple, rising, to a height of five hundred and thirty- +four feet from the ground, but it had been struck by lightning in the +year 1561, and consumed to the stone-work. + +The Queen's favourite residence was Greenwich Palace, the place of her +birth, and to this mansion, on the 9th of July, the Netherland envoys +were conveyed, in royal barges, from the neighbourhood of Pynchon-lane, +for their first audience. + +The deputation was a strong one. There was Falck of Zeeland, a man +of consummate adroitness, perhaps not of as satisfactory integrity; +"a shrewd fellow and a fine," as Lord Leicester soon afterwards +characterised him. There was Menin, pensionary of Dort, an eloquent and +accomplished orator, and employed on this occasion as chief spokesman of +the legation--"a deeper man, and, I think, an honester," said the same +personage, adding, with an eye to business, "and he is but poor, which +you must consider, but with great secrecy." There was Paul Buys, whom we +have met with before; keen, subtle, somewhat loose of life, very +passionate, a most most energetic and valuable friend to England, a +determined foe to France, who had resigned the important post of +Holland's Advocate, when the mission offering sovereignty to Henry III. +had been resolved upon, and who had since that period been most +influential in procuring the present triumph of the English policy. +Through his exertions the Province of Holland had been induced at an +early moment to furnish the most ample instructions to the commissioners +for the satisfaction of Queen Elizabeth in the great matter of the +mortgages. "Judge if this Paul Buys has done his work well," said a +French agent in the Netherlands, who, despite the infamous conduct of his +government towards the Provinces, was doing his best to frustrate the +subsequent negotiation with England, "and whether or no he has Holland +under his thumb." The same individual had conceived hopes from Falck of +Zeeland. That Province, in which lay the great bone of contention +between the Queen and the States--the important town of Flushing--was +much slower than Holland to agree to the English policy. It is to be +feared that Falck was not the most ingenuous and disinterested politician +that could be found even in an age not distinguished for frankness or +purity; for even while setting forth upon the mission to Elizabeth, he +was still clingihg, or affecting to cling, to the wretched delusion of +French assistance. "I regret infinitely," said Falck to the French agent +just mentioned, "that I am employed in this affair, and that it is +necessary in our present straits to have recourse to England. There is-- +so to speak--not a person in our Province that is inclined that way, all +recognizing very well that France is much more salutary for us, besides +that we all bear her a certain affection. Indeed, if I were assured that +the King still felt any goodwill towards us, I would so manage matters +that neither the Queen of England, nor any other prince whatever except +his most Christian-Majesty should take a bite at this country, at least +at this Province, and with that view, while waiting for news from France, +I will keep things in suspense, and spin them out as long as it is +possible to do." + +The news from France happened soon to be very conclusive, and it then +became difficult even for Falek to believe--after intelligence received +of the accord between Henry III. and the Guises--that his Christian +Majesty, would be inclined for a bite at the Netherlands. This duplicity +on the part of so leading a personage furnishes a key to much of the +apparent dilatoriness on the part of the English government: It has been +seen that Elizabeth, up to the last moment, could not fairly comprehend +the ineffable meanness of the French monarch. She told Ortel that she +saw no reason to believe in that great Catholic conspiracy against +herself and against all Protestantism which was so soon to be made public +by the King's edict of July, promulgated at the very instant of the +arrival in England of the Netherland envoys. Then that dread fiat had +gone forth, the most determined favourer of the French alliance could no +longer admit its possibility, and Falck became the more open to that +peculiar line of argument which Leicester had suggested with regard to +one of the other deputies. "I will do my best," wrote Walsingham, "to +procure that Paul Buys and Falck shall receive underhand some reward." + +Besides Menin, Falck, and Buys, were Noel de Caron, an experienced +diplomatist; the poet-soldier, Van der Does; heroic defender of Leyden; +De Gryze, Hersolte, Francis Maalzoon, and three legal Frisians of pith +and substance, Feitsma, Aisma, and Jongema; a dozen Dutchmen together-- +as muscular champions as ever little republic sent forth to wrestle with +all comers in the slippery ring of diplomacy. For it was instinctively +felt that here were conclusions to be tried with a nation of deep, solid +thinkers, who were aware that a great crisis in the world's history had +occurred, and would put forth their most substantial men to deal with it: +Burghley and Walsingham, the great Queen herself, were no feather-weights +like the frivolous Henry III., and his minions. It was pity, however, +that the discussions about to ensue presented from the outset rather the +aspect of a hard hitting encounter of antagonists than that of a frank +and friendly congress between two great parties whose interests were +identical. + +Since the death of William the Silent, there was no one individual in the +Netherlands to impersonate the great struggle of the Provinces with Spain +and Rome, and to concentrate upon his own head a poetical, dramatic, and +yet most legitimate interest. The great purpose of the present history +must be found in its illustration of the creative power of civil and +religious freedom. Here was a little republic, just born into the world, +suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint, left to its own resources, yet +already instinct with healthy vigorous life, and playing its difficult +part among friends and enemies with audacity, self-reliance, and success. +To a certain extent its achievements were anonymous, but a great +principle manifested itself through a series of noble deeds. Statesmen, +soldiers, patriots, came forward on all sides to do the work which was to +be done, and those who were brought into closest contact with the +commonwealth acknowledged in strongest language the signal ability with +which, self-guided, she steered her course. Nevertheless, there was at +this moment one Netherlander, the chief of the present mission to +England, already the foremost statesman of his country, whose name will +not soon be effaced from the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries. That man was John of Olden-Barneveld. + +He was now in his thirty-eighth year, having been born at Amersfoot on +the 14th of September, 1547. He bore an imposing name, for the Olden- +Barnevelds of Gelderland were a race of unquestionable and antique +nobility. His enemies, however, questioned his right to the descent +which he claimed. They did not dispute that the great grandfather, Class +van Olden-Barneveld, was of distinguished lineage and allied to many +illustrious houses, but they denied that Class was really the great +grandfather of John. John's father, Gerritt, they said, was a nameless +outcast, a felon, a murderer, who had escaped the punishment due to his +crimes, but had dragged out a miserable existence in the downs, burrowing +like a rabbit in the sand. They had also much to say in disparagement of +all John's connections. Not only was his father a murderer, but his +wife, whom he had married for money, was the child of a most horrible +incest, his sisters were prostitutes, his sons and brothers were +debauchees and drunkards, and, in short, never had a distinguished man a +more uncomfortable and discreditable family-circle than that which +surrounded Barneveld, if the report of his enemies was to be believed. +Yet it is agreeable to reflect that, with all the venom which they had +such power of secreting, these malignant tongues had been unable to +destroy the reputation of the man himself. John's character was +honourable and upright, his intellectual power not disputed even by those +who at a later period hated him the most bitterly. He had been a +profound and indefatigable student from his earliest youth. He had read +law at Leyden, in France, at Heidelberg. Here, in the head-quarters of +German Calvinism, his youthful mind had long pondered the dread themes of +foreknowledge, judgment absolute, free will, and predestination: To +believe it worth the while of a rational and intelligent Deity to create +annually several millions of thinking beings, who were to struggle for a +brief period on earth, and to consume in perpetual brimstone afterwards, +while others were predestined to endless enjoyment, seemed to him an +indifferent exchange for a faith in the purgatory and paradise of Rome. +Perplexed in the extreme, the youthful John bethought himself of an +inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great +grandfather's house at Amersfort--'nil scire tutissima fides.' He +resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond +the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and +faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent +Creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire. +For this most offensive doctrine he was howled at by the strictly pious, +while he earned still deeper opprobrium by daring to advocate religious +toleration: In face of the endless horrors inflicted by the Spanish +Inquisition upon his native land, he had the hardihood--although a +determined Protestant himself--to claim for Roman Catholics the right to +exercise their religion in the free States on equal terms with those of +the reformed faith. "Anyone," said his enemies, "could smell what that +meant who had not a wooden nose." In brief, he was a liberal Christian, +both in theory and practice, and he nobly confronted in consequence the +wrath of bigots on both sides. At a later period the most zealous +Calvinists called him Pope John, and the opinions to which he was to owe +such appellations had already been formed in his mind. + +After completing his very thorough legal studies, he had practised as +an advocate in Holland and Zeeland. An early defender of civil and +religious freedom, he had been brought at an early day into contact with +William the Silent, who recognized his ability. He had borne a snap- +hance on his shoulder as a volunteer in the memorable attempt to relieve +Haarlem, and was one of the few survivors of that bloody night. He had +stood outside the walls of Leyden in company of the Prince of Orange when +that magnificent destruction of the dykes had taken place by which the +city had been saved from the fate impending over it. At a still more +recent period we have seen him landing from the gun-boats upon the +Kowenstyn, on the fatal 26th May. These military adventures were, +however, but brief and accidental episodes in his career, which was +that of a statesman and diplomatist. As pensionary of Rotterdam, he was +constantly a member of the General Assembly, and had already begun to +guide the policy of the new commonwealth. His experience was +considerable, and he was now in the high noon of his vigour and his +usefulness. + +He was a man of noble and imposing presence, with thick hair pushed from +a broad forehead rising dome-like above a square and massive face; a +strong deeply-coloured physiognomy, with shaggy brow, a chill blue eye, +not winning but commanding, high cheek bones, a solid, somewhat scornful +nose, a firm mouth and chin, enveloped in a copious brown beard; +the whole head not unfitly framed in the stiff formal ruff of the period; +and the tall stately figure well draped in magisterial robes of velvet +and sable--such was John of Olden-Barneveld. + +The Commissioners thus described arrived at Greenwich Stairs, and were at +once ushered into the palace, a residence which had been much enlarged +and decorated by Henry VIII. + +They were received with stately ceremony. The presence-chamber was hung +with Gobelin tapestry, its floor strewn with rushes. Fifty-gentlemen +pensioners, with gilt battle-ages, and a throng of 'buffetiers', or beef- +eaters, in that quaint old-world garb which has survived so many +centuries, were in attendance, while the counsellors of the Queen, in +their robes of state, waited around the throne. + +There, in close skull-cap and dark flowing gown, was the subtle, +monastic-looking Walsingham, with long, grave, melancholy face and +Spanish eyes. There too, white staff in hand, was Lord High Treasurer +Burghley, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large, +smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead; seeming, with his +placid, symmetrical features, and great velvet bonnet, under which such +silver hairs as remained were soberly tucked away, and with his long dark +robes which swept the ground, more like a dignified gentlewoman than a +statesman, but for the wintery beard which lay like a snow-drift on his +ancient breast. + +The Queen was then in the fifty-third year of her age, and considered +herself in the full bloom of her beauty. Her, garments were of satin and +velvet, with fringes of pearl as big as beans. A small gold crown was +upon her head, and her red hair, throughout its multiplicity of curls, +blazed with diamonds and emeralds. Her forehead was tall, her face long, +her complexion fair, her eyes small, dark, and glittering, her nose high +and hooked, her lips thin, her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally +exposed. As she passed through the ante-chamber to the presence-hall, +supplicants presented petitions upon their knees. Wherever she glanced, +all prostrated themselves on the ground. The cry of "Long live Queen +Elizabeth" was spontaneous and perpetual; the reply; "I thank you, my +good people," was constant and cordial. She spoke to various foreigners +in their respective languages, being mistress, besides the Latin and +Greek, of French, Spanish, Italian, and German. As the Commissioners +were presented to her by Lord Buckhurst it was observed that she was +perpetually gloving and ungloving, as if to attract attention to her +hand, which was esteemed a wonder of beauty. She spoke French with +purity and elegance, but with a drawling, somewhat affected accent, +saying "Paar maa foi; paar le Dieeu vivaant," and so forth, in a style +which was ridiculed by Parisians, as she sometimes, to her extreme +annoyance, discovered. + +Joos de Menin, pensionary of Dort, in the name of all the envoys, made an +elaborate address. He expressed the gratitude which the States +entertained for her past kindness, and particularly for the good offices +rendered by Ambassador Davison after the death of the Prince of Orange, +and for the deep regret expressed by her Majesty for their disappointment +in the hopes they had founded upon France. + +"Since the death of the Prince of Orange," he said, "the States have lost +many important cities, and now, for the preservation of their existence, +they have need of a prince and sovereign lord to defend them against the +tyranny and iniquitous oppression of the Spaniards and their adherents, +who are more and more determined utterly to destroy their country, and +reduce the poor people to a perpetual slavery worse than that of Indians, +under the insupportable and detestable yoke of the Spanish Inquisition. +We have felt a confidence that your Majesty will not choose to see us +perish at the hands of the enemy against whom we have been obliged to +sustain this long and cruel war. That war we have undertaken in order to +preserve for the poor people their liberty, laws, and franchises, +together with the exercise of the true Christian religion, of which your +Majesty bears rightfully the title of defender, and against which the +enemy and his allies have made so many leagues and devised so many +ambushes and stratagems, besides organizing every day so many plots +against the life of your Majesty and the safety of your realms--schemes +which thus far the good God has averted for the good of Christianity and +the maintenance of His churches. For these reasons, Madam, the States +have taken a firm resolution to have recourse to your Majesty, seeing +that it is an ordinary thing for all oppressed nations to apply in their +calamity to neighbouring princes, and especially to such as are endowed +with piety, justice, magnanimity, and other kingly virtues. For this +reason we have been deputed to offer to your Majesty the sovereignty over +these Provinces, under certain good and equitable conditions, having +reference chiefly to the maintenance of the reformed religion and of our +ancient liberties and customs. And although, in the course of these long +and continued wars, the enemy has obtained possession of many cities and +strong places within our couniry, nevertheless the Provinces of Holland, +Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland, are, thank God, still entire. And in +those lands are many large and stately cities, beautiful and deep rivers, +admirable seaports, from which your Majesty and your successors can +derive much good fruit and commodity, of which it is scarcely, necessary +to make a long recital. This point, however, beyond the rest, merits a +special consideration; namely, that the conjunction of those Provinces of +Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland, together with the cities of +Sluys and Ostend, with the kingdoms of your Majesty, carries with it the +absolute empire of the great ocean, and consequently an assurance of +perpetual felicity for your subjects. We therefore humbly entreat you to +agree to our conditions, to accept the sovereign seignory of these +Provinces, and consequently to receive the people of the same as your +very humble and obedient subjects, under the perpetual safeguard of your +crown--a people certainly as faithful and loving towards their princes +and sovereign lords, to speak without boasting, as any in all +Christendom. + +"So doing, Madam, you will preserve many beautiful churches which it has +pleased God to raise up in these lands, now much afflicted and shaken, +and you will deliver this country and people--before the iniquitous +invasion of the Spaniards, so rich and flourishing by the great Commodity +of the sea, their ports and rivers, their commerce and manufactures, for +all which they have such natural advantages--from ruin and perpetual +slavery of body and soul. This will be a truly excellent work, agreeable +to God, profitable to Christianity, worthy of immortal praise, and +comporting with the heroic virtues of your Majesty, and ensuring the +prosperity of your country and people. With this we present to your +Majesty our articles and conditions, and pray that the King of Kings may +preserve you from all your enemies and ever have you in His holy +keeping." + +The Queen listened intently and very courteously to the delivery of this +address, and then made answer in French to this effect:--"Gentlemen,--Had +I a thousand tongues I should not be able to express my obligation to you +for the great and handsome offers which you have just made. I firmly +believe that this proceeds from the true zeal, devotion, and affection, +which you have always borne me, and I am certain that you have ever +preferred me to all the princes and potentates in the world. Even when +you selected the late Duke of Anjou, who was so dear to me, and to whose +soul I hope that God has been merciful, I know that you would sooner have +offered your country to me if I had desired that you should do so. +Certainly I esteem it a great thing that you wish to be governed by me, +and I feel so much obliged to you in consequence that I will never +abandon you, but, on the contrary, assist you till the last sigh of my +life. I know very well that your princes have treated you ill, and that +the Spaniards are endeavouring to ruin you entirely; but I will come to +your aid, and I will consider what I can do, consistently with my honour, +in regard to the articles which you have brought me. They shall be +examined by the members of my council, and I promise that I will not keep +you three or four months, for I know very well that your affairs require +haste, and that they will become ruinous if you are not assisted. It is +not my custom to procrastinate, and upon this occasion I shall not dally, +as others have done, but let you have my answer very soon." + +Certainly, if the Provinces needed a king, which they had most +unequivocally declared to be the case, they might have wandered the +whole earth over, and, had it been possible, searched through the whole +range of history, before finding a monarch with a more kingly spirit +than the great Queen to whom they had at last had recourse. + +Unfortunately, she was resolute in her refusal to accept the offered +sovereignty. The first interview terminated with this exchange of +addresses, and the deputies departed in their barges for their lodgings +in Pynchon-lane. + +The next two days were past in perpetual conferences, generally at Lord +Burghley's house, between the envoys and the lords of the council, in +which the acceptance of the sovereignty was vehemently urged on the part +of the Netherlanders, and steadily declined in the name of her Majesty. + +"Her Highness," said Burghley, "cannot be induced, by any writing or +harangue that you can make, to accept the principality or proprietorship +as sovereign, and it will therefore be labour lost for you to exhibit any +writing for the purpose of changing her intention. It will be better to +content yourselves with her Majesty's consent to assist you, and to take +you under her protection." + +Nevertheless, two days afterwards, a writing was exhibited, drawn up by +Menin, in which another elaborate effort was made to alter the Queen's +determination. This anxiety, on the part of men already the principal +personages in a republic, to merge the independent existence of their +commonwealth in another and a foreign political organism, proved, at any +rate; that they were influenced by patriotic motives alone. It is also +instructive to observe the intense language with which the necessity +of a central paramount sovereignty for all the Provinces, and the +inconveniences of the separate States' right principle were urged by a +deputation, at the head of which stood Olden-Barneveld. "Although it is +not becoming in us," said they, "to enquire into your Majesty's motives +for refusing the sovereignty of our country, nevertheless, we cannot help +observing that your consent would be most profitable, as well to your +Majesty, and your successors, as to the Provinces themselves. By your +acceptance of the sovereignty the two peoples would be, as it were, +united in one body. This would cause a fraternal benevolence between +them, and a single reverence, love, and obedience to your Majesty.--The +two peoples being thus under the government of the same sovereign prince, +the intrigues and practices which the enemy could attempt with persons +under a separate subjection, would of necessity surcease. Moreover, +those Provinces are all distinct duchies, counties, seignories, governed +by their own magistrates, laws, and ordinances; each by itself, without +any authority or command to be exercised by one Province over another. +To this end they have need of a supreme power and of one sovereign prince +or seignor, who may command all equally, having a constant regard to the +public weal--considered as a generality, and not with regard to the +profit of the one or the other individual Province--and, causing promptly +and universally to be executed such ordinances as may be made in the +matter of war or police, according to various emergencies. Each +Province, on the contrary, retaining its sovereignty over its own +inhabitants, obedience will not be so promptly and completely rendered +to the commands of the lieutenant-general of your Majesty, and many, +a good enterprise and opportunity, will be lost. Where there is not a +single authority it is always found that one party endeavours to usurp +power over another, or to escape doing his duty so thoroughly as the +others. And this has notoriously been the case in the matter of +contributions, imposts, and similar matters." + +Thus much, and more of similar argument, logically urged, made it +sufficiently evident that twenty years of revolt and of hard fighting +against one king, had not destroyed in the minds of the leading +Netherlanders their conviction of the necessity of kingship. If the new +commonwealth was likely to remain a republic, it was, at that moment at +any rate, because they could not find a king. Certainly they did their +best to annex themselves to England, and to become loyal subjects of +England's Elizabeth. But the Queen, besides other objections to the +course proposed by the Provinces, thought that she could do a better +thing in the way of mortgages. In this, perhaps, there was something of +the penny-wise policy, which sprang from one great defect in her +character. At any rate much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit +which dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the Channel at this +important juncture; for during this tedious flint-paring, Antwerp, which +might have been saved, was falling into the hands of Philip. It should +never be forgotten, however, that the Queen had no standing army, and but +a small revenue. The men to be sent from England to the Netherland wars +were first to be levied wherever it was possible to find them. In truth, +many were pressed in the various wards of London, furnished with red +coats and matchlocks at the expense of the citizens, and so despatched, +helter-skelter, in small squads as opportunity offered. General Sir John +Norris was already superintending these operations, by command of the +Queen, before the present formal negotiation with the States had begun. + +Subsequently to the 11th July, on which day the second address had been +made to Elizabeth, the envoys had many conferences with Leicester, +Burghley, Walsingham, and other councillors, without making much +progress. There was perpetual wrangling about figures and securities. + +"What terms will you pledge for the repayment of the monies to be +advanced?" asked Burghley and Walsingham. + +"But if her Majesty takes the sovereignty," answered the deputies, "there +will be no question of guarantees. The Queen will possess our whole +land, and there will be no need of any repayment." + +"And we have told you over and over again," said the Lord Treasurer, +"that her Majesty will never think of accepting the sovereignty. She +will assist you in money and men, and must be repaid to the last farthing +when the war is over; and, until that period, must have solid pledges in +the shape of a town in each Province." + +Then came interrogatories as to the amount of troops and funds to be +raised respectively by the Queen and the States for the common cause. +The Provinces wished her Majesty to pay one-third of the whole expense, +while her Majesty was reluctant to pay one-quarter. The States wished +a permanent force to be kept on foot in the Netherlands of thirteen +thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry for the field, and twenty- +three thousand for garrisons. The councillors thought the last item too +much. Then there were queries as to the expense of maintaining a force +in the Provinces. The envoys reckoned one pound sterling, or ten +florins, a month for the pay of each foot soldier, including officers; +and for the cavalry, three times as much. This seemed reasonable, and +the answers to the inquiries touching the expense of the war-vessels and +sailors were equally satisfactory. Nevertheless it was difficult to +bring the Queen up to the line to which the envoys had been limited by +their instructions. Five thousand foot and one thousand horse serving at +the Queen's expense till the war should be concluded, over and above the +garrisons for such cautionary towns as should be agreed upon; this was +considered, by the States, the minimum. The Queen held out for giving +only four thousand foot and four hundred horse, and for deducting the +garrisons even from this slender force. As guarantee for the expense +thus to be incurred, she required that Flushing and Brill should be +placed in her hands. Moreover the position of Antwerp complicated the +negotiation. Elizabeth, fully sensible of the importance of preserving +that great capital, offered four thousand soldiers to serve until that +city should be relieved, requiring repayment within three months after +the object should have been accomplished. As special guarantee for such +repayment she required Sluys and Ostend. This was sharp bargaining, +but, at any rate, the envoys knew that the Queen, though cavilling to +the ninth-part of a hair, was no trifler, and that she meant to perform +whatever she should promise. + +There was another exchange of speeches at the Palace of Nonesuch, on the +5th August; and the position of affairs and the respective attitudes of +the Queen and envoys were plainly characterized by the language then +employed. + +After an exordium about the cruelty of the Spanish tyranny and the +enormous expense entailed by the war upon the Netherlands, Menin, who, +as usual, was the spokesman, alluded to the difficulty which the States +at last felt in maintaining themselves. + +"Five thousand foot and one thousand horse," he said, "over and above the +maintenance of garrisons in the towns to be pledged as security to your +Majesty, seemed the very least amount of succour that would be probably +obtained from your royal bounty. Considering the great demonstrations +of affection and promises of support, made as well by your Majesty's own +letters as by the mouth of your ambassador Davison, and by our envoys De +Gryse and Ortel, who have all declared publicly that your Majesty would +never forsake us, the States sent us their deputies to this country in +full confidence that such reasonable demands as we had been authorized to +make would be satisfied." + +The speaker then proceeded to declare that the offer made by the royal +councillors of four thousand foot and four hundred horse, to serve during +the war, together with a special force of four thousand for the relief of +Antwerp, to be paid for within three months after the siege should be +raised, auninst a concession of the cities of Flushing, Brill, Sluys, and +Ostend, did not come within the limitations of the States-General. They +therefore begged the Queen to enlarge her offer to the number of five +thousand foot and one thousand horse, or at least to allow the envoys to +conclude the treaty provisionally, and subject to approval of their +constituents. + +So soon as Menin had concluded his address, her Majesty instantly +replied, with much earnestness and fluency of language. + +"Gentlemen," she said, "I will answer you upon the first point, because +it touches my honour. You say that I promised you, both by letters and +through my agent Davison, and also by my own lips, to assist you and +never to abandon you, and that this had moved you to come to me at +present. Very well, masters, do you not think I am assisting you when I +am sending you four thousand foot and four hundred horse to serve during +the war? Certainly, I think yes; and I say frankly that I have never +been wanting to my word. No man shall ever say, with truth, that the +Queen of England had at any time and ever so slightly failed in her +promises, whether to the mightiest monarch, to republics, to gentlemen, +or even to private persons of the humblest condition. Am I, then, in +your opinion, forsaking you when I send you English blood, which I love, +and which is my own blood, and which I am bound to defend? It seems to +me, no. For my part I tell you again that I will never forsake you. + +"'Sed de modo?' That is matter for agreement. You are aware, gentlemen, +that I have storms to fear from many quarters--from France, Scotland, +Ireland, and within my own kingdom. What would be said if I looked only +on one side, and if on that side I employed all my resources. No, I will +give my subjects no cause for murmuring. I know that my counsellors +desire to manage matters with prudence; 'sed aetatem habeo', and you are +to believe, that, of my own motion, I have resolved not to extend my +offer of assistance, at present, beyond the amount already stated. But +I don't say that at another time I may not be able to do more for you. +For my intention is never to abandon your cause, always to assist you, +and never more to suffer any foreign nation to have dominion over you. + +"It is true that you present me with two places in each of your +Provinces. I thank you for them infinitely, and certainly it is a great +offer. But it will be said instantly, the Queen of England wishes to +embrace and devour everything; while, on the contrary, I only wish to +render you assistance. I believe, in truth, that if other monarchs +should have this offer, they would not allow such an opportunity to +escape. I do not let it slip because of fears that I entertain for any +prince whatever. For to think that I am not aware--doing what I am +doing--that I am embarking in a war against the King of Spain, is a great +mistake. I know very well that the succour which I am affording you will +offend him as much as if I should do a great deal more. But what care I? +Let him begin, I will answer him. For my part, I say again, that never +did fear enter my heart. We must all die once. I know very well that +many princes are my enemies, and are seeking my ruin; and that where +malice is joined with force, malice often arrives at its ends. But I am +not so feeble a princess that I have not the means and the will to defend +myself against them all. They are seeking to take my life, but it +troubles me not. He who is on high has defended me until this hour, +and will keep me still, for in Him do I trust. + +"As to the other point, you say that your powers are not extensive enough +to allow your acceptance of the offer I make you. Nevertheless, if I am +not mistaken, I have remarked in passing--for princes look very close to +words--that you would be content if I would give you money in place of +men, and that your powers speak only of demanding a certain proportion +of infantry and another of cavalry. I believe this would be, as you say, +an equivalent, 'secundum quod'. But I say this only because you govern +yourselves so precisely by the measure of your instructions. Nevertheless +I don't wish to contest these points with you. For very often 'dum Romae +disputatur Saguntum perit.' Nevertheless, it would be well for you to +decide; and, in any event, I do not think it good that you should all +take your departure, but that, on the contrary, you should leave some of +your number here. Otherwise it would at once be said that all was broken +off, and that I had chosen to nothing for you; and with this the bad +would comfort themselves, and the good would be much discouraged. + +"Touching the last point of your demand--according to which you desire a +personage of quality--I know, gentlemen, that you do not always agree +very well among yourselves, and that it would be good for you to have +some one to effect such agreement. For this reason I have always +intended, so soon as we should have made our treaty, to send a lord of +name and authority to reside with you, to assist you in governing, and to +aid, with his advice, in the better direction of your affairs. + +"Would to God that Antwerp were relieved! Certainly I should be very +glad, and very well content to lose all that I am now expending if that +city could be saved. I hope, nevertheless, if it can hold out six weeks +longer, that we shall see something good. Already the two thousand men +of General Norris have crossed, or are crossing, every day by companies. +I will hasten the rest as much as possible; and I assure you, gentlemen, +that I will spare no diligence. Nevertheless you may, if you choose, +retire with my council, and see if together you can come to some good +conclusion." + +Thus spoke Elizabeth, like the wise, courageous, and very parsimonious +princess that she was. Alas, it was too true, that Saguntum was +perishing while the higgling went on at Rome. Had those two thousand +under Sir John Norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few +weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! + +Nevertheless, it was thought in England that Antwerp would still hold +out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another +for permanent assistance to the Provinces, was agreed upon between the +envoys and the lords of council. + +On the 12th August, Menin presented himself at Nonesuch at the head of +his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which +had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the States. Again +Elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the Netherlanders, +"was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence. + +"You see, gentlemen," she said, "that I have opened the door; that I am +embarking once for all with you in a war against the King of Spain. Very +well, I am not anxious about the matter. I hope that God will aid us, +and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause. Nevertheless, I pray +you, with all my heart, and by the affection you bear me, to treat my +soldiers well; for they are my own Englishmen, whom I love as I do +myself. Certainly it would be a great cruelty, if you should treat +them ill, since they are about to hazard their lives so freely in your +defence, and I am sure that my request in this regard will be received by +you as it deserves. + +"In the next place, as you know that I am sending, as commander of these +English troops, an honest gentleman, who deserves most highly for his +experience in arms, so I am also informed that you have on your side a +gentleman of great valour. I pray you, therefore, that good care be +taken lest there be misunderstanding between these two, which might +prevent them from agreeing well together, when great exploits of war +are to be taken in hand. For if that should happen--which God forbid-- +my succour would be rendered quite useless to you. I name Count Hohenlo, +because him alone have I heard mentioned. But I pray you to make the +same recommendation to all the colonels and gentlemen in your army; +for I should be infinitely sad, if misadventures should arise from +such a cause, for your interest and my honour are both at stake. + +"In the third place, I beg you, at your return, to make a favourable +report of me, and to thank the States, in my behalf, for their great +offers, which I esteem so highly as to be unable to express my thanks. +Tell them that I shall remember them for ever. I consider it a great +honour, that from the commencement, you have ever been so faithful to me, +and that with such great constancy you have preferred me to all other +princes, and have chosen me for your Queen. And chiefly do I thank the +gentlemen of Holland and Zeeland, who, as I have been informed, were the +first who so singularly loved me. And so on my own part I will have a +special care of them, and will do my best to uphold them by every +possible means, as I will do all the rest who have put their trust in me. +But I name Holland and Zeeland more especially, because they have been so +constant and faithful in their efforts to assist the rest in shaking off +the yoke of the enemy. + +"Finally, gentlemen, I beg you to assure the States that I do not decline +the sovereignty of your country from any dread of the King of Spain. For +I take God to witness that I fear him not; and I hope, with the blessing +of God, to make such demonstrations against him, that men shall say the +Queen of England does not fear the Spaniards." + +Elizabeth then smote herself upon the breast, and cried, with great +energy, "'Illa que virgo viri;' and is it not quite the same to you, +even if I do not assume the sovereignty, since I intend to protect you, +and since therefore the effects will be the same? It is true that the +sovereignty would serve to enhance my grandeur, but I am content to do +without it, if you, upon your own part, will only do your duty. + +"For myself, I promise you, in truth, that so long as I live, and even to +my last sigh, I will never forsake you. Go home and tell this boldly to +the States which sent you hither." + +Menin then replied with fresh expressions of thanks and compliments, and +requested, in conclusion, that her Majesty would be pleased to send, as +soon as possible, a personage of quality to the Netherlands. + +"Gentlemen," replied Elizabeth, "I intend to do this, so soon as our +treaty shall be ratified, for, in contrary case, the King of Spain, +seeing your government continue on its present footing, would do nothing +but laugh at us. Certainly I do not mean this year to provide him with +so fine a banquet." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form +Dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies +Her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (Eliz.) +Holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole +Resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance +Say "'tis pity he is not an Englishman +Seeking protection for and against the people +Three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in London +We must all die once +Wrath of bigots on both sides + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v42 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 43, 1585 + + +CHAPTER VI., Part 2. + + Sir John Norris sent to Holland--Parsimony of Elizabeth--Energy of + Davison--Protracted Negotiations--Friendly Sentiments of Count + Maurice--Letters from him and Louisa de Coligny--Davison vexed by + the Queen's Caprice--Dissatisfaction of Leicester--His vehement + Complaints--The Queen's Avarice--Perplexity of Davison--Manifesto + of Elizabeth--Sir Philip Sidney--His Arrival at Flushing. + + +The envoys were then dismissed, and soon afterwards a portion of the +deputation took their departure from the Netherlands with the proposed +treaty. It was however, as we know, quite too late for Saguntum. Two +days after the signing of the treaty, the remaining envoys were at the +palace of Nonesuch, in conference with the Earl of Leicester, when a +gentleman rushed suddenly into the apartment, exclaiming with great +manifestations of anger: + +"Antwerp has fallen! A treaty has been signed with the Prince of Parma. +Aldegonde is the author of it all. He is the culprit, who has betrayed +us;" with many more expressions of vehement denunciation. + +The Queen was disappointed, but stood firm. She had been slow in taking +her resolution, but she was unflinching when her mind was made up. +Instead of retreating from her, position, now that it became doubly +dangerous, she advanced several steps nearer towards her allies. For +it was obvious, if more precious time should be lost, that Holland and +Zeeland would share the fate of Antwerp. Already the belief, that, with +the loss of that city, all had been lost, was spreading both in the +Provinces and in England, and Elizabeth felt that the time had indeed +come to confront the danger. + +Meantime the intrigues of the enemy in the independent Provinces were +rife. Blunt Roger Williams wrote in very plain language to Walsingham, +a very few days after the capitulation of Antwerp: + +"If her Majesty means to have Holland and Zeeland," said he, "she must +resolve presently. Aldegonde hath promised the enemy to bring them to +compound. Here arrived already his ministers which knew all his dealings +about Antwerp from first to last. Count Maurice is governed altogether +by Villiers, and Villiers was never worse for the English than at this +hour. To be short, the people say in general, they will accept a peace, +unless her Majesty do sovereign them presently. All the men of war will +be at her Highness' devotion, if they be in credit in time. What you do, +it must be done presently, for I do assure your honour there is large +offers presented unto them by the enemies. If her Majesty deals not +roundly and resolutely with them now, it will be too late two months +hence." + +Her Majesty meant to deal roundly and resolutely. Her troops had already +gone in considerable numbers. She wrote encouraging letters with her own +hand to the States, imploring them not to falter now, even though the +great city had fallen. She had long since promised never to desert them, +and she was, if possible, more determined than ever to redeem her pledge. +She especially recommended to their consideration General Norris, +commander of the forces that had been despatched to the relief of +Antwerp. + +A most accomplished officer, sprung of a house renowned for its romantic +valour, Sir John was the second of the six sons of Lord Norris of Rycot, +all soldiers of high reputation, "chickens of Mars," as an old writer +expressed himself. "Such a bunch of brethren for eminent achievement," +said he, "was never seen. So great their states and stomachs that they +often jostled with others." Elizabeth called their mother, "her own +crow;" and the darkness of her hair and visage was thought not +unbecoming to her martial issue, by whom it had been inherited. Daughter +of Lord Williams of Tame, who had been keeper of the Tower in the time of +Elizabeth's imprisonment, she had been affectionate and serviceable to +the Princess in the hour of her distress, and had been rewarded with her +favour in the days of her grandeur. We shall often meet this crow-black +Norris, and his younger brother Sir Edward--the most daring soldiers of +their time, posters of sea and land--wherever the buffeting was closest, +or adventure the wildest on ship-board or shore, for they were men who +combined much of the knight-errantry of a vanishing age with the more +practical and expansive spirit of adventure that characterized the new +epoch. + +Nor was he a stranger in the Netherlands. "The gentleman to whom we have +committed the government of the forces going to the relief of Antwerp," +said Elizabeth, "has already given you such proofs of his affection by +the good services he has rendered you, that without recommendation on our +part, he should stand already recommended. Nevertheless, in respect for +his quality, the house from which he is descended, and the valour which +he has manifested in your own country, we desire to tell you that we hold +him dear, and that he deserves also to be dear to you." + +When the fall of Antwerp was certain, the Queen sent Davison, who had +been for a brief period in England, back again to his post. "We have +learned," she said in the letter which she sent by that envoy; "with very +great regret of the surrender of Antwerp. Fearing lest some apprehension +should take possession of the people's mind in consequence, and that some +dangerous change might ensue, we send you our faithful and well-beloved +Davison to represent to you how much we have your affairs at heart, and +to say that we are determined to forget nothing that may be necessary to +your preservation. Assure yourselves that we shall never fail to +accomplish all that he may promise you in our behalf." + +Yet, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, the thorough +discussion that had taken place of the whole matter, and the enormous +loss which had resulted from the money-saving insanity upon both sides, +even then the busy devil of petty economy was not quite exorcised. +Several precious weeks were wasted in renewed chafferings. The Queen was +willing that the permanent force should now be raised to five thousand +foot and one thousand horse--the additional sixteen, hundred men being +taken from the Antwerp relieving-force--but she insisted that the +garrisons for the cautionary towns should be squeezed out of this general +contingent. The States, on the contrary, were determined to screw these +garrisons out of her grip, as an additional subsidy. Each party +complained with reason of the other's closeness. No doubt the states +were shrewd bargainers, but it would have been difficult for the sharpest +Hollander that ever sent a cargo of herrings to Cadiz, to force open +Elizabeth's beautiful hand when she chose to shut it close. Walsingham +and Leicester were alternately driven to despair by the covetousness of +the one party or the other. + +It was still uncertain what "personage of quality" was to go to the +Netherlands in the Queen's name, to help govern the country. Leicester +had professed his readiness to risk his life, estates, and reputation, +in the cause, and the States particularly desired his appointment. +"The name of your Excellency is so very agreeable to this people," said +they in a letter to the Earl, "as to give promise of a brief and happy +end to this grievous and almost immortal war." The Queen was, or +affected to be, still undecided as to the appointment. While waiting +week after week for the ratifications of the treaty from Holland, affairs +were looking gloomy at home, and her Majesty was growing very uncertain +in her temper. + +"I see not her Majesty disposed to use the service of the Earl of +Leicester," wrote Walsingham. "I suppose the lot of government will +light on Lord Gray. I would to God the ability of his purse were +answerable to his sufficiency otherwise." This was certainly a most +essential deficiency on the part of Lord Gray, and it will soon be seen +that the personage of quality to be selected as chief in the arduous and +honourable enterprise now on foot, would be obliged to rely quite as much +on that same ability of purse as upon the sufficiency of his brain or +arm. The Queen did not mean to send her favourite forth to purchase +anything but honour in the Netherlands; and it was not the Provinces only +that were likely to struggle against her parsimony. Yet that parsimony +sprang from a nobler motive than the mere love of pelf. Dangers +encompassed her on every side, and while husbanding her own exchequer, +she was saving her subjects' resources. "Here we are but book-worms," +said Walsingham, "yet from sundry quarters we hear of great practices +against this poor crown. The revolt in Scotland is greatly feared, and +that out of hand." + +Scotland, France, Spain, these were dangerous enemies and neighbours to a +maiden Queen, who had a rebellious Ireland to deal with on one side the +channel, and Alexander of Parma on the other. + +Davison experienced great inconvenience and annoyance before the definite +arrangements could be made. There is no doubt that the Spanish party had +made great progress since the fall of Antwerp. Roger Williams was right +in advising the Queen to deal" roundly and resolutely" with the States, +and to "sovereign them presently." + +They had need of being sovereigned, for it must be confessed that the +self-government which prevailed at that moment was very like no +government. The death of Orange, the treachery of Henry III., the +triumphs of Parma, disastrous facts, treading rapidly upon each other, +had produced a not very unnatural effect. The peace-at-any-price party +was struggling hard for the ascendancy, and the Spanish partizans were +doing their best to hold up to suspicion the sharp practice of the +English Queen. She was even accused of underhand dealing with Spain, +to the disadvantage of the Provinces; so much had slander, anarchy, and +despair, been able to effect. The States were reluctant to sign those +articles with Elizabeth which were absolutely necessary to their +salvation. + +"In how doubtful and uncertain terms I found things at my coming hither," +wrote Davison to Burghley, "how thwarted and delayed since for a +resolution, and with what conditions, and for what reasons I have been +finally drawn to conclude with them as I have done, your Lordship may +perceive by that I have written to Mr. Secretary. The chief difficulty +has rested upon the point of entertaining the garrisons within the towns +of assurance, over and besides the five thousand footmen and one thousand +horse." + +This, as Davison proceeded to observe, was considered a 'sine qua non' +by the States, so that, under the perilous circumstances in which both +countries were placed, he had felt it his duty to go forward as far as +possible to meet their demands. Davison always did his work veraciously, +thoroughly, and resolutely; and it was seldom that his advice, in all +matters pertaining to Netherland matters, did not prove the very best +that could be offered. No man knew better than he the interests and the +temper of both countries. + +The imperious Elizabeth was not fond of being thwarted, least of all by +any thing savouring of the democratic principle, and already there was +much friction between the Tudor spirit of absolutism and the rough +"mechanical" nature with which it was to ally itself in the Netherlands. +The economical Elizabeth was not pleased at being overreached in a +bargain; and, at a moment when she thought herself doing a magnanimous +act, she was vexed at the cavilling with which her generosity was +received. "'Tis a manner of proceeding," said Walsingham, "not to be +allowed of, and may very well be termed mechanical, considering that her +Majesty seeketh no interest in that country--as Monsieur and the French +King did--but only their good and benefit, without regard had of the +expenses of her treasure and the hazard of her subjects' lives; besides +throwing herself into a present war for their sakes with the greatest +prince and potentate in Europe. But seeing the government of those +countries resteth in the hands of merchants and advocates--the one +regarding profit, the other standing upon vantage of quirks--there +is no better fruit to be looked to from them." + +Yet it was, after all, no quirk in those merchants and advocates to urge +that the Queen was not going to war with the great potentate for their +sakes alone. To Elizabeth's honour, she did thoroughly comprehend that +the war of the Netherlands was the war of England, of Protestantism, and +of European liberty, and that she could no longer, without courting her +own destruction, defer taking a part in active military operations. It +was no quirk, then, but solid reasoning, for the States to regard the +subject in the same light. Holland and England were embarked in one +boat, and were to sink or swim together. It was waste of time to wrangle +so fiercely over pounds and shillings, but the fault was not to be +exclusively imputed to the one side or the other. There were bitter +recriminations, particularly on the part of Elizabeth, for it was not +safe to touch too closely either the pride or the pocket of that frugal +and despotic heroine. "The two thousand pounds promised by the States to +Norris upon the muster of the two thousand volunteers," said Walsingham, +"were not paid. Her Majesty is not a little offended therewith, seeing +how little care they have to yield her satisfaction, which she imputeth +to proceed rather from contempt, than from necessity. If it should fall +out, however, to be such as by them is pretended, then doth she conceive +her bargain to be very ill made, to join her fortune with so weak and +broken an estate." Already there were indications that the innocent +might be made to suffer for the short-comings of the real culprits; nor +would it be, the first time, or by any means the last, for Davison to +appear in the character of a scape-goat. + +"Surely, sir," continued Mr. Secretary, "it is a thing greatly to be +feared that the contributions they will yield will fall not more true in +paper than in payment; which if it should so happen, it would turn some +to blame, whereof you among others are to bear your part." + +And thus the months of September and of October wore away, and the +ratifications of the treaty had not arrived from the Netherlands. +Elizabeth became furious, and those of the Netherland deputation who had +remained in England were at their wits' end to appease her choler. No +news arrived for many weeks. Those were not the days of steam and +magnetic telegraphs--inventions by which the nature of man and the aspect +of history seem altered--and the Queen had nothing for it but to fret, +and the envoys to concert with her ministers expedients to mitigate her +spleen. Towards the end of the month, the commissioners chartered a +vessel which they despatched for news to Holland. On his way across the +sea the captain was hailed on the 28th October by a boat, in which one +Hans Wyghans was leisurely proceeding to England with Netherland +despatches dated on the 5th of the same month. This was the freshest +intelligence that had yet been received. + +So soon as the envoys were put in possession of the documents, they +obtained an audience of the Queen. This was the last day of October. +Elizabeth read her letters, and listened to the apologies made by the +deputies for the delay with anything but a benignant countenance. +Then, with much vehemence of language, and manifestations of ill-temper, +she expressed her displeasure at the dilatoriness of the States. Having +sent so many troops, and so many gentlemen of quality, she had considered +the whole affair concluded. + +"I have been unhandsomely treated," she said, "and not as comports with a +prince of my quality. My inclination for your support--because you show +yourselves unworthy of so great benefits--will be entirely destroyed, +unless you deal with me and mine more worthily for the future than you +have done in the past. Through my great and especial affection for +your welfare, I had ordered the Earl of Leicester to proceed to the +Netherlands, and conduct your affairs; a man of such quality as all the +world knows, and one whom I love, as if he were my own brother. He was +getting himself ready in all diligence, putting himself in many perils +through the practices of the enemy, and if I should have reason to +believe that he would not be respected there according to his due, +I should be indeed offended. He and many others are not going thither +to advance their own affairs, to make themselves rich, or because they +have not means enough to live magnificently at home. They proceed to the +Netherlands from pure affection for your cause. This is the case, too, +with many other of my subjects, all dear to me, and of much worth. For I +have sent a fine heap of folk thither--in all, with those his Excellency +is taking with him, not under ten thousand soldiers of the English +nation. This is no small succour, and no little unbaring of this realm +of mine, threatened as it is with war from many quarters. Yet I am +seeking no sovereignty, nor anything else prejudicial to the freedom of +your country. I wish only, in your utmost need, to help you out of this +lamentable war, to maintain for you liberty of conscience, and to see +that law and justice are preserved." + +All this, and more, with great eagerness of expression and gesture, was +urged by the Queen, much to the discomfiture of the envoys. In vain they +attempted to modify and to explain. Their faltering excuses were swept +rapidly away upon the current of royal wrath; until at last Elizabeth +stormed herself into exhaustion and comparative tranquillity. She then +dismissed them with an assurance that her goodwill towards the States was +not diminished, as would be found to be the case, did they not continue +to prove themselves unworthy of her favour that a permanent force of five +thousand foot and one thousand horse should serve in the Provinces at the +Queen's expense; and that the cities of Flushing and Brill should be +placed in her Majesty's hands until the entire reimbursement of the debt +thus incurred by the States. Elizabeth also--at last overcoming her +reluctance--agreed that the force necessary to garrison these towns +should form an additional contingent, instead of being deducted from the +general auxiliary force. + +Count Maurice of Nassau had been confirmed by the States of Holland and +Zeeland as permanent stadholder of those provinces. This measure excited +some suspicion on the part of Leicester, who, as it was now understood, +was the "personage of quality" to be sent to the Netherlands as +representative of the Queen's authority. "Touching the election of Count +Maurice," said the Earl, "I hope it will be no impairing of the authority +heretofore allotted to me, for if it will be, I shall tarry but awhile." + +Nothing, however, could be more frank or chivalrously devoted than the +language of Maurice to the Queen. "Madam, if I have ever had occasion," +he wrote, "to thank God for his benefits, I confess that it was when, +receiving in all humility the letters with which it pleased your Majesty +to honour me, I learned that the great disaster of my lord and father's +death had not diminished the debonaire affection and favour which it has +always pleased your Majesty to manifest to my father's house. It has +been likewise grateful to me to learn that your Majesty, surrounded by so +many great and important affairs, had been pleased to approve the command +which the States-General have conferred upon me. I am indeed grieved +that my actions cannot correspond with the ardent desire which I feel to +serve your Majesty and these Provinces, for which I hope that my extreme +youth will be accepted as an excuse. And although I find myself feeble +enough for the charge thus imposed upon me, yet God will assist my +efforts to supply by diligence and sincere intention the defect of the +other qualities requisite for my thorough discharge of my duty to the +contentment of your Majesty. To fulfil these obligations, which are +growing greater day by day, I trust to prove by my actions that I will +never spare either my labour or life." + +When it was found that the important town of Flushing was required as +part of the guaranty to the Queen, Maurice, as hereditary seignor and +proprietor of the place--during the captivity of his elder brother in +Spain--signified his concurrence in the transfer, together with the most +friendly feelings towards the Earl of Leicester, and to Sir Philip +Sidney, appointed English governor of the town. He wrote to Davison, +whom he called "one of the best and most certain friends that the house +of Nassau possessed in England," begging that he would recommend the +interests of the family to the Queen, "whose favour could do more than +anything else in the world towards maintaining what remained of the +dignity of their house." After solemn deliberation with his step-mother, +Louisa de Coligny, and the other members of his family, he made a formal +announcement of adhesion on the part of the House of Nassau to the +arrangements concluded with the English government, and asked the +benediction of God upon the treaty. While renouncing, for the moment, +any compensation for his consent to the pledging of Flushing his +"patrimonial property, and a place of such great importance"--he expressed +a confidence that the long services of his father, as well as those which +he himself hoped to render, would meet in time with "condign +recognition." He requested the Earl of Leicester to consider the +friendship which had existed between himself and the late Prince of +Orange, as an hereditary affection to be continued to the children, and +he entreated the Earl to do him the honour in future to hold him as a +son, and to extend to him counsel and authority; declaring, on his part, +that he should ever deem it an honour to be allowed to call him father. +And in order still more strongly to confirm his friendship, he begged Sir +Philip Sidney to consider him as his brother, and as his companion in +arms, promising upon his own part the most faithful friendship. In the +name of Louisa de Coligny, and of his whole family, he also particularly +recommended to the Queen the interests of the eldest brother of the +house, Philip William, "who had been so long and so iniquitously detained +captive in Spain," and begged that, in case prisoners of war of high rank +should fall into the hands of the English commanders, they might be +employed as a means of effecting the liberation of that much-injured +Prince. He likewise desired the friendly offices of the Queen to protect +the principality of Orange against the possible designs of the French +monarch, and intimated that occasions might arise in which the +confiscated estates of the family in Burgundy might be recovered through +the influence of the Swiss cantons, particularly those of the Grisons and +of Berne. + +And, in conclusion, in case the Queen should please--as both Count +Maurice and the Princess of Orange desired with all their hearts--to +assume the sovereignty of these Provinces, she was especially entreated +graciously to observe those suggestions regarding the interests of the +House of Nassau, which had been made in the articles of the treaty. + +Thus the path had been smoothed, mainly through the indefatigable energy +of Davison. Yet that envoy was not able to give satisfaction to his +imperious and somewhat whimsical mistress, whose zeal seemed to cool in +proportion to the readiness with which the obstacles to her wishes were +removed. Davison was, with reason, discontented. He had done more than +any other man either in England or the Provinces, to bring about a hearty +cooperation in the common cause, and to allay mutual heart-burnings and +suspicions. He had also, owing to the negligence of the English +treasurer for the Netherlands, and the niggardliness of Elizabeth, been +placed in a position, of great financial embarrassment. His situation +was very irksome. + +"I mused at the sentence you sent me," he wrote, "for I know no cause her +Majesty hath to shrink at her charges hitherto. The treasure she hath +yet disbursed here is not above five or six thousand pounds, besides that +which I have been obliged to take up for the saving of her honour, and +necessity of her service, in danger otherwise of some notable disgrace. +I will not, for shame, say how I have been left here to myself." + +The delay in the formal appointment of Leicester, and, more particularly, +of the governors for the cautionary towns, was the cause of great +confusion and anarchy in the transitional condition of the country. +"The burden I am driven to sustain," said Davison, "doth utterly weary +me. If Sir Philip Sidney were here, and if my Lord of Leicester follow +not all the sooner, I would use her Majesty's liberty to return home. +If her Majesty think me worthy the reputation of a poor, honest, and +loyal servant, I have that contents me. For the rest, I wish + + 'Vivere sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos + Egigere, amicitias et mihi jungere pares.'" + +There was something almost prophetic in the tone which this faithful +public servant--to whom, on more than one occasion, such hard measure was +to be dealt--habitually adopted in his private letters and conversation. +He did his work, but he had not his reward; and he was already weary of +place without power, and industry without recognition. + +"For mine own particular," he said, "I will say with the poet, + + 'Crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, + Et intra fortunam debet quisque manere suam.'" + +For, notwithstanding the avidity with which Elizabeth had sought the +cautionary towns, and the fierceness with which she had censured the +tardiness of the States, she seemed now half inclined to drop the prize +which she had so much coveted, and to imitate the very languor which she +had so lately rebuked. "She hath what she desired," said Davison, "and +might yet have more, if this content her not. Howsoever you value the +places at home, they are esteemed here, by such as know them best, no +little increase to her Majesty's honour, surety, and greatness, if she be +as careful to keep them as happy in getting them. Of this, our cold +beginning doth already make me jealous." + +Sagacious and resolute Princess as she was, she showed something of +feminine caprice upon this grave occasion. Not Davison alone, but +her most confidential ministers and favourites at home, were perplexed +and provoked by her misplaced political coquetries. But while the +alternation of her hot and cold fits drove her most devoted courtiers out +of patience, there was one symptom that remained invariable throughout +all her paroxysms, the rigidity with which her hand was locked. +Walsingham, stealthy enough when an advantage was to be gained by +subtlety, was manful and determined in his dealings with his friends; and +he had more than once been offended with Elizabeth's want of frankness in +these transactions. + +"I find you grieved, and not without cause," he wrote to Davison, "in +respect to the over thwart proceedings as well there as here. The +disorders in those countries would be easily redressed if we could take +a thoroughly resolute course here--a matter that men may rather pray for +than hope for. It is very doubtful whether the action now in hand will +be accompanied by very hard success, unless they of the country there may +be drawn to bear the greatest part of the burden of the wars." + +And now the great favourite of all had received the appointment which he +coveted. The Earl of Leicester was to be Commander-in-Chief of her +Majesty's forces in the Netherlands, and representative of her authority +in those countries, whatever that office might prove to be. The nature +of his post was anomalous from the beginning. It was environed with +difficulties, not the least irritating of which proceeded from the +captious spirit of the Queen. The Earl was to proceed in great pomp to +Holland, but the pomp was to be prepared mainly at his own expense. +Besides the auxiliary forces that had been shipped during the latter +period of the year, Leicester was raising a force of lancers, from four +to eight hundred in number; but to pay for that levy he was forced to +mortgage his own property, while the Queen not only refused to advance +ready money, but declined endorsing his bills. + +It must be confessed that the Earl's courtship of Elizabeth was anything +at that moment but a gentle dalliance. In those thorny regions of +finance were no beds of asphodel or amaranthine bowers. There was no +talk but of troopers, saltpetre, and sulphur, of books of assurance, and +bills of exchange; and the aspect of Elizabeth, when the budget was under +discussion, must effectually have neutralized for the time any very +tender sentiment. The sharpness with which she clipped Leicester's +authority, when authority was indispensable to his dignity, and the heavy +demands upon his resources that were the result of her avarice, were +obstacles more than enough to the calm fruition of his triumphs. He had +succeeded, in appearance at least, in the great object of his ambition, +this appointment to the Netherlands; but the appointment was no sinecure, +and least of all a promising pecuniary speculation. Elizabeth had told +the envoys, with reason, that she was not sending forth that man--whom +she loved as a brother--in order that he might make himself rich. On +the contrary, the Earl seemed likely to make himself comparatively poor +before he got to the Provinces, while his political power, at the moment, +did not seem of more hopeful growth. + +Leicester had been determined and consistent in this great enterprize +from the beginning. He felt intensely the importance of the crisis. He +saw that the time had come for swift and uncompromising action, and the +impatience with which he bore the fetters imposed upon him may be easily +conceived. + +"The cause is such," he wrote to Walsingham, "that I had as lief be dead +as be in the case I shall be in if this restraint hold for taking the +oath there, or if some more authority be not granted than I see her +Majesty would I should have. I trust you all will hold hard for this, or +else banish me England withal. I have sent you the books to be signed by +her Majesty. I beseech you return them with all haste, for I get no +money till they be under seal." + +But her Majesty would not put them under her seal, much to the +favourite's discomfiture. + +"Your letter yieldeth but cold answer," he wrote, two days afterwards. +"Above all things yet that her Majesty doth stick at, I marvel most at +her refusal to sign my book of assurance; for there passeth nothing in +the earth against her profit by that act, nor any good to me but to +satisfy the creditors, who were more scrupulous than needs. I did +complain to her of those who did refuse to lend me money, and she was +greatly offended with them. But if her Majesty were to stay this, if I +were half seas over, I must of necessity come back again, for I may not +go without money. I beseech, if the matter be refused by her, bestow a +post on me to Harwich. I lie this night at Sir John Peters', and but for +this doubt I had been to-morrow at Harwich. I pray God make you all that +be counsellors plain and direct to the furtherance of all good service +for her Majesty and the realm; and if it be the will of God to plague us +that go, and you that tarry, for our sins, yet let us not be negligent to +seek to please the Lord." + +The Earl was not negligent at any rate in seeking to please the Queen, +but she was singularly hard to please. She had never been so uncertain +in her humours as at this important crisis. She knew, and had publicly +stated as much, that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest +potentate in Europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and +the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the +shore. For there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which +nothing could have been more ill-timed. "I perceive by your message," +said Leicester to Walsingham, "that your peace with Spain will go fast +on, but this is not the way." Unquestionably it was not the way, and the +whisper was, for the moment at least, suppressed. Meanwhile Leicester +had reached Harwich, but the post "bestowed on him," contained, as usual, +but cold comfort. He was resolved, however, to go manfully forward, and +do the work before him, until the enterprise should prove wholly +impracticable. It is by the light afforded by the secret never-published +correspondence of the period with which we are now occupied, that the +true characteristics of Elizabeth, the Earl of Leicester, and other +prominent personages, must be scanned, and the study is most important, +for it was by those characteristics, in combination with other human +elements embodied in distant parts of Christendom, that the destiny of +the world was determined. In that age, more than in our own perhaps, the +influence of the individual was widely and intensely felt. Historical +chymistry is only rendered possible by a detection of the subtle +emanations, which it was supposed would for ever elude analysis, but +which survive in those secret, frequently ciphered intercommunications. +Philip II., William of Orange, Queen Elizabeth, Alexander Farnese, Robert +Dudley, never dreamed--when disclosing their inmost thoughts to their +trusted friends at momentous epochs--that the day would come on earth +when those secrets would be no longer hid from the patient enquirer after +truth. Well for those whose reputations before the judgment-seat of +history appear even comparatively pure, after impartial comparison of +their motives with their deeds. + +"For mine own part, Mr. Secretary," wrote Leicester, "I am resolved to do +that which shall be fit for a poor man's honour, and honestly to obey her +Majesty's commandment. Let the rest fall out to others, it shall not +concern me. I mean to assemble myself to the camp, where my authority +must wholly lie, and will there do that which in good reason and duty I +shall be bound to do. I am sorry that her Majesty doth deal in this +sort, and if content to overthrow so willingly her own cause. If there +can be means to salve this sore, I will. If not,--I tell you what shall +become of me, as truly as God lives." + +Yet it is remarkable, that, in spite of this dark intimation, the Earl, +after all, did not state what was to become of him if the sore was not +salved. He was, however, explicit enough as to the causes of his grief, +and very vehement in its manifestations. "Another matter which shall +concern me deeply," he said, "and all the subjects there, is now by you +to be carefully considered, which is--money. I find that the money is +already gone, and this now given to the treasurer will do no more than +pay to the end of the month. I beseech you look to it, for by the Lord! +I will bear no more so miserable burdens; for if I have no money to pay +them, let them come home, or what else. I will not starve them, nor stay +them. There was never gentleman nor general so sent out as I am; and if +neither Queen nor council care to help it, but leave men desperate, as I +see men shall be, that inconvenience will follow which I trust in the +Lord I shall be free of." + +He then used language about himself, singularly resembling the +phraseology employed by Elizabeth concerning him, when she was scolding +the Netherland commissioners for the dilatoriness and parsimony of the +States. + +"For mine own part," he said, "I have taken upon me this voyage, not as a +desperate nor forlorn man, but as one as well contented with his place +and calling at home as any subject was ever. My cause was not, nor is, +any other than the Lord's and the Queen's. If the Queen fail, yet must I +trust in the Lord, and on Him, I see, I am wholly to depend. I can say +no more, but pray to God that her Majesty never send General again as I +am sent. And yet I will do what I can for her and my country." + +The Earl had raised a choice body of lancers to accompany him to the +Netherlands, but the expense of the levy had come mainly upon his own +purse. The Queen had advanced five thousand pounds, which was much less +than the requisite amount, while for the balance required, as well as for +other necessary expenses, she obstinately declined to furnish Leicester +with funds, even refusing him, at last, a temporary loan. She violently +accused him of cheating her, reclaimed money which he had wrung from her +on good security, and when he had repaid the sum, objected to give him a +discharge. As for receiving anything by way of salary, that was quite +out of the question. At that moment he would have been only too happy to +be reimbursed for what he was already out of pocket. Whether Elizabeth +loved Leicester as a brother, or better than a brother, may be a +historical question, but it is no question at all that she loved money +better than she did Leicester. Unhappy the man, whether foe or +favourite, who had pecuniary transactions with her Highness. + +"I am sorry," said the Earl, "that her Majesty hath so hard a conceit of +me, that I should go about to cozen her, as though I had got a fee simple +from her, and had it not before, or that I had not had her full release +for payment of the money I borrowed. I pray God, any that did put such +scruple in her, have not deceived her more than I have done. I thank God +I have a clear conscience for deceiving her, and for money matters. I +think I may justly say I have been the only cause of more gain to her +coffers than all her chequer-men have been. But so is the hap of some, +that all they do is nothing, and others that do nothing, do all, and have +all the thanks. But I would this were all the grief I carry with me; but +God is my comfort, and on Him I cast all, for there is no surety in this +world beside. What hope of help can I have, finding her Majesty so +strait with myself as she is? I did trust that--the cause being hers and +this realm's--if I could have gotten no money of her merchants, she would +not have refused to have lent money on so easy prized land as mine, to +have been gainer and no loser by it. Her Majesty, I see, will make trial +of me how I love her, and what will discourage me from her service. But +resolved am I that no worldly respect shall draw me back from my faithful +discharge of my duty towards her, though she shall show to hate me, as it +goeth very near; for I find no love or favour at all. And I pray you to +remember that I have not had one penny of her Majesty towards all these +charges of mine--not one penny-and, by all truth, I have already laid out +above five thousand pounds. Her Majesty appointed eight thousand pounds +for the levy, which was after the rate of four hundred horse, and, upon +my fidelity, there is shipped, of horse of service, eight hundred, so +that there ought eight thousand more to have been paid me. No general +that ever went that was not paid to the uttermost of these things before +he went, but had cash for his provision, which her Majesty would not +allow me--not one groat. Well, let all this go, it is like I shall be +the last shall bear this, and some must suffer for the people. Good Mr. +Secretary, let her Majesty know this, for I deserve God-a-mercy, at the +least." + +Leicester, to do him justice, was thoroughly alive to the importance of +the Crisis. On political principle, at any rate, he was a firm supporter +of Protestantism, and even of Puritanism; a form of religion which +Elizabeth detested, and in which, with keen instinct, she detected a +mutinous element against the divine right of kings. The Earl was quite +convinced of the absolute necessity that England should take up the +Netherland matter most vigorously, on pain of being herself destroyed. +All the most sagacious counsellors of Elizabeth were day by day more and +more confirmed in this opinion, and were inclined heartily to support the +new Lieutenant-General. As for Leicester himself, while fully conscious +of his own merits, and of his firm intent to do his duty, he was also +grateful to those who were willing to befriend him in his arduous +enterprise. + +"I have received a letter from my Lord Willoughby," he said, "to my +seeming, as wise a letter as I have read a great while, and not unfit for +her Majesty's sight. I pray God open her eyes, that they may behold her +present estate indeed, and the wonderful means that God doth offer unto +her. If she lose these opportunities, who can look for other but +dishonour and destruction? My Lord Treasurer hath also written me a most +hearty and comfortable letter touching this voyage, not only in showing +the importance of it, both for her Majesty's own safety and the realm's, +but that the whole state of religion doth depend thereon, and therefore +doth faithfully promise his whole and best assistance for the supply of +all wants. I was not a little glad to receive such a letter from him at +this time." + +And from on board the 'Amity,' ready to set sail, he expressed his thanks +to Burghley, at finding him so "earnestly bent for the good supply and +maintenance of us poor men sent in her Majesty's service and our +country's." + +As for Walsingham, earnestly a defender of the Netherland cause from the +beginning, he was wearied and disgusted with fighting against the Queen's +parsimony and caprice. "He is utterly discouraged," said Leicester to +Burghley, "to deal any more in these causes. I pray God your Lordship +grow not so too; for then all will to the ground; on my poor side +especially." + +And to Sir Francis himself, he wrote, even as his vessel was casting off +her moorings:--"I am sorry, Mr. Secretary," he said, "to find you so +discouraged, and that her Majesty doth deem you so partial. And yet my +suits to her Majesty have not of late been so many nor great, while the +greatest, I am sure, are for her Majesty's own service. For my part, I +will discharge my duty as far as my poor ability and capacity shall +serve, and if I shall not have her gracious and princely support and +supply, the lack will be to us, for the present, but the shame and +dishonour will be hers." + +And with these parting words the Earl committed himself to the December +seas. + +Davison had been meantime doing his best to prepare the way in the +Netherlands for the reception of the English administration. What man +could do, without money and without authority, he had done. The +governors for Flushing and the Brill, Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Thomas +Cecil, eldest son of Lord Burghley, had been appointed, but had not +arrived. Their coming was anxiously looked for, as during the interval +the condition of the garrisons was deplorable. The English treasurer-- +by some unaccountable and unpardonable negligence, for which it is to be +feared the Queen was herself to blame--was not upon the spot, and Davison +was driven out of his wits to devise expedients to save the soldiers from +starving. + +"Your Lordship has seen by my former letters," wrote the Ambassador to +Burghley from Flushing, "what shift I have been driven to for the relief +of this garrison here, left 'a l'abandon;' without which mean they had +all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her Majesty's great +disgrace and overthrow of her service. I am compelled, unless I would +see the poor men famish, and her Majesty aishonournd, to try my poor +credit for them." + +General Sir John Norris was in the Betuwe, threatening Nvymegen, a town +which he found "not so flexible as he had hoped;" and, as he had but two +thousand men, while Alexander Farnese was thought to be marching upon him +with ten thousand, his position caused great anxiety. Meantime, his +brother, Sir Edward, a hot-headed and somewhat wilful young man, who +"thought that all was too little for him," was giving the sober Davison a +good deal of trouble. He had got himself into a quarrel, both with that +envoy and with Roger Williams, by claiming the right to control military +matters in Flushing until the arrival of Sidney. "If Sir Thomas and Sir +Philip," said Davison, "do not make choice of more discreet, staid, and +expert commanders than those thrust into these places by Mr. Norris, they +will do themselves a great deal of worry, and her Majesty a great deal of +hurt." + +As might naturally be expected, the lamentable condition of the English +soldiers, unpaid and starving--according to the report of the Queen's +envoy himself--exercised anything but a salutary influence upon the minds +of the Netherlanders and perpetually fed the hopes of the Spanish +partizans that a composition with Philip and Parma would yet take place. +On the other hand, the States had been far more liberal in raising funds +than the Queen had shown herself to be, and were somewhat indignant at +being perpetually taunted with parsimony by her agents. Davison was +offended by the injustice of Norris in this regard. "The complaints +which the General hath made of the States to her Majesty," said he, "are +without cause, and I think, when your Lordship shall examine it well, you +will find it no little sum they have already disbursed unto him for their +part. Wherein, nevertheless, if they had been looked into, they were +somewhat the more excusable, considering how ill our people at her +Majesty's entertainment were satisfied hitherto--a thing that doth much +prejudice her reputation, and hurt her service." + +At last, however, the die had been cast. The Queen, although rejecting +the proposed sovereignty of the Netherlands, had espoused their cause, +by solemn treaty of alliance, and thereby had thrown down the gauntlet +to Spain. She deemed it necessary, therefore, out of respect for the +opinions of mankind, to issue a manifesto of her motives to the world. +The document was published, simultaneously in Dutch, French, English, and +Italian. + +In this solemn state-paper she spoke of the responsibility of princes +to the Almighty, of the ancient friendship between England and the +Netherlands, of the cruelty and tyranny of the Spaniards, of their +violation of the liberties of the Provinces, of their hanging, beheading, +banishing without law and against justice, in the space of a few months, +so many of the highest nobles in the land. Although in the beginning of +the cruel persecution, the pretext had been the maintenance of the +Catholic religion, yet it was affirmed they had not failed to exercise +their barbarity upon Catholics also, and even upon ecclesiastics. Of the +principal persons put to death, no one, it was asserted, had been more +devoted to the ancient church than was the brave Count Egmont, who, for +his famous victories in the service of Spain, could never be forgotten in +veracious history any more than could be the cruelty of his execution. + +The land had been made desolate, continued the Queen, with fire, sword, +famine, and murder. These misfortunes had ever been bitterly deplored by +friendly nations, and none could more truly regret such sufferings than +did the English, the oldest allies, and familiar neighbours of the +Provinces, who had been as close to them in the olden time by community +of connexion and language, as man and wife. She declared that she had +frequently, by amicable embassies, warned her brother of Spain--speaking +to him like a good, dear sister and neighbour--that unless he restrained +the cruelty of his governors and their soldiers, he was sure to force his +Provinces into allegiance to some other power. She expressed the danger +in which she should be placed if the Spaniards succeeded in establishing +their absolute government in the Netherlands, from which position their +attacks upon England would be incessant. She spoke of the enterprise +favoured and set on foot by the Pope and by Spain, against the kingdom of +Ireland. She alluded to the dismissal of the Spanish envoy, Don +Bernardino de Mendoza, who had been treated by her with great regard for +a long time, but who had been afterwards discovered in league with +certain ill-disposed and seditious subjects of hers, and with publicly +condemned traitors. That envoy had arranged a plot according to which, +as appeared by his secret despatches, an invasion of England by a force +of men, coming partly from Spain, and partly from the Netherlands, might +be successfully managed, and he had even noted down the necessary number +of ships and men, with various other details. Some of the conspirators +had fled, she observed, and were now consorting with Mendoza, who, after +his expulsion from England, had been appointed ambassador in Paris; while +some had been arrested, and had confessed the plot. So soon as this +envoy had been discovered to be the chief of a rebellion and projected +invasion, the Queen had requested him, she said, to leave the kingdom +within a reasonable time, as one who was the object of deadly hatred to +the English people. She had then sent an agent to Spain, in order to +explain the whole transaction. That agent had not been allowed even to +deliver despatches to the King. + +When the French had sought, at a previous period, to establish their +authority in Scotland, even as the Spaniards had attempted to do in the +Netherlands, and through the enormous ambition of the House of Guise, to +undertake the invasion of her kingdom, she had frustrated their plots, +even as she meant to suppress these Spanish conspiracies. She spoke of +the Prince of Parma as more disposed by nature to mercy and humanity, +than preceding governors had been, but as unable to restrain the blood- +thirstiness of Spaniards, increased by long indulgence. She avowed, in +assuming the protection of the Netherlands, and in sending her troops to +those countries, but three objects: peace, founded upon the recognition +of religious freedom in the Provinces, restoration of their ancient +political liberties, and security for England. Never could there be +tranquillity, for her own realm until these neighbouring countries were +tranquil. These were her ends and aims, despite all that slanderous +tongues might invent. The world, she observed, was overflowing with +blasphemous libels, calumnies, scandalous pamphlets; for never had the +Devil been so busy in supplying evil tongues with venom against the +professors of the Christian religion. + +She added that in a pamphlet, ascribed to the Archbishop of Milan, just +published, she had been accused of ingratitude to the King of Spain, and +of plots to take the life of Alexander Farnese. In answer to the first +charge, she willingly acknowledged her obligations to the King of Spain +during the reign of her sister. She pronounced it, however, an absolute +falsehood that he had ever saved her life, as if she had ever been +condemned to death. She likewise denied earnestly the charge regarding +the Prince of Parma. She protested herself incapable of such a crime, +besides declaring that he had never given her offence. On the contrary, +he was a man whom she had ever honoured for the rare qualities that she +had noted in him, and for which he had deservedly acquired a high +reputation. + +Such, in brief analysis, was the memorable Declaration of Elizabeth in +favour of the Netherlands--a document which was a hardly disguised +proclamation of war against Philip. In no age of the world could an +unequivocal agreement to assist rebellious subjects, with men and money, +against their sovereign, be considered otherwise than as a hostile +demonstration. The King of Spain so regarded the movement, and forthwith +issued a decree, ordering the seizure of all English as well as all +Netherland vessels within his ports, together with the arrest of persons, +and confiscation of property. + +Subsequently to the publication of the Queen's memorial, and before the +departure of the Earl of Leicester, Sir Philip Sidney, having received +his appointment, together with the rank of general of cavalry, arrived in +the Isle of Walcheren, as governor of Flushing, at the head of a portion +of the English contingent. + +It is impossible not to contemplate with affection so radiant a figure, +shining through the cold mists of that Zeeland winter, and that distant +and disastrous epoch. There is hardly a character in history upon which +the imagination can dwell with more unalloyed delight. Not in romantic +fiction was there ever created a more attractive incarnation of martial +valour, poetic genius, and purity of heart. If the mocking spirit of the +soldier of Lepanto could "smile chivalry away," the name alone of his +English contemporary is potent enough to conjure it back again, so long +as humanity is alive to the nobler impulses. + +"I cannot pass him over in silence," says a dusty chronicler, "that +glorious star, that lively pattern of virtue, and the lovely joy of all +the learned sort. It was God's will that he should be born into the +world, even to show unto our age a sample of ancient virtue." The +descendant of an ancient Norman race, and allied to many of the proudest +nobles in England, Sidney himself was but a commoner, a private +individual, a soldier of fortune. He was now in his thirty second year, +and should have been foremost among the states men of Elizabeth, had it +not been, according to Lord Bacon, a maxim of the Cecils, that "able men +should be by design and of purpose suppressed." Whatever of truth there +may have been in the bitter remark, it is certainly strange that a man so +gifted as Sidney--of whom his father-in-law Walsingham had declared, that +"although he had influence in all countries, and a hand upon all affairs, +his Philip did far overshoot him with his own bow"--should have passed so +much of his life in retirement, or in comparatively insignificant +employments. The Queen, as he himself observed, was most apt to +interpret everything to his disadvantage. Among those who knew him well, +there seems never to have been a dissenting voice. His father, Sir Henry +Sidney, lord-deputy of Ireland, and president of Wales, a states man of +accomplishments and experience, called him "lumen familiae suae," and +said of him, with pardonable pride, "that he had the most virtues which +he had ever found in any man; that he was the very formular that all +well-disposed young gentlemen do form their manners and life by." + +The learned Hubert Languet, companion of Melancthon, tried friend of +William the Silent, was his fervent admirer and correspondent. The great +Prince of Orange held him in high esteem, and sent word to Queen +Elizabeth, that having himself been an actor in the most important +affairs of Europe, and acquainted with her foremost men, he could "pledge +his credit that her Majesty had one of the ripest and greatest +councillors of state in Sir Philip Sidney that lived in Europe." + +The incidents of his brief and brilliant life, up to his arrival upon the +fatal soil of the Netherlands, are too well known to need recalling. +Adorned with the best culture that, in a learned age, could be obtained +in the best seminaries of his native country, where, during childhood and +youth, he had been distinguished for a "lovely and familiar gravity +beyond his years," he rapidly acquired the admiration of his comrades and +the esteem of all his teachers. + +Travelling for three years, he made the acquaintance and gained the +personal regard of such opposite characters as Charles IX. of France, +Henry of Navarre, Don John of Austria, and William of Orange, and +perfected his accomplishments by residence and study, alternately, in +courts, camps, and learned universities. He was in Paris during the +memorable days of August, 1572, and narrowly escaped perishing in the +St. Bartholomew Massacre. On his return, he was, for a brief period, +the idol of the English court, which, it was said, "was maimed without +his company." At the age of twenty-one he was appointed special envoy to +Vienna, ostensibly for the purpose of congratulating the Emperor Rudolph +upon his accession, but in reality that he might take the opportunity of +sounding the secret purposes of the Protestant princes of Germany, in +regard to the great contest of the age. In this mission, young as he +was, he acquitted himself, not only to the satisfaction, but to the +admiration of Walsingham, certainly a master himself in that occult +science, the diplomacy of the sixteenth century. "There hath not been," +said he, "any gentleman, I am sure, that hath gone through so honourable +a charge with as great commendations as he." + +When the memorable marriage-project of Queen Elizabeth with Anjou seemed +about to take effect, he denounced the scheme in a most spirited and +candid letter, addressed to her Majesty; nor is it recorded that the +Queen was offended with his frankness. Indeed we are informed that +"although he found a sweet stream of sovereign humours in that well- +tempered lady to run against him, yet found he safety in herself against +that selfness which appeared to threaten him in her." Whatever this +might mean, translated out of euphuism into English, it is certain that +his conduct was regarded with small favour by the court-grandees, by whom +"worth, duty, and justice, were looked upon with no other eyes than +Lamia's." + +The difficulty of swimming against that sweet stream of sovereign humours +in the well-tempered Elizabeth, was aggravated by his quarrel, at this +period, with the magnificent Oxford. A dispute at a tennis-court, where +many courtiers and foreigners were looking on, proceeded rapidly from one +extremity to another. The Earl commanded Sir Philip to leave the place. +Sir Philip responded, that if he were of a mind that he should go, he +himself was of a mind that he should remain; adding that if he had +entreated, where he had no right to command, he might have done more than +"with the scourge of fury."--"This answer," says Fulke Greville, in a +style worthy of Don Adriano de Armado, "did, like a bellows, blowing up +the sparks of excess already kindled, make my lord scornfully call Sir +Philip by the name of puppy. In which progress of heat, as the tempest +grew more and more vehement within, so did their hearts breathe out their +perturbations in a more loud and shrill accent;" and so on; but the +impending duel was the next day forbidden by express command of her +Majesty. Sidney, not feeling the full force of the royal homily upon the +necessity of great deference from gentlemen to their superiors in rank, +in order to protect all orders from the insults of plebeians, soon +afterwards retired from the court. To his sylvan seclusion the world +owes the pastoral and chivalrous romance of the 'Arcadia' and to the +pompous Earl, in consequence, an emotion of gratitude. Nevertheless, +it was in him to do, rather than to write, and humanity seems defrauded, +when forced to accept the 'Arcadia,' the `Defence of Poesy,' and the +'Astrophel and Stella,' in discharge of its claims upon so great and pure +a soul. + +Notwithstanding this disagreeable affair, and despite the memorable +letter against Anjou, Sir Philip suddenly flashes upon us again, as one +of the four challengers in a tournament to honour the Duke's presence in +England. A vision of him in blue gilded armour--with horses caparisoned +in cloth of gold, pearl-embroidered, attended by pages in cloth of +silver, Venetian hose, laced hats, and by gentlemen, yeomen, and +trumpeters, in yellow velvet cassocks, buskins, and feathers--as one of +"the four fostered children of virtuous desire" (to wit, Anjou) storming +"the castle of perfect Beauty" (to wit, Queen Elizabeth, aetatis 47) +rises out of the cloud-dusts of ancient chronicle for a moment, and then +vanishes into air again. + + "Having that day his hand, his horse, his lance, + Guided so well that they attained the prize + Both in the judgment of our English eyes, + But of some sent by that sweet enemy, France," + +as he chivalrously sings, he soon afterwards felt inclined for wider +fields of honourable adventure. It was impossible that knight-errant so +true should not feel keenest sympathy with an oppressed people struggling +against such odds, as the Netherlanders were doing in their contest with +Spain. So soon as the treaty with England was arranged, it was his +ambition to take part in the dark and dangerous enterprise, and, being +son-in-law to Walsingham and nephew to Leicester, he had a right to +believe that his talents and character would, on this occasion, be +recognised. But, like his "very friend," Lord Willoughby, he was "not of +the genus Reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch," and he failed, +as usual, to win his way to the Queen's favour. The governorship of +Flushing was denied him, and, stung to the heart by such neglect, he +determined to seek his fortune beyond the seas. + +"Sir Philip hath taken a very hard resolution," wrote Walsingham to +Davison, "to accompany Sir Francis Drake in this voyage, moved thereto +for that he saw her Majesty disposed to commit the charge of Flushing +unto some other; which he reputed would fall out greatly to his disgrace, +to see another preferred before him, both for birth and judgment inferior +unto him. The despair thereof and the disgrace that he doubted he should +receive have carried him into a different course." + +The Queen, however, relenting at last, interfered to frustrate his +design. Having thus balked his ambition in the Indian seas, she felt +pledged to offer him the employment which he had originally solicited, +and she accordingly conferred upon him the governorship of Flushing, with +the rank of general of horse, under the Earl of Leicester. In the latter +part of November, he cast anchor, in the midst of a violent storm, at +Rammekins, and thence came to the city of his government. Young, and +looking even younger than his years--"not only of an excellent wit, but +extremely beautiful of face"--with delicately chiselled Anglo-Norman +features, smooth fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of +amber-coloured hair; such was the author of 'Arcadia' and the governor of +Flushing. + +And thus an Anglo-Norman representative of ancient race had come back to +the home of his ancestors. Scholar, poet, knight-errant, finished +gentleman, he aptly typified the result of seven centuries of +civilization upon the wild Danish pirate. For among those very +quicksands of storm-beaten Walachria that wondrous Normandy first came +into existence whose wings were to sweep over all the high places of +Christendom. Out of these creeks, lagunes, and almost inaccessible +sandbanks, those bold freebooters sailed forth on their forays against +England, France, and other adjacent countries, and here they brought and +buried the booty of many a wild adventure. Here, at a later day, Rollo +the Dane had that memorable dream of leprosy, the cure of which was the +conversion of North Gaul into Normandy, of Pagans into Christians, and +the subsequent conquest of every throne in Christendom from Ultima Thule +to Byzantium. And now the descendant of those early freebooters had come +back to the spot, at a moment when a wider and even more imperial swoop +was to be made by their modern representatives. For the sea-kings of the +sixteenth century--the Drakes, Hawkinses, Frobishers, Raleighs, +Cavendishes--the De Moors, Heemskerks, Barendts--all sprung of the old +pirate-lineage, whether called Englanders or Hollanders, and instinct +with the same hereditary love of adventure, were about to wrestle with +ancient tyrannies, to explore the most inaccessible regions, and to +establish new commonwealths in worlds undreamed of by their ancestors-- +to accomplish, in short, more wondrous feats than had been attempted by +the Knuts, and Rollos, Rurics, Ropers, and Tancreds, of an earlier age. + +The place which Sidney was appointed to govern was one of great military +and commercial importance. Flushing was the key to the navigation of the +North Seas, ever since the disastrous storm of a century before, in which +a great trading city on the outermost verge of the island had been +swallowed bodily by the ocean. The Emperor had so thoroughly recognized +its value, as to make special mention of the necessity for its +preservation, in his private instructions to Philip, and now the Queen of +England had confided it to one who was competent to appreciate and to +defend the prize. "How great a jewel this place (Flushing) is to the +crown of England," wrote Sidney to his Uncle Leicester, "and to the +Queen's safety, I need not now write it to your lordship, who knows it +so well. Yet I must needs say, the better I know it, the more I find +the preciousness of it." + +He did not enter into his government, however, with much pomp and +circumstance, but came afoot into Flushing in the midst of winter and +foul weather. "Driven to land at Rammekins," said he, "because the wind +began to rise in such sort as from thence our mariners durst not enter +the town, I came with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his +charge withal." But he was cordially welcomed, nor did he arrive by any +means too soon. + +"I find the people very glad of our coming," he said, "and promise myself +as much surety in keeping this town, as popular good-will, gotten by +light hopes, and by as slight conceits, may breed; for indeed the +garrison is far too weak to command by authority, which is pity . . . . +I think, truly, that if my coming had been longer delayed, some +alteration would have followed; for the truth is, this people is weary +of war, and if they do not see such a course taken as may be likely to +defend them, they will in a sudden give over the cause. . . . All will +be lost if government be not presently used." + +He expressed much anxiety for the arrival of his uncle, with which +sentiments he assured the Earl that the Netherlanders fully sympathized. +"Your Lordship's coming," he said, "is as much longed for as Messias is +of the Jews. It is indeed most necessary that your Lordship make great +speed to reform both the Dutch and English abuses." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed +He did his work, but he had not his reward +Matter that men may rather pray for than hope for +Not of the genus Reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch +Others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks +Peace-at-any-price party +The busy devil of petty economy +Thought that all was too little for him +Weary of place without power + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v43 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 44, 1585-1586 + + +CHAPTER VII., Part 1. + + + The Earl of Leicester--His Triumphal Entrance into Holland--English + Spies about him--Importance of Holland to England--Spanish Schemes + for invading England--Letter of the Grand Commander--Perilous + Position of England--True Nature of the Contest--wealth and Strength + of the Provinces--Power of the Dutch and English People--Affection + of the Hollanders for the Queen--Secret Purposes of Leicester-- + Wretched condition of English Troops--The Nassaus and Hohenlo--The + Earl's Opinion of them--Clerk and Killigrew--Interview with the + States Government General offered to the Earl--Discussions on the + Subject--The Earl accepts the Office--His Ambition and Mistakes--His + Installation at the Hague--Intimations of the Queen's Displeasure-- + Deprecatory Letters of Leicester--Davison's Mission to England-- + Queen's Anger and Jealousy--Her angry Letters to the Earl and the + States--Arrival of Davison--Stormy Interview with the Queen--The + second one is calmer--Queen's Wrath somewhat mitigated--Mission of + Heneago to the States--Shirley sent to England by the Earl--His + Interview with Elizabeth + + +At last the Earl of Leicester came. Embarking at Harwich, with a fleet +of fifty ships, and attended "by the flower and chief gallants of +England"--the Lords Sheffield, Willoughby, North, Burroughs, Sir Gervase +Clifton, Sir William Russell, Sir Robert Sidney, and others among the +number--the new lieutenant-general of the English forces in the +Netherlands arrived on the 19th December, 1585, at Flushing. + +His nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, and Count Maurice of Nassau, with a body +of troops and a great procession of civil functionaries; were in +readiness to receive him, and to escort him to the lodgings prepared for +him. + +Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was then fifty-four years of age. +There are few personages in English history whose adventures, real or +fictitious, have been made more familiar to the world than his have been, +or whose individuality has been presented in more picturesque fashion, by +chronicle, tragedy, or romance. Born in the same day of the month and +hour of the day with the Queen, but two years before her birth, the +supposed synastry of their destinies might partly account, in that age of +astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually +exerted. They had, moreover, been fellow-prisoners together, in the +commencement of the reign of Mary, and it is possible that he may have +been the medium through which the indulgent expressions of Philip II. +were conveyed to the Princess Elizabeth. + +His grandfather, John Dudley, that "caterpillar of the commonwealth," who +lost his head in the first year of Henry VIII. as a reward for the +grist which he brought to the mill of Henry VII.; his father, the mighty +Duke of Northumberland, who rose out of the wreck of an obscure and +ruined family to almost regal power, only to perish, like his +predecessor, upon the scaffold, had bequeathed him nothing save rapacity, +ambition, and the genius to succeed. But Elizabeth seemed to ascend the +throne only to bestow gifts upon her favourite. Baronies and earldoms, +stars and garters, manors and monopolies, castles and forests, church +livings and college chancellorships, advowsons and sinecures, emoluments +and dignities, the most copious and the most exalted, were conferred upon +him in breathless succession. Wine, oil, currants, velvets, +ecclesiastical benefices, university headships, licences to preach, to +teach, to ride, to sail, to pick and to steal, all brought "grist to his +mill." His grandfather, "the horse leach and shearer," never filled his +coffers more rapidly than did Lord Robert, the fortunate courtier. Of +his early wedlock with the ill-starred Amy Robsart, of his nuptial +projects with the Queen, of his subsequent marriages and mock-marriages +with Douglas Sheffield and Lettice of Essex, of his plottings, +poisonings, imaginary or otherwise, of his countless intrigues, amatory +and political--of that luxuriant, creeping, flaunting, all-pervading +existence which struck its fibres into the mould, and coiled itself +through the whole fabric, of Elizabeth's life and reign--of all this the +world has long known too much to render a repetition needful here. The +inmost nature and the secret deeds of a man placed so high by wealth and +station, can be seen but darkly through the glass of contemporary record. +There was no tribunal to sit upon his guilt. A grandee could be judged +only when no longer a favourite, and the infatuation of Elizabeth for +Leicester terminated only with his life. He stood now upon the soil of +the Netherlands in the character of a "Messiah," yet he has been charged +with crimes sufficient to send twenty humbler malefactors to the gibbet. +"I think," said a most malignant arraigner of the man, in a published +pamphlet, "that the Earl of Leicester hath more blood lying upon his head +at this day, crying for vengeance, than ever had private man before, were +he never so wicked." + +Certainly the mass of misdemeanours and infamies hurled at the head of +the favourite by that "green-coated Jesuit," father Parsons, under the +title of 'Leycester's Commonwealth,' were never accepted as literal +verities; yet the value of the precept, to calumniate boldly, with the +certainty that much of the calumny would last for ever, was never better +illustrated than in the case of Robert Dudley. Besides the lesser +delinquencies of filling his purse by the sale of honours and dignities, +by violent ejectments from land, fraudulent titles, rapacious enclosures +of commons, by taking bribes for matters of justice, grace, and +supplication to the royal authority, he was accused of forging various +letters to the Queen, often to ruin his political adversaries, and of +plottings to entrap them into conspiracies, playing first the comrade and +then the informer. The list of his murders and attempts to murder was +almost endless. "His lordship hath a special fortune," saith the Jesuit, +"that when he desireth any woman's favour, whatsoever person standeth in +his way hath the luck to die quickly." He was said to have poisoned +Alice Drayton, Lady Lennox, Lord Sussex, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, Lord +Sheffield, whose widow he married and then poisoned, Lord Essex, whose +widow he also married, and intended to poison, but who was said to have +subsequently poisoned him--besides murders or schemes for murder of +various other individuals, both French and English. "He was a rare +artist in poison," said Sir Robert Naunton, and certainly not Caesar +Borgia, nor his father or sister, was more accomplished in that difficult +profession than was Dudley, if half the charges against him could be +believed. Fortunately for his fame, many of them were proved to be +false. Sir Henry Sidney, lord deputy of Ireland, at the time of the +death of Lord Essex, having caused a diligent inquiry to be made into +that dark affair, wrote to the council that it was usual for the Earl to +fall into a bloody flux when disturbed in his mind, and that his body +when opened showed no signs of poison. It is true that Sir Henry, +although an honourable man, was Leicester's brother-in-law, and that +perhaps an autopsy was not conducted at that day in Ireland on very +scientific principles. + +His participation in the strange death of his first wife was a matter of +current belief among his contemporaries. "He is infamed by the death of +his wife," said Burghley, and the tale has since become so interwoven +with classic and legendary fiction, as well as with more authentic +history, that the phantom of the murdered Amy Robsart is sure to arise at +every mention of the Earl's name. Yet a coroner's inquest--as appears +from his own secret correspondence with his relative and agent at Cumnor +--was immediately and persistently demanded by Dudley. A jury was +impannelled--every man of them a stranger to him, and some of them +enemies. Antony Forster, Appleyard, and Arthur Robsart, brother-in-law +and brother of the lady, were present, according to Dudley's special +request; "and if more of her friends could have been sent," said he, "I +would have sent them;" but with all their minuteness of inquiry, "they +could find," wrote Blount, "no presumptions of evil," although he +expressed a suspicion that "some of the jurymen were sorry that they +could not." That the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs +was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile +than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed +culprit himself. Nevertheless, the calumny has endured for three +centuries, and is likely to survive as many more. + +Whatever crimes Dudley may have committed in the course of his career, +there is no doubt whatever that he was the most abused man in Europe. He +had been deeply wounded by the Jesuit's artful publication, in which all +the misdeeds with which he was falsely or justly charged were drawn up in +awful array, in a form half colloquial, half judicial. "You had better +give some contentment to my Lord Leicester," wrote the French envoy from +London to his government, "on account of the bitter feelings excited in +him by these villainous books lately written against him." + +The Earl himself ascribed these calumnies to the Jesuits, to the Guise +faction, and particularly to--the Queen of Scots. He was said, in +consequence, to have vowed an eternal hatred to that most unfortunate and +most intriguing Princess. "Leicester has lately told a friend," wrote +Charles Paget, "that he will persecute you to the uttermost, for that he +supposeth your Majesty to be privy to the setting forth of the book +against him." Nevertheless, calumniated or innocent he was at least +triumphant over calumny. Nothing could shake his hold upon Elizabeth's +affections. The Queen scorned but resented the malignant attacks upon +the reputation of her favourite. She declared "before God and in her +conscience, that she knew the libels against him to be most scandalous, +and such as none but an incarnate devil himself could dream to be true." +His power, founded not upon genius nor virtue, but upon woman's caprice, +shone serenely above the gulf where there had been so many shipwrecks. +"I am now passing into another world," said Sussex, upon his death-bed, +to his friends, "and I must leave you to your fortunes; but beware of the +gipsy, or he will be too hard for you. You know not the beast so well as +I do." + +The "gipsy," as he had been called from his dark complexion, had been +renowned in youth for the beauty of his person, being "tall and +singularly well-featured, of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which +was of no discommendation," according to Naunton. The Queen, who had the +passion of her father for tall and proper men, was easier won by +externals, from her youth even to the days of her dotage, than befitted +so very sagacious a personage. Chamberlains, squires of the body, +carvers, cup-bearers, gentlemen-ushers, porters, could obtain neither +place nor favour at court, unless distinguished for stature, strength, or +extraordinary activity. To lose a tooth had been known to cause the loss +of a place, and the excellent constitution of leg which helped Sir +Christopher Hatton into the chancellorship, was not more remarkable +perhaps than the success of similar endowments in other contemporaries. +Leicester, although stately and imposing, had passed his summer solstice. +A big bulky man, with a long red face, a bald head, a defiant somewhat +sinister eye, a high nose, and a little torrent of foam-white curly +beard, he was still magnificent in costume. Rustling in satin and +feathers, with jewels in his ears, and his velvet toque stuck as airily +as ever upon the side of his head, he amazed the honest Hollanders, who +had been used to less gorgeous chieftains. + +"Every body is wondering at the great magnificence and splendour of his +clothes," said the plain chronicler of Utrecht. For, not much more than +a year before, Fulke Greville had met at Delft a man whose external +adornments were simpler; a somewhat slip-shod personage, whom he thus +pourtrayed: "His uppermost garment was a gown," said the euphuistic +Fulke, "yet such as, I confidently affirm, a mean-born student of our +Inns of Court would not have been well disposed to walk the streets in. +Unbuttoned his doublet was, and of like precious matter and form to the +other. His waistcoat, which showed itself under it, not unlike the best +sort of those woollen knit ones which our ordinary barge-watermen row us +in. His company about him, the burgesses of that beerbrewing town. No +external sign of degree could have discovered the inequality of his worth +or estate from that multitude. Nevertheless, upon conversing with him, +there was an outward passage of inward greatness." + +Of a certainty there must have been an outward passage of inward +greatness about him; for the individual in unbuttoned doublet and +bargeman's waistcoat, was no other than William the Silent. A different +kind of leader had now descended among those rebels, yet it would be a +great mistake to deny the capacity or vigorous intentions of the +magnificent Earl, who certainly was like to find himself in a more +difficult and responsible situation than any he had yet occupied. + +And now began a triumphal progress through the land, with a series of +mighty banquets and festivities, in which no man could play a better part +than Leicester. From Flushing he came to Middelburg, where, upon +Christmas eve (according to the new reckoning), there was an +entertainment, every dish of which has been duly chronicled. Pigs served +on their feet, pheasants in their feathers, and baked swans with their +necks thrust through gigantic pie-crust; crystal castles of confectionery +with silver streams flowing at their base, and fair virgins leaning from +the battlements, looking for their new English champion, "wine in +abundance, variety of all sorts, and wonderful welcomes "--such was the +bill of fare. The next day the Lieutenant-General returned the +compliment to the magistrates of Middelburg with a tremendous feast. +Then came an interlude of unexpected famine; for as the Earl sailed with +his suite in a fleet of two hundred vessels for Dort--a voyage of not +many hours' usual duration--there descended a mighty frozen fog upon the +waters, and they lay five whole days and nights in their ships, almost +starved with hunger and cold--offering in vain a "pound of silver for a +pound of bread." Emerging at last from this dismal predicament, he +landed at Dort, and so went to Rotterdam and Delft, everywhere making his +way through lines of musketeers and civic functionaries, amid roaring +cannon, pealing bells, burning cressets, blazing tar-barrels, fiery +winged dragons, wreaths of flowers, and Latin orations. + +The farther he went the braver seemed the country, and the better beloved +his. Lordship. Nothing was left undone, in the language of ancient +chronicle, to fill the bellies and the heads of the whole company. At +the close of the year he came to the Hague, where the festivities were +unusually magnificent. A fleet of barges was sent to escort him. Peter, +James, and John, met him upon the shore, while the Saviour appeared +walking upon the waves, and ordered his disciples to cast their nets, and +to present the fish to his Excellency. Farther on, he was confronted by +Mars and Bellona, who recited Latin odes in his honour. Seven beautiful +damsels upon a stage, representing the United States, offered him golden +keys; seven others equally beautiful, embodying the seven sciences, +presented him with garlands, while an enthusiastic barber adorned his +shop with seven score of copper basins, with a wag-light in each, +together with a rose, and a Latin posy in praise of Queen Elizabeth. +Then there were tiltings in the water between champions mounted upon +whales, and other monsters of the deep-representatives of siege, famine, +pestilence, and murder--the whole interspersed with fireworks, poetry, +charades, and Matthias, nor Anjou, nor King Philip, nor the Emperor +Charles, in their triumphal progresses, had been received with more +spontaneous or more magnificent demonstrations. Never had the living +pictures been more startling, the allegories more incomprehensible, the +banquets more elaborate, the orations more tedious. Beside himself with +rapture, Leicester almost assumed the God. In Delft, a city which he +described as "another London almost for beauty and fairness," he is said +so far to have forgotten himself as to declare that his family had--in +the person of Lady Jane Grey, his father, and brother--been unjustly +deprived of the crown of England; an indiscretion which caused a shudder +in all who heard him. It was also very dangerous for the Lieutenant- +General to exceed the bounds of becoming modesty at that momentous epoch. +His power, as we shall soon have occasion to observe, was anomalous, and +he was surrounded by enemies. He was not only to grapple with a rapidly +developing opposition in the States, but he was surrounded with masked +enemies, whom he had brought with him from England. Every act and word +of his were liable to closest scrutiny, and likely to be turned against +him. For it was most characteristic of that intriguing age, that even +the astute Walsingham, who had an eye and an ear at every key-hole in +Europe, was himself under closest domestic inspection. There was one +Poley, a trusted servant of Lady Sidney, then living in the house of her +father Walsingham, during Sir Philip's absence, who was in close +communication with Lord Montjoy's brother, Blount, then high in favour of +Queen Elizabeth--"whose grandmother she might be for his age and hers" +--and with another brother Christopher Blount, at that moment in +confidential attendance upon Lord Leicester in Holland. Now Poley, +and both the Blounts, were, in reality, Papists, and in intimate +correspondence with the agents of the Queen of Scots, both at home and +abroad, although "forced to fawn upon Leicester, to see if they might +thereby live quiet." They had a secret "alphabet," or cipher, among +them, and protested warmly, that they "honoured the ground whereon Queen +Mary trod better than Leicester with all his generation; and that they +felt bound to serve her who was the only saint living on the earth." + +It may be well understood then that the Earl's position was a slippery +one, and that great assumption might be unsafe. "He taketh the matter +upon him," wrote Morgan to the Queen of Scots, "as though he were an +absolute king; but he hath many personages about him of good place out of +England, the best number whereof desire nothing more than his confusion. +Some of them be gone with him to avoid the persecution for religion in +England. My poor advice and labour shall not be wanting to give +Leicester all dishonour, which will fall upon him in the end with shame +enough; though for the present he be very strong." Many of these +personages of good place, and enjoying "charge and credit" with the Earl +had very serious plans in their heads. Some of them meant "for the +service of God, and the advantage of the King of Spain, to further the +delivery of some notable towns in Holland and Zeeland to the said King +and his ministers," and we are like to hear of these individuals again. + +Meantime, the Earl of Leicester was at the Hague. Why was he there? +What was his work? Why had Elizabeth done such violence to her affection +as to part with her favourite-in-chief; and so far overcome her thrift, +as to furnish forth, rather meagrely to be sure, that little army of +Englishmen? Why had the flower of England's chivalry set foot upon that +dark and bloody ground where there seemed so much disaster to encounter, +and so little glory to reap? Why had England thrown herself so +heroically into the breach, just as the last bulwarks were falling +which protected Holland from the overwhelming onslaught of Spain? +It was because Holland was the threshold of England; because the two +countries were one by danger and by destiny; because the naval expedition +from Spain against England was already secretly preparing; because the +deposed tyrant of Spain intended the Provinces, when again subjugated, +as a steppingstone to the conquest of England; because the naval and +military forces of Holland--her numerous ships, her hardy mariners, her +vast wealth, her commodious sea-ports, close to the English coast--if +made Spanish property would render Philip invincible by sea and land; and +because the downfall of Holland and of Protestantism would be death to +Elizabeth, and annihilation to England. + +There was little doubt on the subject in the minds of those engaged in +this expedition. All felt most keenly the importance of the game, in +which the Queen was staking her crown, and England its national +existence. + +"I pray God," said Wilford, an officer much in Walsingham's confidence, +"that I live not to see this enterprise quail, and with it the utter +subversion of religion throughout all Christendom. It may be I may be +judged to be afraid of my own shadow. God grant it be so. But if her +Majesty had not taken the helm in hand, and my Lord of Leicester sent +over, this country had been gone ere this. . . . This war doth defend +England. Who is he that will refuse to spend his life and living in it? +If her Majesty consume twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented +men that will remain will double that strength to the realm." + +This same Wilford commanded a company in Ostend, and was employed by +Leicester in examining the defences of that important place. He often +sent information to the Secretary, "troubling him with the rude stile of +a poor soldier, being driven to scribble in haste." He reiterated, in +more than one letter, the opinion, that twenty thousand men consumed in +the war would be a saving in the end, and his own determination--although +he had intended retiring from the military profession--to spend not only +his life in the cause, but also the poor living that God had given him. +"Her Highness hath now entered into it," he said; "the fire is kindled; +whosoever suffers it to go out, it will grow dangerous to that side. The +whole state of religion is in question, and the realm of England also, if +this action quail. God grant we never live to see that doleful day. Her +Majesty hath such footing now in these parts, as I judge it impossible +for the King to weary her out, if every man will put to the work his +helping hand, whereby it may be lustily followed, and the war not +suffered to cool. The freehold of England will be worth but little, if +this action quail, and therefore I wish no subject to spare his purse +towards it." + +Spain moved slowly. Philip the Prudent was not sudden or rash, but his +whole life had proved, and was to prove, him inflexible in his purposes, +and patient in his attempts to carry them into effect, even when the +purposes had become chimerical, and the execution impossible. Before the +fall of Antwerp he had matured his scheme for the invasion of England, in +most of its details--a necessary part of which was of course the +reduction of Holland and Zeeland. "Surely no danger nor fear of any +attempt can grow to England," wrote Wilford, "so long as we can hold this +country good." But never was honest soldier more mistaken than he, when +he added:--"The Papists will make her Highness afraid of a great fleet +now preparing in Spain. We hear it also, but it is only a scare-crow to +cool the enterprise here." + +It was no scare-crow. On the very day on which Wilford was thus writing +to Walsingham, Philip the Second was writing to Alexander Farnese. "The +English," he said, "with their troops having gained a footing in the +islands (Holland and Zeeland) give me much anxiety. The English +Catholics are imploring me with much importunity to relieve them from +the persecution they are suffering. When you sent me a plan, with the +coasts, soundings, quicksands, and ports of England, you said that the +enterprise of invading that country should be deferred till we had +reduced the isles; that, having them, we could much more conveniently +attack England; or that at least we should wait till we had got Antwerp. +As the city is now taken, I want your advice now about the invasion of +England. To cut the root of the evils constantly growing up there, both +for God's service and mine, is desirable. So many evils will thus be +remedied, which would not be by only warring with the islands. It would +be an uncertain and expensive war to go to sea for the purpose of +chastising the insolent English corsairs, however much they deserve +chastisement. I charge you to be secret, to give the matter your deepest +attention, and to let me have your opinions at once." Philip then added +a postscript, in his own hand, concerning the importance of acquiring a +sea-port in Holland, as a basis of operations against England. "Without +a port," he said, "we can do nothing whatever." + +A few weeks later, the Grand Commander of Castile, by Philip's orders, +and upon subsequent information received from the Prince of Parma, drew +up an elaborate scheme for the invasion of England, and for the +government of that country afterwards; a program according to which the +King was to shape his course for a long time to come. The plot was an +excellent plot. Nothing could be more artistic, more satisfactory to the +prudent monarch; but time was to show whether there might not be some +difficulty in the way of its satisfactory development. + +"The enterprise," said the Commander, "ought certainly to be undertaken +as serving the cause of the Lord. From the Pope we must endeavour to +extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the +enterprise can be undertaken. We must not declare that time however, in +order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be +promised, under the impression that it will never take effect. He added +that the work could not well be attempted before August or September of +the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the French +could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt." For +this was a uniform portion of the great scheme. France was to be kept, +at Philip's expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city +and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed--subjects +in arms against king, and family against family; and the Netherlands were +to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might +be prepared for Spanish soldiers into the homes of England. So much of +misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking +elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the +business of his life. + +Troops and vessels for the English invasion ought, in the Commander's +opinion, to be collected in Flanders, under colour of an enterprise +against Holland and Zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in Spain, +of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an +expedition to the Indies. + +Then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of +England. Should Philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or +should he appoint a king out of his own family? On the whole the chances +for the Prince of Parma seemed the best of any. "We must liberate the +Queen of Scotland," said the Grand Commander, "and marry her to some one +or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to +conciliate her devoted adherents. Of course the husband should be one of +your Majesty's nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the Prince of +Parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear +in the business, especially indicate for that honour." + +Then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage. +The Farneses claimed Portugal; so that children sprung from the +bloodroyal of England blended with that of Parma, might choose to make +those pretensions valid. But the objection was promptly solved by the +Commander:--"The Queen of Scotland is sure to have no children," he said. + +That matter being adjusted, Parma's probable attitude as King of England +was examined. It was true his ambition might cause occasional +uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the +Netherlands. "If your Majesty suspects him," said the Commander, "which, +after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting +himself--it is to be remembered that in Flanders are similar +circumstances and opportunities, and that he is well armed, much beloved +in the country, and that the natives are of various humours. The English +plan will furnish an honourable departure for him out of the Provinces; +and the principle of loyal obligation will have much influence over so +chivalrous a knight as he, when he is once placed on the English throne. +Moreover, as he will be new there, he will have need of your Majesty's +favour to maintain himself, and there will accordingly be good +correspondence with Holland and the Islands. Thus your Majesty can put +the Infanta and her husband into full possession of all the Netherlands; +having provided them with so excellent a neighbour in England, and one so +closely bound and allied to them. Then, as he is to have no English +children" (we have seen that the Commander had settled that point) "he +will be a very good mediator to arrange adoptions, especially if you make +good provision for his son Rainuccio in Italy. The reasons in favour of +this plan being so much stronger than those against it, it would be well +that your Majesty should write clearly to the Prince of Parma, directing +him to conduct the enterprise" (the English invasion), "and to give him +the first offer for this marriage (with Queen Mary) if he likes the +scheme. If not, he had better mention which of the Archdukes should be +substituted in his place." + +There happened to be no lack of archdukes at that period for anything +comfortable that might offer--such as a throne in England, Holland, or +France--and the Austrian House was not remarkable for refusing convenient +marriages; but the immediate future only could show whether Alexander I. +of the House of Farnese was to reign in England, or whether the next king +of that country was to be called Matthias, Maximilian, or Ernest of +Hapsburg. + +Meantime the Grand Commander was of opinion that the invasion-project was +to be pushed forward as rapidly and as secretly as possible; because, +before any one of Philip's nephews could place himself upon the English +throne, it was first necessary to remove Elizabeth from that position. +Before disposing of the kingdom, the preliminary step of conquering it +was necessary. Afterwards it would be desirable, without wasting more +time than was requisite, to return with a large portion of the invading +force out of England, in order to complete the conquest of Holland. For +after all, England was to be subjugated only as a portion of one general +scheme; the main features of which were the reannexation of Holland and +"the islands," and the acquisition of unlimited control upon the seas. + +Thus the invasion of England was no "scarecrow," as Wilford imagined, +but a scheme already thoroughly matured. If Holland and Zeeland should +meantime fall into the hands of Philip, it was no exaggeration on that +soldier's part to observe that the "freehold of England would be worth +but little." + +To oppose this formidable array against the liberties of Europe stood +Elizabeth Tudor and the Dutch Republic. For the Queen, however arbitrary +her nature, fitly embodied much of the nobler elements in the expanding +English national character. She felt instinctively that her reliance in +the impending death-grapple was upon the popular principle, the national +sentiment, both in her own country and in Holland. That principle and +that sentiment were symbolized in the Netherland revolt; and England, +although under a somewhat despotic rule, was already fully pervaded with +the instinct of self-government. The people held the purse and the +sword. + +No tyranny could be permanently established so long as the sovereign was +obliged to come every year before Parliament to ask for subsidies; so +long as all the citizens and yeomen of England had weapons in their +possession, and were carefully trained to use them; so long, in short, +as the militia was the only army, and private adventurers or trading +companies created and controlled the only navy. War, colonization, +conquest, traffic, formed a joint business and a private speculation. +If there were danger that England, yielding to purely mercantile habits +of thought and action, might degenerate from the more martial standard to +which she had been accustomed, there might be virtue in that Netherland +enterprise, which was now to call forth all her energies. The Provinces +would be a seminary for English soldiers. + +"There can be no doubt of our driving the enemy out of the country +through famine and excessive charges," said the plain-spoken English +soldier already quoted, who came out with Leicester, "if every one of us +will put our minds to go forward without making a miserable gain by the +wars. A man may see, by this little progress journey, what this long +peace hath wrought in us. We are weary of the war before we come where +it groweth, such a danger hath this long peace brought us into. This is, +and will be, in my opinion, a most fit school and nursery to nourish +soldiers to be able to keep and defend our country hereafter, if men will +follow it." + +Wilford was vehement in denouncing the mercantile tendencies of his +countrymen, and returned frequently to that point in his communications +with Walsingham and other statesmen. "God hath stirred up this action," +he repeated again, "to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the +freedom of England, which through these long times of peace and quietness +is brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. Our +delicacy is such that we are already weary, yet this journey is naught in +respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." + +He was right in his estimate of the effect likely to be produced by the +war upon the military habits of Englishmen; for there can be no doubt +that the organization and discipline of English troops was in anything +but a satisfactory state at that period. There was certainly vast room +for improvement. Nevertheless he was wrong in his views of the leading +tendencies of his age. Holland and England, self-helping, self-moving, +were already inaugurating a new era in the history of the world. The +spirit of commercial maritime enterprise--then expanding rapidly into +large proportions--was to be matched against the religious and knightly +enthusiasm which had accomplished such wonders in an age that was passing +away. Spain still personified, and had ever personified, chivalry, +loyalty, piety; but its chivalry, loyalty, and piety, were now in a +corrupted condition. The form was hollow, and the sacred spark had fled. +In Holland and England intelligent enterprise had not yet degenerated +into mere greed for material prosperity. The love of danger, the thirst +for adventure, the thrilling sense of personal responsibility and human +dignity--not the base love for land and lucre--were the governing +sentiments which led those bold Dutch and English rovers to +circumnavigate the world in cockle-shells, and to beard the most potent +monarch on the earth, both at home and abroad, with a handful of +volunteers. + +This then was the contest, and this the machinery by which it was to be +maintained. A struggle for national independence, liberty of conscience, +freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and world-absorbing tyranny; +a mortal combat of the splendid infantry of Spain and Italy, the +professional reiters of Germany, the floating castles of a world-empire, +with the militiamen and mercantile-marine of England and Holland united. +Holland had been engaged twenty years long in the conflict. England had +thus far escaped it; but there was no doubt, and could be none, that her +time had come. She must fight the battle of Protestantism on sea and +shore, shoulder to shoulder, with the Netherlanders, or await the +conqueror's foot on her own soil. + +What now was the disposition and what the means of the Provinces to do +their part in the contest? If the twain as Holland wished, had become of +one flesh, would England have been the loser? Was it quite sure that +Elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she +refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the +"protectress?" + +It is very certain that the English, on their arrival in the Provinces, +were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the +country and its inhabitants. Notwithstanding the tremendous war which +the Hollanders had been waging against Spain for twenty years, their +commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase. +Leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence +which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country. +Notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the Hollanders for the +individual sumptuousness of the Lieutenant-General; his followers, on +their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies. +"The realm is rich and full of men," said Wilford, "the sums men exceed +in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess +used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the +same to these wars, it would stop a great gap." + +The favourable view taken by the English as to the resources and +inclination of the Netherland commonwealth was universal. "The general +wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote Sir Thomas Shirley, "is that +the amity begun between England and this nation may be everlasting, and +there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. For all +they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened +both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend +themselves with their own abilities, must needs think it too fair a prey +to be let pass, and a thing most worthy to be embraced." + +Leicester, whose enthusiasm continued to increase as rapidly as the +Queen's zeal seemed to be cooling, was most anxious lest the short- +comings of his own Government should work irreparable evil. "I pray you, +my lord," he wrote to Burghley, "forget not us poor exiles; if you do, +God must and will forget you. And great pity it were that so noble +provinces and goodly havens, with such infinite ships and mariners, +should not be always as they may now easily be, at the assured devotion +of England. In my opinion he can neither love Queen nor country that +would not wish and further it should be so. And seeing her Majesty is +thus far entered into the cause, and that these people comfort themselves +in full hope of her favour, it were a sin and a shame it should not be +handled accordingly, both for honour and surety." + +Sir John Conway, who accompanied the Earl through the whole of his +"progress journey," was quite as much struck as he by the flourishing +aspect and English proclivities of the Provinces. "The countries which +we have passed," he said, "are fertile in their nature; the towns, +cities, buildings, of snore state and beauty, to such as have travelled +other countries, than any they have ever seen. The people the most +industrious by all means to live that be in the world, and, no doubt, +passing rich. They outwardly show themselves of good heart, zeal, +and loyalty, towards the Queen our mistress. There is no doubt that +the general number of them had rather come under her Majesty's regiment, +than to continue under the States and burgomasters of their country. +The impositions which they lay in defence of their State is wonderful. +If her Highness proceed in this beginning, she may retain these parts +hers, with their good love, and her great glory and gain. I would she +might as perfectly see the whole country, towns, profits, and pleasures +thereof, in a glass, as she may her own face; I do then assure myself she +would with careful consideration receive them, and not allow of any man's +reason to the contrary . . . . The country is worthy any prince in +the world, the people do reverence the Queen, and in love of her do so +believe that the Grace of Leicester is by God and her sent among them for +her good. And they believe in him for the redemption of their bodies, +as they do in God for their souls. I dare pawn my soul, that if her +Majesty will allow him the just and rightful mean to manage this cause, +that he will so handle the manner and matter as shall highly both please +and profit her Majesty, and increase her country, and his own honour." + +Lord North, who held a high command in the auxiliary force, spoke also +with great enthusiasm. "Had your Lordship seen," he wrote to Burghley, +"with what thankful hearts these countries receive all her Majesty's +subjects, what multitudes of people they be, what stately cities and +buildings they have, how notably fortified by art, how strong by nature, +flow fertile the whole country, and how wealthy it is, you would, I know, +praise the Lord that opened your lips to undertake this enterprise, the +continuance and good success whereof will eternise her Majesty, beautify +her crown, with the most shipping, with the most populous and wealthy +countries, that ever prince added to his kingdom, or that is or can be +found in Europe. I lack wit, good my Lord, to dilate this matter." + +Leicester, better informed than some of those in his employment, +entertained strong suspicions concerning Philip's intentions with regard +to England; but he felt sure that the only way to laugh at a Spanish +invasion was to make Holland and England as nearly one as it was possible +to do. + +"No doubt that the King of Spain's preparations by sea be great," he, +said; "but I know that all that he and his friends can make are not able +to match with her Majesty's forces, if it please her to use the means +that God hath given her. But besides her own, if she need; I will +undertake to furnish her from hence, upon two months' warning, a navy for +strong and tall ships, with their furniture and mariners, that the King +of Spain, and all that he can make, shall not be able to encounter with +them. I think the bruit of his preparations is made the greater to +terrify her Majesty and this country people. But, thanked be God, her +Majesty hath little cause to fear him. And in this country they esteem +no more of his power by sea than I do of six fisher-boats off Rye." + +Thus suggestive is it to peep occasionally behind the curtain. In the +calm cabinet of the Escorial, Philip and his comendador mayor are laying +their heads together, preparing the invasion of England; making +arrangements for King Alexander's coronation in that island, and--like +sensible, farsighted persons as they are--even settling the succession +to the throne after Alexander's death, instead of carelessly leaving such +distant details to chance, or subsequent consideration. On the other +hand, plain Dutch sea-captains, grim beggars of the sea, and the like, +denizens of a free commonwealth and of the boundless ocean-men who are +at home on blue water, and who have burned gunpowder against those +prodigious slave-rowed galleys of Spain--together with their new allies, +the dauntless mariners of England--who at this very moment are "singeing +the King of Spain's beard," as it had never been singed before--are not +so much awestruck with the famous preparations for invasion as was +perhaps to be expected. There may be a delay, after all, before Parma +can be got safely established in London, and Elizabeth in Orcus, and +before the blood-tribunal of the Inquisition can substitute its sway for +that of the "most noble, wise, and learned United States." Certainly, +Philip the Prudent would have been startled, difficult as he was to +astonish, could he have known that those rebel Hollanders of his made +no more account of his slowly-preparing invincible armada than of six +fisher-boats off Rye. Time alone could show where confidence had been +best placed. Meantime it was certain, that it well behoved Holland and +England to hold hard together, nor let "that enterprise quail." + +The famous expedition of Sir Francis Drake was the commencement of a +revelation. "That is the string," said Leicester, "that touches the King +indeed." It was soon to be made known to the world that the ocean was +not a Spanish Lake, nor both the Indies the private property of Philip. +"While the riches of the Indies continue," said Leicester, "he thinketh +he will be able to weary out all other princes; and I know, by good +means, that he more feareth this action of Sir Francis than he ever did +anything that has been attempted against him." With these continued +assaults upon the golden treasure-houses of Spain, and by a determined +effort to maintain the still more important stronghold which had been +wrested from her in the Netherlands, England might still be safe. "This +country is so full of ships and mariners," said Leicester, "so abundant +in wealth, and in the means to make money, that, had it but stood +neutral, what an aid had her Majesty been deprived of. But if it had +been the enemy's also, I leave it to your consideration what had been +likely to ensue. These people do now honour and love her Majesty in +marvellous sort." + +There was but one feeling on this most important subject among the +English who went to the Netherlands. All held the same language. The +question was plainly presented to England whether she would secure to +herself the great bulwark of her defence, or place it in the hands of her +mortal foe? How could there be doubt or supineness on such a momentous +subject? "Surely, my Lord," wrote Richard Cavendish to Burghley, "if you +saw the wealth, the strength, the shipping, and abundance of mariners, +whereof these countries stand furnished, your heart would quake to think +that so hateful an enemy as Spain should again be furnished with such +instruments; and the Spaniards themselves do nothing doubt upon the hope +of the consequence hereof, to assure themselves of the certain ruin of +her Majesty and the whole estate." + +And yet at the very outset of Leicester's administration, there was a +whisper of peace-overtures to Spain, secretly made by Elizabeth in her +own behalf, and in that of the Provinces. We shall have soon occasion to +examine into the truth of these rumours, which, whether originating in +truth or falsehood, were most pernicious in their effects. The +Hollanders were determined never to return to slavery again, so long as +they could fire a shot in their own defence. They earnestly wished +English cooperation, but it was the cooperation of English matchlocks and +English cutlasses, not English protecols and apostilles. It was +military, not diplomatic machinery that they required. If they could +make up their minds to submit to Philip and the Inquisition again, Philip +and the Holy office were but too ready to receive the erring penitents to +their embrace without a go-between. + +It was war, not peace, therefore, that Holland meant by the English +alliance. It was war, not peace, that Philip intended. It was war, not +peace, that Elizabeth's most trusty counsellors knew to be inevitable. +There was also, as we have shown, no doubt whatever as to the good +disposition, and the great power of the republic to bear its share in the +common cause. The enthusiasm of the Hollanders was excessive. "There +was such a noise, both in Delft, Rotterdam, and Dort," said Leicester, +"in crying 'God save the Queen!' as if she had been in Cheapside." Her +own subjects could not be more loyal than were the citizens and yeomen of +Holland. "The members of the States dare not but be Queen Elizabeth's," +continued the Earl, "for by the living God! if there should fall but the +least unkindness through their default, the people would kill them. All +sorts of people, from highest to lowest, assure themselves, now that they +have her Majesty's good countenance, to beat all the Spaniards out of +their country. Never was there people in such jollity as these be. I +could be content to lose a limb, could her Majesty see these countries +and towns as I have done." He was in truth excessively elated, and had +already, in imagination, vanquished Alexander Farnese, and eclipsed the +fame of William the Silent. "They will serve under me," he observed, +"with a better will than ever they served under the Prince of Orange. +Yet they loved him well, but they never hoped of the liberty of this +country till now." + +Thus the English government had every reason to be satisfied with the +aspect of its affairs in the Netherlands. But the nature of the Earl's +authority was indefinite. The Queen had refused the sovereignty and the +protectorate. She had also distinctly and peremptorily forbidden +Leicester to assume any office or title that might seem at variance with +such a refusal on her part. Yet it is certain that, from the very first, +he had contemplated some slight disobedience to these prohibitions. +"What government is requisite"--wrote he in a secret memorandum of +"things most necessary to understand"--"to be appointed to him that shall +be their governor? First, that he have as much authority as the Prince +of Orange, or any other governor or captain-general, hath had +heretofore." Now the Prince of Orange hath been stadholder of each of +the United Provinces, governor-general, commander-in-chief, count of +Holland in prospect, and sovereign, if he had so willed it. It would +doubtless have been most desirable for the country, in its confused +condition, had there been a person competent to wield, and willing to +accept, the authority once exercised by William I. But it was also +certain that this was exactly the authority which Elizabeth had forbidden +Leicester to assume. Yet it is diffcult to understand what position the +Queen intended that her favourite should maintain, nor how he was to +carry out her instructions, while submitting to her prohibitions. +He was directed to cause the confused government of the Provinces to +be redressed, and a better form of polity to be established. He was +ordered, in particular, to procure a radical change in the constitution, +by causing the deputies to the General Assembly to be empowered to decide +upon important matters, without, as had always been the custom, making +direct reference to the assemblies of the separate Provinces. He was +instructed to bring about, in some indefinite way, a complete reform in +financial matters, by compelling the States-General to raise money by +liberal taxation, according to the "advice of her Majesty, delivered unto +them by her lieutenant." + +And how was this radical change in the institutions of the Provinces to +be made by an English earl, whose only authority was that of commander- +in-chief over five thousand half-starved, unpaid, utterly-forlorn English +troops? + +The Netherland envoys in England, in their parting advice, most +distinctly urged him "to hale authority with the first, to declare +himself chief head and governor-general" of the whole country,--for it +was a political head that was wanted in order to restore unity of action +--not an additional general, where there were already generals in plenty. +Sir John Norris, valiant, courageous, experienced--even if not, as +Walsingham observed, a "religious soldier," nor learned in anything "but +a kind of licentious and corrupt government"--was not likely to require +the assistance of the new lieutenant-general in field operations nor +could the army be brought into a state of thorough discipline and +efficiency by the magic of Leicester's name. The rank and file of the +English army--not the commanders-needed strengthening. The soldiers +required shoes and stockings, bread and meat, and for these articles +there were not the necessary funds, nor would the title of Lieutenant- +General supply the deficiency. The little auxiliary force was, in truth, +in a condition most pitiable to behold: it was difficult to say whether +the soldiers who had been already for a considerable period in the +Netherlands, or those who had been recently levied in the purlieus of +London, were in the most unpromising plight. The beggarly state in which +Elizabeth had been willing that her troops should go forth to the wars +was a sin and a disgrace. Well might her Lieutenant-General say that her +"poor subjects were no better than abjects." There were few effective +companies remaining of the old force. "There is but a small number of +the first bands left," said Sir John Conway, "and those so pitiful and +unable ever to serve again, as I leave to speak further of theirs, to +avoid grief to your heart. A monstrous fault there hath been somewhere." + +Leicester took a manful and sagacious course at starting. Those who had +no stomach for the fight were ordered to depart. The chaplain gave them +sermons; the Lieutenant-General, on St. Stephen's day, made them a "pithy +and honourable" oration, and those who had the wish or the means to buy +themselves out of the adventure, were allowed to do so: for the Earl was +much disgusted with the raw material out of which he was expected to +manufacture serviceable troops. Swaggering ruffians from the +disreputable haunts of London, cockney apprentices, brokendown tapsters, +discarded serving men; the Bardolphs and Pistols, Mouldys, Warts, and the +like--more at home in tavern-brawls or in dark lanes than on the battle- +field--were not the men to be entrusted with the honour of England at a +momentous crisis. He spoke with grief and shame of the worthless +character and condition of the English youths sent over to the +Netherlands. "Believe me," said he, "you will all repent the cockney +kind of bringing up at this day of young men. They be gone hence with +shame enough, and too many, that I will warrant, will make as many frays +with bludgeons and bucklers as any in London shall do; but such shall +never have credit with me again. Our simplest men in show have been our +best men, and your gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all +others." + +Much winnowed, as it was, the small force might in time become more +effective; and the Earl spent freely of his own substance to supply the +wants of his followers, and to atone for the avarice of his sovereign. +The picture painted however by muster-master Digger of the plumed troops +that had thus come forth to maintain the honour of England and the cause +of liberty, was anything but imposing. None knew better than Digges +their squalid and slovenly condition, or was more anxious to effect a +reformation therein. "A very wise, stout fellow he is," said the Earl, +"and very careful to serve thoroughly her Majesty." Leicester relied +much upon his efforts. "There is good hope," said the muster-master, +"that his excellency will shortly establish such good order for the +government and training of our nation, that these weak, bad-furnished, +ill-armed, and worse-trained bands, thus rawly left unto him, shall +within a few months prove as well armed, trained, complete, gallant +companies as shall be found elsewhere in Europe." The damage they were +likely to inflict upon the enemy seemed very problematical, until they +should have been improved by some wholesome ball-practice. "They are so +unskilful," said Digger, "that if they should be carried to the field no +better trained than yet they are, they would prove much more dangerous to +their own leaders and companies than any ways serviceable on their +enemies. The hard and miserable estate of the soldiers generally, +excepting officers, hath been such, as by the confessions of the captains +themselves, they have been offered by many of their soldiers thirty and +forty pounds a piece to be dismissed and sent away; whereby I doubt not +the flower of the pressed English bands are gone, and the remnant +supplied with such paddy persons as commonly, in voluntary procurements, +men are glad to accept." + +Even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy +persons continued most destitute. The English soldiers became mere +barefoot starving beggars in the streets, as had never been the case in +the worst of times, when the States were their paymasters. The little +money brought from the treasury by the Earl, and the large sums which he +had contributed out of his own pocket, had been spent in settling, and +not fully settling, old scores. "Let me entreat you," wrote Leicester to +Walsingham, "to be a mean to her Majesty, that the poor soldiers be not +beaten for my sake. There came no penny of treasure over since my coming +hither. That which then came was most part due before it came. There is +much still due. They cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, they +perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers. The whole are +ready to mutiny. They cannot be gotten out to service, because they +cannot discharge the debts they owe in the places where they are. I have +let of my own more than I may spare."--"There was no soldier yet able to +buy himself a pair of hose," said the Earl again, "and it is too, too +great shame to see how they go, and it kills their hearts to show +themselves among men." + +There was no one to dispute the Earl's claims. The Nassau family was +desperately poor, and its chief, young Maurice, although he had been +elected stadholder of Holland and Zeeland, had every disposition--as Sir +Philip upon his arrival in Flushing immediately informed his uncle--to +submit to the authority of the new governor. Louisa de Coligny, widow of +William the Silent, was most anxious for the English alliance, through +which alone she believed that the fallen fortunes of the family could be +raised. It was thus only, she thought, that the vengeance for which she +thirsted upon the murderers of her father and her husband could be +obtained. "We see now," she wrote to Walsingham, in a fiercer strain +than would seem to comport with so gentle a nature--deeply wronged as the +daughter of Coligny and the wife of Orange had been by Papists--"we see +now the effects of our God's promises. He knows when it pleases Him to +avenge the blood of His own; and I confess that I feel most keenly the +joy which is shared in by the whole Church of God. There is none that +has received more wrong from these murderers than I have done, and I +esteem myself happy in the midst of my miseries that God has permitted me +to see some vengeance. These beginings make me hope that I shall see yet +more, which will be not less useful to the good, both in your country and +in these isles." + +There was no disguise as to the impoverished condition to which the +Nassau family had been reduced by the self-devotion of its chief. They +were obliged to ask alms of England, until the "sapling should become a +tree."--"Since it is the will of God," wrote the Princess to Davison, "I +am not ashamed to declare the necessity of our house, for it is in His +cause that it has fallen. I pray you, Sir, therefore to do me and these +children the favour to employ your thoughts in this regard." If there +had been any strong French proclivities on their part--as had been so +warmly asserted--they were likely to disappear. Villiers, who had been a +confidential friend of William the Silent, and a strong favourer of +France, in vain endeavoured to keep alive the ancient sentiments towards +that country, although he was thought to be really endeavouring to bring +about a submission of the Nassaus to Spain. "This Villiers," said +Leicester, "is a most vile traitorous knave, and doth abuse a young +nobleman here extremely, the Count Maurice. For all his religion, he is +a more earnest persuader secretly to have him yield to a reconciliation +than Sainte Aldegonde was. He shall not tarry ten days neither in +Holland nor Zeeland. He is greatly hated here of all sorts, and it shall +go hard but I will win the young Count." + +As for Hohenlo, whatever his opinions might once have been regarding the +comparative merits of Frenchmen and Englishmen, he was now warmly in +favour of England, and expressed an intention of putting an end to the +Villiers' influence by simply drowning Villiers. The announcement of +this summary process towards the counsellor was not untinged with +rudeness towards the pupil. "The young Count," said Leicester, "by +Villiers' means, was not willing to have Flushing rendered, which the +Count Hollock perceiving, told the Count Maurice, in a great rage, that +if he took any course than that of the Queen of England, and swore by no +beggars, he would drown his priest in the haven before his face, and turn +himself and his mother-in-law out of their house there, and thereupon +went with Mr. Davison to the delivery of it." Certainly, if Hohenlo +permitted himself such startling demonstrations towards the son and widow +of William the Silent, it must have been after his habitual potations had +been of the deepest. Nevertheless it was satisfactory for the new +chieftain to know that the influence of so vehement a partisan was +secured for England. The Count's zeal deserved gratitude upon +Leicester's part, and Leicester was grateful. "This man must be +cherished," said the Earl; "he is sound and faithful, and hath indeed all +the chief holds in his hands, and at his commandment. Ye shall do well +to procure him a letter of thanks, taking knowledge in general of his +good-will to her Majesty. He is a right Almayn in manner and fashion, +free of his purse and of his drink, yet do I wish him her Majesty's +pensioner before any prince in Germany, for he loves her and is able to +serve her, and doth desire to be known her servant. He hath been +laboured by his nearest kinsfolk and friends in Germany to have left the +States and to have the King of Spain's pension and very great reward; but +he would not. I trust her Majesty will accept of his offer to be her +servant during his life, being indeed a very noble soldier." The Earl +was indeed inclined to take so cheerful view of matters as to believe +that he should even effect a reform in the noble soldier's most +unpleasant characteristic. "Hollock is a wise gallant gentleman," he +said, "and very well esteemed. He hath only one fault, which is +drinking; but good hope that he will amend it. Some make me believe that +I shall be able to do much with him, and I mean to do my best, for I see +no man that knows all these countries, and the people of all sorts, like +him, and this fault overthrows all." + +Accordingly, so long as Maurice continued under the tutelage of this +uproarious cavalier--who, at a later day, was to become his brother-in- +law-he was not likely to interfere with Leicester's authority. The +character of the young Count was developing slowly. More than his father +had ever done, he deserved the character of the taciturn. A quiet keen +observer of men and things, not demonstrative nor talkative, nor much +given to writing--a modest, calm, deeply-reflecting student of military +and mathematical science--he was not at that moment deeply inspired by +political ambition. He was perhaps more desirous of raising the fallen +fortunes of his house than of securing the independence of his country. +Even at that early age, however, his mind was not easy to read, and his +character was somewhat of a puzzle to those who studied it. "I see him +much discontented with the States," said Leicester; "he hath a sullen +deep wit. The young gentleman is yet to be won only to her Majesty, I +perceive, of his own inclination. The house is marvellous poor and +little regarded by the States, and if they get anything it is like to be +by her Majesty, which should be altogether, and she may easily, do for +him to win him sure. I will undertake it." Yet the Earl was ever +anxious about some of the influences which surrounded Maurice, for he +thought him more easily guided than he wished him to be by any others but +himself. "He stands upon making and marring," he said, "as he meets with +good counsel." And at another time he observed, "The young gentleman +hath a solemn sly wit; but, in troth, if any be to be doubted toward the +King of Spain, it is he and his counsellors, for they have been +altogether, so far, French, and so far in mislike with England as they +cannot almost hide it." + +And there was still another member of the house of Nassau who was already +an honour to his illustrious race. Count William Lewis, hardly more than +a boy in years, had already served many campaigns, and had been +desperately wounded in the cause for which so much of the heroic blood of +his race had been shed. Of the five Nassau brethren, his father Count +John was the sole survivor, and as devoted as ever to the cause of +Netherland liberty. The other four had already laid down their lives in +its defence. And William Lewis, was worthy to be the nephew of William +and Lewis, Henry and Adolphus, and the son of John. Not at all a +beautiful or romantic hero in appearance, but an odd-looking little man, +with a round bullet-head, close-clipped hair, a small, twinkling, +sagacious eye, rugged, somewhat puffy features screwed whimsically awry, +with several prominent warts dotting, without ornamenting, all that was +visible of a face which was buried up to the ears in a furzy thicket of +yellow-brown beard, the tough young stadholder of Friesland, in his iron +corslet, and halting upon his maimed leg, had come forth with other +notable personages to the Hague. + +He wished to do honour heartily and freely to Queen Elizabeth and her +representative. And Leicester was favourably impressed with his new +acquaintance. "Here is another little fellow," he said, "as little as +may be, but one of the gravest and wisest young men that ever I spake +withal; it is the Count Guilliam of Nassau. He governs Friesland; I +would every Province had such another." + +Thus, upon the great question which presented itself upon the very +threshold--the nature and extent of the authority to be exercised by +Leicester--the most influential Netherlanders were in favour of a large +and liberal interpretation of his powers. The envoys in England, the +Nassau family Hohenlo, the prominent members of the States, such as the +shrewd, plausible Menin, the "honest and painful" Falk, and the +chancellor of Gelderland--"that very great, wise, old man Leoninus," +as Leicester called him,--were all desirous that he should assume an +absolute governor-generalship over the whole country. This was a grave +and a delicate matter, and needed to be severely scanned, without delay. +But besides the natives, there were two Englishmen--together with +ambassador Davison--who were his official advisers. Bartholomew Clerk, +LL.D., and Sir Henry Killigrew had been appointed by the Queen to be +members of the council of the United States, according to the provisions +of the August treaty. The learned Bartholomew hardly seemed equal to his +responsible position among those long-headed Dutch politicians. Philip +Sidney--the only blemish in whose character was an intolerable tendency +to puns--observed that "Doctor Clerk was of those clerks that are not +always the wisest, and so my lord too late was finding him." The Earl +himself, who never undervalued the intellect of the Netherlanders whom +he came to govern, anticipated but small assistance from the English +civilian. "I find no great stuff in my little colleague," he said, +"nothing that I looked for. It is a pity you have no more of his +profession, able men to serve. This man hath good will, and a pretty +scholar's wit; but he is too little for these big fellows, as heavy as +her Majesty thinks them to be. I would she had but one or two, such as +the worst of half a score be here." The other English statecounsellor +seemed more promising. "I have one here," said the Earl, "in whom I take +no small comfort; that is little Hal Killigrew. I assure you, my lord, +he is a notable servant, and more in him than ever I heretofore thought +of him, though I always knew him to be an honest man and an able." + +But of all the men that stood by Leicester's side, the most faithful, +devoted, sagacious, experienced, and sincere of his counsellors, English +or Flemish, was envoy Davison. It is important to note exactly the +opinion that had been formed of him by those most competent to judge, +before events in which he was called on to play a prominent and +responsible though secondary part, had placed him in a somewhat +false position. + +"Mr. Davison," wrote Sidney, "is here very careful in her Majesty's +causes, and in your Lordship's. He takes great pains and goes to great +charges for it." The Earl himself was always vehement in his praise. +"Mr. Davison," said he at another time, "has dealt most painfully and +chargeably in her Majesty's service here, and you shall find him as +sufficiently able to deliver the whole state of this country as any man +that ever was in it, acquainted with all sorts here that are men of +dealing. Surely, my Lord, you shall do a good deed that he may be +remembered with her Majesty's gracious consideration, for his being here +has been very chargeable, having kept a very good countenance, and a very +good table, all his abode here, and of such credit with all the chief +sort, as I know no stranger in any place hath the like. As I am a suitor +to you to be his good friend to her Majesty, so I must heartily pray you, +good my Lord, to procure his coming hither shortly to me again, for I +know not almost how to do without him. I confess it is a wrong to the +gentleman, and I protest before God, if it were for mine own particular +respect, I would not require it for L5000. But your Lordship doth little +think how greatly I have to do, as also how needful for her Majesty's +service his being here will, be. Wherefore, good my Lord, if it may not +offend her Majesty, be a mean for this my request, for her own service' +sake wholly." + +Such were the personages who surrounded the Earl on his arrival in the +Netherlands, and such their sentiments respecting the position that it +was desirable for him to assume. But there was one very important fact. +He had studiously concealed from Davison that the Queen had peremptorily +and distinctly forbidden his accepting the office of governor-general. +It seemed reasonable, if he came thither at all, that he should come in +that elevated capacity. The Staten wished it. The Earl ardently longed +for it. The ambassador, who knew more of Netherland politics and +Netherland humours than any man did, approved of it. The interests of +both England and Holland seemed to require it. No one but Leicester knew +that her Majesty had forbidden it. + +Accordingly, no sooner had the bell-ringing, cannon-explosions, bonfires, +and charades, come to an end, and the Earl got fairly housed in the +Hague, than the States took the affair of government seriously in hand. + +On the 9th January, Chancellor Leoninus and Paul Buys waited upon +Davison, and requested a copy of the commission granted by the Queen to +the Earl. The copy was refused, but the commission was read; by which it +appeared that he had received absolute command over her Majesty's forces +in the Netherlands by land and sea, together with authority to send for +all gentlemen and other personages out of England that he might think +useful to him. On the 10th the States passed a resolution to offer him +the governor-generalship over all the Provinces. On the same day another +committee waited upon his "Excellency"--as the States chose to denominate +the Earl, much to the subsequent wrath of the Queen--and made an +appointment for the whole body to wait upon him the following morning. + +Upon that day accordingly--New Year's Day, by the English reckoning, 11th +January by the New Style--the deputies of all the States at an early hour +came to his lodgings, with much pomp, preceded by a herald and +trumpeters. Leicester, not expecting them quite so soon, was in his +dressing-room, getting ready for the solemn audience, when, somewhat to +his dismay, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the whole +body in his principal hall of audience. Hastening his preparations as +much as possible, he descended to that apartment, and was instantly +saluted by a flourish of rhetoric still more formidable; for that "very +great, and wise old Leoninus," forthwith began an oration, which promised +to be of portentous length and serious meaning. The Earl was slightly +flustered, when, fortunately; some one whispered in his ear that they had +come to offer him the much-coveted prize of the stadholderate-general. +Thereupon he made bold to interrupt the flow of the chancellor's +eloquence in its first outpourings. "As this is a very private matter," +said he, "it will be better to treat of it in a more private place I pray +you therefore to come into my chamber, where these things may be more +conveniently discussed." + +"You hear what my Lord says," cried Leoninus, turning to his companions; +"we are to withdraw into his chamber." + +Accordingly they withdrew, accompanied by the Earl, and by five or six +select counsellors, among whom were Davison and Dr. Clerk. Then the +chancellor once more commenced his harangue, and went handsomely through +the usual forms of compliment, first to the Queen, and then to her +representative, concluding with an earnest request that the Earl-- +although her Majesty had declined the sovereignty "would take the name +and place of absolute governor and general of all their forces and +soldiers, with the disposition of their whole revenues and taxes." + +So soon as the oration was concluded, Leicester; who did not speak +French, directed Davison to reply in that language. + +The envoy accordingly, in name of the Earl, expressed the deepest +gratitude for this mark of the affection and confidence of the States- +General towards the Queen. He assured them that the step thus taken by +them would be the cause of still more favour and affection on the part of +her Majesty, who would unquestionably, from day to day, augment the +succour that she was extending to the Provinces in order to relieve men +from their misery. For himself, the Earl protested that he could never +sufficiently recompense the States for the honour which had thus been +conferred upon him, even if he should live one hundred lives. Although +he felt himself quite unable to sustain the weight of so great an office, +yet he declared that they might repose with full confidence on his +integrity and good intentions. Nevertheless, as the authority thus +offered to him was very arduous, and as the subject required deep +deliberation, he requested that the proposition should be reduced to +writing, and delivered into his hands. He might then come to a +conclusion thereupon, most conducive to the glory of God and the welfare +of the land. + +Three days afterwards, 14th January, the offer, drawn up formally in +writing, was presented to envoy Davison, according to the request of +Leicester. Three days latter, 17th January, his Excellency having +deliberated upon the proposition, requested a committee of conference. +The conference took place the same day, and there was some discussion +upon matters of detail, principally relating to the matter of +contributions. The Earl, according to the report of the committee, +manifested no repugnance to the acceptance of the office, provided these +points could be satisfactorily adjusted. He seemed, on the contrary, +impatient, rather than reluctant; for, on the day following the +conference, he sent his secretary Gilpin with a somewhat importunate +message. "His Excellency was surprised," said the secretary, "that the +States were so long in coming to a resolution on the matters suggested by +him in relation to the offer of the government-general; nor could his +Excellency imagine the cause of the delay." + +For, in truth, the delay was caused by an excessive, rather than a +deficient, appetite for power on the part of his Excellency. The States, +while conferring what they called the "absolute" government, by which it +afterwards appeared that they meant absolute, in regard to time, not to +function--were very properly desirous of retaining a wholesome control +over that government by means of the state-council. They wished not only +to establish such a council, as a check upon the authority of the new +governor, but to share with him at least in the appointment of the +members who were to compose the board. But the aristocratic Earl was +already restive under the thought of any restraint--most of all the +restraint of individuals belonging to what he considered the humbler +classes. + +"Cousin, my lord ambassador," said he to Davison, "among your sober +companions be it always remembered, I beseech you, that your cousin have +no other alliance but with gentle blood. By no means consent that he be +linked in faster bonds than their absolute grant may yield him a free and +honourable government, to be able to do such service as shall be meet for +an honest man to perform in such a calling, which of itself is very +noble. But yet it is not more to be embraced, if I were to be led in +alliance by such keepers as will sooner draw my nose from the right scent +of the chace, than to lead my feet in the true pace to pursue the game I +desire to reach. Consider, I pray you, therefore, what is to be done, +and how unfit it will be in respect of my poor self, and how unacceptable +to her Majesty, and how advantageous to enemies that will seek holes in +my coat, if I should take so great a name upon me, and so little power. +They challenge acceptation already, and I challenge their absolute grant +and offer to me, before they spoke of any instructions; for so it was +when Leoninus first spoke to me with them all on New Years Day, as you +heard--offering in his speech all manner of absolute authority. If it +please them to confirm this, without restraining instructions, I will +willingly serve the States, or else, with such advising instructions as +the Dowager of Hungary had." + +This was explicit enough, and Davison, who always acted for Leicester in +the negotiations with the States, could certainly have no doubt as to the +desires of the Earl, on the subject of "absolute" authority. He did +accordingly what he could to bring the States to his Excellency's way of +thinking; nor was he unsuccessful. + +On the 22nd January, a committee of conference was sent by the States to +Leyden, in which city Leicester was making a brief visit. They were +instructed to procure his consent, if possible, to the appointment, by +the States themselves, of a council consisting of members from each +Province. If they could not obtain this concession, they were directed +to insist as earnestly as possible upon their right to present a double. +list of candidates, from which he was to make nominations. And if the +one and the other proposition should be refused, the States were then to +agree that his Excellency should freely choose and appoint a council of +state, consisting of native residents from every Province, for the period +of one year. The committee was further authorised to arrange the +commission for the governor, in accordance with these points; and to draw +up a set of instructions for. the state-council, to the satisfaction of +his Excellency. The committee was also empowered to conclude the matter +at once, without further reference to the States. + +Certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently +pliant. It had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his +Excellency, which was already becoming imperious. The adulation which he +had received; the triumphal marches, the Latin orations, the flowers +strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the Earl was almost +inclined to assume the airs of royalty. The committee waited upon him at +Leyden. He affected a reluctance to accept the "absolute" government, +but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the "wise +old Leoliinus," or Menin, Maalzoon, Florin Thin, or Aitzma, who composed +the deputation. It was obvious enough to them that it was not a King Log +that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining. +The governor elect insisted, of course, that the two Englishmen, +according to the treaty with her Majesty, should be members of, the +council. He also, at once, nominated Leoninus, Meetkerk, Brederode, +Falck, and Paul Buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these +were five keepers--if keepers he must have--who would not draw his nose +off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that +game might be. It was reserved for the future, however, to show, +whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously +as he hoped. As to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness +that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he +would make up his mind at leisure. + +This matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game +pursued by the Earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied +with his success--the States received a letter from their committee at +Leyden, informing them that his Excellency, after some previous +protestations, had accepted the government (24th January, 1586). + +It was agreed that he should be inaugurated Governor-General of the +United Provinces of Gelderland and Zutphen, Flanders, Holland, Zeeland, +Utrecht, Friesland, and all others in confederacy with them. He was to +have supreme military command by land and sea. He was to exercise +supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the +customs prevalent in the reign of the Emperor Charles V. All officers, +political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or +triple nomination made by the States of the Provinces in which vacancies +might occur. The States-General were to assemble whenever and wherever +he should summon them. They were also--as were the States of each +separate Province--competent to meet together by their own appointment. +The Governor-General was to receive an oath of fidelity from the States, +and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and +privileges of the country. + +The deed was done. In vain had an emissary of the French court been +exerting his utmost to prevent the consummation of this close alliance. +For the wretched government of Henry III., while abasing itself before +Philip II., and offering the fair cities and fertile plains of France as +a sacrifice to that insatiable ambition which wore the mask of religious +bigotry, was most anxious that Holland and England should not escape the +meshes by which it was itself enveloped. The agent at the Hague came +nominally upon some mercantile affairs, but in reality, according to +Leicester, "to impeach the States from binding themselves to her +Majesty." But he was informed that there was then no leisure for his +affairs; "for the States would attend to the service of the Queen of +England, before all princes in the world." The agent did not feel +complimented by the coolness of this reception; yet it was reasonable +enough, certainly, that the Hollanders should remember with bitterness +the contumely, which they had experienced the previous year in France. +The emissary was; however, much disgusted. "The fellow," said Leicester, +"took it in such snuff, that he came proudly to the States and offered +his letters, saying; 'Now I trust you have done all your sacrifices to +the Queen of England, and may yield me some leisure to read my masters +letters.'"--"But they so shook him, up," continued the Earl, "for naming +her Majesty in scorn--as they took it--that they hurled him his letters; +and bid him content himself;" and so on, much to the agent's +discomfiture, who retired in greater "snuff" than ever. + +So much for the French influence. And now Leicester had done exactly +what the most imperious woman in the world, whose favour was the breath +of his life, had expressly forbidden him to do. The step having been +taken, the prize so tempting to his ambition having been snatched, and +the policy which had governed the united action of the States and himself +seeming so sound, what ought he to have done in order to avert the +tempest which he must have foreseen? Surely a man who knew so much of +woman's nature and of Elizabeth's nature as he did, ought to have +attempted to conciliate her affections, after having so deeply wounded +her pride. He knew his power. Besides the graces of his person and +manner--which few women, once impressed by them, could ever forget--he +possessed the most insidious and flattering eloquence, and, in absence, +his pen was as wily as his tongue. For the Earl was imbued with the very +genius of courtship. None was better skilled than he in the phrases of +rapturous devotion, which were music to the ear both of the woman and the +Queen; and he knew his royal mistress too well not to be aware that the +language of passionate idolatry, however extravagant, had rarely fallen +unheeded upon her soul. It was strange therefore, that in this +emergency, he should not at once throw himself upon her compassion +without any mediator. Yet, on the contrary, he committed the monstrous +error of entrusting his defence to envoy Davison, whom he determined to +despatch at once with instructions to the Queen, and towards whom he +committed the grave offence of concealing from him her previous +prohibitions. But how could the Earl fail to perceive that it was the +woman, not the Queen, whom be should have implored for pardon; that it +was Robert Dudley, not William Davison, who ought to have sued upon his +knees. This whole matter of the Netherland sovereignty and the Leicester +stadholderate, forms a strange psychological study, which deserves and +requires some minuteness of attention; for it was by the characteristics +of these eminent personages that tho current history was deeply stamped. + +Certainly, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the first letter +conveying intelligence so likely to pique the pride of Elizabeth, should +have been a letter from Leicester. On the contrary, it proved to be a +dull formal epistle from the States. + +And here again the assistance of the indispensable Davison was considered +necessary. On the 3rd February the ambassador--having announced his +intention of going to England, by command of his Excellency, so soon as +the Earl should have been inaugurated, for the purpose of explaining all +these important transactions to her Majesty--waited upon the States with +the request that they should prepare as speedily as might be their letter +to the Queen, with other necessary documents, to be entrusted to his +care. He also suggested that the draft or minute of their proposed +epistle should be submitted to him for advice--"because the humours of +her Majesty were best known to him." + +Now the humours of her Majesty were best known to Leicester of all men +in the whole world, and it is inconceivable that he should have allowed +so many days and weeks to pass without taking these humours properly into +account. But the Earl's head was slightly turned by his sudden and +unexpected success. The game that he had been pursuing had fallen into +his grasp, almost at the very start, and it is not astonishing that he +should have been somewhat absorbed in the enjoyment of his victory. + +Three days later (6th February) the minute of a letter to Elizabeth, +drawn up by Menin, was submitted to the ambassador; eight days after that +(14th February) Mr. Davison took leave of the States, and set forth for +the Brill on his way to England; and three or four days later yet, he was +still in that sea-port, waiting for a favourable wind. Thus from the +11th January, N.S., upon which day the first offer of the absolute +government had been made to Leicester, nearly forty days had elapsed, +during which long period the disobedient Earl had not sent one line, +private or official, to her Majesty on this most important subject. And +when at last the Queen was to receive information of her favourite's +delinquency, it was not to be in his well-known handwriting and +accompanied by his penitent tears and written caresses, but to be laid +before her with all the formality of parchment and sealingwax, in the +stilted diplomatic jargon of those "highly-mighty, very learned, wise, +and very foreseeing gentlemen, my lords the States-General." Nothing +could have been managed with less adroitness. + +Meantime, not heeding the storm gathering beyond the narrow seas, the new +governor was enjoying the full sunshine of power. On the 4th February +the ceremony of his inauguration took place, with great pomp and ceremony +at the Hague. + +The beautiful, placid, village-capital of Holland wore much the same +aspect at that day as now. Clean, quiet, spacious streets, shaded with +rows of whispering poplars and umbrageous limes, broad sleepy canals-- +those liquid highways alone; which glided in phantom silence the bustle, +and traffic, and countless cares of a stirring population--quaint +toppling houses, with tower and gable; ancient brick churches, with +slender spire and musical chimes; thatched cottages on the outskirts, +with stork-nests on the roofs--the whole without fortification save the +watery defences which enclosed it with long-drawn lines on every side; +such was the Count's park, or 's Graven Haage, in English called the +Hague. + +It was embowered and almost buried out of sight by vast groves of oaks +and beeches. Ancient Badahuennan forests of sanguinary Druids, the "wild +wood without mercy" of Saxon savages, where, at a later period, sovereign +Dirks and Florences, in long succession of centuries, had ridden abroad +with lance in rest, or hawk on fist; or under whose boughs, in still +nearer days, the gentle Jacqueline had pondered and wept over her +sorrows, stretched out in every direction between the city and the +neighbouring sea. In the heart of the place stood the ancient palace of +the counts, built in the thirteenth century by William II. of Holland, +King of the Romans, with massive brick walls, cylindrical turrets, +pointed gable and rose-shaped windows, and with spacious coup-yard, +enclosed by feudal moat, drawbridge, and portcullis. + +In the great banqueting-hall of the ancient palace, whose cedarn-roof of +magnificent timber-work, brought by crusading counts from the Holy Land, +had rung with the echoes of many a gigantic revel in the days of +chivalry--an apartment one hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet +high--there had been arranged an elevated platform, with a splendid chair +of state for the "absolute" governor, and with a great profusion of +gilding and velvet tapestry, hangings, gilt emblems, complimentary +devices, lions, unicorns, and other imposing appurtenances. Prince +Maurice, and all the members of his house, the States-General in full +costume, and all the great functionaries, civil and military, were +assembled. There was an elaborate harangue by orator Menin, in which it +was proved; by copious citations from Holy Writ and from ancient +chronicle, that the Lord never forsakes His own; so that now, when the +Provinces were at their last gasp by the death of Orange and the loss of +Antwerp, the Queen of England and the Earl of Leicester had suddenly +descended, as if from Heaven; to their rescue. Then the oaths of mutual +fidelity were exchanged between the governor and the States, and, in +conclusion, Dr. Bartholomew Clerk ventured to measure himself with the +"big fellows," by pronouncing an oration which seemed to command +universal approbation. And thus the Earl was duly installed Governor- +General of the United States of the Netherlands. + +But already the first mutterings of the storm were audible. A bird in +the air had whispered to the Queen that her favourite was inclined to +disobedience. "Some flying tale hath been told me here," wrote Leicester +to Walsingham, "that her Majesty should mislike my name of Excellency. +But if I had delighted, or would have received titles, I refused a title +higher than Excellency, as Mr. Davison, if you ask him, will tell you; +and that I, my own self, refused most earnestly that, and, if I might +have done it, this also." Certainly, if the Queen objected to this +common form of address, which had always been bestowed upon Leicester, as +he himself observed, ever since she had made him an earl, it might be +supposed that her wrath would mount high when she should hear of him as +absolute governor-general. It is also difficult to say what higher title +he had refused, for certainly the records show that he had refused +nothing, in the way of power and dignity, that it was possible for him to +obtain. + +But very soon afterwards arrived authentic intelligence that the Queen +had been informed of the proposition made on New Year's-Day (0.S.), and +that, although she could not imagine the possibility of his accepting, +she was indignant that he had not peremptorily rejected the offer. + +"As to the proposal made to you," wrote Burghley, "by the mouth of +Leoninus, her Majesty hath been informed that you had thanked them in her +name, and alledged that there was no such thing in the contract, and that +therefore you could not accept nor knew how to answer the same." + +Now this information was obviously far from correct, although it had been +furnished by the Earl himself to Burghley. We have seen that Leicester +had by no means rejected, but very gratefully entertained, the +proposition as soon as made. Nevertheless the Queen was dissatisfied, +even without suspecting that she had been directly disobeyed. "Her +Majesty," continued the Lord-Treasurer; "is much offended with this +proceeding. She allows not that you should give them thanks, but findeth +it very strange that you did not plainly declare to them that they did +well know how often her Majesty had refused to have any one for her take +any such government there, and that she had always so answered +peremptorily. Therefore there might be some suspicion conceived that by +offering on their part, and refusal on hers, some further mischief might +be secretly hidden by some odd person's device to the hurt of the cause. +But in that your Lordship did not flatly say to them that yourself did +know her Majesty's mind therein, that she never meant, in this sort, to +take the absolute government, she is offended considering, as she saith, +that none knew her determination therein better than yourself. For at +your going hence, she did peremptorily charge you not to accept any such +title and office; and therefore her straight commandment now is that you +shall not accept the same, for she will never assent thereto, nor avow +you with any such title." + +If Elizabeth was so wrathful, even while supposing that the offer had +been gratefully declined, what were likely to be her emotions when she +should be informed that it had been gratefully accepted. The Earl +already began to tremble at the probable consequences of his mal- +adroitness. Grave was the error he had committed in getting himself made +governor-general against orders; graver still, perhaps fatal, the blunder +of not being swift to confess his fault, and cry for pardon, before other +tongues should have time to aggravate his offence. Yet even now he +shrank from addressing the Queen in person, but hoped to conjure the +rising storm by means of the magic wand of the Lord-Treasurer. He +implored his friend's interposition to shield him in the emergency, and +begged that at least her Majesty and the lords of council would suspend +their judgment until Mr. Davison should deliver those messages and +explanations with which, fully freighted, he was about to set sail from +the Brill. + +"If my reasons seem to your wisdoms," said he, "other than such as might +well move a true and a faithful careful man to her Majesty to do as I +have done, I do desire, for my mistaking offence, to bear the burden of +it; to be disavowed with all displeasure and disgrace; a matter of as +great reproach and grief as ever can happen to any man." He begged that +another person might be sent as soon as possible in his place-protesting, +however, by his faith in Christ, that he had done only what he was bound +to do by his regard for her Majesty's service--and that when he set foot +in the country he had no more expected to be made Governor of the +Netherlands than to be made King of Spain. Certainly he had been paying +dear for the honour, if honour it was, and he had not intended on setting +forth for the Provinces to ruin himself, for the sake of an empty title. +His motives--and he was honest, when he so avowed them--were motives of +state at least as much as of self-advancement. "I have no cause," he +said, "to have played the fool thus far for myself; first, to have her +Majesty's displeasure, which no kingdom in the world could make me +willingly deserve; next, to undo myself in my later days; to consume all +that should have kept me all my life in one half year. But I must thank +God for all, and am most heartily grieved at her Majesty's heavy +displeasure. I neither desire to live, nor to see my country with it." + +And at this bitter thought, he began to sigh like furnace, and to shed +the big tears of penitence. + +"For if I have not done her Majesty good service at this time," he said, +"I shall never hope to do her any, but will withdraw me into some out- +corner of the world, where I will languish out the rest of my few-too +many-days, praying ever for her Majesty's long and prosperous life, and +with this only comfort to live an exile, that this disgrace hath happened +for no other cause but for my mere regard for her Majesty's estate." + +Having painted this dismal picture of the probable termination to his +career--not in the hope of melting Burghley but of touching the heart of +Elizabeth--he proceeded to argue the point in question with much logic +and sagacity. He had satisfied himself on his arrival in the Provinces, +that, if he did not take the governor-generalship some other person +would; and that it certainly was for the interest of her Majesty that her +devoted servant, rather than an indifferent person, should be placed in +that important position. He maintained that the Queen had intimated, +to him, in private, her willingness that he should accept the office in +question provided the proposition should come from the States and not +from her; he reasoned that the double nature of his functions--being +general and counsellor for her, as well as general and counsellor for the +Provinces--made his acceptance of the authority conferred on him almost +indispensable; that for him to be merely commander over five thousand +English troops, when an abler soldier than himself, Sir John Norris, was +at their head, was hardly worthy her Majesty's service or himself, and +that in reality the Queen had lost nothing, by his appointment, but had +gained much benefit and honour by thus having the whole command of the +Provinces, of their forces by land and sea, of their towns and treasures, +with knowledge of all their secrets of state. + +Then, relapsing into a vein of tender but reproachful melancholy, he +observed, that, if it had been any man but himself that had done as he +had done, he would have been thanked, not censured. "But such is now my +wretched case," he said, "as for my faithful, true, and loving heart to +her Majesty and my country, I have utterly undone myself. For favour, I +have disgrace; for reward, utter spoil and ruin. But if this taking upon +me the name of governor is so evil taken as it hath deserved dishonour, +discredit, disfavour, with all griefs that may be laid upon a man, I must +receive it as deserved of God and not of my Queen, whom I have reverenced +with all humility, and whom I have loved with all fidelity." + +This was the true way, no doubt, to reach the heart of Elizabeth, and +Leicester had always plenty of such shafts in his quiver. Unfortunately +he had delayed too long, and even now he dared not take a direct aim. He +feared to write to the Queen herself, thinking that his so doing, "while +she had such conceipts of him, would only trouble her," and he therefore +continued to employ the Lord-Treasurer and Mr. Secretary as his +mediators. Thus he committed error upon error. + +Meantime, as if there had not been procrastination enough, Davison was +loitering at the Brill, detained by wind and weather. Two days after the +letter, just cited, had been despatched to Walsingham, Leicester sent an +impatient message to the envoy. "I am heartily sorry, with all my +heart," he said, "to hear of your long stay at Brill, the wind serving so +fair as it hath done these two days. I would have laid any wager that +you had been in England ere this. I pray you make haste, lest our cause +take too great a prejudice there ere you come, although I cannot fear it, +because it is so good and honest. I pray you imagine in what care I +dwell till I shall hear from you, albeit some way very resolute." + +Thus it was obvious that he had no secret despair of his cause when it +should be thoroughly laid before the Queen. The wonder was that he had +added the offence of long silence to the sin of disobedience. Davison +had sailed, however, before the receipt of the Earl's letter. He had +been furnished with careful instructions upon the subject of his mission. +He was to show how eager the States had been to have Leicester for their +absolute governor--which was perfectly true--and how anxious the Earl +had been to decline the proffered honour--which was certainly false, +if contemporary record and the minutes of the States-General are to be +believed. He was to sketch the general confusion which had descended +upon the country, the quarrelling of politicians, and the discontent of +officers and soldiers, from out of all which chaos one of two results was +sure to arise: the erection of a single chieftain, or a reconciliation of +the Provinces with Spain. That it would be impossible for the Earl to +exercise the double functions with which he was charged--of general of +her Majesty's forces, and general and chief counsellor of the States-- +if any other man than himself should be appointed governor; was obvious. +It was equally plain that the Provinces could only be kept at her +Majesty's disposition by choosing the course which, at their own +suggestion, had been adopted. The offer of the government by the States, +and its acceptance by the Earl, were the logical consequence of the step +which the Queen had already taken. It was thus only that England could +retain her hold upon the country, and even upon the cautionary towns. As +to a reconciliation of the Provinces with Spain--which would have been +the probable result of Leicester's rejection of the proposition made +by the Stateait was unnecessary to do more than allude to such a +catastrophe. No one but a madman could doubt that, in such an event, +the subjugation of England was almost certain. + +But before the arrival of the ambassador, the Queen had been thoroughly +informed as to the whole extent of the Earl's delinquency. Dire was the +result. The wintry gales which had been lashing the North Sea, and +preventing the unfortunate Davison from setting forth on his disastrous +mission, were nothing to the tempest of royal wrath which had been +shaking the court-world to its centre. The Queen had been swearing most +fearfully ever since she read the news, which Leicester had not dared to +communicate directly, to herself. No one was allowed to speak a word in +extenuation of the favourite's offence. Burghley, who lifted up his +voice somewhat feebly to appease her wrath, was bid, with a curse, to +hold his peace. So he took to his bed-partly from prudence, partly from +gout--and thus sheltered himself for a season from the peltings of the +storm. Walsingham, more manful, stood to his post, but could not gain a +hearing. It was the culprit that should have spoken, and spoken in time. +"Why, why did you not write yourself?" was the plaintive cry of all the +Earl's friends, from highest to humblest. "But write to her now," they +exclaimed, "at any rate; and, above all, send her a present, a love- +gift." "Lay out two or three hundred crowns in some rare thing, for +a token to her Majesty," said Christopher Hatton. + +Strange that his colleagues and his rivals should have been obliged +to advise Leicester upon the proper course to pursue; that they--not +himself--should have been the first to perceive that it was the enraged +woman, even more than the offended sovereign, who was to be propitiated +and soothed. In truth, all the woman had been aroused in Elizabeth's +bosom. She was displeased that her favourite should derive power and +splendour from any source but her own bounty. She was furious that +his wife, whom she hated, was about to share in his honours. For the +mischievous tongues of court-ladies had been collecting or fabricating +many unpleasant rumours. A swarm of idle but piquant stories had been +buzzing about the Queen's ears, and stinging her into a frenzy of +jealousy. The Countess--it was said--was on the point of setting forth +for the Netherlands, to join the Earl, with a train of courtiers and +ladies, coaches and side-saddles, such as were never seen before--where +the two were about to establish themselves in conjugal felicity, as well +as almost royal state. What a prospect for the jealous and imperious +sovereign! "Coaches and side-saddles! She would show the upstarts that +there was one Queen, and that her name was Elizabeth, and that there +was no court but hers." And so she continued to storm and swear, and +threaten unutterable vengeance, till all her courtiers quaked in their +shoes. + +Thomas Dudley, however, warmly contradicted the report, declaring, of his +own knowledge, that the Countess had no wish to go to the Provinces, nor +the Earl any intention of receiving her there. This information was at +once conveyed to the Queen, "and," said Dudley, "it did greatly pacify +her stomach." His friends did what they could to maintain the governor's +cause; but Burghley, Walsingham, Hatton, and the rest of them, were all +"at their wits end," and were nearly distraught at the delay in Davison's +arrival. Meantime the Queen's stomach was not so much pacified but that +she was determined to humiliate the Earl with the least possible delay. +Having waited sufficiently long for his explanations, she now appointed +Sir Thomas Heneage as special commissioner to the States, without waiting +any longer. Her wrath vented itself at once in the preamble to the +instructions for this agent. + +"Whereas," she said, "we have been given to understand that the Earl of +Leicester hath in a very contemptuous sort--contrary to our express +commandment given unto him by ourself, accepted of an offer of a more +absolute government made by the States unto him, than was agreed on +between us and their commissioners--which kind of contemptible manner of +proceeding giveth the world just cause to think that there is not that +reverent respect carried towards us by our subjects as in duty +appertaineth; especially seeing so notorious a contempt committed by one +whom we have raised up and yielded in the eye of the world, even from the +beginning of our reign, as great portion of our favour as ever subject +enjoyed at any prince's hands; we therefore, holding nothing dearer than +our honour, and considering that no one thing could more touch our +reputation than to induce so open and public a faction of a prince, and +work a greater reproach than contempt at a subject's hand, without +reparation of our honour, have found it necessary to send you unto him, +as well to charge him with the said contempt, as also to execute such +other things as we think meet to be done, for the justifying of ourselves +to the world, as the repairing of the indignity cast upon us by his +undutiful manner of proceeding towards us . . . . . And for that we +find ourselves also not well dealt withal by the States, in that they +have pressed the said Earl, without our assent or privity, to accept of +a more absolute government than was agreed on between us and their +commissioners, we have also thought meet that you shall charge them +therewith, according to the directions hereafter ensuing. And to the end +there may be no delay used in the execution of that which we think meet +to be presently done, you shall charge the said States, even as they +tender the continuance of our good-will towards them, to proceed to the +speedy execution of our request." + +After this trumpet-like preamble it may be supposed that the blast which +followed would be piercing and shrill. The instructions, in truth, +consisted in wild, scornful flourishes upon one theme. The word contempt +had occurred five times in the brief preamble. It was repeated in almost +every line of the instructions. + +"You shall let the Earl" (our cousin no longer) "understand," said the +Queen, "how highly and justly we are offended with his acceptation of the +government, which we do repute to be a very great and strange contempt, +least looked for at our hands, being, as he is, a creature of our own." +His omission to acquaint her by letter with the causes moving him "so +contemptuously to break" her commandment, his delay in sending Davison +"to answer the said contempt," had much "aggravated the fault," although +the Queen protested herself unable to imagine any "excuse for so manifest +a contempt." The States were to be informed that she "held it strange" +that "this creature of her own" should have been pressed by them to +"commit so notorious a contempt" against her, both on account of this +very exhibition of contempt on Leicester's part, and because they thereby +"shewed themselves to have a very slender and weak conceit of her +judgment, by pressing a minister of hers to accept that which she had +refused, as: though her long experience in government had not taught her +to discover what was fit to do in matters of state." As the result of +such a proceeding would be to disgrace her in the eyes of mankind, by +inducing an opinion that her published solemn declaration on this great +subject had been intended to abuse the, world, he was directed--in order +to remove the hard conceit justly to be taken by the world, "in +consideration of the said contempt,"--to make a public and open +resignation of the government in the place where he had accepted the +same. + +Thus it had been made obvious to the unlucky "creature of her own," that +the Queen did not easily digest "contempt." Nevertheless these +instructions to Heneage were gentle, compared with the fierce billet +which she addressed directly to the Earl: It was brief, too, as the posy +of a ring; and thus it ran: "To my Lord of Leicester, from the Queen, by +Sir Thomas Heneage. How contemptuously we conceive ourself to have been +used by you, you shall by this bearer understand, whom we have expressly +sent unto you to charge you withal. We could never have imagined, had we +not seen it fall out in experience, that a man raised up by ourself, and +extraordinarily favoured by us above any other subject of this land, +would have, in so contemptible a sort, broken our commandment, in a cause +that so greatly toucheth us in honour; whereof, although you have showed +yourself to make but little account, in most undutiful a sort, you may +not therefore think that we have so little care of the reparation thereof +as we mind to pass so great a wrong in silence unredressed. And +therefore our express pleasure and commandment is, that--all delays and +excuses laid apart--you do presently, upon the duty of your allegiance, +obey and fulfil whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in +our name. Whereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your +uttermost peril." + +Here was no billing and cooing, certainly, but a terse, biting +phraseology, about which there could be no misconception. + +By the same messenger the Queen also sent a formal letter to the States- +General; the epistle--'mutatis mutandis'--being also addressed to the +state-council. + +In this document her Majesty expressed her great surprise that Leicester +should have accepted their offer of the absolute government, "both for +police and war," when she had so expressly rejected it herself. "To tell +the truth," she observed, "you seem to have treated us with very little +respect, and put a too manifest insult upon us, in presenting anew to one +of, our subjects the same proposition which we had already declined, +without at least waiting for our answer whether we should like it or no; +as if we had not sense enough to be able to decide upon what we ought to +accept or refuse." She proceeded to express her dissatisfaction with the +course pursued, because so repugnant to her published declaration, in +which she had stated to the world her intention of aiding the Provinces, +without meddling in the least with the sovereignty of the country. +"The contrary would now be believed," she said, "at least by those who +take the liberty of censuring, according to their pleasure, the actions +of princes." Thus her honour was at stake. She signified her will, +therefore, that, in order to convince the world of her sincerity, the +authority conferred should be revoked, and that "the Earl," whom she had +decided to recall very soon, should, during his brief residence there, +only exercise the power agreed upon by the original contract. She warmly +reiterated her intention, however, of observing inviolably the promise of +assistance which she had given to the States. "And if," she said, "any +malicious or turbulent spirits should endeavour, perchance, to persuade +the people that this our refusal proceeds from lack of affection or +honest disposition to assist you--instead of being founded only on +respect for our honour, which is dearer to us than life--we beg you, by +every possible means, to shut their mouths, and prevent their pernicious +designs." + +Thus, heavily laden with the royal wrath, Heneage was on the point of +leaving London for the Netherlands, on the very day upon which Davison +arrived, charged with deprecatory missives from that country. After his +long detention he had a short passage, crossing from the Brill to Margate +in a single night. Coming immediately to London, he sent to Walsingham +to inquire which way the wind was blowing at court, but received a +somewhat discouraging reply. "Your long detention by his Lordship," +said the Secretary, "has wounded the whole cause;" adding, that he +thought her Majesty would not speak with him. On the other hand, it +seemed indispensable for him to go to the court, because if the Queen +should hear of his arrival before he had presented himself, she was +likely to be more angry than ever. + +So, the same afternoon, Davison waited upon Walsingham, and found him +in a state of despondency. "She takes his Lordship's acceptance of the, +government most haynously," said Sir Francis, "and has resolved to send +Sir Thomas Heneage at once, with orders for him to resign the office. +She has been threatening you and Sir Philip Sidney, whom she considers +the chief actors and persuaders in the matter, according to information +received from some persons about my Lord of Leicester." + +Davison protested himself amazed at the Secretary's discourse, and at +once took great pains to show the reasons by which all parties had been +influenced in the matter of the government. He declared roundly that if +the Queen should carry out her present intentions, the Earl would be most +unworthily disgraced, the cause utterly overthrown, the Queen's honour +perpetually stained, and that her kingdom would incur great disaster. + +Directly after this brief conversation, Walsingham went up stairs to the +Queen, while Davison proceeded to the apartments of Sir Christopher +Hatton. Thence he was soon summoned to the royal presence, and found +that he had not been misinformed as to the temper of her Majesty. The +Queen was indeed in a passion, and began swearing at Davison so soon as +he got into the chamber; abusing Leicester for having accepted the offer +of the States, against her many times repeated commandment, and the +ambassador for not having opposed his course. The thing had been done, +she said, in contempt of her, as if her consent had been of no +consequence, or as if the matter in no way concerned her. + +So soon as she paused to take breath, the envoy modestly, but firmly, +appealed to her reason, that she would at any rate lend him a patient and +favourable ear, in which case he doubted not that she would form a more +favourable opinion of the case than she had hitherto done: He then +entered into a long discourse upon the state of the Netherlands before +the arrival of Leicester, the inclination in many quarters for a peace, +the "despair that any sound and good fruit would grow of her Majesty's +cold beginning," the general unpopularity of the States' government, the +"corruption, partiality, and confusion," which were visible everywhere, +the perilous condition of the whole cause, and the absolute necessity of +some immediate reform. + +"It was necessary," said Davison, "that some one person of wisdom and +authority should take the helm. Among the Netherlanders none was +qualified for such a charge. Lord Maurice is a child, poor, and of but +little respect among them. Elector Truchsess, Count Hohenlo, Meurs, and +the rest, strangers and incapable of the burden. These considerations +influenced the States to the step which had been taken; without which all +the rest of her benevolence was to little purpose." Although the +contract between the commissioners and the Queen had not literally +provided for such an arrangement, yet it had always been contemplated by +the States, who had left themselves without a head until the arrival of +the Earl. + +"Under one pretext or another," continued the envoy, "my Lord of +Leicester had long delayed to satisfy them,"--(and in so stating he went +somewhat further in defence of his absent friend than the facts would +warrant), "for he neither flatly refused it, nor was willing to accept, +until your Majesty's pleasure should be known." Certainly the records +show no reservation of his acceptance until the Queen had been consulted; +but the defence by Davison of the offending Earl was so much the more +courageous. + +"At length, wearied by their importunity, moved with their reasons, and +compelled by necessity, he thought it better to take the course he did," +proceeded the diplomatist, "for otherwise he must have been an eye- +witness of the dismemberment of the whole country, which could not be +kept together but by a reposed hope in her Majesty's found favour, which +had been utterly despaired of by his refusal. He thought it better by +accepting to increase the honour, profit; and surety, of her Majesty, and +the good of the cause, than, by refusing, to utterly hazard the one, and +overthrow the other." + +To all this and more, well and warmly urged by Davison; the Queen +listened by fits and starts, often interrupting his discourse by violent +abuse of Leicester, accusing him of contempt for her, charging him with +thinking more of his own particular greatness than of her honour and +service, and then "digressing into old griefs," said the envoy, "too long +and tedious to write." She vehemently denounced Davison also for +dereliction of duty in not opposing the measure; but he manfully declared +that he never deemed so meanly of her Majesty or of his Lordship as to +suppose that she would send him, or that he would go to the Provinces, +merely," to take command of the relics of Mr. Norris's worn and decayed +troops." Such a change, protested Davison, was utterly unworthy a person +of the Earl's quality, and utterly unsuited to the necessity of the time +and state. + +But Davison went farther in defence of Leicester. He had been present at +many of the conferences with the Netherland envoys during the preceding +summer in England, and he now told the Queen stoutly to her face that she +herself, or at any rate one of her chief counsellors, in her hearing and +his, had expressed her royal determination not to prevent the acceptance +of whatever authority the states might choose to confer, by any one whom +she might choose to send. She had declined to accept it in person, but +she had been willing that it should be wielded by her deputy; and this +remembrance of his had been confirmed by that of one of the commissioners +since their return. She had never--Davison maintained--sent him one +single line having any bearing on the subject. Under such circumstances, +"I might have been accused of madness,", said he, "to have dissuaded an +action in my poor opinion so necessary and expedient for your Majesty's +honour, surety, and greatness." If it were to do over again, he avowed, +and "were his opinion demanded, he could give no other advice than that +which he had given, having received no contrary, commandment from her +Highness." + +And so ended the first evening's long and vehement debate, and Davison +departed, "leaving her," as he said, "much qualified, though in many +points unsatisfied." She had however, absolutely refused to receive a +letter from Leicester, with which he had been charged, but which, in her +opinion, had better have been written two months before. + +The next day, it seemed, after all, that Heneage was to be despatched, +"in great heat," upon his mission. Davison accordingly requested an +immediate audience. So soon as admitted to the presence he burst into +tears, and implored the Queen to pause before she should inflict the +contemplated disgrace on one whom she had hitherto so highly esteemed, +and, by so doing, dishonour herself and imperil both countries. But the +Queen was more furious than ever that morning, returning at every pause +in the envoy's discourse to harp upon the one string--"How dared he come +to such a decision without at least imparting it to me?"--and so on, as +so many times before. And again Davison, with all the eloquence and with +every soothing art he had at command; essayed to pour oil upon the waves. +Nor was he entirely unsuccessful; for presently the Queen became so calm +again that he ventured once more to present the rejected letter of the +Earl. She broke the seal, and at sight of the well-known handwriting she +became still more gentle; and so soon as she had read the first of her +favourite's honied phrases she thrust the precious document into her +pocket, in order to read it afterwards, as Davison observed, at her +leisure. + +The opening thus successfully made, and the envoy having thus, "by many +insinuations," prepared her to lend him a "more patient and willing ear +than she had vouchsafed before," he again entered into a skilful and +impassioned argument to show the entire wisdom of the course pursued by +the Earl. + +It is unnecessary to repeat the conversation. Since to say that no man +could have more eloquently and faithfully supported an absent friend +under difficulties than Davison now defended the Earl. The line of +argument is already familiar to the reader, and, in truth, the Queen had +nothing to reply, save to insist upon the governor's delinquency in +maintaining so long and inexplicable a silence. And--at this thought, +in spite of the envoy's eloquence, she went off again in a paroxysm of +anger, abusing the Earl, and deeply censuring Davison for his "peremptory +and partial dealing." + +"I had conceived a better opinion of you," she said, "and I had intended +more good to you than I now find you worthy of." + +"I humbly thank your Highness," replied the ambassador, "but I take +yourself to witness that I have never affected or sought any such grace +at your hands. And if your Majesty persists in the dangerous course on +which you are now entering, I only pray your leave, in recompense for all +my travails, to retire myself home, where I may spend the rest of my life +in praying for you, whom Salvation itself is not able to save, if these +purposes are continued. Henceforth, Madam, he is to be deemed happiest +who is least interested in the public service." + +And so ended the second day's debate. The next day the Lord-Treasurer, +who, according to Davison, employed himself diligently--as did also +Walsingham and Hatton--in dissuading the Queen from the violent measures +which she had resolved upon, effected so much of a change as to procure +the insertion of those qualifying clauses in Heneage's instructions which +had been previously disallowed. The open and public disgrace of the +Earl, which was to have been peremptorily demanded, was now to be +deferred, if such a measure seemed detrimental to the public service. +Her Majesty, however, protested herself as deeply offended as ever, +although she had consented to address a brief, somewhat mysterious, but +benignant letter of compliment to the States. + +Soon after this Davison retired for a few days from the court, having +previously written to the Earl that "the heat of her Majesty's offence to +his Lordship was abating every day somewhat, and that she was disposed +both to hear and to speak more temperately of him." + +He implored him accordingly to a "more diligent entertaining of her by +wise letters and messages, wherein his slackness hitherto appeared to +have bred a great part of this unkindness." He observed also that the +"traffic of peace was still going on underhand; but whether to use it as +a second string to our bow, if the first should fail, or of any settled +inclination thereunto, he could not affirm." + +Meantime Sir Thomas Heneage was despatched on his mission to the Staten, +despite all the arguments and expostulations of Walsingham, Burghley, +Hatton, and Davison. All the Queen's counsellors were unequivocally in +favour of sustaining Leicester; and Heneage was not a little embarrassed +as to the proper method of conducting the affair. Everything, in truth, +was in a most confused condition. He hardly understood to what power he +was accredited. "Heneage writes even now unto me," said Walsingham to +Davison, "that he cannot yet receive any information who be the States, +which he thinketh will be a great maimer unto him in his negotiation. I +have told him that it is an assembly much like that of our burgesses that +represent the State, and that my Lord of Leicester may cause some of them +to meet together, unto whom he may deliver his letters and messages." +Thus the new envoy was to request the culprit to summon the very assembly +by which his downfall and disgrace were to be solemnized, as formally as +had been so recently his elevation to the height of power. The prospect +was not an agreeable one, and the less so because of his general want of +familiarity with the constitutional forms of the country he was about to +visit. Davison accordingly, at the request of Sir Francis, furnished +Heneage with much valuable information and advice upon the subject. + +Thus provided with information, forewarned of danger, furnished with a +double set of letters from the Queen to the States--the first expressed +in language of extreme exasperation, the others couched in almost +affectionate terms--and laden with messages brimfull of wrathful +denunciation from her Majesty to one who was notoriously her Majesty's +dearly-beloved, Sir Thomas Heneage set forth on his mission. These were +perilous times for the Davisons and the Heneages, when even Leicesters +and Burghleys were scarcely secure. + +Meantime the fair weather at court could not be depended upon from one +day to another, and the clouds were perpetually returning after the rain. + +"Since my second and third day's audience," said Davison, "the storms I +met with at my arrival have overblown and abated daily. On Saturday +again she fell into some new heat, which lasted not long. This day I was +myself at the court, and found her in reasonable good terms, though she +will not yet seem satisfied to me either with the matter or manner of +your proceeding, notwithstanding all the labour I have taken in that +behalf. Yet I find not her Majesty altogether so sharp as some men look, +though her favour has outwardly cooled in respect both of this action and +of our plain proceeding with her here in defence thereof." + +The poor Countess--whose imaginary exodus, with the long procession of +coaches and side-saddles, had excited so much ire--found herself in a +most distressing position. "I have not seen my Lady these ten or twelve +days," said Davison. "To-morrow I hope to do my duty towards her. +I found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from +court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how I had proceeded +with her Majesty . . . . But these passions overblown, I hope her +Majesty will have a gracious regard both towards myself and the cause." + +But the passions seemed not likely to blow over so soon as was desirable. +Leicester's brother the Earl of Warwick took a most gloomy view of the +whole transaction, and hoarser than the raven's was his boding tone. + +"Well, our mistress's extreme rage doth increase rather than diminish," +he wrote, "and she giveth out great threatening words against you. +Therefore make the best assurance you can for yourself, and trust not her +oath, for that her malice is great and unquenchable in the wisest of +their opinions here, and as for other friendships, as far as I can learn, +it is as doubtful as the other. Wherefore, my good brother, repose your +whole trust in God, and He will defend you in despite of all your +enemies. And let this be a great comfort to you, and so it is likewise +to myself and all your assured friends, and that is, that you were never +so honoured and loved in your life amongst all good people as you are at +this day, only for dealing so nobly and wisely in this action as you +have done; so that, whatsoever cometh of it, you have done your part. +I praise God from my heart for it. Once again, have great care of +yourself, I mean for your safety, and if she will needs revoke you, to +the overthrowing of the cause, if I were as you, if I could not be +assured there, I would go to the farthest part of Christendom rather than +ever come into England again. Take heed whom you trust, for that you +have some false boys about you." + +And the false boys were busy enough, and seemed likely to triumph in +the result of their schemes. For a glance into the secret correspondence +of Mary of Scotland has already revealed the Earl to us constantly +surrounded by men in masks. Many of those nearest his person, and of +highest credit out of England, were his deadly foes, sworn to compass +his dishonour, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in +correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad. +Certainly his path was slippery and perilous along those icy summits of +power, and he had need to look well to his footsteps. + +Before Heneage had arrived in the Netherlands, Sir Thomas Shirley, +despatched by Leicester to England with a commission to procure supplies +for the famishing soldiers, and, if possible, to mitigate the Queen's +wrath, had, been admitted more than once to her Majesty's presence. He +had fought the Earl's battle as manfully as Davison had done, and, like +that envoy, had received nothing in exchange for his plausible arguments +but bitter words and big oaths. Eight days after his arrival he was +introduced by Hatton into the privy chamber, and at the moment of his +entrance was received with a volley of execrations. + +"I did expressly and peremptorily forbid his acceptance of the absolute +government, in the hearing of divers of my council," said the Queen. + +Shirley.--"The necessity of the case was imminent, your Highness. +It was his Lordship's intent to do all for your Majesty's service. +Those countries did expect him as a governor at his first landing, +and the States durst do no other than satisfy the people also with that +opinion. The people's mislike of their present government is such and so +great as that the name of States is grown odious amongst them. Therefore +the States, doubting the furious rage of the people, conferred the +authority upon his Lordship with incessant suit to him to receive it. +Notwithstanding this, however, he did deny it until he saw plainly both +confusion and ruin of that country if he should refuse. On the other +hand, when he had seen into their estates, his lordship found great +profit and commodity like to come unto your Majesty by your acceptance of +it. Your Highness may now have garrisons of English in as many towns as +pleaseth you, without any more charge than you are now at. Nor can any +peace be made with Spain at any time hereafter, but through you: and by +you. Your Majesty should remember, likewise, that if a man of another +nation had been chosen governor it might have wrought great danger. +Moreover it would have been an indignity that your lieutenant-general +should of necessity be under him that so should have been elected. +Finally, this is a stop to any other that may affect the place of +government there." + +Queen (who has manifested many signs of impatience during this +discourse).--"Your speech is all in vain. His Lordship's proceeding is +sufficient to make me infamous to all princes, having protested the +contrary, as I have done, in a book which is translated into divers and +sundry languages. His Lordship, being my servant, a creature of my own, +ought not, in duty towards me, have entered into this course without my +knowledge and good allowance." + +Shirley.--"But the world hath conceived a high judgment of your Majesty's +great wisdom and providence; shown by your assailing the King of Spain at +one time both in the Low Countries and also by Sir Francis Drake. I do +assure myself that the same judgment which did first cause you to take +this in hand must continue a certain knowledge in your Majesty that one +of these actions must needs stand much better by the other. If Sir +Frances do prosper, then all is well. And though he should not prosper, +yet this hold that his Lordship hath taken for you on the Low Countries +must always assure an honourable peace at your Highness's pleasure. I +beseech your Majesty to remember that to the King of Spain the government +of his Lordship is no greater matter than if he were but your lieutenant- +general there; but the voyage of Sir Francis is of much greater offence +than all." + +Queen (interrupting).--"I can very well answer for Sir Francis. +Moreover, if need be, the gentleman careth not if I should disavow him." + +Shirley.--"Even so standeth my Lord, if your disavowing of him may also +stand with your Highness's favour towards him. Nevertheless; should this +bruit of your mislike of his Lordship's authority there come unto the +ears of those people; being a nation both sudden and suspicious, and +having been heretofore used to stratagem--I fear it may work some strange +notion in them, considering that, at this time, there is an increase of +taxation raised upon them, the bestowing whereof perchance they know +not of. His Lordship's giving; up of the government may leave them +altogether without government, and in worse case than they were ever +in before. For now the authority of the States is dissolved, and his +Lordship's government is the only thing that holdeth them together. +I do beseech your Highness, then, to consider well of it, and if there +be any private cause for which you take grief against his Lordship, +nevertheless, to have regard unto the public cause, and to have a care +of your own safety, which in many wise men's opinions, standeth much +upon the good maintenance and upholding of this matter." + +Queen.--"I believe nothing of, what you say concerning the dissolving of +the authority of the States. I know well enough that the States do +remain states still. I mean not to do harm to the cause, but only to +reform that which his Lordship hath done beyond his warrant from me." + +And with this the Queen swept suddenly from the apartment. Sir Thomas, +at different stages of the conversation, had in vain besought her to +accept a letter from the Earl which had been entrusted to his care. +She obstinately refused to touch it. Shirley had even had recourse to +stratagem: affecting ignorance on many points concerning which the Queen +desired information, and suggesting that doubtless she would find those +matters fully explained in his Lordship's letter. The artifice was in +vain, and the discussion was, on the whole, unsatisfactory. Yet there is +no doubt that the Queen had had the worst of the argument, and she was +far too sagacious a politician not to feel the weight of that which had +been urged so often in defence of the course pursued. But it was with +her partly a matter of temper and offended pride, perhaps even of wounded +affection. + +On the following morning Shirley saw the Queen walking in the garden of +the palace, and made bold to accost her. Thinking, as he said, "to test +her affection to Lord Leicester by another means," the artful Sir Thomas +stepped up to her, and observed that his Lordship was seriously ill. +"It is feared," he said, "that the Earl is again attacked by the disease +of which Dr. Goodrowse did once cure him. Wherefore his Lordship is now +a humble suitor to your Highness that it would please you to spare +Goodrowse, and give him leave to go thither for some time." + +The Queen was instantly touched. + +"Certainly--with all my heart, with all my heart, he shall have him," she +replied, "and sorry I am that his Lordship hath that need of him." + +"And indeed," returned sly Sir Thomas, "your Highness is a very gracious +prince, who are pleased not to suffer his Lordship to perish in health, +though otherwise you remain deeply offended with him." + +"You know my mind," returned Elizabeth, now all the queen again, and +perhaps suspecting the trick; "I may not endure that any man should alter +my commission and the authority that I gave him, upon his own fancies and +without me." + +With this she instantly summoned one of her gentlemen, in order to break +off the interview, fearing that Shirley was about to enter again upon a +discussion of the whole subject, and again to attempt the delivery of the +Earl's letter. + +In all this there was much of superannuated coquetry, no doubt, and much +of Tudor despotism, but there was also a strong infusion of artifice. +For it will soon be necessary to direct attention to certain secret +transactions of an important nature in which the Queen was engaged, and +which were even hidden from the all-seeing eye of Walsingham--although +shrewdly suspected both by that statesman and by Leicester--but which +were most influential in modifying her policy at that moment towards the +Netherlands. + +There could be no doubt, however, of the stanch and strenuous manner in +which the delinquent Earl was supported by his confidential messengers +and by some of his fellow-councillors. His true friends were urgent that +the great cause in which he was engaged should be forwarded sincerely and +without delay. Shirley had been sent for money; but to draw money from +Elizabeth was like coining her life-blood, drachma by drachma. + +"Your Lordship is like to have but a poor supply of money at this time," +said Sir Thomas. "To be plain with you, I fear she groweth weary of the +charge, and will hardly be brought to deal thoroughly in the action." + +He was also more explicit than he might have been--had he been better +informed as to the disposition of the chief personages of the court, +concerning whose temper the absent Earl was naturally anxious. Hatton +was most in favour at the moment, and it was through Hatton that the +communications upon Netherland matters passed; "for," said Shirley, "she +will hardly endure Mr. Secretary (Walsingham) to speak unto her therein." + +"And truly, my Lord," he continued, "as Mr. Secretary is a noble, good, +and true friend unto you, so doth Mr. Vice-Chamberlain show himself an +honourable, true, and faithful gentleman, and doth carefully and most +like a good friend for your Lordship." + +And thus very succinctly and graphically had the envoy painted the +situation to his principal. "Your Lordship now sees things just as they +stand," he moralized. "Your Lordship is exceeding wise. You know the +Queen and her nature best of any man. You know all men here. Your +Lordship can judge the sequel by this that you see: only this I must tell +your Lordship, I perceive that fears and doubts from thence are like to +work better effects here than comforts and assurance. I think it my part +to send your Lordship this as it is, rather than to be silent." + +And with these rather ominous insinuations the envoy concluded for the +time his narrative. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Intolerable tendency to puns +New Years Day in England, 11th January by the New Style +Peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v44 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 45, 1586 + + +CHAPTER VII., Part 2. + + Leicester's Letters to his Friends--Paltry Conduct of the Earl to + Davison--He excuses himself at Davison's Expense--His Letter to + Burghley--Effect of the Queen's Letters to the States--Suspicion and + Discontent in Holland--States excuse their Conduct to the Queen-- + Leicester discredited in Holland--Evil Consequences to Holland and + England--Magic: Effect of a Letter from Leicester--The Queen + appeased--Her Letters to the States and the Earl--She permits the + granted Authority----Unhappy Results of the Queen's Course--Her + variable Moods--She attempts to deceive Walsingham--Her Injustice to + Heneage--His Perplexity and Distress--Humiliating Position of + Leicester--His melancholy Letters to the Queen--He receives a little + Consolation--And writes more cheerfully--The Queen is more + benignant--The States less contented than the Earl--His Quarrels + with them begin. + +While these storms were blowing and "overblowing" in England, Leicester +remained greatly embarrassed and anxious in Holland. He had sown the +wind more extensively than he had dreamed of when accepting the +government, and he was now awaiting, with much trepidation, the usual +harvest: And we have seen that it was rapidly ripening. Meantime, the +good which he had really effected in the Provinces by the course he had +taken was likely to be neutralized by the sinister rumours as to his +impending disgrace, while the enemy was proportionally encouraged. +"I understand credibly," he said, "that the Prince of Parma feels himself +in great jollity that her Majesty doth rather mislike than allow of our +doings here, which; if it be true, let her be sure her own sweet self +shall first smart." + +Moreover; the English troops were, as we have seen, mere shoeless, +shivering, starving vagabonds. The Earl had generously advanced very +large sums of money from his own pocket to relieve their necessity. The +States, on the other hand, had voluntarily increased the monthly +contribution of 200,000 florins, to which their contract with Elizabeth +obliged them, and were more disposed than ever they had been since the +death of Orange to proceed vigorously and harmoniously against the common +enemy of Christendom. Under such circumstances it may well be imagined +that there was cause on Leicester's part for deep mortification at the +tragical turn which the Queen's temper seemed to be taking. + +"I know not," he said, "how her Majesty doth mean to dispose of me. +It hath grieved me more than I can express that for faithful and good +service she should so deeply conceive against me. God knows with what +mind I have served her Highness, and perhaps some others might have +failed. Yet she is neither tied one jot by covenant or promise by me in +any way, nor at one groat the more charges, but myself two or three +thousand pounds sterling more than now is like to be well spent. I will +desire no partial speech in my favour. If my doings be ill for her +Majesty and the realm, let me feel the smart of it. The cause is now +well forward; let not her majesty suffer it to quail. If you will have +it proceed to good effect, send away Sir William Pelham with all the +haste you can. I mean not to complain, but with so weighty a cause as +this is, few men have been so weakly assisted. Her Majesty hath far +better choice for my place, and with any that may succeed me let Sir +William Pelham be first that may come. I speak from my soul for her +Majesty's service. I am for myself upon an hour's warning to obey her +good pleasure." + +Thus far the Earl had maintained his dignity. He had yielded to the +solicitations of the States, and had thereby exceeded his commission, and +gratified his ambition, but he had in no wise forfeited his self-respect. +But--so soon as the first unquestionable intelligence of the passion to +which the Queen had given way at his misdoings reached him--he began to +whimper, The straightforward tone which Davison had adopted in his +interviews with Elizabeth, and the firmness with which he had defended +the cause of his absent friend, at a moment when he had plunged himself +into disgrace, was worthy of applause. He deserved at least a word of +honest thanks. + +Ignoble however was the demeanor of the Earl towards the man--for whom +he had but recently been unable to invent eulogies sufficiently warm-- +so soon as he conceived the possibility of sacrificing his friend as the +scape-goat for his own fault. An honest schoolboy would have scorned to +leave thus in the lurch a comrade who had been fighting his battles so +honestly. + +"How earnest I was," he wrote to the lords of the council, 9th March, +1586, "not only to acquaint her Majesty, but immediately upon the first +motion made by the States, to send Mr. Davison over to her with letters, +I doubt not but he will truly affirm for me; yea, and how far against my +will it was, notwithstanding any reasons delivered me, that he and others +persisted in, to have me accept first of this place . . . . . The +extremity of the case, and my being persuaded that Mr. Davison might have +better satisfied her Majesty, than I perceive he can, caused, me-neither +arrogantly nor contemptuously, but even merely and faithfully--to do her +Majesty the best service." + +He acknowledged, certainly, that Davison had been influenced by honest +motives, although his importunities had been the real cause of the Earl's +neglect of his own obligations. But he protested that he had himself, +only erred through an excessive pliancy to the will of others. "My +yielding was my own fault," he admitted, "whatsoever his persuasions; +but far from a contemptuous heart, or else God pluck out both heart and +bowels with utter shame." + +So soon as Sir Thomas Heneage had presented himself, and revealed the +full extent of the Queen's wrath, the Earl's disposition to cast the +whole crime on the shoulders of Davison became quite undisguised. + +"I thank you for your letters," wrote Leicester to Walsingham, "though +you can send me no comfort. Her Majesty doth deal hardly to believe so +ill of me. It is true I faulted, but she doth not consider what +commodities she hath withal, and herself no way engaged for it, as Mr. +Davison might have better declared it, if it had pleased him. And I +must thank him only for my blame, and so he will confess to you, for, +I protest before God, no necessity here could have made me leave her +Majesty unacquainted with the cause before I would have accepted of it, +but only his so earnest pressing me with his faithfid assured promise to +discharge me, however her Majesty should take it. For you all see there +she had no other cause to be offended but this, and, by the Lord, he was +the only cause; albeit it is no sufficient allegation, being as I am . . +. . . He had, I think, saved all to have told her, as he promised me. +But now it is laid upon me, God send the cause to take no harm, my grief +must be the less. + +"How far Mr. Heneage's commission shall deface me I know not. He is wary +to observe his commission, and I consent withal. I know the time will be +her Majesty will be sorry for it. In the meantime I am too, too weary of +the high dignity. I would that any that could serve her Majesty were +placed in it, and I to sit down with all my losses." + +In more manful strain he then alluded to the sufferings of his army. +"Whatsoever become of me," he said, "give me leave to speak for the poor +soldiers. If they be not better maintained, being in this strange +country, there will be neither good service done, nor be without great +dishonour to her Majesty . . . . . Well, you see the wants, and it +is one cause that will glad me to be rid of this heavy high calling, and +wish me at my poor cottage again, if any I shall find. But let her +Majesty pay them well, and appoint such a man as Sir William Pelham to +govern them, and she never wan more honour than these men here will do, +I am persuaded." + +That the Earl was warmly urged by all most conversant with Netherland +politics to assume the government was a fact admitted by all. That he +manifested rather eagerness than reluctance on the subject, and that his +only hesitation arose from the proposed restraints upon the power, not +from scruples about accepting the power, are facts upon record. There +is nothing save his own assertion to show any backwardness on his part +to snatch the coveted prize; and that assertion was flatly denied by +Davison, and was indeed refuted by every circumstance in the case. It +is certain that he had concealed from Davison the previous prohibitions +of the Queen. He could anticipate much better than could Davison, +therefore, the probable indignation of the Queen. It is strange then +that he should have shut his eyes to it so wilfully, and stranger still +that he should have relied on the envoy's eloquence instead of his own to +mitigate that emotion. Had he placed his defence simply upon its true +basis, the necessity of the case, and the impossibility of carrying out +the Queen's intentions in any other way, it would be difficult to censure +him; but that he should seek to screen himself by laying the whole blame +on a subordinate, was enough to make any honest man who heard him hang +his head. "I meant not to do it, but Davison told me to do it, please +your Majesty, and if there was naughtiness in it, he said he would make +it all right with your Majesty." Such, reduced to its simplest +expression, was the defence of the magnificent Earl of Leicester. + +And as he had gone cringing and whining to his royal mistress, so it was +natural that he should be brutal and blustering to his friend. + +"By your means," said he, "I have fallen into her Majesty's deep +displeasure . . . . . If you had delivered to her the truth of my +dealing, her Highness never could have conceived, as I perceive she doth +. . . . . Nor doth her Majesty know how hardly I was drawn to accept +this place before I had acquainted her--as to which you promised you +would not only give her full satisfaction, but would, procure me great +thanks. . . . . You did chiefly persuade me to take this charge upon me +. . . . You can remember how many treaties you and others had with the +States, before I agreed; for all yours and their persuasion to take it +. . . . . You gave me assurance to satisfy her Majesty, but I see not +that you have done anything . . . . I did not hide from you the doubt +I had of her Majesty's ill taking it . . . . . You chiefly brought me +into it . . . . and it could no way have been heavy to you, though you +had told the uttermost of your own doing, as you faithfully promised you +would . . . . . I did very unwillingly come into the matter, doubting +that to fall out which is come to pass . . . . and it doth so fall out +by your negligent carelessness, whereof I many hundred times told you +that you would both mar the goodness of the matter, and breed me her +Majesty's displeasure . . . . . Thus fare you well, and except your +embassages have better success, I shall have no cause to commend them." + +And so was the unfortunate Davison ground into finest dust between the +upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency. + +Meantime the other special envoy had made his appearance in the +Netherlands; the other go-between between the incensed Queen and the +backsliding favourite. It has already been made sufficiently obvious, +by the sketch given of his instructions, that his mission was a delicate +one. In obedience to those instructions, Heneage accordingly made his +appearance before the council, and, in Leicester's presence, delivered to +them the severe and biting reprimand which Elizabeth had chosen to +inflict upon the States and upon the governor. The envoy performed his +ungracious task as daintily, as he could, and after preliminary +consultation with Leicester; but the proud Earl was deeply mortified." +The fourteenth day of this month of March," said he, "Sir Thomas Heneage +delivered a very sharp letter from her Majesty to the council of estate, +besides his message--myself being, present, for so was her Majesty's +pleasure, as he said, and I do think he did but as he was commanded. How +great a grief it must be to an honest heart and a true, faithful servant, +before his own face, to a company of very wise and grave counsellors, who +had conceived a marvellous opinion before of my credit with her Majesty, +to be charged now with a manifest and wilful contempt! Matter enough to +have broken any man's heart, that looked rather for thanks, as God doth +know I did when I first heard of Mr. Heneage's arrival--I must say to +your Lordship, for discharge of my duty, I can be no fit man to serve +here--my disgrace is too great--protesting to you that since that day I +cannot find it in my heart to come into that place, where, by my own +sufferings torn, I was made to be thought so lewd a person." + +He then comforted himself--as he had a right to do--with the reflection +that this disgrace inflicted was more than he deserved, and that such +would be the opinion of those by whom he was surrounded. + +"Albeit one thing," he said, "did greatly comfort me, that they all best +knew the wrong was great I had, and that her Majesty was very wrongfully +informed of the state of my cause. I doubt not but they can and will +discharge me, howsoever they shall satisfy her Majesty. And as I would +rather wish for death than justly to deserve her displeasure; so, good my +Lord, this disgrace not coming for any ill service to her, pray procure +me a speedy resolution, that I may go hide me and pray for her. My heart +is broken, though thus far I can quiet myself, that I know I have done +her Majesty as faithful and good service in these countries as ever she +had done her since she was Queen of England . . . . . Under +correction, my good Lord, I have had Halifax law--to be condemned first +and inquired upon after. I pray God that no man find this measure that I +have done, and deserved no worse." + +He defended himself--as Davison had already defended him--upon the +necessities of the case. + +"I, a poor gentleman," he said, "who have wholly depended upon herself +alone--and now, being commanded to a service of the greatest importance +that ever her Majesty employed any servant in, and finding the occasion +so serving me, and the necessity of time such as would not permit such +delays, flatly seeing that if that opportunity were lost, the like again +for her service and the good of the realm was never, to be looked for, +presuming upon the favour of my prince, as many servants have done, +exceeding somewhat thereupon, rather than breaking any part of my +commission, taking upon me a place whereby I found these whole countries +could be held at her best devotion, without binding her Majesty to any +such matter as she had forbidden to the States before finding, I say, +both the time and opportunity to serve, and no lack but to trust to her +gracious acceptation, I now feel that how good, how honourable, how +profitable soever it be, it is turned to a worse part than if I had +broken all her commissions and commandments, to the greatest harm, and +dishonour, and danger, that may be imagined against her person, state, +and dignity." + +He protested, not without a show of reason, that he was like to be worse +punished "for well-doing than any man that had committed a most heinous +or traitorous offence," and he maintained that if he had not accepted the +government, as he had done, "the whole State had been gone and wholly +lost." All this--as we have seen--had already been stoutly urged by +Davison, in the very face of the tempest, but with no result, except to +gain the, enmity of both parties to the quarrel. The ungrateful +Leicester now expressed confidence that the second go-between would be +more adroit than the first had proved. "The causes why," said he, "Mr. +Davison could have told--no man better--but Mr. Heneage can now tell, who +hath sought to the uttermost the bottom of all things. I will stand to +his report, whether glory or vain desire of title caused me to step one +foot forward in the matter. My place was great enough and high enough +before, with much less trouble than by this, besides the great +indignation of her Majesty . . . . . If I had overslipt the good +occasion then in danger, I had been worthy to be hanged, and to be taken +for a most lewd servant to her Majesty, and a dishonest wretch to my +country." + +But diligently as Heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had +not gained the approbation of Sidney. Sir Philip thought that the new +man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most awkwardly +contrived from the beginning. "Sir Thomas Heneage," said he, "hath with +as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as any man this twelve- +month hath done with naughtiness. But I hope in God, when her Majesty +finds the truth of things, her graciousness will not utterly, overthrow a +cause so behooveful and costly unto her." + +He briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were likely +to ensue, if the Earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent action +of the States reversed. The penny-wise economy, too, of the Queen, was +rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "I only cry for Flushing;" +said Sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there will some +terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns, if her +Majesty mean to have them cautions." + +The effect produced by the first explosion of the Queen's wrath was +indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. The greatest care had +been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for +Heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by naughtiness, +had modified his course as much as he dared in deference to the opinions +of the Earl himself, and that of his English counsellors. The great +culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, Clerk and Killigrew--had +himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. The letters of the Queen +to the States, to the council, and to the Earl himself, were, of +necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which Heneage had been instructed +to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. It was arranged that he +should make a speech before the council; but abstain from a protocol. +The oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of necessity, stinging. +Otherwise the disobedience to the Queen, would have been flagrant. But +the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first castigation. The +humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not to be placed on +perpetual record. + +"We thought best," said Leicester, Heneage, Clerk, and Killigrew--"In +according to her Majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which +might least endanger the weak estate of the Provinces--that is to say, to +utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent Majesty's +expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm that which +was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the good course of +settling these affairs. Which speech, after Sir Thomas Heneage had +devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our consent and advice, +pronounced to the council of state. This we did think needful--especially +because every one of the council that was present at the reading of her +Majesty's first letters, was of the full mind, that if her Majesty should +again show the least mislike of the present government, or should not by +her next letters confirm it, they, were all undone--for that every man +would cast with himself which way to make his peace." + +Thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his heart +to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings torn--he was +made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there should remain no +trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's displeasure, upon the +record of the States. It was not long, too, before the Earl was enabled +to surmount his mortification; but the end was not yet. + +The universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most +painful. It pointed to one invariable quarter. It was believed by all +that the Queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction +was kept a secret not only from the States but from her own most trusted +counsellors also. It would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious +effects of this suspicion. Whether it was a well-grounded one or not, +will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the +vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. The +Provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal +10th of July, 1584, than they were in the early spring of 1586. They +were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the Queen had manifested +more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united Englishmen and +Hollanders would have been invincible even by Alexander Farnese. + +Moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the Cape Verd +Islands for the homeward-bound Spanish treasure fleet from America, with +orders, if they missed it, to proceed to the West Indies; so that, said +Leicester, "the King of Spain will have enough to do between these men +and Drake." All parties had united in conferring a generous amount of +power upon the Earl, who was, in truth, stadholder-general, under grant +from the States--and both Leicester and the Provinces themselves were +eager and earnest for the war. In war alone lay the salvation of England +and Holland. Peace was an impossibility. It seemed to the most +experienced statesmen of both countries even an absurdity. It may well +be imagined, therefore, that the idea of an underhand negotiation by +Elizabeth would cause a frenzy in the Netherlands. In Leicester's +opinion, nothing short of a general massacre of the English would be the +probable consequence. "No doubt," said he, "the very way it is to put us +all to the sword here. For mine own part it would be happiest for me, +though I wish and trust to lose my life in better sort." + +Champagny, however, was giving out mysterious hints that the King of +Spain could have peace with England when he wished for it. Sir Thomas +Cecil, son of Lord Burghley, on whose countenance the States especially +relied, was returning on sick-leave from his government of the Brill, +and this sudden departure of so eminent a personage, joined with the +public disavowal of the recent transaction between Leicester and the +Provinces, was producing a general and most sickening apprehension as to +the Queen's good faith. The Earl did not fail to urge these matters most +warmly on the consideration of the English council, setting forth that +the States were stanch for the war, but that they would be beforehand +with her if she attempted by underhand means to compass a peace. "If +these men once smell any such matter," wrote Leicester to Burghley, "be +you sure they will soon come before you, to the utter overthrow of her +Majesty and state for ever." + +The Earl was suspecting the "false boys," by whom he was surrounded, +although it was impossible for him to perceive, as we have been enabled +to do, the wide-spread and intricate meshes by which he was enveloped. +"Your Papists in England," said he, "have sent over word to some in this +company, that all that they ever hoped for is come to pass; that my Lord +of Leicester shall be called away in greatest indignation with her +Majesty, and to confirm this of Champagny, I have myself seen a letter +that her Majesty is in hand with a secret peace. God forbid! for if it +be so, her Majesty, her realm, and we, are all undone." + +The feeling in the Provinces was still sincerely loyal towards England. +"These men," said Leicester, "yet honour and most dearly love her +Majesty, and hardly, I know, will be brought to believe ill of her any +way." Nevertheless these rumours, to the discredit of her good faith, +were doing infinite harm; while the Earl, although keeping his eyes and +ears wide open, was anxious not to compromise himself any further with +his sovereign, by appearing himself to suspect her of duplicity. "Good, +my Lord," he besought Burghley, "do not let her Majesty know of this +concerning Champagny as coming from me, for she will think it is done +for my own cause, which, by the Lord God, it is not, but even on the +necessity of the case for her own safety, and the realm, and us all. +Good my Lord, as you will do any good in the matter, let not her Majesty +understand any piece of it to come from me." + +The States-General, on the 25th March, N.S., addressed a respectful +letter to the Queen, in reply to her vehement chidings. They expressed +their deep regret that her Majesty should be so offended with the +election of the Earl of Leicester as absolute governor. + +They confessed that she had just cause of displeasure, but hoped that +when she should be informed of the whole matter she would rest better +satisfied with their proceedings. They stated that the authority was the +same which had been previously bestowed upon governors-general; observing +that by the word "absolute," which had been used in designation of that +authority, nothing more had been intended than to give to the Earl full +power to execute his commission, while the sovereignty of the country was +reserved to the people. This commission, they said, could not be without +danger revoked. And therefore they most humbly besought her Majesty to +approve what had been done, and to remember its conformity with her own +advice to them, that a multitude of heads, whereby confusion in the +government is bred, should be avoided. + +Leicester, upon the same occasion, addressed a letter to Burghley and +Walsingham, expressing himself as became a crushed and contrite man, +never more to raise his drooping head again, but warmly and manfully +urging upon the attention of the English government--for the honour and +interest of the Queen herself--"the miserable state of the poor +soldiers." The necessity of immediate remittances in order to keep them +from starving, was most imperious. For himself, he was smothering his +wretchedness until he should learn her Majesty's final decision, as to +what was to become of him. "Meantime," said he, "I carry my grief +inward, and will proceed till her Majesty's full pleasure come with as +little discouragement to the cause as I can. I pray God her Majesty may +do that may be best for herself. For my own part my, heart is broken, +but not by the enemy." + +There is no doubt that the public disgrace thus inflicted upon the +broken-hearted governor, and the severe censure administered to the +States by the Queen were both ill-timed and undeserved. Whatever his +disingenuousness towards Davison, whatever his disobedience to Elizabeth, +however ambitious his own secret motives may, have been, there is no +doubt at all that thus far he had borne himself well in his great office. + +Richard Cavendish--than whom few had better opportunities of judging-- +spoke in strong language on the subject. "It is a thing almost +incredible," said he, "that the care and diligence of any, one man living +could, in so small time; have so much repaired so disjointed and loose an +estate as my Lord found this country, in. But lest he should swell in +pride of that his good success, your Lordship knoweth that God hath so +tempered the cause with the construction thereof, as may well hold him in +good consideration of human things." He alluded with bitterness--as did +all men in the Netherlands who were not open or disguised Papists--to the +fatal rumours concerning the peace-negotiation in connection with the +recall of Leicester. "There be here advertisements of most fearful +instance," he said, "namely, that Champagny doth not spare most liberally +to bruit abroad that he hath in his hands the conditions of peace offered +by her Majesty unto the King his master, and that it is in his power to +conclude at pleasure--which fearful and mischievous plot, if in time it +be not met withal by some notable encounter, it cannot but prove the root +of great ruin." + +The "false boys" about Leicester were indefatigable in spreading these +rumours, and in taking advantage--with the assistance of the Papists in +the obedient Provinces and in England--of the disgraced condition in +which the Queen had placed the favourite. Most galling to the haughty +Earl--most damaging to the cause of England, Holland, and, liberty--were +the tales to his discredit, which circulated on the Bourse at Antwerp, +Middelburg, Amsterdam, and in all the other commercial centres. The most +influential bankers and merchants, were assured--by a thousand chattering +--but as it were invisible--tongues, that the Queen had for a long time +disliked Leicester; that he was a man of no account among the statesmen +of England; that he was a beggar and a bankrupt; that, if he had waited +two months longer, he would have made his appearance in the Provinces +with one man and one boy for his followers; that the Queen had sent him +thither to be rid of him; that she never intended him to have more +authority than Sir John Norris had; that she could not abide the +bestowing the title of Excellency upon him, and that she had not +disguised her fury at his elevation to the post of governor-general. + +All who attempted a refutation of these statements were asked, with a +sneer, whether her Majesty had ever written a line to him, or in +commendation of him, since his arrival. Minute inquiries were made by +the Dutch merchants of their commercial correspondents, both in their own +country and in England, as to Leicester's real condition and character. +at home. What was his rank, they asked, what his ability, what: his +influence at court? Why, if he were really of so high quality as had +been reported, was he thus neglected, and at last disgraced? Had he any +landed property in England? Had he really ever held any other office but +that of master of the horse? "And then," asked one particular busy body, +who made himself very unpleasant on the Amsterdam Exchange, "why has her +Majesty forbidden all noblemen and gentlemen from coming hither, as was +the case at the beginning? Is it because she is hearkening to a peace? +And if it be so, quoth he, we are well handled; for if her Majesty +hath sent a disgraced man to amuse us, while she is secretly working +a peace for herself, when we--on the contrary--had broken off all our +negotiations, upon confidence of her Majesty's goodness; such conduct +will be remembered to the end of the world, and the Hollanders will +never abide the name of England again." + +On such a bed of nettles there was small chance of repose for the +governor. Some of the rumours were even more stinging. So +incomprehensible did it seem that the proud sovereign of England should +send over her subjects to starve or beg in the streets of Flushing and +Ostend, that it was darkly intimated that Leicester had embezzled the +funds, which, no doubt, had been remitted for the poor soldiers. This +was the most cruel blow of all. The Earl had been put to enormous +charges. His household at the Hague cost him a thousand pounds a month. +He had been paying and furnishing five hundred and fifty men out of his +own purse. He had also a choice regiment of cavalry, numbering seven +hundred and fifty horse; three hundred and fifty of which number were +over and above those allowed for by the Queen, and were entirely at his +expense. He was most liberal in making presents of money to every +gentleman in his employment. He had deeply mortgaged his estates in +order to provide for these heavy demands upon him, and professed his +willingness "to spend more, if he might have got any more money for his +land that was left;" and in the face of such unquestionable facts--much +to the credit certainly of his generosity--he was accused of swindling +a Queen whom neither Jew nor Gentile had ever yet been sharp enough to +swindle; while he was in reality plunging forward in a course of reckless +extravagance in order to obviate the fatal effects of her penuriousness. + +Yet these sinister reports were beginning to have a poisonous effect. +Already an alteration of mien was perceptible in the States-General. +"Some buzzing there is amongst them," said Leicester, "whatsoever it be. +They begin to deal very strangely within these few days." Moreover the +industry of the Poleys, Blunts, and Pagets, had turned these unfavourable +circumstances to such good account that a mutiny had been near breaking +out among the English troops. "And, before the Lord I speak it," said +the Earl, "I am sure some of these good towns had been gone ere this, but +for my money. As for the States, I warrant you, they see day at a little +hole. God doth know what a forward and a joyful country here was within +a month. God send her Majesty to recover it so again, and to take care +of it, on the condition she send me after Sir Francis Drake to the +Indies, my service here being no more acceptable." + +Such was the aspect of affairs in the Provinces after the first explosion +of the Queen's anger had become known. Meanwhile the court-weather was +very changeable in England, being sometimes serene, sometimes cloudy,-- +always treacherous. + +Mr. Vavasour, sent by the Earl with despatches to her Majesty and the +council, had met with a sufficiently benignant reception. She accepted +the letters, which, however, owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the +eyes, she was unable at once to read; but she talked ambiguously with the +messenger. Yavasour took pains to show the immediate necessity of +sending supplies, so that the armies in the Netherlands might take the +field at the, earliest possible moment. "And what," said she, "if a +peace should come in the mean time?" + +"If your Majesty desireth a convenient peace," replied Vavasour, "to take +the field is the readiest way to obtain it; for as yet the King of Spain +hath had no reason to fear you. He is daily expecting that your own +slackness may give your Majesty an overthrow. Moreover, the Spaniards +are soldiers, and are not to be moved by-shadows." + +But the Queen had no ears for these remonstrances, and no disposition to +open her coffers. A warrant for twenty-four thousand pounds had been +signed by her at the end of the month of March, and was about to be sent, +when Vavasour arrived; but it was not possible for him, although assisted +by the eloquence of Walsingham and Burghley, to obtain an enlargement of +the pittance. "The storms are overblown," said Walsingham, "but I fear +your Lordship shall receive very scarce measure from hence. You will not +believe how the sparing humour doth increase upon us." + +Nor were the storms so thoroughly overblown but that there were not daily +indications of returning foul weather. Accordingly--after a conference +with Vavasour--Burghley, and Walsingham had an interview with the Queen, +in which the Lord Treasurer used bold and strong language. He protested +to her that he was bound, both by his duty to himself and his oath as her +councillor, to declare that the course she was holding to Lord Leicester +was most dangerous to her own honour, interest and safety. If she +intended to continue in this line of conduct, he begged to resign his +office of Lord Treasurer; wishing; before God and man, to wash his bands +of the shame and peril which he saw could not be avoided. The Queen, +astonished at the audacity of Burghley's attitude and language, hardly +knew whether to chide him for his presumption or to listen to his +arguments. She did both. She taxed him with insolence in daring to +address her so roundly, and then finding he was speaking even in +'amaritudine animae' and out of a clear conscience, she became calm +again, and intimated a disposition to qualify her anger against the +absent Earl. + +Next day, to their sorrow, the two councillors found that the Queen had +again changed her mind--"as one that had been by some adverse counsel +seduced." She expressed the opinion that affairs would do well enough in +the Netherlands, even though Leicester were displaced. A conference +followed between Walsingham, Hatton, and Burghley, and then the three +went again to her Majesty. They assured her that if she did not take +immediate steps to satisfy the States and the people of the Provinces, +she would lose those countries and her own honour at the same time; and +that then they would prove a source of danger to her instead of +protection and glory. At this she was greatly troubled, and agreed to do +anything they might advise consistently with her honour. It was then +agreed that Leicester should be continued in the government which he had +accepted until the matter should be further considered, and letters to +that effect were at once written. Then came messenger from Sir Thomas +Heneage, bringing despatchesfrom that envoy, and a second and most secret +one from the Earl himself. Burghley took the precious letter which the +favourite had addressed to his royal mistress, and had occasion to +observe its magical effect. Walsingham and the Lord Treasurer had been +right in so earnestly remonstrating with him on his previous silence. + +"She read your letter," said Burghley, "and, in very truth, I found her +princely heart touched with favourable interpretation of your actions; +affirming them to be only offensive to her, in that she was not made +privy to them; not now misliking that you had the authority." + +Such, at fifty-three, was Elizabeth Tudor. A gentle whisper of idolatry +from the lips of the man she loved, and she was wax in his hands. Where +now were the vehement protestations of horror that her public declaration +of principles and motives had been set at nought? Where now were her +vociferous denunciations of the States, her shrill invectives against +Leicester, her big oaths, and all the 'hysterica passio,' which had sent +poor Lord Burghley to bed with the gout, and inspired the soul of +Walsingham with dismal forebodings? Her anger had dissolved into a +shower of tenderness, and if her parsimony still remained it was because +that could only vanish when she too should cease to be. + +And thus, for a moment, the grave diplomatic difference between the +crown of England and their high mightinesses the United States--upon the +solution of which the fate of Christendom was hanging--seemed to shrink +to the dimensions of a lovers' quarrel. Was it not strange that the +letter had been so long delayed? + +Davison had exhausted argument in defence of the acceptance by the Earl +of the authority conferred by the States and had gained nothing by his +eloquence, save abuse from the Queen, and acrimonious censure from the +Earl. He had deeply offended both by pleading the cause of the erring +favourite, when the favourite should have spoken for himself. "Poor Mr. +Davison," said Walsingham, "doth take it very grievously that your +Lordship should conceive so hardly of him as you do. I find the conceit +of your Lordship's disfavour hath greatly dejected him. But at such time +as he arrived her Majesty was so incensed, as all the arguments and +orators in the world could not have wrought any satisfaction." + +But now a little billet-doux had done what all the orators in the world +could not do. The arguments remained the same, but the Queen no longer +"misliked that Leicester should have the authority." It was natural that +the Lord Treasurer should express his satisfaction at this auspicious +result. + +"I did commend her princely nature," he said, "in allowing your good +intention, and excusing you of any spot of evil meaning; and I thought +good to hasten her resolution, which you must now take to come from a +favourable good mistress. You must strive with your nature to throw over +your shoulder that which is past." + +Sir Walter Raleigh, too, who had been "falsely and pestilently" +represented to the Earl as an enemy, rather than what he really was, +a most ardent favourer of the Netherland cause, wrote at once to +congratulate him on the change in her Majesty's demeanour. "The Queen is +in very good terms with you now," he said, "and, thanks be to God, well +pacified, and you are again her 'sweet Robin.'" + +Sir Walter wished to be himself the bearer of the comforting despatches +to Leicester, on the ground that he had been represented as an "ill +instrument against him," and in order that he might justify himself +against the charge, with his own lips. The Queen, however, while +professing to make use of Shirley as the messenger, bade Walsingham +declare to the Earl, upon her honour, that Raleigh had done good offices +for him, and that, in the time of her anger, he had been as earnest in +his defence as the best friend could be. It would have been--singular, +indeed, had it been otherwise. "Your Lordship," said Sir Walter, "doth +well understand my affection toward Spain, and how I have consumed the +best part of my fortune, hating the tyrannous prosperity of that state. +It were strange and monstrous that I should now become an enemy to my +country and conscience. All that I have desired at your Lordship's +hands is that you will evermore deal directly with me in all matters +--of suspect doubleness, and so ever esteem me as you shall find me +deserving good or bad. In the mean time, let no poetical scribe work +your Lordship by any device to doubt that I am a hollow or cold servant +to the action." + +It was now agreed that letters should be drawn, up authorizing Leicester +to continue in the office which he held, until the state-council should +devise some modification in his commission. As it seemed, however, very +improbable that the board would devise anything of the kind, Burghley +expressed the belief that the country was like to continue in the Earl's +government without any change whatever. The Lord Treasurer was also of +opinion that the Queen's letters to Leicester would convey as much +comfort as he had received discomfort; although he admitted that there +was a great difference: The former letters he knew had deeply wounded his +heart, while the new ones could not suddenly sink so low as the wound. + +The despatch to the States-General was benignant, elaborate, slightly +diffuse. The Queen's letter to 'sweet Robin' was caressing, but +argumentative. + +"It is always thought," said she, "in the opinion of the world, a hard +bargain when both parties are losers, and so doth fall out in the case +between us two. You, as we hear, are greatly grieved in respect of the +great displeasure you find we have conceived against you. We are no less +grieved that a subject of ours of that quality that you are, a creature +of our own, and one that hath always received an extraordinary portion of +our favour above all our subjects, even from the beginning of our reign, +should deal so carelessly, not to say contemptuously, as to give the +world just cause to think that we are had in contempt by him that ought +most to respect and reverence us, which, we do assure you, hath wrought +as great grief in us as anyone thing that ever happened unto us. + +"We are persuaded that you, that have so long known us, cannot think that +ever we could have been drawn to have taken so hard a course therein had +we not been provoked by an extraordinary cause. But for that your +grieved and wounded mind hath more need of comfort than reproof, who, we +are persuaded, though the act of contempt can no ways be excused, had no +other meaning and intent than to advance our service, we think meet to +forbear to dwell upon a matter wherein we ourselves do find so little +comfort, assuring you that whosoever professeth to love you best taketh +not more comfort of your well doing, or discomfort of your evil doing +than ourself." + +After this affectionate preface she proceeded to intimate her desire that +the Earl should take the matter as nearly as possible into his own hands. +It was her wish that he should retain the authority of absolute governor, +but--if it could be so arranged--that he should dispense with the title, +retaining only that of her lieutenant-general. It was not her intention +however, to create any confusion or trouble in the Provinces, and she was +therefore willing that the government should remain upon precisely the +same footing as that on which it then stood, until circumstances should +permit the change of title which she suggested. And the whole matter was +referred to the wisdom of Leicester, who was to advise with Heneage and +such others as he liked to consult, although it was expressly stated that +the present arrangement was to be considered a provisional and not a +final one. + +Until this soothing intelligence could arrive in the Netherlands the +suspicions concerning the underhand negotiations with Spain grew daily +more rife, and the discredit cast upon the Earl more embarrassing. The +private letters which passed between the Earl's enemies in Holland and in +England contained matter more damaging to himself and to the cause which +he had at heart than the more public reports of modern days can +disseminate, which, being patent to all, can be more easily contradicted. +Leicester incessantly warned his colleagues of her Majesty's council +against the malignant manufacturers of intelligence. "I pray you, my +Lords, as you are wise," said he, "beware of them all. You shall find +them here to be shrewd pick-thinks, and hardly worth the hearkening +unto." + +He complained bitterly of the disgrace that was heaped upon him, both +publicly and privately, and of the evil consequences which were sure to +follow from the course pursued. "Never was man so villanously handled by +letters out of England as I have been," said he, "not only advertising +her Majesty's great dislike with me before this my coming over, but that +I was an odious man in England, and so long as I tarried here that no +help was to be looked for, that her Majesty would send no more men or +money, and that I was used here but for a time till a peace were +concluded between her Majesty and the Prince of Parma. What the +continuance of a man's discredit thus will turn out is to be thought of, +for better I were a thousand times displaced than that her Majesty's +great advantage of so notable Provinces should be hindered." + +As to the peace-negotiations--which, however cunningly managed, could not +remain entirely concealed--the Earl declared them to be as idle as they +were disingenuous. "I will boldly pronounce that all the peace you can +make in the world, leaving these countries," said he to Burghley, "will +never prove other than a fair spring for a few days, to be all over +blasted with a hard storm after." Two days later her Majesty's +comforting letters arrived, and the Earl began to raise his drooping +head. Heneage, too, was much relieved, but he was, at the same time, not +a little perplexed. It was not so easy to undo all the mischief created +by the Queen's petulance. The "scorpion's sting"--as her Majesty +expressed herself--might be balsamed, but the poison had spread far +beyond the original wound. + +"The letters just brought in," wrote Heneage to Burghley, "have well +relieved a most noble and sufficient servant, but I fear they will not +restore the much-repaired wrecks of these far-decayed noble countries +into the same state I found them in. A loose, disordered, and unknit +state needs no shaking, but propping. A subtle and fearful kind of +people--should not be made more distrustful, but assured." He then +expressed annoyance at the fault already found with him, and surely if +ever man had cause to complain of reproof administered him, in quick +succession; for not obeying contradictory directions following upon each +other as quickly, that man was Sir Thomas Heneage. He had been, as he +thought, over cautious in administering the rebuke to the Earl's +arrogance, which he had been expressly sent over to administer but +scarcely had he accomplished his task, with as much delicacy as he could +devise, when he found himself censured;--not for dilatoriness, but for +haste. "Fault I perceive," said he to Burghley, "is found in me, not by +your Lordship, but by some other, that I did not stay proceeding if I +found the public cause might take hurt. It is true I had good warrant +for the manner, the, place, and the persons, but, for the matter none, +for done it must be. Her Majesty's offence must be declared. Yet if I +did not all I possibly could to uphold the cause, and to keep the +tottering cause upon the wheels, I deserve no thanks, but reproof." + +Certainly, when the blasts of royal rage are remembered, by which the +envoy had been, as it were, blown out of England into Holland, it is +astonishing to find his actions censured for undue precipitancy. But +it was not the, first, nor was it likely to be the last time, for +comparatively subordinate agents in Elizabeth's government to be, +distressed by, contradictory commands, when the sovereign did not know +or did not chose to make known, her own mind on important occasions. +"Well, my Lord," said plaintive Sir Thomas, "wiser men may serve more +pleasingly and happily, but never shall any serve her Majesty more, +faithfully and heartily. And so I cannot be persuaded her Majesty +thinketh; for from herself I find nothing but most sweet and--gracious, +favour, though by others' censures I may gather otherwise of her +judgment; which I confess, doth cumber me." + +He was destined to be cumbered more than once before these negotiations +should be concluded; but meantime; there was a brief gleam of sunshine. +The English friends of Leicester in the Netherlands were enchanted with +the sudden change in the Queen's humour; and to Lord Burghley, who was +not, in reality, the most stanch of the absent Earl's defenders, they +poured themselves out in profuse and somewhat superfluous gratitude. + +Cavendish, in strains exultant, was sure that Burghley's children, grand- +children, and remotest posterity, would rejoice that their great +ancestor, in such a time of need had been "found and felt to be indeed a +'pater patria,' a good-father to a happy land." And, although unwilling +to "stir up the old Adam" in his Lordship's soul, he yet took the liberty +of comparing the Lord Treasurer, in his old and declining years with Mary +Magdalen; assuring him, that for ever after; when the tale of the +preservation of the Church of God, of her Majesty; and of the Netherland +cause; which were all one, should be told; his name and well-doing would +be held in memory also. + +And truly there was much of honest and generous enthusiasm, even if +couched in language somewhat startling to the ears of a colder and more +material age; in the hearts of these noble volunteers. They were +fighting the cause of England, of the Netherland republic, and of human +liberty; with a valour worthy the best days of English' chivalry, against +manifold obstacles, and they were certainly; not too often cheered by the +beams of royal favour. + +It was a pity that a dark cloud was so soon again to sweep over the +scene: For the temper of Elizabeth at this important juncture seemed as +capricious: as the: April weather in which the scenes were enacting. We +have seen the genial warmth of her letters and messages to Leicester, to +Heneage,--to the States-General; on the first of the month. Nevertheless +it was hardly three weeks after they had been despatched when Walsingham +and Burghley found, her Majesty one morning a towering passion, because, +the Earl had not already laid down the government. The Lord Treasurer +ventured to remonstrate, but was bid to bold his tongue. Ever variable +and mutable as woman, Elizabeth was perplexing and baffling to her +counsellors, at this epoch, beyond all divination. The "sparing humour" +was increasing fearfully, and she thought it would be easier for her to +slip out of the whole expensive enterprise, provided Leicester were +merely her lieutenant-general, and not stadholder for the Provinces. +Moreover the secret negotiations for peace were producing a deleterious +effect upon her mind. Upon this subject, the Queen and Burghley, +notwithstanding his resemblance to Mary Magdalen, were better informed +than the Secretary, whom, however, it had been impossible wholly to +deceive. The man who could read secrets so far removed as the Vatican, +was not to be blinded to intrigues going on before his face. The Queen, +without revealing more than she could help, had been obliged to admit +that informal transactions were pending, but had authorised the Secretary +to assure the United States that no treaty would be made without their +knowledge and full concurrence. "She doth think," wrote Walsingham to +Leicester," that you should, if you shall see no cause to the contrary, +acquaint the council of state there that certain overtures of peace are +daily made unto her, but that she meaneth not to proceed therein without +their good liking and privity, being persuaded that there can no peace be +made profitable or sure for her that shall not also stand with their +safety; and she doth acknowledge hers to be so linked with theirs as +nothing can fall out to their prejudice, but she must be partaker of +their harm." + +This communication was dated on the 21st April, exactly three weeks after +the Queen's letter to Heneage, in which she had spoken of the "malicious +bruits" concerning the pretended peace-negotiations; and the Secretary +was now confirming, by her order, what she had then stated under her own +hand, that she would "do nothing that might concern them without their +own knowledge and good liking." + +And surely nothing could be more reasonable. Even if the strict letter +of the August treaty between the Queen and the States did not provide +against any separate negotiations by the one party without the knowledge +of the other, there could be no doubt at all that its spirit absolutely +forbade the clandestine conclusion of a peace with Spain by England +alone, or by the Netherlands alone, and that such an arrangement would be +disingenuous, if not positively dishonourable. + +Nevertheless it would almost seem that Elizabeth had been taking +advantage of the day when she was writing her letter to Heneage on the +1st of April. Never was painstaking envoy more elaborately trifled with. +On the 26th of the month--and only five days after the communication by +Walsingham just noticed--the Queen was furious that any admission should +have been made to the States of their right to participate with her in +peace-negotiations. + +"We find that Sir Thomas Heneage," said she to Leicester, "hath gone +further--in assuring the States that we would make no peace without their +privity and assent--than he had commission; for that our direction was-- +if our meaning had been well set down, and not mistaken by our Secretary +--that they should have been only let understand that in any treaty that +might pass between us and Spain, they might be well assured we would have +no less care of their safety than of our own." Secretary Walsingham was +not likely to mistake her Majesty's directions in this or any other +important affair of state. Moreover, it so happened that the Queen had, +in her own letter to Heneage, made the same statement which she now +chose to disavow. She had often a convenient way of making herself +misunderstood, when she thought it desirable to shift responsibility from +her own shoulders upon those of others; but upon this occasion she had +been sufficiently explicit. Nevertheless, a scape-goat was necessary, +and unhappy the subordinate who happened to be within her Majesty's reach +when a vicarious sacrifice was to be made. Sir Francis Walsingham was +not a man to be brow-beaten or hood-winked, but Heneage was doomed to +absorb a fearful amount of royal wrath. + +"What phlegmatical reasons soever were made you," wrote the Queen, who +but three weeks before had been so gentle and affectionate to her, +ambassador, "how happeneth it that you will not remember, that when a man +hath faulted and committed by abettors thereto, neither the one nor the +other will willingly make their own retreat. Jesus! what availeth wit, +when it fails the owner at greatest need? Do that you are bidden, and +leave your considerations for your own affairs. For in some things you +had clear commandment, which you did not, and in others none, and did. +We princes be wary enough of our bargains. Think you I will be bound +by your own speech to make no peace for mine own matters without their +consent? It is enough that I injure not their country nor themselves +in making peace for them without their consent. I am assured of your +dutiful thoughts, but I am utterly at squares with this childish +dealing." + +Blasted by this thunderbolt falling upon his head out of serenest sky, +the sad. Sir. Thomas remained, for a time, in a state of political +annihilation. 'Sweet Robin' meanwhile, though stunned, was unscathed-- +thanks to the convenient conductor at his side. For, in Elizabeth's +court, mediocrity was not always golden, nor was it usually the loftiest +mountains that the lightnings smote. The Earl was deceived by his royal +mistress, kept in the dark as to important transactions, left to provide +for his famishing' soldiers as he best might; but the, Queen at that +moment, though angry, was not disposed, to trample upon him. Now that +his heart was known to be broken, and his sole object in life to be +retirement to remote regions--India or elsewhere--there to languish out +the brief remainder of his days in prayers for Elizabeth's happiness, +Elizabeth was not inclined very bitterly to upbraid him. She had too +recently been employing herself in binding up his broken heart, and +pouring balm into the "scorpion's sting," to be willing so soon to +deprive him of those alleviations. + +Her tone--was however no longer benignant, and her directions were +extremely peremptory. On the 1st of April she had congratulated +Leicester, Heneage, the States, and all the world, that her secret +commands had been staid, and that the ruin which would have followed, +had, those decrees been executed according to her first violent wish, was +fortunately averted. Heneage was even censured, not by herself, but by +courtiers in her confidence, and with her concurrence, for being over +hasty in going before the state-council, as he had done, with her +messages and commands. On the 26th of April she expressed astonishment +that Heneage had dared to be so dilatory, and that the title of governor +had not been laid down by Leicester "out of hand." She marvelled +greatly, and found it very strange that "ministers in matters of moment +should presume to do things of their own head without direction." She +accordingly gave orders that there should be no more dallying, but that +the Earl should immediately hold a conference with the state-council in +order to arrange a modification in his commission. It was her pleasure +that he should retain all the authority granted to him by the States, but +as already intimated by her, that he should abandon the title of +"absolute governor," and retain only that of her lieutenant-general. + +Was it strange that Heneage, placed in so responsible a situation, and +with the fate of England, of Holland, and perhaps of all Christendom, +hanging in great measure upon this delicate negotiation, should be amazed +at such contradictory orders, and grieved by such inconsistent censures? + +"To tell you my griefs and my lacks," said he to Walsingham, "would +little please you or help me. Therefore I will say nothing, but think +there was never man in so great a service received so little comfort and +so contrarious directions. But 'Dominus est adjutor in tribulationibus.' +If it be possible, let me receive some certain direction, in following +which I shall not offend her Majesty, what good or hurt soever I do +besides." + +This certainly seemed a loyal and reasonable request, yet it was not one +likely to be granted. Sir Thomas, perplexed, puzzled, blindfolded, and +brow-beaten, always endeavoring to obey orders, when he could comprehend +them, and always hectored and lectured whether he obeyed them or not-- +ruined in purse by the expenses, of a mission on which he had been sent +without adequate salary--appalled at the disaffection waging more +formidable every hour in Provinces which were recently so loyal to her +Majesty, but which were now pervaded by a suspicion that there was +double-dealing upon her part became quite sick of his life. He fell +seriously ill, and was disappointed, when, after a time, the physicians +declared him convalescent. For when when he rose from his sick-bed, it +was only to plunge once more, without a clue, into the labyrinth where he +seemed to be losing his reason. "It is not long," said he to Walsingham, +"since I looked to have written you no more letters, my extremity was so +great. . . But God's will is best, otherwise I could have liked better +to have cumbered the earth no longer, where I find myself contemned, and +which I find no reason to see will be the better in the wearing . . . +It were better for her Majesty's service that the directions which come +were not contrarious one to another, and that those you would have serve +might know what is meant, else they cannot but much deceive you, as well +as displease you." + +Public opinion concerning the political morality of the English court +was not gratifying, nor was it rendered more favourable by these recent +transactions. "I fear," said Heneage, "that the world will judge what +Champagny wrote in one of his letters out of England (which I have lately +seen) to be over true. His words be these, 'Et de vray, c'est le plus +fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit +au monde.'" And so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a +willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from +Middelburgh to rejoin Leicester at Arnheim, in order to obey, as well as +he could, the Queen's latest directions. + +But before he could set to work there came more "contrarious" orders. +The last instructions, both to Leicester and himself, were that the Earl +should resign the post of governor absolute "out of hand," and the Queen +had been vehement in denouncing any delay on such an occasion. He was +now informed, that, after consulting with Leicester and with the +state-council, he was to return to England with the result of such +deliberations. It could afterwards be decided how the Earl could retain +all the authority of governor absolute, while bearing only the title of +the Queen's lieutenant general. "For her meaning is not," said +Walsingham, "that his Lord ship should presently give it over, for she +foreseeth in her princely judgment that his giving over the government +upon a sudden, and leaving those countries without a head or director, +cannot but breed a most dangerous alteration there." The secretary +therefore stated the royal wish at present to be that the "renunciation +of the title" should be delayed till Heneage could visit England, and +subsequently return to Holland with her Majesty's further directions. +Even the astute Walsingham was himself puzzled, however, while conveying +these ambiguous orders; and he confessed that he was doubtful whether he +had rightly comprehended the Queen's intentions. Burghley, however, was +better at guessing riddles than he was, and so Heneage was advised to +rely chiefly upon Burghley. + +But Heneage had now ceased to be interested in any enigmas that might be +propounded by the English court, nor could he find comfort, as Walsingham +had recommended he should do, in railing. "I wish I could follow your +counsel," he said, "but sure the uttering of my choler doth little ease +my grief or help my case." + +He rebuked, however, the inconsistency and the tergiversations of the +government with a good deal of dignity. "This certainly shall I tell her +Majesty," he said, "if I live to see her, that except a more constant +course be taken with this inconstant people, it is not the blaming of her +ministers will advance her Highness's service, or better the state of +things. And shall I tell you what they now say here of us--I fear not +without some cause--even as Lipsius wrote of the French, 'De Gallis +quidem enigmata veniunt, non veniunt, volunt, holunt, audent, timent, +omnia, ancipiti metu, suspensa et suspecta.' God grant better, and ever +keep you and help me." + +He announced to Burghley that he was about to attend a meeting of the +state-council the next day, for the purpose of a conference on these +matters at Arnheim, and that he would then set forth for England to +report proceedings to her Majesty. He supposed, on the whole, that this +was what was expected of him, but acknowledged it hopeless to fathom. +the royal intentions. Yet if he went wrong, he was always, sure to make +mischief, and though innocent, to be held accountable for others' +mistakes. "Every prick I make," said he, "is made a gash; and to follow +the words of my directions from England is not enough, except I likewise +see into your minds. And surely mine eyesight is not so good. But I +will pray to God for his help herein. With all the wit I have, I will +use all the care I can--first, to satisfy her Majesty, as God knoweth I +have ever most desired; then, not to hurt this cause, but that I despair +of." Leicester, as maybe supposed, had been much discomfited and +perplexed during the course of these contradictory and perverse +directions. There is no doubt whatever that his position bad been made +discreditable and almost ridiculous, while he was really doing his best, +and spending large sums out of his private fortune to advance the true +interests of the Queen. He had become a suspected man in the +Netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored +as a Messiah. He had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed +upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe +expressions of the Queen's displeasure at the joint action of the States- +General and himself. He had been comforted by the affectionate +expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had +been succeeded. He was now again distressed by the peremptory command to +do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause, +yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a +remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of Elizabeth's +presence. He felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the +destruction of the Netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the +downfall of England; and that the Provinces, believing themselves +deceived by the Queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to +which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal +Nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands +distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. He had +come from the camp before Nymegen in order to attend the conference with +the state-council at Arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to, +despatch Heneage to England, to learn her Majesty's final determination. + +He protested to the Queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous +service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this +was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute +government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply +impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the +enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared +with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate +him for this enforced absence from her. To be sent back even in disgrace +would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her +sight. He knew that his enemies had been busy in defaming him, while he +had been no longer there to defend himself, but his conscience acquitted +him of any thought which was not for her happiness and glory. "Yet +grievous it is to me," said he in, a tone of tender reproach, "that +having left all--yea, all that may be imagined--for you, you have left +me for very little, even to the uttermost of all hard fortune. For what +have I, unhappy man, to do here either with cause or country but for +you?" + +He stated boldly that his services had not been ineffective, that the +enemy had never been in worse plight than now, that he had lost at least +five thousand men in divers overthrows, and that, on the other hand, +the people and towns of the Seven Provinces had been safely preserved. +"Since my arrival," he said, "God hath blessed the action which you have +taken in hand, and committed to the charge of me your poor unhappy +servant. I have good cause to say somewhat for myself, for that I think +I have as few friends to speak for me as any man." + +Nevertheless--as he warmly protested--his only wish was to return; for +the country in which he had lost her favour, which was more precious than +life, had become odious to him. + +The most lowly office in her presence was more to be coveted than the +possession of unlimited power away from her. It was by these tender +and soft insinuations, as the Earl knew full well, that he was sure to +obtain what he really coveted--her sanction for retaining the absolute +government in the Provinces. And most artfully did he strike the key. + +"Most dear and gracious Lady," he cried, "my care and service here do +breed me nothing but grief and unhappiness. I have never had your +Majesty's good favour since I came into this charge--a matter that from +my first beholding your eyes hath been most dear unto me above all +earthly treasures. Never shall I love that place or like that soil which +shall cause the lack of it. Most gracious Lady, consider my long, true, +and faithful heart toward you. Let not this unfortunate place here +bereave me of that which, above all the world, I esteem there, which is +your favodr and your presence. I see my service is not acceptable, but +rather more and more disliketh you. Here I can do your Majesty no +service; there I can do you some, at the least rub your horse's heels-- +a service which shall be much more welcome to me than this, with all that +these men may give me. I do, humbly and from my heart, prostrate at your +feet, beg this grace at your sacred hands, that you will be pleased to +let me return to my home-service, with your favour, let the revocation be +used in what sort shall please and like you. But if ever spark of favour +was in your Majesty toward your old servant, let me obtain this my humble +suit; protesting before the Majesty of all Majesties, that there was no +cause under Heaven but his and yours, even for your own special and +particular cause, I say, could have made me take this absent journey from +you in hand. If your Majesty shall refuse me this, I shall think all +grace clean gone from me, and I know: my days will not be long." + +She must melt at this, thought 'sweet Robin' to himself; and meantime +accompanied by Heneage; he proceeded with the conferences in the state- +council-chamber touching the modification of the title and the +confirmation of his authority. This, so far as Walsingham could divine, +and Burghley fathom, was the present intention of the Queen. He averred +that he had ever sought most painfully to conform his conduct to her +instructions as fast as they were received, and that he should continue +so to do. On the whole it was decided by the conference to let matters +stand as, they were for a little longer, and until: after Heneage should +have time once more to go and come. "The same manner of proceeding that +was is now," said Leicester, "Your pleasure is declared to the council +here as you have willed it. How it will fall out again in your Majesty's +construction, the Lord knoweth." + +Leicester might be forgiven for referring to higher powers, for any +possible interpretation of her Majesty's changing humour; but meantime; +while Sir. Thomas was getting ready, for his expedition to England, the +Earl's heart was somewhat gladdened by more gracious messages from the +Queen. The alternation of emotions would however prove too much for him, +he feared, and he was reluctant to open his heart to so unwonted a tenant +as joy. + +"But that my fear is such, most dear and gracious Lady," he said, "as my +unfortunate destiny will hardly permit; whilst I remain here; any good- +acceptation of so simple a service as, mine, I should, greatly rejoice +and comfort myself with the hope of your Majesty's most prayed-for +favour. But of late, being by your own sacred hand lifted even up into +Heaven with joy of your favour, I was bye and bye without any new desert +or offence at all, cast down and down: again into the depth of all grief. +God doth know, my dear and dread Sovereign, that after I first received +your resolute pleasure by Sir Thomas Heneage, I made neither stop nor +stay nor any excuse to be rid of this place, and to satisfy your command. +. . . . . So much I mislike this place and fortune of mine; as I desire +nothing in the world so much, as to be delivered, with your favours from +all charge here, fearing still some new cross of your displeasure to fall +upon me, trembling continually with the fear thereof, in such sort as +till I may be fully confirmed in my new regeneration of your wonted +favour I cannot receive that true comfort which doth appertain to so +great a hope. Yet I will not only acknowledge with all humbleness and +dutiful thanks the exceeding joy these last blessed lines brought to my +long-wearied heart, but will, with all true loyal affection, attend that +further joy from your sweet self which may utterly, extinguish all +consuming fear away." + +Poor Heneage--who likewise received a kind word or two after having been +so capriciously and petulantly dealt with was less extravagant in his +expressions of gratitude. "The Queen hath sent me a paper-plaister which +must please for a time," he said. "God Almighty bless her Majesty ever, +and best direct her." He was on the point of starting for England, the +bearer of the States' urgent entreaties that Leicester might retain the, +government, and of despatches; announcing the recent success of the +allies before Grave. "God prospereth the action in these countries +beyond all expectation," he said, "which all amongst you will not be over +glad of, for somewhat I know." The intrigues of Grafigni, Champagny, and +Bodman, with Croft, Burghley, and the others were not so profound a +secret as they could wish. + +The tone adopted by Leicester has been made manifest in his letters +to the Queen. He had held the same language of weariness and +dissatisfaction in his communications to his friends. He would not keep +the office, he avowed, if they should give him "all Holland and Zeeland, +with all their appurtenances," and he was ready to resign at any moment. +He was not "ceremonious for reputation," he said, but he gave warning +that the Netherlanders would grow desperate if they found her Majesty +dealing weakly or carelessly with them. As for himself he had already +had enough of government. "I am weary, Mr. Secretary," he plaintively +exclaimed, "indeed I am weary; but neither of pains nor travail. My ill +hap that I can please her Majesty no better hath quite discouraged me." + +He had recently, however--as we have seen--received some comfort, and he +was still further encouraged, upon the eve of Heneage's departure, by +receiving another affectionate epistle from the Queen. Amends seemed at +last to be offered for her long and angry silence, and the Earl was +deeply grateful. + +"If it hath not been, my most dear and gracious Lady," said he in reply, +"no small comfort to your poor old servant to receive but one line of +your blessed hand-writing in many months, for the relief of a most +grieved, wounded heart, how far more exceeding joy must it be, in the +midst of all sorrow, to receive from the same sacred hand so many +comfortable lines as my good friend Mr. George hath at once brought me. +Pardon me, my sweet Lady, if they cause me to forget myself. Only this I +do say, with most humble dutiful thanks, that the scope of all my service +hath ever been to content and please you; and if I may do that, then is +all sacrifice, either of life or whatsoever, well offered for you." + +The matter of the government absolute having been so fully discussed +during the preceding four months, and the last opinions of the state- +council having been so lucidly expounded in the despatches to be carried +by Heneage to England, the matter might be considered as exhausted. +Leicester contented himself, therefore, with once more calling her +Majesty's attention to the fact that if he had not himself accepted the +office thus conferred upon him by the States, it would have been bestowed +upon some other personage. It would hardly have comported with her +dignity, if Count Maurice of Nassau, or Count William, or Count Moeurs, +had been appointed governor absolute, for in that case the Earl, as +general of the auxiliary English force, would have been subject to the +authority of the chieftain thus selected. It was impossible, as the +state-council had very plainly shown, for Leicester to exercise supreme +authority, while merely holding the military office of her Majesty's +lieutenant-general. The authority of governor or stadholder could only +be derived from the supreme power of the country. If her Majesty had +chosen to accept the sovereignty, as the States had ever desired, the +requisite authority could then have been derived from her, as from the +original fountain. As she had resolutely refused that offer however, his +authority was necessarily to be drawn from the States-General, or else +the Queen must content herself with seeing him serve as an English +military officer, only subject to the orders of the supreme power, +wherever that power might reside. In short, Elizabeth's wish that her +general might be clothed with the privileges of her viceroy, while she +declined herself to be the sovereign, was illogical, and could not be +complied with. + +Very soon after inditing these last epistles to the Provinces, the Queen +became more reasonable on the subject; and an elaborate communication was +soon received by the state-council, in which the royal acquiescence was +signified to the latest propositions of the States. The various topics, +suggested in previous despatches from Leicester and from the council, +were reviewed, and the whole subject was suddenly placed in a somewhat +different light from that in which it seemed to have been previously +regarded by her Majesty. She alluded to the excuse, offered by the +state-council, which had been drawn from the necessity of the case, and +from their "great liking for her cousin of Leicester," although in +violation of the original contract. "As you acknowledge, however," she +said, "that therein you were justly to be blamed, and do crave pardon for +the same, we cannot, upon this acknowledgment of your fault, but remove +our former dislike." + +Nevertheless it would now seem that her "mistake" had proceeded, not from +the excess, but from the insufficiency of the powers conferred upon the +Earl, and she complained, accordingly, that they had given him shadow +rather than substance. + +Simultaneously with this royal communication, came a joint letter to +Leicester, from Burghley, Walsingham; and Hatton, depicting the long and +strenuous conflict which they had maintained in his behalf with the +rapidly varying inclinations of the Queen. They expressed a warm +sympathy with the difficulties of his position, and spoke in strong terms +of the necessity that the Netherlands and England should work heartily +together. For otherwise, they said, "the cause will fall, the enemy will +rise, and we must stagger." Notwithstanding the secret negotiations with +the enemy, which Leicester and Walsingham suspected, and which will be +more fully examined in a subsequent chapter, they held a language on that +subject, which in the Secretary's mouth at least was sincere. +"Whatsoever speeches be blown abroad of parleys of peace," they said, +"all will be but smoke, yea fire will follow." + +They excused themselves for their previous and enforced silence by the +fact that they had been unable to communicate any tidings but messages of +distress, but they now congratulated the Earl that her Majesty, as he +would see by her letter to the council, was firmly resolved, not only to +countenance his governorship, but to sustain him in the most thorough +manner. It would be therefore quite out of the question for them to +listen to his earnest propositions to be recalled. + +Moreover, the Lord Treasurer had already apprized Leicester that Heneage +had safely arrived in England, that he, had made his report to the Queen, +and that her Majesty was "very well contented with him and his mission." +It may be easily believed that the Earl would feel a sensation of relief, +if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which +he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise +Leoninus upon New Years' Day. At last the Queen had formally acquiesced +in the action of the States, and in his acceptance of their offer. He +now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months +long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. It was natural that +he should express himself cheerfully. + +"My great comfort received, oh my most gracious Lady," he said, "by your +most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, I did most humbly +acknowledge by my former letter; albeit I can no way make testimony of +enough of the great joy I took thereby. And seeing my wounded heart is +by this means almost made whole, I do pray unto God that either I may +never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather +than I should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. Most +gracious Queen, I beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you +have begun. Let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the +place I serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears +indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. My strong hope doth +now so assure me, as I have almost won the battle against despair, and I +do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may +confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow +of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this +disease." + +But however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to +Leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny +condition in the Provinces. It was easier for Elizabeth to mend the +broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been +caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. The dispute +concerning the government absolute had died away, but the authority of +the Earl had got a "crack in it" which never could be handsomely made +whole. The States, during the long period of Leicester's discredit-- +feeling more and more doubtful as to the secret intentions of Elizabeth +--disappointed in the condition of the auxiliary troops and in the amount +of supplies furnished from England, and, above all, having had time to +regret their delegation of a power which they began to find agreeable to +exercise with their own hands, became indisposed to entrust the Earl with +the administration and full inspection of their resources. To the +enthusiasm which had greeted the first arrival of Elizabeth's +representative had succeeded a jealous, carping, suspicious sentiment. +The two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid, according to the +original agreement, but the four hundred thousand of extra service-money +subsequently voted were withheld, and withheld expressly on account of +Heneage's original mission to disgrace the governor." + +"The late return of Sir Thomas Heneage," said Lord North, "hath put such +busses in their heads, as they march forward with leaden heels and +doubtful hearts." + +In truth, through the discredit cast by the Queen upon the Earl in this +important affair, the supreme authority was forced back into the hands +of the States, at the very moment when they had most freely divested +themselves of power. After the Queen had become more reasonable, it was +too late to induce them to part, a second time, so freely with the +immediate control of their own affairs. Leicester had become, to a +certain extent, disgraced and disliked by the Estates. He thought +himself, by the necessity of the case, forced to appeal to the people +against their legal representatives, and thus the foundation of a +nominally democratic party, in opposition to the municipal one, was +already laid. Nothing could be more unfortunate at that juncture; for we +shall, in future, find the Earl in perpetual opposition to the most +distinguished statesmen in the Provinces; to the very men indeed who had +been most influential in offering the sovereignty to England, and in +placing him in the position which he had so much coveted. No sooner +therefore had he been confirmed by Elizabeth in that high office than his +arrogance broke forth, and the quarrels between himself and the +representative body became incessant. + +"I stand now in somewhat better terms than I did," said he; "I was not in +case till of late to deal roundly with them as I have now done. I have +established a chamber of finances, against some of their wills, whereby I +doubt not to procure great benefit to increase our ability for payments +hereafter. The people I find still best devoted to her Majesty, though +of late many lewd practices have been used to withdraw their good wills. +But it will not be; they still pray God that her Majesty may be their +sovereign. She should then see what a contribution they will all bring +forth. But to the States they will never return, which will breed some +great mischief, there is such mislike of the States universally. I would +your Lordship had seen the case I had lived in among them these four +months, especially after her Majesty's mislike was found. You would then +marvel to see how I have waded, as I have done, through no small +obstacles, without help, counsel, or assistance." + +Thus the part which he felt at last called upon to enact was that of an +aristocratic demagogue, in perpetual conflict with the burgher- +representative body. + +It is now necessary to lift a corner of the curtain, by which some +international--or rather interpalatial--intrigues were concealed, as much +as possible, even from the piercing eyes of Walsingham. The Secretary +was, however, quite aware--despite the pains taken to deceive him--of the +nature of the plots and of the somewhat ignoble character of the actors +concerned in them. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A hard bargain when both parties are losers +Condemned first and inquired upon after +Disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping +Upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency +Uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v45 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History of the United Netherlands, Volume 46, 1586 + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Forlorn Condition of Flanders--Parma's secret Negotiations with the + Queen--Grafigni and Bodman--Their Dealings with English Counsellors + --Duplicity of Farnese--Secret Offers of the English Peace-Party-- + Letters and Intrigues of De Loo--Drake's Victories and their Effect + --Parma's Perplexity and Anxiety--He is relieved by the News from + England--Queen's secret Letters to Parma--His Letters and + Instructions to Bodman--Bodman's secret Transactions at Greenwich-- + Walsingham detects and exposes the Plot--The Intriguers baffled-- + Queen's Letter to Parma and his to the King--Unlucky Results of the + Peace--Intrigues--Unhandsome Treatment of Leicester--Indignation of + the Earl and Walsingham--Secret Letter of Parma to Philip--Invasion + of England recommended--Details of the Project. + +Alexander Farnese and his heroic little army had been left by their +sovereign in as destitute a condition as that in which Lord Leicester and +his unfortunate "paddy persons" had found themselves since their arrival +in the Netherlands. These mortal men were but the weapons to be used and +broken in the hands of the two great sovereigns, already pitted against +each other in mortal combat. That the distant invisible potentate, +the work of whose life was to do his best to destroy all European +nationality, all civil and religious freedom, should be careless of +the instruments by which his purpose was to be effected, was but natural. +It is painful to reflect that the great champion of liberty and of +Protestantism was almost equally indifferent to the welfare of the human +creatures enlisted in her cause. Spaniards and Italians, English and +Irish, went half naked and half starving through the whole inclement +winter, and perished of pestilence in droves, after confronting the +less formidable dangers of battlefield and leaguer. Manfully and +sympathetically did the Earl of Leicester--while whining in absurd +hyperbole over the angry demeanour of his sovereign towards himself- +represent the imperative duty of an English government to succour English +troops. + +Alexander Farnese was equally plain-spoken to a sovereign with whom +plain-speaking was a crime. In bold, almost scornful language, the +Prince represented to Philip the sufferings and destitution of the +little band of heroes, by whom that magnificent military enterprise, +the conquest of Antwerp, had just been effected. "God will be weary of +working miracles for us," he cried, "and nothing but miracles can save +the troops from starving." There was no question of paying them their +wages, there was no pretence at keeping them reasonably provided with +lodging and clothing, but he asserted the undeniable proposition that +they "could not pass their lives without eating," and he implored his +sovereign to send at least money enough to buy the soldiers shoes. +To go foodless and barefoot without complaining, on the frozen swamps of +Flanders, in January, was more than was to be expected from Spaniards and +Italians. The country itself was eaten bare. The obedient Provinces had +reaped absolute ruin as the reward of their obedience. Bruges, Ghent, +and the other cities of Brabant and Flanders, once so opulent and +powerful, had become mere dens of thieves and paupers. Agriculture, +commerce, manufactures--all were dead. The condition of Antwerp was most +tragical. The city, which had been so recently the commercial centre of +the earth, was reduced to absolute beggary. Its world-wide traffic was +abruptly terminated, for the mouth of its great river was controlled by +Flushing, and Flushing was in the firm grasp of Sir Philip Sidney, as +governor for the English Queen. Merchants and bankers, who had lately +been possessed of enormous resources, were stripped of all. Such of the +industrial classes as could leave the place had wandered away to Holland +and England. There was no industry possible, for there was no market for +the products of industry. Antwerp was hemmed in by the enemy on every +side, surrounded by royal troops in a condition of open mutiny, cut off +from the ocean, deprived of daily bread, and yet obliged to contribute +out of its poverty to the maintenance of the Spanish soldiers, who were +there for its destruction. Its burghers, compelled to furnish four +hundred thousand florins, as the price of their capitulation, and at +least six hundred thousand more for the repairs of the dykes, the +destruction of which, too long deferred, had only spread desolation over +the country without saving the city, and over and above all forced to +rebuild, at their own expense, that fatal citadel, by which their liberty +and lives were to be perpetually endangered, might now regret at leisure +that they had not been as stedfast during their siege as had been the +heroic inhabitants of Leyden in their time of trial, twelve years before. +Obedient Antwerp was, in truth, most forlorn. But there was one +consolation for her and for Philip, one bright spot in the else universal +gloom. The ecclesiastics assured Parma, that, notwithstanding the +frightful diminution in the population of the city, they had confessed +and absolved more persons that Easter than they had ever done since the +commencement of the revolt. Great was Philip's joy in consequence. +"You cannot imagine my satisfaction," he wrote, "at the news you give me +concerning last Easter." + +With a ruined country, starving and mutinous troops, a bankrupt +exchequer, and a desperate and pauper population, Alexander Farnese was +not unwilling to gain time by simulated negotiations for peace. It was +strange, however, that so sagacious a monarch as the Queen of England +should suppose it for her interest to grant at that moment the very delay +which was deemed most desirable by her antagonist. + +Yet it was not wounded affection alone, nor insulted pride, nor startled +parsimony, that had carried the fury of the Queen to such a height on the +occasion of Leicester's elevation to absolute government. It was still +more, because the step was thought likely to interfere with the progress +of those negotiations into which the Queen had allowed herself to be +drawn. + +A certain Grafigni--a Genoese merchant residing much in London and in +Antwerp, a meddling, intrusive, and irresponsible kind of individual, +whose occupation was gone with the cessation of Flemish trade--had +recently made his appearance as a volunteer diplomatist. The principal +reason for accepting or rather for winking at his services, seemed to be +the possibility of disavowing him, on both sides, whenever it should be +thought advisable. He had a partner or colleague, too, named Bodman, +who seemed a not much more creditable negotiator than himself. The chief +director of the intrigue was, however, Champagny, brother of Cardinal +Granvelle, restored to the King's favour and disposed to atone by his +exuberant loyalty for his heroic patriotism on a former and most +memorable occasion. Andrea de Loo, another subordinate politician, was +likewise employed at various stages of the negotiation. + +It will soon be perceived that the part enacted by Burghley, Hatton, +Croft, and other counsellors, and even by the Queen herself, was not a +model of ingenuousness towards the absent Leicester and the States- +General. The gentlemen sent at various times to and from the Earl and +her Majesty's government; Davison, Shirley, Vavasor, Heneage, and the +rest--had all expressed themselves in the strongest language concerning +the good faith and the friendliness of the Lord-Treasurer and the Vice- +Chamberlain, but they were not so well informed as they would have been, +had they seen the private letters of Parma to Philip II. + +Walsingham, although kept in the dark as much as it was possible, +discovered from time to time the mysterious practices of his political +antagonists, and warned the Queen of the danger and dishonour she was +bringing upon herself. Elizabeth, when thus boldly charged, equivocated +and stormed alternately. She authorized Walsingham to communicate the +secrets--which he had thus surprised--to the States-General, and then +denied having given any such orders. + +In truth, Walsingham was only entrusted with such portions of the +negotiations as he had been able, by his own astuteness, to divine; and +as he was very much a friend to the Provinces and to Leicester, he never +failed to keep them instructed, to the best of his ability. It must be +confessed, however, that the shuffling and paltering among great men and +little men, at that period, forms a somewhat painful subject of +contemplation at the present day. + +Grafigni having some merchandise to convey from Antwerp to London, went +early in the year to the Prince of Parma, at Brussels, in order to +procure a passport. They entered into some conversation upon the misery +of the country, and particularly concerning the troubles to which the +unfortunate merchants had been exposed. Alexander expressed much +sympathy with the commercial community, and a strong desire that the +ancient friendship between his master and the Queen of England might be +restored. Grafigni assured the Prince--as the result of his own +observation in England--that the Queen participated in those pacific +sentiments: "You are going to England," replied the Prince, "and you may +say to the ministers of her Majesty, that, after my allegiance to my +King, I am most favourably and affectionately inclined towards her. If +it pleases them that I, as Alexander Farnese, should attempt to bring +about an accord, and if our commissioners could be assured of a hearing +in England, I would take care that everything should be conducted with +due regard to the honour and reputation of her Majesty." + +Grafigni then asked for a written letter of credence. "That cannot be," +replied Alexander; "but if you return to me I shall believe your report, +and then a proper person can be sent, with authority from the King to +treat with her Majesty." + +Grafigni proceeded to England, and had an interview with Lord Cobham. +A few days later that nobleman gave the merchant a general assurance +that the Queen had always felt a strong inclination to maintain firm +friendship with the House of Burgundy. Nevertheless, as he proceeded +to state, the bad policy of the King's ministers, and the enterprises +against her Majesty, had compelled her to provide for her own security +and that of her realm by remedies differing in spirit from that good +inclination. Being however a Christian princess, willing to leave +vengeance to the Lord and disposed to avoid bloodshed, she was ready +to lend her ear to a negotiation for peace, if it were likely to be a +sincere and secure one. Especially she was pleased that his Highness +of Parma should act as mediator of such a treaty, as she considered him +a most just and honourable prince in all his promises and actions. Her +Majesty would accordingly hold herself in readiness to receive the +honourable commissioners alluded to, feeling sure that every step taken +by his Highness would comport with her honour and safety. + +At about the same time the other partner in this diplomatic enterprise, +William Bodman, communicated to Alexander, the result of his observations +in England. He stated that Lords Burghley, Buckhurst, and Cobham, Sir +Christopher Hatton, and Comptroller Croft, were secretly desirous of +peace with Spain and that they had seized the recent opportunity of her +pique against the Earl of Leicester to urge forward these underhand +negotiations. Some progress had been made; but as no accredited +commissioner arrived from the Prince of Parma, and as Leicester was +continually writing earnest letters against peace, the efforts of these +counsellors had slackened. Bodman found them all, on his arrival, +anxious as he said, "to get their necks out of the matter;" declaring +everything which had been done to be pure matter of accident, entirely +without the concurrence of the Queen, and each seeking to outrival the +other in the good graces of her Majesty. Grafigni informed Bodman, +however, that Lord Cobham was quite to be depended upon in the affair, +and would deal with him privately, while Lord Burghley would correspond +with Andrea de Loo at Antwerp. Moreover, the servant of Comptroller +Croft would direct Bodman as to his course, and would give him daily +instructions. + +Now it so happened that this servant of Croft, Norris by name, was a +Papist, a man of bad character, and formerly a spy of the Duke of Anjou. +"If your Lordship or myself should use such instruments as this," wrote +Walsingham to Leicester, "I know we should bear no small reproach; but +it is the good hap of hollow and doubtful men to be best thought of." +Bodman thought the lords of the peace-faction and their adherents not +sufficiently strong to oppose the other party with success. He assured +Farnese that almost all the gentlemen and the common people of England +stood ready to risk their fortunes and to go in person to the field to +maintain the cause of the Queen and religious liberty; and that the +chance of peace was desperate unless something should turn the tide, such +as, for example, the defeat of Drake, or an invasion by Philip of Ireland +or Scotland. + +As it so happened that Drake was just then engaged in a magnificent +career of victory, sweeping the Spanish Main and startling the nearest +and the most remote possessions of the King with English prowess, his +defeat was not one of the cards to be relied on by the peace-party in the +somewhat deceptive game which they had commenced. Yet, strange to say, +they used, or attempted to use, those splendid triumphs as if they had +been disasters. + +Meantime there was an active but very secret correspondence between Lord +Cobham, Lord Burghley, Sir James Croft, and various subordinate +personages in England, on the one side, and Champagny, President +Richardot, La Motte, governor of Gravelines, Andrea de Loo, Grafigni, and +other men in the obedient Provinces, more or less in Alexander's +confidence, on the other side. Each party was desirous of forcing or +wheedling the antagonist to show his hand. "You were employed to take +soundings off the English coast in the Duke of Norfolk's time," said +Cobham to La Motte: "you remember the Duke's fate. Nevertheless, her +Majesty hates war, and it only depends on the King to have a firm and +lasting peace." + +"You must tell Lord Cobham," said Richardot to La Motte, "that you +are not at liberty to go into a correspondence, until assured of the +intentions of Queen Elizabeth. Her Majesty ought to speak first, +in order to make her good-will manifest," and so on. + +"The 'friend' can confer with you," said Richardot to Champagny; "but his +Highness is not to appear to know anything at all about it. The Queen +must signify her intentions." + +"You answered Champagny correctly," said Burghley to De Loo, "as to what +I said last winter concerning her Majesty's wishes in regard to a +pacification. The Netherlands must be compelled to return to obedience +to the King; but their ancient privileges are to be maintained. You +omitted, however, to say a word about toleration, in the Provinces, of +the reformed religion. But I said then, as I say now, that this is a +condition indispensable to peace." + +This was a somewhat important omission on the part of De Loo, and gives +the measure of his conscientiousness or his capacity as a negotiator. +Certainly for the Lord-Treasurer of England to offer, on the part of her +Majesty, to bring about the reduction of her allies under the yoke which +they had thrown off without her assistance, and this without leave asked +of them, and with no provision for the great principle of religious +liberty, which was the cause of the revolt, was a most flagitious +trifling with the honour of Elizabeth and of England. Certainly the more +this mysterious correspondence is examined, the more conclusive is the +justification of the vague and instinctive jealousy felt by Leicester and +the States-General as to English diplomacy during the winter and spring +of 1586. + +Burghley summoned De Loo, accordingly, to recall to his memory all that +had been privately said to him on the necessity of protecting the +reformed religion in the Provinces. If a peace were to be perpetual, +toleration was indispensable, he observed, and her Majesty was said to +desire this condition most earnestly. + +The Lord-Treasurer also made the not unreasonable suggestion, that, in +case of a pacification, it would be necessary to provide that English +subjects--peaceful traders, mariners, and the like--should no longer be +shut up in the Inquisition prisons of Spain and Portugal, and there +starved to death, as, with great multitudes, had already been the case. + +Meantime Alexander, while encouraging and directing all these underhand +measures, was carefully impressing upon his master that he was not, in +the least degree; bound by any such negotiations. "Queen Elizabeth," he +correctly observed to Philip, "is a woman: she is also by no means fond +of expense. The kingdom, accustomed to repose, is already weary of war +therefore, they are all pacifically inclined." "It has been intimated to +me," he said, "that if I would send a properly qualified person, who +should declare that your Majesty had not absolutely forbidden the coming +of Lord Leicester, such an agent would be well received, and perhaps the +Earl would be recalled." Alexander then proceeded, with the coolness +befitting a trusted governor of Philip II., to comment upon the course +which he was pursuing. He could at any time denounce the negotiations +which he was secretly prompting. Meantime immense advantages could be +obtained by the deception practised upon an enemy whose own object was +to deceive. + +The deliberate treachery of the scheme was cynically enlarged upon, and +its possible results mathematically calculated: + +Philip was to proceed with the invasion while Alexander was going on with +the negotiation. If, meanwhile, they could receive back Holland and +Zeeland from the hands of England, that would be an immense success. The +Prince intimated a doubt, however, as to so fortunate a result, because, +in dealing with heretics and persons of similar quality, nothing but +trickery was to be expected. The chief good to be hoped for was to +"chill the Queen in her plots, leagues, and alliances," and during the +chill, to carry forward their own great design. To slacken not a whit +in their preparations, to "put the Queen to sleep," and, above all, not +to leave the French for a moment unoccupied with internal dissensions and +civil war; such was the game of the King and the governor, as expounded +between themselves. + +President Richardot, at the same time, stated to Cardinal Granvelle that +the English desire for peace was considered certain at Brussels. +Grafigni had informed the Prince of Parma and his counsellors that the +Queen was most amicably disposed, and that there would be no trouble on +the point of religion, her Majesty not wishing to obtain more than she +would herself be willing to grant. "In this," said Richardot, "there is +both hard and soft;" for knowing that the Spanish game was deception, +pure and simple, the excellent President could not bring himself to +suspect a possible grain of good faith in the English intentions. Much +anxiety was perpetually felt in the French quarter, her Majesty's +government being supposed to be secretly preparing an invasion of the +obedient Netherlands across the French frontier, in combination, not with +the Bearnese, but with Henry III. So much in the dark were even the most +astute politicians. "I can't feel satisfied in this French matter," said +the President: "we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh." +Moreover, there was no self-deception nor self-tickling possible as to +the unmitigated misery of the obedient Netherlands. Famine was a more +formidable foe than Frenchmen, Hollanders, and Englishmen combined; so +that Richardot avowed that the "negotiation would be indeed holy," if it +would restore Holland and Zeeland to the King without fighting. The +prospect seemed on the whole rather dismal to loyal Netherlanders like +the old leaguing, intriguing, Hispamolized president of the privy +council. "I confess," said he plaintively, "that England needs +chastisement; but I don't see how we are to give it to her. Only let us +secure Holland and Zeeland, and then we shall always find a stick +whenever we like to beat the dog." + +Meantime Andrea de Loo had been bustling and buzzing about the ears of +the chief counsellors at the English court during all the early spring. +Most busily he had been endeavouring to efface the prevalent suspicion +that Philip and Alexander were only trifling by these informal +negotiations. We have just seen whether or not there was ground for that +suspicion. De Loo, being importunate, however--"as he usually was," +according to his own statement--obtained in Burghley's hand a +confirmation, by order of the Queen, of De Loo's--letter of the 26th +December. The matter of religion gave the worthy merchant much +difficulty, and he begged Lord Buckhurst, the Lord Treasurer, and many +other counsellors, not to allow this point of toleration to ruin the +whole affair; "for," said he, "his Majesty will never permit any exercise +of the reformed religion." + +At last Buckhurst sent for him, and in presence of Comptroller Croft, +gave him information that he had brought the Queen to this conclusion: +firstly, that she would be satisfied with as great a proportion of +religious toleration for Holland, Zeeland, and the other United +Provinces, as his Majesty could concede with safety to his conscience and +his honour; secondly, that she required an act of amnesty; thirdly, that +she claimed reimbursement by Philip for the money advanced by her to the +States. + +Certainly a more wonderful claim was never made than this--a demand upon +an absolute monarch for indemnity for expenses incurred in fomenting a +rebellion of his own subjects. The measure of toleration proposed for +the Provinces--the conscience, namely, of the greatest bigot ever born +into the world--was likely to prove as satisfactory as the claim for +damages propounded by the most parsimonious sovereign in Christendom. It +was, however, stipulated that the nonconformists of Holland and Zeeland, +who should be forced into exile, were to have their property administered +by papist trustees; and further, that the Spanish inquisition was not to +be established in the Netherlands. Philip could hardly demand better +terms than these last, after a career of victory. That they should be +offered now by Elizabeth was hardly compatible with good faith to the +States. + +On account of Lord Burghley's gout, it was suggested that the negotiators +had better meet in England, as it would be necessary for him to take the +lead in the matters and as he was but an indifferent traveller. Thus, +according to De Loo, the Queen was willing to hand over the United +Provinces to Philip, and to toss religious toleration to the winds, if +she could only get back the seventy thousand pounds--more or less--which +she had invested in an unpromising speculation. A few weeks later, and +at almost the very moment when Elizabeth had so suddenly overturned her +last vial of wrath upon the discomfited Heneage for having communicated +--according to her express command--the fact of the pending negotiations +to the Netherland States; at that very instant Parma was writing +secretly, and in cipher, to Philip. His communication--could Sir Thomas +have read it--might have partly explained her Majesty's rage. + +Parma had heard, he said, through Bodman, from Comptroller Croft, that +the Queen would willingly receive a proper envoy. It was very easy to +see, he observed, that the English counsellors were seeking every means +of entering into communication with Spain, and that they were doing so +with the participation of the Queen! Lord-Treasurer Burghley and +Comptroller Croft had expressed surprise that the Prince had not yet sent +a secret agent to her Majesty, under pretext of demanding explanations +concerning Lord Leicester's presence in the Provinces, but in reality to +treat for peace. Such an agent, it had been intimated, would be well +received. The Lord-Treasurer and the Comptroller would do all in their +power to advance the negotiation, so that, with their aid and with the +pacific inclination of the Queen, the measures proposed in favour of +Leicester would be suspended, and perhaps the Earl himself and all the +English would be recalled. + +The Queen was further represented as taking great pains to excuse both +the expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the Indies, and the mission of +Leicester to the Provinces. She was said to throw the whole blame of +these enterprises upon Walsingham and other ill-intentioned personages, +and to avow that she now understood matters better; so that, if Parma +would at once send an envoy, peace would, without question, soon be made. + +Parma had expressed his gratification at these hopeful dispositions on +the part of Burghley and Croft, and held out hopes of sending an agent to +treat with them, if not directly with her Majesty. For some time past-- +according to the Prince--the English government had not seemed to be +honestly seconding the Earl of Leicester, nor to correspond with his +desires. "This makes me think," he said, "that the counsellors before- +mentioned, being his rivals, are trying to trip him up." + +In such a caballing, prevaricating age, it is difficult to know which of +all the plotters and counterplotters engaged in these intrigues could +accomplish the greatest amount of what--for the sake of diluting in nine +syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in one--was then +called diplomatic dissimulation. It is to be feared, notwithstanding her +frequent and vociferous denials, that the robes of the "imperial +votaress" were not so unsullied as could be wished. We know how loudly +Leicester had complained--we have seen how clearly Walsingham could +convict; but Elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute: for an +absolute sovereign, even without resorting to Philip's syllogisms of axe +and faggot, was apt in the sixteenth century to have the best of an +argument with private individuals. + +The secret statements of Parma-made, not for public effect, but for +the purpose of furnishing his master with the most accurate information +he could gather as to English policy--are certainly entitled to +consideration. They were doubtless founded upon the statements +of individuals rejoicing in no very elevated character; but those +individuals had no motive to deceive their patron. If they clashed +with the vehement declarations of very eminent personages, it must be +admitted, on the other hand, that they were singularly in accordance with +the silent eloquence of important and mysterious events. + +As to Alexander Farnese--without deciding the question whether Elizabeth +and Burghley were deceiving Walsingham and Leicester, or only trying to +delude Philip and himself--he had no hesitation, of course, on his part, +in recommending to Philip the employment of unlimited dissimulation. +Nothing could be more ingenuous than the intercourse between the King and +his confidential advisers. It was perfectly understood among them that +they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion. Only let +them be false, and it was impossible to be wholly wrong; but grave +mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity. It was +no question at all, therefore, that it was Parma's duty to delude +Elizabeth and Burghley. Alexander's course was plain. He informed his +master that he would keep these difficulties alive as much as it was +possible. In order to "put them all to sleep with regard to the great +enterprise of the invasion," he would send back Bodman to Burghley and +Croft, and thus keep this unofficial negotiation upon its legs. The King +was quite uncommitted, and could always disavow what had been done. +Meanwhile he was gaining, and his adversaries losing, much precious time. +"If by this course," said Parma, "we can induce the English to hand over +to us the places which they hold in Holland and Zeeland, that will be a +great triumph." Accordingly he urged the King not to slacken, in the +least, his preparations for invasion, and, above all, to have a care that +the French were kept entangled and embarrassed among themselves, which +was a most substantial point. + +Meantime Europe was ringing with the American successes of the bold +corsair Drake. San Domingo, Porto Rico, Santiago, Cartliagena, Florida, +were sacked and destroyed, and the supplies drawn so steadily from the +oppression of the Western World to maintain Spanish tyranny in Europe, +were for a time extinguished. Parma was appalled at these triumphs of +the Sea-King--"a fearful man to the King of Spain"--as Lord Burghley well +observed. The Spanish troops were starving in Flanders, all Flanders +itself was starving, and Philip, as usual, had sent but insignificant +remittances to save his perishing soldiers. Parma had already exhausted +his credit. Money was most difficult to obtain in such a forlorn +country; and now the few rich merchants and bankers of Antwerp that were +left looked very black at these crushing news from America. "They are +drawing their purse-strings very tight," said Alexander, "and will make +no accommodation. The most contemplative of them ponder much over this +success of Drake, and think that your Majesty will forget our matters +here altogether." For this reason he informed the King that it would be +advisable to drop all further negotiation with England for the time, as +it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the Queen, +she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly +opened. Moreover, the Prince was in a state of alarm as to the +intentions of France. Mendoza and Tassis had given him to understand +that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of Henry and of +Elizabeth, and that the French were likely to come to a pacification +among themselves. In this the Spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so +great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their +own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the +moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in France +already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the Netherlands. But +Parma--still quite in the dark as to French politics--was haunted by the +vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let +slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious France; +while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to +withstand such an invasion. When all these events should have taken +place, and France, in alliance with England, should have formally +declared war against Spain, Alexander protested that he should have +learned nothing new. + +The Prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts +concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself +and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of +his situation. In the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not +to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular +adroitness as a diplomatist. He had painted for his sovereign a most +faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient Provinces. The soil was +untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist. +It was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. No +language could describe the misery of the reconciled Provinces--Artois, +Hainault, Flanders. The condition of Bruges would melt the hardest +heart; other cities were no better; Antwerp was utterly ruined; its +inhabitants were all starving. The famine throughout the obedient +Netherlands was such as had not been known for a century. The whole +country had been picked bare by the troops, and the plough was not put +into the ground. Deputations were constantly with him from Bruges, +Dendermonde, Bois-le-Duc, Brussels, Antwerp, Nymegen, proving to him +by the most palpable evidence that the whole population of those cities +had almost literally nothing to eat. He had nothing, however, but +exhortations to patience to feed them withal. He was left without a +groat even to save his soldiers from starving, and he wildly and +bitterly, day after day, implored his sovereign for aid. These pictures +are not the sketches of a historian striving for effect, but literal +transcripts from the most secret revelations of the Prince himself to his +sovereign. On the other hand, although Leicester's complaints of the +destitution of the English troops in the republic were almost as bitter, +yet the condition of the United Provinces was comparatively healthy. +Trade, external and internal, was increasing daily. Distant commercial +and military expeditions were fitted out, manufactures were prosperous, +and the war of independence was gradually becoming--strange to say--a +source of prosperity to the new commonwealth. + +Philip--being now less alarmed than his nephew concerning French affairs, +and not feeling so keenly the misery of the obedient Provinces, or the +wants of the Spanish army--sent to Alexander six hundred thousand ducats, +by way of Genoa. In the letter submitted by his secretary recording this +remittance, the King made, however, a characteristic marginal note:-- +"See if it will not be as well to tell him something concerning the two +hundred thousand ducats to be deducted for Mucio, for fear of more +mischief, if the Prince should expect the whole six hundred thousand." + +Accordingly Mucio got the two hundred thousand. One-third of the meagre +supply destined for the relief of the King's starving and valiant little +army in the Netherlands was cut off to go into the pockets of the +intriguing Duke of Guise. "We must keep the French," said Philip, "in a +state of confusion at home, and feed their civil war. We must not allow +them to come to a general peace, which would be destruction for the +Catholics. I know you will put a good face on the matter; and, after +all, 'tis in the interest of the Netherlands. Moreover, the money shall +be immediately refunded." + +Alexander was more likely to make a wry face, notwithstanding his views +of the necessity of fomenting the rebellion against the House of Valois. +Certainly if a monarch intended to conquer such countries as France, +England, and Holland, without stirring from his easy chair in the +Escorial, it would have been at least as well--so Alexander thought--to +invest a little more capital in the speculation. No monarch ever dreamed +of arriving at universal empire with less personal fatigue or exposure, +or at a cheaper rate, than did Philip II. His only fatigue was at his +writing-table. But even here his merit was of a subordinate description. +He sat a great while at a time. He had a genius for sitting; but he now +wrote few letters himself. A dozen words or so, scrawled in +hieroglyphics at the top, bottom, or along the margin of the interminable +despatches of his secretaries, contained the suggestions, more or less +luminous, which arose in his mind concerning public affairs. But he held +firmly to his purpose: He had devoted his life to the extermination of +Protestantism, to the conquest of France and England, to the subjugation +of Holland. These were vast schemes. A King who should succeed in such +enterprises, by his personal courage and genius, at the head of his +armies, or by consummate diplomacy, or by a masterly system of finance- +husbanding and concentrating the resources of his almost boundless +realms--might be in truth commended for capacity. Hitherto however +Philip's triumph had seemed problematical; and perhaps something more +would be necessary than letters to Parma, and paltry remittances to +Mucio, notwithstanding Alexander's splendid but local victories in +Flanders. + +Parma, although in reality almost at bay, concealed his despair, and +accomplished wonders in the field. The military events during the spring +and summer of 1586 will be sketched in a subsequent chapter. For the +present it is necessary to combine into a complete whole the subterranean +negotiations between Brussels and England. + +Much to his surprise and gratification, Parma found that the peace-party +were not inclined to change their views in consequence of the triumphs of +Drake. He soon informed the King that--according to Champagny and +Bodman--the Lord Treasurer, the Comptroller, Lord Cobham, and Sir +Christopher Hatton, were more pacific than they had ever been. These +four were represented by Grafigni as secretly in league against Leicester +and Walsingham, and very anxious to bring about a reconciliation between +the crowns of England and Spain. The merchant-diplomatist, according to +his own statement, was expressly sent by Queen Elizabeth to the prince of +Parma, although without letter of credence or signed instructions, but +with the full knowledge and approbation of the four counsellors just +mentioned. He assured Alexander that the Queen and the majority of her +council felt a strong desire for peace, and had manifested much +repentance for what had been done. They had explained their proceedings +by the necessity of self-defence. They had avowed--in case they should +be made sure of peace--that they should, not with reluctance and against +their will, but, on the contrary, with the utmost alacrity and at once, +surrender to the King of Spain the territory which they possessed in the +Netherlands, and especially the fortified towns in Holland and Zeeland; +for the English object had never been conquest. Parma had also been +informed of the Queen's strong desire that he should be employed as +negotiator, on account of her great confidence in his sincerity. They +had expressed much satisfaction on hearing that he was about to send an +agent to England, and had protested themselves rejoiced at Drake's +triumphs, only because of their hope that a peace with Spain would thus +be rendered the easier of accomplishment. They were much afraid, +according to Grafigni, of Philip's power, and dreaded a Spanish invasion +of their country, in conjunction with the Pope. They were now extremely +anxious that Parma--as he himself informed the King--should send an agent +of good capacity, in great secrecy, to England. + +The Comptroller had said that he had pledged himself to such a result, +and if it failed, that they would probably cut off his head. The four +counsellors were excessively solicitous for the negotiation, and each of +them was expecting to gain favour by advancing it to the best of his +ability. + +Parma hinted at the possibility that all these professions were false, +and that the English were only intending to keep the King from the +contemplated invasion. At the same time he drew Philip's attention to +the fact that Burghley and his party had most evidently been doing +everything in their power to obstruct Leicester's progress in the +Netherlands and to keep back the reinforcements of troops and money which +he so much required. + +No doubt these communications of Parma to the King were made upon the +faith of an agent not over-scrupulous, and of no elevated or recognised +rank in diplomacy. It must be borne in mind, however, that he had been +made use of by both parties; perhaps because it would be easy to throw +off, and discredit, him whenever such a step should be convenient; and +that, on the other hand, coming fresh from Burghley and the rest into the +presence of the keen-eyed Farnese, he would hardly invent for his +employer a budget of falsehoods. That man must have been a subtle +negotiator who could outwit such a statesman as Burghley--and the other +counsellors of Elizabeth, and a bold one who could dare to trifle on a +momentous occasion with Alexander of Parma. + +Leicester thought Burghley very much his friend, and so thought Davison +and Heneage; and the Lord-Treasurer had, in truth, stood stoutly by the +Earl in the affair of the absolute governorship;--"a matter more severe +and cumbersome to him and others," said Burghley, "than any whatsoever +since he was a counsellor." But there is no doubt that these +negotiations were going forward all the spring and summer, that they were +most detrimental to Leicester's success, and that they were kept--so far +as it was possible--a profound secret from him, from Walsingham, and from +the States-General. Nothing was told them except what their own +astuteness had discovered beforehand; and the game of the counsellors--so +far as their attitude towards Leicester and Walsingham was concerned-- +seems both disingenuous and impolitic. + +Parma, it was to be feared, was more than a match for the English +governor-general in the field; and it was certainly hopeless for poor +old Comptroller Croft, even though backed by the sagacious Burghley, to +accomplish so great an amount of dissimulation in a year as the Spanish +cabinet, without effort, could compass in a week. Nor were they +attempting to do so. It is probable that England was acting towards +Philip in much better faith than he deserved, or than Parma believed; +but it is hardly to be wondered at that Leicester should think himself +injured by being kept perpetually in the dark. + +Elizabeth was very impatient at not receiving direct letters from Parma, +and her anxiety on the subject explains much of her caprice during the +quarrel about the governor-generalahip. Many persons in the Netherlands +thought those violent scenes a farce, and a farce that had been arranged +with Leicester beforehand. In this they were mistaken; for an +examination of the secret correspondence of the period reveals the +motives--which to contemporaries were hidden--of many strange +transactions. The Queen was, no doubt, extremely anxious, and with +cause, at the tempest slowly gathering over her head; but the more the +dangers thickened, the more was her own official language to those in +high places befitting the sovereign of England. + +She expressed her surprise to Farnese that he had not written to her on +the subject of the Grafigni and Bodman affair. The first, she said, was +justified in all which he had narrated, save in his assertion that she +had sent him. The other had not obtained audience, because he had not +come provided with any credentials, direct or indirect. Having now +understood from Andrea de Loo and the Seigneur de Champagny that Parma +had the power to conclude a peace, which he seemed very much to desire, +she observed that it was not necessary for him to be so chary in +explaining the basis of the proposed negotiations. It was better to +enter into a straightforward path, than by ambiguous words to spin out +to great length matters which princes should at once conclude. + +"Do not suppose," said the Queen, "that I am seeking what belongs to +others. God forbid. I seek only that which is mine own. But be +sure that I will take good heed of the sword which threatens me with +destruction, nor think that I am so craven-spirited as to endure a +wrong, or to place myself at the mercy of my enemy. Every week I see +advertisements and letters from Spain that this year shall witness the +downfall of England; for the Spaniards--like the hunter who divided, with +great liberality, among his friends the body and limbs of the wolf, +before it had been killed--have partitioned this kingdom and that of +Ireland before the conquest has been effected. But my royal heart is no +whit appalled by such threats. I trust, with the help of the Divine +hand--which has thus far miraculously preserved me--to smite all these +braggart powers into the dust, and to preserve my honour, and the +kingdoms which He has given me for my heritage. + +"Nevertheless, if you have authority to enter upon and to conclude this +negotiation, you will find my ears open to hear your propositions; and I +tell you further, if a peace is to be made, that I wish you to be the +mediator thereof. Such is the affection I bear you, notwithstanding that +some letters, written by your own hand, might easily have effaced such +sentiments from my mind." + +Soon afterwards, Bodman was again despatched to England, Grafigni being +already there. He was provided with unsigned instructions, according to +which he was to say that the Prince, having heard of the Queen's good +intentions, had despatched him and Grafigni to her court. They were to +listen to any suggestions made by the Queen to her ministers; but they +were to do nothing but listen. If the counsellors should enter into +their grievances against his Majesty, and ask for explanations, the +agents were to say that they had no authority or instructions to speak +for so great and Christian a monarch. Thus they were to cut the thread +of any such discourse, or any other observations not to the purpose. + +Silence, in short, was recommended, first and last, as the one great +business of their mission; and it was unlucky that men whose talent for +taciturnity was thus signally relied upon should be somewhat remarkable +for loquacity. Grafigni was also the bearer of a letter from Alexander +to the Queen--of which Bodman received a copy--but it was strictly +enjoined upon them to keep the letter, their instructions, and the +objects of their journey, a secret from all the world. + +The letter of the Prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes. +He had heard, he said, all that Agostino Grafigni had communicated, and +he now begged her Majesty to let him understand the course which it was +proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion +touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, +and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound +consideration and devotion. + +Early in July Bodman arrived in London. He found Grafigni in very low +spirits. He had been with Lord Cobham, and was much disappointed with +his reception, for Cobham--angry that Grafigni had brought no commission +from the King--had refused to receive Parma's letter to the Queen, and +had expressed annoyance that Bodman should be employed on this mission, +having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate. The same +evening, he had been sent for by Lord Burghley--who had accepted the +letter for her Majesty without saying a word--and on the following +morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground +that the Prince, in that communication, had stated that the Queen had +expressed a desire for peace. + +It has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the +letter; but as neither Grafigni nor Bodman had read the epistle itself, +but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an +assertion; if made by the Prince, had been founded on no statement of +theirs. Bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by +assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication +would be complete, and Grafigni, upon that point, was comforted. He was, +however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of Burghley and +the other English counsellors. He said that they had forced him, against +his will, to make this journey to Brussels, that they had offered him +presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had +made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of +time and money, in order that he might serve them. They had manifested +the strongest desire that Parma should open this communication, and had +led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the +transaction. "And now," said Grafigni to his colleague, with great +bitterness, "I find no faith nor honour in them at all. They don't keep +their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very +business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the +other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion." + +After exploding in this way to Bodman, he went back to Cobham, and +protested, with angry vehemence, that Parma had never written such a word +to the Queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced. + +Next day, Bodman was sent for to Greenwich, where her Majesty was, as +usual, residing. A secret pavilion was indicated to him, where he was to +stay until sunset. When that time arrived, Lord Cobham's secretary came +with great mystery, and begged the emissary to follow him, but at a +considerable distance, towards the apartments of Lord Burghley in the +palace. Arriving there, they found the Lord Treasurer accompanied by +Cobham and Croft. Burghley instantly opened the interview by a defence +of the Queen's policy in sending troops to the Netherlands, and in +espousing their cause, and then the conversation proceeded to the +immediate matter in hand. + +Bodman (after listening respectfully to the Lord-Treasurer's +observations).--"His Highness has, however, been extremely surprised that +my Lord Leicester should take an oath, as governor-general of the King's +Provinces. He is shocked likewise by the great demonstrations of +hostility on the part of her Majesty." + +Burghley.--"The oath was indispensable. The Queen was obliged to +tolerate the step on account of the great urgency of the States to have a +head. But her Majesty has commanded us to meet you on this occasion, in +order to hear what you have to communicate on the part of the Prince of +Parma." + +Bodman (after a profusion of complimentary phrases).--"I have no +commission to say anything. I am only instructed to listen to anything +that may be said to me, and that her Majesty may be pleased to command." + +Burghley.--"'Tis very discreet to begin thus. But time is pressing, and +it is necessary to be brief. We beg you therefore to communicate, +without further preface, that which you have been charged to say." + +Bodman.--"I can only repeat to your Lordship, that I have been charged to +say nothing." + +After this Barmecide feast of diplomacy, to partake of which it seemed +hardly necessary that the guests should have previously attired +themselves in such garments of mystery, the parties separated for the +night. + +In spite of their care, it would seem that the Argus-eyed Walsingham had +been able to see after sunset; for, the next evening--after Bodman had +been introduced with the same precautions to the same company, in the +same place--Burghley, before a word had been spoken, sent for Sir +Francis. + +Bodman was profoundly astonished, for he had been expressly informed that +Walsingham was to know nothing of the transaction. The Secretary of +State could not so easily be outwitted, however, and he was soon seated +at the table, surveying the scene, with his grave melancholy eyes, which +had looked quite through the whole paltry intrigue. + +Burghley.--"Her Majesty has commanded us to assemble together, in order +that, in my presence, it may be made clear that she did not commence this +negotiation. Let Grafigni be summoned." + +Grafigni immediately made his appearance. + +Burghley.--"You will please to explain how you came to enter into this +business." + +Grafigni.--"The first time I went to the States, it was on my private +affairs; I had no order from any one to treat with the Prince of Parma. +His Highness, having accidentally heard, however, that I resided in +England, expressed a wish to see me. I had an interview with the Prince. +I told him, out of my own head, that the Queen had a strong inclination +to hear propositions of peace, and that--as some of her counsellors were +of the same opinion--I believed that if his Highness should send a +negotiator, some good would be effected. The Prince replied that he felt +by no means sure of such a result; but that, if I should come back from +England, sent by the Queen or her council, he would then despatch a +person with a commission to treat of peace. This statement, together +with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in +writing by command of his Highness." + +Burghley.--"Who bade you say, after your second return to Brussels, that +you came on the part of the Queen? For you well know that her Majesty +did not send you." + +Grafigni.--"I never said so. I stated that my Lord Cobham had set down +in writing what I was to say to the Prince of Parma. It will never +appear that I represented the Queen as desiring peace. I said that her +Majesty would lend her ears to peace. Bodman knows this too; and he has +a copy of the letter of his Highness." + +Walsingham to Bodman.--"Have you the copy still?" + +Bodman.--"Yes, Mr. Secretary." + +Walsingham.--"Please to produce it, in order that this matter may be +sifted to the bottom." + +Bodman.--"I supplicate your Lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot +be. My instructions forbid my showing the letter." + +Walsingham (rising).--"I will forthwith go to her Majesty, and fetch the +original." A pause. Mr. Secretary returns in a few minutes, having +obtained the document, which the Queen, up to that time, had kept by her, +without showing it to any one. + +Walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).--"There is +not such a word, as that her Majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole +paper." + +Burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of Italian into +English).--"It would seem that his Highness hath written this, assuming +that the Signor Grafigni came from the Queen, although he had received +his instructions from my Lord Cobham. It is plain, however, that the +negotiation was commenced accidentally." + +Comptroller Croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of +getting into trouble).--"You know very well, Mr. Bodman, that my servant +came to Dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by +chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a +peace between the two kingdoms. My servant told you of the good feeling +that prevailed in England. You promised to write on the subject to the +Prince, and I immediately informed the Lord-Treasurer of the whole +transaction." + +Burghley.--"That is quite true." + +Croft.--"My servant subsequently returned to the Provinces in order to +learn what the Prince might have said on the subject." + +Bodman (with immense politeness, but very decidedly).--"Pardon me, Mr. +Comptroller; but, in this matter, I must speak the truth, even if the +honour and life of my father were on the issue. I declare that your +servant Norris came to me, directly commissioned for that purpose by +yourself, and informed me from you, and upon your authority, that if I +would solicit the Prince of Parma to send a secret agent to England, a +peace would be at once negotiated. Your servant entreated me to go to +his Highness at Brussels. I refused, but agreed to consider the +proposition. After the lapse of several days, the servant returned to +make further enquiries. I told him that the Prince had come to no +decision. Norris continued to press the matter. I excused myself. He +then solicited and obtained from me a letter of introduction to De Loo, +the secretary of his Highness. Armed with this, he went to Brussels and +had an interview--as I found, four days later--with the Prince. In +consequence of the representations of Norris, those of Signor Grafigni, +and those by way of Antwerp, his Highness determined to send me to +England." + +Burghley to Croft.--"Did you order your servant to speak with Andrea de +Loo?" + +Croft.--"I cannot deny it." + +Burghley.--"The fellow seems to have travelled a good way out of his +commission. His master sends him to buy horses, and he commences a +peace-negotiation between two kingdoms. It would be well he were +chastised. As regards the Antwerp matter, too, we have had many letters, +and I have, seen one from the Seigneur de Champagny, the same effect as +that of all the rest." + +Walsingham.--"I see not to what end his Highness of Parma has sent Mr. +Bodman hither. The Prince avows that he hath no commission from Spain." + +Bodman.--"His Highness was anxious to know what was her Majesty's +pleasure. So soon as that should be known, the Prince could obtain ample +authority. He would never have proceeded so far without meaning a good +end." + +Walsingham.--"Very like. I dare say that his Highness will obtain the +commission. Meantime, as Prince of Parma, he writes these letters, and +assists his sovereign perhaps more than he doth ourselves." + +Here the interview terminated. A few days later, Bodman had another +conversation with Burghley and Cobham. Reluctantly, at their urgent +request, he set down in writing all that he had said concerning his +mission. + +The Lord Treasurer said that the Queen and her counsellors were "ready to +embrace peace when it was treated of sincerely." Meantime the Queen had +learned that the Prince had been sending letters to the cautionary towns +in Holland and Zeeland, stating that her Majesty was about to surrender +them to the King of Spain. These were tricks to make mischief, and were +very detrimental to the Queen. + +Bodman replied that these were merely the idle stories of quidnuncs; and +that the Prince and all his counsellors were dealing with the utmost +sincerity. + +Burghley answered that he had intercepted the very letters, and had them +in his possession. + +A week afterwards, Bodman saw Walsingham alone, and was informed by +him that the Queen had written an answer to Parma's letter, and that +negotiations for the future were to be carried on in the usual form, +or not at all. Walsingham, having thus got the better of his rivals, +and delved below their mines, dismissed the agent with brief courtesy. +Afterwards the discomfited Mr. Comptroller wished a private interview +with Bodman. Bodman refused to speak with him except in presence of Lord +Cobham. This Croft refused. In the same way Bodman contrived to get +rid, as he said, of Lord Burghley and Lord Cobham, declining to speak +with either of them alone. Soon afterwards he returned to the Provinces! + +The Queen's letter to Parma was somewhat caustic. It was obviously +composed through the inspiration of Walsingham rather than that of +Burghley. The letter, brought by a certain Grafigni and a certain +Bodman, she said, was a very strange one, and written under a delusion. +It was a very grave error, that, in her name, without her knowledge, +contrary to her disposition, and to the prejudice of her honour, such a +person as this Grafigni, or any one like him, should have the audacity to +commence such a business, as if she had, by messages to the Prince, +sought a treaty with his King, who had so often returned evil for her +good. Grafigni, after representing the contrary to his Highness, had now +denied in presence of her counsellors having received any commission from +the Queen. She also briefly gave the result of Bodman's interviews with +Burghley and the others, just narrated. That agent had intimated that +Parma would procure authority to treat for peace, if assured that the +Queen would lend her ear to any propositions. + +She replied by referring to her published declarations, as showing her +powerful motives for interfering in these affairs. It was her purpose to +save her own realm and to rescue her ancient neighbours from misery and +from slavery. To this end she should still direct her actions, +notwithstanding the sinister rumours which had been spread that she was +inclined to peace before providing for the security and liberty of her +allies. She was determined never to separate their cause from her own. +Propositions tending to the security of herself and of her neighbours +would always be favourably received. + +Parma, on his part, informed his master that there could be no doubt that +the Queen and the majority of her council abhorred the war, and that +already much had been gained by the fictitious negotiation. Lord- +Treasurer Burghley had been interposing endless delays and difficulties +in the way of every measure proposed for the relief of Lord Leicester, +and the assistance rendered him had been most lukewarm. Meantime the +Prince had been able, he said, to achieve much success in the field, and +the English had done nothing to prevent it. Since the return of Grafigni +and Bodman, however, it was obvious that the English government had +disowned these non-commissioned diplomatists. The whole negotiation and +all the negotiators were now discredited, but there was no doubt that +there had been a strong desire to treat, and great disappointment at the +result. Grafigni and Andrea de Loo had been publishing everywhere in +Antwerp that England would consider the peace as made, so soon as his +Majesty should be willing to accept any propositions. + +His Majesty, meanwhile, sat in his cabinet, without the slightest +intention of making or accepting any propositions save those that were +impossible. He smiled benignantly at his nephew's dissimulation and at +the good results which it had already produced. He approved of gaining +time, he said, by fictitious negotiations and by the use of a mercantile +agent; for, no doubt, such a course would prevent the proper succours +from being sent to the Earl of Leicester. If the English would hand over +to him the cautionary towns held by them in Holland and Zeeland, promise +no longer to infest the seas, the Indies, and the Isles, with their +corsairs, and guarantee the complete obedience to their King and +submission to the holy Catholic Church of the rebellious Provinces, +perhaps something might be done with them; but, on the whole, he was +inclined to think that they had been influenced by knavish and deceitful +motives from the beginning. He enjoined it upon Parma, therefore, to +proceed with equal knavery--taking care, however, not to injure his +reputation--and to enter into negotiations wherever occasion might serve, +in order to put the English off their guard and to keep back the +reinforcements so imperatively required by Leicester. + +And the reinforcements were indeed kept back. Had Burghley and Croft +been in the pay of Philip II. they could hardly have served him better +than they had been doing by the course pursued. Here then is the +explanation of the shortcomings of the English government towards +Leicester and the States during the memorable spring and summer of 1586. +No money, no soldiers, when most important operations in the field were +required. The first general of the age was to be opposed by a man who +had certainly never gained many laurels as a military chieftain, but who +was brave and confident, and who, had he been faithfully supported by the +government which sent him to the Netherlands, would have had his +antagonist at a great disadvantage. Alexander had scarcely eight +thousand effective men. Famine, pestilence, poverty, mutiny, beset +and almost paralyzed him. Language could not exaggerate the absolute +destitution of the country. Only miracles could save the King's cause, +as Farnese repeatedly observed. A sharp vigorous campaign, heartily +carried on against him by Leicester and Hohenlo, with plenty of troops +and money at command, would have brought the heroic champion of +Catholicism to the ground. He was hemmed in upon all sides; he was cut +off from the sea; he stood as it were in a narrowing circle, surrounded +by increasing dangers. His own veterans, maddened by misery, stung by +their King's ingratitude, naked, starving, ferocious, were turning +against him. Mucio, like his evil genius, was spiriting away his +supplies just as they were reaching his hands; a threatening tempest +seemed rolling up from France; the whole population of the Provinces +which he had "reconciled"--a million of paupers--were crying to him for +bread; great commercial cities, suddenly blasted and converted into dens +of thieves and beggars, were cursing the royal author of their ruin, and +uttering wild threats against his vicegerent; there seemed, in truth, +nothing left for Alexander but to plunge headlong into destruction, when, +lo! Mr. Comptroller Croft, advancing out of the clouds, like a propitious +divinity, disguised in the garb of a foe--and the scene was changed. + +The feeble old man, with his shufing, horse-trucking servant, ex-spy of +Monsieur, had accomplished more work for Philip and Alexander than many +regiments of Spaniards and Walloons could have done. The arm of +Leicester was paralyzed upon the very threshold of success. The picture +of these palace-intrigues has been presented with minute elaboration, +because, however petty and barren in appearance, they were in reality +prolific of grave results. A series of victories by Parma was +substituted for the possible triumphs of Elizabeth and the States. + +The dissimulation of the Spanish court was fathomless. The secret +correspondence of the times reveals to us that its only purpose was to +deceive the Queen and her counsellors, and to gain time to prepare the +grand invasion of England and subjugation of Holland--that double purpose +which Philip could only abandon with life. There was never a thought, +on his part, of honest negotiation. On the other hand, the Queen was +sincere; Burghley and Hatton and Cobham were sincere; Croft was sincere, +so far as Spain was concerned. At least they had been sincere. In the +private and doleful dialogues between Bodman and Grafigni which we have +just been overhearing, these intriguers spoke the truth, for they could +have no wish to deceive each other, and no fear of eaves-droppers not to +be born till centuries afterwards. These conversations have revealed to +us that the Lord Treasurer and three of his colleagues had been secretly +doing their best to cripple Leicester, to stop the supplies for the +Netherlands, and to patch up a hurried and unsatisfactory, if not a +disgraceful peace; and this, with the concurrence of her Majesty. After +their plots had been discovered by the vigilant Secretary of State, there +was a disposition to discredit the humbler instruments in the cabal. +Elizabeth was not desirous of peace. Far from it. She was qualmish at +the very suggestion. Dire was her wrath against Bodman, De Loo, +Graafigni, and the rest, at their misrepresentations on the subject. But +she would "lend her ear." And that royal ear was lent, and almost fatal +was the distilment poured into its porches. The pith and marrow of the +great Netherland enterprise was sapped by the slow poison of the ill- +timed negotiation. The fruit of Drake's splendid triumphs in America +was blighted by it. The stout heart of the vainglorious but courageous +Leicester was sickened by it, while, meantime, the maturing of the +great armada-scheme, by which the destruction of England was to be +accomplished, was furthered, through the unlimited procrastination +so precious to the heart of Philip. + +Fortunately the subtle Walsingham was there upon the watch to administer +the remedy before it was quite too late; and to him England and the +Netherlands were under lasting obligations. While Alexander and Philip +suspected a purpose on the part of the English government to deceive +them, they could not help observing that the Earl of Leicester was both +deserted and deceived. Yet it had been impossible for the peace-party in +the government wholly to conceal their designs, when such prating fellows +as Grafigni and De Loo were employed in what was intended to be a secret +negotiation. In vain did the friends of Leicester in the Netherlands +endeavour to account for the neglect with which he was treated, and for +the destitution of his army. Hopelessly did they attempt to counteract +those "advertisements of most fearful instance," as Richard Cavendish +expressed himself, which were circulating everywhere. + +Thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been +to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret +negotiations between Parma and the English counsellors became the town- +talk at Antwerp, the Hague, Amsterdam, Brussels, London. It is true that +it was impossible to know what was actually said and done; but that there +was something doing concerning which Leicester was not to be informed was +certain. Grafigni, during one of his visits to the obedient provinces, +brought a brace of greyhounds and a couple of horses from England, as a +present to Alexander, and he perpetually went about, bragging to every +one of important negotiations which he was conducting, and of his +intimacy with great personages in both countries. Leicester, +on the other hand, was kept in the dark. To him Grafigni made no +communications, but he once sent him a dish of plums, "which," said the +Earl, with superfluous energy, "I will boldly say to you, by the living +God, is all that I have ever had since I came into these countries." +When it is remembered that Leicester had spent many thousand pounds in +the Netherland cause, that he had deeply mortgaged his property in order +to provide more funds, that he had never received a penny of salary from +the Queen, that his soldiers were "ragged and torn like rogues-pity to +see them," and were left without the means of supporting life; that he +had been neglected, deceived, humiliated, until he was forced to describe +himself as a "forlorn man set upon a forlorn hope," it must be conceded +that Grafigni's present of a dish of plums could hardly be sufficient to +make him very happy. + +From time to time he was enlightened by Sir Francis, who occasionally +forced his adversaries' hands, and who always faithfully informed the +Earl of everything he could discover. "We are so greedy of a peace, in +respect of the charges of the wars," he wrote in April, "as in the +procuring thereof we weigh neither honour nor safety. Somewhat here is +adealing underhand, wherein there is great care taken that I should not +be made acquainted withal." But with all their great care, the +conspirators, as it has been seen, were sometimes outwitted by the +Secretary, and, when put to the blush, were forced to take him into half- +confidence. "Your Lordship may see," he wrote, after getting possession +of Parma's letter to the Queen, and unravelling Croft's intrigues, "what +effects are wrought by such weak ministers. They that have been the +employers of them are ashamed of the matter." + +Unutterable was the amazement, as we have seen, of Bodman and Grafigni +when they had suddenly found themselves confronted in Burghley's private +apartments in Greenwich Palace, whither they had been conducted so +mysteriously after dark from the secret pavilion--by the grave Secretary +of State, whom they had been so anxious to deceive; and great was the +embarrassment of Croft and Cobham, and even of the imperturbable +Burghley. + +And thus patiently did Walsingham pick his course, plummet in hand, +through the mists and along the quicksands, and faithfully did he hold +out signals to his comrade embarked on the same dangerous voyage. As for +the Earl himself, he was shocked at the short-sighted policy of his +mistress, mortified by the neglect to which he was exposed, disappointed +in his ambitious schemes. Vehemently and judiciously he insisted upon +the necessity of vigorous field operations throughout the spring and +summer thus frittered away in frivolous negotiations. He was for peace, +if a lasting and honourable peace could be procured; but he insisted that +the only road tosuch a result was through a "good sharp war." His troops +were mutinous for want of pay, so that he had been obligedto have a few +of them executed, although he protested that he would rather have "gone a +thousand miles a-foot" than have done so; and he was crippled by his +government at exactly the time when his great adversary's condition was +most forlorn. Was it strange that the proud Earl should be fretting his +heart away when such golden chances were eluding his grasp? He would +"creep upon the ground," he said, as far as his hands and knees would +carry him, to have a good peace for her Majesty, but his care was to have +a peace indeed, and not a show of it. It was the cue of Holland and +England to fight before they could expect to deal upon favourable terms +with their enemy. He was quick enough to see that his false colleagues +at home were playing into the enemy's hands. Victory was what was +wanted; victory the Earl pledged himself, if properly seconded, to +obtain; and, braggart though he was, it is by no means impossible that +he might have redeemed his pledge. "If her Majesty will use her +advantage," he said, "she shall bring the King, and especially this +Prince of Parma, to seek peace in other sort than by way of merchants." +Of courage and confidence the governor had no lack. Whether he was +capable of outgeneralling Alexander Farnese or no, will be better seen, +perhaps, in subsequent chapters; but there is no doubt that he was +reasonable enough in thinking, at that juncture, that a hard campaign +rather than a "merchant's brokerage" was required to obtain an honourable +peace. Lofty, indeed, was the scorn of the aristocratic Leicester that +"merchants and pedlars should be paltering in so weighty a cause," and +daring to send him a dish of plums when he was hoping half a dozen +regiments from the Queen; and a sorry business, in truth, the pedlars +had made of it. + +Never had there been a more delusive diplomacy, and it was natural that +the lieutenant-general abroad and the statesman at home should be sad and +indignant, seeing England drifting to utter shipwreck while pursuing that +phantom of a pacific haven. Had Walsingham and himself tampered with the +enemy, as some counsellors he could name had done, Leicester asserted +that the gallows would be thought too good for them; and yet he hoped he +might be hanged if the whole Spanish faction in England could procure for +the Queen a peace fit for her to accept. + +Certainly it was quite impossible for the Spanish-faction to bring about +a peace. No human power could bring it about. Even if England had been +willing and able to surrender Holland, bound hand and foot, to Philip, +even then she could only have obtained a hollow armistice. Philip had +sworn in his inmost soul the conquest of England and the dethronement of +Elizabeth. His heart was fixed. It was only by the subjugation of +England that he hoped to recover the Netherlands. England was to be +his stepping-stone to Holland. The invasion was slowly but steadily +maturing, and nothing could have diverted the King from his great +purpose. In the very midst of all these plots and counterplots, Bodmans +and Grafignis, English geldings and Irish greyhounds, dishes of plums and +autograph letters of her Majesty and his Highness, the Prince was +deliberately discussing all the details of the invasion, which, as it was +then hoped, would be ready by the autumn of the year 1586. Although he +had sent a special agent to Philip, who was to state by word of mouth +that which it was deemed unsafe to write, yet Alexander, perpetually +urged by his master, went at last more fully into particulars than he +had ever ventured to do before; and this too at the very moment when +Elizabeth was most seriously "lending her ear" to negotiation, and most +vehemently expressing her wrath at Sir Thomas Heneage for dealing +candidly with the States-General. + +The Prince observed that when, two or three years before, he had sent his +master an account of the coasts, anchoring-places, and harbours of +England, he had then expressed the opinion that the conquest of England +was an enterprise worthy of the grandeur and Christianity of his Majesty, +and not so difficult as to be considered altogether impossible. To make +himself absolutely master of the business, however, he had then thought +that the King should have no associates in the scheme, and should make no +account of the inhabitants of England. Since that time the project had +become more difficult of accomplishment, because it was now a stale and +common topic of conversation everywhere--in Italy, Germany, and France-- +so that there could be little doubt that rumours on the subject were +daily reaching the ears of Queen Elizabeth and of every one in her +kingdom. Hence she had made a strict alliance with Sweden, Denmark, the +Protestant princes of Germany, and even with the Turks and the French. +Nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, the King, placing his royal +hand to the work, might well accomplish the task; for the favour of the +Lord, whose cause it was, would be sure to give him success. + +Being so Christian and Catholic a king, Philip naturally desired to +extend the area of the holy church, and to come to the relief of so many +poor innocent martyrs in England, crying aloud before the Lord for help. +Moreover Elizabeth had fomented rebellion in the King's Provinces for a +long time secretly, and now, since the fall of Antwerp, and just as +Holland and Zeeland were falling into his grasp, openly. + +Thus, in secret and in public, she had done the very worst she could do; +and it was very clear that the Lord, for her sins; had deprived her of +understanding, in order that his Majesty might be the instrument of that +chastisement which she so fully deserved. A monarch of such great +prudence, valour, and talent as Philip, could now give all the world to +understand that those who dared to lose a just and decorous respect for +him, as this good lady had done, would receive such chastisement as royal +power guided by prudent counsel could inflict. Parma assured his +sovereign, that, if the conquest of England were effected, that of the +Netherlands would be finished with much facility and brevity; but that +otherwise, on account of the situation, strength and obstinacy of those +people, it would be a very long, perilous, and at best doubtful business. + +"Three points," he said, "were most vital to the invasion of England-- +secrecy, maintenance of the civil war in France, and judicious +arrangement of matters in the Provinces." + +The French, if unoccupied at home, would be sure to make the enterprise +so dangerous as to become almost impossible; for it might be laid down as +a general maxim that that nation, jealous of Philip's power, had always +done and would always do what it could to counteract his purposes. + +With regard to the Netherlands, it would be desirable to leave a good +number of troops in those countries--at least as many as were then +stationed there--besides the garrisons, and also to hold many German and +Swiss mercenaries in "wartgeld." It would be further desirable that +Alexander should take most of the personages of quality and sufficiency +in the Provinces over with him to England, in order that they should not +make mischief in his absence. + +With regard to the point of secrecy, that was, in Parma's opinion, the +most important of all. All leagues must become more or less public, +particularly those contrived at or with Rome. Such being the case, the +Queen of England would be well aware of the Spanish projects, and, +besides her militia at home, would levy German infantry and cavalry, and +provide plenty of vessels, relying therein upon Holland and Zeeland, +where ships and sailors were in such abundance. Moreover, the English +and the Netherlanders knew the coasts, currents, tides, shallows, +quicksands, ports, better than did the pilots of any fleets that the King +could send thither. Thus, having his back assured, the enemy would meet +them in front at a disadvantage. Although, notwithstanding this +inequality, the enemy would be beaten, yet if the engagement should be +warm, the Spaniards would receive an amount of damage which could not +fail to be inconvenient, particularly as they would be obliged to land +their troops, and to give battle to those who would be watching their +landing. Moreover the English would be provided with cavalry, of which +his Majesty's forces would have very little, on account of the difficulty +of its embarkation. + +The obedient Netherlands would be the proper place in which to organize +the whole expedition. There the regiments could be filled up, provisions +collected, the best way of effecting the passage ascertained, and the +force largely increased without exciting suspicion; but with regard to +the fleet, there were no ports there capacious enough for large vessels. +Antwerp had ceased to be a seaport; but a large number of flat-bottomed +barges, hoys, and other barks, more suitable for transporting soldiers, +could be assembled in Dunkirk, Gravelines, and Newport, which, with some +five-and-twenty larger vessels, would be sufficient to accompany the +fleet. + +The Queen, knowing that there were no large ships, nor ports to hold them +in the obedient Provinces, would be unauspicious, if no greater levies +seemed to be making than the exigencies of the Netherlands might +apparently require. + +The flat-bottomed boats, drawing two or three feet of water, would be +more appropriate than ships of war drawing twenty feet. The passage +across, in favourable weather, might occupy from eight to twelve hours. + +The number of troops for the invading force should be thirty thousand +infantry, besides five hundred light troopers, with saddles, bridles, and +lances, but without horses, because, in Alexander's opinion, it would be +easier to mount them in England. Of these thirty thousand there should +be six thousand Spaniards, six thousand Italians, six thousand Walloons, +nine thousand Germans, and three thousand Burgundians. + +Much money would be required; at least three hundred thousand dollars +the month for the new force, besides the regular one hundred and fifty +thousand for the ordinary provision in the Netherlands; and this ordinary +provision would be more necessary than ever, because a mutiny breaking +forth in the time of the invasion would be destruction to the Spaniards +both in England and in the Provinces. + +The most appropriate part of the coast for a landing would, +in Alexander's opinion, be between Dover and Margate, because the +Spaniards, having no footing in Holland and Zeeland, were obliged to make +their starting-point in Flanders. The country about Dover was described +by Parma as populous, well-wooded, and much divided by hedges; +advantageous for infantry, and not requiring a larger amount of cavalry +than the small force at his disposal, while the people there were +domestic in their habits, rich, and therefore less warlike, less trained +to arms, and more engrossed by their occupations and their comfortable +ways of life. Therefore, although some encounters would take place, yet +after the commanders of the invading troops had given distinct and clear +orders, it would be necessary to leave the rest in the, "hands of God who +governs all things, and from whose bounty and mercy it was to be hoped +that He would favour a cause so eminently holy, just, and His own." + +It would be necessary to make immediately for London, which city, not +being fortified, would be very easily taken. This point gained, the +whole framework of the business might be considered as well put together. +If the Queen should fly--as, being a woman, she probably would do-- +everything would be left in such confusion, as, with the blessing of God, +it might soon be considered that the holy and heroic work had been +accomplished: Her Majesty, it was suggested, would probably make her +escape in a boat before she could be captured; but the conquest would be +nevertheless effected. Although, doubtless, some English troops might be +got together to return and try their fortune, yet it would be quite +useless; for the invaders would have already planted themselves upon the +soil, and then, by means of frequent excursions and forays hither and +thither about the island, all other places of importance would be gained, +and the prosperous and fortunate termination of the adventure assured. + +As, however, everything was to be provided for, so, in case the secret +could not be preserved, it would be necessary for Philip, under pretext +of defending himself against the English and French corsairs, to send a +large armada to sea, as doubtless the Queen would take the same measure. +If the King should prefer, however, notwithstanding Alexander's advice to +the contrary, to have confederates in the enterprise,--then, the matter +being public, it would be necessary to prepare a larger and stronger +fleet than any which Elizabeth, with the assistance of her French and +Netherland allies, could oppose to him. That fleet should be well +provided with vast stores of provisions, sufficient to enable the +invading force, independently of forage, to occupy three or four places +in England at once, as the enemy would be able to come from various towns +and strong places to attack them. + +As for the proper season for the expedition, it would be advisable to +select the month of October of the current year, because the English +barns would then be full of wheat and other forage, and the earth would +have been sown for the next year--points of such extreme importance, that +if the plan could not be executed at that time, it would be as well to +defer it until the following October. + +The Prince recommended that the negotiations with the League should be +kept spinning, without allowing them to come to a definite conclusion; +because there would be no lack of difficulties perpetually offering +themselves, and the more intricate and involved the policy of France, the +better it would be for the interests of Spain. Alexander expressed the +utmost confidence that his Majesty, with his powerful arm, would overcome +all obstacles in the path of his great project, and would show the world +that he "could do a little more than what was possible." He also assured +his master, in adding in this most extravagant language, of his personal +devotion, that it was unnecessary for him to offer his services in this +particular enterprise, because, ever since his birth, he had dedicated +and consecrated himself to execute his royal commands. + +He further advised that old Peter Ernest Mansfeld should be left +commander-in-chief of the forces in the Netherlands during his own +absence in England. "Mansfeld was an honourable cavalier," he said, "and +a faithful servant of the King;" and although somewhat ill-conditioned at +times, yet he had essential good qualities, and was the only general fit +to be trusted alone. + +The reader, having thus been permitted to read the inmost thoughts of +Philip and Alexander, and to study their secret plans for conquering +England in October, while their frivolous yet mischievous negotiations +with the Queen had been going on from April to June, will be better able +than before to judge whether Leicester were right or no in doubting if a +good peace could be obtained by a "merchant's brokerage." + +And now, after examining these pictures of inter-aulic politics and back- +stairs diplomacy, which represent so large and characteristic a phasis of +European history during the year 1586, we must throw a glance at the +external, more stirring, but not more significant public events which +were taking place during the same period. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Could do a little more than what was possible +Elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute +He sat a great while at a time. He had a genius for sitting +Mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity +Nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on +They were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion +We mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v46 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS 1584-86 + +A hard bargain when both parties are losers +Able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed +Anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form +College of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all +Condemned first and inquired upon after +Could do a little more than what was possible +Courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart +Demanding peace and bread at any price +Diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive +Dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies +Disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping +Elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute +Enmity between Lutherans and Calvinists +Find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace +German-Lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom +He sat a great while at a time. He had a genius for sitting +He did his work, but he had not his reward +Her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (Eliz.) +Hibernian mode of expressing himself +His inordinate arrogance +His insolence intolerable +Holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole +Honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors +Humility which was but the cloak to his pride +Intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions +Intolerable tendency to puns +Longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it +Lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns +Make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you +Matter that men may rather pray for than hope for +Military virtue in the support of an infamous cause +Mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity +Necessity of kingship +Neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own +New Years Day in England, 11th January by the New Style +Nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on +Nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence +Not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts +Not of the genus Reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch +Not distinguished for their docility +Oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts +Others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks +Pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law +Peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate +Peace-at-any-price party +Possible to do, only because we see that it has been done +Repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late +Repose in the other world, "Repos ailleurs" +Resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance +Round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived +Seeking protection for and against the people +Seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous +Shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen +Soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad +String of homely proverbs worthy of Sancho Panza +The very word toleration was to sound like an insult +The busy devil of petty economy +There was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm +They were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion +Thought that all was too little for him +Three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in London +Tis pity he is not an Englishman +To work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature +Tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health +Twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics +Upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency +Uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case +Wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself +We must all die once +We mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh +Weary of place without power +When persons of merit suffer without cause +With something of feline and feminine duplicity +Wrath of bigots on both sides +Write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 60 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1586 + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Military Plans in the Netherlands--The Elector and Electorate of + Cologne--Martin Schenk--His Career before serving the States-- + Franeker University founded--Parma attempts Grave--Battle on the + Meuse--Success and Vainglory of Leicester--St. George's Day + triumphantly kept at Utrecht--Parma not so much appalled as it was + thought--He besieges and reduces Grave--And is Master of the Meuse-- + Leicester's Rage at the Surrender of Grave--His Revenge--Parma on + the Rhine--He besieges aid assaults Neusz--Horrible Fate of the + Garrison and City--Which Leicester was unable to relieve--Asel + surprised by Maurice and Sidney--The Zeeland Regiment given to + Sidney--Condition of the Irish and English Troops--Leicester takes + the Field--He reduces Doesburg--He lays siege to Zutphen--Which + Parma prepares to relieve--The English intercept the Convoy--Battle + of Warnsfeld--Sir Philip Sidney wounded--Results of the Encounter-- + Death of Sidney at Arnheim--Gallantry of Edward Stanley. + +Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils. Three +are but slightly separated--the Yssel, Waal, and ancient Rhine, while the +Scheldt and, Meuse are spread more widely asunder. Along each of these +streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those +days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control +of the surrounding country. The lower part of all the rivers, where they +mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the Republic, +for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the Hollanders and +English. Above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands +of the Spaniards and of the patriots. Thus Antwerp, with the other +Scheldt cities, had fallen into Parma's power, but Flushing, which +controlled them all, was held by Philip Sidney for the Queen and States. +On the Meuse, Maastricht and Roermond were Spanish, but Yenloo, Grave, +Meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. On the Waal, the +town of Nymegen had, through the dexterity of Martin Schenk, been +recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's +course was true to the republic. The Rhine, strictly so called, from its +entrance into Netherland, belonged to the rebels. Upon its elder branch, +the Yssel, Zutphen was in Parma's hands, while, a little below, Deventer +had been recently and adroitly saved by Leicester and Count Meurs from +falling into the same dangerous grasp. + +Thus the triple Rhine, after it had crossed the German frontier, belonged +mainly, although not exclusively, to the States. But on the edge of the +Batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into +its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even +more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient +Provinces. + +This unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of Cologne. +The city of Cologne itself, Neusz, and Rheinberg, on the river, Werll and +other places in Westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered, +invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected +to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in +the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born +and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate. + +At the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in +the control of the deposed Protestant elector Gebhard Truchsess, assisted +of course by the English and the States. The city of Cologne was held by +the Catholic elector, Ernest of Bavaria, bishop of Liege; but Neusz and +Rheinberg were in the hands of the Dutch republic. + +The military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the Meuse, +where the main object of Parma was to wrest Grave From the Netherlands; +along the Waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover +Nymegen; on the Yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of +Zutphen; and in the Cologne electorate, where the Spaniards meant, if +possible, to transfer Neusz and Rheinberg from Truchsess to Elector +Ernest. To clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free +that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from +neutral Germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was +the immediate design of Alexander Farnese. + +Nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate. +Ever since Gebhard Truchsess had renounced the communion of the Catholic +Church for the love of Agnes Mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his +principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished Nassaus, or a +supplicant for alms to the thrifty Elizabeth. The Queen was frequently +implored by Leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few +hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to +live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and +almost a spy, by the Earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party +rapidly forming against him in the States. + +At Godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still +regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting +region where Drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of Roland and +the convent of Nonnenwerth--the unfortunate Gebhard had sustained a +conclusive defeat. A small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious, +learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature, +altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all, +in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the Bavarian +bishop, had found himself. Prince Ernest, archbishop of Liege and +Cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a +stipendiary of Philip, who was a worse paymaster than Elizabeth, had a +sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. He +was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the Prince of Parma at +Brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose +vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce +the episcopate, unless the forces of the Spanish King could be employed +to recover the cities on the Rhine. If Neusz and Rheinberg were not +wrested from the rebels; Cologne itself would soon be gone. Ernest +represented most eloquently to Alexander, that if the protestant +archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most +perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern Europe. +Parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in +Brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of +the evening, through the park-gate. He encouraged him with hopes of +assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving +the Rhenish territory to Bishop Ernest and to Catholicism, but hinted +that the declared intention of the Bavarian to resign the dignity, was +probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing +after all. + +The archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most +uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant. +Overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by +that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it +was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. The 'brandschatzung' had no +name in English, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving +commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. A hamlet, +cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to +escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a +conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command +of the conqueror. The free companions of the sixteenth century drove a +lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to +this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack, +and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result +to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances. + +Of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible Martin +Schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the Cologne territory, +having recently passed again to the service of the States. Immediately +connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies +us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was +characteristic of the epoch. Born in 1549 of an ancient and noble family +of Gelderland, Martin Schenk had inherited no property but a sword. +Serving for a brief term as page to the Seigneur of Ysselstein, he +joined, while yet a youth, the banner of William of Orange, at the head +of two men-at-arms. The humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires, +was received with courtesy by the Prince and the Estates, but he soon +quarrelled with his patrons. There was a castle of Blyenbeek, belonging +to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because +he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive +estate and residence, The courts had different views of public law, and +supported the ousted cousin. Martin shut himself up in the castle, and +having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still +further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures +to Parma. Alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side, +and assisted Schenk in his besieged stronghold. For years afterwards, +his services under the King's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to +the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly +filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'Tis a +most courageous fellow," said Parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman +than a valiant soldier." Martin's couple of lances had expanded into a +corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most +rapacious in Christendom. Never were freebooters more formidable to the +world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers +of General Schenk. Never was a more finished captain of highwaymen. +He was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. His habitual +intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his +taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. He was incapable of fear, +of fatigue, of remorse. He could remain for days and nights without +dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this +terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. His +soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like +hounds. He habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the +lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals +of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the +pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led +them where the game was plenty. While serving under Parma he had twice +most brilliantly defeated Hohenlo. At the battle of Hardenberg Heath he +had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying +fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of +his own. By this triumph he had preserved the important city of +Groningen for Philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had +been received in that city with rapture. Several startling years of +victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. He +became the terror and the scourge of his native Gelderland, and he was +covered with wounds received in the King's service. He had been twice +captured and held for ransom. Twice he had effected his escape. He had +recently gained the city of Nymegen. He was the most formidable, the +most unscrupulous, the most audacious Netherlander that wore Philip's +colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and +the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his +ambition. He had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of Count +Renneberg, Verdugo, a former stable-boy of Mansfeld, a Spaniard who had +risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made +governor of Friesland. He had smothered his resentment for a time +however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable +opportunity. At last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of Breda +from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he +had ever been before, when Haultepenne, of the house of Berlapmont, was +made governor of that place in his stead. + +On the 25th of May, 1585, at an hour after midnight, he had a secret +interview with Count Meurs, stadholder for the States of Gelderland, and +agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. He made +good terms. He was to be lieutenant-governor of Gelderland, and he was +to have rank as marshal of the camp in the States' army, with a salary +of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. He agreed to resign his +famous castle of Blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in +Holland and Zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins. + +After this treaty, Martin and his free lances served the States +faithfully, and became sworn foes to Parma and the King. He gave and +took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their +heads." He ceased to be the scourge of Gelderland, but he became the +terror of the electorate. Early in 1586, accompanied by Herman Kloet, +the young and daring Dutch commandant of Neusz, he had swept down into +the Westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five +hundred horse. On the 18th of March he captured the city of Werll by a +neat stratagem. The citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were +in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. Martin +had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place, +disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that +article. A pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between +the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. Agreeable +relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had +agreed to cooperate with the followers of Schenk. One morning a train +of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their +appearance at the gate. At the same time a fire broke out most +opportunely within the town. The citizens busily employed themselves in +extinguishing the flames. The salted soldiers, after passing through the +gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. The town was. +carried at a blow. Some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning +to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more +fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. That fortress was stormed +in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. Every house was rifled of +its contents. Meantime Haultepenne collected a force of nearly four +thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege Schenk +in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the +castle. It was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had +completely robbed it of every thing valuable. Accordingly he loaded a +train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates +as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order +against Haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously +estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat, +desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the +spoils to Venlo on the Meuse, of which city he was governor. + +"Surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed Leicester, +who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed +that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never +idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily." + +And thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little +commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed +was one of blood and rapine. Yet during the very slight lull, which +was interposed in the winter of 1585-6 to the eternal clang of arms in +Friesland, the Estates of that Province, to their lasting honour, founded +the university of Franeker. A dozen years before, the famous institution +at Leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their +heroic defence of the city. And now this new proof was given of the love +of Netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare, +for the more humane arts. The new college was well endowed from ancient +churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while +handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was +made by which the, poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very +moderate expense. There was a table provided at an annual cost to the +student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very +low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. Thus the sum to be +paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less +than three pounds sterling a year [1855 exchange rate D.W.]