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diff --git a/old/jm60v10.txt b/old/jm60v10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e03491 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jm60v10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17400 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of United Netherlands, 1586-89, Entire +#60 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, 1586-89, Entire + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4860] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586-89 *** + + + +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 +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, 1586-89, Entire + + +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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586-89 *** + +************ This file should be named jm60v10.txt or jm60v10.zip ************ + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, jm60v11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, jm60v10a.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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