. The voice +with which this infant seminary of the Muses first made itself heard +above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to +thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the +golden fruits of science and genius. + +Early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by Farnese. It +has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven +out of Flanders and Brabant. The Estates, however, still held Grave, +Megem, Batenburg, and Venlo upon the Meuse. That river formed, as it +were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole Province of Brabant, +and Farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat. +Afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the Rhine, flowing in a +parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. In order +to gain and hold the Meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of +Grave. That town, upon the left or Brabant bank, was strongly fortified +on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures, +while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural Toss, the river. It +was, according to Lord North and the Earl of Leicester, the "strongest +town in all the Low Countries, though but a little one." + +Baron Hemart, a young Gueldrian noble, of small experience in military +affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred +soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. As early as January, +Farnese had ordered Count Mansfeld to lay siege to the place. Five forts +had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left +bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led +to a fortified camp on the opposite side. Mansfeld, Mondragon, Bobadil, +Aquila, and other distinguished veterans in Philip's service, were +engaged in the enterprise. A few unimportant skirmishes between Schenk +and the Spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed, +and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its +supplies. It was highly important, therefore, that Grave should be +relieved, with the least possible delay. + +Early in Easter week, a force of three thousand men, under Hohenlo and +Sir John Norris, was accordingly despatched by Leicester, with orders, +at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place. +They took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the Mill-Fort, +which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. These were +nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against +Queen Elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain +the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for +the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right +bank of the Meuse, taking possession of Batenburg and Ravenstein castles, +as they went. A force of four or five hundred Englishmen was then pushed +forward to a point almost exactly opposite Grave, and within an English +mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the Spaniards. Here, in +the night of Easter Tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon +the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels, +succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position. + +On the morning of Easter Wednesday, April 16, Mansfeld, perceiving that +the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked +troops, all Spaniards, under Aquila, Casco and other veterans, to +assault this advanced post. A reserve of two thousand was placed in +readiness to support the attack. The Spaniards slowly crossed the +bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then +charged the entrenched camp at a run. A quarrel between the different +regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before +the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of Mondragon's veterans, +had been able to arrive. Coming in breathless and fatigued, the first +assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. Aquila then +opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great +vigour: The defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in +dismay, while the Spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and +thither in the ardour of pursuit. The routed Englishmen fled swiftly +along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving +party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position +six miles farther down the river. Two miles long the chace lasted, and +it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed, +when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards +Batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared Count Hohenlo and Sir +John Norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred Englishmen and +Hollanders. This force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and +the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their +friends, while the retreating English rallied, turned upon their +pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just +been charging in the full career of victory. The fortune of the day was +changed, and in a few minutes Hohenlo and Norris would have crossed the +river and entered Grave, when the Spanish companies of Bobadil and other +commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge. + +Three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of +the Meuse. The rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a +gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its +shores. By a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few +moments in full view of each other. After this brief interval they +closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. The +ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost +as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants. +They staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their +backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly +conflict. For the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of +human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. Norris and Hohenlo +fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. The +Englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the Count was seen to +gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to +escape unscathed. But as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself, +the violence of the tempest increased. The floods of rain and the blasts +of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. The Spaniards, fairly +conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river +should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had +passed to their unsuccessful assault. The English and Netherlanders +remained masters of the field. The rising flood, too, which was fast +converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as +it was damaging to the Spaniards. + +In the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was +despatched before the very eyes of Parma, from Batenburg into Grave; +Hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the +whole affair, entering the town himself. + +A force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last +a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the Meuse was, +apparently, secured to the republic. In this important action about +one hundred and fifty Dutch and English were killed, and probably four +hundred Spaniards, including several distinguished officers. + +The Earl of Leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of +this enterprise was known. "Oh that her Majesty knew," he cried, "how +easy a match now she hath with the King of Spain, and what millions of +aficted people she hath relieved in these, countries. This summer, this +summer, I say, would make an end to her immortal glory." He was no +friend to his countryman, the gallant Sir John Norris--whom, however, he +could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with +Hohenlo. Next to God, he assured the Queen's government that the victory +was owing to the Count. "He is both a valiant man and a wise man, and +the painfullest that ever I knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that +"five hundred Englishmen of the best Flemish training had flatly and +shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by Hohenlo and +Norris. He recommended that her Majesty should, send her picture to the +Count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one +thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the Count had +greatly left his drinking." + +As for the Prince of Parma, Leicester looked upon him as conclusively +beaten. He spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of +his forces; but he assured the government that if the Prince's "choler +should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the +country. The Earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually +frustrate all his undertakings. "If the Spaniard have such a May as he +has had an April," said Lord North, "it will put water in his wine." + +Meantime, as St. George's Day was approaching, and as the Earl was fond +of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great +triumphal feast at Utrecht. His journey to that city from the Hague was +a triumphal procession. In all the towns through which he passed he was +entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb +shows, and allegories. At Amsterdam--a city which he compared to Venice +for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly +lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of +hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the +shore. These monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and +magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. The burgomaster made him +a Latin oration, to which Dr. Bartholomew Clerk responded, and then the +Earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a +magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as Moses, +at the head of the Israelites, smiting the Philistines hip and thigh. +After much mighty banqueting in Amsterdam, as in the other cities, the +governor-general came to Utrecht. Through the streets of this antique +and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the Rhine, and +every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. Upon +this spot, where, eight centuries before the Anglo-Saxon, Willebrod had +first astonished the wild Frisians with the pacific doctrines of Jesus, +and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant +representative of English piety. The balconies were crowded with fair +women, and decorated with scarves and banners. From the Earl's +residence--the ancient palace of the Knights of Rhodes--to the cathedral, +the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses +on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the +Netherlanders were celebrated. Trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons, +knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours; +the young Earl of Essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose +fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little +archbishop-elector of Cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky +Don Antonio, Pretender of Portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty +thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by Philip II.; +young Maurice of Nassau, the future controller of European destinies; +great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald, +with the coat of arms of Elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along. +Then great Leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his +order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men +in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced +gorgeously by. + +The ancient cathedral, built on the spot where Saint Willebrod had once +ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and +sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its +elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. Hence, +after due religious ceremonies, and an English sermon from Master +Knewstubs, Leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the +palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall. + +On the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and +crystal, stood the royal chair, with the Queen's plate and knife and fork +before it, exactly as if she had been present, while Leicester's trencher +and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. In the +neighbourhood of this post of honour sat Count Maurice, the Elector, the +Pretender, and many illustrious English personages, with the fair Agnes +Mansfeld, Princess Chimay, the daughters of William the Silent, and other +dames of high degree. + +Before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged +Martin Schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of Werll, +and black John Norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and +breast received at the relief of Grave. The sword of knighthood was +laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the Earl of Leicester, as her +Majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast. +Meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by +peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in +their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal +blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. After the banquet came +dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of Hercules, which +gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated +until evensong. + +Then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper +following hard upon the gigantic dinner. After this there was tilting +at the barriers, the young Earl of Essex and other knights bearing +themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much +eating and drinking. Then, horrible to relate, came another "most +sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies," +after which, it being now midnight, the Lord of Leicester bade the whole +company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave. + +But while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand, +the Prince of Parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the +relief of Grave as his antagonist had imagined. The Earl, flushed with +the success of Hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country, +and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well +supplied, he would have Antwerp back again and Bruges besides before +mid June. Never, said he, was "the Prince of Parma so dejected nor so +melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of +courage." And it is quite true that Alexander had reason to be +discouraged. He had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay +even this little force. The soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly +all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. The +famine in the obedient Provinces was universal, the whole population was +desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by Drake's +successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse- +strings inexorably. "I know not to what saint to devote myself," said +Alexander. He had been compelled, by the movement before Grave, to +withdraw Haultepenne from the projected enterprise against Neusz, and he +was quite aware of the cheerful view which Leicester was inclined to take +of their relative positions. "The English think they are going to do +great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field." + +Nevertheless, on the 11th May, the dejected melancholy man had left +Brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand +Spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. His veterans, though +unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized +commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was +nothing which they could not accomplish. The King's honour, his own, +that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. On the success of, +that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope +for the future. Leicester and the, English, whom he called the head and +body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and +were bent upon meeting him in the field. The Earl had taken some forts +in the Batavia--Betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile +and about as large as Herefordshire,--and was now threatening Nymegen, +a city which had been gained for Philip by the last effort of Schenk, +on the royalist side. He was now observing Alexander's demonstrations +against Grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place, +he felt a just confidence in its security. + +On the 31st May the trenches were commenced, and on the 5th June the +batteries were opened. The work went rapidly forward when Farnese was in +the field. "The Prince of Parma doth batter it like a Prince," said Lord +North, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: On +the 6th of June, as Alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre, +previous to an attack. A well-directed cannon ball carried away the +hinder half, of his horse. The Prince fell to the ground, and, for a +moment, dismay was in the Spanish ranks. At the next instant, though +somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach +sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault. + +As a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been +battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. Captain de Solis was +ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to +"have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself +with anything else." The tower was soon secured, but Solis, in +disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin, +which was still in a state of perfect defence. A musket-ball soon +stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting +to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones +and blazing pitch-hoops. Hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets, +insinuated itself within the armour of the Spaniards, and occasioned such +exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay +the pain. Emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to +renew the onset. Several of the little band were slain, the assault was +quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. So completely +discomfited were the Spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at +their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the +ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of Captain +Solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was +quietly helped back again by his comrades from above. + +To the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came +a request from the governor of the city, Baron Hemart, to negotiate for +a surrender. Alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms, +and upon the 7th of June the garrison left the town with colours +displayed and drums beating, and the Prince of Parma marched into it, at +the head of his troops. He found a year's provision there for six +thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so +little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable +breach. + +"There was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place," +exclaimed Leicester, when he heard the news. And the Earl had cause to +be enraged at such a result. He had received a letter only the day +before, signed by Hemart himself and by all the officers in Grave, +asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good +five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be +relieved. And indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had +protested against the base surrender. But at the bottom of the +catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of +young Hemart--was a woman. The governor was governed by his mistress, +a lady of good family in the place, but of Spanish inclinations, and she, +for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to +capitulate. + +Parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. Upon the same +day the towns of Megen and Batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately +afterwards siege was laid to Venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty +miles farther up the Meuse. The wife and family of Martin Schenk were in +the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred +thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him. + +That bold partisan, accompanied by the mad Welshman, Roger Williams, at +the head of one hundred and thirty English lances and thirty of Schenk's +men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging +force, and penetrate to the city. They passed through the enemy's lines, +killed all the corps-de-garde, and many Spanish troopers--the terrible +Martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and +reached the very door of Parma's tent, where they killed his secretary +and many of his guards. It was even reported; and generally believed, +that Farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that Schenk had fired +his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head +with its butt-end, and that the Prince had only saved his life by leaping +from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. But these seem to have +been fables. The alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's +day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders +were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued +by near two thousand men. Having slain many of, the Spanish army, and +lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in +Wachtendonk. + +Soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon +moderate terms. Schenk's wife was sent away (28 June 1586) courteously +with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might +be carried with her. His property was confiscated, for "no fair wars +could be made with him." + +Thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected, +melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were +so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the Earl of +Leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the Meuse. That +river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the +Spaniards. The Province of Brabant became thoroughly guarded again by +its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern Provinces. + +Leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. It must be confessed +that he had been sadly out-generalled. The man who had talked of +following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only +to protect Grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even +to recover Antwerp and Bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in +very desultory operations. After the St. George feasting, Knewstub +sermons, and forces of Hercules, were all finished, the Earl had taken +the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. His +intention was to clear the Yssel; by getting possession of Doesburg and +Zutphen, but, hearing of Parma's demonstrations upon Grave, he abandoned +the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to Arnheim. He then +crossed the Rhine into the Isle of Batavia, and thence, after taking a +few sconces of inferior importance--while Schenk, meanwhile, was building +on the Island of Gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the Rhine and Waal, +the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'Schenk's Fort' +(Schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the Waal in order to attack +Farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of Grave. + +He could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city, +but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. Leicester was +in Bommel when he heard of Baron Hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery, +and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which +his previous success had inspired him. He breathed nothing but revenge +against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in +"such lewd and beastly sort." + +"I will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of God I be +satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." There could be little +doubt that Hemart deserved punishment. There could be as little that +Leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "The lewd villain +who gave up Grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as +himself, shall all suffer together." + +Hemart came boldly to meet him. "The honest man came to me at Bommel," +said Leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of +persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own +treachery. + +But the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor- +general, who immediately placed him under arrest. A court-martial was +summoned, 26th of June, at Utrecht, consisting of Hohenlo, Essex, and +other distinguished officers. They found that the conduct of the +prisoner merited death, but left it to the Earl to decide whether various +extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. Hohenlo and Norris +exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence, +and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. Norris, +according to Leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was +therefore especially desirous of saving his life. Moreover, much use was +made of the discredit which had been thrown by the Queen on the Earl's +authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor- +general, he had no authority to order execution upon a Netherland +officer. + +The favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that Hemart was a +young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been +overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck +after the first assault. There were no direct proofs of treachery, or +even of personal cowardice. He begged hard for a pardon, not on account +of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. He earnestly implored +permission to serve under the Queen of England, as a private soldier, +without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and +to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before +he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an +hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. Much +interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a +general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than +deep guilt. But Leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was +wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a +traitor. The States of Holland and Zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in +favour of a severe example. + +Hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the 28th June. He spoke to +the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, French and +Flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror +and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him. +He was beheaded, standing. The two captains, Du Ban and Koeboekum, who +had also been condemned, suffered with him. A third captain, likewise +convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by Leicester. The Earl +persisted in believing that Hemart had surrendered the city as part of a +deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to +think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was +highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the +people. And the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the +governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of +the States-General could not have their heads cut off as well, being as +arrant knaves as Henlart; "and so I think they be," added Leicester. + +Parma having thus made himself master of the Meuse, lost no time in +making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the Rhine, thirty +miles farther east. Schenk, Kloet; and other partisans, kept that +portion of the archi-episcopate and of Westphalia in a state of perpetual +commotion. Early in the, preceding year, Count de Meurs had, by a +fortunate stratagem, captured the town of Neusz for the deposed elector, +and Herman Kloet, a young and most determined Geldrian soldier, now +commanded in the place. + +The Elector Ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of Parma, and +had represented the necessity of recovering the city. It had become the +stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. The Rhine was in their +hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal +Netherlands. It was as much the interest of his Catholic Majesty as +that of the Archbishop that Neusz should be restored to its lawful owner. +Parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year +sent Haultepenne to invest the city. He had been obliged to recal that +commander during the siege of Grave. The place being reduced, Alexander, +before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the Rhine in +person. Early in July he appeared before the walls of Neusz with eight +thousand foot and two thousand horse. The garrison under Kloet numbered +scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all Netherlanders +and Germans, none being English. + +The city is twenty-miles below Cologne. It was so well fortified that a +century before it had stood a year's siege from the famous Charles the +Bold, who, after all, had been obliged to retire. It had also resisted +the strenuous efforts of Charles the Fifth; and was now stronger than it +ever had been. It was thoroughly well provisioned, so that it was safe +enough "if those within it," said Leicester, "be men." The Earl +expressed the opinion, however, that "those fellows were not good to +defend towns, unless the besiegers were obliged to swim to the attack." +The issue was to show whether the sarcasm were just or not. Meantime the +town was considered by the governor-general to be secure, "unless towns +were to be had for the asking." + +Neusz is not immediately upon the Rhine, but that river, which sweeps +away in a north-easterly direction from the walls, throws out an arm +which completely encircles the town. A part of the place, cut into an +island by the Erpt, was strengthened by two redoubts. This island was +abandoned, as being too weak to hold, and the Spaniards took possession +of it immediately. There were various preliminary and sanguinary sorties +and skirmishes, during which the Spaniards after having been once driven +from the island, again occupied that position. Archbishop Ernest came +into the camp, and, before proceeding to a cannonade, Parma offered to +the city certain terms of capitulation, which were approved by that +prelate. Kloet replied to this proposal, that he was wedded to the town +and to his honour, which were as one. These he was incapable of +sacrificing, but his life he was ready to lay down. There was, through +some misapprehension, a delay in reporting this answer to Farnese. +Meantime that general became impatient, and advanced to the battery of +the Italian regiment. Pretending to be a plenipotentiary from the +commander-in-chief, he expostulated in a loud voice at the slowness of +their counsels. Hardly had he begun to speak, when a shower of balls +rattled about him. His own soldiers were terrified at his danger, and a +cry arose in the town that "Holofernese"--as the Flemings and Germans +were accustomed to nickname Farnese--was dead. Strange to relate, he was +quite unharmed, and walked back to his tent with dignified slowness and a +very frowning face. It was said that this breach of truce had been begun +by the Spaniards, who had fired first, and had been immediately answered +by the town. This was hotly denied, and Parma sent Colonel Tasais with a +flag of truce to the commander, to rebuke and to desire an explanation of +this dishonourable conduct. + +The answer given, or imagined, was that Commander Kloet had been sound +asleep, but that he now much regretted this untoward accident. The +explanation was received with derision, for it seemed hardly probable +that so young and energetic a soldier would take the opportunity to +refresh himself with slumber at a moment when a treaty for the +capitulation of a city under his charge was under discussion. This +terminated the negotiation. + +A few days afterwards, the feast of St James was celebrated in the +Spanish camp, with bonfires and other demonstrations of hilarity. The +townsmen are said to have desecrated the same holiday by roasting alive +in the market-place two unfortunate soldiers, who had been captured in a +sortie a few days before; besides burning the body of the holy Saint +Quirinus, with other holy relics. The detestable deed was to be most +horribly avenged. + +A steady cannonade from forty-five great guns was kept up from 2 A.M. of +July 15 until the dawn of the following day; the cannoneers--being all +provided with milk and vinegar to cool the pieces. At daybreak the +assault was ordered. Eight separate attacks were made with the usual +impetuosity of Spaniards, and were steadily repulsed. + +At the ninth, the outer wall was carried, and the Spaniards shouting +"Santiago" poured over it, bearing back all resistance. An Italian +Knight of the Sepulchre, Cesar Guidiccioni by name, and a Spanish ensign, +one Alphonao de Mesa, with his colours in one hand and a ladder in the +other, each claimed the honour of having first mounted the breach. Both +being deemed equally worthy of reward, Parma, after the city had been +won, took from his own cap a sprig of jewels and a golden wheat-ear +ornamented with a gem, which he had himself worn in place of a plume, and +thus presented each with a brilliant token of his regard. The wall was +then strengthened against the inner line of fortification, and all night +long a desperate conflict was maintained in the dark upon the narrow +space between the two barriers. Before daylight Kloet, who then, as +always, had led his men in the moat desperate adventures, was carried +into the town, wounded in five places, and with his leg almost severed at +the thigh. "'Tis the bravest man," said the enthusiastic Lord North, +"that was ever heard of in the world."--"He is but a boy," said Alexander +Farnese, "but a commander of extraordinary capacity and valour." + +Early in the morning, when this mishap was known, an officer was sent to +the camp of the besiegers to treat. The soldiers received him with +furious laughter, and denied him access to the general. "Commander Kloet +had waked from his nap at a wrong time," they said, "and the Prince of +Parma was now sound asleep, in his turn." There was no possibility of +commencing a negotiation. The Spaniards, heated by the conflict, +maddened by opposition, and inspired by the desire to sack a wealthy +city, overpowered all resistance. "My little soldiers were not to be +restrained," said Farnese, and so compelling a reluctant consent on the +part of the commander-in-chief to an assault, the Italian and Spanish +legions poured into the town at two opposite gates; which were no. +longer strong enough to withstand the enemy. The two streams met in the +heart of the place, and swept every living thing in their, path out of +existence. The garrison was butchered to a man, and subsequently many +of the inhabitants--men, women, and children-also, although the women; +to the honour of Alexander, had been at first secured from harm in some +of the churches, where they had been ordered to take refuge. The first +blast of indignation was against the commandant of the place. Alexander, +who had admired, his courage, was not unfavourably disposed towards him, +but Archbishop Ernest vehemently, demanded his immediate death, as a +personal favour to himself. As the churchman was nominally sovereign of +the city although in reality a beggarly dependant on Philip's alms, +Farnese felt bound to comply. The manner in which it was at first +supposed that the Bishop's Christian request had; been complied, with, +sent a shudder through every-heart in the Netherlands. "They took Kloet, +wounded as he was," said Lord North, "and first strangled, him, then +smeared him with pitch, and burnt him with gunpowder; thus, with their +holiness, they, made a tragical end of an heroical service. It is +wondered that the Prince would suffer so great an outrage to be done to +so noble a soldier, who did but his duty." + +But this was an error. A Jesuit priest was sent to the house of the +commandant, for a humane effort was thought necessary in order to save +the soul of the man whose life was forfeited for the crime of defending +his city. The culprit was found lying in bed. His wife, a woman of +remarkable beauty, with her sister, was in attendance upon him. The +spectacle of those two fair women, nursing a wounded soldier fallen upon +the field of honour, might have softened devils with sympathy. But the +Jesuit was closely followed by a band of soldiers, who, notwithstanding +the supplications of the women, and the demand of Kloet to be indulged +with a soldier's death, tied a rope round the commandant's necks dragged +him from his bed, and hanged him from his own window. The Calvinist +clergyman, Fosserus of Oppenheim, the deacons of the congregation, two +military officers, and--said Parma--"forty other rascals," were murdered +in the same way at the same time. The bodies remained at the window till +they were devoured by the flames, which soon consumed the house. For a +vast conflagration, caused none knew whether by accident, by the despair +of the inhabitants; by the previous, arrangements of the commandant, by +the latest-arrived bands of the besiegers enraged that the Italians and +Spaniards had been beforehand with them in the spoils, or--as Farnese +more maturely believed--by the special agency of the Almighty, offended +with the burning of Saint Quirinus,--now came to complete the horror of +the scene. Three-quarters of the town were at once in a blaze. The +churches, where the affrighted women had been cowering during the sack +and slaughter, were soon on fire, and now, amid the crash of falling +houses and the uproar of the drunken soldiery, those unhappy victims were +seen flitting along the flaming streets; seeking refuge against the fury +of the elements in the more horrible cruelty of man. The fire lasted all +day and night, and not one stone would have been left upon another, had +not the body of a second saint, saved on a former occasion from the +heretics by the piety of a citizen, been fortunately deposited in his +house. At this point the conflagration was stayed--for the flames +refused to consume these holy relics--but almost the whole of the town +was destroyed, while at least four thousand people, citizens and +soldiers, had perished by sword or fire. + +Three hundred survivors of the garrison took refuge in a tower. Its base +was surrounded, and, after brief parley, they descended as prisoners. +The Prince and Haultepenne attempted in vain to protect them against the +fury of the soldiers, and every man of them was instantly put to death. + +The next day, Alexander gave orders that the wife and sister of the +commandant should be protected--for they had escaped, as if by miracle, +from all the horrors of that day and night--and sent, under escort, to +their friends! Neusz had nearly ceased to exist, for according to +contemporaneous accounts, but eight houses had escaped destruction. + +And the reflection was most painful to Leicester and to every generous +Englishman or Netherlander in the country, that this important city and +its heroic defenders might have been preserved, but for want of harmony +and want of money. Twice had the Earl got together a force of four +thousand men for the relief of the place, and twice had he been obliged +to disband them again for the lack of funds to set them in the field. + +He had pawned his plate and other valuables, exhausted his credit, and +had nothing for it but to wait for the Queen's tardy remittances, and to +wrangle with the States; for the leaders of that body were unwilling to +accord large supplies to a man who had become personally suspected by +them, and was the representative of a deeply-suspected government. +Meanwhile, one-third at least of the money which really found its way +from time to time out of England, was filched from the "poor starved +wretches," as Leicester called his soldiers, by the dishonesty of Norris, +uncle of Sir John and army-treasurer. This man was growing so rich on +his peculations, on his commissions, and on his profits from paying the +troops in a depreciated coin, that Leicester declared the whole revenue +of his own landed estates in England to be less than that functionary's +annual income. Thus it was difficult to say whether the "ragged rogues" +of Elizabeth or the maimed and neglected soldiers of Philip were in the +more pitiable plight. + +The only consolation in the recent reduction of Neusz was to be found in +the fact that Parma had only gained a position, for the town had ceased +to exist; and in the fiction that he had paid for his triumph by the loss +of six thousand soldiers, killed and wounded. In reality not more than +five hundred of Farnese's army lost their lives, and although the town, +excepting some churches, had certainly been destroyed; yet the Prince was +now master of the Rhine as far as Cologne, and of the Meuse as far as +Grave. The famine which pressed so sorely upon him, might now be +relieved, and his military communications with Germany be considered +secure. + +The conqueror now turned his attention to Rheinberg, twenty-five miles +farther down the river. + +Sir Philip Sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness +in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to +remain. Early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack +upon Flanders by capturing the town of Steenberg. The faithful Roger +Williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "We wish to show your +Excellency," said he to Leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." The +Welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion +Sidney and himself had been overruled. At a later moment, and during the +siege of Neusz, Sir Philip had the satisfaction of making a successful +foray into Flanders. + +The expedition had been planned by Prince Maurice of Nassau, and was his. +earliest military achievement. He proposed carrying by surprise, the +city of Axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western +edge of the great Scheldt estuary, and very important from its position. +Its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the English upon +Sluys and Ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of +annoying the enemy in Flanders. + +Early in July, Maurice wrote to the Earl of Leicester, communicating the +particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very +secretly handled," and kept from every one but Sidney. Leicester +accordingly sent his nephew to Maurice that they might consult together +upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there +being so much treachery in the world." Sidney found no treachery in +young Maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and +the two arranged their plans in harmony. + +Leicester, then, in order to deceive the enemy, came to Bergen-op-Zoom, +with five hundred men, where he remained two days, not sleeping a wink, +as he averred, during the whole time. In the night of Tuesday, 16th of +July, the five hundred English soldiers were despatched by water, under +charge of Lord Willoughby, "who," said the Earl, "would needs go with +them." Young Hatton, too, son of Sir Christopher, also volunteered on +the service, "as his first nursling." Sidney had, five hundred of his +own Zeeland regiment in readiness, and the rendezvous was upon the broad +waters of the Scheldt, opposite Flushing. The plan was neatly carried +out, and the united flotilla, in a dark, calm, midsummer's night, rowed +across the smooth estuary and landed at Ter Neuse, about a league from +Axel. Here they were joined by Maurice with some Netherland companies, +and the united troops, between two and three thousand strong, marched at +once to the place proposed. Before two in the morning they had reached +Axel, but found the moat very deep. Forty soldiers immediately plunged +in, however, carrying their ladders with them, swam across, scaled the +rampart, killed, the guard, whom they found asleep in their beds, and +opened the gates for their comrades. The whole force then marched in, +the Dutch companies under Colonel Pyion being first, Lord Willoughby's +men being second, and Sir Philip with his Zeelanders bringing up the +rear. The garrison, between five and six hundred in number, though +surprised, resisted gallantly, and were all put to the sword. Of the +invaders, not a single man lost his life. Sidney most generously +rewarded from his own purse the adventurous soldiers who had swum the +moat; and it was to his care and intelligence that the success of Prince +Maurice's scheme was generally attributed. The achievement was hailed +with great satisfaction, and it somewhat raised the drooping spirits of +the patriots after their severe losses at Grave and Venlo. "This victory +hath happened in good time," wrote Thomas Cecil to his father, "and hath +made us somewhat to lift up our heads." A garrison of eight hundred, +under Colonel Pyron, was left in Axel, and the dykes around were then +pierced. Upwards of two millions' worth of property in grass, cattle, +corn, was thus immediately destroyed in the territory of the obedient +Netherlands. + +After an unsuccessful attempt to surprise Gravelines, the governor of +which place, the veteran La Motte, was not so easily taken napping; Sir +Philip having gained much reputation by this conquest of Axel, then +joined the main body of the army, under Leicester, at Arnheim. + +Yet, after all, Sir Philip had not grown in favour with her Majesty +during his service in the Low Countries. He had also been disappointed +in the government of Zeeland, to which post his uncle had destined him. +The cause of Leicester's ambition had been frustrated by the policy of +Barneveld and Buys, in pursuance of which Count or Prince Maurice--as he +was now purposely designated, in order that his rank might surpass that +of the Earl--had become stadholder and captain general both of Holland +and Zeeland. The Earl had given his nephew, however, the colonelcy of +the Zeeland regiment, vacant by the death of Admiral Haultain on the +Kowenstyn Dyke. This promotion had excited much anger among the high +officers in the Netherlands who, at the instigation of Count Hohenlo, +had presented a remonstrance upon the subject to the governor-general. +It had always been the custom, they said, with the late Prince of Orange, +to confer promotion according to seniority, without regard to social +rank, and they were therefore unwilling that a young foreigner, who had +just entered the service; should thus be advanced over the heads of +veterans who had been campaigning there so many weary years. At the same +time the gentlemen who signed the paper protested to Sir Philip, in +another letter, "with all the same hands," that they had no personal +feeling towards him, but, on the contrary, that they wished him all +honour. + +Young Maurice himself had always manifested the most friendly feelings +toward Sidney, although influenced in his action by the statesmen who +were already organizing a powerful opposition to Leicester. "Count +Maurice showed himself constantly, kind in the matter of the regiment," +said Sir Philip, "but Mr. Paul Buss has so many busses in his head, such +as you shall find he will be to God and man about one pitch. Happy is +the communication of them that join in the fear of God." Hohenlo, too, +or Hollock, as he was called by the French and English, was much governed +by Buys and Olden-Barneveld. Reckless and daring, but loose of life and +uncertain of purpose, he was most dangerous, unless under safe guidance. +Roger Williams--who vowed that but for the love he bore to Sidney and +Leicester, he would not remain ten days in the Netherlands--was much +disgusted by Hohenlo's conduct in regard to the Zeeland regiment. "'Tis +a mutinous request of Hollock," said he, "that strangers should not +command Netherlanders. He and his Alemaynes are farther born from +Zeeland than Sir Philip is. Either you must make Hollock assured to you, +or you must disgrace him. If he will not be yours, I will show you means +to disinherit him of all his commands at small danger. What service doth +he, Count Solms, Count Overatein, with their Almaynes, but spend treasure +and consume great contributions?" + +It was, very natural that the chivalrous Sidney, who had come to the +Netherlands to win glory in the field, should be desirous of posts that +would bring danger and distinction with them. He was not there merely +that he might govern Flushing, important as it was, particularly as the +garrison was, according to his statement, about as able to maintain the +town, "as the Tower was to answer for London." He disapproved of his +wife's inclination to join him in Holland, for he was likely--so he wrote +to her father, Walsingham--"to run such a course as would not be fit for +any of the feminine gender." He had been, however; grieved to the heart, +by the spectacle which was perpetually exhibited of the Queen's +parsimony, and of the consequent suffering of the soldiers. Twelve or +fifteen thousand Englishmen were serving in the Netherlands--more than +two thirds of them in her Majesty's immediate employment. No troops had +ever fought better, or more honourably maintained the ancient glory of +England. But rarely had more ragged and wretched warriors been seen than +they, after a few months' campaigning. + +The Irish Kernes--some fifteen hundred of whom were among the +auxiliaries--were better off, for they habitually dispensed with +clothing; an apron from waist to knee being the only protection of these +wild Kelts, who fought with the valour, and nearly, in the costume of +Homeric heroes. Fearing nothing, needing nothing, sparing nothing, they +stalked about the fens of Zeeland upon their long stilts, or leaped +across running rivers, scaling ramparts, robbing the highways, burning, +butchering, and maltreating the villages and their inhabitants, with as +little regard for the laws of Christian warfare as for those of civilized +costume. + +Other soldiers, more sophisticated as to apparel, were less at their +ease. The generous Sidney spent all his means, and loaded himself with +debt, in order to relieve the necessities of the poor soldiers. He +protested that if the Queen would not pay her troops, she would lose her +troops, but that no living man should say the fault was in him. "What +relief I can do them I will," he wrote to his father-in-law; "I will +spare no danger, if occasion serves. I am sure that no creature shall +lay injustice to my charge." + +Very soon it was discovered that the starving troops had to contend not +only with the Queen's niggardliness but with the dishonesty of her +agents. Treasurer Norris was constantly accused by Leicester and Sidney +of gross peculation. Five per cent., according to Sir Philip, was lost +to the Zeeland soldiers in every payment, "and God knows," he said, "they +want no such hindrance, being scarce able to keep life with their entire +pay. Truly it is but poor increase to her Majesty, considering what loss +it is to the miserable soldier." Discipline and endurance were sure to +be sacrificed, in the end, to such short-sighted economy. "When +soldiers," said Sidney, "grow to despair, and give up towns, then it is +too late to buy with hundred thousands what might have been saved with a +trifle." + +This plain dealing, on the part of Sidney, was anything but agreeable to +the Queen, who was far from feeling regret that his high-soaring +expectations had been somewhat blighted in the Provinces. He often +expressed his mortification that her Majesty was disposed to interpret +everything to, his disadvantage. "I understand," said he, "that I am +called ambitious, and very proud at home, but certainly, if they knew my +heart, they would not altogether so judge me." Elizabeth had taken part +with Hohenlo against Sir Philip in the matter of the Zeeland regiment, +and in this perhaps she was not entirely to be blamed. But she inveighed +needlessly against his ambitious seeking of the office, and--as +Walsingham observed--"she was very apt, upon every light occasion, +to find fault with him." It is probable that his complaints against the +army treasurer, and his manful defence of the "miserable soldiers," more +than counterbalanced, in the Queen's estimation, his chivalry in the +field. + +Nevertheless he had now the satisfaction of having gained an important +city in Flanders; and on subsequently joining the army under his uncle, +he indulged the hope of earning still greater distinction. + +Martin Schenk had meanwhile been successfully defending Rheinberg, for +several weeks, against Parma's forces. It was necessary, however, that +Leicester, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of his troops, +should make some diversion, while his formidable antagonist was thus +carrying all before him. + +He assembled, accordingly, in the month of August, all the troops that +could be brought into the field, and reviewed them, with much ceremony, +in the neighbourhood of Arnheim. His army--barely numbered seven +thousand foot and two thousand horse, but he gave out, very extensively, +that he had fourteen thousand under his command, and he was moreover +expecting a force of three thousand reiters, and as many pikemen recently +levied in Germany. Lord Essex was general of the cavalry, Sir William +Pelham--a distinguished soldier, who had recently arrived out of England, +after the most urgent solicitations to the Queen, for that end, by +Leicester--was lord-marshal of the camp, and Sir John Norris was colonel- +general of the infantry. + +After the parade, two sermons were preached upon the hillside to +the soldiers, and then there was a council of war: It was decided-- +notwithstanding the Earl's announcement of his intentions to attack Parma +in person--that the condition of the army did not warrant such an +enterprise. It was thought better to lay siege to Zutphen. This step, +if successful, would place in the power of the republic and her ally a +city of great importance and strength. In every event the attempt would +probably compel Farnese to raise the siege of Berg. + +Leicester, accordingly, with "his brave troop of able and likely men" +--five thousand of the infantry being English--advanced as far as +Doesburg. This city, seated at the confluence of the ancient canal of +Drusus and the Yssel, five miles above Zutphen, it was necessary, as a +preliminary measure, to secure. It was not a very strong place, being +rather slightly walled with brick, and with a foss drawing not more than +three feet of water. By the 30th August it had been completely invested. + +On the same night, at ten o'clock, Sir William Pelham, came to the Earl +to tell him "what beastly pioneers the Dutchmen were. "Leicester +accordingly determined, notwithstanding the lord-marshal's entreaties, +to proceed to the trenches in person. There being but faint light, the +two lost their way, and soon found themselves nearly, at the gate of the +town. Here, while groping about in the dark; and trying to effect their +retreat, they were saluted with a shot, which struck Sir William in the +stomach. For an instant; thinking himself mortally injured, he expressed +his satisfaction that he had been, between the commander-in-chief and the +blow, and made other "comfortable and resolute speeches." Very +fortunately, however, it proved that the marshal was not seriously hurt, +and, after a few days, he was about his work as usual, although obliged-- +as the Earl of Leicester expressed it--"to carry a bullet in his belly as +long as he should live." + +Roger Williams, too, that valiant adventurer--"but no, more valiant than +wise, and worth his weight in gold," according to the appreciative +Leicester--was shot through the arm. For the dare-devil Welshman, much +to the Earl's regret, persisted in running up and down the trenches "with +a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion," and in otherwise making a +very conspicuous mark of himself "within pointblank of a caliver." + +Notwithstanding these mishaps, however, the siege went successfully +forward. Upon the 2nd September the Earl began to batter, and after a +brisk cannonade, from dawn till two in the afternoon, he had considerably +damaged the wall in two places. One of the breaches was eighty feet +wide, the other half as large, but the besieged had stuffed them full of +beds, tubs, logs of wood, boards, and "such like trash," by means whereof +the ascent was not so easy as it seemed. The soldiers were excessively +eager for the assault. Sir John Norris came to Leicester to receive his +orders as to the command of the attacking party. + +The Earl referred the matter to him. "There is no man," answered Sir +John, "fitter for that purpose than myself; for I am colonel-general of +the infantry." + +But Leicester, not willing to indulge so unreasonable a proposal, +replied that he would reserve him for service of less hazard and greater +importance. Norris being, as usual, "satis prodigus magnae animae," was +out of humour at the refusal, and ascribed it to the Earl's persistent +hostility to him and his family. It was then arranged that the assault +upon the principal breach should be led by younger officers, to be +supported by Sir John and other veterans. The other breach was assigned +to the Dutch and Scotch-black Norris scowling at them the while with +jealous eyes; fearing that they might get the start of the English party, +and be first to enter the town. A party of noble volunteers clustered +about Sir John-Lord Burgh, Sir Thomas Cecil, Sir Philip Sidney, and his +brother Robert among the rest--most impatient for the signal. The race +was obviously to be a sharp one. The governor-general forbade these +violent demonstrations, but Lord Burgh, "in a most vehement passion, +waived the countermand," and his insubordination was very generally +imitated. Before the signal was given, however, Leicester sent a trumpet +to summon the town to surrender, and could with difficulty restrain his +soldiers till the answer should be returned. To the universal +disappointment, the garrison agreed to surrender. Norris himself then +stepped forward to the breach, and cried aloud the terms, lest the +returning herald, who had been sent back by Leicester, should offer too +favourable a capitulation. It was arranged that the soldiers should +retire without arms, with white wands in their hands--the officers +remaining prisoners--and that the burghers, their lives, and property, +should be at Leicester's disposal. The Earl gave most peremptory orders +that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were dis +obeyed. Sir William Stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and +thoroughly, rifled the town." + +"And because," said Norris, "I found fault herewith, Sir William began to +quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction +from me, and although I have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in +so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel +than to leave it." + +Notwithstanding therefore the decree of Leicester, the expostulations and +anger of Norris, and the energetic efforts of Lord Essex and other +generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers +sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the +capitulation. + +Doesburg having been thus reduced, the Earl now proceeded toward the more +important city which he had determined to besiege. Zutphen, or South- +Fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old +Landgraves of Zutphen. It is situate on the right bank of the Yssel, +that branch of the Rhine which flows between Gelderland and Overyssel +into the Zuyder-Zee. + +The ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of +almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty +horizon. On the other side of the stream, in the district called the +Veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable +strength. An island between the city and the shore was likewise well +fortified. On the landward side the town was protected by a wall and +moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. Near the +hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to +Warnsfeld. This was a small village, with a solitary slender church- +spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. It was +about an English mile from Zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat +fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants +were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the +village. In summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and +cheerful of aspect. Long rows of poplars marking the straight highways, +clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm- +houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the +level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite +distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects, +wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants, +to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats +shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of +Zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm. + +Deventer and Kampen, the two other places on the river, were in the hands +of the States. It was, therefore, desirable for the English and the +patriots, by gaining possession of Zutphen, to obtain control of the +Yssel; driven, as they had been, from the Meuse and Rhine. + +Sir John Norris, by Leicester's direction, took possession of a +small rising-ground, called 'Gibbet Dill' on the land-side; where he +established a fortified camp, and proceeded to invest the city. With him +were Count Lewis William of Nassau, and Sir Philip Sidney, while the Earl +himself, crossing the Yssel on a bridge of boats which he had +constructed, reserved for himself the reduction of the forts upon the +Veluwe side. + +Farnese, meantime, was not idle; and Leicester's calculations proved +correct. So soon as the Prince was informed of this important +demonstration of the enemy he broke up--after brief debate with his +officers--his camp before Rheinberg, and came to Wesel. At this place +he built a bridge over the Rhine, and fortified it with two block-houses. +These he placed under command of Claude Berlot, who was ordered to watch +strictly all communication up the river with the city of Rheinberg, which +he thus kept in a partially beleaguered state. Alexander then advanced +rapidly by way of Groll and Burik, both which places he took possession +of, to the neighbourhood of Zutphen. He was determined, at every hazard, +to relieve that important city; and although, after leaving necessary +detachments on the, way; he had but five thousand men under his command, +besides fifteen hundred under Verdugo--making sixty-five hundred in all +--he had decided that the necessity of the case, and his own honour; +required him to seek the enemy, and to leave, as he said, the issue with +the God of battles, whose cause it was. + +Tassis, lieutenant-governor of Gelderland, was ordered into the city with +two cornets of horse and six hundred foot. As large a number, had +already been stationed there. Verdugo, who had been awaiting the arrival +of the Prince at Borkelo, a dozen miles from Zutphen, with four hundred +foot and two hundred horse, now likewise entered the city. + +On the night of 29th August Alexander himself entered Zutphen for +the purpose of encouraging the garrison by promise of-relief, and of +ascertaining the position of the enemy by personal observation. His +presence as it always did, inspired the soldiers with enthusiasm, so that +they could with difficulty be restrained from rushing forth to assault +the besiegers. In regard to the enemy he found that Gibbet Hill was +still occupied by Sir John Norris, "the best soldier, in his opinion, +that they had," who had entrenched himself very strongly, and was +supposed to have thirty-five hundred men under his command. His position +seemed quite impregnable. The rest of the English were on the other side +of the river, and Alexander observed, with satisfaction, that they had +abandoned a small redoubt, near the leper-house, outside the Loor-Gate, +through which the reinforcements must enter the city. The Prince +determined to profit by this mistake, and to seize the opportunity thus +afforded of sending those much needed supplies. During the night the +enemy were found to be throwing up works "most furiously," and +skirmishing parties were sent out of the town to annoy them. In the +darkness nothing of consequence was effected, but a Scotch officer was +captured, who informed the Spanish commander that the enemy was fifteen +thousand strong--a number which was nearly double that of Leicester's +actual force. In the morning Alexander returned to his camp at Borkelo +--leaving Tassis in command of the Veluwe Forts, and Verdugo in the city +itself--and he at once made rapid work in collecting victuals. He had +soon wheat and other supplies in readiness, sufficient to feed four +thousand mouths for three months, and these he determined to send into +the city immediately, and at every hazard. + +The great convoy which was now to be despatched required great care and a +powerful escort. Twenty-five hundred musketeers and pikemen, of whom one +thousand were Spaniards, and six hundred cavalry, Epirotes; Spaniards, +and Italians, under Hannibal Gonzaga, George Crescia, Bentivoglio, Sesa, +and others, were accordingly detailed for this expedition. The Marquis +del Vasto, to whom was entrusted the chief command, was ordered to march +from Borkelo at midnight on Wednesday, October 1 (St. Nov.) [N.S.]. It +was calculated that he would reach a certain hillock not far from +Warnsfeld by dawn of day. Here he was to pause, and send forward an +officer towards the town, communicating his arrival, and requesting the +cooperation of Verdugo, who was to make a sortie with one thousand men, +according to Alexander's previous arrangements. The plan was +successfully carried out. The Marquis arrived by daybreak at the spot +indicated, and despatched Captain de Vega who contrived to send +intelligence of the fact. A trooper, whom Parma had himself sent to +Verdugo with earlier information of the movement, had been captured on +the way. Leicester had therefore been apprized, at an early moment, of +the Prince's intentions, but he was not aware that the convoy would be +accompanied by so strong a force as had really been detailed. + +He had accordingly ordered Sir John Norris, who commanded on the outside +of the town near the road which the Spaniards must traverse, to place +an ambuscade in his way. Sir John, always ready for adventurous +enterprises, took a body of two hundred cavalry, all picked men, +and ordered Sir William Stanley, with three hundred pikemen, to follow. +A much stronger force of infantry was held in reserve and readiness, +but it was not thought that it would be required. The ambuscade was +successfully placed, before the dawn of Thursday morning, in the +neighbourhood of Warnsfeld church. On the other hand, the Earl of +Leicester himself, anxious as to the result, came across the river just +at daybreak. He was accompanied by the chief gentlemen in his camp, who +could never be restrained when blows were passing current. + +The business that morning was a commonplace and practical though an +important, one--to "impeach" a convoy of wheat and barley, butter, +cheese, and beef--but the names of those noble and knightly volunteers, +familiar throughout Christendom, sound like the roll-call for some +chivalrous tournament. There were Essex and Audley, Stanley, Pelham, +Russell, both the Sidneys, all the Norrises, men whose valour had been. +proved on many a hard-fought battle-field. There, too, was the famous +hero of British ballad whose name was so often to ring on the plains of +the Netherlands-- + + "The brave Lord Willoughby, + Of courage fierce and fell, + Who would not give one inch of way + For all the devils in hell." + +Twenty such volunteers as these sat on horseback that morning around the +stately Earl of Leicester. It seemed an incredible extravagance to send +a handful of such heroes against an army. + +But the English commander-in-chief had been listening to the insidious +tongue of Roland York--that bold, plausible, unscrupulous partisan, +already twice a renegade, of whom more was ere long to be heard in the +Netherlands and England. Of the man's courage there could be no doubt, +and he was about to fight that morning in the front rank at the head of +his company. But he had, for some mysterious reason, been bent upon +persuading the Earl that the Spaniards were no match for Englishmen at a +hand-to-hand contest. When they could ride freely up and down, he said, +and use their lances as they liked, they were formidable. But the +English were stronger men, better riders, better mounted, and better +armed. The Spaniards hated helmets and proof armour, while the English +trooper, in casque, cuirass, and greaves, was a living fortress +impregnable to Spanish or Italian light horsemen. And Leicester seemed +almost convinced by his reasoning. + +It was five o'clock of a chill autumn morning. It was time for day to +break, but the fog was so thick that a man at the distance of five yards +was quite invisible. The creaking of waggon-wheels and the measured +tramp of soldiers soon became faintly audible however to Sir John Norris +and his five hundred as they sat there in the mist. Presently came +galloping forward in hot haste those nobles and gentlemen, with their +esquires, fifty men in all--Sidney, Willoughby, and the rest--whom +Leicester had no longer been able to restrain from taking part in the +adventure. + +A force of infantry, the amount of which cannot be satisfactorily +ascertained, had been ordered by the Earl to cross the bridge at a later +moment. Sidney's cornet of horse was then in Deventer, to which place it +had been sent in order to assist in quelling an anticipated revolt, so +that he came, like most of his companions, as a private volunteer and +knight-errant. + +The arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard, but +no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give timely notice, of the +enemy's movements. Suddenly the fog, which had shrouded the scene so +closely, rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an October +morning the Englishmen found themselves face to face with a compact body +of more than three thousand men. The Marquis del Vasto rode at the head +of the forces surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. The cavalry, +under the famous Epirote chief George Crescia, Hannibal Gonzaga, +Bentivoglio, Sesa, Conti, and other distinguished commanders, followed; +the columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the, hedge-rows on both sides +the causeway; while between them the long train of waggons came slowly +along under their protection. The whole force had got in motion after +having sent notice of their arrival to Verdugo, who, with one or two +thousand men, was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the +city-gate. + +There was but brief time for deliberation. Notwithstanding the +tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. Black Norris called to +Sir William Stanley, with whom he had been at variance so lately at +Doesburg. + +"There hath been ill-blood between us," he said. "Let us be friends +together this day, and die side by side, if need be, in her Majesty's +cause." + +"If you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied +Stanley, "account, me for ever a coward. Living or dying I will stand +err lie by you in friendship." + +As they were speaking these words the young Earl of Essex, general of the +horse, cried to his, handful of troopers: + +"Follow me, good fellows, for the honour of England and of England's +Queen!" + +As he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, +overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to +splinters, and then, swinging his cartel-axe, rode merrily forward. His +whole little troop, compact, as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible +shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and +scattered them in all directions. At the very first charge one hundred +English horsemen drove the Spanish and Albanian cavalry back upon the +musketeers and pikemen. Wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a +volley of musket-shot, by which many horses and a few riders were killed; +and then formed again to renew the attack. Sir Philip Sidney, an coming +to the field, having met Sir William Pelham, the veteran lord marshal, +lightly armed, had with chivalrous extravagance thrown off his own +cuishes, and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. +At the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, +he was seen everywhere, in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with +a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy. + +For the battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers +were doing the work of private, soldiers. Lord North, who had been lying +"bed-rid" with a musket-shot in the leg, had got himself put on +horseback, and with "one boot on and one boot off," bore himself, "most +lustily" through the whole affair. "I desire that her Majesty may know;" +he said, "that I live but to, serve her. A better barony than I have +could not hire the Lord North to live, on meaner terms." Sir William +Russell laid about him with his curtel-axe to such purpose that the +Spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "Wherever," said an eye- +witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together; thither would he, +and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." Lord +Willoughby encountered George Crescia, general of the famed Albanian +cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him into the ditch. +"I yield me thy prisoner," called out the Epirote in French, "for thou +art a 'preux chevalier;'" while Willoughby, trusting to his captive's +word, galloped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till +they seemed swallowed up by the superior numbers of the enemy. His horse +was shot under him, his basses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly +taken a prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and +good fortune. Sir William Stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but +bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle. Leicester declared Sir +William and "old Reads" to be "worth their, weight in pearl." + +Hannibal Gonzaga, leader of the Spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded +a The Marquis del Vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same +fate. An Englishman was just cleaving his head with a battle-axe, when a +Spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. The most obstinate +struggle took place about the train of waggons. The teamsters had fled +in the beginning of the action, but the English and Spanish soldiers, +struggling with the horses, and pulling them forward and backward, tried +in vain to get exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of +the action. The carts at last forced their way slowly nearer and nearer +to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the +hostile squadrons. The action, lasted an hour and a half, and again and +again the Spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of +English, and fell back upon their musketeers. Sir Philip Sidney, in the +last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks till he came upon their +entrenchments, when a musket-ball from the camp struck him upon the +thigh, three inches above the knee. Although desperately wounded in a +part which should have been protected by the cuishes which he had thrown +aside, he was not inclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been +shot under him at the-beginning of the action, and the one upon which he +was now mounted became too restive for him, thus crippled, to control. +He turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the +entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully +shattered. As he past along the edge of the battle-field his attendants +brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. At, that +moment a wounded English soldier, "who had eaten his last at the same +feast," looked up wistfully, in his face, when Sidney instantly handed +him the flask, exclaiming, "Thy necessity is even greater than mine." +He then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards +met by his uncle. "Oh, Philip," cried Leicester, in despair, "I am truly +grieved to see thee in this plight." But Sidney comforted him with +manful words, and assured him that death was sweet in the cause of his +Queen and country. Sir William Russell, too, all blood-stained from the +fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing +his hand, exclaimed, "Oh! noble Sir Philip, never did man attain hurt so +honourably or serve so valiantly as you." Sir William Pelham declared +"that Sidney's noble courage in the face of our enemies had won him a +name of continuing honour." + +The wounded gentleman was borne back to the camp, and thence in a barge +to Arnheim. The fight was over. Sir John Norris bade Lord Leicester +"be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. A handful +of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat. "But, in truth, it +was now time for the English to retire in their turn. Their reserve +never arrived. The whole force engaged against the thirty-five hundred +Spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three +hundred foot, and of this number the chief work had beer done by the +fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. The heroism which had +been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof--and so Leicester wrote +to the Palatine John Casimir--"that Spaniards were not invincible." Two +thousand men now sallied from the Loor Gate under Verdugo and Tassis, +to join the force under Vasto, and the English were forced to retreat. +The whole convoy was then carried into the city, and the Spaniards +remained masters of the field. + +Thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers; upon the English side, +were killed. The enemy lost perhaps two hundred men. They were thrice +turned from their position, and thrice routed, but they succeeded at last +in their attempt to carry their convoy into Zutphen. Upon that day, and +the succeeding ones, the town was completely victualled. Very little, +therefore, save honour, was gained by the display of English valour +against overwhelming numbers; five hundred against, near, four thousand. +Never in the whole course of the war had there been such fighting, for +the troops upon both sides were picked men and veterans. For a long time +afterwards it was the custom of Spaniards and Netherlanders, in +characterising a hardly-contested action, to call it as warm as the fight +at Zutphen. + +"I think I may call it," said Leicester, "the most notable encounter that +hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous." + +Nevertheless it is probable that the encounter would have been forgotten +by posterity but for the melancholy close upon that field to Sidney's +bright career. And perhaps the Queen of England had as much reason to +blush for the incompetency of her general and favourite as to be proud. +of the heroism displayed by her officers and soldiers. + +"There were too many indeed at this skirmish of the better sort," said +Leicester; "only a two hundred and fifty horse, and most of them the best +of this camp, and unawares to me. I was offended when I knew it, but +could not fetch them back; but since they all so well escaped (save my +dear nephew), I would not for ten thousand pounds but they had been +there, since they have all won that honour they have. Your Lordship +never heard of such desperate charges as they gave upon the enemies in +the face of their muskets." + +He described Sidney's wound as "very dangerous, the bone being broken in +pieces;" but said that the surgeons were in good hope. "I pray God to +save his life," said the Earl, "and I care not how lame he be." Sir +Philip was carried to Arnheim, where the best surgeons were immediately +in attendance upon him. He submitted to their examination and the pain +which they inflicted, with great cheerfulness, although himself persuaded +that his wound was mortal. For many days the result was doubtful, and +messages were sent day by day to England that he was convalescent-- +intelligence which was hailed by the Queen and people as a matter not of +private but of public rejoicing. He soon began to fail, however. Count +Hohenlo was badly wounded a few days later before the great fort of +Zutphen. A musket-ball entered his mouth; and passed through his cheek, +carrying off a jewel which hung in his ear. Notwithstanding his own +critical condition, however, Hohenlo sent his surgeon, Adrian van den +Spiegel, a man of great skill, to wait upon Sir Philip, but Adrian soon +felt that the case was hopeless. Meantime fever and gangrene attacked +the Count himself; and those in attendance upon him, fearing for his +life, sent for his surgeon. Leicester refused to allow Adrian to depart, +and Hohenlo very generously acquiescing in the decree, but, also +requiring the surgeon's personal care, caused himself to be transported +in a litter to Arnheim. + +Sidney was first to recognise the symptoms of mortification, which made a +fatal result inevitable. His demeanour during his sickness and upon his +death-bed was as beautiful as his life. He discoursed with his friends +concerning the immortality of the soul, comparing the doctrines of Plato +and of other ancient philosophers, whose writings were so familiar to +him, with the revelations of Scripture and with the dictates of natural +religion. He made his will with minute and elaborate provisions, leaving +bequests, remembrances, and rings, to all his friends. Then he indulged +himself with music, and listened particularly to a strange song which he +had himself composed during his illness, and which he had entitled 'La +Cuisse rompue.' He took leave of the friends around him with perfect +calmness; saying to his brother Robert, "Love my memory. Cherish my +friends. Above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word +of your Creator; in me beholding the end of this world with all her +vanities." + +And thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight. + +Parma, after thoroughly victualling Zutphen, turned his attention to the +German levies which Leicester was expecting under the care of Count +Meurs. "If the enemy is reinforced by these six thousand fresh troops," +said Alexander; "it will make him master of the field." And well he +might hold this opinion, for, in the meagre state of both the Spanish and +the liberating armies, the addition of three thousand fresh reiters and +as many infantry would be enough to turn the scale. The Duke of Parma-- +for, since the recent death of his father, Farnese had succeeded to his +title--determined in person to seek the German troops, and to destroy +them if possible. But they never gave him the chance. Their muster- +place was Bremen, but when they heard that the terrible 'Holofernese' was +in pursuit of them, and that the commencement of their service would be a +pitched battle with his Spaniards and Italians, they broke up and +scattered about the country. Soon afterwards the Duke tried another +method of effectually dispersing them, in case they still retained a wish +to fulfil their engagement with Leicester. He sent a messenger to treat +with them, and in consequence two of their rittmeisters; paid him a +visit. He offered to give them higher pay, and "ready money in place of +tricks and promises." The mercenary heroes listened very favourably to +his proposals, although they had already received--besides the tricks and +promises--at least one hundred thousand florins out of the States' +treasury. + +After proceeding thus far in the negotiation, however, Parma concluded, +as the season was so far advanced, that it was sufficient to have +dispersed them, and to have deprived the English and patriots of their +services. So he gave the two majors a gold chain a-piece, and they went +their way thoroughly satisfied. "I have got them away from the enemy for +this year," said Alexander; "and this I hold to be one of the best +services that has been rendered for many a long day to your Majesty." + +During the period which intervened between the action at Warnsfeld and +the death of Sidney, the siege-operations before Zutphen had been +continued. The city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with +provisions, as it had been by Parma's care, remained impregnable; but the +sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into Leicester's hands. +The great fortress which commanded the Veluwe, and which was strong +enough to have resisted Count Hohenlo on a former, occasion for nearly a +whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. It was gained at last +by the signal valour of Edward Stanley, lieutenant to Sir William. That +officer, at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable +breach, sprang at the long pike of a Spanish soldier, who was endeavoring +to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. The Spaniard +struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, Stanley to wrest it from +his grasp. A dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass or +shot at him with their muskets. Conspicuous by his dress, being all in +yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of Leicester and of fire +thousand men. The earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who +were to follow him were not able to climb the wall. Still Stanley +grasped his adversary's pike, but, suddenly changing his plan, he allowed +the Spaniard to lift him from the ground. Then, assisting himself with +his feet against the wall, he, much to the astonishment of the +spectators, scrambled quite over the parapet, and dashed sword in hand +among the defenders of the fort. Had he been endowed with a hundred +lives it seemed impossible for him to escape death. But his followers, +stimulated by his example, made ladders for themselves of each others' +shoulders, clambered at last with great exertion over the broken wall, +overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the sconce. +Leicester, transported with enthusiasm for this noble deed of daring, +knighted Edward Stanley upon the spot, besides presenting him next day +with forty pounds in gold and an annuity of one hundred marks, sterling +for life. "Since I was born, I did never see any man behave himself as +he did," said the Earl. "I shall never forget it, if I live a thousand +year, and he shall have a part of my living for it as long as I live." + +The occupation of these forts terminated the military operations of the +year, for the rainy season, precursor of the winter, had now set in. +Leicester, leaving Sir William Stanley, with twelve hundred English and +Irish horse, in command of Deventer; Sir John Burrowes, with one thousand +men, in Doesburg; and Sir Robert Yorke, with one thousand more, in the +great sconce before Zutphen; took his departure for the Hague. Zutphen +seemed so surrounded as to authorize the governor to expect ere long its +capitulation. Nevertheless, the results of the campaign had not been +encouraging. The States had lost ground, having been driven from the +Meuse and Rhine, while they had with difficulty maintained themselves on +the Flemish coast and upon the Yssel. + +It is now necessary to glance at the internal politics of the Republic +during the period of Leicester's administration and to explain the +position in which he found himself at the close of the year. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +And thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight +Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils +High officers were doing the work of private, soldiers +I did never see any man behave himself as he did +There is no man fitter for that purpose than myself + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v48 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History of the United Netherlands, Volume 49, 1586 + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Should Elizabeth accept the Sovereignty?--The Effects of her Anger-- + Quarrels between the Earl and the Staten--The Earl's three + Counsellors--Leicester's Finance--Chamber--Discontent of the + Mercantile Classes--Paul Buys and the Opposition--Been Insight of + Paul Buys--Truchsess becomes a Spy upon him--Intrigues of Buys with + Denmark--His Imprisonment--The Earl's Unpopularity--His Quarrels + with the States--And with the Norrises--His Counsellors Wilkes and + Clerke--Letter from the Queen to Leicester--A Supper Party at + Hohenlo's--A drunken Quarrel--Hohenlo's Assault upon Edward Norris-- + Ill Effects of the Riot. + +The brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. The +Governor Absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. +Before he came to the Netherlands the Queen had refused the sovereignty. +Perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet +certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. The +constituted authorities of the Provinces formally made the proposition. +There is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to +become her subjects. So far as the Netherlands were concerned, then, she +would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free +people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had +selected her for their hereditary chief. So far as regarded England, the +annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited +by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for +political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. + +In a financial point of view, England would certainly lose nothing by the +union. The resources of the Provinces were at leant equal to her own. +We have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the +Netherlands excited in their English visitors. They were amazed by the +evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of +luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. Had the +Queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the +Provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence +before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she +was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. Her confidential +agents all--held one language. If she would only, accept the +sovereignty, the amount which the Provinces would pay was in a manner +boundless. She was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm +was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. + +In regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the Netherlands was +at least, as satisfactory as that of England. The great amount of civil +freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the +eyes of Elizabeth Tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation +to her liberty-loving subjects. The question of defence had been +satisfactorily answered. The Provinces, if an integral part of the +English empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional +element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. + +The difference of language was far, less than that which already existed +between the English and their Irish fellow-subjects, while it was +counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual +hostility in the matter of religion. + +With regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was +certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a +nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. But Elizabeth had already +countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against Philip. To +allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the King of Spain to +herself was only another step in the same direction. The Queen, should +she annex the Provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of +ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the +urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil +and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against +sacerdotal and royal absolutism. + +A war between herself and Spain was inevitable if she accepted the +sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty +of alliance. It is true that the Queen imagined the possibility of +combining her engagements towards the States with a conciliatory attitude +towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the +gravest error. The negotiations of Parma and his sovereign with the +English court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of Spain. We have +shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it +still clearer, that Philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that +he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of England, down to the +minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never +entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to +chastise the Dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic Queen who had +fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. So far as regarded the +Spanish King, then, the quarrel between him and Elizabeth was already +mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of +view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for +England to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. The cause +of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the States did +not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent +republic which had already risen. + +It might be a question whether, on the whole, Elizabeth made a mistake in +declining the sovereignty. She was certainly wrong, however, in wishing +the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be +clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. The States-General, in a +moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his +hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of +their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of +civil and military officers. Such an amount of power could only be +delegated by the sovereign. Elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it +then rested with the States. They only, therefore, were competent to +confer the power which Elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply +as her lieutenant-general. + +Her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the +Netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. The Earl +was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous +position. The authority which the States had thus a second time offered +to England was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. +Elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the +supreme attributes which she had refused. The States were forced by the +violence of the Queen to take the authority into their own hands again, +and Leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. + +Then came the neglect with which the Earl was treated by her Majesty and +her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. No letters to him in four +months, no remittances for the English troops, not a penny of salary for +him. The whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their +hands, and the English soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, +naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. + +The States, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. The two hundred +thousand florins monthly were paid. The four hundred thousand florins +which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, +as Leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been +thrown upon him from home. + + [Strangely enough, Elizabeth was under the impression that the extra + grant of 400,000 florins (L40,000) for four months was four hundred + thousand pounds sterling. "The rest that was granted by the States, + as extraordinary to levy an army, which was 400,000 florins, not + pounds, as I hear your Majesty taketh it. It is forty thousand + pounds, and to be paid In March, April, May, and June last," &c. + Leicester to the Queen, l1 Oct. 1586. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +The military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal +than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. Subordinate +individuals, like Grafigni and De Loo, went up and down, bringing +presents out of England for Alexander Farnese, and bragging that Parma +and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and +affirming that Leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. +Elizabeth's coldness to the Earl and to the Netherlands was affirmed to +be the Prince of Parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was +ostentatiously prepared in Brussels by their direction for the reception +of an English ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. Under +such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest +that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural +that the States should lose their confidence in the Queen. An unfriendly +and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary +result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more +languid. But for these underhand dealings, Grave, Venlo, and Neusz, +might have been saved, and the current 'of the Meuse and Rhine have +remained in the hands of the patriots. + +The Earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his +part. His personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his +admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his +ability as a commander was of a high order. The valour displayed by the +English nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy +the descendants of the victors at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt; and the +good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been +equally signal. But now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of +scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from England, were appalled by +the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "Our old ragged rogues +here have so discouraged our new men," said Leicester; "as I protest to +you they look like dead men." Out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived +Englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. Some were caught and +hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, +while the Earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again +undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops +beforehand! + +The valour of Sidney and Essex, Willoughby and Pelham, Roger Williams +and Martin Schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. +Had not Philip also left his army to starve and Alexander Farnese to +work miracles, it would have fared still worse with Holland and England, +and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year 1586. + +The States having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, +were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. Before +long, it was impossible for the, twenty or thirty individuals called the +States to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of +the, year, they had greeted so warmly. The hatred between the Leicester +faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the +two great parties which were long to divide the Netherland commonwealth +was already laid. The mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the +states of Holland and Zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the +matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of Arminianism, was +opposed by a strict Calvinist party, which desired to subject the +political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless +indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was +controlled by a few refugees from Flanders and Brabant, who had succeeded +in obtaining the confidence of Leicester. + +Thus the Earl was the nominal head of the Calvinist democratic party; +while young Maurice of Nassau; stadholder of Holland and Zeeland, and +guided by Barneveld, Buys, and other leading statesmen of these +Provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he +was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. The +chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence +of Leicester were Reingault, Burgrave, and Deventer, all refugees. + +The laws of Holland and of the other United States were very strict on +the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold +office in each Province. Doubtless, such regulations were narrow- +spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and +this is what Leicester did. Reingault was a Fleming. He was a bankrupt +merchant, who had been taken into the protection of Lamoral Egmont, and +by that nobleman recommended to Granvelle for an office under the +Cardinal's government. The refusal of this favour was one of the +original causes of Egmont's hostility to Granvelle. Reingault +subsequently entered the service of the Cardinal, however, and rewarded +the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or +inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate +nobleman. He was afterwards much employed by the Duke of Alva and by the +Grand Commander Requesens; but after the pacification of Ghent he had +been completely thrown out of service. He had recently, in a subordinate +capacity, accompanied the legations of the States to France and to +England, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the Earl of +Leicester. He affected great zeal for the Calvinistic religion--an +exhibition which, in the old servant of Granvelle and Alva, was far from +edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until +their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two +clergymen. In brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely +Flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with +the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a +Papist. + +Gerard Proninck, called Deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of Bois- +le-Duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the +authority of Spain. He was of decent life and conversation, but a +restless and ambitious demagogue. As a Brabantine, he was unfit for +office; and yet, through Leicester's influence and the intrigues of the +democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city +of Utrecht. The States-General, however, always refused to allow him to +appear at their sessions as representative of that city. + +Daniel de Burgrave was a Flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much +energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of +Flanders. After the conquest of the principal portion of that Province +by Parma, he had made himself useful to the English governor-general in +various ways, and particularly as a linguist. He spoke English--a tongue +with which few Netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the Earl +knew no other, except (very imperfectly) Italian, he found his services +in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. He was +the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the +council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into +their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the Earl's +table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into +his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in +short, and general intrusiveness. + +"A most faithful, honest servant is Burgrave," said Leicester; "a +substantial, wise man. 'Tis as sufficient a man as ever I met withal of +any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. +I cannot commend the man too much. He is the only comfort I have had of +any of this nation." + +These three personages were the leaders of the Leicester faction. They +had much, influence with all the refugees from Flanders, Brabant, and the +Walloon Provinces. In Utrecht, especially, where the Earl mainly +resided, their intrigues were very successful. Deventer was appointed, +as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the +influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper +branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates +of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the +absolute sovereignty of, the Province, without condition, was offered to +the Queen, of England. + +Leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which +the Queen had in view when she sent him to the Netherlands. She desired +thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the Provinces, and +their capacity to defend themselves. It was supposed by the States, and +hoped by the Earl and by a majority of the Netherland people, that she +would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the +sovereignty. She certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make +this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new +machinery had been rendered necessary. The whole control of the finances +had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the Earl's hands, and +it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the +confidence of the country that he had not retained it. He now +established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of Reingault, who +promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. Paul +Buys was appointed by Leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new +council. He spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that +Reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely +himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of +such an individual. This scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred +of Leicester against the ex-Advocate of Holland. + +The mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed +that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. Early in +April an Act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce +with the Spanish possessions. The embargo was intended to injure the +obedient Provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect +would be to blast the commerce of Holland. It forbade the exportation +from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of +all goods and merchandize whatever, to Spain, Portugal, the Spanish +Netherlands, or any other of Philip's territories, either in Dutch or +neutral vessel. It would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an +act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive +the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole Baltic trade into the hands +of the Bremen, Hamburg, and "Osterling" merchants. Leicester expected to +derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such +neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never +thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. + +The odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had +in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in +procuring its repeal. + +Another important Act had been directed against the mercantile interest, +and excited much general discontent. The Netherlands wished the staple +of the English cloth manufacture to be removed from Emden--the petty, +sovereign of which place was the humble servant of Spain--to Amsterdam or +Delft. The desire was certainly, natural, and the Dutch merchants sent a +committee to confer with Leicester. He was much impressed with their +views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one Mylward, "a wise +fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the +Earl pronounced him to be. + +Notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, +the Queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the +staple from Emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the +Netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. +"All Holland will cry out for it," said Leicester; "but I had rather they +cried than that England should weep." + +Thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of +Holland and Zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile +to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost +as unpopular as the famous Consults of Cardinal Granvelle had been. It +was the custom of the States to consider the men who surrounded the Earl +as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. It was the policy +of his advisers to represent the merchants and the States--which mainly +consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, +selfish, greedy money-getters. + +The calumnies put in circulation against the States by Reingault and his +associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the +mind of Leicester and his immediate English adherents so intense, that it +was rendered necessary for the States, of Holland and Zeeland to write to +their agent Ortell in London, that he might forestall the effect of these +perpetual misrepresentations on her Majesty's government. Leicester, on +the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was +vehement in his entreaties that Ortell should be sent away from England. + +The ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in +the States-General was the ex-Advocate of Holland; Paul Buys. This man +was then the foremost statesman in, the Netherlands. He had been the +firmest friend to the English alliance; he had resigned his office when +the States were-offering the sovereignty to France, and had been on the +point of taking service in Denmark. He had afterwards been prominent in +the legation which offered the sovereignty to Elizabeth, and, for a long +time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the +English policy. Leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, +especially recommended him to the Queen's favour, given him money--as he +said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly +pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "No man hath ever +sought a man," he said, "as I have sought P. B." + +The period of their friendship was, however, very brief. Before many +weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that Leicester was not +in the daily habit of bestowing upon Paul. The Earl's vocabulary of +abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the +Advocate. He lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. +He pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated +of the people and the States;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; +a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway +and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and +audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most +ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the Queen and of all the English; +a most unthankful man to her Majesty; a practiser to make himself rich +and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"-- +"a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an +atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst +degree." + +Where the Earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was +determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested Paul. "You +shall see I will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. +"I will course him as he was not so this twenty year. I will warrant him +hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of +this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at +length procured the execution of Captain Hemart, the surrenderer of +Grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that Mr. P. B. shall +follow." + +Yet the Earl's real griefs against Buys may be easily summed up. The +lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of +the Queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the +intrigues going on with Spain. He complained that her Majesty was tired +of having engaged in the Netherland enterprise; he declared that she +would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a +farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly +increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the States- +General; and that she was hankering after a peace. He said that the Earl +had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in Holland, +in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands +of the Queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse +herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. + +It would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in +these charges, which, no doubt, Paul was in the habit of making. As to +the economical tendencies of her Majesty, sufficient evidence has been +given already from Leicester's private letters. "Rather than spend one +hundred pounds," said Walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of +five thousand." That she had been concealing from the Staten, from +Walsingham, from Leicester, during the whole summer, her secret +negotiations with Spain, has also been made apparent. That she was +disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, Walsingham, +Burghley, Hatton, and all the other statesmen of England, most abundantly +testified. Whether Leicester had really an intention to possess himself +of certain cities in Holland--a charge made by Paul Buys, and denounced +as especially slanderous by the Earl--may better appear from his own +private statements. + +"This I will do," he wrote to the Queen, "and I hope not to fail of it, +to get into my hands three or four most principal places in North +Holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your Majesty, +as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as +you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the +Brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to +these countries, your Majesty, I will warrant sure enough to make what +peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily +answered." At a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these +secret designs. For the present, Leicester was very angry with Paul for +daring to suspect him of such treachery. + +The Earl complained, too, that the influence of Buys with Hohenlo and +young Maurice of Nassau was most pernicious. Hohenlo had formerly stood +high in Leicester's opinion. He was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most +valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to +marry Mary of Nassau; eldest slaughter, of William the Silent, and +coheiress with Philip William, to the Buren property. But he had been +tampered with by the intriguing Paul Buys, and had then wished to resign +his office under Leicester. Being pressed for reasons, he had "grown +solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. + +Maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the Earl much trouble, +saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious Paul. +He "stood much on making or marring," so Leicester thought, "as he met +with good counsel." He had formerly been on intimate terms with the +governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had +subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. +The Earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for Sir +Francis Drake to come home from the Indies with millions of gold, that +the Queen might make both Hohenlo and Maurice a handsome present before +it should be too late. + +Meantime he did what he could with Elector Truchsess to lure them back +again. That forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than +ever. He was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken +through want. Leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, +four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the Queen +should put him on her pension list. "His wisdom, his behaviour, his +languages, his person," said the Earl, "all would like her well. He is +in great melancholy for his town of Neusz, and for his poverty, having a +very noble mind. If, he be lost, her Majesty had better lose a hundred +thousand pounds." + +The melancholy Truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. He +insinuated himself into the confidence of Paul Buys, wormed his secrets +from him, and then communicated them to Hohenlo and to Leicester; "but he +did it very wisely," said the Earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." The +governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, +to obtain his information from persons in Utrecht; and he had indeed many +spies in that city; who diligently reported Paul's table-talk. +Nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said Leicester, "hath +dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." As the ex-Advocate +of Holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against +the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected +on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that Leicester was in hopes of +very soon hanging Mr. Paul Buys, as we have already seen. + +The burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that +the Provinces would be gone if her Majesty did not declare herself, +vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the +perpetual cry of Leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in +that. That noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the +hangman his trouble, having so dealt with Hohenlo as to "bring him into +as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind +were, that the honest Count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to +Paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. Something fortunately +prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the +energetic Count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, +and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." + +Thus the "deep wise Truxy," as Leicester called him, continued to earn +golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of Hohenlo by undertaking +to "bring Maurice into tune again also," and the young Prince was soon on +better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. +Paul Buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so +thoroughly gained over. Before the end of the season Maurice stood in +his old position, the nominal head of the Holland or patrician party, +chief of the opposition to Leicester, while Hohenlo had become more +bitter than ever against the Earl. The quarrel between himself and +Edward Norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase +the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood Leicester's +sentiments throughout the whole affair. Hohenlo recovered of his wound +before Zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. The +Earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, +inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to +the cause. There is no dealing to win him," he added, "I have sought it +to my cost. His best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." + +Meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable Paul, was plotting +desperately--so Leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty +of the Provinces to the King of Denmark. Buys, who was privately of +opinion that the States required an absolute head, "though it were but an +onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under Leicester as +governor absolute if Elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up +his mind that the Queen would never take that step. He was therefore +disposed to offer the crown to the King of Denmark, and was believed to +have brought Maurice--who was to espouse that King's daughter--to the +same way of thinking. Young Count Rantzan, son of a distinguished Danish +statesman, made a visit to the Netherlands in order to confer with Buys. +Paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to Denmark, ostensibly to +arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the King had long before +promised for the assistance of the Provinces, but in reality, to examine +the details of this new project; and Leicester represented to the Queen +very earnestly how powerful the Danish monarch would become, thus +rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to England. + +In the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, +one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered Paul's bedroom as he lay +asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: +into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "Oh my papers, oh my +papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to Leicester's +statement, "the Queen of England will for ever hate me." The Earl +disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. He +declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised +that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would +be found faulty enough." Leicester maintained that there was stuff +enough discovered to cost Paul his head; but he never lost his head, +nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. The +intrigue with Denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, +in utter despair of Elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the +gravest charge. He remained, however, six months in prison, and at the +beginning of 1587 was released, without trial or accusation, at the +request of the English Queen. + +The States could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the Earl's +administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a +faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now +difficult for him to recover the functions of which the Queen had +deprived him. "The government they had given from themselves to me stuck +in their stomachs always," he said. Thus on the one side, the States +were," growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling +underhand," while the aristocratic Earl, on, his part, was resolute not +to be put down by "churls and tinkers." He was sure that the people were +with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, +never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired +advocates. I know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the +people. He was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the +monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing +conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "I have been fain of +late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my +masters somewhat plainly; for they thought I would droop; and whatsoever +becomes of me, you shall hear I will keep my reputation, or die for it." + +But one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers +and hired advocates, and Mr. Paul Buys at their head, was that they were +liberal towards the Papists. They were willing that Catholics should +remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, +conducted themselves like good citizens. For this toleration--a lesson +which statesmen like Buys and Barneveld had learned in the school of +William the Silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of +Papists, and Papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous +idols." + +From words, too, the government of Leicester passed to acts. Seventy +papists were banished from the city of Utrecht at the time of the arrest +of Buys. The Queen had constantly enforced upon Leicester the importance +of dealing justly with the Catholics in the Netherlands, on the ground +that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the +welfare of their country as were the Protestants; and he was especially +enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." This wholesome advice +it would have been quite impossible for the Earl, under the guidance of +Reingault, Burgrave, and Stephen Perret, to carry out. He protested that +he should have liked to treat Papists and Calvinists "with indifference," +but that it had proved impossible; that the Catholics were perpetually +plotting with the Spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except +those in which Papists had been excluded from office. "They love the +Pope above all," he said, "and the Prince of Parma hath continual +intelligence with them." Nor was it Catholics alone who gave the +governor trouble. He was likewise very busy in putting down other +denominations that differed from the Calvinists. "Your Majesty will not +believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; +especially Anabaptists, Families of Love, Georgians; and I know not what. +The godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and +ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in +towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." It is however, +satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, +although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried +alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the +case with them and with every other species of Protestants, by thousands +and tens of thousands, so long as Charles V. and Philip II. had ruled the +territory of that commonwealth. Humanity had acquired something by the +war which the Netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man +or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the +establishment of the republic. + +With his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the Earl to +obey the Queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was +not of the stature of William the Silent, and could not comprehend that +the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to +meddle with men in matters of religion. + +But besides his especial nightmare--Mr. Paul Buys--the governor-general +had a whole set of incubi in the Norris family. Probably no two persons +ever detested each other more cordially than did Leicester and Sir John +Norris. Sir John had been commander of the forces in the Netherlands +before Leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger +experience than the Earl. He had, however, as Walsingham complained, +acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military +nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of +government. "Would to God," said the secretary, "that, with his value +and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." +But that was past praying for. Sir John was proud, untractable, +turbulent, very difficult to manage. He hated Leicester, and was furious +with Sir William Pelham, whom Leicester had made marshal of the camp. He +complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he +had occupied in the Netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. The +governor-general--who chose to call Sir John the son of his ancient +enemy, the Earl of Sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "His +brother Edward is as ill as he," he said, "but John is right the late +Earl of Sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly +carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half +the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." +Leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, +complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the Netherlands and in +England, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd +audacious fellows," whom the Earl vowed he would hang, one and all, +before he had done with them. He swore openly, in presence of all his +camp, that he would hang Sir John likewise; so that both the brothers, +who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the +world, affected to be in danger of their lives. + +The Norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with Sir William +Pelham of course, with "old Reade," Lord North, Roger Williams, Hohenlo, +Essex, and other nobles--but with Sir Philip Sidney, the gentle and +chivalrous, they were friends. Sir John had quarrelled in former times-- +according to Leicester--with Hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" +La None, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the Earl, "was the spirit +of the devil." The governor complained every day of his malignity, and +vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of God, nor of his prince, nor +country." + +He consorted chiefly with Sir Thomas Cecil, governor of Brill, son of +Lord Burghley, and therefore no friend to Leicester; but the Earl +protested that "Master Thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was +himself governor-general. "Now I have Pelham and Stanley, we shall do +well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. +I will be master while I remain here, will they, nill they." + +Edward Norris, brother of Sir John, gave the governor almost as much +trouble as he; but the treasurer Norris, uncle to them both, was, if +possible, more odious to him than all. He was--if half Leicester's +accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. One-third of +the money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. He +paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that +for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." Never was +such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said Leicester. + +On the other hand, Sir John maintained that his uncle's accounts were +always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government +not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. For himself, he +complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in +ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with +inadequate forces. It was believed that Leicester's course was inspired +by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to +the glory of Sir John, one of the first commanders of the age, rather +than to that of the governor-general. He was perpetually thwarted, +crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from +such brave men as Lord North and Roger Williams, and in the very presence +of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he +was most anxious to be gone from the country. + +Thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the +States-General, the incessant bickerings with the Norrises, the +peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with Spain, and +the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his +starving little army, the Earl was in anything but a comfortable +position. He was severely censured in England; but he doubted, with much +reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend +twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. +The Earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of +apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by +designing persons. He stood up manfully for the cause in which he was +embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "Personally +he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five +thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" +but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the States" for +his salary. "Is it reason," he asked, "that I, being sent from so great +a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my +entertainment: If they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made +of it by her Majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" + +The Earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the +Queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the +Provinces at once. There was no other remedy for the distracted state +of the country--no other safeguard for England. The Netherland people +anxiously, eagerly desired it. Her Majesty was adored by all the +inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the States. Lord +North was of this opinion--so was Cavendish. Leicester had always held +it. "Sure I am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that +is, that her Majesty may take that upon her which I fear she will not." +Thomas Wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same +language. This distinguished civilian had been sent by the Queen, early +in August, to look into the state of Netherland affairs. Leicester +having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician +as could be found--because the best man in England would hardly be found +a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to +call the Dutch statesmen--had selected Wilkes. After fulfilling this +important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the +Netherlands as English member of the state-council, at forty shillings +a-day, in the place of "little Hal Killigrew," whom Leicester pronounced +a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, +although he had always thought well of him. The other English +counsellor, Dr. Bartholomew Clerk, was to remain, and the Earl declared +that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have +"little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." +But notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor Bartholomew, who +was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. He was a man of peace, +a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the +trim gardens of England than of the scenes which now surrounded him. +"I beseech your good Lordship to consider," he dismally observed to +Burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath +had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long +robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the +University (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and +drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes +and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many +insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience-- +a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that +hath ever professed learning." + +Wilkes was of sterner stuff. Always ready to follow the camp and to +face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen +political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the +confused skein of Netherland politics. He soon found that the Queen's +secret negotiations with Spain, and the general distrust of her +intentions in regard to the Provinces, were like to have fatal +consequences. Both he and Leicester painted the anxiety of the +Netherland people as to the intention of her Majesty in vivid colours. + +The Queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the Greenwich +secret conferences, already described--to accept the Netherland +sovereignty. "She gathereth from your letter," wrote Walsingham, "that +the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the +country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the +enemy. These two things being so contrary to her Majesty's disposition-- +the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for +that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, +and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." + +Upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to +adopt the resolution so much desired by Leicester and by the people of +the Provinces; but she answered the Earl's communications concerning +Maurice and Hohenlo, Sir John Norris and the treasurer, in characteristic +but affectionate language. And thus she wrote: + +"Rob, I am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a +midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but +you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left +behind me. When I remember your request to have a discreet and honest +man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, I have chosen +this bearer (Thomas Wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. +I have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and +imparted what way I mind to take and what is fit for you to use. I am +sure you can credit him, and so I will be short with these few notes. +First, that Count Maurice and Count Hollock (Hohenlo) find themselves +trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever +peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never +deceived any. And for Norris and other captains that voluntarily, +without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our +nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any +means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. +If there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let +them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not I will well chasten +them therefore. It frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that +hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather +reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart +therefore. And if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according +to desert he shall be used. But you know my old wont, that love not to +discharge from office without desert. God forbid! I pray you let this +bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure I have +joined Sir Thomas Shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, +where it needeth and behoveth. + +"Now will I end, that do imagine I talk still with you, and therefore +loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever I pray God +bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. With my million and +legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, + + "As you know ever the same, + + "E. R. + +"P. S. Let Wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. If anything there +be that W. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to +know, write it to myself. You know I can keep both others' counsel and +mine own. Mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be +disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may +answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." + +Thus, not even her favourite Leicester's misrepresentations could make +the Queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime +the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black Norris and the +rest, and Pelham, Hollock, and other high officers in Leicester's army, +had grown worse than ever. + +One August evening there was a supper-party at Count Hollock's quarters +in Gertruydenberg. A military foray into Brabant had just taken place, +under the lead of the Count, and of the Lord Marshal, Sir William Pelham. +The marshal had requested Lord Willoughby, with his troop of horse and +five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular +pains had been taken that Sir John Norris should know nothing of the +affair. Pelham and Hollock--who was "greatly in love with Mr. Pelham"-- +had invited several other gentlemen high in Leicester's confidence to +accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, Sir Philip Sidney, telling +him that he "should see some good service." Sidney came accordingly, in +great haste, from Flushing, bringing along with him Edward Norris--that +hot-headed young man, who, according to Leicester, "greatly governed his +elder brother"--but they arrived at Gertruydenberg too late. The foray +was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors" +--were on their return. Sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of +his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the +water-side, accompanied by Captain Norris, to meet Hollock and the other +commanders. + +As the Count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much +out of temper. + +"What has come to Hollock?" whispered Captain Patton, a Scotchman, +to Sidney. "Has he a quarrel with any of the party? Look at his face! +He means mischief to somebody." + +But Sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the German +general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. + +Soon afterwards, the whole party, Hollock, Lewis William of Nassau, Lord +Carew, Lord Essex, Lord Willoughby, both the Sidneys, Roger Williams, +Pelham, Edward Norris, and the rest, went to the Count's lodgings, where +they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. + +Norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like +Sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between +Sir John Norris and Sir William Pelham and his friends. The carouse was +a tremendous one, as usually was the case where Hollock was the +Amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became +evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to +Norris. + +For a time the young Captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much +after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the +tavern-table, with "God grant I may have no need of thee!" The custom +was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in +rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his +neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next +comrade. + +The Lord Marshal took a beaker, and called out to Edward Norris. +"I drink to the health of my Lord Norris, and of my lady; your mother." +So saying, he emptied his glass. + +The young man did not accept the pledge. + +"Your Lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that I am not wont to +drink deep. Mr. Sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, +I have drank no wine these eight days. If your Lordship desires the +pleasure of seeing me drunk, I am not of the same mind. I pray you at +least to take a smaller glass." + +Sir William insisted on the pledge. Norris then, in no very good humour, +emptied his cup to the Earl of Essex. + +Essex responded by draining a goblet to Count Hollock. + +"A Norris's father," said the young Earl; as he pledged the Count, who +was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. + +"An 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' Hollock; "I never drink +to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful +witticism he declined the pledge. + +Essex explained that the toast was Lord Norris, father of the Captain; +but the Count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable +iteration, to his jest. + +The Earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. +Norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. + +Again the Lord Marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the +young Captain. + +Norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the +side of his plate, and glared grimly at Sir William. + +Pelham was furious. Reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards +Norris with an angry gesture. + +"Take your glass, Captain Norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to +jest, seek other companions. I am not to be trifled with; therefore, I +say, pledge me at once." + +"Your Lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than I list," +returned the other. "It is your pleasure to take advantage of your +military rank. Were we both at home, you would be glad to be my +companion." + +Norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, +it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. The +veteran Lord Marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on +many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not +much to his credit. He paused a moment, and Norris, too, held his peace, +thinking that his enemy would desist. + +It was but for a moment. + +"Captain Norris," cried Pelham, "I bid you pledge me without more ado. +Neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. I am better +born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of +you." + +"I warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the +Captain. "As for yourself, I know how to respect your age and superior +rank." + +"Drink, drink, drink!" roared the old Marshal. "I tell you I am better +born than the best of you. I have advanced you all too, and you know it; +therefore drink to me." + +Sir William was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. + +"Indeed, you have behaved well to my brother Thomas," answered Norris, +suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this I have ever loved your +Lordship, and would, do you any service." + +"Well, then," said the Marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what +hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." + +"Very well said, indeed!" cried Sir Philip Sidney, trying to help the +natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. + +Norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took +the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. + +"My Lord Marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than +you can easily make satisfaction for. But I am unwilling that any +trouble or offence should grow through me. Therefore once more I pledge +you." + +He raised the cup to his lips. At that instant Hollock, to whom nothing +had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about +the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and +seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of +Norris. It struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. +The Captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood +running down his eyes and face. The Count, always a man of few words, +but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the +intention of despatching him upon the spot. Sir Philip Sidney threw his +arms around Hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the +company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. The affair was over in +a few seconds. + +Norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, +rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his +adversary; but he was gone. + +Soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. The next morning he was advised +to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the +government of Hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that +his life would not be safe there an hour. Accordingly he went to his +boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his +broken head, breathing vengeance against Hollock, Pelham, Leicester, and +the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. + +The next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the Count's, +and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such +good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left +about his neck. All were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood +drawn." + +Edward Norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the +Count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. Sir Philip Sidney +bore the message. Sir John Norris, of course warmly and violently +espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed +against the Lord Marshal than ever, for Sir William Pelham was considered +the cause of the whole affray. "Even if the quarrel is to be excused by +drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my Lord to +excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and +unmask their malice. Certainly the Count Hollock thought to have done a +pleasure to the company in killing him." + +Nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to +Leicester. The Count--although considering himself excessively injured +at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom +he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant +the meeting. + +Leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up +the affair. They were on the eve of active military operations, and it +was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the +quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." The +intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages +succeeded in deferring the meeting. Then came the battle of Zutphen. + +Sidney fell, and Hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was +soon afterwards made upon the fort. He was still pressed to afford the +promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should +rise from his bed. + +Strange to say, the Count considered Leicester, throughout the whole +business, to have taken part against him. + +Yet there is no doubt whatever that the Earl--who detested the Norrises, +and was fonder of Pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated +the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young Captain. +He considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always +quarrelling with some one--with Colonel Morgan, Roger Williams, old +Reade, and all the rest--while the Lord Marshal, on the contrary, was +depicted as the mildest of men. "This I must say," he observed, "that +all present, except my two nephews (the Sidneys), who are not here yet, +declare the greatest fault to be in Edward Norris, and that he did most +arrogantly use the Marshal." + +It is plain, however, that the old Marshal, under the influence of wine, +was at least quite as much to blame as the young Captain; and Sir Philip +Sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of +Edward Norris's cartel. After Sidney's death, Sir John Norris, in his +letter of condolence to Walsingham for the death of his illustrious son- +in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because Sir Philip's +opinion had been that the Norrises were wronged. Hollock had conducted +himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or +not. He was always for killing some one or another on the slightest +provocation, and, while the dog-star of 1586 was raging, it was not his +fault if he had not already despatched both Edward Norris and the +objectionable "Mr. P. B." + +For these energetic demonstrations against Leicester's enemies he +considered himself entitled to the Earl's eternal gratitude, and was +deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. The governor was driven +almost to despair by these quarrels. + +His colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all +at daggers drawn. "Would God I were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. +"What man living would go to the field and have his officers divided +almost into mortal quarrel? One blow but by any of their lackeys brings +us altogether by the ears." + +It was clear that there was not room enough on the Netherland soil for +the Earl of Leicester and the brothers Norris. The queen, while +apparently siding with the Earl, intimated to Sir John that she did not +disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to England, +and that she should send him back to the Provinces after the Earl had +left that country. + +Such had been the position of the governor-general towards the Queen, +towards the States-General, and towards his own countrymen, during the +year 1586. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope +Arminianism +As logical as men in their cups are prone to be +Tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v49 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 50, 1586 + + + +CHAPTER. XI + + Drake in the Netherlands--Good Results of his Visit--The Babington + Conspiracy--Leicester decides to visit England--Exchange of parting + Compliments. + +Late in the autumn of the same year an Englishman arrived in the +Netherlands, bearer of despatches from the Queen. He had been entrusted +by her Majesty with a special mission to the States-General, and he had +soon an interview with that assembly at the Hague. + +He was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but +somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling +hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace +features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. Though +low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. His hands, +which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of +toil. There was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, +and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung +of the born magnates of the earth. He wore a heavy gold chain about his +neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his +slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was +curiously and many times embroidered. + +It was not the first time that he had visited the Netherlands. Thirty +years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which +traded between the English coast and the ports of Zeeland. Emerging in +early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom +upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his +master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the +lugger. But in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the +narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. He had risked his hard-earned +savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, John Hawkins--whose +exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, +had been rewarded by Queen Elizabeth with her special favour, and with a +coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but +the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. +Captured by Spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to +revenge himself on the whole Spanish nation; and this was considered a +most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, +had been schooled. His subsequent expeditions against the Spanish +possessions in the West Indies were eminently successful, and soon the +name of Francis Drake rang through the world, and startled Philip in the +depths of his Escorial. The first Englishman, and the second of any +nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying +amazement and, destruction to the Spaniards as he sailed, and after three +years brought to the Queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to +maintain a war with the Spanish King for seven years, and to pay himself +and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his +enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the +voyage. The speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and +for the kingdom. + +The terrible Sea-King was one of the great types of the sixteenth +century. The self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the +'Golden Hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against +a mighty empire, and had shown England how to humble Philip. When he +again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, +and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the +ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared +his name to the nation. The popular instinct recognized that the true +means had been found at last for rescuing England and Protestantism from +the overshadowing empire of Spain. The Queen visited him in his 'Golden +Hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. + +The treaty between the United Netherlands and England had been followed +by an embargo upon English vessels, persons, and property, in the ports +of Spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman +again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only +were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of General Carlisle. +This time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance +of the Queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find +such a step convenient. This was the expedition in which Philip Sidney +had desired to take part. The Queen watched its result with intense +anxiety, for the fate of her Netherland adventure was thought to be +hanging on the issue. "Upon Drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the +life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said +Walsingham. + +The issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile +speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of Sir +Francis had been. He returned in the midsummer of 1586, having captured +and brandschatzed St. Domingo and Carthagena; and burned St. Augustine. +"A fearful man to the King of Spain is Sir Francis Drake," said Lord +Burghley. Nevertheless, the Queen and the Lord-Treasurer--as we have +shown by the secret conferences at Greenwich--had, notwithstanding these +successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. + +A simple, sea-faring Englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little +vessels, had carried terror, into the Spanish possessions all over the +earth: but even then the great Queen had not learned to rely on the +valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. + +Drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. The preparations for +Philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in Lisbon, Cadiz, +and other ports of Spain and Portugal, and, despite assurances to the +contrary, there was a growing belief that England was to be invaded. +To destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to +"singe his beard." But whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? +Whose but that of the Devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so +much? + +And so Sir Francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, +and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the Netherlands to +talk over his project with the States-General, and with the Dutch +merchants and sea-captains. His visit was not unfruitful. As a body the +assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of +Holland and Zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate +in all the future enterprises of Sir Francis and his comrades. + +The martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of +mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in England-- +to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable +adventures. The foundation of a still more intimate connection between +England and Holland was laid, and thenceforth Dutchmen and Englishmen +fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in +the cause of human freedom against despotic Spain. + +The famous Babington conspiracy, discovered by Walsingham's "travail and +cost," had come to convince the Queen and her counsellors--if further +proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both +incompatible with Philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch +out of the Netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of +England. "She is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by +all outward means she may," said Walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her +most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been +utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot +continue." The Secretary had sent Leicester information at an early day +of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic +after be had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, +if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during +her Majesty's reign." + +The tragedy of Mary Stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast +drama in which the emancipation of England and Holland, and, through +them, of half Christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; +and Leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. +He reminded Walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant +for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the +occasion of the Northumberland and Westmorland rebellion. "For who can +warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall +live any time? God forbid! And be you all stout and resolute in this +speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. It is most. +certain, if you will have your Majesty safe, it must be done, for justice +doth crave it beside policy." His own personal safety was deeply +compromised. "Your Lordship and I," wrote Burghley, "were very great +motes in the traitors' eyes; for your Lordship there and I here should +first, about one time, have been killed. Of your Lordship they thought +rather of poisoning than slaying. After us two gone, they purposed her +Majesty's death." + +But on this great affair of state the Earl was not swayed by such +personal considerations. He honestly thought--as did all the statesmen +who governed England--that English liberty, the very existence of the +English commonwealth, was impossible so long as Mary Stuart lived. Under +these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave +the Netherlands. His administration had not been very successful. +He had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful +demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the +Queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both English and Dutch +politicians have been amply exhibited. That he had been generous, +courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had +accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with +such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. + +It must be confessed, however, that his leaving the Netherlands at that +moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for +the security of the Provinces. Party-spirit was running high, and a +political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of +affairs, both in England and Holland. The arrangements--and particularly +the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most +fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following +chapter. + +On the 31st October; the Earl announced to the state-council his +intention of returning to England, stating, as the cause of this sudden +determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then +sitting in Westminster. Wilkes, who was of course present, having now +succeeded Killigrew as one of the two English members, observed that "the +States and council used but slender entreaty to his Excellency for his +stay and countenance there among them, whereat his Excellency and we that +were of the council for her Majesty did not a little marvel." + +Some weeks later, however, upon the 21st November, Leicester summoned +Barneveld, and five other of the States General, to discuss the necessary +measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very +earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs +which must necessarily ensue. The Earl declared that he was not retiring +from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for +offence: and he then alluded to the, Navigation Act, to the establishment +council, and spoke of the finance of Burgrave and Reingault, for his +employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, +head. Burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, +religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while Reingault-- +who had been thrown into prison by the States on charges of fraud, +peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had +promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury +for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." Had he +been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the +greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never +discovered, and Reingault was now awaiting his trial. + +The deputies replied that the concessions upon the Navigation Act had +satisfied the country, but that Reingault was a known instrument of the +Spaniards, and Burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with +malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the States and the +country to her Majesty. They had in consequence felt obliged to write +private despatches to envoy Ortel in England, not because they suspected +the Earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. +They had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of Paul Buys before +her Majesty, but for that transaction Leicester boldly disclaimed all +responsibility. + +It was agreed between the Earl and the deputies that, during his absence, +the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state- +council, and that Sir John Norris should remain in command of the English +forces. + +Two days afterwards Leicester, who knew very well that a legation was +about to proceed to England, without any previous concurrence on his +part, summoned a committee of the States-General, together with +Barneveld, into the state-council. Counsellor Wilkes on his behalf then +made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the +part of the States were to be expected. They had in previous colloquies +touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be +informed why these commissioners were proceeding to England, and what was +the nature of their instructions. Why did not they formally offer the +sovereignty of the Provinces to the Queen without conditions? That step +had already been taken by Utrecht. + +The deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that +the proposition made by Utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and +altogether futile. Without the sanction of all the United States, of +what value was the declaration of Utrecht? Moreover the charter of that +province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its +leading citizens banished. The action of the Province under such +circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her +Majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the Provinces upon +reasonable conditions, the States of Holland and of Zeeland would not be +found backward in the business. + +Leicester proposed that Prince Maurice of Nassau should go with him to +England, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies +favoured the suggestion. It was however, vigorously and successfully +opposed by Barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head +in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. +Leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. He was +suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting Maurice entirely +to his own way of thinking. If unsuccessful, it was believed by the +Advocate and by many others that the Earl would cause the young Prince to +be detained in England as long as Philip William, his brother, had been +kept in Spain. He observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been +brought about. + +Words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the +Governor and the States-General on his departure. He protested that he +had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had +ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the +Queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own +money in the brief period of his residence there. + +The Advocate, on part of the States, assured him that they were all aware +that in the friendship of England lay their only chance of salvation, but +that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be +effected, and the one which had enabled the late Prince of Orange to +maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. There was +also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the Advocate observing +that the States now raised as much in a month as the Provinces in the +time of the Emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that +the Queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two +thousand horse. He repudiated, in the name of the States-General and his +own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to +the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very +existence, and equally disastrous to England and to Protestantism, and +implored the Earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to +any pacific overtures to or from Spain. + +On the 24th November, acts were drawn up and signed by the Earl, +according to which the supreme government of the United Netherlands was +formally committed to the state-council during his absence. Decrees were +to be pronounced in the name of his Excellency, and countersigned by +Maurice of Nassau. + +On the following day, Leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a +deputation of the States-General to wait upon him in his own house. This +was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by +his secretary, Mr. Atye. It was responded to in complimentary fashion by +Advocate Barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to +impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and +that of the other deputies, of reconciling the Provinces with Spain. + +Leicester received from the States--as a magnificent parting present-- +a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for Flushing to +take shipping for England. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Ill-timed Interregnum in the Provinces--Firmness of the English and + Dutch People--Factions during Leicester's Government--Democratic + Theories of the Leicestriana--Suspicions as to the Earl's Designs-- + Extreme Views of the Calvinists--Political Ambition of the Church-- + Antagonism of the Church and States--The States inclined to + Tolerance--Desolation of the Obedient Provinces--Pauperism and + Famine--Prosperity of the Republic--The Year of Expectation. + +It was not unnatural that the Queen should desire the presence of her +favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut +feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. It was inevitable, +too, that Leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where +the great tragedy, so full of fate to all Christendom, and in which his +own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. But it was +most cruel to the Netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important +to Elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at +such a moment. Yet this was the necessary result of the sudden +retirement of Leicester. + +He did not resign his government. He did not bind himself to return. +The question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped +by a large and influential party, that the English Queen would accept the +proposed annexation. It was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of +abeyance, the States-General or the States-Provincial, each within their +separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. Meantime, as if +here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a +sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an +impotent government. To the state-council was deputed the executive +authority. But the state-council was a creature of the States-General, +acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of +its own. It was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could +neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of +the governor. + +Certainly the selection of Leicester to fill so important a post had not +been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as +if he had been a Messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled +away, as his personal character became known. The leading politicians of +the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed +in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had +refused the sovereignty. They, were too adroit to neglect the +opportunity, which her Majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what +they considered their blunder. When at last the quarrel, which looked so +much like a lovers' quarrel, between Elizabeth and 'Sweet Robin,' had +been appeased to the satisfaction of Robin, his royal mistress became +more angry with the States for circumscribing than she had before been +for their exaggeration of his authority. Hence the implacable hatred of +Leicester to Paul Buys and Barneveld. + +Those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative +faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free +commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by +the progress of events. That task was no slight one, for it was to the +leading statesmen of Holland and England, sustained by the indomitable +resistance to despotism almost universal in the English and Dutch +nations, that the liberty of Europe was entrusted at that, momentous +epoch. Whether united under one crown, as the Netherlands ardently +desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples +were bound indissolubly together. The clouds were rolling up from the +fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial +equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of France was kept in suspense, +was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and +awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom +and Protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. The +Armada was growing every day in the ports of Spain and Portugal, and +Walsingham doubted, as little as did Buys or Barneveld, toward what +shores that invasion was to be directed. England was to be conquered in +order that the rebellious Netherlands might be reduced; and 'Mucio' was +to be let slip upon the unhappy Henry III. so soon as it was thought +probable that the Bearnese and the Valois had sufficiently exhausted each +other. Philip was to reign in Paris, Amsterdam, London, and Edinburgh, +without stirring from the Escorial. An excellent programme, had there +not been some English gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some +Devonshire skippers, some Dutch advocates and merchants, some Zeeland +fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides +of the North Sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather +bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old Anglo-Saxon speech. + +Certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of +the great Queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be +legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, 1587, +by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, +to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, +when peace had really become impossible. But as we shall have occasion +to examine rather closely the secrets of the Spanish, French, English, +and Dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, +that at least as great a debt is due to the English and Dutch people, in +mass, for the preservation of European liberty at that disastrous epoch +as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. + +For it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations +whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while +others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. England +was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; +and no doubt the Catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be +justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the +seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of +Elizabeth. The word liberty was never musical in Tudor ears, yet +Englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for +want of use. In the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a +standing army, a people accustomed to read the Bible in the vernacular, +to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear +arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. There was an advance on +the olden time. A Francis Drake, a John Hawkins, a Roger Williams, might +have been sold, under the Plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. A 'female +villain' in the reign of Henry III. could have been purchased for +eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third +the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could +in Elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take +imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds +sterling in the market. Here was progress in three centuries, for the +villains were now become admirals and generals in England and Holland, +and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while +the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of +omnipotent Spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest +blood. Perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least +effective in the impending crisis. + +It was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in +council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy +advanced. But this was precisely what had been rendered almost +impossible by the course of events during Leicester's year of +administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. +The two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had +remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. +During his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were +destined to retain for centuries. In the history of civil liberty, these +incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp +concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, +were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the +year 1587 a memorable one. The great questions of the origin of +government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, +were dealt with by the ablest heads, both Dutch and English, that could +be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. It was a war of +protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; +very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual +progress of mankind. The reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how +much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, +were handled so many years before the days of Russell and Sidney, of +Montesquieu and Locke, Franklin, Jefferson, Rousseau, and Voltaire; and +he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines +propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the Elizabethan +school. He will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not +be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the +kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against +the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known +since the fall of the Roman Empire. + +The great dividing-line between the two parties, that of Leicester and +that of Holland, which controlled the action of the States-General, was +the question of sovereignty. After the declaration of independence and +the repudiation of Philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? To the +people, said the Leicestrians. To the States-General and the States- +Provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the Holland +party. Without looking for the moment more closely into this question, +which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of +the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary +reflection. The Earl of Leicester, of all men is the world, would seem +to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his Queen, +from taking ground against the States. It was the States who, by solemn +embassy, had offered the sovereignty to Elizabeth. She had not accepted +the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had +never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. +By the States, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the +Earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. It was strange, +then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own +authority was derived. If the States were not sovereigns of the +Netherlands, he certainly was nothing. He was but general of a few +thousand English troops. + +The Leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to +the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. They sought +to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of +their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they +denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the +States, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the +like--as Leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in +assuming these airs of sovereignty. + +This might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not +forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the +national will, except through the mouths of the States. The States- +General and the States-Provincial, without any usurpation, but as a +matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen +years, exercised the authority which had fallen from Philip's hands. +The people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there +had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device +to ascertain the popular will. It was also difficult to imagine what was +the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who +expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, +churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." +Who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes +were thus carefully eliminated? Hardly the simple peasantry--the boors-- +who tilled the soil. At that day the agricultural labourers less than +all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others +submitted to the mild authority of the States. According to the theory +of the Netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had +themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could +lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained +in the States of each Province the general farming interests of the +republic. Moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was +comparatively small. The lower classes were rather accustomed to plough +the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, +which to Hollanders and Zeelanders was less capricious than the solid +earth. Almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one +sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was +percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were +the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their +trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate +home. + +The "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the Leicestrians over all +the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty +abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as +fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. The Netherlanders were, +on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a +revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages +and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they +had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right +hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with +tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract +by a bold and generalizing phraseology. Moreover the opponents of the +Leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly +discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute +sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. The people was to be sovereign +in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the Earl. + +Utrecht, the capital of the Leicestrians, had already been deprived of +its constitution. The magistracy was, according to law, changed every +year. A list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal +number of names was added by the governor of the Province, and from the +catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new +magistrates for the year. But De Villiers, the governor of the Province, +had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; Count Moeurs +had been appointed provisional stadholder by the States; and, during his +temporary absence on public affairs, the Leicestrians had seized upon the +government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading +citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with Gerard +Proninck, called Deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a Brabantine +refugee just arrived in the Province, and not eligible to office until +after ten years' residence. + +It was not unnatural that the Netherlanders, who remembered the scenes +of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the Duke +of Anjou to obtain possession of Antwerp and other cities, should be +suspicious of Leicester. Anjou, too, had been called to the Provinces by +the voluntary action of the States. He too had been hailed as a Messiah +and a deliverer. In him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and +he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt +to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus +to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the Netherlands. The +inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre +and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few +years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined +to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by +unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was +supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. + +No, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants +of the independent States to exclude from office the wanderers, for +conscience' sake, from the obedient Provinces. They should have been +welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and +in the love of freedom. Moreover, it was notorious that Hohenlo, +lieutenant-general under Maurice of Nassau, was a German, and that by the +treaty with England, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the +army swarmed with English, Irish, end German officers in high command. +Nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a Province, and to +place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose +characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and +to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. + +Besides their democratic doctrines, the Leicestrians proclaimed and +encouraged an exclusive and rigid Calvinism. + +It would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt +which the republic owed to the Geneva Church. The reformation had +entered the Netherlands by the Walloon gate. The earliest and most +eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, +had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of +Calvin in their hearts. The fire which had consumed the last vestige of +royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had +been lighted by the hands of Calvinists. + +Throughout the blood-stained soil of France, too, the men who were +fighting the same great battle as were the Netherlanders against Philip +II. and the Inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of Dauphiny and Provence, +knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with +their mailed hands, uttered a Calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of Marot, +and then charged upon Guise, or upon Joyeuse, under the white plume of +the Bearnese. And it was on the Calvinist weavers and clothiers of +Rochelle that the great Prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on +his mountain chivalry. In England too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up +in Calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined +to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate +freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. Nevertheless +there was a growing aversion in many parts of the States for the rigid +and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. There were many men in +Holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth +learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the +eyes of the extreme Calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be +in the estimation of Papists. To a favoured few of other habits of +thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still +far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult +to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, +in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be +conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. + +But it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were +individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty +of conscience for all. William of Orange was a Calvinist, sincere and +rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the +doors of the Commonwealth to Papists, Lutherans, and Anabaptists alike. +The Earl of Leicester was a Calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying +of conversation, the acknowledged head of the Puritan party of England, +but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of +his sect. Certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his +part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the Papists. It is easier +for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical +abstraction, than for a man, placed as was Leicester, in the front rank +of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to +require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. He believed that +the success of a Catholic conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth or of +a Spanish invasion of England, would raise Mary to the throne and consign +himself to the scaffold. He believed that the subjugation of the +independent Netherlands would place the Spaniards instantly in England, +and he frequently received information, true or false, of Popish plots +that were ever hatching in various parts of the Provinces against the +English Queen. It was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, +that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled +severe measures not only against Papists, but against those who were not +persecutors of Papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by +adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder +the exchequer and rob upon the highway. + +Under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the Papists +were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. The +distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were +raised in Holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly +at Utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. +This naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of +Holland and the other Provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and +lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest +hands. + +The clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. +Their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-Leicestrians, who cared not +to see a Geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished Papacy. They had +as little reverence in secular affairs for Calvinistic deacons as for the +college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of +Sixtus V. as that of Herman Modet. The reformed clergy who had +dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics +who once held a constitutional place in the Estates of Utrecht--although +many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed +religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for 12,300 +florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest Christians of the +Netherlands had worshipped, and St. Willibrod had ministered, were +roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond +their sphere. + +The party of the States-General, as opposed to the Leicester party, +was guided by the statesmen of Holland. At a somewhat later period was +formed the States-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each +Province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the +confederacy, for Holland. At present the doctrine maintained was that +the sovereignty forfeited by Philip had naturally devolved upon the +States-General. The statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that +it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men +of low degree. The States of each Province were, they maintained, +composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the +agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' +or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. + +Such men as Adrian Van der Werff, the heroic burgomaster of Leyden during +its famous siege, John Van der Does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, +Adolphus Meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, Carl Roorda, Noel de +Carom diplomatist of most signal ability, Floris Thin, Paul Buys, and +Olden-Barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the +legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, +were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the +commonwealth. + +So far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had +usurped the sovereignty of the Provinces, after the abjuration of the +Spanish King, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight +hundred thousand inhabitants of Holland at least eight hundred persons +were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these +individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose +names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable +for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. +It was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of England and France, on +repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the +diplomatists and statesmen of the Netherlands were even more than a match +for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound +respect which Leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these +"substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as +he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for +outwitting him, has already appeared. They were generally men of the +people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders +had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of +a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great +an honour as to be wealthy or high born. + +The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more +carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been +expected in that age. The lesser municipal courts, in which city- +senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of Holland, +whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the +supplies were in the hands of the States-Provincial, and the supreme +administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the +states. + +The States-General were constituted of similar materials to those of +which the States-Provincial were constructed, and the same individuals +were generally prominent in both. They were deputies appointed by the +Provincial Estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than +senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were +often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the States-right principle, +to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a +sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and +dangerous. + +In religious matters, the States-party, to their honour, already leaned +to a wide toleration. Not only Catholics were not burned, but they were +not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were +quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. There +were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical +tendencies, although their hostility, to Spain and their attachment to +their native land could not fairly be disputed. The leaders of the +States-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part +of the clergy of any denomination whatever. Disposed to be lenient to +all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but +still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. As a +matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters +were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. Barneveld, with his +"nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised Catholic or an +infidel, and as for Paul Buys, he was a "bolsterer of Papists, an +atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. + +Nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their +country and of the age. In encouragement to an expanding commerce, the +elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and +a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for +the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the +maintenance of the true interests of the people. They were still loyal +to Queen Elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty +of the Provinces. But they were determined that the sovereignty should +be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured +laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value +of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might +in theory appear. They knew that in Utrecht the Leicestrian party were +about to offer the Queen the sovereignty of their Province, without +conditions, but they were determined that neither Queen Elizabeth nor +any other monarch should ever reign in the Netherlands, except under +conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. + +Thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the Netherlands, at +the conclusion of Leicester's first year of administration. It may +easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the +country without a chief. + +The strength of the States-party lay in Holland, Zeeland, Friesland. +The main stay of the democratic or Leicester faction was in the city of +Utrecht, but the Earl had many partizans in Gelderland, Friesland, and in +Overyssel, the capital of which Province, the wealthy and thriving +Deventer, second only in the republic to Amsterdam for commercial and +political importance, had been but recently secured for the Provinces by +the vigorous measures of Sir William Pelham. + +The condition of the republic and of the Spanish Provinces was, at that +moment, most signally contrasted. If the effects of despotism and of +liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only +necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the +rebel Netherlands. + +Since the fall of Antwerp, the desolation of Brabant, Flanders, and of +the Walloon territories had become complete. The King had recovered the +great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. The Scheldt, which, +till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had +become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. It was as if +it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by +Flushing. Thus Antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. Its docks and +basins, where 2500 ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was +growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the +Jesuits had returned in swarms. And the same spectacle was presented by +Ghent, Bruges, Valenciennes, Tournay, and those other fair cities, which +had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. The sea- +coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and +free commonwealths of the future. Those powers were acting in concert, +and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient Provinces +were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result +of their obedience. Commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying +lingering deaths. The thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had +been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. The +demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had +been the workshops of the world, was gone. Foraging bands of Spanish and +Italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and +mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new +customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. The +clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, +had all wandered away, and the cities of Holland, Friesland, and of +England, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of +the exiles to whom they afforded a home. There were villages and small +towns in the Spanish Netherlands that had been literally depopulated. +Large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid +morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. The fog, the wild +boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; +children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger +cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two +hundred persons, in the winter of 1586-7, were devoured by wild beasts in +the outskirts of Ghent. Such of the remaining labourers and artizans as +had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable +employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by +war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native +country. Brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had +become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. Nobles +and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. Many a +family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen +begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great +cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they +often begged in vain. + +For while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, +faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been +exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land +with its additional scourge. The whole population, soldiers and +brigands, Spaniards and Flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger +of perishing together. Where the want of employment had been so great +as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost +entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, +prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and +despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained +required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous +times. Accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at +Antwerp and Brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) +of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a +florin more. Five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny +sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. A +pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. Yet this was forty- +one years after the discovery of the mines of Potosi (A.D. 1545), and +full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall +in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the +average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even +quadrupled. At that very moment the average cost of wheat in England was +sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling +the bushel, and in the markets of Holland, which in truth regulated all +others, the same prices prevailed. A bushel of wheat in England was +equal therefore to eight bushels in Brussels. + +Thus the silver mines, which were the Spanish King's property, had +produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient +Provinces. The South American specie found its way to Philip's coffers, +thence to the paymasters of his troops in Flanders, and thence to the +commercial centres of Holland and England. Those countries, first to +feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving +surely and steadily on before it to greatness. Prices were rising with +unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a +world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an +every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in +famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of +tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of +English poetry, which was to make the Elizabethan era famous through all +time, had already begun. + +In the Spanish Netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the +only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the +pikemen of Spain and Italy, and the reiters of Germany. Prices could not +sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. Where there was no +security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial +pursuits had become almost impossible. The small demand for labour had +caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. All men had become +beggars, brigands, or soldiers. A temporary reaction followed. There +were no producers. Suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been +planted, and that there was no harvest. A famine was the inevitable +result. Prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. The veertel of +rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at Brussels and +Antwerp, rose in the winter of 1586-7 to twenty, twenty-two, and even +twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to +thirty-two florins the veertel. Other articles were proportionally +increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was +quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than +ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod- +fish sold for twenty-two florins. Thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling +the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds +at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of +beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six +pounds of beef. No better evidence could be given that the obedient +Provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural +industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining +to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their +fishermen were excluded from the sea. + +The evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another +year, prices were again at their previous level. The land was +sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a +diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, +for the languishing demand. Wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and +other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market- +prices in Holland and England. + +On the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly +increasing. Notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a +terrible quarter. of a century without any interruption, population was +increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. +Famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. No corn grew +in Holland and Zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. +The fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous Potosi, +with which the commercial world was then ringing. Their commerce with +the Baltic nations was enormous. In one month eight hundred vessels left +their havens for the eastern ports alone. There was also no doubt +whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of +frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious Provinces were +driving a most profitable trade with Spain and the Spanish possessions, +in spite of their revolutionary war. The mines of Peru and Mexico were +as fertile for the Hollanders and Zeelanders as for the Spaniards +themselves. The war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were +constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, +and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry +were maintained on land. There were more ships and sailors at that +moment in Holland and Zeeland than in the whole kingdom of England. + +While the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns +in the interior were advancing as steadily. The woollen manufacture, the +tapestry, the embroideries of Gelderland, and Friesland, and Overyssel, +were becoming as famous as had been those of Tournay, Ypres, Brussels, +and Valenciennes. The emigration from the obedient Provinces and from +other countries was very great. It was difficult to obtain lodgings in +the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising +every day. The single Province of Holland furnished regularly, for war- +expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a +year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the +burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make +it the more elastic. "The coming generations may see," says a +contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the +cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension +of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the +inhabitants." Such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to +be lightly thrown away. There is no doubt whatever that a large majority +of the inhabitants, and of the States by whom the people were +represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the +English crown. Leicester had become unpopular, but Elizabeth was adored, +and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the +Provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring +their allegiance to the English Queen. + +But the English Queen could not resolve to take the step. Although the +great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, +the execution of the Scottish Queen, was to make peace with Philip +impossible--even if it were imaginable before--Elizabeth, during the year +1587, was earnestly bent on peace. This will be made manifest in +subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the +court. Her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, +and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious +will would have its way. + +The States-General loathed the very name of peace with Spain. The people +loathed it. All knew that peace with Spain meant the exchange of a +thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, +constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to +the inquisition and to despotism: To dream of any concession from Philip +on the religious point was ridiculous. There was a mirror ever held up +before their eyes by the obedient Provinces, in which they might see +their own image, should, they too return to obedience. And there was +never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of Queen Elizabeth in +the Netherlands, whether Englishman or Hollander, that the idea of peace- +negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by States or people. Yet the +sum of the Queen's policy, for the year 1587, may be summed up in one +word--peace; peace for the Provinces, peace for herself, with their +implacable enemy. + +In France, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long +prologue to the tragic and memorable 1588 slowly enacting; the same +triangular contest between the three Henrys and their partizans still +proceeding. We shall see the misguided and wretched Valois lamenting +over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow +alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only +protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in +the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with +his most powerful foes. We shall see 'Mucio,' with one 'hand extended in +mock friendship toward the King, and with the other thrust backward to +grasp the purse of 300,000 crowns held forth to aid his fellow- +conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the Bearnese, +ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of +the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the English Queen's devoted +knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always +triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always +confident to outwit the Guises and Philip, Parma and the Pope. + +And in Spain we shall have occasion to look over the King's shoulder, as +he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall +find his policy for the year 1587 summed up in two words--invasion of +England. Sincerely and ardently as Elizabeth meant peace with Philip, +just so sincerely did Philip intend war with England, and the +dethronement and destruction of the Queen. To this great design all +others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this +determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the +Leicestrians and the States-General to fight out so thoroughly their +party-contests. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Acknowledged head of the Puritan party of England (Leicester) +Geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished Papacy +Hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible +Hating nothing so much as idleness +Mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient Provinces +Rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion +Scorn the very word toleration as an insult +The word liberty was never musical in Tudor ears + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v50 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 51, 1587 + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Barneveld's Influence in the Provinces--Unpopularity of Leicester + intrigues--of his Servants--Gossip of his Secretary-- + Its mischievous Effects--The Quarrel of Norris and Hollock-- + The Earl's Participation in the Affair--His increased Animosity to + Norris--Seizure of Deventer--Stanley appointed its Governor--York + and Stanley--Leicester's secret Instructions--Wilkes remonstrates + with Stanley--Stanley's Insolence and Equivocation--Painful Rumours + as to him and York--Duplicity of York--Stanley's Banquet at + Deventer--He surrenders the City to Tassis--Terms of the Bargain-- + Feeble Defence of Stanley's Conduct--Subsequent Fate of Stanley and + York--Betrayal of Gelder to Parma--These Treasons cast Odium on the + English--Miserable Plight of the English Troops--Honesty and Energy + of Wilkes--Indignant Discussion in the Assembly. + +The government had not been laid down by Leicester on his departure. It +had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state- +council. In this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally +appointed by the Earl, on nomination by the States, several members were +friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. The +Staten of Holland, by whom the action of the States-General was mainly +controlled, were influenced in their action by Buys and Barneveld. Young +Maurice of Nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of Holland and +Zeeland. A florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine- +bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self- +possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the +appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "Count Maurice +saith but little, but I cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote Leicester's +eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. Mathematics, fortification, the science of war +--these were his daily pursuits. "The sapling was to become the tree," +and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, +lay before him. To ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of +Stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; +to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; +these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. Yet he was hardly +suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military +commander. "Small desire hath Count Maurice to follow the wars," said +one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "And +whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he +would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found +by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering +into competition with the others." A modest young man, who could bide +his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing +his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the +age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such +a desperate fighter as Hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as +Barneveld. For at this epoch Olden-Barneveld was the preceptor, almost +the political patron of Maurice, and Maurice, the official head of the +Holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-Calvinist +organization. It is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow +the changes which time was to bring. Meantime it would be seen, perhaps +ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. As +to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "Count +Maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who +did not love him, to Leicester, who loved him less: "He cometh every day +to the council, keeping no company with Count Hollock, nor with any of +them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do +every day among themselves." + +Certainly the most profitable intercourse that Maurice could enjoy with +Hohenlo was upon the battle-field. In winter-quarters, that hard- +fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best +Mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free +commonwealth. After the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over- +-the Count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge +in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their +nation and the age. + +"Since your Excellency's departure," wrote Leicester's secretary, "there +hath been among the Dutch Counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the +grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of +it. Specially Count Hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight +together." + +Leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the States-General, and +with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he +had deeply mortgaged his English estates in order to raise funds to +expend in the Netherland cause. Thirty thousand pounds sterling-- +according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless +the Queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad +lands were to be brought to the hammer. But it was the Queen, not the +States-General, who owed the money; for the Earl had advanced these sums +as a portion of the royal contingent. Five hundred and sixty thousand +pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the English +governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand +had been paid by England. There was a portion of the sum, over and above +their monthly levies; for which the States had contracted a debt, and +they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional +loan of fifty thousand pounds from Elizabeth; a favour which--Elizabeth +was very firmly determined not to grant. It was this terror at the +expense into which the Netherland war was plunging her, which made the +English sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of +Walsingham with the most painful forebodings. + +Leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not +that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making +friends. No man made so many enemies. He was an excellent hater, and +few men have been more cordially hated in return. He was imperious, +insolent, hot-tempered. He could brook no equal. He had also the fatal +defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. Adroit +intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their +tool. And now he had mortally offended Hohenlo, and Buys, and Barneveld, +while he hated Sir John Norris with a most passionate hatred. Wilkes, +the English representative, was already a special object of his aversion. +The unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense +of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had +inspired Leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of +Wilkes trembled for his life. + + ["It is generally bruited here," wrote Henry Smith to his brother- + in-law Wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my Lord of + Leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath + protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more + enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my Lord Treasurer, and + Secretary Davison some injurious speeches (which I cannot report) + you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. + Furthermore some of the said Lord's secretaries have reported here + that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their Lord + be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry + there. These things thus coming to the ears of your friends have + stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, + lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent + against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for + you." Smith to Wilkes, 26 Jan. 1587. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +Cordiality between the governor-general and Count Maurice had become +impossible. As for Willoughby and Sir William Pelham, they were both +friendly to him, but Willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who +detested politics, and cared little for the Netherlands, except as the +best battle-field in Europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only +man that Leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken +down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. + +Besides Deventer of Utrecht, then, on whom, the Earl chiefly relied +during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two +or three members of the state-council. "Madame de Brederode hath sent +unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked +for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or +whatsoever. M. Meetkerke, M. Brederode, and Mr. Dorius, wish your return +with all, their hearts. For the rest I cannot tell, and will not swear. +But Mr. Barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof I can write no +more at this time." + +This certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when +all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to +the governor. And thus the Earl was, at this most important crisis, to +depend upon the subtle and dangerous Deventer, and upon two inferior +personages, the "fellow Junius" and a non-descript, whom Hohenlo +characterized as a "long lean Englishman, with a little black beard." +This meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful +nationality. He called himself Otheman, claimed to be a Frenchman, had +lived much in England, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in +French and English, but was said, in reality, to be named Robert Dale. + +It was not the best policy for the representative of the English Queen to +trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between +Holland and England were actively at work; and when the safety, almost +the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting +cordially in concert. "Overyssel, Utrecht, Friesland, and Gelderland, +have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her Majesty," said +Leicester. "I shall be able to make a better report of their love and +good inclination than I can of Holland." It was thought very desirable +by the English government that this great demonstration should be made +once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her Majesty upon so +momentous a measure. It seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once +more proceed to England in order to confer with Elizabeth; but there was +much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, +on the part of the Earl. The opposition came, of course, from the +Barneveld party. "They are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," +said Wilkes. "First some towns of Holland made bones thereat, and now +they say that Zeeland is not resolved." + +The nature and the causes of the opposition offered by Barneveld and the +States of Holland have been sufficiently explained. Buys, maddened by +his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the +express desire of Hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the +German and Dutch magnates; such as Moeurs and Overstein, and who even +much influenced Maurice and his cousin Count Lewis William, was himself +governed by Barneveld. It would have been far from impossible for +Leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. It was highly +desirable that he should do so, for not one of the Provinces where he +boasted his strength was quite secure for England. Count Moeurs, a +potent and wealthy noble, was governor of Utrecht and Gelderland, and he +had already begun to favour the party in Holland which claimed for that +Province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. Under +these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an +understanding as possible might be kept up with the Dutch and German +counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. + +Yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in +one year, the unlucky lean Englishman, with the black beard, who was the +Earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back +was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in +Holland. That this should be the direful spring of unutterable +disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. + +Just before the governor's departure Otheman came to pay his farewell +respects, and receive his last commands. He found Leicester seated at +chess with Sir Francis Drake. + +"I do leave you here, my poor Otheman," said the Earl, "but so soon as I +leave you I know very well that nobody will give you a good look." + +"Your Excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks +later, "for, my good Lord, I have been in as great danger of my life as +ever man was. I have been hunted at Delft from house to house, and then +besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though I had been the +greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." + +And why was the unfortunate Otheman thus hunted to his lair? Because he +had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited +the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the +English party to conciliate. + +There had been gossip about the Princess of Chimay and one Calvaert, who +lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. One +day she complained bitterly to Master Otheman of the spiteful ways of the +world. + +"I protest," said she, "that I am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have +my name thus called in question." + +So said Otheman, in order to comfort her: "Your Highness is aware that +such things are said of all. I am sure I hear every day plenty of +speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. You have little +cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, +and like a good Christian lady. Your Highness is not the only lady +spoken of." + +The Princess listened with attention. + +"Think of the stories about the Queen of England and my Lord of +Leicester!" said Otheman, with infinite tact. "No person is exempted +from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all +such foolish matter under their feet. Then there is the Countess of +Hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" + +The Princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the +adroit Otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed +away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the +Princess and the Countess, with Madame de Meetkerke, who had sent +Leicester the rose from her garden. + +But, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her Highness to Madame de +Moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and +informed her and the Count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the +vile Englishman, secretary to the odious Leicester, had just been there, +abusing and calumniating the Countess in most lewd and abominable +fashion. He had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the +ladies in the country." For her own part the Princess avowed her +determination to have him instantly murdered. Count Moeurs was quite of +the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his +executioners. Accordingly, the next Sunday, when the babbling secretary +had gone down to Delft to hear the French sermon, a select party, +consisting of Moeurs, Lewis William of Nassau, Count Overstein, and +others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and +brought him bodily before Princess Chimay. There, being called upon to +explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names +of several English captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in +England. "For if I had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would +have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." Upon +this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they +made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the +whole city of Delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, +where they kept him besieged several hours. Through the intercession of +Wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he +succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, +in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in +daily danger of his life. "I pray God keep me hereafter from the anger +of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." + +He was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing +and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. His part was +afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, +and by the university of Leyden. But it was well understood that the +blow and the affront had been levelled at the English governor and the +English nation. + +"All your friends do see," said Otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant +so much to me as to your Excellency; the Dutch Earls having used such +speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such +violence to me, that your Excellency shall wonder to hear of it." + +Now the Princess Chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a +sincere and exemplary member of the Calvinist church, and well inclined +to the Leicestrians. She was daughter of Count Meghem, one of the +earliest victims of Philip II., in the long tragedy of Netherland +independence, and widow of Lancelot Berlaymont. Count Moeurs was +governor of Utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough +supporter of the Holland party; but thenceforward he went off most +abruptly from the party of England, became hand and glove with Hohenlo, +accepted the influence of Barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city +of Utrecht from English authority. Such was the effect of the +secretary's harmless gossip. + +"I thought Count Moeurs and his wife better friends to your Excellency +than I do see them to be," said Otheman afterwards. "But he doth now +disgrace the English nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they +are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these +Englishmen that are at Arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town +to the enemy." + +But the disgraceful squabble between Hohenlo and Edward Norris had been +more unlucky for Leicester than any other incident during the year, for +its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. Yet +the Earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. +It has been seen that Sir Philip Sidney had borne Norris's cartel to +Hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. The Count had +promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack +on Fort Zutphen. Leicester afterwards did his best to keep Edward Norris +employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that Hohenlo, as +lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself +aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple English captain, +however deeply he might have injured him. The governor accordingly +induced the Queen to recall the young man to England, and invited him-- +much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for +that country. + +The Captain then consulted with his brother Sir John, regarding the +pending dispute with Hohenlo. His brother advised that the Count should +be summoned to keep his promise, but that Lord Leicester's permission +should previously be requested. + +A week before the governor's departure, accordingly, Edward Norris +presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the Earl +reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his +Lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." + +"The Count Hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and +banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." + +"And what way will you take?" inquired Leicester, "considering that he +keeps his house." + +"'Twill be best, I thought," answered Norris, "to write unto him, to +perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." + +"To whom did he make that promise?" asked the Earl. + +"To Sir Philip Sidney," answered the Captain. + +"To my nephew Sidney," said Leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you +think best, and I will do for you what I can." + +And the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest +he felt in the young man's reputation. Passing to other matters, Morris +then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of +having exchanged out of the States' service in order to accept a +commission from his Lordship to levy a company of horse. This levy had +cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been +able to "get one groat." + +"I beseech your Lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the +meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as I." + +"I can do but little for you before my departure," said Leicester; "but +at my return I will advise to do more." + +After this amicable conversation Morris thanked his Lordship, took his +leave, and straightway wrote his letter to Count Hollock. + +That personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that Norris should +summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him +the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be +sufficiently recovered. Morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous +promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. + +The state-council, sitting at the Hague, took up the matter at once +however, and requested immediate information of the Earl. He accordingly +sent for Norris and his brother Sir John, who waited upon him in his bed- +chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had +moved them in the matter. This statement was accordingly furnished, +together with a copy of the correspondence. The Earl took the papers, +and promised to allow most honourably of it in the Council. + +Such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by Sir John and +Edward Norris, in a solemn memorial to the Lords of Her Majesty's privy +council, as well as to the state-council of the United Provinces. A very +few days afterwards Leicester departed for England, taking Edward Norris +with him. + +Count Hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite +language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'T was a matter +punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a +simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without +consent of the supreme authority. It was plain," he added, "that the +English governor-general had connived at the affront," for Norris had been +living in his family and dining at his table. Nay, more, Lord Leicester +had made him a knight at Flushing just before their voyage to England. +There seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers +Norris, although, for the express purpose of screening Leicester, Sir +John represented at the time to Hohenlo and others that the Earl had not +been privy to the transaction. It is very certain, however, that so soon +as the general indignation of Hohenlo and his partizans began to be +directed against Leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive +language, having had any knowledge whatever of Norris's intentions. He +protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from +information furnished to the council of state. + +The quarrel between Hohenlo and Norris was afterwards amicably arranged +by Lord Buckhurst, during his embassy to the States, at the express +desire of the Queen. Hohenlo and Sir John Norris became very good +friends, while the enmity between them and Leicester grew more deadly +every day. The Earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the +transaction, and denounced Sir John Norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" +on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, Buckhurst, Wilkes, +and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and +it is well known that the Earl was a master of Billingsgate. + +"Hollock says that I did procure Edward Norris to send him his cartel," +observed Leicester on one occasion, "wherein I protest before the Lord, +I was as ignorant as any man in England. His brother John can tell +whether I did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in +very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was +very reasonably written, and I did consider also the great wrong offered +him by the Count, and so forbore it. I was so careful for the Count's +safety after the brawl between him and Norris, that I charged Sir John, +if any harm came to the Count's person by any of his or under him, that +he should answer it. Therefore, I take the story to be bred in the bosom +of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." + +And all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the Earl's original +exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch +the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in +the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to England. The affair, in +itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late +day had it not been for its endless consequences. The ferocity with +which the Earl came to regard every prominent German, Hollander, and +Englishman, engaged in the service of the States, sprang very much from +the complications of this vulgar brawl. Norris, Hohenlo, Wilkes, +Buckhurst, were all denounced to the Queen as calumniators, traitors, and +villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must +have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of Elizabeth, +who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the Earl +the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. Hohenlo, with +Count Maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-English party, +and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be +judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. + +Leicester had always hated Sir John Norris, but he knew that the mother +had still much favour with the Queen, and he was therefore the more +vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty be found in +entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that +any other tongue but his should influence her Majesty. "The story of +John Norris about the cartel is, by the Lord God, most false," he +exclaimed; "I do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that +especially her Majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the +mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other +conceit of my doings than I deserve." + +He was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the +brothers, for he was more malignant towards Sir John than towards any man +in the world, not even excepting Wilkes. To the Queen, to the Lords of +the Privy Council, to Walsingham, to Burghley, he poured forth endless +quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest +men. + +"The declaration of the two Norrises for the cartel is most false, as I +am a Christian," he said to Walsingham. "I have a dozen witnesses, as +good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present +when I misliked the writing of the letter before ever I saw it. And by +the allegiance I owe to her Majesty, I never knew of the letter, nor gave +consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from Count +Hollock. But, as they are false in this, so you will find J. N. as false +in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old +conceit hath made him past shame, I fear. His companions in Ireland, as +in these countries, report that Sir John Norris would often say that he +was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would +spare it. I remember I have heard that the Earl of Sussex would say so; +and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." + +But a very grave disaster to Holland and England was soon the fruit of +the hatred borne by Leicester to Sir John Norris. Immediately after the +battle of Zutphen and the investment of that town by the English and +Netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of Deventer. +This was, after Amsterdam and Antwerp, the most important mercantile +place in all the Provinces. It was a large prosperous commercial and +manufacturing capital, a member of the Hanseatic League, and the great +centre of the internal trade of the Netherlands with the Baltic nations. +There was a strong Catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were +disposed to side with Parma. It was notorious that provisions and +munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered Zutphen; and +Leicester despatched Sir William Pelham, accordingly, to bring the +inhabitants to reason. The stout Marshal made short work of it. Taking +Sir William Stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he +caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten +and fifteen. No objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the +city government. Then Stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the +Marshal in the evening, of the 20th of October. Pelham ordered the +magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told +them, with grim courtesy, that the Earl of Leicester excused himself from +making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of Sir Philip +Sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. His Excellency +had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an English +garrison. "So make up your minds, and delay not," said Pelham; "for I +have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his +Excellency at once. To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, I shall expect +your answer." + +Next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. +Stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that +the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had +chained the streets and locked the gates. At seven o'clock Pelham +proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his +appearance before the magisterial board. Then there was a knocking at +the door, and Sir William Stanley entered, having left a strong guard of +soldiers at the entrance to the hall. + +"I am come for an answer," said the Lord Marshal; "tell me straight." +The magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped +away. + +"There's one of you gone," cried the Marshal. "Fetch him straight back; +or, by the living God, before whom I stand, there is not one of you shall +leave this place with life." + +So the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. + +"Now, tell me," said Pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your +streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were +in the town? Do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our +goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by +you? Nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as +yourselves. Now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, +as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch +Protestants. + +"Give over your government to the men here nominated, Straight; dally +not!" The burgomasters signed the paper. + +"Now," said Pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, +bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." + +A magistrate departed on the errand. + +"Now fetch me the keys of the gate," said Pelham, "and that straightway, +or, before God, you shall die." + +The keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old Marshal. The old +board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones +installed, and Deventer was gained for the English and Protestant party. + +There could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately +secured was worthy to be well guarded. There could be no doubt either +that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential Papists in +the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not +necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, +under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be +important to place a garrison of Protestant soldiers there, under the +command of a Protestant officer of known fidelity. + +To the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the Earl appointed Sir +William Stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a +garrison of twelve hundred wild Irishmen. + +Sir William was a cadet of one of the noblest English houses. He was the +bravest of the brave. His gallantry at the famous Zutphen fight had +attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, +but he was known to be an ardent Papist and a soldier of fortune, who had +fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the Netherlands under +the ferocious Alva. Was it strange that there should be murmurs at the +appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so +recently been secured? + +The Irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, English +and Flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and +fiercest of barbarians. There was something grotesque, yet appalling, +in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate +raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, +burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of +constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the +republic. "It seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged +not to Christendom, but to Brazil." Moreover, they were all Papists, +and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of +the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the +councils of Queen Elizabeth as in those of Philip--it was certainly a +most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in +the newly-acquired city. Yet Leicester, who had banished Papists from +Utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious +Catholics in Deventer. + +Zutphen, which was still besieged by the English and the patriots, was +much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly +through the brilliant valour of Stanley's brother Edward, has already +been related. The possession of Deventer and of this fort gave the +control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if +it were not enough to place Deventer in the hands of Sir William Stanley, +Leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to Roland +York. Not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. + +York was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. He +was a Londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by +the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. A man of +desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in +his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to +introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single +combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the English +to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the +girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the Netherland wars, with +the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. +He had been lieutenant to the infamous John Van Imbyze, and had been +concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender Dendermonde and +Ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. York had been +thrown into prison at Brussels, but there had been some delay about his +execution, and the conquest of the city by Parma saved him from the +gibbet. He had then taken service under the Spanish commander-in-chief, +and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary +valour, having sprung on board the, burning volcano-ship at the siege of +Antwerp. Subsequently returning to England, he had, on Leicester's +appointment, obtained the command of a company in the English contingent, +and had been conspicuous on the field of Warnsveld; for the courage which +he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity +with which he was ever ready to desert from it. Did it seem credible +that the fort of Zutphen should be placed in the hands of Roland York? + +Remonstrances were made by the States-General at once. With regard to +Stanley, Leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest +man to take charge of the whole English army, during his absence in +England. In answer to a petition made by the States against the +appointment of York, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the +Earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own +brother; adding peremptorily--"Do you trust me? Then trust York." + +But, besides his other qualifications for high command, Stanley possessed +an inestimable one in Leicester's eyes. He was, or at least had been, an +enemy of Sir John Norris. To be this made a Papist pardonable. It was +even better than to be a Puritan. + +But the Earl did more than to appoint the traitor York and the Papist +Stanley to these important posts. On the very day of his departure, and +immediately after his final quarrel with Sir John about the Hohenlo +cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret +paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere +with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, +or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. + +Now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council +by the Governor-General during his absence. Command in chief over all +the English forces, whether in the Queen's pay or the State's pay, had +been conferred upon Norris, while command over the Dutch and German +troops belonged to Hohenlo; but, by virtue of the Earl's secret paper, +Stanley and York were now made independent of all authority. The evil +consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying +themselves. + +Stanley at once manifested great insolence towards Norris. That +distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. A post of +immense responsibility was confided to him. The honour of England's +Queen and of England's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment +full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some +terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful +man in England was directing all his malice, and that the Queen, who was +wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most +fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "Well I know," said +he to Burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not +withered, but that I must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" +and he implored the Lord-Treasurer, that when his honour and reputation +should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to England +and clear himself. "For myself," said he, "I have not yet received any +commission, although I have attended his Lordship of Leicester to his +ship. It is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime I understand +that my Lord hath granted separate commissions to Sir William Stanley and +Roland York, exempting them from obeying of me. If this be true, 'tis +only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our +doings than before hath been." He earnestly requested to be furnished +with a commission directly from her Majesty. "The enemy is reinforcing," +he added. "We are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, +and we are grown odious, to our friends." + +Honest Councillor Wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and +to do his duty to England and Holland, to Leicester and to Norris, had +the strongest sympathy with Sir John. "Truly, besides the value, wisdom, +and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "I have noted +wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent +injuries done unto him, which I have known to be countenanced and +nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. Please therefore +continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be +maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for I dare avouch, of my own +poor skill, that her Majesty hath not a second subject of his place and +quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . . I doubt not +God will move her Majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he +deserves." + +Sir John disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to Stanley's +appointment, but, within a week or two of the Earl's departure, he +already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "If it prove no +hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. I +desire that my doings may show what I am; neither will I seek, by +indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show +themselves." + +Early in December he informed the Lord-Treasurer that Stanley's own men +were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his +own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of Deventer. +The burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of +their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of +his troops, and had appealed to Sir John; but the colonel-general's +remonstrances had been received by Sir William with contumely and abuse, +and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet +shown. + +"Three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the +peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was +impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the Irish kernes. The +paymaster-general of the English forces was daily appealed to by Stanley +for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her +Majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there +"was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to +wait. At last the States-General sent him a month's pay for himself and +all his troops, although, as he was in the Queen's service, no claim +could justly be made upon them. + +Wilkes, also, as English member of the state council, faithfully conveyed +to the governor-general in England the complaints which came up to all +the authorities of the republic, against Sir William Stanley's conduct in +Deventer. He had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the +towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he +had infringed all their privileges. Yet this was the board of +magistrates, expressly set up by Leicester, with the armed hand, by the +agency of Marshal Pelham and this very Colonel Stanley--a board of +Calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a +city of Catholic tendencies. And here was a papist commander displaying +Leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for +dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were +an officer of the Duke of Parma. It might easily be judged whether such +conduct were likely to win the hearts of Netherlanders to Leicester and +to England. + +"Albeit, for my own part," said Wilkes, "I do hold Sir William Stanley to +be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when I consider that the magistracy +is such as was established by your Lordship, and of the religion, and +well affected to her Majesty, and that I see how heavily the matter is +conceived of here by the States and council, I do fear that all is not +well. The very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. +Were it not that I doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that I +might be justly charged with negligence, if I should not advertise you +beforehand, I would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the +States are about to write to your Lordship and to her Majesty for +reformation in this matter." He added that he had already written +earnestly to Sir William, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand +over the people." + +Thus wrote Councillor Wilkes, as in duty bound, to Lord Leicester, so +early as the 9th December, and the warning voice of Norris had made +itself heard in England quite as soon. Certainly the governor-general, +having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by +passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate +in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. + +And the conscientious Wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had +done, to the turbulent Stanley. + +"Good Sir William," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of Deventer +complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the +keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to +terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the Irish +soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, +that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against +their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the +inhabitants towards her Majesty will forsake the town. Whether any of +these things be true, yourself doth best know, but I do assure you that +the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. +For mine own part, I have always known you for a gentleman of value, +wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. +. . . . I earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to +be careful of the honour of her Majesty and the reputation of our nation. +You will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them +that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to +his Excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . +I know that Lord Leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of +the Provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. I know further +that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle +any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the +town. Well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to +authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, Sir, they will not +warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than I have said, for I have +perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. I know the name +itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been +ever since the remembrance of the Spanish government, and if we, by any +lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make +ourselves as odious as they are; which God forbid. + +"You are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their +defence only, but for the defence of her Majesty and our own native +country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon +the preserving of these. Wherefore I do eftsoons intreat and require you +to forbear to intermeddle any further. If there shall follow any +dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, +I shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but I shall be able to testify +to her Majesty that I have done my duty in admonishing you." + +Thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of +England's honour and the good name of England's Queen. + +But the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of +destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to +aggravate than to allay suspicion. "Finding," said Stanley, "that you +already threaten, I have gone so far as to scan the terms of my +commission, which I doubt not to execute, according to his Excellency's +meaning and mine honour. First, I assure you that I have maintained +justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been +contented with bread and bare cheese." + +He acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended +it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who +thrust out the Spaniards and Almaynes, and afterwards never would obey +the Prince and States." "I would be," he said, "the sorriest man that +lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. Therefore I thought +good to seize the great tower and ports. If I meant evil, I needed no +keys, for here is force enough." + +With much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his +courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very +magistrates who had been petitioning the States-General, the state- +council, and the English Queen, against his violence: + +"For my courtesy and humanity," he said, "I refer me unto the magistrates +themselves. But I think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of +little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly I find your ears have been as +pitiful in so timorously condemning me. I assure you that her Majesty +hath not a better servant than I nor a more faithful in these parts. +This I will prove with my flesh and blood. Although I know there be +divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, I +doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of +little. So, good Mr. Wilkes, I pray you, consider gravely, give ear +discreetly, and advertise into England soundly. For me, I have been and +am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as +yourself." + +He then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he +had been so contented of late, that if Mr. Wilkes would discharge him of +his promise to Lord Leicester, he would take his leave with all his +heart. Captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound +of cheese a day. For himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty +pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "This +my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet I will never +fail of my promise to his Excellency, whatsoever I endure. It is for her +Majesty's service and for the love I bear to him." + +He bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to +furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before +Zutphen. "Had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of +myself, and patience of my brother, Yorke, that fort would have been in +danger. But, according to his desire and forethought, I furnished that +place with cavalry and infantry; for I know the troops there be +marvellous weak." + +In reply, Wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no +rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he +relied so confidently) to the state-council. The councillor added, +rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, +had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," Sir William might be sure of +not being troubled with any more of his letters. + +But, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to +Leicester very important letters addressed by the council of Gelderland +to Count Moeurs, stadholder of the Province, and by him forwarded to the +state-council. For there were now very grave rumours concerning the +fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother York," whom Stanley had +been so generously strengthening in Fort Zutphen. The lieutenant of +York, a certain Mr. Zouch, had been seen within the city of Zutphen, in +close conference with Colonel Tassis, Spanish governor of the place. +Moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which +the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between York on the +outside and Tassis within. The English commander sent baskets of +venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a +besieged town. The Spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent +wine and barrels of beer. A very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to +contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days +of the Haarlem and Leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut +off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually +exchanged between Spaniards and Dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to +those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. + +The Irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and +were received there with as much fraternity by, the Catholic soldiers of +Tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which +seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the +advancement of the siege. + +The state-council had written concerning these rumours to Roland York, +but the patient man had replied in a manner which Wilkes characterized as +"unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the Earl of +Leicester's authority." The councillor implored the governor-general +accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to +Roland York as to Sir William Stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly +warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances +of the state-council. + +Thus again and again was Leicester--on whose head rested, by his own +deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great +mischief was impending. There was time enough even then--for it was but +the 16th December--to place full powers in the hands of the state- +council, of Norris, or of Hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the +suspected persons, and avert the danger. Leicester did nothing. How +could he acknowledge his error? How could he manifest confidence in the +detested Norris? How appeal to the violent and deeply incensed Hohenlo? + +Three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring Roland York was still +in confidential correspondence with Leicester and Walsingham, although +his social intercourse with the Spanish governor of Zutphen continued to +be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. He was not quite +satisfied with the general, aspect of the Queen's cause in the +Netherlands, and wrote to the Secretary of State in a tone of +despondency, and mild expostulation. Walsingham would have been less +edified by these communications, had he been aware that York, upon first +entering Leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence +with the Duke of Parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his +object was to serve the cause of Spain. This was indeed the fact, as the +Duke informed the King, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless +dare-devil," said Parma, "that I hardly expected much of him." Thus the +astute Sir Francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous Roland, who +was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the Spanish +commander-in-chief. + +Meantime York informed his English patrons, on the 7th January, that +matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he +could wish. He had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, +according to Lord Leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the +subject, which he begged Sir Francis to "peruse, add to, or take away +from," and then to inclose to the Earl. He hoped he should be forgiven +if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, +"the place where I am doth too much torment my memory, to call every +point to my remembrance." + +It must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to +keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he +was carrying on with the Spanish and with the English government. Even a +cool head like Roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. +"So if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to +Walsingham, "advertise me, and I will make it plainer." Nothing could be +more ingenuous. He confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "Please +your honour," said he, "I have taken great pains to make a bad place +something, and it has cost me all the money I had, and here I can receive +nothing but discontentment. I dare not write you all lest you should +think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even +Walsingham would have been astonished, had Roland written all. The game +playing by York and Stanley was not one to which English gentlemen were +much addicted. + +"I trust the bearer, Edward Stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he +said, "with details." And the remark proves that the gallant youth who +had captured this very Fort Zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not +privy to the designs of his brother and of York; for the object of the +"discourse" was to deceive the English government. + +"I humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded Roland, +"for true as I humbled my mind to please her Majesty, your honour, and +the dead, now am I content to humble myself lower to please myself, for +now, since his, Excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding +neither honourably nor honestly." + +Three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the +republic. Suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to York and +Stanley, but as to all the English commanders, as to the whole English +nation. An Anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet +there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. In vain had +painstaking, truth-telling Wilkes summoned Stanley to his duty, and +called on Leicester, time after time, to interfere. In vain did Sir John +Norris, Sir John Conway, the members of the state-council, and all others +who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. +Their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the 24th November. Most +anxiously did all implore the Earl of Leicester to return. Never was a +more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. +Scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the +need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, +and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a +commonwealth. But there was no such man, for the republic had lost its +chief when Orange died. There was much wisdom and patriotism now. +Olden-Barneveld was competent, and so was Buys, to direct the councils of +the republic, and there were few better soldiers than Norris and Hohenlo +to lead her armies against Spain. But the supreme authority had been +confided to Leicester. He had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily +qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his +departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, +at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. + +At last, very late in January, one Hugh Overing, a haberdasher from +Ludgate Hill, was caught at Rotterdam, on his way to Ireland, with a +bundle of letters from Sir William Stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious +character, to the state-council at the Hague. On the same day, another +Englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little +red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained +to be in the service of Roland York and to have been the bearer of +letters to Brussels, also passed through Rotterdam. By connivance of the +innkeeper, one Joyce, also an Englishman, he succeeded in making his +escape. The information contained in the letters thus intercepted was +important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could +have acted without giving mortal offence to Elizabeth and to Leicester. + +On the evening of 28th January (N. S.), Sir William Stanley entertained +the magistrates of Deventer at a splendid banquet. There was free +conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife +in the Provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had +been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought +necessary to adopt for the security of the city. He took that occasion +to assure his guests that the Queen of England had not a more loyal +subject than himself, nor the Netherlands a more devoted friend. The +company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his +character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of +faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home +comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with +themselves. + +Very late that same night, Stanley placed three hundred of his wild Irish +in the Noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the +Zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the +burgher-guards at their respective stations. Strong pickets of cavalry +were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. At +three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was +about to leave Deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some +reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for +some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. His officers, +honest Englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their +chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and Sir William rode +deliberately out of Zutphen. After he had been absent an hour or two, +the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and +presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and +three or four hundred troopers. It was still pitch dark; but, dimly +lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their +way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once +upon the Brink, or great square. Here, quietly and swiftly, they were +marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all +sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood Sir William +Stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the +central space immediately in front of the town-house. + +The drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that +all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to +repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. As the +inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets +to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they +had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. Wild Irishmen, with +uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood +gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable Flemish faces of +the familiar burgher-guard. The chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily +after Sir William's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent +a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and +monstrous proclamation. Day was breaking as the trusty captain made his +way to the scene of action. The wan light of a cold, drizzly January +morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees +and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral +through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and +banners resembled nothing that he remembered in Dutch and English +regiments. Fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, +and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished +with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, +with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden +reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing +gestures. As he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, +many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the Netherlands--he +found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on +the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, +in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. + +The Flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of +Stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. +Taking him by the hand with much urbanity, Sir William led the militia- +man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the +strange officer on horseback + +"Colonel Tassis," said he, "I recommend to you a very particular friend +of mine. Let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." + +"Ah God!" cried the honest burgher, "Tassis! Tassis! Then are we +indeed most miserably betrayed." + +Even the Spanish colonel who was of Flemish origin, was affected by the +despair of the Netherlander. + +"Let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; +"my business here is to serve the King, my master." + +"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the +things which are God's," said Stanley, with piety. + +The burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the +city, but that it now belonged to his most Catholic Majesty of Spain-- +Colonel Stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely +and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. He was then bid to go +and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. + +Presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same +board of strict Calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months +before by Leicester, through the agency of this very Stanley, who had so +summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night +before had so handsomely feasted themselves. They came forward, the +tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even +Stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "I have not done this," he +sobbed, "for power or pelf. Not the hope of reward, but the love of God +hath moved me." + +Presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party +of leading citizens went into a private house with Tassis and Stanley to +hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were +possible. + +Sir William, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through +an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by +love of lucre. But as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached +the point, Tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "Let us look +after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul +weather half the night." So the Spanish troops, who had been, standing +patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers +had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the +townspeople. Tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be +offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome +example, hung several Hibernians the same day who had been detected in +plundering the inhabitants. + +The citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between +embracing the Catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval +being allowed them to wind up their affairs. They were also required to +furnish Stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their +service since coming to the Provinces, and to Tassis three months' wages +for his Spaniards in advance. Stanley offered his troops the privilege +of remaining with him in the service of Spain, or of taking their +departure unmolested. The Irish troops were quite willing to continue +under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that +there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native +island against the tyrant Elizabeth, under the liberating banners of +Philip. And certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, +these fervent Catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms +against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. +These honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had +never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their Queen. +They had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they +had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been +occasionally hanged for their exploits; but Deventer and Fort Zutphen had +not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to +them, that approaching invasion of Ireland. "I will ruin the whole +country from Holland to Friesland," said Stanley to Captain Newton, "and +then I will play such a game in Ireland as the Queen has never seen the +like all the days of her life." + +Newton had already been solicited by Roland York to take service under +Parma, and had indignantly declined. Sir Edmund Carey and his men, four +hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, +and were allowed to leave the city. This was the case with all the +English officers. Stanley and York were the only gentlemen who on this +occasion sullied the honour of England. + +Captain Henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days +before the surrender of Deventer, was now brought to that city, and +earnestly entreated by Tassis and by Stanley to seize this opportunity +of entering the service of Spain. + +"You shall have great advancement and preferment," said Tassis. "His +Catholic Majesty has got ready very many ships for Ireland, and Sir +William Stanley is to be general of the expedition." + +"And you shall choose your own preferment," said Stanley, "for I know you +to be a brave man." + +"I would rather," replied Henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a +beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of +conscience." + +"Continue so," replied Stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very +principle of my own enlargement: for, before, I served the devil, +and now I am serving God." + +The offers and the arguments of the Spaniard and the renegade were +powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other +traitorous alledgements by Sir William for his most vile facts," as +Henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity +until such time as he could be exchanged. + +Stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. +He had a commission from Leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as +if the governor-general had contemplated his serving Philip II. with that +commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport +entitled him to take the city of Deventer along with him; he owed no +allegiance to the States; he was discharged from his promise to the Earl; +he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had +been compelled by his conscience and his duty to God to restore the city +to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. + +But whether he owed the States allegiance or not, it is certain that he +had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days +before his treason. That Leicester had discharged him from his promises +to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his +honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to +conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy +awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months +before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of +Catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere +love of money, was doubtless true. Attachment to his religion, a desire +to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil +spirit, York, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the +prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs +that moved him. Sums--varying from L30,000 to a pension of 1500 +pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, +by Norris, Wilkes, Conway, and others; but the Duke of Parma, in +narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the King, explicitly +stated that he had found Stanley "singularly disinterested." + +"The colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking +for no reward, except that be might serve in his Majesty's army +thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." + +At the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the Duke, +recommended, and that the King bestowed, a "merced," which Stanley did +not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world +was Philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, Flemish, +Walloon, or English, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to +serve under his own banners. Yet, strange to relate, almost at the very +moment that Stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order +that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant +destiny was about to dawn upon him. The Queen had it in contemplation, +in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of Leicester, +to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him Viceroy of +Ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to +his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. + +Stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. A price of 3000 florins was put +by the States upon his head and upon that of York. He went to Spain, and +afterwards returned to the Provinces. He was even reported to have +become, through the judgment of God, a lunatic, although the tale wanted +confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had +mustered his regiment under Farnese, prepared to join the Duke in the +great invasion of England. + +Roland York, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his +crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of Deventer. He rode +up to the gates of that city on the morning of the 29th January, inquired +quietly whether Tassis was master of the place, and then galloped +furiously back the ten miles to his fort. Entering, he called his +soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of England, and +follow him into the city of Zutphen. Two companies of States' troops +offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were +overpowered by the English and Irish, assisted by a force of Spaniards, +who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. He +received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the Duke of Parma's +expectations, when he made his original offer of service. He died very +suddenly, after a great banquet at Deventer, in the course of the sane +year, not having succeeded in making his escape into Spain to live at +ease on his stipend. It was supposed that he was poisoned; but the +charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate +the subject. His body was subsequently exhumed when Deventer came into +the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice +hanged upon a gibbet. This was the end of Roland York. + +Parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful +results. "Thus Fort Zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so +many fisticuffs, and Deventer--which was the real object of the last +campaign, and which has cost the English so much blood and money, and is +the safety of Groningen and of all those Provinces--is now your +Majesty's. Moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great +distrust between the English and the rebels, who will henceforth never +know in whom they can confide." + +Parma was very right in this conjuncture. Moreover, there was just then +a fearful run against the States. The castle of Wauw, within a league of +Bergen-op-Zoom, which had been entrusted to one Le Marchand, a Frenchman +in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to Parma for 16,000 +florins. "'Tis a very important post," said the Duke, "and the money was +well laid out." + +The loss of the city of Gelder, capital of the Province of the same name, +took place in the summer. This town belonged to the jurisdiction of +Martin Schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and +miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most +profitable, freebooting career. The Famous partisan was then absent, +engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. He had made a +contract--in a very-business-like way--with the States, to defend the +city of Rheinberg and all the country, round against the Duke of Parma, +pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of 3300 foot +and 700 horse. For this extensive and important operation, he was to +receive 20,000 florins a month from the general exchequer; and in +addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is +to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels +going up and down the river before Rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in +short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary +fashion. A tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and +although the States considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by +the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the +vigilant Martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate +fighter. A more accomplished highwayman, artistically and +enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. Nobody did his +work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and +Thomas Wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the States not +likely to make much by their contract. Nevertheless, it was a comfort to +know that the work would not be neglected. + +Schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the Rheinberg siege, and in his +place one Aristotle Patton, a Scotch colonel in the States' service, was +commandant of Gelders. Now the thrifty Scot had an eye to business, too, +and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than Rowland York +himself. Moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his +place, for Leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. +Patton had also a decided grudge against Schenk, for that truculent +personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he +had richly deserved. Accordingly, when; the Duke of Parma made a secret +offer to him of 36,000 florins if he would quietly surrender the city +entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of +circumventing Leicester, feeding his grudge against Martin, and making a +handsome fortune for himself. He knew his trade too well, however, to +accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and +to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the +36,000 florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other +moveables in the city belonging to Schenk, that he could lay his hands +upon. Here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault +and battery--for Schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune-- +and accordingly the city, towards Midsummer, was surrendered to the +Seigneur d'Haultepenne. Moreover, the excellent Patton had another and +a loftier motive. He was in love. He had also a rival. The lady of his +thoughts was the widow of Pontus de Noyelle, Seigneur de Bours, who had +once saved the citadel of Antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and +himself. His rival was no other than the great Seigneur de Champagny, +brother of Cardinal Granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and +financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much +troubled with the gout. Madame de Bours had, however, accepted his hand, +and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the Scotchman, thus suddenly +enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. The widow then, +partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the +appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the Provinces, she became not +the 'haulte et puissante dame de Champagny,' but Mrs. Aristotle Patton. + +For this last treason neither Leicester nor the English were responsible. +Patton was not only a Scot, but a follower of Hohenlo, as Leicester +loudly protested. Le Merchant was a Frenchman. But Deventer and Zutphen +were places of vital importance, and Stanley an Englishman of highest +consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in +Leicester's absence. Moreover, a cornet in the service of the Earl's +nephew, Sir Robert Sidney, had been seen at Zutphen in conference with +Tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious +name of Sidney was to be polluted also. This fear was fortunately false, +although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had +been tampering; but the mere thought that Sir Robert Sidney could betray +the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied +corpse of his brother arise from the dead. + +Parma was right when he said that all confidence of the Netherlanders in +the Englishmen would now be gone, and that the Provinces would begin to +doubt their best friends. No fresh treasons followed, but they were +expected every day. An organized plot to betray the country was believed +in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. The noble deeds of +Sidney and Willoughby, and Norris and Pelham, and Roger Williams, the +honest and valuable services of Wilkes, the generosity and courage of +Leicester, were for a season forgotten. The English were denounced in +every city and village of the Netherlands as traitors and miscreants. +Respectable English merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from +town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. The nation +was put under ban. A most melancholy change from the beginning of the +year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest +in hate, had been the warmest friends of Elizabeth, of England, and of +Leicester. + +At Hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence +of Sir Roger Williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like +Stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of England, of such great +connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could +do so without the knowledge and consent of her Majesty. + +Barneveld, in council of state, declared that Leicester, by his +restrictive letter of 24th November, had intended to carry the authority +over the republic into England, in order to dispose of everything at his +pleasure, in conjunction with the English cabinet-council, and that the +country had never been so cheated by the French as it had now been by the +English, and that their government had become insupportable. + +Councillor Carl Roorda maintained at the table of Elector Truchsess that +the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had +spurned the oppression of the Spaniards and the French--that it was now +time to, rebel against the English. Barneveld and Buys loudly declared +that the Provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign +assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion +upon the public mind. + +The whole college of the States-General came before the state-council, +and demanded the name of the man to whom the Earl's restrictive letter +had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared +surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to +that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated +crimes. After much colloquy the name of Brackel was given, and, had not +the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, +for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. + +No language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. +Unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the English troops had +been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional +cause of danger. Leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no +longer in the Netherlands, the Queen seemed to forget that there was a +single Englishman upon that fatal soil. In five months not one penny had +been sent to her troops. While the Earl had been there one hundred and +forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. After his +departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. + +The English soldiers, who had fought so well in every Flemish battle- +field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing +half naked vagabonds and marauders. Brave soldiers had been changed by +their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly +attached itself to the English name converted them into outcasts. +Forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the Provinces, but were +forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen- +roosts and pillaging the peasantry. Many deserted to the enemy. Many +begged their way to England, and even to the very gates of the palace, +and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good +Queen Bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for +bread in vain. + +The English cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and +mutinous, made a foray into Holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. +Count Maurice commanded their instant departure, and Hohenlo swore that +if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head +of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. A most painful and +humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of +their Queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the +parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled +to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their +homes to defend. + +At last, honest Wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing +eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own +carcase" as he expressed himself. This gave the troopers about thirty +shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and +well disposed. + +Is this picture exaggerated? Is it drawn by pencils hostile to the +English nation or the English Queen? It is her own generals and +confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful +details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. The +parsimony of the great Queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, +and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers +in Flanders in the year 1587. Thomas Wilkes, a man of truth, and a man +of accounts, had informed Elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, +since Leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five +hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and +nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three +hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her +Majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the +States. These were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest +accountants rarely flatter, and Wilkes was not one of those financiers +who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. He had +transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by +the treasurers of the States and by the English paymasters, and the Queen +was appalled at the sum-totals. She could never proceed with such a war +as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which +the States requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling +Robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, +on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the +slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. + +Yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these Netherland battles were +English battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the +Isle of Wight or the coast of Kent, the charts of which the statesmen and +generals of Spain were daily conning. + +Wilkes, too, while defending Leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his +best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, +and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much +ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. Although +assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the States "as a +schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the +disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; +he had painted in darkest colours the results of the Deventer treason, +he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and +vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the Queen, that +notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest +man to represent her in the Netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, +by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man +could do in a year. He bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which +existed between him and important personages in the Netherlands, he had +been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of +the States-General--to the great satisfaction of the Queen--but he had +not given up his friendship with Sir John Norris, because he said "the +virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and +because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to +admire him." + +This was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the +truth about the accounts, Leicester denounced Wilkes to the Queen as a +traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. He +had even the meanness to prejudice Burghley against him--by insinuating +to the Lord-Treasurer that he too had been maligned by Wilkes--and thus +most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor +with the Queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he +plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as +doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant +unheard." + +Immediate action was taken on the Deventer treason, and on the general +relations between the States-General and the English government. +Barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the Earl of Leicester. +On the 2nd February Wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the +States-General, with the rest of the councillors, and found Barneveld +just demanding the public reading of that document. The letter was read. +Wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. + +"The letter seems rather sharp upon his Excellency," he observed. "There +is not a word in it," answered Barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly +true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon +other matters which were then before the assembly. + +Wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public +feeling in England and upon his own position as English councillor, +waited immediately upon Count Maurice, President van der Myle, and upon +Villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the +transmission of the epistle. They promised to make an effort to delay +its despatch or to mitigate its tone. A fortnight afterwards, however, +Wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of +which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. + +Meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of Count +Maurice was held, and it was determined that the Count should assume the +title of Prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that +the actual head of the Nassaus might be superior in rank to Leicester or +to any man who could be sent from England. Maurice was also appointed by +the States, provisionally, governor-general, with Hohenlo for his +lieutenant-general. That formidable personage, now fully restored to +health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the +party of Holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of +English tendencies. Especially he became most intimate with Count +Moeurs, stadholder of Utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his +wife towards Leicester and the English nation; springing originally from +the unfortunate babble of Otheman, had grown more intense than ever,-- +"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a +scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of Utrecht was +to be annexed to Holland under the perpetual stadholderate of Prince +Maurice. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station +The sapling was to become the tree + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v51 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 52, 1587 + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + Leicester in England--Trial of the Queen of Scots--Fearful + Perplexity at the English Court--Infatuation and Obstinacy of the + Queen--Netherland Envoys in England--Queen's bitter Invective + against them--Amazement of the Envoys--They consult with her chief + Councillors--Remarks of Burghley and Davison--Fourth of February + Letter from the States--Its severe Language towards Leicester-- + Painful Position of the Envoys at Court--Queen's Parsimony towards + Leicester. + +The scene shifts, for a brief interval, to England. Leicester had +reached the court late in November. Those "blessed beams," under whose +shade he was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again +fallen with full radiance upon him. "Never since I was born," said he, +"did I receive a more gracious welcome."--[Leicester to 'Wilkes, 4 Dec. +1587. (S. P. Office MS)]--Alas, there was not so much benignity for the +starving English soldiers, nor for the Provinces, which were fast growing +desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the +"great cause," which then occupied Elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of +other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that +for a time the Netherlands should be neglected. + +The "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed, +within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of +hypocrisy on the part of Elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more +melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and followed-- +which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of the Queen. + +It is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion +to the condemnation and death of the Queen of Scots. Who doubts her +participation in the Babington conspiracy? Who doubts that she was the +centre of one endless conspiracy by Spain and Rome against the throne and +life of Elizabeth? Who doubts that her long imprisonment in England was +a violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? Who doubts that the +fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and +children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith, +had assisted the Pope and Philip, and their band of English, Scotch, and +Irish conspirators, to shake Elizabeth's throne and endanger her life? +Who doubts that; had the English sovereign been capable of conceiving the +great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more +glorious than, it was, the cause of Protestantism and freedom more +triumphant, the name of Elizabeth Tudor dearer to human hearts? Who +doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her +Protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in +parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised +upon their innocent Catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal +Englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? Yet who +doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the +midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be +predicated of any individual, for Elizabeth in 1587 to pardon Mary, +or to relax in the severity of her legislation towards English Papists? + +Yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely +seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and +royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with +a great event. The "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward +blow. It was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst +of the tragedy and the comedy, for the Netherland business to come fairly +before her Majesty. "Touching the Low Country causes," said Leicester; +"very little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had +about the Queen of Scots' matters. All the speech I have had with her +Majesty hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."-- +[Leicester to Wilkes, 4 Des 1586. (S. P. Office MS.)]--Walsingham, +longing for retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the +death of Sir Philip Sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that I +have ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from +public affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty +manifested in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully +served, sent information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of +the States' deputies, Leicester was persuading her Majesty to proceed +first in the great cause. "Certain principal persons, chosen as +committees," he said, "of both Houses are sent as humble suitors, to her +Majesty to desire that she would be pleased to give order for the +execution of the Scottish Queen. Her Majesty made answer that she was +loath to proceed in so violent a course against the said Queen; as the +taking away of her life, and therefore prayed them to think of some other +way which might be for her own and their safety. They replied, no other +way but her execution. Her Majesty, though she yielded no answer to this +their latter reply, is contented to give order that the proclamation be +published, and so also it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their +earnest instance to proceed to the thorough ending of the cause." + +And so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. And when +"no other way" could be thought of but to take Mary's life, and when +"no other way of taking that life could be devised," at Elizabeth's +suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen +"of the association," nor Paulet, nor Drury--how skilfully soever their +"pulses had been felt" by Elizabeth's command--would commit assassination +to serve a Queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the +murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and Mary +Stuart was executed by command of Elizabeth Tudor. The world may +continue to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long +since pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of +royal dignity by the two Queens upon that great occasion. + +During this interval the Netherland matter, almost as vital to England as +the execution of Mary, was comparatively neglected. It was not +absolutely in abeyance, but the condition of the Queen's mind coloured +every state-affair with its tragic hues. Elizabeth, harassed, anxious, +dreaming dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst +possible temper to be approached by the envoys. She was furious with the +Netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. She was still more +furious because their war was costing so much money. Her disposition +became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her +counsellors to their wit's ends. Burghley confessed himself "weary of +his miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the +world was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which +her Majesty laid upon him so very heavily." Walsingham wished himself +"well established in Basle." The Queen set them all together by the +ears. She wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the Netherlands; +she worried Leicester, she scolded Burghley for defending Leicester, and +Leicester abused Burghley for taking part against him. + +The Lord-Treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and +his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of +dangers which beset the path of England in that great crisis. It was +most obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time-- +when the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of Philip and Sixtus +and all Catholicism, by the condemnation of Mary--to leave the Netherland +cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom +insufficiently protected. + +"Your Majesty will hear," wrote Parma to Philip, "of the disastrous, +lamentable, and pitiful end of the, poor Queen of Scots. Although for +her it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of +the many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of England, and +be crowned in Heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on +earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. I believe +firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many +which that Englishwoman has committed, and that our Lord will be pleased +that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many +long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her +greater ruin and confusion."--[Parma to Philip IL, 22 March. 1587. +(Arch. de Simancas, MS.)]--And with this, the Duke proceeded to discuss +the all important and rapidly-preparing invasion of England. Farnese was +not the man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of Elizabeth before +Mary's scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a +master in the science of grimace. For Elizabeth--more than ever disposed +to be friends with Spain and Rome, now that war to the knife was made +inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against +which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. She was more +ill-natured than ever to the Provinces, she turned her back upon the +Warnese, she affronted Henry III. by affecting to believe in the fable of +his envoy's complicity in the Stafford conspiracy against her life. + +"I pray God to open her eyes," said Walsingham, "to see the evident peril +of the course she now holdeth . . . . If it had pleased her to have +followed the advice given her touching the French ambassador, our ships +had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by +writing a very sharp letter unto the French King, which I fear will cause +him to give ear to those of the League, and make himself a party with +them, seeing so little regard had to him here. Your Lordship may see +that our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to +fall out with all the world . . . . . I never saw her worse affected +to the poor King of Navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield +contentment to the French King. If to offend all the world;" repeated +the Secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not +do amiss . . . . . I never found her less disposed to take a course +of prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this +present. And to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either +credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great +causes." + +Thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with +herself, and with all-the world, was Elizabeth during the dark days and +months which, preceded and followed the execution of the Scottish Queen. +If the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was +obvious that England was to depend upon Englishmen of all ranks and +classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and +her adventurers, on her Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman blood ever mounting +against, oppression, on Howard and Essex, Drake and Williams, Norris, and +Willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, London merchants, +upon yeomen whose limbs were made in England, and upon Hollanders and +Zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her +coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the +great Queen herself. Unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her +more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the +danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that +England's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate. + +As to the Provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their +defence. "When I lay before her the peril," said Walsingham, "she +scorneth at it. The hope of a peace with Spain has put her into a most +dangerous security." Nor would any man now assume responsibility. The +fate of Davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner +been made the scape-goat for Leicester's sins in the Netherlands, and +who had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully +obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all +courtiers and counsellors for the time. "The late severe, dealing +used by her Highness towards Mr. Secretary Davison," said Walsingham +to Wilkes, "maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in +anything but wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore +you must not find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore +hath been accustomed." + +Such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such +the stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the +interviews of the Netherland envoys with her Majesty during this period +were not likely to be genial. Exactly at the most gloomy moment-- +thirteen days before the execution of Mary--they came first into +Elizabeth's presence at Greenwich. + +The envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able +statesmen--Zuylen van Nyvelt, Joos de Menyn, Nicasius de Silla, Jacob +Valck, and Vitus van Kammings. The Queen was in the privy council- +chamber, attended by the admiral of England, Lord Thomas Howard, Lord +Hunsdon, great-chamberlain, Sir Christopher Hatton, vice-chamberlain, +Secretary Davison, and many other persons of distinction. + +The letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the +beginning of the interview that the Queen was ill-disposed toward the +deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as +to the state of feeling of the Netherlanders and of the States-General +towards herself. + +Menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of +Dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech, +to which the Queen listened attentively, although, with frequent +indications of anger and impatience. He commenced by observing that +the United Provinces still entertained the hope that her Majesty would +conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them, +with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his +address were those relating to the cost of the war. "Besides our +stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of 200,000 florins the +month, we have furnished 500,000 as an extraordinary grant; making for +the year 2,900,000 florins, and this over and above the particular and +special expenditures of the Provinces, and other sums for military +purposes. We confess, Madam, that the succour of your Majesty is a truly +royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given +such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. It is certain +that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the United +Provinces, the Earl of Leicester has been able to arrest the course +of the Duke of Parma's victories and to counteract his designs. +Nevertheless, it appears, Madam, that these forces have not been +sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. We are obliged, for +regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at +least 27,000 foot and 3500 horse. Of this number your Majesty pays 5000 +foot and 1000 horse, and we are now commissioned, Madam, humbly to +request an increase of your regular succour during the war to 10,000 foot +and 2000 horse. We also implore the loan of L60,000 sterling, in order +to assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in +the field." + +Such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary Menyn, delivered in the +French language. He had scarcely concluded, when the Queen--evidently in +a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in +a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue. + +"Now I am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which I have been +fearing has occurred. Our common adage, which we have in England, is a +very good one. When one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it +arrives the better. Here is a quarter of a year that I have been +expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit I have conferred on +you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and I consider myself very +ill treated by you. 'Tis very strange that you should begin by +soliciting still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction +for your past actions, which have been so extraordinary, that I swear by +the living God I think it impossible to find peoples or states more +ungrateful or ill-advised than yourselves. + +"I have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen +thousand men. You have left them without payment, you have let some of +them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have +deserted to the enemy. Is it not mortifying for the English nation and +a great shame for you that Englishmen should say that they have found +more courtesy from Spaniards than from Netherlanders? Truly, I tell you +frankly that I will never endure such indignities. Rather will I act +according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best. + +"If I chose, I could do something very good without you, although some +persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the Queen +of England to do what she does for her own protection. No, no! Disabuse +yourselves of that impression. These are but false persuasions. Believe +boldly that I can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a +better one than I ever did with it! Nevertheless, I do not choose to do +that, nor do I wish you so much harm. But likewise do I not choose that +you should hold such language to me. It is true that I should not wish +the Spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. But why should I +not live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? At the +commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the King of Spain +and I, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a +long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against +my life. If we both choose, we can continue so to do. + +"On the other hand, I sent you the Earl of Leicester, as lieutenant of +my forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of +your finances and contributions. But, on the contrary, he has never +known anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner +and amongst yourselves. You have given him the title of governor, in +order, under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. That title +he accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his +life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his Princess, which +was more important to him than all. But he did it in order to maintain +your tottering state. And what authority, I pray you, have you given +him? A shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. This is but mockery. +He is, at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. You had +no right to treat him thus. If I had accepted the title which you wished +to give me, by the living God, I would not have suffered you so to treat +me. + +"But you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who +discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him; +and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope +of bribes, have been favouring the Spaniard, and doing very wicked work. +No, believe me that God will punish those who for so great a benefit wish +to return me so much evil. Believe, boldly too, that the King of Spain +will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged, +and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never +believe a word of what they promise him. Yet, in order to cover up their +filth, they spread the story that the Queen of England is thinking of +treating for peace without their knowledge. No, I would rather be dead +than that any one should have occasion to say that I had not kept my +promise. But princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done +without breach of faith. For they transact business in a certain way, +and with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate. + +"You are States, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to +princes. Certainly, I would never choose to do anything without your +knowledge, and I would never allow the authority which you have among +yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. +Nor will I allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. What then +would you more of me? You have issued a proclamation in your country +that no one is to talk of peace. Very well, very good. But permit +princes likewise to do as they shall think best for the security of their +state, provided it does you no injury. Among us princes we are not wont +to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with +the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby. + +"If I ever do anything for you again, I choose to be treated more +honourably. I shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to +communicate with you. And in the first place I choose to hear and see +for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about +that, before I make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater +assistance. And so I will leave you to-day, without troubling you +further." + +With this her Majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies +somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables +had for a moment been turned upon them. + +It was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the States having +left the English soldiers--whose numbers the Queen had so suddenly +multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. Those Englishmen who, as +individuals, had entered the States' service, had been--like all the +other troops regularly paid. This distinctly appeared from the +statements of her own counsellors and generals. On the other hand, +the Queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original +number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months. + +This has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters +of most responsible persons. That these soldiers were starving, +deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the +States hardly expected to be censured by her Majesty, because she had +neglected to pay her own troops. It was one of the points concerning +which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the English +cavalry, converted into highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering +the peasantry, and we have seen that Thomas Wilkes had "pawned his +carcase" to provide for their temporary relief. + +With regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country +had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished +by such an attack. The great Deventer treason had not yet been heard of +in England for it had occurred only a week before this first interview-- +but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery dealings +of York and Stanley with Tassis and Parma, had long been causing painful +anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on the part +of the 'States' to Leicester and to the Queen. The deputies were hardly, +prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing privately +with the King of Spain. The only man suspected of such practices was +Leicester's own favourite and financier, Jacques Ringault, whom the Earl +had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances of the States, +who believed him to be a Spanish spy; and the man was now in prison, and +threatened with capital punishment. + +To suppose that Buys or Barneveld, Roorda, Meetkerk, or any other leading +statesman in the Netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement +with Philip II., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine Walsingham +a pensioner of the Pope, or Cecil in league with the Duke of Guise. The +end and aim of the States' party was war. In war they not only saw the +safety of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the +commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. The whole correspondence of +the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace, +either by public or secret negotiation. On the other hand--as will be +made still clearer than ever--the Queen was longing for peace, and was +treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without +the knowledge of the States, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in +her speech to the envoys. + +Yet if Elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are +about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent King of Spain, +with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her +hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should +not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this +subject. Certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of +papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond +the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the +scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer. + +Perhaps, had she known how the subtle Farnese was about to express +himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of Mary, and the as +inevitably impending destruction of "that Englishwoman" through the +schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the +sentiments couched in most exquisite Italian which Alexander was at the +same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the +blunt language of the States-General. + +Nevertheless, for the present, Elizabeth would give no better answer than +the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies. + +Two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several +members of her Majesty's council, in the private apartment of the Lord- +Treasurer in Greenwich Palace. Burghley, being indisposed, was lying +upon his bed. Leicester, Admiral Lord Howard, Lord Hunsden, Sir +Christopher Hatton, Lord Buckhurst, and Secretary Davison, were present, +and the Lord-Treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in Latin, +that being the common language most familiar to them all. Then, turning +over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked +the envoys, whether, in case her Majesty had not sent over the assistance +which she had done under the Earl of Leicester, their country would not +have been utterly ruined. + +"To all appearance, yes," replied Menyn. + +"But," continued Burghley, still running through the pages of the +document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure +passage or two, "you are now proposing to her Majesty to send 10,000 foot +and 2000 horse, and to lend L60,000. This is altogether monstrous and +excessive. Nobody will ever dare even to speak to her Majesty on the +subject. When you first came in 1585, you asked for 12,000 men, but you +were fully authorized to accept 6000. No doubt that is the case now." + +"On that occasion," answered Menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her +Majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection +of our country. Failing in that we broached the third point, and not +being able to get 12,000 soldiers we compounded for 5000, the agreement +being subject to ratification by our principals. We gave ample security +in shape of the mortgaged cities. But experience has shown us that these +forces and this succour are insufficient. We have therefore been sent to +beg her Majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally +requested." + +"But we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns," +said one of the English councillors, "as 800 men in a city like Flushing +are very little." + +"Pardon me," replied Valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to +her Majesty and to the English nation. They are her dutiful subjects +like all the inhabitants of the Netherlands." + +"It is quite true," said Burghley, after having made some critical +remarks upon the military system of the Provinces, "and a very common +adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but, +nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. Therefore you are bound +to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much +as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and +timber himself. But the States have not done their best. They have not +at the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions +for the last campaign. "How many men," he asked, "are required for +garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?" + +"But," interposed Lord Hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the +garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities. +Moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be +continued and doubled and even tripled." + +"And on the whole," observed the Lord Admiral, "don't you think that the +putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? Her +Majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels +against the King of Spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth, +besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours." + +"Yes, indeed," said Secretary Davison, "it would be difficult to +exaggerate the enormous expense which her Majesty must encounter this +year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the King of +Spain. That monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating +all Englishmen in the most hostile manner. We are on the brink of +declared war with Spain, with the French King, who is arresting all +English persons and property within his kingdom, and with Scotland, all +which countries are understood to have made a league together on account +of the Queen of Scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to +death in order to preserve the life of her Majesty, and are about to make +war upon England. This matter then will cost us, the current year, at +least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. Nevertheless her Majesty +is sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and I, for my part, will +do my best to keep her Majesty well disposed to your cause, even as I +have ever done, as you well know." + +Thus spoke poor Davison, but a few days before the fatal 8th of February, +little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her +Majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for +ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive Queen. The +political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly +as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the Netherlands, +and Leicester, and the Queen of England, were to lose an honest, +diligent, and faithful friend. + +"Well, gentlemen," said the Lord-Treasurer, after a few more questions +concerning the financial abilities of the States had been asked and +answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to +get back to London. Let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up +some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately." + +Menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the +urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with +which they had perceived, by her Majesty's answer two days before, that +she was so highly offended with them and with the States-General. He +then, notwithstanding Burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the +hour, took up the Queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its +statements, appealing frequently to Lord Leicester for confirmation of +what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the +cause of the Netherlands to her Majesty, Burghley requested them to make +an excuse or reply to the Queen in writing, and send it to him to +present. Thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to +London. They were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, +as they told their constituents, that her Majesty, by false statements +and reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of +the commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as +to the condition of the Provinces, and of the great efforts made by the +States-General to defend their country against the enemy: It was obvious, +they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive +the Queen and her council. + +And thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles, +were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher +and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were +growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by +the news of the Deventer and Zutphen treason. The intelligence was +accompanied by the famous 4th of February letter, which descended, like a +bombshell, in the midst of the, decorous council-chamber. Such language +had rarely been addressed to the Earl of Leicester, and; through him; to +the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which +Barneveld, speaking with the voice of the States-General, now smote the +delinquent governor. + +"My Lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever, +with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your +Excellency in our land; the States-General, the States-Provincial, +the magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the United +Provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene Majesty of England +and to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. +And although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the +authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own +honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be +alike preserved, yet finding your Excellency not satisfied with those +limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves +to your pleasure. Yet; before coming to that decision, we had well +considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious, +avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from +other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private +profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your +Excellency. + +"And, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to +inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in +the Provinces, against the Estates General and Provincial, magistrates, +and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive +at their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional +authorities of the country. And precisely upon the distrust; thus +created as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means +of which they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and +seditious practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances +of the council of state, and the States General and Provincial." + +He proceeded to handle the subjects of the English rose-noble; put in +circulation by Leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins +above its value, to the manifest detriment of the Provinces, to the +detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed +upon them by God himself to defend their country, to the squandering. +and embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the Province; and +entrusted to the Earl's administration; to the starving condition of the +soldiers; maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the +inhabitants--so that troops in the States' service had never been so +abused during the whole war, although the States had never before voted +such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in +posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even +Spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom +it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and +unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens, +to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful +attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the States, and to usurp a +control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the +perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the +inhabitants. Having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally +against the Earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the Earl +himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all. + +"The principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in +hands of men suspected by the States on legitimate grounds, men who had +been convicted of treason against these Provinces, and who continued to +be suspected, notwithstanding that your Excellency had pledged your own +honour for their fidelity. Finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was +brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your +Excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document, +was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial +matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were +withdrawn from the disposition of that council. And now, alas, we see +the effects of these practices! + +"Sir William Stanley, by you appointed governor of Deventer, and Rowland +York, governor of Fort Zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret +document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. And +notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have +been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay +from the States, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the +city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by Stanley +that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the King of +Spain the city which of right was belonging to him. And this is a crime +so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during +this, whole war, we have never seen the like. And we are now, in daily +fear lest the English commanders in Bergen-op-Zoom, Ostend, and other +cities, should commit the same crime. And although we fully suspected +the designs of Stanley and York, yet your Excellency's secret document +had deprived us of the power to act. + +"We doubt not that her Majesty and your Excellency will think this +strange language. But we can assure you, that we too think it strange +and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, +against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very Stanley +should have been recommended by your Excellency for general of all the +forces. And although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing +your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise +against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently +suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which +we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at +last be moved by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to +the artifices of your advisers. + +"But at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be +preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full +of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the +States-General, as well as the States-Provincial, have felt constrained +to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. And of +this we think proper to apprize your Excellency." + +He then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been +accomplished against the intentions of the Earl and the English +government, and requested his Excellency so to deal with her Majesty that +the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be +maintained in good order, and in better pay." + +Here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking +as her Majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient +cause. Here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward +vigorous thrusts. It was no wonder that poor Wilkes should have thought +the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that +he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. He +would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her +Majesty and of Leicester was wounded by it to the quick. Her list of +grievances against the States seem to vanish into air. Who had been +tampering with the Spaniards now? Had that "shadowy and imaginary +authority" granted to Leicester not proved substantial enough? Was it +the States-General, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor" +--who had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his +pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by Englishmen who had +scorned all "authority" but his own? + +The States, in another blunt letter to the Queen herself, declared the +loss of Deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of +Antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its +most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. Nevertheless they were +not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to +maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the Spanish tyrant. And +again they demanded of, rather than implored; her Majesty to be true to +her engagements with them. + +The interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "I had +intended that my Lord of Leicester should return to you," she said to the +envoys. "But that shall never be. He has been treated with gross +ingratitude, he has served the Provinces with ability, he has consumed +his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near +kinsman, Sir Philip Sidney, whose life I should be glad to purchase with +many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous +letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him +with her." She had been advising him to return, she added, but she was +now resolved that he should "never set foot in the Provinces again." + +Here the Earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the +breast--"a tali officio libera nos, Domine!" + +But the States, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it +had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded, +to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress +of their grievances, as became free men. + +During that whole spring the Queen was at daggers drawn with all her +leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of +questions--the relations of England with the Netherlands and Spain. +Walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it +the soundest policy to deal with Parma and his veterans upon the soil of +Flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to +await his arrival in London--was driven almost to frenzy by what he +deemed the Queen's perverseness. + +"Our sharp words continue," said the Secretary, "which doth greatly +disquiet her Majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her. +The Lord-Treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, +her Majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which I the rather +credit, for that I find, in dealing with her, I am nothing gracious; +and if her Majesty could be otherwise served, I know I should not be used +. . . . . Her Majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some +further means to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she +neglecteth all other causes . . . . . The discord between her +Majesty and her council hindereth the necessary consultations that were +to be destined for the preventing of the manifold perils that hang over +this realm . . . . . . Sir Christopher Hatton hath dealt very +plainly and dutifully with her, which hath been accepted in so evil part +as he is resolved to retire for a time. I assure you I find every man +weary of attendance here . . . . . . I would to God I could find +as good resolution in her Majesty to proceed in a princely course in +relieving the United Provinces, as I find an honorable disposition in +your Lordship to employ yourself in their service." + +The Lord-Treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically +resigned. "Why her Majesty useth me thus strangely, I know not," he +observed. "To some she saith that she meant not I should have gone from +the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me +contentment. I shall dispose myself to enjoy God's favour, and shall do +nothing to deserve her disfavour. And if I be suffered to be a stranger +to her affairs, I shall have a quieter life." + +Leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to +return to the Provinces. He protested that he had a greater affection +for the Netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he +felt for the people of England.--"There is nothing sticks in my +stomach," he said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for +whom, I take God to record, I could be content to lose any limb I have to +do them good." But he was crippled with debt, and the Queen resolutely +refused to lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not +stir. Walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how +urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all +her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own +safety and service. But she was obdurate. "She would rather," he said +bitterly to Leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may +put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. The like course +she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself +from the helm." At last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds, +but on so severe conditions, that the Earl declared himself heart-broken +again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set +foot in the Netherlands. "Let Norris stay there," he said in a fury; +"he will do admirably, no doubt. Only let it not be supposed that I can +be there also. Not for one hundred thousand pounds would I be in that +country with him." + +Meantime it was agreed that Lord Buckhurst should be sent forth on what +Wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. This +new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his +best to remove them: as if any man in England or in Holland doubted as to +the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were +not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could +be adopted--delay--which the Netherland statesmen, as well as the Queen's +wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which Alexander and Philip most +desired, and by indulging in which her Majesty was most directly playing +into her adversary's hand. Elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the +table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was +always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then +considered diplomatic sleight of hand. So Lord Buckhurst was to go forth +to expostulate at the Hague, while transports were loading in Cadiz and +Lisbon, reiters levying in Germany, pikemen and musketeers in Spain and +Italy, for a purpose concerning which Walsingham and Barneveld had for a +long time felt little doubt. + +Meantime Lord Leicester went to Bath to drink the waters, and after +he had drunk the waters, the Queen, ever anxious for his health, was +resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts +by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of +bitterness which flowed perennially in the Netherlands. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Buckhurst sent to the Netherlands--Alarming State of Affairs on his + Arrival--His Efforts to conciliate--Democratic Theories of Wilkes-- + Sophistry of the Argument--Dispute between Wilkes and Barneveld-- + Religious Tolerance by the States--Their Constitutional Theory-- + Deventer's bad Counsels to Leicester--Their pernicious Effect--Real + and supposed Plots against Hohenlo--Mutual Suspicion and Distrust-- + Buckhurst seeks to restore good Feeling--The Queen angry and + vindictive--She censures Buckhurst's Course--Leicester's wrath at + Hohenlo's Charges of a Plot by the Earl to murder him--Buckhurst's + eloquent Appeals to the Queen--Her perplexing and contradictory + Orders--Despair of Wilkes--Leicester announces his Return--His + Instructions--Letter to Junius--Barneveld denounces him in the + States. + +We return to the Netherlands. If ever proof were afforded of the +influence of individual character on the destiny of nations and of the +world, it certainly was seen in the year 1587. We have lifted the +curtain of the secret council-chamber at Greenwich. We have seen all +Elizabeth's advisers anxious to arouse her from her fatal credulity, +from her almost as fatal parsimony. We have seen Leicester anxious to +return, despite all fancied indignities, Walsingham eager to expedite the +enterprise, and the Queen remaining obdurate, while month after month of +precious time was melting away. + +In the Netherlands, meantime, discord and confusion had been increasing +every day; and the first great cause of such a dangerous condition of +affairs was the absence of the governor. To this all parties agreed. +The Leicestrians, the anti-Leicestriana, the Holland party, the Utrecht +party, the English counsellors, the English generals, in private letter, +in solemn act, all warned the Queen against the lamentable effects +resulting from Leicester's inopportune departure and prolonged absence. + +On the first outbreak of indignation after the Deventer Affair, Prince +Maurice was placed at the head of the general government, with the +violent Hohenlo as his lieutenant. The greatest exertions were made by +these two nobles and by Barneveld, who guided the whole policy of the +party, to secure as many cities as possible to their cause. Magistrates +and commandants of garrisons in many towns willingly gave in their +adhesion to the new government; others refused; especially Diedrich +Sonoy, an officer of distinction, who was governor of Enkhuyzen, and +influential throughout North Holland, and who remained a stanch partisan +of Leicester. Utrecht, the stronghold of the Leicestrians, was wavering +and much torn by faction; Hohenlo and Moeurs had "banquetted and feasted" +to such good purpose that they had gained over half the captains of the +burgher-guard, and, aided by the branch of nobles, were making a good +fight against the Leicester magistracy and the clerical force, enriched +by the plunder of the old Catholic livings, who denounced as Papistical +and Hispaniolized all who favoured the party of Maurice and Barneveld. + +By the end of March the envoys returned from London, and in their company +came Lord Buckhurst, as special ambassador from the Queen. + +Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst--afterwards Earl of Dorset and lord- +treasurer--was then fifty-one years of age. A man of large culture-poet, +dramatist, diplomatist-bred to the bar; afterwards elevated to the +peerage; endowed with high character and strong intellect; ready with +tongue and pen; handsome of person, and with a fascinating address, he +was as fit a person to send on a mission of expostulation as any man to +be found in England. But the author of the 'Induction to the Mirror for +Magistrates' and of 'Gorboduc,' had come to the Netherlands on a forlorn +hope. To expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that +their existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt +that delay was death, and to, heal animosities between men who were +enemies from their cradles to their graves, was a difficult mission. +But the chief ostensible object of Buckhurst was to smooth the way for +Leicester, and, if possible, to persuade the Netherlanders as to the good +inclinations of the English government. This was no easy task, for they +knew that their envoys had been dismissed, without even a promise of +subsidy. They had asked for twelve thousand soldiers and sixty thousand +pounds, and had received a volley of abuse. Over and over again, through +many months, the Queen fell into a paroxysm of rage when even an allusion +was made to the loan of fifty or sixty thousand pounds; and even had she +promised the money, it would have given but little satisfaction. As +Count Moeurs observed, he would rather see one English rose-noble than a +hundred royal promises. So the Hollanders and Zeelanders--not fearing +Leicester's influence within their little morsel of a territory--were +concentrating their means of resistance upon their own soil, intending to +resist Spain, and, if necessary, England, in their last ditch, and with +the last drop of their blood. + +While such was the condition of affairs, Lord Buckhurst landed at +Flushing--four months after the departure of Leicester--on the 24th +March, having been tossing three days and nights at sea in a great storm, +"miserably sick and in great danger of drowning." Sir William Russell, +governor of Flushing, informed him of the progress making by Prince +Maurice in virtue of his new authority. He told him that the Zeeland +regiment, vacant by Sidney's death, and which the Queen wished bestowed +upon Russell himself, had been given to Count Solms; a circumstance which +was very sure to exite her Majesty's ire; but that the greater number, +and those of the better sort; disliked the alteration of government, and +relied entirely upon the Queen. Sainte Aldegonde visited him at +Middelburgh, and in a "long discourse" expressed the most friendly +sentiments towards England, with free offers of personal service. +"Nevertheless," said Buckhurst, cautiously, "I mean to trust the effect, +not his words, and so I hope he will not much deceive me. His opinion is +that the Earl of Leicester's absence hath chiefly caused this change, and +that without his return it will hardly be restored again, but that upon +his arrival all these clouds will prove but a summershower." + +As a matter of course the new ambassador lifted up his voice, immediately +after setting foot on shore, in favour of the starving soldiers of his +Queen. "'Tis a most lamentable thing," said he, "to hear the complaints +of soldiers and captains for want of pay." . . . . Whole companies +made their way into his presence, literally crying aloud for bread. "For +Jesus' sake," wrote Buckhurst, "hasten to send relief with all speed, and +let such victuallers be appointed as have a conscience not to make +themselves rich with the famine of poor soldiers. If her Majesty send +not money, and that with speed, for their payment, I am afraid to think +what mischief and miseries are like to follow." + +Then the ambassador proceeded to the Hague, holding interviews with +influential personages in private, and with the States-General in public. +Such was the charm of his manner, and so firm the conviction of sincerity +and good-will which he inspired, that in the course of a fortnight there +was already a sensible change in the aspect of affairs. The enemy, who, +at the time of their arrival, had been making bonfires and holding +triumphal processions for joy of the great breach between Holland and +England, and had been "hoping to swallow them all up, while there were so +few left who knew how to act," were already manifesting disappointment. + +In a solemn meeting of the States-General with the State-council, +Buckhurst addressed the assembly upon the general subject of her +Majesty's goodness to the Netherlands. He spoke of the gracious +assistance rendered by her, notwithstanding her many special charges for +the common cause, and of the mighty enmities which she had incurred for +their sake. He sharply censured the Hollanders for their cruelty to men +who had shed their blood in their cause, but who were now driven forth +from their towns; and left to starve on the highways, and hated for their +nation's sake; as if the whole English name deserved to be soiled "for +the treachery of two miscreants." He spoke strongly of their demeanour +towards the Earl of Leicester, and of the wrongs they had done him, and +told them, that, if they were not ready to atone to her Majesty for such +injuries, they were not to wonder if their deputies received no better +answer at her hands. "She who embraced your cause," he said, "when other +mighty princes forsook you, will still stand fast unto you, yea, and +increase her goodness, if her present state may suffer it." + +After being addressed in this manner the council of state made what +Counsellor Clerk called a "very honest, modest, and wise answer;" but the +States-General, not being able "so easily to discharge that which had so +long boiled within them," deferred their reply until the following day. +They then brought forward a deliberate rejoinder, in which they expressed +themselves devoted to her Majesty, and, on the whole, well disposed to +the Earl. As to the 4th February letter, it had been written "in +amaritudine cordis," upon hearing the treasons of York and Stanley, and +in accordance with "their custom and liberty used towards all princes, +whereby they had long preserved their estate," and in the conviction that +the real culprits for all the sins of his Excellency's government were +certain "lewd persons who sought to seduce his Lordship, and to cause him +to hate the States." + +Buckhurst did not think it well to reply, at that moment, on the ground +that there had been already crimination and recrimination more than +enough, and that "a little bitterness more had rather caused them to +determine dangerously than solve for the best." + +They then held council together--the envoys and the State-General, as to +the amount of troops absolutely necessary--casting up the matter "as +pinchingly as possibly might be." And the result was, that 20,000 foot +and 2000 horse for garrison work, and an army of 13,000 foot, 5000 horse, +and pioneers, for a campaign of five or six months, were pronounced +indispensable. This would require all their L240,000 sterling a-year, +regular contribution, her Majesty's contingent of L140,000, and an extra +sum of L150,000 sterling. Of this sum the States requested her Majesty +should furnish two-thirds, while they agreed to furnish the other third, +which would make in all L240,000 for the Queen, and L290,000 for the +States. As it was understood that the English subsidies were only a +loan, secured by mortgage of the cautionary towns, this did not seem very +unreasonable, when the intimate blending of England's welfare with that +of the Provinces was considered. + +Thus it will be observed that Lord Buckhurst--while doing his best to +conciliate personal feuds and heart-burnings--had done full justice to +the merits of Leicester, and had placed in strongest light the favours +conferred by her Majesty. + +He then proceeded to Utrecht, where he was received with many +demonstrations of respect, "with solemn speeches" from magistrates and +burgher-captains, with military processions, and with great banquets, +which were, however, conducted with decorum, and at which even Count +Moeurs excited universal astonishment by his sobriety. It was difficult, +however, for matters to go very smoothly, except upon the surface. What +could be more disastrous than for a little commonwealth--a mere handful +of people, like these Netherlanders, engaged in mortal combat with the +most powerful monarch in the world, and with the first general of the +age, within a league of their borders--thus to be deprived of all +organized government at a most critical moment, and to be left to wrangle +with their allies and among themselves, as to the form of polity to be +adopted, while waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman? + +And the very foundation of the authority by which the Spanish yoke had +been abjured, the sovereignty offered to Elizabeth, and the government- +general conferred on Leicester, was fiercely assailed by the confidential +agents of Elizabeth herself. The dispute went into the very depths of +the social contract. Already Wilkes, standing up stoutly for the +democratic views of the governor, who was so foully to requite him, had +assured the English government that the "people were ready to cut the +throats" of the Staten-General at any convenient moment. The sovereign +people, not the deputies, were alone to be heeded, he said, and although +he never informed the world by what process he had learned the deliberate +opinion of that sovereign, as there had been no assembly excepting those +of the States-General and States-Provincial--he was none the less fully +satisfied that the people were all with Leicester, and bitterly opposed +to the States. + +"For the sovereignty, or supreme authority," said he, through failure of +a legitimate prince, belongs to the people, and not to you, gentlemen, +who are only servants, ministers, and deputies of the people. You have +your commissions or instructions surrounded by limitations--which +conditions are so widely different from the power of sovereignty, as the +might of the subject is in regard to his prince, or of a servant in, +respect to his master. For sovereignty is not limited either as to power +or as to time. Still less do you represent the sovereignty; for the +people, in giving the general and absolute government to the Earl of +Leicester, have conferred upon him at once the exercise of justice, the +administration of polity, of naval affairs, of war, and of all the other +points of sovereignty. Of these a governor-general is however only the +depositary or guardian, until such time as it may please the prince or +people to revoke the trust; there being no other in this state who can do +this; seeing that it was the people, through the instrumentality of your +offices--through you as its servants--conferred on his Excellency, this +power, authority, and government. According to the common rule law, +therefore, 'quo jure quid statuitur, eodem jure tolli debet.' You having +been fully empowered by the provinces and cities, or, to speak more +correctly, by your masters and superiors, to confer the government on +his Excellency, it follows that you require a like power in order to take +it away either in whole or in part. If then you had no commission to +curtail his authority, or even that of the state-council, and thus to +tread upon and usurp his power as governor general and absolute, there +follows of two things one: either you did not well understand what you +were doing, nor duly consider how far that power reached, or--much more +probably--you have fallen into the sin of disobedience, considering how +solemnly you swore allegiance to him. + +Thus subtly and ably did Wilkes defend the authority of the man who had +deserted his post at a most critical moment, and had compelled the +States, by his dereliction, to take the government into their own hands. + +For, after all, the whole argument of the English counsellor rested upon +a quibble. The people were absolutely sovereign, he said, and had lent +that sovereignty to Leicester. How had they made that loan? Through the +machinery of the States-General. So long then as the Earl retained the +absolute sovereignty, the States were not even representatives of the +sovereign people. The sovereign people was merged into one English Earl. +The English Earl had retired--indefinitely--to England. Was the +sovereign people to wait for months, or years, before it regained its +existence? And if not, how was it to reassert its vitality? How but +through the agency of the States-General, who--according to Wilkes +himself--had been fully empowered by the Provinces and Cities to confer +the government on the Earl? The people then, after all, were the +provinces and cities. And the States-General were at that moment as much +qualified to represent those provinces and cities as they ever had been, +and they claimed no more. Wilkes, nor any other of the Leicester party, +ever hinted at a general assembly of the people. Universal suffrage was +not dreamed of at that day. By the people, he meant, if he meant +anything, only that very small fraction of the inhabitants of a country, +who, according to the English system, in the reign of Elizabeth, +constituted its Commons. He chose, rather from personal and political +motives than philosophical ones, to draw a distinction between the people +and the States, but it is quite obvious, from the tone of his private +communications, that by the 'States' he meant the individuals who +happened, for the time-being, to be the deputies of the States of each +Province. But it was almost an affectation to accuse those individuals +of calling or considering themselves 'sovereigns;' for it was very well +known that they sat as envoys, rather than as members of a congress, and +were perpetually obliged to recur to their constituents, the States of +each Province, for instructions. It was idle, because Buys and +Barneveld, and Roorda, and other leaders, exercised the influence due to +their talents, patriotism, and experience, to stigmatize them as usurpers +of sovereignty, and to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and +mischief-makers. Yet to take this course pleased the Earl of Leicester, +who saw no hope for the liberty of the people, unless absolute and +unconditional authority over the people, in war, naval affairs, justice, +and policy, were placed in his hands. This was the view sustained by the +clergy of the Reformed Church, because they found it convenient, through +such a theory, and by Leicester's power, to banish Papists, exercise +intolerance in matters of religion, sequestrate for their own private +uses the property of the Catholic Church, and obtain for their own a +political power which was repugnant to the more liberal ideas of the +Barneveld party. + +The States of Holland--inspired as it were by the memory of that great +martyr to religious and political liberty, William the Silent--maintained +freedom of conscience. + +The Leicester party advocated a different theory on the religious +question. They were also determined to omit no effort to make the States +odious. + +"Seeing their violent courses," said Wilkes to Leicester, "I have not +been negligent, as well by solicitations to the ministers, as by my +letters to such as have continued constant in affection to your Lordship, +to have the people informed of the ungrateful and dangerous proceedings +of the States. They have therein travailed with so good effect, as the +people are now wonderfully well disposed, and have delivered everywhere +in speeches, that if, by the overthwart dealings of the States, her +Majesty shall be drawn to stay her succours and goodness to them, and +that thereby your Lordship be also discouraged to return, they will cut +their throats." + +Who the "people" exactly were, that had been so wonderfully well disposed +to throat-cutting by the ministers of the Gospel, did not distinctly +appear. It was certain, however, that they were the special friends of +Leicester, great orators, very pious, and the sovereigns of the country. +So much could not be gainsaid. + +"Your Lordship would wonder," continued the councillor, "to see the +people--who so lately, by the practice of the said States and the +accident of Deventer, were notably alienated--so returned to their former +devotion towards her Majesty, your Lordship, and our nation." + +Wilkes was able moreover to gratify the absent governor-general with the +intelligence--of somewhat questionable authenticity however--that the +States were very "much terrified with these threats of the people." But +Barneveld came down to the council to inquire what member of that body it +was who had accused the States of violating the Earl's authority. +"Whoever he is," said the Advocate, "let him deliver his mind frankly, +and he shall be answered." The man did not seem much terrified by the +throat-cutting orations. "It is true," replied Wilkes, perceiving +himself to be the person intended, "that you have very injuriously, in +many of your proceedings, derogated from and trodden the authority of his +Lordship and of this council under your feet." + +And then he went into particulars, and discussed, 'more suo,' the +constitutional question, in which various Leicestrian counsellors +seconded him. + +But Barneveld grimly maintained that the States were the sovereigns, +and that it was therefore unfit that the governor, who drew his authority +from them, should call them to account for their doings. "It was as if +the governors in the time of Charles V.," said the Advocate, "should have +taxed that Emperor for any action of his done in the government." + +In brief, the rugged Barneveld, with threatening voice, and lion port, +seemed to impersonate the Staten, and to hold reclaimed sovereignty in +his grasp. It seemed difficult to tear it from him again. + +"I did what I could," said Wilkes, "to beat them from this humour of +their sovereignty, showing that upon that error they had grounded the +rest of their wilful absurdities." + +Next night, he drew up sixteen articles, showing the disorders of the +States, their breach of oaths, and violations of the Earl's authority; +and with that commenced a series of papers interchanged by the two +parties, in which the topics of the origin of government and the +principles of religious freedom were handled with much ability on both +sides, but at unmerciful length. + +On the religious question, the States-General, led by Barneveld and by +Francis Franck, expressed themselves manfully, on various occasions, +during the mission of Buckhurst. + +"The nobles and cities constituting the States," they said, "have been +denounced to Lord Leicester as enemies of religion, by the self-seeking +mischief-makers who surround him. Why? Because they had refused the +demand of certain preachers to call a general synod, in defiance of the +States-General, and to introduce a set of ordinances, with a system of +discipline, according to their arbitrary will. This the late Prince of +Orange and the States-General had always thought detrimental both to +religion and polity. They respected the difference in religious +opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel +no man's conscience--a course which all statesmen, knowing the diversity +of human opinions, had considered necessary in order to maintain +fraternal harmony." + +Such words shine through the prevailing darkness of the religious +atmosphere at that epoch, like characters of light. They are beacons in +the upward path of mankind. Never before, had so bold and wise a tribute +to the genius of the reformation been paid by an organized community. +Individuals walking in advance of their age had enunciated such truths, +and their voices had seemed to die away, but, at last, a little, +struggling, half-developed commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of +conscience for all mankind--for Papists and Calvinists, Jews and +Anabaptists--because "having a respect for differences in religious +opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel +no man's conscience." + +On the constitutional question, the States commenced by an astounding +absurdity. "These mischief-makers, moreover," said they, "have not been +ashamed to dispute, and to cause the Earl of Leicester to dispute, the +lawful constitution of the Provinces; a matter which has not been +disputed for eight hundred years." + +This was indeed to claim a respectable age for their republic. Eight +hundred years took them back to the days of Charlemagne, in whose time it +would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their States- +General and States-Provincial. That the constitutional government-- +consisting of nobles and of the vroedschaps of chartered cities--should +have been in existence four hundred and seventeen years before the first +charter had ever been granted to a city, was a very loose style of +argument. Thomas Wilkes, in reply; might as well have traced the English +parliament to Hengist and Horsa. "For eight hundred years;" they said, +"Holland had been governed by Counts and Countesses, on whom the nobles +and cities, as representing the States, had legally conferred +sovereignty." + +Now the first incorporated city of Holland and Zeeland that ever existed +was Middelburg, which received its charter from Count William I. of +Holland and Countess Joan of Flanders; in the year 1217. The first Count +that had any legal recognized authority was Dirk the First to whom +Charles the Simple presented the territory of Holland, by letters-patent, +in 922. Yet the States-General, in a solemn and eloquent document, +gravely dated their own existence from the year 787, and claimed the +regular possession and habitual delegation of sovereignty from that epoch +down! + +After this fabulous preamble, they proceeded to handle the matter of fact +with logical precision. It was absurd, they said, that Mr. Wilkes and +Lord Leicester should affect to confound the persons who appeared in the +assembly with the States themselves; as if those individuals claimed or +exercised sovereignty. Any man who had observed what had been passing +during the last fifteen years, knew very well that the supreme authority +did not belong to the thirty or forty individuals who came to the +meetings . . . . . The nobles, by reason of their ancient dignity +and splendid possessions, took counsel together over state matters, and +then, appearing at the assembly, deliberated with the deputies of the +cities. The cities had mainly one form of government--a college of +counsellors; or wise men, 40, 32, 28, or 24 in number, of the most +respectable out of the whole community. They were chosen for life, and +vacancies were supplied by the colleges themselves out of the mass of +citizens. These colleges alone governed the city, and that which had +been ordained by them was to be obeyed by all the inhabitants--a system +against which there had never been any rebellion. The colleges again, +united with those of the nobles, represented the whole state, the whole +body of the population; and no form of government could be imagined, +they said, that could resolve, with a more thorough knowledge of the +necessities of the country, or that could execute its resolves with more +unity of purpose and decisive authority. To bring the colleges into an +assembly could only be done by means of deputies. These deputies, chosen +by their colleges, and properly instructed, were sent to the place of +meeting. During the war they had always been commissioned to resolve in +common on matters regarding the liberty of the land. These deputies, +thus assembled, represented, by commission, the States; but they are not, +in their own persons, the States; and no one of them had any such +pretension. "The people of this country," said the States, "have an +aversion to all ambition; and in these disastrous times, wherein nothing +but trouble and odium is to be gathered by public employment, these +commissions are accounted 'munera necessaria' . . . . . This form of +government has, by God's favour, protected Holland and Zeeland, during +this war, against a powerful foe, without lose of territory, without any +popular outbreak, without military mutiny, because all business has been +transacted with open doors; and because the very smallest towns are all +represented, and vote in the assembly." + +In brief, the constitution of the United Provinces was a matter of fact. +It was there in good working order, and had, for a generation of mankind, +and throughout a tremendous war, done good service. Judged by the +principles of reason and justice, it was in the main a wholesome +constitution, securing the independence and welfare of the state, and +the liberty and property of the individual, as well certainly as did any +polity then existing in the world. It seemed more hopeful to abide by it +yet a little longer than to adopt the throat-cutting system by the +people, recommended by Wilkes and Leicester as an improvement on the old +constitution. This was the view of Lord Buckhurst. He felt that threats +of throat-cutting were not the best means of smoothing and conciliating, +and he had come over to smooth and conciliate. + +"To spend the time," said he, "in private brabbles and piques between the +States and Lord Leicester, when we ought to prepare an army against the +enemy, and to repair the shaken and torn state, is not a good course for +her Majesty's service." Letters were continually circulating from hand +to hand among the antagonists of the Holland party, written out of +England by Leicester, exciting the ill-will of the populace against the +organized government. "By such means to bring the States into hatred," +said Buckhurst, "and to stir up the people against them; tends to great +damage and miserable end. This his Lordship doth full little consider, +being the very way to dissolve all government, and so to bring all into +confusion, and open the door for the enemy. But oh, how lamentable a +thing it is, and how doth my Lord of Leicester abuse her Majesty, making +her authority the means to uphold and justify, and under her name to +defend and maintain, all his intolerable errors. I thank God that +neither his might nor his malice shall deter me from laying open all +those things which my conscience knoweth, and which appertaineth to be +done for the good of this cause and of her Majesty's service. Herein, +though I were sure to lose my life, yet will I not offend neither the +one nor the other, knowing very well that I must die; and to die in her +Majesty's faithful service, and with a good conscience, is far more happy +than the miserable life that I am in. If Leicester do in this sort stir +up the people against the States to follow his revenge against them, and +if the Queen do yield no better aid, and the minds of Count Maurice and +Hohenlo remain thus in fear and hatred of him, what good end or service +can be hoped for here?"--[Buckhurst to Walsingham, 13th June, 1587. +(Brit. Mus. Galba, D. I. p. 95, MS.)] + +Buckhurst was a man of unimpeached integrity and gentle manners. He had +come over with the best intentions towards the governor-general, and it +has been seen that he boldly defended him in, his first interviews with +the States. But as the intrigues and underhand plottings of the Earl's +agents were revealed to him, he felt more and more convinced that there +was a deep laid scheme to destroy the government, and to constitute a +virtual and absolute sovereignty for Leicester. It was not wonderful +that the States were standing vigorously on the defensive. + +The subtle Deventer, Leicester's evil genius, did not cease to poison the +mind of the governor, during his protracted absence, against all persons +who offered impediments to the cherished schemes of his master and +himself. "Your Excellency knows very well," he said, "that the state of +this country is democratic, since, by failure of a prince, the sovereign +disposition of affairs has returned to the people. That same people is +everywhere so incredibly affectionate towards you that the delay in your +return drives them to extreme despair. Any one who would know the real +truth has but to remember the fine fear the States-General were in when +the news of your displeasure about the 4th February letter became known." + +Had it not been for the efforts of Lord Buckhurst in calming the popular +rage, Deventer assured the Earl that the writers of the letter would +"have scarcely saved their skins;" and that they had always continued in +great danger. + +He vehemently urged upon Leicester, the necessity of his immediate +return--not so much for reasons drawn from the distracted state of the +country, thus left to a provisional government and torn by faction--but +because of the facility with which he might at once seize upon arbitrary +power. He gratified his master by depicting in lively colours the abject +condition into which Barneveld, Maurice, Hohenlo, and similar cowards, +would be thrown by his sudden return. + +"If," said he, "the States' members and the counts, every one of them, +are so desperately afraid of the people, even while your Excellency is +afar off, in what trepidation will they be when you are here! God, +reason, the affection of the sovereign people, are on your side. There +needs, in a little commonwealth like ours, but a wink of the eye, the +slightest indication of dissatisfaction on your part, to take away all +their valour from men who are only brave where swords are too short. +A magnanimous prince like yourself should seek at once the place where +such plots are hatching, and you would see the fury of the rebels change +at once to cowardice. There is more than one man here in the Netherlands +that brags of what he will do against the greatest and most highly +endowed prince in England, because he thinks he shall never see him +again, who, at the very first news of your return, my Lord, would think +only of packing his portmanteau, greasing his boots, or, at the very +least, of sneaking back into his hole." + +But the sturdy democrat was quite sure that his Excellency, that most +magnanimous prince of England would not desert his faithful followers-- +thereby giving those "filthy rascals," his opponents, a triumph, and +"doing so great an injury to the sovereign people, who were ready to get +rid of them all at a single blow, if his Excellency would but say the +word." + +He then implored the magnanimous prince to imitate the example of Moses, +Joshua, David, and that of all great emperors and captains, Hebrew, +Greek, and Roman, to come at once to the scene of action, and to smite +his enemies hip and thigh. He also informed his Excellency, that if the +delay should last much longer, he would lose all chance of regaining +power, because the sovereign people had quite made up their mind to +return to the dominion of Spain within three months, if they could not +induce his Excellency to rule over them. In that way at least, if in +no other, they could circumvent those filthy rascals whom they so much +abhorred, and frustrate the designs of Maurice, Hohenlo, and Sir John +Norris, who were represented as occupying the position of the triumvirs +after the death of Julius Caesar. + +To place its neck under the yoke of Philip II. and the Inquisition, +after having so handsomely got rid of both, did not seem a sublime +manifestation of sovereignty on the part of the people, and even Deventer +had some misgivings as to the propriety of such a result. "What then +will become of our beautiful churches?" he cried, "What will princes +say, what will the world in general say, what will historians say, about +the honour of the English nation?" + +As to the first question, it is probable that the prospect of the +reformed churches would not have been cheerful, had the inquisition been +re-established in Holland and Utrecht, three months after that date. As +to the second, the world and history were likely to reply, that the +honour of the English nation was fortunately not entirely, entrusted at +that epoch to the "magnanimous prince" of Leicester, and his democratic, +counsellor-in-chief, burgomaster Deventer. + +These are but samples of the ravings which sounded incessantly in the +ears of the governor-general. Was it strange that a man, so thirsty for +power, so gluttonous of flattery, should be influenced by such passionate +appeals? Addressed in strains of fulsome adulation, convinced that +arbitrary power was within his reach, and assured that he had but to wink +his eye to see his enemies scattered before him, he became impatient of +all restraint; and determined, on his return, to crush the States into +insignificance. + +Thus, while Buckhurst had been doing his best as a mediator to prepare +the path for his return, Leicester himself end his partisans had been +secretly exerting themselves to make his arrival the signal for discord; +perhaps of civil war. The calm, then, immediately succeeding the mission +of Buckhurst was a deceitful one, but it seemed very promising. The best +feelings were avowed and perhaps entertained. The States professed great +devotion to her Majesty and friendly regard for the governor. They +distinctly declared that the arrangements by which Maurice and Hohenlo +had been placed in their new positions were purely provisional ones, +subject to modifications on the arrival of the Earl. "All things are +reduced to a quiet calm," said Buckhurst, "ready to receive my Lord of +Leicester and his authority, whenever he cometh." + +The quarrel of Hohenlo with Sir Edward Norris had been, by the exertions +of Buckhurst, amicably arranged: the Count became an intimate friend of +Sir John, "to the gladding of all such as wished well to, the country;" +but he nourished a deadly hatred to the Earl. He ran up and down like a +madman whenever his return was mentioned. "If the Queen be willing to +take the sovereignty," he cried out at his own dinner-table to a large +company, "and is ready to proceed roundly in this action, I will serve +her to the last drop of my blood; but if she embrace it in no other sort +than hitherto she hath done, and if Leicester is to return, then am I as +good a man as Leicester, and will never be commanded by him. I mean to +continue on my frontier, where all who love me can come and find me." + +He declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the +part of Leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so +important, that Villiers came to Councillor Clerk to confer with him on +the subject. The worthy Bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, +left his quiet chambers in the Temple to come again among the guns and +drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge. It was +best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be +thoroughly investigated. Villiers was of the same opinion, and +accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the +secret only--to whom? To Mr. Atye, Leicester's private secretary. Atye, +of course, instantly told his master--his master in a frenzy of rage, +told the Queen, and her Majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at +this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, +to the States-General, to everybody in the Netherlands--so that the +assertion of Hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination. +Leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent +falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to +prevent his return. Unquestionably there was nothing in the story but +table-talk; but the Count would have been still more ferocious towards +Leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that +very moment. + +While Buckhurst was at Utrecht, listening to the "solemn-speeches" of the +militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets +with Moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her Majesty. +Not having the key, he sent to Wilkes at the Hague. Wilkes was very ill; +but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed +and made the journey to Utrecht. The letter, on being deciphered, proved +to be an order from the Queen to decoy Hohenlo into some safe town, on +pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground +that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the +republic to Philip. + +The commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce +this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with Hohenlo and +with the powerful party in the Netherlands of which he was one of the +chiefs. Wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter. Buckhurst felt +the impossibility of obeying the royal will. Both knew the cause, and +both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step. Wilkes had heard +some rumours of intrigues between Parma's agents at Deventer and Hohenlo, +and had confided them to Walsingham, hoping that the Secretary would keep +the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice. He was +appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both +Buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one. He protested, +therefore, to Walsingham that to comply with her Majesty's command would +not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard the ruin +of the republic. Wilkes was also very anxious lest the Earl of Leicester +should hear of the matter. He was already the object of hatred to that +powerful personage, and thought him capable of accomplishing his +destruction in any mode. But if Leicester could wreak his vengeance +upon his enemy Wilkes by the hand of his other deadly enemy Hohenlo, +the councillor felt that this kind of revenge would have a double +sweetness for him. The Queen knows what I have been saying, thought +Wilkes, and therefore Leicester knows it; and if Leicester knows it, he +will take care that Hohenlo shall hear of it too, and then wo be unto me. +"Your honour knoweth," he said to Walsingham, "that her Majesty can hold +no secrets, and if she do impart it to Leicester, then am I sped." + +Nothing came of it however, and the relations of Wilkes and Buckhurst +with Hohenlo continued to be friendly. It was a lesson to Wilkes to +be more cautious even with the cautious Walsingham. "We had but bare +suspicions," said Buckhurst, "nothing fit, God knoweth, to come to such a +reckoning. Wilkes saith he meant it but for a premonition to you there; +but I think it will henceforth be a premonition to himself--there being +but bare presumptions, and yet shrewd presumptions." + +Here then were Deventer and Leicester plotting to overthrow the +government of the States; the States and Hohenlo arming against +Leicester; the extreme democratic party threatening to go over to the +Spaniards within three months; the Earl accused of attempting the life of +Hohenlo; Hohenlo offering to shed the last drop of his blood for Queen +Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth giving orders to throw Hohenlo into prison as +a traitor; Councillor Wilkes trembling for his life at the hands both of +Leicester and Hohenlo; and Buckhurst doing his best to conciliate all +parties, and imploring her Majesty in vain to send over money to help on +the war, and to save her soldiers from starving. + +For the Queen continued to refuse the loan of fifty thousand pounds which +the provinces solicited, and in hope of which the States had just agreed +to an extra contribution of a million florins (L100,000), a larger sum +than had been levied by a single vote since the commencement of the war. +It must be remembered, too, that the whole expense of the war fell upon +Holland and Zeeland. The Province of Utrecht, where there was so strong +a disposition to confer absolute authority upon Leicester, and to destroy +the power of the States-General contributed absolutely nothing. Since +the Loss of Deventer, nothing could be raised in the Provinces of +Utrecht, Gelderland or Overyssel; the Spaniards levying black mail upon +the whole territory, and impoverishing the inhabitants till they became +almost a nullity. Was it strange then that the States of Holland and +Zeeland, thus bearing nearly the whole; burden of the war, should be +dissatisfied with the hatred felt toward them by their sister Provinces +so generously protected by them? Was it unnatural that Barneveld, and +Maurice, and Hohenlo, should be disposed to bridle the despotic +inclinations of Leicester, thus fostered by those who existed, as it +were, at their expense? + +But the Queen refused the L50,000, although Holland and Zeeland had voted +the L100,000. "No reason that breedeth charges," sighed Walsingham, "can +in any sort be digested." + +It was not for want of vehement entreaty on the part of the Secretary of +State and of Buckhurst that the loan was denied. At least she was +entreated to send over money for her troops, who for six months past were +unpaid. "Keeping the money in your coffers," said Buckhurst, "doth yield +no interest to you, and--which is above all earthly, respects--it shall +be the means of preserving the lives of many of your faithful subjects +which otherwise must needs, daily perish. Their miseries, through want +of meat and money, I do protest to God so much moves, my soul with +commiseration of that which is past, and makes my heart tremble to think +of the like to come again, that I humbly beseech your Majesty, for Jesus +Christ sake, to have compassion on their lamentable estate past, and send +some money to prevent the like hereafter." + +These were moving words,--but the money did not come--charges could not +be digested. + +"The eternal God," cried Buckhurst, "incline your heart to grant the +petition of the States for the loan of the L50,000, and that speedily, +for the dangerous terms of the State here and the mighty and forward +preparation of the enemy admit no minute of delay; so that even to grant +it slowly is to deny it utterly." + +He then drew a vivid picture of the capacity of the Netherlands to assist +the endangered realm of England, if delay were not suffered to destroy +both commonwealths, by placing the Provinces in an enemy's hand. + +"Their many and notable good havens," he said, "the great number of ships +and mariners, their impregnable towns, if they were in the hands of a +potent prince that would defend them, and, lastly, the state of this +shore; so near and opposite unto the land and coast of England--lo, the +sight of all this, daily in mine eye, conjoined with the deep, enrooted +malice of that your so mighty enemy who seeketh to regain them; these +things entering continually into the, meditations of my heart--so much do +they import the safety of yourself and your estate--do enforce me, in the +abundance of my love and duty to your Majesty, most earnestly to speak, +write, and weep unto you, lest when the occasion yet offered shall be +gone by, this blessed means of your defence, by God's provident goodness +thus put into your hand, will then be utterly lost, lo; never, never more +to be recovered again." + +It was a noble, wise, and eloquent appeal, but it was muttered in vain. +Was not Leicester--his soul filled with petty schemes of reigning in +Utrecht, and destroying the constitutional government of the Provinces +--in full possession of the royal ear? And was not the same ear lent, +at most critical moment, to the insidious Alexander Farnese, with his +whispers of peace, which were potent enough to drown all the preparations +for the invincible Armada? + +Six months had rolled away since Leicester had left the Netherlands; six +months long, the Provinces, left in a condition which might have become +anarchy, had been saved by the wise government of the States-General; six +months long the English soldiers had remained unpaid by their sovereign; +and now for six weeks the honest, eloquent, intrepid, but gentle +Buckhurst had done his best to conciliate all parties, and to mould the +Netherlanders into an impregnable bulwark for the realm of England. But +his efforts were treated with scorn by the Queen. She was still maddened +by a sense of the injuries done by the States to Leicester. She was +indignant that her envoy should have accepted such lame apologies for the +4th of February letter; that he should have received no better atonement +for their insolent infringements of the Earl's orders during his absence; +that he should have excused their contemptuous proceedings and that, in +short, he should have been willing to conciliate and forgive when he +should have stormed and railed. "You conceived, it seemeth," said her +Majesty, "that a more sharper manner of proceeding would have exasperated +matters to the prejudice of the service, and therefore you did think it +more fit to wash the wounds rather with water than vinegar, wherein we +would rather have wished, on the other side, that you had better +considered that festering wounds had more need of corrosives than +lenitives. Your own judgment ought to have taught that such a alight and +mild kind of dealing with a people so ingrate and void of consideration +as the said Estates have showed themselves toward us, is the ready way to +increase their contempt." + +The envoy might be forgiven for believing that at any rate there would be +no lack of corrosives or vinegar, so long as the royal tongue or pen +could do their office, as the unfortunate deputies had found to their +cost in their late interviews at Greenwich, and as her own envoys in the +Netherlands were perpetually finding now. The Queen was especially +indignant that the Estates should defend the tone of their letters to the +Earl on the ground that he had written a piquant epistle to them. "But +you can manifestly see their untruths in naming it a piquant letter," +said Elizabeth, "for it has no sour or sharp word therein, nor any clause +or reprehension, but is full of gravity and gentle admonition. It +deserved a thankful answer, and so you may maintain it to them to their +reproof." + +The States doubtless thought that the loss of Deventer and, with it, the +almost ruinous condition of three out of the seven Provinces, might +excuse on their part a little piquancy of phraseology, nor was it easy +for them to express gratitude to the governor for his grave and gentle +admonitions, after he had, by his secret document of 24th November, +rendered himself fully responsible for the disaster they deplored. + +She expressed unbounded indignation with Hohenlo, who, as she was well +aware, continued to cherish a deadly hatred for Leicester. Especially +she was exasperated, and with reason, by the assertion the Count had made +concerning the governor's murderous designs upon him. "'Tis a matter," +said the Queen, "so foul and dishonourable that doth not only touch +greatly the credit of the Earl, but also our own honour, to have one who +hath been nourished and brought up by us, and of whom we have made show +to the world to have extraordinarily favoured above any other of our own +subjects, and used his service in those countries in a place of that +reputation he held there, stand charged with so horrible and unworthy a +crime. And therefore our pleasure is, even as you tender the continuance +of our favour towards you, that you seek, by all the means you may, +examining the Count Hollock, or any other party in this matter, to +discover and to sift out how this malicious imputation hath been wrought; +for we have reason to think that it hath grown out of some cunning device +to stay the Earl's coming, and to discourage him from the continuance of +his service in those countries." + +And there the Queen was undoubtedly in the right. Hohenlo was resolved, +if possible, to make the Earl's government of the Netherlands impossible. +There was nothing in the story however; and all that by the most diligent +"sifting" could ever be discovered, and all that the Count could be +prevailed upon to confess, was an opinion expressed by him that if he had +gone with Leicester to England, it might perhaps have fared ill with him. +But men were given to loose talk in those countries. There was great +freedom of tongue and pen; and as the Earl, whether with justice or not, +had always been suspected of strong tendencies to assassination, it was +not very wonderful that so reckless an individual as Hohenlo should +promulgate opinions on such subjects, without much reserve. "The number +of crimes that have been imputed to me," said Leicester, "would be +incomplete, had this calumny not been added to all preceding ones." +It is possible that assassination, especially poisoning, may have been +a more common-place affair in those days than our own. At any rate, it +is certain that accusations of such crimes were of ordinary occurrence. +Men were apt to die suddenly if they had mortal enemies, and people would +gossip. At the very same moment, Leicester was deliberately accused not +only of murderous intentions towards Hohenlo, but towards Thomas Wilkes +and Count Lewis William of Nassau likewise. A trumpeter, arrested in +Friesland, had just confessed that he had been employed by the Spanish +governor of that Province, Colonel Verdugo, to murder Count Lewis, and +that four other persons had been entrusted with the same commission. +The Count wrote to Verdugo, and received in reply an indignant denial +of the charge. "Had I heard of such a project," said the Spaniard, +"I would, on the contrary, have given you warning. And I give you one +now." He then stated, as a fact known to him on unquestionable +authority, that the Earl of Leicester had assassins at that moment in his +employ to take the life of Count Lewis, adding that as for the trumpeter, +who had just been hanged for the crime suborned by the writer, he was a +most notorious lunatic. In reply, Lewis, while he ridiculed this plea of +insanity set up for a culprit who had confessed his crime succinctly and +voluntarily, expressed great contempt for the counter-charge against +Leicester. "His Excellency," said the sturdy little Count," is a +virtuous gentleman, the most pious and God-fearing I have ever known. I +am very sure that he could never treat his enemies in the manner stated, +much less his friends. As for yourself, may God give me grace, in +requital of your knavish trick, to make such a war upon you as becomes an +upright soldier and a man of honour." + +Thus there was at least one man--and a most important, one--in the +opposition--party who thoroughly believed in the honour of the governor- +general. + +The Queen then proceeded to lecture Lord Buckhurst very severely for +having tolerated an instant the States' proposition to her for a loan of +L50,000. "The enemy," she observed, "is quite unable to attempt the +siege of any town." + +Buckhurst was, however, instructed, in case the States' million should +prove insufficient to enable the army to make head against the enemy, and +in the event of "any alteration of the good-will of the people towards +her, caused by her not yielding, in this their necessity, some convenient +support," to let them then understand, "as of himself, that if they would +be satisfied with a loan of ten or fifteen thousand pounds, he, would do +his best endeavour to draw her Majesty to yield unto the furnishing of +such a sum, with assured hope to obtaining the same at her hands." + +Truly Walsingham was right in saying that charges of any kind were +difficult of digestion: Yet, even at that moment, Elizabeth had no more +attached subjects in England than sere the burghers of the Netherlands; +who were as anxious ever to annex their territory to her realms. + +'Thus, having expressed an affection for Leicester which no one doubted, +having once more thoroughly brow-beaten the states, and having soundly +lectured Buckhurst--as a requital for his successful efforts to bring +about a more wholesome condition of affairs--she gave the envoy a parting +stab, with this postscript;--"There is small disproportion," she said +"twist a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not, and him that useth +it not when it should avail him." Leicester, too, was very violent in +his attacks upon Buckhurst. The envoy had succeeded in reconciling +Hohenlo with the brothers Norris, and had persuaded Sir John to offer the +hand of friendship to Leicester, provided it were sure of being accepted. +Yet in this desire to conciliate, the Earl found renewed cause for +violence. "I would have had more regard of my Lord of Buckhurst," he +said, "if the case had been between him and Norris, but I must regard my +own reputation the more that I see others would impair it. You have +deserved little thanks of me, if I must deal plainly, who do equal me +after this sort with him, whose best place is colonel under me, and once +my servant, and preferred by me to all honourable place he had." And +thus were enterprises of great moment, intimately affecting the, safety +of Holland, of England, of all Protestantism, to be suspended between +triumph and ruin, in order that the spleen of one individual--one Queen's +favourite--might be indulged. The contempt of an insolent grandee for a +distinguished commander--himself the son, of a Baron, with a mother the +dear friend of her sovereign--was to endanger the existence of great +commonwealths. Can the influence of the individual, for good or bad, +upon the destinies of the race be doubted, when the characters and +conduct of Elizabeth and Leicester, Burghley and Walsingham, Philip and +Parma, are closely scrutinized and broadly traced throughout the wide +range of their effects? + +"And I must now, in your Lordship's sight," continued Leicester, "be made +a counsellor with this companion, who never yet to this day hath done so +much as take knowledge of my mislike of him; no, not to say this much, +which I think would well become his better, that he was sorry, to hear I +had mislike to him, that he desired my suspension till he might either +speak with me, or be charged from me, and if then he were not able to +satisfy me, he would acknowledge his fault, and make me any honest +satisfaction. This manner of dealing would have been no disparagement to +his better. And even so I must think that your Lordship doth me wrong, +knowing what you do, to make so little difference between John Norris, my +man not long since, and now but my colonel under me, as though we were +equals. And I cannot but more than marvel at this your proceeding, when +I remember your promises of friendship, and your opinions resolutely set +down . . . . You were so determined before you went hence, but must +have become wonderfully enamoured of those men's unknown virtues in a few +days of acquaintance, from the alteration that is grown by their own +commendations of themselves. You know very well that all the world +should not make me serve with John Norris. Your sudden change from +mislike to liking has, by consequence, presently cast disgrace upon me. +But all is not gold that glitters, nor every shadow a perfect +representation . . . . You knew he should not serve with me, but +either you thought me a very inconstant man, or else a very simple soul, +resolving with you as I did, for you to take the course you have done." +He felt, however, quite strong in her Majesty's favour. He knew himself +her favourite, beyond all chance or change, and was sure, so long as +either lived, to thrust his enemies, by her aid, into outer darkness. +Woe to Buckhurst, and Norris, and Wilkes, and all others who consorted +with his enemies. Let them flee from the wrath to come! And truly they +were only too anxious to do so, for they knew that Leicester's hatred was +poisonous. "He is not so facile to forget as ready to revenge," said +poor Wilkes, with neat alliteration. "My very heavy and mighty adversary +will disgrace and undo me. + +"It sufficeth," continued Leicester, "that her Majesty both find my +dealings well enough, and so, I trust will graciously use me. As for the +reconciliations and love-days you have made there, truly I have liked +well of it; for you did sow me your disposition therein before, and I +allowed of it, and I had received letters both from Count Maurice and +Hohenlo of their humility and kindness, but now in your last letters you +say they have uttered the cause of their mislike towards me, which you +forbear to write of, looking so speedily for my return." + +But the Earl knew well enough what the secret was, for had it not been +specially confided by the judicious Bartholomew to Atye, who had +incontinently told his master? "This pretense that I should kill +Hohenlo," cried Leicester, "is a matter properly foisted in to bring me +to choler. I will not suffer it to rest, thus. Its authors shall be +duly and severely punished. And albeit I see well enough the plot of +this wicked device, yet shall it not work the effect the devisers have +done it for. No, my Lord, he is a villain and a false lying knave +whosoever he be, and of what, nation soever that hath forged this device. +Count Hohenlo doth know I never gave him cause to fear me so much. There +were ways and means offered me to have quitted him of the country if I +had so liked. This new monstrous villany which is now found out I do +hate and detest, as I would look for the right judgment of God to fall +upon myself, if I had but once imagined it. All this makes good proof of +Wilkes's good dealing with me, that hath heard of so vile and villainous +a reproach of me, and never gave me knowledge. But I trust your Lordship +shall receive her Majesty's order for this, as for a matter that toucheth +herself in honour, and me her poor servant and minister, as dearly as any +matter can do; and I will so take it and use it to the uttermost." + +We have seen how anxiously Buckhurst had striven to do his duty upon a +most difficult mission. Was it unnatural that so fine a nature as his +should be disheartened, at reaping nothing but sneers and contumely from +the haughty sovereign he served, and from the insolent favourite who +controlled her councils? "I beseech your Lordship," he said to Burghley, +"keep one ear for me, and do not hastily condemn me before you hear mine +answer. For if I ever did or shall do any acceptable service to her +Majesty, it was in, the stay and appeasing of these countries, ever ready +at my coming to have cast off all good respect towards us, and to have +entered even into some desperate cause. In the meantime I am hardly +thought of by her Majesty, and in her opinion condemned before mine +answer be understood. Therefore I beseech you to help me to return, and +not thus to lose her Majesty's favour for my good desert, wasting here my +mind, body, my wits, wealth, and all; with continual toils, taxes, and +troubles, more than I am able to endure." + +But besides his instructions to smooth and expostulate, in which he had +succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill; Buckhurst had received a +still more difficult commission. He had been ordered to broach the +subject of peace, as delicately as possible, but without delay; first +sounding the leading politicians, inducing them to listen to the Queen's +suggestions on the subject, persuading them that they ought to be +satisfied with the principles of the pacification of Ghent, and that it +was hopeless for the Provinces to continue the war with their mighty +adversary any longer. + +Most reluctantly had Buckhurst fulfilled his sovereign's commands in this +disastrous course. To talk to the Hollanders of the Ghent pacification +seemed puerile. That memorable treaty, ten years before, had been one of +the great landmarks of progress, one of the great achievements of William +the Silent. By its provisions, public exercise of the reformed religion +had been secured for the two Provinces of Holland and Zeeland, and it had +been agreed that the secret practice of those rites should be elsewhere +winked at, until such time as the States-General, under the auspices of +Philip II., should otherwise ordain. But was it conceivable that now, +after Philip's authority had been solemnly abjured, and the reformed +worship had become the, public, dominant religion, throughout all the +Provinces,--the whole republic should return to the Spanish dominion, +and to such toleration as might be sanctioned by an assembly professing +loyalty to the most Catholic King? + +Buckhurst had repeatedly warned the Queen, in fervid and eloquent +language, as to the intentions of Spain. "There was never peace well +made," he observed, "without a mighty war preceding, and always, the +sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace." + +"If ever prince had cause," he continued, "to think himself beset with +doubt and danger, you, sacred Queen, have most just cause not only to +think it, but even certainly to believe it. The Pope doth daily plot +nothing else but how he may bring to pass your utter overthrow; the +French King hath already sent you threatenings of revenge, and though for +that pretended cause I think little will ensue, yet he is blind that +seeth not the mortal dislike that boileth deep in his heart for other +respects against you. The Scottish King, not only in regard of his +future hope, but also by reason of some over conceit in his heart, may +be thought a dangerous neighbour to you. The King of Spain armeth and +extendeth all his power to ruin both you and your estate. And if the +Indian gold have corrupted also the King of Denmark, and made him +likewise Spanish, as I marvellously fear; why will not your Majesty, +beholding the flames of your enemies on every side kindling around, +unlock all your coffers and convert your treasure for the advancing of +worthy men, and for the arming of ships and men-of-war that may defend +you, since princes' treasures serve only to that end, and, lie they never +so fast or so full in their chests, can no ways so defend them? + +"The eternal God, in whose hands the hearts of kings do rest, dispose and +guide your sacred Majesty to do that which may be most according to His +blessed will, and best for you, as I trust He will, even for His mercy's +sake, both toward your Majesty and the whole realm of England, whose +desolation is thus sought and compassed." + +Was this the language of a mischievous intriguer, who was sacrificing the +true interest of his country, and whose proceedings were justly earning +for him rebuke and disgrace at the hands of his sovereign? Or was it +rather the noble advice of an upright statesman, a lover of his country, +a faithful servant of his Queen, who had looked through the atmosphere of +falsehood in which he was doing his work, and who had detected, with rare +sagacity, the secret purposes of those who were then misruling the world? + +Buckhurst had no choice, however, but to obey. His private efforts were +of course fruitless, but he announced to her Majesty that it was his +intention very shortly to bring the matter--according to her wish--before +the assembly. + +But Elizabeth, seeing that her counsel had been unwise and her action +premature, turned upon her envoy, as she was apt to do, and rebuked him +for his obedience, so soon as obedience had proved inconvenient to +herself. + +"Having perused your letters," she said, "by which you at large debate +unto us what you have done in the matter of peace . . . . . we find +it strange that you should proceed further. And although we had given +you full and ample direction to proceed to a public dealing in that +cause, yet our own discretion, seeing the difficulties and dangers that +you yourself saw in the propounding of the matter, ought to have led you +to delay till further command from us." + +Her Majesty then instructed her envoy, in case he had not yet "propounded +the matter in the state-house to the general assembly," to pause entirely +until he heard her further pleasure. She concluded, as usual, with a +characteristic postcript in her own hand. + +"Oh weigh deeplier this matter," she said, "than, with so shallow a +judgment, to spill the cause, impair my honour, and shame yourself, with +all your wit, that once was supposed better than to lose a bargain for +the handling." + +Certainly the sphinx could have propounded no more puzzling riddles than +those which Elizabeth thus suggested to Buckhurst. To make war without +an army, to support an army without pay, to frame the hearts of a whole +people to peace who were unanimous for war, and this without saying a +word either in private or public; to dispose the Netherlanders favourably +to herself and to Leicester, by refusing them men and money, brow-beating +them for asking for it, and subjecting them to a course of perpetual +insults, which she called "corrosives," to do all this and more seemed +difficult. If not to do it, were to spill the cause and to lose the +bargain, it was more than probable that they would be spilt and lost. + +But the ambassador was no OEdipus--although a man of delicate perceptions +and brilliant intellect--and he turned imploringly to a wise counsellor +for aid against the tormentor who chose to be so stony-faced and +enigmatical. + +"Touching the matter of peace," said he to Walsingham, "I have written +somewhat to her Majesty in cipher, so as I am sure you will be called for +to decipher it. If you did know how infinitely her Majesty did at my +departure and before--for in this matter of peace she hath specially used +me this good while--command me, pray me, and persuade me to further and +hasten the same with all the speed possible that might be, and how, on +the other side, I have continually been the man and the mean that have +most plainly dehorted her from such post-haste, and that she should never +make good peace without a puissant army in the field, you would then say +that I had now cause to fear her displeasure for being too slow, and not +too forward. And as for all the reasons which in my last letters are set +down, her Majesty hath debated them with me many times." + +And thus midsummer was fast approaching, the commonwealth was without a +regular government, Leicester remained in England nursing his wrath and +preparing his schemes, the Queen was at Greenwich, corresponding with +Alexander Farnese, and sending riddles to Buckhurst, when the enemy--who, +according to her Majesty, was "quite unable to attempt the, siege of any +town" suddenly appeared in force in Flanders, and invested Sluy's. This +most important seaport, both for the destiny of the republic and of +England at that critical moment, was insufficiently defended. It was +quite time to put an army in the field, with a governor-general to +command it. + +On the 5th June there was a meeting of the state-council at the Hague. +Count Maurice, Hohenlo, and Moeurs were present, besides several members +of the States-General. Two propositions were before the council. The +first was that it was absolutely necessary to the safety of the republic, +now that the enemy had taken the field, and the important city of Sluy's +was besieged, for Prince Maurice to be appointed captain-general, until +such time as the Earl of Leicester or some other should be sent by her +Majesty. The second was to confer upon the state-council the supreme +government in civil affairs, for the same period, and to repeal all +limitations and restrictions upon the powers of the council made secretly +by the Earl. + +Chancellor Leoninus, "that grave, wise old man," moved the propositions. +The deputies of the States were requested to withdraw. The vote of each +councillor was demanded. Buckhurst, who, as the Queen's representative-- +together with Wilkes and John Norris--had a seat in the council, refused +to vote. "It was a matter," he discreetly observed with which "he had not +been instructed by her Majesty to intermeddle." Norris and Wilkes also +begged to be excused from voting, and, although earnestly urged to do so +by the whole council, persisted in their refusal. Both measures were +then carried. + +No sooner was the vote taken, than an English courier entered the +council-chamber, with pressing despatches from Lord Leicester. The +letters were at once read. The Earl announced his speedy arrival, and +summoned both the States-General and the council to meet him at Dort, +where his lodgings were already taken. All were surprised, but none more +than Buckhurst, Wilkes, and Norris; for no intimation of this sudden +resolution had been received by them, nor any answer given to various +propositions, considered by her Majesty as indispensable preliminaries to +the governor's visit. + +The council adjourned till after dinner, and Buckhurst held conference +meantime with various counsellors and deputies. On the reassembling of +the board, it was urged by Barneveld, in the name of the States, that the +election of Prince Maurice should still hold good. "Although by these +letters," said he, "it would seem that her Majesty had resolved upon the +speedy return of his Excellency, yet, inasmuch as the counsels and +resolutions of princes are often subject to change upon new occasion, it +does not seem fit that our late purpose concerning Prince Maurice should +receive any interruption." + +Accordingly, after brief debate, both resolutions, voted in the morning, +were confirmed in the afternoon. + +"So now," said Wilkes, "Maurice is general of all the forces, 'et quid +sequetur nescimus.'" + +But whatever else was to follow, it was very certain that Wilkes would +not stay. His great enemy had sworn his destruction, and would now take +his choice, whether to do him to death himself, or to throw him into the +clutch of the ferocious Hohenlo. "As for my own particular," said the +counsellor, "the word is go, whosoever cometh or cometh not," and he +announced to Walsingham his intention of departing without permission, +should he not immediately receive it from England. "I shall stay to be +dandled with no love-days nor leave-takings," he observed. + +But Leicester had delayed his coming too long. The country felt that it- +had been trifled with by his: absence--at so critical a period--of seven +months. It was known too that the Queen was secretly treating with the +enemy, and that Buckhurst had been privately sounding leading personages +upon that subject, by her orders. This had caused a deep, suppressed +indignation. Over and over again had the English government been warned +as to the danger of delay. "Your length in resolving;" Wilkes had said, +"whatsoever your secret purposes may be--will put us to new plunges +before long." The mission of Buckhurst was believed to be "but a stale, +having some other intent than was expressed." And at last, the new +plunge had been fairly taken. It seemed now impossible for Leicester to +regain the absolute authority, which he coveted; and which he had for a +brief season possessed. The States-General, under able leaders, had +become used to a government which had been forced upon them, and which +they had wielded with success. Holland and Zeeland, paying the whole +expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute +sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless +politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been +proved to be felons--and established, at Utrecht, which contributed +nothing to the general purse. If Leicester were really-coming, it seemed +certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution, +and to respect the sovereignty of the States-General. It was resolved +that he should be well bridled. The sensations of Barneveld and his +party may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of Leicester, to +his secretary "the fellow named Junius," as Hohenlo called him--having +been intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying +the Earl's secret thoughts. + +The Earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting +for the Netherlands. He ordered him therefore to proceed at once to +reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of +her Majesty and of the governor-general. And if, on the part of Lord +Buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the Queen was resolved +to treat for peace with the King of Spain; and wished to have the opinion +of the Netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that Lord +Buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her Majesty had not been +treating at all. She had only been attempting to sound the King's +intentions towards the Netherlands, in case of any accord. Having +received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her Majesty was +determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. This appeared +by the expedition of Drake against Spain, and by the return of the Earl, +with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her Majesty, over and above her +ordinary subsidy. + +"You are also;" said the Earl, "to tell those who have the care of the +people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that I am +returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past +difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate +authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the +Provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and +counterminmgs of the States, as in times past. The States must content +themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised +under the governors of the Emperor and the King--without attempting +anything farther during my government--since I desire to do nothing of +importance without the advice of the council, which will be composed +legitimately of persons of the country. You will also tell them that her +Majesty commands me to return unless I can obtain from the States the +authority which is necessary, in order not to be governor in appearance +only and on paper. And I wish that those who are good may be apprized of +all this, in order that nothing may happen to their prejudice and ruin, +and contrary to their wishes." + +There were two very obvious comments to be made upon this document. +Firstly, the States--de jure, as they claimed, and de facto most +unquestionably--were in the position of the Emperor and King. They were +the sovereigns. The Earl wished them to content themselves with the +power which they exercised under the Emperor's governors. This was like +requesting the Emperor, when in the Netherlands, to consider himself +subject to his own governor. The second obvious reflection was that the +Earl, in limiting his authority by a state-council, expected, no doubt, +to appoint that body himself--as he had done before--and to allow the +members only the right of talking, and of voting,--without the power of +enforcing their decisions. In short, it was very plain that Leicester +meant to be more absolute than ever. + +As to the flat contradiction given to Buckhurst's proceedings in the +matter of peace, that statement could scarcely deceive any one who had +seen her Majesty's letters and instructions to her envoy. + +It was also a singularly deceitful course to be adopted by Leicester +towards Buckhurst and towards the Netherlands, because his own private +instructions, drawn up at the same moment, expressly enjoined him to do +exactly what Buckhurst had been doing. He was most strictly and +earnestly commanded to deal privately with all such persons as bad +influence with the "common sort of people," in order that they should use +their influence with those common people in favour of peace, bringing +vividly before them the excessive burthens of the war, their inability to +cope with so potent a prince as Philip, and the necessity the Queen was +under of discontinuing her contributions to their support. He was to +make the same representations to the States, and he was further most +explicitly to inform all concerned, that, in case they were unmoved by +these suggestions, her Majesty had quite made up her mind to accept the +handsome offers of peace held out by the King of Spain, and to leave them +to their fate. + +It seemed scarcely possible that the letter to Junius and the +instructions for the Earl should have been dated the same week, and +should have emanated from the same mind; but such was the fact. + +He was likewise privately to assure Maurice and Hohenlo--in order to +remove their anticipated opposition to the peace--that such care should +be taken in providing for them, as that "they should have no just cause +to dislike thereof, but to rest satisfied withal." + +With regard to the nature of his authority, he was instructed to claim a +kind of dictatorship in everything regarding the command of the forces, +and the distribution of the public treasure. All offices were to be at +his disposal. Every florin contributed by the States was to be placed in +his hands, and spent according to his single will. He was also to have +plenary power to prevent the trade in victuals with the enemy by death +and confiscation. + +If opposition to any of these proposals were made by the States-General, +he was to appeal to the States of each Province; to the towns and +communities, and in case it should prove impossible for him "to be +furnished with the desired authority," he was then instructed to say that +it was "her Majesty's meaning to leave them to their own counsel and +defence, and to withdraw the support that she had yielded to them: seeing +plainly that the continuance of the confused government now reigning +among them could not but work their ruin." + +Both these papers came into Barneveld's hands, through the agency of +Ortel, the States' envoy in England, before the arrival of the Earl in +the Netherlands. + +Of course they soon became the topics of excited conversation and of +alarm in every part of the country. Buckhurst, touched to the quick by +the reflection upon those--proceedings of his which had been so +explicitly enjoined upon him, and so reluctantly undertaken--appealed +earnestly to her Majesty. He reminded her, as delicately as possible, +that her honour, as well as his own, was at stake by Leicester's insolent +disavowals of her authorized ambassador. He besought her to remember +"what even her own royal hand had written to the Duke of Parma;" and how +much his honour was interested "by the disavowing of his dealings about +the peace begun by her Majesty's commandment." He adjured her with much +eloquence to think upon the consequences of stirring up the common and +unstable multitude against their rulers; upon the pernicious effects of +allowing the clergy to inflame the passions of the people against the +government. "Under the name of such as have charge over the people," +said Buckhurst, "are understood the ministers and chaplains of the +churches in every town, by the means of whom it, seems that his Lordship +tendeth his whole purpose to attain to his desire of the administration +of the sovereignty." He assured the Queen that this scheme of Leicester +to seize virtually upon that sovereignty, would be a disastrous one. +"The States are resolved," said he, "since your Majesty doth refuse the +sovereignty, to lay it upon no creature else, as a thing contrary to +their oath and allegiance to their country." He reminded her also that +the States had been dissatisfied with the Earl's former administration, +believing that he had exceeded his commission, and that they were +determined therefore to limit his authority at his return. "Your sacred +Majesty may consider," he said, "what effect all this may work among the +common and ignorant people, by intimating that, unless they shall procure +him the administration of such a sovereignty as he requireth, their ruin +may ensue." Buckhurst also informed her that he had despatched +Councillor Wilkes to England, in order that he might give more ample +information on all these affairs by word of mouth than could well be +written. + +It need hardly be stated that Barneveld came down to the states'-house +with these papers in his hand, and thundered against the delinquent and +intriguing governor till the general indignation rose to an alarming +height. False statements of course were made to Leicester as to the +substance of the Advocate's discourse. He was said to have charged upon +the English government an intention to seize forcibly upon their cities, +and to transfer them to Spain on payment of the sums due to the Queen +from the States, and to have declared that he had found all this treason +in the secret instructions of the Earl. But Barneveld had read the +instructions, to which the attention of the reader has just been called, +and had strictly stated the truth which was damaging enough, without need +of exaggeration. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +All business has been transacted with open doors +Beacons in the upward path of mankind +Been already crimination and recrimination more than enough +Casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" +Disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the Gospel +During this, whole war, we have never seen the like +Even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly +Evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better +Fool who useth not wit because he hath it not +Guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith +Individuals walking in advance of their age +Never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war +Rebuked him for his obedience +Respect for differences in religious opinions +Sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully obeying her orders +Succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill +Sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace +Their existence depended on war +They chose to compel no man's conscience +Torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children +Universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day +Waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman +Who the "people" exactly were + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v52 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 53, 1587 + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Situation of Sluys--Its Dutch and English Garrison--Williams writes + from Sluys to the Queen--Jealousy between the Earl and States-- + Schemes to relieve Sluys--Which are feeble and unsuccessful--The + Town Capitulates--Parma enters--Leicester enraged--The Queen angry + with the Anti-Leicestrians--Norris, Wilkes, and Buckhurst punished-- + Drake sails for Spain--His Exploits at Cadiz and Lisbon--He is + rebuked by Elizabeth. + +When Dante had passed through the third circle of the Inferno--a desert +of red-hot sand, in which lay a multitude of victims of divine wrath, +additionally tortured by an ever-descending storm of fiery flakes--he was +led by Virgil out of this burning wilderness along a narrow causeway. +This path was protected, he said, against the showers of flame, by the +lines of vapour which rose eternally from a boiling brook. Even by such +shadowy bulwarks, added the poet, do the Flemings between Kadzand and +Bruges protect their land against the ever-threatening sea. + +It was precisely among these slender dykes between Kadzand and Bruges +that Alexander Farnese had now planted all the troops that he could +muster in the field. It was his determination to conquer the city of +Sluys; for the possession of that important sea-port was necessary for +him as a basis for the invasion of England, which now occupied all the +thoughts of his sovereign and himself. + +Exactly opposite the city was the island of Kadzand, once a fair and +fertile territory, with a city and many flourishing villages upon its +surface, but at that epoch diminished to a small dreary sand-bank by the +encroachments of the ocean. + +A stream of inland water, rising a few leagues to the south of Sluys, +divided itself into many branches just before reaching the city, +converted the surrounding territory into a miniature archipelago--the +islands of which were shifting treacherous sand-banks at low water, and +submerged ones at flood--and then widening and deepening into a +considerable estuary, opened for the city a capacious harbour, and an +excellent although intricate passage to the sea. The city, which was +well built and thriving, was so hidden in its labyrinth of canals and +streamlets, that it seemed almost as difficult a matter to find Sluys as +to conquer it. It afforded safe harbour for five hundred large vessels; +and its possession, therefore, was extremely important for Parma. +Besides these natural defences, the place was also protected by +fortifications; which were as well constructed as the best of that +period. There was a strong rampire and many towers. There was also a +detached citadel of great strength, looking towards the sea, and there +was a ravelin, called St. Anne's, looking in the direction of Bruges. +A mere riband of dry land in that quarter was all of solid earth to be +found in the environs of Sluys. + +The city itself stood upon firm soil, but that soil had been hollowed +into a vast system of subterranean magazines, not for warlike purposes, +but for cellars, as Sluys had been from a remote period the great +entrepot of foreign wines in the Netherlands. + +While the eternal disputes between Leicester and the States were going on +both in Holland and in England, while the secret negotiations between +Alexander Farnese and Queen slowly proceeding at Brussels and Greenwich, +the Duke, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, and the +famine which prevailed throughout the obedient Provinces, had succeeded +in bringing a little army of five thousand foot, and something less than +one thousand horse, into the field. A portion of this force he placed +under the command of the veteran La Motte. That distinguished campaigner +had assured the commander-in-chief that the reduction of the city would +be an easy achievement. Alexander soon declared that the enterprise was +the most difficult one that he had ever undertaken. Yet, two years +before, he had carried to its triumphant conclusion the famous siege of +Antwerp. He stationed his own division upon the isle of Kadzand, and +strengthened his camp by additionally fortifying those shadowy bulwarks, +by which the island, since the age of Dante, had entrenched itself +against the assaults of ocean. + +On the other hand, La Motte, by the orders of his chief, had succeeded, +after a sharp struggle, in carrying the fort of St. Anne. A still more +important step was the surprising of Blankenburg, a small fortified place +on the coast, about midway between Ostend and Sluys, by which the sea- +communications with the former city for the relief of the beleaguered +town were interrupted. + +Parma's demonstrations against Sluys had commenced in the early days of +June. The commandant of the place was Arnold de Groenevelt, a Dutch +noble of ancient lineage and approved valour. His force was, however, +very meagre, hardly numbering more than eight hundred, all Netherlanders, +but counting among its officers several most distinguished personages- +Nicholas de Maulde, Adolphus de Meetkerke and his younger brother, +Captain Heraugiere, and other well-known partisans. + +On the threatening of danger the commandant had made application to +Sir William Russell, the worthy successor of Sir Philip Sidney in the +government of Flushing. He had received from him, in consequence, a +reinforcement of eight hundred English soldiers, under several eminent +chieftains, foremost among whom were the famous Welshman Roger Williams, +Captain Huntley, Baskerville, Sir Francis Vere, Ferdinando Gorges, and +Captain Hart. This combined force, however, was but a slender one; there +being but sixteen hundred men to protect two miles and a half of rampart, +besides the forts and ravelins. + +But, such as it was, no time was lost in vain regrets. The sorties +against the besiegers were incessant and brilliant. On one occasion Sir +Francis Vere--conspicuous in the throng, in his red mantilla, and +supported only by one hundred Englishmen and Dutchmen, under Captain +Baskerville--held at bay eight companies of the famous Spanish legion +called the Terzo Veijo, at push of pike, took many prisoners, and forced +the Spaniards from the position in which they were entrenching +themselves. On the other hand, Farnese declared that he had never in his +life witnessed anything so unflinching as the courage of his troops; +employed as they were in digging trenches where the soil was neither land +nor water, exposed to inundation by the suddenly-opened sluices, to a +plunging fire from the forts, and to perpetual hand-to-hand combats with +an active and fearless foe, and yet pumping away in the coffer-dams-which +they had invented by way of obtaining a standing-ground for their +operations--as steadily and sedately as if engaged in purely pacific +employments. The besieged here inspired by a courage equally remarkable. +The regular garrison was small enough, but the burghers were courageous, +and even the women organized themselves into a band of pioneers. This +corps of Amazons, led by two female captains, rejoicing in the names of +'May in the Heart' and 'Catherine the Rose,' actually constructed an +important redoubt between the citadel and the rampart, which received, in +compliment to its builders, the appellation of 'Fort Venus.' + +The demands of the beleaguered garrison, however, upon the States and +upon Leicester were most pressing. Captain Hart swam thrice out of the +city with letters to the States, to the governor-general, and to Queen +Elizabeth; and the same perilous feat was performed several times by a +Netherland officer. The besieged meant to sell their lives dearly, but +it was obviously impossible for them, with so slender a force, to resist +a very long time. + +"Our ground is great and our men not so many," wrote Roger Williams to +his sovereign, "but we trust in God and our valour to defend it . . . +. . . . We mean, with God's help, to make their downs red and black, +and to let out every acre of our ground for a thousand of their lives, +besides our own." + +The Welshman was no braggart, and had proved often enough that he was +more given to performances than promises. "We doubt not your Majesty +will succour us," he said, "for our honest mind and plain dealing toward +your royal person and dear country;" adding, as a bit of timely advice, +"Royal Majesty, believe not over much your peacemakers. Had they their +mind, they will not only undo your friend's abroad, but, in the end, your +royal estate." + +Certainly it was from no want of wholesome warning from wise statesmen +and blunt soldiers that the Queen was venturing into that labyrinth of +negotiation which might prove so treacherous. Never had been so +inopportune a moment for that princess to listen to the voice of him who +was charming her so wisely, while he was at the same moment battering +the place, which was to be the basis of his operations against her +realm. Her delay in sending forth Leicester, with at least a moderate +contingent, to the rescue, was most pernicious. The States--ignorant +of the Queen's exact relations with Spain, and exaggerating her +disingenuousness into absolute perfidy became on their own part +exceedingly to blame. There is no doubt whatever that both Hollanders +and English men were playing into the hands of Parma as adroitly as if +he had actually directed their movements. Deep were the denunciations +of Leicester and his partisans by the States' party, and incessant the +complaints of the English and Dutch troops shut up in Sluys against the +inactivity or treachery of Maurice and Hohenlo. + +"If Count Maurice and his base brother, the Admiral (Justinus de Nassau), +be too young to govern, must Holland and Zeeland lose their countries and +towns to make them expert men of war?" asked Roger Williams.' A pregnant +question certainly, but the answer was, that by suspicion and jealousy, +rather than by youth and inexperience, the arms were paralyzed which +should have saved the garrison. "If these base fellows (the States) will +make Count Hollock their instrument," continued the Welshman; "to cover +and maintain their folly and lewd dealing, is it necessary for her royal +Majesty to suffer it? These are too great matters to be rehearsed by me; +but because I am in the town, and do resolve to, sign with my blood my +duty in serving my sovereign and country, I trust her Majesty will pardon +me." Certainly the gallant adventurer on whom devolved at least half the +work of directing the defence of the city, had a right to express his +opinions. Had he known the whole truth, however, those opinions would +have been modified. And he wrote amid the smoke and turmoil of daily and +nightly battle. + +"Yesterday was the fifth sally we made," he observed: "Since I followed +the wars I never saw valianter captains, nor willinger soldiers. At +eleven o'clock the enemy entered the ditch of our fort, with trenches +upon wheels, artillery-proof. We sallied out, recovered their trenches, +slew the governor of Dam, two Spanish captains, with a number of others, +repulsed them into their artillery, kept the ditch until yesternight, and +will recover it, with God's help, this night, or else pay dearly for it . +. . . . I care not what may become of me in this world, so that her +Majesty's honour,--with the rest of honourable good friends, will think +me an honest man." + +No one ever doubted the simple-hearted Welshman's honesty, any more than +his valour; but he confided in the candour of others who were somewhat +more sophisticated than himself. When he warned her, royal Majesty +against the peace-makers, it was impossible for him to know that the +great peace-maker was Elizabeth herself. + +After the expiration of a month the work had become most fatiguing. The +enemy's trenches had been advanced close to the ramparts, and desperate +conflicts were of daily occurrence. The Spanish mines, too, had been +pushed forward towards the extensive wine-caverns below the city, and the +danger of a vast explosion or of a general assault from beneath their +very feet, seemed to the inhabitants imminent. Eight days long, with +scarcely an intermission, amid those sepulchral vaults, dimly-lighted +with torches, Dutchmen, Englishmen, Spaniards, Italians, fought hand to +hand, with pike, pistol, and dagger, within the bowels of the earth. + +Meantime the operations of the States were not commendable. The +ineradicable jealousy between the Leicestrians and the Barneveldians had +done its work. There was no hearty effort for the relief of Sluys. +There were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken +possession of by the Earl of Leicester, as an additional vantage-point +for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority. +Perhaps it would be transferred to Philip by Elizabeth as part of the +price for peace. There was a growing feeling in Holland and Zeeland that +as those Provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative +necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their +own soil. The suspicions as to the policy of the English government were +sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small +disposition on the part of the Hollanders, therefore, to protect what +remained of Flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they +were beginning to look upon as an enemy. + +Maurice and Hohenlo made, however, a foray into Brabant, by way of +diversion to the siege of Sluys, and thus compelled Farnese to detach a +considerable force under Haultepenne into that country, and thereby to +weaken himself. The expedition of Maurice was not unsuccessful. There +was some sharp skirmishing between Hohenlo and Haultepenne, in which the +latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal +side, was defeated and slain; the fort of Engel, near Bois-le-Duc, was +taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand, +the contingent on which Leicester relied from the States to assist in +relieving Sluys was not forthcoming. + +For, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his +sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. Leaving Leicester +House on the 4th July (N. S.), he had come on board the fleet two days +afterwards at Margate. He was bringing with him to the Netherlands three +thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen +thousand pounds had been at last wrung from Elizabeth as an extra loan, +in place of the sixty thousand pounds which the States had requested. As +he sailed past Ostend and towards Flushing, the Earl was witness to the +constant cannonading between the besieged city and the camp of Farnese, +and saw that the work could hardly be more serious; for in one short day +more shots were fired than had ever been known before in a single day in +all Parma's experience. + +Arriving at Flushing, the governor-general was well received by the +inhabitants; but the mischief, which had been set a-foot six months +before, had done its work. The political intrigues, disputes, and the +conflicting party-organizations, have already been set in great detail +before the reader, in order that their effect might now be thoroughly +understood without--explanation. The governor-general came to Flushing +at a most critical moment. The fate of all the Spanish Netherlands, of +Sluys, and with it the whole of Philip and Parma's great project, were, +in Farnese's own language, hanging by a thread. + +It would have been possible--had the transactions of the past six months, +so far as regarded Holland and England, been the reverse of what they had +been--to save the city; and, by a cordial and united effort, for the two +countries to deal the Spanish power such a blow, that summer, as would +have paralyzed it for a long time to come, and have placed both +commonwealths in comparative security. + +Instead of all this, general distrust and mutual jealousy prevailed. +Leicester had, previously to his departure from England, summoned the +States to meet him at Dort upon his arrival. Not a soul appeared. Such +of the state-councillors as were his creatures came to him, and Count +Maurice made a visit of ceremony. Discussions about a plan for relieving +the siege became mere scenes of bickering and confusion. The officers +within Sluys were desirous that a fleet should force its way into the +harbour, while, at the same time, the English army, strengthened by the +contingent which Leicester had demanded from the States, should advance +against the Duke of Parma by land. It was, in truth, the only way to +succour the place. The scheme was quite practicable. Leicester +recommended it, the Hollanders seemed to favour it, Commandant Groenevelt +and Roger Williams urged it. + +"I do assure you," wrote the honest Welshman to Leicester, "if you will +come afore this town, with as many galliots and as many flat-bottomed +boats as can cause two men-of-war to enter, they cannot stop their +passage, if, your mariners will do a quarter of their duty, as I saw them +do divers times. Before, they make their entrance, we will come with our +boats, and fight with the greatest part, and show them there is no such +great danger. Were it not for my wounded arm, I would be, in your first +boat to enter. Notwithstanding, I and other Englishmen will approach +their boats in such sort, that we will force them to give their saker of +artillery upon us. If, your Excellency will give ear unto those false +lewd fellows (the Captain meant the States-General), you shall lose great +opportunity. Within ten or twelve days the enemy will make his bridge +from Kadzand unto St. Anne, and force you to hazard battle before you +succour this town. Let my Lord Willoughby and Sir William Russell land +at Terhoven, right against Kadzand, with 4000, and entrench hard by the +waterside, where their boats can carry them victual and munition. They +may approach by trenches without engaging any dangerous fight . . . . +We dare not show the estate of this town more than we have done by +Captain Herte. We must fight this night within our rampart in the fort. +You may sure the world here are no Hamerts, but valiant captains and +valiant soldiers, such as, with God's help, had rather be buried in the +place than be disgraced in any point that belongs to such a number of +men-of-war." + +But in vain did the governor of the place, stout Arnold Froenevelt, +assisted by the rough and direct eloquence of Roger Williams, urge upon +the Earl of Leicester and the States-General the necessity and the +practicability of the plan proposed. The fleet never entered the +harbour. There was no William of Orange to save Antwerp and Sluys, +as Leyden had once been saved, and his son was not old enough to unravel +the web of intrigue by which he was surrounded, or to direct the whole +energies of the commonwealth towards an all-important end. Leicester had +lost all influence, all authority, nor were his military abilities equal +to the occasion, even if he had been cordially obeyed. + +Ten days longer the perpetual battles on the ramparts and within the +mines continued, the plans conveyed by the bold swimmer, Captain Hart, +for saving the place were still unattempted, and the city was tottering +to its fall. "Had Captain Hart's words taken place," wrote Williams, +bitterly," we had been succoured, or, if my letters had prevailed, our +pain had been, no peril: All wars are best executed in sight of the enemy +. . . . The last night of June (10th July, N. S.) the enemy entered +the ditches of our fort in three several places, continuing in fight in +mine and on rampart for the space of eight nights. The ninth; he +battered us furiously, made a breach of five score paces suitable for +horse and man. That day be attempted us in all, places with a general, +assault for the space of almost five hours." + +The citadel was now lost. It had been gallantly defended; and it was +thenceforth necessary to hold the town itself, in the very teeth of an +overwhelming force. "We were forced to quit the fort," said-Sir Roger, +"leaving nothing behind us but bare earth. But here we do remain +resolutely to be buried, rather than to be dishonoured in the least +point." + +It was still possible for the fleet to succour the city. "I do assure +you," said-Williams, "that your captains and mariners do not their duty +unless they enter with no great loss; but you must consider that no wars +may be made without danger. What you mean to do, we beseech you to do +with expedition, and persuade yourself that we will die valiant, honest- +men. Your Excellency will do well to thank the old President de Meetkerk +far the honesty and valour of his son." + +Count Maurice and his natural brother, the Admiral, now undertook the +succour by sea; but, according to the Leicestrians, they continued +dilatory and incompetent. At any rate, it is certain that they did +nothing. At last, Parma had completed the bridge; whose construction, +was so much dreaded: The haven was now enclosed by a strong wooden +structure, resting an boats, on a plan similar to that of the famous +bridge with which he had two years before bridled the Scheldt, and Sluys +was thus completely shut in from the sea. Fire-ships were now +constructed, by order of Leicester--feeble imitations: of the floating +volcanoes of Gianihelli--and it was agreed that they should be sent +against the bridge with the first flood-tide. The propitious moment +never seemed to arrive, however, and, meantime, the citizens of Flushing, +of their own accord, declared that they would themselves equip and +conduct a fleet into the harbour of Sluys. But the Nassaus are said to +have expressed great disgust that low-born burghers should presume to +meddle with so important an enterprise, which of right belonged to their +family. Thus, in the midst of these altercations and contradictory +schemes; the month of July wore away, and the city was reduced to its +last gasp. + +For the cannonading had thoroughly done its work. Eighteen days long the +burghers and what remained of the garrison had lived upon the ramparts, +never leaving their posts, but eating, sleeping, and fighting day and +night. Of the sixteen hundred Dutch and English but seven hundred +remained. At last a swimming messenger was sent out by the besieged with +despatches for the States, to the purport that the city could hold out no +longer. A breach in the wall had been effected wide enough to admit a +hundred men abreast. Sluys had, in truth, already fallen, and it was +hopeless any longer to conceal the fact. If not relieved within a day or +two, the garrison would be obliged to surrender; but they distinctly +stated, that they had all pledged themselves, soldiers and burghers, men, +women, and all, unless the most honourable terms were granted, to set +fire to the city in a hundred places, and then sally, in mass, from the +gates, determined to fight their way through, or be slain in the attempt. +The messenger who carried these despatches was drowned, but the letters +were saved, and fell into Parma's hands. + +At the same moment, Leicester was making, at last, an effort to raise the +siege. He brought three or four thousand men from Flushing, and landed +them at Ostend; thence he marched to Blanckenburg. He supposed that if +he could secure that little port, and thus cut the Duke completely off +from the sea, he should force the Spanish commander to raise (or at least +suspend) the siege in order to give him battle. Meantime, an opportunity +would be afforded for Maurice and Hohenlo to force an entrance into the +harbour of Sluys, In this conjecture he was quite correct; but +unfortunately he did not thoroughly carry out his own scheme. If the +Earl had established himself at Blanckenburg, it would have been +necessary for Parma--as he himself subsequently declared-to raise the +siege. Leicester carried the outposts of the place successfully; but, so +soon as Farnese was aware of this demonstration, he detached a few +companies with orders to skirmish with the enemy until the commander-in- +chief, with as large a force as he could spare, should come in person to +his support. To the unexpected gratification of Farnese, however, no +sooner did the advancing Spaniards come in sight, than the Earl, +supposing himself invaded by the whole of the Duke's army, under their +famous general, and not feeling himself strong enough for such an +encounter, retired, with great precipitation, to his boats, re-embarked +his troops with the utmost celerity, and set sail for Ostend. + +The next night had been fixed for sending forth the fireships against the +bridge, and for the entrance of the fleet into the harbour. One fire- +ship floated a little way towards the bridge and exploded ingloriously. +Leicester rowed in his barge about the fleet, superintending the +soundings and markings of the channel, and hastening the preparations; +but, as the decisive moment approached, the pilots who had promised to +conduct the expedition came aboard his pinnace and positively refused to +have aught to do with the enterprise, which they now declared an +impossibility. The Earl was furious with the pilots, with Maurice, with +Hohenlo, with Admiral de Nassau, with the States, with all the world. He +stormed and raged and beat his breast, but all in vain. His ferocity +would have been more useful the day before, in face of the Spaniards, +than now, against the Zeeland mariners: but the invasion by the fleet +alone, unsupported by a successful land-operation, was pronounced +impracticable, and very soon tie relieving fleet was seen by the +distressed garrison sailing away from the neighbourhood, and it soon +disappeared beneath the horizon. Their fate was sealed. They entered +into treaty with Parma, who, secretly instructed, as has been seen, of +their desperate intentions, in case any but the most honourable +conditions were offered, granted those conditions. The garrison were +allowed to go out with colours displayed, lighted matches, bullet in +mouth, and with bag and baggage. Such burghers as chose to conform to +the government of Spain and the church of Rome; were permitted to remain. +Those who preferred to depart were allowed reasonable time to make their +necessary arrangements. + +"We have hurt and slain very near eight hundred," said Sir Roger +Williams." We had not powder to fight two hours. There was a breach of +almost four hundred paces, another of three score, another of fifty, +saltable for horse and men. We had lain continually eighteen nights all +on the breaches. He gave us honourable composition. Had the state of +England lain on it, our lives could not defend the place, three hours, +for half the rampires were his, neither had we any pioneers but +ourselves. We were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us." + +On the 5th August Parma entered the city. Roger Williams with his gilt +morion rather battered, and his great plume of feathers much bedraggled- +was a witness to the victor's entrance. Alexander saluted respectfully +an officer so well known to him by reputation, and with some +complimentary remarks urged him to enter the Spanish service, +and to take the field against the Turks. + +"My sword," replied the doughty Welshman, "belongs to her royal Majesty, +Queen Elizabeth, above and before all the world. When her Highness has +no farther use for it, it is at the service of the King of Navarre." +Considering himself sufficiently answered, the Duke then requested Sir +Roger to point out Captain Baskerville--very conspicuous by a greater +plume of feathers than even that of the Welshman himself--and embraced +that officer; when presented to him, before all his staff. "There serves +no prince in Europe a braver man than this Englishman," cried Alexander, +who well knew how to appreciate high military qualities, whether in his +own army or in that of his foes. + +The garrison then retired, Sluy's became Spanish, and a capacious +harbour, just opposite the English coast, was in Parma's hands. Sir +Roger Williams was despatched by Leicester to bear the melancholy tidings +to his government, and the Queen was requested to cherish the honest +Welshman, and at least to set him on horseback; for he was of himself not +rich enough to buy even a saddle. It is painful to say that the captain +did not succeed in getting the horse. + +The Earl was furious in his invectives against Hohenlo, against Maurice, +against the States, uniformly ascribing the loss of Sluy's to negligence +and faction. As for Sir John Norris, he protested that his misdeeds in +regard to this business would, in King Henry VIII.'s time, have "cost him +his pate." + +The loss of Sluys was the beginning and foreshadowed the inevitable end +of Leicester's second administration. The inaction of the States was one +of the causes of its loss. Distrust of Leicester was the cause of the +inaction. Sir William Russell, Lord Willoughby, Sir William Pelham, and +other English officers, united in statements exonerating the Earl from +all blame for the great failure to relieve the place. At the same time, +it could hardly be maintained that his expedition to Blanckenburg and his +precipitate retreat on the first appearance of the enemy were proofs of +consummate generalship. He took no blame to himself for the disaster; +but he and his partisans were very liberal in their denunciations of the +Hollanders, and Leicester was even ungrateful enough to censure Roger +Williams, whose life had been passed, as it were, at push of pike with +the Spaniards, and who was one of his own most devoted adherents. + +The Queen was much exasperated when informed of the fall of the city. +She severely denounced the Netherlanders, and even went so far as to +express dissatisfaction with the great Leicester himself. Meantime, +Farnese was well satisfied with his triumph, for he had been informed +that "all England was about to charge upon him," in order to relieve the +place. All England, however, had been but feebly represented by three +thousand raw recruits with a paltry sum of L15,000 to help pay a long +bill of arrears. + +Wilkes and Norris had taken their departure from the Netherlands before +the termination of the siege, and immediately after the return of +Leicester. They did not think it expedient to wait upon the governor +before leaving the country, for they had very good reason to believe that +such an opportunity of personal vengeance would be turned to account by +the Earl. Wilkes had already avowed his intention of making his escape +without being dandled with leave-takings, and no doubt he was right. The +Earl was indignant when he found that they had given him the slip, and +denounced them with fresh acrimony to the Queen, imploring her to wreak +full measure of wrath upon their heads; and he well knew that his +entreaties would meet with the royal attention. + +Buckhurst had a parting interview with the governor-general, at which +Killigrew and Beale, the new English counsellors who had replaced Wilkes +and Clerk, were present. The conversation was marked by insolence on the +part of Leicester, and by much bitterness on that of Buckhurst. The +parting envoy refused to lay before the Earl a full statement of the +grievances between the States-General and the governor, on the ground +that Leicester had no right to be judge in his own cause. The matter, +he said, should be laid before the Queen in council, and by her august +decision he was willing to abide. On every other subject he was ready to +give any information in his power. The interview lasted a whole forenoon +and afternoon. Buckhurst, according to his own statement, answered, +freely all questions put to him by Leicester and his counsellors; while, +if the report of those personages is to be trusted, he passionately +refused to make any satisfactory communication. Under the circumstances, +however, it may well be believed that no satisfactory communication was +possible. + +On arriving in England, Sir John Norris was forbidden to come into her +Majesty's presence, Wilkes was thrown into the Fleet Prison, and +Buckhurst was confined in his own country house. + +Norris had done absolutely nothing, which, even by implication, could be +construed into a dereliction of duty; but it was sufficient that he was +hated by Leicester, who had not scrupled, over and over again, to +denounce this first general of England as a fool, a coward, a knave, and +a liar. + +As for Wilkes, his only crime was a most conscientious discharge of his +duty, in the course of which he had found cause to modify his abstract +opinions in regard to the origin of sovereignty, and had come reluctantly +to the conviction that Leicester's unpopularity had made perhaps another +governor-general desirable. But this admission had only been made +privately and with extreme caution; while, on the other hand, he had +constantly defended the absent Earl, with all the eloquence at his +command. But the hatred cf Leicester was sufficient to consign this able +and painstaking public servant to a prison; and thus was a man of worth, +honour, and talent, who had been placed in a position of grave +responsibility and immense fatigue, and who had done his duty like an +upright, straight-forward Englishman, sacrificed to the wrath of a +favourite. "Surely, Mr. Secretary," said the Earl, "there was never a +falser creature, a more seditious wretch, than Wilkes. He is a villain, +a devil, without faith or religion." + +As for Buckhurst himself, it is unnecessary to say a word in his defence. +The story of his mission has been completely detailed from the most +authentic and secret documents, and there is not a single line written to +the Queen, to her ministers, to the States, to any public body or to any +private friend, in England or elsewhere, that does not reflect honour on +his name. With sagacity, without passion, with unaffected sincerity, +he had unravelled the complicated web of Netherland politics, and, with +clear vision, had penetrated the designs of the mighty enemy whom England +and Holland had to encounter in mortal combat. He had pointed out the +errors of the Earl's administration--he had fearlessly, earnestly, but +respectfully deplored the misplaced parsimony of the Queen--he had warned +her against the delusions which had taken possession of her keen +intellect--he had done--his best to place the governor-general upon good +terms with the States and with his sovereign; but it had been impossible +for him to further his schemes for the acquisition of a virtual +sovereignty over the Netherlands, or to extinguish the suspicions of the +States that the Queen was secretly negotiating with the Spaniard, when he +knew those suspicions to be just. + +For deeds, such as these, the able and high-minded ambassador, +the accomplished statesman and poet, was forbidden to approach his +sovereign's presence, and was ignominiously imprisoned in his own house +until the death of Leicester. After that event, Buckhurst emerged from +confinement, received the order of the garter and the Earldom of Dorset, +and on the death of Burghley succeeded that statesman in the office of +Lord-Treasurer. Such was the substantial recognition of the merits of a +man who was now disgraced for the conscientious discharge of the most +important functions that had yet been confided to him. + +It would be a thankless and superfluous task to give the details of the +renewed attempt, during a few months, made by Leicester to govern the +Provinces. His second administration consisted mainly of the same +altercations with the States, on the subject of sovereignty, the same +mutual recriminations and wranglings, that had characterized the period +of his former rule. He rarely met the States in person, and almost never +resided at the Hague, holding his court at Middleburg, Dort, or Utrecht, +as his humour led him. + +The one great feature of the autumn of 1587 was the private negotiation +between Elizabeth and the Duke of Parma. + +Before taking a glance at the nature of those secrets, however, it is +necessary to make a passing allusion to an event which might have seemed +likely to render all pacific communications with Spain, whether secret or +open, superfluous. + +For while so much time had been lost in England and Holland, by +misunderstandings and jealousies, there was one Englishman who had not +been losing time. In the winter and early spring of 1587, the Devonshire +skipper had organized that expedition which he had come to the +Netherlands, the preceding autumn, to discuss. He meant to aim a blow +at the very heart of that project which Philip was shrouding with so much +mystery, and which Elizabeth was attempting to counteract by so much +diplomacy. + +On the 2nd April, Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth with four ships +belonging to the Queen, and with twenty-four furnished by the merchants +of London, and other private individuals. It was a bold buccaneering +expedition--combining chivalrous enterprise with the chance of enormous +profit--which was most suited to the character of English adventurers at +that expanding epoch. For it was by England, not by Elizabeth, that the +quarrel with Spain was felt to be a mortal one. It was England, not its +sovereign, that was instinctively arming, at all points, to grapple with +the great enemy of European liberty. It was the spirit of self-help, of +self-reliance, which was prompting the English nation to take the great +work of the age into its own hands. The mercantile instinct of the +nation was flattered with the prospect of gain, the martial quality of +its patrician and of its plebeian blood was eager to confront danger, the +great Protestant mutiny. Against a decrepit superstition in combination +with an aggressive tyranny, all impelled the best energies of the English +people against Spain, as the embodiment of all which was odious and +menacing to them, and with which they felt that the life and death +struggle could not long be deferred. + +And of these various tendencies, there were no more fitting +representatives than Drake and Frobisher, Hawkins and Essex, Cavendish +and Grenfell, and the other privateersmen of the sixteenth century. The +same greed for danger, for gold, and for power, which, seven centuries +before, had sent the Norman race forth to conquer all Christendom, was +now sending its Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman kindred to take possession +of the old world and the new. + +"The wind commands me away," said Drake on the 2nd April, 1587; "our ship +is under sail. God grant that we may so live in His fear, that the enemy +may have cause to say that God doth fight for her Majesty abroad as well +as at home." + +But he felt that he was not without enemies behind him, for the strong +influence brought to bear against the bold policy which Walsingham +favoured, was no secret to Drake. "If we deserve ill," said he, "let us +be punished. If we discharge our duty, in doing our best, it is a hard +measure to be reported ill by those who will either keep their fingers +out of the fire; or who too well affect that alteration in our government +which I hope in God they shall never live to see." In latitude 40 deg. +he spoke two Zeeland ships, homeward bound, and obtained information of +great warlike stores accumulating in Cadiz and Lisbon. His mind was +instantly made up. Fortunately, the pinnace which the Queen despatched +with orders to stay his hand in the very act of smiting her great +adversary, did not sail fast enough to overtake the swift corsair and his +fleet. Sir Francis had too promptly obeyed the wind, when it "commanded +him away," to receive the royal countermand. On the 19th April, the +English ships entered the harbour of Cadiz, and destroyed ten thousand +tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great +galleys, which the nimble English vessels soon drove under their forts +for shelter. Two nights and a day, Sir Francis, that "hater of +idleness," was steadily doing his work; unloading, rifling, scuttling, +sinking, and burning those transportships which contained a portion of +the preparations painfully made by Philip for his great enterprise. +Pipe-staves and spikes, horse-shoes and saddles, timber and cutlasses, +wine, oil, figs, raisins, biscuits, and flour, a miscellaneous mass of +ingredients long brewing for the trouble of England, were emptied into +the harbour, and before the second night, the blaze of a hundred and +fifty burning vessels played merrily upon the grim walls of Philip's +fortresses. Some of these ships were of the largest size then known. +There was one belonging to Marquis Santa Cruz of 1500 tons, there was a +Biscayan of 1200, there were several others of 1000, 800, and of nearly +equal dimensions. + +Thence sailing for Lisbon, Sir Francis, captured and destroyed a hundred +vessels more, appropriating what was portable of the cargoes, and +annihilating the rest. At Lisbon, Marquis Santa Cruz, lord high admiral +of Spain and generalissimo of the invasion, looked on, mortified and +amazed, but offering no combat, while the Plymouth privateersman swept +the harbour of the great monarch of the world. After thoroughly +accomplishing his work, Drake sent a message to Santa Cruz, proposing to +exchange his prisoners for such Englishmen as might then be confined in +Spain. But the marquis denied all prisoners. Thereupon Sir Francis +decided to sell his captives to the Moors, and to appropriate the +proceeds of the sale towards the purchase of English slaves put of the +same bondage. Such was the fortune of war in the sixteenth century. + +Having dealt these great blows, Drake set sail again from Lisbon, and, +twenty leagues from St. Michaels, fell in with one of those famous +Spanish East Indiamen, called carracks, then the great wonder of the +seas. This vessel, San Felipe by name, with a cargo of extraordinary +value, was easily captured, and Sir Francis now determined to return. He +had done a good piece of work in a few weeks, but he was by no means of +opinion that he had materially crippled the enemy. On the contrary, he +gave the government warning as to the enormous power and vast +preparations of Spain. "There would be forty thousand men under way ere +long," he said, "well equipped and provisioned; "and he stated, as the +result of personal observation, that England could not be too energetic +in, its measures of resistance. He had done something with his little +fleet, but he was no braggart, and had no disposition to underrate the +enemy's power. "God make us all thankful again and again," he observed, +"that we have, although it be little, made a beginning upon the coast of +Spain." And modestly as he spoke of what he had accomplished, so with +quiet self-reliance did he allude to the probable consequences. It was +certain, he intimated, that the enemy would soon seek revenge with all +his strength, and "with all the devices and traps he could devise." This +was a matter which could not be doubted. "But," said Sir Francis, "I +thank them much that they have staid so long, and when they come they +shall be but the sons of mortal men." + +Perhaps the most precious result of the expedition, was the lesson which +the Englishmen had thus learned in handling the great galleys of Spain. +It might soon stand them in stead. The little war-vessels which had come +from Plymouth, had sailed round and round these vast unwieldy hulks, and +had fairly driven them off the field, with very slight damage to +themselves. Sir Francis had already taught the mariners of England, +even if he had done nothing else by this famous Cadiz expedition, +that an armada, of Spain might not be so invincible as men imagined. + +Yet when the conqueror returned from his great foray, he received no +laurels. His sovereign met him, not with smiles, but with frowns and +cold rebukes. He had done his duty, and helped to save her endangered +throne, but Elizabeth was now the dear friend of Alexander Farnese, and +in amicable correspondence with his royal master. This "little" +beginning on the coast of Spain might not seem to his Catholic Majesty +a matter to be thankful for, nor be likely to further a pacification, +and so Elizabeth hastened to disavow her Plymouth captain.' + + ["True it is, and I avow it on my faith, her Majesty did send a ship + expressly before he went to Cadiz with a message by letters charging + Sir Francis Drake not to show any act of hostility, which messenger + by contrary winds could never come to the place where he was, but + was constrained to come home, and hearing of Sir F. Drake's actions, + her Majesty commanded the party that returned to have been punished, + but that he acquitted himself by the oaths of himself and all his + company. And so unwitting yea unwilling to her Majesty those + actions were committed by Sir F. Drake, for the which her Majesty is + as yet greatly offended with him." Burghley to Andreas de Loo, 18 + July, 1587. Flanders Correspondence.' (S. P. Office MS.)] + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +The blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels +We were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v53 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 54, 1587 + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Secret Treaty between Queen and Parma--Excitement and Alarm in the + States--Religious Persecution in England--Queen's Sincerity toward + Spain--Language and Letters of Parma--Negotiations of De Loo-- + English Commissioners appointed--Parma's affectionate Letter to the + Queen--Philip at his Writing-Table--His Plots with Parma against + England--Parma's secret Letters to the King--Philip's Letters to + Parma Wonderful Duplicity of Philip--His sanguine Views as to + England--He is reluctant to hear of the Obstacles--and imagines + Parma in England--But Alexander's Difficulties are great--He + denounces Philip's wild Schemes--Walsingham aware of the Spanish + Plot--which the States well understand--Leicester's great + Unpopularity--The Queen warned against Treating--Leicester's Schemes + against Barneveld--Leicestrian Conspiracy at Leyden--The Plot to + seize the City discovered--Three Ringleaders sentenced to Death-- + Civil War in France--Victory gained by Navarre, and one by Guise-- + Queen recalls Leicester--Who retires on ill Terms with the States-- + Queen warned as to Spanish Designs--Result's of Leicester's + Administration. + +The course of Elizabeth towards the Provinces, in the matter of the +peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. +She concealed and denied the negotiations, when the Netherland statesmen +were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she +was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and +their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with Spain. +Her attitude towards the States was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. +She had allowed the Earl of Leicester to return, she said, because of her +love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and +in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed +that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! + +These were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the +case; and the Earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as +seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. These +secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the +year 1587. It was the "comptroller's peace;", as Walsingham +contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be +recollected that Sir James Croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, +had always been more busy than any other English politician in these +transactions. He acted; however, on the inspiration of Burghley, who +drew his own from the fountainhead. + +But it was in vain for the Queen to affect concealment. The States knew +everything which was passing, before Leicester knew. His own secret +instructions reached the Netherlands before he did. His secretary, +Junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, +before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. +When the Earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so +secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, +for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the States +were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he +had written. It was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts +which were quite as much within the knowledge of the Netherlanders as of +himself. The worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper +treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "The fellow they +call Barneveld," as Leicester was in the habit of designating one of the +first statesmen in Europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in +suspecting more. Being furnished with a list of commissioners, already +secretly agreed upon between the English and Spanish governments, to +treat for peace, while at the same time the Earl was beating his breast, +and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with Parma at +all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper +scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. +He may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this +nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public +anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of +legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his +hands. The Queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those +who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities +and strong places of the Netherlands, in order to secure a position in +which to compel the Provinces into obedience to her policy. She urged, +with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole +country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious +schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. On the other hand, +it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of Philip's +rebellious Provinces, was to declare war upon Philip; whereas, had she +been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously +disposed towards the Netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her +to have those strong places in her power. But the suspicions as to her +good faith were exaggerated. As to the intentions of Leicester, the +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. It is very +certain that both in 1586, and again, at this very moment, when Elizabeth +was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had +unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if +possible, of several cities, and of the whole Island of Walcheren, which, +together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the +Queen to make good terms for herself with Spain, "if the worst came to +the, worst." It will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry +these schemes into execution. There is no evidence, however, and no +probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a +crime. + +The States believed also, that in those secret negotiations with Parma +the Queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the +Netherlands. In this they were mistaken. But they had reason for their +mistake, because the negotiator De Loo, had expressly said, that, in her +overtures to Farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. If this +had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of +Elizabeth, that the Catholic religion and the inquisition should be +re-established in the Provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of +worship or polity. In truth, however, the position taken by her Majesty +on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. Certainly +she was no advocate for religious liberty. She chose that her own +subjects should be Protestants, because she had chosen to be a Protestant +herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate +uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. No more than her father, +who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well +as believers in the Pope, had Elizabeth the faintest idea of religious +freedom. Heretics to the English Church were persecuted, fined, +imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. In some +respects, the practice towards those who dissented from Elizabeth was +more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those +were subjected who rebelled against Sixtus. The Act of Uniformity +required Papists to assist at the Protestant worship, but wealthy Papists +could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. The Roman excuse to destroy +bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a Church +which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a +revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent +to the gallows. It would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook +the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised +respectively by the Protestant and the Roman Church. It is probable that +not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed as such, in +Elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. But what was this +against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one Easter +week by Alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and +scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast +numbers of Protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of +thousands, who perished by the edicts of Charles V., in the Netherlands, +or in the single Saint Bartholomew Massacre in France? Moreover, it +should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most +of the Catholics who were executed in England, suffered as conspirators +rather than as heretics. No foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent +of Christ, had denounced Philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by +means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, +severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him +off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal +rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in +depriving him of throne and life. Yet this was the position of +Elizabeth. It was war to the knife between her and Rome, declared by +Rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the Seminary Priests +--seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered +gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of +conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive +barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. Doubtless it would have +been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend +towards the Catholics of England, who as a body were loyal to their +country, an ample toleration. But it could scarcely be expected that +Elizabeth Tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father +had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. + +When, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of 1587, therefore, it was +urged on the part of Spain, that the Queen was demanding a concession of +religious liberty from Philip to the Netherlanders which she refused to +English heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a +creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, Lord +Burghley replied that the statement was correct. The Queen permitted-- +it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she +professed. At the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those +persons in the Netherlands who had been for years in the habit of +practising Protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without +instruction, to abandon that form of worship. It was well known that +many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed +that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the +uttermost. There was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis-- +of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his Maker, +with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of +odious tyranny. There was not even a suggestion that the Protestant +doctrines were true, and the Catholic doctrines false. The matter was +merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had +acquired the fact of Protestant worship had a right to retain it, and +could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. +It was also affirmed that it was not the English practice to inquire into +men's consciences. It would have been difficult, however, to make that +very clear to Philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and +children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused +to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted- +unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be +the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. + +But if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of +Elizabeth towards the States, her attitude towards Parma was one of +perfect sincerity. A perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no +doubt whatever on that point. She was seriously and fervently desirous +of peace with Spain. On the part of Farnese and his master, there was +the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and +truthfulness of the Queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. +Especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of +Parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. It is only +doing justice to Alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her +frankness as she by his falsehood. It never entered his head that a +royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be +telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified +the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon +fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from +England. + +The private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, +very early in February of this year. During the whole critical period +which preceded and followed the execution of Mary, in the course of which +the language of Elizabeth towards the States had been so shrewish, there +had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between Farnese and herself. It +was--Dear Cousin, you know how truly I confide in your sincerity, how +anxious I am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it +was--Sacred Majesty, you know how much joy I feel in your desire for the +repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your Highness and the +King my master; how much I delight in concord--how incapable I am by +ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your +Majesty, and what a hatred I feel for steel, fire, and blood.' + +Four or five months rolled on, during which Leicester had been wasting +time in England, Farnese wasting none before Sluys, and the States doing +their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their +ally. De Loo made a visit, in July, to the camp of the Duke of Parma, +and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "I am +much pained," said Alexander, "with this procrastination. I am so full +of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this +hostile descent by Drake upon the coasts of Spain. The result of such +courses will be, that the King will end by being exasperated, and I shall +be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes I have held out of being +able to secure a peace. I have ever been and I still am most anxious for +concord, from the affection I bear to her sacred Majesty. I have been +obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. I could wish now +that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh +troops, namely, 9000 Spaniards and 9000 Italians, which, with Walloons, +Germans, and Lorrainers, will give me an effective total of 30,000 +soldiers. Of this I give you my word as a gentleman. Go, then, Andrew +de Loo," continued the Duke, "write to her sacred Majesty, that I desire +to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that I shall not change +my mind, even in case of any great success, for I like to proceed rather +by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." + +"I can assure you, oh, most serene Duke," replied Andrew, "that the most +serene Queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." + +"Excellent well then," said the Duke, "we shall come to an agreement +at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the +better." + +A feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving +Andrew, that the hostile operations against Sluy's should be at once +terminated. But this did not seem so clear to the most serene Duke. He +had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, +erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, +Fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. Meantime these +pacific and gentle murmurings from Farnese's camp had lulled the Queen +into forgetfulness of Roger Williams and Arnold Groenevelt and their men, +fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. +The wily tongue of the Duke had been more effective than his batteries in +obtaining the much-coveted city. The Queen obstinately held back her men +and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether Sluys fell or not. +Was it strange that the States should be distrustful of her intentions, +and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? + +And thus summer wore into autumn, Sluys fell, the States and their +governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the Netherlanders were full of +distrust with regard to England, Alexander hinted doubts as to the +Queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, +jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, +and the excellent De Loo became very much depressed. At last a letter +from Burghley relieved his drooping spirits. From the most disturbed and +melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and +quiet. He straightway went off to the Duke of Parma, with the letter in +his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to +state, as an important point in his narrative. And Farnese was fuller of +fine phrases than ever. + +"There is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt +my sincerity. Yet the Lord-Treasurer intimates that the most serene +Queen is disposed so to do. But if I had not the very best intentions, +and desires for peace, I should never have made the first overtures. If +I did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what +I have done? On the contrary, it is I that have reason to suspect the +other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the +best part of the summer." + +He then commented on the strong expressions in the English letters, as to +the continuance of her Majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he +was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the Earl of Leicester and +the States; and added that it was very important for the time indicated +by the Queen. + +"Whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done +quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. + +"And may I communicate Lord Burghley's letter to any one else?" asked De +Loo. + +"Yes, yes, to the Seigneur de Champagny, and to my secretary Cosimo," +answered his Highness. + +So the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of Champagny, +in company with the secretary Cosimo. There was a long conference, in +which De Loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, +and faithfully transmitted to the court of Elizabeth. Alexander had done +his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. He had +withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, +that the English commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and +perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. But as time wore +away, and there came no commissioners, the Duke had come to the painful +conclusion that he had been trifled with. His forces would now be sent +into Holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total +destruction of all that territory. He had also written to command all +the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that +he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. He was much ashamed, +in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in +idleness. He had been sacrificing himself for her sacred Majesty, and +to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her +mirth. Those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the +Queen was only waiting to see how the King of Navarre was getting on with +the auxiliary force just, going to him from Germany, that she had no +intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect +all these German mercenaries upon his shoulders in the Netherlands. +Nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with 40,000 good infantry, +a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' + +All this and more did the credulous Andrew greedily devour; and he lost +no time in communicating the important intelligence to her Majesty and +the Lord-Treasurer. He implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, +prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre +of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in +the truth of the matters thus confided to him. He would pledge his +immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed +--than even the crown of Spain, that the King, the Duke, and his +counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the +most loving and benevolent motives. Alexander Farnese was "the antidote +to the Duke of Alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis +curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred Queen were not now +obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her +Majesty and the King of Spain, and with the assured tranquillity and +perpetual prosperity of the Netherlands, it would be the fault of +England; not of Spain. + +And no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was +worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her Majesty and +Lord Burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had +great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the +most Catholic King: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these +communications of Alexander and his agents, there was not one single +word of truth.--It was all false from beginning to end, as to the +countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the King +and Duke, and as to the proposed campaign in Friesland, in case of +rupture; and all the rest. But this will be conclusively proved a little +later. + +Meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. And +when business was over, Champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe +jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow De Bours, now +Mrs. Aristotle Patton--invited De Loo and Secretary Cosimo to supper. +And the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge +bumpers to the health of the Queen of England, that--as the excellent +Andrew subsequently informed Lord Burghley--his head ached most bravely +next morning. + +And so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in Cadiz and Lisbon, +but in Ghent and Sluys and Antwerp, the import of which it seemed +difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, +and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective +parts. There were the Earl of Derby, knight of the garter, and my Lord +Cobham; and puzzling James Croft, and other Englishmen, actually +believing that the farce was a solemn reality. There was Alexander of +Parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. There was Andrew de Loo, more +talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed +with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded +Lord-Treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and +waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm +about to burst over England could, be dispersed. + +The commissioners should come, if only the Duke of Parma would declare +on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all +Christendom was ringing; were not intended against England; or if that +really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such +schemes, and if Philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a +prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. + +There would really seem an almost Arcadian simplicity in such demands, +coming from so practised a statesman as the Lord-Treasurer, and from a +woman of such brilliant intellect as Elizabeth unquestionably possessed. +But we read the history of 1587, not only by the light of subsequent +events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and +motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient +cabinets afford. At that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which +was leading England towards the pitfall so artfully dug by Spain. There +was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like Alexander +Farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like Philip II. +English frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for Italian +and Spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the +antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end +of diplomacy and statesmanship. It was well known that there were great +preparations in Spain, Portugal, and the obedient Netherlands, by land +and sea. But Sir Robert Sidney was persuaded that the expedition was +intended for Africa; even the Pope was completely mystified--to the +intense delight of Philip--and Burghley, enlightened by the sagacious +De Loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength +of the Spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing Friesland and +Overyssel. But Walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from +Demosthenes a lesson with which William the Silent, in his famous +Apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a +tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. + +Alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his +sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, +together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had +proceeded from the doubt. Her Majesty had long been aware, he said, +of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had +waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. +His hopes had been dashed to the ground. The affair had been +indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her +Majesty had changed her mind. Nevertheless, as Andrew de Loo was again +proceeding to England, the Duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss +her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the +subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were +not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should +stand guiltless before God and the world. He had done, and was still +ready to do, all which became a Christian and a man desirous of the +public welfare and tranquillity. + +When Burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; +and they were pronounced at the English court to be "very princely and +Christianly." An elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller +on every line of the letter. "These be very good words," said the +comptroller. + +But the Queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the Duke's +sincerity, than even Burghley and Croft had been. Disregarding all the +warnings of Walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless +confidence in the wily Italian. "We do assure you," wrote the Lords, +"and so you shall do well to avow it to the Duke upon our honours, +that her Majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one +good and Christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound +upon a discord." And she repeated her resolution to send over her +commissioners, so soon as the Duke had satisfied her as to the hostile +preparations. + +We have now seen the good faith of the English Queen towards the Spanish +government. We have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of Farnese +and his master. We have heard the exuberant professions of an honest +intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the +lips of Farnese and of his confidential agents. It is now necessary to +glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of Philip, in order to satisfy +ourselves as to the value of all those professions. The attention of the +reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year 1587 was a +most critical period in the history of English, Dutch, and European +liberty. The coming year 1588 had been long spoken of in prophecy, as +the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in +1587, the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were +slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. + +And there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his +schemes. His grey head was whitening fast. He was sixty years of age. +His frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his +manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard- +working man in Europe, that man was Philip II. And there he sat at his +table, scrawling his apostilles. The fine innumerable threads which +stretched across the surface of Christendom, and covered it as with a +net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. France was kept in a +state of perpetual civil war; the Netherlands had been converted into a +shambles; Ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; +Scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for +by Philip; and its young monarch--"that lying King of Scots," as +Leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon +England, when his master should give the word; and England herself was +palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of +brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, +and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired +letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. + +At the very beginning of the year the King of Denmark had made an offer +to Philip of mediation. The letter, entrusted to a young Count de +Rantzan, had been intercepted by the States--the envoy not having availed +himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence +been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. The States had +immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to Queen Elizabeth, +declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so +horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. Life, honour, religion, +liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one +universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her +Majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the Danish King. Wilkes +wrote to Walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as +stipendiaries of Spain, while, on the other hand, the Duke of Parma, +after courteously thanking the King for his offer of mediation, described +him to Philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived +from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally +fraudulent response. There will be nothing lost, said Alexander, by +affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your Majesty must +proceed with the preparations against England. This was in the first +week of the year 1587. + +In February, and almost on the very day when Parma was writing those +affectionate letters to Elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was +carefully conning Philip's directions in regard to the all-important +business of the invasion. He was informed by his master, that one +hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, +together with 12,000 Spanish infantry, including 3000 of the old legion, +and that there were volunteers more than enough. Philip had also taken +note, he said, of Alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the +crops in England had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a +country would easily support an invading force; but he advised +nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. +Finding that Alexander did not quite approve of the Irish part of the +plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the Isle of Wight; +but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon +which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. +It would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the 6000 men asked for +by the Scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but +there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the Scotch +lords and their adherents was indispensable. The secret, said the King, +had been profoundly kept, and neither in Spain nor in Rome had anything +been allowed to transpire. Alexander was warned therefore to do his best +to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate +their actions and their thoughts. + +And certainly Alexander did his best. He replied to his master, by +transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand +to the Queen, and of the, pacific messages he had sent her through +Champagny. and De Loo. She is just now somewhat confused, said he, and +those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for +negotiation. She is very much afflicted with the loss of Deventer, and +is quarrelling with the French ambassador about the new conspiracy for +her assassination. The opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an +answer to my letter, said Alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, +while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues +with other parties. But, in any event, the Duke fervently implored +Philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he +had conceived in his royal breast. So urgent for the invasion was the +peace-loving general. + +He alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her Majesty +and the French envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of +Bellievre's mission. Whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, +or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the Scottish +Queen's execution, Alexander would leave to be discussed by Don +Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in Paris; but he was of +opinion that the anger of the Queen with France was a fiction, and her +supposed league with France and Germany against Spain a fact. Upon this +point, as it appears from Secretary Walsingham's lamentations, the astute +Farnese was mistaken. + +In truth he was frequently, led into error to the English policy the same +serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and +we have already seen; that Elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to +quarrel with the States, with France, with all the world, if she could +only secure the good-will of Philip. + +The French-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with +his designs upon England and Holland, was causing Alexander much anxiety. +He foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war +in France, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared +between Henry III. and the Huguenots, when least expected. In +consequence, the Duke of Guise was becoming very importunate for Philip's +subsidies. "Mucio comes begging to me," said Parma, "with the very +greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of +misery. He asked for 25,000 of the 150,000 ducats promised him. I gave +them. Soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for 25,000 +more. These I did not give; firstly, because I had them not," (which +would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because I wished to +protract matters as much as possible. He is constantly reminding me of +your Majesty's promise of 300,000 ducats, in case he comes to a rupture +with the King of France, and I always assure him that your Majesty will +keep all promises." + +Philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure +his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. He had +ordered Mendoza to pay the Scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not +till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the 6000 men, +he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to +leave the decision upon it to the Duke. Farnese kept his sovereign +minutely informed of the negociations carried on through Champagny and De +Loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the Queen was influenced by +motives as hypocritical as his own. She was only seeking, he said, to +deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, +while, she was making her combinations with France and Germany, for the +ruin of Spain. There was no virtue to be expected from her, except she +was compelled thereto by pure necessity. The English, he said, were +hated and abhorred by the natives of Holland and Zeeland, and it behoved +Philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan +with all the speed in the world. It might be that the Queen, seeing +these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself +was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the Netherlands +should be crushed. But if she succeeded in deceiving Spain, and putting +Philip and Parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of +them all. The negotiations for peace and the preparations for the +invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, +in consequence, come more sparingly to the Provinces from the English +coffers, and the disputes between England and the States would be +multiplied. The Duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could +be laid down, upon which the King really would conclude peace; in order +that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite +powers. The condition of France was becoming more alarming every day, he +said. In other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that +distracted country. The Queen of England was cementing a strong league +between herself, the French King, and the Huguenots; and matters were +looking very serious. The impending peace in France would never do, and +Philip should prevent it in time, by giving Mucio his money. Unless the +French are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said +Alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of +invading England. + +The King thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his +faithful governor and general. He had no intention of concluding a peace +on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he +quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. The English, +he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the King of +Denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general +fiction. He was quite sensible of the necessity of giving Mucio the +money to prevent a pacification in France, and would send letters of +exchange on Agostino Spinola for the 300,000 ducats. Meantime Farnese +was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. + +The secretary-of-state, Don Juan de Idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly +on the great subject to the Duke. "It is not to be exaggerated", he +said, "how set his Majesty is in the all-important business. If you wish +to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to +oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction +this year. Since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer +all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of Spain and +Italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your Excellency last +year. Make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and +no more, and do the business like the man you are. Attribute the liberty +of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my +knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his Majesty, and to my +fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." + +And, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal +sentiments, Philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. The +dealings of Farnese with the English, and his feeding them with hopes of +peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had +caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their +boldness had increased. They had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the +Queen of Scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and +in the Indies, they had dared to invade the ports of Spain, as would +appear in the narrative transmitted to Farnese of the late events at +Cadiz. And although that damage was small, said Philip; there resulted a +very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' He declined +sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same +arts employed by the English, he preferred that Alexander should not +undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to +the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such +language they should commit such actions. Even their want of prudence in +thus provoking the King; when their strength was compared to his, should +be spoken of by Farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion +that his Majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should +he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "You must show +yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued Philip, "and you +must give them to understand that I am quite as angry as you. You must +try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will +be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an, assertion +that the deeds of Drake in Cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary +to the will of the Queen, and that she very much regrets them, or +something of that sort." + +It has already been shown that Farnese was very successful in eliciting +from the Queen, through the mouth of Lord' Burghley, as ample a disavowal +and repudiation of Sir Francis Drake as the King could possibly desire. +Whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of +Philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we +are now occupied, have been laid upon the Greenwich council-board. + +"When you have got, such a disavowal," continued his Majesty, "you are to +act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to +believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, +proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral +territory. As for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will +entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the Netherlands. For all +other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but +that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance +have been offered.--Say this only for the sake of appearance. This is +the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. +But to you only do I declare that my intention is that this shall never +lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. On the +contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool +them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that +such preparations will be unnecessary. You are well aware that the +reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no +slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of +England, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in +men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." + +Is it strange that the Queen of England was deceived? Is it matter of +surprise, censure, or shame, that no English statesman was astute enough +or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only +by the very father of lies? + +"Although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the King--unveiling +himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without +any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with +great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about +some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, +and of which there are plenty, in the letters of Andrew de Loo. Your +commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your +personal decision. The English will be asking for damages for money, +spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that +damages are rather due to me. Thus, and in other ways, time will be +agent. Your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the +English themselves. I tell it to you only. Thus you will proceed with +the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on +another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while +proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan +already agreed upon." + +Certainly the most Catholic King seemed, in this remarkable letter to +have outdone himself; and Farnese--that sincere Farnese, in whose loyal, +truth-telling, chivalrous character, the Queen and her counsellors placed +such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as +to the course he was to adopt. To lie daily, through, thick, and thin, +and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile +in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his +sovereign. And the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the English sovereign +thoroughly deceived. The secret confided only, to the faithful breast of +Alexander was religiously kept. Even the Pope was outwitted. His +Holiness proposed to, Philip the invasion of England, and offered a +million to further the plan. He was most desirous to be informed if the +project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. +The King took the Pope's million, but refused the desired information. +He answered evasively. He had a very good will to invade the country, he +said, but there were great difficulties in the way. After a time, the +Pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million +which Philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; +giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at +that time, because there were then great impediments. "Thus he is +pledged to give me the subsidy, and I am not pledged for the time," said +Philip, "and I keep my secret, which is the most important of all." + +Yet after all, Farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation +of the plan. His army had wofully dwindled, and before he could +seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take +the city of Sluys. This was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous +enterprise. He complained to Philip' of his inadequate supplies both in +men and money. The project conceived in the royal breast was worth +spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he +could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, +and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. But +Philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. He had +collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the +world. He had two million ducats in reserve, besides the Pope's million; +the French were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion +should be made this year without fail. The fleet would arrive in the +English channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in +conformity with Alexander's ideas. The invasion was to be threefold: +from Scotland, under the Scotch earls and their followers, with the money +and troops furnished by Philip; from the Netherlands, under Parma; and by +the great Spanish armada itself, upon the Isle of Wight. Alexander must +recommend himself to God, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his +duty; which lay very plain before him. If he ever wished to give his +sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, +whatever might betide. Never could there be so fortunate a conjunction +of circumstances again. France was in a state of revolution, the German +levies were weak, the Turk was fully occupied in Persia, an enormous mass +of money, over and above the Pope's million, had been got together, and +although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the Duke +would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal +master might render to God that service which he was so anxious to +perform. Enthusiastic, though gouty, Philip grasped the pen in order to +scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "This business is of such +importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be +delayed, that I cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as I can. +I should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has +been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and +although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." + +Struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, +accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that +the King should expect Alexander, then deep in the siege of Sluy's, to +vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of +England so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. + +Sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening +from hour to hour. During the months of autumn; upon the very days when +those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by +Alexander to Elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest +Andrew de Loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the Queen's health +with Cosimo, and Champagny, the Duke and Philip were interchanging +detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. The King +calculated that by the middle of September Alexander would have 30,000 +men in the Netherlands ready for embarcation.--Marquis Santa Cruz was +announced as nearly ready to, sail for the English channel with 22,000 +more, among whom were to be 16,000 seasoned Spanish infantry. The +Marquis was then to extend the hand to Parma, and protect that passage to +England which the Duke was at once to effect. The danger might be great +for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the +year; but Philip was sure that God, whose cause it was, would be pleased +to give good weather. The Duke was to send, with infinite precautions of +secrecy, information which the Marquis would expect off Ushant, and be +quite ready to act so soon as Santa Cruz should arrive. Most earnestly +and anxiously did the King deprecate any, thought of deferring the +expedition to another year. If delayed, the obstacles of the following +summer--a peace in France, a peace between the Turk and Persia, and other +contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and Philip +declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his +own character and that of Farnese, and God's service, were all at stake. +He was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by +the Duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great +enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his +plans had been minutely followed. "You are the author of the whole +scheme," said Philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind +of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" Again and again he referred +to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since +the world was made--4,800,000 ducats with 2,000,000 in reserve, of which +he was authorized to draw for 500,000 in advance, to say nothing of the +Pope's million. + +But Alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's +wishes about the invasion, and to blind the English by the fictitious +negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. In truth, there was +something puerile in the eagerness which Philip manifested. He had made +up his mind that England was to be conquered that autumn, and had +endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his +illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. Of, +course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside +a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the +Armada should arrive. Yet--wonderful to relate-Philip, in his +impatience, absolutely suggested that the Duke might take possession of +England without waiting for Santa Cruz and his Armada. As the autumn had +been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the +shipping in Spanish ports, the King thought it best not to defer matters +till, the winter. "You are, doubtless, ready," he said to Farnese. +"If you think you can make the passage to England before the fleet from +Spain arrives, go at once. You maybe sure that it will come ere long to +support, you. But if, you prefer, to wait, wait. The dangers of winter, +to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but God, whose +cause it is; will protect you." + +It was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, +arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the. +conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. Philip +had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of France were not +quite to his mind. The battle of Coutras, and the entrance of the German +and Swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. +Either those auxiliaries of the Huguenots would be defeated, or they +would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. In the +first event, the Duke, after sending a little assistance to Mucio, was to +effect his passage to England at once. In the second case, those troops, +even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it +might be still safe for Farnese to go on. In the third contingency--that +of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign +troops had disbanded and left France. He was to maintain all his forces +in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of French +matters and, so soon as the Swiss and Germane were dispersed, he was to +proceed to business without delay. The fleet would be ready in Spain in +all November, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in +winter, and as the Armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; +the Duke was not to wait for its arrival. "Whenever you see a favourable +opportunity," said Philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if +the fleet has not made its appearance. For you may be sure that it will +soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." + +Farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the English, +after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new +master. His troops were not to forget discipline after victory. There +was to be no pillage or rapine. The Catholics were to be handsomely +rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much +indulgence that, instead of abhorring Parma and his soldiers, they would +conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many +benefits. Again the Duke was warmly commended for the skill with which +he had handled the peace negotiation. It was quite right to appoint +commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the +sole object of treating was to take the English unawares. "And therefore +do you guide them to this end," said the King with pious unction, "which +is what you owe to God, in whose service I have engaged in this +enterprise, and to whom I have dedicated the whole." The King of France, +too--that unfortunate Henry III., against whose throne and life Philip +maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was +affectionately adjured, through the Spanish envoy in Paris, Mendoza,--to +reflect upon the advantages to France of a Catholic king and kingdom of +England, in place of the heretics now in power. + +But Philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh +crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had +even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. In the early days +of December, he expressed a doubt whether his 14th November letter had +reached the Duke, who by that time was probably in England. One would +have thought the King addressing a tourist just starting on a little +pleasure-excursion. And this was precisely the moment when Alexander had +been writing those affectionate phrases to the Queen which had been +considered by the counsellors at Greenwich so "princely and Christianly," +and which Croft had pronounced such "very good words." + +If there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said +Philip, that, in the name of God, the passage had been made. "Once +landed there," continued the King, "I am persuaded that you will give me +a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our Lord, that you will +do that service which I desire to render to Him, and that He will guide +our cause, which is His own, and of such great importance to His Church." +A part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand +Spaniards, the Pope's million, and other good things, which might prove +useful to Parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the +enemy's territory. + +This conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew +stronger in the King's breast every day. He was only a little disturbed +lest Farnese should have misunderstood that 14th November letter. +Philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling +details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various +contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might +become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little +anxious. The third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. +There had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the +French King. Nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and +this was contingency number two. Now which of the events would the Duke +consider as having really occurred. It was to be hoped that he would +have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly +the contingency which existed. France was still in a very satisfactory +state of discord and rebellion. The civil war was by no means over. +There was small fear of peace that winter. Give Mucio his pittance with +frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for +Philip's project, and misery for Henry III. and his subjects for an +indefinite period longer. The King thought it improbable that Farnese +could have made any mistake. He expressed therefore a little anxiety at +having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, +with the aid of the Lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished +the great exploit. Philip had only, recommended delay in event of a +general peace in France--Huguenots, Royalists, Leaguers, and all. +This had not happened. "Therefore, I trust," said the King; "that you-- +perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify +a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my +desire. I am confident that the deed is done, and that God has blessed +it, and I am now expecting the news from hour to hour." + +But Alexander had not yet arrived in England. The preliminaries for the +conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned +to Philip. He was very short of funds. The five millions were not to be +touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. But as England was to +be subjugated, in order that rebellious Holland might be recovered, it +was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the +Netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but +to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient Provinces. Yet this +was the dilemma in which the Duke was placed. So much money had been set +aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the +regular military business. The customary supplies had not been sent. +Parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able +to get that draft discounted on the Antwerp Exchange by consenting to +receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the +sum. A good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but +there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the +five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. +The whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to +Farnese, for want of funds. The time for doing the deed had arrived, and +he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. He expressed his disgust +and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested +that he was not to blame. "I always thought," said he bitterly, "that +your Majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, +and not limit me beneath the ordinary. I did not suppose, when it was +most important to have ready money, that I should be kept short, and not +allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which I should have done +had you not forbidden." + +This was, through life, a striking characteristic of Philip. Enormous +schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their +accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, +visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial +realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a +very trifling outlay of ready money. + +Meantime the faithful Farnese did his best. He was indefatigable night +and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. +He dug a canal from Sas de Gand--which was one of his principal depots-- +all the way to Sluys, because the water-communication between those two +points was entirely in the hands of the Hollanders and Zeelanders. The +rebel cruisers swarmed in the Scheldt, from, Flushing almost to Antwerp, +so that it was quite impossible for Parma's forces to venture forth at +all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from Sluys. +At the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the +English envoys already named by the Queen. There had been much delay in +the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by +Barneveld and his followers; but Burghley was now sanguine that the +exposure of what he called the Advocate's seditious, false, and perverse +proceedings, would enable Leicester to procure the consent of the States +to a universal peace. + +And thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, +spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. Santa Cruz was still with his +fleet in Lisbon, Cadiz, and the Azores; and Parma was in Brussels, when +Philip fondly imagined him established in Greenwich Palace. When made +aware of his master's preposterous expectations, Alexander would have +been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with +indignation. Such folly seemed incredible. There was not the slightest +appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of +the Spanish fleet, he observed. His vessels were mere transport-boats, +without the least power of resisting an enemy. The Hollanders and +Zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all +directions. He could neither get out from Antwerp nor from Sluys. There +were large English ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were +getting ready in the Netherlands and in England "most furiously." The +delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the +enemy was on his guard. If Santa Cruz had come, Alexander declared that +he should have already been in England. When he did come he should still +be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without +the Armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that +proposition to his Majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. His army, +by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number +considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established +regular squadrons in the Scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at +Lillo, Liefkenshoek, Saftingen, and other points close to Antwerp. There +were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that +they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own +flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. Alexander had +been personally superintending matters at Sluys, Ghent, and Antwerp, and +had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed +between Sas and Sluys. Meantime his fresh troops had been slowly +arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. The Italians were +dying fast, almost all the Spaniards were in hospital, and the others +were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; +yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should +accompany him to England, since otherwise his Spanish force would be +altogether too weak to do the service expected. He had got together a +good number of transports. Not counting his Antwerp fleet--which could +not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on +account of the rebel blockade--he had between Dunkerk and Newport +seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred +and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were +to be assembled at Sluys, whence they would--so soon as Santa Cruz should +make his appearance--set forth for England. This force of transports he +pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the Spanish Armada, to +carry himself and his troops across the channel. If, therefore, the +matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved +favourable, it was probable that his Majesty's desire would soon be +fulfilled according to the plan proposed. The companies of light horse +and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into London, +had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to +contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could +only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite +secure. + +But craftily as the King and Duke had been dealing, it had been found +impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. Walsingham +was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. +The misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, Lord +Burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his +information. Not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the +number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of +beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated +invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the +gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the Duke was just +secretly announcing to the King his intention of making his triumphal +entrance into the English capital. Sir Francis knew how many thousand +yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver +embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and +diamonds; Farnese had been providing himself withal. He knew the +tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great +Alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; + + ["There is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so + tempered that no water can put them out. A great number of little + mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen + salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made 500 + pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister + throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white + and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. By + reason of these roses it is expected he is going for England. There + is sold to the Prince by John Angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of + velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. The + covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and + silver, which carry his baggage. There is also sold to him by the + Italian merchants at least 670 pieces of velvet to apparel him and + his train. Every captain has received a gift from the Prince to + make himself brave, and for Captain Corralini, an Italian, who hath + one cornet of horse, I have seen with my eyes a saddle with the + trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost + 3,500 French crowns. (!!) All their lances are painted of divers + colours, blue and white, green and White, and most part blood-red-- + so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. A great + number of English priests come to Antwerp from all places. The + commandment is given to all the churches to read the Litany daily + for the prosperity of the Prince in his enterprise." John Giles to + Walsingham, 4 Dec. 1587.(S. P. Office MS.) + + The same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning + the naval preparations by the Duke, besides accurate intelligence in + regard to the progress of the armada in Cadiz and Lisbon. + + Sir William Russet wrote also from Flushing concerning these + preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that + he considered Farnese to be rather intending a movement against + France. + + "The Prince of Parma," he said, "is making great preparations for + war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a + triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed + for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and + diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. Five + hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of + brave new coats made for horsemen; 30,000 men are ready, and gather + in Brabant and Flanders. It is said that there shall be in two days + 10,000 to do some great exploit in these parts, and 20,000 to march + with the Prince into France, and for certain it is not known what + way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning + --4,000 saddles, 4000 lances. 6,000 pairs of boots, 2,000 barrels of + beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of 20,000 men, &c. The Prince + hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the Pope, + and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] + +but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. +Nor was much concealed from the Argus-eyed politicians in the republic. +The States were more and more intractable. They knew nearly all the +truth with regard to the intercourse between the Queen's government and +Farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. The list of English +commissioners privately agreed upon between Burghley and De Loo was known +to Barneveld, Maurice, and Hohenlo, before it came to the ears of +Leicester. In June, Buckhurst had been censured by Elizabeth for opening +the peace matter to members of the States, according to her bidding, and +in July Leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. She +was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so +long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so +transparent as to make concealment hopeless. Leicester, as well as +Buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the Netherlanders of peace, +because of their profound distrust in every word that came from Spanish +or Italian lips; but Leicester, less frank than Buckhurst, preferred to +flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. More +fortunate than Buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless +affection, and promotion to the very highest post in England when the +hour of England's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling +counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. When the Queen +complained sharply that the States were mocking her, and that she was +touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to +Farnese, the Earl assured her that the Netherlanders were fast changing +their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been +odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her Majesty, they would +accept it with thankful hearts. + +The States, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, +pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing +sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast +losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to +her Majesty's pleasure. He expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in +his path. The knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the +actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. It was honey to +Maurice and Hohenlo, he said, that the Queen's secret practices with +Farnese had thus been discovered. Nothing could be more marked than the +jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace- +making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country +had been fixed securely in their own hands. They were canonized, said +the Earl, for their hostility to peace. + +Should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of +feeling the popular pulse, have given the Queen's government pause? To +serve his sovereign in truth, Leicester might have admitted a possibility +at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up +their lives for their country. For in a very few weeks ho was obliged to +confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in +her Majesty's policy. The great majority, both of the States and the +people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. The +inhabitants of the little Province of Holland alone, he said, had avowed +their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight +single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to +submit again to Spanish tyranny. This seemed a heroic resolution, worthy +the sympathy of a brave Englishman, but the Earl's only comment upon it +was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the +most blindest asses in the world." He never scrupled, on repeated +occasions, to insinuate that Barneveld, Hohenlo, Buys, Roorda, Sainte +Aldegonde, and the Nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to +Spain. Of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only +way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the +peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on +himself. "'Tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and +bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed +somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to Spain, +which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. + +Early in August, by the Queen's command, he had sent a formal +communication respecting the private negotiations to the States, but he +could tell them no secret. The names of the commissioners, and even the +supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to +town, from mouth to mouth, so that the Earl pronounced it impossible for +one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. + +He had sent a state-counsellor, one Bardesius, to the Hague, to open the +matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or +two members of the States, and was assured that the proposition, if made, +would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. So +poor Bardesius came back to Leicester, fell on his knees, and implored +him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. After an interval, he +sent two eminent statesmen, Valk and Menin, to lay the subject before the +assembly. They did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. On their +return, the Earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, +pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never +meant to propose peace-negotiations. But Valk and Menin were too old +politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn +up in Italian--the foreign language best understood by the Earl--with his +own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that +there had been no misconception. + +Leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in +the Provinces. Hohenlo, Barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the +country against the peace," were carrying all before them. They had +persuaded the people, that the "Queen was but a tickle stay for them," +and had inflated young Maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling +him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose +memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as +be had done." The country was bent on a popular government, and on +maintaining the war. There was no possibility, he confessed, that they +would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. +The Queen had promised, when he left England the second time, that his +absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed +permission to depart. Above all things, he deprecated being employed as +a peace-commissioner. He was, of all men, the most unfit for such a +post. At the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in +selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the +peace might be made for Queen Elizabeth, as well as for King Philip. +He strongly recommended, for that duty, Beale, the councillor, who with +Killigrew had replaced the hated Wilkes and the pacific Bartholomew +Clerk. "Mr. Beale, brother-in-law to Walsingham, is in my books a +prince," said the Earl. "He was drowned in England, but most useful in +the Netherlands. Without him I am naked." + +And at last the governor told the Queen what Buckhurst and Walsingham had +been perpetually telling her, that the Duke of Parma meant mischief; and +he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six +thousand shirts for camisados, 7000 pairs of wading boots, and saddles, +stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of 3000 men. A shrewd +troop, said the Earl, of the first soldiers in Christendom, to be landed +some fine morning in England. And he too had heard of the jewelled suits +of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the +triumphant Alexander was intending to astonish London. "Get horses +enough, and muskets enough in England," exclaimed Leicester, "and then +our people will not be beaten, I warrant you, if well led." + +And now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply +with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public +feeling--not only confessed that Papists and Protestants, gentle and +simple, the States and the people, throughout the republic, were all +opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, +and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the Queen's infatuation. + +"Oh, my Lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to Burghley, +"that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the King +having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, +besides what is coming out, of Spain, and yet we will presume of good +conditions. It grieveth me to the heart. But I fear you will all smart +for it, and I pray God her Majesty feel it not, if it be His blessed +will. She meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but God knows that +this is not the way. Well, God Almighty defend us and the realm, and +especially her Majesty. But look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, +to undo others and ourselves after." + +Walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. If his +failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to +refuse, he said, and so forfeit her Majesty's favour, rather than be +instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. Never +for an instant had the Secretary of State faltered in his opposition to +the timid policy of Burghley. Again and again he had detected the +intrigues of the Lord-Treasurer and Sir James Croft, and ridiculed the +"comptroller's peace." + +And especially did Walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the +Queen placed in the sugary words of Alexander, and the fatal parsimony +which caused her to neglect defending herself against Scotland; for he +was as well informed as was Farnese himself of Philip's arrangements with +the Scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their +invasion of England was to be made part of the great scheme. "No one +thing," sighed Walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this +estate, than that a prince of her Majesty's judgment should neglect, in +respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap . . . +. . The manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time +of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that +I see, unless it shall please God in mercy and miraculously to preserve +us, we cannot long stand." + +Leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of Barneveld +and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous +and criminal project before he left the country. The facts are somewhat +veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design +to kidnap both Maurice and Barneveld, and carry them off to England. Of +this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried +into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already +been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the Queen had once given +Buckhurst and Wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of Hohenlo, +and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a +later moment with regard to the young Count and the Advocate. At any +rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of Barneveld +entered his bedroom, at the Hague, in the dead of night, and informed him +that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed +force was already on its way to execute this purpose of Leicester, before +the dawn of day. The Advocate, without loss of time, took his departure +for Delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by Maurice. + +Nor was this the only daring--stroke which the Earl had meditated. +During the progress of the secret negotiations with Parma, he had not +neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally +made allusion. He had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of +the most important cities in Holland and Zeeland. It was very plain to +him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority +once conferred upon him by the free will of the States. It was his +purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. +We have heard the violent terms in which both the Queen and the Earl +denounced the men who accused the English government of any such +intention. It had been formally denied by the States-General that +Barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had +been charged. He had only revealed to them the exact purport of the +letter to Junius, and of the Queen's secret instructions to Leicester. +Whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever +deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted +facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. It does not +appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the Earl +capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, +to Spain, as the price of peace for England. Certainly Elizabeth would +have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent +to that effect; but the wrath of the Queen and of her favourite were, +perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification +at the discovery of designs on the part of the Earl which could not be +denied. Not only had they been at last compelled to confess these +negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly +denied, but the still graver plots of the Earl to regain his much-coveted +authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. The leaders of the +States-General had a right to suspect the English Earl of a design to +reenact the part of the Duke of Anjou, and were justified in taking +stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was +impending over their little commonwealth. The high-handed dealings of +Leicester in the city of Utrecht have been already described. The most +respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and +banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it +legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of +Calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been +made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province +the liberty on which it prided itself. + +In the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at +Amsterdam. A plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize +the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the +arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known +Leicestrians. A list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the +writing of Burgrave, the Earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of +whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. + +The plot to secure Amsterdam had failed, but, in North Holland, Medenblik +was held firmly for Leicester, by Diedrich Sonoy, in the very teeth of +the States. The important city of Enkhuyzen, too, was very near being +secured for the Earl, but a still more significant movement was made at +Leyden. That heroic city, ever since the famous siege of 1574, in which +the Spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by +great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. The burghers were +inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil +and, ecclesiastical; and Papists and Protestants, who had fought side by +side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to +pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. Meanwhile, +however, refugee Flemings and Brabantines had sought an asylum in the +city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the Calvinists were +shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. To the honour of the +city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that +one or two Papists had seats in the magistracy. More than all this, +there was a school in the town kept by a Catholic, and Adrian van der +Werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city +during the dreadful leaguer of 1574, and who had told the famishing +burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should +never surrender to the Spaniards while he remained alive--even Adrian van +der Werff had sent his son to this very school? To the clamour made by +the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite +preachers in the town, of Arminian tendencies, had declared in the +pulpit, that he would as lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic +inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard +to the church of Geneva, more energetic than decorous. + +It was from Leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a +great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a +masked theocracy; a scheme which the States of Holland had resisted with +might and main. The Calvinistic party, waxing stronger in Leyden, +although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to +place the city in the hands of that great representative of Calvinism, +the Earl of Leicester. Jacques Volmar, a deacon of the church, Cosmo de +Pescarengis, a Genoese captain of much experience in the service of the +republic, Adolphus de Meetkerke, former president of Flanders, who had +been, by the States, deprived of the seat in the great council to which +the Earl had appointed him; Doctor Saravia, professor of theology in the +university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at +different times from Leyden to Utrecht, and had secret interviews with +Leicester. + +A plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of +October, a revolution should be effected in Leyden. Captain Nicholas de +Maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of +Sluys, was stationed with two companies of States' troops in the city. +He had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable +negligence through which the courageous efforts of the Sluys garrison +had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily +have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to Maurice, +Hohenlo, and the States, although it could hardly be denied that at least +an equal portion belonged to Leicester and his party. The young captain +listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by Colonel Cosine, and +Deacon Volmar, in the name of Leicester. He agreed, on a certain day, to +muster his company, to leave the city by the Delft gate--as if by command +of superior authority--to effect a junction with Captain Heraugiere, +another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of Sluys, who was +stationed, with his command, at Delft, and then to re-enter Leyden, take +possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with +Adrian van der Werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim Lord Leicester, in the +name of Queen Elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. A list of +burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final +meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of +'The Thunderbolt.' A desire had been signified by Leicester, in the +preliminary interviews at Utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, +should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, +considering the, temper, the political convictions, and the known courage +of the Leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, +to this invasion of all their rights. It could hardly be doubted that +the streets would run red with blood, as those of Antwerp had done, when +a similar attempt, on the part of Anjou, had been foiled. + +Unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to +be hazarded, Cosmo de Pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for +debt. A subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the +magistrate and revealed the plot. Volmar and de Maulde fled at once, but +were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. President de Meetkerke, +Professor Saravia, the preacher Van der Wauw, and others most +compromised, effected their escape. The matter was instantly laid before +the States of Holland by the magistracy of Leyden, and seemed of the +gravest moment. In the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of York +and Stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of Leicester in the hearts of +almost all the Netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. The painful +rumours concerning the secret negotiations with Spain, and the design +falsely attributed to the English Queen, of selling the chief cities of +the republic to Philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for +expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. It +was felt by the leaders of the States that as mortal a combat lay before +them with the Earl of Leicester, as with the King of Spain, and that it +was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their +imperilled authority. + +A commission was appointed by the high court of Holland, acting in +conjunction with the States of the Provinces, to try the offenders. +Among the commissioners were Adrian van der Werff, John van der Does, who +had been military commandant of Leyden during the siege, Barneveld, and +other distinguished personages, over whom Count Maurice presided. The +accused were subjected to an impartial trial. Without torture, they +confessed their guilt. It is true, however, that Cosmo was placed within +sight of the rack. He avowed that his object had been to place the city +under the authority of Leicester, and to effect this purpose, if +possible, without bloodshed. He declared that the attempt was to be made +with the full knowledge and approbation of the Earl, who had promised him +the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his +services, if they proved successful. Leicester, said Cosmo, had also +pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be +discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the +sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. When asked if +he had any written statement from his Excellency to that effect, Cosmo +replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily +given. + +Volmar made a similar confession. He, too, declared that he had acted +throughout the affair by express command of the Earl of Leicester. Being +asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied +in the negative. "Then his Excellency will unquestionably deny your +assertion," said the judges. "Alas, then am I a dead man," replied +Volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. Captain de +Maulde also confessed his crime. He did not pretend, however, to have +had any personal communication with Leicester, but said that the affair +had been confided to him by Colonel Cosmo, on the express authority of +the Earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to +his Excellency's commands. + +On the 26th October, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full +confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to +death. The decree was surely a most severe one. They had been guilty of +no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to +commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence +punishable with death. But it was exactly because it was important to +make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. The +offence was considered as a crime not against Leyden, but as an attempt +to levy war upon a city which was a member of the States of Holland and +of the United States. If the States were sovereign, then this was a +lesion of their sovereignty. Moreover, the offence had been aggravated +by the employment of United States' troops against the commonwealth of +the United States itself. To cut off the heads of these prisoners was a +sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by Leicester, as +representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in +future; be disposed to revive the theories of Deventer and Burgrave. + +In the case of De Maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. His +fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain +his pardon. He was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very +handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and +honourable race. His father, the Seigneur de Mansart, had done great +services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the +great Prince of Orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to +assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. Two brothers of the +young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. He, too, had +distinguished himself at Ostend, and his gallantry during the recent +siege of Sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause +of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran Roger Williams. The +scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege +were fresh upon his breast. He had not intended to commit treason, but, +convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by +learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, +while obeying the Earl of Leicester. If there were ever a time for +mercy, this seemed one, and young Maurice of Nassau might have +remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the +life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which +seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. + +But they authorities were inexorable. There was no hope of a mitigation +of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular +ancient custom, to save the life of De Maulde. A young lady of noble +family in Leyden--Uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the +condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and +offering to take him for her husband. + +Intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, +lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: But +he refused to be comforted. He was slightly acquainted with the gentle- +woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be +granted. Moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even +expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. +The lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, +made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh +rebukes. She had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take +a condemned traitor for her husband. It was urged, in her behalf, that +even in the cruel Alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, +and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in +marriage made even by women of abandoned character. But all was of no +avail. The prisoners were executed on the 26th October, the same day +on which the sentence had been pronounced. The heads of Volmar and Cosmo +were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. That of Maulde was +interred with his body. + +The Earl was indignant when he heard of the event. As there had been no +written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought +it improper to mention his name in the sentences. He, of course, denied +any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the +assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was +circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! + +France, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed +throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. The fatal edict of +June, 1585, had drowned the unhappy land in blood. Foreign armies, +called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, +butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. +The unhappy creature who wore the crown of Charlemagne and of Hugh Capet, +was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his +own subjects, and of foreigners. Slowly and surely the net, spread by +the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the Duke of +Guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of Philip, +seemed closing over him. He was without friends, without power to know +his friends, if he had them. In his hatred to the Reformation, he had +allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his +friend, or the friend of France. Allied with his mortal foe, whose +armies were strengthened by contingents from Parma's forces, and paid for +by Spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign +mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of +the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue France from +ruin, and whom France could look up to with respect. + +For, on the 20th October, Henry of Navarre had at last gained a victory. +After twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been +growing stronger and stronger, the Protestants had met the picked troops +of Henry III., under the Due de Joyeuse, near the burgh of Contras. His +cousins Conde and Soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the +Warnese. "You are both of my family," said Henry, before the engagement, +"and the Lord so help me, but I will show you that I am the eldest born." +And during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the +battle, was fiercest. "I choose to show myself. They shall see the +Bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his +personal safety. And at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, +and more French nobles lay dead on the field, as Catharine de' Medici +bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two +thousand of the King's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of +Joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the +conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, +with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched +Valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to +shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' + +For it could hardly be doubtful, even to Henry III., at that moment, that +Philip II. and his jackal, the Duke of Guise, were pursuing him to the +death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been +forced to turn upon his natural protector. And now Joyeuse was defeated +and slain. Had it been my brother's son," exclaimed Cardinal de Bourbon, +weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." It was not +easy to slay the champion of French Protestantism; yet, to one less +buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of +Contras, might have seemed desperate. Beggared and outcast, with +literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's +guard, how was he to maintain an army? + +But 'Mucio' was more successful than Joyeuse had been, and the German and +Swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the Bearnese, +were adroitly handled by Philip's great stipendiary. Henry of Valois, +whose troops had just been defeated at Contras, was now compelled to +participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. For alas, the victim had +tied himself to the apron-string of "Madam League," and was paraded by +her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. +The passage of the Loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of +petty victories was gained by Guise, and, at last, after it was obvious +that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with Spanish ducats, +Henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the Balafre opportunity +for still farther successes. + +Then came the triumph in Paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the +public places--not for the King, but for Guise. Paris, more madly in +love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. For +him paeans as to a deliverer. Without him the ark would have fallen into +the hands of the Philistines. For the Valois, shouts of scorn from the +populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, +elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the Sorbonne, distant +mutterings of excommunication from Rome--not the toothless beldame of +modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. Such were +the results of the edicts of June. Spain and the Pope had trampled upon +France, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped +for joy. "Miserable country miserable King," sighed an illustrious +patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to +defend him! Let the name of Huguenot and of Papist be never heard of +more. Let us think only of the counter-league. Is France to be saved by +opening all its gates to Spain? Is France to be turned out of France, to +make a lodging for the Lorrainer and the Spaniard?" Pregnant questions, +which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. France was to +become still more and more a wilderness. And well did that same brave +and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should +suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once +beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of +cannibals.--[Duplessis Mornay, 'Mem.' iv. 1-34.] + +It had now become quite obvious that the game of Leicester was played +out. His career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one +termination. He had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he +came to govern. He had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously +bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to +recover that power. There was nothing left him but retreat. Of this he +was thoroughly convinced. He was anxious to be gone, the republic most +desirous to be rid of him, her Majesty impatient to have her favourite +back again. The indulgent Queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, +while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the Provinces was +boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to +the States, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of +emptying her wrath upon their heads. + +She told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, +signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her +exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their +contract with herself and with Leicester, whom they had, of their own +accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never +received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, +nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. On the contrary, +she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most +notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she +lacked words to express them in one letter. She however thought it worth +while to allude to some of their transgressions. She, declared that +their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had +been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and Christian +intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to +her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the King of +Spain. Yet although she had required their allowance, before she would +give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what +impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their. +sufferance; but by their special permission for her Christian good +meaning towards them. She denounced the statements as to her having +concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the +sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for +anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. She complained +that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like +untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin Leicester, who had +hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented +himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. It had been +falsely stated among them, she said, that the Earl had come over the last +time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. It was false that +he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to +the King of Spain. All such untruths contained matter so improbable, +that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could +imagine them correct. Having thus slightly animadverted upon their +wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very +plain English, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times +upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled +her cousin Leicester, having great cause to use his services in England, +and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or +herself. Nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for +their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of +kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the States +government, were like to fall upon them, unless God should specially +interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue +her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. If, meantime, she +should conclude a peace with Spain, she promised to them the same care +for their country as for her own. + +Accordingly the Earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to +the States, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old +grievances, blamed them for the loss of Sluys, for which place he +protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been +San Domingo in Hispaniola, took his departure for Flushing. After +remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, +expecting that the States would, at least, send a committee to wait upon +him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "God +send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer +which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely +landed in England. "These legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands +upon them as he sat in his chamber at Margate, "shall never go again into +Holland. Let the States get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me +they shall not have." Upon giving up the government, he caused a medal +to be struck in his own honour. The device was a flock of sheep watched +by an English mastiff. Two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and +"invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of Dutch ingratitude and his own +fidelity. The Hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to +commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of +invention. Upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape +smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, +"Libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a +man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, +"Fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." + +Leicester found the usual sunshine at Greenwich. All the efforts of +Norris, Wilkes, and Buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a +doubt in Elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his +administration of the Provinces had been characterised from beginning to +end. Those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their +sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. But for the great +Earl; the Queen's favour was a rock of adamant. At a private interview +he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to +receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. His +blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. Instead, therefore, +of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as +ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his +colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her +Majesty's secret instructions. + +The unhappy English soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in +midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, +half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of Greenwich +palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. +This was not the fault of the Earl, for he had fed them with his own +generous hand in the Netherlands, week after week, when no money for +their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. Two thousand +pounds had been sent by Elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four +thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the +misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own +nation, were reduced. + +Lord Willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these +unfortunate troops, upon--the Earl's departure. The sovereignty of the +Netherlands remained undisputed with the States. Leicester resigned his, +commission by an instrument dated 17/27 December, which, however, never +reached the Netherlands till April of the following year. From that time +forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the +assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor- +general, and which have been sufficiently described. + +Meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. +The Queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of +Farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily +maturing their schemes. A matrimonial alliance was secretly projected +between the King of Scots and Philip's daughter, the Infants Isabella, +with the consent of the Pope and the whole college of cardinals; and +James, by the whole force of the Holy League, was to be placed upon the +throne of Elizabeth. In the case of his death, without issue, Philip +was to succeed quietly to the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland. +Nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these +arrangements were the table-talk at Rome, and met with general +approbation. + +Communications to this effect; coming straight from the Colonna palace, +were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the English +government. Maurice of Nassau wrote with his own hand to Walsingham, +professing a warm attachment to the cause in which Holland and England +were united, and perfect personal devotion to the English Queen. + +His language, was not that of a youth, who, according to Leicester's +repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers +and statesmen of the Netherlands to sell their country to Spain. + +But Elizabeth was not to be convinced. She thought it extremely probable +that the Provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for +England. It was unfortunate that the possession of Sluys had given +Alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he +might take possession of Ostend. She had, therefore, already recommended +that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls +should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. +should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants +having been previously allowed to take their departure. For it was +assumed by her Majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that +Ostend could never stand a siege. + +The advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign Elizabeth was +destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be +abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the +longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern +history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first European +captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, +in the school of the great Dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly +youth," just turned of twenty. + +The only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, +to the great satisfaction of the Provinces and the annoyance of Parma, +was the surprise of the city of Bonn. The indefatigable Martin Schenk-- +in fulfilment of his great contract with the States-General, by which the +war on the Rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:-- +had led his mercenaries against this important town. He had found one of +its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, +and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by +chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly +din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. In brief, +the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by Martin, in the +name of the deposed elector, Gebhard Truchsess--the first stroke of good +fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. + +The administration of Leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it +would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. His acts +and words have been made to speak for themselves. His career in the +country has been described with much detail, because the period was a +great epoch of transition. The republic of the Netherlands, during those +years, acquired consistency and permanent form. It seemed possible, on +the Earl's first advent, that the Provinces might become part and parcel +of the English realm. Whether such a consummation would have been +desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. But it is certain that the +selection of such a man as Leicester made that result impossible. +Doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. The Queen +was supposed by the Netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the +sovereignty of the Provinces, provided she were made sure, by the Earl's +experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. But this +suspicion was unfounded. The result of every investigation showed the +country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval +capabilities, that, united with England, it would have been a source of +great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. Yet, when +convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid +before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in +public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. This +being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the +States, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, +to confer upon Leicester the almost boundless authority which they +granted on, his first arrival. It was a still graver mistake, on the +part of Elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against +the governor and the States, when informed of the offer and acceptance of +that authority. The Earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by +his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised +before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he +had felt most secure. He found, himself, in an instant, humbled and +ridiculous. Between himself and the Queen it was, something of a lovers' +quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. But though +reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in +the land he was attempting to rule. As he came to know the Netherlanders +better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed +under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee +hated, where at first he had only despised. The Netherlanders, too, who +had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly +manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called +"Father William," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of +the stranger who had been sent to govern them. The Earl was handsome, +quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in +the field. He was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. +He hated easily, and he hated for life. It was soon obvious that no +cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, +stubborn Hollanders. He had the fatal characteristic of loving only the +persons who flattered him. With much perception of character, sense of +humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the +leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. So long as he hoped +success, he was loud in their praises. They were all wise, substantial, +well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in England or +anywhere else. When they refused to be made his tools, they became +tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. He covered them with curses and +devoted them to the gibbet. He began by warmly commending Buys and +Barneveld, Hohenlo and Maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. +Before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would +cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. And +it was quite the same with nearly every Englishman who served with or +under him. Wilkes and Buckhurst, however much the objects of his +previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise +his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. Yet, after minute +examination of the record, public and private, neither Wilkes nor +Buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but +are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense +of duty to their sovereign, the Netherlands, and Leicester himself. + +To Sir John Norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, +for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, +unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase +or diminution by any act or word. Pelham, too, whose days were numbered, +and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the, +Earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness +and affection. But Pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life +for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, +humble adherent. With perhaps this single exception, Leicester found +himself at the end of his second term in the Provinces, without a single +friend and with few respectable partisans. Subordinate mischievous +intriguers like Deventer, Junius, and Otheman, were his chief advisers +and the instruments of his schemes. + +With such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of +affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful +governor of the new republic. But when the numerous errors and +adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was +responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed +fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. His immoderate elevation; +his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his +abrupt departure for England, his protracted absence, his mistimed +return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the +obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the Queen--who, from the +beginning to the end of the Earl's government, never addressed a kindly +word to the Netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them +in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of York and +Stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with Parma, +and the desperate attempts upon Amsterdam and Leyden--all placed him in a +most unfortunate position from first to last. But he was not competent +for his post under any circumstances. He was not the statesman to deal +in policy with Buys, Barneveld, Ortel, Sainte Aldegonde; nor the soldier +to measure himself against Alexander Farnese. His administration was a +failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his +wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could +never gain the hearts of the Netherlanders. English valour, English +intelligence, English truthfulness, English generosity, were endearing +England more and more to Holland. The statesmen of both countries were +brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect +each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective +commonwealths was indissolubly united. But it was to the efforts of +Walsingham, Drake, Raleigh, Wilkes, Buckburst, Norris, Willoughby, +Williams, Vere, Russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners +or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town +in the Netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the +English nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate +results were owing; not to the Earl of Leicester, nor--during the term of +his administration--to Queen Elizabeth herself. + +In brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one +in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a +magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his +death-bed, of the great English Queen; whether to the advantage or not of +his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be +at this day any difference of opinion. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Act of Uniformity required Papists to assist +As lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic inquisition +Elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom +God, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather +Heretics to the English Church were persecuted +Look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace +Loving only the persons who flattered him +Not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed +Only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust +Stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust +Undue anxiety for impartiality +Wealthy Papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v54 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 55, 1588 + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. Part 1. + + Prophecies as to the Year 1588--Distracted Condition of the Dutch + Republic--Willoughby reluctantly takes Command--English + Commissioners come to Ostend--Secretary Gamier and Robert Cecil-- + Cecil accompanies Dale to Ghent--And finds the Desolation complete-- + Interview of Dale and Cecil with Parma--His fervent Expressions in + favour of Peace--Cecil makes a Tour in Flanders--And sees much that + is remarkable--Interviews of Dr. Rogers with Parma--Wonderful + Harangues of the Envoy--Extraordinary Amenity of Alexander--With + which Rogers is much touched--The Queen not pleased with her Envoy-- + Credulity of the English Commissioners--Ceremonious Meeting of all + the Envoys--Consummate Art in wasting Time--Long Disputes about + Commissions--The Spanish Commissions meant to deceive--Disputes + about Cessation of Arms--Spanish Duplicity and Procrastination-- + Pedantry and Credulity of Dr. Dale--The Papal Bull and Dr. Allen's + Pamphlet--Dale sent to ask Explanations--Parma denies all Knowledge + of either--Croft believes to the last in Alexander. + +The year 1588 had at last arrived--that fatal year concerning which the +German astrologers--more than a century before had prognosticated such +dire events. As the epoch approached it was firmly believed by many that +the end of the world was at hand, while the least superstitious could not +doubt that great calamities were impending over the nations. Portents +observed during the winter and in various parts of Europe came to +increase the prevailing panic. It rained blood in Sweden, monstrous +births occurred in France, and at Weimar it was gravely reported by +eminent chroniclers that the sun had appeared at mid-day holding a drawn +sword in his mouth--a warlike portent whose meaning could not be +mistaken. + +But, in truth, it needed no miracles nor prophecies to enforce the +conviction that a long procession of disasters was steadily advancing. +With France rent asunder by internal convulsions, with its imbecile king +not even capable of commanding a petty faction among his own subjects, +with Spain the dark cause of unnumbered evils, holding Italy in its +grasp, firmly allied with the Pope, already having reduced and nearly +absorbed France, and now, after long and patient preparation, about to +hurl the concentrated vengeance and hatred of long years upon the little +kingdom of England, and its only ally--the just organized commonwealth of +the Netherlands--it would have been strange indeed if the dullest +intellect had not dreamed of tragical events. It was not encouraging +that there should be distraction in the counsels of the two States so +immediately threatened; that the Queen of England should be at variance +with her wisest and most faithful statesmen as to their course of action, +and that deadly quarrels should exist between the leading men of the +Dutch republic and the English governor, who had assumed the +responsibility of directing its energies against the common enemy. + +The blackest night that ever descended upon the Netherlands--more +disappointing because succeeding a period of comparative prosperity and +triumph--was the winter of 1587-8, when Leicester had terminated his +career by his abrupt departure for England, after his second brief +attempt at administration. For it was exactly at this moment of anxious +expectation, when dangers were rolling up from the south till not a ray +of light or hope could pierce the universal darkness, that the little +commonwealth was left without a chief. The English Earl departed, +shaking the dust from his feet; but he did not resign. The supreme +authority--so far as he could claim it--was again transferred,--with his +person, to England. + +The consequences were immediate and disastrous. All the Leicestrians +refused to obey the States-General. Utrecht, the stronghold of that +party, announced its unequivocal intention to annex itself, without any +conditions whatever, to the English crown, while, in Holland, young +Maurice was solemnly installed stadholder, and captain-general of the +Provinces, under the guidance of Hohenlo and Barneveld. But his +authority was openly defied in many important cities within his +jurisdiction by military chieftains who had taken the oaths of allegiance +to Leicester as governor, and who refused to renounce fidelity to the man +who had deserted their country, but who had not resigned his authority. +Of these mutineers the most eminent was Diedrich Sonoy, governor of North +Holland, a soldier of much experience, sagacity, and courage, who had +rendered great services to the cause of liberty and Protestantism, and +had defaced it by acts of barbarity which had made his name infamous. +Against this refractory chieftain it was necessary for Hohenlo and +Maurice to lead an armed force, and to besiege him in his stronghold-- +the important city of Medenblik--which he resolutely held for Leicester, +although Leicester had definitely departed, and which he closed against +Maurice, although Maurice was the only representative of order and +authority within the distracted commonwealth. And thus civil war had +broken out in the little scarcely-organized republic, as if there were +not dangers and bloodshed enough impending over it from abroad. And the +civil war was the necessary consequence of the Earl's departure. + +The English forces--reduced as they were by sickness, famine, and abject +poverty--were but a remnant of the brave and well-seasoned bands which +had faced the Spaniards with success on so many battle-fields. + +The general who now assumed chief command over them--by direction of +Leicester, subsequently confirmed by the Queen--was Lord Willoughby. +A daring, splendid dragoon, an honest, chivalrous, and devoted servant of +his Queen, a conscientious adherent of Leicester, and a firm believer in +his capacity and character, he was, however, not a man of sufficient +experience or subtlety to perform the various tasks imposed upon him by +the necessities of such a situation. Quick-witted, even brilliant in +intellect, and the bravest of the brave on the battle-field, he was +neither a sagacious administrator nor a successful commander. And he +honestly confessed his deficiencies, and disliked the post to which he +had been elevated. He scorned baseness, intrigue, and petty quarrels, +and he was impatient of control. Testy, choleric, and quarrelsome, with +a high sense of honour, and a keen perception of insult, very modest and +very proud, he was not likely to feed with wholesome appetite upon the +unsavoury annoyances which were the daily bread of a chief commander in +the Netherlands. "I ambitiously affect not high titles, but round +dealing," he said; "desiring rather to be a private lance with +indifferent reputation, than a colonel-general spotted or defamed with +wants." He was not the politician to be matched against the unscrupulous +and all-accomplished Farnese; and indeed no man better than Willoughby +could illustrate the enormous disadvantage under which Englishmen +laboured at that epoch in their dealings with Italians and Spaniards. +The profuse indulgence in falsehood which characterized southern +statesmanship, was more than a match for English love of truth. English +soldiers and negotiators went naked into a contest with enemies armed in +a panoply of lies. It was an unequal match, as we have already seen, +and as we are soon more clearly to see. How was an English soldier who +valued his knightly word--how were English diplomatists--among whom one +of the most famous--then a lad of twenty, secretary to Lord Essex in the +Netherlands--had poetically avowed that "simple truth was highest skill," +--to deal with the thronging Spanish deceits sent northward by the great +father of lies who sat in the Escorial? + +"It were an ill lesson," said Willoughby, "to teach soldiers the, +dissimulations of such as follow princes' courts, in Italy. For my own +part, it is my only end to be loyal and dutiful to my sovereign, and +plain to all others that I honour. I see the finest reynard loses his +best coat as well as the poorest sheep." He was also a strong +Leicestrian, and had imbibed much of the Earl's resentment against the +leading politicians of the States. Willoughby was sorely in need of +council. That shrewd and honest Welshman--Roger Williams--was, for the +moment, absent. Another of the same race and character commanded in +Bergen-op-Zoom, but was not more gifted with administrative talent than +the general himself. + +"Sir Thomas Morgan is a very sufficient, gallant gentleman," said +Willoughby, "and in truth a very old soldier; but we both have need of +one that can both give and keep counsel better than ourselves. For +action he is undoubtedly very able, if there were no other means to +conquer but only to give blows." + +In brief, the new commander of the English forces in the Netherlands was +little satisfied with the States, with the enemy, or with himself; and +was inclined to take but a dismal view of the disjointed commonwealth, +which required so incompetent a person as he professed himself to be to +set it right. + +"'Tis a shame to show my wants," he said, "but too great a fault of duty +that the Queen's reputation be frustrate. What is my slender experience! +What an honourable person do I succeed! What an encumbered popular state +is left! What withered sinews, which it passes my cunning to restore! +What an enemy in head greater than heretofore! And wherewithal should I +sustain this burthen? For the wars I am fitter to obey than to command. +For the state, I am a man prejudicated in their opinion, and not the +better liked of them that have earnestly followed the general, and, being +one that wants both opinion and experience with them I have to deal, and +means to win more or to maintain that which is left, what good may be +looked for?" + +The supreme authority--by the retirement of Leicester--was once more the +subject of dispute. As on his first departure, so also on this his +second and final one, he had left a commission to the state-council to +act as an executive body during his absence. But, although he--nominally +still retained his office, in reality no man believed in his return; and +the States-General were ill inclined to brook a species of guardianship +over them, with which they believed themselves mature enough to dispense. +Moreover the state-council, composed mainly of Leicestrians, would +expire, by limitation of its commission, early in February of that year. +The dispute for power would necessarily terminate, therefore, in favour +of the States-General. + +Meantime--while this internal revolution was taking place in the polity +of the commonwealth-the gravest disturbances were its natural +consequence. There were mutinies in the garrisons of Heusden, of +Gertruydenberg, of Medenblik, as alarming, and threatening to become as +chronic in their character, as those extensive military rebellions which +often rendered the Spanish troops powerless at the most critical epochs. +The cause of these mutinies was uniformly, want of pay, the pretext, the +oath to the Earl of Leicester, which was declared incompatible with the +allegiance claimed by Maurice in the name of the States-General. The +mutiny of Gertruydenberg was destined to be protracted; that of +Medenblik, dividing, as it did, the little territory of Holland in its +very heart, it was most important at once to suppress. Sonoy, however-- +who was so stanch a Leicestrian, that his Spanish contemporaries +uniformly believed him to be an Englishman--held out for a long time, +as will be seen, against the threats and even the armed demonstrations of +Maurice and the States. + +Meantime the English sovereign, persisting in her delusion, and despite +the solemn warnings of her own wisest counsellors; and the passionate +remonstrances of the States-General of the Netherlands, sent her peace- +commissioners to the Duke of Parma. + +The Earl of Derby, Lord Cobham, Sir James Croft, Valentine Dale, doctor +of laws, and former ambassador at Vienna, and Dr. Rogers, envoys on the +part of the Queen, arrived in the Netherlands in February. The +commissioners appointed on the part of Farnese were Count Aremberg, +Champagny, Richardot, Jacob Maas, and Secretary Garnier. + +If history has ever furnished a lesson, how an unscrupulous tyrant, who +has determined upon enlarging his own territories at the expense of his +neighbours, upon oppressing human freedom wherever it dared to manifest +itself, with fine phrases of religion and order for ever in his mouth, +on deceiving his friends and enemies alike, as to his nefarious and +almost incredible designs, by means of perpetual and colossal falsehoods; +and if such lessons deserve to be pondered, as a source of instruction +and guidance for every age, then certainly the secret story of the +negotiations by which the wise Queen of England was beguiled, and her +kingdom brought to the verge of ruin, in the spring of 1588, is worthy of +serious attention. + +The English commissioners arrived at Ostend. With them came Robert +Cecil, youngest son of Lord-Treasurer Burghley, then twenty-five years of +age.--He had no official capacity, but was sent by his father, that he +might improve his diplomatic talents, and obtain some information as to +the condition of the Netherlands. A slight, crooked, hump-backed young +gentleman, dwarfish in stature, but with a face not irregular in feature, +and thoughtful and subtle in expression, with reddish hair, a thin tawny +beard, and large, pathetic, greenish-coloured eyes, with a mind and +manners already trained to courts and cabinets, and with a disposition +almost ingenuous, as compared to the massive dissimulation with which it +was to be contrasted, and with what was, in aftertimes, to constitute a +portion of his own character, Cecil, young as he was, could not be +considered the least important of the envoys. The Queen, who loved +proper men, called him "her pigmy;" and "although," he observed with +whimsical courtliness, "I may not find fault with the sporting name she +gives me, yet seem I only not to mislike it, because she gives it." The +strongest man among them was Valentine Dale, who had much shrewdness, +experience, and legal learning, but who valued himself, above all things, +upon his Latinity. It was a consolation to him, while his adversaries +were breaking Priscian's head as fast as the Duke, their master, was +breaking his oaths, that his own syntax was as clear as his conscience. +The feeblest commissioner was James-a-Croft, who had already exhibited +himself with very anile characteristics, and whose subsequent +manifestations were to seem like dotage. Doctor Rogers, learned in the +law, as he unquestionably was, had less skill in reading human character, +or in deciphering the physiognomy of a Farnese, while Lord Derby, every +inch a grandee, with Lord Cobham to assist him, was not the man to cope +with the astute Richardot, the profound and experienced Champagny, or +that most voluble and most rhetorical of doctors of law, Jacob Maas of +Antwerp. + +The commissioners, on their arrival, were welcomed by Secretary Garnier, +who had been sent to Ostend to greet them. An adroit, pleasing, +courteous gentleman, thirty-six years of age, small, handsome, and +attired not quite as a soldier, nor exactly as one of the long robe, +wearing a cloak furred to the knee, a cassock of black velvet, with plain +gold buttons, and a gold chain about his neck, the secretary delivered +handsomely the Duke of Parma's congratulations, recommended great +expedition in the negotiations, and was then invited by the Earl of Derby +to dine with the commissioners. He was accompanied by a servant in plain +livery, who--so soon as his master had made his bow to the English +envoys--had set forth for a stroll through the town. The modest-looking +valet, however, was a distinguished engineer in disguise, who had +been sent by Alexander for the especial purpose of examining the +fortifications of Ostend--that town being a point much coveted, +and liable to immediate attack by the Spanish commander. + +Meanwhile Secretary Gamier made himself very agreeable, showing wit, +experience, and good education; and, after dinner, was accompanied to +his lodgings by Dr. Rogers and other gentlemen, with whom--especially +with Cecil--he held much conversation. + +Knowing that this young gentleman "wanted not an honourable father," the +Secretary was very desirous that he should take this opportunity to make +a tour through the Provinces, examine the cities, and especially "note +the miserable ruins of the poor country and people." He would then +feelingly perceive how much they had to answer for, whose mad rebellion +against their sovereign lord and master had caused so great an effusion +of blood, and the wide desolation of such goodly towns and territories. + +Cecil probably entertained a suspicion that the sovereign lord and +master, who had been employed, twenty years long, in butchering his +subjects and in ravaging their territory to feed his executioners and +soldiers, might almost be justified in treating human beings as beasts +and reptiles, if they had not at last rebelled. He simply and +diplomatically answered, however, that he could not but concur with the +Secretary in lamenting the misery of the Provinces and people so utterly +despoiled and ruined, but, as it might be matter of dispute; "from what +head this fountain of calamity was both fed and derived, he would not +enter further therein, it being a matter much too high for his capacity." +He expressed also the hope that the King's heart might sympathize with +that of her Majesty, in earnest compassion for all this suffering, and in +determination to compound their differences. + +On the following day there was some conversation with Gamier, on +preliminary and formal matters, followed in the evening by a dinner at +Lord Cobham's lodgings--a banquet which the forlorn condition of the +country scarcely permitted to be luxurious. "We rather pray here for +satiety," said Cecil, "than ever think of variety." + +It was hoped by the Englishmen that the Secretary would take his +departure after dinner; for the governor of Ostend, Sir John Conway, had +an uneasy sensation, during his visit, that the unsatisfactory condition +of the defences would attract his attention, and that a sudden attack by +Farnese might be the result. Sir John was not aware however, of the +minute and scientific observations then making at the very moment when +Mr. Garnier was entertaining the commissioners with his witty and +instructive conversation--by the unobtrusive menial who had accompanied +the Secretary to Ostend. In order that those observations might be as +thorough as possible, rather than with any view to ostensible business, +the envoy of Parma now declared that--on account of the unfavourable +state of the tide--he had resolved to pass another night at Ostend. +"We could have spared his company," said Cecil, "but their Lordships +considered it convenient that he should be used well." So Mr. +Comptroller Croft gave the affable Secretary a dinner-invitation +for the following day. + +Here certainly was a masterly commencement on the part of the Spanish +diplomatists. There was not one stroke of business during the visit of +the Secretary. He had been sent simply to convey a formal greeting, and +to take the names of the English commissioners--a matter which could have +been done in an hour as well as in a week. But it must be remembered, +that, at that very moment, the Duke was daily expecting intelligence of +the sailing of the Armada, and that Philip, on his part, supposed the +Duke already in England, at the head of his army. Under these +circumstances, therefore--when the whole object of the negotiation, so +far as Parma and his master were, concerned, was to amuse and to gain +time--it was already ingenious in Garnier to have consumed several days +in doing nothing; and to have obtained plans and descriptions of Ostend +into the bargain. + +Garnier--when his departure could no longer, on any pretext, be deferred +--took his leave, once more warmly urging Robert Cecil to make a little +tour in the obedient Netherlands, and to satisfy himself, by personal +observation, of their miserable condition. As Dr. Dale purposed making a +preliminary visit to the Duke of Parma at Ghent, it was determined +accordingly that he should be accompanied by Cecil. + +That young gentleman had already been much impressed by the forlorn +aspect of the country about Ostend--for, although the town was itself in +possession of the English, it was in the midst of the enemy's territory. +Since the fall of Sluys the Spaniards were masters of all Flanders, save +this one much-coveted point. And although the Queen had been disposed to +abandon that city, and to suffer the ocean to overwhelm it, rather than +that she should be at charges to defend it, yet its possession was of +vital consequence to the English-Dutch cause, as time was ultimately to +show. Meanwhile the position was already a very important one, for-- +according to the predatory system of warfare of the day--it was an +excellent starting-point for those marauding expeditions against persons +and property, in which neither the Dutch nor English were less skilled +than the Flemings or Spaniards. "The land all about here," said Cecil, +"is so devastated, that where the open country was wont to be covered +with kine and sheep, it is now fuller of wild boars and wolves; whereof +many come so nigh the town that the sentinels--three of whom watch every +night upon a sand-hill outside the gates--have had them in a dark night +upon them ere they were aware." + +But the garrison of Ostend was quite as dangerous to the peasants and the +country squires of Flanders, as were the wolves or wild boars; and many a +pacific individual of retired habits, and with a remnant of property +worth a ransom, was doomed to see himself whisked from his seclusion by +Conway's troopers, and made a compulsory guest at the city. Prisoners +were brought in from a distance of sixty miles; and there was one old +gentlemen, "well-languaged," who "confessed merrily to Cecil, that when +the soldiers fetched him out of his own mansion-house, sitting safe in +his study, he was as little in fear of the garrison of Ostend as he was +of the Turk or the devil." + + [And Doctor Rogers held very similar language: "The most dolorous + and heavy sights in this voyage to Ghent, by me weighed," he said; + "seeing the countries which, heretofore; by traffic of merchants, as + much as any other I have seen flourish, now partly drowned, and, + except certain great cities, wholly burned, ruined, and desolate, + possessed I say, with wolves, wild boars, and foxes--a great, + testimony of the wrath of God," &c. &c. Dr. Rogers to the Queen,- + April, 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +Three days after the departure of Garnier, Dr. Dale and his attendants +started upon their expedition from Ostend to Ghent--an hour's journey or +so in these modern times.--The English envoys, in the sixteenth century, +found it a more formidable undertaking. They were many hours traversing +the four miles to Oudenburg, their first halting-place; for the waters +were out, there having been a great breach of the sea-dyke of Ostend, a +disaster threatening destruction to town and country. At Oudenburg, a +"small and wretched hole," as Garnier had described it to be, there was, +however, a garrison of three thousand Spanish soldiers, under the Marquis +de Renti. From these a convoy of fifty troopers was appointed to protect +the English travellers to Bruges. Here they arrived at three o'clock, +were met outside the gates by the famous General La Motte, and by him +escorted to their lodgings in the "English house," and afterwards +handsomely entertained at supper in his own quarters. + +The General's wife; Madame de la Motte, was, according to Cecil, "a fair +gentlewoman of discreet and modest behaviour, and yet not unwilling +sometimes to hear herself speak;" so that in her society, and in that of +her sister--"a nun of the order of the Mounts, but who, like the rest of +the sisterhood, wore an ordinary dress in the evening, and might leave +the convent if asked in marriage"--the supper passed off very agreeably. + +In the evening Cecil found that his father had formerly occupied the same +bedroom of the English hotel in which he was then lodged; for he found +that Lord Burghley had scrawled his name in the chimney-corner--a fact +which was highly gratifying to the son. + +The next morning, at seven o'clock, the travellers set forth for Ghent. +The journey was a miserable one. It was as cold and gloomy weather as +even a Flemish month of March could furnish. A drizzling rain was +falling all day long, the lanes were foul and miry, the frequent thickets +which overhung their path were swarming with the freebooters of Zeeland, +who were "ever at hand," says Cecil, "to have picked our purses, but that +they descried our convoy, and so saved themselves in the woods." Sitting +on horseback ten hours without alighting, under such circumstances as +these, was not luxurious for a fragile little gentleman like Queen +Elizabeth's "pigmy;" especially as Dr. Dale and himself had only half a +red herring between them for luncheon, and supped afterwards upon an +orange. The envoy protested that when they could get a couple of eggs a +piece, while travelling in Flanders, "they thought they fared like +princes." + +Nevertheless Cecil and himself fought it out manfully, and when they +reached Ghent, at five in the evening, they were met by their +acquaintance Garnier, and escorted to their lodgings. Here they were +waited upon by President Richardot, "a tall gentleman," on behalf of the +Duke of Parma, and then left to their much-needed repose. + +Nothing could be more forlorn than the country of the obedient +Netherlands, through which their day's journey had led them. Desolation +had been the reward of obedience. "The misery of the inhabitants," said +Cecil, "is incredible, both without the town, where all things are +wasted, houses spoiled, and grounds unlaboured, and also, even in these +great cities, where they are for the most part poor beggars even in the +fairest houses." + +And all this human wretchedness was the elaborate work of one man--one +dull, heartless bigot, living, far away, a life of laborious ease and +solemn sensuality; and, in reality, almost as much removed from these +fellow-creatures of his, whom he called his subjects, as if he had been +the inhabitant of another planet. Has history many more instructive +warnings against the horrors of arbitrary government--against the folly +of mankind in ever tolerating the rule of a single irresponsible +individual, than the lesson furnished by the life-work of that crowned +criminal, Philip the Second? + +The longing for peace on the part of these unfortunate obedient Flemings +was intense. Incessant cries for peace reached the ears of the envoys on +every side. Alas, it would have been better for these peace-wishers, had +they stood side by side with their brethren, the noble Hollanders and +Zeelanders, when they had been wresting, if not peace, yet independence +and liberty, from Philip, with their own right hands. Now the obedient +Flemings were but fuel for the vast flame which the monarch was kindling +for the destruction of Christendom--if all Christendom were not willing +to accept his absolute dominion. + +The burgomasters of Ghent--of Ghent, once the powerful, the industrious, +the opulent, the free, of all cities in the world now the most abject and +forlorn--came in the morning to wait upon Elizabeth's envoy, and to +present him, according to ancient custom, with some flasks of wine. They +came with tears streaming down their cheeks, earnestly expressing the +desire of their hearts for peace, and their joy that at least it had now +"begun to be thought on." + +"It is quite true," replied Dr. Dale, "that her excellent Majesty the +Queen--filled with compassion for your condition, and having been +informed that the Duke of Parma is desirous of peace--has vouchsafed to +make this overture. If it take not the desired effect, let not the blame +rest upon her, but upon her adversaries." To these words the magistrates +all said Amen, and invoked blessings on her Majesty. And most certainly, +Elizabeth was sincerely desirous of peace; even at greater sacrifices +than the Duke could well have imagined; but there was something almost +diabolic in the cold dissimulation by which her honest compassion was +mocked, and the tears of a whole people in its agony made the +laughingstock of a despot and his tools. + +On Saturday morning, Richardot and Garnier waited upon the envoy to +escort him to the presence of the Duke. Cecil, who accompanied him, was +not much impressed with the grandeur of Alexander's lodgings; and made +unfavourable and rather unreasonable comparisons between them and the +splendour of Elizabeth's court. They passed through an ante-chamber into +a dining-room, thence into an inner chamber, and next into the Duke's +room. In the ante-chamber stood Sir William Stanley, the Deventer +traitor, conversing with one Mockett, an Englishman, long resident in +Flanders. Stanley was meanly dressed, in the Spanish fashion, and as +young Cecil, passing through the chamber, looked him in the face, he +abruptly turned from him, and pulled his hat over his eyes. "'Twas well +he did so," said that young gentleman, "for his taking it off would +hardly have cost me mine." Cecil was informed that Stanley was to have +a commandery of Malta, and was in good favour with the Duke, who was, +however, quite weary of his mutinous and disorderly Irish regiment. + +In the bed-chamber, Farnese--accompanied by the Marquis del Guasto, the +Marquis of Renty, the Prince of Aremberg, President Richardot, and +Secretary Cosimo--received the envoy and his companion. "Small and mean +was the furniture of the chamber," said Cecil; "and although they +attribute this to his love of privacy, yet it is a sign that peace is the +mother of all honour and state, as may best be perceived by the court of +England, which her Majesty's royal presence doth so adorn, as that it +exceedeth this as far as the sun surpasseth in light the other stars of +the firmament." + +Here was a compliment to the Queen and her upholsterers drawn in by the +ears. Certainly, if the first and best fruit of the much-longed-for +peace were only to improve the furniture of royal and ducal apartments, +it might be as well perhaps for the war to go on, while the Queen +continued to outshine all the stars in the firmament. But the budding +courtier and statesman knew that a personal compliment to Elizabeth could +never be amiss or ill-timed. + +The envoy delivered the greetings of her Majesty to the Duke, and was +heard with great attention. Alexander attempted a reply in French, which +was very imperfect, and, apologizing, exchanged that tongue for Italian. +He alluded with great fervour to the "honourable opinion concerning his +sincerity and word," expressed to him by her Majesty, through the mouth +of her envoy. "And indeed," said he, "I have always had especial care of +keeping my word. My body and service are at the commandment of the King, +my lord and master, but my honour is my own, and her Majesty may be +assured that I shall always have especial regard of my word to so great +and famous a Queen as her Majesty." + +The visit was one of preliminaries and of ceremony. Nevertheless Farnese +found opportunity to impress the envoy and his companions with his +sincerity of heart. He conversed much with Cecil, making particular and +personal inquiries, and with appearance of deep interest, in regard to +Queen Elizabeth. + +"There is not a prince in the world--" he said, "reserving all question +between her Majesty and my royal master--to whom I desire more to do +service. So much have I heard of her perfections, that I wish earnestly +that things might so fall out, as that it might be my fortune to look +upon her face before my return to my own country. Yet I desire to behold +her, not as a servant to him who is not able still to maintain war, or as +one that feared any harm that might befall him; for in such matters my +account was made long ago, to endure all which God may send. But, in +truth, I am weary to behold the miserable estate of this people, fallen +upon them through their own folly, and methinks that he who should do the +best offices of peace would perform a 'pium et sanctissimum opus.' Right +glad am I that the Queen is not behind me in zeal for peace." He then +complimented Cecil in regard to his father, whom he understood to be the +principal mover in these negotiations. + +The young man expressed his thanks, and especially for the good affection +which the Duke had manifested to the Queen and in the blessed cause of +peace. He was well aware that her Majesty esteemed him a prince of great +honour and virtue, and that for this good work, thus auspiciously begun, +no man could possibly doubt that her Majesty, like himself, was most +zealously affected to bring all things to a perfect peace. + +The matters discussed in this first interview were only in regard to the +place to be appointed for the coming conferences, and the exchange of +powers. The Queen's commissioners had expected to treat at Ostend. +Alexander, on the contrary, was unable to listen to such a suggestion, +as it would be utter dereliction of his master's dignity to send envoys +to a city of his own, now in hostile occupation by her Majesty's forces. +The place of conference, therefore, would be matter of future +consideration. In respect to the exchange of powers, Alexander expressed +the hope that no man would doubt as to the production on his +commissioners' part of ample authority both from himself and from the +King. + +Yet it will be remembered, that, at this moment, the Duke had not only no +powers from the King, but that Philip had most expressly refused to send +a commission, and that he fully expected the negotiation to be superseded +by the invasion, before the production of the powers should become +indispensable. + +And when Farnese was speaking thus fervently in favour of peace, and +parading his word and his honour, the letters lay in his cabinet in that +very room, in which Philip expressed his conviction that his general was +already in London, that the whole realm of England was already at the +mercy of a Spanish soldiery, and that the Queen, upon whose perfection +Alexander had so long yearned to gaze, was a discrowned captive, entirely +in her great enemy's power. + +Thus ended the preliminary interview. On the following Monday, 11th +March, Dr. Dale and his attendants made the best of their way back to +Ostend, while young Cecil, with a safe conduct from Champagny, set forth +on a little tour in Flanders. + +The journey from Ghent to Antwerp was easy, and he was agreeably +surprised by the apparent prosperity of the country. At intervals of +every few miles; he was refreshed with the spectacle of a gibbet well +garnished with dangling freebooters; and rejoiced, therefore, in +comparative security. For it seemed that the energetic bailiff of +Waasland had levied a contribution upon the proprietors of the country, +to be expended mainly in hanging brigands; and so well had the funds been +applied, that no predatory bands could make their appearance but they +were instantly pursued by soldiers, and hanged forthwith, without judge +or trial. Cecil counted twelve such places of execution on his road +between Ghent and Antwerp. + +On his journey he fell in with an Italian merchant,--Lanfranchi by name, +of a great commercial house in Antwerp, in the days when Antwerp had +commerce, and by him, on his arrival the same evening in that town, he +was made an honoured guest, both for his father's sake and his Queen's. +"'Tis the pleasantest city that ever I saw," said Cecil, "for situation +and building; but utterly left and abandoned now by those rich merchants +that were wont to frequent the place." + +His host was much interested in the peace-negotiations, and indeed, +through his relations with Champagny and Andreas de Loo, had been one of +the instruments by which it had been commenced. He inveighed bitterly +against the Spanish captains and soldiers, to whose rapacity and ferocity +he mainly ascribed the continuance of the war;--and he was especially +incensed with Stanley and other--English renegades, who were thought +fiercer haters of England than were the Spaniards themselves: Even in the +desolate and abject condition of Antwerp and its neighbourhood, at that +moment, the quick eye of Cecil detected the latent signs of a possible +splendour. Should peace be restored, the territory once more be tilled, +and the foreign merchants attracted thither again, he believed that the +governor of the obedient Netherlands might live there in more +magnificence than the King of Spain himself, exhausted as were his +revenues by the enormous expense of this protracted war: Eight hundred +thousand dollars monthly; so Lanfranchi informed Cecil, were the costs +of the forces on the footing then established. This, however, was +probably an exaggeration, for the royal account books showed a less +formidable sum, although a sufficiently large one to appal a less +obstinate bigot than Philip. But what to him were the, ruin of the +Netherlands; the impoverishment of Spain, and the downfall of her ancient +grandeur compared to the glory of establishing the Inquisition in England +and Holland? + +While at dinner in Lanfranchi's house; Cecil was witness to another +characteristic of the times, and one which afforded proof of even more +formidable freebooters abroad than those for whom the bailiff of Waasland +had erected his gibbets. A canal-boat had left Antwerp for Brussels that +morning, and in the vicinity of the latter city had been set upon by a +detachment from the English garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom, and captured, +with twelve prisoners and a freight of 60,000 florins in money. "This +struck the company at the dinner-table all in a dump;" said Cecil. And +well it might; for the property mainly belonged to themselves, and they +forthwith did their best to have the marauders waylaid on their return. +But Cecil, notwithstanding his gratitude for the hospitality of +Lanfranchi, sent word next day to the garrison of Bergen of the designs +against them, and on his arrival at the place had the satisfaction of +being informed by Lord Willoughby that the party had got safe home with +their plunder. + +"And, well worthy they are of it," said young Robert, "considering how +far they go for it." + +The traveller, on, leaving Antwerp, proceeded down the river to Bergen- +op-Zoom, where he was hospitably entertained by that doughty old soldier +Sir William Reade, and met Lord Willoughby, whom he accompanied to +Brielle on a visit to the deposed elector Truchsess, then living in that +neighbourhood. Cecil--who was not passion's slave--had small sympathy +with the man who could lose a sovereignty for the sake of Agnes Mansfeld. +"'Tis a very goodly gentleman," said he, "well fashioned, and of good +speech, for which I must rather praise him than for loving a wife better +than so great a fortune as he lost by her occasion." At Brielle he +was handsomely entertained by the magistrates, who had agreeable +recollections of his brother Thomas, late governor of that city. +Thence he proceeded by way of Delft--which, like all English travellers, +he described as "the finest built town that ever he saw"--to the Hague, +and thence to Fushing, and so back by sea to Ostend.--He had made the +most of his three weeks' tour, had seen many important towns both in the +republic and in the obedient Netherlands, and had conversed with many +"tall gentlemen," as he expressed himself, among the English commanders, +having been especially impressed by the heroes of Sluys, Baskerville and +that "proper gentleman Francis Vere." + +He was also presented by Lord Willoughby to Maurice of Nassau, and was +perhaps not very benignantly received by the young prince. At that +particular moment, when Leicester's deferred resignation, the rebellion +of Sonoy in North Holland, founded on a fictitious allegiance to the late +governor-general, the perverse determination of the Queen to treat for +peace against the advice of all the leading statesmen of the Netherlands, +and the sharp rebukes perpetually administered by her, in consequence, +to the young stadholder and all his supporters, had not tended to produce +the most tender feelings upon their part towards the English government, +it was not surprising that the handsome soldier should look askance at +the crooked little courtier, whom even the great Queen smiled at while +she petted him. Cecil was very angry with Maurice. + +"In my life I never saw worse behaviour," he said, "except it were in one +lately come from school. There is neither outward appearance in him of +any noble mind nor inward virtue." + +Although Cecil had consumed nearly the whole month of March in his tour, +he had been more profitably employed than were the royal commissioners +during the same period at Ostend. + +Never did statesmen know better how not to do that which they were +ostensibly occupied in doing than Alexander Farnese and his agents, +Champagny, Richardot, Jacob Maas, and Gamier. The first pretext by which +much time was cleverly consumed was the dispute as to the place of +meeting. Doctor Dale had already expressed his desire for Ostend as the +place of colloquy. "'Tis a very slow old gentleman, this Doctor Dale," +said Alexander; "he was here in the time of Madam my mother, and has also +been ambassador at Vienna. I have received him and his attendants with +great courtesy, and held out great hopes of peace. We had conversations +about the place of meeting. He wishes Ostend: I object. The first +conference will probably be at some point between that place and +Newport." + +The next opportunity for discussion and delay was afforded by the +question of powers. And it must be ever borne in mind that Alexander was +daily expecting the arrival of the invading fleets and armies of Spain, +and was holding himself in readiness to place himself at their head for +the conquest of England. This was, of course, so strenuously denied by +himself and those under his influence, that Queen Elizabeth implicitly. +believed him, Burghley was lost in doubt, and even the astute Walsingham +began to distrust his own senses. So much strength does a falsehood +acquire in determined and skilful hands. + +"As to the commissions, it will be absolutely necessary for, your Majesty +to send them," wrote Alexander at the moment when he was receiving the +English envoy at Ghent, "for unless the Armada arrive soon--it will be +indispensable for me, to have them, in order to keep the negotiation +alive. Of course they will never broach the principal matters without +exhibition of powers. Richardot is aware of the secret which your +Majesty confided to me, namely, that the negotiations are only intended +to deceive the Queen and to gain time for the fleet; but the powers must +be sent in order that we may be able to produce them; although your +secret intentions will be obeyed." + +The Duke commented, however, on the extreme difficulty of carrying out +the plan, as originally proposed. "The conquest of England would have +been difficult," he said, "even although the country had been taken by +surprise. Now they are strong and armed; we are comparatively weak. The +danger and the doubt are great; and the English deputies, I think, are +really desirous of peace. Nevertheless I am at your Majesty's +disposition--life and all--and probably, before the answer arrives to +this letter, the fleet will have arrived, and I shall have undertaken the +passage to England." + +After three weeks had thus adroitly been frittered away, the English +commissioners became somewhat impatient, and despatched Doctor Rogers to +the Duke at Ghent. This was extremely obliging upon their part, for if +Valentine Dale were a "slow old gentleman," he was keen, caustic, and +rapid, as compared to John Rogers. A formalist and a pedant, a man of +red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces +which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, +he was just the time-consumer for Alexander's purpose. The wily Italian +listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent +diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the +Doctor's rhetoric. + +Three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at +Ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself +than was John Rogers upon those occasions. He carried every point; he +convinced, he softened, he captivated the great Duke; he turned the great +Duke round his finger. The great Duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his +arms, by turns. Alexander's military exploits had rung through the +world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been +disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, +for the first time fully revealed. + +On the 26th March the learned Doctor made his first bow and performed his +first flourish of compliments at Ghent. "I assure your Majesty," said +he, "his Highness followed my compliments of entertainment with so much +honour, as that--his Highness or I, speaking of the Queen of England--he +never did less than uncover his head; not covering the same, unless I was +covered also." And after these salutations had at last been got through +with, thus spake the Doctor of Laws to the Duke of Parma:-- + +"Almighty God, the light of lights, be pleased to enlighten the +understanding of your Alteza, and to direct the same to his glory, to the +uniting of both their Majesties and the finishing of these most bloody +wars, whereby these countries, being in the highest degree of misery +desolate, lie as it were prostrate before the wrathful presence of the +most mighty God, most lamentably beseeching his Divine Majesty to +withdraw his scourge of war from them, and to move the hearts of princes +to restore them unto peace, whereby they might attain unto their ancient +flower and dignity. Into the hands of your Alteza are now the lives of +many thousands, the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, which to +put to the fortune of war how perilous it were, I pray consider. Think +ye, ye see the mothers left alive tendering their offspring in your +presence, 'nam matribus detestata bells,'" continued the orator. "Think +also of others of all sexes, ages, and conditions, on their knees before +your Alteza, most humbly praying and crying most dolorously to spare +their lives, and save their property from the ensanguined scourge of the +insane soldiers," and so on, and so on. + +Now Philip II. was slow in resolving, slower in action. The ponderous +three-deckers of Biscay were notoriously the dullest sailers ever known, +nor were the fettered slaves who rowed the great galleys of Portugal or +of Andalusia very brisk in their movements; and yet the King might have +found time to marshal his ideas and his squadrons, and the Armada had +leisure to circumnavigate the globe and invade England afterwards, if a +succession of John Rogerses could have entertained his Highness with +compliments while the preparations were making. + +But Alexander--at the very outset of the Doctor's eloquence--found it +difficult to suppress his feelings. "I can assure your Majesty," said +Rogers, "that his eyes--he has a very large eye--were moistened. +Sometimes they were thrown upward to heaven, sometimes they were fixed +full upon me, sometimes they were cast downward, well declaring how his +heart was affected." + +Honest John even thought it necessary to mitigate the effect of his +rhetoric, and to assure his Highness that it was, after all, only he +Doctor Rogers, and not the minister plenipotentiary of the Queen's most +serene Majesty, who was exciting all this emotion. + +"At this part of my speech," said he, "I prayed his Highness not to be +troubled, for that the same only proceeded from Doctor Rogers, who, it +might please him to know, was so much moved with the pitiful case of +these countries, as also that which of war was sure to ensue, that I +wished, if my body were full of rivers of blood, the same to be poured +forth to satisfy any that were blood-thirsty, so there might an assured +peace follow." + +His Highness, at any rate, manifesting no wish to drink of such +sanguinary streams--even had the Doctor's body contained them--Rogers +became calmer. He then descended from rhetoric to jurisprudence and +casuistry, and argued at intolerable length the propriety of commencing +the conferences at Ostend, and of exhibiting mutually the commissions. + +It is quite unnecessary to follow him as closely as did Farnese. When he +had finished the first part of his oration, however, and was "addressing +himself to the second point," Alexander at last interrupted the torrent +of his eloquence. + +"He said that my divisions and subdivisions," wrote the Doctor, "were +perfectly in his remembrance, and that he would first answer the first +point, and afterwards give audience to the second, and answer the same +accordingly." + +Accordingly Alexander put on his hat, and begged the envoy also to be +covered. Then, "with great gravity, as one inwardly much moved," the +Duke took up his part in the dialogue. + +"Signor Ruggieri," said he, "you have propounded unto me speeches of two +sorts: the one proceeds from Doctor Ruggieri, the other from the lord +ambassador of the most serene Queen of England. Touching the first, I do +give you my hearty thanks for your godly speeches, assuring you that +though, by reason I have always followed the wars, I cannot be ignorant +of the calamities by you alleged, yet you have so truly represented the +same before mine eyes as to effectuate in me at this instant, not only +the confirmation of mine own disposition to have peace, but also an +assurance that this treaty shall take good and speedy end, seeing that it +hath pleased God to raise up such a good instrument as you are." + +"Many are the causes," continued the Duke, "which, besides my +disposition, move me to peace. My father and mother are dead; my son +is a young prince; my house has truly need of my presence. I am not +ignorant how ticklish a thing is the fortune of war, which--how +victorious soever I have been--may in one moment not only deface the +same, but also deprive me of my life. The King, my master, is now, +stricken in years, his children are young, his dominions in trouble. +His desire is to live, and to leave his posterity in quietness. The +glory of God, the honor of both their Majesties, and the good of these +countries, with the stay of the effusion of Christian blood, and divers +other like reasons, force him to peace." + +Thus spoke Alexander, like an honest Christian gentleman, avowing the +most equitable and pacific dispositions on the part of his master and +himself. Yet at that moment he knew that the Armada was about to sail, +that his own nights and days were passed in active preparations for war, +and that no earthly power could move Philip by one hair's-breadth from +his purpose to conquer England that summer. + +It would be superfluous to follow the Duke or the Doctor through their +long dialogue on the place of conference, and the commissions. Alexander +considered it "infamy" on his name if he should send envoys to a place of +his master's held by the enemy. He was also of opinion that it was +unheard of to exhibit commissions previous to a preliminary colloquy. + +Both propositions were strenuously contested by Rogers. In regard to the +second point in particular, he showed triumphantly, by citations from the +"Polonians, Prussians, and Lithuanians," that commissions ought to be +previously exhibited. But it was not probable that even the Doctor's +learning and logic would persuade Alexander to produce his commission; +because, unfortunately, he had no commission to produce. A comfortable +argument on the subject, however, would, none the less, consume time. + +Three hours of this work brought them, exhausted and hungry; to the hour +of noon and of dinner Alexander, with profuse and smiling thanks for the +envoy's plain dealing and eloquence, assured him that there would have +been peace long ago "had Doctor Rogers always been the instrument," and +regretted that he was himself not learned enough to deal creditably with +him. He would, however, send Richardot to bear him company at table, +and chop logic with him afterwards. + +Next day, at the same, hour, the Duke and Doctor had another encounter. +So soon as the envoy made his appearance, he found himself "embraced most +cheerfully and familiarly by his Alteza," who, then entering at once into +business, asked as to the Doctor's second point. + +The Doctor answered with great alacrity. + +"Certain expressions have been reported to her Majesty," said he, "as +coming both from your Highness and from Richardot, hinting at a possible +attempt by the King of Spain's forces against the Queen. Her Majesty, +gathering that you are going about belike to terrify her, commands me to +inform you very clearly and very expressly that she does not deal so +weakly in her government, nor so improvidently, but that she is provided +for anything that might be attempted against her by the King, and as able +to offend him as he her Majesty." + +Alexander--with a sad countenance, as much offended, his eyes declaring +miscontentment--asked who had made such a report. + +"Upon the honour of a gentleman," said he, "whoever has said this has +much abused me, and evil acquitted himself. They who know me best are +aware that it is not my manner to let any word pass my lips that might +offend any prince." Then, speaking most solemnly, he added, "I declare +really and truly (which two words he said in Spanish), that I know not of +any intention of the King of Spain against her Majesty or her realm." + +At that moment the earth did not open--year of portents though it was-- +and the Doctor, "singularly rejoicing" at this authentic information from +the highest source, proceeded cheerfully with the conversation. + +"I hold myself," he exclaimed, "the man most satisfied in the world, +because I may now write to her Majesty that I have heard your Highness +upon your honour use these words." + +"Upon my honour, it is true," repeated the Duke; "for so honourably do I +think of her Majesty, as that, after the King, my master, I would honour +and serve her before any prince in Christendom." He added many earnest +asseverations of similar import. + +"I do not deny, however," continued Alexander, "that I have heard of +certain ships having been armed by the King against that Draak"--he +pronounced the "a" in Drake's name very broadly, or Doric" who has +committed so many outrages; but I repeat that I have never heard of any +design against her Majesty or against England." + +The Duke then manifested much anxiety to know by whom he had been so +misrepresented. "There has been no one with me but Dr. Dale," said, he, +"and I marvel that he should thus wantonly have injured me." + +"Dr. Dale," replied Ropers, "is a man of honour, of good years, learned, +and well experienced; but perhaps he unfortunately misapprehended some of +your Alteza's words, and thought himself bound by his allegiance strictly +to report them to her Majesty." + +"I grieve that I should be misrepresented and injured," answered Farnese, +"in a manner so important to my honour. Nevertheless, knowing the +virtues with which her Majesty is endued, I assure myself that the +protestations I am now making will entirely satisfy her." + +He then expressed the fervent hope that the holy work of negotiation now +commencing would result in a renewal of the ancient friendship between +the Houses of Burgundy and of England, asserting that "there had never +been so favourable a time as the present." + +Under former governments of the Netherlands there had been many mistakes +and misunderstandings. + +"The Duke of Alva," said he, "has learned by this time, before the +judgment-seat of God, how he discharged his functions, succeeding as he +did my mother, the Duchess of Parma who left the Provinces in so +flourishing a condition. Of this, however, I will say no more, because +of a feud between the Houses of Farnese and of Alva. As for Requesens, +he was a good fellow, but didn't understand his business. Don John of +Austria again, whose soul I doubt not is in heaven, was young and poor, +and disappointed in all his designs; but God has never offered so great a +hope of assured peace as might now be accomplished by her Majesty." + +Finding the Duke in so fervent and favourable a state of mind, the envoy +renewed his demand that at least the first meeting of the commissioners +might be held at Ostend. + +"Her Majesty finds herself so touched in honour upon this point, that if +it be not conceded--as I doubt not it will be, seeing the singular +forwardness of your Highness"--said the artful Doctor with a smile, +"we are no less than commanded to return to her Majesty's presence." + +"I sent Richardot to you yesterday," said Alexander; "did he not content +you?" + +"Your Highness, no," replied Ropers. "Moreover her Majesty sent me to +your Alteza, and not to Richardot. And the matter is of such importance +that I pray you to add to all your graces and favours heaped upon me, +this one of sending your commissioners to Ostend." + +His Highness could hold out no longer; but suddenly catching the Doctor +in his arms, and hugging him "in most honourable and amiable manner," he +cried-- + +"Be contented, be cheerful; my lord ambassador. You shall be satisfied +upon this point also." + +"And never did envoy depart;" cried the lord ambassador, when he could +get his breath, "more bound to you; and more resolute to speak honour of +your Highness than I do." + +"To-morrow we will ride together towards Bruges;" said the Duke, in +conclusion. "Till then farewell." + +Upon, this he again heartily embraced the envoy, and the friends parted +for the day. + +Next morning; 28th March, the Duke, who was on his way to Bruges and +Sluys to look after his gun-boats, and, other naval, and military +preparations, set forth on horseback, accompanied by the Marquis del +Vasto, and, for part of the way, by Rogers. + +They conversed on the general topics of the approaching negotiations; the +Duke, expressing the opinion that the treaty of peace would be made short +work with; for it only needed to renew the old ones between the Houses of +England and Burgundy. As for the Hollanders and Zeelanders, and their +accomplices, he thought there would be no cause of stay on their account; +and in regard to the cautionary towns he felt sure that her Majesty had +never had any intention of appropriating them to herself, and would +willingly surrender them to the King. + +Rogers thought it a good opportunity to put in a word for the Dutchmen; +who certainly, would not have thanked him for his assistance at that +moment. + +"Not, to give offence to your Highness," he said, "if the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, with their confederates, like to come into this treaty, +surely your Highness would not object?" + +Alexander, who had been riding along quietly during this conversation; +with his right, hand, on, his hip, now threw out his arm energetically: + +"Let them come into it; let them treat, let them conclude," he exclaimed, +"in the name of Almighty God! I have always been well disposed to peace, +and am now more so than ever. I could even, with the loss of my life, be +content to have peace made at this time." + +Nothing more, worthy of commemoration, occurred during this concluding +interview; and the envoy took his leave at Bruges, and returned to +Ostend. + +I have furnished the reader with a minute account of these conversations, +drawn entirely, from the original records; not so much because the +interviews were in themselves of vital importance; but because they +afford a living and breathing example--better than a thousand homilies-- +of the easy victory which diplomatic or royal mendacity may always obtain +over innocence and credulity. + +Certainly never was envoy more thoroughly beguiled than the excellent +John upon this occasion. Wiser than a serpent, as he imagined himself +to be, more harmless than a dove; as Alexander found him, he could not, +sufficiently congratulate himself upon the triumphs of his eloquence and +his adroitness; and despatched most glowing accounts of his proceedings +to the Queen. + +His ardour was somewhat damped, however, at receiving a message from her +Majesty in reply, which was anything but benignant. His eloquence was +not commended; and even his preamble, with its touching allusion to the +live mothers tendering their offspring--the passage: which had brought +the tears into the large eyes of Alexander--was coldly and cruelly +censured. + +"Her Majesty can in no sort like such speeches"--so ran the return- +despatch--" in which she is made to beg for peace. The King of Spain +standeth in as great need of peace as her self; and she doth greatly +mislike the preamble of Dr. Rogers in his address to the Duke at Ghent, +finding it, in very truth quite fond and vain. I am commanded by a +particular letter to let him understand how much her Majesty is offended +with him." + +Alexander, on his part, informed his royal master of these interviews, in +which there had been so much effusion of sentiment, in very brief +fashion. + +"Dr. Rogers, one of the Queen's commissioners, has been here," he said, +"urging me with all his might to let all your Majesty's deputies go, if +only for one hour, to Ostend. I refused, saying, I would rather they +should go to England than into a city of your Majesty held by English +troops. I told him it ought to be satisfactory that I had offered the +Queen, as a lady, her choice of any place in the Provinces, or on neutral +ground. Rogers expressed regret for all the, bloodshed and other +consequences if the negotiations should fall through for so trifling a +cause; the more so as in return for this little compliment to the Queen +she would not only restore to your Majesty everything that she holds in +the Netherlands, but would assist you to recover the part which remains +obstinate. To quiet him and to consume time, I have promised that +President Richardot shall go and try to satisfy them. Thus two or three +weeks more will be wasted. But at last the time will come for exhibiting +the powers. They are very anxious to see mine; and when at last they +find I have none, I fear that they will break off the negotiations." + +Could the Queen have been informed of this voluntary offer on the part of +her envoy to give up the cautionary towns, and to assist in reducing the +rebellion, she might have used stronger language of rebuke. It is quite +possible, however, that Farnese--not so attentively following the +Doctor's eloquence as he had appeared to do-had somewhat inaccurately +reported the conversations, which, after all, he knew to be of no +consequence whatever, except as time-consumers. For Elizabeth, desirous +of peace as she was, and trusting to Farnese's sincerity as she was +disposed to do, was more sensitive than ever as to her dignity. + +"We charge you all," she wrote with her own hand to the commissioners, +"that no word he overslipt by them, that may, touch our honour and +greatness, that be not answered with good sharp words. I am a king that +will be ever known not to fear any but God." + +It would have been better, however, had the Queen more thoroughly +understood that the day for scolding had quite gone by, and that +something sharper than the sharpest words would soon be wanted to protect +England and herself from impending doom. For there was something almost +gigantic in the frivolities with which weeks and months of such precious +time were now squandered. Plenary powers--"commission bastantissima"-- +from his sovereign had been announced by Alexander as in his possession; +although the reader has seen that he had no such powers at all. The +mission of Rogers had quieted the envoys at Ostend for a time, and they +waited quietly for the visit of Richardot to Ostend, into which the +promised meeting of all the Spanish commissioners in that city had +dwindled. Meantime there was an exchange of the most friendly amenities +between the English and their mortal enemies. Hardly a day passed that +La Motte, or Renty, or Aremberg, did not send Lord Derby, or Cobham, or +Robert Cecil, a hare, or a pheasant, or a cast of hawks, and they in +return sent barrel upon barrel of Ostend oysters, five or six hundred at +a time. The Englishmen, too; had it in their power to gratify Alexander +himself with English greyhounds, for which he had a special liking. +"You would wonder," wrote Cecil to his father, "how fond he is of English +dogs." There was also much good preaching among other occupations, at +Ostend. "My Lord of Derby's two chaplains," said Cecil, "have seasoned +this town better with sermons than it had been before for a year's +apace." But all this did not expedite the negotiations, nor did the +Duke manifest so much anxiety for colloquies as for greyhounds. So, in +an unlucky hour for himself, another "fond and vain" old gentleman--James +Croft, the comptroller who had already figured, not much to his credit, +in the secret negotiations between the Brussels and English courts-- +betook himself, unauthorized and alone; to the Duke at Bruges. Here he +had an interview very similar in character to that in which John Rogers +had been indulged, declared to Farnese that the Queen was most anxious +for peace, and invited him to send a secret envoy to England, who would +instantly have ocular demonstration of the fact. Croft returned as +triumphantly as the excellent Doctor had done; averring that there was no +doubt as to the immediate conclusion of a treaty. His grounds of belief +were very similar to those upon which Rogers had founded his faith. +"Tis a weak old man of seventy," said Parma, "with very little sagacity. +I am inclined to think that his colleagues are taking him in, that they +may the better deceive us. I will see that they do nothing of the kind." +But the movement was purely one of the comptroller's own inspiration; for +Sir James had a singular facility for getting himself into trouble, and +for making confusion. Already, when he had been scarcely a day in +Ostend, he had insulted the governor of the place, Sir John Conway, had +given him the lie in the hearing of many of his own soldiers, had gone +about telling all the world that he had express authority from her +Majesty to send him home in disgrace, and that the Queen had called him +a fool, and quite unfit for his post. And as if this had not been +mischief-making enough, in addition to the absurd De Loo and Bodman +negotiations of the previous year, in which he had been the principal +actor, he had crowned his absurdities by this secret and officious visit +to Ghent. The Queen, naturally very indignant at this conduct, +reprehended him severely, and ordered him back to England. The +comptroller was wretched. He expressed his readiness to obey her +commands, but nevertheless implored his dread sovereign to take merciful +consideration of the manifold misfortunes, ruin, and utter undoing, which +thereby should fall upon him and his unfortunate family. All this he +protested he would "nothing esteem if it tended to her Majesty's pleasure +or service," but seeing it should effectuate nothing but to bring the +aged carcase of her poor vassal to present decay, he implored compassion +upon his hoary hairs, and promised to repair the error of his former +proceedings. He avowed that he would not have ventured to disobey for a +moment her orders to return, but "that his aged and feeble limbs did not +retain sufficient force, without present death, to comply with her +commandment." And with that he took to his bed, and remained there until +the Queen was graciously pleased to grant him her pardon. + +At last, early in May--instead of the visit of Richardot--there was a +preliminary meeting of all the commissioners in tents on the sands; +within a cannon-shot of Ostend, and between that place and Newport. +It was a showy and ceremonious interview, in which no business was +transacted. The commissioners of Philip were attended by a body of one +hundred and fifty light horse, and by three hundred private gentlemen in +magnificent costume. La Motte also came from Newport with one thousand +Walloon cavalry while the English Commissioners, on their part were +escorted from Ostend by an imposing array of English and Dutch troops.' +As the territory was Spanish; the dignity of the King was supposed to be +preserved, and Alexander, who had promised Dr. Rogers that the first +interview should take place within Ostend itself, thought it necessary to +apologize to his sovereign for so nearly keeping his word as to send the +envoys within cannon-shot of the town. "The English commissioners," said +he, "begged with so much submission for this concession, that I thought +it as well to grant it." + +The Spanish envoys were despatched by the Duke of Parma, well provided +with full powers for himself, which were not desired by the English +government, but unfurnished with a commission from Philip, which had been +pronounced indispensable. There was, therefore, much prancing of +cavalry, flourishing of trumpets, and eating of oysters; at the first +conference, but not one stroke of business. As the English envoys +had now been three whole months in Ostend, and as this was the first +occasion on which they had been brought face to face with the Spanish +commissioners, it must be confessed that the tactics of Farnese had been +masterly. Had the haste in the dock-yards of Lisbon and Cadiz been at +all equal to the magnificent procrastination in the council-chambers of +Bruges and Ghent, Medina Sidonia might already have been in the Thames. + +But although little ostensible business was performed, there was one +man who had always an eye to his work. The same servant in plain livery, +who had accompanied Secretary Garnier, on his first visit to the English +commissioners at Ostend, had now come thither again, accompanied by a +fellow-lackey. While the complimentary dinner, offered in the name of +the absent Farnese to the Queen's representatives, was going forward, the +two menials strayed off together to the downs, for the purpose of rabbit- +shooting. The one of them was the same engineer who had already, on the +former occasion, taken a complete survey of the fortifications of Ostend; +the other was no less a personage than the Duke of Parma himself. The +pair now made a thorough examination of the town and its neighbourhood, +and, having finished their reconnoitring, made the best of their way back +to Bruges. As it was then one of Alexander's favourite objects to reduce +the city of Ostend, at the earliest possible moment, it must be allowed +that this preliminary conference was not so barren to himself as it was +to the commissioners. Philip, when informed of this manoeuvre, was +naturally gratified at such masterly duplicity, while he gently rebuked +his nephew for exposing his valuable life; and certainly it would have +been an inglorious termination to the Duke's splendid career; had he been +hanged as a spy within the trenches of Ostend. With the other details +of this first diplomatic colloquy Philip was delighted. "I see you +understand me thoroughly," he said. "Keep the negotiation alive till +my Armada appears, and then carry out my determination, and replant +the Catholic religion on the soil of England." + +The Queen was not in such high spirits. She was losing her temper very +fast, as she became more and more convinced that she had been trifled +with. No powers had been yet exhibited, no permanent place of conference +fixed upon, and the cessation of arms demanded by her commissioners for +England, Spain, and all the Netherlands, was absolutely refused. She +desired her commissioners to inform the Duke of Parma that it greatly +touched his honour--as both before their coming and afterwards, he had +assured her that he had 'comision bastantissima' from his sovereign--to +clear himself at once from the imputation of insincerity. "Let not the +Duke think," she wrote with her own hand, "that we would so long time +endure these many frivolous and unkindly dealings, but that we desire all +the world to know our desire of a kingly peace, and that we will endure +no more the like, nor any, but will return you from your charge." + +Accordingly--by her Majesty's special command--Dr. Dale made another +visit to Bruges, to discover, once for all, whether there was a +commission from Philip or not; and, if so, to see it with his own eyes. +On the 7th May he had an interview with the Duke. After thanking his +Highness for the honourable and stately manner in which the conferences +had been, inaugurated near Ostend, Dale laid very plainly before him her +Majesty's complaints of the tergiversations and equivocations concerning +the commission, which had now lasted three months long. + +In answer, Alexander made a complimentary harangue; confining himself +entirely to the first part of the envoy's address, and assuring him in +redundant phraseology, that he should hold himself very guilty before +the world, if he had not surrounded the first colloquy between the +plenipotentiaries of two such mighty princes, with as much pomp as the +circumstances of time and place would allow. After this superfluous +rhetoric had been poured forth, he calmly dismissed the topic which Dr. +Dale had come all the way from. Ostend to discuss, by carelessly +observing that President Richardot would confer with him on the subject +of the commission. + +"But," said the envoy, "tis no matter of conference or dispute. I desire +simply to see the commission." + +"Richardot and Champagny shall deal with you in the afternoon," repeated +Alexander; and with this reply, the Doctor was fair to be contented. + +Dale then alluded to the point of cessation of arms. + +"Although," said he, "the Queen might justly require that the cessation +should be general for all the King's dominion, yet in order not to stand +on precise points, she is content that it should extend no further than +to the towns of Flushing; Brief, Ostend, and Bergen-op-Zoom." + +"To this he said nothing," wrote the envoy, "and so I went no further." + +In the afternoon Dale had conference with Champagny and Richardot. As +usual, Champagny was bound hand and foot by the gout, but was as quick- +witted and disputatious as ever. Again Dale made an earnest harangue, +proving satisfactorily--as if any proof were necessary on such a point-- +that a commission from Philip ought to be produced, and that a commission +had been promised, over and over again. + +After a pause, both the representatives of Parma began to wrangle with +the envoy in very insolent fashion. "Richardot is always their mouth- +piece," said Dale, "only Champagny choppeth in at every word, and would +do so likewise in ours if we would suffer it." + +"We shall never have done with these impertinent demands," said the +President. "You ought to be satisfied with the Duke's promise of +ratification contained in his commission. We confess what you say +concerning the former requisitions and promises to be true, but when will +you have done? Have we not showed it to Mr. Croft, one of your own +colleagues? And if we show it you now, another may come to-morrow, and +so we shall never have an end." + +"The delays come from yourselves," roundly replied the Englishman, "for +you refuse to do what in reason and law you are bound to do. And the +more demands the more 'mora aut potius culpa' in you. You, of all men, +have least cause to hold such language, who so confidently and even +disdainfully answered our demand for the commission, in Mr. Cecil's +presence, and promised to show a perfect one at the very first meeting. +As for Mr. Comptroller Croft, he came hither without the command of her +Majesty and without the knowledge of his colleagues." + +Richardot then began to insinuate that, as Croft had come without +authority, so--for aught they could tell--might Dale also. But Champagny +here interrupted, protested that the president was going too far, and +begged him to show the commission without further argument. + +Upon this Richardot pulled out the commission from under his gown, and +placed it in Dr. Dale's hands! + +It was dated 17th April, 1588, signed and sealed by the King, +and written in French, and was to the effect, that as there had been +differences between her Majesty and himself; as her Majesty had sent +ambassadors into the Netherlands, as the Duke of Parma had entered into +treaty with her Majesty, therefore the King authorised the Duke to +appoint commissioners to treat, conclude, and determine all controversies +and misunderstandings, confirmed any such appointments already made, and +promised to ratify all that might be done by them in the premises.' + +Dr. Dale expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of this document, +and begged to be furnished with a copy of it, but his was peremptorily +refused. There was then a long conversation--ending, as usual, in +nothing--on the two other points, the place for the conferences, namely, +and the cessation of arms. + +Nest morning Dale, in taking leave of the Duke of Parma, expressed the +gratification which he felt, and which her Majesty was sure to feel at +the production of the commission. It was now proved, said the envoy, +that the King was as earnestly in favour of peace as the Duke was +himself. + +Dale then returned, well satisfied, to Ostend. + +In truth the commission had arrived just in time. "Had I not received it +soon enough to produce it then," said Alexander, "the Queen would have +broken off the negotiations. So I ordered Richardot, who is quite aware +of your Majesty's secret intentions, from which we shall not swerve one +jot, to show it privately to Croft, and afterwards to Dr. Dale, but +without allowing a copy of it to be taken." + +"You have done very well," replied Philip, "but that commission is, on no +account, to be used, except for show. You know my mind thoroughly." + +Thus three months had been consumed, and at last one indispensable +preliminary to any negotiation had, in appearance, been performed. Full +powers on both sides had been exhibited. When the Queen of England gave +the Earl of Derby and his colleagues commission to treat with the King's +envoys, and pledged herself beforehand to, ratify all their proceedings, +she meant to perform the promise to which she had affixed her royal name +and seal. She could not know that the Spanish monarch was deliberately +putting his name to a lie, and chuckling in secret over the credulity of +his English sister, who was willing to take his word and his bond. Of a +certainty the English were no match for southern diplomacy. + +But Elizabeth was now more impatient than ever that the other two +preliminaries should be settled, the place of conferences, and the +armistice. + +"Be plain with the Duke," she wrote to her envoys, "that we have +tolerated so many weeks in tarrying a commission, that I will never +endure more delays. Let him know he deals with a prince who prizes her +honour more than her life: Make yourselves such as stand of your +reputations." + +Sharp words, but not sharp enough to prevent a further delay of a month; +for it was not till the 6th June that the commissioners at last came +together at Bourbourg, that "miserable little hole," on the coast between +Ostend and Newport, against which Gamier had warned them. And now there +was ample opportunity to wrangle at full length on the next preliminary, +the cessation of arms. It would be superfluous to follow the +altercations step by step--for negotiations there were none--and it is +only for the sake of exhibiting at full length the infamy of diplomacy, +when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty, that we are hanging up this +series of pictures at all. Those bloodless encounters between credulity +and vanity upon one side, and gigantic fraud on the other, near those +very sands of Newport, and in sight of the Northern Ocean, where, before +long, the most terrible battles, both by land and sea, which the age had +yet witnessed, were to occur, are quite as full of instruction and moral +as the most sanguinary combats ever waged. + +At last the commissioners exchanged copies of their respective powers. +After four months of waiting and wrangling, so much had been achieved-- +a show of commissions and a selection of the place for conference. And +now began the long debate about the cessation of arms. The English +claimed an armistice for the whole dominion of Philip and Elizabeth +respectively, during the term of negotiation, and for twenty days after. +The Spanish would grant only a temporary truce, terminable at six days' +notice, and that only for the four cautionary towns of Holland held by +the Queen. Thus Philip would be free to invade England at his leisure +out of the obedient Netherlands or Spain. This was inadmissible, of +course, but a week was spent at the outset in reducing the terms to +writing; and when the Duke's propositions were at last produced in the +French tongue, they were refused by the Queen's commissioners, who +required that the documents should be in Latin. Great was the triumph of +Dr. Dale, when, after another interval, he found their Latin full of +barbarisms and blunders, at which a school-boy would have blushed. The +King's commissioners, however, while halting in their syntax, had kept +steadily to their point. + +"You promised a general cessation of aims at our coming," said Dale, at a +conference on the 2/12 June, "and now ye have lingered five times twenty +days, and nothing done at all. The world may see the delays come of you +and not of us, and that ye are not so desirous of peace as ye pretend." + +"But as far your invasion of England," stoutly observed the Earl of +Derby, "ye shall find it hot coming thither. England was never so ready +in any former age,--neither by sea nor by land; but we would show your +unreasonableness in proposing a cessation of arms by which ye would bind +her Majesty to forbear touching all the Low Countries, and yet leave +yourselves at liberty to invade England." + +While they were thus disputing, Secretary Gamier rushed into the room, +looking very much frightened, and announced that Lord Henry Seymour's +fleet of thirty-two ships of war was riding off Gravelines, and that he +had sent two men on shore who were now waiting in the ante-chamber. + +The men being accordingly admitted, handed letters to the English +commissioners from Lord Henry, in which be begged to be informed in +what terms they were standing, and whether they needed his assistance +or countenance in the cause in which they were engaged. The envoys found +his presence very "comfortable," as it showed the Spanish commissioners +that her Majesty was so well provided as to make a cessation of arms less +necessary to her than it was to the King. They therefore sent their +thanks to the Lord Admiral, begging him to cruise for a time off Dunkirk +and its neighbourhood, that both their enemies and their friends might +have a sight of the English ships. + +Great was the panic all along the coast at this unexpected demonstration. +The King's commissioners got into their coaches, and drove down to the +coast to look at the fleet, and--so soon as they appeared--were received +with such a thundering cannonade an hour long, by way of salute, as to +convince them, in the opinion of the English envoys, that the Queen had +no cause to be afraid of any enemies afloat or ashore. + +But these noisy arguments were not much more effective than the +interchange of diplomatic broadsides which they had for a moment +superseded. The day had gone by for blank cartridges and empty +protocols. Nevertheless Lord Henry's harmless thunder was answered, the +next day, by a "Quintuplication" in worse Latin than ever, presented to +Dr. Dale and his colleagues by Richardot and Champagny, on the subject of +the armistice. And then there was a return quintuplication, in choice +Latin, by the classic Dale, and then there was a colloquy on the +quintuplication, and everything that had been charged, and truly +charged, by the English; was now denied by the King's commissioners; +and Champagny--more gouty and more irascible than ever--"chopped in" at +every word spoken by King's envoys or Queen's, contradicted everybody, +repudiated everything said or done by Andrew de Loo, or any of the other +secret negotiators during the past year, declared that there never had +been a general cessation of arms promised, and that, at any rate, times +were now changed, and such an armistice was inadmissible! Then the +English answered with equal impatience, and reproached the King's +representatives with duplicity and want of faith, and censured them for +their unseemly language, and begged to inform Champagny and Richardot +that they had not then to deal with such persons as they might formerly +have been in the habit of treating withal, but with a "great prince who +did justify the honour of her actions," and they confuted the positions +now assumed by their opponents with official documents and former +statements from those very opponents' lips. And then, after all this +diplomatic and rhetorical splutter, the high commissioners recovered +their temper and grew more polite, and the King's "envoys excused +themselves in a mild, merry manner," for the rudeness of their speeches, +and the Queen's envoys accepted their apologies with majestic urbanity, +and so they separated for the day in a more friendly manner than they +had done the day before.' + +"You see to what a scholar's shift we have been driven for want of +resolution," said Valentine Dale. "If we should linger here until there +should be broken heads, in what case we should be God knoweth. For I can +trust Champagny and Richardot no farther than I can see them." + +And so the whole month of June passed by; the English commissioners +"leaving no stone unturned to get a quiet cessation of arms in general +terms," and being constantly foiled; yet perpetually kept in hope that +the point would soon be carried. At the same time the signs of the +approaching invasion seemed to thicken. "In my opinion," said Dale, +"as Phormio spake in matters of wars, it were very requisite that my Lord +Harry should be always on this coast, for they will steal out from hence +as closely as they can, either to join with the Spanish navy or to land, +and they may be very easily scattered, by God's grace." And, with the +honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added, "our postulates do trouble +the King's commissioners very much, and do bring them to despair." + +The excellent Doctor had not even yet discovered that the King's +commissioners were delighted with his postulates; and that to have kept +them postulating thus five months in succession, while naval and military +preparations were slowly bringing forth a great event--which was soon to +strike them with as much amazement as if the moon had fallen out of +heaven--was one of the most decisive triumphs ever achieved by Spanish +diplomacy. But the Doctor thought that his logic had driven the King of +Spain to despair. + +At the same time he was not insensible to the merits of another and more +peremptory style of rhetoric,--"I pray you," said he to Walsingham, "let +us hear some arguments from my Lord Harry out of her Majesty's navy now +and then. I think they will do more good than any bolt that we can shoot +here. If they be met with at their going out, there is no possibility +for them to make any resistance, having so few men that can abide the +sea; for the rest, as you know, must be sea-sick at first." + +But the envoys were completely puzzled. Even at the beginning of July, +Sir James Croft was quite convinced of the innocence of the King and the +Duke; but Croft was in his dotage. As for Dale, he occasionally opened +his eyes, and his ears, but more commonly kept them well closed to the +significance of passing events; and consoled himself with his protocols +and his classics, and the purity of his own Latin. + +"'Tis a very wise saying of Terence," said he, "omnibus nobis ut res dant +sese; ita magni aut humiles sumus.' When the King's commissioners hear +of the King's navy from Spain, they are in such jollity that they talk +loud . . . . . In the mean time--as the wife of Bath sath in Chaucer +by her husband, we owe them not a word. If we should die tomorrow; +I hope her Majesty will find by our writings that the honour of the +cause, in the opinion of the world, must be with her Majesty; and that +her commissioners are, neither of such imperfection in their reasons, +or so barbarous in language, as they who fail not, almost in every line, +of some barbarism not to be borne in a grammar-school, although in +subtleness and impudent affirming of untruths and denying of truths, her +commissioners are not in any respect to match with Champagny and +Richardot, who are doctors in that faculty." + +It might perhaps prove a matter of indifference to Elizabeth and to +England, when the Queen should be a state-prisoner in Spain and the +Inquisition quietly established in her kingdom, whether the world should +admit or not, in case of his decease, the superiority of Dr. Dale's logic +and latin to those of his antagonists. And even if mankind conceded the +best of the argument to the English diplomatists, that diplomacy might +seem worthless which could be blind to the colossal falsehoods growing +daily before its eyes. Had the commissioners been able to read the +secret correspondence between Parma and his master--as we have had the +opportunity of doing--they would certainly not have left their homes in +February, to be made fools of until July; but would, on their knees, have +implored their royal mistress to awake from her fatal delusion before it +should be too late. Even without that advantage, it seems incredible +that they should have been unable to pierce through the atmosphere of +duplicity which surrounded them, and to obtain one clear glimpse of the +destruction so, steadily advancing upon England. + +For the famous bull of Sixtus V. had now been fulminated. Elizabeth had +bean again denounced as a bastard and usurper, and her kingdom had been +solemnly conferred upon Philip, with title of defender of the Christian, +faith, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of Rome. The so- +called Queen had usurped the crown contrary to the ancient treaties +between the apostolic stool and the kingdom of England, which country, +on its reconciliation with the head of the church after the death of +St. Thomas of Canterbury, had recognised the necessity of the Pope's. +consent in the succession to its throne; she had deserved chastisement +for the terrible tortures inflicted by her upon English Catholics and +God's own saints; and it was declared an act of virtue, to be repaid with +plenary indulgence and forgiveness of all sins, to lay violent hands on +the usurper, and deliver her into the hands of the Catholic party. And +of the holy league against the usurper, Philip was appointed the head, +and Alexander of Parma chief commander. This document was published in +large numbers in Antwerp in the English tongue. + +The pamphlet of Dr. Allen, just named Cardinal, was also translated in +the same city, under the direction of the Duke of Parma, in-order to be +distributed throughout England, on the arrival in that kingdom of the +Catholic troops. The well-known 'Admonition to the Nobility and People +of England and Ireland' accused the Queen of every crime and vice which +can pollute humanity; and was filled with foul details unfit for the +public eye in these more decent days. + +So soon as the intelligence of these publications reached England, the +Queen ordered her commissioners at Bourbourg to take instant cognizance +of them, and to obtain a categorical explanation on the subject from +Alexander himself: as if an explanation were possible, as if the designs +of Sixtus, Philip, and Alexander, could any longer be doubted, and as if +the Duke were more likely now than before to make a succinct statement +of them for the benefit of her Majesty. + +"Having discovered," wrote Elizabeth on the 9th July (N.S.), "that this +treaty of peace is entertained only to abuse us, and being many ways +given to understand that the preparations which have so long been making, +and which now are consummated, both in Spain and the Low Countries, are +purposely to be employed against us and our country; finding that, for +the furtherance of these exploits, there is ready to be published a vile, +slanderous, and blasphemous book, containing as many lies as lines, +entitled, 'An Admonition,' &c., and contrived by a lewd born-subject of +ours, now become an arrant traitor, named Dr. Allen, lately made, a +cardinal at Rome; as also a bull of the Pope, whereof we send you a copy, +both very lately brought into those Low Countries, the one whereof is +already printed at Antwerp, in a great multitude; in the English tongue, +and the other ordered to be printed, only to stir up our subjects, +contrary to the laws of God and their allegiance, to join with such +foreign purposes as are prepared against us and our realm, to come out of +those Low Countries and out of Spain; and as it appears by the said bull +that the Duke of Parma is expressly named and chosen by the Pope and the +King of Spain to be principal executioner of these intended enterprises, +we cannot think it honourable for us to continue longer the treaty of +peace with them that, under colour of treaty, arm themselves with all the +power they can to a bloody war." + +Accordingly the Queen commanded Dr. Dale, as one of the commissioners, +to proceed forthwith to the Duke, in order to obtain explanations as to +his contemplated conquest of her realm, and as to his share in the +publication of the bull and pamphlet, and to "require him, as he would be +accounted a prince of honour, to let her plainly understand what she +might think thereof." The envoy was to assure him that the Queen would +trust implicitly to his statement, to adjure him to declare the truth, +and, in case he avowed the publications and the belligerent intentions +suspected, to demand instant safe-conduct to England for her +commissioners, who would, of course, instantly leave the Netherlands. +On the other hand, if the Duke disavowed those infamous documents, +he was to be requested to punish the printers, and have the books +burned by the hangman? + +Dr. Dale, although suffering from cholic, was obliged to set forth, +at once upon what he felt would be a bootless journey. At his return-- +which was upon the 22nd of July (N.S.)the shrewd old gentleman had nearly +arrived at the opinion that her Majesty might as well break off the +negotiations. He had a "comfortless voyage and a ticklish message;" +found all along the road signs of an approaching enterprise, difficult to +be mistaken; reported 10,000 veteran Spaniards, to which force Stanley's +regiment was united; 6000 Italians, 3000 Germans, all with pikes, +corselets, and slash swords complete; besides 10,000 Walloons. The +transports for the cavalry at Gravelingen he did not see, nor was he +much impressed with what he heard as to the magnitude of the naval +preparations at Newport. He was informed that the Duke was about making +a foot-pilgrimage from Brussels to Our Lady of Halle, to implore victory +for his banners, and had daily evidence of the soldier's expectation to +invade and to "devour England." All this had not tended to cure him of +the low spirits with which he began the journey. Nevertheless, although +he was unable--as will be seen--to report an entirely satisfactory answer +from Farnese to the Queen upon the momentous questions entrusted to him, +he, at least, thought of a choice passage in 'The AEneid,' so very apt to +the circumstances, as almost to console him for the "pangs of his cholic" +and the terrors of the approaching invasion. + +"I have written two or three verses out of Virgil for the Queen to read," +said he, "which I pray your Lordship to present unto her. God grant her +to weigh them. If your Lordship do read the whole discourse of Virgil in +that place, it will make your heart melt. Observe the report of the +ambassadors that were sent to Diomedes to make war against the Trojans, +for the old hatred that he, being a Grecian, did bear unto them; and note +the answer of Diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the +Trojans, the perplexity of the King, the miseries of the country, the +reasons of Drances that spake against them which would have war, the +violent persuasions of Turnus to war; and note, I pray you; one word, +'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' What a lecture could I make with Mr. +Cecil upon that passage in Virgil!" + +The most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this +letter. It was received in the very last days of the month of July. +Let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which +were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this classic +despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the +Queen and Lord Burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the +sorrows of the Trojan War. Perhaps the doings of Drake and Howard, +Medina Sidonia, and Ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention +as the eloquence of Diomede or the wrath of Turnus. Yet it may be +doubted whether the reports of these Grecian envoys might not in truth, +be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic +pedant, with his Virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of +peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of England's doom. + +"What a lecture I could make with Mr. Cecil on the subject!--"An English +ambassador, at the court of Philip II.'s viceroy, could indulge himself +in imaginary prelections on the AEneid, in the last days of July, of the +year of our Lord 1588! + +The Doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions +categorically, to his Highness as he had been instructed to do. He went +to Bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save +Lord Derby and Lord Cobham, knew the cause of his journey. Poor-puzzling +James Croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out +of the secret. On the 8/18 July Dale had audience of the Duke at Bruges. +After a few commonplaces, he was invited by the Duke to state what +special purpose had brought him to Bruges. + +"There is a book printed at Antwerp," said Dale, "and set forth by a +fugitive from England, who calleth himself a cardinal." + +Upon this the Duke began diligently to listen. + +"This book," resumed Dale, "is an admonition to the nobility and people +of England and Ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the Pope +against the Queen which the King Catholic hath entrusted to your Highness +as chief of the enterprise. There is also a bull of the Pope declaring +my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too +odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. In this bull the +Pope saith that he hath dealt with the most Catholic King to employ all +the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, +and doth charge her subjects to assist the army appointed by the King +Catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your Highness. Therefore +her Majesty would be satisfied from your Highness in that point, and will +take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a +prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her Majesty. +Whatsoever it may be, her Majesty will not take it amiss against your +Highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. Wherefore I +do require you to satisfy the Queen." + +"I am glad," replied the Duke, "that her Majesty and her commissioners do +take in good part my good-will towards them. I am especially touched by +the good opinion her Majesty hath of my sincerity, which I should be glad +always to maintain. As to the book to which you refer, I have never read +it, nor seen it, nor do I take heed of it. It may well be that her +Majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, +I have nought to do with it, nor can I prevent men from writing or +printing at their pleasure. I am at the commandment of my master only." + +As Alexander made no reference to the Pope's bull, Dr. Dale observed, +that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the +Pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her Majesty would be +obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would +receive safe-conduct as occasion should require. + +"Yea, God forbid else," replied Alexander; "and further, I know nothing +of any bull of the Pope, nor do I care for any, nor do I undertake +anything for him. But as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between +my master and her Majesty, I must, as a soldier, act at the command of my +sovereign. For my part, I have always had such respect for her Majesty, +being so noble a Queen, as that I would never hearken to anything that +might be reproachful to her. After my master, I would do most to serve +your Queen, and I hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that +point. And for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such +other calamities as do follow the wars, I have been a petitioner to my +sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. That is a +thing, however," added the Duke; "which you have more cause to desire +than we; for if the King my master, should lose a battle, he would be +able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough +off in Spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose +kingdom and all." + +"By God's sufferance," rejoined the Doctor, "her Majesty is not without +means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a +succession of ancestors. Moreover your Highness knows very well that +one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country." + +"Well," said the Duke, "that is in God's hand." + +"So it is," said the Doctor. + +"But make an end of it," continued Alexander quietly, "and if you have +anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to +me." + +Dr. Valentine Dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a +protocol, and promised one for the next day. + +"I am charged only to give your Highness satisfaction," he said, "as to +her Majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to +the world in English, French, and Italian, in the hope that you may +also satisfy the Queen upon this other point. I am but one of her +commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. I crave leave +to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as I had in coming." + +After the envoy had taken leave, the Duke summoned Andrea de Loo, and +related to him the conversation which had taken place. He then, in the +presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very +constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the +'Admonition' by Cardinal Allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and +had no regard to it.' + +The plausible Andrew accompanied the Doctor to his lodgings, protesting +all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their +unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. The next day the Doctor, +by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all +the commissioners of her Majesty; which able protocol the Duke did not at +that moment read, which he assuredly never read subsequently, and which +no human soul ever read afterwards. Let the dust lie upon it, and upon +all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring +and summer of 1588. + +"Dr. Dale has been with me two or three, times," said Parma, in giving +his account of these interviews to Philip. "I don't know why he came, +but I think he wished to make it appear, by coming to Bruges, that the +rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the English. He has +been complaining of Cardinal Allen's book, and I told him that I didn't +understand a word of English, and knew nothing whatever of the matter." + +It has been already seen that the Duke had declared, on his word of +honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. Yet at that very +moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight +before from Philip, in which that monarch thanked Alexander for having +had the Cardinal's book translated at Antwerp! Certainly few English +diplomatists could be a match for a Highness so liberal of his word of +honour. + +But even Dr. Dale had at last convinced himself--even although the Duke +knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against +England. The sagacious man, having seen large bodies of Spaniards and +Walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his +country, and "professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or +market," while even Alexander himself could "no more hide it than did +Henry VIII. when he went to Boulogne," could not help suspecting +something amiss. + +His colleague, however, Comptroller Croft, was more judicious, for he +valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of +affairs. He was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who +meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous +suspicion. So this envoy wrote to Lord Burghley on the 2nd August +(N.S.)--let the reader mark the date--that, "although a great doubt +had been conceived as to the King's sincerity, . . . . yet that +discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides +the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general +incommodity which will come by the contrary, God had so balanced princes' +powers in that age, as they rather desire to assure themselves at home, +than with danger to invade their neighbours." + +Perhaps the mariners of England--at that very instant exchanging +broadsides off the coast of Devon and Dorset with the Spanish Armada, +and doing their best to protect their native land from the most horrible +calamity which had ever impended over it--had arrived at a less reverent +opinion of princes' oaths; and it was well for England in that supreme +hour that there were such men as Howard and Drake, and Winter and +Frobisher, and a whole people with hearts of oak to defend her, while +bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards were doing their best to +imperil her existence. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards +Fitter to obey than to command +Full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces +I am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but God +Infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty +Mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity +Never did statesmen know better how not to do +Pray here for satiety, (said Cecil) than ever think of variety +Simple truth was highest skill +Strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand +That crowned criminal, Philip the Second + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v55 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 56, 1588 + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. Part 2. + + Dangerous Discord in North Holland--Leicester's Resignation arrives + --Enmity of Willoughby and Maurice--Willoughby's dark Picture of + Affairs--Hatred between States and Leicestrians--Maurice's Answer to + the Queen's Charges--End of Sonoy's Rebellion--Philip foments the + Civil War in France--League's Threats and Plots against Henry--Mucio + arrives in Paris--He is received with Enthusiasm--The King flies, + and Spain triumphs in Paris--States expostulate with the Queen-- + English Statesmen still deceived--Deputies from Netherland Churches + --Hold Conference with the Queen--And present long Memorials--More + Conversations with the Queen--National Spirit of England and + Holland--Dissatisfaction with Queen's Course--Bitter Complaints of + Lord Howard--Want of Preparation in Army and Navy--Sanguine + Statements of Leicester--Activity of Parma--The painful Suspense + continues. + + +But it is necessary-in order to obtain a complete picture of that famous +year 1588, and to understand the cause from which such great events were +springing--to cast a glance at the internal politics of the States most +involved in Philip's meshes. + +Certainly, if there had ever been a time when the new commonwealth of the +Netherlands should be both united in itself and on thoroughly friendly +terms with England, it was exactly that epoch of which we are treating. +There could be no reasonable doubt that the designs of Spain against +England were hostile, and against Holland revengeful. It was at least +possible that Philip meant to undertake the conquest of England, and to +undertake it as a stepping-stone to the conquest of Holland. Both the +kingdom and the republic should have been alert, armed, full of suspicion +towards the common foe, full of confidence in each other. What decisive +blows might have been struck against Parma in the Netherlands, when his +troops were starving, sickly, and mutinous, if the Hollanders and +Englishmen had been united under one chieftain, and thoroughly convinced +of the impossibility of peace! Could the English and Dutch statesmen of +that day have read all the secrets of their great enemy's heart, as it is +our privilege at this hour to do, they would have known that in sudden +and deadly strokes lay their best chance of salvation. But, without that +advantage, there were men whose sagacity told them that it was the hour +for deeds and not for dreams. For to Leicester and Walsingham, as well +as to Paul Buys and Barneveld, peace with Spain seemed an idle vision. +It was unfortunate that they were overruled by Queen Elizabeth and +Burghley, who still clung to that delusion; it was still more disastrous +that the intrigues of Leicester had done so much to paralyze the +republic; it was almost fatal that his departure, without laying down his +authority, had given the signal for civil war. + +During the winter, spring, and summer of 1588, while the Duke--in the +face of mighty obstacles--was slowly proceeding with his preparations in +Flanders, to co-operate with the armaments from Spain, it would have been +possible by a combined movement to destroy his whole plan, to liberate +all the Netherlands, and to avert, by one great effort, the ruin +impending over England. Instead of such vigorous action, it was thought +wiser to send commissioners, to make protocols, to ask for armistices, +to give profusely to the enemy that which he was most in need of--time. +Meanwhile the Hollanders and English could quarrel comfortably among +themselves, and the little republic, for want of a legal head, could come +as near as possible to its dissolution. + +Young Maurice--deep thinker for his years and peremptory in action--was +not the man to see his great father's life-work annihilated before his +eyes, so long as he had an arm and brain of his own. He accepted his +position at the head of the government of Holland and Zeeland, and as +chief of the war-party. The council of state, mainly composed of +Leicester's creatures, whose commissions would soon expire by their own +limitation, could offer but a feeble resistance to such determined +individuals as Maurice, Buys, and Barneveld. The party made rapid +progress. On the other hand, the English Leicestrians did their best +to foment discord in the Provinces. Sonoy was sustained in his rebellion +in North Holland, not only by the Earl's partizans, but by Elizabeth +herself. Her rebukes to Maurice, when Maurice was pursuing the only +course which seemed to him consistent with honour and sound policy, +were sharper than a sword. Well might Duplessis Mornay observe, that +the commonwealth had been rather strangled than embraced by the English +Queen. Sonoy, in the name of Leicester, took arms against Maurice and +the States; Maurice marched against him; and Lord Willoughby, commander- +in-chief of the English forces, was anxious to march against Maurice. +It was a spectacle to make angels weep, that of Englishmen and Hollanders +preparing to cut each other's throats, at the moment when Philip and +Parma were bending all their energies to crush England and Holland at +once. + +Indeed, the interregnum between the departure of Leicester and his +abdication was diligently employed by his more reckless partizans to +defeat and destroy the authority of the States. By prolonging the +interval, it was hoped that no government would be possible except the +arbitrary rule of the Earl, or of a successor with similar views: for a +republic--a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity. To entrust +supreme power to advocates; merchants, and mechanics, seemed as hopeless +as it was vulgar. Willoughby; much devoted to Leicester and much +detesting Barneveld, had small scruple in fanning the flames of discord. + +There was open mutiny against the States by the garrison of +Gertruydenberg, and Willoughby's brother-in-law, Captain Wingfield, +commanded in Gertruydenberg. There were rebellious demonstrations in +Naarden, and Willoughby went to Naarden. The garrison was troublesome, +but most of the magistrates were firm. So Willoughby supped with the +burgomasters, and found that Paul Buys had been setting the people +against Queen Elizabeth, Leicester, and the whole English nation, making +them all odious. Colonel Dorp said openly that it was a shame for the +country to refuse their own natural-born Count for strangers. He swore +that he would sing his song whose bread he had eaten. A "fat militia +captain" of the place, one Soyssons, on the other hand, privately +informed Willoughby that Maurice and Barneveld were treating underhand +with Spain. Willoughby was inclined to believe the calumny, but feared +that his corpulent friend would lose his head for reporting it. Meantime +the English commander did his best to strengthen the English party in +their rebellion against the States. + +"But how if they make war upon us?" asked the Leicestrians. + +"It is very likely," replied Willoughby, "that if they use violence you +will have her Majesty's assistance, and then you who continue constant to +the end will be rewarded accordingly. Moreover, who would not rather be +a horse-keeper to her Majesty, than a captain to Barneveld or Buys?" + +When at last the resignation of Leicester--presented to the States by +Killegrew on the 31st March--seemed to promise comparative repose to the +republic, the vexation of the Leicestrians was intense. Their efforts. +to effect a dissolution of the government had been rendered unsuccessful, +when success seemed within their grasp. "Albeit what is once executed +cannot be prevented," said Captain Champernoun; "yet 'tis thought certain +that if the resignation of Lord Leicester's commission had been deferred +yet some little time; the whole country and towns would have so revolted +and mutinied against the government and authority of the States, as that +they should have had no more credit given them by the people than pleased +her Majesty. Most part of the people could see--in consequence of the +troubles, discontent, mutiny of garrisons, and the like, that it was most +necessary for the good success of their affairs that the power of the +States should be abolished, and the whole government of his Excellency +erected. As these matters were busily working into the likelihood of +some good effect, came the resignation of his Excellency's commission and +authority, which so dashed the proceedings of it, as that all people and +commanders well affected unto her Majesty and my Lord of Leicester are +utterly discouraged. The States, with their adherents, before they had +any Lord's resignations were much perplexed what course to take, but now +begin to hoist their heads." The excellent Leicestrian entertained +hopes, however; that mutiny and intrigue might still carry the day. +He had seen the fat militiaman of Naarden and other captains, and, +hoped much mischief from their schemes. "The chief mutineers of +Gertruydenberg," he said, "maybe wrought to send unto 'the States, that +if they do not procure them some English governor, they will compound +with the enemy, whereon the States shall be driven to request her Majesty +to accept the place, themselves entertaining the garrison. I know +certain captains discontented with the States for arrears of pay, who +will contrive to get into Naarden with their companies, with the States +consent, who, once entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, +pay their soldiers out of the contributions of the country; and yet +secretly hold the place at her Majesty's command." + +This is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples +of the intrigues by which Leicester and his party were doing their best +to destroy the commonwealth of the Netherlands at a moment when its +existence was most important to that of England. + +To foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of Maurice, was not +a friendly or honourable course of action either towards Holland or +England; and it was to play into the hands of Philip as adroitly as +his own stipendiaries could have done. + +With mischief-makers like Champernoun in every city, and with such +diplomatists at Ostend as Croft and Ropers and Valentine Dale, was it +wonderful that the King and the Duke of Parma found time to mature their +plans for the destruction of both countries? + +Lord Willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position. +He received no commission from the Queen for several months. When it at +last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than +ever. He declared that he would rather serve the Queen as a private +soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the +limited authority conferred on him. He preferred to show his devotion +"in a beggarly state, than in a formal show." He considered it beneath +her Majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the States, +but his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body +but that of general in their service. He was very discontented, and more +anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. Without being extremely +ambitious, he was impatient of control. He desired not "a larger-shaped +coat," but one that fitted him better. "I wish to shape my garment +homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not +be misled by my sumptuousness. I would live quietly, without great +noise, my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown +with unlooked-for storms, while the sun seems most shining." + +Being the deadly enemy of the States and their leaders, it was a matter +of course that he should be bitter against Maurice. That young Prince, +bold, enterprising, and determined, as he was, did not ostensibly meddle +with political affairs more than became his years; but he accepted the +counsels of the able statesmen in whom his father had trusted. Riding, +hunting, and hawking, seemed to be his chief delight at the Hague, in the +intervals of military occupations. He rarely made his appearance in the +state-council during the winter, and referred public matters to the +States-General, to the States of Holland, to Barneveld, Buys, and +Hohenlo. Superficial observers like George Gilpin regarded him as a +cipher; others, like Robert Cecil, thought him an unmannerly schoolboy; +but Willoughby, although considering him insolent and conceited, could +not deny his ability. The peace partisans among the burghers--a very +small faction--were furious against him, for they knew that Maurice of +Nassau represented war. They accused of deep designs against the +liberties of their country the youth who was ever ready to risk his life +in their defence. A burgomaster from Friesland, who had come across the +Zuyder Zee to intrigue against the States' party, was full of spleen at +being obliged to dance attendance for a long time at the Hague. He +complained that Count Maurice, green of years, and seconded by greener +counsellors, was meditating the dissolution of the state-council, the +appointment of a new board from his own creatures, the overthrow of all +other authority, and the assumption of the, sovereignty of Holland and +Zeeland, with absolute power. "And when this is done;" said the rueful +burgomaster, "he and his turbulent fellows may make what terms they like +with Spain, to the disadvantage of the Queen and of us poor wretches." + +But there was nothing farther from the thoughts of the turbulent fellows +than any negotiations with Spain. Maurice was ambitious enough, perhaps, +but his ambition ran in no such direction. Willoughby knew better; and +thought that by humouring the petulant young man it might be possible to +manage him. + +"Maurice is young," he said, "hot-headed; coveting honour. If we do but +look at him through our fingers, without much words, but with providence +enough, baiting his hook a little to his appetite, there is no doubt but +he might be caught and kept in a fish-pool; while in his imagination he +may judge it a sea. If not, 'tis likely he will make us fish in troubled +waters." + +Maurice was hardly the fish for a mill-pond even at that epoch, and it +might one day be seen whether or not he could float in the great ocean +of events. Meanwhile, he swam his course without superfluous gambols or +spoutings. + +The commander of her Majesty's forces was not satisfied with the States, +nor their generals, nor their politicians. "Affairs are going 'a malo in +pejus,'" he said. "They embrace their liberty as apes their young. To +this end are Counts Hollock and Maurice set upon the stage to entertain +the popular sort. Her Majesty and my Lord of Leicester are not +forgotten. The Counts are in Holland, especially Hollock, for the other +is but the cipher. And yet I can assure you Maurice hath wit and spirit +too much for his time." + +As the troubles of the interregnum increased Willoughby was more +dissatisfied than ever with the miserable condition of the Provinces, +but chose to ascribe it to the machinations of the States' party, +rather than to the ambiguous conduct of Leicester. "These evils," +he said, "are especially, derived from the childish ambition of the +young Count Maurice, from the covetous and furious counsels of the proud +Hollanders, now chief of the States-General, and, if with pardon it may +be said, from our slackness and coldness to entertain our friends. The +provident and wiser sort--weighing what a slender ground the appetite of +a young man is, unfurnished with the sinews of war to manage so great a +cause--for a good space after my Lord of Leicester's departure, gave him +far looking on, to see him play has part on the stage." + +Willoughby's spleen caused him to mix his metaphors more recklessly than +strict taste would warrant, but his violent expressions painted the +relative situation of parties more vividly than could be done by a calm +disquisition. Maurice thus playing his part upon the stage--as the +general proceeded to observe--"was a skittish horse, becoming by little +and little assured of what he had feared, and perceiving the harmlessness +thereof; while his companions, finding no safety of neutrality in so +great practices, and no overturning nor barricado to stop his rash wilded +chariot, followed without fear; and when some of the first had passed the +bog; the rest, as the fashion is, never started after. The variable +democracy; embracing novelty, began to applaud their prosperity; the base +and lewdest sorts of men, to whom there is nothing more agreeable than +change of estates, is a better monture to degrees than their merit, took +present hold thereof. Hereby Paul Buys, Barneveld, and divers others, +who were before mantled with a tolerable affection, though seasoned with +a poisoned intention, caught the occasion, and made themselves the +Beelzebubs of all these mischiefs, and, for want of better angels, spared +not to let fly our golden-winged ones in the name of guilders, to prepare +the hearts and hands that hold money more dearer than honesty, of which +sort, the country troubles and the Spanish practices having suckled up +many, they found enough to serve their purpose. As the breach is safely +saltable where no defence is made, so they, finding no head, but those +scattered arms that were disavowed, drew the sword with Peter, and gave +pardon with the Pope, as you shall plainly perceive by the proceedings +at Horn. Thus their force; fair words, or corruption, prevailing +everywhere, it grew to this conclusion--that the worst were encouraged +with their good success, and the best sort assured of no fortune or +favour." + +Out of all this hubbub of stage-actors, skittish horses, rash wilded +chariots, bogs, Beelzebubs, and golden-winged angels, one truth was +distinctly audible; that Beelzebub, in the shape of Barneveld, had been +getting the upper hand in the Netherlands, and that the Lecestrians were +at a disadvantage. In truth those partisans were becoming extremely +impatient. Finding themselves deserted by their great protector, they +naturally turned their eyes towards Spain, and were now threatening to +sell themselves to Philip. The Earl, at his departure, had given them +privately much encouragement. But month after month had passed by while +they were waiting in vain for comfort. At last the "best"--that is to +say, the unhappy Leicestrians--came to Willoughby, asking his advice in +their "declining and desperate cause." + +"Well nigh a month longer," said that general, "I nourished them with +compliments, and assured them that my Lord of Leicester would take care +of them." The diet was not fattening. So they began to grumble more +loudly than ever, and complained with great bitterness of the miserable +condition in which they had been left by the Earl, and expressed their +fears lest the Queen likewise meant to abandon them. They protested that +their poverty, their powerful foes, and their slow friends, would. +compel them either to make their peace with the States' party, or +"compound with the enemy." + +It would have seemed that real patriots, under such circumstances, would +hardly hesitate in their choice, and would sooner accept the dominion of +"Beelzebub," or even Paul Buys, than that of Philip II. But the +Leicestrians of Utrecht and Friesland--patriots as they were--hated +Holland worse than they hated the Inquisition. Willoughby encouraged +them in that hatred. He assured him of her Majesty's affection for them, +complained of the factious proceedings of the States, and alluded to the +unfavourable state of the weather, as a reason why--near four months +long--they had not received the comfort out of England which they had a +right to expect. He assured them that neither the Queen nor Leicester +would conclude this honourable action, wherein much had been hazarded, +"so rawly and tragically" as they seemed to fear, and warned them, that +"if they did join with Holland, it would neither ease nor help them, but +draw them into a more dishonourable loss of their liberties; and that, +after having wound them in, the Hollanders would make their own peace +with the enemy." + +It seemed somewhat unfair-while the Queen's government was straining +every nerve to obtain a peace from Philip, and while the Hollanders were +obstinately deaf to any propositions for treating--that Willoughby should +accuse them of secret intentions to negotiate. But it must be confessed +that faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect than was presented +by the politics of Holland and England in the winter and spring of 1588. + +Young Maurice was placed in a very painful position. He liked not to be +"strangled in the great Queen's embrace;" but he felt most keenly the +necessity of her friendship, and the importance to both countries of a +close alliance. It was impossible for him, however, to tolerate the +rebellion of Sonoy, although Sonoy was encouraged by Elizabeth, or to fly +in the face of Barneveld, although Barneveld was detested by Leicester. +So with much firmness and courtesy, notwithstanding the extravagant +pictures painted by Willoughby, he suppressed mutiny in Holland, while +avowing the most chivalrous attachment to the sovereign of England. + +Her Majesty expressed her surprise and her discontent, that, +notwithstanding his expressions of devotion to herself, he should +thus deal with Sonoy, whose only crime was an equal devotion. "If you +do not behave with more moderation in future," she said, "you may believe +that we are not a princess of so little courage as not to know how to +lend a helping hand to those who are unjustly oppressed. We should be +sorry if we had cause to be disgusted with your actions, and if we were +compelled to make you a stranger to the ancient good affection which we +bore to your late father, and have continued towards yourself." + +But Maurice maintained a dignified attitude, worthy of his great father's +name. He was not the man to crouch like Leicester, when he could no +longer refresh himself in the "shadow of the Queen's golden beams," +important as he knew her friendship to be to himself and his country. +So he defended himself in a manly letter to the privy council against the +censures of Elizabeth. He avowed his displeasure, that, within his own +jurisdiction, Sonoy should give a special oath of obedience to Leicester; +a thing never done before in the country, and entirely illegal. It would +not even be tolerated in England, he said, if a private gentleman should +receive a military appointment in Warwickshire or Norfolk without the +knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the shire. He had treated the +contumacious Sonoy with mildness during a long period, but without +effect. He had abstained from violence towards him, out of reverence to +the Queen, under whose sacred name he sheltered himself. Sonoy had not +desisted, but had established himself in organized rebellion at +Medenblik, declaring that he would drown the whole country, and levy +black-mail upon its whole property, if he were not paid one hundred +thousand crowns. He had declared that he would crush Holland like a +glass beneath his feet. Having nothing but religion in his mouth, and +protecting himself with the Queen's name, he had been exciting all the +cities of North Holland to rebellion, and bringing the poor people to +destruction. He had been offered money enough to satisfy the most +avaricious soldier in the world, but he stood out for six years' full +pay for his soldiers, a demand with which it was impossible to comply. +It was necessary to prevent him from inundating the land and destroying +the estates of the country gentlemen and the peasants. "This gentlemen," +said Maurice, "is the plain truth; nor do I believe that you will sustain +against me a man who was under such vast obligations to my late father, +and who requites his debt by daring to speak of myself as a rascal; or +that you will countenance his rebellion against a country to which he +brought only, his cloak and sword, and, whence he has filched one hundred +thousand crowns. You will not, I am sure, permit a simple captain, by +his insubordination to cause such mischief, and to set on fire this and +other Provinces. + +"If, by your advice," continued the Count; "the Queen should appoint +fitting' personages to office here--men who know what honour is; born +of illustrious and noble-race, or who by their great virtue have been +elevated to the honours of the kingdom--to them I will render an account +of my actions. And it shall appear that I have more ability and more +desire to do my duty, to her Majesty than those who render her lip- +service only, and only make use of her sacred name to fill their purses, +while I and, mine have been ever ready to employ our lives, and what +remains of our fortunes, in the cause of God, her Majesty, and our +country." + +Certainly no man had a better right: to speak with consciousness of the +worth of race than the son of William the Silent, the nephew of Lewis, +Adolphus, and Henry of Nassau, who had all laid down their lives for +the liberty of their country. But Elizabeth continued to threaten the +States-General, through the mouth of Willoughby, with the loss of her +protection, if they should continue thus to requite her favours with +ingratitude and insubordination: and Maurice once more respectfully but +firmly replied that Sonoy's rebellion could not and would not be +tolerated; appealing boldly to her sense of justice, which was the +noblest attribute of kings. + +At last the Queen informed Willoughby, that--as the cause of Sonoy's +course seemed to be his oath of obedience to Leicester, whose resignation +of office had not yet been received in the Netherlands--she had now +ordered Councillor Killigrew to communicate the fact of that resignation. +She also wrote to Sonoy, requiring him to obey the States and Count +Maurice, and to accept a fresh commission from them, or at least to +surrender Medenblik, and to fulfil all their orders with zeal and +docility. + +This act of abdication by Leicester, which had been received on the 22nd +of January by the English envoy, Herbert, at the moment of his departure +from the Netherlands, had been carried back by him to England, on the +ground that its communication to the States at that moment would cause +him inconveniently to postpone his journey. It never officially reached +the States-General until the 31st of March, so that this most dangerous +crisis was protracted nearly five months long--certainly without +necessity or excuse--and whether through design, malice, wantonness, +or incomprehensible carelessness, it is difficult to say. + +So soon as the news reached Sonoy, that contumacious chieftain found his +position untenable, and he allowed the States' troops to take possession +of Medenblik, and with it the important territory of North Holland. + +Maurice now saw himself undisputed governor. Sonoy was in the course of +the summer deprived of all office, and betook himself to England. Here +he was kindly received by the Queen, who bestowed upon him a ruined +tower, and a swamp among the fens of Lincolnshire. He brought over some +of his countrymen, well-skilled in such operations, set himself to +draining and dyking, and hoped to find himself at home and comfortable in +his ruined tower. But unfortunately, as neither he nor his wife, +notwithstanding their English proclivities, could speak a word of the +language; they found their social enjoyments very limited. Moreover, +as his work-people were equally without the power of making their wants +understood, the dyking operations made but little progress. So the +unlucky colonel soon abandoned his swamp, and retired to East Friesland, +where he lived a morose and melancholy life on a pension of one thousand +florins, granted him by the States of Holland, until the year 1597, when +he lost his mind, fell into the fire, and thus perished. + +And thus; in the Netherlands, through hollow negotiations between enemies +and ill-timed bickerings among friends, the path of Philip and Parma had +been made comparatively smooth during the spring and early summer of +1588. What was the aspect of affairs in Germany and France? + +The adroit capture of Bonn by Martin Schenk had given much trouble. +Parma was obliged to detach a strong force; under Prince Chimay, to +attempt the recovery of that important place, which--so long as it +remained in the power of the States--rendered the whole electorate +insecure and a source of danger to the Spanish party. Farnese +endeavoured in vain to win back the famous partizan by most liberal +offers, for he felt bitterly the mistake he had made in alienating so +formidable a freebooter. But the truculent Martin remained obdurate and +irascible. Philip, much offended that the news of his decease had proved +false, ordered rather than requested the Emperor Rudolph to have a care +that nothing was done in Germany to interfere with the great design upon +England. The King gave warning that he would suffer no disturbance from +that quarter, but certainly the lethargic condition of Germany rendered +such threats superfluous. There were riders enough, and musketeers +enough, to be sold to the highest bidder. German food for powder was +offered largely in the market to any foreign consumer, for the trade in +their subjects', lives was ever a prolific source of revenue to the petty +sovereigns--numerous as the days of the year--who owned Germany and the +Germans. + +The mercenaries who had so recently been, making their inglorious +campaign in France had been excluded from that country at the close of +1587, and furious were the denunciations of the pulpits and the populace +of Paris that the foreign brigands who had been devastating the soil of +France, and attempting to oppose the decrees of the Holy Father of Rome, +should; have made their escape so easily. Rabid Lincestre and other +priests and monks foamed with rage, as they execrated and anathematized +the devil-worshipper Henry of Valois, in all the churches of that +monarch's capital. The Spanish ducats were flying about, more profusely +than ever, among the butchers and porters, and fishwomen, of the great +city; and Madam League paraded herself in the day-light with still +increasing insolence. There was scarcely a pretence at recognition of +any authority, save that of Philip and Sixtus. France had become a +wilderness--an uncultivated, barbarous province of Spain. Mucio--Guise +had been secretly to Rome, had held interviews with the Pope and +cardinals, and had come back with a sword presented by his Holiness, +its hilt adorned with jewels, and its blade engraved with tongues of +fire. And with this flaming sword the avenging messenger of the holy +father was to smite the wicked, and to drive them into outer darkness. + +And there had been fresh conferences among the chiefs of the sacred +League within the Lorraine territory, and it was resolved to require of +the Valois an immediate extermination of heresy and heretics throughout +the kingdom, the publication of the Council of Trent, and the formal +establishment of the Holy Inquisition in every province of France. Thus, +while doing his Spanish master's bidding, the great Lieutenant of the +league might, if he was adroit enough, to outwit Philip, ultimately carve +out a throne for himself. + +Yet Philip felt occasional pangs of uneasiness lest there should, after +all, be peace in France, and lest his schemes against Holland and England +might be interfered with from that quarter. Even Farnese, nearer the +scene, could, not feel completely secure that a sudden reconciliation +among contending factions might not give rise to a dangerous inroad +across the Flemish border. So Guise was plied more vigourously than ever +by the Duke with advice and encouragement, and assisted with such Walloon +carabineers as could be spared, while large subsidies and larger promises +came from Philip, whose prudent policy was never to pay excessive sums, +until the work contracted for was done. "Mucio must do the job long +since agreed upon," said Philip to Farnese, "and you and Mendoza must see +that he prevents the King of France from troubling me in my enterprize +against England." If the unlucky Henry III. had retained one spark of +intelligence, he would have seen that his only chance of rescue lay in +the arm of the Bearnese, and in an honest alliance with England. Yet +so strong was his love for the monks, who were daily raving against him, +that he was willing to commit any baseness, in order to win back their +affection. He was ready to exterminate heresy and to establish the +inquisition, but he was incapable of taking energetic measures of any +kind, even when throne and life were in imminent peril. Moreover, he +clung to Epernon and the 'politiques,' in whose swords he alone found +protection, and he knew that Epernon and the 'politiques' were the +objects of horror to Paris and to the League. At the same time he looked +imploringly towards England and towards the great Huguenot chieftain, +Elizabeth's knight-errant. He had a secret interview with Sir Edward +Stafford, in the garden of the Bernardino convent, and importuned that +envoy to implore the Queen to break off her negotiations with Philip, and +even dared to offer the English ambassador a large reward, if such a +result could be obtained. Stafford was also earnestly, requested to +beseech the Queen's influence with Henry of Navarre, that he should +convert himself to Catholicism, and thus destroy the League. + +On the other hand, the magniloquent Mendoza, who was fond of describing +himself as "so violent and terrible to the French that they wished to be +rid of him," had--as usual--been frightening the poor King, who, after a +futile attempt at dignity, had shrunk before the blusterings of the +ambassador. "This King," said Don Bernardino, "thought that he could +impose, upon me and silence me, by talking loud, but as I didn't talk +softly to him, he has undeceived himself . . . . I have had another +interview with him, and found him softer than silk, and he made me many +caresses, and after I went out, he said that I was a very skilful +minister." + +It was the purpose of the League to obtain possession of the King's +person, and, if necessary, to dispose of the 'politiques' by a general +massacre, such as sixteen years before had been so successful in the case +of Coligny and the Huguenots. So the populace--more rabid than ever-- +were impatient that their adored Balafre should come to Paris and begin +the holy work. + +He came as far as Gonesse to do the job he had promised to Philip, but +having heard that Henry had reinforced himself with four thousand Swiss +from the garrison of Lagny, he fell back to Soissons. The King sent him +a most abject message, imploring him not to expose his sovereign to so +much danger, by setting his foot at that moment in the capital. The +Balafre hesitated, but the populace raved and roared for its darling. +The Queen-Mother urged her unhappy son to yield his consent, and the +Montpensier--fatal sister of Guise, with the famous scissors ever at her +girdle--insisted that her brother had as good a right as any man to come +to the city. Meantime the great chief of the 'politiques,' the hated and +insolent Epernon, had been appointed governor of Normandy, and Henry had +accompanied his beloved minion a part of the way towards Rouen. A plot +contrived by the Montpensier to waylay the monarch on his return, and to +take him into the safe-keeping of the League, miscarried, for the King +reentered the city before the scheme was ripe. On the other hand, +Nicholas Poulain, bought for twenty thousand crowns by the 'politiques,' +gave the King and his advisers-full information of all these intrigues, +and, standing in Henry's cabinet, offered, at peril of his life, if he +might be confronted with the conspirators--the leaders of the League +within the city--to prove the truth of the charges which he had made. + +For the whole city was now thoroughly organized. The number of its +districts had been reduced from sixteen to five, the better to bring it +under the control of the League; and, while it could not be denied that +Mucio, had, been doing his master's work very thoroughly, yet it was +still in the power of the King--through the treachery of Poulain--to +strike a blow for life and freedom, before he was quite, taken in the +trap. But he stood helpless, paralyzed, gazing in dreamy stupor--like +one fascinated at the destruction awaiting him. + +At last, one memorable May morning, a traveller alighted outside the gate +of Saint Martin, and proceeded on foot through the streets of Paris. He +was wrapped in a large cloak, which he held carefully over his face. +When he had got as far as the street of Saint Denis, a young gentleman +among the passers by, a good Leaguer, accosted the stranger, and with +coarse pleasantry, plucked the cloak from his face, and the hat from his +head. Looking at the handsome, swarthy features, marked with a deep +scar, and the dark, dangerous eyes which were then revealed, the +practical jester at once recognized in the simple traveller the terrible +Balafre, and kissed the hem of his garments with submissive rapture. +Shouts of "Vive Guise" rent the air from all the bystanders, as the Duke, +no longer affecting concealment, proceeded with a slow and stately step +toward the residence of Catharine de' Medici.' That queen of compromises +and of magic had been holding many a conference with the leaders of both +parties; had been increasing her son's stupefaction by her enigmatical +counsels; had been anxiously consulting her talisman of goat's and human +blood, mixed with metals melted under the influence of the star of her +nativity, and had been daily visiting the wizard Ruggieri, in whose magic +circle--peopled with a thousand fantastic heads--she had held high +converse with the world of spirits, and derived much sound advice as to +the true course of action to be pursued between her son and Philip, and +between the politicians and the League. But, in spite of these various +sources of instruction, Catharine--was somewhat perplexed, now that +decisive action seemed necessary--a dethronement and a new massacre +impending, and judicious compromise difficult. So after a hurried +conversation with Mucio, who insisted on an interview with the King, she +set forth for the Louvre, the Duke lounging calmly by the aide of her, +sedan chair, on foot, receiving the homage of the populace, as men, +women, and children together, they swarmed around him as he walked, +kissing his garments, and rending the air with their shouts. For that +wolfish mob of Paris, which had once lapped the blood of ten thousand +Huguenots in a single night, and was again rabid with thirst, was most +docile and fawning to the great Balafre. It grovelled before him, it +hung upon his look, it licked his hand, and, at the lifting of his +finger, or the glance of his eye, would have sprung at the throat of King +or Queen-Mother, minister, or minion, and devoured them all before his +eyes. It was longing for the sign, for, much as Paris adored and was +besotted with Guise and the League, even more, if possible, did it hate +those godless politicians, who had grown fat on extortions from the poor, +and who had converted their substance into the daily bread of luxury. + +Nevertheless the city was full of armed men, Swiss and German +mercenaries, and burgher guards, sworn to fidelity to the throne. The +place might have been swept clean, at that moment, of rebels who were not +yet armed or fortified in their positions. The Lord had delivered Guise +into Henry's hands. "Oh, the madman!"--cried Sixtus V., when he heard +that the Duke had gone to Paris, "thus to put himself into the clutches +of the King whom he had so deeply offended!" And, "Oh, the wretched +coward, the imbecile?" he added, when he heard how the King had dealt +with his great enemy. + +For the monarch was in his cabinet that May morning, irresolutely +awaiting the announced visit of the Duke. By his aide stood Alphonse +Corse, attached as a mastiff to his master, and fearing not Guise nor +Leaguer, man nor devil. + +"Sire, is the Duke of Guise your friend or enemy?" said Alphonse. The +King answered by an expressive shrug. + +"Say the word, Sire," continued Alphonse, "and I pledge myself to bring +his head this instant, and lay it at your feet." + +And he would have done it. Even at the side of Catharine's sedan chair, +and in the very teeth of the worshipping mob, the Corsican would have had +the Balafre's life, even though he laid down his own. + +But Henry--irresolute and fascinated--said it was not yet time for such a +blow. + +Soon afterward; the Duke was announced. The chief of the League and the +last of the Valois met, face to face; but not for the last time. The +interview--was coldly respectful on the part of Mucio, anxious and +embarrassed on that of the King. When the visit, which was merely one +of ceremony, was over, the Duke departed as he came, receiving the +renewed homage of the populace as he walked to his hotel. + +That night precautions were taken. All the guards were doubled around +the palace and through the streets. The Hotel de Ville and the Place de +la Greve were made secure, and the whole city was filled with troops. +But the Place Maubert was left unguarded, and a rabble rout--all night +long--was collecting in that distant spot. Four companies of burgher- +guards went over to the League at three o'clock in the morning. The rest +stood firm in the cemetery of the Innocents, awaiting the orders of the +King. At day-break on the 11th the town was still quiet. There was an +awful pause of expectation. The shops remained closed all the morning, +the royal troops were drawn up in battle-array, upon the Greve and around +the Hotel de Ville, but they stood motionless as statues, until the +populace began taunting them with cowardice, and then laughing them to +scorn. For their sovereign lord and master still sat paralyzed in his +palace. + +The mob had been surging through all the streets and lanes, until, +as by a single impulse, chains were stretched across the streets, and +barricades thrown up in all the principal thoroughfares. About noon the +Duke of Guise, who had been sitting quietly in his hotel, with a very few +armed followers, came out into the street of the Hotel Montmorency, and +walked calmly up and down, arm-in-aim with the Archbishop of Lyons, +between a double hedge-row of spectators and admirers, three or four +ranks thick. He was dressed in a white slashed doublet and hose, and +wore a very large hat. Shouts of triumph resounded from a thousand +brazen throats, as he moved calmly about, receiving, at every instant, +expresses from the great gathering in the Place Maubert. + +"Enough, too much, my good friends," he said, taking off the great hat-- +("I don't know whether he was laughing in it," observed one who was +looking on that day)--"Enough of 'Long live Guise!' Cry 'Long live the +King!'" + +There was no response, as might be expected, and the people shouted more +hoarsely than ever for Madam League and the Balafre. The Duke's face was +full of gaiety; there was not a shadow of anxiety upon it in that +perilous and eventful moment. He saw that the day was his own. + +For now, the people, ripe, ready; mustered, armed, barricaded; awaited +but a signal to assault the King's mercenaries, before rushing to the +palace: On every house-top missiles were provided to hurl upon their +heads. There seemed no escape for Henry or his Germans from impending +doom, when Guise, thoroughly triumphant, vouchsafed them their lives. + +"You must give me these soldiers as a present, my friends," said he to +the populace. + +And so the armed Swiss, French, and German troopers and infantry, +submitted to be led out of Paris, following with docility the aide-de- +camp of Guise, Captain St. Paul, who walked quietly before them, with his +sword in its scabbard, and directing their movements with a cane. Sixty +of them were slain by the mob, who could not, even at the command of +their beloved chieftain, quite forego their expected banquet. But this +was all the blood shed on the memorable day of Barricades, when another +Bartholomew massacre had been, expected. + +Meantime; while Guise was making his promenade through the city, +exchanging embraces with the rabble; and listening to the coarse +congratulations and obscene jests of the porters and fishwomen, the poor +King sat crying all day long in the Louvre. The Queen-Mother was with +him, reproaching him bitterly with his irresolution and want of +confidences in her, and scolding him for his tears. But the unlucky +Henry only wept the more as he cowered in a corner. + +"These are idle tears," said Catherine. "This is no time for crying. +And for myself, though women weep so easily; I feel my heart too deeply +wrung for tears. If they came to my eyes they would be tears of blood." + +Next day the last Valois walked-out, of the Louvre; as if for a promenade +in, the Tuileries, and proceeded straightway to the stalls, where his +horse stood saddled. Du Halde, his equerry, buckled his master's spurs +on upside down. "No; matter;" said Henry; "I am not riding to see my +mistress. I have a longer journey before me." + +And so, followed by a rabble rout of courtiers, without boots or cloaks; +and mounted on, sorry hacks--the King-of France rode forth from his +capital post-haste, and turning as he left the gates, hurled back +impotent imprecations upon Paris and its mob. Thenceforth, for a long +interval, there: was no king in that country. Mucio had done his work, +and earned his wages, and Philip II. reigned in Paris. The commands +of the League were now complied with. Heretics were doomed to +extermination. The edict of 19th July, 1588, was published with the most +exclusive and stringent provisions that the most bitter Romanist could +imagine, and, as a fair beginning; two young girls, daughters of Jacques +Forcade, once 'procureur au parlement,' were burned in Paris, for the +crime, of Protestantism. The Duke of Guise was named Generalissimo of +the Kingdom (26th August, 1588). Henry gave in his submission to +the Council of Trent, the edicts, the Inquisition, and the rest of +the League's infernal machinery, and was formally reconciled. +to Guise, with how much sincerity time was soon to show. + + [The King bound himself by oath to extirpate heresy, to remove all + persons suspected of that crime from office, and never to lay down + arms so long as a single, heretic remained. By secret articles,'two + armies against the Huguenots were agreed upon, one under the Duke of + Mayenne, the other under some general to be appointed by the grog. + The Council of Trent was forthwith to be proclaimed, and by a + refinement of malice the League stipulated that all officers + appointed in Paris by the Duke of Guise on the day after the + barricades should resign their powers, and be immediately re- + appointed by the King himself (DeThou, x.1. 86, pp. 324-325.)] + +Meantime Philip, for whom and at whose expense all this work had been +done by he hands of the faithful Mucio, was constantly assuring his royal +brother of France, through envoy Longlee, at Madrid, of his most +affectionate friendship, and utterly repudiating all knowledge of these +troublesome and dangerous plots. Yet they had been especially organized +--as we have seen--by himself and the Balafre, in order that France might +be kept a prey to civil war, and thus rendered incapable of offering any +obstruction to his great enterprise against England. Any complicity of +Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in Paris, or, of the Duke of Parma, who +were important agents in all these proceedings, with the Duke of Guise, +was strenuously--and circumstantially--denied; and the Balafre, on the +day of the barricades, sent Brissac to Elizabeth's envoy, Sir Edward +Stafford, to assure him as to his personal safety; and as to the deep +affection with which England and its Queen were regarded by himself and +all his friends. Stafford had also been advised to accept a guard for +his house of embassy. His reply was noble. + +"I represent the majesty of England," he said, "and can take no safeguard +from a subject of the sovereign to whom I am accredited." + +To the threat of being invaded, and to the advice to close his gates, he +answered, "Do you see these two doors? now, then, if I am attacked, I am +determined to defend myself to the last drop of my blood, to serve as an +example to the universe of the law of nations, violated in my person. Do +not imagine that I shall follow your advice. The gates of an ambassador +shall be open to all the world." + +Brissac returned with this answer to Guise, who saw that it was hopeless +to attempt making a display in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth, but gave +private orders that the ambassador should not be molested. + +Such were the consequences of the day of the barricades--and thus the +path of Philip was cleared of all obstructions on, the part of France. +His Mucio was now, generalissimo. Henry was virtually deposed. Henry of +Navarre, poor and good-humoured as ever, was scarcely so formidable at +that moment as he might one day become. When the news of the day of +barricades was brought at night to that cheerful monarch, he started from +his couch. "Ha," he exclaimed with a laugh, "but they havn't yet caught +the Bearnese!" + +And it might be long before the League would catch the Bearnese; but, +meantime, he could render slight assistance to Queen Elizabeth. + +In England there had been much fruitless negotiation between the +government of that country and the commissioners from the States-General. +There was perpetual altercation on the subject of Utrecht, Leyden, Sonoy, +and the other causes of contention; the Queen--as usual--being imperious +and choleric, and the envoys, in her opinion, very insolent. But the +principal topic of discussion was the peace-negotiations, which the +States-General, both at home and through their delegation in England, had +been doing their best to prevent; steadily refusing her Majesty's demand +that commissioners, on their part, should be appointed to participate in +the conferences at Ostend. Elizabeth promised that there should be as +strict regard paid to the interests of Holland as to those of England, +in case of a pacification, and that she would never forget her duty to +them, to herself, and to the world, as the protectress of the reformed +religion. The deputies, on the other hand, warned her that peace with +Spain was impossible; that the intention of the Spanish court was to +deceive her, while preparing her destruction and theirs; that it was +hopeless to attempt the concession of any freedom of conscience from +Philip II.; and that any stipulations which might be made upon that, or +any other subject, by the Spanish commissioners, would be tossed to the +wind. In reply to the Queen's loud complaints that the States had been +trifling with her, and undutiful to her, and that they had kept her +waiting seven months long for an answer to her summons to participate in +the negotiations, they replied, that up to the 15th October of the +previous year, although there had been flying rumours of an intention on +the part of her Majesty's government to open those communications with +the enemy, it had, "nevertheless been earnestly and expressly, and with +high words and oaths, denied that there was any truth in those rumours." +Since that time the States had not once only, but many times, in private +letters, in public documents, and in conversations with Lord Leicester +and other eminent personages, deprecated any communications whatever with +Spain, asserting uniformly their conviction that such proceedings would +bring ruin on their country, and imploring her Majesty not to give ear to +any propositions whatever. + +And not only were the envoys, regularly appointed by the States-General, +most active in England, in their, attempts to prevent the negotiations, +but delegates from the Netherland churches were also sent to the Queen, +to reason with her on the subject, and to utter solemn warnings that the +cause of the reformed religion would be lost for ever, in case of a +treaty on her part with Spain. When these clerical envoys reached +England the Queen was already beginning to wake from her delusion; +although her commissioners were still--as we have seen--hard at work, +pouring sand through their sieves at Ostend, and although the steady +protestations, of the Duke of Parma, and the industrious circulation of +falsehoods by Spanish emissaries, had even caused her wisest statesmen, +for a time, to participate in that delusion. + +For it is not so great an impeachment on the sagacity of the great Queen +of England, as it would now appear to those who judge by the light of +subsequent facts, that she still doubted whether the armaments, +notoriously preparing in Spain and Flanders, were intended against +herself; and that even if such were the case--she still believed in the +possibility of averting the danger by negotiation. + +So late as the beginning of May, even the far-seeing and anxious +Walsingham could say, that in England "they were doing nothing but +honouring St. George, of whom the Spanish Armada seemed to be afraid. +We hear," he added, "that they will not be ready to set forward before +the midst of May, but I trust that it will be May come twelve months. +The King of Spain is too old and too sickly to fall to conquer kingdoms. +If he be well counselled, his best course will be to settle his own +kingdoms in his own hands." + +And even much later, in the middle of July--when the mask was hardly, +maintained--even then there was no certainty as to the movements of the +Armada; and Walsingham believed, just ten days before the famous fleet +was to appear off Plymouth, that it had dispersed and returned to Spain, +never to re-appear. As to Parma's intentions, they were thought to lie +rather in the direction: of Ostend than of England; and Elizabeth; on the +20th July, was more anxious for that city than for her own kingdom. +"Mr. Ned, I am persuaded," she wrote to Morris, "that if a Spanish fleet +break, the Prince of Parma's enterprise for England will fall to the +ground, and then are you to look to Ostend. Haste your works." + +All through the spring and early summer, Stafford, in Paris, was kept in +a state of much perplexity as to the designs of Spain--so contradictory +were the stories circulated--and so bewildering the actions of men known +to be hostile to England. In, the last days of April he intimated it as +a common opinion in Paris, that these naval preparations of Philip were +an elaborate farce; "that the great elephant would bring forth but a +mouse--that the great processions, prayers, and pardons, at Rome, for the +prosperous success of the Armada against England; would be of no effect; +that the King of Spain was laughing in his sleeve at the Pope, that he +could make such a fool of him; and that such an enterprise was a thing +the King never durst think of in deed, but only in show to feed the +world." + +Thus, although furnished with minute details as to these, armaments, and +as to the exact designs of Spain against his country, by the ostentatious +statements of the; Spanish ambassador in Paris himself, the English, +envoy was still inclined to believe that these statements were a figment, +expressly intended to deceive. Yet he was aware that Lord Westmoreland, +Lord Paget, Sir Charles Paget, Morgan, and other English refugees, were +constantly meeting with Mendoza, that they were told to get themselves in +readiness, and to go down--as well appointed as might be--to the Duke of +Parma; that they had been "sending for their tailor to make them apparel, +and to put themselves in equipage;" that, in particular, Westmoreland had +been assured of being restored by Philip to his native country in better +condition than before. The Catholic and Spanish party in Paris were +however much dissatisfied with the news from Scotland, and were getting +more and more afraid that King James would object to the Spaniards +getting a foot-hold in his country, and that "the Scots would soon be +playing them a Scottish trick." + +Stafford was plunged still more inextricably into doubt by the accounts +from Longlee in Madrid. The diplomatist, who had been completely +convinced by Philip as to his innocence of any participation in the +criminal enterprise of Guise against Henry III., was now almost staggered +by the unscrupulous mendacity of that monarch with regard to any supposed +designs against England. Although the Armada was to be ready by the 15th +May, Longlee was of opinion--notwithstanding many bold announcements of +an attack upon Elizabeth--that the real object of the expedition was +America. There had recently been discovered, it was said, "a new +country, more rich in gold and silver than any yet found, but so full of +stout people that they could not master them." To reduce these stout +people beyond the Atlantic, therefore, and to get possession of new gold +mines, was the real object at which Philip was driving, and Longlee and +Stafford were both very doubtful whether it were worth the Queen's while +to exhaust her finances in order to protect herself against an imaginary +invasion. Even so late as the middle of July, six to one was offered on +the Paris exchange that the Spanish fleet would never be seen in the +English seas, and those that offered the bets were known to be well- +wishers to the Spanish party. + +Thus sharp diplomatists and statesmen like Longlee, Stafford, and +Walsingham, were beginning to lose their fear of the great bugbear by +which England had so long been haunted. It was, therefore no deep stain +on the Queen's sagacity that she, too, was willing to place credence in +the plighted honour of Alexander Farnese, the great prince who prided +himself on his sincerity, and who, next to the King his master, adored +the virgin Queen of England. + +The deputies of the Netherland churches had come, with the permission of +Count Maurice and of the States General; but they represented more +strongly than any other envoys could do, the English and the monarchical +party. They were instructed especially to implore the Queen to accept +the sovereignty of their country; to assure her that the restoration of +Philip--who had been a wolf instead of a shepherd to his flock--was an +impossibility, that he had been solemnly and for ever deposed, that +under her sceptre only could the Provinces ever recover their ancient +prosperity; that ancient and modern history alike made it manifest +that a free republic could never maintain itself, but that it must, +of necessity, run its course through sedition, bloodshed, and anarchy, +until liberty was at last crushed by an absolute despotism; that equality +of condition, the basis of democratic institutions, could never be made +firm; and that a fortunate exception, like that of Switzerland, whose +historical and political circumstances were peculiar, could never serve +as a model to the Netherlands, accustomed as those Provinces had ever +been to a monarchical form of government; and that the antagonism of +aristocratic and democratic elements in the States had already produced +discord, and was threatening destruction to the whole country. To avert +such dangers the splendour of royal authority was necessary, according to +the venerable commands of Holy Writ; and therefore the Netherland +churches acknowledged themselves the foster-children of England, and +begged that in political matters also the inhabitants of the Provinces +might be accepted as the subjects of her Majesty. They also implored the +Queen to break off these accursed negotiations with Spain, and to provide +that henceforth in the Netherlands the reformed religion might be freely +exercised, to the exclusion of any other. + +Thus it was very evident that these clerical envoys, although they were +sent by permission of the States, did not come as the representatives of +the dominant party. For that 'Beelzebub,' Barneveld, had different +notions from theirs as to the possibility of a republic, and as to the +propriety of tolerating other forms of worship than his own. But it was +for such pernicious doctrines, on religious matters in particular, that +he was called Beelzebub, Pope John, a papist in disguise, and an atheist; +and denounced, as leading young Maurice and the whole country to +destruction. + +On the basis of these instructions, the deputies drew up a memorial of +pitiless length, filled with astounding parallels between their own +position and that of the Hebrews, Assyrians, and other distinguished +nations of antiquity. They brought it to Walsingham on the 12th July, +1588, and the much enduring man heard it read from beginning to end. +He expressed his approbation of its sentiments, but said it was too long. +It must be put on one sheet of paper, he said, if her Majesty was +expected to read it. + +"Moreover," said the Secretary of State, "although your arguments are +full of piety, and your examples from Holy Writ very apt, I must tell you +the plain truth. Great princes are not always so zealous in religious +matters as they might be. Political transactions move them more deeply, +and they depend too much on worldly things. However there is no longer +much danger, for our envoys will return from Flanders in a few days." + +"But," asked a deputy, "if the Spanish fleet does not succeed in its +enterprise, will the peace-negotiations be renewed?" + +"By no means," said Walsingham; "the Queen can never do that, +consistently with her honour. They have scattered infamous libels +against her--so scandalous, that you would be astounded should you read +them. Arguments drawn from honour are more valid with princes than any +other." + +He alluded to the point in their memorial touching the free exercise of +the reformed religion in the Provinces. + +"'Tis well and piously said," he observed; "but princes and great lords +are not always very earnest in such matters. I think that her Majesty's +envoys will not press for the free exercise of the religion so very much; +not more than for two or three years. By that time--should our +negotiations succeed--the foreign troops will have evacuated the +Netherlands on condition that the States-General shall settle the +religious question." + +"But," said Daniel de Dieu, one of the deputies, "the majority of the +States is Popish." + +"Be it so," replied Sir Francis; "nevertheless they will sooner permit +the exercise of the reformed religion than take up arms and begin the war +anew." + +He then alluded to the proposition of the deputies to exclude all +religious worship but that of the reformed church--all false religion-- +as they expressed themselves. + +"Her Majesty," said he, "is well disposed to permit some exercise of +their religion to the Papists. So far as regards my own feelings, if we +were now in the beginning, of the reformation, and the papacy were still +entire, I should willingly concede such exercise; but now that the Papacy +has been overthrown, I think it would not be safe to give such +permission. When we were disputing, at the time of the pacification of +Ghent, whether the Popish religion should be partially permitted, the +Prince of Orange was of the affirmative opinion; but I, who was then at +Antwerp, entertained the contrary conviction." + +"But," said one of the deputies--pleased to find that Walsingham was more +of their way of thinking on religious toleration than the great Prince +of Orange had been, or than Maurice and Barneveld then were--"but her +Majesty will, we hope, follow the advice of her good and faithful +counsellors." + +"To tell you the truth," answered Sir Francis, "great princes are not +always inspired with a sincere and upright zeal;"--it was the third +time he had made this observation"--although, so far as regards the +maintenance of the religion in the Netherlands, that is a matter of +necessity. Of that there is no fear, since otherwise all the pious would +depart, and none would remain but Papists, and, what is more, enemies of +England. Therefore the Queen is aware that the religion must be +maintained." + +He then advised the deputies to hand in the memorial to her Majesty, +without any long speeches, for which there was then no time or +opportunity; and it was subsequently arranged that they should be +presented to the Queen as she would be mounting her horse at St. James's +to ride to Richmond. + +Accordingly on the 15th July, as her Majesty came forth at the gate, with +a throng of nobles and ladies--some about to accompany her and some +bidding her adieu--the deputies fell on their knees before her. +Notwithstanding the advice of Walsingham, Daniel de Dieu was bent upon an +oration. + +"Oh illustrious Queen!" he began, "the churches of the United +Netherlands----" + +He had got no further, when the Queen, interrupting, exclaimed, "Oh! I +beg you--at another time--I cannot now listen to a speech. Let me see +the memorial." + +Daniel de Dieu then humbly presented that document, which her Majesty +graciously received, and then, getting on horseback, rode off to +Richmond.' + +The memorial was in the nature of an exhortation to sustain the religion, +and to keep clear of all negotiations with idolaters and unbelievers; +and the memorialists supported themselves by copious references to +Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Isaiah, Timothy, and Psalms, relying mainly on the +case of Jehosaphat, who came to disgrace and disaster through his treaty +with the idolatrous King Ahab. With regard to any composition with +Spain, they observed, in homely language, that a burnt cat fears the +fire; and they assured the Queen that, by following their advice, she +would gain a glorious and immortal name, like those of David, Ezekiel, +Josiah, and others, whose fragrant memory, even as precious incense from +the apothecary's, endureth to the end of the world. + +It was not surprising that Elizabeth, getting on horseback on the 15th +July, 1588, with her head full of Tilbury Fort and Medina Sidonia, should +have as little relish for the affairs of Ahab and Jehosophat, as for +those melting speeches of Diomede and of Turnus, to which Dr. Valentine +Dale on his part was at that moment invoking her attention. + +On the 20th July, the deputies were informed by Leicester that her +Majesty would grant them an interview, July 20, and that they must +come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival. + +Between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and +the deputies again fell on their knees before her. + +She then seated herself--the deputies remaining on their knees on her +right side and the Earl of Leicester standing at her left--and proceeded +to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations +to provide for their religious freedom. It seemed that she must have +received a hint from Walsingham on the subject. + +"I shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed +worship." + +De Dieu--"The enemy will never concede it." + +The Queen.--"I think differently." + +De Dieu.--"There is no place within his dominions where he has permitted +the exercise of the pure religion. He has never done so." + +The Queen.--"He conceded it in the pacification of Ghent." + +De Dieu.--"But he did not keep his agreement. Don John had concluded +with the States, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he +should repent; and the King wrote afterwards to our States, and said that +he was no longer bound to his pledge." + +The Queen.--"That is quite another thing." + +De Dieu.--"He has very often broken his faith." + +The Queen.--"He shall no longer be allowed to do so. If he does not keep +his word, that is my affair, not yours. It is my business to find the +remedy. Men would say, see in what a desolation the Queen of England has +brought this poor people. As to the freedom of worship, I should have +proposed three or four years' interval--leaving it afterwards to the +decision of the States." + +De Dieu.--"But the majority of the States is Popish." + +The Queen.--"I mean the States-General, not the States of any particular +Province." + +De Dieu.--"The greater part of the States-General is Popish." + +The Queen.--"I mean the three estates--the clergy, the nobles, and the +cities." The Queen--as the deputies observed--here fell into an error. +She thought that prelates of the reformed Church, as in England, had +seats in the States-General. Daniel de Dieu explained that they had no +such position. + +The Queen.--"Then how were you sent hither?" + +De Dieu.--"We came with the consent of Count Maurice of Nassau." + +The Queen.--"And of the States?" + +De Dieu.--"We came with their knowledge." + +The Queen.--"Are you sent only from Holland and Zeeland? Is there no +envoy from Utrecht and the other Provinces?" + +Helmichius.--"We two," pointing to his colleague Sossingius, "are from +Utrecht." + +The Queen.--"What? Is this young man also a minister?" She meant +Helmichius, who had a very little beard, and looked young. + +Sossingius.--"He is not so young as he looks." + +The Queen.--"Youths are sometimes as able as old men." + +De Dieu.--"I have heard our brother preach in France more than fourteen +years ago." + +The Queen.--"He must have begun young. How old were you when you first +became a preacher?" + +Helmichius.--"Twenty-three or twenty-four years of age." + +The Queen.--"It was with us, at first, considered a scandal that a man so +young as that should be admitted to the pulpit. Our antagonists +reproached us with it in a book called 'Scandale de l'Angleterre,' saying +that we had none but school-boys for ministers. I understand that you +pray for me as warmly as if I were your sovereign princess. I think I +have done as much for the religion as if I were your Queen." + +Helmichius.--"We are far from thinking otherwise. We acknowledge +willingly your Majesty's benefits to our churches." + +The Queen.--"It would else be ingratitude on your part." + +Helmichius.--"But the King of Spain will never keep any promise about the +religion." + +The Queen.--"He will never come so far: he does nothing but make a noise +on all sides. Item, I don't think he has much confidence in himself." + +De Dieu.--"Your Majesty has many enemies. The Lord hath hitherto +supported you, and we pray that he may continue to uphold your Majesty." + +The Queen.--"I have indeed many enemies; but I make no great account of +them. Is there anything else you seek?" + +De Dieu.--"There is a special point: it concerns our, or rather your +Majesty's, city of Flushing. We hope that Russelius--(so he called Sir +William Russell)--may be continued in its government, although he wishes +his discharge." + +"Aha!" said the Queen, laughing and rising from her seat, "I shall not +answer you; I shall call some one else to answer you." + +She then summoned Russell's sister, Lady Warwick. + +"If you could speak French," said the Queen to that gentlewoman, +"I should bid you reply to these gentlemen, who beg that your brother +may remain in Flushing, so very agreeable has he made himself to them." + +The Queen was pleased to hear this good opinion of Sir William, and this +request that he might continue to be governor of Flushing, because he had +uniformly supported the Leicester party, and was at that moment in high +quarrel with Count Maurice and the leading members of the States. + +As the deputies took their leave, they requested an answer to their +memorial, which was graciously promised. + +Three days afterwards, Walsingham gave them a written answer to their +memorial--conceived in the same sense as had been the expressions of her +Majesty and her counsellors. Support to the Netherlands and stipulations +for the free exercise of their religion were promised; but it was +impossible for these deputies of the churches to obtain a guarantee from +England that the Popish religion should be excluded from the Provinces, +in case of a successful issue to the Queen's negotiation with Spain. + +And thus during all those eventful days-the last weeks of July and the +first weeks of August--the clerical deputation remained in England, +indulging in voluminous protocols and lengthened conversations with the +Queen and the principal members of her government. It is astonishing, in +that breathless interval of history, that so much time could be found for +quill-driving and oratory. + +Nevertheless, both in Holland and England, there had been other work than +protocolling. One throb of patriotism moved the breast of both nations. +A longing to grapple, once for all, with the great enemy of civil and +religious liberty inspired both. In Holland, the States-General and all +the men to whom the people looked for guidance, had been long deprecating +the peace-negotiations. Extraordinary supplies--more than had ever been +granted before--were voted for the expenses of the campaign; and Maurice +of Nassau, fitly embodying the warlike tendencies of his country and +race, had been most importunate with Queen Elizabeth that she would +accept his services and his advice. Armed vessels of every size, from +the gun-boat to the galleon of 1200 tons--then the most imposing ship +in those waters--swarmed in all the estuaries and rivers, and along the +Dutch and Flemish coast, bidding defiance to Parma and his armaments; +and offers of a large contingent from the fleets of Jooat de Moor and +Justinua de Nassau, to serve under Seymour and Howard, were freely made +to the States-General. + +It was decided early in July, by the board of admiralty, presided over by +Prince Maurice, that the largest square-rigged vessels of Holland and +Zeeland should cruise between England and the Flemish coast, outside the +banks; that a squadron of lesser ships should be stationed within the +banks; and that a fleet of sloops and fly-boats should hover close in +shore, about Flushing and Rammekens. All the war-vessels of the little +republic were thus fully employed. But, besides this arrangement, +Maurice was empowered to lay an embargo--under what penalty he chose and +during his pleasure--on all square-rigged vessels over 300 tons, in order +that there might be an additional supply in case of need. Ninety ships +of war under Warmond, admiral, and Van der Does, vice-admiral of Holland; +and Justinus de Nassau, admiral, and Joost de Moor, vice-admiral of +Zeeland; together with fifty merchant-vessels of the best and strongest, +equipped and armed for active service, composed a formidable fleet. + +The States-General, a month before, had sent twenty-five or thirty good +ships, under Admiral Rosendael, to join Lord Henry Seymour, then cruising +between Dover and Calais. A tempest, drove them back, and their absence +from Lord Henry's fleet being misinterpreted by the English, the States +were censured for ingratitude and want of good faith. But the injustice +of the accusation was soon made manifest, for these vessels, reinforcing +the great Dutch fleet outside the banks, did better service than they +could have done; in the straits. A squadron of strong well-armed +vessels, having on board, in addition to their regular equipment, +a picked force of twelve hundred musketeers, long accustomed to this +peculiar kind of naval warfare, with crews of, grim Zeelanders, who had +faced Alva, and Valdez in their day, now kept close watch over Farnese, +determined that he should never thrust his face out of any haven or nook +on the coast so long as they should be in existence to prevent him. + +And in England the protracted diplomacy at Ostend, ill-timed though +it was, had not paralyzed the arm or chilled the heart of the nation. +When the great Queen, arousing herself from the delusion in which the +falsehoods of Farnese and of Philip had lulled her, should once more. +represent--as no man or woman better than Elizabeth Tudor could represent +--the defiance of England to foreign insolence; the resolve of a whole +people to die rather than yield; there was a thrill of joy through the +national heart. When the enforced restraint was at last taken off, there +was one bound towards the enemy. Few more magnificent spectacles have +been seen in history than the enthusiasm which pervaded the country as +the great danger, so long deferred, was felt at last to be closely +approaching. The little nation of four millions, the merry England of +the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its +gigantic antagonist as cheerfully as to a long-expected holiday. +Spain was a vast empire, overshadowing the world; England, in comparison, +but a province; yet nothing could surpass the steadiness with which the +conflict was awaited. + +For, during all the months of suspense; the soldiers and sailors, and +many statesman of England, had deprecated, even as the Hollanders had +been doing, the dangerous delays of Ostend. Elizabeth was not embodying +the national instinct, when she talked of peace; and shrank penuriously +from the expenses of war. There was much disappointment, even +indignation, at the slothfulness with which the preparations for defence +went on, during the period when there was yet time to make them. It was +feared with justice that England, utterly unfortified as were its cities, +and defended only by its little navy without, and by untaught enthusiasm +within, might; after all, prove an easier conquest than Holland and +Zeeland, every town, in whose territory bristled with fortifications. +If the English ships--well-trained and swift sailors as they were--were +unprovided with spare and cordage, beef and biscuit, powder and shot, +and the militia-men, however enthusiastic, were neither drilled nor +armed, was it so very certain, after all, that successful resistance +would be made to the great Armada, and to the veteran pikemen and +musketeers of Farnese, seasoned on a hundred, battlefields, and equipped +as for a tournament? There was generous confidence and chivalrous +loyalty on the part of Elizabeth's naval and military commanders; but +there had been deep regret and disappointment at her course. + +Hawkins was anxious, all through the winter and spring, to cruise with a +small squadron off the coast of Spain. With a dozen vessels he undertook +to "distress anything that went through the seas." The cost of such a +squadron, with eighteen hundred men, to be relieved every four months, he +estimated at two thousand seven hundred pounds sterling the month, or a +shilling a day for each man; and it would be a very unlucky month, he +said, in which they did not make captures to three times that amount; for +they would see nothing that would not be presently their own. "We might +have peace, but not with God," said the pious old slave-trader; "but +rather than serve Baal, let us die a thousand deaths. Let us have open +war with these Jesuits, and every man will contribute, fight, devise, or +do, for the liberty of our country." + +And it was open war with the Jesuits for which those stouthearted sailors +longed. All were afraid of secret mischief. The diplomatists--who were +known to be flitting about France, Flanders, Scotland, and England--were +birds of ill omen. King James was beset by a thousand bribes and +expostulations to avenge his mother's death; and although that mother had +murdered his father, and done her best to disinherit himself, yet it was +feared that Spanish ducats might induce him to be true to his mother's +revenge, and false to the reformed religion. Nothing of good was hoped +for from France. "For my part," said Lord Admiral Howard, "I have made +of the French King, the Scottish King, and the King of Spain, a trinity +that I mean never to trust to be saved by, and I would that others were +of my opinion." + +The noble sailor, on whom so much responsibility rested, yet who was so +trammelled and thwarted by the timid and parsimonious policy of Elizabeth +and of Burghley, chafed and shook his chains like a captive. "Since +England was England," he exclaimed, "there was never such a stratagem +and mask to deceive her as this treaty of peace. I pray God that we do +not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless, that will +make all the world think us heartless. You know whom I mean." And it +certainly was not difficult to understand the allusion to the pondering +Lord-Treasurer." 'Opus est aliquo Daedalo,' to direct us out of the +maze," said that much puzzled statesman; but he hardly seemed to be +making himself wings with which to lift England and himself out of the +labyrinth. The ships were good ships, but there was intolerable delay in +getting a sufficient number of them as ready for action as was the spirit +of their commanders. + +"Our ships do show like gallants here," said Winter; "it would do a man's +heart good to behold them. Would to God the Prince of Parma were on the +seas with all his forces, and we in sight of them. You should hear that +we would make his enterprise very unpleasant to him." + +And Howard, too, was delighted not only with his own little flag-ship the +Ark-Royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions,"--but with all +of his fleet that could be mustered. Although wonders were reported, by +every arrival from the south, of the coming Armada, the Lord-Admiral was +not appalled. He was perhaps rather imprudent in the defiance he flung +to the enemy. "Let me have the four great ships and twenty hoys, with +but twenty men a-piece, and each with but two iron pieces, and her +Majesty shall have a good account of the Spanish forces; and I will make +the King wish his galleys home again. Few as we are, if his forces be +not hundreds, we will make good sport with them." + +But those four great ships of her Majesty, so much longed for by Howard, +were not forthcoming. He complained that the Queen was "keeping them to +protect Chatham Church withal, when they should be serving their turn +abroad." The Spanish fleet was already reported as numbering from 210 +sail, with 36,000 men,' to 400 or 500 ships, and 80,000 soldiers and +mariners; and yet Drake was not ready with his squadron. "The fault is +not in him," said Howard, "but I pray God her Majesty do not repent her +slack dealing. We must all lie together, for we shall be stirred very +shortly with heave ho! I fear ere long her Majesty will be sorry she +hath believed some so much as she hath done." + +Howard had got to sea, and was cruising all the stormy month of March in +the Channel with his little unprepared squadron; expecting at any moment +--such was the profound darkness which, enveloped the world at that day-- +that the sails of the Armada might appear in the offing. He made a visit +to the Dutch coast, and was delighted with the enthusiasm with which he +was received. Five thousand people a day came on board his ships, full +of congratulation and delight; and he informed the Queen that she was not +more assured of the Isle of Sheppey than of Walcheren. + +Nevertheless time wore on, and both the army and navy of England were +quite unprepared, and the Queen was more reluctant than ever to incur the +expense necessary to the defence of her kingdom. At least one of those +galleys, which, as Howard bitterly complained, seemed destined to defend +Chatham Church, was importunately demanded; but it was already Easter-Day +(17th April), and she was demanded in vain. "Lord! when should she +serve," said the Admiral, "if not at such a time as this? Either she is +fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. I hope never in my time to see so +great a cause for her to be used. I dare say her Majesty will look that +men should fight for her, and I know they will at this time. The King of +Spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other, +that he can get for money. Well, well, I must pray heartily for peace," +said Howard with increasing spleen, "for I see the support of an +honourable, war will never appear. Sparing and war have no affinity +together." + +In truth Elizabeth's most faithful subjects were appalled at the ruin +which she seemed by her mistaken policy to be rendering inevitable. "I +am sorry," said the Admiral, "that her Majesty is so careless of this +most dangerous time. I fear me much, and with grief I think it, that she +relieth on a hope that will deceive her, and greatly endanger her, and +then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help; for as they +will do good in time, so they will help nothing for the redeeming of +time." + +The preparations on shore were even more dilatory than those on the sea. +We have seen that the Duke of Parma, once landed, expected to march +directly upon London; and it was notorious that there were no fortresses +to oppose a march of the first general in Europe and his veterans upon +that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. An army had been enrolled--a +force of 86,016 foot, and 13,831 cavalry; but it was an army on paper +merely. Even of the 86,000, only 48,000 were set down as trained; +and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and +unsatisfactory description. Leicester was to be commander-in-chief; but +we have already seen that nobleman measuring himself, not much to his +advantage, with Alexander Farnese, in the Isle of Bommel, on the sands of +Blankenburg, and at the gates of Sluys. His army was to consist of +27,000 infantry, and 2000 horse; yet at midsummer it had not reached half +that number. Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon was to protect the Queen's person +with another army of 36,000; but this force, was purely an imaginary one; +and the lord-lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the +militia. But men were perpetually escaping out of the general service, +in order to make themselves retainers for private noblemen, and be kept +at their expense. "You shall hardly believe," said Leicester, "how many +new liveries be gotten within these six weeks, and no man fears the +penalty. It would be better that every nobleman did as Lord Dacres, than +to take away from the principal service such as are set down to serve." + +Of enthusiasm and courage, then, there was enough, while of drill and +discipline, of powder and shot, there was a deficiency. No braver or +more competent soldier could be found than Sir Edward Stanley--the man +whom we have seen in his yellow jerkin, helping himself into Fort Zutphen +with the Spanish soldier's pike--and yet Sir Edward Stanley gave but a +sorry account of the choicest soldiers of Chester and Lancashire, whom he +had been sent to inspect. "I find them not," he said, "according to your +expectation, nor mine own liking. They were appointed two years past to +have been trained six days by the year or more, at the discretion of the +muster-master, but, as yet, they have not been trained one day, so that +they have benefited nothing, nor yet know their leaders. There is now +promise of amendment, which, I doubt, will be very slow, in respect to my +Lord Derby's absence." + +My Lord Derby was at that moment, and for many months afterwards, +assisting Valentine Dale in his classical prolusions on the sands of +Bourbourg. He had better have been mustering the trainbands of +Lancashire. There was a general indisposition in the rural districts to +expend money and time in military business, until the necessity should +become imperative. Professional soldiers complained bitterly of the +canker of a long peace. "For our long quietness, which it hath pleased +God to send us," said Stanley, "they think their money very ill bestowed +which they expend on armour or weapon, for that they be in hope they +shall never have occasion to use it, so they may pass muster, as they +have done heretofore. I want greatly powder, for there is little or none +at all." + +The day was fast approaching when all the power in England would be too +little for the demand. But matters had not very much mended even at +midsummer. It is true that Leicester, who was apt to be sanguine- +particularly in matters under his immediate control--spoke of the handful +of recruits assembled at his camp in Essex, as "soldiers of a year's +experience, rather than a month's camping; "but in this opinion he +differed from many competent authorities, and was somewhat in +contradiction to himself. Nevertheless he was glad that the Queen had +determined to visit him, and encourage his soldiers. + +"I have received in secret," he said, "those news that please me, that +your Majesty doth intend to behold the poor and bare company that lie +here in the field, most willingly to serve you, yea, most ready to die +for you. You shall, dear Lady, behold as goodly, loyal, and as able men +as any prince Christian can show you, and yet but a handful of your own, +in comparison of the rest you have. What comfort not only these shall +receive who shall be the happiest to behold yourself I cannot express; +but assuredly it will give no small comfort to the rest, that shall be +overshined with the beams of so gracious and princely a party, for what +your royal Majesty shall do to these will be accepted as done to all. +Good sweet Queen, alter not your purpose, if God give you health. It +will be your pain for the time, but your pleasure to behold such people. +And surely the place must content you, being as fair a soil and as goodly +a prospect as may be seen or found, as this extreme weather hath made +trial, which doth us little annoyance, it is so firm and dry a ground. +Your usher also liketh your lodging--a proper, secret, cleanly house. +Your camp is a little mile off, and your person will be as sure as at St. +James's, for my life." + +But notwithstanding this cheerful view of the position expressed by the +commander-in-chief, the month of July had passed, and the early days of +August had already arrived; and yet the camp was not formed, nor anything +more than that mere handful of troops mustered about Tilbury, to defend +the road from Dover to London. The army at Tilbury never, exceeded +sixteen or seventeen thousand men. + +The whole royal navy-numbering about thirty-four vessels in all--of +different sizes, ranging from 1100 and 1000 tons to 30, had at last been +got ready for sea. Its aggregate tonnage was 11,820; not half so much as +at the present moment--in the case of one marvellous merchant-steamer-- +floats upon a single keel. + +These vessels carried. 837 guns and 6279 men. But the navy was +reinforced by the patriotism and liberality of English merchants and +private gentlemen. The city of London having been requested to furnish +15 ships of war and 5000 men, asked two days for deliberation, and then +gave 30 ships and 10,000 men of which number 2710 were seamen. Other +cities, particularly Plymouth, came forward with proportionate +liberality, and private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of +humblest rank, were enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, +to risk property and life in defence of the country. By midsummer there +had been a total force of 197 vessels manned, and partially equipped, +with an aggregate of 29,744 tons, and 15,785 seamen. Of this fleet a +very large number were mere coasters of less than 100 tons each; scarcely +ten ships were above 500, and but one above 1000 tons--the Triumph, +Captain Frobisher, of 1100 tons, 42 guns, and 500 sailors. + +Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High-Admiral of England, distinguished for +his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than +for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in +his "little odd ship for all conditions," the Ark-Royal, of 800 tons, 425 +sailors, and 55 guns. + +Next in rank was Vice-Admiral Drake, in the Revenge, of 500 tons, 250 men +and 40 guns. Lord Henry Seymour, in the Rainbow, of precisely the same +size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the +neighbourhood of the French and Flemish coast. + +The Hollanders and Zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the Duke of +Parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never +venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. The mouth of the +Scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of Newport and Dunkirk, +swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter +or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to +confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary. + +Farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months +long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. Whole +forests had been felled in the land of Waas to furnish him with +transports and gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his +enthusiastic historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose +itself into a vessel at the word of command. Shipbuilders, pilots, and +seamen, were brought from the Baltic, from Hamburgh, from Genoa. The +whole surface of the obedient Netherlands, whence wholesome industry had +long been banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. +Portable bridges for fording the rivers of England, stockades for +entrenchments, rafts and oars, were provided in vast numbers, and +Alexander dug canals and widened natural streams to facilitate his +operations. These wretched Provinces, crippled, impoverished, +languishing for peace, were forced to contribute out of their poverty, +and to find strength even in their exhaustion, to furnish the machinery +for destroying their own countrymen, and for hurling to perdition their +most healthful neighbour. + +And this approaching destruction of England--now generally believed in-- +was like the sound of a trumpet throughout Catholic Europe. Scions of +royal houses, grandees of azure blood, the bastard of Philip II., the +bastard of Savoy, the bastard of Medici, the Margrave of Burghaut, the +Archduke Charles, nephew of the Emperor, the Princes of Ascoli and of +Melfi, the Prince of Morocco, and others of illustrious name, with many +a noble English traitor, like Paget, and Westmoreland, and Stanley, all +hurried to the camp of Farnese, as to some famous tournament, in which it +was a disgrace to chivalry if their names were not enrolled. The roads +were trampled with levies of fresh troops from Spain, Naples, Corsica, +the States of the Church, the Milanese, Germany, Burgundy. + +Blas Capizucca was sent in person to conduct reinforcements from the +north of Italy. The famous Terzio of Naples, under Carlos Pinelo, +arrived 3500 strong--the most splendid regiment ever known in the history +of war. Every man had an engraved corslet and musket-barrel, and there +were many who wore gilded armour, while their waving plumes and festive +caparisons made them look like holiday-makers, rather than real +campaigners, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the various cities through +which their road led them to Flanders. By the end of April the Duke of +Parma saw himself at the head of 60,000 men, at a monthly expense of +454,315 crowns or dollars. Yet so rapid was the progress of disease-- +incident to northern climates--among those southern soldiers, that we +shall find the number woefully diminished before they were likely to set +foot upon the English shore. + +Thus great preparations, simultaneously with pompous negotiations, had +been going forward month after month, in England, Holland, Flanders. +Nevertheless, winter, spring, two-thirds of summer, had passed away, and +on the 29th July, 1588, there remained the same sickening uncertainty, +which was the atmosphere in which the nations had existed for a +twelvemonth. + +Howard had cruised for a few weeks between England and Spain, without any +results, and, on his return, had found it necessary to implore her +Majesty, as late as July, to "trust no more to Judas' kisses, but to her +sword, not her enemy's word." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A burnt cat fears the fire +A free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity +Baiting his hook a little to his appetite +Canker of a long peace +Englishmen and Hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats +Faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect +Hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves +She relieth on a hope that will deceive her +Sparing and war have no affinity together +The worst were encouraged with their good success +Trust her sword, not her enemy's word + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v56 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 57, 1588 + + + +CHAPTER XIX. Part 1. + + Philip Second in his Cabinet--His System of Work and Deception--His + vast but vague Schemes of Conquest--The Armada sails--Description of + the Fleet--The Junction with Parma unprovided for--The Gale off + Finisterre--Exploits of David Gwynn--First Engagements in the + English Channel--Considerable Losses of the Spaniards--General + Engagement near Portland--Superior Seamanship of the English + +It is now time to look in upon the elderly letter-writer in the Escorial, +and see how he was playing his part in the drama. + +His counsellors were very few. His chief advisers were rather like +private secretaries than cabinet ministers; for Philip had been +withdrawing more and more into seclusion and mystery as the webwork of +his schemes multiplied and widened. He liked to do his work, assisted by +a very few confidential servants. The Prince of Eboli, the famous Ruy +Gomez, was dead. So was Cardinal Granvelle. So were Erasso and Delgado. +His midnight council--junta de noche--for thus, from its original hour of +assembling, and the all of secrecy in which it was enwrapped, it was +habitually called--was a triumvirate. Don Juan de Idiaquez was chief +secretary of state and of war; the Count de Chinchon was minister for the +household, for Italian affairs, and for the kingdom of Aragon; Don +Cristoval de Moura, the monarch's chief favourite, was at the head of the +finance department, and administered the affairs of Portugal and Castile! + +The president of the council of Italy, after Granvelle's death, was +Quiroga, cardinal of Toledo, and inquisitor-general. Enormously long +letters, in the King's: name, were prepared chiefly by the two +secretaries, Idiaquez and Moura. In their hands was the vast +correspondence with Mendoza and Parma, and Olivarez at Rome, and with +Mucio; in which all the stratagems for the subjugation of Protestant +Europe were slowly and artistically contrived. Of the great conspiracy +against human liberty, of which the Pope and Philip were the double head, +this midnight triumvirate was the chief executive committee. + +These innumerable despatches, signed by Philip, were not the emanations +of his own mind. The King had a fixed purpose to subdue Protestantism +and to conquer the world; but the plans for carrying the purpose into +effect were developed by subtler and more comprehensive minds than his +own. It was enough for him to ponder wearily over schemes which he was +supposed to dictate, and to give himself the appearance of supervising +what he scarcely comprehended. And his work of supervision was often +confined to pettiest details. The handwriting of Spain and Italy at that +day was beautiful, and in our modern eyes seems neither antiquated nor +ungraceful. But Philip's scrawl was like that of 'a' clown just admitted +to a writing-school, and the whole margin of a fairly penned despatch +perhaps fifty pages long; laid before him for comment and signature by +Idiaquez or Moura, would be sometimes covered with a few awkward +sentences, which it was almost impossible to read, and which, when +deciphered, were apt to reveal suggestions of astounding triviality. + +Thus a most important despatch--in which the King, with his own hand, was +supposed to be conveying secret intelligence to Mendoza concerning the +Armada, together with minute directions for the regulation of Guise's +conduct at the memorable epoch of the barricades--contained but a single +comment from the monarch's own pen. "The Armada has been in Lisbon about +a month--quassi un mes"--wrote the secretary. "There is but one s in +quasi," said Philip. + +Again, a despatch of Mendoza to the King contained the intelligence that +Queen Elizabeth was, at the date of the letter, residing at St. James's. +Philip, who had no objection to display his knowledge of English affairs +--as became the man who had already been almost sovereign of England, and +meant to be entirely so--supplied a piece of information in an apostille +to this despatch. "St. James is a house of recreation," he said, "which +was once a monastery. There is a park between it, and the palace which +is called Huytal; but why it is called Huytal, I am sure I don't know." +His researches in the English language had not enabled him to recognize +the adjective and substantive out of which the abstruse compound White- +Hall (Huyt-al), was formed. + +On another occasion, a letter from England containing important +intelligence concerning the number of soldiers enrolled in that country +to resist the Spanish invasion, the quantity of gunpowder and various +munitions collected, with other details of like nature, furnished besides +a bit of information of less vital interest. "In the windows of the +Queen's presence-chamber they have discovered a great quantity of lice, +all clustered together," said the writer. + +Such a minute piece of statistics could not escape the microscopic eye +of Philip. So, disregarding the soldiers and the gunpowder, he commented +only on this last-mentioned clause of the letter; and he did it +cautiously too, as a King surnamed the Prudent should:-- + +"But perhaps they were fleas," wrote Philip. + +Such examples--and many more might be given--sufficiently indicate the +nature of the man on whom such enormous responsibilities rested, and who +had been, by the adulation of his fellow-creatures, elevated into a god. +And we may cast a glance upon him as he sits in his cabinet-buried among +those piles of despatches--and receiving methodically, at stated hours, +Idiaquez, or Moura, or Chincon, to settle the affairs of so many millions +of the human race; and we may watch exactly the progress of that scheme, +concerning which so many contradictory rumours were circulating in +Europe. In the month of April a Walsingham could doubt, even in August +an ingenuous comptroller could disbelieve, the reality of the great +project, and the Pope himself, even while pledging himself to assistance, +had been systematically deceived. He had supposed the whole scheme +rendered futile by the exploit of Drake at Cadiz, and had declared that +"the Queen of England's distaff was worth more than Philip's sword, that +the King was a poor creature, that he would never be able to come to a +resolution, and that even if he should do so, it would be too late;" and +he had subsequently been doing his best, through his nuncio in France, to +persuade the Queen to embrace the Catholic religion, and thus save +herself from the impending danger. Henry III. had even been urged by the +Pope to send a special ambassador to her for this purpose--as if the +persuasions of the wretched Valois were likely to be effective with +Elizabeth Tudor--and Burghley had, by means of spies in Rome, who +pretended to be Catholics, given out intimations that the Queen was +seriously contemplating such a step. Thus the Pope, notwithstanding +Cardinal Allan, the famous million, and the bull, was thought by Mendoza +to be growing lukewarm in the Spanish cause, and to be urging upon the +"Englishwoman" the propriety of converting herself, even at the late hour +of May, 1588. + +But Philip, for years, had been maturing his scheme, while reposing +entire confidence--beyond his own cabinet doors--upon none but Alexander +Farnese; and the Duke--alone of all men--was perfectly certain that the +invasion would, this year, be attempted. + +The captain-general of the expedition was the Marquis of Santa Cruz, a +man of considerable naval experience, and of constant good fortune, who, +in thirty years, had never sustained a defeat. He had however shown no +desire to risk one when Drake had offered him the memorable challenge in +the year 1587, and perhaps his reputation of the invincible captain had +been obtained by the same adroitness on previous occasions. He was no +friend to Alexander Farnese, and was much disgusted when informed of +the share allotted to the Duke in the great undertaking. A course of +reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was, in +consequence, subjected, which was not more conducive to the advancement +of the expedition than it was to the health of the captain-general. +Early in January the Cardinal Archduke was sent to Lisbon to lecture him, +with instructions to turn a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, to deal +with him peremptorily, to forbid his writing letters on the subject to +his Majesty, and to order him to accept his post or to decline it without +conditions, in which latter contingency he was to be informed that his +successor was already decided upon. + +This was not the most eligible way perhaps for bringing the captain- +general into a cheerful mood; particularly as he was expected to be +ready in January to sail to the Flemish coast. Nevertheless the Marquis +expressed a hope to accomplish his sovereign's wishes; and great had +been the bustle in all the dockyards of Naples, Sicily, and Spain; +particularly in the provinces of Guipuzcoa, Biscay, and Andalusia, +and in the four great cities of the coast. War-ships of all dimensions, +tenders, transports, soldiers, sailors, sutlers, munitions of war, +provisions, were all rapidly concentrating in Lisbon as the great place +of rendezvous; and Philip confidently believed, and as confidently +informed the Duke of Parma, that he, might be expecting the Armada at any +time after the end of January. + +Perhaps in the history of mankind there has never been a vast project of +conquest conceived and matured in so protracted and yet so desultory a +manner, as was this famous Spanish invasion. There was something almost +puerile in the whims rather than schemes of Philip for carrying out his +purpose. It was probable that some resistance would be offered, at least +by the navy of England, to the subjugation of that country, and the King +had enjoyed an opportunity, the preceding summer, of seeing the way in +which English sailors did their work. He had also appeared to understand +the necessity of covering the passage of Farnese from the Flemish ports +into the Thames, by means of the great Spanish fleet from Lisbon. +Nevertheless he never seemed to be aware that Farnese could not invade +England quite by himself, and was perpetually expecting to hear that he +had done so. + +"Holland and Zeeland," wrote Alexander to Philip, "have been arming with +their accustomed promptness; England has made great preparations. I have +done my best to make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to +wait for Santa Cruz, and to expect him very shortly. If, on the +contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, I would have +made the attempt, although we had every one of us perished. Four ships +of war could sink every one of my boats. Nevertheless I beg to be +informed of your Majesty's final order. If I am seriously expected to +make the passage without Santa Cruz, I am ready to do it, although I +should go all alone in a cock-boat." + +But Santa Cruz at least was not destined to assist in the conquest +of England; for, worn out with fatigue and vexation, goaded by the +reproaches and insults of Philip, Santa Cruz was dead. He was replaced +in the chief command of the fleet by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a +grandee of vast wealth, but with little capacity and less experience. +To the iron marquis it was said that a golden duke had succeeded; +but the duke of gold did not find it easier to accomplish impossibilities +than his predecessor had done. Day after day, throughout the months of +winter and spring, the King had been writing that the fleet was just on +the point of sailing, and as frequently he had been renewing to Alexander +Farnese the intimation that perhaps, after all, he might find an +opportunity of crossing to England, without waiting for its arrival. +And Alexander, with the same regularity, had been informing his master +that the troops in the Netherlands had been daily dwindling from sickness +and other causes, till at last, instead of the 30,000 effective infantry, +with which it had been originally intended to make the enterprise, he had +not more than 17,000 in the month of April. The 6000 Spaniards, whom he +was to receive from the fleet of Medina Sidonia, would therefore be the +very mainspring of his army. After leaving no more soldiers in the +Netherlands than were absolutely necessary for the defence of the +obedient Provinces against the rebels, he could only take with him to +England 23,000 men, even after the reinforcements from Medina. "When we +talked of taking England by surprise," said Alexander, "we never thought +of less than 30,000. Now that she is alert and ready for us, and that it +is certain we must fight by sea and by land, 50,000 would be few." He +almost ridiculed the King's suggestion that a feint might be made by way +of besieging some few places in Holland or Zeeland. The whole matter in +hand, he said, had become as public as possible, and the only efficient +blind was the peace-negotiation; for many believed, as the English +deputies were now treating at Ostend, that peace would follow. + +At last, on the 28th, 29th, and 30th May, 1588, the fleet, which had been +waiting at Lisbon more than a month for favourable weather, set sail from +that port, after having been duly blessed by the Cardinal Archduke +Albert, viceroy of Portugal. + +There were rather more than one hundred and thirty ships in all, divided +into ten squadrons. There was the squadron of Portugal, consisting of +ten galleons, and commanded by the captain-general, Medina Sidonia. In +the squadron of Castile were fourteen ships of various sizes, under +General Diego Flores de Valdez. This officer was one of the most +experienced naval officers in the Spanish service, and was subsequently +ordered, in consequence, to sail with the generalissimo in his flag-ship. +In the squadron of Andalusia were ten galleons and other vessels, under +General Pedro de Valdez. In the squadron of Biscay were ten galleons and +lesser ships, under General Juan Martinet de Recalde, upper admiral of +the fleet. In the squadron of Guipuzcoa were ten galleons, under General +Miguel de Oquendo. In the squadron of Italy were ten ships, under +General Martin de Bertendona. In the squadron of Urcas, or store-ships, +were twenty-three sail, under General Juan Gomez de Medina. The squadron +of tenders, caravels, and other vessels, numbered twenty-two sail, under +General Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza. The squadron of four galeasses was +commanded by Don Hugo de Moncada. The squadron of four galeras, or +galleys, was in charge of Captain Diego de Medrado. + +Next in command to Medina Sidonia was Don Alonzo de Leyva, captain- +general of the light horse of Milan. Don Francisco de Bobadilla was +marshal-general of the camp. Don Diego de Pimentel was marshal of the +camp to the famous Terzio or legion of Sicily. + +The total tonnage of the fleet was 59,120: the number of guns was 3165. +Of Spanish troops there were 19,295 on board: there were 8252 sailors +and 2088 galley-slaves. Besides these, there was a force of noble +volunteers, belonging to the most illustrious houses of Spain, with their +attendants amounting to nearly 2000 in all. There was also Don Martin +Alaccon, administrator and vicar-general of the Holy Inquisition, at the +head of some 290 monks of the mendicant orders, priests and familiars. +The grand total of those embarked was about 30,000. The daily expense of +the fleet was estimated by Don Diego de Pimentel at 12,000 ducats a-day, +and the daily cost of the combined naval and military force under Farnese +and Medina Sidonia was stated at 30,000 ducats. + +The size of the ships ranged from 1200 tons to 300. The galleons, of +which there were about sixty, were huge round-stemmed clumsy vessels, +with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, +like castles. The galeasses of which there were four--were a third +larger than the ordinary galley, and were rowed each by three hundred +galley-slaves. They consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the +stern; a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with +seats for the rowers amidships. At stem and stern and between each of +the slaves' benches were heavy cannon. These galeasses were floating +edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. They were gorgeously decorated. +There were splendid state-apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in +each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, +standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. To take part in an +ostentatious pageant, nothing could be better devised. To fulfil the +great objects of a war-vessel--to sail and to fight--they were the worst +machines ever launched upon the ocean. The four galleys were similar to +the galeasses in every respect except that of size, in which they were by +one-third inferior. + +All the ships of the fleet--galeasses, galleys, galleons, and hulks--were +so encumbered with top-hamper, so overweighted in proportion to their +draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with +smooth seas and light and favourable winds. In violent tempests, +therefore, they seemed likely to suffer. To the eyes of the 16th century +these vessels seemed enormous. A ship of 1300 tons was then a monster +rarely seen, and a fleet, numbering from 130 to 150 sail, with an +aggregate tonnage of 60,000, seemed sufficient to conquer the world, and +to justify the arrogant title, by which it had baptized itself, of the +Invincible. + +Such was the machinery which Philip had at last set afloat, for the +purpose of dethroning Elizabeth and establishing the inquisition in +England. One hundred and forty ships, eleven thousand Spanish veterans, +as many more recruits, partly Spanish, partly Portuguese, 2000 grandees, +as many galley-slaves, and three hundred barefooted friars and +inquisitors. + +The plan was simple. Medina Sidonia was to proceed straight from Lisbon +to Calais roads: there he was to wait: for the Duke of Parma, who was to +come forth from Newport, Sluys, and Dunkerk, bringing with him his 17,000 +veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. They +were then to cross the channel to Dover, land the army of Parma, +reinforced with 6000 Spaniards from the fleet, and with these 23,000 men +Alexander was to march at once upon London. Medina Sidonia was to seize +and fortify the Isle of Wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against +any interference from the Dutch and English fleets, and--so soon as the +conquest of England had been effected--he was to proceed to Ireland. +It had been the wish of Sir William Stanley that Ireland should be +subjugated first, as a basis of operations against England; but this had +been overruled. The intrigues of Mendoza and Farnese, too, with the +Catholic nobles of Scotland, had proved, after all, unsuccessful. King +James had yielded to superior offers of money and advancement held out to +him by Elizabeth, and was now, in Alexander's words, a confirmed heretic. + +There was no course left, therefore, but to conquer England at once. +A strange omission had however been made in the plan from first to last. +The commander of the whole expedition was the Duke of Parma: on his head +was the whole responsibility. Not a gun was to be fired--if it could be +avoided--until be had come forth with his veterans to make his junction +with the Invincible Armada off Calais. Yet there was no arrangement +whatever to enable him to come forth--not the slightest provision to +effect that junction. It would almost seem that the letter-writer of the +Escorial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the Dutch fleets off +Dunkerk, Newport, and Flushing, although he had certainly received +information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan. + +"Most joyful I shall be," said Farnese-writing on one of the days when +he had seemed most convinced by Valentine Dale's arguments, and driven +to despair by his postulates--"to see myself with these soldiers on +English ground, where, with God's help, I hope to accomplish your +Majesty's demands." He was much troubled however to find doubts +entertained at the last moment as to his 6000 Spaniards; and certainly +it hardly needed an argument to prove that the invasion of England with +but 17,000 soldiers was a somewhat hazardous scheme. Yet the pilot +Moresini had brought him letters from Medina Sidonia, in which the Duke +expressed hesitation about parting with these 6000 veterans; unless the +English fleet should have been previously destroyed, and had also again +expressed his hope that Parma would be punctual to the rendezvous. +Alexander immediately combated these views in letters to Medina and to +the King. He avowed that he would not depart one tittle from the plan +originally laid down. The 6000 men, and more if possible, were to be +furnished him, and the Spanish Armada was to protect his own flotilla, +and to keep the channel clear of enemies. No other scheme was possible, +he said, for it was clear that his collection of small flat-bottomed +river-boats and hoys could not even make the passage, except in smooth +weather. They could not contend with a storm, much less with the enemy's +ships, which would destroy them utterly in case of a meeting, without his +being able to avail himself of his soldiers--who would be so closely +packed as to be hardly moveable--or of any human help. The preposterous +notion that he should come out with his flotilla to make a junction with +Medina off Calais, was over and over again denounced by Alexander with +vehemence and bitterness, and most boding expressions were used by him as +to the probable result, were such a delusion persisted in. + +Every possible precaution therefore but one had been taken. The King of +France--almost at the same instant in which Guise had been receiving his +latest instructions from the Escorial for dethroning and destroying that +monarch--had been assured by Philip of his inalienable affection; had +been informed of the object of this great naval expedition--which was not +by any means, as Mendoza had stated to Henry, an enterprise against +France or England, but only a determined attempt to clear the sea, once +for all, of these English pirates who had done so much damage for years +past on the high seas--and had been requested, in case any Spanish ship +should be driven by stress of weather into French ports, to afford them +that comfort and protection to which the vessels of so close and friendly +an ally were entitled. + +Thus there was bread, beef, and powder enough--there were monks and +priests enough--standards, galley-slaves, and inquisitors enough; but +there were no light vessels in the Armada, and no heavy vessels in +Parma's fleet. Medina could not go to Farnese, nor could Farnese come to +Medina. The junction was likely to be difficult, and yet it had never +once entered the heads of Philip or his counsellors to provide for that +difficulty. The King never seemed to imagine that Farnese, with 40,000 +or 50,000 soldiers in the Netherlands, a fleet of 300 transports, and +power to dispose of very large funds for one great purpose, could be kept +in prison by a fleet of Dutch skippers and corsairs. + +With as much sluggishness as might have been expected from their clumsy +architecture, the ships of the Armada consumed nearly three weeks in +sailing from Lisbon to the neighbourhood of Cape Finisterre. Here they +were overtaken by a tempest, and were scattered hither and thither, +almost at the mercy of the winds and waves; for those unwieldy hulks were +ill adapted to a tempest in the Bay of Biscay. There were those in the +Armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. David Gwynn, a Welsh +mariner, had sat in the Spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as +prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, +for a chance of escape from bondage. He sat now among the rowers of the +great galley, the Trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the +subjugation of his native land to Spain and Rome was to be effected. + +Very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the +four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under Don Diego de +Medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and +open waists. The chapels, pulpits, and gilded Madonnas proved of little +avail in a hurricane. The Diana, largest of the four, went down with all +hands; the Princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and +the Trasana was likewise in imminent danger. So the master of this +galley asked the Welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship +than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. Gwynn +saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. He was +ready to improve it. He pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of +attempting to overtake the Armada. They should go down, he said, as the +Diana had already done, and as the Princess was like at any moment to do, +unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars +to gain the nearest port. But in order that the rowers might exert +themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a +useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. Thus only could the ship +be properly handled. The captain, anxious to save his ship and his life, +consented. Most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few +were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. Now there had been +a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor +were they wholly without weapons. They had been accustomed to make +toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword- +blades and other refuse bits of steel. There was not a man among them +who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto. + +At first Gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the +gale. So soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he +looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to +the rigging. It was a preconcerted signal. The next instant he stabbed +the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the +soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered +the rest of the troops, and put them all to death. + +Coming again upon deck, David Gwynn descried the fourth galley of the +squadron, called the Royal, commanded by Commodore Medrado in person, +bearing down upon them, before the wind. It was obvious that the Vasana +was already an object of suspicion. + +"Comrades," said Gwynn, "God has given us liberty, and by our courage we +must prove ourselves worthy of the boon." + +As he spoke there came a broadside from the galley Royal which killed +nine of his crew. David, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside +of the Royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. Then at +the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on +board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted +by the slaves of the Royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and +putting all the Spanish soldiers to death. This done, the combined +rowers, welcoming Gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which +seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. The gale had +meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced +and intrepid Welshman, made their way to the coast of France, and landed +at Bayonne on the 31st, dividing among them the property found on board +the two galleys. Thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and sixty- +six in number--Frenchmen, Spaniards, Englishmen, Turks, and Moors, made +their way to Rochelle. Gwynn had an interview with Henry of Navarre, and +received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. Afterwards he +found his way to England, and was well commended by the Queen. The rest +of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions. + +This was the first adventure of the invincible Armada. Of the squadron +of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had +been conquered by their own slaves. The fourth rode out the gale with +difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re- +assembled at Coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at +Vivera, Ribadeo, Gijon, and other northern ports of Spain. At the +Groyne--as the English of that day were accustomed to call Coruna--they +remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the 22nd of +July 3 (N.S.) the Armada set sail: Six days later, the Spaniards took +soundings, thirty leagues from the Scilly Islands, and on--Friday, the +29th of July, off the Lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of +promise presented them by Sixtus V., of which they had at last come to +take possession. + + [The dates in the narrative will be always given according to the + New Style, then already adopted by Spain, Holland, and France, + although not by England. The dates thus given are, of course, ten + days later than they appear in contemporary English records.] + +On the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand beacon- +fires from the Land's End to Margate, and from the Isle of Wight to +Cumberland, gave warning to every Englishman that the enemy was at last +upon them. Almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought +from the court to the Lord-Admiral at Plymouth, that the Armada, +dispersed and shattered by the gales of June, was not likely to make its +appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm +the four largest ships, and send them into dock. Even Walsingham, as +already stated, had participated in this strange delusion. + +Before Howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he +been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great +fleet was off the Lizard. Neither he nor Francis Drake were the men to +lose time in such an emergency, and before that Friday, night was spent, +sixty of the best English ships had been warped out of Plymouth harbour. + +On Saturday, 30th July, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist +and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could +descry and count each other through the haze. + +By nine o'clock, 31st July, about two miles from Looe, on the Cornish +coast, the fleets had their first meeting. There were 136 sail of the +Spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the +English. It was a solemn moment. The long-expected Armada presented a +pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. The ships seemed arranged for a +pageant, in honour of a victory already won. Disposed in form of a +crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, +towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial +music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp. +Their captain-general, the golden Duke, stood in his private shot-proof +fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the Saint Martin, surrounded +by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as +he did himself of naval matters. The English vessels, on the other +hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail +round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by +fettered slave-gangs. The superior seamanship of free Englishmen, +commanded by such experienced captains as Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins-- +from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very, first +encounter. They obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded the +enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will out +of range of the sluggish Armada, which was incapable of bearing sail in +pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its +enemies at close quarters. "We had some small fight with them that +Sunday afternoon," said Hawkins. + +Medina Sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole +fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. It was +in vain. The English, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all +such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the Armada, where +Recalde commanded. That admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced +his nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude +him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the Channel closely, +followed by the enemy. And thus the running fight continued along the +coast, in full view of Plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and +volunteers were perpetually arriving to the English ships, until the +battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town. + +Already in this first "small fight" the Spaniards had learned a lesson, +and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. But before the +sun set there were more serious disasters. Much powder and shot had been +expended by the Spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner +on board Admiral Oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless ball- +practice. The gunner, who was a Fleming, enraged with his captain, laid +a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the sea. +Two decks blew up. The into the clouds, carrying with it the paymaster- +general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly two hundred +men.' The ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the rest of the +crew. So Medina Sidonia sent light vessels to remove them, and wore with +his flag-ship, to defend Oquendo, who had already been fastened upon by +his English pursuers. But the Spaniards, not being so light in hand as +their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment by this +manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other, entanglement of +rigging, and carrying away of yards. Oquendo's men, however, were +ultimately saved, and taken to other ships. + +Meantime Don Pedro de Valdez, commander of the Andalusian squadron, +having got his galleon into collision with two or three Spanish ships +successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck, +and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. He lay crippled and +helpless, the Armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the +sea was running high, and the English, ever hovering near, were ready +to grapple with him. In vain did Don Pedro fire signals of distress. +The captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been +connected with the Catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his +scattered ships, and abandoned Valdez to his fate. "He left me +comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor Pedro, "and greater +inhumanity and unthankfulness I think was never heard of among men." + +Yet the Spaniard comported himself most gallantly. Frobisher, in the +largest ship of the English fleet, the Triumph, of 1100 tons, and Hawkins +in the Victory, of 800, cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming +on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that +he surrendered to the Revenge. + +Drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to +the disgust and indignation of Frobisher and Hawkins, thus disappointed +of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave +his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good +prisoners of war. This pledge was redeemed, for it was not the English, +as it was the Spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only +to hold them for ransom. Valdez responded to Drake's politeness by +kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent +compliments. He was then sent on board the Lord-Admiral, who received +him with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished +a personage should have been so coolly deserted by the Duke of Medina. +Don Pedro then returned to the Revenge, where, as the guest of Drake, he +was a witness to all subsequent events up to the 10th of August, on which +day he was sent to London with some other officers, Sir Francis claiming +his ransom as his lawful due. + +Here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the Invincible +Armada. On the very first day of their being in presence of the English +fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size +and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the Guipuzcoan and +of the Andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, 450 officers and, +men, and some 100,000 ducats of treasure. They had been out-manoeuvred, +out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had +been unable to inflict a single blow in return. Thus the "small fight" +had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the Inquisition, and the +English were proportionably encouraged. + +On Monday, 1st of August, Medina Sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting +of the galeasses, the galleons St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. James, and the +Florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of Don +Antonio de Leyva. He was instructed to entertain the enemy-- +so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and +to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. The Spaniards +felt confident of sinking every ship in the English navy, if they could +but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour +that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their +foes. Meantime--while the rear was thus protected by Leyva's division-- +the vanguard and main body of the Armada, led by the captain-general, +would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until +it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the Duke of Parma. +Moreover, the Duke of Medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline +and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion +to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each +ship in the Armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without +appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and +the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate +attention to these arrangements. Juan Gil was at the name time sent off +in a sloop to the Duke of Parma, to carry the news of the movements of +the Armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the +junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the French and Flemish +coasts. "In case of the slightest gale in the world," said Medina, "I +don't know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours." + +Disposed in this manner; the Spaniards sailed leisurely along the English +coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the Queen's fleet, +which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that +day, any obstruction to their course. + +By five o'clock on Tuesday morning, 2nd of August, the Armada lay between +Portland Bill and St. Albans' Head, when the wind shifted to the north- +east, and gave the Spaniards the weather-gage. The English did their +beat to get to windward, but the Duke, standing close into the land with +the whole Armada, maintained his advantage. The English then went about, +making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the +Spaniards. A long and spirited action ensued. Howard in his little Ark- +Royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at +different times with Bertendona, of the Italian squadron, with Alonzo de +Leyva in the Batta, and with other large vessels. He was hard pressed +for a time, but was gallantly supported by the Nonpareil, Captain Tanner; +and after a long and confused combat, in which the St. Mark, the St. +Luke, the St. Matthew, the St. Philip, the St. John, the St. James, the +St. John Baptist, the St. Martin, and many other great galleons, with +saintly and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the Lion, the Bear, the +Bull, the Tiger, the Dreadnought, the Revenge, the Victory, the Triumph, +and other of the more profanely-baptized English ships, the Spaniards +were again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, +their ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. The cannonading was +incessant. "We had a sharp and a long fight," said Hawkins. Boat-loads +of men and munitions were perpetually arriving to the English, and many, +high-born volunteers--like Cumberland, Oxford, Northumberland, Raleigh, +Brooke, Dudley, Willoughby, Noel, William Hatton, Thomas Cecil, and +others--could no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle +sounded along the coasts of Dorset, but flocked merrily on board the +ships of Drake,--Hawkins, Howard, and Frobisher, or came in small vessels +which they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in +the delights of the long-expected struggle. + +The action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day, +and until the English had fired away most of their powder and shot. The +Spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already +sort of light metal, and Medina Sidonia had been daily sending to Parma +for a Supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. So much lead and +gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no +great damage inflicted on either side. The artillery-practice was +certainly not much to the credit of either nation. + +"If her Majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good +gunners," said honest William Thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have +been the woefullest time ever the Spaniard took in hand, and the most +noble victory ever heard of would have been her Majesty's. But our sins +were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in +fight, and in comparison so little harm done. It were greatly to be +wished that her Majesty were no longer deceived in this way." + +Yet the English, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their +seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. In vain the unwieldly +hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes, +who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then +danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the +wind came out from the west again, and the English regained and kept the +weather-gage. + +The Queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under Howard, Drake, +Hawkins, and Frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of +Lord Henry Seymour's division, which was cruising in the Straits of +Dover. But few of all this number were ships of war however, and the +merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought +very effective. "If you had seen the simple service done by the +merchants and coast ships," said Winter, "you would have said we had been +little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show." + +All night the Spaniards, holding their course towards Calais, after the +long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by +their wary antagonists. On Wednesday, 3rd of August, there was some +slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on Thursday, the 4th, +both fleets were off Dunnose, on the Isle of Wight. The great hulk +Santana and a galleon of Portugal having been somewhat damaged the +previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the Armada, and were +vigorously attacked by the Triumph, and a few other vessels. Don Antonio +de Leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the +rescue, and Frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal +conflict, within close range, with great spirit. + +Seeing his danger, the Lord Admiral in the Ark-Royal, accompanied by +the Golden Lion; the White Bear, the Elizabeth, the Victory, and the +Leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the Spanish fleet, +and laid himself within three or four hundred yards of Medina's flag +ship, the St. Martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters +with Vice-Admiral Recalde and the galleons of Oquendo, Mexia, and +Almanza. It was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. Here at +last was thorough English work. The two, great fleets, which were there +to subjugate and to defend the realm of Elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm +and yard-arm together--all England on the lee. Broadside after broadside +of great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and +rigging, were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the +Spaniards, whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while +from their turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part +harmlessly over the heads of their adversaries. The leaders of the +Armada, however, were encouraged, for they expected at last to come to +even closer quarters, and there were some among the English who were mad +enough to wish to board. + +But so soon as Frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated +himself from his difficulty, the Lord-Admiral--having no intention of +risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the English +crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself +somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused +the Ark-Royal to be towed out of action. Thus the Spaniards were +frustrated of their hopes, and the English; having inflicted much. +punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to +windward; and the Armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs +of Freshwater and Blackgang. + +On Friday; 5th August, the English, having received men and munitions +from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the +Lord-Admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat calm-- +sent for Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins, Roger Townsend, Lord Thomas +Howard, son of the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Edmund Sheffield; and on the +deck of the Royal Ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each for his +gallantry in the action of the previous day. Medina Sidonia, on his +part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the Duke of +Parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to +pursue the teasing English clippers. The Catholic Armada, he said, being +so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could +assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for +it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in +Calais roads. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in The Armada + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v57 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 58, 1588 + + + Both Fleets off Calais--A Night of Anxiety--Project of Howard and + Winter--Impatience of the Spaniards--Fire-Ships sent against the + Armada--A great Galeasse disabled--Attacked and captured by English + Boats--General Engagement of both Fleets--Loss of several Spanish + Ships--Armada flies, followed by the English--English insufficiently + provided--Are obliged to relinquish the Chase--A great Storm + disperses the Armada--Great Energy of Parma Made fruitless by + Philip's Dulness--England readier at Sea than on Shore--The + Lieutenant--General's Complaints--His Quarrels with Norris and + Williams--Harsh Statements as to the English Troops--Want of + Organization in England--Royal Parsimony and Delay--Quarrels of + English Admirals--England's narrow Escape from great Peril--Various + Rumours as to the Armada's Fate--Philip for a long Time in Doubt--He + believes himself victorious--Is tranquil when undeceived. + + +CHAPTER XIX. Part 2. + + +And in Calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in +company with the English, without a shot being fired on either side--at +last dropped anchor on Saturday afternoon, August 6th. + +Here then the Invincible Armada had arrived at its appointed resting- +place. Here the great junction--of Medina Sidonia with the Duke of Parma +was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last +act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. + +That Saturday afternoon, Lord Henry Seymour and his squadron of sixteen +lay between Dungeness and Folkestone; waiting the approach of the two +fleets. He spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they +could give him no information--strange to say--either of the Spaniards +or, of his own countrymen,--Seymour; having hardly three days' provision +in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and +so bore into the Downs. Hardly had he been there half an hour; when a +pinnace arrived from the Lord-Admiral; with orders for Lord Henry's +squadron to hold itself in readiness. There was no longer time for +victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail +and bear for the French coast. The wind was however so light; that the +whole day was spent before Seymour with his ships could cross the +channel. At last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great Spanish +Armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very +near each other--a little to the eastward of Calais, and very near the +shore. The English, under Howard Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins, were +slowly following, and--so soon as Lord Henry, arriving from the opposite +shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped +anchor likewise very near Calais, and within one mile and a half of the +Spaniards. That invincible force had at last almost reached its +destination. It was now to receive the cooperation of the great Farnese, +at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle- +fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been +with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in +Christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of England. The +long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, +maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of +a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. +The mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of Philip's +diplomatists and their English dupes, interchanging protocols so +decorously month after month on the sands of Bourbourg, had been drowned +by the peremptory voice of English and Spanish artillery, suddenly +breaking in upon their placid conferences. It had now become +supererogatory to ask for Alexander's word of honour whether he had, +ever heard of Cardinal Allan's pamphlet, or whether his master +contemplated hostilities against Queen Elizabeth. + +Never, since England was England, had such a sight been seen as now +revealed itself in those narrow straits between Dover and Calais. Along +that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the Calais +fortifications, one hundred and thirty Spanish ships--the greater number +of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, +and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty English +sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could +furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. + +Farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post +perilous and vital service, was a squadron of Dutch vessels of all sizes, +lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the Flemish +coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate +and dangerous cruising-ground between Dunkerk and Walcheren. Those +fleets of Holland and Zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty +galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under Warmond, Nassau, Van der Does, de +Moor, and Rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from +Newport, or Gravelines; or Sluys, or Flushing, or Dunkerk, and longing to +grapple with the Duke of Parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and +hoys, packed with his Spanish and Italian veterans, should venture to set +forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. + +It was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. +The moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of +anxious expectation. Would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, +upon a subjugated England, a re-enslaved Holland--upon the downfall of +civil and religious liberty? Those ships of Spain, which lay there with +their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated +triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they +not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the +conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? + +That English fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the +watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender +vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory +skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the +moment had arrived for the death grapple? Would not Howard, Drake, +Frobisher, Seymour, Winter, and Hawkins, be swept out of the straits at +last, yielding an open passage to Medina, Oquendo, Recalde, and Farnese? +Would those Hollanders and Zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their +treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible +'Holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? + +So soon as he had cast anchor, Howard despatched a pinnace to the +Vanguard, with a message to Winter to come on board the flag-ship. When +Sir William reached the Ark, it was already nine in the evening. He was +anxiously consulted by the Lord-Admiral as to the course now to be taken. +Hitherto the English had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the +retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. Although anxious +to give battle, the Spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast +until after his junction with Parma. So the English had played a +comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating +him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and +slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. But he was now to be met +face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was +upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. + +Winter, standing side by aide with the Lord-Admiral on the deck of the +little Ark-Royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and +galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. + +"Considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove +them but by a device." + +Then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four +years before of the fire ships sent by the Antwerpers against Parma's +bridge--the inventor of which, the Italian Gianibelli, was at that very +moment constructing fortifications on the Thames to assist the English +against his old enemy Farnese--Winter suggested that some stratagem of +the same kind should be attempted against the Invincible Armada. There +was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had +been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least +might be sent among the fleet. Some damage would doubtless be thus +inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of +Antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous Mantuan wizard was then a +resident of England, would be still more effective. In Winter's opinion, +the Armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown +into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. + +Howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a +council of war for arranging the details of its execution. + +While the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well +nigh been a serious misfortune. The ship, White Bear, of 1000 tons +burthen, and three others of the English fleet, all tangled together, +came drifting with the tide against the Ark. There were many yards +carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; +in the opinion of Winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet +would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. +By alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the +ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to +several Spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. + +Next day, Sunday, 7th August, the two great fleets were still lying but a +mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and +falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the +only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. Nothing as yet was +heard of Farnese. Thus far, at least, the Hollanders had held him at +bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. So +Howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very +soon after Drake and Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, and the rest, were gravely +consulting in his cabin. + +It was decided that Winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and Sir +Henry Palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to Dover, to bring +off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of +light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to +the purpose.' But as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for +Palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of +what could be collected in the fleet itself. Otherwise it was to be +feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. Parma, crushing all +opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the +whole Spanish Armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would +engage the English and Dutch fleets, and cover his passage to Dover. It +would then be too late to think of the burning ships. + +On the other hand, upon the decks of the Armada, there was an impatience +that night which increased every hour. The governor of Calais; M. de +Gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of Medina Sidonia, +with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful +refreshments. There was no fear--now that Mucio was for the time in the +ascendency--that the schemes of Philip would be interfered with by +France. The governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the +dangerous position in which the Armada had placed itself. He was quite +right. Calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those +of Spain and Portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they +were exposed were most treacherous. It was calm enough at the moment, +but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet +hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous Flemish coast. +Moreover, the Duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and +pilots for the English coast, was comparatively unprovided against the +dangers which might beset him off Dunkerk, Newport, and Flushing. He had +sent messengers, day after day, to Farnese, begging for assistance of +various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the +field of action. It was the time and, place for Alexander to assume the +chief command. The Armada was ready to make front against the English +fleet on the left, while on the right, the Duke, thus protected, might +proceed across the channel and take possession of England. + +And the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was +equal to that of their commanders. There was London almost before their +eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those +mines beyond the Atlantic which had so often rewarded Spanish chivalry +with fabulous wealth. And there were men in those galleons who +remembered the sack of Antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, +from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when +once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury +of Antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of +a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and +daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the +number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many +thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by +millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' Those Spaniards, +and Italians, and Walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more +blood; and as the capital of England was even more wealthy and far more +defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the Netherlands had been, +so it was resolved that the London 'fury' should be more thorough and +more productive than the 'fury' of Antwerp, at the memory--of which the +world still shuddered. And these professional soldiers had been taught +to consider the English as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, +dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and +discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were +the excellent burghers of Antwerp. + +And so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons +and galeasses upon the English vessels. More than three quarters of them +were merchantmen. There was no comparison whatever between the relative +strength of the fleets. In number they were about equal being each from +one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the Spaniards +had twice the tonnage of the English, four times the artillery, and +nearly three times the number of men. + +Where was Farnese? Most impatiently the Golden Duke paced the deck of +the Saint Martin. Most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards +the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of Parma's flotilla. But +the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and +mysterious silence prevailed. There was utter solitude on the waters in +the direction of Gravelines and Dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the +quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. The mystery +was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the Armada +that Alexander could not come out when he chose. + +And now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were +curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. For in the horrible +atmosphere of duplicity, in which all Spaniards and Italians of that +epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already Medina Sidonia +suspected Farnese of playing him false. There were whispers of collusion +between the Duke and the English commissioners at Bourbourg. There were +hints that Alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide +the sovereignty of the Netherlands with the heretic Elizabeth, to desert +his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his +master's Armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the +north. Men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which +Alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, +that Medina Sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw Farnese into +bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive +back to Spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the +hand of the Duke of Pastrana, Philip's bastard by the Eboli. Thus, in +the absence of Alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. It seemed +possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through +the treachery of the commander-in-chief. Four and twenty hours and more, +they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather +had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in +the atmosphere. + +As the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud- +masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder +rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. +Such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those +cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of Flanders under their +lee. + +At an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the +most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. But a faint drip of +oars now struck the ears of the Spaniards as they watched from the decks. +A few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six +flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon +them before the wind and tide. + +There were men in the Armada who had been at the siege of Antwerp only +three years before. They remembered with horror the devil-ships of +Gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and +ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a +blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of Farnese, +as though they had been toys of glass. They knew, too, that the famous +engineer was at that moment in England. + +In a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such +contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the Spaniards. +There was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of Antwerp, the +fire-ships of Antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and +frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what +seemed imminent destruction. The confusion was beyond description. Four +or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. Two +others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. +Medina Sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from +Spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had +even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to +search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. +He gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger +should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further +orders. But it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to +issue commands. The despised Mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs +at Philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but +partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at Antwerp, had now; +by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on Philip's Armada +than had hitherto been accomplished by Howard and Drake, Hawkins and +Frobisher, combined. + +So long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. +When the Monday morning dawned, several of the Spanish vessels lay +disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two +leagues from Calais, driving towards the Flemish coast. The threatened +gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the +W.S.W., which, to such awkward sailers as the Spanish vessels; were +difficult to contend with. On the other hand, the English fleet were all +astir; and ready to pursue the Spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the +North Sea. In the immediate neighbourhood of Calais, the flagship of the +squadron of galeasses, commanded by Don Hugo de Moncada, was discovered +using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. +She had been damaged by collision with the St. John of Sicily and other +ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. She +was the largest and most splendid vessel in the Armada--the show-ship of +the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the Spanish navy," and during the +previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of +Frenchmen from the shore. + +Lord Admiral Howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in +shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the +Ark could not follow with safety. So he sent his long-boat to cut her +out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in +courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. +The Margaret and Joan of London, also following in pursuit, ran herself +aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, +to aid in the capture of the galeasse. + +That huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the +bar. There was much dismay on board, but Don Hugo prepared resolutely to +defend himself. The quays of Calais and the line of the French shore +were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing +steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of +artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred +and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. Of these +daring Englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open +pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. +They soon laid themselves close to the Capitana, far below her lofty +sides, and called on Don Hugo to surrender. The answer was, a smile of +derision from the haughty Spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what +seemed an inaccessible height. Then one Wilton, coxswain of the Delight; +of Winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead +the same instant. Then the English volunteers opened a volley upon the +Spaniards; "They seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold Dick +Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far +under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." Moreover the numbers +were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. But, the Spaniards, still +quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a +spell. Otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great +galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of +time. + +The English pelted the Spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus +shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a +considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, +Lieutenant Preston of the Ark-Royal, among others, being dangerously +wounded. "We had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said Tomson. +At last Don Hugo de Moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and +leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet +through both eyes. The panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several +other English boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were +seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once +leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming +and wading to the shore. Some of them succeeded, but the greater number +were drowned. The few who remained--not more, than twenty in all-- +hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. The +English, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great +difficulty up the lofty sides of the Capitana, and, for an hour and a +half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in +liberating the slaves. + +It was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as +she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. But a serious +obstacle arose to this arrangement. For presently a boat came along- +side, with young M. de Gourdon and another French captain, and hailed the +galeasse. There was nobody on board who could speak French but Richard +Tomson. So Richard returned the hail, and asked their business. They +said they came from the governor. + +"And what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked Tomson, when they had come +up the side. + +"The governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your +victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood +you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. He requires and commands +you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its +ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and +within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." + +This seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open +boats, had so manfully carried a ship of 1200 tons, 40 guns, and 750 men; +but Richard answered diplomatically. + +"We thank M. de Gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners +and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his +good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on +ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. Concerning the ship +and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my Lord Admiral +Howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an +honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." + +With this--the French officers, being apparently content, were about to +depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained +the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which +Philip II. had made with his excellent friend Henry III. for aid and +comfort to Spanish vessels in French ports. Unluckily, however, the +inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the Englishmen +hustled their French visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, +as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. They +rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after +their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the English, and +they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder +already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of M. de Gourdon. + +This adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the +fleet, the Lord-Admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away +with all his force in pursuit of the Spaniards. The Invincible Armada, +already sorely crippled, was standing N.N.E. directly before a fresh +topsail-breeze from the S.S.W. The English came up with them soon after +nine o'clock A.M. off Gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, +the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by +the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of Portugal. + +Seeing the enemy approaching, Medina Sidonia ordered his whole fleet to +luff to the wind, and prepare for action. The wind shifting a few +points, was now at W.N.W., so that the English had both the weather-gage +and the tide in their favour. A general combat began at about ten, and +it was soon obvious to the Spaniards that their adversaries were +intending warm work. Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge, followed by, +Frobisher in the Triumph, Hawkins in the Victory, and some smaller +vessels, made the first attack upon the Spanish flagships. Lord Henry in +the Rainbow, Sir Henry Palmer in the Antelope, and others, engaged with +three of the largest galleons of the Armada, while Sir William Winter in +the Vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard +wing. + +The portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. +Four of the ships ran foul of each other, and Winter, driving into their +centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most +formidable' ships. + +"I tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there +were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, +from the Vanguard; and when I was farthest off in firing my pieces, I was +not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of +another." + +The battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no +excuse for retreat on the part of the Spaniards, but, on the contrary, it +was the intention of the Captain-General to return to his station off +Calais, if it were within his power. Nevertheless the English still +partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and +resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the Spaniards to lay themselves +along-side. Keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined English +mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of +the Armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the Spaniards, on their +part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder +and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. Throughout the +action, not an English ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were +killed. On the other hand, all the best ships of the Spaniards were +riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails +and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them +towards the fatal sand-batiks of Holland, they, laboured heavily in a +chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the +hands of Howard Drake, Seymour, Winter, and their followers. Not even +master-gunner Thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the +part of the English, with "little harm done" to the enemy. There was +scarcely a ship in the Armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly +all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of Gravelines. +The Captain-General himself, Admiral Recalde, Alonzo de Leyva, Oquendo, +Diego Flores de Valdez, Bertendona, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don Diego de +Pimentel, Telles Enriquez, Alonzo de Luzon, Garibay, with most of the +great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one +after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. Three sank before +the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks +towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at +least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to +five thousand soldiers killed. + + ["God hath mightily preserved her Majesty's forces with the least + losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so + great volleys of shot, both small and great. I verily believe there + is not threescore men lost of her Majesty's forces." Captain J. + Fenner to Walsingham, 4/14 Aug. 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +Nearly all the largest vessels of the Armada, therefore, having, been +disabled or damaged--according to a Spanish eye-witness--and all their +small shot exhausted, Medina Sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. +The Captain-General was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous Spaniard +of ancient Gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of +his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against +Alexander Farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. +the great Catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. Crippled, +maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have +still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him +on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would +be inevitable destruction to remain. After a slight and very ineffectual +attempt to rescue Don Diego de Pimentel in the St. Matthew--who refused +to leave his disabled ship--and Don Francisco de Toledo; whose great +galleon, the St. Philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards +Zeeland, the Armada bore away N.N.E. into the open sea, leaving those, +who could not follow, to their fate. + +The St. Matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a Dutch fisherman, who +was offered a gold chain to pilot her into Newport. But the fisherman, +being a patriot; steered her close to the Holland fleet, where she was +immediately assaulted by Admiral Van der Does, to whom, after a two +hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. Don Diego, marshal of the camp +to the famous legion of Sicily, brother, of the Marquis of Tavera, nephew +of the Viceroy of Sicily, uncle to the Viceroy of Naples, and numbering +as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a +grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the Hague. +"I was the means," said Captain Borlase, "that the best sort were saved, +and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. He, fought with +us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." + +John Van der Does, his captor; presented the banner; of the Saint Matthew +to the great church of Leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it +hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there +hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the Spanish +flags which had been left behind when Valdez abandoned the siege of that +heroic city fifteen years before. + +The galleon St. Philip, one of the four largest ships in the Armada, +dismasted and foundering; drifted towards Newport, where camp-marshal Don +Francisco de Toledo hoped in, vain for succour. La Motte made a feeble +attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the Holland fleet, being much +more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into +Flushing. The captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of +value on board, but there were some casks of Ribadavia wine which was +more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. For +while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the +capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the St. Philip, +which had been bored through and through with English shot, and had been +rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a +moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial +Hollanders. + +A large Biscay galleon, too, of Recalde's squadron, much disabled in +action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the Armada, was +summoned by Captain Cross of the Hope, 48 guns, to surrender. Although +foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. One of her +officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body +by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the +officer thus slain. In the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with +all her crew. + +Six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted-- +a most cruel battle, as the Spaniard declared. There were men in the +Armada who had served in the action of Lepanto, and who declared that +famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by +this fight off Gravelines. "Surely every man in our fleet did well," +said Winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." Nor +would the Spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most +unfortunately, the penurious policy of the Queen's government rendered +her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. They never +ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was +exhausted. "When the cartridges were all spent," said Winter, "and the +munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but +followed the enemy, who still kept away." And the enemy--although still +numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the +whole English fleet--fled before them. There remained more than fifty +Spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and +other vessels of less account; while in the whole English navy were but +thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "Their force is wonderful great +and strong," said Howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and +little." + +For Medina Sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed +in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, +the horrible panic of Sunday night and the succession of fights +throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. +Crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely +vanquished, the Armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy +who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. + +"Though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the Lord-Admiral, +"we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had +wanted nothing." And the brag countenance was successful, for that "one +day's service had much appalled the enemy" as Drake observed; and still +the Spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the Monday night. +"A thing greatly to be regarded," said Fenner, of the Nonpariel, "is +that that the Almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. I have +hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which +befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, +while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." + +On Tuesday morning, 9th August, the English ships were off the isle of +Walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "The wind is hanging +westerly," said Richard Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "and we drive +our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct +themselves. Those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that +they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both +rich and poor." + +"In my, conscience," said Sir William Winter, "I think the Duke would +give his dukedom to be in Spain again." + +The English ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning +half-a-league to windward, the Duke gave orders for the whole Armada to +lay to and, await their approach. But the English had no disposition to +engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their +enemies seemed inevitable. Ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before +their foes, the Spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of +Zeeland. Already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly +shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told Medina that all were +irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them +steadily upon the banks. The English, easily escaping the danger, hauled +their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud Armada accomplished +before their eyes. Nothing but a change of wind at the instant could +save them from perdition. There was a breathless shudder of suspense, +and then there came the change. Just as the foremost ships were about to +ground on the Ooster Zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, +and the Spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, +stood out once more into the open sea. + +All that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they +dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, +and still the Lord-Admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, +at an easy distance, the retreating foe. At 4 p. m., Howard fired a +signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. Winter could not go, for he +had been wounded in action, but Seymour and Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, +and the rest were present, and it was decided that Lord Henry should +return, accompanied by Winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to +guard the Thames mouth against any attempt of the Duke of Parma, while +the Lord Admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of +the Armada. + +Very wroth was Lord Henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. +"The Lord-Admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," +said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the +venture of my life, and to the distressing of the Spaniards, which was +thoroughly done on the Monday last, I now find his Lordship jealous and +loath to take part of the honour which is to come. So he has used his +authority to command me to look to our English coast, threatened by the +Duke of Parma. I pray God my Lord Admiral do not find the lack of the +Rainbow and her companions, for I protest before God I vowed I would be +as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of +the greatest ships in both armies." + +There was no insubordination, however, and Seymour's squadron; at +twilight of Tuesday evening, August 9th--according to orders, so that +the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for Margate. But +although Winter and Seymour were much disappointed at their enforced +return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. +Pursuing the Spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and +bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the English crews. Howard had +not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and Seymour and his +squadron had not food for one day. Accordingly, when Seymour and Winter +took their departure, "they had much ado," so Winter said; "with the +staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their +own company." Had the Spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but +turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict +with starving and unarmed men? + +Howard, Drake, and Frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the +Armada through the North Sea from Tuesday night (9th August) till Friday +(the 12th), and still, the strong southwester swept the Spaniards before +them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair +damages, in the realms of the treacherous King of Scots, or on the iron- +bound coasts of Norway. Medina Sidonia had however quite abandoned his +intention of returning to England, and was only anxious for a safe +return: to Spain. So much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, +around the grim Hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had +the English overtaken him and once more offered battle. He was on the +point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last +time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board +the Saint Martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear +from England than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that +country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace +to surrender before they had been once more attacked. + +On the other hand, the Devonshire skipper, Vice-Admiral Drake, now +thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the +Invincible Armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling +through the German Ocean, in full flight from the country which was to +have been made, that week, a Spanish province. Unprovided as were his +ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that +the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than Howard +thought. + +"We have the army of Spain before us," wrote Drake, from the Revenge, +"and hope with the grace of God to wrestle a pull with him. There never +was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a +southerly wind to the northward. God grant you have a good eye to the +Duke of Parma, for with the grace of God, if we live, I doubt not so to +handle the matter with the Duke of Sidonia as he shall wish himself at +St. Mary's Port among his orange trees." + +But Howard decided to wrestle no further pull. Having followed the +Spaniards till Friday, 12th of August, as far as the latitude of 56d. 17' +the Lord Admiral called a council. It was then decided, in order to save +English lives and ships, to put into the Firth of Forth for water and +provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be +past the Isles of Scotland." But the next day, as the wind shifted to +the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, +and bear away for the North Foreland, in order to obtain a supply of +powder, shot, and provisions. + +Up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been +moderate. During the week which succeeded the eventful night off. +Calais, neither the 'Armada nor the English ships had been much impeded +in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. But on the following +Sunday, 14th of August, there was a change. The wind shifted again to +the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the Monday, blew +a tremendous gale. "'Twas a more violent storm," said Howard, "than was +ever seen before at this time of the year." The retreating English fleet +was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands +off Norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in Margate +roads. + +Far different was the fate of the Spaniards. Over their Invincible +Armada, last seen by the departing English midway between the coasts of +Scotland and Denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. +A mystery hung for a long time over their fate. Damaged, leaking, +without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered +that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of Norway and +between the savage rocks of Faroe and the Hebrides. In those regions of +tempest the insulted North wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent +Spaniards. Disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale +after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or +shattering them against granite cliffs. The coasts of Norway, Scotland, +Ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed +the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which +were to have sacked London and made England a Spanish vice-royalty. + +Through the remainder of the month of August there, was a succession of +storms. On the 2nd September a fierce southwester drove Admiral Oquendo +in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large +Venetian ships, the Ratty and the Balauzara, and thirty-six other +vessels, upon the Irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, +while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious +affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or +sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped +to England. A few ships were driven on the English coast; others went +ashore near Rochelle. + +Of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to Spain. +Of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and +thirty-three returned. Of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. +and eighteen returned. Of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which +sailed from Corona in July, but fifty-three, great and small, made their +escape to Spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. +The invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. + +Of the 30,000 men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more +than 10,000 ever saw their native land again. Most of the leaders of the +expedition lost their lives. Medina Sidonia reached Santander in +October, and, as Philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of +the Armada," although the King soon discovered his mistake. Recalde, +Diego Flores de Valdez, Oquendo, Maldonado, Bobadilla, Manriquez, either +perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. +Pedro de Valdez, Vasco de Silva, Alonzo de Sayas, Piemontel, Toledo, with +many other nobles, were prisoners in England and Holland. There was +hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning, so that, +to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the +wearing of mourning at all. On the other hand, a merchant of Lisbon, not +yet reconciled to the Spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself +some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the Armada, and was immediately +hanged by express command of Philip. Thus--as men said--one could +neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions. + +This was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an +expense almost incalculable. In the year 1588 alone, the cost of +Philip's armaments for the subjugation of England could not have been +less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum +on board the Armada itself, although the Pope refused to pay his promised +million. And with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many +thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and Spain, in a moment, +instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. + +"Beaten and shuffled together from the Lizard to Calais, from Calais +driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of England +about Scotland and Ireland," as the Devonshire skipper expressed himself, +it must be confessed that the Spaniards presented a sorry sight. "Their +invincible and dreadful navy," said Drake, "with all its great and +terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about England so much +as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even +burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." + +Meanwhile Farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon +him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic +blunders of the invasion. + +"As for the Prince of Parma," said Drake, "I take him to be as a bear +robbed of her whelps." The Admiral was quite right. Alexander was +beside himself with rage. Day after day, he had been repeating to Medina +Sidonia and to Philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely +live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could +serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. He had +always counselled the seizing of a place like Flushing, as a basis of +operations against England, but had been overruled; and he had at least +reckoned upon the Invincible Armada to clear the way for him, before he +should be expected to take the sea. + +With prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or +improved internal water-communications from Ghent to Sluy's, Newport, and +Dunkerk. He had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions +for the invasion, from all points of the obedient Netherlands to the sea- +coast, without coming within reach of the Hollanders and Zeelanders, who +were keeping close watch on the outside. But those Hollanders and +Zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and +cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of England to scorn, braving +them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the Walloons and +Spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on +the water was as natural as upon dry land. Alexander, upon one occasion, +transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly +Spanish, partly Irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent +boatmen. With his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than +one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then +the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the Hollanders, and +every man of the thousand was slain. + +He had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his +men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in +a single day. "But it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long +packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about +in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." So soon as he had +received information of the arrival of the fleet before Calais--which was +on the 8th August--he had proceeded the same night to Newport and +embarked 16,000 men, and before dawn he was at Dunkerk, where the troops +stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. +Sir William Stanley, with his 700 Irish kernes, were among the first +shipped for the enterprise. Two-days long these regiments lay heaped. +together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers +described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the Dutch fleet would +be swept out of the sea by the Invincible Armada, and patiently expecting +the signal for setting sail to England. Then came the Prince of Ascoli, +who had gone ashore from the Spanish fleet at Calais, accompanied by +serjeant-major Gallinato and other messengers from Medina Sidonia, +bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the +Armada. + +"God knows," said Alexander, "the distress in which this event has +plunged me, at the very moment when I expected to be sending your Majesty +my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. But these +are the works of the Lord, who can recompense your Majesty by giving you +many victories, and the fulfilment of your Majesty's desires, when He +thinks the proper time arrived. Meantime let Him be praised for all, and +let your Majesty take great care of your health, which is the most +important thing of all." + +Evidently the Lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for +fulfilling his Majesty's desires for the subjugation of England, +and meanwhile the King might find what comfort he could in pious +commonplaces and in attention to his health. + +But it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, Alexander +Farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of Philips hopes. +No man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made +evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of +the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for +all emergencies. No man could have been more minutely faithful to his +master, more treacherous to all the world beside. Energetic, inventive, +patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered Flanders with +canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid +army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled Comptroller Croft. And not only +had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but +Elizabeth and Burghley, and, for a moment, even Walsingham, were in the, +dark, while Henry III. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent +Balafre a blind instrument in his hands. Nothing could equal Alexander's +fidelity, but his perfidy. Nothing could surpass his ability to command +but his obedience. And it is very possible that had Philip followed his +nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile +schemes; the result far England, Holland, and, all Christendom might have +been very different from the actual one. The blunder against which +Farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which +the King and all his counsellors chose to remain of the Holland and +Zeeland fleet. For them Warmond and Nassau, and Van der Does and Joost +de Moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with +their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. + +To the Queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of +England, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, +their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the +triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient Hollanders and +Zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held Farneae, the chief of +the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in +his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of +their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him +and the Duke of Medina Sidona, an equal share of honour is due. The +safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible +contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states +combined. + +Great was the enthusiasm certainly of the English people as the +volunteers marched through London to the place of rendezvous, and +tremendous were the cheers when the brave Queen rode on horseback along +the lines of Tilbury. Glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry +little England, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter +the Spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "It was a pleasant sight," says +that enthusiastic merchant-tailor John Stowe, "to behold the cheerful +countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they +marched to Tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the +news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. And +Bellona-like did the Queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and +resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their +sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the Spaniards might land quickly, +and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." + +But if the Spaniards had not fled, if there had been no English navy in +the Channel, no squibs at Calais, no Dutchmen off Dunkerk, there might +have been a different picture to paint. No man who has, studied the +history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic +determination of the English nation to repel the invaders. Catholics +and Protestants felt alike on the great subject. Philip did not flatter, +himself with assistance from any English Papists, save exiles and +renegades like Westmoreland, Paget, Throgmorton, Morgan, Stanley, +and the rest. The bulk of the Catholics, who may have constituted half +the population of England, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and +notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against +them, Elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. + +But loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply +the want of numbers and discipline. According to the generally accepted +statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some 75,000 men under +arms: 20,000 along the southern coast, 23,000 under Leicester, and 33,000 +under Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon, for the special defence of the Queen's +person. + +But it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring +anything like these numbers into the field. A drilled and disciplined +army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. +If the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were +thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the +volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine +militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. Magnificent was +the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their Queen. +The Earl of Pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse +and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard +the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "Accept hereof most +excellent sovereign," said the Earl, "from a person desirous to live no +longer than he may see your Highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre +the beards of all confederated leaguers." + +The Earl of Shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his +retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "Though I be old," he said, +"yet shall your quarrel make me young again. Though lame in body, yet +lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near +your defence, every way wherein your Highness shall employ me." + +But there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. The lieutenant- +general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency +among all the militia-men to escape from the Queen's colours, in order to +enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. This spirit was not +favourable to efficient organization of a national army. Even, had the +commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have +been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid +army, once landed, and led by Alexander Farnese, but even Leicester's +most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military +ability with that first general of his age. The best soldier in England +was un-questionably Sir John Norris, and Sir John was now marshal of the +camp to Leicester. The ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed +over, and--as might be expected--the Earl hated Norris more bitterly than +before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the +Netherlands. Roger William, too, was entrusted with the important duties +of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and Leicester +continued to bear the grudge towards that honest Welshman, which had +begun in Holland. These were not promising conditions in a camp, when +an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or +readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of +the commanders. + +The Armada had arrived in Calais roads on Saturday afternoon; the 6th +August. If it had been joined on that day, or the next--as Philip and +Medina Sidonia fully expected--by the Duke of Parma's flotilla, the +invasion would have been made at once. If a Spanish army had ever landed +in England at all, that event would have occurred on the 7th August. The +weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances +under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night +accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in England. For +aught that Leicester, or Burghley, or Queen Elizabeth, knew at the time, +the army of Farnese might, on Monday, have been marching upon London. +Now, on that Monday morning, the army of Lord Hunsdon was not assembled +at all, and Leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was +just commencing his camp at Tilbury. The. "Bellona-like" appearance of +the Queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her +troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been +repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great Armada, +shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself +against the cliffs of Norway and the Faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to +Spain. + +Leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not +restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient +spirit had to contend. "Be you assured," said he, on the 3rd August, +when the Armada was off the Isle of Wight, "if the Spanish fleet arrive +safely in the narrow seas, the Duke of Parma will join presently with all +his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. Therefore I beseech +you, my good Lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your +speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our +gate." + +For even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to +the intentions of the Spaniards: + +Next day he informed Walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. +"They be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as I ever saw," +said he. He could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "Some +want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without +one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel +of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have +discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. I see many causes to +increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all +sudden hurley burleys. In no former time was ever so great a cause, and +albeit her Majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they +land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, I find it +now. If it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it +will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty +miles off." + +He had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. +"I made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, +that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their +provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. I have +sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. I speak +it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not +deferred till the worst come. Let her Majesty not defer the time, upon +any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about +her. Her Majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had +not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole +realm been in by this time! And what care she will be in if her forces +be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the +mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." + +"God doth know, I speak it not to bring her to charges. I would she had +less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever +they were; but I will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the +realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." + +Thus, on the 5th August, no army had been assembled--not even the body- +guard of the Queen--and Leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided +with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his +entrenched camp at Tilbury. On the 6th August the Armada was in Calais +roads, expecting Alexander Farnese to lead his troops upon London! + +Norris and Williams, on the news of Medina Sidonia's approach, had rushed +to Dover, much to the indignation of Leicester, just as the Earl was +beginning his entrenchments at Tilbury. "I assure you I am angry with +Sir John Norris and Sir Roger Williams," he said. "I am here cook, +caterer, and huntsman. I am left with no one to supply Sir John's place +as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. +I ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully +promised. Yet, on arriving this morning, I hear nothing of either, and +have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. This manner of +dealing doth much mislike me in them both. I am ill-used. 'Tis now four +o'clock, but here's not one of them. If they come not this night, I +assure you I will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose +careless dealing at their hands. If you saw how weakly I am assisted you +would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the +enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. And seeing her Majesty +hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, I look that respect be used +towards me, such as is due to my place." + +Thus the ancient grudge--between Leicester and the Earl of Sussex's son +was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this +eventful season. + +Next day the Welshman arrived, and Sir John promised to come back in the +evening. Sir Roger brought word from the coast that Lord Henry Seymour's +fleet was in want both of men and powder. "Good Lord!" exclaimed +Leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my Lord-Admiral +are so weakened of men. I hear they be running away. I beseech you, +assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. Hasten +our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . If the Spanish fleet come to +the narrow seas the, Prince of Parma will play another part than is +looked for." + +As the Armada approached Calais, Leicester was informed that the soldiers +at Dover began to leave the coast. It seemed that they were dissatisfied +with the penuriousness of the government. Our soldiers do break away at +Dover, or are not pleased. I assure you, without wages, the people will +not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. Surely I find that her +Majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her +subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve +her." The lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him +to proceed to Dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these +discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, +undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in +opposing Alexander's march, to London, if he should once succeed in +landing. Leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands +of the metropolis. "For your Londoners," he said, "I see their service +will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, I +look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy. This was not +complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous Artillery Garden, +and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which +the capital was to be approached. But there was much jealousy, both +among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional +soldiers. "I know what burghers be, well enough," said the Earl, "as +brave and well-entertained as ever the Londoners were. If they should +go forth from the city they should have good leaders. You know the +imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen +of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. So +that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great +danger."' + +Sir John Smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize +some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those +of Leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these +English armies. The Earl was very angry with the knight, however, and +considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. Sir John seemed, +indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render +service to the Queen by leading awkward recruits against Alexander +Farnese. He thought it better to nurse himself. + +"You would laugh to see how Sir John Smith has dealt since my coming," +said Leicester. "He came to me, and told me that his disease so grew +upon him as he must needs go to the baths. I told him I would not be +against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had +taken with his countrymen, and that I had provided a good place for him. +Next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed +desirous, for his health, to be gone. I told him what place I did +appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. +He said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, +which I yielded unto. Yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to +me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst +withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile +and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to +argue with him." + +And the knight went that day to review Leicester's choice troops--the +four thousand men of Essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with +their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. He +became very censorious. + +"After the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into +such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the +weapon, as made me think he was not well. God forbid he should have +charge of men that knoweth so little, as I dare pronounce that he doth." + +Yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions +were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they +did not materially vary from those which Leicester himself was in the +habit of expressing. And these interior scenes of discord, tumult, +parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, +were occurring on the very Saturday and Sunday when the Armada lay in +sight of Dover cliffs, and when the approach of the Spaniards on the +Dover road might at any moment be expected. + +Leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a +formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. He was already +displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to Lord Hunsdon, +disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the Lord +Chamberlain should accept office under himself. He wished saving clauses +as to his own authority inserted in Hunsdon's patent. "Either it must be +so, or I shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my +patent doth give me power. You may easily conceive what absurd dealings +are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." + +Looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and +file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction +that in this great crisis of England's destiny, there were such men as +Howard, Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, Fenner, and their +gallant brethren, cruising that week in the Channel, and that Nassau and +Warmond; De Moor and Van der Does, were blockading the Flemish coast. + +There was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. There +were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. +There were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; +but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, +with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers +more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly +behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they +could scarcely have been avoided. + +Remembering that the Invincible Armada was lying in Calais roads on the +6th of August, hoping to cross to Dover the next morning, let us ponder +the words addressed on that very day to Queen Elizabeth by the +Lieutenant-General of England. + +"My most dear and gracious Lady," said the Earl, "it is most true that +those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved +foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the +less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most +just God that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. The cause you are +assailed for is His and His Church's, and He never failed any that +faithfully do put their chief trust in His goodness. He hath, to comfort +you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which +means I doubt not but your Majesty will timely and princely use them, +and your good God that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with +victory." + +He then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the +Queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and +her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. + +On the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the +6th of August. "For your army, it is more than time it were gathered and +about you," said Leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it +at a few hours' warning. The reason is that your mighty enemies are at +hand, and if God suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they +will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. And albeit +your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not +only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. No doubt if +the Prince of Parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be +greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect +whensoever he shall attempt it. Therefore it is most requisite that your +Majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; +for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. You +shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, +and must offend your gracious God that gave you these forces and power, +though you will not use them when you should." + +It seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the +enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land- +forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most +fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. Suggestions at this late moment +were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, +and the life of the great Queen, which would not have seemed premature +had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in August, +excite unbounded amazement. Alexander would have had time to, march from +Dover to Duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all +the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. + +"Now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the +memorable Saturday, 6th of August, "no doubt but I think about London +the, meetest, and I suppose that others will be of the same mind. And +your Majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special +nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every +man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all +things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; +for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under God. +And so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, +every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared +in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's +warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master +of ordnance." + +Certainly, with Alexander of Parma on his way to London, at the head of +his Italian pikemen, his Spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion-- +"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time. +that every man should know what he should do, that an army of Englishmen +should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "By and +by" was easily said, and yet, on the 6th of August it was by and by that +an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a +general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be +exercised, "every man to know his weapon." + +English courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who +governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was +to be invaded. But meantime every man of those invaders had already +learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. + +It was a magnificent determination on the part of Elizabeth to place +herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude +inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of +diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for +the perils caused by her procrastination. But Leicester could not +approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. + +The danger passed away. The Invincible Armada was driven out of the +Channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of +English sailors and volunteers. The Duke of Parma was kept a close +prisoner by the fleets of Holland and Zeeland; and the great storm of the +14th and 15th of August at last completed the overthrow of the Spaniards. + +It was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for +the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known +in England. The sailors, by whom England had been thus defended in her +utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, +in the latter days of August. Men sickened one day, and died the next, +so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the +English ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, +at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. Nor had +there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these +brave defenders of their country. They rotted in their ships, or died in +the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to +receive them. + +"'Tis a most pitiful sight," said the Lord-Admiral, "to see here at +Margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, +the streets. I am driven of force myself to come on land to see them +bestowed in some lodgings; and the best I can get is barns and such +outhouses, and the relief is small that I can provide for them here. It +would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die +so miserably." + +The survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been +eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get +their wages. "Finding it to come thus scantily," said Howard, "it breeds +a marvellous alteration among them." + +But more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the +misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals +of the English fleet. Not only was Seymour angry with Howard, but +Hawkins and Frobisher were at daggers drawn with Drake; and Sir Martin-- +if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the +most virulent abuse upon Sir Francis, calling him, in language better +fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, +for appropriating the ransom for Don Pedro Valdez in which both Frobisher +and Hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. + +And anxious enough was the Lord-Admiral with his sailors perishing by +pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as Lord Henry +Seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, +and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm +depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, +as they did almost daily, of the return of the Spanish Armada, and of new +demonstrations on the part of Farnese. He was naturally unwilling that +the fruits of English valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the +false economy of the government. He felt that, after all that had been +endured and accomplished, the Queen and her counsellors were still +capable of leaving England at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "I know not +what you think at the court," said he; "but I think, and so do all here, +that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six +weeks. God knoweth whether the Spanish fleet will not, after refreshing +themselves in Norway; Denmark, and the Orkneys, return. I think they +dare not go back to Sprain with this, dishonour, to their King and +overthrow of the Pope's credit. Sir, sure bind, sure find. A kingdom +is a grand wager. Security is dangerous; and, if God had not been our +best friend; we should have found it so." + + [Howard to Walsingham, Aug.8/18 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)] + + ["Some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said Drake, "but + my poor opinion is that I dare not advise her Majesty to hazard a + kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (Drake to Walsingham, + Aug. 8/18 1588.)] + +Nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple +advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the Armada; +after it had been lost sight of by the English vessels off the Firth of +Forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in Norway and the +Orkneys. But, Burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he +knew he could always find sympathy in the Queen's breast, and with which +he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "To spend in +time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without +needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without +knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is +lack of wisdom;" and so on. + +Yet the Spanish fleet might have returned into the Channel for ought the +Lord-Treasurer on the 22nd August knew--or the Dutch fleet might have +relaxed, in its vigilant watching of Farnese's movements. It might have +then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow English sailors to +die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous +for default of pay. To have saved under such circumstances would, +perhaps have brought repentance. + +The invasion of England by Spain had been most portentous. That the +danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the +English, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the +little English fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and +volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the Hollanders; and +to the hand of God shattering the Armada at last; but very little credit +can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts +of the Queen's government. Miracles alone, in the opinion of Roger +Williams, had saved England on this occasion from perdition. + +Towards the end of August, Admiral de Nassau paid a visit to Dover with +forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." He dined and conferred with +Seymour, Palmer, and other officers--Winter being still laid up with his +wound--and expressed the opinion that Medina Sidonia would hardly return +to the Channel, after the banquet he had received from her Majesty's navy +between Calais and Gravelines. He also gave the information that the +States had sent fifty Dutch vessels in pursuit of the Spaniards, and had +compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of +war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. +"I find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said Seymour of the +Dutch Admiral, "and therefore do I trust him." + +Nassau represented the Duke of Parma as evidently discouraged, as having +already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard +any further enterprise against England. "I have left twenty-five +Kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from Sluys, and I am +immediately returning thither myself. The tide will not allow his +vessels at present to leave Dunkerk, and I shall not fail--before the +next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their +coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." + +But after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those +waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of Farnese to +issue from Sluys and Dunkerk, and England and Holland were thenceforth +saved from all naval enterprises on the part of Spain. + +Meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in England as to the +condition and the intentions of the Armada was still more remarkable +elsewhere. There was a systematic deception practised not only upon +other governments; but upon the King of Spain as well. Philip, as he +sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of England, +long after his Armada had been hopelessly dispersed. + +In Paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of August +that England was vanquished, and that the Queen was already on her way to +Rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his +Holiness. Mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into Notre +Dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, +"Victory, victory!" and on the 10th of August ordered bonfires to be made +before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. He had +been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents +on the coast; and the King of France--better informed by Stafford, but +not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador-- +affected to believe his fables. He even confirmed them by intelligence, +which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the +landing of the Spaniards in England without opposition, and of the entire +subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. + +Hereupon, on the night of August 10th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as +Stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the +great news to Spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and +caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over +Paris! "I will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy +which we must all feel," he wrote to Idiaquez, "at this good news. God +be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, +and then, like a merciful Father, sends us infinite rewards." And in the +same strain he wrote; day after day, to Moura and Idiaquez, and to Philip +himself. + +Stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of +the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of +Mendoza might be contradicted. "That which cometh from me," he said, +"Will be believed; for I have not been used to tell lies, and in very +truth I have not the face to do it." + +And the news of the Calais squibs, of the fight off Gravelines, and +the retreat of the Armada towards the north; could not be very long +concealed. So soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the +English envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days +after their--occurrence--Stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer +to that of Mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. +It cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of +it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by +its sale. The English ambassador was unwilling to be known as the +author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the Spaniard" +--but the King had no doubt of its origin. Poor Henry, still smarting +under the insults of Mendoza and 'Mucio,--was delighted with this blow +to Philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of Queen Elizabeth's +valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had +just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most +illustrious men in history. + +"So soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said Stafford; "he offered to lay +a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." And there were +malicious pages about the French; court; who also found much amusement in +writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the Duke of Parma +that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: +England, such as York, Canterbury, London, or the like--till the luckless +Don Bernardino was ashamed to show his face. + +A letter, from Farnese, however, of 10th August, apprized Philip before +the end of August of the Calais disasters and caused him great +uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "At the very moment," wrote +the King to Medina Sidonia; "when I was expecting news of the effect +hoped for from my Armada, I have learned the retreat from before Calais, +to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and I have received a +very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. +Nevertheless I hope in our Lord that he will have provided a remedy; +and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come +back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great +stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so I am expecting +with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please God it may be that +which is so suitable for his service." + +His Spanish children the sacking of London, and the butchering of the +English nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad +formerly enjoyed in the Netherlands. + +And in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters +despatched on that day to the Duke of Parma. "The satisfaction caused by +your advices on the 8th August of the arrival of the Armada near Calais, +and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a +sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the 10th. The anxiety +thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause +being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. Perhaps the +Armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good +account of itself, with the help of the Lord. So I still promise myself +that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as +that the service intended to the Lord may have been executed, and repairs +made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." + +And the King's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which +reached him in September, by way of France. He now learned that the +Armada had taken captive four Dutch men-of-war and many English ships; +that, after the Spaniards had been followed from Calais roads by the +enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the English had attempted +in vain to avoid; off Newcastle; that Medina Sidonia had charged upon +them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture +twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, +had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all +hands perishing; that the Armada had taken a port in Scotland, where it +was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of Lord-admiral +Howard, of Drake; and of that "distinguished mariner Hawkins," had all +been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except Drake, who +had escaped in a cock-boat. "This is good news," added the writer; +"and it is most certain." + +The King pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained +very much in the dark. Half, the month of September went by, and he had +heard nothing--official since the news of the Calais catastrophe. It may +be easily understood that Medina Sidonia, while flying round the Orkneys +had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to Spain, and as +Farnese had not written since the 10th August, Philip was quite at a loss +whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. From the reports by +way of Calais, Dunkerk, and Rouen, he supposed that the Armada, had +inflicted much damage on the enemy. He suggested accordingly, on the 3rd +September, to the Duke of Parma, that he might now make the passage to +England, while the English fleet, if anything was left of it was +repairing its damages. "'Twill be easy enough to conquer the country," +said Philip," so soon as you set foot on the soil. Then perhaps our +Armada can come back and station itself in the Thames to support you." + +Nothing could be simpler. Nevertheless the King felt a pang of doubt +lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he +dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, +"But if this hope must be given up, you must take the Isle of Walcheren: +something must be done to console me." + +And on the 15th September he was still no wiser. "This business of the +Armada leaves me no repose," he said; "I can think of nothing else. I +don't content myself with what I have written, but write again and again, +although in great want of light. I hear that the Armada has sunk and +captured many English ships, and is refitting in a Scotch pert. If this +is in the territory, of Lord Huntley, I hope he will stir up the +Catholics of that country." + +And so, in letter after letter, Philip clung to the delusion that +Alexander could yet, cross to England, and that the Armada might sail up +the Thames. The Duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that +effect with Medina Sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed +grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the Bay of Biscay, with what +remained of his invincible fleet. + +Sanguine and pertinacious, the King refused to believe in, the downfall +of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning +upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which +had long amused him had been broken. If the Armada were really very much +damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the Duke of Parma to make +him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "In case the Armada is +too much shattered to come out," said Philip, "and winter compels it to +stay in that port, you must cause another Armada to be constructed at +Emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, +you will certainly be able to conquer England." + +And he wrote to Medina Sidonia in similar terms. That naval commander +was instructed to enter the Thames at once, if strong enough. If not, he +was to winter in the Scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. +Meantime Farnese would build a new fleet at Emden, and in the spring the +two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. + +But at last the arrival of Medina Sidonia at Santander dispelled these +visions, and now the King appeared in another attitude. A messenger, +coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of +October at the Escorial. Entering the palace he found Idiaquez and Moura +pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of Philip's cabinet, +and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, +of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, +of the Armada. The entire overthrow of the great project was now, for +the first time, fully revealed in Spain; the fabulous victories over the +English, and the annihilation of Howard and all his ships, were dispersed +in air. Broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible Armada--so far as it +still existed--had reached a Spanish port. Great was the consternation +of Idiaquez and Moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous +was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the +unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the King. + +At last Moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, +he found Philip seated at his desk. Of course he was writing letters. +Being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down +his pen, and inquired the news. The secretary replied that the accounts, +concerning the Armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. +The courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. The King +did not change countenance. "Great thanks," he observed, "do I render to +Almighty God, by whose generous hand I am gifted with such power, that I +could easily, if I chose, place another fleet upon the seas. Nor is it +of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes +intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains +inexhaustible." + +So saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. +Christopher Moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, +thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then +retired to confer with his colleague. + +"And how did his Majesty receive the blow?" asked Idiaquez. + +"His Majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered Moura, "nor do I, +consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his Majesty." + +So the King--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his +virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed +themselves in the same garment. Thus draped, they were all prepared +to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on +their heads, while it had been dashing the King's mighty galleons on the +rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. +Soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were +thoroughly known, Philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to +all the bishops of Spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty +for the safety of that portion of the invincible Armada which it had +pleased Him to preserve. + +And thus, with the sound of mourning throughout Spain--for there was +scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the +great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all England +and Holland, and with a solemn 'Te Deum' resounding in every church, +the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the Armada. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all +Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning +Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated +Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy +One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions +Security is dangerous +Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed +Sure bind, sure find + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v58 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 59, 1588-1589 + + +CHAPTER XX. + + Alexander besieges Bergen-op-Zoom--Pallavicini's Attempt to seduce + Parma--Alexander's Fury--He is forced to raise the Siege, of Bergen + --Gertruydenberg betrayed to Parma--Indignation of the States-- + Exploits, of Schenk--His Attack on Nymegen--He is defeated and + drowned--English-Dutch Expedition to Spain--Its meagre Results-- + Death of Guise and of the Queen--Mother--Combinations after the + Murder of Henry III.--Tandem fit Surculus Arbor. + +The fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor. +The deadly crisis was past, the freedom of Europe was saved, Holland and +England breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion. The +events in the remainder of the year 1588, with those of 1589--although +important in themselves--were the immediate results of that history which +has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a +very few pages. + +The Duke of Parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by +calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a +painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison +administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served-- +determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was +so plaintively demanding at his hands. + +So Alexander led the splendid army which had been packed in, and unpacked +from, the flat boats of Newport and Dunkerk, against Bergen-op-Zoom, and +besieged that city in form. Once of great commercial importance, +although somewhat fallen away from its original prosperity, Bergen was +well situate on a little stream which connected it with the tide-waters +of the Scheldt, and was the only place in Brabant, except Willemstad, +still remaining to the States. Opposite lay the Isle of Tholen from +which it was easily to be supplied and reinforced. The Vosmeer, a branch +of the Scheldt, separated the island from the main, and there was a path +along the bed of that estuary, which, at dead low-water, was practicable +for wading. Alexander, accordingly, sent a party of eight hundred +pikemen, under Montigny, Marquis of Renty, and Ottavio Mansfeld, +supported on the dyke by three thousand musketeers, across; the dangerous +ford, at ebb-tide, in order to seize this important island. It was an +adventure similar to those, which, in the days of the grand commander, +and under the guidance of Mondragon; had been on two occasions so +brilliantly successful. But the Isle of Tholen was now defended by Count +Solms and a garrison of fierce amphibious Zeelanders--of those determined +bands which had just been holding Farnese and his fleet in prison, and +daring him to the issue--and the invading party, after fortunately +accomplishing their night journey along the bottom of the Vosmeer, were +unable to effect a landing, were driven with considerable loss into the +waves again, and compelled to find their way back as best they could, +along their dangerous path, and with a rapidly rising tide. It was a +blind and desperate venture, and the Vosmeer soon swallowed four hundred +of the Spaniards. The rest, half-drowned or smothered, succeeded in +reaching the shore--the chiefs of the expedition, Renty and Mansfeld, +having been with difficulty rescued by their followers, when nearly +sinking in the tide. + +The Duke continued the siege, but the place was well defended by an +English and Dutch garrison, to the number of five thousand, and commanded +by Colonel Morgan, that bold and much experienced Welshman, so well known +in the Netherland wars. Willoughby and Maurice of Nassau, and Olden- +Barneveld were, at different times, within the walls; for the Duke +had been unable to invest the place so closely as to prevent all +communications from without; and, while Maurice was present, there were +almost daily sorties from the town, with many a spirited skirmish, to +give pleasure to the martial young Prince. The English, officers, Vere +and Baskerville, and two Netherland colonels, the brothers Bax, most +distinguished themselves on these occasions. The siege was not going on +with the good fortune which had usually attended the Spanish leaguer. of +Dutch cities, while, on the 29th September, a personal incident came to +increase Alexander's dissatisfaction and melancholy. + +On that day the Duke was sitting in his tent, brooding, as he was apt to +do, over the unjust accusations which had been heaped upon him in regard +to the failure of the Armada, when a stranger was announced. His name, +he said, was Giacomo Morone, and he was the bearer of a letter from Sir +Horace Pallavicini, a Genoese gentleman long established in London; and +known to be on confidential terms with the English government. Alexander +took the letter, and glancing at the bottom of the last page, saw that it +was not signed. + +"How dare you bring me a dispatch without a signature?" he exclaimed. +The messenger, who was himself a Genoese, assured the Duke that the +letter was most certainly written by Pallavicini--who had himself placed +it, sealed, in his hands--and that he had supposed it signed, although he +had of course, not seen the inside. + +Alexander began to read the note, which was not a very long one, and his +brow instantly darkened. He read a line or two more, when, with an +exclamation of fury, he drew his dagger, and, seizing the astonished +Genoese by the throat, was about to strike him dead. Suddenly mastering +his rage, however, by a strong effort, and remembering that the man might +be a useful witness; he flung Morone from him. + +"If I had Pallavicini here," he said, "I would treat, him as I have just +refrained from using you. And if I had any suspicion that you were aware +of the contents of this letter, I would send you this instant to be +hanged." + +The unlucky despatch-bearer protested his innocence of all complicity +with Pallavicini, and his ignorance of the tenor of the communication by +which the Duke's wrath had been so much excited. He was then searched +and cross-examined most carefully by Richardot and other counsellors, +and his innocence being made apparent-he was ultimately discharged. + +The letter of Pallavicini was simply an attempt to sound Farnese as to +his sentiments in regard to a secret scheme, which could afterwards be +arranged in form, and according, to which he was to assume the +sovereignty of the Netherlands himself, to the exclusion of his King, to +guarantee to England the possession of the cautionary towns, until her +advances to the States should be refunded, and to receive the support and +perpetual alliance of the Queen in his new and rebellious position. + +Here was additional evidence, if any were wanting, of the universal +belief in his disloyalty; and Alexander, faithful, if man ever were to +his master--was cut to the heart, and irritated almost to madness, by +such insolent propositions. There is neither proof nor probability that +the Queen's government was implicated in this intrigue of Pallavicini, +who appears to have been inspired by the ambition of achieving a bit of +Machiavellian policy, quite on his own account. Nothing came of the +proposition, and the Duke; having transmitted to the King a minute +narrative of, the affair, together with indignant protestations of the +fidelity, which all the world seemed determined to dispute, received +most affectionate replies from that monarch, breathing nothing but +unbounded confidence in his nephew's innocence and devotion. + +Such assurances from any other man in the world might have disarmed +suspicion, but Alexander knew his master too well to repose upon his +word, and remembered too bitterly the last hours of Don John of Austria +--whose dying pillow he had soothed, and whose death had been hastened, +as he knew, either by actual poison or by the hardly less fatal venom +of slander--to regain tranquillity as to his own position. + +The King was desirous that Pallavicini should be invited over to +Flanders, in order that Alexander, under pretence of listening to his +propositions, might draw from the Genoese all the particulars of his +scheme, and then, at leisure, inflict the punishment which he had +deserved. But insuperable obstacles presented themselves, nor was +Alexander desirous of affording still further pretexts for his +slanderers. + +Very soon after this incident--most important as showing the real +situation of various parties, although without any immediate result-- +Alexander received a visit in his tent from another stranger. This time +the visitor was an Englishman, one Lieutenant Grimstone, and the object +of his interview with the Duke was not political, but had, a direct +reference to the siege of Bergen. He was accompanied by a countryman +of his own, Redhead by name, a camp-suttler by profession. The two +represented themselves as deserters from the besieged city, and offered, +for a handsome reward, to conduct a force of Spaniards, by a secret path, +into one of the gates. The Duke questioned them narrowly, and being +satisfied with their intelligence and coolness, caused them to take an +oath on the Evangelists, that they were not playing him false. He then +selected a band of one hundred musketeers, partly Spaniards, partly +Walloons--to be followed at a distance by a much, more considerable +force; two thousand in number, under Sancho de Leyva: and the Marquis of +Renti--and appointed the following night for an enterprise against the +city, under the guidance of Grimstone. + +It was a wild autumnal night, moonless, pitch-dark, with a storm of +wind and rain. The waters were out--for the dykes had been cut in all +'directions by the defenders of the city--and, with exception of some +elevated points occupied by Parma's forces, the whole country was +overflowed. Before the party set forth on their daring expedition, +the two Englishmen were tightly bound with cords, and led, each by two +soldiers, instructed to put them to instant death if their conduct should +give cause for suspicion. But both Grimstone and Redhead preserved a +cheerful countenance, and inspired a strong confidence in their honest +intention to betray their countrymen. And thus the band of bold +adventurers plunged at once into the darkness, and soon found themselves +contending with the tempest, and wading breast high in the black waters +of the Scheldt. + +After a long and perilous struggle, they at length reached the appointed +gate, The external portcullis was raised and the fifteen foremost of the +band rushed into tho town. At the next moment, Lord Willoughby, who had +been privy to the whole scheme, cut with his own hand the cords which, +held the portcullis, and entrapped the leaders of the expedition, who +were all, at once put to the sword, while their followers were thundering +at the gate. The lieutenant and suttler who had thus overreached that +great master of dissimulation; Alexander Farnese; were at the same time +unbound by their comrades, and rescued from the fate intended for them. + +Notwithstanding the probability--when the portcullis fell--that the whole +party, had been deceived by an artifice of war the adventurers, who had +come so far, refused to abandon the enterprise, and continued an +impatient battery upon the gate. At last it was swung wide open, and +a furious onslaught was made by the garrison upon the Spaniards. There +was--a fierce brief struggle, and then the assailants were utterly +routed. Some were killed under the walls, while the rest were hunted +into the waves. Nearly every one of the, expedition (a thousand in +number) perished. + +It had now become obvious to the Duke that his siege must be raised. +The days were gone when the walls of Dutch towns seemed to melt before +the first scornful glance of the Spanish invader; and when a summons +meant a surrender, and a surrender a massacre. Now, strong in the +feeling of independence, and supported by the courage and endurance of +their English allies, the Hollanders had learned to humble the pride of +Spain as it had never been humbled before. The hero of a hundred battle- +fields, the inventive and brilliant conqueror of Antwerp, seemed in the +deplorable issue of the English invasion to have lost all his genius, all +his fortune. A cloud had fallen upon his fame, and he now saw himself; +at the head of the best army in Europe, compelled to retire, defeated and +humiliated, from the walls of Bergen. Winter was coming on apace; the +country was flooded; the storms in that-bleak region and inclement season +were incessant; and he was obliged to retreat before his army should be +drowned. + +On the night of 12-13 November he set fire to his camp; and took his +departure. By daybreak he was descried in full retreat, and was hotly +pursued by the English and Dutch from the city, who drove the great +Alexander and his legions before them in ignominious flight. Lord +Willoughby, in full view of the retiring enemy, indulged the allied +forces with a chivalrous spectacle. Calling a halt, after it had become +obviously useless, with their small force of cavalry; to follow any +longer, through a flooded country, an enemy who had abandoned his design, +he solemnly conferred the honour of knighthood, in the name of Queen +Elizabeth, on the officers who had most distinguished themselves during +the siege, Francis Vere, Baskerville, Powell, Parker, Knowles, and on the +two Netherland brothers, Paul and Marcellus Bax. + +The Duke of Parma then went into winter quarters in Brabant, and, before +the spring, that obedient Province had been eaten as bare as Flanders had +already been by the friendly Spaniards. + +An excellent understanding between England and Holland had been the +result of their united and splendid exertions against the Invincible +Armada. Late in the year 1588 Sir John Norris had been sent by the Queen +to offer her congratulations and earnest thanks to the States for their +valuable assistance in preserving her throne, and to solicit their +cooperation in some new designs against the common foe. Unfortunately, +however, the epoch of good feeling was but of brief duration. Bitterness +and dissension seemed the inevitable conditions of the English-Dutch +alliance. It will be, remembered, that, on the departure of Leicester, +several cities had refused to acknowledge the authority of Count Maurice +and the States; and that civil war in the scarcely-born commonwealth had +been the result. Medenblik, Naarden, and the other contumacious cities, +had however been reduced to obedience after the reception of the Earl's +resignation, but the important city of Gertruydenberg had remained in a +chronic state of mutiny. This rebellion had been partially appeased +during the year 1588 by the efforts of Willoughby, who had strengthened, +the garrison by reinforcements of English troops under command of his +brother-in-law, Sir John Wingfield. Early in 1589 however, the whole +garrison became rebellious, disarmed and maltreated the burghers, and +demanded immediate payment of the heavy arrearages still due to the +troops. Willoughby, who--much disgusted with his career in the +Netherlands--was about leaving for England, complaining that the States +had not only left him without remuneration for his services, but had not +repaid his own advances, nor even given him a complimentary dinner, tried +in vain to pacify them. A rumour became very current, moreover, that the +garrison had opened negotiations with Alexander Farnese, and accordingly +Maurice of Nassau--of whose patrimonial property the city of +Gertruydenberg made a considerable proportion, to the amount of eight +thousand pounds sterling a years--after summoning the garrison, in his +own name and that of the States, to surrender, laid siege to the place +in form. It would have been cheaper, no doubt, to pay the demands of the +garrison in full, and allow them to depart. But Maurice considered his +honour at stake. His letters of summons, in which he spoke of the +rebellious commandant and his garrison as self-seeking foreigners and +mercenaries, were taken in very ill part. Wingfield resented the +statement in very insolent language, and offered to prove its falsehood +with his sword against any man and in any place whatever. Willoughby +wrote to his brother-in-law, from Flushing, when about to embark, +disapproving of his conduct and of his language; and to Maurice, +deprecating hostile measures against a city under the protection of Queen +Elizabeth. At any rate, he claimed that Sir John Wingfield and his wife, +the Countess of Kent, with their newly-born child, should be allowed to +depart from the place. But Wingfield expressed great scorn at any +suggestion of retreat, and vowed that he would rather surrender the city +to the Spaniards than tolerate the presumption of Maurice and the States. +The young Prince accordingly, opened his batteries, but before an +entrance could be effected into the town, was obliged to retire at the +approach of Count Mansfield with a much superior force. Gertruydenberg +was now surrendered to the Spaniards in accordance with a secret +negotiation which had been proceeding all the spring, and had been +brought to a conclusion at last. The garrison received twelve months' +pay in full and a gratuity of five months in addition, and the city was +then reduced into obedience to Spain and Rome on the terms which had been +usual during the government of Farnese. + +The loss of this city was most severe to the republic, for the enemy had +thus gained an entrance into the very heart of Holland. It was a more +important acquisition to Alexander than even Bergen-op-Zoom would have +been, and it was a bitter reflection that to the treachery of +Netherlanders and of their English allies this great disaster was owing. +All the wrath aroused a year before by the famous treason of York and +Stanley, and which had been successfully extinguished, now flamed forth +afresh. The States published a placard denouncing the men who had thus +betrayed the cause of freedom, and surrendered the city of Gertruydenberg +to the Spaniards, as perjured traitors whom it was made lawful to hang, +whenever or wherever caught, without trial or sentence, and offering +fifty florins a-head for every private soldier and one hundred florins +for any officer of the garrison. A list of these Englishmen and +Netherlanders, so far as known, was appended to the placard, and the +catalogue was headed by the name of Sir John Wingfield. + +Thus the consequences of the fatal event were even more deplorable than +the loss of the city itself. The fury of Olden-Barneveld at the treason +was excessive, and the great Advocate governed the policy of the +republic, at this period, almost like a dictator. The States, easily +acknowledging the sway of the imperious orator, became bitter--and +wrathful with the English, side by side with whom they had lately been +so cordially standing. + +Willoughby, on his part, now at the English court, was furious with the +States, and persuaded the leading counsellors of the Queen as well as her +Majesty herself, to adopt his view of the transaction. Wingfield, it was +asserted, was quite innocent in the matter; he was entirely ignorant of +the French language, and therefore was unable to read a word of the +letters addressed to him by Maurice and the replies which had been signed +by himself. Whether this strange excuse ought to be accepted or not, it +is quite certain that he was no traitor like York and Stanley, and no +friend to Spain; for he had stipulated for himself the right to return +to England, and had neither received nor desired any reward. He hated +Maurice and he hated the States, but he asserted that he had been held +in durance, that the garrison was mutinous, and that he was no more +responsible for the loss of the city than Sir Francis Vere had been, who +had also been present, and whose name had been subsequently withdrawn, in +honourable fashion from the list of traitors, by authority of the States. +His position--so far as he was personally concerned--seemed defensible, +and the Queen was thoroughly convinced of his innocence. Willoughby +complained that the republic was utterly in the hands of Barneveld, that +no man ventured to lift his voice or his eyes in presence of the terrible +Advocate who ruled every Netherlander with a rod of iron, and that his +violent and threatening language to Wingfield and himself at the dinner- +table in Bergen-op-Zoom on the subject of the mutiny (when one hundred of +the Gertruydenberg garrison were within sound of his voice) had been the +chief cause of the rebellion. Inspired by these remonstrances, the Queen +once more emptied the vials of her wrath upon the United Netherlands. +The criminations and recriminations seemed endless, and it was most +fortunate that Spain had been weakened, that Alexander, a prey to +melancholy and to lingering disease, had gone to the baths of Spa to +recruit his shattered health, and that his attention and the schemes of +Philip for the year 1589 and the following period were to be directed +towards France. Otherwise the commonwealth could hardly have escaped +still more severe disasters than those already experienced in this +unfortunate condition of its affairs, and this almost hopeless +misunderstanding with its most important and vigorous friend. + +While these events had been occurring in the heart of the republic, +Martin Schenk, that restless freebooter, had been pursuing a bustling and +most lucrative career on its outskirts. All the episcopate of Cologne-- +that debatable land of the two rival paupers, Bavarian Ernest and Gebhard +Truchsess--trembled before him. Mothers scared their children into +quiet with the terrible name of Schenk, and farmers and land-younkers +throughout the electorate and the land of Berg, Cleves, and Juliers, paid +their black-mail, as if it were a constitutional impost, to escape the +levying process of the redoubtable partisan. + +But Martin was no longer seconded, as he should have been, by the States, +to whom he had been ever faithful since he forsook the banner of Spain +for their own; and he had even gone to England and complained to the +Queen of the short-comings of those who owed him so much. His ingenious +and daring exploit--the capture of Bonn--has already been narrated, but +the States had neglected the proper precautions to secure that important +city. It had consequently, after a six months' siege, been surrendered +to the Spaniards under Prince Chimay, on the 19th of September; while, in +December following, the city of Wachtendonk, between the Rhine and Meuse, +had fallen into Mansfeld's hands. Rheinberg, the only city of the +episcopate which remained to the deposed Truchsess, was soon afterwards +invested by the troops of Parma, and Schenk in vain summoned the States- +General to take proper measures for its defence. But with the enemy now +eating his way towards the heart of Holland, and with so many dangers +threatening them on every side, it was thought imprudent to go so far +away to seek the enemy. So Gebhard retired in despair into Germany, +and Martin did what he could to protect Rheinberg, and to fill his own +coffers at the expense of the whole country side. + +He had built a fort, which then and long afterwards bore his name- +Schenken Schans, or Schenk's Sconce--at that important point where the +Rhine, opening its two arms to enclose the "good meadow" island of +Batavia, becomes on the left the Waal, while on the right it retains its +ancient name; and here, on the outermost edge of the republic, and +looking straight from his fastness into the fruitful fields of Munster, +Westphalia, and the electorate, the industrious Martin devoted himself +with advantage to his favourite pursuits. + +On the 7th of August, on the heath of Lippe, he had attacked a body of +Spanish musketeers, more than a thousand strong, who were protecting a +convoy of provisions, treasure, and furniture, sent by Farnese to +Verdugo, royal governor of Friesland. Schenk, without the loss of a +single man, had put the greater part of these Spaniards and Walloons to +the sword, and routed the rest. The leader of the expedition, Colonel +Aristotle Patton, who had once played him so foul a trick in the +surrender of Gelder, had soon taken to flight, when he found his ancient +enemy upon him, and, dashing into the Lippe, had succeeded, by the +strength and speed of his horse, in gaining the opposite bank, and +effecting his escape. Had he waited many minutes longer it is probable +that the treacherous Aristotle would have passed a comfortless half-hour +with his former comrade. Treasure to the amount of seven thousand crowns +in gold, five hundred horses, with jewels, plate, and other articles of +value, were the fruit of this adventure, and Schenk returned with his +followers, highly delighted, to Schenkenschans, and sent the captured +Spanish colours to her Majesty of England as a token. + +A few miles below his fortress was Nymegen, and towards that ancient and +wealthy city Schenk had often cast longing eyes. It still held for the +King, although on the very confines of Batavia; but while acknowledging +the supremacy of Philip, it claimed the privileges of the empire. From +earliest times it had held its head very high among imperial towns, had +been one of the three chief residences of the Emperor. Charlemagne, and +still paid the annual tribute of a glove full of pepper to the German +empire. + +On the evening of the 10th of August, 1589, there was a wedding feast in +one of the splendid mansions of the stately city. The festivities were +prolonged until deep in the midsummer's night, and harp and viol were +still inspiring the feet of the dancers, when on a sudden, in the midst +of the holiday-groups, appeared the grim visage of Martin Schenk, the man +who never smiled. Clad in no wedding-garment, but in armour of proof, +with morion on head, and sword in hand, the great freebooter strode +heavily through the ball-room, followed by a party of those terrible +musketeers who never gave or asked for quarter, while the affrighted +revellers fluttered away before them. + +Taking advantage of a dark night, he had just dropped down the river from +his castle, with five-and-twenty barges, had landed with his most trusted +soldiers in the foremost vessels, had battered down the gate of St. +Anthony, and surprised and slain the guard. Without waiting for the rest +of his boats, he had then stolen with his comrades through the silent +streets, and torn away the lattice-work, and other slight defences on the +rear of the house which they had now entered, and through which they +intended to possess themselves of the market-place. Martin had long +since selected this mansion as a proper position for his enterprise, but +he had not been bidden to the wedding, and was somewhat disconcerted when +he found himself on the festive scene which he had so grimly interrupted. +Some of the merry-makers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm +the town; while Schenk hastily fortified his position; and took +possession of the square. But the burghers and garrison were soon on +foot, and he was driven back into the house. Three times he recovered +the square by main strength of his own arm, seconded by the handful of +men whom he had brought with him, and three times he was beaten back by +overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion. The arrival of the +greater part of his followers, with whose assistance he could easily have +mastered the city in the first moments of surprise, was mysteriously +delayed. He could not account for their prolonged, absence, and was +meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with him in the +foremost barges. + +The truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the +flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the Waal, then in +a state of freshet, had shot past the landing-place, and had ever since +been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to +the necessary point. Meantime Schenk and his followers fought +desperately in the market-place, and desperately in the house which he +had seized. But a whole garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms +proved too much for him, and he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, +and at last driven forth into the streets. + +By this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and +burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band +of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to +be found. Schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the +musketeers, in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat +towards the quay. In vain Martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his +own hand he struck more than one of his soldiers dead. He was swept +along with the panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his +teeth with frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why +his great enterprise had failed. The few empty barges of his own party +were moored at the steps; the rest were half a mile off, contending +hopelessly against the swollen and rapid Waal. Schenk, desperately +wounded, was left almost alone upon the wharf, for his routed followers +had plunged helter skelter into the boats, several of which, overladen in +the panic, sank at once, leaving the soldiers to drown or struggle with +the waves. The game was lost. Nothing was left the freebooter but +retreat. Reluctantly turning his back on his enemies, now in full cry +close behind him, Schenk sprang into the last remaining boat just pushing +from the quay. Already overladen, it foundered with his additional +weight, and Martin Schenk, encumbered with his heavy armour, sank at once +to the bottom of the Waal. + +Some of the fugitives succeeded in swimming down the stream, and were +picked up by their comrades in the barges below the town, and so made +their escape. Many were drowned with their captain. A few days +afterwards, the inhabitants of Nymegen fished up the body of the famous +partisan. He was easily recognized by his armour, and by his truculent +face, still wearing the scowl with which he had last rebuked his +followers. His head was taken off at once, and placed on one of the +turrets of the town, and his body, divided in four, was made to adorn +other portions of the battlements; so that the burghers were enabled to +feast their eyes on the remnants of the man at whose name the whole +country had so often trembled. + +This was the end of Sir Martin Schenk of Niddegem, knight, colonel, and +brigand; save that ultimately his dissevered limbs were packed in a +chest, and kept in a church tower, until Maurice of Nassau, in course of +time becoming master of Nymegen, honoured the valiant and on the whole +faithful freebooter with a Christian and military burial. + +A few months later (October, 1589) another man who had been playing an +important part in the Netherlands' drama lost his life. Count Moeurs and +Niewenaar, stadholder of Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overysael, while +inspecting some newly-invented fireworks, was suddenly killed by their +accidental ignition and explosion. His death left vacant three great +stadholderates, which before long were to be conferred upon a youth whose +power henceforth was rapidly to grow greater. + +The misunderstanding between Holland and England continuing, Olden- +Barneveld, Aerssens, and Buys, refusing to see that they had done wrong +in denouncing the Dutch and English traitors who had sold Gertruydenberg +to the enemy, and the Queen and her counsellors persisting in their anger +at so insolent a proceeding, it may easily be supposed that there was no +great heartiness in the joint expedition against Spain, which had been +projected in the autumn of 1588, and was accomplished in the spring and +summer of 1589. + +Nor was this well-known enterprise fruitful of any remarkable result. +It had been decided to carry the war into Spain itself, and Don Antonio, +prior of Crato, bastard of Portugal, and pretender to its crown, had +persuaded himself and the English government that his name would be +potent to conjure with in that kingdom, hardly yet content with the +Spanish yoke. Supported by a determined force of English and Dutch +adventurers, he boasted that he should excite a revolution by the magic +of his presence, and cause Philip's throne to tremble, in return for the +audacious enterprise of that monarch against England. + +If a foray were to be made into Spain, no general and no admiral could be +found in the world so competent to the adventure as Sir John Norris and +Sir Francis Drake. They were accompanied, too, by Sir Edward Norris, and +another of those 'chickens of Mars,' Henry Norris; by the indomitable and +ubiquitous Welshman, Roger Williams, and by the young Earl of Essex, whom +the Queen in vain commanded to remain at home, and who, somewhat to the +annoyance of the leaders of the expedition, concealed himself from her +Majesty's pursuit, and at last embarked in a vessel which he had +equipped, in order not to be cheated of his share in the hazard and +the booty. "If I speed well," said the spendthrift but valiant youth; +"I will adventure to be rich; if not, I will never live, to see the end +of my poverty." + +But no great riches were to be gathered in the expedition. With some +fourteen thousand men, and one hundred and sixty vessels--of which six +were the Queen's ships of war, including the famous Revenge and the +Dreadnought, and the rest armed merchantmen, English, and forty +Hollanders--and with a contingent of fifteen hundred Dutchmen under +Nicolas van Meetkerke and Van Laen, the adventurers set sail from +Plymouth on the 18th of April, 1589. + +They landed at Coruna--at which place they certainly could not expect to +create a Portuguese revolution, which was the first object of the +expedition--destroyed some shipping in the harbour, captured and sacked +the lower town, and were repulsed in the upper; marched with six thousand +men to Burgos, crossed the bridge at push of pike, and routed ten +thousand Spaniards under Andrada and Altamira--Edward Norris receiving a +desperate blow on the head at the passage' of the bridge, and being +rescued from death by his brother John--took sail for the south after +this action, in which they had killed a thousand Spaniards, and had lost +but two men of their own; were joined off Cape Finisterre by Essex; +landed a force at Peniche, the castle of which place surrendered to them, +and acknowledged the authority of Don Antonio; and thence marched with +the main body of the troops, under Sir John Norris, forty-eight miles to +Lisbon, while Drake, with the fleet, was to sail up the Tagus. + +Nothing like a revolution had been effected in Portugal. No one seemed +to care for the Pretender, or even to be aware that he had ever existed, +except the governor of Peniche Castle, a few ragged and bare-footed +peasants, who, once upon the road, shouted "Viva Don Antonio," and one +old gentleman by the way side, who brought him a plate of plums. His +hopes of a crown faded rapidly, and when the army reached Lisbon it had +dwindled to not much more than four thousand effective men--the rest +being dead of dysentery, or on the sick-list from imprudence in eating +and drinking--while they found that they had made an unfortunate omission +in their machinery for assailing the capital, having not a single +fieldpiece in the whole army. Moreover, as Drake was prevented by bad +weather and head-winds from sailing up the Tagus, it seemed a difficult +matter to carry the city. A few cannon, and the co-operation of the +fleet, were hardly to be dispensed with on such an occasion. +Nevertheless it would perhaps have proved an easier task than it +appeared--for so great was the panic within the place that a large number +of the inhabitants had fled, the Cardinal Viceroy Archduke Albert had but +a very insufficient guard, and there were many gentlemen of high station +who were anxious to further the entrance of the English, and who were +afterwards hanged or garotted for their hostile sentiments to the Spanish +government. + +While the leaders were deliberating what course to take, they were +informed that Count Fuentes and Henriquez de Guzman, with six thousand +men, lay at a distance of two miles from Lisbon, and that they had been +proclaiming by sound of trumpet that the English had been signally +defeated before Lisbon, and that they were in full retreat. + +Fired at this bravado, Norris sent a trumpet to Fuentes and Guzman, +with a letter signed and sealed, giving them the lie in plainest terms, +appointing the next day for a meeting of the two forces, and assuring +them that when the next encounter should take place, it should be seen +whether a Spaniard or an Englishman would be first to fly; while Essex, +on his part, sent a note, defying either or both those boastful generals +to single combat. Next day the English army took the field, but the +Spaniards retired before them; and nothing came of this exchange of +cartels, save a threat on the part of Fuentes to hang the trumpeter who +had brought the messages. From the execution of this menace he +refrained, however, on being assured that the deed would be avenged by +the death of the Spanish prisoner of highest rank then in English hands, +and thus the trumpeter escaped. + +Soon afterwards the fleet set sail from the Tagus, landed, and burned +Vigo on their way homeward, and returned to Plymouth about the middle of +July. + +Of the thirteen thousand came home six thousand, the rest having perished +of dysentery and other disorders. They had braved and insulted Spain, +humbled her generals, defied her power, burned some defenceless villages, +frightened the peasantry, set fire to some shipping, destroyed wine, oil, +and other merchandize, and had divided among the survivors of the +expedition, after landing in England, five shillings a head prize-money; +but they had not effected a revolution in Portugal. Don Antonio had been +offered nothing by his faithful subjects but a dish of plums--so that he +retired into obscurity from that time forward--and all this was scarcely +a magnificent result for the death of six or seven thousand good English +and Dutch soldiers, and the outlay of considerable treasure. + +As a free-booting foray--and it was nothing else--it could hardly be +thought successful; although it was a splendid triumph compared with the +result of the long and loudly heralded Invincible Armada. + +In France, great events during the remainder of 1588 and the following +year, and which are well known even to the most superficial student of +history, had much changed the aspect of European affairs. It was +fortunate for the two commonwealths of Holland and England, engaged in +the great struggle for civil and religious liberty, and national +independence, that the attention of Philip became more and more absorbed- +as time wore on--with the affairs of France. It seemed necessary for him +firmly to establish his dominion in that country before attempting once +more the conquest of England, or the recovery of the Netherlands. For +France had been brought more nearly to anarchy and utter decomposition +than ever. Henry III., after his fatal forgiveness of the deadly offence +of Guise, felt day by day more keenly that he had transferred his +sceptre--such as it was--to that dangerous intriguer. Bitterly did the +King regret having refused the prompt offer of Alphonse Corse on the day +of the barricades; for now, so long as the new generalissimo should live, +the luckless Henry felt himself a superfluity in his own realm. The +halcyon days were for ever past, when, protected by the swords of Joyeuse +and of Epernon, the monarch of France could pass his life playing at cup +and ball, or snipping images out of pasteboard, or teaching his parrots- +to talk, or his lap-dogs to dance. His royal occupations were gone, and +murder now became a necessary preliminary to any future tranquillity or +enjoyment. Discrowned as he felt himself already, he knew that life or +liberty was only held by him now at the will of Guise. The assassination +of the Duke in December was the necessary result of the barricades in +May; and accordingly that assassination was arranged with an artistic +precision of which the world had hardly suspected the Valois to be +capable, and which Philip himself might have envied. + +The story of the murders of Blois--the destruction of Guise and his +brother the Cardinal, and the subsequent imprisonment of the Archbishop +of Lyons, the Cardinal Bourbon, and the Prince de Joinville, now, through +the death of his father, become the young Duke of Guise--all these events +are too familiar in the realms of history, song, romance, and painting, +to require more than this slight allusion here. + +Never had an assassination been more technically successful; yet its +results were not commensurate with the monarch's hopes. The deed which +he had thought premature in May was already too late in December. His +mother denounced his cruelty now, as she had, six months before, +execrated his cowardice. And the old Queen, seeing that her game was +played out--that the cards had all gone against her--that her son was +doomed, and her own influence dissolved in air, felt that there was +nothing left for her but to die. In a week she was dead, and men spoke +no more of Catharine de' Medici, and thought no more of her than if--in +the words of a splenetic contemporary--"she had been a dead she-goat." +Paris howled with rage when it learned the murders of Blois, and the +sixteen quarters became more furious than ever against the Valois. Some +wild talk there was of democracy and republicanism after the manner of +Switzerland, and of dividing France into cantons--and there was an +earnest desire on the part of every grandee, every general, every soldier +of fortune, to carve out a portion of French territory with his sword, +and to appropriate it for himself and his heirs. Disintegration was +making rapid progress, and the epoch of the last Valois seemed mare dark +and barbarous than the times of the degenerate Carlovingians had been. +The letter-writer of the Escorial, who had earnestly warned his faithful +Mucio, week after week, that dangers were impending over him, and that +"some trick would be played upon him," should he venture into the royal +presence, now acquiesced in his assassination, and placidly busied +himself with fresh combinations and newer tools. + +Baked, hunted, scorned by all beside, the luckless Henry now threw +himself into the arms of the Bearnese--the man who could and would have +protected him long before, had the King been capable of understanding +their relative positions and his own true interests. Could the Valois +have conceived the thought of religious toleration, his throne even then +might have been safe. But he preferred playing the game of the priests +and bigots, who execrated his name and were bent upon his destruction. +At last, at Plessis les Tours, the Bearnese, in his shabby old chamois +jacket and his well-dinted cuirass took the silken Henry in his arms, and +the two--the hero and the fribble--swearing eternal friendship, proceeded +to besiege Paris. A few weeks later, the dagger of Jacques Clement put +an end for ever to, the line of Valois. Luckless Henry III. slept with +his forefathers, and Henry of Bourbon and Navarre proclaimed himself King +of France. Catharine and her four sons had all past away at last, and it +would be a daring and a dexterous schemer who should now tear the crown, +for which he had so long and so patiently waited, from the iron grasp of +the Bearnese. Philip had a more difficult game than ever to play in +France. It would be hard for him to make valid the claims of the Infanta +and any husband he might select for her to the crown of her grandfather +Henry II. It seemed simple enough for him, while waiting the course of +events, to set up a royal effigy before the world in the shape of an +effete old Cardinal Bourbon, to pour oil upon its head and to baptize it +Charles X.; but meantime the other Bourbon was no effigy, and he called +himself Henry IV. + +It was easy enough for Paris, and Madam League, and Philip the Prudent, +to cry wo upon the heretic; but the cheerful leader of the Huguenots was +a philosopher, who in the days of St. Bartholomew had become orthodox to +save his life, and who was already "instructing himself" anew in order to +secure his crown. Philip was used to deal with fanatics, and had often +been opposed by a religious bigotry as fierce as his own; but he might +perhaps be baffled by a good-humoured free-thinker, who was to teach him +a lesson in political theology of which he had never dreamed. + +The Leaguers were not long in doubt as to the meaning of "instruction," +and they were thoroughly persuaded that--so soon as Henry IV. should +reconcile himself with Rome--their game was likely to become desperate. + +Nevertheless prudent Philip sat in his elbow-chairs writing his +apostilles, improving himself and his secretaries in orthography, but +chiefly confining his attention to the affairs of France. The departed +Mucio's brother Mayenne was installed as chief stipendiary of Spain and +lieutenant-general for the League in France, until Philip should +determine within himself in what form to assume the sovereignty of that +kingdom. It might be questionable however whether that corpulent Duke, +who spent more time in eating than Henry IV. did in sleeping, and was +longer in reading a letter than Henry in winning a battle, were likely to +prove a very dangerous rival even with all Spain at his back--to the +lively Bearnese. But time would necessarily be consumed before the end +was reached, and time and Philip were two. Henry of Navarre and France +was ready to open his ears to instruction; but even he had declared, +several years before, that "a religion was not to be changed like a +shirt." So while the fresh garment was airing for him at Rome, and while +he was leisurely stripping off the old, he might perhaps be taken at +a disadvantage. Fanaticism on both sides, during this process of +instruction, might be roused. The Huguenots on their part might denounce +the treason of their great chief, and the Papists, on theirs, howl at the +hypocrisy of the pretended conversion. But Henry IV. had philosophically +prepared himself for the denunciations of the Protestants, while +determined to protect them against the persecutions of the Romanism to +which he meant to give his adhesion. While accepting the title of +renegade, together with an undisputed crown, he was not the man to +rekindle those fires of religious bigotry which it was his task to +quench, now that they had lighted his way to the throne. The demands +of his Catholic supporters for the exclusion from the kingdom of all +religions but their own, were steadily refused. + +And thus the events of 1588 and 1589 indicated that the great game of +despotism against freedom would be played, in the coming years, upon the +soil of France. Already Elizabeth had furnished the new King with +L22,000 in gold--a larger sum; as he observed, than he had ever seen +before in his life, and the States of the Netherlands had provided him +with as much more. Willoughby too, and tough Roger Williams, and +Baskerville, and Umpton, and Vere, with 4000 English pikemen at their +back, had already made a brief but spirited campaign in France; and the +Duke of Parma, after recruiting his health; so, far as it was possible; +at Spa, was preparing himself to measure swords with that great captain +of Huguenots; who now assumed the crown of his ancestors, upon the same +ground. It seemed probable that for the coming years England would be +safe from Spanish invasion, and that Holland would have a better +opportunity than it had ever enjoyed before of securing its liberty and +perfecting its political organization. While Parma, Philip; and Mayenne +were fighting the Bearnese for the crown of France, there might be a +fairer field for the new commonwealth of the United Netherlands. + +And thus many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have +already passed away. Leicester had died just after the defeat of the +Armada, and the thrifty Queen, while dropping a tear upon the grave of +'sweet Robin,' had sold his goods at auction to defray his debts to +herself; and Moeurs, and Martin Schenk, and 'Mucio,' and Henry III., and +Catharine de' Medici, were all dead. But Philip the Prudent remained, +and Elizabeth of England, and Henry of France and Navarre, and John of +Olden-Barneveld; and there was still another personage, a very young man +still, but a deep-thinking, hard-working student, fagging steadily at +mathematics and deep in the works of Stevinus, who, before long, might +play a conspicuous part in the world's great drama. But, previously to +1590, Maurice of Nassau seemed comparatively insignificant, and he could +be spoken of by courtiers as a cipher, and as an unmannerly boy just let +loose from school. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +I will never live, to see the end of my poverty +Religion was not to be changed like a shirt +Tension now gave place to exhaustion + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v59 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, ENTIRE 1586-89 UNITED NETHERLANDS: + +A burnt cat fears the fire +A free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity +Act of Uniformity required Papists to assist +All business has been transacted with open doors +And thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight +Are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope +Arminianism +As lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic inquisition +As logical as men in their cups are prone to be +Baiting his hook a little to his appetite +Beacons in the upward path of mankind +Been already crimination and recrimination more than enough +Bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards +Canker of a long peace +Casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" +Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station +Disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the Gospel +During this, whole war, we have never seen the like +Elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom +Englishmen and Hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats +Even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly +Evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better +Faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect +Fitter to obey than to command +Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils +Fool who useth not wit because he hath it not +Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all +Full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces +God, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather +Guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith +Hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves +Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning +Heretics to the English Church were persecuted +High officers were doing the work of private, soldiers +I did never see any man behave himself as he did +I am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but God +I will never live, to see the end of my poverty +Individuals walking in advance of their age +Infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty +Inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in The Armada +Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated +Look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace +Loving only the persons who flattered him +Mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity +Never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war +Never did statesmen know better how not to do +Not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed +Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy +One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions +Only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust +Pray here for satiety, (said Cecil) than ever think of variety +Rebuked him for his obedience +Religion was not to be changed like a shirt +Respect for differences in religious opinions +Sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully obeying her orders +Security is dangerous +She relieth on a hope that will deceive her +Simple truth was highest skill +Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed +Sparing and war have no affinity together +Stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust +Strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand +Succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill +Sure bind, sure find +Sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace +Tension now gave place to exhaustion +That crowned criminal, Philip the Second +The worst were encouraged with their good success +The blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels +The sapling was to become the tree +Their existence depended on war +There is no man fitter for that purpose than myself +They chose to compel no man's conscience +Tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind +Torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children +Trust her sword, not her enemy's word +Undue anxiety for impartiality +Universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day +Waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman +We were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us +Wealthy Papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine +Who the "people" exactly were + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Entire 1586-89 United Netherlands +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 72 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1590-1599, Complete + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + Effect of the Assassination of Henry III.--Concentration of forces + for the invasion of France--The Netherlands determine on striking a + blow for freedom--Organization of a Dutch army--Stratagem to + surprise the castle of Breda--Intrepidity and success of the + enterprise. + +The dagger of Jacques Clement had done much, and was likely to do +more, to change the face of Europe. Another proof was afforded that +assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political +problems of the sixteenth century. Another illustration was exhibited of +the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in +himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical +results. It seemed that the murder of Henry III.--that forlorn +caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently +beneficial to the cause of the Netherland commonwealth. Five years +earlier, the murder of William the Silent had seemed to threaten its +very existence. + +For Philip the Prudent, now that France was deprived of a head, conceived +that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of +that kingdom. While a thing of straw, under the name of Charles X. and +shape of a Cardinal Bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living +sovereign and soldier, the heretic Bearnese, the Duke of Parma was +privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the +realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the Holy League. + +Accordingly, early in the year 1590, Alexander concentrated a +considerable force on the French frontier in Artois and Hainault, +apparently threatening Bergen-op-Zoom and other cities in South Holland, +but in reality preparing to invade France. The Duke of Mayenne, who had +assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already +visited him at Brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. + +While these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be +afforded to the Netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and +independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to +be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of +their neighbours. The question was whether there would be a statesman +and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. + +There was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the Taciturn, +had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who +already was paramount in the councils of the States-General. There was a +soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary +claims to the confidence and affection of the United Provinces and who +had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father +and his country. Fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were +working most harmoniously together. John of Olden-Barneveld, with his +great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with +young Maurice of Nassau at this important crisis in the history of the +new commonwealth. + +At length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'-- +according to the device assumed by the son of William the Silent after +his father's death. + +The Netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the +scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been +struggling, and Maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical +man. He was no enthusiast; he was no poet. He was at that period +certainly no politician. Not often at the age of twenty has a man +devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving +his country. Yet this was Maurice's scheme. Four years long and more, +when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been +alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the +field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the +learned Simon Stevinus of Bruges. The scientific work which they +composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, +might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to +the prince, but it is certain that Maurice was an apt scholar. + +In that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the +elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were +of necessity much cultivated. It was reserved for the young +mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. + +Moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and +practical skill, which had almost made Spain the mistress of the world, +were sinking into decay. Farnese, although still in the prime of life, +was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of +himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene +where they had played. their parts so consummately. The army of the +Netherlands was still to be created. Thus far the contest had been +mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or +hirelings. The train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles +against Spanish pikemen and artillerists, Italian and Albanian cavalry by +the German riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to +either combatant according to the highest bid, and by English +mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth +under such well-seasoned captains as Williams and Morgan, Vere and the +Norrises, Baskerville and Willoughby. + +But a Dutch army there was none and Maurice had determined that at last +a national force should be created. In this enterprise he was aided and +guided by his cousin Lewis William, Stadtholder of Friesland--the quaint, +rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of +freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless +and impulsive in the field. + +Lewis William had felt that the old military art was dying out and that-- +there was nothing to take its place. He was a diligent student of +antiquity. He had revived in the swamps of Friesland the old manoeuvres, +the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or +columns, by which the ancient Romans had performed so much excellent work +in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. +Old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of Leo the Thracian nor +the Macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they +listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound +astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his +troops. From the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity +upon these innovations on the good old battle order. They were +accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, +steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. +It was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such +stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when +the little Stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various +shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of +ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the +foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the +front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide +ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of +reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. But there came a day when they +did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. Meantime the two cousins, +who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood +each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be +adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. + +The regular army of the Netherlands was small in number at that moment-- +not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was +well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, +regularly paid. Old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of +paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a +colonel now received for his whole regiment. The days when a thousand +men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing +away for the United Provinces and existed only for Italians and +Spaniards. While, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale +seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of Philip, the +little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe to imitate. + +The United Provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own +territory. Many of their most important cities still held for the king. +In Brabant, such towns as Breda with its many dependencies and +Gertruydenberg; on the Waal, the strong and wealthy Nymegen which Martin +Schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the Yssel, the thriving +city of Zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor York, and +the stately Deventer, which had been placed in Philip's possession by the +treachery of Sir William Stanley; on the borders of Drenthe, the almost +impregnable Koevorden, key to the whole Zwollian country; and in the very +heart of ancient Netherland, Groningen, capital of the province of the +same name, which the treason of Renneberg had sold to the Spanish tyrant; +all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were +garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of Dutch independence +a delusion. + +While Alexander of Parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to +what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his +back on the Netherlands in order to relieve Paris, now hard pressed +by the Bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a +beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable +possessions. + +The fair and pleasant city of Breda lies on the Merk, a slender stream, +navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the +great canal of the Dintel. It had been the property of the Princes of +Orange, Barons of Breda, and had passed with the other possessions of +the family to the house of Chalons-Nassau. Henry of Nassau had, half a +century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress +which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the +town. A garrison of five companies of Italian infantry and one of +cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of Edward +Lanzavecchia, governor both of Breda and of the neighbouring +Gertruydenberg. + +Breda was an important strategical position. It was moreover the feudal +superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities +Osterhout, Steenberg and Rosendaal. It was obviously not more desirable +for Maurice of Nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the +States-General to drive the Spaniards from so important a position! + +In the month of February, 1590, Maurice, being then at the castle of +Voorn in Zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, Adrian van der +Berg by name, who lived at the village of Leur, eight or ten miles from +Breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with +turf. In the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the +country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests +which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. The skipper +represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the +castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. +He suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the +stronghold. + +The prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with +Barneveld. That statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to +carry out the daring venture, Captain Charles de Heraugiere, a nobleman +of Cambray, who had been long in the service of the States, had +distinguished himself at Sluys and on other occasions, but who had been +implicated in Leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city +of Leyden a few years before. The Advocate expressed confidence that he +would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat +damaged reputation. Heraugiere, who was with his company in Voorn at the +moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as +the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the +house of William the Silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his +life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. Philip Nassau, +cousin of Prince Maurice and brother of Lewis William, governor of +Gorcum, Dorcum, and Lowenstein Castle and colonel of a regiment of +cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as Count Hohenlo, +President Van der Myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully +spread and maintained over the undertaking. + +Heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and +patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of Philip Nassau +and of Famars, governor of the neighbouring city of Heusden, and from his +own company. Besides himself, the officers to command the party were +captains Logier and Fervet, and lieutenant Matthew Held. The names of +such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly +remembered by their countrymen. + +On the 25th of February, Maurice and his staff went to Willemstad on the +Isle of Klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the +Hague that his destination was Dort. On the same night at about eleven +o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, Heraugiere and his band +came to the Swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. +They found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the +night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. At last, on their way +back, they came upon the skipper at the village of Terheyde, who made the +extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the +plot had been discovered. It being too late to make any attempt that +night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. No suspicion of +treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that +the skipper had grown faint-hearted. He did not come on the next night +to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, +whom he described as dare-devils. + +On Monday night, the 26th of February, the seventy went on board the +vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed +themselves closely in the hold. They moved slowly during a little time +on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, +blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice +and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the +vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. At last the navigation +became impossible and they came to a standstill. From Monday night till +Thursday morning those seventy Hollanders lay packed like herrings in the +hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly +cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to +abandon the enterprise. Even when the third morning dawned there was no +better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a +gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more +dangerous than ever. It was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit +exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the +threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. In all +secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called Nordam, where they +remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of +the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed +and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. Yet the voyage of a few +leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days +longer. On Saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and +at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. There was no +retreat possible for them now. The seventy were to take the strong +castle and city of Breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. +No quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that +half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before +another sunrise. + +They were now in the outer harbour and not far from the Watergate which +led into the inner castle-haven. Presently an officer of the guard put +off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. He held a little +conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much +in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was +apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. Here he was +only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. +Those inside could hear and see his every movement. Had there been a +single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, +then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and +every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. But the officer, +unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men +to warp the vessel into the castle dock. + +Meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the +Watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the +deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. In a few minutes those inside were +sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely +improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. The boatmen +vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; +a party of Italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course +of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed +Hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to +the guard-house of the castle. + +And now a crowd of all sorts came on board. The winter nights had been +long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in +town and fortress. A gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf +from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to +shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. Moreover, the +thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had +just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the +whole party sneezing and coughing. Never was a catarrh so sudden, so +universal, or so ill-timed. Lieutenant Held, unable to control the +violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next +neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the +discovery of the whole party. But the calm and wary skipper who stood on +the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as +much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was +nearly full of water. By this means the noise of the coughing was +effectually drowned. Most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the +title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. Calmly +looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging +jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of +peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who +composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his +customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the +conspirators. + +At last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that +sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark +and he too tired for further work. So, giving a handful of stivers among +the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come +next morning for the rest of the cargo. Fortunately, they accepted his +hospitable proposition and took their departure. Only the servant of the +captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not +as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. + +"Ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is +underneath. This is expressly reserved for the captain. He +is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." + +Thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to +himself. His companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the +best of his way to Prince Maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the +ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just +learned, that Governor Lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some +projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was +Gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving +as his lieutenant his nephew Paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to +provide for the safety of Breda. + +A little before midnight, Captain Heraugiere made a brief address to his +comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their +undertaking had at length arrived. Retreat was impossible, defeat was +certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great +advantage for the commonwealth. It was an honor to them to be selected +for such an enterprise. To show cowardice now would be an eternal shame +for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any +traitor or poltroon. But if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared +to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to +take the lead in confronting every danger. + +He then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to +attack the main guard-house, the other under Fervet to seize the arsenal +of the fortress. + +Noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been +confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the +castle. Heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. + +"Who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the +darkness. + +"A friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and +commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when +addressed and then to speak in a whisper. + +"How many are there in the garrison?" muttered Heraugiere. + +"Three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. + +"How many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the +reply. + +"He says there are but fifty of them," said Heraugiere, prudently +suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. + +Quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir +in the guard-house. The captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. + +"Who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. + +"A friend," again replied Heraugiere, striking him dead with a single +blow as he spoke. + +Others emerged with torches. Heraugiere was slightly wounded, but +succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. His +followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. +Heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and +in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. + +It was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. +Meantime Fervet and his band had not been idle. The magazine-house of +the castle was seized, its defenders slain. Young Lanzavecchia made a +sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of +his adherents. + +The rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. Never had +the musketeers of Italy--for they all belonged to Spinola's famous +Sicilian Legion--behaved so badly. They did not even take the precaution +to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic- +stricken before seventy Hollanders. Instead of encouraging the burghers +to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. + +Young Lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; +hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. In the midst +of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, Hohenlo; duly +apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of Maurice's troops +before the field-gate of the fort. A vain attempt was made to force this +portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. Hohenlo was obliged +to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same +road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. + +Soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong +detachment, Prince Maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by +Philip Nassau, the Admiral Justinus Nassau, Count Solms, Peter van der +Does, and Sir Francis Vere, and followed by another body of picked +troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so +dear to Netherlanders-- + + "Wilhelmus van Nassouwen + Ben ick van Duytaem bloed." + +The fight was over. Some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not +a man of the attacking party. The burgomaster sent a trumpet to the +prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; +and before sunrise, the city and fortress of Breda had surrendered to the +authority of the States-General and of his Excellency. + +The terms were moderate. The plundering was commuted for the payment of +two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. Burghers who +might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to +life, and property. Those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were +not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard +to religion. The public exercise of Catholic rites was however suspended +until the States-General should make some universal provision on this +subject. + +Subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad +one for the burghers. Seventy men had in reality done the whole work, +but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after +the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages +as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. +The Spaniards accordingly reproached Prince Maurice with having fined his +own patrimonial city more heavily than Alexander Farnese had mulcted +Antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, +a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. + +Already the Prince of Parma, in the taking of Breda, saw verified his +predictions of the disasters about to fall on the Spanish interests in +the Netherlands, by reason of Philip's obstinate determination to +concentrate all his energies on the invasion of France. Alexander had +been unable, in the midst of preparations for his French campaign, to +arrest this sudden capture, but his Italian blood was on fire at the +ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. Five +companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of Spain and Italy--had +surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a +mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy +frost-bitten Hollanders. + +It was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, +the pusillanimity of the garrison. + +Three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of Cesar +Guerra--were publicly beheaded in Brussels. A fourth, Ventimiglia, +was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near +relationship to the Duke of Terranova, while Governor Lanzavecchia was +obliged to resign the command of Gertruydenberg. The great commander +knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses +by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. + +Prince Maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to +the States-General. Hohenlo wrote pithily to Olden-Barneveld--"The +castle and town of Breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. +The garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." + +The church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every +city in the United Provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. +Olden-Barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to +have been so valuable, received from the States-General a magnificent +gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the +drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been +caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of Breda. + +The capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would +hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the +preceding pages. But the event, with all its details, has been preserved +with singular vividness in Netherland story. As an example of daring, +patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold +spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in +patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series +of audacious enterprises by which Dutch victories were to take the place +of a long procession of Spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the +provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than +ordinary attention. + +In the course of the summer Prince Maurice, carrying out into practice +the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns +and strong places of Heyl, Flemert, Elshout, Crevecoeur, Hayden, +Steenberg, Rosendaal, and Osterhout. But his time, during the remainder +of the year 1590, was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an +extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will +soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + Struggle of the United Provinces against Philip of Spain--Progress + of the Republic--Influence of Geographical position on the fate of + the Netherlands--Contrast offered by America--Miserable state of the + so--called "obedient" provinces--Prosperity of the Commonwealth--Its + internal government--Tendency to provincialism--Quibbles of the + English Members of the Council, Wilkes and Bodley--Exclusion of + Olden-Barneveld from the State Council--Proposals of Philip for + mediation with the United Provinces--The Provinces resolutely + decline all proffers of intervention. + +The United Provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a +quarter of a century. It is, however, inaccurate to designate this great +struggle with tyranny as a civil war. It was a war for independence, +maintained by almost the whole population of the United Provinces against +a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, +a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their +liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared +that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to +escape from subjection to the Church of Rome. Liberty of speech, liberty +of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social +questions existed within those Dutch pastures and Frisian swamps to a far +greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in +very many regions of Christendom in our own time. Personal slavery was +unknown. In a large portion of their territory it had never existed. +The free Frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less +favoured Anglo-Saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor +worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. In the battles for +human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great +tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated +in all succeeding ages, than the Netherlanders in their gigantic struggle +with Philip of Spain. It was not a class struggling for their own +privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of +humanity. Kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where +Hans Miller, Hans Baker, and Hans Brewer enjoyed political rights end +prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of +anointed heads. Yet the pikemen of Spain and the splendid cavalry and +musketeers of Italy and Burgundy, who were now beginning to show their +backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican +foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were +fought; while Elizabeth of England, maintainer, if such ever were, of +hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that +for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there +were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. + +And at least these Netherlanders were consistent with themselves. They +had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine +speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and +to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. What they achieved was for +the common good of all. They chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and +fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their +struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would +swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or +paused. They fought for the liberty of all. And it is for this reason +that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by +those who have the instinct of human freedom. Had the Hollanders basely +sunk before the power of Spain, the proud history of England, France, and +Germany would have been written in far different terms. The blood and +tears which the Netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days +have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. A pusillanimous +peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed +with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from +the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil +of Europe for succeeding ages. The territory of the Netherlands is +narrow and meagre. It is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of +the earth. The political grandeur of nations is determined by physical +causes almost as much as by moral ones. Had the cataclysm which +separated the fortunate British islands from the mainland happened to +occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the +Belgian, Dutch, German and Danish Netherland floated off as one island +into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations +remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the +world. + +But in the 16th century the history of one country was not an isolated +chapter of personages and events. The history of the Netherlands is +history of liberty. It was now combined with the English, now with +French, with German struggles for political and religious freedom, but it +is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up +the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth +centuries. + +At that day the Netherland republic was already becoming a power of +importance in the political family of Christendom. If, in spite of her +geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might +her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular +institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific +the relations of European tribes, had nature been less niggard in her +gifts to the young commonwealth. On the sea she was strong, for the +ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded +vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply +defined limits of tongue, history or race. Accident or human caprice +seemed to have divided German Highland from German Netherland; Belgic +Gaul from the rest of the Gallic realm. And even from the slender body, +which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate +organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion +away. But the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit +peaceful dismemberment. Only the low organisms can live in all their +parts after violent separations. The trunk remained, bleeding but alive +and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized +impotence. + +Never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the +geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply +influenced. Courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a +determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and +permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in +defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the +interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. + +Thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy +and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, +even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its +possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion +of the world in fee. + +What a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature +had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to +speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should +she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her +inestimable advantages! If all history is not a mockery and a fable, +she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in +pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and +historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life +of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of +liberty and national independence at last. Better a terrible struggle, +better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the +eternal setting of that great popular hope, the United American Republic. + +I speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to +liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent +moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and +vigour. + +Despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, +the United Netherlands were prosperous and full of life. It was in the +provinces which had seceded from the union of Utrecht that there was +silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a +foreign foe. The leaders in the movement which had brought about the +scission of 1579--commonly called the 'Reconciliation'--enjoyed military +and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for +subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the +part of their masters. As for the mass of the people it would be +difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the +"obedient" provinces. Even as six years before, wolves littered their +whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place +of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged +by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets +of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and +traffic were the wonder of the world, while the Spanish viceroy formally +permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and +farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished +proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. + +"Administered without justice or policy," said a Netherlander who was +intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising Catholic, "eaten up +and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who +suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, +gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless +country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these +provinces take in their condition. Commerce and trade have ceased in a +country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human +habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[Discours +du Seigneur de Champagny sur les affaires des Pays Bas, 21 Dec. 1589. +Bibl. de Bourgogne, MS. No. 12,962.] + +Nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the +Netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. +The obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, +were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their +sister States, who had just constituted themselves by their noble +resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful +commonwealth. On the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and +prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which +the republic had sought and found her strength. In the first place, it +was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have +more Jesuits and more Friars. The mendicant orders should be summoned to +renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary +priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who +should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing +that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, +and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and +without deception. + +In the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should +confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "And if the +mendicant orders," said Champagny, "are not numerous enough for these +catechizations, the Jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more +and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each +parish. To this end it would be well if his Majesty should obtain from +the Pope a command to the Jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they +might not be willing to comply. It should also be ordered that all +Jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of +wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary +here."--[Ibid.] + +It was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their +particular attention to Antwerp, and that one of them should preach in +French, another in German, another in English, every day at the opening +of the Exchange. + +With these appliances it was thought that Antwerp would revive out of +its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient +commercial glories. Founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and +jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the +heretic Amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than +religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. + +Such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal Netherlander for +the regeneration of his country. Such were his opinions as to the true +sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. Can we wonder that the +country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave +soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his +dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? + +The coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. The United +Provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping +diligent watch off every port and estuary of the Flemish coast, so that +not a herringboat could enter without their permission. Antwerp, when it +fell into the hands of the Spaniard, sank for ever from its proud +position. The city which Venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh +to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, +had ceased to be a seaport. Shut in from the ocean by Flushing--firmly +held by an English garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the +Queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. Her +population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, +while Ghent, Bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. + +On the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the United Republic +had enormously augmented. Its bitterest enemies bore witness to the +sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, +and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. +"The rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said Champagny, "they are +themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who +submit themselves to the Duke of Parma. They are the more confirmed in +their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, +complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight +who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these +provinces!" The industrial population had flowed from the southern +provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. The +workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, +tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from +the land of oppression to the land of liberty. Never in the history of +civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry +than in Holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. The towns were +filled to overflowing. Amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as +fast as Antwerp shrank. Almost as much might be said of Middelburg, +Enkhuyzen, Horn, and many other cities. It is the epoch to which the +greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. Warehouses, +palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and +suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for +the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually +dwelt in the shipping. For even of that narrow span of earth called the +province of Holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five +considerable lakes, those of Harlem, Schermer, Beemster, Waert, and +Purmer. The sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under +the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, +while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus +painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through +sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. + +The province of Zeeland was one vast "polder." It was encircled by an +outer dyke of forty Dutch equal to one hundred and fifty English, miles +in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. The average cost of +dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or 84,000 florins +the Dutch mile. The total cost of the Zeeland dykes was estimated at +3,360,000 florins, besides the annual repairs. + +But it was on the sea that the Netherlanders were really at home, and +they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against +foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a +new country at the ends of the earth. It has always been difficult to +doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime +pursuits. Familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit +of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, +would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and +worth. With the exception of Spain, the chief seafaring nations of the +world were already protestant. The counter-league, which was to do +battle so strenuously with the Holy Confederacy, was essentially a +maritime league. "All the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy +is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said Champagny, +"and then woe to the Spanish Indies, which England and Holland are +already threatening." + +The Netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken +and independent personal demeanour. At this epoch they were taking the +lead of the whole world in marine adventure. At least three thousand +vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable +doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in +fisheries, were to be found in the United Provinces, and one thousand, +it was estimated, were annually built. + +They traded to the Baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, +turpentine, hemp. They brought from farthest Indies and from America all +the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of +a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of +the earth. Enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already +planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and +it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic +voyages, made by Hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to +Cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence +were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both +branches of the Anglo-Saxon race illustrious. A people, engaged in +perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most +powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous +energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back +treasures of science to enrich the world. + +Such was the spirit of freedom. Inspired by its blessed influence this +vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all +physical obstacles in its path. It organised armies on new principles +to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. It built +navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of England, of +Protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of French nationality. More +than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly +multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its +own. + +The war navy of the United Provinces was a regular force of one hundred +ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a +monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could +be put into the public service on short notice? In those days of close +quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser +by a very simple, process. The navy was a self-supporting one, for it +was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. It must be +confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to +be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, +privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn +in those early days of seafaring. + +Prince Maurice of Nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to +listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which +often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. + +It cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the Netherland polity was +already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. The civil +institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been +frequently sketched in these pages. At this period they had entered +almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the +commonwealth fell in the great crash of the French Revolution. Their +beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as +the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness +of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and +luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. + +The supreme power, after the deposition of Philip, and the refusal by +France and by England to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was +definitely lodged in the States-General. But the States-General did not +technically represent the, people. Its members were not elected by the +people. It was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial +assembly, of which there were now five: Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, +Utrecht, and Gelderland. Each provincial assembly consisted again of +delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the +magistracies of the cities. Those, magistracies, again, were not elected +by the citizens. They elected themselves by renewing their own +vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. Thus, in final +analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the +mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike +of the people below and of any central power above. + +It is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial +and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical +representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. But, +as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very +rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more +rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing +classes. Individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, +civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased +to be a power. It had been. the policy of William the Silent to +increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the States; +for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of Spain, +and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been +mainly supported. Many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these +pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. Lamoral +Egmont had walked to the scaffold to which Philip had condemned him, +chanting a prayer for Philip's welfare. Egmont's eldest son was now +foremost in the Spanish army, doing battle against his own country in +behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. Aremberg and +Ligny, Arachot, Chimay, Croy, Caprea, Montigny, and most of the great +patrician families of the Netherlands fought on the royal side. + +The revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the +great Netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen +now controlled the State. The burgher class of Europe is not the one +that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, +or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times-- +by a passionate love of liberty. It is always easy to sneer at Hans +Miller and Hans Baker, and at the country where such plebeians are +powerful. Yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama +which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or +powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, John of Olden- +Barneveld, who, since the death of William the Silent and the departure +of Lord Leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of Holland. Certainly +no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent +personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound +respect. + +But it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the +fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular +sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of +philosophical objections. + +In the Netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. +But this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger +and of contest. The native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, +upright, and patriotic. Of this there is no question whatever. And the +people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger +representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple +power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of +modest fortunes and of simple lives. Two generations later, and in the +wilderness of Massachusetts, the early American colonists voluntarily +placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited +control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an +instance known of an impure exercise of authority. Yet out of that +simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever +known. + +In the later days of Netherland history a different result became +visible, and with it came the ruin of the State. The governing class, of +burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, +withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the +exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so +became an oligarchy. This result, together with the physical causes +already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable +whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. + +The States-General, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner +usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really +belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of +those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the +state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. The +Hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly +docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal +magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the +mass by birth or habitual occupation. The republic was a social and +political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of +laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in +reality was all in all. In Netherland story the People is ever the true +hero. It was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by +which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. +During Leicester's rule it had been a most important college of +administration. Since his resignation it had been entrusted by the +States-General with high executive functions, especially in war matters. +It was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various +provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, +and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. The +allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. Each individual member was +required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the +generality." They deliberated in common for the general good, and were +not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to +refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. +It was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. + +But Leicester had made it unpopular. His intrigues, in the name of +democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower +classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to +claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was +most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with +which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. + +The Queen of England, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint +two of her subjects to be members of the council. The governor of her +auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. Since the +malpractices of Leicester and the danger to which the country had been, +subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that +there should be very kindly feeling toward England in the public mind, +however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known +to be for the welfare of both. + +The bickering of the two English councillors, Wilkes and Bodley, +and of the governor of the English contingent with the Hollanders, +was incessant. The Englishmen went so far as to claim the right of +veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the States-General +indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that +board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of England. The two +members and the military officer who together represented her Majesty +were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their +brother members. For them to claim the right, however, at will to annul +the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened +to for a moment. Certainly it would have been strange had two Dutchmen +undertaken to veto every measure passed by the Queen's council at +Richmond or Windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the +contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by Englishmen at the +Hague. + +Another cause of quarrel was the inability of the Englishmen to +understand the language in which the debates of the state council were +held. + +According to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history +the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in +discussing the state affairs of their native land. It was however +considered a grievance by the two English members that the Dutchmen +should speak Dutch, and it was demanded in the Queen's name that they +should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily +understand. + +The Hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a +reversed case her Majesty's Council or Houses of Parliament would be +likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in Italian +or Latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be +familiar with English. The more natural remedy would have been for the +foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for +an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the States, when all +the Netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any +language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign +prince. + +At this moment, Sir Thomas Bodley was mainly entrusted with her Majesty's +affairs at the Hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate +language, and passionate style of correspondence with the States and with +the royal government, did much injury to both countries. The illustrious +Walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year England had so much +reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having +recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. Ortel, envoy +of the States to London, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be +handled more to the satisfaction of the States; as Bodley would be +obliged, since the death of Sir Francis, to address his letters to the +Lord High Treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain +so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late Secretary of State. + +Moreover it was exactly at this season that the Advocate of Holland, +Olden-Barneveld, was excluded from the state council. Already the +important province of Holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that +body. Bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not +content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the +custom for the States-General to conduct all the most important affairs +of the republic. The state council complained that even in war matters +it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken +by Prince Maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the Advocate +alone. Doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the +commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an +incorporate federal State. The members of the States-General--as it +has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate +provinces. They avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the +central government. Moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, +appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to +consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. The Netherland +polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: +Delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the +days of danger by patriotic fervour. The instinct of union for the +sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, +practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent +this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war +pressure remained to mould them into a whole. But a day was to come for +bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, +this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. + +For the present, the legislative and executive body was the States- +General. But the States-General were in reality the States provincial, +and the States provincial were the city municipalities, among which the +magistracies of Holland were preponderant. + +Ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of +the civic authorities. In 1591, the States-General passed a resolution +by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption +from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. +So far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. City council +boards had become supreme. + +It was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great +struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it +in a variety of ways. And as a matter of course neutral nations were +disposed to counsel peace. Peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the +bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. +were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of +the bloody conflict. It was however not very much the fashion of that +day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each +other moral lectures. It was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice +of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet +been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better +acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were +moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness +that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. + +Cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of +curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to +the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound +wisdom. + +Still the emperor Rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, +had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in +those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. + +It was perfectly well known that Philip was incapable of abating one jot +of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the United Provinces +was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to +return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a +quarter of a century, they had struggled. Nevertheless it was formally +proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in +which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of Cologne in +the year 1579. But the States-General resolutely kept them sealed. They +simply answered his imperial Majesty by a communication of certain +intercepted correspondence between--the King of Spain and his ambassador +at Vienna, San Clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established +that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of +Spain as had been the memorable conferences at Ostend, by which the +invasion of England had been masked. + +There never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by +complete submission on the part of the Netherlanders to Crown and Church. +Both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at +negotiations, the secret instructions of Philip forbade any real +concessions on his side. He was always ready to negotiate, he was +especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during +negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and +dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as +for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was +the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. The king +uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should +reconvert themselves to the Catholic religion; secondly, that they should +return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the +expenses of the war. Number three was, however, usually inserted in +order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he +might appear conciliatory. It was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men +grown insolent with temporary success. Numbers one and two were +immutable. + +Especially upon number one was concession impossible. "The Catholic +religion is the first thing," said Philip, "and although the rebels do +not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, +in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these +past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." The king +always made free use of the terrible weapon which the Protestant princes +of Germany had placed in his hands. For indeed if it were right that one +man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow +creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of Luther or of +Calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another +man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to +accept the creed of Trent, or the doctrines of Mahomet or Confucius. +The Netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty +of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for Moses, nor for +Melancthon; for Henry, Philip, or Pius; while Philip justly urged that no +prince in Christendom permitted license. "Let them well understand," +said his Majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion +that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is +insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have +a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, +proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are +deception. This must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners +of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is +never to differ from the opinion of his master." Certainly it was worth +an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of +human heads, whether crowned or shaven. + +There was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the +circles of the empire nearest to the Netherlands--Westphalia, Cleves, +Juliers, and Saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to +Brussels and to the Hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by +neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. + +They took nothing by their mission to the Duke of Parma. At the Hague +the deputies were heard on the 22nd August, 1590. They complained to the +States-General of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts +beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the +cruising of the war-vessels of the States off the shores and on the +rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. Threats were made +of forcible intervention and reprisals. + +The united States replied on the 13th September. Expressing deep regret +that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible +but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, +should fly over into their neighbours' ground. The States were fighting +the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of +Germany, as well as of the Netherlands were interested. They were +combating that horrible institution, the Holy Inquisition. They were +doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of Spain, which +they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion +of Saracenic, Moorish Christians. They warred with a system which placed +inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the +Scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, +trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary +decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. Spain had +sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her +absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. + +These were the deeds and designs against which the States were waging +that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, +now happily neutral, were complaining. But the cause of the States was +the cause of humanity itself. This Saracenic, Moorish, universal +monarchy had been seen by Germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon +the Netherlands. It had murdered millions of innocent Indians and +Granadians. It had kept Naples and Milan in abject slavery. It had +seized Portugal. It had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed +invasion of England and Ireland. It had overrun and plundered many +cities of the empire. It had spread a web of secret intrigue about +Scotland. At last it was sending great armies to conquer France and +snatch its crown. Poor France now saw the plans of this Spanish tyranny +and bewailed her misery. The subjects of her lawful king were ordered to +rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. Such holy +pretexts were used by these Saracenic Christians in order to gain +possession of that kingdom. + +For all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the +Netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had +set themselves to resist it. It was contrary to reason to consider them +as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating +their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. The States- +General were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and +they were resolved to continue in that path. + +As members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to +be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, +assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their +enemies. They had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they +still continued to claim it. They urged that, according to the laws of +the empire, all foreign soldiers, Spaniards, Saracens, and the like +should be driven out of the limits of the empire. Through these means +the German Highland and the German Netherland might be restored once more +to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again +in amity and commerce. + +If, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his +electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the +deeds of Netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best +interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and +resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily +heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the +provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural +resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the +destruction of neighbouring States and the building up of the +contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. + +The United Provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to +take up arms. That which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis +defensionis.' Their object was to protect what belonged to them, to +recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. + +In regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral +inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with +a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to +be punished. + +They alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy +against neutral soil. They recalled to mind that the Spaniards paid +their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the +innocent and the neutral, while the United States had paid their troops +better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the +greatest potentates of Europe. It was true that the States kept many +cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect +their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the +common foe. Germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the +Provinces themselves. + +Thus did the States-General, respectfully but resolutely, decline all +proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only +enure to the benefit of the enemy. Thus did they avoid being entrapped +into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period +At length the twig was becoming the tree +Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies +Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war +Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant +Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation +Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty +German Highland and the German Netherland +Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe +Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism +Maritime heretics +Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail +The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals +The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty +The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces +They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft +Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v61 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 62, 1590 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Philip's scheme of aggrandizement--Projected invasion of France-- + Internal condition of France--Character of Henry of Navarre-- + Preparation for action--Battle of Ivry--Victory of the French king + over the League--Reluctance of the King to attack the French + capital--Siege of Paris--The pope indisposed towards the League-- + Extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--Influence of the + priests--Extremities of the siege--Attempted negotiation--State of + Philip's army--Difficult position of Farnese--March of the allies to + the relief of Paris--Lagny taken and the city relieved--Desertion of + the king's army--Siege of Corbeil--Death of Pope Sixtus V.-- + Re-capture of Lagny and Corbeil--Return of Parma to the Netherlands + --Result of the expedition. + +The scene of the narrative shifts to France. The history of the United +Netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. Were it not so, it would +have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really +capable of affording. The battle of liberty against despotism was now +fought in the hop-fields of Brabant or the polders of Friesland, now in +the: narrow seas which encircle England, and now on the sunny plains of +Dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of Brittany, or along the high roads +and rivers which lead to the gates of Paris. But everywhere a noiseless, +secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's +pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and +carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din +of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of +human industry. For nearly a generation of mankind, Germans and +Hollanders, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Spaniards and +Italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against +a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet +old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of +Europe. It must be confessed that Philip II. gave the world work enough. +Whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not +have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have +produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and +awoke, may be questioned. + +But the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme +of the Church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind +which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. Countries and nations +being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few +favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were +obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the +Spanish monarch to annex Scotland, England, and France to the very +considerable possessions which were already his own. Scotland he claimed +by virtue of the expressed wish of Mary to the exclusion of her heretic +son. + +France, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past +to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" +as Alva had happily termed it, called the "Salic law"--prevented from +passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of +Henry II., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss +of time. England, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, +he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the French +coasts, together with those of the Netherlands, should enable him to risk +the adventure with assured chances of success. + +The Netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he +engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said +that the king was like Aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get +at the skins floating on the surface. The Duke of Parma was driven to +his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when +commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the Provinces +for the purpose of invading France. Most importunate were the appeals +and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn Philip from his +purpose. It was in vain. Spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing +power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations +alternately trembled, and it was France that now stood in danger of being +conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. That unhappy +kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and +the greediness of foreign powers. Civil war had been its condition, with +brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. During the last few +years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy Confederacy" +and the Bearnese struggled together for the mastery. Religion was the +mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs +as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. +And their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. A great +principle--the relation of man to his Maker and his condition in a future +world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of +history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the +world in blood. And so long as the superstitious element of human nature +enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow- +creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions-- +to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their +mummeries between man and his Creator--it is, probable that such scenes +as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at +intervals in various parts of the earth. Nothing can be more sublime +than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which +human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of +religion. + +It was and had been really civil war in France. In the Netherlands it +had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign +monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their +enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth +of papacy. In France, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt +sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil +almost everything that makes life valuable. It had not brought in its +train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development +at which men wondered in the Netherlands, and to which allusion has just +been made. But a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed +Henry of Navarre in a position of vantage. He represented the principle +of nationality, of French unity. It was impossible to deny that he was +in the regular line of succession, now that luckless Henry of Valois +slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps +prove as vital a force as attachment to the Roman Church. Moreover, the +adroit and unscrupulous Bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of +religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the +humours of those whom he addressed. + +"The King of Spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my +father because of my religion," he said to the Duke of Saxony; "but in +that religion I am determined to persist so long as I shall live." The +hand was the hand of Henry, but it was the voice of Duplessis Mornay. + +"Were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the +States of France, "I would not change my religion on compulsion, the +dagger at my throat. Instruct me, instruct me, I am not obstinate." +There spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of +what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. +Had Henry been a real devotee, the fate of Christendom might have been +different. The world has long known how much misery it is in the power +of crowned bigots to inflict. + +On the other hand, the Holy League, the sacred Confederacy, was catholic +or nothing. Already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly +denounced Sixtus V. as a Huguenot because he was thought to entertain a +weak admiration both for Henry the heretic and for the Jezebel of +England. + +But the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government +of France, and dismembering the national domain. To do this the pretext +of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of Rome, was +most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy +immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for +acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national +territory. Mayenne, Nemours, Aumale, Mercoeur longed to convert +temporary governments into independent principalities. The Duke of +Lorraine looked with longing eyes on Verdun, Sedan, and, the other fair +cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. The +reckless house of Savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed +geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern +borders, while it seemed easy enough for Philip, II., in right of his +daughter, to secure at least the duchy of Brittany before entering on +the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. + +To the eyes of the world at large: France might well seem in a condition +of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former +position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a +weak and wicked dream. Furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled +on the head of the Bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in +blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be +his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. +which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the +peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. + +The poor puppet locked in the tower of Fontenay, and entitled Charles X.; +deceived and scared no one. Such money as there was might be coined, in +its name, but Madam League reigned supreme in Paris. The confederates, +inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds +by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit +to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. + +What was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history +of the race compared with the dogmas of Rome and the trained veterans of +Spain? It remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would +triumph. But in the early days of 1590 the prospects of nationality were +not encouraging. + +Francois de Luxembourg, due de Pincey, was in Rome at that moment, +deputed by such catholic nobles of France as were friendly to Henry of +Navarre. Sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect +to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the +campaign about to open. Meantime the legate Gaetano, young, rich, +eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his +house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in Paris. + +Followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the House of +Parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the +king, when Brisson, first President of Parliament, plucked him back by +the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. + +Deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law +against the Holy League. For the moment however the legate contented +himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of Rome, while +Brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of France. + +Soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction +of Henry's projects of conversion. For, well did the subtle priest +understand that in purging himself of heresy, the Bearnese was about to +cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. In a letter to the +archbishops and bishops of France, he argued the matter at length. +Especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all +the prelates of France, such as Henry desired to afford him the requisite +"instruction" as to the respective merits of the Roman and the reformed +Church. Certainly, he urged, the Prince of Bearne could hardly require +instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he +had faithfully professed both. + +But while benches of bishops and doctors of the Sorbonne were burnishing +all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching +fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard +in the vicinity of Paris. The candid Henry, while seeking ghostly +instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally +persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and +riders from his protestant friends in England, Holland, Germany, and +Switzerland. + +Queen Elizabeth and the States-General vied with each other in generosity +to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league +so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself +to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of +light and shade, as did the Bearnese in the early spring of 1590. + +The hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, +although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of Calvinism +while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with +the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a +model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although +false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand +to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the Christian +Church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, +yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, +in the Grand Turk, + + [A portion of the magnificently protective letter of Sultan Amurath, + in which he complimented Henry on his religious stedfastness, might + almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] + +the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and +sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and +education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their +privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that +Henry of Navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an +image. But he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, +he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something +much less or much worse. + +To those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well +seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. His capital +garrisoned by the Pope and the King of Spain, with its grandees and its +populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; +with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from Queen +Elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a +small island--and from the States-General governing a half-born, half- +drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with +the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen +shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a +commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his +Huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow +were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely +on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the Bearnese was +capable of outweighing Pope and Spain, and the meaner but massive +populace of France, and the Sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the +confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of +Christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding +political influences. + +"The Bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful +Henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate +authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful +combination of opposing elements. + +The king had been besieging Dreux and had made good progress in reducing +the outposts of the city. As it was known that he was expecting +considerable reinforcements of English ships, Netherlanders, and Germans, +the chiefs of the league issued orders from Paris for an attack before he +should thus be strengthened. + +For Parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had +sent from Flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under Count Philip +Egmont to join the army of Mayenne. This force comprised five hundred +Belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with +a selection, in even proportions, of Walloon, German, Spanish, and +Italian troopers. + +Mayenne accordingly crossed the Seine at Mantes with an army of ten +thousand foot, and, including Egmont's contingent, about four thousand +horse. A force under Marshal d'Aumont, which lay in Ivry at the passage +of the Eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the +king's army. The siege of Dreux was abandoned; and Henry withdrew to the +neighbourhood of Nonancourt. It was obvious that the duke meant to offer +battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be +induced to decline a combat. + +On the night of the 12th-13th March, Henry occupied Saint Andre, a +village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from +Nonancourt, in the direction of Ivry, fringed on three sides by villages +and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the +country between the Seine and Eure. It would have been better had +Mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was +not famed for the rapidity of his movements. During the greater part of +the night, Henry was employed in distributing his orders for that +conflict which was inevitable on the following day. His army was drawn +up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most +experienced of his generals for their approval. He then personally +visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement +to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. +Attended by Marshals d'Aumont and Biron he remained on horseback during a +portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and +reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. Towards +morning he retired to his headquarters at Fourainville, where he threw +himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was +bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. He was startled from his +slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and +he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon +him despite all his precautions. The alarm proved to be a false one, but +Henry lost no time in ordering his battle. His cavalry he divided in +seven troops or squadrons. The first, forming the left wing, was a body +of three hundred under Marshal d'Aumont, supported by two regiments of +French infantry. Next, separated by a short interval, was another troop +of three hundred under the Duke of Montpensier, supported by two other +regiments of foot, one Swiss and one German. In front of Montpensier was +Baron Biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three +hundred. Two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on +Biron's left, the one commanded by the Grand Prior of France, Charles +d'Angouleme, the other by Monsieur de Givry. Between the Prior and Givry +were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight +hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and +covered on both sides by English and Swiss infantry, amounting to some +four thousand in all. The right wing was under the charge of old Marshal +Biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and +fifty each, two companies of German riders, and four regiments of French +infantry. These numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy +as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve +thousand foot. + +The Duke of Mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he +might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the +early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that +adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. The right wing +under Marshal de la Chatre consisted of three regiments of French and one +of Germans, supporting three regiments of Spanish lancers, two cornets of +German riders under the Bastard of Brunswick, and four hundred +cuirassiers. The battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid +cavalry, all noblemen of France, guarding the white banner of the Holy +League, and supported by a column of three thousand Swiss and two +thousand French infantry, was commanded by Mayenne in person, assisted by +his half-brother, the Duke of Nemours. In front of the infantry was a +battery of six cannon and three culverines. The left wing was commanded +by Marshal de Rene, with six regiments of French and Lorrainers, two +thousand Germans, six hundred French cuirassiers, and the mounted +troopers of Count Egmont. It is probable that Mayenne's whole force, +therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen +thousand foot. + +Very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, +especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. Gay in their gilded +armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and +the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, +the brilliant champions of the Holy Catholic Confederacy clustered around +the chieftains of the great house of Guise, impatient for the conflict. +It was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. The +Walloon and Flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of +their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. The, +impetuous Egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at +Gravelines and St. Quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle +with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the French were faint- +hearted he would himself give a good account of the Navarrese prince +without any assistance from them. + +A cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their +mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of +conscience against the Holy League--men seasoned in a hundred battle- +fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of +warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron +hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their +enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to +the God of battles and of wrath. And Henry of France and Navarre, +descendant of Lewis the Holy and of Hugh the Great, beloved chief of the +Calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and +chanted with them. But not the staunchest Huguenot of them all, not +Duplessis, nor D'Aubigne, nor De la Noue with the iron arm, was more +devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters +of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on +the soil of France or die. + +When this brief prelude was over, Henry made an address to his soldiers, +but its language has not been preserved. It is known, however, that he +wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his +soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever +and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. +He had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their +backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in +their eyes. The combat began with the play of artillery, which soon +became so warm that Egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon +became impatient, ordered a charge. It was a most brilliant one. The +heavy troopers of Flanders and Hainault, following their spirited +chieftain, dashed upon old Marshal Biron, routing his cavalry, charging +clean up to the Huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. The shock was +square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the German riders +under Eric of Brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, +where the king commanded in person. + +There was a panic. The whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting +infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. +Yells of "Victory! Victory! up with the Holy League, down with the +heretic Bearnese," resounded through the Catholic squadrons. The king +and Marshal Biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but +already doubtful of the result. They exerted themselves to rally the +troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. + +The German riders and French lancers under Brunswick and Bassompierre +had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as Egmont had done. The +ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the +hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. +Throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, +sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the +more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. Meeting with a firm +resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a +short distance back. Many of the riders being of the reformed religion, +refused moreover to fire upon the Huguenots, and discharged their +carbines in the air. + +The king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the +blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. +The veteran Biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. The scene was +changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. +The riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, +strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the +ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. Brunswick went down in +the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. Egmont renewing the +charge at the head of his victorious Belgian troopers, fell dead with a +musket-ball through his heart. The shattered German and Walloon cavalry, +now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the +passionate commands of Mayenne and Aumale, now fading back before the +furious charges of the Huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to +pieces. + +Seven times did Henry of Navarre in person lead his troopers to the +charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of +victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal +lines. The king had disappeared. He was killed, and the hopes of +Protestantism and of France were fallen for ever with him. The white +standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly +over the field; for his bannerman, Pot de Rhodes, a young noble of +Dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his +face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who +gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers +who followed in his erratic career. A cavalier, armed in proof, and +wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with +a veteran of Count Bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of +the bannerman: The Fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he +had slain the Bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle- +field. The defeated Confederates gained new courage, the victorious +Royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile +lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, +bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. A wild +shout of "Vive le Roi!" rang through the air. Cheerful as ever, he +addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, +and again led a charge. It was all that was necessary to complete the +victory. The enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest +confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they +fled. The panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the +cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. The French +infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought +refuge in the woods. The Walloons were so expeditious in the race, that +they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. The day was +hopelessly lost, and although Mayenne had conducted himself well in the +early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the +celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. Pausing to draw +breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own +sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their +flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they +encumbered his own retreat. + +The Walloon carbineers, the German riders, and the French lancers, +disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began +shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the +enemy's sight. Many were thus killed. The lansquenets were all put to +the sword. The Swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own +country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against Henry IV. + +It is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on +the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. About +one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. It is certain +that of the contingent from the obedient Netherlands, two hundred and +seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. The +Bastard of Brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with +life. Mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, +while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. + +Few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the +fight of Ivry. Yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the +struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time +doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final +victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and +which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. The, personal +details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king +at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which +must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded Gascon, at the +moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so +hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and +princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of +arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre +to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or +virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. + +Yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be +derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less +upon itself than on the use to be made of it. Mayenne fled to Mantes, +the Duke of Nemours to Chartres, other leaders of the League in various +directions, Mayenne told every body he met that the Bearnese was killed, +and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another +one on foot. The same intelligence was communicated to the Duke of +Parma, and by him to Philip. Mendoza and the other Spanish agents went +about Paris spreading the news of Henry's death, but the fact seemed +woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow +and shameful defeat of the Leaguers were visible on every, side. The +Parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the +principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the +Bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the +triumph of Madam League--were incredulous as to the death now reported to +them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously +from his troopers. + +De la None and the other Huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon Henry +the importance of advancing upon Paris without an instant's delay, and it +seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would +have fallen at once into his hands. It is the concurrent testimony of +contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have +made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. And +Henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen +thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they +had no opportunity of sharing: Success and emulation would have easily +triumphed over dissension and despair. + +But the king, yielding to the councils of Biron and other Catholics, +declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in +his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. +Was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of Protestantism +that caused the Huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause +in his career? Was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into Paris +might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at Rome? or was it simply +the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the Swiss mercenaries, +who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once +furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? Whatever +may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit +of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had +rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces +manifested as little cohesion. + +And now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as +terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the +blood-stained history of the century. Henry seized upon the towns +guarding the rivers Seine and Marne, twin nurses of Paris. By +controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the Yonne and +Oise--especially by taking firm possession of Lagny on the Marne, whence +a bridge led from the Isle of France to the Brie country--great +thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of Corbeil at the junction of the +little river Essonne with the Seine-it was easy in that age to stop the +vital circulation of the imperial city. + +By midsummer, Paris, unquestionably the first city of Europe at that day, +was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our +admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost +preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the +cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made +to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, +than this famous leaguer. + +Rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign +oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the +Parisians of 1590 in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a +foreign and priestly despotism. Men, women, and children cheerfully laid +down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king +of Spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of France who was +one day to become the idol of Paris and of the whole kingdom. + +A census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two +hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, +to last one month. But before the terrible summer was over--so +completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth +three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. +Indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, +for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the +extremely wealthy. The flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had +become rare luxuries. There was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, +but sermons. And the priests and monks of every order went daily about +the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by +which Paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the +most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims +who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. And the monks and +priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the +example of their own courage. Better fed than their fellow citizens, +they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the +population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the +defence of the city. + +The young Duke of Nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much +resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the +work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever +tasked human energies. He was sustained in his task by that proud +princess, his own and Mayenne's mother, by Madame Montpensier, by the +resident triumvirate of Spain, Mendoza, Commander Moreo, and John Baptist +Tasais, by the cardinal legate Gaetano, and, more than all, by the +sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy +populace. + +Pope Sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the League. +After the battle of Ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the +representations of Henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit +the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the Church. Sixtus +was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of Philip's power. +He feared his designs on Italy, being himself most anxious at that time +to annex Naples to the holy see. He had amassed a large treasure, but he +liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in +magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, +in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, +and in allying them all to the most princely houses of Italy, while never +allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his +degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply +the necessities of the League. + +But Gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his +Holiness after the fatal fight of Ivry, to further the good cause, was +lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and +this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the +usurers of Antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. He was +indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly +consolations to the people. Those proud priests and great nobles were +playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were +the counters on their table. For themselves there were rich prizes for +the winning. Should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where +they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal +principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out +of the heritage which the Bearnese claimed for his own. Obviously then, +their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a +simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and +restore the national unity and laws. And even should it be necessary to +give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of Brittany, to Philip +of Spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his +supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of +Henry's ancestors. + +As to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in +this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely +promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and +beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. + +It was estimated that before July twelve thousand human beings in Paris +had died, for want of food, within three months. But as there were no +signs of the promised relief by the army of Parma and Mayenne, and as the +starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was +strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. + +An astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by +the Bishop of Senlis and the Prior of Chartreux, each holding a halberd +in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of +the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from Italy. A lame monk, +adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping +before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. Then came a long file +of monks-Capuchins, Bernardists, Minimes, Franciscans, Jacobins, +Carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long +robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a +halberd in his hand. The elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, +rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. Then came +the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which +they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the +spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. Among +others a servant of Cardinal Gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused +much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in +so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among +the just. It was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, +that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was +best. + +The procession marched to the church of our Lady of Loretto, where they +solemnly promised to the blessed Virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should +she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to +be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. + +But these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had +comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. It was +impossible to walk through the streets of Paris without stumbling over +the dead bodies of the citizens. Trustworthy eye-witnesses of those +dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at +thirty thousand. A tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn +rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. The +rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the Chevalier +d'Aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the +riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, Renaud by name, was +hanged. + +Still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city +could have been held by the Confederacy. The Duke of Nemours confessed +that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain +a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the Prince +of Bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. + +But the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father +Boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the +sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. Sublime was +that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the +armoury of the Unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors +in a wicked cause. Superstition, in those days at least, was a political +force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of +Spain and Rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy France. +For the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient +or modern times were now reproduced in Paris. Not a revolutionary +circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the +siege of Jerusalem, was spared. Men devoured such dead vermin as could +be found lying in the streets. They crowded greedily around stalls in +the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats +and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier +classes were sold to the populace. Over the doorways of these flesh +markets might be read "Haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro Philippo +profuderunt." Men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait +for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled +them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured +them alive. And it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog +proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. +A lady visiting the Duchess of Nemours--called for the high pretensions +of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly +that mothers in Paris had been compelled to kill their own children +outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "And if +you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake +of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think +that so great a matter after all? What are your children made of more +than other people's children? What are we all but dirt and dust?" Such +was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed +Paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command +of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace +that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no +food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. + +It was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had +salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, +until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. They +died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the +food. The Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, advised recourse to an article of +diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. The counsel at +first was rejected as coming from the agent of Spain, who wished at all +hazards to save the capital of France from falling out of the hands of +his master into those of the heretic. But dire necessity prevailed, and +the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the +cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. It was +called Madame Montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly +proclaimed its merits to the poor Parisians. "She was never known to +taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in Paris +through that horrible summer. She was right to abstain, for all who ate +of it died, and the Montpensier flour fell into disuse. + +Lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could +no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and +were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. To +those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading +personage, member of the Council of Nine, maintained that there was less +danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in +case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic Bearnese, and he added +that all the best theologians and doctors of Paris were of his opinion. + +As the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as +there were still no signs of Mayenne and Parma leading their armies to +the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a +show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. Accordingly, the Spanish +ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the Holy League appointed +a deputation, consisting of the Cardinal Gondy, the Archbishop of Lyons, +and the Abbe d'Elbene, to Henry. It soon became evident to the king, +however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to +amuse the populace. His attitude was dignified and determined throughout +the interview. The place appointed was St. Anthony's Abbey, before the +gates of Paris. Henry wore a cloak and the order of the Holy Ghost, and +was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than +four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. After passing the +barricade, the deputies were received by old Marshal Biron, and conducted +by him to the king's chamber of state. When they had made their +salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress +was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. Wishing to +excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "Gentlemen, these +men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now +do to my cabinet. Therefore bear with them." Then turning to the crowd, +he said: "Room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all +retired. + +The deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of +Paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in France. +They expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to +this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the Duke +of Mayenne. This manner of addressing him excited his choler. He told +Cardinal Gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long +since answered such propositions. He alone could deal with his subjects. +He was like the woman before Solomon; he would have all the child or none +of it. Rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. He +asked them what they considered him to be. They answered that they knew +his rights, but that the Parisians had different opinions. If Paris +would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of +war. He asked them if they desired the King of Spain or the Duke of +Mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. The King +of Spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while +Mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues +of them for three weeks doing nothing. Neither king nor duke should have +that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. He told them +he loved Paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. If the Parisians +wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, +not to the Spaniard nor to the Duke of Mayenne. By the grace of God and +the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the King of Spain from +making a colony of France as he had done of Brazil. He told the +commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born Frenchmen, +should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to +bow the head to the Spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off +thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not +to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending Cardinal. +Gaetano, Mendoza, and Moreo. He said that he longed for a combat to +decide the issue, and that he had charged Count de Brissac to tell +Mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and +two for a general peace. He knew and pitied the sufferings of Paris, but +the horrors now raging there were to please the King of Spain. That +monarch had told the Duke of Parma to trouble himself but little about +the Netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of Paris. +But it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, +decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of +France, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to +the Indies. The crown was his own birthright. Were it elective he +should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. He hoped +soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. Should he +fail, they would end by expelling the Duke of Mayenne and all the rest +who had called them in, and Paris would become the theatre of the +bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. The king then ordered Sir Roger +Williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the +veteran Welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with +the guests. He informed them that he, Mr. Sackville, and many other +strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the Spaniards +and Mother League, and that his royal mistress had always 8000 Englishmen +ready to maintain the cause. + +While the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the +besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. +Among others, time-honoured La None with the iron arm stood near the gate +and harangued the Parisians. "We are here," said he, "five thousand +gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. We will make you rich: +let us participate in your labour and industry. Undo not yourselves to +serve the ambition of a few men." The townspeople hearing the old +warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. When informed that +it was La Noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech +with the greatest vehemence. Yet La Noue was the foremost Huguenot that +the sun shone upon, and the Parisians were starving themselves to death +out of hatred to heresy. After the collation the commissioners were +permitted to go from the camp in order to consult Mayenne. + +Such then was the condition of Paris during that memorable summer of +tortures. What now were its hopes of deliverance out of this Gehenna? +The trust of Frenchmen was in Philip of Spain, whose legions, under +command of the great Italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save +them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. + +For even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and +there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than Henry of +Bourbon to claim authority in France. Mayenne, in the course of long +interviews with the Duke of Parma at Conde and Brussels, had expressed +his desire to see Philip king of France, and had promised his best +efforts to bring about such a result. In that case he stipulated for +the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich +province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. +Should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the +crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to Philip the +sovereignty of Brittany and Burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be +arranged for at a later day. Although he spoke of himself with modesty, +said Alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown +himself: Well had the Bearnese alluded to the judgment of Solomon. Were +not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural +as the mother who would divide her child? + +And what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? As we +look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost +immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult +to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. +Did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise +recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes +of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did +that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat +in the Escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, +every stroke of his pen? + +The Netherlands--that most advanced portion of Philip's domain, without +the possession of which his conquest of England and his incorporation of +France were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous +chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their +consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer France at the +head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those +provinces to their obedience. At that very moment the rising young +chieftain of the Netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his +career of military success. His armies well drilled, well disciplined, +well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient +enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of Spain and Italy, +heroes of a hundred Flemish and Frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, +starving, and mutinous. The famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had +been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. The legion of +Manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at Courtray. +Farnese had sent the Prince of Ascoli to negotiate with them, but his +attempts were all in vain. Two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in +cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid +gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting +and severe suffering as the world has often seen. But Philip, instead of +ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new +kingdom for him. Verdugo, too, from Friesland was howling for money, +garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending +complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make +his way through the enemy's lines to Farnese's headquarters. And +Farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. + +Alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous +lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long +ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. It was +very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, +thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain +language. + +He was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of +Commander Moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from +France to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was +regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of Secretary Idiaquez +and of Philip himself. The king was informed that Farnese was working +for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never +had been a petty prince of Italy that did not wish to become a greater +one, or that was not jealous of Philip's power, and that there was not a +villain in all Christendom but wished for Philip's death. Moreo followed +the prince about to Antwerp, to Brussels, to Spa, whither he had gone to +drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, +pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. Alexander told him at last +that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as Flanders +remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was +expected to conquer France it would be as well to give him the means of +performing that exploit. So Moreo told the king that Alexander was +wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of Egmont's +overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of Paris and of +the downfall of the whole French scheme; for that he was determined to +do nothing to assist Mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private +advantage. + +Yet Farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain +language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to +convert his vice-royalty of the Netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, +he might rely on the assistance of Henry of Navarre, and perhaps of Queen +Elizabeth. The scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke +never listened to it for a moment. + +If he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising +Paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. Most decidedly and +bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course +in all his communications to that master's private ear. + +He told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. +He had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in +their mouths. He had not a single stiver to advance them on account. +From Friesland, from the Rhine country, from every quarter, cries of +distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. He was +in absolute penury. He could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, +but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which +he had given to his soldiers. He was pledging his jewels and furniture +like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at Courtray. +If that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole +army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "These +things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, +for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an +exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to +support the life of the army." When he sent the Flemish cavalry to +Mayenne in March, it was under the impression that with it that prince +would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the +Bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. He was now +glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been +sacrificed on the fatal field of Ivry. + +The country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was +expecting fresh horrors everyday. He had been obliged to remove portions +of the garrisons at Deventer and Zutphen purely to save them from +starving and desperation. Every day he was informed by his garrisons +that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they +found no sustenance. + +But Philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to France, where he +was to raise the siege of Paris, and occupy Calais and Boulogne in order +to prevent the English from sending succour to the Bearnese, and in order +to facilitate his own designs on England. Every effort was to be made +before the Bearnese climbed into the seat. The Duke of Parma was to talk +no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the +battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! + +At last, Philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for +the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the +mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, Farnese addressed himself +with a heavy heart to the work required of him. He confessed the deepest +apprehensions of the result both in the Netherlands and in France. He +intimated a profound distrust of the French, who had, ever been Philip's +enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to +protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "It grieves me to +the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your Majesty +commands things which are impossible, for it is our Lord alone that can +work miracles. Your Majesty supposes that with the little money you have +sent me, I can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, +settle with the Spanish and the German mutineers--because, if they are +to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money +to Mayenne and the Parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the +German Riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the +maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at Courtray. +The poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy +country," he added, "have, been so often described to your Majesty that I +have nothing to add. I am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, +only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any +excess. Yet under these circumstances I am to march into France with +twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. I am +confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, +and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care +will come to utter perdition. On the other hand, the French cry out upon +me that I am the cause that Paris is going to destruction, and with it +the Catholic cause in France. Every one is pursuing his private ends. +It is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. +Paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither Mayenne nor any one of +the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support +her till your Majesty's forces should arrive." + +He reminded his sovereign that the country around Paris was eaten bare of +food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to +undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way-- +supplies from the starving Netherlands to starving France. Since the +king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he +vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case +of his death, he called on his Majesty to vindicate his honour, which his +enemies were sure to assail. + +The messages from Mayenne becoming daily more pressing, Farnese hastened +as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully +inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the Bearnese if it +were possible to avoid an action. He feared, however, that with totally +insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an +engagement. + +With twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse Farnese left the +Netherlands in the beginning of August, and arrived on the 3rd of that +month at Valenciennes. His little army, notwithstanding his bitter +complaints, was of imposing appearance. The archers and halberdiers of +his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of +cramoisy velvet. Four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. Arenberg +and Barlaymont and Chimay, and other grandees of the Netherlands, in +company with Ascoli and the sons of Terranova and Pastrana, and many more +great lords of Italy and Spain were in immediate attendance on the +illustrious captain. The son of Philip's Secretary of State, Idiaquez, +and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, Gaetano, were among the marshals +of the camp. + +Alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation +had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it +had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost +military establishment of the world. Nearly half his forces, both +cavalry and infantry, were Netherlanders; for--as if there were not +graves enough in their own little territory--those Flemings, Walloons, +and Hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every +well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. And thus +thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of Spain to assist +their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of France, +and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who +were following the fortunes of the Bearnese. Truly in that age it was +religion that drew the boundary line between nations. + +The army was divided into three portions. The vanguard was under the +charge of the Netherland General, Marquis of Renty. The battalia was +commanded by Farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that +veteran Netherlander, La Motte, now called the Count of Everbeck. Twenty +pieces of artillery followed the last division. At Valenciennes +Farnese remained eight days, and from this place Count Charles Mansfeld +took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of +artillery because La Motte had received the appointment of general- +marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old Peter Ernest +Mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the Netherlands in Parma's +absence. + +Leaving Valenciennes on the 11th, the army proceeded by way of Quesney, +Guise, Soissons, Fritemilon to Meaux. At this place, which is ten +leagues from Paris, Farnese made his junction, on the 22nd of August, +with Mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of +them Germans under Cobalto, and the other half French--and of two +thousand horse. + +On arriving at Meaux, Alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, +and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come +to France in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the +interests of his master, but only to render succour to the Catholic cause +and to free the friends and confederates of his Majesty from violence and +heretic oppression. Time was to show the value of that oath. + +Here the deputation from Paris--the Archbishop of Lyons and his +colleagues, whose interview with Henry has just been narrated--were +received by the two dukes. They departed, taking with them promises of +immediate relief for the starving city. The allies remained five days at +Meaux, and leaving that place on the 27th, arrived in the neighbourhood +of Chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. They had a united +force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. + +The summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn +there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its +last gasp. When the allies, came in sight of the monastery of Chellea +they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the Bearnese. + +The two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. They +were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a +man in Europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. The +youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the +following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. Whether that +blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. +Meantime in 1590 it would have been considered a foolish adulation to +mention the name of Maurice of Nassau in the same breath with that of +Navarre or of Farnese. + +The scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the +genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of +the two chieftains of Europe. Each might be considered to be still in +the prime of life, but Alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was +already broken in health, while the vigorous Henry was eight years +younger, and of an iron constitution. Both had passed then lives in the +field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of +circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, +while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great Spanish +and Italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a +professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense +personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. Both were born with +that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and +both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as +those soldiers were paid and fed. + +The prize now to be contended for was a high one. Alexander's complete +success would tear from Henry's grasp the first city of Christendom, now +sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place France in the power of +the Holy League and at the feet of Philip. Another Ivry would shatter +the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his +ancestral throne. On the approach of the combined armies under Parma and +Mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend +the siege of Paris. His army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot +and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the +same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the +city. So long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great +rivers, and especially those keys to the Seine and Marne, Corbeil and +Lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed +had almost ceased to flow. + +On the 31st August he advanced towards the enemy. Sir Edward Stafford, +Queen Elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at St. Denis in the night of the +30th August. At a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under +his window, and looking down beheld King Henry at the head of his troops, +cheerfully calling out to his English friend as he passed his door. +"Welcoming us after his familiar manner," said Stafford, "he desired us, +in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to +see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, +seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we +might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity +constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we +follow him." + +That day Henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of Chelles, a +fortified place within six leagues of Paris, on the right bank of the +Marne. His army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with +wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards +two hills of moderate elevation. Lagny, on the left bank of the river, +was within less than a league of him on his right hand. On the other +side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. +Henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was +most eager for a decisive engagement. The circumstances imperatively +required it of him. His infantry consisted of Frenchmen, Netherlanders, +English, Germans, Scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were French +nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a +banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the +feast be denied them. They were volunteers, bringing with them rations +for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would +remain as patiently as did Parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny +had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become +docile again. All the great chieftains who surrounded Henry, whether +Catholic or Protestant--Montpensier, Nevers, Soissons, Conti, the Birons, +Lavradin, d'Aumont, Tremouille, Turenne, Chatillon, La Noue--were urgent +for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed +be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing +a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so +long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. + +Stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on +the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. While Henry +was "eating a morsel in an old house," Turenne joined him with six or +seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. +"They were the likeliest footmen," said Stafford, "the best +countenanced, the best furnished that ever I saw in my life; the best +part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the Religion +all this while." + +The envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the French +cavalry. "There are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof +gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other French, and +eight hundred reiters. I never saw, nor I think never any man saw, in +prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well +armed." + +Henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them +to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might +now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings +of the innocent people should be longer protracted. + +Farnese, on arriving at Meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take +the hazards of a stricken field. He had misgivings as to the possible +result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to +Philip, and Mayenne confirmed him in his determination. Nevertheless, +finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no +reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. As commanderin-chief--for +Mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd +in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to +refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to +offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. When that moment +should arrive the king would find him in the field. And, having sent +this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient Bearnese, he +gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. +Seven days long the two armies lay face to face--Henry and his chivalry +chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred +between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a +mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. + +At last Farnese gave orders for an advance. Renty, commander of the +vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move +slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, +to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. He was +secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the +apparent dimensions of his force. Slowly the columns moved over the +hills. Squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their +pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves +deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the Royalists. The +splendid light-horse of Basti, the ponderous troopers of the Flemish +bands of ordnance under Chimay and Berlaymont, and the famous Albanian +and Italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran Leaguers of France who +had fought under the Balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his +brother Mayenne. It was an imposing demonstration. + +Henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, +of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, +and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack +should be developed by his great antagonist. Parma, on his side, pressed +the hand of Mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "We have +already fought our battle and gained the victory." He then issued orders +for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command +of Mayenne, Farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the +entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the Marne and take up a +position opposite Lagny. La Motte, with the rearguard, was directed +immediately to follow. The battalia had thus become the van, the +rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement +had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. Renty was +instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much +as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of +every occurrence. In the night he was to entrench and fortify himself +rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. + +Under cover of this feigned attack, Farnese arrived at the river side on +the 15th September, seized an open village directly opposite Lagny, which +was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine +pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. Lagny was +fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and +without a terreplain. Its position, however, and its command of the +bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and De la Fin, who lay +there with a garrison of twelve hundred French, had no fear for the +security of the place. But Farnese, with the precision and celerity +which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown +pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a +considerable force of Spanish and Walloon infantry to the other side. +These troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so +soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. The +next day Henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, +that he had been completely out-generalled. Lagny, the key to the Marne, +by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies +for Paris, was about to be wrested from him. What should he do? Should +he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? +This was not to be thought of even by the audacious Bearnese. In the +attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose +a large portion of his army. Should he fling himself upon Renty's +division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? This +at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have +been the case on the previous afternoon. To undertake this was the +result of a rapid council of generals. It was too late. Renty held the +hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to +carry them by assault. He might hurl column after column against those +heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without +result. + +His soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to +carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be +lost. He felt the enemy a little. There was some small skirmishing, and +while it was going on, Farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river +upon Lagny. The weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the +signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, +after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were +masters of the town. The whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was +butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for Farnese had been brought +up in the old-fashioned school of Alva; and Julian Romero and Com-. +wander Requesens. + +Thus Lagny was seized before the eyes of Henry, who was forced to look +helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. He had come forth in full +panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. He was foiled of his +combat; and he had lost the prize. Never was blow more successfully +parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. The bridges of +Charenton and St. Maur now fell into Farnese's hands without a contest. +In an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured +into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. +Paris was relieved. Alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the +problem. He had left the Netherlands against his judgment, but he had at +least accomplished his French work as none but he could have done it. +The king was now in worse plight than ever. His army fell to pieces. +His cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor +forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "Our state is such," said +Stafford; on the 16th September, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, +that I am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should +think I dream. Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream. For, my +lord, to see an army such a one I think as I shall never see again-- +especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the +taking of such a paltry thing as Lagny, a town no better indeed than +Rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it I can scarce +believe it. They make their excuses of their want, which I know indeed +is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet +that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten +days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them . . . . . From +six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand +and I do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. + +"The most I can see we can make account of to tarry are the Viscount +Turenne's troops, and Monsieur de Chatillon's, and our Switzers, and +Lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. The first that went +away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was +the Count Soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking +we judge a discontentment." + +The king's army seemed fading into air. Making virtue of necessity he +withdrew to St. Denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to +himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as +opportunity should offer. + +It must be confessed that the Bearnese had been thoroughly out- +generalled. "It was not God's will," said Stafford, who had been in +constant attendance upon Henry through the whole business; "we deserved +it not; for the king might as easily have had Paris as drunk, four or +five times. And at the last, if he had not committed those faults that +children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the +battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the Duke of +Parma's eight as he took Lagny in ours." He had been foiled of the +battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of +overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the League under +his feet. His capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had +been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new +defiance. The League was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four +winds. Even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in +despair. Yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity +of Henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering +and most forlorn. His hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a +smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. + +Unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a +midnight assault upon Paris. Hoping that the joy at being relieved, the +unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the +conciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the +victorious League, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he +came into the neighbourhood of the Faubourgs St. Jacques, St. Germain, +St. Marcel, and St. Michel on the night of 9th September. A desperate +effort was made to escalade the walls between St. Jacques and St. +Germain. It was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the +sleepless Jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had +kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. The first +assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the +Duke of Nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, +atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. The +escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the +king in person renewed the attack on the Faubourg St. Germain. The +faithful Stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to +his cool determination, his indomitable hope. La None too was there, +and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon +to cause much weeping through Christendom. Had one of those garlands of +blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of Paris +alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another +history of France. The ladders, too, proved several feet too short, +and there were too few, of them. Had they been more numerous and longer, +the tale might have been a different one. As it was, the king was forced +to retire with the approaching daylight. + +The characteristics of the great commander of the Huguenots and of the +Leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several +incidents of this memorable campaign. Farnese had been informed by +scouts and spies of this intended assault by Henry on the walls of Paris. +With his habitual caution he discredited the story. Had he believed it, +he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him +captive. The penalty of Henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted +by Alexander's exuberant discretion. + +Soon afterwards Farnese laid siege to Corbeil. This little place--owing +to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, Rigaut, +an old Huguenot officer, who had fought with La Noue in Flanders-- +resisted for nearly four weeks. It was assaulted at last, Rigaut killed, +the garrison of one thousand French soldiers put to the sword, and the +town sacked. With the fall of Corbeil both the Seine and Marne were re- +opened. + +Alexander then made a visit to Paris, where he was received with great +enthusiasm. The legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much +contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to +Italy to participate in the election of a new pope. For the "Huguenot +pope," Sixtus V., had died at the end of August, having never bestowed +on the League any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its +utmost need. It was not surprising that Philip was indignant, and had +resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he +found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated Bearnese. +Of course when he died his complaint was believed to be Spanish poison. +In those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying +natural deaths, and Philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow +so formidable an adversary as Sixtus to pass away in God's time only. +Certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the +Spanish party in Rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as +if he had been a heretic; while in Paris his decease was celebrated with +bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. + +To circumvent the great Huguenot's reconciliation with the Roman Church +was of course an indispensable portion of Philip's plan; for none could +be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of Paris to its heretic +sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had +ceased to be heretic. It was most important therefore that the successor +of Sixtus should be the tool of Spain. The leading confederates were +well aware of Henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to +return to the communion of Rome whenever he could formally accomplish +that measure. The crafty Bearnese knew full well that the road to Paris +lay through the gates of Rome. Yet it is proof either of the privacy +with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the +extraordinary powers of deceit with which Henry was gifted, that the +leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. +Notwithstanding the embassy of Luxembourg, and the many other indications +of the king's intentions, Queen Elizabeth continued to regard him as the +great champion of the reformed faith. She had just sent him an emerald, +which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish +that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing +an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies +to rout and confusion. "You will remind the king, too," she added, "that +the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains +entire and firm." + +And the shrewd Stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed +his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on Henry's part. +"The Catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a Catholic +or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their +calling in the Spaniards, both Paris and all other towns will yield to +him, if he will but assure them that he will become a Catholic. For my +part, I think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so I find +he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which I find no disposition +in him unto it." The not very distant future was to show what the +disposition of the bold Gascon really was in this great matter, and +whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, +should it indeed become a fact. Meantime it was the opinion of the +wisest sovereign in Europe, and of one of the most adroit among her +diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the +king's contemplated conversion. + +It was, of course, unfortunate for Henry that his staunch friend and +admirer Sixtus was no more. But English diplomacy could do but little in +Rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of +Elizabeth, that devoted friend of Philip, the English Cardinal Allen, +should be elected to the papal throne. "Great ado is made in Rome," said +Stafford, "by the Spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that +may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the +King of Spain's devotion. If the princes of Italy put not their hands +unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and I fear greatly our +villainous Allen, for, in my judgment, I can comprehend no man more with +reason to be tied altogether to the King of Spain's will than he. +I pray God send him either to God or the Devil first. An evil-minded +Englishman, tied to the King of Spain by necessity, finding almost four +millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." + +Cardinal Allen was doomed to disappointment. His candidacy was not +successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of Urban VII, +Sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of Gregory XIV. Before +the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of +extirpating heresy in France, and of electing a Catholic king, and +asserting his determination to send to Paris--that bulwark of the +Catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen +thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need +assistance. It was therefore probable that the great leader of the +Huguenots, now that he had been defeated by Farnese, and that his +capital was still loyal to the League, would obtain less favour--however +conscientiously he might instruct himself--from Gregory XIV. than he had +begun to find in the eyes of Sixtus after the triumph of Ivry. + +Parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in November +determined on his return to the Netherlands. The Leaguers were aghast at +his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. But the duke had +given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished +without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making +sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or +forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the +neighbourhood of Paris. Moreover, dissensions were breaking out. +between the Spaniards, Italians, and Netherlanders of the relieving army +with their French allies. The soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners +who came there as victors, even although to assist the Leaguers in +overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of France. The +stragglers and wounded on Farnese's march were killed by the country +people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him +longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his +will he had deserted. + +He marched back by way of Champagne rather than by that of Picardy, in +order to deceive the king. Scarcely had he arrived in Champagne when he +heard of the retaking of Lagny and Corbeil. So soon as his back was +turned, the League thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage +which his genius had won. Corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard +work, was recaptured in two days. Lagny fell almost as quickly. +Earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, +but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. His march +was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had +marked his advance. Henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, +harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. None of the +skirmishes were of much military importance. A single cavalry combat, +however, in which old Marshal Biron was nearly surrounded and was in +imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the +king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess +romantic interest. In a subsequent encounter, near Baroges on the Yesle, +Henry had sent Biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some +five hundred carabineers of Farnese on their march towards the frontier, +and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to +witness or participate in every battle. Suddenly Alphonse Corse, who +rode at Henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces +off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred +cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up +and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to +fall back. + +This was the Duke of Parma, and thus the two great champions of the +Huguenots and of the Leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had +met face to face. At that moment La Noue, riding up, informed the king +that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, +and Henry, suspecting the retreat of Farnese to be a feint for the +purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders +to retire as soon as possible. + +At Guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with Mayenne, leaving with him +an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he +could ill spare. He then returned to Brussels, which city he reached on +the 4th December, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick +soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. He had +manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in +which he had accomplished the relief of Paris, while the barrenness of +the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity +with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. + +Paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at Lagny and +Corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient +Netherlands during the absence of Farnese had been sinking rapidly to +ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater +preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general +and stadtholder of the Republic. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Alexander's exuberant discretion +Divine right of kings +Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile +Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods +Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority +King was often to be something much less or much worse +Magnificent hopefulness +Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream +Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons +Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths +Philip II. gave the world work enough +Righteous to kill their own children +Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome +Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other +Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) +Under the name of religion (so many crimes) + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v62 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 63, 1590-1592 + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Prince Maurice--State of the Republican army--Martial science of the + period--Reformation of the military system by Prince Maurice--His + military genius--Campaign in the Netherlands--The fort and town of + Zutphen taken by the States' forces--Attack upon Deventer--Its + capitulation--Advance on Groningen, Delfzyl, Opslag, Yementil, + Steenwyk, and other places--Farnese besieges Fort Knodsenburg-- + Prince Maurice hastens to its relief--A skirmish ensues resulting in + the discomfiture of the Spanish and Italian troops--Surrender of + Hulat and Nymegen--Close of military, operations of the year. + +While the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the +energies of Farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been +ample room for Prince Maurice to mature his projects, and to make a +satisfactory beginning in the field. Although Alexander had returned to +the Netherlands before the end of the year 1590, and did not set forth on +his second French campaign until late in the following year, yet the +condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling +of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual +opposition to the projects of the youthful general. + +For the first time Maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into +practice on an extensive scale. Compared with modern armaments, the +warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign +oppressors would seem almost diminutive. But the science and skill of a +commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the +materials within reach. His progress is to be measured by a comparison +with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what Time +had thus far bequeathed. + +The regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand +foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded +by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, +and by the levies of German reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in +such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the +provinces. + +To the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged +the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, +and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. It was its +duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the United +Provinces. + +The course of Leicester's administration, and especially the fatal +treason of Stanley and of York, made it seem important for the true +lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the +English had two seats, all political and military power. And this, as +has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. The silent +revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government +passed into the hands of the States-General-acting as a league of +sovereignties--has already been indicated. The period during which the +council exercised functions conferred on it by the States-General +themselves was brief and evanescent. The jealousy of the separate +provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body +entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing +troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent +from his Excellency the Prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as +governor and captain-general of Holland, or Gelderland, or Utrecht, as +the case might be. + +The highest military office in the Netherlands was that of captain- +general or supreme commander. This quality was from earliest times +united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the +place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. +After the foundation of the Republic this dynastic form, like many +others, remained, and thus Prince Maurice was at first only captain- +general of Holland and Zeeland, and subsequently of Gelderland, Utrecht, +and Overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three +provinces in 1590 on the death of Count Nieuwenaar. However much in +reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life +held the appointment of captain-general of the Union. + +To obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have +served four years, while three years' service was the necessary +preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. Three candidates were +presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder +appointed one.--The commissions, except those of the highest commanders, +were made out in the name of the States-General, by advice and consent of +the council of state. The oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as +well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which +they belonged, as well as that of the States-Generals. It thus appears +that, especially after Maurice's first and successful campaigns; the +supreme authority over the army really belonged to the States-General, +and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the +course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last +disappeared almost entirely. During the active period of the war, +however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater +concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the States- +General meant simply the province of Holland. Holland was the republic. + +The organisation of the infantry was very simple. The tactical unit +was the company. A temporary combination of several companies--made a +regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such +regiments there was no regular organisation. Sometimes six or seven +companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the +strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of +companies, not of regiments. + +The normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of Maurice's +career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one +captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned +officers. Each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, +pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. Long after, portable firearms had +come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed +with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the +musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. Maurice was among the +first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he +accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket +in his companies. In a company of a hundred and thirteen, including +officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes +and halberds. As before his time the proportion between the arms had +been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. + +Of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. The +musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. When fired it was- +placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, +and stuck before him into the ground. The bullets of the musket were +twelve to the pound. + +The harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the +front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, +was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the +pound. Both weapons had matchlocks. + +The pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as +halberdsmen carried rapiers. + +There were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by Maurice for +the personal protection of the leader of the company. The prince was +often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, +was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. + +The cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. The unit was the +squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until +the year 1591, when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at +one hundred and twenty. + +As the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the +Netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the +attack usually taking place on a trot--Maurice gradually displaced the +lance in favour of the carbine. His troopers thus became rather mounted +infantry than regular cavalry. + +The carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried +bullets of thirty to the pound. + +The artillery was a peculiar Organisation. It was a guild of citizens, +rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. The +arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a +special trade by the guild of the holy Barbara existing in all the +principal cities. Thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, +under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret +laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their +apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were +conveyed by master to pupil. This system furnished a powerful element of +defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for +its own safety. + +In the earlier campaigns of Maurice three kinds of artillery were used; +the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or +twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve +pounds. The two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. All +the guns were of bronze. + +The length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one +hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. +It was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one +hundred shots in an hour. Wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece +after every, ten or twelve discharges. The usual charge was twenty +pounds of powder. + +The whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty- +three. + +The field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as +an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much +later times. In the greatest pitched battle ever fought by Maurice, that +of Nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. + +The prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown +grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than +six hundred yards. Bomb-shells were not often used although they had +been known for a century. + +Before the days of Maurice a special education for engineers had never +been contemplated. Persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of +fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon +occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. The prince +established a course of instruction in this profession at the University +of Leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated Stevinus. + +Doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which +required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. His +soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who +were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that +implement instead of the sword. Such a novelty was a shock to all the +military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour +of the prince and of his cousin Lewis William that ultimately triumphed +over the universal prejudice. + +The pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the +month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working +in the mines, thirty florins monthly. Soldiers used in digging trenches +received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to +fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. + +Another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment +of his troops. The system prevailing in every European country at that +day, by which Governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most +infamous. The soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the +wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the +master-roll were living human beings. Accordingly two-thirds of all the +money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace +to cheat the Government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of +ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass +muster as regular soldiers. + +These parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one +company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a +disgrace to the colours of the company. + +Thus, in the Armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her +auxiliary force in the Netherlands should be sent to England. The States +agreed that three thousand of these English troops, together with a few +cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should +remain in the provinces. The queen accepted the proposal, but when the +two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a +man left for the voyage to England. Yet every one of the English +captains had claimed full pay for his company from her Majesty's +exchequer. + +Against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous Maurice set +himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his +reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. +It was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid +foundation for the martial science. + +To the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of Maurice, +and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. There is no +doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful +preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, +was founding the great modern school of military science. It was in this +Netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, +that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the +rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. +Therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by +modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over +ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the +mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, +must always engage the special attention of the military student. + +To the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of +civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development +and true liberty, the spectacle of tho young stadholder's triumphs has +an interest of another kind. At the moment when a thorough practical +soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable +it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices +of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the +foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was +destined that a soldier should appear. + +Spade in hand, with his head full of Roman castrametation and geometrical +problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that +stage where grizzled Mansfelds, drunken Hohenlos, and truculent Verdugos +have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists +of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. The novice is received with +universal hilarity. But although the machinery of war varies so steadily +from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the +spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the Alexanders, and Caesars, +and Frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of +which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the +simple material it was in the days of Sesostris or Cyrus. The moral and +physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first +began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. + +To make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that +it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. To secure +this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies +were indispensable. Long arrearages were now converting Farnese's +veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age +and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an +impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist +in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. In +Maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no +thieving. At the siege of Delfzyl Maurice hung two of his soldiers for +stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, +after the place had capitulated. At the siege of Hulst he ordered +another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. + +This seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane +occupation. The result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better +for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. To +secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the Netherlanders +engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign +tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged-- +a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band +of brigands. Swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even +trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. + +To bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, +to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application +to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the +energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness +of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise +blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and +omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the +characteristics of Maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of +all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. Although his +method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in +common, of the Bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to +fear. But in the case of Henry, to confront danger for its own sake +was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of Maurice did not +so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific +combinations in the interests of his personal safety. Very frequently, +in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and +urgently requested by the States-General not to expose his life so +recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had +received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved +mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which +much was depending to other eyes than his own. The details of his +campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader +from their very completeness. Desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where +the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual +man, whether in buff jerkin or Milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man +in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by +town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or +are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self- +sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity +is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most +colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks +beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the +sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than +the Netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the +neatest solution of mathematical problems. Yet, if it be the legitimate +end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least +expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire +by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps +vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his +diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than +Coeur-de-Lion with his battle-axe or Alva with his truncheon. + +The system--then a new one--which Maurice introduced to sustain that +little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of +seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances +that could have been devised. Patriotism the most passionate, the most +sublime, had created the republic. To maintain its existence against +perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. + +Passionless as algebra, the genius of Maurice was ready for the task. +Strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital +river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired +during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, +and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the +earliest trophies and prizes of his art. But the details of his +victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the +picturesqueness of crime. The sieges of Naarden, Harlem, Leyden, were +tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of Zutphen, Deventer, +Nymegen, Groningen, and many other places--all important though they +were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who +throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it +thus becomes superfluous to play. + +There were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. +It was desirable to obtain control of the line of the Waal, by which that +heart of the republic--Holland--would be made entirely secure. To this +end, Gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of +the Englishman Wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--Bois le Duc, and +Nymegen were to be wrested from Spain. + +It was also important to hold the Yssel, the course of which river led +directly through the United Netherlands, quite to the Zuyder Zee, cutting +off Friesland, Groningen, and Gelderland from their sister provinces of +Holland and Zeeland. And here again the keys to this river had been lost +by English treason. The fort of Zutphen and the city of Deventer had +been transferred to the Spaniard by Roland York and Sir William Stanley, +in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it +was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications +between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could +ever be established. + +Still farther in the ancient Frisian depths, the memorable treason of +that native Netherlander, the high-born Renneberg, had opened the way +for the Spaniard's foot into the city of Groningen. Thus this whole +important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign +oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. + +Verdugo, a veteran officer of Portuguese birth, who had risen from the +position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in +Friesland. He had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from +Farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he +might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of +the campaign in France. + +And Verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important +province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were +left to him. "I hope to God that I may do my duty to the king and your +Highness," he cried, "but I find myself sold up and pledged to such an +extent that I am poorer than when I was a soldier at four crowns a month. +And everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." + +Maurice, after making a feint of attacking Gertruydenberg and Bois le +Duc, so that Farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to +strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to Arnhem +with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. He had +previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under +Sir Francis Vere to Doesburg. + +On the 23rd May (1591) five peasants and six peasant women made their +appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort +in the Badmeadow (Vel-uwe), opposite Zutphen, on the west side of the +Yssel. It was not an unusual occurrence. These boors and their wives +had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and +they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, +waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with +them for their supplies. Very soon several of the guard made their +appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of +the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the +soldier who was cheapening her eggs. The rest of the party, transformed +in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the +guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. A +considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by Prince Maurice +near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of +Zutphen was mastered by the States' forces without loss of a man. It was +a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. + +Next day Maurice began the regular investment of the city. On the 26th, +Count Lewis William arrived with some Frisian companies. On the 27th, +Maurice threw a bridge of boats from the Badmeadow side, across the river +to the Weert before the city. On the 28th he had got batteries, mounting +thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. On +the 30th the town capitulated. Thus within exactly one week from the +firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and +town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the States, and were such +important possessions of the Spaniards, fell into the hands of Maurice. +The terms of surrender were easy. The city being more important than +its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. +The citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under +loyal obedience to the States-General, or to take their departure. +Those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens +of the United Provinces. + +But very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the +tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a +foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving Dutch town, that scarcely +anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. One thousand houses were +ruined and desolate. It is superfluous to add that the day of its +restoration to the authority of the Union was the beginning of its +renewed prosperity. + +Maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same +evening straight upon Deventer, seven miles farther down the river, +without pausing to sleep upon his victory. His artillery and munitions +were sent rapidly down the Yssel. + +Within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty- +eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. + +It was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the +Hanseatic League, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the +capital of the rich and fertile province of Overyssel, and protected by a +strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the +Netherlands. The garrison consisted of fourteen hundred Spaniards and +Walloons, under the command of Count Herman van den Berg, first cousin of +Prince Maurice. + +No sooner had the States army come before the city than a Spanish captain +observed--"We shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, +cousins on the inside. There will be a sham fight or two, and then the +cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." + +Such hints had deeply wounded Van den Berg, who was a fervent Catholic, +and as loyal a servant to Philip II. as he could have been, had that +monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and +virtues, to govern all the swamps of Friesland. He slept on the gibe, +having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at +solemn mass in the great church the next morning. He there declared to +them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his +fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never +to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such +resistance that he must be carried from the breach. So long as he could +stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. + +The whole council who had come from Zutphen to Maurice's camp were +allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. The, enemy had been seen +hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not +ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. Many of the +counsellors argued against the siege. It was urged that the resistance +would be determined and protracted, and that the Duke of Parma was sure +to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its +reduction could be effected. + +But Maurice had thrown a bridge across the Yssel above, and another below +the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of +which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and +shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. + +The city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most +decided refusal had been returned. + +On the 9th June the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six +hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the +Kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. + +The breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. To reach the +Kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the Haven, over +which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. There was now a dispute among +the English, Scotch, and Netherlanders for precedence in the assault. +It was ultimately given to the English, in order that the bravery of that +nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon +its name by the treason of Sir William Stanley. The English did their +duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. +Some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. Some fell into the +moat and were drowned. Others, sustained by the Netherlanders under +Solms, Meetkerke, and Brederode, effected their passage by swimming, +leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. Herman van den +Berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. The +defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. They were also very +drunk. The count had placed many casks of Rhenish and of strong beer +within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they +fought. He was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous +with sword and buckler. Two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, +but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of +his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. +Notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the +assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed +and wounded--Colonel Meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable Dutch +officers, among them. + +During the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up +upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling +down in all directions. Meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was Sunday-- +instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the +serjeant-major, a truculent Spaniard, next in command to Van den Berg, +who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the Dutch burghers +to assist the Spanish garrison on the wall. It was thought afterwards +that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at +the side of his commander. + +A chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. +A gigantic Albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of Deventer into +the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the States' army +to break a lance with him. Prince Maurice forbade any acceptance of the +challenge, but Lewis van der Cathulle, son of the famous Ryhove of Ghent, +unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last +obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. They met +accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered +their lances in good style, but without much effect. The Albanian then +drew a pistol. Cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this +weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. +He then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing +his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. +Prince Maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, +sending him into the city with a message to the governor. + +During the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had +nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the +garrison, but Count Lewis William, in person, with a chosen band defended +it stoutly till morning, beating back the Spaniards with heavy loss in a +sanguinary midnight contest. + +Next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for +a capitulation. It was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as +they had been, the place was no longer tenable against Maurice's superior +forces. A trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on +the 10th of June, accordingly, the place capitulated. + +It was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage +whithersoever they chose. Van den Berg stipulated nothing in favour of +the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly +appear. But the burghers were received like brothers. No plunder was +permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its +sisterhood of the United Provinces. + +Van den Berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with +much cordiality. He was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the +effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of +one eye. There was mach free conversation between himself and his +cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. + +"I've often told Verdugo," said he, "that the States had no power to make +a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he +agreed with me. But we were both wrong, for I now see the contrary." + +To which Count Lewis William replied with a laugh: "My dear cousin, I've +observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us +Beggars, and I have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw +in consequence. I'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." +Herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret +having said so much. + +Soon afterwards he was forwarded by Maurice in his own coach to Ulff, +where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re- +established in health. + +Thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city +of Deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of +Maurice. It began to be understood that the young pedant knew something +about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the +science of war for nothing. + +The city was in a sorry plight when the States took possession of it. +As at Zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the +foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old +Hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. Hundreds of houses +had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the +woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if +feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, +and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the +Beggars when they should return. + +The dead body of the traitor York, who had died and been buried in +Deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and +with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin +and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the States' soldiery. + +Maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most +important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once +on Groningen. There was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the +capture of Nymegen, but the understanding with the Frisian stadholders +and his troops had been that the enterprise upon Groningen should follow +the reduction of Deventer. + +On the 26th June Maurice appeared before Groningen. Next day, as a +precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of +Delfzyl. This place capitulated to him on the 2nd July. The fort of +Opslag surrendered on the 7th July. He then moved to the west of +Groningen, and attacked the forts of Yementil and Lettebaest, which fell +into his hands on the 11th July. He then moved along the Nyenoort +through the Seven Wolds and Drenthe to Steenwyk, before which strongly +fortified city he arrived on the 15th July. + +Meantime, he received intercepted letters from Verdugo to the Duke of +Parma, dated 19th June from Groningen. In these, the Spanish stadholder +informed Farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and +that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in +considerable force, or that Groningen would be lost, and with it the +Spanish forces in the province. He enclosed a memorial of the course +proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. + +Notwithstanding the strictness by which Philip had tied his great +general's hands, Farnese felt the urgency of the situation. By the end +of June, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the +relief of the Leaguers in Normandy, he moved into Gelderland, coming by +way of Xanten, Rees, and neighbouring places. Here he paused for a +moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in Gelderland +or to march straight to the relief of Groningen. He decided that it was +better for the moment to protect the line of the Waal. Shipping his army +accordingly into the Batavian Island or Good-meadow (Bet-uwe), which lies +between the two great horns of the Rhine, he laid siege to Fort +Knodsenburg, which Maurice had built the year before, on the right bank +of the Waal for the purpose of attacking Nymegen. Farnese, knowing that +the general of the States was occupied with his whole army far away to +the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and +by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the Foul-meadow +(Vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the Rouvenian morass, which +no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the +beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in +boats across the Waal. He had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful +fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time +of disturbing by his presence in Batavia the combinations of his young +antagonist in Friesland and Groningen. + +So with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, Alexander came before +Knodsenburg. The news reached Maurice at Steenwyk on the 15th July. +Instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that Farnese must be +faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more +important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been +gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to +acquire more. Before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, +having left Lewis William with a sufficient force to threaten Groningen. +Coming by way of Hasselt Zwol to Deventer, he crossed the Yssel on a +bridge of boats on the 18th of July, 1591 and proceeded to Arnhem. +His army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot +weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and +cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. +On the 20th he was at Arnhem. On the 22nd his bridge of boats was made, +and he had thrown his little army across the Rhine into Batavia, and +entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse +in the immediate neighbourhood of Farnese--Foul-meadow and Good-meadow, +dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and +within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of Philip had +reached the Batavian island, Maurice stood confronting that famous +chieftain in battle-array. + +On the 22nd July, Farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots +at Fort Knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a +work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. +To his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the +assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively +repulsed. + +And now Maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a +place so important for his ulterior designs. On the 24th July he sent +out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. They +were attacked by a considerable body of Italian and Spanish horse from +the camp before Knodsenburg, including Alexander's own company of lancers +under Nicelli. The States troops fled before them in apparent dismay for +a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden +halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of +cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all +directions. It was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by Maurice +in person, assisted by Sir Francis Vere. Sixty of the Spaniards and +Italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including +Captain Nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in +ignominious flight. This little skirmish, in which ten companies of the +picked veterans of Alexander Farnese had thus been utterly routed before +his eyes, did much to inspire the States troops with confidence in +themselves and their leader. + +Parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to +recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river +Waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. He had not +dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement +as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate +himself from a position which might soon become fatal. Without +hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and +then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, +under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats +his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without +loss, and with his usual skill. + +He remained but a short time in Nymegen, but he was hampered by the +express commands of the king. Moreover, his broken health imperatively +required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the +waters of Spa, before setting forth on his new French expedition. +Meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the Spanish possessions +in the north by his demonstration in Gelderland, it must be confessed +that the diversion thus given to the plans of Maurice was but a feeble +one. + +Having assured the inhabitants of Nymegen that he would watch over the +city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the 4th of +August for Spa. He was accompanied on his journey by his son, Prince +Ranuccio, just arrived from Italy. + +After the retreat of Farnese, Maurice mustered his forces at Arnhem, and +found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred +horse. It was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very +spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial +city of Nynegen. The garrison and burghers accordingly made every +preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, +by the departure of Parma, and by the apparent incapacity of Verdugo to +bring them effectual relief. + +But to the surprise of all men, the States forces suddenly disappeared +from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, +along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and +estuary--the military advantages of which to the Netherlands, Maurice was +the first thoroughly to demonstrate. Having previously made great +preparations of munitions and provisions in Zeeland, the young general, +who was thought hard at work in Gelderland, suddenly presented himself +on the 19th September, before the gates of Hulst, on the border of +Zeeland and Brabant. + +It was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the +enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the States, and a constant +obstacle to the plans of Maurice. His arrangements having been made with +the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the +surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. + +Its commander, Castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, +it is said, beheaded by order of the Duke of Parma for his negligence. +The place is but a dozen miles from Antwerp, which city was at the very, +moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals +in honour of young Ranuccio. The capture of Hulst before his eyes was a +demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of +old Mondragon, governor of Antwerp, thus bearded in his den. The veteran +made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious Beggars of +Zeeland and their, pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the +Spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically +as he had come. + +The Flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while +Mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the Scheld, +Maurice was back again upon the Waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, +baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to +besiege Nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished +drawing long breaths at their recent escape. Between the 14th and 16th +October he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported +eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to +the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and +had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding +the weakest part of the defences of the city between the Falcon Tower and +the Hoender gate. The fort of Knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot +shot across the river into the town. Not a detail in all these +preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the Commander-in-Chief, and +again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life +already become precious to his country. On the 20th October, Maurice +sent to demand the surrender of the city. The reply was facetious but +decisive. + +The prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster +not so lightly to be won. A longer courtship and more trouble would be +necessary. + +Whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and +the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking +castles and listening ladies. + +Nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the 20th, surrendered on the 21st. +Relief was impossible. Neither Parma, now on his way to France, nor +Verdugo, shut up in Friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, +and the combinations of Maurice were an inexorable demonstration. + +The terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to Zutphen and +Deventer. In regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by +Maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the Roman +Catholic religion should be left to the decision of the States-General. + +And thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the +republic. Another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young +commander. The exultation was very great throughout the United +Netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his +countrymen to the son of William the Silent. + +Queen Elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great +successes, and even the Spaniards began to recognise the merits of the +new chieftain. An intercepted letter from Verdugo, who had been foiled +in his efforts to arrest the career of Maurice, indicated great respect +for his prowess. "I have been informed," said the veteran, "that Count +Maurice of Nassau wishes to fight me. Had I the opportunity I assure you +that I should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, I +should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a +personage. I beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. +Yours, FRANCIS VERDUGO." + +These chivalrous sentiments towards Prince Maurice had not however +prevented Verdugo from doing his best to assassinate Count Lewis William. +Two Spaniards had been arrested in the States camp this summer, who came +in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without +torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with +instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot Lewis William and +set fire to his camp. But such practices were so common on the part of +the Spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. + +It will be remembered that two years before, the famous Martin Schenk had +come to a tragic end at Nymegen. He had been drowned, fished up, hanged, +drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been +exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in +pickle and deposited in a chest. They were now collected and buried +triumphantly in the tomb of the Dukes of Gelderland. Thus the shade +of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. + +The government of the city was conferred upon Count Lewis William, with +Gerard de Jonge as his lieutenant. A substantial garrison was placed in +the city, and, the season now far advanced Maurice brought the military +operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against +Gertruydenberg, to a close. He had deserved and attained--considerable +renown. He had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic +veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled +rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. He had +carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the +heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed +impassable even for infantry. He had traversed the length and breadth of +the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in Overyssel, +picked up cities and fortresses in the province of Groningen, and +threatened its capital, menaced Steenwyk, relieved Knodsenburg though +besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most +famous cavalry of Spain and Italy under the eyes of their chieftain, +swooped as it were through the air upon Brabant, and carried off an +important city almost in the sight of Antwerp, and sped back again in the +freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and +invincible artillery, to the imperial city of Nymegen, which Farnese had +sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate +skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. + +"Some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest +chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince +and of his cousin Lewis William, "but they who knew the prince's constant +study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never +committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, +vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with Count Lewis +William (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in +greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other +commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + War in Brittany and Normandy--Death of La Noue--Religious and + political persecution in Paris--Murder of President Brisson, + Larcher, and Tardif--The sceptre of France offered to Philip--The + Duke of Mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--Speech of + Henry's envoy to the States-General--Letter of Queen Elizabeth to + Henry--Siege of Rouen--Farnese leads an army to its relief--The king + is wounded in a skirmish--Siege of Rue by Farnese--Henry raises the + siege of Rouen--Siege of Caudebec--Critical position of Farnese and + his army--Victory of the Duke of Mercoeur in Brittany. + +Again the central point towards which the complicated events to be +described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of France. +Movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed +to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and +daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be +necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness +of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look +backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of +nations and which we call the Past. It is only by the anatomical study +of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the +framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. It is only by +patiently lifting the shroud from the Past that we can enable ourselves +to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim Present and the +veiled Future. It is only thus that the continuity of human history +reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. + +If ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national +existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of +infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the +United Netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of +William the Silent. Domestic treason, secession of important provinces, +religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea +of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. Who +but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the +inevitable issue of the conflict? Did not great sages and statesmen +whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the +untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again +the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to +disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of +human liberty should ever be advanced? + +To us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached-- +thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may +seem doubtful whether premature peace in the Netherlands, France, and +England would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might +have been purchased by the establishment all over Europe of that holy +institution called the Inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the +foreign domination of Spain. + +If, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national +vivisection and final dismemberment, it was France: Its natural guardians +and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to +obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under +acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. There was hardly an inch of French +soil that had not two possessors. In Burgundy Baron Biron was battling +against the Viscount Tavannes; in the Lyonese and Dauphiny Marshal des +Digiueres was fighting with the Dukes of Savoy and Nemours; in Provence, +Epernon was resisting Savoy; in Languedoc, Constable Montmorency +contended with the Duke of Joyeuse; in Brittany, the Prince of Dombes was +struggling with the Duke of Mercoeur. + +But there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal +title to the throne of France than all the doctors of the Sorbonne could +furnish to Philip II. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through +all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of +venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good +sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national +unity. His rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of St. +Denis, and his reference to the judgment of Solomon, formed the text to +his whole career. + +The brunt of the war now fell upon Brittany and Normandy. Three thousand +Spaniards under Don John de Aquila had landed in the port of Blavet which +they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. And thither, to defend +the integrity of that portion of France, which, in Spanish hands, was a +perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, Queen +Elizabeth had sent some three thousand Englishmen, under commanders well +known to France and the Netherlands. There was black Norris again +dealing death among the Spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles +with Sir Roger Williams. There was that doughty Welshman himself, +truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost +in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest +tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the +last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his Queen. "The world +cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer +and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than I did mine. There is +no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other +means I never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's +service, or country." And so passing his life in the saddle and under +fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete +the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of +the age, the bold Welshman again and again appears, wearing the same +humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to +run up and down in a great morion and feathers on Flemish battlefields, +a mark for the Spanish sharpshooters. + +There, too, under the banner of the Bearnese, that other historian of +those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where +tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on French or +Flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military +discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other +villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of Philip +II. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the +brave and good La Noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, +was fighting his last fight. At the siege of Lamballe in Brittany, he +had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach +effected by the batteries. An arquebus shot from the town grazed his +forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much +that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his +leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon Paris, where he +stood at the side of King Henry, caught in the ladder and held him +suspended. His head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock +to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen +days. + +His son de Teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released +from the prison where he had lain since his capture before Antwerp, had +hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his +eyes. The veteran caused the chapter in Job on the resurrection of the +body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm +faith in a hereafter. Thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the 4th +August, 1591, one of the most heroic spirits of France. Prudence, +courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, +made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more +distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the +moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. The Prince of +Dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of Lamballe. + +There was yet another chronicler, fighting among the Spaniards, now in +Brittany, now in Normandy, and now in Flanders, and doing his work as +thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, Don Carlos Coloma, +captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. For it +was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. They +were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have +preserved. They lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. +Rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, +violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at +least full of colour and thrilling with life. + +Thus Netherlanders, Englishmen, and Frenchmen were again mingling their +blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of +Brittany and Normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it +given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully +achieving. + +In Paris the League still maintained its ascendancy. Henry, having again +withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen +tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal +politics. A network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere +of the place. The Sixteen, sustained by the power of Spain and Rome, and +fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of +plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all +heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable +chance of spoil. The soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, +Sego, bishop of Piacenza. Letters from him to Alexander Farnese, +intercepted by Henry, showed a determination to ruin the Duke of Mayenne +and Count Belin governor of Paris, whom he designated as Colossus and +Renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put Spanish partizans in +their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the +authority of Philip was to be established in France. He was perpetually +urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his +creatures in order to carry out these projects. + +Accordingly the attention of the Sixteen had been directed to President +Brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his +resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. This +eminent juris-consult had succeeded Pomponne de Bellievre as first +president of the Parliament of Paris. He had been distinguished for +talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of +several important legal works. His ambition to fill the place of first +president had caused him to remain in Paris after its revolt against +Henry III. He was no Leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra- +Catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the +confederates who ruled the capital. He had fondly imagined that he could +govern the Parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of +influencing the Parliament or directing his clients. He expected to +restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. He +hoped to be himself the means of bringing Henry IV. in triumph to the +throne of his ancestors. He found, however, that a revolution was more +difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the +Holy League were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. + +On the night of the 14th November; 1591; he was seized on the bridge St. +Michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected +at the Hotel de Ville. He was then brought to the prison of the little +Chatelet. + +Hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when Crome, +a leader among the Parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by +some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. He +ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. He then read a +sentence condemning him to death. Profoundly astonished, Brisson +demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. +The answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. +He then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable +him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his +premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. This request +produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. His judges +were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. He was +then hanged in his dungeon. + +Two other magistrates, Larcher and Tardif, were executed in the same +way, in the same place, and on the same night. The crime charged against +them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the +Sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in Paris of a paper drawn +up by the Duke of Nevers, filled with bitterness against the Lorraine +princes and the League, and addressed to the late Pope Sixtus. + +The three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the Greve in front of the +Hotel de Ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the +populace. + +This was the culminating point of the reign of terror in Paris. Never +had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the +capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more +omnipotent. As representatives or plenipotentiaries of Madam League they +had laid the crown. at the feet of the King of Spain, hoping by still +further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely +their own ignoble reign. The extreme democratic party, which had +hitherto supported the House of Lorraine and had seemed to idolize that +family in the person of the great Balafre, now believed themselves +possessed of sufficient power to control the Duke of Mayenne and all his +adherents. They sent the Jesuit Claude Mathieu with a special memorial +to Philip II. That monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of France, +and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves +into his arms? They assured him that all reasonable people, and +especially the Holy League, wished him to take the reins of Government, +on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of +arms, of publishing the Council of Trent, and of establishing everywhere +the Holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and +desirable for the good. It was suggested that Philip should not call +himself any longer King of Spain nor adopt the title of King of France, +but that he should proclaim himself the Great King, or make use of some +similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal +dominion. + +Should Philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, +it was suggested that the young Duke of Guise, son of the first martyr +of France, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with +the hand of the legitimate Queen of France, the Infanta Clara Isabella. + +But the Sixteen were reckoning without the Duke of Mayenne. That great +personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled +and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the +troubled waters of revolution. He knew how to manage intrigues with both +sides for his own benefit. Had he been a bachelor he might have obtained +the Infanta and shared her prospective throne. Being encumbered with a +wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of Philip, and was +determined that his nephew Guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune +denied to himself. The escape of the young duke from prison had been the +signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which +Parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to +the utmost. "They must be maintained in such disposition in regard to +me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, +both may without knowing it do my will." + +But Mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual +loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of +so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for +Machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the Spanish king and his +Italian viceroy. He sent President Jeannin on special mission to Philip, +asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that +of Farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint +any man he liked to the vacant throne. Thus he had secured one hundred +thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "The +maintenance of these two armies costs me 261,000 crowns a month," said +Philip to his envoy Ybarra. + +And what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this +lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the +most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong +to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions +of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the +interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage +charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like +private farms from one owner to another? Time was to show. Meanwhile +men trembled at the name of Philip II., and grovelled before him as the +incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. + +But Mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the +transfer. He had fine instinct enough to suspect that the Bearnese, +outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a +game against the League as it was the fashion to suppose. He knew +whether or not Henry was likely to prove a more fanatical Huguenot in +1592 than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the Bartholomew +festival. And he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which +the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn +out the trump card. A bold, valorous Frenchman with a flawless title, +and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a +more formidable claimant to the allegiance of Frenchmen than a foreign +potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the Sorbonne. + +The murder of President Brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of +the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. What seemed +a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, +destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. The Sixteen believed +themselves omnipotent. Mayenne being in their power, it was for them to +bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as +seemed best to them. They felt no doubt that all the other great cities +in the kingdom would follow the example of Paris. + +But the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that +his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary +like the deceased cardinal-king, Charles X. The letters entrusted by the +Sixteen to Claude Mathieu were intercepted by Henry, and, very probably, +an intimation of their contents was furnished to Mayenne. At any rate, +the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests +were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that +it seemed the object of the Spaniards to bind the democratic party to +themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to Paris, +determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the +judges. The Spanish envoy Ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had +been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had +excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, +remonstrated with Mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it +was often necessary to be blind and deaf. + +In vain. The duke carried it with a high and firm hand. He arrested the +ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the Louvre within +twenty days after the commission of their crime. The energy was well- +timed and perfectly successful. The power of the Sixteen was struck to +the earth at a blow. The ignoble tyrants became in a moment as +despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. Crome, more +fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape +out of the kingdom. + +Thus Mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called- +with the market-halls oligarchy. In thus doing, his ultimate rupture +with the Spaniards was foreshadowed. The next combination for him to +strive for would be one to unite the moderate Catholics and the Bearnese. +Ah! if Henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the +duke might play! + +The burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the +Leaguers, coalescing with those of the Huguenots whose fidelity might +prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their +chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, +the democrats, and the Spaniards. The king's name would be a tower of +strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly +and to call itself "Politica." Madam League might succumb to this new +rival in the fickle hearts of the French. + +At the beginning of the year 1591; Buzanval had presented his credentials +to the States-General at the Hague as envoy of Henry IV. In the speech +which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of +the Viscount Turenne, his Majesty's envoy to England and to the +Netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the States and +the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and +assistance. It was notorious, said Buzanval, that the King of Spain for +many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the +rest of Christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced +upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing +beyond all the bounds that God, nature, and reason had set to lawful +forms of government. In regard to nations born under other laws than +his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. +The wars stirred up by his family in Germany, and his recent invasion of +England, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all +men. Still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles +of France. Of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of +the noble provinces of the Netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable +laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. You see, my masters, +continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the Spanish king and his +counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. +They have reflected that Spain, which is the outermost corner of Europe, +cannot conveniently make war upon other Christian realms. They have seen +that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms +to every side. They have remembered that princes who in earlier days +were able to spread their wings over all Christendom had their throne in +France, like Charles the Great and his descendants. Therefore the king +is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of +France. The death of the late king (Henry III.) had no sooner occurred, +than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and +overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity +and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their +other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon France. + +Buzanval further reminded the States that Henry had received the most +encouraging promises from the protestant princes of Germany, and that so +great a personage as the Viscount Turenne, who had now gone thither to +reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a +mission except that its result was certain. The Queen of England, too, +had promised his Majesty most liberal assistance. + +It was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the +cause of the Netherlands and that of France. The king had beaten down +the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the Dukes of +Savoy and of Lorraine. In consideration of the assistance promised by +Germany and England--for a powerful army would be at the command of Henry +in the spring--it might be said that the Netherlands might repose for a +time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these +mighty preparations. + +"I do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer +me thus. The faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter +themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, +but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail +on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. + +"For there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of +twenty thousand crowns. What a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the +roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. No doubt your +own interests are deeply connected with our own. Men may say that our +proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer +to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause +is one. The mere rumour of this army will prevent the Duke of Parma from +attacking you. His forces will be drawn to France. He will be obliged +to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. The assistance of this army +is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. To bring France into +hostility with Spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and +always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. You have always +desired a war between France and Spain, and here is a fierce and cruel +one in which you have hazarded nothing. It cannot come to an end without +bringing signal advantages to yourselves. + +"You have always desired an alliance with a French sovereign, and here is +a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. + +"You know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting +interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. The first +are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. +They have no roots in the heart. Those founded on mutual assistance on +trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. They bring +always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; +that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily +upon his shield. + +"You will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. From the +moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as Turenne, it +will absorb the whole attention of Spain, and will draw her thoughts from +the Netherlands to France." + +All this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the +consideration of the States-General, concluding with a demand of 100,000 +florins as their contribution towards the French campaign. + +His eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the States-General, +after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an +expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic +efforts of the King of France. Accordingly, notwithstanding their own +enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at +that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the +brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to +furnish the required loan of 100,000 florins to be repaid in a year, +besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of +England and France upon the coasts of Normandy. And the States were +even better than their word. + +Before the end of autumn of the year 1591, Henry had laid siege to Rouen, +then the second city of the kingdom. To leave much longer so important a +place--dominating, as it did, not only Normandy but a principal portion +of the maritime borders of France--under the control of the League and of +Spain was likely to be fatal to Henry's success. It was perfectly sound +in Queen Elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual +imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more +time before reducing that city. It was obvious that Rouen in the hands +of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own +kingdom. It was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that +high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of Elizabeth, that her royal +champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to +defer obeying her commands in this respect. + +The queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the +maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her +reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been +often ill bestowed. Her criticisms on what she considered his military +mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. +"Owning neither the East nor the West Indies," she said, "we are unable +to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the +reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a +housewife for all the world." She was persistently warning the king of +an attack upon Dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty +enterprises to the neglect of vital points. She expressed her surprise +that after the departure of Parma, he had not driven the Spaniards out of +Brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. +"I am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not +to see this danger. Remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that +it is not only France that I am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of +little consequence to me. Believe me, if I see that you have no more +regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be +necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other +assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the +shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. +I am sure the Spaniards will soon besiege Dieppe. Beware of it, and +excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime +forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, Paris would not have +been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom +would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the +others would have soon been vanquished. Pardon my simplicity as +belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, +but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing +that I am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and I persuade +myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your +assailants." + +Before the end of the year Henry had obtained control of the, Seine, both +above and below the city, holding Pont de l'Arche on the north--where was +the last bridge across the river; that of Rouen, built by the English +when they governed Normandy, being now in ruins--and Caudebec on the +south in an iron grasp. Several war-vessels sent by the Hollanders, +according to the agreement with Buzanval, cruised in the north of the +river below Caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting +off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of +Henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the English +contingent, and three thousand Netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, +nearly all French, was fast reducing the place to extremities. + +Parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely +against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the +Netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred +beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to +protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion +of his well disciplined forces. + +Most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset +and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter +disproportions between the king's means and aims. The want of money was +the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his +slender army. + +Such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, +liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. He protested that he +was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. +He had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. He had +seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had +grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a +position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes +on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and +retire into the woods to feed on roots." Repeatedly did he implore his +master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. The +royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. To +spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the +sea. + +It was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the +rescue of the besieged city. Towards the end of January, 1592, he moved +out of Hainault, and once more made his junction at Guise with the Duke +of Mayenne. At a review of his forces on 16th January, 1592, Alexander +found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen +infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. The Duke of Mayenne's +army, for payment of which that personage received from Philip 100,000 +dollars a month, besides 10,000 dollars a month for his own pocket, ought +to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to +contract, but was in reality much less. + +The Duke of Montemarciano, nephew of Gregory XIV., had brought two +thousand Swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the League, +and the Duke of Lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the Counts Chaligny and +Vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. + +The town of Fere was assigned in pledge to Farnese to hold as a +convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, +and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his +hands. These arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward +much in the same order as in the previous year. The young Duke of Guise, +who had just made his escape from the prison of Tours, where he had been +held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, +and had now come to join his uncle Mayenne, led the vanguard. Ranuccio, +son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced +commanders, Vitry and De la Chatre, as well as the famous Marquis del +Vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the Netherlands, who had been +transferred to Italy but was now serving in the League's army as a +volunteer, were associated with the young princes. Parma, Mayenne, and +Montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the +Duke of Aumale and the Count Chaligny. Wings of cavalry protected the +long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading +army. The march was very slow, a Farnese's uniform practice to guard +himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench +himself thoroughly at nightfall. + +By the middle of February they reached the vicinity of Aumale in Picardy. +Meantime Henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had +again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before +Paris in the summer of 1590. Should he continue in the trenches, +pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? +Should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt +to crush the League and its most redoubtable commander in a general +engagement? Biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. +Turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called Duc +de Bouillon, great head of the Huguenot party in France, counselled as +warmly the open attack. Henry, hesitating more than was customary with +him, at last decided on a middle course. The resolution did not seem a +very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in +the preceding campaign by the great Italian, was anxious to avoid his +former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting +two inconsistent lines of action. Leaving Biron in command of the +infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the +field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to +intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of +throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. + +Proceeding to Neufchatel and Aumale, he soon found himself in the +neighbourhood of the Leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing +began. At this time, on a memorable occasion, Henry, forgetting as +usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a +young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad +adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, +with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought +proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to +reconnoitre in person the camp of the Leaguers. Starting with five +hundred horse, and ordering Lavardin and Givry to follow with a larger +body, while the Dukes of Nevers and Longueville were to move out, should +it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a +hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated +armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found +himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his +own. A skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat +a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. It was not long before Henry was +recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; George +Basti, the famous Albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed +most closely upon the king. The news spread to the camp of the League +that the Bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. Mayenne believed +it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole +vanguard. Farnese refused. It was impossible that the king should be +there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. It was a +clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he +was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow +device. A French captain, who by command of Henry had purposely allowed +himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in +reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. This suggestion of the +ready Bearnese confirmed the doubts of Alexander. Meantime the +skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. The king dashing down +a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his +life. Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their +followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was +already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back +the Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh +crushed; Lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. The king was more +hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four +hundred French dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the +scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now +dismounted and threw themselves between Henry and his pursuers. Nearly +every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. Their +vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until Nevers and +Longueville received the king at the gates of Aumale with a force before +which the Leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. + +In this remarkable skirmish of Aumale the opposite qualities of Alexander +and of Henry were signally illustrated. The king, by his constitutional +temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the +danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes +of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute +nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily +refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy +when directly within his, grasp. Dead or alive, the Bearnese was +unquestionably on that day in the power of Farnese, and with him the +whole issue of the campaign and of the war. Never were the narrow limits +that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from +unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' + +When would such an opportunity occur again? + +The king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days +troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, +a thorough cure. Meantime the royalists fell back from Aumale and +Neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the Leaguers: +In pursuance of his original plan, the Duke of Parma advanced with his +customary steadiness and deliberation towards Rouen. It was his +intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination +with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. His +preparations for the attack were ready on the 26th February, when he +suddenly received a communication from De Villars, who had thus far most +ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that +it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. On the day before +he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the +besiegers in great force, had wounded Biron and killed six hundred of his +soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others +which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so +damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he +was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to +stay in front of him. All he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men +and munitions. Farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone +of Villars nor approved of his proposition. He had come to relieve Rouen +and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. +Mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of +Villars. He urged that it was difficult for the Bearnese to keep an army +long in the field, still more so in the trenches. Let them provide for +the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition +would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the +heretic pretender. + +Alexander deferred to the wishes of Mayenne, although against his better +judgment. Eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into Rouen. +The army of the League then countermarched into Picardy near the confines +of Artois. + +They were closely followed by Henry at the head of his cavalry, and +lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. In a military point of +view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which +partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. For it chanced that in a +cavalry action of more than common vivacity the Count Chaligny found +himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, +who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in +disarming the count and taking him prisoner. It was the fortune of war, +and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great Henry +himself. But Chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense +when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no +other than the king's jester. That he, a chieftain of the Holy League, +the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of Lorraine, brother of +the great Duke of Mercoeur, should become the captive of a Huguenot +buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had +come in fashion. The famous Chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a +gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on +this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as +did the most chivalrous crest. Although desperately wounded in the +struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the +Count his freedom without ransom. The proud Lorrainer returned to his +Leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. + +The army of the allies moved through Picardy towards the confines of +Artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer Rue, a low-lying place on the +banks and near the mouth of the Somme, the only town in the province +which still held for the king. It was sufficiently fortified to +withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling +for the great Duke of Parma to leave the Netherlands in such confusion, +with young Maurice of Nassau carrying everything before him, and to come +all the way into Normandy in order, with the united armies of Spain and +the League, to besiege the insignificant town of Rue. + +And this was the opinion of Farnese, but he had chosen throughout the +campaign to show great deference to the judgment of Mayenne. Meantime +the month of March wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. +Henry's forces dwindled away as usual. His cavaliers rode off to forage +for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now +at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand +horse. On the other hand the Leaguers' army had been melting quite as +rapidly. With the death of Pope Sfondrato, his nephew Montemarciano had +disappeared with his two thousand Swiss; while the French cavalry and +infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. Especially +the Walloons, Flemings, and other Netherlanders of Parma's army, took +advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers +to their own homes. It was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both +sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although +there was again an opportunity for Sir Roger Williams, at the head of two +hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his +brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the Bearnese. Surprised and +without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his +men merrily against five squadrons of Spanish and Italian horse, and six +companies of Spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the +Spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous Albanian +chief George Basti with one swinging blow of his sword. Then, being +reinforced by some other English companies, he succeeded in driving the +whole body of Italians and Spaniards, with great loss, quite into their +entrenchments. "The king doth commend him very highly," said Umton, +"and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. I never heard +him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to Sir +Roger Williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he +has caused public thanks to be given to God." + +At last Villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end +of February, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of +April he should be obliged to surrender the city. If the siege were not +raised by the twentieth of the month he informed Parma, to his profound +astonishment, that Rouen would be in Henry's hands. + +In effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the Dutch +squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which +those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to +Rouen, were mainly instrumental. As usual with the stern Hollanders and +Zeelanders when engaged at sea with the Spaniards, it was war to the +knife. Early in April twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, +attempted to break the blockade. A combat ensued, at the end of which +eight of the Spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set +on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and +thrown into the sea. Queen Elizabeth herself gave the first news of this +achievement to the Dutch envoy in London. "And in truth," said he, "her +Majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such +affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and +men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into +my very heart to hear it from her." + +Instantly Farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own +judgment, would already have been accomplished. Henry with his cavalry +had established himself at Dieppe and Arques, within a distance of five +or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of Rouen. +Alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the +different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the +enemy's entrenchments. He knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly +fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous +assault by Villars from within and the Leaguers from without, the king's +forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their +trenches. + +But Henry did not wait for the attack. He had changed his plan, and, +for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional +temerity. Neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor +seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be +broken up, and on the 20th of April raised the siege. + +Farnese marched into Rouen, where the Leaguers were received with +tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the +League and for Philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp +just closing upon it. Henry's main army now concentrated itself in the +neighbourhood of Dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate +superintendence continued to harass the Leaguers. It was now determined +to lay siege to Caudebec, on the right bank of the Seine, three leagues +below Rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. +danger and difficulty to Rouen, whose supplies by the Seine were thus cut +off. + +Alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against +the place. He had been suffering during the whole campaign with those +dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his +indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he +wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to +be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. On this occasion, +in company with the Italian engineer Properzio, he had been for some time +examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it +was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. It +then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and +the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a +word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was +he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. It +was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. The +wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition +it was dangerous. Fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became +necessary to entrust the command of the League to Mayenne. But it was +hardly concealed from Parma that the duke was playing a double game. +Prince Ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed +provisionally at the head of the Flemish forces. This was conceded; +however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be +imagined. + +Meantime Caudebec fell at once. Henry did nothing to relieve it, and the +place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. +The bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of Dieppe, where +they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of Netherlanders +and Scotchmen brought by Count Philip Nassau. The League's headquarters +were in the village of Yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical +little potentate so long renowned under that name. + +The king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, +restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. Nevertheless he lay +close to Yvetot. His cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an +Alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more +the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. With ten +thousand horsemen he was now pressing the Leaguers, from time to time, +very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so +lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. Young Ranuccio had a +horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself +dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was +set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on +death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and +quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his +care. The action continued all day; young Bentivoglio, nephew of the +famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the +leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of Ranuccio. Carlo Coloma also +distinguished himself in the engagement. Night separated the combatants +before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it +seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. + +The field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula +enclosed between the sea and the rivers Seine and Dieppe. In this +peninsula, called the Land of Caux, it was Henry's intention to shut up +his enemy. Farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, +and was anxious, as Henry was aware, to return to the Netherlands. Rouen +was relieved, Caudebec had fallen. There was not food or forage enough +in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the +League. Shut up in this narrow area, Alexander must starve or surrender. +His only egress was into Picardy and so home to Artois, through the base +of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of +Picardy. On this base Henry had posted his whole army. Should Farnese +assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of +force, defeat was certain. Should he remain where he was, he must +inevitably starve. He had no communications with the outside. The +Hollanders lay with their ships below Caudebec, blockading the river's +mouth and the coast. His only chance of extrication lay across the +Seine. But Alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was +necessary, so Henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross +that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where +the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost +impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. Farnese's +situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd Bearnese sat smiling +serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had +at last inveigled his mighty adversary. Secure of his triumph, he seemed +to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by +habit, he was impetuous and hot. + +And in truth Farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. There was no +hay for his horses, no bread for his men. A penny loaf was sold for two +shillings. A jug of water was worth a crown. As for meat or wine, they +were hardly to be dreamed of. His men were becoming furious at their +position. They had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured +that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to +drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. + +It was obvious to Farnese that there were but two ways out of his +dilemma. He might throw himself upon Henry--strongly entrenched as he +was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately +chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the +Netherlands. This would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking +seemed difficult, to say the least. Or he might throw his army across +the Seine and make his escape through the isle of France and Southern +Picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. But it seemed, +hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the Seine. + +There was; however, no time left, for hesitation. Secretly he took his +resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to Mayenne, to +Ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. He came to Caudebec, and +there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. On the +opposite bank, he constructed another. On both he planted artillery, +placing a force of eight hundred Netherlanders under Count Bossu in the +one, and an equal number of the same nation, Walloons chiefly, under +Barlotte in the other. He collected all the vessels, flatboats,-- +wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at Rouen, and +then under cover of his forts he transported all the Flemish infantry, +and the Spanish, French, and Italian cavalry, during the night of 22nd +May to the 22 May, opposite bank of the Seine. Next morning he sent up +all the artillery together with the Flemish cavalry to Rouen, where, +making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches +of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to +shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the +river. + +A force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the +customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible +for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. The young Prince of Parma +had command of this rearguard. The device was perfectly successful. The +news of the movement was not brought to the ears of Henry until after it +had been accomplished. When the king reached the shore of the Seine, he +saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of +the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just +ferrying themselves across under command of Ranuccio. + +Furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear +upon the triumphant fugitives. Not a shot told, and the Leaguers had the +satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which +had brought them over. Then, taking up their line of march rapidly +inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the +Huguenot guns. + +Henry had a bridge at Pont de l'Arche, and his first impulse was to +pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never +march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who +had already so prodigious a stride in advance. + +There was no need to disguise it to himself. Henry saw himself for the +second time out-generalled by the consummate Farnese. The trap was +broken, the game had given him the slip. The manner in which the duke +had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his +fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the +most extraordinary exploits of his life. + +Precisely at this time, too, ill news reached Henry from Brittany and the +neighbouring country. The Princes Conti and Dombes had been obliged, on +the 13th May, 1592, to raise the siege of Craon, in consequence of the +advance of the Duke of Mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. + +They numbered, including lanzknechts and the English contingent, about +half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked +by Mercoeur, and utterly routed. The English, who alone stood to their +colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. The rest made a disorderly +retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. +The duke, following up his victory, seized Chateau Gontier and La Val, +important crossing places on the river Mayenne, and laid siege to +Mayenne, capital city of that region. The panic, spreading through +Brittany and Maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete +overthrow, hampered his operations in Normandy, and vastly encouraged the +Leaguers. It became necessary for Henry to renounce his designs upon +Rouen, and the pursuit of Parma, and to retire to Vernon, there to occupy +himself with plans for the relief of Brittany. In vain had the Earl of +Essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested +such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest +rebukes from the admiring but anxious Elizabeth. The handful of brave +Englishmen who had been withdrawn from the Netherlands, much to the +dissatisfaction of the States-General, in order to defend the coasts of +Brittany, would have been better employed under Maurice of Nassau. So +soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful Umton was sent for. +"He imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary +passion and discontent. He discoursed at large of his miserable estate, +of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then +required my opinion touching his course for Brittan, as also what further +aid he might expect from her Majesty; alleging that unless he were +presently strengthened by England it was impossible for him, longer to +resist the greatness of the King of Spain, who assailed his country by +Brittany, Languedoc, the Low Countries by the Duke of Saxony and the Duke +of Lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." Thus adjured, Sir +Henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, +contrary to English advice, he had followed other counsellors to the +neglect of Brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. He +concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did +not pledge himself on behalf of her Majesty to any further assistance. +"To this," said Umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with +many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that I alleged, yielding +many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a +remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her Majesty's care of him and his +country, and especially of Brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of +his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, +especially because he might thereby give her Majesty better satisfaction; +. . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make +war there in those parts or send an army thither. I do not doubt," added +the ambassador, "but with good handling her Majesty may now obtain any +reasonable matter for the conservation of Brittany, as also for a place +of retreat for the English, and I urge continually the yielding of Brest +into her Majesty's hands, whereunto I find the king well inclined, if he +might bring it to pass." + +Alexander passed a few days in Paris, where he was welcomed with much +cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of Brie, +and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself +once more to Spa to drink the waters. He left an auxiliary force with +Mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his +master's commands and return again before the winter to do the League's +work. + +And thus Alexander had again solved a difficult problem. He had saved +for his master and for the League the second city of France and the whole +coast of Normandy. Rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as +Paris had been succoured the year before. He had done this, although +opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick- +witted Navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the +ponderous Duke of Mayenne. His military reputation, through these +two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. + +No commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus +done. Yet, after all, what had he accomplished? Did he not feel in his +heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer +struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily +sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the +infinite depths? + +Something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. But, so +long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of +his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were +nefarious. + +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future, it is +easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing +away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to +oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run +are invariably governed. Spain and Rome were endeavouring to obliterate +the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the +tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout Christendom, +and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal +and sacerdotal despotism. + +England, Holland, the Navarre party in France, and a considerable part of +Germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested +and recorded rights. Much farther than they themselves or their +chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system +of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from +arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled +upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is +the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every +disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long +as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those +who have been created after their Maker's image. + +It may safely be doubted whether the great Queen, the Bearnese, Alexander +Farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed +very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and +the right of the people. But history has shown us which of them best +understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep +themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it +was marshalling all men. There were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in +those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their +lives. Perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as +strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. +Fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has +vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from +those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her +eternal laws. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist +Artillery +Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century +Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future +Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors +Holy institution called the Inquisition +Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies +Life of nations and which we call the Past +Often necessary to be blind and deaf +Picturesqueness of crime +Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely +Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us +Use of the spade +Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims +Valour on the one side and discretion on the other +Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures +We have the reputation of being a good housewife +Weapons + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v63 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 64, 1592 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Return of Prince Maurice to the siege of Steenwyck--Capitulation of + the besieged--Effects of the introduction of mining operations-- + Maurice besieges Coeworden--Verdugo attempts to relieve the city, + but fails--The city capitulates, and Prince Maurice retreats into + winter quarters. + +While Farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of Philip's +universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed French dominions which +looked towards England, there had been opportunity for Prince Maurice to +make an assault upon the Frisian defences of this vast realm. It was +difficult to make half Europe into one great Spanish fortification, +guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far +more extensive armaments than the "Great King," as the Leaguers proposed +that Philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. It +might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a +portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into +execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. It is astonishing to +contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this +world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. The armies arrayed at +any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the +resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few +weeks' campaign. + +When Alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of Flanders +into France with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital +portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that +it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. The young +disciple of Simon Stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of +his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. + +On the 28th May, 1592, Maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot +and two thousand horse, came once more before Steenwyck. It will be +remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place +in order to confront the Duke of Parma in July, 1591, at Nymegen. + +The city--very important from its position, being the key to the province +of Drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of Friesland--had been +besieged in vain by Count Renneberg after his treasonable surrender of +Groningen, of which he was governor, to the Spaniards, but had been +subsequently surprised by Tassis. Since that time it had held for the +king. Its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known +at that day. Its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some +cavalry under Antoine de Quocqueville, military governor. Besides these +troops were twelve hundred Walloon infantry, commanded by Lewis, youngest +Count van den Berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the +lord of Waterdyck and other Netherland nobles. + +To the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a +transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. To the +general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young Poliorcetes, its +details have but slender interest. Perhaps it was here that the spade +first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a +military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. It was here that +the soldiers of Maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, +were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, +who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at +for the last time. + +From 30th May to 9th June the prince was occupied in throwing up +earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. +On the 13th June he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected +little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. He threw hot shot +into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. The +cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very +indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed Barbara and +the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse +themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable +Artillery Guild. When all this blazing and thundering had led to no +better result than to convert a hundred thousand good Flemish florins +into noise and smoke, the thrifty Netherlanders on both sides of the +walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. After all, +they said, the Spaniards were right when they called artillery mere +'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. This burrowing and bellowing must +at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would +be seen who the soldiers were. Observations like these were freely made +under a flag of truce; for on the 19th June--notwithstanding their +contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a +deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. Maurice entertained the +negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him +were inadmissible. Nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual +criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. + +Maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without +interruption. Four mines, leading to different points of the defences, +were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, +neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and +twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two +of the principal bastions. + +During all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the +besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the +town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. Sir +Francis Vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged +to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. Verdugo, too, had made a +feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or +seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. +On such a small scale was Philip's world-empire contended for by his +stadholder in Friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout +old Portuguese. Verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to +save the front door of his great province than three hundred. But every +available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the +Netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of Normandy and +Brittany. + +This was Philip the Prudent's system for conquering the world, and men +looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. + +On the 3rd July Maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for +the assault. The mines were then sprung. + +The bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. The mine under the +Gast-Huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many Hollanders +standing ready for the assault. At this untoward accident Maurice +hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic +within the town was so evident that Lewis William lost no time in seizing +the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over +the whole city. The other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, +and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with +irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. Meantime Maurice, inspecting the +effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot +through the left cheek. The wound was not dangerous, and the prince +extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch +would have made it fatal. He was not incapacitated--after his wound had +been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity- +from listening to the propositions of the city. They were refused, for +the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. + +Next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers +promising not to serve the King of Spain on the Netherland side of the +Rhine for six months. They were to take their baggage, but to leave +arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. Both Maurice and Lewis William +were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the States' deputies and +members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the +building of the golden bridge. After all, a fortified city, the second +in importance after Groningen of all those regions, was the real prize +contended for. The garrison was meagre and much reduced during the +siege. The fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were +nearly as strong as ever. Saint Barbara had done them but little damage, +but the town itself was in a sorry plight. Churches and houses were +nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in +the cellars. Two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in +the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young +cousin of the Nassaus, Count Lewis van den Berg. The remainder of the +royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by Maurice, who +gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, +and furnishing horses to the governor. + +In the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many +wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as +in modern battles. + +The siege had lasted forty-four days. When it was over, and men came out +from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of +operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so +short a time. The oldest campaigners confessed that they never before +had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a +higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done +before. "Even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said +one who was present in the camp of Maurice, "declared that the siege +would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those +two engineers, Joost Matthes of Alost, and Jacob Kemp of Gorcum. It is +high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to +work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the +Netherlanders, and still prevails among the French, to the great +detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." + +Certainly the result of Henry's recent campaign before Rouen had proved +sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been +some Dutch Joosts and Jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at +that critical period. They might perhaps have baffled Parma as they had +done Verdugo. + +Without letting the grass grow under his feet, Maurice now led his army +from Steenwyck to Zwol and arrived on the 26th July before Coeworden. + +This place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the +other key to all north Netherland--Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. +Should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for +the Spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all +that country, the city of Groningen. Coeworden lay between two vast +morasses, one of which--the Bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles +to the bay of the Dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a +westerly direction to the Zuyder Zee. Thus these two great marshes were +a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the +whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. Throughout +this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a +resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through +Coeworden. This passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, +interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was +about half a mile in width. + +The town itself was well fortified, and Verdugo had been recently +strengthening the position with additional earthworks. A thousand +veterans formed the garrison under command of another Van den Berg, the +Count Frederic. It was the fate of these sister's-children of the great +founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with +remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their +nearest blood relations. On many conspicuous occasions they were almost +as useful to Spain and the Inquisition as the son and nearly all the +other kinsmen of William the Silent had rendered themselves to the cause +of Holland and of freedom. + +Having thoroughly entrenched his camp before Coeworden and begun the +regular approaches, Maurice left his cousin Lewis William to superintend +the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards Ootmarsum, a +frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving +force. The place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the +States army, but that a very valuable one; General de Famars, one of the +original signers of the famous Compromise; and a most distinguished +soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. + +On the 31st July, Maurice returned to his entrenchments. The enemy +professed unbounded confidence; Van den Berg not doubting that he should +be relieved by Verdugo, and Verdugo being sure that Van den Berg would +need no relief. The Portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at +Maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "If +Coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that +can hold." + +Count Peter Ernest, was still acting as governor-general for Alexander +Farnese, on returning from his second French campaign, had again betaken +himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of Spa, leaving the +responsibility for Netherland affairs upon the German octogenarian. To +him; and to the nonagenarian Mondragon at Antwerp, the veteran Verdugo +now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had +been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. The Macedonian phalanx, +Simon Stevinus and delving Dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers- +-seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under Philip's feet in his +hereditary domains. + +What would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of +Spain alone, nor of France alone--but the great monarch of all +Christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his Frisian strongholds, +his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost +beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? + +Verdugo did his best, but the best was little. The Spanish and Italian +legions had been sent out of the Netherlands into France. Many had died +there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were +mutinous for want of pay. + +On the 16th August, Maurice formally summoned Coeworden to surrender. +After the trumpeter had blown thrice; Count Van den Berg, forbidding all +others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "To claim +this city in the name of Prince Maurice of Nassau and of the States- +General," was the reply. + +"Tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said Van den +Berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. Six months after that I +will think whether I will send a trumpet." + +The prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely +chagrined by the departure out of his camp of Sir Francis Vere with his +English contingent of three regiments, whom Queen Elizabeth had +peremptorily ordered to the relief of King Henry in Brittany. + +Nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces +and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in +France, Holland, Spain, and England. The scenes of war were rapidly +shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to +another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual +armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild +phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the +imagination. Essex, and Vere, and Roger Williams, and Black Norris-Van +der Does, and Admiral Nassau, the Meetkerks and Count Philip-Farnese and +Mansfeld, George Basti, Arenberg, Berlaymont, La None and Teligny, Aquila +and Coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, +beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends +from the Bay of Biscay to the crags of Brittany, and across the narrow +seas to the bogs of Ireland, and thence through the plains of Picardy and +Flanders to the swamps of Groningen and the frontiers of the Rhine. + +This was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the +champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become +familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. And now the +withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from +the Spanish armies into France, had left obedient Netherland too weak to +resist rebellious Netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of +some twenty or thirty companies of English auxiliaries--most hard- +fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to +imperil the enterprise of Maurice in Friesland. + +The removal of these companies from the Low Countries to strengthen the +Bearnese in the north of France, formed the subject of much bitter +diplomatic conference between the States and England; the order having +been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle +and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. + +Verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented +to Parma and to Mansfeld the immense importance of relieving Coeworden. +The city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year +before. All Friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save +Groningen should Coeworden fall. + +Meantime Count Philip Nassau arrived from the campaign in France with his +three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal +number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of Maurice. +The prince at the same time was made aware that Verdugo was about to +receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the +States-General present at his headquarters to send out his German Reiters +to intercept them. Maurice refused. Should his cavalry be defeated, he +said, his whole army would be endangered. He determined to await within +his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. + +During the whole month of August he proceeded steadily with his sapping +and mining. By the middle of the month his lines had come through the +ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. By the beginning +of September he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course +of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. The rainy +weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. +Nevertheless that army was at last approaching. The regiments of +Mondragon, Charles Mansfeld, Gonzaga, Berlaymont, and Arenberg had been +despatched to reinforce Verdugo. On the 23rd August, having crossed the +Rhine at Rheinberg, they reached Olfen in the country of Benthem, ten +miles from Coeworden. Here they threw up rockets and made other signals +that relief was approaching the town. On the 3rd of September Verdugo, +with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and +eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of Emblichen, within a league +of the besieged city. That night a peasant was captured with letters +from Verdugo to the Governor of Coeworden, giving information that he +intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of 6th-7th +September. + +Thus forewarned, Maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his +entrenchments awaited the onslaught. Punctual to his appointment, +Verdugo with his whole force, yelling "Victoria! Victoria!" made a +shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their +armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of +the camp which was under command of Hohenlo. They were met with +determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of +three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. The +Netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. Among the latter, +however, was Lewis William, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but +remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. It was then +discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been +injured--and he was soon about his work again. Prince Maurice, too, as +usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the +reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest +He resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the +retreating enemy. His object was Coeworden--a prize more important than +a new victory over the already defeated Spaniards would prove--and this +object he kept ever before his eyes. + +This was Verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. He had +seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to +break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. The Spaniards at +last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, +could no longer handle the Dutchmen at pleasure. That people of butter, +as the iron duke of Alva was fond of calling the Netherlanders, were +grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. + +Five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to +capitulate. The trumpet at which the proud Van den Berg had hinted for +six months later arrived on the 12th September. Maurice was glad to get +his town. His "little soldiers" did not insist, as the Spaniards and +Italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, +and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the +trenches. Civilization had made some progress, at least in the +Netherlands. Maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the +habit of conceding to all captured towns. Van den Berg was courteously +received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of +what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours +flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and +baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little Lewis, +notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him +with a cousinly welcome in the camp. + +The city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set +forth, but Queen Elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was +inclined to undervalue it. She wrote accordingly to the States, +reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force +against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some +considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of Brittany. The +day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving +this earth-heap in the hands of the Spaniard. Meantime, Prince Maurice-- +the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical +lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter +quarters. + +These were the chief military phenomena in France and Flanders during +three years of the great struggle to establish Philip's universal +dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Negotiations between Queen Elizabeth and the States--Aspect of + affair between England and the Netherlands--Complaints of the + Hollanders on the piratical acts of the English--The Dutch Envoy and + the English Government--Caron's interview with Elizabeth--The Queen + promises redress of grievances. + +It is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate +topics which had meantime been occurring between Queen Elizabeth and the +States. + +England and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was +impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a +corresponding damage on itself. Nevertheless this very community of +interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the +European family the Netherlanders and English were but cousins twice +removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an +intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards +which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a +common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate +habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all +vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing +an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to +deepen than efface. And the national divergences were as potent as the +traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. + +The democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly +as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day +be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and +adventurous spirit which characterised the English nation throughout all +its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in +the world than the governing and directing spirit of the England of that +age. + +It was impossible that the courtiers of Elizabeth and the burgher- +statesmen of Holland and Friesland should sympathize with each other in +sentiment or in manner. The republicans in their exuberant consciousness +of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, +land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to France and +England in 1585 this feeling had become so predominant as to make it +difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent-- +were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political +and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic +formalists of other, countries. + +Especially the English statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign +with almost Oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves +a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone +occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these +upstart republicans. + + [The Venetian ambassador Contarin relates that in the reign of James + I. the great nobles of England were served at table by lackeys on + they knees.] + +A queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper +united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, +and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in +the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally +find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of Hans Brewer and Hans +Baker. Thus her Majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded +gallantries with which the serious affairs of State were so grotesquely +intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, +that the State council of the Netherlands, negotiating on Netherland +affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, +and that this same body of Dutchmen discussing their own business +insisted upon talking Dutch and not Latin. + +It was impossible to deny that the young Stadholder was a gentleman of a +good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like John of +Olden-Barneveld be digested? It was certain that behind those shaggy, +overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and +historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. +Yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so +frequently urged by the States-General upon the English Government for +the enforcement of Dutch rights and the redress of English wrongs the +more acceptable. + +Bodley, Gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation +with the Hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, +but because their complaints were perpetually just. + +The States-General were dissatisfied, all the Netherlanders were +dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the English, with +whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, +should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and +torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most +precious portions of their cargoes. Sharp language against such +malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. Yet it +would be hard to maintain that Martin Frobisher, Mansfield, Grenfell, and +the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, +were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they +were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. + +On the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast +with the practice of modern times, the Netherlanders were in the habit of +trading directly with the arch-enemy of both Holland and England, even in +the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even +the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which Spain had +been enabled to effect its foot-hold in Brittany, and thus to threaten +the English coast, were derived from this very traffic. + +The Hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with England, +they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time +to Spain and Portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated +number, that England freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the +common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried +fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, +that if they were illegitimate the English trade was vitiated to the same +degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to +attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the +widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's +realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so +gigantic a conflict. + +Here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and +recrimination. It must be admitted however that there was occasionally +an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took +matters into her own hands. It was refreshing to see this great +sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of State, and +whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow +sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of +piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in +every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to +fulfil municipal forms. + +It was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was +able to obtain a direct hearing from her Majesty in order to press the +long list of complaints on account of the English piratical proceedings +upon her attention. He intimated that there seemed to be special reasons +why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to +the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. +They described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition +recently made by the States to detaching the English auxiliaries in the +Netherlands for the service of the French king in Normandy, hoping +thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of +grievances on the part of his government. "I did my best to indicate the +danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," +said Noel de Canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the +contract made with her Majesty. But I got no answer save very high words +from the Lord Treasurer, to the effect that the States-General were never +willing to agree to any of her Majesty's prepositions, and that this +matter was as necessary to the States' service as to that of the French +king. In effect, he said peremptorily that her Majesty willed it and +would not recede from her resolution." + +The envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure +into the country. + +Next day, at noon, Lord Burghley sent word that she was to leave between +five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome +meantime at any hour. + +"But notwithstanding that I presented myself," said Caron, "at two +o'clock in the afternoon, I was unable to speak to her Majesty until a +moment before she was about to mount her horse. Her language was then +very curt. She persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed +her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called +so good an occasion for using them. I was obliged to cut my replies very +short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to +ride nine English miles to the place where she was to pass the night. +I was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus +brief, in order that I should not be able to stop long enough to give +trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching +the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. This is what +some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they +were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. I shall attempt to +speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." + +It was not however before the end of the year, after Caron had made a +voyage to Holland and had returned, that he 14 Nov. was able to bring the +subject thoroughly before her Majesty. On the 14th November he had +preliminary interviews with the Lord High Admiral and the Lord Treasurer +at Hampton Court, where the queen was then residing. The plundering +business was warmly discussed between himself and the Admiral, and there +was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which +had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in Holland. There was +a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, +which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the Dutch +envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, +ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not +encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her Majesty. +It would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by +Noel de Caron before the States-General; but at last the admiral +expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good +their, case. At any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of +Captain Mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other +captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought +worth while. + +Caron answered with Dutch bluntness. "I recommended him very earnestly +to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means +necessary for the sake of his own honour. Otherwise no man could ever be +made to believe that his Excellency was not seeking to get his own profit +out of the affair. But he vehemently swore and protested that this was +not the case." + +He then went to the Lord Treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy +interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the English +troops. Caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, +for the States; that they had been ordered out of Prince Maurice's camp +at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the Stallholder's +promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause +must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the +contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and +sick, without ever reaching Brittany at all. + +"The Lord Treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had +been listening thus long to what I had to say, now observed that the +States had treated her Majesty very ill, that they had kept her running +after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for +their proceedings." + +It would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which Caron +endeavoured to set forth that the English troops, sent to the Netherlands +according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special +consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to +the wishes of the States-General, upon a totally different service and in +another country. The queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill- +treatment of her Majesty on the part of the Hollanders to oppose her +will. This argument was unanswerable. + +Soon afterwards, Caron was admitted to the presence of Elizabeth. He +delivered, at first, a letter from the States-General, touching the +withdrawal of the troops. The queen, instantly broke the seal and read +the letter to the end. Coming to the concluding passage, in which the +States observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on +that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and +then remarked: + +"Truly these are comical people. I have so often been complaining that +they refused to send my troops, and now the States complain that they are +obliged to let them go. Yet my intention is only to borrow them for a +little while, because I can give my brother of France no better succour +than by sending him these soldiers, and this I consider better than if I +should send him four thousand men. I say again, I am only borrowing +them, and surely the States ought never to make such complaints, when +the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already +sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. +I don't comprehend these grievances. They complain that I withdraw my +people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them +ashore again. They send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't +know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the +way to Caen, for it is all one. I have also sent my own pilots; and I +complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss +of all Brittany. They run with their people far away from me, and +meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying +opposite me. But if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply +themselves." + +There was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, +in this strain of remarks. Her Majesty continued it for some little time +longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in +which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. The +transfer of a dozen companies of English infantry from Friesland to +Brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of France, England, and the +Dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as +a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, +are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. + +"Her Majesty made many more observations of this nature," said Caron, +"but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her +discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is +wont at other times." + +The envoy then presented the second letter from the States-General in +regard to the outrages inflicted on the Dutch merchantmen. The queen +read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her +people. She said that she had received similar information from +Counsellor Bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the +enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the +Netherlanders were a public scandal. It had made her so angry, she said, +that she knew not which way to turn. She would take it in hand at once, +for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war +to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. She +told Caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these +matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise +it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at +the truth." + +"I have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me, "replied the +envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed +and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were +tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." + +This disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that Caron +should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but +should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which +she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy +peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her +kingdom. + +The envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of +all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of +money which had been stolen. The queen looked over it very carefully, +declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays +interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, +but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the +property should forthwith be restored. + +She then sent for Sir Robert Cecil, whom she directed to go at once and +tell his father, the Lord Treasurer, that he was to assist Caron in this +affair exactly as if it were her own. It was her intention, she said, +that her people were in no wise to trouble the Hollanders in legitimate +mercantile pursuits. She added that it was not enough for her people to +say that they had only been seizing Spaniards' goods and money, but she +meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. + +Caron assured her Majesty that he had no other commission from his +masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim +Spanish property or enemy's goods. He had brought sufficient evidence +with him, he said, to give her Majesty entire satisfaction. + +It is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. The great nobles +still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking +the case before the common courts of law. Carom strong in the support of +the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her Majesty had +commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of +admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate +the documents at once to the Lord Treasurer. Meantime the money was to +be deposited with certain aldermen of London, and the accused parties +kept in prison. The ultimate decision was then to be made by the +council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." +In the course of the many interviews which followed between the Dutch +envoy and the privy counsellors, the Lord Admiral stated that an English +merchant residing in the Netherlands had sent to offer him a present of +two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided +against the Hollanders. He communicated the name of the individual to +Caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the Lord Treasurer that he too +had seen the letter of the Englishman. Lord Burghley observed that he +remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by +the Lord Admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor +anything about the person of the writer. + +The case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly +before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and +Caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to London, +and from London to the court," and it was long before justice was done to +the sufferers. Yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case +into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced +the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon +her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale +piracy in the future. + +On the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the +masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of Christendom, we +shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of Governments to +the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Accustomed to the faded gallantries +Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice +Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice +Disciple of Simon Stevinus +Self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v64 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 65, 1592-1594 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Influence of the rule and character of Philip II.--Heroism of the + sixteenth century--Contest for the French throne--Character and + policy of the Duke of Mayenne--Escape of the Duke of Guise from + Castle Tours--Propositions for the marriage of the Infanta--Plotting + of the Catholic party--Grounds of Philip's pretensions to the crown + of France--Motives of the Duke of Parma maligned by Commander Moreo + --He justifies himself to the king--View of the private relations + between Philip and the Duke of Mayenne and their sentiments towards + each other--Disposition of the French politicians and soldiers + towards Philip--Peculiar commercial pursuits of Philip--Confused + state of affairs in France--Treachery of Philip towards the Duke of + Parma--Recall of the duke to Spain--His sufferings and death. + +The People--which has been generally regarded as something naturally +below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or +otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some +mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is +often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, +licentious, and greedy. + +It is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at +great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable +qualities. + +It must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes-- +during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that +was called Henry III. of France from the gates of his capital, and +especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that +embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long +succession of years. The Bearnese was at least alive, and a man. He +played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch +or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and +even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human +greatness! + +But the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover-- +was still the diligent scribe who lived in the Escorial. It was he whose +high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter +curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, +throughout the leading countries of Christendom. The throne of France +was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year 1589. During +two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, +once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his +hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the Spanish Inquisition +no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted +to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. Had every Netherlander +consented to burn his Bible, and to be burned himself should he be found +listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm- +house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the +liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of +centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; +his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, +would have consented at almost any moment to peace. His arms were ever +open. Let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or +epigram. Stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings +are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was +the one simple dogma always propounded by Philip. Grimace had done its +worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the +Netherlands. The king and the Dutchmen understood each other; and the +plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers +of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not +entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. + +It is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy +atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous +trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of +pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend +into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes +almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. + +Heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. William the Silent +was dead. De la Noue was dead. Duplessis-Mornay was living, but his +influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. Cecil, Hatton, +Essex, Howard, Raleigh, James Croft, Valentine Dale, John Norris, Roger +Williams, the "Virgin Queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in +public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of +that heroic whole which the England of the sixteenth century presents to +every imagination? Maurice of Nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as +he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the +heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a +man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial Lewis William +ever at his side. Olden-Barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, +indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more +thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the +mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond +the moon. He was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal +from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other +constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. Those of us who are +willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of +a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the +fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. + +A plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great +political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended +nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. It became odious and +dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could +chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which +right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective +stage-properties as they had always been considered. + +Yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very +perceptibly at this period, look where we may. Already there seemed +ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally +dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than +that much-contemned entity, the People. What if the fearful heresy +should gain ground that the People was at least as wise, honest, and +brave as its masters? What if it should become a recognised fact that +the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them +with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of +government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling +of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of +their fellow creatures? What if the whole theory of hereditary +superiority should suddenly exhale? What if it were found out that we +were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest +were not necessarily the least slimy? + +Meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called +the Past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be +revealed. To know the springs which once controlled the world's +movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, +and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that +world in fee-simple. Such researches are not in a cheerful field; for +the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through +meadows of asphodel. Vast and noisome are the many sewers which have +ever run beneath decorous Christendom. + +Some of the leading military events in France and Flanders, patent to all +the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the French +throne, as the central point in the history of Philip's proposed world- +empire, have already been indicated. + +It was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were +concerned--for that vacant throne. Philip, Mayenne, Henry of Navarre, +with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the +splendid prize. + +Of Philip it is not necessary to speak. The preceding volumes of this +work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from +irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient +knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary +humanity grovelled. + +The figure of Navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. + +As for the Duke of Mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother +the Balafre, ostensible leader of the League, and was playing, not +without skill, a triple game. + +Firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. + +Secondly, he was assisting the King of Spain to obtain that dignity. + +Thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in +favour of Navarre. + +So comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate +an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often +vouchsafed to man. + +Certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in +the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great +importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. It +is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the +Present--the vital atmosphere of Christendom--the world's affairs were +controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore +desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they +played their parts. + +Nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was +supposed to be religion. It was to maintain the supremacy of the Roman +Church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, +through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these +human beings of various lineage and language throughout Christendom had +been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. + +Mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, +but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the +Bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of +twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his +horse. Yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. As +for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, +nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to +atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. His military +efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered +by vile diseases. He was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered +decent even in that cynical age. He received subsidies and alms with +both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not +eject him from his advantageous position. + +He wished to arrive at the throne of France. As son of Francis of Guise, +as brother of the great Balafre, he considered himself entitled to the +homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. The constitution of the +country in that age making a People impossible, the subtle connection +between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only +exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily +established. + +The duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of Paris in the +matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what +was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes +were silently swinging towards the Protestant aristocracy; at the moment +when Politica was taking the place of Madam League in his secret +affections. Nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was +disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. His position as +lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both +sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for +obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which +Philip and the Bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in +outbidding each other. + +On one thing his heart was fixed. His brother's son should at least not +secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. The young Duke of Guise, +who had been immured in Castle Tours since the famous murder of his +father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. Having +been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the +neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and +jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of +the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. One day he +hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the +admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed +and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a +considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced +an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. Rope-ladders, +confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the +young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent +relative's discomfiture. Philip gave alternately conflicting +instructions to Farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural +jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work +harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the +attainment by the King of Spain of the sovereignty of France. + +But it was impossible, as already intimated, for Mayenne to work +harmoniously with his nephew. The Duke of Guise might marry with the +infanta and thus become King of France by the grace of God and Philip. +To such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, +an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the Duchess of Mayenne. Should +it come to this at last, it was certain that the Duke would make any and +every combination to frustrate such a scheme. Meantime he kept his own +counsel, worked amiably with Philip, Parma, and the young duke, and +received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from +that Spanish monarch whose veterans in the Netherlands were maddened by +starvation into mutiny. + +Philip's plans were a series of alternatives. France he regarded as the +property of his family. Of that there could be no doubt at all. He +meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the +way should prove absolutely insuperable. In that case he claimed France +and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. The Salic law +was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. If +Clara Isabella, as daughter of Isabella of France, as grandchild of Henry +II., were not manifestly the owner of France--queen-proprietary, as the +Spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, +as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property +anywhere in the world. If the heiress of the Valois could not take that +kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any +possessions public or private? + +This was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. There +was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. There +was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or +otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who +that individual was. This doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to +the lawyers. There was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, +cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing +processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, +politicians and other sages. It would have caused general hilarity, +however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part +in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their +shepherds and butchers. + +Philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the +purity of the Roman dogmas and the supremacy of the Romish Church over +the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as +to whether he should put the crown of St. Louis and of Hugh Capet upon +his own grey head or whether he should govern France through his daughter +and her husband. Happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual +affection with Philip's daughter. + +The king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus +richly endowed. First and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was +not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous +individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. The pope +was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. Such +a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in +wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. His late +niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that +score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, +of the Church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth +marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done +in his third. Here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, +serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of Philip +sincerely believed that monarch capable. + +"But God is a just God," wrote Sir Edward Stafford, "and if with all +things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' Henry IV.) yesterday +assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from Venice writ to +him and Monsieur de Luxembourg from Rome, that the Count Olivarez had +made a great instance to the pope (Sixtus V.) a little afore his death, +to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt God will not leave +it long unpunished." + +Such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by Henry +the Great of France and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least +thought possible by the English envoy. By such a family arrangement it +was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the +proprietorship of France would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children +of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over +France and Spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. Should the king +decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should Innocent or +Clement prove as intractable as Sixtus, then it would be necessary to +decide among various candidates for the Infanta's hand. + +In Mayenne's Opinion the Duke of Guise was likely to be the man; but +there is little doubt that Philip, in case these more cherished schemes +should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind +upon anything--to select his nephew the Archduke Ernest, brother of the +Emperor Rudolph, for his son-in-law. But it was not necessary to make an +immediate choice. His quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom +would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to +reject the Infanta with France on her wedding-finger. Meantime there was +a lion in the path in the shape of Henry of Navarre. + +Those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of +mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the +dagger of Jacques Clement entered the stomach of Henry IV. rather than of +Henry III. in the summer of 1589, or the perturbations in the world's +movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an +unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental +depths of the Bearnese. Conscience, as it has from time to time +exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in +controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately +not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence +of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual +careers. Eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, +who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate +of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such +conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. Shame on the tongue +which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any +form of Christian faith! But who can discover aught that is inspiring to +the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants-- +wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and +increasing the one and the other? + +Certainly the Bearnese was the most candid of men. It was this very +candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this +openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much +anxiety to Philip. The Roman Church might or might not be strengthened +by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of France, but it was certain +that the claims of Philip and the Infanta to the proprietorship of that +kingdom would be weakened by the process. While the Spanish king knew +himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the +maintenance of the supremacy of the Roman Church, he was perfectly aware +that the Prince of Bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious +as himself. + +The Prince of Bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of +heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the Pope +would accept his conversion. Against this possibility Philip struggled +with all his strength. + +Since Pope Sixtus V., who had a weakness for Henry, there had been +several popes. Urban VII., his immediate successor, had reigned but +thirteen days. Gregory XIV. (Sfondrato) had died 15th October, 1591, +ten months after his election. Fachinetti, with the title of Innocent +IX., had reigned two months, from 29th October to 29th December, 1591. +He died of "Spanish poison," said Envoy Umton, as coolly as if speaking +of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. Clement VIII. +(Aldobrandini) was elected 30th January, 1592. He was no lover of Henry, +and lived in mortal fear of Philip, while it must be conceded that the +Spanish ambassador at Rome was much given to brow-beating his Holiness. +Should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of +the Bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that Philip would +not wreak on the holy father. He would cut off his supplies from Naples +and Sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all +his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would +do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare +to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of +the faithful. + +As for Henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a +game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. He was indispensable +to the heretics. Neither England, nor Holland, nor Protestant Germany, +could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." Nor could +the French Huguenots exist without that protection which, even although +Catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as +king by the Catholics. + +Hereditary monarch by French law and history, released from his heresy by +the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed +whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if Philip, and Farnese, and +Mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep +him very long from the throne of his ancestors. + +Nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the +instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, +instead of having been a professor both of the Calvinist and Catholic +persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent +Peruvian or Hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to +examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. + +Yet Philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his +political and military manoeuvre. He entertained little doubt that +France belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party +in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the +voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to +the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and +to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the +provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. + +The sixteen tyrants of Paris had already, as we have seen, urged the +crown upon him, provided he would establish in France the Inquisition, +the council of Trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides +distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various +classes of his adherents. + +The Duke of Mayenne, in his own name and that of all the Catholics of +France, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand +men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of +Alexander Farnese, and regularly to pay for them. These propositions, +as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at +enormous expense to Philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good +faith on the part of Mayenne. + +In the same paper in which the demand was made Philip was urged to +declare himself king of France. He was assured that the measure could +be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, +in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at +the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members +depended. Pepin and Charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were +foreigners and Saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession +of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they +acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them Hugh Capet, +much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, +had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which +still endures. + +"If the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same +time," continued Mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. But it +being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it +would be better to obtain it after the execution." + +That these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the +part of Mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret +instructions given by Philip to his envoys, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, +John Baptist de Tassis, and the commander Moreo, whom he had sent soon +after the death of Henry III. to confer with Cardinal Gaetano in Paris. + +They were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the +election of the Prince of Bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate +and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." The legate +was warned that "if the Bearnese should make a show of converting +himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." + +If they were asked whom Philip desired for king--a question which +certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply +that his foremost wish was to establish the Catholic religion in the +kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most +agreeable to him. "As it is however desirable, in order to arrange +matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his Majesty, +"it is proper that you should know that I have two kinds of right to all +that there is over there. Firstly, because the crown of France has been +usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign +occupation of it; and secondly, because I claim the same crown as first +male of the house of Valois." + +Here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that +the king's desire for the establishment of the Catholic religion must +have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing +fictions. + +But his own claims were but a portion of the case. His daughter and +possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be +gainsaid. "Over and above all this," said Philip, "my eldest daughter, +the Infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower- +property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which +now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which +belongs directly to the said Infanta, the matter of the Salic law being a +mere invention." + +Thus it would appear that Philip was the legitimate representative, not +only of the ancient races of French monarchs--whether Merovingians, +Carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping +houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been +ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of Valois, while +his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and +proprietor of France than he was himself. + +Nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and +the advancement of the interests of the Church, he was, if reduced to +extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should +appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his +daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. + +"Thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that I know how, for +the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." + +Afterwards, when secretly instructing the Duke of Feria, about to proceed +to Paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he +reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same +intentions. That the Prince of Bearne could ever possibly succeed to the +throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn +by all right-minded and sensible men. "The members of the House of +Bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to +them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the Prince of Bearne; +but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this +claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is +a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the Apostolic See, and +pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all +of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them +can ever be king of France, where there have been such religious princes +in time past, who have justly merited the name of Most Christian; and so +there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire +to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. +It should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the +realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so Catholic as +those about to meet in that assembly." + +The claims of the man whom his supporters already called Henry the +Fourth of France being thus disposed of, Philip then again alluded with +his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for +the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other +provinces of his world-empire. + +It must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his +contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. What he did or ordered +to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. +Time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to +bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. It is sometimes as profitable to +learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all +their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to +mankind. The Past was once the Present, and once the Future, bright with +rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole +of which we see only fragments. + +He who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest +and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at +whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left +behind him the record of his interior being. Let us consider whether he +was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness +was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the +inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. Let us see +whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether +the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have +squandered so much of either as did Philip the Prudent in his long +career--was high or low for the work achieved. + +Were after generations to learn, only after curious research, +of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his +contemporaries, Henry the Fourth of France; or was the world-empire for +which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many +falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? Time was to show. +Meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, +read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and +rebuking the wickedness of Henry the Bearnese; persisting as he did in +his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and +impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. + +Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great +champion of the Inquisition. + +"And as President Jeannin informs me," he said, "that the Catholics have +the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest +and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the +princes aspiring to the crown, I reply, as you will see by the copy +herewith sent. You will observe that after not refusing myself to that +which may be the will of our Lord, should there be no other mode of +serving Him, above all I desire that which concerns my daughter, since to +her belongs the kingdom. I desire nothing else nor anything for myself, +nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." + +He had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in Brittany, +while the Duchess of Mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had +sent a certain ecclesiastic to Spain to make over the sovereignty of this +province to the Infanta. Philip directed that the utmost secrecy should +be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, +and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in +dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and +his heirs. + +For the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the +crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember +France, with the assistance of those eminent Frenchmen who were now so +industriously aiding him in his projects. + +"And in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to Feria, +"if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if +therefore the kingdom (of France) has to come to separation and to be +divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the Duke of +Mayenne to assist him in getting possession of Normandy for himself, and +as to the rest of the kingdom, I shall take for myself that which seems +good to me--all of us assisting each other." + +But unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to +assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so +cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. + +Moreo, Ybarra, Feria, Parma, all assured their master that Mayenne was +taking Spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole +purpose of making himself king. As to any of the House of Lorraine +obtaining the hand of the Infanta and the throne with it, Feria assured +Philip that Mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the Grand Turk." + +Nevertheless Philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the +duke. Both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of +boundless confidence each in the other. + +It has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and +devotion of Alexander Farnese to carry out his great schemes; and +certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous +servant. Remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without +conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, +even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object +of Philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual +though secret supervision. + +Commander Moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in +maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline +his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. + +"He has caused all the evil we are suffering," said Moreo. "When he sent +Egmont to France 'twas without infantry, although Egmont begged hard for +it, as did likewise the Legate, Don Bernardino, and Tassis. Had he done +this there is no doubt at all that the Catholic cause in France would +have been safe, and your Majesty would now have the control over that +kingdom which you desire. This is the opinion of friends and foes. I +went to the Duke of Parma and made free to tell him that the whole world +would blame him for the damage done to Christianity, since your Majesty +had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the +French Catholics with all the zeal possible. Upon this he was so +disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. I doubt whether +he will send or go to France at all, and although the Duke of Mayenne +despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would +soften rocks, I see no indications of a movement." + +Thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading +France without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his +starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. +mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal +that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was +renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to +the wild schemes of his master. + +"I must make bold to remind your Majesty," again whispered the spy, "that +there never was an Italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and +that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater +than they are. This man here could strike a greater blow than all the +rest of them put together. Remember that there is not a villain anywhere +that does not desire the death of your Majesty. Believe me, and send to +cut off my head if it shall be found that I am speaking from passion, or +from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." + +The reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage Alexander was +thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to +propositions by which the sovereignty over the Netherlands was to be +secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment +with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable +matter. + +Such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the +atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape +suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily +bread. Yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which +described Alexander as unfaithful to Philip. Had he served his God as he +served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would +have been a clearer one. + +And in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the +crafty Moreo write to the principal secretary of state, Idiaquez, whose +mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in +daily communication with Philip. + +"Let us make sure of Flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be +well cheated. I will tell you something of that which I have already +told his Majesty, only not all, referring you to Tassis, who, as a +personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive +his Majesty, I have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his +Majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went +to destruction, only not Flanders." + +"Another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his Majesty +was sending to arrest him, by means of the Duke of Pastrana, and looking +at me he said: 'See here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were +in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as +these.'" + +"But this is but a small part of what I could say," continued the +detective knight-commander, "for I don't like to trust these ciphers. +But be certain that nobody in Flanders wishes well to these estates or to +the Catholic cause, and the associates of the Duke of Parma go about +saying that it does not suit the Italian potentates to have his Majesty +as great a monarch as he is trying to be." + +This is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was +steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom Farnese was especially +enjoined to give his confidence. + +Later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the +king and upon the duke. Moreo, Mendoza, and Tasais were placed about the +governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police- +officers. + +"You are to confer regularly with Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo," said +Philip to Farnese. + +"You are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the Duke +of Parma," wrote Philip to Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo. And thus cordially +and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. + +But Moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he +had trusted them too much, for Farnese was very well aware of his +intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to Idiaquez. + +Most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever +renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'Tis this good Moreo +who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and +this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents +and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life +ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me +and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." + +He was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the +famous relief of Paris. He had gone there, he said, against his judgment +and remonstrating with his Majesty on the insufficiency of men and money +for such an enterprise. His army was half-mutinous and unprovided with +food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, +ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'Twas poor payment for his +services, he exclaimed, if his Majesty should give ear to these +calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers +and clearing his reputation. Moreo detested him, as he knew, and Prince +Doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of Farnese in Genoa that +he was on the point of beating him; while Moreo afterwards told the story +as if he had been maltreated because of defending Farnese against Doria's +slanders. + +And still more vehemently did he inveigh against Moreo in his direct +appeals to Philip. He had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which +he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for Moreo +meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of +Farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the +commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies +into the monarch's ears. He denounced every charge as lies, and demanded +proof. Moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the Duke of +Mayenne against the King of Spain and himself, saying that he, Farnese, +had been commissioned to take Mayenne into custody, with plenty of +similar lies. + +"But what I most feel," said Alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see +that your Majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration +which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing +that they may involve my reputation and honour. People have made more +account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre +of the world. I complain, after all my toils and dangers in your +Majesty's service, just when I stood with my soul in my mouth and death +in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, +instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my +children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could +bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." + +He protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would +prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, +and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. Above all, he +entreated his Majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a +king but like a gentleman." + +Philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed +unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his +supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly +professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as +that of which his nephew complained. "At any rate I have mislaid it," he +said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." + +As the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not +only from the commander, since deceased, but from Ybarra and others, his +memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. But +the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and +pondered them to much purpose. To expect frankness and sincerity from +him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most +trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." + +Such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is +instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game +they were playing for the first throne in Christendom. The military +events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the +meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by +occasional glances behind the scenes. It is well for those who would +maintain their faith in popular Governments to study the workings of the +secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every Government, as every +individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born +of woman can evade. + +During the first French expedition-in the course of which Farnese had +saved Paris from falling into, the hands of Henry, and had been doing his +best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire- +-it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the +true state of France. He submitted his actions to his master's will, but +he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had +he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient +observation. + +With the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at +first, well satisfied. "The Duke of Mayenne," said he to Philip, +"persists in desiring your Majesty only as King of France, and will hear +of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be +exaggerated." Although there were difficulties in the way, Farnese +thought that the two together with God's help might conquer them. +"Certainly it is not impossible that your Majesty may succeed," he said, +"although very problematical; and in case your Majesty does succeed in +that which we all desire and are struggling for, Mayenne not only demands +the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great +province for his family." + +Should it not be possible for Philip to obtain the crown, Farnese was, +on the whole, of opinion that Mayenne had better be elected. In that +event he would make over Brittany and Burgundy to Philip, together with +the cities opposite the English coast. If they were obliged to make the +duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the +Prince of Bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the Catholic +religion. "This," said Alexander, "is about what I can gather of +Mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your +Majesty." + +After all, the duke was explicit enough. He was for taking all he could +get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice +of it as Philip would give him as the price of his services. And +Philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other +conspirator. + +Both were agreed on one thing. The true heir must be kept out of his +rights, and the Catholic religion be maintained in its purity. As to the +inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in +the dark. They knew that the Bearnese was instinctively demanded by the +nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible +solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. + +As to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the +League with whom Bearnese came in contact in France, he did not disguise +from his master that they were anything but favourable. + +"That you may know, the, humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the +difficulties in which I am placed, I must tell you that I am by large +experience much confirmed in that which I have always suspected. Men +don't love nor esteem the royal name of your Majesty, and whatever the +benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything +redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in +maintaining the Catholic religion and keeping out the Bearne. These two +things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your Majesty's profit, +that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. +They are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your Majesty. They +dread your acquiring power here. Whatever negotiations they pretend +in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your +protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their +only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out +their own ends. If to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, +tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. This has always been the +case, and all your Majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would +say so, if they chose to tell the truth. Men are disgusted with the +entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous +peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, I don't know +what they would do; for I have heard what I have heard and seen what I +have seen. They are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and +our money." + +Certainly if Philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the +country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its +most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the +world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the +most faithful manner. And at every, step the absolutely puerile +inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic +purposes became apparent. If the crime of subjugating or at least +dismembering the great kingdom of France were to, be attempted with any +hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man +employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and +money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the +Caribbean, or a German. principality. But Philip expected miracles to +be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. It was so +easy to conquer realms the writing table. + +"I don't say," continued Farnese, "if I could have entered France with a +competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and +munitions, and with funds enough to enable Mayenne to buy up the nobles +of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and +promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. Perhaps interest +and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so +little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. My want of +means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, +and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which +may occur." + +Here was sufficiently plain speaking. To conquer a war-like nation +without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, +were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. They were breaking +Alexander's. + +Yet Philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability +himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. The richest +countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines +of Peru and Mexico; the wealth of farthest Ind, were at his disposition; +and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and +massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he +compelled the wild Indians of America and the savages of the Pacific to +purchase of him at an enormous advance. That very year, a Spanish +carrack had been captured by the English off the Barbary coast, with an +assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal +commercial pursuits at that period. Besides wine in large quantities +there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article +indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but +the king could, upon pain of death, send to America. He received, +according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a +pound of pure silver, weight for weight. The ship likewise contained ten +cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. The bulls, two million and +seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended +for the provinces of New Spain, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, and the +Philippines. The quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred +thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. The .price at, +which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice +found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants +of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "From all this," +says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was +the king." + +The affairs of France were in such confusion that it was impossible for +them, according to Farnese, to remain in such condition much longer +without bringing about entire decomposition. Every man was doing as he +chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman +in his castle. Many important nobles and prelates followed the Bearnese +party, and Mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. +There was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to +anything but the hope of being well paid. "If your Majesty should decide +to keep Mayenne," said Alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of +money. He is a good Catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so +much opposed by his own party, that if I had not so stimulated him by +hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small +means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would +have made arrangements with Bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." + +The disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of Philip in +regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had +claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary +to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. +Alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer +matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the Duke was +a "man of truth, faith, and his word." He had distinctly agreed that no +king should be elected, not satisfactory to Philip, and had "stipulated +in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in +the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." + +Thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself +cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the Fuggers themselves +could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these +mercantile transactions. + +Above all things, Alexander implored the king to be expeditious, +resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the Bearnese might prove a more +formidable competitor than he was deemed. "These matters must be +arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and +memory of the Bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and +forever; for your Majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines +to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because +in this way the civil war would cease. The only thing that gives trouble +is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in +appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his +cause." + +No human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate +future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, +whom his adherents called Henry the Fourth of France, and whom Spaniards, +legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the Prince of Bearne, were +to be for ever excluded from the archives of France; whether Henry, after +spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath +the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their +while to play it. Meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; +while Alexander Farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the +chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell +his master that all hearts in France were inclining to their natural +lord. "Differing from your Majesty," said he, "I am of opinion that +there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the Duke +of Mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign +by your permission and support." + +Thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his +mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided +opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. + +And thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by +Alexander in France, he never failed to give his master the most accurate +pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging +above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies +for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "Money and again +money is what is required," he said. "The principal matter is to be +accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought +with money. The good will of every French city must be bought with +money. Mayenne must be humoured. He is getting dissatisfied. Very +probably he is intriguing with Bearne. Everybody is pursuing his private +ends. Mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he +sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us +as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great +deal of injury." + +When his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and +death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of +the king's means to his vast projects. He protested that he was not to +blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. He had +besought, remonstrated, reasoned with Philip--in vain. He assured his +master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, +not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do +his best. "The Frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, +and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. They disbelieve +the possibility of being liberated through us." + +He was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous +condition of the obedient Netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the +mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent Spanish army, the misery of +the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the +rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military +organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its +exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect +which it assumed towards all that was left of Spanish power in those +regions. + +Moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and +negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master +the left leg of the glorious apostle St. Philip, and the head of the +glorious martyr St. Lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it +may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as +would have been the news of a decisive victory. + +During the absence of Farnese in his expeditions against the Bearnese, +the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of Peter +Ernest Mansfeld. + +This grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly +incompetent for his post. He was a mere tool in the hands of his son. +Count Charles hated Parma very cordially, and old Count Peter was made +to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. +He was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in +consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. +The great nobles, Arschot, Chimay, Berlaymont, Champagny, Arenberg, and +the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing +save in hatred to Farnese. + +A tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and +his own constant patience, were necessary, as Alexander too well knew, +to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the +Netherlands. But with a monthly allowance, and a military force not +equal to his own estimates for the Netherland work, he was ordered to go +forth from the Netherlands to conquer France--and with it the dominion of +the world--for the recluse of the Escorial. + +Very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more +unequivocally than ever, the real heart of Mayenne. No one could surpass +Alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he +soon sent the information that the Duke was in reality very near closing +his bargain with the Bearnese, while amusing Philip and drawing largely +from his funds. + +Thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with +an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary +consequence that Philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to +sacrifice him. While assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that +elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with +such regularity by the chivalrous Moreo and the other spies, had been +totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly +preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of Alexander, +in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his +soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if +possible, but otherwise by main force, from the Netherlands to Spain. + +This project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with +that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which +distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever +existed. Had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps +there was to be--Philip could not have enjoyed himself more. Nothing +surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. + +The first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most +affectionate epistle to his nephew. + +"Nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which I have always placed in +you and all that I have put in your hands, and I know how much you are to +me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if I could have you +at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. +Since this cannot be however, I wish to make use of your assistance, +according to the times and occasions, in order that I may have some +certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, +may see why the settlement of affairs in France is thus delayed, and what +the state of things in Christendom generally is, and may consult with, +you about an army which I am getting levied here, and about certain +schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes +me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in +order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and +opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their +execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the +repose which I hope for in putting them into your hands. And so I charge +and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible +diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start +at once for Genoa." + +He was further directed to leave Count Mansfeld at the head of affairs +during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, +instructing him to make use of the Marquis of Cerralbo, who was already +there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of +Mansfeld's advanced age. + +"I am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he +is to obey all your orders. As to the reasons of your going away, you +will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, +or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will +towards you, as you see that it is." + +The date of this letter was 20th February, 1592. + +The secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's +orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped +in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished Philip's +style when his purpose was most direct. + +Cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the French matter, +and as to peace negotiations with "the Islands;" but the main purport of +his mission was to remove Alexander Farnese. This was to be done by fair +means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. + +This was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had +grown grey and broken in the king's service. + +"When you get to the Netherlands" (for the instructions were older than +the letter to Alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat +of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, +taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs +of France if by chance they are going on well there. + +"When the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued +his Majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of +20th February, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to +the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you +will have received." + +If the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the +reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the +details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased +reputation which would be the result of his return to Spain. + +"But if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded Philip, "and +you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars +of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated +that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. This will make +the step easier." + +Should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to Spain on the ground +indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then +to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. Every pains were to be +taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the +score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this +summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly +enlarged upon. Should Count Mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should +Farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son +the Prince Ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised +to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed +that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so +doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. + +But if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke +would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become +necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be +accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily +within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and +conducted to Spain by force. + +But all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so +dear to the heart of Philip. The marquis was instructed to go first to +the castle of Antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his +operations. Should he find at last all his private negotiations and +coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from +the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and +of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard +to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. + +The real successor of Farnese was to be the Archduke Albert, Cardinal of +Austria, son of Archduke Ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were +to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should +become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the +departure of Alexander. For if it came to open rupture, it would be +necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. If the affair +were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at +leisure. The marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be +in France, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there +on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him +then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. He was +to do his best to induce him to return to Flanders, and when they were +both there, he was to begin his operations. + +Thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did Philip provide for the +disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had +served him most faithfully from earliest youth. It was not possible to +carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, +Farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness +of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously +wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. + +On the conclusion of his Rouen campaign he had returned to the +Netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of Spa. +The Marquis de Cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important +secret mission by the Count of Fuentes, who received the same +instructions as had been provided for the marquis. + +But ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to +extremities. Farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself +unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was +carrying everything before him in the north and east. Upon the Mansfelds +was the responsibility for saving Steenwyk and Coeworden, and to the +Mansfelds did Verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. +For the Mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient +Netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying Farnese, +calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his +administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with +the populace. When the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and +harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living +man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned +to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of +achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the +part of both the Mansfelds. Neither of them paid their respects to him; +ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. When the duke +subsequently called a council; Count Peter refused to attend it on +account of having slept ill the night before. Champagny; who was one of, +the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by Parma to his house in +Burgundy. He became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his +head. He tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he +resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of Capuchins, and +begged hard to be admitted a member. They refused him on account of his +age and infirmities. He tried a Franciscan monastery with not much +better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his Burgundy mansion; +having been assured by Farnese that he was not to lose his head. +Alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, +that so soon as his back was turned Champagny would come out of his +convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make +mischief again. A once valiant soldier, like Champagny, whose conduct in +the famous "fury of Antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in +field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be +used as a tool by the Mansfelds against a man like Farnese; and to be +rejected as unfit company by Flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle +to contemplate. + +The walls of the Mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by Count +Charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put +upon his father: and himself. + +Among others, one picture represented Count Peter lying tied hand and +foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; Count Charles being +pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery +of cannon by, De la Motte. It seemed strange that the Mansfelds should, +make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate +Farnese; but thus it was. There was so much stir, about these works of +art that Alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon +Charles Mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they +had been entirely misunderstood. The venerable personage lying on the +ground, he explained, was not his father, but Socrates. He found it +difficult however to account for the appearance of La Motte, with his one +arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as Farnese justly +remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of Socrates, nor +was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. + +Thus passed the autumn of 1592, and Alexander, having as he supposed +somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his +master's orders for a new campaign in France. For with almost +preterhuman malice Philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to +disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret +supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and +to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, +the very last sands of Parma's life were to run away. + +Suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, +degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, +broken down into an old man before his time, Alexander still confronted +disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the +field to embattled Hollanders and Englishmen, or to the still more +formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of +negotiation. This wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and +guide councils than any soldier or statesman that Philip could call into +his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in +the dark. + +Nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do +battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. To the +last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to +the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess +himself mortal. On the 3rd of December, 1592, in the city of Arran, he +fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his +last. + +According to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot +in the robe and cowl of a Capuchin monk. Subsequently his remains were +taken to Parma, and buried under the pavement of the little Franciscan +church. A pompous funeral, in which the Italians and Spaniards +quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in Brussels, +and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at Rome. + +The first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died +when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. His +triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his +character has been elaborately pourtrayed. Were it possible to conceive +of an Italian or Spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, +educated in the school of Machiavelli, at the feet of Philip, as anything +but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a Church, +one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had +been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. Could the light of truth +ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the +sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a +world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings +and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so +eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. But it is a +weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and Italian +or Spanish statecraft of that day. The truth was not in it nor in him, +and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his +chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his +perpetual falsehood. + + [I pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of + censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private + character of Farnese, with which the secret archives of the times + are filled. Especially Champagny, the man by whom the duke was most + hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous + chronicle in which the enemies of Farnese, both in Spain and the + Netherlands, took so much delight. According to the secret history + thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, + the whole administration of the Netherlands--especially the + financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the + hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named Cosmo e Massi, + and a lady of easy virtue called Franceline, who seems to have had a + numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public + expense. Towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even + said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his + valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the + habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. As the valet- + dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it + may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. Certainly, + if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough + that for every million dollars expended by the king in the + provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the + public service; and this is the estimate made by Champagny, who, as + a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the + provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the + subject. But Champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + Effect of the death of Farnese upon Philip's schemes--Priestly + flattery and counsel--Assembly of the States-General of France-- + Meeting of the Leaguers at the Louvre--Conference at Surene between + the chiefs of the League and the "political" leaders--Henry convokes + an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--Strong feeling on + all sides on the subject of the succession--Philip commands that the + Infanta and the Duke of Guise be elected King and Queen of France-- + Manifesto of the Duke of Mayenne--Formal re-admission of Henry to + the Roman faith--The pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation + with the Church--His consecration with the sacred oil--Entry of the + king into Paris--Departure of the Spanish garrison from the capital + --Dissimulation of the Duke of Mayenne--He makes terms with Henry-- + Grief of Queen Elizabeth on receipt of the communications from + France. + +During the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough +in France, but now the only man who could have conducted Philip's schemes +to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. Friendly death had been +swifter than Philip, and had removed Alexander from the scene before his +master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he +was resolved. Meantime, Charles Mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead +an army from the Netherlands into France, to support the sinking fortunes +of the League; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt +the well-graced part of the all-accomplished Farnese with much hope of +success. A considerable force of Spanish infantry, too, had been sent to +Paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent +and determined churchman, Sega, archbishop of Piacenza, and cardinal- +legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any +attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the +fold of the faithful. + +The King of Spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable +right, to interfere in the affairs of France, and to save the cause of +religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the +civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable +to govern itself--under his sceptre. To achieve this noble end no +bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too +paltry. It was his sacred and special mission to save France from +herself. If he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and +distribute her among himself and friends. Frenchmen might assist him in +either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him +devolved the work and the responsibility. Yet among his advisers were +some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of France was +really the most judicious course to pursue. There was a general and +uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the Spanish +monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for +an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. A keen +Jesuit, who had been much in France, often whispered to Philip that he +was going astray. "Those who best understand the fit remedy for this +unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said +he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the +nobles of France may affect your cause and further your schemes. It is +the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, +and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom +should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the Spanish +doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; +that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, +after a province, and so on indefinitely. What matters it to them that +blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are +good for anything?" + +"The immediate cause of the ruin of France," continued the Jesuit, "comes +from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance +and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and +the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable +avarice have entered upon the property of the Church. This nobility is +divided into three factions. The first, and not the least, is heretic; +the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and +last is catholic. All these, although they differ in opinion, are the +same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice +among them." He then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation +of France depended on the King of Spain. "Morally speaking," he said, +"it is impossible for any Frenchman to apply the remedy. For this two +things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of God, and power. I ask +now what Frenchman: has both these, or either of them. No one certainly +that we know. It is the King of Spain who alone in the world has the +zeal and the power. No man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the +French nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of +France he would be obeyed by the others. The first to oppose him would +be Mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything +should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." + +Thus did the wily Priest instil into the ready ears of Philip additional +reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of God. When were +priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of +tyrants? It is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much +power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, +but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these +crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion +different from the goal intended. So the Jesuit advised the king not to +be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the +funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army +('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, +all Spaniards, under a Spanish general--not a Frenchman being admitted +into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting +Spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered +the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. In a short time +the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of +the Bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. + +This was the plan of Father Odo for putting Philip on the throne of +France, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden Church, whose +priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets +were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the +country. Certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen +whether the Bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as +the sanguine priest supposed. + +For the third party--the moderate Catholics--had been making immense +progress in France, while the diplomacy of Philip had thus far steadily +counteracted their efforts at Rome. In vain had the Marquis Pisani, +envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of +Clement towards Henry. The pope lived in mortal fear of Spain, and the +Duke of Sessa, Philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these +attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it +was much better for Rome that the pernicious kingdom of France should be +dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that Rome should be +starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for +an instant favoured. + +Clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, +but had nothing for it but to meet Pisani and other agents of the same +cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his +legate in Paris, who needed no prompting. + +There had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much +burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament +of Chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of Chalons decrees +by Paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of Protestants at Nantz and other +places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to +mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most +important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time +visible on the shores of time. + +Early in 1593 Mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the Spanish party, +reluctantly consented to assemble the States-General of France, in order +that a king might be chosen. The duke, who came to be thoroughly known +to Alexander Farnese before the death of that subtle Italian, relied on +his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the League and agents +of Philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. As firmly opposed +as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly +his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to +the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of Spanish +diplomatists, Roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was +proposed to exclude the Prince of Bearne from his pretended rights. But +he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. The +Spaniards shrewdly suspected the French tactics, and the whole business +was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who +ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "I know from a +very good source," said Fuentes, "that Mayenne, Guise, and the rest of +them are struggling hard in order not to submit to Bearne, and will +suffer everything your Majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in +the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are +travelling, at least not the one which your Majesty desires. They will go +on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out +of your Majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which +they are desiring. Feria tells me that they are still taking your +Majesty's money, but I warn your Majesty that it is only to fight off +Bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your Majesty's +expense." + +Perhaps Mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not +far-distant future, but he still presented himself in Spanish cloak and +most ultramontane physiognomy. His pockets were indeed full of Spanish +coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight +thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred +and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the +estates. "All I can say about France," said Fuentes, "is that it is one +great thirst for money. The Duke of Feria believes in a good result, but +I think that Mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." + +Thus fortified, the Duke of Mayenne issued the address to the States- +General of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make +arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible +yoke of the heretic pretender. The great seal affixed to the document +represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. + +The cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time +sustaining Mayenne and virulently denouncing the Bearnese. + +The politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon Henry +that the decisive moment was come. + +The Spaniard, the priest; and the League, had heated the furnace. +The iron was at a white heat. Now was the time to strike. Secretary +of State Revol Gaspar de Schomberg, Jacques Auguste de Thou, the eminent +historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to +the great question the only possible solution. + +Said the king with much meekness, "If I am in error, let those who attack +me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. I +hate those who act against their conscience. I pardon all those who are +inspired by truly religious motives, and I am ready to receive all into +favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted +with the war." + +There was a great meeting of Leaguers at the Louvre, to listen to +Mayenne, the cardinal-legate, Cardinal Pelleve, the Duke of Guise, and +other chieftains. The Duke of Feria made a long speech in Latin, setting +forth the Spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well +known, and assuring the assembly that the King of Spain desired nothing +so much as the peace of France and of all the world, together with the +supremacy of the Roman Church. Whether these objects could best be +attained by the election of Philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with +the Archduke Ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the Duke of Guise +or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. +No selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and +all his armies at the disposal of the League to carry out these great +projects. + +Then there was a conference at Surene between the chiefs the League and +the "political" leaders; the Archbishop of Lyons, the cardinal-legate, +Villars, Admiral of France and defender of Rouen, Belin, Governor of +Paris, President Jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the +Archbishop of Bourges, Bellievre, Schomberg, Revol, and De Thou. + +The Archbishop of Lyons said that their party would do nothing either to +frustrate or to support the mission of Pisani, and that the pope would, +as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true +religion. + +The Archbishop of Bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, +replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had +now, become the slaves and tools of the King of Spain, who, because he +was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. + +At an adjourned meeting at the same place, the Archbishop of Lyons said +that all questions had been asked and answered. All now depended on the +pope, whom the League would always obey. If the pope would accept the +reconciliation of the Prince of Bearne it was well. He, hoped that his +conversion would be sincere. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied to the League's archbishop, +that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to +Rome. The least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. Let the +Leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of +their minds. + +But the Leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. +So ended the conference.' + +The chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that +the decisive moment had arrived. + +Henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. Amid all the hubbub of +learned doctors of law, archbishops-Leaguer and political-Sorbonne +pedants, solemn grandees from Spain with Latin orations in their pockets, +intriguing Guises, huckstering Mayennes, wrathful Huguenots, sanguinary +cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by Spanish +musketeers, Italian lancers, and German reiters--shrill screams of +warning from the English queen, grim denunciations from Dutch Calvinists, +scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye- +sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of +the wildest battle-field. None knew better than he how to detect the +weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering +line. + +He blew the blast--sure that loyal Catholics and Protestants alike would +now follow him pell-mell. + +On the 16th, May, 1593, he gave notice that he consented to get himself +instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at Mantes on the 15th July, +of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold +council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the +State. + +Meantime he returned to the siege of Dreux, made an assault on the place, +was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the +garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. The place +soon after capitulated (8th July, 1593). + +The interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and +lay notables at Mantes was employed by the Leaguers in frantic and +contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to +be lost. But the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled +them at every point. + +The Leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts +recently issued in favour of the Protestants. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied not by defending; but by +warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king +for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting +positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no +longer countenance such measures. + +It is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the +part of Henry to the English and Dutch Protestants, and to the Huguenots +of his own kingdom. + +And there were many meetings of the Leaguers in Paris, many belligerent +speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather +than that the name of Henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as +candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full +assembly by Feria, Ybarra, Tassis, the jurisconsult Mendoza, and other +Spanish agents in favour of the Infanta as queen of France, with Archduke +Ernest or the Duke of Guise, or any other eligible prince, for her +husband. + +The League issued a formal and furious invective in answer to Henry's +announcement; proving by copious citations from Jeremiah, St. Epiphany; +St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, and St. Bernard, that it was easier for a +leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than +for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of +the crown of France than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching +conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. + +And the Duke of Nemours wrote to his half-brother, the Duke of Mayenne; +offering to use all his influence to bring about Mayenne's election as +king on condition that if these efforts failed, Mayenne should do his +best to procure the election of Nemours. + +And the Parliament of Paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any +election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to Mayenne +urging him never to consent to the election of the Infanta. + +What help, said they, can the League expect from the old and broken +Philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the +resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the +Netherlands? How can he hope to conquer France? Pay no further heed +to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries +and distractions of our country. So spake the deputies of the League- +Parliament to the great captain of the League, the Duke of Mayenne. +It was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less +confident of its invincibility. Madame League was suddenly grown +decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. + +Mayenne was angry at the action of the Parliament, and vehemently swore +that he would annul their decree. Parliament met his threats with +dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in +their places. + +At the same time the Duke of Feria suddenly produced in full assembly +of Leaguers a written order from Philip that the Duke of Guise and the +Infanta should at once be elected king and queen. Taken by surprise, +Mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised Feria to +support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. He +stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of Champagne, +Burgundy, and La Brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: +He furthermore demanded that Guise should cede to him the principality +of Joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two +hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different +payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. + +It was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after +all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "He has made +these promises (as above given) in writing," said the Duke of Savoy's +envoy to his master, but he will never keep them. The Duchess of Mayenne +could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the +Duke of Guise should have the throne." From this resolve he had never +wavered, and was not likely to do so now. Accordingly the man "of his +word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute Farnese had at times +half believed in, and who had received millions of Philip's money, now +thought it time to break with Philip. He issued a manifesto, in which he +observed that the States-General of France had desired that Philip should +be elected King of France, and carry out his design of a universal +monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the Catholic +religion and the pacification of the world. It was feared, however, said +Mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell +his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by +private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown +in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. +"If a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," +continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all Europe do +when they find his Majesty elected king of France, and grown by increase +of power so formidable to the world? Can it be doubted that they will +fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the King of Navarre, +heretic though he be? What motive had so many princes to traverse +Philip's designs in the Netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous +power which they feared? Therefore had the Queen, of England, although +refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the Netherlands +these fifteen years. + +"However desirable," continued Mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, +for which the house of Austria has so long been working, should be +established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties +in his way. Although he has conquered Portugal, he is prevented by the +fleets of Holland and England from taking possession of the richest of +the Portuguese possessions, the islands and the Indies. He will find in +France insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in +this case well reproach the Leaguers with having been changed from +Frenchmen into Spaniards. He must see that his case is hopeless in +France, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re- +establish his authority in the Netherlands. It would be impossible in +the present position of affairs to become either the king or the +protector of France. The dignity of France allows it not." + +Mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or +politicians, and, assembling the estates at the Louvre on the 4th July, +he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for +king. + +John Baptist Tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case +Philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only +effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the Prince of +Bearne was the immediate election of a king. + +Thus did Mayenne escape from the snare in which the Spaniards thought to +catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true +to nothing save his own interests. + +And now the great day had come. The conversion of Henry to the Roman +faith, fixed long before for--the 23rd July,--1593, formally took place +at the time appointed. + +From six in the morning till the stroke of noon did Henry listen to the +exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he +had convoked, the politic Archbishop of Bourges taking the lead in this +long-expected instruction. After six mortal hours had come to an end, +the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed +and convinced. He thanked the bishops for having taught him that of +which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having +invoked the light, of the Holy Ghost upon his musings, he should think +seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a +resolution salutary to himself and to the State. + +Nothing could be more candid. Next day, at eight in the morning, there +was a great show in the cathedral of Saint Denis, and the population of +Paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the League authorities, rushed +thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation +of the king. Henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly +purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, +and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and +a black mantle. There was a great procession with blare of trumpet and +beat of drum. The streets were strewn with flowers. + +As Henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the Archbishop +of Bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and +surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. + +"I am the king," meekly replied Henry, "and I demand to be received into +the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church." + +"Do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. + +"I wish it with all my heart," said the king. + +Then throwing himself on his knees, the Bearne--great champion of the +Huguenots--protested before God that he would live and die in the +Catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. A passage was with +difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high +altar, amid the acclamations of the people. Here he knelt devoutly and +repeated his protestations. His unction and contrition were most +impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. The king, during +the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the +Eucharist with his eyes, or, as the Host was elevated, smiting himself +thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. + +Afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the +archbishop confessed and absolved him. Then the Te Deum sounded, +and high mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Nantes. Then, amid +acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king +returned to the monastery of Saint Denis, where he dined amid a multitude +of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table +was nearly overset. These were the very Parisians, who, but three years +before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the +bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same +Prince of Bearne. + +Now, although Mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most +strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, +which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the +object of their hate. Yet few could seriously believe that much change +had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the +Spaniard, and the holy father at Rome still continued to denounce as the +vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. + +The comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. It may +be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. In +private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described +himself as heartily sick of the business. "I arrived here last evening," +he wrote to the beautiful Gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'God save +you' till bed-time. In regard to the Leaguers I am of the order of St. +Thomas. I am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides +those I told you about yesterday. At this moment of writing I have a +hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate +Saint Denis as much as you hate Mantes. 'Tis to-morrow that I take the +perilous leap. I kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel +and the mouth of my dear mistress." + +A truce--renewed at intervals--with the Leaguers lasted till the end of +the year. The Duke of Nevers was sent on special mission to Rome to +procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation +to the Church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in +terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists +of France were disgusted, while every honest Protestant in Europe shrank +into himself for shame. But Clement, overawed by Philip and his +ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the French envoy. +He protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the Bearne's +conversion unless an angel from Heaven should reveal it to him. So +Nevers left Rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather +have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed +into the Tiber, than bear back such a message. The pope ordered the +prelates who had accompanied Nevers to remain in Rome and be tried by +the Inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by +his side and marched out of the Porta del Popolo with them, threatening +to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. + +Meantime it became necessary to follow up the St. Denis comedy with a +still more exhilarating popular spectacle. The heretic had been +purified, confessed, absolved. It was time for a consecration. But +there was a difficulty. Although the fever of loyalty to the ancient +house of Bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was +spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk +in Lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the +reconciliation of the candid king with mother Church; although that +ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its +streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although Madam +League, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly +burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet Paris still held for that +decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the Bearnese. + +The city of Rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former Huguenot, +and it was at Rheims, in the church of St. Remy, that the Holy Bottle was +preserved. With what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of +Henry be performed? Five years before, the League had proposed in the +estates of Blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that +no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not +been anointed by the bishop at Rheims with oil from that holy bottle. +But it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that +prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the Church. + +Moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still +more efficacious than the famous oil of St. Remy. One hundred and twelve +years before the baptism of Clovis, St. Martin had accidentally tumbled +down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. But, +according to Sulpicius Severus, an angel had straightway descended from +heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the +saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. The +balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of Marmoutier near +Tours. Here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from +heaven. To mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was +clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as +the holy bottle was not within reach. The monks of Marmoutier consented +to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of St. Martin for the +grand occasion of the royal consecration. + +Accompanied by a strong military escort provided by Giles de Souvri, +governor of Touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to +Chartres, where the consecration was to take place. Prayers were offered +up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap +should befal the sacred treasure. When the monks arrived at Chartres, +four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages +for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to +the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered +with tapestry. There was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six +bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after +which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. + +Thus the champion of the fierce Huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead +La Noue and the living Duplessis Mornay, the devoted knight of the +heretic Queen Elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout Dutch Calvinists, +was pompously reconciled to that Rome which was the object of their +hatred and their fear. + +The admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at St. Denis and the +consecration at Chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox +by a third and most conclusive ceremony: + +A secret arrangement had been made with De Cosse-Brissac, governor of +Paris, by the king, according to which the gates of Paris were at last to +be opened to him. The governor obtained a high price for his services-- +three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for +his life, and the truncheon of marshal of France. Thus purchased, +Brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. Envoy +Ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone +straight to the governor for information, but the keen Spaniard was +thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. The +next morning, March 22nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight +Ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of Brissac, was wandering +about the streets of Paris when he became the involuntary witness of an +extraordinary spectacle. + +Through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of +the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. Many +torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid +light upon the scene. + +There, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these +strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they +advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very +midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the +martial figure of the Prince of Bearne. Armed to the teeth, with sword +in hand and dagger at side, the hero of Ivry rode at last through the +barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'Twas like +enchantment," said Ybarra. The first Bourbon entered the city through +the same gate out of which the last Valois had, five years before, so +ignominiously fled. It was a midnight surprise, although not fully +accomplished until near the dawn of day. It was not a triumphal +entrance; nor did Henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great +principle. He had defeated the League in many battle-fields, but the +League still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his +ancestral palace. He had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower +than the League itself; and casting off his Huguenot skin at last, +he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the +holy Catholic Church. + +Twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion +of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious +wars of France. The youthful son of Antony Bourbon and Joan of Albret +had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the Huguenots. In the +same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of St. Bartholomew, +the first Catholic conversion of Henry and the massacre at which the +world still shudders. + +Now he was chief of the "Politicians," and sworn supporter of the Council +of Trent. Earnest Huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. + +He represented the principle of national unity against national +dismemberment by domestiv, treason and foreign violence. Had that +principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, +history might judge him more leniently. Had he relied upon it entirely +it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his +ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is +for ever associated. It is by no means certain that permanent religious +toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, +only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. +A day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be +of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what +Christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may +be partial; when the relations between man and his Maker shall be +undefiled by political or social intrusion. But the day will never +come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and +humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to +make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and +theatrical buffoonery. + +The so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. +It strengthened the Roman Church and gave it an indefinite renewal of +life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. The appearance +of Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent was of +itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. Whether +for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of +political combinations, the motive of great wars and national +convulsions. The age of religion was to be succeeded by the +age of commerce. + +But the king was now on his throne. All Paris was in rapture. There was +Te Deum with high mass in Notre Dame, and the populace was howling itself +hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general +curse. Even the Sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, +and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened +mortals. There was nothing left for the Duke of Feria but to take +himself off and make Latin orations in favour of the Infanta elsewhere, +if fit audience elsewhere could be found. A week after the entrance of +Henry, the Spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave Paris with +the honours of war. + +"We marched out at 2 P.M.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed +ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. First came the Italians and +then the Spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with +the Walloons marching near me. The Prince of Bearne"--it was a solace to +the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king +by that title--"was at a window over the gate of St. Denis through which +we took our departure. He was dressed in light grey, with a black hat +surmounted by a great white feather. Our displayed standards rendered +him no courteous salute as we passed." + +Here was another solace! + +Thus had the game been lost and won, but Philip as usual did not +acknowledge himself beaten. Mayenne, too, continued to make the most +fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. He betook +himself to Brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by +the Spanish authorities in the Netherlands. In the midst of the tempest +now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, Philip still clung to Mayenne +as to a spar in the shipwreck. For the king ever possessed the virtue, +if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, +when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had +all proved ridiculous mistakes. + +When his famous Armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him +peevishly requiring Alexander Farnese to construct a new one immediately +and to proceed therewith to conquer England out of hand? Was it to be +expected that he would renounce his conquest of France, although the +legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the +Church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? If +the Prince of Bearne had already destroyed the Holy League, why should +not the Duke of Mayenne and Archduke Ernest make another for him, +and so conquer France without further delay? + +But although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the +universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, +it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as Mayenne to +hoodwink much longer the shrewd Spaniards who were playing so losing a +game against him. + +"Our affairs in France," said Ybarra, "are in such condition that +we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the +provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic +manner. Money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for France. +The king's agents are mightily discontented with Mayenne, and with +reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. +We can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down +yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." + +And the Archduke Ernest, although he invited Mayenne to confer with him +at Brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the +Duke of Guise from coming to an arrangement with Bearne, hardly felt more +confidence in the man than did Feria or Ybarra. "Since the loss of +Paris," said Ernest, "I have had a letter from Mayenne, in which, deeply +affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop +of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the League. But of +the intentions and inner mind of this man I find such vague information, +that I don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded +upon his own interest." + +And so Mayenne came to Brussels and passed three days with the archduke. +"He avows himself ready to die in our cause," said Ernest. "If your +Majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal +with Bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." +The archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to Mayenne that with the money +he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still +affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, +"it is known that Mayenne is already treating with Bearne. If he has not +concluded those arrangements, it is because Bearne now offers him less +money than before." The amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, +practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite +capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges +one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. It +is doubtful whether plain Hans Miller or Hans Baker could have risen to +such level. + +Feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing Mayenne as false, +pernicious to the cause of Spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self- +seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the +confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, +and preparing to go over to the Prince of Bearne. + +"If," said he, "I were to recount all his base tricks, I should go on +till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." + +This letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by Henry IV., +not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the Duke of +Mayenne. Great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such +libellous truths. He forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed +to Philip II., in which he denounced the Duke of Feria as "a dirty +ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, +after many other unsavoury epithets, "but I will do him an honour which +he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and I humbly pray +your Majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which +causes me to depart from the respect due to your Majesty, when I speak of +this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." + +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence +of that tattered reputation. The defiance to mortal combat went for +nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured Mayenne turned +his back on Philip and his Spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the +Prince of Bearne. He obtained good terms: the government of Burgundy, +payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard +cash. It is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of +truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from +Philip to carry on the business of the League. + +Subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to Monceaux to thank +the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from Spanish arrogance +and Italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, +was allowed to kiss the royal hand. Henry then insisted upon walking +about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the +improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain +efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. + +"If I keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," +whispered the king to De Bethune, who was third in the party, "I shall be +sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." + +At last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of +expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to +solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of Arbois, +expressly provided for him by the king's direction. And this was all the +punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent +conspirator. + +The Duke of Guise made his arrangements with the ex-Huguenot on even +better terms and at a still earlier day; while Joyeuse and Mercoeur stood +out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "These people put such +a high price on themselves," said one of Henry's diplomatists, "that one +loses almost more than one gains in buying them. They strip and plunder +us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such +harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our +blood. I think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means +and at whatever price." + +Thus Henry IV., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years +been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to +save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and +to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign +despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war +in France was approaching its only possible conclusion. + +But, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed Church as well as +they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their +leader. From the most eminent leaders of the Huguenots there came a +wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the +cheerful Gascon. "It will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon +from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common +religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy +in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful +services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. The remembrance +of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts +your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most +profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to +yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, +pursued to the death by the greatest princes of Europe, you went on +conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so +many tempests were beating." + +The States of the Dutch republic, where the affair of Henry's conversion +was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in +France--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between +nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet +doubtful. It was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in +order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about +to take. After ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the +matter "in the hands of God Almighty, and to pray Him earnestly to guide +the issue to His glory and the welfare of the Churches." + +The Queen of England was, as might be supposed, beside herself with +indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her +chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of +troops had been handled in France, she determined to withdraw every +English soldier from the support of Henry's cause. The unfortunate +French ambassador in London was at his wits' ends. He vowed that he +could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which +he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come +upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody +day of St. Bartholomew. + +"Ah, my God!" said he to Burghley, "is it possible that her just choler +has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so +many benefits and liberalities?" But he persuaded himself that her +majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. To do so, +he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the French papists, who would be +sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king +into the, abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. +He so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling +all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated +his despatches. Nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her +wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield +him at the approaching interview. "Protect me," he cried, "by your +wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living God, +when I see her enraged against any person whatever I wish myself +in Calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." + +When all was over, Henry sent De Morlans as special envoy to communicate +the issue to the Governments of England and of Holland. But the queen, +although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the States- +General, and refused to be comforted. She subsequently receded, +however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from France. + +"Ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have I felt in my +soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by Morlans! +My God! Is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror +of Divine wrath? Can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such +iniquitous acts? He who has maintained and preserved you by His mercy, +can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? +'Tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. Meantime I shall not cease +to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of +Esau may not spoil the blessings of Jacob. As to your promises to me of +friendship and fidelity, I confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do I +repent, provided you do not change your Father--otherwise I shall be your +bastard sister by the father's side--for I shall ever love a natural +better than an adopted one. I desire that God may guide you in a +straight road and a better path. Your most sincere sister in the old +fashion. As to the new, I have nothing to do with it. ELIZABETH R." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +All fellow-worms together +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v65 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 66, 1594 + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + Prince Maurice lays siege to Gertruydenberg--Advantages of the new + system of warfare--Progress of the besieging operations--Superiority + of Maurice's manoeuvres--Adventure of Count Philip of Nassau-- + Capitulation of Gertruydenberg--Mutiny among the Spanish troops-- + Attempt of Verdugo to retake Coeworden--Suspicions of treason in the + English garrison at Ostend--Letter of Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward + Norris on the subject--Second attempt on Coeworden--Assault on + Groningen by Maurice--Second adventure of Philip of Nassau--Narrow + escape of Prince Maurice--Surrender of Groningen--Particulars of the + siege--Question of religious toleration--Progress of the United + Netherlands--Condition of the "obedient" Netherlands--Incompetency + of Peter Mansfeld as Governor--Archduke Ernest, the successor of + Farnese--Difficulties of his position--His unpopularity--Great + achievements of the republicans--Triumphal entry of Ernest into + Brussels and Antwerp--Magnificence of the spectacle--Disaffection of + the Spanish troops--Great military rebellion--Philip's proposal to + destroy the English fleet--His assassination plans--Plot to poison + Queen Elizabeth--Conspiracies against Prince Maurice--Futile + attempts at negotiation--Proposal of a marriage between Henry and + the Infanta--Secret mission from Henry to the King of Spain--Special + dispatch to England and the Staten--Henry obtains further aid from + Queen Elizabeth and the States--Council--Anxiety of the Protestant + countries to bring about a war with Spain--Aspect of affairs at the + close of the year 1594. + +While Philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly +fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the Spanish +crown which had been neglected in Brabant and Friesland. + +Two very important cities still held for the King of Spain within the +territories of what could now be fairly considered the United Dutch +Republic--St. Gertruydenberg and Groningen. + +Early in the spring of 1593, Maurice had completed his preparations for a +siege, and on the 24th March appeared before Gertruydenberg. + +It was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, +and especially for its position. For without its possession even the +province of Holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own +little domains. It was seated on the ancient Meuse, swollen as it +approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the +south another stream, called the Donge, very brief in its course, but +with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the Meuse, +exactly under the walls of the city. + +The site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected +by its surrounding dykes. These afforded means of fortification, which +had been well improved. Both by nature and art the city was one of the +strongholds of the Netherlands. + +Maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the +siege of Steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was +resolved that the operations before Gertruydenberg should constitute a +masterpiece. + +Nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, +to the general reader, more insipid than its details. + +On the land side, Hohenlo's headquarters were at Ramsdonck, a village +about a German mile to the east of Gertruydenberg. Maurice himself was +established on the west side of the city. Two bridges constructed across +the Donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while +great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy +roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. The first +care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand +men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. + +His lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his +forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. + +The river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of +defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the +shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters +whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the +same machinery. Farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops +and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called Turkish +ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very +disagreeable to cavally. In a shorter interval than would have seemed +possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had +risen like an exhalation out of the morass. The city of Gertruydenberg +was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as +impregnable as itself. Then, for the first time in that age, men +thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. + +Three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. +The soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his +ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover +that every stioke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. + +The Spaniards no longer railed at Maurice as a hedger and ditcher. When +he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the +beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. + +The Kartowen and half Kartowen were no longer considered "espanta +vellacos." + +Meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the +lines. Nowhere in Europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in +the Dutch camp. Nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, +prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of +non-combatants. Not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. The +country people found themselves more at ease within Maurice's lines than +within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. They +ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking +example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the +barbarism of war, than in this siege of Gertruydenberg. + +Certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when +he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the +bloody work which Alva, and Romero, and Requesens, and so many others had +done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost +like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. + +Visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign +countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign +generals repaired to the camp of Maurice to take practical lessons in the +new art of war. + +Old Peter Ernest Mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the Spanish +Netherlands since the death of Farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast +when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last +broke in upon his mind. Count Fuentes was the true and confidential +regent however until the destined successor to Parma should arrive; but +Fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will +hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old- +fashioned school, was no match for Maurice in the scientific combinations +on which the new system was founded. + +In vain did the superannuated Peter call aloud upon his sofa and +governor, Count Charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. That +artillery general had gone with a handful of Germans, Walloons; and other +obedient Netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many +to be spared from the provinces--to besiege Noyon in France. But what +signified the winning or losing of such a place as Noyon at exactly the +moment when the Prince of Bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the +Archbishop of Bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements +in the churches of St. Denis and Chartres, by which the world-empire had +been effectually shattered, and Philip and the Pope completely out- +manoeuvred. + +Better that the five thousand fighters under Charles Mansfeld had been +around Gertruydenberg. His aged father did what he could. As many men +as could be spared from the garrison of Antwerp and its neighbourhood +were collected; but the Spaniards were reluctant to march, except under +old Mondragon. That hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had +fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the +century. Being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in +Antwerp Castle: Accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse +took the field under the more youthful Peter Ernest? But Peter Ernest, +when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing +but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the +little finger of Farnese, whom Philip would have displaced, had he not +fortunately died. + +"Nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," +wrote Ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at +Madrid. "I have done my best to induce Fuentes to accept that which the +patent secured him, and Count Peter is complaining that Fuentes showed +him the patent so late only to play him a trick. There is a rascally +pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom I +particularly give to the devil. There is no end to the squabbles as to +who shall take the lead in relieving Gertruydenberg." + +Mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of Turnhout. +There was a brilliant little skirmish, in the, neighbourhood of this +place, in which a hundred and fifty Dutch cavalry under the famous +brothers Bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of Spain and Italy. +But Mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. In vain he plunged +about among the caltrops and man-traps. In vain he knocked at the +fortifications of Hohenlo on the east and of Maurice on the west. +He found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. It was Maurice's +intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. +A trumpet was sent on some trifling business to Mansfeld, in reply to +a communication made by the general to Maurice. + +"Why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why +does Prince Maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out +of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour +and fame await him?" + +"Because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty +old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you +an advantage." + +At this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. + +Meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the +city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. + +On the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out +of human sight by another Gertruydenberg. On the wide estuary of the +Meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half +moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for +a messenger to swim out of a dark night. + +The hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair +were almost invariably captured. + +This blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on +the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of Maurice +and Hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the +Netherlands or France. + +And the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted +nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. +The approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. +With subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter Y, the +prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. + +Hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one +occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. He +had constructed a fort at Ramsdonck. Maurice then commanded the erection +of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. It was as much a part of +his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of Mansfeld's +relieving force, as to go forward against the city. Hohenlo objected +that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in +so isolated a position. Maurice insisted. In the midst of the +altercation Hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new +fortifications: "Here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are +delivered up here to be butchered. You may drop work and follow me to +the old fort." + +"And I swear to you," said Maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves +from this spot shall be hanged." + +No one moved. The fort was completed and held to the and; Hohenlo +sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former +pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. + +From the same cause which was apt to render Hohenlo's services +inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons +placed in still nearer relation to himself. Count Philip of Nassau, +brother of the wise and valiant Lewis William, had already done much +brilliant campaigning against the Spaniards both in France and the +provinces. Unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty +drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at Colonel +Brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without +armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary +survey of the enemy's works. Not satisfied with this piece of +reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably +without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding +general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. The +deed was not commendable in a military point of view. A fire was opened +upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time +the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of Prince Maurice +started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his +life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. Fortunately for him they came to +the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing +him away unharmed. The sergeant-major, however, Sinisky by name, while +thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the +leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of +this after-dinner assault. + +As the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great +confusion began to reign within the city. The garrison, originally +of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much +diminished. Two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost +their lives. On the 1st of June, Governor De Masieres, Captain Mongyn, +the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top +of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with +one cannon-shot. Thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be +something more than to scare cowards. + +The final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, +if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations +as those of Maurice. On the 24th June Captains Haen and Bievry were +relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town +--a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and +weakened above. Being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly +to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the +town. It was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the +expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and +taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. Somewhat to his +own surprise, still more to that of the Spanish sentinels, Bievry in a +few minutes found himself within the ravelin. He was closely followed by +Captain Haen, Captain Kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. The alarm +was given. There was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. Sixteen of the +bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. The rest fled +into the city. The governor of the place, Captain Gysant, rushing to the +rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. Count Solms, on +the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to +investigate the sudden uproar. To his profound astonishment he was met +there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for +terms of surrender. The envoys had already been for some little time +looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. When +Maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; +for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. +Soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been +brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. + +Next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal +baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their +wounded men to Antwerp. + +Thus was Gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of Peter Mansfeld, +who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in +honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth +over camp and city. + +The sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect +arrangements. When Maurice rode into the town, he found it strong +enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long +day. But it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was +impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege +operations should be brought to their close, was certain. The inexorable +genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war- +makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a +fate. It was as well to succumb on the 24th June as to wait till the +24th July. + +Moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner-- +which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the +Dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the Spaniard twenty years +earlier in the century, was wanting. + +In surrendering to the born Netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the +illustrious house of Nassau--these Netherlanders were neither sullying +their flag nor injuring their country. Enough had been done for military +honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the +garrison had fallen. Nor was that religious superstition so active +within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in +Paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. It +was known that even if the public ceremonies of the Catholic Church were +likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the +rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual +households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery +eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more +virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one +high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. + +After all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of +Gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and +thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national +liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. + +Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing +less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. + +The problem was solved, the demonstration was made. To open their gates +to the soldiers of the Union was not to admit the hordes of a Spanish +commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever +followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. + +To an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well- +fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when +the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done +their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted +to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its +courage. + +Four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and +three hundred upon the relieving force. + +The besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty +men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three +hundred killed and four hundred wounded. + +After the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling +of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the +republic, Maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his +somewhat exhausted little army. On the other hand, old Count Mansfeld, +dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to +Brussels to be much taunted by the insolent Fuentes. He at least escaped +very violent censure on the part of his son Charles, for that general, +after his superfluous conquest of Noyon, while returning towards the +Netherlands, far too tardily to succour Gertruydenberg, had been +paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out +among the Spanish troops in the province of Artois. The disorder went +through all its regular forms. A town was taken, an Eletto was +appointed. The country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the +rebellion lasted some thirteen months. Before it was concluded there was +another similar outbreak among the Italians, together with the Walloons +and other obedient Netherlanders in Hainault, who obliged the city of +Mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. The consequence +of these military rebellions was to render the Spanish crown almost +powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject +to its sway. The cause--as always--was the non-payment of these +veterans' wages, year after year. It was impossible for Philip, with +all the wealth of the Indies and Mexico pouring through the Danaid sieve +of the Holy League in France, to find the necessary funds to save the +bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the Netherlands from +starving and from revolt. + +Meantime there was much desultory campaigning in Friesland. Verdugo +and Frederic van den Berg picked up a few cities, and strong places +which had thrown off their allegiance September, to the king--Auerzyl, +Schlochteren, Winschoten, Wedde, Ootmarzum--and invested the much more +important town of Coeworden, which Maurice had so recently reduced to the +authority of the Union. Verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and +he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. Winter was +coming on; and the States, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire +from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it +unnecessary to interfere with him. After a very brief demonstration +the Portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. + +There were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess +himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the +English queen. On a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with +which Sir Robert Sydney regarded the withdrawal of the English troops in +the Netherlands for the sake of assisting the French king. This palpable +breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened England's hold on the +affections of the Netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that +treason might be impending at Flushing or Ostend. The suspicions were +unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for +Sydney and Norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but +the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in +that of Sir William Stanley before the commission of his crime. It was +now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon +Ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the +English garrison. The intelligence was at once conveyed to her Majesty's +Government by Sir Edward Norris, and they determined to take a lesson +from past experience. Norris was at once informed that in view of the +attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five +hundred men under Sir Conyers Clifford from certain companies in +Flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the English +troops in Normandy. The governor was ordered to look well after his +captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty +to herself and to the States, to bid all beware of sullying the English +name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the +garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them +at once to condign punishment. + +The queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of English +honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own +hand a characteristic letter to Sir Edward Norris, to accompany the more +formal despatch of Lord Burghley. Thus it ran "Ned!-- + +"Though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve +for excuse for the rest. We trust you are so carefully regarded as +nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want +will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and +we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. Now or never +let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder +heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, +remembering the old goodness of our God, who never yet made us fail His +needful help, who ever bless you as I with my prince's hand beseech Him." + +The warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the +great schemes with which the new royal governor of the Netherlands was +supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of Ostend-- +seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. There was, in +the not very distant future, to be a siege of Ostend, which the world +would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden +assault. Its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted +than was then thought possible. But the chronicle of events must not be +anticipated. For the present, Ostend was safe. + +Early in the following spring, Verdugo again appeared before Coeworden in +force. It was obvious that the great city of Groningen, the mistress of +all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and Coeworden +was the necessary base of any operations against the place. Fortunately +for the States, William Lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and +fortified the only avenue through the Bourtange morass, so that when +Verdugo sat down before Coeworden, it was possible for Maurice, by moving +rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. + +Verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand Walloon +cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be +judged by the prowess of one of their captains, Gaucier by name. This +obedient Netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four +hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and +three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for +their martial achievements. + +The peril, however, was great, and Prince Maurice, trifling not a moment, +threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, Germans, Frisians, Scotch, +English, and Hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the +road between the Vecht and the Bourtange morass. On the 6th of May, +Verdugo found the States' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, +squarely established upon his line of communications. He reconnoitred, +called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to +remain, destruction. On the night of the 6th of May, he broke up his +camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, +leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. + +Thus had Maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be +reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to +be saved. + +Coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. + +The stadholder now marched upon Groningen. This city was one of the most +splendid and opulent of all the Netherland towns. Certainly it should +have been one of the most ancient in Europe, since it derived its name-- +according to that pains-taking banker, Francis Guicciardini--"from Grun, +a Trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to Munster, was "a +Frenchman by birth."--"Both theories, however, might be true," added the +conscientious Florentine, "as the French have always claimed to be +descended from the relics of Troy." A simpler-minded antiquary might +have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a +sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was Groningen +on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. In +population it was only exceeded by Antwerp and Amsterdam. Situate on +the line where upper and nether Germany blend into one, the capital of +a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose +hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long +as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, Groningen had +fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the +Spaniard but the treason of the Netherlander. The baseness of the +brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young Renneberg has been +recorded on a previous page of these volumes. For thirteen years long +the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within +its very heart. And now the day had come when a blow should be struck +for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself +in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his +cradle. + +For in Groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the +Union, although the treason of Renneberg had hitherto prevented both city +and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the +United Netherlands. Within the precincts were five hundred of Verdugo's +veterans under George Lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called +Schuytendiess. In the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, +for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on +their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being +false to all that was noble in their past. Their ancestors had wrested +privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of +dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; +their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even +under the despotic sway of Charles V. And now, under the reign of his +son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free +Frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to +be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the +trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all. +munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic +sedition, but against liberty and against law. + +For the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of +Europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of +Philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now +knocking at their gates. Not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the +elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest +commonwealth in the world, Maurice of Nassau, at the head of fifteen +thousand Netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the +inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow +citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. + +It seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of +arms. Rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his +feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, +there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. More than +all, there were half a dozen Jesuits within the town, and to those ablest +of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of +Groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have +been possible. + +It is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations +during the sixty-five days between the 20th May and the 24th July. Again +the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more +artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance +on the military stage had been known. But the daily phenomena of the +Leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent +eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military +histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. + +The fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial +character known to the age. The ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, +the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place +in Europe. It was therefore necessary that Maurice and his cousin Lewis +should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best +artillery to reduce this great capital of the Eastern Netherlands. +Again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around +the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered +ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed +and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter Y +advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and +nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a +relieving force was so perfectly established that Verdugo or Mansfield, +with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter +soldiers with which Maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away +--was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged +his early manhood. Again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that +Philip Nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of +Gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous +daring. This time the dinner party was at the quarters of Count Solms, +in honour of the Prince of Anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, +Count Philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet +thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without +armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort +by his own unaided exertions. Another officer, one Captain Vaillant, +still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds +of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the +ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the Holland +boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long +in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. The count +was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. Yet +despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and +braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble +Nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of Dutch liberty-- +fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. On the +following day, Prince Maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with +his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger +which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking +characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. A shot +from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was +taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. Sir Francis Vere, +who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his +length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. + +Pauli, one of the States commissioners present in the camp, wrote to +Barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning +to his Excellency. He had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, +against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he +was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to +restrain him from being everywhere every day. + +Three days later, the letter Y did its work. At ten o'clock 15 July, of +the night of the 15th July, Prince Maurice ordered the mines to be +sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of +the garrison with it. Two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, +and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. The catastrophe finished +the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the +obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. +In truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, +which was almost as effective as the mine. A certain Jan to Boer had +been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts +and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the Jesuits and the +five hundred of Verdugo's veterans were all that prevented Groningen from +returning to the Union. There had been severe fighting within the city +itself, for the Jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from +the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, +political, military, and jesuitical, was that on 22nd July articles of +surrender were finally agreed upon between Maurice and a deputation from +the magistrates, the guilds, and commander Lanckema. + +The city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the Union. +William Lewis, already stadholder of Friesland for the united States, was +to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was +thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self- +government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and +decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous +commonwealth. + +It was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then +practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the +province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or +troubled in his conscience: Cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to +remain 'in statu quo,' until the States-General should come to a definite +conclusion on these subjects. + +Universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. Every +citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the +town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it +was expressly provided in the articles granted to Lanckema that his +soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to Prince Maurice +their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation +for their women and their wounded. The property of Verdugo, royal +stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the +city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. + +Ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. The cost of +powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. +Four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number +wounded. The army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous +desertions. Of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, +and a few citizens. + +Thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight +hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions +were found in the place. + +On the 23rd July Maurice and William Lewis entered the city. Some of the +soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but +it was the purpose of Maurice, as of the States-General, to place the +sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and +the order for which the struggle with Spain had, been carried on so long. +If the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be +remembered that Romanism in a city occupied by Spanish troops had come to +mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. In the midst of civil war, +the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the +great conflict had not yet struck. It was surely something gained for +humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in +countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question +him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the +inquirer. + +It was something that the holy Inquisition had been for ever suppressed +in the land. It must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender +and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the +capture of Groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of +ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a Dutch town had fallen +into the hands of Philip. + +And thus the commonwealth of the United Netherlands, through the +practical military genius and perseverance of Maurice and Lewis William, +and the substantial statesmanship of Barneveld and his colleagues, had at +last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward +which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it +had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a +mirage. The republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, +self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. + +No very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the Union +during the remainder of the year. According to the agreements with Henry +IV. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable +assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult +for Maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had +contemplated. + +Meantime the condition of the obedient Netherlands demands a hasty +glance. + +On the death of brother Alexander the Capuchin, Fuentes produced a patent +by which Peter Ernest Mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in +case the post should become vacant. During the year which followed, that +testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all +around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain +the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. + +His utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. His more +than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity +exercised over him by Count Charles, were made manifest to all the world. +The son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and +endless was their wrangling with Fuentes and all the other Spaniards. +Between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor +Fuentes became sick of his life. + +"'Tis a diabolical genius, this count Charles," said Ybarra, "and so full +of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his +father. As for me, until the archduke comes I am a fish out of water." + +The true successor to Farnese was to be, the Archduke Ernest, one of the +many candidates for the hand of the Infanta, and for the throne of that +department of the Spanish dominions which was commonly called France. +Should Philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in +person, it was on the, whole decided that his favorite nephew should be +the satrap of that outlying district of the Spanish empire. In such case +obedient France might be annexed to obedient Netherlands, and united +under the sway of Archduke Ernest. + +But these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer +madness. When the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as +King Ernest I. of France, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned +Leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. That a foreign prince, +whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the +French population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of St. +Louis and Hugh Capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as +Philip had scattered the Peruvian and Mexican dollars among the great +ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. + +So Archduke Ernest, early in the year 1594, came to Brussels, but he +came as a gloomy, disappointed man. To be a bachelor-governor of the +impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little +remnant of the Spanish Netherlands, was a different position from that +of husband of Clara Isabella and king of France, on which his imagination +had been feeding so long. + +For nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of Farnese, +the Spanish envoy to the Imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange +for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the +Netherlands. The prince himself was willing enough, but there were many +obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "Especially there +is one very great impossibility," said San Clemente, "and that is the +poverty of his Highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in +my estate. So I don't see how he can stir a step without money. Here +they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses +nothing but debts." The emperor was so little pleased with the adventure +that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new +viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was +necessary for Philip to provide for his travelling expenses. + +Ernest was next brother of the Emperor Rudolph, and as intensely devoted +to the interests of the Roman Church as was that potentate himself, or +even his uncle Philip. + +He was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the +gout. He brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, +threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor +troops to send to the assistance of his Christian brother-in-law and +uncle. Moreover, it may be imagined that Rudolph, despite the bonds of +religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal +projects of Philip. + +So Ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy +gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not +to charge upon the rebellious Dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and +six. + +There was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. +The great Flemish and Walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the +Spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. Arschot +and his brother Havre both desired the government of Flanders; so did +Arenberg. All three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for +the majordomo's office in Ernest's palace. Havre wanted the finance +department as well, but Ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public +funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was +provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. + +So soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was +a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first +to greet his Highness. While Mansfeld and Fuentes were squabbling, as +usual, Arschot got the start of both, and arrived at Treves. Then the +decrepit Peter Ernest struggled as far as Luxembourg, while Fuentes +posted on to Namur. The archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging +of all these personages on the day of his entrance into Brussels. In the +council of state it was still worse. Arschot claimed the first place as +duke and as senior member, Peter Ernest demanded it as late governor- +general and because of his grey hairs. Never was imperial highness more +disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. The +caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver +matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound +contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "There has been the +devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also +about going out to receive the most serene archduke. I have had such +work with them that by the salvation of my soul I swear if it were to +last a fortnight longer I would go off afoot to Spain, even if I were +sure of dying in jail after I got there. I have reconciled the two +counts (Fuentes and Mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and +another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves +with such vulgarity that I blushed for them. They are both to blame, +but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get +us out of this embarrassment." + +The archduke came with rather a prejudice against the Spaniards-- +the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to France--and he +manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with +whom he came in contact. A Castilian noble of high rank, having audience +with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had +been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of Spain-- +during the government of Farnese. The hat was rudely struck from his +head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously +thrust out of the presence. At another time an interview was granted to +two Spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. They made their +appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in +gold. After a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of +another audience for a few days later. When they again presented +themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his +side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, +which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. + +Such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of Ernest with +the high-spirited Spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should +be proposed to supersede the old fighting Portuguese, Verdugo, as +governor and commander-in-chief for the king in Friesland, by Frederic +van den Berg, a renegade Netherlander, unworthy cousin of the Nassaus, +who had never shown either military or administrative genius. + +Nor did he succeed in conciliating the Flemings or the Germans by these +measures. In truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the +controlling influence of Fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous +Spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not +only by Diego and Stephen Ybarra, but even by Christoval de Moura, one +of Philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit +to Brussels. + +These men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the +obedient provinces. They knew that the incapacity of the Government to +relieve the sieges of Gertruydenberg and Groningen had excited the +contempt of Europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an Spanish +authority throughout Christendom. They were especially irritated by the +presence of the arch-intrigues, Mayenne, in Brussels, even after all his +double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could +have read them. Yet there was Mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and +running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which +the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding +Ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing +the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. + +How severely Ybarra and Feria denounced Mayenne has been seen; but +remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration +were lost upon Ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. +"If I speak of these things to his Highness," said Ybarra, "he will begin +to cry, as he always does." + +Ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent +information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. +"This sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to +kill him." He also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter +incompetency of the archduke for his office. Although he had much +Christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to +business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, +as to be always falling into errors. He was the servant of his own +servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service +and most attentive to their own interests. He had endeavoured to make +himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse +of this had been the result. + +"As to his agility and the strength of his body," said the Spaniard, as +if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the +archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit +for arms. I consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, +and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and +the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without +some one to enlighten and direct him." + +It was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even +prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the United +Netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, +there was no grandeur about them. Certainly they had done great things. +It was something to fight the Ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to +shut him out from his own domain. It was something to extinguish the +Spanish Inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. +It was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty +had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those +storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. + +It was something to come to the rescue of England in her great agony, and +help to save her from invasion. It was something to do more than any +nation but England, and as much as she, to assist Henry the Huguenot to +the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of France +which its own great ones had imperilled. It was something to found two +magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique +lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign +oppression. It was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation +of a systew of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich +and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors +to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, +armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." It was something to +make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, +and to create an army whose camps were European academies. It was +something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful +and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and +fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open +new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. Many things of +this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not +drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and +cothurn. She was altogether without grandeur. + +When Alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by +those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable +testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal +statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and +surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. Here was grandeur. +But William the Silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had +laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his +heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned +doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. It was justly objected to his +clothes, by the euphuistic Fulke Greville, that a meanborn student of the +Inns of Court would have been ashamed to walk about London streets in +them. + +And now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been +giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly +perfecting the work which William and his great contemporaries had so +well begun. But if all this had been merely doing great things without +greatness, there was one man in the Netherlands who knew what grandeur +was. He was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a +loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was John Baptist +Houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of Brussels. He was still more +eminent as a votary of what was called "Rhetoric" and as an arranger of +triumphal processions and living pictures. + +The arrival of Archduke Ernest at the seat of the provincial Government +offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of +John Baptist's genius. The new viceroy was in so shattered a condition +of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and +it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of +his carriage. A few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him +before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. But the day +came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. + +It might have seemed that the abject condition of the Spanish provinces-- +desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. +But although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had +vanished from the obedient Netherlands as a reward for their obedience; +although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving +commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed +in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of Jesuits, universal +beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting Government at defiance +and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted Belgica, +and that was Rhetoric. + +Neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the +entry of the mild and inefficient Ernest into Brussels and Antwerp was +now solemnized had ever been surpassed. The town councils, stimulated by +hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the +advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many +days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be +expended so as most to redound to the honour of Ernest and the reputation +of the country. + +In place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," +of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved +that, "Rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should +gladden all eyes and hearts. A stately procession of knights and +burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, +dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of +the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. Every street and +square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which +the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were +exhibited. There was hardly an eminent deity of Olympus, or hero of +ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes +in the person of Ernestus of Austria. + +On a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he +was represented as Apollo hurling his darts at an enormous Python, under +one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other +clutched a whole city; Tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, +kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. On another +stage Ernest assumed the shape of Perseus; Belgica that of the bound and +despairing Andromeda. On a third, the interior of Etna was revealed, +when Vulcan was seen urging his Cyclops to forge for Ernest their most +tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, +those enemies being of course the English and the Hollanders. Venus, the +while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested +to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over Cupid, therewith might +pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward +Ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his +victories and his toils. + +The walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed +with Latin verses. All the pedagogues of Brussels and Antwerp had been +at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics +and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. + +Moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous +processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying +dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--John Baptist, who had been +director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome Don +John of Austria, Archduke Matthias, Francis of Alengon, and even William +of Orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially +intellectual character for the new governor-general. + +The pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of +Ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. While he was +in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, +and, on being questioned, announced her name to be Moralization. John +Baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been +stated, that Jupiter had just sent Mercury to the Netherlands. The +phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men +had not sent Hermes but the Archduke Ernestus, beloved of the three +Graces, favourite of the nine Muses, and, in addition to these +advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the King of Spain, to the relief +of the suffering provinces. The Netherlands, it was true, for their +religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but +benignant Jove, who, to the imagination of this excited Fleming, seemed +to have been converted to Catholicism while still governing the universe, +had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. The archduke would speedily +relieve "bleeding Belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and +annihilate her enemies. The spirit further informed the poet that the +forests of the Low Countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, +and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, +rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." + +A vision of the conquering Ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble +and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a +torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the +dreamer's eyes." He naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention +the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so +lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were +the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene +Highness." Prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully +enumerated, were Philosophy, Audacity, Acrimony, Virility, Equity, Piety, +Velocity, and Alacrity." The two last-mentioned qualities could hardly +be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an +intensely mythological sense. Certainly, they would have been highly +useful virtues to him at that moment. The prince who had just taken +Gertruydenberg, and was then besieging Groningen, was manifesting his +share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider +platform than that erected for Ernest by John Baptist Houwaerts; and +there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective +characteristics for the world's judgment. + +Meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as +Apollo, as Perseus, as the feather-heeled Mercury, was highly applauded +by the burghers of Brussels. + +And so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to +discourse, until John Baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld +that it was all a truth and no vision. Ernest was really about to enter +the Netherlands, and with him the millennium. The pedant therefore +proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that +had ever been written in any language, even Flemish. + +There were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a +goddess. + +Mars, Nemesis, and Ate, Pluto, Rhadamanthus, and Minos, the Fates and +the Furies, together with Charon, Calumnia, Bellona, and all such +objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the +Low Countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked Jupiter, +Apollo, Triptolemus, and last, though not least, Rhetorica. + +Enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, +but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this +portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their +fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of +horrible civil war in painted pageantry, Latin versification, and the +classical dictionary. + +Yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the +brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. +Three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three +was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and +negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending +abortively. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at +this epoch. The insane attempt of the King of Spain, with such utterly +inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated +upon. The Spanish and Italian and Walloon soldiers were starving in +Brabant and Flanders in order that Spanish gold might be poured into the +bottomless pit of the Holy League in France. + +The mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in Artois and Hamault +was now continued on a vast scale in Brabant. Never had that national +institution--a Spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more +completely carried out in all its details. All that was left of the +famous Spanish discipline and military science in this their period of +rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. Some two thousand +choice troops (horse and foot), Italians and Spanish, took possession of +two considerable cities, Sichem and Arschot, and ultimately concentrated +themselves at Sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. Having chosen +their Eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. +To the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far +and near. Never since the beginning of the great war had there been so +extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran +officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. The army of +Philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the +Hollanders. + +The council at Brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be +pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of +attacking them. But it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard +to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. They +refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous +arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any +agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually +carried out. Meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied +their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of +Brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. + +Moreover they entered into negotiation with Prince Maurice of Nassau, not +offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the +king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. At last +the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, +who had constructed two forts on the river Demer near the city of Sichem. +In vain Velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the +supplies for these redoubts. The vigour and audacity of the rebel +cavalry made the process impossible. Velasco then attempted to storm the +lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two +hundred killed. Among these were many officers, one of whom, Captain +Porto Carrero, was a near relative of Fuentes. After a siege, Velasco, +who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in +driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position +thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with Maurice. They at last +obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of +Gertruydenberg and Breda until they could ascertain what decision the +archduke would take. More they did not ask of Maurice, nor did he +require more of them. + +The mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, +and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in +the Netherlands. In December the rebellious troops marched out of Sichem +in perfect order, and came to Langstraet within the territory of the +republic. + +The archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent +an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on +previous occasions. At first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, +but at last, with the permission of Maurice, who conducted himself +throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them +to violate their allegiance to the king, they received Count Belgioso, +the envoy of the archduke. They held out for payment of all their +arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until +the debt should be discharged. Full forgiveness of their rebellious +proceedings was added as a matter of course. Their terms were accepted, +and Francisco Padiglia was assigned as a hostage. They then established +themselves, according to agreement, at Tirlemont, which they were allowed +to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for +their back wages could be scraped together. Meantime they received daily +wages and rations from the Government at Brussels, including thirty +stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the Eletto, +and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred +crowns a day. And here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease +and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after +the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of +Cardinal Albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty +thousand crowns, could be collected. + +These were the chief military exploits of the podagric Perseus in behalf +of the Flemish Andromeda. + +A very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. Philip +calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in +Dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the Thames as far as +Rochester, and burn the English fleet. "I am informed by persons well +acquainted with the English coast," said the king, "that it would be an +easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. Two or +three thousand soldiers might be landed at Rochester who might burn or +sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition +could return and sail off again before the people of the country could +collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." The archduke was +instructed to consult with Fuentes and Ybarra as to whether this little +matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too +much risk and trouble. + +Certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, +virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues +of his governor-general, even more seriously than did John Baptist +Houwaerts. The unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all +earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. With +the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised +mutiny, with the great cities of the Netherlands yielding themselves to +the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to +relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the +very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the +soldiers of Spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches +plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women +to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to +propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the English and Dutch +sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake +a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil Drake would +hardly have attempted. + +Such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be +tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a Spanish king +sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the +servants of any king whatever. + +The plots of murder arranged in Brussels during this administration were +on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. + +The Count of Fuentes, general superintendant of foreign affairs, was +especially charged with the department of assassination. This office was +no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great +personal attention to minute details. Philip, a consummate artist in +this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he +thought could best be carried out in and from the Netherlands. +Especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, Henry +IV., Queen Elizabeth, Maurice of Nassau, Olden-Barneveld, St. Aldegonde, +and other less conspicuous personages. + +Henry's physician-in-chief, De la Riviere, was at that time mainly +occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was +offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious +ways. Andrada, the famous Portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, +under direction of Fuentes and Ybarra, to have attempted his life by a +nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone +was relied upon to cause death, and De la Riviere was doing his best to +search for a famous Saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. +"The Turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of Henry, +"but the Spaniard allows us not to think of the Turk. And what a strange +manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having +recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not +succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and +assassinations." + +A most elaborate attempt upon the life of Queen Elizabeth early in this +year came near being successful. A certain Portuguese Jew, Dr. Lopez, +had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. He had first been +received into her service on the recommendation of Don Antonio, the +pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. With this +man Count Fuentes and Stephen Ybarra, chief of the financial department +at Brussels, had a secret understanding. Their chief agent was Emanuel +Andrada, who was also in close communication with Bernardino de Mendoza +and other leading personages of the Spanish court. Two years previously, +Philip, by the hands of Andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies +and diamonds as a present to Lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to +do any service for the king of Spain that might be required of him. +Andrada accordingly wrote to Mendoza that he had gained over this eminent +physician, but that as Lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price +would be required for his work. Hereupon Fuentes received orders from +the King of Spain to give the Jew all that he could in reason demand, if +he would undertake to poison the queen. + +It now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and +Fuentes and Ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with +Lopez, but with a certain Ferrara de Gama. These letters were entrusted +to one Emanuel Lewis de Tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for +delivery to Ferrara. Fuentes charged Tinoco to cause Ferrara to +encourage Lopez to poison her Majesty of England, that they might all +have "a merry Easter." Lopez was likewise requested to inform the King +of Spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. The doctor +ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had +daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome +provision in marriage for those young ladies. The terms were accepted, +but Lopez wished to be assured of the money first. + +"Having once undertaken the work," said Lord Burghley, if he it were, "he +was so greedy to perform it that he would ask Ferrara every day, 'When +will the money come? I am ready to do the service if the answer were +come out of Spain.'" + +But Philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying +for work before it had been done. Some delay occurring, and the secret, +thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into +the air, Tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to +deliver the letters of Fuentes and Ybarra to Ferrara, for Ferrara, too, +had been imprisoned before the arrival of Tinoco. The whole +correspondence was discovered, and both Ferrara and Tinoco confessed the +plot. Lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but +being confronted with Ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in +presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. + +They were all condemned, executed, and quartered at London in the spring +of 1594. The queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at +Brussels, to complain that Secretary of State Cristoval de Moura, Count +Fuentes, and Finance Minister Ybarra--all three then immediately about +his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand +their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and +the archduke as accomplices in the crime. Safe conduct was requested for +such an envoy, which was refused by Ernest as an insulting proposition +both to his uncle and himself. The queen accordingly sent word to +President Richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be +published, and this was accordingly done. + +Early in the spring of this same year, a certain Renichon, priest and +schoolmaster of Namur, was summoned from his school to a private +interview with Count Berlaymont. That nobleman very secretly informed +the priest that the King of, Spain wished to make use of him in an affair +of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. +The pair then went together to Brussels, and proceeded straightway to the +palace. They were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, +but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, +where he pretended to recognize the person of Ernest, was refused +admittance. The door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as +he declared, the conversation between his Highness and Berlaymont, which +was carried on partly in Latin and partly in Spanish. He heard them +discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded +for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, +distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching +the door, "I will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." + +Berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his +statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was +requested by the archduke to kill Prince Maurice of Nassau. For this +piece of work he was to receive one hundred Philip-dollars in hand, and +fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the +deed should be done. + +The schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately +yielded to the persuasions of the count. He was informed that Maurice +was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities +enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. He was to buy a +good pair of pistols and remove to the Hague, where he was to set up a +school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were +six. Berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the +pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. The new comer, +hearing that Renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed +him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into +Holland. Berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to +be made away with, besides Prince Maurice--especially Barneveld, and St. +Aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the Duke of +Parma, been kept in the pay of the King of Spain as nobles, to be +employed as occasion should serve. + +His new comrade accompanied Renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the +way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to Leyden in order +to entice away and murder the young brother of Maurice, Frederic Henry, +then at school at that place, even as Philip William, eldest of all the +brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same +town. + +Renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to Antwerp, where +he called himself Michael de Triviere, and thence made his way to Breda, +provided with letters from Berlaymont. He was, however, arrested on +suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot +was discovered. Having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he +subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was +executed on the 3rd June, 1594. + +Later in the year, one Pierre du Four, who had been a soldier both in the +States and the French service, was engaged by General La Motte and +Counsellor Assonleville to attempt the assassination of Prince Maurice. +La Motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce +him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. +Du Four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the Hague, and +to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his +horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to +take a shot at him. "Will you do what I ask," demanded from the bed the +voice of him who was said to be Ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"-- +"I will," replied the soldier. "Then my son," was the parting +benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." + +Afterwards he received good advice from Assonleville, and was assured +that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, +that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his +attempt on the life of Maurice, and while he should be effecting his +escape. The poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where +this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain +portion of his promised reward in ready money. He was also especially +charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had +been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity +with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. + +The miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course +the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, La Motte, and +Assonleville. It was also announced, on behalf of Ernest, that some +one else, fraudulently impersonating his Highness, had lain in the bed +to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the +statement was a true one. + +Enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship +according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign +affairs of the obedient Netherlands were now administered. Poison and +pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to +bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, +entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own +generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. + +Such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased +fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily +upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of +high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the +confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. For a +crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of +their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and +sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make +after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least +as thus administered. Popular governments may be deficient in polish, +but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot +be considered lovely by any healthy mind. And this is one of the lessons +to be derived from the history of Philip II. and of the Holy League. + +But besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts +at negotiation to characterize the Ernestian epoch at Brussels. The +subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. + +Two Flemish juris-consults, Otto Hertius and Jerome Comans, offered their +services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. Ernest accepted +the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by Fuentes, who relied +upon the more practical agency of Dr. Lopez, Andrada, Renichon, and the +rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the +Hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters +from his Highness to the States-General. In all ages and under all +circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at +command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for +the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost +every human breast. But it is another matter to descend from the general +to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained +and the horrible averted. The letters of Ernest were full of benignity +and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now +a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. But not +one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the +republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and +renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate +from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its +eyes. To renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, +and to submit unconditionally to the authority of Philip II. as +administered by Ernest and Fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the +result of the three years' campaigns of Maurice of Nassau. + +The two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the +archduke before the States-General, each of them making, moreover, +a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will +and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable +dimensions by much windy rhetoric. The accusations which had been made +against the Government of Brussels of complicity in certain projects of +assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. + +The answer of the States-General was wrathful and decided. They informed +the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant +to retain them in their hands. They expressed their thanks for the +expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right +to complain before God and the world of those who under pretext of peace +were attempting to shed the innocent blood of Christians, and to procure +the ruin and destruction of the Netherlands. To this end the state- +council of Spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most +cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. They threw out a rapid and +stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various +hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. +Coming down to the famous years 1587 and 1588, they alluded in vehement +terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a +veil over the Spanish invasion of England and the Armada; and they +glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in 1591 at the desire of +Spain, while armies were moving in force from Germany, Italy, and the +Netherlands to crush the King of France, in order that Philip might +establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. +That the Spanish Government was secretly dealing with the emperor and +other German potentates for the extension of his universal empire +appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were +communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of +his Majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the +Netherlands. The names of Fuentes, Clemente, Ybarra, were sufficient in +themselves to destroy any such illusion. They spoke in blunt terms of +the attempt of Dr. Lopez to poison Queen Elizabeth, at the instigation of +Count Fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the King of Spain: +they charged upon the same Fuentes and upon Ybarra that they had employed +the same Andrada to murder the King of France with a nosegay of roses; +and they alluded further to the revelations of Michael Renichon, who was +to murder Maurice of Nassau and kidnap Frederic William, even as their +father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. + +For such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what +means the good people of the Netherlands were deceived, and how difficult +it was for the States to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything +honest in the present propositions. + +The States declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than +ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the +Spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at +assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the +King of France. + +And although it was said that his Highness was displeased with such +murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the States +to beware of the nefarious projects of the King of Spain and his council. + +After the conversion of Henry IV. to the Roman Church had been duly +accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to Spain. The mission +of this agent--De Varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion +in England and Holland and among the Protestants of France and Germany. +It was believed that Henry had not only made a proposition of a separate +peace with Philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the +hand of the Infanta in marriage. Such a catastrophe as this seemed to +the heated imaginations of the great body of Calvinists throughout +Europe, who had so faithfully supported the King of Navarre up to the +moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. +That the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over France +after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort +of Ernest the Habsburger or of Guise the Lorrainer, but as the lawful +wife of Henry the Huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even +amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. Yet Duplessis +Mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from +the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. +"La Varenne is on his way to Spain," wrote Duplessis to the Duke of +Bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of Don Bernardino de Mendoza, who +brought the first overtures. He is to bring back the portrait of the +Infanta. 'Tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the +Queen and the Netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that +this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. All this +was once guess-work, but is now history." + +That eminent diplomatist and soldier Mendoza had already on his return +from France given the King of Spain to understand that there were no +hopes of his obtaining the French crown either for himself or for his +daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the League was +thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. Mendoza in +consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but Philip, observing +apparently that there might have been something correct in his +statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness +and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret +negotiations. Mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to Henry +IV. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the +bosom of the Church. + +This individual, whose name was Nunez, was admitted by De Bethune +(afterwards the famous Due de Sully) to the presence of the king, +but De Bethune, believing it probable that the Spaniard had been sent to +assassinate Henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole +interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation +beforehand. Nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his +Majesty a marriage with the Infanta Clara Isabella, and Henry, much to +the discontent of De Bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and +promised to send a secret agent to Spain to confer on the subject with +Mendoza. + +The choice he made of La Varenne, whose real name was Guillaume Fouquet, +for this mission was still more offensive to De Bethune. Fouquet had +originally been a cook in the service of Madame Catherine, and was famous +for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the +household of Henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading +service which one man can render to another. + + ["La Varenne," said Madame Catherine on one occasion "tu as plus + gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." + Memoires de Sully, Liv. vi. p. 296, note 6. He accumulated a large + fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to Winwood, + landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year + --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into + noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds Winwood, + "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, + which is to be the Mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he + came, which is out of the kitchen of Madame the king's sister."-- + Memorials, i. 380.] + +On his appointment to this offce of secret diplomacy he assumed all the +airs of an ambassador, while Henry took great pains to contradict the +reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to Spain. + +Duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, +as might be supposed, Henry was most anxious to conceal these secret +negotiations with his Catholic Majesty from the Huguenot chiefs whom he +had so recently deserted. "This is all done without the knowledge of +the Duke of Bouillon," said Calvaert, "or at least under a very close +disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." The envoy +of the republic, as well as the leaders of the Protestant party in +France, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous +intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to +substitute for them an open rupture of Henry with the King of Spain, +and a formal declaration of war against him. None of the diplomatists +or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the +whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and +insight on this occasion than did the Dutch statesmen. We have seen that +even Sir Edward Stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the +rumoured intentions of Henry to enter the Catholic Church. Envoy Edmonds +was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of Varenne, +and informed his Government that the only result of it was that the +secret agent to Spain was favoured, through the kindness of Mendoza, +with a distant view of Philip II. with his son and daughter at their +devotions in the chapel of the Escorial. This was the tale generally +recounted and believed after the agent's return from Spain, so that +Varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to Spain on a fool's +errand, and as having got nothing from Mendoza but a disavowal of his +former propositions. But the shrewd Calvaert, who had entertained +familiar relations with La Varenne, received from that personage after +his return a very different account of his excursion to the Escorial from +the one generally circulated. "Coming from Monceaus to Paris in his +company," wrote Calvaert in a secret despatch to the States, "I had the +whole story from him. The chief part of his negotiations with Don +Bernardino de Mendoza was that if his Majesty (the French king) would +abandon the Queen of England and your Highnesses (the States of the +Netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, +including the hand of the Infanta, together with a good recompense for +the kingdom of Navarre. La Varenne maintained that the King of Spain had +caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the +certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many +pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at +Madrid, through the adroitness of Don Bernardino, among all the agents of +the League, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never +been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the League +himself. He said also that he was well assured that the Infanta in her +heart had an affection for the French king, and notwithstanding any +resolutions that might be taken (to which I referred, meaning the +projects for bestowing her on the house of Austria) that she with her +father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out +this marriage. You may from all this, even out of the proposal for +compensation for the kingdom of Navarre (of which his Majesty also let +out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble +progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a +declaration of war and an open alliance with your Highnesses. I shall +not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said +resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that +this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. To this end, besides the +good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual +and agreeable presentation of oneself to his Majesty, in order to see and +hear everything, is necessary." + +Certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why Henry should be +making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with England and +the republic against Philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with +the abandonment of England and the republic and the espousal of Philip's +daughter--projects which Henry's commissioner had just been discussing +with Philip's agent at Madrid and the Escorial. + +Truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as +possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to +present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his +Majesty, that he might hear and see everything. There was much to see +and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble +in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from +beneath the feet. + +To avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between Henry, Philip, and the +Pope against Holland and England, it was a pressing necessity for Holland +and England to force Henry into open war against Philip. To this end the +Dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. Meantime Elizabeth +regarded the campaign in Artois and Hainault with little favour. + +As he took leave on departing for France, La Varenne had requested +Mendoza to write to King Henry, but the Spaniard excused himself-- +although professing the warmest friendship for his Majesty--on the ground +of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "If I call him here +King of Navarre, I might as well put my head on the block at once," he +observed; "if I call him King of France, my master has not yet recognized +him as such; if I call him anything else, he will himself be offended." + +And the vision of Philip in black on his knees, with his children about +him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the +only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. + +But Henry, besides this demonstration towards Spain, lost no time in +despatching a special minister to the republic and to England, who was +instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory +explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. +Never would he make peace, he said, with Spain without the full consent +of the States and of England; the dearest object of his heart in making +his peace with Rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted +realm, to bring all Christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united +attack upon the grand Turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly +intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which +furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the +orations of De Morlans. + +That diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to Queen +Elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity +he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous +promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the +troops actually serving in Brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, +notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal +brother's apostasy. He now came for the same purpose to the Hague, +where he made very eloquent harangues to the States-General, +acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, +and undisguised friend to his master and to France in their darkest days +and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for +themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the +contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions +in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "The king," said De Morlans, "is +deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many +benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has +commissioned me to declare that if God should ever give him the occasion, +he will prove how highly he places your friendship." + +The envoy assured the States that all fears entertained by those of the +reformed religion on account of the conversion of his Majesty were +groundless. Nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure +those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so +much loved and honoured. No man knew better than the king did, the +character of those who professed the Religion, their virtue, valour, +resolution, and patience in adversity. Their numbers had increased in +war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never +changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. Should +ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, +and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the +king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the +greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. He was +determined that they should participate in all the honours of the +kingdom, and with regard to a peace with Spain, he would have as much +care for the interests of the United Provinces as for his own. But a +peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his +own realms in peace while he kept France in perpetual revolt against the +king whom God had given her. The King of Spain had trembled at Henry's +cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had +inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. +The envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in +amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and +caused so much misery to France; and he earnestly hoped--without +presuming to dictate--that the States-General would in this critical +emergency manifest their generosity. If the king were not assisted now, +both king and kingdom would perish. If he were assisted, the succour +would bear double fruit. + +The sentiments expressed on the part of Henry towards his faithful +subjects of the Religion, the heretic Queen of England, and the stout +Dutch Calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. It was +pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the Infanta, +and to publish the Council of Trent. + +The reply of the States-General to these propositions of the French envoy +was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and +five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. +Moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so +much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to +charm the English queen when it was communicated to her Majesty. She +protested very loudly and vehemently to Noel de Caron, envoy from the +provinces at London, that this response on the part of his Government to +De Morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "In +all their actions," said she, "the States-General show their sagacity, +and indeed, it is the wisest Government ever known among republics. I +would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the +paper if it were this moment at hand." + +After some delays, it was agreed between the French Government and that +of the United Provinces, that the king should divide his army into three +parts, and renew the military operations against Spain with the +expiration of the truce at the end of the year (1593). + +One body, composed of the English contingent, together with three +thousand French horse, three thousand Swiss, and four thousand French +harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to +act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his Majesty most +advantageous. A second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign +allies from Normandy and reduce Rouen to obedience. A third was to make +a campaign in the provinces of Artois and Hainault, under the Duke of +Bouillon (more commonly called the Viscount Turenne), in conjunction with +the forces to be supplied by the republic. "Any treaty of peace on our +part with the King of Spain," said the States-General, "is our certain +ruin. This is an axiom. That monarch's object is to incorporate into +his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring +kings, principalities, and powers, but also all Christendom, aye, the +whole world, were it possible. We joyfully concur then in your Majesty's +resolution to carry on the war in Artois and Hainault, and agree to your +suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by +contingents." + +Balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at +Cambray, now agreed to recognise Henry's authority, in consideration of +sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of Marshal of +France. + +Towards the end of the year 1594, Buzanval, the regular French envoy at +the Hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the +campaign in Artois and Hainault--so often the base of military operations +on the part of Spain against France--should begin. Further achievements +on the part of Maurice after the fall of Groningen were therefore +renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter- +quarters. The States-General, who had also been sending supplies, +troops, and ships to Brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly +rebuking Buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their +contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to Count Philip Nassau, +who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of +twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. He made +his junction with Turenne-Bouillon, but the duke, although provided with +a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. +The German levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole +it seemed that the operations might have been continued by Maurice with +more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather +desultory fashion. The late winter campaign on the border was feeble and +a failure. + +The bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between Henry +and the republic. Despite the change in religion on the part of the +king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading +Netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between France +and the States, which had been so remarkably manifested during the +administration of William the Silent. The republic was more restive than +ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of Elizabeth, and, +feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more +liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by +the queen. And Henry, now that he felt himself really king of France, +was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of +independence. Both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of +Elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and +jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more +apparent. And now; while Henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery +phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the +queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. +"Mr. de Sancy said to me," wrote the Netherland minister in France, +Calvaert, "that his Majesty and your Highnesses (the States-General) +must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. +In regard to England, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, +he told me it would be invited also by his Majesty into the same +alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without +coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in +that case proceed with our alliance without England, not doubting that +many other potentates in Italy and Germany would join in it likewise. +He said too, that he, the day before the departure of the English +ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his Majesty; +namely, that England had entertained his Majesty sixteen months long with +far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had +submitted to this sort of thing so long as his Majesty was only king of +Mantes, Dieppe, and Louviers, but that his Majesty being now king of +Paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to +suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that England must +treat his Majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. +He added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these +words, and had promised that when he got back to England he would so +arrange that his Majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last +on the alliance then proposed." + +In Germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard +drinking, at the Diet of Ratisbon. The Protestant princes did little +for their cause against the new designs of Spain and the moribund League, +while the Catholics did less to assist Philip. In truth, the holy Roman +Empire, threatened with a Turkish invasion, had neither power nor +inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. +So the princes and grandees of Germany, while Amurath was knocking at the +imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic +work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. + +Philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great +Catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by Spain in +its efforts against the Netherlands and France. San Clemente, who was +attending the Diet at Ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. +"In less than three months," said that temperate Spaniard, "they have +drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the +Turk has invaded the frontiers of Germany; and among those who have done +the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to +give any assistance on the frontier. In consequence of these disorders +my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me I am ruined. +You must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength +has never been so low as it is now in Germany. The events in France and +those which followed in the Netherlands have thrown such impediments in +the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of Marquis +Havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go +to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to +apologize for us." + +Truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "The emperor has been +desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to Prague from +the Diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. As I think over all +that passes, I lose all judgment, for I have no money, nor influence, nor +reputation. Meantime, I see this rump of an empire keeping itself with +difficulty upon its legs. 'Tis full of wrangling and discord about +religion, and yet there is the Turk with two hundred thousand men +besieging a place forty miles from Vienna, which is the last outpost. +God grant it may last!" + +Such was the aspect of the Christian world at the close of the year 1594 + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) +Chronicle of events must not be anticipated +Eat their own children than to forego one high mass +Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war +Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v66 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 67, 1595 + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Formal declaration of war against Spain--Marriage festivities--Death + of Archduke Ernest--His year of government--Fuentes declared + governor-general--Disaffection of the Duke of Arschot and Count + Arenberg--Death of the Duke of Arschot----Fuentes besieges Le + Catelet--The fortress of Ham, sold to the Spanish by De Gomeron, + besieged and taken by the Duke of Bouillon--Execution of De + Gomeron--Death of Colonel Verdugo--Siege of Dourlens by Fuentes-- + Death of La Motte--Death of Charles Mansfeld--Total defeat of the + French--Murder of Admiral De Pillars--Dourlens captured, and the + garrison and citizens put to the sword--Military operations in + eastern Netherlands and on the Rhine--Maurice lays siege to Groento + --Mondragon hastening to its relief, Prince Maurice raises the + siege--Skirmish between Maurice and Mondragon--Death of Philip of + Nassau--Death of Mondragon--Bombardment and surrender of Weerd + Castle--Maurice retires into winter quarters--Campaign of Henry Iv.- + --He besieges Dijon--Surrender of Dijon--Absolution granted to Henry + by the pope--Career of Balagny at Cambray--Progress of the siege-- + Capitulation of the town--Suicide of the Princess of Cambray, wife + of Balagny + +The year 1595 Opened with a formal declaration of war by the King of +France against the King of Spain. It would be difficult to say for +exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, +but it was a considerable advantage to the United Netherlands that the +manifesto had been at last regularly issued. And the manifesto was +certainly not deficient in bitterness. Not often in Christian history +has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign +of suborning assassins against his life. Bribery, stratagem, and murder, +were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of Philip's +administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of Chastel +appear quite natural in Henry's declaration of war. The king further +stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by +which the monarch of Spain, as chief of the Holy League, had been making +war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozcn years. +Certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. +The deeds of Philip required no herald, unless Henry was prepared to +abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of France. + +Nevertheless the politic Gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style +in which he had fulminated his challenge. He was accustomed to observe +that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration +of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document +without committing many errors in the phraseology. The man who never +knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting +on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to +become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change +to foes. + +The answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. When the +reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant +sentiments in regard to France, while it expressed regret that it was +necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert +the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic Prince of Bearne were +bringing upon all mankind. + +It was a solace for Philip to call the legitimate king by the title +borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that +absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the Vicar of Christ was +at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. + +More devoted to the welfare of France than were the French themselves, +he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of +his nephews--should supplant the descendant of St. Louis on the French +throne. More catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, +whom his Holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself +into the society of Christian sovereigns. + +The winter movements by Bouillon in Luxembourg, sustained by Philip +Nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the French frontier, were not +very brilliant. The Netherland regiments quartered at Yssoire, La Ferte, +and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were +sadly thinned by dysentery. A sudden and successful stroke, too, by +which that daring soldier Heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of +Breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of Huy, produced no +permanent advantage. This place, belonging to the Bishop of Liege, with +its stone bridge over the Meuse, was an advantageous position from which +to aid the operations of Bouillon in Luxembourg. Heraugiere was, +however, not sufficiently reinforced, and Huy was a month later +recaptured by La Motte. The campaigning was languid during that winter +in the United Netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. The +nuptials of Hohenlo with Mary, eldest daughter of William the Silent and +own sister of the captive Philip William; of the Duke of Bouillon with +Elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his +third wife, Charlotte of Bourbon; and of Count Everard Solms, the famous +general of the Zeeland troops, with Sabina, daughter of the unfortunate +Lamoral Egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of +February and March. The States of Holland and of Zeeland made +magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the Countess Hohenlo +receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives +of herself and her husband. + +In the midst of these merry marriage bells at the Hague a funeral knell +was sounding in Brussels. On the 20th February, the governor-general of +the obedient Netherlands, Archduke Ernest, breathed his last. His career +had not been so illustrious as the promises of the Spanish king and the +allegories of schoolmaster Houwaerts had led him to expect. He had not +espoused the Infanta nor been crowned King of France. He had not blasted +the rebellious Netherlands with Cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the +Belgic Andromeda from the rock of doom. His brief year of government +had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his +sycophants, it should have been amazing. He had accomplished nothing, +and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head +and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. He was very indolent, +enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and +fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but +utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. He would +have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not +born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. +Past and Present were contending with each other in fierce elemental +strife within his domain. A world was in dying agony, another world was +coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of +space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. He +passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. + +An effort was made, during the last illness of Ernest, to procure from +him the appointment of the elector of Cologne as temporary successor to +tho government, but Count Fuentes was on the spot and was a man of +action. He produced a power in the French language from Philip, with a +blank for the name. This had been intended for the case of Peter Ernest +Mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and +Fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. + +The dying Ernest consented, and upon his death Fuentes was declared +governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. + +Pedro de Guzman, Count of Fuentes, a Spaniard of the hard and antique +type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. The pupil and near relative of +the Duke of Alva, he was already as odious to the Netherlanders as might +have been inferred from such education and such kin. A dark, grizzled, +baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, +sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his +Brussels ruff of point lace and his Milan coat of proof, he was in +personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named +without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he +had ceased to curse the Netherlands with his presence. Elizabeth of +England was accustomed to sneer at Fuentes because he had retreated +before Essex in that daring commander's famous foray into Portugal. +The queen called the Spanish general a timid old woman. If her gibe +were true, it was fortunate for her, for Henry of France, and for the +republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from +Spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to +disappear so rapidly during this year in Flanders. He was a soldier of +fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the +prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont +to say that he meant to enter Paradise sword in hand. + +Meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. +The Duke of Arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he +would never serve under Fuentes nor sit at his council-board. The duke's +brother, Marquis Havre, and his son-in-law, Count Arenberg, shared in the +hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. +But Arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in +the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any Spaniard +was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of +his Majesty. As if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to +prate of charters and of oaths! Their brethren under the banner of the +republic had been teaching Philip for a whole generation how they could +deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. +It was late in the day for the obedient Netherlanders to remember their +rights. Havre and Arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and +insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. They proposed a +compromise, according to which Arschot should be allowed to preside in +the council of state while Fuentes should content himself with the +absolute control of the army. This would be putting a bit of fat in +the duke's mouth, they said. Fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. +After much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great Netherlander, his +relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. He even +promised Arenberg and his wife that he would go to Italy, in pursuance of +a vow made to our lady of Loretto. Arenberg privately intimated to +Stephen Ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious +in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of +success. If his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand +florins which he claimed as due to him from Government, this would do +more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. He also suggested +that Fuentes should call upon the duke, while Secretary Ybarra should +excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. +This was done. Fuentes called. The duke returned the call, and the two +conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no +political discussion. + +Arschot then invited the whole council of state, except John Baptist +Tassis, to a great dinner. He had prepared a paper to read to them in +which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an +appointment as this of Fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of +the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he +was of so little account. He would then close his eyes and ears to +everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a +country where so little account was made of him. He was urged to refrain +from reading this paper and to invite Tassis. After a time he consented +to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the +objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. + +The dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. Arschot did not +read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal +of nonsense which, according to Stephen Ybarra, much resembled it, and he +vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might +occur. A few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, +and took a peaceful farewell of him. "Your Majesty knows very well what +he is," wrote Fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." Before leaving the +country he sent a bitter complaint to Ybarra, to the effect that the king +had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence +to procure for him some gratuity from his Majesty. He was in such +necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain +his household. + +And with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the +dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. He died on the +11th December of the same year in Venice. + +His son the Prince of Chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other +obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, +much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their +privileges. The governor soon reported that matters were proceeding +very, smoothly. There was a general return to the former docility now +that such a disciplinarian as Fuentes held the reins. + +The opening scenes of the campaign between the Spanish governor and +France were, as usual, in Picardy. The Marquis of Varambon made a +demonstration in the neighbourhood of Dourlens--a fortified town on the +river Authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while +Fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to Le +Catelet. He had his eye, however, upon Ham. That important stronghold +was in the hands of a certain nobleman called De Gomeron, who had been +an energetic Leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, +to sell himself to the King of Spain. In the auction of governors and +generals then going on in every part of France it had been generally +found that Henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, +although Philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable +period, the payments regular. Gomeron's upset price for himself was +twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a +year. Upon these terms he agreed to receive a Spanish garrison into the +town, and to cause the French in the citadel to be sworn into the service +of the Spanish king. Fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit +tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large +portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. + +De Gomeron was to proceed to Brussels to receive the residue. His +brother-in-law, M. d'Orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as +the Spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed +full payment of his services. + +But difficulties awaited him in Brussels. He was informed that a French +garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that +town and citadel must both be placed in Spanish hands. De Gomeron loudly +protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, +by command of Fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and +surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand +crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. Here was more than +De Gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce +in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. +De Gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a Spanish messenger +to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. +D'Orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with +the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, +and refused to comply with its directions. + +Time was pressing, for the Duke of Bouillon and the Count of St. Pol lay +with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing Ham. + +Fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, Don +Carlos Coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to Brussels, with orders +to bring Gomeron into camp. He was found seated at supper with his two +young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was +just putting a cherry into his mouth as Coloma entered the room. He +remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, +which Don Carlos set down as a proof of guilt: The three brothers were at +once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of +twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of Fuentes, who lay before Le +Catelet, but six leagues from Ham. + +Meantime D'Orville had completed his negotiations with Bouillon, and had +agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the Spanish troops should be +driven from the town. The duke knowing that there was no time to lose, +came with three thousand men before the place. His summons to surrender +was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. An +assault was made and repulsed, D'Humieres, a most gallant officer and a +favourite of King Henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred +soldiers. The next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the +Spanish garrison put to the sword. + +D'Orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for +the lives of his three brothers-in-law. + +The hostages availed him little. Fuentes had already sent word to +Gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send +her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. The distracted +woman made her way, to D'Orville, and fell at his feet with tears and +entreaties. It was too late, and D'Orville, unable to bear her +lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into +the hands of the Spaniards as he fled from the scene. Two of the four +cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken +prisoners. The governor escaped to unknown regions. Madame de Gomeron +then appeared before Fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. De +Gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. The two +younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. +The town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, +who was said to be more afflicted at the death of D'Humieres than +rejoiced at the capture of Ham. + +Meantime Colonel Verdugo, royal governor of Friesland, whose occupation +in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, +had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the +French border, and was besieging La Ferte on the Cher. The siege was +relieved by Bouillon on the 26th May, and the Spanish veteran was then +ordered to take command in Burgundy. But his days were numbered. He had +been sick of dysentery at Luxembourg during the summer, but after +apparent recovery died suddenly on the 2nd September, and of course was +supposed to have been poisoned. He was identified with the whole history +of the Netherland wars. Born at Talavera de la Reyna, of noble +parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold +dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose +by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his +profession. He was governor of Harlem after the famous siege, and +exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the +Spaniards towards the Netherlanders at that epoch. He was marshal- +general of the camp under Don John of Austria, and distinguished himself +at the battle of Gemblours. He succeeded Count Renneberg as governor of +Friesland and Groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough +business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those +blood-stained wolds and morasses. He was often victorious, and quite as +often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of +work. He cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling +with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with +an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by +turns on holidays. Although accused of having attempted to procure the +assassination of William Lewis Nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, +and he possessed much admiration for Prince Maurice. An iron-clad man, +who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type +of the Spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply +in the Netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had +been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. He had been baptised +Franco, and his family appellation of Verdugo meant executioner. Punning +on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, +but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. + +Foiled at Ham, Fuentes had returned to the siege of Catelet, and had soon +reduced the place. He then turned his attention again to Dourlens, and +invested that city. During the preliminary operations, another veteran +commander in these wars, Valentin Pardieu de la Motte, recently created +Count of Everbecque by Philip, who had been for a long time general-in- +chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced +officers in the Spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to +reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. As +he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known +to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it +was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his +page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie +before leaving his quarters. Nevertheless, before he had reached the +redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion +and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. + +Here again was a great loss to the king's service. La Motte, of a noble +family in Burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the +Spanish system of warfare in the Netherlands, and had been one of the +very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. +He had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of St. Quintin, +and since that opening event in Philip's reign he had been unceasingly-- +engaged in the Flemish wars. Alva made him a colonel of a Walloon +regiment; the grand commander Requesena appointed him governor of +Gravelines. On the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; +having changed sides but twice. After the pacification of Ghent he swore +allegiance to the States-General, and assisted in the bombardment of the +citadel of that place. Soon afterwards he went over to Don John of +Austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of Gravelines, of +which he then continued governor in the name of the king. He was +fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in +his campaigning. He was often wounded in action, and usually defeated +when commanding in chief. He lost an arm at the siege of Sluy's, and had +now lost his life almost by an accident. Although twice married he left +no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military +offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of +five aspiring individuals. The Count of Varax succeeded him as general +of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace La Motte, +possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable +to his king. The type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately +for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, +accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be +believed. He had committed more than one cool homicide. Although not +rejoicing in the same patronymic as his Spanish colleague of Friesland, +he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. When sergeant- +major in Flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle-- +to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of +Calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his +victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. Another Netherlander +for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by +horses. No one could be found to carry out the sentence. The soldiers +under La Motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves +to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major +came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and +himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. Was it +strange that in Philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, +rank, and honour? Was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his +hire? + +Still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this +time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, +was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. Count +Charles Mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent Peter Ernest, +who, since the appointment of Fuentes, had lost all further chance of +governing the Netherlands, had now left Philip's service and gone to the +Turkish wars. For Amurath III., who had died in the early days of the +year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. Mahomet +III., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely +buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having +subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to +Amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through Transylvania and +Hungary, up to the gates of Vienna, with renewed energy. The Turk, +who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all +secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the Ottoman family were +thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. The power of +the Moslems at that day was a full match for the holy Roman Empire. The +days were far distant when the grim Turk's head was to become a mockery +and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was +to be kept alive in Europe when it was ready to die, by the collective +efforts of Christian princes. Charles Mansfeld had been received with +great enthusiasm at the court of Rudolph, where he was created a prince +of the Empire, and appointed to the chief command of the Imperial armies +under the Archduke Matthias. But his warfare was over. At the siege of +Gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to Comorn, where he +lingered some weeks. There, on the 24th August, as he lay half-dozing on +his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which +he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting +his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. When they came to +arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. His father +still remained superfluous in the Netherlands, hating and hated by +Fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as +during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for Alexander +Farnese. The octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there +was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest +veteran in Philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the +decrepit Peter Ernest, of the grim commanders of Alva's school. +Christopher Mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been +an old man when the great duke arrived in the Netherlands--was still +governor of Antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once +more before he passed from the stage. + +I return from this digression to the siege of Dourlens. The death of La +Motte made no difference in the plans of Fuentes. He was determined to +reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. Bouillon +was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of +eight thousand men within the city of Amiens. By midsummer the Spaniards +had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the +city. Meantime Admiral Villars, who had gained so much renown by +defending Rouen against Henry IV., and who had subsequently made such an +excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived +at Amiens. On the 24th July an expedition was sent from that city +towards Dourlens. Bouillon and St. Pol commanded in person a force of +six hundred picked cavalry. Pillars and Sanseval each led half as many, +and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. This +little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other +supplies for the beleaguered town. But Fuentes, having sufficiently +strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a +flying squadron of Spanish horse, to intercept them. It was the eve of +St. James, the patron saint of Spain, at the sound, of whose name as a +war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the Netherlands, so many +cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. Fuentes rode in +the midst of his troops with the royal standard of Spain floating above +him. On the other hand Yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and +mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred +troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. The battle which +ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the +victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. Villars charged +prematurely, furiously, foolishly. He seemed jealous of Bouillon, and +disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his +allegiance that an ancient Leaguer and Papist was a better soldier for +his purpose than the most grizzled Huguenot in his army. On the other +hand the friends of Villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at +least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. The +first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half- +a-dozen companies of Spaniards before him. But he had ventured too far +from his supports. Bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a +desperate charge; the Spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by +that cool and ready soldier, Carlos Coloma. In less than an hour the +French were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. Bouillon escaped to +Amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the +expedition. The horse of Villars was shot under him and the admiral's +leg was broken as he fell. He was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants +of Carlos Coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, +by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so +illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of Marshal de +Rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. While the four were +wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent Spanish not to +dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. Meantime the +Spanish commissary--general of cavalry, Contreras, came up, rebuked this +unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order +to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch De +Villars on the spot. The page, without a word, placed his arquebus to +the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. + +So perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous +politician. Whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part +of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, +or hatred to an ancient Leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless +now to enquire. + +Villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so +that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was +pretended by the friends of Contreras that rescue was at hand. It is +certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the French to redeem +their total overthrow. Count Belin was wounded and fell into the hands +of Coloma. Sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most +brilliant nobles in France was published by the Spaniards as having +perished on that bloody field. This did not prevent a large number of +these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long +years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in +chronicle from that day to our own times. + +But Villars and Sanseval were certainly slain, and Fuentes sent their +bodies, with a courteous letter, to the Duke of Nevers, at Amiens, who +honoured them with a stately funeral. + +There was much censure cast on both Bouillon and Villars respectively +by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of +the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. Bouillon was +censured for grudging a victory to the Catholics, and thus leaving the +admiral to his fate. Yet it is certain that the Huguenot duke himself +commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. Villars, on +the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for +distinction; yet it is probable that Fuentes might have been defeated had +the charges of Bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of +his colleague. Savigny de Rosnes, too, the ancient Leaguer, who +commanded under Fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed +up the victory, because unwilling that his Spanish friends should +entirely trample upon his own countrymen. Yet there is no doubt whatever +that De Rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most +ferocious Spaniard of them all. It has rarely been found in civil war +that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner +of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation +he betrays; and the renegade Frenchman was in truth the animating spirit +of Fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. The Spaniard's +victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the +genius, and the rancour of De Rosnes. + +But debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. Meantime Fuentes, +losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of Dourlens, was +repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week +after the action just recounted. The Spaniards and Leaguers, howling +"Remember Ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the +citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. Six +hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred French soldiers +were killed within a few hours. Well had Fuentes profited by the +relationship and tuition of Alva! + +The Count of Dinant and his brother De Ronsoy were both slain, and two or +three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped +with life. The victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast +trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the +surviving inhabitants. Dourlens became for the time a desert. + +Fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient +provinces, especially from Hainault, Artois, and Lille. He was also +strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of Cambray, to which +end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred +and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. +Berlaymont, too, bishop of Tournay and archbishop of Cambray, was ready +to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. + +Fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just +been reinforced by Count Bucquoy with a fresh Walloon regiment of fifteen +hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from +Tirlemont and Chapelle, who were among the choicest of Spanish veterans, +was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. Within four days +after the sack of Dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before Cambray +with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. But +before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor- +general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the +eastern part of the Netherlands and upon the Rhine. + +The States-General had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that +important region lying beyond the Yssel--the solid Frisian bulwark of the +republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where Upper and +Nether Germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of +the king. The city of Groenlo, or Grol, not a place of much interest or +importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined +land of debate, the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, still retained +its Spanish garrison. On the 14th July Prince Maurice of Nassau came +before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, +and sixteen pieces of artillery. He made his approaches in form, and +after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his +custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. Governor Jan van Stirum +replied stoutly that he would hold the place for God and the king to the +last drop of his blood. Meantime there was hope of help from the +outside. + +Maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt +with who had been called the "good old Mondragon" when the prince was in +his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of Antwerp, and was still +ready for an active campaign. + +Christopher Mondragon was now ninety-two years old. Not often in the +world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, +participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance +veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. + +But Mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing +fame of the Nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left +the stage, to match himself with the young champion. + +So soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of Maurice against +Grol, the ancient governor of Antwerp collected a little army by throwing +together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons +within his command. With two Spanish regiments, two thousand Swiss, the +Walloon troops of De Grisons, and the Irish regiment of Stanley--in all +seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--Mondragon marched +straight across Brabant and Gelderland to the Rhine. At Kaiserworth he +reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing +the river. There was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men +at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old Mondragon. But +the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty- +nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of +an October night, in the face of a rising tide from the German Ocean and +of an army of Zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of +the peaceful Rhine. + +The wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a +staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron +headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought +to the river's edge. Then calmly seating himself in the presence of his +host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last +man had crossed the river. Furthermore, he observed that it was not only +his purpose to relieve the city of Grol, but to bring Maurice to an +action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. The soldiers ceased to +murmur, the pontoons were laid, the, river was passed, and on the 25th +July, Maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe +in his position, raised the siege of the city. Burning his camp and +everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came +in perfect order to Borkelo, two Dutch miles from Grol. Here he occupied +himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the +guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of +Deutecom, Anholt, and Heerenberg unsafe. He ordered the inhabitants of +these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, +while Hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with +packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in +those wild regions should be extirpated. By these vigorous and cruel, +but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and +honest people began to sleep in their beds. + +On the 18th August Maurice took up a strong position at Bislich, not +far from Wesel, where the River Lippe empties itself into the Rhine. +Mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons +in Gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by Frederic, van den Berg +from Grol, had advanced to a place called Walston in den Ham, in the +neighbourhood of Wesel. The Lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. +Although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to +renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran +antagonist. He accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means +of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy Mondragon +and his little army. + +His cousin and favourite lieutenant, Philip Nassau, was entrusted with +the preliminaries. That adventurous commander, with a picked force of +seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the +1st September. He took with him his two younger brothers, Ernest and +Lewis Gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the +eldest brother of the family, William Lewis, that they should be employed +from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. +Besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous English and +Dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers Paul and Marcellus +Bax, Captains Parker, Cutler, and Robert Vere, brother of Sir Francis, +among the number. + +Early in the morning of the 2nd September the force crossed the Lippe, +according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their +retreat. + +They had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he +was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of +the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture +those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. +Afterwards they were to retreat across the Lippe, followed, as it was +hoped would be the case, by the troops: of Mondragon, anxious to punish +this piece of audacity. Meantime Maurice with five thousand infantry, +the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their +coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of Wesel. + +The plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient +campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from +his comfortable quarters in Antwerp to be caught napping on that +September morning. Mondragon had received accurate information from his +scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact +position of Maurice. He was up long before daybreak--"the good old +Christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. In the +fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the Lippe +he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of +infantry. The pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left +to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. + +Philip Nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well- +concerted plan, sending Cutler and Marcellus Bax with a handful of +troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. When those officers got to +the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force +than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back-- +again to give information to Count Philip. That impatient commander, +feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the +foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his +whole cavalry force: The sheriff of Zallant was ordered to lead the way. +He objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a +gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers +abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. Philips scorning these +words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to +put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and +sending his brother Lewis to summon Kinski and Donck; dashed into the +pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. The +sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the +troopers of Barchon, of Du Bois, and of Paul Bax; riding single file but +in much disorder. When they had all entered inextricably into the lane, +with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they +discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the +watery, heathery pastures beyond. There was at once a scene of +confusion. To use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling +together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to +the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. The foremost defended +themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. The hindmost did +their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the +river. All trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. +There was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many +Spaniards fell before the entrapped Netherlanders. But there could not +be a moment's doubt as to the issue. Count Philip went down in the +beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged +so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. As there was no water +within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him +over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. Count +Ernest Solms was desperately wounded at the same time. For a moment both +gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but +both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. Ernest +Nassau was also captured. His young brother, Lewis Gunther, saved +himself by swimming the river. Count Kinski was mortally wounded. +Robert Vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards +murdered in cold blood. Marcellus Bax, who had returned to the field by +a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely +to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a +handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy +drawn up in line of battle. Cutler and Parker were equally fortunate. +There was less than a hundred of the States' troops killed, and it is +probable that a larger number of the Spaniards fell. But the loss of +Philip Nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour. +of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. +He was conveyed to Rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. As he lay +dying he was courteously visited by Mondragon, and by many other Spanish +officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a +member of an illustrious house. He received them with dignity, and +concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as +became a Nassau. His cousin, Frederic van den Berg, who was among the +visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he +had expected by serving the cause of the Beggars. Philip turned from him +with impatience and bade him hold his peace. At midnight he died. + +William of Orange and his three brethren had already laid down their +lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the +same cause. "He has carried the name of Nassau with honour into the +grave," said his brother Lewis William, to their father. Ten others of +the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for +their adopted country. Rarely in history has a single noble race so +entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic +epoch as did that of Orange-Nassau with the liberation of Holland. + +Young Ernest Solms, brother of Count Everard, lay in the same chamber +with Philip Nassau, and died on the following day. Their bodies were +sent by Mondragon with a courteous letter to Maurice at Bisslich. Ernest +Nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. + +This skirmish on the Lippe has no special significance in a military +point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from +the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the +illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, +over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of Christopher +Mondragon. Alone he had planned his expedition across the country from +Antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the Rhine, while younger +soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he +had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the Netherlands, counteracted +his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest +cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. So +far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of +twenty-eight. + +The two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, +for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be +attempted on either side. Mondragon had accomplished the object for +which he had marched from Brabant. He had, spoiled the autumn campaign +of Maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own +quarters. He sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, +half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep +him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the +military honour of being last to break up camp. Should Maurice consent +to move away, Mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, +and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. + +The proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the Spaniard, +deciding to retire, crossed the Rhine on the 11th October. Maurice made +a slight attempt at pursuit, sending Count William Lewis with some +cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. The army, however, +returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. + +This was Mondragon's last feat of, arms. Less than three months +afterwards, in Antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands +previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. Strange +to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who +had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of +Europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the +Netherlands before Alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and +personally engaged in the vast Flemish tragedy which had now lasted well +nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. His battle- +fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of +the sea, but he had never received a wound. Nay, more; he had been blown +up in a fortress--the castle of Danvilliers in Luxembourg, of which he +was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when +they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient +couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which +they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. He was a Biscayan +by descent, but born in Medina del Campo. A strict disciplinarian, very +resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his +inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. He was called the father of +his soldiers, the good Mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of +those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble +rather the history of wolves than of men. To a married daughter, mother +of several children, he left a considerable fortune. + +Maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and +paused for a few days at Arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin +Philip and Count Solms. Meantime Sir Francis Vere was detached, with +three regiments, which were to winter in Overyssel, towards Weerd castle, +situate at a league's distance from Ysselsburg, and defended by a +garrison of twenty-six men under Captain Pruys. That doughty commandant, +on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. Vere, according to +Maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which +soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. The captain demanded the +honours of war. Vere told him in reply that the honours of war were +halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against +artillery. The twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and +white straws. This was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were +immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to +act as executioner for his comrades. The commandant was despatched first +of all. The rope broke, but the English soldiers held him under the +water of the ditch until he was drowned. The castle was then thoroughly +sacked, the women being sent unharmed to Ysselsburg. + +Maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the Rhine and Waal +to their winter quarters and returned to the Hague. It was the feeblest +year's work yet done by the stadholder. + +Meantime his great ally, the Huguenot-Catholic Prince of Bearne, was +making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of +his own kingdom. The constable of Castile, Don Ferdinando de Velasco, +one of Spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with +an army of ten thousand men to take the field in Burgundy against the man +with whom the great Farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with +not unmingled success, in Picardy. Biron, with a sudden sweep, took +possession of Aussone, Autun, and Beaune, but on one adventurous day +found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the +neighbourhood of Fontaine Francaise, or St. Seine, where France's great +river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. But Henry +himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless +impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly +censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young +lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, +and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the +marshal and getting off again unscathed. On other occasions Henry said +he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the +famous and foolish skirmish at Aumale three years before, it was absence +of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that +alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of +triumph for the expiring League. + +But the constable of Castile was not born to cheer the heart of his +prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. Velasco fell back to +Gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while Henry +before his eyes laid siege to Dijon. On the 28th June the capital of +Burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce +the constable to try the chance of a battle. Henry's movements in the +interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the +frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his +crown in France, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign +for him in Rome. + +D'Ossat and Perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate +ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the Spanish +ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. +The pope arose early on the morning of the 5th August, and walked +barefoot from his palace of Mount Cavallo to the church of Maria +Maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying +fervently. He celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he +went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace +afterwards. The same ceremony was performed ten days later on the +festival of our Lady's Ascension. In vain, however, had been the +struggle on the part of his Holiness to procure from the ambassador the +deposition of the crown of France in his hands, in order that the king +might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief +pontiff. Such a triumph was not for Rome, nor could even the publication +of the Council of Trent in France be conceded except with a saving clause +"as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling +the repose of the kingdom." And to obtain this clause the envoys +declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." + +On the 17th day of September the absolution was proclaimed with great +pomp and circumstance from the gallery of St. Peter's, the holy father +seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has +head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent +robes. + +The silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle +of St. Angelo, and for two successive nights Rome was in a blaze of +bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and +singing of hosannaha. There had not been such a merry-making in the +eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the +massacre of St. Bartholomew. The king was almost beside himself with +rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote +letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the +pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow +him to proceed at once to Rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. + + +The narrative returns to Fuentes, who was left before the walls of +Cambray. + +That venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, +orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding Scheld, was well +fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and +dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by Charles V. It was +filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was +pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. The population was +thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those Flemish and +Walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a +time into vehement little republics. + +But, as has already been depicted in these pages, the Celtic element had +been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress +which had once been stamped on all the Netherlands. The Walloon +provinces had fallen away from their Flemish sisters and seemed likely to +accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united States, as +John Baptist Tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a +private letter to Philip, "with the coming up of a new generation +educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word +king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being +wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." +From this sad fate Cambray had been saved. Gavre d'Inchy had seventeen +years before surrendered the city to the Duke of Alencon during that +unlucky personage's brief and base career in the Netherlands, all, that +was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious +Balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. This +personage, a natural son of Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and nephew of the, +distinguished Marshal Monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most +ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this +epoch in the Netherlands. A poor creature himself, he had a heroine for +a wife. Renee, the sister of Bussy d'Amboise, had vowed to unite herself +to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the Count +Montsoreau? Balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly +espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked +her vengeance on the murderer. He had now governed Cambray until the +citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his +grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. +His latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper +currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting +effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce +on princes and peoples. He had been a Royalist, a Guisist, a Leaguer, +a Dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose +expense he had alternately filled his coffers. During the past year he +had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and +campaigners of France--that the moribund League was only fit to be +trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one +of the very best bargains with Henry IV. that had yet been made, even at +that epoch of self-vending grandees. + +Henry, by treaty ratified in August, 1594, had created him Prince of +Cambray and Marshal of France, so that the man who had been receiving +up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred +dollars from the King of Spain was now gratified with a pension to about +the same yearly amount by the King of France. During the autumn Henry +had visited Cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of +loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to +exclude from his kingdom. There had been a ceaseless round of +tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the +Huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most +legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present +year that Balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new +principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. +Meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that +it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. + +On the 14th August Fuentes began his siege operations. Before the +investment had been completed the young Prince of Rhetelois, only fifteen +years of age, son of the Duke of Nevers, made his entrance into the city +attended by thirty of his father's archers. De Vich, too, an experienced +and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred +dragoons through the enemy's lines. These meagre reinforcements were all +that reached the place; for, although the States-General sent two or +three thousand Scotchmen and Zeelanders, under Justinus of Nassau, to +Henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important +frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn +the force to good account Balagny was left with a garrison of three +thousand French and Walloons in the city, besides five hundred French in +the fortress. + +After six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines Fuentes +was ready to open his batteries. On the 26th September, the news, very +much exaggerated, of Mondragon's brilliant victory near Wessel, and of +the deaths of Philip Nassau and Ernest Solms, reached the Spanish camp. +Immense was the rejoicing. Triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon +and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and +anxiety within the walls of the city. Almost immediately afterwards a +tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the +burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred +to Balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their +streets. A few days later an insurrection broke out. Three thousand +citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered +at daylight drawn up in the market place. Balagny came down from the +citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with +execrations. They had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that +every road about Cambray was to swarm with French soldiers under their +formidable king, kicking the heads of the Spaniards in all directions. +And what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, +and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. To stand a siege +under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand Spaniards, +and to take Balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be +asked of respectable burghers. + +The allusion to the young prince Rhetelois and to De Vich, who had lost a +leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. Balagny, appalled at +the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while +their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations +into the citadel. + +But his wife was not appalled. This princess had from the beginning of +the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. Night and +day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing +the efforts of the garrison. She had pointed batteries against the +enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. She now +made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and +did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a +sense of duty or of shame. She plucked from her bosom whole handfuls +of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a +number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the +debased currency. + +Expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for +the, slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she +snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison +to the breach. Her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical +display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead +a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. Nor, from a military +point of view, was their situation desperate. But their hatred and scorn +for Balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration +for his valiant though imperious wife. No one followed her to the +breach. Exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that +she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, Renee de +Balagny retained to the citadel. + +The town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the Spanish soldiers, on +entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their +batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous +condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. + +The citadel was now summoned to surrender; and Balagny agreed, in case he +should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered +honourable terms. It proved too late to expect succour from Henry, and +Balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the +appointed day and salute his conqueror. But the princess kept her vow. +She had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, +and now there was nothing left her but to die. With bitter reproaches on +her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she +refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the +9th of October. + +On that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. Balagny, +with a son of eleven years of age, the Prince of Rhetelois, the Commander +De Vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently +attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. The +soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty +horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and +all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. Last of all +came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the Princess of Cambray. Fuentes +saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with +stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as Peronne. + +Balagny met with a cool reception from Henry at St. Quintin, but +subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's +mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrees. The body of Gavre d'Inchy, which had been +buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend +Mondragon was now ninety-two years old +More catholic than the pope +Octogenarian was past work and past mischief +Sacked and drowned ten infant princes +Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v67 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 68, 1595-1596 + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + Archduke Cardinal Albert appointed governor of the Netherlands-- + Return of Philip William from captivity--His adherence to the King + of Spain--Notice of the Marquis of Varambon, Count Varax, and other + new officers--Henry's communications with Queen Elizabeth--Madame de + Monceaux--Conversation of Henry with the English ambassador-- + Marseilles secured by the Duke of Guise--The fort of Rysbank taken + by De Roane Calais in the hands of the Spanish--Assistance from + England solicited by Henry--Unhandsome conditions proposed by + Elizabeth--Annexation of Calais to the obedient provinces--Pirates + of Dunkirk--Uneasiness of the Netherlanders with regard to the + designs of Elizabeth--Her protestations of sincerity--Expedition of + Dutch and English forces to Spain--Attack on the Spanish war-ships-- + Victory of the allies--Flag of the Republic planted on the fortress + of Cadiz--Capitulation of the city--Letter of Elizabeth to the Dutch + Admirals--State of affairs in France--Proposition of the Duke of + Montpensier for the division of the kingdom--Successes of the + Cardinal Archduke in Normandy--He proceeds to Flanders--Siege and + capture of Hulat--Projected alliance against Spain--Interview of De + Sancy with Lord Burghley--Diplomatic conference at Greenwich-- + Formation of a league against Spain--Duplicity of the treaty-- + Affairs in Germany--Battle between the Emperor and the Grand Turk-- + Endeavours of Philip to counteract the influence of the league--His + interference in the affairs of Germany--Secret intrigue of Henry + with Spain--Philip's second attempt at the conquest of England. + +Another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year 1596, to +take charge of the obedient provinces. It had been rumoured for many +months that Philip's choice was at last fixed upon the Archduke Cardinal +Albert, Archbishop of Toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, +of the Emperor Rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. He was to +espouse the Infanta, he was to govern the Netherlands, and, as it was +supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of +this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of Philip than yet had +seen the light. + +Meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. He had also +been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in Christendom, +that of Toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of +three hundred thousand dollars a year. Of this annual income, however, +he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with +his destined successor. + +The cardinal reached the Netherlands before the end of January. He +brought with him three thousand Spanish infantry, and some companies of +cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and +fifty mules. Of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the +11th February, the new satrap entered the obedient Netherlands, and there +was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, +with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened +platforms, where Allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its +wonderful antics. It was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow +more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest +citizens of Brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty +Ernest, but they did their best. That mythological conqueror and demigod +had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him +on his arrival in Belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers +were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of Albert. But as it +proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been +culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the +pageant which thus again delighted the capital. + +But there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose +presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke +himself. The procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. +There was the Duke of Aumale, pensionary of Philip, and one of the last +of the Leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in +effigy at Paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the +Prince of Chimay, now since the recent death of his father at Venice +become Duke of Arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two +years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a +painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more +than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of William +the Silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. + +It was the eldest son of the great founder of the Dutch republic. Philip +William, Prince of Orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of +captivity in Spain, returned to the Netherlands, whence he had been +kidnapped while a school boy at Louvain, by order of the Duke of Alva. +Rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than +his. His almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict +and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the Jesuits, had +produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer +dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. Although under +perpetual arrest in Madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to +go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. But he had been +always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be +liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret +purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. Although the eldest- +born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of Orange and +of Buren, he was no longer a Nassau except in name. The change wrought +by the pressure of the Spanish atmosphere was complete. All that was +left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's +memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his +father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole +lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. On being at +last set free from bondage he had been taken to the Escorial, and +permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his +father's murder. He had been well received by the Infante and the +Infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of Charles V., while the +artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed +out to him. It was also signified to him that he was to receive the +order of the Golden Fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal +and maternal estates. And Philip William had accepted these conditions +as if a born loyal subject of his Most Catholic Majesty. + +Could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only +fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands +of his Most Catholic Majesty. If to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be +imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast +estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could +not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes +in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that Philip should deem +himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the +worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation +of Almighty Wrath? + +Yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his +father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. When a Spanish officer, +playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that +father, Philip William had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, +and thus killed him on the spot. And when on his arrival in Brussels it +was suggested to him by President Riehardat that it was the king's +intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a +rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from +them; to the heirs of Balthazar Gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed +into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the +president; had not the bystanders forcibly inteferred. In consequence of +this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his +property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a +considerable time longer. During the period of his captivity he had been +allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration +his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand +livres annually. It was supposed that the name of Orange-Nassau might +now be of service to the king's designs in the Netherlands. Philip +William had come by way of Rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the +pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was +fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and +pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient +allegiance. But the Dutchmen and Frisians were deaf. They had tasted +liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal +and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. Especially +the king thought that something might be done with Count Hohenlo. That +turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of Philip +William, and being already at variance with Count Maurice, both for +military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary +disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps +a few towns and castles in the united Netherlands might be thrown into +the bargain. In that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant +nobles of Europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most +cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in +exchange for their temporary fealty; when Mayenne, Mercoeur, Guise, +Pillars, Egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and +illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from +both sides in the great European conflict, it was not wonderful that +Philip should think that the boisterous Hohenlo might be bought as well +as another. The prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing +was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; +and the price received afterwards. + +The cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was +soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the +negotiation. + +The king thought, too, that Heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable +expedition against Breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, +might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make +use of the Prince of Orange in the negotiations to be made for that +purpose. The cardinal, in effect, received an offer from Heraugiere in +the course of a few months not only to surrender Breda, without previous +recompense, but likewise to place Gertruydenberg, the governor of which +city was his relative, in the king's possession. But the cardinal was +afraid of a trick, for Heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was +brave, and there can be little doubt that the Netherlander was only +disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. + +And thus the son of William the Silent made his reappearance in the +streets of Brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in +the procession of the new viceroy. The cardinal-archduke came next, with +Fuentes riding at his left hand. That vigorous soldier and politician +soon afterwards left the Netherlands to assume the government of Milan. + +There was a correspondence between the Prince of Orange and the States- +General, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves +towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him +plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in +the United Provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their +passports, possible. They were quite aware of the uses to which the king +was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the +great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the +threshold. + +The Archduke Albert, born on 3rd of November, 1560, was now in his +thirty-sixth year. A small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and +beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging Burgundian +jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of +presence. His manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to +solemnity. He spoke very little and very slowly. He had resided long in +Spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man +could be a favourite with Philip--and he had carefully formed himself on +that royal model. He looked upon the King of Spain as the greatest, +wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of +kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. He did his best to look +sombre and Spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his +thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by +direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the +obedient Flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as +copy can ever recall inimitable original. Old men in the Netherlands; +who remembered in how short a time Philip had succeeded, by the baleful +effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the +previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings +in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent +years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads +when they saw this new representative of Spanish authority. It would +have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for Albert to take +the Emperor Charles for his model, who had always the power of making his +tyranny acceptable to the Flemings, through the adroitness with which he +seemed to be entirely a Fleming himself. + +But Albert, although a German, valued himself on appearing like a +Spaniard. He was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating +and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. He spoke German, +Spanish, and Latin, and understood French and Italian. He had at times +been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. He +was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who +imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe +no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them +the will of the Almighty. To Philip and the Pope he was ever faithful. +He was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, +slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the +field. Henry IV., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that +of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which +nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that Queen +Elizabeth deserved her title of the, throned vestal, that he was himself +a good Catholic, and that Cardinal Albert was a good general. It is +probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. + +The new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen +assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had +undertaken. There were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and +lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly +disappeared. Mondragon, La Motte, Charles Mansfeld, Frank Verdugo were +all dead. Fuentes was just taking his departure for Italy. Old Peter +Ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the Marquis of +Varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. This was +a Burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate +opinion of himself and of his family. "Accept the fact that his lineage +is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of +anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," +said a sharp, splenetic Spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'Tis a +faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." The brother of +Varambon, Count Varax, had succeeded la Motte as general of artillery, +and of his doings there was a, tale ere long to be told. On the whole, +the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the +Frenchman Savigny de Rosne, an ancient Leaguer, and a passionate hater of +the Bearnese, of heretics, and of France as then constituted. He had +once made a contract with Henry by which he bound himself to his service; +but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, +he had accepted a large amount of Spanish dollars, and had then thrown +off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful +sovereign. "He was foremost," said Carlos Coloma, "among those who were +successfully angled for by the Commander Moreo with golden hooks." +Although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced +campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his +assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. + +The other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new +viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him +embarrassment as support. All wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, +nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of +any of them. The new duke of Arschot had in times past, as prince of +Chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a +Calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. It is true +that she was separated from her husband. He was a man of more quickness +and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous +both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; +ambitious, and deceitful. The Prince of Orange was considered a man of +very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to Queen +Elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his +life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained +with either party. He was likely to affect a neutral position and, in +times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. + +Arenberg, unlike the great general on the Catholic side who had made +the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was +disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. +Having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he +was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. +A good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for +the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because +he had a great many children. The Marquis of Havre, uncle to the Duke of +Arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long +Netherland tragedy. Although older than he was when Requesens and Don +John of Austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the +full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as +mischievous as in his youth. Alternately making appeals to popular +passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of +bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to +acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his +predecessors. + +The most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the Count +de Ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance Prince of Espinay, +Seneschal of Hainault, and Viscount of Ghent. But it was only his +enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought +capable of either good or bad intentions. He had, however, in times +past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep +out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. His wife, +who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to +the end. The cardinal was informed that the Golden Fleece would be all- +sufficient to keep him upon the right track. + +Of the Egmonts, one had died on the famous field of Ivry, another was an +outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination +against William of Orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, +and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as Ligne, but likely to be +serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his +inheritance. Thus devoted to Church and King were the sons of the man +whose head Philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. The +two Counts Van den Berg--Frederic and Herman--sons of the sister of +William the Silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and +trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the +obedient, provinces. + +The new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for +the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of +1,100,000 florins. For reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that +the States-General would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, +and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention +to France. + +The negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, +between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of +Spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for +a subsequent chapter. Meantime there had been much informal discussion +and diplomatic trifling between France and England for the purpose of +bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the Fifth +Monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate Philip's proposed +dominion. + +Henry had suggested at different times to Sir Robert Sidney, during his +frequent presence in France as special envoy for the queen, the necessity +of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. But as the +king began to cool in his hatred to Spain, after his declaration of war +against that power, it seemed desirable to Elizabeth to fan his +resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so +coolly received when made. Sir Harry Umton, ambassador from her Majesty, +was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the +queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at Coucy (Feb. +13, 1596). No man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his +communications with Elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. No man knew +better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too +gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the +heart. He received the letters from the hands of Sir Henry, read them +with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "Ah! Mr. Ambassador, +what shall I say to you? This letter of the queen, my sister, is full of +sweetness and affection. I see that she loves me, while that I love her +is not to be doubted. Yet your commission shows me the contrary, and +this proceeds from her, ministers. How else can these obliquities stand +with her professions of love? I am forced, as a king, to take a course +which, as Henry, her loving brother, I could never adopt." + +They then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous +discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which +had been discussed in the cabinet. Sir Henry brought him back to +business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her Majesty +and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. The envoy, +who shared in the prevailing suspicions that Henry was about to make a +truce with Spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining +that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, +were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow +reconciliation with Spain. Henry protested that his preference would be +for England's amity, but regretted that the English delays were so great, +and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it +impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. + +They then met Madame de Monceaux, the beautiful Gabrielle, who was +invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in +politics, but of a tractable spirit. + +This remark, in Sir Henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to Burghley, +she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. + +The duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; +but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "I took no pleasure in it, nor held +it any grace at all." "She was attired in a plain satin gown," he +continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became +her very ill. In my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and +was very grossly painted." The three walked together discoursing of +trifles, much to the annoyance of Umton. At last, a shower forced the +lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to +his cabinet. "He asked me how I liked his mistress," wrote Sir Henry to +Burghley, "and I answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if +without offence I might speak it, I had the picture of a far more +excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection +of her beauty." + +"As you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" + +"I made some difficulty," continued Sir Henry, "yet upon his importunity +I offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. He +beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that I was in the right." +"I give in," said the king, "Je me rends." + +Then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he +kissed it reverently twice or thrice, Sir Henry still holding the +miniature firmly in his hand. + +The king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming +struggle between the two, ending in his Majesty's triumph. He then told +Sir Henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would +never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour +of the original he would forsake all the world. He fell into many more +such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one +suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching +the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many +affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had +made him so wretched. Sir Henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being +beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but I +found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and +affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. This was +the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward +professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good +likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her Majesty; only I +fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some +hazardous treaty with Spain, which I hope confidently it is yet in the +power of her Majesty to prevent." + +The king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady +with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was +now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole +scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her +faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of +Elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic +folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! + +And the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof +of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful Elizabeth had +exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable +of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his +direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the King of +Spain, or the Duke of Mayenne, or the Pope had ever done. + +Henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority +over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of +civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. There was still great +danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. Calais, key to the +Norman gate of France, was feebly held; while Marseilles, seated in such +dangerous proximity to Spain on the one side, and to the Republic of +Genoa, that alert vassal of Spain, on the other, was still in the +possession of the League. A concerted action was undertaken by means of +John Andrew Doria, with a Spanish fleet from Genoa on the outside and a +well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to +Philip. Had it succeeded, this great Mediterranean seaport would have +become as much a Spanish 'possession as Barcelona or Naples, and infinite +might have been the damage to Henry's future prospects in consequence. +But there was a man in Marseilles; Petrus Libertas by name, whose +ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful +effort once made by them to rescue the little town of Calvi, in Corsica, +from the tyranny of Genoa. Peter Liberty needed no prompting to +vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. In +conjunction with men in Marseilles who hated oppression, whether of +kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a +secret and well-arranged understanding with the Duke of Guise, who was +burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he +had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring +the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the +gates of Marseilles to the Duke of Guise and his forces before it was +possible for the Leaguers to admit the fleet of Doria into its harbour. +Thus was the capital of Mediterranean France lost and won. Guise gained +great favour in Henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great +Balafre, who was himself the League, had now given the League the stroke +of mercy. Peter Liberty became consul of Marseilles, and received a +patent of nobility. It was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer +anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and +to which he had so well established his right. + +But while Henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, +there was danger impending in the north. The king had been besieging, +since autumn, the town of La Fere, an important military and strategic +position, which had been Farnese's basis of operations during his +memorable campaigns in France, and which had ever since remained in +the hands of the League. + +The cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot +and three thousand horse, assembled at Valenciennes, and after hesitating +some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve La Fere, he +decided instead on a diversion. In the second week of April; De Rosne +was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared +before Calais. The city had been long governed by De Gordan, but this +wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. +Still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not +only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of Calais, +considered the most valuable command in France, to his nephew, +De Vidosan. He had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative +and military genius. + +The fortress called the Risban, or Rysbank, which entirely governed the +harbour, and the possession of which made Calais nearly impregnable, as +inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen +into comparative decay. De Gordan had been occupied in strengthening +the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. +On the land side, the bridge of Nivelet was the key to the place. The +faubourg was held by two Dutch companies, under Captains Le Gros and +Dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's +forces. Vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the +citadel. + +De Rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of Nivelet +and the fort of Rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. This +having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after +sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. Vidosan, with his +garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, +himself and De Rosne that unless succour should be received from the +French king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also +be-evacuated. + +Meantime Henry, who was at Boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected +disaster, had sent couriers to the Netherlands, demanding assistance of +the States-General and of the stadholder. Maurice had speedily responded +to the appeal. Proceeding himself to Zeeland, he had shipped fifteen +companies of picked troops from Middelburg, together with a flotilla +laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of +several weeks. When the arrangements were completed, he went himself on +board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. On +the 17th of April he arrived with his succours off the harbour of Calais, +and found to his infinite disappointment that the Rysbank fort was in the +hands of the enemy. As not a vessel could pass the bar without almost +touching that fortress, the entrance to Calais was now impossible. Had +the incompetent Vidosan heeded the advice of his brave Dutch officers; +the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic +on the very day when the fleet of Maurice arrived off the port. + +Henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his English allies for +succour. The possession of Calais by the Spaniards might well seem +alarming to Elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of +her sister this important position had been for two centuries an English +stronghold. The defeat of the Spanish husband of an English queen had +torn from England the last trophies of the Black Prince, and now the +prize had again fallen into the hands of Spain; but of Spain no longer +in alliance, but at war, with England. Obviously it was most dangerous +to the interests and to the safety of the English realm, that this +threatening position, so near the gates of London, should be in the hands +of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of +England. In response to Henry's appeal, the Earl of Essex was despatched +with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen +on Sunday when the people were all at church--to Dover, where shipping +was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the Channel. At +the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the +opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, +Certainly it was desirable to prevent Calais from falling into the grasp +of Philip. But it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place +without the assistance of Elizabeth could no longer be preserved by +Henry, that Elizabeth, and not Henry, should henceforth be its possessor. +To make this proposition as clear to the French king as it seemed to the +English queen, Sir Robert Sidney was despatched in all haste to Boulogne, +even while the guns of De Rosne were pointed at Calais citadel, and while +Maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the Risban, was on +its retreat from the harbour. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st of April, Sidney landed at +Boulogne. Henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from England, +and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went +down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged +instantly in the most animated discourse. + +As there was little time to be lost, and as Sidney on getting out of the +vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he +at once made the demand which he had been sent across the Channel to +make. He requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of Calais +to the Queen of England as soon as, with her assistance, he should +succeed in recovering the place. He assigned as her Majesty's reasons +for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in +her power to furnish the required succour. Her subjects, she said, would +never consent to it except on these conditions. It was perhaps not very +common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, +but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished +her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. Sidney urged +moreover that her Majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did +not take Calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the +rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being +besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. + +The king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as +much to the States' envoy, Calvaert, who had walked with him down to the +strand, and had left him when the conference began. Henry was not easily +thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, +least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of England, but the +cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. + +He could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated +assurances of her Majesty's affection for him which he had received from +the late Sir Henry Umton in their recent negotiations, her Majesty would +now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. He had +come to Boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the Earl of Essex +to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of Calais. +If this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be +more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it +had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the +loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and +dishonourable conditions. After all, he said, the loss of Calais was +substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. To him +the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular +communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially +with her Majesty. But as her affection for him was now proved to be so +slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and +dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship +altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more +honourable friends. Should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not +that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of +old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the King of Spain. He was +ready to save Calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, +and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he +was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much +peril within--to deliver it to her Majesty or to any-one else. He would +far rather see it fall into the hands of the Spaniards. + +Thus warmly and frankly did Henry denounce the unhandsome proposition +made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, +Sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one +moment in the face. He then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand +by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her +Majesty would be satisfied with the possession of Calais for her own +life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of +a pledge of it for the term of one year. But the king only grew the more +indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap +bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or +known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous +of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his +subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. At such a +price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her Majesty'a friendship. + +After this explosion the conference became more amicable. The English +envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of +the arrival of Essex with eight thousand men on the following Thursday +to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, +he had received to the demand of her Majesty. + +He furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king +might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at Dover, whither +she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as Calais should have been +saved. To this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the +things in the world that he had most at heart. The envoy rejoined that +her Majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. She +had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when God should +ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his Majesty. + +Sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops +under Essex would arrive before Calais by Thursday, and that they were +fast marching to the English coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the +beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's +instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a +favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. + +Henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up +information for his minister in England, De Saucy, who had not yet been +received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of +this mission of Sidney and of its purport. + +While the king was thus occupied, the English envoy was left in the +company of Calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain +from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. +Sidney was not to be pumped by the Dutch diplomatist, adroit as he +unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly +afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours +after his arrival at Boulogne--Calvaert received from the king a minute +account of the whole conversation. + +Henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the States-General of the republic +for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the +conduct of Prince Maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to +his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. +He despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, +and he expressed his hope to Calvaert that the States might be willing +that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command +of Maurice, whose, presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, +was worth four thousand men. + +But it was too late. The six days were rapidly passing, away. The +governor of Boulogne, Campagnolo, succeeded, by Henry's command, in +bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the +citadel of Calais during the night of the 22nd of April. This devoted +little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which +stretched between the fort of Rysbank and the sea. Sometimes wading up +to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a +greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile +fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded +in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the +garrison on the following day. For so soon as the handful of men had +gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs +was quite unchanged--the rash and weak De Vidosan proclaimed that the +reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, +he should now resume hostilities. Whereupon he opened fire, upon the +town, and a sentry was killed. De Rosne, furious, at what he considered +a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very +formidable walls of the castle. During the artillery engagement which +ensued the Prince of Orange, who had accompanied De Rosne to the siege, +had a very narrow escape. A cannon-ball from the town took off the heads +of two Spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and +brains. He was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came +of too good a house to be afraid. His courage was commendable, but it +seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was +not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's +murderer. While his brother Maurice with a fleet of twenty Dutch war- +ships was attempting in vain to rescue Calais from the grasp of the +Spanish king, Philip William of Nassau was looking on, a pleased and +passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. +The assault was then ordered? The-first storm was repulsed, mainly by +the Dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers +were killed or wounded, their captains Dominique and Le Gros having both +fallen. The next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the +whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, put to the sword. De Vidosan himself perished. Thus Calais +was once more a Spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient +provinces of Flanders. Of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, +who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to +captivity.' + +The conversion of this important naval position into a Spanish-Flemish +station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to +France and dangerous to England. The neighbouring Dunkirk had long been +a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and +nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. +These corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, +after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the +sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the dfficers +were held for ransom. In case the vessels themselves were wanted, the +crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, +the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable +to escape from superior force. Capture was followed by speedy execution, +and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought +into Rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the +day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held +for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. + +And now Calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea- +robbers' cave than even Dunkirk had been. + +Notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three +allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking +which had been arranged between England and the republic. For the time, +therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the +States of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. +It had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the +republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. The year 1595 had not +been prosperous. Although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, +and in every department of national development had been very remark +able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent +falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in +the north of Europe. In Holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet +was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. One hundred and +eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, +now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of +consumption were equally enhanced in value. On the other hand, the +expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this +year at five millions of florins. The republic, and especially the +States of Holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. The commonwealth +had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose +upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the +States-General; but this defect in their political organization was not +sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full +force. The people of the Netherlands knew full well that there was no +liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army +without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of +the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that +keen observer, Cardinal Bentivoglio; nuncio at Brussels, they could +scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they +were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. During +this year and the next the States of Holland, whose proportion often +amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the United +Provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the +duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh +impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and +processes. Starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. +With the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, +and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, +woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless +conceptions. In a country where, before the doctrine of popular +sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most +speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy +had been afforded to Europe; in a country where, ages before the science +of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the +largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders +instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which +monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the +movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively +rebel against restraint. The honest burgher's vrow of Middelburg or +Enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as Queen +Elizabeth in all her glory. Sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of +feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on +the free soil of the Netherlands. It was the complaint therefore of +moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. +Formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the +manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and +consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. In the little +village of Wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand +bushels a week. Thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array +might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. A single +manufacturer in Amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. Such was +the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, +the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady +who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily +purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. + +"May God preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably +excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and +abuse of His blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of Jeroboam, +which followed upon Solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of Ophir +may not come upon us." + +The States of Holland not confounding--as so often has been the case-- +the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did +not, out of fear for the doom of Jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. +They simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six +per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the +State than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of +personal attire. Meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their +pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, +and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much +success as usually attends such eloquence. + +There had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of +the queen, especially since the States had expressed their inability to +comply in full with her demands for repayment. Spanish emissaries had +been busily circulating calumnious reports that her Majesty was on the +eve of concluding a secret peace with Philip, and that it was her +intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. The Government +attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that +Envoy Caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in +England and in the provinces. So, one day, he had a long conversation +with the Earl of Essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that +Lord Leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get +complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of Leyden also, +in order to control the whole country. Essex was aflame with indignation +at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. +He swore that if her Majesty were so far forsaken of God and so forgetful +of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty +with Spain without the knowledge of the States-General and in order to +cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible +to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so +as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least +to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his +Sovereign. Caron and Essex conversed much in this vein, and although the +envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not +distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected +Burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret +agents of Philip, went straight to the queen with the story. Next day, +Essex invited Caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. +This was done, and, so soon as the States' envoy was admitted to the +royal presence, her Majesty at once opened the subject. She had heard, +she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the +provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. She +swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never +have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would +make her. The histories of England, she said, should never describe her +as guilty of such falsehood. She could find a more honourable and +fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and +strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. She hoped +to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her +keeping. She begged Caron to acquaint the States-General with these +asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the +Netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand +propositions. She was aware that Cardinal Albert had propositions to +make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the French king and, +herself to consent to a peace with Spain: but she promised, the States' +envoy solemnly before God to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon +as they should be made known to herself. + +Much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did +the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this +occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. Yet the +remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and +the agents of Alexander Farnese, by which the invasion of the Armada had +been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of +every Dutch statesman. "I trust in God," said Caron, "that He may never +so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now +protests with so much passion. Should it be otherwise--which God forbid +--I should think that He would send such chastisement upon her and her +people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, +should they make and break such oaths and promises. I tell you these +things as they occur, because, as I often feel uneasiness myself, I +imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the +same anxiety. Nevertheless, beat the bush as I may, I can obtain no +better information than this which I am now sending you." + +It had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her +demands for repayment--which, according to the Treaty of 1585, was to be +made only after conclusion of peace between Spain and the provinces, but +which Elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the States could +now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the +republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders +for a naval expedition which was now projected against the Spanish coast. +These war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two +hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their +fitting out for five months was 512,796 florins. + +Before the end of April, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned +in the Netherlands by the loss of Calais, which the States had so +energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under Admiral John of +Duvenwoord, Seigneur of Warmond, and Vice-Admirals Jan Gerbrantz and +Cornelius Leusen, had arrived at Plymouth, ready to sail with their +English allies. There were three thousand sailors of Holland and Zeeland +on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred +picked veterans from the garrisons of the Netherlands. These land-troops +were English, but they belonged to the States' army, which was composed +of Dutch, German, Walloon, Scotch, and Irish soldiers, and it was a +liberal concession on the part of the republican Government to allow them +to serve on the present expedition. By the terms of the treaty the queen +had no more power to send these companies to invade Spain than to +campaign against Tyr Owen in Ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal +archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in Flanders than had +been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous +experiment for the States to send so considerable a portion of their land +and naval forces upon a distant adventure. It was also a serious blow to +them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced +commander, Sir Francis Vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save Lewis +William, that Maurice had at his disposition. Yet Vere was to take +command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of Spain, at the very +moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters +and begin active operations in the field. The consequence of this +diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the +States were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, +or make any attempt at a campaign. + +The queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to Admiral Warmond for the +promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the +place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the +English ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. Never during +Philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile +foot trod the soil of Spain, except during the brief landing at Corunna +in 1590, and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years +previously by Sir Francis Drake, and although the coast of Portugal had +still more recently been invaded by Essex and Vere, yet the present +adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of +success than any preceding expedition had done. In an age when the line +between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and +volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous +knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could +be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the +imagination of those who hated the Pope and Philip, who loved fighting, +prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into Spain. + +It was time to return the visit of the Armada. Some of the sea-kings +were gone. Those magnificent freebooters, Drake and Hawkins, had just +died in the West Indies, and doughty Sir Roger Williams had left the +world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a +classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one +might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. But that most genial, +valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the Earl +of Essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring- +tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now +assembled at Plymouth. That other "corsair"--as the Spaniards called +him--that other charming and heroic shape in England's chequered +chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, +science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men +confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of +England's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying +shame--Raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, +geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, +helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief +Anglo-Dutch enterprise for this year against--the Spanish world-dominion +was compounded. + +And, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender +materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence +and restless energy of the two leading Protestant powers, the Kingdom and +the Republic, disposed. Their contest against the overshadowing empire, +which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of +history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate +numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a +single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be +swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons +which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. Such was +the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three +centuries ago. Could science; which even in that age had made gigantic +strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, +and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking +to crush all Christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have +been most tragical to humanity. While there are few inventions in +morals, the demon Intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and +scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite Unknown. +Yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending +its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal +dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful +existence. In the unending warfare between right and wrong, between +liberty and despotism; Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many +shapes. It has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of +liberty. The tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific +discoveries and their practical application, is to political +consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just +as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. The +scheme of Charlemagne to organize Europe into a single despotism was a +brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society +into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of +crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which +the emperor had at his disposal. The attempt of Philip, eight centuries +later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of +material agencies which in the hands of Charlemagne might have made the +dreams of Charlemagne possible. It was frivolous because the rising +instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom +in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves +aware. A considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily +out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that +it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding +its destinies. And it found itself in constant combination with two +monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious +convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by +enthusiasm for freedom. Thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, +as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, +it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, +that Calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the +germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different +epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. Yet +notwithstanding the burning of Servetus at Geneva, and the hanging of +Mary Dyer at Boston, it is certain that France, England, the Netherlands, +and America, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have +enjoyed to Calvinism. It may be possible for large masses of humanity to +accept for ages the idea of one infallible Church, however tyrannical but +the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is +called the State can be separated from what is called the Church; the +plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere +fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the +uneducated or the unreflecting. + +And now Essex, Raleigh and Howard, Vere, Warmond and Nassau were about to +invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex +England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Dutch republic, and the German +empire to the realms of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Milan, and the Eastern +and Western Indies, over which he already reigned. + +The fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four +were Dutch vessels under Admiral Warmond, with three thousand sailors of +Holland and Zeeland. Besides the sailors, there was a force of six +thousand foot soldiers, including the English veterans from the +Netherlands under Sir Francis Vere. There were also fifty transports +laden with ammunition and stores. The expedition was under the joint +command of Lord High Admiral Howard and of the Earl of Essex. Many noble +and knightly volunteers, both from England and the republic, were on +board, including, besides those already mentioned, Lord Thomas Howard, +son of the Duke of Norfolk, Sir John Wingfield, who had commanded at +Gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to Farnese; +Count Lewis Gunther of Nassau, who had so recently escaped from the +disastrous fight with Mondragon in the Lippe, and was now continuing his +education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother +Lewis William; Nicolas Meetkerk, Peter Regesmortes, Don Christopher of +Portugal, son of Don Antonio, and a host of other adventurers. + +On the last day of June the expedition arrived off Cadiz. Next morning +they found a splendid Spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, +including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, St. Philip, St. +Matthew, St. Thomas, and St. Andrew, with twenty or thirty great war- +ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed Indiamen, which were to be +convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve +millions of ducats. + +The St. Philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, +larger and stronger than any ship before known. She was two thousand +tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve +hundred men. The other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four +hundred men. The armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two +to eighteen guns each. The presence of such a formidable force might +have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. On the +contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a +larger booty than they had dared to expect. There was but a brief +engagement. At the outset a Dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave +much encouragement to the Spaniards. Their joy was but short-lived. Two +of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the St. Philip +and the St. Thomas, were run aground and burned. The rest of the war- +ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a +landing of the enemy's forces. In the eagerness of the allies to seize +the city, they unluckily allowed many of the Indiamen to effect their +escape through the puente del Zuazzo, which had not been supposed a +navigable passage for ships of such burthen. Nine hundred soldiers under +Essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under Lewis Gunther of Nassau, +now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred Spanish skirmishers +back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to +fortify the point when the troops had landed. Young Nassau stormed the +bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his +colours on its battlement. It was the flag of William the Silent; for +the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder +of the new commonwealth. The blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated +rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of Spain. +Essex and Nassau and all the rest then entered the city. There was +little fighting. Twenty-five English and Hollanders were killed, and +about as many Spaniards. Essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, +Englishmen and Hollanders, in the square of Cadiz for their gallantry. +Among the number were Lewis Gunther of Nassau, Admiral Warmond, and Peter +Regesmortes. Colonel Nicolas Meetkerke was killed in the brief action, +and Sir John Wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback +without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent +appeal of Sir Francis Vere, was also slain. The Spanish soldiers, +discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for +protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants +into the citadel. Next morning the citadel capitulated without striking +a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men +within its walls. It was one of the most astonishing panics ever +recorded. The great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city +of Cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little +force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. +The invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. They had routed, +and, as it were, captured the Spanish galleons, but they had not taken +possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. It +was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, +but the proud Duke of Medina Sidonia, who had already witnessed the +destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships +too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. +Scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered +the fleet to be set on fire. Thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of +war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. Twelve +hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the Bay of Cadiz, besides +arms for five or six thousand men. At least one-third of Philip's +effective navy was thus destroyed. + +The victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results +were disappointing. A large portion of the portable wealth of the +inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly +concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they +should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand +ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. Another sum of equal amount +having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among +them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages +for its payment. The city was now set on fire by command of Essex in +four different quarters. Especially the cathedral and other churches, +the convents and the hospitals, were burned. It was perhaps not +unnatural: that both Englishmen and Hollanders should be disposed to +wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the Church +which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to +the, uttermost corners of their own countries. But it is at any rate +refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in +which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made +to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many +special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: + +No man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. The beautiful +city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil +was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement +of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day +or in later ages. It is even recorded that Essex ordered one of his +soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the +spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of Cadiz, +the canon Quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. + +It was the earnest desire of Essex to hold Cadiz instead of destroying +it. With three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, +the place could be maintained against all comers; Holland and England +together commanding the seas. Admiral Warmond and all the Netherlanders +seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels +food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. If +the English admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards +supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in +Philip's side. Sir Francis Vere was likewise warmly in favour of the +project, but he stood alone. All the other Englishmen opposed it as +hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute +instructions of the queen. With a sigh or a curse for what he considered +the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated +docility of Lord High Admiral Howard, Essex was fain to content himself +with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away +from Cadiz. + +On their way towards Lisbon they anchored off Faro, and landed a force, +chiefly of Netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the +place. When they reached the neighbourhood of Lisbon, they received +information that a great fleet of Indiamen, richly laden, were daily +expected from the Flemish islands, as the Azores were then denominated. +Again Essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, +in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported +by the Dutch admiral and Yere, and again Lord Howard peremptorily +interdicted the plan. It was contrary to his instructions and to his +ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her Majesty's +fleet on so doubtful a venture. His ships were not fitted for a winter's +cruise, he urged. Thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, +the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. The usual result of a divided +command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they +sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right +moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at +seven millions of ducats. Essex, not being willing to undertake the +foray to the Azores with the Dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest +his spleen as: best he could. Meantime the English fleet bore away for +England, leaving Essex in his own ship, together with the two captured +Spanish galleons, to his fate. That fate might, have been a disastrous +one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from +powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. The +Dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and +safely convoyed him to Plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two +later than Howard and his fleet. Warmond, who had been disposed to sail +up the Thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed +that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. +He, however, received the following letter from the hand of Elizabeth. + +MONSIEUR DUYENWOORD,--The report made to me by the generals of our +fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of Spain, of the devoirs of +those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much +of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our +other friends from the Netherlands under your command, during the whole +course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and +satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. No +other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter +(in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we +are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. +Wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not- +knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit +of the other. For, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the +States-General stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the +good favour, which we have always borne the United Provinces and the +proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon +them, had not been ill-bestowed. The valour, skill, and discipline +manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your, whole nation +are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to +tyrannize over you. But the honourableness and the valour shown by you, +Sir Admiral, towards our cousin the Earl of Essex on his return, when he +unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was +deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him +escort into the harbour of Plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your +foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all +disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of +our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand +the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, +through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so +great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by +means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole +company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that +they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our +goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and +merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which +may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation +so worthy as yours. + "ELIZABETH R. + +"14th August, 1596." + +This letter was transmitted by the admiral to the States-General; who, +furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their +archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great English queen, +so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of +Netherlanders. + +The results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was +crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had +been obtained. But the permanent possession of Cadiz, which, in such +case, Essex hoped to exchange for Calais, and the destruction of the +fleet at the Azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected +--would have been far more profitable, at least to England. It was also +matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the +Netherlanders and the Englishmen as to their respective share of the +spoils; the Netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been +defrauded. Moreover the merchants of Middelburg, Amsterdam, and other +commercial cities of Holland and Zeeland were, as it proved, the real +owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at Cadiz; +so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell +upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. + +The internal consequences of the fall of Calais had threatened at the +first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that +misfortune had already proved. The hour for the definite dismemberment +and partition of the French kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among +its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. The +indomitable Henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was +on the way to his camp at La Fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and +providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, +when he was met at St. Quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal +nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of France. The +Duke of Montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue +carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the +king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong- +holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the +actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary +property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the +king and his descendants. It seemed so amazing that this temporary +disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling +out France, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant +duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not +by the partisans of Spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its +leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a +possible successor to the crown, that Henry was struck absolutely dumb. +Misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his +well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a +system, Henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military +forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals +to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power +or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a +tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy +which was more impressive than wrath. + +He expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have +thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact +a part so entirely unworthy a Frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the +blood. He had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther +from the throne than Montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of +his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the +dismemberment of the realm. So far from entering for a moment into the +subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his +colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand +deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the +royal dignity with infamy. + +Rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than +in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals +of France, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. Thus signally +was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit +rebuked by the king. Henry was no respecter of the People, which he +regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. On the contrary, he +was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his +intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never +permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the +greatness of France. Thus he represented a distinct and wholesome +principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a +period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign +hatred, to be hopelessly lost. Hence it is not unnatural that he should +hold his place in the national chronicle as Henry the Great. + +Meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in +the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants +in the north against the king and against the republic had been +gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. Soon after the +fall of Calais, De Rosne had seized the castles of Guynes and Hames, +while De Mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of Ardres. The +garrison, commanded by Count Belin, was sufficiently numerous and well +supplied to maintain the place until Henry, whose triumph at La Fere +could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. To the +king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as Don Alvario de +Osorio was surrendering La Fere to him, after a seven months' siege, +Ardres was capitulating to De Mexia. The reproaches upon Belin for +cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. All his +officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and Henry at +first talked of cutting off his head. It was hardly probable, however-- +had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor +would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the +garrison marched out of Ardres with the commandant at their head, banners +displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve +hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. Belin was possessed of +too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of +service to the politic king, whose rancour against Spain was perhaps not +really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign +punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. + +These successes having been obtained in Normandy, the cardinal with a +force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in Flanders; +and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack Breda, Bergen, +Ostend, or Gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various +directions, came, towards the end of June, before Hulst. This rather +insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, +was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and +experienced officer Count Everard Solms. Its defences were made more +complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could +be laid under water; and Maurice, whose capture of the town in the year +1591 had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to +hold it at all hazards. He came in person to inspect the fortifications, +and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter +unnecessary hazards, that the States of Holland passed a resolution +imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable +personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to +manifest dangers." The place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual +series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, +in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, De Rosne, +had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, +was fighting by his side. On the 16th August the cardinal formally +demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply +that Hulst would be defended to the death. This did not, however, +prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. All the officers, +save one, united in urging Solms to capitulate; and Solms, for somewhat +mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his +consent. The single malcontent was the well-named Matthew Held, whose +family name meant Hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the +far-famed capture of Breda. He was soon afterwards killed in an +unsuccessful attack made by Maurice upon Venlo. + +Hulst capitulated on the 18th August. The terms were honourable; but the +indignation throughout the country against Count Solms was very great. +The States of Zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, +since the death of Sir Philip Sidney, dismissed him from their service, +while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. +Members of the States-General refused to salute him in the streets; +eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there +was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. The usual +reaction in such cases followed; Maurice sustained the commander, who had +doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable +service to the republic, and the States-General gave him a command as +important as that of which he had been relieved by the Zeeland States. +It was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the +Netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so +large a space in contemporary history. The defenders of Solmstold wild +stories about the losses of the besieging army. The cardinal, who was +thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his +soldiers' lives belonged to God and their bodies to the king," had +sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the +Spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of Hulst. +It was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more +towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. +People told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph +which the burghers of Brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance +into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke +that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should +expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather +than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. The humanity of the +suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at +the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted +whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly +the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare +to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster Houwaerts and his +fellowpedants. + +The fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp +during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses +within the city were at least as many. There was no attempt to relieve +the place; for the States, as before observed, had been too much cramped +by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans +for the expedition against Cadiz to be able to muster any considerable +forces in the field during the whole of this year. + +For a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were +engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of 1596 seem +sufficiently meagre. Meantime, during all this campaigning by land and +sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the +east. With difficulty did the holy Roman Empire withstand the terrible, +ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of Ottoman--then in the full +flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, +and contended with each'other at the gates of Vienna. + +As the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of +Christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. +It was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal +alliance offensive and defensive with France and England against Spain. +The diplomacy of the Netherlands had been very efficient in bringing +about the declaration of war by Henry against Philip, by which the +current year had opened, after Henry and Philip had been doing their best +to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen +previous years. Elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded +by Philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the +seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into +the heart of Spain, had very recently made the observation that she and +Philip were not formally at war with each other. It seemed, therefore, +desirable to the States-General that this very practical warfare should +be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. In this case the position of the +republic to both powers and to Spain itself might perhaps be more +accurately defined. + +Calvaert, the States' envoy--to use his own words--haunted Henry like his +perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the +necessity of this alliance. De Saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived +in England, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue Calais from +Philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to +Boulogne by Sidney. Notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had +been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to +Elizabeth, with the Duke of Bouillon at its head; and he had insisted +upon Calvaert's accompanying the mission. He had, as he frequently +observed, no secrets from the States-General, or from Calvaert, who had +been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well +acquainted with all their bearings. The Dutch envoy was reluctant to go, +for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but Henry urged the +point so vehemently, that Calvaert found himself on board ship within six +hours of the making of the proposition. The incident shows of how much +account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind +as the Bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the +king towards the States-General and their representative was by no means +without certain convenient limitations. + +De Sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--Sidney had been +despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. +When he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for +the propositions by which Henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the +envoy that it had been her intention only to keep Calais out of the +enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a +distance to provide for its safety. As diplomatic conferences were about +to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the +case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, +and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, Sancy +accepted the royal explanation, although Henry's special messenger, +Lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at Boulogne a minute account +of the propositions of Sidney. + +The envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with Lord Burghley, +and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. Cecil +observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for +religion's sake. As this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to +unite them save the proximity of the two States to each other and their +ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long +as princes found therein a special advantage. + +De Sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their +close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to +them both. Cecil rejoined that he considered the Spaniards deserving of +the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an +enterprise, and to have so well deceived the King of France by the +promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to +conceive no suspicion as to their designs. + +To this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that France should +thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to God that +the affairs of Englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to +induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of +their counsels. He added that there were many passages through which to +enter France, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in +order to defend them all against the enemy. + +A few days afterwards the Duke of Bouillon arrived in London. He had +seen Lord Essex at Dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without +success to dissuade him from his expedition against the Spanish coast. +The conferences opened on the 7th May, at Greenwich, between Burghley, +Cobham, the Lord Chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the +part of the queen, and Bouillon, Sancy, Du Yair, and Ancel, as +plenipotentiaries of Henry. + +There was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if +it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as +fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. + +"We have nothing to do," said Burghley, "except to listen to such +propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them +to her Highness the queen." + +"You cannot be ignorant," replied Bouillon, "of the purpose for which we +have been sent hither by his Very Christian Majesty. You know very well +that it is to conclude a league with England. 'Tis necessary, therefore, +for the English to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter +into such an alliance. This point once settled, the French can make +their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions +of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." + +To this Cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity +of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was +necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for +the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from +the league. + +The duke said that the English statesmen were perfectly aware of the +French intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both +nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both +to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon Spain, in which case it +would be more difficult for the Spanish to resist them than if each were +acting separately. It was no secret that the Spaniards would rather +attack England than France, because their war against England, being +coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even +have a specious pretext. Moreover the conquest of England would give +them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the +Netherlands. If, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with +his whole force upon France, the king, who would perhaps lose many places +at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed +against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of Spain, +would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. +Nothing could be more desirable for Spain than such a result, for she +would then be free to attack England and Holland, undisturbed by any fear +of France. This was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king +offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, +to her Majesty's earnest consideration. + +Burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a +league. "What more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already +doing? She has invaded Spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to +Spain, France, and the Netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred +thousand crowns in gold. In short, the envoys ought rather to be +studying how to repay her Majesty for her former benefits than to be +soliciting fresh assistance." He added that the king was so much +stronger by the recent gain of Marseilles as to be easily able to bear +the loss of places of far less importance, while Ireland, on the +contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. The country was already +in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the +Spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the English, that to +attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland. + +Bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the +position of France and that of England. The queen, notwithstanding +hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut +off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage +war. Sancy added, that it must be obvious to the English ministers that +the peril of Holland was likewise the peril of England and of France, but +that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not +succoured, would be forced to a peace with Spain. All his counsellors +were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours +to prevent such a step. Moreover, the proposed league could not but be +advantageous to the English; whether by restraining the Spaniards from +entering England, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common +enemy. The queen might invade any portion of the Flemish coast at her +pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to +prevent any attack upon her realms. + +At this Burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in English, "The +French are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the +bear-skin before they have killed the bear." Sancy, who understood +English, rejoined, "We have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you +a very good and salutary piece of advice. It is for you to profit by it +as you may." + +"Where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked +Burghley. + +"They are at Rochelle, at Bordeaux, and at St. Malo," replied de Sancy. + +"And these ports are not in the king's possession," said the Lord +Treasurer. + +The discussion was growing warm. The Duke of Bouillon, in order to, put +an end to it, said that what England had most to fear was a descent by +Spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give +occupation to Philip's army in Flanders. The soldiers in the fleet then +preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her +kingdom. The veterans in Flanders were the men on whom he relied for +that purpose. Moreover the queen, who had great influence with the +States-General, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce +between the provinces and Spain; all the Netherlands would be lost to +Philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of +Italy, to whom the power of Spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly +supply funds to the allied powers, and the Germans, declared enemies of +Philip, would furnish troops. + +Burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the +Hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. Upon which Saucy, wearied with +all these difficulties, interrupted the Lord Treasurer by exclaiming, +"If the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your +part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good +enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, +upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of +his affairs." + +The session then terminated. Two days afterwards, in another conference, +Burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on +condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that +they should not leave England until they had received a month's pay +in advance. + +The Duke of Bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected +of the generosity of her Majesty, that if the king had money he would +find no difficulty in raising troops in Switzerland and Germany, and that +there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. The +English ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, +the duke and Saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no +further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to +France as fast as possible. + +Before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir +to her Majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to +a league had been made by Sir Henry Umton, and that now, when the king +had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already +recommended by the queen's ambassador in France, they had been received +in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat +with them. They could not believe, they said, that it was her Majesty's +desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they +therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that +they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high +offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them +to remain for a long time absent from France. + +The effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were +suggested, which took place at intervals between the 11th and the 26th +of May. They were characterized by the same mutual complaints of +overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions +had been distinguished. On the 17th May the French envoys even insisted +on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her Majesty +for that purpose at a final audience. After they had left the presence-- +the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen +sent Sir Robert Cecil, Henry Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and La Fontaine, +minister of a French church in England, to say to them how very much +mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to +give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish +to speak to them once more before their departure. + +The result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days +later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league +proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be +ratified by the king. + +On the 26th May articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and +queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the +common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested +with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of Spain, to join in +the league. It was arranged that an army should be put in the field as +soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other +powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this +army should invade the dominions of the Spanish monarch, that the king +and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or +truce with Philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand +infantry to serve six months of every year in Picardy and Normandy, with +the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than +fifty leaguas from Boulogna; that when the troubles of Ireland should be +over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four +thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to +furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they +should leave England, and that the king should agree to repay the amount +six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to England as +hostages. If the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was +stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four +thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, +and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to +be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of +France. + +The English were not willing that the States-General should be +comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because +being under the protection of the Queen of England they were supposed to +have no will but hers. Burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking +of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples +nor of states, for fear lest the States-General might be included under +those terms. The queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, +and consented, in order to satisfy the French envoys, that to the word +princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. The +obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of +the queen and of the privileged classes of England to popular liberty, +and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over +the provinces which had been refused ten years before by Elizabeth, was +at length set aside. The republic, which might have been stifled at its +birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the +English dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the +European family. + +It being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young +commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought-- +was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. +This, as it will presently appear, the King of France and the Queen of +England succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it +notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the States' envoy, +who at Henry's urgent request had accompanied the French mission to +England. Calvaert had been very active in bringing about the +arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a +sick bed and made the journey to England: "The proposition for an +offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her Majesty's Council, +but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as +such, rejected by the duke and Sancy, so that they took leave of her +Majesty. At last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, I +may say that I did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, +thank God, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." + +When the task was finished the French envoys departed to obtain their +master's ratification of the treaty. Elizabeth expressed herself warmly +in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a +visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a +sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity +and annoyance. "He may see other princesses of a more lovely +appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more +faithful friend." + +But the treaty thus concluded was for the public. The real agreement +between France and England was made by a few days later, and reduced the +ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, +especially to the Dutch republic, to induce them to imitate England in +joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that +substantial assistance to the league which in reality England was very +far from giving. + +"Two contracts were made," said Secretary of State Villeroy; "the one +public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other +secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. By +the first his Majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, +which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were +to reside and to serve only in the cities of Boulogne and Montreuil, +assisted by an equal number of French, and not otherwise, and on +condition of not being removed from those towns unless his Majesty should +be personally present in Picardy with an army, in which case they might +serve in Picardy, but nowhere else." + +An English garrison in a couple of French seaports, over against the +English coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other +princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the +Protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the +protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at +Greenwich. + +Nevertheless the decoy did its work, The envoys returned to France, and +it was not until three months later that the Duke of Bouillon again made +his appearance in England, bringing the treaty duly ratified by Henry. +The league was then solemnized, on, the 26th August, by the queen with +much pomp and ceremony. Three peers of the realm waited upon the French +ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen +royal coaches to the Tower. Seven splendid barges then conveyed them +along the Thames to Greenwich. On the pier the ambassador was received +by the Earl of Derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high +functionaries, and conducted to the palace of Nonesuch. + +There was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special +pavilion had been constructed. Standing, within this sanctuary, the +queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the +league just concluded. She then gave her hand to the Duke of Bouillon, +who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ +resounded through the chapel. Afterwards there was a splendid banquet in +the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, +being placed at a respectful distance from her Majesty, and the dishes +being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon +their knees, served the queen with wine. No one save the ambassador sat +at Elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which +the Earl of Essex entertained many distinguished guests, young Count +Lewis Gunther of Nassau among the number. + +In the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again +floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the +sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across +the water. As the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he +found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome +to the representative of Henry, and invoked blessings on the head of +Queen Elizabeth and of her royal brother of France. Meanwhile all the +bells of London were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were +blazing, until the night was half spent. + +Such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great +Protestant queen and the ex-chief of the Huguenots of France was +celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant +sinner, into the fold of the Church. Truly it might be said that +religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the +nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. + +The Duke of Bouillon soon afterwards departed for the Netherlands, where +the regular envoy to the commonwealth, Paul Chouart Seigneur de Buzanval, +had already been preparing the States-General for their entrance into the +league. Of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they +should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating +themselves with so august an alliance. The queen wrote an earnest letter +to the States, urging them to join the league. "Especially should you do +so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain +for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus +sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the +friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the +most Christian king." + +On the 31st October the articles of agreement under which the republic +acceded to the new confederation were signed at the Hague. Of course +it was not the exact counterpart of the famous Catholic association. +Madam League, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit +beldame, was at last dead and buried. But there had been a time when she +was filled with exuberant and terrible life. She, at least, had known +the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had +she faltered in her dread purpose. To extirpate Protestantism, to murder +Protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every +Protestant sovereign in Europe, especially to assassinate the Queen of +England, the Prince of Orange, with all his race, and Henry of Navarre, +and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the +powers of Christendom under the universal monarchy of Philip of Spain-- +for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the +"Indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking +their first lessons in the doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth, could dig it +from the mines. For this America had been summoned, as it were by +almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish +money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. For this +great purpose was the sublime discovery of the Genoese sailor to be +turned to account. These aims were intelligible, and had in part been +attained. William of Orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a +handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. Elizabeth's life +had been frequently attempted. So had those of Henry, of Maurice, of +Olden-Barneveld. Divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of +future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if Madam League were +dead, her ghost still walked among the Jesuits and summoned them to +complete the crimes left yet unfinished. + +But what was the design of the new confederacy? It was not a Protestant +league. Henry of Navarre could no longer be the chief of such an +association, although it was to Protestant powers only that he could turn +for assistance. It was to the commonwealth of the Netherlands, to the +northern potentates and to the Calvinist and Lutheran princes of Germany, +that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against +Philip of Spain. + +The position of Henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. +He felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the +new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with +that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the +earth to do battle. Even the cautious Elizabeth was deceived by the +crafty Bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and +princes. + +On the 31st October, accordingly, the States-General agreed to go into +the league with England and France; "in order to resist the enterprises +and ambitious designs of the King of Spain against all the princes and +potentates of Christendom." As the queen had engaged--according to the +public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, +the States now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be +maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty +thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. The king promised, +in case the Netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater +part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the +Netherlands. The king further bound himself to carry on a sharp +offensive war in Artois and Hainault. + +The States-General would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty +that no peace should be made with Spain by England or France without the +consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. + +Perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the +grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been +virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who +directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step +was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been +secured. In good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the +new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital +matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which +they might render themselves useful to their new allies. + +Meantime Ancel was deputed by Henry to visit the various courts of +Germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for +the league? But Germany was difficult to rouse. The dissensions among +Protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the Papists. Its +multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling +among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting +their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of +the chase. The jeremiads of old John of Nassau grew louder than ever, +but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. The wrath to come of +that horrible Thirty Years' War, which he was not to witness seemed to +inspire all his prophetic diatribes. But there were few to heed them. +Two great dangers seemed ever impending over Christendom, and it is +difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the +establishment of the universal monarchy of Philip II., or the conquest of +Germany by the Grand Turk. But when Ancel and other emissaries sought to +obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by +the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the +south-east. In vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the Alcoran +was less cruel than the Inquisition, that the soil of Europe might be +overrun by Turks and Tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in +every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope +that the germs of civilization and the precepts of Christianity might +survive the invasion, than if the system of Philip, of Torquemada, and of +Alva, should become the universal law. But the Turk was a frank enemy of +Christianity, while Philip murdered Christians in the name of Christ. +The distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. +Moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising Mahomet seemed more +appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had +taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit Philip. + +The Ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible +concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and +all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military +dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of +the holy Roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, +distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under +one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever +invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. +The Turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and +seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer +perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. +Could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm +founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the Eastern +might have seemed less terrible than the Western danger. + +But a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of +Vienna, had occupied the attention of Germany during the autumn. Mahomet +had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the +emperor's brother, Maximilian, in conjunction with the Prince of +Transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth +to give him battle. Between the Theiss and the Danube, at Keveste, not +far from the city of Erlau, on the 26th October, the terrible encounter +on which the fate of Christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and +Europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be +decided. When the result at last became known, a horrible blending of +the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, +startled the world. Seventy thousand human beings--Moslems and +Christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little +stream which flows into the Theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both +armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. Each army +believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, +artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic- +stricken flight. Generalissimo Maximilian never looked behind him as he +fled, until he had taken refuge in Kaschan, and had thence made his way, +deeply mortified and despondent, to Vienna. The Prince of Transylvania +retreated into the depths of his own principality. Mahomet, with his +principal officers, shut himself up in Buda, after which he returned to +Constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, +inconsistent with the Ottoman projects of conquering the world. The +Turks, less prone to desperation than the Christians, had been utterly +overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, +as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly +secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous Italian renegade +Cicala. The Turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards +and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since +the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. + +So ended the Turkish campaign of the year 1596. Ancel, accordingly, +fared ill in his negotiations with Germany. On the other hand Mendoza, +Admiral of Arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the +same regions as the representative of the Spanish king. It was important +for Philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than +Henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. The +condition of the holy Roman empire had for some time occupied his most +serious thoughts. It seemed plain that Rudolph would never marry. +Certainly he would never marry the Infanta, although he was very angry +that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. +In case of his death without children, Philip thought it possible that +there might be a Protestant revolution in Germany, and that the house of +Habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. It was even said that +the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire +should end with his own life." Philip considered that neither Matthias +nor Maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them +lukewarm in the Catholic faith." In other words, he chose that his +destined son-in-law, the Cardinal Albert, should supersede them, and he +was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible King of the Romans. + +"His Holiness the Pope and the King of Spain," said the Admiral of +Arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the +emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his +death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to +the elector palatine,--a most perverse Calvinistic heretic, and as great +an enemy of the house of Austria and of our holy religion as the Turk +himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his +published in the palatinate a few months since. A vacancy is so +dreadful, that in the north of Germany the world would come to an end; +yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is +inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely +to be caused by an appointment. Therefore his Holiness and his Catholic +Majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's +falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. They are to +permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending +the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this +in other times against emperors who governed ill." + +The Admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to +elect the King of Denmark emperor, reminding Philip that in Hamburg they +had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. +This year, he observed, the Protestants were renewing their schemes. On +the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the +English envoy being present, and Queen Elizabeth being god-mother, they +had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the Catholic +creed than anything ever yet professed. In case of the death of the +emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and +the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on +account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint +of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. Philip was +represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force +against the Turk--as there could be no doubt that Hungary was in great +danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a King of the Romans +in all respects satisfactory to him. There were three objections to the +election of Albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled +him in Philip's opinion to the crown. Firstly, there was a doubt whether +the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it +was very important that the King of the Romans should succeed to those +two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within +those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and +as Albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take +by inheritance. + +Secondly, Albert had no property of his own, but the Admiral suggested +that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the Tyrol. + +Thirdly, it was undesirable for Albert to leave the Netherlands at that +juncture. Nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going Admiral, with +the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, +that as Rudolph would retire from the government altogether, Albert, as +King of the Romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the +Netherlands as part of his whole realm. Albert being moreover about to +marry the Infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her +from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. + +Thus did Philip who had been so industrious during the many past years +in his endeavours to expel the heretic Queen of England and the Huguenot +Henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his +daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy +himself with schemes to discrown Rudolph of Habsburg, and to place the +ubiquitous Infanta and her future husband on his throne. Time would show +the result. + +Meantime, while the Protestant Ancel and other agents of the new league +against Philip were travelling about from one court of Europe to another +to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy +was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. The ink +was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before +he was closeted with the agents of the Archduke Albert, and receiving +affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military +ecclesiastic. + +In November, 1596, La Balvena, formerly a gentleman of the Count de la +Fera, came to Rouen. He had a very secret interview with Henry IV. at +three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the +night. The king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a +general peace, including England and Holland. Balvena replied that he +had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, +that the King of Spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, +except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the Catholic +religion. + +He is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said Henry. The +king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor +afflicted people of all countries. He was not tired of arms, he said, +which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general +crusade against the Turk. This would be better for the Catholic religion +than the present occupations of all parties. He avowed that the Queen of +England was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his +faith with her, and never would do so. She had sent him the Garter, and +he had accepted it, as his brother Henry III. had done before him, and he +would negotiate no peace which did not include her. The not very distant +future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were +worth. Meantime Henry charged Balvena to keep their interviews a +profound secret, especially from every one in France. The king expressed +great anxiety lest the Huguenots should hear of it, and the agent +observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great +disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's +absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon +his Protestant subjects. On his return from Rouen the emissary made a +visit to Monlevet, marshal of the camp to Henry IV. and a Calvinist. +There was much conversation about peace, in the course of which Monlevet +observed, "We are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you +Spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." + +"Nay," said Balvena, "I will only repeat the words of the Emperor Charles +V.--'The Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the French seem madmen, and +are wise.'" + +A few weeks later the archduke sent Balvena again to Rouen. He had +another interview with the king, at which not only Villeroy and other +Catholics were present, but Monlevet also. This proved a great obstacle +to freedom of conversation. The result was the same as before. + +There were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a +peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. + +On the 4th December Balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, +just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. + +"Tell his Highness," said Henry, "that I am all frankness, and incapable +of dissimulation, and that I believe him too much a man of honour to wish +to deceive me. Go tell him that I am most anxious for peace, and that I +deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the Turk. Had I +been there I would have come out dead or victorious. Let him arrange an +agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave +nobles, with infantry and with plenty of Switzers. Tell him that I am +his friend: Begone. Be diligent." + +On the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this +faithful report of Henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of +splendid armour, such as was then made better in Antwerp than anywhere +else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely +new fashion. + +With such secret courtesies between his most Catholic Majesty's +vicegerent and himself was Henry's league with the two Protestant +powers accompanied. + +Exactly at the same epoch Philip was again preparing an invasion of the +queen's dominions. An armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a +force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been +assembled during the autumn of this year at Lisbon, notwithstanding the +almost crushing blow that the English and Hollanders had dealt the king's +navy so recently at Cadiz. This new expedition was intended for Ireland, +where it was supposed that the Catholics would be easily roused. It was +also hoped that the King of Scots might be induced to embrace this +opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "He was on +the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the English," +said Philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if +he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was +practised on his mother." + +The fleet sailed on the 5th October under the command of the Count Santa +Gadea. Its immediate destination was the coast of Ireland, where they +were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. Having +accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, +were to take their departure and pass the winter in Ferrol. In case the +fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the English coast, the +port of Milford Haven in Wales was to be seized, "because," said Philip, +"there are a great many Catholics there well affected to our cause, and +who have a special enmity to the English." In case the English fleet +should come forth to give battle, Philip sent directions that it was to +be conquered at once, and that after the victory Milford Haven was to be +firmly held. + +This was easily said. But it was not fated that this expedition should +be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been +so signally conquered eight years before. Scarcely had the fleet put to +sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships +foundered with five thousand men. The shattered remnants took refuge in +Ferrol. There the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was +to be renewed. Thus it was ever with the King of Spain. There was a +placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought +sublime. And such insensibility might have been sublimity had the +monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, +seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with +tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve +what remained afloat from destruction. Certainly such exhibitions of +human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. +His father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his +fate. The King of France, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading +a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing +fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples +of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the +souls of mankind. But it is more difficult to be calm in battle and +shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of +fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without +flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. + +No sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in +Ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at Calais +and forthwith to invade England. He asked his nephew whether he could +not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light +draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others +which might be furnished him from Spain. In this way he was directed to +gain a foot-hold in England, and he was to state immediately whether he +could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the +assistance of the fleet at Ferrol. The king further suggested that the +enemy, encouraged by his success at Cadiz the previous summer, might be +preparing a fresh expedition against Spain, in which case the invasion of +England would be easier to accomplish. + +Thus on the last day of 1596, Philip, whose fleet sent forth for the +conquest of Ireland and England had been too crippled to prosecute the +adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer England without any +fleet at all. He had given the same advice to Alexander Farnese so soon +as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune +Burning of Servetus at Geneva +Constant vigilance is the price of liberty +Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes +French seem madmen, and are wise +Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston +Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things +Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross +In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing +Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field +One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed +Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea +Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat +Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous +Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation +So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) +Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen +The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition +There are few inventions in morals +To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland +Tranquil insolence +Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing +Upon their knees, served the queen with wine +Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v68 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 69, 1597-1598 + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + Straggle of the Netherlands against Spain--March to Turnhout-- + Retreat of the Spanish commander--Pursuit and attack--Demolition of + the Spanish army--Surrender of the garrison of Turnhout--Improved + military science--Moral effect of the battle--The campaign in + France--Attack on Amiens by the Spaniards--Sack and burning of the + city--De Rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--Jobbery + and speculation--Philip's repudiation of his debts--Effects of the + measure--Renewal of persecution by the Jesuits--Contention between + Turk and Christian--Envoy from the King of Poland to the Hague to + plead for reconciliation with Philip--His subsequent presentation to + Queen Elizabeth--Military events Recovery of Amiens--Feeble + operations of the confederate powers against Spain--Marriage of the + Princess Emilia, sister of Maurice--Reduction of the castle and town + of Alphen--Surrender of Rheinberg--Capitulation of Meurs--Surrender + of Grol--Storming and taking of Brevoort Capitulation of Enschede, + Ootmaxsum, Oldenzaal, and Lingen--Rebellion of the Spanish garrisons + in Antwerp and Ghent--Progress of the peace movement between Henry + and Philip--Relations of the three confederate powers--Henry's + scheme for reconciliation with Spain--His acceptance of Philip's + offer of peace announced to Elizabeth--Endeavours for a general + peace. + +The old year had closed with an abortive attempt of Philip to fulfil his +favourite dream--the conquest of England. The new year opened with a +spirited effort of Prince Maurice to measure himself in the open field +with the veteran legions of Spain. + +Turnhout, in Brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the +Netherlands lying about twenty-five English miles in almost a direct line +south from Gertruydenburg. It was nearly as far distant in an easterly +direction from Antwerp, and was about five miles nearer Breda than it was +to Gertruydenberg. + +At this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, +numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several +squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of +artillery, Count Varax. People in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, +for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this +formidable force. It was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a +sudden assault upon Breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to +carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, +or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross +the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of Ter Tholen, where he +might overmaster some of the important strongholds of Zeeland. + +Marcellus Bax, that boldest and most brilliant of Holland's cavalry +officers, had come to Maurice early in January with an urgent suggestion +that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of +Turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. The prince +pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then +conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. On the +14th January it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be +attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. A week later the council sent +an express messenger to Maurice urging him not to expose his own life to +peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the +adventure. + +Meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty +companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. On the 22nd January +Maurice came to Gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by Sir +Francis Vere and Count Solms. Colonel Kloetingen was already there with +the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from Zeeland, +and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. +Nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. + +Next day, before dawn, the march began. The battalia was led by Van der +Noot, with six companies of Hollanders. Then came Vere, with eight +companies of the reserve, Dockray with eight companies of Englishmen, +Murray with eight companies of Scotch, and Kloetingen and +La Corde with twelve companies of Dutch and Zeelanders. In front of the +last troop under La Corde marched the commander of the artillery, with +two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, +baggage trains. Hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom +the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated +his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. That force +met the expedition at Osterhout, a league's distance from Gertruydenberg, +and consisted of the best mounted companies, English and Dutch, from the +garrisons of Breda, Bergen, Nymegen, and the Zutphen districts. + +It was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady +rain as the expedition advanced. There had been alternate frost and thaw +for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere +continued the adventure could not have been attempted. It had now turned +completely to thaw. The roads were all under water, and the march was +sufficiently difficult. Nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout +Hollanders, Zeelanders, and Englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to +shoulder, through the mist and the mire. By nightfall the expedition had +reached Ravels, at less than a league's distance from Turnhout, having +accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over +twenty miles. A stream of water, the Neethe, one of the tributaries of +the Scheld, separated Ravels from Turnhout, and was crossed by a stone +bridge. It was an anxious moment. Maurice discovered by his scouts that +he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments +in the Spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making +an attack at any moment. He instantly threw forward Marcellus Bax with +four squadrons of Bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's +work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all +comers and at every hazard. + +The Spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, +for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift +over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in +complete mystery. It was naturally to be expected therefore that those +splendid legions--the famous Neapolitan tercio of Trevico, the veteran +troops of Sultz and Hachicourt, the picked Epirote and Spanish cavalry of +Nicolas Basta and Guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, +bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their +long march through the cold winter's rain. + +Varax took no such heroic resolution. Had he done so that January +afternoon, the career of Maurice of Nassau might have been brought to a +sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. +Certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more +perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. He +remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for +the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the +part of the enemy. Marcellus Bax and his troopers remained at the bridge +till morning, and were so near the Spaniards that they heard the voices +of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various +movements in their camp. + +But no attack was made, and the little army of Maurice was allowed +to sleep off its fatigue. With the dawn of the 24th January, +a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that +Varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the +slip. Long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been +sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left +the village of Turnhout. It was the intention of the commander to take +refuge in the fortified city of Herenthals, and there await the attack of +Maurice. Accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond +the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's +rearguard just disappearing from view. The situation was a very peculiar +one. + +The rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny +country in many directions into a shallow lake. The little river which +flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could +with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent +bridge, such as there was at Ravels. The retreating Spaniards had made +their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway +of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single +file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. Those +who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile +there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and +thickets, where it would be easy enough for Varax to draw up his army in +battle array, and conceal it from view. Maurice's scouts, too, brought +information that the Spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to +guard the passage at the farther end. + +This looked very like an ambush. In the opinion of Hohenlo, of Solms, +and of Sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure +seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, +the stadholder might well hesitate. Nevertheless, Maurice had made up +his mind. Sir Francis Vere and Marcellus Bax confirmed him in his +determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon +the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet +the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his +best to escape. + +On leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the Englishman +and the Hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the +waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, +not more than a dozen men in all. Two hundred musketeers followed, +picking their way across the planks. As they emerged into the open +country beyond, the Spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without +firing a shot. Such was already the discouraging effect produced upon +veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. Vere and +Bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime +hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge +upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. + +Maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the +watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. +When the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, Englishmen, +Zeelanders, Hollanders, and Germans, came upon the heath, the position +and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. He was not drawn up in +battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, +after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered +into his hands. On the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his +object was still to escape. The heath of Tiel, on which Spaniards, +Italians, Walloons, Germans, Dutchmen, English; Scotch, and Irishmen now +all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, +bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through +steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. +Along the left of the Spanish army, as they moved in the direction of +Herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall +beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious +screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. Quite at the +termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, +overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet +from the plain. Thus the heath of Tiel, upon that winter's morning, had +but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very +fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages +offered by the position. + +The whole force of Varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in +close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could +emerge from the heath. Should they reach this point in time, and thus +effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, +as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two +abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which +military operations were impossible. Yet there remained less than half +a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a +single foot-soldier Of Maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on +the heath. All were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the +marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. +Here was a dilemma. Should Maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom +he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach +before his eyes? Yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. +There sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred +carabineers, and there marched four of Philip's best infantry regiments, +garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not +to seek but to avoid a combat. First came the Germans of Count Sultz, +the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and +of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, +with the company standards waving over each. Next, arranged in the same +manner, came the Walloon regiments of Hachicourt and of La Barlotte. +Fourth and last came the famous Neapolitans of Marquis Trevico. The +cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by +Nicolas Basta, a man who had been trampling upon the Netherlanders ever +since the days of Alva, with whom he had first come to the country. + +And these were the legions--these very men or their immediate +predecessors--these Italians, Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, who +during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city +of the Netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little +provinces as with the besom of destruction. + +Both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of Varax was of the +very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief +industry practised for so long in the obedient Netherlands. Was it not +madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to +assail such an army as this? Was it not to invoke upon his head the +swift vengeance of Heaven? Nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious +Maurice did not hesitate. He ordered Hohenlo, with all the Brabantine +cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the +edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement +would be concealed. He was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's +vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. Vere and Marcellus Bax +meanwhile, supported now by Edmont with the Nymegen squadrons, were to +threaten the Spanish rear. A company of two under Laurentz was kept by +Maurice near his person in reserve. + +The Spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of +certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, +changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of +the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of +woods. + +In a few minutes after the orders given to Hohenlo, that dashing soldier +had circumvented the Spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them +and the entrance to the defile, The next instant the trumpets sounded a +charge, and Hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of Sultz, while +the rearguard, consisting of Trevico's Neapolitan regiment, was assailed +by Du Bois, Donck, Rysoir, Marcellus Bax, and Sir Francis Vere. The +effect seemed almost supernatural. The Spanish cavalry--those far-famed +squadrons of Guzman and Basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off +for the pass as if they had been riding a race. Most of them escaped +through the hollow into the morass beyond. The musketeers of Sultz's +regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly +clustered pikemen. The assailants, every one of them in complete armour, +on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled +over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen +and shot them at arm's length. The charge upon Trevico's men at the same +moment was just as decisive. In less time than it took afterwards to +describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless +mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a +blow. + +Thus the Germans in the front and the Neapolitans in the rear had been +simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other +regiments, those of Hachicourt and La Barlotte, which were placed between +them. Nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were +paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. In less than an +hour the Spanish army was demolished. Varax himself lay dead upon the +field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. It was hardly more +than daylight on that dull January morning; nine o'clock had scarce +chimed from the old brick steeples of Turnhout, yet two thousand +Spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred Netherlanders, and +there were five hundred prisoners beside. Of Maurice's army not more +than nine or ten were slain. The story sounds like a wild legend. It +was as if the arm of each Netherlander had been nerved by the memory of +fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime +had appalled the soul of every Spaniard. Like a thunderbolt the son of +William the Silent smote that army of Philip, and in an instant it lay +blasted on the heath of Tiel. At least it could hardly be called +sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. The chances were +all against him, and if instead of Varax those legions had been commanded +that morning by old Christopher Mondragon, there might perhaps have been +another tale to tell. Even as it was, there had been a supreme moment +when the Spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. The fight +was almost done, when a small party of Staten' cavalry, who at the +beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden +retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild +confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. They swept by +the spot where Maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was +directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself +in front of them and strove to check their flight. They were panic- +struck, and Maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not +Marcellus Bax and Edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to +the rescue. A grave error had been committed by Parker, who, upon being +ordered by Maurice to cause Louis Laurentz to charge, had himself charged +with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the +field. Thus the culprits--who after pursuing the Spanish cavalry through +the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon +by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn-- +might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been +won, had there been a man on the Spanish side to take in the situation at +a glance. But it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to +allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the +victors. The cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at +least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the +remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter +for their lives. + +Besides Prince Maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole +expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained +great distinction by their skill and valour. Sir Francis Vere, as usual, +was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed +under him. Parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore +himself manfully throughout the battle. Hohenlo, Solma, Sidney, Louis +Laurentz, Du Bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero +of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which +prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly Marcellus Bax. + +Maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, +returning towards the village of Turnhout, summoned its stronghold. The +garrison of sixty, under Captain Van der Delf, instantly surrendered. +The victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there +had been blood enough shed that day. Every standard borne by the +Spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly +all their arms. The banners were sent to the Hague to be hung up in the +great hall of the castle. The dead body of Varax was sent to the +archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical +explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that Albert +had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. + +No answer being immediately returned, Maurice ordered the five hundred +prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and +this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent +with the military usages of the period. The arrival of the letter from +the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the +villagers of Brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, +which could hardly have been seriously intended. + +Within a week from the time of his departure from the Hague to engage +in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little +capital, having achieved a complete success. The enthusiastic +demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory +can easily be imagined. Nothing like this had ever before been recorded +in the archives of the young commonwealth. There had been glorious +defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and +self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long +as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the +open field over the most famous legions of Spain and against overwhelming +numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. It is beyond all +doubt that the force under Varax was at least four times as large as that +portion of the States' army which alone was engaged; for Maurice had not +a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful +of musketeers who had followed Vere and Bax at the beginning of the +action. + +Therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive +consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military +exploit. To the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon +an obscure Brabantine heath between a party of Dutch carabineers and +Spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by +picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a Wouvermanns +or a Terburg, but conveying little instruction. As illustrating a period +of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron- +clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable +portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost +any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the +antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and +for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and +cataphracts of Roman legions--the world was indebted to Maurice. But the +shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent +combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of +the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, +undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed +in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of Turnhout, scientifically +managed as it unquestionably was. The true and abiding interest of the +battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people +of the Netherlands. And this could scarcely be exaggerated. The nation +was electrified, transformed in an instant. Who now should henceforth +dare to say that one Spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten +Hollanders? At last the days of Jemmingen and Mooker-heath needed no +longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. Here +at least in the open field a Spanish army, after in vain refusing a +combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before +one fourth of its own number. And this effect was a permanent one. +Thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic +and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a +return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we +shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the +thirty-eight Spanish standards of Turnhout, hung up in the old hall of +the Hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering +ambassador. + +This brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events +of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. Very +early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might +open simultaneously in France and on the frontiers of Flanders. Of all +the cities in the north of France there was none, after Rouen, so +important, so populous, so wealthy as Amiens. Situate in fertile fields, +within three days march of Paris, with no intervening forests or other +impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to +the gates of the capital. It had no garrison, for the population +numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants +valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five +thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an +hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to Henry. + +One morning in March there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in +number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost +gate of the town. They offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers +at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are +wont to do--over their wares. It so happened that in the course of the +bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the +dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. There was +a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling +ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and +the peasants. As the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden +with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and +architects within the town. The portcullis was drawn up to admit this +lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going +on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly +got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which +it was piled. + +At that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty +chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to Spanish and +Walloon soldiers. armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by +as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by +which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. Captain +Dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, Captain d'Arco, and other +officers of a Walloon regiment stationed in Dourlans, were the leaders of +the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the +soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit +of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city +at the head of fifteen hundred men. This was an extremely small, yellow, +dried up, energetic Spanish captain, with a long red beard, Hernan Tello +de Porto Carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of Dourlens, +who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of Amiens. Having +sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with +his men in ambush until the signal should sound. The burghers of the +town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men +rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half +an hour Amiens was the property of Philip of Spain. There were not very +many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were +tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. The sack was famous, +for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each +soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. + +When the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the +intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most +convenient basis of operations for any attack upon Paris, and it was +desirable to contract the limits to be defended. Fifteen hundred houses, +many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure +gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. The +governor of the place, Count St. Pol, managed to effect his escape. His +place was now supplied by the Marquis of Montenegro, an Italian in the +service of the Spanish king. Such was the fate of Amiens in the month of +March, 1597; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the +garrison urged upon them by Henry. + +It would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. +throughout France by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. +"It seemed," said President De Thou, "as if it had extinguished in a +moment the royal majesty and the French name." A few nights later than +the date of this occurrence, Maximilian de Bethune (afterwards Duke of +Sully, but then called Marquis de Rosny) was asleep in his bed in Paris. +He had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent +ball given by the Constable of France. The capital had been uncommonly +brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and +masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of +the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this +entertainment--given by Montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he +supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient +courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of +for years. De Bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was +startled by Beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of +the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of +Henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved +sovereign. "Is the King dead?" he cried. + +Being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the Louvre, +Rosny instantly complied with the command. When he reached the palace he +was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in +the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with +his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of +agony upon his face: Many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of +them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless +perplexity. + +Henry rushed forward as Rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, +exclaimed, "Ah, my friend, what a misfortune, Amiens is taken!" + +"Very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "I have just +completed a plan which will restore to your Majesty not only Amiens but +many other places." + +The king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. +Rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left +the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible +agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since +the fatal words had been spoken. That a city so important, the key to +Paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, +should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to +the heart of De Bethune as it could have been to any other of Henry's +adherents. But while they had been distracting the king by unavailing +curses or wailings, Henry, who had received the intelligence just as he +was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried +friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity +with De Rosny's fortitude. + +A great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very +night submitted by Rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day +thereafter until it was carried into effect. + +It must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the +project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with +so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his +calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle- +field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his +fellow-men. The scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, +which at that moment were completely empty. Its chief features were to +create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and +tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest +bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from +the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading +peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a +portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; +and to increase the tax upon salt. + +Such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, +but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. At once there was +a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. The +creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to +be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of +corruption. One of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, +limping Robin de Tours by name, at once made a private visit to Madame de +Rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to +distribute these new offices. If this could be managed to his +satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand +crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. The wife of the +great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, +presented Robin to her husband. She was enlightened, however, as to the +barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard De Bethune's indignant. +reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. That a +financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the +private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was +to him incomprehensible. The industrious Robin, accordingly, recovering +from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded +the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by De +Bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. +was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of +seventy-two thousand crowns. It was with great difficulty +that De Bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and +insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to +cancel the operation. The day was fast approaching when the universal +impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the +long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to +open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. +Thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which +vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything +like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own +amusement. It was not until the days of his grandchildren and great- +grandchildren that Privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the +People, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, +and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the +sixteenth century grow pale. + +Meantime De Bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, +and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the King of Spain, now +tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a +favourable peace with France even if he felt obliged to restore not only +Amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in +that kingdom. Time would soon show whether this prediction were correct +or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between Henry and the Pope +were vigorously proceeding for that peace with Spain which the world in +general and the commonwealth of the Netherlands in particular thought to +be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about +the siege of Amiens. + +Henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that +purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put +an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently +acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. + +But Albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great +antagonist found himself. When he had first arrived in the provinces, +his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a +considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his +magnificent housekeeping at Brussels. But those halcyon days were over. +A gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by Philip; had descended like a +thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial Europe, and had +utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. In the latter days of the +preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. + +He did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a +peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to +accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they +were acts of virtue. Perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a +man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing +for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. + +So the king, on the 20th November, 1596, had publicly revoked all the +assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; +revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or +pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other +companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own +possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long +war to save Christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, +while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all +grown rich at his expense. + +This was perfectly simple. There was no attempt to disguise the villany +of the transaction. The massacre of so many millions of Protestants, +the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the Dutch republic, and to +annex France, England, and the German empire to his hereditary dominions, +had been attended with more expense than Philip had calculated upon. +The enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, +conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon Spain had been +exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy +throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, +universal, catholic monarchy. All the gold and silver of America had not +sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising +indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the +laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into +the coffers of the merchants of Europe, especially those of the hated +commonwealth of the rebellious Netherlands. + +Therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took God to +witness that it was to serve His Divine will. How else could he hope to +continue his massacre of the Protestants? + +The effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. Two +millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the Cardinal Albert came +back in one day protested. The chief merchants and bankers of Europe +suspended payment. Their creditors became bankrupt. At the Frankfort +fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all +the years since Frankfort existed. In Genoa alone a million dollars of +interest were confiscated. It was no better in Antwerp; but Antwerp was +already ruined. There was a general howl of indignation and despair upon +every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage +of Christendom. Such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was +never heard of before. There had been debasements of the currency, petty +frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this +had never been conceived by human heart before. + +The archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to +support the daily expenses of his household. Meantime he was to set an +army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike +monarch in Christendom. Fortunately for him, that prince was in very +similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the +auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as +rapidly productive as had been hoped. + +It was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature +occurred in Antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the +possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the +system of Spain and Rome. Those blood-dripping edicts against heresy +in the Netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes +of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, +or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however +historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, +dormant for twenty years. Their activity had ceased with the +pacification of Ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them +still lived in the persons of the Jesuits, and there were now more +Jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. +We have seen that Champagny's remedy for the ills the country was +enduring was "more Jesuits." And this, too, was Albert's recipe. Always +"more Jesuits." And now the time had come when the Jesuits thought that +they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. Of late +years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their +seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins +against Elizabeth and Henry, Nassau, Barneveld, and others who, whether +avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. +Some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect +was fair that still others might follow, if the Jesuits persevered. +Meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might +be by the spectacle of a public execution. + +Two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of Antwerp. They had +formerly professed the Protestant religion, and had been thrown into +prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human +weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce +the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. But they had a +maidservant, forty years of age, Anna van den Hove by name, who was +staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. +The Jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and +claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of 1540, decrees +which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of Draco, which +they had so entirely put to shame. + +The sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden +magistrates, Anna van den Hove was brought to Brussels and informed that +she was at once to be buried alive. At the same time, the Jesuits told +her that by converting herself to the Church she might escape punishment. + +When King Henry IV. was summoned to renounce that same Huguenot faith, +of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the +candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. When the +proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop +with the rapidity of magic. Half an hour undid the work of half a life- +time. Thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an +earthly crown was its guerdon. The poor serving-maid was less open to +conviction. In her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw +it descending from Heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of +apostasy, but of steadfastness. She asked her tormentors how they could +expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. She had read her +Bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or +purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except +through the blood of the blessed Redeemer. She interfered with no one +who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. +She had prayed for enlightenment from Him, if she were in error, and the +result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicty, and resolved to +do nothing against her conscience. Rather than add this sin to the +manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the +death. So Anna van den Hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the +hayfield outside of Brussels, between two Jesuits, followed by a number +of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. Those holy men goaded +her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and +calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and +escape eternal damnation beside. But the poor soul had no ear for them, +and cried out that, like Stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the +angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil +one. When they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and +the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. The executioner then +covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to +her to renounce her errors. She refused, and then the earth was piled +upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and +firm. + +Of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in +the Netherlands; the burial of the Antwerp servantmaid was the last and +the worst. The worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to +revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who +had sunk into repose. And it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the +provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. + +Still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, Turk and +Christian were contending for the mastery. The great battle of Kovesd +had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and +most important Hungarian stronghold of Raab, within arm's length of +Vienna. How rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, +should it once be planted on the walls of the Imperial capital! It was +not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the +frontier States for the termination of the insurrection of the +Netherlands. Would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent +to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to Philip and the +Pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against Mahomet! The +King of Spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the +grand Turk. The King of France, most warlike of men, desired nothing +better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into Hungary to smite +the unbelievers. Even Prince Maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be +induced to accept a high command in the united armies of Christendom, +and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with Philip; Rudolph, and +Henry, against the Ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. +Such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future +possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were +imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. + +There was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the States- +General proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional +phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the +people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to +forgive which characterised the sovereign of the Netherlands and of +Spain. + +And the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, +showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful +length, that there never had been kings in the Netherlands at all, and +that the gentle-mindedness of Philip had been exhibited in the massacre +of a hundred thousand Netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in +the murder, under the Duke of Alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings +by the hangman. + +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. They +recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. Even the +friendly King of Denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was +respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the +most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an +end to the effusion of blood in the Netherlands was Sigismund of Poland. +This monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being +sovereign at once of fanatically Protestant Sweden and of orthodox +Poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of Archduke Charles of Styria +whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the Prince of Spain--was +personally and geographically interested in liberating Philip from the +inconvenience of his Netherland war. Only thus could he hope to bring +the Spanish power to the rescue of Christendom against the Turk. +Troubles enough were in store for Sigismund in his hereditary northern +realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great +Catholic and Imperial house did not enable him to trample out +Protestantism in those hardy Scandinavian and Flemish regions where it +had taken secure root. Meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the +republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose +oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to +our times. + +Paul Dialyn was solemnly received at the Hague on the 21st July. +A pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent Polish robe, covered +with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those +present as having been several years before a student at Leyden under a +different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. He took up his +position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and +the leading members of the States-General, and pronounced a long Latin +oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon +from the pulpit. He kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never +once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, +nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. He dwelt +in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the +King of Spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth +could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of Maurice of +Nassau. That the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's +father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family +with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the +murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full +sweep of his rhetoric. Yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust +in all who heard him. + +He then stated the wish of his master the Polish king to be that, in +regard to the Turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their +natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in Christendom, and the +only one able to make head against the common foe. They were solemnly +warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom +it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in +their uttermost destruction. It was for kings to issue commands; he +said, and for the people to obey; but Philip was full of sweetness, and +would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. +The wish to come to the rescue of Christendom, in this extreme peril from +the Turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. + +Such; in brief, was the substance of the long Latin harangue by which it +was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and Calvinists to +renounce their vigorous national existence and to fal on their knees +before the most Catholic king. This was understood to be mediation, +statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause +and the course of events to flow backwards. Truly, despots and their +lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous +little commonwealth in the North Sea, before it should have accomplished +its mission on earth. + +The States-General dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not +desirable to make open enemies of Sigismund or Rudolph. They refused to +accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical +answer to it in writing. Meantime the envoy had the honour of walking +about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their +promenade, Maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the +battle of Turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient +banquetting hall. The mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a +not illogical reply to the diplomatic Paul's rhetoric in regard to the +hopelessness of a contest with Spanish armies. + +Next, Van der Werken--pensionary of Leyden, and a classical scholar-- +waited upon the envoy with a Latin reply to his harangue, together +with a courteous letter for Sigismund. Both documents were scathing +denunciations of the policy pursued by the King of Spain and by all his +aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a +single word in favour of mediation or of peace. + +Paul Dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory +of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a States' vessel of +war to England. + +His reception, about a month later, by Queen Elizabeth is an event on +which all English historians are fond of dwelling. The pedant, on being +presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself +with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the +Hague. His Latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the +Chancellor of Sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the +States-General had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. +The queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. She was somewhat in +a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? + +"Oh, how I have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "I expected an +ambassador, and behold a herald! In all my life I never heard of such +an oration. Your boldness and unadvised temerity I cannot sufficiently +admire. But if the king your master has given you any such thing in +charge--which I much doubt--I believe it is because, being but a young +man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of +blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such +affairs." And so on--for several minutes longer. + +Never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. + +"God's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she +concluded, "I have been enforced this day to scour up my old Latin that +hath lain long in rusting." + +This combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good Latin, justly +excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still +more to every English heart. It may, however, be doubted whether the +famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually +been considered. The States-General had lost no time in forwarding to +England a minute account of the proceedings of Paul Dialyn at the Hague, +together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the +States. Her Majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same +envoy was on his way to England with a similar errand, may be supposed to +have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. Moreover, it is +difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances +were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all +chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of +a word in the text. Surely there was no stenographer present to take +down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. + +The military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful +activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed +in the sphere of diplomacy. In vain did the envoy of the republic urge +Henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the +cardinal at Turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the +States' forces in Artois and Hainault. For Amiens had meantime been +taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and +all his resources to recover that important city. So much damage to the +cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow Spanish +captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. +The siege of Amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of +the campaign, so far as Henry was concerned. It is true--as the reader +has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that +Henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented +in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered +into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of +Philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with Elizabeth +to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge +and consent. + +The siege of Amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and +its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of Holland +had already effected in European warfare. Henry IV. beleaguered Amiens +as if he were a pupil of Maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic +over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at +last crowned with success. The heroic Hernan Tello de Porto Carrero was +killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so +gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the 19th +of September it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation +that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in +the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be +removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. In vain +the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot +and fifteen hundred light cavalry. The king had learned so well to +entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched +battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its +purpose. The archduke retired. He came to Amiens like a soldier, said +Henry, but he went back like a priest. Moreover, he was obliged to +renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that +he had secured within the city. Alexander Farnese, in his last French +campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of St. Philip and +the head of St. Lawrence; but what was Albert's delight when he learned +that in Amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of John the +Baptist! "There will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he +wrote to Philip, "if I undertake to transport it out of the country, but +I will try to contrive it as your Majesty desires." + +But the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from +gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. + +After the reduction of the city Henry went a considerable distance with +his army towards the frontier of Flanders, in order to return, as he +said, "his cousin's visit." But the recovery of Amiens had placed too +winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him +to push his nominal adversary to extremities. + +The result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the +republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter +advanced. + +Nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. +Again an expedition had been fitted forth under Essex against the Spanish +coast to return the compliment which Philip had intended with the unlucky +armada under Santa Gadea; and again Sir Francis Vere, with two thousand +veterans from the Netherlands, and the Dutch admirals, with ten ships of +war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken +part in the adventure. + +The fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the +threatened coast and was blown off again. It returned at last into the +English ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended +superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. Essex, with a +few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the Azores, but, +beyond the capture of a Spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and +inflicted no damage. + +Nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three +confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated +themselves. + +Sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had-- +brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could +hardly have effected, Maurice took the field in August: for an autumnal +campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. Foiled in his efforts +for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon Philip's +power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the +Rhine, to secure the important provinces of Zutphen, Gelderland, and +Overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and +concealed warfare carried on by Spain in the territories of the mad Duke +of Juliers, Clever and Berg. For the seeds of the Thirty Years' War of +Germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was +the determination of the agents of Spain to acquire the mastery of that +most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever +Protestantism was to be assailed in England, the Netherlands, or Germany. + +Meantime the Hispaniolated counsellors of Duke John had strangled--as it +was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect +health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly +mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to +find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever +orthodox house of Lorrain. And the Protestant brothers-in-law and +nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to +check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from +the ubiquitous power of Spain. + +The stadholder had also family troubles at this period. His sister +Emilia had conceived a desperate passion for Don Emmanuel, the pauper +son of the forlorn pretender to Portugal, Don Antonio, who had at last +departed this life. Maurice was indignant that a Catholic, an outcast, +and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter +of William of Orange-Nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, +reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the +lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty +States-General, were obliged to enact their parts. The chronicles are +filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor +even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid +marriage. The Princess Emilia remained true both to her religion and her +husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death Don +Emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the King of Spain and to +espouse, in second nuptials, a Spanish lady. On the 4th of August, +Maurice arrived at Arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve +hundred horse. Hohenlo was with him, and William Lewis, and there was +yet another of the illustrious house of Nassau in the camp, Frederick +Henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of William the +Silent, the grandson of Admiral de Coligny, now about; in this his first +campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. + +Having reduced the town and castle of Alphen, the stadholder came before +Rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. During a preliminary +skirmish William Lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the +brief siege Maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing +through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon +his couch. + +On the 19th, Rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, +surrendered. On the 31st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the +city of Meurs, which capitulated on the 2nd of September; the commandant, +Andrew Miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty- +pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. Maurice gave his +permission with a laugh, begging Miranda not to batter down any cities +with his big gun. + +On the 8th September the stadholdet threw a bridge over the Rhine, and +crossing that river and the Lippe, came on the 11th before Grol. There +was no Christopher Mondragon now in his path to check his progress and +spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely +surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. +Count van Stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder +on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred +strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of +Philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in +peace. + +On the 9th October the town and castle of Brevoort were taken by storm +and the town was burned. + +On the 18th October, Maurice having summoned Enschede, the commandant +requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to +reduce the city. Leave being granted, two captains were deputed +accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. +The place accordingly capitulated at once. + +Here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of Alva and +Romero. + +On the 21st and 22nd October, Ootmarsum and Oldenzaal were taken, and on +the 28th the little army came before Lingen. This important city +surrendered after a fortnight's siege. + +Thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the +course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by +means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, +achieved very considerable results. He had taken nine strongly-fortified +cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the Rhine, and +strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. He was censured +by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the +conquered garrisons. At least it was thought quite superfluous to let +these Spanish soldiers go scot free. Five thousand veterans had thus +been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result +soon proved the policy of Maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. The +great repudiation by Philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of Alberta +converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these +garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. + +After the successful siege of Hulst in the previous year the cardinal had +reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at Tirlemont and +Chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. Those rebels had been +paid off and had mainly returned to Italy and other lands to spend their +money. But soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established +itself in Antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of Mexia, the +governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at +the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. They were obliged to +furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot- +soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the +great Eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed +with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting +sumptuously every day. At the slightest demur to these demands the +bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery +practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal +citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. The example spread. The +garrison of Ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military +rebellion lasted for more than a year. + +While the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the +fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the +republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of +gratitude. The year, begun with the signal victory of Turnhout, had +worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the +autumnal campaign on the Rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout +the little commonwealth. + +Thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of +the work which the anti-Spanish league had been called into existence to +accomplish. But, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon +the Netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. Of +course it was the object of Philip and of the pope to destroy this +formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent +assistance, not only in Henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that +crafty monarch himself. Clement hated Philip as much as he feared him, +so that the prospect both of obtaining Henry as a counterpoise to his own +most oppressive and most Catholic protector, and of breaking up the great +convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, +was a most tempting one to his Holiness. Therefore he employed, +indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by Rome to +effect this great purpose. As for Elizabeth, she was weary of the war, +most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the States, and profoundly +jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new +commonwealth. If the league therefore proved impotent from the +beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the United Netherlands. +We have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with +De Bethune, his formal declaration of war against Spain which the Dutch +diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more +certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn +formation of the triple alliance against Philip, were instantly +accompanied on Henry's part by secret peace negotiations with Philip's +agents. Villeroy, told Envoy Calvaert that as for himself he always +trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of +his Majesty in that declaration at the instance of the States-General, of +which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. +He complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by +England. Calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of +England, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the +States. The republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain +that nothing had been done by France, that all favourable occasions had +been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. The +envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having +taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of Turnhout, +in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the +common enemy. He bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and +goings of Balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the Netherlands, +and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once +abandoned. They did his Majesty no service, and it was no wonder that +they caused uneasiness to his allies. Villeroy replied that the king had +good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. + +As Henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his +subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to Balvena and all +other informal negotiators whom Cardinal Ilbert might send from Brussels +or Clement from Rome. It will be recollected that Henry's parting words +to Balvena at Rouen had been: "Tell the archduke that I am very much his +friend. Let him arrange a peace. Begone. Be diligent." + +But the king's reply to Calvaert, when, after the interview with +Villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private +conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his Majesty on +these intrigues with the Spanish agent, was that he should send off +Balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all +hope of troubling him with any further propositions. + +It has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, +made by Elizabeth through Robert Sydney, that she should succour Calais +on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by Henry. +At a somewhat later moment, when Calais had passed entirely into the +possession of Spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with +twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to +be entirely for her own profit. Again the king bad expressed great +astonishment and indignation at the proposition. + +Nevertheless, after Amiens had been lost, Henry had sent Fonquerolles on +a special mission to England, asking Elizabeth's assistance in the siege +for its recovery, and offering that she should keep Calais as a pledge +for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held +the Brill and Flushing in the Netherlands. This proposal, however, to +make a considerable campaign in Picardy, and to be indemnified by Henry +for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did +not seem tempting to Elizabeth: The mission of Fonquerolles was +fruitless, as might have been supposed. Nothing certainly in the queen's +attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would +help to reduce Amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering Calais +if she could. + +So soon as her refusal was made certain, Henry dropped the mask. +Buzanval, the regular French envoy at the Hague--even while amazing the +States by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for +immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing +nothing but besiege Amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still +further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the +pope's secret offers. + +His Holiness had assured the king, through the legate at Paris, that he +could easily bring about a peace between him and Philip, if Henry would +agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name +should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not +appear as seeking for peace. It was to be considered however--so Henry's +envoy intimated both at Greenwich and the Hague--that if the king should +accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a +share in it the queen and all others not of the Catholic religion, and it +was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to +these overtures would force him still further in the same path. He +dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in +which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those +who had undertaken to help him out of danger. + +Much more information to this effect did Buzanval communicate to the +States on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of +the ill-success of the mission of Fonquerolles. That diplomatist had +brought back nothing from England, it appeared, save excuses, general +phrases, and many references to the troubles in Ireland and to the danger +of a new Spanish Armada. + +It was now for the first time, moreover, that the States learned how they +had been duped both by England and France in the matter of the League. +To their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves +furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the +three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two +thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very +strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of +the expenses thus incurred. + +These facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had +all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not +make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was +it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the +king's death his affection and gratitude towards the States would be +found deeply engraved upon his heart." + +The result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative +indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those +deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. Calvaert, too, who had so +long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed +him--at least so far as the Netherlands were concerned--to be almost +without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. Sick and +suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the +States-General of the dangers impending over them from the secret +negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from +them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in +hoodwinking their envoy himself. But the honest and energetic agent of +the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manceuvres of +Henry and the pope. He died in Paris during the month of June of this +year. + +Certainly the efforts of Spanish and Papal diplomacy had not been +unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by +which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very +closely together. The republic and Henry IV. were now on a most +uncomfortable footing towards each other. On the other hand, the queen +was in a very ill humour with the States and very angry with Henry. +Especially the persistent manner in which the Hollanders carried on trade +with Spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and +feeding the enemy, while Englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from +participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in +England. In vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to +the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that +Spain would derive her supplies from the Baltic and other regions as +regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her +foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war +but would perish of inanition. The English statesmen threatened to +declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful +prize to English cruisers. + +Burghley declared, with much excitement, to Canon, that he, as well +as all the council, considered the conduct of the Hollanders so +unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever +embarked with a State which chose to aid its own enemies in the +destruction of itself and its allies. Such conduct was so monstrous that +those who were told of it would hardly believe it. + +The Dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged +in this trade, and he asked the Lord Treasurer whether he proposed that +these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the +enemy. Burghley rejoined that the Hollanders had the whole world beside +to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole +world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that +there was no believing it. + +Caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the +contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the +States-General had in providing for the expenses of the war and in +extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. This would +hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. +But still the English counsellors protested that they would stop this +trading with the enemy at every hazard. + +On the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were +often baffled as to the true intentions of the English Government. "As +the queen is fine and false," said Marquis Havre, observing and aiding in +the various intrigues which were weaving at Brussels, "and her council +much the same, she is practising towards the Hollanders a double +stratagem. On the one hand she induces them to incline to a general +peace. On the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who +govern Holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. +interest of the State is in a continuation of the war." + +But Havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have +found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that +rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any +doubt on that subject. It needed no English argument to persuade Olden- +Barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the +republic, that peace would be destruction. Moreover, there is no +question that both the queen and Burghley would have been truly grateful +had the States-General been willing to make peace and return to the +allegiance which they had long since spurned. + +Nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment +more of animosity in Elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with +whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, +or towards her ancient enemy. Although she longed for peace, she hardly +saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of Henry had in +a manner barred the path. She confessed to the States' envoy that it was +as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with Spain. To this +Caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "There is as much +chance for your Majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the +present King of Spain, as to find redemption in hell." + +To the Danish ambassadors, who had come to England with proposals of +mediation, the queen had replied that the King of Spain had attacked her +dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, +that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been +willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to +maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; +that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any +conditions. Yet, if she saw that the King of Spain had any remorse for +his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, +she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from +peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. + +She said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both +the King of France and the States of the Netherlands, for with these +powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against +the King of Spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in +the world would she ever swerve one jot. + +Certainly these were words of Christian charity and good faith, but such +professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public +consumption. As the accounts became more and more minute, however, of +Henry's intrigues with Albert, Philip, and Clement, the queen grew more +angry. + +She told Caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in +communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent +some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at +Arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. She +expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, +she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before +he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "And +now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of +the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to +negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." + +She further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been +taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two +kingdoms of France and England must first be provided for; that when the +basis between these powers and Spain had been arranged, it would be time +to make arrangements for the States, and that it would probably be found +advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and +Spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on +its actual footing. During this armistice the King of Spain was to +withdraw all Spanish troops from the Netherlands, in consequence of which +measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming +more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their +sovereign once more. + +This, according to the information received by Elizabeth from her +resident minister in France, was Henry's scheme for carrying out the +principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year +before he had so solemnly concluded with the Dutch republic. Instead of +assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against +Spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to +her ancient thraldom. + +The queen asked Caron what he thought of the project. How could that +diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? Not a year of such an armistice +would elapse, he said, before the Spanish partisans would have it all +their own way in the Netherlands, and the King of Spain would be master +of the whole country. Again and again he repeated that peace, so long as +Philip lived, was an impossibility for the States. No doubt that monarch +would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed +strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the +provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him +to so advantageous a position. + +The queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this +vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another +kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the +dominion of Spain. She would do her best to dissuade the king from his +peace negotiations; but she would listen to De Maisae, the new special +envoy from Henry, and would then faithfully report to Caron, by word of +mouth, the substance of the conversation. The States-General did not +deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless +she were first cheated herself. "I feel indeed," she added, "that +matters are not always managed as they should be by your Government, and +that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we +deserve to be treated. Nevertheless, your State is not a monarchy, and +so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults +against its many perfections." + +With this philosophical--and in the mouth of Elizabeth Tudor, surely very +liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the +republican envoy. + +Meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of France proceeded. +For, so soon as Henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his +decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by Spain, he +assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly +avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. Hurault de +Maisse arrived in England not long before the time when the peace- +commissioners were about assembling at Vervins. He was instructed to +inform her Majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general +alliance of the European powers from which alone the league concluded +between England, France, and the Netherlands would have derived +substantial strength. + +But as nothing was to be hoped for from Germany, as England offered but +little assistance, and as France was exhausted by her perpetual +conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. +He now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom +he was under such obligations, that the interests of England were as dear +to him as those of France. + +The proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as +could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the +ambassador found himself in conference with her Majesty's counsellors. +The English statesmen bitterly reproached the French for having thus +lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they +insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. + +The reply was very frank and very decided. Kings, said De Maisse, never +make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that +may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to +their interests. + +The corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. +The king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace +which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very +detrimental. All that they could expect was that he should communicate +his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. Such +in brief were the statements of De Maisse. + +The English were indignant. They also said a stout word for the +provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not +love that upstart republic. But the French ambassador replied that his, +master really meant secretly to assist the States in carrying on the war +until they should make an arrangement. He should send them very powerful +succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that England would +assist him in this line of conduct. Thus Henry was secretly pledging +himself, to make underhand but substantial war against Spain, with which +power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he +was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in +order to affect that very pacification. Truly the morality of the +governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic +standard. + +The interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, +on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but +mainly to the same effect. De Maisse stated that the Spanish king had +offered to restore every place that he held in France, including Calais, +Brittany, and the Marquisate of Saluces, and as he likewise manifested a +willingness to come to favourable terms with her Majesty and with the +States, it was obviously the duty of Henry to make these matters known to +her Majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or +continuation of the war. The queen asked what was the authority for the +supposition that England was to be included by Spain in the pacification. +De Maisse quoted President Richardot. In that case, the queen remarked, +it was time for her to prepare for a third Spanish armada. When a former +envoy from France had alluded to Richardot as expressing the same +friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had +replied by referring to the sham negotiations of Bourbourg, by which +the famous invasion of 1588 had been veiled, and she had intimated her +expectation that another Spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. And +within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, +under Santa Gadea, had issued from Spain to assail her realms. Now then, +as Richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look +for a third invasion. It was an impertinence for Secretary of State +Villeroy to send her word about Richardot. It was not an impertinence in +King Henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of +state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and +secretaries, but it was very strange that Villeroy should be made quiet +with a simple declaration of Richardot. + +The queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with Spain, +except with the knowledge and consent of the States. De Maisse replied +that the king was of the same mind, upon which her Majesty remarked that +in that case he had better have apprised her and the States of his +intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. The envoy +denied that the king had been treating. He had only been listening to +what the King of Spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and +intentions. The queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, +and certainly her Majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at +all. + +Elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked +about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous +pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that +he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his +taste. She expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself +honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he +had so solemnly sworn before God. + +Such was the substance of the queen's conversations with De Maisse, as +she herself subsequently reported them to the States' envoy. + +The republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect Henry's +intentions, but they did not implicitly trust Elizabeth. They feared +that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to +abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the +other in any negotiations for peace. Barneveld--on the whole the most +sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of Europe, although he +could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the +chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three +million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert Henry +from thoughts of peace. Feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her +professions to Caron and others, would have gladly entered into +negotiations with Philip, had she found the door as wide open as Henry +had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding +farther in that direction. He promised the French envoy at the Hague +that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand +soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if Henry would recommence +active operations, a States' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand +horse should at once take the field on the Flemish frontier of France, +and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. If the +king were disposed to undertake the siege of Calais, the Advocate engaged +that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. + +Nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were +recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of France, +but to the dominions of the republic. That was the queen's method of +assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the States. Buzanval, +who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested +Henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. But of +course Barneveld rejected the idea with horror. He felt, as every +intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an +armistice would be a death-blow. It would be better, he said, for the +States to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so +many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a +pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, +to wish to enter the heart of the city. "If," said the Advocate, "the +French and the English know what they are doing when they are, +facilitating the Spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to +lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the Spaniard absolute master +here." + +It was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special +mission both to France and to England with the Advocate as its chief. +Henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected +much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to +the intrigues of Elizabeth. He sent word to Prince Maurice and to +Barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him +in negotiating with Spain in order to obtain Calais for herself. And, +in truth, Elizabeth very soon afterwards informed Barneveld that she +might really have had Calais, and have got the better of the king in +these secret transactions. + +Meantime, while the special mission to France and England was getting +ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in Brussels, and made a +feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the +cardinal. + +This was a certain Van der Meulen, an Antwerp merchant who, for religious +reasons, had emigrated to Leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal +archduke to Brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility +of the rebellious States accepting his authority. For, as will soon be +indicated, Philip had recently resolved on a most important step. He was +about to transfer the sovereignty of all the Netherlands to his daughter +Isabella and her destined husband, Cardinal Albert. It would, obviously, +therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new +sovereigns if the rebellious States would join hands with the obedient +provinces, accept the dominion of Albert and Isabella and give up their +attempt to establish a republican government. Accordingly the cardinal +had intimated that the States would be allowed the practice of their +religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. +He even suggested that he would appoint Maurice of Nassau his stadholder +for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in +the Imperial armies. Such was the general admiration felt in Spain and +elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably +be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against Mahomet. Van der +Meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the States, but the +sturdy republicans only laughed at them. They saw clearly enough through +such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send +their great chieftain to Turkey. + +A most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the +States-General, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from +the obedient provinces to the united States of the same purport, remained +unanswered. + +But the Antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians +who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight +into the opinions prevalent at Brussels; and these were undoubtedly to +the effect that both England and France were willing enough to abandon +the cause of the Netherlands, provided only that they could obtain +satisfactory arrangements for themselves. + +Van der Meulen remarked to Richardot that in all their talk about a +general peace nothing had been said of the Queen of England, to whom the +States were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never +enter into any negotiations. + +Richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the +safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in +order to shelter herself. There was more difficulty for this lady, he +said, than for any of the rest. She had shown herself very obstinate, +and had done them a great deal of mischief. They knew very well that the +King of France did not love her. Nevertheless, as they had resolved upon +a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the +others. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Auction sales of judicial ermine +Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places +Famous fowl in every pot +Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust +For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) +Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence +Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands +King had issued a general repudiation of his debts +Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable +Peace would be destruction +Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before +Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth +Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness +Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v69 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 70, 1598 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + Mission of the States to Henry to prevent the consummation of peace + with Spain--Proposal of Henry to elevate Prince Maurice to the + sovereignty, of the States--Embarkation of the States' envoys for + England--Their interview with Queen Elizabeth--Return of the envoys + from England--Demand of Elizabeth for repayment of her advances to + the republic--Second embassy to England--Final arrangement between + the Queen and the States. + +The great Advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a +supreme effort both with Henry and with Elizabeth to prevent the +consummation of this fatal peace. Admiral Justinus of Nassau, natural +son of William the Silent, was associated with Barneveld in the mission, +a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but +the Advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the +commonwealth, was all in all. + +The instructions of the envoys were simple. They were to summon the +king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. The States- +General had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun +to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a +composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, +and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never +resist. The king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against +the common enemy, and the States-General offered, over and above the four +hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of +the four thousand infantry for the year 1598, to bring their whole +military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his Majesty in +the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of +cities or in open campaigns. Certainly they could hardly offer fairer +terms than these. + +Henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that Elizabeth had made no +offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to Fonquerolles or to +Hurault de Maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature +against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his +desertion. + +The envoys were ready to take their departure for France on the last day +of January. + +It might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are +modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material +agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. The human +creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, +his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +from age to age. The tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, +the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting +diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, +present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the +nineteenth, or any other century. The human tragi-comedy seems ever +to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for +immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing +episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in +reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. +There seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined +with a noisy but eternal monotony. Yet while men are produced and are +whirled away again in endless succession, Man remains, and to all +appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. Whatever +science acquires man inherits. Whatever steadfastness is gained for +great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be +thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into +elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward +progress. The great, continuous history of that progress is not made up +of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names +history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. These are but +milestones on the turnpike. Human progress is over a vast field, and it +is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to +discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or +retrograde. + +The record of our race is essentially unwritten. What we call history is +but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to +human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. Yet it is strange to +reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted +in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever +and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and +electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar +purposes of mankind. Whether there were ever a critical moment in which +a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, +had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of Henry, +or Burghley, or Barneveld, or the Cardinal Albert, need not and cannot +be decided. It is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the +intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, +were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now +gained almost despotic control. + +Here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the +consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it +was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which +there seemed a momentary hesitation. Yet Barneveld and Justinus of +Nassau, although ready on the last day of January, were not able to sail +from the Brill to Dieppe until the 18th March, on account of a persistent +south-west wind. + +After forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by Buzanval, +Henry's resident at the Hague, were at last, on the 18th March, enabled +to set sail with a favourable breeze. As it was necessary for travellers +in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their +journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough +if they found roads and occasionally food--Barneveld and Nassau were +furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to +England had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. A fleet of +forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. Departing from the +Brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by Calais, varying the +monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from +that Spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. + +Landing at Dieppe on the morning of the 20th, the envoys were received +with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who +conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, +which he politely placed at their disposal. "As we learned, however," +says Barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture +whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his Excellency, and declared +that we would rather go to a tavern." + +After three days of repose and preparation in Dieppe, they started at +dawn on their journey to Rouen, where they arrived at sundown. + +On the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and +slept that night at Louviers. Another long day's journey brought them to +Evreux. On the 27th they came to Dreux, on the 28th to Chartres, and on +the 29th to Chateaudun. On the 30th, having started an hour before +sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach Blois at an +hour after dark. Exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a +day, and on the 1st April proceeded, partly by the river Loire and partly +by the road, as far as Tours. Here they were visited by nobody, said +Barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. +Nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and +apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, +France. On the end April they slept at Langeais, and on the night of the +3rd reached Saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the +illustrious Duplessis Mornay, then governor of that city. A glance at +any map of France will show the course of the journey taken by the +travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus +brought them from Dieppe to Saumur in about as much time as is now +consumed by an average voyage from Europe to America. In their whole +journey from Holland to Saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind +and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. +Twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. + +At Saumur they received letters informing them that the king was +"expecting them with great devotion at Angiers." A despatch from Cecil, +who was already with Henry, also apprised them that he found "matters +entirely arranged for a peace." This would be very easily accomplished, +he said, for France and England, but the great difficulty was for the +Netherlands. He had come to France principally for the sake of managing +affairs for the advantage of the States, but he begged the envoys not to +demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. + +They arrived at Angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's +distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young +Prince Frederic Henry of Nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and +mounted troops. Welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, +the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. +The same evening they waited on the widowed princess of Orange, Louisa of +Coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in Angiera, and were +informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. She +communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the Duke of +Bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue +the war, notwithstanding that both their Majesties of England and France +wished to negotiate. Thus the counsels of Bouillon to the envoys were +distinctly opposed to those of Cecil, and it was well known to them that +the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the +pacific offers of Spain. + +Next morning, 5th April, they were received at the gates of the castle +by the governor of Anjou and the commandant of the citadel of Angiers, +attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was +walking in the garden of the fortress. Henry received them with great +demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the States- +General the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the +world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his +utmost need with resoluteness and affection. + +The approach of the English ambassador, accompanied by the Chancellor of +France and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a +termination. Barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the +mission, especially his son and Hugo Grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but +who had already gained such distinction at Leyden that Scaliger, +Pontanus; Heinsius, Dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would +become more famous than Erasmus. They were all very cordially received +by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his +consideration upon the youthful Grotius. + +The same day the betrothal of Monsieur Caesar with the daughter of the +Duke of Mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing +and banqueting at the castle. It was obvious enough to the envoys that +the matter of peace and war was decided. The general of the Franciscans, +sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between +Rome, Madrid, Brussels, and Paris, and there could be little doubt that +every detail of the negotiations between France and Spain had been +arranged while Olden-Barneveld and his colleague had been waiting +for the head-wind to blow itself out at the Brill. + +Nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of +the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. They +felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. +Villeroy, De Maisse, and Buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's +order, everything that had taken place. This favour was, however, the +less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was +in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. + +These French politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most +liberal offers of peace on the part of Spain, had communicated all the +facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most +profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her Majesty and the +States-General would assist him in it. De Maisse had been informed, +however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, +and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. The lord +treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared +himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he +would sing "Nunc dimitte servum tuum Domine." Thereupon, at the +suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at Vervins, and although +nothing was absolutely concluded, yet Sir Robert Cecil, having just been +sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions +whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses +about armadas, Irish rebellions, and the want of funds. There was +nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. The queen had +done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she +solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. The king, by +making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the +distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--Calais, +Ardres, Dourlens, Blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure +or of blood. + +Certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of +the French king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so +pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real +interests and his real purposes were peace. Much excellent diplomacy, +much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in +royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest Dutchmen, might have +thus been saved. It is also instructive to observe the difference +between the accounts of De Maisse's negotiations in England given by that +diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the States' +envoy. + +Of course the objurgations of the Hollanders that the king, in a very +fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his +solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few +tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as Villeroy and +his friends. + +The envoys visited De Rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their +friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest +possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. + +Before taking final leave of his Majesty they concluded, by advice of the +Princess of Orange and of Buzanval, to make the presents which they had +brought with them from the States-General. Accordingly they sent, +through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two +pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, Madame Catherine, two pieces +of linen to Villeroy, and two to the beautiful Gabrielle. The two +remaining pieces were bestowed upon Buzanval for his pains in +accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. + +The incident shows the high esteem in which the Nethcrland fabrics were +held at that period. + +There was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of +the king, the chancellor, the Dukes of Espernon and Bouillon, Count +Schomberg, and De Sancy, Plessis, Buzanval, Maisse, the Dutch envoys, and +the English ambassador and commissioner Herbert. Cecil presided, and +Barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual +vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were +proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. And the +orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a +foregone conclusion. Everyone had made up his mind. Everyone knew that +peace was made. It is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar +train of reasoning. It is superfluous to say that the conference was +barren. On the same evening Villeroy called on the States' envoys, and +informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his Majesty had +fully made up his mind. + +On the 23rd April--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in +diplomatic trilling--Barneveld was admitted to his Majesty's dressing- +room. The Advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, +and was attended only by his son. No other persons were present in the +chamber save Buzanval and Beringen. The king on this occasion confirmed +what had so recently been stated by Villeroy. He had thoroughly +pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the States to dissuade him +from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. The necessities +of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. He +would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the States to join in +the treaty. He desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. +What had most vexed him was that the Protestants with great injustice +accused him of intending to make war upon them. But innumerable and +amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the +English, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. He then +said that he would tell the Duke of Bouillon to speak with Sir Robert +Cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention +privately to Olden-Barneveld. + +The king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. Alluding +to the constitution of the Netherlands, he remarked that a popular +government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more +danger than monarchies were, and he asked the Advocate if he thought +there was no disposition to elect a prince. Barneveld replied that the +general inclination was rather for a good republic. The government, +however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state +was administered according to laws and charters by the principal +inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. Since the death +of the late Prince of Orange, and the offer made to the King of France, +and subsequently to the Queen of England, of the sovereignty, there had +been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a +matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the State. + +Henry then spoke of Prince Maurice, and asked whether, if he should be +supported by the Queen of England and the King of France, it would not be +possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. + +Here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol- +shot full in the face of a republican minister. + +The answer of the Advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively +sincere. + +If your Majesty, said he, together with her Majesty the queen, think the +plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, +to rescue all the Netherlands from the hands of the Spaniards and their +adherents, and thus render the States eternally obliged to the sovereigns +and kingdoms of France and England, my lords the States-General would +probably be willing to accept this advice. + +But the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. + +Without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating +Maurice to the sovereignty of the Netherlands, at the expense of the +republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions +of Barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he +thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. He had thoroughly satisfied +himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest +gales at the Brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he +had found prevailing at the French court, that it was hopeless to strive +for that much-desired haven, a general war. The admiral and himself +might as well have endeavoured to persuade Mahomet III. and Sigismund of +Poland to join the States in a campaign against Cardinal Albert, as to +hope for the same good offices from Elizabeth and Henry. + +Having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly +communicated, next day, to Cecil the proposition thus made by the king. +Subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the Queen of England. + +On the 27th April both Barneveld and Nassau were admitted to the royal +dressing-room in Nantes citadel for a final audience. Here, after the +usual common places concerning his affection for the Netherlands, and the +bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, Henry again +referred to his suggestion in regard to Prince Maurice; urging a change +from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means +of preserving the State. + +The envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but +declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their +request. The course pursued by his Majesty, they said, would be found +very hard of digestion by the States, both in regard to the whole force +of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the +bad example thus set for other powers. + +They then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. +At their departure his Majesty personally conducted them through various +apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the Duchess +of Beaufort, then lying in childbed. Here he drew wide open the bed- +curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. They complied, and begging the +duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her +farewell. She promised not to forget their request, and thanked them +for the presents of damask and fine linen. + +Such was the result of the mission of the great Advocate and his +colleague to Henry IV., from which so much had been hoped; and for +anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, +and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this +touching interview with the beautiful Gabrielle. + +On the 19th of May the envoys embarked at Dieppe for England, and on the +25th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, Noel +de Caron, at the village of Clapham. + +Having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between +France and Spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn +hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with +England. They were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of +Elizabeth, especially Burghley and Buckhurst, were determined upon peace. +They knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the +pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. But +they knew, too, that Henry, having now secured the repose of his own +kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy +the same advantage. The king did not cease to assure the States that he +would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new +ally, while Secretary of State Villeroy, as they knew, would place every +possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with Spain. + +Elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. What the States most +feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the +cautionary towns in her negotiations with Philip. At any rate, said +Francis Aerssens, then States' minister in France, she will bring us to +the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into +her arms in despair. + +The queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be +made. If not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the +States as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her +advances. Certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see +her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in +wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own +subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if +they wished her aid to be continued. Her subjects were impoverished and +panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty +restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute +commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to +perpetual danger. + +She preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent +to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this +war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively +assisted them--these republican Calvinists should, refuse to return to +the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. To Barneveld, Maurice +of Nassau, and the States-General this did not seem a very logical +termination to so much hard fighting. + +Accordingly, when on the 26th of May the two envoys fell on their knees-- +as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to +their feet again, they found her Majesty in marvellously ill-humour. +Olden-Barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to France, +and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could +be no other issue. The king was indifferent, he had said, whether the +States preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he +had secured a profit for himself, iuflicted damage on his enemy, and done +no harm to his friends. + +Her Majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against +the French king for his treachery. She had written with her own hand, +she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing +what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but +which had now proved true. + +Then she became very abusive to the Dutch envoys, telling them that they +were quite unjustifiable in not following Sir Robert Cecil's advice, +and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so +far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. She added, +pettishly, that if Prince Maurice and other functionaries were left in +the enjoyment of their offices, and if the Spaniards were sent out of the +country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. + +Barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, +unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. Then came the +eternal two points--obedience to God, which meant submission to the pope; +and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic +authority. Thus the Christian religion would be ruined throughout the +provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for Spanish +ambition. + +The queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's +discourse, protesting over and over again by the living God that she +would not and could not give the States any further assistance; that she +would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had +lasted much longer than the siege of Troy did, and swearing that she had +been a fool to help them and the king of France as she had done, for it +was nothing but evil passions that kept the States so obstinate. + +The envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the +reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with +admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that +sagacity in the present very difficult matter. She ought to believe that +it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the +States from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to +maintain their national existence, the Christian religion, and their +ancient liberties and laws. They did not pretend, he said, to be wiser +than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their +form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. + +Monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect +their realms and their subjects from danger. The States-General could +not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute +authority, and the Netherlanders would never subject themselves to +their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. + +Surely these remarks of the Advocate should have seemed entirely +unanswerable. Surely there was no politician in Europe so ignorant as +not to know that any treaty of peace between Philip and the States meant +their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the +Protestant religion. Least of all did the Queen of England require +information on this great matter of state. It was cruel trifling +therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything +like a return of the States to the dominion of Spain. + +But her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money +overpowered at that time all other considerations. + +The States wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not +make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down +conditions under which the king would not really be their master; +especially if France and England should guarantee them against any +infraction of their rights. By the living God! by the living God! by the +living God! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would +never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted +having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a +manner. + +Again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm +and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her +money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been +brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without +paying any heed to the course pursued by the King of France, to allow the +republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her +kingdom. + +But her Majesty was obdurate. "How am I to defend myself?" she cried; +"how are the affairs of Ireland to be provided for? how am I ever to get +back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of Brill and Flushing?" +And with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors +would confer with the envoys.' + +From the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very +evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all +the world. + +Now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by England +to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, +according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand +pounds sterling. But in her interviews with the republican statesmen she +was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the +man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had +repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength +of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest +wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to +extirpate from England the religion professed by the majority of living +Englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a Spanish, German, or +Italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient +subjects in the Netherlands. At that very epoch Philip was occupied in +reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of +the claims of the Infanta Isabella to the English crown, and calling on +his Holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, +in consequence of the treaty with the Prince of Bearne, to renounce her +right to reign over France. + +Certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand +out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to +dispute in the figures. When was ever an account of fifteen years' +standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much +wrangling? Meantime her Majesty held excellent security in two thriving +and most important Netherland cities. But had the States consented to +re-establish the Spanish authority over the whole of their little +Protestant republic, was there an English child so ignorant of arithmetic +or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how +incalculable the expense, thus caused to England? + +Yet besides the Cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential +counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished Buckhurst, +who had so often proved his friendship for the States--were in favour of +negotiation. There were many conferences with meagre results. The +Englishmen urged that the time had come for the States to repay the +queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the +payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force +in defence of England when attacked. Such was the condition of the +kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities-- +that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was +necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. + +These arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely +illogical. The special envoys from the republic had not been instructed +to treat about the debt. This had been the subject of perpetual +negotiation. It was discussed almost every day by the queen's +commissioners at the Hague and by the States' resident minister at +London. Olden-Barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the +Staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a +conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. +They had been too late in France, and now, on arriving in England, they +found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless +shipwreck of a general peace. + +What must have been the grief of Olden-Barneveld when he heard from the +lips of the enlightened Buckhurst that the treaty of 1585 had been +arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, +and that as the States could now make peace and did not choose to do so, +her Majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, +and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! + +To this perfidious suggestion what could the States' envoy reply but that +as a peace such as the treaty of 1585 presupposed--to wit, with security +for the Protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the +provinces--was impossible, should the States now treat with the king or +the cardinal? + +The envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was +more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. Let the +States either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present +necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with +the enemy. Should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of +their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. +She repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of +making Philip nominal sovereign of all the Netherlands, without allowing +him to exercise any authority over them. As if the most Catholic and +most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the +cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous +forty years could be effaced from the record of history. + +She asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the +Netherlands to the cardinal or the Infanta should prove true, which she +doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the +sentiments of the States. + +Barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they +had no more confidence in the cardinal or the Infants than in the King of +Spain himself. + +On taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon Lord Burghley, whom +they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the +gout and with a very fierce countenance. He made no secret of his +opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by +monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm +eulogy on the course pursued by the King of France. It was his Majesty's +duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his +subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do +the same. + +The envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in +judgment upon the king's actions. They would content themselves with +remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by +their, contracts, oaths, and pledges before God and man; and with this +wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. + +They left London immediately, on the last day of May, without, passports. +or despatches of recal, and embarked at Gravesend in the midst of a gale +of wind. + +Lord Essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and +disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after +them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their +mission: "My mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute +princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she +wills what she wills." + +The negotiations between England and Spain were deferred, however, for a +brief space, and a special message was despatched to the Hague as to the +arrangement of the debt. "Peace at once with Philip," said the queen, +"or else full satisfaction of my demands." + +Now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers +as the queen and the Netherland republic. + +Two years before, the States had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a +year on her Majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after +a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. The queen, on +her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half +sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand +pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, +assumption by the States of the whole cost of the garrisons in the +cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon +England. Thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. + +Vere and Gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the Hague, +and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, +meantime, Barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native +shores before he was sent back again to England at the head of another +solemn legation. One more effort was to be made to arrange this +financial problem and to defeat the English peace party. + +The offer of the year 1596 just alluded to was renewed and instantly +rejected. Naturally enough, the Dutch envoys were disposed, in the +exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay +down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they +considered a liberal annual sinking fund. + +The English, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, +and held the threatened negotiation with Spain over the heads of the +unfortunate envoys like a whip. + +So the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and +again over the well-worn path. + +On the 29th June, Buckhurst took Olden-Barneveld into his cabinet, and +opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her Majesty, he said, but +as a private Englishman. He was entirely for peace. Now that peace was +offered to her Majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the +Lord God's blessing could not be upon it. Without God's blessing no +resistance could be made by the queen nor by the States to the enemy, +who was ten times more powerful than her Majesty in kingdoms, provinces, +number of subjects, and money. He had the pope, the emperor, the Dukes +of Savoy and Lorraine, and the republic of Genoa, for his allies. He +feared that the war might come upon England, and that they might be fated +on one single day to win or lose all. The queen possessed no mines, and +was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. The king had ever- +flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, +which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. He +concluded, therefore, that as her Majesty had no allies but the +Netherlands, peace was best for England, and advisable for the provinces. +Arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of +Spain. + +This highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author +of Ferrex and Porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as Sackville had +become since his dramatic days--did not much impress Barneveld. He +answered that, although the King of Spain was unquestionably very +powerful, the Lord God was still stronger; that England and the +Netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was +of the utmost importance, especially for England; but that if the +republic were to make her submission to Spain, and become incorporate +with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to England. + +The Advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit Philip as +sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a +foolish dream. + +Buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of England, that +there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that +for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the States. + +Olden-Barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from +such friends. To thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's +friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a +cheerful or prudent proceeding. + +At last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured +to make, Elizabeth sent for Olden-Barneveld and Caron and demanded their +ultimatum within twenty-four hours. Should it prove unsatisfactory, she +would at once make peace with Spain. + +On the 1st August the envoys accordingly proposed to Cecil and the other +ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty +thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of +redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. This +seemed admissible, and Cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair +arranged. But they had reckoned without the queen after all. + +Elizabeth sent for Caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into +a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make +peace with Spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. + +"They were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would +not treat with the enemy. She had merely intended to defer the +negotiations." + +So the whole business was to be done over again. At last the sum claimed +by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement +to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on +the part of the States to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand +pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for +by some subsequent arrangement. All attempts, however, to obtain a +promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in +case of a peace between Spain and England remained futile. + +That was to be a bone of contention for many years. + +It was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the +16th August, that, in case England were invaded by the common enemy, the +States should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of +war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + Negotiations between France and Spain--Conclusion of the treaty of + peace--Purchase of the allegiance of the French nobles--Transfer of + the Netherlands to Albert and Isabella--Marriage of the Infante and + the Infanta--Illness of Philip II.--Horrible nature of his malady-- + His last hours and death--Review of his reign--Extent of the Spanish + dominions--Causes of the greatness of Spain, and of its downfall-- + Philip's wars and their expenses--The Crown revenues of Spain-- + Character of the people--Their inordinate self-esteem--Consequent + deficiency of labour--Ecclesiastical Government--Revenues of the + Church--Characteristics of the Spanish clergy--Foreign commerce of + Spain--Governmental system of Philip II.--Founded on the popular + ignorance and superstition--Extinction of liberty in Spain--The Holy + Inquisition--The work and character of Philip. + +While the utterly barren conferences had been going on at Angiers and +Nantes between Henry IV. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had +been proceeding at Vervins. + +President Richardot on behalf of Spain, and Secretary of State Villeroy +as commissioner of Henry, were the chief negotiators. + +Two old acquaintances, two ancient Leaguers, two bitter haters of +Protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they +went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and +respected each other's skill. + +Richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous +politician in the obedient Netherlands. Villeroy had conducted every +intrigue of France during a whole generation of mankind. They scarcely +did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before +arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. + +It was obvious at once to Villeroy that Philip was determined to make +peace with France in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. +It was also known to the French diplomatist that the Spanish king was +ready for, almost every concession to Henry, in order that this object +might be accomplished. + +All that Richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by +Spain over France was Calais. + +But Villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. +His king insisted on the restoration of the place. Otherwise he would +make no peace. It was enough, he said, that his Majesty said nothing +about Navarre. + +Richardot urged that at the time when the English had conquered Calais +it had belonged to Artois, not to France. It was no more than equitable, +then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. + +The general of the Franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the +transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in +his ear. + +Villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. Richardot +acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said +that it was time to make it known. + +Accordingly--the two being all ears--Richardot observed that what he was +about to state he said with fear and trembling. He knew not what the +King of Spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, +utter the suggestion that Calais should be handed over to the pope. + +His Holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels +was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite +arrangements on the subject. + +Now Villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by +this ingenious artifice. Moreover, he happened to have an intercepted +letter in his possession in which Philip told the cardinal that Calais +was to be given up if the French made its restitution a sine qua non. +So Villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after +terminated in an agreement on the part of Spain to surrender all its +conquests in France. + +Certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the +French king under such circumstances, and Philip at the last moment had +consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three +friends. The treaty was signed at Vervins on the 2nd May, and contained +thirty-five articles. Its basis was that of the treaty of Cateau +Cambresis of 1559. Restitution of all places conquered by either party +within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was +stipulated. Henry recovered Calais, Ardres, Dourlens, Blavet, and many +other places, and gave up the country of Charolois. Prisoners were to be +surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of +war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. + +The pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or +control, the Duke of Savoy, the King of Poland and Sweden, the Kings of +Denmark and Scotland, the Dukes of Lorraine and Tuscany, the Doge of +Venice, the republic of Genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, +were included in the treaty. The famous Edict of Nantes in favour of +the Protestant subjects of the French king was drawn up and signed in +the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these +negotiations. Its publication was, however, deferred until after the +departure of the legate from France in the following year. + +The treaty of Cateau Cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful +and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a French monarch; and +surely Henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. +It was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards +which he had gathered by deserting his allies. + +He had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, +with the aid of the indefatigable Bethune, to pay the prodigious sums +with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser +gentlemen of France. Thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient +to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing +enormous pensions from the King of Spain up to the very moment, or beyond +it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own +country. Scarcely a, great name in the golden book of France but was +recorded among these bills of sale. + +Mayenne, Lorraine, Guise, Nemours, Mercoeur, Montpensier, Joyeuse, +Epernon, Brissac, D'Arlincourt, Balagny, Rochefort, Villeroy, Villars, +Montespan, Leviston, Beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the +great financier's terrible account-book, from Mayenne, set down at the +cool amount of three and a half millions, to Beauvoir or Beauvillars at +the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "I should +appal my readers," said De Bethune, "if I should show to them that this +sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal +treasury, either by Frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and +yet the total was thirty-two millions's." + +And now the most Catholic king, having brought himself at last to +exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to +recognize the Prince of Bearne as the legitimate successor of St. Louis, +to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of +lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many +prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had +long hesitated to take. + +He resolved to transfer the Netherlands to his daughter Isabella and to +the Cardinal Archduke Albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to +espouse the Infanta. + +The deed of cession was signed at Madrid on the 6th May, 1598. It was +accompanied by a letter of the same date from the Prince Philip, heir +apparent to the crown. + +On the 30th May the Infanta executed a procuration by which she gave +absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of +the Netherlands, Burgundy, and Charolois, and to receive the oaths of the +estates and of public functionaries. + + [See all the deeds and documents in Bor, IV. 461-466. Compare + Herrera, iii. 766-770. Very elaborate provisions were made in + regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this + marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue + was to be expected. The incapacity of the cardinal seems to have + been revealed by an indiscretion of the General of Franciscans-- + diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much + collateral evidence. Hence all these careful stipulations were a + solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] + +It was all very systematically done. No transfer of real estate, no +'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds +and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than +the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. + +The quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. + +So also was the power of attorney, by which the Infanta authorised the +middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession +in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. + +It certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that +the few millions of Netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these +provinces in the North Sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to +the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living +in a remote country. For such was the blasphemous system of Europe at +that day. Property had rights. Kings, from whom all property emanated, +were enfeoffed directly from the Almighty; they bestowed certain +privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. He was +property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with +the sweat of his brow. + +The obedient Netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. +They wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his +crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and +dependencies to consider themselves gems. + +The republican Netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and +treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of +the provinces with silent contempt. + +The cardinal-archduke left Brussels in September, having accomplished the +work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left Cardinal +Andrew of Austria, bishop of Constantia, son of the Archduke Ferdinand, +to administer affairs during his absence. Francis de Mendoza, Admiral of +Arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same +interval. + +The double marriage of the Infante of Spain with the Archduchess Margaret +of Austria, and of the unfrocked Cardinal Albert of Austria with the +Infanta Clara Eugenia Isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense +pomp, at Ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon +his head. + +Meantime, Philip II., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, +and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been +rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the Netherlands in May. +Longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the Escorial, +he undertook the journey towards the beginning of June, and was carried +thither from Madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the +journey of seven leagues in six days. + +When he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. The gout, +his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and +feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. By the +middle of July a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his +strength. Moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter +disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. +Imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, +had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was +not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, +and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in +the monarch's blood and flesh. + +The details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the +pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. Let +it suffice, that no torture ever invented by Torquemada or Peter Titelman +to serve the vengeance of Philip and his ancestors or the pope against +the heretics of Italy or Flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies +which the most Catholic king was now called upon to endure. And not one +of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of Charles or Philip had been +strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of +lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more +ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great +monarch of Spain. + +That the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were +parted, was a torment such as the imagination of Dante might have +invented for the lowest depths of his "Inferno." + + [A great English poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- + + "It is as if the dead could feel + The icy worm about them steal:"--BYRON.] + +On the 22nd July, the king asked Dr. Mercado if his sickness was likely +to have a fatal termination. The physician, not having the courage at +once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. +On the 1st August his Majesty's confessor, father Diego de Yepes, after +consultation with Mercado, announced to Philip that the only issue to his +malady was death. Already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a +mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four +men to turn him in his bed. + +He expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now +been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his +thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving +him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal +welfare to possess. + +His first thought was to request the papal nuncio, Gaetano, to despatch a +special courier to Rome to request the pope's benediction. This was +done, and it was destined that the blessing of his Holiness should arrive +in time. + +He next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three +days, father Diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching +interrogatory. The confession may have been made the more simple, +however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently +repeated to the Infante his son, that in all his life he had never +consciously done wrong to any one. If he had ever committed an act of +injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the +circumstances. This internal conviction of general righteousness was +of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and +accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, +and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of +many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. + +After he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the +Lord's Supper was administered to him. Subsequently, the same rites were +more briefly performed every few days. + +His sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them +more gentle resignation or angelic patience. He moralized on the +condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by +the hand of God, and bade the prince observe well his father's present +condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might +likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. He constantly +thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their +reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to +relieve them in their task. + +He derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, +as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. +Especially a bone of St. Alban, presented to him by Clement VIII., in +view of his present straits, was of great service. With this relic, and +with the arm of St. Vincent of Ferrara, and the knee-bone of St. +Sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever +in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. He was much +pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the +remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he +had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics +had treated them with disrespect. + +On a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this +skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the +conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed +kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. +And thus, during the whole of his long illness, the Antic held his state, +while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, +but slowly mouldering away. + +With perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which +had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident +than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read +aloud one day by Juan Ruys de Velasco, in order that his children, his +ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance +upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for +performing the ceremony. + +"Having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "I now give it +back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to God Almighty, to whom it +belongs, recommending my soul into His blessed hands, that His Divine +Majesty may do what He pleases therewith." + +He then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the +laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- + +The officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, +and followed by the clergy. + +The Adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the +ground. Then the Duke of Novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an +open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the Marquis of Avillaer +carried the sword of state. + +The coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning +habiliments, and holding lighted torches. + +The heir apparent was to follow, attended by Don Garcia de Loyasa, who +had just been consecrated, in the place of Cardinal Albert, as Archbishop +of Toledo. + +The body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb +already prepared for its reception. "Mass being performed," said the +king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last +house until I go to my eternal dwelling. Then the prince, third king of +my name, shall go into the cloister of St. Jerome at Madrid, where he +shall keep nine days mourning. My daughter, and her aunt--my sister, +the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey +sisters." + +The king then charged his successor to hold the Infanta in especial +affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, +yea; the light of my eyes." He also ordered that the Marquis of Mondejar +be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at +Court. The wife of Antonio Perez was also to be released from prison, in +order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being +bestowed upon her daughters. + +As this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue +with the king's mistress, Princess Eboli, in which she could scarcely be +considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of +incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. + +Philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for +his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five +hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. + +After these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a +certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. From +this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the Infanta, +saying that it had belonged to her mother, Isabella of France. He asked +the prince if he consented to the gift. The prince answered in the +affirmative. + +He next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his +son, saying, "Herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." + +Then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which +his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself +during his retreat at the monastery of Juste. He told the by-standers to +observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. + +As the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to +receive extreme unction. As he had never seen that rite performed he +chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told Ruys Velasco; who was in +constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the +subject to the Archbishop of Toledo. The sacrament having been duly. +administered; the king subsequently, on the 1st September, desired to +receive it once more. The archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's +strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, +informed him that the regulations of the Church required in such cases +only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been +already once thoroughly carried out. But the king expressed himself as +quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; +that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother +Francis Neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle +with death. + +This was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, +of his chief secretaries, Christopher de Moura and John de Idiaquez, +besides the Counts Chinchon, Fuensalido, and several other conspicuous +personages. He was especially desirous that his son should be present, +in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, +like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament +was to be performed. + +When it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as +having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to +anticipate. + +Thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's +affairs. He had finished with all things below, and for the days or +hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed +upon Heaven. Day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost +unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious +works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader +should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. + +On the 11th September he dictated these words to Christopher de Moura, +who was to take them to Diego de Yepes, the confessor:-- + +"Father Confessor, you are in the place of God, and I protest thus +before His presence that I will do all that you declare necessary for my +salvation. Thus upon you will be the, responsibility for my omissions, +because I am ready to do all." + +Finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed Don Fernando de +Toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of Montserrat, one +of which he desered to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. He also +directed Ruys de Velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had +indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his +father had held upon his death-bed. All this was accomplished according +to his wish. + +He had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had +subsequently provided all the details of his agony. It was now necessary +to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. + +He knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still +living as to render embalming impossible: He accordingly instructed Don +Christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to +cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already +provided. The coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be +enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might +see if it was entirely to his taste. Having examined it, he ordered that +it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and +lace-work. He also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to +be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. + +Next morning he complained to Don Christopher that the Sacrament of the +Lord's Supper had not been administered to him for several days. It was +urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had +received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme +unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared +him. But as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and +prayers were read. He said with great fervour many times, "Pater, non +mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." He listened, too, with much devotion to the +Psalm, "As the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly +at long intervals of the Magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the +paralytic. + +When these devotional exercises had been concluded, father Diego +expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a +misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of +piety which he had then reached. The remark was heard by Philip with an +expression of entire satisfaction. + +That day both the Infanta and the prince came for the last time to his +bedside to receive his blessing. He tenderly expressed his regret to his +daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but +charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy +Roman Catholic religion in the Netherlands. It was in the interest of +that holy Church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and +he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future +husband these his commands to both. + +His two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: As the prince +left the chamber he asked Don Christopher who it was that held the key to +the treasury. + +The secretary replied, "It is I, Sir." The prince demanded that he +should give it into his hands. But Don Christopher excused himself, +saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without +his consent he could not part with it. Then the prince returned to the +king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying +monarch what had taken place. + +"You have done wrong," said Philip; whereupon Don Christopher, bowing to +the earth, presented the key to the prince. + +The king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying +words of our Saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and +repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. + +His father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, +"I die like a good Catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy Roman +Church." Soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, +followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. + +They had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already +expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, +seized the crucifix again from the hand of Don Fernando de Toledo, kissed +it, and fell back again into agony. + +The archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must +have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would +not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he +had done at that crisis. + +He did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and +breathed his last at five in the morning of Sunday the 13th September. + +His obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so +minutely given. + + ------------------------------------ + +These volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to +recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had +thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long +played a leading part. It may not be entirely useless, however, to throw +a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects +of this work, throughout its whole course, to pourtray. My theme has +been the reign of Philip II., because, as the less is included in the +greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, +is included in the vast movement out of which the Republic of the United +Netherlands was born and the assailed independence of France and England +consolidated. The result of Philip's efforts to establish a universal +monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, +by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. + +It is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that I have dwelt with emphasis +upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, +as illustrated during his lifetime. It is not probable that the +military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by +barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and +over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an +end in the older world. And it is the business of Europeans so to deal +with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure +their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the +people. It matters comparatively little by what name a government is +called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and +the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. +A government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, +without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. +It is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble +sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts +were all in all and ideas nothing. Where intellect and justice are +enslaved by that unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance--the +tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of +necessity be retrograde and downward. + +There can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind +during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the Roman +Empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however +concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; +for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the +physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. A horse and a +suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such +advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be +monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. Yet veneration for a +crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close +connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes +hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. +The obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart +as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their +fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with +divine justice. For these rules cannot be violated with impunity during +along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively +innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. If +history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of +morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid +of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and +cynically violate the eternal law. + +Among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, +in the immortal words of our Declaration of Independence, asserts the +right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true +statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from +intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the +brutal instincts. + +A system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, +unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an +exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily +retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect +faith. + +For us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human +fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government- +which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are +ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although +an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of +caste, the divorce of Church and State, and the limitation of intrusion +by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from +which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that +here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral +truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves +bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in +democracy, and to justify our hope that the People will prove itself +equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional +study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. +It is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing +moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute +examination, and I still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus +presented, before the curtain falls. + +The Spanish monarchy in the reign of Philip II. was not only the most +considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and +extensive empire that had ever been known. Certainly never before had so +great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the +result of accident. For it was owing to a series of accidents--in the +common acceptation of that term--that Philip governed so mighty a realm. +According to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with +the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from +one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a +heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: +wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into +an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as +human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical +traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the +property alike of the same fortunate individual. + +Thus the dozen kingdoms of Spain, the seventeen provinces of the +Netherlands, the kingdoms of the Two Sicilies, the duchy of Milan, and +certain fortresses and districts of Tuscany, in Europe; the kingdom of +Barbary, the coast of Guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. +of other territory, in Africa; the controlling outposts and cities all +along the coast of the two Indian peninsulas, with as much of the country +as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the, great archipelagoes, so +far as they had--been visited'by Europeans, in Asia; Peru, Brazil, +Mexico, the Antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the +world in short, from the "Land of Fire" in the South to the frozen +regions of the North--as much territory as the Spanish and Portuguese +sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his +power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in America; +all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private +property, of Philip; who was the son of Charles, who was the son of +Joanna, who was the daughter of Isabella, whose husband was Ferdinand. +By what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the +Papuan islander, the Calabrian peasant, the Amsterdam merchant, the semi- +civilized Aztec, the Moor of Barbary, the Castilian grandee, the roving +Camanche, the Guinea negro, the Indian Brahmin, found themselves--could +they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. Statutes of +family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the +various European sovereignties to the crown of Spain; the genius of a +Genoese sailor had given to it the New World, and more recently the +conquest of Portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the +national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those Oriental +possessions which were due to the enterprise of Vasco de Gama, his +comrades and successors. The, voyager, setting forth from the straits of +Gibraltar, circumnavigating the African headlands and Cape Comorin, and +sailing through the Molucca channel and past the isles which bore the +name of Philip in the Eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his +adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following +westward in the track of Magellaens and under the Southern Cross, coasted +the shore of Patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and +unnumbered clusters of islands in the Western Pacific; and during this +spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water +was traversed that was not the domain of Philip. + +For the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. + +From Borneo to California the great ocean was but a Spanish lake, as much +the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the Escorial with their +carp and perch. No subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred +waters. Not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path +for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out +by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. + +It was for the Dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they +had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. The +opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and +discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will +soon engage the reader's attention. + +Thus the causes of what is called the greatness of Spain are not far to +seek. Spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction +of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent +whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time +disposed. And the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, +powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the +individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; +impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the +impossible which resulted, in the downfall of Spain. The man who +inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of +destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political +liberty in the Netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of +France and of England, and of annexing those realms to his empire: It has +been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts +failed. + +But his resources were great. All Italy was in his hands, with the +single exception of the Venetian republic; for the Grand Duke of Florence +and the so-called republic of Genoa were little more than his vassals, +the pope was generally his other self, and the Duke of Savoy was his son- +in-law. Thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were +supplied from the best possible sources. The Italians were esteemed the +best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. The German heavy +troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, +and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite +amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom +what was called Germany belonged. The Sicilian and Neapolitan pikemen, +the Milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to Philip, and were used, +year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles +in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the +Moluccas or in Mexico, but which constituted for them personally as +lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by +any branch of industry. + +Silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured +regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating +wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to +intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor +of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south +to scatter desolation over the plains of France, Burgundy, Flanders, and +Holland, and to make the crown of Spain and the office of the Holy +Inquisition supreme over the world. From Naples and Sicily were derived +in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and +marine equipment. The galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these +subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. From distant +regions, a commerce which in Philip's days had become oceanic supplied +the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross +ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of +nations. Especially from the mines of Mexico came an annual average of +ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty- +five per cent. for himself. + +It would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various +resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled +so large a portion of the earth. All that breathed or grew belonged to +him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured +through the sieve of his perpetual war. His system was essentially a +gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in +this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can +be stated. A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he +is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders +his own. Moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of +existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be +obtained, even by approximation. The usual standard of value, the +commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at +best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of +individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. The dollar of +Philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our +time in Spain, Naples, Rome, or America, but even should an elaborate +calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to +be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of +the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, +would show many remarkable discrepancies. Thus a bushel of wheat at +Antwerp during Philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in +average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two +bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in +Illinois. Yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value +in exchange to the dollar of Philip's day, we should be surprised at the +meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which +at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums +estimated in coin. + +Thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what +seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of +dollars. He carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole +of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military +nations of Christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he +is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of +dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. Yet the +American republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of +the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; +and the British Empire in time of profound peace spends half as much +annually. And even if we should allow sixteen millions to have +represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary +supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, +millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the +whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the +world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized +and industrious countries can now dispose? Thus the power of levying men +and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, +in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from Milan or Naples, +or from any of the outlying European possessions of the crown. + +Eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight +kingdoms incorporated under the general name of Castile, while not more +than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted +Arragon. The chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. +upon sales, paid by the seller, called Alcavala, and the Almoxarifalgo or +tariff upon both imports and exports. Besides these imposts he obtained +about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects +the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission +granted him by the pope, in the bull called the Cruzada. He received +another annual million from the Sussidio and the Excusado. The first was +a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand +dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred +war-galleys against the Saracens, but which had more recently established +itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against Dutch and +English heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the +orthodox eyes of the period. The Excusado was the right accorded to the +king always to select from the Church possessions a single benefice and +to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred +thousand dollars a year. Besides these regular sources of income, large +but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his Majesty in small +sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no +special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the +war against the infidels of England and Holland. A certain Jesuit, +father Sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in +preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so +that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself +thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three Sicilies, in honour of +the industrious priest. + +It is worthy of remark that at different periods during Philip's reign, +and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was +pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the Sussidio and the +Cruzada. Thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at +times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his +poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the +levy on the Church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to +eat meat on Fridays. This sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, +incontestable fact. + +Thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their +necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in +the riches of Spain. But Spain at that day was not an opulent country. +It was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according +to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually +violated. It is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of +its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of Castile were +estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom +of Portugal, together with those annexed to Arragon and the other +provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. Here was a +populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was +sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. + +Labour was esteemed dishonourable. The Spaniard, from highest to lowest, +was proud, ignorant, and lazy. For a people endowed by nature with many +noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of +perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of +the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general +education as could well be invented. + +The eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of Spain +between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient +days in which Oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated Germanic +institutions and Christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one +great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, +towards every form of religion except the Church of Rome, towards every +race of mankind except the Goths and Vandals. Innate reverence for +established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion +and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch +leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. The +highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited +upon Spanish territory was that of Moors and Jews. When in the course of +time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, +not only was Spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its +most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were +accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. + +The sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed +an almost ludicrous shape. Not a ragged Biscayan muleteer, not a +swineherd of Estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because +he was not of African descent. Not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, +gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or +assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to +orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with +a sentiment of Christian self-complacency to which Godfrey of Bouillon +might have been a stranger. Especially those born towards the northern +frontier, and therefore farthest removed from Moorish contamination, were +proudest of the purity of their race. To be an Asturian or a Gallician, +however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof +against suspicion of Moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal +throughout the peninsula. + +It followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an +impeachment against this gentility of descent. To work was the province +of Moors, Jews, and other heretics; of the Marani or accursed, miscreants +and descendants of miscreants; of the Sanbeniti or infamous, wretches +whose ancestors had been convicted by the Holy Inquisition of listening, +however secretly, to the Holy Scriptures as expounded by other lips than +those of Roman priests. And it is a remarkable illustration of this +degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of Philip +twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively +industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the +Castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal +offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and +privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. Thus an +inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population-- +oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from +which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, +exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch +fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into +manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. +Nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, +as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. The nobles +were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. They were not given to +tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of +brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and +pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. These diversions +--together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of Protestants--made +up their simple round of pleasures. When they went to the wars they +scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as +war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to +observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never +learned to obey. The poorer Spaniards were most honourably employed +perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they +were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in France and +Flanders. They became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to +the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the +hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, +campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and +sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of +industry or capacity that the lower masses of Spaniards in that age were +the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which +cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. + +It is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why +one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. +It had been the deliberate policy of the Government for ages to extirpate +the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of Moors and Jews +were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by +native workmen. Even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their +hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field +and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. A locksmith or a +wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called +himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the +merchant. And those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves +by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to +acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a +week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of +favour that they were willing to serve them at all. + +Labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have +been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. That +other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of +generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. +And even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries +had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the +most exquisite human perverseness could desire. If the object of civil +and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the +greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in Spain +as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom +coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. + +It is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived +upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small +selection of the human species. Moderate holdings, small farms, peasant +proprietorship's, were unknown. Any kind of terrestrial possession; in +short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so +haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains +in the moon. + +The great nobles--and of real grandees of Spain there were but forty- +nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all +the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in +the dead-hand of the Church. The law of primogeniture, strictly +enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. +Nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to +eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter +transferred the family possessions to a new house. Thus the capital of +the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, +had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most +intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted +to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few +hands. Not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but +the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute +stagnation. The few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in +unproductive consumption. The millions of the needy never dreamed of the +possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would +have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use +in any form been vouchsafed to them. The surface of Spain, save only +around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, +whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural +skill, no monumentsof engineering and constructive genius in roads, +bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or +in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among +his kind and subdues nature to his will. + +Yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the Spaniard of +the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, +that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his +ancestors, had been endowed by Nature with some of her noblest gifts. +Acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, +and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a +thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most +original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the +disasters and the degradation which the mere words Philip II, and the +Holy Inquisition suggest to every educated mind. + +Nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which +separated Spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. That the +standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in England, Holland, or +even France--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker +will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to +exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical +system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, I prefer not to wander +at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by +Philip II. + +Besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country +in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion +of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the Church. + +There were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the Archbishop +of Toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand +dollars. Next to him came the Archbishop of Seville, with one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied +from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. + +There were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty +thousand to six thousand dollars. The churches, also, of these various +episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. +But without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to +say that one-third of the whole annual income of Spain and Portugal +belonged to the ecclesiastical body. In return for this enormous +proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny +at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. +They fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. +They taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. +Very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land +were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the Church. +The constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their +worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective +families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for +centuries they had fleeced. Of gross crime, of public ostentatious +immorality, such as had made the Roman priesthood of that and preceding +ages loathsome in the sight of man and God, the Spanish Church- +dignitaries were innocent. Avarice; greediness, and laziness were +their characteristics. It is almost superfluous to say that, while the +ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the +subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved +mendicants. + +From this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem +less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the +greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after +due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth +and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. The King of +Spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident +had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single +hand. At the same time Spain was poor and weak, because she had lived +for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and +strength of nations depend. Moreover, every one of those subject and +violently annexed nations hated Spain with undying fervour, while an +infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow +dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all +convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon Spaniards and other +foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive +them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank +in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any +extensive revolt in the various Italian states united under Philip's +sceptre. Still more intense than the hatred of the Italians was the +animosity which was glowing in every Portuguese breast against the +Spanish sway; while even the Arragonese were only held in subjection by +terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument +of Philip's government. + +It is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of Spain's foreign +commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the +great ocean from east to west was a Spanish lake, sacred to the ships of +the king's subjects alone. With such a simple code of navigation coming +in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be +believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the +same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. + +Moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various +kingdoms of Spain were politically conjoined by their personal union +under one despot, they were commercially distinct. A line of custom- +houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various +inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. Thus +there was less traffic between Castile, Biscay, and Arragon than there +was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. The Biscayans, +for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote +countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from +Castile was crushed by imposts. As this ingenious perversity of positive +arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the +almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means +of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very +life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in Spain. +As an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry +was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his +vocation, did his best to aid Government in sapping the wealth of the +nation. + +The whole accumulated capital of Spain, together with the land--in the +general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property +of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and +a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour +owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people +into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was +incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes +continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result +from which there was no escape. Nothing but a general revolution of mind +and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive +but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. + +And it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the +prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the Past. +It is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, +and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope +of younger nations. Human history, so far as it has been written, is at +best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which +there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of +unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. It may +be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute +examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and +thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our +species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive +survey, which must however be at best a limited one. Men die, but Man is +immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if +we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately +render the system of Philip II. impossible in any part of the globe. +Certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the +most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. The +festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings +and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn +treaties; the Ossa upon Pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by +which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of +individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have +essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but +little solid food for grown human beings. The condition of the brave and +quickwitted Spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century +gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. + +That science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real +enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of +despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance +and superstition of the people upon which the Philippian policy was +founded. + +A vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and +reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of +the "Accursed," of the Africans, and last and vilest of all, the +"blessed" descendants of Spanish protestants whom the Holy Office had +branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors-- +this was the People; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the +whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was +composed. The great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt +from taxation. Need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both +government and people? + +And it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that +Philip II. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. His power was +absolute. With this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt +at specification. He made war or peace at will with foreign nations. +He had power of life and death over all his subjects. He had unlimited +control of their worldly goods. As he claimed supreme jurisdiction over +their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and +estates. As a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every +executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or +civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the +license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, +and other Church dignitary, but, through his great influence at Rome, +he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the +popes. The whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, +military, was in his single hand. There was a show of provincial +privilege here and there in different parts of Spain, but it was but the +phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial +care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. Most patiently +did Philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the +last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. The councils and +legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting +for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was +deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. Thus the time +of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the +moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, +could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing +the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and +substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. To +criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the +increase of taxation became a sorry farce. The forms remained in certain +provinces after the life had long since fled. Only in Arragon had the +ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; +and it was reserved for Antonio Perez to be the cause of their final +extirpation. The grinning skulls of the Chief Justice of that kingdom +and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national +liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of +their death-sentence attached, informed the Spaniards, in language which +the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of +human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign +punishment. It was the last time in that age that even the ghost of +extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of Spain. It mattered +not that the immediate cause for pursuing Perez was his successful amour +with the king's Mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally +accused was the deadly offence of Calvinism, rather than his intrigue +with the Eboli and his assassination of Escovedo; for it was in the +natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or +freedom should be obliterated wherever Philip could vindicate his sway. +It must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a +decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic +sluggishness. Rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than +the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the +Chief Justice of Arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his +country: "You will take John of Lanuza, and you will have his head cut +off." This was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which +he had defended. + +His power, was unlimited. A man endowed with genius and virtue, and +possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps +done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to +remove some of its causes. For it is one of the most pernicious dogmas +of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history +soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to +any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their +redemption. Woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that +their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their +institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the +national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few +individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious Accident as +heroes and legislators. Yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively +powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite +mischief. There have been few men known to history who have been able to +accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king +who had just died. If Philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the +conscientious research of the writer of these pages. If there are vices +--as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not +permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. The only +plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous +career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. He +was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, +to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging +his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and +political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations +and elemental laws. When providing for the assassination of a monarch, +or commanding the massacre of a townfill of Protestants; when trampling +on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying +desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the +provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully +maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to +acquire; while maintaining over all Christendom a gigantic system of +bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of England +and Scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his +exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in France to men of all +degrees, from princes of blood like Guise and Mayenne down to the +obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody +deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was +a portion. He never doubted that the extraordinary theological system +which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for +it was a part of himself. The Holy Inquisition, thoroughly established +as it was in his ancestral Spain, was a portion of the regular working +machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will +expressed themselves. A tribunal which performed its functions with a +celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of +Omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, +and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision +against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an +institution could not but be dear to his heart. It was inevitable that +the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout +his dominions should be his settled purpose. Spain was governed by an +established terrorism. It is a mistake to suppose that Philip was +essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and +political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national +character. On the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion +of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the Catholic faith, or +descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with +their lives. But the Grand Inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; +as the king or the pope. His familiars were in every village and at +every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. Millions of +Spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed +religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged +at the slightest movement in such a direction. The popular force in the +course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have +been eliminated. The nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the +people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and +champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to +which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while +the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the +firm supporters of the king. Thus the people, without natural leaders, +without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile +sections, were opposed by every force in the State. Crown, nobility, and +clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded +together to suppress the democratic principle. But even this would +hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not +been for the potent machinery of the Inquisition; nor could that +perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for +the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national +character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. +The Spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions +and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of +the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied +Christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and +of the God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. +The "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, +but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine +themselves men. As to the Netherlanders, they did not fight originally +for independence. It was not until after a quarter of a century of +fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to Philip. +They fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without +the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to +maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned +alive if they dared to read the Bible. Independence followed after +nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, +or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. + +Of this perfect despotism Philip was thus the sole administrator. +Certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was +industrious in performing his royal functions. But this earnestness and +seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous +voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth +part of the evil which was Philip's life-work. It was because he was a +believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was +enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. When an humble +malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not +often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows +because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being +criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity +of his offences prove him to have been sincere. And because anointed +monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize +which the People, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of +the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called +Revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity +that before the judgment-seat of History a crown should be no protection +to its wearer. There is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if +history be true to itself. + +As for the royal criminal called Philip II., his life is his arraignment, +and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is +now required. + +Homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was +committed by Philip when in the famous edict of 1568 he sentenced every +man, woman, and child in the Netherlands to death. That the whole of +this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed +was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical +decree. But Alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous +work. By the aid of the "Council of Blood," and of the sheriffs and +executioners of the Holy Inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight +hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of +Protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he +could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat +more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. These were some of +the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished +during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical +record has been preserved. + +In face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it +is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated +attempts to procure the assassination of the Prince of Orange, crowned at +last by the success of Balthazar Gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to +poison the Queen of England; for the enunciation of all these murders or +attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has +been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. + +For indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. Their very +magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give +them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. The horrible +monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the +principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. + +His robberies, like his murders, were colossal. The vast, system of +confiscation set up in the Netherlands was sufficient to reduce +unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break +the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of +subjugating a people. Not often in the world's history have so many +thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save +that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. For it can never be too +often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated +upon Catholics as well as Protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the +possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh +impossible. + +Falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps +derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, +from this very fact. It has been shown throughout the whole course of +this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he +was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his +heart. Granvelle, Alva, Don John, Alexander Farnese, all those, in +short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his +entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's +sleepless suspicion. The pope himself was often as much the dupe of the +Catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. +Could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and +politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the +monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "Prince," he would +have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of +successful falsehood, Ferdinand of Arragon, had been surpassed by the +great grandson. For the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the +philosopher who died in the year of Philip's birth, was thoroughly +embodied at last by this potentate. Certainly Nicholas Macchiavelli +could have hoped for no more docile pupil. That all men are vile, that +they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to +deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king +who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the +Florentine, Philip was ever guided. And those well-known texts of +hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground +when received into Philip's royal soul. + +"Often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to +faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion +. . . . . . A prince ought therefore to have great care that from +his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five +qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all +faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. And nothing is more +necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. Every one +sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." + +Surely this hand-book of cant had been Philip's 'vade mecum' through his +life's pilgrimage. + +It is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such +principles came to an ignominious close. Had the mental capacity of this +sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have +befallen the world. But his intellect was less than mediocre. His +passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition +personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times +better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness +of his mind. His diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon +despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity +of judging of his labours by personal inspection. Those familiar with +the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could +have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. +His ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, +as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could +possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first +statesman in the world. + +His reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. Its opening scene was +the treaty of Catean Cambresis, by which a triumph over France had been +achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so +humiliating and complete as to make every French soldier or politician +gnash his teeth. Its conclusion was the treaty of Vervins with the same +power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as +utterly disgraceful to Spain as that of Cateau Cambresis had been to +France. He had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age-- +that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while +the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not +on the ludicrous, but the insane. + +He attempted to reduce the free Netherlands to slavery and to papacy. +Before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a +policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. He had +endeavoured all his life to exclude the Bearnese from his heritage and +to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death +Henry IV. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever +reigned in France. He had sought to invade and to conquer England, and +to dethrone and assassinate its queen. But the queen outwitted, +outgeneralled, and outlived, him; English soldiers and sailors, assisted. +by their Dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of Spain what +the Invincible Armada had in vain essayed against England and Holland; +while England, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of +absolutism and the Inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles +towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom +in the world. + +His exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe +of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income +of some four millions of dollars. His armies; which had been the wonder +of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, +and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later +years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their +commanders than to the foe. Mutiny was the only organised military +institution that was left in his dominions, while the Spanish +Inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards +to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance +everywhere but in its natal soil. + +If there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is Philip II., +convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime +charged in his indictment. He lived seventy-one years and three months, +he reigned forty-three years. He endured the martyrdom of his last +illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of +immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so +All Italy was in his hands +Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are +God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever +Had industry been honoured instead of being despised +History is but made up of a few scattered fragments +Hugo Grotius +Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds +Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind +Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers +Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading +Labour was esteemed dishonourable +Man had no rights at all He was property +Matters little by what name a government is called +Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs +National character, not the work of a few individuals +Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays +Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey +Rich enough to be worth robbing +Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology +Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days +Sentiment of Christian self-complacency +Spain was governed by an established terrorism +That unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance +The great ocean was but a Spanish lake +The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) +The record of our race is essentially unwritten +Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul +Those who argue against a foregone conclusion +Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) +Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends +While one's friends urge moderation +Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v70 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 71, 1598-1599 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + Commercial prospects of Holland--Travels of John Huygen van + Linschoten Their effect on the trade and prosperity of the + Netherlands--Progress of nautical and geographical science--Maritime + exploration--Fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--State + of nautical science--First arctic expedition--Success of the + voyagers--Failure of the second expedition--Third attempt to + discover the north-east passage--Discovery of Spitzbergen-- + Scientific results of the voyage--Adventures in the frozen regions-- + Death of William Barendz--Return of the voyagers to Amsterdam-- + Southern expedition against the Spanish power--Disasters attendant + upon it--Extent of Dutch discovery. + +During a great portion of Philip's reign the Netherlanders, despite their +rebellion, had been permitted to trade with Spain. A spectacle had thus +been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who +derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more +thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. The war fed their +commerce, and commerce fed their war. The great maritime discoveries at +the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the +benefit of the Flemings and Hollanders as to that of the Spaniards and +Portuguese, to whom they were originally due. Antwerp and subsequently +Amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the Indian trade which +Vasco de Gama's voyage around the Cape had effected. The nations of the +Baltic and of farthest Ind now exchanged their products on a more +extensive scale. and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the +mistress of the Adriatic alone held the keys of Asiatic commerce. The +haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich +and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent +monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its +eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history-- +had become oceanic. + +In Holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, +whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to +gather the utensils for their craft. There, too, where scarcely a pebble +had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our +planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and +basalt. Wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet +the granaries of Christendom, and the Oriental magazines of spices and +drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. There was the +great international mart where the Osterling, the Turk, the Hindoo, the +Atlantic and the Mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated +their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of +Netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial +fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of +visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which +produced nothing and teemed with everything. + +After the incorporation of Portugal with Spain however many obstacles +were thrown in the way of the trade from the Netherlands to Lisbon and +the Spanish ports. Loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we +know, by the English sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious +traffic which the Dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common +enemy. But it is very certain that although the Spanish armadas would +have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar +and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by +the Hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's +commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must +have ceased to exist. For without foreign navigation the independent +republic was an inconceivable idea. Not only would it have been +incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the +world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath +the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. Commerce and Holland were +simply synonymous terms. Its morsel of territory was but the wharf to +which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean +and over all the world. Nowhere had there ever existed before so large a +proportion of population that was essentially maritime. They were born +sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had +never set foot on the shore. At the period now treated of the republic +had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. +Compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial +strides of the two great Anglo-Saxon families, the statistics both of +population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous +epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. Yet there is no doubt that in the +relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to +exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. When therefore, +towards the close of Philip II.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce +the carrying trade with Spain and Portugal, by which the communication +with India and China was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation +of Dutch ships in Spanish ports, and the confinement of Dutch sailors in +the dungeons of the Inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to +the statesmen of the Netherlands than they had ever been called upon to +solve. + +For the splendid fiction of the Spanish lake was still a formidable fact. +Not only were the Portuguese and Spaniards almost the only direct traders +to the distant East, but even had no obstacles been interposed by +Government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of +trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of +that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation +was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to +the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path +to the world's commerce. + +The Hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade +around the Cape of Good Hope. Fortunately however at this crisis in +their commercial destiny there was a single Hollander who had thoroughly +learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen +should now be taught. Few men of that period deserve a more kindly and +more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to +science and the progress of civilization than John Huygen van Linschoten, +son of a plain burgher of West Friesland. Having always felt a strong +impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he +resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his +fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order +to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. After a residence of +two years in Lisbon he departed for India in the suite of the Archbishop +of Goa, and remained in the East for nearly thirteen years. Diligently +examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and +patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by +year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the +entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. +It was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting- +houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and +instruction to be derived fiom looking upon a world then so strange, and +for Europeans still so new. He described the manners and customs, the +laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the +ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of India. He studied the +natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he +visited. Especially the products which formed the material of a great +traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the +course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and +breadth of vision. He was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of +letters, a scientific and professional traveller. But it was obvious +when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen +years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider +circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. His work was +given to the public in the year 1596, and was studied with avidity not +only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. He also added to +the record of his Indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. +He described the course of the voyage from Lisbon to the East, the +currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the +shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied +his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land +and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various +astronomical and mathematical calculations. Already a countryman of +his own, Wagenaar of Zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under +special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that +for centuries afterwards the sailors of England and of other countries +called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a Wagenaar. But in that text- +book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, +before the enterprise of Linschoten, little was known of the Orient +except to the Portuguese and Spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. + +The work of Linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific +treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and +the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the Netherlands +and the East which had been so long deferred, and which now came to +relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, +from the danger of positive annihilation. + +It is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of +voyages by way of the Cape of Good Hope which, beginning with the +adventures of the brothers Houtmann at this period, and with the +circumnavigation of the world by Olivier van Noord, made the Dutch for +a long time the leading Christian nation in those golden regions, and +which carried the United Netherlands to the highest point of prosperity +and power. The Spanish monopoly of the Indian and the Pacific Ocean was +effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any +striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of +Holland in the East. In the age just opening the homely names most dear +to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and +promontories, seas, bays, and continents. There was soon to be a "Staten +Island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern +pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of +a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of +the western world, once called New Amsterdam. Those well-beloved words, +Orange and Nassau, Maurice and William, intermingled with the names of +many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy +navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new +commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while +a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of Hollanders, was soon +to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. Posterity has been +neither just nor grateful, and those early names which Dutch genius and +enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, +then seen for the first time by European eyes, are no longer known. + +The impulse given to the foreign trade of the Netherlands by the +publication of Linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. +Meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those +men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained +to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the +opulent kingdoms of Cathay and of China than the one which the genius of +De Gama had opened to his sovereigns. Geography as a science was +manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a +rudimentary state. To the Hollanders especially much of the progress +already made by it was owing. The maps of the world by Mercator of +Leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and +geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific +works, at the magnificent printing establishment of William Blaeuw, in +Amsterdam, the friend and pupil of Tycho Brahe, and the first in that +line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in +cosmography. Another ardent student of geography lived in Amsterdam, +Peter Plancius by name, a Calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous +and intolerant of his cloth. In an age and a country which had not yet +thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders +committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the +substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a +new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, +years of perpetual bloodshed. Nether Torquemada nor Peter Titelmann +could have more thoroughly abhorred a Jew or a Calvinist than Peter +Plancius detested a Lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of +remonstranta. That the intolerance of himself and his comrades was +confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning +alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of +mankind in despite of bigotry. It was at any rate a solace to those who +believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other +ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless +machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the Church of +Rome had found in the Spanish Inquisition. The blasts of denunciation +from the pulpit of Plancius have long since mingled with empty air and +been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and +geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he +deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for +ever to the lovers of civilization. + +Plancius and Dr. Francis Maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of +Enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the +oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, +but was still comparatively new, while Barneveld, ever ready to assist in +the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the +life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects +of maritime exploration. For hitherto, although the Hollanders had been +among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had +contributed but little to actual discovery. A Genoese had led the way to +America, while one Portuguese mariner had been the first to double the +southern cape of Africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, +had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast +continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the +Southern Pole to Greenland, and from Java to Patagonia. But it was +easier to follow in the wake of Columbus, Gama, or Magellan, than to +strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious +enterprise. At a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the +boldest of Portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid +discoveries of sailors sent forth by the Dutch republic, and a rich +harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. It +is true, too, that the Netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the +great voyages of Columbus by their discovery of the Azores. Joshua van +den Berg, a merchant of Bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed +in that archipelago in the year 1445. He had found there, however, no +vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the +midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a +man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in +his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. This +gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed +to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it +was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked Fleeting was +quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. The original designation +of the Flemish Islands, derived from their first colonization by +Netherlanders, was changed to Azores by Portuguese mariners, amazed at +the myriads of hawks which they found there. But if the Netherlanders +had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the +accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost +mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would +not be so eminent as it certainly is. + +Meantime the eyes of Linschoten, Plancius, Maalzoon, Barneveld, and of +many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously +towards the regions of the North Pole. Two centuries later--and still +more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled +with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, +the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have +characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the +world; especially the arctic explorers of England and of our own country? +The true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no +sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human +knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more +mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of +the Lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form +which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble +impulses of our latter civilization. To win the favour of that noblest +of mistresses, Science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, +of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to +elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the +sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into +closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet +unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, +which in the sight of the Omnipotent are but as one day, the human race +may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most +enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, +prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's +possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in +earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the +pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present +culture may seem but a poor barbarism. If the triumphs and joys of the +battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, +painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full +glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those +who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite +valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. + +It was believed by the Dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles +of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the +kingdoms of Cathay be effected by way of the north. It must be +remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond +the northern headlands of Sweden. Delineations of continents, islands, +straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were +not attempted even by the hand of fancy. It was perhaps easier at the +end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of +a practical path to China and India across the pole; for delusions as to +climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since +been dispelled. While, therefore, at least as much heroism was required +then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread +mystery of the North; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be +cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the +enterprise. Plancius and Maalzoon, the States-General and Prince +Maurice, were convinced that the true road to Cathay would be found by +sailing north-east. Linschoten, the man who knew India and the beaten +paths to India better than any other living Christian, was so firmly +convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the +lead in the first expedition. Many were the fantastic dreams in which +even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. +Four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, +from the interior of Muscovy towards the arctic seas. According to some +speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where +perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, +having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every +virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. Others peopled these +mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and +heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled +closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain +that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most +enlightened among those distant tribes. Instead of constant sunshine, +it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that +accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that +the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to +temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. +No doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to +encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and +sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it +was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into +the desired Indian haven would reveal itself at last. + +The instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to +the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist +their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. The small yet +unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in +which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. A ship of a hundred +tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and +presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to +its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, +as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, +was the vehicle in which those indomitable Dutchmen circumnavigated the +globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. An astrolabe-- +such as Martin Beheim had invented for the Portuguese, a clumsy +astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief +machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most +defective one. There were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea +the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by +throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. The firearms +with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that +might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. The art of +compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. They had no tea nor +coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there +was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive +luxuries. Those Hollanders drank no ardent spirits. They had beer +and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the +journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to +this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly +demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great +degree be attributed. + +Thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances +with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they +had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their +republic, and in the Omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken +cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. No chapter of history +utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding +principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been +preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. It is for these noble +lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. + +And in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more +thoroughly embodied than in William Barendz, pilot and burgher of +Amsterdam. It was partly under his charge that the first little +expedition set forth on the 5th of June, 1594, towards those unknown +arctic seas, which no keel from Christendom had ever ploughed, and to +those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. +Maalzoon, Plancius, and Balthaser Moucheron, merchant of Middelburg, were +the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of +opinion between them. + +The pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to China would be +found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between +the land of Nova Zembla and the northern coasts of Muscovy, inhabited by +the savage tribes called Samoyedes. It was believed that, after passing +those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend +in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would +accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of +China. Plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising +passage the outside course, between the northern coast of Nova Zembla and +the pole. Three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of +Enkhuizen, Amsterdam, and by the province of Zeeland respectively. +Linschoten was principal commissioner on board the Enkhuizen vessel, +having with him an experienced mariner, Brandt Ijsbrantz by name, as +skipper. Barendz, with the Amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted +company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of +Plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. And in +that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the +whole desolate region of Nova Zembla was visited, investigated, and +thoroughly mapped out. Barendz sailed as far as latitude 77 deg. and to +the extreme north-eastern point of the island. In a tremendous storm off +a cape, which he ironically christened Consolationhook (Troost-hoek), his +ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly +dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets +beyond the utmost verge of Nova Zembla, to which he hastened to affix the +cherished appellation of Orange. This, however, was the limit of his +voyage. His ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe +beyond expectation. He turned back on the 1st of August, resolving to +repeat his experiment early in the following year. + +Meantime Linschoten, with the ships Swan and Mercury, had entered the +passage which they called the Straits of Nassau, but which are now +known to all the world as the Waigats. They were informed by the +Samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they +would find themselves in a broad and open sea. Subsequent discoveries +showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the +adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. The strait was already +filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, +after about a hundred and fifty English miles of progress beyond the +Waigats; for the whole sea of Tartary, converted into a mass of ice- +mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north +easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. It was +obvious that the sunny clime of Cathay was not thus to be reached, at +least upon that occasion. With difficulty they succeeded in extricating +themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from +the Waigats. + +On the 15th of August, in latitude 69 deg. 15', they met the ship of +Barendz and returned in company to Holland, reaching Amsterdam on the +16th of September. Barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him +destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with +seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as +large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding +from each grim and grotesque visage. These mighty beasts, subsequently +known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two +hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home +on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. When aware of the approach of +their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, +holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as +if in sport. Then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the +boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively +recognised as their natural enemies. Many were the severe combats +recorded by the diarist of that voyage of Barendz with the walrusses and +the bears. + +The chief result of this first expedition was the geographical +investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic +pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first +visited by themselves. According to the unfailing and universal impulse +on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally +selected. The straits were called Nassau, the island at its mouth became +States or Staten Island; the northern coasts of Tartary received the +familiar appellations of New Holland, New Friesland, New Walcheren; while +the two rivers, beyond which Linschoten did not advance, were designated +Swan and Mercury respectively, after his two ships. Barendz, on his +part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of Nova +Zembla, and assuredly Christian mariner had never taken the latitude of +77 deg. before. Yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards +published by William Blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will +observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical +records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those +terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. The +islands of Orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only +vestige left of the whole nomenclature. But where are Cape Nassau, +William's Island, Admiralty Island, Cape Plancius, Black-hook, Cross- +hook, Bear's-hook, Ice-hook, Consolation-hook, Cape Desire, the Straits +of Nassau, Maurice Island, Staten Island, Enkhuizen Island, and many +other similar appellations. + +The sanguine Linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the +expedition that Prince Maurice and Olden-Barneveld, and prominent members +of the States-General, were infected with his enthusiasm. He considered +the north-east passage to China discovered and the problem solved. It +would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale +the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the +China market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without +further delay. It seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to +overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided +success. Yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by +which Linschoten was actuated. The calmer Barendz, and his friend and +comrade Gerrit de Veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made +"rather a free representation" of the enterprise of 1594 and of the +prospects for the future. + +Nevertheless, the general Government, acting on Linschoten's suggestion, +furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from Enkhuizen, two from Zeeland, +two from Amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with +the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the +straits of Nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of Tartary, +doubled Cape Tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to China. +The sublime credulity which accepted Linschoten's hasty solution of the +polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with +which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. So +deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted +articles for this first great speculation to Cathay, via the North Pole, +stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before +anchor was weighed in the Meuse. The pompous expedition was thus +predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. Yet it was in the hands of +great men, both on shore and sea. Maurice, Barneveld, and Maalzoon had +personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, +Linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid Barendz +was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined +to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, Jacob +Heemskerk, was supercargo of the Amsterdam ship. In obedience to the +plans of Linschoten and of Maalzoon, the passage by way of the Waigats +was of course attempted. A landing was effected on the coast of Tartary. +Whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source +was imparted by the wandering Samoyedes. On the 2nd of September a party +went ashore on Staten Island and occupied themselves in gathering some +glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with +much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." +While two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one +of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "What are you +pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he +supposed. But his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in +another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and +the bear was sucking his blood. The other man escaped to his friends, +and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. Another of the +combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a +fortunate bullet struck him in the head. But even then the bear +maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains +were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of +the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades +and give them a hurried kind of Christian burial. They flayed the bear +and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply +of the diamonds of Staten Island, was the only merchandize obtained upon +the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. For, +by the middle of September, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt +the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, +having accomplished nothing. It reached Amsterdam upon the 18th of +November, 1595. + +The authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, +refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic +explorations. The States-General however offered a reward of twenty-five +thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the +northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that +direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. + +Stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more +than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted Barendz, who +was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of Nova Zembla +and across the pole to farthest Ind, determined to renew the attempt the +following summer. The city of Amsterdam accordingly, early in the year +1596, fitted out two ships. Select crews of entirely unmarried men +volunteered for the enterprise. John Cornelisz van der Ryp, an +experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, +William Barendz was upper pilot of the other, and Heemskerk, "the man who +ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. + +The ships sailed from the Vlie on the 18th May. The opinions of Peter +Plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both +Ryp and Barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged Waigats. +Although identical in this determination, their views as to the +configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be +steered, were conflicting. They however sailed in company mainly in a +N.E. by N. direction, although Barendz would have steered much more to +the east. + +On the 5th June the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks +of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as +the eye could reach. All hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, +but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were +simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to +steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond +about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. + +Proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, +and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be +near Greenland." On the 9th June they discovered an island in latitude, +according to their observation, 74 deg. 30', which seemed about five +miles long. In this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one +occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and +making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show +to Holland. The effort not being successful, they were obliged to take +his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they +secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage +across the North Pole to China, and thence back to Amsterdam, did not +appear. The attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy +navigators. They left the island on the 13th June, having baptised it +Bear Island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was +subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of Cherry Island, in +honour of a comfortable London merchant who seven years afterwards sent a +ship to those arctic regions. + +Six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their +latitude 80 deg. 11'. Certainly no men had ever been within less than +ten degrees of the pole before. On the longest day of the year they +landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to +be a part of Greenland. They found its surface covered with eternal +snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and +to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during +ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the +horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of +Spitzbergen. Combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, +the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were +constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of +that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost +maddening glare. They rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and +came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. They proved +to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting Holland in vast +flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they +laid and hatched their eggs. "Therefore," says the diarist of the +expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow +on trees in Scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall +into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground +burst in pieces and come to nothing. We now see that quite the contrary +is the case," continues De Veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to +be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay +their eggs. No man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty +degrees before. This land was hitherto unknown." + +The scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed +sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not +grow on trees its only recorded discovery. But the investigations made +into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, +were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine +character of the epoch in regard to natural history. When so illustrious +a mind as Grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose +heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of Amsterdam +may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory +concerning goslings. + +On the 23rd June they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well +as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the +variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. +On the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they +made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards +again, making Bear Island once more on the 1st July. Here Cornelius Ryp +parted company with Heemskerk and Barendz, having announced his intention +to sail northward again beyond latitude 80 deg. in search of the coveted +passage. Barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the +circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found N.E. of Nova Zembla, +steered in that direction. On the 13th July they found themselves by +observation in latitude 73 deg., and considered themselves in the +neighbourhood of Sir Hugh Willoughby's land. Four days later they were +in Lomms' Bay, a harbour of Nova Zembla, so called by them from the +multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the +whimsical name of arctic parrots. On the 20th July the ice obstructed +their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains +and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a +former voyage the Hollanders had erected the precious emblem of Christian +faith, and baptised the dreary solitude Cross Island. But these +pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, +while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears +had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey +their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. The party which had +just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to +their boats. But Skipper Heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to +all of them, said simply, "The first man that runs shall have this boat- +hook of mine in his hide. Let us remain together and face them off." It +was done. The party moved slowly towards their boats, Heemskerlk +bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of +countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the +cross. + +The sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to +the ship, "glad enough," said De Veer, "that they were alive to tell the +story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." + +Next day they took the sun, and found their latitude 76 deg. 15', and the +variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. + +For seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow- +storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples +and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and +stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, +threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and +imprison them for ever. They made fast by their bower anchor on the +evening of 7th August to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as +they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and +shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds +which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath +the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no +words could describe." They escaped any serious damage, and made their +way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where +they again came to anchor. + +On the 15th August they reached the isles of Orange, on the extreme +north-eastern verge of Nova Zembla. Here a party going ashore climbed to +the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open +sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the S. E. and E.S.E. as far +as eye could reach. At last the game was won, the passage to Cathay was +discovered. Full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, +"not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell William Barendz." +Alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the +Gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm +dissolving current. + +Three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail +through the open sea. The ice had returned upon them, setting +southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had +driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "Hook +of Desire." + +On the 25th August they had given up all the high hopes by which they had +been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice +from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards +the Waigats. Having passed by Nova Zembla, and found no opening into the +seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect +their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the Straits +of Nassau home. In vain. The catastrophe was upon them. As they +struggled slowly past the "Ice-haven," the floating mountains and +glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and +forced them back to that horrible harbour. During the remaining days of +August the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils +that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty +blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate +on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment +float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. A blinding +snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all +directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful +sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'Twas enough to +make the hair stand on end," said Gerrit de Veer, "to witness the hideous +spectacle." + +But the agony was soon over. By the 1st September the ship was hard and +fast. The ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move +again that year even if she ever floated. Those pilgrims from the little +republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. Resigning +themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about +their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. Most +fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great +trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along +the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. At once they +resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the +wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. So +thanking God for the providential and unexpected supply of building +material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, +and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should +descend upon them. + +Six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. Tremendous snow-storms, +accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to +suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without +perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest +subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear +before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving +sluggishly through the white chaos. + +For those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained +above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. +When the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a +bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the +contents. Maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted +provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon +their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their +entrance into the ship. + +On one such occasion, when Heemskerk and two companions were the whole +garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of +Gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his Nova Zembla enemies. It was +only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, +which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with +children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was +made. + +Several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in +particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their +house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice +accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic +apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. + +By the beginning of October the weather became so intensely cold that it +was almost impossible to work. The carpenter died before the house was +half completed. To dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a +cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. Meantime the +sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on +October 2nd they had a house-raising. The frame-work was set up, and in +order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, +instead of the May-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle +before their new residence. Ten days later they moved into the house and +slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, +passed the night in the deserted ship. + +On the 4th November the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day +and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it +were midday or midnight. It proved to be exactly noon. The bears +disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all +day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. These were caught +daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. The +cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in +speechless amazement. It was obvious that the extreme limit of human +endurance had been reached. Their clothes were frozen stiff. Their +shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from +head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. The clocks stopped. The +beer became solid. The Spanish wine froze and had to be melted in +saucepans. The smoke in the house blinded them. Fire did not warm them, +and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half +frozen. All through the month of December an almost perpetual snow- +deluge fell from the clouds. For days together they were unable to +emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could +succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. On the night of +the 7th December sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of +the whole party. Having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, +they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had +stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. Each man then +turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and +prattling a long time with each other." At last an unaccustomed +giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the +cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost +consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door +and fell in a swoon upon the snow. Their dread enemy thus came to their +relief, and saved their lives. + +As the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest +became, if that were possible, still more frightful. Their Christmas was +not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was +impossible for them to move from the house. On the 25th January, the +snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it +were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood +from the shore. As their hour-glasses informed them that night was +approaching, they bethought themselves that it was Twelfth Night, or +Three Kings' Eve. So they all respectfully proposed to Skipper +Heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a +little diversion. A twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. A +scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. Two +pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for +cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard +biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance +of wine. "We were as happy," said Gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, +"as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. We imagined ourselves +in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." + +That nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice +fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of Nova Zembla. +Certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid +bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as Christians had never +conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. Nor did +Barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. A meridian was +drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations +of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with +extraordinary minuteness. The latitude, from concurrent measurement of +the Giant, the Bull, Orion, Aldebaran, and other constellations--in the +absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six +degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. + +On the 24th January it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that +Heemskerk, with De Veer and another, walked to the strand. To their +infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the +edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. +But Barendz shook his head. Many days must elapse, he said, before the +declination of the sun should be once more 14 deg., at which point in the +latitude of 76 deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the 4th +November, and at which only it could again be visible. This, according +to his calculations, would be on the 10th February. Two days of mirky +and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of +the opinion of Barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed +in the observation of Heemskerk. On the 27th January there was, however, +no mistake. The sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most +distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the +phenomenon, and Barendz least of all. They had kept accurate diaries +ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had +stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. +Moreover, Barendz knew from the Ephemerides for 1589 to 1600, published +by Dr. Joseph Scala in Venice, a copy of which work he had brought with +him, that on the 24th January, 1597, the moon would be seen at one +o'clock A.M. at Venice, in conjunction with Jupiter. He accordingly took +as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that +conjunction at six o'clock A.M. Of the same day, the two bodies appearing +in the same vertical line in the sign of Taurus. The date was thus +satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the +house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was +certainly commendable. Nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of +refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor Tycho Brahe's tables of +refraction generally known, pilot Barendz could not be expected to be +wiser than his generation. + +The startling discovery that in the latitude of 76 deg. the sun +reappeared on the 24th January, instead of the 10th February, was +destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, +and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. + +But the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. The +merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock +their misery. The foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead +swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. Again +they constantly fought with them for their lives. Daily the grave +question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the +bears on the men. On one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous +to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's +liver, were nearly poisoned to death. Had they perished, none of the +whole party would have ever left Nova Zembla. "It seemed," said the +diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had +just begin to have a taste for us." + +And thus the days wore on. The hour-glass and the almanac told them +that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold +obstruction. One of their number, who had long been ill, died. They +hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial +service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all +corpses before the ceremony was done. + +At last, on the 17th April, some of them climbing over the icebergs to +the shore found much open sea. They also saw a small bird diving in the +water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. +The open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. So +they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, +before William Barendz; that he might suggest it to Heemskerk, for they +were all willing to submit to his better judgment." It was determined to +wait through the month of May. Should they then be obliged to abandon +the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had +been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. It was soon obvious that +the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except +perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been +imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. + +As they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which +were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even +with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter +upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. But Heemskerk +encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got +soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of +Nova Zembla." + +On the 14th June they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to +God," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. Barendz, who was too ill +to walk, together with Claas Anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged +to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. + +Barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of +their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted +house, and one being placed in each of the boats. Their voyage was full +of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they +reached the memorable Ice Haven, once more doubling the Cape of Desire +and heading for the Point of Consolation--landmarks on their desolate +progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar +to Anglo-Saxon ears. + +Off the Ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and Skipper +Heemskerk called out to William Barendz to ask how it was with him. + +"All right, mate," replied Barendz, cheerfully; "I hope to be on my legs +again before we reach the Ward-huis." Then' he begged De Veer to lift +him up, that he might look upon the Ice-hook once more. The icebergs +crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty +currents and tossing on an agitated sea. There was "a hideous groaning +and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the +boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." It was plain that their +voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one +of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. +"But who is to bell the cat?" said Gerrit de Veer, who soon, however, +volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. Leaping from one +floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into +space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. +Thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. + +On the 20th June William Barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the +charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their +voyage. Tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit +upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter +almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained +that he would yet, with God's help, perform his destined task. In his +next attempt he would steer north-east from the North Cape, he said, and +so discover the passage. + +While he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on +board, and said that Claas Anderson would hold out but little longer. + +"Then," said William Barendz, "methinks I too shall last but a little +while. Gerrit, give me to drink." When he had drunk, he turned his eyes +on De Veer and suddenly breathed his last. + +Great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by +the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great +purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant +of life. He was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to God they +trusted." + +And thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance +amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime +adventurers, had ended his career. Nor was it unmeet that the man who +had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the +North Pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a +lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. + +Nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. Hugging +the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by +their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous +herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last +reached the Schanshoek on the 28th July. + +Here they met with some Russian fishermen, who recognised Heemskerk and +De Veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. Most refreshing it +was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation +from mankind, while the honest Muscovites expressed compassion for the +forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. Furnished +by them with food and wine, the Hollanders sailed in company with the +Russians as far as the Waigats. + +On the 18th August they made Candenoes, at the mouth of the White Sea, +and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for Kildin. Landing +on the coast they were informed by the Laps that there were vessels from +Holland at Kola. + +On the 25th August one of the party, guided by a Lap, set forth on foot +for that place. Four days later the guide was seen returning without +their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the +good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to +Heemakerk. + +Breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed +great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them +all to be long since dead. Therefore he was the more delighted with +their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty +of food and drink. + +The letter was signed-- + "By me, JAN CORNELISZ RYP." + +The occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, +sufficiently void of mystery. Yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell +to pondering who this John Ryp might be who seemed so friendly and +sympathetic. It was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be +the sea-captain who had parted company with them off Bear Island fourteen +months before in order to sail north by way of Spitzbergen. As his +Christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the +conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the +ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished +than he for accepting their deaths as certain. One might imagine it to +have been an every day occurrence for Hollanders to receive letters by a +Lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. At last Heemskerk +bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their +old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as +that of the epistle just received. This deliberate avoidance of any +hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general +right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to +believe that on the 24th January the sun's disk was really seen by them +in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the +careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of Ryp's letter +is taken into account. + +Meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend +and correspondent, honest John Cornelius Ryp himself arrived--no +fantastic fly-away Hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with +provisions, and greeting them heartily. + +He had not pursued his Spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but +he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them +all by way of the Ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the +fatherland. + +They dropped anchor in the Meuse on the 29th October, and on the 1st +November arrived at Amsterdam. Here, attired in their robes and caps of +white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of Nova Zembla, they +were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of +their adventures. + +They had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, +winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of 76 deg. in a +frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had +penetrated beyond 80 deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than +had ever been hazarded. They had made accurate geographical, +astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. +They had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the +variations of the magnet. They had thoroughly mapped out, described, and +designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered +countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, +endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to +duty, and trust in God, sufficient to inspire noble natures with +emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. + +No farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. The +enthusiasm of Barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the +stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the +pole was met was its best practical result. Certainly all visions of a +circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal +tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's +commerce between Europe and Asia, had been for ever dispelled. + +The memorable enterprise of Barendz and Heemskerk has been thought worthy +of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and +because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to +superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human +progress and the advancement of science. + +Contemporaneously with these voyages towards the North Pole, the +enlightened magistrates of the Netherland municipalities, aided by +eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite +direction. It was determined to measure strength with the lord of the +land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had +been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. Both from +the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of +oriental civilization, Spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the +treasure to support Spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of +Netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and +to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. + +The intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense +obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of +the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. It was fitting that the +little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred +of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign +trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which +characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the +seventeenth centuries. + +While Barendz and Heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates +which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, +fleets were fitting out in Holland to storm the Southern Pole, or at +least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and +enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. Linschoten had +taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the Indian +trade as then understood. The voyages of the brothers Houtmann, 1595- +1600, the first Dutch expeditions to reach the East by doubling the Cape +of Good Hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by +the practical knowledge obtained by the Houtmanns during a residence in +Portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. They are +chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of +which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the +same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the +Dutch East India Company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in +commercial restriction to a still more colossal English corporation, +that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. + +At the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted +out from Holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the +South Sea through the terrible strait between Patagonia and Fire Land; +then supposed the only path around the globe. For the tortuous mountain +channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual +tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by +Magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the +mighty southern circumpolar continent. A few years later a daring +Hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his +own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of South +America, around which the great current of universal commerce was +thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in +West Friesland where most of his ship's company were born. + +Meantime the seven ships under command of Jacob Mahu, Simon de Cordes, +and Sebald de Weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older +route. The expedition sailed from Holland in June, 1598, but already the +custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown +seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who +had never navigated the ocean at all. The consequence on this occasion +was that the voyagers towards the Straits of Magellan spent a whole +summer on the coast of Africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting +calms, and reached the straits only in April of the following year. +Admiral Mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of +fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their +employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, +and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors +were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were +approaching. Five months longer the fleet, under command of Admiral de +Cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, +where, as if in the home of Eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding +revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty +marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just +been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. They gathered no +gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they +destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which +thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. + +At least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the +straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. Admiral de Cordes +raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial +with an inscription that the Netherlanders were the first to effect this +dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. On the following day, in +commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. The chief +officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most +deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. The members of the +fraternity made solemn oath to De Cordes, as general, and to each other, +that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they +ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the +welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which +they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, +consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the +hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of Holland in all those +territories whence the King of Spain gathered the treasures with which he +had carried on this perpetual war against the Netherlands." + +Thus was instituted on the desolate shores of Fire Land the order of +Knights of the Unchained Lion, with such rude solemnities as were +possible in those solitudes. The harbour where the fleet was anchored +was called the Chevaliers' Bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern +maps for that heroic appellation. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego +know the honest knights of the Unchained Lion no more; yet to an +unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians +seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of Christian chivalry than +were those weather-beaten adventurers. The reefs and whirlwinds of +unknown seas, polar cold, Patagonian giants, Spanish cruisers, a thousand +real or fabulous dangers environed them. Their provisions were already +running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on +snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas +would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their +resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and +to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy +of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every +corner of the earth. The world had already seen, and was still to see, +how nobly Netherlanders could keep their own. Meantime disaster on +disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. One ship after +another melted away and was seen no more. Of all the seven, only one, +that of Sebald de Weerdt, ever returned to the shores of Holland. +Another reached Japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the +great trade with that Oriental empire was begun. In a third--the Blyde +Boodachaft, or Good News--Dirk Gerrits sailed nearer the South Pole than +man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of +the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, Gerrit's Land. +The name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of +the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the +accuracy of the Dutch commander was recognised. The rediscovered land +however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized South Shetland. + +Thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of Holland +had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + Military Operations in the Netherlands--Designs of the Spanish + Commander--Siege of Orsoy--Advance upon Rheinberg--Murder of the + Count of Broeck and his garrison--Capture of Rees and Emmerich-- + Outrages of the Spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- + Inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--State of trade in the + Provinces--Naval expedition under van der Does--Arrival of Albert + and Isabella at Brussels--Military operations of Prince Maurice-- + Negotiation between London and Brussels--Henry's determination to + enact the Council of Trent--His projected marriage--Queen Elizabeth + and Envoy Caron--Peace proposals of Spain to Elizabeth--Conferences + at Gertruydenberg--Uncertain state of affairs. + +The military operations in the Netherlands during the whole year 1598 +were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. The States +were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the +disingenuous policy of their allies. The cardinal-archduke, on the other +hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father- +in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with +his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. + +In the autumn, however, the Admiral of Arragon, who, as has been stated, +was chief military commander during the absence of Albert, collected an +army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the +Meuse at Roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called +Orsoy, on the Rhine. It was his intention to invade the duchies of +Clever, Juliers, and Berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of +the duke, and of the Spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who +constituted a kind of regency. By obtaining possession of these +important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the +republic, the obedient Netherlands, and Germany--an excellent military +position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts +from the east, for crushing Protestantism in the duchies, for holding +important passages of the Rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the +Protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old Duke of Cleves. Of +course, it was the determination of Maurice and the States-General to +frustrate these operations. German and Dutch Protestantism gave battle +on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and Spain. + +Unfortunately, Maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his +command. Fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his +effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders +of the republic, and to out-manceuvre, so far as it might lie in his +power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous +designs. + +With six thousand Spanish veterans, two thousand Italians, and many +Walloon and German regiments under Bucquoy, Hachincourt, La Bourlotte, +Stanley, and Frederic van den Berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers +of the mad duke's territory. Orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of +"cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. + +Presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest +at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, +he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender +or to hang with his whole garrison. The cock feathers surrendered. +The admiral garrisoned and fortified Orsoy as a basis and advanced upon +Rheinberg, first surprising the Count of Broeck in his castle, who was at +once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. + +He took Burik on the 11th October, Rheinberg on the 15th of the same +month, and compounded with Wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand +florins. Leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he +crossed the Lippe, came to Borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. +His troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail +on this neutral territory. The submission of the authorities to this +treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the +States-General; the Governments of Munster and of the duchies being +informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must +expect to be treated as enemies by the other. + +The admiral took Rees on the 30th October, and Emmerich on the 2nd +November--two principal cities of Cleves. On the 8th November he crossed +into the territory of the republic and captured Deutekom, after a very +short siege. Maurice, by precaution, occupied Sevenaer in Cleves. The +prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by +whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, +to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he +could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater +force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the +cities of the frontier like Zutphen, Lochem, and Doesburg, and to prevent +him from attempting an invasion of the United Provinces in force, by +crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's +ice had made them passable for the Spanish army-succeeded admirably in +all his strategy. The admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of +risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have +swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, +passed into Munster, Cleves, and Berg, and during the whole horrible +winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. No outrage which +even a Spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. +Cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed +under the law of black-mail. The places of worship, mainly Protestant, +were all converted at a blow of the sword into Catholic churches. Men +were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, +burned, and buried alive. Women of every rank were subjected by +thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or Spanish +soldiers to imagine. + +Such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of +Philip's soldiers in a country at peace with Philip, at the very moment +when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring +lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human +being. + +In vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the Emperor +Rudolph. The Spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, +and spurned the word neutrality. "Oh, poor Roman Empire!" cried John +Fontanus, "how art thou fallen! Thy protector has become thy despoiler, +and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it +all. One day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers +. . . . . . . The Admiral of Arragon has entirely changed the +character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be +but one God, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this +arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where +they may." + +The admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead Philip +to universal monarchy. + +Maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he +saved the republic from the horrors thus aficting its neighbours, as he +had ever done by his most brilliant victories. Queen Elizabeth was +enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious +administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to +respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "Never before was +it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of +country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so +superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared +that all the streams and rivers were frozen." This, she added, was owing +to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the States-General, and to the +faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, +deserved the title of the first captain of all Christendom. + +A period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. The armies of the States +had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, +while the new levies came in but slowly. The taxation, on the other +hand, was very severe. The quotas for the provinces had risen to the +amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year 1599, +against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit +went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on +the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and +another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. The +finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and +during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, +occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the +troops, established itself throughout Flanders and Brabant. There was +much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the Rhenish duchies, +and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's Government +and the States-General succeeded to those active military operations by +which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of +that border land. There was a slight attempt on the part of the Princes +of Brunswick, Hesse, and Brandenburg to counteract and to punish the +hostilities of the Spanish troops committed upon German soil. An army +--very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, +and the Catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration +upon Rheinberg and upon Rees entirely without result and then disbanded +itself ingloriously. + +Meantime the admiral had withdrawn from German territory, and was amusing +himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. +An excursion into the Isle of Bommel was not crowned with much success. +The assault on the city was repulsed. The fortress of Crevecoeur was, +however, taken, and the fort of St. Andrew constructed--in spite of the +attempts of the States to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the +course of both the Waal and the Meuse. Having placed a considerable +garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his +labours and went into winter-quarters. + +The States-General for political reasons were urgent that Prince Maurice +should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained +by the opinion of his cousin Lewis William, resisted the pressure. The +armies of the Commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too +widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for +active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt +of magnitude during the year. + +The trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their +revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded +to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. +Edicts in the name of the King of Spain and of the Archdukes Albert and +Isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and +the obedient Netherlands or any of the Spanish possessions, were met by +countervailing decrees of the States-General. Free trade with its +enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had +prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and +the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. +To employ a portion of the maritime energies of the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval +expedition of seventy-five war vessels under Admiral van der Does was +fitted out, but met with very trifling success. They attacked and +plundered the settlements and forts of the Canary Islands, inflicted much +damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the Isle of St. Thomas, near +the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and +where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a +very brief period a large proportion of the crew. The admiral himself +fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. The fleet put +to sea again under Admiral Storm van Wena, but the sickness pursued the +adventurers on their voyage towards Brazil, one thousand of them dying at +sea in fifteen days. At Brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their +homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same +contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent +that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in Holland, +there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not +more than six sound men to each. Nothing could be more wretched than +this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned +such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the +political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months +which immediately ensued. It was obvious to Barneveld and the other +leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, +that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the +treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should +not become universal and fatal. + +Meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. +Archduke Albert arrived with his bride in the early days of September, +1599, at Brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic +rejoicings. When are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial +personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers +understand their business? After all, it may be doubted whether the +theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of +the Ernestian era. Schoolmaster Houwaerts had surpassed himself on that +occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as +thoroughly as he had deified his brother. + +Much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. The +obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the +enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. There were one +hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, +while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine +gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, +without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. Albert +had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the +gratification of his wish. He had aspired to be emperor, and he was at +least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. The murmurers were +loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of +obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of +their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. +The provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the +expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new +sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm +greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. + +The archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the Infanta Isabella six +years younger. She was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, +and Cardinal Bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced +her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the +tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. In +attachment to the Roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of +demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of +that sainted sovereign. In a moral point of view she was his superior. +The archdukes--so Albert and Isabella were always designated--were a +singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and +imperial, was harmonious. They loved each other--so it was believed-- +as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear +that they had a very warm affection for their Flemish subjects. Every +characteristic of their court was Spanish. Spanish costume, Spanish +manners, the Spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and +although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very +magnificent, the prevailing expression of the Brabantine capital +resembled that of a Spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and +so grim, was the demeanour of the court. + +The earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of +the new century were successful. Partly by menace; but more effectually +by judicious negotiation. Maurice recovered Crevecoeur, and obtained the +surrender of St. Andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the +preceding year in honour of Albert's uncle. That ecclesiastic, with whom +Mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of Albert's +absence, had already taken his departure for Rome, where he soon +afterwards died. The garrisons of the forts, being mostly Walloon +soldiers, forsook the Spanish service for that of the States, and were +banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became +known as the "New Beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of +Frederick Henry of Nassau, youngest child of William the Silent. The +next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal +cartel, between Breaute, a young Norman noble in the service of the +republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of Flemish warriors +from the obedient provinces, under Grobbendonck. About one half of the +whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, +although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent +importance. + +There was much negotiation, informal and secret, between Brussels and +London during this and a portion of the following year. Elizabeth, +naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did +the Government of France, that a peace between the United Netherlands and +Spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his +most Catholic Majesty over all the provinces. The statesmen of France +and England, like most of the politicians of Europe, had but slender +belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore +the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. Therefore they +really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the States, +notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her +counsellors had so vehemently reproached the Netherlanders with their +unwillingness to negotiate. "At the first recognition that these people +should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said Buzanval, the keenly +observing and experienced French envoy at the Hague, "they lose the form +they have. All the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the +game would be who should best play the valet. . . . . The house of +Nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." As such +statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration +in the United Provinces of the subverted authority of Spain. + +France and England were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of +Spain. Therefore even if the republican element, the strength and +endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor +in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for +any one of these powers to absorb the United Netherlands. As for +France, she hardly coveted their possession. "We ought not to flatter +ourselves," said Buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast +themselves one day into our nets, nor do I know that it would be +advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." + +Henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as +his passion for Mademoiselle d'Entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the +image of the dead Gabrielle in his heart, would permit. He was very well +disposed to obtain possession of the Spanish Netherlands, whenever he +should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in +visions of the imperial crown. + +He was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense +of papists. He was determined to sacrifice the Huguenot chiefs, and +introduce the Council of Trent, in order, as he told Du Plessis, that all +might be Christians. If he still retained any remembrance of the ancient +friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely +to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary +liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "I repeat it," +said the Dutch envoy at Paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all +its cabals tend to close union with Rome, whence we can expect nothing +but foul weather. The king alone has any memory of our past services." +But imperturbable and self-confident as ever, Henry troubled himself +little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his +Parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the +Council of Trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "I will so +bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my +restrictions. My children will be still more virtuous and valiant than I. +If I have none, then the devil take the hindmost. Nevertheless I choose +that the council shall be enacted. I desire it more ardently than I +pressed the edict for the Protestants." Such being the royal humour at +the moment, it may well be believed that Duplessis Mornay would find but +little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten +conferences with Du Perron, now archbishop of Evreux, before the king and +all the court at Fontainebleau. It was natural enough that to please the +king the king's old Huguenot friend should be convicted of false +citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives +unknown, that Henry should have been so intensely interested in this most +arid and dismal of theological controversies. Yet those who had known +and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had +never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of +amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of Duplessis and +his deductions. He had promised the Nuncius that the Huguenot should be +utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the +king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom I +owe as much as I do to God." + +These were not times in which the Hollanders, battling as stoutly against +Spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic +stood shoulder to shoulder with Henry the Huguenot, could hope for aid +and comfort from their ancient ally. + +It is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless +political gambling, that at the very moment when Henry's marriage with +Marie de Medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon +expected in Lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd +projects to marry their sovereign to the Infanta of Spain. It is true +that the Infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it +was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or +inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on +the ground of the nullity of the marriage. Thus there were politicians +at the French court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the +archduke of his wife, of his Netherland provinces, and of the crown of, +the holy Roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. Yet the ink was +scarcely dry with which Henry had signed the treaty of amity with Madrid +and Brussels. + +The Queen of England, on the other hand--although often listenting to +secret agents from Brussels and Madrid who offered peace, and although +perfectly aware that the great abject of Spain in securing peace with +England was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus +deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she +suspected, with or without reason, that Brussels or Madrid had been +sending peace emissaries to the republic. + +"Before I could get into the room," said Caron, on one such occasion, +"she called out, 'Have you not always told me that the States never +could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? Yet now it +is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' +And she then swore a big oath that if the States were to deceive her she +meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and +ever." It was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen +to a single word, although the, perfect sincerity of the States in their +attitude to the queen and to Spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour +on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she +had been deceived. + +Yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the States to play her +false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their +honour. Even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the +distant possessions of Spain--which in its result had caused so much +disappointment to the States, and cost them so many lives, including that +of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the Netherlands adored had been +of immense advantage to England. The queen acknowledged that the Dutch +Navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom +out of Spain, the Spanish ships destined for the coast of Ireland having +been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these +demonstrations of her ally. For this she vowed that she would be +eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and +honey"--according to the French envoy--which she sent to the States by +Sir Francis Vere. She protested, in short, that she had been better and +more promptly served in her necessities by the Netherlands than by her +own subjects. + +All this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of Envoy +Edmonds less bitter to the States. They heard that he was going about +through half the cities of the obedient Netherlands in a sort of +triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians +and financiers of the continent that peace between Spain and England was +as good as made. Naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant +expressions of gratitude on the part of Elizabeth, the republican +Government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. They +could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the English +envoy except for sufficient reason. Caron accordingly presented himself +before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. He found her +in appearance very angry, not with him, but with Edmonds, from whom she +had received no advices. "I don't know what they are doing with him," +said her Majesty, "I hear from others that they are ringing the church +bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great +many more places than was necessary. I suppose that they think him a +monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. All this is +done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and +to put it into their heads that the Queen of England is suing for peace, +which is very wide of the mark." + +She further observed that, as the agents of the Spanish Government had +been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to +learn what they had to say. Thus she should make manifest to all the +world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure +peace for herself and for Christendom; otherwise not. + +It subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen +would give up to the Spanish Government the cautionary towns which she +held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and +intercourse between her subjects and the Netherlanders, and thenceforth +never allow an Englishman to serve in or with the armies of the States, +a peace might be made. + +Surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such +insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the +opinion of Verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very +depths of dishonour. And she did spurn them. Surely, for the ally, the +protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief +seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, +so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole +population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, +full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. + +Before these propositions had been made by Verreycken Elizabeth protested +that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer +that people should talk of it for some time to come. "Before I consent +to a single one of those points," said the queen, "I wish myself taken +from this world. Until now I have been a princess of my word, who would +rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the States." And +she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the +Dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. + +Nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to +break off the negotiations. The answer of which mankind was to talk in +time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to +treat for peace unless the Spanish Government should recede from the +three points thus offered by Verreycken. This certainly was not a very +blasting reply, and the Spanish agents were so far from losing heart in +consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much +to the discomfort of the Netherlanders. + +For more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot +afternoon in April did Noel de Caron argue with her Majesty against these +ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the +weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the +palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow +her footsteps. "We are travelling about like pilgrims," said Elizabeth, +"but what is life but a pilgrimage?" + +Yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, +Caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no +she intended to send her commissioners. At last he asked her the +question bluntly. + +"Hallo! Hallo!" she replied. "I have only spoken to my servant once, +and I must obtain more information and think over the matter before I +decide. Be assured however that I shall always keep you informed of the +progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the States that they may +build upon me as upon a rock." + +After the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in Latin, +"Modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" Caron had however so nearly got out +of the door that he did not hear this admonition. + +This the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "O Caron! +modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should +remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. + +Thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with Spain, not for +lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the +contrary of Buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to +nothing. + +At a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret +conferences at Gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her +severest displeasure, should the States dare to treat with Spain without +her permission. "Her Majesty called out to me," said Caron, "as soon as +I entered the room, that I had always assured her that the States neither +would nor could make peace with the enemy. Yet it was now looking very +differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the +States should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such +a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." + +The French Government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of +the Gertruydenberg conferences. + +The envoy of the archdukes, Marquis d'Havre, reported on the other +hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that Olden- +Barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and +made it but too manifest that the States had no intention to submit to +any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the +form of a republic. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Children who had never set foot on the shore +Done nothing so long as aught remained to do +Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death +Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v71 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, ENTIRE 1590-99 UNITED NETHERLANDS: + +A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period +A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so +Accustomed to the faded gallantries +Alexander's exuberant discretion +All Italy was in his hands +All fellow-worms together +Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune +Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist +Artillery +At length the twig was becoming the tree +Auction sales of judicial ermine +Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies +Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) +Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century +Burning of Servetus at Geneva +Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war +Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant +Children who had never set foot on the shore +Chronicle of events must not be anticipated +Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation +Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice +Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice +Constant vigilance is the price of liberty +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure +Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend +Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places +Disciple of Simon Stevinus +Divine right of kings +Done nothing so long as aught remained to do +Eat their own children than to forego one high mass +Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile +Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are +Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes +Famous fowl in every pot +Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death +Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust +Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty +For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future +French seem madmen, and are wise +Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods +German Highland and the German Netherland +God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever +Had industry been honoured instead of being despised +Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston +Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence +History is but made up of a few scattered fragments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Holy institution called the Inquisition +Hugo Grotius +Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war +Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds +Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind +Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands +Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things +Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross +In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing +Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes +Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers +Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading +Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority +King was often to be something much less or much worse +King had issued a general repudiation of his debts +Labour was esteemed dishonourable +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Life of nations and which we call the Past +Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe +Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable +Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism +Magnificent hopefulness +Man had no rights at all He was property +Maritime heretics +Matters little by what name a government is called +Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field +Mondragon was now ninety-two years old +Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +More catholic than the pope +Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream +Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs +National character, not the work of a few individuals +Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons +Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths +Octogenarian was past work and past mischief +Often necessary to be blind and deaf +One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea +Peace would be destruction +Philip II. gave the world work enough +Picturesqueness of crime +Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat +Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous +Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail +Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays +Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey +Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation +Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before +Rich enough to be worth robbing +Righteous to kill their own children +Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome +Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely +Sacked and drowned ten infant princes +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology +Self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute +Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days +Sentiment of Christian self-complacency +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other +Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand +So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) +Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth +Spain was governed by an established terrorism +Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen +Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession +Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) +That unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance +The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty +The great ocean was but a Spanish lake +The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals +The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition +The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces +The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) +The record of our race is essentially unwritten +There are few inventions in morals +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness +They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft +Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul +Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) +Those who argue against a foregone conclusion +Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) +To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland +Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us +Tranquil insolence +Under the name of religion (so many crimes) +Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing +Upon their knees, served the queen with wine +Use of the spade +Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends +Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims +Valour on the one side and discretion on the other +Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures +We have the reputation of being a good housewife +Weapons +Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue +While one's friends urge moderation +Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts +Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear +Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Entire United Netherlands 1590-99 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 84 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1600-1609, Complete + + + + +CHAPTER, XXXVIII. + + Military events--Aggressive movement of the Netherlanders--State of + the Archdukes provinces--Mutiny of the Spanish forces--Proposed + invasion of Flanders by the States-General--Disembarkation of the + troops on the Spanish coasts--Capture of Oudenburg and other places + --Surprise of Nieuport--Conduct of the Archduke--Oudenburg and the + other forts re-taken--Dilemma of the States' army--Attack of the + Archduke on Count Ernest's cavalry--Panic and total overthrow of the + advance-guard of the States' army--Battle of Nieuport--Details of + the action--Defeat of the Spanish army--Results of the whole + expedition. + +The effect produced in the republic by the defensive and uneventful +campaigning of the year 1599 had naturally been depressing. There was +murmuring at the vast amount of taxation, especially at the new +imposition of one-half per cent. upon all property, and two-and-a-half +per cent. on all sales, which seemed to produce so few results. The +successful protection of the Isle of Bommel and the judicious purchase of +the two forts of Crevecoeur and St. Andrew; early in the following year, +together with their garrisons, were not military events of the first +magnitude, and were hardly enough to efface the mortification felt at the +fact that the enemy had been able so lately to construct one of those +strongholds within the territory of the commonwealth. + +It was now secretly determined to attempt an aggressive movement on a +considerable scale, and to carry the war once for all into the heart of +the obedient provinces. It was from Flanders that the Spanish armies +drew a great portion of their supplies. It was by the forts erected on +the coast of Flanders in the neighbourhood of Ostend that this important +possession of the States was rendered nearly valueless. It was by +privateers swarming from the ports of Flanders, especially from Nieuport +and Dunkirk, that the foreign trade of the republic was crippled, and its +intercommunications by river and estuary rendered unsafe. Dunkirk was +simply a robbers' cave, a station from which an annual tax was levied +upon the commerce of the Netherlands, almost sufficient, had it been paid +to the national treasury instead of to the foreign freebooters, to +support the expenses of a considerable army. + +On the other hand the condition of the archdukes seemed deplorable. +Never had mutiny existed before in so well-organised and definite a form +even in the Spanish Netherlands. + +Besides those branches of the "Italian republic," which had been +established in the two fortresses of Crevecoeur and St. Andrew, and which +had already sold themselves to the States, other organisations quite as +formidable existed in various other portions of the obedient provinces. +Especially at Diest and Thionville the rebellious Spaniards and Italians +were numbered by thousands, all veterans, well armed, fortified in strong +cities; and supplying themselves with perfect regularity by contributions +levied upon the peasantry, obeying their Eletto and other officers with +exemplary promptness; and paying no more heed to the edicts or the +solicitations of the archduke than if he had been the Duke of Muscovy. + +The opportunity seemed tempting to strike a great blow. How could Albert +and Isabella, with an empty exchequer and a mutinous army, hope either to +defend their soil from attack or to aim a counter blow at the republic, +even if, the republic for a season should be deprived of a portion of its +defenders? + +The reasoning was plausible, the prize tempting. The States-General, who +habitually discountenanced rashness, and were wont to impose superfluous +restraints upon the valiant but discreet Lewis William, and upon the +deeply pondering but energetic Maurice, were now grown as ardent as +they had hitherto been hesitating. In the early days of June it was +determined in secret session to organize a great force in Holland and +Zeeland, and to embark suddenly for Nieuport, to carry that important +position by surprise or assault, and from that basis to redeem Dunkirk. +The possession of these two cities, besides that of Ostend, which had +always been retained by the Republic, would ensure the complete +subjugation of Flanders. The trifling force of two thousand men under +Rivas--all that the archduke then had in that province--and the sconces +and earthworks which had been constructed around Ostend to impede the +movements and obstruct the supplies of the garrison, would be utterly +powerless to prevent the consummation of the plan. Flanders once +subjugated, it would not be long before the Spaniards were swept from the +obedient Netherlands as thoroughly as they had been from the domains of +the commonwealth, and all the seventeen provinces, trampling out every +vestige of a hated foreign tyranny, would soon take their natural place +as states of a free; prosperous, and powerful union. + +But Maurice of Nassau did not share the convictions of the States- +General. The unwonted ardour of Barneveld did not inflame his +imagination. He urged that the enterprise was inexcusably rash; that its +execution would require the whole army of the States, except the slender +garrisons absolutely necessary to protect important places from surprise; +that a defeat would not be simply disaster, but annihilation; that +retreat without absolute triumph would be impossible, and that amid such +circumstances the archduke, in spite of his poverty and the rebellious +condition of his troops, would doubtless assemble a sufficient force to +dispute with reasonable prospects of victory, this invasion of his +territory. + +Sir Francis Vere, too, was most decidedly opposed to the plan. He +pointed out with great clearness its dangerous and possibly fatal +character; assuring the Staten that, within a fortnight after the +expedition had begun, the archduke would follow upon their heels with an +army fully able to cope with the best which they could put into the +field. But besides this experienced and able campaigner, who so +thoroughly shared the opinions of Prince Maurice, every military man in +the provinces of any consideration, was opposed to, the scheme. +Especially Lewis William--than whom no more sagacious military critic or +accomplished strategist existed in Europe, denounced it with energy and +even with indignation. It was, in the opinion of the young stadholder of +Friesland, to suspend the existence of the whole commonwealth upon a +silken thread. Even success, he prophesied, would bring no permanent, +fruits, while the consequences of an overthrow, were fearful to +contemplate. The immediate adherents and most trusted counsellors of +William Lewis were even more unmeasured in their denunciations than he +was himself. "'Tis all the work of Barneveld and the long-gowns," cried +Everard van Reyd. "We are led into a sack from which there is no +extrication. We are marching to the Caudine Forks." + +Certainly it is no small indication of the vast influence and the +indomitable resolution of Barneveld that he never faltered in this storm +of indignation. The Advocate had made up his mind to invade Flanders and +to capture Nieuport; and the decree accordingly went forth, despite all +opposition. The States-General were sovereign, and the Advocate and the +States-General were one. + +It was also entirely characteristic of Maurice that he should submit his +judgment on this great emergency to that of Olden-Barneveld. It was +difficult for him to resist the influence of the great intellect to which +he had always willingly deferred in affairs of state, and from which; +even in military matters, it was hardly possible for him to escape. Yet +in military matters Maurice was a consummate professor, and the Advocate +in comparison but a school-boy. + +The ascendency of Barneveld was the less wholesome, therefore, and it +might have been better had the stadholder manifested more resolution. +But Maurice had not a resolute character. Thorough soldier as he was, he +was singularly vacillating, at times almost infirm of purpose, but never +before in his career had this want of decision manifested itself in so +striking a manner. + +Accordingly the States-General, or in other words John of Olden-Barneveld +proposed to invade Flanders, and lay siege, to Nieuport. The States- +General were sovereign, and Maurice bowed to their authority. After the +matter had been entirely decided upon the state-council was consulted, +and the state-council attempted no opposition to the project. The +preparations were made with matchless energy and extraordinary secrecy. +Lewis William, who meanwhile was to defend the eastern frontier of the +republic against any possible attack, sent all the troops that it was +possible to spare; but he sent, them with a heavy heart. His forebodings +were dismal. It seemed to him that all was about to be staked upon a +single cast of the dice. Moreover it was painful to him while the +terrible game, was playing to be merely a looker on and a prophet of +evil from a distance, forbidden to contribute by his personal skill and +experience to a fortunate result. Hohenlo too was appointed to protect +the southern border, and was excluded from, all participation in the +great expedition. + +As to the enemy, such rumors as might came to them from day to day of +mysterious military, preparations on the part of the rebels only served +to excite suspicion in others directions. The archduke was uneasy in, +regard to the Rhine and the Gueldrian; quarter, but never dreamt of a +hostile descent upon the Flemish coast. + +Meantime, on the 19th June Maurice of Nassau made his appearance at +Castle Rammekens, not far from Flushing, at the mouth of the Scheld, to +superintend the great movement. So large a fleet as was there assembled +had never before been seen or heard of in Christendom. Of war-ships, +transports, and flat-bottomed barges there were at least thirteen +hundred. Many eye-witnesses, who counted however with their +imaginations, declared that there were in all at least three thousand +vessels, and the statement has been reproduced by grave and trustworthy +chroniclers. As the number of troops to be embarked upon the enterprise +certainly did not exceed fourteen thousand, this would have been an +allowance of one vessel to every five soldiers, besides the army +munitions and provisions--a hardly reasonable arrangement. + +Twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry, the consummate +flower of the States' army, all well-paid, well-clad, well-armed, well- +disciplined veterans, had been collected in this place of rendezvous and +were ready to embark. It would be unjust to compare the dimensions of +this force and the preparations for ensuring the success of the +enterprise with the vast expeditions and gigantic armaments of later +times, especially with the tremendous exhibitions of military and naval +energy with which our own civil war has made us familiar. Maurice was an +adept in all that science and art had as yet bequeathed to humanity for +the purpose of human' destruction, but the number of his troops was small +compared to the mighty hosts which the world since those days has seen +embattled. War, as a trade, was then less easily learned. It was a +guild in which apprenticeship was difficult, and in which enrolment was +usually for life. A little republic of scarce three million souls, which +could keep always on foot a regular well-appointed army of twenty-five +thousand men and a navy of one or two hundred heavily armed cruisers, was +both a marvel and a formidable element in the general polity of the +world. The lesson to be derived both in military and political +philosophy from the famous campaign of Nieuport does not depend for its +value on the numbers of the ships or soldiers engaged in the undertaking. +Otherwise, and had it been merely a military expedition like a thousand +others which have been made and forgotten, it would not now deserve more +than a momentary attention. But the circumstances were such as to make +the issue of the impending battle one of the most important in human +history. It was entirely possible that an overwhelming defeat of the +republican forces on this foreign expedition would bring with it an +absolute destruction of the republic, and place Spain once more in +possession of the heretic "islands," from which basis she would menace +the very existence of England more seriously than she had ever done +before. Who could measure the consequences to Christendom of such a +catastrophe? + +The distance from the place where the fleet and army were assembled to +Nieuport--the objective point of the enterprise--was but thirty-five +miles as the crow flies. And the crow can scarcely fly in a straighter +line than that described by the coast along which the ships were to shape +their course. + +And here it is again impossible not to reflect upon the change which +physical science has brought over the conduct of human affairs. We have +seen in a former chapter a most important embassy sent forth from the +States for the purpose of preventing the consummation of a peace between +their ally and their enemy. Celerity was a vital element in the success +of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was intended to +impede were supposed to be near their termination. Yet months were +consumed in a journey which in our day would have been accomplished in +twenty-four hours. And now in this great military expedition the +essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small town almost +within sight from the station at which the army was ready to embark. +Such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and transports would +require but a few hours. Yet two days long the fleet lay at anchor while +a gentle breeze blew persistently from the south-west. As there seemed +but little hope that the wind would become more favourable, and as the +possibility of surprise grew fainter with every day's delay, it was +decided to make a landing upon the nearest point of Flemish coast placed +by circumstances within their reach: Count Ernest of Nassau; with the +advance-guard, was accordingly, despatched on the 21st June to the +neighbourhood of the Sas-of Ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, +called Philippine, and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the +whole army. On the following day the rest of the troops made their +appearance, and in the course of five hours were safely disembarked. + +The army, which consisted of Zeelanders, Frisians, Hollanders, Walloons, +Germans, English, and Scotch, was divided into three corps. The advance +was under the command of Count Ernest, the battalia under that of Count +George Everard Solms, while the rear-guard during the march was entrusted +to that experienced soldier Sir Francis Vere. Besides Prince Maurice, +there were three other members of the house of Nassau serving in the +expedition--his half-brother Frederic Henry, then a lad of sixteen, and +the two brothers of the Frisian stadholder, Ernest and Lewis Gunther, +whom Lewis William had been so faithfully educating in the arts of peace +and war both by precept and example. Lewis Gunther, still a mere youth, +but who had been the first to scale the fort of Cadiz, and to plant on +its height the orange banner of the murdered rebel, and whose gallantry +during the whole expedition had called forth the special commendations of +Queen Elizabeth--expressed in energetic and affectionate terms to his +father--now commanded all the cavalry. Certainly if the doctrine of +primordial selection could ever be accepted among human creatures, the +race of Nassau at that day might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the +Netherland soil. Old John of Nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the +cause of the religious reformation of Germany and the liberation of +Holland, still watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous +event. Four of his brethren, including the great founder of the +republic, had already laid down their lives for the sacred cause. His +son Philip had already fallen under the banner in the fight of Bislich, +and three other sons were serving the republic day and night, by sea and +land, with sword, and pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and +honourably. Of the stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety +of the commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than +the accomplished soldier and statesman Lewis William. Thoroughly +disapproving of the present invasion of Flanders, he was exerting +himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the States- +Generals, with the same loyalty as that of Maurice, to bring it to a +favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure. + +So soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as +expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands; +the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed to +proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of Nieuport. +The march then began. On the 23rd they advanced a league and halted for +the night at Assenede. The next day brought them three leagues further, +to a place called Eckerloo. On the 25th they marched to Male, a distance +of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of Bruges, in +which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an insurrection, but +obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the fortifications which did +no damage except the killing of one muleteer. The next night was passed +at Jabbeke, four leagues from Male, and on the 27th, after marching +another league, they came before the fort of Oudenburg. + +This important post on the road which the army would necessarily traverse +in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured and then +strongly garrisoned. Maurice with the main army spent the two following +days at the fortress, completing his arrangements. Solms was sent +forward to seize the sconces and redoubts of the enemy around Ostend, at +Breedene, Snaaskerk, Plassendaal, and other points, and especially to +occupy the important fort called St. Albert, which was in the downs at +about a league from that city. All this work was thoroughly +accomplished; little or no resistance having been made to the occupation +of these various places. Meantime the States-General, who at the special +request of Maurice were to accompany the expedition in order to observe +the progress of events for which they were entirely responsible, and to +aid the army when necessary by their advice and co-operation, had +assembled to the number of thirteen in Ostend. Solms having strengthened +the garrison of that place then took up his march along the beach to +Nieuport. During the progress of the army through Holland and Zeeland +towards its place of embarkation there had been nothing but dismal +prognostics, with expressions of muttered indignation, wherever the +soldiers passed. It seemed to the country people, and to the inhabitants +of every town and village, that their defenders were going to certain +destruction; that the existence of the commonwealth was hanging by a +thread soon to be snapped asunder. As the forces subsequently marched +from the Sas of Ghent towards the Flemish coast there was no rising of +the people in their favour, and although Maurice had issued distinct +orders that the peasantry were to be dealt with gently and justly, yet +they found neither peasants nor villagers to deal with at all. The whole +population on their line of march had betaken themselves to the woods, +except the village sexton of Jabbeke and his wife, who were too old to +run. Lurking in the thickets and marshes, the peasants fell upon all +stragglers from the army and murdered them without mercy--so difficult +is it in times of civil war to make human brains pervious to the light of +reason. The stadholder and his soldiers came to liberate their brethren +of the same race, and speaking the same language, from abject submission +to a foreign despotism. The Flemings had but to speak a word, to lift a +finger, and all the Netherlands, self-governed, would coalesce into one +independent confederation of States, strong enough to defy all the +despots of Europe. Alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged +their chains, and preferred the tyranny under which their kindred had +been tortured, burned, and buried alive for half-a-century long, to the +possibility of a single Calvinistic conventicle being opened in any +village of obedient Flanders. So these excellent children of Philip and +the pope, whose language was as unintelligible to them as it was to +Peruvians or Iroquois, lay in wait for the men who spoke their own mother +tongue, and whose veins were filled with their own blood, and murdered +them, as a sacred act of duty. Retaliation followed as a matter of +course, so that the invasion of Flanders, in this early stage of its +progress, seemed not likely to call forth very fraternal feelings +between the two families of Netherlanders. + +The army was in the main admirably well supplied, but there was a +deficiency of drink. The water as they advanced became brackish and +intolerably bad, and there was great difficulty in procuring any +substitute. At Male three cows were given for a pot of beer, and more of +that refreshment might have been sold at the same price, had there been +any sellers. + +On the 30th June Maurice marched from Oudenburg, intending to strike a +point called Niewendam--a fort in the neighbourhood of Nieuport--and so +to march along the walls of that city and take up his position +immediately in its front. He found the ground, however, so marshy and +impracticable as he advanced, that he was obliged to countermarch, and to +spend that night on the downs between forts Isabella and St. Albert. + +On the 1st July he resumed his march, and passing a bridge over a small +stream at a place called Leffingen, laying down a road as he went with +sods and sand, and throwing bridges over streams and swamps, he arrived +in the forenoon before Nieuport. The, fleet had reached the roadstead +the same morning. + +This was a strong, well-built, and well-fortified little city, situate +half-a-league from the sea coast on low, plashy ground. At high water it +was a seaport, for a stream or creek of very insignificant dimensions was +then sufficiently filled by the tide to admit vessels of considerable +burthen. This haven was immediately taken possession of by the +stadholder, and two-thirds of his army were thrown across to the western +side of the water, the troops remaining on the Ostend side being by a +change of arrangement now under command of Count Ernest. + +Thus the army which had come to surprise Nieuport had, after +accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days, +at last arrived before that place. Yet there was no more expeditious +or energetic commander in Christendom than Maurice, nor troops better +trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army. + +It is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of Flanders, +in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency. +So soon as the news of the landing of the States' army at the port of +Ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that +danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in +assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect +the western frontier. Especially he despatched messengers well charged +with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "Italian Republic" +at Diest and Thionville. He appealed to them in behalf of the holy +Catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the +Infanta Isabella--daughter of the great and good Philip II., once +foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of +heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate +sovereigns of all the Netherlands. And those mutineers responded with +unexpected docility. Eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry +men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in +addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that +they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they +should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. The +example spread. Other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds, +scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the +campaign on similar terms. Before the last week of June the archduke had +a considerable army on foot. On the 29th of that month, accompanied by +the Infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two +thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of Ghent. He addressed them +in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the Church and +to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every +age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that +the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred +and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their +lives. Isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey, +galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. She spoke to +the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this +world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were +now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed +that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her +personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread, +and to the jewels which she wore in her ears. + +Thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with +rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon +testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none +being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. The army marched at +once, under many experienced leaders--Villars, Zapena, and Avalos among +the most conspicuous. The command of the artillery was entrusted to +Velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was Frederic van den Berg, in +place of the superannuated Peter Ernest; while the Admiral of Arragon, +Francisco de Mendoza, "terror of Germany and of Christendom," a little +man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his +evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. The admiral had not +displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the +Rhenish duchies, but his cruelty had certainly been conspicuous. Not +even Alva could have accomplished more murders and other outrages in the +same space of time than had been perpetrated by the Spanish troops during +the infamous winter of 1598-9. The assassination of Count Broeck at his +own castle had made more stir than a thousand other homicides of nameless +wretches at the same period had done, because the victim had been a man +of rank and large possessions, but it now remained to be seen whether +Mendoza was to gain fresh laurels of any kind in the battle which was +probably impending. + +On the 1st of July the archduke came before Oudenburg. Not a soul within +that fortress nor in Ostend dreamed of an enemy within twenty miles of +them, nor had it been supposed possible that a Spanish army could take +the field for many weeks to come. The States-General at Ostend were +complacently waiting for the first bulletin from Maurice announcing his +capture of Nieuport and his advance upon Dunkirk, according to the +program so succinctly drawn up for him, and meantime were holding +meetings and drawing up comfortable protocols with great regularity. +Colonel Piron, on his part, who had been left with several companies of +veterans to hold Oudenburg and the other forts, and to protect the rear +of the invading army, was accomplishing that object by permitting a large +portion of his force to be absent on foraging parties and general +marauding. When the enemy came before Oudenburg they met with no +resistance. The fort was surrendered at once, and with it fell the +lesser sconces of Breedene, Snaaskerk, and Plassendaal--all but the more +considerable fort St. Albert. The archduke, not thinking it advisable to +delay his march by the reduction of this position, and having possession +of all the other fortifications around Ostend, determined to push forward +next morning at daybreak. He had granted favourable terms of surrender +to the various garrisons, which, however, did not prevent them from being +dearly--every man of them immediately butchered in cold blood. + +Thus were these strong and well-manned redoubts, by which Prince Maurice +had hoped to impede for many days the march of a Spanish army--should a +Spanish army indeed be able to take the field at all--already swept off +in an hour. Great was the dismay in Ostend when Colonel Piron and a few +stragglers brought the heavy news of discomfiture and massacre to the +high and mighty States-General in solemn meeting assembled. + +Meanwhile, the States' army before Nieuport, not dreaming of any pending +interruption to their labours, proceeded in a steady but leisurely manner +to invest the city. Maurice occupied himself in tracing the lines of +encampment and entrenchment, and ordered a permanent bridge to be begun +across the narrowest part of the creek, in order that the two parts of +his army might not be so dangerously divided from each other as they now +were, at high water, by the whole breadth and depth of the harbour. +Evening came on before much had been accomplished on this first day of +the siege. It was scarcely dusk when a messenger, much exhausted and +terrified, made his appearance at Count Ernest's tent. He was a straggler +who had made his escape from Oudenburg, and he brought the astounding +intelligence that the archduke had already possession of that position +and of all the other forts. Ernest instantly jumped into a boat and had +himself rowed, together with the messenger, to the headquarters of Prince +Maurice on the other side of the river. The news was as unexpected as it +was alarming. Here was the enemy, who was supposed incapable of mischief +for weeks to come, already in the field, and planted directly on their +communications with Ostend. Retreat, if retreat were desired, was +already impossible, and as to surprising the garrison of Nieuport and so +obtaining that stronghold as a basis for further aggressive operations, +it is very certain that if any man in Flanders was more surprised than +another at that moment it was Prince Maurice himself. He was too good a +soldier not to see at a glance that if the news brought by the straggler +were true, the whole expedition was already a failure, and that, instead +of a short siege and an easy victory, a great battle was to be fought +upon the sands of Nieuport, in which defeat was destruction of the whole +army of the republic, and very possibly of the republic itself. + +The stadholder hesitated. He was prone in great emergencies to hesitate +at first, but immovable when his resolution was taken. Vere, who was +asleep in his tent, was sent for and consulted. Most of the generals +were inclined to believe that the demonstrations at Oudenburg, which had +been so successful, were merely a bravado of Rivas, the commander of the +permanent troops in that district, which were comparatively insignificant +in numbers. Vere thought otherwise. He maintained that the archduke was +already in force within a few hours' march of them, as he had always +supposed would be the case. His opinion was not shared by the rest, +and he went back to his truckle-bed, feeling that a brief repose was +necessary for the heavy work which would soon be upon him. At midnight +the Englishman was again called from his slumbers. Another messenger, +sent directly from the States-General at Ostend, had made his way to the +stadholder. This time there was no possibility of error, for Colonel +Piron had sent the accord with the garrison commanders of the forts which +had been so shamefully violated, and which bore the signature of the +archduke. + +It was now perfectly obvious that a pitched battle was to be fought +before another sunset, and most anxious were the deliberations in that +brief midsummer's night. The dilemma was as grave a one as commander-in- +chief had ever to solve in a few hours. A portentous change had come +over the prospects of the commonwealth since the arrival of these +despatches. But a few hours before, and never had its destiny seemed so +secure, its attitude more imposing. The little republic, which Spain had +been endeavouring forty years long to subjugate, had already swept every +Spanish soldier out of its territory, had repeatedly carried fire and +sword into Spain itself, and even into its distant dependencies, and at +that moment--after effecting in a masterly manner the landing of a great +army in the very face of the man who claimed to be sovereign of all the +Netherlands, and after marching at ease through the heart of his +territory--was preparing a movement, with every prospect of success, +which should render the hold of that sovereign on any portion of +Netherland soil as uncertain and shifting as the sands on which the +States army was now encamped. + +The son of the proscribed and murdered rebel stood at the head of as +powerful and well-disciplined an army as had ever been drawn up in line +of battle on that blood-stained soil. The daughter of the man who had so +long oppressed the provinces might soon be a fugitive from the land over +which she had so recently been endowed with perpetual sovereignty. And +now in an instant these visions were fading like a mirage. + +The archduke, whom poverty and mutiny were to render powerless against +invasion, was following close up upon the heels of the triumphant army of +the stadholder. A decision was immediately necessary. The siege of +Nieuport was over before it had begun. Surprise had failed, assault for +the moment was impossible, the manner how best to confront the advancing +foe the only question. + +Vere advised that the whole army should at once be concentrated and led +without delay against the archduke before he should make further +progress. The advice involved an outrageous impossibility, and it +seems incredible that it could have been given in good faith; still more +amazing that its rejection by Maurice should have been bitterly censured. +Two-thirds of the army lay on the other side of the harbour, and it was +high water at about three o'clock. While they were deliberating, the sea +was rising, and, so soon as daybreak should make any evolutions possible, +they would be utterly prohibited during several hours by the inexorable +tide. More time would be consumed by the attempt to construct temporary +bridges (for of course little progress had been made in the stone bridge +hardly begun) or to make use of boats than in waiting for the falling of +the water, and, should the enemy make his appearance while they were +engaged in such confusing efforts, the army would be hopelessly lost. + +Maurice, against the express advice of Vere, decided to send his cousin +Ernest, with the main portion of the force established on the right bank +of the harbour, in search of the archduke, for the purpose of holding him +in check long enough to enable the rest of the army to cross the water +when the tide should serve. The enemy, it was now clear, would advance +by precisely the path over which the States' army had marched that +morning. Ernest was accordingly instructed to move with the greatest +expedition in order to seize the bridge at Leffingen before the archduke +should reach the deep, dangerous, and marshy river, over which it was the +sole passage to the downs. Two thousand infantry, being the Scotch +regiment of Edmonds and the Zeelanders of Van der Noot, four squadrons of +Dutch cavalry, and two pieces of artillery composed the force with which +Ernest set forth at a little before dawn on his hazardous but heroic +enterprise. + +With a handful of troops he was to make head against an army, and the +youth accepted the task in the cheerful spirit of self-sacrifice which +characterized his house. Marching as rapidly as the difficult ground +would permit, he had the disappointment, on approaching the fatal point +at about eight o'clock, to see the bridge at Leffingen in the possession +of the enemy. Maurice had sent off a messenger early that morning with +a letter marked post haste (cito, cito) to Ostend ordering up some four +hundred cavalry-men then stationed in that city under Piron and Bruges, +to move up to the support of Ernest, and to destroy the bridge and dams +at Leffingen before the enemy should arrive. That letter, which might +have been so effective, was delivered, as it subsequently appeared, +exactly ten days after it was written. The States, of their own +authority, had endeavoured to send out those riders towards the scene of +action, but it was with great difficulty that they could be got into the +saddle at all, and they positively refused to go further than St. Albert +fort. + +What course should he now pursue? He had been sent to cut the archduke's +road. He had failed. Had he remained in his original encampment his +force would have been annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the +enemy so soon as they reached the right bank of Nieuport haven, while +Maurice could have only looked hopelessly on from the opposite shore. +At least nothing worse than absolute destruction could befal him now. +Should he accept a combat of six or eight to one the struggle would be +hopeless, but the longer it was protracted the better it would be for his +main army, engaged at that very moment as he knew in crossing the haven +with the ebbing tide. Should he retreat, it might be possible for him to +escape into Fort Albert or even Ostend, but to do so would be to purchase +his own safety and that of his command at the probable sacrifice of the +chief army of the republic. Ernest hesitated but an instant. Coming +within carbine-shot of the stream, where he met his cavalry which had +been sent forward at full speed, in the vain hope of seizing or +destroying the bridge before it should be too late, he took up a position +behind a dyke, upon which he placed his two field-pieces, and formed his +troops in line of battle exactly across the enemy's path. On the right +he placed the regiment of Scots. On the left was Van der Noot's Zeeland +infantry, garnished with four companies of riders under Risoir, which +stood near St. Mary's church. The passage from the stream to the downs +was not more than a hundred yards wide, being skirted on both sides by a +swamp. Here Ernest with his two thousand men awaited the onset of the +archduke's army. He was perfectly aware that it was a mere question of +time, but he was sure that his preparations must interpose a delay to the +advance of the Spaniards, should his troops, as he felt confident, behave +themselves as they had always done, and that the delay would be of +inestimable value to his friends at the haven of Nieuport. + +The archduke paused; for he, too, could not be certain, on observing the +resolute front thus presented to him, that he was not about to engage the +whole of the States' army. The doubt was but of short duration, however, +and the onset was made. Ernest's artillery fired four volleys into the +advancing battalions with such effect as to stagger them for a moment, +but they soon afterwards poured over the dyke in over whelming numbers, +easily capturing the cannon. The attack began upon Ernest's left, and +Risoir's cavalry, thinking that they should be cut off from all +possibility of retreat into Fort St. Albert, turned their backs in the +most disgraceful manner, without even waiting for the assault. Galloping +around the infantry on the left they infected the Zeelanders with their +own cowardice. Scarcely a moment passed before Van der Noot's whole +regiment was running away as fast as the troopers, while the Scots on the +right hesitated not for an instant to follow their example. Even before +the expected battle had begun, one of those hideous and unaccountable +panics which sometimes break out like a moral pestilence to destroy all +the virtue of an army, and to sweep away the best-considered schemes of +a general, had spread through Ernest's entire force. So soon as the +demi-cannon had discharged their fourth volley, Scots, Zeelanders, +Walloons, pikemen, musketeers, and troopers, possessed by the demon of +cowardice, were running like a herd of swine to throw themselves into the +sea. Had they even kept the line of the downs in the direction of the +fort many of them might have saved their lives, although none could have +escaped disgrace. But the Scots, in an ecstasy of fear, throwing away +their arms as they fled, ran through the waters behind the dyke, skimmed +over the sands at full speed, and never paused till such as survived the +sabre and musket of their swift pursuers had literally drowned themselves +in the ocean. Almost every man of them was slain or drowned. All the +captains--Stuart, Barclay, Murray, Kilpatrick, Michael, Nesbit--with the +rest of the company officers, doing their best to rally the fugitives, +were killed. The Zeelanders, more cautious in the midst of their panic, +or perhaps knowing better the nature of the country, were more successful +in saving their necks. Not more than a hundred and fifty of Van der +Noot's regiment were killed, while such of the cavalry of Bruges and +Piron as had come to the neighbourhood of Fort Albert, not caring to +trust themselves to the shelter of that redoubt, now fled as fast as +their horses' legs would carry them, and never pulled bridle till they +found themselves in Ostend. And so beside themselves with panic were +these fugitives, and so virulent was the contagion, that it was difficult +to prevent the men who had remained in the fort from joining in the +flight towards Ostend. Many of them indeed threw themselves over the +walls and were sabred by the enemy when they might have been safe within +the fortifications. Had these cavalry companies of Bruges and Piron been +even tolerably self-possessed, had they concentrated themselves in the +fort instead of yielding to the delirium which prompted them to +participate in their comrades' flight, they would have had it entirely in +their power, by making an attack, or even the semblance of an attack, by +means of a sudden sally from the fort, to have saved, not the battle +indeed, but a large number of lives. But the panic was hopeless and +universal, and countless fugitives scrambling by the fort were shot in +a leisurely manner by a comparative few of the enemy as easily as the +rabbits which swarmed in those sands were often knocked down in +multitudes by half-a-dozen sportsmen. + +And thus a band of patriots, who were not cowards by nature, and who had +often played the part of men, had horribly disgraced themselves, and were +endangering the very existence of their country, already by mistaken +councils brought within the jaws of death. The glory of Thermopyla; +might have hung for ever over that bridge of Leffingen. It was now a +pass of infamy, perhaps of fatal disaster. The sands were covered with +weapons-sabre, pike, and arquebus--thrown away by almost every soldier as +he fled to save the life which after all was sacrificed. The artillery, +all the standards and colours, all the baggage and ammunition, every +thing was lost. No viler panic, no more complete defeat was ever +recorded. Such at half-past eight in the morning was that memorable +Sunday of the 2nd July, 1600, big with the fate of the Dutch republic +--the festival of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, always thought of +happy augury for Spanish arms. + +Thus began the long expected battle of Nieuport. At least a thousand of +the choicest troops of the stadholder were slain, while the Spanish had +hardly lost a man. + +The archduke had annihilated his enemy, had taken his artillery and +thirty flags. In great exultation he despatched a messenger to the +Infanta at Ghent, informing her that he had entirely defeated the +advance-guard of the States' army, and that his next bulletin would +announce his complete triumph and the utter overthrow of Maurice, who had +now no means of escape. He stated also that he would very soon send the +rebel stadholder himself to her as a prisoner. The Infanta, much pleased +with the promise, observed to her attendants that she was curious to see +how Nassau would conduct himself when he should be brought a captive into +her presence. As to the Catholic troops, they were informed by the +archduke that after the complete victory which they were that day to +achieve, not a man should be left alive save Maurice and his brother +Frederic Henry. These should be spared to grace the conqueror's triumph, +but all else should be put to the sword. + +Meantime artillery thundered, bonfires blazed, and bells rang their +merriest peals in Ghent, Bruges, and the other obedient cities as the +news of the great victory spread through the land. + +When the fight was done the archduke called a council of war. It was a +grave question whether the army should at once advance in order to +complete the destruction of the enemy that day, or pause for an interval +that the troops fatigued with hard marching and with the victorious +combat in which they just had been engaged, should recover their full +strength. That the stadholder was completely in their power was certain. +The road to Ostend was barred, and Nieuport would hold him at bay, now +that the relieving army was close upon his heels. All that was necessary +in order to annihilate his whole force, was that they should entrench +themselves for the night on the road which he must cross. He would then +be obliged to assault their works with troops inferior in number to +theirs and fatigued by the march. Should he remain where he was he would +soon be starved into submission, and would be obliged to surrender his +whole army. On the other hand, by advancing now, in the intolerable heat +of a July sun over the burning and glaring sands, the troops already +wearied would arrive on the field of battle utterly exhausted, and would +be obliged to attack an enemy freshly and cheerfully awaiting them on +ground of his own selection. + +Moreover it was absolutely certain that Fort Albert would not hold an +hour if resolutely assaulted in the midst of the panic of Ernest's +defeat, and, with its capture, the annihilalation of Maurice was certain. + +Meantime the three thousand men under Velasco, who had been detached to +protect the rear, would arrive to reinforce the archduke's main army, +should he pause until the next day. + +These arguments, which had much logic in them, were strongly urged by +Zapena, a veteran marshal of the camp who had seen much service, and +whose counsels were usually received with deference. But on this +occasion commanders and soldiers were hot for following up their victory. +They cared nothing for the numbers of their enemy, they cried, "The more +infidels the greater glory in destroying them." Delay might after all +cause the loss of the prize, it was eagerly shouted. The archduke ought +to pray that the sun might stand still for him that morning, as for +Joshua in the vale of Ajalon. The foe seeing himself entrapped, with +destruction awaiting him, was now skulking towards his ships, which still +offered him the means of escape. Should they give him time he would +profit by their negligence, and next morning when they reached Nieuport, +the birds would be flown. Especially the leaders of the mutineers of +Diest and Thionville were hoarse with indignation at the proposed delay. +They had not left their brethren, they shouted, nor rallied to the +archduke's banner in order to sit down and dig in the sand like +ploughmen. There was triumph for the Holy Church, there was the utter +overthrow of the heretic army, there was rich booty to be gathered, all +these things were within their reach if they now advanced and smote the +rebels while, confused and panic-stricken, they were endeavouring to +embark in their ships. + +While these vehement debates were at the hottest, sails were descried in +the offing; for the archduke's forces already stood upon the edge of the +downs. First one ship, then another and another, moved steadily along +the coast, returning from Nieuport in the direction of Ostend. + +This was more than could be borne. It was obvious that the rebels were +already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that +probably Prince Maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of +those very vessels, and were giving him the slip. With great expedition +it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could +embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment. +Those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than Zapena +or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance. And +it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the +States' cavalry at Ostend to partially redeem their character, and to +render very effective service. Had four or five hundred resolute +troopers hung upon the rear of the Spanish army now, as it moved toward +Nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and +retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and +certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a +very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against +such assaults. But the terror was an enduring one. Those horsemen +remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the States, +with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride +even a half mile beyond the city gates. + +While these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of Ostend, +Maurice had not been idle at Nieuport. No sooner had Ernest been +despatched on his desperate errand than his brother Lewis Gunther was +ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the +quarters of the army. On the previous afternoon there had been so little +thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in +all directions, and had not returned. Lewis gave notice that a great +battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil +commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was +henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at +the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the +stragglers. Maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was +to bring his army across the haven. The arrangements were soon +completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water. Soon +after eight o'clock Count Lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of +cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in +safety. The advanced guard of infantry, under Sir Francis Vere-- +consisting of two thousand six hundred Englishmen, and two thousand eight +hundred Frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia +under Solms, and the rearguard under Tempel--then slowly and with +difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as +their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads. Had the +archduke not been detained near the bridge of Leffingen by Ernest's +Scotchmen and Zeelanders during three or four precious hours that +morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the +States' army--horse, foot, and artillery--was floundering through that +treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the +republic. But the devotion of Ernest had at least prevented the attack +of the archduke until Maurice and his men stood on dry land. + +Dripping from head to foot, but safe and sound, the army had at last +reached the beach at Nieuport. Vere had refused his soldiers permission +to denude themselves in crossing of their shoes and lower garments. +There was no time for that, he said, and they would either earn new +clothes for themselves that day, or never need doublet and hose again +any more in the world. Some hours had elapsed before the tedious and +difficult crossing of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and munition trains +had been accomplished. + +Lewis Gunther, with eight squadrons of picked cavalry, including his own +company, Maurice's own, Frederic Henry's own, with Batenburg's arquebus- +men, and other veterans, was first to place himself in battle order on +the beach. His squadrons in iron corslet and morion, and armed with +lances, carbines, and sabres, stretched across from the water to the +downs. He had not been long stationed there when he observed that far +away in the direction of Ostend the beach was growing black with troops. +He believed them at first to be his brother Ernest and his forces +returning victorious from their hazardous expedition, but he was soon +undeceived. + +A couple of troopers from Ostend came spurring full gallop along the +strand, and almost breathless with dismay, announced that it was the +whole army of the archduke advancing in line of battle. They were +instantly sent to the rear, without being allowed to speak further, in +order that they might deliver their message in private to the commander- +in-chief. And most terrible were the tidings to which Maurice now +listened in very secret audience. Ernest was utterly defeated, his +command cut to pieces, the triumphant foe advancing rapidly, and already +in full sight. The stadholder heard the tale without flinching, and +having quietly ordered the messengers upon their lives not to open their +lips on the subject to living soul, sent them securely guarded in a boat +on board one of the war-ships in the offing. With perfect cheerfulness +he then continued his preparations, consulting with Vere, on whom he +mainly relied for the marshalling of the army in the coming conflict. +Undecided as he had sometimes shown himself, he was resolute now. He +called no council of war, for he knew not how much might be known or +suspected of the disaster already sustained, and he had fully made up +his mind as to the course to be pursued. He had indeed taken a supreme +resolution. Entirely out of his own breast, without advising with any +man, he calmly gave directions that every war-ship, transport, barge, or +wherry should put to sea at once. As the tide had now been long on the +flood, the few vessels that had been aground--within the harbour were got +afloat, and the whole vast, almost innumerable armada, was soon standing +out to sea. No more heroic decision was ever taken by fighting man. + +Sir Francis gave advice that entrenchments should be thrown up on the +north-east, and that instead of advancing towards the enemy they should +await his coming, and refuse the battle that day if possible. The +Englishman, not aware of the catastrophe at Leffingen, which Maurice had +locked up in his own breast, was now informed by the stadholder that +there were to be no entrenchments that day but those of pike and +arquebus. It was not the fault of Maurice that the fate of the +commonwealth had been suspended on a silken thread that morning, but he +knew that but one of two issues was possible. They must fight their way +through the enemy back to Ostend, or perish, every man of them. The +possibility of surrender did not enter his mind, and he felt that it was +better to hasten the action before the news of Ernest's disaster should +arrive to chill the ardour of the troops. + +Meantime Lewis Gunther and his cavalry had been sitting motionless upon +their horses on the beach. The enemy was already in full view, and the +young general, most desirous to engage in a preliminary skirmish, sent +repeated messages to the stadholder for permission to advance. Presently +Sir Francis Vere rode to the front, to whom he eagerly urged his request +that the infantry of the vanguard might be, brought up at once to support +him. On the contrary the English general advised that the cavalry should +fall back to the infantry, in order to avoid a premature movement. Lewis +strongly objected to this arrangement, on the ground that the mere +semblance of retreat, thus upon the eve of battle, would discourage all +the troops. But he was over-ruled, for Maurice had expressly enjoined +upon his cousin that morning to defer in all things to the orders of +Vere. These eight squadrons of horse accordingly shifted their position, +and were now placed close to the edge of the sea, on the left flank of +the vanguard, which Vere had drawn up across the beach and in the downs. +On the edge of the downs, on the narrow slip of hard sand above high- +water mark, and on Vere's right, Maurice had placed a battery of six +demi-cannon. + +Behind the advance was the battalia, or centre, under command of that +famous fighter, George Everard Solms, consisting of Germans, Swiss, +French, and Walloons. The "New Beggars," as the Walloons were called, +who had so recently surrendered the forts of Crevecoeur and St. Andrew, +and gone over from the archduke's service to the army of the States, were +included in this division, and were as eager to do credit to their new +chief as were the mutineers in the archduke's army to merit the +approbation of their sovereign. + +The rearguard under Tempel was made up, like the other divisions, +of the blended nationalities of German, Briton, Hollander, and Walloon, +and, like the others, was garnished at each flank with heavy cavalry. + +The Spanish army, after coming nearly within cannon-shot of their +adversary, paused. It was plain that the States' troops were not in so +great a panic as the more sanguine advisers of the archduke had hoped. +They were not cowering among the shipping, preparing to escape. Still +less had any portion of them already effected their retreat in those +vessels, a few of which had so excited the enemy's ardour when they came +in sight. It was obvious that a great struggle, in which the forces were +very evenly balanced, was now to be fought out upon those sands. It was +a splendid tournament--a great duel for life and death between the +champions of the Papacy and of Protestantism, of the Republic and of +absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsummer's day. The lists +were closed. The trumpet signal for the fray would soon be blown. + +The archduke, in Milanese armour, on a wonderfully beautiful snow-white +Spanish stallion, moved in the centre of his army. He wore no helmet, +that his men might the more readily recognize him as he rode gallantly to +and fro, marshalling, encouraging, exhorting the troops. Never before +had he manifested such decided military talent, combined with +unquestionable personal valour, as he had done since this campaign began. +Friend and foe agreed that day that Albert fought like a lion. He was at +first well seconded by Mendoza, who led the van, and by Villars, La +Bourlotte, Avalos, Zapena, and many other officers of note. The mutinous +Spanish and Italian cavalry, combined with a few choice squadrons of +Walloon and German horse, were placed in front and on the flanks. They +were under the special supervision of the admiral, who marshalled their +squadrons and directed their charging, although mounted on a hackney +himself, and not intending to participate in the action. Then came the +battalia and rear, crowding very closely upon each other. + +Face to face with them stood the republican host, drawn up in great solid +squares of infantry, their standards waving above each closely planted +clump of pikemen, with the musketeers fringing their skirts, while the +iron-clad ponderous cavalry of Count Lewis and Marcellus Bax, in black +casque and, corslet, were in front, restlessly expecting the signal for +the onset. The volunteers of high rank who were then serving on the +staff of the stadholder--the Duke of Holstein, the Prince of Anhalt, two +young Counts Solms, and others--had been invited and even urged to +abandon the field while there was yet time for setting them on board the +fleet. Especially it was thought desirable that young Frederic Henry, +a mere boy, on whom the hopes of the Orange-Nassau house would rest if +Maurice fell in the conflict, should be spared the fate which seemed +hanging over the commonwealth and her defenders. But the son of William +the Silent implored his brother with clasped hands not to send him from +his side at that moment, so that Maurice granted his prayer, and caused +him to be provided with a complete suit of armour. Thus in company with +young Coligny--a lad of his own age, and like himself a grandson of the +great admiral--the youth who was one day to play so noble a part on the +stage of the world's affairs was now to be engaged in his first great +passage of arms. No one left the field but Sir Robert Sidney, who had +come over from Ostend, from irrepressible curiosity to witness the +arrangements, but who would obviously have been guilty of unpardonable +negligence had he been absent at such a crisis from the important post of +which he was governor for the queen. + +The arena of the conflict seemed elaborately prepared by the hand of +nature. The hard, level, sandy beach, swept clean and smooth by the +ceaseless action of the tides, stretched out far as the eye could reach +in one long, bold, monotonous line. Like the whole coast of Flanders and +of Holland, it seemed drawn by a geometrical rule, not a cape, cove, or +estuary breaking the perfect straightness of the design. On the right, +just beyond high-water mark, the downs, fantastically heaped together +like a mimic mountain chain, or like tempestuous ocean-waves suddenly +changed to sand, rolled wild and confused, but still in a regularly +parallel course with the line of the beach. They seemed a barrier thrown +up to protect the land from being bitten quite away by the ever-restless +and encroaching sea. Beyond the downs, which were seven hundred yards in +width; extended a level tract of those green fertile meadows, +artificially drained, which are so characteristic a feature of the +Netherland landscapes, the stream which ran from Ostend towards the town +of Nieuport flowing sluggishly through them. It was a bright warm +midsummer day. The waves of the German Ocean came lazily rolling in upon +the crisp yellow sand, the surf breaking with its monotonous music at the +very feet of the armies. A gentle south-west breeze was blowing, just +filling the sails of more than a thousand ships in the offing, which +moved languidly along the sparkling sea. It was an atmosphere better +befitting a tranquil holiday than the scene of carnage which seemed +approaching. + +Maurice of Nassau, in complete armour, rapier in hand, with the orange- +plumes waving from his helmet and the orange-scarf across his breast, +rode through the lines, briefly addressing his soldiers with martial +energy. Pointing to the harbour of Nieuport behind them, now again +impassable with the flood, to the ocean on the left where rode the fleet, +carrying with it all hope of escape by sea, and to the army of the +archduke in front, almost within cannon-range, he simply observed that +they had no possible choice between victory and death. They must either +utterly overthrow the Spanish army, he said, or drink all the waters of +the sea. Either drowning or butchery was their doom if they were +conquered, for no quarter was to be expected from their unscrupulous and +insolent foe. He was there to share their fate, to conquer or to perish +with them, and from their tried valour and from the God of battles he +hoped a more magnificent victory than had ever before been achieved in +this almost perpetual war for independence. The troops, perfectly +enthusiastic, replied with a shout that they were ready to live or die +with their chieftain, and eagerly demanded to be led upon the foe. +Whether from hope or from desperation they were confident and cheerful. +Some doubt was felt as to the Walloons, who had so lately transferred +themselves from the archduke's army, but their commander, Marquette, made +them all lift up their hands, and swear solemnly to live or die that day +at the feet of Prince Maurice. + +Two hours long these two armies had stood looking each other in the face. +It was near two o'clock when the arch duke at last gave the signal to +advance. The tide was again almost at the full. Maurice stood firm, +awaiting the assault; the enemy slowly coming nearer, and the rising tide +as steadily lapping away all that was left of the hard beach which +fringed the rugged downs. Count Lewis chafed with impatience as it +became each moment more evident that there would be no beach left for +cavalry fighting, while in the downs the manoeuvring of horse was +entirely impossible. Meantime, by command of Vere, all those sandy +hillocks and steeps had been thickly sown with musketeers and pikemen. +Arquebus-men and carabineers were planted in every hollow, while on the +highest and most advantageous elevation two pieces of cannon had been +placed by the express direction of Maurice. It seemed obvious that the +battle would, after all, be transferred to the downs. Not long before +the action began, a private of the enemy's cavalry was taken, apparently +with his own consent, in a very trifling preliminary skirmish. He +bragged loudly of the immense force of the archduke, of the great victory +already gained over Ernest, with the utter annihilation of his forces, +and of the impending destruction of the whole States' army. Strange to +say, this was the first intimation received by Count Lewis of that grave +disaster, although it had been for some hours known to Maurice. The +prisoner was at once gagged, that he might spread his disheartening news +no further, but as he persisted by signs and gestures in attempting to +convey the information which he had evidently been sent forward to +impart, he was shot by command of the stadholder, and so told no further +tales. + +The enemy had now come very close, and it was the desire of Count Lewis +that a couple of companies of horse, in accordance with the commands of +Maurice, should charge the cavalry in front, and that after a brief +skirmish they should retreat as if panic-stricken behind the advance +column, thus decoying the Spanish vanguard in hot pursuit towards the +battery upon the edge of the downs. The cannon were then suddenly to +open upon them, and during the confusion sure to be created in their +ranks, the musketeers, ambushed among the hollows, were to attack them +in flank, while the cavalry in one mass should then make a concentrated +charge in front. It seemed certain that the effect of this movement +would be to hurl the whole of the enemy's advance, horse and foot, back +upon his battalia, and thus to break up his army in irretrievable rout. +The plan was a sensible one, but it was not ingeniously executed. Before +the handful of cavalry had time to make the proposed feint the +cannoneers, being unduly excited, and by express command of Sir Francis +Vere, fired a volley into the advancing columns of the archduke. This +precipitated the action; almost in an instant changed its whole +character, and defeated the original plan of the republican leader. +The enemy's cavalry broke at the first discharge from the battery, and +wheeled in considerable disorder, but without panic, quite into and +across the downs. The whole army of the archduke, which had already been +veering in the same direction, as it advanced, both because the tide was +so steadily devouring the even surface of the sands, and because the +position of a large portion of the States' forces among the hillocks +exposed him to an attack in flank, was now rapidly transferred to the +downs. It was necessary for that portion of Maurice's army which still +stood on what remained of the beach to follow this movement. A rapid +change of front was then undertaken, and--thanks to the careful system +of wheeling, marching, and counter-marching in which the army had been +educated by William Lewis and Maurice--was executed with less confusion +than might have been expected. + +But very few companies of infantry now remained on the strip of beach +still bare of the waves, and in the immediate vicinity of the artillery +planted high and dry beyond their reach. + +The scene was transformed as if by magic, and the battle was now to be +fought out in those shifting, uneven hills and hollows, where every +soldier stood mid-leg deep in the dry and burning sand. Fortunately for +the States' army, the wind was in its back, blowing both sand and smoke +into the faces of its antagonists, while the already weltering sun glared +fiercely in their eyes. Maurice had skilfully made use of the great +advantage which accident had given him that day, and his very refusal to +advance and to bring on a premature struggle thus stood him in stead in a +variety of ways Lewis Gunther was now ordered, with Marcellus Bax and six +squadrons of horse, to take position within the belt of pasture land on +the right of the downs. When he arrived there the van of the archduke's +infantry had already charged the States' advance under Vere, while just +behind and on the side of the musketeers and pikemen a large portion of +the enemy's cavalry was standing stock still on the green. Without +waiting for instructions Lewis ordered a charge. It was brilliantly +successful. Unheeding a warm salutation in flank from the musketeers as +they rode by them, and notwithstanding that they were obliged to take +several ditches as they charged, they routed the enemy's cavalry at the +first onset, and drove them into panic-stricken flight. Some fled for +protection quite to the rear of their infantry, others were hotly pursued +across the meadows till they took refuge under the walls of Nieuport. +The very success of the attack was nearly fatal however to Count Lewis; +for, unable to restrain the ardour of his troopers in the chase, he found +himself cut off from the army with only ten horsemen to support him, and +completely enveloped by the enemy. Fortunately Prince Maurice had +foreseen the danger, and had ordered all the cavalry to the meadows so +soon as the charge was made. Captain Kloet, with a fresh company of +mounted carabineers, marked the little squad of States' cavalry careering +about in the midst of the Catholics, recognized their leader by the +orange-plumes on his calque, and dashed forward to the rescue. Lewis +again found himself at the head of his cavalry, but was obliged to wait +a long time for the return of the stragglers. + +While this brilliant diversion had been enacting as it were on the fringe +of the battle, its real bustle and business had been going on in the +downs. Just as Lewis made his charge in the pastures, the infantry of +the archduke and the advance guard of the republicans met in deadly +shock. More than an hour long they contended with varying success. +Musketeers, pikemen, arquebusmen, swordmen, charged, sabred, or shot each +other from the various hollows or heights of vantage, plunging knee-deep +in the sand, torn and impeded by the prickly broom-plant which grew +profusely over the whole surface, and fighting breast to breast and hand +to hand in a vast series of individual encounters. Thrice were the +Spaniards repulsed in what for a moment seemed absolute rout, thrice they +rallied and drove their assailants at push of pike far beyond their +original position; and again the conquered republicans recovered their +energy and smote their adversaries as if the contest were just begun. +The tide of battle ebbed and flowed like the waves of the sea, but it +would be mere pedantry to affect any technical explanation of its various +changes. It was a hot struggle of twenty thousand men, pent up in a +narrow space, where the very nature of the ground had made artistic +evolutions nearly impracticable. The advance, the battalia, even the +rearguard on both sides were mixed together pell-mell, and the downs were +soon covered at every step with the dead and dying-Briton, Hollander, +Spaniard, Italian, Frisian, Frenchman, Walloon, fighting and falling +together, and hotly contesting every inch of those barren sands. + +It seemed, said one who fought there, as if the last day of the world had +come. + +Political and religious hatred, pride of race, remembrance of a half- +century of wrongs, hope, fury, and despair; these were the real elements +contending with each other that summer's day. It was a mere trial of +ferocity and endurance, not more scientific than a fight between packs of +wolves and of bloodhounds. + +No doubt the brunt of the conflict fell upon Vere, with his Englishmen +and Frisians, for this advance-guard made up nearly one-half of the +States' army actually engaged. And most nobly, indefatigably, did the +hardy veteran discharge his duty. Having personally superintended almost +all the arrangements in the morning, he fought all day in the front, +doing the work both of a field-marshal and a corporal. + +He was twice wounded, shot each time through the same leg, yet still +fought on as if it were some one else's blood and not his own that was +flowing from "those four holes in his flesh." He complained that he was +not sufficiently seconded, and that the reserves were not brought up +rapidly enough to his support. He was manifestly unjust, for although +it could not be doubted that the English and the Frisians did their best, +it was equally certain that every part of the army was as staunch as the +vanguard. It may be safely asserted that it would not have benefited the +cause of the States, had every man been thrown into the fight at one and +the same moment. + +During this "bloody bit," as Vere called it, between the infantry on both +sides, the little battery of two field-pieces planted on the highest +hillock of the downs had been very effective. Meantime, while the +desperate and decisive struggle had been going on, Lewis Gunther, in the +meadow, had again rallied all the cavalry, which, at the first stage of +the action, had been dispersed in pursuit of the enemy's horse. +Gathering them together in a mass, he besought Prince Maurice to order +him to charge. The stadholder bade him pause yet a little longer. The +aspect of the infantry fight was not yet, in his opinion, sufficiently +favourable. Again and again Lewis sent fresh entreaties, and at last +received the desired permission. Placing three picked squadrons in +front, the young general made a furious assault upon the Catholic +cavalry, which had again rallied and was drawn up very close to the +musketeers. Fortune was not so kind to him as at the earlier stage of +the combat. The charge was received with dauntless front by the Spanish +and Italian horse, while at the same moment the infantry poured a severe +fire into their assailants. The advancing squadrons faltered, wheeled +back upon the companies following them, and the whole mass of the +republican cavalry broke into wild and disorderly retreat. At the same +moment the archduke, observing his advantage, threw in his last reserves +of infantry, and again there was a desperate charge upon Vere's wearied +troops, as decisive as the counter charge of Lewis's cavalry had been +unsuccessful. The English and Frisians, sorely tried during those hours +of fighting with superior numbers in the intolerable heat, broke at last +and turned their backs upon the foe. Some of them fled panic-stricken +quite across the downs and threw themselves into the sea, but the mass +retreated in a comparatively orderly manner, being driven from one down +to another, and seeking a last refuge behind the battery placed on the +high-water line of the beach. In the confusion and panic Sir Francis +Vere went down at last. His horse, killed by a stray shot fell with and +upon him, and the heroic Englishman would then and there have finished +his career--for he would hardly have found quarter from the Spaniards-- +had not Sir Robert Drury, riding by in the tumult, observed him as he lay +almost exhausted in the sand. By his exertion and that of his servant +Higham, Vere was rescued from his perilous situation, placed on the +crupper of Sir Robert's horse, and so borne off the field. + +The current of the retreating and pursuing hosts swept by the spot where +Maurice sat on horseback, watching and directing the battle. His bravest +and best general, the veteran Vere, had fallen; his cousin Lewis was now +as utterly overthrown as his brother Ernest had been but a few hours +before at the fatal bridge of Leffingen; the whole army, the only army, +of the States was defeated, broken, panic-struck; the Spanish shouts of +victory rang on every side. Plainly the day was lost, and with it the +republic. In the blackest hour that the Netherland commonwealth had ever +known, the fortitude of the stadholder did not desert him. Immoveable +as a rock in the torrent he stemmed the flight of his troops. Three +squadrons of reserved cavalry, Balen's own, Vere's own, and Cecil's, were +all that was left him, and at the head of these he essayed an advance. +He seemed the only man on the field not frightened; and menacing, +conjuring, persuading the fugitives for the love of fatherland, of +himself and his house, of their own honour, not to disgrace and destroy +themselves for ever; urging that all was not yet lost, and beseeching +them at least to take despair for their master, and rather to die like +men on the field than to drown like dogs in the sea, he succeeded in +rallying a portion of those nearest him. The enemy paused in their mad +pursuit, impressed even more than were the States' troops at the +dauntless bearing of the prince. It was one of those supreme moments +in battle and in history which are sometimes permitted to influence the +course of events during a long future. The archduke and his generals +committed a grave error in pausing for an instant in their career. Very +soon it was too late to repair the fault, for the quick and correct eye +of the stadholder saw the point to which the whole battle was tending, +and he threw his handful of reserved cavalry, with such of the fugitives +as had rallied, straight towards the battery on the beach. + +It was arranged that Balen should charge on the strand, Horace Vere +through the upper downs, and Cecil along the margin of the beach. Balen +rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and +at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's +foot near the battery. The moment was most opportune, for the last shot +had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in +despair. The onset of Balen was successful: the Spanish infantry, thus +suddenly attached, were broken, and many were killed and taken. Cecil +and Vere were equally fortunate, so that the retreating English and +Frisians began to hold firm again. It was the very crisis of the battle, +which up to that instant seemed wholly lost by the republic, so universal +was the overthrow and the flight. Some hundred and fifty Frisian pikemen +now rallied from their sullen retreat, and drove the enemy off one +hillock or dune. + +Foiled in their attempt to intercept the backward movement of the States' +army and to seize this vital point and the artillery with it, the +Spaniards hesitated and were somewhat discouraged. Some Zeeland sailors, +who had stuck like wax to those demi-cannon during the whole conflict, +now promptly obeyed orders to open yet once more upon the victorious foe. +At the first volley the Spaniards were staggered, and the sailors with a +lively shout of "Ian-fall on," inspired the defeated army with a portion +of their own cheerfulness. Others vehemently shouted victory without any +reason whatever. At that instant Maurice ordered a last charge by those +few cavalry squadrons, while the enemy was faltering under the play of +the artillery. It was a forlorn hope, yet such was the shifting fortune +of that memorable day that the charge decided the battle. The whole line +of the enemy broke, the conquered became the victors, the fugitives +quickly rallying and shouting victory almost before they had turned their +faces to the foe, became in their turn the pursuers. The Catholic army +could no longer be brought to a stand, but fled wildly in every +direction, and were shot and stabbed by the republicans as they fled. +The Admiral of Arragon fell with his hackney in this last charge. +Unwounded, but struggling to extricate himself from his horse that had +been killed, he was quickly surrounded by the enemy. + +Two Spaniards, Mendo and Villalobos by name, who had recently deserted +to the States, came up at the moment and recognised the fallen admiral. +They had reason to recognise him, for both had been in his service, and +one of them, who was once in immediate household attendance upon him, +bore the mark of a wound which he had received from his insolent master. +"Admiral, look at this," cried Villalobos, pointing to the scar on his +face. The admiral looked and knew his old servants, and gave his scarf +to the one and the hanger of his sword-belt to the other, as tokens that +he was their prisoner. Thus his life was saved for heavy ransom, of +which those who had actually captured him would receive a very trifling +portion. The great prisoner was carried to the rear, where he +immediately asked for food and drink, and fell to with an appetite, +while the pursuit and slaughter went on in all directions. + +The archduke, too, whose personal conduct throughout the day was +admirable, had been slightly wounded by a halberd stroke on the ear. +This was at an earlier stage of the action, and he had subsequently +mounted another horse, exchanged his splendid armour for a plain black +harness, over which he wore a shabby scarf. In the confusion of the rout +he was hard beset. "Surrender, scoundrel!" cried a Walloon pikeman, +seizing his horse by the bridle. But a certain Flemish Captain Kabbeljaw +recognising his sovereign and rushing to his rescue, slew his assailant +and four others with his own hand. He was at last himself killed, but +Albert escaped, and, accompanied by the Duke of Aumale, who was also +slightly wounded, by Colonel La Bourlotte, and half a dozen troopers rode +for their life in the direction of Bruges. When they reached the fatal +bridge of Leffingen, over which the archduke had marched so triumphantly +but a few hours before to annihilate Count Ernest's division, he was +nearly taken prisoner. A few soldiers, collected from the scattered +garrisons, had occupied the position, but knowing nothing of the result +of the action in the downs, took to their heels and fled as the little +party of cavaliers advanced. Had the commander at Ostend or the States- +General promptly sent out a company or two so soon as the news of the +victory reached them to seize this vital point, the doom of the archduke +would have been sealed. Nothing then could have saved him from capture. +Fortunately escaping this danger, he now pushed on, and never pulled +bridle till he reached Bruges. Thence without pausing he was conveyed to +Ghent, where he presented himself to the Infanta. He was not accompanied +by the captive Maurice of Nassau, and the curiosity of the princess to +know how that warrior would demean himself as a prisoner was not destined +on this occasion to be gratified. + +Isabella bore the disappointment and the bitter intelligence of the +defeat with a stoicism worthy of her departed father. She had already +had intimations that the day was going against her army, and had +successively received tidings that her husband was killed, was +dangerously wounded, was a prisoner; and she was now almost relieved +to receive him, utterly defeated, but still safe and sound. + +Meantime the mad chase continued along the beach and through the downs. +Never was a rout more absolute than that of Albert's army. Never had so +brilliant a victory been achieved by Hollander or Spaniard upon that +great battleground of Europe--the Netherlands. + +Maurice, to whom the chief credit of the victory was unquestionably due, +had been firm and impassive during the various aspects of the battle, +never losing his self-command when affairs seemed blackest. So soon, +however, as the triumph, after wavering so long, was decided in his +favour--the veteran legions of Spain and Italy, the picked troops of +Christendom, all flying at last before his troops--the stadholder was +fairly melted. Dismounting from his horse, he threw himself on his knees +in the sand, and with streaming eyes and uplifted hands exclaimed, +"O God, what are we human creatures to whom Thou hast brought such +honour, and to whom Thou hast vouchsafed such a victory!" + +The slaughter went on until nightfall, but the wearied conquerors were +then obliged to desist from the pursuit. Three thousand Spaniards were +slain and about six hundred prisoners were taken. The loss of the +States' army; including the affair in the morning at Leffingen, was about +two thousand killed. Maurice was censured for not following up his +victory more closely, but the criticism seems unjust. The night which +followed the warm summer's day was singularly black and cloudy, the army +was exhausted, the distance for the enemy to traverse before they found +themselves safe within their own territory was not great. In such +circumstances the stadholder might well deem himself sufficiently +triumphant to have plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of +death. All the artillery of the archduke--seven pieces besides the two +captured from Ernest in the morning--one hundred and twenty standards, +and a long list of distinguished prisoners, including the Admiral Zapena +and many other officers of note, were the trophies of the conqueror. +Maurice passed the night on the battle-field; the admiral supping with +him in his tent. Next morning he went to Ostend, where a great +thanksgiving was held, Uytenbogart preaching an eloquent sermon on the +116th Psalm. Afterwards there was a dinner at the house of the States- +General, in honour of the stadholder, to which the Admiral of Arragon was +likewise bidden. That arrogant but discomfited personage was obliged to +listen to many a rough martial joke at his disaster as they sat at table, +but he bore the brunt of the encounter with much fortitude. + +"Monsieur the Admiral of Arragon," said the stadholder in French, "is +more fortunate than many of his army. He has been desiring these four +years to see Holland. Now he will make his entrance there without +striking a blow." The gibe was perhaps deficient in delicacy towards a +fallen foe, but a man who had passed a whole winter in murdering his +prisoners in cold blood might be satisfied if he were stung only by a +sharp sarcasm or two, when he had himself become a captive. + +Others asked him demurely what he thought of these awkward apprentices +of Holland and Zeeland, who were good enough at fighting behind dykes and +ramparts of cities, but who never ventured to face a Spanish army in the +open field. Mendoza sustained himself with equanimity however, and found +plenty of answers. He discussed the battle with coolness, blamed the +archduke for throwing the whole of his force prematurely into the +contest, and applauded the prudence of Maurice in keeping his reserves in +hand. He ascribed a great share of the result to the States' artillery, +which had been well placed upon wooden platforms and well served, while +the archduke's cannon, sinking in the sands, had been of comparatively +little use. Especially he expressed a warm admiration for the heroism of +Maurice in sending away his ships, and in thus leaving himself and his +soldiers no alternative but death or triumph. + +While they still sat at table many of the standards taken from the enemy +were brought in and exhibited; the stadholder and others amusing +themselves with reading the inscriptions and devices emblazoned upon +them. + +And thus on the 2nd July, 1600, the army of the States-General, led by +Maurice of Nassau, had utterly defeated Albert of Austria. + + ["Enfin l'affaire vint auix mains et fut combattu bien furieusement + de deux costes l'espace de deux heures. Enfin Dieu par sa grace + voulut que la victoire demeura de more coste." Such were the simple + words in which Maurice announced to his cousin Lewis William his + victory in the most important battle that had been fought for half a + century. Not even General Ulysses Grant could be more modest in the + hour of immense triumph.] + +Strange to say--on another 2nd July, three centuries and two years +before, a former Albert of Austria had overthrown the emperor Adolphus of +Nassau, who had then lost both crown and life in the memorable battle of +Worms. The imperial shade of Maurice's ancestor had been signally +appeased. + +In Ostend, as may well be imagined, ineffable joy had succeeded to the +horrible gloom in which the day had been passed, ever since the tidings +had been received of Ernest's overthrow. + +Those very cavalry men, who had remained all day cowering behind the +walls of the city, seeing by the clouds of dust which marked the track of +the fugitives that the battle had been won by the comrades whom they had +so basely deserted in the morning, had been eager enough to join in the +pursuit. It was with difficulty that the States, who had been unable to +drive them out of the town while the fight was impending or going on, +could keep enough of them within the walls to guard the city against +possible accident, now that the work was done. Even had they taken the +field a few hours earlier, without participating in the action, or +risking their own lives, they might have secured the pass of Leffingen, +and made the capture of the archduke or his destruction inevitable. + +The city, which had seemed deserted, swarmed with the garrison and with +the lately trembling burghers, for it seemed to all as if they had been +born again. Even the soldiers on the battle-field had embraced each +other like comrades who had met in another world. "Blessed be His holy +name," said the stadholder's chaplain, "for His right hand has led us +into hell and brought us forth again. I know not," he continued, "if I +am awake or if I dream, when I think how God has in one moment raised us +from the dead." + +Lewis Gunther, whose services had been so conspicuous, was well rewarded. +"I hope," said that general, writing to his brother Lewis William, "that +this day's work will not have been useless to me, both for what I have +learned in it and for another thing. His Excellency has done me +the honour to give me the admiral for my prisoner." And equally +characteristic was the reply of the religious and thrifty stadholder +of Friesland. + +"I thank God," he said, "for His singular grace in that He has been +pleased to make use of your person as the instrument of so renowned and +signal a victory, for which, as you have derived therefrom not mediocre +praise, and acquired a great reputation, it should be now your duty to +humble yourself before God, and to acknowledge that it is He alone who +has thus honoured you . . . . You should reverence Him the more, that +while others are admonished of their duty by misfortunes and miseries, +the good God invites you to His love by benefits and honours . . . . +I am very glad, too, that his Excellency has given you the admiral for +your prisoner, both because of the benefit to you, and because it is a +mark of your merit on that day. Knowing the state of our affairs, you +will now be able to free your patrimony from encumbrances, when otherwise +you would have been in danger of remaining embarrassed and in the power +of others. It will therefore be a perpetual honour to you that you, the +youngest of us all, have been able by your merits to do more to raise up +our house out of its difficulties than your predecessors or myself have +been able to do." + +The beautiful white horse which the archduke had ridden during the battle +fell into the hands of Lewis Gunther, and was presented by him to Prince +Maurice, who had expressed great admiration of the charger. It was a +Spanish horse, for which the archduke had lately paid eleven hundred +crowns. + +A white hackney of the Infanta had also been taken, and became the +property of Count Ernest. + +The news of the great battle spread with unexampled rapidity, not only +through the Netherlands but to neighbouring countries. On the night of +the 7th July (N.S.) five days after the event, Envoy Caron, in England, +received intimations of the favourable news from the French ambassador, +who had received a letter from the Governor of Calais. Next morning, +very early, he waited on Sir Robert Cecil at Greenwich, and was admitted +to his chamber, although the secretary was not yet out of bed. He, too, +had heard of the battle, but Richardot had informed the English +ambassador in Paris that the victory had been gained, not by the +stadholder, but by the archduke. While they were talking, a despatch- +bearer arrived with letters from Vere to Cecil, and from the States- +General to Caron, dated on the 3rd July. There could no longer be any +doubt on the subject, and the envoy of the republic had now full details +of the glorious triumph which the Spanish agent in Paris had endeavoured +for a time to distort into a defeat. + +While the two were conversing, the queen, who had heard of Caron's +presence in the palace, sent down for the latest intelligence. Cecil +made notes of the most important points in the despatches to be forthwith +conveyed to her Majesty. The queen, not satisfied however, sent for +Caron himself. That diplomatist, who had just ridden down from London in +foul weather, was accordingly obliged to present himself--booted and +spurred and splashed with mud from head to foot--before her Majesty. +Elizabeth received him with such extraordinary manifestations of delight +at the tidings that he was absolutely amazed, and she insisted upon his +reading the whole of the letter just received from Olden-Barneveld, her +Majesty listening very patiently as he translated it out of Dutch into +French. She then expressed unbounded admiration of the States-General +and of Prince Maurice. The sagacious administration of the States' +government is so full of good order and policy," she said, "as to far +surpass in its wisdom the intelligence of all kings and potentates." +We kings," she said, "understand nothing of such affairs in comparison, +but require, all of us, to go to school to the States-General." She +continued to speak in terms of warm approbation of the secrecy and +discretion with which the invasion of Flanders had been conducted, and +protested that she thanked God on both knees for vouchsafing such a +splendid victory to the United Provinces. + +Yet after all, her Majesty, as mankind in general, both wise and simple, +are apt to do, had judged only according to the result, and the immediate +result. No doubt John of Barneveld was second to no living statesman in +breadth of view and adroitness of handling, yet the invasion of Flanders, +which was purely his work, was unquestionably a grave mistake, and might +easily have proved a fatal one. That the deadly peril was escaped was +due, not to his prudence, but to the heroism of Maurice, the gallantry of +Vere, Count Lewis Gunther, and the forces under them, and the noble self- +devotion of Ernest. And even, despite the exertions of these brave men, +it seems certain that victory would have been impossible had the archduke +possessed that true appreciation of a situation which marks the +consummate general. + +Surely the Lord seemed to have delivered the enemy into his hands that +morning. Maurice was shut in between Nieuport on one side and the +archduke's army on the other, planted as it was on the only road of +retreat. Had Albert entrenched himself, Maurice must either have +attacked at great disadvantage or attempted embarkation in the face of +his enemy. To stay indefinitely where he was would have proved an +impossibility, and amid the confusion necessary to the shipping of his +army, how could he have protected himself by six demi-cannon placed on +the sea-beach? + +That Maurice was able to extricate himself from the horrible dilemma in +which he had been placed, through no fault of his own, and to convert +imminent disaster into magnificent victory, will always redound to his +reputation as a great military chief. And this was all the fruit of the +expedition, planned, as Elizabeth thought, with so much secrecy and +discretion. Three days after the battle the stadholder came again before +Nieuport, only to find the garrison strengthened meantime by La Bourlotte +to three thousand men. A rainy week succeeded, and Maurice then +announced to the States-General the necessity of abandoning an +enterprise, a successful issue to which was in his opinion impossible. +The States-General, grown more modest in military matters, testified +their willingness to be governed by his better judgment, and left Ostend +for the Hague on the 18th July. Maurice, after a little skirmishing with +some of the forts around that city, in one of which the archduke's +general La Bourlotte was killed, decided to close the campaign, and he +returned with his whole army on the last day of July into Holland. + +The expedition was an absolute failure, but the stadholder had gained a +great victory. The effect produced at home and abroad by this triumphant +measuring of the republican forces, horse, foot, and artillery, in a +pitched battle and on so conspicuous an arena, with the picked veterans +of Spain and Italy, was perhaps worth the cost, but no other benefit was +derived from the invasion of Flanders. + +The most healthy moral to be drawn from this brief but memorable campaign +is that the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war, +success in which seems to require a special education and a distinct +genius. Alternation between hope and despair, between culpable audacity +and exaggerated prudence, are but too apt to mark the warlike counsels of +politicians who have not been bred soldiers. This, at least, had been +eminently the case with Barneveld and his colleagues of the States- +General. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains +Culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence +The wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v73 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 74, 1600-1602 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + Effects of the Nieuport campaign--The general and the statesman-- + The Roman empire and the Turk--Disgraceful proceedings of the + mutinous soldiers in Hungary--The Dunkirk pirates--Siege of Ostend + by the Archduke--Attack on Rheinberg by Prince Maurice--Siege and + capitulation of Meura--Attempt on Bois-le-Duc--Concentration of the + war at Ostend--Account of the belligerents--Details of the siege-- + Feigned offer of Sir Francis Vere to capitulate--Arrival of + reinforcements from the States--Attack and overthrow of the + besiegers. + +The Nieuport campaign had exhausted for the time both belligerents. +The victor had saved the republic from impending annihilation, but was +incapable of further efforts during the summer. The conquered cardinal- +archduke, remaining essentially in the same position as before, consoled +himself with the agreeable fiction that the States, notwithstanding their +triumph, had in reality suffered the most in the great battle. Meantime +both parties did their best to repair damages and to recruit their +armies. + +The States--or in other words Barneveld, who was the States--had learned +a lesson. Time was to show whether it would be a profitable one, or +whether Maurice, who was the preceptor of Europe in the art of war, would +continue to be a docile pupil of the great Advocate even in military +affairs. It is probable that the alienation between the statesman and +the general, which was to widen as time advanced, may be dated from the +day of Nieuport. + +Fables have even been told which indicated the popular belief in an +intensity of resentment on the part of the prince, which certainly did +not exist till long afterwards. + +"Ah, scoundrel!" the stadholder was said to have exclaimed, giving the +Advocate a box on the ear as he came to wish him joy of his great +victory, "you sold us, but God prevented your making the transfer." + +History would disdain even an allusion to such figments--quite as +disgraceful, certainly to Maurice as to Barneveld--did they not point the +moral and foreshadow some of the vast but distant results of events which +had already taken place, and had they not been so generally repeated that +it is a duty for the lover of truth to put his foot upon the calumny, +even at the risk for a passing moment of reviving it. + +The condition of the war in Flanders had established a temporary +equilibrium among the western powers--France and England discussing, +intriguing, and combining in secret with each other, against each other, +and in spite of each other, in regard to the great conflict--while Spain +and the cardinal-archduke on the one side, and the republic on the other, +prepared themselves for another encounter in the blood-stained arena. + +Meantime, on the opposite verge of what was called European civilization, +the perpetual war between the Roman Empire and the Grand Turk had for the +moment been brought into a nearly similar equation. Notwithstanding the +vast amount of gunpowder exploded during so many wearisome years, the +problem of the Crescent and the Cross was not much nearer a solution in +the East than was that of mass and conventicle in the West. War was the +normal and natural condition of mankind. This fact, at least, seemed to +have been acquired and added to the mass of human knowledge. + +From the prolific womb of Germany came forth, to swell impartially the +Protestant and Catholic hosts, vast swarms of human creatures. Sold by +their masters at as high prices as could be agreed upon beforehand, and +receiving for themselves five stivers a day, irregularly paid, until the +carrion-crow rendered them the last service, they found at times more +demand for their labor in the great European market than they could fully +supply. There were not Germans enough every year for the consumption of +the Turk, and the pope, and the emperor, and the republic, and the +Catholic king, and the Christian king, with both ends of Europe ablaze at +once. So it happened that the Duke of Mercoeur and other heroes of the +League, having effected their reconciliation with the Bearnese, and for a +handsome price paid down on the nail having acknowledged him to be their +legitimate and Catholic sovereign, now turned their temporary attention +to the Turk. The sweepings of the League--Frenchmen, Walloons, Germans, +Italians, Spaniards--were tossed into Hungary, because for a season the +war had become languid in Flanders. And the warriors grown grey in the +religious wars of France astonished the pagans on the Danube by a variety +of crimes and cruelties such as Christians only could imagine. Thus, +while the forces of the Sultan were besieging Buda, a detachment of +these ancient Leaguers lay in Pappa, a fortified town not far from Raab, +which Archduke Maximilian had taken by storm two years before. Finding +their existence monotonous and payments unpunctual, they rose upon the +governor; Michael Maroti, and then entered into a treaty with the Turkish +commander outside the walls. Bringing all the principal citizens of the +town, their wives and children, and all their moveable property into the +market-place, they offered to sell the lot, including the governor, for a +hundred thousand rix dollars. The bargain was struck, and the Turk, +paying him all his cash on hand and giving hostages for the remainder, +carried off six hundred of the men and women, promising soon to +return and complete the transaction. Meantime the imperial general, +Schwartzenberg, came before the place, urging the mutineers with promises +of speedy payment, and with appeals to their sense of shame, to abstain +from the disgraceful work. He might as well have preached to the wild +swine swarming in the adjacent forests. Siege thereupon was laid to the +place. In a sortie the brave Schwartzenberg was killed, but Colonitz +coming up in force the mutineers were locked up in the town which they +had seized, and the Turk never came to their relief. Famine drove them +at last to choose between surrender and a desperate attempt to cut their +way out. They took the bolder course, and were all either killed or +captured. And now--the mutineers having given the Turk this lesson in +Christian honour towards captives--their comrades and the rest of the +imperial forces showed them the latest and most approved Christian method +of treating mutineers. Several hundred of the prisoners were distributed +among the different nationalities composing the army to be dealt with at +pleasure. The honest Germans were the most straightforward of all +towards their portion of the prisoners, for they shot them down at once, +without an instant's hesitation. But the Lorrainers, the remainder of +the French troops, the Walloons, and especially the Hungarians--whose +countrymen and women had been sold into captivity--all vied with each +other in the invention of cruelties at which the soul sickens, and which +the pen almost refuses to depict. + +These operations and diversions had no sensible effect upon the progress +of the war, which crept on with the same monotonous and sluggish cruelty +as ever; but the incidents narrated paint the course of civilization more +vividly than the detailed accounts of siege and battle; mining and +countermining, assaults and ambuscades can do, of which the history books +are full. The leaguers of Buda and of other cities and fortresses in +Hungary went their course; and it was destined to remain for a still +longer season doubtful whether Cross or Crescent should ultimately wave +over the whole territory of Eastern Europe, and whether the vigorous +Moslem, believing in himself, his mission, his discipline, and his +resources, should ultimately absorb what was left of the ancient Roman +Empire. + +Meantime, such of the Walloons, Lorrainers, Germans, and Frenchmen as had +grown wearied of the fighting on the Danube and the Theiss--might have +recourse for variety to the perpetual carnage on the Meuse, the Rhine, +and the Scheld. If there was not bloodshed enough for all, it was surely +not the fault of Mahomet, nor Clement, nor Philip. + +During the remainder of the year not much was done in of the stadholder +or the cardinal, but there was immense damage done to the Dutch shipping +by the famous privateersman, Van der Waecken, with his squadron of twelve +or fourteen armed cruisers. In vain had the States exerted themselves to +destroy the robbers cave, Dunkirk. Shiploads of granite had been brought +from Norway, and stone fleets had been sunk in the channel, but the +insatiable quicksands had swallowed them as fast as they could be +deposited, the tide rolled as freely as before, and the bold pirates +sailed forth as gaily as ever to prey upon the defenceless trading +vessels and herring-smacks of the States. For it was only upon non- +combatants that Admiral Van der Waecken made war, and the fishermen +especially, who mainly belonged to the Memnonite religion, with its +doctrines of non-resistance--not a very comfortable practice in that +sanguinary age--were his constant victims. And his cruelties might have +almost served as a model to the Christian warriors on the Turkish +frontier. After each vessel had been rifled of everything worth +possessing, and then scuttled, the admiral would order the crews to be, +thrown overboard at once, or, if he chanced to be in a merry mood, would +cause them to be fastened to the cabin floor, or nailed crossways on the +deck and then would sail away leaving ship and sailors to sink at +leisure. The States gave chase as well as they could to the miscreant-- +a Dutchman born, and with a crew mainly composed of renegade +Netherlanders and other outcasts, preying for base lucre on their +defenceless countryman--and their cruisers were occasionally fortunate +enough to capture and bring in one of the pirate ships. In such cases, +short shrift was granted, and the buccaneers were hanged without mercy, +thirty-eight having been executed in one morning at Rotterdam. The +admiral with most of his vessels escaped, however, to the coast of Spain, +where his crews during the autumn mainly contrived to desert, and where +he himself died in the winter, whether from malady, remorse, or +disappointment at not being rewarded by a high position in the Spanish +navy. + +The war was in its old age. The leaf of a new century had been turned, +and men in middle life had never known what the word Peace meant. +Perhaps they could hardly imagine such a condition. This is easily said, +but it is difficult really to picture to ourselves the moral constitution +of a race of mankind which had been born and had grown up, marrying and +giving in marriage, dying and burying their dead, and so passing on from +the cradle towards the grave, accepting the eternal clang of arms, and +the constant participation by themselves and those nearest to them in the +dangers, privations, and horrors of siege and battle-field as the +commonplaces of life. At least, those Netherlanders knew what fighting +for independence of a foreign tyrant meant. They must have hated Spain +very thoroughly, and believed in the right of man to worship God +according to the dictates of his conscience, and to govern himself upon +his own soil, however meagre, very earnestly, or they would hardly have +spent their blood and treasure, year after year; with such mercantile +regularity when it was always in their power to make peace by giving up +the object for which they had been fighting. + +Yet the war, although in its old age, was not fallen into decrepitude. +The most considerable and most sanguinary pitched battle of what then +were modern times had just been fought, and the combatants were preparing +themselves for a fresh wrestle, as if the conflict had only begun. And +now--although the great leaguers of Harlem, Leyden, and Antwerp, as well +as the more recent masterpieces of Prince Maurice in Gelderland and +Friesland were still fresh in men's memory--there was to be a siege, +which for endurance, pertinacity, valour, and bloodshed on both sides, +had not yet been foreshadowed, far less equalled, upon the fatal +Netherland soil. + +That place of fashionable resort, where the fine folk of Europe now +bathe, and flirt, and prattle politics or scandal so cheerfully during +the summer solstice--cool and comfortable Ostend--was throughout the +sixteenth century as obscure a fishing village as could be found in +Christendom. Nothing, had ever happened there, nobody had ever lived +there, and it was not until a much later period that the famous oyster, +now identified with its name, had been brought to its bay to be educated. +It was known for nothing except for claiming to have invented the +pickling of herrings, which was not at all the fact. Towards the latter +part of the century, however, the poor little open village had been +fortified to such purpose as to enable it to beat off the great Alexander +Farnese, when he had made an impromptu effort to seize it in the year +1583, after his successful enterprise against Dunkirk and Nieuport, and +subsequent preparation had fortunately been made against any further +attempt. For in the opening period of the new century thousands and tens +of thousands were to come to those yellow sands, not for a midsummer +holiday, but to join hands in one of the most enduring struggles that +history had yet recorded, and on which the attention of Europe was for a +long time to be steadily fixed. + +Ostend--East-end--was the only possession of the republic in Flanders. +Having been at last thoroughly fortified according to the principles of +the age, it was a place whence much damage was inflicted upon the enemy, +and whence forays upon the obedient Flemings could very successfully be +conducted. Being in the hands of so enterprising a naval power, it +controlled the coast, while the cardinal-archduke on the other side +fondly hoped that its possession would give him supremacy on the sea. +The States of Flanders declared it to be a thorn in the Belgic lion's +foot, and called urgently upon their sovereign to remove the annoyance. + +They offered Albert 300,000 florins a month so long as the siege should +last, besides an extraordinary sum of 300,000, of which one third was to +be paid when the place should be invested, one-third when the breach had +been made, and one-third after the town had been taken. It was obvious +that, although they thought the extraction of the thorn might prove +troublesome, the process would be accomplished within a reasonable time. +The cardinal-archduke, on his part, was as anxious as the "members" of +Flanders. Asking how long the Duke of Parma had been in taking Antwerp, +and being told "eighteen months," he replied that, if necessary, he was +willing to employ eighteen years in reducing Ostend. + +The town thus about to assume so much importance in the world's eye had +about three thousand inhabitants within its lowly; thatch-roofed houses. +It fronted directly upon the seacoast and stretched backward in a +southerly direction, having the sandy downs on the right and left, and a +swampy, spongy soil on the inner verge, where it communicated with the +land. Its northern part, small and scarcely inhabited, was lashed by the +ocean, and exposed to perpetual danger from its storms and flood-tides, +but was partially protected from these encroachments by a dyke stretching +along the coast on the west. Here had hitherto been the harbour formed +by the mouth of the river Iperleda as it mingled with the sea, but this +entrance had become so choked with sand as to be almost useless at low +water. This circumstance would have rendered the labours of the archduke +comparatively easy, and much discouraged the States, had there not +fortunately been a new harbour which had formed itself on the eastern +side exactly at the period of threatened danger. The dwarf mountain +range of dunes which encircled the town on the eastern side had been +purposely levelled, lest the higher summits should offer positions of +vantage to a besieging foe. In consequence of this operation, the sea +had burst over the land and swept completely around the place, almost +converting it into an island, while at high water there opened a wide and +profound gulf which with the ebb left an excellent channel quite deep +enough for even the ships of war of those days. The next care of the +States authorities was to pierce their fortifications on this side at a +convenient point, thus creating a safe and snug haven within the walls +for the fleets of transports which were soon to arrive by open sea, laden +with soldiers and munitions. + +The whole place was about half an hour's walk in circumference. It was +surrounded with a regular counterscarp, bastions, and casemates, while +the proximity of the ocean and the humid nature of the soil ensured it a +network of foss and canal on every side. On the left or western side, +where the old harbour had once been, and which was the most vulnerable by +nature, was a series of strong ravelins, the most conspicuous of which +were called the Sand Hill, the Porcupine, and Hell's Mouth. Beyond +these, towards the southwest, were some detached fortifications, resting +for support, however, upon the place itself, called the Polder, the +Square, and the South Square. On the east side, which was almost +inaccessible, as it would seem, by such siege machinery as then existed, +was a work called the Spanish half-moon, situate on the new harbour +called the Guele or Gullet. + +Towards the west and southwest, externally, upon the territory of +Flanders--not an inch of which belonged to the republic, save the sea- +beaten corner in which nestled the little town-eighteen fortresses had +been constructed by the archduke as a protection against hostile +incursions from the place. Of these, the most considerable were +St. Albert, often mentioned during the Nieuport campaign, St. Isabella +St. Clara, and Great-Thirst. + +On the 5th July, 1601, the archduke came before the town, and formally +began the siege. He established his headquarters in the fort which bore +the name of his patron saint. Frederic van den Berg meanwhile occupied +fort Breden on the eastern side, with the intention, if possible, of +getting possession of the Gullet, or at least of rendering the entrance +to that harbour impossible by means of his hostile demonstrations. Under +Van den Berg was Count Bucquoy-Longueval, a Walloon officer of much +energy and experience, now general-in-chief of artillery in the +archduke's army. + +The numbers with which Albert took the field at first have not been +accurately stated, but it is probable that his object was to keep as many +as twenty thousand constantly engaged in the siege, and that in this +regard he was generally successful. + +Within the town were fifty-nine companies of infantry, to which were soon +added twenty-three more under command of young Chatillon, grandson of the +great Coligny. It was "an olla podrida of nationalities," according to +the diarist of the siege--[Meteren]. English, Scotch, Dutch, Flemings, +Frenchmen, Germans, mixed in about equal proportions. Commander-in- +chief at the outset was Sir Francis Vere, who established himself by the +middle of July in the place, sent thither by order of the States-General. +It had been the desire of that assembly that the stadholder should make +another foray in Flanders for the purpose of driving off the archduke +before he should have time to complete his preliminary operations. But +for that year at least Maurice was resolved not to renounce his own +schemes in deference to those so much more ignorant than himself of the +art of war, even if Barneveld and his subordinates on their part had not +learned a requisite lesson of modesty. + +So the prince, instead of risking another Nieuport campaign, took the +field with a small but well-appointed force, about ten thousand men in +all, marched to the Rhine, and early in June, laid siege to Rheinberg. +It was his purpose to leave the archduke for the time to break his teeth +against the walls of Ostend, while he would himself protect the eastern +frontier, over which came regular reinforcements and supplies for the +Catholic armies. His works were laid out with his customary precision +and neatness. But, standing as usual, like a professor at his +blackboard, demonstrating his proposition to the town, he was disturbed +in his calculations by the abstraction from his little army of two +thousand English troops ordered by the States-General to march to the +defence of Ostend. The most mathematical but most obedient of princes, +annoyed but not disconcerted, sent off the troops but continued his +demonstration. + +"By this specimen," cried the French envoy, with enthusiasm, "judge of +the energy of this little commonwealth. They are besieging Berg with an +army of twelve thousand men, a place beyond the frontier, and five days' +march from the Hague. They are defending another important place, +besieged by the principal forces of the archdukes, and there is good +chance of success at both points. They are doing all this too with such +a train of equipages of artillery, of munitions, of barks, of ships of +war, that I hardly know of a monarch in the world who would not be +troubled to furnish such a force of warlike machinery." + +By the middle of July he sprang a mine under the fortifications, doing +much damage and sending into the air a considerable portion of the +garrison. Two of the soldiers were blown into his own camp, and one of +them, strangely enough, was but slightly injured. Coming as he did +through the air at cannon-ball speed, he was of course able to bring the +freshest intelligence from the interior of the town. + +His news as to the condition of the siege confirmed the theory of the +stadholder. He persisted in his operations for three weeks longer, and +the place was then surrendered. The same terms--moderate and honourable +were given to the garrison and the burghers as in all Maurice's +victories. Those who liked to stay were at liberty to do so, accepting +the prohibition of public worship according to the Roman ritual, but +guaranteed against inquisition into household or conscience. The +garrison went out with the honours of war, and thus the place, whose +military value caused it to change hands almost as frequently as a +counter in a game, was once more in possession of the republic. In the +course of the following week Maurice laid siege to the city of Meurs, a +little farther up the Rhine, which immediately capitulated. Thus the +keys to the debatable land of Cleves and Juliers, the scene of the +Admiral of Arragon's recent barbarities, were now held by the stadholder. + +These achievements were followed by an unsuccessful attempt upon +Bois-le-Duc in the course of November. The place would have fallen +notwithstanding the slenderness of the besieging army had not a sudden +and severe frost caused the prudent prince to raise the siege. Feeling +that his cousin Frederic van den Berg, who had been despatched from +before Ostend to command the relieving force near Bois-le-Duc, might take +advantage of the prematurely frozen canals and rivers to make an +incursion into Holland, he left his city just as his works had been +sufficiently advanced to ensure possession of the prize, and hastened to +protect the heart of the republic from possible danger. + +Nothing further was accomplished by Maurice that year, but meantime +something had been doing within and around Ostend. + +For now the siege of Ostend became the war, and was likely to continue +to be the war for a long time to come; all other military operations +being to a certain degree suspended, as if by general consent of both +belligerants, or rendered subsidiary to the main design. So long as this +little place should be beleaguered it was the purpose of the States, and +of Maurice, acting in harmony with those authorities, to concentrate +their resources so as to strengthen the grip with which the only scrap of +Flanders was held by the republic, + +And as time wore on, the supposed necessities of the wealthy province, +which, in political importance, made up a full half of the archduke's +dominions, together with self-esteem and an exaggerated idea of military +honour, made that prelate more and more determined to effect his purpose. + +So upon those barren sands was opened a great academy in which the +science and the art of war were to be taught by the most skilful +practitioners to all Europe; for no general, corporal, artillerist, +barber-surgeon, or engineer, would be deemed to know his trade if he had +not fought at Ostend; and thither resorted month after month warriors of +every rank, from men of royal or of noblest blood to adventurers of +lowlier degree, whose only fortune was buckled at their sides. From +every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town +or into the besiegers' trenches. Habsburg and Holstein; Northumberland, +Vere, and Westmoreland; Fairfax and Stuart; Bourbon, Chatillon, and +Lorraine; Bentivoglio, Farnese, Spinola, Grimaldi, Arragon, Toledo, +Avila, Berlaymont, Bucquoy, Nassau, Orange, Solms--such were the historic +names of a few only of the pupils or professors in that sanguinary high +school, mingled with the plainer but well known patronymics of the Baxes, +Meetkerkes, Van Loons, Marquettes, Van der Meers, and Barendrechts, whose +bearers were fighting, as they long had fought, for all that men most +dearly prize on earth, and not to win honour or to take doctors' degrees +in blood. Papist, Calvinist, Lutheran, Turk, Jew and Moor, European, +Asiatic, African, all came to dance in that long carnival of death; and +every incident, every detail throughout the weary siege could if +necessary be reproduced; for so profound and general was the attention +excited throughout Christendom by these extensive operations, and so new +and astonishing were many of the inventions and machines employed--most +of them now as familiar as gunpowder or as antiquated as a catapult--that +contemporaries have been most bountiful in their records for the benefit +of posterity, feeling sure of a gratitude which perhaps has not been +rendered to their shades. + +Especially the indefatigable Philip Fleming-auditor and secretary of +Ostend before and during the siege, bravest, most conscientious, and most +ingenious of clerks--has chronicled faithfully in his diary almost every +cannon-shot that was fired, house that was set on fire, officer that was +killed, and has pourtrayed each new machine that was invented or imagined +by native or foreign genius. For the adepts or, pretenders who swarmed +to town or camp from every corner of the earth, bringing in their hands +or brains to be disposed of by either belligerents infallible recipes for +terminating the siege at a single blow, if only their theories could be +understood and their pockets be filled, were as prolific and as sanguine +as in every age. But it would be as wearisome, and in regard to the +history of human culture as superfluous, to dilate upon the technics of +Targone and Giustianini, and the other engineers, Italian and Flemish, +who amazed mankind at this period by their successes, still more by their +failures, or to describe every assault, sortie, and repulse, every +excavation, explosion, and cannonade, as to disinter the details of the +siege of Nineveh or of Troy. But there is one kind of enginry which +never loses its value or its interest, and which remains the same in +every age--the machinery by which stout hearts act directly upon willing +hands--and vast were the results now depending on its employment around +Ostend. + +On the outside and at a distance the war was superintended of course by +the stadholder and commander-in-chief, while his cousin William Lewis, +certainly inferior to no living man in the science of war, and whose +studies in military literature, both ancient and modern, during the brief +intervals of his active campaigning, were probably more profound than +those of any contemporary, was always alert and anxious to assist with +his counsels or to mount and ride to the fray. + +In the town Sir Francis Vere commanded. Few shapes are more familiar to +the student of those times than this veteran campaigner, the offshoot of +a time-honoured race. A man of handsome, weather-beaten, battle-bronzed +visage, with massive forehead, broad intelligent eyes, a high straight +nose, close-clipped hair, and a great brown beard like a spade; captious, +irascible, but most resolute, he seemed, in his gold inlaid Milan corslet +and ruff of point-lace, the very image of a partizan chieftain; one of +the noblest relics of a race of fighters slowly passing off the world's +stage. + +An efficient colonel, he was not a general to be relied upon in great +affairs either in council or the field. He hated the Nassaus, and the +Nassaus certainly did not admire him, while his inordinate self-esteem, +both personal and national, and his want of true sympathy for the cause +in which, he fought, were the frequent source of trouble and danger to +the republic. + +Of the seven or eight thousand soldiers in the town when the siege began, +at least two thousand were English. The queen, too intelligent, despite +her shrewishness to the Staten; not to be faithful to the cause in which +her own interests were quite as much involved as theirs, had promised +Envoy Caron that although she was obliged to maintain twenty thousand men +in Ireland to keep down the rebels, directly leagued as they were with +Spain and the archdukes, the republic might depend upon five thousand +soldiers from England. Detachment after detachment, the soldiers came as +fast as the London prisons could be swept and the queen's press-gang +perform its office. It may be imagined that the native land of those +warriors was not inconsiderably benefited by the grant to the republic +of the right to make and pay for these levies. But they had all red +uniforms, and were as fit as other men to dig trenches, to defend them; +and to fill them afterwards, and none could fight more manfully or +plunder friend and foe with greater cheerfulness of impartiality than did +those islanders. + +The problem which the archduke had set himself to solve was not an easy +one. He was to reduce a town, which he could invest and had already +succeeded very thoroughly in investing on the land aide, but which was +open to the whole world by sea; while the besieged on their part could +not only rely upon their own Government and people, who were more at home +on the ocean than was any nation in the world, but upon their alliance +with England, a State hardly inferior in maritime resources to the +republic itself. + +On the western side, which was the weakest, his progress was from the +beginning the more encouraging, and his batteries were soon able to make +some impression upon the outer works, and even to do considerable damage +to the interior of the town. In the course of a few months he had fifty +siege-guns in position, and had constructed a practicable road all around +the place, connecting his own fortifications on the west and south with +those of Bucquoy on the east. + +Albert's leading thought however was to cut off the supplies. The freaks +of nature, as already observed, combined with his own exertions, had +effectually disposed of the western harbour as a means of ingress. The +tide ebbed and flowed through the narrow channel, but it was clogged with +sand and nearly, dry at low water. Moreover, by an invention then +considered very remarkable, a foundation was laid for the besiegers' +forts and batteries by sinking large and deep baskets of wicker-work, +twenty feet in length, and filled with bricks and sand, within this +abandoned harbour. These clumsy machines were called sausages,21 and +were the delight of the camp and of all Europe. The works thus +established on the dry side crept slowly on towards the walls, and some +demi-cannon were soon placed upon, them, but the besieged, not liking +these encroachments, took the resolution to cut the pea-dyke along the +coast which had originally protected the old harbour. Thus the sea, when +the tides were high and winds boisterous, was free to break in upon the +archduke's works, and would often swallow sausages, men, and cannon far +more rapidly than it was possible to place them there. + +Yet still those human ants toiled on, patiently restoring what the +elements so easily destroyed; and still, despite the sea; the cannonade, +and the occasional sorties of the garrison, the danger came nearer and +nearer. Bucquoy on the other side was pursuing the same system, but his +task was immeasurably more difficult. The Gullet, or new eastern +entrance, was a whirlpool at high tide, deep, broad, and swift as a +millrace. Yet along its outer verge he too laid his sausages, protecting +his men at their work as well as he could with gabions, and essayed to +build a dyke of wicker-work upon which he might place a platform for +artillery to prevent the ingress of the republican ships. + +And his soldiers were kept steadily at work, exposed all the time to the +guns of the Spanish half-moon from which the besieged never ceased to +cannonade those industrious pioneers. It was a bloody business. Night +and day the men were knee-deep in the trenches delving in mud and sand, +falling every instant into the graves which they were thus digging for +themselves, while ever and anon the sea would rise in its wrath and sweep +them with their works away. Yet the victims were soon replaced by +others, for had not the cardinal-archduke sworn to extract the thorn from +the Belgic lion's paw even if he should be eighteen years about it, and +would military honour permit him to break his vow? It was a piteous +sight, even for the besieged, to see human life so profusely squandered. +It is a terrible reflection, too, that those Spaniards, Walloons, +Italians, confronted death so eagerly, not from motives of honour, +religion, discipline, not inspired by any kind of faith or fanaticism, +but because the men who were employed in this horrible sausage-making and +dyke-building were promised five stivers a day instead of two. + +And there was always an ample supply of volunteers for the service so +long as the five stivers were paid. + +But despite all Bucquoy's exertions the east harbour remained as free as +ever. The cool, wary Dutch skippers brought in their cargoes as +regularly as if there had been no siege at all. Ostend was rapidly +acquiring greater commercial importance, and was more full of bustle and +business than had ever been dreamed of in that quiet nook since the days +of Robert the Frisian, who had built the old church of Ostend, as one of +the thirty which he erected in honour of St. Peter, five hundred years +before. + +For the States did not neglect their favourite little city. Fleets of +transports arrived day after day, week after week, laden with every +necessary and even luxury for the use of the garrison. It was perhaps +the cheapest place in all the Netherlands, so great was the abundance. +Capons, bares, partridges, and butcher's meat were plentiful as +blackberries, and good French claret was but two stivers the quart. +Certainly the prospect was not promising of starving the town into a +surrender. + +But besides all this digging and draining there was an almost daily +cannonade. Her Royal Highness the Infanta was perpetually in camp by the +side of her well-beloved Albert, making her appearance there in great +state, with eighteen coaches full of ladies of honour, and always +manifesting much impatience if she did not hear the guns. + +She would frequently touch off a forty-pounder with her own serene +fingers in order to encourage the artillerymen, and great was the +enthusiasm which such condescension excited. + +Assaults, sorties, repulses, ambuscades were also of daily occurrence, +and often with very sanguinary results; but it would be almost as idle +now to give the details of every encounter that occurred, as to describe +the besieging of a snow-fort by schoolboys. + +It is impossible not to reflect that a couple of Parrots and a Monitor or +two would have terminated the siege in half an hour in favor of either +party, and levelled the town or the besiegers' works as if they had been +of pasteboard. + +Bucquoy's dyke was within a thousand yards of the harbour's entrance, yet +the guns on his platform never sank a ship nor killed a man on board, +while the archduke's batteries were even nearer their mark. Yet it was +the most prodigious siege of modern days. Fifty great guns were in +position around the place, and their balls weighed from ten to forty +pounds apiece. It was generally agreed that no such artillery practice +had ever occurred before in the world. + +For the first six months, and generally throughout the siege, there was +fired on an average a thousand of such shots a day. In the sieges of the +American civil war there were sometimes three thousand shots an hour, and +from guns compared to which in calibre and power those cannon and demi- +cannon were but children's toys. + +Certainly the human arm was of the same length then as now, a pike-thrust +was as effective as the stab of the most improved bayonet, and when it +came, as it was always the purpose to do, to the close embrace of foemen, +the work was done as thoroughly as it could be in this second half of the +nineteenth century. + +Nevertheless it is impossible not to hope that such progress in science +must at last render long wars impossible. The Dutch war of independence +had already lasted nearly forty years. Had the civil war in America upon +the territory of half a continent been waged with the Ostend machinery it +might have lasted two centuries. Something then may have been gained for +humanity by giving war such preter-human attributes as to make its +demands of gold and blood too exhaustive to become chronic. + +Yet the loss of human life during that summer and winter was sufficiently +wholesale as compared with the meagre results. Blood flowed in torrents, +for no man could be more free of his soldiers' lives than was the +cardinal-archduke, hurling them as he did on the enemy's works before the +pretence of a practical breach had been effected, and before a reasonable +chance existed of purchasing an advantage at such a price. Five hundred +were killed outright in half-an-hour's assault on an impregnable position +one autumn evening, and lay piled in heaps beneath the Sand Hill fort- +many youthful gallants from Spain and Italy among them, noble volunteers +recognised by their perfumed gloves and golden chains, and whose pockets +were worth rifling. The Dutch surgeons, too, sallied forth in strength +after such an encounter, and brought in great bags filled with human fat +esteemed the sovereignst remedy in the world for wounds and disease. + +Leaders were killed on both sides. Catrici, chief of the Italian +artillery, and Braccamonte, commander of a famous Sicilian legion, with +many less-known captains, lost their lives before the town. The noble +young Chatillon, grandson of Coligny, who had distinguished himself at +Nieuport, fell in the Porcupine fort, his head carried off by a cannon- +ball, which destroyed another officer at his side, and just grazed the +ear of the distinguished Colonel Uchtenbroek. Sir Francis Vere, too, was +wounded in the head by a fragment of iron, and was obliged to leave the +town for six weeks till his wound should heal. + +The unfortunate inhabitants--men, women, and children--were of course +exposed to perpetual danger, and very many were killed. Their houses +were often burned to the ground, in which cases the English auxiliaries +were indefatigable, not in rendering assistance, but in taking possession +of such household goods as the flames had spared. Nor did they always +wait for such opportunities, but were apt, at the death of an eminent +burgher, to constitute themselves at once universal legatees. Thus, +while honest Bartholomew Tysen, a worthy citizen grocer, was standing +one autumn morning at his own door, a stray cannon-ball took off his +head, and scarcely had he been put in a coffin before his house was +sacked from garret to cellar and all the costly spices, drugs, and other +valuable merchandize of his warehouse--the chief magazine in the town-- +together with all his household furniture, appropriated by those London +warriors. Bartholomew's friends and relatives appealed to Sir Francis +Vere for justice, but were calmly informed by that general that Ostend +was like a stranded ship, on its beamends on a beach, and that it was +impossible not to consider it at the mercy of the wreckers. So with this +highly figurative view of the situation from the lips of the governor of +the place and the commander-in-chief of the English as well as the Dutch +garrison, they were fain to go home and bury their dead, finding when +they returned that another cannonball had carried away poor Bartholomew's +coffin-lid. Thus was never non-combatant and grocer, alive or dead, more +out of suits with fortune than this citizen of Ostend; and such were the +laws of war, as understood by one of the most eminent of English +practitioners in the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is true, +however, that Vere subsequently hanged a soldier for stealing fifty +pounds of powder and another for uttering counterfeit money, but +robberies upon the citizens were unavenged. + +Nor did the deaths by shot or sword-stroke make up the chief sum of +mortality. As usual the murrain-like pestilence which swept off its +daily victims both within an without the town, was more effective than +any direct agency of man. By the month of December the number of the +garrison had been reduced to less than three thousand, while it is +probable that the archduke had not eight thousand effective men left in +his whole army. + +It was a black and desolate scene. The wild waves of the German ocean, +lashed by the wintry gales, would often sweep over the painfully +constructed works of besieger and besieged and destroy in an hour the +labour of many weeks. The Porcupine's small but vitally-important +ravelin lying out in the counterscarp between the old town and the new, +guarding the sluices by which the water for the town moats and canals was +controlled, and preventing the pioneers of the enemy from undermining the +western wall--was so damaged by the sea as to be growing almost +untenable. Indefatigably had the besieged attempted with wicker-work and +timber and palisades to strengthen this precious little fort, but they +had found, even as Bucquoy and the archduke on their part had learned, +that the North Sea in winter was not to be dammed by bulrushes. +Moreover, in a bold and successful assault the besiegers had succeeded +in setting fire to the inflammable materials heaped about the ravelin to +such effect that the fire burned for days, notwithstanding the flooding +of the works at each high tide. The men, working day and night, +scorching in the flames, yet freezing kneedeep in the icy slush of the +trenches and perpetually under fire of the hostile batteries, became +daily more and more exhausted, notwithstanding their determination to +hold the place. Christmas drew nigh, and a most gloomy, festival it was +like to be, for it seemed as if the beleaguered garrison had been +forgotten by the States. Weeks had passed away without a single company +being sent to repair the hideous gaps made daily in the ranks of those +defenders of a forlorn hope. It was no longer possible to hold the +external works; the Square, the Polder, and the other forts on the +southwest which Vere had constructed with so much care and where he had +thus far kept his headquarters. On Sunday morning,--23rd December, he +reluctantly gave orders that they should be abandoned on the following +day and the whole garrison concentrated within the town. + +The clouds were gathering darkly over the head of the gallant Vere; for +no sooner had he arrived at this determination than he learned from a +deserter that the archduke had fixed upon that very Sunday evening for +a general assault upon the place. It was hopeless for the garrison to +attempt to hold these outer forts, for they required a far larger number +of soldiers than could be spared from the attenuated little army. Yet +with those forts in the hands of the enemy there would be nothing left +but to make the best and speediest terms that might be obtained. The +situation was desperate. Sir Francis called his principal officers +together, announced his resolve not to submit to the humiliation of a +surrender after all their efforts, if there was a possibility of escape +from their dilemma, reminded them that reinforcements might be expected +to arrive at any moment, and that with even a few hundred additional +soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. +The officers English, Dutch, and French, listened respectfully to his +remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him +as their Alexander to untie the Gordian knot. Alexander solved it, not +with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than +a sword. He announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and +to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for +sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break +faith with them, resume hostilities, and so make fools of the besiegers. + +This was a device worthy of a modern Alexander whose surname was Farnese. +Even in that loose age such cynical trifling with the sacredness of +trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation were deemed far from +creditable among soldiers and statesmen, yet the council of war highly +applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into +effect. + +When it came, however, to selecting the hostages necessary for the +proposed negotiations, they became less ardent and were all disposed to +recede. At last, after much discussion, the matter was settled, and +before nightfall a drummer was set upon the external parapet of the +Porcupine, who forthwith began to beat vigorously for a parley. The +rattle was a welcome sound in the ears of the weary besiegers, just drawn +up in column for a desperate assault, and the tidings were at once +communicated to the archduke in Fort St. Albert. The prince manifested +at first some unwillingness to forego the glory of the attack, from +which he confidently expected a crowning victory, but yielding to the +representations of his chief generals that it was better to have his town +without further bloodshed, he consented to treat. Hostages were +expeditiously appointed on both sides, and Captains Ogle and Fairfax were +sent that same evening to the headquarters of the besieging army. It was +at once agreed as a preliminary that the empty outer works of the place +should remain unmolested. The English officers were received with much +courtesy. The archduke lifted his hat as they were presented, asked them +of what nation they were, and then inquired whether they were authorized +to agree upon terms of capitulation. They answered in the negative; +adding, that the whole business would be in the hands of commissioners to +be immediately sent by his Highness, as it was supposed, into the town. +Albert then expressed the hope that there was no fraudulent intention +in the proposition just made to negotiate. The officers professed +themselves entirely ignorant of any contemplated deception; although +Captain Ogle had been one of the council, had heard every syllable of +Vere's stratagem, and had heartily approved of the whole plot. The +Englishmen were then committed to the care of a Spanish nobleman of the +duke's staff, and were treated with perfect politeness and hospitality. + +Meantime no time was lost in despatching hostages, who should be at the +same time commissioners, to Ostend. The quartermaster-general of the +army, Don Matteo Antonio, and Matteo Serrano, governor of Sluys, but +serving among the besiegers, were selected for this important business +as personages of ability, discretion, and distinction. + +They reached the town, coming in of course from the western side, as +expeditiously as possible, but after nightfall. Before they arrived at +headquarters there suddenly arose, from some unknown cause, a great alarm +and beating to arms on the opposite or eastern side of the city. They +were entirely innocent of any participation in this uproar and ignorant +of its cause, but when they reached the presence of Sir Francis Vere they +found that warrior in a towering passion. There was cheating going on, +he exclaimed. The Spaniards, he cried, were taking advantage of these +negotiations, and were about, by dishonourable stratagem, to assault the +town. + +Astounded, indignant, but utterly embarrassed, the grave Spaniards knew +not how to reply. They were still more amazed when the general, rising +to a still higher degree of exasperation, absolutely declined to exchange +another word with them, but ordered Captains Carpentier and St. Hilaire, +by whom they had been escorted to his quarters, to conduct them out of +the town again by the same road which had brought them there. There was +nothing for it but to comply, and to smother their resentment at such +extraordinary treatment as best they could. When they got to the old +harbour on the western side the tide had risen so high that it was +impossible to cross. + +Nobody knew better than Vere, when he gave the order, that this would be +the case; so that when the escorting officers returned to state the fact, +he simply ordered them to take the Spaniards back by the Gullet or +eastern side. The strangers were not very young men, and being much +fatigued with wandering to and fro in the darkness over the muddy roads, +they begged permission to remain all night in Ostend, if it were only +in a guardhouse. But Vere was inexorable, after the duplicity which +he affected to have discovered on the part of the enemy. So the +quartermaster-general and the governor of Sluys, much to the detriment +of their dignity, were forced once more to tramp through the muddy +streets. And obeying their secret instructions, the escort led them +round and round through the most miry and forlorn parts of the town, so +that, sinking knee-deep at every step into sloughs and quicksands, and +plunging about through the mist and sleet of a dreary December's night, +they at last reached the precincts of the Spanish half-moon on the +Gullet, be-draggled from head to foot and in a most dismal and exhausted +condition. + +"Ah, the villainous town of Ostend!" exclaimed Serrano, ruefully +contemplating his muddy boots and imploring at least a pipe of tobacco. +He was informed, however, that no such medical drugs were kept in the +fort, but that a draught of good English ale was much at their service. +The beer was brought in four foaming flagons, and, a little refreshed by +this hospitality, the Spaniards were put in a boat and rowed under the +guns of the fort across the Gullet and delivered to their own sentries on +the outposts of Bucquoy's entrenchments. By this time it was midnight, +so that it was necessary for them to remain for the night in the eastern +encampment before reporting themselves at Fort St. Albert. + +Thus far Vere's comedy had been eminently successful, and by taking +advantage of the accidental alarm and so adroitly lashing himself into a +fictitious frenzy, the general had gained nearly twenty-four additional +hours of precious time on which he had not reckoned. + +Next morning, after Serrano and Antonio had reported to the archduke, it +was decided, notwithstanding the very inhospitable treatment which they +had received, that those commissioners should return to their labours. +Ogle and Fairfax still remained as hostages in camp, and of course +professed entire ignorance of these extraordinary proceedings, +attributing them to some inexplicable misunderstanding. So on Monday, +24th, December, the quartermaster and the governor again repaired to +Ostend with orders to bring about the capitulation of the place as soon +as possible. The same sergeant-major was again appointed by Vere to +escort the strangers, and on asking by what way he should bring them in, +was informed by Sir Francis that it would never do to allow those +gentlemen, whose feet were accustomed to the soft sand of the sea-beach +and downs, to bruise themselves upon the hard paving-stones of Ostend, +but that the softest and muddiest road must be carefully selected for +them. These reasons accordingly were stated with perfect gravity to the +two Spaniards, who, in spite of their solemn remonstrances, were made to +repeat a portion of their experiences and to accept it as an act of +special courtesy from the English general. Thus so much time had been +spent in preliminaries and so much more upon the road that the short +winter's day was drawing to a close before they were again introduced to +the presence of Vere. + +They found that fiery personage on this occasion all smiles and +blandishments. The Spaniards were received with most dignified courtesy, +to which they gravely responded; and the general then proceeded to make +excuses for the misunderstanding of the preceding day with its +uncomfortable consequences. Thereupon arose much animated discussion +as to the causes and the nature of the alarm on the east side which had +created such excitement. Much time was ingeniously consumed in this +utterly superfluous discussion; but at last the commissioners of the +archduke insisted on making allusion to the business which had brought +them to the town. "What terms of negotiation do you propose?" they +asked Sir Francis. "His Highness has only to withdraw from before +Ostend," coolly replied the general, "and leave us, his poor neighbours, +in peace and quietness. This would be the most satisfactory negotiation +possible and the one most easily made." + +Serrano and Antonio found it difficult to see the matter in that cheerful +light, and assured Sir Francis that they had not been commissioned by the +archduke to treat for his own withdrawal but for the surrender of the +town. Hereupon high words and fierce discussion very naturally arose, +and at last, when a good deal of time had been spent in the sharp +encounter of wits, Vere proposed an adjournment of the discussion until +after supper; politely expressing the hope that the Spanish gentlemen +would be his guests. + +The conversation had been from the beginning in French, as Vere, although +a master of the Spanish language, was desirous that the rest of the +company present should understand everything said at the interview. + +The invitation to table was graciously accepted, and the Christmas eve +passed off more merrily than the preceding night had done, so far as +Vere's two guests were concerned. Several distinguished officers were +present at the festive board: Captain Montesquieu de Roquette, Sir Horace +Vere, Captains St. Hilaire, Meetkerke, De Ryck, and others among them. +As it was strict fast for the Catholics that evening--while on the other +hand the English, still reckoning according to the old style, would not +keep Christmas until ten days later--the banquet consisted mainly of eggs +and fish, and the like meagre articles, in compliment to the guests. It +was, however, as well furnished as could be expected in a beleaguered +town, out of whose harbour a winter gale had been for many weeks blowing +and preventing all ingress. There was at least no lack of excellent +Bordeaux wine; while the servants waiting upon the table did not fail to +observe that Governor Serrano was not in all respects a model of the +temperance usually characteristic of his race. They carefully counted +and afterwards related with admiration, not unmingled with horror, that +the veteran Spaniard drank fifty-two goblets of claret, and was emptying +his glass as fast as filled, although by no means neglecting the beer, +the quality of which he had tested the night before at the Half-moon. +Yet there seemed to be no perceptible effect produced upon him, save +perhaps that he grew a shade more grave and dignified with each +succeeding draught. For while the banquet proceeded in this very genial +manner business was by no means neglected; the negotiations for the +surrender of the city being conducted on both sides with a fuddled +solemnity very edifying for the attendants to contemplate. + +Vere complained that the archduke was unreasonable, for he claimed +nothing less from his antagonists than their all. The commissioners +replied that all was no more than his own property. It certainly could +not be thought unjust of him to demand his own, and all Flanders was his +by legal donation from his Majesty of Spain. Vere replied that he had +never studied jurisprudence, and was not versed at all in that--science, +but he had always heard in England that possession was nine points of the +law. Now it so happened that they, and not his Highness, were in +possession of Ostend, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make +a present of it to any one. The besiegers, he urged, had gained much +honour by their steady persistence amid so many dangers; difficulties, +and losses;--but winter had come, the weather was very bad, not a step of +progress had been made, and he was bold enough to express his opinion +that it would be far more sensible on the part of his Highness, after +such deeds of valour, to withdraw his diminished forces out of the +freezing and pestilential swamps before Ostend and go into comfortable +winter-quarters at Ghent or Bruges. Enough had been done for glory, and +it must certainly now be manifest that he had no chance of taking the +city. + +Serrano retorted that it was no secret to the besiegers that the garrison +had dwindled to a handful; that it was quite impossible for them to +defend their outer works any longer; that with the loss of the external +boulevard the defence of the place would be impossible, and that, on the +contrary, it was for the republicans to resign themselves to their fate. +They, too, had done enough for glory, and had nothing for it but to +retire into the centre of their ruined little nest, where they must +burrow until the enemy should have leisure to entirely unearth them, +which would be a piece of work very easily and rapidly accomplished. + +This was called negotiation; and thus the winter's evening wore away, +until the Spaniards; heavy with fatigue and wine, were without much +difficulty persuaded to seek the couches prepared for them. + +Next day the concourse of people around the city was Christmas, wonderful +to behold. The rumour had spread through the, provinces, and was on the, +wing to all foreign countries, that Ostend had capitulated, and that the +commissioners were at that moment arranging the details. The cardinal- +archduke, in complete Milanese armour, with a splendid feather-bush +waving from his casque and surrounded by his brilliant body-guard, +galloped to and fro outside the entrenchments, expecting every moment a +deputation to come forth, bearing the keys of the town. The Infanta too, +magnificent in ruff and farthingale and brocaded petticoat, and attended +by a cavalcade of ladies of honour in gorgeous attire, pranced +impatiently about, awaiting the dramatic termination of a leaguer which +was becoming wearisome to besieger and besieged. Not even on the famous +second of July of the previous year, when that princess was pleasing +herself with imaginations as to the deportment of Maurice of Nassau as a +captive, had her soul been so full of anticipated triumph as on this +Christmas morning. + +Such a festive scene as was now presented in the neighbourhood of Ostend +had not been exhibited for many a long year in Flanders. From the whole +country side came the peasants and burghers, men, women, and children, in +holiday attire. It was like a kermiss or provincial fair. Three +thousand people at least were roaming about in all direction, gaping with +wonder at the fortifications of the besieging army, so soon to be +superfluous, sliding, skating, waltzing on the ice, admiring jugglers, +dancing bears, puppet shows and merry-go-rounds, singing, and carousing +upon herrings, sausages, waffles, with mighty draughts of Flemish ale, +manifesting their exuberant joy that the thorn was nearly extracted from +the lion's paw, and awaiting with delight a blessed relief from that +operation. Never was a merrier Christmas morning in Flanders. There +should be an end now to the forays through the country of those red- +coated English pikemen, those hard-riding, hard-drinking troopers of +Germany and, Holland, with the French and Scotch arquebus men, and +terrible Zeeland sailors who had for years swept out of Ostend, at any +convenient opportunity, to harry the whole province. And great was the +joy in Flanders. + +Meantime within the city a different scene was enacting. Those dignified +Spaniards--governor Serrano and Don Matteo Antonio--having slept off +their carouse, were prepared after breakfast next morning to resume the +interrupted negotiations. But affairs were now to take an unexpected +turn. In the night the wind had changed, and in the course of the +forenoon three Dutch vessels of war were descried in the offing, and soon +calmly sailed into the mouth of the Gullet. The news was at once brought +to Vere's headquarters. That general's plans had been crowned with +success even sooner than he expected. There was no further object in +continuing the comedy of negotiation, for the ships now arriving seemed +crowded with troops. Sir Francis accordingly threw off the mask, and +assuring his guests with extreme politeness that it had given him great +pleasure to make the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, he +thanked them cordially for their visit, but regretted that it would be no +longer in his power to entertain any propositions of a pacific nature. +The necessary reinforcements, which he had been so long expecting, had +at last reached him, and it would not yet be necessary for him to retire +into his ruined nest. Military honour therefore would not allow him to +detain them any longer. Should he ever be so hard pressed again he felt +sure that so magnanimous a prince as his Highness would extend to him all +due clemency and consideration. + +The Spaniards; digesting as they best could the sauce of contumely with +which the gross treachery of the transaction was now seasoned, solemnly +withdrew, disdaining to express their spleen in words of idle menace. + +They were escorted back through the lines, and at once made their report +at headquarters. The festival had been dismally interrupted before it +was well begun. The vessels were soon observed by friend and foe making +their way triumphantly up to the town where they soon dropped anchor at +the wharf of the inner Gullet, having only a couple of sailors wounded, +despite all the furious discharges of Bucquoy's batteries. The holiday +makers dispersed, much discomfited, the English hostages returned to the +town, and the archduke shut himself up, growling and furious. His +generals and counsellors, who had recommended the abandonment of his +carefully prepared assault, and acceptance of the perfidious propositions +to negotiate, by which so much golden time had been squandered, were for +several days excluded from his presence. + +Meantime the army, disappointed, discontented, half-starved, unpaid, +passed their days and nights as before, in the sloppy trenches, while +deep and earnest were the complaints and the curses which succeeded to +the momentary exultation of Christmas eve. The soldiers were more than +ever embittered against their august commander-in-chief, for they had +just enjoyed a signal opportunity of comparing the luxury and comfortable +magnificence of his Highness and the Infanta, and of contrasting it with +their own misery. Moreover, it had long been exciting much indignation +in the ranks that veteran generals and colonels, in whom all men had +confidence, had been in great numbers superseded in order to make place +for court favourites, utterly without experience or talent. Thus the +veterans; murmuring in the wet trenches. The archduke meanwhile, in his +sullen retirement, brooded over a tragedy to follow the very successful +comedy of his antagonist. + +It was not long delayed. The assault which had been postponed in the +latter days of December was to be renewed before the end of the first +week of the new year. Vere, through scouts and deserters, was aware of +the impending storm, and had made his arrangements in accordance with, +the very minute information which he had thus received. The +reinforcements, so opportunely sent by the States, were not numerous +--only six hundred in all--but they were an earnest of fresh comrades to +follow. Meantime they sufficed to fill the gaps in the ranks, and to +enable Vere to keep possession of the external line of fortifications, +including the all-important Porcupine. Moreover, during the fictitious +negotiations, while the general had thus been holding--as he expressed +it--the wolf by both ears, the labor of repairing damages in dyke, moat, +and wall had not been for an instant neglected. + +The morning of the 7th January, 1602, opened with a vigorous cannonade +from all the archduke's batteries, east, west, and south. Auditor +Fleeting, counsellor and secretary of the city, aide-de-camp and right +hand of the commander-in-chief, a grim, grizzled, leathern-faced man of +fifty, steady under fire as a veteran arquebuseer, ready with his pen +as a counting-house clerk, and as fertile in resource as the most +experienced campaigner, was ever at the general's side. At his +suggestion several houses had been demolished, to furnish materials in +wood and iron to stop the gaps as soon as made. Especially about the +Sand Hill fort and the Porcupine a plentiful supply was collected, no +time having been lost in throwing up stockades, palisades, and every +other possible obstruction to the expected assailants. Knowing perfectly +well where the brunt of the battle was to be, Vere had placed his brother +Sir Horace at the head of twelve picked companies of diverse nations in +the Sand Hill. Four of the very best companies of the garrison were +stationed in the Porcupine, and ten more of the choicest in Fort Hell's +Mouth, under Colonel Meetkerke. It must be recollected that the first of +these three works was the key to the fortifications of the old or outer +town. The other two were very near it, and were the principal redoubts +which defended the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the new town on +the western side. The Sand Hill, as its name imported, was the only +existing relic within the city's verge of the chain of downs once +encircling the whole place. It had however been cannonaded so steadily +during the six months' siege as to have become almost ironclad--a mass of +metal gradually accumulating from the enemy's guns. With the curtain +extending from it towards east and west it protected the old town quite +up to the little ancient brick church, one of the only two in Ostend. + +All day long the cannon thundered--a bombardment such as had never before +been dreamed of in those days, two thousand shots having been distinctly +counted, by the burghers. There was but languid response from the +besieged, who were reserving their strength. At last, to the brief +winter's day succeeded a pitch-dark evening. It was dead low tide at +seven. At that hour the drums suddenly beat alarm along the whole line +of fortifications from the Gullet on the east to the old harbour on the +west, while through the mirky atmosphere sounded the trumpets of the +assault, the shouts of the Spanish and Italian commanders, and the fierce +responsive yells of their troops. Sir Francis, having visited every +portion of the works, and satisfied himself that every man in the +garrison was under arms, and that all his arrangements had been +fulfilled, now sat on horseback, motionless as a statue, within the Sand +Hill. Among the many serious and fictitious attacks now making he waited +calmly for the one great assault, even allowing some of the enemy to +scale the distant counterscarp of the external works towards the south, +which he had by design left insufficiently guarded. It was but a brief +suspense, for in a few moments two thousand men had rushed through the +bed of the old harbour, out of which the tide had ebbed, and were +vigorously assailing the Sand Hill and the whole length of its curtain. +The impenetrable darkness made it impossible to count, but the noise and +the surging fury of the advance rendered it obvious that the critical +moment had arrived. Suddenly a vivid illumination burst forth. Great +pine torches, piles of tar-barrels, and heaps of other inflammable +material, which had been carefully arranged in Fort Porcupine, were now +all at once lighted by Vere's command. + +As the lurid blaze flashed far and wide there started out of the gloom +not only the long lines of yellow jerkined pikemen and arquebuseers, with +their storm-hoods and scaling ladders, rushing swiftly towards the forts, +but beyond the broken sea dyke the reserved masses supporting the attack, +drawn up in solid clumps of spears, with their gay standards waving above +them, and with a strong force of cavalry in iron corslet and morion +stationed in the rear to urge on the infantry and prevent their faltering +in the night's work, became visible--phantom-like but perfectly distinct. + +At least four thousand men were engaged in this chief attack, and the +light now permitted the besieged to direct their fire from cannon, demi- +cannon, culverin, and snaphance, with fatal effect. The assailants, +thinned, straggling, but undismayed, closed up their ranks, and still +came fiercely on. Never had Spaniards, Walloons, and Italians, +manifested greater contempt of death than on this occasion. They knew +that the archduke and the infanta were waiting breathlessly in Fort St. +Albert for the news of that victory of which the feigned negotiations had +defrauded them at Christmas, and they felt perfectly confident of ending +both the siege and the forty years' war this January night. But they had +reckoned without their wily English host. As they came nearer--van, and +at last reserve--they dropped in great heaps under the steady fire of the +musketry--as Philip Flaming, looking on, exclaimed--like apples when the +autumn wind blows through the orchard. And as the foremost still pressed +nearer and nearer, striving to clamber up the shattered counterscarp and +through every practicable breach, the English, Hollanders, and +Zeelanders, met them in the gap, not only at push of pike, but with their +long daggers and with flaming pitchhoops, and hurled them down to instant +death. + +And thus around the Sand Hill, the Porcupine, and Hell's Mouth, the +battle raged nearly two hours long, without an inch of ground being +gained by the assailants. The dead and dying were piled beneath the +walls, while still the reserves, goaded up to the mark by the cavalry, +mounted upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and strove to plant +their, ladders. But now the tide was on the flood, the harbour was +filling, and cool Auditor Fleming, whom nothing escaped quietly asked +the general's permission to open the western' sluice. It was obvious, +he observed, that the fury of the attack was over, and that the enemy +would soon be effecting a retreat before the water should have risen too +high. He even pointed out many stragglers attempting to escape through +the already deepening shallows. Vere's consent was at once given, the +flood-gate was opened, and the assailants such as still survived--panic- +struck in a moment, rushed wildly back through the old harbour towards +their camp. It was too late. The waters were out, and the contending +currents whirled the fugitives up and down through the submerged land, +and beyond the broken dyke, until great numbers of them were miserably +drowned in the haven, while others were washed out to sea. Horses and +riders were borne off towards the Zealand coast, and several of their +corpses were picked up days afterwards in the neighbourhood of Flushing. + +Meantime those who had effected a lodgment in the Polder, the Square, and +the other southern forts, found, after the chief assault had failed, that +they had gained nothing by their temporary triumph but the certainty of +being butchered. Retreat was impossible, and no quarter was given. +Count Imbec, a noble of great wealth, offered his weight in gold for his +ransom, but was killed by a private soldier, who preferred his blood, or +doubted his solvency. Durango, marshal of the camp, Don Alvarez de +Suarez, and Don Matteo Antonio, sergeant-major and quarter-master- +general, whose adventures as a hostage within the town on Christmas eve +have so recently been related, were also slain. + +On the eastern side Bucquoy's attack was an entire failure. His +arrangements were too slowly made, and before he could bring his men to +the assault the water was so high in the Gullet that they refused to lay +their pontoons and march to certain death. Only at lowest ebb, and with +most exquisite skill in fording, would it have been possible to effect +anything like an earnest demonstration or a surprise. Moreover some of +the garrison, giving themselves out as deserters, stole out of the +Spanish Half-moon, which had been purposely almost denuded of its +defenders, towards the enemy's entrenchments, and offered to lead a body +of Spaniards into that ravelin. Bucquoy fell into the trap, so that the +detachment, after a victory as easily effected as that in the southern +forts, found themselves when the fight was over not the captors but the +caught. A few attempted to escape and were driven into the sea; the rest +were massacred. + +Fifteen hundred of the enemy's dead were counted and registered by +Auditor Fleming. The whole number of the slain and drowned was reckoned +as high as two thousand, which was at least, a quarter of the whole +besieging army. And so ended this winter night's assault, by which the +archduke had fondly hoped to avenge himself for Vere's perfidy, and to +terminate the war at a blow. Only sixty of the garrison were killed, and +Sir Horace Vere was wounded. + +The winter now set in with severe sleet, and snow, and rain, and furious +tempests lashing the sea over the works of besieger and besieged, and for +weeks together paralyzing all efforts of either army. Eight weary months +the siege had lasted; the men in town and hostile camp, exposed to the +inclemency of the wintry trenches, sinking faster before the pestilence +which now swept impartially through all ranks than the soldiers of the +archduke had fallen at Nieuport, or in the recent assault on the Sand +Hill. Of seven thousand hardly three thousand now remained in the +garrison. + +Yet still the weary sausage making and wooden castle building went on +along the Gullet and around the old town. The Bredene dyke crept on inch +by inch, but the steady ships of the republic came and went unharmed by +the batteries with which Bucquoy hoped to shut up the New Harbour. The +archduke's works were pushed up nearer on the west, but, as yet, not one +practical advantage had been gained, and the siege had scarcely advanced +a hair's breadth since the 5th of July of the preceding year, when the +armies had first sat down before the place. + +The stormy month of March had come, and Vere, being called to service in +the field for the coming season, transferred the command at Ostend to +Frederic van Dorp, a rugged, hard-headed, ill-favoured, stout-hearted +Zealand colonel, with the face of a bull-dog, and with the tenacious grip +of one. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Constitute themselves at once universal legatees +Crimes and cruelties such as Christians only could imagine +Human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) +War was the normal and natural condition of mankind + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v74 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 75, 1602-1603 + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + Protraction of the siege of Ostend--Spanish invasion of Ireland-- + Prince Maurice again on the march--Siege of Grave--State of the + archduke's army--Formidable mutiny--State of Europe--Portuguese + expedition to Java--Foundation there of the first Batavian trading + settlement--Exploits of Jacob Heemskerk--Capture of a Lisbon + carrack--Progress of Dutch commerce--Oriental and Germanic republics + --Commercial embassy from the King of Atsgen in Sumatra to the + Netherlands--Surrender of Grave--Privateer work of Frederic Spinola + --Destruction of Spinola's fleet by English and Dutch cruisers-- + Continuation of the siege of Ostend--Fearful hurricane and its + effects--The attack--Capture of external forts--Encounter between + Spinola and a Dutch squadron--Execution of prisoners by the + archduke--Philip Fleming and his diary--Continuation of operations + before Ostend--Spanish veterans still mutinous--Their capital + besieged by Van den Berg--Maurice marches to their relief-- + Convention between the prince and the mutineers--Great commercial + progress of the Dutch--Opposition to international commerce-- + Organization of the Universal East India Company. + +It would be desirable to concentrate the chief events of the siege of +Ostend so that they might be presented to the reader's view in a single +mass. But this is impossible. The siege was essentially the war--as +already observed--and it was bidding fair to protract itself to such an +extent that a respect for chronology requires the attention to be +directed for a moment to other topics. + +The invasion of Ireland under Aquila, so pompously heralded as almost to +suggest another grand armada, had sailed in the beginning of the winter, +and an army of six thousand men had been landed at Kinsale. Rarely had +there been a better opportunity for the Celt to strike for his +independence. Shane Mac Neil had an army on foot with which he felt +confident of exterminating the Saxon oppressor, even without the +assistance of his peninsular allies; while the queen's army, severely +drawn upon as it had been for the exigencies of Vere and the States, +might be supposed unable to cope with so formidable a combination. Yet +Montjoy made short work of Aquila and Tyrone. The invaders, shut up in +their meagre conquest, became the besieged instead of the assailants. +Tyrone made a feeble attempt to relieve his Spanish allies, but was soon +driven into his swamps, the peasants would not rise; in spite of +proclamations and golden mountains of promise, and Aquila was soon glad +enough to sign a capitulation by which he saved a portion of his army. +He then returned, in transports provided by the English general, a much +discomfited man, to Spain instead of converting Ireland into a province +of the universal empire. He had not rescued Hibernia, as he stoutly +proclaimed at the outset his intention of doing, from the jaws of +the evil demon. + +The States, not much wiser after the experience of Nieuport, were again +desirous that Maurice should march into Flanders, relieve Ostend, and +sweep the archduke into the sea. As for Vere, he proposed that a great +army of cavalry and infantry should be sent into Ostend, while another +force equally powerful should take the field as soon as the season +permitted. Where the men were to be levied, and whence the funds for +putting such formidable hosts in motion were to be derived, it was not +easy to say: "'Tis astonishing," said Lewis William, "that the evils +already suffered cannot open his eyes; but after all, 'tis no marvel. An +old and good colonel, as I hold him to be, must go to school before he +can become a general, and we must beware of committing any second folly, +govern ourselves according to our means and the art of war, and leave the +rest to God." + +Prince Maurice, however; yielding as usual to the persuasions or +importunities of those less sagacious than himself; and being also much +influenced by the advice of the English queen and the French king, after +reviewing the most splendid army that even he had ever equipped and set +in the field, crossed the Waal at Nymegen, and the Meuse at Mook, and +then moving leisurely along Meuse--side by way of Sambeck, Blitterswyck, +and Maasyk, came past St. Truyden to the neighbourhood of Thienen, in +Brabant. Here he stood, in the heart of the enemy's country, and within +a day's march of Brussels. The sanguine portion of his countrymen and +the more easily alarmed of the enemy already thought it would be an easy +military promenade for the stadholder to march through Brabant and +Flanders to the coast, defeat the Catholic forces before Ostend, raise +the weary siege of that place, dictate peace to the archduke, and return +in triumph to the Hague, before the end of the summer. + +But the experienced Maurice too well knew the emptiness of such dreams. +He had a splendid army--eighteen thousand foot and five thousand horse-- +of which Lewis William commanded the battalia, Vere the right, and Count +Ernest the left, with a train of two thousand baggage wagons, and a +considerable force of sutlers and camp-followers. He moved so +deliberately, and with such excellent discipline, that his two wings +could with ease be expanded for black-mail or forage over a considerable +extent of country, and again folded together in case of sudden military +necessity. But he had no intention of marching through Brussels, Ghent, +and Bruges, to the Flemish coast. His old antagonist, the Admiral of +Arragon, lay near Thienen in an entrenched camp, with a force of at least +fifteen thousand men, while the archduke, leaving Rivas in command before +Ostend, hovered in the neighbourhood of Brussels, with as many troops as +could be spared from the various Flemish garrisons, ready to support the +admiral. + +But Maurice tempted the admiral in vain with the chances of a general +action. That warrior, remembering perhaps too distinctly his disasters +at Nieuport, or feeling conscious that his military genius was more fitly +displayed in burning towns and villages in neutral territory, robbing the +peasantry, plundering gentlemen's castles and murdering the proprietors, +than it was like to be in a pitched battle with the first general of the +age, remained sullenly within his entrenchments. His position was too +strong and his force far too numerous to warrant an attack by the +stadholder upon his works. After satisfying himself, therefore, that +there was no chance of an encounter in Brabant except at immense +disadvantage, Maurice rapidly counter-marched towards the lower Meuse, +and on the 18th July laid siege to Grave. The position and importance of +this city have been thoroughly set before the reader in a former volumes +It is only necessary, therefore, to recal the fact that, besides being a +vital possession for the republic, the place was in law the private +property of the Orange family, having been a portion of the estate of +Count de Buren, afterwards redeemed on payment of a considerable sum of +money by his son-in-law, William the Silent, confirmed to him at the +pacification of Ghent, and only lost to his children by the disgraceful +conduct of Captain Hamart, which had cost that officer his head. Maurice +was determined at least that the place should not now slip through his +fingers, and that the present siege should be a masterpiece. His forts, +of which he had nearly fifty, were each regularly furnished with moat, +drawbridge, and bulwark. His counterscarp and parapet, his galleries, +covered ways and mines, were as elaborate, massive, and artistically +finished as if he were building a city instead of besieging one. +Buzanval, the French envoy, amazed at the spectacle, protested that his +works "were rather worthy of the grand Emperor of the Turks than of, a +little commonwealth, which only existed through the disorder of its +enemies and the assistance of its friends;" but he admitted the utility +of the stadholder's proceedings to be very obvious. + +While the prince calmly sat before Grave, awaiting the inexorable hour +for burghers and garrison to surrender, the great Francis Mendoza, +Admiral of Arragon, had been completing the arrangements for his +exchange. A prisoner after the Nieuport battle, he had been assigned +by Maurice, as will be recollected, to his cousin, young Lewis Gunther, +whose brilliant services as commander of the cavalry had so much +contributed to the victory. The amount of ransom for so eminent a +captive could not fail to be large, and accordingly the thrifty Lewis +William had congratulated his brother on being able, although so young, +thus to repair the fortunes of the family by his military industry to a +greater extent than had yet been accomplished by any of the race. +Subsequently, the admiral had been released on parole, the sum of his +ransom having been fixed at nearly one hundred thousand Flemish crowns. +By an agreement now made by the States, with consent of the Nassau +family, the prisoner was definitely released, on condition of effecting +the exchange of all prisoners of the republic, now held in durance by +Spain in any part of the world. This was in lieu of the hundred thousand +crowns which were to be put into the impoverished coffers of Lewis +Gunther. It may be imagined, as the hapless prisoners afterwards poured +in--not only from the peninsula, but from more distant regions, whither +they had been sent by their cruel taskmasters, some to relate their +sufferings in the horrible dungeons of Spain, where they had long been +expiating the crime of defending their fatherland, others to relate their +experiences as chained galley-slaves in the naval service of their +bitterest enemies, many with shorn heads and long beards like Turks, many +with crippled limbs, worn out with chains and blows, and the squalor of +disease and filth--that the hatred for Spain and Rome did not glow any +less fiercely within the republic, nor the hereditary love for the +Nassaus, to whose generosity these poor victims were indebted for their +deliverance, become fainter, in consequence of these revelations. It was +at first vehemently disputed by many that the admiral could be exchanged +as a prisoner of war, in respect to the manifold murders and other crimes +which would seem to authorize his trial and chastisement by the tribunals +of the republic. But it was decided by the States that the sacred aegis +of military law must be held to protect even so bloodstained a criminal +as he, and his release was accordingly effected. Not long afterwards he +took his departure for Spain, where his reception was not enthusiastic. + +From this epoch is to be dated a considerable reform in the laws +regulating the exchange of prisoners of war.--[Grotius] + +While Maurice was occupied with the siege of Grave, and thus not only +menacing an important position, but spreading, danger and dismay over all +Brabant and Flanders, it was necessary for the archduke to detach so +large a portion of his armies to observe his indefatigable and scientific +enemy, as to much weaken the vigour of the operations before Ostend. +Moreover, the execrable administration of his finances, and the dismal +delays and sufferings of that siege; had brought about another mutiny--on +the whole, the most extensive, formidable, and methodical of all that had +hitherto occurred in the Spanish armies. + +By midsummer, at least three thousand five hundred veterans, including a +thousand of excellent cavalry, the very best soldiers in the service, had +seized the city of Hoogstraaten. Here they established themselves +securely, and strengthened the fortifications; levying contributions in +corn, cattle, and every other necessary, besides wine, beer, and pocket- +money, from the whole country round with exemplary regularity. As usual, +disorder assumed the forms of absolute order. Anarchy became the best +organized of governments; and it would have been difficult to find in the +world--outside the Dutch commonwealth--a single community where justice +appeared to be so promptly administered as in this temporary republic, +founded upon rebellion and theft. + +For; although a brotherhood of thieves, it rigorously punished such of +its citizens as robbed for their own, not for the public good. The +immense booty swept daily from the granges, castles; and villages of +Flanders was divided with the simplicity of early Christians, while the +success and steadiness of the operations paralyzed their sovereign, and +was of considerable advantage to the States. + +Albert endeavoured in vain to negotiate with the rebels. Nuncius +Frangipani went to them in person, but was received with calm derision. +Pious exhortations might turn the keys of Paradise, but gold alone, he +was informed, would unlock the gates of Hoogstraaten. In an evil hour +the cardinal-archduke was tempted to try the effect of sacerdotal +thunder. The ex-archbishop of Toledo could not doubt that the terrors of +the Church would make those brown veterans tremble who could confront so +tranquilly the spring-tides of the North Sea, and the batteries of Vere +and Nassau. So he launched a manifesto, as highly spiced as a pamphlet +of Marnig, and as severe as a sentence of Torquemada. Entirely against +the advice of the States-General of the obedient provinces, he denounced +the mutineers as outlaws and accursed. He called on persons of every +degree to kill any of them in any way, at any time, or in any place, +promising that the slayer of a private soldier should receive a reward +of "ten crowns for each head" brought in, while for a subaltern officer's +head one hundred crowns were offered; for that of a superior officer two +hundred, and for that of the Eletto or chief magistrate, five hundred +crowns. Should the slayer be himself a member of the mutiny, his crime +of rebellion was to be forgiven, and the price of murder duly paid. All +judges, magistrates, and provost-marshals were ordered to make +inventories of the goods, moveable and immoveable, of the mutineers, and +of the clothing and other articles belonging to their wives and children, +all which property was to be brought in and deposited in the hands of the +proper functionaries of the archduke's camp, in order that it might be +duly incorporated into the domains of his Highness. + +The mutineers were not frightened. The ban was an anachronism. If those +Spaniards and Italians had learned nothing by their much campaigning in +the land of Calvinism, they had at least unlearned their faith in bell, +book, and candle. It happened, too, that among their numbers were to be +found pamphleteers as ready and as unscrupulous as the scribes of the +archduke. + +So there soon came forth and was published to the world, in the name of +the Eletto and council of Hoogstraaten, a formal answer to the ban. + +"If scolding and cursing be payment," said the magistrates of the mutiny, +"then we might give a receipt in full for our wages. The ban is +sufficient in this respect; but as these curses give no food for our +bellies nor clothes for our backs, not preventing us, therefore, who have +been fighting so long for the honour and welfare of the archdukes from +starving with cold and hunger, we think a reply necessary in order to +make manifest how much reason these archdukes have for thundering forth +all this choler and fury, by which women and children may be frightened, +but at which no soldier will feel alarm. + +"When it is stated," continued the mutineers, "that we have deserted our +banners just as an attempt was making by the archduke to relieve Grave, +we can only reply that the assertion proves how impossible it is to +practise arithmetic with disturbed brains. Passion is a bad +schoolmistress for the memory, but, as good friends, we will recal to the +recollection of your Highness that it was not your Highness, but the +Admiral of Arragon, that commanded the relieving force before that city. + +"'Tis very true that we summon your Highnesses, and levy upon your +provinces, in order to obtain means of living; for in what other quarter +should we make application. Your Highnesses give us nothing except +promises; but soldiers are not chameleons, to live on such air. +According to every principle of law, creditors have a lien on the +property of their debtors. + +"As to condemning to death as traitors and scoundrels those who don't +desire to be killed, and who have the means of killing such as attempt to +execute the sentence; this is hardly in accordance with the extraordinary +wisdom which has always characterized your Highnesses. + +"As, to the confiscation of our goods, both moveable and immoveable, we +would simply make this observation: + +"Our moveable goods are our swords alone, and they can only be moved by +ourselves. They are our immoveable goods as well; for should any one but +ourselves undertake to move them, we assure your Highnesses that they +will prove too heavy to be handled. + +"As to the official register and deposit ordained of the money, clothing, +and other property belonging to ourselves, our wives and children, the +work may be done without clerks of inventory. Certainly, if the domains +of your Highnesses have no other sources of revenue than the proceeds of +this confiscation, wherewith to feed the ostrich-like digestions of those +about you, 'tis to be feared that ere long they will be in the same +condition as were ours, when we were obliged to come together in +Hoogstraaten to devise means to keep ourselves, our wives, and children +alive. And at that time we were an unbreeched people, like the Indians-- +saving your Highnesses' reverence--and the climate here is too cold for +such costume. Your Highnesses, and your relatives the Emperor and King +of Spain, will hardly make your royal heads greasy with the fat of such +property as we possess, 'Twill also be a remarkable spectacle after you +have stripped our wives and children stark naked for the benefit of your +treasury, to see them sent in that condition, within three days +afterwards, out of the country, as the ban ordains. + +"You order the ban to be executed against our children and our children's +children, but your Highness never learned this in the Bible, when you +were an archbishop, and when you expounded, or ought to have expounded, +the Holy Scriptures to your flock. What theology teaches your Highness +to vent your wrath upon the innocent? + +"Whenever the cause of discontent is taken away, the soldiers will become +obedient and cheerful. All kings and princes may mirror themselves in +the bad government of your Highness, and may see how they fare who try to +carry on a war, while with their own hands they cut the sinews of war. +The great leaders of old--Cyrus, Alexander, Scipio, Caesar--were +accustomed, not to starve, but to enrich their soldiers. What did +Alexander, when in an arid desert they brought, him a helmet full of +water? He threw it on the sand, saying that there was only enough for +him, but not enough for his army. + +"Your Highnesses have set ten crowns, and one hundred, and five hundred +crowns upon our heads, but never could find five hundred mites nor ten +mites to keep our souls and bodies together. + +"Yet you have found means to live yourselves with pomp and luxury, far +exceeding that of the great Emperor Charles and much surpassing the +magnificence of your Highnesses' brothers, the emperor and the king." + +Thus, and much more, the magistrates of the "Italian republic"--answering +their master's denunciations of vengeance, both in this world and the +next, with a humorous scorn very refreshing in that age of the world to +contemplate. The expanding influence of the Dutch commonwealth was +already making itself felt even in the ranks of its most determined foes. + +The mutineers had also made an agreement with the States-General, by +which they had secured permission, in case of need, to retire within the +territory of the republic. + +Maurice had written to them from his camp before Grave, and at first they +were disposed to treat him with as little courtesy as they had shown the +Nuncius; for they put the prince's letter on a staff, and fired at it as +a mark, assuring the trumpeter who brought it that they would serve +him in the same manner should he venture thither again. Very soon +afterwards, however, the Eletto and council, reproving the folly of their +subordinates, opened negotiations with the stadholder, who, with the +consent of the States, gave them preliminary permission to take refuge +under the guns of Bergenop-Zoom, should they by chance be hard pressed. + +Thus throughout Europe a singular equilibrium of contending forces seemed +established. Before Ostend, where the chief struggle between imperialism +and republicanism had been proceeding for more than a year with equal +vigour, there seemed no possibility of a result. The sands drank up the +blood of the combatants on both sides, month after month, in summer; the +pestilence in town and camp mowed down Catholic and Protestant with +perfect impartiality during the winter, while the remorseless ocean swept +over all in its wrath, obliterating in an hour the patient toil of +months. + +In Spain, in England, and Ireland; in Hungary, Germany, Sweden, and +Poland, men wrought industriously day by day and year by year, to destroy +each other, and to efface the products of human industry, and yet no +progress could fairly be registered. The Turk was in Buda, on the right +bank of the Danube, and the Christian in Pest, on the left, while the +crescent; but lately supplanted by the cross, again waved in triumph over +Stuhlweissenberg, capital city of the Magyars. The great Marshal Biron, +foiled in his stupendous treachery, had laid down his head upon the +block; the catastrophe following hard upon the madcap riot of Lord Essex +in the Strand and his tragic end. The troublesome and restless +favourites of Henry and of Elizabeth had closed their stormy career, but +the designs of the great king and the great queen were growing wider and +wilder, more false and more fantastic than ever, as the evening shadows +of both were lengthening. + +But it was not in Europe nor in Christendom: alone during that twilight +epoch of declining absolutism, regal and sacerdotal, and the coming +glimmer of freedom, religious and commercial, that the contrast between +the old and new civilizations was exhibiting itself. + +The same fishermen and fighting men, whom we have but lately seen sailing +forth from Zeeland and Friesland to confront the dangers of either pole, +were now contending in the Indian seas with the Portuguese monopolists of +the tropics. + +A century long, the generosity of the Roman pontiff in bestowing upon +others what was not his property had guaranteed to the nation of Vasco de +Gama one half at least of the valuable possessions which maritime genius, +unflinching valour, and boundless cruelty had won and kept. But the +spirit of change was abroad in the world. Potentates and merchants +under the equator had been sedulously taught that there were no other +white men on the planet but the Portuguese and their conquerors the +Spaniards, and that the Dutch--of whom they had recently heard, and the +portrait of whose great military chieftain they had seen after the news +of the Nieuport battle had made the circuit of the earth--were a mere mob +of pirates and savages inhabiting the obscurest of dens. They were soon, +however, to be enabled to judge for themselves as to the power and the +merits of the various competitors for their trade. + +Early in this year Andreas Hurtado de Mendoza with a stately fleet of +galleons and smaller vessels, more than five-and-twenty in all, was on +his way towards the island of Java to inflict summary vengeance upon +those oriental rulers who had dared to trade with men forbidden by his +Catholic Majesty and the Pope. + +The city of Bantam was the first spot marked out for destruction, and it +so happened that a Dutch skipper, Wolfert Hermann by name, commanding +five trading vessels, in which were three hundred men, had just arrived +in those seas to continue the illicit commerce which had aroused the ire +of the Portuguese. His whole force both of men and of guns was far +inferior to that of the flag-ship alone of Mendoza. But he resolved to +make manifest to the Indians that the Batavians were not disposed to +relinquish their promising commercial relations with them, nor to turn +their backs upon their newly found friends in the hour of danger. To the +profound astonishment of the Portuguese admiral the Dutchman with his +five little trading ships made an attack on the pompous armada, intending +to avert chastisement from the king of Bantam. It was not possible for +Wolfert to cope at close quarters with his immensely superior adversary, +but his skill and nautical experience enabled him to play at what was +then considered long bowls with extraordinary effect. The greater +lightness and mobility of his vessels made them more than a match, in +this kind of encounter, for the clumsy, top-heavy, and sluggish marine +castles in which Spain and Portugal then went forth to battle on the +ocean. It seems almost like the irony of history, and yet it is the +literal fact, that the Dutch galleot of that day--hardly changed in two +and a half centuries since--"the bull-browed galleot butting through the +stream,"--[Oliver Wendell Holmes]--was then the model clipper, +conspicuous among all ships for its rapid sailing qualities and ease of +handling. So much has the world moved, on sea and shore, since those +simple but heroic days. And thus Wolfert's swift-going galleots circled +round and round the awkward, ponderous, and much-puzzled Portuguese +fleet, until by well-directed shots and skilful manoeuvring they had sunk +several ships, taken two, run others into the shallows, and, at last, put +the whole to confusion. After several days of such fighting, Admiral +Mendoza fairly turned his back upon his insignificant opponent, and +abandoned his projects upon Java. Bearing away for the Island of Amboyna +with the remainder of his fleet, he laid waste several of its villages +and odoriferous spice-fields, while Wolfert and his companions entered +Bantam in triumph, and were hailed as deliverers. And thus on the +extreme western verge of this magnificent island was founded the first +trading settlement of the Batavian republic in the archipelago of the +equator--the foundation-stone of a great commercial empire which was to +encircle the earth. Not many years later, at the distance, of a dozen +leagues from Bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a +land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles into the air, and here a town +duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant +pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of Good-Meadow +or Batavia, which it bears to this day. + +Meantime Wolfert Hermann was not the only Hollander cruising in those +seas able to convince the Oriental mind that all Europeans save the +Portuguese were not pirates and savages, and that friendly intercourse +with other foreigners might be as profitable as slavery to the Spanish +crown. + +Captain Nek made treaties of amity and commerce with the potentates of +Ternate, Tydor, and other Molucca islands. The King of Candy on the +Island of Ceylon, lord of the odoriferous fields of cassia which perfume +those tropical seas, was glad to learn how to exchange the spices of the +equator for the thousand fabrics and products of western civilization +which found their great emporium in Holland. Jacob Heemskerk, too, who +had so lately astonished the world by his exploits and discoveries during +his famous winter in Nova Zembla, was now seeking adventures and carrying +the flag and fame of the republic along the Indian and Chinese coasts. +The King of Johor on the Malayan peninsula entered into friendly +relations with him, being well pleased, like so many of those petty +rulers, to obtain protection against the Portuguese whom he had so long +hated and feared. He informed Heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of +Malacca of an immense Lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, +brocades and precious-stones, on its way to Europe, and suggested an +attack. It is true that the roving Hollander merely commanded a couple +of the smallest galleots, with about a hundred and thirty men in the two. +But when was Jacob Heemskerk ever known to shrink from an encounter-- +whether from single-handed combat with a polar bear, or from leading a +forlorn hope against a Spanish fort, or from assailing a Portuguese +armada. The carrack, more than one thousand tons burthen, carried +seventeen guns, and at least eight times as many men as he commanded. +Nevertheless, after a combat of but brief duration Heemskerk was master +of the carrack: He spared the lives of his seven hundred prisoners, and +set them on shore before they should have time to discover to what a +handful of Dutchmen they had surrendered. Then dividing about a million +florins' worth of booty among his men, who doubtless found such cruising +among the spice-islands more attractive than wintering at the North Pole, +he sailed in the carrack for Macao, where he found no difficulty in +convincing the authorities of the celestial empire that the friendship of +the Dutch republic was worth cultivating. There was soon to be work in +other regions for the hardy Hollander--such as was to make the name of +Heemskerk a word to conjure with down to the latest posterity. Meantime +he returned to his own country to take part in the great industrial +movements which were to make this year an epoch in commercial history. + +The conquerors of Mendoza and deliverers of Bantam had however not paused +in their work. From Java they sailed to Banda; and on those volcanic +islands of nutmegs and cloves made, in the name of their commonwealth, +a treaty with its republican antipodes. For there was no king to be +found in that particular archipelago, and the two republics, the Oriental +and the Germanic, dealt with each other with direct and becoming +simplicity. Their convention was in accordance with the commercial +ideas of the day, which assumed monopoly as the true basis of national +prosperity. It was agreed that none but Dutchmen should ever purchase +the nutmegs of Banda, and that neither nation should harbour refugees +from the other. Other articles, however; showed how much farther, the +practice of political and religious liberty had advanced than had any +theory of commercial freedom. It was settled that each nation should +judge its own citizens according to its own laws, that neither should +interfere by force with the other in regard to religious matters, but +that God should be judge over them all. Here at least was progress +beyond the system according to which the Holy Inquisition furnished the +only enginry of civilization. The guardianship assumed by Holland over +these children of the sun was at least an improvement on the tyranny +which roasted them alive if they rejected religious dogmas which they +could not comprehend, and which proclaimed with fire, sword, and gibbet +that the Omnipotent especially forbade the nutmeg trade to all but the +subjects, of the most Catholic king. + +In Atsgen or Achim, chief city of Sumatra, a treaty was likewise made +with the government of the place, and it was arranged that the king of +Atsgen should send over an embassy to the distant but friendly republic. +Thus he might judge whether the Hollanders were enemies of all the world, +as had been represented to him, or only of Spain; whether their knowledge +of the arts and sciences, and their position among the western nations +entitled them to respect, and made their friendship desirable; or whether +they were only worthy of the contempt which their royal and aristocratic +enemies delighted to heap upon their heads. The envoys sailed from +Sumatra on board the same little fleet which, under the command of +Wolfert Hermann, had already done such signal service, and on their way +to Europe they had an opportunity of seeing how these republican sailors +could deal with their enemies on the ocean. + +Off St. Helena an immense Portuguese carrack richly laden and powerfully +armed, was met, attacked, and overpowered by the little merchantmen with +their usual audacity and skill. A magnificent booty was equitably +divided among the captors, the vanquished crew were set safely on shore; +and the Hollanders then pursued their home voyage without further +adventures. + +The ambassadors; with an Arab interpreter, were duly presented to Prince +Maurice in the lines before the city of Grave. Certainly no more +favourable opportunity could have been offered them for contrasting the +reality of military power, science, national vigour; and wealth, which +made the republic eminent among the nations, with the fiction of a horde +of insignificant and bloodthirsty savages which her enemies had made so +familiar at the antipodes. Not only were the intrenchments bastions, +galleries, batteries, the discipline and equipment of the troops, a +miracle in the eyes of these newly arrived Oriental ambassadors, but they +had awakened the astonishment of Europe, already accustomed to such +spectacles. Evidently the amity of the stadholder and his commonwealth +was a jewel of price, and the King of Achim would have been far more +barbarous than he had ever deemed the Dutchmen to be, had he not well +heeded the lesson which he had sent so far to learn. + +The chief of the legation, Abdulzamar, died in Zeeland, and was buried +with honourable obsequies at Middleburg, a monument being raised to his +memory. The other envoys returned to Sumatra, fully determined to +maintain close relations with the republic. + +There had been other visitors in Maurice's lines before Grave at about +the same period. Among others, Gaston Spinola, recently created by the +archduke Count of Bruay, had obtained permission to make a visit to a +wounded relative, then a captive in the republican camp, and was +hospitably entertained at the stadholder's table. Maurice, with +soldierly bluntness, ridiculed the floating batteries, the castles on +wheels, the sausages, and other newly-invented machines, employed before +Ostend, and characterized them as rather fit to catch birds with than to +capture a city, defended by mighty armies and fleets. + +"If the archduke has set his heart upon it, he had far better try to buy +Ostend," he observed. + +"What is your price?" asked the Italian; "will you take 200,000 ducats?" + +"Certainly not less than a million and a half," was the reply; so highly +did Maurice rate the position and advantages of the city. He would +venture to prophesy, he added, that the siege of Ostend would last as +long as the siege of Troy. + +"Ostend is no Troy," said Spinola with a courtly flourish, "although +there are certainly not wanting an Austrian Agamemnon, a Dutch Hector, +and an Italian Achilles." The last allusion was to the speaker's +namesake and kinsman, the Marquis Anibrose Spinola, of whom much was to +be heard in the world from that time forth. + +Meantime, although so little progress had been made at Ostend, Maurice +had thoroughly done his work before Grave. On the 18th September the +place surrendered, after sixty days' siege, upon the terms usually +granted by the stadholder. The garrison was to go out with the honours +of war. Those of the inhabitants who wished to leave were to leave; +those who preferred staying were to stay; rendering due allegiance to the +republic, and abstaining in public from the rites of the Roman Church, +without being exposed, however, to any inquiries as to their religious +opinions, or any interference within their households. + +The work went slowly on before Ostend. Much effect had been produced, +however, by the operations of the archduke's little naval force. The +galley of that day, although a child's toy as compared with the wonders +of naval architecture of our own time, was an effective machine enough to +harass fishing and coasting vessels in creeks and estuaries, and along +the shores of Holland and Zeeland during tranquil weather. + +The locomotive force of these vessels consisted of galley-slaves, +in which respect the Spaniards had an advantage over other nations; +for they had no scruples in putting prisoners of war into chains and upon +the benches of the rowers. Humanity--"the law of Christian piety," in +the words of the noble Grotius--forbade the Hollanders from reducing +their captives to such horrible slavery, and they were obliged to content +themselves with condemned criminals, and with the few other wretches whom +abject poverty and the impossibility of earning other wages could induce +to accept the service. And as in the maritime warfare of our own day, +the machinery--engines, wheels, and boilers--is the especial aim of the +enemy's artillery, so the chain-gang who rowed in the waist of the +galley, the living enginry, without which the vessel became a useless +tub, was as surely marked out for destruction whenever a sea-fight took +place. + +The Hollanders did not very much favour this species of war-craft, both +by reason of the difficulty of procuring the gang, and because to a true +lover of the ocean and of naval warfare the galley was about as clumsy +and amphibious a production as could be hoped of human perverseness. +High where it should be low. Exposed, flat, and fragile, where elevation +and strength were indispensable--encumbered and top-heavy where it should +be level and compact, weak in the waist, broad at stem and stern, awkward +in manoeuvre, helpless in rough weather, sluggish under sail, although +possessing the single advantage of being able to crawl over a smooth sea +when better and faster ships were made stationary by absolute calm, the +galley was no match for the Dutch galleot, either at close quarters or in +a breeze. + +Nevertheless for a long time there had been a certain awe produced by the +possibility of some prodigious but unknown qualities in these outlandish +vessels, and already the Hollanders had tried their hand at constructing +them. On a late occasion a galley of considerable size, built at Dort, +had rowed past the Spanish forts on the Scheld, gone up to Antwerp, and +coolly cut out from the very wharves of the city a Spanish galley of the +first class, besides seven war vessels of lesser dimensions, at first +gaining advantage by surprise, and then breaking down all opposition in a +brilliant little fight. The noise of the encounter summoned the citizens +and garrison to the walls, only to witness the triumph achieved by Dutch +audacity, and to see the victors dropping rapidly down the river, laden +with booty and followed by their prizes. Nor was the mortification of +these unwilling spectators diminished when the clear notes of a bugle on +board the Dutch galley brought to their ears the well-known melody of +"Wilhelmus of Nassau," once so dear to every, patriotic heart in Antwerp, +and perhaps causing many a renegade cheek on this occasion to tingle with +shame. + +Frederic Spinola, a volunteer belonging to the great and wealthy Genoese +family of that name, had been performing a good deal of privateer work +with a small force of galleys which he kept under his command at Sluys. +He had succeeded in inflicting so much damage upon the smaller +merchantmen of the republic, and in maintaining so perpetual a panic in +calm weather among the seafaring multitudes of those regions, that he was +disposed to extend the scale of his operations. On a visit to Spain he +had obtained permission from Government to employ in this service eight +great galleys, recently built on the Guadalquivir for the Royal Navy. +He was to man and equip them at his own expense, and was to be allowed +the whole of the booty that might result from his enterprise. Early in +the autumn he set forth with his eight galleys on the voyage to Flanders, +but, off Cezimbra, on the Portuguese coast, unfortunately fell in with +Sir Robert Mansell, who; with a compact little squadron of English +frigates, was lying in wait for the homeward-bound India fleet on their +entrance to Lisbon. An engagement took place, in which Spinola lost two +of his galleys. His disaster might have been still greater, had not an +immense Indian carrack, laden with the richest merchandize, just then +hove in sight, to attract his conquerors with a hope of better prize- +money than could be expected from the most complete victory over him and +his fleet. + +With the remainder of his vessels Spinola crept out of sight while the +English were ransacking the carrack. On the 3rd of October he had +entered the channel with a force which, according to the ideas of that +day, was still formidable. Each of his galleys was of two hundred and +fifty slave power, and carried, beside the chain-gang, four hundred +fighting men. His flag-ship was called the St. Lewis; the names of the +other vessels being the St. Philip, the Morning Star, the St. John, the +Hyacinth, and the Padilla. The Trinity and the Opportunity had been +destroyed off Cezimbra. Now there happened to be cruising just then in +the channel, Captain Peter Mol, master of the Dutch war-ship Tiger, and +Captain Lubbertson, commanding the Pelican. These two espied the Spanish +squadron, paddling at about dusk towards the English coast, and quickly +gave notice to Vice-Admiral John Kant, who in the States' ship Half-moon, +with three other war-galleots, was keeping watch in that neighbourhood. +It was dead calm as the night fell, and the galleys of Spinola, which had +crept close up to the Dover cliffs, were endeavouring to row their way +across in the darkness towards the Flemish coast, in the hope of putting +unobserved into the Gut of Sluys. All went well with Spinola till the +moon rose; but, with the moon, sprang up a steady breeze, so that the +galleys lost all their advantage. Nearly off Gravelines another States' +ship, the Mackerel, came in sight, which forthwith attacked the St: +Philip, pouring a broadside into her by which fifty men were killed. +Drawing off from this assailant, the galley found herself close to the +Dutch admiral in the Half-moon, who, with all sail set, bore straight +down upon her, struck her amidships with a mighty crash, carrying off her +mainmast and her poop, and then, extricating himself with difficulty from +the wreck, sent a tremendous volley of cannon-shot and lesser missiles +straight into the waist where sat the chain-gang. A howl of pain and +terror rang through the air, while oars and benches, arms, legs, and +mutilated bodies, chained inexorably together, floated on the moonlit +waves. An instant later, and another galleot bore down to complete the +work, striking with her iron prow the doomed St. Philip so straightly and +surely that she went down like a stone, carrying with her galley slaves, +sailors, and soldiers, besides all the treasure brought by Spinola for +the use of his fleet. + +The Morning Star was the next galley attacked, Captain Sael, in a stout +galleot, driving at her under full sail, with the same accuracy and +solidity of shock as had been displayed in the encounter with the St. +Philip and with the same result. The miserable, top-heavy monster galley +was struck between mainmast and stern, with a blow which carried away the +assailant's own bowsprit and fore-bulwarks, but which--completely +demolished the stem of the galley, and crushed out of existence the +greater portion of the live machinery sitting chained and rowing on the +benches. And again, as the first enemy hauled off from its victim, +Admiral pant came up once more in the Half-moon, steered straight at the +floundering galley, and sent her with one crash to the bottom. It was +not very scientific practice perhaps. It was but simple butting, plain +sailing, good steering, and the firing of cannon at short pistol-shot. +But after all, the work of those unsophisticated Dutch skippers was done +very thoroughly, without flinching, and, as usual, at great odds of men +and guns. Two more of the Spanish galleys were chased into the shallows +near Gravelines, where they went to pieces. Another was wrecked near +Calais. The galley which bore Frederic Spinola himself and his fortunes +succeeded in reaching Dunkirk, whence he made his way discomfited, to +tell the tale of his disaster to the archduke at Brussels. During the +fight the Dutch admiral's boats had been active in picking up such of the +drowning crews, whether galley-slaves or soldiers, as it was possible to +save. But not more than two hundred were thus rescued, while by far the +greater proportion of those on board, probably three thousand in number, +perished, and the whole fleet, by which so much injury was to have been +inflicted on Dutch commerce, was, save one damaged galley, destroyed. Yet +scarcely any lives were lost by the Hollanders, and it is certain that +the whole force in their fleet did not equal the crew of a single one of +the enemy's ships. Neither Spinola nor the archduke seemed likely to +make much out of the contract. Meantime, the Genoese volunteer kept +quiet in Sluy's, brooding over schemes to repair his losses and to renew +his forays on the indomitable Zeelanders. + +Another winter had now closed in upon Ostend, while still the siege had +scarcely advanced an inch. During the ten months of Governor Dorp's +administration, four thousand men had died of wounds or malady within the +town, and certainly twice as many in the trenches of the besieging force. +Still the patient Bucquoy went on, day after day, night after night, +month after month, planting his faggots and fascines, creeping forward +almost imperceptibly with his dyke, paying five florins each to the +soldiers who volunteered to bring the materials, and a double ducat to +each man employed in laying them. So close were they under the fire of +the town; that a life was almost laid down for every ducat, but the +Gullet, which it was hoped to close, yawned as wide as ever, and the +problem how to reduce a city, open by sea to the whole world, remained +without solution. On the last day of the year a splendid fleet of +transports arrived in the town, laden with whole droves of beeves and +flocks of sheep, besides wine and bread and beer enough to supply a +considerable city; so that market provisions in the beleaguered town +were cheaper than in any part of Europe. + +Thus skilfully did the States-General and Prince Maurice watch from the +outside over Ostend, while the audacious but phlegmatic sea-captains +brought their cargoes unscathed through the Gullet, although Bucquoy's +batteries had now advanced to within seventy yards of the shore. + +On the west side, the besiegers were slowly eating their way through the +old harbour towards the heart of the place. Subterranean galleries, +patiently drained of their water, were met by counter-galleries leading +out from the town, and many were the desperate hand-to-hand encounters, +by dim lanterns, or in total darkness, beneath the ocean and beneath the +earth; Hollander, Spaniard, German, Englishman, Walloon, digging and +dying in the fatal trenches, as if there had been no graves at home. +Those insatiable sand-banks seemed ready to absorb all the gold and all +the life of Christendom. But the monotony of that misery it is useless +to chronicle. Hardly an event of these dreary days has been left +unrecorded by faithful diarists and industrious soldiers, but time has +swept us far away from them, and the world has rolled on to fresher +fields of carnage and ruin. All winter long those unwearied, +intelligent, fierce, and cruel creatures toiled and fought in the +stagnant waters, and patiently burrowed in the earth. It seemed that +if Ostend were ever lost it would be because at last entirely bitten +away and consumed. When there was no Ostend left, it might be that +the archduke would triumph. + +As there was always danger that the movements on the east side might be +at last successful, it was the command of Maurice that the labours to +construct still another harbour should go on in case the Gullet should +become useless, as the old haven had been since the beginning of the +siege. And the working upon that newest harbour was as dangerous to the +Hollanders as Bucquoy's dike-building to the Spaniards, for the pioneers +and sappers were perpetually under fire from the batteries which the +count had at, last successfully established on the extremity of his work. +It was a piteous sight to see those patient delvers lay down their spades +and die, hour after hour, to be succeeded by their brethren only to share +their fate. Yet still the harbour building progressed; for the republic +was determined that the city should be open to the sea so long as the +States had a stiver, or a ship, or a spade. + +While this deadly industry went on, the more strictly military operations +were not pretermitted day nor night. The Catholics were unwearied in +watching for a chance of attack, and the Hollanders stood on the ramparts +and in the trenches, straining eyes and ears through the perpetual icy +mists of that black winter to catch the sight and sound of a coming foe. +Especially the by-watches, as they were called, were enough to break down +constitutions of iron; for, all day and night, men were stationed in the +inundated regions, bound on pain of death to stand in the water and watch +for a possible movement of the enemy, until the waves should rise so high +as to make it necessary to swim. Then, until the tide fell again, there +was brief repose. + +And so the dreary winter faded away at last into chill and blustering +spring. On the 13th of April a hurricane, such as had not occurred since +the siege began; raged across the ocean, deluging and shattering the +devoted town. The waters rose over dyke and parapet, and the wind swept +from the streets and ramparts every living thing. Not a soldier or +sailor could keep his feet, the chief tower of the church was blown into +the square, chimneys and windows crashed on all sides, and the elements +had their holiday, as if to prove how helpless a thing was man, however +fierce and determined, when the powers of Nature arose in their strength. +It was as if no siege existed, as if no hostile armies had been lying +nearly two years long close to each other, and losing no opportunity to +fly at each other's throats. The strife of wind and ocean gave a respite +to human rage. + +It was but a brief respite. At nightfall there was a lull in the +tempest, and the garrison crept again to the ramparts. Instantly the +departing roar of the winds and waters were succeeded by fainter but +still more threatening sounds, and the sentinels and the drums and +trumpets to rally the garrison, when the attack came. The sleepless +Spaniards were already upon them. In the Porcupine fort, a blaze of +wickerwork and building materials suddenly illuminated the gathering +gloom of night; and the loud cries of the assailants, who had succeeded +in kindling this fire by their missiles, proclaimed the fierceness of the +attack. Governor Dorp was himself in the fort, straining every nerve to +extinguish the flames, and to hold this most important position. He was +successful. After a brief but bloody encounter the Spaniards were +repulsed with heavy loss. All was quiet again, and the garrison in the +Porcupine were congratulating themselves on their victory when suddenly +the ubiquitous Philip Fleeting plunged, with a face of horror, into the +governor's quarters, informing him that the attack on the redoubt had +been a feint, and that the Spaniards were at that very moment swarming +all over the three external forts, called the South Square, the West +Square, and the Polder. These points, which have been already described, +were most essential to the protection of the place, as without them the +whole counterscarp was in danger. It was to save those exposed but vital +positions that Sir Francis Vere had resorted to the slippery device of +the last Christmas Eve but one. + +Dorp refused to believe the intelligence. The squares were well guarded, +the garrison ever alert. Spaniards were not birds of prey to fly up +those perpendicular heights, and for beings without wings the thing was +impossible. He followed Fleming through the darkness, and was soon +convinced that the impossible was true. The precious squares were in the +hands of the enemy. Nimble as monkeys, those yellow jerkined Italians, +Walloons, and Spaniards--stormhats on their heads and swords in their +teeth--had planted rope-ladders, swung themselves up the walls by +hundreds upon hundreds, while the fight had been going on at the +Porcupine, and were now rushing through the forts grinning defiance, +yelling and chattering with fierce triumph, and beating down all +opposition. It was splendidly done. The discomfited Dorp met small +bodies of his men, panic-struck, reeling out from their stronghold, +wounded, bleeding, shrieking for help and for orders. It seemed as if +the Spaniards had dropped from the clouds. The Dutch commandant did his +best to rally the fugitives, and to encourage those who had remained. +All night long the furious battle raged, every inch of ground being +contested; for both Catholics and Hollanders knew full well that this +triumph was worth more than all that had been gained for the archduke in +eighteen months of siege. Pike to pike, breast to breast, they fought +through the dark April night; the last sobs of the hurricane dying +unheard, the red lanterns flitting to and fro, the fireworks hissing in +every direction of earth and air, the great wicker piles, heaped up with +pitch and rosin, flaming over a scene more like a dance of goblins than a +commonplace Christian massacre. At least fifteen hundred were killed-- +besiegers and besieged--during the storming of the forts and the +determined but unsuccessful attempt of the Hollanders to retake them. +And when at last the day had dawned, and the Spaniards could see the full +extent of their victory, they set themselves with--unusual alacrity to +killing such of the wounded and prisoners as were in their hands, while, +at the same time, they turned the guns of their newly acquired works upon +the main counterscarp of the town. + +Yet the besieged--discomfited but undismayed lost not a moment in +strengthening their inner works, and in doing their best, day after day, +by sortie, cannonade, and every possible device, to prevent the foe from +obtaining full advantage of his success. The triumph was merely a local +one, and the patient Hollanders soon proved to the enemy that the town +was not gained by carrying the three squares, but that every inch of the +place was to be contested as hotly as those little redoubts had been. +Ostend, after standing nearly two years of siege, was not to be carried +by storm. A goodly slice of it had been pared off that April night, and +was now in possession of the archduke, but this was all. Meantime the +underground work was resumed on both sides. + +Frederic Spinola, notwithstanding the stunning defeat sustained by him +in the preceding October, had not lost heart while losing all his ships. +On the contrary, he had been busy during the winter in building other +galleys. Accordingly, one fine morning in May, Counsellor Flooswyk, +being on board a war vessel convoying some empty transports from Ostend, +observed signs of mischief brewing as he sailed past the Gut of Sluys; +and forthwith gave notice of what he had seen to Admiral Joost de Moor, +commanding the blockading squadron. The counsellor was right. Frederic +Spinola meant mischief. It was just before sunrise of a beautiful +summer's day. The waves were smooth--not a breath of wind stirring--and +De Moor, who had four little war-ships of Holland, and was supported +besides by a famous vessel called the Black Galley of Zeeland, under +Captain Jacob Michelzoon, soon observed a movement from Sluys. + +Over the flat and glassy surface of the sea, eight galleys of the largest +size were seen crawling slowly, like vast reptiles, towards his .. +position. Four lesser vessels followed in the wake of the great galleys. +The sails of the admiral's little fleet flapped idly against the mast. +He could only placidly await the onset. The Black Galley, however, moved +forward according to her kind; and was soon vigorously attacked by two +galleys of the enemy. With all the force that five hundred rowers could +impart, these two huge vessels ran straight into the Zeeland ship, and +buried their iron prows in her sides. Yet the Black Galley was made of +harder stuff than were those which had gone down in the channel the +previous autumn under the blows of John Kant. Those on board her, at +least, were made of tougher material than were galley-slaves and land- +soldiers. The ramming was certainly not like that of a thousand horse- +power of steam, and there was no very great display of science in the +encounter; yet Captain Jacob Michelzoon, with two enemy's ships thus +stuck to his sides, might well have given himself up for lost. The +disproportion of ships and men was monstrous. Beside the chain-gang, +each of Spinola's ships was manned by two hundred soldiers, while thirty- +six musketeers from the Flushing garrison were the only men-at-arms in De +Moor's whole squadron. But those amphibious Zeelanders and Hollanders, +perfectly at home in the water, expert in handling vessels, and excellent +cannoneers, were more than a match for twenty times their number of +landsmen. It was a very simple-minded, unsophisticated contest. The +attempt to board the Black Galley was met with determined resistance, but +the Zeeland sailors clambered like cats upon the bowsprits of the Spanish +galleys, fighting with cutlass and handspike, while a broadside or two +was delivered with terrible effect into the benches of the chained and +wretched slaves. Captain Michelzoon was killed, but his successor, +Lieutenant Hart, although severely wounded, swore that he would blow up +his ship with his own hands rather than surrender. The decks of all the +vessels ran with blood, but at last the Black Galley succeeded in beating +off her assailants; the Zeelanders, by main force, breaking off the +enemy's bowsprits, so that the two ships of Spinola were glad to sheer +off, leaving their stings buried in the enemy's body. + +Next, four galleys attacked the stout little galleot of Captain Logier, +and with a very similar result. Their prows stuck fast in the bulwarks +of the ship, but the boarders soon found themselves the boarded, and, +after a brief contest, again the iron bowsprits snapped like pipe-stems, +and again the floundering and inexperienced Spaniards shrank away from +the terrible encounter which they had provoked. Soon afterwards, Joost +de Moor was assailed by three galleys. He received them, however, with +cannonade and musketry so warmly that they willingly obeyed a summons +from Spinola, and united with the flag-ship in one more tremendous onset +upon the Black Galley of Zeeland. And it might have gone hard with that +devoted ship, already crippled in the previous encounter, had not Captain +Logier fortunately drifted with the current near enough to give her +assistance, while the other sailing ships lay becalmed and idle +spectators. At last Spinola, conspicuous by his armour, and by +magnificent recklessness of danger, fell upon the deck of his galley, +torn to pieces with twenty-four wounds from a stone gun of the Black +Galley, while at nearly the same, moment a gentle breeze began in the +distance to ruffle the surface of the waters. More than a thousand men +had fallen in Spinola's fleet, inclusive of the miserable slaves, who +were tossed overboard as often as wounds made them a cumbrous part of the +machinery, and the galleys, damaged, discomfited, laden with corpses and +dripping with blood, rowed off into Sluys as speedily as they could move, +without waiting until the coming wind should bring all the sailing ships +into the fight, together with such other vessels under Haultain as might +be cruising in the distance. They succeeded in getting into the Gut of +Sluys, and so up to their harbour of refuge. Meantime, baldheaded, +weather-beaten Joost de Moor--farther pursuit being impossible--piped all +hands on deck, where officers and men fell on their knees, shouting in +pious triumph the 34th Psalm: "I will bless the Lord at all times, His +praise shall continually be in my mouth . . . . . O magnify the Lord +with me, and let us exalt His name together." So rang forth the notes of +humble thanksgiving across the placid sea. And assuredly those hardy +mariners, having gained a victory with their little vessels over twelve +ships and three thousand men--a numerical force of at least ten times +their number,--such as few but Dutchmen could have achieved; had a right +to give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow. + +Thus ended the career of Frederic Spinola, a wealthy, gallant, high-born, +brilliant youth, who might have earned distinction, and rendered +infinitely better service to the cause of Spain and the archdukes, had he +not persuaded himself that he had a talent for seamanship. Certainly, +never was a more misplaced ambition, a more unlucky career. Not even in +that age of rash adventure, when grandees became admirals and field- +marshals because they were grandees, had such incapacity been shown by +any restless patrician. Frederic Spinola, at the age of thirty-two, a +landsman and a volunteer, thinking to measure himself on blue water with +such veterans as John Rant, Joost de Moor, and the other Dutchmen and +Zeelanders whom it was his fortune to meet, could hardly escape the doom +which so rapidly befel him. + +On board the Black Galley Captain Michelznon, eleven of his officers, and +fifteen of his men were killed; Admiral de Moor was slightly wounded, and +had five of his men killed and twenty wounded; Captain Logier was wounded +in the foot, and lost fifteen killed and twelve wounded. + +The number of those killed in Spinola's fleet has been placed as high +as fourteen hundred, including two hundred officers and gentlemen of +quality, besides the crowds of galley-slaves thrown overboard. This was +perhaps an exaggeration. The losses were, however, sufficient to put a +complete atop to the enterprise out of which the unfortunate Spinola had +conceived such extravagant hopes of fame and fortune. + +The herring-smacks and other coasters, besides the transports passing to +and from Ostend, sailed thenceforth unmolested by any galleys from Sluys. +One unfortunate sloop, however, in moving out from the beleaguered city, +ran upon some shoals before getting out of the Gullet and thus fell a +prize to the besiegers. She was laden with nothing more precious than +twelve wounded soldiers on their way to the hospitals at Flushing. +These prisoners were immediately hanged, at the express command of the +archduke, because they had been taken on the sea where, according to his +highness, there were no laws of war. + +The stadholder, against his will--for Maurice was never cruel--felt +himself obliged to teach the cardinal better jurisprudence and better +humanity for the future. In order to show him that there was but one +belligerent law on sea and on land, he ordered two hundred Spanish +prisoners within his lines to draw lots from an urn in which twelve of +the tickets were inscribed with the fatal word gibbet. Eleven of the +twelve thus marked by ill luck were at once executed. The twelfth, a +comely youth, was pardoned at the intercession of a young girl. It is +not stated whether or not she became his wife. It is also a fact worth +mentioning, as illustrating the recklessness engendered by a soldier's +life, that the man who drew the first blank sold it to one of his +comrades and plunged his hand again into the fatal urn. Whether he +succeeded in drawing the gibbet at his second trial has not been +recorded. When these executions had taken place in full view of the +enemy's camp, Maurice formally announced that for every prisoner +thenceforth put to death by the archduke two captives from his own army +should be hanged. These stern reprisals, as usual, put an end to the +foul system of martial murder. + +Throughout the year the war continued to be exclusively the siege of +Ostend. Yet the fierce operations, recently recorded, having been +succeeded by a period of comparative languor, Governor Dorp at last +obtained permission to depart to repair his broken health. He was +succeeded in command of the forces within the town by Charles Van der +Noot, colonel of the Zeeland regiment which had suffered so much in the +first act of the battle of Nieuport. Previously to this exchange, +however, a day of solemn thanksgiving and prayer was set apart on the +anniversary of the beginning of the siege. Since the 5th of July, 1601, +two years had been spent by the whole power of the enemy in the attempt +to reduce this miserable village, and the whole result thus far had been +the capture of three little external forts. There seemed cause for +thanksgiving. + +Philip Fleming, too, obtained a four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven +years--and went with his family outside the pestiferous and beleaguered +town. He was soon to return to his multifarious duties as auditor, +secretary, and chronicler of the city, and unattached aide-de-camp to +the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be; and to perform his duty +with the same patient courage and sagacity that had marked him from the +beginning. "An unlucky cannon-ball of the enemy," as he observes, +did some damage at this period to his diary, but it happened at a moment +when comparatively little was doing, so that the chasm was of less +consequence. + +"And so I, Philip Fleming, auditor to the Council of War," he says with +homely pathos, "have been so continually employed as not to have obtained +leave in all these years to refresh, for a few days outside this town, +my troubled spirit after such perpetual work, intolerable cares, and +slavery, having had no other pleasure allotted me than with daily +sadness, weeping eyes, and heavy yearnings to tread the ramparts, and, +like a poor slave laden with fetters, to look at so many others sailing +out of the harbour in order to feast their souls in other provinces with +green fields and the goodly works of God. And thus it has been until it +has nearly gone out of my memory how the fruits of the earth, growing +trees, and dumb beasts appear to mortal eye." + +He then, with whimsical indignation, alludes to a certain author who +pleaded in excuse for the shortcomings of the history of the siege the +damage done to his manuscripts by a cannon-ball. "Where the liar dreamt +of or invented his cannon-ball," he says, "I cannot tell, inasmuch as he +never saw the city of Ostend in his life; but the said cannon-ball, to my +great sorrrow, did come one afternoon through my office, shot from the +enemy's great battery, which very much damaged not his memoirs but mine; +taking off the legs and arms at the same time of three poor invalid +soldiers seated in the sun before my door and killing them on the spot, +and just missing my wife, then great with child, who stood by me with +faithfulness through all the sufferings of the bloody siege and presented +me twice during its continuance, by the help of Almighty God, with young +Amazons or daughters of war." + +And so honest Philip Fleming went out for a little time to look at +the green trees and the dumb creatures feeding in the Dutch pastures. +Meantime the two armies--outside and within Ostend--went moiling on +in their monotonous work; steadily returning at intervals, as if by +instinct, to repair the ruin which a superior power would often inflict +in a half-hour on the results of laborious weeks. + +In the open field the military operations were very trifling, the wager +of battle being by common consent fought out on the sands of Ostend, and +the necessities for attack and defence absorbing, the resources of each +combatant. France, England, and Spain were holding a perpetual +diplomatic tournament to which our eyes must presently turn, and the +Sublime Realm of the Ottoman and the holy Roman Empire were in the +customary equilibrium of their eternal strife. + +The mutiny of the veterans continued; the "Italian republic" giving the +archduke almost as much trouble, despite his ban and edicts and outlawry, +as the Dutch commonwealth itself. For more than a twelvemonth the best +troops of the Spanish army had been thus established as a separate +empire, levying black-mail on the obedient provinces, hanging such of +their old officers as dared to remonstrate, and obeying their elected +chief magistrates with exemplary docility. + +They had become a force of five thousand strong, cavalry and infantry +together, all steady, experienced veterans--the best and bravest soldiers +of Europe. The least of them demanded two thousand florins as owed to +him by the King of Spain and the archduke. The burghers of Bois-le-Duc +and other neighbouring towns in the obedient provinces kept watch and +ward, not knowing how soon the Spaniards might be upon them to reward +them for their obedience. Not a peasant with provisions was permitted by +the mutineers to enter Bois-le-Duc, while the priests were summoned to +pay one year's income of all their property on pain of being burned +alive. "Very much amazed are the poor priests at these proceedings," +said Ernest Nassau, "and there is a terrible quantity of the vile race +within and around the city. I hope one day to have the plucking of some +of their feathers myself." + +The mutiny governed itself as a strict military democracy, and had caused +an official seal to be engraved, representing seven snakes entwined in +one, each thrusting forth a dangerous tongue, with the motto-- + + "tutto in ore + E sua Eccelenza in nostro favore." + +"His Excellency" meant Maurice of Nassau, with whom formal articles of +compact had been arranged. It had become necessary for the archduke, +notwithstanding the steady drain of the siege of Ostend, to detach a +considerable army against this republic and to besiege them in their +capital of Hoogstraaten. With seven thousand foot and three thousand +cavalry Frederic Van den Berg took the field against them in the latter +part of July. Maurice, with nine thousand five hundred infantry and +three thousand horse, lay near Gertruydenberg. When united with the +rebel "squadron," two thousand five hundred strong, he would dispose of +a force of fifteen thousand veterans, and he moved at once to relieve +the besieged mutineers. His cousin Frederic, however, had no desire to +measure himself with the stadholder at such odds, and stole away from +him in the dark without beat of drum. Maurice entered Hoogstraaten, was +received with rapture by the Spanish and Italian veterans, and excited +the astonishment of all by the coolness with which he entered into the +cage of these dangerous serpents--as they called themselves--handling +them, caressing them, and being fondled by them in return. But the +veterans knew a soldier when they saw one, and their hearts warmed to +the prince--heretic though he were--more than they had ever done to the +unfrocked bishop who, after starving them for years, had doomed them to +destruction in this world and the next. + +The stadholder was feasted and honoured by the mutineers during his brief +visit to Hoogatraaten, and concluded with them a convention, according to +which that town was to be restored to him, while they were to take +temporary possession of the city of Grave. They were likewise to assist, +with all their strength, in his military operations until they should +make peace on their own terms with the archduke. For two weeks after +such treaty they were not to fight against the States, and meantime, +though fighting on the republican side, they were to act as an +independent corps and in no wise to be merged in the stadholder's +forces. So much and no more had resulted from the archduke's +excommunication of the best part of his army. He had made a present +of those troops to the enemy. He had also been employing a considerable +portion of his remaining forces in campaigning against their own +comrades. While at Grave, the mutineers, or the "squadron" as they were +now called, were to be permitted to practise their own religious rites, +without offering however, any interference with the regular Protestant +worship of the place. When they should give up Grave, Hoogstraaten was +to be restored to them if still in possession of the States and they were +to enter into no negotiations with the archduke except with full +knowledge of the stadholder. + +There were no further military, operations of moment during the rest of +the year. + +Much, more important, however, than siege, battle, or mutiny, to human +civilization, were the steady movements of the Dutch skippers and +merchants at this period. The ears of Europe were stunned with the +clatter of destruction going on all over Christendom, and seeming the +only reasonable occupation of Christians; but the little republic; while +fighting so heroically against the concentrated powers of despotism in +the West, was most industriously building up a great empire in the East. +In the new era just dawning, production was to become almost as +honourable and potent, a principle as destruction. + +The voyages among the spicy regions of the equator--so recently wrested +from their Catholic and Faithful Majesties by Dutch citizens who did not +believe in Borgia--and the little treaties made with petty princes and +commonwealths, who for the first time ware learning that there were +other white men in the world beside the Portuguese, had already led to +considerable results. Before the close of, the previous year that great +commercial corporation had been founded--an empire within an empire; +a republic beneath a republic--a counting-house company which was to +organize armies, conquer kingdoms, build forts and cities, make war +and peace, disseminate and exchange among the nations of the earth the +various products of civilization, more perfectly than any agency hitherto +known, and bring the farthest disjoined branches of the human family +into closer, connection than had ever existed before. That it was a +monopoly, offensive to true commercial principles, illiberal, unjust, +tyrannical; ignorant of the very rudiments of mercantile philosophy; +is plain enough. For the sages of the world were but as clowns, at that +period, in economic science. + +Was not the great financier of the age; Maximilian de Bethune, at that +very moment exhausting his intellect in devices for the prevention of all +international commerce even in Europe? "The kingdom of France," he +groaned, "is stuffed full of the manufactures of our neighbours, and it +is incredible what a curse to us are these wares. The import of all +foreign goods has now been forbidden under very great penalties." As a +necessary corollary to this madhouse legislation an edict was issued, +prohibiting the export of gold and silver from France, on pain, not only +of confiscation of those precious metals, but of the whole fortune of +such as engaged in or winked at the traffic. The king took a public oath +never to exempt the culprits from the punishment thus imposed, and, as +the thrifty Sully had obtained from the great king a private grant of all +those confiscations, and as he judiciously promised twenty-five per cent. +thereof to the informer, no doubt he filled his own purse while +impoverishing the exchequer. + +The United States, not enjoying the blessings, of a paternal government, +against which they had been fighting almost half a century, could not be +expected to rival the stupendous folly of such political economy, +although certainly not emancipated from all the delusions of the age. + +Nor are we to forget how very recently, and even dimly, the idea of +freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations, the freest of all in polity +and religion. Certainly the vices and shortcomings of the commercial +system now inaugurated by the republic may be justly charged in great +part to the epoch, while her vast share in the expanding and upward +movement which civilization, under the auspices of self-government; +self-help, political freedom, free thought, and unshackled science, +was then to undertake--never more perhaps to be permanently checked +--must be justly ascribed to herself. + +It was considered accordingly that the existence of so many private +companies and copartnerships trading to the East was injurious to the +interests of commerce. Merchants arriving at the different Indian ports +would often find that their own countrymen had been too quick for them, +and that other fleets had got the wind out of their sails, that the +eastern markets had been stripped, and that prices had gone up to a +ruinous height, while on the other hand, in the Dutch cities, nutmegs and +cinnamon, brocades and indigo, were as plentiful as red herrings. It was +hardly to be expected at that day to find this very triumph of successful +traffic considered otherwise than as a grave misfortune, demanding +interference on the part of the only free Government then existing in the +world. That already free competition and individual enterprise, had made +such progress in enriching the Hollanders and the Javanese respectively +with a superfluity of useful or agreeable things, brought from the +farthest ends of the earth, seemed to the eyes of that day a condition +of things likely to end in a general catastrophe. With a simplicity, +amazing only to those who are inclined to be vain of a superior wisdom-- +not their own but that of their wisest contemporaries--one of the chief +reasons for establishing the East India Company was stated to be the +necessity of providing against low prices of Oriental productions in +Europe. + +But national instinct is often wiser than what is supposed to be high +national statesmanship, and there can be no doubt that the true +foundation of the East India Company was the simple recognition of an +iron necessity. Every merchant in Holland knew full well that the +Portuguese and Spaniards could never be driven out of their commercial +strongholds under the equator, except by a concentration of the private +strength and wealth, of the mercantile community. The Government had +enough on its hands in disputing, inch by inch, at so prodigious an +expenditure of blood and treasure, the meagre territory with which nature +had endowed the little commonwealth. Private organisation, self-help; +union of individual purses and individual brains, were to conquer an +empire at the antipodes if it were to be won at all. By so doing, the +wealth of the nation and its power to maintain the great conflict with +the spirit of the past might be indefinitely increased, and the resources +of Spanish despotism proportionally diminished. It was not to be +expected of Jacob Heemskerk, Wolfert Hermann, or Joris van Spilberg, +indomitable skippers though they were, that each, acting on his own +responsibility or on that of his supercargo, would succeed every day in +conquering a whole Spanish fleet and dividing a million or two of prize- +money among a few dozen sailors. Better things even than this might be +done by wholesome and practical concentration on a more extended scale. + +So the States-General granted a patent or charter to one great company +with what, for the time, was an enormous paid-up capital, in order that +the India trade might be made secure and the Spaniards steadily +confronted in what they had considered their most impregnable +possessions. All former trading companies were invited to merge +themselves in the Universal East India Company, which, for twenty-one +years, should alone have the right to trade to the east of the Cape of +Good Hope and to sail through the Straits of Magellan. + +The charter had been signed on 20th March, 1602, and was mainly to the +following effect. + +The company was to pay twenty-five thousand florins to the States-General +for its privilege. The whole capital was to be six million six hundred +thousand florins. The chamber of Amsterdam was to have one half of the +whole interest, the chamber of Zeeland one fourth; the chambers of the +Meuse, namely, Delft, Rotterdam, and the north quarter; that is to say, +Hoorn and Enkhuizen, each a sixteenth. All the chambers were to be +governed by the directors then serving, who however were to be allowed +to die out, down to the number of twenty for Amsterdam, twelve for +Zeeland, and seven for each of the other chambers. To fill a vacancy +occurring among the directors, the remaining members of the board were +to nominate three candidates, from whom the estates of the province +should choose one. Each director was obliged, to have an interest in the +company amounting to at least six thousand florins, except the directors +for Hoorn and Enkhuizen, of whom only three thousand should be required. +The general assembly of these chambers should consist of seventeen +directors, eight for Amsterdam, four for Zeeland, two for the Meuse, and +two for the north quarter; the seventeenth being added by turns from the +chambers of Zeeland, the Meuse, and the north quarter. This assembly was +to be held six years at Amsterdam, and then two years in Zeeland. The +ships were always to return to the port from which they had sailed. All +the inhabitants of the provinces had the right, within a certain time, to +take shares in the company. Any province or city subscribing for forty +thousand florins or upwards might appoint an agent to look after its +affairs. + +The Company might make treaties with the Indian powers, in the name of +the States-General of the United Netherlands or of the supreme +authorities of the same, might build fortresses; appoint generals, and +levy troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the States, +or to the supreme authority, and to the Company. No ships, artillery, +or other munitions of war belonging to the Company were to be used in +service of the country without permission of the Company. The admiralty +was to have a certain proportion of the prizes conquered from the enemy. + +The directors should not be liable in property or person for the debts +of the Company. The generals of fleets returning home were to make +reports on the state of India to the States. + +Notification; of the union of all India companies with this great +corporation was duly sent to the fleets cruising in those regions, where +it arrived in the course of the year 1603. + +Meantime the first fleet of the Company, consisting of fourteen vessels +under command of Admiral Wybrand van Warwyk, sailed before the end of +1602, and was followed towards the close of 1603 by thirteen other ships, +under Stephen van der Hagen? + +The equipment of these two fleets cost two million two hundred thousand +florins. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Bestowing upon others what was not his property +Four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years +Idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations +Impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains +Passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory +Prisoners were immediately hanged +Unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle +World has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v75 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 76, 1603-1604 + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + Death of Queen Elizabeth--Condition of Spain--Legations to James I. + --Union of England and Scotland--Characteristics of the new monarch + --The English Court and Government--Piratical practices of the + English--Audience of the States' envoy with king James--Queen + Elizabeth's scheme far remodelling Europe--Ambassador extraordinary + from Henry IV. to James--De Rosny's strictures on the English + people--Private interview of De Rosny with the States' envoy--De + Rosny's audience of the king--Objects of his mission--Insinuations + of the Duke of Northumberland--Invitation of the embassy to + Greenwich--Promise of James to protect the Netherlands against + Spain--Misgivings of Barneveld--Conference at Arundel House--Its + unsatisfactory termination--Contempt of De Rosny for the English + counsellors--Political aspect of Europe--De Rosny's disclosure to + the king of the secret object of his mission--Agreement of James to + the proposals of De Rosny--Ratification of the treaty of alliance-- + Return of De Rosny and suite to France--Arrival of the Spanish + ambassador. + +On the 24th of March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died at Richmond, having +nearly completed her seventieth year. The two halves of the little +island of Britain were at last politically adjoined to each other by the +personal union of the two crowns. + +A foreigner, son of the woman executed by Elizabeth, succeeded to +Elizabeth's throne. It was most natural that the Dutch republic and the +French king, the archdukes and his Catholic Majesty, should be filled +with anxiety as to the probable effect of this change of individuals upon +the fortunes of the war. + +For this Dutch war of independence was the one absorbing and controlling +interest in Christendom. Upon that vast, central, and, as men thought, +baleful constellation the fates of humanity, were dependent. Around it +lesser political events were forced to gravitate, and, in accordance to +their relation to it, were bright or obscure. It was inevitable that +those whose vocation it was to ponder the aspects of the political +firmament, the sages and high-priests who assumed to direct human action +and to foretell human destiny, should now be more than ever perplexed. + +Spain, since the accession of Philip III. to his father's throne, +although rapidly declining in vital energy, had not yet disclosed its +decrepitude to the world. Its boundless ambition survived as a political +tradition rather than a real passion, while contemporaries still trembled +at the vision of universal monarchy in which the successor of Charlemagne +and of Charles V. was supposed to indulge. + +Meantime, no feebler nor more insignificant mortal existed on earth than +this dreaded sovereign. + +Scarcely a hairdresser or lemonade-dealer in all Spain was less cognizant +of the political affairs of the kingdom than was its monarch, for +Philip's first care upon assuming the crown was virtually to abdicate +in favour of the man soon afterwards known as the Duke of Lerma. + +It is therefore only by courtesy and for convenience that history +recognizes his existence at all, as surely no human being in the reign of +Philip III. requires less mention than Philip III. himself. + +I reserve for a subsequent chapter such rapid glances at the interior +condition of that kingdom with which it seemed the destiny of the Dutch +republic to be perpetually at war, as may be necessary to illustrate the +leading characteristics of the third Philip's reign. + +Meantime, as the great queen was no more, who was always too sagacious to +doubt that the Dutch cause was her own--however disposed she might be to +browbeat the Dutchmen--it seemed possible to Spain that the republic +might at last be deprived of its only remaining ally. Tassis was +despatched as chief of a legation, precursory to a more stately embassy +to be confided to the Duke of Frias. The archdukes sent the prince of +Arenberg, while from the United States came young Henry of Nassau, +associated with John of Olden-Barneveld, Falk, Brederode, and other +prominent statesmen of the commonwealth. Ministers from Denmark and +Sweden, from the palatinate and from numerous other powers, small and +great, were also collected to greet the rising sun in united Britain, +while the, awkward Scotchman, who was now called upon to play that +prominent part in the world's tragi-comedy which had been so long and so +majestically sustained by the "Virgin Queen," already began to tremble at +the plaudits and the bustle which announced how much was expected of the +new performer. + +There was indeed a new sovereign upon the throne. That most regal spirit +which had well expressed so many of the highest characteristics of the +nation had fled. Mankind, has long been familiar with the dark, closing +hours of the illustrious reign. The great queen, moody, despairing, +dying, wrapt in profoundest thought, with eyes fixed upon the ground or +already gazing into infinity, was besought by the counsellors around her +to name the man to whom she chose that the crown should devolve. + +"Not to a Rough," said Elizabeth, sententiously and grimly. + +When the King of France was named, she shook her head. When Philip III. +was suggested, she made a still more significant sign of dissent. When +the King of Scots was mentioned, she nodded her approval, and again +relapsed into silent meditation. + +She died, and James was King of Great Britain and Ireland. Cecil had +become his prime minister long before the queen's eyes were closed. The +hard-featured, rickety, fidgety, shambling, learned, most preposterous +Scotchman hastened to take possession of the throne. Never--could there +have been a more unfit place or unfit hour for such a man. + +England, although so small in dimensions, so meager in population, so +deficient, compared to the leading nations of Europe, in material and +financial strength, had already her great future swelling in her heart. +Intellectually and morally she was taking the lead among the nations. +Even at that day she had produced much which neither she herself nor any +other nation seemed destined to surpass. + +Yet this most redoubtable folk only numbered about three millions, one- +tenth of them inhabiting London. With the Scots and Irish added they +amounted to less than five millions of souls, hardly a third as many as +the homogeneous and martial people of that dangerous neighbour France. + +Ireland was always rebellious; a mere conquered province, hating her +tyrant England's laws, religion, and people; loving Spain, and believing +herself closely allied by blood as well as sympathy to that most Catholic +land. + +Scotland, on the accession of James, hastened to take possession of +England. Never in history had two races detested each other more +fervently. The leeches and locusts of the north, as they were +universally designated in England, would soon have been swept forth +from the country, or have left it of their own accord, had not the king +employed all that he had of royal authority or of eloquent persuasion +to retain them on the soil. Of union, save the personal union of the +sceptre, there was no thought. As in Ireland there was hatred to England +and adoration for Spain; so in Scotland, France was beloved quite as much +as England was abhorred. Who could have foretold, or even hoped, that +atoms so mutually repulsive would ever have coalesced into a sympathetic +and indissoluble whole? + +Even the virtues of James were his worst enemies. As generous as the +day, he gave away with reckless profusion anything and everything that he +could lay his hands upon. It was soon to appear that the great queen's +most unlovely characteristic, her avarice; was a more blessed quality to +the nation she ruled than the ridiculous prodigality of James. + +Two thousand gowns, of the most, expensive material, adorned with gold, +pearls, and other bravery--for Elizabeth was very generous to herself-- +were found in the queen's wardrobe, after death. These magnificent and +costly robes, not one of which had she vouchsafed to bestow upon or to +bequeath to any of her ladies of honour, were now presented by her +successor to a needy Scotch lord, who certainly did not intend to adorn +his own person therewith. "The hat was ever held out," said a splenetic +observer, "and it was filled in overflowing measure by the new monarch." + +In a very short period he had given away--mainly to Scotchmen--at least +two millions of crowns, in various articles of personal property. Yet +England was very poor. + +The empire, if so it could be called, hardly boasted a regular revenue of +more than two millions of dollars a year; less than that of a fortunate +individual or two, in our own epoch, both in Europe and America; and not +one-fifth part of the contemporary income of France. The hundred +thousand dollars of Scotland's annual budget did not suffice to pay its +expenses, and Ireland was a constant charge upon the imperial exchequer. + +It is astounding, however, to reflect upon the pomp, extravagance, and +inordinate pride which characterized the government and the court. + +The expenses of James's household were at least five hundred thousand +crowns, or about one quarter of the whole revenue of the empire. Henry +IV., with all his extravagance, did not spend more than one-tenth of the +public income of France upon himself and his court. + +Certainly if England were destined to grow great it would be in despite +of its new monarch. Hating the People, most intolerant in religion, +believing intensely in royal prerogative, thoroughly convinced of his +regal as well as his personal infallibility, loathing that inductive +method of thought which was already leading the English nation so proudly +on the road of intellectual advancement, shrinking from the love of free +inquiry, of free action, of daring adventure, which was to be the real +informing spirit of the great British nation; abhorring the Puritans-- +that is to say, one-third of his subjects--in whose harsh, but lofty. +nature he felt instinctively that popular freedom was enfolded--even as +the overshadowing tree in the rigid husk--and sending them forth into the +far distant wilderness to wrestle with wild beasts and with savages more +ferocious than beasts; fearing and hating the Catholics as the sworn +enemies of his realm; his race, and himself, trampling on them as much as +he dared, forcing them into hypocrisy to save themselves from persecution +or at least pecuniary ruin--if they would worship God according to their +conscience; at deadly feud, therefore, on religious grounds, with much +more than half his subjects--Puritans or Papists--and yet himself a +Puritan in dogma and a Papist in Church government, if only the king +could be pope; not knowing, indeed, whether a Puritan, or a Jesuit whom +he called a Papist-Puritan, should be deemed the more disgusting or +dangerous animal; already preparing for his unfortunate successor a path +to the scaffold by employing all the pedantry, both theological and +philosophical at his command to bring parliaments into contempt, and to +place the royal prerogative on a level with Divinity; at the head of a +most martial, dauntless, and practical nation, trembling, with +unfortunate physical timidity, at the sight of a drawn sword; ever +scribbling or haranguing in Latin, French, or broad Scotch, when the +world was arming, it must always be a special wonder that one who might +have been a respectable; even a useful, pedagogue, should by the caprice +of destiny have been permitted, exactly at that epoch to be one of the +most contemptible and mischievous of kings. + +But he had a most effective and energetic minister. Even as in Spain and +in France at the same period, the administration of government was +essentially in-one pair of hands. + +Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, ever since the termination of the +splendid triumvirate of his father and Walsingham, had been in reality +supreme. The proud and terrible hunchback, who never forgave, nor forgot +to destroy, his enemies, had now triumphed over the last passion of the +doting queen. Essex had gone to perdition. + +Son of the great minister who had brought the mother of James to the +scaffold, Salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution +from the feeble king. Before Elizabeth was in her grave, he was already +as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing Scotland +as well as England, and being Prime Minister of Great Britain before +Great Britain existed. + +Lord High Treasurer and First Secretary of State, he was now all in all +in the council. The other great lords, highborn and highly titled as +they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their +knees--Nottinghams, Northamptons, Suffolks--were, after all, ciphers or +at best, mere pensioners of Spain. For all the venality of Europe was +not confined to the Continent. Spain spent at least one hundred and +fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of James while +his wife, Anne of Denmark, a Papist at heart, whose private boudoir was +filled with pictures and images of the Madonna and the saints, had +already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the +Spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things. To +negotiate with Government in England was to bribe, even as at Paris or +Madrid. Gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to +power. + +Yet the foreign subsidies to the English court were, after all, of but +little avail at that epoch. No man had influence but Cecil, and he was +too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed. Alone with clean +fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a +larger fortune than any. His annual income was estimated at two hundred +thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well +employed. Among other investments, he had placed half a million on +interest in Holland,' and it was to be expected, therefore, that he +should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it +were. + +The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the +only giant in the Government. Those crooked shoulders held up, without +flinching, the whole burden of the State. Pale, handsome, anxious, +suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready +eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the +intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the +admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the Scotch Solomon +who sat on the throne. + +But most certainly, it was for the public good of Britain, that Europe +should be pacified. It is very true that the piratical interest would +suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of +business. So long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of England +sailed with the utmost effrontery from English ports, to prey upon the +commerce of friend and foe alike. After a career of successful plunder, +it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, +with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of +importance, both social and political. It was not the custom to consider +too curiously the source of the wealth. If it was sufficient to dazzle +the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability +of the owner. + +It was in vain that the envoys of the Dutch and Venetian republics sought +redress for the enormous damage inflicted on their commerce by English +pirates, and invoked the protection of public law. It was always easy +for learned juris-consuls to prove such depredations to be consistent +with international usage and with sound morality. Even at that period, +although England was in population and in wealth so insignificant, it +possessed a lofty, insular contempt for the opinions and the doctrines +of other nations, and expected, with perfect calmness, that her own +principles should be not only admitted, but spontaneously adored. + +Yet the piratical interest was no longer the controlling one. That city +on the Thames, which already numbered more than three hundred thousand +inhabitants, had discovered that more wealth was to be accumulated by her +bustling shopkeepers in the paths of legitimate industry than by a horde +of rovers over the seas, however adventurous and however protected by +Government. + +As for France, she was already defending herself against piracy by what +at the period seemed a masterpiece of internal improvement. The Seine, +the Loire, and the Rhone were soon to be united in one chain of +communication. Thus merchandise might be water-borne from the channel to +the Mediterranean, without risking the five or six months' voyage by sea +then required from Havre to Marseilles, and exposure along the whole +coast to attack from the corsairs of England Spain and Barbary. + +The envoys of the States-General had a brief audience of the new +sovereign, in which little more than phrases of compliment were +pronounced. + +"We are here," said Barneveld, "between grief and joy. We have lost her +whose benefits to us we can never describe in words, but we have found a +successor who is heir not only to her kingdom but to all her virtues." +And with this exordium the great Advocate plunged at once into the depths +of his subject, so far as was possible in an address of ceremony. He +besought the king not to permit Spain, standing on the neck of the +provinces, to grasp from that elevation at other empires. He reminded +James of his duty to save those of his own religion from the clutch of a +sanguinary superstition, to drive away those lurking satellites of the +Roman pontiff who considered Britain their lawful prey. He implored him +to complete the work so worthily begun by Elizabeth. If all those bound +by one interest should now, he urged, unite their efforts, the Spaniard, +deprived not only of the Netherlands, but, if he were not wise in time, +banished from the ocean and stripped of all his transmarine possessions, +would be obliged to consent to a peace founded on the only secure basis, +equality of strength. The envoy concluded by beseeching the king for +assistance to Ostend, now besieged for two years long. + +But James manifested small disposition to melt in the fervour of the +Advocate's eloquence. He answered with a few cold commonplaces. +Benignant but extremely cautious, he professed goodwill enough to the +States but quite as much for Spain, a power with which, he observed, he +had never quarrelled, and from which he had received the most friendly +offices. The archdukes, too, he asserted, had never been hostile to the +realm, but only to the Queen of England. In brief, he was new to English +affairs, required time to look about him, but would not disguise that his +genius was literary, studious, and tranquil, and much more inclined to +peace than to war. + +In truth, James had cause to look very sharply about him. It required an +acute brain and steady nerves to understand and to control the whirl of +parties and the conflict of interests and intrigues, the chameleon +shiftings of character and colour, at this memorable epoch of transition +in the realm which he had just inherited. There was a Scotch party, +favourable on the whole to France; there was a Spanish party, there was +an English party, and, more busy than all, there was a party--not Scotch, +nor French, nor English, nor Spanish--that un-dying party in all +commonwealths or kingdoms which ever fights for itself and for the +spoils. + +France and Spain had made peace with each other at Vervins five years +before, and had been at war ever since. + +Nothing could be plainer nor more cynical than the language exchanged +between the French monarch and the representative of Spain. That Philip +III.--as the Spanish Government by a convenient fiction was always +called--was the head and front of the great Savoy-Biron conspiracy to +take Henry's life and dismember his kingdom, was hardly a stage secret. +Yet diplomatic relations were still preserved between the two countries, +and wonderful diplomatic interviews had certainly been taking place in +Paris. + +Ambassador Tassis had walked with lofty port into Henry's cabinet, +disdaining to salute any of the princes of the blood or high +functionaries of state in the apartments through which he passed, and +with insolent defiance had called Henry to account for his dealing with +the Dutch rebels. + +"Sire, the king my master finds it very strange," he said, "that you +still continue to assist his rebels in Holland, and that you shoot at his +troops on their way to the Netherlands. If you don't abstain from such +infractions of his rights he prefers open war to being cheated by such a +pretended peace. Hereupon I demand your reply." + +"Mr. Ambassador," replied the king, "I find it still more strange that +your master is so impudent as to dare to make such complaints--he who is +daily making attempts upon my life and upon this State. Even if I do +assist the Hollanders, what wrong is that to him? It is an organized +commonwealth, powerful, neighbourly, acknowledging no subjection to him. +But your master is stirring up rebellion in my own kingdom, addressing +himself to the princes of my blood and my most notable officers, so that +I have been obliged to cut off the head of one of the most beloved of +them all. By these unchristian proceedings he has obliged me to take +sides with the Hollanders, whom I know to be devoted to me; nor have I +done anything for them except to pay the debts I owed them. I know +perfectly well that the king your master is the head of this conspiracy, +and that the troops of Naples were meditating an attack upon my kingdom. +I have two letters written by the hand of your master to Marshal Biron, +telling him to trust Fuentes as if it were himself, and it is notorious +that Fuentes has projected and managed all the attempts to assassinate +me. Do you, think you have a child to deal with? The late King of Spain +knew me pretty well. If this one thinks himself wiser I shall let him +see who I am. Do you want peace or war? I am ready for either." + +The ambassador, whose head had thus been so vigorously washed--as Henry +expressed it in recounting the interview afterwards to the Dutch envoy, +Dr. Aerssens--stammered some unintelligible excuses, and humbly begged +his Majesty not to be offended. He then retired quite crest-fallen, and +took leave most politely of everybody as he went, down even to the very +grooms of the chambers. + +"You must show your teeth to the Spaniard," said Henry to Aerssens, "if +you wish for a quiet life." + +Here was unsophisticated diplomacy; for the politic Henry, who could +forgive assassins and conspirators, crowned or otherwise, when it suited +his purpose to be lenient, knew that it was on this occasion very prudent +to use the gift of language, not in order to conceal, but to express his +thoughts. + +"I left the king as red as a turkey-cock," said Tassis, as soon as he got +home that morning, "and I was another turkey-cock. We have been talking +a little bit of truth to each other." + +In truth, it was impossible, as the world was then constituted, that +France and Spain, in spite of many secret sympathies, should not be +enemies; that France, England, and the Dutch commonwealth, although +cordially disliking each other, should not be allies. + +Even before the death of Elizabeth a very remarkable interview had taken +place at Dover, in which the queen had secretly disclosed the great +thoughts with which that most imperial brain was filled just before its +boundless activity was to cease for ever. + +She had wished for a personal interview with the French king, whose wit +and valour she had always heartily admired, Henry, on his part, while +unmercifully ridiculing that preterhuman vanity which he fed with +fantastic adulation, never failed to do justice to her genius, and had +been for a moment disposed to cross the channel, or even to hold council +with her on board ship midway between the two countries. It was however +found impracticable to arrange any such meeting, and the gossips of the +day hinted that the great Henry, whose delight was in battle, and who had +never been known to shrink from danger on dry land, was appalled at the +idea of sea-sickness, and even dreaded the chance of being kidnapped by +the English pirates. + +The corsairs who drove so profitable a business at that period by +plundering the merchantmen of their enemy, of their Dutch and French +allies, and of their own nation, would assuredly have been pleased with +such a prize. + +The queen had confided to De Bethune that she had some thing to say to +the king which she could never reveal to other ears than his, but when +the proposed visit of Henry was abandoned, it was decided that his +confidential minister should slip across the channel before Elizabeth +returned to her palace at Greenwich. + +De Bethune accordingly came incognito from Calais to Dover, in which port +he had a long and most confidential interview with the queen. Then and +there the woman, nearly seventy years of age, who governed despotically +the half of a small island, while the other half was in the possession of +a man whose mother she had slain, and of a people who hated the English +more than they hated the Spaniards or the French--a queen with some three +millions of loyal but most turbulent subjects in one island, and with +about half-a-million ferocious rebels in another requiring usually an +army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers to keep them in a kind of +subjugation, with a revenue fluctuating between eight hundred thousand +pounds sterling, and the half of that sum, and with a navy of a hundred +privateersmen--disclosed to the French envoy a vast plan for regulating +the polity and the religion of the civilized world, and for remodelling +the map of Europe. + +There should be three religions, said Elizabeth--not counting the +dispensation from Mecca, about which Turk and Hun might be permitted to +continue their struggle on the crepuscular limits of civilization. +Everywhere else there should be toleration only for the churches of +Peter, of Luther, and of Calvin. The house of Austria was to be humbled +--the one branch driven back to Spain and kept there, the other branch to +be deprived of the imperial crown, which was to be disposed of as in +times past by the votes of the princely electors. There should be two +republics--the Swiss and the Dutch--each of those commonwealths to be +protected by France and England, and each to receive considerable parings +out of the possessions of Spain and the empire. + +Finally, all Christendom was to be divided off into a certain number of +powers, almost exactly equal to each other; the weighing, measuring, and +counting, necessary to obtain this international equilibrium, being of +course the duty of the king and queen when they should sit some day +together at table. + +Thus there were five points; sovereigns and politicians having always a +fondness for a neat summary in five or six points. Number one, to +remodel the electoral system of the holy Roman empire. Number two, to +establish the republic of the United Provinces. Number three, to do as +much for Switzerland. Number four, to partition Europe. Number five, to +reduce all religions to three. Nothing could be more majestic, no plan +fuller fraught with tranquillity for the rulers of mankind and their +subjects. Thrice happy the people, having thus a couple of heads with +crowns upon them and brains within them to prescribe what was to be done +in this world and believed as to the next! + +The illustrious successor of that great queen now stretches her benignant +sceptre over two hundred millions of subjects, and the political revenues +of her empire are more than a hundredfold those of Elizabeth; yet it +would hardly now be thought great statesmanship or sound imperial policy +for a British sovereign even to imagine the possibility of the five +points which filled the royal English mind at Dover. + +But Henry was as much convinced as Elizabeth of the necessity and the +possibility of establishing the five points, and De Bethune had been +astonished at the exact similarity of the conclusion which those two +sovereign intellects had reached, even before they had been placed in +communion with each other. The death of the queen had not caused any +change in the far-reaching designs of which the king now remained the +sole executor, and his first thought, on the accession of James, was +accordingly to despatch De Bethune, now created Marquis de Rosny, as +ambassador extraordinary to England, in order that the new sovereign +might be secretly but thoroughly instructed as to the scheme for +remodelling Christendom. + +As Rosny was also charged with the duty of formally congratulating King +James, he proceeded upon his journey with remarkable pomp. He was +accompanied by two hundred gentlemen of quality, specially attached to +his embassy--young city fops, as he himself described them, who were +out of their element whenever they left the pavement of Paris--and +by an equal number of valets, grooms, and cooks. Such a retinue was +indispensable to enable an ambassador to transact the public business and +to maintain the public dignity in those days; unproductive consumption +being accounted most sagacious and noble. + +Before reaching the English shore the marquis was involved in trouble. +Accepting the offer of the English vice-admiral lying off Calais, he +embarked with his suite in two English vessels, much to the +dissatisfaction of De Vic, vice-admiral of France, who was anxious to +convey the French ambassador in the war-ships of his country. There had +been suspicion afloat as to the good understanding between England and +Spain, caused by the great courtesy recently shown to the Count of +Arenberg, and there was intense irritation among all the seafaring people +of France on account of the exploits of the English corsairs upon their +coast. Rosny thought it best to begin his embassy by an act of +conciliation, but soon had cause to repent his decision. + +In mid-channel they were met by De Vic's vessels with the French banner +displayed, at which sight the English commander was so wroth that he +forthwith ordered a broadside to be poured into the audacious foreigner; +--swearing with mighty oaths that none but the English flag should be +shown in those waters. And thus, while conveying a French ambassador and +three hundred Frenchmen on a sacred mission to the British sovereign, +this redoubtable mariner of England prepared to do battle with the ships +of France. It was with much difficulty and some prevarication that Rosny +appeased the strife, representing that the French flag had only been +raised in order that it might be dipped, in honour of the French +ambassador, as the ships passed each other. The full-shotted broadside +was fired from fifty guns, but the English commander consented, at De +Rosny's representations, that it should be discharged wide of the mark. + +A few shots, however, struck the side of one of the French vessels, and +at the same time, as Cardinal Richelieu afterwards remarked, pierced the +heart of every patriotic Frenchman. + +The ambassador made a sign, which De Vic understood; to lower his flag +and to refrain from answering the fire. Thus a battle between allies, +amid the most amazing circumstances, was avoided, but it may well be +imagined how long and how deeply the poison of the insult festered. + +Such an incident could hardly predispose the ambassador in favour of the +nation he was about to visit, or strengthen his hope of laying, not only +the foundation of a perpetual friendship between the two crowns, but of +effecting the palingenesis of Europe. Yet no doubt Sully--as the world +has so long learned to call him--was actuated by lofty sentiments in many +respects in advance of his age. Although a brilliant and successful +campaigner in his youth, he detested war, and looked down with contempt +at political systems which had not yet invented anything better than +gunpowder for the arbitrament of international disputes. Instead of war +being an occasional method of obtaining peace, it pained him to think +that peace seemed only a process for arriving at war. Surely it was no +epigram in those days, but the simplest statement of commonplace fact, +that war was the normal condition of Christians. Alas will it be +maintained that in the two and a half centuries which have since elapsed +the world has made much progress in a higher direction? Is there yet any +appeal among the most civilized nations except to the logic of the +largest battalions and the eloquence of the biggest guns? + +De Rosny came to be the harbinger of a political millennium, and he +heartily despised war. The schemes, nevertheless, which were as much his +own as his master's, and which he was instructed to lay before the +English monarch as exclusively his own, would have required thirty years +of successful and tremendous warfare before they could have a beginning +of development. + +It is not surprising that so philosophical a mind as his, while still +inclining to pacific designs, should have been led by what met his eyes +and ears to some rather severe generalizations. + +"It is certain that the English hate us," he said, "and with a hatred so +strong and so general that one is tempted to place it among the natural +dispositions of this people. Yet it is rather the effect of their pride +and their presumption; since there is no nation in Europe more haughty, +more disdainful, more besotted with the idea of its own excellence. If +you were to take their word for it, mind and reason are only found with +them; they adore all their opinions and despise those of all other +nations; and it never occurs to them to listen to others, or to doubt +themselves . . . . . Examine what are called with them maxims of +state; you will find nothing but the laws of pride itself, adopted +through arrogance or through indolence." + +"Placed by nature amidst the tempestuous and variable ocean," he wrote to +his sovereign, "they are as shifting, as impetuous, as changeable as its +waves. So self-contradictory and so inconsistent are their actions +almost in the same instant as to make it impossible that they should +proceed from the same persons and the same mind. Agitated and urged by +their pride and arrogance alone, they take all their imaginations and +extravagances for truths and realities; the objects of their desires and +affections for inevitable events; not balancing and measuring those +desires with the actual condition of things, nor with the character of +the people with whom they have to deal." + +When the ambassador arrived in London he was lodged at Arundel palace. +He at once became the cynosure of all indigenous parties and of +adventurous politicians from every part of Europe; few knowing how to +shape their course since the great familiar lustre had disappeared from +the English sky. + +Rosny found the Scotch lords sufficiently favourable to France; the +English Catholic grandees, with all the Howards and the lord high admiral +at their head, excessively inclined to Spain, and a great English party +detesting both Spain and France with equal fervour and well enough +disposed to the United Provinces, not as hating that commonwealth less +but the two great powers more. + +The ambassador had arrived with the five points, not in his portfolio but +in his heart, and they might after all be concentrated in one phrase-- +Down with Austria, up with the Dutch republic. On his first interview +with Cecil, who came to arrange for his audience with the king, he found +the secretary much disposed to conciliate both Spain and the empire, and +to leave the provinces to shift for themselves. + +He spoke of Ostend as of a town not worth the pains taken to preserve it, +and of the India trade as an advantage of which a true policy required +that the United Provinces should be deprived. Already the fine +commercial instinct of England had scented a most formidable rival +on the ocean. + +As for the king, he had as yet declared himself for no party, while all +parties were disputing among each other for mastery over him. James +found himself, in truth, as much, astray in English politics as he was a +foreigner upon English earth. Suspecting every one, afraid of every one, +he was in mortal awe, most of all, of his wife, who being the daughter of +one Protestant sovereign and wife of another, and queen of a united realm +dependent for its very existence on antagonism to Spain and Rome, was +naturally inclined to Spanish politics and the Catholic faith. + +The turbulent and intriguing Anne of Denmark was not at the moment in +London, but James was daily expecting and De Bethune dreading her +arrival. + +The ambassador knew very well that, although the king talked big in her +absence about the forms which he intended to prescribe for her conduct, +he would take orders from her as soon as she arrived, refuse her nothing, +conceal nothing from her, and tremble before her as usual. + +The king was not specially prejudiced in favour of the French monarch or +his ambassador, for he had been told that Henry had occasionally spoken +of him as captain of arts and doctor of arms, and that both the Marquis +de Rosny and his brother were known to have used highly disrespectful +language concerning him. + +Before his audience, De Rosny received a private visit from Barneveld and +the deputies of the States-General, and was informed that since his +arrival they had been treated with more civility by the king. Previously +he had refused to see them after the first official reception, had not +been willing to grant Count Henry of Nassau a private audience, and had +spoken publicly of the States as seditious rebels. + +Oh the 21st June Barneveld had a long private interview with the +ambassador at Arundel palace, when he exerted all his eloquence to prove +the absolute necessity of an offensive and defensive alliance between +France and the United Provinces if the independence of the republic were +ever to be achieved. Unless a French army took the field at once, Ostend +would certainly fall, he urged, and resistance to the Spaniards would +soon afterwards cease. + +It is not probable that the Advocate felt in his heart so much despair as +his words indicated, but he was most anxious that Henry should openly +declare himself the protector of the young commonwealth, and not +indisposed perhaps to exaggerate the dangers, grave as they were without +doubt, by which its existence was menaced. + +The ambassador however begged the Hollander to renounce any such hopes, +assuring him that the king had no intention of publicly and singly taking +upon his shoulders the whole burden of war with Spain, the fruits of +which would not be his to gather. Certainly before there had been time +thoroughly to study the character and inclinations of the British monarch +it would be impossible for De Rosny to hold out any encouragement in this +regard. He then asked Barneveld what he had been able to discover during +his residence in London as to the personal sentiments of James. + +The Advocate replied that at first the king, yielding to his own natural +tendencies, and to the advice of his counsellors, had refused the Dutch +deputies every hope, but that subsequently reflecting, as it would seem, +that peace would cost England very dear if English inaction should cause +the Hollanders to fall again under the dominion of the Catholic king, or +to find their only deliverance in the protection of France, and beginning +to feel more acutely how much England had herself to fear from a power +like Spain, he had seemed to awake out of a profound sleep, and promised +to take these important affairs into consideration. + +Subsequently he had fallen into a dreary abyss of indecision, where he +still remained. It was certain however that he would form no resolution +without the concurrence of the King of France, whose ambassador he had +been so impatiently expecting, and whose proposition to him of a double +marriage between their respective children had given him much +satisfaction. + +De Rosny felt sure that the Dutch statesmen were far too adroit to put +entire confidence in anything said by James, whether favourable or +detrimental to their cause. He conjured Barneveld therefore, by the +welfare of his country, to conceal nothing from him in regard to the most +secret resolutions that might have been taken by the States in the event +of their being abandoned by England, or in case of their being +embarrassed by a sudden demand on the part of that power for the +cautionary towns offered to Elizabeth. + +Barneveld, thus pressed, and considering the ambassador as the +confidential counsellor of a sovereign who was the republic's only +friend, no longer hesitated. Making a merit to himself of imparting an +important secret, he said that the state-council of the commonwealth had +resolved to elude at any cost the restoration of the cautionary towns. + +The interview was then abruptly terminated by the arrival of the Venetian +envoy. + +The 22nd of June arrived. The marquis had ordered mourning suits for his +whole embassy and retinue, by particular command of his sovereign, who +wished to pay this public tribute to the memory of the great queen. + +To his surprise and somewhat to his indignation, he was however informed +that no one, stranger or native, Scotchman or Englishman, had been +permitted to present himself to the king in black, that his appearance +there in mourning would be considered almost an affront, and that it was +a strictly enforced rule at court to abstain from any mention of +Elizabeth, and to affect an entire oblivion of her reign. + +At the last moment, and only because convinced that he might otherwise +cause the impending negotiations utterly to fail, the ambassador +consented to attire himself, the hundred and twenty gentlemen selected +from his diplomatic family to accompany him on this occasion, and all his +servants, in gala costume. The royal guards, with the Earl of Derby at +their head, came early in the afternoon to Arundel House to escort him +to the Thames, and were drawn up on the quay as the marquis and his +followers embarked in the splendid royal barges provided to convey +them to Greenwich. + +On arriving at their destination they were met at the landing by the Earl +of Northumberland, and escorted with great pomp and through an infinite +multitude of spectators to the palace. Such was the crowd, without and +within, of courtiers and common people, that it was a long time before +the marquis, preceded by his hundred and twenty gentlemen, reached the +hall of audience. + +At last he arrived at the foot of the throne, when James arose and +descended eagerly two steps of the dais in order to greet the ambassador. +He would have descended them all had not one of the counsellors plucked +him by the sleeve, whispering that he had gone quite far enough. + +"And if I honour this ambassador," cried James, in a loud voice, "more +than is usual, I don't intend that it shall serve as a precedent for +others. I esteem and love him particularly, because of the affection +which I know he cherishes for me, of his firmness in our religion, +and of his fidelity to his master." + +Much more that was personally flattering to the marquis was said thus +emphatically by James. To all this the ambassador replied, not by a set +discourse, but only by a few words of compliment, expressing his +sovereign's regrets at the death of Queen Elizabeth, and his joy at the +accession of the new sovereign. He then delivered his letters of +credence, and the complimentary conversation continued; the king +declaring that he had not left behind him in Scotland his passion for the +monarch of France, and that even had he found England at war with that +country on his accession he would have instantly concluded a peace with a +prince whom he so much venerated. + +Thus talking, the king caused his guest to ascend with him to the +uppermost steps of the dais, babbling on very rapidly and skipping +abruptly from one subject to another. De Rosny took occasion to express +his personal esteem and devotion, and was assured by the king in reply +that the slanders in regard to him which had reached the royal ears had +utterly failed of their effect. It was obvious that they were the +invention of Spanish intriguers who wished to help that nation to +universal monarchy. Then he launched forth into general and cordial +abuse of Spain, much to the satisfaction of Count Henry of Nassau, who +stood near enough to hear a good deal of the conversation, and of the +other Dutch deputies who were moving about, quite unknown, in the crowd. +He denounced very vigorously the malignity of the Spaniards in lighting +fires everywhere in their neighbours' possessions, protested that he +would always oppose their wicked designs, but spoke contemptuously of +their present king as too feeble of mind and body ever to comprehend +or to carry out the projects of his predecessors. + +Among other gossip, James asked the envoy if he went to hear the +Protestant preaching in London. Being answered in the affirmative, +he expressed surprise, having been told, he said, that it was Rosny's +intention to repudiate his religion as De Sancy had done, in order to +secure his fortunes. The marquis protested that such a thought had +never entered his head, but intimated that the reports might come +from his familiar intercourse with the papal nuncius and many French +ecclesiastics. The king asked if, when speaking with the nuncius, he +called the pope his Holiness, as by so doing he would greatly offend God, +in whom alone was holiness. Rosny replied that he commonly used the +style prevalent at court, governing himself according to the rules +adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns and kingdoms which they thought +belonged to them, but the possession of which was in other hands, +conceding to them, in order not to offend them, the titles which they +claimed. + +James shook his head portentously, and changed the subject. + +The general tone of the royal-conversation was agreeable enough to the +ambassador, who eagerly alluded to the perfidious conduct of a Government +which, ever since concluding the peace of Vervins with Henry, had been +doing its best to promote sedition and territorial dismemberment in his +kingdom, and to assist all his open and his secret enemies. + +James assented very emphatically, and the marquis felt convinced that a +resentment against Spain, expressed so publicly and so violently by +James, could hardly fail to, be sincere. He began seriously to, hope +that his negotiations would be successful, and was for soaring at once +into the regions of high politics, when the king suddenly began to talk +of hunting. + +"And so you sent half the stag I sent you; to Count Arenberg," said +James; "but he is very angry about it; thinking that you did so to show +how much more I make of you than I do of him. And so I do; for I know +the difference between your king, my brother; and his masters who have +sent me an ambassador who can neither walk nor talk, and who asked me to +give him audience in a garden because he cannot go upstairs." + +The king then alluded to Tassis, chief courier of his Catholic Majesty +and special envoy from Spain, asking whether the marquis had seen him on +his passage through France. + +"Spain sends me a postillion-ambassador," said he, "that he may travel +the faster and attend to business by post." + +It was obvious that James took a sincere satisfaction in abusing +everything relating to that country from its sovereign and the Duke +of Lerma downwards; but he knew very well that Velasco, constable of +Castile, had been already designated as ambassador, and would soon +be on his way to England. + +De Rosny on the termination of his audience, was escorted in great state +by the Earl of Northumberland to the barges. + +A few days later, the ambassador had another private audience, in which +the king expressed himself with apparent candour concerning the balance +of power. + +Christendom, in his opinion, should belong in three equal shares to the +families of Stuart, Bourbon, and Habsburg; but personal ambition and the +force of events had given to the house of Austria more than its fair +third. Sound policy therefore required a combination between France and +England, in order to reduce their copartner within proper limits. This +was satisfactory as far as it went, and the ambassador complimented the +king on his wide views of policy and his lofty sentiments in regard to +human rights. + +Warming with the subject, James held language very similar to that which +De Rosny and his master had used in their secret conferences, and took +the ground unequivocally that the secret war levied by Spain against +France and England, as exemplified in the Biron conspiracy, the assault +on Geneva, the aid of the Duke of Savoy, and in the perpetual fostering +of Jesuit intrigues, plots of assassination, and other conspiracies in +the British islands, justified a secret war on the part of Henry and +himself against Philip. + +The ambassador would have been more deeply impressed with the royal +language had he felt more confidence in the royal character. + +Highly applauding the sentiments expressed, and desiring to excite still +further the resentment of James against Spain, he painted a vivid picture +of the progress of that aggressive power in the past century. She had +devoured Flanders, Burgundy, Granada, Navarre, Portugal, the German +Empire, Milan, Naples, and all the Indies. If she had not swallowed +likewise both France and England those two crowns were indebted for their +preservation, after the firmness of Elizabeth and Henry, to the fortunate +incident of the revolt of the Netherlands. + +De Rosny then proceeded to expound the necessity under which James +would soon find himself of carrying on open war with Spain, and of the +expediency of making preparations for the great struggle without loss +of time. + +He therefore begged the king to concert with him some satisfactory +measure for the preservation of the United Provinces. + +"But," said James, "what better assistance could we give the +Netherlanders than to divide their territory between the States and +Spain; agreeing at the same time to drive the Spaniard out altogether, +if he violates the conditions which we should guarantee." + +This conclusion was not very satisfactory to De Rosny, who saw in the +bold language of the king--followed thus by the indication of a policy +that might last to the Greek Kalends, and permit Ostend, Dutch Flanders, +and even the republic to fall--nothing but that mixture of timidity, +conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character. He +pointed out to him accordingly that Spanish statesmanship could beat the +world in the art of delay, and of plucking the fruits of delay, and that +when the United Provinces had been once subjugated, the turn of England +would come. It would be then too late for him to hope to preserve +himself by such measures as, taken now, would be most salutary. + +A few days later the king invited De Rosny and the two hundred members of +his embassy to dine at Greenwich, and the excursion down the Thames took +place with the usual pomp. + +The two hundred dined with the gentlemen of the court; while at the +king's table, on an elevated platform in the same hall, were no guests +but De Rosny, and the special envoy of France, Count Beaumont. + +The furniture and decorations of the table were sumptuous, and the +attendants, to the surprise of the Frenchmen, went on their knees +whenever they offered wine or dishes to the king. The conversation at +first was on general topics, such as the heat of the weather, which +happened to be remarkable, the pleasures of the chase, and the merits of +the sermon which, as it was Sunday, De Rosny had been invited to hear +before dinner in the royal chapel. + +Soon afterwards, however, some allusion being made to the late queen, +James spoke of her with contempt. He went so far as to say that, for a +long time before her death, he had governed the councils, of England; all +her ministers obeying and serving him much better than they did herself. +He then called for wine, and, stretching out his glass towards his two. +guests, drank to the health of the king and queen and royal family of +France. + +De Rosny, replied by proposing the health of his august host, not +forgetting the queen and their children, upon which the king, putting his +lips close to the ambassador's ear, remarked that his next toast should +be in honour of the matrimonial union which was proposed between the +families of Britain and France. + +This was the first allusion made by James to the alliance; and the +occasion did not strike the marquis as particularly appropriate to such a +topic. He however replied in a whisper that he was rejoiced to hear this +language from the king, having always believed that there would be no +hesitation on his part between King Henry and the monarch of Spain, who, +as he was aware, had made a similar proposition. James, expressing +surprise that his guest was so well informed, avowed that he had in fact +received the same offer of the Infanta for his son as had been made to +his Christian Majesty for the Dauphin. What more convenient counters in +the great game of state than an infant prince and princess in each of the +three royal families to which Europe belonged! To how many grave +political combinations were these unfortunate infants to give rise, and +how distant the period when great nations might no longer be tied to the +pinafores of children in the nursery! + +After this little confidential interlude, James expressed in loud voice, +so that all might hear, his determination never to permit the subjugation +of the Netherlands by Spain. Measures should be taken the very next day, +he promised, in concert with the ambassador, as to the aid to be given to +the States. Upon the faith of this declaration De Rosny took from his +pocket the plan of a treaty, and forthwith, in the presence of all the +ministers, placed it in the hands of the king, who meantime had risen +from table. The ambassador also took this occasion to speak publicly of +the English piracies upon French commerce while the two nations were at +peace. The king, in reply, expressed his dissatisfaction at these +depredations and at the English admiral who attempted to defend what had +been done. + +He then took leave of his guests, and went off to bed, where it was his +custom to pass his afternoons. + +It was certain that the Constable of Castile was now to arrive very soon, +and the marquis had, meantime, obtained information on which he relied, +that this ambassador would come charged with very advantageous offers to +the English court. Accounts had been got ready in council, of all the +moneys due to England by France and by the States, and it was thought +that these sums, payment of which was to be at once insisted upon, +together with the Spanish dollars set afloat in London, would prove +sufficient to buy up all resistance to the Spanish alliance. + +Such being the nature of the information furnished to De Rosny, he did +not look forward with very high hopes to the issue of the conference +indicated by King James at the Greenwich dinner. As, after all, he would +have to deal once more with Cecil, the master-spirit of the Spanish +party, it did not seem very probable that the king's whispered +professions of affection for France, his very loud denunciations of +Spanish ambition, and his promises of support to the struggling +provinces, would be brought into any substantial form for human +nourishment. Whispers and big words, touching of glasses at splendid +banquets, and proposing of royal toasts, would not go far to help those +soldiers in Ostend, a few miles away, fighting two years long already for +a square half-mile of barren sand, in which seemed centred the world's +hopes of freedom. + +Barneveld was inclined to take an even more gloomy view than that +entertained by the French ambassador. He had, in truth, no reason to be +sanguine. The honest republican envoys had brought no babies to offer in +marriage. Their little commonwealth had only the merit of exchanging +buffets forty years long with a power which, after subjugating the +Netherlands, would have liked to annihilate France and England too, +and which, during that period, had done its best to destroy and dismember +both. It had only struggled as no nation in the world's history had ever +done, for the great principle upon which the power and happiness of +England were ever to depend. It was therefore not to be expected that +its representatives should be received with the distinction conferred +upon royal envoys. Barneveld and his colleagues accordingly were not +invited, with two hundred noble hangers-on, to come down the Thames in +gorgeous array, and dine at Greenwich palace; but they were permitted to +mix in the gaping crowd of spectators, to see the fine folk, and to hear +a few words at a distance which fell from august lips. This was not very +satisfactory, as Barneveld could rarely gain admittance to James or his +ministers. De Rosny, however, was always glad to confer with him, and +was certainly capable of rendering justice both to his genius and to the +sacredness of his cause. The Advocate, in a long conference with the +ambassador, thought it politic to paint the situation of the republic in +even more sombre colours than seemed to De Rosny justifiable. He was, +indeed, the more struck with Barneveld's present despondency, because, +at a previous conference, a few days before, he had spoken almost with +contempt of the Spaniards, expressing the opinion that the mutinous and +disorganized condition of the archduke's army rendered the conquest of +Ostend improbable, and hinted at a plan, of which the world as yet knew +nothing, which would save that place, or at any rate would secure such +an advantage for the States as to more than counterbalance its possible +loss? This very sanguine demeanour had rather puzzled those who had +conferred with the Advocate, although they were ere long destined to +understand his allusions, and it was certainly a contrast to his present +gloom. He assured De Rosny that the Hollanders were becoming desperate, +and that they were capable of abandoning their country in mass, and +seeking an asylum beyond the seas? The menace was borrowed from the +famous project conceived by William the Silent in darker days, and seemed +to the ambassador a present anachronism. + +Obviously it was thought desirable to force the French policy to extreme +lengths, and Barneveld accordingly proposed that Henry should take the +burthen upon his shoulders of an open war with Spain, in the almost +certain event that England would make peace with that power. De Rosny +calmly intimated to the Advocate that this was asking something entirely +beyond his power to grant, as the special object of his mission was to +form a plan of concerted action with England. + +The cautionary towns being next mentioned, Barneveld stated that a demand +had been made upon Envoy Caron by Cecil for the delivery of those places +to the English Government, as England had resolved to make peace with +Spain. + +The Advocate confided, however, to De Rosny that the States would +interpose difficulties, and that it would be long before the towns were +delivered. This important information was given under the seal of +strictest secrecy, and was coupled with an inference that a war between +the republic and Britain would be the probable result, in which case the +States relied upon the alliance with France. The ambassador replied that +in this untoward event the republic would have the sympathy of his royal +master, but that it would be out of the question for him to go to war +with Spain and England at the same time. + +On the same afternoon there was a conference at Arundel House between the +Dutch deputies, the English counsellors, and De Rosny, when Barneveld +drew a most dismal picture of the situation; taking the ground that now +or never was the time for driving the Spaniards entirely out of the +Netherlands. Cecil said in a general way that his Majesty felt a deep +interest in the cause of the provinces, and the French ambassador +summoned the Advocate, now that he was assured of the sympathy of two +great kings, to furnish some plan by which that sympathy might be turned +to account. Barneveld, thinking figures more eloquent than rhetoric, +replied that the States, besides garrisons, had fifteen thousand +infantry and three thousand cavalry in the field, and fifty warships in +commission, with artillery and munitions in proportion, and that it would +be advisable for France and England to furnish an equal force, military +and naval, to the common cause. + +De Rosny smiled at the extravagance of the proposition. Cecil, again +taking refuge in commonplaces, observed that his master was disposed to +keep the peace with all his neighbours, but that, having due regard to +the circumstances, he was willing to draw a line between the wishes of +the States and his own, and would grant them a certain amount of succour +underhand. + +Thereupon the Dutch deputies withdrew to confer. De Rosny, who had no +faith in Cecil's sincerity--the suggestion being essentially the one +which he had himself desired--went meantime a little deeper into the +subject, and soon found that England, according to the Secretary of +State, had no idea of ruining herself for the sake of the provinces, +or of entering into any positive engagements in their behalf. In case +Spain should make a direct attack upon the two kings who were to +constitute themselves protectors of Dutch liberty, it might be necessary +to take up arms. The admission was on the whole superfluous, it not +being probable that Britain, even under a Stuart, would be converted to +the doctrine of non-resistance. Yet in this case it was suggested by +Cecil that the chief reliance of his Government would be on the debts +owed by the Dutch and French respectively, which would then be forthwith +collected. + +De Rosny was now convinced that Cecil was trifling with him, and +evidently intending to break off all practical negotiations. He +concealed his annoyance, however, as well as he could, and simply +intimated that the first business of importance was to arrange for the +relief of Ostend; that eventualities, such as the possible attack by +Spain upon France and England, might for the moment be deferred, but that +if England thought it a safe policy to ruin Henry by throwing on his +shoulders the whole burthen of a war with the common enemy, she would +discover and deeply regret her fatal mistake. The time was a very ill- +chosen one to summon France to pay old debts, and his Christian Majesty +had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such +a liquidation. + +It was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little, +but if England desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands, +it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that France had +ever pursued. + +The English counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on +the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded +of them, England would entirely abandon the United Provinces. "Cecil +made himself known to me in this conference," said De Rosny, "for +exactly what he was. He made use only of double meanings and vague +propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. He was forced to +blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, I made +him feel the absurdity of his language. Now, endeavouring to intimidate +me, he exaggerated the strength of England, and again he enlarged upon +the pretended offers made by Spain to that nation." + +The secretary, desirous to sow discord between the Dutch deputies and the +ambassador, then observed that France ought to pay to England L50,000 +upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities +of the States. "But what most enraged me," said De Rosny, "was to see +these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their +king, thus impudently substitute their own; for I knew that he had +commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did." + +The conference ended with a suggestion by Cecil, that as France would +only undertake a war in conjunction with England, and as England would +only consent to this if paid by France and the States, the best thing for +the two kings to do would be to do nothing, but to continue to live in +friendship together, without troubling themselves about foreign +complications. + +This was the purpose towards which the English counsellors had been +steadily tending, and these last words of Cecil seemed to the ambassador +the only sincere ones spoken by him in the whole conference. + +"If I kept silence," said the ambassador, "it was not because I +acquiesced in their reasoning. On the contrary, the manner in which they +had just revealed themselves, and avowed themselves in a certain sort +liars and impostors, had given me the most profound contempt for them. +I thought, however, that by heating myself and contending with them so +far from causing them to abandon a resolution which they had taken in +concert--I might even bring about a total rupture. On the other hand, +matters remaining as they were, and a friendship existing between the +two kings, which might perhaps be cemented by a double marriage, a more +favourable occasion might present itself for negotiation. I did not yet +despair of the success of my mission, because I believed that the king +had no part in the designs which his counsellors wished to carry out." + +That the counsellors, then struggling for dominion over the new king and +his kingdom, understood the character of their sovereign better than did +the ambassador, future events were likely enough to prove. That they +preferred peace to war, and the friendship of Spain to an alliance, +offensive and defensive, with France in favour of a republic which they +detested, is certain. It is difficult, however, to understand why +they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the +representative of France, they endeavoured to make their own opinions +of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being +the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of +being stirred to an honourable action. + +The whole political atmosphere of Europe was mephitic with falsehood, and +certainly the gales which blew from the English court at the accession of +James were not fragrant, but De Rosny had himself come over from France +under false pretences. He had been charged by his master to represent +Henry's childish scheme, which he thought so gigantic, for the +regeneration of Europe, as a project of his own, which he was determined +to bring to execution, even at the risk of infidelity to his sovereign, +and the first element in that whole policy was to carry on war underhand +against a power with which his master had just sworn to preserve peace. +In that age at least it was not safe for politicians to call each other +hard names. + +The very next day De Rosny had a long private interview with James at +Greenwich. Being urged to speak without reserve, the ambassador depicted +the privy counsellors to the king as false to his instructions, traitors +to the best interests of their country, the humble servants of Spain, and +most desirous to make their royal master the slave of that power, under +the name of its ally. He expressed the opinion, accordingly, that James +would do better in obeying only the promptings of his own superior +wisdom, rather than the suggestions of the intriguers about him. The +adroit De Rosny thus softly insinuated to the flattered monarch that the +designs of France were the fresh emanations of his own royal intellect. +It was the whim of James to imagine himself extremely like Henry of +Bourbon in character, and he affected to take the wittiest, bravest, most +adventurous, and most adroit knight-errant that ever won and wore a crown +as his perpetual model. + +It was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal +brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the +whole face of Christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for +ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from +his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger. + +He entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid +man, into the views presented by De Rosny as to the perfidy of his +counsellors. He changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador +gave his version of the recent conference with Cecil and the other +ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to +receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made. + +The ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had +taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the Eucharist, never to +reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. This done, and the royal +curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, De Rosny began to, unfold. +the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between Elizabeth and +Henry at Dover, and which formed the secret object of his present +embassy. Feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological +part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that +direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition +of Europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the Protestant +faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country, +or even of fidelity to his sovereign. Thus far, political considerations +had kept Henry from joining in the great Catholic League, but it was +possible that a change might occur in his system, and the Protestant form +of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely +from France and from Europe. De Rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity +of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and +had naturally fixed his eyes on the puissant and sagacious prince who now +occupied, the British throne. Now was the time, he urged, for James to +immortalize his name by becoming the arbiter of the destiny of Europe. +It would always seem his own design, although Henry was equally +interested in it with himself. The plan was vast but simple, +and perfectly easy of execution. There would be no difficulty in +constructing an all-powerful league of sovereigns for the destruction of +the house of Austria, the foundation-stones of which would of course be +France, Great Britain, and the United Provinces. The double marriage +between the Bourbon and Stuart families would indissolubly unite the two +kingdoms, while interest and gratitude; a common hatred and a common +love, would bind the republic as firmly to the union. Denmark and Sweden +were certainly to be relied upon, as well as all other Protestant +princes. The ambitious and restless Duke of Savoy would be gained by +the offer of Lombardy and a kingly crown, notwithstanding his matrimonial +connection with Spain. As for the German princes, they would come +greedily into the arrangement, as the league, rich in the spoils of the +Austrian house, would have Hungary, Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, the +archduchies, and other splendid provinces to divide among them. + +The pope would be bought up by a present, in fee-simple, of Naples, and +other comfortable bits of property, of which he was now only feudal lord. +Sicily would be an excellent sop for the haughty republic of Venice. +The Franche Comte; Alsace, Tirol, were naturally to be annexed to +Switzerland; Liege and the heritage of the Duke of Cleves and Juliers +to the Dutch commonwealth. + +The King of France, who, according to De Rosny's solemn assertions, was +entirely ignorant of the whole scheme, would, however, be sure to embrace +it very heartily when James should propose it to him, and would be far +too disinterested to wish to keep any of the booty for himself. A +similar self-denial was, of course, expected of James, the two great +kings satisfying themselves with the proud consciousness of having saved +society, rescued the world from the sceptre of an Austrian universal +monarchy, and regenerated European civilization for all future time. + +The monarch listened with ravished ears, interposed here and there a +question or a doubt, but devoured every detail of the scheme, as the +ambassador slowly placed it before him. + +De Rosny showed that the Spanish faction was not in reality so powerful +as the league which would be constructed for its overthrow. It was not +so much a religious as a political frontier which separated the nations. +He undertook to prove this, but, after all, was obliged to demonstrate +that the defection of Henry from the Protestant cause had deprived him of +his natural allies, and given him no true friends in exchange for the old +ones. + +Essentially the Catholics were ranged upon one side, and the Protestants +on the other, but both religions were necessary to Henry the Huguenot: +The bold free-thinker adroitly balanced himself upon each creed. In +making use of a stern and conscientious Calvinist, like Maximilian de +Bethune, in his first assault upon the theological professor who now +stood in Elizabeth's place, he showed the exquisite tact which never +failed him. Toleration for the two religions which had political power, +perfect intolerance for all others; despotic forms of polity, except for +two little republics which were to be smothered with protection and never +left out of leading strings, a thorough recasting of governments and +races, a palingenesis of Europe, a nominal partition of its hegemony +between France and England, which was to be in reality absorbed by +France, and the annihilation of Austrian power east and west, these were +the vast ideas with which that teeming Bourbon brain was filled. It is +the instinct both of poetic and of servile minds to associate a sentiment +of grandeur with such fantastic dreams, but usually on condition that the +dreamer wears a crown. When the regenerator of society appears with a +wisp of straw upon his head, unappreciative society is apt to send him +back to his cell. There, at least, his capacity for mischief is limited. + +If to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do, then the +Dutchmen in Hell's Mouth and the Porcupine fighting Universal Monarchy +inch by inch and pike to pike, or trying conclusions with the ice-bears +of Nova Zembla, or capturing whole Portuguese fleets in the Moluccas, +were effecting as great changes in the world, and doing perhaps as much +for the advancement of civilization, as James of the two Britains and +Henry of France and Navarre in those his less heroic days, were likely to +accomplish. History has long known the results. + +The ambassador did his work admirably. The king embraced him in a +transport of enthusiasm, vowed by all that was most sacred to accept the +project in all its details, and exacted from the ambassador in his turn +an oath on the Eucharist never to reveal, except to his master, the +mighty secrets of their conference. + +The interview had lasted four hours. When it was concluded, James +summoned Cecil, and in presence of the ambassador and of some of the +counsellors, lectured him soundly on his presumption in disobeying the +royal commands in his recent negotiations with De Rosny. He then +announced his decision to ally himself strictly with France against Spain +in consequence of the revelations just made to him, and of course to +espouse the cause of the United Provinces. Telling the crest-fallen +Secretary of State to make the proper official communications on the +subject to the ambassadors of my lords the States-General,--thus giving +the envoys from the republic for the first time that pompous designation, +the king turned once more to the marquis with the exclamation, "Well, Mr. +Ambassador, this time I hope that you are satisfied with me?" + +In the few days following De Rosny busied himself in drawing up a plan +of a treaty embodying all that had been agreed upon between Henry and +himself, and which he had just so faithfully rehearsed to James. He felt +now some inconvenience from his own artfulness, and was in a measure +caught in his own trap. Had he brought over a treaty in his pocket, +James would have signed it on the spot, so eager was he for the +regeneration of Europe. It was necessary, however, to continue the +comedy a little longer, and the ambassador, having thought it necessary +to express many doubts whether his master could be induced to join in the +plot, and to approve what was really his own most cherished plan, could +now do no more than promise to use all his powers of persuasion unto that +end. + +The project of a convention, which James swore most solemnly to sign, +whether it were sent to him in six weeks or six months, was accordingly +rapidly reduced to writing and approved. It embodied, of course, most of +the provisions discussed in the last secret interview at Greenwich. The +most practical portion of it undoubtedly related to the United Provinces, +and to the nature of assistance to be at once afforded to that +commonwealth, the only ally of the two kingdoms expressly mentioned in +the treaty. England was to furnish troops, the number of which was not +specified, and France was to pay for them, partly out of her own funds, +partly out of the amount due by her to England. It was, however, +understood, that this secret assistance should not be considered to +infringe the treaty of peace which already existed between Henry and the +Catholic king. Due and detailed arrangements were made as to the manner +in which the allies were to assist each other, in case Spain, not +relishing this kind of neutrality, should think proper openly to attack +either great Britain or France, or both. + +Unquestionably the Dutch republic was the only portion of Europe likely +to be substantially affected by these secret arrangements; for, after +all, it had not been found very easy to embody the splendid visions of +Henry, which had so dazzled the imagination of James in the dry clauses +of a protocol. + +It was also characteristic enough of the crowned conspirators, that the +clause relating to the United Provinces provided that the allies would +either assist them in the attainment of their independence, or--if it +should be considered expedient to restore them to the domination of Spain +or the empire--would take such precautions and lay down such conditions +as would procure perfect tranquillity for them, and remove from the two +allied kings the fear of a too absolute government by the house of +Austria in those provinces. + +It would be difficult to imagine a more impotent conclusion. Those Dutch +rebels had not been fighting for tranquillity. The tranquillity of the +rock amid raging waves--according to the device of the father of the +republic--they had indeed maintained; but to exchange their turbulent and +tragic existence, ever illumined by the great hope of freedom, for repose +under one despot guaranteed to them by two others, was certainly not +their aim. They lacked the breadth of vision enjoyed by the regenerators +who sat upon mountain-tops. + +They were fain to toil on in their own way. Perhaps, however, the future +might show as large results from their work as from the schemes of those +who were to begin the humiliation of the Austrian house by converting its +ancient rebels into tranquil subjects. + +The Marquis of Rosny, having distributed 60,000 crowns among the leading +politicians and distinguished personages at the English court, with ample +promises of future largess if they remained true to his master, took an +affectionate farewell of King James, and returned with his noble two +hundred to recount his triumphs to the impatient Henry. The treaty was +soon afterwards duly signed and ratified by the high contracting parties. +It was, however, for future history to register its results on the fate +of pope, emperor, kings, potentates, and commonwealths, and to show the +changes it would work in the geography, religion, and polity of the +world. + +The deputies from the States-General, satisfied with the practical +assistance promised them, soon afterwards took their departure with +comparative cheerfulness, having previously obtained the royal consent +to raise recruits in Scotland. Meantime the great Constable of Castile, +ambassador from his Catholic Majesty, had arrived in London, and was +wroth at all that he saw and all that he suspected. He, too, began to +scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand among the great lords and +statesmen of Britain, but found that the financier of France had, on the +whole; got before him in the business, and was skilfully maintaining his +precedence from the other side of the channel. + +But the end of these great diplomatic manoeuvres had not yet come. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + Siege of Ostend--The Marquis Spinola made commander-in-chief of the + besieging army--Discontent of the troops--General aspect of the + operations--Gradual encroachment of the enemy. + +The scene again shifts to Ostend. The Spanish cabinet, wearied of the +slow progress of the siege, and not entirely satisfied with the generals, +now concluded almost without consent of the archdukes, one of the most +extraordinary jobs ever made, even in those jobbing days. The Marquis +Spinola, elder brother of the ill-fated Frederic, and head of the +illustrious Genoese family of that name, undertook to furnish a large sum +of money which the wealth of his house and its connection with the great +money-lenders of Genoa enabled him to raise, on condition that he should +have supreme command of the operations against Ostend and of the foreign +armies in the Netherlands. He was not a soldier, but he entered into a +contract, by his own personal exertions both on the exchange and in the +field, to reduce the city which had now resisted all the efforts of the +archduke for more than two years. Certainly this was an experiment not +often hazarded in warfare. The defence of Ostend was in the hands of the +best and moat seasoned fighting-men in Europe. The operations were under +the constant supervision of the foremost captain of the age; for Maurice, +in consultation with the States-General, received almost daily reports +from the garrison, and regularly furnished advice and instructions as to +their proceedings. He was moreover ever ready to take the field for a +relieving campaign. Nothing was known of Spinola save that he was a +high-born and very wealthy patrician who had reached his thirty-fourth +year without achieving personal distinction of any kind, and who, during +the previous summer, like so many other nobles from all parts of Europe, +had thought it worth his while to drawl through a campaign or two in the +Low Countries. It was the mode to do this, and it was rather a stigma +upon any young man of family not to have been an occasional looker on at +that perpetual military game. His brother Frederic, as already narrated; +had tried his chance for fame and fortune in the naval service, and had +lost his life in the adventure without achieving the one or the other. +This was not a happy augury for the head of the family. Frederic had +made an indifferent speculation. What could the brother hope by taking +the field against Maurice of Nassau and Lewis William and the Baxes and +Meetkerkes? Nevertheless the archduke eagerly accepted his services, +while the Infanta, fully confident of his success before he had ordered a +gun to be fired, protested that if Spinola did not take Ostend nobody +would ever take it. There was also, strangely enough, a general feeling +through the republican ranks that the long-expected man had come. + +Thus a raw volunteer, a man who had never drilled a hundred men, who had +never held an officer's commission in any army in the world, became, as +by the waving of a wand, a field-marshal and commander-in-chief at a +most critical moment in history, in the most conspicuous position in +Christendom, and in a great war, now narrowed down to a single spot of +earth, on which the eyes of the world were fixed, and the daily accounts +from which were longed for with palpitating anxiety. What but failure +and disaster could be expected from such astounding policy? Every +soldier in the Catholic forces--from grizzled veterans of half a century +who had commanded armies and achieved victories when this dainty young +Italian was in his cradle, down to the simple musketeer or rider who had +been campaigning for his daily bread ever since he could carry a piece or +mount a horse was furious with discontent or outraged pride. + +Very naturally too, it was said that the position of the archdukes had +become preposterous. It was obvious, notwithstanding the pilgrimages of +the Infanta to our Lady of Hall, to implore not only the fall of Ostend, +but the birth of a successor to their sovereignty, that her marriage +would for ever remain barren. Spain was already acting upon this theory, +it was said, for the contract with Spinola was made, not at Brussels, +but at Madrid, and a foreign army of Spaniards and Italians, under the +supreme command of a Genoese adventurer, was now to occupy indefinitely +that Flanders which had been proclaimed an independent nation, and duly +bequeathed by its deceased proprietor to his daughter. + +Ambrose Spinola, son of Philip, Marquis of Venafri, and his wife, +Polyxena Grimaldi, was not appalled by the murmurs of hardly suppressed +anger or public criticism. A handsome, aristocratic personage, with an +intellectual, sad, but sympathetic face, fair hair and beard, and +imposing but attractive presence--the young volunteer, at the beginning +of October, made his first visit of inspection in the lines before +Ostend. After studying the situation of affairs very thoroughly, +he decided that the operations on the Gullet or eastern side, including +Bucquoy's dike, with Pompey Targone's perambulatory castles and floating +batteries, were of secondary importance. He doubted the probability of +closing up a harbour, now open to the whole world and protected by the +fleets of the first naval power of Europe, with wickerwork, sausages, and +bridges upon barrels. His attention was at once concentrated on the +western side, and he was satisfied that only by hard fighting and steady +delving could he hope to master the place. To gain Ostend he would be +obliged to devour it piecemeal as he went on. + +Whatever else might be said of the new commander-in-chief, it was soon +apparent that, although a volunteer and a patrician, he was no milksop. +If he had been accustomed all his life to beds of down, he was as ready +now to lie in the trenches, with a cannon for his pillow, as the most +ironclad veteran in the ranks. He seemed to require neither sleep nor +food, and his reckless habit of exposing himself to unnecessary danger +was the subject of frequent animadversion on the part both of the +archdukes and of the Spanish Government. + +It was however in his case a wise temerity. The veterans whom he +commanded needed no encouragement to daring deeds, but they required +conviction as to the valour and zeal of their new commander, and this +was afforded them in overflowing measure. + +It is difficult to decide, after such a lapse of years, as to how much of +the long series of daily details out of which this famous siege was +compounded deserves to be recorded. It is not probable that for military +history many of the incidents have retained vital importance. The world +rang, at the beginning of the operations, with the skill and inventive +talent of Targone, Giustiniani, and other Italian engineers, artificers, +and pyrotechnists, and there were great expectations conceived of the +effects to be produced by their audacious and original devices. But time +wore on. Pompey's famous floating battery would not float, his moving +monster battery would not move. With the one; the subtle Italian had +intended to close up the Gullet to the States' fleets. It was to rest on +the bottom at low water at the harbour's mouth, to rise majestically with +the flood, and to be ever ready with a formidable broadside of fifty +pounders against all comers. But the wild waves and tempests of the +North Sea soon swept the ponderous toy into space, before it had fired a +gun. The gigantic chariot, on which a moveable fort was constructed, was +still more portentous upon paper than the battery. It was directed +against that republican work, defending the Gullet, which was called in +derision the Spanish Half-moon. It was to be drawn by forty horses, and +armed with no man knew how many great guns, with a mast a hundred and +fifty feet high in the centre of the fort, up and down which played +pulleys raising and lowering a drawbridge long enough to span the Gullet. + +It was further provided with anchors, which were to be tossed over the +parapet of the doomed redoubt, while the assailants, thus grappled to the +enemy's work, were to dash over the bridge after having silenced the +opposing fire by means of their own peripatetic battery. + +Unfortunately for the fame of Pompey, one of his many wheels was crushed +on the first attempt to drag the chariot to the scene of anticipated +triumph, the whole structure remained embedded in the sand, very much +askew; nor did all the mules and horses that could be harnessed to it +ever succeed in removing it an inch out of a position, which was anything +but triumphant. + +It seemed probable enough therefore that, so far as depended on the +operations from the eastern side, the siege of Ostend, which had now +lasted two years and three months, might be protracted for two years and +three months longer. Indeed, Spinola at once perceived that if the +archduke was ever to be put in possession of the place for which he had +professed himself ready to wait eighteen years, it would be well to leave +Bucquoy and Targone to build dykes and chariots and bury them on the east +at their leisure, while more energy was brought to bear upon the line of +fortifications of the west than had hitherto been employed. There had +been shooting enough, bloodshed enough, suffering enough, but it was +amazing to see the slight progress made. The occupation of what were +called the external Squares has been described. This constituted the +whole result of the twenty-seven months' work. + +The town itself--the small and very insignificant kernel which lay +enclosed in such a complicated series of wrappings and layers of +defences--seemed as far off as if it were suspended in the sky. +The old haven or canal, no longer navigable for ships, still served as +an admirable moat which the assailants had not yet succeeded in laying +entirely dry. It protected the counterscarp, and was itself protected by +an exterior aeries of works, while behind the counterscarp was still +another ditch, not so broad nor deep as the canal, but a formidable +obstacle even after the counterscarp should be gained. There were nearly +fifty forts and redoubts in these lines, of sufficient importance to have +names which in those days became household words, not only in the +Netherlands, but in Europe; the siege of Ostend being the one military +event of Christendom, so long as it lasted. These names are of course as +much forgotten now as those of the bastions before Nineveh. A very few +of them will suffice to indicate the general aspect of the operations. +On the extreme southwest of Ostend had been in peaceful times a polder-- +the general term to designate a pasture out of which the sea-water had +been pumped--and the forts in that quarter were accordingly called by +that name, as Polder Half-moon, Polder Ravelin, or great and little +Polder Bulwark, as the case might be. Farther on towards the west, the +north-west, and the north, and therefore towards the beach, were the West +Ravelin, West Bulwark, Moses's Table, the Porcupine, the Hell's Mouth, +the old church, and last and most important of all, the Sand Hill. The +last-named work was protected by the Porcupine and Hell's Mouth, was the +key to the whole series of fortifications, and was connected by a curtain +with the old church, which was in the heart of the old town. + +Spinola had assumed command in October, but the winter was already +closing in with its usual tempests and floods before there had been time +for him to produce much effect. It seemed plain enough to the besieged +that the object of the enemy would be to work his way through the Polder, +and so gradually round to the Porcupine and the Sand Hill. Precisely in +what directions his subterraneous passages might be tending, in what +particular spot of the thin crust upon which they all stood an explosion +might at any moment be expected, it was of course impossible to know. +They were sure that the process of mining was steadily progressing, and +Maurice sent orders to countermine under every bulwark, and to secretly +isolate every bastion, so that it would be necessary for Spinola to make +his way, fort by fort, and inch by inch. + +Thus they struggled drearily about under ground, friend and foe, often as +much bewildered as wanderers in the catacombs. To a dismal winter +succeeded a ferocious spring. Both in February and March were westerly +storms, such as had not been recorded even on that tempest-swept coast +for twenty years, and so much damage was inflicted on the precious Sand +Hill and its curtain, that, had the enemy been aware of its plight, it is +probable that one determined assault might have put him in possession of +the place. But Ostend was in charge of a most watchful governor, Peter +van Gieselles, who had succeeded Charles van der Noot at the close of the +year 1603. A plain, lantern jawed, Dutch colonel; with close-cropped +hair, a long peaked beard, and an eye that looked as if it had never been +shut; always dressed in a shabby old jerkin with tarnished flowers upon +it, he took command with a stout but heavy heart, saying that the place +should never be surrendered by him, but that he should never live to see +the close of the siege. He lost no time in repairing the damages of the +tempest, being ready to fight the west wind, the North Sea, and Spinola +at any moment, singly or conjoined. He rebuilt the curtain of the Sand +Hill, added fresh batteries to the Porcupine and Hell's Mouth, and amused +and distracted the enemy with almost daily sorties and feints. His +soldiers passed their days and nights up to the knees in mud and sludge +and sea-water, but they saw that their commander never spared himself, +and having a superfluity of food and drink, owing to the watchful care of +the States-General, who sent in fleets laden with provisions faster than +they could be consumed, they were cheerful and content. + +On the 12th March there was a determined effort to carry the lesser +Polder Bulwark. After a fierce and bloody action, the place was taken by +storm, and the first success in the game was registered for Spinola. The +little fort was crammed full of dead, but such of the defenders as +survived were at last driven out of it, and forced to take refuge in the +next work. Day after day the same bloody business was renewed, a mere +monotony of assaults, repulses, sallies, in which hardly an inch of +ground was gained on either side, except at the cost of a great pile of +corpses. "Men will never know, nor can mortal pen ever describe," said +one who saw it all, "the ferocity and the pertinacity of both besiegers +and besieged." On the 15th of March, Colonel Catrice, an accomplished +Walloon officer of engineers, commanding the approaches against the +Polder, was killed. On the 21st March, as Peter Orieselles was taking +his scrambling dinner in company with Philip Fleming, there was a report +that the enemy was out again in force. A good deal of progress had been +made during the previous weeks on the south-west and west, and more was +suspected than was actually known. It was felt that the foe was steadily +nibbling his way up to the counterscarp. Moreover, such was the +emulation among the Germans, Walloons, Italians, and Spaniards for +precedence in working across the canal, that a general assault and +universal explosion were considered at any instant possible. The +governor sent Fleming to see if all was right in the Porcupine, while +he himself went to see if a new battery, which he had just established +to check the approaches of the enemy towards the Polder Half-moon and +Ravelin in a point very near the counterscarp, was doing its duty. +Being, as usual, anxious to reconnoitre with his own eyes, he jumped upon +the rampart. But there were sharp-shooters in the enemy's trenches, and +they were familiar with the governor's rusty old doublet and haggard old +face. Hardly had he climbed upon the breastwork when a ball pierced his +heart, and he fell dead without a groan. There was a shout of triumph +from the outside, while the tidings soon spread sadness through the +garrison, for all loved and venerated the man. Philip Fleming, so soon +as he learned the heavy news, lost no time in unavailing regrets, but +instantly sent a courier to Prince Maurice; meantime summoning a council +of superior officers, by whom Colonel John van Loon was provisionally +appointed commandant. + +A stately, handsome man, a good officer, but without extensive +experience, he felt himself hardly equal to the immense responsibility of +the post, but yielding to the persuasions of his comrades, proceeded to +do his best. His first care was to secure the all-important Porcupine, +towards which the enemy had been slowly crawling with his galleries and +trenches. Four days after he had accepted the command he was anxiously +surveying that fortification, and endeavouring to obtain a view of the +enemy's works, when a cannon-ball struck him on the right leg, so that he +died the next day. Plainly the post of commandant of Ostend was no +sinecure. He was temporarily succeeded by Sergeant-Major Jacques de +Bievry, but the tumults and confusion incident upon this perpetual change +of head were becoming alarming. The enemy gave the garrison no rest +night nor day, and it had long become evident that the young volunteer, +whose name was so potent on the Genoa Exchange, was not a man of straw +nor a dawdler, however the superseded veterans might grumble. At any +rate the troops on either side were like to have their fill of work. + +On the 2nd April the Polder Ravelin was carried by storm. It was a most +bloody action. Never were a few square feet of earth more recklessly +assailed, more resolutely maintained. The garrison did not surrender +the place, but they all laid down their lives in its defence. Scarcely +an individual of them all escaped, and the foe, who paid dearly with +heaps of dead and wounded for his prize, confessed that such serious work +as this had scarce been known before in any part of that great slaughter- +house, Flanders. + +A few days later, Colonel Bievry, provisional commandant, was desperately +wounded in a sortie, and was carried off to Zeeland. The States-General +now appointed Jacques van der Meer, Baron of Berendrecht, to the post of +honour and of danger. A noble of Flanders, always devoted to the +republican cause; an experienced middle-aged officer, vigilant, +energetic, nervous; a slight wiry man, with a wizened little face, large +bright eyes, a meagre yellow beard, and thin sandy hair flowing down upon +his well-starched ruff, the new governor soon showed himself inferior to +none of his predecessors in audacity and alertness. It is difficult to +imagine a more irritating position in many respects than that of +commander in such an extraordinary leaguer. It was not a formal siege. +Famine, which ever impends over an invested place, and sickens the soul +with its nameless horrors, was not the great enemy to contend against +here. Nor was there the hideous alternative between starving through +obstinate resistance or massacre on submission, which had been the lot of +so many Dutch garrisons in the earlier stages of the war. Retreat by sea +was ever open to the Ostend garrison, and there was always an ample +supply of the best provisions and of all munitions of war. But they had +been unceasingly exposed to two tremendous enemies. During each winter +and spring the ocean often smote their bastions and bulwarks in an hour +of wrath till they fell together like children's toys, and it was always +at work, night and day, steadily lapping at the fragile foundations on +which all their structures stood. Nor was it easy to give the requisite +attention to the devouring sea, because all the materials that could be +accumulated seemed necessary to repair the hourly damages inflicted by +their other restless foe. + +Thus the day seemed to draw gradually but inexorably nearer when the +place would be, not captured, but consumed. There was nothing for it, +so long as the States were determined to hold the spot, but to meet the +besieger at every point, above or below the earth, and sell every inch of +that little morsel of space at the highest price that brave men could +impose. + +So Berendrecht, as vigilant and devoted as even Peter Gieselles had ever +been, now succeeded to the care of the Polders and the Porcupines, and +the Hell's Mouths; and all the other forts, whose quaint designations had +served, as usually is the case among soldiers, to amuse the honest +patriots in the midst of their toils and danger. On the 18th April, the +enemy assailed the great western Ravelin, and after a sanguinary hand-to- +hand action, in which great numbers of officers and soldiers were lost on +both sides, he carried the fort; the Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and +Walloons vieing with each other in deeds of extraordinary daring, and +overcoming at last the resistance of the garrison. + +This was an important success. The foe had now worked his way with +galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he +was nearly up with the Porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days +he would be master of the counterscarp itself. + +A less resolute commander, at the head of less devoted troops, might +have felt that when that inevitable event should arrive all that honour +demanded would have been done, and that Spinola was entitled to his city. +Berendrecht simply decided that if the old counterscarp could no longer +be held it was time to build a new counterscarp. This, too, had been +for some time the intention of Prince Maurice. A plan for this work had +already been sent into the place, and a distinguished English engineer, +Ralph Dexter by name, arrived with some able assistants to carry it into +execution. It having been estimated that the labour would take three +weeks of time, without more ado the inner line was carefully drawn, +cutting off with great nicety and precision about one half the whole +place. Within this narrowed circle the same obstinate resistance was +to be offered as before, and the bastions and redoubts of the new +entrenchment were to be baptized with the same uncouth names which two +long years of terrible struggle had made so precious. The work was very +laborious; for the line was drawn straight through the town, and whole +streets had to be demolished and the houses to their very foundations +shovelled away. Moreover the men were forced to toil with spade in one +hand and matchlock in the other, ever ready to ascend from the ancient +dilapidated cellars in order to mount the deadly breach at any point in +the whole circumference of the place. + +It became absolutely necessary therefore to send a sufficient force of +common workmen into the town to lighten the labours of the soldiers. +Moreover the thought, although whistled to the wind, would repeatedly +recur, that, after all, there must be a limit to these operations, and +that at last there would remain no longer any earth in which to find a +refuge. + +The work of the new entrenchment went slowly on, but it was steadily +done. Meantime they were comforted by hearing that the stadholder had +taken the field in Flanders, at the head of a considerable force, and +they lived in daily expectation of relief. It will be necessary, at the +proper moment, to indicate the nature of Prince Maurice's operations. +For the present, it is better that the reader should confine his +attention within the walls of Ostend. + +By the 11th May, the enemy had effected a lodgment in a corner of +the Porcupine, and already from that point might threaten the new +counterscarp before it should be completed. At the same time he had +gnawed through to the West Bulwark, and was busily mining under the +Porcupine itself. In this fort friend and foe now lay together, packed +like herrings, and profited by their proximity to each other to vary the +monotony of pike and anaphance with an occasional encounter of epistolary +wit. + +Thus Spanish letters, tied to sticks, and tossed over into the next +entrenchment, were replied to by others, composed in four languages by +the literary man of Ostend, Auditor Fleming, and shot into the enemy's +trenches on cross-bow bolts. + +On the 29th May, a long prepared mine was sprung beneath the Porcupine. +It did its work effectively, and the 29 May assailants did theirs no less +admirably, crowding into the breach with headlong ferocity, and after a +long and sanguinary struggle with immense lose on both sides, carrying +the precious and long-coveted work by storm. Inch by inch the defenders +were thus slowly forced back toward their new entrenchment. On the same +day, however, they inflicted a most bloody defeat upon the enemy in an +attempt to carry the great Polder. He withdrew, leaving heaps of slain, +so that the account current for the day would have balanced itself, but +that the Porcupine, having changed hands, now bristled most formidably +against its ancient masters. The daily 'slaughter had become sickening +to behold. There were three thousand effective men in the garrison. +More could have been sent in to supply the steady depletion in the ranks, +but there was no room for more. There was scarce space enough for the +living to stand to their work, or for the dead to lie in their graves. +And this was an advantage which could not fail to tell. Of necessity the +besiegers would always very far outnumber the garrison, so that the final +success of their repeated assaults became daily more and more possible. + +Yet on the 2nd June the enemy met not only with another signal defeat, +but also with a most bitter surprise. On that day the mine which he had +been so long and so laboriously constructing beneath the great Polder +Bulwark was sprung with magnificent effect. A breach, forty feet wide, +was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers +leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting +by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the +fortifications, and therefore of the town itself. But as emerging +from the mine, they sprang exulting upon the shattered bulwark, +a transformation more like a sudden change in some holiday pantomime +than a new fact in this three years' most tragic siege presented itself +to their astonished eyes. They had carried the last defence of the old +counterscarp, and behold--a new one, which they had never dreamed of, +bristling before their eyes, with a flanking battery turned directly upon +them. The musketeers and pikemen, protected by their new works, now +thronged towards the assailants; giving them so hearty a welcome that +they reeled back, discomfited, after a brief but severe struggle, from +the spot of their anticipated triumph, leaving their dead and dying in +the breach. + +Four days later, Berendrecht, with a picked party of English troops, +stole out for a reconnaissance, not wishing to trust other eyes than his +own in the imminent peril of the place. + +The expedition was successful. A few prisoners were taken, and valuable +information was obtained, but these advantages were counterbalanced by a +severe disaster. The vigilant and devoted little governor, before +effecting his entrance into the sally port, was picked off by a +sharpshooter, and died the next day. This seemed the necessary fate +of the commandants of Ostend, where the operations seemed more like a +pitched battle lasting three years than an ordinary siege. Gieselles, +Van Loon, Bievry, and now Berendrecht, had successively fallen at the +post of duty since the beginning of the year. Not one of them was more +sincerely deplored than Berendrecht. His place was supplied by Colonel +Uytenhoove, a stalwart, hirsute, hard-fighting Dutchman, the descendant +of an ancient race, and seasoned in many a hard campaign. + +The enemy now being occupied in escarping and furnishing with batteries +the positions he had gained, with the obvious intention of attacking the +new counterscarp, it was resolved to prepare for the possible loss of +this line of fortifications by establishing another and still narrower +one within it. + +Half the little place had been shorn away by the first change. Of the +half which was still in possession of the besieged about one-third was +now set off, and in this little corner of earth, close against the new +harbour, was set up their last refuge. They called the new citadel +Little Troy, and announced, with pardonable bombast, that they would hold +out there as long as the ancient Trojans had defended Ilium. With +perfect serenity the engineers set about their task with line, rule, and +level, measuring out the bulwarks and bastions, the miniature salients, +half-moons, and ditches, as neatly and methodically as if there were no +ceaseless cannonade in their ears, and as if the workmen were not at +every moment summoned to repel assaults upon the outward wall. They. +sent careful drawings of Little Troy to Maurice and the States, and +received every encouragement to persevere, together with promises of +ultimate relief. + +But there was one serious impediment to the contemplated construction of +the new earth-works. They had no earth. Nearly everything solid had +been already scooped away in the perpetual delving. The sea-dykes had +been robbed of their material, so that the coming winter might find +besiegers and besieged all washed together into the German Ocean, and it +was hard digging and grubbing among the scanty cellarages of the +dilapidated houses. But there were plenty of graves, filled with the +results of three years' hard fighting. And now, not only were all the +cemeteries within the precincts shovelled and carted in mass to the inner +fortifications, but rewards being offered of ten stivers for each dead +body, great heaps of disinterred soldiers were piled into the new +ramparts. Thus these warriors, after laying down their lives for the +cause of freedom, were made to do duty after death. Whether it were just +or no thus to disturb the repose--if repose it could be called--of the +dead that they might once more protect the living, it can scarcely be +doubted that they took ample revenge on the already sufficiently polluted +atmosphere. + +On the 17th June the foe sprang a mine under the western bulwark; close +to a countermine exploded by the garrison the day before. The assailants +thronged as merrily as usual to the breach, and were met with customary +resolution by the besieged; Governor Uytenhoove, clad in complete armour, +leading his troops. The enemy, after an hour's combat, was repulsed with +heavy loss, but the governor fell in the midst of the fight. Instantly +he was seized by the legs by a party of his own men, some English +desperadoes among the number, who, shouting that the colonel was dead, +were about to render him the last offices by plundering his body. The +ubiquitous Fleming, observing the scene, flew to the rescue and, with the +assistance of a few officers, drove off these energetic friends, and +taking off the governor's casque, discovered that he still breathed. +That he would soon have ceased to do so, had he been dragged much farther +in his harness over that jagged and precipitous pile of rubbish, was +certain. He was desperately wounded, and of course incapacitated for his +post. Thus, in that year, before the summer solstice, a fifth commandant +had fallen. + +On the same day, simultaneously with this repulse in the West Bulwark, +the enemy made himself at last completely master of the Polder. Here, +too, was a savage hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and pikes, and +when the pikes were broken, with great clubs and stakes pulled from the +fascines; but the besiegers were victorious, and the defenders sullenly +withdrew with their wounded to the inner entrenchments. + +On the 27th June, Daniel de Hartaing, Lord of Marquette, was sent by the +States-General to take command in Ostend. The colonel of the Walloon +regiment which had rendered such good service on the famous field of +Nieuport, the new governor, with his broad, brown, cheerful face, and +his Milan armour, was a familiar figure enough to the campaigners on +both sides in Flanders or Germany. + +The stoutest heart might have sunk at the spectacle which the condition +of the town presented at his first inspection. The States-General were +resolved to hold the place, at all hazards, and Marquette had come to do +their bidding, but it was difficult to find anything that could be called +a town. The great heaps of rubbish, which had once been the outer walls, +were almost entirely in the possession of the foe, who had lodged himself +in all that remained of the defiant Porcupine, the Hell's Mouth, and +other redoubts, and now pointed from them at least fifty great guns +against their inner walls. The old town, with its fortifications, was +completely honeycombed, riddled, knocked to pieces, and, although the +Sand Hill still held out, it was plain enough that its days were numbered +unless help should soon arrive. In truth, it required a clear head and a +practised eye to discover among those confused masses of prostrate +masonry, piles of brick, upturned graves, and mounds of sand and rubbish, +anything like order and regularity. Yet amid the chaos there was really +form and meaning to those who could read aright, and Marquette saw, as +well in the engineers' lines as in the indomitable spirit that looked out +of the grim faces of the garrison, that Ostend, so long as anything of it +existed in nature, could be held for the republic. Their brethren had +not been firmer, when keeping their merry Christmas, seven years before, +under the North Pole, upon a pudding made of the gunner's cartridge +paste, or the Knights of the Invincible Lion in the horrid solitudes of +Tierra del Fuego, than were the defenders of this sandbank. + +Whether the place were worth the cost or not, it was for my lords the +States-General to decide, not for Governor Marquette. And the decision +of those "high and mighty" magistrates, to whom even Maurice of Nassau +bowed without a murmur, although often against his judgment, had been +plainly enough announced. + +And so shiploads of deals and joists, bricks, nails, and fascines, with +requisite building materials, were sent daily in from Zeeland, in order +that Little Troy might be completed; and, with God's help, said the +garrison, the republic shall hold its own. + +And now there were two months more of mining and countermining, of +assaults and repulses, of cannonading and hand-to-hand fights with pikes +and clubs. Nearer and nearer, day by day, and inch by inch, the foe had +crawled up to the verge of their last refuge, and the walls of Little +Troy, founded upon fresh earth and dead men's bones, and shifting sands, +were beginning to quake under the guns of the inexorable volunteer from +Genoa. Yet on the 27th August there was great rejoicing in the +beleaguered town. Cannon thundered salutes, bonfires blazed, trumpets +rang jubilant blasts, and, if the church-bells sounded no merry peals, it +was because the only church in the place had been cut off in the last +slicing away by the engineers. Hymns of thanksgiving ascended to heaven, +and the whole garrison fell on their knees, praying fervently to Almighty +God, with devout and grateful hearts. It was not an ignoble spectacle to +see those veterans kneeling where there was scarce room to kneel, amid +ruin and desolation, to praise the Lord for his mercies. But to explain +this general thanksgiving it is now necessary for a moment to go back. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand +Certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other +Conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character +Do you want peace or war? I am ready for either +Eloquence of the biggest guns +Even the virtues of James were his worst enemies +Gold was the only passkey to justice +If to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do +It is certain that the English hate us (Sully) +Logic of the largest battalions +Made peace--and had been at war ever since +Nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery +Natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man +Not safe for politicians to call each other hard names +One of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (James I) +Peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength +Peace seemed only a process for arriving at war +Repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others +Requires less mention than Philip III himself +Rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns +Served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees +Take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths +The expenses of James's household +The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him +To negotiate with Government in England was to bribe +Unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious +War was the normal condition of Christians +We have been talking a little bit of truth to each other +What was to be done in this world and believed as to the next +You must show your teeth to the Spaniard + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v76 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 77, 1604-1605 + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + Policy of the King of France--Operations of Prince Maurice--Plans + for a Flemish Campaign--Passage into Flanders--Fort St. Catharine-- + Flight of its garrison, and occupation by Maurice--Surrender of + Ysendyke and Aardenburg--Skirmish at Stamper's Hook--Siege of Sluys + by Prince Maurice--Ineffectual attempt of Spinola to relieve the + town--Its capitulation and restoration to the States--Death of Lewis + Gunther of Nassau--Operations at Ostend--Surrender of the garrison-- + Desolation of the scene after its evacuation. + +The States-General had begun to forget the severe lesson taught them in +the Nieuport campaign. Being determined to hold Ostend, they became very +impatient, in the early part of the present year, that Maurice should +once more invade Flanders, at the head of a relieving army, and drive the +archdukes from before the town. + +They were much influenced in this policy by the persistent advice of the +French king. To the importunities of their envoy at Paris, Henry had, +during the past eighteen months, replied by urging the States to invade +Flanders and seize its ports. When they had thus something to place as +pledges in his hands, he might accede to their clamour and declare war +against Spain. But he scarcely concealed his intention, in such case, to +annex both the obedient and the United Netherlands to his own dominions. +Meantime, before getting into the saddle, he chose to be guaranteed +against loss. "Assure my lords the States that I love them," he said, +"and shall always do my best for them." His affection for the territory +of my lords was even warmer than the sentiments he entertained for +themselves. Moreover, he grudged the preliminary expenses which would be +necessary even should he ultimately make himself sovereign of the whole +country. Rosny assured the envoy that he was mistaken in expecting a +declaration of war against Spain. "Not that he does not think it useful +and necessary," said the minister, "but he wishes to have war and peace +both at once--peace because he wishes to make no retrenchments in his +pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings, and so war would be very +inopportune. In three months he would be obliged to turn tail for want +of means (to use his own words), although I would furnish him funds +enough, if he would make the use of them that he ought." + +The Queen of England, who, with all her parsimony and false pretences, +never doubted in her heart that perpetual hostility to Spain was the +chief bulwark of her throne, and that the republic was fighting her +battles as well as its own, had been ready to make such a lively war in +conjunction with France as would drive the Spaniard out of all the +Netherlands. But Henry was not to be moved. "I know that if I should +take her at her word," said he, "she would at once begin to screw me for +money. She has one object, I another." Villeroy had said plainly to +Aerssens, in regard to the prevalent system of Englishmen, Spaniards, and +Frenchmen being at war with each other, while the Governments might be +nominally at peace, "Let us take off our masks. If the Spaniard has +designs against our State, has he not cause? He knows the aid we are +giving you, and resents it. If we should abstain, he would leave us in +peace. If the Queen of England expects to draw us into a league, she is +mistaken. Look to yourselves and be on your guard. Richardot is +intriguing with Cecil. You give the queen securities, fortresses, seats +in your council. The king asks nothing but communication of your +projects." + +In short, all the comfort that Aerssens had been able to derive from his +experiences at the French court in the autumn of 1602, was that the +republic could not be too suspicious both of England and France. Rosny +especially he considered the most dangerous of all the politicians in +France. His daughter was married to the Prince of Espinoy, whose 50,000 +livres a year would be safer the more the archduke was strengthened. +"But for this he would be stiffer," said Aerssens. Nevertheless there +were strong motives at work, pressing France towards the support of the +States. There were strong political reasons, therefore, why they should +carry the war into Flanders, in conformity with the wishes of the king. + +The stadholder, after much argument, yielded as usual to the authority +of the magistrates, without being convinced as to the sagacity of their +plans. It was arranged that an army should make a descent upon the +Flemish coast in the early spring, and make a demonstration upon Sluys. +The effect of this movement, it was thought, would be to draw the enemy +out of his entrenchments, in which case it would be in the power of +Maurice to put an end at once to the siege. It is unquestionable that +the better alternative, in the judgment of the prince, was to take +possession; if possible, of Sluys itself. His preparations were, +however, made with a view to either event, and by the middle of April he +had collected at Willemstad a force of fifteen thousand foot and three +thousand horse. As on the former memorable expedition, he now again +insisted that a considerable deputation of the States and of the States' +council should accompany the army. His brother Henry, and his cousins +Lewis William, Lewis Gunther, and Ernest Casimir, were likewise with him, +as well as the Prince of Anhalt and other distinguished personages. + +On the 25th April the army, having crossed the mouth of the West Scheld, +from Zeeland, in numberless vessels of all sizes and degrees, effected +their debarkation on the island of Cadzand. + +In the course of two days they had taken possession of the little town, +and all the forts of that island, having made their entrance through what +was called the Black Channel. Had they steered boldly through the Swint +or Sluys channel at once, it is probable that they might have proceeded +straight up to Sluy's, and taken the place by surprise. Maurice's +habitual caution was, perhaps, on this occasion, a disadvantage to him, +but he would have violated the rules of war, and what seemed the dictates +of common sense, had he not secured a basis of operations, and a +possibility of retreat, before plunging with his army into the heart +of a hostile country. The republic still shuddered at the possible +catastrophe of four years before, when circumstances had forced him to +take the heroic but dangerous resolution of sending off his ships from +Nieuport. Before he had completed his arrangements for supplies on the +island of Cadzand, he learned from scouts and reconnoitring parties that +Spinola had sent a thousand infantry, besides five hundred cavalry, under +Trivulzio, to guard the passage across the Swint. Maurice was thus on +the wrong side of the great channel by which Sluy's communicated with the +sea? + +The town of Sluy's and its situation have been described in a former +chapter. As a port, it was in those days considered a commodious and +important one, capable of holding five hundred ships. As a town, it was +not so insignificant as geographical and historical changes have since +made it, and was certainly far superior to Ostend, even if Ostend had +not been almost battered out of existence. It had spacious streets and +squares, and excellent fortifications in perfectly good condition. It +was situate in a watery labyrinth, many slender streams from the interior +and several saltwater creeks being complicated around it, and then +flowing leisurely, in one deep sluggish channel, to the sea. The wrath +of Leicester, when all his efforts to relieve the place had been baffled +by the superior skill of Alexander Farnese, has been depicted, and during +the seventeen years which had elapsed since its capture, the republic had +not ceased to deplore that disaster. Obviously if the present expedition +could end in the restoration of Sluy's to its rightful owners, it would +be a remarkable success, even if Ostend should fall. Sluy's and its +adjacent domains formed a natural portion of the Zeeland archipelago, the +geographical counterpart of Flushing. With both branches of the stately +Scheld in its control, the republic would command the coast, and might +even dispense with Ostend, which, in the judgment of Maurice, was an +isolated and therefore not a desirable military possession. The States- +General were of a different opinion. They much desired to obtain Sluy's, +but they would not listen to the abandonment of Ostend. It was expected +of the stadholder, therefore, that he should seize the one and protect +the other. The task was a difficult one. A less mathematical brain than +that of Maurice of Nassau would have reeled at the problem to be solved. +To master such a plexus of canals, estuaries, and dykes, of passages +through swamps, of fords at low water which were obliterated by flood- +tide; to take possession of a series of redoubts built on the only firm +points of land, with nothing but quaking morass over which to manoeuvre +troops or plant batteries against them, would be a difficult study, even +upon paper. To accomplish it in the presence of a vigilant and anxious +foe seemed bewildering enough. + +At first it was the intention of the stadholder, disappointed at learning +the occupation of the Swint, to content himself with fortifying Cadzand, +in view of future operations at some more favourable moment? So meagre +a result would certainly not have given great satisfaction to the States, +nor added much to the military reputation of Maurice. While he hesitated +between plunging without a clue into the watery maze around him, and +returning discomfited from the expedition on which such high hopes had +been built, a Flemish boor presented himself. He offered to guide the +army around the east and south of Sluy's, and to point out passages where +it would be possible to cross the waters, which, through the care of +Spinola, now seemed to forbid access to the place. Maurice lingered no +longer. On the 28th April, led by the friendly boor, he advanced towards +Oostburg. Next morning a small force of the enemy's infantry and cavalry +was seen, showing that there must be foothold in that direction. He sent +out a few companies to skirmish with those troops, who fled after a very +brief action, and, in flying, showed their pursuers the road. Maurice +marched in force, straight through the waters, on the track of the +retreating foe. They endeavoured to rally at the fort of Coxie, which +stood upon and commanded a dyke, but the republicans were too quick for +them, and drove them out of the place." The stadholder, thus obtaining +an unexpected passage into Flanders, conceived strong hopes of success, +despite the broken nature of the ground. Continuing to feel his way +cautiously through the wilderness of quagmire, he soon came upon a very +formidable obstacle. The well-built and well-equipped redoubt of St. +Catharine rose frowning before him, overshadowing his path, and +completely prohibiting all further progress. Plainly it would be +necessary to reduce this work at once, unless he were willing to abandon +his enterprise. He sent back to Cadzand for artillery, but it was flood- +tide, the waters were out, and it was not till late in the afternoon that +nine pieces arrived. The stadholder ordered a cannonade, less with the +hope of producing an impression by such inadequate means on so strong a +work, than with the intention of showing the enemy that he had brought +field-guns with him, and was not merely on an accidental foray. At the +same time, having learned that the garrison, which was commanded by +Trivulzio, was composed of only a few regular troops, and a large force +of guerillas, he gave notice that such combatants were not entitled to +quarter, and that if captured they would be all put to the sword. The +reply to this threat was not evacuation but defiance. Especially a +volunteer ensign mounted upon a rampart, and danced about, waving his +flag gaily in the face of the assailants. Maurice bitterly remarked to +his staff that such a man alone was enough to hold the fort. As it was +obvious that the place would require a siege in form, and that it would +be almost impossible to establish batteries upon that quaking soil, where +there was no dry land for cavalry or artillery to move, Maurice ordered +the nine guns to be carried back to Cadzand that night, betaking himself, +much disappointed, in the same direction." Yet it so happened that the +cannoneers, floundering through the bogs, made such an outcry--especially +when one of their guns became so bemired that it was difficult for them +to escape the disgrace of losing it--that the garrison, hearing a great +tumult, which they could not understand, fell into one of those panics to +which raw and irregular troops are liable. Nothing would convince them +that fresh artillery had not arrived, that the terrible stadholder with +an immense force was not creating invincible batteries, and that they +should be all butchered in cold blood, according to proclamation, before +the dawn of day. They therefore evacuated the place under cover of +the night, so that this absurd accident absolutely placed Maurice in +possession of the very fort--without striking a blow--which he was about +to abandon in despair, and which formed the first great obstacle to his +advance. + +Having occupied St. Catharine's, he moved forward to Ysendyke, a strongly +fortified place three leagues to the eastward of Sluys and invested it in +form. Meantime a great danger was impending over him. A force of well- +disciplined troops, to the number of two thousand, dropped down in boats +from Sluy's to Cadzand, for the purpose of surprising the force left to +guard that important place. + +The expedition was partially successful. Six hundred landed; beating +down all opposition. But a few Scotch companies held firm, and by hard +fighting were able at last to drive the invaders back to their sloops, +many of which were sunk in the affray, with all on board. The rest +ignominiously retreated. Had the enterprise been as well executed as it +was safely planned, it would have gone hard with the stadholder and his +army. It is difficult to see in what way he could have extricated +himself from such a dilemma, being thus cut off from his supplies and his +fleet, and therefore from all possibility of carrying out his design or +effecting his escape to Zeeland. Certainly thus far, fortune had +favoured his bold adventure. + +He now sent his own trumpeter, Master Hans, to summon Ysendyke to a +surrender. The answer was a bullet which went through the head of +unfortunate Master Hans. Maurice, enraged at this barbarous violation of +the laws of war, drew his lines closer. Next day the garrison, numbering +six hundred, mostly Italians, capitulated, and gave up the musketeer who +had murdered the trumpeter. + +Two days later the army appeared before Aardenburg, a well-fortified +town four miles south of Sluys. It surrendered disgracefully, without +striking a blow. The place was a most important position for the +investment of Sluys. Four or five miles further towards the west, two +nearly parallel streams, both navigable, called the Sweet and the Salt, +ran from Dam to Sluys. It was a necessary but most delicate operation, +to tie up these two important arteries. An expedition despatched in this +direction came upon Trivulzio with a strong force of cavalry, posted at a +pass called Stamper's Hook, which controlled the first of these streams. +The narrowness of the pathway gave the advantage to the Italian +commander. A warm action took place, in which the republican cavalry +were worsted, and Paul Bax severely wounded. Maurice coming up with the +infantry at a moment when the prospect was very black, turned defeat into +victory and completely routed the enemy, who fled from the precious +position with a loss of five hundred killed and three hundred prisoners, +eleven officers among them. The Sweet was now in the stadholder's +possession. + +Next day he marched against the Salt, at a pass where fourteen hundred +Spaniards were stationed. Making very ostentatious preparations for an +attack upon this position, he suddenly fell backwards down the stream to +a point which he had discovered to be fordable at low water, and marched +his whole army through the stream while the skirmishing was going on a +few miles farther up. The Spaniards, discovering their error, and +fearing to be cut off, scampered hastily away to Dam. Both streams were +now in the control of the republican army, while the single fort of St. +Joris was all that was now interposed between Maurice and the much- +coveted Swint. This redoubt, armed with nine guns, and provided with a +competent, garrison, was surrendered on the 23rd May. + +The Swint, or great sea-channel of Sluys, being now completely in the +possession of the stadholder, he deliberately proceeded to lay out his +lines, to make his entrenched camp, and to invest his city with the +beautiful neatness which ever characterized his sieges. A groan came +from the learned Lipsius, as he looked from the orthodox shades of +Louvain upon the progress of the heretic prince. + +"Would that I were happier," he cried, "but things are not going on in +Flanders as I could wish. How easy it would have been to save Sluys, +which we are now trying so hard to do, had we turned our attention +thither in time! But now we have permitted the enemy to entrench and +fortify himself, and we are the less excusable because we know to our +cost how felicitously he fights with the spade, and that he builds works +like an ancient Roman . . . . . Should we lose Sluys, which God +forbid, how much strength and encouragement will be acquired by the foe, +and by all who secretly or openly favour him! Our neighbours are all +straining their eyes, as from a watch-tower, eager to see the result of +all these doings. But what if they too should begin to move? Where +should we be? I pray God to have mercy on the Netherlanders, whom He has +been so many years chastising with heavy whips." + +It was very true. The man with the spade had been allowed to work too +long at his felicitous vocation. There had been a successful effort made +to introduce reinforcements to the garrison. Troops, to the number of +fifteen hundred, had been added to those already shut up there, but the +attempts to send in supplies were not so fortunate. Maurice had +completely invested the town before the end of May, having undisputed +possession of the harbour and of all the neighbouring country. He was +himself encamped on the west side of the Swint; Charles van der Noot +lying on the south. The submerged meadows, stretching all around in the +vicinity of the haven, he had planted thickly with gunboats. Scarcely a +bird or a fish could go into or out of the place. Thus the stadholder +exhibited to the Spaniards who, fifteen miles off towards the west, had +been pounding and burrowing three years long before Ostend without +success, what he understood by a siege. + +On the 22nd of May a day of solemn prayer and fasting was, by command of +Maurice, celebrated throughout the besieging camp. In order that the day +should be strictly kept in penance, mortification, and thanksgiving, it +was ordered, on severe penalties, that neither the commissaries nor +sutlers should dispense any food whatever, throughout the twenty-four +hours. Thus the commander-in-chief of the republic prepared his troops +for the work before them. + +In the very last days of May the experiment was once more vigorously +tried to send in supplies. A thousand galley-slaves, the remnant of +Frederic Spinola's unlucky naval forces, whose services were not likely +very soon to be required at sea, were sent out into the drowned land, +accompanied by five hundred infantry. Simultaneously Count Berlaymont, +at the head of four thousand men, conveying a large supply of provisions +and munitions, started from Dam. Maurice, apprised of the adventure, +sallied forth with two thousand troops to meet them. Near Stamper's Hook +he came upon a detachment of Berlaymont's force, routed them, and took a +couple of hundred prisoners. Learning from them that Berlaymont himself, +with the principal part of his force, had passed farther on, he started +off in pursuit; but, unfortunately taking a different path through the +watery wilderness from the one selected by the flying foe, he was not +able to prevent his retreat by a circuitous route to Dam. From the +prisoners, especially from the galley-slaves, who had no reason for +disguising the condition of the place, he now learned that there were +plenty of troops in Sluys, but that there was already a great lack of +provisions. They had lost rather than gained by their success in +introducing reinforcements without supplies. Upon this information +Maurice now resolved to sit quietly down and starve out the garrison. +If Spinola, in consequence, should raise the siege of Ostend, in order +to relieve a better town, he was prepared to give him battle. If the +marquis held fast to his special work, Sluys was sure to surrender. +This being the position of affairs, the deputies of the States-General +took their leave of the stadholder, and returned to the Hague. + +Two months passed. It was midsummer, and the famine in the beleaguered +town had become horrible. The same hideous spectacle was exhibited as on +all occasions where thousands of human beings are penned together without +food. They ate dogs, cats, and rats, the weeds from the churchyards, old +saddles, and old shoes, and, when all was gone, they began to eat each +other. The small children diminished rapidly in numbers, while beacons +and signals of distress were fired day and night, that the obdurate +Spinola, only a few miles off, might at last move to their relief. + +The archdukes too were beginning to doubt whether the bargain were a +good one. To give a strong, new, well-fortified city, with the best of +harbours, in exchange for a heap of rubbish which had once been Ostend, +seemed unthrifty enough. Moreover, they had not got Ostend, while sure +to lose Sluys. At least the cardinal could no longer afford to dispense +with the service of his beat corps of veterans who had demanded their +wages so insolently, and who had laughed at his offer of excommunication +by way of payment so heartily. Flinging away his pride, he accordingly +made a treaty with the mutinous "squadron" at Grave, granting an entire +pardon for all their offences, and promising full payment of their +arrears. Until funds should be collected sufficient for this purpose, +they were to receive twelve stivers a day each foot-soldier, and twenty- +four stivers each cavalryman, and were to have the city of Roermond in +pledge. The treaty was negotiated by Guerrera, commandant of Ghent +citadel, and by the Archbishop of Roermond, while three distinguished +hostages were placed in the keeping of the mutineers until the contract +should be faithfully executed: Guerrera himself, Count Fontenoy, son of +Marquis d'Havre, and Avalos, commander of a Spanish legion. Thus, after +making a present of the services of these veterans for a twelvemonth to +the stadholder, and after employing a very important portion of his +remaining forces in a vain attempt to reduce their revolt, the archduke +had now been fain to purchase their submission by conceding all their +demands. It would have been better economy perhaps to come to this +conclusion at an earlier day. + +It would likewise have been more judicious, according to the lamentations +of Justus Lipsius, had the necessity of saving Sluys been thought of in +time. Now that it was thoroughly enclosed, so that a mouse could scarce +creep through the lines, the archduke was feverish to send in a thousand +wagon loads of provisions. Spinola, although in reality commander-in- +chief of a Spanish army, and not strictly subject to the orders of the +Flemish sovereigns, obeyed the appeal of the archduke, but he obeyed most +reluctantly. Two-thirds of Ostend had been effaced, and it was hard to +turn even for a moment from the spot until all should have been +destroyed. + +Leaving Rivas and Bucquoy to guard the entrenchments, and to keep +steadily to the work, Spinola took the field with a large force of all +arms, including the late mutineers and the troops of Count Trivulzio. +On the 8th August he appeared in the neighbourhood of the Salt and Sweet +streams, and exchanged a few cannon-shots with the republicans. Next day +he made a desperate assault with three thousand men and some companies of +cavalry, upon Lewis William's quarters, where he had reason to believe +the lines were weakest. He received from that most vigilant commander +a hearty welcome, however, and after a long skirmish was obliged to +withdraw, carrying off his dead and wounded, together with a few cart- +horses which had been found grazing outside the trenches. Not satisfied +with these trophies or such results, he remained several days inactive, +and then suddenly whirled around Aardenburg with his whole army, directly +southward of Sluys, seized the forts of St. Catharine and St. Philip, +which had been left with very small garrisons, and then made a furious +attempt to break the lines at Oostburg, hoping to cross the fords at that +place, and thus push his way into the isle of Cadzand. The resistance to +his progress was obstinate, the result for a time doubtful. After severe +fighting however he crossed the waters of Oostburg in the face of the +enemy. Maurice meantime had collected all his strength at the vital +position of Cadzand, hoping to deal, or at least to parry, a mortal blow. + +On the 17th, on Cadzand dyke, between two redoubts, Spinola again met +Lewis William, who had been transferred to that important position. +A severe struggle ensued. The Spaniards were in superior force, and +Lewis William, commanding the advance only of the States troops, was hard +pressed. Moving always in the thickest of the fight, he would probably +have that day laid down his life, as so many of his race had done before +in the cause of the republic, had not Colonel van Dorp come to his +rescue, and so laid about him with a great broad sword, that the dyke was +kept until Maurice arrived with Eytzinga's Frisian regiment and other +reserves. Van Dorp then fell covered with wounds. Here was the decisive +combat. The two commanders-in-chief met face to face for the first time, +and could Spinola have gained the position of Cadzand the fate of Maurice +must have been sealed. But all his efforts were vain. The stadholder, +by coolness and promptness, saved the day, and inflicted a bloody repulse +upon the Catholics. Spinola had displayed excellent generalship, but it +is not surprising that the young volunteer should have failed upon his +first great field day to defeat Maurice of Nassau and his cousin Lewis +William. He withdrew discomfited at last, leaving several hundred dead +upon the field, definitely renouncing all hope of relieving Sluys, and +retiring by way of Dam to his camp before Ostend. Next day the town +capitulated. + +The garrison were allowed to depart with the honours of war, and the same +terms were accorded to the inhabitants, both in secular and religious +matters, as were usual when Maurice re-occupied any portion of the +republic. Between three and four thousand creatures, looking rather like +ghosts from the churchyards than living soldiers, marched out, with drums +beating, colours displayed, matches lighted, and bullet in mouth. Sixty +of them fell dead before the dismal procession had passed out of the +gates. Besides these troops were nearly fifteen hundred galley-slaves, +even more like shadows than the rest, as they had been regularly sent +forth during the latter days of the siege to browse upon soutenelle in +the submerged meadows, or to drown or starve if unable to find a +sufficient supply of that weed. These unfortunate victims of Mahometan +and Christian tyranny were nearly all Turks, and by the care of the Dutch +Government were sent back by sea to their homes. A few of them entered +the service of the States. + +The evacuation of Sluys by Governor Serrano and his garrison was upon +the 20th August. Next day the stadholder took possession, bestowing the +nominal government of the place upon his brother Frederic Henry. The +atmosphere, naturally enough, was pestiferous, and young Count Lewis +Gunther of Nassau, who had so brilliantly led the cavalry on the famous +day of Nieuport, died of fever soon after entering the town infinitely +regretted by every one who wished well to the republic. + +Thus an important portion of Zeeland was restored, to its natural owners. +A seaport which in those days was an excellent one, and more than a +compensation for the isolated fishing village already beleaguered for +upwards of three years, had been captured in three months. The States- +General congratulated their stadholder on such prompt and efficient work, +while the garrison of Ostend, first learning the authentic news seven +days afterwards, although at a distance of only fourteen miles, had cause +to go upon their knees and sing praises to the Most High. + +The question now arose as to the relief of Ostend. Maurice was decidedly +opposed to any such scheme. He had got a better Ostend in Slays, and he +saw no motive for spending money and blood in any further attempt to gain +possession of a ruin, which, even if conquered, could only with extreme +difficulty be held. The States were of a diametrically opposite opinion. +They insisted that the stadholder, so soon he could complete his +preparations, should march straight upon Spinola's works and break up the +siege, even at the risk of a general action. They were willing once more +to take the terrible chance of a defeat in Flanders. Maurice, with a +heavy heart, bowed to their decision, showing by his conduct the very +spirit of a republican soldier, obeying the civil magistrate, even when +that obedience was like to bring disaster upon the commonwealth. But +much was to be done before he could undertake this new adventure. + +Meantime the garrison in Ostend were at their last gasp. On being asked +by the States-General whether it was possible to hold out for twenty days +longer, Marquette called a council of officers, who decided that they +would do their best, but that it was impossible to fix a day or hour when +resistance must cease. Obviously, however, the siege was in its extreme +old age. The inevitable end was approaching. + +Before the middle of September the enemy was thoroughly established in +possession of the new Hell's Mouth, the new Porcupine, and all the other +bastions of the new entrenchment. On the 13th of that month the last +supreme effort was made, and the Sand Hill, that all-important redoubt, +which during these three dismal years had triumphantly resisted every +assault, was at last carried by storm. The enemy had now gained +possession of the whole town except Little Troy. The new harbour would +be theirs in a few hours, and as for Troy itself, those hastily and +flimsily constructed ramparts were not likely to justify the vaunts +uttered when they were thrown up nor to hold out many minutes before the +whole artillery of Spinola. Plainly on this last morsel of the fatal +sandbank the word surrender must be spoken, unless the advancing trumpets +of Maurice should now be heard. But there was no such welcome sound in +the air. The weather was so persistently rainy and stormy that the roads +became impassable, and Maurice, although ready and intending to march +towards Spinola to offer him battle, was unable for some days to move. +Meantime a council, summoned by Marquette, of all the officers, decided +that Ostend must be abandoned now that Ostend had ceased to exist. + +On the 20th September the Accord was signed with Spinola. The garrison +were to march out with their arms. They were to carry off four cannon +but no powder. All clerical persons were to leave the place, with their +goods and chattels. All prisoners taken on both sides during the siege +were to be released. Burghers, sutlers, and others, to go whither they +would, undisturbed. And thus the archdukes, after three years and +seventy-seven days of siege, obtained their prize. Three thousand men, +in good health, marched out of little Troy with the honours of war. The +officers were entertained by Spinola and his comrades at a magnificent +banquet, in recognition of the unexampled heroism with which the town had +been defended. Subsequently the whole force marched to the headquarters +of the States' army in and about Sluys. They were received by Prince +Maurice, who stood bareheaded and surrounded by his most distinguished +officers; to greet them and to shake them warmly by the hand. Surely no +defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe. + +The Archduke Albert and the Infants Isabella entered the place +in triumph, if triumph it could be called. It would be difficult to +imagine a more desolate scene. The artillery of the first years of the +seventeenth century was not the terrible enginry of destruction that it +has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade, +continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. There were no +churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a +vague and confused mass of ruin. Spinola conducted his imperial guests +along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through +quagmires which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast +shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. He +endeavoured to point out places where mines had been exploded, where +ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and +where they had been bloodily repulsed. But it was all loathsome, hideous +rubbish. There were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. The +inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures of +the swamps and forests. In every direction the dykes had burst, and the +sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither the +floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building +materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. The +great ship channel, with the unconquered Half-moon upon one side and the +incomplete batteries and platforms of Bucquoy on the other, still +defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the +garrison were white in the offing. All around was the grey expanse of +stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the +surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their own. +The atmosphere was mirky and surcharged with rain, for the wild +equinoctial storm which had held Maurice spell-bound had been raging over +land and sea for many days. At every step the unburied skulls of brave +soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom grinned their welcome to +the conquerors. Isabella wept at the sight. She had cause to weep. +Upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid +down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might +at last take possession of a most barren prize. This insignificant +fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to +her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or +actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet Saturn--had at +last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. It was of no +great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at +least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions +between the two belligerents. It was in vain that great immunities were +offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the +foul Golgotha. The original population left the place in mass. No human +creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a +journeyman blacksmith. This unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the +purer atmosphere of Zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the +carrion crows the amenities of Ostend. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + Equation between the contending powers--Treaty of peace between King + James and the archdukes and the King of Spain--Position of the + Provinces--States envoy in England to be styled ambassador--Protest + of the Spanish ambassador--Effect of James's peace-treaty on the + people of England--Public rejoicings for the victory at Sluys-- + Spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the Spanish forces-- + Preparations for a campaign against the States--Seizure of Dutch + cruisers--International discord--Destruction of Sarmiento's fleet by + Admiral Haultain--Projected enterprise against Antwerp--Descent of + Spinola on the Netherland frontier--Oldenzaal and Lingen taken-- + Movements of Prince Maurice--Encounter of the two armies--Panic of + the Netherlanders--Consequent loss and disgrace--Wachtendonk and + Cracow taken by Spinola--Spinola's reception in Spain--Effect of his + victories--Results of the struggle between Freedom and Absolutism-- + Affairs in the East--Amboyna taken by Van der Hagen--Contest for + possession of the Clove Islands--Commercial treaty between the + States and the King of Ternate--Hostilities between the Kings of + Ternate and Tydor--Expulsion of the Portuguese from the Moluccas-- + Du Terrail's attempted assault on Bergen-op-Zoom--Attack on the + Dunkirk pirate fleet--Practice of executing prisoners captured at + sea. + +I have invited the reader's attention to the details of this famous siege +because it was not an episode, but almost the sum total, of the great war +during the period occupied by its events. The equation between the +contending forces indicated the necessity of peace. That equation seemed +for the time to have established itself over all Europe. France had long +since withdrawn from the actual strife, and kept its idle thunders in a +concealed although ever threatening hand. In the East the Pacha of Buda +had become Pacha of Pest. Even Gran was soon to fall before the Turk, +whose advancing horse-tails might thus almost be descried from the walls +of Vienna. Stephen Botschkay meantime had made himself master of +Transylvania, concluded peace with Ahmet, and laughed at the Emperor +Rudolph for denouncing him as a rebel. + +Between Spain and England a far different result had been reached than +the one foreshadowed in the portentous colloquies between King James and +Maximilian de Bethune. Those conferences have been purposely described +with some minuteness, in order that the difference often existing between +vast projects and diametrically opposed and very insignificant +conclusions might once more be exhibited. + +In the summer of 1603 it had been firmly but mysteriously arranged +between the monarchs of France and Great Britain that the House of +Austria should be crushed, its territories parcelled out at the +discretion of those two potentates, the imperial crown taken from the +Habsburgs, the Spaniards driven out of the Netherlands, an alliance +offensive and defensive made with the Dutch republic, while the East and +West Indies were, to be wrested by main force of the allies, from Spain, +whose subjects were thenceforth to be for ever excluded from those +lucrative regions. As for the Jesuits, who were to James as loathsome +as were the Puritans to Elizabeth, the British sovereign had implored the +ambassador of his royal brother, almost with tears, never to allow that +pestilential brood to regain an entrance into his dominions. + +In the summer of 1604 King James made a treaty of peace and amity with +the archdukes and with the monarch of Spain, thus extending his friendly +relations with the doomed house of Austria. The republic of the +Netherlands was left to fight her battles alone; her imaginary allies +looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference. As for the +Indies, not a syllable of allusion in the treaty was permitted by Spain +to that sacred subject; the ambassador informing the British Government +that he gave them access to twelve kingdoms and two seas, while Spain +acquired by the treaty access only to two kingdoms and one sea. The new +world, however, east or west, from the Antilles to the Moluccas, was the +private and indefeasible property of his Catholic Majesty. On religious +matters, it was agreed that English residents in Spain should not be +compelled to go to mass, but that they should kneel in the street to the +Host unless they could get out of the ways. In regard to the Netherlands, +it was agreed by the two contracting powers that one should never assist +the rebels or enemies of the other. With regard to the cities and +fortresses of Brill, Flushing, Rammekens, and other cautionary places, +where English garrisons were maintained, and which King James was bound +according to the contracts of Queen Elizabeth never to restore except to +those who had pledged them to the English crown--the king would uphold +those contracts. He would, however, endeavour to make an arrangement +with the States by which they should agree within a certain period to +make their peace with Spain. Should they refuse or fail, he would then +consider himself liberated from these previous engagements and free to +act concerning those cities in an honourable and reasonable manner, as +became a friendly king? Meantime the garrisons should not in any way +assist the Hollanders in their hostilities with Spain. English subjects +were forbidden to carry into Spain or the obedient Netherlands any +property or merchandize belonging to the Hollanders, or to make use of +Dutch vessels in their trade with Spain. Both parties agreed to do their +best to bring about a pacification in the Netherlands. + +No irony certainly could be more exquisite that this last-named article. +This was the end of that magnificent conception, the great Anglo-French +League against the house of Austria. King James would combine his +efforts with King Philip to pacify the Netherlands. The wolf and the +watchdog would unite to bring back the erring flock to the fold. +Meantime James would keep the cautionary towns in his clutches, not +permitting their garrisons or any of his subjects to assist the rebels on +sea or shore. As for the Jesuits, their triumphant re-appearance in +France, and the demolition of the pyramid raised to their dishonour on +the site of the house where John Castel, who had stabbed Henry IV., had +resided, were events about to mark the opening year. Plainly enough +Secretary Cecil had out-generalled the French party. + +The secret treaty of Hampton Court, the result of the efforts of Rosny +and Olden-Barneveld in July of the previous year, was not likely to be +of much service in protecting the republic. James meant to let the dead +treaties bury their dead, to live in peace with all the world, and to +marry his sons and daughters to Spanish Infantes and Infantas. Meantime, +although he had sheathed the sword which Elizabeth had drawn against the +common enemy, and had no idea of fighting or spending money for the +States, he was willing that their diplomatic agent should be called +ambassador. The faithful and much experienced Noel de Caron coveted that +distinction, and moved thereby the spleen of Henry's envoy at the Hague, +Buzanval, who probably would not have objected to the title himself. +"'Twill be a folly," he said, "for him to present himself on the pavement +as a prancing steed, and then be treated like a poor hack. He has been +too long employed to put himself in such a plight. But there are +lunatics everywhere and of all ages." + +Never had the Advocate seemed so much discouraged. Ostend had fallen, +and the defection of the British sovereign was an off-set for the +conquest of Sluys. He was more urgent with the French Government for +assistance than he had ever been before. "A million florins a year from +France," he said "joined to two millions raised in the provinces, would +enable them to carry on the war. The ship was in good condition," he +added, "and fit for a long navigation without danger of shipwreck if +there were only biscuit enough on board." Otherwise she was lost. +Before that time came he should quit the helm which he had been holding +the more resolutely since the peace of Vervins because the king had told +him, when concluding it, that if three years' respite should be given him +he would enter into the game afresh, and take again upon his shoulders +the burthen which inevitable necessity had made him throw down. "But," +added Olden-Barneveld, bitterly, "there is little hope of it now, after +his neglect of the many admirable occasions during the siege of Ostend." + +So soon as the Spanish ambassador learned that Caron was to be +accepted into the same diplomatic rank as his own, he made an infinite +disturbance, protested moat loudly and passionately to the king at the +indignity done to his master by this concession to the representative of +a crew of traitors and rebels, and demanded in the name of the treaty +just concluded that Caron should be excluded in such capacity from all +access to court. + +As James was nearly forty years of age, as the Hollanders had been +rebels ever since he was born, and as the King of Spain had exercised no +sovereignty over them within his memory, this was naturally asking too +much of him in the name of his new-born alliance with Spain. So he +assumed a position of great dignity, notwithstanding the Constable's +clamour, and declared his purpose to give audience to the agents of the +States by whatever title they presented themselves before him. In so +doing he followed the example, he said, of others who (a strange +admission on his part) were as wise as himself. It was not for him to +censure the crimes and faults of the States, if such they had committed. +He had not been the cause of their revolt from Spanish authority, and it +was quite sufficient that he had stipulated to maintain neutrality +between the two belligerents's. And with this the ambassador of his +Catholic Majesty, having obtained the substance of a very advantageous +treaty, was fain to abandon opposition to the shadowy title by which +James sought to indemnify the republic for his perfidy. + +The treaty of peace with Spain gave no pleasure to the English public. +There was immense enthusiasm in London at the almost simultaneous fall of +Sluys, but it was impossible for the court to bring about a popular +demonstration of sympathy with the abandonment of the old ally and the +new-born affection for the ancient enemy. "I can assure your +mightinesses," wrote Caron, "that no promulgation was ever received in +London with more sadness. No mortal has shown the least satisfaction in +words or deeds, but, on the contrary, people have cried out openly, 'God +save our good neighbours the States of Holland and Zeeland, and grant +them victory!' On Sunday, almost all the preachers gave thanks from +their pulpits for the victory which their good neighbours had gained at +Sluys, but would not say a word about the peace. The people were +admonished to make bonfires, but you may be very sure not a bonfire was +to be seen. But, in honour of the victory, all the vessels in St. +Catharine's Docks fired salutes at which the Spaniards were like to burst +with spite. The English clap their hands and throw their caps in the air +when they hear anything published favourable to us, but, it must be +confessed, they are now taking very dismal views of affairs. 'Vox populi +vox Dei.'" + +The rejoicing in Paris was scarcely less enthusiastic or apparently +less sincere than in London. "The news of the surrender of Sluys," wrote +Aerasens, "is received with so much joy by small and great that one would +have said it was their own exploit. His Majesty has made such +demonstrations in his actions and discourse that he has not only been +advised by his council to dissemble in the matter, but has undergone +reproaches from the pope's nuncius of having made a league with your +Mightinesses to the prejudice of the King of Spain. His Majesty wishes +your Mightinesses prosperity with all his heart, yea so that he would +rather lose his right arm than see your Mightinesses in danger. Be +assured that he means roundly, and we should pray God for his long life; +for I don't see that we can expect anything from these regions after his +death." + +It was ere long to be seen, however, roundly as the king meant it, that +the republic was to come into grave peril without causing him to lose his +right arm, or even to wag his finger, save in reproach of their +Mightinesses. + +The republic, being thus left to fight its battles alone, girded its +loins anew for the conflict. During the remainder of the year 1604, +however, there were no military operations of consequence. Both +belligerents needed a brief repose. + +The siege of Ostend had not been a siege. It was a long pitched battle +between the new system and the old, between absolutism and the spirit of +religious, political and mercantile freedom. Absolutism had gained the +lists on which the long duel had been fought, but the republic had +meantime exchanged that war-blasted spot for a valuable and commodious +position. + +It was certainly an advantage, as hostilities were necessarily to have +continued somewhere during all that period, that all the bloodshed and +desolation had been concentrated upon one insignificant locality, and one +more contiguous to the enemy's possessions than to those of the united +States. It was very doubtful, however, whether all that money and blood +might not have been expended in some other manner more beneficial to the +cause of the archdukes. At least it could hardly be maintained that they +took anything by the capitulation of Ostend but the most barren and +worthless of trophies. Eleven old guns, partly broken, and a small +quantity of ammunition, were all the spoils of war found in the city +after its surrender. + +The Marquis Spinola went to Spain. On passing through Paris he was +received with immense enthusiasm by Henry IV., whose friendship for the +States, and whose desperate designs against the house of Austria, did not +prevent him from warmly congratulating the great Spanish general on his +victory. It was a victory, said Henry, which he could himself have never +achieved, and, in recognition of so great a triumph, he presented Spinola +with a beautiful Thracian horse, valued at twelve hundred ducats. +Arriving in Spain, the conqueror found himself at once the object of the +open applause and the scarcely concealed hatred of the courtiers and +politicians. He ardently desired to receive as his guerdon the rank of +grandee of Spain. He met with a refusal. To keep his hat on his head in +presence of the sovereign was the highest possible reward. Should that +be bestowed upon him now, urged Lerma, what possible recompense could be +imagined for the great services which all felt confident that he was +about to render in the future? He must continue to remove his hat in +the monarch's company. Meantime, if he wished the title of prince, with +considerable revenues attached to his principality, this was at his +disposal. It must be confessed that in a monarchy where the sentiment +of honour was supposed to be the foundation of the whole +structure there is something chivalrous and stimulating to the +imagination in this preference by the great general of a shadowy but +rare distinction to more substantial acquisitions. Nevertheless, as the +grandeeship was refused, it is not recorded that he was displeased with +the principality. Meantime there was a very busy intrigue to deprive him +of the command-in-chief of the Catholic forces in Flanders, and one so +nearly successful that Mexia, governor of Antwerp citadel, was actually +appointed in Spinola's stead. It was only after long and anxious +conferences at Valladolid with the king and the Duke of Lerma, and after +repeated statements in letters from the archdukes that all their hopes of +victory depended on retaining the Genoese commander-in-chief, that the +matter was finally arranged. Mexia received an annual pension of eight +thousand ducats, and to Spinola was assigned five hundred ducats monthly, +as commander-in-chief under the archduke, with an equal salary as agent +for the king's affairs in Flanders. + +Early in the spring he returned to Brussels, having made fresh +preparations for the new campaign in which he was to measure himself +before the world against Maurice of Nassau. + +Spinola had removed the thorn from the Belgic lion's foot: "Ostendae +erasit fatalis Spinola spinam." And although it may be doubted whether +the relief was as thorough as had been hoped, yet a freedom of movement +had unquestionably been gained. There was now at least what for a long +time had not existed, a possibility for imagining some new and perhaps +more effective course of campaigning. The young Genoese commander-in- +chief returned from Spain early in May, with the Golden Fleece around his +neck, and with full powers from the Catholic king to lay out his work, +subject only to the approbation of the archduke. It was not probable +that Albert, who now thoroughly admired and leaned upon the man of whom +he had for a time been disposed to be jealous, would interfere with his +liberty of action. There had also been--thanks to Spinola's influence +with the cabinet at Madrid and the merchants of Genoa--much more energy +in recruiting and in providing the necessary sinews of war. Moreover it +had been resolved to make the experiment of sending some of the new +levies by sea, instead of subjecting them all to the long and painful +overland march through Spain, Italy, and Germany. A terzo of infantry +was on its way from Naples, and two more were expected from Milan, but it +was decided that the Spanish troops should be embarked on board a fleet +of transports, mainly German and English, and thus carried to the shores +of the obedient Netherlands. + +The States-General got wind of these intentions, and set Vice-Admiral +Haultain upon the watch to defeat the scheme. That well-seasoned mariner +accordingly, with a sufficient fleet of war-galleots, cruised thenceforth +with great assiduity in the chops of the channel. Already the late +treaty between Spain and England had borne fruits of bitterness to the +republic. The Spanish policy had for the time completely triumphed in +the council of James. It was not surprising therefore that the partisans +of that policy should occasionally indulge in manifestations of +malevolence towards the upstart little commonwealth which had presumed +to enter into commercial rivalry with the British realm, and to assert a +place among the nations of the earth. An order had just been issued by +the English Government that none of its subjects should engage in the +naval service of any foreign power. This decree was a kind of corollary +to the Spanish treaty, was levelled directly against the Hollanders, and +became the pretext of intolerable arrogance, both towards their +merchantmen and their lesser war-vessels. Admiral Monson, an especial +partisan of Spain, was indefatigable in exercising the right he claimed +of visiting foreign vessels off the English coast, in search of English +sailors violating the proclamation of neutrality. On repeated occasions +prizes taken by Dutch cruisers from the Spaniards, and making their way +with small prize crews to the ports of the republic, were overhauled, +visited, and seized by the English admiral, who brought the vessels into +the harbours of his own country, liberated the crews, and handed ships +and cargoes over to the Spanish ambassador. Thus prizes fairly gained by +nautical skill and hard fighting, off Spain, Portugal, Brazil, or even +more distant parts of the world, were confiscated almost in sight of +port, in utter disregard of public law or international decency. The +States-General remonstrated with bitterness. Their remonstrances were +answered by copious arguments, proving, of course, to the entire +satisfaction of the party who had done the wrong, that no practice could +be more completely in harmony with reason and justice. Meantime the +Spanish ambassador sold the prizes, and appropriated the proceeds towards +carrying on the war against the republic; the Dutch sailors, thus set +ashore against their will and against law on the neutral coast of +England, being left to get home as they could, or to starve if they could +do no better. As for the States, they had the legal arguments of their +late ally to console them for the loss of their ships. + +Simultaneously with these events considerable levies of troops were made +in England by the archduke, in spite of all the efforts of the Dutch +ambassador to prevent this one-sided; neutrality, while at the other ends +of the world mercantile jealousy in both the Indies was fast combining +with other causes already rife to increase the international discord. +Out of all this fuel it was fated that a blaze of hatred between the two +leading powers of the new era, the United Kingdom and the United +Republic, should one day burst forth, which was to be fanned by passion, +prejudice, and a mistaken sentiment of patriotism and self-interest on +both sides, and which not all the bloodshed of more than one fierce war +could quench. The traces of this savage sentiment are burnt deeply into +the literature, language, and traditions of both countries; and it is +strange enough that the epoch at which chronic wrangling and +international coolness changed into furious antipathy between the two +great Protestant powers of Europe--for great they already both were, +despite the paucity of their population and resources, as compared with +nations which were less influenced by the spirit of the age or had less +aptness in obeying its impulse--should be dated from the famous year of +Guy Fawkes. + +Meantime the Spanish troops, embarked in eight merchant ships and a few +pinnaces, were slowly approaching their destination. They had been +instructed, in case they found it impracticable to enter a Flemish port, +to make for the hospitable shores of England, the Spanish ambassador and +those whom he had bribed at the court of James having already provided +for their protection. Off Dover Admiral Haultain got sight of +Sarmiento's little fleet. He made short work with it. Faithfully +carrying out the strenuous orders of the States-General, he captured some +of the ships, burned one, and ran others aground after a very brief +resistance. Some of the soldiers and crews were picked up by English +vessels cruising in the neighbourhood and narrowly watching the conflict. +A few stragglers escaped by swimming, but by far, the greater proportion +of the newly-arrived troops were taken prisoners, tied together two and +two, and then, at a given signal from the admiral's ship, tossed into the +sea. + +Not Peter Titelmann, nor Julian Romero, nor the Duke of Alva himself, +ever manifested greater alacrity in wholesale murder than was shown by +this admiral of the young republic in fulfilling the savage decrees of +the States-General. + +Thus at least one-half of the legion perished. The pursuit of the ships +was continued within English waters, when the guns of Dover Castle opened +vigorously upon the recent allies of England, in order to protect her +newly-found friends in their sore distress. Doubtless in the fervour of +the work the Dutch admiral had violated the neutral coast of England, so +that the cannonade from the castle waw technically justified. It was +however a biting satire upon the proposed Protestant league against Spain +and universal monarchy in behalf of the Dutch republic, that England was +already doing her best to save a Spanish legion and to sink a Dutch +fleet. The infraction of English sovereignty was unquestionable if +judged by the more scrupulous theory of modern days, but it was well +remarked by the States-General, in answer to the remonstrances of James's +Government, that the Dutch admiral, knowing that the pirates of Dunkirk +roamed at will through English waters in search of their prey, might have +hoped for some indulgence of a similar character to the ships of the +republic. + +Thus nearly the whole of the Spanish legion perished. The soldiers who +escaped to the English coast passed the winter miserably in huts, which +they were allowed to construct on the sands, but nearly all, including +the lieutenant-colonel commanding, Pedro Cubiera, died of famine or of +wounds. A few small vessels of the expedition succeeded in reaching the +Flemish coast, and landing a slight portion of the terzo. + +The campaign of 1605 opened but languidly. The strain upon the resources +of the Netherlands, thus unaided, was becoming severe, although there +is no doubt that, as the India traffic slowly developed itself, the +productive force of the commonwealth visibly increased, while the +thrifty habits of its citizens, and their comparative abstinence from +unproductive consumption, still enabled it to bear the tremendous burthen +of the war. A new branch of domestic industry had grown out of the India +trade, great quantities of raw silk being now annually imported from the +East into Holland, to be wrought into brocades, tapestries, damasks, +velvets, satins, and other luxurious fabrics for European consumption. + +It is a curious phenomenon in the history of industry that while at this +epoch Holland was the chief seat of silk manufactures, the great +financier of Henry IV. was congratulating his sovereign and himself that +natural causes had for ever prevented the culture or manufacture of silk +in France. If such an industry were possible, he was sure that the +decline of martial spirit in France and an eternal dearth of good French +soldiers would be inevitable, and he even urged that the importation of +such luxurious fabrics should be sternly prohibited, in order to preserve +the moral health of the people. The practical Hollanders were more +inclined to leave silk farthingales and brocaded petticoats to be dealt +with by thunderers from the pulpit or indignant fathers of families. +Meantime the States-General felt instinctively that the little +commonwealth grew richer, the more useful or agreeable things its +burghers could call into existence out of nothingness, to be exchanged +for the powder and bullets, timber and cordage, requisite for its eternal +fight with universal monarchy, and that the richer the burghers grew the +more capable they were of paying their taxes. It was not the fault of +the States that the insane ambition of Spain and the archdukes compelled +them to exhaust themselves annually by the most unproductive consumption +that man is ever likely to devise, that of scientifically slaughtering +his brethren, because to practise economy in that regard would be to +cease to exist, or to accept the most intolerable form of slavery. + +The forces put into the field in the spring of 1605 were but meagre. +There was also, as usual, much difference of opinion between Maurice and +Barneveld as to the most judicious manner of employing them, and as usual +the docile stadholder submitted his better judgment to the States. It +can hardly be too much insisted upon that the high-born Maurice always +deported himself in fact, and as it were unconsciously, as the citizen +soldier of a little republic, even while personally invested with many of +the attributes of exalted rank, and even while regarded by many of his +leading fellow-citizens as the legitimate and predestined sovereign of +the newly-born state. + +Early in the spring a great enterprise against Antwerp was projected. It +failed utterly. Maurice, at Bergen-op-Zoom, despatched seven thousand +troops up the Scheld, under command of Ernest Casimir. The flotilla was +a long time getting under weigh, and instead of effecting a surprise, the +army, on reaching the walls of Antwerp, found the burghers and garrison +not in the least astonished, but on the contrary entirely prepared. +Ernest returned after a few insignificant skirmishes, having accomplished +nothing. + +Maurice next spent a few days in reducing the castle of Wouda, not far +from Bergen, and then, transporting his army once more to the isle of +Cadzand, he established his headquarters at Watervliet, near Ysendyke. +Spinola followed him, having thrown a bridge across the Scheld. Maurice +was disposed to reduce a fort, well called Patience, lying over against +the isle of Walcheren. Spinola took up a position by which he defended +the place as with an impenetrable buckler. A game of skill now began. +between these two adepts in the art of war, for already the volunteer had +taken rank among the highest professors of the new school. It was the +object of Maurice, who knew himself on the whole outnumbered, to divine +his adversary's intentions. Spinola was supposed to be aiming at Sluys, +at Grave, at Bergen-op-Zoom, possibly even at some more remote city, like +Rheinberg, while rumours as to his designs, flying directly from his +camp, were as thick as birds in the air. They were let loose on purpose +by the artful Genoese, who all the time had a distinct and definite plan +which was not yet suspected. The dilatoriness of the campaign was +exasperating. It might be thought that the war was to last another half +century, from the excessive inertness of both parties. The armies had +all gone into winter quarters in the previous November, Spinola had spent +nearly six months in Spain, midsummer had came and gone, and still +Maurice was at Watervliet, guessing at his adversary's first move. On +the whole, he had inclined to suspect a design upon Rheinberg, and had +accordingly sent his brother Henry with a detachment to strengthen the +garrison of that place. On the 1st of August however he learned that +Spinola had crossed the Meuse and the Rhine, with ten thousand foot and +three thousand horse, and that leaving Count Bucquoy with six thousand +foot and one thousand five hundred horse in the neighbourhood of the +Rhine, to guard a couple of redoubts which had been constructed for a +basis at Kaiserswerth, he was marching with all possible despatch towards +Friesland and Groningen. + +The Catholic general had concealed his design in a masterly manner. He +had detained Maurice in the isle of Cadzand, the States still dreaming of +a victorious invasion on their part of obedient Flanders, and the +stadholder hesitating to quit his position of inactive observation, lest +the moment his back was turned the rapid Spinola might whirl down upon +Sluys, that most precious and skilfully acquired possession of the +republic, when lo! his formidable antagonist was marching in force upon +what the prince well knew to be her most important and least guarded +frontier. + +On the 8th August the Catholic general was before Olden-zaal which he +took in three days, and then advanced to Lingen. Should that place fall +--and the city was known to be most inadequately garrisoned and supplied +--it would be easy for the foe to reduce Coeworden, and so seize the +famous pass over the Bourtanger Morass, march straight to Embden--then in +a state of municipal revolution on account of the chronic feuds between +its counts and the population, and therefore an easy prey--after which +all Friesland and Groningen would be at his mercy, and his road open to +Holland and Utrecht; in short, into the very bowels of the republic. + +On the 4th August Maurice broke up his camp in Flanders, and leaving five +thousand men under Colonel Van der Noot, to guard the positions there, +advanced rapidly to Deventer, with the intention of saving Lingen. +It was too late. That very important place had been culpably neglected. +The garrison consisted of but one cannoneer, and he had but one arm. +A burgher guard, numbering about three hundred, made such resistance as +they could, and the one-armed warrior fired a shot or two from a rusty +old demi-cannon. Such opposition to the accomplished Italian was +naturally not very effective. On the 18th August the place capitulated. +Maurice, arriving at Deventer, and being now strengthened by his cousin +Lewis William with such garrison troops as could be collected, learned +the mortifying news with sentiments almost akin to despair. It was now +to be a race for Coeworden, and the fleet-footed Spinola was a day's +march at least in advance of his competitor. The key to the fatal morass +would soon be in his hands. To the inexpressible joy of the stadholder, +the Genoese seemed suddenly struck with blindness. The prize was almost +in his hands and he threw away all his advantages. Instead of darting at +once upon Coeworden he paused for nearly a month, during which period he +seemed intoxicated with a success so rapidly achieved, and especially +with his adroitness in outwitting the great stadholder. On the 14th +September he made a retrograde movement towards the Rhine, leaving two +thousand five hundred men in Lingen. Maurice, giving profound thanks to +God for his enemy's infatuation, passed by Lingen, and having now, with +his cousin's reinforcements, a force of nine thousand foot and three +thousand horse, threw himself into Coeworden, strengthened and garrisoned +that vital fortress which Spinola would perhaps have taken as easily as +he had done Lingen, made all the neighbouring positions secure, and then +fell back towards Wesel on the Rhine, in order to watch his antagonist. +Spinola had established his headquarters at Ruhrort, a place where the +river Ruhr empties into the Rhine. He had yielded to the remonstrances +of the Archbishop of Cologne, to whom Kaiserwerth belonged, and had +abandoned the forts which Bucquoy, under his directions, had constructed +at that place. + +The two armies now gazed at each other, at a respectful distance, for a +fortnight longer, neither commander apparently having any very definite +purpose. At last, Maurice having well reconnoitred his enemy, perceived +a weak point in his extended lines. A considerable force of Italian +cavalry, with some infantry, was stationed at the village of Mulheim, on +the Ruhr, and apparently out of convenient supporting distance from +Spinola's main army. The stadholder determined to deliver a sudden blow +upon this tender spot, break through the lines, and bring on a general +action by surprise. Assembling his well-seasoned and veteran troopers in +force, he divided them into two formidable bands, one under the charge of +his young brother Frederic Henry, the other under that most brilliant of +cavalry officers, Marcellus Bax, hero of Turnhout and many another +well-fought field. + +The river Ruhr was a wide but desultory stream, easily fordable in many +places. On the opposite bank to Mulheim was the Castle of Brock, and +some hills of considerable elevation. Bax was ordered to cross the river +and seize the castle and the heights, Count Henry to attack the enemy's +camp in front, while Maurice himself, following rapidly with the advance +of infantry and wagons, was to sustain the assault. + +Marcellus Bax, rapid and dashing as usual, crossed the Ruhr, captured +Broek Castle with ease, and stood ready to prevent the retreat of the +Spaniards. Taken by surprise in front, they would naturally seek refuge +on the other side of the river. That stream was not difficult for +infantry, but as the banks were steep, cavalry could not easily extricate +themselves from the water, except at certain prepared landings. Bax +waited however for some time in vain for the flying Spaniards. It was +not destined that the stadholder should effect many surprises that year. +The troopers under Frederic Henry had made their approaches through an +intricate path, often missing their way, and in far more leisurely +fashion than was intended, so that outlying scouts had brought in +information of the coming attack. As Count Henry approached the village, +Trivulzio's cavalry was found drawn up in battle array, formidable in +numbers, and most fully prepared for their visitors from Wesel. The +party most astonished was that which came to surprise. In an instant one +of those uncontrollable panics broke out to which even veterans are as +subject as to dysentery or scurvy. The best cavalry of Maurice's army +turned their backs at the very sight of the foe, and galloped off much +faster than they had come. + +Meantime, Marcellus Bax was assaulted, not only by his late handful of +antagonists, who had now rallied, but by troops from Mulheim, who began +to wade across the stream. At that moment he was cheered by the sight of +Count Henry coming on with a very few of his troopers who had stood to +their colours. A simultaneous charge from both banks at the enemy +floundering in the river was attempted. It might have been brilliantly +successful, but the panic had crossed the river faster than the Spaniards +could do, and the whole splendid picked cavalry force of the republic, +commanded by the youngest son of William the Silent, and by the favourite +cavalry commander of her armies, was, after a hot but brief action, in +disgraceful and unreasonable flight. The stadholder reached the bank of +that fatal stream only to witness this maddening spectacle, instead of +the swift and brilliant triumph which he was justified in expecting. He +did his best to stem the retreating tide. He called upon the veterans, +by the memory of Turnhout and Nieuport, and so many other victories, to +pause and redeem their name before it was too late. He taunted them with +their frequent demands to be led to battle, and their expressed +impatience at enforced idleness. He denounced them as valiant only for +plundering defenceless peasants, and as cowards against armed men; as +trusting more to their horses' heels than to their own right hands. He +invoked curses upon them for deserting his young brother, who, +conspicuous among them by his gilded armour, the orange-plumes upon his +calque, and the bright orange-scarf across his shoulders, was now sorely +pressed in the struggling throng. + +It was all in vain. Could Maurice have thrown himself into the field, +he might, as in the crisis of the republic's fate at Nieuport, have once +more converted ruin into victory by the magic of his presence. But the +river was between him and the battle, and he was an enforced spectator of +his country's disgrace. + +For a few brief moments his demeanour, his taunts, and his supplications +had checked the flight of his troops. + +A stand was made by a portion of the cavalry and a few detached but +fierce combats took place. Count Frederic Henry was in imminent danger. +Leading a mere handful of his immediate retainers, he threw himself into +the thickest of the fight, with the characteristic audacity of his house. +A Spanish trooper aimed his carbine full at his face. It missed fire, and +Henry, having emptied his own pistol, was seized by the floating scarf +upon his breast by more than one enemy. There was a brief struggle, and +death or capture seemed certain; when an unknown hand laid his nearest +antagonist low, and enabled him to escape from over powering numbers. +The soldier, whose devotion thus saved the career of the youngest +Orange-Nassau destined to be so long and so brilliant, from being cut off +so prematurely, was never again heard of, and doubtless perished in the +fray. + +Meantime the brief sparkle of valour on the part of the States' troops +had already vanished. The adroit Spinola, hurrying personally to the +front, had caused such a clangor from all the drums and trumpets in Broek +and its neighbourhood to be made as to persuade the restive cavalry that +the whole force of the enemy was already upon them. The day was obviously +lost, and Maurice, with a heavy heart, now him self gave the signal to +retreat. Drawing up the greater part of his infantry in solid mass upon +the banks to protect the passage, he sent a force to the opposite side, +Horace Vere being the first to wade the stream. All that was then +possible to do was accomplished, and the panic flight converted into +orderly retreat, but it was a day of disaster and disgrace for the +republic. + +About five hundred of the best States' cavalry were left dead on the +field, but the stain upon his almost unsullied flag was more cutting to +the stadholder's heart than the death of his veterans. The material +results were in truth almost even. The famous cavalry general, Count +Trivulzio, with at least three hundred Spaniards, fell in the combat, +but the glory of having defeated the best cavalry of Europe in a stricken +field and under the very eyes of the stadholder would have been +sufficient compensation to Spinola for much greater losses. + +Maurice withdrew towards Wesel, sullen but not desponding. His forces +were meagre, and although he had been out-generalled, out-marched, and +defeated in the open field, at least the Genoese had not planted the blow +which he had meditated in the very heart of the republic. + +Autumn was now far advanced, and dripping with rain. The roads and fields +were fast becoming impassable sloughs, and no further large operations +could be expected in this campaign. Yet the stadholder's cup was not +full, and he was destined to witness two more triumphs of his rival, now +fast becoming famous, before this year of disasters should close. On the +27th October, Spinola took the city of Wachtendonk, after ten days' +siege, and on the 5th of November the strong place of Cracow. + +Maurice was forced to see these positions captured almost under his eyes, +being now quite powerless to afford relief. His troops had dwindled by +sickness and necessary detachments for garrison-work to a comparatively, +insignificant force, and very soon afterwards both armies went into +winter quarters. + +The States were excessively disappointed at the results of the year's +work, and deep if not loud were the reproaches cast upon the stadholder. +Certainly his military reputation had not been augmented by this +campaign. He had lost many places, and had not gained an inch of ground +anywhere. Already the lustre of Sluys, of Nieuport, and Turnhout were +growing dim, for Maurice had so accustomed the republic to victories that +his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies. Moreover he had +founded a school out of which apt pupils had already graduated, and it +would seem that the Genoese volunteer had rapidly profited by his +teachings as only a man endowed with exquisite military genius could have +done. + +Yet, after all, it seems certain that, with the stadholder's limited +means, and with the awful consequences to the country of a total defeat +in the open field, the Fabian tactics, which he had now deliberately +adopted, were the most reasonable. The invader of foreign domains, the +suppressor of great revolts, can indulge in the expensive luxury of +procrastination only at imminent peril. For the defence, it is always +possible to conquer by delay, and it was perfectly understood between +Spinola and his ablest advisers at the Spanish court that the blows must +be struck thick and fast, and at the most vulnerable places, or that the +victory would be lost. + +Time was the ally not of the Spanish invaders, who came from afar, but of +the Dutch burghers, who remained at home. "Jam aut Nunquam," was the +motto upon the Italian's banners. + +In proportion to the depression in the republic at the results of this +year's campaigning was the elation at the Spanish court. Bad news and +false news had preceded the authentic intelligence of Spinola's +victories. The English envoy had received unquestionable information +that the Catholic general had sustained an overwhelming defeat at the +close of the campaign, with a loss of three thousand five hundred men. + +The tale was implicitly believed by king and cabinet, so that when, +very soon afterwards, the couriers arrived bringing official accounts of +the victory gained over the veteran cavalry of the States in the very +presence of the stadholder, followed by the crowning triumph of +Wachtendonk, the demonstrations of joy were all the more vivacious in +consequence of the previous gloom. Spinola himself followed hard upon +the latest messengers, and was received with ovations. Never, since the +days of Alexander Farnese, had a general at the Spanish court been more +cordially caressed or hated. Had Philip the Prudent been still upon the +throne, he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for +poisoning him. Certainly his plans and his popularity would have been +undermined in the most artistic manner. + +But Philip III., more dangerous to rabbits than to generals, left the +Genoese to settle the plans of his next campaign with Lerma and his +parasites. + +The subtle Spinola, having, in his despatches, ascribed the chief merit +of the victories to Louis Velasco, a Spaniard, while his own original +conception of transferring the war to Friesland was attributed by him +with magnificent effrontery to Lerma and to the king--who were probably +quite ignorant of the existence of that remote province--succeeded in +maintaining his favourable position at court, and was allowed, by what +was called the war-council, to manage matters nearly at his pleasure. + +It is difficult however to understand how so much clamour should have +been made over such paltry triumphs. All Europe rang with a cavalry +fight in which less than a thousand saddles on both sides had been +emptied, leading to no result, and with the capture of a couple of +insignificant towns, of which not one man in a thousand had ever heard. + +Spinola had doubtless shown genius of a subtle and inventive order, and +his fortunate audacity in measuring himself, while a mere apprentice, +against the first military leader living had been crowned with wonderful +success. He had nailed the stadholder fast to the island of Cadzand, +while he was perfecting his arrangements and building boats on the Rhine; +he had propounded riddles which Maurice had spent three of the best +campaigning months in idle efforts to guess, and when he at last moved, +he had swept to his mark with the swiftness and precision of a bird of +prey. Yet the greatest of all qualities in a military commander, that of +deriving substantial fruits from victory instead of barren trophies, he +had not manifested. If it had been a great stroke of art to seize reach +Deventer, it was an enormous blunder, worthy of a journeyman soldier, to +fail to seize the Bourtange marshes, and drive his sword into the fiery +vitals of the republic, thus placed at his mercy. + +Meantime, while there had been all these rejoicings and tribulations at +the great doings on the Rhine and the shortcoming in Friesland, the real +operations of the war had been at the antipodes. + +It is not a very unusual phenomenon in history that the events, upon +whose daily development the contemporary world hangs with most +palpitating interest, are far inferior in permanent influence upon the +general movement of humanity to a series of distant and apparently +commonplace transactions. + +Empires are built up or undermined by the ceaseless industry of obscure +multitudes often slightly observed, or but dimly comprehended. + +Battles and sieges, dreadful marches, eloquent debates, intricate +diplomacy--from time to time but only perhaps at rare intervals--have +decided or modified the destiny of nations, while very often the clash of +arms, the din of rhetoric, the whiz of political spindles, produce +nothing valuable for human consumption, and made the world no richer. + +If the age of heroic and religious passion was rapidly fading away before +the gradual uprising of a politico-mercantile civilization--as it +certainly was--the most vital events, those in which the fate of coming +generations was most deeply involved, were those inspired by the spirit +of commercial-enterprise. + +Nor can it be denied that there is often a genial and poetic essence even +among things practical or of almost vulgar exterior. In those early +expeditions of the Hollanders to the flaming lands of the equator there +is a rhythm and romance of historical movement not less significant than +in their unexampled defence of fatherland and of the world's liberty +against the great despotism of the age. + +Universal monarchy was baffled by the little republic, not within its own +populous cities only, or upon its own barren sands. The long combat +between Freedom and Absolutism had now become as wide as the world. The +greatest European states had been dragged by the iron chain of necessity +into a conflict from which they often struggled to escape, and on every +ocean, and on almost every foot of soil, where the footsteps of mankind +had as yet been imprinted, the fierce encounters were every day renewed. +In the east and the west, throughout that great vague new world, of which +geographers had hardly yet made a sketch, which comprised both the +Americas and something called the East Indies, and which Spain claimed +as her private property, those humbly born and energetic adventurers were +rapidly creating a symmetrical system out of most dismal chaos. + +The King of Spain warned all nations from trespassing upon those outlying +possessions. + +His edicts had not however prevented the English in moderate numbers, and +the Hollanders in steadily increasing swarms, from enlarging and making +profitable use of these new domains of the world's commerce. + +The days were coming when the People was to have more to say than the +pope in regard to the disposition and arrangements of certain large +districts of this planet. While the world-empire, which still excited so +much dismay, was yielding to constant corrosion, another empire, created +by well-directed toil and unflinching courage, was steadily rising out of +the depths. It has often been thought amazing that the little republic +should so long and so triumphantly withstand the enormous forces brought +forward for her destruction. It was not, however, so very surprising. +Foremost among nations, and in advance of the age, the republic had found +the strength which comes from the spirit of association. On a wider +scale than ever before known, large masses of men, with their pecuniary +means, had been intelligently banded together to advance material +interests. When it is remembered that, in addition to this force, the +whole commonwealth was inspired by the divine influence of liberty, her +power will no longer seem so wonderful. + +A sinister event in the Isle of Ceylon had opened the series of +transactions in the East, and had cast a gloom over the public sentiment +at home. The enterprising voyager, Sebald de Weerdt, one of the famous +brotherhood of the Invincible Lion which had wintered in the straits of +Magellan, had been murdered through the treachery of the King of Candy. +His countrymen had not taken vengeance on his assassins. They were +perhaps too fearful of losing their growing trade in those lucrative +regions to take a becoming stand in that emergency. They were also not +as yet sufficiently powerful there. + +The East India Company had sent out in May of this year its third fleet +of eleven large ships, besides some smaller vessels, under the general +superintendence of Matelieff de Jonghe, one of the directors. The +investments for the voyage amounted to more than nineteen hundred +thousand florins. + +Meantime the preceding adventurers under Stephen van der Hagen, who had +sailed at the end of 1603, had been doing much thorough work. A firm +league had been made with one of the chief potentates of Malabar, +enabling them to build forts and establish colonies in perpetual menace +of Goa, the great oriental capital of the Portuguese. The return of the +ambassadors sent out from Astgen to Holland had filled not only the +island of Sumatra but the Moluccas, and all the adjacent regions, with +praises of the power, wealth, and high civilization of that distant +republic so long depicted by rivals as a nest of uncouth and sanguinary +savages. The fleet now proceeded to Amboyna, a stronghold of the +Spanish-Portuguese, and the seat of a most lucrative trade. + +On the arrival of those foreign well-armed ships under the guns of the +fortress, the governor sent to demand, with Castilian arrogance, who the +intruders were, and by whose authority and with what intent they presumed +to show themselves in those waters. The reply was that they came in the +name and by the authority of their High Mightinesses the States-General, +and their stadholder the Prince of Orange; that they were sworn enemies +of the King of Spain and all his subjects, and that as to their intent, +this would soon be made apparent. Whereupon, without much more ado, they +began a bombardment of the fort, which mounted thirty-six guns. The +governor, as often happened in those regions, being less valiant against +determined European foes than towards the feebler oriental races on which +he had been accustomed to trample, succumbed with hardly an effort at +resistance. The castle and town and whole island were surrendered to the +fleet, and thenceforth became virtually a colony of the republic with +which, nominally, treaties of alliance and defence were, negotiated. +Thence the fleet, after due possession had been taken of these new +domains, sailed partly to Bands and partly to two small but most +important islands of the Moluccas. + +In that multitude of islands which make up the Eastern Archipelago there +were but five at that period where grew the clove--Ternate, Tydor, +Motiel, Makian, and Bacia. + +Pepper and ginger, even nutmegs, cassia, and mace, were but vulgar drugs, +precious as they were already to the world and the world's commerce, +compared with this most magnificent spice. + +It is wonderful to reflect upon the strange composition of man. The +world had lived in former ages very comfortably without cloves. But by +the beginning of the seventeenth century that odoriferous pistil had been +the cause of so many pitched battles and obstinate wars, of so much +vituperation, negotiation, and intriguing, that the world's destiny +seemed to have almost become dependent upon the growth of a particular +gillyflower. Out of its sweetness had grown such bitterness among great +nations as not torrents of blood could wash away. A commonplace +condiment enough it seems to us now, easily to be dispensed with, and not +worth purchasing at a thousand human lives or so the cargo, but it was +once the great prize to be struggled for by civilized nations. From that +fervid earth, warmed from within by volcanic heat, and basking ever +beneath the equatorial sun, arose vapours as deadly to human life as the +fruits were exciting and delicious to human senses. Yet the atmosphere +of pestiferous fragrance had attracted, rather than repelled. The +poisonous delights of the climate, added to the perpetual and various +warfare for its productions, spread a strange fascination around those +fatal isles. + +Especially Ternate and Tydor were objects of unending strife. +Chinese, Malays, Persians, Arabs, had struggled centuries long for their +possession; those races successively or simultaneously ruling these and +adjacent portions of the Archipelago. The great geographical discoveries +at the close of the fifteenth century had however changed the aspect of +India and of the world. The Portuguese adventurers found two rival +kings--in the two precious islands, and by ingeniously protecting one of +these potentates and poisoning the other, soon made themselves masters of +the field. The clove trade was now entirely in the hands of the +strangers from the antipodes. Goa became the great mart of the lucrative +traffic, and thither came Chinese, Arabs, Moors, and other oriental +traders to be supplied from the Portuguese monopoly: Two-thirds of the +spices however found their way directly to Europe. + +Naturally enough, the Spaniards soon penetrated into these seas, and +claimed their portion of the spice trade. They insisted that the coveted +islands were included in their portion of the great Borgian grant. As +there had hardly yet been time to make a trigonometrical survey of an +unknown world, so generously divided by the pope, there was no way of +settling disputed boundary questions save by apostolic blows. These were +exchanged with much earnestness, year after year, between Spaniards, +Portuguese, and all who came in their way. Especially the unfortunate +natives, and their kings most of all, came in for a full share. At last +Charles V. sold out his share of the spice islands to his Portuguese +rival and co-proprietor, for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. +The emperor's very active pursuits caused him to require ready money more +than cloves. Yet John III. had made an excellent bargain, and the +monopoly thenceforth brought him in at least two hundred thousand ducats +annually. Goa became more flourishing, the natives more wretched, +the Portuguese more detested than ever. Occasionally one of the royal +line of victims would consent to put a diadem upon his head, but the +coronation was usually the prelude to a dungeon or death. The treaties +of alliance, which these unlucky potentates had formed with their +powerful invaders, were, as so often is the case, mere deeds to convey +themselves and their subjects into slavery. + +Spain and Portugal becoming one, the slender weapon of defence which +these weak but subtle Orientals sometimes employed with success--the +international and commercial jealousy between their two oppressors--was +taken away. It was therefore with joy that Zaida, who sat on the throne +of Ternate at the end of the sixteenth century, saw the sails of a Dutch +fleet arriving in his harbours. Very soon negotiations were opened, and +the distant republic undertook to protect the Mahometan king against his +Catholic master. The new friendship was founded upon trade monopoly, of +course, but at that period at least the islanders were treated with +justice and humanity by their republican allies. The Dutch undertook to +liberate their friends from bondage, while the King of Ternate, panting +under Portuguese oppression, swore to have no traffic, no dealings of any +kind, with any other nation than Holland; not even with the English. The +Dutch, they declared, were the liberators of themselves, of their +friends, and of the seas. + +The international hatred, already germinating between England and +Holland, shot forth in these flaming regions like a tropical plant. It +was carefully nurtured and tended by both peoples. Freedom of commerce, +freedom of the seas, meant that none but the Dutch East India Company-- +so soon as the Portuguese and Spaniards were driven out--should trade in +cloves and nutmegs. Decrees to that effect were soon issued, under very +heavy penalties, by the States-General to the citizens of the republic +and to the world at large. It was natural therefore that the English +traders should hail the appearance of the Dutch fleets with much less +enthusiasm than was shown by the King of Ternate. + +On the other hand, the King of Tydor, persisting in his oriental hatred +towards the rival potentate in the other island, allowed the Portuguese +to build additional citadels, and generally to strengthen their positions +within his dominions. Thus when Cornelius Sebastian, with his division +of Ver Hagen's fleet, arrived in the Moluccas in the summer of 1605, he +found plenty of work prepared for him. The peace recently concluded by +James with Philip and the archdukes placed England in a position of +neutrality in the war now waging in the clove islands between Spain and +the republic's East India Company. The English in those regions were not +slow to avail themselves of the advantage. The Portuguese of Tydor +received from neutral sympathy a copious supply of powder and of +pamphlets. The one explosive material enabled them to make a more +effective defence of their citadel against the Dutch fleet; the other +revealed to the Portuguese and their Mussulman allies that "the +Netherlanders could not exist without English protection, that they were +the scum of nations, and that if they should get possession of this clove +monopoly, their insolence would become intolerable." Samples of polite +literature such as these, printed but not published, flew about in +volleys. It was an age of pamphleteering, and neither the English nor +the Dutch were behind their contemporaries in the science of attack and +self-defence. Nevertheless Cornelius Sebastian was not deterred by paper +pellets, nor by the guns of the citadel, from carrying out his purpose. +It was arranged with King Zaida that the islanders of Ternate should make +a demonstration against Tydor, being set across the strait in Dutch +vessels. Sebastian, however, having little faith in oriental tenacity, +entrusted the real work of storming the fortress to his own soldiers and +sailors. On a fine morning in May the assault was delivered in +magnificent style. The resistance was obstinate; many of the assailants +fell, and Captain Mol, whom we have once before seen as master of the +Tiger, sinking the galleys of Frederic Spinola off the Gat of Sluys, +found himself at the head of only seven men within the interior defences +of the citadel. A Spanish soldier, Torre by name, rushed upon him with a +spear. Avoiding the blow, Mol grappled with his antagonist, and both +rolled to the ground. A fortunate carbine-shot from one of the Dutch +captain's comrades went through the Spaniard's head. Meantime the little +band, so insignificant in numbers, was driven out of the citadel. Mol +fell to the ground with a shattered leg, and reproached his companions, +who sought to remove him, for neglecting their work in order to save his +life. Let them take the fort, he implored them, and when that was done +they might find leisure to pick him up if they chose. While he was +speaking the principal tower of the fortress blew up, and sixty of the +garrison were launched into the air. A well-directed shot had set fire +to the magazine. The assault was renewed with fresh numbers, and the +Dutch were soon masters of the place. Never was a stronghold more +audaciously or more successfully stormed. The garrison surrendered. +The women and children, fearing to be at the mercy of those who had been +depicted to them as cannibals, had already made their escape, and were +scrambling like squirrels among the volcanic cliffs. Famine soon +compelled them to come down, however, when they experienced sufficiently +kind treatment, but were all deported in Dutch vessels to the Philippine +islands. The conquerors not only spared the life of the King of Tydor, +but permitted him to retain his crown. At his request the citadel was +razed to the ground. It would have been better perhaps to let it stand, +and it was possible that in the heart of the vanquished potentate some +vengeance was lurking which might bear evil fruit at a later day. +Meantime the Portuguese were driven entirely out of the Moluccas, +save the island of Timos, where they still retained a not very +important citadel. + +The East India Company was now in possession of the whole field. The +Moluccas and the clove trade were its own, and the Dutch republic had +made manifest to the world that more potent instruments had now been +devised for parcelling out the new world than papal decrees, although +signed by the immaculate hand of a Borgia. + +During the main operations already sketched in the Netherlands, and +during those vastly more important oriental movements to which the +reader's attention has just been called, a detached event or two +deserves notice. + +Twice during the summer campaign of this year Du Terrail, an enterprising +French refugee in the service of the archdukes, had attempted to surprise +the important city of Bergen-op-Zoom. On the 21st August the intended +assault had been discovered in time to prevent any very serious conflict +on, either side. On the 20th September the experiment was renewed at an +hour after midnight. Du Terrail, having arranged the attack at three +different points, had succeeded in forcing his way across the moat and +through one of the gates. The trumpets of the foremost Spaniards already +sounded in, the streets. It was pouring with rain; the town was pitch +dark. But the energetic Paul Bax was governor of the place, a man who +was awake at any hour of the twenty-four, and who could see in the +darkest night. He had already informed himself of the enemy's project, +and had strengthened his garrison by a large intermixture of the most +trustworthy burgher guards, so that the advance of Du Terrail at the +southern gate was already confronted by a determined band. A fierce +battle began in the darkness. Meantime Paul Bax, galloping through the +city, had aroused the whole population for the defence. At the Steinberg +gate, where the chief assault had been prepared, Bax had caused great +fires of straw and pitch barrels to be lighted, so that the invaders, +instead of finding, as they expected, a profound gloom through the +streets, saw themselves approaching a brilliantly illuminated city, fully +prepared to give their uninvited guests a warm reception. The garrison, +the townspeople, even the women, thronged to the ramparts, saluting the +Spaniards with a rain of bullets, paving-stones, and pitch hoops, and +with a storm of gibes and taunts. They were asked why they allowed their +cardinal thus to send them to the cattle market, and whether Our Lady of +Hall, to whom Isabella was so fond of making pilgrimages, did not live +rather too far off to be of much use just then to her or to them. +Catholics and Protestants all stood shoulder to shoulder that night to +defend their firesides against the foreign foe, while mothers laid their +sleeping children on the ground that they might fill their cradles with +powder and ball, which they industriously brought to the soldiers. The +less energetic women fell upon their knees in the street, and prayed +aloud through the anxious night. The attack was splendidly repulsed. +As morning dawned the enemy withdrew, leaving one hundred dead outside +the walls or in the town, and carrying off thirty-eight wagon loads of +wounded. Du Terrail made no further attempts that summer, although the +list of his surprises was not yet full. He was a good engineer, and a +daring partisan officer. He was also inspired by an especial animosity +to the States-General, who had refused the offer of his services before +he made application to the archdukes. + +At sea there was no very important movement in European waters, save that +Lambert Heinrichzoon, commonly called Pretty Lambert, a Rotterdam +skipper, whom we have seen the sea-fights with Frederic Spinola, of the +Dunkirk pirate fleet, Adrian Dirkzoon. It was a desperate fight.--Pretty +Lambent, sustained at a distance by Rear-Admiral Gerbrantzon, laid +himself yard-arm to yard-arm alongside the pirate vessel, boarded her, +and after beating down all resistance made prisoners such of the crew as +remained alive, and carried them into Rotterdam. Next day they were +hanged, to the number of sixty. A small number were pardoned on account +of their youth, and a few individuals who effected their escape when led +to the gallows, were not pursued. The fact that the townspeople almost +connived at the escape of these desperadoes showed that there had been a +surfeit of hangings in Rotterdam. It is moreover not easy to distinguish +with exactness the lines which in those days separated regular sea +belligerents, privateers, and pirates from each other. It had been laid +down by the archdukes that there was no military law at sea, and that +sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged. Accordingly they +were hanged. Admiral Fazardo, of the Spanish royal navy, not only +captured all the enemy's merchant vessels which came in his way, but +hanged, drowned, and burned alive every man found on board. Admiral +Haultain, of the republican navy, had just been occupied in drowning a +whole regiment of Spanish soldiers, captured in English and German +transports. The complaints brought against the English cruisers by the +Hollanders for capturing and confiscating their vessels, and banging, +maiming, and torturing their crews--not only when England was neutral, +but even when she was the ally of the republic--had been a standing topic +for diplomatic discussion, and almost a standing joke. Why, therefore, +these Dunkirk sea-rovers should not on the same principle be allowed to +rush forth from their very convenient den to plunder friend and foe, burn +ships, and butcher the sailors at pleasure, seems difficult to +understand. To expect from the inhabitants of this robbers' cave-- +this "church on the downs"--a code of maritime law so much purer and +sterner than the system adopted by the English, the Spaniards, and the +Dutch, was hardly reasonable. Certainly the Dunkirkers, who were mainly +Netherlanders--rebels to the republic and partisans of the Spanish crown +--did their best to destroy the herring fishery and to cut the throats of +the fishermen, but perhaps they received the halter more often than other +mariners who had quite as thoroughly deserved it. And this at last +appeared the prevailing opinion in Rotterdam. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Abstinence from unproductive consumption +Defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe +His own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies +Hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree +John Castel, who had stabbed Henry IV. +Looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference +No retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings +Sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged +The small children diminished rapidly in numbers +When all was gone, they began to eat each other + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v77 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 78, 1605-1607 + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + Preparations for the campaign of 1606--Diminution of Maurice's + popularity--Quarrel between the pope and the Venetian republic-- + Surprise of Sluys by Du Terrail--Dilatoriness of the republic's + operations--Movements of Spinola--Influence of the weather on the + military transactions of the year--Endeavours of Spinola to obtain + possession of the Waal and Yssel--Surrender of Lochem to Spinola-- + Siege of Groll--Siege and loss of Rheinberg--Mutiny in the Catholic + army--Recovery of Lochem by Maurice--Attempted recovery of Groll-- + Sudden appearance of the enemy--Withdrawal of the besieging army + Close of the campaign--End of the war of independence--Motives of + the Prince in his actions before Groll--Cruise of Admiral Haultain + to the coast of Spain and Portugal--His encounter with the war-- + ships of Fazardo--Courageous conduct of the vice-admiral--Deaths of + Justus Lipsius, Hohenlo, and Count John of Nassau. + +After the close of the campaign of 1605 Spinola had gone once more to +Spain. On his passage through Paris he had again been received with +distinguished favour by that warm ally of the Dutch republic, Henry IV., +and on being questioned by that monarch as to his plans for the next +campaign had replied that he intended once more to cross the Rhine, and +invade Friesland. Henry, convinced that the Genoese would of course not +tell him the truth on such an occasion, wrote accordingly to the States- +General that they might feel safe as to their eastern frontier. Whatever +else might happen, Friesland and the regions adjacent would be safe next +year from attack. The immediate future was to show whether the subtle +Italian had not compassed as neat a deception by telling the truth as +coarser politicians could do by falsehood. + +Spinola found the royal finances in most dismal condition. Three hundred +thousand dollars a month were the least estimate of the necessary +expenses for carrying on the Netherland war, a sum which could not +possibly be spared by Lerma, Uceda, the Marquis of the Seven Churches, +and other financiers then industriously occupied in draining dry the +exchequer for their own uses. Once more the general aided his sovereign +with purse and credit, as well as with his sword. Once more the exchange +at Genoa was glutted with the acceptances of Marquis Spinola. Here at +least was a man of a nature not quite so depraved as that of the +parasites bred out of the corruption of a noble but dying commonwealth, +and doubtless it was with gentle contempt that the great favourite and +his friends looked at the military and financial enthusiasm of the +volunteer. It was so much more sagacious to make a princely fortune than +to sacrifice one already inherited, in the service of one's country. + +Spinola being thus ready not only to fight but to help to pay for the +fighting, found his plans of campaigns received with great benignity by +the king and his ministers. Meantime there was much delay. The enormous +labours thus devolved upon one pair of shoulders by the do-nothing king +and a mayor of the palace whose soul was absorbed by his own private +robberies, were almost too much for human strength. On his return to the +Netherlands Spinola fell dangerously ill in Genoa. + +Meantime, during his absence and the enforced idleness of the Catholic +armies, there was an opportunity for the republicans to act with +promptness and vigour. They displayed neither quality. Never had there +been so much sluggishness as in the preparations for the campaign of +1606. The States' exchequer was lower than it had been for years. The +republic was without friends. Left to fight their battle for national +existence alone, the Hollanders found themselves perpetually subjected to +hostile censure from their late allies, and to friendly advice still more +intolerable. There were many brave Englishmen and Frenchmen sharing in +the fatigues of the Dutch war of independence, but the governments of +Henry and of James were as protective, as severely virtuous, as +offensive, and, in their secret intrigues with the other belligerent, as +mischievous as it was possible for the best-intentioned neutrals to be. + +The fame and the popularity of the stadholder had been diminished by the +results of the past campaign. The States-General were disappointed, +dissatisfied, and inclined to censure very unreasonably the public +servant who had always obeyed their decrees with docility. While Henry +IV. was rapidly transferring his admiration from Maurice to Spinola, the +disagreements at home between the Advocate and the Stadholder were +becoming portentous. + +There was a want of means and of soldiers for the new campaign. Certain +causes were operating in Europe to the disadvantage of both belligerents. +In the south, Venice had almost drawn her sword against the pope in her +settled resolution to put down the Jesuits and to clip the wings of the +church party, before, with bequests and donations, votive churches and +magnificent monasteries, four-fifths of the domains of the republic +should fall into mortmain, as was already the case in Brabant. + +Naturally there was a contest between the ex-Huguenot, now eldest son of +the Church, and the most Catholic king, as to who should soonest defend +the pope. Henry offered thorough protection to his Holiness, but only +under condition that he should have a monopoly of that protection. +He lifted his sword, but meantime it was doubtful whether the blow was to +descend upon Venice or upon Spain. The Spanish levies, on their way to +the Netherlands, were detained in Italy by this new exigency. The +States-General offered the sister republic their maritime assistance, and +notwithstanding their own immense difficulties, stood ready to send a +fleet to the Mediterranean. The offer was gratefully declined, and the +quarrel with the pope arranged, but the incident laid the foundation of +a lasting friendship between the only two important republics then +existing. The issue of the Gunpowder Plot, at the close of the preceding +year, had confirmed James in his distaste for Jesuits, and had effected +that which all the eloquence of the States-General and their ambassador +had failed to accomplish, the prohibition of Spanish enlistments in his +kingdom. Guido Fawkes had served under the archduke in Flanders. + +Here then were delays additional to that caused by Spinola's illness. +On the other hand, the levies of the republic were for a season paralysed +by the altercation, soon afterwards adjusted, between Henry IV. and the +Duke of Bouillon, brother-in-law of the stadholder and of the Palatine, +and by the petty war between the Duke and Hanseatic city of Brunswick, +in which Ernest of Nassau was for a time employed. + +During this period of almost suspended animation the war gave no signs of +life, except in a few spasmodic efforts on the part of the irrepressible +Du Terrail. Early in the spring, not satisfied with his double and +disastrous repulse before Bergen-op-Zoom, that partisan now determined to +surprise Sluy's. That an attack was impending became known to the +governor of that city, the experienced Colonel Van der Noot. Not +dreaming, however, that any mortal--even the most audacious of Frenchmen +and adventurers--would ever think of carrying a city like Sluy's by +surprise, defended as it was by a splendid citadel and by a whole chain +of forts and water-batteries, and capable of withstanding three months +long, as it had so recently done, a siege in form by the acknowledged +master of the beleaguering science, the methodical governor event calmly +to bed one fine night in June. His slumbers were disturbed before +morning by the sound of trumpets sounding Spanish melodies in the +streets, and by a, great uproar and shouting. Springing out of bed, he +rushed half-dressed to the rescue. Less vigilant than Paul Bax had been +the year before in Bergen, he found that Du Terrail had really effected a +surprise. At the head of twelve hundred Walloons and Irishmen, that +enterprising officer had waded through the drowned land of Cadzand, with +the promised support of a body of infantry under Frederic Van den Berg, +from Damm, had stolen noiselessly by the forts of that island +unchallenged and unseen, had effected with petards a small breach through +the western gate of the city, and with a large number of his followers, +creeping two and two through the gap, had found himself for a time master +of Sluys. + +The profound silence of the place had however somewhat discouraged the +intruders. The whole population were as sound asleep as was the +excellent commandant, but the stillness in the deserted streets suggested +an ambush, and they moved stealthily forward, feeling their way with +caution towards the centre of the town. + +It so happened, moreover, that the sacristan had forgotten to wind up the +great town clock. The agreement with the party first entering and making +their way to the opposite end of the city, had been that at the striking +of a certain hour after midnight they should attack simultaneously and +with a great outcry all the guardhouses, so that the garrison might be +simultaneously butchered. The clock never struck, the signal was never +given, and Du Terrail and his immediate comrades remained near the +western gate, suspicious and much perplexed. The delay was fatal. The +guard, the whole garrison, and the townspeople flew to arms, and half- +naked, but equipped with pike and musket, and led on by Van der Noot in +person, fell upon the intruders. A panic took the place of previous +audacity in the breasts of Du Terrail's followers. Thinking only of +escape, they found the gap by which they had crept into the town much +less convenient as a means of egress in the face of an infuriated +multitude. Five hundred of them were put to death in a very few minutes. +Almost as many were drowned or suffocated in the marshes, as they +attempted to return by the road over which they had come. A few +stragglers June, of the fifteen hundred were all that were left to tell +the tale. + +It would seem scarcely worth while to chronicle such trivial incidents in +this great war--the all-absorbing drama of Christendom--were it not that +they were for the moment the whole war. It might be thought that +hostilities were approaching their natural termination, and that the war +was dying of extreme old age, when the Quixotic pranks of a Du Terrail +occupied so large a part of European attention. + +The winter had passed, another spring had come and gone, and Maurice had +in vain attempted to obtain sufficient means from the States to take the +field in force. Henry, looking on from the outside, was becoming more +and more exasperated with the dilatoriness which prevented the republic +from profiting by the golden moments of Spinola's enforced absence. Yet +the best that could be done seemed to be to take measures for defensive +operations. + +Spinola never reached Brussels until the beginning of June, yet, during +all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow +had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the +States. It was midsummer before the armies were in the field. The plans +of the Catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves. +Having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he +now divided it into two nearly equal portions. Bucquoy, with ten +thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the +18th July at Nook, on the Meuse. Spinola, with eleven thousand infantry, +two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the Rhine at the old redoubts +of Ruhrort, and on the same 18th July took position at Goor, in +Overyssel. The first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace +exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much +frankness stated to Henry. But the republic, although deserted by her +former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of Britain, and +by the most Christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the +weather. Jupiter Pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the +struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course +of the campaign. The seasons that year seemed all fused into one. It +was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring, +or autumn. The rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the +contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and +defended were to be all washed out of existence together. Friesland +resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers +lakes. Spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out +a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one, +in the west. + +The Waal and the Yssel formed two sides of a great quadrilateral; and +furnished for the natural fortress, thus enclosed, two vast and admirable +moats. Within lay Good-meadow and Foul-meadow--Bet-uwe and Vel-uwe--one, +the ancient Batavian island which from time immemorial had given its name +to the commonwealth, the other, the once dismal swamp which toil and +intelligence had in the course of centuries transformed into the wealthy +and flowery land of Gueldres. + +Beyond, but in immediate proximity, lay the ancient episcopal city and +province of Utrecht, over which lay the road to the adjacent Holland and +Zeeland. The very heart of the republic would be laid bare to the +conqueror's sword if he could once force the passage, and obtain the +control of these two protecting streams. With Utrecht as his base, and +all Brabant and Flanders--obedient provinces--at his back, Spinola might +accomplish more in one season than Alva, Don John, and Alexander Farnese +had compassed in forty years, and destroy at a blow what was still called +the Netherland rebellion. The passage of the rivers once effected, the +two enveloping wings would fold themselves together, and the conquest +would be made. + +Thus reasoned the brilliant young general, and his projects, although +far-reaching, did not seem wild. The first steps were, however, the most +important as well as the most difficult, and he had to reckon with a wary +and experienced antagonist. Maurice had at last collected and reviewed +at Arnhem an army of nearly fifteen thousand men, and was now watching +closely from Doesburg and Deventer every movement of the foe. + +Having been forced to a defensive campaign, in which he was not likely at +best to gain many additional laurels, he was the more determined to lay +down his own life, and sacrifice every man he could bring into the field, +before Spinola should march into the cherished domains of Utrecht and +Holland. Meantime the rain, which had already exerted so much influence +on the military movements of the year, still maintained the supremacy +over human plans. The Yssel and the Waal, always deep, broad, sluggish, +but dangerous rivers--the Rhine in its old age--were swollen into +enormous proportions, their currents flowing for the time with the vigour +of their far away youth. + +Maurice had confided the defence of the Waal to Warner Du Bois, under +whose orders he placed a force of about seven thousand men, and whose +business it was to prevent Bucquoy's passage. His own task was to baffle +Spinola. + +Bucquoy's ambition was to cross the Waal at a point as near as possible +to the fork of that stream with the true Rhine, seize the important city +of Nymegen, and then give the hand to Spinola, so soon as he should be on +the other side of the Yssel. At the village of Spardorp or Kekerdom, he +employed Pompeio Giustiniani to make a desperate effort, having secured a +large number of barges in which he embarked his troops. As the boatmen +neared the opposite bank, however, they perceived that Warner Du Bois had +made effective preparations for their reception. They lost heart, and, +on pretence that the current of the river was too rapid to allow them to +reach the point proposed for their landing, gradually dropped down the +stream, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the commanders, pushed +their way back to the shore which they had left. From that time forth, +the States' troops, in efficient numbers, fringed the inner side of the +Waal, along the whole length of the Batavian island, while armed vessels +of the republic patrolled the stream itself. In vain Count Bucquoy +watched an opportunity, either by surprise or by main strength, to effect +a crossing. The Waal remained as impassable as if it were a dividing +ocean. + +On the other side of the quadrilateral, Maurice's dispositions were as +effective as those of his lieutenant on the Waal. The left shore of the +Yssel, along its whole length, from Arnhem and Doesburg quite up to Zwoll +and Campen, where the river empties itself into the Zuyder Zee, was now +sprinkled thickly with forts, hastily thrown up, but strong enough to +serve the temporary purpose of the stadholder. In vain the fleet-footed +and audacious Spinola moved stealthily or fiercely to and fro, from one +point to another, seeking an opening through which to creep, or a weak +spot where he might dash himself against the chain. The whole line was +securely guarded. The swollen river, the redoubts, and the musketeers of +Maurice, protected the heart of the republic from the impending danger. + +Wearied of this fruitless pacing up and down, Spinola, while apparently +intending an assault upon Deventer, and thus attracting his adversary's +attention to that important city, suddenly swerved to the right, and came +down upon Lochem. The little town, with its very slender garrison, +surrendered at once. It was not a great conquest, but it might possibly +be of use in the campaign. It was taken before the stadholder could move +a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to leave Yssel- +side for an hour. The summer was passing away, the rain was still +descending, and it was the 1st of August before Spinola left Lochem. +He then made a rapid movement to the north, between Zwoll and Hasselt, +endeavouring to cross the Blackwater, and seize Geelmuyden, on the Zuyder +Zee. Had he succeeded, he might have turned Maurice's position. But the +works in that direction had been entrusted to an experienced campaigner, +Warmelo, sheriff of Zalant, who received the impetuous Spinola and his +lieutenant, Count Solre, so warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, +after repeated assaults and great loss of men, and never more attempted +to cross the Yssel. + +Obviously, the campaign had failed. Utrecht and Holland were as far out +of the Catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least, +with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or +productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge, +should drive him from the field. + +On the 3rd August, he laid siege to Groll (or Groenlo), a fortified town +of secondary importance in the country of Zutphen, and, squandering his +men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled, +reduced the place in eleven days. Here he paused for a breathing spell, +and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the +republic, withdrew once more to the Rhine and laid siege to Rheinberg. + +This frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the +contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must +have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating +medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the +ordinary business of life. It had old-fashioned defences of stones +which, during the recent occupation by the States, had been much +improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. + +Before it was besieged, Maurice sent his brother Frederic Henry, with +some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted to +three thousand effective men. + +The Prince de Soubise, brother of the Duc de Rohan, and other French +volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to +take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. It was now +admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the +beleaguering art had appeared in Europe than his present formidable +adversary. On this occasion, however, there was no great display of +science. Maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place, +despite all the efforts of a deputation of the States-General who visited +his camp in September, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a +stricken field. + +Nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at +Wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk +the defence of those most vital lines of the Yssel and the Waal. While +attempting to save Rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose +Nymegen, or even Utrecht. The swift but wily Genoese was not to be +trifled with or lost sight of an instant. The road to Holland might +still be opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the +consequences of a single false move. That destiny, under God, was in his +hands alone, and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest +rival's head, could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however +obscure it might seem. There were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, +as in all sieges, the French volunteers especially distinguishing +themselves; but the place fell at the end of forty days. The garrison +marched out with the honours of war. In the modern practice, armies were +rarely captured in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the +population, butchered. + +The loss, after a six weeks' siege, of Rheinberg, which six years before, +with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against +the States, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic. +Frederic Henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful +demonstration against Yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was +not diminished. Soon afterwards, the war became more languid than ever. +News arrived of a great crisis on the Genoa exchange. A multitude of +merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with Spinola, fell with +one tremendous crash. The funds of the Catholic commander-in-chief were +already exhausted, his acceptances could no longer be negotiated. + +His credit was becoming almost as bad as the king's own. The inevitable +consequence of the want of cash and credit followed. Mutiny, for the +first time in Spinola's administration, raised its head once more, and +stalked about defiant. Six hundred veterans marched to Breda, and +offered their services to Justinus of Nassau. The proposal was accepted. +Other bands, established their quarters in different places, chose their +Elettos and lesser officers, and enacted the scenes which have been so +often depicted in these pages. The splendid army of Spinola melted like +April snow. By the last week of October there hardly seemed a Catholic +army in the field. The commander-in-chief had scattered such companies +as could still be relied upon in the villages of the friendly arch- +episcopate of Cologne, and had obtained, not by murders and blackmail-- +according to the recent practice of the Admiral of Arragon, at whose grim +name the whole country-side still shuddered--but from the friendship of +the leading inhabitants and by honest loans, a sufficient sum to put +bread into the mouths of the troops still remaining faithful to him. + +The opportunity had at last arrived for the stadholder to strike a blow +before the season closed. Bankruptcy and mutiny had reduced his enemy to +impotence in the very season of his greatest probable success. On the +24th October Maurice came before Lochem, which he recaptured in five +days. Next in the order of Spinola's victories was Groll, which the +stadholder at once besieged. He had almost fifteen thousand infantry and +three thousand horse. A career of brief triumph before winter should +close in upon those damping fields, seemed now assured. But the rain, +which during nearly the whole campaign had been his potent ally, had of +late been playing him false. The swollen Yssel, during a brief period of +dry weather, had sunk so low in certain shallows as not to be navigable +for his transports, and after his trains of artillery and munitions had +been dragged wearily overland as far as Groll, the deluge had returned in +such force, that physical necessity as well as considerations of humanity +compelled him to defer his entrenching operations until the weather +should moderate. As there seemed no further danger to be apprehended +from the broken, mutinous, and dispersed forces of the enemy, the siege +operations were conducted in a leisurely manner. What was the +astonishment, therefore, among the soldiers, when a rumour flew about the +camp in the early days of November that the indomitable Spinola was again +advancing upon them! It was perfectly true. With extraordinary +perseverance he had gathered up six or seven thousand infantry and twelve +companies of horse--all the remnants of the splendid armies with which he +had taken the field at midsummer--and was now marching to the relief of +Groll, besieged as it was by a force at least doubly as numerous as his +own. It was represented to the stadholder, however, that an impassable +morass lay between him and the enemy, and that there would therefore be +time enough to complete his entrenchments before Spinola could put his +foolhardy attempt into execution. But the Catholic general, marching +faster than rumour itself, had crossed the impracticable swamp almost +before a spadeful of earth had been turned in the republican camp. His +advance was in sight even while the incredulous were sneering at the +absurdity of his supposed project. Informed by scouts of the weakest +point in the stadholder's extended lines, Spinola was directing himself +thither with beautiful precision. Maurice hastily contracted both his +wings, and concentrated himself in the village of Lebel. At last the +moment had come for a decisive struggle. There could be little doubt of +the result. All the advantage was with the republican army. The +Catholics had arrived in front of the enemy fatigued by forced marches +through quagmires, in horrible weather, over roads deemed impassable. +The States' troops were fresh, posted on ground of their own choosing, +and partially entrenched. To the astonishment, even to the horror of the +most eager portion of the army, the stadholder deliberately, and despite +the groans of his soldiers, refused the combat, and gave immediate orders +for raising the siege and abandoning the field. + +On the 12th of November he broke up his camp and withdrew to a village +called Zelem. On the same day the marquis, having relieved the city, +without paying the expected price, retired in another direction, and +established what was left of his army in the province of Munster. The +campaign was closed. And thus the great war which had run its stormy +course for nearly forty years, dribbled out of existence, sinking away +that rainy November in the dismal fens of Zutphen. The long struggle for +independence had come, almost unperceived, to an end. + +Peace had not arrived, but the work of the armies was over for many a +long year. Freedom and independence were secured. A deed or two, never +to be forgotten by Netherland hearts, was yet to be done on the ocean, +before the long and intricate negotiations for peace should begin, and +the weary people permit themselves to rejoice; but the prize was already +won. + +Meantime, the conduct of Prince Maurice in these last days of the +campaign was the subject of biting censure by friend and foe. The +military fame of Spinola throughout Europe grew apace; and the fame of +his great rival seemed to shrink in the same proportion. + +Henry of France was especially indignant at what he considered the +shortcomings of the republic and of its chief. Already, before the close +of the summer, the agent Aerssens had written from Paris that his Majesty +was very much displeased with Spinola's prosperity, ascribing it to the +want of good councils on the part of the States' Government that so fine +an army should lie idle so long, without making an attempt to relieve the +beleaguered places, so that Spinola felt assured of taking anything as +soon as he made his appearance. "Your Mightinesses cannot believe," +continued the agent, "what a trophy is made by the Spanish ministers out +of these little exploits, and they have so much address at this court, +that if such things continue they may produce still greater results." + +In December he wrote that the king was so malcontent concerning the siege +of Groll as to make it impossible to answer him with arguments, that he +openly expressed regret at not having employed the money lent to the +States upon strengthening his own frontiers, so distrustful was he of +their capacity for managing affairs, and that he mentioned with disgust +statements received from his ambassador at Brussels and from the Duc de +Rohan, to the effect that Spinola had between five and six thousand men +only at the relief of Groll, against twelve thousand in the stadholder's +army. + +The motives of the deeds and the omissions of the prince at this supreme +moment must be pondered with great caution. The States-General had +doubtless been inclined for vigorous movements, and Olden-Barneveld, with +some of his colleagues, had visited the camp late in September to urge +the relief of Rheinberg. Maurice was in daily correspondence with the +Government, and regularly demanded their advice, by which, on many former +occasions, he had bound himself, even when it was in conflict with his +own better judgment. + +But throughout this campaign, the responsibility was entirely, almost +ostentatiously, thrown by the States-General upon their commander-in- +chief, and, as already indicated, their preparations in the spring and +early summer had been entirely inadequate. Should he lose the army with +which he had so quietly but completely checked Spinola in all his really +important moves during the summer and autumn, he might despair of putting +another very soon into the field. That his force in that November week +before Groll was numerically far superior to the enemy is certain, but he +had lost confidence in his cavalry since their bad behaviour at Mulheim +the previous year, and a very large proportion of his infantry was on the +sick-list at the moment of Spinola's approach. "Lest the continual bad +weather should entirely consume the army," he said, "we are resolved, +within a day or two after we have removed the sick who are here in great +numbers, to break up, unless the enemy should give us occasion to make +some attempt upon him." + +Maurice was the servant of a small republic, contending single-handed +against an empire still considered the most formidable power in the +world. His cue was not necessarily to fight on all occasions; for delay +often fights better than an army against a foreign invader. When a +battle and a victory were absolutely necessary we have seen the +magnificent calmness which at Nieuport secured triumph under the shadow +of death. Had he accepted Spinola's challenge in November, he would +probably have defeated him and have taken Groll. He might not, however, +have annihilated his adversary, who, even when worsted, would perhaps +have effected his escape. The city was of small value to the republic. +The principal advantage of a victory would have been increased military +renown for himself. Viewed in this light, there is something almost +sublime in the phlegmatic and perfectly republican composure with which +he disdained laurels, easily enough, as it would stem, to have been +acquired, and denied his soldiers the bloodshed and the suffering for +which they were clamouring. + +And yet, after thoroughly weighing and measuring all these circumstances, +it is natural to regret that he did not on that occasion rise upon +Spinola and smite him to the earth. The Lord had delivered him into +his hands. The chances of his own defeat were small, its probable +consequences, should it occur, insignificant. It is hardly conceivable +that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the Catholic +commander to do in November what he had tried all summer in vain to +accomplish, cross the Yssel and the Waal, with the dregs of his army, and +invade Holland and Zeeland in midwinter, over the prostrate bodies of +Maurice and all his forces. On the other hand, that the stadholder would +have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs, with hardly the semblance +of an army at his heels, was almost certain: The effect of such a blow +upon impending negotiations, and especially upon the impressible +imagination of Henry and the pedantic shrewdness of James, would have +been very valuable. It was not surprising that the successful soldier +who sat on the French throne, and who had been ever ready to wager life +and crown on the results of a stricken field, should be loud in his +expressions of disapprobation and disgust. Yet no man knew better than +the sagacious Gascon that fighting to win a crown, and to save a +republic, were two essentially different things. + +In the early summer of this year Admiral Haultain, whom we lately saw +occupied with tossing Sarmiento's Spanish legion into the sea off the +harbour of Dover, had been despatched to the Spanish coast on a still +more important errand. The outward bound Portuguese merchantmen and the +home returning fleets from America, which had been absent nearly two +years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude of 36-38 +deg. The admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise carefully +in those regions, sailed for the shores of Portugal with a squadron of +twenty-four war-ships. His expedition was not very successful. He +picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence on the coast +prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of Lisbon for the East +Indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked and the voyage +postponed to a more favourable opportunity. + +He saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden West +Indies--as Mexico, Peru, and Brazil were then indiscriminately called-- +and after parting company with six of his own ships, which were dispersed +and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a dearth of provisions, +he was forced to return without much gain or glory. + +In the month of September he was once more despatched on the same +service. He had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two +yachts, well equipped and manned. Vice-admiral of the fleet was Regnier +Klaaszoon (or Nicholson), of Amsterdam, a name which should always be +held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and Netherlanders, but +by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical heroism. + +The admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of Spain and Portugal. +It seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was +ascertained, had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the +Dutch cruisers. An occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met +from time to time and chased into the harbours. A landing was here and +there effected and a few villages burned. But these were not the prizes +nor the trophies sought. On the 19th September a storm off the +Portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships +being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. With the +other thirteen Haultain now cruised off Cape St. Vincent directly across +the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships. + +On the 6th October many sails were descried in the distance, and the +longing eyes of the Hollanders were at last gratified with what was +supposed to be the great West India commercial squadrons. The delusion +was brief. Instead of innocent and richly Freighted merchantmen, the new +comers soon proved to be the war-ships of Admiral Dan Luis de Fazardo, +eighteen great galleons and eight galleys strong, besides lesser vessels +--the most formidable fleet that for years had floated in those waters. +There had been time for Admiral Haultain to hold but a very brief +consultation with his chief officers. As it was manifest that the +Hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was decided to manoeuvre as +well as possible for the weather-gage, and then to fight or to effect an +escape, as might seem most expedient after fairly testing the strength of +the enemy. It was blowing a fresh gale, and the Netherland fleet had as +much as they could stagger with under close-reefed topsails. The war- +galleys, fit only for fair weather, were soon forced to take refuge under +the lee of the land, but the eighteen galleons, the most powerful vessels +then known to naval architecture, were bearing directly down, full before +the wind, upon the Dutch fleet. + +It must be admitted that Admiral Haultain hardly displayed as much energy +now as he had done in the Straits of Dover against the unarmed transports +the year before. His ships were soon scattered, right and left, and the +manoeuvres for the weather-gage resolved themselves into a general +scramble for escape. Vice-Admiral Klaaszoon alone held firm, and met the +onset of the first comers of the Spanish fleet. A fierce combat, yard- +arm to yard-arm, ensued. Klaaszoon's mainmast went by the board, but +Haultain, with five ships, all that could be rallied, coming to the +rescue, the assailants for a moment withdrew. Five Dutch vessels of +moderate strength were now in action against the eighteen great galleons +of Fazardo. Certainly it was not an even game, but it might have been +played with more heart and better skill. There was but a half-hour of +daylight left when Klaaszoon's crippled ship was again attacked. This +time there was no attempt to offer him assistance; the rest of the Dutch +fleet crowding all the sails their masts would bear, and using all the +devices of their superior seamanship, not to harass the enemy, but to +steal as swiftly as possible out of his way. Honestly confessing that +they dared not come into the fight, they bore away for dear life in every +direction. Night came on, and the last that the fugitives knew of the +events off Cape St. Vincent was that stout Regnier Klaaszoon had been +seen at sunset in the midst of the Spanish fleet; the sound of his +broadsides saluting their ears as they escaped. + +Left to himself, alone in a dismasted ship, the vice-admiral never +thought of yielding to the eighteen Spanish galleons. To the repeated +summons of Don Luis Fazardo that he should surrender he remained +obstinately deaf. Knowing that it was impossible for him to escape, and +fearing that he might blow up his vessel rather than surrender, the enemy +made no attempt to board. Spanish chivalry was hardly more conspicuous +on this occasion than Dutch valour, as illustrated by Admiral Haultain. +Two whole days and nights Klaaszoon drifted about in his crippled ship, +exchanging broadsides with his antagonists, and with his colours flying +on the stump of his mast. The fact would seem incredible, were it not +attested by perfectly trustworthy contemporary accounts. At last his +hour seemed to have come. His ship was sinking; a final demand for +surrender, with promise of quarter, was made. Out of his whole crew but +sixty remained alive; many of them badly wounded. + +He quietly announced to his officers and men his decision never to +surrender, in which all concurred. They knelt together upon the deck, +and the admiral made a prayer, which all fervently joined. With his own +hand Klaaszoon then lighted the powder magazine, and the ship was blown +into the air. Two sailors, all that were left alive, were picked out of +the sea by the Spaniards and brought on board one of the vessels of the +fleet. Desperately mutilated, those grim Dutchmen lived a few minutes to +tell the tale, and then died defiant on the enemy's deck. + +Yet it was thought that a republic, which could produce men like Regnier +Klaaszoon and his comrades, could be subjected again to despotism, after +a war for independence of forty years, and that such sailors could be +forbidden to sail the eastern and western seas. No epigrammatic phrase +has been preserved of this simple Regnier, the son of Nicholas. He only +did what is sometimes talked about in phraseology more or less melo- +dramatic, and did it in a very plain way. + +Such extreme deeds may have become so much less necessary in the world, +that to threaten them is apt to seem fantastic. Exactly at that crisis +of history, however, and especially in view of the Dutch admiral +commanding having refused a combat of one to three, the speechless self- +devotion of the vice-admiral was better than three years of eloquent +arguments and a ship-load of diplomatic correspondence, such as were +already impending over the world. + +Admiral Haultain returned with all his ships uninjured--the six missing +vessels having found their way at last safely back to the squadron--but +with a very great crack to his reputation. It was urged very justly, +both by the States-General and the public, that if one ship under a +determined commander could fight the whole Spanish fleet two days and +nights, and sink unconquered at last, ten ships more might have put the +enemy to flight, or at least have saved the vice-admiral from +destruction. + +But very few days after the incidents just described, the merchant fleet +which, instead of Don Luis Fazardo's war galleons, Admiral Haultain had +so longed to encounter, arrived safely at San Lucar. It was the most +splendid treasure-fleet that had ever entered a Spanish port, and the +Dutch admiral's heart might well have danced for joy, had he chanced to +come a little later on the track. There were fifty ships, under charge +of General Alonzo de Ochares Galindo and General Ganevaye. They had on +board, according to the registers, 1,914,176 dollars worth of bullion for +the king, and 6,086,617 dollars for merchants, or 8,000,000 dollars in +all, besides rich cargoes of silk, cochineal, sarsaparilla, indigo, +Brazil wood, and hides; the result of two years of pressure upon +Peruvians, Mexicans, and Brazilians. Never had Spanish finances been +at so low an ebb. Never was so splendid an income more desirable. The +king's share of the cargo was enough to pay half the arrearages due to +his mutinous troops; and for such housekeeping this was to be in funds. + +There were no further exploits on land or sea that year. There were, +however, deaths of three personages often mentioned in this history. The +learned Justus Lipsius died in Louvain, a good editor and scholar, and as +sincere a Catholic at last as he had been alternately a bigoted Calvinist +and an earnest Lutheran. His reputation was thought to have suffered by +his later publications, but the world at large was occupied with sterner +stuff than those classic productions, and left the final decision to +posterity. + +A man of a different mould, the turbulent, high-born, hard fighting, +hard-drinking Hohenlo, died also this year, brother-in-law and military +guardian, subsequently rival and political and personal antagonist, of +Prince Maurice. His daring deeds and his troublesome and mischievous +adventures have been recounted in these pages. His name will be always +prominent in the history of the republic, to which he often rendered +splendid service, but he died, as he had lived, a glutton and a +melancholy sot. + +The third remarkable personage who passed away was one whose name will be +remembered as long as the Netherlands have a history, old Count John of +Nassau, only surviving brother of William the Silent. He had been ever +prominent and deeply interested in the great religious and political +movements of upper and lower Germany, and his services in the foundation +of the Dutch commonwealth were signal, and ever generously acknowledged. +At one period, as will be recollected, he was stadholder of Gelderland, +and he was ever ready with sword, purse, and counsel to aid in the great +struggle for independence. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + General desire for peace--Political aspect of Europe--Designs of the + kings of England, France, and Spain concerning the United Provinces + --Matrimonial schemes of Spain--Conference between the French + ministers and the Dutch envoy--Confidential revelations--Henry's + desire to annex the Netherlands to France--Discussion of the + subject--Artifice of Barneveld--Impracticability of a compromise + between the Provinces and Spain--Formation of a West India Company-- + Secret mission from the archdukes to the Hague--Reply of the States- + General--Return of the archdukes' envoy--Arrangement of an eight + months' armistice. + +The general tendency towards a pacification in Europe at the close of the +year could hardly be mistaken. The languor of fatigue, rather than any +sincere desire for peace seemed to make negotiations possible. It was +not likely that great truths would yet be admitted, or that ruling +individuals or classes would recognise the rise of a new system out of +the rapidly dissolving elements of the one which had done its work. War +was becoming more and more expensive, while commerce, as the world slowly +expanded itself, and manifested its unsuspected resources, was becoming +more and more lucrative. It was not, perhaps, that men hated each other +less, but that they had for a time exhausted their power and their love +for slaughter. Meanwhile new devices for injuring humanity and retarding +its civilization were revealing themselves out of that very intellectual +progress which ennobled the new era. Although war might still be +regarded as the normal condition of the civilized world, it was possible +for the chosen ones to whom the earth and its fulness belonged, to +inflict general damage otherwise than by perpetual battles. + +In the east, west, north, and south of Europe peace was thrusting itself +as it were uncalled for and unexpected upon the general attention. +Charles and his nephew Sigismund, and the false Demetrius, and the +intrigues of the Jesuits, had provided too much work for Sweden, Poland, +and Russia to leave those countries much leisure for mingling in the more +important business of Europe at this epoch, nor have their affairs much +direct connection with this history. Venice, in its quarrels with the +Jesuits, had brought Spain, France, and all Italy into a dead lock, out +of which a compromise had been made not more satisfactory to the various +parties than compromises are apt to prove. The Dutch republic still +maintained the position which it had assumed, a quarter of a century +before, of actual and legal independence; while Spain, on the other hand, +still striving after universal monarchy, had not, of course, abated one +jot of its pretensions to absolute dominion over its rebellious subjects +in the Netherlands. + +The holy Roman and the sublime Ottoman empires had also drifted into +temporary peace; the exploits of the Persians and other Asiatic movements +having given Ahmed more work than was convenient on his eastern frontier, +while Stephen Botshkay had so completely got the better of Rudolph in +Transylvania as to make repose desirable. So there was a treaty between +the great Turk and the great Christian on the basis of what each +possessed; Stephen Botshkay was recognized as prince of Transylvania with +part of Hungary, and, when taken off soon afterwards by family poison, he +recommended on his death-bed the closest union between Hungary and +Transylvania, as well as peace with the emperor, so long as it might be +compatible with the rights of the Magyars. + +France and England, while suspecting each other, dreading each other, and +very sincerely hating each other, were drawn into intimate relations by +their common detestation of Spain, with which power both had now formal +treaties of alliance and friendship. This was the result of their mighty +projects for humbling the house of Austria and annihilating its power. +England hated the Netherlands because of the injuries she had done them, +the many benefits she had conferred upon them, and more than all on +account of the daily increasing commercial rivalry between the two most +progressive states in Christendom, the two powers which, comparatively +weak as they were in territory, capital, and population, were most in +harmony with the spirit of the age. + +The Government of England was more hostile than its people to the United +Provinces. James never spoke of the Netherlanders but as upstarts and +rebels, whose success ought to be looked upon with horror by the Lord's +anointed everywhere. He could not shut his eyes to the fact that, with +the republic destroyed, and a Spanish sacerdotal despotism established +in Holland and Zeeland, with Jesuit seminaries in full bloom in Amsterdam +and the Hague, his own rebels in Ireland might prove more troublesome +than ever, and gunpowder plots in London become common occurrences. + +The Earl of Tyrone at that very moment was receiving enthusiastic +hospitality at the archduke's court, much to the disgust of the +Presbyterian sovereign of the United Kingdom, who nevertheless, despite +his cherished theology, was possessed with an unconquerable craving for a +close family alliance with the most Catholic king. His ministers were +inclined to Spain, and the British Government was at heart favourable to +some kind of arrangement by which the Netherlands might be reduced to the +authority of their former master, in case no scheme could be carried +into, effect for acquiring a virtual sovereignty over those provinces by +the British crown. Moreover, and most of all, the King of France being +supposed to contemplate the annexation of the Netherlands to his own +dominions, the jealousy excited by such ambition made it even possible +for James's Government to tolerate the idea of Dutch independence. Thus +the court and cabinet of England were as full of contradictory hopes and +projects as a madman's brain. + +The rivalry between the courts of England and France for the Spanish +marriages and by means of them to obtain ultimately the sovereignty +of all the Netherlands, was the key to most of the diplomacy and +interpalatial intrigue of the several first years of the century. The +negotiations of Cornwallis at Madrid were almost simultaneous with the +schemes of Villeroy and Rosny at Paris. + +A portion of the English Government, so soon as its treaty with Spain had +been signed, seemed secretly determined to do as much injury to the +republic as might lie in its power. While at heart convinced that the +preservation of the Netherlands was necessary for England's safety, it +was difficult for James and the greater part of his advisers to overcome +their repugnance to the republic, and their jealousy of the great +commercial successes which the republic had achieved. + +It was perfectly plain that a continuance of the war by England and the +Netherlands united would have very soon ended in the entire humiliation +of Spain. Now that peace had been made, however, it was thought possible +that England might make a bargain with her late enemy for destroying the +existence and dividing the territory of her late ally. Accordingly the +Spanish cabinet lost no time in propounding, under seal of secrecy, and +with even more mystery than was usually employed by the most Catholic +court, a scheme for the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Infanta; +the bridal pair, when arrived at proper age, to be endowed with all the +Netherlands, both obedient and republican, in full sovereignty. One +thing was necessary to the carrying out of this excellent plot, the +reduction of the republic into her ancient subjection to Spain before her +territory could be transferred to the future Princess of Wales. + +It was proposed by the Spanish Government that England should undertake +this part of the job, and that King James for such service should receive +an annual pension of one million ducats a year. It was also stipulated +that certain cities in the republican dominions should be pledged to him +as security for the regular payment of that stipend. Sir Charles +Cornwallis, English ambassador in Spain, lent a most favourable ear to +these proposals, and James eagerly sanctioned them so soon as they were +secretly imparted to that monarch. "The king here," said Cornwallis, +"hath need of the King of Great Britain's arm. Our king . . . hath +good occasion to use the help of the King of Spain's purse. The +assistance of England to help that nation out of that quicksand of the +Low Countries, where so long they have struggled to tread themselves out, +and by proof find that deeper in, will be a sovereign medicine to the +malady of this estate. The addition of a million of ducats to the +revenue of our sovereign will be a good help to his estate." + +The Spanish Government had even the effrontery to offer the English envoy +a reward of two hundred thousand crowns if the negotiations should prove +successful. Care was to be taken however that Great Britain, by this +accession of power, both present and in prospect, should not grow too +great, Spain reserving to herself certain strongholds and maritime +positions in the Netherlands, for the proper security of her European and +Indian commerce. + +It was thought high time for the bloodshed to cease in the provinces; and +as England, by making a treaty of peace with Spain when Spain was at the +last gasp, had come to the rescue of that power, it was logical that she +should complete the friendly work by compelling the rebellious provinces +to awake from their dream of independence. If the statesmen of Holland +believed in the possibility of that independence, the statesmen of +England knew better. If the turbulent little republic was not at +last convinced that it had no right to create so much turmoil and +inconvenience for its neighbours and for Christendom in general in order +to maintain its existence, it should be taught its duty by the sovereigns +of Spain and Britain. + +It was observed, however, that the more greedily James listened day after +day to the marriage propositions, the colder became the Spanish cabinet +in regard to that point, the more disposed to postpone those nuptials "to +God's providence and future event." + +The high hopes founded on these secret stratagems were suddenly dashed to +the earth before the end of the year; the explosion of the Gunpowder Plot +blowing the castles in Spain into the air. + +Of course the Spanish politicians vied with each other in expressions of +horror and indignation at the Plot, and the wicked contrivers thereof, +and suggested to Cornwallis that the King of France was probably at the +bottom of it. + +They declined to give up Owen and Baldwin, however, and meantime the +negotiations for the marriage of the Prince of Wales and the Infanta, the +million ducats of yearly pension for the needy James, and the reduction +of the Dutch republic to its ancient slavery to Spain "under the eye and +arm of Britain," faded indefinitely away. Salisbury indeed was always +too wise to believe in the possibility of the schemes with which James +and some of his other counsellors had been so much infatuated. + +It was almost dramatic that these plottings between James and the +Catholic king against the life of the republic should have been signally +and almost simultaneously avenged by the conspiracy of Guido Fawkes. + +On the other hand, Rosny had imparted to the Dutch envoy the schemes of +Henry and his ministers in regard to the same object, early in 1605. +"Spain is more tired of the war," said he to Aerssens, under seal of +absolute secrecy, "than you are yourselves. She is now negotiating for a +marriage between the Dauphin and the Infanta, and means to give her the +United Provinces, as at present constituted, for a marriage portion. +Villeroy and Sillery believe the plan feasible, but demand all the +Netherlands together. As for me I shall have faith in it if they send +their Infanta hither at once, or make a regular cession of the territory. +Do you believe that my lords the States will agree to the proposition?" + +It would be certainly difficult to match in history the effrontery of +such a question. The republican envoy was asked point blank whether his +country would resign her dearly gained liberty and give herself as a +dowry for Philip the Second's three-years-old grand daughter. Aerssens +replied cautiously that he had never heard the matter discussed in the +provinces. It had always been thought that the French king had no +pretensions to their territory, but had ever advocated their +independence. He hinted that such a proposition was a mere apple of +discord thrown between two good allies by Spain. Rosny admitted the +envoy's arguments, and said that his Majesty would do nothing without the +consent of the Dutch Government, and that he should probably be himself +sent ere long to the Hague to see if he could not obtain some little +recognition from the States. + +Thus it was confidentially revealed to the agent of the republic that her +candid adviser and ally was hard at work, in conjunction with her ancient +enemy, to destroy her independence, annex her territory, and appropriate +to himself all the fruits of her great war, her commercial achievements, +and her vast sacrifices; while, as we have just seen, English politicians +at the same moment were attempting to accomplish the same feat for +England's supposed advantage. All that was wished by Henry to begin with +was a little, a very little, recognition of his sovereignty. "You will +do well to reflect on this delicate matter in time," wrote Aerssens to +the Advocate; "I know that the King of Spain is inclined to make this +offer, and that they are mad enough in this place to believe the thing +feasible. For me, I reject all such talk until they have got the +Infanta--that is to say, until the Greek Kalends. I am ashamed that they +should believe it here, and fearful that there is still more evil +concealed than I know of." + +Towards the close of the year 1606 the French Government became still +more eager to carry out their plans of alliance and absorption. +Aerssens, who loved a political intrigue better than became a republican +envoy, was perfectly aware of Henry's schemes. He was disposed to humour +them, in order to make sure of his military assistance, but with the +secret intention of seeing them frustrated by the determined opposition +of the States. + +The French ministers, by command of their sovereign, were disposed to +deal very plainly. They informed the Dutch diplomatist, with very little +circumlocution, that if the republic wished assistance from France she +was to pay a heavy price for it. Not a pound of flesh only, but the +whole body corporate, was to be surrendered if its destruction was to be +averted by French arms. + +"You know," said Sillery, "that princes in all their actions consider +their interests, and his Majesty has not so much affection for your +conservation as to induce him to resign his peaceful position. Tell me, +I pray you, what would you do for his Majesty in case anything should be +done for you? You were lately in Holland. Do you think that they would +give themselves to the king if he assisted them? Do you not believe that +Prince Maurice has designs on the sovereignty, and would prevent the +fulfilment of the king's hopes? What will you do for us in return for +our assistance?" + +Aerssens was somewhat perplexed, but he was cunning at fence. "We will +do all we can," said he, "for any change is more supportable than the +yoke of Spain." + +"What can you do then?" persisted Sillery. "Give us your opinion in +plain French, I beg of you, and lay aside all passion; for we have both +the same object--your preservation. Besides interest, his Majesty has +affection for you. Let him only see some advantage for himself to induce +to assist you more powerfully. Suppose you should give us what you have +and what you may acquire in Flanders with the promise to treat secretly +with us when the time comes. Could you do that?" + +The envoy replied that this would be tearing the commonwealth in pieces. +If places were given away, the jealousy of the English would be excited. +Certainly it would be no light matter to surrender Sluys, the fruit of +Maurice's skill and energy, the splendidly earned equivalent for the loss +of Ostend. "As to Sluys and other places in Flanders," said Aerssens, +"I don't know if towns comprised in our Union could be transferred or +pledged without their own consent and that of the States. Should such a +thing get wind we might be ruined. Nevertheless I will write to learn +what his Majesty may hope." + +"The people," returned Sillery, "need know nothing of this transfer; for +it might be made secretly by Prince Maurice, who could put the French +quietly into Sluys and other Flemish places. Meantime you had best make +a journey to Holland to arrange matters so that the deputies, coming +hither, may be amply instructed in regard to Sluys, and no time be lost. +His Majesty is determined to help you if you know how to help +yourselves." + +The two men then separated, Sillery enjoining it upon the envoy to see +the king next morning, "in order to explain to his Majesty, as he had +just been doing to himself, that this sovereignty could not be +transferred, without the consent of the whole people, nor the people +be consulted in secret." + +"It is necessary therefore to be armed," continued Henry's minister very +significantly, "before aspiring to the sovereignty." + +Thus there was a faint glimmer of appreciation at the French court of the +meaning of popular sovereignty. It did not occur to the minister that +the right of giving consent was to be respected. The little obstacle was +to be overcome by stratagem and by force. Prince Maurice was to put +French garrisons stealthily into Sluys and other towns conquered by the +republic in Flanders. Then the magnanimous ally was to rise at the right +moment and overcome all resistance by force of arms. The plot was a good +one. It is passing strange, however, that the character of the Nassaus +and of the Dutch nation should after the last fifty years have been still +so misunderstood. It seemed in France possible that Maurice would thus +defile his honour and the Netherlanders barter their liberty, by +accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed. + +"This is the marrow of our conference," said Aerssens to Barneveld, +reporting the interview, "and you may thus perceive whither are tending +the designs of his Majesty. It seems that they are aspiring here to the +sovereignty, and all my letters have asserted the contrary. If you will +examine a little more closely, however, you will find that there is no +contradiction. This acquisition would be desirable for France if it +could be made peacefully. As it can only be effected by war you may make +sure that it will not be attempted; for the great maxim and basis of this +kingdom is to preserve repose, and at the same time give such occupation +to the King of Spain that his means shall be consumed and his designs +frustrated. All this will cease if we make peace. + +"Thus in treating with the king we must observe two rules. The first is +that we can maintain ourselves no longer unless powerfully assisted, and +that, the people inclining to peace, we shall be obliged to obey the +people. Secondly, we must let no difficulty appear as to the desire +expressed by his Majesty to have the sovereignty of these provinces. +We ought to let him hope for it, but to make him understand that by +ordinary and legitimate means he cannot aspire to it. We will make him +think that we have an equal desire with himself, and we shall thus take +from those evil-disposed counsellors the power to injure us who are +always persuading him that he is only making us great for ourselves, and +thus giving us the power to injure him. In short, the king can hope +nothing from us overtly, and certainly nothing covertly. By explaining +to him that we require the authorization of the people, and by showing +ourselves prompt to grant his request, he will be the very first to +prevent us from taking any steps, in order that his repose may not be +disturbed. I know that France does not wish to go to war with Spain. +Let us then pretend that we wish to be under the dominion of France, and +that we will lead our people to that point if the king desires it, but +that it cannot be done secretly. Believe me, he will not wish it on such +conditions, while we shall gain much by this course. Would to God that +we could engage France in war with Spain. All the utility would be ours; +and the accidents of arms would so press them to Spain, Italy, and other +places, that they would have little leisure to think of us. Consider all +this and conceal it from Buzanval." + +Buzanval, it is well known, was the French envoy at the Hague, and it +must be confessed that these schemes and paltry falsehoods on the part of +the Dutch agent were as contemptible as any of the plots contrived every +day in Paris or Madrid. Such base coin as this was still circulating in +diplomacy as if fresh from the Machiavellian mint; but the republican +agent ought to have known that his Government had long ago refused to +pass it current. + +Soon afterwards this grave matter was discussed at the Hague between +Henry's envoy and Barneveld. It was a very delicate negotiation. The +Advocate wished to secure the assistance of a powerful but most +unscrupulous ally, and at the same time to conceal his real intention to +frustrate the French design upon the independence of the republic. + +Disingenuous and artful as his conduct unquestionably was, it may at +least be questioned whether in that age of deceit any other great +statesman would have been more frank. If the comparatively weak +commonwealth, by openly and scornfully refusing all the insidious and +selfish propositions of the French king, had incurred that monarch's +wrath, it would have taken a noble position no doubt, but it would have +perhaps been utterly destroyed. The Advocate considered himself +justified in using the artifices of war against a subtle and dangerous +enemy who wore the mask of a friend. When the price demanded for +military protection was the voluntary abandonment of national +independence in favour of the protector, the man who guided the affairs +of the Netherlands did not hesitate to humour and to outwit the king who +strove to subjugate the republic. At the same time--however one may be +disposed to censure the dissimulation from the standing-ground of a lofty +morality--it should not be forgotten that Barneveld never hinted at any +possible connivance on his part with an infraction of the laws. Whatever +might be the result of time, of persuasion, of policy, he never led +Henry or his ministers to believe that the people of the Netherlands +could be deprived of their liberty by force or fraud. He was willing to +play a political game, in which he felt himself inferior to no man, +trusting to his own skill and coolness for success. If the tyrant were +defeated, and at the same time made to serve the cause of the free +commonwealth, the Advocate believed this to be fair play. + +Knowing himself surrounded by gamblers and tricksters, he probably did +not consider himself to be cheating because he did not play his cards +upon the table. + +So when Buzanval informed him early in October that the possession of +Sluys and other Flemish towns would not be sufficient for the king, but +that they must offer the sovereignty on even more favourable conditions +than had once been proposed to Henry III., the Advocate told him roundly +that my lords the States were not likely to give the provinces to any +man, but meant to maintain their freedom and their rights. The envoy +replied that his Majesty would be able to gain more favour perhaps with +the common people of the country. + +When it is remembered that the States had offered the sovereignty of the +provinces to Henry III., abjectly and as it were without any conditions +at all, the effrontery of Henry IV. may be measured, who claimed the same +sovereignty, after twenty years of republican independence, upon even +more favourable terms than those which his predecessor had rejected. + +Barneveld, in order to mitigate the effect of his plump refusal of the +royal overtures, explained to Buzanval, what Buzanval very well knew, +that the times had now changed; that in those days, immediately after the +death of William the Silent, despair and disorder had reigned in the +provinces, "while that dainty delicacy--liberty--had not so long been +sweetly tickling the appetites of the people; that the English had not +then acquired their present footing in the country, nor the house of +Nassau the age, the credit, and authority to which it had subsequently +attained." + +He then intimated--and here began the deception, which certainly did not +deceive Buzanval--that if things were handled in the right way, there was +little doubt as to the king's reaching the end proposed, but that all +depended on good management. It was an error, he said, to suppose that +in one, two, or three months, eight provinces and their principal +members, to wit, forty good cities all enjoying liberty and equality, +could be induced to accept a foreign sovereign. + +Such language was very like irony, and probably not too subtle to escape +the fine perception of the French envoy. + +The first thing to be done, continued the Advocate, is to persuade the +provinces to aid the king with all their means to conquer the disunited +provinces--to dispose of the archdukes, in short, and to drive the +Spaniards from the soil--and then, little by little, to make it clear +that there could be no safety for the States except in reducing the whole +body of the Netherlands under the authority of the king. Let his Majesty +begin by conquering and annexing to his crown the provinces nearest him, +and he would then be able to persuade the others to a reasonable +arrangement. + +Whether the Advocate's general reply was really considered by Buzanval +as a grave sarcasm, politely veiled, may be a question. That envoy, +however, spoke to his Government of the matter as surrounded with +difficulties, but not wholly desperate. Barneveld was, he said, inclined +to doubt whether the archdukes would be able, before any negotiations +were begun, to comply with the demand which he had made upon them to have +a declaration in writing that the United Provinces were to be regarded as +a free people over whom they pretended to no authority. If so, the +French king would at once be informed of the fact. Meantime the envoy +expressed the safe opinion that, if Prince Maurice and the Advocate +together should take the matter of Henry's sovereignty in hand with zeal, +they might conduct the bark to the desired haven. Surely this was an +'if' with much virtue in it. And notwithstanding that he chose to +represent Barneveld as, rich, tired, at the end of his Latin, and willing +enough to drop his anchor in a snug harbour, in order to make his fortune +secure, it was obvious enough that Buzanval had small hope at heart of +seeing his master's purpose accomplished. + +As to Prince Maurice, the envoy did not even affect to believe him +capable of being made use of, strenuous as the efforts of the French +Government in that direction had been. "He has no private designs that +I can find out," said Buzanval, doing full justice to the straightforward +and sincere character of the prince. "He asks no change for himself or +for his country." The envoy added, as a matter of private opinion +however, that if an alteration were to be made in the constitution of +the provinces, Maurice would prefer that it should be made in favour +of France than of any other Government. + +He lost no opportunity, moreover, of impressing it upon his Government +that if the sovereignty were to be secured for France at all, it could +only be done by observing great caution, and by concealing their desire +to swallow the republic of which they were professing themselves the +friends. The jealousy of England was sure to be awakened if France +appeared too greedy at the beginning. On the other hand, that power +"might be the more easily rocked into a profound sleep if France did not +show its appetite at the very beginning of the banquet." That the policy +of France should be steadily but stealthily directed towards getting +possession of as many strong places as possible in the Netherlands had +long been his opinion. "Since we don't mean to go to war," said he a +year before to Villeroy, "let us at least follow the example of the +English, who have known how to draw a profit out of the necessities of +this state. Why should we not demand, or help ourselves to, a few good +cities. Sluys, for example, would be a security for us, and of great +advantage." + +Suspicion was rife on this subject at the court of Spain. Certainly +it would be less humiliating to the Catholic crown to permit the +independence of its rebellious subjects than to see them incorporated +into the realms of either France or England. It is not a very striking +indication of the capacity of great rulers to look far into the future +that both, France and England should now be hankering after the +sovereignty of those very provinces, the solemn offer of which by the +provinces themselves both France and England had peremptorily and almost +contemptuously refused. + +In Spain itself the war was growing very wearisome. Three hundred +thousand dollars a month could no longer be relied upon from the royal +exchequer, or from the American voyages, or from the kite-flying +operations of the merchant princes on the Genoa exchange. + +A great fleet, to be sure, had recently arrived, splendidly laden, from +the West Indies, as already stated. Pagan slaves, scourged to their +dreadful work, continued to supply to their Christian taskmasters the +hidden treasures of the New World in exchange for the blessings of the +Evangel as thus revealed; but these treasures could never fill the +perpetual sieve of the Netherland war, rapidly and conscientiously as +they were poured into it, year after year. + +The want of funds in the royal exchequer left the soldiers in Flanders +unpaid, and as an inevitable result mutiny admirably organized and calmly +defiant was again established throughout the obedient provinces. This +happened regularly once a year, so that it seemed almost as business-like +a proceeding for an Eletto to proclaim mutiny as for a sovereign to +declare martial law. Should the whole army mutiny at once, what might +become of the kingdom of Spain? + +Moreover, a very uneasy feeling was prevalent that, as formerly, the +Turks had crossed the Hellespont into Europe by means of a Genoese +alliance and Genoese galleys, so now the Moors were contemplating the +reconquest of Granada, and of their other ancient possessions in Spain, +with the aid of the Dutch republic and her powerful fleets.--[Grotius, +xv. 715] + +The Dutch cruisers watched so carefully on the track of the homeward- +bound argosies, that the traffic was becoming more dangerous than +lucrative, particularly since the public law established by Admiral +Fazardo, that it was competent for naval commanders to hang, drown, or +burn the crews of the enemy's merchantmen. + +The Portuguese were still more malcontent than the Spaniards. They had +gained little by the absorption of their kingdom by Spain, save +participation in the war against the republic, the result of which had +been to strip them almost entirely of the conquests of Vasco de Gama and +his successors, and to close to them the ports of the Old World and the +New. + +In the republic there was a party for peace, no doubt, but peace only +with independence. As for a return to their original subjection to Spain +they were unanimously ready to accept forty years more of warfare rather +than to dream of such a proposition. There were many who deliberately +preferred war to peace. Bitter experience had impressed very deeply on +the Netherlanders the great precept that faith would never be kept with +heretics. The present generation had therefore been taught from their +cradles to believe that the word peace in Spanish mouths simply meant the +Holy Inquisition. It was not unnatural, too, perhaps, that a people who +had never known what it was to be at peace might feel, in regard to that +blessing, much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music; as +something useful and agreeable, no doubt, but with which they might the +more cheerfully dispense, as peculiar circumstances had always kept them +in positive ignorance of its nature. The instinct of commercial +greediness made the merchants of Holland and Zeeland, and especially +those of Amsterdam, dread the revival of Antwerp in case of peace, to the +imagined detriment of the great trading centres of the republic. It was +felt also to be certain that Spain, in case of negotiations, would lay +down as an indispensable preliminary the abstinence on the part of the +Netherlanders from all intercourse with the Indies, East or West; and +although such a prohibition would be received by those republicans with +perfect contempt, yet the mere discussion of the subject moved their +spleen. They had already driven the Portuguese out of a large portion of +the field in the east, and they were now preparing by means of the same +machinery to dispute the monopoly of the Spaniards in the west. To talk +of excluding such a people as this from intercourse with any portion of +the Old World or the New was the mumbling of dotage; yet nothing could be +more certain than that such would be the pretensions of Spain. + +As for the stadholder, his vocation was war, his greatness had been +derived from war, his genius had never turned itself to pacific pursuits. +Should a peace be negotiated, not only would his occupation be gone, but +he might even find himself hampered for means. It was probable that his +large salaries, as captain and admiral-general of the forces of the +republic, would be seriously curtailed, in case his services in the field +were no longer demanded, while such secret hopes as he might entertain of +acquiring that sovereign power which Barneveld had been inclined to +favour, were more likely to be fulfilled if the war should be continued. +At the same time, if sovereignty were to be his at all, he was distinctly +opposed to such limitations of his authority as were to have been +proposed by the States to his father. Rather than reign on those +conditions, he avowed that he would throw himself head foremost +from the great tower of Hague Castle. + +Moreover, the prince was smarting under the consciousness of having lost +military reputation, however undeservedly, in the latter campaigns, and +might reasonably hope to gain new glory in the immediate future. Thus, +while his great rival, Marquis Spinola, whose fame had grown to so +luxuriant a height in so brief a period, had many reasons to dread the +results of future campaigning, Maurice seemed to have personally much to +lose and nothing to hope for in peace. Spinola was over head and ears in +debt. In the past two years he had spent millions of florins out of his +own pocket. His magnificent fortune and boundless credit were seriously +compromised. He had found it an easier task to take Ostend and relieve +Grol than to bolster up the finances of Spain. + +His acceptances were becoming as much a drug upon the exchanges of +Antwerp, Genoa, or Augsburg, as those of the most Catholic king or their +Highnesses the archdukes. Ruin stared him in the face, notwithstanding +the deeds with which he had startled the world, and he was therefore +sincerely desirous of peace, provided, of course, that all those +advantages for which the war had been waged in vain could now be +secured by negotiation. + +There had been, since the arrival of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, +just forty years of fighting. Maurice and the war had been born in the +same year, and it would be difficult for him to comprehend that his whole +life's work had been a superfluous task, to be rubbed away now with a +sponge. Yet that Spain, on the entrance to negotiations, would demand +of the provinces submission to her authority, re-establishment of the +Catholic religion, abstinence from Oriental or American commerce, and the +toleration of Spanish soldiers over all the Netherlands, seemed +indubitable. + +It was equally unquestionable that the seven provinces would demand +recognition of their national independence by Spain, would refuse public +practice of the Roman religion within their domains, and would laugh to +scorn any proposed limitations to their participation in the world's +traffic. As to the presence of Spanish troops on their soil, that was, +of course, an inconceivable idea. + +Where, then, could even a loophole be found through which the possibility +of a compromise could be espied? The ideas of the contending parties +were as much opposed to each other as fire and snow. Nevertheless, the +great forces of the world seemed to have gradually settled into such an +equilibrium as to make the continuance of the war for the present +impossible. + +Accordingly, the peace-party in Brussels had cautiously put forth its +tentacles late in 1606, and again in the early days of the new year. +Walrave van Wittenhorst and Doctor Gevaerts had been allowed to come to +the Hague, ostensibly on private business, but with secret commission +from the archdukes to feel and report concerning the political +atmosphere. They found that it was a penal offence in the republic to +talk of peace or of truce. They nevertheless suspected that there might +be a more sympathetic layer beneath the very chill surface which they +everywhere encountered. Having intimated in the proper quarters that the +archdukes would be ready to receive or to appoint commissioners for peace +or armistice, if becoming propositions should be made, they were allowed +on the 10th of January, 1607, to make a communication to the States- +General. They indulged in the usual cheap commonplaces on the effusion +of blood, the calamities of war, and the blessings of peace, and assured +the States of the very benignant disposition of their Highnesses at +Brussels. + +The States-General, in their reply, seventeen days afterwards, remarking +that the archdukes persisted in their unfounded pretensions of authority +over them, took occasion to assure their Highnesses that they had no +chance to obtain such authority except by the sword. Whether they +were like to accomplish much in that way the history of the past might +sufficiently indicate, while on the other hand the States would always +claim the right, and never renounce the hope, of recovering those +provinces which had belonged to their free commonwealth since the +union of Utrecht, and which force and fraud had torn away. + +During twenty-five years that union had been confirmed as a free state by +solemn decrees, and many public acts and dealings with the mightiest +potentates of Europe, nor could any other answer now be made to the +archdukes than the one always given to his holy Roman Imperial Majesty, +and other princes, to wit, that no negotiations could be had with powers +making any pretensions in conflict with the solemn decrees and well- +maintained rights of the United Netherlands. + +It was in this year that two words became more frequent in the mouths of +men than they had ever been before; two words which as the ages rolled on +were destined to exercise a wider influence over the affairs of this +planet than was yet dreamed of by any thinker in Christendom. Those +words were America and Virginia. Certainly both words were known before, +although India was the more general term for these auriferous regions of +the west, which, more than a century long, had been open to European +adventure, while the land, baptized in honour of the throned Vestal, had +been already made familiar to European ears by the exploits of Raleigh. +But it was not till 1607 that Jamestown was founded, that Captain John +Smith's adventures with Powhattan, "emperor of Virginia," and his +daughter the Princess Pocahontas, became fashionable topics in England, +that the English attempts to sail up the Chickahominy to the Pacific +Ocean--as abortive as those of the Netherlanders to sail across the North +Pole to Cathay--were creating scientific discussion in Europe, and that +the first cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the James River. + +With the adventurous minds of England all aflame with enthusiasm for +those golden regions, with the thick-coming fancies for digging, washing, +refining the precious sands of Virginia rivers, it was certain that a +great rent was now to be made in the Borgian grant. It was inevitable +that the rivalry of the Netherlanders should be excited by the +achievements and the marvellous tales of Englishmen beyond the Atlantic, +and that they too should claim their share of traffic with that golden +and magnificent Unknown which was called America. The rivalry between +England and Holland, already so conspicuous in the spicy Archipelagos of +the east, was now to be extended over the silvery regions of the west. +The two leading commercial powers of the Old World were now to begin +their great struggle for supremacy in the western hemisphere. + +A charter for what was called a West India Company was accordingly +granted by the States-General. West India was understood to extend from +the French settlements in Newfoundland or Acadia, along the American +coast to the Straits of Magellan, and so around to the South Sea, +including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, besides all of Africa lying +between the tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope. At least, within +those limits the West India Company was to have monopoly of trade, all +other Netherlanders being warned off the precincts. Nothing could be +more magnificent, nor more vague. + +The charter was for thirty-six years. The company was to maintain armies +and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties +of peace and of commerce. It was a small peripatetic republic of +merchants and mariners, evolved out of the mother republic--which had at +last established its position among the powers of Christendom--and it was +to begin its career full grown and in full armour. + +The States-General were to furnish the company at starting with one +million of florins and with twenty ships of war. The company was to add +twenty other ships. The Government was to consist of four chambers of +directors. One-half the capital was to be contributed by the chamber of +Amsterdam, one-quarter by that of Zeeland, one-eighth respectively by the +chambers of the Meuse and of North Holland. The chambers of Amsterdam, +of Zeeland, of the Meuse, and of North Holland were to have respectively +thirty, eighteen, fifteen, and fifteen directors. Of these seventy- +eight, one-third were to be replaced every sixth year by others, while +from the whole number seventeen persons were to be elected as a permanent +board of managers. Dividends were to be made as soon as the earnings +amounted to ten per cent. on the capital. Maritime judges were to decide +upon prizes, the proceeds of which were not to be divided for six years, +in order that war might be self-sustaining. Afterwards, the treasury of +the United Provinces should receive one-tenth, Prince Maurice one- +thirtieth, and the merchant stockholders the remainder. Governors and +generals were to take the oath of fidelity to the States-General. The +merchandize of the company was to be perpetually free of taxation, so far +as regarded old duties, and exempt from war-taxes for the first twenty +years. + +Very violent and conflicting were the opinions expressed throughout the +republic in regard to this project. It was urged by those most in favour +of it that the chief sources of the greatness of Spain would be thus +transferred to the States-General; for there could be no doubt that the +Hollanders, unconquerable at sea, familiar with every ocean-path, and +whose hardy constitutions defied danger and privation and the extremes of +heat and cold, would easily supplant the more delicately organized +adventurers from Southern Europe, already enervated by the exhausting +climate of America. Moreover, it was idle for Spain to attempt the +defence of so vast a portion of the world. Every tribe over which she +had exercised sway would furnish as many allies for the Dutch company as +it numbered men; for to obey and to hate the tyrannical Spaniard were +one. The republic would acquire, in reality, the grandeur which with +Spain was but an empty boast, would have the glory of transferring the +great war beyond the limits of home into those far distant possessions, +where the enemy deemed himself most secure, and would teach the true +religion to savages sunk in their own superstitions, and still further +depraved by the imported idolatries of Rome. Commerce was now world- +wide, and the time had come for the Netherlanders, to whom the ocean +belonged, to tear out from the pompous list of the Catholic king's titles +his appellation of Lord of the Seas. + +There were others, however, whose language was not so sanguine. They +spoke with a shiver of the inhabitants of America, who hated all men, +simply because they were men, or who had never manifested any love for +their species except as an article of food. To convert such cannibals to +Christianity and Calvinism would be a hopeless endeavour, and meanwhile +the Spaniards were masters of the country. The attempt to blockade half +the globe with forty galleots was insane; for, although the enemy had not +occupied the whole territory, he commanded every harbour and position of +vantage. Men, scarcely able to defend inch by inch the meagre little +sandbanks of their fatherland, who should now go forth in hopes to +conquer the world, were but walking in their sleep. They would awake to +the consciousness of ruin. + +Thus men in the United Provinces spake of America. Especially Barneveld +had been supposed to be prominent among the opponents of the new Company, +on the ground that the more violently commercial ambition excited itself +towards wider and wilder fields of adventure, the fainter grew +inclinations for peace. The Advocate, who was all but omnipotent in +Holland and Zeeland, subsequently denied the imputation of hostility to +the new corporation, but the establishment of the West India Company, +although chartered, was postponed. + +The archdukes had not been discouraged by the result of their first +attempts at negotiation, for Wittenhorst had reported a disposition +towards peace as prevalent in the rebellious provinces, so far as he had +contrived, during his brief mission, to feel the public pulse. + +On the 6th February, 1607, Werner Cruwel, an insolvent tradesman of +Brussels, and a relative of Recorder Aerssens, father of the envoy at +Paris, made his appearance very unexpectedly at the house of his kinsman +at the Hague. Sitting at the dinner-table, but neither eating nor +drinking, he was asked by his host what troubled him. He replied that +he had a load on his breast. Aerssens begged him, if it was his recent +bankruptcy that oppressed him, to use philosophy and patience. The +merchant answered that he who confessed well was absolved well. He then +took from his pocket-book a letter from President Richardot, and said he +would reveal what he had to say after dinner. The cloth being removed, +and the wife and children of Aerssens having left the room, Cruwel +disclosed that he had been sent by Richardot and Father Neyen on a secret +mission. The recorder, much amazed and troubled, refused to utter a +word, save to ask if Cruwel would object to confer with the Advocate. +The merchant expressing himself as ready for such an interview, the +recorder, although it was late, immediately sent a message to the great +statesman. Barneveld was in bed and asleep, but was aroused to receive +the communication of Aerssens. "We live in such a calumnious time," said +the recorder, "that many people believe that you and I know more of the +recent mission of Wittenhorst than we admit. You had best interrogate +Cruwel in the presence of witnesses. I know not the man's humour, but it +seems to me since his failure, that, in spite of his shy and lumpish +manner, he is false and cunning." + +The result was a secret interview, on the 8th February, between Prince +Maurice, Barneveld, and the recorder, in which Cruwel was permitted to +state the object of his mission. He then produced a short memorandum, +signed by Spinola and by Father Neyen, to the effect that the archdukes +were willing to treat for a truce of ten or twelve years, on the sole +condition that the States would abstain from the India navigation. He +exhibited also another paper, signed only by Neyen, in which that friar +proposed to come secretly to the Hague, no one in Brussels to know of the +visit save the archdukes and Spinola; and all in the United Provinces to +be equally ignorant except the prince, the Advocate, and the recorder. +Cruwel was then informed that if Neyen expected to discuss such grave +matters with the prince, he must first send in a written proposal that +could go on all fours and deserve attention. A week afterwards Cruwel +came back with a paper in which Neyen declared himself authorized by the +archdukes to treat with the States on the basis of their liberty and +independence, and to ask what they would give in return for so great a +concession as this renunciation of all right to "the so-called United +Provinces." + +This being a step in advance, it was decided to permit the visit of +Neyen. It was, however, the recorded opinion of the distinguished +personages to whom the proposal was made that it was a trick and a +deception. The archdukes would, no doubt, it was said, nominally +recognise the provinces as a free State, but without really meaning it. +Meantime, they would do their best to corrupt the Government and to renew +the war after the republic had by this means been separated from its +friends. + +John Neyen, father commissary of the Franciscans, who had thus invited +himself to the momentous conference, was a very smooth Flemish friar, who +seemed admirably adapted, for various reasons, to glide into the rebel +country and into the hearts of the rebels. He was a Netherlander, born +at Antwerp, when Antwerp was a portion of the united commonwealth, of a +father who had been in the confidential service of William the Silent. +He was eloquent in the Dutch language, and knew the character of the +Dutch people. He had lived much at court, both in Madrid and Brussels, +and was familiar with the ways of kings and courtiers. He was a holy +man, incapable of a thought of worldly advancement for himself, but he +was a master of the logic often thought most conclusive in those days; +no man insinuating golden arguments more adroitly than he into half- +reluctant palms. Blessed with a visage of more than Flemish frankness, +he had in reality a most wily and unscrupulous disposition. Insensible +to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff, he could wind back to +his purpose when less supple negotiators would have been crushed. + +He was described by his admirers as uniting the wisdom of the serpent +with the guilelessness of the dove. Who better than he then, in this +double capacity, to coil himself around the rebellion, and to carry the +olive-branch in his mouth? + +On the 25th February the monk, disguised in the dress of a burgher, +arrived at Ryswick, a village a mile and a half from the Hague. He was +accompanied on the journey by Cruwel, and they gave themselves out as +travelling tradesmen. After nightfall, a carriage having been sent to +the hostelry, according to secret agreement, by Recorder Aerssens, John +Neyen was brought to the Hague. The friar, as he was driven on through +these hostile regions, was somewhat startled, on looking out, to find +himself accompanied by two mounted musketeers on each side of the +carriage, but they proved to have been intended as a protective escort. +He was brought to the recorder's house, whence, after some delay, he was +conveyed to the palace. Here he was received by an unknown and silent +attendant, who took him by the hand and led him through entirely deserted +corridors and halls. Not a human being was seen nor a sound heard until +his conductor at last reached the door of an inner apartment through +which he ushered him, without speaking a syllable. The monk then found +himself in the presence of two personages, seated at a table covered with +books and papers. One was in military undress, with an air about him of +habitual command, a fair-complexioned man of middle age, inclining to +baldness, rather stout, with a large blue eye, regular features, and a +mouse-coloured beard. The other was in the velvet cloak and grave +habiliments of a civil functionary, apparently sixty years of age, with a +massive features, and a shaggy beard. The soldier was Maurice of Nassau, +the statesman was John of Olden-Barneveld. + +Both rose as the friar entered, and greeted him with cordiality. + +"But," said the prince, "how did you dare to enter the Hague, relying +only on the word of a Beggar?" + +"Who would not confide," replied Neyen, "in the word of so exalted, so +respectable a Beggar as you, O most excellent prince?" + +With these facetious words began the negotiations through which an +earnest attempt was at last to be made for terminating a seemingly +immortal war. The conversation, thus begun, rolled amicably and +informally along. The monk produced letters from the archdukes, in +which, as he stated, the truly royal soul of the writers shone +conspicuously forth. Without a thought for their own advantage, he +observed, and moved only by a contemplation of the tears shed by so many +thousands of beings reduced to extreme misery, their Highnesses, although +they were such exalted princes, cared nothing for what would be said by +the kings of Europe and all the potentates of the universe about their +excessive indulgence." + +"What indulgence do you speak of?" asked the stadholder. + +"Does that seem a trifling indulgence," replied John Neyen, "that they +are willing to abandon the right which they inherited from their +ancestors over these provinces, to allow it so easily to slip from their +fingers, to declare these people to be free, over whom, as their subjects +refusing the yoke, they have carried on war so long?" + +"It is our right hands that have gained this liberty," said Maurice, "not +the archdukes that have granted it. It has been acquired by our +treasure, poured forth how freely! by the price of our blood, by so many +thousands of souls sent to their account. Alas, how dear a price have +we paid for it! All the potentates of Christendom, save the King of +Spain alone, with his relatives the archdukes, have assented to our +independence. In treating for peace we ask no gift of freedom from the +archdukes. We claim to be regarded by them as what we are--free men. +If they are unwilling to consider us as such, let them subject us to +their dominion if they can. And as we have hitherto done, we shall +contend more fiercely for liberty than for life." + +With this, the tired monk was dismissed to sleep off the effects of his +journey and of the protracted discussion, being warmly recommended to the +captain of the citadel, by whom he was treated with every possible +consideration. + +Several days of private discussion ensued between Neyen and the leading +personages of the republic. The emissary was looked upon with great +distrust. All schemes of substantial negotiation were regarded by the +public as visions, while the monk on his part felt the need of all his +tact and temper to wind his way out of the labyrinth into which he felt +that he had perhaps too heedlessly entered. A false movement on his part +would involve himself and his masters in a hopeless maze of suspicion, +and make a pacific result impossible. + +At length, it having been agreed to refer the matter to the States- +General, Recorder Aerssens waited upon Neyen to demand his credentials +for negotiation. He replied that he had been forbidden to deliver his +papers, but that he was willing to exhibit them to the States-General. + +He came accordingly to that assembly, and was respectfully received. +All the deputies rose, and he was placed in a seat near the presiding +officer. Olden-Barneveld then in a few words told him why he had been +summoned. The monk begged that a want of courtesy might not be imputed +to him, as he had been sent to negotiate with three individuals, not with +a great assembly. + +Thus already the troublesome effect of publicity upon diplomacy was +manifesting itself. The many-headed, many-tongued republic was a +difficult creature to manage, adroit as the negotiator had proved himself +to be in gliding through the cabinets and council-chambers of princes and +dealing with the important personages found there. + +The power was, however, produced, and handed around the assembly, the +signature and seals being duly inspected by the members. Neyen was then +asked if he had anything to say in public. He replied in the negative, +adding only a few vague commonplaces about the effusion of blood and the +desire of the archdukes for the good of mankind. He was then dismissed. + +A few days afterwards a committee of five from the States-General, of +which Barneveld was chairman, conferred with Neyen. He was informed that +the paper exhibited by him was in many respects objectionable, and that +they had therefore drawn up a form which he was requested to lay before +the archdukes for their guidance in making out a new power. He was asked +also whether the king of Spain was a party to these proposals for +negotiation. The monk answered that he was not informed of the fact, +but that he considered it highly probable. + +John Neyen then departed for Brussels with the form prescribed by the +States-General in his pocket. Nothing could exceed the indignation with +which the royalists and Catholics at the court of the archdukes were +inspired by the extreme arrogance and obstinacy thus manifested by the +rebellious heretics. That the offer on the part of their master to +negotiate should be received by them with cavils, and almost with +contempt, was as great an offence as their original revolt. That the +servant should dare to prescribe a form for the sovereign to copy seemed +to prove that the world was coming to an end. But it was ever thus with +the vulgar, said the courtiers and church dignitaries, debating these +matters. The insanity of plebeians was always enormous, and never more +so than when fortune for a moment smiled. Full of arrogance and temerity +when affairs were prosperous, plunged in abject cowardice when dangers +and reverses came--such was the People--such it must ever be. + +Thus blustered the priests and the parasites surrounding the archduke, +nor need their sentiments amaze us. Could those honest priests and +parasites have ever dreamed, before the birth of this upstart republic, +that merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, mechanics and advocates--the +People, in short--should presume to meddle with affairs of state? Their +vocation had been long ago prescribed--to dig and to draw, to brew and to +bake, to bear burdens in peace and to fill bloody graves in war--what +better lot could they desire? + +Meantime their superiors, especially endowed with wisdom by the +Omnipotent, would direct trade and commerce, conduct war and diplomacy, +make treaties, impose taxes, fill their own pockets, and govern the +universe. Was not this reasonable and according to the elemental laws? +If the beasts of the field had been suddenly gifted with speech, and had +constituted themselves into a free commonwealth for the management of +public affairs, they would hardly have caused more profound astonishment +at Brussels and Madrid than had been excited by the proceedings of the +rebellious Dutchmen. + +Yet it surely might have been suggested, when the lament of the courtiers +over the abjectness of the People in adversity was so emphatic, that Dorp +and Van Loon, Berendrecht and Gieselles, with the men under their +command, who had disputed every inch of Little Troy for three years and +three months, and had covered those fatal sands with a hundred thousand +corpses, had not been giving of late such evidence of the People's +cowardice in reverses as theory required. The siege of Ostend had been +finished only three years before, and it is strange that its lessons +should so soon have been forgotten. + +It was thought best, however, to dissemble. Diplomacy in those days-- +certainly the diplomacy of Spain and Rome--meant simply dissimulation. +Moreover, that solid apothegm, 'haereticis non servanda fides,' the most +serviceable anchor ever forged for true believers, was always ready to be +thrown out, should storm or quicksand threaten, during the intricate +voyage to be now undertaken. + +John Neyen soon returned to the Hague, having persuaded his masters +that it was best to affect compliance with the preliminary demand of +the States. During the discussions in regard to peace, it would not be +dangerous to treat with the rebel provinces as with free states, over +which the archdukes pretended to no authority, because--so it was +secretly argued--this was to be understood with a sense of similitude. +"We will negotiate with them as if they were free," said the greyfriar to +the archduke and his counsellors, "but not with the signification of true +and legitimate liberty. They have laid down in their formula that we are +to pretend to no authority over them. Very well. For the time being we +will pretend that we do not pretend to any such authority. To negotiate +with them as if they were free will not make them free. It is no +recognition by us that they are free. Their liberty could never be +acquired by their rebellion. This is so manifest that neither the king +nor the archdukes can lose any of their rights over the United Provinces, +even should they make this declaration." + +Thus the hair-sputters at Brussels--spinning a web that should be stout +enough to entrap the noisy, blundering republicans at the Hague, yet so +delicate as to go through the finest dialectical needle. Time was to +show whether subtilty or bluntness was the best diplomatic material. + +The monk brought with him three separate instruments or powers, to be +used according to his discretion. Admitted to the assembly of the +States-General, he produced number one. + +It was instantly rejected. He then offered number two, with the same +result. He now declared himself offended, not on his own account, but +for the sake of his masters, and asked leave to retire from the assembly, +leaving with them the papers which had been so benignantly drawn up, and +which deserved to be more carefully studied. + +The States, on their parts, were sincerely and vehemently indignant. +What did all this mean, it was demanded, this producing one set of +propositions after another? Why did the archdukes not declare their +intentions openly and at once? Let the States depart each to the several +provinces, and let John Neyen be instantly sent out of the country. Was +it thought to bait a trap for the ingenuous Netherlanders, and catch them +little by little, like so many wild animals? This was not the way the +States dealt with the archdukes. What they meant they put in front-- +first, last, and always. Now and in the future they said and they would +say exactly what they wished, candidly and seriously. Those who pursued +another course would never come into negotiation with them. + +The monk felt that he had excited a wrath which it would be difficult +to assuage. He already perceived the difference between a real and an +affected indignation, and tried to devise some soothing remedy. Early +next morning he sent a petition in writing to the States for leave to +make an explanation to the assembly. Barneveld and Recorder Aerssens, in +consequence, came to him immediately, and heaped invectives upon his head +for his duplicity. + +Evidently it was a different matter dealing with this many-headed roaring +beast, calling itself a republic, from managing the supple politicians +with whom he was more familiar. The noise and publicity of these +transactions were already somewhat appalling to the smooth friar who was +accustomed to negotiate in comfortable secrecy. He now vehemently +protested that never man was more sincere than he, and implored for time +to send to Brussels for another power. It is true that number three was +still in his portfolio, but he had seen so much indignation on the +production of number two as to feel sure that the fury of the States +would know no bounds should he now confess that he had come provided with +a third. + +It was agreed accordingly to wait eight days, in which period he might +send for and receive the new power already in his possession. These +little tricks were considered masterly diplomacy in those days, and by +this kind of negotiators; and such was the way in which it was proposed +to terminate a half century of warfare. + + [The narrative is the monk's own, as preserved by his admirer, + the Jesuit Gallucci, (ubi sup.)] + +The friar wrote to his masters, not of course to ask for a new power, but +to dilate on the difficulties to be anticipated in procuring that which +the losing party is always most bent upon in circumstances like these, +and which was most ardently desired by the archdukes--an armistice. He +described Prince Maurice as sternly opposed to such a measure, believing +that temporary cessation of hostilities was apt to be attended with +mischievous familiarity between the opposing camps, with relaxation of +discipline, desertion, and various kinds of treachery, and that there was +no better path to peace than that which was trampled by contending hosts. + +Seven days passed, and then Neyen informed the States that he had at last +received a power which he hoped would prove satisfactory. Being admitted +accordingly to the assembly, he delivered an eloquent eulogy upon the +sincerity of the archdukes, who, with perhaps too little regard for their +own dignity and authority, had thus, for the sake of the public good, so +benignantly conceded what the States had demanded. + +Barneveld, on receiving the new power, handed to Neyen a draught of an +agreement which he was to study at his leisure, and in which he might +suggest alterations. At the same time it was demanded that within three +months the written consent of the King of Spain to the proposed +negotiations should be produced. The Franciscan objected that it did +not comport with the dignity of the archdukes to suppose the consent of +any other sovereign needful to confirm their acts. Barneveld insisted +with much vehemence on the necessity of this condition. It was perfectly +notorious, he said, that the armies commanded by the archdukes were +subject to the King of Spain, and were called royal armies. Prince +Maurice observed that all prisoners taken by him had uniformly called +themselves soldiers of the Crown, not of the archdukes, nor of Marquis +Spinola. + +Barneveld added that the royal power over the armies in the Netherlands +and over the obedient provinces was proved by the fact that all +commanders of regiments, all governors of fortresses, especially of +Antwerp, Ghent, Cambray, and the like, were appointed by the King of +Spain. These were royal citadels with royal garrisons. That without the +knowledge and consent of the King of Spain it would be impossible to +declare the United Provinces free, was obvious; for in the cession by +Philip II. of all the Netherlands it was provided that, without the +consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this +on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. To treat without the king +was therefore impossible. + +The Franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of Spain sent funds and +auxiliary troops to Flanders, and appointed military commanders there of +various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme. +Philip II. had sent funds and troops to sustain the League, but he was +not King of France. + +Barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that Philip, +with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become King of +France, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way. + +Neyen then returned once more to Brussels, observing as he took leave +that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very +doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties +would be to agree to an armistice out of hand. + +This, however, was far from being the opinion of the States or the +stadholder. + +After conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from +Antwerp to the Dutch ships which lay in the, Scheld before Fort Lillo. +On board one of these, Dirk van der Does had been stationed with a +special commission from the States to compare documents. It was +expressly ordered that in these preliminary negotiations neither party +was to go on shore. On a comparison of the agreement brought by Neyen +from Brussels with the draught furnished by Barneveld, of which Van der +Does had a copy, so many discrepancies appeared that the document of the +archdukes was at once rejected. But of course the monk had a number two, +and this, after some trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. +Brother John then, acting upon what he considered the soundest of +principles--that no job was so difficult as not to be accomplished with +the help of the precious metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable +gold chain as a present from the archdukes. Dirk van der Does accepted +the chain, but gave notice of the fact to his Government. + +The monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the Hague, but this +had been expressly forbidden by the States. Neyen felt sure, he said, +of being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to +overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted +to the assembly. Van der Does had already much overstaid his appointed +time, bound to the spot, as it were, by the golden chain thrown around +him by the excellent friar, and he now, in violation of orders, wrote to +the Hague for leave to comply with this request. Pending the answer, the +persuasive Neyen convinced him, much against his will, that they might +both go together as far as Delft. To Delft they accordingly went; but, +within half a league of that place, met a courier with strict orders that +the monk was at once to return to Brussels. Brother John was in great +agitation. Should he go back, the whole negotiation might come to +nought; should he go on, he might be clapped into prison as a spy. Being +conscious, however, that his services as a spy were intended to be the +most valuable part of his mission, he resolved to proceed in that +capacity. So he persuaded his friend Dirk to hide him in the hold of a +canal-boat. Van der Does was in great trepidation himself, but on +reaching the Hague and giving up his gold chain to Barneveld, he made his +peace, and obtained leave for the trembling but audacious friar to come +out of his hiding-place. + +Appearing once more before the States-General on the afternoon of 7th +May, Neyen urged with much eloquence the propriety of an immediate +armistice both by sea and land, insisting that it would be a sanguinary +farce to establish a cessation of hostilities upon one element while +blood and treasure were profusely flowing on the oceans. There were +potent reasons for this earnestness on the part of the monk to procure a +truce to maritime operations, as very soon was to be made evident to the +world. Meantime, on this renewed visit, the negotiator expressed himself +as no longer doubtful in regard to the propriety of requesting the +Spanish king's consent to the proposed negotiations. That consent, +however, would in his opinion depend upon the earnestness now to be +manifested by the States in establishing the armistice by sea and land, +and upon their promptness in recalling the fleets now infesting the coast +of Spain. No immediate answer was given to these representations, but +Neyen was requested to draw up his argument in writing, in order that it +might be duly pondered by the States of the separate provinces. + +The radical defect of the Dutch constitution--the independent sovereignty +claimed by each one of the provinces composing the confederation, each of +those provinces on its part being composed of cities, each again claiming +something very like sovereignty for itself--could not fail to be +manifested whenever, great negotiations with foreign powers were to be +undertaken. To obtain the unanimous consent of seven independent little +republics was a work of difficulty, requiring immense expenditure of time +in comparatively unimportant contingencies. How intolerable might become +the obstructions, the dissensions, and the delays, now that a series of +momentous and world-wide transactions was beginning, on the issue of +which the admission of a new commonwealth into the family of nations, +the international connections of all the great powers of Christendom, +the commerce of the world, and the peace of Europe depended. + +Yet there was no help for it but to make the best present use of the +institutions which time and great events had bestowed upon the young +republic, leaving to a more convenient season the task of remodelling the +law. Meanwhile, with men who knew their own minds, who meant to speak +the truth, and who were resolved to gather in at last the harvest +honestly and bravely gained by nearly a half-century of hard fighting, it +would be hard for a legion of friars, with their heads full of quirks and +their wallets full of bills of exchange, to carry the day for despotism. + +Barneveld was sincerely desirous of peace. He was well aware that his +province of Holland, where he was an intellectual autocrat, was +staggering under the burden of one half the expenses of the whole +republic. He knew that Holland in the course of the last nine years, +notwithstanding the constantly heightened rate of impost on all objects +of ordinary consumption, was twenty-six millions of florins behindhand, +and that she had reason therefore to wish for peace. The great Advocate, +than whom no statesman in Europe could more accurately scan the world's +horizon, was convinced that the propitious moment for honourable +straightforward negotiations to secure peace, independence, and free +commerce, free religion and free government, had come, and he had +succeeded in winning the reluctant Maurice into a partial adoption, +at least, of his opinions. + +The Franciscan remained at Delft, waiting, by direction of the States, +for an answer to his propositions, and doing his best according to the +instructions of his own Government to espy the condition and sentiments +of the enemy. Becoming anxious after the lapse of a fortnight, he wrote +to Barneveld. In reply the Advocate twice sent a secret messenger, +urging, him to be patient, assuring him that the affair was working well; +that the opposition to peace came chiefly from Zeeland and from certain +parties in Amsterdam vehemently opposed to peace or truce; but that the +rest of Holland was decidedly in favour of the negotiations. + +A few days passed, and Neyen was again summoned before the assembly. +Barneveld now informed him that the Dutch fleet would be recalled from +the coast of Spain so soon as the consent of his Catholic Majesty to +the negotiations arrived, but that it would be necessary to confine the +cessation of naval warfare within certain local limits. Both these +conditions were strenuously opposed by the Franciscan, who urged that +the consent of the Spanish king was certain, but that this new +proposition to localize the maritime armistice would prove to be fraught +with endless difficulties and dangers. Barneveld and the States +remaining firm, however, and giving him a formal communication of their +decision in writing, Neyen had nothing for it but to wend his way back +rather malcontent to Brussels. + +It needed but a brief deliberation at the court of the archdukes to bring +about the desired arrangement. The desire for an armistice, especially +for a cessation of hostilities by sea, had been marvellously stimulated +by an event to be narrated in the next chapter. Meantime, more than the +first three months of the year had been passed in these secret +preliminary transactions, and so softly had the stealthy friar sped to +and fro between Brussels and the Hague, that when at last the armistice +was announced it broke forth like a sudden flash of fine weather in the +midst of a raging storm. No one at the archduke's court knew of the +mysterious negotiations save the monk himself, Spinola, Richardot, +Verreycken, the chief auditor, and one or two others. The great Belgian +nobles, from whom everything had been concealed, were very wroth, but the +Belgian public was as much delighted as amazed at the prospects of peace. +In the United Provinces opinions were conflicting, but doubtless joy and +confidence were the prevailing emotions. + +Towards the middle of April the armistice was publicly announced. It was +to last for eight months from the 4th of May. During this period no +citadels were to be besieged, no camps brought near a city, no new +fortifications built, and all troops were to be kept carefully within +walls. Meantime commissioners were to be appointed by the archdukes to +confer with an equal number of deputies of the United Provinces for peace +or for a truce of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, on the express ground +that the archdukes regarded the United Provinces as free countries, over +which their Highnesses pretended to no authority. + +The armistice on land was absolute. On sea, hostilities were to cease in +the German Ocean and in the channel between England and France, while it +was also provided that the Netherland fleet should, within a certain +period, be recalled from the Spanish coast. + +A day of public fast, humiliation, thanksgiving, and prayer was ordered +throughout the republic for the 9th of May, in order to propitiate the +favour of Heaven on the great work to be undertaken; and, as a further +precaution, Prince Maurice ordered all garrisons in the strong places to +be doubled, lest the slippery enemy should take advantage of too much +confidence reposed in his good faith. The preachers throughout the +commonwealth, each according to his individual bias, improved the +occasion by denouncing the Spaniard from their pulpits and inflaming the +popular hatred against the ancient enemy, or by dilating on the blessings +of peace and the horrors of war. The peace party and the war party, the +believers in Barneveld and the especial adherents of Prince Maurice, +seemed to divide the land in nearly equal portions. + +While the Netherlands, both rebellious and obedient, were filled with +these various emotions, the other countries of Europe were profoundly +amazed at the sudden revelation. It was on the whole regarded as a +confession of impotence on the part of Spain that the archdukes should +now prepare to send envoys to the revolted provinces as to a free and +independent people. Universal monarchy, brought to such a pass as this, +was hardly what had been expected after the tremendous designs and the +grandiloquent language on which the world had so long been feeding as its +daily bread. The spectacle of anointed monarchs thus far humbling +themselves to the people of rebellion dictating terms, instead of +writhing in dust at the foot of the throne--was something new in history. +The heavens and earth might soon be expected to pass away, now that such +a catastrophe was occurring. + +The King of France had also been kept in ignorance of these events. It +was impossible, however, that the negotiations could go forward without +his consent and formal participation. Accordingly on receiving the news +he appointed an especial mission to the Hague--President Jeannin and De +Russy, besides his regular resident ambassador Buzanval. Meantime +startling news reached the republic in the early days of May. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce +Accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed +As if they were free will not make them free +As neat a deception by telling the truth +Cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the James River +Delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader +Diplomacy of Spain and Rome--meant simply dissimulation +Draw a profit out of the necessities of this state +England hated the Netherlands +Friendly advice still more intolerable +Haereticis non servanda fides +He who confessed well was absolved well +Insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff +Languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace +Much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music +Subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend +Word peace in Spanish mouths simply meant the Holy Inquisition + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v78 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 79, 1607 + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + A Dutch fleet under Heemskerk sent to the coast of Spain and + Portugal--Encounter with the Spanish war fleet under D'Avila--Death + of both commanders-in-chief--Victory of the Netherlanders--Massacre + of the Spaniards. + +The States-General had not been inclined to be tranquil under the check +which Admiral Haultain had received upon the coast of Spain in the autumn +of 1606. The deed of terrible self-devotion by which Klaaszoon and his +comrades had in that crisis saved the reputation of the republic, had +proved that her fleets needed only skilful handling and determined +leaders to conquer their enemy in the Western seas as certainly as they +had done in the archipelagos of the East. And there was one pre-eminent +naval commander, still in the very prime of life, but seasoned by an +experience at the poles and in the tropics such as few mariners in that +early but expanding maritime epoch could boast. Jacob van Heemskerk, +unlike many of the navigators and ocean warriors who had made and were +destined to make the Orange flag of the United Provinces illustrious over +the world, was not of humble parentage. Sprung of an ancient, knightly +race, which had frequently distinguished itself in his native province of +Holland, he had followed the seas almost from his cradle. By turns a +commercial voyager, an explorer, a privateer's-man, or an admiral of war- +fleets, in days when sharp distinctions between the merchant service and +the public service, corsairs' work and cruisers' work, did not exist, he +had ever proved himself equal to any emergency--a man incapable of +fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear. We have followed his career during +that awful winter in Nova Zembla, where, with such unflinching cheerful +heroism, he sustained the courage of his comrades--the first band of +scientific martyrs that had ever braved the dangers and demanded the +secrets of those arctic regions. His glorious name--as those of so many +of his comrades and countrymen--has been rudely torn from cape, +promontory, island, and continent, once illustrated by courage and +suffering, but the noble record will ever remain. + +Subsequently he had much navigated the Indian ocean; his latest +achievement having been, with two hundred men, in a couple of yachts, +to capture an immense Portuguese carrack, mounting thirty guns, and +manned with eight hundred sailors, and to bring back a prodigious booty +for the exchequer of the republic. A man with delicate features, large +brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft, gentle +expression, he concealed, under a quiet exterior, and on ordinary +occasions a very plain and pacific costume, a most daring nature, +and an indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction. + +He was the man of all others in the commonwealth to lead any new +enterprise that audacity could conceive against the hereditary enemy. + +The public and the States-General were anxious to retrace the track of +Haultain, and to efface the memory of his inglorious return from the +Spanish coast. The sailors of Holland and Zeeland were indignant that +the richly freighted fleets of the two Indies had been allowed to slip so +easily through their fingers. The great East India Corporation was +importunate with Government that such blunders should not be repeated, +and that the armaments known to be preparing in the Portuguese ports, +the homeward-bound fleets that might be looked for at any moment off the +peninsular coast, and the Spanish cruisers which were again preparing to +molest the merchant fleets of the Company, should be dealt with +effectively and in season. + +Twenty-six vessels of small size but of good sailing qualities, according +to the idea of the epoch, were provided, together with four tenders. Of +this fleet the command was offered to Jacob van Heemskerk. He accepted +with alacrity, expressing with his usual quiet self-confidence the hope +that, living or dead, his fatherland would have cause to thank him. +Inspired only by the love of glory, he asked for no remuneration for his +services save thirteen per cent. of the booty, after half a million +florins should have been paid into the public treasury. It was hardly +probable that this would prove a large share of prize money, while +considerable victories alone could entitle him to receive a stiver. + +The expedition sailed in the early days of April for the coast of Spain +and Portugal, the admiral having full discretion to do anything that +might in his judgment redound to the advantage of the republic. Next in +command was the vice-admiral of Zeeland, Laurenz Alteras. Another famous +seaman in the fleet was Captain Henry Janszoon of Amsterdam, commonly +called Long Harry, while the weather-beaten and well-beloved Admiral +Lambert, familiarly styled by his countrymen "Pretty Lambert," some of +whose achievements have already been recorded in these pages, was the +comrade of all others upon whom Heemskerk most depended. After the 10th +April the admiral, lying off and on near the mouth of the Tagus, sent a +lugger in trading disguise to reconnoitre that river. He ascertained by +his spies, sent in this and subsequently in other directions, as well as +by occasional merchantmen spoken with at sea, that the Portuguese fleet +for India would not be ready to sail for many weeks; that no valuable +argosies were yet to be looked for from America, but that a great war- +fleet, comprising many galleons of the largest size, was at that very +moment cruising in the Straits of Gibraltar. Such of the Netherland +traders as were returning from the Levant, as well as those designing to +enter the Mediterranean, were likely to fall prizes to this formidable +enemy. The heart of Jacob Heemskerk danced for joy. He had come forth +for glory, not for booty, and here was what he had scarcely dared to hope +for--a powerful antagonist instead of peaceful, scarcely resisting, but +richly-laden merchantmen. The accounts received were so accurate as to +assure him that the Gibraltar fleet was far superior to his own in size +of vessels, weight of metal, and number of combatants. The circumstances +only increased his eagerness. The more he was over-matched, the greater +would be the honour of victory, and he steered for the straits, tacking +to and fro in the teeth of a strong head-wind. + +On the morning of the 25th April he was in the narrowest part of the +mountain-channel, and learned that the whole Spanish fleet was in the Bay +of Gibraltar. + +The marble pillar of Hercules rose before him. Heemskerk was of a poetic +temperament, and his imagination was inflamed by the spectacle which met +his eyes. Geographical position, splendour of natural scenery, immortal +fable, and romantic history, had combined to throw a spell over that +region. It seemed marked out for perpetual illustration by human valour. +The deeds by which, many generations later, those localities were to +become identified with the fame of a splendid empire--then only the most +energetic rival of the young republic, but destined under infinitely +better geographical conditions to follow on her track of empire, and with +far more prodigious results--were still in the womb of futurity. But St. +Vincent, Trafalgar, Gibraltar--words which were one day to stir the +English heart, and to conjure heroic English shapes from the depths so +long as history endures--were capes and promontories already familiar to +legend and romance. + +Those Netherlanders had come forth from their slender little fatherland +to offer battle at last within his own harbours and under his own +fortresses to the despot who aspired to universal monarchy, and who +claimed the lordship of the seas. The Hollanders and Zeelanders had +gained victories on the German Ocean, in the Channel, throughout the +Indies, but now they were to measure strength with the ancient enemy in +this most conspicuous theatre, and before the eyes of Christendom. It +was on this famous spot that the ancient demigod had torn asunder by main +strength the continents of Europe and Africa. There stood the opposite +fragments of the riven mountain-chain, Calpe and Abyla, gazing at each +other, in eternal separation, across the gulf, emblems of those two +antagonistic races which the terrible hand of Destiny has so ominously +disjoined. Nine centuries before, the African king, Moses son of Nuzir, +and his lieutenant, Tarik son of Abdallah, had crossed that strait and +burned the ships which brought them. Black Africa had conquered a +portion of whiter Europe, and laid the foundation of the deadly mutual +repugnance which nine hundred years of bloodshed had heightened into +insanity of hatred. Tarik had taken the town and mountain, Carteia and +Calpe, and given to both his own name. Gib-al-Tarik, the cliff of Tarik, +they are called to this day. + +Within the two horns of that beautiful bay, and protected by the fortress +on the precipitous rock, lay the Spanish fleet at anchor. There were ten +galleons of the largest size, besides lesser war-vessels and carracks, +in all twenty-one sail. The admiral commanding was Don Juan Alvarez +d'Avila, a veteran who had fought at Lepanto under Don John of Austria. +His son was captain of his flag-ship, the St. Augustine. The vice- +admiral's galleon was called 'Our Lady of La Vega,' the rear-admiral's +was the 'Mother of God,' and all the other ships were baptized by the +holy names deemed most appropriate, in the Spanish service, to deeds of +carnage. + +On the other hand, the nomenclature of the Dutch ships suggested a +menagerie. There was the Tiger, the Sea Dog, the Griffin, the Red Lion, +the Golden Lion, the Black Bear, the White Bear; these, with the AEolus +and the Morning Star, were the leading vessels of the little fleet. + +On first attaining a distant view of the enemy, Heemskerk summoned all +the captains on board his flag-ship, the AEolus, and addressed them in a +few stirring words. + +"It is difficult," he said, "for Netherlanders not to conquer on salt +water. Our fathers have gained many a victory in distant seas, but it is +for us to tear from the enemy's list of titles his arrogant appellation +of Monarch of the Ocean. Here, on the verge of two continents, Europe is +watching our deeds, while the Moors of Africa are to learn for the first +time in what estimation they are to hold the Batavian republic. Remember +that you have no choice between triumph and destruction. I have led you +into a position whence escape is impossible--and I ask of none of you +more than I am prepared to do myself--whither I am sure that you will +follow. The enemy's ships are far superior to ours in bulk; but remember +that their excessive size makes them difficult to handle and easier to +hit, while our own vessels are entirely within control. Their decks are +swarming with men, and thus there will be more certainty that our shot +will take effect. Remember, too, that we are all sailors, accustomed +from our cradles to the ocean; while yonder Spaniards are mainly soldiers +and landsmen, qualmish at the smell of bilgewater, and sickening at the +roll of the waves. This day begins a long list of naval victories, which +will make our fatherland for ever illustrious, or lay the foundation of +an honourable peace, by placing, through our triumph, in the hands of the +States-General, the power of dictating its terms." + +His comrades long remembered the enthusiasm which flashed from the man, +usually so gentle and composed in demeanour, so simple in attire. Clad +in complete armour, with the orange-plumes waving from his casque and +the orange-scarf across his breast, he stood there in front of the +mainmast of the AEolus, the very embodiment of an ancient Viking. + +He then briefly announced his plan of attack. It was of antique +simplicity. He would lay his own ship alongside that of the Spanish +admiral. Pretty Lambert in the Tiger was to grapple with her on the +other side. Vice-admiral Alteras and Captain Bras were to attack the +enemy's vice-admiral in the same way. Thus, two by two, the little +Netherland ships were to come into closest quarters with each one of the +great galleons. Heemskerk would himself lead the way, and all were to +follow, as closely as possible, in his wake. The oath to stand by each +other was then solemnly renewed, and a parting health was drunk. The +captains then returned to their ships. + +As the Lepanto warrior, Don Juan d'Avila, saw the little vessels slowly +moving towards him, he summoned a Hollander whom he had on board, one +Skipper Gevaerts of a captured Dutch trading bark, and asked him whether +those ships in the distance were Netherlanders. + +"Not a doubt of it," replied the skipper. + +The admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in +venturing so near Gibraltar. + +"Either I am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered Gevaerta, "or +they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle." + +The Spaniard laughed loud and long. The idea that those puny vessels +could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and he +promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the St. Augustine +alone should sink the whole fleet. + +Gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called upon +to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and respectfully +withdrew. + +At least four thousand soldiers were in D'Avila's ships, besides seamen. +there were seven hundred in the St. Augustine, four hundred and fifty in +Our Lady of Vega, and so on in proportion. There were also one or two +hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting the battle +from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of the +insolent Dutchmen. + +It was about one in the afternoon. There was not much wind, but the +Hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the +Atlantic into the Mediterranean, were now very near. All hands had been +piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their knees +in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed around. + +Heemskerk, leading the way towards the Spanish admiral, ordered the +gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other. +"Wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred +florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. Avila, +notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the moment, +to avoid the coming collision. Leaving to other galleons, which he +interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of summarily sinking +the Dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the St. Augustine and drifted +farther into the bay. Heemskerk, not allowing himself to be foiled in +his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came crashing +against the admiral. Almost simultaneously, Pretty Lambert laid himself +along her quarter on the other side. The St. Augustine fired into the +AEolus as she approached, but without doing much damage. The Dutch +admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his forward guns, and +poured an effective volley of musketry into his antagonist. + +The St. Augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, +at a few yards' distance. A cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor, +standing near Heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to the +body. He fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, +implored the next in command on board, Captain Verhoef, to fight his ship +to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the fleet. Then +prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously commending his +soul to his Maker, he soon breathed his last. A cloak was thrown over +him, and the battle raged. The few who were aware that the noble +Heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to obey the dying +commands of their beloved chief. The rest of the Hollanders believed +themselves under his directing influence, and fought as if his eyes were +upon them. Thus the spirit of the departed hero still watched over and +guided the battle. + +The AEolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful +havoc, and killing Admiral D'Avila. The commanders-in-chief of both +contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle. +While the St. Augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and +yardarm, with the AEolus and the Tiger, Vice-admiral Alteras had, +however, not carried out his part of the plan. Before he could succeed +in laying himself alongside of the Spanish vice-admiral, he had been +attacked by two galleons. Three other Dutch ships, however, attacked the +vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her batteries +and set her on fire. Her conquerors were then obliged to draw off rather +hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing their own +burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact with their +enemy. Our Lady of Vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast to +quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns going +off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order to +escape by drowning from a fiery death. She was consumed to the water's +edge. + +Meantime, Vice-admiral Alteras had successively defeated both his +antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the +fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and +seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven the other a helpless +wreck on shore. + +Long Harry, while Alteras had been thus employed, had engaged another +great galleon, and set her on fire. She, too, was thoroughly burned to +her hulk; but Admiral Harry was killed. + +By this time, although it was early of an April afternoon, and heavy +clouds of smoke, enveloping the combatants pent together in so small a +space, seemed to make an atmosphere of midnight, as the flames of the +burning galleons died away. There was a difficulty, too, in bringing all +the Netherland ships into action--several of the smaller ones having been +purposely stationed by Heemskerk on the edge of the bay to prevent the +possible escape of any of the Spaniards. While some of these distant +ships were crowding sail, in order to come to closer quarters, now that +the day seemed going against the Spaniards, a tremendous explosion +suddenly shook the air. One of the largest galleons, engaged in combat +with a couple of Dutch vessels, had received a hot shot full in her +powder magazine, and blew up with all on board. The blazing fragments +drifted about among the other ships, and two more were soon on fire, +their guns going off and their magazines exploding. The rock of +Gibraltar seemed to reel. To the murky darkness succeeded the +intolerable glare of a new and vast conflagration. The scene in that +narrow roadstead was now almost infernal. It seemed, said an eye- +witness, as if heaven and earth were passing away. A hopeless panic +seized the Spaniards. The battle was over. The St. Augustine still lay +in the deadly embrace of her antagonists, but all the other galleons were +sunk or burned. Several of the lesser war-ships had also been destroyed. +It was nearly sunset. The St. Augustine at last ran up a white flag, but +it was not observed in the fierceness of the last moments of combat; the +men from the bolus and the Tiger making a simultaneous rush on board the +vanquished foe. + +The fight was done, but the massacre was at its beginning. The +trumpeter, of Captain Kleinsorg clambered like a monkey up the mast of +the St. Augustine, hauled down the admiral's flag, the last which was +still waving, and gained the hundred florins. The ship was full of dead +and dying; but a brutal, infamous butchery now took place. Some +Netherland prisoners were found in the hold, who related that two +messengers had been successively despatched to take their lives, as they +lay there in chains, and that each had been shot, as he made his way +towards the execution of the orders. + +This information did not chill the ardour of their victorious countrymen. +No quarter was given. Such of the victims as succeeded in throwing +themselves overboard, out of the St. Augustine, or any of the burning or +sinking ships, were pursued by the Netherlanders, who rowed about among +them in boats, shooting, stabbing, and drowning their victims by +hundreds. It was a sickening spectacle. The bay, said those who were +there, seemed sown with corpses. Probably two or three thousand were +thus put to death, or had met their fate before. Had the chivalrous +Heemskerk lived, it is possible that he might have stopped the massacre. +But the thought of the grief which would fill the commonwealth when the +news should arrive of his death--thus turning the joy of the great +triumph into lamentations--increased the animosity of his comrades. +Moreover, in ransacking the Spanish admiral's ship, all his papers had +been found, among them many secret instructions from Government signed +"the King;" ordering most inhuman persecutions, not only of the +Netherlanders, but of all who should in any way assist them, at sea or +ashore. Recent examples of the thorough manner in which the royal +admirals could carry out these bloody instructions had been furnished by +the hangings, burnings, and drownings of Fazardo. But the barbarous +ferocity of the Dutch on this occasion might have taught a lesson even to +the comrades of Alva. + +The fleet of Avila was entirely destroyed. The hulk of the St. +Augustine drifted ashore, having been abandoned by the victors, and was +set on fire by a few Spaniards who had concealed themselves on board, +lest she might fall again into the enemy's hands. + +The battle had lasted from half-past three until sunset. The Dutch +vessels remained all the next day on the scene of their triumph. The +townspeople were discerned, packing up their goods, and speeding panic- +struck into the interior. Had Heemskerk survived he would doubtless have +taken Gibraltar--fortress and town--and perhaps Cadiz, such was the +consternation along the whole coast. + +But his gallant spirit no longer directed the fleet. Bent rather upon +plunder than glory, the ships now dispersed in search of prizes towards +the Azores, the Canaries, or along the Portuguese coast; having first +made a brief visit to Tetuan, where they were rapturously received by the +Bey. + +The Hollanders lost no ships, and but one hundred seamen were killed. +Two vessels were despatched homeward directly, one with sixty wounded +sailors, the other with the embalmed body of the fallen Heemskerk. The +hero was honoured with a magnificent funeral in Amsterdam at the public +expense--the first instance in the history of the republic--and his name +was enrolled on the most precious page of her records. + + [The chief authorities for this remarkable battle are Meteren, 547, + 548. Grotius, xvi. 731-738. Wagenaar, ix. 251-258.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + Internal condition of Spain--Character of the people--Influence of + the Inquisition--Population and Revenue--Incomes of Church and + Government--Degradation of Labour--Expulsion of the Moors and its + consequences--Venality the special characteristic of Spanish polity + --Maxims of the foreign polity of Spain--The Spanish army and navy-- + Insolvent state of the Government--The Duke of Lerma--His position + in the State--Origin of his power--System of bribery and + trafficking--Philip III. His character--Domestic life of the king + and queen. + + +A glance at the interior condition of Spain, now that there had been more +than nine years of a new reign, should no longer be deferred. +Spain was still superstitiously regarded as the leading power of the +world, although foiled in all its fantastic and gigantic schemes. It was +still supposed, according to current dogma, to share with the Ottoman +empire the dominion of the earth. A series of fortunate marriages having +united many of the richest and fairest portions of Europe under a single +sceptre, it was popularly believed in a period when men were not much +given as yet to examine very deeply the principles of human governments +or the causes of national greatness, that an aggregation of powers which +had resulted from preposterous laws of succession really constituted a +mighty empire, founded by genius and valour. + +The Spanish people, endowed with an acute and exuberant genius, which had +exhibited itself in many paths of literature, science, and art; with a +singular aptitude for military adventure, organization, and achievement; +with a great variety, in short, of splendid and ennobling qualities; had +been, for a long succession of years, accursed with almost the very worst +political institutions known to history. The depth of their misery and +of their degradation was hardly yet known to themselves, and this was +perhaps the most hideous proof of the tyranny of which they had been the +victims. To the outward world, the hollow fabric, out of which the whole +pith and strength had been slowly gnawed away, was imposing and +majestic still. But the priest, the soldier, and the courtier had been +busy too long, and had done their work too thoroughly, to leave much hope +of arresting the universal decay. + +Nor did there seem any probability that the attempt would be made. + +It is always difficult to reform wide-spread abuses, even when they are +acknowledged to exist, but when gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as +the noblest of institutions and as the very foundations of the state, +there seems nothing for the patriot to long for but the deluge. + +It was acknowledged that the Spanish population--having a very large +admixture of those races which, because not Catholic at heart, were +stigmatized as miscreants, heretics, pagans, and, generally, as accursed- +-was by nature singularly prone to religious innovation. +Had it not been for the Holy Inquisition, it was the opinion of acute +and thoughtful observers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, +that the infamous heresies of Luther, Calvin, and the rest, would have +long before taken possession of the land. To that most blessed +establishment it was owing that Spain had not polluted itself in the +filth and ordure of the Reformation, and had been spared the horrible +fate which had befallen large portions of Germany, France, Britain, and +other barbarous northern nations. It was conscientiously and thankfully +believed in Spain, two centuries ago, that the state had been saved from +political and moral ruin by that admirable machine which detected +heretics with unerring accuracy, burned them when detected, and consigned +their descendants to political incapacity and social infamy to the +remotest generation. + +As the awful consequences of religious freedom, men pointed with a +shudder to the condition of nations already speeding on the road to ruin, +from which the two peninsulas at least had been saved. Yet the British +empire, with the American republic still an embryo in its bosom, France, +North Germany, and other great powers, had hardly then begun their +headlong career. Whether the road of religious liberty was leading +exactly to political ruin, the coming centuries were to judge. + +Enough has been said in former chapters for the characterization of +Philip II. and his polity. But there had now been nearly ten years of +another reign. The system, inaugurated by Charles and perfected by his +son, had reached its last expression under Philip III. + +The evil done by father and son lived and bore plentiful fruit in the +epoch of the grandson. And this is inevitable in history. No generation +is long-lived enough to reap the harvest, whether of good or evil, which +it sows. + +Philip II. had been indefatigable in evil, a thorough believer in his +supernatural mission as despot, not entirely without capacity for +affairs, personally absorbed by the routine of his bureau. + +He was a king, as he understood the meaning of the kingly office. His +policy was continued after his death; but there was no longer a king. +That important regulator to the governmental machinery was wanting. How +its place was supplied will soon appear. + +Meantime the organic functions were performed very much in the old way. +There was, at least, no lack of priests or courtiers. + +Spain at this epoch had probably less than twelve millions of +inhabitants, although the statistics of those days cannot be relied upon +with accuracy. The whole revenue of the state was nominally sixteen or +seventeen millions of dollars, but the greater portion of that income was +pledged for many coming years to the merchants of Genoa. All the little +royal devices for increasing the budget by debasing the coin of the +realm, by issuing millions of copper tokens, by lowering the promised +rate of interest on Government loans, by formally repudiating both +interest and principal, had been tried, both in this and the preceding +reign, with the usual success. An inconvertible paper currency, +stimulating industry and improving morals by converting beneficent +commerce into baleful gambling--that fatal invention did not then exist. +Meantime, the legitimate trader and innocent citizen were harassed, and +the general public endangered, as much as the limited machinery of the +epoch permitted. + +The available, unpledged revenue of the kingdom hardly amounted to five +millions of dollars a-year. The regular annual income of the church was +at least six millions. The whole personal property of the nation was +estimated in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory way, no doubt--at sixty +millions of dollars. Thus the income of the priesthood was ten per cent. +of the whole funded estate of the country, and at least a million a year +more than the income of the Government. Could a more biting epigram be +made upon the condition to which the nation had been reduced? + +Labour was more degraded than ever. The industrious classes, if such +could be said to exist, were esteemed every day more and more infamous. +Merchants, shopkeepers, mechanics, were reptiles, as vilely, esteemed as +Jews, Moors, Protestants, or Pagans. Acquiring wealth by any kind of +production was dishonourable. A grandee who should permit himself to +sell the wool from his boundless sheep-walks disgraced his caste, and was +accounted as low as a merchant. To create was the business of slaves and +miscreants: to destroy was the distinguishing attribute of Christians and +nobles. To cheat, to pick, and to steal, on the most minute and the most +gigantic scale--these were also among the dearest privileges of the +exalted classes. No merchandize was polluting save the produce of honest +industry. To sell places in church and state, the army, the navy, and +the sacred tribunals of law, to take bribes from rich and poor, high and +low; in sums infinitesimal or enormous, to pillage the exchequer in, +every imaginable form, to dispose of titles of honour, orders of +chivalry, posts in municipal council, at auction; to barter influence, +audiences, official interviews against money cynically paid down in +rascal counters--all this was esteemed consistent with patrician dignity. + +The ministers, ecclesiastics, and those about court, obtaining a monopoly +of such trade, left the business of production and circulation to their +inferiors, while, as has already been sufficiently indicated, religious +fanaticism and a pride of race, which nearly amounted to idiocy, had +generated a scorn for labour even among the lowest orders. As a natural +consequence, commerce and the mechanical arts fell almost exclusively +into the hands of foreigners--Italians, English, and French--who resorted +in yearly increasing numbers to Spain for the purpose of enriching. +themselves by the industry which the natives despised. + +The capital thus acquired was at regular intervals removed from the +country to other lands, where wealth resulting from traffic or +manufactures was not accounted infamous. + +Moreover, as the soil of the country was held by a few great proprietors +--an immense portion in the dead-hand of an insatiate and ever-grasping +church, and much of the remainder in vast entailed estates--it was nearly +impossible for the masses of the people to become owners of any portion +of the land. To be an agricultural day-labourer at less than a beggar's +wage could hardly be a tempting pursuit for a proud and indolent race. +It was no wonder therefore that the business of the brigand, the +smuggler, the professional mendicant became from year to year more +attractive and more overdone; while an ever-thickening swarm of priests, +friars, and nuns of every order, engendered out of a corrupt and decaying +society, increasing the general indolence, immorality, and unproductive +consumption, and frightfully diminishing the productive force of the +country, fed like locusts upon what was left in the unhappy land. +"To shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars," +said, a good Catholic, in the year 1608--[Gir. Soranzo]. + +Before the end of the reign of Philip III. the peninsula, which might +have been the granary of the world, did not produce food enough for its +own population. Corn became a regular article of import into Spain, and +would have come in larger quantities than it did had the industry of the +country furnished sufficient material to exchange for necessary food. + +And as if it had been an object of ambition with the priests and +courtiers who then ruled a noble country, to make at exactly this epoch +the most startling manifestation of human fatuity that the world had ever +seen, it was now resolved by government to expel by armed force nearly +the whole stock of intelligent and experienced labour, agricultural and +mechanical, from the country. It is unnecessary to dwell long upon an +event which, if it were not so familiarly known to mankind, would seem +almost incredible. But the expulsion of the Moors is, alas! no +exaggerated and imaginary satire, but a monument of wickedness and +insanity such as is not often seen in human history. + +Already, in the very first years of the century, John Ribera, archbishop +of Valencia, had recommended and urged the scheme. + +It was too gigantic a project to be carried into execution at once, but +it was slowly matured by the aid of other ecclesiastics. At last there +were indications, both human and divine, that the expulsion of these +miscreants could no longer be deferred. It was rumoured and believed +that a general conspiracy existed among the Moors to rise upon the +Government, to institute a general massacre, and, with the assistance of +their allies and relatives on the Barbary coast, to re-establish the +empire of the infidels. + +A convoy of eighty ass-loads of oil on the way to Madrid had halted at a +wayside inn. A few flasks were stolen, and those who consumed it were +made sick. Some of the thieves even died, or were said to have died, in +consequence. Instantly the rumour flew from mouth to mouth, from town +to town, that the royal family, the court, the whole capital, all Spain, +were to be poisoned with that oil. If such were the scheme it was +certainly a less ingenious one than the famous plot by which the Spanish +Government was suspected but a few years before to have so nearly +succeeded in blowing the king, peers, and commons of England into the +air. + +The proof of Moorish guilt was deemed all-sufficient, especially as it +was supported by supernatural evidence of the most portentous and +convincing kind. For several days together a dark cloud, tinged with +blood-red, had been seen to hang over Valencia. + +In the neighbourhood of Daroca, a din of, drums and trumpets and the +clang of arms had been heard in the sky, just as a procession went out +of a monastery. + +At Valencia the image of the Virgin had shed tears. In another place her +statue had been discovered in a state of profuse perspiration. + +What more conclusive indications could be required as to the guilt of the +Moors? What other means devised for saving crown, church, and kingdom +from destruction but to expel the whole mass of unbelievers from the soil +which they had too long profaned? + +Archbishop Ribera was fully sustained by the Archbishop of Toledo, and +the whole ecclesiastical body received energetic support from Government. + +Ribera had solemnly announced that the Moors were so greedy of money, +so determined to keep it, and so occupied with pursuits most apt for +acquiring it, that they had come to be the sponge of Spanish wealth. The +best proof of this, continued the reverend sage, was that, inhabiting in +general poor little villages and sterile tracts of country, paying to the +lords of the manor one third of the crops, and being overladen with +special taxes imposed only upon them, they nevertheless became rich, +while the Christians, cultivating the most fertile land, were in abject +poverty. + +It seems almost incredible that this should not be satire. Certainly +the most delicate irony could not portray the vicious institutions under +which the magnificent territory and noble people of Spain were thus +doomed to ruin more subtly end forcibly than was done by the honest +brutality of this churchman. The careful tillage, the beautiful system +of irrigation by aqueduct and canal, the scientific processes by which +these "accursed" had caused the wilderness to bloom with cotton, sugar, +and every kind of fruit and grain; the untiring industry, exquisite +ingenuity, and cultivated taste by which the merchants, manufacturers, +and mechanics, guilty of a darker complexion than that of the peninsular +Goths, had enriched their native land with splendid fabrics in cloth, +paper, leather, silk, tapestry, and by so doing had acquired fortunes +for themselves, despite iniquitous taxation, religious persecution, and +social contumely--all these were crimes against a race of idlers, steeped +to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride. + +The industrious, the intelligent, the wealthy, were denounced as +criminals, and hunted to death or into exile as vermin, while the Lermas, +the Ucedas, and the rest of the brood of cormorants, settled more thickly +than ever around their prey. + +Meantime, Government declared that the piece of four maravedis should be +worth eight maravedis; the piece of two maravedis being fixed at four. +Thus the specie of the kingdom was to be doubled, and by means of this +enlightened legislation, Spain, after destroying agriculture, commerce, +and manufacture, was to maintain great armies and navies, and establish +universal monarchy. + +This measure, which a wiser churchman than Ribera, Cardinal Richelieu, +afterwards declared the most audacious and barbarous ever recorded by +history, was carried out with great regularity of organization. It was +ordained that the Moors should be collected at three indicated points, +whence they were not to move on pain of death, until duly escorted by +troops to the ports of embarkation. The children under the age of four +years were retained, of course without their parents, from whom they were +forever separated. With admirable forethought, too, the priests took +measures, as they supposed, that the arts of refining sugar, irrigating +the rice-fields, constructing canals and aqueducts, besides many other +useful branches of agricultural and mechanical business, should not die +out with the intellectual, accomplished, and industrious race, alone +competent to practise them, which was now sent forth to die. A very +small number, not more than six in each hundred, were accordingly +reserved to instruct other inhabitants of Spain in those useful arts +which they were now more than ever encouraged to despise. + +Five hundred thousand full-grown human beings, as energetic, ingenious, +accomplished, as any then existing in the world, were thus thrust forth +into the deserts beyond sea, as if Spain had been overstocked with +skilled labour; and as if its native production had already outgrown the +world's power of consumption. + +Had an equal number of mendicant monks, with the two archbishops who had +contrived this deed at their head, been exported instead of the Moors, +the future of Spain might have been a more fortunate one than it was +likely to prove. The event was in itself perhaps of temporary advantage +to the Dutch republic, as the poverty and general misery, aggravated by +this disastrous policy, rendered the acknowledgment of the States' +independence by Spain almost a matter of necessity. + +It is superfluous to enter into any farther disquisiton as to the various +branches of the royal revenue. They remained essentially the same as +during the preceding reign, and have been elaborately set forth in a +previous chapter. The gradual drying up of resources in all the wide- +spread and heterogeneous territories subject to the Spanish sceptre is +the striking phenomenon of the present epoch. The distribution of such +wealth as was still created followed the same laws which had long +prevailed, while the decay and national paralysis, of which the +prognostics could hardly be mistaken, were a natural result of the +system. + +The six archbishops had now grown to eleven, and still received gigantic +revenues; the income of the Archbishop of Toledo, including the fund of +one hundred thousand destined for repairing the cathedral, being +estimated at three hundred thousand dollars a year, that of the +Archbishop of Seville and the others varying from one hundred and fifty +thousand dollars to fifty thousand. The sixty-three bishops perhaps +averaged fifty thousand a year each, and there were eight more in Italy. + +The commanderies of chivalry, two hundred at least in number, were +likewise enormously profitable. Some of them were worth thirty thousand +a year; the aggregate annual value being from one-and-a-half to two +millions, and all in Lerma's gift, upon his own terms. + +Chivalry, that noblest of ideals, without which, in some shape or +another, the world would be a desert and a sty; which included within +itself many of the noblest virtues which can adorn mankind--generosity, +self-denial, chastity, frugality, patience, protection to the feeble, the +downtrodden, and the oppressed; the love of daring adventure, devotion to +a pure religion and a lofty purpose, most admirably pathetic, even when +in the eyes of the vulgar most fantastic--had been the proudest and most +poetical of Spanish characteristics, never to be entirely uprooted from +the national heart. + +Alas! what was there in the commanderies of Calatrava, Alcantara, +Santiago, and all the rest of those knightly orders, as then existing, to +respond to the noble sentiments on which all were supposed to be founded? +Institutions for making money, for pillaging the poor of their hard- +earned pittance, trafficked in by greedy ministers and needy courtiers +with a shamelessness which had long ceased to blush at vices however +gross, at venality however mean. + +Venality was in truth the prominent characteristic of the Spanish polity +at this epoch. Everything political or ecclesiastical, from highest to +lowest, was matter of merchandize. + +It was the autocrat, governing king and kingdom, who disposed of +episcopal mitres, cardinals' hats, commanders' crosses, the offices of +regidores or municipal magistrates in all the cities, farmings of +revenues, collectorships of taxes, at prices fixed by himself. + +It was never known that the pope refused to confirm the ecclesiastical +nominations which were made by the Spanish court. + +The nuncius had the privilege of dispensing the small cures from thirty +dollars a year downwards, of which the number was enormous. Many of +these were capable, in careful hands, of becoming ten times as valuable +as their nominal estimate, and the business in them became in consequence +very extensive and lucrative. They were often disposed of for the +benefit of servants and the hangers-on of noble families, to laymen, to +women, children, to babes unborn. + +When such was the most thriving industry in the land, was it wonderful +that the poor of high and low degree were anxious in ever-increasing +swarms to effect their entrance into convent, monastery, and church, and +that trade, agriculture, and manufactures languished? + +The foreign polity of the court remained as it had been established by +Philip II. + +Its maxims were very simple. To do unto your neighbour all possible +harm, and to foster the greatness of Spain by sowing discord and +maintaining civil war in all other nations, was the fundamental precept. +To bribe and corrupt the servants of other potentates, to maintain a +regular paid bode of adherents in foreign lands, ever ready to engage in +schemes of assassination, conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion against the +legitimate authority, to make mankind miserable, so far as it was in the +power of human force or craft to produce wretchedness, were objects still +faithfully pursued. + +They had not yet led to the entire destruction of other realms and their +submission to the single sceptre of Spain, nor had they developed the +resources, material or moral, of a mighty empire so thoroughly as might +have been done perhaps by a less insidious policy, but they had never +been abandoned. + +It was a steady object of policy to keep such potentates of Italy as +were not already under the dominion of the Spanish crown in a state +of internecine feud with each other and of virtual dependence on the +powerful kingdom. The same policy pursued in France, of fomenting civil +war by subsidy, force, and chicane, during a long succession of years in +order to reduce that magnificent realm under the sceptre of Philip, has +been described in detail. The chronic rebellion of Ireland against the +English crown had been assisted and inflamed in every possible mode, the +system being considered as entirely justified by the aid and comfort +afforded by the queen to the Dutch rebels. + +It was a natural result of the system according to which kingdoms and +provinces with the populations dwelling therein were transferable like +real estate by means of marriage-settlements, entails, and testaments, +that the proprietorship of most of the great realms in Christendom was +matter of fierce legal dispute. Lawsuits, which in chancery could last +for centuries before a settlement of the various claims was made, might +have infinitely enriched the gentlemen of the long robe and reduced all +the parties to beggary, had there been any tribunal but the battle-field +to decide among the august litigants. Thus the King of Great Britain +claimed the legal proprietorship and sovereignty of Brittany, Normandy, +Anjou, Gascony, Calais, and Boulogne in France, besides the whole kingdom +by right of conquest. The French king claimed to be rightful heir of +Castile, Biscay, Guipuscoa, Arragon, Navarre, nearly all the Spanish +peninsula in short, including the whole of Portugal and the Balearic +islands to boot. The King of Spain claimed, as we have seen often +enough, not only Brittany but all France as his lawful inheritance. +Such was the virtue of the prevalent doctrine of proprietorship. Every +potentate was defrauded of his rights, and every potentate was a criminal +usurper. As for the people, it would have excited a smile of superior +wisdom on regal, legal, or sacerdotal lips, had it been suggested that by +any possibility the governed could have a voice or a thought in regard to +the rulers whom God in His grace had raised up to be their proprietors +and masters. + +The army of Spain was sunk far below the standard at which it had been +kept when it seemed fit to conquer and govern the world. Neither by +Spain nor Italy could those audacious, disciplined, and obedient legions +be furnished, at which the enemies of the mighty despot trembled from one +extremity of earth to the other. Peculation, bankruptcy, and mutiny had +done their work at last. We have recently had occasion to observe the +conduct of the veterans in Flanders at critical epochs. At this moment, +seventy thousand soldiers were on the muster and pay roll of the army +serving in those provinces, while not thirty thousand men existed in the +flesh. + +The navy was sunk to fifteen or twenty old galleys, battered, dismantled, +unseaworthy, and a few armed ships for convoying the East and West +Indiamen to and from their destinations. + +The general poverty was so great that it was often absolutely impossible +to purchase food for the royal household. "If you ask me," said a cool +observer, "how this great show of empire is maintained, when the funds +are so small, I answer that it is done by not paying at all." The +Government was shamelessly, hopelessly bankrupt. The noble band of +courtiers were growing enormously rich. The state was a carcase which +unclean vultures were picking to the bones. + +The foremost man in the land--the autocrat, the absolute master in State +and Church--was the Duke of Lerma. + +Very rarely in human history has an individual attained to such unlimited +power under a monarchy, without actually placing the crown upon his own +head. Mayors of the palace, in the days of the do-nothing kings, wielded +nothing like the imperial control which was firmly held by this great +favourite. Yet he was a man of very moderate capacity and limited +acquirements, neither soldier, lawyer, nor priest. + +The duke was past sixty years of age, a tall, stately, handsome man, +of noble presence and urbane manner. Born of the patrician house of +Sandoval, he possessed, on the accession of Philip, an inherited income +of ten or twelve thousand dollars. He had now, including what he had +bestowed on his son, a funded revenue of seven hundred thousand a year. +He had besides, in cash, jewels, and furniture, an estimated capital of +six millions. All this he had accumulated in ten years of service, as +prime minister, chief equerry, and first valet of the chamber to the +king. + +The tenure of his authority was the ascendancy of a firm character over a +very weak one. At this moment he was doubtless the most absolute ruler +in Christendom, and Philip III. the most submissive and uncomplaining of +his subjects. + +The origin of his power was well known. During the reign of Philip II., +the prince, treated with great severity by his father, was looked upon +with contempt by every one about court. He was allowed to take no part +in affairs, and, having heard of the awful tragedy of his eldest half- +brother, enacted ten years before his own birth, he had no inclination to +confront the wrath of that terrible parent and sovereign before whom all +Spain trembled. Nothing could have been more humble, more effaced, more +obscure, than his existence as prince. The Marquis of Denia, his +chamberlain, alone was kind to him, furnished him with small sums of +money, and accompanied him on the shooting excursions in which his father +occasionally permitted him to indulge. But even these little attentions +were looked upon with jealousy by the king; so that the marquis was sent +into honourable exile from court as governor of Valencia. It was hoped +that absence would wean the prince of his affection for the kind +chamberlain. The calculation was erroneous. No sooner were the eyes of +Philip II. closed in death than the new king made haste to send for +Denia, who was at once created Duke of Lerma, declared of the privy +council, and appointed master of the horse and first gentleman of the +bed-chamber. From that moment the favourite became supreme. He was +entirely without education, possessed little experience in affairs of +state, and had led the life of a commonplace idler and voluptuary until +past the age of fifty. Nevertheless he had a shrewd mother-wit, tact in +dealing with men, aptitude to take advantage of events. He had +directness of purpose, firmness of will, and always knew his own +mind. From the beginning of his political career unto its end, he +conscientiously and without swerving pursued a single aim. This was to +rob the exchequer by every possible mode and at every instant of his +life. Never was a more masterly financier in this respect. With a +single eye to his own interests, he preserved a magnificent unity in all +his actions. The result had been to make him in ten years the richest +subject in the world, as well as the most absolute ruler. + +He enriched his family, as a matter of course. His son was already made +Duke of Uceda, possessed enormous wealth, and was supposed by those who +had vision in the affairs of court to be the only individual ever likely +to endanger the power of the father. Others thought that the young +duke's natural dulness would make it impossible for him to supplant the +omnipotent favourite. The end was not yet, and time was to show which +class of speculators was in the right. Meantime the whole family was +united and happy. The sons and daughters had intermarried with the +Infantados, and other most powerful and wealthy families of grandees. +The uncle, Sandoval, had been created by Lerma a cardinal and archbishop +of Toledo; the king's own schoolmaster being removed from that dignity, +and disgraced and banished from court for having spoken disrespectfully +of the favourite. The duke had reserved for himself twenty thousand a +year from the revenues of the archbishopric, as a moderate price for thus +conducting himself as became a dutiful nephew. He had ejected Rodrigo de +Vasquez from his post as president of the council. As a more conclusive +proof of his unlimited sway than any other of his acts had been, he had +actually unseated and banished the inquisitor-general, Don Pietro Porto +Carrero, and supplanted him in that dread office, before which even +anointed sovereigns trembled, by one of his own creatures. + +In the discharge of his various functions, the duke and all his family +were domesticated in the royal palace, so that he was at no charges for +housekeeping. His apartments there were more sumptuous than those of the +king and queen. He had removed from court the Dutchess of Candia, sister +of the great Constable of Castile, who had been for a time in attendance +on the queen, and whose possible influence he chose to destroy in the +bud. Her place as mistress of the robes was supplied by his sister, the +Countess of Lemos; while his wife, the terrible Duchess of Lerma, was +constantly with the queen, who trembled at her frown. Thus the royal +pair were completely beleaguered, surrounded, and isolated from all +except the Lermas. When the duke conferred with the king, the doors +were always double locked. + +In his capacity as first valet it was the duke's duty to bring the king's +shirt in the morning, to see to his wardrobe and his bed, and to supply +him with ideas for the day. The king depended upon him entirely and +abjectly, was miserable when separated from him four-and-twenty hours, +thought with the duke's thoughts and saw with the duke's eyes. He was +permitted to know nothing of state affairs, save such portions as were +communicated to him by Lerma. The people thought their monarch +bewitched, so much did he tremble before the favourite, and so +unscrupulously did the duke appropriate for his own benefit and that of +his creatures everything that he could lay his hands upon. It would have +needed little to bring about a revolution, such was the universal hatred +felt for the minister, and the contempt openly expressed for the king. + +The duke never went to the council. All papers and documents relating to +business were sent to his apartments. Such matters as he chose to pass +upon, such decrees as he thought proper to issue, were then taken by him +to the king, who signed them with perfect docility. As time went on, +this amount of business grew too onerous for the royal hand, or this +amount of participation by the king in affairs of state came to be +esteemed superfluous and inconvenient by the duke, and his own signature +was accordingly declared to be equivalent to that of the sovereign's +sign-manual. It is doubtful whether such a degradation of the royal +prerogative had ever been heard of before in a Christian monarch. + +It may be imagined that this system of government was not of a nature to +expedite business, however swiftly it might fill the duke's coffers. +High officers of state, foreign ambassadors, all men in short charged +with important affairs, were obliged to dance attendance for weeks and +months on the one man whose hands grasped all the business of the +kingdom, while many departed in despair without being able to secure a +single audience. It was entirely a matter of trade. It was necessary to +bribe in succession all the creatures of the duke before getting near +enough to headquarters to bribe the duke himself. Never were such +itching palms. To do business at court required the purse of Fortunatus. +There was no deception in the matter. Everything was frank and above +board in that age of chivalry. Ambassadors wrote to their sovereigns +that there was no hope of making treaties or of accomplishing any +negotiation except by purchasing the favour of the autocrat; and Lerma's +price was always high. At one period the republic of Venice wished to +put a stop to the depredations by Spanish pirates upon Venetian commerce, +but the subject could not even be approached by the envoy until he had +expended far more than could be afforded out of his meagre salary in +buying an interview. + +When it is remembered that with this foremost power in the world affairs +of greater or less importance were perpetually to be transacted by the +representatives of other nations as well as by native subjects of every +degree; that all these affairs were to pass through the hands of Lerma, +and that those hands had ever to be filled with coin, the stupendous +opulence of the one man can be easily understood. Whether the foremost +power of the world, thus governed, were likely to continue the foremost +power, could hardly seem doubtful to those accustomed to use their reason +in judging of the things of this world. + +Meantime the duke continued to transact business; to sell his interviews +and his interest; to traffic in cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, judges' +ermine, civic and magisterial votes in all offices, high or humble, of +church, army, or state. + +He possessed the art of remembering, or appearing to remember, the +matters of business which had been communicated to him. When a +negotiator, of whatever degree, had the good fortune to reach the +presence, he found the duke to all appearance mindful of the particular +affair which led to the interview, and fully absorbed by its importance. +There were men who, trusting to the affability shown by the great +favourite, and to the handsome price paid down in cash for that urbanity, +had been known to go away from their interview believing that their +business was likely to be accomplished, until the lapse of time revealed +to them the wildness of their dream. + +The duke perhaps never manifested his omnipotence on a more striking +scale than when by his own fiat he removed the court and the seat of +government to Valladolid, and kept it there six years long. This was +declared by disinterested observers to be not only contrary to common +sense, but even beyond the bounds of possibility. At Madrid the king had +splendid palaces, and in its neighbourhood beautiful country residences, +a pure atmosphere, and the facility of changing the air at will. At +Valladolid there were no conveniences of any kind, no sufficient palace, +no summer villa, no park, nothing but an unwholesome climate. But most +of the duke's estates were in that vicinity, and it was desirable for him +to overlook them in person. Moreover, he wished to get rid of the +possible influence over the king of the Empress Dowager Maria, widow of +Maximilian II. and aunt and grandmother of Philip III. The minister +could hardly drive this exalted personage from court, so easily as he had +banished the ex-Archbishop of Toledo, the Inquisitor General, the Duchess +of Candia, besides a multitude of lesser note. So he did the next best +thing, and banished the court from the empress, who was not likely to put +up with the inconveniences of Valladolid for the sake of outrivalling the +duke. This Babylonian captivity lasted until Madrid was nearly ruined, +until the desolation of the capital, the moans of the trades-people, the +curses of the poor, and the grumblings of the courtiers, finally produced +an effect even upon the arbitrary Lerma. He then accordingly re- +emigrated, with king and Government, to Madrid, and caused it to be +published that he had at last overcome the sovereign's repugnance to the +old capital, and had persuaded him to abandon Valladolid. + +There was but one man who might perhaps from his position have competed +with the influence of Lerma. This was the king's father-confessor, whom +Philip wished--although of course his wish was not gratified--to make a +member of the council of state. The monarch, while submitting in +everything secular to the duke's decrees, had a feeble determination to +consult and to be guided by his confessor in all matters of conscience. +As it was easy to suggest that high affairs of state, the duties of +government, the interests of a great people, were matters not entirely +foreign to the conscience of anointed kings, an opening to power might +have seemed easy to an astute and ambitious churchman. But the Dominican +who kept Philip's conscience, Gasparo de Cordova by name, was, +fortunately for the favourite, of a very tender paste, easily moulded to +the duke's purpose. Dull and ignorant enough, he was not so stupid as to +doubt that, should he whisper any suggestions or criticisms in regard to +the minister's proceedings, the king would betray him and he would lose +his office. The cautious friar accordingly held his peace and his place, +and there was none to dispute the sway of the autocrat. + +What need to dilate further upon such a minister and upon such a system +of government? To bribe and to be bribed, to maintain stipendiaries in +every foreign Government, to place the greatness of the empire upon the +weakness, distraction, and misery of other nations, to stimulate civil +war, revolts of nobles and citizens against authority; separation of +provinces, religious discontents in every land of Christendom--such were +the simple rules ever faithfully enforced. + +The other members of what was called the council were insignificant. + +Philip III., on arriving at the throne, had been heard to observe that +the day of simple esquires and persons of low condition was past, and +that the turn of great nobles had come. It had been his father's policy +to hold the grandees in subjection, and to govern by means of ministers +who were little more than clerks, generally of humble origin; keeping the +reins in his own hands. Such great personages as he did employ, like +Alva, Don John of Austria, and Farnese, were sure at last to excite his +jealousy and to incur his hatred. Forty-three years of this kind of work +had brought Spain to the condition in which the third Philip found it. +The new king thought to have found a remedy in discarding the clerks, and +calling in the aid of dukes. Philip II. was at least a king. The very +first act of Philip III. at his father's death was to abdicate. + +It was, however, found necessary to retain some members of the former +Government. Fuentes, the best soldier and accounted the most dangerous +man in the empire, was indeed kept in retirement as governor of Milan, +while Cristoval di Mora, who had enjoyed much of the late king's +confidence, was removed to Portugal as viceroy. But Don John of +Idiaquez, who had really been the most efficient of the old +administration, still remained in the council. Without the subordinate +aid of his experience in the routine of business, it would have been +difficult for the favourite to manage the great machine with his single +hand. But there was no disposition on the part of the ancient minister +to oppose the new order of things. A cautious, caustic, dry old +functionary, talking more with his shoulders than with his tongue, +determined never to commit himself, or to risk shipwreck by venturing +again into deeper waters than those of the harbour in which he now hoped +for repose, Idiaquez knew that his day of action was past. Content to be +confidential clerk to the despot duke, as he had been faithful secretary +to the despot king, he was the despair of courtiers and envoys who came +to pump, after having endeavoured to fill an inexhaustible cistern. Thus +he proved, on the whole, a useful and comfortable man, not to the +country, but to its autocrat. + +Of the Count of Chinchon, who at one time was supposed to have court +influence because a dabbler in architecture, much consulted during the +building of the Escorial by Philip II. until the auditing of his accounts +brought him into temporary disgrace, and the Marquises of Velada, +Villalonga, and other ministers, it is not necessary to speak. There was +one man in the council, however, who was of great importance, wielding a +mighty authority in subordination to the duke. This was Don Pietro de +Franqueza. An emancipated slave, as his name indicated, and subsequently +the body-servant of Lerma, he had been created by that minister secretary +of the privy council. He possessed some of the virtues of the slave, +such as docility and attachment to the hand that had fed and scourged +him, and many vices of both slave and freedman. He did much of the work +which it would have been difficult for the duke to accomplish in person, +received his fees, sold and dispensed his interviews, distributed his +bribes. In so doing, as might be supposed, he did not neglect his own +interest. It was a matter of notoriety, no man knowing it better than +the king, that no business, foreign or domestic, could be conducted or +even begun at court without large preliminary fees to the secretary of +the council, his wife, and his children. He had, in consequence, already +accumulated an enormous fortune. His annual income, when it was stated, +excited amazement. He was insolent and overbearing to all comers until +his dues had been paid, when he became at once obliging, supple, and +comparatively efficient. Through him alone lay the path to the duke's +sanctuary. + +The nominal sovereign, Philip III., was thirty years of age. A very +little man, with pink cheeks, flaxen hair, and yellow beard, with a +melancholy expression of eye, and protruding under lip and jaw, he was +now comparatively alert and vigorous in constitution, although for the +first seven years of his life it had been doubtful whether he would live +from week to week. He had been afflicted during that period with a +chronic itch or leprosy, which had undermined his strength, but which +had almost entirely disappeared as he advanced in life. + +He was below mediocrity in mind, and had received scarcely any education. +He had been taught to utter a few phrases, more or less intelligible, in +French, Italian, and Flemish, but was quite incapable of sustaining a +conversation in either of those languages. When a child, he had learned +and subsequently forgotten the rudiments of the Latin grammar. + +These acquirements, together with the catechism and the offices of the +Church, made up his whole stock of erudition. That he was devout as a +monk of the middle ages, conforming daily and hourly to religious +ceremonies, need scarcely be stated. It was not probable that the son of +Philip II. would be a delinquent to church observances. He was not +deficient in courage, rode well, was fond of hunting, kept close to the +staghounds, and confronted, spear in hand, the wild-boar with coolness +and success. He was fond of tennis, but his especial passion and chief +accomplishment was dancing. He liked to be praised for his proficiency +in this art, and was never happier than when gravely leading out the +queen or his daughter, then four or five years of age--for he never +danced with any one else--to perform a stately bolero. + +He never drank wine, but, on the other hand, was an enormous eater; so +that, like his father in youth, he was perpetually suffering from +stomach-ache as the effect of his gluttony. He was devotedly attached to +his queen, and had never known, nor hardly looked at, any other woman. +He had no vice but gambling, in which he indulged to a great extent, very +often sitting up all night at cards. This passion of the king's was much +encouraged by Lerma, for obvious reasons. Philip had been known to lose +thirty thousand dollars at a sitting, and always to some one of the +family or dependents of the duke, who of course divided with them the +spoils. At one time the Count of Pelbes, nephew of Lerma, had won two +hundred thousand dollars in a very few nights from his sovereign. + +For the rest, Philip had few peculiarities or foibles. He was not +revengeful, nor arrogant, nor malignant. He was kind and affectionate to +his wife and children, and did his best to be obedient to the Duke of +Lerma. Occasionally he liked to grant audiences, but there were few to +request them. It was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time to see the +poor king, as was very frequently the case, standing at a solemn green +table till his little legs were tired, waiting to transact business with +applicants who never came; while ushers, chamberlains, and valets were +rushing up and down the corridors, bawling for all persons so disposed to +come and have an audience of their monarch. Meantime, the doors of the +great duke's apartments in the same palace would be beleaguered by an +army of courtiers, envoys, and contractors, who had paid solid gold for +admission, and who were often sent away grumbling and despairing without +entering the sacred precincts. + +As time wore on, the king, too much rebuked for attempting to meddle in +state affairs, became solitary and almost morose, moping about in the +woods by himself, losing satisfaction in his little dancing and ball- +playing diversions, but never forgetting his affection for the queen +nor the hours for his four daily substantial repasts of meats and pastry. +It would be unnecessary and almost cruel to dwell so long upon a picture +of what was after all not much better than human imbecility, were it not +that humanity is, a more sacred thing than royalty. A satire upon such +an embodiment of kingship is impossible, the simple and truthful +characteristics being more effective than fiction or exaggeration. It +would be unjust to exhume a private character after the lapse of two +centuries merely to excite derision, but if history be not powerless to +instruct, it certainly cannot be unprofitable to ponder the merits of a +system which, after bestowing upon the world forty-three years of Philip +the tyrant, had now followed them up with a decade of Philip the +simpleton. + +In one respect the reigning sovereign was in advance of his age. In his +devotion to the Madonna he claimed the same miraculous origin for her +mother as for herself. When the prayer "O Sancta Maria sine labe +originali concepta" was chanted, he would exclaim with emotion that the +words embodied his devoutest aspirations. He had frequent interviews +with doctors of divinity on the subject, and instructed many bishops to +urge upon the pope the necessity of proclaiming the virginity of the +Virgin's mother. Could he secure this darling object of his ambition, +he professed himself ready to make a pilgrimage on foot to Rome. The +pilgrimage was never made, for it may well be imagined that Lerma would +forbid any such adventurous scheme. Meantime, the duke continued to +govern the empire and to fill his coffers, and the king to shoot rabbits. + +The queen was a few years younger than her husband, and far from +beautiful. Indeed, the lower portion of her face was almost deformed. +She was graceful, however, in her movements, and pleasing and gentle in +manner. She adored the king, looking up to him with reverence as the +greatest and wisest of beings. To please him she had upon her marriage +given up drinking wine, which, for a German, was considered a great +sacrifice. She recompensed herself, as the king did, by eating to an +extent which, according to contemporary accounts, excited amazement. +Thus there was perfect sympathy between the two in the important article +of diet. She had also learned to play at cards, in order to take a hand +with him at any moment, feebly hoping that an occasional game for love +might rescue the king from that frantic passion by which his health was +shattered and so many courtiers were enriched. + +Not being deficient in perception, the queen was quite aware of the +greediness of all who surrounded the palace. She had spirit enough +too to feel the galling tyranny to which the king was subjected. That +the people hated the omnipotent favourite, and believed the king to be +under the influence of sorcery, she was well aware. She had even a dim +notion that the administration of the empire was not the wisest nor the +noblest that could be devised for the first power in Christendom. But +considerations of high politics scarcely troubled her mind. Of a People +she had perhaps never heard, but she felt that the king was oppressed. +She knew that he was helpless, and that she was herself his only friend. +But of what avail were her timid little flutterings of indignation and +resistance? So pure and fragile a creature could accomplish little good +for king or people. Perpetually guarded and surrounded by the Countess +of Lemos and the Duchess of Lerma, she lived in mortal awe of both. As +to the duke himself, she trembled at his very name. On her first +attempts to speak with Philip on political matters--to hint at the +unscrupulous character of his government, to arouse him to the necessity +of striking for a little more liberty and for at least a trifling +influence in the state--the poor little king instantly betrayed her to +the favourite and she was severely punished. The duke took the monarch +off at once on a long journey, leaving her alone for weeks long with the +terrible duchess and countess. Never before had she been separated for +a day from her husband, it having been the king's uniform custom to take +her with him in all his expeditions. Her ambition to interfere was thus +effectually cured. The duke forbade her thenceforth ever to speak of +politics to her husband in public or in private--not even in bed--and the +king was closely questioned whether these orders had been obeyed. She +submitted without a struggle. She saw how completely her happiness was +at Lerma's mercy. She had no one to consult with, having none but +Spanish people about her, except her German father-confessor, whom, +as a great favour, and after a severe struggle, she had beep allowed to +retain, as otherwise her ignorance of the national language would have +made it impossible for her to confess her little sins. Moreover her +brothers, the archdukes at Gratz, were in receipt of considerable annual +stipends from the Spanish exchequer, and the duke threatened to stop +those pensions at once should the queen prove refractory. It is painful +to dwell any longer on the abject servitude in which the king and queen +were kept. The two were at least happy in each other's society, and were +blessed with mutual affection, with pretty and engaging children, and +with a similarity of tastes. It is impossible to imagine anything more +stately, more devout, more regular, more innocent, more utterly dismal +and insipid, than the lives of this wedded pair. + +This interior view of the court and council of Spain will suffice to +explain why, despite the languor and hesitations with which the +transactions were managed, the inevitable tendency was towards a peace. +The inevitable slowness, secrecy, and tergiversations were due to the +dignity of the Spanish court, and in harmony with its most sacred +traditions. + +But what profit could the Duke of Lerma expect by the continuance of the +Dutch war, and who in Spain was to be consulted except the Duke of Lerma? + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear +Converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling +Gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest +No generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest +Proclaiming the virginity of the Virgin's mother +Steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride +To shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v79 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 80, 1607 + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + + Peace deliberations in Spain--Unpopularity of the project-- + Disaffection of the courtiers--Complaints against Spinola-- + Conference of the Catholic party--Position of Henry IV. towards the + republic--State of France Further peace negotiations--Desire of King + James of England for the restoration of the States to Spain--Arrival + of the French commissioners President Jeannin before the States- + General--Dangers of a truce with Spain--Dutch legation to England-- + Arrival of Lewis Verreyken at the Hague with Philip's ratification-- + Rejection of the Spanish treaty--Withdrawal of the Dutch fleet from + the Peninsula--The peace project denounced by the party of Prince + Maurice--Opposition of Maurice to the plans of Barneveld--Amended + ratification presented to the States-General--Discussion of the + conditions--Determination to conclude a peace--Indian trade-- + Exploits of Admiral Matelieff in the Malay peninsula--He lays siege + to Malacca--Victory over the Spanish fleet--Endeavour to open a + trade with China--Return of Matelieff to Holland. + +The Marquis Spinola had informed the Spanish Government that if 300,000 +dollars a month could be furnished, the war might be continued, but that +otherwise it would be better to treat upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' +and according to the terms proposed by the States-General. He had +further intimated his opinion that, instead of waiting for the king's +consent, it more comported with the king's dignity for the archdukes to +enter into negotiations, to make a preliminary and brief armistice with +the enemy, and then to solicit the royal approval of what had been done. + +In reply, the king--that is to say the man who thought, wrote, and signed +in behalf of the king--had plaintively observed that among evils the +vulgar rule was to submit to the least. Although, therefore, to grant to +the Netherland rebels not only peace and liberty, but to concede to them +whatever they had obtained by violence and the most abominable outrages, +was the worst possible example to all princes; yet as the enormous sum +necessary for carrying on the war was not to be had, even by attempting +to scrape it together from every corner of the earth, he agreed with the +opinion of the archdukes that it was better to put an end to this eternal +and exhausting war by peace or truce, even under severe conditions. That +the business had thus far proceeded without consulting him, was publicly +known, and he expressed approval of the present movements towards a peace +or a long truce, assuring Spinola that such a result would be as grateful +to him as if the war had been brought to a successful issue. + +When the Marquis sent formal notice of the armistice to Spain there were +many complaints at court. Men said that the measure was beneath the +king's dignity, and contrary to his interests. It was a cessation of +arms under iniquitous conditions, accorded to a people formerly subject +and now rebellious. Such a truce was more fatal than any conflict, than +any amount of slaughter. During this long and dreadful war, the king had +suffered no disaster so terrible as this, and the courtiers now declared +openly that the archduke was the cause of the royal and national +humiliation. Having no children, nor hope of any, he desired only to +live in tranquillity and selfish indulgence, like the indolent priest +that he was, not caring what detriment or dishonour might accrue to the +crown after his life was over. + +Thus murmured the parasites and the plunderers within the dominions of +the do-nothing Philip, denouncing the first serious effort to put an end +to a war which the laws of nature had proved to be hopeless on the part +of Spain. + +Spinola too, who had spent millions of his own money, who had plunged +himself into debt and discredit, while attempting to sustain the +financial reputation of the king, who had by his brilliant services in +the field revived the ancient glory of the Spanish arms, and who now saw +himself exposed with empty coffers to a vast mutiny, which was likely to +make his future movements as paralytic as those of his immediate +predecessors--Spinola, already hated because he was an Italian, because +he was of a mercantile family, and because he had been successful, was +now as much the object of contumely with the courtiers as with the +archduke himself. + +The splendid victory of Heemskerk had struck the government with dismay +and diffused a panic along the coast. The mercantile fleets, destined +for either India, dared not venture forth so long as the terrible Dutch +cruisers, which had just annihilated a splendid Spanish fleet, commanded +by a veteran of Lepanto, and under the very guns of Gibraltar, were +supposed to be hovering off the Peninsula. Very naturally, therefore, +there was discontent in Spain that the cessation of hostilities had not +originally been arranged for sea as well as land, and men said openly at +court that Spinola ought to have his head cut off for agreeing to such an +armistice. Quite as reasonably, however, it was now felt to be necessary +to effect as soon as possible the recal of this very inconvenient Dutch +fleet from the coast of Spain. + +The complaints were so incessant against Spinola that it was determined +to send Don Diego d'Ybarra to Brussels, charged with a general +superintendence of the royal interests in the present confused condition +of affairs. He was especially instructed to convey to Spinola the most +vehement reproaches in regard to the terms of the armistice, and to +insist upon the cessation of naval hostilities, and the withdrawal of the +cruisers. + +Spinola, on his part, was exceedingly irritated that the arrangements +which he had so carefully made with the archduke at Brussels should +be so contumaciously assailed, and even disavowed, at Madrid. He was +especially irritated that Ybarra should now be sent as his censor and +overseer, and that Fuentes should have received orders to levy seven +thousand troops in the Milanese for Flanders, the arrival of which +reinforcements would excite suspicion, and probably break off +negotiations. + +He accordingly sent his private secretary Biraga, posthaste to Spain with +two letters. In number one he implored his Majesty that Ybarra might not +be sent to Brussels. If this request were granted, number two was to be +burned. Otherwise, number two was to be delivered, and it contained a +request to be relieved from all further employment in the king's service. +The marquis was already feeling the same effects of success as had been +experienced by Alexander Farnese, Don John of Austria, and other +strenuous maintainers of the royal authority in Flanders. He was railed +against, suspected, spied upon, put under guardianship, according to the +good old traditions of the Spanish court. Public disgrace or secret +poison might well be expected by him, as the natural guerdons of his +eminent deeds. + +Biraga also took with him the draught of the form in which the king's +consent to the armistice and pending negotiations was desired, and he was +particularly directed to urge that not one letter or comma should be +altered, in order that no pretext might be afforded to the suspicious +Netherlanders for a rupture. + +In private letters to his own superintendent Strata, to Don John of +Idiaquez, to the Duke of Lerma, and to Stephen Ybarra, Spinola enlarged +upon the indignity about to be offered him, remonstrated vehemently +against the wrong and stupidity of the proposed policy, and expressed his +reliance upon the efforts of these friends of his to prevent its +consummation. He intimated to Idiaquez that a new deliberation would be +necessary to effect the withdrawal of the Dutch fleet--a condition not +inserted in the original armistice--but that within the three months +allowed for the royal ratification there would be time enough to procure +the consent of the States to that measure. If the king really desired to +continue the war, he had but to alter a single comma in the draught, and, +out of that comma, the stadholder's party would be certain to manufacture +for him as long a war as he could possibly wish. + +In a subsequent letter to the king, Spinola observed that he was well +aware of the indignation created in Spain by the cessation of land +hostilities without the recal of the fleet, but that nevertheless John +Neyen had confidentially represented to the archdukes the royal assent +as almost certain. As to the mission of Ybarra, the marquis reminded +his master that the responsibility and general superintendence of the +negotiations had been almost forced upon him. Certainly he had not +solicited them. If another agent were now interposed, it was an +advertisement to the world that the business had been badly managed. +If the king wished a rupture, he had but to lift his finger or his pen; +but to appoint another commissioner was an unfit reward for his faithful +service. He was in the king's hands. If his reputation were now to be +destroyed, it was all over with him and his affairs. The man, whom +mortals had once believed incapable, would be esteemed incapable until +the end of his days. + +It was too late to prevent the mission of Ybarra, who, immediately after +his arrival in Brussels, began to urge in the king's name that the words +in which the provinces had been declared free by the archdukes might be +expunged. What could be more childish than such diplomacy? What greater +proof could be given of the incapacity of the Spanish court to learn the +lesson which forty years had been teaching? Spinola again wrote a most +earnest remonstrance to the king, assuring him that this was simply to +break off the negotiation. It was ridiculous to suppose, he said, that +concessions already made by the archdukes, ratification of which on the +part of the king had been guaranteed, could now be annulled. Those +acquainted with Netherland obstinacy knew better. The very possibility +of the king's refusal excited the scorn of the States-General. + +Ybarra went about, too, prating to the archdukes and to others of +supplies to be sent from Spain sufficient to carry on the war for many +years, and of fresh troops to be forwarded immediately by Fuentes. As +four millions of crowns a year were known to be required for any +tolerable campaigning, such empty vaunts as these were preposterous. The +king knew full well, said Spinola, and had admitted the fact in his +letters, that this enormous sum could not be furnished. Moreover, the +war cost the Netherlanders far less in proportion. They had river +transportation, by which they effected as much in two days as the +Catholic army could do in a fortnight, so that every siege was managed +with far greater rapidity and less cost by the rebels than by their +opponents. As to sending troops from Milan, he had already stated that +their arrival would have a fatal effect. The minds of the people were +full of suspicion. Every passing rumour excited a prodigious sensation, +and the war party was already gaining the upper hand. Spinola warned the +king, in the most solemn manner, that if the golden opportunity were now +neglected the war would be eternal. This, he said, was more certain than +certain. For himself, he had strained every nerve, and would continue to +do his best in the interest of peace. If calamity must come, he at least +would be held blameless. + +Such vehement remonstrances from so eminent a source produced the needful +effect. Royal letters were immediately sent, placing full powers of +treating in the hands of the marquis, and sending him a ratification of +the archduke's agreement. Government moreover expressed boundless +confidence in Spinola, and deprecated the idea that Ybarra's mission was +in derogation of his authority. He had been sent, it was stated, only to +procure that indispensable preliminary to negotiations, the withdrawal of +the Dutch fleet, but as this had now been granted, Ybarra was already +recalled. + +Spinola now determined to send the swift and sure-footed friar, who had +made himself so useful in opening the path to discussion, on a secret +mission to Spain. Ybarra objected; especially because it would be +necessary for him to go through France, where he would be closely +questioned by the king. It would be equally dangerous, he said, +for the Franciscan in that case to tell the truth or to conceal it. +But Spinola replied that a poor monk like him could steal through France +undiscovered. Moreover, he should be disguised as a footman, travelling +in the service of Aurelio Spinola, a relative of the marquis, then +proceeding to Madrid. Even should Henry hear of his presence and send +for him, was it to be supposed that so practised a hand would not easily +parry the strokes of the French king--accomplished fencer as he +undoubtedly was? After stealing into and out of Holland as he had so +recently done, there was nothing that might not be expected of him. So +the wily friar put on the Spinola livery, and, without impediment, +accompanied Don Aurelio to Madrid. + +Meantime, the French commissioners--Pierre Jeannin, Buzanval, regular +resident at the Hague, and De Russy, who was destined to succeed that +diplomatist--had arrived in Holland. + +The great drama of negotiation, which was now to follow the forty years' +tragedy, involved the interests and absorbed the attention of the great +Christian powers. Although serious enough in its substance and its +probable consequences, its aspect was that of a solemn comedy. There was +a secret disposition on the part of each leading personage--with a few +exceptions--to make dupes of all the rest. Perhaps this was a necessary +result of statesmanship, as it had usually been taught at that epoch. + +Paul V., who had succeeded Clement VIII. in 1605, with the brief +interlude of the twenty-six days of Leo XI.'s pontificate, was zealous, +as might be supposed, to check the dangerous growth of the pestilential +little republic of the north. His diplomatic agents, Millino at Madrid, +Barberini at Paris, and the accomplished Bentivoglio, who had just been +appointed to the nunciatura at Brussels, were indefatigable in their +efforts to suppress the heresy and the insolent liberty of which the +upstart commonwealth was the embodiment. + +Especially Barberini exerted all the powers at his command to bring about +a good understanding between the kings of France and Spain. He pictured +to Henry, in darkest colours, the blight that would come over religion +and civilization if the progress of the rebellious Netherlands could not +be arrested. The United Provinces were becoming dangerous, if they +remained free, not only to the French kingdom, but to the very existence +of monarchy throughout the world. + +No potentate was ever more interested, so it was urged, than Henry IV. +to bring down the pride of the Dutch rebels. There was always sympathy +of thought and action between the Huguenots of France and their co- +religionists in Holland. They were all believers alike in Calvinism-- +a sect inimical not less to temporal monarchies than to the sovereign +primacy of the Church--and the tendency and purposes of the French rebels +were already sufficiently manifest in their efforts, by means of the so- +called cities of security, to erect a state within a state; to introduce, +in short, a Dutch republic into France. + +A sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty, now threatening to become +epidemic in Europe, would be found in a marriage between the second son +of the King of Spain and a daughter of France. As the archdukes were +childless, it might be easily arranged that this youthful couple should +succeed them--the result of which would of course be the reduction of all +the Netherlands to their ancient obedience. + +It has already been seen, and will become still farther apparent, that +nostrums like this were to be recommended in other directions. Meantime, +Jeannin and his colleagues made their appearance at the Hague. + +If there were a living politician in Europe capable of dealing with +Barneveld on even terms, it was no doubt President Jeannin. An ancient +Leaguer, an especial adherent of the Duke of Mayenne, he had been deep in +all the various plots and counter-plots of the Guises, and often employed +by the extinct confederacy in various important intrigues. Being +secretly sent to Spain to solicit help for the League after the disasters +of Ivry and Arques, he found Philip II. so sincerely imbued with the +notion that France was a mere province of Spain, and so entirely bent +upon securing the heritage of the Infanta to that large property, as to +convince him that the maintenance of the Roman religion was with that +monarch only a secondary condition. Aid and assistance for the +confederacy were difficult of attainment, unless coupled with the +guarantee of the Infanta's rights to reign in France. + +The Guise faction being inspired solely by religious motives of the +loftiest kind, were naturally dissatisfied with the lukewarmness of +his most Catholic Majesty. When therefore the discomfited Mayenne +subsequently concluded his bargain with the conqueror of Ivry, it was a +matter of course that Jeannin should also make his peace with the +successful Huguenot, now become eldest son of the Church. He was very +soon taken into especial favour by Henry, who recognised his sagacity, +and who knew his hands to be far cleaner than those of the more exalted +Leaguers with whom he had dealt. The "good old fellow," as Henry +familiarly called him, had not filled his pockets either in serving or +when deserting the League. Placed in control of the exchequer at a later +period, he was never accused of robbery or peculation. He was a hard- +working, not overpaid, very intelligent public functionary. He was made +president of the parliament, or supreme tribunal of Burgundy, and +minister of state, and was recognised as one of the ablest jurists and +most skilful politicians in the kingdom. An elderly man, with a tall, +serene forehead, a large dark eye and a long grey beard, he presented an +image of vast wisdom and reverend probity. He possessed--an especial +treasure for a statesman in that plotting age--a singularly honest +visage. Never was that face more guileless, never was his heart more +completely worn upon his sleeve, than when he was harbouring the deepest +or most dangerous designs. Such was the "good fellow," whom that skilful +reader of men, Henry of France, had sent to represent his interests and +his opinions at the approaching conferences. What were those opinions? +Paul V. and his legates Barberini, Millino, and the rest, were well +enough aware of the secret strings of the king's policy, and knew how to +touch them with skill. Of all things past, Henry perhaps most regretted +that not he, but the last and most wretched of the Valois line, was +sovereign of France when the States-General came to Paris with that +offer of sovereignty which had been so contumaciously refused. + +If the object were attainable, the ex-chief of the Huguenots still +meant to be king of the Netherlands as sincerely as Philip II. had +ever intended to be monarch of France. But Henry was too accurate +a calculator of chances, and had bustled too much in the world of +realities, to exhaust his strength in striving, year after year, for +a manifest impossibility. The enthusiast, who had passed away at last +from the dreams of the Escorial into the land of shadows, had spent a +lifetime, and melted the wealth of an empire; but universal monarchy had +never come forth from his crucible. The French king, although possessed +likewise of an almost boundless faculty for ambitious visions, was +capable of distinguishing cloud-land from substantial empire. +Jeannin, as his envoy, would at any rate not reveal his master's secret +aspirations to those with whom he came to deal, as openly as Philip had +once unveiled himself to Jeannin. + +There could be no doubt that peace at this epoch was the real interest of +France. That kingdom was beginning to flourish again, owing to the very +considerable administrative genius of Bethune, an accomplished financier +according to the lights of the age, and still more by reason of the +general impoverishment of the great feudal houses and of the clergy. +The result of the almost interminable series of civil and religious wars +had been to cause a general redistribution of property. Capital was +mainly in the hands of the middle and lower classes, and the consequence +of this general circulation of wealth through all the channels of society +was precisely what might have been expected, an increase of enterprise +and of productive industry in various branches. Although the financial +wisdom of the age was doing its best to impede commerce, to prevent the +influx of foreign wares, to prohibit the outflow of specie--in obedience +to the universal superstition, which was destined to survive so many +centuries, that gold and silver alone constituted wealth--while, +at the same time, in deference to the idiotic principle of sumptuary +legislation, it was vigorously opposing mulberry culture, silk +manufactures, and other creations of luxury, which, in spite of the +hostility of government sages, were destined from that time forward to +become better mines of wealth for the kingdom than the Indies had been +for Spain, yet on the whole the arts of peace were in the ascendant in +France. + +The king, although an unscrupulous, self-seeking despot and the coarsest +of voluptuaries, was at least a man of genius. He had also too much +shrewd mother-wit to pursue such schemes as experience had shown to +possess no reality. The talisman "Espoir," emblazoned on his shield, had +led him to so much that it was natural for him at times to think all +things possible. + +But he knew how to renounce as well as how to dare. He had abandoned his +hope to be declared Prince of Wales and successor to the English crown, +which he had cherished for a brief period, at the epoch of the Essex +conspiracy; he had forgotten his magnificent dream of placing the crown +of the holy German empire upon his head, and if he still secretly +resolved to annex the Netherlands to his realms, and to destroy his +excellent ally, the usurping, rebellious, and heretic Dutch republic, +he had craft enough to work towards his aim in the dark, and the common +sense to know that by now throwing down the mask he would be for ever +baffled of his purpose. + +The history of France, during the last three-quarters of a century, had +made almost every Frenchman, old enough to bear arms, an accomplished +soldier. Henry boasted that the kingdom could put three hundred thousand +veterans into the field--a high figure, when it is recollected that its +population certainly did not exceed fifteen millions. No man however +was better aware than he, that in spite, of the apparent pacification +of parties, the three hundred thousand would not be all on one side, even +in case of a foreign war. There were at least four thousand great feudal +lords as faithful to the Huguenot faith and cause as he had been false to +both; many of them still wealthy, notwithstanding the general ruin which +had swept over the high nobility, and all of them with vast influence and +a splendid following, both among the lesser gentry and the men of lower +rank. + +Although he kept a Jesuit priest ever at his elbow, and did his best +to persuade the world and perhaps himself that he had become a devout +Catholic, in consequence of those memorable five hours' instruction from +the Bishop of Bourges, and that there was no hope for France save in +its return to the bosom of the Church, he was yet too politic and too +farseeing to doubt that for him to oppress the Protestants would +be not only suicidal, but, what was worse in his eyes, ridiculous. + +He knew, too, that with thirty or forty thousand fighting-men in the +field, with seven hundred and forty churches in the various provinces for +their places of worship, with all the best fortresses in France in their +possession, with leaders like Rohan, Lesdiguieres, Bouillon, and many +others, and with the most virtuous, self-denying, Christian government, +established and maintained by themselves, it would be madness for him +and his dynasty to deny the Protestants their political and religious +liberty, or to attempt a crusade against their brethren in the +Netherlands. + +France was far more powerful than Spain, although the world had not yet +recognised the fact. Yet it would have been difficult for both united to +crush the new commonwealth, however paradoxical such a proposition seemed +to contemporaries. + +Sully was conscientiously in favour of peace, and Sully was the one great +minister of France. Not a Lerma, certainly; for France was not Spain, +nor was Henry IV. a Philip III. The Huguenot duke was an inferior +financier to his Spanish contemporary, if it were the height of financial +skill for a minister to exhaust the resources of a great kingdom in +order to fill his own pocket. Sully certainly did not neglect his own +interests, for be had accumulated a fortune of at least seventy thousand +dollars a year, besides a cash capital estimated at a million and a half. +But while enriching himself, he had wonderfully improved the condition of +the royal treasury. He had reformed many abuses and opened many new +sources of income. He had, of course, not accomplished the whole Augean +task of purification. He was a vigorous Huguenot, but no Hercules, and +demigods might have shrunk appalled at the filthy mass of corruption +which great European kingdoms everywhere presented to the reformer's eye. +Compared to the Spanish Government, that of France might almost have been +considered virtuous, yet even there everything was venal. + +To negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step. All the +ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of +course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante- +chambers with gold. + +The king was fully aware of the practice, but winked at it, because +his servants, thus paid enormous sums by the public and by foreign +Governments, were less importunate for rewards and salaries from himself. + +One man in the kingdom was said to have clean hands, the venerable and +sagacious chancellor, Pomponne de Bellievre. His wife, however, was less +scrupulous, and readily disposed of influence and court-favour for a +price, without the knowledge, so it was thought, of the great judge. + +Jeannin, too, was esteemed a man of personal integrity, ancient Leaguer +and tricky politician though he were. + +Highest offices of magistracy and judicature, Church and State, were +objects of a traffic almost as shameless as in Spain. The ermine was +sold at auction, mitres were objects of public barter, Church preferments +were bestowed upon female children in their cradles. Yet there was hope +in France, notwithstanding that the Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis, the +foundation of the liberties of the Gallican Church, had been annulled by +Francis, who had divided the seamless garment of Church patronage with +Leo. + +Those four thousand great Huguenot lords, those thirty thousand hard- +fighting weavers, and blacksmiths, and other plebeians, those seven +hundred and forty churches, those very substantial fortresses in every +province of the kingdom, were better facts than the Holy Inquisition to +preserve a great nation from sinking into the slough of political +extinction. + +Henry was most anxious that Sully should convert himself to the ancient +Church, and the gossips of the day told each other that the duke had +named his price for his conversion. To be made high constable of France, +it was said would melt the resolve of the stiff Huguenot. To any other +inducement or blandishment he was adamant. Whatever truth may have been +in such chatter, it is certain that the duke never gratified his master's +darling desire. + +Yet it was for no lack of attempts and intrigues on the part of the king, +although it is not probable that he would have ever consented to bestow +that august and coveted dignity upon a Bethune. + +The king did his best by intrigue, by calumny, by talebearing, by +inventions, to set the Huguenots against each other, and to excite the +mutual jealousy of all his most trusted adherents, whether Protestant or +Catholic. The most good-humoured, the least vindictive, the most +ungrateful, the falsest of mankind, he made it his policy, as well as his +pastime, to repeat, with any amount of embroidery that his most florid +fancy could devise, every idle story or calumny that could possibly +create bitter feeling and make mischief among those who surrounded him. +Being aware that this propensity was thoroughly understood, he only +multiplied fictions, so cunningly mingled with truths, as to leave his +hearers quite unable to know what to believe and what to doubt. By +such arts, force being impossible, he hoped one day to sever the band +which held the conventicles together, and to reduce Protestantism to +insignificance. He would have cut off the head of D'Aubigne or Duplessis +Mornay to gain an object, and have not only pardoned but caressed and +rewarded Biron when reeking from the conspiracy against his own life and +crown, had he been willing to confess and ask pardon for his stupendous +crime. He hated vindictive men almost as much as he despised those who +were grateful. + +He was therefore far from preferring Sully to Villeroy or Jeannin, but he +was perfectly aware that, in financial matters at least, the duke was his +best friend and an important pillar of the state. + +The minister had succeeded in raising the annual revenue of France +to nearly eleven millions of dollars, and in reducing the annual +expenditures to a little more than ten millions. To have a balance on +the right side of the public ledger was a feat less easily accomplished +in those days even than in our own. Could the duke have restrained his +sovereign's reckless extravagance in buildings, parks, hunting +establishments, and harems, he might have accomplished even greater +miracles. He lectured the king roundly, as a parent might remonstrate +with a prodigal son, but it was impossible even for a Sully to rescue +that hoary-headed and most indomitable youth from wantonness and riotous +living. The civil-list of the king amounted to more than one-tenth of +the whole revenue. + +On the whole, however, it was clear, as France was then constituted and +administered, that a general peace would be, for the time at least, most +conducive to its interests, and Henry and his great minister were +sincerely desirous of bringing about that result. + +Preliminaries for a negotiation which should terminate this mighty war +were now accordingly to be laid down at the Hague. Yet it would seem +rather difficult to effect a compromise. Besides the powers less +interested, but which nevertheless sent representatives to watch the +proceedings--such as Sweden, Denmark, Brandenburg, the Elector Palatine +--there were Spain, France, England, the republic, and the archdukes. + +Spain knew very well that she could not continue the war; but she hoped +by some quibbling recognition of an impossible independence to recover +that authority over her ancient vassals which the sword had for the time +struck down. Distraction in councils, personal rivalries, the well- +known incapacity of a people to govern itself, commercial greediness, +provincial hatreds, envies and jealousies, would soon reduce that jumble +of cities and villages, which aped the airs of sovereignty, into +insignificance and confusion. Adroit management would easily re-assert +afterwards the sovereignty of the Lord's anointed. That a republic of +freemen, a federation of independent states, could take its place among +the nations did not deserve a serious thought. + +Spain in her heart preferred therefore to treat. It was however +indispensable that the Netherlands should reestablish the Catholic +religion throughout the land, should abstain then and for ever from all +insolent pretences to trade with India or America, and should punish such +of their citizens as attempted to make voyages to the one or the other. +With these trifling exceptions, the court of Madrid would look with +favour on propositions made in behalf of the rebels. + +France, as we have seen, secretly aspired to the sovereignty of all the +Netherlands, if it could be had. She was also extremely in favour of +excluding the Hollanders from the Indies, East and West. The king, fired +with the achievements of the republic at sea, and admiring their great +schemes for founding empires at the antipodes by means of commercial +corporations, was very desirous of appropriating to his own benefit the +experience, the audacity, the perseverance, the skill and the capital of +their merchants and mariners. He secretly instructed his commissioners, +therefore, and repeatedly urged it upon them, to do their best to procure +the renunciation, on the part of the republic, of the Indian trade, +and to contrive the transplantation into France of the mighty trading +companies, so successfully established in Holland and Zeeland. + +The plot thus to deprive the provinces of their India trade was supposed +by the statesmen of the republic to have been formed in connivance with +Spain. That power, finding itself half pushed from its seat of power in +the East by the "grand and infallible society created by the United +Provinces,"--[Memoir of Aerssens, ubi sup]--would be but too happy to +make use of this French intrigue in order to force the intruding Dutch +navy from its conquests. + +Olden-Barneveld, too politic to offend the powerful and treacherous ally +by a flat refusal, said that the king's friendship was more precious than +the India trade. At the same time he warned the French Government that, +if they ruined the Dutch East India Company, "neither France nor any +other nation would ever put its nose into India again." + +James of England, too, flattered himself that he could win for England +that sovereignty of the Netherlands which England as well as France had +so decidedly refused. The marriage of Prince Henry with the Spanish +Infanta was the bait, steadily dangled before him by the politicians of +the Spanish court, and he deluded himself with the thought that the +Catholic king, on the death of the childless archdukes, would make his +son and daughter-in-law a present of the obedient Netherlands. He +already had some of the most important places in the United Netherlands- +the famous cautionary towns in his grasp, and it should go hard but he +would twist that possession into a sovereignty over the whole land. As +for recognising the rebel provinces as an independent sovereignty, that +was most abhorrent to him. Such a tampering with the great principles of +Government was an offence against all crowned heads, a crime in which he +was unwilling to participate. + +His instinct against rebellion seemed like second sight. The king might +almost be imagined to have foreseen in the dim future those memorable +months in which the proudest triumph of the Dutch commonwealth was to be +registered before the forum of Christendom at the congress of Westphalia, +and in which the solemn trial and execution of his own son and successor, +with the transformation of the monarchy of the Tudors and Stuarts into a +British republic, were simultaneously to startle the world. But it +hardly needed the gift of prophecy to inspire James with a fear of +revolutions. + +He was secretly desirous therefore, sustained by Salisbury and his other +advisers, of effecting the restoration of the provinces to the dominion +of his most Catholic Majesty. It was of course the interest of England +that the Netherland rebels should renounce the India trade. So would +James be spared the expense and trouble of war; so would the great +doctrines of divine right be upheld; so would the way be paved towards +the ultimate absorption of the Netherlands by England. Whether his +theological expositions would find as attentive pupils when the pope's +authority had been reestablished over all his neighbours; whether the +Catholic rebels in Ireland would become more tranquil by the subjugation +of the Protestant rebels in Holland; whether the principles of Guy Fawkes +might not find more effective application, with no bulwark beyond the +seas against the incursion of such practitioners--all this he did not +perhaps sufficiently ponder. + +Thus far had the discursive mind of James wandered from the position +which it occupied at the epoch of Maximilian de Bethune's memorable +embassy to England. + +The archdukes were disposed to quiet. On them fell the burthen of the +war. Their little sovereignty, where--if they could only be allowed +to expend the money squeezed from the obedient provinces in court +diversions, stately architecture, splendid encouragement of the fine +arts, and luxurious living, surrounded by a train of great nobles, fit +to command regiments in the field or assist in the counsels of state, but +chiefly occupied in putting dishes on the court table, handing ewers and +napkins to their Highnesses, or in still more menial offices--so much +enjoyment might be had, was reduced to a mere parade ground for Spanish +soldiery. It was ridiculous, said the politicians of Madrid, to suppose +that a great empire like Spain would not be continually at war in one +direction or another, and would not perpetually require the use of large +armies. Where then could there be a better mustering place for their +forces than those very provinces, so easy of access, so opulent, so +conveniently situate in the neighbourhood of Spain's most insolent +enemies? It was all very fine for the archduke, who knew nothing of war, +they declared, who had no hope of children, who longed only for a life +of inglorious ease, such as he could have had as archbishop, to prate of +peace and thus to compromise the dignity of the realm. On the contrary +by making proper use of the Netherlands, the repose and grandeur of the +monarchy would be secured, even should the war become eternal. + +This prospect, not agreeable certainly for the archdukes or their +subjects, was but little admired outside the Spanish court. + +Such then were the sentiments of the archdukes, and such the schemes and +visions of Spain, France, and England. On two or three points, those +great powers were mainly, if unconsciously, agreed. The Netherlands +should not be sovereign; they should renounce the India navigation; they +should consent to the re-establishment of the Catholic religion. + +On the other hand, the States-General knew their own minds, and made not +the slightest secret of their intentions. + +They would be sovereign, they would not renounce the India trade, they +would not agree to the re-establishment of the Catholic religion. + +Could the issue of the proposed negotiations be thought hopeful, or was +another half century of warfare impending? + +On the 28th May the French commissioners came before the States-General. + +There had been many wild rumours flying through the provinces in regard +to the king's secret designs upon the republic, especially since the +visit made to the Hague a twelvemonth before by Francis Aerssens, States' +resident at the French court. That diplomatist, as we know, had been +secretly commissioned by Henry to feel the public pulse in regard to the +sovereignty, so far as that could be done by very private and delicate +fingering. Although only two or three personages had been dealt with-- +the suggestions being made as the private views of the ambassadors only +--there had been much gossip on the subject, not only in the Netherlands, +but at the English and Spanish courts. Throughout the commonwealth there +was a belief that Henry wished to make himself king of the country. + +As this happened to be the fact, it was natural that the President, +according to the statecraft of his school, should deny it at once, and +with an air of gentle melancholy. + +Wearing therefore his most ingenuous expression, Jeannin addressed the +assembly. + +He assured the States that the king had never forgotten how much +assistance he had received from them when he was struggling to conquer +the kingdom legally belonging to him, and at a time when they too were +fighting in their own country for their very existence. + +The king thought that he had given so many proofs of his sincere +friendship as to make doubt impossible; but he had found the contrary, +for the States had accorded an armistice, and listened to overtures of +peace, without deigning to consult him on the subject. They had proved, +by beginning and concluding so important a transaction without his +knowledge, that they regarded him with suspicion, and had no respect for +his name. Whence came the causes of that suspicion it was difficult to +imagine, unless from certain false rumours of propositions said to have +been put forward in his behalf, although he had never authorised anyone +to make them, by which men had been induced to believe that he aspired to +the sovereignty of the provinces. + +"This falsehood," continued the candid President, "has cut our king to +the heart, wounding him more deeply than anything else could have done. +To make the armistice without his knowledge showed merely your contempt +for him, and your want of faith in him. But he blamed not the action in +itself, since you deemed it for your good, and God grant that you may not +have been deceived. But to pretend that his Majesty wished to grow great +at your expense, this was to do a wrong to his reputation, to his good +faith, and to the desire which he has always shown to secure the +prosperity of your state." Much more spoke Jeannin, in this vein, +assuring the assembly that those abominable falsehoods proceeded from +the enemies of the king, and were designed expressly to sow discord and +suspicion in the provinces. The reader, already aware of the minute and +detailed arrangements made by Henry and his ministers for obtaining the +sovereignty of the United Provinces and destroying their liberties, will +know how to appreciate the eloquence of the ingenuous President. + +After the usual commonplaces concerning the royal desire to protect his +allies against wrong and oppression, and to advance their interests, the +President suggested that the States should forthwith communicate the +pending deliberations to all the kings and princes who had favoured their +cause, and especially to the King of England, who had so thoroughly +proved his desire to promote their welfare. + +As Jeannin had been secretly directed to pave the way by all possible +means for the king's sovereignty over the provinces; as he was not long +afterwards to receive explicit instructions to expend as much money as +might be necessary in bribing Prince Maurice, Count Lewis William, +Barneveld and his son, together with such others as might seem worth +purchasing, in order to assist Henry in becoming monarch of their +country; and as the English king was at that moment represented in +Henry's private letters to the commissioners as actually loathing the +liberty, power, and prosperity of the provinces, it must be conceded that +the President had acquitted himself very handsomely in his first oration. + +Such was the virtue of his honest face. + +Barneveld answered with generalities and commonplaces. No man knew +better than the Advocate the exact position of affairs; no man had more +profoundly fathomed the present purposes of the French king; no man had +more acutely scanned his character. But he knew the critical position of +the commonwealth. He knew that, although the public revenue might be +raised by extraordinary and spasmodic exertion to nearly a million +sterling, a larger income than had ever been at the disposition of the +great Queen of England, the annual deficit might be six millions of +florins--more than half the revenue--if the war continued, and that there +was necessity of peace, could the substantial objects of the war be now +obtained. He was well aware too of the subtle and scheming brain which +lay hid beneath that reverend brow of the President, although he felt +capable of coping with him in debate or intrigue. Doubtless he was +inspired with as much ardour for the intellectual conflict as Henry +might have experienced on some great field-day with Alexander Farnese. + +On this occasion, however, Barneveld preferred to glide gently over the +rumours concerning Henry's schemes. Those reports had doubtless +emanated, he said, from the enemies of Netherland prosperity. The +private conclusion of the armistice he defended on the ground of +necessity, and of temporary financial embarrassment, and he promised +that deputies should at once be appointed to confer with the royal +commissioners in regard to the whole subject. + +In private, he assured Jeannin that the communications of Aerssens had +only been discussed in secret, and had not been confided to more than +three or four persons. + +The Advocate, although the leader of the peace party, was by no means +over anxious for peace. + +The object of much insane obloquy, because disposed to secure that +blessing for his country on the basis of freedom and independence, he was +not disposed to trust in the sincerity of the archdukes, or the Spanish +court, or the French king. "Timeo Danaos etiam dona ferentes," he had +lately said to Aerssens. Knowing that the resistance of the Netherlands +had been forty years long the bulwark of Europe against the designs of +the Spaniard for universal empire, he believed the republic justified in +expecting the support of the leading powers in the negotiations now +proposed. "Had it not been for the opposition of these provinces," he +said, "he might, in the opinion of the wisest, have long ago been monarch +of all Europe, with small expense of men, money, or credit." He was far +from believing therefore that Spain, which had sacrificed, according to +his estimate, three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred million +ducats in vain endeavours to destroy the resistance of the United +Provinces, was now ready to lay aside her vengeance and submit to a +sincere peace. Rather he thought to see "the lambkins, now frisking so +innocently about the commonwealth, suddenly transform themselves into +lions and wolves." It would be a fatal error, he said, to precipitate +the dear fatherland into the net of a simulated negotiation, from unwise +impatience for peace. The Netherlanders were a simple, truthful people +and could hope for no advantage in dealing with Spanish friars, nor +discover all the danger and deceit lurking beneath their fair words. +Thus the man, whom his enemies perpetually accused of being bought by +the enemy, of wishing peace at any price, of wishing to bring back the +Catholic party and ecclesiastical influence to the Netherlands, was +vigorously denouncing a precipitate peace, and warning his countrymen +of the danger of premature negotiations. + +"As one can hardly know the purity and value of gold," he said, "without +testing it, so it is much more difficult to distinguish a false peace +from a genuine one; for one can never touch it nor taste it; and one +learns the difference when one is cheated and lost. Ignorant people +think peace negotiations as simple as a private lawsuit. Many sensible +persons even think that; the enemy once recognising us for a free, +sovereign state, we shall be in the same position as England and France, +which powers have lately made peace with the archdukes and with Spain. +But we shall find a mighty difference. Moreover, in those kingdoms the +Spanish king has since the peace been ever busy corrupting their officers +of state and their subjects, and exciting rebellion and murder within +their realms, as all the world must confess. And the English merchants +complain that they have suffered more injustice, violence, and wrong from +the Spaniards since the peace than they did during the war." + +The Advocate also reminded his countrymen that the archduke, being a +vassal of Spain, could not bind that power by his own signature, and that +there was no proof that the king would renounce his pretended rights to +the provinces. If he affected to do so, it would only be to put the +republic to sleep. He referred, with much significance, to the late +proceedings of the Admiral of Arragon at Emmerich, who refused to release +that city according to his plighted word, saying roundly that whatever he +might sign and seal one day he would not hesitate absolutely to violate +on the next if the king's service was thereby to be benefited. + +With such people, who had always learned law-doctors and ghostly +confessors to strengthen and to absolve them, they could never expect +anything but broken faith and contempt for treaties however solemnly +ratified. + +Should an armistice be agreed upon and negotiations begun, the Advocate +urged that the work of corruption and bribery would not be a moment +delayed, and although the Netherlanders were above all nations a true and +faithful race, it could hardly be hoped that no individuals would be +gained over by the enemy. + +"For the whole country," said Barneveld, "would swarm with Jesuits, +priests, and monks, with calumnies and corruptions--the machinery by +which the enemy is wont to produce discord, relying for success upon the +well-known maxim of Philip of Macedon, who considered no city impregnable +into which he could send an ass laden with gold." + +The Advocate was charged too with being unfriendly to the India trade, +especially to the West India Company. + +He took the opportunity, however, to enlarge with emphasis and eloquence +upon that traffic as constituting the very lifeblood of the country. + +"The commerce with the East Indies is going on so prosperously," he said, +"that not only our own inhabitants but all strangers are amazed. The +West India Company is sufficiently prepared, and will cost the +commonwealth so little, that the investment will be inconsiderable in +comparison with the profits. And all our dangers and difficulties have +nearly vanished since the magnificent victory of Gibraltar, by which the +enemy's ships, artillery, and sailors have been annihilated, and proof +afforded that the Spanish galleys are not so terrible as they pretend to +be. By means of this trade to both the Indies, matters will soon be +brought into such condition that the Spaniards will be driven out of all +those regions and deprived of their traffic. Thus will the great wolf's +teeth be pulled out, and we need have no farther fear of his biting +again. Then we may hope for a firm and assured peace, and may keep the +Indies, with the whole navigation thereon depending, for ourselves, +sharing it freely and in common with our allies." + +Certainly no statesman could more strongly depict the dangers of a +pusillanimous treaty, and the splendid future of the republic, if she +held fast to her resolve for political independence, free religion, and +free trade, than did the great Advocate at this momentous epoch of +European history. + +Had he really dreamed of surrendering the republic to Spain, that +republic whose resistance ever since the middle of the previous century +had been all that had saved Europe, in the opinion of learned and +experienced thinkers, from the universal empire of Spain--had the +calumnies, or even a thousandth part of the calumnies, against him been +true--how different might have been the history of human liberty! + +Soon afterwards, in accordance with the suggestions of the French king +and with their own previous intentions, a special legation was despatched +by the States to England, in order to notify the approaching conferences +to the sovereign of that country, and to invite his participation in the +proceedings. + +The States' envoys were graciously received by James, who soon appointed +Richard Spencer and Ralph Winwood as commissioners to the Hague, duly +instructed to assist at the deliberations, and especially to keep a sharp +watch upon French intrigues. There were also missions and invitations to +Denmark and to the Electors Palatine and of Brandenburg, the two latter +potentates having, during the past three years, assisted the States with +a hundred thousand florins annually. + +The news of the great victory at Gibraltar had reached the Netherlands +almost simultaneously with the arrival of the French commissioners. +It was thought probable that John Neyen had received the weighty +intelligence some days earlier, and the intense eagerness of the +archdukes and of the Spanish Government to procure the recal of the Dutch +fleet was thus satisfactorily explained. Very naturally this magnificent +success, clouded though it was by the death of the hero to whom it was +due, increased the confidence of the States in the justice of their cause +and the strength of their position. + +Once more, it is not entirely idle to consider the effect of scientific +progress on the march of human affairs, as so often exemplified in +history. Whether that half-century of continuous war would have been +possible with the artillery, means of locomotion, and other machinery of +destruction and communication now so terribly familiar to the world, can +hardly be a question. The preterhuman prolixity of negotiation which +appals us in the days when steam and electricity had not yet annihilated +time and space, ought also to be obsolete. At a period when the news +of a great victory was thirty days on its travels from Gibraltar to +Flushing, aged counsellors justified themselves in a solemn consumption +of time such as might have exasperated Jared or Methuselah in his +boyhood. Men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity, and +negotiated as if they were all immortal. But has the art political kept +pace with the advancement of physical science? If history be valuable +for the examples it furnishes both for imitation and avoidance, then the +process by which these peace conferences were initiated and conducted may +be wholesome food for reflection. + +John Neyen, who, since his secret transactions already described at the +Hague and Fort Lillo, had been speeding back and forth between Brussels, +London, and Madrid, had once more returned to the Netherlands, and had +been permitted to reside privately at Delft until the king's ratification +should arrive from Spain. + +While thus established, the industrious friar had occupied his leisure in +studying the situation of affairs. Especially he had felt inclined to +renew some of those little commercial speculations which had recently +proved so comfortable in the case of Dirk van der Does. Recorder +Cornelius Aerssens came frequently to visit him, with the private consent +of the Government, and it at once struck the friar that Cornelius would +be a judicious investment. So he informed the recorder that the +archdukes had been much touched with his adroitness and zeal in +facilitating the entrance of their secret agent into the presence of the +Prince and the Advocate. Cruwel, in whose company the disguised Neyen +had made his first journey to the Hague, was a near relative of Aerssena, +The honest monk accordingly, in recognition of past and expected +services, begged one day the recorder's acceptance of a bill, drawn by +Marquis Spinola on Henry Beckman, merchant of Amsterdam, for eighty +thousand ducats. He also produced a diamond ring, valued at ten thousand +florins, which he ventured to think worthy the acceptance of Madame +Aerssens. Furthermore, he declared himself ready to pay fifteen thousand +crowns in cash, on account of the bill, whenever it might be, desired, +and observed that the archdukes had ordered the house which the recorder +had formerly occupied in Brussels to be reconveyed to him. Other good +things were in store, it was delicately hinted, as soon as they had been +earned. + +Aerssens expressed his thanks for the house, which, he said, legally +belonged to him according to the terms of the surrender of Brussels. +He hesitated in regard to the rest, but decided finally to accept the +bill of exchange and the diamond, apprising Prince Maurice and Olden- +Barneveld of the fact, however, on his return to the Hague. Being +subsequently summoned by Neyen to accept the fifteen thousand crowns, +he felt embarrassed at the compromising position in which he had placed +himself. He decided accordingly to make a public statement of the affair +to the States-General. This was done, and the States placed the ring and +the bill in the hands of their treasurer, Joris de Bie. + +The recorder never got the eighty thousand ducats, nor his wife the +diamond; but although there had been no duplicity on his part, he got +plenty of slander. His evil genius had prompted him, not to listen +seriously to the temptings of the monk, but to deal with him on his own +terms. He was obliged to justify himself against public suspicion with +explanations and pamphlets, but some taint of the calumny stuck by him +to the last. + +Meantime, the three months allotted for the reception of Philip's +ratification had nearly expired. In March, the royal Government had +expressly consented that the archdukes should treat with the rebels on +the ground of their independence. In June that royal permission had been +withdrawn, exactly because the independence could never be acknowledged. +Albert, naturally enough indignant at such double-dealing, wrote to the +king that his disapprobation was incomprehensible, as the concession of +independence had been made by direct command of Philip. "I am much +amazed," he said, "that, having treated with the islanders on condition +of leaving them free, by express order of your Majesty (which you must +doubtless very well remember), your Majesty now reproves my conduct, and +declares your dissatisfaction." At last, on the 23rd July, Spinola +requested a safe conduct for Louis Verreyken, auditor of the council at +Brussels, to come to the Hague. + +On the 23rd of July that functionary accordingly arrived. He came before +Prince Maurice and fifty deputies of the States-General, and exhibited +the document. At the same time he urged them, now that the long-desired +ratification had been produced, to fulfil at once their promise, and to +recal their fleet from the coast of Spain. + +Verreyken was requested to withdraw while the instrument was examined. +When recalled, he was informed that the States had the most staight- +forward intention to negotiate, but that the royal document did not at +all answer their expectation. As few of the delegates could read +Spanish, it would first of all be necessary to cause it to be translated. + +When that was done they would be able to express their opinion concerning +it and come to a decision in regard to the recal of the fleet. This +ended the proceedings on that occasion. + +Next day Prince Maurice invited Verreyken and others to dine. After +dinner the stadholder informed him that the answer of the States might +soon be expected; at the same time expressing his regret that the king +should have sent such an instrument. It was very necessary, said the +prince, to have plain speaking, and he, for one, had never believed that +the king would send a proper ratification. The one exhibited was not at +all to the purpose. The king was expected to express himself as clearly +as the archdukes had done in their instrument. He must agree to treat +with the States-General as with people entirely free, over whom he +claimed no authority. If the king should refuse to make this public +declaration, the States would at once break off all negotiations. + +Three days afterwards, seven deputies conferred with Verreyken. +Barneveld, as spokesman, declared that, so far as the provinces were +concerned, the path was plain and open to an honest, ingenuous, lasting +peace, but that the manner of dealing on the other side was artificial +and provocative of suspicion. A most important line, which had been +placed by the States at the very beginning of the form suggested by them, +was wanting in the ratification now received. This hardly seemed an +accidental omission. The whole document was constrained and defective. +It was necessary to deal with Netherlanders in clear and simple language. +The basis of any possible negotiation was that the provinces were to be +treated with as and called entirely free. Unless this was done +negotiations were impossible. The States-General were not so unskilled +in affairs as to be ignorant that the king and the archdukes were quite +capable, at a future day, of declaring themselves untrammelled by any +conditions. They would boast that conventions with rebels and pledges to +heretics were alike invalid. If Verreyken had brought no better document +than the one presented, he had better go at once. His stay in the +provinces was superfluous. + +At a subsequent interview Barneveld informed Verreyken that the king's +confirmation had been unanimously rejected by the States-General as +deficient both in form and substance. He added that the people of the +provinces were growing very lukewarm in regard to peace, that Prince +Maurice opposed it, that many persons regretted the length to which the +negotiations had already gone. Difficult as it seemed to be to recede, +the archdukes might be certain that a complete rupture was imminent. + +All these private conversations of Barneveld, who was known to be the +chief of the peace party, were duly reported by Verreyken in secret notes +to the archduke and to Spinola. Of course they produced their effect. +It surely might have been seen that the tricks and shifts of an +antiquated diplomacy were entirely out of place if any wholesome result +were desired. But the habit of dissimulation was inveterate. That the +man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign, was perhaps the only one of +his father's golden rules which Philip III. could thoroughly comprehend, +even if it be assumed that the monarch was at all consulted in regard to +this most important transaction of his life. Verreyken and the friar +knew very well when they brought the document that it would be spurned by +the States, and yet they were also thoroughly aware that it was the +king's interest to, begin the negotiations as soon as possible. When +thus privately and solemnly assured by the Advocate that they were really +wasting their time by being the bearers of these royal evasions, they +learned therefore nothing positively new, but were able to assure their +employers that to thoroughly disgust the peace party was not precisely +the mode of terminating the war. + +Verreyken now received public and formal notification that a new +instrument must be procured from the king. In the ratification which had +been sent, that monarch spoke of the archdukes as princes and sovereign +proprietors of all the Netherlands. The clause by which, according to +the form prescribed by the States, and already adopted by the archdukes, +the United Provinces were described as free countries over which no +authority was claimed had been calmly omitted, as if, by such a +subterfuge, the independence of the republic could be winked out +of existence. Furthermore, it was objected that the document was in +Spanish, that it was upon paper instead of parchment, that it was not +sealed with the great, but with the little seal, and that it was +subscribed. + +"I the King." This signature might be very appropriate for decrees +issued by a monarch to his vassals, but could not be rightly appended, +it was urged, to an instrument addressed to a foreign power. Potentates, +treating with the States-General of the United Provinces, were expected +to sign their names. + +Whatever may be thought of the technical requirements in regard to the +parchment, the signature, and the seal, it would be difficult to +characterize too strongly the polity of the Spanish Government in the +most essential point. To seek relief from the necessity of recognising- +at least in the sense of similitude, according to the subtlety of +Bentivoglio--the freedom of the provinces, simply by running the pen +through the most important line of a most important document, was +diplomacy in its dotage. Had not Marquis Spinola, a man who could use +his brains and his pen as well as his sword, expressly implored the +politicians of Madrid not to change even a comma in the form of +ratification which he sent to Spain? + +Verreyken, placed face to face with plain-spoken, straightforward, +strong-minded men, felt the dreary absurdity of the position. He +could only stammer a ridiculous excuse about the clause, having been +accidentally left out by a copying secretary. To represent so important +an omission as a clerical error was almost as great an absurdity as the +original device; but it was necessary for Verreyken to say something. + +He promised, however, that the form prescribed by the States should +be again transmitted to Madrid, and expressed confidence that the +ratification would now be sent as desired. Meantime he trusted that +the fleet would be at once recalled. + +This at once created a stormy debate which lasted many days, both within +the walls of the House of Assembly and out of doors. Prince Maurice +bitterly denounced the proposition, and asserted the necessity rather of +sending out more ships than of permitting their cruisers to return. It +was well known that the Spanish Government, since the destruction of +Avila's fleet, had been straining every nerve to procure and equip other +war-vessels, and that even the Duke of Lerma had offered a small portion +of his immense plunderings to the crown in aid of naval armaments. + +On the other hand, Barneveld urged that the States, in the preliminary +armistice, had already agreed to send no munitions nor reinforcements to +the fleet already cruising on the coasts of the peninsula. It would be +better, therefore, to recal those ships than to leave them where they +could not be victualled nor strengthened without a violation of good +faith. + +These opinions prevailed, and on the 9th August, Verreyken was summoned +before the Assembly, and informed by Barneveld that the States had +decided to withdraw the fleet, and to declare invalid all prizes made +six weeks after that date. + +This was done, it was said, out of respect to the archdukes, to whom no +blame was imputed for the negligence displayed in regard to the +ratification. Furthermore, the auditor was requested to inform his +masters that the documents brought from Spain were not satisfactory, and +he was furnished with a draught, made both in Latin and French. With +this form, it was added, the king was to comply within six weeks, if he +desired to proceed further in negotiations with the States. + +Verreyken thanked the States-General, made the best of promises, and +courteously withdrew. + +Next day, however, just as his preparations for departure had been made, +he was once more summoned before the Assembly to meet with a somewhat +disagreeable surprise. Barneveld, speaking as usual in behalf of the +States-General, publicly produced Spinola's bill of exchange for eighty +thousand ducats, the diamond ring intended for Madame Aerssens, and the +gold chain given to Dirk van der Does, and expressed the feelings of the +republican Government in regard to those barefaced attempts of Friar John +at bribery and corruption, in very scornful language? Netherlanders were +not to be bought--so the agent of Spain and of the archdukes was +informed--and, even if the citizens were venal, it would be necessary +in a popular Government to buy up the whole nation. "It is not in our +commonwealth as in despotisms," said the Advocate, "where affairs of +state are directed by the nod of two or three individuals, while the +rest of the inhabitants are a mob of slaves. By turns, we all govern +and are governed. This great council, this senate--should it seem not +sufficiently fortified against your presents-could easily be enlarged. +Here is your chain, your ring, your banker's draught. Take them all back +to your masters. Such gifts are not necessary to ensure a just peace, +while to accept them would be a crime against liberty, which we are +incapable of committing." + +Verreyken, astonished and abashed, could answer little save to mutter a +few words about the greediness of monks, who, judging everyone else by +themselves, thought no one inaccessible to a bribe. He protested the +innocence of the archdukes in the matter, who had given no directions to +bribe, and who were quite ignorant that the attempt had been made. + +He did not explain by whose authority the chain, the ring, and the +draught upon Beckman had been furnished to the friar. + +Meantime that ecclesiastic was cheerfully wending his way to Spain in +search of the new ratification, leaving his colleague vicariously to +bide the pelting of the republican storm, and to return somewhat +weather-beaten to Brussels. + +During the suspension, thus ridiculously and gratuitously caused, of +preliminaries which had already lasted the better portion of a year, +party-spirit was rising day by day higher, and spreading more widely +throughout the provinces. Opinions and sentiments were now sharply +defined and loudly announced. The clergy, from a thousand pulpits, +thundered against the peace, exposing the insidious practices, the +faithless promises, the monkish corruptions, by which the attempt was +making to reduce the free republic once more into vassalage to Spain. +The people everywhere listened eagerly and applauded. Especially the +mariners, cordwainers, smiths, ship-chandlers, boatmen, the tapestry +weavers, lace-manufacturers, shopkeepers, and, above all, the India +merchants and stockholders in the great commercial companies for the East +and West, lifted up their voices for war. This was the party of Prince +Maurice, who made no secret of his sentiments, and opposed, publicly and +privately, the resumption of negotiations. Doubtless his adherents were +the most numerous portion of the population. + +Barneveld, however, was omnipotent with the municipal governments, and +although many individuals in those bodies were deeply interested in the +India navigation and the great corporations, the Advocate turned them as +usual around his finger. + +Ever since the memorable day of Nieuport there had been no love lost +between the stadholder and the Advocate. They had been nominally +reconciled to each other, and had, until lately, acted with tolerable +harmony, but each was thoroughly conscious of the divergence of their +respective aims. + +Exactly at this period the long-smothered resentment of Maurice against +his old preceptor, counsellor, and, as he believed, betrayer, flamed +forth anew. He was indignant that a man, so infinitely beneath him in +degree, should thus dare to cross his plans, to hazard, as he believed, +the best interests of the state, and to interfere with the course of his +legitimate ambition. There was more glory for a great soldier to earn in +future battle-fields, a higher position before the world to be won. He +had a right by birth, by personal and family service, to claim admittance +among the monarchs of Europe. The pistol of Balthasar Gerard had alone +prevented the elevation of his father to the sovereignty of the +provinces. The patents, wanting only a few formalities, were still in +possession of the son. As the war went on--and nothing but blind belief +in Spanish treachery could cause the acceptance of a peace which would be +found to mean slavery--there was no height to which he might not climb. +With the return of peace and submission, his occupation would be gone, +obscurity and poverty the sole recompense for his life long services and +the sacrifices of his family. The memory of the secret movements twice +made but a few years before to elevate him to the sovereignty, and which +he believed to have been baffled by the Advocate, doubtless rankled in +his breast. He did not forget that when the subject had been discussed +by the favourers of the scheme in Barneveld's own house, Barneveld +himself had prophesied that one day or another "the rights would burst +out which his Excellency had to become prince of the provinces, on +strength of the signed and sealed documents addressed to the late Prince +of Orange; that he had further alluded to the efforts then on foot to +make him Duke of Gelderland; adding with a sneer, that Zeeland was all +agog on the subject, while in that province there were individuals very +desirous of becoming children of Zebedee." + +Barneveld, on his part, although accustomed to speak in public of his +Excellency Prince Maurice in terms of profoundest respect, did not fail +to communicate in influential quarters his fears that the prince was +inspired by excessive ambition, and that he desired to protract the war, +not for the good of the commonwealth, but for the attainment of greater +power in the state. The envoys of France, expressly instructed on that +subject by the king, whose purposes would be frustrated if the ill-blood +between these eminent personages could not be healed, did their best to +bring about a better understanding, but with hardly more than an apparent +success. + +Once more there were stories flying about that the stadholder had called +the Advocate liar, and that he had struck him or offered to strike him-- +tales as void of truth, doubtless, as those so rife after the battle of +Nieuport, but which indicated the exasperation which existed. + +When the news of the rejection of the King's ratification reached Madrid, +the indignation of the royal conscience-keepers was vehement. + +That the potentate of so large a portion of the universe should be +treated by those lately his subjects with less respect than that due from +equals to equals, seemed intolerable. So thoroughly inspired, however, +was the king by the love of religion and the public good--as he informed +Marquis Spinola by letter--and so intense was his desire for the +termination of that disastrous war, that he did not hesitate indulgently +to grant what had been so obstinately demanded. Little was to be +expected, he said, from the stubbornness of the provinces, and from their +extraordinary manner of transacting business, but looking, nevertheless, +only to divine duty, and preferring its dictates to a selfish regard for +his own interests, he had resolved to concede that liberty to the +provinces which had been so importunately claimed. He however imposed +the condition that the States should permit free and public exercise of +the Catholic religion throughout their territories, and that so long as +such worship was unobstructed, so long and no longer should the liberty +now conceded to the provinces endure. + +"Thus did this excellent prince," says an eloquent Jesuit, "prefer +obedience to the Church before subjection to himself, and insist that +those, whom he emancipated from his own dominions, should still be loyal +to the sovereignty of the Pope." + +Friar John, who had brought the last intelligence from the Netherlands, +might have found it difficult, if consulted, to inform the king how many +bills of exchange would be necessary to force this wonderful condition on +the Government of the provinces. That the republic should accept that +liberty as a boon which she had won with the red right hand, and should +establish within her domains as many agents for Spanish reaction as +there were Roman priests, monks, and Jesuits to be found, was not very +probable. It was not thus nor then that the great lesson of religious +equality and liberty for all men--the inevitable result of the Dutch +revolt--was to be expounded. The insertion of such a condition in the +preamble to a treaty with a foreign power would have been a desertion on +the part of the Netherlands of the very principle of religious or civil +freedom. + +The monk, however, had convinced the Spanish Government that in six +months after peace had been made the States would gladly accept the +dominion of Spain once more, or, at the very least, would annex +themselves to the obedient Netherlands under the sceptre of the +archdukes. + +Secondly, he assured the duke that they would publicly and totally +renounce all connection with France. + +Thirdly, he pledged himself that the exercise of the Catholic religion +would be as free as that of any other creed. + +And the duke of Lerma believed it all: such and no greater was his +capacity for understanding the course of events which he imagined himself +to be directing. Certainly Friar John did not believe what he said. + +"Master Monk is not quite so sure of his stick as he pretends to be," +said Secretary-of-State Villeroy. Of course, no one knew better the +absurdity of those assurances than Master Monk himself. + +"It may be that he has held such language," said Jeannin, "in order to +accomplish his object in Spain. But 'tis all dreaming and moonshine, +which one should laugh at rather than treat seriously. These people here +mean to be sovereign for ever and will make no peace except on that +condition. This grandeur and vanity have entered so deeply into their +brains that they will be torn into little pieces rather than give it up." + +Spinola, as acute a politician as he was a brilliant commander, at once +demonstrated to his Government the impotence of such senile attempts. +No definite agreements could be made, he wrote, except by a general +convention. Before a treaty of peace, no permission would be given by +the States to the public exercise of the Catholic religion, for fear of +giving offence to what were called the Protestant powers. Unless they +saw the proper ratification they would enter into no negotiations at all. +When the negotiations had produced a treaty, the Catholic worship might +be demanded. Thus peace might be made, and the desired conditions +secured, or all parties would remain as they had been. + +The Spanish Government replied by sending a double form of ratification. +It would not have been the Spanish Government, had one simple, +straightforward document been sent. Plenty of letters came at the same +time, triumphantly refuting the objections and arguments of the States- +General. To sign "Yo el Rey" had been the custom of the king's ancestors +in dealing with foreign powers. Thus had Philip II. signed the treaty of +Vervins. Thus had the reigning king confirmed the treaty of Vervins. +Thus had he signed the recent treaty with England as well as other +conventions with other potentates. If the French envoys at the Hague +said the contrary they erred from ignorance or from baser reasons. The +provinces could not be declared free until Catholic worship was conceded. +The donations must be mutual and simultaneous and the States would gain a +much more stable and diuturnal liberty, founded not upon a simple +declaration, but lawfully granted them as a compensation for a just and +pious work performed. To this end the king sent ratification number one +in which his sentiments were fully expressed. If, however, the provinces +were resolved not to defer the declaration so ardently desired and to +refuse all negotiation until they had received it, then ratification +number two, therewith sent and drawn up in the required form, might be +used. It was, however, to be exhibited but not delivered. The provinces +would then see the clemency with which they were treated by the king, and +all the world might know that it was not his fault if peace were not +made. + +Thus the politicians of Madrid; speaking in the name of their august +sovereign and signing "Yo el Rey" for him without troubling him even to +look at the documents. + +When these letters arrived, the time fixed by the States for accepting +the ratification had run out, and their patience was well-nigh exhausted. +The archduke held council with Spinola, Verreyken, Richardot, and others, +and it was agreed that ratification number two, in which the Catholic +worship was not mentioned, should be forthwith sent to the States. +Certainly no other conclusion could have been reached, and it was +fortunate that a lucid interval in the deliberations of the 'lunati ceat' +Madrid had furnished the archduke with an alternative. Had it been +otherwise and had number one been presented, with all the accompanying +illustrations, the same dismal comedy might have gone on indefinitely +until the Dutchmen hissed it away and returned to their tragic business +once more. + +On the 25th October, Friar John and Verreyken came before the States- +General, more than a hundred members being present, besides Prince +Maurice and Count Lewis William. + +The monk stated that he had faithfully represented to his Majesty at +Madrid the sincere, straightforward, and undissembling proceedings of +their lordships in these negotiations. He had also explained the +constitution of their Government and had succeeded in obtaining from his +royal Majesty the desired ratification, after due deliberation with the +council. This would now give the assurance of a firm and durable peace, +continued Neyen, even if his Majesty should come one day to die--being +mortal. Otherwise, there might be inconveniences to fear. Now, however, +the document was complete in all its parts, so far as regarded what was +principal and essential, and in conformity with the form transmitted by +the States-General. "God the Omnipotent knows," proceeded the friar, +"how sincere is my intention in this treaty of peace as a means of +delivering the Netherlands from the miseries of war, as your lordships +will perceive by the form of the agreement, explaining itself and making +manifest its pure and undissembling intentions, promising nothing and +engaging to nothing which will not be effectually performed. This would +not be the case if his Majesty were proceeding by finesse or deception. +The ratification might be nakedly produced as demanded, without any other +explanation. But his Majesty, acting in good faith, has now declared his +last determination in order to avoid anything that might be disputed at +some future day, as your lordships will see more amply when the auditor +has exhibited the document." + +When the friar had finished Verreyken spoke. + +He reminded them of the proofs already given by the archdukes of their +sincere desire to change the long and sanguinary war into a good and +assured peace. Their lordships the States had seen how liberally, +sincerely, and roundly their Highnesses had agreed to all demands and had +procured the ratification of his Majesty, even although nothing had been +proposed in that regard at the beginning of the negotiations. + +He then produced the original document, together with two copies, one in +French the other in Flemish, to be carefully collated by the States. + +"It is true," said the auditor, "that the original is not made out in +Latin nor in French as your lordships demanded, but in Spanish, and in +the same form and style as used by his Majesty in treating with all the +kings, potentates, and republics of Christendom. To tell you the truth, +it has seemed strange that there should be a wish to make so great and +puissant a king change his style, such demand being contrary to all +reason and equity, and more so as his Majesty is content with the style +which your lordships have been pleased to adopt." + +The ratification was then exhibited. + +It set forth that Don Philip, by grace of God King of Castile, Leon, +Arragon, the Two Sicilies, Portugal, Navarre, and of fourteen or fifteen +other European realms duly enumerated; King of the Eastern and Western +Indies and of the continents on terra firma adjacent, King of Jerusalem, +Archduke of Antioch, Duke of Burgundy, and King of the Ocean, having seen +that the archdukes were content to treat with the States-General of the +United Provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, +provinces, and free states over which they pretended to no authority; +either by way of a perpetual peace or for a truce or suspension of arms +for twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, at the choice of the said States, +and knowing that the said most serene archdukes had promised to deliver +the king's ratification; had, after ripe deliberation with his council, +and out of his certain wisdom and absolute royal power, made the present +declarations, similar to the one made by the archdukes, for the +accomplishment of the said promise so far as it concerned him: + +"And we principally declare," continued the King of Spain, Jerusalem, +America, India, and the Ocean, "that we are content that in our name, and +on our part, shall be treated with the said States in the quality of, and +as held by us for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which we +make no pretensions. Thus we approve and ratify every point of the said +agreement, promising on faith and word of a king to guard and accomplish +it as entirely as if we had consented to it from the beginning." + +"But we declare," said the king, in conclusion, "that if the treaty for a +peace or a truce of many years, by which the pretensions of both parties +are to be arranged--as well in the matter of religion as all the surplus +--shall not be concluded, then this ratification shall be of no effect +and as if it never had been made and, in virtue of it, we are not to lose +a single point of our right, nor the United Provinces to acquire one, but +things are to remain, so far as regards the rights of the two parties, +exactly as they what to each shall seem best." + +Such were the much superfluous verbiage lopped away--which had been +signed "I the King" at Madrid on the 18th September, and the two copies +of which were presented to the States-General on the 25th October, the +commissioners retaining the original. + +The papers were accepted, with a few general commonplaces by Barneveld +meaning nothing, and an answer was promised after a brief delay. + +A committee of seven, headed by the Advocate as chairman and spokesman, +held a conference with the ambassadors of France and England, at four +o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and another at ten o'clock next +morning. + +The States were not very well pleased with the ratification. What +especially moved their discontent was the concluding clause, according to +which it was intimated that if the pretensions of Spain in regard to +religion were not fulfilled in the final treaty, the ratification was +waste-paper and the king would continue to claim all his rights. + +How much more loudly would they have vociferated, could they have looked +into Friar John's wallet and have seen ratification number one! Then +they would have learned that, after nearly a year of what was called +negotiation, the king had still meant to demand the restoration of the +Catholic worship before he would even begin to entertain the little +fiction that the provinces were free. + +As to the signature, the paper, and the Spanish language, those were +minor matters. Indeed, it is difficult to say why the King of Spain +should not issue a formal document in Spanish. It is doubtful whether, +had he taken a fancy to read it, he could have understood it in any other +tongue. Moreover, Spanish would seem the natural language for Spanish +state-papers. Had he, as King of Jerusalem, America, or India, chosen +the Hebrew, Aztec, or Sanscrit, in his negotiations with the United +Provinces, there might have been more cause for dissatisfaction. + +Jeannin, who was of course the leading spirit among the foreign +members of the conference, advised the acceptance of the ratification. +Notwithstanding the technical objections to its form, he urged that in +substance it was in sufficient conformity to the draught furnished by the +States. Nothing could be worse, in his opinion, for the provinces than +to remain any longer suspended between peace and war. They would do +well, therefore, to enter upon negotiations so soon as they had agreed +among themselves upon three points. + +They must fix the great indispensable terms which they meant to hold, +and from which no arguments would ever induce them to recede. Thus they +would save valuable time and be spared much frivolous discourse. + +Next, they ought to establish a good interior government. + +Thirdly, they should at once arrange their alliances and treaties with +foreign powers, in order to render the peace to be negotiated a durable +one. + +As to the first and second of these points, the Netherlanders needed no +prompter. They had long ago settled the conditions without which they +would make no treaty at all, and certainly it was not the States-General +that had thus far been frivolously consuming time. + +As to the form of government, defective though it was, the leaders of the +republic knew very well in whose interests such sly allusions to their +domestic affairs were repeatedly ventured by the French envoys. In +regard to treaties with foreign powers it was, of course, most desirable +for the republic to obtain the formal alliance of France and England. +Jeannin and his colleagues were ready to sign such a treaty, offensive +and defensive, at once, but they found it impossible to induce the +English ambassadors, with whom there was a conference on the 26th +October, to come into any written engagement on the subject. They +expressed approbation of the plan individually and in words, but +deemed it best to avoid any protocol, by which their sovereign could +be implicated in a promise. Should the negotiations for peace be broken +off, it would be time enough to make a treaty to protect the provinces. +Meantime, they ought to content themselves with the general assurance, +already given them, that in case of war the monarchs of France and +England would not abandon them, but would provide for their safety, +either by succour or in some other way, so that they would be placed out +of danger. + +Such promises were vague without being magnificent, and, as James had +never yet lifted his finger to assist the provinces, while indulging them +frequently with oracular advice, it could hardly be expected that either +the French envoys or the States-General would reckon very confidently on +assistance from Great Britain, should war be renewed with Spain. + +On the whole, it was agreed to draw up a paper briefly stating the +opinion of the French and English plenipotentiaries that the provinces +would do well to accept the ratification. + +The committee of the States, with Barneveld as chairman, expressed +acquiescence, but urged that they could not approve the clause in that +document concerning religion. It looked as if the King of Spain wished +to force them to consent by treaty that the Catholic religion should be +re-established in their country. As they were free and sovereign, +however, and so recognised by himself, it was not for him to meddle +with such matters. They foresaw that this clause would create +difficulties when the whole matter should be referred to the separate +provinces, and that it would, perhaps, cause the entire rejection of the +ratification. + +The envoys, through the voice of Jeannin, remonstrated against such a +course. After all, the objectionable clause, it was urged, should be +considered only as a demand which the king was competent to make and it +was not reasonable, they said, for the States to shut his mouth and +prevent him from proposing what he thought good to propose. + +On the other hand, they were not obliged to acquiesce in the proposition. +In truth, it would be more expedient that the States themselves should +grant this grace to the Catholics, thus earning their gratitude, rather +than that it should be inserted in the treaty. + +A day or two later there was an interview between the French envoys and +Count Lewis William, for whose sage, dispassionate, and upright character +they had all a great respect. It was their object--in obedience to the +repeated instructions of the French king--to make use of his great +influence over Prince Maurice in favour of peace. It would be better, +they urged, that the stadholder should act more in harmony with the +States than he had done of late, and should reflect that, the +ratification being good, there was really no means of preventing a peace, +except in case the King of Spain should refuse the conditions necessary +for securing it. The prince would have more power by joining with the +States than in opposing them. Count Lewis expressed sympathy with these +views, but feared that Maurice would prefer that the ratification should +not be accepted until the states of the separate provinces had been +heard; feeling convinced that several of those bodies would reject that +instrument on account of the clause relating to religion. + +Jeannin replied that such a course would introduce great discord into +the provinces, to the profit of the enemy, and that the King of France +himself--so far from being likely to wish the ratification rejected +because of the clause--would never favour the rupture of negotiations +if it came on account of religion. He had always instructed them to use +their efforts to prevent any division among the States, as sure to lead +to their ruin. He would certainly desire the same stipulation as the one +made by the King of Spain, and would support rather than oppose the +demand thus made, in order to content the Catholics. To be sure, he +would prefer that the States should wisely make this provision of their +own accord rather than on the requisition of Spain, but a rupture of the +pending negotiations from the cause suggested would be painful to him and +very damaging to his character at Rome. + +On the 2nd November the States-General gave their formal answer to the +commissioners, in regard to the ratification. + +That instrument, they observed, not only did not agree with the form as +promised by the archdukes in language and style, but also in regard to +the seal, and to the insertion and omission of several words. On this +account, and especially by reason of the concluding clause, there might +be inferred the annulment of the solemn promise made in the body of the +instrument. The said king and archdukes knew very well that these +States-General of free countries and provinces, over which the king and +archdukes pretended to no authority, were competent to maintain order in +all things regarding the good constitution and government of their land +and its inhabitants. On this subject, nothing could be pretended or +proposed on the part of the king and archdukes without, violation of +formal and solemn promises. + +"Nevertheless," continued the States-General, "in order not to retard a +good work, already begun, for the purpose of bringing the United +Provinces out of a long and bloody war into a Christian and assured +peace, the letters of ratification will be received in respect that +they contain the declaration, on part of both the king and the archdukes, +that they will treat for a peace or a truce of many years with the +States-General of the United Provinces, in quality of, and as holding +them to be, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they make +no pretensions." + +It was further intimated, however, that the ratification was only +received for reference to the estates of each of the provinces, and it +was promised that, within six weeks, the commissioners should be informed +whether the provinces would consent or refuse to treat. It was moreover +declared that, neither at that moment nor at any future time, could any +point in the letters of ratification be accepted which, directly or +indirectly, might be interpreted as against that essential declaration +and promise in regard to the freedom of the provinces. In case the +decision should be taken to enter into negotiation upon the basis of that +ratification, or any other that might meantime arrive from Spain, then +firm confidence was expressed by the States that, neither on the part of +the king nor that of the archdukes would there be proposed or pretended, +in contravention of that promise, any point touching the good +constitution, welfare, state, or government of the United Provinces, +and of the inhabitants. The hope was furthermore expressed that, within +ten days after the reception of the consent of the States to treat, +commissioners would be sent by the archdukes to the Hague, fully +authorised and instructed to declare, roundly their intentions, in order +to make short work of the whole business. In that case, the States would +duly authorize and instruct commissioners to act in their behalf. + +Thus in the answer especial warning was given against any possible +attempt to interfere with the religious question. The phraseology could +not be mistaken. + +At this stage of the proceedings, the States demanded that the original +instrument of ratification should be deposited with them. The two +commissioners declared that they were without power to consent to this. +Hereupon the Assembly became violent, and many members denounced the +refusal as equivalent to breaking off the negotiations. Everything +indicated, so it was urged, a desire on the Spanish side to spin delays +out of delays, and, meantime, to invent daily some new trap for +deception. Such was the vehemence upon this point that the industrious +Franciscan posted back to Brussels, and returned with the archduke's +permission to deliver the document. Three conditions, however, were laid +down. The States must give a receipt for the ratification. They must +say in that receipt that the archdukes, in obtaining the paper from +Spain, had fulfilled their original promise. If peace should not be +made, they were to return the document. + +When these conditions were announced, the indignation of the republican +Government at the trifling of their opponents was fiercer than ever. The +discrepancies between the form prescribed and the ratification obtained +had always been very difficult of digestion, but, although willing to +pass them by, the States stoutly refused to accept the document on these +conditions. + +Tooth and nail Verreyken and Neyen fought out the contest and were +worsted. Once more the nimble friar sped back and forth between the +Hague and his employer's palace, and at last, after tremendous +discussions in cabinet council, the conditions were abandoned. + +"Nobody can decide," says the Jesuit historian, "which was greater--the +obstinacy of the federal Government in screwing out of the opposite party +everything it deemed necessary, or the indulgence of the archdukes in +making every possible concession." + +Had these solemn tricksters of an antiquated school perceived that, in +dealing with men who meant what they said and said what they meant, all +these little dilatory devices were superfluous, perhaps the wholesome +result might have sooner been reached. In a contest of diplomacy against +time it generally happens that time is the winner, and on this occasion, +time and the republic were fighting on the same side. + +On the 13th December the States-General re-assembled at the Hague, the +separate provinces having in the interval given fresh instructions to +their representatives. It was now decided that no treaty should be made, +unless the freedom of the commonwealth was recognized in phraseology +which, after consultation with the foreign ambassadors, should be deemed +satisfactory. Farther it was agreed that, neither in ecclesiastical nor +secular matters, should any conditions be accepted which could be +detrimental to freedom. In case the enemy should strive for the +contrary, the world would be convinced that he alone was responsible for +the failure of the peace negotiations. Then, with the support of other +powers friendly to the republic, hostilities could be resumed in such a +manner as to ensure a favourable issue for an upright cause. + +The armistice, begun on the 4th of May, was running to an end, and it was +now renewed at the instance of the States. That Government, moreover, on +the 23rd December formally notified to the archdukes that, trusting to +their declarations, and to the statements of Neyen and Verreyken, it was +willing to hold conferences for peace. Their Highnesses were accordingly +invited to appoint seven or eight commissioners at once, on the same +terms as formally indicated. + +The original understanding had been that no envoys but Netherlanders +should come from Brussels for these negotiations. + +Barneveld and the peace party, however, were desirous that Spinola, who +was known to be friendly to a pacific result, should be permitted to form +part of the mission. Accordingly the letters, publicly drawn up in the +Assembly, adhered to the original arrangement, but Barneveld, with the +privity of other leading personages, although without the knowledge of +Maurice, Lewis William, and the State-Council, secretly enclosed a little +note in the principal despatch to Neyen and Verreyken. In this billet +it was intimated that, notwithstanding the prohibition in regard to +foreigners, the States were willing--it having been proposed that one or +two who were not Netherlanders should be sent--that a single Spaniard, +provided he were not one of the principal military commanders, should +make part of the embassy. + +The phraseology had a double meaning. Spinola was certainly the chief +military commander, but he was not a Spaniard. This eminent personage +might be supposed to have thus received permission to come to the +Netherlands, despite all that had been urged by the war-party against the +danger incurred, in case of a renewal of hostilities, by admitting so +clear-sighted an enemy into the heart of the republic. Moreover, the +terms of the secret note would authorize the appointment of another +foreigner--even a Spaniard--while the crafty president Richardot might +creep into the commission, on the ground that, being a Burgundian, he +might fairly call himself a Netherlander. + +And all this happened. + +Thus, after a whole year of parley, in which the States-General had held +firmly to their original position, while the Spanish Government had crept +up inch by inch, and through countless windings and subterfuges, to the +point on which they might have all stood together at first, and thus have +saved a twelvemonth, it was finally settled that peace conferences should +begin. + +Barneveld had carried the day. Maurice and his cousin Lewis William had +uniformly, deliberately, but not factiously, used all their influence +against any negotiations. The prince had all along loudly expressed his +conviction that neither the archdukes nor Spain would ever be brought to +an honourable peace. The most to be expected of them was a truce of +twelve or fifteen years, to which his consent at least should never be +given, and during which cessation of hostilities, should it be accorded, +every imaginable effort would be made to regain by intrigue what the king +had lost by the sword. As for the King of England and his counsellors, +Maurice always denounced them as more Spanish than Spaniards, as doing +their best to put themselves on the most intimate terms with his Catholic +Majesty, and as secretly desirous--insane policy as it seemed--of forcing +the Netherlands back again under the sceptre of that monarch. + +He had at first been supported in his position by the French ambassadors, +who had felt or affected disinclination for peace, but who had +subsequently, thrown the whole of their own and their master's influence +on the side of Barneveld. They had done their best--and from time to +time they had been successful--to effect at least a superficial +reconciliation between those two influential personages. They had +employed all the arguments at their disposal to bring the prince over to +the peace party. Especially they had made use of the 'argumentum ad +crumenam,' which that veteran broker in politics, Jeannin, had found so +effective in times past with the great lords of the League. But Maurice +showed himself so proof against the golden inducements suggested by the +President that he and his king both arrived at the conclusion that there +were secret motives at work, and that Maurice was not dazzled by the +brilliant prospects held out to him by Henry, only because his eyes were +stedfastly fixed upon some unknown but splendid advantage, to be gained +through other combinations. It was naturally difficult for Henry to +imagine the possibility of a man, playing a first part in the world's +theatre, being influenced by so weak a motive as conviction. + +Lewis William too--that "grave and wise young man," as Lord Leicester +used to call him twenty years before--remained steadily on the side of +the prince. Both in private conversation and in long speeches to the +States-General, he maintained that the Spanish court was incapable of +sincere negotiations with the commonwealth, that to break faith with +heretics and rebels would always prove the foundation of its whole +policy, and that to deceive them by pretences of a truce or a treaty, and +to triumph afterwards over the results of its fraud, was to be expected +as a matter of course. + +Sooner would the face of nature be changed than the cardinal maxim of +Catholic statesmanship be abandoned. + +But the influence of the Nassaus, of the province of Zeeland, +of the clergy, and of the war-party in general, had been overbalanced by +Barneveld and the city corporations, aided by the strenuous exertions of +the French ambassadors. + +The decision of the States-General was received with sincere joy at +Brussels. The archdukes had something to hope from peace, and little but +disaster and ruin to themselves from a continuance of the war. Spinola +too was unaffectedly in favour of negotiations. He took the ground that +the foreign enemies of Spain, as well as her pretended friends, agreed in +wishing her to go on with the war, and that this ought to open her eyes +as to the expediency of peace. While there was a general satisfaction in +Europe that the steady exhaustion of her strength in this eternal contest +made her daily less and less formidable to other nations, there were on +the other hand puerile complaints at court that the conditions prescribed +by impious and insolent rebels to their sovereign were derogatory to the +dignity of monarchy. The spectacle of Spain sending ambassadors to the +Hague to treat for peace, on the basis of Netherland independence, would +be a humiliation such as had never been exhibited before. That the +haughty confederation should be allowed thus to accomplish its ends, to +trample down all resistance to its dictation, and to defy the whole world +by its insults to the Church and to the sacred principle, of monarchy, +was most galling to Spanish pride. Spinola, as a son of Italy, and not +inspired by the fervent hatred to Protestantism which was indigenous to +the other peninsula, steadily resisted those arguments. None knew better +than he the sternness of the stuff out of which that republic was made, +and he felt that now or never was the time to treat, even as, five years +before, 'jam ant nunquam' had been inscribed on his banner outside +Ostend. But he protested that his friends gave him even harder work than +his enemies had ever done, and he stoutly maintained that a peace against +which all the rivals of Spain seemed to have conspired from fear of +seeing her tranquil and disembarrassed, must be advantageous to Spain. +The genial and quick-wined Genoese could not see and hear all the secret +letters and private conversations of Henry and James and their +ambassadors, and he may be pardoned for supposing that, notwithstanding +all the crooked and incomprehensible politics of Greenwich and Paris, the +serious object of both England and France was to prolong the war. In his +most private correspondence he expressed great doubts as to a favourable +issue to the pending conferences, but avowed his determination that if +they should fail it would be from no want of earnest effort on his part +to make them succeed. It should never be said that he preferred his own +private advantage to the duty of serving the best interests of the crown. + +Meantime the India trade, which was to form the great bone of contention +in the impending conferences, had not been practically neglected of late +by the enterprising Hollanders. Peter Verhoeff, fresh from the victory +of Gibraltar, towards which he had personally so much contributed by the +splendid manner in which he had handled the AEolus after the death of +Admiral Heemskerk, was placed in command of a fleet to the East Indies, +which was to sail early in the spring. + +Admiral Matelieff, who had been cruising in those seas during the three +years past, was now on his way home. His exploits had been worthy the +growing fame of the republican navy. In the summer of 1606 he had laid +siege to the town and fortress of Malacca, constructed by the Portuguese +at the southmost extremity of the Malay peninsula. Andreas Hurtado de +Mendoza commanded the position, with a force of three thousand men, among +whom were many Indians. The King or Sultan of Johore, at the south- +eastern extremity of the peninsula, remained faithful to his Dutch +allies, and accepted the proposition of Matelieff to take part in the +hostilities now begun. The admiral's fleet consisted of eleven small +ships, with fourteen hundred men. It was not exactly a military +expedition. To the sailors of each ship were assigned certain shares of +the general profits, and as it was obvious that more money was likely to +be gained by trade with the natives, or by the capture of such stray +carracks and other, merchantmen of the enemy as were frequently to be met +in these regions, the men were not particularly eager to take part in +sieges of towns or battles with cruisers. Matelieff, however, had +sufficient influence over his comrades to inflame their zeal on this +occasion for the fame of the republic, and to induce them to give the +Indian princes and the native soldiery a lesson in Batavian warfare. + +A landing was effected on the peninsula, the sailors and guns were +disembarked, and an imposing auxiliary force, sent, according to promise, +after much delay, by the Sultan of Johore, proceeded to invest Malacca. +The ground proved wet, swampy, and impracticable for trenches, galleries, +covered ways, and all the other machinery of a regular siege. Matelieff +was not a soldier nor a naval commander by profession, but a merchant- +skipper, like so many other heroes whose achievements were to be the +permanent glory of their fatherland. He would not, however, have been a +Netherlander had he not learned something of the science which Prince +Maurice had so long been teaching, not only to his own countrymen but +to the whole world. So moveable turrets, constructed of the spice-trees +which grew in rank luxuriance all around, were filled with earth and +stones, and advanced towards the fort. Had the natives been as docile to +learn as the Hollanders were eager to teach a few easy lessons in the +military art, the doom of Andreas Hurtado de Mendoza would have been +sealed. But the great truths which those youthful pedants, Maurice and +Lewis William, had extracted twenty years before from the works of the +Emperor Leo and earlier pagans, amid the jeers of veterans, were not easy +to transplant to the Malayan peninsula. + +It soon proved that those white-turbaned, loose-garmented, supple +jointed, highly-picturesque troops of the sultan were not likely to +distinguish themselves for anything but wonderful rapidity in retreat. +Not only did they shrink from any advance towards the distant forts, but +they were incapable of abiding an attack within or behind their towers, +and, at every random shot from the enemy's works, they threw down their +arms and fled from their stations in dismay. It was obvious enough that +the conquest and subjugation of such feeble warriors by the Portuguese +and Spaniards were hardly to be considered brilliant national trophies. +They had fallen an easy prey to the first European invader. They had no +discipline, no obedience, no courage; and Matelieff soon found that to +attempt a scientific siege with such auxiliaries against a well- +constructed stone fortress, garrisoned with three thousand troops, +under an experienced Spanish soldier, was but midsummer madness. + +Fevers and horrible malaria, bred by the blazing sun of the equator out +of those pestilential jungles, poisoned the atmosphere. His handful of +troops, amounting to not much more than a hundred men to each of his +ships, might melt away before his eyes. Nevertheless, although it was +impossible for him to carry the place by regular approach, he would not +abandon the hope of reducing it by famine. During four months long, +accordingly, he kept every avenue by land or sea securely invested. In +August, however, the Spanish viceroy of India, Don Alphonso de Castro, +made his appearance on the scene. Coming from Goa with a splendid fleet, +numbering fourteen great galleons, four galleys, and sixteen smaller +vessels, manned by three thousand seven hundred Portuguese and other +Europeans, and an equal number of native troops, he had at first directed +his course towards Atchen, on the north-west point of Sumatra. Here, +with the magnificent arrogance which Spanish and Portuguese viceroys were +accustomed to manifest towards the natives of either India, he summoned +the king to surrender his strongholds, to assist in constructing a +fortress for the use of his conquerors, to deliver up all the +Netherlanders within his domains, and to pay the expenses of the +expedition which had thus been sent to chastise him. But the King of +Atchen had not sent ambassadors into the camp of Prince Maurice before +the city of Grave in vain. He had learned that there were other white +skins besides the Spaniards at the antipodes, and that the republic whose +achievements in arts and arms were conspicuous trophies of Western +civilization, was not, as it had been represented to him, a mere nest of +pirates. He had learned to prefer an alliance with Holland to slavery +under Spain. Moreover, he had Dutch engineers and architects in his +service, and a well-constructed system of Dutch fortifications around his +capital. To the summons to surrender himself and his allies he returned +a defiant answer. The viceroy ordered an attack upon the city. One fort +was taken. From before the next he was repulsed with great loss. The +Sumatrans had derived more profit from intercourse with Europeans than +the inhabitants of Johore or the Moluccas had done. De Castro abandoned +the siege. He had received intelligence of the dangerous situation of +Malacca, and moved down upon the place with his whole fleet. Admiral +Matelieff, apprised by scouts of his approach, behaved with the readiness +and coolness of a veteran campaigner. Before De Castro could arrive in +the roadstead of Malacca, he had withdrawn all his troops from their +positions, got all his artillery reshipped, and was standing out in the +straits, awaiting the enemy. + +On the 17th August, the two fleets, so vastly disproportionate in number, +size, equipment, and military force--eighteen galleons and galleys, with +four or five thousand fighting men, against eleven small vessels and +twelve or fourteen hundred sailors--met in that narrow sea. The action +lasted all day. It was neither spirited nor sanguinary. It ought to +have been within the power of the Spaniard to crush his diminutive +adversary. It might have seemed a sufficient triumph for Matelieff to +manoeuvre himself out of harm's way. No vessel on either side was +boarded, not one surrendered, but two on each side were set on fire and +destroyed. Eight of the Dutchmen were killed--not a very sanguinary +result after a day's encounter with so imposing an armada. De Castro's +losses were much greater, but still the battle was an insignificant one, +and neither fleet gained a victory. Night put an end to the cannonading, +and the Spaniards withdrew to Malacca, while Matelieff bore away to +Johore. The siege of Malacca was relieved, and the Netherlanders now +occupied themselves with the defence of the feeble sovereign at the other +point of the peninsula. + +Matelieff lay at Johore a month, repairing damages and laying in +supplies. While still at the place, he received information that a large +part of the Spanish armada had sailed from Malacca. Several of his own +crew, who had lost their shares in the adventure by the burning of the +ships to which they belonged in the action of 17th August, were reluctant +and almost mutinous when their admiral now proposed to them a sudden +assault on the portion of the Spanish fleet still remaining within reach. +They had not come forth for barren glory, many protested, but in search +of fortune; they were not elated by the meagre result of the expedition. +Matelieff succeeded, however, at last in inspiring all the men of his +command with an enthusiasm superior to sordid appeals, and made a few +malcontents. On the 21st September, he sailed to Malacca, and late in +the afternoon again attacked the Spaniards. Their fleet consisted of +seven great galleons and three galleys lying in a circle before the town. +The outermost ship, called the St. Nicholas, was boarded by men from +three of the Dutch galleots with sudden and irresistible fury. There was +a brief but most terrible action, the Netherlanders seeming endowed with +superhuman vigour. So great was the panic that there was hardly an +effort at defence, and within less than an hour nearly every Spaniard on +board the St. Nicholas had been put to the sword. The rest of the armada +engaged the Dutch fleet with spirit, but one of the great galleons was +soon set on fire and burned to the water's edge. Another, dismasted and +crippled, struck her flag, and all that remained would probably have been +surrendered or destroyed had not the sudden darkness of a tropical +nightfall put an end to the combat at set of sun. Next morning another +galleon, in a shattered and sinking condition, was taken possession of +and found filled with dead and dying. The rest of the Spanish ships made +their escape into the harbour of Malacca. Matelieff stood off and on in +the straits for a day or two, hesitating for fear of shallows to follow +into the roadstead. Before he could take a decision, he had the +satisfaction of seeing the enemy, panic-struck, save him any further +trouble. Not waiting for another attack, the Spaniards set fire to every +one of their ships, and retired into their fortress, while Matelieff and +his men enjoyed the great conflagration as idle spectators. Thus the +enterprising Dutch admiral had destroyed ten great war-ships of the +enemy, and, strange to relate, had scarcely lost one man of his whole +squadron. Rarely had a more complete triumph been achieved on the water +than in this battle in the straits of Malacca. Matelieff had gained much +glory but very little booty. He was also encumbered with a great number +of prisoners. + +These he sent to Don Alphonso, exchanging them for a very few +Netherlanders then in Spanish hands, at the rate of two hundred Spaniards +for ten Dutchmen--thus showing that he held either the enemy very cheap, +or his own countrymen very dear. The captured ships he burned as useless +to him, but retained twenty-four pieces of artillery. + +It was known to Matelieff that the Spanish viceroy had received +instructions to inflict chastisement on all the oriental potentates and +their subjects who had presumed of late to trade and to form alliances +with the Netherlanders. Johore, Achem, Paham, Patane, Amboyna, and +Bantam, were the most probable points of attack. Johore had now been +effectually defended, Achem had protected itself. The Dutch fleet +proceeded at first to Bantams for refreshment, and from this point +Matelieff sent three of his ships back to Holland. With the six +remaining to him, he sailed for the Moluccas, having heard of various +changes which had taken place in that important archipelago. Pausing at +the great emporium of nutmegs and all-spice, Amboyna, he took measures +for strengthening the fortifications of the place, which was well +governed by Frederick Houtman, and then proceeded to Ternate and Tidor. + +During the absence of the Netherlanders, after the events on those +islands recorded in a previous chapter, the Spaniards had swept down upon +them from the Philippines with a fleet of thirty-seven ships, and had +taken captive the Sultan of Ternate; while the potentate of Tidor, who +had been left by Stephen van der Hagen in possession of his territories +on condition of fidelity to the Dutch, was easily induced to throw aside +the mask, and to renew his servitude to Spain. Thus both the coveted +clove-islands had relapsed into the control of the enemy. Matelieff +found it dangerous, on account of quicksands and shallows, to land on +Tydore, but he took very energetic measures to recover possession of +Ternate. On the southern side of the island, the Spaniards had built a +fort and a town. The Dutch admiral disembarked upon the northern side, +and, with assistance of the natives, succeeded in throwing up substantial +fortifications at a village called Malaya. The son of the former sultan, +who was a Spanish prisoner at the Philippines, was now formally inducted +into his father's sovereignty, and Matelieff established at Malaya for +his protection a garrison of forty-five Hollanders and a navy of four +small yachts. Such were the slender means with which Oriental empires +were founded in those days by the stout-hearted adventurers of the little +Batavian republic. + +With this miniature army and navy, and by means of his alliance with the +distant commonwealth, of whose power this handful of men was a symbol, +the King of Ternate was thenceforth to hold his own against the rival +potentate on the other island, supported by the Spanish king. The same +convention of commerce and amity was made with the Ternatians as the one +which Stephen van der Hagen had formerly concluded with the Bandians; and +it was agreed that the potentate should be included in any treaty of +peace that might be made between the republic and Spain. + +Matelieff, with three ships and a cutter, now sailed for China, but lost +his time in endeavouring to open trade with the Celestial empire. The +dilatory mandarins drove him at last out of all patience, and, on turning +his prows once more southward, he had nearly brought his long expedition +to a disastrous termination. Six well-armed, well-equipped Portuguese +galleons sailed out of Macao to assail him. It was not Matelieff's +instinct to turn his back on a foe, however formidable, but on this +occasion discretion conquered instinct. His three ships were out of +repair; he had a deficiency of powder; he was in every respect unprepared +for a combat; and he reflected upon the unfavourable impression which +would be made on the Chinese mind should the Hollanders, upon their first +appearance in the flowery regions, be vanquished by the Portuguese. He +avoided an encounter, therefore, and, by skilful seamanship, eluded all +attempts of the foe at pursuit. Returning to Ternate, he had the +satisfaction to find that during his absence the doughty little garrison +of Malaya had triumphantly defeated the Spaniards in an assault on the +fortifications of the little town. On the other hand, the King of +Johore, panic-struck on the departure of his Dutch protectors, had burned +his own capital, and had betaken himself with all his court into the +jungle. + +Commending the one and rebuking the other potentate, the admiral provided +assistance for both, some Dutch trading, vessels having meantime arrived +in the archipelago. Matelieff now set sail for Holland, taking with him +some ambassadors from the King of Siam and five ships well laden with +spice. On his return he read a report of his adventures to the States- +General, and received the warm commendations of their High Mightinesses. +Before his departure from the tropics, Paul van Kaarden, with eight war- +ships, had reached Bantam. On his arrival in Holland the fleet of Peter +ver Hoef was busily fitting out for another great expedition to the East. +This was the nation which Spanish courtiers thought to exclude for ever +from commerce with India and America, because the Pope a century before +had divided half the globe between Ferdinand the Catholic and Emmanuel +the Fortunate. + +It may be supposed that the results of Matelieff's voyage were likely to +influence the pending negotiations for peace. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty +All the ministers and great functionaries received presents +Because he had been successful (hated) +But the habit of dissimulation was inveterate +By turns, we all govern and are governed +Contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified +Despised those who were grateful +Idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation +Indulging them frequently with oracular advice +Justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time +Man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign +Men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity +Men who meant what they said and said what they meant +Negotiated as if they were all immortal +Philip of Macedon, who considered no city impregnable +To negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step +Unwise impatience for peace + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v80 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 81, 1608 + + + +CHAPTER L. + + Movements of the Emperor Rudolph--Marquis Spinola's reception at the + Hague--Meeting of Spinola and Prince Maurice--Treaty of the Republic + with the French Government--The Spanish commissioners before the + States-General--Beginning of negotiations--Stormy discussions--Real + object of Spain in the negotiations--Question of the India trade-- + Abandonment of the peace project--Negotiations for a truce-- + Prolongation of the armistice--Further delays--Treaty of the States + with England--Proposals of the Spanish ambassadors to Henry of + France and to James of England--Friar Neyen at the court of Spain-- + Spanish procrastination--Decision of Philip on the conditions of + peace--Further conference at the Hague--Answer of the States-General + to the proposals of the Spanish Government--General rupture. + +Towards the close of the year 1607 a very feeble demonstration was made +in the direction of the Dutch republic by the very feeble Emperor of +Germany. Rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending +for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to +observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the +Netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. Those +provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving +light and heat from the central imperial sun. It was time therefore to +put an end to these perturbations. The emperor accordingly, as if he had +not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the Hungarians, +Transylvanians, Bohemian protestants, his brother Matthias and the Grand +Turk, addressed a letter to the States of Holland, Zeeland, and the +provinces confederated with them. + +Reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear +all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed +that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with King +Philip and Archduke Albert, and of their desire to be declared free +states and peoples. He was amazed, he said, that they should not have +given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the United +Provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy Roman Empire. They were +warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the +feudal law except with his full knowledge. This letter was dated the 9th +of October. The States took time to deliberate, and returned no answer +until after the new year. + +On the 2nd of January, 1608, they informed the emperor that they could +never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching +conferences. They had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a +secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. Otherwise, +the States would have sent due notice to his Majesty. They well +remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor +from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of +the Spaniards. They well remembered, too, that no help was ever given +them in response to those appeals. They had not forgotten either the +famous Cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, +in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with +greater ferocity than before. At that epoch they had made use of an +extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced +allegiance to the king. Since that epoch a whole generation of mankind +had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their +freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. +After a long and bloody war, Albert and Philip had at last been brought +to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended +to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which +were forwarded to the emperor. Full confidence was now expressed, +therefore, that the emperor and all Germany would look with favour on +such a God-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so +terrible a war. Thus the States-General; replying with gentle scorn to +the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. +Duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and +concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest +sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest +archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. Unfortunately, +however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had +made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of +their ever being pieced handsomely together again. As to the historical +theory of imperial enfeoffment, the States thought it more delicate to +glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. It would have been +base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. + +It is as well to imitate this reserve. It is enough simply to remind the +reader that although so late as the time of Charles V., the provinces had +been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, +and entitled to its protection; the Netherlanders being practical people, +and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen +because always deprived of the protection. + +And now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which +impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath +might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth +towards the Hague. + +Marquis Spinola, Don Juan de Mancicidor, private secretary to the King of +Spain, President Richardot, Auditor Verreyken, and Brother John Neyen-- +a Genoese, a Spaniard, a Burgundian, a Fleming, and a Franciscan friar +--travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, +lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of Breda, Bergen-op-Zoom, + +Dort, Rotterdam, and Delft, and being received in each town and village +through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and +cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the Hague. + +It was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred +for many years. Every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. All +Holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been +made in sledges. On the last day of January Prince Maurice, accompanied +by Lewes William, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished +personages, left the Hague and halted at the Hoorn bridge, about midway +between Ryswyk and the capital. The prince had replied to the first +request of the States that he should go forward to meet Spinola, by +saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; +otherwise not. Olden-Barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant +of the republic, he was bound to do what the States commanded, as a +matter involving the dignity of the nation. In consequence of this +remonstrance Maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. The +advancing procession of the Spanish ambassadors was already in sight. +Far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface +of the landscape was blackened with human beings. It seemed as if the +whole population of the Netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to +witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had +never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. + +In carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, +upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, Protestants, +Catholics, Gomarites, Armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and +bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, +boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched +ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless +multitudes, those honest Hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps +in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much +disaster to their country. This uproarious demonstration of welcome on +the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to +remember the horrors of Spanish warfare within their borders. "Thus +unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these +provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting +that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of +spectators on that winter's day. Moreover it seems difficult to +understand why the Hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate +curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. Spinola was +not entering their capital in triumph, a Spanish army was not marching +--as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the +protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the +exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. On the contrary, the +arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch +instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for Spain but for the +republic. It was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by +the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the States-General of +the United Provinces as with the representatives of a free and +independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. + +Was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half +century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? + +The Spanish commissioners arrived at the Hoorn bridge, Spinola alighted +from his coach, Prince Maurice stepped forward into the road to greet +him. Then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so +familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic +cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. It +was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival +leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. The +bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great +emotion on the faces of both. It has also been recorded that each +addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "God is my +witness," Maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these +honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. Time, whose daughter is +truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." + +"This fortunate day," replied Spinola, "has filled full the measure of my +hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for +anything again. I trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be +given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity +thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." + +With this both got into the stadholder's carriage, Spinola being placed +on Maurice's right hand. Their conversation during their brief drive to +the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and +vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. It is also highly probable +that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the Jesuit historian, +writing from Spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was +rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a +faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. A few commonplace +phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled +severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of +that brief conversation. + +A couple of trumpeters of Spinola went braying through the streets of the +village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous +noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. +At last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. +The Marquis, President Richardot, and Secretary Mancicidor, were +established at a new mansion on the Vyverberg, belonging to Goswyn +Menskens. The rest of the legation were lodged at the house of +Wassenaer. + +It soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping +habitual to great officers of the Spanish crown were very different from +the thrifty manners and customs of Dutch republicans. It was so long +since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their +borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. It was a +land where every child went to school, where almost every individual +inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were +proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more +modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were +producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively +little of unproductive consumption prevailed. Those self-governing and +self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the +magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. + +Spinola's house was open day and night. The gorgeous plate, gigantic +candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which +decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. He dined +and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon +his banquets as if he had been a monarch. It seemed, said those homely +republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his +house." + +There were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the +States-General against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral +proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the +doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to Spinola's +own household. But the republican authorities deciding, not without +wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning +than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference +with the housekeeping of the Spanish ambassadors. + +Before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the +republic and the French Government, by which it was stipulated that every +effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an +honourable and assured peace between the United Provinces, Spain, and the +archdukes. In case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed +that France should assist the States with ten thousand men, while in case +at any time, during the continuance of the league, France should be +attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five +thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. +This convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the +Netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. + +The States would have gladly signed a similar agreement with England, but +nothing was to be done with that Government until an old-standing dispute +in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. Middelburg had the +exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from England. This +monopoly for Zealand being naturally not very palatable to Amsterdam and +other cities of Holland, the States-General had at last authorized the +merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in +any city of the United Provinces. The course of trade had been to +import the raw cloth from England, to dress and dye it in the +Netherlands, and then to re-export it to England. Latterly, however, +some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, +had obtained a monopoly from James for practising their art in his +dominions. In consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed +cloths had been forbidden. This prohibition had caused irritation both +in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural +course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any +conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, +even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. The States- +General had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on +one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. The +exportation of undyed English cloths being forbidden by England, the +importation of dyed English cloths was now prohibited by the Netherlands. +The international cloth trade stopped. This embargo became at last so +detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a +limited export of raw cloths. The concession was soon widened by custom +into a general exportation, the royal Government looking through its +fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of +trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. Meantime the ill- +feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political +arrangement between the countries. + +On the 5th of February the Spanish commissioners came for the first time +before the States-General, assembled to the number of a hundred and +thirty, in their palace at the Hague. + +The first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, President +Richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the +cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey +through so many towns of the United Provinces. They had been received, +he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, +but as friends, confederates, and allies. A warmer reception they could +never have hoped for nor desired. + +Two special commissioners were now appointed by the States-General to +negotiate with the envoys. These were count Lewis William and Brederode. +With these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each +province. Barneveld of course represented Holland; Maldere, Zeeland; +Berk, Utrecht; Hillama, Friesland; Bloat, Overyssel; Koender van Helpen, +Groningen; Cornelius Vail Gend, Gelderland. + +The negotiations began at once. The archdukes had empowered the five +envoys to deal in their name and in that of the King of Spain. Philip +had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated +10th January. + +In this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the +Netherlands. + +It was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up +in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was +whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. + +The secret object of Spain was for a truce of years. Thus she thought to +save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her +treasury, and to repair her military strength. Barneveld and his party, +comprising a large majority of the States-General, were for peace. +Prince Maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, +was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he +considered the ambush of a truce. The French ambassadors were also for +peace. The Spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and +all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent +peace. + +This preliminary being settled, Barneveld asked the Spaniards if they had +full powers to treat with the States as with a free nation, and if they +recognised them as such. + +"The most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with +you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." + +"By what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary +sovereigns of the Netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the +seven United Provinces to this document?" asked the Advocate, taking up +from the table the full power of Albert and Isabella and putting his +finger on the seals." + +"By the same right," replied President Richardot, "that the King of +France calls himself King of Navarre, that the King of Great Britain +calls himself King of France, that the King of Spain calls himself King +of Jerusalem." + +Nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. +But those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a +negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting +the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state +papers with their signet. It might seem picturesque to genealogical +minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits +should be substituted for vanished jewels. It would be cruelty to +destroy the mock glitter without cause. But there was cause. On this +occasion the sham was dangerous. James Stuart might call himself King of +France. He was not more likely to take practical possession of that +kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. Henry of Bourbon was not at +present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the +house of Albret. It was a matter of indifference to the Netherlands +whether Philip III. were crowned in Jerusalem that very day, or the week +afterwards, or never. It was very important however that the United +Provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and +independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as +any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and +signed with their seals of state. "'Tis absurd," said the Hollanders, +"to use the names and arms of our provinces. We have as yet no precedent +to prove that you consider the United Provinces as lost, and name and +arms to be but wind." Barneveld reminded them that they had all +expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father +commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the +king and the archdukes. "We ourselves never wished and never could +deceive any one," continued the Advocate, "and it is also very difficult +for others to deceive us." + +This being the universal sentiment of the Netherlanders, it was thought +proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. This was done +and the session was terminated. Tile Spanish envoys, knowing very well +that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the +titles and seals of all the seventeen Netherlands as an empty show, but +that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very +indignant. They however dissembled their wrath from the States' +commissioners. They were unwilling that the negotiations should be +broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither Prince +Maurice nor Barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. But they +were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk +the matter over with the ambassadors of France and England. It was most +portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government +all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with +kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to +them as to inferiors. Having passed through rebellion to liberty, they +were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. +What would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only +renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. This +insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the +archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. It was a +sacred duty to resist such insults. Sage Jeannin did his best to pacify +the vehemence of the commissioners. He represented to them that foreign +titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical +possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become +one day the pleasure of Spain, or lie in the power of Spain, to vindicate +her ancient rights to the provinces. + +Hence the anxiety of the States was but natural. The old Leaguer and +political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of +Richardot's noble wrath was feigned. The commissioners would probably +renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a +hard bargain. For an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would +extort a heavy price. And this was what occurred. The commissioners +agreed to write for fresh instructions to Brussels. A reply came in due +time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to +abandon the title of sovereigns over all the Netherlands, and to abstain +from using their signet. In exchange for this concession they merely +demanded from the States-General a formal abandonment of the navigation +to both the Indies. This was all. The archdukes granted liberty to the +republic. The republic would renounce its commerce with more than half +the world. + +The scorn of the States' commissioners at this proposition can be +imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject +in decorous language. Because the archdukes were willing to give up +something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to +open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign +potentate. She was to fling away all the trophies of Heemskerk and +Sebalt de Weerd, of Balthasar de Cordes, Van der Hagen, Matelieff, and +Verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired +of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that +daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of +puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. Of a certainty the +Spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. In its +view Pope Alexander VI. still lived and reigned. + +Liberty was not a boon conferred upon the Netherlanders by their defeated +enemy. It had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and +the gold, and the sweat of two generations. If it were the king's to +give, let him try once more if he could take it away. Such were the +opinions and emotions of the Dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language +as they could find. + +"It would be a political heresy," said Barneveld to the Spanish +commissioners at this session, "if my lords the States should by contract +banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." + +"'Tis strange," replied the Spaniards, "that you wish to have more than +other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. +The Indies, East and West, are our house, privately possessed by us for +more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without +our permission. This is not banishment, but a custom to which all other +nations submit. We give you your sovereignty before all the world, +quitting all claims upon it. We know very well that you deny receiving +it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade +besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." + +Was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and +advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little +republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great +powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not +to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including America and India, +as the private mansion of the King of Spain, to be locked against the +rest of the human race? + +The next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this +communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. The India trade +was the sole subject of discussion. As the States were firmly resolved +never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most +practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were +as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be +imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. + +In truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the +beginning. Spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the +United Provinces. + +At the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that +concession in Brussels, and claiming such a price for it, Hoboken, the +archduke's diplomatic representative in London, was earnestly assuring +King James that neither his master nor Philip had the remotest notion of +renouncing their sovereignty over all the Netherlands. What had been +said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to +bring about a temporary truce. During the interval of imaginary freedom +it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion +that it would be easier for Spain to effect their re-conquest, after a +brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by +continuing the present war without any cessation. + +The Spanish ambassador at Vienna too on his part assured the Emperor +Rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty +of the provinces. The negotiations then going on, he said, were simply +intended to extort from the States a renunciation of the India trade and +their consent to the re-introduction of the Catholic religion throughout +their territories. + +Something of all this was known and much more suspected at the Hague; +the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and +heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. +That these delusive negotiations with the Hollanders were not likely to +be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at Bourbourg, +for the amusement of Queen Elizabeth and her diplomatists while the +tragedy of the Armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. +Richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often +played, but Spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far +honester man than Alexander Farnese. Far from equal to that famous +chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain +that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. Whether +Maurice and Lewis William, Barneveld and Brederode, were to do better in +the parts formerly assigned to John Rogers, Valentine Dale, Comptroller +Croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. + +On the 15th of February, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, +the first pitched battle on the India trade was fought. Thereafter the +combat was almost every day renewed. Exactly, as a year before, the +news of Heemskerk's victory at Gibraltar had made the king and the +archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and +sea, so now the report of Matelieff's recent achievements in the Indian +ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the Netherlanders from the +regions which they were rapidly making their own. + +As we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries +and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those +scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. It is not necessary to +follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is +impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with +those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable +lesson which in their entirety they convey. + +No higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. +Questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national +independence, divine Right, rebellious Power, freedom of commerce, +supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the +destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding +solution. All that most influenced human passion, or stirred human +reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great +epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict-- +was to be dealt with. The emancipated currents of human thought, the +steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. There are times of +paroxysm in which Nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether +intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of +years. The shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at +last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital +changes. Yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous +din. + +Thus, after that half century of war, the policy of Spain was still +serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of +the revolt. The commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, +already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a +recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely +expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it +had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not +only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. +Holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the +world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of +public law. It was good for the cause of humanity that the republic +should reappear at that epoch. It was wholesome for Europe that there +should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely +and important truths. It was healthy for the moral and political +atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze +from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the +ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had +so long loomed forth like giants and gods. + +To vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort +for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine +reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts +that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an +accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy +task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty +and right. + +Accordingly, at the conference on the 15th February, the Spanish +commissioners categorically summoned the States to desist entirely from +the trade to either India, exactly as before the war. To enforce this +prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why Philip desired +peace. To obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of +this traffic; the more so, because their trade with Spain, which was so +much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. If they had been able +to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked +about the Indies. The commissioners added, that this boon had not been +conceded to France nor England, by the treaties of Vervins and London, +and that the States therefore could not find it strange that it should be +refused to them. + +The States' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all +the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that +neither France, England, nor the United Provinces, were to receive edicts +on this great subject from Spain and Portugal. It was absurd to +circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging +war for peace. To recognise the liberty of the States upon paper, +and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest +contradiction. The ocean was free to all nations. It had not been +enclosed by Spain with a rail-fence. + +The debate grew more stormy every hour. Spinola expressed great +indignation that the Netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this +point. The tall, spare President arose in wrath from his seat at the +council-board, loudly protesting that the King of Spain would never +renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the +India trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. + +The States' commissioners were not frightened. Barneveld was at least a +match for Richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should +be played upon the table. Subsequent meetings were quite as violent as +the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of +pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. Arguments at +the Board of Conference, debates in the States-General, pamphlets by +merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the East India +Company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became +more and more evident that Spain could not be more resolute to prohibit +than the republic to claim the trade. + +It was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the Hollanders to +resist the tyrannical dominion of the Spaniards. But this would be +impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources +of their own land. Not a sixth part of the population could be nourished +from the soil. The ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their +empire. It was necessary that Spain should understand this first, last, +and always. She ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of Dutch +independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. Without +that acknowledgment peace was impossible. If peace were to be +established, it was not to be bought by either party. Each gave and each +received, and certainly Spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of +a sale. Peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without +killing, and therefore without result. The Netherlanders, who in the +middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and +arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe +what they had spurned from their prince. To be exiled from the ocean was +an unimaginable position for the republic. Moreover, to retire from the +Indies would be to abandon her Oriental allies, and would be a dishonour +as well us a disaster. Her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be +stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with +whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them +over to the vengeance of the Spaniards and Portuguese. + +And what a trade it was which the United Provinces were thus called upon +to renounce! The foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared +in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. Twenty ships traded +regularly to Guinea, eighty to the Cape de Verd Islands, twenty to +America, and forty to the East Indies. Ten thousand sailors, who gained +their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the +States should now listen to the Spanish propositions. + +It was well known too that the profits of the East India Company had +vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. The trade +with Cambay, Malabar, Ceylon, Koromandel, and Queda, had scarcely begun, +yet was already most promising. Should the Hollanders only obtain a +footing in China, they felt confident of making their way through the +South Seas and across the pole to India. Thus the search for a great +commercial highway between Cathay, Europe, and the New World, which had +been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the +antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, +lighted by the Southern Cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate +European discoverer. What was a coasting-trade with Spain compared with +this boundless career of adventure? Now that the world's commerce, since +the discovery of America and the passage around the Cape of Good Hope, +had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on +blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the +ancient Greeks and Phoenicians? If the East India Company, in whose womb +was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for +ever. There would be no regeneration at a future day. The Company's +ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. This +the Spaniards and Portuguese had already learned to their cost. The +merchant-traders to Spain would be always in the power of Spain, and at +any favourable moment might be seized by Spain. The Spanish monopoly in +the East and West was the great source of Spanish power, the chief cause +of the contempt with, which the Spanish monarchy looked down upon other +nations. Let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and Spain would +fall from her dizzy height. To know what the States ought to refuse the +enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to +ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. The enemy was doing his +best to damage the commonwealth; the States were merely anxious to +prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for +themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. + +A nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly +of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. She was as +deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time +of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. +According to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make +war upon such States as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. +Still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which +closed the ports of other people. + +The dispute about the India navigation could be settled in a moment, if +Spain would but keep her word. She had acknowledged the great fact of +independence, which could not be gainsaid. Let each party to the +negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. Let neither +attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent +States--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. + +Thus reasoned the States-General, the East India directors, the great +majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of +discussion. A small minority only attempted to defend the policy of +renouncing the India trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain +class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. It is +certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and +of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the Netherlands and nowhere else +to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed +vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and +listened to with toleration, if not with respect. Even the enlightened +mind of Grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public +mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. +But in this regard it must be admitted that Grotius was not in advance of +his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with +human liberty. + +Maurice and Barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the India +trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to Spain upon this +point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the Advocate in the +belief that firmness on the part of the States would induce the royal +commissioners to yield. + +The States-General were not likely to be deficient in firmness. They +felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control +of the East from the hands of the Portuguese, and they were not inclined +to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was +ripening. Ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, +were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great +influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension +should they now be sacrificed to Spain. To keep the India trade was the +best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to Spain; for the +Spanish Government would never venture an embargo upon the direct +intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear +of vengeance in the East. On the other hand, by denouncing oceanic +commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and +their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of Spain or of any +power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the +republic. By abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink +into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. It +would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any +enterprising neighbour. + +Even Villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the India trade +were abandoned "the States would melt away like snow in the sun." He +would not, on that account, however, counsel to the States obstinacy upon +the subject, if Spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their +exclusion from the traffic. Jeannin, Villeroy, and their master; Isaac +le Maire and Peter Plancius, could have told the reason why if they had +chosen. + +Early in March a triple proposition was made by the States' +commissioners. Spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of +free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the Tropic of Cancer +to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the +tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite +number of years. + +The Spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. Of course +they would not concede freedom of the sea. They considered the mixture +of peace and war a monstrous conception. They were, however, willing to +favour peace for Europe and truce in the tropics, provided the States +bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the +Indian and American trade for ever. And to this proposition the States +of course were deaf. And thus they went on spinning around, day after +day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than +squirrels in a cage. + +Barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was +not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager +desire for peace. "The might of the States-General," said he, "is so +great, thank God, that they need not yield so much to the King of Spain +as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." + +"And do you think yourselves more mighty than the Kings of England and +France?" cried Richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make +any attempt upon the Indies, East or West." + +"We are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, +"and we expect him to leave us in ours." + +"You had better take a sheet of paper at once," said Richardot, "write +down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without +discussion." + +"We demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the +firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." + +It was now suggested by the States' commissioners that a peace; with free +navigation, might be concluded for Europe, and a truce for other parts of +the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its +termination. This was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for +more intellectual buffeting. Hard words were freely exchanged during +several hours; and all parties lost their temper. At last the Spaniards +left the conference-chamber in a rage. Just as they were going, +Barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session +for the States-General, and whether it was desirable in future to resume +the discussion. + +"Let every one do exactly as he likes," replied Spinola, wrathfully, as +he moved to the door. + +Friar John, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear +of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, +"Night brings counsel." These words he spoke in Latin. + +"He who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out +Maldere, the Zeeland deputy, in Spanish, to the departing commissioners. + +"Take that to yourselves," rejoined Richardot, very fiercely; "you may be +sure that it will be your case."' + +So ended that interview. + +Directly afterwards there was a conference between the States' +commissioners and the French envoys. + +Jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence +the Netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the +India trade. It would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, +than to give up the hope of peace. The commissioners failed to see the +logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. They would have been +still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, +had they known of the secret conferences which Jeannin had just been +holding with Isaac le Maire of Amsterdam, and other merchants practically +familiar with the India trade. Carrying out the French king's plan to +rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by +means of experienced Hollanders, into France, the president, while openly +siding with the States, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly +doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their +commonwealth. + +Isaac le Maire came over from Amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in +disguise. Had his nocturnal dealings with the French minister been +known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the East India Company. +He was a native of Tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very +strongly affected to France, and declared that all his former fellow- +townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. +If peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the East India +Company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to +transfer that corporation to France. All the details of such a +prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated +that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. +Jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great +cosmographer Plancius. It may be well understood, therefore, that the +minister of Henry IV. was not very ardent to encourage the States in +their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the +India trade. + +The States preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the +religious ground rather than on account of the India trade. The +provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the Catholic +worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but +from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical +regard for the necessities of the State. To permit the old worship, not +from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign +power, was not only to abase the government of the States but to convert +every sincere Catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent +of Philip and the archdukes. It was deliberately to place a lever, to be +used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. + +In this the whole population was interested, while the India navigation, +although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally +recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded +minority to concern the provinces of Holland and Zeeland alone. + +All were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to +the last. + +Especially, commercial greed induced the States to keep a firm clutch on +the great river on which the once splendid city of Antwerp stood. Ever +since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to Farnese, the republic +had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of Flushing at the +river's mouth, Antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. To +open the navigation of the Scheld, to permit free approach to Antwerp, +would, according to the narrow notions of the Amsterdam merchants, be +destructive to their own flourishing trade. + +In vain did Richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to +obtain concessions on this important point. The States' commissioners +were as deaf as the Spaniards had been on the India question. Richardot, +no longer loud and furious, began to cry. With tears running down his +cheeks, he besought the Netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon +all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually +necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. The chances for +peace were promising. "Let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," +he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. Above all, let +not the States dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but +propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could +accept." + +These adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible +for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of +concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. + +Meantime the month of March had passed. Nothing had been accomplished, +but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through April and May. + +The negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute +extinction, Friar John was once more set in motion, and despatched to +Madrid. He was sent to get fresh instructions from Philip, and he +promised, on departing, to return in forty days. He hoped as his reward, +he said, to be made bishop of Utrecht. "That will be a little above your +calibre," replied Barneveld. Forty days was easily said, and the States +consented to the additional delay. + +During his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, +such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, +removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered +estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important +subjects of India and Religion, those two most tender topics growing so +much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver +whenever they were approached. Nevertheless both were to be dealt with, +or the negotiations would fall to the ground. + +The States felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they +had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them +up again. + +The forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. April and May +came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. +The war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, Maurice was +exasperated beyond endurance, Barneveld and the peace men began to find +immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. + +The prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice +for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be +made before the end of July. The Advocate, with much earnestness, and +with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting +the temporary truce until the end of the year. The debates in the +States-General and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to +fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with +rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of Barneveld. + +This was the easier, as the Advocate at last proposed an agreement which +seemed to Maurice and Lewis William even better than their own original +suggestion. It was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until +the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless +the negotiations had reached a definite result before the 1st of August, +they should be forthwith broken off. + +Thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great +soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now +established, without the slightest reason. + +President Jeannin took occasion to make a journey to Paris, leaving the +Hague on the 20th June. + +During his absence a treaty of the States with England, similar in its +terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and France, but +only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in +the French convention, was signed at the Hague. The English +plenipotentiaries, Vinwood and Spencer, wished to delay the exchange of +signatures under the pending negotiations with Spain and the archdukes +were brought to a close, as King James was most desirous at that epoch to +keep on good terms with his Catholic Majesty. The States were so urgent, +however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the English +so anxious lest France should gain still greater influence than she now +enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. It was further +stipulated in the convention that the debt of the States to England, then +amounting to L815,408 sterling, should be settled by annual payments of +L60,000; to begin with the expected peace. + +Besides this debt to the English Government, the States-General owed nine +millions of florins (L900,000), and the separate provinces altogether +eighteen millions (L1,800,000). In short, there would be a deficiency +of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, +although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing +the revenue from taxation. It must be admitted therefore, that the +Barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to +bring about an honourable peace. + +That Jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a +great part of the commonwealth is certain. It is equally certain that he +represented to his sovereign, while at Paris, that the demand upon his +exchequer by the States, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would +be more considerable than ever. Immense was the pressure put upon Henry +by the Spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his +allies. Very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary +old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was +fond of designating himself, into an alliance with Philip and the +archdukes. + +Don Pedro de Toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in +Paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages +between the respective nurseries of France and Spain. The Infanta might +marry with a French prince, and have all the Netherlands for her dower, +so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. +Or an Infante might espouse a daughter of France with the same heritage +assigned to the young couple. + +Such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous Spanish by the Constable of +Castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on Henry's delicate +ear. He had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by Spanish +marriages. Had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with +foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended +to the wedding ring of the Spanish Infanta? It might become convenient +to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of +Austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the United Provinces +by openly accepting it then. But to wait for the shoes of Albert and +Isabella, and until the Dutch republic had been absorbed into the +obedient Netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering +prospect for a son or daughter of France. The ex-Huguenot and +indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic +measures. Should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to +strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, +without assistance from the Spanish babies. + +Don Pedro took little by his propositions. The king stoutly declared +that the Netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never +abandon them on any consideration. So near, indeed, that he meant to +bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the Spanish +court; Henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the +request that he should secretly labour to reduce the United Provinces +under subjection to the archdukes. It had even been proposed that he +should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those +about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. +The king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. +The marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but Jeannin +and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. + +Don Pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the +transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's +good faith in regard to the heritage of the Netherlands, he proposed that +every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, +should be confided to hands in which Henry and the archdukes would have +equal confidence. + +But these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. Henry +remained true, in his way, to the States-General, and Don Pedro was much +laughed at in Paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. + +These intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that Barneveld +was aware of what was going on. Both before Jeannin's departure from the +Hague in June, and on his return in the middle of August, he catechised +him very closely on the subject. The old Leaguer was too deep, however, +to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the Advocate's, +so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. + +As, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the King of Scots to the +throne of Elizabeth, Maximilian de Bethune had flattered the new monarch +with the prospect of a double marriage, so now Don Fernando Girono had +been sent on solemn mission to England, in order to offer the same +infants to James which Don Pedro was placing at the disposition of Henry. + +The British sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a Spanish +family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the Marquis de +Rosny for the French marriages, listened with eagerness. Money was +scattered as profusely among the English courtiers by Don Fernando as had +been done by De Bethune four years before. The bribes were accepted, and +often by the very personages who knew the colour of Bourbon money, but +the ducats were scarcely earned. Girono, thus urging on the English +Government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a +cordial, personal, and political understanding between James and Philip, +effected but little. It soon became thoroughly understood in England +that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in France. As it +was evident that the Spanish children could not be disposed of in both +markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that +either the brokerage of Toledo or of Girono was a sham, and that a policy +erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. + +It is certain, however, that James, while affecting friendship for the +States, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was +secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by Girono, and was +especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of Toledo. + +Meantime, brother John Neyen was dealing with Philip and the Duke of +Lerma, in Spain. + +The friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal +advisers the necessity of prompt action with the States. This needed not +interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. It was necessary to +bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. It would be by no means +requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient +opportunity for breaking it should present itself. The first object of +Spanish policy, argued honest John, should be to get the weapons out of +the rebels' hands. The Netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to +their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived +their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. Their +sailors and traders should be treated kindly in Spain, instead of being +indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the Holy +Inquisition and its dungeons. Let their minds be disarmed of all +suspicion. Now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced +that Spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re- +impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. + +Time went by in Aranjuez and Madrid. The forty days, promised as the +period of Neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or +forty times forty, at the Spanish court? The friar, who, whatever his +faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which +seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy +people who knew the value of time. In the anguish of his soul he went to +Rodrigo Calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with +Government to procure leave for him to depart. Calderon, in urbane but +decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king +should return to Madrid. The monk then went to Idiaquez, who was in +favour of his proceeding at once to the Netherlands, but who on being +informed that Calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. +More distressed than ever, Neyen implored Prada's assistance, but Prada +plunged him into still deeper despair. His Majesty, said that +counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of +the States-General, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, +comma by comma. There were many animadversions to make, many counter +suggestions to offer. The king was pondering the whole subject most +diligently. When those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, +aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to +the archdukes. + +To wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious States- +General until Philip III. had mastered the subject in detail, was a +prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of Brother John. Dismayed +at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out +the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off +in allusions to the royal investigations. He was still further appalled +at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's +sake. It was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the Government +not to delay. The court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to +the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make +it known at once was entirely out of the question. In the previous year +his Majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had +acted with almost indecent haste. That everything had been conceded to +the confederated provinces was the--common talk of Europe. Let the time- +honoured, inveterate custom of Spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, +and therefore surely, be in future observed. A proper self-respect +required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer +period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. + +Were the affairs of the mighty Spanish empire so subordinate to the +convenience of that portion of it called the Netherlands that no time was +to be lost before settling their affairs? + +Such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but +more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the +friar. + +If it were precipitation to spend the whole year 1607 in forming a single +phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the +United Provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and +to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that +phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the +most sluggish canal in Holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a +glacier electric speed. + +Midsummer had arrived. The period in which peace was to be made or +abandoned altogether had passed. Jeannin had returned from his visit to +Paris; the Danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the +Hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, +they protested, were pulled from the Louvre. Brother John, exasperated +by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at Burgos, and was sent, +on his recovery, to the court at Valladolid to be made ill again by the +same cause, and still there came no sound from the Government of Spain. + +At last the silence was broken. Something that was called the voice of +the king reached the ears of the archduke. Long had he wrestled in +prayer on this great subject, said Philip III., fervently had he besought +the Omnipotent for light. He had now persuaded himself that he should +not fulfil his duty to God, nor satisfy his own strong desire for +maintaining the Catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now +conceded his supreme right to the Confederated Provinces at any other +price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the +Catholic religion. He wished, therefore, as obedient son of the Church +and Defender of the Faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by +any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a +contrary course. That which he had on other occasions more than once +signified he now confirmed. His mind was fixed; this was his last and +immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free +and public exercise of the Catholic, Roman, Apostolic religion to all +such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to God, +and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right +over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. +Natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so +long as the exercise of the Catholic religion flourished there, and not +one day nor hour longer. + +Philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the India navigation, giving +reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully +to abstain from that traffic. If the confederates, in consequence of the +conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and +obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break +off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan +proposed by Jeannin to Richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six +years. The king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather +than a peace, and his conviction that Jeannin had made the suggestion by +command of his sovereign. + +The negotiators stood exactly where they did when Friar John, disguised +as a merchant, first made his bow to the Prince and Barneveld in the +palace at the Hague. + +The archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, +had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the +plenipotentiaries at the Hague. A decisive conference between those +diplomatists and the States' commissioners took place immediately +afterwards. + +It was on the 20th August. + +Although it had been agreed on the 1st May to break off negotiations on +the ensuing 1st of August, should no result be reached, yet three weeks +beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement +to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. President Jeannin, +too, had gone to Paris on the 20th June, to receive new and important +instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his +absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. +Jeannin returned to the Hague on the 15th of August, and, as definite +instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no +possibility of avoiding an explanation. + +The Spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had +been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled +commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the Spanish +king's intentions were false. + +His Majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of +the provinces. On the contrary, they were instructed to concede that +sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the States-General--a pearl +and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away +before. Yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor +anything else of value in exchange. He asked only for that which was +indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before God, to wit, +the re-establishment in those countries of the Catholic Apostolic Roman +religion. This there could surely be no reasons for refusing. They owed +it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own +relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show +greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious +sect of Anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of +destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would +otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest +to humanity. + +In regard to the East India navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no +right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of Spain +had any pretensions to it, his Majesty expected that the States would at +once desist from it. + +This was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. As the +king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which +the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of +their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that +Richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have +kept his countenance. But there were case-hardened politicians on both +sides. The proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, +and it was decided by the States' commissioners to make no answer at all +on that occasion. They simply promised to render their report to the +States-General, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. + +They made their report and it occasioned a tumult. Every member present +joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. The Spanish +commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. There +should be no more dealings with them at all. Spain was a power only to +be treated with on the battle-field. In the tempest of general rage no +one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, +which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be +founds or who would be the allies of the republic. Hatred, warlike fury +and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every +more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as +in an instant. The negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, +but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. +Three days later, after the French and English ambassadors, as well as +Prince Maurice and Count Lewis William, had been duly consulted, +comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously +voted by the States-General. The proposition of the commissioners was +simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom +of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, +the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. A formal answer +to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of +foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed +completely in the wrong. + +On the 25th August an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in +writing by the States' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, +it being at the same time declared by Barneveld and his colleagues that +their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the +States-General, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. + +The contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been +previously narrated. The republic knew its own mind, and had always +expressed itself with distinctness. The Spanish Government having at +last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the +negotiations for peace. The rupture was formally announced. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Night brings counsel +This obstinate little republic +Triple marriages between the respective nurseries +Usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v81 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 82, 1608 + + +CHAPTER LI. + + Designs of Henry IV.--New marriage project between France and Spain + Formal proposition of negotiating for a truce between the States and + Spain--Exertions of Prince Maurice to counteract the designs of + Barneveld--Strife between the two parties in the republic--Animosity + of the people against Barneveld--Return of the Spanish + commissioners--Further trifling--Dismissal of the commissioners-- + Close of the negotiations--Accidental discovery of the secret + instructions of the archdukes to the commissioners--Opposing + factions in the republic--Oration of President Jeannin before the + States-General--Comparison between the Dutch and Swiss republics-- + Calumnies against the Advocate--Ambassador Lambert in France-- + Henry's letter to Prince Maurice--Reconciliation of Maurice and + Barneveld--Agreement of the States to accept a truce. + +President Jeannin had long been prepared for this result. It was also by +no means distasteful to him. A peace would not have accorded with the +ulterior and secretly cherished schemes of his sovereign, and during his +visit to Paris, he had succeeded in persuading Henry that a truce would +be far the most advantageous solution of the question, so far as his +interests were concerned. + +For it had been precisely during that midsummer vacation of the President +at Paris that Henry had completed his plot against the liberty of the +republic, of which he professed himself the only friend. Another phase +of Spanish marriage-making had excited his ever scheming and insidious +brain. It had been proposed that the second son of the Spanish king +should espouse one of Henry's daughters. + +The papal Nuncius asked what benefit the King of Spain would receive for +his share, in case of the marriage. The French king replied by plainly +declaring to the Nuncius that the United States should abstain from and +renounce all navigation to and commerce with the Indies, and should +permit public exercise of the Catholic religion. If they refused, would +incontinently abandon them to their fate. More than this, he said, could +not honestly be expected of him. + +Surely this was enough. Honestly or dishonestly, what more could Spain +expect of the republic's best ally, than that he should use all his +efforts to bring her back into Spanish subjection, should deprive her of +commerce with three-quarters of the world, and compel her to re-establish +the religion which she believed, at that period, to be incompatible with +her constitutional liberties? It is difficult to imagine a more +profligate or heartless course than the one pursued at this juncture +by Henry. Secretly, he was intriguing, upon the very soil of the +Netherlands, to filch from them that splendid commerce which was the +wonder of the age, which had been invented and created by Dutch +navigators and men of science, which was the very foundation of their +State, and without which they could not exist, in order that he might +appropriate it to himself, and transfer the East India Company to France; +while at Paris he was solemnly engaging himself in a partnership with +their ancient and deadly enemy to rob them of their precious and nobly +gained liberty. Was better proof ever afforded that God alone can +protect us against those whom we trust? Who was most dangerous to the +United Provinces during those memorable peace negotiations, Spain the +avowed enemy, or France the friend? + +The little republic had but her own sword, her own brain, and her own +purse to rely upon. Elizabeth was dead, and James loved Spain better +than he did the Netherlands, and quiet better than Spain. "I have told +you often," said Caron, "and I say it once more, the Spaniard is lucky +that he has such a peaceable king as this to deal with in England." + +The details of the new marriage project were arranged at Paris between +the Nuncius, the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro de Toledo, the diplomatic +agent of the archdukes, and Henry's ministers, precisely as if there had +been no negotiations going on between the States and Spain. Yet the +French king was supposed to be the nearest friend of the States, and was +consulted by them on every occasion, while his most intimate and trusted +counsellor, the ingenuous Jeannin, whose open brow was stamped with +sincerity, was privy to all their most secret deliberations. + +But the statesman thus dealing with the Hollanders under such a mask of +friendly candour, knew perfectly well the reason why his Government +preferred a truce to a peace. During a prolonged truce, the two royal +children would grow old enough for the consummation of marriage, and the +States--so it was hoped--would be corrupted and cajoled into renouncing +their liberty. All the Netherlands would be then formed into a +secundogeniture for Spain, and the first sovereign would be the husband +of a French princess. Even as an object of ambition, the prize to be +secured by so much procrastination and so much treachery was paltry. + +When the Spanish commissioners came to the French and English ambassadors +accordingly, complaining of the abrupt and peremptory tone of the States' +reply, the suggestion of conferences for truce, in place of fruitless +peace negotiations, was made at once, and of course favourably received. +It was soon afterwards laid before the States-General. To this end, in +truth, Richardot and his colleagues had long been secretly tending. +Moreover, the subject had been thoroughly but secretly discussed long +before between Jeannin and Barneveld. + +The French and English ambassadors, accordingly, on the 27th August, came +before the States-General, and made a formal proposition for the opening +of negotiations for a truce. They advised the adoption of this course in +the strongest manner. "Let the truce be made with you," they said, "as +with free States, over which the king and the archdukes have no +pretensions, with the understanding that, during the time of the truce +you are to have free commerce as well to the Indies as to Spain and the +obedient Netherlands, and to every part of the Spanish dominions; that +you are to retain all that you possess at present, and that such other +conditions are to be added as you may find it reasonable to impose. +During this period of leisure you will have time to put your affairs in +order, to pay your debts, and to reform your Government, and if you +remain united, the truce will change into an absolute peace." + +Maurice was more indignant when the new scheme was brought to his notice +than he had ever been before, and used more violent language in opposing +a truce than he had been used to employ when striving against a peace. +To be treated with, as with a free State, and to receive permission to +trade with the outside world until the truce should expire, seemed to him +a sorry result for the republic to accept. + +The state-council declared, by way of answer to the foreign ambassadors, +that the principal points and conditions which had been solemnly fixed, +before the States had consented to begin the negotiations, had been +disputed with infinite effrontery and shamelessness by the enemy. The +pure and perfect sovereignty notoriously included religion and navigation +to any part of the world; and the republic would never consent to any +discussion of truce unless these points were confirmed beforehand with +the Spanish king's signature and seal. + +This resolution of the council--a body which stood much under the +influence of the Nassaus--was adopted next day by the States-General, and +duly communicated to the friendly ambassadors. + +The foreign commissioners, when apprised of this decision, begged for six +weeks' time; in order to be able to hear from Madrid. + +Even the peace party was disgusted with this impertinence. Maurice +boiled over with wrath. The ambassadors recommended compliance with. +the proposal. Their advice was discussed in the States-General, eighty +members being present, besides Maurice and Lewis William. The stadholder +made a violent and indignant speech. + +He was justified in his vehemence. Nothing could exceed the perfidy of +their great ally. + +"I know that the King of France calculates thus"--wrote Aerssens at that +moment from Paris--"'If the truce lasts seven years, my son will be old +enough to accomplish the proposed marriage, and they will be obliged to +fulfil their present offers. Otherwise; I would break the truce in the +Netherlands, and my own peace with them, in order to take from the +Spaniard by force what he led me to hope from alliance.' Thus it is," +continued the States' envoy, "that his Majesty condescends to propose, +to us a truce, which may have a double interpretation, according to the +disposition of the strongest, and thus our commonwealth will be kept in +perpetual disquiet, without knowing whether it is sovereign or not. Nor +will it be sovereign unless it shall so please our neighbour, who by this +means will always keep his foot upon our throat." + +"To treat with the States as if they were free," said Henry to the +Nuncius soon afterwards, "is not to make them free. This clause does no +prejudice to the rights of the King of Spain, except for the time of the +truce." Aerssens taxed the king with having said this. His Majesty +flatly denied it. The republican envoy bluntly adduced the testimony of +the ambassadors of Venice and of Wirtemberg. The king flew into a rage +on seeing that his secrets had been divulged, and burst out with these +words: "What you demand is not reasonable. You wish the king of Spain to +renounce his rights in order to arrive at a truce. You wish to dictate +the law to him. If you had just gained four battles over him, you could +not demand more. I have always held you for sovereigns, because I am +your friend, but if you would judge by equity and justice, you are not +sovereigns. It is not reasonable that the king of Spain should quit the +sovereignty for always, and you ought to be satisfied with having it so +long as the treaty shall last." + +Here was playing at sovereignty with a vengeance. Sovereignty was a +rattle for the States to amuse themselves with, until the royal infants, +French and Spanish, should be grown old enough to take the sovereignty +for good. Truly this was indeed keeping the republic under the king's +heel to be crushed at his pleasure, as Aerssens, with just bitterness, +exclaimed. + +Two days were passed at the Hague in vehement debate. The deputies of +Zeeland withdrew. The deputies from Holland were divided, but, on the +whole, it was agreed to listen to propositions of truce, provided the +freedom of the United Provinces--not under conditions nor during a +certain period, but simply and for all time--should be recognised +beforehand. + +It was further decided on the 14th September to wait until the end of the +month for the answer from Spain. + +After the 1st of October it was distinctly intimated to the Spanish +commissioners that they must at once leave the country unless the king +had then acknowledged the absolute independence of the provinces. + +A suggestion which had been made by these diplomatists to prolong the +actually existing armistice into a truce of seven years, a step which +they professed themselves willing to take upon their own responsibility, +had been scornfully rejected by the States. It was already carrying them +far enough away, they said, to take them away from a peace to a truce, +which was something far less secure than a peace, but the continuance of +this floating, uncertain armistice would be the most dangerous insecurity +of all. This would be going from firm land to slippery ice, and from +slippery ice into the water. By such a process, they would have neither +war nor peace--neither liberty of government nor freedom of commerce--and +they unanimously refused to listen to any such schemes. + +During the fortnight which followed this provisional consent of the +States, the prince redoubled his efforts to counteract the Barneveld +party. + +He was determined, so far as in him lay, that the United Netherlands +should never fall back under the dominion of Spain. He had long +maintained the impossibility of effecting their thorough independence +except by continuing the war, and had only with reluctance acquiesced in +the arguments of the French ambassadors in favour of peace negotiations. +As to the truce, he vehemently assured those envoys that it was but a +trap. How could the Netherlanders know who their friends might be when +the truce should have expired, and under what unfavourable auspices they +might not be compelled to resume hostilities? + +As if he had been actually present at the council boards in Madrid and +Valladolid, or had been reading the secret letters of Friar John to +Spinola, he affirmed that the only object of Spain was to recruit her +strength and improve her finances, now entirely exhausted. He believed, +on the other hand, that the people of the provinces, after they should +have once become accustomed to repose; would shrink from exchanging their +lucrative pursuits for war, and would prefer to fall back under the yoke +of Spain. During the truce they would object to the furnishing of +necessary contributions for garrison expenses, and the result would be +that the most important cities and strongholds, especially those on the +frontier, which were mainly inhabited by Catholics, would become +insecure. Being hostile to a Government which only controlled them by +force, they would with difficulty be kept in check by diminished +garrisons, unless they should obtain liberty of Catholic worship. + +It is a dismal proof of the inability of a leading mind, after half a +century's war, to comprehend the true lesson of the war--that toleration +of the Roman religion seemed to Maurice an entirely inadmissible idea. +The prince could not rise to the height on which his illustrious father +had stood; and those about him, who encouraged him in his hostility to +Catholicism, denounced Barneveld and Arminius as no better than traitors +and atheists. In the eyes of the extreme party, the mighty war had been +waged, not to liberate human thought, but to enforce predestination; and +heretics to Calvinism were as offensive in their eyes as Jews and +Saracens had ever been to Torquemada. + +The reasons were unanswerable for the refusal of the States to bind +themselves to a foreign sovereign in regard to the interior +administration of their commonwealth; but that diversity of religious +worship should be considered incompatible with the health of the young +republic--that the men who had so bravely fought the Spanish Inquisition +should now claim their own right of inquisition into the human +conscience--this was almost enough to create despair as to the +possibility of the world's progress. The seed of intellectual +advancement is slow in ripening, and it is almost invariably the case +that the generation which plants--often but half conscious of the +mightiness of its work--is not the generation which reaps the harvest. +But all mankind at last inherits what is sown in the blood and tears of a +few. That Government, whether regal or democratic, should dare to thrust +itself between man and his Maker--that the State, not with interfering in +a thousand superfluous ways with the freedom of individual human action +in the business of life, should combine with the Church to reduce human +thought to slavery in regard to the sacred interests of eternity, was one +day to be esteemed a blasphemous presumption in lands which deserved to +call themselves free. But that hour had not yet come. + +"If the garrisons should be weakened," said the prince, "nothing could be +expected from the political fidelity of the town populations in question, +unless they should be allowed the exercise of their own religion. But +the States could hardly be disposed to grant this voluntarily, for fear +of injuring the general insecurity and violating the laws of the +commonwealth, built as it is upon a foundation which cannot suffer this +diversity in the public exercise of religion. Already," continued +Maurice, "there are the seeds of dissension in the provinces and in the +cities, sure to ripen in the idleness and repose of peace to an open +division. This would give the enemy a means of intriguing with and +corrupting those who are already wickedly inclined." + +Thus in the year 1608, the head of the Dutch republic, the son of William +the Silent, seemed to express himself in favour of continuing a horrible +war, not to maintain the political independence of his country, but to +prevent Catholics from acquiring the right of publicly worshipping God +according to the dictates of their conscience. + +Yet it would be unjust to the prince, whose patriotism was as pure and +unsullied as his sword, to confound his motives with his end. He was +firmly convinced that liberty of religious worship, to be acquired during +the truce, would inevitably cause the United Provinces to fall once more +under the Spanish yoke. The French ambassador, with whom he conferred +every day, never doubted his sincerity. Gelderland, Friesland, +Overyssel, Groningen, and Utrecht, five provinces out of the united +seven, the prince declared to be chiefly inhabited by Catholics. They +had only entered the union, he said, because compelled by force. They +could only be kept in the union by force, unless allowed freedom of +religion. His inference from such a lamentable state of affairs was, not +that the experiment of religious worship should be tried, but that the +garrisons throughout the five provinces ought to be redoubled, and the +war with Spain indefinitely waged. The President was likewise of opinion +that "a revolt of these five provinces against the union might be at any +moment expected, ill disposed as they were to recognise a sovereignty +which abolished their religion." Being himself a Catholic, however, it +was not unnatural that he should make a different deduction from that of +the prince, and warmly recommend, not more garrisons, but more liberty of +worship. + +Thus the very men who were ready to dare all, and to sacrifice all in +behalf of their country, really believed themselves providing for the +imperishable security of the commonwealth by placing it on the narrow +basis of religious intolerance. + +Maurice, not satisfied with making these vehement arguments against the +truce in his conferences with the envoys of the French and British +sovereigns, employed the brief interval yet to elapse before definitely +breaking off or resuming the conferences with the Spanish commissioners +in making vigorous appeals to the country. + +"The weal or woe of the United Provinces for all time," he said, "is +depending on the present transactions." Weigh well the reasons we urge, +and make use of those which seem to you convincing. You know that the +foe, according to his old deceitful manner, laid down very specious +conditions at the beginning, in order to induce my lords the States- +General to treat. + +"If the king and the archdudes sincerely mean to relinquish absolutely +their pretensions to these provinces, they can certainly have no +difficulty in finding honest and convenient words to express their +intention. As they are seeking other phrases than the usual and +straightforward ones, they give certain proof that they mean to keep back +from us the substance. They are trying to cheat us with dark, dubious, +loosely-screwed terms, which secure nothing and bind to nothing. If it +be wise to trust the welfare of our State to ambiguous words, you can +judge according to your own discretion. + +"Recognition of our sovereignty is the foundation-stone of these +negotiations. + +"Let every man be assured that, with such mighty enemies, we can do +nothing by halves. We cannot afford to retract, mutilate, or moderate +our original determination. He who swerves from the straight road at the +beginning is lost; he who stumbles at the first step is apt to fall down +the whole staircase. If, on account of imaginable necessity, we postpone +that most vital point, the assurance of our freedom, we shall very easily +allow less important points to pass muster, and at last come tamely into +the path of reconciliation. That was exactly the danger which our +ancestors in similar negotiations always feared, and against which we too +have always done our best to guard ourselves. + +"Wherefore, if the preservation of our beloved fatherland is dear to you, +I exhort you to maintain that great fundamental resolution, at all times +and against all men, even if this should cause the departure of the +enemy's commissioners. What can you expect from them but evil fruit?" + +He then advised all the estates and magistracies which he was addressing +to instruct their deputies, at the approaching session of the States- +General, to hold on to the first article of the often-cited preliminary +resolution without allowing one syllable to be altered. Otherwise +nothing could save the commonwealth from dire and notorious confusion. +Above all, he entreated them to act in entire harmony and confidence with +himself and his cousin, even as they had ever done with his illustrious +father. + +Certainly the prince fully deserved the confidence of the States, as well +for his own signal services and chivalrous self-devotion, as for the +unexampled sacrifices and achievements of William the Silent. His words +had the true patriotic ring of his father's frequent and eloquent +appeals; and I have not hesitated to give these extracts from his +discourse, because comparatively few of such utterances of Maurice have +been preserved, and because it gives a vivid impression of the condition +of the republic and the state of parties at that momentous epoch. It was +not merely the fate of the United Netherlands and the question of peace +or war between the little republic and its hereditary enemy that were +upon the issue. The peace of all Christendom, the most considerable +material interests of civilization, and the highest political and moral +principles that can influence human action, were involved in those +negotiations. + +There were not wanting many to impeach the purity of the stadholder's +motives. As admiral or captain-general, he received high salaries, +besides a tenth part of all prize-money gained at sea by the fleets, +or of ransom and blackmail on land by the armies of the republic. His +profession, his ambition, his delights, were those of a soldier. As a +soldier in a great war, he was more necessary to his countrymen than he +could expect to be as a statesman in time of peace. But nothing ever +appeared in public or in private, which threw a reasonable suspicion upon +his lofty patriotism. Peace he had always believed to be difficult of +attainment. It had now been proved impossible. A truce he honestly +considered a pitfall of destruction, and he denounced it, as we have +seen, in the language of energetic conviction. He never alluded to his +pecuniary losses in case peace should be made. His disinterested +patriotism was the frequent subject of comment in the most secret letters +of the French ambassadors to the king. He had repeatedly refused +enormous offers if he would forsake the cause of the republic. The King +of France was ever ready to tempt him with bribes, such as had proved +most efficacious with men as highly born and as highly placed as a cadet +of the house of Orange-Nassau. But there is no record that Jeannin +assailed him at this crisis with such temptations, although it has not +been pretended that the prince was obdurate to the influence of Mammon +when that deity could be openly approached. + +That Maurice loved power, pelf, and war, can hardly be denied. That he +had a mounting ambition; that he thought a monarchy founded upon the +historical institutions and charters of the provinces might be better +than the burgher-aristocracy which, under the lead of Barneveld, was +establishing itself in the country; that he knew no candidate so eligible +for such a throne as his father's son, all this is highly probable and +scarcely surprising. But that such sentiments or aspirations caused him +to swerve the ninth part of a hair from what he considered the direct +path of duty; that he determined to fight out the great fight with Spain +and Rome until the States were free in form, in name, and in fact; only +that he might then usurp a sovereignty which would otherwise revert to +Philip of Spain or be snatched by Henry of Navarre--of all this there is +no proof whatever. + +The language of Lewis William to the provinces under his government was +quite as vigorous as the appeals of Maurice. + +During the brief interval remaining before the commissioners should +comply with the demands of the States or take their departure, the press +throughout the Netherlands was most active. Pamphlets fell thick as +hail. The peace party and the war party contended with each other, +over all the territory of the provinces, as vigorously as the troops +of Fuentes or Bucquoy had ever battled with the columns of Bax and +Meetkerke. The types of Blaauw and Plantin were as effective during the +brief armistice, as pike and arquebus in the field, but unfortunately +they were used by Netherlanders against each other. As a matter of +course, each party impeached the motives as well as the actions of its +antagonist. The adherents of the Advocate accused the stadholder of +desiring the continuance of the war for personal aims. They averred that +six thousand men for guarding the rivers would be necessary, in addition +to the forty-five thousand men, now kept constantly on foot. They placed +the requisite monthly expenses, if hostilities were resumed, at 800,000 +florins, while they pointed to the 27,000,000 of debt over and above the +8,000,000 due to the British crown, as a burthen under which the republic +could scarcely stagger much longer. Such figures seem modest enough, as +the price of a war of independence. + +Familiar with the gigantic budgets of our own day, we listen with +something like wonder, now that two centuries and a half have passed, +to the fierce denunciations by the war party of these figures as wilful +fictions. Science has made in that interval such gigantic strides. The +awful intellect of man may at last make war impossible for his physical +strength. He can forge but cannot wield the hammer of Thor; nor has +Science yet discovered the philosopher's stone. Without it, what +exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy? After what +has been witnessed in these latest days, the sieges and battles of that +distant epoch seem like the fights of pigmies and cranes. Already an +eighty years' war, such as once was waged, has become inconceivable. Let +two more centuries pass away, and perhaps a three weeks' campaign may +exhaust an empire. + +Meantime the war of words continued. A proclamation with penalties was +issued by the States against the epidemic plague of pamphlets or "blue- +books," as those publications were called in Holland, but with little +result. It was not deemed consistent with liberty by those republicans +to put chains on the press because its utterances might occasionally be +distasteful to magistrates. The writers, printers, and sellers of the +"blue-books" remained unpunished and snapped their fingers at the +placard. + +We have seen the strenuous exertions of the Nassaus and their adherents +by public appeals and private conversation to defeat all schemes of +truce. The people were stirred by the eloquence of the two stadholders. +They were stung to fury against Spain and against Barneveld by the +waspish effusions of the daily press. The magistrates remained calm, +and took part by considerable majorities with Barneveld. That statesman, +while exercising almost autocratic influence in the estates, became more +and more odious to the humbler classes, to the Nassaus, and especially +to the Calvinist clergy. He was denounced, as a papist, an atheist, +a traitor, because striving for an honourable peace with the foe, and +because admitting the possibility of more than one road to the kingdom of +Heaven. To doubt the infallibility of Calvin was as heinous a crime, in +the eyes of his accusers, as to kneel to the host. Peter Titelmann, half +a century earlier, dripping with the blood of a thousand martyrs, seemed +hardly a more loathsome object to all Netherlanders than the Advocate now +appeared to his political enemies, thus daring to preach religious +toleration, and boasting of, humble ignorance as the safest creed. +Alas! we must always have something to persecute, and individual man is +never so convinced of his own wisdom as when dealing with subjects beyond +human comprehension. + +Unfortunately, however, while the great Advocate was clear in his +conscience he had scarcely clean hands. He had very recently accepted a +present of twenty thousand florins from the King of France. That this +was a bribe by which his services were to be purchased for a cause not in +harmony with his own convictions it would be unjust to say. We of a +later generation, who have had the advantage of looking through the +portfolio of President Jeannin, and of learning the secret intentions of +that diplomatist and of his master, can fully understand however that +there was more than sufficient cause at the time for suspecting the +purity of the great Advocate's conduct. We are perfectly aware that the +secret instructions of Henry gave his plenipotentiaries almost unlimited +power to buy up as many influential personages in the Netherlands as +could be purchased. So they would assist in making the king master of +the United Provinces at the proper moment there was scarcely any price +that he was not willing to pay. + +Especially Prince Maurice, his cousin, and the Advocate of Holland, were +to be secured by life pensions, property, offices, and dignities, all +which Jeannin might offer to an almost unlimited amount, if by such means +those great personages could possibly be induced to perform the king's +work. + +There is no record that the president ever held out such baits at this +epoch to the prince. There could never be a doubt however in any one's +mind that if the political chief of the Orange-Nassau house ever wished +to make himself the instrument by which France should supplant Spain in +the tyranny of the Netherlands, he might always name his own price. +Jeannin never insulted him with any such trading propositions. As for +Barneveld, he avowed long years afterwards that he had accepted the +twenty thousand florins, and that the king had expressly exacted secrecy +in regard to the transaction. He declared however that the money was a +reward for public services rendered by him to the French Government ten +years before, in the course of his mission to France at the time of the +peace of Vervins. The reward had been promised in 1598, and the pledge +was fulfilled in 1608. In accepting wages fairly earned, however, he +protested that he had bound himself to no dishonourable service, and that +he had never exchanged a word with Jeannin or with any man in regard to +securing for Henry the sovereignty of the Netherlands. + +His friends moreover maintained in his defence that there were no laws in +the Netherlands forbidding citizens to accept presents or pensions from +foreign powers. Such an excuse was as bad as the accusation. Woe to the +republic whose citizens require laws to prevent them from becoming +stipendiaries of foreign potentates! If public virtue, the only +foundation of republican institutions, be so far washed away that laws in +this regard are necessary to save it from complete destruction, then +already the republic is impossible. Many who bore illustrious names, and +occupied the highest social positions at, that day in France, England, +and the obedient provinces, were as venal as cattle at a fair. Philip +and Henry had bought them over and over again, whenever either was rich +enough to purchase and strong enough to enforce the terms of sale. +Bribes were taken with both hands in overflowing measure; the difficulty +was only in obtaining the work for the wage. + +But it would have been humiliating beyond expression had the new +commonwealth, after passing through the fiery furnace of its great war, +proved no purer than leading monarchies at a most corrupt epoch. It was +no wonder therefore that men sought to wipe off the stain from the +reputation of Barneveld, and it is at least a solace that there was no +proof of his ever rendering, or ever having agreed to render, services +inconsistent with his convictions as to the best interests of the +commonwealth. It is sufficiently grave that he knew the colour of the +king's money, and that in a momentous crisis of history he accepted a +reward for former professional services, and that the broker in the +transaction, President Jeannin, seriously charged him by Henry's orders +to keep the matter secret. It would be still more dismal if Jeannin, in +his private letters, had ever intimated to Villeroy or his master that he +considered it a mercantile transaction, or if any effort had ever been +made by the Advocate to help Henry to the Batavian throne. This however +is not the case. + +In truth, neither Maurice nor Barneveld was likely to assist the French +king in his intrigues against the independence of their fatherland. Both +had higher objects of ambition than to become the humble and well-paid +servants of a foreign potentate. The stadholder doubtless dreamed of a +crown which might have been his father's, and which his own illustrious +services might be supposed to have earned for himself. If that tempting +prize were more likely to be gained by a continuance of the war, it is +none the less certain that he considered peace, and still more truce, as +fatal to the independence of the provinces. + +The Advocate, on the other hand, loved his country well. Perhaps he +loved power even better. To govern the city magistracies of Holland, +through them the provincial estates; and through them again the States- +General of the whole commonwealth; as first citizen of a republic to +wield; the powers of a king; as statesman, diplomatist, and financier, to +create a mighty empire out of those slender and but recently emancipated +provinces of Spain, was a more flattering prospect for a man of large +intellect, iron will, and infinite resources, than to sink into the +contemptible position of stipendiary to a foreign master. He foresaw +change, growth, transformation in the existing condition of things. +Those great corporations the East and West India Companies were already +producing a new organism out of the political and commercial chaos which +had been so long brooding over civilization. Visions of an imperial zone +extending from the little Batavian island around the earth, a chain of +forts and factories dotting the newly-discovered and yet undiscovered +points of vantage, on island or promontory, in every sea; a watery, +nebulous, yet most substantial empire--not fantastic, but practical--not +picturesque and mediaeval, but modern and lucrative--a world-wide +commonwealth with a half-submerged metropolis, which should rule the +ocean with its own fleets and, like Venice and Florence, job its land +wars with mercenary armies--all these dreams were not the cloudy pageant +of a poet but the practical schemes of a great creative mind. They were +destined to become reality. Had the geographical conditions been +originally more favourable than they were, had Nature been less a +stepmother to the metropolis of the rising Batavian realm, the creation +might have been more durable. Barneveld, and the men who acted with him, +comprehended their age, and with slender materials were prepared to do +great things. They did not look very far perhaps into futurity, but they +saw the vast changes already taking place, and felt the throb of forces +actually at work. + +The days were gone when the iron-clad man on horseback conquered a +kingdom with his single hand. Doubtless there is more of poetry and +romance in his deeds than in the achievements of the counting-house +aristocracy, the hierarchy of joint-stock corporations that was taking +the lead in the world's affairs. Enlarged views of the social compact +and of human liberty, as compared with those which later generations +ought to take, standing upon the graves, heaped up mountains high, of +their predecessors, could hardly be expected of them. But they knew how +to do the work before them. They had been able to smite a foreign and +sacerdotal tyranny into the dust at the expense of more blood and more +treasure, and with sacrifices continued through a longer cycle of years, +than had ever been recorded by history. + +Thus the Advocate believed that the chief fruits of the war--political +independence, religious liberty, commercial expansion--could be now +secured by diplomacy, and that a truce could be so handled as to become +equivalent to a peace. He required no bribes therefore to labour for +that which he believed to be for his own interests and for those of the +country. + +First citizen of Holland, perpetual chairman of a board of ambitious +shopkeepers who purposed to dictate laws to the world from their +counting-house table, with an unerring eye for the interests of the +commonwealth and his own, with much vision, extraordinary eloquence, +and a magnificent will, he is as good a sample of a great burgher--an +imposing not a heroic figure--as the times had seen. + +A vast stride had been taken in the world's progress. Even monopoly was +freedom compared to the sloth and ignorance of an earlier epoch and of +other lands, and although the days were still far distant when the earth +was to belong to mankind, yet the modern republic was leading, half +unconsciously, to a period of wider liberty of government, commerce, and +above all of thought. + +Meantime, the period assigned for the departure of the Spanish +commissioners, unless they brought a satisfactory communication from the +king, was rapidly approaching. + +On the 24th September Verreyken returned from Brussels, but it was soon +known that he came empty handed. He informed the French and English +ambassadors that the archdukes, on their own responsibility, now +suggested the conclusion of a truce of seven years for Europe only. This +was to be negotiated with the States-General as with free people, over +whom no pretensions of authority were made, and the hope was expressed +that the king would give his consent to this arrangement. + +The ambassadors naturally refused to carry the message to the States. To +make themselves the mouthpieces of such childish suggestions was to bring +themselves and their masters into contempt. There had been trifling +enough, and even Jeannin saw that the storm of indignation about to burst +forth would be irresistible. There was no need of any attempt on the +part of the commissioners to prolong their stay if this was the result of +the fifteen days' grace which had so reluctantly been conceded to them. +To express a hope that the king might perhaps give his future approval to +a proceeding for which his signed and sealed consent had been exacted as +an indispensable preliminary, was carrying effrontery further than had +yet been attempted in these amazing negotiations. + +Prince Maurice once more addressed the cities of Holland, giving vent to +his wrath in language with which there was now more sympathy than there +had been before. "Verreyken has come back," he said, "not with a +signature, but with a hope. The longer the enemy remains in the country +the more he goes back from what he had originally promised. He is +seeking for nothing more than, in this cheating way and in this pretence +of waiting for the king's consent--which we have been expecting now for +more than eighteen months--to continue the ruinous armistice. Thus he +keeps the country in a perpetual uncertainty, the only possible +consequence of which is our complete destruction. We adjure you +therefore to send a resolution in conformity with our late address, in +order that through these tricks and snares the fatherland may not fall +into the clutch of the enemy, and thus into eternal and intolerable +slavery. God save us all from such a fate!" + +Neither Barneveld nor Jeannin attempted to struggle against the almost +general indignation. The deputies of Zeeland withdrew from the assembly +of the States-General, protesting that they would never appear there +again so long as the Spanish commissioners remained in the country. The +door was opened wide, and it was plain that those functionaries must take +their departure. Pride would not allow them to ask permission of the +States to remain, although they intimated to the ambassadors their +intense desire to linger for ten or twelve days longer. This was +obviously inadmissible, and on the 30th September they appeared before +the Assembly to take leave. + +There were but three of them, the Genoese, the Spaniard, and the +Burgundian--Spinola, Mancicidor; and Richardot. Of the two +Netherlanders, brother John was still in Spain, and Verreyken found it +convenient that day to have a lame leg. + +President Richardot, standing majestically before the States-General, +with his robes wrapped around his tall, spare form, made a solemn +farewell speech of mingled sorrow, pity, and the resentment of injured +innocence. They had come to the Hague, he said, sent by the King of +Spain and the archdukes to treat for a good and substantial peace, +according to the honest intention of his Majesty and their Highnesses. +To this end they had sincerely and faithfully dealt with the gentlemen +deputed for that purpose by their High Mightinesses the States, doing +everything they could think of to further the cause of peace. They +lamented that the issue had not been such as they had hoped, +notwithstanding that the king and archdukes had so far derogated +from their reputation as to send their commissioners into the United +Netherlands, it having been easy enough to arrange for negotiations on +other soil. It had been their wish thus to prove to the world how +straightforward were their intentions by not requiring the States to send +deputies to them. They had accorded the first point in the negotiations, +touching the free state of the country. Their High Mightinesses had +taken offence upon the second, regarding the restoration of religion in +the United Provinces. Thereupon the father commissary had gone to Spain, +and had remained longer than was agreeable. Nevertheless, they had +meantime treated of other points. Coming back at last to the point of +religion, the States-General had taken a resolution, and had given them +their dismissal, without being willing to hear a word more, or to make a +single proposition of moderation or accommodation. + +He could not refrain from saying that the commissioners had been treated +roughly. Their High Mightinesses had fixed the time for their dismissal +more precisely than one would do with a servant who was discharged for +misconduct; for the lackey, if he asked for it, would be allowed at least +a day longer to pack his trunk for the journey. They protested before +God and the assembly of the States that the king and princes had meant +most sincerely, and had dealt with all roundness and sincerity. They at +least remained innocent of all the disasters and calamities to come from +the war. + +"As for myself," said Richardot, "I am no prophet, nor the son of a +prophet; yet I will venture the prediction to you, my lords the States- +General, that you will bitterly rue it that you did not embrace the peace +thus presented, and which you might have had. The blood which is +destined to flow, now that you have scorned our plan of reconciliation, +will be not on our heads but your own." + +Barneveld replied by temperately but firmly repelling the charges brought +against the States in this artful oration of the president. They had +proceeded in the most straightforward manner, never permitting themselves +to enter into negotiations except on the preliminary condition that their +freedom should be once for all conceded and recognised. "You and you +only," he continued, "are to bear the blame that peace has not been +concluded; you who have not been willing or not been able to keep your +promises. One might, with better reason, hold you guilty of all the +bloodshed; you whose edicts, bloodier and more savage than war itself, +long, ago forced these provinces into the inevitable necessity of waging +war; you whose cruelty, but yesterday exercised on the crews of +defenceless and innocent merchantmen and fishing-vessels, +has been fully exhibited to the world." + +Spinola's countenance betrayed much emotion as he listened to the +exchange of bitter recriminations which took place on this farewell +colloquy. It was obvious that the brave and accomplished soldier +honestly lamented the failure of the attempt to end the war. + +But the rupture was absolute. The marquis and the president dined that +day with Prince Maurice, by whom they were afterwards courteously +accompanied a part of the way on their journey to Brussels. + +Thus ended the comedy which had lasted nearly two years. The dismal +leave-taking, as the curtain fell, was not as, entertaining to the public +outside as the dramatic meeting between Maurice and Spinola had been at +the opening scene near Ryswyk. There was no populace to throw up their +hats for the departing guests. From the winter's night in which the +subtle Franciscan had first stolen into the prince's cabinet down to this +autumn evening, not a step of real progress could be recorded as the +result of the intolerable quantity of speech-making and quill-driving. +There were boat-loads of documents, protocols, and notes, drowsy and +stagnant as the canals on which they were floated off towards their tombs +in the various archives. Peace to the dust which we have not wantonly +disturbed, believing it to be wholesome for the cause of human progress +that the art of ruling the world by doing nothing, as practised some +centuries since, should once and again be exhibited. + +Not in vain do we listen to those long-bearded, venerable, very tedious +old presidents, advocates, and friars of orders gray, in their high +ruffs, taffety robes or gowns of frieze, as they squeak and gibber, +for a fleeting moment, to a world which knew them not. It is something +to learn that grave statesmen, kings, generals, and presidents could +negotiate for two years long; and that the only result should be the +distinction between a conjunction, a preposition, and an adverb. That +the provinces should be held as free States, not for free States--that +they should be free in similitude, not in substance--thus much and no +more had been accomplished. + +And now to all appearance every chance of negotiation was gone. The +half-century war, after this brief breathing space, was to be renewed +for another century or so, and more furiously than ever. So thought the +public. So meant Prince Maurice. Richardot and Jeannin knew better. + +The departure of the commissioners was recorded upon the register of the +resolutions of Holland, with the ominous note: "God grant that they may +not have sown, evil seed here; the effects of which will one day be +visible in the ruin of this commonwealth." + +Hardly were the backs of the commissioners turned, before the +indefatigable Jeannin was ready with his scheme for repatching the +rupture. He was at first anxious that the deputies of Zeeland should be +summoned again, now that the country was rid of the Spaniards. Prince +Maurice, however, was wrathful when the president began to talk once more +of truce. The proposition, he said, was simply the expression of a +wish to destroy the State. Holland and Zeeland would never agree to any +such measure, and they would find means to compel the other provinces to +follow their example. If there were but three or four cities in the +whole country to reject the truce, he would, with their assistance alone, +defend the freedom of the republic, or at least die an honourable death +in its defence. This at least would be better than after a few months to +become slaves of Spain. Such a result was the object of those who began +this work, but he would resist it at the peril of his life. + +A singular incident now seemed to justify the wrath of the stadholder, +and to be likely to strengthen his party. Young Count John of Nassau +happened to take possession of the apartments in Goswyn Meursken's +hostelry at the Hague, just vacated by Richardot. In the drawer of a +writing-table was found a document, evidently left there by the +president. This paper was handed by Count John to his cousin, Frederic +Henry, who at once delivered it to his brother Maurice. The prince +produced it in the assembly of the States-General, members from each +province were furnished with a copy of it within two or three hours, +and it was soon afterwards printed, and published. The document, being +nothing less than the original secret instructions of the archdukes to +their commissioners, was naturally read with intense interest by the +States-General, by the foreign envoys, and by the general public. + +It appeared, from an inspection of the paper, that the commissioners had +been told that, if they should find the French, English, and Danish +ambassadors desirous of being present at the negotiations for the treaty, +they were to exclude them from all direct participation in the +proceedings. They were to do this however so sweetly and courteously +that it would be impossible for those diplomats to take offence or to +imagine themselves distrusted. On the contrary, the States-General were +to be informed that their communication in private on the general subject +with the ambassadors was approved by the archdukes, because they believed +the sovereigns of France, England, and Denmark, their sincere and +affectionate friends. The commissioners were instructed to domesticate +themselves as much as possible with President Jeannin and to manifest the +utmost confidence in his good intentions. They were to take the same +course with the English envoys, but in more general terms, and were very +discreetly to communicate to them whatever they already knew, and, on the +other hand, carefully to conceal from them all that was still a secret. + +They were distinctly told to make the point of the Catholic religion +first and foremost in the negotiations; the arguments showing the +indispensable necessity of securing its public exercise in the United +Provinces being drawn up with considerable detail. They were to insist +that the republic should absolutely renounce the trade with the East and +West Indies, and should pledge itself to chastise such of its citizens as +might dare to undertake those voyages, as disturbers of the peace and +enemies of the public repose, whether they went to the Indies in person +or associated themselves with men of other nations for that purpose, +under any pretext whatever. When these points, together with many +matters of detail less difficult of adjustment, had been satisfactorily +settled, the commissioners were to suggest measures of union for the +common defence between the united and the obedient Provinces. This +matter was to be broached very gently. "In the sweetest terms possible," +it was to be hinted that the whole body of the Netherlanders could +protect itself against every enemy, but if dismembered as it was about +to be, neither the one portion nor the ocher would be safe. The +commissioners were therefore to request the offer of some proposition +from the States-General for the common defence. In case they remained +silent, however, then the commissioners were to declare that the +archdukes had no wish to speak of sovereignty over the United Provinces, +however limited. "Having once given them that morsel to swallow," said +their Highnesses, "we have nothing of the kind in our thoughts. But if +they reflect, it is possible that they may see fit to take us for +protectors." + +The scheme was to be managed with great discreetness and delicacy, and +accomplished by hook or by crook, if the means could be found. "You need +not be scrupulous as to the form or law of protection, provided the name +of protector can be obtained," continued the archdukes. + +At least the greatest pains were to be taken that the two sections of the +Netherlands might remain friends. "We are in great danger unless we rely +upon each other," it was urged. "But touch this chord very gently, lest +the French and English hearing of it suspect some design to injure them. +At least we may each mutually agree to chastise such of our respective +subjects as may venture to make any alliance with the enemies of the +other." + +It was much disputed whether these instructions had been left purposely +or by accident in the table-drawer. Jeannin could not make up his mind +whether it was a trick or not, and the vociferous lamentations of +Richardot upon his misfortunes made little impression upon his mind. +He had small confidence in any austerity of principle on the part of his +former fellow-leaguer that would prevent him from leaving the document by +stealth, and then protesting that he had been foully wronged by its +coming to light. On the whole, he was inclined to think, however, +that the paper had been stolen from him. + +Barneveld, after much inquiry, was convinced that it had been left in the +drawer by accident. + +Richardot himself manifested rage and dismay when he found that a paper, +left by chance in his lodgings, had been published by the States. Such a +proceeding was a violation, he exclaimed, of the laws of hospitality. +With equal justice, he declared it to be an offence against the religious +respect due to ambassadors, whose persons and property were sacred in +foreign countries. "Decency required the States," he said, "to send the +document back to him, instead of showing it as a trophy, and he was ready +to die of shame and vexation at the unlucky incident." + +Few honourable men will disagree with him in these complaints, although +many contemporaries obstinately refused to believe that the crafty and +experienced diplomatist could have so carelessly left about his most +important archives. He was generally thought by those who had most dealt +with him, to prefer, on principle, a crooked path to a straight one. +"'Tis a mischievous old monkey," said Villeroy on another occasion, "that +likes always to turn its tail instead of going directly to the purpose." +The archduke, however, was very indulgent to his plenipotentiary. "My +good master," said the, president, "so soon as he learned the loss of +that accursed paper, benignantly consoled, instead of chastising me; and, +after having looked over the draught, was glad that the accident had +happened; for thus his sincerity had been proved, and those who sought +profit by the trick had been confounded." On the other hand, what good +could it do to the cause of peace, that these wonderful instructions +should be published throughout the republic? They might almost seem a +fiction, invented by the war party to inspire a general disgust for any +further negotiation. Every loyal Netherlander would necessarily be +qualmish at the word peace, now that the whole design of the Spanish +party was disclosed. + +The public exercise of the Roman religion was now known to be the +indispensable condition--first, last, and always--to any possible peace. +Every citizen of the republic was to be whipped out of the East and West +Indies, should he dare to show his face in those regions. The States- +General, while swallowing the crumb of sovereignty vouchsafed by the +archdukes, were to accept them as protectors, in order not to fall +a prey to the enemies whom they imagined to be their friends. + +What could be more hopeless than such negotiations? What more dreary +than the perpetual efforts of two lines to approach each other which were +mathematically incapable of meeting? That the young republic, conscious +of her daily growing strength, should now seek refuge from her nobly won +independence in the protectorate of Albert, who was himself the vassal of +Philip, was an idea almost inconceivable to the Dutch mind. Yet so +impossible was it for the archdukes to put themselves into human +relations with this new and popular Government, that in the inmost +recesses of their breasts they actually believed themselves, when making +the offer, to be performing a noble act of Christian charity. + +The efforts of Jeannin and of the English ambassador were now +unremitting, and thoroughly seconded by Barneveld. Maurice was almost +at daggers drawn, not only with the Advocate but with the foreign envoys. +Sir Ralph Winwood, who had, in virtue of the old treaty arrangements with +England, a seat in the state-council at the Hague, and who was a man of a +somewhat rough and insolent deportment, took occasion at a session of +that body, when the prince was present, to urge the necessity of at once +resuming the ruptured negotiations. The King of Great Britain; he said, +only recommended a course which he was himself always ready to pursue. +Hostilities which were necessary, and no others, were just. Such, and +such only, could be favoured by God or by pious kings. But wars were not +necessary which could be honourably avoided. A truce was not to be +despised, by which religious liberty and commerce were secured, and it +was not the part of wisdom to plunge into all the horrors of immediate +war in order to escape distant and problematical dangers; that might +arise when the truce should come to an end. If a truce were now made, +the kings of both France and England would be guarantees for its faithful +observance. They would take care that no wrong or affront was offered +to the States-General. + +Maurice replied, with a sneer, to these sententious commonplaces +derived at second-hand from King James that great kings were often very +indifferent to injuries sustained by their friends. Moreover, there was +an eminent sovereign, he continued, who was even very patient under +affronts directly offered to himself. It was not very long since a +horrible plot had been discovered to murder the King of England, with his +wife, his children, and all the great personages of the realm. That this +great crime had been attempted under the immediate instigation of the +King of Spain was notorious to the whole world, and certainly no secret +to King James. Yet his Britannic Majesty had made haste to exonerate the +great criminal from all complicity in the crime; and had ever since been +fawning upon the Catholic king, and hankering for a family alliance with +him. Conduct like this the prince denounced in plain terms as cringing +and cowardly, and expressed the opinion that guarantees of Dutch +independence from such a monarch could hardly be thought very valuable. + +These were terrible words for the representative of James to have hurled +in his face in full council by the foremost personage of the republic +Winwood fell into a furious passion, and of course there was a violent +scene, with much subsequent protesting and protocolling. + +The British king insisted that the prince should make public amends for +the insult, and Maurice firmly refused to do anything of the kind. The +matter was subsequently arranged by some amicable concessions made by the +prince in a private letter to James, but there remained for the time a +abate of alienation between England and the republic, at which the French +sincerely rejoiced. The incident, however, sufficiently shows the point +of exasperation which the prince had reached, for, although choleric, he +was a reasonable man, and it was only because the whole course of the +negotiations had offended his sense of honour and of right that he had at +last been driven quite beyond self-control. + +On the 13th of October, the envoys of France, England, Denmark, and +of the Elector Palatine, the Elector of Brandeburg, and other German +princes, came before the States-General. + +Jeannin, in the name of all these foreign ministers, made a speech warmly +recommending the truce. + +He repelled the insinuation that the measure proposed had been brought +about by the artifices of the enemy, and was therefore odious. On the +contrary, it was originated by himself and the other good friends of the +republic. + +In his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient +guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce, +but for ever. + +No stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than +the one given. It was entirely without example, argued the president, +that in similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after +having been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon +their rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had +absolutely fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely +at their mercy. "Yet the princes who made this great concession," +continued Jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced +by dire necessity to yield what they have yielded." + +He reminded the assembly that the Swiss enjoyed at that moment their +liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from +their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the +United Provinces. + +The president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that +it was beneath the dignity of the States, and inconsistent with their +consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by +which their liberty was recognised. That freedom had been won by the +sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword. + +"In truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it +so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from +your enemies a title-deed for your independence. You hold it by your own +public decree. In virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of +your arms, you have enjoyed it long. Nor could anything obtained from +your enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained +your liberty could not still preserve it for you." + +Therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding +a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a +pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated +peace. + +Addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of +Prince Maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the +liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles +as if the words "for ever" had been added. "To acknowledge liberty is an +act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed, +with considerable force. + +The president proceeded to say that in the original negotiations the +qualifications obtained had seemed to him enough. As there was an ardent +desire, however, on the part of many for a more explicit phraseology, as +something necessary to the public safety, he had thought it worth +attempting. + +"We all rejoiced when you obtained it," continued Jeannin, "but not +when they agreed to renounce the names, titles, and arms of the United +Provinces; for that seemed to us shameful for them beyond all example. +That princes should make concessions so entirely unworthy of their +grandeur, excited at once our suspicion, for we could not imagine the +cause of an offer so specious. We have since found out the reason." + +The archdukes being unable, accordingly, to obtain for the truce those +specious conditions which Spain had originally pretended to yield, it was +the opinion of the old diplomatist that the king should be permitted to +wear the paste substitutes about which so many idle words had been +wasted. + +It would be better, he thought, for the States to be contented with what +was precious and substantial, and not to lose the occasion of making a +good treaty of truce, which was sure to be converted with time into an +absolute peace. + +"It is certain," he said, "that the princes with whom you are treating +will never go to law with you to get an exposition of the article in +question. After the truce has expired, they will go to war with you if +you like, but they will not trouble themselves to declare whether they +are fighting you as rebels or as enemies, nor will it very much signify. +If their arms are successful, they will give you no explanations. If you +are the conquerors, they will receive none. The fortune of war will be +the supreme judge to decide the dispute; not the words of a treaty. +Those words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak and +the vanquished, although they may be so perfectly clear that no man could +doubt them; never to the prejudice of those who have proved the validity +of their rights by the strength of their arms." + +This honest, straightforward cynicism, coming from the lips of one +of the most experienced diplomatists of Europe, was difficult to gainsay. +Speaking as one having authority, the president told the States-General +in full assembly, that there was no law in Christendom, as between +nations, but the good old fist-law, the code of brute force. + +Two centuries and a half have rolled by since that oration was +pronounced, and the world has made immense progress in science during +that period. But there is still room for improvement in this regard in +the law of nations. Certainly there is now a little more reluctance to +come so nakedly before the world. But has the cause of modesty or +humanity gained very much by the decorous fig-leaves of modern diplomacy? + +The president alluded also to the ungrounded fears that bribery and +corruption would be able to effect much, during the truce, towards the +reduction of the provinces under their repudiated sovereign. After all, +it was difficult to buy up a whole people. In a commonwealth, where the +People was sovereign, and the persons of the magistrates ever changing, +those little comfortable commercial operations could not be managed so +easily as in civilized realms like France and England. The old Leaguer +thought with pensive regret, no doubt, of the hard, but still profitable +bargains by which the Guises and Mayennes and Mercoeurs, and a few +hundred of their noble adherents, had been brought over to the cause +of the king. He sighed at the more recent memories of the Marquis de +Rosny's embassy in England, and his largess scattered broadcast among the +great English lords. It would be of little use he foresaw--although the +instructions of Henry were in his portfolio, giving him almost unlimited +powers to buy up everybody in the Netherlands that could be bought--to +attempt that kind of traffic on a large scale in the Netherlands. + +Those republicans were greedy enough about the navigation to the East and +West Indies, and were very litigious about the claim of Spain to put up +railings around the Ocean as her private lake, but they were less keen +than were their more polished contemporaries for the trade in human +souls. + +"When we consider, "said Jeannin, "the constitution of your State, and +that to corrupt a few people among you does no good at all, because the, +frequent change of magistracies takes away the means of gaining over many +of them at the same time, capable by a long duration of their power to +conduct an intrigue against the commonwealth, this fear must appear +wholly vain." + +And then the old Leaguer, who had always refused bribes himself, although +he had negotiated much bribery of others, warmed into sincere eloquence +as he spoke of the simple virtues on which the little republic, as should +be the case with all republics, was founded. He did homage to the Dutch +love of liberty. + +"Remember," he said, "the love of liberty which is engraved in the hearts +of all your inhabitants, and that there are few persons now living who +were born in the days of the ancient subjection, or who have not been +nourished and brought up for so long a time in liberty that they have a +horror for the very name of servitude. You will then feel that there is +not one man in your commonwealth who would wish or dare to open his mouth +to bring you back to subjection, without being in danger of instant +punishment as a traitor to his country." + +He again reminded his hearers that the Swiss had concluded a long and +perilous war with their ancient masters by a simple truce, during which +they had established so good a government that they were never more +attacked. Honest republican principles, and readiness at any moment to +defend dearly won liberties, had combined with geographical advantages +to secure the national independence of Switzerland. + +Jeannin paid full tribute to the maritime supremacy of the republic. + +"You may have as much good fortune," he said, "as the Swiss, if you are +wise. You have the ocean at your side, great navigable rivers enclosing +you in every direction, a multitude of ships, with sailors, pilots, and +seafaring men of every description, who are the very best soldiers in +battles at sea to be found in Christendom. With these you will preserve +your military vigour and your habits of navigation, the long voyages to +which you are accustomed continuing as usual. And such is the kind of +soldiers you require. As for auxiliaries, should you need them you know +where to find them." + +The president implored the States-General accordingly to pay no attention +to the writings which were circulated among the people to prejudice them +against the truce. + +This was aimed directly at the stadholder, who had been making so many +direct personal appeals to the people, and who was now the more incensed, +recognising the taunt of the president as an arrow taken from Barneveld's +quiver. There had long ceased to be any communication between the Prince +and the Advocate, and Maurice made no secret of his bitter animosity both +to Barneveld and to Jeannin. + +He hesitated on no occasion to denounce the Advocate as travelling +straight on the road to Spain, and although he was not aware of the +twenty thousand florins recently presented by the French king, he had +accustomed himself, with the enormous exaggeration of party spirit, to +look upon the first statesman of his country and of Europe as a traitor +to the republic and a tool of the archdukes. As we look back upon those +passionate days, we cannot but be appalled at the depths to which +theological hatred could descend. + +On the very morning after the session of the assembly in which Jeannin +had been making his great speech, and denouncing the practice of secret +and incendiary publication, three remarkable letters were found on the +doorstep of a house in the Hague. One was addressed to the States- +General, another to the Mates of Holland, and a third to the burgomaster +of Amsterdam. In all these documents, the Advocate was denounced as an +infamous traitor, who was secretly intriguing to bring about a truce for +the purpose of handing over the commonwealth to the enemy. A shameful +death, it was added, would be his fitting reward. + +These letters were read in the Assembly of the States-General, and +created great wrath among the friends of Barneveld. Even Maurice +expressed indignation, and favoured a search for the anonymous author, in +order that he might be severely punished. + +It seems strange enough that anonymous letters picked up in the street +should have been deemed a worthy theme of discussion before their High +Mightinesses the States-General. Moreover, it was raining pamphlets and +libels against Barneveld and his supporters every day, and the stories +which grave burghers and pious elders went about telling to each other, +and to everybody who would listen to them, about the Advocate's +depravity, were wonderful to hear. + +At the end of September, just before the Spanish commissioners left the +Hague, a sledge of the kind used in the Dutch cities as drays stopped +before Barneveld's front-door one fine morning, and deposited several +large baskets, filled with money, sent by the envoys for defraying +certain expenses of forage, hire of servants, and the like, incurred by +them during their sojourn at the Hague, and disbursed by the States. The +sledge, with its contents, was at once sent by order of the Advocate, +under guidance of Commissary John Spronsen, to the Receiver-General of +the republic. + +Yet men wagged their beards dismally as they whispered this fresh proof +of Barneveld's venality. As if Spinola and his colleagues were such +blunderers in bribing as to send bushel baskets full of Spanish dollars +on a sledge, in broad daylight, to the house of a great statesman whom +they meant to purchase, expecting doubtless a receipt in full to be +brought back by the drayman! Well might the Advocate say at a later +moment, in the bitterness of his spirit, that his enemies, not satisfied +with piercing his heart with their false, injurious and honour-filching +libels and stories, were determined to break it. "He begged God +Almighty," he said, "to be merciful to him, and to judge righteously +between him and them." + +Party spirit has rarely run higher in any commonwealth than in Holland +during these memorable debates concerning a truce. Yet the leaders both +of the war party and the truce party were doubtless pure, determined +patriots, seeking their country's good with all their souls and strength. + +Maurice answered the discourse of Jeannin by a second and very elaborate +letter. In this circular, addressed to the magistracies of Holland, he +urged his countrymen once more with arguments already employed by him, +and in more strenuous language than ever, to beware of a truce even more +than of a peace, and warned them not to swerve by a hair's breadth from +the formula in regard to the sovereignty agreed upon at the very +beginning of the negotiations. To this document was appended a paper +of considerations, drawn up by Maurice and Lewis William, in refutation, +point by point, of all the arguments of President Jeannin in his late +discourse. + +It is not necessary to do more than allude to these documents, which were +marked by the close reasoning and fiery spirit which characterized all +the appeals of the prince and his cousin at this period, because the time +had now come which comes to all controversies when argument is exhausted +and either action or compromise begins. + +Meantime, Barneveld, stung almost to madness by the poisonous though +ephemeral libels which buzzed so perpetually about him, had at last +resolved to retire from the public service. He had been so steadily +denounced as being burthensome to his superiors in birth by the power +which he had acquired, and to have shot up so far above the heads of his +equals; that he felt disposed to withdraw from a field where his presence +was becoming odious. + +His enemies, of course, considered this determination a trick by which +he merely wished to prove to the country how indispensable he was, and +to gain a fresh lease of his almost unlimited power by the alarm which +his proposed abdication would produce. Certainly, however, if it were a +trick, and he were not indispensable, it was easy enough to prove it and +to punish him by taking him at his word. + +On the morning after the anonymous letters had been found in the street +he came into the House of Assembly and made a short speech. He spoke +simply of his thirty-one years of service, during which he believed +himself to have done his best for the good of the fatherland and for +the welfare of the house of Nassau. He had been ready thus to go on +to the end, but he saw himself environed by enemies, and felt that his +usefulness had been destroyed. He wished, therefore, in the interest of +the country, not from any fear for himself, to withdraw from the storm, +and for a time at least to remain in retirement. The displeasure and +hatred of the great were nothing new to him, he said. He had never +shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all +calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. +But he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made +still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. He begged the +provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than +himself to provide for the public welfare. + +Having said these few words with the dignity which was natural to him he +calmly walked out of the Assembly House. + +The personal friends of Barneveld and the whole truce party were in +consternation. Even the enemies of the Advocate shrank appalled at the +prospect of losing the services of the foremost statesman of the +commonwealth at this critical juncture. There was a brief and animated +discussion as soon as his back was turned. Its result was the +appointment of a committee of five to wait upon Barneveld and solemnly to +request him to reconsider his decision. Their efforts were successful. +After a satisfactory interview with the committee he resumed his +functions with greater authority than ever. Of course there were not +wanting many to whisper that the whole proceeding had been a comedy, and +that Barneveld would have been more embarrassed than he had ever been in +his life had his resignation been seriously accepted. But this is easy +to say, and is always said, whenever a statesman who feels himself +aggrieved, yet knows himself useful, lays dawn his office. The Advocate +had been the mark of unceasing and infamous calumnies. He had incurred +the deadly hatred of the highest placed, the most powerful, and the most +popular man in the commonwealth. He had more than once been obliged to +listen to opprobrious language from the prince, and it was even whispered +that he had been threatened with personal violence. That Maurice was +perpetually denouncing him in public and private, as a traitor, a papist, +a Spanish partisan, was notorious. He had just been held up to the +States of the union and of his own province by unknown voices as a +criminal worthy of death. Was it to be wondered at that a man of sixty, +who had passed his youth, manhood, and old age in the service of the +republic, and was recognised by all as the ablest, the most experienced, +the most indefatigable of her statesmen, should be seriously desirous of +abandoning an office which might well seem to him rather a pillory than a +post of honour? + +"As for neighbour Barneveld," said recorder Aerssens, little dreaming of +the foul witness he was to bear against that neighbour at a terrible +moment to come, "I do what I can and wish to help him with my blood. He +is more courageous than I. I should have sunk long ago, had I been +obliged to stand against such tempests. The Lord God will, I hope, help +him and direct his understanding for the good of all Christendom, and for +his own honour. If he can steer this ship into a safe harbour we ought +to raise a golden statue of him. I should like to contribute my mite to +it. He deserves twice much honour, despite all his enemies, of whom he +has many rather from envy than from reason. May the Lord keep him in +health, or it will go hardly with us all." + +Thus spoke some of his grateful countrymen when the Advocate was +contending at a momentous crisis with storms threatening to overwhelm +the republic. Alas! where is the golden statue? + +He believed that the truce was the most advantageous measure that the +country could adopt. He believed this with quite as much sincerity as +Maurice held to his conviction that war was the only policy. In the +secret letter of the French ambassador there is not a trace of suspicion +as to his fidelity to the commonwealth, not the shadow of proof of the +ridiculous accusation that he wished to reduce the provinces to the +dominion of Spain. Jeannin, who had no motive for concealment in his +confidential correspondence with his sovereign, always rendered +unequivocal homage to the purity and patriotism of the Advocate and the +Prince. + +He returned to the States-General and to the discharge of his functions +as Advocate-General of Holland. His policy for the time was destined to +be triumphant, his influence more extensive than ever. But the end of +these calumnies and anonymous charges was not yet. + +Meantime the opposition to the truce was confined to the States of +Zeeland and two cities of Holland. Those cities were very important +ones, Amsterdam and Delft, but they were already wavering in their +opposition. Zeeland stoutly maintained that the treaty of Utrecht +forbade a decision of the question of peace and war except by a unanimous +vote of the whole confederacy. The other five provinces and the friends +of the truce began with great vehemence to declare that the question at +issue was now changed. It was no longer to be decided whether there +should be truce or war with Spain, but whether a single member of the +confederacy could dictate its law to the other six States. Zeeland, on +her part, talked loudly of seceding from the union, and setting up for an +independent, sovereign commonwealth. She would hardly have been a very +powerful one, with her half-dozen cities, one prelate, one nobleman, her +hundred thousand burghers at most, bustling and warlike as they were, and +her few thousand mariners, although the most terrible fighting men that +had ever sailed on blue water. She was destined ere long to abandon her +doughty resolution of leaving her sister provinces to their fate. + +Maurice had not slackened in his opposition to the truce, despite the +renewed vigour with which Barneveld pressed the measure since his return +to the public councils. The prince was firmly convinced that the kings +of France and England would assist the republic in the war with Spain so +soon as it should be renewed. His policy had been therefore to force the +hand of those sovereigns, especially that of Henry, and to induce him to +send more stringent instructions to Jeannin than those with which he +believed him to be furnished. He had accordingly despatched a secret +emissary to the French king, supplied with confidential and explicit +instructions. This agent was a Captain Lambert. Whether it was "Pretty +Lambert," "Dandy Lambert"--the vice-admiral who had so much distinguished +himself at the great victory of Gibraltar--does not distinctly appear. +If it were so, that hard-hitting mariner would seem to have gone into +action with the French Government as energetically as he had done +eighteen months before, when, as master of the Tiger, he laid himself +aboard the Spanish admiral and helped send the St. Augustine to the +bottom. He seemed indisposed to mince matters in diplomacy. He +intimated to the king and his ministers that Jeannin and his colleagues +were pushing the truce at the Hague much further and faster than his +Majesty could possibly approve, and that they were obviously exceeding +their instructions. Jeannin, who was formerly so much honoured and +cherished throughout the republic, was now looked upon askance because +of his intimacy with Barneveld and his partisans. He assured the king +that nearly all the cities of Holland, and the whole of Zeeland, were +entirely agreed with Maurice, who would rather die than consent to the +proposed truce. The other provinces, added Lambert, would be obliged, +will ye nill ye, to receive the law from Holland and Zeeland. Maurice, +without assistance from France or any other power, would give Spain and +the archdukes as much exercise as they could take for the next fifty +years before he would give up, and had declared that he would rather die +sword in hand than basely betray his country by consenting to such a +truce. As for Barneveld, he was already discovering the blunders which +he had made, and was trying to curry favour with Maurice. Barneveld and +both the Aprasens were traitors to the State, had become the objects of +general hatred and contempt, and were in great danger of losing their +lives, or at least of being expelled from office. + +Here was altogether too much zeal on the part of Pretty Lambert; a +quality which, not for the first time, was thus proved to be less useful +in diplomatic conferences than in a sea-fight. Maurice was obliged to +disavow his envoy, and to declare that his secret instructions had never +authorized him to hold such language. But the mischief was done. The +combustion in the French cabinet was terrible. The Dutch admiral had +thrown hot shot into the powder-magazine of his friends, and had done no +more good by such tactics than might be supposed. Such diplomacy was +denounced as a mere mixture of "indiscretion and impudence." Henry was +very wroth, and forthwith indited an imperious letter to his cousin +Maurice. + +"Lambert's talk to me by your orders," said the king, "has not less +astonished than scandalized me. I now learn the new resolution which +you have taken, and I observe that you have begun to entertain suspicions +as to my will and my counsels on account of the proposition of truce." + +Henry's standing orders to Jeannin, as we know, were to offer Maurice a +pension of almost unlimited amount, together with ample rewards to all +such of his adherents as could be purchased, provided they would bring +about the incorporation of the United Provinces into France. He was +therefore full of indignation that the purity of his intentions and the +sincerity of his wish for the independence of the republic could be +called in question. + +"People have dared to maliciously invent," he continued, "that I am the +enemy of the repose and the liberty of the United Provinces, and that I +was afraid lest they should acquire the freedom which had been offered +them by their enemies, because I derived a profit from their war, and +intended in time to deprive them of their liberty. Yet these falsehoods +and jealousies have not been contradicted by you nor by anyone else, +although you know that the proofs of my sincerity and good faith have +been entirely without reproach or example. You knew what was said, +written, and published everywhere, and I confess that when I knew this +malice, and that you had not taken offence at it, I was much amazed and +very malcontent." + +Queen Elizabeth, in her most waspish moods, had not often lectured the +States-General more roundly than Henry now lectured his cousin Maurice. + +The king once more alluded to the secret emissary's violent talk, which +had so much excited his indignation. + +"If by weakness and want of means," he said, "you are forced to abandon +to your enemies one portion of your country in order to defend the other- +as Lambert tells me you are resolved to do, rather than agree to the +truce without recognition of your sovereignty for ever--I pray you to +consider how many accidents and reproaches may befal you. Do you suppose +that any ally of the States, or of your family, would risk his reputation +and his realms in such a game, which would seem to be rather begun in +passion and despair than required by reason or necessity?" + +Here certainly was plain speaking enough, and Maurice could no longer +expect the king for his partner, should he decide to risk once more the +bloody hazard of the die. + +But Henry was determined to leave no shade of doubt on the subject. + +"Lambert tells me," he said, "that you would rather perish with arms in +your hands than fall shamefully into inevitable ruin by accepting truce. +I have been and am of a contrary opinion. Perhaps I am mistaken, not +knowing as well as you do the constitution of your country and the wishes +of your people. But I know the general affairs of Christendom better +than you do, and I can therefore judge more soundly on the whole matter +than you can, and I know that the truce, established and guaranteed as +proposed, will bring you more happiness than you can derive from war." + +Thus the king, in the sweeping, slashing way with which he could handle +an argument as well as a sword, strode forward in conscious strength, +cutting down right and left all opposition to his will. He was +determined, once for all, to show the stadholder and his adherents that +the friendship of a great king was not to be had by a little republic on +easy terms, nor every day. Above all, the Prince of Nassau was not to +send a loud-talking, free and easy Dutch sea-captain to dictate terms to +the King of France and Navarre. "Lambert tells me"--and Maurice might +well wish that Pretty Lambert had been sunk in the bay of Gibraltar, +Tiger and all, before he had been sent on this diplomatic errand, +"Lambert tells me," continued his Majesty, "that you and the States- +General would rather that I should remain neutral, and let you make war +in your own fashion, than that I should do anything more to push on this +truce. My cousin, it would be very easy for me, and perhaps more +advantageous for me and my kingdom than you think, if I could give you +this satisfaction, whatever might be the result. If I chose to follow +this counsel, I am, thanks be to God, in such condition, that I have no +neighbour who is not as much in need of me as I can be of him, and who is +not glad to seek for and to preserve my friendship. If they should all +conspire against me moreover, I can by myself, and with no assistance but +heaven's, which never failed me yet, wrestle with them altogether, and +fling them all, as some of my royal predecessors have done. Know then, +that I do not favour war nor truce for the United Provinces because of +any need I may have of the one or the other for the defence of my own +sceptre. The counsels and the succours, which you have so largely +received from me, were given because of my consideration for the good of +the States, and of yourself in particular, whom I have always favoured +and cherished, as I have done others of your house on many occasions." + +The king concluded his lecture by saying, that after his ambassadors had +fulfilled their promise, and had spoken the last word of their master at +the Hague, he should leave Maurice and the States to do as they liked. + +"But I desire," he said, "that you and the States should not do that +wrong to yourselves or to me as to doubt the integrity of my counsels nor +the actions of my ambassadors: I am an honest man and a prince of my +word, and not ignorant of the things of this world. Neither the States +nor you, with your adherents, can permit my honour to be compromised +without tarnishing your own, and without being branded for ingratitude. +I say not this in order to reproach you for the past nor to make you +despair of the future, but to defend the truth. I expect, therefore, +that you will not fall into this fault, knowing you as I do. I pay more +heed to what you said in your letter than in all Lambert's fine talk, +and you will find out that nobody wishes your prosperity and that of +the States more sincerely than I do, or can be more useful to you +than I can." + + [I have abbreviated this remarkable letter, but of course the text + of the passages cited is literally given. J.L.M.] + +There could be but little doubt in the mind of Prince Maurice, after this +letter had been well pondered, that Barneveld had won the game, and that +the peace party had triumphed. + +To resume the war, with the French king not merely neutral but angry and +covertly hostile, and with the sovereign of Great Britain an almost open +enemy in the garb of an ally, might well seem a desperate course. + +And Maurice, although strongly opposed to the truce, and confident in his +opinions at this crisis, was not a desperado. + +He saw at once the necessity of dismounting from the high horse upon +which, it must be confessed, he had been inclined for more rough-riding +of late than the situation warranted. Peace was unattainable, war was +impossible, truce was inevitable; Barneveld was master of the field. + +The prince acquiesced in the result which the letter from the French king +so plainly indicated. He was, however, more incensed than ever against +Barneveld; for he felt himself not only checkmated but humiliated by the +Advocate, and believed him a traitor, who was selling the republic to +Spain. It was long since the two had exchanged a word. + +Maurice now declared, on more than one occasion, that it was useless for +him any longer to attempt opposition to the policy of truce. The States +must travel on the road which they had chosen, but it should not be under +his guidance, and he renounced all responsibility for the issue. + +Dreading disunion, however, more than ought else that could befal the +republic, he now did his best to bring about the return of Zeeland to the +federal councils. He was successful. The deputies from that province +reappeared in the States-General on the 11th November. They were still +earnest, however, in their opposition to the truce, and warmly +maintained, in obedience to instructions, that the Union of Utrecht +forbade the conclusion of a treaty except by unanimous consent of the +Seven Provinces. They were very fierce in their remonstrances, and again +talked loudly of secession. + +After consultation with Barneveld, the French envoys now thought it their +duty to take the recalcitrant Zeelanders in hand; Maurice having, as it +were, withdrawn from the contest. + +On the 18th November, accordingly, Jeannin once more came very solemnly +before the States-General, accompanied by his diplomatic colleagues. + +He showed the impossibility of any arrangement, except by the submission +of Zeeland to a vote of the majority. "It is certain," he said, "that +six provinces will never be willing to be conquered by a single one, nor +permit her to assert that, according to a fundamental law of the +commonwealth, her dissent can prevent the others from forming a definite +conclusion. + +"It is not for us," continued the president, "who are strangers in your +republic, to interpret your laws, but common sense teaches us that, if +such a law exist, it could only have been made in order to forbid a +surrender. + +"If any one wishes to expound it otherwise, to him we would reply, +in the words of an ancient Roman, who said of a law which seemed to him +pernicious, that at least the tablet upon which it was inscribed, if it +could not be destroyed, should be hidden out of sight. Thus at least the +citizens might escape observing it, when it was plain that it would cause +detriment to the republic, and they might then put in its place the most +ancient of all laws, 'salus populi suprema lex.'" + +The president, having suggested this ingenious expedient of the antique +Roman for getting rid of a constitutional provision by hiding the +statute-book, proceeded to give very practical reasons for setting, up +the supreme law of the people's safety on this occasion. And, certainly, +that magnificent common-place, which has saved and ruined so many States, +the most effective weapon in the political arsenal, whether wielded by +tyrants or champions of freedom, was not unreasonably recommended at this +crisis to the States in their contest with the refractory Zeelanders. +It was easy to talk big, but after all it would be difficult for that +doughty little sandbank, notwithstanding the indomitable energy which it +had so often shown by land and sea, to do battle by itself with the whole +Spanish empire. Nor was it quite consistent with republican principles +that the other six provinces should be plunged once more into war, when +they had agreed to accept peace and independence instead, only that +Zeeland should have its way. + +The orator went on to show the absurdity, in his opinion, of permitting +one province to continue the war, when all seven united had not the means +to do it without the assistance of their allies. He pointed out, too, +the immense blunders that would be made, should it be thought that the +Kings of France and England were so much interested in saving the +provinces from perdition as to feel obliged in any event to render them +assistance. + +"Beware of committing an irreparable fault," he said, "on so insecure a +foundation. You are deceiving yourselves: And, in order that there may +be no doubt on the subject, we declare to you by express command that if +your adversaries refuse the truce, according to the articles presented to +you by us, it is the intention of our kings to assist you with armies and +subsidies, not only as during the past, but more powerfully than before. +If, on the contrary, the rupture comes from your side, and you despise +the advice they are giving you, you have no succour to expect from +them. The refusal of conditions so honourable and advantageous to your +commonwealth will render the war a useless one, and they are determined +to do nothing to bring the reproach upon themselves." + +The president then intimated; not without adroitness, that the republic +was placing herself in a proud position by accepting the truce, and that +Spain was abasing herself by giving her consent to it. The world was +surprised that the States should hesitate at all. + +There was much more of scholastic dissertation in the president's +address, but enough has been given to show its very peremptory character. + +If the war was to go on it was to be waged mainly by Zeeland alone. This +was now plain beyond all peradventure. The other provinces had resolved +to accept the proposed treaty. The cities of Delft and Amsterdam, which +had stood out so long among the estates of Holland, soon renounced their +opposition. Prince Maurice, with praiseworthy patriotism, reconciled +himself with the inevitable, and now that the great majority had spoken, +began to use his influence with the factious minority. + +On the day after Jeannin's speech he made a visit to the French +ambassadors. After there had been some little discussion among them, +Barneveld made his appearance. His visit seemed an accidental one, but +it had been previously arranged with the envoys. + +The general conversation went on a little longer, when the Advocate, +frankly turning to the Prince, spoke of the pain which he felt at the +schism between them. He defended himself with honest warmth against the +rumours circulated, in which he was accused of being a Spanish partisan. +His whole life had been spent in fighting Spain, and he was now more +determined than ever in his hostility to that monarchy. He sincerely +believed that by the truce now proposed all the solid advantages of the +war would be secured, and that such a result was a triumphant one for the +republic. He was also most desirous of being restored to the friendship +and good opinion of the house of Nassau; having proved during his whole +life his sincere attachment to their interests--a sentiment never more +lively in his breast than at that moment. + +This advance was graciously met by the stadholder, and the two +distinguished personages were, for the time at least, reconciled. + +It was further debated as to the number of troops that it be advisable +for the States to maintain during the truce and Barneveld expressed his +decided opinion that thirty thousand men, at least, would be required. +This opinion gave the prince at least as much pleasure as did the +personal devotion expressed by the Advocate, and he now stated his +intention of working with the peace party. + +The great result was now certain. Delft and Amsterdam withdrew from +their opposition to the treaty, so that Holland was unanimous before the +year closed; Zeeland, yielding to the influence of Maurice, likewise gave +in her adhesion to the truce. + +The details of the mode in which the final arrangement was made are not +especially interesting. The discussion was fairly at an end. The +subject had been picked to the bones. It was agreed that the French +ambassadors should go over the frontier, and hold a preliminary interview +with the Spanish commissioners at Antwerp. + +The armistice was to be continued by brief and repeated renewals, until +it should be superseded by the truce of years: + +Meantime, Archduke Albert sent his father confessor, Inigo Brizuela, to +Spain, in order to make the treaty posed by Jeannin palatable to the +king? + +The priest was to set forth to Philip, as only a ghostly confessor +could do with full effect, that he need not trouble himself about the +recognition by the proposed treaty of the independence of the United +Provinces. Ambiguous words had been purposely made use of in this +regard, he was to explain, so that not only the foreign ambassadors were +of opinion that the rights of Spain were not curtailed, but the emptiness +of the imaginary recognition of Dutch freedom had been proved by the +sharp criticism of the States. + +It is true that Richardot, in the name of the archduke, had three months +before promised the consent of the king, as having already been obtained. +But Richardot knew very well when he made the statement that it was +false. The archduke, in subsequent correspondence with the ambassadors +in December, repeated the pledge. Yet, not only had the king not given +that consent, but he had expressly refused it by a courier sent in +November. + +Philip, now convinced by Brother Inigo that while agreeing to treat with +the States-General as with a free commonwealth, over which he pretended +to no authority, he really meant that he was dealing with vassals over +whom his authority was to be resumed when it suited his convenience, at +last gave his consent to the, proposed treaty. The royal decision was, +however, kept for a time concealed, in order that the States might become +more malleable. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction +Alas! we must always have something to persecute +Argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins +Beware of a truce even more than of a peace +Could handle an argument as well as a sword +God alone can protect us against those whom we trust +Humble ignorance as the safest creed +Man is never so convinced of his own wisdom +Peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable +Readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties +Such an excuse was as bad as the accusation +The art of ruling the world by doing nothing +To doubt the infallibility of Calvin was as heinous a crime +What exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy +Words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v82 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 83, 1609 + + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + + Vote of the States-General on the groundwork of the treaty-- + Meeting of the plenipotentiaries for arrangement of the truce-- + Signing of the twelve years' truce--Its purport--The negotiations + concluded--Ratification by the States-General, the Archdukes, and + the King of Spain--Question of toleration--Appeal of President + Jeannin on behalf of the Catholics--Religious liberty the fruit of + the war--Internal arrangements of the States under the rule of + peace--Deaths of John Duke of Cleves and Jacob Arminius--Doctrines + of Arminius and Gomarus--Theological warfare--Twenty years' truce + between the Turkish and Roman empires--Ferdinand of Styria-- + Religious peace--Prospects of the future. + +On the 11th January, 1609, the States-General decided by unanimous vote +that the first point in the treaty should be not otherwise fixed than, +thus:-- + +"That the archdukes--to superfluity--declare, as well in their own name +as in that of the King of Spain, their willingness to treat with the +lords States of the United Provinces in the capacity of, and as holding +them for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they have no +claim, and that they are making a treaty with them in those said names +and qualities." + +It was also resolved not to permit that any ecclesiastical or secular +matters, conflicting with the above-mentioned freedom, should be +proposed; nor that any delay should be sought for, by reason of the +India navigation or any other point. + +In case anything to the contrary should be attempted by the king or the +archdukes, and the deliberations protracted in consequence more than +eight days, it was further decided by unanimous vote that the +negotiations should at once be broken off, and the war forthwith renewed, +with the help, if possible, of the kings, princes, and states, friends of +the good cause. + +This vigorous vote was entirely the work of Barneveld, the man whom his +enemies dared to denounce as the partisan of Spain, and to hold up as a +traitor deserving of death. It was entirely within his knowledge that a +considerable party in the provinces had grown so weary of the war, and so +much alarmed at the prospect of the negotiations for truce coming to +nought, as to be ready to go into a treaty without a recognition of +the independence of the States. This base faction was thought to be +instigated by the English Government, intriguing secretly with President +Richardot. The Advocate, acting in full sympathy with Jeannin, +frustrated the effects of the manoeuvre by obtaining all the votes +of Holland and Zeeland for this supreme resolution. The other five +provinces dared to make no further effort in that direction against +the two controlling states of the republic. + +It was now agreed that the French and English ambassadors should delay +going to Antwerp until informed of the arrival in that city of Spinola +and his colleagues; and that they should then proceed thither, taking +with them the main points of the treaty, as laid down by themselves, and +accepted with slight alterations by the States. + +When the Spanish commissioners had signed these points the +plenipotentiaries were to come to Antwerp in order to settle other +matters of less vital import. Meantime, the States-General were to be +summoned to assemble in Bergen-op-Zoom, that they might be ready to deal +with difficulties, should any arise. + +The first meeting took place on the 10th February, 1609. The first +objection to the draught was made by the Spaniards. It was about words +and wind. They liked not the title of high and puissant lords which was +given to the States-General, and they proposed to turn the difficulty by +abstaining from giving any qualifications whatever, either to the +archdukes or the republican authorities. The States refused to lower +these ensigns of their new-born power. It was, however, at last agreed +that, instead of high and mighty, they should be called illustrious and +serene. + +This point being comfortably adjusted, the next and most important one +was accepted by the Spaniards. The independence of the States was +recognised according to the prescribed form. Then came the great bone of +contention, over which there had been such persistent wrangling--the +India trade. + +The Spanish Government had almost registered a vow in heaven that the +word India should not be mentioned in the treaty. It was no less certain +that India was stamped upon the very heart of the republic, and could not +be torn from it while life remained. The subtle diplomatists now +invented a phrase in which the word should not appear, while the thing +itself should be granted. The Spaniards, after much altercation, at last +consented. + +By the end of February, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to +request the appearance of the States-General at Bergen-op-Zoom. + +Jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the +Spaniards in regard to India, raised doubts as to the propriety of +issuing the summons. Putting on his most reverend and artless expression +of countenance, he assured Richardot that he had just received a despatch +from the Hague, to the effect that the India point would, in all +probability, cause the States at that very moment to break off the +negotiations. It was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to +Bergen. The despatch from the Hague was a neat fiction on the part of +the president, but it worked admirably. The other president, himself +quite as ready at inventions as Jeannin could possibly be, was +nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully +a match for each other in the art of intrigue. Richardot, somewhat +alarmed, insisted that the States should send their plenipotentiaries to +Antwerp as soon as possible. He would answer for it that they would not +go away again without settling upon the treaty. The commissioners were +forbidden, by express order from Spain, to name the Indies in writing, +but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the States should +have full liberty to trade to those countries; the King of Spain having +no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the +truce. + +The commissioners came to Antwerp. The States-General assembled at +Bergen. On the 9th April, 1609, the truce for twelve years was signed. +This was its purport: + +The preamble recited that the most serene princes and archdukes, Albert +and Isabella Clara Eugenic, had made, on the 24th April, 1607, a truce +and cessation of arms for eight months with the illustrious lords the +States-General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in quality of, +and as holding them for, states, provinces, and free countries, over +which they pretended to nothing; which truce was ratified by his Catholic +Majesty, as to that which concerned him, by letters patent of 18th +September, 1607; and that, moreover, a special power had been given to +the archdukes on the 10th January, 1608, to enable them in the king's +name as well as their own to do everything that they might think proper +to bring about a peace or a truce of many years. + +It then briefly recited the rupture of the negotiations for peace, and +the subsequent, proposition, originated by the foreign ambassadors, to +renew the conference for the purpose of concluding a truce. The articles +of the treaty thus agreed upon were: + +That the archdukes declared, as well in their own name as that of the +king, that they were content to treat with the lords the States-General +of the United Provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, +countries, provinces, and free states, over which they pretended +to nothing, and to, make with them a truce on certain following +conditions--to wit: + +That the truce should be good, firm, loyal, inviolable, and for the term +of twelve years, during which time there was to be cessation of all acts +of hostility between the king, archdukes, and States-General, as well by +sea and other waters as by land, in all their kingdoms, countries, lands, +and lordships, and for all their subjects and inhabitants of whatever +quality and condition, without exception of places or of persons. + +That each party should remain seized of their respective possessions, +and be not troubled therein during the truce. + +That the subjects and inhabitants of the respective countries should +preserve amity and good correspondence during the truce, without +referring to past offences, and should freely and securely entertain +communication and traffic with each other by land and sea. This +provision, however, was to be expressly understood as limited by the king +to the kingdoms and countries possessed by him in Europe, and in other +places and seas where the subjects of other kings and princes, his +friends and allies, have amicable traffic. In regard, however, to +places, cities, ports, and harbours which he possessed outside of those +limits, the States and their subjects were to exercise no traffic, +without express permission of the king. They could, however, if they +chose, trade with the countries of all other princes, potentates, and +peoples who were willing to permit it; even outside those limits, without +any hindrance by the king; + +That the truce should begin in regard to those distant countries after a +year from date, unless actual notification could be sooner served there +on those concerned; + +That the subjects of the United Provinces should have the same liberty +and privilege within the States of the king and archdukes as had been +accorded to the subjects of the by the King of Great Britain, according +to the last treaty made with that sovereign; + +That letters of marque and reprisal should not be granted during the +truce, except for special cause, and in cases permitted by the laws and +imperial constitutions, and according to the rules therein prescribed; + +That those who had retired into neutral territory during the war were +also to enjoy the benefit of the truce, and could reside wherever they +liked without being deprived of their property; + +That the treaty should be ratified by the archdukes and the States- +General within four days. As to the ratification of the king, the +archdukes were bound to deliver it in good and due form within three +months, in order that the lords the States-General, their subjects and +inhabitants, might enjoy effectively the fruits of the treaty; + +That the treaty should be published everywhere immediately after the +ratification of the archdukes and States-General. + +This document was signed by the ambassadors of the Kings of France and +Great Britain, as mediators, and then by the deputies of the archdukes, +and afterwards by those of the lords the States-General. + +There were thirty-eight articles in all, but the chief provisions +have been indicated. The other clauses, relating to boundaries, +confiscations, regulations of duties, frontier fortifications, +the estates of the Nassau family, and other sequestrated property, +have no abiding interest. + +There was also a secret and special treaty which was demanded of the King +of Spain by the States-General, and by him accorded. + +This secret treaty consisted of a single clause. That clause was made up +of a brief preamble and of a promise. The preamble recited textually +article fourth of the public treaty relative to the India trade. The +promise was to this effect. + +For the period of the truce the Spanish commissioners pledged the faith +of the king and of his successors that his Majesty would cause no +impediment, whether by sea or land, to the States nor their subjects, +in the traffic that thereafter might be made in the countries of all +princes, potentates, and peoples who might permit the same, in whatever +place it might be, even without the limits designated, and everywhere +else, nor similarly to those carrying on such traffic with them, and that +the king and his successors would faithfully carry into effect everything +thus laid, down, so that the said traffic should be free and secure, +consenting even, in order that the clause might be the more authentic, +that it should be considered as inserted in the principal treaty, and as +making part thereof. + +It will be perceived that the first article of all, and the last or +secret article, contained the whole marrow of the treaty. It may be well +understood, therefore, with what wry faces the Spanish plenipotentiaries +ultimately signed the document. + +After two years and a quarter of dreary negotiation, the republic had +carried all its points, without swerving a hair's breadth from the +principles laid down in the beginning. The only concession made was that +the treaty was for a truce of twelve years, and not for peace. But as +after all, in those days, an interval of twelve years might be almost +considered an eternity of peace, and as calling a peace perpetual can +never make it so, the difference was rather one of phraseology than of +fact. + +On the other hand, the States had extorted from their former sovereign a +recognition of their independence. + +They had secured the India trade. + +They had not conceded Catholic worship. + +Mankind were amazed at this result--an event hitherto unknown in +history. When before had a sovereign acknowledged the independence of +his rebellious subjects, and signed a treaty with them as with equals? +When before had Spain, expressly or by implication, admitted that the +East and West Indies were not her private property, and that navigators +to those regions, from other countries than her own, were not to be +chastised as trespassers and freebooters? + +Yet the liberty of the Netherlands was acknowledged in terms which +convinced the world that it was thenceforth an established fact. And +India was as plainly expressed by the omission of the word, as if it had +been engrossed in large capitals in Article IV. + +The King's Government might seek solace in syntax. They might triumph in +Cardinal Bentivoglio's subtleties, and persuade themselves that to treat +with the republic as a free nation was not to hold it for a free nation +then and for ever. But the whole world knew that the republic really was +free, and that it had treated, face to face, with its former sovereign, +exactly as the Kings of France or Great Britain, or the Grand Turk, might +treat with him. The new commonwealth had taken its place among the +nations of the earth. Other princes and potentates made not the +slightest difficulty in recognising it for an independent power and +entering into treaties and alliances with it as with any other realm. + +To the republic the substantial blessing of liberty: to his Catholic +Majesty the grammatical quirk. When the twelve years should expire, +Spain might reconquer the United Provinces if she could; relying upon the +great truth that an adverb was not a preposition. And France or Great +Britain might attempt the same thing if either felt strong enough for the +purpose. Did as plausible a pretext as that ever fail to a state +ambitious of absorbing its neighbours? + +Jeannin was right enough in urging that this famous clause of recognition +ought to satisfy both parties. If the United Provinces, he said, +happened not to have the best muskets and cannons on their side when it +should once more come to blows, small help would they derive from verbal +bulwarks and advantages in the text of treaties. + +Richardot consoled himself with his quibbles; for quibbles were his daily +bread. "Thank God our truce is made," said he, "and we have only lost the +sovereignty for twelve years, if after that we have the means or the will +to resume the war--whatever Don Pedro de Toledo may say." + +Barneveld, on his part, was devoutly and soberly pleased with the result. +"To-day we have concluded our negotiations for the truce," he wrote to +Aerssens. "We must pray to the Lord God, and we must do our highest duty +that our work may redound to his honour and glory, and to the nation's +welfare. It is certain that men will make their criticisms upon it +according to their humours. But those who love their country, and all +honest people who know the condition of the land, will say that it is +well done." + +Thus modestly, religiously, and sincerely spoke a statesman, who felt +that he had accomplished a great work, and that he had indeed brought the +commonwealth through the tempest at last. + +The republic had secured the India trade. On this point the negotiators +had taken refuge in that most useful figure of speech for hard-pressed +diplomatists and law-makers--the ellipsis. They had left out the word +India, and his Catholic Majesty might persuade himself that by such +omission a hemisphere had actually been taken away from the Dutch +merchants and navigators. But the whole world saw that Article IV. +really contained both the East and West Indies. It hardly needed the +secret clause to make assurance doubly sure. + +President Richardot was facetiously wont to observe that this point in +the treaty was so obscure that he did not understand it himself. But he +knew better. He understood it very well. The world understood it very +well. The United Provinces had throughout the negotiations ridiculde the +idea of being excluded from any part of the old world or, the new by +reason of the Borgian grant. All the commissioners knew that the war +would be renewed if any attempt were to be seriously made to put up those +famous railings around the ocean, of which the Dutch diplomatists spoke +in such bitter scorn. The Spanish plenipotentiaries, therefore, had +insisted that the word itself should be left out, and that the republic +should be forbidden access to territories subject to the crown of Spain. +So the Hollanders were thenceforth to deal directly with the kings of +Sumatra and the Moluccas, and the republics of Banda, and all the rich +commonwealths and principalities of nutmegs; cloves, and indigo, unless, +as grew every day more improbable, the Spaniards and Portuguese could +exclude them from that traffic by main force. And the Orange flag of +the republic was to float with equal facility over all America, from the +Isle of Manhattan to the shores of Brazil and the Straits of Magellan, +provided Philip had not ships and soldiers to vindicate with the sword +that sovereignty which Spanish swords and Spanish genius had once +acquired. + +As for the Catholic worship, the future was to prove that liberty for the +old religion and for all forms of religion was a blessing more surely to +flow from the enlightened public sentiment of a free people emerging out +of the most tremendous war for liberty ever waged, than from the +stipulations of a treaty with a foreign power. + +It was characteristic enough of the parties engaged in the great +political drama that the republic now requested from France and Great +Britain a written recognition of its independence, and that both France +and England refused. + +It was strange that the new commonwealth, in the very moment of extorting +her freedom from the ancient tyranny, should be so unconscious of her +strength as to think free papers from neutral powers a boon. As if the +sign-manual of James and Henry were a better guarantee than the trophies +of the Nassaus, of Heemskerk, of Matelieff, and of Olden-Barneveld! + +It was not strange that the two sovereigns should decline the +proposition; for we well know the secret aspirations of each, and it +was natural that they should be unwilling to sign a formal quit-claim, +however improbable it might be that those dreams should ever become +a reality. + +Both powers, however, united in a guarantee of the truce. + +This was signed on the 17th June, and stipulated that, without their +knowledge and consent, the States should make no treaty during the period +of truce with the King of Spain or the archdukes. On the other hand, in +case of an infraction of the truce by the enemy, the two kings agreed to +lend assistance to the States in the manner provided--by the treaties +concluded with the republic previously to the negotiation of the truce. + +The treaty had been at once ratified by the States-General, assembled for +the purpose with an extraordinary number of deputies at Bergen-op-Zoom. +It was also ratified without delay by the archdukes. The delivery of the +confirmation by his Catholic Majesty had been promised within three +months after the signatures of the plenipotentiaries. + +It would however have been altogether inconsistent with the dignity and +the traditions of the Spanish court to fulfil this stipulation. It was +not to be expected that "I the King" could be written either by the +monarch himself, or by his alter ego the Duke of Lerma, in so short a +time as a quarter of a year. + +Several weeks accordingly went by after the expiration of the stated +period. The ratification did not come, and the Netherlanders began to +be once more indignant. Before the storm had risen very high, however, +the despatches arrived. The king's signature was ante-dated 7th April, +being thus brought within the term of three months, and was a thorough +confirmation of what had been done by his plenipotentiaries. + +His Majesty, however, expressed a hope that during the truce the States +would treat their Catholic subjects with kindness. + +Certainly no exception could be taken to so reasonable an intimation as +this. President Jeannin, too, just before his departure, handed in to +the States-General an eloquent appeal on behalf of the Catholics of the +Netherlands; a paper which was not immediately made public. + +"Consider the great number of Catholics," he said, "in your territory, +both in the cities and the country. Remember that they have worked with +you; spent their property, have been exposed to the same dangers, and +have always kept their fidelity to the commonwealth inviolate as long as +the war endured, never complaining that they did not enjoy liberty of +religious worship, believing that you had thus, ordained because the +public safety required such guaranty. But they always promised +themselves, should the end of the war be happy, and should you be placed +in the enjoyment of entire freedom, that they too would have some part in +this good fortune, even as they had been sharers in the inconveniences, +the expenses, and the perils of the war. + +"But those cannot be said to share in any enjoyment from whom has been +taken the power of serving God according to the religion in which they +were brought up. On the contrary, no slavery is more intolerable nor +more exasperates the mind than such restraint. You know this well, my +lords States; you know too that it was the principal, the most puissant +cause that made you fly to arms and scorn all dangers, in order to effect +your deliverance from this servitude. You know that it has excited +similar movements in various parts of Christendom, and even in the +kingdom of France, with such fortunate success everywhere as to make it +appear that God had so willed it, in order to prove that religion ought +to be taught and inspired by the movements which come from the Holy +Ghost, and not by the force of man. Thus kings and princes should be +induced by the evils and ruin which they and their subjects have suffered +from this cause, as by a sentiment of their own interest, to take more +care than has hitherto been taken to practise in good earnest those +remedies which were wont to be used at a time when the church was in +its greatest piety, in order to correct the abuses and errors which the +corruption of mankind had tried to introduce as being the true and sole +means of uniting all Christians in one and the same creed." + +Surely the world had made progress in these forty years of war. Was it +not something to gain for humanity, for intellectual advancement, for +liberty of thought, for the true interests of religion, that a Roman +Catholic, an ex-leaguer, a trusted representative of the immediate +successor of Charles IX. and Henry III., could stand up on the blood- +stained soil of the Netherlands and plead for liberty of conscience +for all mankind? + +"Those cannot be said to share in, any enjoyment from whom has been taken +the power of serving God according to the religion in which they have +been brought up. No slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperating to +the mind than such restraint." + +Most true, O excellent president! No axiom in mathematics is more +certain than this simple statement. To prove its truth William the +Silent had lived and died. To prove it a falsehood, emperors, and kings, +and priests, had issued bans, and curses, and damnable decrees. To root +it out they had butchered, drowned, shot, strangled, poisoned, tortured, +roasted alive, buried alive, starved, and driven mad, thousands and tens +of thousands of their fellow creatures. And behold there had been almost +a century of this work, and yet the great truth was not rooted out after +all; and the devil-worshippers, who had sought at the outset of the great +war to establish the Holy Inquisition in the Netherlands upon the ruins +of religious and political liberty, were overthrown at last and driven +back into the pit. It was progress; it was worth all the blood and +treasure which had been spilled, that, instead of the Holy Inquisition, +there was now holy liberty of thought. + +That there should have been a party, that there should have been an +individual here and there, after the great victory was won, to oppose the +doctrine which the Catholic president now so nobly advocated, would be +enough to cause every believer in progress to hide his face in the dust, +did we not know that the march of events was destined to trample such +opposition out of existence, and had not history proved to us that the +great lesson of the war was not to be rendered nought by the efforts of a +few fanatics. Religious liberty was the ripened and consummate fruit, +and it could not but be gathered. + +"Consider too," continued the president, "how much injury your refusal, +if you give it, will cause to those of your religion in the places where +they are the weakest, and where they are every day imploring with tears +and lamentations the grace of those Catholic sovereigns to whom they are +subject, to enable them to enjoy the same religious liberty which our +king is now demanding in favour of the Catholics among you. Do not cause +it to come again into the minds of those sovereigns and their peoples, +whom an inconsiderate zeal has often driven into violence and ferocity +against protestants, that a war to compel the weakest to follow the +religion of the strongest is just and lawful." + +Had not something been gained for the world when this language was held +by a Catholic on the very spot where less than a half century before the +whole population of the Netherlands, men, women, and children, had been +condemned to death by a foreign tyrant, for the simple reason that it was +just, legal, and a Christian duty to punish the weak for refusing to +follow the religion of the strong? + +"As for the perils which some affect to fear," said Jeannin, further, "if +this liberty of worship is accorded, experience teaches us every day that +diversity of religion is not the cause of the ruin of states, and that a +government does not cease to be good, nor its subjects to live in peace +and friend ship with one another, rendering due obedience to the laws and +to their, rulers as well as if they had all been of the same religion, +without having another thought, save for the preservation of the dignity +and grandeur of the state in which God had caused them to be born. The +danger is not in the permission, but in the prohibition of religious +liberty." + +All this seems commonplace enough to us on the western side of the +Atlantic, in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would have been +rank blasphemy in New England in the middle of the seventeenth, many +years after Jeannin spoke. It was a horrible sound, too, in the ears of +some of his audience. + +To the pretence so often urged by the Catholic persecutors, and now set +up by their Calvinistic imitators; that those who still clung to the old +religion were at liberty to depart from the land, the president replied +with dignified scorn. + +"With what justice," he asked, "can you drive into, exile people who have +committed no offence, and who have helped to conquer the very country +from which you would now banish them? If you do drive them away, you +will make solitudes in your commonwealth, which will, be the cause of +evils such as I prefer that you should reflect upon without my declaring +them now. Although these reasons," he continued, "would seem sufficient +to induce you to accord the free and public exercise of the Catholic +religion, the king, not hoping as much as that, because aware that you +are not disposed to go so far, is content to request only this grace in +behalf of the Catholics, that you will tolerate them, and suffer them to +have some exercise of their religion within their own households, without +interference or inquiry on that account, and without execution of the +rigorous decrees heretofore enforced against them." + +Certainly if such wholesome, moderate, and modest counsels as these had +been rejected, it would have been sound doctrine to proclaim that the +world did not move. And there were individuals enough, even an +influential party, prepared to oppose them for both technical and +practical reasons. And the cause of intolerance derived much warmth +and comfort at this juncture from that great luminary of theology and +political philosophy, the King of Great Britain. Direful and solemn were +the warnings uttered by James to the republic against permitting the old +religion, or any religion save his own religion, to obtain the slightest +foothold within her borders. + +"Let the religion be taught and preached in its parity throughout your +provinces without the least mixture," said Sir Ralph Winwood, in the name +of his sovereign. + +"On this foundation the justice of your cause is built. There is but one +verity. Those who are willing to tolerate any religion, whatever it may +be, and try to make you believe that liberty for both is necessary in +your commonwealth, are paving the way towards atheism." + +Such were the counsels of King James to the united States of the +Netherlands against harbouring Catholics. A few years later he was +casting forth Calvinists from his own dominions as if they had been +lepers; and they went forth on their weary pilgrimage to the howling +wilderness of North America, those exiled Calvinists, to build a greater +republic than had ever been dreamed of before on this planet; and they +went forth, not to preach, but in their turn to denounce toleration and +to hang heretics. "He who would tolerate another religion that his own +may be tolerated, would if need be, hang God's bible at the devil's +girdle." So spoke an early Massachusetts pilgrim, in the very spirit, +almost the very words of the royal persecutor; who had driven him into +outer darkness beyond the seas. He had not learned the lesson of the +mighty movement in which he was a pioneer, any more than Gomarus or +Uytenbogaart had comprehended why the Dutch republic had risen. + +Yet the founders of the two commonwealths, the United States of the +seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries, although many of them +fiercely intolerant, through a natural instinct of resistance, not only +to the oppressor but to the creed of the oppressor, had been breaking out +the way, not to atheism, as King James believed, but to the only garden +in which Christianity can perennially flourish--religious liberty. + +Those most ardent and zealous path-finders may be forgiven, in view of +the inestimable benefits conferred by them upon humanity, that they did +not travel on their own road. It should be sufficient for us, if we make +due use of their great imperishable work ourselves; and if we never cease +rendering thanks to the Omnipotent, that there is at least one great +nation on the globe where the words toleration and dissenter have no +meaning whatever. + +For the Dutch fanatics of the reformed church, at the moment of the +truce, to attempt to reverse the course of events, and to shut off the +mighty movement of the great revolt from its destined expanse, was as +hopeless a dream as to drive back the Rhine, as it reached the ocean, +into the narrow channel of the Rheinwald glacier whence it sprang. + +The republic became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, where +Jews and Gentiles, Catholics, Calvinists, and Anabaptistis, prayed after +their own manner to the same God and Father. It was too much, however, +to hope that passions which had been so fiercely bubbling during fifty +years would subside at once, and that the most intense religious hatreds +that ever existed would exhale with the proclamation of truce. The march +of humanity is rarely rapid enough to keep pace with the leaders in its +most sublime movements, and it often happens that its chieftains are +dwarfed in the estimation of the contemporaneous vulgar, by the very +distance at which they precede their unconscious followers. But even if +the progress of the human mind towards the truth is fated to be a spiral +one, as if to remind us that mankind is of the earth, earthy--a worm in +the dust while inhabiting this lower sphere--it is at least a consolation +to reflect upon the gradual advancement of the intellect from age to age. + +The spirit of Torquemada, of Charles, of Philip, of Titelmann, is even +now not extinct on this globe, but there are counter forces at work, +which must ultimately blast it into insignificance. At the moment of the +great truce, that evil spirit was not exorcised from the human breast, +but the number of its victims and the intensity of its influence had +already miraculously diminished. + +The truce was made and announced all over the Netherlands by the ringing +of bells, the happy discharge of innocent artillery, by illuminations, by +Te Deums in all the churches. Papist and Presbyterian fell on their +knees in every grand cathedral or humblest village church, to thank God +that what had seemed the eternal butchery was over. The inhabitants of +the united and of the obedient Netherlands rushed across the frontiers +into a fraternal embrace; like the meeting of many waters when the flood- +gates are lifted. It was pity that the foreign sovereignty, established +at Brussels, could not then and there have been for ever swept away, and +self-government and beneficent union extended over all the seventeen +Netherlands, Walloon and Flemish, Catholic and reformed. But it hardly +needs a word to show that the course of events had created a deeper chasm +between the two sections than the gravest physical catastrophe could have +produced. The opposing cliffs which religious hatred had rent asunder, +and between which it seemed destined to flow for ever, seemed very close, +and yet eternally separated. + +The great war had established the republic; and apparently doomed the +obedient Netherlands to perpetual servitude. + +There were many details of minor importance to be settled between the +various governments involved in these great transactions; but this +history draws to its predestined close, and it is necessary to glide +rapidly over matters which rather belong to a later epoch than the one +now under consideration. + +The treaty between the republic and the government of Great Britain, +according to which each was to assist the other in case of war with four +thousand troops and twenty ships of war, was confirmed in the treaty of +truce. The debt of the United Provinces to the Crown of England was +definitely reckoned at 8,184,080 florins, and it was settled by the truce +that 200,000 florins should be paid semi-annually, to begin with the year +1611, until the whole debt should be discharged. + +The army establishment of the republic was fixed during the truce at +thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse. This was a reduction +from the war footing of fifteen thousand men. Of the force retained, +four thousand were a French legion maintained by the king, two thousand +other French at the expense of the States, and distributed among other +troops, two thousand Scotch, three thousand English, three thousand +Germans. The rest were native Netherlanders, among whom, however, were +very few Hollanders and Zeelanders, from which races the navy, both +public and mercantile, was almost wholly supplied. + +The revenue of the United Provinces was estimated at between seven and +eight millions of florins. + +It is superfluous to call attention again to the wonderful smallness of +the means, the minuteness of the physical enginry, as compared with more +modern manifestations, especially in our own land and epoch, by which so +stupendous a result had been reached. In the midst of an age in which +regal and sacerdotal despotism had seemed as omnipotent and irreversible +as the elemental laws of the universe, the republic had been reproduced. +A commonwealth of sand-banks, lagoons, and meadows, less than fourteen +thousand square miles in extent, had done battle, for nearly half a +century, with the greatest of existing powers, a realm whose territory +was nearly a third of the globe, and which claimed universal monarchy. +And this had been done with an army averaging forty-six thousand men, +half of them foreigners hired by the job, and by a sea-faring population, +volunteering into ships of every class and denomination, from a fly-boat +to a galleot of war. + +And when the republic had won its independence, after this almost eternal +warfare, it owed four or five millions of dollars, and had sometimes an +annual revenue of nearly that amount. + +It was estimated by Barneveld, at the conclusion of the truce, that the +interest on the public debt of Spain was about thrice the amount of the +yearly income of the republic, and it was characteristic of the financial +ideas of the period, that fears were entertained lest a total repudiation +of that burthen by the Spanish Government would enable it to resume the +war against the provinces with redoubled energy. + +The annual salary of Prince Maurice, who was to see his chief occupation +gone by the cessation of the war, was fixed by the States at 120,000 +florins. It was agreed, that in case of his marriage he should receive +a further yearly sum of 25,000 florins, and this addition was soon +afterwards voted to him outright, it being obvious that the prince would +remain all his days a bachelor. + +Count Frederic Henry likewise received a military salary of 25,000 +florins, while the emoluments of Lewis William were placed at 36,000 +florins a year. + +It must be admitted that the republic was grateful. 70,000 dollars a +year, in the seventeenth century, not only for life, but to be inherited +afterwards by his younger brother, Frederic Henry, was surely a +munificent sum to be accorded from the puny exchequer of the States- +General to the chief magistrate of the nation. + +The mighty transatlantic republic, with its population of thirty or forty +millions, and its revenue of five hundred millions of dollars, pays +25,000 dollars annually for its president during his four years of +office, and this in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a +dollar is worth scarcely one-fifth of its value two hundred and fifty +years ago. + +Surely here is improvement, both in the capacity to produce and in the +power to save. + +In the year 1609, died John, the last sovereign of Cleves and Juliers, +and Jacob Arminius, Doctor of Divinity at Leyden. It would be difficult +to imagine two more entirely dissimilar individuals of the human family +than this lunatic duke and that theological professor. And yet, perhaps, +the two names, more concisely than those of any other mortals, might +serve as an index to the ghastly chronicle over which a coming generation +was to shudder. The death of the duke was at first thought likely to +break off the negotiations for truce. The States-General at once +declared that they would permit no movements on the part of the Spanish +party to seize the inheritance in behalf of the Catholic claimants. +Prince Maurice, nothing loth to make use of so well-timed an event in +order to cut for ever the tangled skein at the Hague, was for marching +forthwith into the duchies. + +But the archdukes gave such unequivocal assurances of abstaining from +interference, and the desire for peace was so strong both in the obedient +and in the United Provinces, that the question of the duchies was +postponed. It was to serve as both torch and fuel for one of the longest +and most hideous tragedies that had ever disgraced humanity. A thirty +years' war of demons was, after a brief interval, to succeed the forty +years' struggle between slaves and masters, which had just ended in the +recognition of Dutch independence. + +The gentle Arminius was in his grave, but a bloody harvest was fast +ripening from the seeds which he had sown. That evil story must find its +place in the melancholy chapter where the fortunes of the Dutch republic +are blended with the grim chronicle of the thirty years' war. Until the +time arrives for retracing the course of those united transactions to +their final termination in the peace of Westphalia, it is premature to +characterize an epoch which, at the moment with which we are now +occupied, had not fairly begun. + +The Gomarites accused the Arminians of being more lax than Papists, and +of filling the soul of man with vilest arrogance and confidence in good +works; while the Arminians complained that the God of the Gomarites was +an unjust God, himself the origin of sin. + +The disputes on these themes had been perpetual in the provinces ever +since the early days of the Reformation. Of late, however, the acrimony +of theological conflict had been growing day by day more intense. It was +the eternal struggle of religious dogma to get possession of the State, +and to make use of political forces in order to put fetters on the human +soul; to condemn it to slavery where most it requires freedom. + +The conflict between Gomarus and Arminius proceeded with such ferocity +in Leyden, that, since the days of the memorable siege, to which the +university owed its origin, men's minds had never been roused to such +feverish anxiety: The theological cannonades, which thundered daily from +the college buildings and caused all Holland to quake, seemed more +appalling to the burghers than the enginry of Valdez and Boisot had ever +seemed to their fathers. + +The Gomarite doctrine gained most favour with the clergy, the Arminian +creed with the municipal magistracies. The magistrates claimed that +decisions concerning religious matters belonged to the supreme authority. +The Gomarites contended that sacred matters should be referred to synods +of the clergy. Here was the germ of a conflict which might one day shake +the republic to its foundations. + +Barneveld, the great leader of the municipal, party, who loved political +power quite as well as he loved his country; was naturally a chieftain of +the Arminians; for church, matters were no more separated from political +matters in the commonwealth at that moment than they were in the cabinets +of Henry, James, or Philip. + +It was inevitable therefore that the war party should pour upon his head +more than seven vials of theological wrath. The religious doctrines +which he espoused were, odious not only because they were deemed vile in +themselves but because he believed in them. + +Arminianism was regarded as a new and horrible epidemic, daily gaining +ground, and threatening to destroy the whole population. Men deliberated +concerning the best means to cut off communication with the infected +regions, and to extirpate the plague even by desperate and heroic +remedies, as men in later days take measures against the cholera or the +rinderpest. + +Theological hatred was surely not extinct in the Netherlands. It was a +consolation, however, that its influence was rendered less noxious by the +vastly increased strength of principles long dormant in the atmosphere. +Anna van der Hoven, buried alive in Brussels, simply because her +Calvinistic creed was a crime in the eyes of the monks who murdered her, +was the last victim to purely religious persecution. If there were one +day to be still a tragedy or two in the Netherlands it was inevitable +that theological hatred would be obliged to combine with political party +spirit in its most condensed form before any deadly effect could be +produced. + +Thus the year 1609 is a memorable one in the world's history. It forms a +great landmark in human progress. It witnessed the recognition of a +republic, powerful in itself, and whose example was destined to be most +influential upon the career of two mighty commonwealths of the future. +The British empire, just expanding for wider flight than it had hitherto +essayed, and about to pass through a series of vast revolutions, +gathering strength of wing as it emerged from cloud after cloud; and the +American republic, whose frail and obscure beginnings at that very +instant of time scarcely attracted a passing attention from the +contemporaneous world--both these political organisms, to which so much +of mankind's future liberties had been entrusted, were deeply indebted to +the earlier self-governing commonwealth. + +The Dutch republic was the first free nation to put a girdle of +empire around the earth. It had courage, enterprise, intelligence, +perseverance, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and self- +help, hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer, aggressiveness, +greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of science, of liberty, +and of money--all this in unlimited extent. It had one great defect, it +had no country. Upon that meagre standing ground its hand had moved the +world with an impulse to be felt through all the ages, but there was not +soil enough in those fourteen thousand, square miles to form the +metropolis of the magnificent empire which the genius of liberty had +created beyond the seas. + +That the political institutions bequeathed by the United States of the +seventeenth century have been vastly improved, both in theory and +practice, by the United States of the nineteenth, no American is likely +to gainsay. That the elder Republic showed us also what to avoid, and +was a living example of the perils besetting a Confederacy which dared +not become a Union, is a lesson which we might take closely to heart. + +But the year 1609 was not only memorable as marking an epoch in Dutch +history. It was the beginning of a great and universal pause. The world +had need of rest. Disintegration had been going on too rapidly, and it +was absolutely necessary that there should be a new birth, if +civilization were not to vanish. + +A twenty years' truce between the Turkish and Holy Roman empires was +nearly simultaneous with the twelve years' truce between Spain and the +United Provinces. The Emperor Rudolph having refused to ratify the +treaty which his brother Matthias had made, was in consequence partially +discrowned. The same archduke who, thirty years before, had slipped away +from Vienna in his nightgown; with his face blackened, to outwit and +outgeneral William the Silent at Brussels, was now--more successful in +his manoeuvres against his imperial brother. Standing at the head of his +army in battle array, in the open fields before the walls of Prague, he +received--from the unfortunate Rudolph the crown and regalia of Hungary, +and was by solemn treaty declared sovereign of that ancient and +chivalrous kingdom. + +His triumphal entrance into Vienna succeeded, where, surrounded by great +nobles and burghers, with his brother Maximilian at his side, with +immense pomp and with flowers strewn before his feet, he ratified that +truce with Ahmed which Rudolph had rejected. Three months later he was +crowned at Pressburg, having first accepted the conditions proposed by +the estates of Hungary. Foremost among these was the provision that the +exercise of the reformed religion should be free in all the cities and +villages beneath his sceptre, and that every man in the kingdom was to +worship God according to his conscience. + +In the following March, at the very moment accordingly when the +conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at Antwerp, Matthias granted +religious peace for Austria likewise. Great was the indignation of his +nephew Leopold, the nuncius, and the Spanish ambassador in consequence, +by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his +brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. + +As for Ferdinand of Styria, his wrath may well be imagined. He refused +religious peace in his dominions with scorn ineffable. Not Gomarus in +Leyden could have shrunk from Arminianism with more intense horror than +that with which the archduke at Gratz recoiled from any form of +Protestantism. He wrote to his brother-in-law the King of Spain and to +other potentates--as if the very soul of Philip II. were alive within +him--that he would rather have a country without inhabitants than with a +single protestant on its soil. He strongly urged upon his Catholic +Majesty--as if such urging were necessary at the Spanish court--the +necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch. + +Here was one man at least who knew what he meant, and on whom the dread +lessons of fifty years of bloodshed had been lost. Magnificent was the +contempt which this pupil of the Jesuits felt for any little progress +made by the world since the days of Torquemada. In Ferdinand's view Alva +was a Christian hero, scarcely second to Godfrey of Bouillon, Philip II. +a sainted martyr, while the Dutch republic had never been born. + +And Ferdinand was one day to sit on the throne of the holy Roman Empire. +Might not a shudder come over the souls of men as coming events vaguely +shaped themselves to prophetic eyes? + +Meantime there was religious peace in Hungary, in Austria, in Bohemia, in +France, in Great Britain, in the Netherlands. The hangman's hands were +for a period at rest, so far as theology had need of them. Butchery in +the name of Christ was suspended throughout Christendom. The Cross and +the Crescent, Santiago and the Orange banner, were for a season in +repose. + +There was a vast lull between two mighty storms. The forty years' war +was in the past, the thirty years' war in the not far distant future. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +Forth-three years had passed since the memorable April morning in which +the great nobles of the, Netherlands presented their "Request" to the +Regent Margaret at Brussels. + +They had requested that the holy Spanish Inquisition might not be +established on their soil to the suppression of all their political and +religious institutions. + +The war which those high-born "beggars" had then kindled, little knowing +what they were doing, had now come to a close, and the successor of +Philip II., instead of planting the Inquisition in the provinces, had +recognised them as an independent, sovereign, protestant republic. + +In the ratification which he had just signed of the treaty of truce the +most Catholic king had in his turn made a Request. He had asked the +States-General to deal kindly with their Catholic subjects. + +That request was not answered with the age and faggot; with the avenging +sword of mercenary legions. On the contrary, it was destined to be +granted. The world had gained something in forty-three years. It had at +least begun to learn that the hangman is not the most appropriate teacher +of religion. + +During the period of apparent chaos with which this history of the great +revolt has been occupied, there had in truth been a great reorganization, +a perfected new birth. The republic had once more appeared in the world. + +Its main characteristics have been indicated in the course of the +narrative, for it was a polity which gradually unfolded itself out of the +decay and change of previous organisms. + +It was, as it were, in their own despite and unwittingly that the United +Provinces became a republic at all. + +In vain, after originally declaring their independence of the ancient +tyrant, had they attempted to annex themselves to France and to England. +The sovereignty had been spurned. The magnificent prize which France for +centuries since has so persistently coveted, and the attainment of which +has been a cardinal point of her perpetual policy--the Low Countries and +the banks of the Rhine--was deliberately laid at her feet, and as +deliberately refused. + +It was the secret hope of the present monarch to repair the loss which +the kingdom had suffered through the imbecility of his two immediate +predecessors. But a great nation cannot with impunity permit itself to +be despotically governed for thirty years by lunatics. It was not for +the Bearnese, with all his valour, his wit, and his duplicity, to obtain +the prize which Charles IX. and Henry III. had thrown away. Yet to make +himself sovereign of the Netherlands was his guiding but most secret +thought during all the wearisome and tortuous negotiations which preceded +the truce; nor did he abandon the great hope with the signature of the +treaty of 1609. + +Maurice of Nassau too was a formidable rival to Henry. The stadholder- +prince was no republican. He was a good patriot, a noble soldier, an +honest man. But his father had been offered the sovereignty of Holland +and Zeeland, and the pistol of Balthasar Gerard had alone, in all human +probability, prevented the great prince from becoming constitutional +monarch of all the Netherlands, Batavian and Belgic. + +Maurice himself asserted that not only had he been offered a million of +dollars, and large estates besides in Germany, if he would leave the +provinces to their fate, but that the archdukes had offered, would he +join his fortunes with theirs, to place him in a higher position over all +the Netherlands than he had ever enjoyed in the United Provinces, and +that they had even unequivocally offered him the sovereignty over the +whole land. + +Maurice was a man of truth, and we have no right to dispute the accuracy +of the extraordinary statement. He must however have reflected upon the +offer once made by the Prince of Darkness from the mountain top, and have +asked himself by what machinery the archdukes proposed to place him in +possession of such a kingdom. + +There had, however, been serious question among leading Dutch +statesmen of making him constitutional, hereditary monarch of the United +Netherlands. As late as 1602 a secret conference was held at the house +of Olden-Barneveld, in which the Advocate had himself urged the claims of +the prince to the sovereignty, and reminded his guests that the signed +and sealed documents--with the concurrence of the Amsterdam municipality +alone lacking--by which William the Silent had been invited to assume the +crown were still in the possession of his son. + +Nothing came of these deliberations. It was agreed that to stir in the +matter at that moment would be premature, and that the pursuit by Maurice +of the monarchy in the circumstances then existing would not only over- +burthen him with expense, but make him a more conspicuous mark than ever +for the assassin. It is certain that the prince manifested no undue +anxiety at any period in regard to those transactions. + +Subsequently, as Olden-Barneveld's personal power increased, and as the +negotiations for peace became more and more likely to prove successful, +the Advocate lost all relish for placing his great rival on a throne. +The whole project, with the documents and secret schemes therewith +connected, became mere alms for oblivion. Barneveld himself, although of +comparatively humble birth and station, was likely with time to exercise +more real power in the State than either Henry or Maurice; and thus while +there were three individuals who in different ways aspired to supreme +power, the republic, notwithstanding, asserted and established itself. + +Freedom of government and freedom, of religion were, on the whole, +assisted by this triple antagonism. The prince, so soon as war was +over, hated the Advocate and his daily increasing power more and more. +He allied himself more closely than ever with the Gomarites and the +clerical party in general, and did his best to inflame the persecuting +spirit, already existing in the provinces, against the Catholics and the +later sects of Protestants. + +Jeannin warned him that "by thus howling with the priests" he would be +suspected of more desperately ambitious designs than he perhaps really +cherished. + +On the other hand, Barneveld was accused of a willingness to wink at the +introduction, privately and quietly, of the Roman Catholic worship. That +this was the deadliest of sins, there was no doubt whatever in the minds +of his revilers. When it was added that he was suspected of the Arminian +leprosy, and that he could tolerate the thought that a virtuous man or +woman, not predestined from all time for salvation, could possibly find +the way to heaven, language becomes powerless to stigmatize his +depravity. Whatever the punishment impending over his head in this world +or the next, it is certain that the cause of human freedom was not +destined on the whole to lose ground through the life-work of Barneveld. + +A champion of liberties rather than of liberty, he defended his +fatherland with heart and soul against the stranger; yet the government +of that fatherland was, in his judgments to be transferred from the hand +of the foreigner, not to the self-governing people, but to the provincial +corporations. For the People he had no respect, and perhaps little +affection. He often spoke of popular rights with contempt. Of popular +sovereignty he had no conception. His patriotism, like his ambition, was +provincial. Yet his perceptions as to eternal necessity in all healthy +governments taught him that comprehensible relations between the state +and the population were needful to the very existence of a free +commonwealth. The United Provinces, he maintained, were not a republic, +but a league of seven provinces very loosely hung together, a mere +provisional organization for which it was not then possible to substitute +anything better. He expressed this opinion with deep regret, just as the +war of independence was closing, and added his conviction that, without +some well-ordered government, no republic could stand. + +Yet, as time wore on, the Advocate was destined to acquiesce more and +more in this defective constitution. A settled theory there was none, +and it would have been difficult legally and historically to establish +the central sovereignty of the States-General as matter of right. + +Thus Barneveld, who was anything but a democrat, became, almost +unwittingly, the champion of the least venerable or imposing of all +forms of aristocracy--an oligarchy of traders who imagined themselves +patricians. Corporate rights, not popular liberty, seemed, in his view, +the precious gains made by such a prodigious expenditure of time, money, +and blood. Although such acquisitions were practically a vast addition +to the stock of human freedom then existing in the world, yet torrents of +blood and millions of treasure were to be wasted in the coming centuries +before mankind was to convince itself that a republic is only to be made +powerful and perpetual by placing itself upon the basis of popular right +rather than on that of municipal privilege. + +The singular docility of the Dutch people, combined with the simplicity, +honesty, and practical sagacity of the earlier burgher patricians, made +the defects of the system tolerable for a longer period than might have +been expected; nor was it until theological dissensions had gathered to +such intensity as to set the whole commonwealth aflame that the grave +defects in the political structure could be fairly estimated. + +It would be anticipating a dark chapter in the history of the United +Provinces were the reader's attention now to be called to those fearful +convulsions. The greatest reserve is therefore necessary at present in +alluding to the subject. + +It was not to be expected that an imperious, energetic but somewhat +limited nature like that of Barneveld should at that epoch thoroughly +comprehend the meaning of religious freedom. William the Silent alone +seems to have risen to that height. A conscientious Calvinist himself, +the father of his country would have been glad to see Protestant and +Papist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Anabaptist living together in harmony +and political equality. This was not to be. The soul of the immortal +prince could not inspire the hearts of his contemporaries. That +Barneveld was disposed to a breadth of religious sympathy unusual in +those days, seems certain. It was inevitable, too, that the mild +doctrines of Arminius should be more in harmony with such a character +than were the fierce dogmas of Calvin. But the struggle, either to force +Arminianism upon the Church which considered itself the established one +in the Netherlands, or to expel the Calvinists from it, had not yet +begun; although the seeds of religious persecution of Protestants by +Protestants had already been sown broadcast. + +The day was not far distant when the very Calvinists, to whom, more than +to any other class of men, the political liberties of Holland, England, +and America are due, were to be hunted out of churches into farm-houses, +suburban hovels, and canal-boats by the arm of provincial sovereignty and +in the name of state-rights, as pitilessly as the early reformers had +been driven out of cathedrals in the name of emperor and pope; and when +even those refuges for conscientious worship were to be denied by the +dominant sect. And the day was to come, too, when the Calvinists, +regaining ascendency in their turn, were to hunt the heterodox as they +had themselves been hunted; and this, at the very moment when their +fellow Calvinists of England were driven by the Church of that kingdom +into the American wilderness. + +Toleration--that intolerable term of insult to all who love liberty--had +not yet been discovered. It had scarcely occurred to Arminian or +Presbyterian that civil authority and ecclesiastical doctrine could be +divorced from each other. As the individual sovereignty of the seven +states established itself more and more securely, the right of provincial +power to dictate religious dogmas, and to superintend the popular +conscience, was exercised with a placid arrogance which papal +infallibility could scarcely exceed. The alternation was only between +the sects, each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting. +The lessened intensity of persecution however, which priesthood and +authority were now allowed to exercise, marked the gains secured. + +Yet while we censure--as we have a right to do from the point of view +which we have gained after centuries--the crimes committed by bigotry +against liberty, we should be false, to our faith in human progress did +we not acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the hot gospellers of Holland +and England. + +The doctrine of predestination, the consciousness of being chosen +soldiers of Christ, inspired those puritans, who founded the +commonwealths of England, of Holland, and of America, with a contempt +of toil, danger, and death which enabled them to accomplish things +almost supernatural. + +No uncouthness of phraseology, no unlovely austerity of deportment, +could, except to vulgar minds, make that sublime enthusiasm ridiculous, +which on either side the ocean ever confronted tyranny with dauntless +front, and welcomed death on battle-field, scaffold, or rack with perfect +composure. + +The early puritan at least believed. The very intensity of his belief +made him--all unconsciously to himself, and narrowed as was his view of +his position--the great instrument by which the widest human liberty was +to be gained for all mankind. + +The elected favourite of the King of kings feared the power of no earthly +king. Accepting in rapture the decrees of a supernatural tyranny, he +rose on mighty wings above the reach of human wrath. Prostrating himself +before a God of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice, be naturally +imitated the attributes which he believed to be divine. It was +inevitable, therefore, that Barneveld, and those who thought with him, +when they should attempt to force the children of Belial into the company +of the elect and to drive the faithful out of their own churches, should +be detested as bitterly as papists had ever been. + +Had Barneveld's intellect been broad enough to imagine in a great +republic the separation of Church and State, he would deserve a tenderer +sympathy, but he would have been far in advance of his age. It is not +cheerful to see so powerful an intellect and so patriotic a character +daring to entrust the relations between man and his Maker to the decree +of a trading corporation. But alas! the world was to wait for centuries +until it should learn that the State can best defend religion by letting +it alone, and that the political arm is apt to wither with palsy when it +attempts to control the human conscience. + +It is not entirely the commonwealth of the United Netherlands that is of +importance in the epoch which I have endeavoured to illustrate. History +can have neither value nor charm for those who are not impressed with a +conviction of its continuity. + +More than ever during the period which we call modern history has this +idea of the continuousness of our race, and especially of the inhabitants +of Europe and America, become almost oppressive to the imagination. +There is a sense of immortality even upon earth when we see the +succession of heritages in the domains of science, of intellectual and +material wealth by which mankind, generation after generation, is +enriching itself. + +If this progress be a dream, if mankind be describing a limited circle +instead of advancing towards the infinite; then no study can be more +contemptible than the study of history. + +Few strides more gigantic have been taken in the march of humanity than +those by which a parcel of outlying provinces in the north of Europe +exchanged slavery to a foreign despotism and to the Holy Inquisition +for the position of a self-governing commonwealth, in the, front rank of +contemporary powers, and in many respects the foremost of the world. It +is impossible to calculate the amount of benefit tendered to civilization +by the example of the Dutch republic. It has been a model which has been +imitated, in many respects, by great nations. It has even been valuable +in its very defects; indicating to the patient observer many errors most +important to avoid. + +Therefore, had the little republic sunk for ever in the sea so soon as +the treaty of peace had been signed at Antwerp, its career would have +been prolific of good for all succeeding time. + +Exactly at the moment when a splendid but decaying despotism, founded +upon wrong--upon oppression of the human body and the immortal soul, upon +slavery, in short, of the worst kind--was awaking from its insane dream +of universal empire to a consciousness of its own decay, the new republic +was recognised among the nations. + +It would hardly be incorrect to describe the Holland of the beginning +of the seventeenth century as the exact reverse of Spain. In, the +commonwealth labour was most honourable; in the kingdom it was vile. +In the north to be idle was accounted and punished as a crime. In the +southern peninsula, to be contaminated with mechanical, mercantile, +commercial, manufacturing pursuits, was to be accursed. Labour was for +slaves, and at last the mere spectacle of labour became so offensive that +even the slaves were expelled from the land. To work was as degrading in +the south as to beg or to steal was esteemed unworthy of humanity in the +north. To think a man's thought upon high matters of religion and +government, and through a thousand errors to pursue the truth; with the +aid of the Most High and with the best use of human reason, was a +privilege secured by the commonwealth, at the expense of two generations +of continuous bloodshed. To lie fettered, soul and body, at the feet of +authority wielded by a priesthood in its last stage of corruption, and +monarchy almost reduced to imbecility, was the lot of the chivalrous, +genial; but much oppressed Spaniard. + +The pictures painted of the republic by shrewd and caustic observers, not +inclined by nature or craft to portray freedom in too engaging colours, +seem, when contrasted with those revealed of Spain, almost like +enthusiastic fantasies of an ideal commonwealth. + +During the last twenty years of the great war the material prosperity of +the Netherlands had wonderfully increased. They had, become the first +commercial nation in the world. They had acquired the supremacy of the +seas. The population of Amsterdam had in twenty years increased from +seventy thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand, and was destined to be +again more than doubled in the coming decade. The population of Antwerp +had sunk almost as rapidly as that of its rival had increased; having +lessened by fifty thousand during the same period. The commercial +capital of the obedient provinces, having already lost much of its famous +traffic by the great changes in the commercial current of the world, was +unable to compete with the cities of the United Provinces in the vast +trade which the geographical discoveries of the preceding century had +opened to civilization. Freedom of thought and action were denied, and +without such liberty it was impossible for oceanic commerce to thrive. +Moreover, the possession by the Hollanders of the Scheld forts below +Antwerp, and of Flushing at the river's mouth, suffocated the ancient +city, and would of itself have been sufficient to paralyze all its +efforts. + +In Antwerp the exchange, where once thousands of the great merchants of +the earth held their daily financial parliament, now echoed to the +solitary footfall of the passing stranger. Ships lay rotting at the +quays; brambles grow in the commercial streets. In Amsterdam the city +had been enlarged by two-thirds, and those who swarmed thither to seek +their fortunes could not wait for the streets to be laid out and houses +to be built, but established themselves in the environs, building +themselves hovels and temporary residences, although certain to find +their encampments swept away with the steady expanse of the city. As +much land as could be covered by a man's foot was worth a ducat in gold. + +In every branch of human industry these republicans took the lead. On +that scrap of solid ground, rescued by human energy from the ocean, were +the most fertile pastures in the world. On those pastures grazed the +most famous cattle in the world. An ox often weighed more than two +thousand pounds. The cows produced two and three calves at a time, the +sheep four and five lambs. In a single village four thousand kine were +counted. Butter and cheese were exported to the annual value of a +million, salted provisions to an incredible extent. The farmers were +industrious, thriving, and independent. It is an amusing illustration of +the agricultural thrift and republican simplicity of this people that on +one occasion a farmer proposed to Prince Maurice that he should marry his +daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hundred thousand florins. + +The mechanical ingenuity of the Netherlanders, already celebrated by +Julius Caesar and by Tacitus, had lost nothing of its ancient fame. The +contemporary world confessed that in many fabrics the Hollanders were at +the head of mankind. Dutch linen, manufactured of the flax grown on +their own fields or imported from the obedient provinces, was esteemed a +fitting present for kings to make and to receive. The name of the +country had passed into the literature of England as synonymous with the +delicate fabric itself. The Venetians confessed themselves equalled, if +not outdone, by the crystal workers and sugar refiners of the northern +republic. The tapestries of Arras--the name of which Walloon city had +become a household word of luxury in all modern languages--were now +transplanted to the soil of freedom, more congenial to the advancement of +art. Brocades of the precious metals; splendid satins and velvets; +serges and homely fustians; laces of thread and silk; the finer and +coarser manufactures of clay and porcelain; iron, steel, and all useful +fabrics for the building and outfitting of ships; substantial broadcloths +manufactured of wool imported from Scotland--all this was but a portion +of the industrial production of the provinces. + +They supplied the deficiency of coal, not then an article readily +obtained by commerce, with other remains of antediluvian forests long +since buried in the sea, and now recovered from its depths and made +useful and portable by untiring industry. Peat was not only the fuel +for the fireside, but for the extensive fabrics of the country, and its +advantages so much excited the admiration of the Venetian envoys that +they sent home samples of it, in the hope that the lagunes of Venice +might prove as prolific of this indispensable article as the polders of +Holland. + +But the foundation of the national wealth, the source of the apparently +fabulous power by which the republic had at last overthrown her gigantic +antagonist, was the ocean. The republic was sea-born and sea-sustained. + +She had nearly one hundred thousand sailors, and three thousand ships. +The sailors were the boldest, the best disciplined, and the most +experienced in the-world, whether for peaceable seafaring or ocean +warfare. The ships were capable of furnishing from out of their number +in time of need the most numerous and the best appointed navy then known +to mankind. + +The republic had the carrying trade for all nations. Feeling its very +existence dependent upon commerce, it had strode centuries in advance of +the contemporary world in the liberation of trade. But two or three per +cent. ad valorem was levied upon imports; foreign goods however being +subject, as well as internal products, to heavy imposts in the way of +both direct and indirect taxation. + +Every article of necessity or luxury known was to be purchased in +profusion and at reasonable prices in the warehouses of Holland. + +A swarm of river vessels and fly-boats were coming daily through the +rivers of Germany, France and the Netherlands, laden with the +agricultural products and the choice manufactures of central and western +Europe. Wine and oil, and delicate fabrics in thread and wool, came from +France, but no silks, velvets, nor satins; for the great Sully had +succeeded in persuading his master that the white mulberry would not grow +in his kingdom, and that silk manufactures were an impossible dream for +France. Nearly a thousand ships were constantly employed in the Baltic +trade. The forests of Holland were almost as extensive as those which +grew on Norwegian hills, but they were submerged. The foundation of a +single mansion required a grove, and wood was extensively used in the +superstructure. The houses, built of a framework of substantial timber, +and filled in with brick or rubble, were raised almost as rapidly as +tents, during the prodigious expansion of industry towards the end of the +war. From the realms of the Osterlings, or shores of the Baltic, came +daily fleets laden with wheat and other grains so that even in time of +famine the granaries of the republic were overflowing, and ready to +dispense the material of life to the outer world. + +Eight hundred vessels of lesser size but compact build were perpetually +fishing for herrings on the northern coasts. These hardy mariners, the +militia of the sea, who had learned in their life of hardship and daring +the art of destroying Spanish and Portuguese armadas, and confronting the +dangers of either pole, passed a long season on the deep. Commercial +voyagers as well as fishermen, they salted their fish as soon as taken +from the sea, and transported them to the various ports of Europe, thus +reducing their herrings into specie before their return, and proving that +a fishery in such hands was worth more than the mines of Mexico and Peru. + +It is customary to speak of the natural resources of a country as +furnishing a guarantee of material prosperity. But here was a republic +almost without natural resources, which had yet supplied by human +intelligence and thrift what a niggard nature had denied. Spain was +overflowing with unlimited treasure, and had possessed half the world in +fee; and Spain was bankrupt, decaying, sinking into universal pauperism. +Holland, with freedom of thought, of commerce, of speech, of action, +placed itself, by intellectual power alone, in the front rank of +civilization. + +From Cathay, from the tropical coasts of Africa, and from farthest Ind, +came every drug, spice, or plant, every valuable jewel, every costly +fabric, that human ingenuity had discovered or created. The Spaniards, +maintaining a frail tenure upon a portion of those prolific regions, +gathered their spice harvests at the point of the sword, and were +frequently unable to prevent their northern rivals from ravaging such +fields as they had not yet been able to appropriate. + +Certainly this conduct of the Hollanders was barbarism and supreme +selfishness, if judged by the sounder political economy of our time. +Yet it should never be forgotten that the contest between Spain and +Holland in those distant regions, as everywhere else, was war to the +knife between superstition and freedom, between the spirits of progress +and of dogma. Hard blows and foul blows were struck in such a fight, and +humanity, although gaining at last immense results, had much to suffer +and much to learn ere the day was won. + +But Spain was nearly beaten out of those eastern regions, and the very +fact that the naval supremacy of the republic placed her ancient tyrant +at her mercy was the main reason for Spain to conclude the treaty of +truce. Lest she should lose the India trade entirely, Spain consented to +the treaty article by which, without mentioning the word, she conceded +the thing. It was almost pathetic to witness, as we have witnessed, this +despotism in its dotage, mumbling so long over the formal concession to +her conqueror of a portion of that India trade which would have been +entirely wrested from herself had the war continued. And of this Spain +was at heart entirely convinced. Thus the Portuguese, once the lords and +masters, as they had been the European discoverers, of those prolific +regions and of the ocean highways which led to them, now came with +docility to the republic which they had once affected to despise, +and purchased the cloves and the allspice, the nutmegs and the cinnamon, +of which they had held the monopoly; or waited with patience until the +untiring Hollanders should bring the precious wares to the peninsula +ports. + +A Dutch Indianian would make her voyage to the antipodes and her return +in less time than was spent by a Portuguese or a Spaniard in the outward +voyage. To accomplish such an enterprise in two years was accounted a +wonder of rapidity, and when it is remembered that inland navigation +through France by canal and river from the North Sea to the Mediterranean +was considered both speedier and safer, because the sea voyage between +the same points might last four or five months, it must be admitted that +two years occupied in passing from one end of the earth to the other and +back again might well seem a miracle. + +The republic was among the wealthiest and the most powerful of organized +States. Her population might be estimated at three millions and a half, +about equal to that of England at the same period. But she was richer +than England. Nowhere in the world was so large a production in +proportion to the numbers of a people. Nowhere were so few unproductive +consumers. Every one was at work. Vagabonds, idlers, and do-nothings, +such as must be in every community, were caught up by the authorities and +made to earn their bread. The devil's pillow, idleness, was smoothed for +no portion of the population. + +There were no beggars, few paupers, no insolently luxurious and +ostentatiously idle class. The modesty, thrift, and simple elegance of +the housekeeping, even among the wealthy, was noted by travellers with +surprise. It will be remembered with how much amused wonder, followed by +something like contempt, the, magnificent household of Spinola, during +his embassy at the Hague, was surveyed by the honest burghers of Holland. +The authorities showed their wisdom in permitting the absurd exhibition, +as an example of what should be shunned, in spite of grave remonstrances +from many of the citizens. Drunken Helotism is not the only form of +erring humanity capable of reading lessons to a republic. + +There had been monasteries, convents, ecclesiastical establishments of +all kinds in the country, before the great war between Holland and the +Inquisition. These had, as a matter of course, been confiscated as the +strife went on. The buildings, farms, and funds, once the property of +the Church, had not, however, been seized upon, as in other Protestant +lands, by rapacious monarchs, and distributed among great nobles +according to royal caprice. Monarchs might give the revenue of a +suppressed convent to a cook, as reward for a successful pudding; the +surface of Britain and the continent might be covered with abbeys and +monasteries now converted into lordly palaces--passing thus from the dead +hand of the Church into the idle and unproductive palm of the noble; but +the ancient ecclesiastical establishments of the free Netherlands were +changed into eleemosynary institutions, admirably organized and +administered with wisdom and economy, where orphans of the poor, widows +of those slain in the battles for freedom by land and sea, and the aged +and the infirm, who had deserved well of the republic in the days of +their strength, were educated or cherished at the expense of the public, +thus endowed from the spoils of the Church. + +In Spain, monasteries upon monasteries were rising day by day, as if +there were not yet receptacles enough for monks and priests, while +thousands upon thousands of Spaniards were pressing into the ranks of +the priesthood, and almost forcing themselves into monasteries, that +they might be privileged to beg, because ashamed to work. In the +United Netherlands the confiscated convents, with their revenues, +were appropriated for the good of those who were too young or too old to +labour, and too poor to maintain themselves without work. Need men look +further than to this simple fact to learn why Spain was decaying while +the republic was rising? + +The ordinary budget of the United Provinces was about equal to that of +England, varying not much from four millions of florins, or four hundred +thousand pounds. But the extraordinary revenue was comparatively without +limits, and there had been years, during the war, when the citizens had +taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent. on each individual income, +and doubled the receipts of the exchequer. The budget was proposed once +a year, by the council of state, and voted by the States-General, who +assigned the quota of each province; that of Holland being always one- +half of the whole, that of Zeeland sixteen per cent., and that of the +other five of course in lesser proportions. The revenue was collected +in the separate provinces, one-third of the whole being retained for +provincial expenses, and the balance paid into the general treasury. +There was a public debt, the annual interest of which amounted to 200,000 +florins. During the war, money had been borrowed at as high a rate as +thirty-six per cent., but at the conclusion of hostilities the States +could borrow at six per cent., and the whole debt was funded on that +basis. Taxation was enormously heavy, but patriotism caused it to be +borne with cheerfulness, and productive industry made it comparatively +light. Rents were charged twenty-five per cent. A hundred per cent. was +levied upon beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits. Other articles of necessity +and luxury were almost as severely taxed. It is not easy to enumerate +the tax-list, scarcely anything foreign or domestic being exempted, while +the grave error was often committed of taxing the same article, in +different forms, four, five, and six times. + +The people virtually taxed themselves, although the superstition +concerning the State, as something distinct from and superior to the +people, was to linger long and work infinite mischief among those seven +republics which were never destined to be welded theoretically and +legally into a union. The sacredness of corporations had succeeded, +in a measure, to the divinity which hedges kings. Nevertheless, those +corporations were so numerous as to be effectively open to a far larger +proportion of the population than, in those days, had ever dreamed before +of participating in the Government. The magistracies were in general +unpaid and little coveted, being regarded as a burthen and a +responsibility rather than an object of ambition. The jurisconsults, +called pensionaries, who assisted the municipal authorities, received, +however, a modest salary, never exceeding 1500 florins a year. + +These numerous bodies, provincial and municipal, elected themselves +themselves by supplying their own vacancies. The magistrates were +appointed by the stadholder, on a double or triple nomination from the +municipal board. This was not impartial suffrage nor manhood suffrage. +The germ of a hateful burgher-oligarchy was in the system, but, as +compared with Spain, where municipal magistracies were sold by the crown +at public auction; or with France, where every office in church, law, +magistrature, or court was an object of merchandise disposed of in open +market, the system was purity itself, and marked a great advance in the +science of government. + +It should never be forgotten, moreover, that while the presidents +and judges of the highest courts of judicature in other civilized lands +were at the mercy of an irresponsible sovereign, and held office--even +although it had been paid for in solid specie--at his pleasure, the +supreme justices of the high courts of appeal at the Hague were nominated +by a senate, and confirmed by a stadholder, and that they exercised their +functions for life, or so long as they conducted themselves virtuously in +their high office--'quamdiu se bene gesserint.' + +If one of the great objects of a civilized community is to secure to all +men their own--'ut sua tenerent'--surely it must be admitted that the +republic was in advance of all contemporary States in the laying down of +this vital principle, the independence of judges. + +As to the army and navy of the United Provinces, enough has been said, +in earlier chapters of these volumes, to indicate the improvements +introduced by Prince Maurice, and now carried to the highest point of +perfection ever attained in that period. There is no doubt whatever, +that for discipline, experience, equipment, effectiveness of movement, +and general organization, the army of the republic was the model army of +Europe. It amounted to but thirty thousand infantry and two thousand +five hundred cavalry, but this number was a large one for a standing army +at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It was composed of a +variety of materials, Hollanders, Walloons, Flemings, Scotch, English, +Irish, Germans, but all welded together into a machine of perfect +regularity. The private foot-soldier received twelve florins for a so- +called month of forty-two days, the drummer and corporal eighteen, the +lieutenant fifty-two, and the captain one hundred and fifty florins. +Prompt payment was made every week. Obedience was implicit; mutiny, such +as was of periodical recurrence in the archduke's army, entirely unknown. +The slightest theft was punished with the gallows, and there was +therefore no thieving. + +The most accurate and critical observers confessed, almost against their +will, that no army in Europe could compare with the troops of the States. +As to the famous regiments of Sicily, and the ancient legions of Naples +and Milan, a distinguished Venetian envoy, who had seen all the camps and +courts of Christendom, and was certainly not disposed to overrate the +Hollanders at the expense of the Italians, if any rivalry between them +had been possible, declared that every private soldier in the republic +was fit to be a captain in any Italian army; while, on the other hand, +there was scarcely an Italian captain who would be accepted as a private +in any company of the States. So low had the once famous soldiery of +Alva, Don John, and Alexander Farnese descended. + +The cavalry of the republic was even more perfectly organized than was +the infantry. "I want words to describe its perfection," said Contarini. +The pay was very high, and very prompt. A captain received four hundred +florins a month (of forty-two days), a lieutenant one hundred and eighty +florins, and other officers and privates in proportion. These rates +would be very high in our own day. When allowance is made for the +difference in the value of money at the respective epochs, the salaries +are prodigious; but the thrifty republic found its account in paying well +and paying regularly the champions on whom so much depended, and by whom +such splendid services had been rendered. + +While the soldiers in the pay of Queen Elizabeth were crawling to her +palace gates to die of starvation before her eyes; while the veterans of +Spain and of Italy had organized themselves into a permanent military, +mutinous republic, on the soil of the so-called obedient Netherland, +because they were left by their masters without clothing or food; the +cavalry and infantry of the Dutch commonwealth, thanks to the organizing +spirit and the wholesome thrift of the burgher authorities, were +contented, obedient, well fed, well clothed, and well paid; devoted to +their Government, and ever ready to die in its defence. + +Nor was it only on the regular army that reliance was placed. On the +contrary, every able-bodied man in the country was liable to be called +upon to serve, at any moment, in the militia. All were trained to arms, +and provided with arms, and there had been years during this perpetual +war in which one man out of three of the whole male population was ready +to be mustered at any moment into the field. + +Even more could be said in praise of the navy than has been stated of the +armies of the republic; for the contemporary accounts of foreigners, and +of foreigners who were apt to be satirical, rather than enthusiastic, +when describing the institutions, leading personages, and customs of +other countries, seemed ever to speak of the United Provinces in terms of +eulogy. In commerce, as in war, the naval supremacy of the republic was +indisputable. It was easy for the States to place two thousand vessels +of war in commission, if necessary, of tonnage varying from four hundred +to twelve hundred tons, to man them with the hardiest and boldest sailors +in the world, and to despatch them with promptness to any quarter of the +globe. + +It was recognised as nearly impossible to compel a war-vessel of the +republic to surrender. Hardly an instance was on her naval record of +submission, even to far superior force, while it was filled with the +tragic but heroic histories of commanders who had blown their ships, +with every man on board, into the air, rather than strike their flag. +Such was the character, and such the capacity of the sea-born republic. + +That republic had serious and radical defects, but the design remained to +be imitated and improved upon, centuries afterwards. The history of the +rise and progress of the Dutch republic is a leading chapter in the +history of human liberty. + +The great misfortune of the commonwealth of the United Provinces, next to +the slenderness of its geographical proportions, was the fact that it was +without a centre and without a head, and therefore not a nation capable +of unlimited vitality. There were seven states. Each claimed to be +sovereign. The pretension on the part of several of them was ridiculous. +Overyssel, for example, contributed two and three-quarters per cent. of +the general budget. It was a swamp of twelve hundred square miles in +extent, with some heath-spots interspered, and it numbered perhaps a +hundred thousand inhabitants. The doughty Count of Embden alone could +have swallowed up such sovereignty, have annexed all the buckwheat +patches and cranberry marshes of Overyssel to his own meagre territories, +and nobody the wiser. + +Zeeland, as we have seen, was disposed at a critical moment to set up +its independent sovereignty. Zeeland, far more important than Overyssel, +had a revenue of perhaps five hundred thousand dollars,--rather a slender +budget for an independent republic, wedged in as it was by the most +powerful empires of the earth, and half drowned by the ocean, from which +it had scarcely emerged. + +There was therefore no popular representation, and on the other hand no +executive head. As sovereignty must be exercised in some way, however, +in all living commonwealths, and as a low degree of vitality was +certainly not the defect of those bustling provinces, the supreme +functions had now fallen into the hands of Holland. + +While William the Silent lived, the management of war, foreign affairs, +and finance, for the revolted provinces, was in his control. He was +aided by two council boards, but the circumstances of history and the +character of the man had invested him with an inevitable dictatorship. + +After his death, at least after Leicester's time, the powers of the +state-council, the head of which, Prince Maurice, was almost always +absent at the wars, fell into comparative disuse. The great functions +of the confederacy passed into the possession of the States-General. +That body now came to sit permanently at the Hague. The number of its +members, deputies from the seven provinces-envoys from those seven +immortal and soulless sovereigns--was not large. The extraordinary +assembly held at Bergen-op-Zoom for confirmation of the truce was +estimated by, Bentivoglio at eight hundred. Bentivoglio, who was on the +spot, being then nuncius at Brussels, ought to have been able to count +them, yet it is very certain that the number was grossly exaggerated. + +At any rate the usual assembly at the Hague rarely amounted to one +hundred members. The presidency was changed once a week, the envoy of +each province taking his turn as chairman. + +Olden-Barneveld, as member for Holland, was always present in the diet. +As Advocate-General of the leading province, and keeper of its great +seal, more especially as possessor of the governing intellect of the +whole commonwealth, be led the administration of Holland, and as the +estates of Holland contributed more than half of the whole budget of +the confederacy, it was a natural consequence of the actual supremacy of +that province, and of the vast legal hand political experience of the +Advocate, that Holland should, govern the confederacy, and that Barneveld +should govern Holland. + +The States-General remained virtually supreme, receiving envoys from all +the great powers, sending abroad their diplomatic representatives, to +whom the title and rank of ambassador was freely accorded, and dealing +in a decorous and dignified way with all European affairs. The ability +of the republican statesmen was as fully recognised all over the earth, +as was the genius of their generals and great naval commanders. + +The People did not exist; but this was merely because, in theory, the +People had not been invented. It was exactly because there was a People +--an energetic and intelligent People--that the republic was possible. + +No scheme had yet been devised for laying down in primary assemblies +a fundamental national law, for distributing the various functions +of governmental power among selected servants, for appointing +representatives according to population or property, and for holding +all trustees responsible at reasonable intervals to the nation itself. + +Thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and +concentric municipal layers. The States-General were the outer husk, +of which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. Yet the +number of these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the +whole population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original +inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than +practical. In point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals +served the State as would perhaps have been the case under a more +philosophically arranged democracy. The difficulty was rather in +obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts +among candidates. + +Men were occupied with their own affairs. In proportion to their +numbers, they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then +existing. An excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so +productive, and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an +educated people. There was hardly a Netherlander--man, woman, or child-- +that could not read and write. The school was the common property of the +people, paid for among the municipal expenses. In the cities, as well as +in the rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical +schools. In the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not +been taught Latin, or girls unacquainted with French. Capacity to write +and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many +individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made +remarkable progress in science and classical literature. The position, +too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization. +They are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns +in their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. +"It would be ridiculous," said Donato, "to see a man occupying himself +with domestic house-keeping. The women do it all, and command +absolutely." The Hollanders, so rebellious against Church and +King, accepted with meekness the despotism of woman. + +The great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical +tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect. +The foundation of the Leyden university in memory of the heroism +displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument +as had ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. And the +scientific lustre of the university well sustained the nobility of its +origin. The proudest nation on earth might be more proud of a seat of +learning, founded thus amidst carnage and tears, whence so much of +profound learning and brilliant literature had already been diffused. +The classical labours of Joseph Scaliger, Heinsius father and son the +elder Dousa, almost as famous with his pen in Latin poetry as his sword +had made him in the vernacular chronicle; of Dousa the son, whom Grotius +called "the crown and flower of all good learning, too soon snatched +away by envious death, than whom no man more skilled in poetry, more +consummate in acquaintance with ancient science and literature, had ever +lived;" of Hugo Grotius himself, who at the age of fifteen had taken his +doctor's degree at Leyden who as a member of Olden-Barneveld's important +legation to France and England very soon afterwards had excited the +astonishment of Henry IV. and Elizabeth, who had already distinguished +himself by editions of classic poets, and by original poems and dramas in +Latin, and was already, although but twenty-six years of age; laying the +foundation of that magnificent reputation as a jurist, a philosopher, a +historian, and a statesman, which was to be one of the enduring glories +of humanity, all these were the precious possessions of the high school +of Leyden. + +The still more modern university of Franeker, founded amid the din +of perpetual warfare in Friesland, could at least boast the name of +Arminius, whose theological writings and whose expansive views were +destined to exert such influence over his contemporaries and posterity. + +The great history of Hoofd, in which the splendid pictures and the +impassioned drama of the great war of independence were to be preserved +for his countrymen through all time, was not yet written. It was soon +afterwards, however, to form not only a chief source of accurate +information as to the great events themselves, but a model of style +never since surpassed by any prose writer in either branch of the +German tongue. + +Had Hoofd written for a wider audience, it would be difficult to name a +contemporary author of any nation whose work would have been more +profoundly studied or more generally admired. + +But the great war had not waited to be chronicled by the classic and +impassioned Hoofd. Already there were thorough and exhaustive narrators +of what was instinctively felt to be one of the most pregnant episodes of +human history. Bor of Utrecht, a miracle of industry, of learning, of +unwearied perseverance, was already engaged in the production of those +vast folios in which nearly all the great transactions of the forty +years' war were conscientiously portrayed, with a comprehensiveness of +material and an impartiality of statement, such as might seem almost +impossible for a contemporary writer. Immersed in attentive study and +profound contemplation, he seemed to lift his tranquil head from time to +time over the wild ocean of those troublous times, and to survey with +accuracy without being swayed or appalled by the tempest. There was +something almost sublime in his steady, unimpassioned gaze. + +Emanuel van Meteren, too, a plain Protestant merchant of Antwerp and +Amsterdam, wrote an admirable history of the war and of his own times, +full of precious details, especially rich in statistics--a branch of +science which he almost invented--which still, remains as one of the +leading authorities, not only for scholars, but for the general reader. + +Reyd and Burgundius, the one the Calvinist private secretary of Lewis +William, the other a warm Catholic partisan, both made invaluable +contemporaneous contributions to the history of the war. + +The trophies already secured by the Netherlanders in every department of +the fine arts, as well as the splendour which was to enrich the coming +epoch, are too familiar to the world to need more than a passing +allusion. + +But it was especially in physical science that the republic was taking a +leading part in the great intellectual march of the nations. + +The very necessities of its geographical position had forced it to pre- +eminence in hydraulics and hydrostatics. It had learned to transform +water into dry land with a perfection attained by no nation before or +since. The wonders of its submarine horticulture were the despair of all +gardeners in the world. + +And as in this gentlest of arts, so also in the dread science of war, the +republic had been the instructor of mankind. + +The youthful Maurice and his cousin Lewis William had so restored +and improved the decayed intelligence of antique strategy, that the +greybeards of Europe became docile pupils in their school. The +mathematical teacher of Prince Maurice amazed the contemporary world with +his combinations and mechanical inventions; the flying chariots of Simon +Stevinua seeming products of magical art. + +Yet the character of the Dutch intellect was averse to sorcery. The +small but mighty nation, which had emancipated itself from the tyranny of +Philip and of the Holy Inquisition, was foremost to shake off the fetters +of superstition. Out of Holland came the first voice to rebuke one of +the hideous delusions of the age. While grave magistrates and sages of +other lands were exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims, +John Wier, a physician of Grave, boldly denounced the demon which had +taken possession, not of the wizards, but of the judges. + +The age was lunatic and sick, and it was fitting that the race which had +done so much for the physical and intellectual emancipation of the world, +should have been the first to apply a remedy for this monstrous madness. +Englishmen and their descendants were drowning and hanging witches in New +England, long after John Wier had rebuked and denounced the belief in +witchcraft. + +It was a Zeelander, too; who placed the instrument in the hand of Galileo +by which that daring genius traced the movements of the universe, and +who, by another wondrous invention, enabled future discoverers to study +the infinite life which lies all around us, hidden not by its remoteness +but it's minuteness. Zacharias Jansens of Middelburg, in 1590, invented +both the telescope and the microscope. + +The wonder-man of Alkmaar, Cornelius Drebbel, who performed such +astounding feats for the amusement of Rudolph of Germany and James of +Britain, is also supposed to have invented the thermometer and the +barometer. But this claim has been disputed. The inventions of Jansens +are proved. + +Willebrod Snellius, mathematical professor of Leyden, introduced the true +method of measuring the degrees of longitude and latitude, and Huygens, +who had seen his manuscripts, asserted that Snellius had invented, before +Descartes, the doctrine of refraction. + +But it was especially to that noble band of heroes and martyrs, the great +navigators and geographical discoverers of the republic, that science is +above all indebted. + +Nothing is more sublime in human story than the endurance and audacity +with which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, in the interests of +commerce, and for the direct purpose of enlarging the bounds of the human +intellect. + +The achievements, the sufferings, and the triumphs of Barendz and Cordes, +Heemskerk, Van der Hagen, and many others, have been slightly indicated +in these pages. The contributions to botany, mineralogy, geometry, +geography, and zoology, of Linschoten, Plancius, Wagenaar, and Houtmann, +and so many other explorers of pole and tropic, can hardly be overrated. + +The Netherlanders had wrung their original fatherland out of the grasp of +the ocean. They had confronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient +tyrant, ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been defrauded. + +They had waged fiercer and more perpetual battle with a tyranny more +cruel than the tempest, with an ancient superstition more hungry than the +sea. It was inevitable that a race, thus invigorated by the ocean, +cradled to freedom by their conflicts with its power, and hardened almost +to invincibility by their struggle against human despotism, should be +foremost among the nations in the development of political, religious, +and commercial freedom. + +The writer now takes an affectionate farewell of those who have followed +him with an indulgent sympathy as he has attempted to trace the origin +and the eventful course of the Dutch commonwealth. If by his labours +a generous love has been fostered for that blessing, without which +everything that this earth can afford is worthless--freedom of thought, +of speech, and of life--his highest wish has been fulfilled. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +About equal to that of England at the same period +An unjust God, himself the origin of sin +Butchery in the name of Christ was suspended +Calling a peace perpetual can never make it so +Chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers +Each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting +Exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims +Foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition +God of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice +Gomarites accused the Arminians of being more lax than Papists +Hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion +He often spoke of popular rights with contempt +John Wier, a physician of Grave +Necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch +Nowhere were so few unproductive consumers +Paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) +Privileged to beg, because ashamed to work +Religious persecution of Protestants by Protestants +So unconscious of her strength +State can best defend religion by letting it alone +Taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent +The People had not been invented +The slightest theft was punished with the gallows +Tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated +Toleration--that intolerable term of insult +War to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v83 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, ENTIRE 1600-09 UNITED NETHERLANDS: + +A penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce +A sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty +A man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear +A truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction +About equal to that of England at the same period +Abstinence from unproductive consumption +Accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed +Alas! we must always have something to persecute +Alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains +All the ministers and great functionaries received presents +An unjust God, himself the origin of sin +Argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins +As if they were free will not make them free +As neat a deception by telling the truth +Because he had been successful (hated) +Began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand +Bestowing upon others what was not his property +Beware of a truce even more than of a peace +But the habit of dissimulation was inveterate +Butchery in the name of Christ was suspended +By turns, we all govern and are governed +Calling a peace perpetual can never make it so +Cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the James River +Certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other +Chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers +Conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character +Constitute themselves at once universal legatees +Contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified +Converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling +Could handle an argument as well as a sword +Crimes and cruelties such as Christians only could imagine +Culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence +Defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe +Delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader +Despised those who were grateful +Diplomacy of Spain and Rome--meant simply dissimulation +Do you want peace or war? I am ready for either +Draw a profit out of the necessities of this state +Each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting +Eloquence of the biggest guns +England hated the Netherlands +Even the virtues of James were his worst enemies +Exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims +Foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition +Four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years +Friendly advice still more intolerable +Gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest +God alone can protect us against those whom we trust +God of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice +Gold was the only passkey to justice +Gomarites accused the Arminians of being more lax than Papists +Haereticis non servanda fides +Hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion +He often spoke of popular rights with contempt +He who confessed well was absolved well +His own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies +Human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) +Humble ignorance as the safest creed +Hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree +Idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations +Idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation +If to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do +Impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains +Indulging them frequently with oracular advice +Insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff +It is certain that the English hate us (Sully) +John Castel, who had stabbed Henry IV. +John Wier, a physician of Grave +Justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time +Languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace +Logic of the largest battalions +Looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference +Made peace--and had been at war ever since +Man is never so convinced of his own wisdom +Man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign +Men who meant what they said and said what they meant +Men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity +Much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music +Nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery +Natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man +Necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch +Negotiated as if they were all immortal +Night brings counsel +No retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings +No generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest +Not safe for politicians to call each other hard names +Nowhere were so few unproductive consumers +One of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (James I) +Passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory +Paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) +Peace seemed only a process for arriving at war +Peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength +Peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable +Philip of Macedon, who considered no city impregnable +Prisoners were immediately hanged +Privileged to beg, because ashamed to work +Proclaiming the virginity of the Virgin's mother +Readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties +Religious persecution of Protestants by Protestants +Repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others +Requires less mention than Philip III himself +Rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns +Served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees +Sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged +So unconscious of her strength +State can best defend religion by letting it alone +Steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride +Subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend +Such an excuse was as bad as the accusation +Take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths +Taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent +The art of ruling the world by doing nothing +The slightest theft was punished with the gallows +The wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war +The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him +The expenses of James's household +The People had not been invented +The small children diminished rapidly in numbers +This obstinate little republic +To shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars +To negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step +To doubt the infallibility of Calvin was as heinous a crime +To negotiate with Government in England was to bribe +Tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated +Toleration--that intolerable term of insult +Triple marriages between the respective nurseries +Unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle +Unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious +Unwise impatience for peace +Usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered +War was the normal and natural condition of mankind +War was the normal condition of Christians +War to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest +We have been talking a little bit of truth to each other +What was to be done in this world and believed as to the next +What exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy +When all was gone, they began to eat each other +Word peace in Spanish mouths simply meant the Holy Inquisition +Words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak +World has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin +You must show your teeth to the Spaniard + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Entire 1600-09 United Netherlands +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS 1584-1609, COMPLETE + +A hard bargain when both parties are losers +A penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce +A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so +A free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity +A burnt cat fears the fire +A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period +A man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear +A sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty +A truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction +Able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed +About equal to that of England at the same period +Abstinence from unproductive consumption +Accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed +Accustomed to the faded gallantries +Act of Uniformity required Papists to assist +Alas! we must always have something to persecute +Alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains +Alexander's exuberant discretion +All fellow-worms together +All business has been transacted with open doors +All Italy was in his hands +All the ministers and great functionaries received presents +Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune +An unjust God, himself the origin of sin +Anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form +Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist +And thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight +Are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope +Argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins +Arminianism +Artillery +As logical as men in their cups are prone to be +As if they were free will not make them free +As neat a deception by telling the truth +As lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic inquisition +At length the twig was becoming the tree +Auction sales of judicial ermine +Baiting his hook a little to his appetite +Beacons in the upward path of mankind +Because he had been successful (hated) +Been already crimination and recrimination more than enough +Began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand +Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies +Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) +Bestowing upon others what was not his property +Beware of a truce even more than of a peace +Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century +Bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards +Burning of Servetus at Geneva +But the habit of dissimulation was inveterate +Butchery in the name of Christ was suspended +By turns, we all govern and are governed +Calling a peace perpetual can never make it so +Canker of a long peace +Cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the James River +Casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" +Certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other +Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war +Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant +Chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers +Children who had never set foot on the shore +Chronicle of events must not be anticipated +College of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all +Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation +Conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character +Condemned first and inquired upon after +Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice +Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice +Constant vigilance is the price of liberty +Constitute themselves at once universal legatees +Contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +Converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling +Could do a little more than what was possible +Could handle an argument as well as a sword +Courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart +Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure +Crimes and cruelties such as Christians only could imagine +Culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence +Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend +Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places +Defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe +Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station +Delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader +Demanding peace and bread at any price +Despised those who were grateful +Diplomacy of Spain and Rome--meant simply dissimulation +Diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive +Disciple of Simon Stevinus +Dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies +Disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping +Disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the Gospel +Divine right of kings +Do you want peace or war? I am ready for either +Done nothing so long as aught remained to do +Draw a profit out of the necessities of this state +During this, whole war, we have never seen the like +Each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting +Eat their own children than to forego one high mass +Elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute +Elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom +Eloquence of the biggest guns +England hated the Netherlands +Englishmen and Hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats +Enmity between Lutherans and Calvinists +Even the virtues of James were his worst enemies +Even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly +Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile +Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are +Evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better +Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes +Exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims +Faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect +Famous fowl in every pot +Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death +Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust +Find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace +Fitter to obey than to command +Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils +Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty +Fool who useth not wit because he hath it not +For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future +Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all +Foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition +Four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years +French seem madmen, and are wise +Friendly advice still more intolerable +Full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces +Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods +German Highland and the German Netherland +German-Lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom +Gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest +God of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice +God alone can protect us against those whom we trust +God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever +God, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather +Gold was the only passkey to justice +Gomarites accused the Arminians of being more lax than Papists +Guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith +Had industry been honoured instead of being despised +Haereticis non servanda fides +Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston +Hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion +Hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves +Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors +Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning +He often spoke of popular rights with contempt +He did his work, but he had not his reward +He who confessed well was absolved well +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +He sat a great while at a time. He had a genius for sitting +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (Eliz.) +Heretics to the English Church were persecuted +Hibernian mode of expressing himself +High officers were doing the work of private, soldiers +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +His own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies +His insolence intolerable +His inordinate arrogance +Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence +History is but made up of a few scattered fragments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole +Holy institution called the Inquisition +Honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors +Hugo Grotius +Human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) +Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war +Humble ignorance as the safest creed +Humility which was but the cloak to his pride +Hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree +I will never live, to see the end of my poverty +I am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but God +I did never see any man behave himself as he did +Idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations +Idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation +Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds +If to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do +Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind +Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands +Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things +Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross +Impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains +In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing +Individuals walking in advance of their age +Indulging them frequently with oracular advice +Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies +Infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes +Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers +Inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in The Armada +Insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff +Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading +Intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions +Intolerable tendency to puns +Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority +Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated +It is certain that the English hate us (Sully) +John Castel, who had stabbed Henry IV. +John Wier, a physician of Grave +Justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time +King had issued a general repudiation of his debts +King was often to be something much less or much worse +Labour was esteemed dishonourable +Languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Life of nations and which we call the Past +Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe +Logic of the largest battalions +Longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it +Look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace +Looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference +Lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns +Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable +Loving only the persons who flattered him +Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism +Made peace--and had been at war ever since +Magnificent hopefulness +Make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you +Man is never so convinced of his own wisdom +Man had no rights at all He was property +Man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign +Maritime heretics +Matter that men may rather pray for than hope for +Matters little by what name a government is called +Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field +Men who meant what they said and said what they meant +Men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity +Mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity +Military virtue in the support of an infamous cause +Mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity +Mondragon was now ninety-two years old +Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +More catholic than the pope +Much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music +Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream +Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs +National character, not the work of a few individuals +Nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery +Natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man +Necessity of kingship +Necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch +Negotiated as if they were all immortal +Neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own +Never did statesmen know better how not to do +Never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war +New Years Day in England, 11th January by the New Style +Night brings counsel +Nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on +No retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings +No generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest +Nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence +Not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed +Not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts +Not distinguished for their docility +Not of the genus Reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch +Not safe for politicians to call each other hard names +Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons +Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy +Nowhere were so few unproductive consumers +Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths +Octogenarian was past work and past mischief +Often necessary to be blind and deaf +One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed +One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions +One of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (James I) +Only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust +Oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts +Others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks +Passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea +Pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law +Paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) +Peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate +Peace seemed only a process for arriving at war +Peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength +Peace would be destruction +Peace-at-any-price party +Peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable +Philip II. gave the world work enough +Philip of Macedon, who considered no city impregnable +Picturesqueness of crime +Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat +Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous +Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail +Possible to do, only because we see that it has been done +Pray here for satiety, (said Cecil) than ever think of variety +Prisoners were immediately hanged +Privileged to beg, because ashamed to work +Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays +Proclaiming the virginity of the Virgin's mother +Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey +Readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties +Rebuked him for his obedience +Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation +Religion was not to be changed like a shirt +Religious persecution of Protestants by Protestants +Repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late +Repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others +Repose in the other world, "Repos ailleurs" +Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before +Requires less mention than Philip III himself +Resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance +Respect for differences in religious opinions +Rich enough to be worth robbing +Righteous to kill their own children +Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome +Round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived +Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely +Rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns +Sacked and drowned ten infant princes +Sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully obeying her orders +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Security is dangerous +Seeking protection for and against the people +Seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous +Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology +Self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute +Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days +Sentiment of Christian self-complacency +Served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +She relieth on a hope that will deceive her +Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other +Shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen +Sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged +Simple truth was highest skill +Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed +Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand +So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) +So unconscious of her strength +Soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad +Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth +Spain was governed by an established terrorism +Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen +Sparing and war have no affinity together +Stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation +State can best defend religion by letting it alone +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust +Steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride +Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession +Strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand +String of homely proverbs worthy of Sancho Panza +Subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend +Succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill +Such an excuse was as bad as the accusation +Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) +Sure bind, sure find +Sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace +Take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths +Taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent +Tension now gave place to exhaustion +That crowned criminal, Philip the Second +That unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance +The very word toleration was to sound like an insult +The blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels +The expenses of James's household +The worst were encouraged with their good success +The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty +The great ocean was but a Spanish lake +The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals +The sapling was to become the tree +The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces +The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) +The record of our race is essentially unwritten +The busy devil of petty economy +The small children diminished rapidly in numbers +The People had not been invented +The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition +The wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war +The art of ruling the world by doing nothing +The slightest theft was punished with the gallows +The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him +Their existence depended on war +There are few inventions in morals +There was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm +There is no man fitter for that purpose than myself +They were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion +They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness +They chose to compel no man's conscience +Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) +Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul +This obstinate little republic +Those who argue against a foregone conclusion +Thought that all was too little for him +Three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in London +Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) +Tis pity he is not an Englishman +To negotiate with Government in England was to bribe +To negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step +To work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature +To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland +To shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars +To doubt the infallibility of Calvin was as heinous a crime +Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us +Tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated +Tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind +Toleration--that intolerable term of insult +Torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children +Tranquil insolence +Tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health +Triple marriages between the respective nurseries +Trust her sword, not her enemy's word +Twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics +Under the name of religion (so many crimes) +Undue anxiety for impartiality +Universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day +Unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle +Unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious +Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing +Unwise impatience for peace +Upon their knees, served the queen with wine +Upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency +Use of the spade +Usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered +Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends +Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims +Uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case +Valour on the one side and discretion on the other +Waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman +Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures +War was the normal and natural condition of mankind +War to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest +War was the normal condition of Christians +Wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself +We have the reputation of being a good housewife +We must all die once +We mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh +We have been talking a little bit of truth to each other +We were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us +Wealthy Papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine +Weapons +Weary of place without power +What exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy +What was to be done in this world and believed as to the next +When persons of merit suffer without cause +When all was gone, they began to eat each other +Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue +While one's friends urge moderation +Who the "people" exactly were +Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts +Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear +With something of feline and feminine duplicity +Word peace in Spanish mouths simply meant the Holy Inquisition +Words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak +World has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin +Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf +Wrath of bigots on both sides +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths +Write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly +You must show your teeth to the Spaniard + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1584-1609 *** + +********* This file should be named jm85v10.txt or jm85v10.zip ********* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, jm85v11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, jm85v10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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